Msindisi Monthly # 133

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 133.        Nov 2015      

PO BOX 1481

VRYHEID 3100

KWAZULU NATAL

SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008

+27 (0) 815836288

Email:  msindisi@gmail.com ,

salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

KwaZulu Mission Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kwazulumission/

It’s with thankful hearts we write this month’s letter.

The second-hand clothing shop, that Celani has started running, has proved to be very successful so far. We thank all the people who have donated clothes and hangers etc. this month she has managed to raise over a 1000,00 rand which will go towards supplies for the building of the shop.

Phumlani was blessed with a financial gift to help with his truck which he was very grateful for.

Di recovered in time for the traveling that we needed to do for the filming of the DVD.

We are grateful for your prayers as we have now started filming the interviews for the documentary. It’s  been intense, sound and lighting are so important, with this in mind we have had to do several re-recordings and filming to get it to a standard we are happy with. We have just come back to Gauteng to do some more re-filming. This is a wonderfully educational experience. We value your prayers.

Let’s go back to the start of the month. Early in the month we headed down to Ballito to set up a time to meet with Graeme, who was giving Sal was filming tips as he has produced many documentaries for national geographic. He has also lent a professional quality wireless microphone which we have needed for the interviews. We arrived on the Saturday,  taking some time to purchase supplies needed before staying with Matt and Marilize. Sunday, Sal shared on psalm 118 at ” Coming King Ministries”. We got to visit our dear friend Judy who was in hospital at the time. While sharing with Les about the project concerning the DVD, Sal mentioned we still needed to get lighting to which Les replied that they had lighting upstairs that not been used. They had bought it awhile ago for filming purposes but had not gotten to use it so it was lent to us for the duration of the filming process. We saw the hand of God at work.

While we were down that side we were able to catch up with Calvin and Gracie and other members of the fellowship of their church. We had 2 nights at home before heading of again to Joberg, friday night was cell group then Saturday was the usual kids club. We travelled after church on Sunday to Secunda and stayed over with our dear friends Jozua and Veronica. Our last trip we had to cancel as the wheel bearings on the truck had gone however this time we arrived with no hick ups. Our first stop in Joburg was with Alan and Sue Wells, Di stayed over with them while Sal went on to Roodepoort and stayed with Mark and Paula Hibberd to begin filming the first interview with Jean. She is going to the mission field next year in Muslim lands so we cannot reveal her face or true identity. He returned for a night then we moved on to other friends, Morné and Doret Lombard who had us for 2 nights while we travelled to Pretoria in the day for filming the second interview. We then went from there to David and Jackie Nathan for a couple of nights. On Saturday Sal interviewed Mujuru and in the evening we attended Mujuru and Karabo’s house fellowship. 

That evening we went with Mujuru to Limpopo to shoot some footage at the university of Limpopo. As the student strikes were still on we were not able to get the footage we wanted but were thankful for what we could get. Then we went back to Pretoria and stayed with our friends’ Riaan and Debbie Roux. Their son, Riaan Jr is planning on getting married at the end of November and has asked Salvador to lead the ceremony and preach. So we went to talk through some issues with him.

We came back to Vryheid and taught at Care Bear Crèche. In Vryheid Salvador was able to visit a couple of people to organize locations and someone else to find people to act in the reenactments. The first lot of reenactments are scheduled for January next year. At the end of the week, Salvador filmed an interview with a guy called Hamilton who was saved out of ancestral traditions. On Sunday we visited Hamilton’s congregation in Louwsburg and shot some footage. He did a sound message on the blood of Jesus, confession of sin and holiness. So that is all the testimonies filmed. Unfortunately the sound in sections of Mujuru’s and Jean’s filings had some white noise (interfering background sounds that detract from the people speaking) which was too loud. So this is why we went up to Gauteng. Before we left this morning we filmed Phumlani to bring in Biblical commentary that will be inserted into the DVD. Di visited a crèche and gave toys and costumes donated. This crèche used to meet in a mud hut but now, thanks to government registration and funding, they have had a building built for them. Di also dropped more clothes off by Celani’s place.

