On Mission with God

The hard question, from the previous post, was this, “If God promised them the land, why did they have to fight for it?”  The part of my answer that resonated with Mr. L was this:

God has promised to meet all of my needs, not necessarily all of my wants, but all of my needs. Does that mean I can go down to the beach, stretch out on a hammock in the shade with a cool drink and wait for it all to fall in my lap? Mr. L is an honest, hard working man. He understands the phrase “the fruit of my labors.”

God promises His provision, but that is in conjunction with our responsibility.   Now, a little more about God’s purposes in His actions.

When we studied the story of Creation, we saw Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. What did God want from them? He gave them only one prohibition. But, what did He want? He wanted Adam and Eve to believe His word and live accordingly. God wanted faith and obedience in the Garden.

When God made His covenant with Abraham, God explained that his descendants would be slaves in Egypt for about four hundred years. After that they would come out of Egypt and enter the land God had promised to Abraham and his descendants. Why four hundred years? The descendants of Abraham would spend four hundred years as slaves because the sins of the Amorites were not yet complete. See Genesis 15:12-21.

In the Ten Plagues on Egypt, at the time of the exodus, we catch another glimpse of God’s purpose in His actions. When we actually read the whole story of the Plagues in the Bible, we find some interesting things. Why did God send the Plagues upon Egypt? God showed His power through the Plagues for four reasons. So that Pharaoh, who was believed to be a god, would know that he was no god. So that the Egyptians would know that their gods were not gods. And so that Israel would know that their God alone is God. And, that God’s name would be known in all the earth. See Exodus 9:14-16.

Why did God’s people have to fight for the Promised Land?

God promised them the land, but wanted them to believe Him and live accordingly (faith and obedience), so they had to fight for it. God allowed the Amorites four hundred years to repent of their sins, but they did not, so their punishment would come through Israel. God shows His power and faithfulness so that His name will be known in all the earth – so that all the families of the earth can be blessed.

See, it really wasn’t that hard of a question.

Imagine that you were reading the Bible for the first time. You had never heard the Bible stories as an adult, though you may have heard a few here and there as a child. That is the reality of many of the people in our house churches.

We’ve been studying through many of the major stories in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. We’ve read about creation and the flood, about Abraham and the promises of God as they were renewed with his son and grandson, about the slavery of Israel and the exodus from Egypt, about God’s covenant and Israel’s idolatry. There is a lot of information in those stories. One thing that has really stood out is that God promised some land to Abraham and his descendants.

We’ve been across the desert with Israel. They camped out and sent twelve spies into the Promised Land. The report came back: ten against and two for. Majority ruled. The people proved themselves to be faithless once again.

Now, what’s the hard question in all of that?

For Mr. L, the hard question was this, “If God promised them the land, why did they have to fight for it?”

Of all the questions that could be asked about the story of the twelve spies, that one is not the one I expected. Nonetheless, it is the question I had to answer.

How would you answer that question for a lost person who was reading the stories for the first time? 

I’ll post my answer in a few days. If you would like, you can submit a comment with your answer. We’ll see if we answered it in the same way.

In the US, there has been a great deal of controversy over the Ten Commandments. I remember just a few years ago seeing many yards with signs of the Ten Commandments, supporting their public display. Much of this centered around the situation of the monument of the Ten Commandments in the Alabama State Courthouse. For the moment, the controversy in the US seems to have subsided.

Here in Brazil, the controversy we face over the Ten Commandments is not publicized and does not center around their public display. Rather, the controversy is over which Ten Commandments are the actual Ten Commandments. That may strike you as odd, but that really is one of the barriers we face in presenting the gospel in a way that Catholics in Brazil can understand.

Let me explain. Most Catholics in Brazil learn their belief system from the practice of the church and from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. They rarely read the Bible. They certainly do not study the Bible the way they are required to study the catechism. Therefore, the catechism is considered a source of authoritative teaching and is, in practice, placed in a position of authority over the Bible.

The Portuguese translation of the Latin Catechism of the Catholic Church has a formulation of the Ten Commandments. It is more of a summary, rather than presenting the full text of the Ten Commandments as they appear in Exodus 20.2-17 and Deuteronomy 5.6-21. I’ll translate the formulation for you:

First: Worship God and love Him above all things.

Second: Do not invoke the holy name of God in Vain.

Third: Sanctify Sundays and the observed festivals.

Fourth: Honor your father and mother (and other legitimate superiors).

Fifth: Do not kill (nor cause other damage, in body or soul, to yourself or to your neighbor).

Sixth: Keep chastity in word and deed.

