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2002 Triennial Sessions
"So Now Finish the Work..."

Bible Study
2 Corinthians 8:1-15

by Oliver Kisaka Simiyu, MA, Member Nairobi & North Yearly Meetings
Training coordinator, Africa Quaker Vision
July 11, 2002

1.0 Introduction
I take this opportunity to greet you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, good morning. I hope that all of you that are visiting Kenya and especially for the first time have felt welcome and are finding your time enjoyable. I thank planning committees of this conference for inviting me to come and share some meditations from the word of God. Let me mention at this point that I hold the Bible to be the word of God and so enjoy sharing it without reservation.

1.1 The impact of a transformed life
Ronald Sider has written a book in which he highlights ten stories of Christians who have contributed to God's work. The first story is that of Caesar Molebatsi, who despite going through extreme experiences of the South African Apartheid system, rose to become a great agent ambassador for the Kingdom of God. He changed the focus of Youth Alive ministries.

"Caesar changed the name to Youth Alive Ministries to underline his intention to be more holistic. Evangelism was still central, but the youth were encouraged to debate politics and justice. Soweto's youth, caught up in the swirling excitement of the rebellion against apartheid, loved it. White missionaries, however, did not. Nor did the conservative black pastors they had trained. White missionaries had taught that Christians should ignore politics and concentrate on saving souls. When Youth Alive Ministries (YAM) challenged the government's racist policies and demanded justice, some white missionaries called Caesar and his black colleagues 'Communists.' Fortunately, YAM was independent. Even though they lost support, YAM insisted on doing both evangelism and social action. The result has been an organization that has led thousands and thousands of black South Africans to Jesus Christ and trained them to become articulate leaders. This would never have been possible if YAM had been under white control. The holistic message of vital, dynamic personal faith in Jesus Christ that was constantly related to the social, economic, and political needs of blacks living under apartheid was powerful and relevant. Thousands flocked to YAM clubs, retreats, and assemblies." (Sider, 3-6)

The encounter of Caesar with Christ changed him from a violent hateful activist to an ambassador of God's kingdom. His strategy was to change an existing approach to ministry to encompass both reconciling people to God and also training them to be agents of change themselves. Caesar's story to me captures the essence of the work of God, the scope of that work and even wrestles with the motives for service.

1.2 Overwhelming challenges or opportunities?
For us in a context such as ours, it is possible to be overwhelmed. We face challenges both in our immediate neighborhood and in what is now "our global village." Despite the advancements that have so far been achieved by the human race, the true condition of man's heart remains shocking. Indeed the questions that are constantly asked include, are we advancing or retrogressing? Is there need to try and address the situation or should we give up? Can I as an individual Christian make any difference even if I try?

Consider for example the street children problem in Kenya, poverty in the third world, the AIDS problem in Africa and now a world disaster, increasing godlessness in the world and general hopelessness. There have been threats of nuclear war between India and Pakistan, the constant threat of terrorism, the evident violent element in Islam (especially against Christians in Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, and even slavery in Sudan) and sometimes failure by those of us who claim to be Christians to demonstrate the love we profess, the Middle East violence with accompanying accusations and counter accusations, the problem of hard drugs in most nations (especially Colombia, and increasing misuse of drugs in Britain, Holland and Germany and the list is endless. These leave all of us human beings in a kind of dilemma—overwhelmed. Humans respond in either of two ways—either by giving up in apathy or by seeing great opportunities for involvement.

Yet it is amazing that when Jesus faced a world fallen from the glory of God, He not only knew that the answer they needed was the good news of the Kingdom, but also believed that the earthling disciples, despite their weaknesses and even failures, could be agents of the great restoration news of the Kingdom of God. He trusted them and committed them to take over the work from Him and to do it effectively. By this act Jesus, the Son of the living God affirmed God's love for men and His ability to transform men and women from self centered evil to effective carriers of the gospel. Because of Jesus, Christians have the capacity in Christ to make a significant contribution. Most humanitarian organizations depend on human ability and wisdom, but Christians depend on the strength that God gives.

Others address the results of the fallen human nature, while Christ's disciples address both the results and the causes thereof by facilitating reconciliation to God. The person that is ministered unto then joins those that are reaching out to others.

