Speaker: Dr Omar Djoeandy, National
Director SIM Australia
omar.djoeandy@sim.org.au
Scripture: Mark 8:31-38.
Dr Omar Djoeandy’s son asked, “The dads of
my friends lived in better houses, why didn’t you continue to practice as a
medical doctor in Australia, so that we can live in a better house?”
Dr Djoeandy replied, “Because it’s about
following Jesus and not about ourselves.”
His son then said, “You can just say that you follow
Jesus and do whatever you want.”
Can we say we follow Jesus and not follow in
His mission?
How does “following Jesus in His mission”
impact my life or people in our church?
l Relationships
l Ambition
l Lifestyle
l Priorities
l Choices
l Investments
Background of Dr Djoeandy:
l Chinese Indonesian Australian.
l Follower of Jesus since young.
l 16y.o.: convinced Jesus the only way, truth and
life, willing to be a missionary.
l He thought if he did medicine, he can practically
show the love of Jesus. Studied in UNSW med
1979-1984.
l MDiv at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of
Theology 1986-1990 (in Africa).
l 1989: Met Kay and married in 1990
l 1993-1997: Medical doctor GP.
l 1998-2003: Associate Pastor at Nairobi.
Jesus, “Come follow Me and I will make you
fishers of men. And they left their nets at once and followed him.” (Mark
1:17-18).
Have we left our nets to follow Jesus?
Occupation, security, etc.
For Peter, “leaving their nets” meant
leaving his identity and security!
Are we willing to leave our identity,
security and personal plans to fulfil the mission of Jesus?
Fight the temptation to follow Jesus on our
terms (our terms and conditions we’ve given to Jesus):
Mark 8:31-32: He then began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders,
chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after
three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside
and began to rebuke him.
Peter telling Jesus off! When was the last time
we told Jesus off/stop following Jesus? When life didn’t go well?
Mark 8:33: “Get behind me, Satan” he said.
“You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Reflection/Theory must be translated into
action: Reflection/Theory-Action upward spiral.
Whirlpool of self-absorption: struggles,
career, fears, lifestyle, mortgage, possessions. The world defines success
according to what you possess. Identify where you might be tempted to be
self-absorbed?
Jesus directly contradicts the world.
Luke 12:15: “Watch out! Be on your guard
against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of
possessions.”
Dependent upon God as children (more than
self-sufficiency).
Mark 8:34-36: “Whoever wants to be my
disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For
whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for
me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the
whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
Empowered to be Christ’s witnesses:
Jesus’ Mission for us is Acts 1:8: “you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.”
l Local
l Cross-cultural
l Global
l Simultaneously and life-long.
Where are you and your church being
Christ’s witnesses: local, cross-cultural and global?
The huge need can be overwhelming.
Action required “Just do it”:
l Pray
l Give
l Send
l Go
Motivation:
l Avoid guilt or fear: No, this motivation will
not last.
l Love for God and people: This will help us last
through ridicule and persecution.
Dr Djoeandy gave up his lifestyle, as a
doctor who can afford expensive hotels, to follow Jesus’ mission. Because Jesus
died for us.
Paul in 2Corinthians 5:14-15: “And he died
for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him
who died for them and was raised again.”
Jesus is worthy to be worshipped by all
nations.
More from Dr Djoeandy during the Transform lunch
session:
Identifying two or three areas where you
would like to hear God more clearly about God’s “mission impossible” for you:
Reflection/Theory-Action upward spiral: Action:
here and now. For example, if you feel you have a calling for the Middle East,
you can first take baby steps and get to know the Middle Eastern people in
Sydney!
Ephesians 2:8-10: For it is by grace you
have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us
to do.
SHAPED:
l A way of trying to find out what you are suited
to do: Spiritual gifts; Heart; Abilities; Personality; Experience; Daring
factor.
l Gifts: Gift of singing is probably the only
gift you know quite early on whether you got or not. Other gifts need to be
developed: just because you did it badly the first few times doesn’t mean you
don’t have the gift. For example, the first time Dr Djoeandy preached, a deacon told him he had no gift in preaching. A few years later, when he preached again in the same congregation, the same deacon seemed to have forgotten what he said several years back and told him how great the sermon was.
l Heart: What is worth waking up in the morning
for
l Personality: don’t pay as much attention to
this part as this is sometimes the least influential part. Introvert can make
public speeches, extrovert can still be good listeners.
l Daring factor (a spectrum): War zone; Bold-extreme
risks; Ok with risks; Average; Cautious; Petrified
l Admit your fears
Living beyond yourself:
l Your “SHAPED”
l Your church’s vision and “SHAPED”
l Needs and opportunities
l Fruit and Responsiveness
l Mission organisations
l Intangible God factor: God’s power in weakness
In community:
l You cannot do it alone.
l Paul always functions in community.
l God is not after superman.
Personal thoughts and reflections:
I found it very impressive that this week’s mission
representative, Dr Djoeandy, was willing to go to Africa to studying his MDiv
degree two years after finishing his medical degree! It seems like he had a
love for people right from the outset, because he mentioned the reason why he
chose to do medicine was that he thought if he did medicine, he can practically
show the love of Jesus. In my teenage years, my initial reason for choosing to
do medicine was a lot more self-centred than his! I felt very challenged by Dr
Djoeandy’s talks. A few years back, I might be burning with a greater passion
for missions than I am right now: was it because I had greater faith back then,
or because I had greater ignorance? As I see more and more of the stark contrasts
between ideologies and the realities of serving in ministry, I feel somewhat
like the rich young man in Mark 10:17-31! Yet, simultaneously there is an
unsettledness in my heart that I need to go out. When we think about what God
is calling us to do, we can probably can ask the "who, what, when, where, how" questions, but Dr Djoeandy reminds us it’s the “who” that is the most
important, because this is about people. The call has to be “the impossible”,
so we can give credit to God. My personality seems to be the “impossible” type
for missions and evangelism because I am introverted, find it uncomfortable
talking with strangers, find it very draining to get deeply involved with
interpersonal relationships, get panicky when I have to speak to a large group
of people, lived in so many countries in the process of growing up that I find it hard to develop a sense of belonging anywhere, and there doesn’t seem to be any ministry tasks which I seem to be
especially gifted in. Dr Djoeandy tells us that he is extremely introverted and
able to do what he is doing now by the power of God, and that the personality
part of the SHAPED tool is probably the least influential part, since God is
able to use any type of personalities for His works. Instead of focusing on my
own inadequacy like the ten out of twelve spies to Canaan, I have to keep
praying to God, being honest with what I am afraid of, staying focused on God, being willing to be used by God, and asking the Holy
Spirit to help me step out in action.