Seventh: Do not steal (not keeping unjustly, nor damaging the goods of your neighbor).

Eighth: Do not raise false witness (nor in any other fashion slight the truth or defame your neighbor).

Ninth: Keep chastity in thoughts and desires.

Tenth: Do not covet/envy the things of others.

If you grew up in or have been discipled in a Protestant church, you will quickly see that this list of Ten Commandments is somewhat different from the Ten Commandments in the Bible. It is even different from the authorized Catholic Bible used by Catholics here in Brazil. It is quite shocking for the folks to whom we witness when they read the Ten Commandments in the Catholic Bible. They can not believe that the Bible actually says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below (Exodus 20.4 NIV).” They do not want to believe the Bible actually says that. Most Brazilian Catholics have statues of Mary and many of the saints in their homes and in their churches. Some homes have 100 or more statues, idols.

I could go on, but I won’t for now. Perhaps I’ll continue this subject in a future post. Suffice it to say, we have a huge challenge before us as we share the gospel with the lost of Brazil.

I would like to ask you to pray for Prof. M. He is not yet a follower of Christ, but has been attending one of our house churches for quite some time. God has been doing a lot to grab his attention. Those of you who heard me speak in the US may recall me telling you about a dream that this man’s wife had and how God fulfilled that dream. He e-mailed me with two questions. One of those questions was, “What are God’s laws for man today?” That is a huge question and will take a lot of time to answer. Please pray for Prof. M and me as we walk through the Bible together searching for the answer to this question. Please pray that God will open his eyes to the truth, that he will become a follower of the way of Jesus Christ.

In Brazil, there is something about Mary, and the saints, that holds incredible sway over Catholics. I was talking with a young lady at house church last week about this very subject. We were expressing praise to the Lord that another family has realized that they can no longer follow Mary and the saints. This young lady told me that it took three years from the time she first heard the idea that praying to Mary and the saints is idolatry to the time she realized that was true. The family (mentioned in our previous post) have been studying the Bible with us for about six months. We praise the Lord that He has opened their eyes to see this truth.

We have not discovered any specific amount of time that is necessary for people to realize this truth. Since we discovered this barrier to proclaiming the gospel among our people, we have become more intentional about addressing idolatry in our teaching. With a belief that is so much a part of who Catholics in Brazil are, we must take the time necessary to present the truth in love. We must also give them time to count the cost of following Jesus.

If you approach a post-modern person and proclaim that an absolute truth exists for all people, you probably will have only one opportunity to speak to that person, and you probably will not convince them. If you approach a Buddhist and proclaim that there is only one path to God, you will probably only have one opportunity to speak to that person, and you probably will not convince them. The same holds true with Catholics in Brazil. If you approach a Catholic in Brazil and proclaim that it is necessary to abandon Mary and the saints in order to follow Jesus, you will probably only have one opportunity to speak to that person, and you probably will not convince them.

We have learned that this particular barrier to the gospel among our people will usually only be overcome by investing time and love in teaching the Bible to them.

This is just one insight we have gleaned from our time working here in Brazil. Thank you for taking the time to read it. Please pray that God will ever keep our eyes open to see barriers to the gospel and that He will give us ways to overcome these barriers. 

Luciano and his wife Rosângela learned Hunsrik as children from their parents in the interior of Brazil’s south where immigrants from all over Europe came seeking a better life. Their families have been Catholic longer than any of them can remember. With this many years of family and societal traditions change comes at a high price. Friends often ridicule you and family can cut you off. However, this couple continues to pay the price as they learn more and more about God through Bible teaching. Their journey has been one that the team has been watching carefully and praying over. 

Recently they studied the Ten Commandments and the issue of idols and images came again to the forefront. They have accepted that their worship of the saints through images as well as their prayer to the dead is a sin but now they are wrestling with what to with the images that are family heirlooms. Those who have walked this path understand the ties that exist with those who have gone before us being bound up in the images of the saints or Mary. Pray for Luciano and his wife to be set free from their past.

Recently the team has struggled through a series of difficulties both physically and spiritually that have begun to take their toll. Both IMB and national team members grow weary in the face of illness and spiritual darkness, and even spiritual attack, and this can leave one feeling as if the wind has been taken away. Often the difficult and dark days are a prelude to blessing and growth that is coming if we will but persevere.

Pray for the team and those in the churches to persevere. Pray for deliverance from evil and to love God, neighbor, and enemy alike. Many in the churches face persecution on a daily basis at work and at home. Also, pray that God would bring new workers to the harvest from among the Hunsrik. There are so many that have yet to hear that Jesus is so much more than a ceramic image.