Romans 5:9-11

Scripture Verse

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Once I asked my Jewish classmates why he couldn’t accept Jesus. I expected a long theological argument, for he was an Orthodox Jew and son of a rabbi. Instead, he simply said, “I don’t understand why the Christians can ‘’have-it-easy’’.” Through the long history of the Jews, they tasted the wrath of God: they were taken into exile, scattered, oppressed and even massacred. Judaism looked into how to observe the Laws of Moses properly so that they would be saved by the coming messiah.

What troubles me is why the world has the impression that Christianity is the religion of cheap grace or ‘’have-it-easy’’. We are justified by the blood of Christ, which is the highest price ever paid by Christ, and is surely not an easy way. Ever since the birth of the church on the Pentecost day, she was oppressed. Christians were prosecuted and martyred for about 300 hundred years before the Romans accepted Christ. The Muslim conquest in the 7th century AD wiped out the Christian gains in the Middle East, North Africa and Spain.  Christianity was under siege till in 1683 the Muslim Ottomans were defeated at the city gates of Vienna. Even under all those unfavorable conditions, Europe kept the Christian faith and evangelized other parts of the world.

Nowadays, Christians are still the minority in free and prosperous Europe. It is not hard to understand, for it is written in Rom 1: 21-22

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools …

Beautiful church buildings are dotted all over the landscape and main locations in the cities, but they are mostly empty.

I am grateful that we found IPC in Zurich.  The church has been blessed by the Lord. She has two vibrant worship services and various ministries to keep the fellowship going. My family came to IPC more than a quarter of a century ago and all my children grew up in this church.  I saw the good times in unity and the bad times of division.  Yet the Lord is faithful and keeps blessing us so that we can call it our spiritual home. I pray that more youths could join the church ministries and keep the blessings going for the coming decades.

We also didn’t forget Jesus’ great commission:

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matt 28:19)

IPC committed no less than 10% of the budget to missions and outreach. We support the local charities to serve the poor and to evangelize the young people in college.  We provide financial and prayer supports to missions and missionaries all over the globe. More so, we support youths in the church to join short missions and mission trainings.

The road to heaven is narrow and difficult, but we have the assurance for “we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”  Pray that we all can stand firm in Christ till He returns or calls us home.

To keep up the good works in IPC, please pray for

1. The unity of the church,
2. The Spiritual gifts for building up the body of the Christ,
3. Revival of the church in Switzerland.