1.3 FUM Conference 2002 Nairobi, Kenya
Our gathering here today is special because we come to express our thanks and worship to the Lord God almighty who moved the first Quakers missionaries to come and begin work in Kenya (Africa), who has sustained the work over the years and who is today commanding us to finish the work. Our prayer must be that "we all open our hearts to the direction that God would have us go."

Our theme is in my view appropriate for the hour. Taken from 2 Corinthians 10:8-15, a text in the context of Paul's ongoing discipleship relationship with the Corinthian Church. In order to appreciate the impact of this theme, I will speak as I have felt guided by the Spirit of God under three main areas. These include seeking from the work Jesus did for us to understand of God's work, looking at what happens in God's work in relation to either an individual's (Paul) or a church's (the Corinthian Church) response to the work and then drawing some lessons for the Friends Church today.

Caesar's story raises the issues of racism, hatred, under privilege, violence, salvation, forgiveness, healing, career, training, vision leadership and leadership development among others. Let us now turn to God's work.

2.0 God's work Exemplified
Jesus Christ began His ministry on earth by declaring in Luke 4:18-19 that "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

This declaration captured in a capsule what His work on earth was going to be. In His strategy of ministry, He called to Himself a nucleus of 12 disciples whom He trained, taught and developed. He later committed to them the work that He had started. Contrary to what many people think, Jesus' approach to all human need was to proclaim the Kingdom of God. His whole concept of work was tied in with this. As part of proclaiming the Kingdom of God, Jesus responded to the needs that He saw among the people with mercy and compassion. In this way He demonstrated that the Kingdom of God, which is God's rule, is a Kingdom of love, righteousness, peace, compassion, justice, reconciliation, joy, selfsacrifice and service. He desired to have every one live to the full. When He looked at the people, He said, "They were harassed and helpless like Sheep without a shepherd." He further told His disciples, "Look at the fields, they are already ripe for harvest." (Matthew 9:36)

For Jesus, work was not just about removing the discomforts of people it was above that, restoring them spiritually to God. Jesus considered everlasting life to be superior to temporary comfort, important as their temporal comfort was. He said "What shall it proflt a man if he shall gain the whole world (of comfort) and loose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36) To this He added, "Whoever believes in me cannot die, for he/she has already passed from death to life." (John 5:24)

2.1 Application
It is this strategy of work that the Church worldwide over the years has tended to loose sight of and sometimes confuse. Should the Church be evangelistic without any humanitarian work or humanitarian without being evangelistic?

Today, I hear many voices accusing Christianity of being fundamental, intolerant, narrow, uncivilized among many others. The crime that is targeted is that of using all means possible to let the world know that Jesus Christ died for all that they should be saved. I also realize that some of the most successful humanitarian organizations began with a desire to bring the whole gospel to the world. They are today led by men and women who are hostile to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet Christians must carry on, for the lamp of God must not go out. When what Christians leave successfully done is taken over, let us move on to start others for Christ challenges His disciples to work while it is day. Unless Christians proclaim the gospel, who else will? Unless Christians respond to the needs of the world with Christ's love, others will respond mainly because they see offers for lucrative jobs.

3.0 God's work demonstrated: Paul and the Corinthian Church
Paul and the Corinthian Church are an example of how an individual and a Church could respond to the work of God.

3.1 Paul worked at Corinth
When Paul came to the Corinth, it was Pagan Society. It was pagan, not because the people were not created in God's image, but because the people worshiped idols and the emperor rather than the living God. According to the teaching of Jeremiah in 17:9, Jesus in John 3:1-5, and more plainly Paul in Ephesians 2:1-2, all human beings who have not heard the gospel are at best seekers of the truth. They are alive to sin (living in disobedience to God) and dead to true spiritual living unless they are raised from the (spiritual) dead. Paul was highly religious but spiritually dead before he met Christ (Acts 9). He includes himself among the dead in the Ephiesians text above. Paul's encounter with Christ transformed him and redirected him to do the work of God proper.

