By now, colleagues and friends of International Students Inc. (ISI) are familiar with the first few verses in Isaiah 54 and their pertinence to where ISI is today as a ministry. Over the past couple of years and at the height of the pandemic, God saw fit to deposit in us several key promises from His Word, including from Isaiah 54, which we received with awestruck wonder but also, truth be told, in fear and trembling.
The year 2022 will be a litmus test for our ministry as we begin the rollout of ministry priorities and initiatives stemming from the vision God has laid on our hearts. It is worth recalling what precisely it was that He downloaded to us. To that end, I’ve been reflecting on Isaiah 54:1-5. Let’s take it one verse at a time. Singing in Our Barrenness “‘Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,’ says the LORD.” Isaiah 54:1 When has ISI been a “barren woman”? Perhaps during the pandemic when we saw numbers in every category – students introduced, cultivated, salvation decisions, discipling relationships, reproducers – plunging precipitously? In ancient Biblical times, an unmarried woman or widow without children had to deal with fear, shame, disgrace, and humiliation. If ISI were a childless widow, if God were equating us with a barren woman, how terribly depraved our condition must have been! And yet God’s word here is that ISI is to sing, to burst into song, despite our barrenness! Because to sing is to say “Yes!” to His promises, and so we shall, we must, sing in anticipation of the fulfillment of His promises. And what does He promise the barren and desolate woman? More children than she who has a husband! But just like for soon-to-be parents preparing for new additions to their family, a larger home may be necessary, or the sedan (or coupe) may need to be traded in for a minivan. Likewise, God tells us to get ready for an imminent influx of souls from the nations, the magnitude of which we have previously never envisioned nor encountered, into His kingdom: Expanding Our Tent “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” Isaiah 54:2 This is precisely what our new ministry plan with its suite of priorities – Prayer, Collaboration, Communities, Churches, Global Reach & Returnees, Innovation, and Equipping & Mentoring – is designed to accomplish. Here I’m reminded of the two huge catches of fish the disciples made, first in Luke 5 and secondly in John 21. In the first instance, Jesus told Simon to put out to deep water and let down the net, and Simon obeyed despite not having caught anything the night before. He and his pals ended up with such a humongous haul that it tore their net and threatened to sink their boats (Luke 5:6-7)! In the second instance, a resurrected Jesus told his friends to let down their net on the right side of their boat. They ended up with another huge catch, except this time their net did not tear (John 21:11). God’s instruction to enlarge our tent, it seems to me, is to ensure the growth of the ISI ministry without imperiling it. Success can be a two-edged sword; if an organization is not ready for expansion, it may end up imploding, like the weight of the catch tearing Simon’s net (in Luke 5). But if we do as God has instructed us – widen our tent flaps, lengthen its cords, and strengthen the pegs and stakes – we will not only flourish in the short run but enjoy continued success and sustainability over the long run! Dispossessing and Settling “For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.” Isaiah 54:3 Imagine an army of students and returnees “sent out” from ISI – and other international student ministries – to engage in the “spiritual takeover” of nations and the repopulating of cities around the world with Christ-followers dedicated to reproducing the life of Christ in others! Granted, that’s already happening, but imagine it taking place at a magnitude and momentum far greater than anything we have hitherto known. At New Life Church in Colorado Springs where my family and I worship, the church sanctuary consists of a huge tent-like structure whose rafters are lined with flags of the nations of the world. Every Sunday worship service at New Life, I’d invariably look around the sanctuary, dreaming of what it would be like if ISI “enlarges” to the size of that tent and filling with hundreds of thousands of international students – along with millions of returnees around the world – all calling on the name of the Lord and sharing Christ’s love with others wherever He leads and lands them! But what might it take for us to realize that vision? Recently I was meditating on Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22, and I came upon the following verses: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you [Abraham] have done this and have not withheld your son [Isaac], your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Genesis 22:16-18 This is the same promise given in Isaiah 54:3! But its fulfilment hinged on Abraham’s obedience to God concerning the sacrifice of his son. What might be the “test of obedience” to which God may be calling us, as individuals and/or as a ministry? Is it something seemingly “unreasonable” and “outrageous” in terms of what God may ask of us to give up? Admittedly, I write these words with a heavy heart when I recall the burdens many ISI colleagues have borne over the past year: the loss of loved ones, dealing with health crises, and so on. And yet Jesus said, “Not my will but Yours be done!” (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 6:38). Is the God whom we worship and serve a tyrant who cares little for His own, saddling them with impossibly heavy yokes? Nope, zip, zilch, nada! The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin (Exodus 34:6-7). He offers rest to the weary and burdened and the exchange of their heavy loads with His easy yoke and light burden (Matthew 11:28-30)! And that’s why there is provision for the promise issued in the next verse: No Shame “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.” Isaiah 54:4 We may feel disturbed and embarrassed by our barrenness, weakness, nakedness, and doubts. Yet God says to us: don’t be fearful or embarrassed or humiliated over the lack of ministry, the fruitlessness during the pandemic, the uncertainty, doubt, and the worry we may feel over the “great test” that could come our way, because…. The LORD Our Husband “For your Maker is your husband – the LORD Almighty is his name – the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.” Isaiah 54:5 God is calling us and offering Himself to us afresh and anew! He’s inviting us to regard Him as our Husband and Redeemer, for He is Lord Almighty and the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth and of the nations to which we are called to minister. What the widow needs to overcome her barrenness, humiliation and insecurity is a husband who will provide her with children, identity, and security. It isn’t enough for God to relate with us only as our maker and master; He wants to bind us inextricably to Himself by husbanding and caring for us as His bride. This is the extraordinary level of commitment and devotion to which He has shown and will continue to show to us! God Will Show the Way When his commanders told him it was impossible to cross the Alps by elephant, Hannibal, the general of Carthage who fought against Rome in the 3rd century BC, reportedly replied, “I will either find a way or make one!” But the divine vision given us in Isaiah 54:1-5 is not ours to realize by our own devices or on our own dime. God’s word to us is that He is the One who will make a way in the wilderness (Isaiah 43:19). He will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths He will guide us, and make the rough places smooth (Isaiah 42:16). And He will supply us the requisite resources to get the job done (Philippians 4:19). Dearly beloved, let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, and let’s run with perseverance the race marked out for us in 2022!
