A Missiology for India (1961)

Message from Urbana 61
by Subodh Sahu

"The Communists have been very aggressive and very successful in identification and infiltration. But the missionaries have not successfully infiltrated our hearts, because there has been no intercommunion between the missionary and the people."

This message was delivered as part of a panel called “Conflict: The Church and External Pressures.” The other panel messages were Marxist Ideology, by Arthur Glasser; Paganism, by Eugene Nida; and Nationalism and Resurgent Religions, by Clyde Taylor.

I am very grateful to the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, and I want to share with you two things that have thrilled my heart. First, the morning I arrived in the United States, the sight of snow thrilled me immensely. My heart was filled with adoration and worship to the Lord who is the Creator of all things and particularly of the snow that has fallen in this country.

But I have experienced a greater thrill since I have been in this convention, the first night and every night and day following. It is very thrilling, and it has taken me off my feet, because I have seen in materialistic America so many thousands of young people who sincerely desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I give the glory to Him who has done this.

I'd like to share a few thoughts with you. You see, I have the advantage of being an Indian and of having a different color of skin. I have the advantage of living in a country where your missionaries go and work, and where you may also be planning to go and work. And I have noted that missions come in conflict with several enemies.

The first are satanic forces expressed in all kinds of isms: aggressive, atheistic communism, the godless materialism of the West, the resurgent Hinduism of India, the revival of Islam and Buddhism, the perverted nationalism of countries acquiring their independence, the crushing colonialism of the West, the formal ecumenicity of Western Christendom. All these are generated and directed by the satanic forces which are unseen, the powers of the air which rule the whole world.

But when I look at the conflict, I see a greater vision than this. I see that in Matthew 16:17, Jesus answered Peter: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you." What was it that was revealed to Peter? Simon Peter had stated, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And to that the Lord Jesus replied in this way: "…my Father who is in heaven" has revealed this to you. Verse 18: "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock"—on the Rock, Christ—“on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it."

This is the greater vision that the Lord has given me—that the satanic forces expressed through all these isms, the power of death (that is the definition the Lord Jesus gives to them), the power of death shall not prevail against His Church, against Him. "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

This is the main thing that the Lord has implanted in my heart. I don't lose heart. I am not disturbed. I am not beside myself, although I know by nature I am pessimistic. I have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and His promise which says that the powers of death shall not prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ. I rejoice in this fact. It is a fact.

You see, all these isms that are external forces today against the Church do pose a danger. But we are not afraid of them so long as we know, as it is written in the Scripture, that He who is in us is greater than he who is in this world. We are not afraid.

But we in the East are very, very sorry for one factor, which is not aggressive and open and public as are all the other isms that I have just mentioned. It is this criminal and most subtle liberalism in Christian theology which has penetrated to the East, which has been the cause of such degradation and smothering of the life of the Church in the East.

Still, we are not hopeless about it, because we know that whatever may be the strategy of the Enemy, the Enemy of souls, the Lord Jesus Christ has not abdicated His throne. He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. He is still working and will continue to work, whether or not the Western church sends missionaries, whether or not there will be an open door for Western missionaries to come into our Eastern countries. You might not recognize them as missionaries of Christ, because they do not have an official status as such, but they are God's men working with Christ for the salvation of souls and the establishment of His Church.

But this liberal theology, which has penetrated into the Church and smothered the life of the Church, has resulted in an empty nominalism in much of Indian Christianity—a nominalism we are always fighting. This conflict you have given to us—a gift from the West to the East! And I am sure as the Lord leads and reigns, that we will pray and fight this liberal theology out of our coasts back into the places from which it has come.

We will pray and fight by the Word of God—this very Word of God which all the pioneer missionaries translated and put into our hands. We are very grateful for that. This is sufficient. The Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus reigning still-these are sufficient for us, and we thank God for them.

The second area of conflict is in the realm of mistaken strategy of missions. This also has brought conflict to us in the East, because we have not seen the identification of the missionary with the people as we see that it should be from the Scriptures. It is in the Scriptures. It should be in the missionary.

But let me correct myself. I'll not say no identification, but very little identification. There is an identification with the people in our missionaries whom we see and work with, but not to the extent that it is in the Scriptures. And therefore they have failed in infiltration.

The Communists have been very aggressive and very successful in identification and infiltration. But the missionaries have not successfully infiltrated our hearts, because there has been no intercommunion between the missionary and the people. There has not been the proper instruction in the Word of God, because there has been a lack of identification. There has not been the proper impartation of Christ to us. This is the conflict that we face.

There is the need to come back to the Acts of the Apostles to rediscover the proper identification with the life and culture of the people, as we see it among the Apostles and those who worked in the first-century church and world. But this identification is not only for the Western missionary; it is also for us who work in our own native countries.

The third conflict we face—which is very common to all not just to the Western missionary or to the Eastern man lies in self. For this conflict there is assurance of conquest in the cross of Jesus Christ. Galatians 5:24: "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Galatians 2:20: "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me... not I, but Christ liveth in me."

Not I, but Christ liveth in me. This is the assurance of conquest for the force of Christ, whether they come from the West or the East. We know there is victory, because the Lord is on the throne and He has overcome the devil.

Let me read some Scriptures to you. First of all Hebrews 2:14 and 15:

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he [God in the person of Christ] himself likewise partook of the same nature that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."

I'll read another portion from Colossians 2:14, 15:

"Having cancelled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him."

Jesus is triumphant. In 1 John 3:8 is given the triumphant program of our Lord Jesus Christ. "… for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." I have my faith fixed on the promises of victory in and by Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians 15:57 is the last Scripture that I will be reading to you.

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

No wonder it rings in my heart! When the Lord commissioned His apostles, He said; ". . . lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." Every day—always. I am so thankful that this victory is Christ, who is with us and in us. He is the assurance of the conquest that we have in this conflict against the powers of death.

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A Missiology for India (1961)

God's Word

Urbana Stories

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December 27-31, 2009