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I had a very profound conversation with some Vietnamese young people yesterday.  They were wise and had deeply thought through things at a level I rarely see with people that young.  We were speaking about Vietnam and its future and discussing some of the challenges that they face.  One of the things I asked about was the level of corruption that Vietnam is on a list that says it has problems with that.  They told me how the government was dealing with cleaning up corruption but that it was a never ending battle.  You can read about it in the English version of the Vietnamese newspaper - they don’t try to keep it secret they try to deal with it. 

I asked them how it affected them - they said it was the worst kind of stealing - that its keeping something from you that is yours without you ever knowing it was to be yours.  Immediately my mind, as a pastor, went to why I share the good news of Jesus.  Never thought of not sharing as stealing and hoarding for myself - but put in this light it is.  The next thing my mind went to was without a belief in God and a moral code that defines character man becomes his own God determining what is right and wrong.  Even with a man who says God is beyond him and bigger than him - that man can sin, justify it, and rationalize it - but there is a standard that he can also be confronted with.  If you don’t believe in God how can there be any real standard?

So I asked them without a strong view of God how that can ever be dealt with because it’s the foundation of truth and integrity.  The next statement blew me away.  “Corruption in our society is so deep we don’t even recognize it, it goes all the way to God.”  What do you mean - I asked.  One of them told a story - “Every time we pass over a bridge my father throws money out the window so the god will make sure we get across safely.  What kind of God is that?  People follow God out of desperation - not because he is God.  So God is even corrupted by us - it is so deep to who we are.  All of life is filled with corruption - even marriage - I am nice so you be nice.  For it to go all the way to how we see God could not be deeper.” 

Wow - I felt like I was in the presence of one of the deepest thinkers I’ve been around in a long time - not a Christian - yet speaking profound truth.  God blesses, God heals, God provides, God acts in our behalf - never deny that.  God rules, God has a plan, God has a purpose - it is not always easy - never deny that.  If you live by that you’ll always be OK - God is God, not your magic genie to make all your dreams come true and your problems go away.  Even when he does good - it is not merely to make us happy - but to be glorified and perform a greater good within us and around us.

This morning as I was reading Scripture and praying high above Hanoi in the apartment I’m in, God moved in my heart and spoke to me as I prayed over this city.  I’ve been around a lot of Jews lately who say their religion isn’t evangelistic like the Christian and the Muslim.  The Jewish faith of the Bible is both “exclusive” and “evangelistic”.  The book of Jonah is an entire book devoted to proclaiming who God is to a foreign people.  Each year I read through the Bible and there is a lot more Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) than there is New Testament.  The next time a person of the Jewish faith quotes John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, the life and no one comes to the Father except through me, I’m going to read them Isaiah 44-46!  Jesus’ words are consistent with the Old Testament. 

I read this morning 1 John 4 in the New Testament and John writes that we must confess that Jesus has come in the flesh and is from God.  If we do that, we must and will love one another because love is from above and born of God.  Later, the point of the cross is so men can be forgiven and sins atoned for.  It goes on to speak of how he has also given us the Spirit so we can abide with him and live in perfect love.  In that chapter you get the Trinity, the function of God, the love of God - all of it - and yes it’s exclusive. 

I read Ps. 119:1-24, the fact that we must seek God with our whole heart, the only way to keep pure and be honest verse 9-10 says to seek God with your whole heart and follow his commandments.  It goes to the fact corruption comes from the heart. 

Finally I read Isaiah 44:46 - it’s powerful - and exclusive!  44:2 God “formed you from the womb . . Fear not . . . I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring . . . . v.6 I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.”  v.8 “Fear not nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it?  And you are my witnesses?  Is there a God besides me?  There is no Rock I know not any.  9.  All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit.  At least 3 times in chapter 45 it says I am God and there is no other and verse 22 says, “Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth!”  Chapter 46:9 “. . . I am God, and there is no other, I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all that I purpose” . . . . 13 I bring near my righteousness, it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay….”

There is God who exists eternally - 3 persons 1 essence - he has a divine plan of which ever single human being on the planet exists for.  When we connect to God, we live by a higher purpose and plan.  God who gave himself completely for us, as the Father and in the Family - asks that we give ourselves back to him to live for his divine and eternal purpose.  When we do that, it doesn’t just heal us, it heals our cities and our peoples.  God cannot be corrupted - but we can.  We can try to force God in our image - but it is only when we find our identity in his image that we can ever deal with the corruption in our own hearts and in our society.