Pastor Ryun Chang (AMI Teaching Pastor, Ph.D.) will present a series of blogs, dealing with various issues raised in the recent election that showed a deep divide, impacting both society at large and the church. The thoughts presented are processed through the lens of the Radical-Middle (both/and), personal narratives, and pastoral concerns. Your rational feedback is welcomed.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the respective views of AMI pastors.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT FOR TODAY
What Life is like for Undocumented Immigrants
Heb. 11:13b-14, 16 (NIV)
And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. . . 16 They were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.
In February of 2016, just before my greyhound bus left for Bakersfield from Los Angeles (a 3-hour ride), I was told that my connection bus, which would have taken me to the small city where I was scheduled to preach the next day at a Hispanic church, was cancelled. I quickly called the host pastor, who was returning from a conference in Nevada, to see if he could pick me up. Fortunately, I only waited an hour before the pastor, along with his congregant (“Hugo”), arrived to collect me. Later, we dropped off Hugo at his weather-beaten, single-story house; he seemed eager to get home, mostly because his wife just had their second child.
The year before, I was surprised to find out that Hugo, who speaks English well and doesn’t have many Hispanic features, was originally from Mexico. During this visit, I learned that Hugo and his wife are illegal aliens, who have lived in the States for nearly 20 years. Constantly living in fear of deportation, the only jobs Hugo can find consist of backbreaking farm work that pay just enough to fund a small mortgage and put food on the table. I also learned that many in this community are in the same predicament: always anxious, suspicious of new people, and stuck in a dead-end job. I’m not exactly a bleeding-heart liberal, but my heart went out for them all.
So, what do you, as a theological conservative who does not support illegal immigration, say to them from the pulpit? I didn’t tell them to go home, because this is, in effect, their home. There are border patrol agents whose job is to enforce immigration laws; while we pray for their safety, my call as a minister of the gospel is wholly different. Whenever I get to share God’s Word before Hispanic congregations in America, I remind them of this: “We have all have made mistakes, but God forgives us in Christ. If God has so convicted you, you can return home and share the gospel with your families and friends, steeped in syncretistic Catholicism. And whenever you feel fearful, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus’” (Phi. 4:7-8).
Now, there is one scriptural teaching that Hugo needs no reminder of; in fact, he may be way ahead of us: “He made his home . . . like a stranger in a foreign country. . .. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). But, for us, because life in America is so comfortable, we live as if this is our destination. May we, like Hugo, “admit[] that [we] are aliens and strangers on earth” (v. 13). Let us then live and serve the Lord accordingly all the while “longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (v. 16).
Hugo was always attentive whenever I taught. His pastor was counting on him to step up to leadership and he seemed excited about the opportunity. So, I prayed for him, calling upon the Lord to prepare Hugo for fruitful labor that would bring true hope in Christ to those who live with fear in his community.
Prayer: Lord, while we may pity those who face a bleak future, doing difficult work to make a living, perhaps it’s us who are to be pitied, since we see life in America as heaven and death as an interruption. Please heal our spiritual blindness so that we may live for God wholeheartedly. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: 2 Kings 5
LUNCH BREAK STUDY
Read 1 Peter 2:11-2 (NIV): Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Questions to Consider
- According to Peter, in what sense are we to be aliens and strangers in the world?
- As aliens and strangers, what proactive things does Peter command us to do?
- Most of us don’t think much about the plights of illegal aliens. Now, while there are some in this group, like in a larger society, who are difficult to embrace (e.g., criminals), most of them came here illegally for the same reason most of our ancestors came legally—to provide a better life for their children. As aliens in this world, what would it mean to live such good lives among them?
Notes
- We are to distinguish ourselves from the ways of the world: unethical manners in which businesses are conducted, immoral ways in which pleasures are pursued, heartless treatment of those who are deemed expendable and unimportant.
- While retreating from the ways of the world, we are also told to move forward to distinguish ourselves as aliens and strangers in the world, living good lives among the unbelievers and producing good deeds that would glorify God.
- Let’s suppose that you hired a person as a day-laborer, whom you guessed to be an illegal alien, to work in your yard. In that context, living such good lives would mean paying him a fair wage. What do you think (James 5:1-6)?
EVENING REFLECTION
We began the morning devotional talking about the fears of illegal aliens, especially those who have lived in the States for a long time. Let’s not kid ourselves—we ourselves have plenty of fears of being found out. Perhaps you’ve heard of the impostor syndrome—it’s when people believe their achievements are fraudulent, which causes them to fear that one day, others might learn of their incompetence. What fears do you secretly harbor? I invite you to go to the Lord right now for a fast and long-lasting relief; and don’t be afraid to be vulnerable with those who are trustworthy and truly care.
