Witnessing to Malays and others

"Eh, Joel, why can't Jesus just be a prophet ye? Kenape dia tak boleh macam orang biase?"

These are wonderful questions to hear from your Malay colleagues. I am more than happy to answer why Jesus is not just a prophet, and why Jesus cannot be merely a prophet to save the world. 

Just these 2 days, my Malay colleagues have been asking me different things about Christianity in contrast with Islam (over lunch and after office work is done). Sometimes I gave satisfactory answers, sometimes I tell myself "You should have responded to that question more wisely!" a few minutes after I gave them a reply.

Besides that question, they have asked things like

"What is the difference between Catholic and Protestant?"

"Who is the biggest guy in Protestant?"

"What does the Bible say about doomsday?"

"Why are there so many versions of the Bible, and that there are so many revisions of one version"

"How can the Trinity be true?"

and the list goes on. 

Admittedly, there are no simple answers to the questions above. Besides that, knowing why they are asking such questions might sometimes be more important than answering the question itself. I had no guide book in answering these questions, and one question came after another, sometimes I am a little disappointed when I give blurry answers, but I am happy for one thing - they kept asking questions about Jesus and the Bible. Its good because by asking more and more questions about Jesus and the Bible, I can tell them more and more about the Full Gospel without saying things like "Do you have a moment for me to tell you from Genesis to Revelations?"

Most of the time, the "witnessing skills" we learn or the "witnessing mode" we turn on involves us telling more and more about ourselves becoming Christians - and trying to convince another person that our "experience with God" is genuine. We have to tell them how we "felt" when we sing songs in church, how the atmosphere just buzzes, the miracle about our aunt getting healed of cancer, and the list goes on. Instead of drawing them to the cross, we draw them more and more to ourselves. We learn the trick: People cannot contradict testimonies. You can argue against theories, but you can't argue testimonies.

But the problem is that we are bearing testimony of ourselves (and our little experiences) rather than bearing testimony of what happened on the cross 2000 years ago. Seekers become more suspicious as they hear the words we say, and their suspicion is well founded. After all,

"What gives me the assurance that what happen to you will also happen to me?"

or

"What makes you sure that what happens to you is the truth? After all, you are not the only one with miracles happening"

We then go further and further to ask them to make a "leap of faith" to trust that our experience of God is good enough evidence for them to make the first step... and hopefully they "experience" whatever we experience enough, so that their faith may be strong. Do we not realize that we have shifted the basis of our faith from the "historical work of salvation by Jesus" into some "weak experience and feelings we develop in church"? And yes, our mindset along such lines have brought us to continually think...

"If only I can bring Joe and Moe to church, then the pastor will do some amazing thing and they will somehow come to believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour!"

Oh, if only we knew how powerful God's Word is on its own. We think as though people do not want to know the truth, as if truth does not matter. We are so busy feeding their immediate needs - promising them feelings(of peace, security, health, wealth, and whatever nots) leaving out the most crucial truth! Do we not know that even if they should come to church and raise up their hands during an altar call - you are increasing their chances of falling away? Or have you not heard the parable of seeds? The seed who fell on shallow ground who received it immediately with joy, but withered away as they had no roots? Should not their faith be rooted in the truth of the Gospel?

I remember during McGarage long time ago (yes, long time ago), we were laughing over the idea how church has served the Gospel with sandwiches. So that halfway while eating their sandwich, the pastor pops up and they can't go anywhere. Surely we do not use sandwiches, but do we try to serve the Gospel with Feelings? Most of the time, we think so pragmatically, that we say:

"it is okay for them to buy the feelings/our second hand experience/whatever first, they will come to know Jesus later"

and we do this in the name of "meeting their immediate needs". Come on, I believe most of us are educated in university already. Even a person not educated in university knows what a "con job" this is like. Let us suppose that this believer does "buy" our talks on feelings and miraculous experiences, do you want his faith to be rooted in that? Is that what the Bible teaches us to do?

