James Fraser on the effectiveness of love

"You can hardly understand until you come into touch with them what simple, warm-hearted people the Shan and other Christians are. Sam Bwa told me that I could be of help to them even if I could say nothing ... the mere fact of your coming to see them, showing yourself genuinely pleased to sit with them in their houses, attend their services, share their food and generally make yourself one with them is enough to endear you to them ... If they see that you love them and like to be with them, they love you in return."

p41, Mountain Rain, The Biography of James O. Fraser

This feels like a definite hint on how to reach into the lives of people we meet everyday — just enjoy being with them.

Words from a booklet

Words from a booklet that was instrumental in redirecting the life of James Fraser towards missionary work:

"If our Master returned today to find millions of people unevangelized, and looked, as of course He would look, to us for and explanation, I cannot imagine what explanation we should have to give.

      Of one thing I am certain — that most of the excuses we are accustomed to make with such good conscience now, we shall be wholly ashamed of then."

The First 11 Chapters

I recently listened to three sermons by Ken Ham from Answers In Genesis. Probably the most convincing talks I've heard that argue for a literal six day creation.

Some people laugh when you go on about dinosaurs, millions of years, evolution and all that jazz. Like it's just daft stuff, not real theology, and you just need to get past it. But Ham made a very interesting point in one of his talks... people read the first 11 chapters of the Bible and think it's ridiculous. And if the first 11 chapters of a book seem completely nuts, why would you keep reading?

On that basis, knowing a thing or two about dinosaurs, creation vs evolution and millions of years is actually fairly central to the gospel in our scientific age. If you can't get past the opening chapters of the opening book, you'll never get to Jesus.

Without Signposts

"The safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
C. S. Lewis

Eternal And Conscious

It's mind-blowing to think that everyone who ever existed is still conscious. Their bodies may have died decades, centuries or millennia ago, but they're all still conscious. My friend who died when we were 14, is still thinking, seeing, hearing, moving, speaking, feeling. Maybe even smelling, touching and breathing. As are both my Grandad and Great Grandad, who I knew well but died when I was young. For all those killed in the Haiti earthquake a year ago and the Japanese tsunami a week ago; they're all still conscious. We just don't know where. Heaven or Hell - they're somewhere.

Only One Question

There's so many questions surrounding Christianity like pain and suffering, the Big Bang, evolution and the hiddenness of God. There's so many things that clutter your mind. But what you realise after a while is that everything stacks behind this one big question.

Was Jesus Christ the Son of God?

If he was, and is, nothing is impossible.

The belief that a man can be subject to the most brutal and complete death, entombed, and then raised back to life three days later is one that is totally miraculous. That sort of thing just doesn't happen. But it did. According to Josh McDowell it is the most well documented fact in history. (See his book, The Resurrection Factor).

If Jesus Christ was God himself, all these other questions become secondary.

Does God exist? Absolutely.
Is the universe six thousand or thirteen billion years old? Either. He could create it in an instant.
Is the Bible the perfect word of God? Jesus seems to think so.
Is there a reason and an answer for every question you could possibly think of? There absolutely must be.

So all in all, Jesus really is the cornerstone. Every line of thought, every reason, every question and answer stems from him. When it comes to his divinity, we have an inexplicable sum of evidence, and no explanation to the contrary.

Spurgeon on Salvation and the Unsaved

Quotes from 'Christ's Glorious Achievements'

"The reason why many do not come to Christ is not because they are not earnest, after a fashion, and thoughtful, and desirous to be saved, but because they cannot brook God's way of salvation ... Proud man wants to save himself, he believes he can do it, and he will not give over the task till he finds out his own helplessness by unhappy failures."
p7.

"The law is that which, as sinners, we have above all things cause to dread; for the sting of death is sin, and all the strength of sin is the law ... Yet strange infatuation ! like the fascination which attracts the gnat to the candle, though it burns its wings, men by nature fly to the law for salvation, and cannot be kept from seeking life by it."
p8.

"It were easy work to save men, if they could but be made willing to receive the gospel, but they will not even hear it ... You bring them right up to the light, and flash it upon their eyes, but they wilfully and deliberately close their eyelids to it. You set upon them life and death, and plead with them even unto tears that they would lay hold on eternal life; but they choose their own delusions. So long and patiently must they be sought that this seeking work as much reveals the gracious heart of Jesus as did the saving work which He fulfilled upon the bloody tree."
p125-6.

