God is Working

Our world is constantly changing in so many ways, particularly right now. Moments of doubt, fear, and insecurity flood each of us on a daily basis: COVID-19 pandemic, businesses reopening in unrecognizable ways, riots over systemic racism and hate-filled actions, graduation season… the list goes on. And yet, as Christians we have the assurance of hope: God is working. Today I want to share with you a story of God working over generations and the hope each of us can have in his divine plan for our lives.

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Thousands of believers were beheaded as a public warning. The message was simple, “Abandon your Christian faith, or suffer dearly.” Where was God? God was working…

The government was so brutal because it was so afraid of the way Christianity had spread. Violence is the weapon the weak use when they don’t know what else to do. Still, Christians were faced with a choice: operate in secrecy, or die. No one dared own a Bible, so memorized portions of scripture were passed along by word of mouth. Christian statues were made to resemble the local idols. Prayers and songs were crafted to sound like religions of the land but contained Christian messages. In these ways, Christianity hid in plain sight. 

The gospel continued to spread in secret because the Word always changes hearts. Being a secret Christian was lonely, but God was working.

400 years went by and this oppressive government began to expand its borders. It had empire on its mind and made brutal military advances in surrounding lands. The underground Christian movement was still active centuries later. While the persecution had faded, the Christians remained wary. 

A girl from the empire’s homeland walked barefoot through icy streets. In her village, children spent their mornings on lessons. After lunch the children sewed and repaired army uniforms. She resented the army and the new harsh rules. They weren’t told about all the horrible things the army was doing in other lands, but she knew something was wrong. She still had memories of songs and stories about Jesus she learned from a friend when they were very young. That was before the crackdown. Now those songs and stories were strictly forbidden. But she remembered. A tiny seed of faith had been planted in her childhood. 

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Soon the oppressive empire and all it’s greedy dreams of power disintegrated. The empire was overthrown and occupied by an outside army.  The foreign soldiers looked different and had a strange language. The girl had grown into a beautiful young woman and fell in love with a Christian man who came from far, far away. He loved her too. But theirs was a forbidden love. It seemed strange and unnatural to anyone who saw them together. The Christian man didn’t give up, but neither did her family. 

They found ways to meet. They delivered letters to one another through one of her friends. As he wrote and talked about Jesus, she remembered the childhood songs and stories. Her faith was growing.

They wanted what seemed impossible, but God was working. 

She and the foreign man waited three years as one-by-one the members of her family took a liking to the girl’s strange, but determined boyfriend. Finally, her father relented and allowed his only daughter to marry this strange-looking man with his Christian beliefs. 

This wasn’t what he had imagined for his daughter. Their love caused confusion and challenged what was normal. It would be difficult to stand out so obviously. It would be a lonely life, but God was working.  

They had three children together. Like their mother, the children of this mixed marriage had divided days. Morning was for learning with the rest of the village children, but afternoon was for lessons from their father about his language and the Bible. 

Father and mother now boldly spread the word of Jesus as the broken land rebuilt. They worked hard along with a few dedicated converts to establish a church. They even built a place to worship and meet. Worship services were very small even though many were invited. There were other small churches beginning to emerge in other cities. The work was difficult. It seemed like they were being ignored, but God was working.

The young family celebrated Christian holidays, but none of their neighbors did. The children weren’t allowed to attend the pagan street festivals, but all the other kids were there. They looked different from the other kids, like their father. The children suffered half-breed jokes. The children stood out. It’s hard for someone with a foot in two worlds to belong in either one.  It can be difficult to be happy when you don’t feel like you belong. The children wondered who they are supposed to be and had trouble fitting in. They imagined a different life where they weren’t so different.

It was lonely being the child of a strange foreigner, but God was working.

The Christian man and his wife made a difficult decision. After their children were 13 years old, they would go and live in the man’s homeland. The family took a voyage across the sea together. The 13-year-old child was introduced to Christian people that they had never met. Their father’s language training suddenly wasn’t enough. Sounds swirled through the air in unfamiliar phrases, local accents, and inside jokes. People befriended the children, but they also treated them differently. They were late-comers to childhood friendships, confused about things that everyone else seemed to understand, outsiders to the language, and they looked different like their mother. Mother and father left. They went back to their important work in the far-off land across the sea. Father and mother made sacrifices for their family. It was lonely for the whole family, but God was working.  

While her mother and father were at work far away, their only daughter found her way with new people, a new place, and a new language. She grew into a beautiful young woman and fell in love with a young man who was very different from her parents. He too was far from his family. He too was confused about his place in life, but God was working.  

