He Speaks Your Language

by Richard O'FfillI was listening to the news not long ago. They told of a lady who had retired as a dean in a certain university. She lives alone and is in her 80s. She received a telephone call from a person who claimed to be, if I remember right, representing Ed McMann from the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. The person told her that she was the lucky winner of a million dollars, but in order to receive the money she needed to send a bond of ten thousand dollars. This she did. A day or so later the person called again and informed her that she had not won one million but ten million dollars but that she would need to send more bond money. I don't need to tell you what was going on. In the end she lost sixty thousand dollars to a voice on the telephone that had told her to send the money to a post office box number that had since been closed. When they talked with the old lady afterwards about the person who had called, all she could say that she could remember about him was that he was so kind and understanding!

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The Scam Gospel

Ladies and gentlemen, as a minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, I am here to tell you that there are voices out there, voices that sound kind and understanding, but these voices could well be robbing you of something much more than sixty thousand dollars. If you will do as they say, these kind understanding voices could cause you to give up the true gospel and invest in a hollow empty gospel. The hollow empty gospel will be kinder and more understanding, but it will be a gospel that will lead the person who buys into it to nowhere but eternal loss. I really don't understand why so many of us are buying into these gospel scams. Can I interest you in buying the Brooklyn Bridge? We have no one to blame but ourselves for how this will all turn out. The Scriptures say that we have a more sure word of prophecy wherein we do well to take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark place. But apparently we have preferred the darkness--no, we really don't prefer darkness, it is just that many have lost the ability to tell the difference. The junk gospel that is being preached in more and more places these days is really no gospel at all. As you remember, the word gospel means "good news" and the scam gospel that is being preached in more and more places is not even good news, in fact it is bad news. Maybe I shouldn't say that though, because to some mind-sets, bad news is good news. The true gospel, the real thing, is the only thing that can save us. The devil knows that, and for this reason he has come up with a gospel that instead of being good news, is bad news even though it sounds like good news. But it is, nevertheless, bad news because the person who buys into it will be lost instead of being saved, and though they will finally see that it is bad news, they will have stayed in it until it was too late because they though it was good news. The true gospel is both bad news and good news. The true gospel is bad news to the devil and those who have bought into his mind-set and it is good news to sinners who want out. But here is where the rub comes in. Extensive longitudinal, demographic studies done over thousands of years by the Holy Spirit have concluded that the majority of sinners, when push comes to shove, even when they are confronted with the good news prefer to stay the way that they are. You would think that this being the case the devil would be satisfied with his winnings over the long haul and just live and let live a little. But the devil is not like that. He is not the kind of a person that you would want for a next door neighbor. He is not into live and let live but rather he lives and you die. At the end of time just before the close of probation, which by the way is now, he makes a super demonic effort to cause the ruin of everyone who happens to be alive at the time, including the good guys. Satan has a dream--we would see it as a nightmare--but he has a dream and that dream is to to completely eliminate the people who insist on following God on this planet. Let me read Revelation 12:17, "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Of course we have come to understand that Jesus isn't going to let the remnant to be wiped out, though there will be many martyrs. Just before the close of probation God in His mercy will put into motion the greatest revelation of the true gospel that the world has ever seen. In order to try to checkmate that move by God, the devil is right now putting into motion the greatest revelation of a false Gospel that has been seen since the Middle Ages.

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We Don't Watch This Fight--We Are In It

By now you might be thinking, "Hey, this is going to be some fight. I think I'll stay and watch." No, my friend, we don't watch this fight--we are in it. We are sure how it will finally end but we are not sure who will be on whose side when it is all over. I say this because now what before looked clear is becoming very confusing. There are huge numbers changing sides every day. People who apparently were followers of the true gospel are running up the white flag and surrendering to the false gospel. At the same time huge numbers who seemed to be on the side of the false gospel are moving across the lines to the true. This move is not always physical. In fact, at this stage of the battle it is a change of ideology. This means that people can even be going to the same church and not be on the same side anymore. This phenomena is to be expected. Jesus was betrayed by an insider and he himself said there would be false teachers and false prophets and that His true followers would be betrayed even by family members. All my life I had heard of what was going to happen in the last days. What is happening was clearly told us in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. But I think we were kind of like Jesus' disciples. He told them over and over again that He would be betrayed and crucified, but they must have been thinking of something else at the time because they never caught on. And so God revealed to us through His Word that it would be this way but we must have been a little bit like the guy who said that he wasn't afraid to die. He just didn't want to be there when it happened! But then I said that the devil would come up with a good news gospel that was really bad news because it would be fatal to your salvation if taken according to directions.

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The Same Vocabulary Used by the False Gospel

