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It was 25 years ago when I watched my 16-year-old son die in Nairobi, Kenya, as a result of a severe asthma attack.

His death on an Easter morning wounded the hearts of an entire community.

People asked me, How can God allow your son to die on Easter? You were only seeking to serve and praise Him among peoples unreached and untouched with the Gospel. How can a father handle watching his son die long before his child’s dreams could be realized?

I imagine God’s thoughts when Jesus died on the cross could have been similar to this:

My Son was a skilled carpenter, but I knew that He was made for something more than shaping wood with His hands. He was made for shaping lives with His words, with a touch or even with His tears.

His life’s work was that of doing the miraculous — He healed the sick, fed thousands, allowed those without worth and unclean to touch Him and to be touched by Him.

He could weep over the death of a friend and almost in the midst of a sob call him from the grave to life again. People were enamored with the miraculous things He said and did. A few people begin to discern that it wasn’t what He did that was miraculous.

The real truth, they began to discover, was not that He did miracles but that He was The Miracle.

Others feared what they did not understand. I saw my Son arrested and ridiculed. Their spit ran down His face, their jeers rang in His ears and their tools of torture caused blood to disfigure His countenance.

Cheers from the days before when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey turned to the jeering of a mob as they watched my Son drag His own cross up to a hill of death, where they raised His mutilated body, nailed upon a wooden cross, to the sky.

Today, I watched my son die.

The political and religious leaders of His day thought this was the end of the threat. Those who had followed Him believed their hope was dead, so they denied they had ever known Him. Both sides deeply believed this was the end of the story, this death, this killing of My son — once praised now, once and for all, crucified to death.

And here was everyone’s mistake, their misunderstanding. They believed that crucifixion was the end of the story, that death ended all things — the threat to the reigning government and the people’s hopes for an earthly Messiah.

Everyone was wrong. My Son was not to be defined by the waving palm leaves of the adoring multitude or by the shouts of the jeering crowd. Neither would He be defined by a crucifixion.

There was more to come — more to the story. This was my plan. The crucifixion by man was a prelude to the resurrection by the Father. I allowed and watched my Son die, to be crucified, to demonstrate my love and forgiveness for all people, for all times.

But I am not only a Father of love, I am a Father of power.

And while my love allowed for the crucifixion of my Son, my power would not allow Him to stay dead because I had determined that crucifixion was just the prelude to the resurrection.

For my family, the anniversary of my son’s death at Easter brings this bittersweet reminder — There is no shortcut, no easy way out, no way to avoid wounds made inevitable by living in a broken, imperfect world — but that isn’t the end of the story.

My family knows that this earthly life is just a prelude to the eternal life we can have through and with Christ because of His sacrifice for us on the cross. Jesus’ crucifixion was for a moment in time. His resurrection is forever.

2020-2021 have not been my favorite years. Due to health issues and other reasons, we’ve had to return to America and settle in a country that has not been our home for over 35 years. Over these decades we’ve moved 28 times, immersed in languages that include Chewa, Xhosa, Swahili, Somali, while dabbling in Amharic and Arabic. What a shock that a country boy to have visited 80 countries!  We’ve owned, in those 35 years, one used car.  Our three sons were wondrous partners and have said to me, “Daddy, we’ve had the greatest lives that any kid could ever have.” In the core of our being we believe that God made us to live and serve in an overseas environment. 

 

Returning from living overseas after almost four decades, being introduced for the first time to a house mortgage and insurance, buying two vehicles and insurance, local, state, and federal taxes have caught me by surprise. It’s been the hardest adjustment in my life. Political realities and pandemic have added to my culture shock.

 

I’ve promised God that I’ll do better, honoring His investment in us, putting into practice in the U.S. much that He’s taught us, especially through believers and His church in persecution.  As an example, let me describe the environment which believers in East Asia live out their faith. When we first began to visit these believers we experience;

 

… When a woman became biologically able to bear children she was required by her government to have a pregnancy test monthly. If it was discovered that she was pregnant, without approval from the government, she was forced to abort the child immediately.

… If a woman wanted to travel from one province to another she was required to undergo another, more expensive pregnancy test to prove that she was not sneaking off to a place where she was not known, attempting to give birth illegally. If it was discovered that she was pregnant without approval from the government, she was forced to abort the child immediately.

… While in the equivalent of our high schools, one took aptitude tests through which the government would decide whether you went to university or technical school.

… Once in the assigned technical school or university it was decided by government officials, and further tests, what your major would be.

