May God be gracious to us and bless us
        and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
    that your way may be known on earth,
        your saving power among all nations.
    Let the peoples praise you, O God;
        let all the peoples praise you!
    Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
        for you judge the peoples with equity
        and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
    Let the peoples praise you, O God;
        let all the peoples praise you!
    The earth has yielded its increase;
        God, our God, shall bless us.
    God shall bless us;
        let all the ends of the earth fear him!—Psalm 67

 

Kaja i? This is greeting in Kachin. I am just asking you all, “How are you doing?" My name is Matthew Jat, your Kachin brother from Myanmar. It is so humbling, and I am so thankful to be standing in front of you brothers and sisters in Christ at Bethlehem. We Kachins consider Bethlehem our mother church. It is very good to be at home with you and to worship our God Almighty together.

Today’s preaching will be a little different. It would be more like thanking, reporting, informing, feeding, and inviting. I like to use the word inviting rather than challenging. First of all, on behalf of all the Kachins, from the bottom of my heart, I woul like to say thank you so much, thank you so much, thank you so very much for sending our beloved missionary couple, Dr. Ola and Minnie Hanson, 123 years ago. You will come to understand more as to why I am thanking you that much.

Not long ago, just over a century ago, we Kachin were described by foreigners who had come into contact with us as wild, cruel, and savage. Even Dr. Ola Hanson in one of his books wrote, "No doubt these Kachins are about as low and as raw and as wild as any people on earth. They are backward in all things except in sinning. They give free rein to their passions and live almost on the level with animals. Their only form of worship is the low, bloody demon-worship." Therefore, foreigners who first encountered Kachins expected all Kachins to be extinct from this world within 50 years.

But they were wrong; that did not happen. Why? It is largely because of the First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis, which is  Bethlehem today. You sent Sarakaba Hanson to us. Sarakaba means "big teacher" or "master." Many Kachins and I call Pastor Chuck Sarakaba.

Dr. Ola Hanson translated the entire Bible into Kachin. Prior to translating, he had to create a Kachin written language. So it took him almost all 38 year to finish the translation work. He also translated over 300 hymns from English and Swedish and also composed many Kachin hymns. He also came up with the first Kachin-Enligh dictionary of 11,000 words. In addition to doing all these things, he pastored, preached, and taught in Bible School and pastors’ classes.

What are the results and fruit today? When the Hansons came in 1890, there were only a few baptized Kachins. There are over 500,000 Kachin Christians today in Myanmar. There are 379 churches and almost 400,000 individuals in the Kachin Baptist Convention alone. In 1977, when we celebrated our centennial anniversary of Kachins becoming Christian, we had 6,214 kachins baptized in that celebration time, more than double the numbers of the people baptized on the day of Pentecost. The Kachin Baptist Churches have been leading several mission fronts both inside Myanmar to various different people groups and to the people groups and tribes of our own both in China and India. As a result, there are now over 40,000 Kachin Christians and 35 churches in China as well as 2 churches and over 300 Kachin Christians in India.

Seeing all these, God has powerfully blessed the hard work of Dr. Ola Hanson among the Kachins. But the interesting thing is that the Kachin land was so far away from Minneapolis, and it was over 100 years ago. The Hansons could get there only by ship, spending several months on the seas. They could have died on the way there, as many often did during that time. Even after arriving to their mission field, some American missionaries died in Myanmar due to tropical weather and diseases. I am sure they knew all those challenges in advance. The question is: why did First Swedish Baptist (Bethlehem) sent them there? Why did they go? Was it because they were influenced by the great missionaries like William Carey and Adoniram Judson and their theological convictions? I would think so, yes. Were they trying to be faithful to what we call the Great Mommission of Jesus in Matthew 28:19:“ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”? I would say yes. Were they motivated by deep convictions about God, man’s desperate need, and God’s power to change the lives of people willing to turn to him? Yes.

But, after learning more and more about the missionary works of Dr. Ola and Minnie Hanson and their church back home, what I see is the overarching message or picture of this big word “blessing" flashing so brightly on top of all these yeses. What I mean by that is they clearly understood 1) Why God would bless his people and 2) How to fully enjoy the blessing of God. In the same way, I believe that all God’s people today should clearly understand God’s blessing to better please him and glorify him. Therefore, I invite you to look at today’s scripture text, Psalm 67.

