Pledge of Hope

 “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.” 2 Corinthians 5:5 [NASB]

As I read 2 Corinthians 5 today, God made me aware of a few things I had heard in sermons over the years but had not put together into one train of thought. In this chapter, Paul wrote about living as a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. He told the Christians in Corinth about the mental tug-of-war believers live with continually from the day Jesus cleanses them from their sins and makes them a child of God. All believers experience this tug-of-war. They live in a sinful world and long to be with Christ in heaven, long to be clothed fully with the righteousness of Christ and live in a righteous world, His kingdom. Paul stated that he and other Christians’ desires to be righteous and in God’s presence forever is so deep that it causes them to groan and feel the burden of wanting the life Jesus offers to swallow up and take over their mortal life (2 Corinthians 5:4).

Have you ever felt this desire, this burden? If you’ve ever known a senior-aged adult Christian or a Christian who had a terminal illness, you will recall their spoken desire to be in heaven with God and their loved ones and not on earth. Their desire and burden are so great that it seems they speak of this every time you visit them and even mention it several times during a visit. If you’ve not spent time with someone who had this deep desire, then consider of a time when you wanted something very much. Maybe you’ve not been able to become pregnant and have children. Possibly you’ve wanted to go to university to study for a degree, but the funds were not available. Perhaps you have a family member who has cutoff communication with you, and you have prayed for them to have a change of heart so you can talk with them. Each of these are great desires. They are mortal desires. The desire to be in God’s kingdom and in His presence is an eternal desire. It originates with the Holy Spirit living within a person’s being. The Christian recognizes this world is not his/her own and wants to go to the place of peace, joy, and rest in the presence of God.

Paul experienced this desire. He said he preferred to be away from the body (his mortal life that fights against sin and decays) and at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:7-8). Yet, Paul knew only God knows the time of a person’s death. Because of his love for Jesus, he sought to please Him even while he lived in his mortal body on earth, and not just because he would stand before God’s judgment seat one day (vs 9-10). Paul said while he lived in his mortal body, he desired to please the Lord and that means loving Him. “Christ’s love compelled him and his co-laborers” to tell other people about Jesus and the salvation He gives to anyone who believes in Him (vs 11, 14-15). Because of their love for God and their desire to obey Him, they regarded other people the way Jesus does. Jesus desires each person be saved (2 Corinthians 5:15, John 3:16, 1 John 2:2, John 11:25, Romans 6:10). Prejudice should no longer have place in a believer’s heart. Instead, the love of Jesus for each person must be paramount.

Paul said each person who is a believer once regarded Jesus Christ with prejudice. We, mentally, said, “He could not be that powerful.” Or, we’ve said, “He cannot take away my sins. I am too stained and dirty from the evil I have done.” We might have said, “There is no God and so there is no Jesus. This life on earth is all I have, so why bother a God who was never there for me.” Each of these is a prejudice against Jesus and the Trinity. We judge Him as not powerful, not telling the truth, not caring and loving, not merciful and forgiving, and/or non-existent. Yet, the words in the Bible are testimonies from several millennia. The testimonies of believers, since Bible writers penned what God told them to tell people, proclaim God is real, alive, almighty, omniscient, loving, merciful, and Life-giving. Paul taught about God and the sufficient sacrifice provided for the sins of the world through the sinless life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. This is what Paul proclaimed. He said, “Though we once regarded Christ in this way (with prejudice), we do so no longer” (2 Cor, 5:16). Because Paul and his colleagues had no prejudice against Christ, they proclaimed Him through their lives and their testimony of what He did for them, who He is, what He called them to do, and to whom and how they were to proclaim Him. He proclaimed in verses seventeen and eighteen,

“Therefore, from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh [that is, with prejudice]; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Paul said in these verses, he and the other men with him had no prejudice. Why? Because when they believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, their Savior, He put into them His Spirit and made them a new creation. This new creation occurred at their belief in Him. When they trusted in Jesus, His Spirit came upon them and began changing them from their old, mortal, prejudiced self into His own image. Because Jesus was unprejudiced and came to earth to save each person, each believer is supposed to live a similar non-prejudicial way by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit changes a believer from the old nature (“clothing.” as Paul said) to the new nature. Christians understand and desire what Jesus desires, that each person would hear the Gospel and believe in Jesus as the Son of God for his or her salvation. Because of this, Paul said, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us” (vs 20). God’s desire for all people to receive salvation becomes the believer’s desire. This desire is part of the same groanings and longings Paul expressed in verse four. This desire comes because the Spirit makes Christians more and more into the image of Christ; Christ’s desires become their desires. Jesus’ desire is not just to be with His Father in heaven, but that each person receives salvation and change into His image (nature), change from their old, mortal, sinful nature.

Christians desire and long to be clothed by Jesus’ Spirit with the new nature He gives and to be with Jesus in His kingdom. While they live on earth in their mortal bodies, the Holy Spirit lives in them and changes them continually into the image of Christ. His indwelling is the guarantee, the pledge from God, of their future eternal change into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 5:5). The Spirit of Christ in a person is like earnest money put down for a house or car. It is a guarantee of the future fulfillment of the contract or understanding. Knowing the Spirit is within the believer, that person has hope that one day, the Spirit will one day completely cloth him or her in the new nature. When difficulties in life occur–temptation, trials, and persecutions–the assurance, guidance, and protection by the Holy Spirit remind the Christian of God’s assurance, His guarantee, that he or she will be in God’s kingdom and will experience peace and joy eternally with Him.

