Meet Dirk Willems

In the wake of Christian martyrs in the news (90 more Christians kidnapped by ISIS in Syria earlier this week), I am sharing a few martyr stories from church history.  Sadly, there have been seasons in Christian history where Christians persecuted and martyred other Christians of a different stripe.  Our history is hardly pure.

 

In 16th century Holland, the Mennonites were outlawed and, when caught, often executed.  One of them, Dirk Willems, was being chased across a frozen lake when his pursuer broke through the ice and fell in.  In response to his cries for help, Willems returned and saved him from the frigid waters.  The pursuer was grateful and astonished that he would do such a thing but thinking it his duty nevertheless arrested him.  A few days later in the town of Asperen, Willems was burned at the stake till he died.^[1]

 

When Christ is deep in a person’s life, he is going to value others ahead of himself.  He is going to love his enemies and pray for those who persecute him (Mt. 5:44).  When Christ is deep in a person’s life she is going to be faithful no matter what the cost.  Don’t you think it’s important that all of us who know Christ seek to cultivate that depth of faith before the persecuting time comes?

 

Obviously, Willems didn’t just talk his faith, he lived it in the faith that as Jesus said, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt. 16:25).  I wonder if Willems had second thoughts about his decision to fish his pursuer from the icy waters, especially as he was tied to the stake and as the flames began to lick at his body.  Who knows?  But we do know this: when Willems entered Paradise and the blessing of his Savior any second thoughts were vanquished.  “Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).

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[1]Cited by Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998), 213.

What If?

They did it again.  ISIS has murdered yet more Christians—21 Egyptian Coptic Christians brutally beheaded in Libya.  Their video also declared a commitment to take the fight to Rome and to all people of the cross.  Don’t expect much help from the White House.  This President and his closest advisors live in some alternate universe.  He still thinks global warming is a more clear and present danger to Americans and the world than “Islamic terrorism” (words he can’t even bring himself to say).  He thinks we Christians are on a “high horse” about all this.  After all, millennia ago our Christian ancestors conducted the Crusades to thwart the violent Islamic takeover of what had been sacred grounds to Christians.  I’m not condoning the Crusades, but to compare that to what’s going on now is … well … only possible for someone who is either history-ignorant or lives in an alternate universe.  But enough of that.  I’m not posting this blog to rag on the president.

 

I am posting this blog to state that persecution for our faith is coming.  Many would say it is already here in subtle ways.  But subtlety may one day give way to the fist.  A Facebook friend of mine posted a picture today of the Egyptians Christians lined up on their knees awaiting their beheading.  He wrote words to this effect: “Praying fervently that I could be as faithful as these martyrs should that day ever come for me.”  This is a wise and good prayer.

 

While most of us would like to think we would be “faithful unto death” (Rev. 2:10), I suspect none of us would know for sure until that moment arrived.  How do we prepare for such things?  Perhaps it goes without saying that keeping our faith current helps immensely—relying on a walk with Jesus that matters just as much today as it did years ago when we first trusted Him for salvation.  When Jesus is more like a friend to us than an historical figure (world history and our history), this might help us be prepared to suffer for Him.  Who would die today for George Washington?  I don’t know Mr. Washington.  But I know Jesus.  I’ve talked with Him today several times already.  I’ve sought to listen to Him in both my spirit and through the Scripture.  A faithful, current walk with Jesus will surely help us prepare for persecution.

 

And something else might help too: martyr stories.  Fox’s Book of Martyrs is a classic because it tells us of our mothers and fathers in the faith who were “faithful unto death.”  Such stories provoke both faith and courage.  So for the next few posts, I’m going to share some martyr stories in the hopes that such stories will provoke faith and courage in us all.

 

Perhaps you’ve heard of Jim Eliot who died at the end of a spear in Ecuador serving one of the Indian peoples there.  In writing his biography, Eliot’s wife, Elisabeth shared something that helps us understand why Eliot and his missionary friends were willing to die for their faith.  She wrote:

 

Jim’s aim was to know God.  His course, obedience—the only course that could lead to the fulfillment of his aim.  His end was what some would call an extraordinary death, although in facing death he had quietly pointed out that many have died because of obedience to God.

