Ep. 64: Are You REALLY Doing Missionary Work?! w/ David Platt

Andrew Marcus:

Hey, this is Andrew Marcus. Thank you for joining us today for THE INDOUBT SHOW. I hope you are doing well today. We got a wonderful program today. We’re talking about missions with David Platt. I want to remind you, we have a free resource for the month of April. If you go to indoubt.ca, you can get it. It’s a book called Missions At Your Door, and we pray this is a fantastic resource for you as you live a life on mission. But we’re going to be talking about that today with David Platt, what it looks like to be commissioned for missions. And so we hope you enjoy today’s program. God bless.

All right. So we have David Platt with us. David, how are you doing, man?

David Platt:

Doing all right, well in Christ.

Andrew Marcus:

Come on, man. I’m so honored that you are with us today, that you’re taking time. You’ve been on INDOUBT before years ago with the previous host, and so we’re just blessed to have you back. It’s going to be a good conversation. But for those of us who are listening or who are watching, just a little bit about what you’re doing and what ministry life and family life looks like for you these days.

David Platt:

I am a pastor of a church in Metro DC, so it’s called McLean Bible Church. It’s a beautiful multi-ethnic church. We’ve got over a hundred different nations represented in the church.

Andrew Marcus:

Cool.

David Platt:

And so yeah, so I’m a pastor there and also lead a ministry called Radical that is focused on getting the gospel, mobilizing the church on mission to get the gospel to billions of people who’ve never heard it before. And then I’m husband to Heather and dad for six kids from 17 years old down to a year, or actually, yeah, two years, almost two years. So anyway, so yeah, our six kids, and that’s a whole other story. Four of our children, we have had the joy of adopting, and then two are biological. So yeah, that’s a little snapshot into my life and family and work.

Andrew Marcus:

Amazing, man. Life is full and beautiful. Praise God. That’s so awesome, man. We really wanted to connect with you. We’re talking about missions today and I thought, “Man, I’d love to connect with you about missions.” Maybe before we even dive in to all things missions, give us a little bit of a definition, in your words, what is missions ’cause most people think okay, it’s going to a remote place on the other side of the planet. How would you define missions before we even start?

David Platt:

Yeah, well, I would definitely be nuanced in this way, well, one just like mission, as followers of Jesus, we are all commissioned. We’re called to mission. And that mission is to make disciples of all the nations that we want to spread the gospel among all the nations. And the word there in Matthew 28 Verse 19 is “ethne,” among all the ethnic groups of the world. So it’s not just talking about nations like we might think of countries today, 200 or so, United Nations. It’s talking about ethnic groups in the world we know, in places, I think probably everybody where you live, there are all kinds of different ethnicities represented. That’s certainly the case in Metro Washington, DC Some say there’s over 11,000 distinct ethnic groups in the world, some say over 16,000. But the point is Jesus said, “Make my love known among all of them.”

And so where I would distinguish like missions is okay, missions is referring to taking the gospel to ethnic groups where the gospel hasn’t gone yet. So people groups that have not yet been reached with the gospel. It’s not that they’ve heard about Jesus and rejected him, it’s they’ve never even heard. They may have heard things about Jesus or false things about Jesus. I think about in many Muslim areas or Hindu areas, there’s knowledge of Jesus, but not the truth about who Jesus is, as God in the flesh who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead, nobody’s ever told them that. And so missions is the enterprise of pressing into those places where the gospel hasn’t gone. And all that’s a part of this commission we’ve been given to make disciples of all the nations.

So I guess the way I would summarize all that is every follower of Jesus is called to play a part in making disciples of all the nations. That means every one of us has a part to play in missions like praying for the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth, to all those people groups, giving toward that end and going from right where we live to wherever God might lead. This is the Christian life. We’re all disciple makers for the nations. And the reason I emphasize that… Man, I could talk a lot about this, so just stop me… But the reason I want to emphasize that is because I think many people kind of compartmentalize missions like, okay, that’s a program in the church for a few people over there who are called to that. Like no, if you have the spirit of Jesus inside of you, the spirit of Jesus wants all the nations for Jesus. You want all the nations for Jesus.

You’re living for this, you’re praying toward that end, you’re giving toward that end. You’re living your life toward that end. That doesn’t mean though that everybody’s going to pack their bags and move to another part of the world, but we’re all disciple makers for all the nations. This is what it means to be a Christian. And I think there are billions of people and thousands of people groups that have still not been reached by the gospel because most Christians look at missions as a program for a few other people to be concerned, about as opposed to being the reason we’re on the planet is to accomplish this mission, and it includes the spread of the gospel to all those people groups who haven’t been reached yet.

