Why Generosity in Missions? Thanksgiving to God Part 1

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As an evangelical, church-planting missionary in the Muslim world, I am often torn and burdened by the physical and financial needs I see around me. Paul encouraged Timothy to be content when he has enough food to eat and clothes to wear (1 Tim. 6:8). But what about when a brother in Christ lacks these basic needs? David said that in all of his many years he had never seen the seed of the righteous begging for bread (Ps. 37:25). But I have just this week. A family in one of the churches here has been run out of their home that they rented when they were found to be eating during Ramadan. The husband recently went through months of recovery from an motorcycle accident and has no funds in store.  Another brother has AIDS and needs a job to eat.

An even heavier burden is the spiritual needs all around me. I daily drive through cities and neighborhoods with no Christians, no church meeting on Sunday to preach the Word, no pastor to care for the people, no Sunday school for kids to grow up in, no hope, only eternal death waiting for the children I see playing happily in the streets.

In America, we have a great abundance of both finances and churches. We overflow with blessings of God having been enriched so greatly that we cannot possibly spend it all. We save money on top of money and build churches on top of churches. But is that God’s plan? Is that God’s purpose for our wealth?

Paul spoke of generosity in his second letter to the Corinthian church. He said that God had enriched this church so that they could overflow in generosity in every way (9:11). This generosity to the missionary efforts of Paul had a result that Paul clearly saw as being the goal of this whole program: thanksgiving to God!

Imagine this scenario: American churches have an abundance of supply both physically and spiritually having been enriched, not by self effort, but by God. So we give of our preachers and we send them with our money. We commission them to preach the good news to the spiritually impoverished and to be generous to those brothers who lack the basic needs. This week we will look for a way to generously poor out the generous gifts sent to us by the churches on these needs. We will stand between want and supply, life and death, eternal bliss and eternal hell with our gifts.

I love to remember the thanksgiving offered up to God by these brothers and imagine the thanks to God that is to result. I got two letters this week offering thanksgiving to God. One email came from Justin Williams who I led to Christ 16 years ago. He was thanking me but really thanking God. Another email came from a former Muslim I led to Christ 6 years ago. My wife was able to lead his wife to Christ last year. Both of these brothers are now serving Christ in ministry pastoring people and leading others to this same Christ. What multiplied thanks!

I imagine the thankful hearts of these other brothers in need this week. I want to generously meet their needs. Why? Because I want them to say, “What a great and good God to turn the hearts of our brothers towards our need with overwhelming supply! Praise Jesus! Thank you God! Thank you!”

This is what God desires to hear. He loves to receive thanksgiving! What a wonderful result of your missions generosity!

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Guest Post: Challenges of Faith in Ramadan

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My wife wrote this last week for the blog “Women Behind the Scenes”:

“It is Ramadan here in North Africa and all over the Muslim world. During Ramadan Muslims fast from sun up to sun down, they also put a huge emphasis on attending the mosque to pray, and reading the Quran.

It is also a month of challenges for Christ followers in these countries. Many followers of Jesus still live at home with unbelieving families. They usually fast out of respect for their families. It is something most are very accustomed to here. Some use the time to focus on Christ and their relationship with Him. A huge challenge comes when families or coworkers all attend the mosque together to pray. This challenge came to my friend’s husband the first week of Ramadan.

The table in the apartment where we have church services was full of all the traditional fast breaking foods just as it would be in all the homes around us. We ate dates, boiled eggs, and many types of sweet breads. We also ate a traditional soup eaten everyday here during Ramadan to break the fast. We had just finish our Sunday service and my friend had worked all day preparing the foods we were eating. My family had been in another city worshipping with some other believers that afternoon. We arrived at the apartment that evening with a few store bought sweets. My friend had worked so hard in preparing everything for the meal there was hardly a space on the table for anything we brought. My friend started attending the church almost 2 years ago after her husband had shared his faith with her. She has been serving the brothers and sisters here ever since!

I sat down to talk to her. I wanted to ask her how her family was doing since her husband had lost his job. He lost his job the first week of Ramadan. He was working in a cafe where he made coffee and tea and waited tables. He received a low wage but he could support his family by working long hours. Their family lives in a very conservative area. Many men wear long beards and you almost never see an uncovered women. The cafe my friend’s husband worked in was in this type of area as well. The call to prayer had gone out from the mezzanine tower in all the mosques. The men hurried off to the mosque to pray. All except my friend’s husband. This started the problem. It turned into a heated confrontation and ended with my friend’s husband being fired from his much needed job. The minute the owner of the cafe heard the word “Christian” he reportedly was irate. He could not imagine that he had been serving his clients coffee and tea made by the hand of a Kafir [infidel]. He fired him on the spot. For my friend’s husband this was not his first experience with this type of treatment. He lost his previous jobs in the same fashion.

