Finding direction

23 November 2022

Partiality in the Church

We’re continuing our Biblical Anthropology series with the topic of partiality, which is really part 2 of the justice topic.

And now we’re going to a fairly familiar passage in the New Testament, from the book of James. Some challenging words from the half-brother of our Lord.

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
James 2:1

Sorry – this isn’t “someone else’s problem”. It’s a problem in our own hearts, and even in the local church. I can’t judge your heart, and you can’t judge mine, but I can ask God to search my heart for the sin of partiality.

For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
James 2:2-4

Imagine – that rich and powerful and well-known person from your town or city comes to your church! Wow. Praise the Lord! Just think of the testimony that that person could have. Think about the resources that they could use for the kingdom. Everyone wants to shake their hand. Welcome them. Fine.

Oh, but someone from the street just wandered in. They’re sitting way in the back. Actually, I think they’ve been drinking, and I’m not talking about Coca-Cola. We should be careful. It’s a good thing that they’re not up here sitting with the rest of us.

Now, of course, there are valid questions of security, especially with someone we don’t know, who’s showing signs that they may not be in full control of themselves. But which person has more value? Imago Dei. Which person can God use for His own glory? Both!

That prostitute who has spent many years on the street, addicted to drugs for the past few years, but now redeemed by God – that person will be more incredible, more beautiful, more pure in eternity than the movie star who rejected God. Imagine – every person that you see – if they were redeemed by Christ and glorified – if you could see them as they will be – you would probably be tempted to bow and worship them! And still, we are tempted to show partiality. And it might just be because we want something from that person. Ouch.

If you really fulfill 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.
James 2:8-9

The world wants to cause divisions in the church. Let’s not help them.

The world wants us to first think about our nationalities, the colour of our skin, our lifestyle, our political preferences, and the world wants to divide us into little groups. Oppressed, oppressor. Without hope and without forgiveness.

Christ wants to unite us. Here in the church, we need to learn to be honest, to be just. To be the family of God. And this next text that we’ll go to is really the remedy for partiality, something that the world needs to learn.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:9-15

We are one body – the Body of Christ. Slaves and owners, Jew and Gentile. Paul doesn’t take the time to explain who are oppressed, and why the oppressor should put more in the offering plate.

Something very interesting in this text is the mention of the Scythians. Who were they? The Scythians were from an ancient nation, we could say a tribe or a race. They lived to the north of Israel, and in Paul’s day they were known as ferocious, cruel warriors.

In fact, we have some evidence that they had been in direct conflict with Israel, even fighting against Jerusalem itself.

So there’s history here. Wicked warriors, oppressors, a history of oppression. And then here we have the Jews – the oppressed. This is the perfect opportunity for Paul to say, “Listen, we’re going to have a special service for the Scythians, and another for the Jews. We’ll keep them separate for now, so that the Jews have time to heal from this history of generational oppression. And because of their privilege, the Scythians will donate extra to the Jewish congregation.”

But that’s not where Paul goes here. Why? Because as Christians, we’re new people. We have been clothed with our new selves, in Christ. And “Christ is all, and in all”. In fact, we must be “forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive”.

And so when Christians get together from different countries or backgrounds, they are one in the Spirit. In one sense, they may have a closer bond with people who do not even speak their language than with the unbeliever who lives next door.

The answer is not social justice. It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. Real forgiveness, mercy, and love.

So how should we respond to all of this? What should we actually do? Next time we’ll go through a few ideas.

16 November 2022

Edgar

Jim Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 0

On the 22nd of October, our friend Edgar was on his way to a men’s Bible study. He never arrived.

Edgar grilling — *Edgar (in green) grilling up some cactus at a men’s retreat in 2021.*

We found out later that he had apparently lost consciousness and collapsed on the way, and somehow was taken to the hospital.

Edgar never regained consciousness in this world. He passed away just short of 13 days later. He was 42 years old.

Those of you who receive our email update were likely praying for Edgar and his family over those days. We appreciate your continued prayers for his family – his wife’s name is Violeta, and his children are Frida and Pablo.

I want to take a moment to remember Edgar here. He was not only an important part of the Las Palmas church, he was (is) also a good friend and an example to me. Of course, I’m nothing special – he was a good friend to many!

