Read at Your Own Risk

Read at Your Own Risk

I have had the privilege of reading many, many books in my life. Of them, there is a short list that, in my opinion, should come with a warning label. The label would say something like this, “WARNING. READING THIS BOOK WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK AND LIVE! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!” While on a personal retreat recently, I read such a book. It was called Ramblings from North Africa, and was written by an American missionary, his wife and a Peruvian co-worker.

Ramblings from North Africa is a brief autobiographical sketch of a missionary’s first year in the Maghreb, a region of North Africa that includes Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. It is formatted as a series of dated entries in a journal or on a blog, with separate sections for the missionary, his wife, and their South American co-laborer. Sounds simple enough, right? So what makes it risky reading?

First, this is a story about calling and perseverance. God has called them to one of the most difficult mission fields in the world. The writers rarely complain directly, the difficulties are rather felt and understood through the reading. Consider:

• a country where it is illegal to convert to another faith,
• a country where it is illegal to share another faith,
• a country where it is illegal to possess a Bible in the native language,
• a country where everyone, by law, shares a faith historically antagonistic to Christianity.

These are the institutional obstacles to their work. Now add the cultural obstacles, such as:

• a language that is one of the most difficult in the world to learn,
• local assemblies that live in fear and mistrust any foreigner,
• Muslim neighbors and friends who are constantly trying to convert you.
• the standard missionary fare: strange food, strange customs, strange attitudes, strange laws, strange everything,
• a housekeeper who stops in the middle of her day to recite prayers toward Mecca,
• and on and on…

The way these young people deal with these issues reveals a great deal about their call. They are willing to look foolish, sound foolish, yeah, even be foolish for the sake of the very people who are abusing them. Although fear lurks around them, their refusal to surrender to it is a testimony to the grace of God that brought them there and keeps them there. Knowing the risk, they witness, pass out Bibles, meet as a church. They don’t put up billboards, but they do share Christ (the fact that their names are omitted from both the book and this article is just simple precaution). They refuse to let fear rule their ministry.

Second, this book is powerful in its openness. These little glimpses into the lives of these missionaries reveal them to be people, no more and no less. They are servants of the Most High God, doing what He would have them do. They resist the fear, they call out unto God, they experience frustration and they fail. They sometimes succumb to the temptation of the flesh to scream out, “But what about me?!” And each time, with the Lord’s help, they get up and go on.

And God is blessing them. The real bulk of the book is made up of how God is working through them to reach Muslims in North Africa. Real stories of how Muslims are being reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ right now. How they’re growing and learning. How they are standing and witnessing. Frequently the methods are unorthodox, but the results are pure Spirit of God. These brothers will send e-mails to 10,000 Muslims, inviting them to request a Bible, then spend 20 hours on trains and buses to deliver it in person. Reading through this journal, you cannot help but be deeply impacted by the progress they have made in one year, and by the fact this is truly a long-term investment.

Finally, this book is most powerful in the realization that it could have been written by me or you. I happen to have met this couple, and I know beyond any shadow of a doubt they love God. They love Him and they are surrendered to Him. They spent time preparing, and now they are in a “closed” country sharing Jesus. They are special, but they aren’t any more special than you and me.

Our dear brother, in the preface for the book, listed his purposes for writing it.

1) For future missionaries (whether you know it or not) who will be helped by knowing some of our struggles and victories, mistakes and successes. I wish I could have known what things we would likely face before arriving.

2) For Pastors who send their young people to Muslim fields. The Pastor has the charge to lead his people into the battlefields and support with understanding those sent ones.

3) The church member who is passionate about missions. We hope you find that we are just normal people like you who are privileged to work in missions full time.

4) For college students who are praying about what God wants them to do with their lives and where he wants them to do it. We hope your heart will break like ours for the 1.3 billion Muslims. They are the greatest challenge in missions today.

5) For supporters who we want to thank for your love, prayers and financial gifts to allow us to live out Christ’s love for Muslims. We hope you can know us personally and our joint mission better through this book.

I am confident the book will serve all these purposes, and more. I came away from the book with a renewed sense of the greatness of God, a renewed vision for a world I had previously considered by and large unreachable, and an intense desire to be used of God where I am now. Like I said, read at your own risk.

Just a servant,

Bro. Tom

Copies of the book may be obtained from:

Our Generation Training Center

(770) 456-5881

PO Box 442, Alpharetta, GA 30009

Truth is Eternal

Borrowing Money

The following question was recently brought to me.

Question: Based on 1 Corinthians 7:20-23, would it be accurate to say that someone called to full-time service for Christ cannot take on debt?