I asked my friend how their family was managing. She smiled and told me they were making due. I noticed however, that their son had been dropped off at the apartment by another relative. Their daughter who is a teenager had been staying with her grandmother. Often when money is tight the kids are sent to visit or “help” other family members until a more stable situation is restored at home.

I listened to her explain that they no longer had running water in their home. They are having to haul buckets up 4 flights of dimly lit, extremely narrow steps. I was humbled thinking of our hot shower and automatic water filter at home.

A few years ago none of this would have happened to them. My friend’s husband had a job, they had running water, they had their families support. Now they have none of that. Yet sitting right before me I can see my friend is happy. When her and her husband come in the door for church they are known for their beaming smilies and the sweet spirit they bring. They are always encouraging the other believers and sharing their faith. My friend’s husband has shared his faith and brought many people to church with him.

They have a strong connection with their pastor and many other church members. My friend gave testimony of how God was providing for them. He even provided money from other church members for her to be able to make all the special treats she loves to make. She was over-joyed watching everyone enjoy them.

There are so many stories like this one. Stories of peace and comfort. Examples of Christians living out victoriously in their suffering. I am always blessed and encouraged when I see that Jesus is enough. He is enough to live for. Those of us who trust in Him know my friends are rich though they are facing a tough trial now. They are triumphant because Jesus is their hope!

Let us continue to pray for these Muslim background believers all over the world who are being challenged this month to live out their faith and be bold for their Saviour!”

 

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The Relationship Between Sowing, Time, and the Holy Spirit of God

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Last night I sat in a smoke filled cafe with the sound of the Brazil v. Mexico World Cup match blaring over my head from a speaker from the ceiling. I was the only foreign born citizen in that cafe packed with men all facing the big-screen TV but I was not the only citizen of my country. There, in the back corner sitting in a circle focused on each other instead of in a row facing the TV, I sat with three Muslim born but born-again Christians from Morocco, all citizens of my heavenly city.

 

We had gathered to encourage a new believer named Shabib. He is the newest believer of the small house church in our city that we have started and this is the second time that I had heard his testimony. He grew up all of his life hearing that Islam was God’s only religion and Mohammed was the last prophet of God. At the young age of 16 he grew out his beard and joined a radical group called the Salafists. He never doubted Islam until one day when he watched a TV program in which the ex-Muslim evangelist was exposing all of the hate, contradictions, and lies that typify the Koran. He shared this with his Muslim friends and they spewed out anger and threats of death on this TV preacher. It stuck with Shabib what they said. They said that whoever killed him would have great reward in heaven. He agreed.

 

Last year, when Shabib was 22 he was working in Libya making more money than ever in this oil-rich country…at least he was making money on paper. He was in the city of Benghazi and once again was linked up with a Salfist Muslim group. This was the same group that had been responsible for the killing of the American ambassador Christopher Stephens and the other marines. He met the man who bragged about the killing and proudly showed off the automatic weapon he had pulled from the dead fingers of the marine.

 

Shabib’s mother became sick back in Morocco and Shabib went this his boss to request the money. They promised that he would be paid but that all the money was currently being sent to Mali to support the “Jihad” (Holy War) against the French. Of course the bosses were getting richer all the time. Shabib was furious. He remembered what that TV evangelist had said 6 years earlier. In his anger he cursed God and Islam to his coworkers. When his Islamic radical bosses heard this they attempted to kill him with the same weapon that had been taken from the American marines at the embassy. Shabib fled Libya and returned to Morocco with no money and no more faith in his religion.

 

Just six months ago Shabib had come to faith in the crucified Christ by reading about the huge difference between the love of Christ and Christians online and the hatred of Islam and Muslims. We were the first Christians he had ever met in person back in April. Now he is being discipled in our church and spoke about being baptized with excitement last night.

 

Did you know that when you sow the Gospel for the first time into the ears of an unbeliever that the seed takes time to sink in? Did you know that the Holy Spirit is going to need to bring this person through maybe years of experiences to prepare them? Did you know that if they never hear of Christ that they will never believe but if they hear from you that is all God needs to bring fruit many years later?

 

Share Christ with someone today even though you are scared! Don’t expect the fruit to come from the apple tree the first day that you put the seed in the ground. Pray and trust God to do His work in His time!

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