AB316

Tag: Contentment

  • God Owes Us Nothing

    God Owes Us Nothing

    “Anansi ndi nkhondo.”
    “Relatives are a battle.”  

    We have all experienced this, in many different ways.  If you have followed the Lord’s leading into ministry, you probably attracted some family rebukes.  Relatives called you foolish.  They muttered that you were wasting your abilities.  

    Relatives are a battle in that they also fight for our time and attention.  When a father seeks to work, sometimes he is drawn away by conflict in the family. When a mother needs a moment of rest, the children plot trouble and chaos.  Anansi ndi nkhondo!  

    But who in Africa would actually suggest that we should avoid family, marriage, and children?  These three are intertwined in African culture, and even more so, we expected these blessings from God as a reward for our faithful service to Him.  Yet our eyes turn to the words of God in Jeremiah 18.  

    NO FAMILY for Jeremiah

    The word of the Lord came to me: “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

    Jeremiah (16:1-4)

    Jeremiah was commanded by God to not have a family. He had no wife to support him and no children to bless him.  But when we serve God, sometimes we must break culture.  

    Consider the consequences are having no children. What happens if you lack a child, an heir?  When you die, your family land will pass to another, won’t it?  But why would Jeremiah need an heir, if the land was to be destroyed?  The children would not inherit; they would die. 

    Jeremiah lived in a time with God’s judgment looming over rebellious Judah (see the remainder of Jeremiah 16).  In a sense, Jeremiah’s life was a picture of Judah’s future – wifeless, childless, destitute.  He was a visible sign to the nation of what was to come.

    NO EVENTS for Jeremiah

    For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them. No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.For thus says the Lordof hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

    Jeremiah 16:5-9

    Many of us have a family member who acts like they are not in the family.  
    Someone is dead, but they do not come. 
    Grief has visited the family, but they will not grieve.  
    Even when there is joy such as with a birth or a wedding, they never arrive.  

    It is as if they left the family, ignored society, and disgraced the African way of life.  

    Jeremiah’s situation was not so different.  He would be considered an outcast to avoid funerals and feasts.  While others participated in the customs of the day, he was only permitted to care about God and delivering His Word.  From another viewpoint, the calling of God can look like a curse.  

    The life of Jeremiah was on display before the people.  Since judgment was coming, he could not participate in life as usual.  God had withdrawn His pity from Israel, so how could Jeremiah shed tears at a funeral when God was not grieved?  

    Recognizing that God instructed Jeremiah to live in a particular way before judgment, how should we live at this time – the time appointed to us?  

    1. Acknowledge that singleness for God’s service is honorable.  

    Jeremiah was commanded to be single and celibate. In some cultures, we treat that like a death sentence.  But brothers and sisters, the time before final judgment is short for us today. The Lord may return now!  Let us hear the words of 1 Corinthians 7:25-31. 

    I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed womanmarries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods,and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

    1 Corinthians 7:25-31

    The parallels to Jeremiah are shocking.  The impending judgment of Judah was close, and so Jeremiah was told to avoid family attachments and the normal events/rhythms of life.  Paul uses the same reasoning to Christians in Corinth.  Judgment is soon.  The present world is passing away – taking its last breath.  

    If you are unmarried, can you accept those words? It is no sin to marry, but with the little time remaining and the ministry laid before you by God, do have you time for those joys and those troubles?  Some like Peter did, but others like Paul and Jesus did not.  

    2. Choose the obligations and responsibilities that will empower your calling, not inhibit it.  

    For Jeremiah to fulfill His responsibilities and represent God’s message well, God determined that Jeremiah would be single and culturally inappropriate.

    What had God called each of us to in these last days before judgment?  The time is short.
    Can we carry our calling and be a prominent member of society? 
    A politician?  A husband and a father?  A wife and a mother?  

    We must choose our obligations wisely, and let them not encroach on our calling.  Can we only choose responsibilities that will cooperate with and assist our heavenly King’s orders?  

    We cannot simply get married or do anything because it is the normal thing to do in our culture or family.  We are in the service of the Almighty God. 

    3. God is not obligated to bless you with family, events, or public honor.  

    What if God called you to be a servant without family or social involvement outside of ministry?  
    Could you bear it?  
    How much would you complain?  
    How much would your family complain?

    Brothers and sisters in Christ, listen carefully. Contrary to the many words of blessing you have received and the many promises of a prosperous tomorrow declared over you, God does not owe you anything.
    You are not owed a spouse.
    You are not owed children.
    You are not owed a comfortable church position.
    You are not owed a place of honor in your family.
    You are not owed social standing. 

    Our cultures and families teach us what is normal and what we are entitled to.
    They train us to expect honor when we are old, and families when we are young. 
    They teach us the social norms we must follow. 

