THE WAY FORWARD IN CHRIST
(Part 19)
January 5,
2009
Today the
gospel is Matthew 4:12-25. It is about the beginning of Jesus’ public
ministry. Jesus issued his call to repentance, started forming his core
group, and began moving around Galilee doing his work.
This Bible
passage brought me to a book I had written in 1998, “Witnesses to the
Ends of the Earth.”I started that book on May 16, 1997, while waiting at
the airport for my flight to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It was based
on the mission of Jesus as written in Matthew 4. That hour I wrote the
whole basic outline. But I did not start writing the book itself until
December 16. I wrote on and off, and finally finished it on October 29,
1998.
“Witnesses
to the Ends of the Earth” is about Jesus’ mission, and also about the
mission of CFC. Written ten years ago, it had warned about CFC being at
the crossroad, that there was real danger of losing its anointing. Here is
the text on the back cover.
“Today we are at the
threshold of the third millennium. And the people of God face a
momentous challenge.
It has been 2,000 years
of Christianity, but the commission of the Lord Jesus Christ to bring
the gospel to the whole world has not been accomplished. In fact, the
Church itself is being buffeted by dark winds and sinister forces, both
from without and within. Spiritual warfare continues to rage in the
heavens and on earth. At stake are the billions of souls on the face of
the earth.
In June of 1981, God
raised up a new army to participate in the war. God raised up a movement
to work for global evangelization and renewal. That movement is Couples
for Christ. Now, 17 years later, Couples for Christ has made and
continues to make a tremendous impact throughout the world.
But all is not well.
Now, towards the end of
the second millennium and at the threshold of the third, Couples for
Christ has come to a crossroad. Its future usefulness to God and his
work is threatened. The dangers are very real, but the opportunities
also continue to be tremendous and exciting.
-
Will the members of
Couples for Christ give in to the ravaging attacks of the flesh, the
world and the devil, or will they continue to move on in the power
of the Holy Spirit?
-
Has the zeal of Couples
for Christ grown cold, or will it continue to blaze with the fire of
God’s love?
-
Will the work of Couples
for Christ end the millennium with a whimper or with a bang?
-
Will God discard Couples
for Christ, or continue to use it mightily in accordance with his
will?
Now, more than ever, there
is a great need for Christ’s witnesses to be sent to the ends of the
earth. Will Couples for Christ be counted among them? Will Couples for
Christ be part of the victorious army of Jesus Christ, as history races
into the third millennium and closer to the end of time?”
We did not
truly heed the prophetic word of the Lord at that time. And so slowly but
surely, the downward spiral continued. God warned us again entering into
2007 with our theme of Lamentations. But again we were hard of heart (and
hard of hearing) and did not learn the lessons God wanted to teach us. In
fact, some openly rebelled against the Lord, marginalizing Jesus in our
work with the poor, acting in unchristian ways against brethren, and
attacking even the hierarchy of the Church.
God had had enough. He then allowed the crisis to result in a split. He
was going to start all over again. He raised a remnant, the restored CFC
faithful to its authentic calling, now CFC-FFL.
I had very
high hopes for this restored work. I had hoped that the painful split
would truly teach us the lessons of Lamentations. And indeed there are
many hopeful signs. But the old flesh is still at work. There are still
conflicts among top leaders, unfaithfulness to our life together, a lack
of passion for evangelization, and a general failure in growing in
holiness.
Read the
above text again. The prophetic word remains true even now.
So this is
our third chance, and possibly the last. If we do not shape up, then God
can indeed discard CFC-FFL altogether.
I invite
you to read “Witnesses to the Ends of the Earth” again, and to take up
in your household meetings the discussion topics given in the Guide at the
back. But take up the topics yourself in your prayer time, just between
Jesus and you. If you did not read the book before, then that explains
partially why we plunged into crisis in 2007. If you read it but did not
amend your life accordingly, then repent. If you read this invitation of
mine but do not heed it, then may God have mercy on us all.
This book
explains God’s call to us—to be witnesses, to repentance, to
community, to discipleship, to evangelization, and to global ministry. It
points the way to our personal posture in Christ, the way of humility. It
pinpoints the threats to our work—pride, unfaithfulness, lack of faith,
selfishness, weariness, preoccupation with other things, complacency,
disunity, and a lack of growth in holiness.
These
are all the aspects of our life and mission that we need to continue
to learn, and to live out accordingly. If our baptism in the Spirit
does not result in our becoming witnesses to Jesus, then we cannot be
fully empowered to accomplish a worldwide work of renewal.
God’s
mission in the world is so important that we cannot just respond
casually, or halfheartedly, or grudgingly. We need to give it our all.
We need to totally belong to Jesus, and to totally commit ourselves to
his mission. If we are but willing to do so, then God’s grace is
sufficient to overcome all our shortcomings and fears.
If we
have not yet truly started on that path to total commitment to Christ
and his mission, then let us start now.
God
bless you all.
Your
brother and servant,
Frank Padilla
Go to "The Way Forward Part 20" >>
