Voice of the Martyrs Korea is reporting that Deacon Zhang Wen Shi, also known by his Korean name Jang Moon Seok 장문석, was released from prison in North Korea and returned home to China on November 5. Deacon Zhang, who ministered to North Koreans in Changbai, China alongside martyred Pastor Han Chung-Ryeol, served more than 12 years of a 15 year sentence.
“Deacon Zhang is an ethnically Korean Chinese citizen who was kidnapped in November 2014 from China and put in a North Korean prison,” says Voice of the Martyrs Korea representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. “We believe the reason for his kidnapping was to gather information about the North Korean ministry work we were doing with Pastor Han.” Fifteen months after Deacon Zhang’s kidnapping and arrest, Pastor Han was lured from his home and stabbed to death in Changbai.
Voice of the Martyrs Korea led a multi-year global letter campaign urging the North Korean government to release Deacon Zhang.
“Though it is illegal to cross into China without permission, North Koreans often visit Chinese border towns to purchase goods to resell in North Korea, seeking medicine or other help, and conducting business,” says Representative Foley. “Near Changbai, North Koreans gather herbs on the North Korean side of the mountain, then take them into Changbai to sell at the market and bring the money back with them to North Korea.”
Representative Foley says that Deacon Jang regularly hosted these North Korean visitors in his home for days and weeks at a time before they returned to North Korea, giving them warm clothing, feeding them and providing things they might need for their return to North Korea. “He saw this as his Christian duty to welcome the stranger, clothe the naked and care for the sick,” says Representative Foley. “As a believer, he also shared about his faith to those who were willing.”
Representative Foley says that a number of these North Koreans accepted the message and became Christians. “Some returned to Deacon Jang’s home repeatedly for more Bible training, and Deacon Zhang and Pastor Han also taught them how to share their faith with their loved ones. Their goal was always to see North Koreans return home.”
“So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:10)
As we wrote in our book Living in the Underground Church, whenever we open the Bible to read, even just for our daily devotions, it is essential for us to ask the following kinds of context questions about each scripture we read:
Who is talking? Who are they talking to?
Where is the scripture taking place?
What happens before and after this scripture?
Are there any other scriptures in the Bible related to this scripture?
Today’s scripture, Luke 17:10, is a good example of why it is important to do this. If we don’t ask these context questions when we read today’s scripture, it will sound like Jesus is sitting under a tree like the Buddha, teaching his disciples general truths about life:
“Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
But when Jesus gives this teaching, he is not sitting underneath a tree talking generally about life. In the following verse we read:
“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.”
Ever since Luke 9:51, Jesus has been traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem. He is not just traveling to Jerusalem to die for our sins. According to the scripture, he is traveling to Jerusalem to lead an Exodus.
That’s what we read in Luke 9:28-36, when Jesus consults with Elijah and Moses on a high mountain and brings Peter, John, and James as witnesses. In Luke 9:31, it says “They spoke about his departure”, with the word “departure” being exodon—exodus—in the original Greek. What is the Exodus that Jesus is leading?
Jesus is leading his people out of the present age into the age to come, into the Kingdom of God. The way he prepares people for this is not by lecturing people about the atonement. He prepares them by preaching and teaching to them of the Kingdom of God, which they will soon enter.
This doesn’t mean that the atonement is not important. It means that the atonement is important because it opens the way for us to enter the Kingdom of God. Being a Christian doesn’t just mean being a forgiven sinner. It means living in the Kingdom of God now even while we are here today.
We do not enter the Kingdom of God at our death. We enter it at our baptism, which is the time we renounce our rebellion against God and die to the present age. Even while we are still physically alive in this present age, Christ rules over us directly. His family replaces our flesh and blood family. His possessions replace our possessions. His cross replaces our search for self-fulfillment. That is what Christ is teaching on the way to Jerusalem.
Caption: A baptism in Southeast Asia.
Jesus shares several parables which compare life in the present age to life in the Kingdom of God.
