Christ’s Ambassador

When some very useful donkeys got missing in Kish’s stable, he definitely must have been disturbed. Donkeys are beasts of burden used in farming and carrying heavy loads. The economic value of donkeys was so much to the Israelites. But when Saul and a faithful servant who went in search of the donkeys now became the ones to be searched for, the inconveniences heightened. Kish must have blamed himself uncountable times why he ever sent his son after the donkeys in the first instance. The loss of a few donkeys was manageable but the loss of a son is incalculable. What was behind this cascade of misfortunes?

You can read the story of the anointing of Saul in 1Samuel 9:1-20. Unpalatable circumstances do happen to us. Anti-people policies of government, mismanagement of national resources, business loss, betrayal of loved ones, bereavement, unemployment, disasters, wickedness of man to man, protracted sickness and famine are just few examples of the myriads of unpleasant occurrences we face in the world of today even as believers. Sometimes we are tempted to say “if God is with us, why has all this happened to us”? Judg 6:13

Yet we can be thankful that he is with us still. “Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. (Ps121:4). What of our pains? Yes. Sometimes he allows pains, just as I regularly surrender my little boy to a health officer for injection to immunize him against polio and measles. “For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal”. (Job 5:18) The writer of the letter to the Romans in (Rom8:28) said that He makes all things to work for good for those who love him, whom he has called according to his great purpose. May we seek to know this purpose (that we may be conformed to the image of JesusChrist) at all times even at unpalatable moments of our lives.

Kish’s son, Saul happened to be without equal in Israel at that time, head and shoulders taller than everyone and he was handsome. (1Sam9:2) He chose a diligent and trusted servant to go with him. Unknown to Saul this servant also knew God could help them. He had an offering in his pocket even when all supplies of food, wine and money provided for the journey had finished. He was not one who would shrink back in difficult times.  Were these coincidences? No. The Sovereign God orchestrated everything. He chose the Kish family to actualise his plans the same way he chose Mary to be the mother of the Lord. He had told Samuel earlier that “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him leader over my people Israel; he will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked upon my people, for their cry has reached me.” 1Sam 9:16 (emphasis mine)

So the discomfort and pains experienced by Kish’s family was actually a service to God, a fragrant offering holy and acceptable to God who planned it right from the beginning. (Rom12:1) So also was the trauma Lazarus, Martha and Mary went through for many people who witnessed the raising of Lazarus from death put their faith in Jesus. (Jn 11:1-45) Job, in the midst of his pains said God wounds but he also binds up. We have been privileged to see the purpose of God in the pains of Job, and we have seen how God restored him. It is a priviledge to suffer for the sake of Christ. How ready are you to be the answer to your prayers for the kingdom of God to come?

This was my consolation on Sunday 22^nd July 2008 as I looked at the grave of Adeniyi, my younger brother, who died in the early hours of Saturday  after a brief illness. I had prayed to God to let Niyi live. I sent prayer requests to my brethren and relations. God heard us, but not the way we expected and not according to our understanding. On the night of Niyi’s death, though almost 600km away and not knowing he would die soon, I had a strange feeling. I imagined myself being in his place and wanting to die. I felt a strange peace at the thought of me departing this cruel world. But I drifted to sleep. In my dream, Niyi and I worked frantically cleaning the house. We cleared junks away and packed everything neatly. When the phone rang the next day heralding the news, I was shocked. But as I prayed, the thought filled my heart that I will see Niyi one day when we gather to meet Jesus in the sky.  We may not always know what purpose our pains and suffeings serve in the grand plan of God, but as believers we trust him. God is love.

So why would I want to depart this world? A ready answer would be “So that I may be with the Lord” Good but that was not the only reason. And was that the Lord’s wish? In John 17:15, Jesus prayed to God to not take us away from this wicked world before the full time, but to keep us safe from the evil one. He prayed like that because he needs us here to continue spreading the goodnews of the Kingdom of God despite the difficulties and pains. My confession here is that I really wanted to escape the sorrows and pains of continuing to live in this world and I want to rest. I did not want to mourn my younger brother.  This, I must say, is a selfish desire. We must not shrink back in times of sufferings. It is up to God to say time is up. He wants us here for the sake of others who have not known Him. Apostle John made it very clear in 1Jn 3:16

Our hope is this “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever”. 1Thess 4:13-17

Perhaps you are not yet saved as you read this. Today is the day of salvation. Open your heart to Jesus now. He is knocking. Simply ask him to come into your heart and take over your life. Act now, don’t delay. 