… Upon finishing technical school or university you were assigned where you would live and work, given your apartment, with your electricity and water provided by the government. You salary and benefits were not negotiable.

… Deciding to marry, a couple had to receive permission from their work supervisor before informing their parents.

… They could apply for permission from the government to have one (1) child. Their names were put on the list and they would have to wait their turn for permission to conceive and deliver a child.

… Failure to adhere to these rules could cost one the ability to work,  their place of residence, and could lead to serious fines and/or imprisonment.

 

 Therefore it should not surprise us that their government is seriously opposed to citizens following Jesus or adhering to any form of religious faith. It was heartbreaking to learn, when we first visited, that 40% of the leaders within the Christian faith were incarcerated in prison for three years. Surprisingly, the government was not necessarily opposed to Jesus. What they were opposed to was your freedom to choose your God. Their thinking was/is, that if you are free to choose your God, then by implication you are free to choose everything else; what school to go to, your major, where you want to live, what job to aspire, who you marry, and how many kids you choose to have.

 

 Given the truth of all the limits placed upon human life in East Asia one could be forgiven for assuming that following Jesus and gathering as His Body is all but impossible. In 1948/49 communists within this East Asian country sought to annihilate Christianity. There were approximately 400,000 Christians in East Asia within this period of history. They burned churches, turned them into beer halls and brothels. The government martyred pastors and missionaries. It was obvious that the government would not be content until the last church was destroyed and the last follower of Jesus eliminated. I remember reading an article in 1984,  that questioned, as this country seem to be opening up, would there be any Christians left alive inside of this country?

 

As minimum travel was allowed around this time it was discovered that the 400,000 followers of Jesus now numbered 10 million! After our last visit inside this country, conservative estimates are that Christians, gathered mostly in house churches of 30 or less, number, conservatively, around 85 million souls!

 

Friends, believers in Jesus the Christ, Americans. Hear the words of the Lord. The setting described above is much like the New Testament setting in which Jesus was born, lived, was crucified, and rose from the grave. It would be different, nuanced – but the setting described in East Asia would be familiar to Jewish and Gentile believers found in the New Testament. Occupied by the Roman Empire, while one had to pay taxes and be counted in a census, they could choose their government, serve in the police force or the military- let alone be protected by them. They could not vote or belong to a political party. They lived under Roman Law. Roman Law not only took away one’s ability to choose it could also travel to a small village called Bethlehem and murder all the male children under three years of age. The parents of these children had no recourse. They could not hire a lawyer and take these murderers to court. Their ability to choose the right to be human within their culture and government was severely hindered – almost nonexistent.

 

But they could choose to follow Jesus – and they did in their thousands. They were scattered throughout the known world. Yet they still chose to share their faith. Often the cost was great. They could choose to be like their Jesus. Galatians 5:22 described them and should describe us. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” There’s another list in Galatians 5:19-21. It’s not a list of deeds, it’s also a list that defines your essence, who you are. It’s not a list you want to be on.

 

Honestly, we’re on one list or the other. It’s our choice.

 

This is my prayer for us in this New Year. May 2022 find us, who call ourselves Christians, people defined by our love for God and for one another. This is preferable than being consumed by politics or political parties; race and ethnicity. Sure, good government is important. Good governments can bring people together. But government alliances should not, and must not, distract God’s people from hungering for the One Whom we can never deserve. My unsettledness in returning to America isn’t due to taxes, a mortgage or political divisions. My discontent is failing to focus on Jesus, staying in His Word, and talking about Him. It’s in Him that true freedom, eternal freedom, is to be found.

 

I titled this article, “Defined by What?” That was a mistake.  I should’ve entitled this article “Defined by WHO?” Isn’t that more the issue as we embrace 2022?  

 

To love. To forgive. To trade anger for peace.  To choose joy. To be like Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, allow me to remind us – we have chosen the side of good over evil. Nowhere is this clearer than in environments of persecution where, as one proclaims the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the price for doing so is increasingly costly (Revelation 2:10). While the battle with the Evil One certainly has physical manifestations, believers in persecution suggest that the deeper war is both internal & spiritual. Suggested here are 5 responses to evil for your consideration. These 5 responses increasingly represent a closer spiritual pilgrimage/walk with Jesus.

The first two responses to evil are quite universal.

Seemingly, the 1st two responses to evil are shared equally between the secular world and those of us who claim allegiance to Jesus the Christ. Dare I say this? Can this be true?

Sadly, most governments, organizations, churches, and sermons that struggle with persecution seldom lead us past these beginners’ responses to evil and the resulting persecution of followers of Jesus.

