Table Of Contents 1 2 3 4 5
Editorial ............................................... p.2 Oh, Men of Little Faith!.......... p.5 Faith and Experience .............. p.8 Faith Pronouncement ............ p.12 Capitalizing Ministry.................. p.16
Christian Thought Series Mar-Apr 2015 Vol.12 Issue 04 Published by :
DISCIPLES FOR CHRIST
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Editorial... When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8
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hould columns in this series successively bring out issues of a certain kind, which, I am afraid, result in a morbid feeling of pessimism in the minds of the readers? Therefore, a popular demand could be: “Why not write something which might bring encouragement and nurture us spiritually?” True, good writing must help a serious reader in so many ways. For reasons of spiritual hunger, one should not gobble up everything as it comes along. Instead, it must raise oneself above mere sensationalism. Nurturing involves providing that which is good and removing the bad. Sometimes a bitter pill is good! What we read need not give us an instant spiritual-kick. I wonder, if most of our religious-stuff of what we read, hear or watch on the TV are just mood enhancers? Are they simply, ‘hope-for-the-best’, yet hopeless stimulants that do not work for long? God’s word has a way of hurting and breaking, but soon mends and heals the wound. This kind of process is slow but stable. On the other hand, anything that is termed spiritual nowadays seems to offer a quick-heal. In fact, it has a temporary anesthetic
effect. Here is what Jeremiah had to say: “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious (Jer.8:11)”. And for that matter, majority of Sunday-preaching is a quick fix band-aid on a wound that might result in septicemia. The communists have blamed as if our religion opiates us to the level of emotionalism - no, they meant spiritual drunkenness! Most of us do not seem to stand for realism. We camouflage behind some sort of spiritualism. Christ or His Word, do not encourage a believer to wallow into pseudo-spirituality. But this is where most of us are found to be in! For reasons either known or undiscovered, we have been into this for too long. If you and I are being honest with ourselves, we must humbly recognize and accept the fact that we live in a time in which the spiritual standard of an average Christian remains at its lowest ebb. You may ask why. Perhaps, it could be that truth is being bought or bartered for a mere fable. Truth is diluted and watered down to suit the convenience of the masses.
Knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a man’s heart. It is a relationship in which God, so to speak, takes them on to His staff, to be henceforth His fellow-workers and personal friends. - J.I. Packer.
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And for that matter, Christian faith is available for the asking! It costs almost nothing. Paul sounded this alarm two thousand years ago. He said: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers, to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Faith is at stake. Fantasy takes on centre-stage. Religions of the world teach self-absorption, so does Christian faith. “There is nothing more irreligious than self-absorbed religion”, says J.I Packer in his book: Knowing God. He further argues: “God does not exist for our ‘comfort,’ or ‘happiness,’ or ‘satisfaction,’ or to provide us with ‘religious experiences,’ as if these were the most interesting and important things in life. It is also necessary to stress that anyone who, on the basis of ‘religious experiences,’ “Saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him’ (l John 2:4; cf verses 9, 11, 3:6, 11, 4:20).” J.I. Packer makes a distinction here: “We must not lose sight of the fact that knowing God is also an emotional relationship, as well as an intellectual
and volitional one, and could not indeed be a deep relation between persons were it not so. The believer is, and must be, emotionally involved in the victories and vicissitudes of God’s cause in the world, just as Sir. Winston’s personal staff were emotionally involved in the ups and downs of the war. The believer rejoices when his God is honoured and vindicated, and feels the acutest distress when he sees God flouted.” To say that I believe in God must also qualify what I believe that God to be. Is He the Creator, Sustainer and Saviour of all mankind? Does my faith talk about a God who is Sovereign? If my understanding or belief about God is right, then everything else is set in order. The God I worship, isn’t He the One who is omnipotent (all -powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (present everywhere)?
How real is this God to me? In the Person of Christ, He has made himself to be very real. With Him, I interact every moment. If not, God is just a myth, a concept or an idea. God is not a principle or a philosophical thought. Religious fanatics cannot play their juggernauts through mental manipulation or psychological or emotional black-mailing – even a spiritual brain-washing! God cannot be reduced to an ideologue filled with myths or miracles. You and I cannot go on If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, with Him in this way for too what will become of the ungodly and the long. Is God evading your moves? Does He appear to sinner ? (1 Pet.4:18).