Luke 12: A parable about a man whose farm produced a big crop. He saved the bumper crop for his own retirement. Jesus called this man a fool and said that people in the Kingdom of God live like the birds and wildflowers, relying on God for daily provision.
Luke 14: Jesus says people in the present age eat with their flesh-and-blood family and with people of influence. But Jesus says they should treat Jesus’ family, the poor, crippled, lame, and blind, as their family.
Luke 15: The parable of the prodigal son wherein, at the end, the older son excludes himself from the welcoming party for his long-lost brother because he doesn’t think his father, who threw the party, is taking his obedience or his brother’s disobedience seriously. Jesus says that people who act like the older brother are excluding themselves from the Kingdom of God.
Luke 16: The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus where the Rich Man ignored the “little one”, Lazarus.
In these parables, Jesus shows us the values of the present age:
Being successful in your work so you can retire well
Spending time with your family
Becoming a person of influence in the world
Jesus says that these are not the values of the Kingdom. Rather, the values of the Kingdom are the opposite of these. Jesus says that what is valued in the Kingdom is caring for the “little ones” (Luke 17:2), who are the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. This is the main thing that Jesus wants to see reflected in our behavior, and the worst thing that we can do is cause one of these little ones to sin.
Remember, sin doesn’t just mean doing something wrong, it means rejecting relationship with God, leaving the family of God. Jesus guarantees that things will happen which cause disciples to leave the family of God but that doesn’t mean that it is okay when it happens. In fact, he says that if you are responsible for one of the little ones leaving, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around your neck than to meet Jesus on judgment day.
This is the opposite of the way we usually think when people sin and fall away from God. We usually think, “Their relationship with God is their responsibility, not mine! My responsibility is to stay focused on God myself and keep myself from sinning like them!” But Jesus gives us a warning in Luke 17:3: “Watch yourselves.” Not “watch yourselves so you don’t sin like other people” but “watch yourselves so you do everything to restore your brother when he sins”.
We might think “Well, this doesn’t apply to me because I haven’t done anything to make other people sin and turn away from God”. But this is exactly what the Pharisees and teachers of the law thought about themselves. Causing people to sin doesn’t only mean what we do to other people,. It also includes what we don’t do to others.
For many chapters, Jesus has given us parables about how righteous people were causing others to fall away because of what they were not doing. When they had big harvests, they only thought about how to care for themselves. When they had banquets, they invited their family members and important people, but not the little ones. The rich man feasted and completely ignored Lazarus. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the older brother showed no care for his younger brother, who is the little ones.
This is why Jesus says, “watch yourselves”. Christ holds us accountable for anything we do, or don’t do, to help the little ones enter and remain in the Kingdom of God. When we hold worldly values higher than caring for the little ones, we end up focused on ourselves and not on caring for them. We don’t share with them, regard them as family, or help them with struggles against sin. The highest value in the Kingdom of God is restoring sinners to the family again, again, and again.
If we are focused on anything else other than this, we are focused on the wrong thing. If we prioritize anything else, we are prioritizing the wrong thing. The main question that Jesus has for us about our behavior is: “What are you doing about the little ones?”
It is important to note that Jesus doesn’t say that we should ignore sin and restore people to the family without repentance. Jesus says, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,” (ESV). Notice, he doesn’t say, “If your brother or sister sins against you” but “If your brother or sister sins”. That means that it is not the Christian thing to focus on your own work and try to be nice to everyone in order to avoid conflict. You are not permitted to stand off while others are sinning and falling out of the kingdom and family of God. We even have to be vigilant to help them with the small sins.
“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” (Song of Solomon 2:15)
We might think that it is reasonable to forgive people’s sins if they change their behavior. But Jesus says to forgive a person who sins against us seven times a day and come back to us saying “I repent”.
This sounds crazy to us, which is why the apostles responded by saying, “Increase our faith!” It seems to us that this kind of patience and mercy requires superhuman abilities. But Jesus responds to their request by saying, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” This is not a matter of lack of faith.
Why? Because the forgiveness we share with others is not our forgiveness. It comes from Christ. It is his forgiveness, and he gives it to us to steward. He tells us when, how, and to whom to give it. And he tells us to give it to his little ones as often as they ask for it. It is their food.
