Sermon

I am honored to participate in worship with all of you today, and I hope that I might be a blessing to you as you have been already to me. I also count it a privilege to speak to you about missions, because you all place such a high priority on fulfilling the Great Commission. My thanks go to Pastor Catanus, the Missions Committee, and Sister Elvira Mendoza who I know well from my days working at the World Relief DuPage office in Wheaton.

The book of Proverbs says, "Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, for the rights of those who are destitute." I come to you today as a representative of WR but also as a representative of the poor.

Unfortunately, the media in the US often does not publicize catastrophic events or needs from the poorest of the poor countries of the world. I am here to draw your attention once again to your brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering in body and spirit around the world.

For the sake of those who are not so familiar with WR, I am going to try to paint a broad brush stroke picture of who we are, who we minister to around the world, and why we do what we do the way we do it. Primarily, I will be focusing our attention on a couple of countries in Africa and what the Church there is facing. But first, let us turn to the Scriptures and to prayer as we begin this morning.

Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

I am indebted to Dr. Joe Stowell, the President of Moody Bible Institute for his explanation on the meaning and application of two Greek words for "good" in the original text—Agathas and Kalas. Agathas often refers to good moral conduct and character, while the word Kalas refers to an action that is based in goodness. Agathas might verbally say, "Abortion is wrong." Kalas would say, give me your unwanted baby, and I will raise it. This latter response is different and distinct from good moral living only. It ties an action with the state of being good. Jesus is referring to this type of good when he says, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Many in the Christian community are saying that pre-9/11, US society could be termed as secular. No one needed God or wanted God. 9/11 changed much of that national perspective. Now, it is popular to pray and say, "God Bless America." Multi-faith services abound where god is proclaimed in a general sense, and everyone’s god is okay except for Jesus—who says that He is the only Way, Truth, and Life. With this in mind, we need to look at Peter’s guidance to the church set in the context of a pagan culture.

1 Peter 2: 12 "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

This passage echoes Jesus’ words in Matthew and urges the believers to radical deeds that will glorify God. The Greek word Kalas here again makes it clear that Peter’s intention is not to say, go to church as often as possible, read your Bible and pray every day, say only encouraging things to others and then the pagans will glorify God. Peter does encourage these practices in other sections of his writing to the believers, but he says that in order to affect the pagans that you live among, do good deeds that they will notice and glorify God one day even when they slander you. Until we do the radical works of obedience that match our talk and that can only come from the Spirit of God within us, will the world notice and glorify God.

Historically, the early church rose from marginality to prominence in the Roman World due to it’s radical deeds. They would save the babies who were thrown out onto the public garbage heap to die and raise them themselves. They would care for the sick and dying when city-wide plagues would give healthy family members reason to desert his or her own sick relative. The Christians cared for those who were considered outcast, and their lives were in stark contrast to the pleasure seeking paganism of the Roman culture. Life was cheap and meaningless in the eyes of the pagans. To the Christians, they did not simply condemn in word common practices of euthanasia and abortion, they were the ones to treasure life, protecting and nurturing those in their care.

One modern day example that we can draw a comparison to is that of Mother Theresa. The world knows her and glorifies God because of her extraordinary selflessness and ministry to the outcast and forgotten ones. The Church is called to shine like that in our world.

What was the impact of those few, obedient followers of Jesus? The Church walked their talk in a way that had far reaching effects in the Empire. From a marginalized and persecuted group of people, the church rose to such prominence in the Roman World that the emperor Constantine merely recognized what was reality in the Empire, in terms of sheer numbers and influence, by making Christianity the religion of the empire in the 300’s.

The early Church’s Kalas deeds will not only glorify God on the day of judgment, but because of the witness of the Church—through word and deed—did they bring many pagans into the Kingdom of God. They were the ones who spread Christianity throughout the entire known world because of their radical obedience and love for God and others.

Let me tell you about the church in Malawi (another church living in a pagan culture) that is working with WR to face the AIDS crisis head on. Three or four years ago, our country director approached 25 church leaders in the area of Malawi that we are working. She knew them because some of their congregations participated in our child and maternal health programs. Her question to them was, "We believe that the Church is called to respond to the AIDS crisis and lead the way in facing this problem. Who of you will join us in this?" 21 of the 25 pastors responded, "Dying of AIDS is because of God’s wrath, let them die."

