A Birthday and a Temple God Has Built
By: Deji Yesufu
The first reformed author that influenced my thinking after coming to faith in Jesus Christ in 1998 was Robert Tillman Kendall – or, as he is usually called R. T. Kendall. Kendall wrote in his book, “Worshipping God”, that it pleases God to reveal certain things to us which are not meant for the public. That God will show us those things so that it might engender worship within us. He shared those thoughts as he explained what happened to Elijah when he encountered God through the still small voice. That message was not meant for kings or Israel; it was meant for Elijah to worship. And Elijah worshipped God.
Today, is my birthday and God has given me a platform to write and speak to nations. TextandPublishing.com has become an international blog. People quietly come to this platform from all kinds of countries to read our articles, and they leave. They usually never comment, but I know that God is using our words to transform their lives. I never thought I would still have this blog running up till this time. Everything had worked against it, but we are still here. I am grateful. Like Elijah, God has been pleased to share many things with me but unfortunately a blog like this one cannot contain everything. So, I will share a few of the things the Lord has shown me; and I hope that his Spirit will give you also ears to hear and grace to obey. Amen.
I began this year with an article: A Temple God has not Built. I was so intrigued by that article that I pinned it to my Facebook wall. I was arguing in that article that there is such a thing as the gracious Providence of God. That beyond theology, confessions, denominations, and debates among Christians, God is doing something silently in the nations. I am interested in what God is doing; I am not interested in what men are doing. Yet, if we are not careful, we will spend the rest of our lives worrying over what men have done to us in the past; rather, than look carefully at what God is doing – including the things he did for us when men were hateful, disloyal, unforgiven, and downright evil to us. God is involved in every facet of our lives, and if it has pleased him to give us so much good; we should also be patient under the hard providences he sends our way sometimes. In those day, since all things work together for good, those hard providences always result in great good for us afterwards. So, let me share a few ideas God has put in my heart in the past few months and I hope it will help you as God builds you up a temple, he wishes to dwell in.
The first thought I wish to share with you is this: denominationalism is overrated. I have not said denominationalism is evil; I have not said that denominationalism is not from God. I am saying that you and I must be careful not to put God wholly and squarely in the narrow prism of our denominations. I am a Reformed Baptist pastor. I am also a director of a reformed Baptist seminary. I am however not a reformed Baptist minister – I am a minister of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who called me into ministry; it is Jesus Christ I will answer to on the day of Judgement. So, I wish to state very clearly that if there is anything in my denomination that is not in keeping with God’s word or that does not espouse biblical holiness, I will not be part of it. Long before anything called Reformed Baptist was inaugurated through the 1689 London Baptist Confessions, there had been a temple God was building and our God built that temple to honor his name. The Reformed Baptist confessions should enhance better comprehension of biblical understanding and engender greater holiness. Where this is lacking with anyone who calls himself Reformed Baptist, you can be sure I will not be part of such a group. There is a penchant for some of our brothers in the USA and Britain to control those of us in third world countries with money. They extend financial support to us only as long as we are preaching what they think is “Reformed Baptist”. I thank God that I lost that kind of support a long time ago, and today I am free to be a minister of Jesus Christ, and not a Reformed Baptist minister or a minster that will say what pleases men.
Second. Death is sure but life is even better. Again, this idea is a protestation of the kind of reformed theology that proceeds from “the abroad” – a tendency to glory in death. A desire to go and be with Jesus because we understand that our salvation is secure. And, sadly, I have seen reformed Baptist congregations that have buried quite a number of people in their churches. I do not know what has occasioned these deaths, and since I am in the flesh too, I will be very circumspect about commenting on what might have led to those deaths. I however wish to caution us reformed people against this idea of overly glorying in death – “…as a man thinks, so is he…”, said the Proverbs. It means that if you spend all your time thinking about dying, dying you will die. Our bodies were given to us for purpose; for life; for growth; for development; to help our world; to raise a godly family; to raise a godly Christian church; to share biblical ideas that will aid the nations. God will not invest years into a man, and then suddenly cut that man’s years short. But if you and I become resigned to death, death will come. Life is good. I am forty-nine years old today. I had a conversation with a 78-year-old man a few days back. I want to live to be 78 years old and be able to share ideas about life and living with young people. I want to help build a nation that honors Jesus Christ. I want to see the end of militant Islam in my lifetime. I do not wish to die now! And I hope that I impart in you, particularly Reformed Christians, to shelve these fatalist thinking!! Death is sure, but life is better. Even Paul who said “to live is Christ and to die is even better” was not being fatalistic in that epistle to the Philippians. He was saying essentially that every waking moment he has must be used to serve Christ, and when death comes as it will surely come, he will be opening his eyes to see the Savior. That is the Christian hope. The Christian hope is not fatalism. Please!!!
My last thoughts are these: Handle eschatology with caution – no one knows it all. What has informed these last thoughts are the recent debates that arose with Kirk Cameron recent position that hell is not eternal; that God will not burn people in hell forever like an eternal barbecue. And the usual condemnation has come after him, etc. To be sincere, I don’t know. My confessions tell me that there will be an eternal judgement of God on the wicked. Whether that judgement will not be an eternal burning, or final extinction – where the wicked goes “poof” into nothingness – I don’t know and sincerely I really do not care. I do not have an eschatological position yet. I am neither post-trib; pre-trib; pre-mil; Amil; or anything else they hold. I read the book of Revelation and must admit that it is a difficult text to read, and probably the reason why it is the only book of the Bible John Calvin did not comment on. Perhaps we latter Calvinists should also follow the man and just keep our mouths shut. Yeah, it is ok to have an eschatological position but it is even much better when we are humble about that position, and we make it clear that is our position – God alone knows what the future holds. Now, for those who then divide over eschatology – I think it is pure stupidity. I will end it at that.
I look back now at how we got the name of our local church “Providence”, and I cannot be happier that God himself gave us that name. We have known God’s mercies; we have received his word faithfully as congregation each Sunday; we have grown in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior; we have been able to help others start Christians assemblies in other parts of this country; we are simply grateful. We have known “Ebenezer” – thus far the Lord has helped us. I am also particularly thankful that the Lord has led me in the path that I have walked. I thank God for helpful associations that he has given me, and the ones that has ended has equally been helpful because it has shown me how to deal with people when next God sends them my way. Christ has revealed sin to me, and he has shown me more and more why he came to die for sin. Every hymn we sing in Church is my favorite hymn – lol. One however comes to mind now – “Behold the Amazing sight; the Savior lifted high; the Son of God, his soul’s delight; expires in agony…” (PHRW 256).
May God never allow me to lose sight of the cross of Jesus: the one who died for my sins, and has given me a body to honor him. Whatever number of days he has left for me to live, I again pledge my whole heart commitment to love him, to serve him, to serve his people, and to serve humanity. So, help me God. Amen.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached on [email protected]
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