In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”  

John 5: 17

They married and started their own family. They both remembered feeling lost without their parents and decided to run their family differently. They would still make sure that God’s word was an everyday part of their children’s lives, but they would support their children’s curiosity and encourage them to make their own decisions. The young family was tight-knit and joyful as mother and father still struggled to find their place. 

There were years of poverty and compromises. Father and mother made sacrifices for their family. Things didn’t turn out the way they imagined, but God was working.  

Their children studied hard and struggled hard. Their firstborn child explored various curiosities but around the age of 13 had a clear idea of how to spend this life. He found a profession that intrigued him, and he studied it in his free time. He also dreamt of going far from home like his grandfather and like his mother.   

The boy grew into a young man and met a beautiful young woman who was visiting his home town. They became friends, but she soon moved away.  They would spend three years apart before an undeniable fondness would rekindle into a happy marriage. They dreamt of distant travels and imagined their future together. They started a family and struggled just as their parents and grandparents had done. The profession he worked so hard to master didn’t seem to be in his future. The young family tried to pay their bills and provide for their children. They didn’t get very far away from home.

Things weren’t turning out the way they had imagined, but God was working.  

This young family learned from previous generations that the truth of Jesus’ forgiveness of sins was more important than anything on earth. They learned that it didn’t matter if their children were smart, athletic, popular, or talented. Those things impress the world, but God sees the heart. What really mattered was that they knew Jesus Christ as their Savior. And that’s why my wife and I have sent our children through Lutheran schools.

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That far off empire was Japan, and the girl in the village of Niigata was my grandmother, Ikuko. My grandfather, Richard, was a missionary and moved from Wisconsin to Japan after World War II. Together they founded two churches and started a synod. 

My mother, Hilda, moved from Japan to Wisconsin at age 13 and later met my father, Dennis, at Martin Luther Academy in New Ulm. They married right out of high school and lost almost everything they had on an organic food business because they were decades ahead of the trend. My father needed a job and was recruited to sell insurance for Lutheran Brotherhood. The guy who nearly lost it all on a business venture has been helping local Lutherans make wise financial decisions for 35 years. 

When I was in high school, my grandparents moved from Mito City, Japan to within one block of our house in New Ulm. I studied Japanese painting with my grandmother. She still has a very old ceramic statue of Mary and Jesus disguised to look like a Buddhist statue. 

My dream of an art career jumped tracks into education when I missed the deadline to apply for graduate school, I needed a job, and MVL extended me an emergency call to replace their art teacher. And rather than landing in some far off place, I now own a house four blocks from my childhood home. 

Maybe, just maybe, those martyrs who were beheaded for their Christian faith in 1600’s Japan made possible the birth of my children into a Christian family in the heart of a land that had just recently been rediscovered. God is always working, but we cannot see the way he sees.

I speak of my family history to illustrate God’s twisting, surprising plans. Only God could predict the outcome of these lives, and only God knows their complicated impact on the lives of others.

You can track your own story. Through all of history, God has been working for you. Through generations of broken and confused hearts trying to find their way through this life, you and I are here worshiping together today through these words. He has been redirecting people and inspiring them to reach out in love to their neighbors

And now it’s time for you to dream. Dream big, but remember that what seems big to you is tiny to God. You are already part of something bigger than you can understand. Compared with God we are all extremely nearsighted. We make little plans with our little brains, but the all-knowing God makes eternal plans. We just can’t see our lives the way he does.  

It’s tempting to complain. But imagine our discontent from God’s perspective. Even though we struggle with contentment, Jesus didn’t. He put his glory aside and lived a life we would despise to give us the life we really crave.  

When reality doesn’t match what you imagined it would be, God is working. When you have to do things that seem unpleasant for the sake of loved ones, God is working. When the world looks dark and confused, God is working. Look at your life… take a step way, way back and remember that things always go according to God’s plan. Only he knows what you will become. 

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Prayer:  Lord, remind us of our limitations and of your limitless love. We see so little but pretend that we know so much. It is comforting to know that you continually work for our benefit. Assure us even as you redirect us. Our weak little imaginations only guess at the complex connections that you have made in billions of lives. Shatter our pride and soften our hearts as we seek your will in our lives. Amen. 

Benediction: May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Romans 15:6-6

You can learn more about Jason’s work at JJJaspersen.com or connect with him on social media @JJJaspersen.