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be a “Deceptive Brook,” as Jeremiah laments (Jer.15:18)? Have you raised similar questions anytime before God? Perhaps, you have not seen Him. Very well. Yet, something makes it so sure that you have known Him – sort of too well – to be sureunchanging, loving, forgiving Lord and Master. True faith indeed! Now again, to the basic question: Is He Real? Yes or No? Shout out and say, Alleluia. He lives – you and I are living witnesses to this kind of faith in God. Now, you cannot alter this factrather, it is the truth. Let people say what they want. Let them call you and me a religious bigot – and brand as those who are obsessed with the thought of Jesus Christ. Some might even claim that all religions have their own credentials or creeds. They too are unique in so many ways to their own stature. They would pride themselves of their own spiritual experiences too. In which case, is what I believe relatively better or worse? What or who on the earth in all of the religions of the world came as the one, perfect incarnation – both of human and divine and not mixing up one with the other? When I say, mixing up – it may mean that Christ was not that sort of 50-50! He was perfectly divine and perfectly human– 100-100! He showed humankind that it was possible to live a life of holiness – not as the Son of God, but as Son of
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Man. Isn’t that make Christian faith absolute – because of the absolute claims of the Son of God? What more can we say? One more thingand that is the ultimate settlement. The one perfect incarnate Son became one- perfect - atonement for man’s sin. This is something that is to be found nowhere among the religions of the world. The Vedas of the Hindus too point to the fact of a perfect man dying and shedding blood for the remission of man’s sins. What more can we ask for? Now, the question to be settled is this: If this Christ is real, what does He mean to you now? Is our faith based on the triune God who is personification of truth? Let neither fantasy nor fallacy take the place of faith based on the Word of God. Faith is not ‘feel-good-factor.’ Faith stands far beyond human logic or circumstances. ‘The just shall live by faith’- that great monk by the name Luther discovered this truth of the scripture which opened his spiritual eyes. The rest was history. The Old Testament heroes of faith declared: “The God whom we serve is able to save us from the fiery furnace. Even if He does not, we shall not bow down…(to something alien to our unshakable faith in the living God!)”. This alone stands out as true biblical faith as against all corrupt forms of popular Christianity that exists today. -Joshua Dhanabalan
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Oh, Men of Little Faith!
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or centuries, the ‘Faithfulness Ones’- (and we, for decades), have lived our Christian life without the very core of it having being defined. The core of Christian life is faith in the God of heaven and earth. Who is this God, anyway? How do we envisage Him? His Attributes -Powerful, Personal, Majestic: Is this how we feel about the God of heaven and earth? We are weak and powerless. Again, most of us evangelicals give in to the thought that God is personal. When we describe him as a personal God, we tend to take Him of the same sort as we are– weak, inadequate, ineffective a little pathetic. But this is not the God of the Bible! What is the imagery do I possess when I say, I love God and God loves me? God is not limited. Our personal life is a finite thing. It is limited in every direction, in space, in time, in knowledge, in power. But God is not so limited. He is eternal, infinite, and almighty. No doubt, He is a personal God. But unlike us He is great. He is gentle, loving, tender, sympathetic,
patient, compassionate and so on. But the Bible never lets us lose sight of His majesty and His unlimited dominion over all His creatures. We must develop the Biblical understanding of God being both personal and majestic. Faith In God’s Omnipotence Simply this means, God is allpowerful. The thought of power in God must be separated from analogies with the limited applications of power in man. Man’s power consists in little more than the existence and use of will, which harnesses and employs pre-existing power. In God power is to be regarded as always creative. We must also understand the following lessons: (1) God’s power is never selfcontradictory. His power is consistent with His character. For example, He cannot cause seven times six to make nine! (2) Certain limitations are selfimposed. He abides by certain laws which He Himself has set in motion. This means, that God does not violate the natural law and its principle. That is why it is wrong to insist through prayer that God must immediately hear our prayer to change a course that He had set in motion. There are exceptions, we find in the Bible when God intervened through the principle of nature.
Modern men, though they cherish great thoughts of man, have as a rule small thoughts of God. When a man in the Church, let alone the man in the street, sees the word ‘God,’ the thought in his mind is rarely of divine majesty. - J.I. Packer. Vol. 12 Issue 4
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(3) God acts through ordinary measures, as for example, in healing disease, where He could have displayed His power if He had so willed. (T.C. Hammond: In Understanding Be Men) Faith in the omnipotence of God alters our behavior. There occurs a commitment that stems from a deep conviction of who God is and what He is able to do. That is why the three Hebrew young men declared: “God is able to save us through this fiery furnace. Even if He does not (may not be His will), we will still serve Him”. Faith goes beyond the invisible. It is easy for most of us to render a faith-talk. “Have faith in God”, we might say to others. William Barclay says that we must not have faith in what we discovered about God, but in what God has revealed. Faith Affects Choices When a Christian shifts his focus from self or circumstance to the power of God, then such a person’s faith is set on a solid rock. When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages”. To that, Calvert replied, “We died before we came here” Charles Blondin was a French daredevil acrobat.
