He introduced himself as Jim when he answered my ring on his doorbell. I explained that I was in his street today representing my local church, offering prayer for any personal or family needs. Jim, perhaps in his mid-fifties, was surprised, telling me his local church didn’t do this and wondered why mine did. I explained that we believed it was part of our calling, based on the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, who told the church to go and tell others what Christ had done for them. He nodded his head.
I asked him if he would like a New Testament to read, but he declined, telling me he already had three Bibles in the house, plus a Bible Commentary. Some people express great pride to me when they make similar statements, but this was not case with this man, he had a rather sorrowful expression on his face.
I then asked what church he was associated with and when he told me, he added that he hadn’t been there for some years. With that, he invited me inside. I knew the Spirit of God was upon Jim at that moment because when this is not so, I don’t get invited in. In fact, some people will often slam the door in my face or hurl some abuse, or both. He led me into a lovely big lounge room and asked me to take a seat while he made us a coffee. When he came back with the coffees and took his seat, Jim asked me more about the work I was doing, seeming to be genuinely interested, asking one question after another.
Based on those questions, I asked Jim what his perceptions were of the church and of Christianity in general. He quietly replied that in his experience it was too political. Then he told me that he used to attend church regularly with his wife and family, and that he was an elder for many years. He paused in thought and then more words were spoken between us about church politics, me being rather ignorant of it at the time. Little did I know however, that in less than four years I was going to experience the very unpleasant realities of that in my own church.
He went on to tell me that he’d put his heart and soul into serving his local church as a young man and was still doing so into his early forties. He didn’t tell me what specifically happened but I could see that he’d had a severe negative experience in his church and that this had deeply hurt him. He shared with me that he’d lost time from his wife and family, as well as his business. Not only that, but his children, who were going to be Christians, had now become Buddhists. His wife was from Thailand, and was a practising Buddhist.
Jim made some remarks about the behaviour that he’d observed when among Buddhist people, telling me how different they appeared to be in their religious practice and everyday lives, in comparison to the many church-goers that he knew. His wife used to go to the church services with him, but often made comments about the glaring conflict between the message of the gospel of Christ and the behaviour of many in their gatherings.
Jim was a genuine person. During this time I was also praying to the Lord, asking Him to give me specific wisdom for this man. At such times it’s always very easy to give “stock” answers from the Bible, but I knew that to be unwise. Then the Pharisees came to mind, so I was now able to bring them into our conversation. He was more than familiar with the gospels, which tell us of the on-going problems Jesus had with most of those people.
So we spoke about how these Pharisees saw themselves as the religious elite, a pious, controlling group who had, in their thinking, all the knowledge of God, but how Jesus shows us that it was all in their heads and none in their hearts. We spoke about their love for religious legalistic behaviour and the fact that this type of people have always been alive and well in church gatherings right down through church history.
Praying for continuous wisdom, I then spoke of the problems we can create for ourselves by confusing man’s religious behaviour with that of Jesus Christ. I then asked Jim if he had a personal relationship with Christ. I asked him if Jesus was his Lord and Saviour. He said yes. Following that, we had a long conversation about his beliefs, some of which by now had become a mixture of Bible and Buddhism, but he listened silently and gave positive responses when I shared the differences.
I explained to him that basically Christianity is not a religion, but rather, it is a relationship – a relationship with God in the name of Jesus Christ, as He reveals and teaches us of Himself from the Bible. I explained that the Bible shows us that Christianity is God reaching down to us in Christ, encouraging us to surrender our lives to Him, but that many people don’t want that, they want to be in control of their lives and the lives of others, just like those Pharisees. Jim related to the latter part of that statement. I then encouraged him to open the Scriptures every day and look to Christ and trust His word and reality, no matter what others may do or say in His name.
He then spoke of his health (angina) problems, his family and his business, sharing that his son runs a major part of it interstate and that they employ a lot of people from one particular Christian denomination, not his own. The presence of God was in the room with us. As mentioned earlier, at the beginning Jim appeared to be somewhat sorrowful, but now he was relaxed and peaceful. He acknowledged this as being of Christ. I got up to leave and he asked me to stay and have another coffee with him. I did. During this period he spoke more about his family, married daughters, business and then he brought the conversation back to Jesus Christ.
I asked him if there was anything he would like me to pray for and he said yes. So I waited on God, He gave me the words to say to meet Jim’s needs, prayer for him to trust God’s written word, trust His living reality, prayer for his health, protection for his wife overseas and for his children and business success. On the way out Jim showed me his home extensions taking place and spoke enthusiastically of how he was going to use the extra space. After we shook hands that day, I never saw Jim again, but it was an honour to be sent by God to speak with such a man for a couple of hours. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” John 6:37.