With the media swamped by issues stoked up by a restless generation clutching at straws to find something new to protest about, I am forced to revisit the greatest question ever asked: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36). The questioner is Jesus, who holds the answer to all our problems, if only we would have the humility and grace to submit to his call to discipleship.
I have just watched an excellent Christian movie called Priceless, which tells the true story of the rescue of two sisters being trafficked for prostitution, one man paying with his life for his courage and compassion. I won’t give away any more of the story, which is available here from Eden Books. But the point is powerfully made that, while these young girls may have had a price on their bodies, their souls were priceless – and Jesus loved them so much he paid the ultimate price for their redemption.
Worldly Concerns
Legendary cricketer and missionary to China, India and Africa, CT Studd, put it so well: “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” And yet much of the Church seems more concerned with many of the issues in which the world is engaged, including the environment. Joining the online service of a church with which we are familiar – of a charismatic evangelical persuasion – I was somewhat shocked to discover that green issues were being discussed. This included an interview with an Anglican diocesan representative who talked of their goal being net-zero carbon rating by a certain date.
Of course, God has something to say on all these matters, but in the process of trying to be relevant, we are in danger of putting the cart before the horse. We lose sight of the main thing – the gospel – which alone has the potential for transforming lives and communities. At a time when people are desperately crying out for answers to our current troubles, which could leave millions without a job and with a very uncertain future, how many of us are preaching the gospel of redemption – from sin, selfishness and fear – where God meets all your needs if you put him first?
Jesus holds the answer to all our problems, if only we would have the humility and grace to submit to his call to discipleship.
The Power of the Gospel
One of the most powerful stories of gospel transformation over the past century has been briefly re-told among the obituaries in the July issue of Evangelicals Now.1 Mincaye Enquedi, who has died aged 90, was among those who speared five missionaries to death on the banks of a South American river in 1956. Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming and Roger Youderian were trying to make contact with the unreached Huaorani tribe, known as Aucas or ‘savages’, in the Amazon rainforest of eastern Ecuador. They had a reputation for being highly dangerous and their initial response to the missionary overtures certainly bore this out.
Nate Saint's plane, used in Operation Auca. See Photo CreditsThe tragedy was reported around the world, and it seemed the men had wasted their lives. But two years later, the widow of Jim Elliot, Elisabeth, and the sister of Nate Saint, Rachel, returned to live with the tribe – the same people who had murdered the men they loved. They learned their language, taught them the Bible and successfully forged friendships that transformed all of them. The saying, attributed to Tertullian, that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, has certainly been fulfilled in this remote part of the world.
It wasn’t long before Mincaye came to faith in Christ, later becoming a much-respected elder and preacher. He is quoted as saying: “We acted badly, until they brought us God’s carvings [the Bible]. Then, seeing his carvings and following his good trail, we now live happily and at peace with everyone.” Some years later he met Steve, the young son of Nate Saint whom he had murdered. A kinship bond was formed between them and he adopted Steve as his ‘tribal son’, later considering Steve’s children as his grandchildren.
He said: “When I killed Steve’s father, I didn’t know better. No-one told us that he had come to show us God’s trail. My heart was black and sick in sin, but I heard that God sent his own Son, his blood dripping and dripping. He washed my heart clean.”
How many of us are preaching the gospel of redemption – from sin, selfishness and fear – where God meets all your needs if you put him first?
The Wondrous Purposes of God
Mincaye actually baptised Steve and his sister next to the very beach where he had killed his father. And he later did the same for Steve’s children. For his part, Steve said: “I have never forgotten the pain and heartache of losing my dad…I have known Mincaye since I was a little boy when he took me under his wing…He was one of my dearest friends in the world. Yes, he killed my father, but he loved me and my family…What Mincaye and his tribesmen meant for evil, God used for good” (see Genesis 50:20).
Jim Elliot was not naïve about the perils of his mission, as he had already made a telling comment that has since become his epitaph: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”2 May we live likewise as our redemption draws ever nearer.
References
1 Morrison, DJ. Mincaye Enquedi 1930-2020. Evangelicals Now, July 2020.
2 Jim Elliot's journal, entry for 28 October 1949.
