Grace and Peace

When we hear the word, “fellowship,” we often think about events where people spend time together and enjoy each others companionship.  Many times these events are founded upon common interests, physical ties (like in a family), or local/regional church affiliation.  Such an understanding of “fellowship” was completely foreign to the followers of Jesus in the New Testament.

Those brothers and sisters in Christ understood that they have fellowship on a horizontal plane (sharing life together) because they first of all have a vertical relationship with God through His Son, the Lord Jesus.  Thus their earthly relationships are enriched because they share together in Christ’s life and hold His purposes in common (cf. 1 Cor. 1:9 with vs. 10f, then see 1 John 1:3).  Interestingly, the New English Bible translates 1 John 1:3 thusly, “What we have seen and heard we declare to you, so that you and we together may share in a common life, that life which we share with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

New Testament fellowship is sharing together a common life (the life of the Savior) with other believers through our relationship with God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Fellowship is, therefore, first and foremost a relationship, rather than an activity.  Any activity that follows is to flow out of this relationship.  Here is the common ground, the core and the heart beat of all Christian fellowship that is truly biblical.

In late 1955, missionaries Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint and Roger Youderian began trying to establish contact with the Auca (also known as: Waodani or Huaorani) Indians who lived in eastern Ecuador. This fierce tribe that had previously killed several Shell Oil company employees.  The missionaries would fly around the camp shouting friendship words in the Auca language through a loud speaker and drop down gifts in a basket they dangled from the aircraft.  The gifts includes things such as beads, cloths, machetes, and a photograph of each missionary. The Aucas responded by sending back up a parrot and feathered head dresses.  After several positive contacts, the men decided to build a base of operations a short distance from the Indian tribe, along the Curaray River.  Unexpectedly after a week, four Aucas came to the camp to visit the missionaries. The five men gave the Aucas food and gifts as a sign of peace.

During their visit, one of the Aucas moved toward the plane examining it intently. The missionaries promptly named the man "George." By the hand signs he made, they understood that he was interested in a ride, so Nate started up the engine and flew off the narrow strip with "George" in the back of the plane.  Nate steered the plane in the direction of the village realizing his opportunity to use his passenger as propaganda. "George," who was wild with delight, was hanging out the plane window screaming Auca phrases to his fellow villagers.

Encouraged by the visit, the men felt that it was time to go into the Auca village and try to minister to the entire tribe. On the morning of January 8th, after numerous songs of praise and considerable prayer, the men radioed their wives saying that they were going to go into the village and would radio them at about 4:30 PM. The women, back at the base, were praying for their husband's time with the Aucas and asking God to keep them safe. At 4:30 there was no reply, which immediately put the women in alarm. An hour later helicopters and planes from the Ecuadorian Air Force, the US Army, Air Force and Navy swarmed along the Curray River looking for any sight of the missionaries. Finally, one of the helicopters radioed in saying that they had found their bodies on the beach.  Their bodies had been brutally pierced with spears and hacked by machetes. All of the plane's fabric had been ripped off as if the Aucas had tried to kill the plane, too.

The missionaries had learned about the Aucas as they and their wives were ministering to the Quichua and Jivaro Indians of Ecuador. The Aucas had been known for centuries by these other tribes as a hostile and murderous tribe which killed all strangers with whom they had contact.  Other Indians feared them, but the missionaries were determined to reach them.  Jim Elliot spoke for the others when he said, "Our orders are the Gospel to every creature."

Though their mission ended in martyrdom, they were not failures. After their deaths, there were many conversions to Christianity among the other Indian tribes of Ecuador. Later, Elisabeth Elliot and her daughter Valerie moved to work in the Auca Indian village. They were joined by Rachel Saint (Nate's sister) who also felt a burden to take the Gospel to those who had killed her brother. Their example of forgiveness and love for the ones who murdered their family members allowed them to have amazing success with the once murderous Indians.  Many Aucas now live for Christ and are busy sharing the Gospel with others.  Having been the beneficiary of missionary ministry they have in turn become missionaries with a burden to make know the good news of Jesus.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers, has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."  (Revelation 12:10-11 ESV)

Don't you wish you could rewind certain moments of your life and erase them like you would a video recording that has gone bad?  I sure do.  For example, just one moment this morning where I should have let an incident pass without comment...but I had to speak up and correct what I viewed as grievous error.  From that comment, a confrontation ensued with the result that I became angry with a brother.

All in all such moments just aren't worth it.  We lose our peace of mind.  Sometimes, we lose fellowship with a brother or sister.  Many times, we lose our testimony in the face of those who see or hear the incident.  It isn't worth it!

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (James 1:19-20 ESV)

Max Lucado tells the story of a prison near the city of Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. In 1972, the Brazilian government turned the prison over to Dr. Mario Ottoboni and Dr. Silvio Marques Neto, who were both devout Christians.

The institution was renamed Humaita, and the plan was to run it on Christian principles. With the exception of two full-time staff, all the work is done by inmates. Families outside the prison adopt an inmate to work with during and after his term. Chuck Colson visited the prison and made this report:

When I visited Humaita I found the inmates smiling- particularly the murderer who held the keys, opened the gates and let me in. Wherever I walked I saw men at peace. I saw clean living areas, people working industriously. The walls were decorated with Biblical sayings from Psalms and Proverbs...My guide escorted me to the notorious prison cell once used for torture. Today, he told me, that block houses only a single inmate. As we reached the end of a long concrete corridor and he put the key in the lock, he paused and asked, "Are you sure you want to go in?"