What causes sinners to change is not their own will to change. What changes sinners is the forgiveness of Christ, given again and again and again, just as he commands.
In Luke 17:7-10, Jesus tells a parable about servants who finish work in the field and come to the house. Jesus said it would be crazy for a master to say, “Wow, you worked hard all day. Please, sit down, I will cook for you.” It is the servant’s job to work in the field all day and then to take care of the house in the morning and the evening. When the servant does that, he is just doing his job. The master doesn’t thank the servant for just doing his job.
Why does Jesus tell this parable? Jesus is saying, “The things I have commanded you to do here, to constantly take care of the little ones and give them my forgiveness repeatedly–these are your basic responsibilities in the Kingdom of God, not special praiseworthy actions. You are to do these things every day, and you should not expect praise or thanks from me when you do them. If you don’t do these things, then when you see me, you should expect punishment worse than drowning in the sea with a millstone around your neck”.
Don’t let the little ones wander away. There is no higher priority in the Kingdom of God.
From Chapter 9 onward in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is not only on a journey to Jerusalem. He is leading his people on an Exodus out of the present age and into the kingdom of God. Along the way, Jesus teaches three things he requires of his followers:
Print by Gustave Doré illustrating the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, from the Gospel of Luke
Give up everything they have
Hate their families
Take up their cross
Why these three things?
Because Jesus has not come to reform the present age. He has come to bring it to an end. His coming is the beginning of the end of the present age. On the cross, it is not only our sins which are put to death, but the present age as a whole is buried in the tomb with him. As we learn from Colossians, it is on the cross, not in a future battle, that he defeats the enemies of God:
“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15).
That’s confusing to us, because it seems like the world is still continuing on its way. But Scripture says that the only reason God keeps the present age from ending immediately is so that his offer of mercy to his defeated enemies—which Scripture calls “the gospel”—can be proclaimed to and received by them.
When we as Christ’s defeated enemies accept that offer of mercy, we do so by entering into Christ’s death and new-creation life through his baptism. In doing so, we are cut off from this present age and grafted into Christ. From that point on, we are dead to the world—and that’s no mere metaphor. Everything we need comes from him, and the present age cannot provide anything we need. In fact, if we accept what the present age provides, we will be “choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures” (Luke 8:14).
What are the things that the present age provides to which we are still clinging? It’s that familiar list of three things we’ve been noting:
Our flesh-and-blood family
Our money and possessions
Our self-fulfillment
These three things give us a “share” in the present age. In clinging to them, we ultimately end up being choked by them. This is why in order to follow Christ on the Exodus out of the present age into the Kingdom of God, we must leave these idols behind. Instead, we must cling to the three things that take their place in the Kingdom of God:
Becoming members of Christ’s family instead of clinging to our flesh-and-blood family
Becoming depending on Christ for day-to-day support instead of depending on our money and possessions
Taking up the cross instead of looking for self-fulfillment
Jesus tells us it is not possible to live in two kingdoms at the same time. This would be like having two masters. We’ll always hate the one and love the other. And the one we will love is the age that includes our flesh-and-blood family, our money and possessions, and our self-fulfillment. Jesus says this is why so few people enter his kingdom.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13)
Many Christians today reject Jesus’ plan and replace it with their own. They claim that Jesus’ kingdom is his call to reform the present age, not follow him on an exodus out of it. They claim that Jesus wants us to:
Reform our families through Christian values
Use our money to do good things for God
Help people to find Christian self-fulfillment
Thus, instead of entering the Kingdom of God, people prefer to live in a Christianized form of the present age. This is because they have more of a share in the present age than they realize.
It is in this context that Jesus tells the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus:
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31)
When we Christians hear this parable, the problem and the solution seem very clear to us. We think that the problem is that the rich man was selfish and greedy and should have helped Lazarus by giving him food, money, or medical care but did not, so he was sent to hell—apparently because it was a sign that he did not repent. If he had repented, we think, he would have been more generous.