Di leading kids at Sicelo Creche:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YPZZihDz4M&feature=youtu.be

We have come to Jo’burg early because we need to replace a battery for one of the filming lights that refuses to recharge and that ran dead during the interview with Hamilton. On Saturday, we will, God willing, redo some sections with Mujuru and then with Jean next Wednesday, as that is when she is available. The good thing about the extra days here is that Salvador is going to complete his research for a lecture he will give to the students of the Union Bible Institute degree course in Hilton next week when we visit for him to interview the Bible college principal for commentary for the DVD. There is also another bible teacher we hope to interview  We will then return to Ballito to return the microphone back to Graeme. While there we will visit Calvin Josiah’s church and visit brethren.

Salvador, has just had an academic journal he has authored peer reviewed and published. The journal with his article can be purchased and read at the following website: http://www.evangelicalreview.com/ter_vol_3_contents_2015.html

Prayers requests:

For the small business of Tholakele

The second hand clothes project

Phumulani for other work

Travelling mercy on the road

DVD documentary on ancestral traditions

Disciples to continue to grow in the love and knowledge of the Lord

Persecuted believers  all over the world

God bless always for your love and support.

FOURTEEN

THE SACRIFICIAL LIFE IN LOVE

ROMANS 12: 9 – 21

In the last chapter we looked at the call to live a sacrificial life and how that is to be manifested in our individual ministries in the church. The first 2 verses of Romans 12 are the basis for everything that follows. If we do not understand what Paul is calling us to do, and the basis of that calling, then we lose the motivation to implement what we are going to learn in the next few chapters. We may lose perspective of why we are doing what we do and our sanctification may become a salvation by works, rather than a process that happens as a result of a ‘real justification’. The Christian life should be an outworking of a real and powerful faith. The Gospel is the key here, it is central, and so by maintaining an ongoing belief in this Gospel we will start to see real changes in our lives. The whole thesis to this epistle is found in Romans 1: 16 – 17. The Gospel is the power of God to salvation for those who believe. In the Gospel, God’s righteousness is manifested from faith to faith. And this faith is not only worked out in our salvation but also in our various ministries.

We all have different ministries and giftings for the benefit of the body. There is an individual element and a corporal element. If we miss the individual element, we will lose the diversity within the body and degrade the value of each individual member. If we lose sight of the individual and lose respect for him as a single person, regardless of his gifting, then we will become another form of communism, where only the collective counts. People will then become mere pawns for the building up of a man made empire. Then when people stop being profitable for the group they are pushed to one side and rejected. However, if we lose sight of the corporate life then we will be selfish with our gifts, our ministries and will not employ them for the building up of the body. There will be little commitment and sense of community and the Church will be dead! We need a corporate life and we need an individual life. Thus we need to lay pride and ambition on the altar. But, in this chapter, we are going to look at the sacrificial life in community and love.

VERSES 9 – 21:

OUR PRACTICE OF LOVE

In our church life we are not only to work together in ministry but we are also to live with each other. It is not only about what we do together but how we are together that Paul wants to talk about. This is where it gets hot under the collar because we encounter problems in terms of how we treat one another and we do not match up to the ideal. If it is any consolation, the Corinthian church also had a hard time of it but Paul did not give up on them. So God has not given up on us and we should not give up on one another. Nevertheless, Paul never compromises the ideal nor does he say that it matters little if we miss the target. One thing we must be careful of is that we do not use a half truth to justify our sinful behaviors, or attitudes, towards others within the body.

TRUTH AND LOVE

There are about 20 or so different commandments in this one short passage of scripture. So we are going to quickly peruse each one and then we will conclude. As we summarize each one, remember that love is the principle thing. The two most fundamental elements to our Christian walk are Truth and Love. Truth defines love but Truth must also necessitate love. Without love we are not walking according to God’s because Love is the fulfillment of the Law. Love is not about making people feel good about themselves. There is definitely affection in love, and even an emotional expression of love, but principally, Godly love is commitment to to a neighbour’s good in the way that God defines ‘good’. Love does no wrong to a neighbour, therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.