Blondin’s greatest fame came on September 14, 1860, when he became the first person to cross a tightrope stretched 11,000 feet (over a quarter of a mile) across the mighty Niagara Falls. People from both Canada and America came from miles away to see this great feat. He walked across, 160 feet above the falls, several times... each time with a different daring feat - once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, in the dark, and blindfolded. One time he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet in the middle of the rope! A large crowd gathered and the buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank. The crowd “Oohed and Aahed!” as Blondin carefully walked across-one dangerous step after another-pushing a wheelbarrow holding a sack of potatoes. Then at one point, he asked for the participation of a volunteer. Upon reaching the other side, the crowd’s applause was louder than the roar of the falls! Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?” The crowd enthusiastically yelled, “Yes! You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. We believe!” “Okay,” said Blondin, “Who wants to get into the wheelbarrow.” As far as the Blondin story goes, no one did at the time!
Now, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. (Heb.11:1).
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This unique story illustrates a real life picture of what faith actually is. The crowd
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watched these daring feats. They said they believed. But... their actions proved they truly did not believe.
Moses: He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt.
Similarly, it is one thing for us to say we believe in God. However, it’s true faith when we believe God and put our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Gideon, Bark, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets: They were all commended for their faith, and gained what was promised.
Faith Dares! We find today many Christians who are good on the outside. As part of the society, they have learnt to be well-mannered, refined and cultured. Their Christian mannerism too is commendable. Again, many of them are commended for being spiritual. No doubt, they read their Bibles, pray every day or provide alms for poor and needy. They are regular in their Church attendance, take active part in the life of the Church. They are, at the general level, considered ‘very blessed by the Lord.’ But not many of them are risk-takers for Christ. Their kind of Faith is often put at the back-burner. We do not require yet another story connected with faithdaredevils! Again, we do not need to go elsewhere, instead to the same old Bible truth of the 1st century. Here are the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews chapter 11 and what they stood for.
Some others: Tortured, refused to be released. None of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. God does not treat all alike. God did not deliver the three men from the fiery furnace but He did deliver them in it. “We must get away from the idea that deliverance from trial is the highest form of spiritual blessing. God does not deal with us on the mass-production principle. He delivers some from trial. He delivers some in trial”. Have we, for once at least risked anything for Christ? Did we dare to do certain things which had put our faith at risk. If there is no risk involved, no faith is necessary. If we can see the path ahead, we are walking by sight. Has our faith in Christ become more of a convenience than conviction? - J.D.
Doubts arise - fears subdue faith. Questions flow out of a
believer’s mouth: Why? Why? Why? The father of faith had his own share of doubts and fears. We find this even with John the Baptist. Having prepared the way for Jesus, baptizing him in river Jordan, he now asks: “Are you the one, or should we wait for the Messiah?” Having come a long way, say in life or through faith, we are sometimes given to doubt. When strange things happen we are not sure if they come from God or otherwise. The greatest fear is – if we are moving rightly on our way! - J.D. Vol. 12 Issue 4
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Faith & Experience
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ne of the reasons why even wellmeaning Christians bargain at some point and are tempted to compromise their ‘faith-stand’ may be due to the fact of paying a huge cost that is connected either with the declaration or demonstration of faith. By this, I mean that the cost may come in varied forms– psychological, emotional, physical, financial and many more. When it comes to crucial decisions, faith and personal convenience stand head on equal terms. It all depends mainly on whether one puts into actual practice whatever he or she believes in.
Face Facts Of Faith I heard of a man’s wife who became insane the moment he became a Christian and trusted in Jesus Christ. He must have experienced great pain and pressure to yield when others mocked and said: “He left our gods to follow a new faith and religion, hence this curse had befallen him”. You may have heard stories of horror of those who turned to Christ. Most of us aware that right now, hundreds and thousands of Christians are beheaded by the IS terrorist groups in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. Generally, the heat
is on and its severity is experienced during the initial stages. During such periods, one’s faith is tested. Some give up, while others withstand the pressure. Not many of us are so keen that the Lord should test our faith. Job claimed: “When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold (Job 23:10).” A friend called me to say that soon after Christmas 2014, when the Ghar Vapsi had just begun in many places across the country (reconversion programme initiated by the Sangh Parivar/Hindutva groups in India), he was forced into a temple, ordered to remove his shoes and worship the idols. When he refused, he was beaten up. He got injured in both his legs, head and lost a few of his teeth. But what I am concerned here is not so much connected with physical torture, or even martyrdom. Conflicts begin the moment we begin to exercise faith. Friends become foes, families turn hostile, tears, panic attacks, bewilderment, disorientation. weariness, insomnia and loss of self-worth haunt the mind of the one who has put his/her faith in Christ! You might think that these are extreme cases. As a matter of fact, many have been through such
These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Christ is revealed (1 Pet. 1:7).