 

He and the other men with whom he died were hailed as heroes, “martyrs.”  I do not approve.  Nor would they have approved.

 

Is the distinction between living for Christ and dying for Him, after all, so great?  Is not the second the logical conclusion of the first?  Furthermore, to live for God is to die “daily,” as the apostle Paul put it.  It is to lose everything that we may gain Christ.  It is in thus laying down our lives that we find them.[1]

 

This quote doesn’t tell any of the grisly details of Jim’s death, but it helps us understand why he was prepared to suffer for his faith.  He died to Christ daily.  Let’s learn from Eliot in these uncertain times.

 

       

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[1]Elisabeth Eliot, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life of and Testament of Jim Eliot (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1979), 9-10.

 

Goodbye, Old Friend

For some reason Dayna thinks 20 years with the same flooring is long enough.  And you know how it is when you make changes in flooring: things that have been sitting on that floor for 20 years come under scrutiny.  “Hmmm.  Do we still need that?  Can we get rid of this?  Do you think one of the kids will take that?”  Nothing is safe.  Our dog went into hiding.

 

Anyway, among the things that didn’t make the cut was our piano.  You know how some of the stuff you have is just stuff—no real sentimental attachment, maybe something you bought on a whim and regretted buying a hundred times since, maybe something you have no memory of buying at all.  “Now why did we buy that?” Dayna asks.  And all I can do is shrug my shoulders.  Some of our stuff is just stuff.  But some of our stuff is more than stuff—it’s personal; it’s got stories associated with it and strings attached to it: strings to the heart and to the memory.  Our piano is that kind of stuff.

 

When my dad died in 1987, he didn’t leave much behind.  But he did leave us enough money to buy a piano for our five-year-old daughter who wanted to learn to play.  My dad met his grandkids once.  He wasn’t good at relationships.  But using his money to buy this piano was a way for me to connect my dad to my daughter.  She was five—too young to grasp the connection.  That wasn’t important to her, but it was important to me.  It just so happened that we knew a piano teacher who knew somebody who was selling a nice piano at a good price, and we bought it cash money.

I’m glad we did.  Kristen had a gift for it.  We got her hooked up with a great teacher, Becky Morales, and she blossomed.  It was at that piano that she learned to play the Arkansas Fight Song, and dressed in a Razorback cheerleader outfit Dayna had stitched together, she performed that song at her first recital,.  It was at that piano that she would compose her first song, “Cat and Mouse”—the framed score of which hung on the wall of our home for years.  It was at that piano that she helped transition from Greenwood, Missouri, to Hot Springs, Arkansas, as she began 8^th grade.  God put a new teacher in her life, Barbara Dodson, who challenged her in ways she’d not been challenged before.  It was around that piano that she and her friends would gather and sing, filling our house with beautiful music.  It was at that piano that she would sometimes play me to sleep as she practiced into the night, working on songs she was learning and songs she was writing.  It was at that piano that she would compose a worship song that was published and used in numerous churches across the country.  That song even made her some money for a few years.  It was at that piano that Kristen gained many of the tools she uses to lead worship these days in her church in Texas.  It was at that piano where I watched a cute little blonde-headed girl become a strawberry-blonde young woman who is beautiful inside and out.  It was at that piano where I watched how God-given talent combined with practice and work can produce beautiful things for the kingdom of God and the pleasure of those just listening in.  See what I mean?  Some of our stuff is more than just stuff.

But Kristen grew up, went to college, got married, and moved away.  So the piano sat in its familiar place, silent.  Kristen might play a little on her rare visits home.  And our grandkids like to bang on it when they are around.  But mostly it just sat there.  When she got a house, we asked her if she wanted the piano.  “I’d like it but I don’t have room, and I have an electronic keyboard already.”

