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4/30/08
I do not understand God.
I went on the street ministry outreach with three 18 year old boys from the center (Manuel, Ernesto, and David) and a woman pastor. We split into two teams in the city. My group went to a police station where we bribed the guards with bread to speak with some of the prisoners. (Bread and Bananas can get you into anywhere in Mozambique). They led us into a cell with eight men. We greeted them and the woman pastor shared the gospel of Jesus. She then asked me to share a word with the men. When we first entered the cell I prayed for the Holy Spirit to melt these men’s heart as they heard the word. I prayed that all eight men and three guards would surrender their lives to the Lord. I sat down on the concrete with the men and shared my story with them. I told them everything the Spirit laid on my heart. Seven of the men got on their knees with me, confessed their sins, pronounced belief in Christ’s salvation, and received the Spirit as we laid hands on them. I don’t understand how God works! I don’t know why some hearts melt when they hear the word and some hearts harden as the eighth prisoners heart did. He got angry and started yelling at us as we shared Jesus. He was angry to the point that he would not even accept the bread we offered him (a big statement for a hungry man). I don’t know much about God, but I do know this: He is good and who are we to question the justice of our creator. Paul responds to this in the book of Romans.
“What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For He says to Moses, “I will have compassion on whom I have compassion”. – Romans 9:14-15 (see all Romans 9 for more on pre-destination)
Does not the potter have a right to do what He wants with His clay!
“Blessed is the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Mathew 5:3
It does not matter if you have great wealth or great poverty when it comes to the kingdom of heaven. But rather, are you poor in spirit? So what does it mean to be poor in spirit?
It means to be needy and desperate for Jesus. It means to get on your knees and beg for some of Him. Being poor in spirit is the same as being poor monetarily, except you need Jesus instead of money. Jesus said blessed are those that yearn for me, that need me, and depend on me for life. We are all broken people but the poor in spirit are the ones who admit their brokeness and are shameless to bow all that they are before Lord.
One of the days in Mexico City we received a lecture on liberation theology from a proffesor at the Lutheran Seminary on the outskirts of Mexico City. Sergio, the professor, was an excellent orator with a passionate, soothing tone. He spoke of the origins of Liberation Theology which made the ideas a lot easier to understand. The theology was born out of poverty. It was born in response to the conditions most of the world lives in. Some that he taught I agreed with, like his explanation of Hermeneutics. This is the discipline of interpreting scripture. The four steps described were: 1) see 2) judge 3) act 4) celebrate. This makes so much more sense than what many of us do which is see, judge, and celebrate. We so often forget about the acting. We see what is true in scripture, we judge that areas in our inner/outer lives need to change, we don’t act, and then we celebrate Jesus on Sunday. Where is our action to alleviate the suffering of the world. How can we see poverty, judge that it is sin, do nothing about it, then celebrate Jesus. Jesus is the one who called us to go to the suffering and give them a drink, food, and clothing. Now I know there are some reading this saying I do go and alleviate the suffering of the poor and oppressed, and don’t get me wrong, I think that is great. But join me in prayer to Jesus asking how much Lord? How much do you want of my life? And when we ask that of the Lord His response will always be, all of you. I don’t know what that looks like for each of us, and for everyone the Lord has a different plan and purpose. But the important part is that we be completely open to whatever the Lord has for us individually. As long as our hearts are completely surrendered to Him, that is exactly where He wants us to be. I know I don’t want to be like the rich young man who came to Jesus and had followed all of the commandments and asked Jesus what should I do Lord to obtain eternal life? Jesus knew this man’s motive, to give and do the least amount possible and still be saved. But this is not what God is after. He is after all of you. And as Jesus replied give all your money away and follow me, the rich young man went away sad for that was the one thing he was unwilling to part with. I am not telling you to go and give all your money away, but if Jesus told you to, would you do it joyfully or would you be sad for deep down you cherish your material security more than Jesus’ security?
One of my goals recently has been to memorize scripture, but I don’t just want to know what scripture says so I decided to have a scripture for every week. A couple weeks ago my verses of the week were 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. The verses many of us know come right after these known as the “love verses”. ie: love is patient, love is kind, etc. But most of us don’t know what precedes the “love verses”. Verses 1-3 say: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all the mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but dot have love, it profits me nothing.” Prior to my time with this scripture I was holding the idea that the advanced Christian life was Great Spiritual Works. I thought that miracles of healing, prophecy, visions, dreams, and revival were the output of a deeper relationship with Jesus. Two things have changed in my mind. One, that this previous list of Great Spiritual Works can and will be poured out on anyone who is willing, open and desperate for Jesus. And two, that the deeper life in Jesus = love. God can grant us spiritual gifts of all kinds, but without His love pouring through us it is empty. Without His love in our hearts it is merely an act, an act of God for sure, but what He desires is for our heart to be changed. He want us to be transformed as He pours out through us to transform our world.
I wrote this as a gift for our Mexico City mission team on the last day of the trip. I wrote it in response to the many different ideas we heard throughout our stay in Mexico City. Here it is:
We disagree. The body of Christ disagrees. Jesus told us we were a body. He told us this to explain that we all have different parts. The feet are used for walking, the hands are used for making things, the mind is made for thinking. The arm does not say that because the leg is different to get rid of it. The body would not fully work if it did. Instead it understands that every part has its use and is needed. We as a body of Christ need to do the same. We are all different, with many different ways of viewing theology and ministry, but despite our differences we are called to work together as one. Even if I differ in many ways from a brother or sister we can find our similarity in our Lord Jesus Christ and serve and worship together. Like a body needs all the different parts to function, so too does the church. We need our differences to be complete. Jesus Christ chose His church, so let us trust that He chose for a purpose. A body has enough challenges from outside itself, let us stop the internal was and unite for what our ultimate purpose is: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
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