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“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1. Admittedly, I’m not into New Year resolutions. But the one thought that comes to mind at the start of each new year is this: Have I grown closer to Jesus with every succeeding year God has granted me this side of Heaven? Have I, as the Apostle Paul put it, offered my body as a living sacrifice, one holy and pleasing to God, as my true and proper worship unto Him? Can I offer to the Lord my worship on a more committed and consistent basis in 2022 than I did the year(s) before? I spent January 2022 in the book of Genesis, pilgriming with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob on their nomadic journeys and adventures, building altars and calling on the name of the Lord as they did, in my present-day figurative versions of Bethel, Shechem, Hebron, and Beersheba. God has some strict rules about the make and the use of the altars we build with which to honor Him. There’s an intriguing set of instructions furnished in Exodus 20 on this very point, which the Lord gave to the Israelites together with His commandments as they began their journey as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6): The Right Altar “Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.” Exodus 20:24-25 The composition of the altar is crucially important. Whether one uses earth or stones as material, the altar is to be simple. According to Merriam-Webster, the word altar refers a raised place on which offerings and sacrifices are presented; indeed, the Latin altus (e.g., high, noble, profound) connotes a high and exalted altar. But there is a real risk, it seems to me, that such a conception may draw the attention of the would-be worshiper to the altar and/or its builder, rather than the God its users are meant to reverence. In comparison, the Hebrew word for altar, mizbeach, which stems from the root verb zabach – meaning, to slay and offer an animal for sacrifice – emphasizes solely the notion of sacrifice. Altars for Yahweh are not meant to be ornate and elaborate but simple, so that reverence is reserved for God and Him alone. Indeed, since our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), that presumably means we are equally the altar as much as the sacrifice offered on it. All the more, therefore, that the altar must never draw attention to itself but to the One to whom offerings are duly rendered! The Right Worship “And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.” Exodus 20:26. Moreover, no display of flesh of the worshiper is permitted. I take this to mean no carnality is to be involved in worship, because God desires worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). The warning about the exposure of private parts may sound offensive to our sensibilities, but there seems to be a connection here: a high and exalted altar, perhaps even one built with dressed stones – here I’m reminded of Paul’s caveat against laying foundations other than Christ and building on it with materials that will stand the test of fire (1 Corinthians 3:11-13) – increases the prospect of our fleshly nature intruding into and contaminating our worship of God, whereas a humble altar arguably lessens it. Having the Right Stuff “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24 It’s not just New Year resolutions but the notion of life verses as well! How does one pick a life verse where everything in God’s word seems equally important?! But oh, if I must have one – and since all that we do, think, and say with this life God has given us is to offer Him our true and proper worship – then John 4:23-24 is probably it. Regardless of the specific vocations God may call us to – was Amos a shepherd or a prophet, or both? (Amos 7:14-16) – or the specific locales at which we worship and serve – is it Gerazim or Jerusalem, or neither? (John 4:21) – we are called to worship in the Spirit and in truth. In his book Work in the Spirit (Wipf & Stock, 2001), the Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf argues that the concept of charisma serves as a better and more accurate frame of reference than that of vocation to understand work because it is our privilege to do the kind of work for which God’s Spirit has gifted us. And if our work is also our worship (Colossians 3:23-24), then it’s probably fair to say that God’s servants must work for the Lord in the Spirit and in truth, just as they worship Him. Granted, there’s no getting away from our reliance on our bodies in the worship of God. A body fully surrendered as a living sacrifice to God in such a way that is holy and pleasing to Him is what truly matters. Remember this old Randy Stonehill song from the early 80s, complete with accompanying calypso beats and all? Shut de door, keep out de devil Shut de door, keep the devil in the night Shut de door, keep out de devil Light the candle, everything’s all right Lately, the matter of doors and the keys that lock and unlock them has been on my mind. Recently I had to change the battery for my car’s keyless remote device — is it technically still a key? — and I was reminded that even the doors of my house are keyless. Oh, how modern technology has simplified but also complicated our lives at the same time! The Bible has much to say about doors and keys. In Revelation 3 we read the words of Jesus conveyed to (and through) the apostle John: “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut…’” (Revelation 3:7-8a) Okay, it’s clear enough from the above passage who holds the so-called “key of David”: it is none other than the Lord Himself. And yet, Jesus also told His disciples that He has given them — and, by extension, us — the authority to use that same key. By virtue of us being the servants of God, we too have been designated the “co-holders” of His keys: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). God has given to you and me the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and the authority and power to bind as well as to let loose things. We hold the keys, and it is a tremendous responsibility that we have, shutting and locking the doors that need to be shut and locked, and unlocking and opening the doors that need to be unlocked