Vietnamese Evangelical Church 09.12.2007
“Search me, O God, and know my heart/! Try me and know my thoughts/! 24 And see if there be any offensive way in me/, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps 139:23-24)
Introduction
Australia is in the grip of a deep spiritual crisis/: we worship many gods,/ such as family, pleasure, entertainment and sport./ In the last decade/ the percentage of our population claiming to be Christians/ dropped by 7%./ Many believers have/ “the appearance of godliness,/ but (are) denying its power” (2 Tim 3:5), /churches are increasingly lacking/ holiness and a Bible – based view of the world.
The church fails to disciple nations (Matt 28:19)/ when it seeks honour from men rather than God (John 5:44)/. In contrast, Paul says,/ “as we have been approved by God/ to be entrusted with the gospel/, so we speak/, not to please man/, but to please God/ who tests our hearts” (1 Thess 1:5; 2:4)./ “The God who tests the heart”/ is my topic today.
The Tester of Men
Before man was considered worthy of eternal life (Gen 1:26- 28)/ God tested him/ concerning the purity of his heart’s desires./ The devil offered Adam and Eve the riches of the earth/, [symbolised by the attractiveness of the tree of knowledge (Gen 3:6)], without the need for God/. With hearts corrupted through sinful desire/ (James 1:14- 15; 2 Pet 1:4), they failed the test/, and they were filled with shame (Gen 3:7)./ Shame is always the sign of failing the test/of falling short of the honour of God (Rom 1:21; 3:23).
Through voluntary poverty/ Jesus restores God’s honour to mankind/“you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ/, that though he was rich/, yet for your sake he became poor/, so that by his poverty/ you might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9)/ Hungry and thirsty,/without possessions and alone/ Jesus exposed himself to the test in the wilderness/ “the devil …showed him all the kingdoms of the world/ and their glory./ 9 And he said to him/, “All these I will give you/, if you will fall down and worship me.”/ Jesus said to him,/ “Be gone, Satan!/ For it is written,/“‘You shall worship the Lord your God/ and him only shall you serve.’”/” (4:8 – 10). Jesus’ one desire/was to honour his Father (John 8:49).
For his righteousness (Isa 53:11; Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14) worthiness (Rev 5:2- 10) and Sonship/ to be perfected (Heb 2:10; 5:9)/ he had to endure the ultimate test/the cross/ Jesus died as a cursed object (Gal 3:13)/naked, tortured and dispossessed /outside the covenant of God (Heb 13:12).Yet Hebrews tells us/, Jesus despised these elements of shame (Heb 12:2)./ Hidden in the cross is a much deeper agony.
““Abba, Father/, all things are possible for you/. Remove this cup from me/. Yet not what I will/, but what you will.”” (Mark 14:36)/ This is a decision to embrace the cup of God’s wrath (Ps 75:8; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15- 26; Hab 2:16; Zech 12:2)/. It is to be without the honour and glory of the Father/. In the terrible cry/, ““My God, my God/, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34)/ Jesus is stripped of the experience of his first love/, his treasured possession/ the presence and favour of the Father/. He loses all sense of his worthiness as a Son./ Clothed in our dishonour / he feels he has failed the test.
The resurrection is the revelation to Jesus / that he has passed the test/ he is the fully honourable Son of the Father (Rom 1:4; Acts 13:30- 33)/ worthy to receive all authority/to make disciples of all nations/ (Matt 28:18- 19). He disciples us according to the pattern/of the Father’s testing of his own heart/.
The Tester of the Church
Jesus is constantly testing his church (e.g. 1 Pet 4:17)/ to make it worthy to “reign with him” (2 Tim 2:12; Rom 5:17; Rev 5:9- 10)/now and forever.
He usually tests us through persecution, / Peter says,/ “Beloved, do not be surprised/ at the fiery trial when it comes upon you/ to test you, ../13…rejoice …as you share Christ’s sufferings…/14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ/, you are blessed,/ because the Spirit of glory and of God/ rests upon you.” (1 Pet 4:12- 14)/. Peter himself lived out this truth,/ “when they had called in (Peter and John )the apostles/, they beat them/ and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus…/41 Then they left …the council/, rejoicing that they were counted worthy/ to suffer dishonour for the name.” (Acts 5:40- 41).
These are the words of a Rwandan Christian I met/ he had survived 6 direct attempts on his life/ during the genocide./ “If we have been through so much suffering/, God must have something very special for Rwanda.”/ Some of you older folk could surely say/, “If we have been through so much suffering/, God must have something very special for Vietnam.”
In Australia/, God often applies/ a different and more subtle test than persecution./ “The crucible for silver/ and the furnace for gold/, but man is tested by the praise he receives.” (Prov 27:21)/. Social recognition is the hardest test of all. ““Woe to you, when all people speak well of you/, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.””/ (Matt 6:26).
Upon arriving in Tonga / I was given two days to prepare a sermon/. Praying about what to preach/ two young Mormons walked past/, I sensed the Holy Spirit told me to preach/ that the desire for respectability/ was the test that was destroying/ the vitality of the Christian church./ Jesus was not a respectable person/, he associated with social outcasts (Matt 9:11)/ and was crucified as a rebel (Luke 23:1- 2)./ I have since learned/ that Tonga is the nation in the world/ most responsive to Mormon evangelism/, with its emphasis on family, morality and patriotism/. The church in Tonga is failing the test.
In the book of Revelation Jesus calls himself/ the one “who searches mind and heart” (2:23)./ He passionately rebukes the comfortable church in Loadicea/, “you say, I am rich/, I have prospered, and I need nothing/, not realizing that you are wretched/, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked./ 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold/ refined by fire/, so that you may be rich, …” (Rev 3:17- 18)/. This spiritual gold is pure faith/, “now for a little while/, if necessary/, you have been grieved by various trials/, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith/—more precious than gold that perishes/ though it is tested by fire/—may be found to result/ in praise and glory and honor/ at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6- 7).
Jesus encourages his church in Ephesus/, “‘I know your works/, your toil and your patient endurance/, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil/, but have tested those who call themselves apostles/ and are not/, and found them to be false./ 3 I know you are enduring patiently/ and bearing up for my name’s sake/, and you have not grown weary./” (Rev 2:2- 3). The Ephesians/,like good evangelical Christians/lived righteously/, rejected false teaching/ and dutifully worked hard for God./ But Jesus then pleads and warns,
“I have this against you/, that you have forsaken your first love/5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen/; repent, and do the works you did at first../’” (Rev 2:4 – 5). . Like a married couple/ whose passion has diminished over the years/, love for Jesus had become bland and ordinary/. These believers/, like most Australian Christians/, had forsaken the flame of their first love/ because they had forgotten / Jesus had experienced forsakenness by his first love.
The Testing of Immigrant Christians
Throughout scripture/ rapid elevation in prosperity/ is connected to spiritual apathy/. God cries out in anguish/,“I remember the devotion of your youth/, your love as a bride/, how you followed me in the wilderness/… I brought you into a plentiful land/ to enjoy its fruits and its good things…/ my people …have forsaken me… /Can a bride (forget) her wedding dress?/ Yet my people have forgotten me/ days without number.” (Jer 2:1, 7, 13, 32).
Instead of the church discipling our nation/, popular culture is filling the church with idols. It is a tragedy of history/ that by the third generation of a group embracing Christianity/ churches who have climbed the ladder of social acceptance/ by hard work and financial advancement/ lose their first love/. An early American Puritan said/, “Religion gave birth to prosperity/ and the daughter ate the mother”[Cotton Mather 1663- 1728]./ John Wesley [1703 – 1791] despaired of this problem/, ” wherever true Christianity spreads/, it must cause diligence and carefulness/, which, in the natural course of things/, must give birth to riches/! And riches naturally give birth to pride, love of the world/, and every habit that is destructive of Christianity. …/wherever [Christianity] it generally prevails/, it saps its own foundation./”
From the businessman who wants to be seen as a success/ to the young person taking drugs/, the heart motive/ is to be well thought of by others/. The drive to be “respected” always destroys pure religion/.
Some friends of mine used to run a BBQ for Africans/; I observed Christians who had learned in refugee camps/ to depend on God for life itself/ fast taking on the spiritual luke – warmness/ of affluent white Australians/. From being spiritually rich and materially poor/ they are setting their eyes on material riches/ and becoming spiritually poor./ Jesus warns us/, ““No one can serve two masters/, for either he will hate the one/ and love the other/, or he will be devoted to the one/ and despise the other/. You cannot serve God and possessions/.” (Matt 6:24). “God is no respecter of persons”/ – he never esteems us by our possessions or position/ (Acts 10:34; Rom 2:11; Eph 6:9; Col 3:25; 1 Pet 1:17 KJV) but solely by our desire for him/.
I dropped in on a successful Vietnamese shop keeper recently/as I began to talk to him about his Christianity/ he confessed with tears /he no longer gave God the attention he deserves./ He was ashamed that he was dishonouring his heavenly Father/.
As the first wave of refugees from the third world/ Vietnamese “boat people”occupy a special place in the Australian consciousness/ [“it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual” (1 Cor 15:46)]. In the sovereign purposes of God/ you have a unique contribution/ to make to the discipling of this land/. You are called to be spiritual pioneers/ in breaking the myth that we are “the lucky country”/ and that “the good life” of affluence/ is what it is all about/. The truth is that our material prosperity is killing us spiritually/.
Conclusion
God always tests the righteous./ Through his afflictions/ Job understood God’s care was seen in his testing/, “What is man, that you make so much of him/, and that you set your heart on him/,18 visit him every morning and test him every moment?” (Job 7:17- 18).
Are you aware of God constantly testing your heart/ as to your absolute fidelity/ and single hearted devotion to him?/ If you are not aware of such testing/, then you are like the vast mass of Australian Christians/ who cover over their lack of pure desire for God/ with niceness, affluence, morality and religious works.
If you are aware of this testing/ then you know how much the Father desires to honour you/ from his heart./ I am praying for you,/ that you may be able to pray with the psalmist/ “Whom have I in heaven but you?/ And there is nothing on earth/ that I desire besides you./” (Psalm 73:25). Only such a prayer/ echoes the heart cry of Jesus/, whose only desire has ever been/ to honour his Father in heaven/.