We need to have a rock solid view of love. Love is not pink coloured. It is not soft and it does not pander to a person’s every whim. Love is resilient and enduring for it will only do a person good, no matter what that person has done and failed to do. Love has certain attributes which include patience and kindness but these are not the only attributes of love. Love also does not rejoice in evil but rejoices with the Truth and love endures all things. Love is rock solid. This chapter shows us how love is to be manifested in different ways. Just as the list of ministries, in the last chapter, was by no means exhaustive, so this list of commandments is by no means exhaustive either. However, if we start to implement these things in our lives, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, then we will start to find new ways to demonstrate our love for each other.

LOVE WITHOUT HYPOCRISY

Paul tells his readers, let love be without hypocrisy. When we love it has to be without pretense. This tells us that motive is an essential factor in love. Love is not only about what we do for others but it is also about sincerity in doing those things which are beneficial for another person. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13: 3, ‘if I give all I posses to feed the poor and surrender my body to be burned but have not love I am nothing.’ What are we saying here? We are saying that love manifests itself in these acts and yet, these very acts that evidence love, can also be done in a way that there is no love present at all. What you are left with is a horrible, ugly shell, lacking any real concern or reality in itself. The selling of possessions is not there to meet genuine need anymore but it merely becomes a vehicle through which we can use those who are helped as a trophy to promote our own goodness. Our motive, therefore, becomes to gain a higher status than others. The motive behind the act is what determines whether that act is an act of love or is simply an avenue of self promotion. A number of commentators see the similarity between this verse in Romans 12:9 and what John says in 1 John 3:18. There he says, ‘Let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth.’ Notice that it is not only about deed but also about truth. The heart of love is obedience. If we are genuinely obedient to God, then we genuinely love one another. Our love is not our initiative but a response to God’s love for us. Remember back in Romans 5:8 that God demonstrated His love for us in dying for us, while we were yet sinners. God’s love is not only shared verbally but it is a love that is demonstrated. God demonstrates His own love for us. Therefore, we should demonstrate our love for each other.

ABHORING EVIL

& CLINGING TO GOOD

Secondly, we are told to abhor what is evil and cling to what is good. The word ‘evil’ here does not simply mean a moral evil. Rather, it means that which is hurtful, malicious or vicious. The word ‘abhor’ has a connotation of hating something away. It is a strong word that incorporates, not only a negative emotion towards unkindness to others, but also the positive action of turning away from it. Note this ‘evil’ is not the same as when God chastises us or when we are reproved for our own wrong thoughts, words and deeds. God chastises those whom He loves and we are reproved for things that we are supposed to be reproved for. But this type of ‘evil’ is specifically there to cause that person harm. But on the upside of this coin we are told to cling to what is good. The word cling means to be glued, as in a marriage. We are to be inseparable from that which is beneficial to another person in its effect. Without pretense, we are to think about what is beneficial to another person (as God defines what beneficial is). If we learn to do this, without any ulterior motive on our part, then I believe that what we will seek to do for others will be somewhere along the lines of what follows in this chapter.

DEVOTED TO EACH OTHER IN BROTHERLY LOVE

Paul says in verse 10 that we are to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. This word ‘devoted’ is ‘philostorgos’. Now many people know that the first part of this word, ‘philo’ means fondness. ‘Philodelphia’ means fondness of brothers or brotherly love. But this fondness is of something called ‘storge’. And ‘storge’ means a ‘mutual love that exists between parents and their children’ and that love exhibits itself in tenderness. In other words Paul is saying, if you look at the tenderness that exists between a parent and its child, (child for parent and parent for child), have that with each other but with a love that regards each other as brothers.