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ordeals. If you do not believe this, just quickly glance through Hebrews 11:35-39. One can well imagine the scenario that had been there in the early part of the Ist century. Faith is a serious businessdeal with God. It means that I have surrendered whole-heartedly to His Lordship- and that He takes absolute control of my life. I submit to him on a daily basis to obey and follow Him. When I err, I recognize the gravity of my sin and seek God’s grace and forgiveness. I learn to understand what it is know the will of God for my life. At times, what God desires to have me go through, I need to simply follow even though I may not appreciate it. Because God is what He is, I worship Him. If not, I can simply survive as a nominal Christian which entails no price-tag whatsoever. As I had mentioned elsewhere in this issue, for those who take on Christ easily, He just happens to be a principle emerging out of a belief system. The moment Christ is taken seriously, as He is real, all hell breaks-out!
Test Of Faith What kind of faithlesson is being taught from our pulpits Sunday after Sunday? Isn’t it a kind of junk-food prepared haphazardly
and served on a platter that looks initially attractive and colourful? Some of us have developed a taste for junkyspiritual food. Therefore, we long for that quick-bite, seem to have a liking for its taste and gobble them up in no time. Similarly, aren’t there many channels that dish out endless programmes with the tag “Christian” emphasize things such as the fact of faith, or the test of faith? How then do we make a distinction between faith and fallacy? One cannot fantasize on faith – for it would result only in spiritual delusion. Let me further focus this point a little further. A very few of my readers (less than a handful), know to some degree the extreme situations I had to pass through over the years. The whole issue was connected with my personal faith and obedience to Christ. Though often I am ashamed of my faith and obedience to Christ, trying moments had been passed from weeks to months and years. Yet relief did not come through. “What I feared had come through,”– was how Job feared. His fear was not so much on the losses of his home or his own health, but the fear that God had abandoned him. At times I felt the same way. I thought that God had rejected me on account of my waywardness. Or it could be some sin that I am unable to figure it out. And therefore, he had failed to answer
We are not sent to specialize in doctrine, but to lift up Jesus, and He will do the work of saving and sanctifying souls. When we become doctrine-mongers God’s power is not known, only the passionate- ness of an individual appeal. - Oswald Chambers Vol. 12 Issue 4
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my prayer. This is exactly how I felt from time to time. On the outside, I moved about, active, and the general impression people got was that I was having an easy and blessed life. I have no doubt about my experiences of inexpressible blessedness in the Lord, but that did not come through to me quite easily. Little did I realize that there were aspersions cast out on me from within and without due to jealousy from brethren. I could relate well to what Paul said in 2 Cor.6:10 “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Christian paradox is what we call this! To me, the fact remains that my life could have been made easier by choice. To a Christian, choices are made on the basis of faith. There was a young man who was recruited to King’s service in Babylon. He preferred to make a choice even on the food he was to consume at the King’s table. As I said earlier, life could have become pretty easier had he chosen otherwise. Ultimately, his choices landed him in the lion’s den. His faith had to travel far and wide, high and low in order to be tested! We safely pass on without mentioning this fact of faith lest we embarrass the Christian community. And it is this: Before the Christian world knows who you are, the devil is interested in
knowing you as well! What does the devil think of you? When you stand out for God and say, “I will arise and build for God’s sake”, the devil is out there to oppose you. He may even muster the support of some well meaning believers or supposedly godly elders against you! Well, you decide for God and be prepared to go through the narrow gate, a fiery furnace or a lion’s den!
Trials Of Faith
Personal testimonies are good at times. God can use them for others’ edification as long as they do not result in self-gratification. Without exaggeration, let me share plainly some of my own experiences. I receive numerous e-mails, phonecalls and reports of appreciation about the way many believers had been blessed at-large through our ministries of teaching, preaching and writing. No doubt, it brings immense joy. Perhaps, this is what Paul meant when he said: “Poor, yet making others rich, having nothing yet possessing everything (2 Cor.6)”. Would a Christian be a nobody and somebody all at once? Well, believers who possess very little in terms of money or material goods are of any commercial value in this world! Nevertheless, with all the
our endeavour to portray God as He is, we preach and expound His IwenWord. Our cultural refinement or social propriety embarrass us–lest be termed ‘Spiritual.’ Therefore, we make such attempts so as to veil the full portrait of God to suit our own cultural or social order– established through carnal means. The more we hide the real face of God, the more desperate we would feel within and the spiritual pang will only grow more. - J.D.
