The writer of this exhortation, Bro. Paul Macpherson, was baptized just before being assigned to the Hong Kong office of his company. Using Hong Kong as a base, he traveled widely in that part of the world, saw the Hong Kong ecclesia grow from one to 20 in one year and had a variety of experiences, some of which contributed to the theme developed in this exhortation.
When we take on the name of Christ, it is clear we have a responsibility to be ambassadors of the Truth In doing so, we follow the footsteps of the apostles who were to go into all the world with the saving gospel of life.
Before they took on this broad mission, however, they were given a preliminary assignment by Christ which is found in Matthew 10 “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 10 5-7) After giving them the assignment, the Lord told them it would not be an easy one “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves But beware of men for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues “(vs 16-17)
We know that the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to proclaim the Truth, whether it’s at a business lunch in Hong Kong or a bus stop here in Canada But this message goes beyond that Christ wants us to actively pursue those in need, teaching the Truth to those with little or no faith At the same time, he reminds us it will not be an easy task.
In the course of my travels in southeast Asia and China, a number of people crossed my path who had a story to tell and who actively sought opportunities to tell it They were examples to me of how what is important to us can be introduced into the everyday situations of life Perhaps we can draw some encouragement from these examples.
A project in Ho Chi Minh City
After spending a day racing from one meeting to the next, I wandered over to the Floating Hotel m Ho Chi Minh City m Vietnam to see the view and relax for a few minutes As I was leaning over the railing gazing at rusting mementos of the war years, a small, unassuming Vietnamese walked up to stand alongside me.
Tired and uninterested, I didn’t bother to strike up a conversation – he did It turned out he had spent 16 years here in Victoria He had done well financially and, feeling blessed, he had returned to enrich the lives of Vietnamese children While he knew nothing about teaching, he opened a school and, with the help of a few local Vietnamese, he began providing an education to children who would otherwise never have seen a classroom.
The children come to school for breakfast, are taught until noon and then dismissed During the afternoon and evening, these children would rummage about the city collecting plastic On a good day, a child could earn enough money, about 25 cents, to pay for one meal As I walked back to my hotel, I realized that a night’s stay there added up to 400 meals for these children.
Overwhelmed and fascinated by the story, this selfless man came in and out of my life before I knew it This would have been a natural opportunity to share the Truth but I had missed it and ended up being the student, not the teacher.
When we think about our lives, do our neighbors, work colleagues and friends know that we are Christadelphians? More importantly, do they know what we believe?
An Indonesian sheep among wolves
Encouraging his ambassadors, the Master said, “Fear them not therefore for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed, and hid, that shall not be known What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10 26-28)
The people of Indonesia, the fourth largest country in the world, are quite excited and hopeful these days By the year 2,000 the per capita income is expected to be $100 CDN a month Most of the 181 million people are Muslim and I assumed the man driving me to the airport was of that religion “0, no sir,” he said politely, “I am a Christian!” As we drove through a ghetto of wall-to-wall tin and cardboard houses, this man explained to me in his broken English that being a Christian was absolutely wonderful! To him it provided answers to a dark, confusing world It provided a foundation for family values and a promise of hope
No doubt his life would not be easy as a religious minority Yet not once did he speak of the hardships, all he talked about were the advantages and the glory of God
A New Zealand taxi driver
Having finished a project and having a few hours to spare before the flight back to Hong Kong, I made arrangements with a taxi driver to drop me off at a symphony and pick me up later for the trip to the airport On the way to the plane, he explained he was an engineer who had lost his job during the last deep recession in New Zealand Unable to get work for over a year and having a wife and three children to provide for, he reverted to driving a cab.
The hardship challenged him, each member of the family and his marriage But he said it was their faith that saw them through the difficult times With an exuberance that was almost childlike, this man spoke of the importance of faith and the impact it had on his family I had hoped to tell him about my faith and the Christadelphians but, without exaggeration, I couldn’t get a word in He did not preach to me, he simply explained in detail his journey of faith There was no hesitation or awkwardness in the man’s voice, he wasn’t ashamed or uneasy about the fact he might be speaking to an atheist He believed he had a vital message to tell anyone he met and he proclaimed it from the roof top.
Our dedication today
We may feel quite apart from suffering danger for the gospel’s sake While that is normally true, it’s not as true in other parts of the world A few months ago, while on a Bible mission weekend on a southern island of the Philippines, several Australian brethren found themselves in the middle of a radical Muslim uprising Fearing attack, watches were held throughout the night Had they been discovered and their Christian beliefs exposed, they may have ended up like the nearly 30 others murdered that same weekend Or we could draw attention to those who are turned over to local councils for taking Bibles into China.
The Master is very clear in his call to dedication “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is m heaven He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me” (vs 32-33, 37-38).
It was surely not Christ’s intention to trivialize the importance of family relationships, but rather to use them as benchmarks to help people realize the degree of commitment expected by his Father In this regard, let me share with you two examples of commitment in members of the Hong Kong Ecclesia.
A true commitment always shows
While having lunch with a brother, he told me when he moves to Beijing with Shell Oil Company, he wants to buy two houses I naturally assumed it was for investment purposes In a sense I was right, for the second house he plans to use for an ecclesia there.
On some Sundays the Hong Kong meeting does not take up a collection The reason? The Filipino sisters kept giving what amounted to 30% of their income Considering what the average Filipino makes m Hong Kong, you’ll wonder how they survive Yet when asking why several of the members were not in attendance one Sunday, I was told they had gone to the Easter Gathering in the Philippines This gathering is held only every other year simply because most people can’t afford the trip.
When Bro Simon Louria returned from the gathering of over 600 Christadelphians, he told me of his trip from Manila to the meeting point They got a flat tire on the dirt road they had been traveling for hours While fixing it, a Jeepney – a long open-air truck with two rows of bench seats along either side – pulled over On board was a group of 20 Christadelphians of all ages crammed into the seats, including some who had recognized the brethren fixing the tire These Filipinos had been traveling in over 30 degree (C) heat along dust-choked roads for almost 24 hours Simon. said the reaction when they realized they had come across fellow Christadelphians on route to the same gathering was overwhelming They all woke up and jumped out of the Jeepney, hugging one another and carrying on in animated conversation as if they’d had a full night’s sleep at a five-star hotel.
On this quiet Sunday morning, we come to meet to reflect on a man who was totally committed With the emblems set before us, we must examine ourselves and our level of commitment.
While some verses and even chapters in the Bible require careful examination to gain understanding, most of the message of the Lord is both simple and wonderful So it is with the closing verse of Matthew 10 “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only m the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One