1. The Scandal of Particularity
Introduction
There are many people who wonder what I do day to day. “He’s paid by us, and he goes
to school, but what exactly is it he does,” you might have asked one another. That is OK.
When I was working for the church in Birmingham, we got that question so much that we
often joked as shooting a mock video expose of our daily lives of the staff of the
Inverness Vineyard. The plan was to have one of our members who worked for a local
TV news team narrate the video and go from office to office where he might “catch in the
act” the senior pastor treating his interns (myself and another guy) like marine recruits,
the Outreach Pastor cornering our secretary in the break room where he rambled on and
on, and the Worship Pastor dancing to the Backstreet Boys (this several years ago).
I can assure you that my life is not so exciting and would not make a good expose. It
mostly involves sitting around the library reading dusty old books. As I have mentioned
before I love reading the stories of others, attempting to place each of stories in context,
and trying to make judgments on the why’s, what for’s, and so what’s of these stories.
For me there is a great link between my work doing this and my work in the various
churches I have served. As a leader in the church I feel that I am in the story-telling
business, and I am also in the what, why, and what for business. It is a tremendous
privilege and a tremendous burden.
Recently I had the great privilege of sitting down and reviewing a box of old clippings,
papers, and stuff none to the Billy Graham Archives at Wheaton as Collection 449, Box

2. 1. In this box of material lies a very interesting and sad story of John and Betty Stam,
missionaries to China from 1933-1934. Their time in the field was short, but their impact
has been great. In the short time that we have this morning I would like to take some time
to tell their story.
John and Betty Stam were simple people from simple families. John was born and raised
in New Jersey to parents who ran a mission there, and Betty was born in Michigan, yet
raised in China as her parents were missionaries. Both committed their lives to Christ in
their teens and found themselves at Moody Bible Institute (just 20 some miles from our
building) in the early 1930s. In 1934 they moved themselves and their year-old daughter
to Tsingteh in China to run the China Inland Mission there. One reporter described their
mission as such, “It was a challenge. It was a grave risk. But out there on the fringe of
danger were abandoned mission stations. And in those districts were humble Chinese in
very special peril because they were Christian.”1
John was aware of the danger that awaited him and his family. Addressing his graduation
class he had opened by stating that “this morning our hearts beat a bit more quickly as we
realize that this particular section of what has so often been called our ‘institute family’
will never meet again as we do today until we meet at the feet of our blessed Lord.”2
He
would go on to say, “We may find ourselves at the place where we shall have to drink the
bitter waters of March, but our Captain’s presence can sweeten even bitter water.”3
1
Untitled News Release. Folder 1. Box 1, Collection 449, Records of John and Betty Stam. Archives of the
Billy Gram Center, Wheaton, Illinois.
2
John Stam. “Go Forward.” Graduation Speech at Moody Bible Institute (21 April 1932). Folder 11. Box
1, Collection 449, Records of John and Betty Stam. Archives of the Billy Gram Center, Wheaton, Illinois.
3
Ibid.

3. Whether he was aware of just what bitter water he would face, we cannot say. Yet on
December 6, 1934 those bitter waters would carry a band of Communist insurgents into
and through the town of Tsingteh. These bandits were on the run having been routed by
the forces of Chiang Kai-shek further to the South. Their flight north took them to
Tsingteh. Rumors filled the town and these bandits approached. Buoyed by hopes that the
local magistrate would keep good to his word of protection, as well as confidence in their
Saviour, the little family stayed in the comfort of their modest home. Yet soon it became
obvious that the approaching flood could overcome the tiny mission, and so the couple
began to prepare to leave for safer ground. But as the magistrate and his small band of
soldiers fled in disguise, the bandits arrived inside the city sooner than expected.
Before anyone could pause to collect anything bandits were inside the outer section of the
mission and pounding on the door. Ever the gracious man, John said to his cook that he
would open the door and welcome them. However his guests would not be so gracious. In
disgust at the feebleness of the wealth amassed by these Americans, the bandits took the
Stams hostage and took them on a forced march to a stronghold in Miaosheo. Witnesses
of this march report talking to John and asking this kind American brother where they
were being taken. John is said to have remarked, “I don’t know where they are going…
but we are going to heaven.”
On December 8th
John and Betty Stam were marched through the streets of Miaosheo,
and were killed in gruesome fashion as a show of force by these guerillas. The bitter
waters had engulfed the lives of these two. It is as I said a sad story. It is a story of couple
who in the end gave up everything to serve the God they loved.