2 Corinthians 4:5

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^[a^] 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Here is the demonstration of the Spirit's power - God's testimony of Jesus Christ crucified, so that our faith rest in the Gospel, and not on wise and persuasive words, good as they are - they are but nothing in times of trouble. As I come to close, I would like to share with you personally...

"I find myself much more confident selling the Full Gospel, rather than fearing my candy-packed-Gospel would be unconvincing"

Some of you sales people out there, I'm sure you would understand this. It is easier to sell a good product, than to sell one that you can't guarantee anything. Question to you, question to me is this: -

Have I been sharing the Gospel faithfully and truthfully?

What am I trusting in when I seek to share the Gospel? (God's Spirit to use God's Word? or God to use my brilliant life experience?)

If I trust that God will use His Word - then am I behaving that way in my speech? Am I taking the effort to learn what the Gospel is before telling others?

FAQ (something like that) 

Many people have used Paul's encounter with King Agrippa as a defense that a personal testimony is "the way to go". That is a terrible misreading of the context. Paul was brought out to defend himself and then perhaps share the gospel. Paul was not invited to "tell from Genesis to Revelations". Besides that, Paul was aware that Agrippa knew the prophets (OT), and when Paul appeals to Agrippa, Paul used the OT, God's Word.

Some of us work hard in our day job with the thinking of 

"One day, my colleagues will realize I'm so excellent in my job and I get promotions and I am so happy all the time. and then they will ask me why? then I will answer then 'it is because I believe in Jesus', then they will somehow be convinced that it is the right thing to be a christian and try out church"

I hope this logic works for you, because it doesn't work for me. I believe that Christians should do their work faithfully and honestly, for this adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour (Titus 2:9-10) But let us not mislead others into Christianity.

The second answer to that is also that it is the Bible pattern to lead people to Christ using God's Word. Relationships are important (we know it is hard to invite a person to church), but they cannot be the means nor the reason why someone would come to Christ. We have to trust God in evangelism, and trusting God simply means that we trust that His Spirit using His Word - is good enough, in fact, it is the best way to lead a sinner to Christ.

An Overview of Habakkuk

Introduction
When we look at our world today, there is so much injustice. There are wars all over – innocent civilians die because of power hungry dictators like Saddam Hussien. Recently, George Bush expressed regret that the U.S. intelligence gave wrong information and that Saddam didn’t actually had any weapons of mass destruction! Pity the people who died in the process. What about Hitler and the 6 million Jews who died? What about the rape cases around us? Many of these rapists are never caught, and as time passes, people forget and the police stops pursuing the case – and these rapists run free!

Non-Christians asks the question rightly: Where is God? Is God’s hand somehow shortened? God is not able? Or perhaps some will try to “defend” God, by stating that it is really the human problem – God has done His part, it is just that we fail at ours. There is definitely truth in that we humans are terribly responsible for the mess we are in, but is this the whole story of God’s solution? The political and economical injustice we see in the world today, isn’t God going to do something about it?

Our world today is not entirely different from the world that the prophet Habakkuk lived in. He saw the same injustices, he asked the same questions. Before we move on, it is important to know the background of Habakkuk. It would also be a good practice to have the Bible open before you, so that you can make sure what is preached is really according to the Bible, and not something the speaker made up.

Background of Habakkuk
According to historians, Habakkuk is dated about 605B.C. This is a very interesting time:

After the Golden Age of David and Solomon,
Israel split into 2 countries:
Israel (The Northern Country) and Judah (The Southern Country)
Both of the countries steadily saw their decline.

Their immorality towards God revealed itself in all sorts of crime.
God judged Israel by sending Assyria to attack Israel. Israel is forever gone from the pages of history.
God has warned Judah of her sin (and we read it in the book of Habakkuk too).

During 605 B.C., Judah is being reigned by the evil king Jehoiakim in Jerusalem who did what was evil in the sight of The Lord (2 Kings 23:36-37)

Wickedness, injustice and bribery is rampant in the country, and it is during this time that Habakkuk is written.

