This week, we look at a familiar Prophet—the Prophet Elijah. Elijah’s life and ministry is not given to us specifically from his own writings as that of Jonah or Habakkuk or Nehemiah. We derive our information about this notable Old Testament character in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. I have chosen to look at Elijah as the Powerful prophet. I derive this not merely from the account of his life / ministry given to us in the Old Testament but additionally from the New Testament commentary of James, the half-brother of Jesus, on Elijah. James tells us “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” and he then proceeds to make a reference to Elijah as a prime example of powerful prayer—James 5: 16, 17. Let us turn now to three principles that guaranteed Elijah’s Prophetic ministry to be powerful as we endeavor to build a Powerful Ministry.
Principle #1: Be in Touch with the Word of God.
The first thing we are told of Elijah is that he speaks to a wicked king [king Ahab] and prophesies of a few years of drought. The next thing we are told is “So he went and did according to the word of the LORD”—1Kings 17:1-5. Here we find the first principle that guaranteed power in Elijah’s ministry—he was in touch with the Word of God.
We too need to be in touch with the Word of God. We, unlike Elijah, may not have the LORD audibly speak to us yet, as Peter indicates, “we have a more sure word of prophecy and do well to pay attention to it”—2 Peter 1: 19. What is interesting is the context in which these words were written. Peter, in the preceding verses (16-18) speaks of the experience at the Mount of Transfiguration recorded in Matthew 17—a glorious experience I would give a lifetime to witness. Yet, Peter tells us that such experience is only secondary to the words of the Prophets—the Holy Scriptures. And what Peter tells us is that our experiences and emotions are only secondary to the Word of God. Yet, I see many who put their personal feelings and experience over and above the words of Scripture but Elijah was powerful in ministry because he follows that fundamental principle—he was in touch with the Word of God.
There is a second aspect to the Word of God. The Scriptures are the written Word of God. But John tells us in John 1 that Jesus is the Word made flesh—Jesus is the living Word of God. To be powerful in ministry, we need to be in touch with the *written* Word as well as the *living* Word of God by study of the Bible and communion with Jesus in prayer. I leave you with that question: Do you know the Scriptures? Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? We cannot have a powerful ministry without these components.
Principle #2: Be in Touch with the World around.
Not only was Elijah in touch with the Word of God, secondly he was in touch with the world around him. First, he was aware of a potential ministry to a widow and her son and didn’t merely bask in the warmth of being in communion with God. We, as Christians, need to be ready to serve a needy world. Additionally and more importantly, Elijah was also aware of a spiritual ministry to the people of Israel. In his bid to share that ministry, he was halted by a fellow prophet (Obadiah) as given to us in 1 Kings 18: 1-19. Some of the most worrisome obstacles in ministry come from within the Christian camp and you and I have to ensure that we are not obstacles to God’s ministry in other Christians and yet if we have obstacles within the Faith, we need to still stick to being in touch with God’s ministry to the world.
Finally, in the encounter with the false prophets of Baal, while it may seem that Elijah is arrogant in his defense of the true God, in actuality, his focus is entirely on the spiritual need of Israel and just before calling on God to barbeque the altar, he makes an awesome prayer “O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel…Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again”—1 Kings 18: 36, 37. His whole ministry was not about himself but about bringing the hearts of the people of Israel back to God. Do you and I have a passion for the hearts of the world to bring them back to the LORD? Elijah’s ministry tells us that first, we need to be in touch with the Word of God and secondly, we need to be in touch with world around to bring them back to God? Do you feel that burden? If you do, you are en route to a powerful ministry.
Principle #3: Be out of touch with your Comfort
There is one final principle in the life of Elijah that we should consider. We know that he was intent on following the Word of God and he was burdened by the need of the people to return to God. But finally, he was willing to do this at any length by renouncing his own comfort. 1 Kings 18: 3, 4 read that God tells Elijah to “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there”. Can you imagine that Elijah had to [1] hide [2] drink from a brook and [3] be fed by ravens? How uncomfortable is that? And yet Elijah was willing to be uncomfortable for God’s ministry.