It is of great encouragement that though this was the Condition of the Corinthian people, God loved them so much as not only to send them Paul with the gospel, but to speak to him expressly urging him to keep preaching to the Corinthian people "for I have many people in this city." (Acts 18: 9-10)

Many in the Corinthian city heard the gospel of Christ, believed it and got spiritually reborn. God demonstrated His great love to the Corinthian people by giving to them the Gift of the Holy Spirit in a way that Paul could only describe as "you lacked no spiritual gift." (1 Corinthians 1:5-6) Paul spent about one and half years at Corinth as the apostle that God used to bring the gospel to them, as a pastor and as the teacher who taught them the principles of true Christianity. Paul later left the Corinthians to continue in spiritual growth and service and moved on to work at Ephesus.

3.2 Corinthians Spirit filled but not spiritual!
After Paul left Corinth, it became clear that although the Corinthian people were born again and even filled with the precious gift of the Holy Spirit, they had not submitted themselves to His leading and guidance. They manifested the fruit, not of the Holy Spirit, but of the flesh. These included great divisions among them (1 Corinthians 1:10-17), lack of clear understanding of what the gospel of Christ is (I Corinthians 18-31), human pride (I Corinthians 3:1-5), sexual immorality in the extreme (1 Corinthians 5:1- 6), problems in marriage (1 Corinthians 7), problems of idolatry (1 Corinthians 8 ), antagonism against Paul—their founding apostle (1Corinthians 4, 9), backsliding into pagan lifestyle and problems of class—the rich despising the poor (1 Corinthians 11), misunderstanding of the purpose and use of gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12-14), the problem of not being motivated by love (1 Corinthians 13), problems of doctrine especially concerning the return of Christ and consequently their inability to do the work of God let alone complete it. (1 Corinthians 16, 2 Corinthians 8, 9, 10:15-18)

3.3 Retrogression in the Corinthian Church
I sometimes wonder how a Church that claimed such access to the Holy Spirit and Spirituality could at the same time be evaluated by Paul to be so worldly, carnal and unspiritual. It however seems clears that the Corinthians Church:

• The Corinthians got divided on account of personalities. They undermined Jesus the Son of God by putting him side by side with his disciples in terms of allegiance. Their capacity to be effective was undermined by personality-centered split rendering them needy.
• They failed to harness the spiritual gifts that God had given them for growth and ministry and instead used them to cause confusion and competition. It is disappointing that though they considered themselves spiritually gifted, and Paul so confirmed them, that they were worldly, carnal, unspiritual—completely selfish.
• They allowed confusion based on cultural heritage (namely the Plutonian dualistic world view—which separated the physical and the spiritual) to rule their practice of faith. Two extremes resulted. On the one hand there were those with perverted sexual immorality (like the man who was involved with his mother in law 1 Corinthians 5). On the other hand were those who were sounding to be too spiritual to fulfill their marriage commitments (I Corinthians 7). One was outright wicked. The other was absolutely unrealistic.
• They allowed class distinction to categorize their fellowship. When they met for the Lord's supper, the rich went home drunk, while the poor had nothing to eat. Paul referred to this as "despising the church of God." (1 Corinthians 11:22).
• They also had disorder in worship as a result of gender, more likely a cultural matter of their time. The Key thing in the modes and ways of worship must never be seen to be tradition, though tradition has a place. It must remain reverence for God.
• They did not uphold Paul's teaching as the standard guide to doctrinal clarity. They were open to anyone's teaching. They therefore had teachers whom Paul referred to as superlative apostles confuse them. (2 Corinthians 12:4-12) They claimed superiority over Paul in ministry, but had nothing to show for it in terms of new birth, integrity, holiness and even self-control. Theirs was a money-making venture. (It must be acknowledged that not everything that everybody feels or thinks all the time can be attributed to the Holy Spirit of God). Unfortunately, this led the Corinthians to the point at which they undermined their founding apostle.
• Paul crowned his first letter by letting them know, that no Christian ministry can ever take place if there is no love.

3.4 Corinthians incapable of progress in the work
This condition blocked them from hearing the voice of the living God. Contrary to what we sometimes hear, the presence of the Holy Spirit is not the same as human individuality. The Holy Spirit is a gift which God by His grace bestows upon the people who hear His voice, respond to Him in repentance, and allow Him to rule their lives by that same Holy Spirit.