The gospel that the devil has devised for the nineties is almost impossible to differentiate from the true gospel. This is because the false gospel uses exactly the same vocabulary that the true gospel uses with a few exceptions and some serious spin doctoring. It is incredible how clever he has been. He has basically invented a gospel that is every sinner's dream come true. Of course we are all sinners, but there are two classes of sinners these days. Listen to me now, I repeat we are all sinners, but there are two classes of us sinners and we are 180 degrees apart. One class of sinners like it that way, and the others want out. The devil has designed a gospel for the first group. The true gospel is for the second. His gospel tells every sinner in good and regular standing what they have always wanted to hear, that Jesus saves us while we keep on sinning. The true gospel is the news for every sinner who is fed up with sin and longing to be set free from its penalty and power and that gospel is sin shall not have dominion over us. I don't know if you are into physical fitness. It is important that we get exercise. We use the expression "keep in shape." Not long ago my wife and I joined Bally's. We go there to walk, to swim and to use the conditioning machines. I have heard that weight lifters say "no pain, no gain." If that is true in muscle building it is also true in the spiritual life. If you hear a gospel that doesn't cause pain and death to the life of sin then you are hearing a junk gospel. We need to set the record straight. There may be some who don't understand. But listen, to me now, when Adam and Eve sinned something didn't just happen to their bodies, something happened in their hearts. Where five minutes before their nature was joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self control, five minutes later we are talking about people who now were bent to adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, emulation, wrath, strife, sedition and heresies. Think now, the gospel, if it is going to be good news, has got to address both problems. The problem of a body which is now old age positive and a nature that is suddenly anti-social. Do you understand what I mean? It is easier, if you can say such a thing, for God to do something about our mortal bodies, than it is for Him to do something about our contaminated hearts. To do something about the body is simply a blink of the eye as far as He is concerned. To do something about our hearts is infinitely more complex. It requires us to want to change. Sinners who are into sin feel good about themselves the way they are. This makes it impossible for God to save them. Though nothing is impossible with God, the one thing He will not do is give you a new heart when you don't want one. If that was the way that He did things He would have aborted what happened at the Tree of Knowledge. Do you see where I am coming from? Ladies and gentlemen, God created us to be holy. We are not holy, therefore the gospel is not a true gospel unless it is having the effect in your life and mine of de-installing the works of the flesh and installing the fruit of the Spirit. I told you that the sham gospel the devil has come up with for those that are into sin uses the same vocabulary as the true gospel with some strategic omissions and some special spin doctoring. For this reason a person who is looking for a way out of sin can become momentarily confused when he hears the false gospel being preached. The devil is an evil genius. He knows how to play on words and to play one concept off against another. A person can be thrown off guard. Now let me give you a few things to look out for. Remember he speaks our language.

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He Speaks Your Language

"Legalism"

1. Be careful when you hear people talking a lot these days about legalism. This word is being used more and more often as a smoke screen to try to play down the Ten Commandments. A person in their theological right mind in the nineties doesn't believe that we are saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. But make no mistake, people who are being saved are people who want to keep the Ten Commandments and they are committed by God's grace to do so. By the way, the reason you can't be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments is simply because a person who hasn't been born again can't keep the commandments from the heart no matter how hard they try. The Bible teaches us that the Ten Commandments can tell you what not to do but they can't give you the power not to do it. Only the Spirit of our Crucified and Risen Lord can do that. But make no mistake, Jesus died and was resurrected from the dead not to get you and me out of obedience but to get us into obedience. If you hear someone preaching against legalism who is telling you that people who are being saved don't have to keep the commandments, that person is preaching a false gospel because a person who has the Spirit of Christ in them moves out of disobedience into obedience and He who has begun this good work in us will finish it.

"Christ Did It All"

2. Another time you want to wake up and fine-tune is when you hear people say that Christ did it all and that we don't have to do anything. This is a package bomb that will blown off more than your fingers. I say a package bomb. The mistake is in the combination of concepts. Of course Christ did it all. Who said he didn't? When Jesus died on the cross and three days later was resurrected and 40 days later was taken to heaven the sin problem had a decisive solution. It is complete and permanent. I said the problem is in the packaging of the concepts. The thing blows up in your hand at the part of "we don't have to do anything." Now if we were lesser life forms that would be true. But we were originally created in the image of God and as such we have been endowed with the power of choice. This means, ladies and gentlemen,that although Christ did it all it means nothing to us unless we buy into it. Are you kidding? We don't have anything to do? For we who were dead in trespasses and sin, accepting the life changing power of Jesus Christ into our lives is the most important decision that we will ever make. I wish they wouldn't say that we don't have to do anything. I told you that the devil had done a lot of spin doctoring. You have to fine-tune though. If we sign the contract on the devil's gospel and then go to claim our heavenly real estate we will hear the words "depart from me ye workers of iniquity...I never knew you." By now you might be saying,"but I have heard that it is easy to be saved and hard to be lost." The truth is the Word says if scarcely shall a righteous man be saved what shall be the end of those who refuse the gospel? 1 Peter 4:18, "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" But if it is hard to be saved Jesus' way, it is impossible to be saved any other way. But be saved we must and be saved we will.

"Pharisee"