This chapter of 2 Corinthians tells us about some purposes of the indwelling Holy Spirit of Jesus. He lives in each Christian to assure the believer of his or her salvation. The Spirit in the Christian’s life reminds him or her of God’s eternal purpose for him or her with Him in His kingdom. The Spirit is the guarantee of being totally made in Jesus’ image. He gives the believer the deep longings to be with God and the desire to be on earth. This desire to be alive on earth comes with it the desire to love Christ by being obedient to His commands to tell each person on earth about Him. The Spirit puts into each Christian’s heart the love of Christ for each person so he or she wants to tell others about Him. Christians realize they are ambassadors for Christ. The Spirit living in a believer encourages, teachers, guides, protects, and remakes each person into a closer resemblance of Jesus Christ, changing them to have His love and non-prejudicial attitude, desires, and righteousness.

Today, we should each stop and consider what keeps us from believing in Jesus. Is it because it seems God is not real or does not care since you assume He is not listening to your prayers? Next, we should examine ourselves to determine where prejudice lives in our heart and ask Jesus to forgive us and make us like Himself. Then we need to ask Him to show us where we refused for Him to continue making us into His image and confess the sins He shows to us. We should examine ourselves to determine when and why we stopped believing in God and ask Him to remind you of the guarantee by His Spirit of your eternity with Him in His kingdom. Ask for forgiveness for judging Him and His purposes and ask that He put His desires in you, the desire to love Christ and love each person you meet because He loves them. Ask God to help you keep your eyes always on Him. Pray to Him for the will to love and obey Him, even when it makes little sense. Thank God for loving you and saving you. Praise Him for who He is, the eternal, almighty, omniscient, and omnipresent God. Praise Him for what He has done in your life and throughout the expanse of time from creation. Thank God for choosing you to be in a righteous relationship with Him.

The Holy Spirit in a believer’s life now is the earnest money of God’s love and plan for you, a plan not to harm you but to give you a hope and a future (Jeremy 29:11). His living in a Christian grows the person to be loving and unprejudiced like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit living in you now on earth is a taste of what you will be fully when you live with God in His kingdom for eternity. 

Each Christian can decide to let the Spirit to change him or her. That permission changes a person from being prejudiced into becoming like Jesus.  As a result, the Spirit, God’s pledge to Christians, reminds them of their future full transformation and transition to living in God’s kingdom. God will make each believer like Jesus and He will give them their inheritance, eternal life in His kingdom.

Will you live as one who received God’s pledge, or will you stay prejudiced?

Love with a Pure Heart

“Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.” (1 Peter 1:22 [NASB])

Peter, when he wrote his letter to the Christians of Asia Minor, which is Turkey today, did not, with the beginning clause, say they could love fervently in their own strength. He understood the sin nature of each person. Peter knew no person was holy, but all are sinners. This means each person could love no other person with the fervency and purity of God without being changed by faith in Jesus Christ. A person loves oneself more than other people. Still, Peter did not say it was impossible to love with a pure heart. Instead, Peter reminded these Christians how they could understand they could love fervently from their hearts.

Peter, in this chapter, appears to give many commands on how to be a Christian and assurances to realize one is a Christian. Yet, if we carefully read the complex sentences of this chapter, we will understand how we can know we have a pure heart with which to love other believers. Going backwards up the verses in the chapter, Peter said believers have their hope, conduct, and faith in God.

How can people realize their hope is in God? From verses twenty to twenty-one, Peter listed ways a person can recognize this in themselves. He said if a person believes in Jesus Christ as the Savior sent from God as planned from the foundation of the world, and that God raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, then you can know your faith and hope are in God. Because this believing person is in a faith relationship with God because of Jesus, the person is being made more into the likeness of Jesus and has the love of God living in him or her.

Notice, within verses seventeen through nineteen, Peter wrote about a second attribute of Christians. Peter said believers conduct themselves in reverent fear of God while on earth because Jesus purified them with something more precious than gold or silver. Christians act and think right because of the reverent fear/awe they have for God, because He is righteous and judges fairly. Jesus purified them with His own blood by dying for their sins. His great love gave the greatest sacrifice. Christian lives should copy Jesus’ love. They can show His love through the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. A Christian conducts his or her life in a way that reflects Jesus, His love and sacrifice for God and other believers.

Peter said people can be holy because Jesus, their Savior, is holy (vs. 16). Verses thirteen through sixteen remind the Christians in Asia Minor of the holiness, purification, Jesus gives each person who believes in Him. Believers can, with the Spirit’s help, prepare their minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix their hope completely on the grace Jesus gave to them at His revelation, and conform themselves into the image of Christ. By Jesus, they will be holy in their behavior. Holy behavior is living as Christ lived, in love and service to people. People who live like Jesus, act upon the faith God gave them to believe in Jesus Christ for their salvation and have His Spirit in them to transform them into His image and exuding His attributes. Holy living expresses itself in pure and fervent love.

Peter explained this hope, reverent conduct, and holiness given by belief in Jesus Christ enable believers to love each other. These attitudes and actions come from Jesus’ attributes. Since these Christians to whom Peter wrote obeyed the truth and had their souls purified by faith in Jesus, they had available within them the capacity to love brethren sincerely. Pure (holy) and fervent love from their heart occurred because they were born again through Jesus. John reiterated this in 1 John 4:7-14 when he wrote Jesus enables believers to love each other because love comes from God.

John, in 1 John 4:9-10, leads us to understand more about God’s love. He said because of God’s love, He sent His Son into the world “that we might live through Him.” God loves people before they love Him. He showed it by sending His love to all people through Christ. Jesus’ love is not just for believers. His love is for all people. Jesus died for all people. John stated this in John 3:16 when he said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” [NASB] Jesus loves all people. As His disciples, Christians have this same attribute of love from Jesus. Believers are to love all people. Just as Jesus’ love is pure and fervent, the love each Christian has from God to love other people is pure and fervent.