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commendation I might receive, my heart is not at ease. The joy doesn’t seem to last. My inner conflicts grow worse. “If God could bless and endorse the ministry, why hasn’t He also move me out of this fiery furnace – my sorrow and suffering?” And then, I happen to hear as if God saying to me at that moment: “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. (Isa. 48:10)”. I know, to some, whatever I am trying to present here will not make any sense It may be that you have not cashed-in your faith or you have become bankrupt spiritually. You have been playing safe with your faith-life. Things concerning God did not appeal to you. Why? Paul answers the question this way: The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor.2:14). On the other hand, if you identify your own trials with what has been written here, you are encouraged to know that as a believer, you are not left alone. Our trials, pain and suffering must not lead us to despair to the point of how Elijah gave up on himself: “Elijah ran for his life… I have had enough, Lord, he said. Take me Lord, I am no better than my ancestors (1 Kings 19:3,4).” Vol. 12 Issue 4
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (I Pet. 4:12,13 ESV). It may that in spite of your love and trust in the Lord, your sufferings never seem to end. This could mean the endless or successive assaults– the so-called fiery trials – in terms of health break-down, children’s strange behavior, spouse’s rebellion, neighbour’s torment, unexpected financial loss or injustice meted out to you by your institution/organization and that you were denied of what had been legitimately yours. God does not seem to come to your rescue quickly. The justice of God seem to be silent. Precisely, these are some of our encounters of faith experiences. However, we must not conclude that being a Christian means all sorrow and suffering. The Bible does not encourage believers to be bound by melancholy, depression or pessimism. Amidst trial, a Christian can be found to be a joyful person. In spite of the fact that Jesus was described as the “Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief,” He attracted more people of all manners to Himself. “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kind of trials’” (1 Pet.1:6).
Is your faith under fire or on fire?
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he Spirit has the power to destroy any structure which stands in the way of truth. And for that reason, worship itself is a matter of Spirit and Truth flowing out from the triune God. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter did not follow any hermeneutical principle (a branch of theology which deals with the principles of Biblical exegesis), in delivering his sermon. He never bothered for any technical exercise of Old Testament exegesis (exposition or interpretation). He spoke as the Spirit prompted him. Warren Wiersbe – a pastor, Bible commentator and author of many books of long standing said to this effect: “Any sermon that had not stirred up the heart within, but made a person only ‘high-headed’ – then, the working of the Spirit was absent”. We must speak both to the head and heart. For the message of the gospel is both logically reasonable and heart-warming. One of the reasons why a certain kind of evangelists everywhere draw more crowds may be due to the fact that they may play on the emotions of the people. We read in Acts chapter 18 that Apollos was an intellectual who had an accurate knowledge of the scriptures. But in verse 26 we read that ordinary people like Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
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Our Bible study programmes must lead us to spiritual adequacy. We must never be puffed up with a sense of having acquired tremendous knowledge of the Scriptures. Let us remember what Paul said: “I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” As long as we live on this earth, none of us will be able to claim that we have attained or acquired fully the knowledge of Christ through His Word. There are many believers who seek to attain accuracy of the scriptures. That is commendable. But that is not adequate. While a believer reads through the text, he might find both the ‘content’ and the ‘intent’. If we merely stop with the content, it could mean that we are stuck with the “Letter of the Law”. But if we move beyond as to what the text says apart from its content, then we would be able to understand and appreciate the “Spirit of the Law.” Unfortunately, most of our Churches are lacking one over the other – either it is all the rhetoric ‘sound and fury’ of our Bible knowledge or the ‘emotional dabbling,’ that lacks in scriptural soundness. We must have both ‘fact and feeling’. Again, “Sound Doctrine”, does not necessarily mean high decibel “sound and fury” from the pulpit. Except on occasions where the sound system fails,the preacher has to
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raise his voice to help his congregation hear him clearly. Many preachers are exegetically right. But there is hardly any eyecontact. There is no personal touch, no intonation, not an iota of emotion and so on. All that they care is their sermon outline, theme, sub-headings etc., At most, people will say: “It was such an excellent sermon, beautifully delivered!” We must have more pastors/ preachers and teachers – men and women of God who would bring in the factors of both the subject and substance, fact and feelings, truth that appeals both to the intellect and the inward man. The days might come, when the coming of the Lord tarries, there would not be many churches who would deliver the message as it would be from the Lord. On such occasions, a believer has to self-impose himself/ herself to a spiritual exile. Then and there, like John, one has to be “in the Spirit” and illumined by what God has to say. I do not mean to say that this should result in any kind of “extrabiblical” claims of revelation, more than what had already been revealed through the written Word.
