Missions Paul

Have you seen Jesus?

No is probably the answer for all of us though many in parts of the world have had a visitation of Christ, we haven’t.

Peter had seen Jesus alive leading the team of disciples; he had seen the resurrected Jesus; but he knows most others hadn’t.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” (1 Peter 1:8)

There is no difference in the reality of experience between those who have not seen Jesus (us) and those who have (Peter).

We love Jesus the same.

We believe in Jesus the same. And more importantly …

He is the same, yesterday, today and forever.

So how is the love for Jesus created and formed within us?

Peter says it is through the refinement of our faith as we go through all kinds of trials.

This love Submits to His Lordship.

This love can be Seen in how we conduct our Lives.

This love is Submerged in Christ’s Love for others in the world.

Many wake to all kinds of trials today. The physical, mental and emotional strain can be so severe it is difficult to focus on anything else. If this is you then this verse is yours:-

“These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1 v 7)

• This is for that.
• There is an unseen reality connected to your struggle.
• This is not an end in itself but a means to an end which is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

All kinds of trials that we go through serve to prove the genuineness of what we believe and lead to an eternal reward of praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ returns.

Therefore:

1. This won’t destroy you it will prove you RIGHT.
2. This isn’t leading to your ruin but your REFINEMENT.
3. This isn’t displaying your present weakness but it is displaying your future REWARD.

I woke this morning thinking of P who has gone through a barrage of criticism that has been unkind and unjust. It seems like it has come from many only because their voices are loud but as always it comes from only a few. I pray that this morning he and his wife hold on. I pray they realise this is momentary. It’s just for a little while.

To the patient waking with their terminal diagnosis and another day of pain …. It’s just for a little while.

To the lover whose heart is broken and you wonder if you will love again … it’s just for a little while.

To the employee who has to go to work in a toxic atmosphere … it’s just for a little while.

Everywhere in the world people wake to a day of grief, a day of difficulty and all kinds of trials. This may just be you. If it is then this first letter of Peter is for you.

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”  (! Peter 1 v 6)

Some just have to suffer but it’s momentary, it’s not for long, it’s just for a little while.

You may just have to go through the struggle.

This life may throw rocks at you and no matter how much you pray they just may not stop.

You may just have to keep going when all you want to do is give up.

Even if the world puts you on a cross it doesn’t mean you are the one who is defeated.

It’s just for a little while. “In a little while/This hurt will hurt no more” (U2 lyric)

It’s the heart of Christianity. We are people of the ‘little while’.

Yesterday a friend sent me a picture of Ms S. I have never met her but her story moved me to tears. My friend works with tribal people in Asia. He texted me an update on the highs and lows of missionary life. The story I share is an example of that. It can be repeated all over the world.

A few hours later I heard of a lovely Christian man in the UK who has been given some bad news from his doctor and I wept.

A few days ago I sat with a retired Pastor who is in such pain with his cancer and I prayed that Jesus would step in to his situation and heal him.

This morning I received a text from a friend in a difficult country. One of his Church planters, KB, returned home after being abducted by militants and though we are thankful to God he is unharmed physically he is now very traumatised.

Every day, every moment, across this globe beautiful people of God are going through grave difficulties of some sort. Maybe you are too.

Having written of the power of salvation, Peter, still in the middle of this hymn-like praise declaration continues:

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1 v 6-9)

Let’s go back to the story of Ms S.

Ms S. was born and grew up in a remote tribal jungle village in Asia. The area has many drug factories and the people live on opium. Her family were so poor that when a man from the city came looking for a young wife they gave their daughter, S, to him, she was only 15 years at the time. Tragically the next chapter of her life was the opposite of love for her. She was trafficked into the sex industry and she caught HIV before she was 20 years of age. Forced to go back to her village the tribal law meant she had to live in isolation in a very small bamboo hut. She developed a stomach tumour and had reached such low depression that she contemplated suicide.

However, an outreach mission team reached her just in time and led her to Jesus. She began to recover and started to grow vegetables and would always bring her first-fruits from what she grew to the church as a thanksgiving offering to the Lord.

Ms S became known as a very dear bright light in a dark world as she loved and served Jesus. He had saved her and she lived a thankful life. But she was still sick and during a tumour operation she died during surgery, only in her mid-30’s.

It isn’t the end for Ms S for when she passed from this life she fully realised what the salvation of her soul meant, she was indeed saved!