4. This may seem an odd way to start a message. It may seem an odd way to live a life. But
John and Betty were not the first to pack up all and follow the prompting of God. History
is filled with stories of those people have been called and have gone to the far ends of the
world to follow God. Listen to the writer of Hebrews as he describes one such man:
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance,
obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his
home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did
Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking
forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith
even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she
considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as
good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as
the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the
things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that
they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they
are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had
left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better
country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he
has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had
embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had
said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned
that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac
back from death.” 4
Abraham: An Unusual Man
Like the Stams, Abram was a man living contently in the land of his birth. He was
surrounded by friends and family. He was starting out with his wife Sarai, and the future
looked promisingly good. Then Abram developed a problem, well, the God of the
universe picked him, singled him out really, to enter into a new and radically different
type of relationship. God wanted to make a covenant with him. God wanted him. For
4
Hebrews 11:8-18. TNIV.

5. those of us raised in the world of evangelicalism with our ease in talking about the
importance of having a “personal relationship” with God this may not seem odd; yet it
really is, if you stop to think about it. And it was not something that was done then, and
really admit it, it can sound just as weird today. TV, movies, and books are filled with
just such odd characters who believe that God is speaking to them, and often in these
media we find out that it is just the “brain tumor” talking. So yes Abram had a problem.
God was speaking, but would he choose to listen? Would he choose to pack up
everything and follow this thing that seemed to be God?
Our scripture tells us the answer. Yes by faith Abram left home, and family;
safety and security to go somewhere, wherever the voice of God led him. In this act of
faith and many others to follow, Abram would become Abraham, and the promises of
God to him, and Sarah his wife would be fulfilled, “I will bless her and will surely give
you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of
peoples will come from her."5
Abraham and his wife Sarah are considered the Parents of
the three grand religions of our day: Judaism, Islam, and of course our own Christianity.
One man, the “father” of 3 children. God’s promises come true.
The Scandal of the Christian Death
Such an unusual man: a man much revered and loved; yet there is some bit of scandal to
be found in Abraham’s inheritance. The scandal is in the telling of Abraham’s story.
There is the scandal of particularity. What I mean is this, God chose one man with whom
to enter into relationship. One man amongst how many, thousands, millons, billons. To
5
Genesis 17:16. TNIV.

6. rip off a quote from the great Rick Blaine, “of all the people in all the world, God chose
to come to one man.” There is scandal here. How the unchosen of centuries past and
present howl in disgust. God chose one man, what utter nonsense, what utter rubbish.
One could easily react in the native tongue of our resident Scotsman, “bollucks.” In the
turmoil of emotions challenging this fact you hear the cry of a child… “this is so unfair.”
God can’t act that way, can He? Can He really chose to interact with, to save just one
man out of the many?
It is here that we find the scandal of the Christian Death. This scandal is best
expressed by the writer Paul who said:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this
age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God
the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness
of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for
wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to
Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of
God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”6
Our message is utter rubbish. Paul said it himself. He called it foolishness. God has
chosen to align himself to a people. God has chosen to call a particular people for a
particular purpose at particular times in particular ways. How can you say that? Is God
not bigger than all this particularity? Is not God larger than life, are not his ways higher,
and more loftier than anything we can imagine? To these honest questions, I say Yes,
Yes, and Yes. Thank God Yes.
6
1 Cor. 1:18-25. TNIV.

