Sacrifices For God – On the Death of 27-year-old Missionary John Allen Chau

Gospel

11And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

– Revelation 12:11

8The disciples *said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and yet You are going there again?”

– John 11:8
(NASB® © 2020)

“They have not loved their lives to the death!” (Rev 12:11)

The week before last, on Friday, November 16, 2018, the 27-year-old American missionary John Allen Chau died on the beach of the Indian island of North Sentinel Island. He wanted to help the unreached Sentinelese tribe. The tribe, notorious for their violence, shot him with their arrows and then dragged his body across the beach. In the early morning, he wrote the following lines to his parents and friends:

“Bryan and Mary, Mum and Dad,

You may think I’m crazy, but I think it’s worth bringing the name of Jesus to these people.

Please don’t be angry with them or against God if I should be killed—but live your lives in obedience to what He has called you to do, and I will see you again when you enter through the curtain. You do not need to retrieve my body.

This is not pointless—the eternal lives of the people of this tribe are at stake, and I can’t wait to see them around the throne of God in their own language, just as Revelation 7:9-10 says.

I love you all and pray that none of you love anything in this world more than Jesus Christ.

SOLI DEO GLORIA (To God alone be the glory)

John Chau

On November 16, 2018, 6:20 AM

North Sentinel Island”

He had already been attacked by the tribal warriors the day before. An arrow hit his Bible, which he had been holding to his chest. Nevertheless, John Allen Chau decided to return the next day. The love of Christ urged him. He was sure that God had called him to reach these people with the gospel. This desire had been in his heart for several years. Now, he was ready to be obedient to the Great Commission, even if it cost him his life. It is reminiscent of Paul’s words: “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

What would we have advised him to do? The disciples of the Lord Jesus could not believe that He deliberately put Himself in mortal danger: “Rabbi, the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” (John 11:8). The Lord Jesus knew that His path was leading Him straight to the city that kills God’s prophets and “stones those who are sent to her” (Luke 13:34). But He set His face like a flint (Isaiah 50:7), for He looked to “the joy that was set before Him” (Heb 12:2).

John Allen Chau had his eyes firmly fixed on heaven and eternity. It was his burning desire that one day, people from the Sentinelese tribe would also worship their Creator for all eternity. He paid the highest price for this.

Most Christians will not have to pay for their service to the Lord with their lives. And yet, “By this, we know love because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

What sacrifice are you making so that people will hear about Jesus Christ?

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