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This blog post is Part 4 of a series entitled "Unto The Nations" by Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith of Donelson First in Nashville, TN. 

Message Date: November 19, 2023

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We found out this week that a friend of ours has been diagnosed with ALS. If you know about this disease, you know it is an absolutely and terribly horrible disease. My Aunt died of this very disease several years ago. Once someone is diagnosed with this brutally debilitating disease, they are usually given 3-5 years to live. Since hearing this news, I have had our friend on my mind often this week. And as I have thought of him, my mind has often gone to this question:

If I knew life were ending for me, would I change the way I am living?

If I were to receive such news, I thought this week about what my next and immediate moves would be. I would probably retire, you’d throw me a little party… and a few of you would just throw me out… I thought… I would too go fishing as much as I can. I’d sit on my back porch and hug my three ladies a lot and love on my canine boys and eat as many times as possible at Cinco and hopefully make a trip or two south to 30A and enjoy the smells and sight and sounds of the white sands and clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico under my feet. And then I thought… actually... no I wouldn’t! I’d stay right here, and I would preach until I couldn’t preach. And then I’d still try to keep preaching because I know that:

As a follower of the Christ, I am expected to go unto the nations even unto death.

Paul wrote to the Church of Philippi saying essentially this in Philippians 1:21-26. It appears Paul wrote the book of Philippians sometime between A.D. 60 and 62, while he was imprisoned in Rome. This letter is most likely a collection of letters of correspondence Paul had with the church while imprisoned. Do you see what he says? Paul writes in verse 22:

If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Philippians 1:22

He states that, while still living, he is to be fruitful.

We had the Senior Adult retreat this weekend and had such a great time at Montgomery Bell State Park. While there, I shared with the Senior Adults this very idea of finishing well - - of leaving a legacy worth remembering! I presume each here today would say:

I want to live.

But I too wonder, if you can say:

I am eager to die for the sake of going unto the nations.

I believe this next statement to be true. And, in many ways, this is a parallel of the words of Paul: I truly live when I do so with an eagerness to willingly die for the sake of the Christ. You see… There should be no fear of death when one’s life has been lived unto the nations.

Paul goes on to say in verse 27: Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Philippians 1:27

We believe that one of the apostle’s, Andrew, who was Peter’s brother, was beaten, nailed to a cross and, while hanging there for several days, he preached “Jesus saves” to those who passed by. Talk about living unto the nations unto death! The apostle James was arrested for preaching unto the nations. And while being escorted to the place he was to be beheaded, it is documented that he witnessed to his accuser. The accuser, so moved by these words, surrendered his life to Jesus and requested to be executed along with James. The two were beheaded simultaneously. Thomas was speared to death while preaching about the resurrection of the Christ! And James, at the age of 94, while being stoned to death, was telling those who threw rocks at him about how Jesus died for their sins.

You see…

Scripture never offers me a retirement from going unto the nations.

It’s just not there. It’s just not there. Last week, I shared this sobering reality with you: There is no promise of tomorrow. We have no promise, no promise, of even the next breath. Why am I to go unto the nations? I answered this question for you last week. If you missed it, I hope you will listen on the DF podcast on whatever platform you use. You can also listen via the DF app.

Today, we are going to discuss in tremendous detail the second question I presented to you last week: How am I to go unto the nations? I presume there are so very many ways in which I could discuss the “how” you and I are to go. I want to offer to you 3 thoughts. And I want to do so by looking at the words of Jesus as He offers a chilling and sobering truth about what is to come for the world.

Matthew 24:3-14

How am I to go unto the nations?

1. I am to watch.

Do you notice how Jesus answers their question? He does not offer an answer to the “when.” He instead offers the “how!”Matthew 24:4. Jesus does not say, “When…” Jesus says, “Watch.” We watch so very many things. Don’t we? We watch football, which I love. We watch our phones. Which by the way… Do you know that 16,000 people a day, a day, while watching something on their phones sadly, they die! While driving. While walking. They hit someone, or someone hits them… and they die!  We too watch so very much with enthusiasm and passion and vigor.  Friends of ours recently had a baby girl. And I spoke with them this week, and they said they love just sitting and watching her! My wife, Amy, has several shows she loves to watch. My three girls this time of year love to watch, and I hate to even say it…Hallmark Christmas movies! There are a lot of people who will watch Hallmark Christmas movies one after the other from now until Christmas. What’s amazing is how surprising these Hallmark movies end! You know… some guy is wearing a cute sweater, he goes to a town, he is thinking about buying a building, or a ranch, or a business or a hotel or something… He meets a girl, often awkwardly. She thinks he is the worst thing ever… he often doesn’t like her much either. But for some reason, they go to lunch or dinner. They somehow are forced to spend a whole lot of time together. And little by little… they fall for one another. Then, he does something she hates. They get mad. He leaves. And then… he returns wearing another sweater. They kiss and… Surprise! They live happily ever after. Such good TV to watch!

We watch so very many things… Look again at: Matthew 24:4. Jesus says, “Watch! Watch to make sure you are not led astray in these end times!” For those of you who are new to DF – I want you to know that you will never be led astray here, because we, and especially me as your Pastor, with so very many, many flaws, do one thing very well:

At Donelson First, we unashamedly preach the fullness of the Holy Word.