SHOWING PREFERENCE TO ONE ANOTHER IN HONOR

But Paul goes further than this in saying that we are to give preference to one another in honour. Now the word for ‘showing preference’ here literally means to ‘go before in going before’. It means to ‘go before’ as a leader. Therefore what Paul is saying is that every one of us should try to take the lead in esteeming each other. We are to treat each other as valuable, not for what that person contributes to the group but, because of what Christ did. There are places where specific people are to be shown honour; such as parents (Eph 6: 2), widows that are widows indeed (1 Tim 5: 3), elders that rule well (1 Tim 5: 17) to name a few. But, here, every single person is to be shown honour. Why? For the same reason that Peter exhorts husbands to honour their wives in 2 Peter 3: 7, because they are fellow heirs. We are to try to take the lead in being examples to one another. We are to outdo one another in showing honour. But remember, our actions must be for no other agenda except genuine love. We must not act to for self promotion, or self adulation, but rather because of obedience on the basis of what God has already done for us. I stress what God has done for us because when we are compelled to outdo one another, that sense of competition often acts as a ‘welcome home’ sign for our old friend Mr. Pride to come back up off the altar.

However the command for mutual affection is one thing, because at least that is mutual. If I give out affection, and if it is mutual, I know I will be given affection in return. But to esteem others above myself is something completely different. How can I keep esteeming other people above myself when it is not reciprocal? This is a great blow to my own self importance and concept of what I think I deserve. How

HOW CAN I LOVE WHEN IT IS NOT RECIPROCAL?

We must recognize that this is part of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. It is a living sacrifice. As soon as I start showing honour to others, I am going to feel a conflict between God’s work in me and the flesh. Something is going to kick against it and I will be tempted to complain and fail in my inner life. It is a sacrifice that is living. It does not want to lie down but get up and say, ‘What about my turn? How about a little honour for me?’ But Paul also gives us 3 pointers in verse 11.

Firstly, do not drag your feet about it. Do not be slow in showing diligence in care and attention in business, industry or labor. In other words, make it your ambition to show preference just like a work project where you are the manager; do not be slack about your project. But how is the act of honoring each other like a work project? We may consider it a project because it is in the context of building up the body. 1 Corinthians 3: 12 – 15.

“12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

If we apply this picture of the building up of a church to the book of Romans we can see that, from Romans 1–11, Paul laid the foundation which is Christ. Because his readers would have been in agreement concerning all that Paul wrote, therefore, they would all have been building on the same foundation. Romans 12–16 is about producing the obedience of faith in the context of edifying the body. Our sanctification is somewhat linked to our fellowship with other believers. It is not that our salvation is bound up in a church, as in the Roman Catholic doctrine. They teach that, as someone baptised and confirmed in the Church of Rome, if you leave them to go to an evangelical Church, you will lose your salvation. If our salvation is bound up in being a member of a church, then what about Christians like Richard Wurmbrand who spent time in solitary confinement? Even so, God’s plan for us includes fellowship, and fellowship is God’s ordained means of making us more Christ like. Firstly, we are speaking of fellowship with God but we are also speaking of fellowship with each other. Every man must be careful how he builds into the fellowship. In this case we are looking at how he builds in regards to his work of showing honour to others. When we work at showing honour to each other, and that work stands the test of God’s consuming fire, we will receive a reward for that work.

Secondly, we are to be fervent in spirit. Literally, we are to be ‘boiling hot’ about this issue. When water in a kettle boils, the liquid turns into gas and expands. Not only does it expand but it also rises. Therefore, whenever you have a loose lid on the kettle and the spout is plugged up, the air will push the lid open with force. Our spirits should be fervent so that we will not be able to do otherwise than to show honour to one another. This speaks to me of cultivating our relationship with the Lord and letting Him have His way in our lives. We are to do this to an extent that our hidden life will be manifested in some way in our outer life.