The Hiddenness of God (Part 4)

In some ways when we struggle with the hiddenness of God we are, at those moments, questioning whether Creation, Jesus and the Bible is enough. If we conclude that they aren't enough proof, they're not enough to cement our belief, that's a very big statement. We're passing judgment not only over God's work in history, but Jesus Christ himself. It's personal.

Expendable (Part 2)

Following on from a previous note on being expendable for Christ (link) often, it's not our physical life that is required (i.e. martyrdom), but various little portions of our daily life. Finances, work, comfort, hobbies, fitness, luxuries, time... all of these need to be labeled 'expendable'. We give them up as and when required for the cause of Christ.

The Importance of Joy and a Cheerful Soul

On George Whitefield...

"At Basingstoke, as in Georgia, friends were astonished at his cheerfulness when sick and vomiting. He explained: 'The comforts I enjoy within are inexpressible. They have a great effect upon my outward man and make me of a cheerful countenance, which,' he added, spitting some remaining gall out of his mouth, 'recommends my Master's service very much. Oh, free grace in Christ Jesus!' He lay back exhausted on the pillows."

George Whitefield and the Great Awakening, John Pollock, p79

Evangelism – Chain Connections

I've been musing over the nature of evangelism, and how one life inevitably rubs up against another. We have some sort of an effect on everyone we meet, for better or for worse. It's said that through the people we know, we're only six connections away from every person on earth.

If we are used instrumentally by God to make disciples of Jesus Christ, and these new believers are used likewise, there's a massive chain reaction that eventually unfolds. We could eventually influence thousands of lives for Christ. It may be hard to underestimate the impact our lives can have. Whether we like it or not, we're either pointing people to Christ or diverting them away on a scale that's both large and out of sight.

The Hiddenness of God (Part 3)

I watched 'The Finger of God' DVD by Darren Wilson yesterday and showed it at Life Group. Absolutely amazing. It's a film documenting the physical works of God around the world. From people mysteriously receiving gold teeth in church services, to street evangelism and healings, to the dead being raised (some dead as long as four days).

It seems God is prepared to revealed himself in quite remarkable ways. In many of these places – Mozambique, California, China – healing miracles are performed to show people God is real, and then the gospel is preached. Often it seems the whole purpose of the healings is to open people up to the gospel message and pave the way for salvation.

What really strikes you when you watch this is that God doesn't seem hidden at all. He provides real, tangible proof of his existence when asked, and is more than happy to demonstrate his power to a people that have no knowledge of him.

It makes you think – perhaps healings and miracles are inextricably linked to evangelism and the gospel message. Maybe they're not just meant for church on a Sunday, but out on the streets, in everyday life.

Another interesting point was that these healings, miracles, signs and wonders seem just as available to the church in the West as to the poorer, persecuted Christians around the world.

As an old 'No Fear' poster once read, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take". Maybe we just need to actually pray for some people.

The Existence Of God (Part 2)

Sometimes I think that the presence of evil in the world is absolute and undeniable evidence that Satan and demons exist, and therefore God exists. The fact that we even have a concept of evil shows there is a moral law, and a God who wrote that law. We know the world is broken and we demand that it should be better.

As Matt Chandler humorously states, no one gets angry at unicorns, elves or the Tooth Fairy. No one really believes God is fictitious.

Expendable

I've just finished reading this book – Through Gates of Splendor – about five missionaries who set out to reach the savage Auca tribe in Ecuador. These guys gave themselves to a specific task, spent years in preparation, and then got massacred on pretty much their first point of contact with the tribe on the ground.

As far as the book details, no Auca ever became a Christian, or even had the gospel presented to them in an intelligible, meaningful way*. But thousands of Christians were struck by their sacrifice, commitment, and all out abandonment for Christ. Lives were changed and redirected through their testimony. And the story was big news in the secular press at the time (1950s).

So all in all, as far as it is visible to us at the present time, their life and mission bore much fruit. Just not in the way they had planned or envisioned.

Their story also stands out in direct contrast to that of Hudson-Taylor, John Wesley, and all the guys that spent long, fruitful, gifted lives working incredibly hard for the cause of Christ. It stands in contrast because they were very ordinary people, they were young and their story was so utterly short. And yet they were prayerfully led by God throughout it.

It seems this was His will, His way. Their sacrifice, their story, was one He permitted and intended.

It just makes you think – anything that we could accomplish or do with our lives is all in the hands of God. It's His story, not ours. He writes the script, and we're utterly expendable.

