Jesus to a man with wealth, youth, and influence

Do you desire eternal life? Or, in other words, do you want to enter the kingdom of God, do you want to be “saved”? Jesus says that only God is good. Jesus is both God and good. You are neither. When confronted with God’s law, you fall short (especially if you consider how Jesus heightened the standard). Even if you can in some way say that you’ve kept the impossible law of God, you still lack: “Leave everything for My sake and the gospel’s sake; you’ll be abundantly blessed in this age and receive eternal life in the age to come,” says the One who died and rose to give eternal life to those who respond in this way. Cling to everything (your god, your goodness) to lose everything; follow Christ to gain all.

Mark 10:17-31 (also Matthew 19:16-30; and Luke 18:18-30)

Your place in society cannot keep you from pleasing God.

According to Luke’s gospel, your place in society cannot keep you from pleasing God. Jesus’ identification of the Samaritan (10:25-37); his commendation of Mary (10:38-42); and his story of the rich man and Lazarus (16:19-31) give hope that such classifications as race, gender, and economic position are no liability for the one who would please God. The fatal liability is one’s pride that refuses to place him or her in the only category for which Jesus offers hope: the category of sinner (5:30-32). Justified sinners can please God as His grace works in them.

Prayer for us and for Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha:

• Reliance upon God’s grace for faithfulness in regular Bible reading;
• Complete trust in God’s sovereign hand (Daniel 4:35);
• Admiration for the Lord Jesus for his works (in John 5, those of future judgment and of giving us eternal life); and
• Encouraging meetings for the Garwoods in the U.S. during these months, as well as the rest that they need.

Our Trip with Jona

Written Wednesday, 25 May 2011

When our nephew Jonatán was five years old, we took him along with us on a month-long trip to Uruguay. Our 1981 diesel Oldsmobile took us first from South Carolina to Miami. Jona sat in the front seat, between Deborah and me (though now with kids of my own, I’m wondering if he was really supposed to be up there). We had no children at the time; but Jona as a five-year-old counted for maybe three. A theme that developed in the front seat was—directed to him to encourage calmness—“If I crash, you crash.” He liked it. In Costa Rica, rather late in our layover, we decided to try to tour as much of the country as we could in half an hour or so. Barely returning to our gate in time—Jona in tow—we caught our flight to the next layover in Lima, Perú. Our memories of Lima include running Jona in the airport to tire him out, following one of his dad’s suggestions to us.

The purpose of our trip was both to visit family and to continue surveying the possibility of returning someday for the sake of the gospel. A more deliberate theme for the trip came from the first few verses of Psalm 105: “Make known his deeds among the people. . . . talk of all his wondrous works.” I distinctly remember talking with Jona about some of this. And certainly our trip included some opportunity to make God known—a daunting and humbling idea for sure—as we at least a few times talked about what God had done.

As I write—sitting in the same Costa Rica airport en route to Uruguay with my own energetic five-year-old—we are finishing the first month since Jona’s life was taken by cancer. At his memorial service several people spoke; but much of the time was taken up by recordings of Jona’s own testimony. With the psalmist David (Jona’s middle name), Jona talked of God’s lifting him from the miry clay and setting his feet on a rock. And he did this before an audience of a thousand people. But the audience in reality was much, much larger. For twenty months believers from literally across the globe watched this young man respond to God’s dealings with him. Jona’s life and words tell of God’s work in one of His children.

Though we acknowledge many God-given talents that Jona enjoyed, if we’re honest we have to admit that in many ways he really was a rather ordinary guy. The chemotherapy was excruciating. He told us in his memorial service of even wanting to end his own life, due to the effects of the treatment on his body and mind. And he of course struggled with sin along with the rest of us. But his life was one that knew God’s grace: God’s saving grace given to him in the gospel and His ongoing, sustaining grace, also given to Him in Christ. And in his weakness and ultimate death, he made known God’s deeds and talked of His works “among the people.” It was God’s grace at work in ordinary weakness. That offers hope for my own five-year-old (and seven-month-old). And it provides hope for ordinary people like me.

O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works (Psalm 105:1-2).