Thirdly, we are to be serving the Lord. How can we keep esteeming others higher than ourselves in the cases when those people do not show that same sense of honour to us? Why should we even bother when those people do not even care about the way we are esteeming them? It is because we are not primarily serving them but first and foremost we are serving the Lord. In Romans 5:6 Paul said that, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. What Christ did for us was not motivated by how we made Him feel. We can be thankful to God that Jesus did not act according to how we made Him feel or He would not have gone to the cross at all! In the garden, in His humanity, Jesus did not feel like taking the cup of suffering. Instead He sought His father if there could have been any other way; but He knew that there was not any other way. So what made Him resign Himself to taking the cup in that situation? Did He say, ‘Nevertheless, not what I will but for the love of these little ones?’ Did he say ‘Nevertheless, I am so overcome by my deep seated love for them that I would go to the cross 100 times if it meant I could have them?’ No, He said, ‘Nevertheless, not what I will but Your will be done.’ What brought Jesus to that place of crucifixion in His moment of struggle was not so much to do with us, but it was to do with the will of God. He was serving the Lord.

REJOICING IN HOPE

Another motivation, to live this servant life amongst each other, is the fact that we have hope. We are commanded to rejoice in hope. What hope is Paul referring to? Paul has already explained what this hope is in Romans 8.

• Firstly we live in the hope that we will get new resurrection bodies and we will be able to say goodbye to this flesh nature.

• Secondly, with that resurrection, we will receive the adoption as sons which we now have by faith. We are children of God by faith now and yet, because it is through faith, it still needs to be realized in actuality. We will receive our inheritance which, even though naturally belonging to the Jewish nation, has become ours through faith.

• Thirdly, we will be totally conformed to Christ’s image and as such we will be without any blemish. I once listened to a conversation between a couple where the wife said that she hopes that she will live together with her husband in heaven for eternity. Her husband said that must really mean something if after their years of living together she still wanted to live with him for eternity. But she quickly replied, ‘But then you will be perfect!’

• Lastly, we live in a hope of a security that if we are in Christ, as a present continuous state, (not only being in but also remaining in) we know that no created thing can pluck us out of His hand or separate us from His love.

REJOICING IN TRIBULATION

As we work on our relationships, though we are prone to forget it, let us remember the wealth of redemption that is laid up in store for us and rejoice in that. Let us rejoice in the midst of tribulation and be devoted to prayer. Suffering is part of the Christian life. Christianity is not a rose coloured religion. God’s love is not a rose coloured love. God’s love is not a romantic love, though we know from the Song of Solomon that romantic love teaches us something about God’s love for His people. God’s love is sometimes a hard thing. The song ‘Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus’ likens Jesus’ love to a mighty ocean. This picture is not of something tranquil and pretty but something turbulent that will over power you, drag you under and take to somewhere you might not necessarily want to go to. But remember what Paul said in Romans 8: 18. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

There are two extremes in regards to living the Christian life and these extremes are two forms of Gnosticism. One extreme is ‘antinomianism’ which says that you can do what ever you like because it does not affect your salvation. The other is ‘acetism’ where you must not do anything that stimulates physical pleasure. God’s path is on neither of these routes but right down the middle. We must not travel the path that leads to pleasure and we must not travel the path that merely leads to suffering, but we must travel the path that God would lead us on. And His path is paved with suffering but contains godly joy and pleasure along with it. Pleasure should not be our target but neither should pain. Christ Himself should be our end. It is a path that incorporates both suffering and joy. In other words it is a path that incorporates the whole experience of what it means to be a human who is redeemed. And this smashes any entertainment of the illusion of temporal satisfaction and security.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE NEEDS OF THE SAINTS

