Out of the desert . . .

What troubles you? . . . Do not be afraid, for God has heard . . . . (Genesis 16:17)

A friend of mine, and  former missionary to Europe, no longer believes that God exists at all. He wrote this recently on Facebook: 

My point? This god of the Bible needed someone to run interference for him...to explain away his awful behavior. There is simply no way to explain away the atrocities ordered by and committed by the god of the Bible. Apart from closing your eyes and shuttering your reason, the behavior of this being is scandalous. 

I don't always respond to statements like this, even from friends. And anybody who is following this knows that we haven't posted in a while. I had been simply stung into inaction by recent events, the most important being the sudden death of the three-year old daughter of a good friend of our son's and his wife.  The words just weren't there.

But I felt I had to write something to my friend's FB post. Here are some comments I posted in response. I've edited them slightly, and shortened and stitched them together for this post:

'In general, I think you're setting up a straw-man god, and then proceeding to shoot him down from your 'enlightened,' 21st century perspective. But none of us [interacting on FB together] have a shred of experience of what it means to live and exist within a totalitarian state that is attempting to annihilate the people of God, or at the very least, assimilate and absorb that group into its own identity. Given the choice between that, and forming a community that reflects and reveals what He is like, it seems that the God who longs to reach everyone had no choice but to contend for His people, and to provide for their well-being.  Yet we presume to judge God's actions based on our myopic and pre-determined standards.' I doubt that He has much of a chance in that kangaroo court.

But that isn't the main thrust of what I wanted to say. I went on later with this response:

'There's plenty of wrong-headed theology out there, usually a genuine, sincere attempt to provide answers that may not be so simple to find. We're all a work in progress, and we are all extremely provincial, both in our theology and in our politics, two realms that most of us hold very dear. They are also very much part of our identity (and we generally feel very threatened when either are called into question). I think, too, that both areas are largely shaped by the context in which we grew up. Personally, though, I'd like to go beyond childish or adolescent clamoring for answers or the thumb-in-the-mouth security of having things my way. I'd like to follow Jesus, the Jesus who trusted the authority of Scripture, the Jesus who called/calls His followers to leave their familiar surroundings and experience more, the Jesus who refuses to fit in the box of our pre-conceived expectations and conditions.'  

Why do I write all of this in a blog about reaching Muslims?

Because it really is about Jesus. Jesus is, well, attractive. What He says makes sense a lot of the time (and when it doesn't, I have to think that the problem might lie with me, rather than vice-versa). 

A Muslim once told me that he follows Islam because it is so simple, which is why, with all the doubts I constantly struggle with,  I can't do the same. The world and the universe is so crazy, so convoluted, so contradictory, and mankind so mixed up, that simple answers just don't work. But a Person who takes all the grief, misery, and doubt of the centuries, and bears it all in one stroke, 'triumphing over all these forces in the Cross' (Colossians 2:14-15)--that draws me. All the doubts, all the questions, all the hopes, fears, expectations, disappointments, and even the despair because the powerful always seem to get their way, or because parents sometimes have to bury their children--He takes it all on Himself. 

I realize that our Christian communities often aren't much of a reflection of this Jesus, or of His kindness. I realize, too, that my prayers are often pretty anemic, a product more of willful unbelief than of trust. It's just that all of that imperfection keeps driving me on--I guess it makes me think I'm in some kind of desert, thirsty for the One who seems to be bigger than any of these things, and gives me a longing for more.

I'm not sure I need Christianity, necessarily, but I really do need Jesus, and the community of believers.  Muslims do, too.

 So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"  Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."  (John 6:67-69, NRSV)

U.S. Director

The Ultimate Price

In a previous post, I mentioned four of my own heroes in the faith who paid what we call ‘the ultimate price.’ That would be the highest and costliest sacrifice any believer in Jesus can pay in being his follower and making disciples among all peoples: extreme suffering and physical death, in a word, martyrdom. Correct?

I’m not so sure.

Not to detract from this list of modern men and women of faith, who joined the list of those who did not love their own lives, even unto death (see Hebrews 11:32-38 for a biblical description). I want them to remain in front of me for as long as I live. If nothing else, it helps keep an ‘average’ American Christian like me in his place. After all, who am I to reach anybody in the rest of the world—where I sometimes travel to—with a Gospel that assures us that when we go through the fire, He will be with us?

But I have a bigger question, perhaps:

Is martyrdom a bigger sacrifice than a lifetime lived consistently, faithfully, and obediently for Jesus?

