10 Qualities of Jesus’ Words

I read this in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement by Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne.  This was written by Ajith Fernando, national director for Youth For Christ in Sri Lanka since 1976.

1. His teaching is profound, yet simple. (John 7:46)
2. He speaks with great authority. (Matt. 28:18, 24:15, 7:28-29)
3. He claims to have the authority to forgive sin. (Mark 2:10)
4. He not only tells people to “Follow my teaching,” He says, “Follow me” and demands total allegiance. (Matt 10:37-38)
5. He takes on titles given to God in the Old Testament. (Ps 27:1 vs. John 8:12; Ps 23:1 vs John 10:11)
6. He considers Himself worthy of receiving the honour that is due to God. (Isaiah 42:8, John 5:22-23)
7. He claims to have a unique Father-Son relationship with God.
8. He claims to be the judge of humankind. (John 5:27)
9. He says that He will give us things that only God can give. (John 5:21, 4:14, 14:27, 15:11)
10. His opponents, the Jewish leaders, understood the implication of His claims. (John 5:17-18)

Loving Them Which Hate Us

Luke 6:32-36
 32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
 33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
 34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
 35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
 36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

When we talk about loving people, we often only really love those that love us, do good to those who do good to us, and give to those who will give back to us.  Jesus said, if that is all we do, then there is nothing commendable about our actions because sinners do the same thing.

When we witness and share the gospel, we allow the attitude of our audience to color our approach, compassion, and generosity.  If the people or country is resistent, hostile, or “hard”, then we don’t want to go there.  We only want to go where we are loved, treated kindly, and get something in return.

We need to take Jesus’s challenge to love our enemies, to do good, to lend, and to hope for nothing in return.  We need to take the gospel to those who hate Christians, to those who are the enemies of the gospel, to those who do not love us, will not do good to us, and will not give us anything.  That is real love.  That is worthy of a reward.

Jesus said, if we do this, our reward will be great, and we will be called the children of the Highest.  Such love for the unlovely, such kindness for the unappreciative, and such generosity for the ungrateful is characteristic of God because He is kind to the unthankful and the evil.  He is merciful on the sinners, so we should be merciful and kind to sinners.  He was merciful and kind to us when we were His enemies.

As I think of this passage, it reminds me of those men and women who sacrifice their lives, their fortunes, their future, and their happiness at times to love their enemies by taking the gospel to very hostile people.  I have friends who are working in places where the vaste majority of the people there do not want them their and some would even love to see them dead.  It is hard for them.  It is not fun for them.  But this kind of unconditional love for our enemies is what it will take for us to get the gospel to the world.

What about you?  Do you only witness to those who will be nice to you?  Do you always play it safe?  Are you afraid of being rejected, being mistreated, and being hurt?  Will you really love someone who is your enemy enough to given him or her the gospel even though they may hurt you?  May God give you and me that kind of love and compassion!

Importance of Churchmanship

I read this article here.  It shows the importance of commitment to a local church no matter where you are in the world.

The new 9Marks eJournal on missions was just released. Click here for the table of contents. One of my favorite articles was Conrad Mbewe’s “How American Christians Can Help Christians in Zambia.”

Here’s his challenging third suggestion for how Western Christians can help:

3) DEMONSTRATE BIBLICAL CHURCHMANSHIP

Western Christians entering Zambia as missionaries are generally very good examples to us with respect to their personal and domestic lives. In these two areas, we see a very clear difference between them and their non-Christian counterparts from the Western world.

However, where we see no difference is in their commitment to the local church. Their church attendance is scanty to say the least. They do not join a local church. We do not know where they give their tithes and offerings. They are not involved in any local church ministries (except to preach when they are asked to do so), and so on.

As a result, our young professional Christians believe that this is enlightened Christianity. They also end up having a very loose relationship with the church. I really think that this has been the Achilles’ heel of the work of Western missionaries in Zambia today. They are not good examples of biblical churchmanship!

We need to find a way in which Western missionaries can maintain relationships with their sending churches and at the same time exhibit biblical accountability to local churches where they labor, so that they can be good examples in this area to those whom they win to Christ.