Till we see again Adeniyi Aderemi, when we shall part no more, rest.

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Saul, son of Kish was instructed to go on a business trip accompanied by a servant. Some donkeys were missing and that was going to be a great loss to the family business if they were not found. Saul’s mission was to find these beasts of burden and return them to the stable. Read 1 Sam 9:1-27  Out of the many servants on the family payroll, Saul picked a particular one. Why did he make that choice?

One could readily say that the one who got selected by Saul was available. Overtime, he must have proved himself capable and thorough. Saul had to like him anyway for who would want to embark on such a journey that might take several days in the company of a bore? So he must have been good also. By hindsight I can also say that the servant was goal oriented and persevering. He was untiring even though he had no stake in the family business. When Saul suggested they called the search off the man was ready to go the extra mile. He had faith in God’s intervention and his faith influenced Saul. He demonstrated this faith not only in suggesting consultation with Samuel the seer, but he was also ready to bear the cost – and that was all he had left in his pocket. That was sacrifice. He showed love to his employer by putting in more than he could ever be paid for. The servant must have cultivated an attitude of gratitude for being employed by the family of Kish. He was grateful to God for the privilege to work. This is the punch line in Jesus parable of the vineyard – the privilege to work in the vineyard of God and not the salary.(Mathew 20:1-15)

What did this servant get for all his qualities? The Bible did not tell us more about him but we know that “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them”. (Heb 6:10 (NIV)) I would expect that as Saul was promoted by God from “a common man from the least family in the tribe of Benjamin” to the King of Israel to whom “no one equals”, the servant was automatically promoted from being a servant of just a rich man to the servant of a King. More than that, he was God’s instrument to steer Saul to where he was anointed as King. And this was a reward in itself for that time, and then very soon, he would be welcome to the eternal home of peace with “Well done, my good servant! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ……” (Luke 19:17 NIV)

In a related story, another employee, a young Hebrew girl captured by the Arameans, witnessed that God is a healer and Naaman, the war General of the Arameans got healed. More, Naaman confessed that “there is no God in the entire world except in Israel” (2Kgs 5:15 NLT) If this servant girl was not beyond reproach in her conduct, no one would have taken her words with a pinch of salt.

We do well to emulate these employees in the highcalling of our daily work. The vineyard of God is not restricted to Church or crusade grounds. It covers the places where we earn our daily living, where we recreate, the home, hospital, school, meeting hall and market place. Wherever you may be at any time is God’s vineyard. The total being of a believer should bring glory to God.

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The first battle I had to fight post salvation was with alcohol consumption. It was a battle that had no direct intrusion of Satan. It was between the two natures in me: Spirit man and Carnal man. Should I continue my erstwhile drinking binge? Definitely no. But the thirst was always there and I saw Christians who also drank and quoted scriptures in support. So where was the demarcation line? What quantity was enough to wash down my food and still keep me straight-headed? When would I cross the line to over-indulgence? These questions kept nagging at my mind even as my appetite refused to give way. After quite a long time of struggling and studying scriptures, I wrote the following in my diary because the word made a great impact on my life. I am only sharing my experience here and I must say that I am not speaking on behalf of my church. If this post helps somebody, it will be fulfilling its purpose and may God receive the glory.

One of the favourite scriptures I used to hear quoted in support of drinking alcohol was 1Tim5:23. But Paul was not giving a license for alcohol consumption here. He was only recommending wine as mere medication, and as in all medications, in moderate dosage relevant at their own time because of their limited medical knowledge.

This is not the only time and place where wine was prescribed or used for medication in Biblical days. The good Samaritan, in the parable told by Jesus to illustrate love and neighbourliness, poured oil and wine on the wounds of the casualty as first aid. Luke 10:34. I think that wine must have been used widely as medication in those days. Now medical science is at an all high and still improves by the day. No one treats wounds with wine now, but we have methylated spirit, which is alcohol deliberately altered to discourage drinking, among other medications used for first aid.

