Today’s adventure was bittersweet throughout. While many were anticipating the long rest that awaits us in our homecoming, there remained a present sadness in leaving a place so filled with hospitable, loving people.
This morning we departed at 8AM to see the Sultan’s palace here in Yogyakarta. Apparently, of all the provinces in Indonesia, Yogyakarta is the only province left with an active sultan and royal family. We were privileged to tour the site, see the museums, and even walk through the sultan’s water palace; however, as the local missionaries had predicted, it was all somewhat underwhelming. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the cultural experience and afterwards had the opportunity to see some craftsman at work making Batik fabric, paintings, and dolls.
After lunch, we visited the university where Pastor Mike Quinlan (the Quinlan family has served as our host and guide here) serves as a professor. There we entered an unusually designed mosque and subsequently engaged in interfaith dialogue with several of Dr. Quinlan’s students. These students came from a range of different backgrounds. The majority of them were Sunni muslim, as expected of Indonesia, but also represented there were a local Chinese Christian, a Hindu, a local indigenous faith, and a Shiite muslim (they are the vast minority muslim group here in Indonesia). During this time, we rotated in small groups to ask questions of each other with conversation ranging from simple pleasantries to that of much weightier matters. This time was much shorter than we would like, but it was delightful to hear the excited chatter from our group as we departed, for everyone was debriefing what they learned and were able to share throughout the dialogue time.
Particularly memorable was when, with a small group a few muslim men, Zoe began to ask a few probing questions about heaven and hell, specifically: who goes to hell and why? One of the men began discussing how he believes it is necessary to make one’s self good to enter heaven and escape hell. But that is not the good news of Jesus Christ. In response, I felt led to share a crucial passage from Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Romans 6:23 was likewise relevant: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
With these holy scriptures I explained that, as Christians, we are made good not by self exertion, but by the riches of His grace that he lavished on us in Christ Jesus, who died and rose that we might receive his righteousness, even as He received and satisfied the wrath of the Father on our behalf.
In the evening we visited yet one last church for a time of joined worship and fellowship. This constituted our final rehearsal and performance of our prepared music. As we sang some of these songs of praise one last time, I believe many of us were singing them with greater heartfelt devotion and sincerity than when we began on this trip. I believe that in setting out to strengthen and encourage our fellow believers in Indonesia, we have received the greater share of help and encouragement. This is because we have witnessed the great joy of Christ among Christians here and the devotion with which the gospel is being advanced (especially in Jakarta at UPH and affiliate schools). As a result, we have been reminded with greater and greater force that we must and shall love Jesus forever and ever, even through any and all sufferings we face.
Pray for our travels as we begin the long journey home. Likewise, pray for our spirits to be filled with even greater unity and love for each other in the midst of our exhaustion. Pray for our souls, that we would be entirely mindful of the love of Christ at all times, ever mindful of His calling on our lives in how we might serve Him, both now and in the future. Pray for all those that we have interacted with throughout our travels, that the regenerate would not only be strengthened, but that the “stone in the shoe” of the gospel message would lead many unregenerate Indonesians to repent and believe in Jesus for their salvation.
written by David Folks