and opened. If so, what is it precisely that you and I are unlocking and opening doors to let in, or shutting and bolting doors to keep out? If there is something that keeps me up at night, it is our potential failure to fulfill that responsibility as Christ intended for us, that is, if we end up shutting doors that need to be opened and opening doors that ought to be kept shut and bolted. Think back over the past 2 years. The pandemic was a tremendous God-given opportunity for Christians to witness to a confused and hurting world struggling to come to grips with a crazy situation for which the politicians and the experts had no good answers let alone solutions. But what the world got instead was a Church that found itself mired in and divided over the very same things that troubled the world. Worse, whether deliberately or inadvertently so, parts of the Church probably added to the confusion and chaos by some of the things we said and did. Granted, the Bride of Christ has never been perfect and pristine since Day 1. But in the “good old days,” despite the denominational differences of the past, the Church at least offered a semblance of relative unity to those — including the international students in this country — looking from the outside in. But that was then, and this is now. Rather than show the world a better way, we have contributed to the mess through opening the door to undesirable things and potentially closing the door to things that are good, excellent, and profitable. And the students see that. Instead of unlocking and opening the door to the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22) — what we seem to have given the world, and failed to shut the door on, are the acts of the flesh described in Galatians 5:19 — discord, fits of rage, dissensions, factions, and so on. Not one of the Church’s prouder moments, let’s just say! Moreover, what has been heartbreaking is to hear story after story of Christian families and friendships ending because of, among other things, disagreements over politics and opposing views on vaccinations. How, then, do we open the door to the good fruit of the Spirit and shut the door on the bad fruit of the flesh? Jesus provides the “key” (pun intended!) to the answer in John 15: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:1-8). To keep bearing the good fruit of the Spirit, we only need to do this one thing: abide in Christ. We abide in Him by walking daily with His Spirit, for apart from Christ we can do nothing, certainly nothing of lasting spiritual value. That said, what is mind-blowing to me is how easy it is for me to get things wrong. In a season where, at least where the ISI ministry is concerned, we are talking about the expanding of our tents (Isaiah 54:2-3), the anticipated growth of the ministry and so on, it is exceedingly easy to take all of that to mean the good fruit that we are to bear. In Matthew 7:17-23, Jesus reminds us that we are recognized by the fruit we bear, and those who produce bad fruit are also the ones who say to Jesus: Did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not, also in your name, drive out demons and perform many miracles? Jesus is very clear that not everyone who calls Him “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the ones who do the will of His Heavenly Father (Matthew 7:21). And what is the will of the Father that we are called to do? The answer is supplied in the second part of John 15: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit — fruit that will last — and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other” (John 15:12-17). Loving one another as Christ has loved us — that’s the key to our bearing unceasingly the fruit that lasts. Over the past 2 years, I have become more and more convinced that God has strategically placed ISI where we are “for a time such as this,” as the saying goes. The ISI ministry is unique precisely because we are positioned — we stand in the gap, if you like — between the nations that God has assembled here in the United States, on the one hand, and the Church in America on the other hand. We are not only working with the local church to reach, befriend, and disciple international students; no, we are part of the local church reaching out to the uttermost parts of the earth whom God has brought to “our Jerusalem.” And if so, we are not only called to bless international students, but also to bless the Church. As “friends of the bridegroom” (John 3:29), we are equally engaged in the work of beautifying the Bride of Christ, to help it rise and shine with the glory of Christ such that the nations will be drawn to the brightness of its dawn (Isaiah 60:1-3)! Dearly beloved, Jesus has given us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. What are we opening the door to and letting into His Church, and what are we closing the door on and keeping out? Let’s endeavor to “shut de door and keep out de devil” — let’s die to the flesh — and open the door to the fruit of the Spirit, that we may bear fruit that lasts, fruit that pleases Christ! Let me close with this verse as a prayer for all of us who hold the keys: “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father. All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots — all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars” (Isaiah 22:22-24). A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to one and all! Recently some friends and I had the opportunity to meet the venerable Pastor Peter Xu and his wife Ruth. Fit looking at 80 years of age, Pastor Xu was a prominent Chinese house church leader who was exiled to the States in the early 2000s after serving time in a Chinese prison for his faith —reportedly alongside another prominent house church leader, Brother Yun of The Heavenly Man fame. Pastor Xu is a proponent of the “Back to Jerusalem” movement, the spiritual vision of the Chinese church to send 100,000 missionaries across China’s borders to complete the Great Commission. Over a hearty fusion dinner of grilled steaks, Chinese veggies, and rice at the Xu home, we enjoyed an amazing time of deep fellowship, discussion, worship and prayer that, for me, transcended well beyond the usual niceties of first-time meetings.