The word “deacon” in the Bible simply means servant. From the time we got to know Edgar a few years ago, we could see that the word applied to him. Without being asked, many times probably without being noticed, he was setting things up, cleaning things, and taking things down. He constantly showed interest in other people, especially in the youth. Both believers and unbelievers knew that he cared about them, and wanted them to seek the Lord in their lives.

Edgar leads the service — *Edgar leading the service.*

Edgar would often lead the service. The last time he led was on the 25th of September. What he shared at the beginning of the service will always be a reminder to me of his Christian testimony.

Edgar read from God’s Word at least a couple of times during the service. He reminded us at one point that it’s very important to carefully study the Bible, so that when something false comes along, we’ll recognize it.

That week there had been an earthquake in Mexico, which most of us had felt. He started by asking if anyone had been afraid. It was, of course, the topic of conversation that week.

He chose to start the service with this text, from Romans:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35-39

Yes, I think Edgar would want every believer to be reminded of that today.

Actually, without it being planned, God’s love seemed to be a major theme at our church during those almost two weeks when Edgar was in the hospital. And God did show His love and care for the family in many ways during that time. We’re very thankful for the testimony that his immediate family has had during these difficult days, not only to us as a church, but also to unbelievers around them.

Violeta, Pablo, and Frida — *Violeta, Pablo and Frida – after they were baptized in July 2020. (Photo courtesy Rod Fry)*

But as Edgar’s family moves into the unknown future, do keep praying for them. We’re all moving into an unknown future, aren’t we? And I think that Edgar would want us to be reminded that nothing can separate God’s people from His love.

And I still remember the smile on his face when he asked, “Was anyone afraid?”

Well, is anyone afraid?

Today, with more confidence than ever, I think that Edgar would say with a smile, “No need.”

To hear more about Edgar, check out this post from Rod – Precious in the LORD’s sight is the Death of His Saints.

15 November 2022

Doing Justice, Defending the Poor.

Jim Devotional and Bible 0

It seems like we’ve spent many posts just doing an introduction. But let’s get to just a bit of what the Bible has to say about justice and partiality.

We’ve read this before, but let’s go back to Deuteronomy:

You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 16:18-20

Notice that first part – “judges and officers in all your towns”. Justice would be accessible, and probably fairly quick. And the judgements, of course, must be just – “righteous judgment”. That is, based on God’s law, God’s justice.

Justice here is not trying to make everyone equal. But everyone is equal before the law. “You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality…” It doesn’t matter if the accused is male or female, king or slave, foreigner or national, rich or poor. If you steal, you give it back.

And why mention bribes? What is the problem with bribes? Simply this – bribes mean that the person with power and resources can obtain justice, and the poor person can’t. Or maybe the rich can break the law and escape because of a bribe. Yes, the rich do have a possible advantage here – the bribe. But God says NO – “you shall not accept a bribe”.

“Justice, and only justice, you shall follow…”

You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s…
Deuteronomy 1:17a

You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
Leviticus 19:15

“Oh, but the poor are ‘oppressed’, and so we should give them the advantage.” No. The law should be equally applied to all.

Sometimes it’s more helpful if we use biblical terminology instead of the words and phrases of the world, like “racism” and “discrimination”. Terms like “partiality” and “favouritism” are more biblical terms (in English!).

Why does God only mention rich and poor? They are examples. What’s the main point? The law should apply to everyone equally. No government or expert should decide to change the law for certain people, oppressed or not.

But who is more likely to suffer from injustice? The poor. The vulnerable. Right? And so, the Bible tells us to help the poor. To ensure that they receive justice. And we personally help them as well.

We know that God loves His creation. And we also know that He specifically defends certain people – people we may call “vulnerable”. Let’s take a look at another text:

You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Exodus 22:21-27

Do not mistreat the poor, the foreigner, the vulnerable. Don’t use them for your own benefit.

Here are a few more principles in the next chapter:

You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.
Exodus 23:1-3

Always be honest. Speak the truth. Don’t be partial to the poor – but that’s only an example. What does it mean? Don’t be partial to anyone! Just be honest.

If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.
Exodus 23:4-5

It doesn’t matter if you’re not really fond of your neighbour. You’re a part of the community. We help one another.

You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.
Exodus 23:6-7

This is an important principle. The law should protect the innocent. We talked about this before, but here it is in black and white. Two or three witnesses – and that means that sometimes the wicked will escape. But we protect the innocent and the righteous. Why? Because God “will not acquit the wicked”. In other words, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12.19) In other words, when the wicked escape, they don’t escape forever. God is just.