As children of God, Christians are to love fervently, passionately, and purely. They can do this because their faith in Jesus purified them, made them holy (1 Peter 1:13-16). Just as He is holy, He makes believers holy. Christians live in reverent awe of God, the one who redeemed them with His Son’s own blood as the sacrifice for their sins. Because of this great love of Jesus, they can love others with the love that flows from Him to them through His indwelling Holy Spirit. Christians can love all people because of their hope in God. Because they know God loves them, which they will see when Jesus returns to take them to His kingdom, they can show this unending love they received from Christ to all people. Peter explained each of these three points in 1 Peter 1:22-23.

“Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:22-23 [NASB])

Jesus came to the world to save all who would believe in Him. John 3:16 explains that. Jesus’ standard of love is the standard for each person who lives. This love is sincere and fervent and based on holiness, faith, and hope. It comes from the source of love, God. Love is one of God’s attributes. What should the extent of our love be? Jesus’ life and death modeled the answer to that question. He taught His disciples about it. Jesus said in John 15:12-13, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” [NASB] Should anyone read John 15:13 to mean Jesus said to love Christians only, Matthew 22:37-39 records Jesus’ deeper understanding of love. He said in these verses, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus loved and still loves fervently. Nothing can separate people from His love. Jesus loves purely. He is holy and no evil taints His love. Jesus loves completely, to the giving of His life so others can live. He gives each Christian, through His Spirit who dwells in him or her, His superabundant love so they can live out His love by loving each person they meet. Jesus does not restrict His love to certain people because of their skin color, politics, accent, physical attributes, income, health, education, or any human-defining category. God makes each person in His image. Jesus came to love and redeem all of us.

Jesus’ love is fervent, holy, and unending.

Our love for all people should be the same.

Jesus makes it possible for people to love as He loves by their becoming His disciples. Will you accept the redemption for your sins He offers to you? Today is your time to think about how you live life. Do you love all people equally without prejudice and stereotypes? Jesus does. He died for every person who has lived to give unending love and salvation to them. Jesus loves you and died for you. What will you say to Him today?

Prejudice & Sight

Nathanael said to him, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46 [NASB])

Consider a child who walks to school. The parents of that child tell him which route to take. Most times that route prescribed by the parents is for the safety of the child. The route instructed by the parents tells the child which streets to walk past and which to walk through as he goes. Often, the path the parents dictate makes the him walk longer. What causes parents or society to tell a child he can walk down one street but not another? The parents want the child to avoid these streets because he could be unsafe. Consider now, the reasons the parents want their child to bypass certain streets are not because of physical safety, but because of prejudice. Possibly one set of streets has people of another race or religion living or working on it. Why would anyone want to raise prejudiced children? Let’s examine what we learn from Jesus’ discernment of the heart of Nathanael.

In John 1, John testified he was not the Christ. (vs. 20) As He continued to speak to the priests and Levites from Jerusalem, he identified himself as the “voice crying in the wilderness” of which Isaiah prophesied. John believed in the Christ and proclaimed Him. He identified Him as greater than himself, and at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, he proclaimed Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (vs. 29) John’s heart was true to the Messiah before he met Him.

What makes a person able to believe and testify to Jesus being the Christ, the Messiah? What makes that person unprejudiced against Jesus? What keeps people from believing? John believed without seeing Jesus that the Messiah had arrived. Then when he saw Jesus, he proclaimed this Man is the one of whom he preached. He said, “This is the Son of God.” (vs. 34) Jesus, after His baptism, walked around the Sea of Galilee calling men to follow Him. First, two of John’s disciples followed Him, one of whom was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. Next, Jesus found Philip and told him, “Follow Me.” (vs. 43) Philip found Nathanael and told him he had found the One about whom Moses and the Prophets wrote. He identified this One as Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (vs. 45)

Nathanael’s reaction is often the reaction of people who express prejudice. In verse forty-six, he said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael had not seen or met Jesus yet and already held Him in contempt because of where His parents raised Him. He did not want to believe a man from Nazareth could be the Messiah and so already had bias against Jesus. Why did Nathanael hold Nazareth in contempt? What was the basis for his prejudice? Is there ever any right reason to be prejudiced?

Nazareth was in the lower region of Galilee on the southwest side of the Sea of Galilee. It was not on a major trade route and had few inhabitants. Bible scholars consider it may have had 500 people living in it during the first century. Nazareth was not a sophisticated or glamourous place. It wasn’t from where the Jews expected the Messiah to come. In answer to the questions posited, Nathanael held Nazareth in contempt because of its size and location. It wasn’t near Jerusalem or in Judah. He based his prejudice on place and what he’d learned from people in his own social sphere. Nathanael did not have a just reason for prejudice against Jesus. He had never met Him. No person can give a good reason for prejudice. God did not make one people with a particular skin color who lived in a preferred place and tell them to rule over the others. He did not make one race, nation, tribe, or tongue and call them very, very good, while all the others He called very good. God created man and woman in His image and declared them very good, then told them to have dominion over the animals and plants, not over other people.