We asked the good pastor many questions, including how should the Church in America overcome its current malaise and divisiveness? (Rumor has it that a very prominent US evangelical church leader once fell on his knees before Pastor Xu and begged him to intercede for America.) Pastor Xu was very modest, hesitant, and careful in his response. He began with the usual references to, in John 13, Jesus’ command to love one another so others will know we are His disciples, and in John 15, the command to lay down our lives for our friends. He then surprised us—or at least me—by appealing to a more fundamental question: What is the church? He led us to Matthew 16:13-18: 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” I want to draw out 3 points that stem from the discussion we had with the pastor. The first has to do with the critical question Jesus poses to the disciples: “Who do you say I am?” (v. 15). Who is Jesus to you and me? Do we see him as Elijah or a great leader or even a god, and if so, what sort of a god is he to us? Peter’s response to Jesus’ question is crucially important: You are Messiah, or Christ, Son of the living God. Secondly, Jesus explains that no way could Peter have come up with that response on his own; it is solely by the revelation of God the Father (v. 17). As far as the ISI Ministry is concerned, our knowledge and experience of God as our Way Maker during the pandemic was not something we imagined or made up by ourselves, but it was given by revelation through His word, promises and miraculous provision. Who is Jesus to you, to me? Before we can decide on what church means to us, we need first to determine who Jesus is to us, because once we have settled that truth, then what church means to us and how we live life and do church naturally follows on that. And there is no way we can do that unless and until we seek God, depend on Him, and He reveals the awesome truth to us. Thirdly and finally, we come to that challenging verse: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (v. 18). Rather than rehearsing the tradition that insists on Peter as the Vicar of Christ based on this verse, I would much prefer to interpret this verse as Jesus possibly saying to Peter: Upon the firm rock-solid foundation of the revelation which you received and declared—that I, Jesus, am the Messiah, Son of the living God—upon that truth, I will build My church. Wherever this revelation is heard and received wholeheartedly, willingly and gladly by individuals and communities, that is where I will establish My church, and I will sustain and flourish and prosper it. And what is the “proof of concept” for the church formed and functioning fully on the basis of that revelation, that Jesus is the Christ, and all that it implies? Simply this: the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (v. 18)! Any belief that defines Jesus as less than or other than Messiah, Son of the living God, and viola, all hell breaks loose; the church does not overcome the gates of hell but rather is overcome by it. That this episode took place at Caesarea Philippi is incredibly meaningful: there is a cave, a grotto, outside the (now abandoned) city that historically served as a site for the pagan worship of the Greek god Pan, but the mouth of that grotto was also known to the locals as the “gates of Hades” or hell. I suspect that was what Pastor Xu was trying to convey to us in his roundabout answer to our question about how to “rescue the church.” If Jesus is anything less than Messiah to us, less than the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, then it follows that church is merely the sum total of our self-centered interests and desires where we come first and not Christ, or of well-intentioned collective aspirations and forms that look churchy and “Christiany” but that run on human willpower rather than the Spirit of Christ. Worse, if we become what our eyes behold, and if what we worship and serve a “Jesus” of our own making rather than the biblical Jesus, then should we be surprised when our churches and the Body of Christ look and behave differently, alarmingly so in some cases, than the kingdom of Heaven described and prescribed in the gospels? Over the past year-and-a-half, ISI, like much of the world, had been impacted by the pandemic. Today, like everyone else, we wait with bated breath as college and university campuses start to reopen, as life returns to some level of normalcy. As I prepare for our ISI National Conference at the end of June, the story of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-44 is very much on my mind. There are 4 things I draw from that story that seem especially pertinent to our Ministry.
Jesus Waits In v. 5 of John 11, we learn that Jesus deliberately waited where He was for 2 days despite hearing of his good friend’s illness, and he only arrived in Bethany 4 days after Lazarus had passed (v. 39). In hindsight, we understand Jesus planned to raise his friend back to life and had purposely delayed his visit to perform this miracle (v. 11). But Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, did not know of the divine plan and as a result, they suffered in their grief and anguish, not understanding why Jesus delayed at their brother’s expense. “Lord,” they cry to Jesus in their grief, “if You had been here, our brother would not have died” (vv. 21, 32). Are we not like Mary and Martha, wondering why God did not act to end the pandemic sooner? Lord, if You’d only showed up earlier and stopped the pandemic like you stilled the storm, perhaps we would not have lost so many lives, not suffer depression and economic hardship, avoided dividing the nation over things like masks and vaccines? Or was there, is there, a divine purpose to all this? Jesus Weeps In v. 35, reportedly the shortest verse in Holy Writ, we learn that Jesus, deeply moved in spirit and troubled, wept when He saw Mary and her friends weeping in their grief over Lazarus’ passing. The fact that the King of the Universe strategically “engineered” the circumstances for a display of His glory did not at all preclude His experience with and participation in the grief of His friends. Jesus felt their pain; He willingly entered their sorrow. While God feels sorrow and anger (Gen. 6:6; Psa. 78:40; Isa. 65:2-3; Jer. 8:19), while He feels compassion for His creation (Psa. 103:8; Joel 2:13), the only place in Scripture where He actually sheds tears and weeps is as the Incarnate Christ. He literally came to earth to weep with us…among other things. When we cried over loved ones lost to or hurt by the pandemic, the King of the Universe was there with us, weeping with us. Jesus Reveals In v. 25, an amazing revelation is given: Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life! Only He who is resurrection and life itself can resurrect life. This revelation came amid a situation defined by the exact opposite: death and destruction. If Lazarus had not died, would we have been blessed by this