God’s Word is so wise – so just!

And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 23:8-9

We’ve already talked about that – let’s continue.

For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.
Exodus 23:10-12

This is great. There are laws in the Old Testament especially designed to protect the poor. Do you remember the law of gleaning? “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 23:22)

God’s law provides for the vulnerable. We’re not supposed to grasp on to every dollar we can. We leave something for the poor. Generosity. And this is generosity with dignity – the poor still work, but they have work to do.

Exodus 23 is another example of this. Leave your field alone for a year. It’s good for the soil, the environment. The poor can take the “wild” produce. The cattle have something different to eat. It’s good for everyone. God’s Word – so wise!

And of course there’s a day of rest – for your family, for your animals, for the foreigners, employees, slaves, whoever it may be.

Simple principles. Be honest. Don’t accept bribes. Don’t use and abuse people. Be generous. Work hard, and rest.

Yes, people will judge you unjustly. But where is my heart? Where is yours?

Because partiality is not only against the poor, the disabled, or the foreigner. It’s against whomever you don’t like, whomever you decide to use and abuse.

So next time we’ll come a little closer to home, and look at our own hearts. Are we showing favouritism?

12 November 2022

6th Anniversary Service! (video)

Jim Ministry glimpses, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

This past Sunday, the Las Palmas Path of Life Bible Church celebrated its 6th anniversary! You can see our theme in the banner below (click for a slightly larger version). For those who can’t figure it out, it’s Matthew 28:18-20. The theme was chosen by the preacher, Ezequiel.

Banner - 6th Anniversary Service — *6th Anniversary Service banner*

All was chaos before the service, I have to admit. Some people were trying to put up banners from our past anniversaries, with eventual success, but with many trials along the way! I was supposed to be practising with the worship team, but just had to get a video working – didn’t work on that laptop, didn’t work with that software download, connected another laptop… and on and on. The sound system stopped working, so we pulled out an old sound system which we limped along with. The video never did happen, but after we caught our breath – it was a great day! 🙂

Oscar led the service (he’s the first person you’ll see in the video), and did a great job. I made the video below a little longer than I intended to (obviously it’s all in Spanish, although I did subtitle one or two things at the beginning), because I wanted you to see just how many people were involved. People sharing testimonies, playing music, praying… and, of course, after the service – bringing food! And leading games! You’ll see some of that too.

The sermon was a great challenge to us all – very practical. And if we do what we did last year, we might keep this banner up at the front of the church for the year, as a reminder. It’s interesting how various parts of this passage have come alive in recent months – the authority of Christ, our responsibility in ministry – and especially over the last few weeks, the reminder that He is with us – a theme that has been strong in our study of Exodus as well (which we will be finishing in tomorrow’s service!).

You might recognize the song I was leading at the end, at the request of the preacher. If not, here it is in English, one of my current favourites.

Thanks again to so many of you who have prayed for and supported this ministry. Without further comment, here are some clips from Sunday.

If you would like to see the full service, just go here and go to the link for the 6th of November (6 noviembre 2022).

8 November 2022

When Mercy Goes Wrong…

Jim Devotional and Bible, News and current issues 0

Last time in our Biblical Anthropology series we talked about the desire that many have to make everyone equal. Now, in certain sense, most people would agree that equality is a good thing. But there’s a lot more built into today’s common narrative.

One of the key things we’ve been talking about it that, in the minds of many, there must be a strong central authority to decide what “equality” involves, and then to take from some and give to others in order to enforce this “equality”.

Author A. D. Robles went through an interesting illustration once to demonstrate some problems with this idea. I won’t quote him exactly, but here’s the general idea as I shared it when I first taught this series.

Robles’ main point was that the supposed “mercy” of evil people often ends up being cruelty. How so?

Well, let’s take an imaginary country. In this country, people are at different economic levels. If you’re poor, survival is a challenge. Maybe you have a couple of jobs, just so that you can get by.

Now, let’s say that the imaginary government of the imaginary country decides to control the economy and help the poor people. Now, I don’t think this is the job of a government, but stay with me. They want to help the poor, so what do they do?

First, they give every poor person $1000. Great. Now, they double the minimum wage. Mercy to the poor, right? The most vulnerable.