Habakkuk 1:1-4
Habakkuk has been crying out to God who apparently is indifferent about the Israel.

“The law is paralyzed and justice never prevails”

There is wickedness in the judges, injustice is everywhere! The wicked oppress the righteous, justice is perverted! God isn’t listening!

Habakkuk 1:5 – 1:11
To Habakkuk’s dismay, God revealed to Habakkuk that He is about to judge Judah by raising the “ruthless and impetuous” Babylonians who does not obey the Law of God but are “a law to themselves” to attack Israel.

God reveals that the Babylonians will “seize dwellings not their own”(i.e. conquer Judah which is immediately fulfilled during Jehoiakim’s time). God will judge wicked Judah by sending a more wicked Babylon to conquer it.


Habakkuk 1:12-2:1
Habakkuk takes no such “nonsense” from God and “makes his case” to “see what God will say to him”. Habakkuk then puts forth his argument:

o God’s eyes are too pure to look on evil: How can he tolerate such wickedness? As if Israel was not wicked enough – God will give Israel over to Babylonians who are more wicked!

o Babylonians are going to “catch” Israelites like fish – without mercy! As though Israelites are not human beings!

o Not only that, in their victory and pride, the Babylonians credit it all to themselves ( and their idols) – “sacrificing to their nets, and burning incense to the dragnets”

o Above all, God is going to just let all these happen when the Babylonians are destroying the nations without mercy?

To Habakkuk, God’s decision is inconsistent with God’s character.

Habakkuk 2:1 – 19
God replies! From 2:4-17, God reveals that He indeed hates the wickedness of the Babylonians, there are proud, have wicked desires, greedy, steal, extort, murder, commit all sorts of immorality – the list just goes on!

As God reveals each type of wickedness that He detests, He also reveals that He will judge them with a terrible judgement. Perhaps the most powerful line is revealed in 2:16, speaking to the Babylonians

“You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed!”

(Reading from Daniel, we know that God revealed that the Babylonian empire to be overthrown by the different empires that followed after – as Daniel explained the dream)

Building from 2:2 onwards, the most striking verse in this chapter is found in 2:4

“The righteous will live by faith”

God revealed that this judgment will not be immediate. It will take time – but it will SURELY COME. It speaks of some appointed time, not now, but sometime in the end. But it will not prove false. God’s judgment lingers, but IT WILL CERTAINLY COME!

Meanwhile, the righteous will just have to take God at His Word and trust that God will make good His promise of judgment. The righteous will have to live by (his) faith. Faith that simply says “God will do what He said”.





Habakkuk 2:20
God does not lie, though His judgment will take time. God is sovereign. We who are often so faithless, doubting whether God actually cares about what is going on with the injustices in the world – this is what God says to Habakkuk (and perhaps to us)

“The Lord is in His holy temple, let the earth be silent before Him”

Habakkuk didn’t get this, he thinks that God is somehow mellow and complacent with wickedness when no immediate judgment followed – maybe God fell of His throne of something else! But God replies that He is not like the idol who is useless (2:18-19), but Yahweh is THE Sovereign Lord who is ever in control. Judgment will come, God knows what He is doing – let the earth be silent before Him.

Habakkuk 3:1-15
Receiving such a powerful revelation of God in His power and sovereignty, Habakkuk burst into a beautiful poem using different imageries to describe God’s strength for simply who He is, and His Judgment – God’s sure Judgment.