The Yali people, pygmy cannibals in Papua, Indonesia, and several tribes living near them have had an interesting custom. Once a man fleeing from his enemies enters the place called Osuwa, he is immediately granted protection and safety—no one could touch him, much less hurt him as long as he stays there. The cities of refuge in ancient Israel served a similar purpose: God told the elders of those cities to admit anyone who kill[ed] a person accidently and unintentionally “into the city and give him a place to live with them. If the avenger . . . pursues him, they must not surrender the one accused” (Joshua 20:5).
Having crossed different US-Mexico borders hundreds of times in several states, I’ve seen tall fences and even walls. So, President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to build a wall along the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border isn’t an entirely new idea. In contrast, some push for open-borders, while others advocate—in effect—a similar stance by opposing measures aimed to curve illegal immigration. Regrettably, Trump’s wall (a logistic nightmare) beclouds the more fundamental question of whether America, as a sovereign country, has the right to secure its borders. How should a believer think on this matter?
Whether we like it or not, Donald Trump will be our next president—and the whole world knows about his many flaws. So, why don’t we start praying that our next president will experience a profound spiritual change. If the wicked king Manasseh was not outside of God’s reach (2 Chron. 33:12-3), then, the President-elect is well within God’s range of encountering His grace. We, as Bible believing Christians, should cease from taking our cues from the media and academia that clearly have a different vision for what constitutes justice, freedom, and free speech; instead, let’s start listening to God who commands us to pray for “kings all those in authority” (1 Tim. 2:2).
I first saw the image of the infamous duck/rabbit in a book touting the merits of postmodernism, a worldview that sees the world as ambiguous, as shades of gray; unsurprisingly, the book saw the picture as not a duck or rabbit but both. The other image shows a world of black and white, colors that represent an unambiguous world with absolute objective truths and values where things often cannot be true simultaneously. One or the other must be true or false.
When it comes to the beliefs of our fellow human beings and even those who “claim to live in Christ” (1 Jn. 2:6), we can be greatly perplexed at the diversity of opinion—how is it that people, many of whom are educated and of goodwill, can believe so vastly different things about the nature of reality?
Paul told Timothy, Pastor of the church in Ephesus: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). This wasn’t an easy thing to do, since Paul was referring to the Roman Emperor Nero—a madman who murdered his own mother Agrippina to secure his power. The President-elect Trump certainly has done foolish things, but matricide isn’t one of them. If the early Christians could pray for Nero, we should also pray for Trump (as well as Mike Pence). Would you pray that they would become humble people who would take God’s Word seriously and govern our country with His wisdom and compassion?
According to an article in Forbes, over 40% of Americans make some kind of New Year’s resolution. I’m not sure if you’re in the 40%, but here is a daunting statistics: only 8% of people actually achieve their resolutions. This means that out of the estimated 322 million people in the US, only about 10 million people make and achieve their New Year’s resolutions. So what drives us to continue this, despite the low rate of success.
As we come to the last day of 2016, we look back to a year of which people’s opinions are very much divided. With the passing of many prominent figures who have shaped and challenged our culture, an election that pulled back the mask of a divided country, a refugee crisis that seems to have no end in sight, let alone all the personal battles, the list goes on of the various challenges that we have faced throughout this year. And one of the most interesting things that have developed throughout this year is how the church has responded (or has not responded) to a world that is spiraling out of control.
I think what is incredible about the Scripture here is that it does two things with one passage: In one sense, the passage warns us of why these false teachers must be addressed, revealing the true nature of these bad characters, thus helping the church to recognize them for who they truly are. But at the same time, this passage puts our grumbling, our discontentment, our lack of thanksgiving, our using of other people for our own benefit into perspective. It shows us how these things in our hearts reveal the true evil intent of our character.
I recently took a class with a professor who was a staff sergeant in the Vietnam War. At the youthful age of 20, he quickly found himself in the swamps of Vietnam with the burden of leading a group of men into war. As he recounted many of the horrific things he had experienced in the war, he taught us the importance of training disciples in the church. He believed that the term “disciple” isn’t just reserved for those who are in positions of leadership or are well equipped, but rather, anyone who has come to Jesus for salvation and surrendered their lives to His Lordship. In other words, all Christians are disciples. And he challenged a classroom of around thirty future leaders and pastors of churches to take this calling seriously. As he quickly learned in Vietnam, a squad is only as strong as its weakest member.
Having been involved with college ministry for close to 12 years, I have since transitioned and have seen many peers and students switch into working life. I’ve witnessed many people find jobs right out of college while other struggle for months, if not years, to find a vocation. Many know right off the bat what they want to do with their lives, while others are in a season of waiting and discovery of what career path God is calling them to pursue.