This issue of wine and strong drink must be studied in full context to have a good understanding of the Biblical stand. In this piece, I shall expound on the subject under two clearly distinct dispensations: Era before Pentecost, and Era since Pentecost.

The earliest occurrence of wine in the era before Pentecost was immediately after the deluge when Noah began to cultivate the ground. He planted a vineyard and got drunk from the fruits of the garden. Ham, one of his children made a mockery of Noah’s nakedness and his descendants got cursed. From him came the Canaanites. Gen9:21-25 Lot also got drunk with wine and did not know when his own daughters raped him to produce Moab and Benammi, the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites, cursed people and dreaded enemies of Israel. Gen 19:30-37

A good study of the Old Testament showed that Israel made free and acceptable use of wine and strong drinks. God did not sanction them for that. Deut 14:25- 26 is a useful reference. Even then, God still gave some no-go area. Priests and Levites were not to take wine or intoxicating liquor when attending to God’s duties else they die. Lev 10:9. This commandment was repeated through Ezekiel even as God told him of the return of the remnants from exile Ezek44:21. He warned: “No Priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court”.

Attending to God’s duties demands soberness, clear headedness and humility and not the light headedness and false courage that wine produces. The operation of the Holy Spirit in those days was like this: He descended on a vessel HE wanted to use, maybe a King, Prophet, Priest or Judge and when the candidate has finished the assignment, the Holy Spirit chooses another. Because of his divine presence, such people would be forbidden to partake in common or unholy things. The presence of God was only seen and felt in the tent of meeting in the wilderness, and later in the temple at Jerusalem. Such places must not be desecrated with drunkenness and associated practices. There was wine though; we must not forget that there was even a wine offering to God. Lev 23:13

Up till and during the time of Jesus’ ministry, this dispensational allowance still held. Jesus himself rebuked the Jews in Mt 11:18 -19 saying  ”For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon. The Son of Man,^[a] on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.”  Some have argued that the wine they drank then was not intoxicating but the scriptures did not say so. The apostles were accused of being drunk with wine on Pentecost day. Old Eli thought Hannah was drunk with wine. The Pharisees called Jesus a glutton and drunkard. The wine was intoxicating, and they still had strong drinks. But the poor used wine mostly because it was produced from farm produce. There was also scarcity of portable water and so they had wine to accompany food most times.

It was necessary for Jesus to relate well with sinners to win them over but this is not to say that he over-indulged as they were accusing him of. He is king of perfection, King of Righteousness and it was not possible for him to do wrong. It is instructive to note here that none of us descendants of Adam had his type of discipline. He had greater control of his desires and appetites than we have. He had a perfect body with no sin of his own and neither did he inherit any from his parents. He was one who could say “My food is to do the will of my father and to finish his work” Jn4:32 He had no luxury all his life safe the donkey he burrowed to ride triumphantly into Jerusalem and the grave he slept in.

At Pentecost, things changed. The Jewish system of worship wound up. God came to reside in men and the temple arrangement changed. Man became the temple of the Holy Spirit. 2 Cor 6:16  New laws came to be, which were actually an expansion of the old laws: Do not be filled with wine in which there is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit Eph 5:8 Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, and this is your spiritual worship Rom 12:1 Pray without ceasing 1Thess 5:20. Pray in the Holy Spirit Jude 20. Be sober and alert. All these commands were given to believers. The word of God stands for ever. His warning through Ezekiel in Eze 44:21and the one through Moses in Lev 11:9 were not invalidated by Pentecost but given expanded meanings today as believers became the temple of God, as well as the Priests. Believers serve 24-7, no break, no leave, no excuse duty.

It is abominable to destroy the temple of God, or yield its use to other concerns different from worshipping God in Spirit and Truth. Alcohol desecrates the temple and weakens it. A body sodden with drink cannot at the same time be filled with Spirit. But what if I drink a little and don’t over-indulge? I used to say this. But another consideration is this: What happens to a brother or sister who is weaker in resolve but look up to me for mentoring? How do I share their burden? Paul says “He’d rather give up eating meat if his eating it may cause a brother to stumble. The wines in the Babylonian King’s kitchen might have been alright for Daniel but he offered to take a diet of vegetables and water because of his firm determination to maintain his identity as servant of God. With his self denial he was able to  help his colleagues to gain courage and strength, and God rewarded them for it. What a shining example!