We are also to contribute to the needs of the saints and practice hospitality. What are the needs of the saints? They are not luxuries. As Paul said in 1 Timothy 6: 8; ‘If we have food and clothing, we shall be content.’ When money was raised for other believers, it was for the suffering, poor saints in Jerusalem. But here is the thing. This understanding of need (being only food or clothing) is often a great excuse for us not to be active when people beg and ask for help. Because we do not see a need for food or clothing we, therefore, do not help. Or when people desire for more than food and clothing, we are not obliged to help. But what about believers who have real need? Are we then willing to help them in whatever way we can, regardless of their social and racial background, or will we hold back all help from those in the Church who need it? The word for ‘contributing’ in the Greek is ‘koinoneo’ and it means to fellowship, to share, to associate oneself with someone or something else. It does not mean that I am responsible for every problem that someone has but that I can partake in and, according to my needs, contribute something of what I have to the alleviation of that person’s need. Sometimes we think ‘I cannot help that person, I do not have the means’, but we are not called to solve all their problems but only to contribute. It does not matter if what you share is not sufficient to provide everything that person needs. You are not that person’s provider, God is. You are not required to give above your means. Give according to how you prosper and be sensitive to how God would want you to do so. Give in a way that glorifies him and does not show you to be the answer to everyone’s problems. Contributing is sharing.

SHOWING HOSPITALITY

The Greek word for hospitality is ‘philoxenia’, which means to love foreigners, people who are strangers, people who do not belong. As the writer of Hebrews says, we do not know if we might be showing hospitality to an angel. I would say that anyone who holds meetings in their home, that does so willingly and sincerely, fulfils this criteria for the simple reason that people may be invited who are new to the group. Thus, there are strangers entering our home and with that there is always an element of risk. But the Bible commends hospitality.

ASSOCIATING WITH THE LOWLY

Verse 16 says to be of the same mind toward each other. Do not be high in mind but associate with the lowly. The word for associate is ‘sunapago’ and it means to be carried away with someone; to allow yourself to be overcome by a force, or circumstance that has overcome someone else. Barnes notes put it like this, “Enter into each other’s circumstances, in order to see how you would yourself feel.” Now think about this. If you are from a wealthier background, you may be prone to give hospitality but not to take hospitality from others. However, if we are willing to associate with someone, really associate so that we would take hospitality from someone from a lower economic background and give hospitality in like manner, then something that is unequal in the world becomes equal. How is this so? If I am invited to receive hospitality from someone poor, I can go and eat with them. I may bring a contribution to the meal, and I partake of their hospitality. I am sharing in their circumstances without thinking that I have to be their saviour. Then I may invite them to share in my hospitality without trying to make them feel their hospitality is deficient. Suddenly there is equality in our relationship. We are in a horizontal relationship where they do not become my dependent. Though, in the world’s eyes, I may be in a higher wage bracket, in each other’s eyes, we are equals and our material wealth should not come into it. It necessitates me not going in bragging about how much I have got but sharing in their poverty. Sharing is what fellowship is about and that is why Paul stated in verse 15 that we are to share in each others joys and in each others griefs.

MAN WILL LET US DOWN

Living out such self sacrifice, would make us think that everything is going to be beautiful and pleasant. We think that if we love all these people, they will be so grateful to us and we can generate a beautiful community spirit. Remember that God’s love is not rose coloured. People will back stab us and will fail us. You will fail others and others will fail you. That is life. That is why Paul tells us that we are to bless and not curse. We are not to pay back evil with evil but to do what is right regardless of what others do to us. We are to do as much as is in our power in order to live at peace with all men, even if it is not possible. Remember the mystery of godliness that we looked at in the first chapter. God will repay our wrongs. God will vindicate us but we have to follow him and call out to Him. We are not to pamper to everything our enemies say. That is weak and pathetic. But in their utmost need, when no one would be willing to help them we are to give him a glass of water. We are to give them a meal if they are hungry. Our enemy will either get saved and be changed by it, or he will be condemned by it. Paul likens it to heaping burning coals on his head. When God tells us not to take our own revenge, He is not telling us that we are to pretend as if everything is ok. Neither does this mean that we do not turn to the law when there is criminal activity or breach of conduct. It means that, when there is no legal recourse to justice, we are not to take matters into our own hands. We are to bring our grievances to the Lord so that He may bring about justice. It also means that we are not to entertain our enemy’s fancies but at a time when our enemy is down and out, we are to shown compassion and mercy and let God deal out the judgment. This is life. This is the reality but it is part of this journey of experiencing the obedience of faith, to lay our lives on the altar and to be living sacrifices for God’s sake.