Consider Nathanael’s response to Jesus when he meets Him. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to meet Him, He said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (vs 47) Before Nathanael met Jesus, Jesus knew his heart. Jesus showed lack of prejudice against Nathanael and told him the truth of his heart. Nathanael had no deceit, in Greek, dolos. This means Nathanael did not try to trap Jesus or others with his own ideas but sought the truth for himself. He did not stand back and spout contempt but went to meet Jesus for himself. Jesus confronted Nathanael with the truth of his heart, that he wanted to know the truth about Him. He answered Nathanael’s question about how He knew him in verse forty-eight. Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” He said, “I saw you.” He discerned clearly who Nathanael truly was in his heart and spirit. Nathanael’s response to Jesus’ understanding of himself caused him to proclaim his newly understood certainty of who Jesus is. With the blinds of societal prejudice removed from his mind’s eyes, he declared, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” (vs 49)

What made Nathanael able to trust Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God? Jesus’ revealed truth. What caused him not to view Jesus with prejudice? Jesus’ revealed truth. What keeps people from believing in Jesus? Prejudice, lack of truth. Jesus disclosed the true heart of Nathanael, the heart God created. The heart God created for each person is to love Him above everything else we hold dear and to love other people just as we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:36-40) Nathanael’s society caused him to learn prejudice against other people, particularly the people of Nazareth. Such prejudice is not part of God’s original creation but comes from sin. When Jesus disclosed the truth of Nathanael’s heart as He discerned it, the blinds that shuttered truth and love from his heart, mind, and spirit, fell away. This revelation allowed Nathanael to recognize the truth of Jesus, that He is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus’ gift to Nathanael was sight, truth, and salvation. That’s His gift to every person. Jesus wants each person to receive true sight so he or she can recognize the prejudice-sin-into which Satan tricks them into believing. He wants us to know the truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Consider again the parents giving instructions to their child about which way to walk to and from school. Ponder what could happen if a parent allowed a child to walk another way home so he or she walked through neighborhoods unlike his or her own and in which his or her physical safety was not a concern. That child would learn about people different from them socially and culturally. He or she would recognize the sameness of each person as God created them. That child would learn every person wants to be loved, to have a home, to live with family, and to have food, clothes, and drink. Each person wants to feel safe and truly to be heard and seen. If that child could walk the streets of people from different cultures and histories, he or she would learn to love more, understand better, see clearly, and care globally about all people, nations, tribes, and tongues. He or she would learn how to love as God wants him or her to love, without prejudice. Your child and you could hear and meet a man from Nazareth who came to be the Way and give each person salvation.

What roads do you avoid?

What paths in your heart have you closed?

What are you allowing to keep you from knowing Jesus, the Truth, the Light, and the Way?

Jesus sees and knows each of us before we even meet Him. He is ready to tell us the truth and remake us into His own image through God’s grace-offered salvation.

Will you declare Jesus the Son of God just as Nathanael did?

Will you choose sight and salvation,

or prejudice and perdition?

Lord, You’ve done it again; You’ve shown me truth and I don’t want to face what I am and have done. Yes, Lord, I have been prejudiced against people. I have chosen to side against them rather than stand for them. It’s easier that way. But Lord, now I am in the corner facing my sins regarding this. I recognize I am a sinner and truly sorry for the way I have thought about and interacted with and against people. Lord, You’ve shown me truth and I can hardly bare it. Yet, You tell me You will forgive me this. Lord, I am unworthy of Your forgiveness. I deserve punishment, yet You offer me grace; You offer me salvation from these, my sins. Lord, thank you. Thank you for loving me so much that You kept calling to me and showing me You already provided for the condemnation I deserve. Thank you for forgiving and saving me, Lord. I accept Your gift of salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life with You. I am unworthy, but You are almighty, faithful, and loving. Oh Lord, here’s my life, make it Yours completely. Thank you for giving me sight into the truth of myself and providing the Way. Amen.

In Their Words: Claudine and Mado's Stories

As in the other stories from refugees, Claudine and Mado recall traumatic days. Though their lives and those of their families have been difficult since fleeing their home country of the Democratic Republic if the Congo, they still find hope and joy. Is it possible for each of us to learn something from the lives of refugees about expecting and experiencing God’s hand of protection and provision? Read below and hear the voices of these two women.

Claudine

Question 1: What was life like in your home country?

Life in my country was good until I lost my parents. I had no one to support my studies for a computer degree. I didn’t finish the degree because there was a huge misunderstanding between my parents and their families before they died. Afterward, I was chased from my parent’s house with my young brothers and sisters by our uncles. Fortunately for us, the church that I attended decided to take care of us by arranging for a shelter and our other needs.

Question 2: What made you decide to leave your country?

The reason I left my home country was I was wanted by the government because of the strikes and protests organized by the youth commissions against the war, crime, rape, and killing of the people of the country’s provinces. Some of the organizers were shot and killed by my country’s soldiers. Others escaped to different countries. I was among those who escaped to South Africa. That happened in 2009. My husband followed me to South Africa.

Question 3: What has life been like in your host/adopted country?

Life in South Africa is difficult since I gave birth to my 3 children. My husband works as a car guard in a parking lot and he does not earn much money. I work in the community at the grocery store as a counter hand at the bakery. The pay is very little for surviving, especially since pay day is only at month end. I must think about rent, electricity, water, food, children’s transportation and school fees, and other needs. My husband and I are just working for rent, water, and electricity. Sometimes we struggle for food, but we always survive by the grace of God.

Mado

Question 1: What was life like in your home country?

When we lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the army and prejudiced people would come to my husband and threaten to kill him because his mother was from the Tutsi tribe of Rwanda. They fled Rwanda during the war when he was a child. He grew up in DRC, but still they wanted to kill him. Sometimes when they came to our home to threaten to kill him, they would rape me. I still can’t talk about those times.

Question 2: What made you decide to leave your country?

We came to South Africa because of fear for my husband’s life, fear that I would be raped again, and fear for our six children’s futures. I was a teacher in the DRC. One day we ran for our lives and I did not think to bring my teaching certificates.