3. Out in the world, if you want to put somebody down you can call them an "xyz." But in the church there is a nice clean way to shut up someone and that is you call them a Pharisee. Calling a person a Pharisee in a religious context is like calling them an "xyz" outside. As you remember, the Pharisees were the bad guys in the Bible. It was better to be a prostitute or a tax collector than a Pharisee. The Pharisees were the enemies of Jesus. So when they call a person a Pharisee these days it is just about the worst insult you can give to someone, because it means you are an enemy of Jesus and besides that you are a hypocrite and think you are better than anyone else. You might be thinking, surely no one out there would call a person a Pharisee. I'm sorry, but it is happening. It is happening more and more. The scripture tells us that we do not battle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. You know the text. We are not supposed to be fighting against each other rather we are supposed to be united in the truth in the struggle against error. Unfortunately, we are not united. Some have lined up with the truth and others have lined up with error. Back in the old days it would have been easy. Back then we had a lot of strong opinions but we agreed that the Bible would be the last word, and so we would all go to the Bible and when it was over we would settle our differences by the truth of God's Word. God's Word was the last word! Sorry to say, those days seem to have passed. God's Word seems to no longer be the arbitrator of truth. There are still some who see the Bible as the ultimate test of authority, but there is a growing segment of opinion who feel that the Bible somehow falls short of meeting the complex issues of the 21st century. They say we must overlook a plain "thus saith the Lord" and that we must talk it out and come to a meeting of the minds based on a little from my culture and a little from yours, and throwing in a whole lot of the culture of the world for good measure. Mix it all together and we come up with not a new theology but rather a new morality that at its core is the old immorality. Back in what must have been the twenties, my wife's grandfather came to the United States from the Ukraine. He was in his late teens and alone on a boat headed for the USA. A group of Russians approached him and said, "where are you going?" He said, "I am going to America." They said,  "You can't just be going to America, you have to be going to somewhere in America." "I don't know where I'm going", He said. "Then why don't you go with us? We are going to Southern Virginia." And so he did. The Russians set themselves up as farmers in the area around Yale Virginia. They even built a little church. They put a sign out front that said "Russian Baptist Church". One day a couple of Seventh-day Adventist literature evangelists came along. They told the church leaders that Saturday was the Sabbath. The leaders of the Russian Baptist Church said that the men were wrong, but that they would be willing to study the matter from the Bible and so they did. When it was all over, the leaders of the Russian Baptist Church took down the sign in from of the church and put up a new one that said "Russian Seventh-day Adventist Church". It is hard in the mind-set of the nineties, here at the beginning of the 21st century, to settle issues having to do with truth, with faith and with morals, with the Bible. For even Christians, and I might say even many Seventh-day Adventists, the Bible is no longer the standard of right and wrong. But back to the matter of someone calling someone else a Pharisee. Don't worry if that happens to you. Don't forget that it is human nature to begin to call names when reason breaks down. I was participating in one of the discussions in the Adventist Forum on CompuServe. The theme of the discussion was homosexuality. The discussion had been going on for at least six months. I happened to find it one day. Believe it or not, the discussion was being carried along by a practicing homosexual who is a prominent person in a certain Seventh-day Adventist church, and this person was being supported by a group of people who believe that there is such a thing as a practicing homosexual Christian. Ladies and Gentlemen, a person who practices any sin with impunity--by that I mean without shame whether they be a practicing homosexual, or a person who is fooling around with some else's spouse or a compulsive liar or what have you, is blaspheming the name of Christ if they call themselves a follower of Jesus. At best they have departed from the faith. The apostle John is clear. He says in 1 John 1:6: "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth." But that text is easy to turn on its head. These days people simply call darkness light. So there they were in the forum debating whether it is right or wrong to practice a homosexual lifestyle. If the early founders of our church knew that it would come to this, they would turn over in their graves. To say nothing of how Jesus must weep. This is indeed what it means to crucify the Son of God afresh. I joined the discussion. I used the Scripture to establish the truth. The other person argued that scripture was ok for a certain time, but had to be taken with a grain of salt in our time. Finally the other person said that the problem was that I was a Pharisee. When arguments run out, first you will hear a point of view that will begin to run down the Bible, and then they will start to call you names. Friends, I know that what I am saying is unusual. Yet we are in a struggle. We must understand the issues and how the devil's will try in intimidate us into giving up the truth. In some ways, the persecution of the last days is underway. It is a mind game at this stage. But listen, don't back down when, in the struggle between right and wrong, between truth and error, someone begins to call you names. You are in good company. When they couldn't handle truth anymore they said that Jesus was a devil. So don't worry, if they called Jesus a devil why worry if someone calls you a Pharisee? Besides, Pharisees were themselves sinners in denial. That is what I said to the pro-homosexual lifestyle group on the forum. I said, I am not a Pharisee. A pharisee was a sinner in denial. I do not deny that I am a sinner. It seems to me that if we want to get technical, a Pharisee is anyone who is into sin but denying it." So remember what I am telling you. The devil wants you to back down from the truth. He will try to intimidate you by classing you with the enemies of Christ. But don't worry, that is exactly what they did to Jesus, and Jesus said rather clearly that those who would stand for the truth would be treated like he was treated. You can bank on it. Remember what I said early on. The devil speaks our language. He is now using the words that we used to use to call people out of sin. He is using the same words to institutionalize sin and give credibility to his junk gospel. Remember what I am telling you now. He speaks our language. Before you agree to buy into what is being said, take the time to read the fine print.

"The Devil's Trump-word"

4. Now I am going to tell you about the word that is the most misused and  and abused of all. It is the devil's trump word. I don't need to tell you which one that it is. You can guess his trump word is the word "Love". It is almost unbelievable, but the word love is the buzz word in the devil's sham gospel. It is the most dangerous word of all. He has painted the word love on the door that leads to eternal loss and any number of people are streaming into it. Now I know what you might be thinking by now. "Pastor O'Ffill, I suspected something was wrong with you, now I know it. You are against everything, and now you have revealed your hand because you are against love." Did I say that I was against true love? I am not. God is love, and I love God. It is not me who is against love. It is the devil that is against love. But to do it right he has taken the word love and turned it inside out. Listen to me now please. Listen up and listen closely. The love that is being preached in more and more places these days is really not love at all. This is why when you hear someone preaching about how important and wonderful love is, before you get that warm comfortable glow, it would be smart to ask the person what they mean by love. When a person says these days that all that matters is that we love one another, ask them what they think about living together before you are married. Don't let them off the hook. Insist that they answer you. When a person says these days that all that matters is that we love one another, ask them what they think about the Sabbath. They will probably say that they believe in it. That's good, but don't stop there, get them to tell you how we ought to keep it. My friends, do I need to tell you things are not like what they look like or sound like these days. If we don't have the ability to discern right from wrong, when Jesus comes, we could discover that we have gone to a lot of trouble for nothing. Can't we see? The devil speaks our language now. He is using all the right words, but they now have all the wrong meanings. You want to really know what is going on? When you hear someone talking about the fact that all that matters is that we love on another, ask them what they think about obedience. Here is where the hidden agenda will come out. The love that is being preached in many places is a substitute for obedience to the Word of God. That is how you can tell the true love from the false love. The true love is into obedience to the Word of God. False love always will play down obedience. That should be your signal that something is wrong. Remember what Jesus said. He said, "If you love me keep my commandments." Unfortunately the love that is being taught in more and more places is actually a cover for selfishness, an "I will decide what is right and what is wrong for myself" attitude. We are being told that love is all that matters and that is right. True love is all that matters and true love works like this. Listen, you remember how it goes. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." I don't need to tell you that the "love" of the nineties doesn't have much in common with what I have just read. If you could characterize the love of the nineties in just a few words you might say that love of the nineties takes. I doesn't give and when it does, it wants something in return.

