The Need for Fresh Insights

One of my goals this summer was to do a devotional reading through the gospel of John. This week I finished my read through this gospel and I was struck by an event that took place in chapter 20 verses 1 to 18. The scene takes place after the resurrection of Jesus. Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid, and she notices that the stone had been rolled away. She then runs to tell Peter and the other disciples, to which Peter and John ran to the tomb to find out for themselves. Sure enough they saw with their own eyes that the body of Jesus was gone. They walked away from there; it would seem, with their heads down and without hope. The next scene shows that Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. While she was weeping she was approached by Jesus who asked why she was weeping. At this point she was unaware that he was her Lord. But when she realized that she was staring her Lord in the face she calls him “teacher”. Jesus then gives her instructions. He tells her to go to the disciples. She was to tell them these words (v. 17), “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

Why was this, the message he wanted to send to his disciples? Why didn’t he simply say, “Tell the disciples you saw me, and tell them to get back over here.” Apparently, this was a phrase or a saying that he had said to them before. Therefore, when they heard these words it would have clicked in their minds that this message was from Jesus. They most likely would have thought, “Wait a minute she wasn’t there when he taught us this, and now she’s quoting him.” They would have then believed what she was saying because she was quoting something they had heard Jesus spoke before.

Sometimes God’s word must be spoken to us in fresh ways so that we are shaken up to say, “O, yeah…that’s what the Bible says.” It’s easy to get in a rut and just read the Bible without moving us towards greater belief in the Lord. When the Bible is read it should produce greater faith and confidence in the Lord.

I trust that in your reading through the Bible (particularly during the summer) you are reading it with fresh eyes and ears. Don’t look at the word of God as just another book. Read it intently. Listen to sermons preached with fresh ears every time. Allow it to produce in you a greater love for the Savior, and may it cause you to resolve ever more to walk in the ways of the Lord.

I love this quote from Maurice Roberts' The Thought of God. It encapsulates that thought I'm attempting to capture here.

If our hearts remains cold after all we can do to conjure up in our minds the wonders of Christ's love towards us, we must be ruthless with our affections and constrain our slow hearts to measure our debt of thankfulness to Jesus by a consideration of the gulf between our blessings and our deservings. Let us recall with deepest mortification that if Christ is my life, I was his death. If he is my righteousness, I was his damnation. As he is all my blessing, I was once his curse, this scourge, his "hell". O what a contradiction of God I was when Christ found me and renewed the divine image upon my soul! O at what a distance from God I was when Jesus breathed life into me and bade me live in the near presence of his Father!

"One sows and another reaps..." Part II

It is Monday afternoon and I am recovering physically after a 4 day long outreach camp at Tshimakain Creek camp just outside of Spokane, WA. My body is physically worn out, but my soul is spiritually full after laboring for the sake of the gospel to 47 children between the ages of 8-11 years old. These kids were from various walks of life; many of them from extremely difficult home situations and from low income neighborhoods. Church life for these kids is a foreign concept. In fact most of them didn’t even know there was such a thing as an Old and New Testament in the Bible. This is indicative of a culture that is becoming more and more godless with each successive generation. This was all the more reason I believe it was right for us (FBC) to partner with Union Gospel Mission of Spokane in an effort to reach the younger generation with the gospel. Perhaps the Lord will show his kindness towards many of these young ones and bring them to saving faith. I took a staff of 27 adult and high school students ranging from ages 14 to 51 with me. What an incredible team. A team that worked together so well, one would think that we had known each other longer than the 4 days we were at camp.

It’s hard to believe that the week of ministry to these young people is over. Who knows if we will ever make contact with these kids again? I am in the middle of strategizing with the Tshimakain Outreach Team ways in which we can incorporate many of these kids into the body of Christ here at FBC. It will be a difficult task because many of their parents may not want to have anything to do with church. My encouragement to the team members is to pursue these kids, regardless, through letters or phone calls, but that they should try to make contact with the parents as much as possible. A parent whose child is loved by another will find it hard to resist that person. It will be a challenge for the team to follow up because for many of them this is new approach to gospel ministry, but each team member is up for the challenge of a possible negative response. They realize that part of the consequence of extending the gospel in word and deed is at times rejection.

If we never see these kids again, I can say with a clear conscience that we as a team sowed the seeds of the gospel. The theme for the camp was “King of the Jungle”. There were six messages presented during the 4 days at camp. Each message was preceded by a skit with three characters in search of this “king of the jungle”. The king of the jungle of course was King Jesus and throughout their journey in search of this King they would be led to some so-called kings. On one journey they were led to the Lion King. On another journey they were taken to King Kong, and yet on another journey they were taken to King Tut. All did not fit the characteristics of the one true King they were looking for. The King they were in search of had the attributes of Power, Justice, Promise, Humble, Love and Glory. We used these six characteristics of King Jesus to present the gospel. After 20-25 minute messages each cabin leader took their kids through a series of questions and reiterated the contents of the message and took the opportunity to present the gospel in word. By the end of the week, one cabin leaders can say with confidence that one of the little girls in her cabin made a commitment to follow Christ. Many of the kids listened intently, they seemed to get the contents of the gospel, but were not vocal about any commitments to follow Christ if they did.

However, what will be imbedded in the minds of many of these children is the kindness and love that was extended to them towards by the staff. Every one from the work crew to the cabin counselors went out of their way to show the gospel to these kids with their actions. They were sacrificial in their actions. They took the time to do things the kids wanted to do. They did not have one break away from these kids at any time during the camp. It was indeed a labor of love and work produced by their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can say they were moved by the love of the staff because many of these young ones were in tears when they came off the bus and had to say good-bye to their cabin leaders.

Time will tell whether the seeds of the gospel landed on good soil; we can only pray. We sowed; perhaps another will one day reap a harvest.