In our modern day ideal for ministry, we attempt to live the American Dream and Elijah, in his powerful ministry knew no such comfort; Paul, knew no such comfort; Jonah, knew no such comfort; Habakkuk knew no such comfort and my only conclusion is that we are to expect no such comfort. And I, in my own personal desire have to remind myself not to get caught up in these needs but remember to be in touch with the Word of God; in touch with the world around and out of out with my own comforts. Ironically, the regions of the world with the greatest Church growth are the regions that keep these three principles in mind. My prayer is that the ministry of God’s Church worldwide and especially here in this country would adhere to these principles. Will you? Be blessed as you do so!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Prophet Nehemiah: The Ministry Building Prophet
This week we look at another Prophet seldom mentioned in Christian circles yet fundamentally important to the Christian Ministry—Nehemiah. The life of Nehemiah is found disclosed to us in the Book of Nehemiah. I must begin by saying that I cannot do justice to the Book in this brief piece and everyone owes it to himself/herself to read the details themselves of Nehemiah’s own calling . I call Nehemiah a Prophet though that was not his formal vocation. We are told in the last words of the first chapter of his book he was the king’s cupbearer. There is a lesson to be learned from this: we don’t have to be formal Pastors to build a ministry—Nehemiah certainly wasn’t. But besides this, there are three things to learn from Nehemiah’s ministry in building, in his case, the wall of Jerusalem and I turn to those now:
#1: Be aware of Godly Intervention
The first thing to learn of Nehemiah for anyone being a part of building a ministry is to be cognizant of God’s intervention. Nehemiah received the news of the state of Jerusalem from his brother Hanani and his first response is given to us in 1: 4: “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven”. Nehemiah’s first response to adversity was a cognizance of the Sovereignty of God and his dependence on that. Isn’t it amazing that someone who worked in the palace of the king didn’t misplace his source of dependence? It is easy to say this and also trite to say it but it is fundamental to the success of any ministry in building to recognize its dependence on God. The first lesson for building a ministry from Nehemiah was to be aware of God’s intervention.
#2: Beware of External Opposition
Many recognize the need for dependence on God for ministry building but some forget the second factor in Nehemiah’s life—external opposition. Someone has rightly said “Wherever you find a man who would stand up for God to build, you can be sure that there will be another who would stand up against God to destroy” and Nehemiah’s experience was no different. Nehemiah 2: 10 tells us “When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel”. So there was external opposition to the work of God
But that is not all. We read on further that two things will be consistent with the opposition [1]it will increase in number and [2] it will increase in fervor. In v. 10 we only read of the displeasure of the opposition of two groups—the Horonite and the Ammonite. In Nehemiah 2: 19, a short while later, we read of the inclusion of a third group—the Arab—and a more offensive opposition in mocking and despising: “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us”. 4: 1 reads “Sanballat …became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews”. In 4: 7 we read of the inclusion of “the Ashdodites” and this continues through the book.
You can be sure that there will be opposition increasing towards the growth of Christianity in our land. Before it was solely a displeasure with it and we removed it from our classrooms. Now, we are being forced to remove it from our churches when Evangelical ministers are being sued and forced to marry homosexuals. The opposition is not only going to increase in number but in fervor and the same is true for you if you are building a ministry.
But Nehemiah had a two-fold response to this opposition that we can learn from as Nehemiah 4: 9 tells us: “But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night”. He had both a vertical and a horizontal response. First, he fell back to his previous recognition and prayed to God—this was a vertical response. But he didn’t leave it at that. He responded horizontally by addressing the threat. It is important not only to call on God but to also take a stand against the threat—Beware of External Opposition.
#3: Beware of Internal Opposition
Yet if external opposition doesn’t destroy a ministry, you can be sure that internal opposition will surface. In Nehemiah 6: 5-13, we read of the story concocted by the opposition by hiring someone on the inside to make a false warning about the building project to discourage the builders and Nehemiah himself. Yet, Nehemiah was not swayed from the course. We read a similar thing in the ministry of Paul. Paul launches into a tirade of the dangers of ministry in 2 Corinthians 11:26 as follows : “I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea” and then he ends “dangers among false brethren” as if that was the most heart breaking of all. The most devastating opposition to any ministry comes, not from without, but from within—internal opposition—and we need to beware of it.
In the end, Nehemiah responds to this opposition as he always had, by seeking God. The best idea I can leave concerning internal opposition is to be aware of God and His Word and any ministry that ignores this is bound to be victimized by the internal scheming that will surface sometime sooner or later. Churches have split over the type of music to play—contemporary or traditional; over times of worship—9am or 11am; over the dress code of the Pastor—casual or formal and over the color of the pew seats none of which is prescribed in the Word of God and forgetting that the early Church, by our standards, played neither contemporary nor traditional music, worshiped at all times, dressed neither casually nor formally and had no pews in their home churches. Yet the Word of God is being ignored on godly sexuality and conduct, biblical doctrine and practice and biblical disciplines. We ought to be aware of internal opposition ignoring the former type by addressing the latter type.
In concluding, Nehemiah tells us to [1] be always aware of God’s role in building our ministry, [2] beware of external opposition in destroying the ministry and [3] beware of internal opposition in dividing the ministry. In dealing with these oppositions, we must have both a vertical response in dependence on God and an horizontal response in dealing squarely with the threat. Be blessed as you build your ministry in the wisdom of Nehemiah.