I should let you know ahead of time that I won’t be giving you point by point explanation like many of your pastors here would do. Let’s go cross-cultural today. Most Kachin Pastors would not give you point by point. I am being intentional. But I will try to give you a break. I won’t go fully Kachin in the area of time. Because I can’t. The Pastor who asked me to preach made sure that he told me how much time I can have for preaching: 30 minutes. Since I haven’t been to Bethlehem for a long time, I wanted to see how pastors here normally preach. I found out that most of them preach for 45 minutes or longer. Then I thought, they are actually going Kachin in this area. Maybe, Pastor Chuck saw some good thing in Kachin worship and convinced the pastors here. And they want me to go like many contemporary American churches for 30 minutes. I have used up a lot of it already. So let’s go.

In verse 1: "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us."

The people of Israel were asking blessing from God, yet they knew that it wasn’t because of how good they were or who they were that God chose them as his people. It was because of his grace that they became his chosen people, and God would bless them. Back in their time, when you came into the presence of a king, you would see him staring at you, not smiling. But when a king's face shone on you or smiled at you, that was a special favor. He would provide you with resources and all the things that you needed and that he thought you should have. So how much better would it be when our God, the eternal King, the King of Kings, smiles. He would bless you much more. That’s what they wanted God to do. But the question is, why were they asking?

In verse 2: the word "that" is crucial. "That your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations." God’s people weren’t asking God for blessings simply for their mundane pleasure. The purpose was to bring the message of God’s salvation to other nations. So when God blesses his people, it is for blessing other nations.

Here, understanding the word “nations” is very important. Looking in my Kachin Bible—I am not looking in the original Hebrew, but because the Kachin Bible is very similar to the originals, I trust it very much, thanks to Dr. Ola and Bethlehem—I see the words Myu shagu, which mean different people groups and tribes with their own languages from all over the world, regardless of their sizes. It’s not like how we normally think of countries in a political sense. A little more in-depth study on that word will convince you that. Therefore, in verse 3, the Psalmist switches to the word "peoples" in place of "nations." Verse 3: "Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You." That’s what God’s main desire is: peoples from every corner of the world worshipping him and praising his wonderful name.

From the beginning, God’s plan was to bless all the families and nations of the earth by blessing Israel. Then, Throughout the Bible, we can see that God is hitting that message again and again, reminding his people. Some people like to say hinting, but I like to say hitting because that is a huge message and plan of his. That’s world mission: bringing all his elect from all over the world. This Psalm foretells the world mission that Jesus later commands us in Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” and Acts 1:8: “You shall be witness to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Let’s go to Genesis first.

In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.—Genesis 12:3

All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.—Genesis 18:18

In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.—Genesis 22:18

In you your offspring shall all the families/kinships of the earth be blessed.—Genesis 28:14

(reassuring promise to Jacob at Bethel)

All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.—Psalm 86:9

“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory.”—Isaiah 60:3 

Let’s look at this way: From Genesis throughout the Old Testament, God has been working to gather all nations. Then in New Testament, Jesus born to the family line of Abraham as God had promised. Jesus died on the cross for the sin of all peoples and rose again, and He is well and alive, and He is our reigning King and our God. Whoever believe that Jesus is the Lord and Savior has, because of his or her faith, the same status as blessed people of Israel. He or she becomes an heir of Abraham. The Apostle Paul strongly and clearly explains that in Galatians 3.

Those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.—Galatians 3:9

Blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.—Galatians 3:14

If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.—Galatians 3:29

Understanding all these, Dr. Ola and Minnie Hanson went all the way to the country of Burma knowing that they were blessed like Israel. And God blessed them with all the resources they needed. It would have been a lot easier for them to just join Burmese mission work because there was a Burmese Bible already translated by Adoniram Judson. But they went to a smaller people group called the Kachin up north who are responding to the gospel where they had to do basically everything from scratch.

Why? They understood that God desires his message of salvation to get to all the people groups on earth, not just to all the nations or countries. Just getting it to them is not enough. In Psalm 67:2, it says "That your way maybe known on earth." How can people know God’s way clearly? The best way to do that is by reading God’s word in their own language. All the good missiologists would tell you that people respond better when the gospel is preached and read to them or by them in their heart language. God desires his people to praise him with clear understanding of his way and who he is.

