Breaking the Shackles of Fear

C.A. Coates once wrote:

The natural man cannot bear the thought of being searched by God; he cannot stand to think of being found out in his true condition and character. But to the truly hungry believer it is a positive comfort to be assured that God knows everything about us; He knows the very worst that can be discovered. He has searched out all that we are, and in spite of all He has thoughts of blessing concerning us. There is, therefore, no fear of anything coming to light that might cause Him to change or reverse His thought of blessing and acceptance.

Fear can be a crippling thing. But God has broken the shackles of fear through the work of Jesus on the cross.

A group of Patpatar people in Papua New Guinea responded to the presentation of the gospel in 2013. Sometime later, one of the Patpatar believers spoke about the freedom she now has in Christ. She said:

I used to be so fearful about what I was doing and what I wasn’t doing to please God. Everyone would tell me what they thought I should do and it was a heavy burden for me. I now understand that I don’t have to be afraid of God. He provided a way for me. He sent His Son and through His death, and being buried and coming alive again I am saved from my sin and my wrong. My belief is in Him and He has done it all for me. Now my burden is light. My burden is light!!

It’s exciting to see the light of the gospel breaking through the darkness of sin. Today the truth of God’s Word has been proclaimed among the Patpatar people of Papua New Guinea. But there are still many who have yet to hear the good news of Jesus Christ in their own language.

Please pray that the Lord of the harvest would raise up more laborers for His harvest field.

 

* * *

Misunderstanding Grace
by J. F. Strombeck

Many think of grace merely as the means whereby God forgives sin; and fail to recognize that grace is God's way of dealing with one who receives Christ, not only during the earthly existence, but also throughout eternity. Great harm has come from this limited conception of grace and the lack of teaching the fullness thereof. The present low level of Christian conduct is largely due to incomplete teaching of grace. All misconceptions on the part of many, that an over-emphasis on grace is a license to sin, would quickly be removed if grace were preached and understood in its fullness... It is grace upon grace that removes fear and gives assurance, stability and direction to the earthly life.

Jumping to Conclusions

Jumping to conclusions can get you into hot water. We can easily make this mistake even within our own culture. The problem is magnified when working with people of a different culture.

NTM missionaries working in Paraguay, witnessed a local wedding ceremony. They were somewhat astonished at the vows:

Do you, (bride), take (groom) to be your husband? Do you promise to cook for him and to do his laundry ‘til death do you part?’

To this, the bride shyly replied, “I do.”

And do you, (groom), take (bride) to be your wife? Do you promise to buy her soap so she can do your laundry, food so she can cook for you and to buy her a skirt if she needs one ‘til death do you part?

To which the groom responded, “I do.”

Then, you may shake the bride’s hand. You are married.

Really? The wife promises a life of hard manual labor and the man’s only promise is to make sure she has what she needs to complete those back-breaking tasks with an occasional skirt to sweeten the deal. It seems like the bride got the short end of the stick. But before we jump to conclusions, we need to consider the culture.

The local Paraguayan people highly respect young women who display their clean laundry hanging around their yard. If a young husband is forced to take his laundry to his mother, his wife will be ridiculed. Cooking is much the same. A young wife is highly thought of if her husband’s stomach is always full. When the groom promises to provide soap and food for his wife, it ensures that his bride will be accepted and praised among her people, thus saving her from great shame. In their culture, this would be true love.

It would be very easy to jump to conclusions about these people if we failed to view their vows without considering their worldview and value system.

Without a thorough understanding of the local culture, missionaries could very easily jump to the wrong conclusion. At best they might end up making a cultural blunder. At worst they might end up distorting the message of the gospel. This is why we teach our students the principles of culture investigation.

I sure appreciate your prayers as we continue to fine tune our curriculum.

Bob

* * *

The Standards of Grace
by J. F. Strombeck

To reject the law as a teacher is not to say that there are no standards set for Christian conduct. Grace also sets standards but these are on a much higher plane. Those of the law are on a high human plane; those of grace on a divine plane. Furthermore, grace supplies that which is needed to live according to these ideals. Of the Holy Spirit, who is a gift of God's grace, Jesus said, "He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). He is not merely a sign post that points to high ideals. He is a divine Person dwelling in the believer to guide into "all truth." This is something entirely unknown to the law.