“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’"
Matthew 25:34-36
Acts 5:41
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 5:43-48
In addition to the unconditional love and sacrifice preached and demonstrated by Jesus, the Gospels tell us three things about servanthood. First, they tell us that we are to serve our enemies, the people who insult us, abuse us, and would likely kill us. Second, they tell us that we are to serve the poor and lowly; in fact, they say that we are serve not just the lowly but the lowest of the low. Thirdly, they tell us that if we are persecuted and disgraced in our service, we are to rejoice.
Those are three things that we who have been in the church long enough tend to be very familiar with. They are subjects of good, vigorous discussions. And yet it seems like we still don't understand them.
I recently saw a musical called Miss Saigon and one of the songs in it was called "Bui Doi." The phrase refers to Vietnamese children conceived by American soldiers who had hooked up with local girls. As one would most unfortunately expect, these children were targeted by the Communist regime after we pulled out and they lived in abject poverty and mortal danger. We're always told that the people suffering overseas are our brothers and sisters and that the children in the World Vision commercials are our children, but how would we react if that was actually a biological fact? Imagine that you had a child and that he or she was living in a refugee camp, as a slave (no, that little problem is absolutely not gone from the world, not even from the U.S.), or in an overcrowded city with food and water that you wouldn't give a pet snail. I hope your reaction would be a little different from the one you have when you see those commercials.
I'm discovering now that one of the most terrifying moments in a Christian's life is when that person realizes that Jesus meant what He said. In my experience, whenever God has told me to go and do something that requires serious sacrifice and risk I have immediately tried to tune down my interpretation. And then I tell myself I'm being somehow clever or realistic for doing that. If anything, we need to tune our understanding of God's mission for our lives up. Way up.
Think about what it means to serve the lowest of the low. Think for a second about the fact that Jesus told us not only to serve them but that anything we did for them we would be doing for Him. If you're looking for Messiah, I have great news. He's right over at the nearest homeless shelter. He's waiting around that strip club waiting for someone to answer the call. He's on the other side of the world in a crowded camp full of people who had their lives ripped away from them in an instant. If you want to find the One who gave you a second birth, the God who have you the victory you could never claim on your own, the Man you say is your savior and king, that's where He is. Don't you want to stop by?
Then there's the whole deal with the enemies. The Bible says to love the people who hate you and that means every single obnoxious, revolting weasel that you meet in work or school and whom you want to punch right in the face. It's not enough to like the idea of loving your enemies (which is one of the most popular aspects of Christianity), you have to do it (which is one of the most unpopular aspects). It also means that you have to love and forgive the enemies of your nation or your people. At the same time that we are commanded to serve the people in refugee camps, we are also commanded to love the people who put them there. When Osama bin Laden died and we Western Christians celebrated, we failed. We had an opportunity to show the same kind of heartbroken, unconditional, terrible love to those in Radical Islam that Christ showed for us, and instead we showed them exactly the kind of enemy they expected to see.
Finally, consider the cost of servitude. We live in a culture that is terrified of the very thought of suffering. The Bible tells us that if we don't suffer for God we're doing something wrong. Our own personal difficulties and persecution can be large or small depending on what God wants us to do at the moment, but we should be ready for it to be big. Imagine that God told you to go into the ghetto or some turmoil filled region of Africa in pursuit of a particular individual. Now imagine that He told you that you would be tortured in the process. Worse yet, imagine that He said you were going to be martyred. Both of these experiences are called glorious in the Bible. When we see historical figures who endured such things we call them saints. But what about in our own lives? If you had a friend who told you that God was sending him into martyrdom, wouldn't you try to dissuade him?
Mind you, one of the great things about being Christians is that we have the Holy Spirit to direct us. We don't have to be in a moral panic burning through all our energy and resources trying to solve all the world's problems and failing miserably. If God wants you to go overseas and minister to starving orphans then you can do that, but if he just wants you to serve your local school or neighborhood you can do that too. There are no small tasks in the Kingdom of Heaven. However, that "if" does not justify turning a blind eye to the radical commands of the Gospel.
I want you to imagine for a moment that you had your own Bui Doi out there somewhere in the world. I realize this may be difficult if you're a college student like me, but imagine that you were one of those Vietnam veterans who left a child behind in the midst of war and poverty and persecution. Imagine watching a World Vision commercial or a special report on some third world country and thinking to yourself that the child you see could literally be your son or daughter. What if you knew that they were your child. Wouldn't you sell off anything to fly over there and find them and hold them and make sure that they were safe?
Now imagine that you saw a hooker on a street corner and God told you that you were to marry her and that He let you see her for even the briefest moment the way He saw her. Imagine spending months just trying to get her to trust you, taking on a second job so you can pay for her to have good food and shelter, enduring ridicule and slander on every side as you desperately try to win over and care for this outcast. Wherever you look out into a hurting world, imagine that it was literally your friends and family that were looking back at you.
I know this may sound like one giant guilt trip but it doesn't have to be like that. The reason those commercials and sermons make us uncomfortable is because we sit there waiting for normal life to resume and the distractions to flood in and we fail to recognize what should be the most obvious of options. We fail to understand that we can act on that message. Before any of us were born, God prepared for you a victorious battle for the lost. The joy and glory of the salvation of the needy is our inheritance. If you do throw away everything you own for the sake of an infant halfway around the world, that loss will perish just as the mortal treasure you gave up would have, but that infant will be your precious delight for all eternity. C.S. Lewis was right; our desires are far too weak!
I'm done now, but there's one thing I'd like you to do. I would like you to pray for God to reveal your Bui Doi to you. Pray for God to reveal your inheritance and the path laid out to claim it. If this is something you have already received then I praise God for you. If you feel moved to action but you don't believe God is answering, I will pray for discernment for you and I would advise you to wait and to seek advice. If you pray and know that you are answered then I will pray for you to be encouraged and equipped for the battle ahead. Whatever the case, to God be the glory for ever and ever.
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