#1: Be aware of Godly Intervention
The first thing to learn of Nehemiah for anyone being a part of building a ministry is to be cognizant of God’s intervention. Nehemiah received the news of the state of Jerusalem from his brother Hanani and his first response is given to us in 1: 4: “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven”. Nehemiah’s first response to adversity was a cognizance of the Sovereignty of God and his dependence on that. Isn’t it amazing that someone who worked in the palace of the king didn’t misplace his source of dependence? It is easy to say this and also trite to say it but it is fundamental to the success of any ministry in building to recognize its dependence on God. The first lesson for building a ministry from Nehemiah was to be aware of God’s intervention.
#2: Beware of External Opposition
Many recognize the need for dependence on God for ministry building but some forget the second factor in Nehemiah’s life—external opposition. Someone has rightly said “Wherever you find a man who would stand up for God to build, you can be sure that there will be another who would stand up against God to destroy” and Nehemiah’s experience was no different. Nehemiah 2: 10 tells us “When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel”. So there was external opposition to the work of God
But that is not all. We read on further that two things will be consistent with the opposition [1]it will increase in number and [2] it will increase in fervor. In v. 10 we only read of the displeasure of the opposition of two groups—the Horonite and the Ammonite. In Nehemiah 2: 19, a short while later, we read of the inclusion of a third group—the Arab—and a more offensive opposition in mocking and despising: “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us”. 4: 1 reads “Sanballat …became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews”. In 4: 7 we read of the inclusion of “the Ashdodites” and this continues through the book.
You can be sure that there will be opposition increasing towards the growth of Christianity in our land. Before it was solely a displeasure with it and we removed it from our classrooms. Now, we are being forced to remove it from our churches when Evangelical ministers are being sued and forced to marry homosexuals. The opposition is not only going to increase in number but in fervor and the same is true for you if you are building a ministry.
But Nehemiah had a two-fold response to this opposition that we can learn from as Nehemiah 4: 9 tells us: “But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night”. He had both a vertical and a horizontal response. First, he fell back to his previous recognition and prayed to God—this was a vertical response. But he didn’t leave it at that. He responded horizontally by addressing the threat. It is important not only to call on God but to also take a stand against the threat—Beware of External Opposition.
#3: Beware of Internal Opposition
Yet if external opposition doesn’t destroy a ministry, you can be sure that internal opposition will surface. In Nehemiah 6: 5-13, we read of the story concocted by the opposition by hiring someone on the inside to make a false warning about the building project to discourage the builders and Nehemiah himself. Yet, Nehemiah was not swayed from the course. We read a similar thing in the ministry of Paul. Paul launches into a tirade of the dangers of ministry in 2 Corinthians 11:26 as follows : “I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea” and then he ends “dangers among false brethren” as if that was the most heart breaking of all. The most devastating opposition to any ministry comes, not from without, but from within—internal opposition—and we need to beware of it.
In the end, Nehemiah responds to this opposition as he always had, by seeking God. The best idea I can leave concerning internal opposition is to be aware of God and His Word and any ministry that ignores this is bound to be victimized by the internal scheming that will surface sometime sooner or later. Churches have split over the type of music to play—contemporary or traditional; over times of worship—9am or 11am; over the dress code of the Pastor—casual or formal and over the color of the pew seats none of which is prescribed in the Word of God and forgetting that the early Church, by our standards, played neither contemporary nor traditional music, worshiped at all times, dressed neither casually nor formally and had no pews in their home churches. Yet the Word of God is being ignored on godly sexuality and conduct, biblical doctrine and practice and biblical disciplines. We ought to be aware of internal opposition ignoring the former type by addressing the latter type.
In concluding, Nehemiah tells us to [1] be always aware of God’s role in building our ministry, [2] beware of external opposition in destroying the ministry and [3] beware of internal opposition in dividing the ministry. In dealing with these oppositions, we must have both a vertical response in dependence on God and an horizontal response in dealing squarely with the threat. Be blessed as you build your ministry in the wisdom of Nehemiah.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Prophet Habakkuk: The Social Prophet
Last time we looked at Jonah as the Missionary Prophet. This week, we look at Habakkuk, another “Minor Prophet” with a definitively major message. Habakkuk is a Book with just three chapters and again, like Jonah, could easily be read in one sitting. It is often said that the New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. When the Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected and met with the two on the road to Emmaus, we are told that He explained Scripture to them speaking of Himself. Peter, shortly after Pentecost said “[i]ndeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days”—Acts 3: 24. Habakkuk was one of those Prophets that concealed Christ in His Prophetic Ministry.
While there is no question that Jesus had a primarily salvific (about salvation) message to His audience, which includes you and me, it is also quite clear that Jesus had a socio-ethical message as well. You can see it in the Sermon on the Mount where he speaks of divorce, murder, the breaking of oaths and adultery amongst other things. Jesus tells us to “turn the cheek” when slapped—a social message; tells us to rejoice when we are persecuted—another social message; and in His Olivet Discourse, He points out that we should take care of others in prison. In the life and ministry of Habakkuk, the social message of Jesus as revealed in the New Testament was concealed. In Habakkuk, I see three cries that make him a Social Prophet and I turn to those cries now.
