Minister in Weakness...Seriously?

Recently I posted about a little incident my family had over a few days and how my own pride and other character flaws came out. I concluded the post by commenting on how we are always with our weaknesses and how we carry the name of Jesus in our weak bodies and that Jesus knows this. Paul makes it very clear in 2 Corinthians that the reason we are weak is so that God gets the glory from any ministry we do. So I stand by my words. I believe them, objectively. I want God to write them on my heart so that I can honor Him by living and serving with my human weaknesses. But as I thought about this I couldn’t help but wonder if I really want to minister from a perspective of weakness. And, on a more general note, do we have any hope in America of producing people to do foreign missions from a perspective of weakness?

Let me start by acknowledging that we are all weak. Everyone is weak in many ways. I believe when the Bible delineates between the weak and others it means those who recognize their weakness and those who do not. So we really don’t have a choice but to minister in weakness in the big picture. However, our perception of our ministries and others perceptions of them may not acknowledge, let alone embrace, weakness.

I should begin with myself. Without spending a lot of time in this post on what I consider my ministry (hopefully this can come later), suffice it to say that my educational credentials are a big asset. I bring a Ph.D. to a place where there are few. There are even fewer US-earned Ph.D.’s and there are basically no westerners holding Ph.D.’s who want to be a part of the university. So right away, I come into the picture from a posture of superiority. I have something to offer. Now, I believe my education is nothing less than a gift from God. I believe it is possible, right, and good to use it in a way that honors Him and that I could do that anywhere in the world. But the fact remains that it gives me something to offer. Something that gives me an “in” to places that would otherwise be closed.

Think, also, about the broader missions activity from America. It is, by and large, from a perspective of strength and power. It is true. Friend, if you have a blue passport you have a power that many people in the world do not. You come from the richest and most powerful country in the world. You come from a country where people have enough disposable income to fund huge missions projects. This cannot be overlooked. I have no way to know the statistics but the vast majority of our missions efforts must be tied to bringing help to the poor. Again, I must stop and qualify what I am writing. We must be about helping the poor. God has a heart for the widow and the orphan and we are to treat the least of these as we would treat our Lord. It is non-negotiable. But helping the poor is not the problem. I am afraid that the problem is that we have inextricably linked providing for the less fortunate or destitute with sharing the Gospel. Think about it. How much easier is it to conceive the notion of bringing food to the hungry and then sharing the Gospel than the idea of sharing the Gospel with your socioeconomic peers? There is a reason that people will do ministry to the homeless on weekends yet feel overwhelmed by living out a visible faith in front of their boss. It is much more difficult when you bring nothing extra to offer.

Consider this for minute. If you go to the person who has the same job as you, as much money as you, as much education as you, as nice a family as you do—what then? You have only one thing to offer and that is Jesus. No promises for better living. No money for community projects. No educational credentials. Just Jesus. See, it gets a little uncomfortable doesn’t it?

In concluding, let me say again that we are to about helping the poor. We are to be about welcoming those marginalized by society. We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the prisoners. By all means do these things. Let me also say that those who do these things in America and around the world have my utmost respect and I pray God’s blessings on your work. But in our system of doing foreign and domestic missions, is it possible that the relative wealth and affluence of a large portion of evangelicals has become a crutch? Is it possible that we are more comfortable with the destitute, not because Jesus was comfortable with such people, but because we know we have something else to offer these folks? We have the Gospel PLUS food, medical help, job training, or fill-in-the-blank. I say these things not to produce guilty consciences or condemn the work that is going on. I say them because have examined my own motives and often found them deficient. I say them because as long as we feel that we need the Gospel PLUS anything, we are being prideful.

May God create hearts in us that are more like His. Hearts that long of for justice. Hearts that long to see the poor lifted up and the hungry fed. Hearts that yearn to see the widow and orphan come to the table to eat. But let our hearts also want these things for the right reasons. Let our hearts be strong and courageous in knowing that we can show Jesus to the less fortunate by our actions but that they need Jesus no less than we do. Let us know that all people need Jesus and that our confidence in proclaiming the freedom he offers need not be in anything apart from Jesus, himself.

