Editor’s Note: The AMI QT devotionals from Jan. 18-22 are provided by Pastor Ryun Chang (Ph.D.) who is the AMI Teaching Pastor. He and Insil have been married for 28+ years and they have three children: Christy (teacher), Joshua (grad student) and Justin (college freshman). They live in Philadelphia.
Devotional Thoughts for Today
I Corinthians 1:27-9
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.
Ironically, the Civil Rights Movement, led by Baptist minister Martin Luther King, wasn’t the most popular movement then, even among African-Americans. That honor was shared by the militant Black Panther Party that launched violence against the white power structure, and the Nation of Islam that aimed, not for racial desegregation, but a complete separation from whites. Its leader Malcolm X even called King a “‘chump’ and other civil rights leaders ‘stooges’ of the white establishment.’”
Yet, it was the Civil Rights Movement that radically altered America (no King in the 1960s then no Obama in the 2000s), and every racial and ethnic minority should be grateful to those who sacrificially fought for racial equality. Now, it is easy to recognize why this movement was so successful and why it beat out its stiff competition.
Undoubtedly, King, a man of extraordinary faith and courage, attained his vision from God: “Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last”—but he also had his demons. It is now a matter of public record that King wasn’t always faithful to his wife, and Boston University had considered (Time, Nov. 1990) but ultimately decided not to revoke King’s doctorate degree, despite finding that parts of his dissertation were plagiarized. Nevertheless, I agree with Time article’s conclusion: “Even though the revelation may tarnish King’s reputation, they hardly diminish his courageous and inspirational accomplishments in helping to achieve racial justice for millions of black American.”
But, would God agree with this? Yes, because He uses people in spite of them, not because of them, so that we place our faith on God, not men. Look no further than King David, erstwhile adulterer and murderer, for proof. And it was the sight of mostly God-fearing Civil Rights marchers (e.g., Rosa Parks) who responded to violence “like a sheep before her shearers . . . silent” (Is. 53:7) that moved the crusty hearts of white Americans.
Do you feel like God can neither love nor use you because you have been behaving badly? Don’t be ridiculous—but do repent! And remember a God who used King in spite of him can do the same for you, to bring about spiritual freedom to those who still do not know Christ.
Prayer
Father, You are the Creator of all ethnic and racial groups. Before You, everyone has fallen short of your glory. It was for us that You sent your Son to do what no human government can do: Forgive our sins and make us righteous before You. God, may what I do with my life align with Your heart for the nations. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Genesis 13
Lunch Break Study
Read Exodus 5:1: Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”
John 8:32-6: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”33 [The Jews] answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Col. 3:10-1: . . . put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Question to Consider
- Martin Luther King was inspired by Moses who boldly demanded freedom from Pharaoh. What kind of freedom was this?
- While the freedom that Moses sought after was important and certainly was part of God’s will, Jesus expanded that freedom during his ministry to another, more important freedom. What was Christ offering?
- So, ultimately, what should be the basis for what Rev. King desired: “A nation where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”?
Notes
- The freedom that Moses sought after was political and social freedom.
- The freedom that Christ offered then and continue to offer today is spiritual freedom, that is, being liberated from Satan’s rule, thanks to Christ who destroyed “the devil’s work” (1 Jn. 3:8; Heb. 2:14-5).
- The basis is the “Oneness in Christ” which ought to resolve all our racial and class differences since Christ’s atonement resolved our spiritual difference with God. If this truly is the case, then we should reject any racism and ethnocentricism.
Evening Reflection
Let’s spend this moment praying for a true racial reconciliation to occur in America. Pray for a revival to break out among the men in blue across the nation. Pray for the leaders of African-American community, that they may seek God’s wisdom and heart even as they cry out for justice and fairness.
Over the holidays, I spent time with my extended family that included a little boy who is about to turn two. One activity he enjoyed was building with magnetic tiles. He made a tower taller than himself, but it was top-heavy and started swaying. We expected him to delight with glee when it fell over with a big crash; possibly tears when it fell over because his creation was no more. What we didn’t expect was for him to hang on to the tower, standing on his tiptoes to support it. He whimpered, on the verge of tears, because he clearly did not want the tower to fall and was holding it up with his own strength.
Over the holiday break, my husband and I visited Los Angeles with my parents. Our only non-food related destination was the Getty Villa, along the Pacific coast. It is a museum established by the late oil tycoon J. Paul Getty that showcases ancient artifacts from Greece and Rome. Among the many artifacts, we saw statues of household gods found in Roman empire from the first century. It was amazing to see what we had read in the Bible come to life before our eyes.
Seeing statues of golden calves, sacrificial altars and tangible likenesses of deities at the museum made me think of the things we bow down to in our modern day that may not be made of gold or wood. In our day, we can worship our careers, relationships, success in the eyes of the world as defined by money or approval, or even righteousness through religious duties. This happens when we let good things become the ultimate thing. It can happen when hard times that we don’t understand come our way and we decide God doesn’t know best, but we do. The Israelites struggled with this too, when they complained about their time in the desert and made the golden calf. Maybe we aren’t so different after all. Let us come to the Lord with humble hearts, asking Him to reveal our idols and the help of the Holy Spirit to return to our first love (Rev. 2:4)
Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College are leading institutions of higher learning for evangelicals. So, upon noting that the New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman studied there, we would expect to learn a great deal from him. That, unfortunately, is not what you will get from Ehrman, who heads the religious-studies department at the University of North Carolina.