7. And yet the struggle remains. How can this be? Is it not rude and crude and
unacceptable to say these things? Can one really with straight face, and all proper
modesty and all necessary humility really repeat the words of that son of Abraham who
also happened to be the very Son of God that He is “the way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through”7
him and him alone. In the words of Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, the way of the Christian is the way of the cross. The message of the gospel is
come and die. To a world comfortable with life, and ballooned up with a false sense of
security about their greatness, this call to death is a scandal of the first order. They are the
very words that cause a watching world to recoil in horror. They are the very words that
cause the wise to mock, and the philosopher to scorn. “You can’t say that,” says a
watching world.
The Scandal of the Christian Life.
Yet in these words, in these stories, they is something to be said which is even more
scandalous. Even more delicious. Even more amazing. It is these stories which I shall
refer to as the scandal of the Christian Life. Listen to the words of this son of Abraham
and Son of God which follow and flow from the scandalous pronouncement made mere
seconds ago,
“ ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to
you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is
doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or
at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, all who
have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things
than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name,
7
John 14:6. TNIV.

8. so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name,
and I will do it.’ ”8
For those who willing to believe the scandalous nature of Christ’s first proclamation are
invited to an ever deepening and far greater scandal. The scandal is this. As a follower of
Christ we have before us a record of the works of Christ in history. They sit in our Holy
Scriptures. We read them in our gatherings, and the “best” of us read them in their daily
lives. We read, we discuss, we debate, we exegete, we deconstruct. The watching world
finds great horror and dismay in these words which we read, as well as, by the strange
stories we tell. Yet it is at this point that we have an offer to enter into an even greater
scandal, a scandal that divides even those who love and revere these words. The scandal
has been described by our founding father in the Vineyard thusly, “I read the scriptures
and I do what I see Christ doing.”
“Wait,” cries the watching Church, “You can’t do that.” You can’t pray for the
sick and see them healed. You can’t speak to the corpse and raise the dead. You can’t run
into the Temple with a switch and chase from it the moneylenders. “Stop trying to lead
us,” the Church shouts at its supposed leaders. “Stop trying to make me look bad by
succeeding,” the Church shouts at its supposed followers. The yelling is fierce. The
scandal is strong. You will do more. You will see more. You will succeed beyond your
widest imagination. The Presbyterian is called to go beyond their intellectual rigormortis
to a living faith. The Baptist is called to go beyond the altar call to a living faith. The
Anglican is called go beyond their liturgy to a living faith. The Charismatic is called to
go beyond their emotions to a living faith. These are words of scandal. These are words
8
John 14:10-13. TNIV.

9. that invite mockery and heap shame from the pews and pulpits. “You can’t do that,” says
a watching Church.
Abraham: Dead Man Walking
In the passage in which we began, there is a curious verse. It says, “And so from this one
man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as
countless as the sand on the seashore.”9
Abraham, a man as good as dead. It is a phrase
that strikes me as strange. Yet it illuminates the passage all the more. As I read this
passage I am struck with single thought, “has the author of this passage not read Genesis.
Has he forgotten their history? Is the desire to show Christianity as the fulfillment of the
Jewish faith blinded her to true story?” Abraham may have been great, but Abram is
another story. When God tells him to inhabit the land of Palestine, he flees to Egypt.
When God tells him that his wife will bear child, Abram argues, and Sarai laughs. And
when this blessed event does not happen immediately, the two decide to take matters into
their own hands, and help God out a little. With the exception of the one event mentioned
by the author, as Abram and even as Abraham, he rarely gets it right the first time.
Yet this one verse tells me that the author of this moving tribute to the man Abraham, is
not unaware of the man Abram was. John Martin and many of the youth may remember
the conference we attended last year. Maybe they will even remember the words of the
Saturday morning service. In that service our speaker talked about a life that occurs in 2
stages. The first he referred to as the Heroic Journey. Here the believer is the ascent.
They are determined to live a life characterized by words we used at UT, “Go big or go
9
Hebrews 11:12. TNIV.