It is significant to note, that any such positive function, ministry or service on the part of the Corinthians remained on the major part undone for one to two years, all because of internal confusion. The issues raised above, were some that so disorganized the Corinthian Church, that rather than move out to spread the gospel of Christ and serve God in the world, they were rotting within. Paul's effort was to seek to correct such an unfortunate situation and hence get them back on track. Part of the work that Paul had envisaged for the Corinthian Church was the urgent need to raise relief for the Jerusalem saints. They had experienced great difficulty and were in need. He had encouraged them to help the saints as early as when he was living among them and reminded them in his first letter (1 Corinthians 16:1-3). The Corinthians found that their work was completely curtailed.

Our specific text, we are dealing with fundraising for relief work, a crucial part of God's missionary work. In the observation of many Christians giving money is the least sacrificial contribution to the progress of the work of God. (This does not mean that giving is never sacrificial). If the Corinthians could not give to God's work in Jerusalem, it is hardly possible that they were doing anything else. They were playing about and not praying, quarreling and not preaching, indulging in revelry and not giving and using the gifts of the Holy Spirit for proud self exaltation rather than building the body of Christ.

3.5 Paul's efforts to restore the Corinthians
As a responsible minister of the gospel, Paul did not turn a blind eye to the problems at Corinth. He had to correct them, rebuke them, remind them of his calling and way of life and even in rather harsh tones face the false teachers among them. He did this by sending his co-workers on discipleship matters, reconciliation and peace making efforts, by maintaining communication with those among them who walked by the Spirit of God and when he sensed that all was not well, by personally visiting them.

According to the evidence available in the Corinthian letters, Paul wrote at least four letters to the Corinthians. These include the previous letter mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:9, 1 Corinthians itself, the severe letter mentioned in 2 Corinthains 2:4 and 2 Corinthians today under study. Among these, 1 Corinthians is Paul's first preserved letter to them. By the time Paul wrote the Second letter, the situation had improved, he was thankful to God and was now sure that the Corinthians could do their part in the work of relief. Allow me not to go into the reasons why Paul felt so strongly about the gentiles giving to the Jerusalem Saints (mainly Jews). With this sketchy historical cultural background, let us now look once more at the text.

The Corinthians called to complete the work. 2 Corinthians 10:1-15
There are five points that Paul raises in this text that we Quakers must pause to think about:

1. A church participates in God's work because of God's grace and their obedience thereof and not because of their individual capacities and capabilities. (The Macedonian Church was a perfect example of this.)

• They were undergoing some extreme trial,
• They were extremely poor,
• But they counted it overflowing joy to contribute to the needs of others,
• They gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability,
• Entirely on their own, no one coerced them,
• They counted it a great privilege, and so pleaded that their gift be accepted. Paul saw this ai:t of love as the work of grace.

2. A church participates in God's work because the members have first committed themselves to Christ (they have established a personal relationship with Christ). verse 5 and to the effective leadership that is appointed by God.

3. A church's love for God is demonstrated by how much that Church follows the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. His grace is demonstrated, in that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor that you through His poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 9) The Corinthian Church needed to recognize the blessings God had bestowed upon her, however little and deny herself to reach out to others with the love of God. In this case, it was those suffering in hunger in Jerusalem.

4. A church needs to complete the work that she commits herself to by the grace of God. The Corinthians were the first to begin, but got disrupted. Paul now called them to complete the work they had began.

5. God does not require any church to strain in service! He just requires each church to do her part, do it well and complete the work.

4.0 Friends, our work remains incomplete.
I hear a fresh call by the Lord God almighty to the Friends Church in the world to remember the work that she had at first begun to do. The vision God gave Fox was for a whole world won to Christ. All Quakers of the time were united, loved God enough to be willing to suffer discomfort and inconvenience if only to keep the message alive and win the world to Christ. They loved God, loved each other and loved the world despite the harshness they experienced. For these people living and walking in the spirit was not just the expression of personal opinions, they spent time in prayer waiting upon God, they spent time studying the scriptures and they practiced what they believed. They were committed to holiness, purity, truthfulness, integrity, industry, fairness—things that greatly challenge me as a Christian. Their response to the social needs of the world did not exclude the reality that after this life there would be another life. They therefore stood against oppressive systems, advocated for the rights of workers and of slaves and granted freedom and fairness to all in their care.