"Judge"

5. Another word that the devil is using very effectively to keep people from being able to discern between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and error, is the word "judge". When you are discussing a particular matter with some and the conversation drifts in to matters having to do with faith and morals, it is more and more common for someone to say, "but we shouldn't judge." I would like to ask why not? When we buy a house, we judge. When we buy a car, we judge. When someone accidentally gives us the the wrong change, we judge. When someone backs into your car and dents the bumper, we judge. What is the deal? If someone hurt our child or a family member we don't mind judging. But a person may say, "but that is different! I judge when it has to do with me, when it doesn't have to do with me it not my business." A few months ago, I was called to jury duty in Seminole County, Florida. The day that I spent there helped me to better understand the significance of the process of judgment here and before God. As I sat in the court room I thought of the fact that the Bible says that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The judge and the lawyers emphasized over and over again that the accused was innocent until proven guilty. It occurred to me, and maybe what I am about to say is not a totally good illustration, but when we give our lives to Jesus we are then declared innocent. We are, as we say, under the blood. Jesus is our Righteousness, yet we continued to live after we professed to accept Him. The question in the judgment will be to see if we stayed under the blood or we didn't. Those who accepted Jesus as Savior and then are lost, will be condemned by their own lives. They either did or didn't let Jesus cleanse them in an on-going way from all unrighteousness.

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The Last Generation?

I was talking to someone about the times in which we live. Do you realize, my friends, that very likely we are the generation that is being given the opportunity to be the ones in which Jesus will finish his work. We are very likely the generation that will meet God face to face without seeing death.  This is enormously different from any generation before us. This means that Jesus will finish his work in us while we live. This means a cooperation with Him that is by it's very nature different than any generation before. Not because we are better than any generation that has gone before, but rather because of the work that Jesus must and will complete in us. It must be said of us, "here are they that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus," and in another place "these are they that follow the lamb where ever he goeth". Here is the text: Revelation 14:4 "These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb." Jesus is serious about completing the work in us that He has so graciously begun. This is no time for business as usual. We cannot afford to slack when we are so near the end. We love Jesus too much to let Him down just now when His great plan for the cleansing and blotting out of sins is about to occur.

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Conclusion

The Devil has done more to damage the church of God since he joined it than he ever did when he was trying to wipe it out in the persecutions of the past. He now has learned the language of the gospel. He knows all the right words to say at all the right times. But as I have been pointing out, he is not using the words to further the plan of salvation but to try to deceive and finally destroy those who don't seem to know what is going on. What are we going to do about all of this? What we must do is forget about trying to find a new interpretation to the faith that has come to us from our fathers, and discover how things were meant to be. Our faith was based on truth. We may not have applied it consistently or understood how deep and wide it was, but that was not a problem of truth and error but rather of application of truth. Let's get into the Word as we never have before. May I suggest the book, Bible Readings for the Home? Its format is question-and-answer and each question is answered with a text of scripture. Let us get into praying that the Holy Spirit will make the gospel real in our lives. We've gotten into trouble because we were often not growing in grace, and even sometimes we were not practicing what we were preaching. It is not too late. God will help us.

Jesus: The Unesteemed

Larry Kirkpatrick. oab Seventh-day Adventist Church, Utah, USA

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Scripture Reading: Isaiah 53:3

He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

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Despised and Rejected by Men

According to the dictionary, the word "despised" comes from the Latin word "de- (down) spicere (to look)." The word "rejected" also comes from Latin, "reiect," meaning "to throw back." Jesus was despised and rejected by humanity. Remember, as we've studied in Isaiah 53, we've observed that Jesus didn't come as a glowing special-effect; He didn't come with the glory that He had with God before the world was (John 17:5). He didn't come in such outward radiance or even ostentatious display of intellect that humanity would be forced to receive Him. Isaiah asked "who has believed our report"(Isaiah 53:1) precisely because the response of Israel to her Maker was so poor. When we looked at that initial verse showing that Jesus is truly our first Need and last Hope, we saw that they insisted on looking somewhere else. "To whom had the arm of the Lord been revealed" but to Israel? Yet because He refused to parade an outward glory, refused to come in stature and pomp and purple and beauty, He was not received. He came humbled in form and placid of character. He presented a kingdom cutting directly across the twisted self-nature of humankind. And our response was dark, if predictable. When we gathered together and considered Jesus in Isaiah 53:2, The Root, we looked at the nature of His humanity. We saw that He had immeasurably humbled Himself in taking the fallen nature of man. We saw that He faced real temptation, and lived through real struggles, just as we do. He did not come "to our world to give the obedience of a lesser God to a greater, but as a man to obey God's Holy Law, and in this way He is our example" (MS. 1, 1892). How I appreciate these facts. Through the Holy Spirit, Ellen White says:

Christ came to this earth to show the human race how to obey God. He might have remained in heaven, and from there given exact rules for man's guidance. But He did not do this. In order that we might make no mistake, He took our nature, and in it lived a life of perfect obedience. He obeyed in humanity, ennobling and elevating humanity by obedience. He lived in obedience to God, that not only by word of mouth, but by His every action, He might honor the law. By so doing, He not only declared that we ought to obey, but showed us how to obey. Our only safety is in dying to self, and depending wholly on Christ. We need to keep ever before us the reality of Christ's humanity. When He became our Substitute and Surety, it was as a human being. He came as a man, to render obedience to the only true God. He came not to reveal God as wanting in power, but God in all His fulness. He came to show what God is willing to do and what He has done that we might be made partakers of the divine nature. While enduring the contradiction of sinners against Himself, our Saviour lived a perfect human life. This He did that we also might be perfect. He is everything to us, and He bids us look to Him, for "without Me," He says, "ye can do nothing." The obedience that Christ rendered is exactly the obedience that God requires from human beings today. It was the obedience of a son. He served His Father in willingness and freedom, and with love, because it was the right thing for Him to do. "I delight to do Thy will, O My God," He declared; "yea, Thy law is within My heart." Thus we are to serve God. Our obedience must be heart-service. It was always this with Christ. If we love Him, we shall not find it a hard task to obey. We shall obey as members of the royal family. We may not be able to see the path before us, but we shall go forward in obedience, knowing that all issues and results are to be left with God. . . .[I'm leaving out a wonderful paragraph about the law here]. . . .The grace of God is the line of demarcation between God's children and the multitude that believe not. While one is brought into captivity to Christ, another is brought into captivity to the prince of darkness. The heart of the one who responds to the drawing of Christ glows with the Saviour's love. He shows forth the praises of Him who has called him from darkness into marvelous light. He can not help using his talent of speech to tell of the grace which has been so abundantly bestowed on him; for he has enlisted with those who are striving to advance the glory of God, and has thus become a channel of light. Willing and obedient, he is one of the number called by Inspiration "a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people." Ellen G. White, ST January 25, 1899.

Jesus "took our nature, and in it lived a life of perfect obedience." I guess we were looking for something altogether different. We so preferred the alien, fictionalized, "almighty" God—a God who was so far above and so far away that we could be excused from our responsibility to obey! We didn't want to have to choose. We didn't want to have to stand on one side or the other of the grace-line—"the line of demarcation between God's children and the multitude that believe not." It is unquestionably because of this—because God came too close for our comfort—because He truly became one with us and one of us—that "He is despised and rejected of men." We looked down upon Him, because in Him we saw a dusty man. We wanted to see a God obeying God but we were given God willingly humbled to the level of fallen man and then we saw this Being obey God. No wonder we were offended. We couldn't bear that. We didn't want that. We wanted sin. We wanted release from responsibility. We wanted "our rights" as fallen men! We sought for a gospel with a free-ride. As if heaven owed us one. We are a race of sinners. We are wicked. We are evil. We are darkness. So what does the Holy God care about us for? Why does He plan to win the race with us? Is heaven hung up on making it into Ripley's "Believe it or Not?" Is our Father in heaven doing this just because even He needs a cheap thrill some of the time? God forbid. Heaven is not just showing-off to be showing-off. Heaven has an agenda and it must be our agenda. Heaven is embarked upon ending sin for eternity. It won't happen again. That's why Jesus, although despised and rejected of men, came to this world, His world. He's not just climbing a mountain because its there; He's ending sin because its there. And it doesn't belong there. It doesn't belong anywhere.

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A Man of Sorrows, and Acquainted with Grief

The easy way out is not Jesus' way out. He humbled Himself to death, "even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). If Jesus took the nice nature of pre-fall Adam, then why did He walk into the garden of Gethsemene and pray to His Father to take the cup of suffering from Him? Why did He say not His will, but His Father's be done? Because in the humanity that He set up His tent in—that He lived in—there was a strange, alien pull. Although His character was unselfish to its core, the nature He bore as a human was awry; it had as much built-in distortion and brokenness as ours does, because it was our nature. Deep down inside there arose from the mysterious place of His humanness a pull toward self. He never indulged this pull, but fought it every step of the way. It was always there, lurking, just revving. It was like a cold winter's morning when you go out early, before leaving for work, to start the car and get it warmed up and its heater running before leaving. There it is running, ready to roll, ready to put into gear, ready to back out of the drive-way and onto the street. But Jesus never let His nature take Him for that ride. Instead, He "condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3). Oh yes; make no mistake, Jesus was a man of sorrows. He fought back daily, even hourly, against a poisonous nature when His saying just one tiny "yes" to it would have given Him such great relief. But it would have killed His conscience and ended the government of God. He was acquainted with grief. Yes, He knew what it was to loose loved ones, to experience poverty and hardship, to be called a worker of miracles by the power of demons. He knew what it was to be taunted as a child and to be an outcast in those years when humanity most longs for companionship and the acceptance of other youth. As a virile young man He denied the carnal and abstained from all impurity, no matter how inviting to the unfulfilled inward-pulling nature He wore more closely than skin-tight. His character was preserved untainted. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He was acquainted with the grief of resisting a downward-spiraling nature that was ever at war with the unselfish kingdom He had come to reveal. From within a broken nature, Jesus unfurled the flag of the kingdom of God. He climbed the mountain of sin with His Father and the Holy Spirit, and put up heaven's stars and stripes. He restored our freedom. Because of who He was and what He lived, we can become sons and daughters of the King. John 1:12-13. Thank God.

