Van Gogh - a rejected Christian missionary

One of my favorite missionary teams are Tim Scott and Will Decker from Travel the Road.

Travel the Road is an American reality television series that documents the lives of these two young missionaries through more than 25 different countries since 1998. They see it as a
two-fold ministry. Their mission statement says: "First, we actively preach the message of Christ Jesus to remote people groups who have never heard the gospel, or are currently cutoff from active mission work. Second, we document our expeditions and present them in a weekly television series to motivate the church to be active in missions."

Decker and Scott undertake expeditions into the most remote areas of the world to bring the gospel. From the deserts of Ethiopia to the island villages of Papua New Guinea they travel from country to country with one backpack, a change of clothes, and the Christian Gospel. The following is from their monthly email newsletter:

This month, we would like to share an interesting story we recently learned on a stopover in Amsterdam as we transited to our missions in Europe and the Middle East.  We found this story in the twisting canals of Amsterdam at the Van Gogh Museum

It is the story of Vincent Van Gogh himself and gifts God had placed inside of him.  These gifts, sadly, were unseen to others and to Vincent himself during his lifetime, and it is a story that could have been different.

Most people know Van Gogh’s work at first glance, The Starry Night, Irises, Wheatfield with Crows, The Potato Eaters, etc... But what most people do not know is that Vincent, from a young age, desired to be a Christian missionary.

Vincent Van Gogh studied at seminary and formed a deep zeal to preach the Gospel.  In 1879, Van Gogh took a missionary post to minister to a miners community in Belgium.  He lived like those he preached to, sleeping on straw in a small hut at the back of the baker's house where he was staying.

Van Gogh’s fellow church clergy did not know what to make of his unorthodox methods of ministry and accused Vincent of undermining the church and dignity of a being a preacher.  Van Gogh didn’t help matters by displaying erratic behavior and overzealousness at times, but it was clear he was passionate for the preaching of the gospel.  But after a few years, he submitted to failure and gave up his missionary post.

It wasn’t until the age of 27 that he began to paint as a profession, but he viewed it as a new ministry rather than a job:  Van Gogh writes, “To try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads to God; one man wrote or told it in a book; another, in a picture . . .”

But Van Gogh would not be received by the artistic community either, as they rejected his style and unorthodox ways. Vincent, for the most part, self taught himself the ways of his art and hated the conventional format. He was a rogue and a reject, first in the clergy and now in the art world.  He was plagued with self doubt and emotional swings, and this is where his weakness lay.

Only his brother, Theo, encouraged him and saw the God-given talents in Vincent.  This is what kept Van Gogh going, and for 10-years, he painted all the masterpieces we come to know today.

But Van Gogh never recovered from his earlier failure as a missionary, and like many in his time, he wrongly felt that suffering and carrying one’s own burden was better than casting it upon God.  Vincent’s passion to serve God was deep, but it was snuffed out and he bottled up that failure and carried it inside of him like a disease.

Van Gogh was in need of forming and molding of his ministerial ways, not a casting out.  He resented the church for this and instead, Vincent explored the ideas of displaying God in nature with the intention of invoking the Gospel through inspiration of art.

His whole life, Vincent was never accepted and constantly rejected.  Near the end of his days, Vincent spent time in an asylum and there he painted the famous The Starry Night.

At the age of 37, Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide.  A tormented man who was well acquainted with rejection.  In Vincent Van Gogh’s lifetime, he only sold one painting.  It wasn’t until years after his death that his work was fully appreciated.  Now, today, his paintings are some of the most valuable in the world, and he is celebrated as a master artist.

Vincent Van Gogh’s story is a sad one.  God had placed talent inside of him and throughout his life it was suffocated, by others and by Van Gogh’s own self doubts.  Who knows what other great masterpieces Van Gogh could have created with encouragement, guidance, and knowing that pleasing God was the only thing that mattered.  If only Vincent would have believed the Word, Romans 8:31 - “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

In each of us, God has placed talents and gifts.  He has created all of us for a purpose.  God is the ultimate artist, and we are made in His image.  Amazing, when you think about it!  If you are in a place where you are wondering what is next in life and what God has placed you on the earth for, take courage! You are bound for great things!  Give God glory, and enjoy the beauty of life in Him.  Be passionate, and give the Lord your cares and worries.  1 Peter 5:7 “...Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.”