Drinking alcohol, among other evils, caused for me weakness of the body and anytime I drank  before bedtime, I found it very difficult to wake up at night to observe a quiet time with God. If I managed to keep my eyes open, my mind would never be as sharp as it should be in normal conditions. This made me to appreciate the good sense King Lemuel learnt from his mother. Prov 31:4-6 says “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, to guzzle wine. Rulers should not crave alcohol. For if they drink, they may forget the law and not give justice to the oppressed. Alcohol is for the dying, and wine for those in bitter distress”

These portions of scriptures convicted me and I began to pray for the Spirit of God to take over. I enlisted the help of my wife and I stayed around brethren of the same convictions. After a little while, the battle was over. I started living a free and healthier life. This is how I was able to overcome my appetite for alcoholic beverages.

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King Ahab coveted Naboth’s vineyard, and truly, he was decent enough in his manner of approach and proposal. “Look Naboth“, he might have said, “this vineyard is very close to my palace. It could be converted to a nice royal vegetable garden. If you prove a patriotic citizen as I know you are, I am ready to pay you handsomely for it. Just name your price. Or if you wish, I can give you a better vineyard for it. The choice is yours. But far be it from me to rush you in matters like this. You need to sleep over it. Shall we say three days? In three days, let me know your choice, money or another plot in choice location”

Was Ahab shocked? Yes and more than that, dazed. Naboth did not need three days to give the answer. “The Lord forbid” he answered solemnly, “that I should give you the inheritance passed to me by my ancestors“. Now when a Jew says “The Lord forbids” then the issue is a closed matter. NFA – No further Action. Ahab staggered home and plunged into a hunger strike. You can read this story in 1Kg21:1-14

To the peasant Naboth, even the whole wealth in the land of Israel could not take the place of his ancestral heritage. He priced that vineyard higher than the royal promises and mouth watering offers of Ahab. The sanctity of his ancestors’ gift to him would not be defiled by money and neither would he allow other hands to till that sacred soil. Naboth’s loyalty and faithfulness to hsi lineage is very commendable and so was his courage to express it for he knew fully what it meant to refuse the kings’ offer. No one in Israel at that time was unaware of Jezebel’s devices. Yet at the risk of death, Naboth would not give his jewel to a swine.

In today’s world things have not changed. Other forces still struggle for our loyalty and faithfulness. There are still unnumbered Ahabs around eyeing the vineyard the Lord has given us as heritage, and the carrots they dangle are fattter and more attaractive. Bosses still ask for casual sex in return for opportunity for employment or promotion. Bribes have been given pleasant nicknames to make it less offensive. Contracts are inflated to take care of “extraneous costs of doing business“, and projects that have been duly paid for are been abandonned and no one cares. There arre even less visible evils going on. People falsify entry in the timebook when they have come late. We still spend company time and resources on selfish activities, and we falsify age and qualifications to meet employment and promotion requirements. All these practices put believers in Naboth’s shoes, at the risk of seeling their heritage to Satan.

But the Lord forbids all these when he said “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” Mathew 5:48  Let what the Lord has forbidden remain forbidden not only on Sundays in church, but Mondays through Saturday everywhere we may be and most especially in the highcalling of our daily work. Here are a few of what the Lord forbids as compiled in the Message transaltion of Gal 5: 19-21 by Eugene H Peterson:..” trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. ” Are you tempted with any of these? Ask Jesus to  help you today.

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No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Mathew 11:27 

In the year 2005 Suzan and I decided to relocate our family from Gwagwalada to Bassa in the FCT Nigeria. We were under great stress at that period. I have been unemployed for five years and so we had to live on Suzan’s earnings as a contract flight announcer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. A relation was involved in an auto crash and sustained head injury. I had to stay with him in the hospital for 7 weeks as he recuperated and regained his memory. Tayo had to stay with neighbours whenever Suzan was on duty.  I lost my dad very recently. For no reason known to me, I was denied a job for which I was tested and interviewed and found to be qualified. (I have written a post about this experience and you can read it here)

Armed robbers raided the neighbourhood and I had to watch helplessly as they carted away whatever caught their fancy from our house. All these cascaded on us in a seamless flow. My self-esteem was at the lowest ebb. Not a few times, the wish to take a peaceful exit from this earth was expressed in my prayers.