1Co 7:20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
1Co 7:21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
1Co 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

For the sake of clarifying the question, I understand it was asked in the light of Proverbs 22:7, “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”

It appears the question is based on a misunderstanding of the context of the passage in 1 Corinthians 7. A more careful reading of the verses immediately preceding the passage in question reveals the “servant” and “freeman” refer to status at the moment of salvation and are not related to any specific calling to service. The context of the passage is a discussion of a believing spouse with an unbelieving partner. In giving instruction, Paul tells them to remain in the situation in which you came to Christ (v. 17, 20). Were you uncircumcised when you were saved? Stay that way (v. 18). He extends the possible situations to those who were slaves when they were saved (called). Verse 20 admonishes his readers not to seek to alter their earthly status, whether slave (v. 21) or free. In any case, they are no longer men’s servants, but Christ’s (v. 22). Whether you are a slave of free man is really no longer the issue, for you are now the purchased possession of the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter how society views you (v. 23). The passage really has no bearing on the question asked. So, based on 1 Corinthians 7:20-23, it would not be accurate to say that someone called to full-time service for Christ cannot take on debt, as the passage says nothing about either full-time service or debt.

That is not to say, however, there are no principles in Scripture that will help us answer the question. In considering the question apart from the passage in 1 Corinthians, it becomes, “Should someone who is called to the Lord’s service take on debt?” Frequently interpreters will take the position, based on Proverbs 22:7 (and Romans 13:8 out of context), that one should not be in a position of debt to anyone. While the Bible clearly describes the advantages of avoiding debt and the disadvantages of being in debt, there is no Scriptural command, “Don’t borrow money.” In fact, God uses the law to give instructions to His people concerning borrowing and lending (Exodus 22:5; Lev. 25:36-37; Deut. 15:8; 23:19-20; 24:10-13). On condition of obedience, Israel is promised to be the lender rather than the borrower (Deut. 15:6; 28:12-13). In Psalm 112:5, we are told that a good man lends (see also Psalm 37:26). Jesus instructed His disciples to lend to their enemies (Luke 6:36). In 2 Kings 4:1, the record of the prophet’s widow who was in debt, God provided sufficient to pay the debt with no condemnation of the widow’s state. One might conclude that God, rather than strictly forbidding borrowing and lending (which He certainly could have done) chose rather to endow it with Christian principles.

Now, on the other hand, the Scriptures also provide guidance concerning the ramifications of being in debt. Besides making us the servant of the lender (Proverbs 22:7), debt is used in the law as an indication of the displeasure and judgment of God on His people (Deut. 28:44). When considering the effects of debt on Christian service, perhaps Proverbs 22:3 gives better guidance: “A prudent man forseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” Every Christian (not only those called to full-time service) limits his or her ability to respond to the prompting of God’s Spirit by being deeply in debt. As a result, any long term commitments should be carefully and prayerfully undertaken.

Can God bless a Christian who borrows money? Of course He can. He can and he does. Is every instance of borrowing indicative of a lack of faith or in clear violation of the will of God? Absolutely not. God can supply funds supernaturally and He does regularly. He can also heal supernaturally and give the gift of tongues to anyone He chooses. But rather than do so, he most frequently chooses to work through the medical system and language schools. A Christian (or a church) who carefully and prayerfully borrows money is no more demonstrating a lack of faith that one who goes to the doctor.

Just a servant,

Bro. Tom

A time for fasting...

"And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast."

In Matthew 9:15, Jesus says of the disciples, "when the bride groom shall be taken from them, then they shall fast. The discipline of fasting, long regarded as a stalwart of the Christian faith, has of late suffered from serious neglect. It seems we fundamentalists (evangelicals) have assigned fasting to the ascetics. In casting out their lifestyle as meaningless legalism and ritual, we have also done despite to fasting. My friends, these things ought not to be so.
Fasting is a useful spiritual discipline for any believer, and now, the beginning of a new year, is an opportune moment to seek God in fasting and prayer. But before beginning, it might be useful to remind ourselves of a few things that fasting is and isn’t.
First, fasting is not simply ritual. The oft-abused passage in Isaiah 58 is an example. In it, God declares:

Isa. 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

In this passage, the people of God have accused Him of being indifferent to their fasting (v. 3). They describe Him as not seeing their fasting and taking no notice when they afflicted themselves. God responds by telling them their fasting is of no value. In a time when they should be seeking Him, they continue to indulge their own lusts (v. 3) They continued to oppress their neighbors and live in rebellion to the revealed will of God (v. 4). God is incredulous; "Did they really think fasting with that type of heart was going to honor or invoke a response from Him (v. 5)?" Rather, God says, show justice and mercy to those in bondage (v. 6). Help the poor and hungry (v. 7). Then, in verses 8-14, God tells them the benefits of righteous living (which are not at all related to fasting):

8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

The point of the passage (many, many interpreters’ errors notwithstanding) is that ritual is no substitute for obedience. Fasting is not a bell on the celestial service counter that brings instant attention from the Almighty.