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We Hid Our Faces From Him

We hid our faces from Him. At the cross, all the disciples, even the beloved John, ran and fled. They couldn't believe that Jesus was Jesus but He was also on the cross. That was a non-sequitor—an illogical assumption—to them. How could this be the fate of their beloved Jesus? Peter grasping what Jesus said was coming, urged, "Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee" (Matthew 16:22). Jesus recognized in Peter's well-meaning but hijacked sentiments the subtle suasion' of the devil, and responded firmly, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: for thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men" (Matthew 16:23). Peter didn't realize it, but He was hiding his face from Jesus when he urged Christ to stop short of the sacrifice before Him, "even the death of the cross." We are like Peter. We don't want to contemplate the consequences of the kind of self-sacrifice beheld at the cross. How much more we would prefer that Jesus "do it all" for us, than that we might do anything at all for Him. How we wish that the pathway to heaven was greased with oil and butter and we could just slide in to home-plate in the vaguely self-serving glory that God loved us so much that He somehow just couldn't live without us. His love was so "great" that He "bent the rules for me" is, I guess, what we would like to think. Because we sure don't seem inclined to live as if we thought otherwise. The Jews didn't—and we don't—really want to lay claim to a "God" who hangs naked and defeated on a cold wooden cross and dies just at the grand finale! We don't want to let Him shine His light on our conscience in any intimate way, because there are dark things in there and we'd just prefer that He "leave them alone." The old saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." We don't want to admit that it's broke, nor do we want to lift a glove to fix it. Maybe God can give us a pill or something and that will fix it; but we sure hope there is nothing that He wants us to do.

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Jesus: The Unesteemed

In His rebuke of the devil, Jesus pointed out that Satan did not value the things of God. The last part of the text we've chosen today reads: "He was despised, and we esteemed Him not" (Isaiah 53:3). That is, we refused to rightly value Him. This all boils down to the utterly different values of selflessness and selfishness. It is only love that can value another above one's self. Satan charged that all beings were selfish, even God. He claimed that His (God's) requirements were self-serving, that no truly selfless service can exist. Do you recall Satan's claim in the dialogue with God over Job? Both of his claims were that Job's motivations were selfish (Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5). Jesus also warned us about our own motivations:

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Luke 11:11-13

Jesus pointed out that even evil people value the well-being of their children. And we are evil. Don't we value the well-being of our loved-ones? But when it came to the Lord of glory, we esteemed Him not. We refused to value Jesus and what He stood for. His kingdom is so different from that kingdom so naturally envisioned by we who are evil. And therein lies our joy and hope today. Because Jesus did not consent to leave us in our twisted and self-serving value-system. He came to set us free. Job was born with the same kind of perverse nature as us. He too was inwardly twisted, predisposed to love evil and hate the good. But as he walked through life something happened. He began to live God's way. How interesting it would be to have a record of his childhood and youth; unfortunately, inspiration has not granted that to us. We don't know the details about his youthful years. But something happened back there that changed his life. And Satan's claims were refuted by Job's reaction to the calamities he experienced. We know that in eternity Job will be thankful for what God did when He intervened and helped him to see His kingdom. Jesus was unesteemed. He was unvalued by a world that owed Him everything. The record of John reads, "He came unto His own and His own received Him not" (John 1:11). But it wasn't just His coming to the Jewish nation. The first verses of John chapter one speak in global terminology, not national or local. "All things were made by Him" (John 1:3); "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4); "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12). Jesus was unvalued. His values are contrary to the values of the world. If we do not count Jesus as all-valuable, if we are not willing to set aside everything interfering with our communion with Him, then we are still clinging to our old value-system. We need not keep it. It is outdated for you and for me. We have changed kingdoms. We have been translated to the kingdom of Jesus (Colossians 1:13). Jesus has been unvalued. But that was then. What about now? Cannot we see that only because of His intervention, today we enjoy the hope of eternal life, and can live heaven on earth in the here and now?

Yes, ‘tis sweet to trust in Jesus, Just from sin and self to cease, Just from Jesus simply taking, Life, and rest, and joy, and peace.

Today, as we partake in this communion service, we know that Jesus is coming back for us. In the meantime, let us receive His heartwork within, receiving Him who we had counted Unesteemed, now as Esteemed. Let us receive, in this bitter, sin-poisoned world His sweetness and trust in Him. Let's simply take from Him, what He so simply gives to us: life and rest and joy and peace.

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Por Lucas Leys. Lejos del estereotipo de líder juvenil hombre, joven, gracioso, intérprete de la guitarra, seminarista y con una camioneta, las siguientes señales acompañan a cada líder juvenil eficaz (sea hombre o mujer). Dios requiere algo más de un líder de jóvenes que saber cómo armar un buen programa para los encuentros semanales que organiza.

