Welcom to the Big City

We left Lopburi around 10 AM on Saturday and arrived in Bangkok around 12:30. We are thankful to another missionary who gave us a lift here (with all of our luggage too!). It was a blessing not to have to go by mini-bus with all our stuff. We met up with a friend of Paul’s for supper. He was here with a team of about seven folks (most from Jacksonville) who worked down south with some tsunami relief. It was great to see Dave and catch up with him.
Once a month our team in Bangkok meets for what we call a “concert of prayer.” The few times we’ve been able to come it’s been such a blessing to worship God together in this way. We pray thru the ACTS format (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). So, yesterday we had a time of worship together in the morning. We sang, prayed and listened to a Tim Keller sermon on the Prodigal Sons (I will talk about that more in a minute). Then after a delicious lasagna lunch we had our concert of prayer. It was SO nice to worship in English yesterday even if there were only a handful of us there! (As many of you know, we’ve been attending a Thai church in Lopburi and understand VERY little each Sunday in worship.)
So, the sermon was on the Prodigal Sons. Usually when you hear this sermon the preacher will really hone in on the younger, rebellious, sinful son. I remember the first time I heard a different spin on this parable than the usual. It was at an Anderson College RUF meeting. John Boyte (RUF guy at AC) spoke on this passage in Luke. He started off by saying this passage was really about the older brother and from there he had my attention. Since that time I have never forgotten the truths that were revealed to me that night. The passage begins by saying Jesus had two groups of people around him that day, the Pharisees and the “sinners.” And so, the parable represents those two groups. The Pharisees are the older brother and the “sinners” are the younger brother. So, yesterday, I was reminded of these truths. I was reminded of my older brotherness. I definitely relate more to the older brother. You see, I grew up a “good girl”, trying to please God and man and wanting to do things the right way so not to make God angry with me. But, what I have been learning thru the years as I grow in my Christian walk and what Tim Keller said yesterday in his sermon is that I was just as lost in my goodness as a “sinner” is lost in his “sinfulness.” I think a lot of folks who grow up in Christian homes, around Christian families, etc have this complex. They see the world as us and them. The “us” category are the “good people.” We try not to do bad things, sin, we try to please our Father, etc but really many times we are just manipulating God in a different way to get what we want. Then we see the “them” category as the “sinners”, the rebellious, those who don’t care who they offend or how. And we make these distinctions in our heads about people. The truth is both Pharisees and sinners need Christ. The Pharisee needs Christ to save him from his goodness (though obviously he also has sin) and the sinner needs Christ to save him from his sinfulness. I hope I am making sense. It was a great reminder to me. I can be a very self-righteous person and to be reminded of that was good and to confess and repent of this sin in my life was also good. Of course there was SO much more in the sermon (you will have to get it from Redeemer NYC if you want to hear more of it!) and I am sure Tim Keller does a much better job of expositing Scripture than I ever could. But, it was so refreshing to be reminded that my “goodness” is filthy rags to God and nothing I can ever do or not do can win His favor. He loved me FIRST and clothed me with His robe of righteousness just as the father in the parable clothed his son with his robe. By the way, the passage is Luke 15:1-2; 11-32.