Habakkuk 3:16-19
Now Habakkuk understands. The world may crumble, Babylonians may win the battle – but God is still God! God will surely judge Babylon as Habakkuk “waits patiently for the day of calamity to come to the nation invading Israel”. God has opened Habakkuk’s eyes to see beyond the “here and now” to be confident that God will make good His promise and Judgment – God is teaching Habakkuk to “live by faith” (to take God at His Word). It is no wonder that if Habakkuk can see what God sees (in a way), the Sovereign Lord is His strength! Habakkuk’s sight of Judah crumbling fails him, but God’s promise of avenging Judah just turns the table around – no wonder Habakkuk bursts forth

“I will be joyful in God my Savior”

Application:
What about our world? What about the rich who oppress the poor – and get away with it? What about the rapist?? Will they get away? Will God judge the greedy American businesses that caused this financial crisis?

God will surely judge is the reply. Maybe now, but most probably not now. Will God judge them now by striking them down with cancer? Maybe, maybe not.

How should we understand this judgment in light of the New Testament? Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4

“The righteous will live by his faith”

in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. Paul argues that we are saved by grace through faith – the righteous will live by faith. Faith in what? In Jesus Christ.

To understand God’s judgment, we have to understand Jesus. It is not weird for the Israelites to expect the Messiah as a “political deliverance”. After all, they have been ruled by foreign powers since forever! But through Jesus’ death on the cross, we suddenly realize that the sin of the whole world goes on to Jesus! The real deliverance was not military/political in nature, God is concerned for something FAR MORE IMPORTANT.

This is unimaginable! The rapist’s sin? Hitler’s sin? Saddam Hussien’s sin? Perhaps more importantly – My sin? Your sin? We are almost going to cry out in disagreement like Habakkuk did! But God has indeed judged the world. The judgment fell on Jesus.

The world is sinful.
God is Just, God is loving.
Jesus takes the penalty.

What? The Judgment fell on Jesus? Yes, this is what the Christian Message is. Jesus – Sin Bearer of the whole world, which is the means by which EVERYBODY can find forgiveness. By faith, we are saved. Not of ourselves, so that no one can boast. The righteous shall live by faith.

Paul argues: By the law no one is justified. Some of us who think we are good enough – that is not true. Jesus had to die – for our sins, and the sins of the world. If anybody could be nominated for being the “most cursed person”, it is Jesus. Innocent, Righteous, GOD Himself – suffers the ultimate humiliation, the ultimate condemnation. Can we try to earn our salvation? No. God’s Love calls us to accept this free gift. By faith.

Whichever way it is, God wants to teach us to take Him at His Word that He will surely judge, even though what our eyes see might not look like God’s immediate judgment. God wants us to trust in Him – in His Word that He will surely fulfill. God is not an absent God like what we would think of absent fathers – they go away and do their own thing, and comes home to just give money (assuming that they have done their part). God is actively involved in our world, but God has a time for everything – sometimes God’s timetable is the same as ours, most times it is different. Perhaps God didn’t want to waste this opportunity to train His People to “live by faith and not by sight”.

But let us not only point fingers at others – the rapists, the swindlers, the wicked dictators. What makes us think that God who is the Judge of the whole world is not our Judge? God is just and shows no partiality! Not with “them” (the other people), neither with us. To start with, when we point fingers at others calling them murderers and thieves, do we not practice it? (Afterall, the Sermon on The Mount equates hating our brothers as murdering – highlighting that what God demands is the true obedience from the heart, not just a FORM of obedience)


Closing:
God is just and God hates sin. His eyes are too pure to look on evil. God’s hatred for sin and God’s judgment for sin is revealed in Jesus. Yet on the cross, we realize God’s love for us is immeasurable. It is immense – God’s judgment and God’s Love demonstrated fully through Jesus Christ crucified. What about us? We know God’s judgment – it is terrible and horrifying. How then are we to respond to Jesus – to God?

Questions to challenge us
Are we going to realize our own ignorance, and turn to God for forgiveness and trust in Him – to stand in awe of Jesus’ sacrifice and bow our knees? Or are we going to continue in our ignorance and despise God’s Love?

Questions to discuss
1. What kind of issues in our world and our lives today that we think “need God’s immediate judgment”?
2. In light of Scripture and Jesus’ death, how then are we to understand the world we live in?