We moved to Bassa a week after the robbery incidence. Our new house was a one-bedroom flat. Our first Sunday service was with a wonderful congregation of believers in the ECWA Goodnews Church. It was an indicator of God’s answer to our prayers for a peaceful place to stay. There was no clergy class but everybody was on duty to serve the Lord. It was wonderful and I felt like a traveler who had traversed the hot desert for days on end now offered a glass of cold water under the shade of a large oak tree. I told Suzan that the Lord had allowed us a space in Bassa and that night we used the story of Isaac and the well at Rehoboth to pray. Gen 26:22 We all had to make new friends and we adults were being very cautious.

Tayo’s approach was a different one. Despite the fact that he was only permitted to play with other kids near the house, he was very excited. Each time Tayo saw me peeping at them through the window, he never lost the opportunity to introduce me to his new friends “Henry! See my father” And each time he said this, the expression on his face was always that of glee and satisfaction that he had done something good. That influences his friends too. They would all rush to the window to see that wonderful daddy that Tayo was so proud of. The irony there was that I never felt like a worthy daddy in my mind. One, I had seen those kid’s fathers with their big statures, fashionable dresses and nice cars. I believe they were able to offer their family more than I did mine. I was thin with worries, looking older than my age with my premature grey hairs and clad in unfashionable clothes. Yet all these did not matter to young Tayo. “ Sule, come and see my father!” He would shout again when another kid joined them.While reflecting on on these issues one day, I realized that Tayo was being used by God to teach me a spiritual lesson. This was not the first time though that God had used him to ram some sense into my skull. Tayo could not help showing me to his world. He wanted his friends to know his father. Jobs, cars, dresses and big house did not matter to Tayo. What mattered was that he had wonderful parents who caredfor him. Period.

He was imitating Jesus Christ who spent all his life showing HIS Father to the world. (Eph 5:1) Jesus could never rest until he had done or said something that showed the world who God is. This same assignment he left with us his disciples. In Mark 8:38 he warned thus: If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” And in Mt10: 28 he told the twelve, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.”  The other kids didn’t know me, but Tayo made sure they knew all about me and Suzan within the few minutes they played together in a day. That would not stop him from telling them again the next day. He told them every folk tale I had told him and every song his mother ever taught him. Wasn’t this exactly what Jesus did in giving us a picture of His father and his kingdom?  This, we also ought to devote our lives to doing.

While I was busy feeling sorry for my, misfortunes, God used a 4-year old to remind me of the needful. While in that state, I could never see God’s purpose for my life. This is one of Jesus’ prayers: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” Mt 11:25-27 Christ chose to reveal His father to us. We would know the father if we would just have the simple faith of little children. Christ suffered and died to save us so we may know the father and his eternal love.

What inhibits you today to join in the great commission? Is it your position, or power? Is your wealth or career hindering you? Is it poverty or low self-worth? Are you among the ‘wise and learned’ whose searching of hearts have blocked their vision of God’s kingdom? Are you buried in activities like Martha? Take your eyes off these hinderances and focus on Jesus who himself passed through worse temptations. He emptied himself and lived for God.Perhaps you think the great commission is meant for the clergy class? No. Christ did not die to give a few people jobs. He gave his life to save the world and we also are obliged to give our lives for the brethren 1Jn 3:16. Anywhere you may be at a given point in time, show God through your speech, your work, your conversation, your manners and your entire life style. Do it with love. This is a job that was passed over the heads of angels and given to mere mortals. Value it. Its simple, even a four-year old boy did it. You can.

I took my attention away from the frustrations and plunged myself into evangelism, cutting odd jobs whenever I could get one. Neighbours nicknamed me Pastor. My family started a spiritual growth we have never known and a peace we have never imagined we could have. Tayo started schooling. Our relations and the church never failed to provide for us even without asking. It’s been wonderful. Two years later, precisely August 2007, I got an opportunity to work again in a corporate setting. I have never seen work as toil again. Rather, work is an opportunity to serve God with talents, skills, learning and other resources available.

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