Blood, sweat, and tears. Students graduating from BJMBC can tell you all about it. Each one has to successfully pass their written and oral comprehensive reviews, which have put butterflies in the stomachs of the most diligent and sent others from the room weeping. That is not the purpose, of course. We are not trying to traumatize our students right before we transfer their tassel from one side to the other. No, the purpose is to see how hard they have worked over the last four years. How much have they retained? Did they really internalize these truths, thus allowing their profit to appear to all? Or have they simply crammed their way through the years, studying just for a grade on a test? We want our students to graduate, not because they have passed tests, but because they have learned truth. Other colleges want the same thing. So when I read this article about "Recto University," where anybody who wants to can purchase a fake diploma from the Metro Manila college of their choice for about 12 US dollars, I was filled with righteous indignation. But I was not surprised. Man, in his depravity, often looks for shortcuts to success. They also look for shortcuts to heaven. Remember the "Indulgences" sold by Johann Tetzel? "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs!" Tetzel took it even further than that, claiming that indulgences were certificates of forgiveness for sins past and even future. Planning to rob a bank tonight? Buy an indulgence this morning. Bingo, you are already covered! Indulgences were fake documents spawned by false dogma. Drive-through deliverance from sins. But then, a couple of weeks after I read that article, something happened that really burned on my heart. We were at the University of the Philippines, talking to people about the thing that matters most: their souls. Two men entered into conversation with us, one of them immediately saying, "I am a Christian too!" He even told us the name of the large evangelical church he attends here in Metro Manila. But as the conversation went on, and Tim explained from the Word of God what it means to be a follower of Christ, and what Jesus means when He says, "Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God," the man appeared genuinely baffled. He kept saying, "I've never heard this!" So he told us his story. Apparently his boss had wanted to have only "Christians" in his employ, so he sent all his employees to a short seminar at this particular mega-church. At the end of the seminar, they baptized them and sent them home with certificates. Certificates of salvation. Fake documents. I hope that someone out of that group was genuinely converted that day. I hope that the mega-church that held the seminar tried hard to explain clearly the Gospel. But for this particular man, all they offered was a fake document. So I would like to ask two questions today:
Like Luther, we need to nail some theses to the walls of our lives. There are no shortcuts to heaven. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." He finished the job with His blood, sweat, and tears. Don't trust in certificates. Trust in Christ. If you are not sure that your sins are completely forgiven, please read this document from our mission board called "What If." The house we live in is destined for destruction. We plan to tear it down within a year or so and replace it with a building for Bob Jones Memorial Bible College. It is, in fact, condemned already. Don't feel sorry for me. This is a good thing, actually. With 5 wildly active boys ten years old and under, we are thankful not to have to worry about every new ding. But this does affect what we do with the house. For instance, repairs are carefully weighed. Window screens with holes get replaced because Tim and I have both had Dengue Fever and, let me assure you, I would be grateful if it were a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But some repairs will not be going on here at our residence. For instance: --Our plumbing is humorous. It involves a completely incomprehensible maze of blue plastic pipes above ground (which have been punctured and turned into geysers by overzealous shovel wielders and bike riders). We don't know which pipe goes where and as long as I have water flowing in all the normal places, I honestly don't care. Inside the house, our plumbing includes random knobs and nozzles which, as far as we know, aren't actually connected to any water flow. We don't fix these plumbing quirks. Why spend money on something that is already destined for destruction? --Our flooring also has issues. Wood floors are gouged, water pocked, and warped. A few tiles have been broken or gone missing. We don't plan to refinish the floors. We did the kitchen floor a while back after flooding ruined the vinyl tile. It was a week of unending dust and banging and mess to lay the new tile. Never again. Why spend time on something that is destined for destruction? --Our roofing is holey. We will have to compensate by using buckets during the rainy season. If it gets really bad, we will fix a sheet or two of metal. Not the whole thing. Why spend effort on something that is destined for destruction? This morning I walked the crowded streets near our church in Metro Manila. As a foreigner, I am an object of blatant curiosity. "Good morning, ma'am," people call to me. They stand waiting for a cut of fresh meat hanging in a meat-seller's stall. Waiting for a jeepney ride. Waiting for destruction. Condemned already. Houses and souls have nothing in common. What we won't spend on a ramshackle house, we will--we must--spend on these people. Time, money, effort, our very lives. . . None of it wasted. This is our mission. John 3:17-18 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. |
Tim and LauraTimothy and Laura Berrey are missionaries with Gospel Fellowship Association. They share a passion for missions which has taken them to several countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They currently minister in the Philippines. Want articles like this delivered to your inbox?
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