10. home.” This is the way of the “Youthful Idealist.” Think Indiana Jones. There are big
dreams and big accomplishments. All of it seems there for the taking.
But life is not so big. Most of us do not change the world. Most of us do not even
change our cities, our neighborhoods, or our streets. Some may wonder if they have even
impacted their own home. Here one meets a new phase of life known as the Great
Defeat. In this defeat and realization of life’s true realities, one can react in a variety of
ways. One can refuse to admit defeat. To refuse to take stock of this reality is to become
an “Old Fool” who is doomed to repeatedly make the same mistakes, and continually
suffer the consequences. Think Homer Simpson. Or one can dwell on this defeat
replaying all of life’s hurts and cuts. To refuse to move past the hurt is to become an
“Embittered Rascal” doomed to trip over themselves and their hurts the rest of their life.
Think Anakin Skywalker. Or one can embrace defeat, and carry it to one’s own private
Golgatha. One can learn to die to oneself, to pick up their cross, and follow him. This is
the way of the Initiated Leader. Listen to the words of Christ:
" ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and
follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life
for me will find it. What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your
soul? Or what can you give in exchange for your soul? For the Son of Man is going to
come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward everyone according to
what they have done.’ ”10
By embracing descent, by becoming lesser, so that He might become greater, we become
the leaders of a new race of people. By dying to ourselves, we are initiated into the
Kingdom.
Conclusion:
10
Matthew 10:24-27. TNIV.

11. In this way, these stories we read and tell are not stories without hope. They are not
without joy. One of the friends of the Stams was a Chinese man known to all as Pastor
Lo. He was in the area when the guerillas came. He had been captured but released. He
had fled to hills with his family, but came to the town in search of his friends. He found
the bodies of the Stams and was able to rescue the couple’s child (who had been spared
on the request of one of people witnessing the act). He prepared the bodies for burial, and
standing over the bodies of his friends he shared the gospel with the gathered
townspeople.11
Even in death the Gospel we preach can be heard.
If John were here today I think that he would say something in line with a journal entry
he recorded on August 13th
1932: “[I] do praise God for lessons learned here… lessons of
hopelessness and uselessness of the life outside of Christ and of the blessedness of His
help and comfort in suffering, lessons of my own weakness and His great strength.”12
These words while written as John prepared leave America for China, echo nevertheless
throughout the story of his life. They should also echo through the lives of those of us
gathered here today. They are many that would like to demean and discourage the work
of people like John and Betty Stam. They would see it as weak and pointless. A sacrifice
for nothing. Yet we in this body ought to know better. We ought to know that it is a Big
God whom we serve. The founding father of our association of churches was fond of
saying that he “was just a quarter in the pocket of God, and God could spend him anyway
he chose.” This is great quote, but perhaps we often understand it wrongly. We take on
meekness and humility talking about the weakness of our offering. Never understanding
11
Robert Brown. “Faithful Unto Death.” The Alliance Weekly. 2 March 1935. Folder 1. Box 1, Collection
449, Records of John and Betty Stam. Archives of the Billy Gram Center, Wheaton, Illinois.
12
Diary of John Stam, 13 August 1932. Folder 10. Box 1, Collection 449, Records of John and Betty Stam.
Archives of the Billy Gram Center, Wheaton, Illinois.

12. that if the God of the universe deems us a valid sacrifice then we must never be seen as
pointless.
We as a people are called to be a people of scandal. Let us go back to the passage:
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the
things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that
they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they
are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had
left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better
country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he
has prepared a city for them.”13
In a world populated by Young Idealists, Old Fools, and Embittered Rascals, there is
scandal when one should chose to embrace our hurts and fears. There is scandal when we
choose to embrace defeat and even death. But in our descent we go as those who by faith
believe the promise of the scriptures which state that:
“ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know
that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has
mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he
lives to God.” 14
The scriptures call out to us, and both the world and church are scandalized by our faith.
Yet in this very real scandal lies the power of our faith: the power to become Intiated
Leaders in a new covenant, inheritors of a great wealth, members of a new country. Let
Abram we are called to arise and leave our countries, our homes, our lives at the altar of
faith.
13
Hebrews 11:13-16. TNIV.
14
Romans 6: 8-10. TNIV.