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Kwasizabantu Ministers’ Conference 2001 Wednesday afternoon Summary of message by Rev Hawu Mbatha (Former SABC Group Chief Executive) “The Crisis Posed by Christ in the World Today” My first visit here to Kwasizabantu was during a morning service and I spoke about Joshua’s standing before the messenger of the Lord. The second time I spoke here was about the Jewish young man (Daniel) who got into serious trouble with his king. God always chooses a person who is totally devoted to Him. I rejoiced when I read what your theme was. We can measure our success by the “performance evaluator” – the Word of God. The early Church spent a lot of time looking at “similar or same substance of Christ” and some think they wasted their time. However, the church goes back to the Word again and again to check itself. One cannot measure the success of the Church without the measurement being the Word of God itself. If you look at the things happening in the world today many are living between 2 pillars. Let us read from Luke 20: 1-8. “By what authority?” One of these pillars is the knowledge of man – what is seen as alright by man. But Paul said “what I know is right I cannot do”. The second pillar is our attempt to please and impress others. Most of us want those around us to like us and be happy with what we do. This causes much friction among many churches. The way that they preach to unbelievers often depends on the perception of whether the listeners will like the message or not. But pleasing some will always displease others. One becomes a curse and a burden and much sin results from this attitude. Instead of doing the will of God people try to do the will of other people. There are different and changing demands that people have. This causes the Church to have an ongoing problem. The Church thus faces many challenges. The Church is called to be apart and speak in the power of God to people who don’t want this power and the authority of the Gospel. We are all concerned about keeping our job and not rocking the boat and upsetting others. Speaking about the power of God can be uncomfortable because our lives might be the opposite of this power. In our text Jesus comes into the central place of the Jews, into the main temple and challenges their ways. The authorities wanted to be able to challenge Him but Christ came into the temple with love and respect. He challenged the blasphemous aspects of the way in which the temple was being used – not as a business place. Christ called them robbers and only one close to God can use such words. When Christ met with a robber he didn’t speak against them but only when they were in the temple. When Christ was crucified those accused of being robbers purposely placed Him between 2 robbers. It was at the Cross where Christ experienced hell. Christ said that those who pose as leaders to impress they are the real robbers. The priests had been doing these things with the supposed authority from God. Jesus drove them out saying they were robbers. Jesus is not reticent to oppose evil, especially when it is done in the house of prayer. We see evil all around us and think it is gone too far. The problem is that the Church has been slow to oppose the evils they see. The Church doesn’t come out clearly and wanders around the two pillars. (like the fear to speak about purity as the answer to Aids.) Programmes are aplenty, against Aids, but what would Jesus say if He saw condoms being dished out in the Church. The Church should be busy with its work of power – preaching Jesus who can keep us from Aids. We live in a time of supposed liberty. Same-sex marriages are condoned. These things are happening in broad daylight. No matter what we are called we need to know when to say that these things are “of robbers”. We must stand on the truth, without which the Church has no foundation. Despite John’s preaching the religious leaders stayed unrepentant. Thus Jesus asked them with what authority John had preached. The leaders knew the crowd would be upset if they said John was not a prophet. In this era the message of Christ is only highlighted by political leaders when it gets close to election time. They want the vote of Christians even though they don’t believe in Him. But the church is afraid to confront them and instead forms friendships with them. The Church lives between these two pillars. Christians trying to impress others live a different life from Sunday’s religious life. Jesus thought their question and hit the nail on the head when He answered them. He wanted the leaders to examine their own treatment of John – for they had not believed him. The leaders considered the crowds before they gave their answer. The chose not to give a clear answer and plead ignorance. Commentators say they are surprised that the Jewish leaders got themselves into such a fix and had to plead ignorance – very uncommon for the Jews who claimed authority from Moses. But as they stood before the Lord of Hosts they didn’t know how to answer. When Christ spoke it caused the Jews to be confused. Thus, Paul said Jews seek signs, Greeks wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified. This is foolishness to the world. The Jews chose ignorance but this didn’t help them because of their motives. In Roman Dutch law it is no excuse to plead ignorance of the law. Jesus left them with the Gospel of the power of God. This Gospel leaves the nations and world leaders with a problem, and a troubled conscience. Have you believed the Gospel? Then say it before all these people that you do not believe it! Some leaders of nations say “In God we trust”. But some say in their constitutions that any religion is alright. Christians ask where in the Bible do we get the authority to say this. The Word says have no other gods. A question is left in the hearts of people – which of these many gods rules the rulers. Some then get to believe that there is nothing beyond the grave – like one of our deceased cabinet ministers. If you have no preparation then you’d better say there is nothing to prepare for. We need to help the people with this problem but we are often ignorant of how glorious the life on the other side is. We must take the decision to preach Jesus in His power. Let us choose the pillar of the power of God and doing His will. Let us use opportunities like this one at Kwasizabantu to revive each other and provide ammunition for each other, that we are not left without answers. If we proclaim God’s truth the authorities can be lead to do His will. We must be careful lest our churches are found lost with the problems of Aids, abortions, equality of religions, homosexuality, corruption, development, peace, forgiveness of sins, poverty, war of various nations (like in Burundi), violence etc. These are the things alive to the people who come to our churches. Evading these issues will not help the people. Otherwise their church attendance (January to December) is useless for they cannot reassess their failures and successes. Why can’t we present these things in a concrete way to our people, lest others with more resources make their case in a more convincing way. We need to help the people who come into our Churches – otherwise we will stand speechless before Him. All the nations will mourn when they see Him. I think of the Muslims (who say they don’t deny that Jesus lived, but only as one of the prophets.) In a country where all religions are equal I shouldn’t be saying this. The question is “why do you live between these two positions/pillars?”. The Church is gathered here at Kwasizabantu, led by the Spirit. I trust that the Church will be able to provide the answers.
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Last edited on: Tuesday April 03, 2007 E-mail us at: mail@ksb.org.za Return to KSB Home page |
