I read this at another site.
Other Sheep That Are Not of This Fold
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But God in his mercy has again and again made clear to his servants that his salvation is not the prerogative of any one group on earth.
Just when the Jewish disciples begin to feel like they are the real select heirs of Abraham, Jesus strikes in John 10:16: “I have other sheep, that are not of this fold”—among the Gentiles.
Just when the early American Puritans were settling in to their “chosen” status as the New Israel in the New England, Jesus said to John Eliot, “I have other sheep that are not of this Puritan fold—among the Algonquin Indians.” And 100 years later to David Brainerd, “I have other sheep that are not of this Congregational fold— among the Susquehanna.”
Just when the Particular Baptists of England were being frozen in the unbiblical ice of hyper-Calvinism, Jesus spoke to William Carey: “I have other sheep that are not of this English fold—in India.”
Just when the mission agencies and churches were growing content with the coastland successes around the world, Jesus stirred up Hudson Taylor, “I have other sheep that are not of this coastal fold—in the middle of China.” And to David Livingston: “In the middle of Africa.”
And just when all of western Christendom began to feel content in the 20th century that every country of the world had been penetrated with the gospel, Jesus came to Cameron Townsend, the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and said, “I have other sheep that are not of this visible worldwide fold—among the hidden tribal peoples, thousands of them with not even a portion of Scripture in their language.”
John 10:16 is the great missionary text in the Gospel of John: I have other sheep that are not of this fold! Every time we start to get comfortable with just us, it is like a thorn in the cushion on the pew. Every time a board of world missions begins to get comfortable with the ten or eleven fields where we are planting churches, John 10:16 is like a bugle call: I have other sheep in thousands of peoples yet unreached by the gospel.
[Thanks, Piper]