Thoughts on Luke 1:26 to 56

This post is a short teaching I did on Luke 1:26-56. This sort of thing is not really keeping with the theme of the blog but I thought I would post in case anyone is reading :)

Maybe you have heard the little joke about the boy in Sunday school. His teacher asks him, “What is brown and furry, lives in a tree and eats nuts?” The boy replies, “I am fairly sure it is a squirrel but I’ll say Jesus.” More and more I feel like that little boy. In my childhood, I read, heard, memorized and learned many Bible stories. Often they were learned individually in a stand-alone context. They were about David or Moses or Job or Noah. This wasn’t altogether wrong but it was incomplete. As I grow older and read the Bible and read what others write about the Bible, I keep thinking, “Before, if you had asked me what this story is about I would have said David or Moses or Job or Noah. But now, at the end of the day, I am going to go with Jesus.”

The same is true about the story found in Luke 1:26-56. It is the story of what God is doing through Jesus illustrated in one part of this story that involves Mary. When I learned this story there were several themes that were usually present. Mary is faithful to believe God and God works through her. Be like Mary and be faithful and God will work through you. Mary was just a teenager in a very difficult social situation. God uses the weak things of the world, God will use you. This is especially effective if teaching teens. Look at Mary and her faithfulness, straighten up and be like Mary. Now, I do not want to belittle anyone who taught these stories or imply that this is totally wrong. But I do think this approach is misguided. I think it misses the big picture. I think it puts too much attention on the reader and not enough attention on the story—the story of what God is doing and will do.

Why do I think this? Of course, one reason is the rest of the Bible. But within the text I see three things that tell me this story is not ultimately about Mary. The first is Mary’s response to the angel. The second is the angel’s comment about the miracles of Elizabeth and Mary. The last is Mary’s song of praise when she is with Elizabeth.

Mary was greatly troubled

The angel says to Mary, “Greetings O favored one, the Lord is with you.” O favored one or it could be said one who is full of grace. This is great, right? Mary just found out from an angel that she is favored (full of grace) and the Lord is with her. But Mary was greatly troubled at this saying! How could it be? Could it be that Mary knew the weightiness of these words? Might she have realized that was not worthy, in and of herself, to hear such a greeting. Perhaps she knew that if she was full of grace it was because it came from God alone and that there would be a reason that pours out His grace on her. She knew that she couldn’t be the focus of what was going on. She wasn’t.

Nothing will be impossible with God

The angel goes on to tell Mary what will occur. He tells her that she will bear the very Son of God and that her son will reign forever. He tells her that she will remain a virgin yet by the power of the Holy Spirit conceive this child. He tells her about her cousin Elizabeth and how she has conceived in her old age. Then after detailing these miracles he says, “For nothing will be impossible with God”. Nothing will be impossible with God. The same Greek phrase used in the Greek Old Testament when the angel spoke to Sarah. Nothing will be impossible. With Sarah and Elizabeth (and Hannah) God looks down on His servant and creates life where there is none. He does what these women are powerless to do. He creates life in their womb. Through Isaac would follow the lineage that would eventually lead to Jesus. The world would be blessed.

Both of these miracles were almost a foreshadowing or precursors for Mary’s conception. With Sarah and Elizabeth God created the life and miraculously gave women well beyond child-bearing age to ability to give birth but still through human conception. With Mary it would not be so. Mary would remain a virgin and conceive. There would be question that this was God’s action. Nothing like it happened before or since. God would create life in Mary. Neither Mary nor any human would have a hand in creating the baby. This baby would be Jesus and through him God would offer salvation to the world.

This brings us to another point. Where else to we see this language used? The place that comes to mind is Matthew 19:26. When Jesus sends the rich young ruler away his disciples ask ‘who can be saved?’. Jesus answers that with man this is impossible but with God nothing is impossible. I think Jesus uses the same language because Mary’s situation mirrors salvation. There is no way, apart from God, that a virgin could bring forth a child and who child would be Savior. Likewise, there is no way, apart from God, that this Savior would come to spiritually dead people and offer hope, life, forgiveness and freedom.