Andrew Marcus:

I love that, man. I love the distinction between mission and missions. We’re on mission. So yeah, when you leave your house today and you’re going to the mall or going to work or going to Starbucks or whatever, you’re on mission and there’s lot of people and ethnic groups, literally same with you in DC, where we are here in Canada, there’s multiple groups of people. We don’t have to look far to be on mission locally and then missions is going and spreading the good news to all people.

David Platt:

Missions is that emphasis that says, “Okay, who’s not been reached yet?”

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah.

David Platt:

The biblical picture I would give is Romans Chapter 15 when Paul says he’s traveled to all these different cities and he has kind of recapped where he has been and he says, “There’s no more work for me to do there. So now I’m pressing on.” And just think about that statement, “No more work for me to do.” That didn’t mean everybody was a Christian in those areas. That meant that the gospel had gone to those areas, churches had been planted in those areas, and there were still places, he’s specifically talking about Spain in Romans 15, where they haven’t heard the gospel and where there are no churches. So we as the church have to keep pressing on in some way, including sending some people to, but supporting them and getting the gospel to people who are in Spain who’ve never heard.

And so missions is that enterprise. We got to keep pressing on where it hasn’t gone, and if we’re not careful, we can actually end up ignoring those places. It’s interesting, you look at giving in North American Christians. Obviously, we keep most of our money for ourselves. We give a small percentage of our money to churches or ministries and then out of that money we give to churches or ministries, an even smaller percentage of that goes to work around the world, what we often call missions, but what’s interesting is you do the research and the data out of that small percentage that we give to missions around the world, approximately 98% to 99% of it actually goes to places in the world where the gospel has already spread, like in Latin America, parts of Sub-Saharan Africa or Europe or even parts of East Asia. We give most of our money to missions overseas, but we’re actually ignoring the places that are most unreached by the gospel overseas.

So in the name of missions, we actually end up ignoring the people and places where the gospel hasn’t gone. We talk about this, it is a great imbalance. We need a major shift in our understanding of mission in our lives and missions in the world in a way that says, “Okay, we’ve got to change that. We’ve got to get the gospel to people who’ve never heard it. So what’s it going to look like to change that?” And that’s not just for a few people to figure out. That’s for us all as followers of Christ to figure out.

Andrew Marcus:

Totally. And how can that change? How do we make sure that we’re having impact and reaching places that haven’t heard?

David Platt:

Yeah. That’s a great question. I would say… All right, so here’s some practical things. How can it change in each of us? Well, one, I would encourage people listening to ask how often are you praying for people groups who’ve yet to hear the gospel? Just start at the most basic thing, something you can do before you even get out of bed in the morning. And most people, our prayer lives are, they’re usually pretty focused around what we see right in front of us. At some point, we need to lift our eyes and pray. Jesus told us this, pray for the harvest field and laborers to go into the harvest field. So I recommend the Joshua Project app. It’s one tool that… Every day you can just pull up unreached people group to pray for.

Andrew Marcus:

Wow.

David Platt:

That’s a good use of 60 seconds in a day amidst all the other things we scroll through on a phone, just enter seed for a moment, for the adharmi people today that I was praying for in India, it’s like, I can’t remember 1.7 million of them, Hindu people group, 0% followers of Jesus. Most of them have never heard the gospel, just to enter seed for them. So start there and don’t underestimate that picture. And then I would say, “Okay, how can we change that?” Just ask. Okay, of the resources God has given to you financially, how much is going to getting the gospel to people who have never heard it to. And there’s about 3 billion, as best as we can tell, unreached people in the world who’ve not even heard the gospel. So out of all the resources God’s given us, and I know different ones of us have different amounts of financial resources, but we have relative wealth compared to the rest of the world. How are we spending that for the spread of the gospel in the world?

So where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If our treasure is not focused there, and even the numbers I just used in reference, we shouldn’t be surprised. Our heart is not with people who’ve never heard the gospel. So let that change through your giving. Look for opportunities to give toward that end. And then, practically, that’s where I would just encourage… I love what you mentioned earlier. Wherever people are in Canada at this moment, the likely it is there’s a multiplicity of ethnicities around you, so share the gospel, not just with people who look like you. God’s brought the nations to us. It’s amazing how God has brought people from, most Uber or Lyft rides I do in Metro DC are going to be with somebody from an unreached part of the world, from a country that has very little, if any, Christians at all. And God’s given me an opportunity to share the gospel with this Afghan, with this Pakistani or whoever it might be, right outside my front door. It’s amazing.