But, interestingly, Abraham does not say that the rich man is in hell because he was selfish and greedy and did not help Lazarus. Abraham’s explanation is this: “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.”
This is very different from how we have been taught to think about salvation and damnation. We think that salvation is when we repent of doing things wrong and ask Christ into our hearts and damnation is what happens when we don’t do that. But Abraham says simply that the rich man is in hell because he already received all his good things during his life time.
The problem is not with Abraham’s explanation but with our wrong way of thinking about salvation and damnation. Our thinking is too small. We are so self-focused that we only think about confessing and repenting of our own individual sins. But Scripture is clear that the message of Jesus and the apostles is much bigger and much deeper than the sin in our own hearts:
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Galatians 1:3-5)
Notice here that Paul didn’t say that Christ died for our sins simply so he could forgive us. Paul says Christ died for our sins in order to rescue us from the present evil age. In other words, the problem is not only our hearts. The problem is the whole present age. We are like fish that are swimming in a filthy fish tank. The filthy fish tank is the present age. Fish become diseased from being in that filthy water all the time. If the only thing that Christ did was to forgive your sins, that would be like being a clean fish in a dirty tank. You would not be a clean fish for very long!
But that does not mean that the fish is okay and only the filthy fish tank is the problem. The tank is filthy and the fish is filthy, too. This is why salvation is always presented in the New Testament as a two part solution:
Christ gives himself for our sins
Christ rescues us from the present evil age
Just as Paul preached that message to the Galatians, Peter preached it in Acts 2 at Pentecost:
“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them,“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” (Acts 2:38-40)
Or to put it in the words we’ve been using as we’ve been studying Luke, give up your “share” in this present generation. Or to use Paul’s words from Colossians 3:3, we have died to this present age. We no longer receive anything from this present age to sustain us. Instead, we are already living in and being sustained by the kingdom of God.
There are two amazing truths here that we Christians rarely realize.
The first truth: The Kingdom of God is present now.
Both the present age and the kingdom of God are now present. The Kingdom of God cannot be seen with our eyes, but it is fully present to us by faith. It is more real than the present age, which according to Scripture has already begun to fall apart. The Kingdom of not something we enter after we die or when Christ returns. Christ’s whole message is for us to enter into the Kingdom and live in it today by believing in Christ and being baptized into his death.
In doing so:
Christ’s family becomes our family
Christ supports us with his riches
It is no longer we who live, but Christ
The second amazing truth is this: Christ came not only to deal with our sins, but to bring the Kingdom—and to bring us into it.
That is why we don’t say, “Christ went to Jerusalem to die for my sins.” That’s only half the truth. Christ came not only to forgive the fish but to replace the fish tank! Most of the time when Christians read in the Bible about a “new creation”, they wrongly think that the Bible is talking about them individually being changed into little “new creations”. But when the Bible talks about a new creation, it means a new creation: A new heavens and a new earth. A new kingdom. A new king.
These days, Christians don’t realize or understand that Christ brings a new kingdom for us to live in and be sustained by today. They wrongly think that Christ’s plan is to work through Christians to reform the present age. They are like fish who think that the maker of the fish tank is going to clean up the tank through them! They talk about the present situation as a “battle” that Christ helps them “win” by giving them strength and wisdom and all the resources that are needed to Christianize the present age. They look at their “share” in the present age—their family, their money, their possessions—and they think, “God wants me to use these things to improve the present age.” This is why they get involved in politics. They believe that the problem is the wrong use of money and power and the weakening of the family. They believe the solution is the right use of money and power and the strengthening of the family.
But Jesus defines neither the problem nor the solution in these terms.
Jesus talks about two problems:
Our evil hearts
The present evil age
Jesus himself solves both of these problems on the cross. It is not that he fixes our hearts in order to use us to reform the present evil age. He brings to us new hearts and a new age: the kingdom of God, established permanently in his blood. He calls us to enter the kingdom today by being baptized into his death.
Think about it like this: We Christians don’t actually die when we die physically. Scripture says that we actually die when we are baptized. We don’t enter the Kingdom of God after our physical death. We enter it when we are baptized into his death.