This isn’t a forum for an in-depth discussion, but many Christians have erroneous notions about the inspiration of the Scripture. While no one is certain about what inspiration exactly entails, it doesn’t mean superseding differences in each writer’s observation, depending on the perspective taken and culture. It is quite plausible that “Judas hanged himself and that the rope broke, causing him to fall” (Baker). Regarding the field, Judas, in effect, bought it since the chief priest purchased it with his money. Evidently, Matthew accentuated the tragic end of the betrayer (suicide) while Luke focused on its irony: Judas was the first to be buried in the accursed field. Had Ehrman been taught right, perhaps he wouldn’t have taken that fatal road.
The TV show 48 Hours deals with murders involving middle-class Americans who have good jobs and live in nice houses. Viewing just a few episodes is all it would take to notice two repetitive themes regarding whodunit and why. As to who, likely your spouse; as to why, money! In one episode, a young professional with an M.B.A. kills his beautiful wife, even shooting himself 4 times to make the police believe that it was a robbery gone bad. But once the police discovered the $2 million life insurance on the wife, they had the motive to go with his inconsistent testimony.
The Bible, however, gives a simpler reason why Judas “served as guide for those who arrested Jesus”: greed. After all, Judas said to Jesus’ enemy, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you.” By all account, “thirty pieces of silver” was a large sum of money then (as much as $15,000 today). An older John, recalling the events that occurred some 50 years earlier, wrote, “. . . [Judas] was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it” (Jn. 12:6). In other words, betraying Jesus for a small fortune was too good of an opportunity for this small-time thief to pass up.
When I told my father, who was not even a churchgoer at the time, of my desire to enter the ministry, he was relieved, hoping that perhaps my partying days were over. On the other hand, the parents of my seminary roommate “Daniel,” who were good Christians by all accounts, weren’t happy when their MIT-attending son, whom they hoped would become a physician, told them the same. So to calm their displeasure, Daniel applied to several medical schools and prayed that none would accept him; God obliged, and that’s how he ended up in seminary.
This past December, I got to see an NBA game between San Antonio Spurs, a five-time champion, and Philadelphia 76ers, the league’s worst. Predictably, the game got of control fast and the Spurs won by 51 points!
Upon examining each roster, Jesus’ disciples would be more like the overmatched 76ers than the Spurs. It is said that, besides a handful of Philadelphia players with raw potential, the rest don’t belong in the league. And that’s who the disciples were. Being described by their detractors as “unschooled [and] ordinary” (Acts 4:5, 13) was merely scratching the surface. The disciples were initially divided not only from the rest of society but even among themselves. Simon belonged to a militant group called Zealots who violently opposed the Romans and those who worked for them, like tax collectors, among whom Matthew was one. The disciples’ favorite pastime was arguing about “who was the greatest” (Mk. 9:34); once, John and James sought to kill an inhospitable Samaritan (Lk. 9:51-5).
No one extolled the virtue of city life better than erstwhile Harvard professor Harvey Cox, who argued in his seminal work Secular City (1965) that modern city life is preferable over rural (traditional) life. Cox liked that in the city, “relationships are founded on free selection and common interest,” giving people a “wider range of alternatives,” unlike in rural life, where relationships are preset and any newcomer was held in suspicion unless one knew “where they came from and whether their family was any good.” Undoubtedly, he would prefer Sex and the City over The Waltons, a popular TV show in the 1970s featuring a large rural family.
My uncle had always been a man of bravado but not that day: he spoke slowly in a low voice following a grueling surgery to treat his cancer. A man of substantial wealth, he was living at a nice condominium during the treatment, but it paled in comparison to his house, a mansion. In fact, I had stayed at this sprawling property the night before while in town. As I was leaving, my uncle said, “Whenever you are in town, please stay at my house; in fact, it’s open for any Lord’s servant; I want my house to be used for the Lord’s work.”
Most evangelicals probably no longer care what Rob Bell has to say after he questioned the existence of hell in Love Wins (and later declaring, “Smile, there is no hell” ), but at one time he had their ears. Calling evangelical theology, “Evacuation theology,” he said, “Figure out the ticket, say the right prayer, get the right formula, and then we’ll go somewhere else.” That, he said, was “lethal to Jesus, who endlessly speaks of the renewal of all things.”
In effect, Bell points out: “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good”. In a symbolic manner, this is exactly what the men of Galilee gathered at the Mt. Olive were doing: “Looking intently up into the sky as [Jesus] was going.” You can hardly blame them for being glued to what was a spectacular scene, but they must have stared too long. The angels were dispatched and after tapping their heads, they said, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?” Reading between the lines, you could almost hear the angels shout, “Stop staring and get to work.”