Prayer for men

Please pray for men, and for men that will be men. We do want to see whole families discipled. And we value every person whose heart the Lord has opened. But if it’s true that we should gravitate toward people, we want to deliberately run toward the men. Please pray for desire in the hearts of men to lead their families and the church.

This past Sunday afternoon, M (a man) visited the preaching service. He has known the pastor’s family, his sister-in-law attends services, but this was his first visit. Please pray for profitable future contact.

Request for Prayer: 27 May 2011

A company based in Provo, Utah, has recently begun business in South Carolina. Apparently much (perhaps most) of the door-to-door sales work is done by employees who are either former or future LDS missionaries. Please pray for Samuel (not his name), who will begin his mission this summer, and for Yadín (no, not his name), a former Mormon missionary to Chile. According to one website, Chile has the first and “Uruguay has the second highest percentage of nominal LDS members in any nation with over one million inhabitants . . . , although only about 0.5% of Uruguayans are active Latter-day Saints” (www.cumorah.com). Nevertheless, a visitor to Uruguay would not likely go far or long without noticing the presence of Mormonism. We would be thankful if the Lord would give us contact and opportunity to give the gospel to these who are believing a “gospel” much changed from the good news that we have been given in our Bibles.

Spring 2011 Report

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement as we continue to prepare for work in Uruguay. Much has happened—and much has changed—during these last three months, and we are as always in need of the Lord.

At the end of March we completed meetings in Ohio churches, returning just before Jonatán’s battle with cancer ended and he courageously completed his 16-year race. Jonatán (Jona) is Deborah’s sister’s son. During the last 3½ weeks of hospice care, God had already arranged our travel schedule to allow us freedom to stay with Jona’s family and to help with his care. John Mark traveled briefly to Iowa for a conference; and the week following his return, on April 20, Jona went to be with the Lord. Though we understand so little of God and His ways, He has revealed enough to us in the Bible that we can look confidently toward the day when we will see Jona in Glory. This confidence is based on God’s words: that the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ has been imputed to those who have believed the gospel. The Father punished His righteous Son in order that He might call unrighteous people “righteous”—and be Himself righteous in doing so. We sing with confidence one of Jona’s favorite hymns: “When disappointment, change, and tears are past, all safe and blessèd, we shall meet at last.”

God has also revealed that He causes such changes to result in His people’s being presently, “practically” conformed into the image of His perfect Son (Romans 8:28-30). Much could be written about the effect that Jona’s life and death have had around the world. Approximately a thousand or more attended his memorial service.

Plans to return to the western U.S. and Canada this summer have also changed: In addition to reasons mentioned above, the Lord has opened to us an opportunity to go to Uruguay during this time. Deborah’s father and step-mother, Don and Pat Garwood, returned in April from Uruguay to begin several months of furlough. They began their trip by spending time with family (especially Jona); but they remained uncertain about whether they would be able to complete their furlough, as they had not found someone to oversee their church-planting work during their absence. At the end of April the Lord put together the necessary details for us to make definite plans to help for part of this time. On Monday, May 23, we will leave South Carolina to spend the next three months in Uruguay. We have tickets to return the end of August. We’ll plan to post notes on our blogs and to send several email updates between now and September 1, when our summer report will log our South American winter.

Pando is a city of approximately 24,000 people (not counting surrounding areas) just northeast of the country’s capital of Montevideo. We will live in the Garwoods’ home in Totoral del Sauce, outside Pando, while we work with Iglesia Bíblica Maranatha (Maranatha Bible Church), located on the northern edge of Pando. Our activities will include the oversight of the regular services, including most of the preaching and teaching. Regular meetings include a Saturday afternoon youth meeting, children’s and teens’ morning Sunday school, a Sunday afternoon preaching and worship service, and a Tuesday afternoon prayer meeting. We will also visit in people’s homes.

This church will likely be our “home” church after our permanent (future) move to Uruguay, while the future focus of our day-to-day work will be serving the Uruguayan churches by assisting and strengthening the EMU Bible institute in Montevideo. We’re thankful for this early introduction to all of these aspects of the work.

Thank you again for your prayers!