Question 3: What has life been like in your host/adopted country?

Now in South Africa, I have 8 children. My children go to a Catholic school and I pay some of the tuition fees by being a volunteer teacher. I also have a tent covering a table from which I sell food in small bags that my countrymen like to eat. I sell this food outside one of the city’s busy train stations. It does not give enough money for us to eat more than one meal a day and to rent one room in an apartment for my whole family of ten people.

Four years ago, a missionary surprised us when she brought food for my whole family to last for a month. On that morning, my children fought over the last tablespoon of porridge. My husband asked, “What are we going to do?” I said, “God will provide.” God provided that very day when the missionary came to our room. She brought a month’s supply of food for all ten of us to eat three times a day.

Conclusion

Mado and Claudine faced atrocities most of us will only ever hear about, but not experience. Their lives are not easier regarding employment and paying for rent, food, and utilities. Claudine and Mado and their families face prejudice and discrimination from the nationals in their adopted countries. Yet, they expect God to intervene for them. These ladies know who the Provider is. Mado and Claudine, too, help their fellow countrymen and woman who are in desperate need by sharing their supplies, too. All the while, they give God glory when He provides in ways each of us take for granted.

In Their Words: Alicia's Story

The terms refugee and asylum-seeker are common in today’s world. The crisis of displaced people is worldwide. At the end of 2017, more people experienced displacement from their homes internally and externally than at any other recorded time in history. The United Nations High Council on Refugees (UNHCR) recorded 68.5 million displaced people by the end of 2017. Of these, 28.5 million were refugees and asylum-seekers.

A series of articles began this year to give voices to some of these externally displaced people. Refugees and asylum-seekers from Serbia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Sudan answered three questions about their lives. This article will tell us the story of a woman from the DRC and her quest for peace and safety for herself and her family.

Question 1: What was life like in your home country?

My name is Alicia Makumba. I’m from South Kivu, DRC. My life in my country was good. I was a street vendor. I also made clothes for many local people. I loved my country. It was beautiful. I had family and friends there.

Question 2: What made you decide to leave your country?

I left my country because my husband was almost killed by gangsters. They wanted him to do corruption at work, but he refused. They hurt him very badly. Added to that, I was raped while I was two months pregnant. The rapists left me severely hurt. I still have scars today.

My sisters and father were murdered. My husband was kidnapped. I was left hurt, broke, and alone with my six children. Because of these things, I decided to leave my country and go to South Africa.

Question 3: What has life been like in your host/adopted country?

Life in South Africa is very hard. My family and I face hatred, discrimination, and violence almost every day. Our accents are different even though we speak English now. Our accents give us away as refugees. People here are afraid we will take their jobs, so they hate us. I do not have any peace of mind.

I am constantly stressed because of fear, and lack of money and food. My family did not have enough money to pay rent on a room in the township and to buy food. We got a loan from a loan shark to pay the rent. We begged from people to eat one meal a day.

I am emotionally drained by the suffering and crime of this country. I’ve been victimized many times here. Is living as a refugee any better than living in my home country? Sometimes I wonder.

Prejudice....But God

Anna’s Story-

Anna, her husband, and their six children fled from the DRC. She was born there and was a teacher there. She fell in love with her husband, but that love came with a price. You see, Henri was from the Tutsi tribe who fled Rwanda during the genocide. He was a small child and doesn’t know anything about Rwanda personally, what only his parents told him.

Being a Tutsi in the DRC did not mean he wouldn’t be tracked and persecuted. Everywhere he and his parents went, the people of DRC found them. Even after marrying a Congolese woman, the fear did not abate. Finally, in their last year in the DRC, Anna and Henri had to keep moving from city to village to bush to stay ahead of their hunters. They were caught a couple times, but managed to escape.

How did the people recognize Henri was a Tutsi? There’s a myth that you can tell by the ankle bones. It’s not truth; that’s why we call it a myth. Still, when people get it into their heads, that someone is a Tutsi or a Hutu or a Somalian, or whatever they hate or fear, they will hunt you down. At least that’s the way it is for Anna and Henri.

After being chased for so many years, being caught a few times and escaping, they decided to make their “great escape” to South Africa with their six children. They came with hopes and dreams of freedom from fear and income to support their family. They had no idea the prejudice they would experience in Africa’s “most democratic country.”

After arriving in South Africa, Anna became pregnant two more times and each of those babies were delivered by Caesarian section. I have known Anna since before her last child was born 3 years ago. I met her in March 2014. She supports her family by buying large bags of dry goods and selling them in individual packets at the train station. The school-age children get a free lunch at school, so Anna works to pay rent for the one room in which they live. There are more people than floor space in that room, so she is grateful for the small balcony. Some of her children sleep outside, which was fine except for when the rainy, windy winters arrive. Still, one room often is more than she can afford along with providing one more meal a day.

The day I visited her room, she had just had her last child by C-section. She sat crying in her seat with the baby at her breast. Understand, we had just walked in carrying one month’s supply of food to feed each person in the family 3 meals a day. I asked her why she was crying. She said that morning the children fought over one spoon of oats. That was all they had. Her husband had turned to her and asked her, “What will we do?” Anna said, “God will provide.” Little did she know God already had a plan. Just a couple hours later God would send food for her family for 6 months knowing beforehand she was going to run out of food that day. Christians carried armload after armload of food in boxes of food up three flights of stairs. She just shook and bowed her head as tears streamed down her cheeks.