#1: Cries of Violence.
Habakkuk begins with the words: ‘How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!"Yet You do not save’. The cry of Habakkuk is one that should ring true in the life of every Christian (and believer in God in general) as it did in the life of Jesus. When Jesus saw the mis-shepherding by the Jewish leaders in His day, He cried out loudly cleansing the temple at one time and calling the Pharisees “brood of vipers” at another. The fact of the matter is that the believer cannot remain in silence, but must cry out “Violence”.
The first thing Habakkuk tells you and me is that we need to be troubled by the violence prevalent in our world and I hope we Christians don’t think it only exists in the outside world but even so in the Church as well. To be aware of the violence, for example in the Middle East or the continent of my birth—Africa—and not be moved by it, is quite unchristian. And lest we think that violence is a thing of miles away and across the oceans, our streets are littered with “home-grown” rapists , pedophiles and murderers, some of them who are themselves “victims of circumstance”. So troubling was such violence to Habakkuk that he wrestled with God about it. Imagine the audacious boldness to which the Prophet approaches God—Will you not hear? Will you not save? And what Jesus tells you and me is that we need to be burdened by the marring of God’s image in man. We need to cry out “Violence”! The question I leave with you, then, is “Do you cry out against violence when you see it”?
#2: Cries of Injustice.
First Habakkuk cried out against violence. Then there was a second cry in Habakkuk’s life. It is similar to the social cry of violence. We read Habakkuk saying in verse 3 “Why do You make me see iniquity [“injustice”—NIV], And cause me to look on wickedness?” Psalm 89: 14 reads “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your [God] throne”. You and I can understand Habakkuk’s predicament, can’t we? If indeed God’s throne is founded on righteousness and justice, why does injustice prevail over justice? Further, the Prophet is very perceptive. He says in v. 12 “Are You not from everlasting”. Do you know what the question is implying? If you are God and claim that Justice is the foundation of your throne and are eternal, why in the world can’t you get rid of this injustice? Or maybe it is because you really aren’t an everlasting God, isn’t it? Habakkuk is calling into question the very nature of God because of the nature of the world?
I see a lot of non-Christians making this same cry against injustice. Yet, I wonder if we Christians care for the injustice in our street, in our homes and in our hearts? As a Teaching Assistant, I struggle deeply with this question. There are certain students that one likes and others that are openly annoying and rude. Isn’t there a temptation to be unjust in grading legitimately? And if that application seems trivial to you, who is fighting for the “rights” of the homeless? A friend of mine started a ministry to the homeless that I was privileged to be a part of. It is deeply disturbing. Some of them have great minds. It’s one thing to be, like me, a foreigner; it’s another to be a “foreigner” of sorts in your own “home”. Who is fighting for the “rights” of the African Americans? If there is anything I appreciate from the last elections, I hope that we African Americans can rise to excellence with the prospect and model of the President-Elect. The days of hopelessness are gone. But there is still quite a wealth of injustice on the African American. What Jesus calls me and you to do is to take up the fight for the poor and unprivileged in the midst of injustice. Cry #2 is a cry against injustice.
#3: Cries of Trust.
Finally, I like the way Habakkuk handles his cries. First, He takes it to the LORD, Himself. That is rare, yet very commendable. Secondly, He listens to the LORD’s answer. “Violence”, by definition, means “to violate”. But how can there be violation unless there is initially an objective design or purpose of the violated? How can there be injustice without a pre-cognition of the right of justice? You cannot violate a non-existent law; I cannot violate or abuse the instruction for microwave use if there are no such objective instructions. You see, the disbeliever in God cannot legitimately cry out “violence” because according to him/her, there is no objective design or purpose—there is no “instructions manual” for life so what is there to violate? But you and I have the glorious privilege of knowing that there is an instructions manual for life. Such is found in the Holy Scriptures for man, created in the image of God, is designed for that God. In the words of St. Augustine, “You have made us for Thyself, and we are restless until we find our rest in Thee”.
I was recently asked about the solution to the problem in the Middle East between Jews and Muslims. I presented the message of the Cross as I am deeply convinced that’s the solution. Yet, my questioner discounted it for it was “religious talk”. However, this “religious talk” is sought by secular institutions for even the U.N. called on Dr. Ravi Zacharias, an evangelist, to address it and proffer solutions and wasn’t it Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of Cologne, West Germany on the heels of Hitler’s leveling of that nation who said to evangelist Billy Graham, "Outside the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, I can see no hope for mankind". In those words, I believe there is awesome truth. So, Habakkuk was right in crying out “violence” and we all, believer or not, have that essential God given instinct of noticing violence. But the Christian can point us socially to the One who gives rest, the one who said “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS”. In a world of moral, socio-political, and economical crumbling there is rest from violence and injustice in Christ! In Habakkuk’s words, “I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy”—3: 2. He ends with a cry of trust. May we be a people of trust in our ministry as social Prophets!