Second, fasting is not for show. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, briefly addresses fasting:

Matthew 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

The hypocrites put on a sad face and looked weak in order that others might recognize their high level spirituality. Jesus accorded them their reward, then gave instructions to one who would truly seek God in fasting. "Do it in secret, for God, and He will see it, and He will reward you."

So, why and how do we fast? I believe there are essentially only two reasons for fasting. The first is because I hunger for God. As His child, I long with all my heart to know Him better, to hear Him more clearly, to sit at His feet, to worship Him with my whole being. By crucifying the flesh, I free my spirit for communion with His Spirit.

The second reason is because I do not hunger for God (1). It is unfortunate that the good gifts of God can often overshadow the Giver. My life can be so consumed by things of little consequence that I am unable to focus on the One who is everything. Most of the diversions in our life are not wrong except they divert us from God Himself. Take note, in the parable of the sower, of the one who "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things enters in, chokes the word, and it becomes unfruitful - Mark 4:19." We fast that we might increase our desire for Him by decreasing our desire for His gifts.

Brothers and sisters, let us seek Him. Let us seek Him on behalf of ourselves, our families, our churches, and our nation. Let us seek Him with all of our strength. Let us seek Him in prayer and fasting.

Just a servant,

Bro. Tom

(1) With gratitude to John Piper, whose book "A Hunger for God" greatly influenced my thinking in this area.

Paraphrase of Isaiah 1:10-20

Hey, you bunch of queers, listen up! This is God speaking. Let’s give a little attention to what the Bible says, you hypocrites! Why do you even bother to come to church? I have had all I can stand of your "worship" services. I’ve had enough of your Sunday school. Who told you to do any of those things, anyway?

There’s no point in your even coming to me. I’ve had enough of your singing, your pious prayers and your "Bible" preaching. Your whole church service is disgusting. You’ve done enough Christmas cantatas and sunrise services. They just annoy me. I’m tired of listening to you.

When you pray, I will stop up my ears. When you look for me, I will hide my face. I won’t hear you. Your hands are full of the blood of lost sinners, desperate poor people and aborted babies.

Clean up your act! Change your ways! Repent! Stop doing evil! Learn to do right. Help the lost, the helpless, the orphans, the widows, the unfortunate and oppressed.

Come on guys! Listen to me! As bad as it is, if you just work with me, we can fix this thing. Although your sins are as wicked as Satan himself, I can make you clean. Though you be teetering on the edge of destruction, I can still save you.

If you’ll just come to me and work with me, I will save you and protect you. But if you don’t, you have only destruction and judgment to look forward to. That’s all I’ve got to say.

Waiting on God

It's a little bit eery sometimes to know something needs to be done and be unable to do it. In our case, the church is badly in need of additional space. We recently started a Sunday school class for married couples in the hallway. The first week it had twenty-four people in it. Now twenty-four people in the hallway may not have much meaning for you, but it tells me we need more education space.

Same is true of the parking lot. Two weeks ago a late comer had trouble finding a space, even with the Sunday school teachers parking on the grass.

Additionally, the church has never had a fellowship hall or a kitchen. Optional, you say? Well, I agree in principle, but they surely are convenient.

So....the latest survey shows we need (would like to have) about 14,000 square feet of building (combines fellowship hall with gym for Christian school). At $65 per square foot, it doesn't take long to figure out we're nearing the seven figure range. No problem, you say, just go get a loan.

Well, there is a problem. The Scripture is pretty clear concerning borrowing money. Debt is bondage (Proverbs 22:7). The borrower is servant to the lender. Well, then, if the head of the body (the church) is Jesus Christ, then should the body place itself in bondage to any other organization, say, a bank for instance. The answer is clearly no.

Well, if we need seven figures and we barely have six, how do we deal with it?

I see three options:

Downsize.
Wait.
Disobey.

Disobedience is out. Downsizing is possible but may not meet even the most immediate need. The final option is most unpalatable but most Scriptural. We pray...and wait.

He will be glorified in this and every other situation.

Just a servant,

Tom

Alternative Literacy?

Alternative literacy?