That little bundle of joy, her eighth, is the last child she has birthed. For three years she has been in great pain in her abdomen. She has been to multiple clinic doctors. Some refused to see her because she is an asylum-seeker. Others would see her, give her Panado (aspirin) and tell her to go away. This week she tells me this story and I am angry again at the prejudiced government doctors. This is not a rare occurrence. I’ve had to intervene for several of my refugee friends. What makes this one different is that Anna and Henri borrowed money so she could pay for a doctor in private practice in the poor area of the city in which they rent a room. What did this doctor say? He said she has a “dead womb.” I looked quizzically at her and asked her to repeat that, but I had heard right, a "dead womb."

I planned to talk to my personal GP quickly. I told her about Anna. Her eyebrow rose, and she said, “Say that again.” I told her the doctor said she had a “dead womb.” My doctor said, “That isn’t even a medical term.” I asked my doctor, “Would you see her please?” “Yes,” she said.

Even when refugees go to new countries with supposed freedom that offers hope after desperation and fear, prejudice abounds, lives are endangered, and people are cast aside. But God… We must remember that small conjunctive phrase. But God knew Anna would need a personal, professional, non-prejudiced doctor and He created a loving, obedient heart in my doctor. But God provided a listening ear and concerned heart in me (in each of you) so that we immediately look for help for our refugee friends. For God… so loved the world… You know the rest.

Next week Anna will see my doctor. She will get a referral to a specialist. Anna will experience acceptance and care. She will realize there’s a reason to still have hope in her new adopted country. God still cares for Anna, Henri, and their eight children and He has prepared a way for her to get the healthcare she needs right now.

FAVORITISM, PREJUDICE, AND MERCY (James 2:1-13)

Introduction

In the first chapter, James introduced his themes of this epistle. He used a paranetic (exhortative and persuasive) teaching style to teach Jewish Christians of Jerusalem and later hearers and readers. James spoke about enduring trials with God’s help. By doing that, the person would grow toward completion and perfection in Christ. He spoke, too, about being rich in the world and being rich as an heir of God’s kingdom. One other theme James exhorted the people to do was to put their faith into action, be “doers” and “hearers” of the Word. James stressed a balance exists between the spiritual and physical life. One’s spiritual life must affect that person’s physical life. Christ taught His followers to live out the two greatest commandments during their lives.

With the beginning of chapter two, James specified actions, words, and attitudes each Jerusalem Christian should do, speak, and think/feel if Jesus Christ was his or her Lord and Savior. In the first half of chapter two, James taught against the sin of partiality/prejudice. Let us now turn to the first thirteen verses of this chapter.

The Teaching

Verses one and twelve through thirteen specify the lesson James taught. The first verse is the negative statement of it and verses twelve through thirteen the positive restatement of it. Notice James began and ended with the teaching. This noted for his hearers exactly what he taught them. Besides visiting the orphans and widows, being quick to hear, bridling the tongue, and putting aside filthiness and wickedness, here James taught about showing mercy by being impartial. The spiritual virtue of mercy must become a part of each believer’s character before the person can reach perfection and completion in Christ. Here is where James showed a balance must exist between the spiritual and the physical sides of a person. It shows, too, faith in action. James juxtaposed extremes of life in Jerusalem to teach this lesson – the rich man versus the poor man.

Verse 1 says, “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.” The word “hold” in this verse comes from the Greek word echo. It means to have in hand or posses in one’s mind, to adhere or cling to someone, something, or thought/faith[i]. The word “faith” comes from the Greek word pistis and means conviction of the truth of anything or belief; the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, and provider of salvation along with the conviction Jesus Christ is the Messiah[ii]. “Glorious” comes from the Greek word doxa and means majesty, splendor, and magnificence[iii]. The word “favoritism” James used comes from the Greek word prosopolepsia and means partiality based on the outward circumstances of man and not his intrinsic merits[iv]. If we understand each of these words from their original text, the following is what James taught in verse one. “My fellow Christians, do not adhere and cling to your convictions about our majestic and magnificent God and Jesus the Messiah with an attitude of partiality toward a person whose outer appearance appeals to you. That would be partiality.”

The Example

The Situation.

Verses 2 through 4 use a common practice of first century Jerusalem - preference given to rich over the poor. Remember James most often used the term “rich man” to refer to an unbeliever. Yet in this passage, we must note he spoke about a rich person who was a Christian, a man of “your assembly.” The partiality shown to this person, James said, came from the person’s outward appearance – clothes and jewelry. So James compared the attitudes and actions of a person showing favoritism towards a wealthy person and prejudice against the poor person. Here James spoke about material wealth.

Let us look at these verses closer. James said,

For it a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? (James 2:2-4 [NASB])

The word “poor” in verse three comes from the Greek word ptochos and means destitute of wealth, influence, position, and honor[v]. We read in this passage James spoke not of believer and unbeliever, but of material wealth, power, and position in society when he taught about the rich man and the poor man. James said when a person pays special attention to a rich person - looks at the rich person with high regard based on his or her wealth, influence, and power - and gives that person a “good place” to sit, but tells the poor person to stand or sit at his or her feet, a personal distinction occurs. The word kalos is the Greek word for “good” and means excellent and honorable[vi]. The place the discriminating Christian told the poor person to be put him or herself, in this passage, showed the person’s consideration of the poor man. Sitting at a person’s footstool showed subjugation of the person. The word “footstool” comes from the Greek word hupopodion and means to subject or reduce a person under one’s power[vii]. Biblical authors often used hupopodion as a metaphor. It comes from the practice of conquerors placing their feet on the necks of their conquered enemies. The act of placing someone at one’s feet is subjugation. Subjugating a poor person while seating a rich person in a place of honor shows favoritism and discrimination by the usher. James said it proved the person/people made distinctions and became judges with evil motives or intentions.

