15 December 2013
Dear Phyllis,
Today I am writing you from Penang, Malaysia. I came down here yesterday by train to get another one year Thai visa. Thai visas are a real pain to get, but I found a visa service in Penang, and have been down here four previous times. Brother Singha of the children school tried to get me a teaching visa, but it was too difficult. But he graciously gave me the money to get a volunteer visa that I have had for five years, sponsored by my good friends the Moores and their foundation, Abba House.
The financial desert continues. Five weeks ago my dear friend, Hirota, sent me a new ATM card from Japan. It never arrived. Three days ago I told him to cancel that one and send me a new one. It usually takes about a month from the time I ask him to get me an ATM card, to the time I have it in my hand. But this time I asked him to send it Fed Ex or some similar way. If all goes well we might have it in a week, but that meant I had to come down here with no ATM card or safety net. I hoped Singha had given me enough for my trip and visa but there was no provision for unforeseen emergencies. Praise the Lord another brother, gave me additional funds hours before I left Chiang Mai. I was so relieved to have adequate resources that I was very liberal with my eating after I got to Bangkok. I spent so much money the first day that I decided to live like a monk until I got back to Thailand. I spent zero money for food the first day here, and plan to live basically out of 7-11 with potato chips and water. I am staying in the cheapest room in my guest house that cost $10 a day. It is an 8x8 (8 feet) room with no AC or window. Previously, I have always rented a motor bike, and ridden around the island, going to deserted beaches to spend the days. This time I plan to stay shut up in my cell and not go out. By doing this, I can basically see my way here for the next three or four days. I got here on Saturday which makes my stay two days longer than usual.
Praise God all has gone well thus far, but I am a little concerned about my visa. I had a very good visa service that, more or less, guaranteed my visa. This time I was surprised to discover that my guest house and visa service had moved. I had considered them a very stable, reliable, outfit. I asked, “What happened to the Banana Guest House?”; and was informed they had moved across the street. That was alright, but the staff is totally different, and it looks like they are going backwards. A change in staff is not a good omen. I hope they can still get me my visa tomorrow.
This morning when I woke up the Lord met me with the most wonderful verse. I opened my Bible at random and read, “I have called thee by thy name: thou art Mine. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee... Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He... (Isa. 43:1,2,10). All of that 43rd chapter of Isaiah is fantastic, but those verses were underlined in my Bible and had special meaning for me today. My goodness, what more can the Lord say? How is it possible not to trust Him? I have had 56 years of proving God's faithfulness... and yet I struggle.
I have told you that I am stuck in John 17. I have been there for a couple of months, and there is no end in sight. I am trying to memorize it – not for the sake of memorizing it – but that it might get in my heart. There is nothing like it in print anywhere. Here Jesus shows us the inside of His heart and His amazing relationship with His Father. I believe that we see more of the purpose and objective of heaven here than another place. Here we get an unclouded view inside the heart of God.
Every day different words stand out to me. But frequently they pose more questions than answers. I don't believe you could pick one central word, but the possible list is very small. At the moment I am hung up on the word ONE. Jesus uses it six times (vrs. 11,21,22,23). One major theme of Jesus' prayer is, that it is for His disciples. First He prays that the Father will “keep them through His Name, that they may be one as we are” (vr,11). But in verse 20 and 21 Jesus is praying for those who will be saved through the ministry of His disciples. He is praying for all future believers “that they all may be one. As Thou, Father, art in Me ad I in Thee that they also may be one in Us.” Then He goes on to say, “And the glory that Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one. I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.”
You can't make it any more clear than that. But that raises a whole bucket of questions. What is He praying about? Where is it? How does that affect us? What does it say to me?
Fifty years ago, ecumenicalism was a major thrust. I haven't heard much about it in recent years, but friends tell tell me that it is back on the radar screen. Fifty years ago the National Counsel of Churches and the Word Counsel of Churches (NCC and WCC) had a big push to get everybody together. In their battle cry, the main theme was John 17. They said Jesus was praying for the unity of all Christians so all Christian should all come together under their roof. Their theme was unity. The way they were going to accomplish this was by subtraction. They would eliminate anything that was a divisive issue. The biggest division in Christianity is between conservatives and liberals. Conservatives believe in the inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures, and liberals reject the Bible. Conservatives believe in the deity of Christ, and liberals believe that He was just a man. They go bonkers at the suggestion that Jesus was the Creator. In order for Christians to come together they suggested that conservatives abandon their position on the infallibility of the Bible and their insistence that Jesus was God. It is funny how liberals never give up anything, but conservatives must give up their core beliefs. In order to broaden their base, Fuller Theological Seminary deleted their position on the Bible from their statement of faith.