So make disciples, the nations right here. And then I would encourage like look for opportunities to go and do that in other places, maximize, whether it’s a short-term trip or jobs. Why has God designed the globalization of today’s marketplace? I would say he’s done it for the spread of his glory among the nations. We have opportunities for work all around the world. I think about people in our church who are moving. I think about a young adult, she graduated with her nursing degree. Instead of looking for jobs where the gospel has gone, she looked for jobs where the gospel hasn’t gone and she is now serving in a hospital in this mega Muslim country in the Middle East and she’s become head of nursing in that hospital. She has a Bible study every week in her office with a bunch of Muslims and nobody stops her ’cause she’s really good at nursing, putting that together. They’re actually paying for her to spread the gospel in their country.

Countries around the world will pay you to come spread the gospel there. If we’ll open our eyes and look at the opportunities God has made available to us, if we’ll just see, the opportunities are there, I would just say, “Man, we have more opportunities today than ever before in history to spread the gospel in the world.” You just think about, what we were just talking about with jobs, travel, the fact that we can go anywhere in the world in approximately a day. Paul never could have fathomed that. I don’t know how long would it take him to travel from one city to the next? You could air, a machine, they can pick you up and take you anywhere in the air in a day. It’s fascinating, and then technology-

Andrew Marcus:

It’s amazing, it’s amazing. Sometimes I even wonder how Paul would react. It’s like, “Whoa, you went on a plane? They gave you food on the plane?

David Platt:

Yes. That’s right.

Andrew Marcus:

“And you had any kind of legroom?” He would’ve been blown away, man. He would’ve been blown away.

David Platt:

Yes, totally. And then you think about how long did it take him to write a letter, send it off? Weeks, get to reply back. The thought of a device in your pocket that you can communicate with most people in the world in multiple languages in realtime, we’ve been given so much, so let’s steward it to the full.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah, that’s huge, man. I feel like oftentimes we complain about technology and this and that. I remember even I was on a flight somewhere and was complaining about legroom and then I thought of Paul, actually, I was reading my Bible on the plane. I’m like, “Who am I to think, oh, complaining about legroom and I’m in the air 30,000 feet and they’re giving me pretzels. Come on, man. I’m so blessed.” But you’re pointing on some awesome things because okay, we have technology and oftentimes it distracts us and we use it for, it just distracts us from the good news and spreading the gospel when in actual fact, like you’re saying, if we just change our perspective, we realize oh my goodness, the tools we actually have, what they could actually do instead of us scrolling, the death scroll one reel after a time, Joshua Project or praying for this or giving to this or connecting with someone on the other side of the world, it’s huge.

And I feel like we just got to shift the mentality of like, “Oh, what can we actually do,” instead of, “Oh, no, technology is bad.” Whoa, technology is powerful and amazing. We’re talking in different parts of the world right now. We couldn’t have done this. And so that’s a big thing that young people need to be aware of, “Hey, the tools in your hands and literally in your pocket could change people’s lives forever and spread the good news of Jesus.”

Another thing that I’m really struck by is you’re talking about this young adult nurse. Oftentimes, a lot of people think, “Okay, I got to be on mission. I got to be trained to be a pastor to be on mission and spreading the gospel has to be in a church.” But you’re saying, “Hey, these people have gifts and talents and abilities and things that God has given them and hunger and desire and drive, but that’s actually what they use to go on mission and be a missionary all over the world.” So it’s not that you have to have a theology degree or you have to be a pastor. This story of this young adult girl, that’s amazing. She’s using what God gave her and now she’s getting paid to run a Bible study.

David Platt:

Yes, that’s the thing. And you think about it. Actually, the theology degree, it’s not going to be unhelpful. Hopefully, it’s helped you grow in your relationship with God. It’s not like you’re going to put that on your visa application into most of the countries we’re talking about in the world. You need a nursing degree, a medical degree, a teaching degree, an engineering degree or whatever it might be. But that’s where, man, I just think about, obviously, I don’t know all the people who are listening to this right now, but the unique gifts and grace and vocations and skills and experiences and education that God has given, he’s given it for a reason. And this is where, I love what you said, like a mindset shift. I’m convinced, wholeheartedly convinced that is what is needed in the church today. We’ve bought into, I’m going to say, world system and even in Christianity oftentimes that says, “Okay, I have a job. I have a degree. I have a job so I can make money so I can be successful.” And do it with Jesus in it.