What could be evil about this action? We know from our own hearts and from seeing it happen or experiencing it ourselves, when partiality/discrimination occurs, a person generally gives high honor and regard to the rich person to gain that person’s favor for any future requests or needs the rich person can give him, her, or them. Today’s terminology calls that “currying the favor” of someone with influence and power. James said these actions showed “evil motives.” Paul said in Acts 10:34, “God is not one to show partiality.” He wants everyone to follow Him.

The Reality.

James said in verse five, “Listen my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” We must first understand the distinction James made between poor and rich in this verse. He did not speak about the rich in material things. He used the Greek word “plousios meaning “rich.” This word is a metaphor for abounding in Christian virtues and eternal possessions[viii]. We know James meant this metaphor for the rich person because he said “rich in faith,” not in material things. With this understanding, we must read this verse as the poor of this world (materially poor) God chose to be rich in faith – abounding in Christian virtue and eternal possessions – because they are heirs to God’s kingdom through Jesus Christ.

Does this mean God does not choose the materially rich people of earth? It does not. When each person looks within him or herself that person will recognize and realize his or her poverty of spirit. That person will realize he or she is not in truth wealthy because his or her wealth will rust, mold, or decay, but true wealth from God is eternal. Jesus spoke of this person in Matthew 5:3 when He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” When a person recognizes his or her poverty of spirit that he or she does not possess the one thing that gives life its abundance – a relationship with God, Jesus calls that person blessed in the knowing and in the seeking and receiving salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ. Every person is poor in spirit though not every person is poor in wealth. When a person receives forgiveness from God and salvation, they inherit eternal life in God’s kingdom. Eternal life does not fade away with age. It makes a person truly rich – a wealth that surpasses physical life on earth.

James continued to teach that the person or people who dishonored the poor man by discriminating against him or her are like the rich (non-believer) who oppress people. He reminded the Christians how the rich (non-believer) dishonored them by oppressing them and dragging them to court. James said, too, the rich of the world (non-believers) blasphemed the excellent name by which they people called them - Christian. Remember, the title “Christian” arose when non-believers in Antioch threw supposed insults are believers in Jesus Christ. They termed the name “Christian” to refer to Jesus followers (Acts 11:26).

James implied in these verses that the Christians of the assembly chose to honor the rich in their assembly. When doing that, they dishonored the poor of the church. By doing this, the prejudiced Christian oppressed the poor members and blasphemed their name of “Christian” because he or she did not act out his or her faith towards every Christian brother and sister. Knowing James taught the Jerusalem church faith without works is dead, we must understand what James taught as the alternative to these discriminatory actions.

The Godly Alternative.

Verses 8 through 11 explain James’ teaching on how each person of the church should act. It goes beyond that to include actions toward every person – Christian or non-Christian. James said in these verses,

If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. [NASB]

The royal law of which James spoke is what Jesus taught as the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22:37-40. When James spoke of fulfilling the royal law, he used the Greek word teleo and meant performing and completing the laws. These laws came to the Israelites from God in Leviticus 19:18. When God’s child(ren) breaks one of His laws, the greatest commandment is broken – love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If a person loves God, he or she would obey God’s laws. James taught fulfilling this royal law of loving your neighbor as yourself leads to living an impartial life.

Yet James knew people in the Jerusalem church and in life broke this law of God. For personal motives/reasonings, people choose to show favoritism to some people, often the rich who have wealth, power, and influence, and discriminate against the poor who have little wealth, power, and influence. The thought is a poor person cannot give anything, so no gain accrues by showing favor to a poor person. When we walk by or place them in a lower position in our lives to give preference to the wealthy person, discrimination occurs. That shows to the rich and influential person we consider the poor person inconsequential in hopes of gaining the rich person’s favor.

James bluntly told the Jerusalem Christians they committed sin and were sinners if they showed partiality. By committing just one sin, God convicts a person as a transgressor or lawbreaker of His laws. Just sinning in one part of God’s Law makes a person a sinner like the rich people who oppress people, drag them to court, and blaspheme God. By stumbling in one point of the Law, a person is guilty of every point. When a person sins in any point of the Law, that person sins against the royal law – against God and humankind. When a person sins against another person, he or she shows a lack of love towards the person (neighbor) and a lack of love toward God. Jesus taught this in Matthew 5:19, “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and teachers other to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Peter encouraged Christians to practice the things Jesus taught and modeled to them about living God and their neighbors. In 2 Peter 1:10 Peter said, “Therefore brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.”

James taught living one’s faith out in the world by words and actions showed who was a believer who took his or her faith deeper. That person’s heart changed when he or she assented to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. With the heart change, actions and words changed and the world could see the evidence of his or her faith. James called this true faith.

The Teaching – Reprise

As told in the first section of this study, verses twelve and thirteen are the positive statement of the lesson in this part of James. In verse 1, James used the words “do not,” an exhortation against doing something. In verse 12, he said, “so speak and so act,” a command or exhortation to do or say something. The exhortation to do in this section is more than treat the rich and poor alike. James told them, “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.” The difference between doing or not doing rests in the prepositional phrase, “by the law of liberty.” James used this phrase in James 1:25, too. It comes from the Greek word eleutheria. This word means the liberty to do or omit things having no relationship to salvation and freedom from the power of sin and death[ix]. Christians have the liberty of not sinning because the Holy Spirit dwells in them from the point they believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. The Holy Spirit empowers a Christian to stand firm, endure temptations, and grow through trials. That makes a person become more complete and perfect, getting closer to the image of Christ. The laws of God and the love of God given through the life and crucifixion of Jesus Christ bring truth and freedom. John 8:32 says, “And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Paul said in Romans 8:32, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