One statistic of great interest to missionaries is the literacy rate of a given country. The literacy rate is an estimate of what percentage of a population is able to read and write. The reason the statistic is important is readily apparent. If a nation or people group has a high level of literacy, then literature, such as tracts and books, can be a significant part of the outreach program. It means the people are able to read not only a gospel tract, but subsequent discipleship and training for ministry can use written material. If the population is largely made up of illiterates, then both evangelism and training must be approached from a completely different direction. In fact, many missionaries entering primitive cultures are required to teach their people to read, and some are even required to distill a heretofore unwritten language into written form. Then, and only then, can the Bible be translated and the people taught to read God’s word in their heart language.
It is an interesting fact that although the United States has a relatively high literacy rate, very few of us actually devote much time to reading. An article published by CNN/Money in 2004[1] quoted then NEA chairman Dana Goia telling the Associated Press, “It’s no longer a case of Johnny can’t read, it’s Johnny won’t read.” American Association of Publishers’ president Pat Schroeder attributes the decline in book reading to “all the other alternatives that compete for your time”. "The Internet, cable TV, and computer games, account for much more of the trend away from books," agrees another.
An alarmist would say we’re forgetting how to read! Actually, it’s not so. We know how to read. We do read when we must, but our preference as a nation is not to read. We still seek information; our information simply comes from sources other than hardcover books.
So what does this mean to the church? Some would say nothing, quoting (or misquoting) 1 Corinthians 1:21 and loudly proclaiming that the gospel is to be preached (orally) and anything else is unbiblical. They are convinced that anything other than “straight” preaching is using worldly methods for God’s work. They become indignant at the idea of using television, radio, drama, videos, web-sites, or even PowerPoint© displays in an attempt to reach a particular audience.
The answer may lie in our understanding of the purpose of any kind of media. Media, in whatever form, is used to link individual cognition with social phenomena. That is, media communicates the ideas of a culture or society to the individual members. Television is not anti-literacy. It is alternative literacy. Just as a book, it is a tool used to convey a message. In performing its function, it is a very effective tool.
When we returned from the mission field, I was immediately impressed with the great usefulness of two new tools, the cordless screwdriver and the cell phone. We already had both phones and screwdrivers, but for the vast majority of uses, these simply worked better.
Recently at Grace we have begun to utilize a number of tools to make our message clearer, more accessible, or more attractive. Like any tools, they cannot in and of themselves perform work; they simply enable us to work more effectively. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and the Bible does contain all truth necessary for our lives. These things do not and will not change. But the means to convey truth can change, and should change if we are to keep our communication relevant in a continuously evolving culture.
We are leaving the era of Christian radio. We are full in the midst of global internet access, podcasting, digital audio and video recording, cell phones and Blackberrys. We must recognize not only the opportunity, but the obligation to take the message of Christ and reach people wherever they are.
I heard another brother recently make the statement, “We have the greatest message in the universe. Why would we wrap it in toilet paper”. Why indeed?

Just a servant,

Bro. Tom

[1] Christie, L. Endangered, the American Reader. http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/09/news/bookreading/

Measurable Christianity?

I have recently spent some time studying what is known as a Christian Life Profile Assessment Tool. The idea here is that we can measure the level of our Christian maturity (spirituality) through the use of an objective assessment.

The assessment divides Christianity into what the authors call 30 Core Competencies. There are ten each under the categories of beliefs, practices and virtues. Beliefs are basic doctrinal issues such as the Trinity, Salvation by Grace, Authority of the Bible, etc. Practices include worship, prayer, Bible study, spiritual gifts, and others. Finally, virtues are those fruits which the Bible says should be readily evident in our Christian lives, such as love, joy, peace, patience, etc.

In the assessment, each individual is given 120 statements which they are to rate from 0 (does not apply at all) to 5 (applies completely). Thus, a sample statement might be, "I control my tongue". The examinee is then to determine whether this "does not apply to me" - 0, or it "applies to me completely" - 5. After rating every statement, he or she must total the scores to determine areas of the thirty core competencies where they have strengths (high scores) or weaknesses (low scores). Recognizing our propensity to sandbag, the assessment requires that each participant get ratings in the same areas from three additional people who are close to them and able to judge these areas. These assessments, call the "one another" assessments, are shorter (40 statements instead of 120) and are designed to be relatively easy to complete.

After one completes the assessments (self and one another), the totals are calculated, presumably giving a clear indication where spirituality is less than desired and giving guidance on which areas need work. Each person designs their own plan for improving their walk with God, then finds one or more people to be accountable to for the follow-up.


Taken as a whole, there are some very interesting aspects to this process, such as:
- can you measure spirituality?
- does this provide an artificial standard?
- is it legalism to try to "train" everyone to a minimum spiritual level?
- and others I haven't thought of yet.

At the same time, it is an intriguing possibility.

So, fellow bloggers, what think ye?