Many Christians respond to the gospel of the kingdom like this: “So you’re saying we should do nothing and just go to the mountains and pray while the world falls apart?”
But Christians who respond like this do not know the Scriptures. In Acts, we see neither Christians who try to fix the present evil age by Christianizing the “resources” of this age—money, possessions, flesh-and-blood families, and self-interest.
In the Book of Acts, what we see is Christians being moved from their birth family into Christ’s family, which is called the church. We see them giving up their possessions in order to care for each other. We see them being sustained on a day-to-day basis by Christ. We see them no longer focusing on their self-fulfillment and safety and happiness but instead laying down their lives for each other and for their enemies.
To use the language of our fish tank example, Christ does not work through the fish to fix the fish tank. But he also doesn’t remove his fish from the tank. Instead, his fish are transformed into new creatures, just like a tadpole becomes a frog. Frogs can still live in the tank, but they don’t rely on anything in the tank at all. They don’t breathe the water. They don’t eat the food. There is a gigantic world outside the fish tank, and the frogs rely on that world for everything they need. But they don’t leave the fish tank behind. They actually stay there and testify to the fish, “Your purpose isn’t to be a fish. It’s not even to be a clean fish. Your purpose isn’t to live in a clean tank. Your purpose is to be a new kind of creature. And the One who created us made a gigantic world outside this fish tank, and I am supported by that world today.” In other words, the purpose of the frog is to point beyond the fish and the fish tank and testify to how the Creator made us to live today in a much greater kingdom.
With all this in mind, we can understand the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
The Rich Man’s share was entirely in this present age. He was completely sustained and satisfied by the things of this age. He had no share in the Kingdom at all. The problem is not that he was greedy and selfish. All of us in this present age are greedy and selfish! The present age is itself an age of greed and selfishness. The greedy and selfish succeed in this present age.
That’s why the solution is not for the rich man to be more generous to Lazarus by giving him food, or money, or access to the hospital. The solution, according to Abraham, is to listen to the words of Moses and the prophets, which testify to the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God that he brings. If the rich man had listened to Moses and the prophets, then he would have seen the evil of his heart and the evil of the present age. He would have done what Jesus commanded the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law to do back in Luke 14: 13: He would have invited Lazarus, not his flesh-and-blood brothers, to his daily banquets:
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:13)
Jesus isn’t talking here about giving charity to poor people. Jesus is talking about us receiving his family as our family. He is talking about us giving up our own possessions so that we become stewards of Jesus’ possessions. And the most precious possession Jesus has is the cross. The cross is what cuts us off from the present evil age. The cross is what cuts us off from our self-love. The cross cuts out our evil hearts and replaces them with Christ’s own heart. The cross is how we are set free to love the outcasts as our family and our enemies as ourselves. “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke 16:11).
Lazarus, on the other hand, had no “share” in the present age. The present age did not sustain him in any way. That doesn’t mean that he had a good heart, though. Remember: In order for us to be saved, Christ has to deal with two problems. He has to save us from our sins, and he has to deliver us from the present evil age. So how did Lazarus end up in Abraham’s side if he didn’t repent?
Here we need to remember the truth we studied two weeks ago: Repentance is not a work we do. It is a gift God gives to us. Repentance and forgiveness are equally gifts from God.
And repentance does not mean “realizing I did bad things and feeling bad about it”. Repentance means “realizing my complete dependence upon God for salvation and my complete inability to save myself”. It means knowing that I contribute absolutely nothing to Christ’s saving work except my need. It means that he opens his arms and I fall into them.
That is why Jesus says in Luke 6:20:
“Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).
The poor are blessed because the present evil age does not even try to sustain such people. Jesus is the only one opening his arms to them. Jesus opened his arms and Lazarus fell into them.
That is exactly what repentance looks like: Jesus opens his arms, and we fall into them. He gives us his heart to replace our evil hearts. He gives us his kingdom to replace this present evil age. And he gives us his family to receive us into his kingdom..
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