If knowing he or she has freedom from temptation and sin through the Holy Spirit is not enough to keep a Christian from sinning, James added more with verse thirteen. He said, “For judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” Remember, James implied, God judges every person on the last day. Would you rather be the receiver of His love and mercy or his judgment? If the first, then show mercy; treat each person as you want to be treated. Love them. If you do not choose to be merciful, God, in His mercy, will judge you. Jesus taught this in Matthew 18:32-35. In this passage, He spoke of the debtor who received mercy and pardon by the king for his debt, but still chose to be merciless to one who owed him money and demanded imprisonment for that debtor. The king heard of this man who had received his mercy yet did not give mercy, called the man to him, judged him, and sent him to prison. Jesus taught the positive side of this lesson, too, in the Beatitudes. In Matthew 5:7, He said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Recap

What did this lesson from James mean for the Jerusalem church? He taught Jerusalem Christians to be the poor man mentally – assenting and choosing to be a disciple of Christ and a child of God. This requires a heart action. Next James taught them to be the poor man physically - acting out his faith and not discriminating towards rich people and against poor people. James taught Christians being a true follower of Jesus means mental assent, and loving actions and words as a love response to God because of what He did for them through Christ. By loving others and loving God, they would fulfill the laws of God.

Relevance and Conclusion

After reading any part of the book of James, one must search his or her own heart to discover if his or her heart changed with the mental assent to God and Jesus Christ. With a change of heart, the person’s actions and words would show the love of God toward other people as an act of love to God. We each must examine our own hearts, too. Has our faith in Jesus Christ changed our hearts? Do we believe His Holy Spirit within us can empower us to overcome temptation and endure trials bringing us to maturity and completion in Jesus? Are we acting out our faith in community so other people can see and feel God’s love and mercy? Are we giving testimony by word to the love God gives us and commands we share with every person we meet?

Let me encourage you not to race through this list of questions, but thoroughly examine yourselves with the Light of Truth. Look and see if you have not given any part of your life – heart, mind, soul, and strength - to God for His service. Go before Him asking forgiveness and offering yourself to Him. Will you do this – examine your heart and go before God? None of us is truly rich without the grace and mercy of God who gives to everyone who believers an inheritance in His kingdom through Jesus Christ, His Son. We are all poor.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 1:24-25 [NASB]

---

[i] Thayer and Smith. The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon, 1999. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/echo.html).
[ii] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/pistis.html).
[iii] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/doxa.html).
[iv] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/prosopolepsia.html).
[v] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/ptochos.html).
[vi] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/kalos-2.html).
[vii] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/hupopodion.html).
[viii] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/plousios.html).
[ix] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/eleutheria.html). 

Attitudes and Actions: A James 2:1-13 Devotional

Oh, we know this one! We have heard preachers and teachers preach and teach it if our parents took us to a Christian church. Even if your parents did not raise you to be a Christian, your mom or dad probably taught you to be kind to every person.

James, as the head of the Jerusalem church, led the Jewish Christian people. He understood and knew the Jewish Christians understood of the laws of God, how they affected one’s relationship with God and with one’s relationship with other people. That is how the Ten Commandments are divided. Taking care of the poor, widow, orphan, and alien is a big part of the Old Testament Jewish laws. Moses spoke about them many times in Deuteronomy.

Still, the Jews considered the poor unclean and not to be touched. With the arrival and teaching of Jesus Christ came a closer understanding of caring for one’s neighbor. One Pharisee asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered him with the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). The man answered the question for himself after the parable. The man stated the neighbor was the one who had mercy toward another man. Whether Jew, Greek, gentile, Roman, Samaritan, Jesus’ point was that a neighbor is anyone you meet. Considering whom Jesus called a neighbor, we must realize then when Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” He meant to treat them with mercy – treat them as you want to be treated. The Jews understood helping a person with physical needs.

 James went deeper in this passage. He told them not to show partiality among the people who enter the church/assembly to worship. Do not give the better seat to the rich and clean person and make the poor and dirty stand at the back or sit on the floor. Do not give preferential treatment. Showing bias like that is a heart action. Prejudice is a bias of the heart. When Jesus came to earth, He taught attitudes are to be changed as much as actions. He told the people what is on the outside of a person is not what makes him unclean, but what comes from the inside (Matthew 15:11). From within a person comes a person’s attitude, which determines the person’s actions. When a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit indwells the person and changes the person from within so that the heart becomes changed.

When James told the Jewish Christians not to show partiality to the rich and give the poor the lowest place, he reminded them of what Jesus taught that everyone is their neighbor and they were to show mercy. James directed their thoughts to consider their actions in church towards another person just as important as their actions outside of church. The Jewish Christians and all Christians are to love everyone and show mercy at all times whether in church or out. James told them showing partiality was a sin and any sin, no matter which one, made them transgressors of the whole law. God will judge the person who sins, whether in adultery, murder, prejudice, or against any of the other laws of God. For those who do not show mercy, James said God would show no mercy to them either.

Following Jesus requires 100% obedience and love of Him and every person. Whether a person is in church or living in his or her daily life outside church, the love Jesus showed to him or her and the love of the Father must be lived out within his or her life. Prejudice for gain or for supposed “religious” purposes is sin. To combat this, we each need to examine our own hearts, ask the Lord to show us our sin, confess it, and ask for the strength of the Spirit to empower us to overcome it. In this way, we can show the love of God and His mercy to everyone we encounter, not just people like ourselves.

Are you willing to look into your heart and allow God to change you from within? It will affect the way you live. By it, you will show the love and mercy of God.