While there is no question that Jesus had a primarily salvific (about salvation) message to His audience, which includes you and me, it is also quite clear that Jesus had a socio-ethical message as well. You can see it in the Sermon on the Mount where he speaks of divorce, murder, the breaking of oaths and adultery amongst other things. Jesus tells us to “turn the cheek” when slapped—a social message; tells us to rejoice when we are persecuted—another social message; and in His Olivet Discourse, He points out that we should take care of others in prison. In the life and ministry of Habakkuk, the social message of Jesus as revealed in the New Testament was concealed. In Habakkuk, I see three cries that make him a Social Prophet and I turn to those cries now.
#1: Cries of Violence.
Habakkuk begins with the words: ‘How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!"Yet You do not save’. The cry of Habakkuk is one that should ring true in the life of every Christian (and believer in God in general) as it did in the life of Jesus. When Jesus saw the mis-shepherding by the Jewish leaders in His day, He cried out loudly cleansing the temple at one time and calling the Pharisees “brood of vipers” at another. The fact of the matter is that the believer cannot remain in silence, but must cry out “Violence”.
The first thing Habakkuk tells you and me is that we need to be troubled by the violence prevalent in our world and I hope we Christians don’t think it only exists in the outside world but even so in the Church as well. To be aware of the violence, for example in the Middle East or the continent of my birth—Africa—and not be moved by it, is quite unchristian. And lest we think that violence is a thing of miles away and across the oceans, our streets are littered with “home-grown” rapists , pedophiles and murderers, some of them who are themselves “victims of circumstance”. So troubling was such violence to Habakkuk that he wrestled with God about it. Imagine the audacious boldness to which the Prophet approaches God—Will you not hear? Will you not save? And what Jesus tells you and me is that we need to be burdened by the marring of God’s image in man. We need to cry out “Violence”! The question I leave with you, then, is “Do you cry out against violence when you see it”?
#2: Cries of Injustice.
First Habakkuk cried out against violence. Then there was a second cry in Habakkuk’s life. It is similar to the social cry of violence. We read Habakkuk saying in verse 3 “Why do You make me see iniquity [“injustice”—NIV], And cause me to look on wickedness?” Psalm 89: 14 reads “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your [God] throne”. You and I can understand Habakkuk’s predicament, can’t we? If indeed God’s throne is founded on righteousness and justice, why does injustice prevail over justice? Further, the Prophet is very perceptive. He says in v. 12 “Are You not from everlasting”. Do you know what the question is implying? If you are God and claim that Justice is the foundation of your throne and are eternal, why in the world can’t you get rid of this injustice? Or maybe it is because you really aren’t an everlasting God, isn’t it? Habakkuk is calling into question the very nature of God because of the nature of the world?
I see a lot of non-Christians making this same cry against injustice. Yet, I wonder if we Christians care for the injustice in our street, in our homes and in our hearts? As a Teaching Assistant, I struggle deeply with this question. There are certain students that one likes and others that are openly annoying and rude. Isn’t there a temptation to be unjust in grading legitimately? And if that application seems trivial to you, who is fighting for the “rights” of the homeless? A friend of mine started a ministry to the homeless that I was privileged to be a part of. It is deeply disturbing. Some of them have great minds. It’s one thing to be, like me, a foreigner; it’s another to be a “foreigner” of sorts in your own “home”. Who is fighting for the “rights” of the African Americans? If there is anything I appreciate from the last elections, I hope that we African Americans can rise to excellence with the prospect and model of the President-Elect. The days of hopelessness are gone. But there is still quite a wealth of injustice on the African American. What Jesus calls me and you to do is to take up the fight for the poor and unprivileged in the midst of injustice. Cry #2 is a cry against injustice.
#3: Cries of Trust.
Finally, I like the way Habakkuk handles his cries. First, He takes it to the LORD, Himself. That is rare, yet very commendable. Secondly, He listens to the LORD’s answer. “Violence”, by definition, means “to violate”. But how can there be violation unless there is initially an objective design or purpose of the violated? How can there be injustice without a pre-cognition of the right of justice? You cannot violate a non-existent law; I cannot violate or abuse the instruction for microwave use if there are no such objective instructions. You see, the disbeliever in God cannot legitimately cry out “violence” because according to him/her, there is no objective design or purpose—there is no “instructions manual” for life so what is there to violate? But you and I have the glorious privilege of knowing that there is an instructions manual for life. Such is found in the Holy Scriptures for man, created in the image of God, is designed for that God. In the words of St. Augustine, “You have made us for Thyself, and we are restless until we find our rest in Thee”.
I was recently asked about the solution to the problem in the Middle East between Jews and Muslims. I presented the message of the Cross as I am deeply convinced that’s the solution. Yet, my questioner discounted it for it was “religious talk”. However, this “religious talk” is sought by secular institutions for even the U.N. called on Dr. Ravi Zacharias, an evangelist, to address it and proffer solutions and wasn’t it Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of Cologne, West Germany on the heels of Hitler’s leveling of that nation who said to evangelist Billy Graham, "Outside the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, I can see no hope for mankind". In those words, I believe there is awesome truth. So, Habakkuk was right in crying out “violence” and we all, believer or not, have that essential God given instinct of noticing violence. But the Christian can point us socially to the One who gives rest, the one who said “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS”. In a world of moral, socio-political, and economical crumbling there is rest from violence and injustice in Christ! In Habakkuk’s words, “I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy”—3: 2. He ends with a cry of trust. May we be a people of trust in our ministry as social Prophets!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Prophet Jonah: The Missionary Prophet
Jonah is one of those Books of Scripture that are a delight to read for their brevity yet demand a lot for study. The Book can easily be read in one sitting of ten minutes. We are not told much about the life of Jonah but we are clearly told that he was given a message by God for the people of Nineveh—an unbelieving people, a Gentile people, a lost people. In this, you and I share something in common with Jonah—we have a mission to the unsaved; we like Jonah are a missionary prophet.
Jonah is one of those few Prophets whose prophetic prediction actually failed. He prophesied of the overthrow of Nineveh in 40 days—Jonah 3: 4. That didn’t happen in 40 days. No doubt we consider Jonah to have not been very successful in his mission despite the fact that the Ninevites repented and experienced a revival. Isn’t it ironic how human failure can be turned into spiritual success by the sovereign God? But lest we become hard on Jonah, you and I can, like him, easily make three mistakes in our Prophetic mission and I present them as positive cautions rather than negative rebuke.
Mistake #1: Passion for your Ministry
That Jonah knew he was called of God cannot be disputed. Whether you are called of God to some mission or not, I cannot determine. That is between you and God. But I do know that one thing that is essential for a successful mission is to be passionate about the ministry to which you are called. I don’t say these next words with any sense of flattery. But I do know one such man personally. Roger Charley leads the campus fellowship I am a part of and sometimes I wonder why the ministry fairs quite well in building an intimate group of College students and I have come to the conclusion that his passion flows into the lives of us college students and spills further into others. Despite ministry for more than 20 years Roger is present at the majority of activities, meets individually with members and has a honest heart. Roger is not perfect; no one is. But I am confident that his passion is one that challenges me and makes his ministry successful.
Jonah was called to an “unclean” people and he desperately and intently ran from the call. To be honest to Jonah, religio-historical considerations help one to sympathize with his seeming insecurity towards his mission. The Jews were a holy and consecrated people. The Ninevites were not. One can see how Jonah can despise the ministry to a Gentile people and lest we think there are no “Gentiles” for us today, I have to remind myself that we, as Christians, think that the sexually and morally impure, the “unclean” don’t deserve the Gospel and we intently run away from them. Yet, what God tells Jonah is what God tells you and me i.e. to drop our prejudices and develop a passion for the ministry of our call. You can have the truth of the Gospel in your heart and I can have the Gospel in my life but it becomes entirely unprofitable to the mission if the ministry is not a passion both within and without. The first mistake Jonah made was that he was not passionate about the ministry he was called to because of a religious prejudice. The mission became a drudgery—a checking off of the list of things-to-do.
Mistake #2: Passion for your Message
But there was a second mistake in Jonah’s mission which centered on his message. Jonah knew the message of God’s grace. It seemed he was disgusted about that message for he seemed to not want God’s grace but rather God’s wrath to prevail over a repentant Nineveh. Jonah 3 ends by telling us God relented from overthrowing Nineveh and Jonah 4: 1 tells us this “greatly displeased” Jonah such that he prays to God saying “Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity”—Jonah 4: 2. What audacity!!! Jonah knew of God’s grace and lovingkindness and tried to hide that from the Ninevites. So willing was he to do this that he preferred death to God’s grace upon an “unclean” people—v. 3. It required a hat-trick of days in the fish’s belly to be reminded of God’s grace to even him for Jonah to change his heart and spread the message. It was in the belly of the fish that Jonah praised God’s lovingkindness—Jonah 2. You see, you and I can make the mistake of Jonah when we claim to know the message of grace but fail to internalize it in our mission. And when Jonah failed to internalize it, he despised the message when it was extended to the Ninevites. Why?