––––––

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."
Jim Elliot, p11

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
Jim Elliot, p173

"During the last war we were taught to recognize that, in order to obtain our objective, we had to be willing to be expendable ... This very afternoon thousands of soldiers are known by their serial numbers as men who are expendable ... We know there is only one answer to our country's demand that we share in the price of freedom. Yet, when the Lord Jesus asks us to pay the price for world evangelization, we often answer without a word. We cannot go. We say it costs too much."
Nate Saint, p53

"A call is nothing more nor less than obedience to the will of God, as God presses it home to the soul by whatever means He chooses."
Pete Fleming, p13

"The old life of chasing things that are of a temporal nature seemed absolutely insane."
Nate Saint, p62

––––––

* 7th August 2011: I've just read in Randy Alcorn's book Heaven that some Auca's (or at least one) did become Christians:

"Mincaye, the Auca Indian who speared Nate Saint, is now a follower of Jesus. When Mincaye was asked what he's going to do when he meets Nate Saint in Heaven, he replied, "I'm going to run and throw my arms around Nate Saint and thank him for bringing Jesus Christ to me and my people." He added that Nate Saint would welcome him home."

Heaven, Randy Alcorn, page 336

Being Filled With The Spirit

Below is a story regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the life of a young missionary (name unknown) in the China interior in the 1890s. I've been studying bible verses and listening to loads of sermons on the baptism of the Spirit in preparation for a Holy Spirit evening at Life Group. This account is absolute spot on with my present understanding that 1, the Spirit is a person to be personally welcomed and accepted into one's life (we don't need to plead, but simply ask and believe); 2, the purpose of being filled is to be clothed with power to continue the work of Jesus Christ; 3, the evidence of being filled is a supernatural effectiveness in ministry and witness; 4, the filling is not a condition of salvation, but a gift; and 5, manifestations may well occur at the point of receiving, but this is not always the case and is neither the main goal, purpose or evidence of being filled.

Here's the excerpt... it's quite long but very good!

Four years in China had taught her something of the joy and blessing to be found in the deeper fellowship with the Master, but something also of the deadening influences of heathenism, the power of evil within as well as around her, and the blank despair of seeking to help others when her own soul was out of living touch with Christ. How she longed for 'the exchanged life', the life she saw in others, but knew not how to attain. Praying in an anguish no one suspected for light and for help, it was the last Sunday before Christmas when a word was spoken that, under God, brought the deliverance and made all things new. After the evangelistic service in the C.I.M. hall, an entire stranger – a Christian seaman – came up to her and said earnestly:

'Are you filled with the Holy Ghost?'

Filled with the Holy Ghost? She remembered no more of the conversation, but that question burned deeper and deeper into her heart. This, then, was the explanation of all the inward failure, the sorrow that seemed unavailing, the purposes that came to nothing. God had made a provision, given a Gift that she had never definitely accepted. She knew that the Holy Spirit must be in her life in a certain sense, for 'if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his'. And yet, just as certainly, she knew that she was not 'filled with the Spirit', and was experiencing little of His power.

But how afraid she was of being misled, of running into error and mistaking emotion for reality! The Word of God was full, now she came to study the subject, of the personality and power of the Holy Spirit. The Acts of the Apostles - what was it but the acts of the Holy Ghost, transforming and quickening lives just as she knew she needed to be quicken and transformed? O yes, why had she never seen it? It was indeed the Holy Spirit, to make unseen things real to her and impossible things possible. And there stood out in Gal. 3. 13, 14 the words:

'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ... that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.'

What was she doing with the infinite Gift purchased at such a cost? She saw that just as Christ is ours by the gift of God, and yet we have each one personally to receive Him, so with the Holy Spirit. She saw that He too was a Person, just as real as the Lord Jesus, and to be just as truly welcomed by faith into the heart that cannot do without Him as a living link with the risen, glorious Lord. All the rest that can be told is that she took the step, though with fear and trembling - scarce knowing what it meant - and trusted the Holy Spirit to come in and possess her fully, just as she had trusted the Lord Jesus to be her Saviour. Feeling nothing, realising nothing, she just took God at His word, and then and there asked that the promise might be fulfilled, 'When he is come (to you) he will reprove (or convict) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment'. Her chief sorrow for many months had been that she seemed to have little power for soul-winning, and hardly knew of any who had been brought to Christ through her instrumentality. It was Christmas week, and believing that a real, a definite transaction had taken place alone in that quiet room, she asked in faith that God would give her to see the proof of it in actual conversations every day that week, in connection with meetings that were being held.

And every day that week the prayer was answered. More than twenty people, young and old, sailors, visitors, and residents in Shanghai, it was given her to help a definite decision for Christ, while the joy and liberty of her own heart were so manifest that others could not but long for and seek the same blessing.