revelation? Well, there would probably have been other circumstances—other “Lazaruses,” if you like—to facilitate just such a purpose. My point? God uses circumstances to reveal His character and essence. What has He revealed to you in the past year-and-a-half? For ISI, the Lord showed Himself faithful and true as our Way Maker, who, in the most trying circumstances of the pandemic, made a way in the wilderness and carved streams in the wasteland (Isa. 43:19). He led us by ways we had not known, He guided us along unfamiliar paths, He turned darkness into light before us, He made the rough places smooth—He did not forsake us (Isa. 42:16). He provided for our needs, He strengthened our weak limbs, He preserved our lives. He revealed Himself as our Almighty God! Jesus Calls Finally, in v. 43, the Giver of life did His thing: He raised Lazarus from the dead by calling him out from the tomb! I don’t know if the pandemic is on its last legs (I very much doubt so), but what I do know is that the King is calling us out from this painfully protracted season where, like Lazarus, we’ve been trapped within a tomb of sorts. “Seng, come out!” the Lord calls. Do you hear the Savior calling you, by name, to come out of your shell? For ISI, I hear the Lord calling, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Isa. 60:1-3). It’s time to rise from the dank and gloom of this long season and get out into the sunlight—the “Son’s light,” the glory of Christ that appears over us. The nations and their kings and queens await us to show them the salvation of God, the brightness of our dawn. Exactly a year ago I penned in these pages a reflection on what Ruth’s experience with Boaz in Ruth 3:3-4 might have to say about how we (ought to) approach God: we wash ourselves in preparation to meet the Master (Ruth 3:3a); we wait on God for Him to “notice” us and hear our petitions (Ruth 3:3b); and we watch – we do our own “noticing” – where the Lord is and go to where He is (Ruth 3:4a).
Recent developments in life and ministry have led me back to Ruth 3 again, although this time it’s what happens to Ruth after she washed, waited, and watched. We read of Boaz crashing at the far end of the grain pile after his evening meal. He wakes up in the middle of the night and freaks out upon discovering a woman (Ruth) lying at his feet! Thankfully, that won’t happen with our God were we to approach our Abba Father in this way for He knows everything and welcomes our “bold” and “brazen” behavior. When we approach God as Ruth did Boaz, a few interesting things are likely to happen, both on our part as well as on God’s part. Let’s begin with us: “‘Who are you?’ he asked. ‘I am your servant Ruth,’ she said. ‘Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family’” (Ruth 3:9). We finally realize who we are – once we grasp who God is! Ruth declared to Boaz, “I am your servant.” Yet this self-awareness arises because Ruth understood and acknowledged who Boaz was to her: he was a guardian-redeemer of her family. Like Ruth, we understand that we are the servants of God Most High because He is our Guardian and our Redeemer. Paul reminds us that Christ has redeemed us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good (Titus 2:14). Despite enduring intense physical suffering and mental and emotional anguish, Job – whom God twice referred to as His “servant” (Job 1:8 and 2:3) – famously insisted, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27). Even when all evidence seemed to point to the contrary, Job steadfastly refused to disavow God as his Guardian-Redeemer! And because Ruth saw Boaz as her guardian-redeemer, she petitioned him to cover her with his garment – that is, to grant her protection and provision as guardian-redeemers are expected to do for their kin folk. Likewise, we invite and welcome God’s protection and provision, we ask Him to spread the corner of His garment over us. Here I am reminded of the psalmist’s declaration, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’” (Psalm 91:1-2). The psalmist goes on to say of God, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” (Psalm 91:4). Whether pictured as garment or wing, I love the awesome truth of God’s sacred canopy covering, sheltering, and protecting us! And as we approach God, He is likely to surprise us with His response. As Boaz replied to Ruth: “‘The LORD bless you, my daughter,’ he replied” (Ruth 3:10a). Firstly, notice that while Ruth identified herself as Boaz’s servant, Boaz responded by blessing Ruth as his “daughter”! Much as I appreciate the fact that Boaz’s gesture could simply be reflecting the customs, formalities, and language appropriate to the ancient Israel of his time, it also highlights for me God’s readiness to bless and adopt us as His children (e.g., Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 3:26) – despite our identification as His servants! As Jesus says in John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends…” Like the prodigal son in Luke 15, we come to the Father as slave or servant, but He instead calls and treats us as His daughter, His son, His friend. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor” (Ruth 3:10b). Honestly, I cannot help but tear up every time I read these words because of their potential ramification: if Ruth’s refusal to run after younger guys is viewed by Boaz as a display of kindness toward him, can you imagine God saying to us something similar – that He treats our refusal to run after worthless idols and to worship Him alone as an act of kindness toward Him?! After all, have we not been commanded not to follow idols – it’s right there in the Ten Commandments (in Exodus 20:1-5) – but to worship God and He alone? And yet the Lord may well be speaking ever so tenderly to you and me: “Thank you my daughter, thank you my son, for your kindness toward me in choosing to worship and honor me alone.” Just imagine that! “And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask” (Ruth 3:11a). “I will do for you all you ask” – really?? Granted, God answers prayer but not always in the way we like or hope. When God says “No,” it’s because whatever we asked for may not be the right thing for us. Sometimes His “Yes” – in response to our persistent demand for things we shouldn’t have – is given as a signal lesson to us, like when the Israelites kept pestering God for meat because they got tired of His divine provision of manna, and they received and consumed quail for an entire month until they got violently sick (Numbers 11:20). But there’s no question here where Ruth’s request of Boaz, and ours of God, is concerned: if we seek God as our Guardian-Redeemer in accordance with His promises, then no matter how many promises God has made, they are always “Yes” in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:19-20)! God delights to grant us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4) – so long as they are sought and pursued in accordance with His will. “All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character” (Ruth 