    Yet when we have a higher King – the King of Kings – we find that we are not owed anything in this world.  Don’t forget the words of Christ in Luke 9:59-60,“To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’”  That’s perfectly reasonable, but when we follow the King, Jesus can say, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

    God called Jeremiah, and Jeremiah lived like God owed him nothing.  He “enjoyed” a forty-year ministry where virtually no one listened to him.  But he served God well, even as he missed the joys of family and the events of life.  He had success in his ministry.

    And in our time, God calls us.  God owes us nothing in this world; we owe Him everything.  

    Dr. Scott MacDonald serves as the Academic Dean and a lecturer with the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zambia.  He enjoys exploring issues pertaining to Biblical Demonology, African Christian Theology, and Byang Kato.  He is married to Michal, and they have three children – Malachi, Adelaide, and Isaiah.  Visit his website at https://scottdmacdonald.academia.edu/.

  • Contentment

    Contentment

    by Lucy Gawa

    When I was young in school we had a game whereby we used to sing a song which said, “man made money, money made man mad”. If you failed to sing this as fast as you could correctly, your friends would chase you and take away your shoes for the whole day as punishment. It was fun and physical but reflecting on the song now I find it sad because it expresses the truth as far as our society is concerned today. The most shocking part is that the men and women called by God have not been spared from this money madness.

    6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

    1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV)

    This text is coming from a pastoral letter written by Apostle Paul to Timothy, the overseer of the church that Paul planted in Ephesus.  He wrote to encourage the youthful leader to be a good minister in the Church and today encourage him to remain steadfast in the Lord, never to succumb to the pressure by false teachers and their false teachings.

    Vs 6-8

    • Paul states that godliness with contentment is a great gain.
    • He points out that when coming into the world you do not bring anything just as you go out you do not take anything from it.
    • He continues by saying that “if” we have food and ” covering” (clothes and shelter), then we should be contented.

    Vs 9- 10

    Paul wrote that people who want to get rich fall into temptation and are trapped into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 

    Paul emphasised this by pointing out that the love of money is the root of all evil.

    He finished by saying that some people who were eager to have money, wondered away from faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

    Today there is shameful materialism, deceit and selfishness among some men and women who were called by God. Some have commercialised religion. They are selling items such as salt, handkerchiefs, oil, water, and many things.

    They claim that the items are anointed, and they will solve their followers’ physical and spiritual problems. 

    There is competition among themselves over who owns the most expensive wardrobe, largest feet of cars, private jets, largest number of mansions, and more.

    There is a huge display of discontentment and restlessness among these men and women because of their love of money. There is no godliness left in them. Jesus, through the Apostle Paul in this letter to Timothy, is telling us that godliness and contentment is the answer to being a good Church leader.

    DO YOU WANT TO BE A GOOD AND EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN LEADER?

    The passage reveals two secrets.

    1. “Godliness” means living a God pleasing life.
    2. “Contentment ” means being satisfied or having a sense of fulfilment or to be complete or to have a sense of no lack. 

    The first secret is godliness

    Godliness alone can give a man the sense that he lacks absolutely nothing deep in his soul. He knows that he has everything in our Lord Jesus Christ no matter how tough things can be. No great gain could ever come to a person than this feeling.

    We only need food, clothes, and shelter, and we praise God for these. All other things are temporary. This is the reason we should constantly remember that we brought nothing to this world and we shall carry nothing when going out of it.

    I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Phil 4: 11b

    As Christian leaders we should live Godly lives. It brings contentment to the soul.

    We should concentrate on permanent things that we shall take when going to our father in heaven. This is eternal life.

    The second secret is contentment

    When we are contented with what we have, we have time to concentrate on godly causes and soul winning, but when we love money we are led into sin. We fall into temptation and get trapped. Our lives and desires are dominated by thoughts and schemes of how to become richer. There is no time to think of godly things and winning  souls. Like a sinking ship we plunge into ruin and destruction.  

    Money itself is not wrong. It is neither moral nor immoral, but if anyone loves it more than God it becomes sin. It becomes a god. It makes us wonder away from God and we pierce ourselves with misery.

    Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.

    Proverbs 15:16

     As Good Christian leaders we should keep our lives and behaviour free from the love of money we should be content with what we have in order to remain in truth that we have in Jesus Christ. 

    This text is encouraging us to live a holy and contented life in order for us not to fall away from faith and wonder away from God by following harmful and foolish desires. It is reminding us of how temporary wealth or money is as we shall never take it with us when departing from this world.

    The secrets to good Church leadership are godliness and contentment not riches. These will help us stay steadfast in faith no matter how much pressure the world and its false prophets may exert on us. By being good Christian leaders, we shall not only avoid many troubles, we shall save many souls who shall follow our example. After everything in this life, we shall receive eternal life and live with our LORD JESUS CHRIST IN ETERNITY.