"Of course," I replied impatiently, "I've been in isolation cells all over the world." Slowly he swung open the massive door, and I saw the prisoner in that punishment cell: a crucifix, beautifully carved by the Humaita inmates-the prisoner Jesus, hanging on a cross.

"He's doing time for the rest of us," my guide said softly.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)

It was a fog-shrouded morning, July 4, 1952, when Florence Chadwick waded into the water off Catalina Island. She intended to swim the channel from the island to the California coast. Long-distance swimming was not new to her; she had been the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.

The cold water was numbing. The fog was so thick she could hardly see the boats in following by her side. Several times sharks had to be driven away with rifle fire. She swam more than 15 hours before she asked to be taken out of the water. Her trainer tried to encourage her to swim on since they were so close to land, but when Florence looked, all she saw was fog. So she quit. . . only one-mile from her goal.

Later she said, "I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land I might have made it."

It wasn’t the cold or fear or exhaustion that caused Florence Chadwick to quit. It was the fog that obscured the goal.  Many times we too fail, because we lose sight of the goal.  Maybe that’s why Paul said, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).

Two months after her failure, Florence Chadwick walked off the same beach into the same channel and swam the distance, setting a new speed record, because she could see the land.

In the movie, "About Schmidt," 66-year-old Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) has retired from his job as an insurance actuary.  He is miserable and dissatisfied with his life, and after his wife (June Squibb) suddenly dies, he feels even more lost and alone. Throughout the movie he writes his personal thoughts to a 6-year-old African child, Ndugu, that he sponsors for $22 a month.

"I know we’re all pretty small in the big scheme of things. I suppose the most you can hope for is to make some kind of difference. But what kind of difference have I made? What in the world is better because of me? Relatively soon I will die. Maybe twenty years. Maybe tomorrow. It doesn’t matter. Once I am dead and everybody who knew me dies too, it will be as though I never existed. What difference has my life made to anyone? None that I can think of. None at all. Hope things are fine with you. Yours truly, Warren Schmidt."

So Schmidt sets out in an RV to try to reconnect with his daughter and save her from making a bad choice in marriage.  That effort is a disaster and he returns home even more depressed.  When he arrives home, Schmidt finds a stack of mail.  He sees an international envelope and opens it.

"Dear Mr. Warren Schmidt. My name is Sister Nadie Guchier of the Order of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. I work in a small village near the town of Enbaya in Tanzania. One of the children I care for is little Ndugu Emu - the boy you sponsor. Ndugu is a very intelligent boy and very loving. He is an orphan. Recently he needed medical attention for an infection of the eye, but he is better now. He loves to eat melon, and he loves to paint. Ndugu and I wanted you to know he receives all your letters. He hopes you are happy in your life and healthy. He thinks of you everyday, and he wants very much your happiness. Ndugu is only six years old and cannot read or write, but he has made for you a painting. He hopes you will like this painting. Yours Sincerely, Sister Nadine Guchier."

Warren unfolds the paper and stares at it. It is a drawing of two stick figures; a boy holding the hand of a man. Schmidt stares at it and begins weeping. His tears of grief turn to tears of joy, knowing that his life matters to a little African orphan boy.

That is a pretty touching story line, but it is also infinitely sad.  God doesn't intend for us to live our lives disconnected, miserable, and without meaning; waiting till the end of our life to find that our life mattered.  Jesus said, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) It is God's purpose for your life to have joy and influence.  Look around you today and see who you can serve in Jesus' name.  Start making a difference and rejoice in the goodness of God.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. (John 15:1 ESV)

The vine was a powerful symbol and one with which Jesus’ disciples would immediately identify. The vine was a symbol of Israel itself.  During the Maccabean period of Jewish history, it was the vine which served to represent Israel on their coinage. Even before that, Scripture (Psalm 80 and others) used the vine to identify Israel .  Isaiah’s prophecy declared that Israel had produced bad fruit and that righteousness and justice were lacking.  Israel, the vine, had gone bad.  Those who ought to have been tending, guarding, and keeping the vine were failing miserably.  Now, Jesus identifies Himself as the True Vine and His Father as the Gardener.

Then think about a little later in the night, as the disciples left the upper room after sharing the Passover meal together.  They then made their way toward Gethsemane which took them pass the Temple.  A chief symbol decorating the Temple was a golden vine with a cluster of grapes as large as a man.  In His ministry, Jesus had often challenged the corruption of Temple worship practices.  When He said, "I will destroy this Temple and raise it up on the third day" in reference to His own death and resurrection, perhaps Jesus had in mind the fact that this symbol of the vine of Israel would soon be shown to be inferior to the True Vine.

Also, consider the elements present at the Passover meal.  On the table had been lamb.  Remember John the Baptist identifying Jesus as “The Lamb of God, come to take away the sins of the world.”  There was also bread.  Jesus had identified Himself as the “Bread of Life;” the true staple of spiritual life. There was wine as well.   Jesus points to Himself as the Source of the real fruit of life.  He is the True Vine.

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6 English Standard Version)

“I am the way”, said the One who would soon be nailed to a cross; being both despised and rejected by men.  Jesus, in life, always pointed men to the Father and even in death, He remained the signpost of heaven pointing the way home.

“I am the Truth”, said the One who would soon be accused and slandered by the lies of evil men.  The lies would carry the moment and the Son of God would be turned over to be crucified, but the Truth of God endures long after those men are dead and in the grave.

“I am the Life”, said the One whose dead body would soon be placed in a borrowed tomb.  That dark moment looked like the end until He bodily rose from the tomb on the third day.  Not only did He rise from the dead, but He lives forever and by God’s grace through faith in what Jesus has done for us at the cross, we can, too!