The last 3 of these 5 responses are overtly spiritual & represent, increasingly, being “in Christ.”
What makes followers of Jesus different from a secular NGO? How are we believers to be separate from the governments, militaries, and humanitarian organizations on this planet?

1. “God save me!”

This is very normal and understandable. It represents the first half of the prayer of Jesus (Matthew 26:36) in the garden before his crucifixion. He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me…” If my family or I were in prison we would want scores of people to pray this prayer on our behalf!! I would certainly pray this prayer myself. Yet it only represents half of the prayer of Jesus in the garden. Almost in the same breath, we do not pray the second half of His prayer: “yet, not my will but your will be done.”

2. “God punish them.”

Our normal response to evil and its persecution is biblically anemic. We see persecution as abnormal and we call upon governments and militaries to rescue us from what God may be using for our own growth and His glory. Sometimes God needs Joseph in pharaoh’s prison for the salvation of the Egyptians & the Jews in Egypt. We must pray both halves of the prayer of Jesus including, “not my will, but yours be done.”

Calling on God to punish our enemies is a far cry from loving them. Followers of Jesus who refused to get stuck in the first two responses to evil could find themselves joining Jesus and Stephen in praying, “When did it become OK to die for one’s country, but not die for one’s Jesus?”

3. “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

This just might be the most un-American thought that I share with you. This response to evil recognizes that followers of Jesus can see themselves both as a target of satanic attack yet still victorious in their Savior. From Jesus on the cross and then Stephen in Acts 7:60 – even as the stones tore into his flesh – recognized that their persecutors were themselves victims in need of forgiveness as well as individuals responsible for their actions.

This response does not come easy. It is not the normal response of governments, militaries, or, sadly, the church. Such a response takes strength of soul and character seldom witnessed today. Seeking forgiveness for one’s enemies is counterintuitive, unpopular, and often seen as weakness.

Hating Muslims is popular. Calling Mohammed & Islam ugly names can elicit “amens” from many corners of the church. Greatness is measured by the size of one’s military, economic growth, and within democratic forms of government. Yet forgiving one’s enemies exemplifies a New Testament faith in a world defined by Old Testament responses and reactions.

As one continues to grow in Christ they may come to pray the most dangerous prayer possible,

4. “Father, forgive me as I forgive those who have sinned against me.”

Could there be a more dangerous prayer on the face of the earth for one’s soul? Are we willing to place our souls in jeopardy based upon whether or not we forgive our enemies? This is precisely how Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

It’s quite popular to “fight fire with fire” within the world that is still defined by the Old Testament premise of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth”. Tying our forgiveness by God to our forgiveness toward our enemies represents a growth, and a risk, in Christ that is otherworldly. It demands that we be defined by heaven on earth, acknowledging that living the Lord’s Prayer might just be the most dangerous thing one can ever attempt.

As we grow in Christ there is a response to evil that transcends all others as we pray:

5. “Father, today, glorify Yourself in me.”

This prayer makes a bold statement. It prays to God and proclaims to the world that political environments are not what define our faith. We are as free to share our faith in Christ in Saudi Arabia as we are in South Carolina. We are as free to share our faith in Christ in North Korea as in the Bible Belt of Southern America. No one can stop us from getting off of airplanes, out of buses, and cars from proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Persecutors can certainly punish us for sharing our faith, but by doing so, they help us to proclaim it all the more! If we don’t quit, if we don’t exit the fight at the entry level where we demand “God save me” and “God punish them,” we can grow into the fullness of Christ where we understand faith is not tied to political freedom but is about glorifying God – wherever.

Can we pray, “Lord from the time we rise this morning until the time we go to bed tonight we want everything we have said and done to have glorified you, our God.” If you ever accomplish this kind of growth in Jesus then the hard fight truly begins. Glorifying God is never a static achievement. Believers in persecution record how they have come to this place of glorifying God when they themselves were the focus of persecution. But, oh, how hard the battle becomes when evil attacks those we love; a wife, children, or the people of God for whom we love and have responsibility. It is so easy to become stuck at “God save those I love” and “punish those who harm them.”

Glorifying God, when the cross is borne by those we love, causes us to ask, “Is Jesus worth my life, the life of my wife, my kids, and those that I love?”

I can remember reading the Bible for the first time.  I came to Christ at 18 years of age in a Kraft Food’s cheese factory.  My father had negotiated a job for me at the factory the last nine weeks of my senior year in high school.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is I had to work nights those last nine weeks of my senior year in order to go to college.  I worked from 7 PM to 3:30 AM five days a week and never missed a day of school.  Of course I was too exhausted and I remember the embarrassing day when I went to sleep in an 8 AM chemistry class and woke up in a different chemistry class at 2 PM for another group of students!  I found out later that the teacher had threatened her other classes with death threats if they were not quiet in order to allow me to sleep after discovering that I was working nights in the factory to make enough money to go to college that fall.