The way I talk about it here is a comfortable Christian spin on the American dream and make your way to heaven. It’s like no, you’re created for so much more than that. We’ve been left on this planet with a mission to make the best news in the world that will change people’s lives for trillions of years and beyond, make it known among all the peoples of the world. And we’ve got so many opportunities to do it. This is Christianity. It’s like going after those opportunities and that’s where… So it would only be a few people. It was just, okay, you got to leave your job in order to go. But if we’re talking about leveraging jobs, that’s tens of thousands of people, and hundreds of thousands, I would argue, in the church who can now be unleashed to go to the nations with the gospel.

We can get the gospel to all these people who have never heard it. If we’ll look at this as this is what Christianity is actually about, making disciples of all the nations, what Jesus told us to do, let’s do it. The opportunities are there, if we’ll take them.

Andrew Marcus:

And I feel like I wonder, obviously we can’t answer this question, but if we all just suited up, took this seriously, change of heart, change of perspective, lived on mission, I feel like it wouldn’t take us long to spread to everybody, man.

David Platt:

No,

Andrew Marcus:

I know that sounds crazy, but if we were like, “Hey, let’s be intentional and let’s be focused, let’s do this,” I feel like we could just get it done.

David Platt:

Yes. Bro, it’s there for us to do. Yes. I just think about where Bible translation is right now because of technology and all the kinds of different things that factor in Bible translation. It’s really possible in the next 10, I don’t know the exact years-

Andrew Marcus:

Me neither, but I feel like it wouldn’t be long.

David Platt:

… But it’s going to happen. Bible translated in all these different languages. Now, just because translated into a language doesn’t mean that it’s been delivered to those people who speak those languages and shared in person with them. But like you’re saying, yeah, if we all suited up, if we as followers of Jesus, I know this is actually what we’re here for, yes, this is totally doable, may be so, let’s pray it would be so. But we’ve got to realize we can’t keep going Christian business as usual and that be the case. We’ve got to have a total change of mindset that hey, this is actually what we’re here on the planet for.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah, and I feel like it’s hard to say and it’s hard to hear, but I feel like many Christians, myself included, we just become quite selfish and just me-focused. How would you encourage a young person who’s watching and even encourage my own soul to get better at this? How do I become less of me and more of mission?

David Platt:

Man, so good, I love that. Well, I think repentance is definitely a starting point. I’m thinking about my own life too. So we’re together in this like-

Andrew Marcus:

Yes.

David Platt:

… yes, Lord, we need you to, think about repentance. We need to change our mind. We need to change our hearts. We are prone to, in all these ways, seek our good and our plans over your glory and your plans. We are prone to watch out for ourselves instead of care about others, eternal destinies. We’re like Jonah. I want the plant over my head more than I want all these people that I’m looking at to be saved. So to repent, I want a comfortable life in my nation more than I want the spread of the gospel among all the nations, I need to repent of that individually, corporately and then, in a sense die to ourselves daily and then to begin to cultivate the kind of heart that, well, it’s God’s heart for the nations. And to see it, once we start to see, we’ll see it all over the word, from cover-to-cover in God’s word.

This is clear. His passion for his own glory among the nations, his grace, his love for all the nations, his desire for them to all be reached. And then I would say too, if we’re not careful, we can start to, okay, big picture, we can do this, which yes, yes. And so start right here, in my life right now. You mentioned the people I’m going to interact with at Starbucks today, people at my workplace now, the people in my life outside my doorstep, in my apartment or whatever, like, “Okay, God, give me boldness to share the gospel right here, to be a disciple maker right here.” The reality is it’s not like we’re going to go take a job in Afghanistan and suddenly become a disciple maker on the plane on the way over there. We got to be disciple makers of the nations right where we live. Let’s do this right where we live and then be open to wherever God might lead us.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah, it’s so good, man. We had a guy come over to our house and he was helping us with some paint work, and he’s a Sikh brother and such a good guy, always smiling, so happy. He doesn’t speak English, but I had a friend from church have a little gospel track in his language. What’s been so amazing to me is my brother at church who just told me, he’s like, “Oh, silly. That guy thinks he’s coming just to paint your house.” That’s funny. And I just love that he said that and I just thought, “Oh, all these people that are coming to do work in the house or, oh, that’s so funny, they think they’re just coming for that.”