For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding.—Psalm 47:7 

Dr. Ola Hanson would start translating from very early in the morning almost until dark every day with his Kachin translating assistant. He was very choosy in selecting Kachin words and at times spent days on the same section of the Bible. His assistant would get so tired and one day asked him why wouldn’t he pick a word easily. Dr. Hanson said, “This is different from other readings or books; this is God’s word. A person’s eternal life line depends on it.” Hanson was very careful about not making mistakes in his translation of God’s word. He made sure that Kachin could read the word of God in their language and have a better understanding of God and his way and praise him with understanding. That’s why it took him that many years. It paid off. Here is the good news. From that year on, the church grew very rapidly, and it’s been going on that way basically until today. Why? Now, Kachins can learn about God and his way and desires in our own language. Kachins have become known as happy people, joyful people, singing people among other people groups in Burma rather than cruel and savage people as they were previously known.

For the last several decades, Kachins have been unjustly oppressed and persecuted by the Burmese government. In the last two years, over 70 Kachin churches and over 170 villages have been burned or destroyed, and right now, today, over a hundred thousands Kachin Christians have been on refugee camps along the border of China and various other places in northern Burma. But the amazing thing is, in those refugee camps, amid difficulty and uncertainty, Kachins are still praising God and singing the goodness of God joyfully because they know that as in verse regardless of how unjustly they are treated, God "will judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth." (Psalm 67:4)

My defense is of God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge and God is angry with the wicked every day.—Psalm 7:10,11 

God has let the Kachins be glad and sing for joy for over a century now, and it won’t stop no matter what because the Bethlehem of 1890 and Dr. Hanson did not ask God for more blessings just to keep them only for themselves here. They knew how to enjoy God’s blessings to the full extent. They went out and shared their blessing with Kachin people who, for them, live literally on the end of the earth, a 12-hour time difference. What would be more enjoyable than seeing, hearing, and knowing that more people are being saved, praising God, and being glad in him? That happiness, being joyful and praising God, is unlimited. Dr. Ola Hanson enjoyed seeing Kachins turning to Jesus, being joyful and praising God here on earth, and Bethlehem members of his time enjoyed hearing about Kachins. They are enjoying worshipping God together with those Kachins in eternity even more today. That is enjoying God’s blessing to full extent. Isn't it?

Their enjoyment of God’s blessing is extending to you, Bethlehem members of today, and to us Kachins. We are enjoying our wonderful historical connection and partnering together in the mission of God for the last 20 years. There was a gap of about 60 years that we did not know each other. But it was during that time period that pretty much all the Kachins in Burma became converted to Christ. So, I believe that God disconnected us for that long period for a greater enjoyment for us. It was in 1987 that God brought a Kachin man called Rev. Hkyen Naw to do a research study at Bethel Seminary exactly 100 year after Dr. Ola Hanson graduated from there. Then God made him wait for another 3 year by taking him away from the close proximity of Bethlehem and giving him opportunity to do his doctorate at Trinity in Chicago. Rev. Naw found out about Bethlehem one day and visited Bethlehem in 1990, exactly 100 years after the Hansons were sent out from there. Many Kachins in Burma learned of your existence and praising God and began praying for you more. In the same way, you were shocked and surprised and began enjoying the blessing of finding your Kachin brothers and sisters and partnering together for His Glory.

You have sent several mission groups to the Kachin land over the years, and many have helped train our leaders. Pastor Chuck Steddom has been faithfully coming to us for the last 13 years on a regular basis and patiently training our leaders. We cannot express how much we appreciate your partnership with us. In recent years, there have been many types of Christian groups coming into Burma as the government has gradually opened their iron door to the foreigners to come in and Burmese to go out. So, it is kind of like, all of the sudden, a huge spiritual buffet has been opened up there. Many ministers, pastors, and church people have been blindly excited about the opportunity to feed themselves in this buffet and are getting unhealthy spiritually. Some have enjoyed the buffet of opportunities to go out and get theologically trained, and many times, come back being full with liberal or worldly theological trainings and began influencing believers. Sadly, even leaders have become prey to liberal theology.

But not all the leaders. There are also many Kachin leaders who are eagerly protecting their sheep, staying spiritually healthy, desiring to stay true to the word, and blessing others. Among them, these Kachin Worship leaders who are here today with us are some of the elite ones. They have been fed by this wonderful godly spiritual kitchen of Bethlehem. Many special chefs from here have come to feed them in Burma. Chuck has been a special chef that you regularly send to us. This time, they wanted to come and see with their own eyes how your spiritual iron chefs prepare your spiritual food, preserve them, and feed you. Their training at Bethlehem and their time with your pastors and leaders will truly be invaluable. Since Kachins consider Bethlehem our mother Church, you have the blessing of authority. Our people will listen to these leaders because they know that they are trained by you.

