H.I.S. People: Humility, Integrity, Simplicity

What hurts God most is the disobedience and failure of his people.   Just read the books of the prophets in the Old Testament.  Here and there God addresses the unbelieving pagan world;  most often he speaks to believers.   Ever since the days of Abraham God's people have been called to be a light to the nations, a blessing to the people around them.  But the reality is that often God's people have become worse than the people around her.

The blight on the church, like the people of Israel, is our repeated indulgence in the paths of sin.  On day five, Chris Wright, a cleric from England, compared the plight of today’s Church to the pre-Reformation Church of the 16th century. ‘What hurts God the most,’ continued Dr Wright, '[is] the failure, disobedience, and rebellion of those he has redeemed.’ In other words, the 'idolatry of the Church.' He pointed out the three idols that are ‘especially seductive, even for evangelical Christians: the idol of power and pride; the idol of popularity and success; [and] the idol of wealth and greed.’

Wright showed the delegates that when  Jesus began his public ministry he faced these same temptations when he was tempted by Satan (see Matthew 4:1-11).  How powerful Jesus would have been if he could have turned stones into bread!  How successful Jesus would have become if he would throw himself down from the temple and come out unscathed.  Just imagine the wealth if Jesus had fallen down and worshiped Satan.   But each time Jesus did not succumb to temptation but resisted Satan by the power of the Word. 

What should the Christian response be to these idols? ‘Reformation is once again the desperate need,’ urged Dr Wright. ‘It needs to start among those who claim the name ‘evangelical,’ but who are characterized by these and other failures and abuses.’ Before Christians go out into the world, they must clean up their own backyard. He called for ‘humility, integrity, and simplicity’ and ‘a radical return to the Lord - as the prophets called for in all the generations of Old Testament Israel, as Jesus called his hearers to do. “Repent, and believe the gospel.” It was a word that came, not to pagan unbelievers, but to those who already claimed to be God’s covenant people. So it comes to us.’

This call for a second Reformation was hard-hitting but it was well received by the delegates of Lausanne 2010.   In our study of Ephesians 4:17-6:9 we were already challenged by the Holy Spirit to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called." (Eph. 4:1)    Calisto Odede, a pastor from Kenya, gave a stirring message calling the church to walk in newness of life, in love, in the light, and in dilgence.    Our Christian walk must imitate Christ in every area.   Our orthodoxy must be turned into orthopraxy.  Instead of just talking the talk, we must walk the walk.  Without that, we will make Christianity unpalatable to world.   So when Chris Wright called for a second Reformation -- for a church marked by humility, integrity, and simplicity -- this hit a resonate chord among all the delegates.  Nicky Gumbal, pioneer of the Alpha course, challenged the Lausanne Congress in the evening session of day five, to be unashamed of the gospel.   "The gospel is both vital and urgent," he went on to the tell the delegates.  There is a fierce urgency.  Communism has failed.  Captitalism has failed.  The only thing that will meet the deepest needs of humanity is the gospel.  He gave testimony of how the gospel is powerful and life changing.   More than 50 million people in 197 countries have gone through the Alpha course -- so many of them have given their hearts and lives over to the Lordship of Jesus.   David Oginde (Kenya), our MC for the morning sessions and Bible study, suggested that the delegates of Lausanne 2010 are like his people, Kenyans; we are marathon runners.  And by the end of Saturday and seven days at the congress most delegates could affirm his words.  We were running a marathon.  Most of us were tired.    But the claims of the gospel stirred us on.  The gospel is the most important message in the world, and we just got to get it out.