Adoniram Judson

“By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.” —Psalm 65:5

This month I would like to introduce you to the life and ministry of Adoniram Judson, the first foreign missionary sent from the American colonies to a foreign land. Adoniram was born in Massachusetts, August 1789. He was the son of a strict, old-line congregationalist minister. Judson Sr. was more than once dismissed from his ministerial role for disagreement with the congregation. He was a stern man, but an earnest Christian. Growing up Adoniram feared his father but was also spurred on by him. Adoniram was a brilliant student from early in his career, always meticulous and well spoken. He particularly excelled at language and math. He eventually went on to be valedictorian of his class at Rhode Island College.
             
However, at college Judson was deeply influenced by Deism (a perspective that God is not personal but removed from the workings of daily life – ultimately a non-Christian perspective on God) through a fellow student named Jacob Eames. Through the influence of Eames, Judson decided to forsake his father’s desire that he enter ministry, and eventually left the Christian faith all together. Leaving his hometown to pursue the life of a rebellious son in the city broke the heart of his parents. Judson joined a vagabond acting troop and ran the opposite direction of everything he had ever been taught. He and his friends would run up hotel and bar tabs, then skip town leaving debts behind as they went.
             
On one occasion he was sleeping at an inn with thin walls and could hear the occupant of the next room wheezing and gasping all night. Strangely his thoughts wandered to the soul of the man, as to whether this man was prepared to die. From there he began to consider whether he himself was prepared to die? In his thinking, Judson could not escape the knowledge that his father was certainly prepared to die. He knew his father would welcome death someday as an entrance into the eternal kingdom of God.
             
Upon waking the next morning all these thoughts began shifting to the back of his mind as he went downstairs and prepared to skip out of the inn. However, before he left, he inquired of the inn keeper about the health of the man in the room next door. The inn keeper informed Judson that the young man had died late in the night. Judson asked if he knew the man’s name. His name was Jacob Eames! The very same college friend of Judson’s, who Judson knew openly rejected the salvation of Jesus and most certainly was not prepared to die. This news rocked Judson. He knew that if there was a hell this friend was now there. This event changed the course of his entire life, brought him back to earnest Christian faith, and ultimately to give his whole life in an effort to reach lost souls in Burma (modern Myanmar).
             
In quick succession Judson was called by God to reach the people of the Empire of Burma. At the time it was known as The Golden Empire because the king of that kingdom referred to himself as the Golden One. To support his efforts and calling a missionary board of support was formed, he was commissioned by the churches, and sent as a congregational missionary. Before his sending he proposed marriage to a young woman named Nancy. What a courageous and godly woman she was! Below is a short portion of the letter written to her father where Judson asks for her hand in marriage, “I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India and to every kind of disease …” Nancy did accept this grim proposal and became a fellow missionary to the Burmese, never again returning to the US.
             
Their ministry is absolutely fascinating, and I encourage you to read about it in full. On the way to Burma, Adoniram became convinced from scripture that infant baptism was not biblical. Once in India, Nancy became convinced of the same and they were both baptized by immersion as believers. This theological change caused the Congregational mission board to revoke their support for Adoniram and Nancy, marooning them in India. They were eventually supported by Baptist mission efforts and continued to Burma.

Upon reaching Burma, their base of operations was mostly out of the port city of Rangoon. But similar to Hudson Taylor, after years of operating out of the port they felt the necessity to enter the interior of the country. During their many years of ministry they were intensely persecuted, jailed (once being hung by his feet for an extended period of time), endured all manner of sickness, but also accomplished so much. They were eventually admitted to the “golden feet” of the king and enjoyed widespread influence in the interior capital city. They eventually saw countless people come to salvation and be baptized. Adoniram translated the large portions of Scripture into the very foreign language of Burmese (picture above) and completed much work on a comprehensive English / Burmese language dictionary.
             
Adoniram died in 1850 still at his missionary work. He believed in the “Devoted Life.” Though he did return once to America after Nancy’s death, he returned to Burma and continued in his calling until his own death. As with all missionaries and ministers, Adoniram was not a perfect person, but he was courageous, authentically devout, brilliant, and faithful to the end. Reading about he and Nancy will inspire and humble you. I encourage you to get a biography and learn more about their devoted Christian lives!
 
