It was almost as if I had stepped onto a different planet.
One day I was
in the glitz and the glamour of Dubai,
the richest city of the world.
And the next day,
I was driving down the streets of Lusaka, Zambia.
There was garbage strewn about everywhere.
And people were walking and riding bicycles
because many don't even own vehicles.
Women pumping water from wells
and children wearing hand-me-down NBA jerseys
from the 1990's.
And then on the outskirts of town,
there were entire family homes
smaller than my living room.
It can be very easy for Americans
to see these kinds of things and to think,
"Wow, I feel so bad for these people.
"They're so poor."
Today I want to share with you something, though,
that a lot of sociologists and
psychologists and missionaries talk about.
It's the concept of absolute poverty
versus relative poverty.
Absolute poverty
is when you don't have what is absolutely necessary for life.
Water, food, clothing, shelter.
But relative poverty is different.
This is all about perspective.
So when Americans look at many African people,
they think they're so poor.
They don't have stainless steel appliances,
or high speed wi-fi, or
flat screen TVs in every room of the house.
But, do you want to know what I learned this summer?
I learned that many of these people in Zambia
are by no means poor. In fact,
they are much richer than Americans.
You see, these people understand
the words of the Apostle Paul
in 1st Timothy chapter 6,
where Paul says this,
I know so often I worry about stuff
in my life.
Getting more things.
Do you ever find this?
You want the upgrade.
The newer,
brighter, shinier, fancier things.
But the people of Zambia
seem not to care.
They're happy with what they have.
They're thankful
and they're content.
Knowing that you can be happy
with simply whatever God has given to you.
This is what true Godliness is all about.
Being content.
And this week we're going to take a greater look at
contentment.
And I'm going to share some stories of what
I learned in Africa.
And we're going to learn from scriptures how we can be happy and content
all the time.
It was maybe our fourth night in Africa.
And my wife and I were reflecting with
the nine teenagers that we brought on this mission trip.
And we were thinking about all of the experiences we had.
We went out to this very large school in a village outside of town.
We did a one-day Bible camp
with some Sunday school students in town.
We worshiped,
way outside in the middle of nowhere,
about two hours outside of town.
And as we were reflecting on all of these experiences,
I asked a question that really made everyone think.
Have you seen one person yet
who hasn't been happy?
And it really made us think because
we realized everywhere we went,
everyone we saw,
everyone was happy!
They greeted us with smiles and handshakes and hugs.
Whether it was in big city, Lusaka,
or a little small village in Mwembeshi.
There was this tangible joy
everywhere we went.
Well, then I asked the students a followup question
that I think was really life-changing for all of us.
I asked them,
"Where do you think you would be happier living?
"In Zambia?"
"Or back in the United States?"
And you know what?
Nine teenagers,
every single one said,
"I would probably be happier in Zambia."
This was maybe the most life-changing part of this trip,
when we began to realize
they don't have the anxieties and worries that we're used to in life.
No one there cares
what someone posts about Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat.
They don't have these schedules that are
busy. They're certainly busy but they're not
overwhelmed with
meetings and carting their kids all over town
to AAU games. And
they're not crushed with this push to succeed and
get ahead in life.
Do you ever feel that weight?
Or that burden of American life just pushing and pushing.
All those anxieties and worries were almost nowhere to be found in Zambia.
And I'll tell you,
it was very liberating and enjoyable to experience.
There's probably a lot to this.
But, I think a lot of it goes back to what Jesus says.
In his famous sermon on the mount,
in Matthew chapter 6.
There, Jesus tells us, "Do not worry."
Don't worry about tomorrow.
Tomorrow has enough worry of its own.
God will take care of everything.
Each day has its own trouble.
But the Zambian people understand,
God will get you through each day.
They know they have less than Americans.
They know their lives can be difficult
compared to what we experience.
But their treasures are in heaven and that's what they look forward to.
Maybe you feel things weighing you down right now.
Maybe you feel some anxiety and worry.
Listen to the words of Jesus.
In that famous saying we have in our culture,
"Let go and let God."
God will get you through this day.
And God will get you through tomorrow and the next day and the next day.
God will get you through every day,
until that day he welcomes you into his heavenly gates
where all the treasures are waiting.
That is what can give you hope
and true contentment every day.
Here's a fun quiz for you.
Maybe you'll win Jeopardy or HQ some day with this information.
What are the only two countries in the entire world
that name themselves as Christian countries
in their constitution?
Give up yet?
Well, one is Vatican City, which actually is considered a country.
And the other
is Zambia, the country that I visited this summer.
Now I'm not suggesting that America should declare
itself a Christian country and force Christianity on everyone.
I don't think that would go over so well.
But in my experience over in Zambia,
there's something to this.
There's something to everyone understanding
and having the common knowledge
that God is the backbone, the foundation
for everything that you do.
So, you go out to a remote farming village,
and there you see people who fully understand.
If God doesn't make the sun rise and the rain to fall,
they won't survive because they won't have crops.
Or, you can even go to the big city
where a lot of people are just trying to scrape by with
construction jobs and service jobs.
Some people have these pop-up shops,
no bigger than a shed in an American back yard,
where they sell basics for life.
They know
they need God to bless the so they can put food on the table.
Have you lost touch with this most basic concept for life?
I know I do sometimes.
