PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE:  “Becoming whole for the whole world!”

By:  Ron Woodrum

     In John 5 Jesus goes to Jerusalem.  He encounters a paralytic lying beside the Pool of Bethesda.  The Aramaic word “Bethesda” means “house of mercy”.  That pool became a center for crowds of desperate persons hoping against hope that they might be the one who encountered a life-changing healing that would transform them from brokenness to blessing; helplessness to healthfulness; tragedy to triumph; suffering to salvation.  There Jesus confronted one man that had been there for 38 years!  Jesus asked him this question-“Do you want to be made whole?”  That is the business Jesus was in.  Jesus came to save the “whole” person.  The word saved-(sodzo) means to be “rescued from danger-eternal death”.  But Jesus did not just come to save us from Hell!  He came to “save us from sin” completely.  This is reflected in the question that Jesus asks him. “Do You Want to Be Made Whole” (John 5:6).  The word “whole” is the Greek word “ugies”-hugies-we get our word “hygiene” from that word.  The word itself means “to be sound, whole, in good health, restored”.  The focus of the word is that Jesus came to “save to the uttermost”.  When combined to the word-“be made”-it infers that salvation is “a process” beginning where we are and taking us to complete wholeness by the transforming power of our Savior.  We encounter Him.  He asks permission to begin His saving process.  Jesus never forces Himself on anyone.  But when we open the door to Him He begins His transforming work that has as it goal-“Completeness-Wholeness-“being transformed into His image”.  Paul spoke of this in Philippians 1:6—“He who began a good work in you will continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ!”  He makes us “holy” in that process to make us “whole“.  C.S. Lewis talked about how when he had a toothache, he tried to conceal it from his mother.  He often would seek an aspirin to get temporary relief from the pain, but was always found out, and taken to the dentist, which started a process that would not end until all the cavities and bad teeth had been restored or repaired, which often was more of a process than he desired.  He said that is what the Christian life is all about.  We invite Jesus in to help with a besetting sin that is of particular bother to us.  Once invited in he starts “tearing down walls, and remodeling the entire house, not to suit us, but Himself, because He is preparing us to be His dwelling place!”  That is what Jesus was asking this paralytic if He was ready for that kind of wholeness! 

     His goal is for us to be made whole before the whole world.  In his book Setting Men Free, Bruce Larson calls this the Christian’s Art of Living.  When Paul shared with King Agrippa how Jesus Christ had transformed his life, Agrippa asked Paul “Are you trying to convert me?”  Paul responded honestly, “Oh King, I wish you were just like me, except for these chains”.  Paul knew he wasn’t perfect.  But he knew he was on his way to holiness and wholeness!  He desired that for everyone He introduced to his Jesus.  Jesus provided that kind of salvation by drinking the cup the Father had given Him.  When the Mother of James and John asked for special privilege for her sons James and John, Jesus asked another question-“Can you drink of the cup I am going to drink?” (Matthew 20:22).  Can we drink of the cup?  That is the most challenging question we can ask ourselves.  The cup is the cup of life, full of sorrows and joys.  Drinking deeply from the experiences that God has for us to drink to transform us from fallenness to fullness; from sinfulness to sanctification; from carnality to completeness-all by the presence and power of Christ, through the fullness of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Henri Nouwen asks, “Can we have our cups and claim them as our own?  Can we drink down our cups…to the bottom of full salvation experience?  Keeping this question alive in us is one of the most demanding spiritual exercises we can practice”.  (Bread for the Journey).  In his book The Church Inside Out, the Dutch Missionary/Theologian J.Christiaan Hoekendijk sees this cup as experiencing three aspects of the Christian’s style of life.  He summarizes them with three Greek words.  First is “kerygma”-proclamation.  He says that the transformation to “wholeness” begins by responding to the proclamation of Jesus Christ-embracing His Incarnation, His sacrificial death for us on Calvary to atone for our sins, His resurrection from the dead, exemplifying the power that can raise us from being dead in trespasses and sin.  Now as Lord of Life, He gives to us “abundant and full life”.  Then he mentions that this process moves from “kerygma” to “koinonia”-partnership.  In union with Him, and with each other we are transformed into His image, while collectively we “growing into a Holy Temple unto the Lord”.  The third process is represented by the word “diakonia”.  This is the word for “deacon”.  Embracing the Proclaimed Christ; Being yoked to Him with the vital link of the Holy Spirit-we then join Him in serving others by reaching out to touch them and to make them whole, as we are being made whole!  Unfortunately, this is a process.  It is not always a fast-progressing process.  Bruce Larson says unfortunately some Christians remind him of “being a like a tug-boat he once saw on the Hudson River.  This tugboat was pumping bilge out at a furious rate.  I thought for sure that it would sink!  Until I realized that there was no danger of that provided that the bilge pump kept ahead of the leakage”.  To be in depth fellowship is to live like that tugboat pumping the inherent bilge out at a successful rate.  Unfortunately, we are not tight ships with no leaks from the world, but the progress and process to holiness and wholeness keeps us afloat in the Christian life.  Several years ago, one of the Church Fathers, Ignatius gave us a recipe for this transformation.  He wrote, “This is what I ask for and desire-to have an intimate knowledge of our Lord, who has become man for me; that I may love Him more; and that I may follow Him more closely”.  In the seventies that desire was put into a popular song for a Musical Godspell.  Though I certainly didn’t agree with all that it presented-the formula for being made whole was put concisely into rhyme-“Three things Dear Lord I Pray-To See Thee More Clearly-Love Thee More Dearly-Follow Thee More Nearly!”  Do you want to be made whole?  That is the way to make it a reality- “Wholeness for the Whole World to See!”