I believe this came as a consequence of the first mistake. When the passion for the ministry is lost, a corresponding loss of passion for the message is inevitable and the message you and I have for the world (Christian and not) is that the God of grace has given the world grace in the face of Jesus not to live their own way but to live God’s way. Jonah wanted the Ninevites to earn their salvation maybe by proselyting to Judaism or circumcision. We want the Hindu to stop being Indian; the Muslim to stop being Arabic; the homosexual to abandon homosexual tendencies despite the fact that we can’t even abandon our own illicit heterosexual tendencies; the gangster to abandon his vulgarity when majority of us speak only one language anyway. In all this, we forget that the call of Jesus was a call to repentance and repenting and not a call merely to conversion but one to discipleship—a constantly growing process. Jonah misplaced his message and my hope is that you and I won’t misplace our message either.
Mistake #3: Passion for your Audience
Thirdly and finally, Jonah not only lost passion for his ministry and passion for his message but he also lost passion for his audience. When the ministry becomes a drudgery and the message is misplaced, the audience of the message is bound to be reduced to a lesser value. Jonah came to be more concerned about his own comfort in the shade and vine provided by the grace of God than about the salvation of the lost Ninevites. As you and I prepare for or serve in ministry, let us not be carried away by the financial constraints or the constraints upon our time and other resources that are a cancer to the soul. Rather, let us be burdened by the persons in our audience who are, like us, created in the very image of God and reflectors of that image. People really do matter to God and Jonah forgot that. Let us not do the same.
As I conclude, I summarize that the life of Jonah as a missionary Prophet entailed the need for a passion for the ministry, the message and the audience. May the grace of Christ implement this in your life and mine as we become missionary prophets.
Jonah is one of those few Prophets whose prophetic prediction actually failed. He prophesied of the overthrow of Nineveh in 40 days—Jonah 3: 4. That didn’t happen in 40 days. No doubt we consider Jonah to have not been very successful in his mission despite the fact that the Ninevites repented and experienced a revival. Isn’t it ironic how human failure can be turned into spiritual success by the sovereign God? But lest we become hard on Jonah, you and I can, like him, easily make three mistakes in our Prophetic mission and I present them as positive cautions rather than negative rebuke.
Mistake #1: Passion for your Ministry
That Jonah knew he was called of God cannot be disputed. Whether you are called of God to some mission or not, I cannot determine. That is between you and God. But I do know that one thing that is essential for a successful mission is to be passionate about the ministry to which you are called. I don’t say these next words with any sense of flattery. But I do know one such man personally. Roger Charley leads the campus fellowship I am a part of and sometimes I wonder why the ministry fairs quite well in building an intimate group of College students and I have come to the conclusion that his passion flows into the lives of us college students and spills further into others. Despite ministry for more than 20 years Roger is present at the majority of activities, meets individually with members and has a honest heart. Roger is not perfect; no one is. But I am confident that his passion is one that challenges me and makes his ministry successful.
Jonah was called to an “unclean” people and he desperately and intently ran from the call. To be honest to Jonah, religio-historical considerations help one to sympathize with his seeming insecurity towards his mission. The Jews were a holy and consecrated people. The Ninevites were not. One can see how Jonah can despise the ministry to a Gentile people and lest we think there are no “Gentiles” for us today, I have to remind myself that we, as Christians, think that the sexually and morally impure, the “unclean” don’t deserve the Gospel and we intently run away from them. Yet, what God tells Jonah is what God tells you and me i.e. to drop our prejudices and develop a passion for the ministry of our call. You can have the truth of the Gospel in your heart and I can have the Gospel in my life but it becomes entirely unprofitable to the mission if the ministry is not a passion both within and without. The first mistake Jonah made was that he was not passionate about the ministry he was called to because of a religious prejudice. The mission became a drudgery—a checking off of the list of things-to-do.
Mistake #2: Passion for your Message
But there was a second mistake in Jonah’s mission which centered on his message. Jonah knew the message of God’s grace. It seemed he was disgusted about that message for he seemed to not want God’s grace but rather God’s wrath to prevail over a repentant Nineveh. Jonah 3 ends by telling us God relented from overthrowing Nineveh and Jonah 4: 1 tells us this “greatly displeased” Jonah such that he prays to God saying “Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity”—Jonah 4: 2. What audacity!!! Jonah knew of God’s grace and lovingkindness and tried to hide that from the Ninevites. So willing was he to do this that he preferred death to God’s grace upon an “unclean” people—v. 3. It required a hat-trick of days in the fish’s belly to be reminded of God’s grace to even him for Jonah to change his heart and spread the message. It was in the belly of the fish that Jonah praised God’s lovingkindness—Jonah 2. You see, you and I can make the mistake of Jonah when we claim to know the message of grace but fail to internalize it in our mission. And when Jonah failed to internalize it, he despised the message when it was extended to the Ninevites. Why?
