JMA Missions Mid-Month Sept 2025
The Great Commission In the New Testament Series
The Book of James
When I set out on this project of identifying the Great Commission in every book of the NT, I didn't check first to see if I could actually find it in all the books. I didn't plan this out. I'm just going month by month and seeing whatever I see. In some books, the Great Commission is obvious, and in others, like James, honestly it's not in there! There's no 'go', or 'baptize', or anything like that!
But what I did find was the Great Commission missionary real life stuff that doesn't go into the newsletter for a reason!
James 1:2, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials"
The words translated 'fall into' is peripipto, and 'trials' is periasmos, it doesn't mean 'fall into' sin, but it's more like entering a situation or a season of a trial of affliction, like 'persecution, poverty, or a calamity of some kind' (Albert Barnes).
You don't have to be a missionary to experience this, but as a missionary, what I have found is that living in a cross cultural setting can produce situations and seasons of afflictions which can be stressful on an entirely new level.
For example, a missionary in the 1700's, a man named William Carey (the father of modern missions) and his family moved to Calcutta. Almost immediately, there was a conflict with other missionaries, forcing the family to move to another town. Notoriously underfunded, they experienced chronic isolation in a harsh climate, sickness, and the loss of a child. The stress of daily life was so great that Dorothy Carey, the wife, began to have serious episodes, screaming at William in public, sometimes brandishing a knife! Her mental health collapse is well documented.
While William was in one room of their house, translating the Bible into Sanskrit, Dorothy was in another room, howling and completely mad, in which state she eventually died. William considered the situation to be, "the most trying cross that ever I met with."
Personally, I do not know any missionary who has not experienced life-altering stress. No one I know has reached Dorothy Carey levels, but life-changing, nonetheless.
Paul referred to it this way, Galatians 6:17, "From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." He is referring directly to the frequent beatings he endured, which scarred the outside. But the marks are also on the inside.
2 Corinthians 6:4-10, 4"But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, 5in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; 6by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, 7by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; 9as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; 10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."
An honest look at the Carey family does not present a story that anybody would consider joyful! In fact, it appears to be one tragic and unfortunate event after another. The command to 'count it all joy' doesn't mean to pretend that everything is fine, or deny the truth or the grief or the reality of the situation.
'Count it all joy in trials' means you get to follow Jesus even closer. It means you take up your cross, which at some point will become "the most trying cross that ever I met with". Then, the words "as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing", and "Who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross", will take on a new and deeper meaning.
You can't always understand it. You can't always escape the pain of it. You can't change the reality of it.
What we can know is, "it is God Who is at work in you, both to will and do according to His good pleasure."
What we can say is, 'whether by life or by death', to Him be glory and honor.
What we can do is take up our cross daily, and follow Him.
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