(upbeat music) - Pastor John, we have an increasing amount of questions coming in from missionaries out in the field, and this is one from Brent, who's in China. He asks, quote, "Can a missionary lie "in order to do ministry in a closed or persecuted country? "For example, can he sign a statement saying "he agrees to obey the laws of that country "when he actually plans to break some of them, "particularly religious-based ones," end quote.

What would you say to him, Pastor John? - I would say no. I don't think you should lie in order to get into a country, especially something as blatant as signing a statement that you intend to do what you don't intend to do. Now, having said that, the reason I say that is because I think that kind of distortion of reality and manipulation of the facts will undermine your witness, it will undermine your courage, it will undermine the Lord of truth that you serve, and will probably backfire pretty profoundly.

However, here's the less clear part. There are other issues in how a person describes what they're doing in a country, because unbelievers cannot grasp entirely the real meaning of gospel grace, the real meaning of what you're there for, so that there are things that you're gonna say they're not gonna be able to grasp, and in a sense, then, you're not telling them all that's true because they can't grasp all that's true.

If you say, "I am here to bless your people, "to love your people, to do good to your people," you mean both the physical things and the spiritual realities, and they may not be able to grasp that whole package, and I don't think it would be wrong to say something like that.

So I don't want to be naive about the kinds of things that need to be said by missionaries that are true, and yet not able to communicate the whole truth to an unbeliever who, even if he used different words about salvation, wouldn't even know what you were talking about.

They wouldn't be able to grasp that. - Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast. Send your questions to us via email at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. Please include your first name and your hometown. You can find thousands of other free resources online from johnpiper@desiringgod.org. I'm your host, Tony Reiki.

Thanks for listening. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)