I tell stories like this because these are people of value and they teach us how to walk with Jesus even during the toughness and cruelty of life.

I match the emboldened words with those within the text of Peter.

She suffered all kinds of trials on this earth a little while.

She proved that her faith was genuine and was more worthy than gold though she had nothing.

She loved him, she believed in him and her life was joy-filled because of Jesus.

She received the salvation she longed for, the end result of a life of faith.

We don’t know what today holds but we know who holds us. All we need do is hold onto Him. The trial is temporary and one day we will join Ms S and others and it will be so worth it for we will be saved.

In this letter Peter has a lot to say about being saved. He will speak often about the past, the present and the future salvation and how this helps us to live out our lives in the world today.

The first 12 verses seem to be an outburst of praise from Peter where he hardly takes a breath, or rather it is just one long sentence which for our sake the translators have slowed his writing down for us so that we can take in the beautiful words he has written.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice …” (1 Peter 1 v 3-6)

‘We greatly rejoice’. Why? It is because we know what it means to be saved!

1. God has lifted us from our misery even if the misery was caused by our own fault = MERCY
2. We know what it to start again = NEW BIRTH
3. We do not despair like the world despairs because we have an active confidence in God and His promises to us = LIVING HOPE
4. We are optimists because Jesus is not dead = RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
5. We have future security which our sin, decay or death will not destroy for it is not held by accomplishments or protection on earth but in haven = INHERITANCE
6. We are not alone because our relationship with God means we are kept by His power in all our circumstances of this world = FAITH
7. We have a future: we are saved, we are being saved and we will be saved = SALVATION

From these few verses this is what it means to be saved and this is why we greatly rejoice!

To those who don’t feel they’re home. They know pain. The heartache has become part of who they are. They live in a hostile environment. They don’t know who they can trust. They are not where they want to be. Here is a letter.

It is either in the mid-60’s AD prior to the Nero persecution or it is post that era under Domitian’s reign. It doesn’t matter when for the content is appropriate for either and it still is for us today. Here it is:-

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (1 Peter 1:1-2)

He uses his nickname given by Jesus. But it wasn’t his name that was important it was his role within the Church. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. After the death of Judas, Peter gathered the believers together and said, “It is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” (Acts 1:21-22)

It was a must. The Resurrection of Jesus. It was everything. The central message was from the beginning “Christ is alive! I have seen Him!”
When they were asked, “Were you there?” They had to be able to say “Yes”.
They couldn’t say “No but I was told Jesus had risen”. It had to be personally experienced.

It still is everything. It still has to be personally experienced.
Your testimony has to be about you and it is unique to you. No one has your story. Your story that says Jesus is alive and my changed life proves it.

The resurrection is central to everything. If we lose that then we have nothing. Our message continues to be in every high and low, mountain and valley …Jesus is alive! To those who need a miracle today … Jesus is alive! If He is alive then anything is possible! The Apostle Peter tells us this.

His letter is addressed to the Christians in modern day Turkey. They have been scattered and are living as strangers in a strange world. Peter brings encouragement to persevere and how much we need that even today in 2023.

It isn’t what we look like in our eyes or from the world’s viewpoint that will encourage us. We all need to see ourselves from the viewpoint of God. Peter tells us:

You are meant to be here. This is our moment. We have been chosen (chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father).

You are not alone. We are in partnership. He is working through us (through the sanctifying work of the Spirit)

You are called to do His work. When we make mistakes He cleanses us and we start again (to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood).

This apostle is calling for the followers of Jesus not to give up.

Something we all need to hear.

22^nd December 2019 I began to read and write thoughts from this old man and last remaining of the 12 apostles, John. This morning having written through his gospel, the Revelation and now his letters, over 3 years later, I am closing with his final few words. What are they? Someone may just need these words this morning.

The peace of Christ.

“I have much to write to you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.” (v13-14)

Peace to you.

John had written those words of Jesus when He suddenly appeared behind the locked doors to the disciples as the resurrected Lord: Peace to you!!

John is reminding Gaius that their friendship is founded on this truth of the resurrection. This would be fitting as John has tirelessly written in his letters to uphold the authenticity of the risen Jesus Christ.

As we close off from John’s writing, peace to you also.

You may be in fear behind locked doors; you may think your life is impossible; remember these words of Jesus: Peace to you.

