Identification in the final analysis is an attitude as much as an activity. It is possible to identify outwardly and remain aloof inwardly. It is possible to live in a hut with and like the people and yet not really identify with them in spirit. On the other hand, it is possible for the missionary to possess many things not available to the nationals and yet successfully identify with them. Much depends on the missionary’s attitude toward his possessions. Are they so valuable or precious that he will not share them with his friends? Does he truly believe that a “man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”? (Lk 12:15). ¹⁵⁶. For fifty years he gave himself without regret and without reserve to the people of China. When it was all over he said, “If I had a thousand lives, I’d give them all to China.”

 ¹⁵⁶ Identification is costly but rewarding. This is what Jesus had in mind when He spoke of losing one’s life in order to find it again (Mt 10:39). He also spoke of the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies. “If it dies,” He said, “it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24). In this as in everything else He practiced what He preached. Identification was a supremely costly thing for Christ. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor; so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Co 8:9). No one in China carried identification farther than Hudson Taylor

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Entering into the life of the people rather than offering impersonal advice or service. This means learning a language (or several languages) and social customs. It means adapting yourself to other people’s eating habits and food. It means ordering your home so that people feel entirely at ease in it. It means using your leisure among the people you live with rather than your | own compatriot group

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Without a thorough understanding of the language it is quite impossible to get to the heart of any culture.

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J. Herbert Kane, Understanding Christian Missions

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The knowledge of God’s Word without love is a destructive force because it puffs us up with pride and legalism (1 Cor. 8:1–3). This causes us to justify ourselves rather than repent of the unforgiveness.

 
John Bevere, The Bait of Satan, 20th Anniversary Edition (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2014), 17.
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If you are offended and in unforgiveness and refuse to repent of this sin, you have not come to the knowledge of the truth. You are deceived, and you confuse others with your hypocritical lifestyle. No matter what the revelation, your fruit tells a different story. You’ll become a spring spewing out bitter waters that will bring deception, not truth.

 
John Bevere, The Bait of Satan, 20th Anniversary Edition (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2014), 18–19.

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An offense leads to betrayal, and betrayal leads to hatred.

As stated earlier, offended people build walls for protection. Our focus becomes self-preservation. We must be protected and safe at all costs. This makes us capable of betrayal. When we betray, we seek our own protection or benefit at the expense of someone else—usually someone with whom we are in relationship.

Thus, a betrayal in the kingdom of God comes when a believer seeks his own benefit or protection at the expense of another believer. The closer the relation, the more severe the betrayal. To betray someone is the ultimate abandonment of covenant. When betrayal occurs, the relationship cannot be restored unless genuine repentance follows.

Betrayal then leads to hatred with serious consequences. The Bible states clearly that anyone who hates his brother is a murderer and that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him (1 John 3:15).

 John Bevere, The Bait of Satan, 20th Anniversary Edition (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2014), 19.
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Our love is cold, which results in our still seeking to protect ourselves. We can no longer confidently commit our care to God when we are trying to care for ourselves.

 
John Bevere, The Bait of Satan, 20th Anniversary Edition (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2014), 20.

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The Nevius method called for “self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating” churches, promoting indigenous Christianity virtually free from outside influences.

 

Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), 255.

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The “Nevius method” is often credited with the rapid growth of the church in Korea—making the difference between the church in Korea and that in Japan.

 Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), 264.
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During this time, Nevius clearly pointed out the differences between the “old system” and the “new system”: “The Old uses … the more advanced and intelligent of the native church members in the capacity of paid colporteurs, Bible agents, and evangelists, or heads of stations; while the New proceeds on the assumption that the persons employed in these various capacities would be more useful in the end by being left in their original homes and employments.”³⁷ He accused missionaries of employing nationals to produce quick growth so that they could send favorable reports back home, but he insisted that such methods only resulted in an uncommitted church leadership, with converts who are doing evangelism only for the money they received.

³⁷ Quoted in Francis M. Dubose, ed., Classics of Christian Missions (Nashville: Broadman, 1979), 259.

 Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), 265.
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Many others had said essentially the same thing, but he came as an experienced practitioner having a clear plan of action. Charles A. Clark later summed up his method in nine points:

1. Missionary personal evangelism through wide itineration,

2. Self-propagation: every believer a teacher of someone, and a learner from someone else better fitted, …

3. Self-government: every group under its chosen unpaid leaders; circuits under their own paid helpers, will later yield to pastors, …

4. Self-support: with all chapels provided by the believers, …

5. Systematic Bible study for every believer under his group leader and circuit helper,

6. Strict discipline enforced by Bible penalties,

7. Co-operation and union with other bodies, …

8. Non-interference in lawsuits or any such matters,

9. General helpfulness where possible in the economic life problems of the people.³⁸

³⁸ Charles Allen Clark, The Korean Church and the Nevius Methods (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1928), 241–42.

 Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), 265–266.

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Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, my predecessor at Westminster Chapel, used to say to me, “The worst thing that can happen to a man is to succeed before he is ready.”

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Delays can actually be part of God’s purpose; seemingly unanswered prayer can be as much a part of God’s will as answered prayer.

 
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Do not let anyone know what someone said about you or did to you.

To ensure privacy, Joseph cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” (Gen. 45:1). He waited to reveal his identity until there was no one in the room except his brothers. Even the interpreter, who had no idea Joseph could speak Hebrew, was, to his surprise, told to leave.

But why? Why did Joseph make everyone else leave? Because he did not want a single person in Egypt to know what his brothers had done to him twenty-two years before. He had a plan: namely, to persuade them to bring their father, Jacob, to Egypt. He wanted his entire family there with him. No one in Egypt needed to know what they had done.

Joseph was a hero in Egypt. The people were in awe of him. By interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams he had saved the nation. He knew that if the word leaked out that his brothers had actually kidnapped him and sold him to Ishmaelites, the Egyptians would hate his brothers. Instead, Joseph wanted them to be heroes in Egypt as he was, and the only way to cause that to happen was to ensure that absolutely nobody in Egypt would ever discover their wickedness. So he did not allow anyone to eavesdrop on this historic conversation as he revealed his identity to those startled, frightened men. Joseph not only did not let anybody know what they had done; he ensured that they could not know. That is one of the proofs that one has totally forgiven.

This is precisely how you and I are forgiven: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). Our sins are “wiped out” (Acts 3:19). It is as though our sins don’t exist anymore—they are gone, gone, gone, gone! Insofar as our standing and security with God are concerned, they will never be held against us. Back in the hills of Kentucky, we used to sing a chorus about our sins being buried in God’s sea of forgetfulness. This is based on Micah 7:19: “You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”

God will not reveal what He knows. Picture, if you will, a giant screen such as the ones many churches use for projecting the words to worship songs. Imagine your sins listed on that screen for people to see. You would look at the list and be forced to admit, “Yes—that’s true. But I thought I was forgiven and that nobody would know!” Imagine the sense of betrayal you would feel if God disclosed to everyone else what He knows about you!

There are a lot of things God knows about me that I wouldn’t want anyone else to know. He has enough on me to bury me! But you will never know any of it, because God won’t tell.

 We tell everyone else what we know in order to make our offender look bad!

 

R. T. Kendall, Total Forgiveness: When Everything in You Wants to Hold a Grudge, Point a Finger, and Remember the Pain - God Wants You to Lay It All aside (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2010).

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HOW TO RECOGNIZE A DESTROYER

On the outside, a destroyer may seem charming and helpful. But when the destroyer feels under attack, the person will attack anyone in his or her way. Here are the telltale marks of a destroyer:

• He will threaten and manipulate to protect his plans and interests. 

• He will feel no guilt or sense of wrong for his actions. 

• He will lie to your face. 

• She will wear down your emotions until you feel totally diminished spiritually, emotionally, and at times, physically. 

• She expects others to serve her and resents when they do not. 

• She is sensitive to her own feelings of rejection yet unaware of the pain she causes. 

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That's precisely how a destroyer operates.

  Destroyers are not interested in truth; they are only interested in proclaiming their own version of it. Some destroyers believe that the world should stoop to gladly serve them and their most cherished dreams; others believe that they are God's gift of justice to set things right in this crooked world. So they gladly volunteer their services for the task.

They are not prone to take advice, for no one is wiser than they.

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 Destroyers shift blame; they do not take personal responsibility for the evil they perpetuate. Reconciliation with them is, of course, seldom possible.

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Destroyers are so self-absorbed in their own pain they've grown numb to the pain of others. Though keenly aware of their own hurt, they are incapable of feeling sympathy for their victims.

 Erwin W. Lutzer, When You’ve Been Wronged: Moving from Bitterness to Forgiveness (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2007).