Building for the Kingdom: Living as Witnesses in a Foreign Land

By Fr. Carlos

"Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce." (Jeremiah 29:5)

Even when you get forcibly yanked from your beloved homeland; even when you’ve been

hauled far away into a foreign land, God is still there to comfort and strengthen you with hope

and purpose and promise. So in these words above, taken from a larger prophesy in the 29 th

chapter of Jeremiah, God is comforting and challenging the very same sinners he has

punished with exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

The word of the Lord speaks to the exiled people of Israel and tells them that they will be at

least 70 years in Babylon. Therefore they were to be witnesses of Yahweh’s goodness and

loving-kindness and to demonstrate His blessings on them. They were to be a blessing to the

pagan peoples with whom they now lived while keeping the law of the Lord that they did not

keep when they were living heedlessly in Israel.

We as Christians have no homeland as such. We are “strangers and aliens” in the world and

citizens of the Kingdom of God, looking forward to the day of Resurrection when, after the

judgment, the Lord will “create a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven and adorned as

a bride for her husband.” This is the “city not made with hands” that God has in mind for us

as our eternal home!

In the early days of the Church (the Apostolic Church) there were no so called “Christian

countries.” So Christians lived in alien cultures with little power or influence. Yet they “built

houses and planted gardens and ate their produce” and lived as an unknown and unthanked

blessing for the cities in which they dwelt. They cared for the poor: so much so that one

Roman pagan complained: “Not only do they care for their own poor, but for ours as well!”

They called abortion murder (in the very early writing known as the Didiche) and refused to

practice that medical “art.” Yet they also proved their sincerity by going to the sacred groves

where children were left by pagans to be “exposed” as a way of returning the unwanted ones

to the gods. (A kind of “post birth abortion.”)

And they took these abandoned children into their families to raise. They prayed daily for the Emperor and for the empire. They gave no harm; no not even when police were sent to arrest them. They went willingly to honor Jesus who Himself was arrested and went willingly to the cross. They gave a witness to the One True God and to Jesus Christ His Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. They were famous for not abandoning cities awash with the Plague and, at the risk of their own lives, stayed put and cared for the suffering and dying as the pagan doctors and relatives fled in a panic for their lives. They bore witness to heaven and the coming kingdom by “going to their deaths as we go to our weddings” (as another Roman pagan put it).

In so doing, they bore witness powerfully to the coming Kingdom of Jesus and sealed that

witness with their very lives. This is why we call them “martyrs.”

Stability bears great rewards. Staying put where God has planted us and blooming there is a

great formational tool for the Holy Spirit to build that coming kingdom in us during our time on

this earth. Love cannot grow without stability. It takes commitment and time to build

relationships that show forth the love of God among human beings. This is neighbors helping

neighbors and people investing time in order to reach others for Christ. It also means

teamwork so that the way we as Christians love each other (and the world) can be seen by

unbelievers.

I will never forget the trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains that cemented forever my desire to

become a part of this kind of Christian fellowship. We were in an early 60’s Rambler station

wagon (with a “see through” floor!) laboring up to the mountains of North Carolina. Everyone

else was a member of a local church and were all young people about college age. It was

pouring as one only sees in the Southeastern states of the U.S. The Rambler had about six

of us already in it when we passed a young man hitch-hiking along the highway in that

downpour. Of course, we pulled over to give him a ride (they being intent on showing the love

of Jesus at any possible opportunity!). This thoroughly soaked man climbed in as we all

scrunched over to make room. Billy Gouch was sitting right next to him. Because we were

going hiking and were very aware of the possibility of rain, we all had rain gear. Billy had a

poncho.

As we pulled to the side of the road a half hour or so later to drop this man off into

the still pouring rain, without a second thought, Billy reached into his pack and pulled out his

dry poncho. “Here,” he said, “you’re going to need this.” With a look of incredulous surprise

and delight on his face the man simply said, “Wow! Thanks!” and exited the car. Being the

selfish and self righteous person that I was, I too was astounded. I thought, “What in the

world is Billy going to do? Now he will have to hike in the rain without any rain gear! What is

he thinking!” And then it hit me: “This is exactly what Jesus would do. I’ve just seen a Real

Christian in action; trusting in the Lord for his own needs and freely sharing what he has with

others. Didn’t the Lord say, “and if anyone asks you for your coat, give him your cloak as

well…” Inwardly a conviction rose up in me: “I’m not quite ready to ‘give my life back to

Jesus’ but when and if that happens, I will be joining up with this bunch of disciples of Jesus!”

Not many months later that is exactly what happened! Many years later I ran into Billy Gouch

on Facebook. I was able to share with him this story and thank him. He did not remember it

at all. But I told him that he allowed a sinful man to see Jesus.

So let’s be like that! Let’s “build houses and plant gardens and eat of their fruit” and let’s be

the witnesses of the coming (and already here!) kingdom of Jesus. Let’s “build buildings” as

well as “houses and gardens”. Let’s build a place were we can bring those who are being

drawn to Jesus so that they too can see us “living the life” of disciples loving one another and

the world. Jesus is among us just as powerfully as those young men and women in that

Rambler back in the early ‘70’s. God has faithfully built us into a team of disciples who lay

down our lives for each other. We have been formed for that work as we have “wandered in

the desert” these last 8 years or so with only a temporary home here and there. Now the Lord

is calling us to build a place for ministry for the blessing of the city in which we live and as a

training center, headquarters, hospital, nursing home, fortress against the darkness and

temple for the praise of the Lord Jesus.

Carol and I are committed to make another gift to this work as generously as we possibly can.

We know most of you will join us. As we bring together our “loaves and fishes” I believe we

too will find ourselves “surprised and delighted” as we see the sacrificial giving of members of

the body of Christ, just like I saw in Billy Gouch.