3:11b). Just as Boaz readily complimented Ruth for her noble character – seen clearly in her commitment to and care for her mother-in-law Naomi, as well as her fidelity to Naomi’s God (Ruth 1:16) – God also readily compliments us, like the master who praises his servant’s faithfulness with a “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23). In 1 Chronicles 4:9, a descendant of Judah named Jabez is singled out as “more honorable than his brothers.” No one toils in obscurity when she or he is engaged in work that honors Christ. Just as Ruth’s noble efforts came to the notice and praise of Boaz, so too ours when we purpose to shine for God such that our good deeds cause others to glorify Him (Matthew 5:16)! Good works in themselves are not the issue here; it’s the motivation behind them that matters. We may accomplish a lot in Christian ministry – including prophesying, driving out demons, and performing many miracles all in God’s name – but we may fail to do the will of the Father because we did it all for self-gain and self-glory (Matthew 7:21-23). But God judges His good and faithful servants to be women and men of noble character! “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens” (Ruth 3:18a). After all that, there’s a kind of anticlimax: Ruth was forced to wait some more, while Boaz worked to settle the matter of her petition. Sometimes, God’s help and deliverance may take a while to happen. We’ve received God’s promise and assurance, only to find ourselves stuck in a period of waiting on Him to work things out! No child of God ever got to skip the discipline of waiting on God for His answer to prayer. As the prophet Micah once said, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me” (Micah 7:7). The neat thing I will leave for your consideration is this: our heavenly Father does not let us wait with nothing in hand! Before he got down to the business of fulfilling Ruth’s petition, Boaz instructed her, “‘Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.’ When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her” (Ruth 3:15). As you and I await expectantly for God to work our situations out in His time and way, let’s check our shawls and see what God has placed in them to keep us going while we wait. True, at times the waiting period looks rather bleak. In the prophet Habakkuk’s case, his wait for God was met with nonbudding fig trees, grape-less vines, a failing olive crop, and empty sheep pens and cattle stalls (Habakkuk 3:17). All Habakkuk had going for him, all he had “in his shawl,” was the Sovereign LORD, who alone was the prophet’s strength and joy (Habakkuk 3:18-19). And often times that’s all – that’s exactly who – we need, and He’s more than enough! God’s not dead, No! He is alive
God’s not dead, No! He is alive God’s not dead, No! He is alive. I feel it in my hands I feel it in my feet I can feel it all over me! As I write this blog on the cusp of Easter weekend, the above words of an action chorus from Sunday School days are firmly lodged in my mind. It’s Maundy Thursday today, the day just before Good Friday. I grew up in a church where Maundy Thursday was observed with a somber evening service to commemorate the Incarnate Christ’s final night on earth – which Jesus spent with his disciples over a last supper, was sold off to the religious authorities by one of them, sweated blood while wrestling to surrender his will to that of his Heavenly Father, and was dragged off like a criminal, placed before a kangaroo court, and unjustly tortured. The dark proceedings would crescendo and climax the following day with the Lord hoisted on a wooden cross atop a skull-shaped hill known as Golgotha, outside Jerusalem. The disciples would then endure a torrid twilight zone-like Saturday, not quite knowing what to expect, before the life of God exploded with resurrection power on Sunday, to the tune of “God’s not dead, no! He’s alive!” Whether by choice or circumstance, many folks unfortunately remain stuck in that long weekend – dark Thursday, not-so-good Friday, and hopeless Saturday – and completely miss out on resurrection Sunday, the arrival of the spiritual spring. For them, God either stayed dead or has been completely out of sight and mind. I get the sneaky suspicion that for many people, this prolonged season of pandemic – along with economic privation, racial prejudice, and divisive politics – has felt exactly like that: an extended time of pain, depression, and suffering where God seemed nowhere to be found. “God is asleep at the wheel, and humanity is locked in the trunk,” as a character from Grey’s Anatomy, the ABC primetime medical drama, once put it. For me, it’s been the exact opposite! True, the pandemic has been horrendous, along with the economic hardship and the racial and political divisiveness that have brought so much hurt and grief to many. It’s been a difficult year for international student ministry; it’s been a tough year, period. And yet in the midst of all of that, we have seen God moving and working mightily! I’m reminded of the Lord’s assurance to us from Isaiah 43:18-19: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” God has been birthing new things, like facilitating ISI’s turn to digital/online platforms for reaching and connecting with not only international students here in the States, but also with returnees around the world! Despite their trying circumstances, these students and returnees are pressing into God rather than running from him! Instead of being in a hard place financially, God has kept ISI solvent through the timely gifts given by the amazing partners and supporters of the ministry! When our tried-and-tested ways of conducting ministry got stymied by nationwide lockdowns, God led us by ways we had not known and guided us along unfamiliar paths (Isaiah 42:16). God’s not dead but very much alive, and I feel him through the loving kindness demonstrated by and through the Body of Christ. Indeed, the pandemic has led me to ponder that last part of Isaiah 43:19, I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. In other words, how can we see God making a way in the wilderness and creating streams in the wasteland unless we are in those arid places? Difficult as the year has been, God did not make a wrong turn, but he placed us exactly where he wanted us. And so, like the jackals and owls (in Isaiah 43:20-21), we honor the LORD and proclaim his praise for having kept us safe, secure, and flourishing! God’s not dead, No! He’s alive! Americans (and Canadians) commemorate Groundhog Day every February 2. According to tradition, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on that day and spots its shadow, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks; if it doesn’t see its shadow, spring will arrive early. We may also recall another Groundhog Day, the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray as a man who finds himself reliving the same day over and over again.
