Why the Nations Matter in College

By Chelsy Massa

If you’ve met me,  you would think this article was easy for me to write. 

You’d be wrong. 

I’ve advocated for the nations for the last 12 years of my life. Yet, I feel stuck writing an article on why the nations matter….again. I feel discouraged by our lack of care and zeal for the mission and reaching the nations. Honestly, I feel out of words to continue to persuade people to look at scripture and to see that God’s heart for lost people doesn’t start and end in the US. Honestly, that’s a selfish thought to begin with. No, our God’s heart is for ALL lost people, for ALL nations throughout ALL history.

So, Church, why is it too hard for us to live this out? 

I am not sure. But I will give it one more go to try and share with you the teachings of the scripture that show a GLOBAL GOD who died for a complete Bride filled with every tongue, tribe, and nation.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Ann Hasseltine Judson lately. My husband and I recently did a few episodes on our podcast about the life of Adoniram Judson and his three wives. The first being Ann. While reading her conversion story, she writes in her journal: 

A view of His purity and holiness filled my soul with wonder and admiration. I felt a disposition to commit myself unreservedly into His hands, and leave it with Him to save me or cast me off, for I felt I could not be unhappy, while allowed the privilege of contemplating and loving so glorious a Being. (10 Women Who Changed the World, Akin, pg 37.) 

How Ann describes the privilege of being with God fills me with humble affection for God and a reality check. We did not earn salvation. We are not OWED anything from God. Yet, in His loving kindness, He gives mercy to the sinner. And this is a privilege, not a right. And the privilege of knowing God compels us to seek out the lost across the globe to proclaim the gospel.  

“There are 7,248 unreached people groups in the world. That is 3.49 BILLION people, 43.3% of people worldwide do not have access to the gospel. They do not have access to the privilege of knowing such a Being as Ann experienced in 1806. ”

As Christians who experience the same privilege, how can we not be filled with grief and a burden not to reach the nations? If not the nations, then the lost people sit next to us in our classes, workplaces, or live next door to us? 

“But whether I spend my days in India or America, I desire to spend them in the service of God and be prepared to spend an eternity in His presence.” (10 Women Who Changed the World, Akin, pg 37.) Ann’s missionary heart didn’t come from a love of different people or a desire for cross-cultural ministry. It came from a knowledge of God. It is not a heady knowledge, but a soul knowledge, an intimate understanding of the character of God that leads her to obey the commands Jesus gives to all His disciples. 

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19). 

Not only was she obeying the command to make disciples, but also to be a watchful servant: 

35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Luke 12:35-40). 

“Ann was watchful, ready, and preparing for the promised Kingdom. She didn’t wait for Jesus to come back idly, but went to be the very labor Jesus calls for (Luke 10:2). ”

This is the same view of eternity that Ann was preparing and watching for: 

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10). 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:1-4). 

This is my favorite picture of God’s promise. God has allowed me to see this picture clearly, with real people from all nations standing beside me. My sisters from all the places I’ve been and all the students from International Village, I led for four years at WSU. I may never see those people again on this side of heaven, and that fills me with great grief, yet I have the great hope that I will see them before the throne. We labor now to prepare for eternity with real people who can have the opportunity to believe in the One True God– if only we obey, go and preach the gospel. 

Here is your call to action, Church: leverage your whole life to make disciples of all nations. Whether that is the classmate in your Bio 101 class or you spend your summer overseas, keep the nations in mind. Make disciples, who make disciples, so that we would all witness God’s glory and bask in the enjoyment of knowing such a glorious God. Everyone should have the opportunity to hear and know Jesus as their Savior. Let us joyfully proclaim, “Here I am, send me!” (Isaiah 6:8). 

Church, keep eternity in mind, be watchful, and let us work to end the mission that we may dwell in the presence of our God forever and ever, amen.