4.1 A call to be relevant
Quakers today need to know God in a fresh way, to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, to appreciate that the Holy Spirit is the author of the Holy Scriptures—the Bible and no leading by the Spirit of God will contradict what He already said in the Bible. We need to honestly evaluate our priorities, our vision, our objectives, our strategies and activities (we can't do everything), our resource management, our administrative structure and work in unity based on the clear teaching of the Bible. No one else has ideas that can unite us more than what the Bible can do. We also therefore need to see work the way Jesus saw it, and the way Caesar Molebatsi conceptualized it.

First, Quakers have been weak in evangelism with the exception of the beginning period and the period of the evangelical revival. Indeed the first 50 years of Friends were some of intense evangelism. In those years, despite serious persecution the number of believers grew in excess of 60,000. Quakers in the same period were also active against falsehood, injustice and oppression. Later, Friends seem to have slackened from the vision of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Had they persisted in proclaiming the gospel, there today would be several million Quakers on earth and this would definitely have translated into non-violence. It is not clear why this failure to proclaim the gospel occurred. It may be that a number of those who were attracted to join the Friends in later years did not quite come to a true spiritual experience. They joined Quakerism and not Christ, a condition that happens a lot in relation to ministry. (Eg. Eli the priest had wayward sons. 1 Samuel 4)

Second, united effort has tended to evade Quakers. Quakers have had good dreams and visions and even founded many wonderful things. Divisions have undermined effectiveness in the work. As we stand today, "The work that God began through the Quaker Church lies incomplete." The work of the Spirit of God can only be seen in pockets among us. Sadly we have trusted in our own abilities to sort ourselves out rather than genuinely cry out to God for help. Unity requires the destruction of personal pride. What we need to do is to acknowledge our sin, our attitude of self-sufficiency, our confusion and our preference for the Quaker Kingdom rather than the Kingdom of Christ. We need to remind ourselves that only Christ can be the true uniting center of meaningful fellowship.

Unity engender issues like partnership, mutual integrity and mutual trust and hence joint efforts in the work. We Friends from the South need to get confident about ourselves . We need to realize that we are not third rate humans and that God has gifted us with strong community networks, hospitality and generosity that can contribute to the course of God. We need to stop seeing ourselves as too poor to make it and put our efforts together for the what we are able to do. As the lord opens doors, we need to begin sending out missionaries to the west.

Third, we need to be more deliberate about developing leaders. We will never go wrong identifying, apprenticing, training and working with well prepared people. For Quakers to remain relevant to a first changing world, we will need people whom Richard Foster calls deep people spiritually, sharp people in the mind and wise people in their service. I believe Quakers are blessed with all these, we only need to develop them.

4.2 Action points

• Let us return to God in prayers, repentance that He may restore us.
• Let us be guided by what God has said in His word, the Bible.
• Let us lay down anything ungodly in us that we may walk by the Spirit.
• Let us seek a fresh understanding of the Kingdom of God.
• Lets once again seek to have a clear definition of work in Christ.
• Lets commit ourselves to obey God as we serve.
• Let us do this through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Let us honestly evaluate the points at which our efforts dissolve and seal them.
• Let us honestly evaluate our present structures with a view of efficiency.
• Let each Quaker see him/ herself as a blessing able to contribute something.
• Let us foster partnerships and not one sided giving.
• Let us proclaim the Kingdom of God.

5.0 Conclusion
What is your honest evaluation of the Friends Church today? What is your role? Are you doing your part? Are you building or dividing? Whenever anyone lays down his or her life, seeking to honor God and to show the pure love of Christ in ministry, God blesses the efforts whether the work is sees or not and the Kingdom of God will thereby grow. May the Lord our Father who loved us so much to send His son to pay the price for our sin, who cleanses us in faith and gives us a second chance to serve Him bless each one of you as we rise up to complete the work.

Reference
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
Ronald Sider, Bread of Life: Studies in Radical Mission, Triangle, 1994

Return to main Triennial page:
"Friends United Meeting Celebrates Double Centenary—Double Blessing"

Return to November 2002 issue of Quaker Life magazine.