It's hard to preach all of the Word. Because it is not always appealing nor desirable. The Word is rigid, arduous and unrelenting, and too it is fully and completely uncompromising. And this makes it difficult at times for me to receive the whole of Scripture, especially when Scripture speaks to the surrendered life for which I am to run after. However… A life in pursuit of the Christ, of obedience, and of holiness must concede and embrace: Holiness is not a place at which I arrive. Holiness is a command I shoulder as I daily die to everything I am so that I become everything Jesus is. This is what Scripture states. This is who God’s Holy Church is to be. This is who I will incessantly embrace to become as I die to self and go unto the nations.

And for those here today who are watching churches trying to decide where the Lord is leading for you to land and serve, we would be honored to have you here. Just know…

At Donelson First, we do not work to entertain you.
At Donelson First, we do not concern ourselves with your comfort nor traditions.
And at Donelson First, we do not take lightly the commands of the Holy Word.

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; or it is written: Be holy, because I am holy. 1 Peter 1:13-16

Notice what Peter writes here we are to do: We are to be “alert” and to be “fully sober” as we pursue obedience. So, how am I to go unto the nations? I watch. Secondly...

2. I welcome.

Notice the words Jesus uses when speaking of the devastation that will wreck our planet: Matthew 24:6-8.

He says, “Do not be alarmed.” We will see wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines, and earthquakes… all of this must happen.  Therefore, really as followers of Jesus watching for the signs, the “birth pains” that are to come… we too welcome such evidence rather than find it alarming.

I’ve told y’all before when our first daughter Bailey arrived on November 3, 2001, she came quite unexpectedly. I had been speaking in Houston. I was to be in Houston 2 weeks. But at the end of the first week, I just felt like I needed to fly home. Though we were still three weeks away from the delivery date Dr. Presley had given us, I sensed that I needed to come home to Nashville. So, I did. And boy am I glad I did. Though we obviously, as Bailey’s parents, did not know when the time would come for her to be born, we did welcome the moment… water and all!

This is exactly to what Jesus is referring… though the pains are difficult, we are to welcome them!

Right now, there are 232 different wars in 70 different countries on our planet… of which we are presently aware!  I presume there are even more of which we do not know. We do know this… never in the history of life on this planet have there been this many wars in such a vast array. And when Jesus speaks of nations against nations, He is not merely referring to “nations,” though this can also be true… and we see this even now with the nation of Russia against the nation of Ukraine and Palestine against the nation of Israel.

This is, once again, why we spend so very much time studying and teaching through the original translations of Scripture both in the Hebrew and the Greek. As we do, we learn so very much more than merely taking the English words we know and understand so very well. Look at the verse again where Jesus speaks of “nation against nation:”

Matthew 24:7. Nations /Greek/ ethnos = people; varying and multiple ethnicities

Jesus is speaking here in Matthew of “races of people” against other “races of people.” Man, are we not seeing this right now? We see blacks against whites. Republicans against Democrats. Israelis against Palestinians. And in the Fisher home… Pastor Stephen is for any other team at war against the Tennessee Vols! But seriously, we see and hear and our hearts break of the news of one group of people against people. People hating one another. People wanting to kill one another. We are such a divided people. Just this week here in America, a Jew was standing at a rally praying for Israel … just standing there praying. A group of people jumped him, beat him, and he fell, hit his head, and died. So very senseless!

Do we not too see this in the Church?

If I can pinpoint one area in which our enemy, Satan, has slithered his way so successfully and deceptively into the Church... it is in the arena of: divisiveness! Because Satan knows that the Church was founded upon unity. Listen to Acts 2 and see if you can capture the spirit of unity among these believers: Acts 2:44-47. Do you see the result of the Church when there is unity in the Church?!

When there is unity among God’s people, there too is life change within God’s people.

You see, Satan knows… If he can de-unify the Church, he can destroy the Church’s ability and hunger and effectiveness to go unto the nations. And then there are famines of which Jesus speaks. Matthew 24:7.

In 2021, 820 million people went to bed starving every night. The average person in the world makes $4/day! No wonder so very many people are poor and hungry. We are so blessed here in this nation, and we are fighting… Fighting to defund police. Fighting to give a woman the right to end the life of a baby in her womb. Fighting to allow public schools to keep quite when a confused young child gets counseling from a school counselor to change his/her sex, dress like the opposite sex, or to get birth control without a mom or dad’s knowledge or consent. Though such fighting seems so senseless, unmerited, and fueled by hate…

This is the deception of which Jesus speaks in Matthew 24. Yet, He reminds us: Matthew 24:6.

We are to expect it. We are to watch for it. And rather than be alarmed, we are to welcome it!

I too want to say this as it relates to what the Church is watching and welcoming, and if I may say… whining over! How many times have we heard stories of the Church, of church folk, who rather than watching and welcoming the signs of the Christ who is coming, and who, rather than working and praying, and fasting and exclaiming unto the nations the news of Jesus who can change lives and rebuild brokenness and restore marriages and reshape hearts… many in the Church instead are… fighting about the color of carpets and walls and buildings and gossiping about who knows what. Such whining must be so exhausting for those people who choose to engage in such drama!  It’s silly. It’s sad. It’s atrocious. And God’s Holy Church should be ashamed.