I get so focused on my life
and my things and I have to earn this money and provide for my family.
And I want to give my children this future that I dream of,
that they dream of and I want to earn this great retirement for myself.
And I get lost in all these thoughts and suddenly I forget.
It doesn't depend on me.
It depends on God.
We would all do well to listen to the words of King David.
He wrote in Psalm 145,
almost three thousand years ago these words that are so special,
Maybe you don't depend on God
to help grow all the crops in your backyard.
But I want you to think about this intricate web that
God uses in your life.
Because there are farmers
and people who have crops.
And they ship them off to factories.
And there're truck drivers who deliver them to stores.
And there're store managers and stock boys and check-out clerks and
of course, you pay for those things with money.
And, whether you like your job or not,
you have some kind of income and you have
a support network of friends and family.
All of these things
God uses to bless you.
To open His hands and provide
everything that you need in life.
Learn something that I learned
from the African people.
Learn something from King David.
God will always provide
everything you need.
There I was, sitting in this
massive, beautiful church.
Ornate, gothic architecture everywhere.
A church, almost 170 years old, with over one thousand members.
This is my home church.
And there I was on one Sunday, not too long ago, thinking
how thoroughly disappointed
I was.
You see, the previous week,
I was worshiping in Africa in a hut.
A hut with a thatched grass roof, barely taller than I am,
held up with branches and small trees.
A dirt floor.
Logs to sit on for pews.
And I found myself, in my own church,
wishing I was back in that hut.
In America, we take
for granted our blessings
very often. But
I think we take for granted spiritual blessings too.
How about just having a church?
That hut we worshiped in, in Lufwanyama, two hours outside of Lusaka?
Their church burned down.
That's why they were worshiping in a hut.
Or how about having a church with four walls and
at least semi-comfortable pews and chairs to sit in.
Having congregations that sometimes are very large.
There in that hut, there were some two dozen people.
Most of whom walked to church;
some a very long ways.
And they had this pastor so dedicated,
he had another church 50 kilometers away,
and his motorcycle broke down.
So some days he would walk six hours
one direction
just to meet with those people.
So, there I am sitting in my church wondering:
Which culture is really rich?
And which culture is poor?
In those humble, humble settings,
in that hut in Africa on that Sunday,
these people still worshiped with such incredible joy.
You can't describe it.
You have to be there to see it and to experience the singing, the dancing, the joy in worship.
It was so rich.
It made me think of these words from 2 Corinthians 8:9.
Here's what Paul says,
Jesus Christ is king of heaven and earth.
He has all the riches of the universe.
And yet, he came here to become poor.
To serve us.
To set aside everything.
To suffer and die.
So that you
could receive all of his riches of his Heavenly kingdom.
I know that I learned,
this summer,
that I will never take for granted
any opportunity, no matter where it is, to worship and praise
such a gracious Savior.
And my prayer for you and for myself, for my family,
is that we never take for granted the spiritual blessings that we have,
the riches of Christ's kingdom.
Because that is where there's happiness.
That is where there's contentment
no matter the situation.
What an incredible summer I had.
Filled with blessings that I enjoyed with my wife.
We stood on top of mountains in Alaska.
We stood at the foot of Burj Khalifa, the talleststructure in the world, in Dubai.
We gazed in awe and wonder at Victoria Falls,
one of the natural wonders of the world in Zimbabwe.
And yet after all those things we saw this summer,
we saw even better things than that.
I saw my dear friend, pastor and former classmate
faithfully serving his very generous and kind people at his church
just outside Anchorage, Alaska.
And I saw little children singing and jumping for joy
at their soccer Bible camp and their Vacation Bible School
there in Alaska.
And I saw faithful
American missionaries with my own eyes.
I saw them training African native people
to be leaders and pastors,
to share the good news of Jesus with their fellow Africans.
And I met a wonderful African woman named Annie.
And Miss Annie took care of us every night and cleaned up after us.
And she made delicious food for us every night.
And I met Zambian men and women and children who worshiped in the kinds of joyful ways
that we Americans could only dream of.
As I experienced all of these things this summer,
if anything, I gained perspective.
And there's a verse that really summarizes this that I want to share with you.
It's in Ephesians chapter 4.
Here's what it says,
What a glorious thing that we have one God over heaven and earth
who has given us these beautiful mountains and rivers
and valleys and oceans to enjoy.
But even better,
how gracious is our God that he so loved
this entire world that he sent his son
for all of us.
For rich and for poor.
For young and for old. For male and female.
For black and white and everything in between.
For Americans. For Africans. For everybody.
Our God is so gracious that he has this love for us all.
Do you have things weighing you down right now?
I know I do. I get tunnel vision in life.
Like a horse with blinders on.
Focused on my life and my problems and all of my things.
If you're feeling that way right now,
I want you to think about your brothers and sisters in Christ.
In our one faith,
all around the world, they're going through the same thing.
But as you think about your fellow brothers and sisters,
I want you to think about this, too.
Even though you may never meet many of them,
one day,
one day you will see them all face to face.
When you see your own Savior face to face
in his glorious, eternal kingdom.
The Bible tells us to have our minds set on things above,
not on earthly things.
Friends, this is where you find happiness.
This is where there's true contentment.
With the encouragement of your fellow brothers and sisters around the world,
set your heart on things above.
And you will be happy, you will be content
every single day.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét