On impulse this morning, I asked Google whether there has ever been a day in human history when a war did not rage somewhere on earth? I found an article published by the New York Times in 2003, “What Every Person Should Know About War.” The author, Chris Hedges, states: “Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.” He goes on to say, “At least 108 million people were killed in wars in the twentieth century. Estimates for the total number killed in wars throughout all of human history range from 150 million to 1 billion.”
Jesus lived in a time when wars and oppression raged under the authority of the Roman Empire. The Jews were awaiting their Messiah and expecting him to be a military leader who would free them from the tyranny of Rome. Most of the Jewish scholars and leaders of the time rejected Jesus. How could he be their Messiah? He talked about a kingdom of heaven, not kingdoms on earth, and his messages to people were peaceable, not militant.
In addressing a power struggle among his apostles, Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many,” Matthew 20:25-28.
In Philippians 2:6-8 we have a description of Jesus’s nature and behavior: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
We are told to be like him! “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2:5. Wow. That’s a high and difficult calling. Actually, it’s an impossible calling if we try to do it in our own human strength. We can’t. Our human nature cannot do it because we are corrupt, sinful. However, God has given Christians the Holy Spirit to help us live like this.
So, how do we change our upside-down world? We make it our plan to serve others. That means something different to each one of us. To those of us working at Kingdom Air Corps, it means serving those whom the Lord has called to be pilots in His work around the world. We teach them to fly so they can take the gospel to the remote places on the earth that are hard to reach. Many villages have no roads to them, but people come and go by boat, snowmobile, or airplane. It takes a team of Kingdom Air Corps’ staff and volunteers to make this happen. While some are flight instructing the student pilots, others are cooking meals for all of them to eat. Still others are fixing the bathrooms in the housing where they live. Some are watching their children; and some are laying pipe for a new well that will benefit everyone. On and on it goes, the tasks changing, but the mindset of serving others for God’s purpose, staying the same. This is also true for many of you who serve your families, your church, your employers, and your communities.
As an inspiring example, meet Lena Cherkasova. (She’s in the photo next to Dwayne.) For the next 10 days we have her with us in Pennsylvania. She is a single young Russian woman who has been training with Kingdom Air Corps for six or seven summers. She’s earned her Private Pilot certification, her Instrument Rating, her Commercial Pilot’s license and now she is working on her Flight Instructor Certificate. She’s already a Washington State certified teacher for grades Kindergarten through 8, a gifted musician, a choir director at her church, and has been serving as a missionary pilot both in the U.S and in Russia for the past couple of years. I’ve seen her in action, and she is a magnet for young people who are intrigued with her God story. She will soon be an incredibly good flight instructor. The road she’s followed has not been easy. But she is convinced God has chosen her to do this, and she has quietly persevered and accomplished much.
We all have good days and difficult days as we seek to please the Lord. These words from Colossians 3:12-17 can encourage us when the going gets hard:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.