Righteous, Merciful & Pure

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5:6-8

The next three Beatitudes speak of righteousness, mercy and purity. What was Jesus trying to encourage in each of us?

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." When you hunger and thirst for something, you greatly desire it. You think about it all the time. Nothing else will satisfy.

Righteousness can be defined as justice and conformance to established standards. Justice means doing the right thing; and conformance to established standards (in the Bible) refers to following the ways of God.

We see Christians hungering for many things: power, authority, success, comfort, happiness - but how many hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Jesus was encouraging his followers to continually, greatly desire to do the right thing and to seek after justice. Righteousness and justice for ourselves but also for others. When we do this, we will be satisfied. And if we hunger and thirst for righteousness, the following Beatitude will begin to show in our lives.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."But what is mercy?

Mercy is a loving attitude towards those who suffer distress. It's helping others just because it's the right thing to do, with no hope of them helping us in return. It's what Jesus spoke of when He said to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit those in prison and those who are sick. He promised that whatever "you did to the least of my brethren, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:31-46). It's being the hands and feet of Jesus to a weary, sick and hurting world.

"They will know we are Christians by our love." One of the best ways to show love toward others is to show them mercy. And, when we show mercy to others, Jesus promises that our Heavenly Father will show mercy to us.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

The Message translates this verse as: "Your blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world." 

Moses (Exodus 33:20), John (1:18), and Paul (1Timothy 6:16) all say that no one can see God here on earth! But Jesus says the pure of heart shall see God! They shall enjoy greater intimacy with God than they could have imagined.

To be pure of heart means to be free of all selfish intentions and self-seeking desires. What a beautiful goal! How many times have any of us performed an act perfectly free of any personal gain? Such an act is pure love. An act of pure and selfless giving brings happiness to all.

Thus, Jesus' "be-attitudes," the attitudes we should have as Christians, build on themselves. First we saw that we needed to be humble, mournful over our sins and gentle. As we do that, we will begin to greatly desire righteousness, will show mercy toward others and will begin to become pure of heart. When this happens, we can enjoy greater intimacy with God and truly see Him in the world around us.

Humble, Mournful & Gentle

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Matthew 5:3-5

Thus begins Jesus' famous words know as The Beatitudes. The Latin word for "blessed" is beatus, from which we get the word beatitude. They are simply stated, but are profound in meaning. They guide. They point. They teach. They show us the values that Christ cares about.

I'd like to go through each one and try to understand what Jesus meant by what He said.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." KJV & NIV
"Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!" Amplified Bible
"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule. " The Message

"Poor in spirit" means to be humble, to think less about ourself and more about God and others. Humility is the realization that all our gifts and blessings come from the grace of God. To have poverty of spirit means to be completely empty and open to the Word of God, to be totally dependent on God. When we are an empty cup and devoid of pride, we are humble. Humility brings an openness and an inner peace, allowing one to do the will of God.

It is pride, the opposite of humility, that brings misery. For pride brings anger and the seeking of revenge, especially when one is offended. If every man were humble and poor in spirit, there would be no war and that would be the Kingdom of Heaven.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." NIV & KJV
"Blessed and enviably happy [with a happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!" Amplified Bible

The mourning that is spoken of here is not so much the mourning over someone who dies but over our sinful nature. If we are humble and appreciate that all of our gifts and blessings come from God, we grow in love and gratitude for Jesus Christ our Savior. But this can only produce mourning and regret over our own sins and the sins of this world, for we have hurt the one who has been so good to us. One also mourns for the suffering of others.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote in James 4:8-10: "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." Here you see the same idea...a mourning over our sin and the sins of others and a desire to be humble.