Listen Church... you and I have a choice! We do! Each of us has a choice to either watch and welcome what is right and just and good and holy and goldy.... or... we can simply exist as “card carrying” churchgoers who waste time and who waste the churches time simply looking for the next situation or choice or change over which to complain.

So very many in the Church are watching and welcoming through the eyes of gossip and in-fighting and condemnations and let’s call it for what it is... sin! Let’s not be such a Church who is watching and welcoming all the wrong things. Because, all the while, people are lost and confused and broken and lonely and feeling helpless and hopeless and dying. Instead, let’s be broken over the reality that each day the nations around us are drawing a last breath, and in an instant will be forever separated from a loving God, and are stepping into an eternity where people will be met with the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus too speaks in verse 7 of earthquakes! You know, there are 20,000 earthquakes every year. There are 55 earthquakes a day on our planet! 55 a day! There have been 16 earthquakes this year with a higher recorded Richter magnitude than at any other time ever in the history of time on the earth since earthquakes have been studied, reported and recorded. The devastation is horrific for people. Yet, based upon these teachings of Jesus, we are to not be alarmed of such devastation. As we consider all of this, we can’t help but wonder, with all of the fighting in the Middle East, particularly with what is happening with the nation of Israel that has been ongoing for so very many years, how are we to reason with all that is happening in this part of the world, and all that Jesus is saying here in Matthew 24 about the end of times and people rising up against people.

I even present this question: Should I be concerned about Israel? And, if so, should I be for Israel? Against Israel? And, what about all of the blood shed? Well, though difficult to process, and I too must confess, almost impossible to stomach… The entire bible is a book about Israel. Our Savior came to earth in Israel. The Christ was arrested in Israel. He died in the heart of Israel – Jerusalem. He one day will return to this world to receive His bride, the Church, in Israel. In several places in the Old Testament, we read of the promise for the nation of Israel from Jehovah God that their land will one day be returned to them. We don’t understand everything there is to know and comprehend about this nation. War is messy. War is bloody. And war is not fair. But we do know this: Israel is God’s nation. Israel is God’s people. 

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.” Genesis 15:18

We know the Hebrew people lost their land in 586 BC. Over 500 years before the Christ came to earth as fully God and fully man, the Hebrew people lost their land. They scattered all over the world. And this was prophesied.

I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Leviticus 26:33

The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. Deuteronomy 4:27

Make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. Psalm 106:27

I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.” Jeremiah 9:16

Why? Because of the sin of God’s people against His will.

They will know that I am the Lord when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries. Ezekiel 12:15

You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations. Psalm 44:11

I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. Ezekiel 22:15

For 2,500 years, the nation of Israel was ruled by foreigners: The Babylonian Empire, The Persian Empire, The Greek Empire, The Roman Empire, The Bystine Empire, The Arab Empire, The Mobic Empire, The British Empire. For all this time there was no Hebrew language. Even when Jesus came, He did not speak in the Hebrew language because it wasn’t the language spoken during that time. Well, He did a few times. But He mostly spoke in the language of the day. Jesus spoke in Arabic while He was on this planet. God scattered Israel to redeem them. And He promised that they would return to Him.

God said in the Old Testament book of the Bible Zechariah, I will return my people to my nation: Zechariah 8:1-23

In 1948, approximately 2,500 years after this was prophesied, God’s people, the nation of Israel, received their land again. On May 14, 1948, on the day in which the British Mandate over Palestine expired, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved a proclamation, declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The new state was recognized that night by the United States and three days later by the USSR.

God’s nation has been once again restored. But just as sin scattered them once, sin still remains until this day among the nations. So, we, His Church choose to watch. We too chose to welcome what is happening even now in Israel and around the world. And too, #3:

3. I weep.

Guys, it may seem somewhat ironic that I use the word “weep” directly after I use the word welcome. Let me try and explain ending with this extremely personal and intimate story. Earlier this year, the Lord encouraged me to change my prayer for Brynnan & Bailey! Amy and I will prayerfully watch for this day. Amy and I will one day welcome this day. And we too will weep over this day.

On the day that Jesus splits the sky, the trumpet sounds, and He calls His church home, as followers of Him, we too will watch for this day, we will welcome His return on this day and we will do so with weeping. We will weep with tears of joy. And we too will weep for those who, have not chosen to receive Him as Savior, and will forever be separated from Him and condemned to the lake of burning fire.

Remember, the: Nations = people.

I go unto the nations well when I allow my heart to weep for the nations who are lost.

Oh how I pray that I would weep, weep unto the nations with a heart that chooses to “go!”

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Jeffrey Dean Smith is a husband, father to Bailey & Brynnan, author, and the Senior Pastor at Donelson First in Nashville, TN. If you are in Music City, meet Jeffrey and enjoy iced tea on the front lawn each Sunday at 10:30a.