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “Unbroken Til He Comes”

By:  Ron Woodrum

     In May 1897, the great American humorist and author Samuel Clemens, best known for his pen name, Mark Twain, was in London.  He was on a round-the-world speaking tour to raise money to pay off some debts due to some unsuccessful investments and publishing ventures.  While in London, someone started the rumor that Twain was gravely ill, on his deathbed, and was dying bankrupt!  Then came the rumor that he had actually died.  It was even reported in one American newspaper!  May 27th Frank Marshall White, correspondent for the New York Journal, was commissioned to determine the truth of these rumors.  He sent a cable to England to get a response from Twain.  On May 31st Twain wrote back his response.  On June 2, 1897 White wrote:  “Mark Twain was undecided whether to be amused or annoyed about the reports that he was dying in poverty in London…The great humorist, while not very robust, is in the best of health.  He said, ‘I can understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about, I have even heard on good authority that I was dead.  James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London but is well now.  The report of my illness grew out of his illness-THE REPORT OF MY DEATH WAS GREATLY EXAGERATED!’ ”  A few years ago I had a similar experience.  I was with my wife at Wal Mart.  I bumped into someone that I had supervised at Milliken.  He looked like he had seen a ghost!  He said, “I thought you died a couple of years ago!  I read your obituary in the Decatur paper!”  (He had actually read the obituary of my cousin Robert Woodrum…not Ronald Woodrum). We were close to the same age!  I told him that I was very much alive, and “the report of my demise had also been greatly exaggerated!”.  I am not sure I convinced him.  But imagine being pronounced dead.  Being reported Killed In Action.  Even having the president of the United States contact your parents with condolences!  That actually happened to WWII war hero Louis Zamperini.  When Zamperini’s aircraft The Green Hornet was hit, it went down in 1943.  No survivors were located.  He was pronounced dead.  President Roosevelt sent condolences to his parents in 1944.  The report of Louie’s demise was greatly exaggerated!  He went on to live for another 70 years, dying July 2, 2014, at the age of 97.  He and two other crew members drifted for 47 days, battling starvation, and shark attacks.  One died after 33 days.  Louie and pilot Phillips finally reached the Marshall Islands, only to be immediately captured by the Japanese.  The story of Zamperini’s POW survival is told in the 2014 movie Unbroken. He and several other POW’s suffered greatly at the hands of the Japanese.  They managed to survive the best they could.  Major Greg, “Pappy” Boyington, in his book Baa Baa Black Sheep, tells how Zamperini shared Italian recipes with prisoners to help them dream of rescue and return to normal while trying to keep their minds off the food and conditions in prison.  Louie had been an Olympic hero in the 1936 Olympics.  He was singled out by the leader of the prison guard Mutsuhiro “the Bird” Watanable and suffered greatly.  Louie and the rest of the prisoners lived each day holding on the promise of General Douglas MacArthur, who said, “I Will Return”.    One day, while in camp, trying to hold on, the sky filled with a cloud of airplanes, with the red, white, and blue stars and stripes…Their trust was not disappointed!

After the war, Louie suffered nightmares and PTSD.  He tried to deal with it with alcohol but was unsuccessful.  He wife Cynthia invited him to attend a Billy Graham Crusade in 1949.  He attended the same crusade that saw Stuart Hamlin come to Christ.  The same crusade that saw Mobster Jim Vaus find new life in Christ.  Louie Zapperini, remembering his prayers to the Lord while drifting at sea, and being delivered, committed his life to Christ.  He became a Christian evangelist.  He also was used of the Lord in forgiving those who tortured him during his POW days.  He even wrote a letter to Mutsuhiro Watanable forgiving him and telling him about Jesus.  No response ever came.  Four days before his 81st Birthday Zamperini ran a leg in the Olympic Torch relay for the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, not far from the POW camp where he had been held.  In 2012 he appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and talked of his Olympics, WWII, and his faith.  In October 2018 there is a Sequel to Unbroken, titled Path To Redemption, by the makers of God Is Not Dead.  The film is a faith-based film that picks up where the first left off.  Billy Graham’s grandson Will will play the part of Graham, at the Crusade where Zamperini comes to faith.  It is expected to be a film to reach the audience with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our Savior promised to return to rescue us!  Sometimes it gets hard trying to remain faithful to Him while the world. the flesh, and the devil seeks to defeat us.  Jesus addressed this very thing in our message today.  Jesus, in a chapter describing the faith of the tortured widow, who refused to grow weary, but kept on trusting until she was delivered, asked the question-“When the Son of Man Comes to Deliver His Own-will He find that kind of Faith?  That Kind of Faithfulness?”  That is the Question of the New Millennium!  Only you and I can answer that question.