David Platt:

I love that.

Andrew Marcus:

But that’s not the only purpose they’re there. And so we got the track, we gave it to him, explained it. He said, “I promise I’ll read it.” And just having that perspective shift, like you said, right here. I didn’t even have to go out of my door. It was someone who just came in… The pizza guy who comes, “Oh, that’s funny. He thinks he’s just delivering pizza.” That’s hilarious.

David Platt:

I love that man.

Andrew Marcus:

And so just changing the perspective of, “Hey, we’re on mission right now.” Your neighbor, the person dropping off the newspaper, whatever it is, they’re coming to your door. They’re coming to you. We don’t have to even go out.

David Platt:

I love that man. Yes, God has this whole thing rigged, and not one detail of our lives, I love that, is accident. And so to see that-

Andrew Marcus:

We just have to be aware of that and have the boldness and the confidence to just love and share the good news. And if someone rejects it, I remember we did an interview with Matt Smethurst earlier this year, and we were just talking about, he just referred it to the mailman. We’re just delivering the mail. We don’t open the mail. We don’t tamper the message. It’s a federal offense. And if they hate it and they get angry, it’s not you. I’m delivering the message as I’m called to do. And so being on mission happens immediately, where you’re listening to this or watching this right now, the person beside you on the bus, whatever it is, you’re on mission right now.

David Platt:

So good. And you just think about the meaning and purpose that infuses, bro, into our lives on a moment-by-moment basis to realize, “Okay, wait a minute. My day is not just normal, natural today. I’ve got one that’s a super nat. I’ve got the Holy Spirit inside of me. The spirit of God is dwelling in me, leading me, and he’s orchestrating all these details of people that I’m interacting with and none of it wasted. So how can I make the most of this day?” It’s just, wow, why would you settle for any other dream than this? And that I’m making the greatest news in the world known to people, that I’m delivering not just mail, right, I’m delivering something that could affect this person’s life for the next 10 trillion years, that’s amazing.

Andrew Marcus:

Yeah, amazing. What would you say to someone, like a young person who’s listening in, obviously, we don’t do missions for ourselves, we want to reach out, but it does have an impact on your heart.

David Platt:

No question.

Andrew Marcus:

What happens to a soul when they change this perspective and God rewires their mind and their heart to live outwardly? What happens internally?

David Platt:

You start to experience life as you were intended to live it. You and I were not made to live self-centered lives. And this goes totally against the grain of everything this world tells us. This world tells us you’ll be glad in getting, getting more and more and more. And God’s like, “No, I’ve actually made you to be glad in giving. You’re going to experience joy in giving.”

Andrew Marcus:

It’s amazing, man. I really appreciate your time, man. This has just been so encouraging and I’m excited to, when I leave this studio, man… I remember seeing a church, I used to lead worship and tour all over the world playing music and I remember playing at a church. They had a big banner over the doors when you’re leaving saying, “You’re now entering your mission field,” and I just always love that. It’s like as soon as you go out, you go to church, you get fed, you get filled, you sharpen each other, and now it’s time to go out those doors. And so I feel like after this conversation, I’m just hearing in my head, “All right, man, you’re now entering your mission field. Get out there, be on mission, be intentional.”

David Platt:

Yes, man. And I just think about that. Obviously, I don’t know everybody who’s listening to this right now, but I do know for all those who have the spirit of Jesus in you, like you have supernatural power for this mission. Let this totally transform your mindset going into today, into tomorrow, and live out this meaning and this purpose, with this power in you. That’s the Christian life.

Andrew Marcus:

Thank you for that, man. I really appreciate it. Thank you for your time today. We pray a blessing over you, your family, your ministry, all that you’re doing, your church. God continue to lead you guys and bless all that you’re doing, I put your hands to you and thank you so much for your time, man.

David Platt:

Thanks, bro. Pure joy.

Andrew Marcus:

Hey, thanks so much for joining us today. For more great content, check out THE INDOUBT SHOW on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you stream your podcast. We hope you enjoyed it today. Feel free to check out indoubt.ca. We have some great resources available to you. Have an awesome day.

Hey, well, thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode. Listen, I want to tell you something very exciting. We have a free premium for the month of April. If you go to indoubt.ca, we have a booklet called Missions At Our Door, How We Can Be Reaching Our New Neighbors For The Gospel. Look it. We don’t have to look far to know that we can be on mission everywhere we go, and so this is a great resource for you. You can go to indoubt.ca. There’s a promo code there. God bless you.

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