El liderazgo eficaz es el complejo resultado de una diversidad de factores. Aun así, se pueden identificar algunas características que acompañan a cada líder de jóvenes y adolescentes que logra hacer un trabajo sobresaliente. Lejos del estereotipo de líder juvenil hombre, joven, gracioso, intérprete de la guitarra, seminarista y con una camioneta, las siguientes señales acompañan a cada líder juvenil eficaz (sea hombre o mujer):

Señal 1: lleno del Espíritu Santo

Claro que esta característica no es exclusiva del liderazgo juvenil. Ser llenos del Espíritu Santo es condición obligatoria para ser un cristiano eficaz. Pero en el caso del líder o pastor de adolescentes, si no es lleno del Espíritu de Dios, su consejería se limitará a manejar recursos humanos, que por buenos que sean, no podrán satisfacer plenamente las necesidades de los jóvenes en conflicto. Tampoco nuestras motivaciones serán las correctas y nuestro trato no tendrá la eficacia de quien está provisto de la guía del Espíritu en la toma de decisiones.

La espiritualidad del líder juvenil es fácilmente discernible para los adolescentes y jóvenes de este tiempo. A ellos no les basta con un lindo sermón arriba de un púlpito. Las relaciones interpersonales cercanas entre los líderes y los jóvenes son indispensables para un ministerio sano. Pero es en esa cercanía que se puede notar mejor el verdadero carácter del líder juvenil. Aun cuando parezca que los adolescentes no prestan atención, miran de cerca si las palabras de los líderes cuando predican son vividas por ellos cuando están abajo del escenario. Si los líderes pretenden acompañar a los adolescentes a la madurez en Cristo, eso es imposible de hacer si ellos mismos no cultivan una relación de dependencia con el Espíritu de Dios.

Señal 2: tiene un sentido de llamado

Para muchos es obvio pensar que la decisión de ir a hacer misiones en lugares alejados y difíciles tiene una única explicación en un llamado especial del Señor. Pero el ministerio juvenil es tan transcultural como cualquier ministerio a otra geografía. Involucra cambios de lenguaje, diferentes vestimentas, música, danzas exóticas y distintas presuposiciones morales. Si aquellos que se disponen a participar del ministerio con adolescentes no tienen un llamado claro y específico a trabajar con ellos ocurrirá una de dos cosas o ambas: se sentirán muy pronto miserables o harán sentir miserables a sus adolescentes.

Tener la convicción de que Dios es quién nos ha convocado a hacer ese trabajo es la única fuente de afirmación en que deberíamos depositar nuestra confianza. Al final, los resultados serán impredecibles en el ministerio en general, y más aún en el ministerio que cuenta con la edad más impredecible. Solo un sentido de llamado claro hará entonces que el líder siga adelante.

Es tiempo de que se levanten líderes que no están «practicando hacer ministerio» mientras trabajan con los jóvenes, pues hoy hacen falta dirigentes que entiendan que han sido llamados por Dios a invertir en esta generación y a hacer un serio esfuerzo más allá de los aparentes resultados o de las expectativas de personas de otros ministerios.

Señal 3: está preparado para la tarea de aconsejar

La juventud es una época de muchas preguntas. La posmodernidad ha tornado compleja la dinámica adolescente; los cambios se han exagerado y los mensajes contradictorios abundan. Por eso es necesario que quienes guían jóvenes tengan respuestas contundentes y no ingenuas. El rol de modelo que a cada líder le toca debe ser ejercido con responsabilidad, y aquellos que han sabido aconsejar a sus adolescentes pronto comenzarán a recibir más muchachos(as) pidiendo consejos. Por eso, los líderes eficaces están preparados para la tarea de dar consejos comprometidos y sabios; para hacerlo se especializan en las cuestiones de la cultura, las crisis familiares, la identidad y en los distintos métodos para hacer una consejería eficaz. En otras palabras, trabajan y estudian para ser mejores consejeros. Pero un condimento que no puede faltar es ser confiables.

La confiabilidad es parte inherente a la capacidad de aconsejar y a la posibilidad de entablar una relación personalizada. Líderes que no poseen esta cualidad no tardarán en ser descartados por los adolescentes. El secreto de confesión es de vida o muerte para personas muy conscientes de sí mismas como son los jóvenes. Personalmente puedo decir que, aunque soy un predicador, he observado frutos más milagrosos en ocasiones donde tuve el regalo de poder dar la palabra adecuada en el momento justo a una necesidad específica de alguien. Seamos sinceros: la mayoría de las predicaciones quedan en el aire, pero esos momentos en que alguien se abre con una persona que para ella es importante tienen un impacto mucho más poderoso. Por eso es que me da lástima ver tantos líderes que solo dependen de un micrófono para comunicarse con sus jóvenes, pues se pierden tantas oportunidades por no ahondar en una consejería sabia...

Señal 4: está actualizado respecto a la cultura joven

El vértigo de cambio impulsado por los medios y el mercado exige una constante actualización de parte de los líderes juveniles. Las distintas tribus de adolescentes tendrán diferentes características en sus gustos musicales, en su vestimenta y en su lenguaje, y desconocer sus «ondas» equivaldrá a mostrar desinterés por sus gustos y atracciones. Un grupo de adolescentes requiere una disposición transcultural similar a la que necesitan las misiones en otras latitudes, solamente que el cambio es generacional más que geográfico. El líder eficaz estará atento a cuáles son las características de los adolescentes de su barrio y de su iglesia.

Una manera de lograr esta actualización es observarlos en los lugares donde ellos se juntan (escuelas, la puerta de las disco, hamburgueserías y demás). Otra manera recomendable es preguntarles a ellos mismos. Los jóvenes se sienten importantes cuando se les pregunta y por eso funcionan muy bien los cuestionarios y encuestas. Sacar a los jóvenes cristianos del templo y llevarlos a lugares públicos a hacer cuestionarios acerca del gusto y tendencias culturales no solo sirve a los líderes para estar actualizados sino que resulta una excelente actividad que los chicos agradecerán. Revistas, películas y programas de moda pueden bien ser auscultados para informarnos de qué es lo que los jóvenes están escuchando fuera de nuestro medio.

