So, Send I You....
Like to travel? Enjoy exotic foods and people? Want to have other people pay for you to
live out your dreams? Do you love to live life on the edge of your seat, just waiting for
the next adventure to start? Then try missions! What do you have to lose?!?!
If that was the missions pitch at your church this weekend, how many people do you
think would sign up? Probably more than a missions agency could handle. While those
exact words are not normally used during missions emphasis months, those
expectations are held by more people than you would think who express an initial
interest in missions. No, I’m not saying that people who express a burden for missions
are just in it for the adventure. I’m sure that they are experiencing a call they believe to
be from the Lord. The reality that I am proposing is that there are some who begin their
journey into missions based on an emotional high and hunger for sanctified adventure.
Now, the pendulum swings both ways. While some today may over market the
adventure of missions, there was a time when the suffering aspect of missions was
highlighted. In 1954, what would be considered one of the finest missionary hymns of
the twentieth century was penned. That was when 22-year-old Margaret Clarkson wrote
the song “So Send I You”. For years to come whenever a missionary family was sent
out by a local church, that song was sure to be sung. If you are not familiar with the
original version of this hymn, here is a brief overview of its origin.
Clarkson grew up in Toronto at a time when jobs were scarce. In her earlier years, she
found herself in the far north working in lumber camps and gold mines just to make
ends meet. Reflecting on those early years in the far north she said that she
experienced the deepest mental, physical, and spiritual loneliness imaginable. She
found herself in an area where there was no Bible teaching or Christian fellowship, and
only one or two scattered Christians with whom to engage. While studying through the
20th chapter of John, she came across the phrase, “so send I you”. Reflecting on her
own loneliness and hardships, she drafted a poem that would later become the original
version of the song we know today as “So Send I You.” Here are a few lines from the
song.
So send I you to labor unrewarded, To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown, to
bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing — So send I you, to toil for Me alone. So send
I you — to bind the bruised and broken, O’er wand’ring souls to work, to weep, to wake,
to bear the burdens of a world a-weary — So send I you, to suffer for My sake.
Encouraging, right? While the words to this song are a reality experienced by many
missionaries, they do not make the most attractive slogan for modern-day mobilization.
It’s almost like going to a missions conference with this presentation:
Who wants to sign up to go to a foreign country where you don’t know anyone, don’t
speak the language, and will feel like a child having to be taught how to do things like
buy groceries? Sounds pretty awesome right? If that were the sales pitch at your church
missions conference this year, I doubt anyone would be quick to enlist.
My family and I served as overseas missionaries for about 10 years. When my family
and I were initially sent out to be missionaries in Liberia, West Africa, you guessed it,
this song was slowly sung as we were heroically sent out. To be honest, for years I kind
of hated this song. As a young missionary, I thought... well that is a bummer! Are my
wife and I along with our 4 little kids really being sent out to unrewarded labor, unsought
rebuke, suffer, scorn, and scoffing? I don’t remember all of that being in the brochure.
One thing that the song does well is present the reality that the unbelieving world is a
harsh place to stand firm for Christ. But what Clarkson’s original version of “So Send I
You” did not address was what was to keep a missionary on the field when faced with all
of those harsh realities.
Those harsh realities are faced by missionaries around the world every day. When we
arrived on the field, it was not as we had expected it to be. Our past experiences and
romantic memories of missions trips are what helped to fuel the fire which helps us get
to the field. But, once we arrived what we really needed was to learn what would keep
us on the field now that we were there. Our family experienced pain, suffering, and
hardships. What kept us? It wasn’t our love for the people. It wasn’t our love for the
location. It wasn’t our enthrallment with having the title missionary. What would keep us
on the field was our love for God and the knowledge that He had called us to serve for
His glory and that He had placed us exactly where He wanted us. What encouraged us
was knowing that it was by God’s grace that the ministry would triumph. Knowing Christ
was the one who had conquered gave us the ability to boldly proclaim His Truth without
fear.
In 1963, after gaining more life experience and contact with real-life missionaries,
Clarkson saw that her poem didn’t tell the whole story of missions. She had focused
only on the hardships and suffering of the missionary call but none of its joys and
blessings. Clarkson decided that her original song needed to be updated so in 1963 “So
Send I You by Grace” was released.
1963 version: So send I you — by grace made strong to triumph O’er hosts of hell, o’er
darkness, death and sin, My name to bear and in that name to conquer — So send I
you, My victory to win. So send I you – to take to souls in bondage The Word of Truth
that sets the captive free To break the bonds of sin, to loose death’s fetters — So send I
you, to bring the lost to Me.
This updated version is wonderful. It expresses the reality that we are to go as
ambassadors for Christ boldly proclaiming His grace to the world. Clarkson expressed
well the truth that God’s Word is the only Truth that sets captives free and breaks the
bondage of sin. Even in the face of the hardest trials, Christ's name is proclaimed and
the lost are pointed to Christ
Are you considering missions? I hope you are. Are you considering becoming more
active in your community for Christ? I hope so. If you are considering missions, let me
do you this service and tell you that hardships, difficulties, and heartache awaits. It’s a
reality with which you have to wrestle. The better reality to wholeheartedly embrace is
that when we are sent out, we are sent out being strengthened by the grace of God, we
are sent out armed with the inspired Word of God, and we are sent out bearing the
name of Christ in whose presence darkness, sin, and death are overcome. Our love for
God is what drives us to experience hardships, if necessary, to see His kingdom
proclaimed. The gospel of Jesus Christ is beautiful. Christ is worthy of all glory and
honor and the proclamation of His Truth is the core that drives ministry.
So Send I you to labor in God's vineyard. By God’s grace, we strive to seek the lost.
When we toil for Christ, we never find ourselves alone. We are equipped by the Holy
Spirit for battle and in Jesus' name, the victory is won.