24 December 2017
Dear Phyllis,
On the 24th
of December it is unthinkable to write anything but a Christmas
message. The greatest Christmas message I ever heard was by Roald Lidal
at the Manza Hotel in Kusatsu. We were having a Christmas party there
and Roald was the speaker. Roald told the story of a elderly Chinese
Christian man.
This
dedicated man and his wife had prayed for many years for a child and,
in her later years, his wife quite miraculously had conceived and bore a
son. Because the baby was so unusual, and asked of God, they named him
Samuel.
While
the lad was still very young, the Christian man got embroiled in a
legal controversy with a man in town that hated him, and unjustly took
him to court. While the case was still under litigation the Lord spoke
to the Christian man and gave him the most obscene instruction
imaginable. The Lords said, “I want you to give your son to your enemy”.
The poor man recoiled in horror, but the Lord's message burned in his
heart. At last, with a trembling voice, he spoke to his wife about the
subject and was stunned when she replied, “Yes I know. The Lord told me
the same thing”. Such a thing was unheard of in China – to give an only
child to an enemy??. Unbelievably, the enemy accepted the offer, but
that still didn't slow him down. Tragically the case went against the
Christian man, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
During
his incarceration his wife died, and when, at last, he was released
from prison there was nothing else left for him to do but travel around
sharing what he knew of the gospel with people who had no hope. He had
been a traveling evangelist for several years when one night he was
riding in a bus that broke down in a rural area in central China. It was
a cold snowy night and the passengers had to fend for themselves to
find shelter. As the poor man was walking along the road, he passed a
farm house, and stopped to ask if they would give him shelter for the
night. The people turned out to be Christian and gladly offered to let
him stay with them for the night; but they were going out. They were on
their way to a dendo (evangelistic) meeting in another town. There was a
well known gifted speaker that would be speaking that night. If he was
interested, they would be glad to have him go with them. Of course he
was delighted to go.
As
they were on their way to the meeting the old man shared his testimony
how he and his wife had prayed for many years for a son. Then in the
midst of the court battle. they gave their son to their enemy. While he
was in prison his enemy had moved to a distant city. There had been a
serious earthquake and everybody was killed. With his son gone and his
wife dead there was nothing else left for him in life but what he was
doing.
They
were late getting to the meeting; the house was packed, and they had to
sit in the back. The old mans eyes were dim; and the seating was so bad
he stood to try to get a better view. When the speaker up front saw the
old man standing in the rear, suddenly he stopped in the middle of his
message and exclaimed, “Are you my father Zhau?”
The
amazing gift of love had born fruit. Some time after the court case the
enemy and his family had been converted. They raised the boy Christian
and told him the story of his actual parents. The report about the
earthquake was true, and the family had been killed, but the boy was
spared. He had been wonderfully saved and became a powerful evangelist.
It was on Christmas eve as he was preaching in a house church meeting
that he saw the old man standing in the back of the room that looked
like it might be his father.
What
a meeting! What a night! What a sight! The people there saw two men
standing up front. The man who gave his only son to his enemy. The
wonderful fruit that had come from that act. The gift of love had borne
tremendous fruit. The enemy had been saved and the lad they gave away
had become a mighty man of God. And the Lord brought this all together
to present His Christmas gift to the father on Christmas eve.
The
angels were singing the night Jesus was born in a barn. And the angels
must have been singing the night the story of Christmas was reenacted in
a house church in China. I don't know if the angels were singing the
night Roald Lidal related that testimony at a Christmas party in Manza
but I know there was one man sitting in the back so broken up by this
story that he couldn't move. As the people filed out of the room, I just
sat there sobbing.
Sometimes
it takes a long time before we see the results of our sacrifice for
Jesus. Very few people have offered to Jesus such an expensive gift as
that couple did in China. And very few people have received such an
amazing reward as the father did that night. More than that, the loss
was only for a very few short years, but their reward will last for
eternity. It may be trite to say we can't out give God. It is true that
at times it may look like we are slightly ahead, but when the books are
balanced we will be on our face wondering and worshiping the Father that
gave His only Son to the most undeserving enemies (Rom. 5:8). It is
only spiritual blindness that keeps us from weeping so hard now that it
would seem tears would wash away our eyeballs.
Gomen,
I don't know what to say. I don't want to talk about Santa Clause. I
don't want to talk about a Christmas tree. I don't want to talk about
Christmas presents. Even the very story of Baby Jesus in a manger seems
out of place. I can scarcely share this story that I heard 17 years ago
in Manza. When the reality of what God did for us in giving to us His
only Son breaks through my dull mind like a small shaft of light in a
dark room; that just faltens me so badly I am speechless.
Oh,
Lord, please be merciful to this poor man. There is no way I can come
close to repaying my inestimable debt. Please, Lord, please give me
something I can offer to Jesus. As unworthy and as unfit as I am, if
there is any way You can take the tatters of this life and put it in the
plus column to bring honor to Jesus, all I can say is that it is
unconditionally Yours. Oh, thank You Father for sending us Jesus.
bill
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