St. Gregory describes another reason to mourn: the more one ascends in meditation of Divine Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, and then realizes the poverty of human nature, man can only be left in sorrow. When one contemplates that we were made in the image and likeness of God and lived in Paradise, the Garden of Eden, and compare that to our present state after the Fall, one can only mourn our present condition. But the sentence continues that they shall be comforted, by the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and hopefully one day in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mourning in this context is called a blessing, because mourning our fallen nature creates in us a desire to improve ourselves and to do what is right!

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." NIV and KJV
"Blessed (happy, blithesome, joyous, spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!" Amplified Bible
"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought." The Message

"Meek" does not mean weak as many people wrongly understand it. Meek can be translated as "power under control with humility and gentleness." Jesus was anything but weak, yet He is known as being meek. The same Greek word used for meek is also translated "gentle." This word is used to describe Jesus when He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" Matthew 21:5

Jesus describes Himself this way when He said: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:29

Peter also uses this term to describe how godly women should be: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." 1 Peter 3:3-4

St. Gregory of Nyssa taught that the Beatitudes build one upon another. A humble person becomes meek, or becomes gentle and kind, and exhibits a docility of spirit, even in the face of adversity and hardship. A person that is meek is one that exhibits self-control.

St. Augustine advises us to be meek in the face of the Lord, and not resist but be obedient to him. Obedience and submission to the will of God are certainly not popular these days, but they will bring one peace in this world and in the next.

Thus, in the first three Beatitudes, Jesus is encouraging us, His disciples to be
1) Humble
2) Mournful over our sins and the sins of the world
3) Gentle with self-control

The Sermon on the Mount

Seeing the crowds He went up on the mountain, and when He sat down His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them saying: 
Matthew 5:1-2


  The Bible, God's Word to us His followers, has 2,035 pages (depending on your translation). That's a lot to read, study and put into practice. It's especially overwhelming when you think about teaching it to your children.
     While EVERY word of the Bible was written because God thought it was important, there are three chapters that stand out. If each disciple of Christ were to learn these three chapters, even commit them to memory, we would know how to live. If we were to put these three chapters into practice in our daily lives the world would be turned upside down!
     It has been said if you took all the good advice for how to live ever uttered by any philosopher or psychiatrist or counselor, took out the foolishness and boiled it all down to the real essentials, you would be left with a poor imitation of this great message by Jesus.
     This message is found in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 and also in Luke 6:17-49. It's popularly called the Sermon on the Mount.
     Jesus had just chosen His disciples (Matt. 4:8-22 & Luke 6:12-16). He is surrounded by crowds of people all desiring to be near Him in the hope that He will heal them. Now, He goes up on a mountainside, sits down, calls His disciples to Him and begins to teach them what it looks like to live out the Kingdom of God on earth.
     His teaching was hard, it's nothing like what the people expected. When they began to look to Jesus as the Messiah, they were expecting to hear about the political or material blessings He planned to bring them, to hear about how He would overthrow Rome and re-establish the kingdom of Israel on earth. But they didn't expect to hear that you are blessed when you are poor, mourning, meek, hungry, thirsty, merciful, pure, peacemakers and persecuted. They didn't expect to hear about being salt and light, the dangers of anger, worry and judging others, loving your enemies, prayer, fasting, living for Heaven and seeking God.
     His teaching is still hard today. But it is the heart of what it means to be His disciple, His follower. And since it is His heart, it should be our heart as well. One way to do that is to commit it to memory. Three chapters may seem like a lot to memorize but what about three verses, once a week, for a whole year? That's what Ann Voskamp encourages her readers to do and she has made it easy with a printable list of the scripture verses, three for every week. You can find a link to this at Memorize the Mount
     My children and I have begun this challenge. We are on week three. As we began to memorize the Sermon on the Mount, I realized that I also needed to teach them its significance. That's where this blog comes in.
     My prayer is that for the next year I will be able to share with you the insight the Lord, and other writers, have given me on each portion of the Sermon on the Mount, in a weekly blog entry. I encourage you to Memorize the Mount, ponder its message, commit to obey what it teaches and marvel at God's promise that He will help us obey it as we place our trust in Him.