Biography of James Hudson Taylor, 1973 edition, p456-8

"if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ."
Romans 8:9

"He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."
Galatians 3:14

C.T. Studd on Evangelism

"Remember than mere soul-saving is comparatively easy work and is not nearly so important as manufacturing the saved ones into Saints, Soldiers and Saviors."
C.T. Studd, Cricketer and Pioneer, p70

The disadvantage of wealth

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Matthew 19:23-24

"Wealth is heavily concentrated in North America, Europe, and high income Asia-Pacific countries. People in these countries collectively hold almost 90% of total world wealth."
The World Distribution of Household Wealth

It seems that simply living in one of these rich countries automatically puts you at a massive disadvantage as far as the gospel is concerned. We are the rich people Jesus is talking about. We have insurance for everything and spend most of our lives accumulating various possessions, all of which comfort us in one way or another. It totally suffocates our need for God.

The New Testament is really big on considering the poor. I wonder if this is because on one hand, these people are in need, more open to the gospel, and a real opportunity is afforded to demonstrate the love of Jesus in action. And on the other, generosity strips us of all the things we trust in place of God, who wants to train us in His faithfulness.

I read a very interesting article from The New York Times website titled 'The Sandra Bullock Trade' (click here to read). One of the observations made from research is that once our basic material needs are met, very little additional happiness is gained by an increase in income. Food, water, shelter and a hospital when you get sick. That's what you need. Everything else pursued above this level is noise, and will never satisfy.

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."
1 Timothy 6:6-8

Here's a selection of verses from the New Testament relating to the poor:

"Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Luke 12:33-34

"The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."
Luke 3:11

"Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."
Matthew 5:42

"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort."
Luke 6:24

"But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?"
1 John 3:17

––––––

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Matthew 25:31-46

Salvation is the greatest miracle of all

If we accept that a soul is eternal and therefore of infinite value, to be involved in God's work of salvation must be the greatest honour we could ever have. It's everlasting in significance and nature, and completely selfless. Is there any greater work that you could do or participate in? Perhaps our prayers for the salvation of souls is the sweetest God ever hears.

The Burden of Souls

I've been reading up on the Whitefield and Wesley revival in the 18th Century for a short talk that I'm doing at our church prayer meeting next week. The most immediate observation you can make is this –  it's largely known as the 'Whitefield and Wesley' revival. It's God and man working together to bring salvation.

Salvation belongs to God, and you can't overestimate God's sovereignty. But you can totally underestimate man's role. We're his instruments, we're the men on the ground. Does God allow his plans (even for salvation) to be frustrated and delayed by us? I think the answer has to be 'yes'. 2 Peter 3 talks about us having the ability to actually speed Christ's return. It must also follow that we can choose to not speed Christ's return. We have a significant effect, and burden, for the salvation of souls.

"You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming."
2 Peter 3: 11-12

"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
Revelation 7:10

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Romans 10: 14-15

Premature birth?

I've been thinking for a while that it's quite possible to be too eager to see people 'converted'; to pray the sinners payer and chalk them on the list of souls won for Christ. Like a premature birth, a person who converts without experiencing the full conviction of sin, or considering the cost of following Christ, produces a weak and vulnerable baby.

"Possibly, much of the flimsy piety of the present day arises from the ease with which men attain to peace and joy in these evangelistic days... Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Saviour. He who has stood before his God, convicted and condemned, with the rope about his neck, is the man to weep for joy when he is pardoned, to hate evil with which has been forgiven him, and to live to the honour of the Redeemer by whose blood he has been cleansed."
Charles Spurgeon, 1890, Autobiography

Spurgeon's methods for determining salvation were strict, and when true salvation in a person's life was not evident, they were posted in the churches List of Refusals – people to be revisited later on. As his biography states "He truly believed in hell, and he recognised the awful responsibility should he give some person cause to believe he was saved if there was no evidence that it was so."

The following are three marks of true conversion which Spurgeon's church looked for when dealing with a person tesifying that they had come to know Christ:

One, had the person, knowing himself to be a sinner and unable to do anything toward saving himself, gone to God, begging for mercy, and had entirely trusted his soul to Christ, believing in the saving merit of His death upon the cross? [This individual experience of the soul with God was the unalterable and basic necessity, and without it there was no recognition of the person as truly converted.]

Two, had the person entered into newness of life, experiencing a change of affections, victory over sins, a love for the Word of God, and a desire to win others to Christ?

Three, did he or she possess a basic understanding of the doctrines of grace, recognising that salvation did not begin with himself or his own will, but with God's choice and God's action, and that God, who saved him, would keep him through time and through eternity?

From Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore, p81.