Mary’s Song of Praise

Mary’s beautiful song of praise to God also tells us something. Mary gets it. Mary understands what is going on here. We can talk about whether or not she always understands Jesus’ work and there are good reasons to believe that she might not have. But right here when she is with Elizabeth, she gets it. I believe this is one of the big ways that Mary is full of grace. She has been given the grace understand what God is going to do through Jesus. What a gift! Then she turns to her Lord and she praises Him with one of the most beautiful passages in Scripture. It is so complete in interweaving the Old Testament teaching about the Messiah. It is so eloquent. It brings together the words of the Prophets in a succinct way.

I said that Mary “gets” what God is doing. Why? Notice her prayer found in Luke 1:46-55:

46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;

53 he has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

55 as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

As I read this, one detail jumped out to me, for some reason. Notice all the subject verb relationships. With three exceptions, all the verbs have for their subject God. Mary’s song is about what God is doing. It has not one word about what she will do. No, Mary sees what is going on and she praises God for what He is doing and what He has done. She gets it. Just as God looked down on Mary and, in an impossible way, created in her, so has He looked down on a fallen, dead world and sent the Life that is Jesus into it in an impossible way. So praise God that through Jesus He has shown the strength of His arm. Thank God that through Jesus he has filled the hungry with good things. Praise the Father that, through the Son, He has exalted us of low estate. Praise God that in Christ He has remembered His mercy to His servants and that this mercy is forever.

Just as God looked down on Mary and, in an impossible way, created in her, so has He looked down on a fallen, dead world and sent the Life that is Jesus into it in an impossible way.

It's the Little Things, Really

If you have read this blog, you may have noticed that the location is Central Asia AND KY. Well, now we are back in Central Asia. This is a post about adjusting, living in another culture, etc. There may be more of these in the future.

It is funny. I have only lived overseas for a total of six months or so. I am not yet fluent in the local language. But, it seems, from the time we decided to live and work overseas, a lot people suddenly considered me an expert on cross-cultural living and related topics. This was a strange thing. I was trying to figure things out, feeling stupid most of the time and others automatically assumed I sort of knew what was going on. Or at least they assumed my thoughts would be worth hearing. Once we had spent a few weeks and months here and I would get questions about living overseas (we are not talking about a huge amount of questions but just a few here and there) I would generally answer them the same way, at least initially. I would give the same advice that a dear friend and sort of mentor of mine gave me, I reword it something like this—“whatever you have to do in the US, you have to do overseas and things won’t be as convenient in doing it.” This is not profound to many ears. It is most certainly not spiritual to many ears. And to many ears, it is silly. That’s okay. Each day I am more convinced that this is a great starting place to think about living cross-culturally. Of course, the not convenient part will vary wildly from one place to another but still, this is a good place to start. Let me share one time I used this approach to share my “wisdom”.

At our company’s summer conference we met a young couple. The lady was expecting fairly soon. They told us that they wanted to continue education and, after the baby was born, begin planning to teach overseas. The baby would likely be a few months old by that time. The young lady was doing the talking. Her husband would teach and she would decide what to do as time went on. At first she would devote herself to caring for the baby and keeping the home. Then, perhaps, other opportunities would arise. She was educated and could possibly teach. Then came the question—“So you guys went overseas with a baby (15-month-old). What is it like? What kind of advice would you have for us if we do it?” My wife shared a little with them and gave some good solid comments. Then it was to me. I said, “Just remember whatever sorts of things take up your time here, those same things will take up your time there.” Sort of blank stares. I went on, “If you have to change a diaper here, you have to change it there. If you have to be sleep deprived because of the baby’s schedule here, you will be sleep deprived there. Those things don’t suddenly change just because you are living overseas.” A little light crept in the blank stares and maybe they decided I wasn’t crazy. “That makes sense. That is good to think about,” she said.

