“Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven
is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
Matt 13:52
Jesus’ words here are so powerful, so prophetic! May they ring in the ears of this generation, and among a people who are so fixated on the now and on tomorrow that regard for, respect for, and attention to the things of the past is dismissed. Look at how our politicians treat the Constitution if you don’t believe me! Consider that we appear to have learned nothing from 9/11, even though it was less than 13 years ago; how much less are we instructed by Hitler and WWII!
The problem is not just in politics, or our schools, beloved. It’s in our churches! To put it another way, we should not expect to find honor for things old in the world when it does not exist in the church. Jesus spoke these words first and foremost to us. Let the world see His wisdom in and through us, and then let them follow.
I am not suggesting our women get out their Victorian dresses, that we put away our lights and light up the candles, or speak in King James English! Though it is true that there are those who are stuck in the past, or insist that old things are better, it is also true that there are many who can’t sing any song that wasn’t written more than five years ago, and know nothing of the price that has been paid by the missionaries of the past to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. God help us to have both, to embrace both, to seek both, things new and things old. Lord, help us to keep both in balance, that we might be good householders, and see your Kingdom manifest.
China inspires the historian in me. We know of the Great Wall, or the Terra Cotta Soldiers, but there are signs of China’s past all around if you only take a moment to look behind the skyscrapers, literally. I recently worshiped at an altar where the One True God was worshiped since before Christ came to earth. I also drove by an irrigation system in a remote part of China, still in use today, which was built more than 2500 years ago causing a region where over 100 million people live today to become China’s breadbasket.
Chinese recorded history begins somewhere between 42-205 years after the Tower of Babel. The long string of dynasties existed right up until 1911, just over one hundred years ago. Amazing! It shouldn’t surprise us that the prayers for the annual border sacrifice starting from those first Emperors read like parts of Genesis, or even the prophets:
“When The Lord had so decreed, He called into existence heaven, earth, and man. Between heaven and earth, he separated men from all other things, and placed them under the canopy of the heavens. I, his unworthy servant, ask for His favor, to enlighten me as his minister, so that I may ever appear before Him who dwells in the Highest Heaven.”
God has spoken to us about bringing out treasures from “things old”, reminding China of her roots, and calling her back to her destiny. Emperors from China’s most prosperous dynasty, the Tang, had embraced Persian and Syrian missionaries who came to her, to trade, and to preach, along the Silk Road. They became spiritual advisors to Emperors, military leaders, renowned architects, even as the gospel spread to over one hundred cities, yes, funded out of the royal treasuries! A huge monument recording their beliefs, parts of their history, and their activities was commissioned by one of these Emperors and placed on the grounds of China’s ancient palace in Chang’an (Xian) in 781 AD. I have personally visited the monument three times (The Nestorian Stele).
Historian John Stewart writes of this period of missionary expansion:
“Whole peoples with their rulers had become Christians and it seems certain that there were few places in the whole Asia that were not reached at some time or other as the outcome of the marvelous activity of that wonderful church which extended from China to Jerusalem and Cyprus, and in the eleventh century is said to have outnumbered the Greek and Roman churches combined.”
These “old things”, of the influence of Christianity in China, are like a buried treasure which has been buried under the belly of one of her many dragons. Genghis Kahn’s daughter in law, and mother of his grandson Great Kahn Mongke, who became a powerful Emperor himself, was a Christian. Wikipedia says:
“Nestorian Christianity was the primary religious influence in the Empire, and this also carried over to Mongol-conquered China, during the Yuan Dynasty.”
The seed of the Word had been sown in Chinese soil. Many great sacrifices have been made, with missionaries burying their loved ones, even with their bare hands. The blood of many a martyr has been shed. I could say much more, of the wave of missionaries who came influenced by J. Hudson Taylor, and others, until there were more than 20,000 foreign Christians serving in China during the 1920’s. God has not forgotten. We stand and remind Him of past promises given, of inheritances long stolen.
Even as we look forward, we look back. This would be a good time to recount what God has done for you, for your family, in and for your own personal history, as a nation, as a church, as a people. This is sound wisdom, spoken by the Master Himself. We would do well to heed it, that His Kingdom would come to us, until it fills the earth as He has said that it would. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Amen.