The next step was to bring all Protestants and Catholics together. To accomplish this the Catholics had to accept Protestants as true Christians and ease up on the Bible. Liberal Catholics theologians were willing to do this. In return Protestants had to give more homage to the Pope. Billy Graham called the Pope the greatest spiritual revivalist of the 20th century.
May I say, flat out, that none of this has anything to do with the oneness that Jesus is praying about in John 17. He is not praying for unity achieved by deleting basic principles, but oneness in Christ. Time and again He holds up His relationship, His oneness, with the Father. There are few subjects that bless me more than to contemplate on the relationship Jesus had with His Father. You talk about being on the same page; you can't get more than that. They had exactly the same heart. They had exactly the same goals, objectives, agenda, etc. They had the same abandonment and commitment to each other. The Father had committed all things to the Son and the Son lived exclusively for the glory of the Father. There was no selfishness in that at all. It was not a 50-50 deal, but at 100-0, 100-0 deal. Oh how beautiful is this picture!
But this is the relationship that Jesus is praying for that He might have with His own people. He longs to be truly one with His people. There is only one way that that is possible. Both sides must be as totally abandoned and committed to each other, just as He is with His Father. There is no restraint on Jesus side. The problem is on our side. If we were as committed to Jesus as He is to the Father, we would have the same oneness. In His prayer, Jesus prays that “they be one as we are”, “even as We are one” and that “they may be made perfect in one” Jesus holds up the standard of His relationship with the Father as the model He desires for His believers. The only way there is going to be spiritual unity among Christians is when all believers are united to Christ just as Christ is united to His Father. This business of deleting Jesus from the equation to achieve unity is insanity. There must be vertical oneness with God before there can be horizontal oneness among men.
When I see that Jesus is praying that His believers have that same relationship, oneness, as His objective, that makes sense. Why should it be less? If it was less it would not be divine. In Rev. 19:7,8 and 21:2,9,10 we see a glimpse of the Bride. I have no problem believing that she is exactly as Jesus has prayed for. I believe she will be perfect. I can believe that Jesus will have the same relationship with His Bride that He has with His Father. And I can believe that they all will be one in heaven. Jesus with His Bride and the Bride being “one in Us”. Clearly this is the objective, and someday it will be achieved.
But oh, where are we today? I am glad that the Lord is so realistic. In the Pauline and general epistles, in the NT, we see all the writers pleading in the same direction. That means that the churches in the 1st century had the same problems that plague us today. More than that, when we read of the Seven Churches in Revelation 2 and 3, we don't see anything that resembles what Jesus was praying for in John 17. Those churches, with one exception, were shot through with major problems. What can we do?
I see no solution other than the one the Lord prescribes to the churches in Revelation – repent. Repent of specific faults. If something is wrong, correct it! I can't do that for everyone, but I certainly can take responsibility for the specific sins in my own life. There is no justification for allowing known sin to continue in anyones life. My goal in life is to be so joined to Jesus as He is with His Father. The way that was achieved in Jesus was the the Father was in Him. Praise God, we have the same option. The very Spirit of God dwells in us. Obviously, I am not going to be perfect in the flesh, but as I allow the Spirit of God to have more control of my life, my life will be brought closer to the standard that Jesus has established.
I think the answer to our problem is in obeying what Jesus commanded in John 14:4 “Abide in Me and I in you”. In doing this, Jesus gave us the perfect illustration – the vine and the branches. That is so simple. Obliviously, the branch is powerless to accomplish anything other than to allow the sap of the vine to flow through it. The branch can't grunt hard enough to produce fruit. The branch can't make resolutions to do better. There is only one method. There is life in the vine. That life is capable to producing branches. And those branches are capable of allowing the life of the vine to flow through it so there is fruit. The more we abide in Christ, the more the Spirit of God is able to conform us to what He desires us to be. And as we become more perfectly joined to Jesus the more we will have oneness among ourselves.
There is a oneness in a common purpose. Football fans are certainly perfectly joined in oneness for their team. A spirit of nationalism brings a country together. There are many things that people have in common that bring them together. Mans great goal is world peace. To achieve this there is a tremendous move towards globalization. The ecumenicalists are pointing to John 17 as their reason for uniting. But there simply is no true oneness apart from oneness in Jesus.
Oh my goodness, the Lord speaks to me trough that chapter. And if He is speaking to me about something, that is a pretty good indication that He intends to do that in my life.
Praise God! I hope He gives me a visa.
bill
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