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

I Have a Dream, too . . .

Martin Luther King, whose memory we rightly esteem in this country, and whose sacrifice improved the lives of millions of black Americans, gave his stirring, ‘I have a dream’ speech just over 50 years ago.  As we know, it was not just the words he said, nor the rhythm and cadence with which they were delivered—it was the man and his context. He had already suffered before for his people’s cause, and he, his family, and his friends would go on to endure much, much more.  

I am not nearly as eloquent as King, but please allow me to attempt to express another, similar kind of dream for  a cause that may be even more crucial:

I have a Dream . . .

• That one day, firmly rooted in the Scriptures, and in the command of Jesus, American Christians will so grasp the truth of God’s Word and the significance of the Christ who lives in them, that they will be salt and light in a dark world that so desperately needs to see Jesus demonstrated in practice.
• That one day, we will set aside the colonialism that has distorted our views of the world, the paternalism that has dominated our attitudes, and the materialism that has paralyzed our obedience, and together with our partner believers from every nation and country, we will without regard for risk or fear, send our young and our old to the unreached peoples of this earth.
  
  
• That one day, the young people of this land will not get their identity from their class in society, or how much education they have, or the extent of their wealth or success, or the abilities with which God has endowed them, but will find their lives by losing them in the service of the Lord of history, paying the price necessary to serve those in need, those sick and in prison—in a word, those who are powerless to help themselves.
  
  
• That one day, the resources of the church will not be used primarily for programs designed primarily to bolster our feelings about ourselves, but will increasingly empower others around the globe to glorify Jesus.
  
  
• That one day our true wealth—our own lives, and those of our children and grandchildren—will be invested sacrificially and strategically in coming alongside those condemned to an eternity without God, through learning their languages, understanding their longings, and identifying with their true needs.
  
  
• That one day, Christians of this land will join hands with believers from every country, partnering, not in a spirit of superiority, but of recognition that without Jesus we can accomplish nothing, and without the wisdom and help of brothers and sisters from every people group, we can accomplish too little.
• That one day, we will once again follow in the Spirit of Him who energized countrymen like Lottie Moon, William Borden, Jim Elliot, Martha Myers, and a host of others who gave their lives with joy to the work of making disciples of all peoples, paying the ultimate price, as our Master did.

A Bigger Vision

I have a dream, and I believe that it is part of God's bigger vision, revealed step by step throughout human history:

Isaiah’s dream (Isa. 11:9), that the earth shall be full of the knowledge and experience of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Daniel’s dream (Dan. 2:44-45), that the little Rock will bring down all the massive, powerful systems of human evil arrayed against the Lord and His Own.

Ezekiel’s dream (Ezek. 47:12; 48:35), that the Church will live out the abundant resources of Jehovah Shammah, ('the Lord is there') flowing out of its great community, the Temple of the Living God.

Solomon’s dream (1 Kings 3:10-14), that the one true God will give wisdom and inspire leadership willing to learn to incorporate the gifts and resources of all nations of the world to build His dwelling place,

The Apostle Peter’s dream (Acts 10:17-28), that no people or culture will be excluded because their skin color is different, their customs too strange, their food deemed unpalatable, all because of traditional Christians carrying, largely unaware, an innate, proud sense of superiority.

The Apostle John’s dream (Rev.4:9-11), that people from every nation, tribe, clan, political party or religious background will be so consumed with love for Jesus alone that they will one throw down at His feet every sense of personal identity and accomplishment, lost in wonder, love and praise.

In light of the corruption of human nature, it is a totally absurd and unrealistic vision and yet, because it expresses His heart’s desire, will absolutely and most assuredly one day be fulfilled.

U.S. Director

Missionary Memorial Day

In a previous post, I mentioned the idea of having a Memorial Day in our churches for fallen missionaries. What I’m talking about are those who gave their lives in an attempt to establish a ‘beachhead’ for God’s Word—giving a chance for people to hear the truth about Jesus who otherwise have never had a chance.

In her classic missions textbook, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, Ruth A. Tucker writes that in the nineteenth-century Congo, ‘only one out of four missionaries survived the first term of service’ (p. 155).

The ratio was probably similar in some other places. Adlai Stevenson II, former Democratic presidential candidate, responded when asked what had most impressed him during a visit to Africa in the 1950s: ‘The graves. The graves. At every mission station, there were graves.’ His description of the rows of crosses is suggestive of military cemeteries, such as Arlington and Normandy.

And yet how many American Christians would be able to name at least three missionary martyrs?

More importantly, what difference does it make if we do know something about them?

Missionary pioneers are generally not an easy crowd to be around. In some ways they are spiritual giant, but many have or had significant personality flaws. Tucker comments that David Livingstone (not martyred, but he nonetheless gave his life in missionary service, as did his wife when she went out to join him) ‘was not an organizer, and soon [his] mission [agency] was in chaos’ (p. 152).

The same and more could be said of many others. They tend to be hard-headed (otherwise they wouldn’t be pioneers) and too often discount the wise counsel of colleagues. Perhaps more tragically, their families often pay a high price—think of C. T. Studd, who left his wife behind in England for more than two decades while he pioneered in the Congo.  Tucker’s comment on Livingstone, that their children buried a father ‘they had never really known,’ could be a common epitaph.

But at the same time, I have to wonder if my tendency to see the flaws in these men and women really doesn’t reflect my values as an aging American baby-boomer more than it does God’s perspective on these more recent apostles. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:37-38) describes them this way: ‘. . . they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented--of whom the world was not worthy.’  For me, one of the most gut-wrenching scenes imaginable is the one in the movie End of the Spear which a young Steve Saint watches his missionary pilot father fly off for the last time.

There were no Congressional Medals of Honor given for martyrs like Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, or any of the others who gave their lives in reaching the Waorani in the rain-forests of Ecuador in 1956.  But I would imagine that Jesus words, ‘well done, good and faithful servant!’ (Matt. 25:21) are worth a great deal more to all five of them than any earthly honor would ever have been.

Not to discount the debt we owe in the ‘free world’ to those who gave their lives in combating tyranny—the Apostle Paul says that some do give their lives for a good cause (Romans 5:7). But it may be a good deal harder to give one’s life (and sometimes even more so to live it out, consistently) for sinners, trusting, but not necessarily seeing, that in the end it will bear fruit.

 We honor military heroes who risked their lives for the sake of others. I wish we would honor God’s heroes (yes, I think He actually thinks that way about them) at least as much.

We owe it to Him and to them.

-ReachAcross U.S. Director