…how many times is that our reaction in the US? Many people, when I mention the AIDS crisis in Africa make a comment like, "So what else is new?" The media in the US no longer keeps this issue in front of us, so somehow the American Church thinks that it has either gone away or that it is a hopeless cause.

UN estimates that in Africa alone, there will be a loss of life equal to ¼ the population in the US by the year 2010. The pastors are spending all of their time doing funerals in their communities. If we were facing this in the US, I guarantee that the church and others would be doing all that it could for our country. What about our brothers and sisters in Africa? The only hope for AIDS around the world is the Church of Jesus Christ.

The governments in many of these hardest hit areas are without answers or resources. Far and wide, the churches of Africa provide the greatest amount of infrastructure and potential influence in their communities and countries. As Uganda has demonstrated, abstinence and marital faithfulness are the only ways to have victory. But the government cannot legislate and enforce this moral and spiritual issue.

In the context of a polygamous culture (not legal but widely practiced in function), the Church is the only one that can help disciple and train men and women and youth in the character needed to walk out these preventative, biblical measures. Previous to this, sexual issues, fidelity in marriage, and AIDS have never been addressed from the pulpit in the African church. As a result, there is a great deal of ignorance and misinformation about how AIDS is spread and prevented. So, many of our efforts at the outset have been in educating and training the local pastors and lay leaders.

Illustration: Martha’s story--AIDS, health, micro-enterprise, child evangelism.

The Orphan crisis alone is enough to boggle the mind. 44 million kids will be orphaned by the end of this decade. WR is mobilizing the local churches in the areas that we are working through education, training, and resource development to absorb the orphans in their communities into foster care families in their churches. Rather than set-up orphanages, WR is working feverishly to empower the churches to respond as the early church did to such crises. It is what Jesus would have us do…and it is, after all, a more culturally appropriate response in the extended family model of African culture and society.

The four churches that joined us at the beginning have now increased to 8. And all 21 have come back, seeking to join us. God is using the Church to minister to the single most significant problem in Africa. And the ones who have the training and resources are changing entire communities.

We have an opportunity to help mobilize the evangelical churches in many places where AIDS is so prevalent and give them the tools/training and resources to be able to address a problem that only the church can do. Our partnering churches in the US are key participants in making this become a reality for the churches around the world.

Ravi Zacharias said, "If the Church responds to the AIDS crisis, it will be the greatest apologetic of Christianity that the world has ever known…." We can respond to the AIDS epidemic here in the US and by supporting ministry overseas through the church that will minister to the needs of the forgotten.

Fasting vs. caring for the needs of their community; personal piety vs. Christian action

(1) "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. (2) For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. (3) Why have we fasted, they say and you have not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed? Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. (4) Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. (5) Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing ones heads like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

(6) Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen, to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke? (7) Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (8) Then you light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. (9) Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, (10) and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. (11) The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

Summarize the passage and highlight 6, 7, and 10 along with the promises.

The people of Israel, in this passage, were being addressed for their pharisiasm. Just as the Pharisees in Jesus day, they were working to be outwardly godly with little action connected to the heart of the law and therefore God’s heart…loving our neighbor as ourselves. God is calling you and I in His Word to respond to the needs of those around us. Meeting the needs of the poor, the outcast, and the oppressed is a spiritual discipline in itself. And it speaks louder than words to the skeptics and the pagans.

(20 minutes)

Transition to famine: I’d like to turn the corner a bit and bring to your attention a current crisis that is facing our world today. Some of you may be aware of it, but apart from random coverage in the Christian media and brief mention in the secular media, not much is being shown about the famine that is escalating in Southern Africa.

Some groan and comment, "Another Famine in Africa?!!" There is another one and it could be the worst one in 60 years. 13 million people are at risk.  Many are working to prevent such a great loss of life, but the worldwide attention has not been gathered because it’s not on the TV.

World Relief has been working in Malawi for four years. We started there due to extreme poverty as opposed to a disaster or war. Our program staff and churches are now facing a sweeping famine that covers 6 other countries in Southern Africa. Corruption in the governments combined with terrible drought for two growing seasons are factors that bring us to this point.

Unfortunately, when you see footage of emaciated people on TV, it’s too late. Many will die when they reach that point, and those that live will suffer from the effects of malnutrition, including a shortened life-span, brain damage, organ failure, and premature death.

