We are now well into our 21st year of the Ministry. You might imagine that the Ministry runs like a well-oiled ministering machine, with well-set parameters and plans to implement our specific Calling. And for a large part, it does. Or at least it did. Until Covid. Now more than ever, it’s “let’s-see-what-obstacles-we-wake-up-to-this-morning” mode. Ever changing government restrictions, endless “variants” and endemic Fear make it difficult, if not impossible, to minister predictably and efficiently. The onslaught of turmoil is bit like ministerial quicksand. Slowing everything down, and suffocating even the most eminent ministries. In fact, more missionaries have left the mission field in the past 2 years than ever entered the field in the past 25. Their projects have closed...never to reopen. By God’s grace alone, Disciple Support Ministries continues to operate...and, in fact, is growing. Our current enrollment is well past 295 Pastors and Ministry Leaders. God still sits on the Throne. And nothing is happening that He has not allowed. Things are not falling apart. They are falling into place.
By God’s grace alone, Disciple Support Ministries continues to operate...and, in fact, is growing.
In the midst of the turmoil, we can get despondent, if not Hopeless. And that’s no place for a Christian to be. We are to view Hopelessness from God’s perspective, not man’s. Hopelessness for a Christian is nothing less than Sin. It rests on a cracked foundation, atop sinking sand. And we know where that comes from. Faulty “Following”. Forget the “Leadership” mantras, “Discipleship” slogans and “Purpose” fulfillment nonsense “elevating” emotions within the church. Turn off the YouTube teachings, the Zoom preaching and the stadium worship fests. That’s not where it is walked out. Jesus is all about “Doing”. Simply “Hearing” and chanting is tantamount to assured Condemnation...
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not Do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and Does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and Did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
This text is not supporting the metaphor of Jesus as the “Rock”. (That begins in Exodus 17 and continues through Revelation 2.) Rather, these specific Words of Christ refer to the foundation of Applied Obedience unto Christ. Our foundation is not to rest upon “Hearing” or even “Believing”. This specific “rock” is the “Doing”. And “Doing” is nothing less than uncompromising Obedience. Obedience both Outward and Inward. Obedience both Seen and Unseen.
Obedience both Seen and Unseen.
The Call to Obedience offends many these days. As it should. It offends every last particle of Sin and Rebellion in each of us. Let it Offend! To “repackage” Jesus for the “current Generation” is nothing less than Obscured Apostasy. It warrants no further comment or consideration. We are called to walk in Holiness...which is Applied Obedience to Christ. And while most of us are inclined to Obey most of the time, the real Test is in Moments of Obscurity. When no one is watching, holding our hand or holding us accountable. Like Jesus in the Desert...and in the Garden.
I arrived at the Ministry office in the Mathare slum. But Unannounced. On purpose. For no other reason than to ensure that things were operating as well as I have come to expect. This is where our Bible Teachers and Administrators work. Teachers study in the office every day they are not in class teaching. They are supposed to be at their individual desks, Bibles open...praying, diligently studying, preparing teaching notes and tests. What I found was not what I was expecting at all. It was altogether shocking.
Instead of studying and preparing their teachings, they were engaged in “other activities.” They were taking Communion! What a tremendous testimony of their walk with Jesus! Communing with the Most High God, assembled as a tiny part of the Body of Christ, hidden away in an Obscure corner of a forsaken urban slum. A bit like the manger in Bethlehem. That very moment is now etched in my heart and soul with one bold-font banner: “Obscure Obedience”. With no pretension, no supervision, no outside prompting...these brothers and sisters-in-the-Lord were “Doing” Christianity.
Which largely explains the Fruit in their lives and this Ministry. If there is one godly Characteristic that stands out most in the brethren who serve and are served in the DSM Bible Institutes, it is this: Hopefulness. Hope in every Christ-like way. Not “Hope” born of the flesh, through manipulative slogans, catchy songs and well orchestrated rallies. Rather Hope born of the Spirit . Birthed in the midst of utter despair, suffering and solitude. A Hope that only the Living God can birth in us. A Holy Hopefulness that we foster with Obedience, with “Doing”...instead of merely “Hearing” and “Believing”.
Hope born of the Spirit.
Some might misinterpret this as an overemphasis on “Works” to the neglect of “Faith”. Perish the thought. There is no such dichotomy. The two are inextricably linked...
“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has Faith but does not have Works? Can Faith save him? ...Faith by itself, if it does not have Works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have Faith, and I have Works.’ Show me your Faith without your Works, and I will show you my Faith by my Works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that Faith without Works is dead?"
The Body of Christ in this generation is not suffering from a lack of “Faith” in Christ, but perhaps more poignantly from a lack of our own “Faithfulness” to Him. And because of that, there is a sense of Hopelessness abounding in our midst. It’s not because of Covid. It’s not because of Inflation, Mask Mandates...or even “Spiritual Warfare.” It’s primarily due to Fault Lines in our Foundation. Resting on the sinking sand of Obscure Dis-Obedience. Sins no one really sees. Thoughts, emotions, inclinations towards evil, invisible preferences towards forbidden fruit. Secret sins known only to ourselves...and God.
Let’s root them out immediately...bringing them to the Light. Before He arrives.
Unannounced.