Today, we Kachins need more and more leaders who are soaked up in the word and passionate for God because there are many doors of opportunities being open up for the gospel light among people groups in our part of the world. For example, Wayne Grudem's Systematic theology book, which Bethlehem has just finished helping translate into Kachin language and planned to give as a gift to every Kachin pastors and minister, is a tremendous assistance to us. This is the first ever systematic theology book in the Kachin language. Our pastors who only know Kachin will greatly benefit from it, and the impact will be abundant. We have prayed for you, Bethlehem, and you have prayed for us Kachin for God’s blessings. God has showered you with blessings of great leaders in the past like Pastor John, and many others before him, and now Pastor Jason and tons of other gifted people and resources. Similarly, God has blessed us Kachin tremendously, and we are enjoying his blessing by reaching out to our own Kachin sub-tribe people groups like Law Waw and Zaiwa in China, who are animists still living in darkness. They are responsive to the gospel right now. Kachin Baptist Church in Burma is in the process of translating the Bible for them. They are about fifty thousands in total living inside China. We are also reaching out to Kachin in India, and over 300 Kachins have accepted Jesus. The Burmese people group is considered as one the 50 most unreached people groups in the world. They are about 30 million, and we Kachins are reaching out to them as well. There are over 2,000 unreached people groups in Burma and both of our neighboring countries China and India combined.

What does it say in verse 7? "God shall bless us: let all the ends of the earth fear him!" Also, in verse 6, it says, "the earth has yielded its increase; God our God shall bless us."

Many people in our part of the world are fearing created things like cows, trees, rivers, or suns. Many Burmese are Buddhists, fearing mere existence in this world. They fear that they will face suffering as long as they are reborn into the incarnation circle. They need to know Jesus, who can give eternal life with no suffering, and all joy and happiness with him in eternity. We all have that, so why don’t we go share them about Jesus?

As in verse 6, God has blessed you and us Kachins. These Israelites who sang this Psalm were already blessed and chosen people, and they were singing this Psalm to thank God for blessing them with all the crops and livestock during their harvest season. But they asked God for more on top of all the blessings so they could bless others. We who are here today are not famers like them anymore. You all don’t look like famers. So God has blessed us today in many different ways. Why don’t we ask him for more blessing and go bless other peoples who are still waiting to hear the message of salvation? The Bible is clear that there are many elect out there waiting for the gospel.

Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed.—Revelation 15:3-4

We can also see this in Revelation 5 and 7. The Bible tells us that people from every nation and tongue will come to know Jesus and worship him eventually. God can make this happen in his power by himself without us. So we should be thankful for the fact that he is calling us to bless many nations with him. Can you imagine those three or four hundred Kachins in China who will turn to Jesus and the impact they will have in China! We are more accessible to those peoples in our part of the world. We know their cultures better. So this time around, I would like to invite you to continue partnering with us in training our leaders, pastors, and missionaries. We will do the hard work or dirty work in going to them with the message. You, Dr. Ola Hanson, and many American missionaries have already done the hard work before. So this time, we would rather have you partner with us in the back line. We will go to the battle fields.

We do things for our loved ones. God is the best lover for us. Shouldn’t we do what he calls us to do? If we wait and delay ourselves from reaching out to many people out there living in sin and darkness, yet they are elects, that would be like we starving them or robbing their time from being able to praise God. Think of it this way: 100 years from now, Kachins and people here at Bethlehem would be enjoying God’s blessing like we are enjoying his blessing which has been extended to us by Dr. Ola Hanson and Bethlehemers of his time. You have seen in us Kachins that God’s word will not return empty.

Many of you may think that Matthew is asking to do missions work only in his part of the world. I do know that Bethlehem has many missionaries in several different countries, which is great. Jesus did not say that you don’t need to care about Jerusalem anymore. He said, in Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. This is your Jerusalem. Your neighborhood, your city, and America. It is good that you are reaching out to many people here at home and in many other countries. That’s what God is calling us to do. So my encouragement to you or my invitation to you is that we ask God for more blessing and go bless the nations out there more and more.

Let's ask God for more!