WR is working with local churches in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to distribute needed grain to those who are most at risk—the elderly, the children, and the sick. I am going to show you a brief video showing our most current work in Zimbabwe. The object of this movie is not to make you feel guilty; it is to make you aware of what your brothers and sisters are experiencing in Africa. Unfortunately, in our wealthy country, it is out often out of sight, out of mind.

When I watched this film for the first time, I had to try to place myself in the shoes of the parents in the movie. What would I do if I could not provide food for my own three children and watched them waste away. Consider that as you watch…

Very sobering, isn’t it?…I hope this helps bring lasting perspective to your life. Our problems are not often as big as these here in America. God has given us abundance in this country, no matter how we look at it.

(11 minutes)

I’d like to give you a brief overview of who WR is and how we are distinct from other organizations. We are the official Relief and Development arm of the NAE, and as such, are owned by churches and work for churches. We therefore do not operate out of a classical para-church organization model. We are now 55 years old and work in 30 of the poorest countries in the world. Our entry point to countries is through disaster, extreme poverty, or war.

Many Christian organizations minister directly to the poor person via sponsorship or direct programming that meets the individual needs. World Relief’s approach is distinct from this in that we work through the local churches, mobilizing, training leaders, developing strategy, supplying resources, etc. to evangelical churches around the world. We are, as the phrase goes, "churches helping churches help the hurting…" We attempt to work ourselves out of a job and plan on indigenizing with a 5-15 year strategy in mind. When we leave the country will depend upon the growth and leadership of the local churches.

(3 minutes)

When we consider Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28 to go and make disciples of the nations, teaching them to observe His commands, we must not only look overseas, but we must look at our own communities. It is often easier to view the Great Commission as being an overseas missions’ commission, but the people that would fit into the category of "all nations" live right around us in our communities here in the US. He is calling us to not only reach out to those who are near us who are like us, but to reach those who are near us who are not like us.

WR’s ministry in the US is similar to what we do overseas, in that we work through local evangelical churches to minister to the needs of refugees and immigrants. WR engages the Church with refugees in helping them start their lives over here. The needs of the refugee are often more intense than the needs of immigrants due to the degree of trauma they have experienced. Some have experienced war, imprisonment, torture, and all have languished in refugee camps for many years. An additional difficulty for refugees that requires intense volunteer involvement is that there is typically no family and sometimes very little ethnic community connections here in the US.

Story: Lost Boys from Sudan

Here is a simple definition that might be helpful…A refugee is a person who has fled his/her country due to a well founded and demonstrated fear of persecution for political, religious, or ethnic reasons. Refugees do not typically leave their countries because they are looking for a better economic situation. Immigrants, as many of your know, typically (though not always) are not fleeing persecution and are coming to America to join family and/or participate in some of the economic and educational opportunities afforded here.

World Relief will partner with teams of volunteers from local churches that we train in how to best minister to the physical and spiritual needs of the refugee. From hosting refugees in their homes when they first arrive from their refugee camp, to teaching them how to drive, to teaching them how to shop in American supermarkets, to helping them learn English or find a job, WR empowers the Church to do the ministry here that it is called to do.

Each one of us in the US today has an immigration background to their family history (apart from the Native Americans). Whether you become more connected to WR DuPage’s local ministry or not, let your light shine before men by committing to intentionally serve those who come to our country that are different than you. I guarantee that you will be changed and will receive more than you give. Many of our staff and volunteers prepare for missions (knowingly or unknowingly) by ministering to refugees from many lands, languages, and cultures.

Jesus was the Greatest Immigrant the world has ever known, coming from Heaven to earth. And he and his family were refugees when they were forced to flee to Egypt. He said that whatever we do unto others—even the least of these—we are ministering unto Him. The Church of Jesus Christ is called to minister to such as these….

(10 minutes)

Think twice before you eat out at a restaurant again or order a pizza--$50 can feed a child for 1 year

Educate yourself: follow this famine; learn about AIDS around the world and support the Church’s response

Learn about the church in Africa. They have much to teach us. They are the fastest growing church in the world.

Pray about local involvement with refugees here in the US, and talk with Sister Elvira about possible opportunities.

Our light shines because of Jesus in us…Continue to help the Church overseas to shine brightly and in earnest seek ways to radically and creatively obey God’s call to be His light in your community.