The idea of being permanently stuck in the same situation comes from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of Eternal Recurrence or Eternal Return, which posits that nothing new will ever happen even if we were to live an infinite number of lives. In fairness, Nietzsche never said things would always occur in exactly the same way as before with each repetition, but what he was suggesting may not be unlike what the Teacher declared in the Book of Ecclesiastes, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). It is as if the groundhog keeps seeing its shadow and, as a result, winter never ends, and spring never comes. Some of us may feel the same way. The vaccination programs have started – thank God for that – but the pandemic isn’t leaving us anytime soon; in fact, new variants of the coronavirus are showing up. The darkest shadows of disease, divisiveness, depression, despondency, and death continue to stalk us, seemingly without end. What are we to do? Nietzsche’s advice would be to accept our fate – we don’t have a choice anyway, according to his reasoning, because things will remain the same – and to live life as best as we can. But we can only do so in own strength and by our own wits, because God, for Nietzsche, is dead. I recently met a young man whom I will call “CJ”. CJ was the boss of the moving company my family used for our move last December to our new home. We obtained CJ’s contact from his aunt and uncle, a godly couple we had gotten to know shortly after arriving in Colorado Springs, and who have become close friends of ours. Only 24 years old and having lost his father when he was a child, the CJ we met was a confident yet humble, enterprising, and outstanding Christian young adult who had survived all manner of adversity and hardship. CJ was familiar with ISI because he worked the audiovisuals at our National Conferences in Colorado Springs in 2018 and in Portland in 2019. In fact, when he came by to our apartment with his moving truck last December, the first thing he said to Trina and me was, “Hey, I remember you guys from the ISI conference in Portland!” That was pretty cool. My family and I ate lunch at our new home with CJ and his crew after they were done moving our stuff, and we all spoke openly about life and the Christian faith at the dining table, while one of his crewmembers, a young man from Libya, listened intently as he munched his cheeseburger and fries. We made plans to have them over for dinner once we were a little more settled in. But alas that isn’t going to happen, because a few days ago, CJ took his own life. His fiancée was leaving him and caught in the throes of a deep sense of abandonment, rejection, and depression, he put a gun to his head. A young man in the prime of his life, with his own thriving business and already a homeowner, it all ended abruptly and tragically. Having met him only for a day, I didn’t know CJ at all, but my sense is Groundhog Day never quite stopped for him. His opportunity for a wonderful spring dried up when his dreams got shattered, and he presumably felt that all he had left was a long dark unceasing winter – the shadow of despair, guilt, and hopelessness, despite him knowing Christ from a young age and who, as was clear from the many moving tributes given at his memorial service, never shied from sharing Christ’s love in word and deed. What about us? On what have we pinned our hopes for the ending of winter and the coming of spring: on a vaccine, or on the pandemic lifting, or on the political situation settling, or on a return to some semblance of normalcy, or on our 401Ks, or on a groundhog or palm-reader or false Christ to determine our future? And if or when those options fail, to what or whom do we turn in the depths of our despair? Though I know I will see CJ again when it’s my turn to go to glory, I’m crushed that I won’t get to see him at our National Conference this summer as he would have been part of the AV team again. I don’t know if, in his downward spiral, CJ remembered Jesus or spoke with Him. Yet CJ wasn’t alone in such dire circumstances. On the run from Jezebel, Elijah sat under a tree and prayed that he might die. Elijah said to God, “I have had enough, LORD … Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). Weighed down by unforgiveness toward the Assyrians, Jonah told God, “Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 19:4). These guys knew a thing or two about the dark nights of the soul. When I first joined ISI back in 1999, during new staff orientation, when we had to undergo psychosocial testing, my score marked me out as borderline suicidal. I recall one of the ISI trainers trying his darnedest to explain that it didn’t mean I harbored a death wish! We need not wallow in our Groundhog Day, in the dark nights of our souls. As the Apostle Paul has written, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Romans 5:1-5). Let’s pin our hopes on Jesus, our Hope of Glory. If you feel, as I do, that we’ve been put through the wringer with the elections, we can all be forgiven for thinking that. Coming atop the pandemic, economic hardship, and racial strife, all of the negative politicking – including the tragic riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 – has left America a divided nation. Sadly, even families have been split asunder thanks to politics.
