By J. Michael Feazell
I want to share with you an instructive and inspiring excerpt from Frank Laubach's book, Man of Prayer (Syracuse, Laubach Literacy International: 1990).
"Walls of money may so easily be built between ourselves and the great mass of the poor and lowly whom Jesus loves.
"Those who sincerely follow Christ find these walls melting away. Gradually they learn from him to be strangely tender toward the people whom others loathe and have forgotten.
"Was there ever a Salvation Army, working day and night to help the fallen, until Jesus taught people to love the unlovely? Was there ever a Bowery Mission for inebriates? Did ever a Florence Nightingale minister to the wounded soldiers, friends and foes alike, until Jesus taught us how to love?
"Did ever a Kagawa leave his wealth to sleep with diseased men in the slums of Kobe [Japan] until Jesus had taught him how to love? Did ever people pour out their money to meet emergencies and famines in distant countries until Jesus taught them how to love?
"Did ever a Robert Morrison toil hidden for a lifetime in the cellars of China to help the very people who would have killed him on sight if they had caught him--did ever that happen until Jesus taught men how to love their enemies?
"Did ever fifty thousand men and women offer their hopes, their pleasures and their dearest associations, to go as missionaries for life to distant and often dangerous lands to use their splendid energies ministering to need, and telling the good news of a coming kingdom of God, until Jesus had said, `Go ye into all the world'?
"There are millions of people doing disagreeable, difficult, dangerous tasks for unfortunates whom they would have disdained if Jesus had not shown men a more excellent meaning of the word noble.
"The average `good' man has the words love and desire hopelessly confused. He says he `loves' a thing when he craves to possess it, as one says, `I love to wear beautiful clothes.' "This kind of `love' ought to have another name. Love with a picture of Jesus at its center desires only to give. It looks at every individual, asking, `What can I do for him?' never `What can I get out of him for myself?'
"We have a thermometer by which we may now judge our likeness to Jesus; this thermometer is the heat of our compassion and the wideness of our love. When we become perfectly Christlike we shall search every face for an opportunity to help and help and help all day long" (pages 150-151).
I found this passage meaningful because it touches a nerve that is often difficult for many of us, especially we Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and Western Europeans, to acknowledge.
Some of us in the Worldwide Church of God have for so long been content and even thrilled to be part of a work that sent out magazines "into all the world'' and broadcast television and radio programs "into all the world,'' yet never really called on ourselves as the people of God to go personally "into all the world'' to minister the grace of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
As we open ourselves to the will of God for our lives and for our church, how will we ultimately make room for Jesus' own example and his words in Matthew 25:40? "Truly I tell you,'' he said, "just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me'' (New Revised Standard Version).
If he truly declares the end of things from the beginning, as we know he does, are not all people members of his family? Are not all those he will use us to reach with his words of life members of his family?
As you know, our church is struggling for identity, for our niche in the "Christian marketplace.'' Many of our members are looking for what this church can give them, what the return is "on their investment.''
Just like any good '90s consumer, we want to put our time and energy and money where they will get us the most return. Is it possible that is not the right goal?
Pastor General Tkach has focused on our new identity in Christ. This new identity isn't like other identities, because with Christ, it's all or nothing.
What will Christ ultimately do with our church? What trails will he use us to blaze? What blazes of the Spirit will he use our little sparks to ignite? What forts will he use us to hold?
One thing is for sure. Whatever his plan for us, he wants all of us. He wants all of all of us. All of you. All of me. All of all of us. Nothing less will do.
He won't share our affections with the world. He loves us wholly and completely. He wants our whole and complete affection in return. That's scary. At least it is for me.
It means there are sacrifices ahead I haven't thought of yet. It means I have to die to self so I can live for him. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I'm not sure I even know what that really means yet.
One other thing is for sure. God usually doesn't do anything without the prayers of his people. If we really want to know God and Jesus Christ whom he sent, if we really want to be the people he yearns for us to be, if we really want to do his will in the world and do a work that brings glory to him, we have got to be praying for it.
Laubach also wrote this, and I believe it is true: "A small group of praying people need not wait for an invitation from the pastor or for the rest of the congregation. They can band themselves together in prayer, and if they persist long enough and earnestly enough, they will set a church on fire.
"It is hard work, but the reward is wonderful. The commonest of all methods of bringing a dead church back to life is to form an inner prayer circle" (page 221).
Mr. Tkach has developed a habit of measuring the potential of the worldwide church by the number of active small groups. That's because he knows that when God's people pray, mighty things happen. And when God's people don't pray, things take their natural downward spiral.
Laubach says another thing I want to leave with you. He says that there are two reasons to stay in a church: Either you need it, or it needs you. If you have come to a place where you no longer need this church to have a meaningful relationship with God, consider option two. The heartfelt prayers of one person who has given his or her life over to believe and follow Jesus Christ can move mountains--and churches.
February 18, 1997, WN, page 6
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