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David said: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” (Ps.122:1)”. How many of us feel that there is an inner pain when we prepare ourselves to go to the place of worship on a Sunday? The joy is no longer there. In many Churches, we find that the preacher wanders from his text. He had not lived his life through the scriptures during the week. Therefore, nothing adequate comes out of his mouth. Jeremiah talked about the intensity of God’s word: “But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones.” (Jer.20:9). If every servant of God who handles His word feels this way, then our Sunday worship or the Bible studies will become alive and will quicken the spirits of believers. The reason why we still remain as “dry bones” as Ezekiel saw in Chapter 37 is because the Spirit of God is not at work. In other words, the life-giving ‘ruah’ – the breath of God which God ‘breathed’ into the nostrils of Adam – is the same lifegiving inspired Word (God-breathed), must make us alive in Christ.
here is frustration and pain involved in following God. By obeying Him, I seem to lose my own identity. My thoughts and ambitions are at a loss. Is God trying to devaluate me into a sub-human? Is He dehumanizing me by His repeated commands? I cannot act on my own! He is always the reference point. At times, He would not tell why I should do or should not do this or that. I am unable to appreciate the fact that He is still working on me. There are times, He has to break, pound, mould, re-shape – as a potter would do. That is exactly what I hate! But I know it is the way He chose to deal with His children. - J.D. Vol. 12 Issue 4
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A pastor’s job is one of pain and pathos. If he takes his ministry seriously, he cannot go on lightly through the week. After he had delivered his sermon on Sunday– may be, both in the morning and in the evening services, his mind is not free on Monday morning. There is heaviness and concern as to what he must deliver during the week through the Bible-study or the following Sunday. He keeps depending on the Holy Spirit as to what to say, where to look in the scripture. We can easily make out between those who are serious and those who take the word of God not so seriously. Even today we find pastors who have taken this sacred vocation for their own survival and livelihood. “The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it” (Jer. 6:10). But if a pastor is one who is led of the Spirit, he would be adequately equipped by the Word. “The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.” (Isa.50:4). We need to pray that God would raise more of such pastors who would shepherd the flock of Christ.
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The power of God’s word is such that it will accomplish its purpose (Isa.55:11). God’s word is compared to “fire” and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces (Jer.23:29). It is termed “living Word” “Active” “Sharper than double-edged Sword”. Our modern medical technology has the most powerful and accurate MRI/CT scanning systems which penetrate through our entire body and gets the image what otherwise could not be seen with naked eye. God’s word does a similar work in the spiritual realm. It goes deep – divides the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Heb.4:12). If a servant of the Lord handles such powerful search -light, and uses it to uncover the spiritual status of every soul, there would soon be repentance leading a great spiritual revival. It is sad that the word of God is taken slightly and not being used for the right purpose in many Churches today. It is wrongly used to manipulate, mesmerize or mislead people to error. Referring back to our worship once again, there arises a tendency in our worship services to emphasize
here are more ways available for turning or twisting the key. If one wants to compromise with faith and make a choice in keeping with the world, then the cloud seems to move. The pathway made smooth and easy. On the other hand, if decisions have been made – sealed and confirmed through faith in Christ and witnessed by the Holy Spirit – a child of God would not look back. Unlike Lot, he would not enter the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. It may appear to be lush-green, fertile with abundant water. He would not wrongly quote and say: “He leads me beside quiet waters.” - J.D.
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more of the human element and less of the Spirit. Yes, humans alone offer their worship to God who is Spirit. But the human-element that I mention here has a reference to much of pomp, manipulated sound and light effects and much of the presence of humans who are elevated than the exalted Christ. Great effort is being made on innovation or improvisation to the music which envelops our praise and worship. This is a global phenomenon. We tend to drown the very Lord of our worship with the deafening music. I have been to the smallest of churches in towns and villages. The pastors in these Churches take great pains, inspite of their meager income to maintain their churches, spend much of their money on acquiring huge sound systems and expensive microphones. Is our Lord Jesus Christ all “sound and fury?” Isaiah referring to Him as the Servant says: “He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets….” Isa.42:2). “The small still voice,” is a rare virtue to be found in our modern
day church. We cannot keep quiet in the presence of God for a while! We need to shout, dance, speak, admonish – and by doing much, we quench the Spirit or grieve Him. I wonder if the acoustics or the amplyfying system is not right, then it is assumed that the pressure and power of God is “put-out!” Are we thriving on this theology or psychology? There is no such theology in the whole of the Bible. It can be proven musically that the less your accompaniment is, the more the quality of your vocal music ascertained. It is not a bad idea to introduce some a’capella music from time to time in our churches – thus stressing the message of the song! Spiritual thoughtfulness is connected with matters of faith. Both the congregation (the choir, the organist, those who read the scriptures, the ushers etc,) and the pastor through prayer and in spiritual unity should work together for an effective worship which results in spiritual edification. - J.D.