But, even though it makes me seem unspiritual and of little faith to many people, I will continue to offer this advice or conversation as a starting point and this is one reason why:

A week ago we had no water in our apartment. The water stopped on a Wednesday. I asked around the building and I thought that the neighbors also had not water. Well, I had asked mainly kids and I was wrong. It not at all uncommon for the water to be off to the whole block for a few hours or a day and then come back on, so I was not surprised. We toughed it out a couple of days and used up our stored water. Then I started carrying water. Heating water for dishes, baths, etc. Being so careful to use all usable water for the toilet. It went on. Then on Saturday I found something out. It was not the whole building; it was four apartments, our apartment, the one above and the two below. A pipe was bent and full of sand needed to be cleaned. Oh. I should mention, at this point, that my wife had “encouraged” me investigate the matter further earlier in the week. She had “encouraged” me to try to get it fixed and ask more neighbors than I had asked. I didn’t. I was convinced that I had covered the bases and now we just had to tough it out.

Now the story gets even more complicated, or amusing depending on your perspective. Saturday was December 30. This is the day before the New Year celebration which coincides with another huge cultural holiday, making it one of the biggest holidays of the year here. So on Saturday, there would be no one willing to work and on Sunday there would be no one sober enough to work and on Monday there would be no one awake enough to work. You get the picture. Because of me and my hesitance to do something, I had locked us into at least three more days without water.

Since this is long already, let me back up further. All week, especially after the water dried up (that’s how they say it here) my wife and I had not been getting along well at all. We had argued about a lot things. We had not talked a lot. Now with the stress of giving two kids baths, doing laundry, cooking, etc. with no water we were really going at it. This brings us to Sunday night. Here we were five days without water, sitting at home while the city celebrates. We were watching fireworks out the window with our older daughter. Not talking much. Then something else unexpected happened. Our daughter threw up. Not a little. A lot. In fact, I am convinced it was as much as she could possibly have thrown up. It got on all her clothes, the couch, the floor, my wife, eventually a bath towel and some on me. So now we have a toddler covered in vomit, a towel covered in vomit, a living room to clean up and (you may be ahead of me here) no water and no easy way to do laundry. Okay, now what? Of course it was not the end of the world. We got our daughter undressed, washed her up with water that was warm no the stove and put her in her pajamas. We rinsed the clothes in the tap outside (it was near freezing at that time) and then heated some water and washed them by hand. We dealt with it. As an interesting side note, we got along very well during this little mini-crisis. Not one cross word. We handled it, by God’s grace.

But away from the details and back to where I started. What sort of advice would prepare you for this? What sort things could someone have said to us to get us ready for this? What spiritual wisdom could be imparted to ease this time on the field? Well, nothing would have perfectly prepared us but my dear friends words were about as good as anyone could have done. It is the little things that get to you in the US that will get to you “there”. The things that are hard in the US are hard “there” and often much harder because of fewer conveniences, in this case, reliable water. If you fight with your spouse in the US, you will fight “there”. It will be the little things that add up and that will potentially accumulate to a breaking point.

So talking about diapers or cleaning house or paying bills or going to the market will never seem spiritual to many people. It will never seem like something a bona fide “missionary” who has THE Call will worry about. But you should worry about it. Because the truth is that we are weak humans in the US and we are weak humans abroad. Jesus never promised to take away the weakness and make us super-followers on the field. He just promised to be with us always. So to anyone foolhardy enough to ask for my advice it remains the same. Maybe I would reword it once more—“the little things that expose your weakness and need for Jesus in the US will expose those things overseas. Whatever you struggle with in the US, you will likely struggle with overseas. It is the little things that will weigh on you. But Jesus isn’t ashamed on your weakness. He came in weakness for us men and our salvation. He welcomes the weak and uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Most importantly, he did promise to be with us until the end of the age.” Not too spiritual or wise, I know, but that is the advice I am sticking to for now.