Christ is peace. Nothing else. No one else. Don’t look to the world. You can gain the whole world and you won’t have peace if you don’t have Christ. Your friends may want the very best for you. They want you married, they want you to have children, they want you to have a great job, a house, a car, they want you to be happy, to travel, to experience, to be well. They are good friends. But they don’t understand that the best wish they could ever have for you is that you have Christ. To have Christ is to have peace.

Peace to you.

I attended the funeral of my friend’s father yesterday and enjoyed listening to the eulogies and hear of people speaking well of this man even though I didn’t know him myself. He sounded like a man I would have enjoyed meeting.

Also this week I went to speak at a meeting where I was introduced in a way I have not heard before. Usually the focus of the introduction is on what I have done or the things I am involved with now. But I was refreshingly introduced as ‘he is a nice man’. Now some would have wanted a far more elaborate introduction but not me. I felt honoured actually.

Often we wait till someone has died to speak well of them. It is of course the right thing to do in order to honour their life. But let us use life-giving words in life as much as we can and let those we are speaking of hear them.

This is something of what is happening in these next 2 verses as we come to a close of John’s letter. Writing to Gaius who is holding on to the orthodox teaching of Christ, John is sending another friend, Demetrius, probably to deliver the letter. John is appealing for Gaius to continue to do good which we have seen is to offer hospitality to these missionaries he keeps sending to the churches. As opposed to Diotrophes who rejects them, Gaius welcomes them into his home.

^“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.” (3 John v 11-12)

Clearly not everyone speaks well of Demetrius because Diotrophes opposed everyone from John. Literally if your whole world speaks well of you then perhaps you are not fulfilling the calling God has laid on your life. However, the people who really know you, are you a nice person? Do people speak well of you?

There are moments when I respond in a way that isn’t something I am proud of. I will say, “I’m not bothered what people think about me” but not only is this not helpful it isn’t correct. I am bothered. In my life and in my death I do want to be known as ‘a nice man’ without compromising God’s call on my life and the difficult decisions that this means, I do think that the description given is an honour greater than other awards.

What are we known for? How would people introduce you now and how would they say good-bye to you when you part this world? “A nice man” is a great achievement!

All leaders are obviously human and make mistakes. If we put them on a pedestal when they fall off we will be disappointed. In saying that, it is a high calling to be a Church leader and the privilege of being so means there are higher expectations and rightly so.

In John’s day there was a particular church leader who had been giving him great concern and now he calls him out. It is helpful to us all in that what John sees we should all see and give a wide-berth to such leadership and to call it out as John does.

“I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.” (3 John 9-10)

Here are 5 things to look out for.

The Diotrophes leader:-

1. Loves to be number one. They love to have the authority over people. They love to be in charge. They love to dominate. There is a huge difference between being gifted and willing and loving the position. Good leaders love Jesus more than they love their position and it is obvious that they do.
2. Gossips. They spread rumours about their own leader (John) and even the community they lead. They seem to love the politics of situations. They come alive with information.
3. Is egocentric. They refuse to see any other point of view other than their own. They refuse to welcome into their circle others who will not say YES to their ideas.
4. Is an enforcer. They create rules in order to create the culture that they want to build which is centred on their own opinion. “I did it my way” is their theme song.
5. Is a narcissist. They lead through the tactic of divide and conquer. They create fear of separation/isolation with their victims in order to control them.

We are thankful that the Bible teaches against such leadership, highlights them and warns us all to run away from such bad leadership.

Over the last few years my team have done a lot of work on the well-being of the Pastor. We have ventured into new ground for many of us with terms such as Spiritual Directors and Peer Supervision. It is early days for us but our goal is to create a culture where the soul of the Minister is healthy.

“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”  (3 John v 2)

How is your soul?

Gaius was enjoying good health. I’m not asking how you are physically though I hope you are well and if you are not then you will get better soon.

But how is your soul?

Gaius’ life looked good. John wanted more for his friend, “I pray that in all respects you may prosper” (NASB) I’m not asking if God is blessing you though I hope He is.

How is your soul? Is it well? Is it content?

What is going on in your mind? What is coming out of your mouth? What are you doing? These will indicate how your soul is. Answer those 3 questions honestly.

Is your soul well? If you are still unsure then ask a friend tell you what they see. John could see the evidence of a good soul in Gaius. But be ready to hear something that you might not like.

The move in to the power of the Spirit comes from a well soul. Those of us who desire more of the Spirit need to focus more on having souls that are healthy.