I die every day! (1 Cor. 15:31)

What did Paul mean by that? Perhaps one thing he means is that his own identity was joyfully and totally bound up with Jesus, so much so that he could embrace suffering as an inevitable and important companion, on his journey Home?

It might mean that faithful Christian parents who have lived out their lives in a Midwest farming community, loving Jesus and encouraging their little church fellowship to be genuine, global disciples, have also been examples of ‘the ultimate price’. (As you might have guessed, the reference is biographical. I'm referring to my wife's family.)

What about the Christian husband who stays faithful day by day, rejecting the voices, both those on outside and inside of the mind, dangling empty promises of short-term satisfaction?

What about the Christian wife who joyfully juggles the pressures of modern life, protecting herself, her family, and her marriage from the superficiality of affluence in what we deceptively call the ‘American dream’?

What about the Christian single with the narrow bed and the wide heart, who makes us of his/her opportunity to serve God with less 'distraction' than most married folks (1 Cor. 7:32-33)?

And finally, what about the missionary who exchanges a promising career for one that is challenging as it is lacking in remuneration and respectability among one's peers? I've been privileged to meet many such, most of whom slog it out in some of the toughest places on earth.

I wonder if these aren’t examples of the ultimate price as well, because they are bound up in the Ultimate Price of the One who 'made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant . . . .' (Phil 2:7)

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. (Gal. 2:19-20)

US Director

Update from South East Asia: Who Is Teaching Whom?

These are not our participants, for security reasons we cannot photograph those brave brothers,
 but it is simple working men like these that are leaders of house churches in South Asia

As we have been teaching this church planting seminar to South East Asian Muslim background believers, we are continually impressed with their faith, and with just how much we from the West have to learn from them.

‘Samuel’ is a grandfather in the faith. He led ‘Simon’ to faith in Christ, and Simon did the same for ‘Ruha.’ All three are currently attending the training sessions here in South Asia, and all three are pastors of house fellowships.

They don’t necessarily use the word ‘church,’ or even the word ‘Christian’, because both terms are associated with negative ideas. The main problem is that the old wineskins just aren’t the right fit for the new ‘wine’ of God’s transforming power. They don’t want the buildings, programs, or entertainment of Western Christianity, they want a real life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ for themselves, their families and their communities. They spent their day Saturday looking for Muslims in the local area and sharing God’s love with them.

Even as we teach them, they are teaching us. Here’s what I mean:

We are teaching them theories and principles. For example, we taught them Jesus’ parable about the houses built on the rock and sand: ‘Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house, and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock’ (Matt 7:24-25).  We analyzed the story with them using the education we've been blessed with. We looked for the key words and ideas, and stressed that the rock is obedience to Christ, not simply knowledge of Christ.

They are teaching us the practice. These are, for the most part, farmers, fishermen, and handworkers, who labor by day, and minister to others at night. They left their jobs in order to come here for this three weeks of training, and at the very least, they will lose their whole monthly income (maybe around $200) in order to be here. They might get their job back when they go home, but they will struggle to feed young families. The ‘winds’ of persecution and hardship are slamming against the ‘house’ of their lives and families all the time.

Most of them pastor at least two fellowships of Muslim background believers who meet in homes at least once a week, and some more often than that. All know what it is to suffer rejection for Jesus.  Some can never go back to their extended families.

So who are the real teachers here, us or them? Sure, we have perhaps more knowledge and resources. We come from a part of the world where Christianity has a long history of dominance and we are the heirs of this history. They live in a land dominated by other religions and live in constant danger of persecution. They aren’t yet acquainted much with principles of Bible interpretation and background information, but they are experienced in the area of spiritual warfare, and have seen many people delivered from demonic oppression. They know Jesus personally (many have had first-hand encounters in dreams or visions). As we have shared with them, we have learned amazing lessons in faith, obedience and trust.

Even if I were to never come back to this place, I will never forget these brothers: Samuel, Simon, Ruah, Nehemiah, Philip, Samson, David 1, David 2, Silas, Abraham, Pontus, and Timothy. Then there are the new ones who came just this week: Peter (also a father in the faith), Philemon, Titus, John, and Barnabas. 

Thanks for praying for them, and for us:—Joshua, Titus, Eric, Miriam, and John—we have five more teaching days with them. Pray that the Lord would use us to fill them and encourage them for the last five days of teaching. Also pray that God would use these men to teach us what true obedience and faith looks like.

-Eric Adams

P.S. You may wonder how all of these men are named from the Bible. For security reasons, no real names are used in this post. These South Asian brothers each chose a name from the Bible to identify with. Please keep them in your prayers.