One night as I was working by myself in a remote corner of that factory, I heard the voice of God speaking to me. I did not recognize His voice until the third time I heard Him speaking audibly in my ear and to my heart.  That night I gave my life and any career to the Almighty.  As a redneck from rural Kentucky all I knew about Christianity was that if you were saved and called by God you had to become a pastor.  I found this such a depressing thought because I felt that my salvation call would chain me to rural Kentucky churches the rest of my life.  I gave up a scholarship to the University of Kentucky and my lifelong dream to be a veterinarian.  Added to my despair was the discouragement I received from my parents, sometimes pastor, and peers to fulfill what I had heard God demand of me.

Finally I received semi-godly counsel from a young pastor in my rural county who took me to Lexington, Kentucky to visit a Christian bookstore.  There he helped me purchase a 7 pound, annotated, Scofield Bible-it looked like and weighed as if it was meant to be on a coffee table.  It had more footnotes than it had Bible.  He also purchased for me seven sermon outline books which severely hindered my ability to understand the Bible on my own and creatively develop messages that might have been worth listening to.

Once I arrived at college, and having announced that I was a pre-ministerial student, I felt the time had come to read the Bible.  I can remember reading Matthew chapter 28 and coming to what I would later be told was the Great Commission.  There I read these powerful words, “Go ye into all of the world.”  I was captivated by the thought that the Almighty had commanded us to go everywhere, at all times.  I confess I had no clue how to leave Kentucky, let alone go to other countries of the world.  So I sort of shelved this Go Ye into the back of my mind where I could retrieve this command if and when they became actually doable.  During my second year of college a doctor who had served as a sent out one for 20 years in Thailand spoke in a chapel.  As I listened to him, my heart soared with the possibilities of a different future.

I ran up to him after his devotional and asked him, “Do you mean to say that I can serve God anywhere in the world and your mission agency will pay me to do that?”  He laughed and said, “Well I have never been asked a question like that before but I guess the answer is yes.  We will pay you and you can take the gospel anywhere in the world.”  I said to him, “Where do I sign up?”  Amused he informed me that it wasn’t quite that easy, before sharing some of the hoops that I needed to work through before serving overseas was a possibility.

Finally the day came when now my wife and I were being interviewed by a mission board in regard to our service overseas.  Ruth is the epitome what mission boards would want in a candidate for overseas service.  She grew up in a pastor’s home.  She came to know Jesus at an early age.  In the sixth grade she wrote a class paper on Africa and knew then she wanted to spend her life in Africa.  She could articulate a call to missions second to none, and the interviewers were so deeply impressed with her.

Then they turned to me.

They asked me about my call to missions, and I simply replied, “I read Matthew 28.  They looked at me strangely and replied, “You don’t understand.  To be appointed by this mission board you have to have a special call to missions.” “You don’t understand,” I shot back at them, “I have read Matthew 28 which told me to go to all the world and I’m just trying to go.”  These kind, godly men, dressed in such immaculate suits proceeded to give me a 30 min. sermon on the concept of being called.  They shared about a call to salvation, a call to ministry, a call to missions, and then a fourth call to a special place in the world.  Then they looked at me with pride and asked me what I thought about what they had shared.  I was still naïve enough to think that when they asked me for my opinion that they actually expected me to reply!

So I looked at them and said, “It is my opinion that you Baptist have created a call to missions that allows you to be disobedient to what God has already commanded you to do.”

That went over really well.

I looked at my wife to discover tears slowly sliding down her cheeks.  I realized at that moment that these Baptists have a secret code or password that you must know in order to go on the mission field and no one had ever told me what that password was.  I thought that I had ruined my wife’s chance to fulfill her childhood dream of going to Africa and that the search committee would dismiss us as candidates for the mission field.

Now 28 years later I still believe the same thing.  Honestly I don’t believe there is a call to missions.  There is a command to missions.  No one who is a follower of Jesus gets to choose whether they are called or not.  We just get to choose, through sense of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, where God wants us to live out our witness at this time.  Being a daily witness for Jesus requires obedience to the command from Christ himself.  A calling to a specific place of service always follows the command to go to all the people groups in the world; whether across the street or across the globe.

Do you want to know if you are called to missions or not?  Read Matthew 28.