Wait – here’s a good question to ask: Where did all this money come from? Well, maybe the government took it from the rich people, through taxes. We might call that theft, but they’re doing it for the poor, so we’ll give them a pass for the moment.

Now, what actually happens?

My friend Jake works down at the corner store. It actually belongs to his cousin – nice. His salary is doubled. Sweet! But now the store is having problems – it can’t really afford to pay Jake. Maybe he’s laid off. Or the store has to close.

No problem! There’s a big business down the street. Now, the big business doesn’t exactly have the same concern for Jake as his cousin did. But at least, for the moment, they can pay him the new minimum wage. And as salaries rise suddenly, many small businesses close, and larger companies take their place.

Their bottom line is money, of course. To pay more, they charge more. Prices rise to match the new typical salaries. But now some former small business owners no longer have their businesses. They’re looking for work – unemployment starts to rise.

With fewer people working, there are fewer products, or less variety available. The larger companies have less competition, and so they can afford to charge more.

Meanwhile, Jake is starting to have problems again. Not only are prices rising, he’s now helping to support his cousin.

So who is benefiting most from this “mercy to the poor”? The rich! Big business gets bigger. The rich, who knew how to prepare for inflation, ride out the storm, or even benefit from it. They knew how to invest. They get richer.

Meanwhile, unemployment rose among the poor, some are working in companies that don’t care about them, the $1000 was spent long ago, and if not it is already worth a lot less.

It looked like such a good idea at first. But government simply is not good at controlling all of culture. As we learned in our study of The Authorities, they have their responsibilities and their limits. And sometimes what seems good to us at first can end up as a disaster. The mercy of the wicked can be cruel.

So what’s the answer to a bad government? A new one with more control than the former one? That’s certainly the way we’re moving in our non-imaginary world. “We just need new and better laws! We just need more power to enforce these laws! And then we can finally help the poor children!”

But Jim, I don’t understand – aren’t we in favour of helping the poor? You bet. Absolutely.

So next time we’ll take a deep breath and get back to what the Bible actually says about justice for all.

4 November 2022

Turbulent Times

Jim Family, Ministry glimpses, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 3

These have been difficult days for our church. Difficult days drive us to God’s throne in prayer.

An elderly lady recently passed away, after some very difficult final weeks. She didn’t attend our church, but has children and grandchildren and a great-grandchild who do, so her passing affected our church quite a bit.

If you get our email update, you may have been praying with us for our friend who suddenly collapsed two weeks ago, and has not regained consciousness. He is not only a good friend, but a man who has been a key servant to the church. We continue to pray earnestly for him and his family. [Edit: As I was posting this, our brother in Christ Edgar passed away.]

Last week his family and some of his wife’s family came to the service. His daughter and son volunteered to join the worship band, and they helped lead us in praise to God. It was a moving service, as we prayed together for this and many other needs in the congregation.

In the midst of all this, we’re preparing for the 6th anniversary of the church – this Sunday. We’ve simplified the celebration somewhat due to the circumstances, but we’re still looking forward to thanking God for His faithfulness over the past few years.

(The photo above is from the music time last week – Rod is leading, and you can see Nathanael on the ukulele to the right. The banner in behind is actually from last year’s anniversary service, with text from Exodus 6:7 – “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God”. We’re just finishing our study of Exodus now, seeing the fulfillment of this promise in the book, and the application for us.)

You may have also been praying for our fellow missionary Chalo, who was in the hospital. He’s doing much better, and we were able to visit him last week. He’s home and already working, although he probably should be resting some more! 🙂

In the mundane of our own lives, this has also been a strange time. Without going into details, we’ve had some doctor’s visits. And as I mentioned in the last podcast, we went on an overnight trip to get Nathanael’s visa, only to find that the person who needed to complete the process wasn’t at the office! So this past week we made the trek again, and this time – success! Thanks for your prayers.

So in the end, the last few weeks have included a lot of unusual travel and appointments. It makes it hard to keep up with regular work (including Nathanael’s school). On the bright side, we’ve enjoyed some good family time together in the midst of it all. The “unusualness” will probably continue for the next couple of weeks, as we have at least one more appointment, the anniversary service, a wedding, rather urgent van maintenance…

So we appreciate your prayers as we navigate these turbulent times; that we would have the strength to deal with the “mundane” and still to be a light and an encouragement to others. I guess that’s a good prayer request for us all, isn’t it?

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