God’s Perspective vs. Human View Point
Humans Ask
: Why such delay?
God’s Word
: Wait and see!
Humans Want
: A Quick Review.
God Says
: There is an unfolding of my overall purpose.
Humans Enquire
: Why Lord, there is so much of disappointment?
God Answers
: That He will make them as His appointments!
Humans Complain : It is extremely frustrating. God Comforts
: Through faith you will appreciate the fulfillment of my plans.
Humans Plead
: Lord, work out a quick solution.
God Responds
: My promises will be realized. Wait for my time!
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Capitalizing Ministry
W
hile there are different other meanings given in the dictionary for the word capitalizing, we are just concentrating about one or two of its dictionary meanings. “To Take advantage of,” or “To turn something to one’s advantage.” We must not lose sight of the fact that we live in an age of materialism in which trade and commerce, profitbooking, favourable returns, multiple benefits, short-term gains are all words and phrases that occupy the upper most part of our thinking. The Body-Spirit Divide: Should a Christian be involved in business? What does the Bible say about it? Is it sinful to make good profit? Or, should poverty be equated with spirituality? One might quickly quote Jesus’ words: “Blessed are the poor…”
All of us, at one time or the other, are unable to come clean with a definite answer. James, in his epistle comes down heavily against the rich people. Jesus too, seemed to have favoured the lonely and lost –the blind-beggar, the socially outcast etc. Where does our theology go wrong? While all the time the evangelicals emphasized the salvation of soul, the liberals talked about struggle for freedom – liberation in terms of political, or socio-economic spheres. Jesus never lost sight of one over the other. We seem to have problem since we continue to live in a material
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world. While the two groups were at loggerheads, The Salvation Army was quick to a coin a phrase: Soap, Soup and Salvation. There had been groups that argued: “There can be no dichotomy– and that man must be viewed as one complete entity – Body, Soul and Spirit”.
Subtle Spirituality: While the above statement remained a more safer, acceptable understanding, there emerged, in recent times what one calls as the ‘prosperity Gospel.’ This kind somehow tried to project the “here and now” – bodily benefits or the earthly benefits alone. The proponents argued that prosperity is nothing but the outcome of spiritual blessings. The television channels are aplenty, thriving with prime-time programmes with popular viewing all across the world. The teachings caught up flame during economic recession in certain countries. The ‘third-world countries’– as we might be termed by the “Big Brother Country,” are keen to compete with one another and want to become rich like Big Brothers. Therefore, one coins the world, ‘health, wealth and prosperity.’ To the poor slum-dwellers, the evangelist says: “Your debts will be taken care of if you believe in Christ.” “God had already died on the cross and taken away your sickness. Therefore, believe that you are healed. Receive your health through faith. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. You will always be at the top, never at the bottom.”
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Word Misunderstood: The fact that we must understand is that the promises of the Bible are irrevocable. They are true. The problem lies in the interpretation and application of the scripture. The results of scriptural promises depend on obeying God’s commands. Nevertheless, God’s people who obeyed His word, went through suffering. That brings us to perplexity, conflict and confusion. Again, Theodicy in its most common form, is the attempt to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil. Theodicy attempts to resolve the evidential problem of evil by reconciling the traditional divine characteristics of omnibenevolence, omnipotence, and omniscience, in either their absolute or relative form, with the occurrence of evil or suffering in the world.
applied to them; they had given all up for his sake: what would be their reward?”
What does Mark 10:31 mean “But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time?” We need to read the Scripture fully to understand Jesus’ teaching on this.
Mark 10:28-31: Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.” So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time– houses and brothers and sisters and
Peter, after becoming the disciple of Jesus asked Him: “We have left all we had to follow you!” (Luke 18:28).
“The question of Peter, evidently acting as spokesman of the twelve, is repeated by the first three evangelists. Strangely faithful in their accounts of their own dealings with their adored Master, they never veil or hide any human weakness or error of their own which led to an important bit of teaching from their Lord. Now, in this place, they, in the person of Peter, gave utterance to a very worldly, but a very natural, thought. The ruler had failed (18-25), when the test was applied to him; he was a conspicuous example of failure in the rich to enter the kingdom. But they had not failed when the test had been Vol. 12 Issue 4
mothers and children and lands, with persecutions–and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Many use this hundredfold as money sown has the promise to receive a hundredfold return.