Every day, we’re bombarded by distressing reports in the news and subjected to the endless vitriol on social media. Some of us may have been wearing our political convictions on our sleeves – or more accurately on our Facebook accounts – with passion equal to (or, God forbid, greater than!) that with which we share our faith. Whether elated or enraged over the election outcome, we are somehow left feeling embittered with circumstances and with others who don’t share our political leanings. The Water of Bitterness As one who sucked at math, I shall nonetheless attempt an equation: Pandemic + prejudice + politics + pride = bitterness I’m reminded of a place called Marah in the Desert of Shur, at which the Israelites found themselves shortly after their miraculous crossing of the Red Sea: “When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?’ Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the LORD issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. He said, ‘If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.’ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.” —Exodus 15:23-27 As the Israelites discovered to their chagrin, the water at Marah was unfit for consumption because it was bitter. (Marah is Hebrew for “bitter”.) In the same way, our embittered state has arisen because the political water we’ve imbibed, the political air we’ve inhaled, has been poisoned by negativity and divisiveness. What we consume is what we spit out. We are what we drink or eat! Naturally, churches and Christian ministries have not been immune to the impact of national politics. With colleagues on both sides of the political spectrum – not very different really from the 12 disciples, with Matthew the Rome-appointed tax collector on one side and Simon the diehard nationalist on the other – there is a real danger that frustration and unhappiness caused by our political differences, if left unresolved, could fester to the point where they could tear us apart. The author of Hebrews puts it this way: “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Hebrews 12:14-15). Bitterness attacks and contaminates the very attributes that enable us to see God – peace, grace, holiness. Instead of being special and holy instruments that are useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work (2 Timothy 2:21), we risk becoming useless branches that bear either no fruit or worse, bitter fruit. The God Who Heals “Moses cried out to the LORD…” (v. 25). To overcome our season of bitterness, so too must we cry out to God to sweeten the water and make it drinkable. From this situation comes an amazing revelation about God’s identity and mission: “… I am the LORD, who heals you” (v. 26). I’m struck by the fact that God used this episode – bitter water, not medical illness or physical injury – to reveal Himself as Israel’s (and our) Jehovah Rophe (or Rapha or Rophecha), the God who heals! The bitterness fueled by the dire state of America’s politics can be healed and restored by our God who is more than able. The LORD showed Moses a piece of wood, which served as a water purification tablet of sorts (v. 25). The piece of wood reminds me of the wooden cross on which our Lord Jesus was crucified. It is by the death and resurrection of Christ on that tree that the ministry of reconciliation was rendered possible by God, and which He assigned us (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Healing, restoration, and reconciliation have all been made possible by Jesus’s sacrifice at Calvary. The Lord Who Sends “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water” (v. 27). After all this had taken place, the Israelites made it to Elim, a desert oasis fed by springs and full of palms. Springs furnish the cool waters that hydrate the parched throats of travelers from their long desert trek, while palm trees offer shade and relief from the desert heat. Elim was a place that provided much needed respite and restoration to the Israelites after their encounter with bitterness, as it were. May I suggest Elim also represents a calling to a once embittered people to be agents and ministers of healing, restoration, and reconciliation? I’m not into numerology but I find the mention of 12 springs and 70 palm trees intriguing. Here I’m reminded of the 12 disciples and the 72 – or, as Eastern Christian traditions like to put it, “the Seventy[-two] apostles” – whom Jesus sent out. With the 12, Matthew notes that Jesus “gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (Matthew 10:1). As for the 70 (or 72), Luke notes that these were sent by Jesus two by two “ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go” (Luke 10:1). Not only were they to do what the 12 were sent to do, they also acted as forerunners of the Lord Jesus, who carry with them their Christ-given authority to heal and to restore souls mired in bitterness and brokenness, and to bring about reconciliation with God and with one another. The Color Purple In the Methodist Church in Singapore of which Trina and I were a part, the practice of using liturgical colors was conscientiously observed. Purple is the color of both penitence and royalty used during the preparatory seasons of Advent and Lent. It’s been said that when we mix red and blue, we get purple. When the political “red” and “blue” sides of our community resolve to mix together in love for one another, we collectively (purple) bow down in penitence before Jesus and worship Him as our Lord and King! In fact, our love for one another is what reveals to a wary and wearily embittered world that Jesus is King: “A new command I give you: Love one another,” said Jesus to His disciples. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). Do we find ourselves stuck in Marah, embittered by all the poisoned water we’ve been drinking – from a firehose, it seems? Healing and restoration begin at home – at our local churches and ministries. If Matthew the taxman and Simon the hitman – some historians, fairly or otherwise, have referred to the extremist arm of the Zealots as the “Sicarii” – had each other’s backs and loved and laid down their lives for one another, then so too must we. Time for us to get the heck out of Dodge – out of Marah, that is – and proceed to Elim! |
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