I believe this came as a consequence of the first mistake. When the passion for the ministry is lost, a corresponding loss of passion for the message is inevitable and the message you and I have for the world (Christian and not) is that the God of grace has given the world grace in the face of Jesus not to live their own way but to live God’s way. Jonah wanted the Ninevites to earn their salvation maybe by proselyting to Judaism or circumcision. We want the Hindu to stop being Indian; the Muslim to stop being Arabic; the homosexual to abandon homosexual tendencies despite the fact that we can’t even abandon our own illicit heterosexual tendencies; the gangster to abandon his vulgarity when majority of us speak only one language anyway. In all this, we forget that the call of Jesus was a call to repentance and repenting and not a call merely to conversion but one to discipleship—a constantly growing process. Jonah misplaced his message and my hope is that you and I won’t misplace our message either.
Mistake #3: Passion for your Audience
Thirdly and finally, Jonah not only lost passion for his ministry and passion for his message but he also lost passion for his audience. When the ministry becomes a drudgery and the message is misplaced, the audience of the message is bound to be reduced to a lesser value. Jonah came to be more concerned about his own comfort in the shade and vine provided by the grace of God than about the salvation of the lost Ninevites. As you and I prepare for or serve in ministry, let us not be carried away by the financial constraints or the constraints upon our time and other resources that are a cancer to the soul. Rather, let us be burdened by the persons in our audience who are, like us, created in the very image of God and reflectors of that image. People really do matter to God and Jonah forgot that. Let us not do the same.
As I conclude, I summarize that the life of Jonah as a missionary Prophet entailed the need for a passion for the ministry, the message and the audience. May the grace of Christ implement this in your life and mine as we become missionary prophets.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Lives of the Prophets: Introductions
I intend in the next few weeks to write a series of notes on the lives of the Prophets of Scripture weekly through January and February. Today, the term “Prophet” has seemingly scary connotations. It conjures up in the imagination thoughts of old bearded men living in caves with wholly devoted lives to God so as to make futuristic predictions inevitably doomed to fail. I think with such a concept of the institution of the Prophet, we lose sight of the Prophetic ministry.
There is much to learn about such a ministry especially from the Old Testament [OT]. The term “Prophet” does not necessarily mean “seer of the future” as many, and myself in the past, seem to think. In fact, the ministries of the OT Prophets seldom involved solely utterances of the future. No doubt they spoke of the future but nonetheless they were aware of the past and lived in the present. In this, I am amazed at how relevant their experiences and ministries are to is even in the 21st century.
In the New Testament, Paul wrote a letter to the Christians at Corinth. In that letter, he dealt with a lot of things including the ministry of the Prophets. In 1st Corinthians 14: 5, we read “Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues” then he ends the chapter by saying “[t]herefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy” in v. 39. So he tells us that to prophesy is a more desirous calling than speaking in tongues (and arguably other spiritual gift). Neither is the call to prophesy for some elite spiritual group for Paul says “my brethren (fellow Christians) desire earnestly to prophesy”—it’s for anyone called of God.
I have said that the Institution of Prophecy is not primarily about forecasting the future. But what is the definition of Prophecy? Fortunately, Paul gives us a beautiful definition of sorts in 1st Corinthians 14: 3 when he says “one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation”. Prophecy then is for the edification, exhortation and consolation of the Body of Christ. For some of us, that means speaking; for others, that means shepherding as with Pastors; for others that means writing; for others it entails babysitting and yet for others it entails listening, hugging and sharing. I believe the lives of the OT Prophets are instructive, if not instrumental, and we do well to take heed.
I have prepared to look at eight Prophets of the Jewish Bible. These are not the eight greatest—I don’t think there’s any such thing as “greatest” Prophet(s). All were called of God, albeit to different ministries and at different times. Some of my selected Prophets wrote their own works; others penned nothing for posterity (or at least we don’t have their works). In our Christian Bible, some are considered members of the “Major Prophets”, others of the “Minor Prophets”; still others of neither. I have made no such distinctions between them here. Moreover, some of the “Minor Prophets” have some very major messages and lives for us to consider.
To close this introduction, a few acknowledgments are in order. It was the ancient historian Suetonius who penned amongst his historical works, the Lives of the Caesars series cataloging the details of such rulers. I borrow from Him the title of this series and have adapted it to suit my subject. Unlike Suetonius, however, I claim no expertise in the subject of history. Yet like him, I do have my sources. Primarily, I am a student of the English Bible and I take it as my main source especially in the New American Standard Bible [NASB] version. Secondarily, I inevitable borrow thoughts that I have gained and gleaned over the years from other Christian author, speakers, scholars, and friends that I cannot even recall so in fear of failing to acknowledge all, I would just like to say that I have deeply indebted to them all. Finally, I am most indebted to my Lord and Savior Jesus who has not only transformed my life but provided friends, Christian and otherwise, that have shaped my call. It is to this last acknowledgee, Jesus Christ, and for His Church that this is written that He may be forever praised. Amen! Happy New Year!
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