Si nuestra misión es ser luz, ir por todo el mundo y predicar las buenas nuevas de salvación tenemos que prestar atención a qué está pasando a nuestro alrededor, y si además queremos dar en el blanco con las preguntas que esta generación tiene, no podemos estar predicando siempre de la misma manera. Es necesario hacer contacto con sus puntos de interés y sus códigos culturales. Siempre que ve alguna buena revista con temas relacionados con las modernas tendencias juveniles, mi esposa me la compra porque sabe que quiero saber qué se viene o qué influye a los muchachos cuando están en la escuela o expuestos a los medios masivos de comunicación.

Señal 5: trabaja en equipo

Los líderes juveniles eficaces saben que solos no pueden lograrlo todo. Entienden que Dios capacitó a su cuerpo con distintos roles y dones (1Co 12.4–30) y que es tarea del líder equipar a otros para la tarea del ministerio también (Ef 4.12). Los líderes eficaces también entienden que la misión es más importante que la posición y por eso reconocen las habilidades de otros y les facilitan la tarea sumándolos al trabajo.

Son tantas y tan complejas las necesidades de los jóvenes actuales que es imposible para un o una líder estar cerca de todos sus adolescentes a menos que sea un grupo verdaderamente reducido. Pero si el anhelo de un ministerio juvenil es multiplicarse, hace falta mayor mano de obra. El liderazgo reconoce esto y dedica buena parte de su tiempo a reclutar voluntarios para su ministerio juvenil. Cuantos más líderes de calidad se tenga, más posibilidades de maduración y resolución de conflicto tendrán los jóvenes.

Los jóvenes no necesitan solo líderes atléticos que sepan tocar la guitarra y sean extrovertidos. Si hay algún miembro en el equipo de liderazgo con estas características, ¡sensacional!, pero hay jóvenes que se identificarían mejor con otras personalidades. Los mejores equipos son los que tienen una buena dosis de diversidad de intereses, personalidades y edades, y por tanto, contar con líderes adultos involucrados, por ejemplo, enriquece al ministerio con experiencia, contención y modelos.

Los líderes juveniles simplifican las tareas del ministerio consiguiendo y estimulando la gente adecuada para cada una de ellas.

Señal 6: incluye a los padres

Tratar de interpretar a los adolescentes fuera del esquema familiar sería un cuadro incompleto. Por eso los líderes no deberían ponerse en situación de competencia con los padres sino aprender a trabajar juntos.

La adolescencia no solo llega para los hijos, también les llega a los padres aunque en un rol diferente. El punto clave para muchos es la llamada «brecha generacional». Ser adolescente hoy no es lo mismo que fue ser adolescente en los años setentas, y esta realidad tiene diversas consecuencias. De todas maneras, la presente generación de chicos no puede desarrollarse positivamente sin el marco de estabilidad, comprensión y amor incondicional que los padres deben brindarles, y esto es reconocido por los líderes juveniles eficaces.

Trabajar con los padres no siempre es fácil. Yo también he tenido padres que ¡más vale perderlos que encontrarlos! Pero los líderes eficaces se esfuerzan por sumar al equipo de trabajo al menos a algunos padres que enriquezcan al ministerio con una imagen de familia y le dé a otros padres mayor credibilidad. Hay buenos programas que se pueden hacer para ayudar a las familias a tener un mejor tiempo juntas, y las fiestas son siempre una gran oportunidad: graduaciones, navidad, el día de la madre, el padre o la amistad. También podemos inventar otras «fiestas» para empezar a incluir a la familia y celebrar ese diseño de Dios para la vida del ser humano.

Señal 7: se especializa

Históricamente en América Latina se suele ver al ministerio juvenil como un escalón de ascenso hacia «el verdadero ministerio». ¡Qué error! Pienso que la escena irá cambiando en los próximos años, pero hoy, más y más estudiantes de instituciones teológicas se han dado cuenta de que Dios está llamando a una generación de líderes para que se especialicen en la tarea de evangelizar y discipular jóvenes. Desde hace poco más de una década, en países como Estados Unidos y Corea, un grupo cada vez mayor de estudiantes ha empezado a comprender el enorme desafío y la vitalidad que tiene el ministerio juvenil para la Iglesia de Cristo, y a la luz de esto se han ido agregando materias de ministerio juvenil a seminarios e instituciones teológicas. En algunas instituciones incluso se ofrecen maestrías y se empieza a hablar de doctorados en la especialización. Muy pronto esto se va a ver en nuestro continente.

Pero más allá de las posibilidades académicas existe la razón eje del ministerio juvenil: los jóvenes necesitan líderes preparados; ellos se merecen dirigentes que articulen una filosofía sensata y entiendan por qué hacen lo que hacen; que además interpreten las Escrituras desde el contexto contemporáneo y comprendan las realidades interiores propias de la edad. Necesitan también guías creativos, con buena capacidad de auto-crítica y capaces de comunicar la visión y de organizarse.

Los líderes juveniles sobresalientes se toman su trabajo muy en serio. Compran libros de ministerio juvenil, consiguen diversos materiales y estudian dedicadamente cómo ser cada vez mejores.

Por Lucas Leys

Especialidadesjuveniles.com