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Living
Sacrifices
When we think of ”martyrs”, perhaps we remember the many
Christians who have been, or who are being, put to death because of
their faith, or perhaps we think of fundamentalists who kill others in
the false hope of obtaining paradise through “a martyr’s death”. But
the Bible speaks of a different sacrifice, a living sacrifice. This
article is an edited version of a recent talk given to students who attended A Kosher Encounter, this year’s CWI
Summer School.
“So, affectionately longing for you, we were well
pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own
lives, because you had become dear to us.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8)
Often
I am invited to share in a Shabbat meal or a Passover celebration with
some Jewish friends. It is always a great privilege to attend such
events as it makes me feel that my friends have adopted me into their
family. Because of this, I am sometimes temped to think that if I don’t
share the gospel with them, I will be happy and they will be happy! But
the reality is that, because of God’s unchanging Word, I have to share the gospel with them, I
have to be faithful to the Word. We cannot simply “love people to God”,
we have to preach Christ crucified, “to the Jews a stumbling block and
to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” This is the
ultimate way of showing love to Jewish people.
But,
as the apostle Paul has written, we need to share not only the gospel
of Christ but our lives as well. Earlier this year I was speaking in
Hong Kong and I looked up 1 Thessalonians 2:8 in my Chinese Bible. What
I saw challenged me because the Chinese translation says, “We loved you
so much that we were delighted not only to share with you the gospel of
God but also to become martyrs
for you …” [my emphasis]. I thought, I am ready to share my life with
my Jewish friends but I’m not sure if I am ready to become a martyr!
However, I came to see that in sharing our lives we are called to be
martyrs, not necessarily in the sense of dying physically for others,
but in dying to self and being living sacrifices. I realised that by
God’s grace I needed to leave my comfort zone and share my life with my
Jewish friends, to become a servant for the sake of Christ. Paul wrote:
”For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to
all, that I might win the more” (1 Corinthians 9:19).
If
we want to make a difference in this world, we have constantly to
remind ourselves what it means to be followers of Christ. We need to
make ourselves servants, serving the people around us. It is hard going
and cross-cultural evangelism is always challenging. Therefore, we need
to know our God, we need to know his Word and we need to know what we
believe – it has been said that people claim to be willing to die for God but are not willing to think for God! Furthermore, we must
recognise that Christian ministry involves teamwork. You and I
do not make a difference, we
make a difference.
Romans
12:1,2: “… present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to
God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may
prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Dare
to be different!
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