Recommended Reading: “To The Golden Shore” by Courtney Anderson
 
Let us be faithful to do our part to take the gospel to all nations,
Pastor Vic

Fundamentals of Healthy Christian Marriage: Service
 

In humility consider the interests of your spouse first.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” —Philippians 2:3-4

Last month, I wrote to you about love as the first fundamental of a healthy Christian marriage. The second fundamental is service. Paul commands that we follow in the example of Christ by serving. This attitude of service should characterize our lives toward all people, but especially toward our spouse. Sadly familiarity does often breed contempt, but the first person we should serve should be that person we love the most – our spouse. 

“Do nothing from selfishness…” The “nothing” part of this verse should be sobering and jump out to us. There is no room for selfishness in Christian marriage. There is no “me” time. There is no, “I deserve this and am going to do this / buy this / go here no matter what my spouse thinks or needs.” The Christian life in general, and Christian marriage in particular, is about dying to your selfishness. There is no more me, there is only us. Two have become one in marriage. Because of the redeeming work of Jesus, each spouse is laboring to out-serve the other. Nothing is done from selfishness that would harm, offend, or take from the other spouse. Does selfishness characterize your marriage? Do you act in ways that are all about you, and leave your spouse to pick up the pieces?

“Do nothing from … conceit …” In the union of Christian marriage neither spouse should act in a way that is proud or conceited. Vanity exalts the individual. Pride is self-focused. Nothing in Christian marriage should be related to individual vanity because the pride of one spouse is always at the expense of the other. One is raised up and the other left behind. It appears to the watching world that the one spouse accomplished what they did all by themselves, when any married couple knows that the accomplishments come as a team. The married couple is ‘yoked’ together. They pull together to accomplish the work of the day and meet the needs of life. For one spouse to take the credit of work done by both is an act of pride and leads to resentment and division. Has pride entered into your marriage where you no longer openly praise and appreciate your spouses’ contributions to the family? If so, then pride has corrupted your heart.

“In humility count others more significant than yourselves…” As an everyday fundamental of Christian marriage we count our spouse as more significant than ourselves. Wow! Really? Yes. The servant heart comes from actively putting yourself in the second place. Your spouse gets the first place – everyday. Humble servant-hearted love looks for ways to meet the needs of their spouse through service. The mind of the loving spouse keeps drifting back to, “What can I do for you?” not “What can you do for me?” These are unconditional acts of loving service, not transactional. Christian love is NOT, “I’ll do this for you, if you do this for me.” Christian service walks in the way of Jesus, “I’ll do this for you, even if you do nothing for me in return.” Then it goes even further, “I’ll serve you in this way because I love you, even if you return this act of humble service with anger and ungratefulness.” This is the Christ-like service of Christian marriage.

To accomplish this you must observe your spouse. It’s still selfishness to do something for your spouse you wanted to do for them. You enter into service when you do for them something they want you to do for them. This shows you are listening and observant. Be a student of your spouse. See their needs and hear their desires, then work with a heart of love to count them more significant than yourself with the limited resources of each day. 

You may be thinking that this is an impossibly high standard, and you would be right! The world fails at each of the fundamentals of marriage because they do not have the abiding work of the Holy Spirit to work out the sanctification necessary to make progress in marriage. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, we will be selfish people, and selfishness kills marriage. The number one phrase I hear in marriage counseling of troubled marriages headed toward divorce is, “This person doesn’t meet my needs.” This is fundamentally a selfish statement. Couples that are devoted to serving each other and counting the needs of the other as more important than their own, don’t make statements like this. 

Christian marriage can thrive because each spouse goes to Jesus – the fount of living water that will never run dry – to meet the needs of their soul. From being with Jesus, the soul is full and able then to pour into others by acts of service. When we run dry, we go back and abide near Jesus to be strengthened for another day. When you go to your spouse for what only Jesus can provide the equation will not work out. 

For more on the mandate of service from Jesus read and consider the account of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet in John 13. Ask yourself, “Does the heart of Jesus in this passage describe how I treat my spouse?” If not, realize that you are not above Jesus. Return to the fundamentals of service and demonstrate to your spouse a Christ-like heart.

Holy Spirit give us a servant’s heart toward those most dear to us,
Pastor Vic