Dayna and I talked about giving away the piano the last few years, but we just never pulled the trigger.  The flooring change raised the issue again.  The flooring starts going in this week.  So last week I said, “You know, I think I’ll post a picture on Facebook and see if anyone wants it.”  Boom!  Much to surprise, several people wanted it.  And one of them even had a plan to move it.  So last Tuesday night, some people we know from our church, people who play the piano and love the piano and have a son who plays piano came to pick it up.

Do we miss it?  Not really.  And here’s why: giving it away to people who have an appreciation for it gave me a chance to tell the piano’s story, to speak of the dad and daughter connection, to remember again the joy it has brought to our family, and to relish in the fact that this good old piano will make music once again and become enriched with more stories and more memories for a whole other family.  I know the piano will be happier.  It’s not a museum piece to be looked at; it’s an instrument to be played.  And it’s being played once again.

Some of our stuff is just stuff.  Some of it is so much more.  That piano is more than stuff; it’s an old friend.  And it gives us joy to know that piano is making new friends even now.

Please Don't Call It "Dumb Luck"

Some of you remember the '80's TV series Thirtysomething.  I was in my thirties for about half of that decade, so I watched the show now and then.  I remember one episode in particular.  Elliot's wife Nancy is stricken with cancer.  After surgery and a series of treatments, they do more testing to determine if the cancer is arrested and Nancy is healed.  During those three or four days, Eliot spends a great deal of time in prayer.  Elliot is not a particularly religious man.  Like so many people who are thirty-something, most of his faith was from childhood.  In these intervening years he had drifted away from the church and forgotten God. But in spite of that, Elliot spends a great deal of time in prayer in the hospital.  He tries praying in the chapel.  He tries praying in a stairwell.  But the place where he seems most comfortable in his prayers is in a hospital restroom, shut up in a stall, one foot on the toilet, his head in his hands in agonizing prayer … "O God, please heal Nancy.  Please make her well.  I don't know what I would do without her.  She's a good person, God.  Please heal her.  And if you'll heal her, I promise that I will never forget you again.  Never."

A few scenes later, we find out the good news: Nancy is healed.  All the cancer is gone.  So they quickly get a party together in his wife's hospital room.  Their closest friends attend.  And amid the celebration, one of Elliot's friends says to him, "Elliot, man, this is incredibly good news.  I can't believe it.  The cancer is gone.  How do you explain it?"

"Dumb luck, I guess," said Elliot.  "Just plain dumb luck."

The reason I remember that episode so well is because Elliot’s comment really ticked me off.  “Dumb luck.”  Are you kidding me?  You prayed and you prayed and you prayed.  God answered.  And you had the nerve to call it “dumb luck”?  The reason that lights my fire is because I’ve seen that too many times as a pastor.  Here’s just one example: Matt is cleaning his shotgun.  He thought it was unloaded.  It wasn’t.  It went off.  It nearly cost him his left eye.  It could have cost him his life.  Matt had been an on and off church attender up to this time.  When I visited him in the hospital he said, “Pastor, I could have been killed.  I should have been killed.  But God spared me for a reason.  And soon as I get well I’ll be in church every Sunday.  I’ll be a new man.  And I'll never forget God again.”  Matt got well.  He attended church a couple of times.  And we never saw Matt again.

I wonder how he told this story in years to come.  How did he explain the scar?  Did he attribute the sparing of his life to God or to dumb luck?  How quickly we forget the mercies and kindness and blessings of God.

As we enter another Thanksgiving season, I encourage you to take stock of your blessings—past and present.  Please don’t call them “dumb luck.”  As W. W. Davies writes, "The Greek word for 'luck' occurs quite often in Greek and Roman literature.  The Greeks believed deeply in the power and pervasiveness of luck.  Interestingly, that word appears nowhere in the entire New Testament."

Maybe you have good health, a stable job, a happy family, a productive life, a good church.  Maybe you enjoy good friends, enough to eat, a roof over your head, and a vehicle to drive.  Maybe you’re on the backside of a difficult season in your life.  Maybe you’ve come through many dangers, toils, and snares, and lived to tell about it.  Perhaps you could list a few answered prayers and couple of times when God appeared to intervene in your life and change a scary thing into a good thing.  Call these things blessings.  Call them gifts.  Call them grace.  But please don’t call them dumb luck.

