An Obedient Life: Lessons from an 8-Hour Train Ride to Visakhapatnam
/“ I need to be the man God calls me to be”
In December, I went on a 10-day mission trip to India alongside four other men from MBT. It was an overload of experience, but I made sure to reflect on what God wanted to teach me.
Ultimately, God didn’t blow my mind with some crazy revelation of, “I need to go to this place or that place,” or, “I need to become a ‘whatever’.” I know that he is simply calling me to a deeper level of my faith. I had known for a while that God was calling me to such, but the trip made it pretty cut and dry what that looks like: I need to be the man God calls me to be. There were a number of memorable events on the trip but thinking on one in particular helped solidify a lot of things in my head. It was the 8-hour train ride from Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam .
My four team members and I get on board the sleeper car where everyone has a vinyl-covered fold-out-of-the-wall cot. The four of them have their cots together on one end of the car, while mine is about 50 feet away on the other end of the car. They weren’t mad at me or anything; that’s just how the arrangement happened when we bought our tickets. They were also gracious enough to visit me and bring me snacks at various points during the trek, so it wasn’t all that bad. I had a lot of time, so I took a nap, had a convicting read-through of Ecclesiastes, took another nap, had another convicting read-through of half of Hosea...
“I’m forced to ask myself... Does the gospel still stir up awe in my soul?”
We were leaving on this train from one city, having taught the doctrines of discipleship to pastors (Alvaro and I to the high school/young adults) and were on our way to another city to do the same. Evangelism wasn’t the core purpose of the trip, but God laid it on my heart to share the gospel while on the train. After a seemingly unfruitful attempt at sharing the gospel with some uninterested English-speaking kids, I gave up.
After a while, though, a young man asked me for help in writing a letter in English to an embassy regarding his visa situation. When I had finished helping him type up a letter, we started talking and I told him why I was in India. I got to share the gospel with him, tell him a lot about Jesus, the difference between Christianity and Judaism, Christianity and Catholicism, and what the Bible is. At some point in the conversation, I looked around and everyone nearby was staring at us. I can’t be sure why they were staring, but I think it was because of the name Jesus Christ. It wasn’t a threatening stare, but one of invested curiosity in a conversation most of them probably couldn’t understand. It was a marvel of sorts. As I write this, I’m forced to ask myself: Do I still marvel at the name of Jesus Christ? Does the gospel still stir up awe in my soul?
Seeing a room full of people curious about the gospel convicted me, and thinking about it brings fresh conviction now. Maybe through translation, I could have shared the gospel with all the other people that were listening. If I did, maybe they have Bibles in their language that I could have guided them to. But what about the people that don’t have Bibles in one of the hundreds of tribal languages in India? What about them? I have maybe the greatest translation of the canon of scripture ever made. But am I cherishing it? Moreover, am I using it?
“Though I am willing to go, am I actually prepared?”
As English speakers, we have been given much when it comes to the preserved, written word of God. In turn, much is required of us. Who among us is willing to go take the word of God to those without it?
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” Romans 10:14-15
The lost need preachers. Where the real conviction comes is through this thought: Though I am willing to go, am I actually prepared? Am I obedient? The lost don’t need just any preachers; they need obedient ones.
I learned a lot about preaching in India. I got to preach and teach discipleship to a number of young adults a number of times. I was with pastors and elders who were seasoned in the area of preaching, and I received a lot of wisdom and insight regarding the topic. I was given instruction on how to strategically cross cultural barriers and effectively deliver information through translation; I’m really grateful for all those things. I preached discipleship to young adults, I preached my testimony of discipleship to pastors, I preached the gospel to a guy on the train, but there’s a preaching that I believe God cares about more. The preaching of a life. In the book Power Through Prayer, E.M. Bounds writes, “The character as well as the fortunes of the gospel is committed to the preacher. He makes or mars the message from God to man.”
“That which must fuel all other preaching in our lives is the preaching of an obedient life.”
After eleven chapters of preaching, the preacher in Ecclesiastes says in 12:10 that he sought to find out acceptable words, and three verses later he gives us the acceptable words that he ended up finding out:
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13
That which must fuel all other preaching in our lives is the preaching of an obedient life. I must fear God and keep his commandments. If I do that halfway around the world, cool. If I do that in Kansas City for the rest of my life, cool. All I know is that if I am going to be the man that God wants me to be, if I am going to be the leader that my leaders need me to be, if I am going to bear fruit, I must be obedient in the simplest of things. Why would God trust me with souls if he can’t trust me with the time and money he gives me to steward? Why would God send me to the nations if I can’t be faithful with being sent to UMKC students and actually sharing the gospel with them?
“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Luke 16:10
No matter where I am, if I am going to have a fruitful ministry, I need to keep his commandments. There’s a phrase that Pastor Dan Reneau said to me on the trip that has stuck with me: “Whatever the ministry requires.”
I’ll end things with this quote that sums up what I learned in India:
“It is not great talents nor great learning nor great preachers that God needs, but people great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God-- people always preaching by holy sermons in the pulpit, by holy lives out of it. These can mold a generation for God.” - E.M Bounds (Power Through Prayer)
Seth Harper is a member at Midtown Baptist Temple and a leader in C&YA. He is a part of Temple Worship and leads a men’s small group Bible study at UMKC.