From the October-December 2008 Issue
Fine details in the big picture
Vitaliy Maryash
Downtown TernopilAlmost two years ago I was asked to prepare a few lectures on the book of Ezra-Nehemiah (those two books in Christian printed Bibles are in fact one in the Hebrew canon and I strongly believe that we must read and study it in this way). These lectures were for the meetings which we hold in our church for preachers and those who want to know more about this ministry. I do remember a strong sense of embarrassment that visited me on that occasion. The ever present desire in me to study Genesis, Job, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah or Hosea strongly protested against this proposition. I imagined myself saying something like: ‘Look at this charming official document’, or ‘How encouraging must be this endless list of genealogies’. What was endless in those thoughts was my foolishness, as I understood after a little while when I began to study this book. Once T. S. Eliot wrote: ‘The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility. Humility is endless’.
Intellectual humility for those who teach the Word of God is very necessary and the way to exercise it must be in fact endless: we must teach not what we want and like, but what the people of God need. I had to learn this, but without pain. The rich world of Ezra-Nehemiah was graciously opened to me; a world where the simplicity of prose mirrors the ordinariness of everyday life, of putting stone upon stone; a world where holiness is not restricted to one sacred place but spreads even to the city walls; a world in which the people of God have to learn the excitement of subjecting themselves to the authority of the written Word; a world where there are no great heroes. Actually there are great people – Sheshbazzar, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Ezra and Nehemiah – but they appear and disappear on the huge canvas which is called the people of God. The people of God are the centre of the author’s interest and the actual heroes of the wall-building according to God’s will.
Building the church
I can draw many helpful parallels between that time and the present. Our church, as Judah then, is facing not a few internal as well as a few external difficulties. There are no inspiring, charismatic leaders amongst us. But, notwithstanding, we are the people of God, empowered by His Written Authority and entrusted with the task to build. It doesn’t matter that the stones are sometimes too big and too rocky to form them and to put them in place, the faces of problems outside are hostile and numerous, and our resources are limited. We build, stone by stone. The present life of our church seems to me to be like that. Let me just mention a few such ‘stones’.
Living stones
Last year and also this present year have been very encouraging and promising for us. Fourteen people were baptized and twelve joined our church. In comparison with the previous ten years of our church history the present number of conversions is almost the same as for those ten years. I am not just doing simple arithmetic but it really takes our breath away. Moreover we do not boast in it, but neither do we take it for granted. We realize that it is the gracious work and gift of the Lord to His people in Ternopil to rejoice in His saving activity and to participate in this work. There is really reason to rejoice.
If we put the social scale upon the people who have been converted, we will see that it is filled from its right side to the left. Students, workers, college and university lecturers, businessmen, former prisoners are all there. The grace of God is similar in this case to the rich stroke of a painter’s brush moving over the whole canvas. Think of it for a moment and you will understand better …the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:9-12). Two of those people are not from our city but from a town which belongs to our county, where the work was started by our church through one young man.
Building the church spiritually
Yet we do not forget also about growing in spiritual matters. There are four Bible study groups in our church, where Christians and those whom they invite can regularly study the Word of God. Most of the people who joined our church came to us through this kind of ministry. I am still leading one of these groups and enjoy them greatly. There are other groups where Christians can study the Bible more deeply as well.
To be more suitable for the teaching ministry in which I am involved, I and an elder from my church were encouraged to continue our theological studies. We have applied to the Kiev Theological Seminary for the ‘Master of Biblical Studies’ programme, have already passed the entrance examination and had the interview. Now we are expecting the results which must come from the USA (this faculty is affiliated to Talbot Seminary in Biola University). We hope it will also help for teaching in the Bible School we want to set up in Ternopil.
Praise be to the Builder of all things
We are thankful to the Lord for everything He has done and is still doing in our church. We feel His help, support and blessings. It makes us happy even in our everyday routine Christian service. These simple words about the work in Ternopil are written also to invite you to join us in praise and gratitude to God. Let us be thankful to Him for everything!