Your Not Home Yet — Rich Mullins

The Missionary Who Was Not Home Yet

I'll tell you one little story before we go. I think about this story a lot when I'm in Missouri because I have to meet that missionary that was from Missouri. He was from Joplin. And he lived a good bit of his adult life in Burma, working with some of the hill tribes up there.

And he was coming home after having been gone maybe 20 years or so. He wrote his family and said, Now I'm going to be getting into San Francisco at such and such a time. If you can get out there and meet me, that would be great.

And if you can't, then you can meet me in St. Louis because I'll be getting off the train there. If you don't pick me up, I'll just go ahead and take the train to St. Louis. But I can't wait to see you.

The Anthropologist's Challenge to the Missionary's Faith

So he got on the boat to come back to the United States. And God, in his generous mercy, put him on a boat with an anthropologist. And anthropologists and missionaries just love to argue. They need each other.

Because other people don't argue as good as they do. And they argued all the way across the ocean. The anthropologist said that the missionary had wasted his life. He said, You've spent your life on people who don't want you.

They don't want your faith. And now you're going to go home to a family who has forgotten you. And has probably forgotten the faith. And what does your life amount to? And Mr. Moore said, No, you wait.

When we get to San Francisco, when I get home, there's going to be a party. Because my family loves me. I've got a church back there that's supported me for years. And they're going to be there to meet you.

Disappointment at San Francisco and St. Louis

And when they pulled into San Francisco Harbor, and the harbor was lined with people all waving flags and hooting and hollering and everything. Well, what they found out was the president was on that boat.

And the anthropologist up in first class looked down at Mr. Morris in passenger class and said, See, I told you. Mr. Morris looked back up and said, Well, you know, buddy, I'm not home yet. So he got on the train to go to St. Louis, and lo and behold, that anthropologist was on the train.

And God, in his great mercy, not only let them argue all the way across the ocean, but he gave them half a continent to argue across, too. And they got to St. Louis. Mr. Morris said, Yes, my family will be there to pick me up.

I know that. And when they got there, there wasn't a soul in the train station. And the anthropologist said, See, I told you. Mr. Morris said, Yeah, but what you don't get is this. I'm not home yet. So Mr. Morris took what money he had and got a bus to Joplin.

The Empty Church and the Missionary's Final Disappointment

And he thought, You know, Sherry's son has come up and they couldn't get away, so Sherry, they'll meet me in Joplin. He went ahead and said, I'll be getting home. Such and such a time. Well, he got off the bus in Joplin, and no one was at the station yet.

But it was a Sunday night. And he thought, I'll bet they're over at the church, and they're working on a fellowship and all their sermons, and they're having this great feast for me. They forgot to pick me up.

So I'll just walk over to the church and surprise them. So Mr. Morris walked over to the church. And the funniest thing happened. When he got there, the doors were all locked. There were no lights on.

It was completely empty. And he thought, Wow. Well, maybe they didn't come to church because maybe they were waiting at my house. So he walked about two or three miles with his luggage to get to his house, see his family, his friends, his church that had supported him.

What he didn't know was that he had never gotten any of his letters or any of his letters. And the whole church was visiting another church about five miles west of there, having a big fellowship and all that.

God’s Faithfulness Beyond Our Circumstances

And his family, of course, being good, devout Christians, were at that meeting. When he got home, no lights on. The doors were locked. And he sat down on the steps of his home and he said, Oh God. His apologist was right.

I have spent my life loving people who did not want me there. And I came home to people who I thought loved me. And they had forgotten me altogether. He sat down on the steps and began to cry. And the Lord looked back and said, Oh, Mr. Morris, you're not home yet.

But folks, someone's got a long way to go. And good work of you. And even though we fail, God is faithful. So you don't have to live your life in fear. Sin is a grievous thing. And anyone who denies the gravity of sin makes a mockery of the suffering of Christ.

The Gravity of Sin and the Suffering of Christ

But anyone who looks at the suffering of Christ and thinks that it is not greater than the depth of our sin has not seen the greatness of what he did. So I'll leave you this evening with the greeting that the angel gave to just about every character in the Bible except for Mary, who is the mother of our Lord.

Maybe because Mary didn't need to hear what the angel had to say to everybody else. But the angel said, Go out there and live. And live in the awareness of a resurrected Christ. Who is greater than all the forces of this world.

Living in the Victory of the Resurrected Christ

And is greater than all of our weaknesses combined. Fear God. Love your son. Frequently. Praise God from the heavens.