"He is No Fool"When I was around 12 years old, the youth group my parents led was preparing a drama. I remember being at every practice, hanging on every word, heeding every line. I was even given a little role, being the main character as a young boy. The drama was performed at several other churches, twice at our own church, and once on a local television station! However, this drama about 5 missionaries and their wives impacted my life and has influenced so much of my thought and passion.
I remember thinking, "what would make these five young men sell their lives at such young ages and leave their wives and children just to reach some savage Indians?" It set in front of me a dilemma and a conflict. Could I also lay down my lives for this gospel that I had believed since I was 5 years old?
The names of these men that changed my life are, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint. These men were not extraordinary by the world's standards. They weren't wealthy, famous, or powerful. Yet by their taking Romans 12 by it's word they became living sacrifices, to bring the gospel that had enflamed them to a group of savage Ecuadorian Indians called Aucas.
Jim had attended Wheaton College in Illinois, where he met his wife Elizabeth, whome he affectionately called, Betty. From a very early age he realized that the gospel of Christ that he professed as sacred and life-changing, could very well demand his very life. He was hesitant to marry Betty, but in the end became convinced that she would be a blessing to the ministry he was called to. Thus, they were married on the mission field of Ecuador in 1953!
Before Jim had left for the mission field, he had been given many offers to stay at home and do ministry in America. In one instance someone questioned his "throwing his life away on foreign missions when he could be such an effective youth pastor and encourage young people towards accepting Christ." Jim's response has always stuck with me, "There's a lot of work to be done in America, but baby-sitting a bunch of spoiled delinquents for some big church (he also disliked big salaries in church ministry) isn't the kind of work I want to do. God hasn't called me to that!" Further, he was hard on people who felt "called" to "professional ministry." He said, "We don't need a call, we need a kick in the pants!"
This man lived a courageous life even amidst a convenient Christianity of His day. When the easiest thing for him to do would be to settle down and accept the cultural norms of his day, he simply refused to accept anything that would hinder his progression towards Christ-likeness, and spending his life for his Savior.
Elliot was convinced that the gospel we profess costs our life.
Read this journal entry of his:"He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." As you read this statement, you cannot help but sense the closeness with which this man sought His Lord. You can hear the voices of the culture saying, "Jim, you could be such a great youth pastor, or travelling evangelist, or wrestler, or politician. Don't just throw away your life. God can use you here in America right? Why do you want to go to Ecuador or India. They won't appreciate you, love you, welcome you, accept you, pet you, pamper you."
I can hear him now, in response to the mediocre Christianity of his day, "God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn up for Thee! I seek not a long life but a full one, likie Yours, Lord Jesus!"
In a day and age where the church often lulls into weekly worship services, habitual Christianity (rather than it's counterpart, vivid Christianity), cultural spirituality, we need Jim voice and the example of him and his fellow martyrs. The gospel not only asks for our very life, it demands it! We don't live to just live...if we have been bought by Christ we MUST live to DIE. For it is in death that we find life! I desire to live such a life that if I die by the time I'm 30, that the world will not see a wasted life. Rather, if God demands my life-breath today, may it have been a full life, satisfied with nothing short of the all-consuming pleasure of Christ and HIS life in me! Oh how we need a new wave of passionate, God-entranced martyrs! This world will not believe Christ until it sees His life manifested in recklessly abandoned believers once again.
It was January 8, 1956. Jim Elliot and his companions were hopeful that more Aucas would come visit today. They had made first contact 3 days ago, and Jim especially was anxious to make more contact with this savage tribe of Christ-less Indians. Nate had just returned by plane and had reported that a large group of the Aucas were on the way! Jim and his close friends and companions had, as he liked to say, "Recklessly abandoned to the will of God," and he was ready to tell these lost souls about a Jesus who was all-satisfying and freeing. Suddenly, there was a stirring in the bushes. "Was this the moment?!" Jim thought. As the five men peered to see who would emerge from the dense vegetation, I'm sure they were hoping for the inquisitive faces of these simple people.However, what emerged instead, though likely to freeze the heart of most, came as no shock to these five saints. They saw a fierce group of Auca warriors with their wooden spears raised in attack. Jim attempted what little of their language he could communicate, "Biti mitti bunimupa! We are friends!" Pete Flemming tried to startle them with the one gun they had brought. But one by one each of the men felt the spears penetrate their surrendered bodies. The Aucas later said that they saw shining people whisk the men away as they died. They had layed down their lives for the King that had given them life by His blessed and precious death!
What the world called a tragedy, or even a waste, is what has brought life and peace to the Auca people. These 5 men knew the cost of following Jesus, a cross was what they were called to carry! They gladly laid down their lives for a higher prize, the salvation of a tribe of Indians who were on the brink of extinction. This world was unworthy of Jim, Nate, Ed, Pete, and Roger. They could have been lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, presidents, pilots or any number of "succesful" lifestyles. But the life they were called to was to open the way for others to reach a simple people group, which savagely murdered them. Nate's sister, Rachel, and Elizabeth, Jim's wife, were able to go and live with the Aucas. This once violent, murderous tribe now lives for the glory of Jesus. They now know and believe in a King that died to give them life.
Our generation needs to once again see the followers of King Jesus, lay down their lives to show that Jesus is worth it. The blood of the martyr is truly the seed of the church! My friends,
He is no fool
who gives what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose!
For His renown,
BenZ
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