O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, and his steadfast love endures forever! (Ps. 136:1)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Don't Go!

As our Senegal mission team was making final preparations for our annual November Medical Mission Team trip to the village we’ve partnered with for years, all hell broke loose late last week.  It began in Nashville, Arkansas, where six persons from that church were slated to join us again for this trip.  Because Ebola is in four countries in West Africa, panic ramped up when people heard we were going to Senegal (a West African nation but one with no Ebola.  As I write this, Senegal has had only one Ebola case.  That was in August with a man from Guinea who came to Senegal, was treated, and returned home.  Currently, there is more Ebola in the United States than there is or even has been in Senegal.  I’ve chuckled to myself envisioning a scene where our team tried to enter Senegal and were told by Senegalese authorities, “You’re from the United States.  I’m sorry we aren’t letting anyone into our country who comes from a country that has Ebola.” 

 

But don’t confuse people with the facts when their minds are already made up.  Word got out we were going though it’s been public knowledge in the church for months.  And the vitriol, the threats to person and property, and the abuse began to flow in ways that you wouldn’t believe if I told you.  Social media blew up.  The phone rang off the wall.  Even some people from out of state piled on.  When people are armed with fear instead of facts, holy cow!  What’s troubling on a personal level is in 179 years of ministry in Hot Springs, First Baptist Church has done nothing but love this community well.  And suddenly, people acted as if our real mission with this trip was to bring Ebola to Hot Springs.  Really?  Really.  (By the way, our team leader monitored conditions every day and would have delayed the trip up to the last minute if Ebola cases were identified in Senegal.)

 

Sadly, the uproar got so bad that we determined to delay our trip for now.  Some have faulted us for that: “Don’t give in to persecution!”  I understand that critique.  But, as I mentioned, we love Hot Springs.  The church in Nashville loves their city too.  And it’s not like we were told, “You can’t preach the gospel.”  Certainly, we would never stop doing that.  We determined it was in the community’s interest at this point to calm things down and postpone the trip.  We can send another church team when Ebola is not such a concern.  And we know that God can do something good for our friends in Senegal and in us even in our delay.

 

Anyway, I felt the need on Sunday to clarify our philosophy of missions at First Baptist Church.  It’s good for our own people to remember what we’re about.  And for those outside the church that are curious about why we do the things we do around the world and here at home, here’s our rationale:

 

Let me say a word about missions at First Baptist Church.  We are serious about the Great Commission.  We believe it applies to this church and every believer.  For us, missions is not about tourism or convenience.  We don’t flit from here to there just to see new and interesting places in the world.  We establish strategic partnerships and develop deep relationships for the purpose of making disciples of all nations.  We go to hard places.  We do hard things.  We ask people to sacrifice their time and treasure to get it done.  It’s not always safe.  It’s sometimes risky.  But we go.  We go where God has led us.  We go because God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear and because perfect love casts out fear.  We go in the power of His Holy Spirit who goes before us.  We go because we love God and we love the people He loves.  We go because we believe Jesus is the only way to salvation and that in Jesus people can live a fuller, more meaningful life than they can live without Him.  We go in the confidence that God’s word doesn’t come back empty and that every act of kindness we show becomes a gospel seed that God can blossom into eternal life.  We go because when those we reach out to trust Jesus, they become reproducing disciples with the people in their villages and culture.  We go in the sure and certain hope that God’s kingdom will come and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and we want to be part of the answer to Jesus’ model prayer.

 

The Coast Guard has a motto: “You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back.”  We have to go out.  It’s not an option.  It’s not a luxury.  It’s a command, and a joyful command at that.  Missions is not a side show at First Baptist Church.  Missions is not an auxiliary ministry.  Missions is who we are and what we do—in our neighborhoods and our city and our nation and our world.  And because we seek to be more concerned for a lost world than we are for our own comfort and safety, when, someday in heaven, we join the multitude from every nation, tribe, and tongue praising God around his throne, we will know some of those people.  And they will be there, in part, because God said, “Go,” and we went.  And every dime we ever spent, every hour we ever sacrificed, and every risk we ever took will be worth it.

Thank You, Ruth Class

I was asked to speak to our Senior Adult group this past Thursday.  Rather than telling a bunch of aging jokes I decided to take a more serious tack.  I don't know why really.  Maybe it's because this is a nostalgic year for me.  I had my 40th class reunion in May.  God called me to ministry 40 years ago this past June.  And 40 years ago this fall, I left home for college and the rest of my life.  Anyway, I decided to talk to our group of Senior Adults about some of the ways God has used seniors in my ministry. 

My thoughts immediately raced to the Ruth Class at First Baptist Church, Branson, Missouri back in the mid-70s.  The Ruth Class was a senior adult women’s Sunday School class in the church.  I don’t know why, but that class took an interest in me from the moment I declared God had called me to ministry.  I didn’t grow up in the church (I had been Presbyterian).  None of them knew me very well at all.  But they sort of adopted me.  One of the ladies gave me my first commentary: Matthew Henry’s One-Volume Commentary on the Whole Bible.  I still have it and cherish it—not so much for the commentary but for the sentiment it holds for me.  That gift was a message that said, “You are going to love and preach the Bible.  This will help you do it better.” 

Oh, and another thing about that class: when I went off to the University of Arkansas in August of 1974, that class of ladies (most of whom were on a small fixed income) took up a little love offering for me every month.  And that offering said, “We believe in you.  We believe God is going to use your life.  And we want to be part of that.”  Those ladies also told me that they believed I would write books someday.  Well, I’ve never written a book.  But I told them that if and when I ever did, I’d dedicate it to those ladies for their faith and confidence in God’s work in my life.  Funny thing is that one of our church secretaries, Tammy Dean, is helping me get my Dr. Seussical Christmas poem I did last year turned into a book.  Sadly, I don’t think it will allow for a dedication page, but if it did I can tell you what I’d write on that page: “To the 1970s Ruth Sunday School Class of First Baptist Church, Branson, Missouri.  They may have been old, but they were strong enough to lift me up and launch me into my ministry.” 

I imagine they’re long dead now.  Most of them lived long enough to see their faith in me become a least a little sight.  I suspect they had far higher expectations for me than I have achieved—I never became the next Billy Graham or the great author some predicted I would become—but I pray that when they consider the balance of my work, they would not be too disappointed.  I’m going to look them up when I get to heaven, and I hope we can have a little reunion.  “Well,” I’ll say, as I look down and move a little dirt around with my foot, “I never wrote great books and nobody but you ever mistook me for Billy Graham.  I’m sorry if I let you down.”  And I suspect their leader, Peg Holbrook, would look down her glasses at me, furrow her brow, and say, “Young man (I will probably be perpetually young to that class), did you do what you believed God led you to do?”  And I’ll look her in the eye and say, “I’m sure I could have done more, but I think I did most of what God led me to do.”  And then she’ll smile and say, “Then that’s good enough for us.  Our investment in you was worth every prayer and every penny.”  Peg wasn’t a hugger, but some of the rest of them were, so I suspect they’ll be a few hugs, and with every hug a “Thank you, ladies” and a “Thank you, God.” 

The Ruth Class—a gift of God wrapped in wrinkles, clip-on earrings, coiffed hair, worn out Bibles, print dresses, and maybe a little too much rouge and perfume—given to me to start me on the way to ministry.

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God (Phil. 1:3).

The Long Arm of the Lord

See that guy in the picture?  His name is Jason.  I love that guy.  I’ve loved him for a lot of years—consider him a good friend and fellow fitness junkie.  He is bright, creative, witty, committed, a good man, a family man, Iron Man, triathlete, runner extraordinaire, and a Northerner from Chicago (but I forgive him for that, and he did have the good sense to move to the South).  Oh, and one other thing: until about a month ago, he was spiritually lost—didn’t know God.  For most of his life he didn’t even believe there is a God—used to make fun, he says, of Christians and church stuff.

 

His wife works for the church as a publications secretary.  A number of years ago, she talked him into coming up to the church gym and playing some basketball with us.  He did.  He discovered Christians weren’t going to judge him or twist his arm to repent.  He actually had fun with us.  He came back.  He participated in church sports.  When we developed a fitness ministry, he got involved in that—even got certified to lead fitness classes in our ministry.  Next thing you know, he visited church with his family once in a while, and then regularly, and then Sunday School class—all at his own pace, no pressure just love and friendship.  Added into that mix were occasional spiritual conversations—some initiated by Christian friends, some by Jason.  And underneath all of that were the prayers of his Christian wife and many people over several years for Jason’s salvation.

 

Now, what do you get when you pour all that into an atheist, mix it well, and wait on God?  You get a new believer.  A few weeks ago, Jason put his trust in Jesus Christ.  When I had the privilege to baptize him a few days ago, I couldn’t help myself but to do a little fist pump when he came up out of the water.  That fist pump was a “Yea, God!” and a “Yea, church!”  Another lost sheep found.  Another lost son came home.  God grinned.  The angels danced.  The people clapped their praise to God, and even the baptistery water did the wave.

 

There’s a lot more to his story.  And though Jason gave me permission to post this blog, it’s really his story to tell, not mine.  What I want to do with Jason’s story is reinforce some things his story teaches us about evangelism, and leverage it to encourage any of you who wonder if your lost loved one is a lost cause.

 

First, Christian friendship has great influence in getting someone to Jesus.  Jason was never a project, never a potential notch in anybody’s Bible; he was and is a friend.  Friends love unconditionally.  Friends are patient.  Friends influence but they don’t push.  As Ken Medema used to sing, “Don’t tell me I have a friend in Jesus until I have a friend in you.”

Second, never underestimate the power of prayer in evangelism.  I can’t explain the metaphysics of it all, but over time, God heard and answered the prayers of many to bring Jason to Jesus.  When Jason came to Jesus, there wasn’t one person who thought he or she was responsible for Jason’s decision.  We all know God did it, and He did it in response to prayer—years and years of prayer.

Third, if you are praying for a lost loved one to come to Christ, be patient.  Don’t give up, don’t let up, don’t quit.  Pray and wait.  Wait and pray.  God is doing things in that loved one’s life you can’t see and you don’t know.  As Master Po used to say to student Caine in the TV series Kung Fu, “Patience, grasshopper, patience.”  God is on the case.  God is working backstage, putting people and events in your loved one’s path that are gifts to help that loved one get to Jesus.  And God has the power to save your loved one.  Keep on praying and don’t lose heart.

And fourth, God has a really long arm.  It was long enough to reach Jason, long enough to reach across atheism and settled opinions and a hard heart and lift him from death to life, from being lost to being found, from “Jesus is a joke” to “My Lord and my God.”  I’ve seen God’s long arm reach hard people before.  I knew sooner or later, He would reach out and take hold of Jason.  God’s arm is long enough to reach your lost loved one too.  No case is too hard.  No soul is too lost.  No person is out of God’s reach. 

 

Just how long is God’s arm? 

Long enough to reach from heaven to earth,

 

long enough to stretch out and embrace the nails that fixed His Son Jesus to the cross on which He died for our sins,

 

long enough to pull His Son from death and the grave to resurrection life,

 

long enough to save me,

 

long enough to save you,

 

long enough to save Jason,

long enough to save all who call upon His name.

 

The prophet Jeremiah put it this way: "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm.  Nothing is too hard for you” (32:17).

The prophet Isaiah put it this way: “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear” (59:1).

And songwriter Wayne Watson said it like this in a song that I hope encourages you today:

‘Cause you can never outrun

or go beyond the reaches

of the long arm of the Lord.