This is a carnal interpretation of the scripture. These scriptures do not even mention money... the promoters of this give to get formulae have made good use of this by distorting its meaning.
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If this is literal - then what of persecutions, there is a promise of 100 fold of persecutions attached to this promise. So what really is the intent of this passage?
The scriptures say hundredfold of houses... mothers, fathers, children, land etc. How many do you know who have a hundred houses - a hundred mothers or a hundred children? What this means is that we gain a whole new family, it’s related to fellowship and sharing of the brethren. As we leave our family as a security to follow Jesus, and he becomes our priority and our supplier of needs. Manifold blessings are given to those who follow the Lord sacrificially. We have a hundred times the “value” of all we forsake, the favor of God in relationships. Many homes will be opened to God’s servants and the many new relationships in the household of God. Houses and lands are accommodations wherever we go for the gospel sake. We come into the family of God and gain a bigger family. God’s promise of provisions for being in the family is eternal rewards now and the life later. It continues through eternity. The persecutions came from those who forsook the comforts of their lives to follow Jesus. In ancient times there was a price for their allegiance, they could lose their job and often times face death. Those who have left all for the sake of Christ do find themselves among genuine Christians; spiritual relatives. (Source: Internet - Let’s Reason Ministries).”
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Missionary Manipulation: Again, I am of the opinion that this is a global mind-set. Those who call themselves as missionaries have contracted an infection of saying: “We have left behind our properties, our well paid jobs and so on.” This, they begin to utter after some years – being in the ministry. The question is: “Why did they do so?” Is following Christ an ordinary thing? No doubt, it is costly. But would they choose to follow an ordinary person? Well, they have chosen to follow the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Would following Him equals anything in this world as more precious or of worth and value in comparison to the greatness of serving the Master? When a person serves a government or an institution, he retires at an age of 58 or 60. Such a person is entitled to receive due pensionary benefits. If a servant of the Lord serves Him in the truest sense, he or she appears to be a fool in the sight of the world. There is no financial security. In which case, a person feels socially insecure too. It is then, a missionary or anyone who calls himself/herself as a servant of Christ resort to all kinds of tricks – fearing the earthly loss. We have heard them say this often: “We have sacrificed and left behind everything.” Really speaking, it is not they who have left behind everything. It was our Lord, who left behind His splendor and glory and came as a servant, no, slave for our sake! He obeyed His father, took up the form of a
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slave and humbled himself to the point of the cross (Phil.2:6-8).
If you are a pastor, evangelist or a missionary, meditate on the passage during this Season of Lent. It is no point talking about the suffering Saviour or the cross of Jesus without truly understanding their implication.
It is high-time we stop manipulating the “missionary-mantra!” - saying, “I’ve left this or that.” Is this turning out to be a dignified begging or some sort? Many of them are not in the mission fields, but staying in the luxury of their homes in an urban set-up. They are soaked well with marketing skills and promote their interests in a more subtle way. Wherever they go, they bargain and get heavy discounts – be it school or college fees for their kids, preferential treatment in Christian hospitals, churches, marriage halls – the list is endless. I wonder, if they had all this comforts or convenience had they been in their earlier vocation or profession. What have they lost for Christ? In fact, they are at the (bar)gaining end! In fact, we fail to tell out boldly about what had happened to us since we “left behind some things” and began following Him. Truly speaking, blessings over-flowed. We lacked no good thing. We were blessed more than those who toiled and earned. We reaped where we did not show. If this is true, why this begging? Why this ‘half-rate’ mentality?
It is entirely a different thing that people of the world value a servant of Vol. 12 Issue 4
God on the basis of earthly goods. (To me, it appears, that the more worldly people are those who happen to be “born-again believers.” Born again is just a tag, an identity or an acceptable title among the so-called Bible-believing elite Christians).
We do not recognize the fact that the real wealthy people are those who do not show themselves off on the outside. They possess treasures – invaluable they are. Their wealth, however, is intangible. God’s people are endowed with grace, gifts and talents that money cannot buy. The carnal man envies seeing the man or the woman of God. With prying eyes of jealousy they constantly look at the one who may enjoy and abundant life through Jesus Christ. In frustration, they go about and accumulate wealth to find if they would be happier than the man or the woman of God. Their burden and woe never end.
It was about some thirty years ago, when we as a family were scraping through with very little finances, a lady who was an officer in a nationalized bank and her husband a public-sector company employee said to us with a glee: “Even though we earn so much, you people seem to have all the blessings!” What is the secret?
You know it pretty well.
“The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.(Ps.34:10)”.
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- J.D.
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