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Good morning. My name is David Oginde, and I want to speak to you on a message I have entitled the danger of living in dichotomy.
The dictionary defines dichotomy as the classification of ideas or things into two opposed parts or subclasses. It is placing things into two groups that are opposite and opposed to one another, or contrary to one another.
I want to direct your attention to a text of scripture in the book of Joshua, chapter 5, verse 13. The Bible tells us:
When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and asked him, "Are you for us or are you for our enemies?"
Joshua was getting ready to attack the city of Jericho. Being a warrior, he was keen to ensure that the attack was not foiled by any internal or external circumstances. In Joshua's mind, anybody he came across whom he did not know fell into one of two categories: either for them or against them. Being in a state of war, his mind was processing in only two categories, only two dimensions.
His worldview was reduced to a dichotomy—a world of for us and a world of against us. Whoever he met was either on their side or on the other side.
In the world of dichotomy, life is two-dimensional. It is a duality. There is either love or hate, black or white, right or wrong, alive or dead, male or female, rich or poor, God or Satan. This is a flat, narrow-minded approach to life.
Think of how technology has evolved. We once had televisions that were black and white. Then we moved to color TV where you could see pictures in color—but those pictures were still two-dimensional, still flat. Now we have HD, which is three-dimensional. You see things as they actually are.
Dichotomy looks at things in that flat, two-dimensional way.
When applied to human beings, dichotomy places our lives in two dimensions: body and soul. The body is all about me and myself. The soul is about the world and society with which I relate. Life is therefore lived in the tension between pursuing my personal interests and desires—what I want—versus living and relating with my world—what the people expect of me.
Sadly, the dichotomous mindset seems to rule our lives on a day-to-day basis. We look at things from a two-dimensional perspective. Even in spiritual terms, we separate ourselves into spiritual and secular. Who I am and what I do in church is very different from who I am and what I do in society.
You find that the same people who are very spiritual in church are not as spiritual out there. We find that our lives are a contradiction. We keep saying we need better politicians, we need better lawyers, we need a better country, we need a corruption-free nation—and yet we do not realize that we who come to church on a Sunday morning are the ones who are responsible for making that happen. Because we live a life of dichotomy.
When I am in church, I am happy, I praise the Lord, Christ is the answer. But when I go out there, I leave Christ out of this, I leave God out of this. People have told me, "Keep God in church." It is this spirit which has brought us to where we are today.
It is a spirit that has dichotomized us into NASA and Jubilee. It is this spirit that has dichotomized us into winners and losers. It is this spirit that has separated us so that we are us and they are them.
How is it that Christians are perfectly at peace with identifying themselves with their tribes? How is it that the lawyers, the doctors, and the Christian lawyers all believe that NASA votes were stolen, while all the other Christians are thanking God for free and fair elections? Which God do we worship?
How can God at the same time be speaking to our people and saying the elections were free and fair, and speaking to another group and saying your elections have been stolen? Which God do we worship?
If this is how we think, Jesus would ask: How different are you? Do not pagans even think that way? And Paul would add: "O foolish Kenyans, who has bewitched you? You claim to be Christians and yet you act in the flesh."
Brothers and sisters, if we are going to be salt and light, if we are going to be change agents, if we are going to be transformational agents, we must be transformed in our minds. We cannot keep seeing things in two dimensions. We cannot keep seeing things flat. We must add value to life. We must be different from other people.
I want to introduce us to a third dimension—trichotomy.
When Joshua encountered the man with a sword, Joshua asked him a dichotomous question: "Are you for us or are you for our enemies?" Obviously, Joshua expected a dichotomous answer.
But what was the man's response? The Bible says in verse 14:
The man responded and said, "Neither. I am neither for you nor against you, but I am here as commander of the army of the Lord."
Contrary to what Joshua thought, this man was neither for him nor against him. He was there as commander of the army of the Lord. He introduced a third dimension to the whole affair—a spiritual dimension to life.
This is absolutely profound. The man introduced a God dimension to the facts and reality of life. In other words, things are not always dichotomous. Things are not always either/or. There is always a third dimension to life.
In this dimension, it is not a matter of for us or against us, but with us, pursuing God's purposes.
When God enters into man's world, He does not come for us or against us. When God comes into man's world, He is Emmanuel—God with us.
It doesn't matter where you are. God is Emmanuel, there with you. You can be here and hurting because of whatever circumstance—God is not here for you or against you. God is here with you. You may be in ecstatic joy. God is not here for you or against you. God is Emmanuel with us.
This dichotomous thinking is what confronted Jesus' disciples at one time. The Bible tells us in John chapter 9, verses 1 and 2:
As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
Again, you see a dichotomous perspective to life. The disciples reasoned that the blindness of this man could only be attributed to a dichotomous cause and effect: the man or the parents must have sinned. Therefore, this man was born blind.
But listen to Jesus' trichotomous answer in verse 3:
Jesus says, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
Jesus, like the man with the sword, brings a third dimension to this holy question. In essence, He says that although blindness is a terrible thing, although being born blind may be considered a curse in some quarters, viewed from a spiritual perspective, blindness can bring glory to God.
For God, disability is not the end of life. Joblessness is not the end of life. Singleness or childlessness may be all part of God's plan. Similarly, for God, winning or losing an election is nothing, because that's not what determines how God runs His world. That's not what determines how God runs this nation.
This country called Kenya is in the hands of God. For God, it is not NASA or Jubilee. For God, it is not winning or losing. God has His own way of doing His things.
Brothers and sisters, move from your dichotomous perspectives. Get yourself to another dimension.
The psalmist says: "I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes not from the hills, but from the Lord."
The man standing before Joshua was neither for us nor against us. He was a man on a divine mission. His fight was not against flesh and blood. His battle was not for territory, because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. He was not here to fight against Joshua or for Joshua. This man was here as a man sent from God.
Brothers and sisters, hear this profound truth: When Jesus went to the cross, He did not die to raise up a Christian army to vote for Jubilee or for NASA.
Jesus did not shed His blood so that we can become better Luo's, better Kikuyu's, better Kalenjin's. Jesus, the Son of God, did not hang on Golgotha's tree so that you can stand with your people to rule a country for fifty years. God did not send His Son to come and die for us so that our people can enter into State House. That is not what brought Jesus. That is not why you are a Christian.
When we behave like that, we bring serious dichotomy to our faith. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 6:
We crucify the Son of God again and we put Him to an open shame.
We must escape this trap of dichotomy. If we are going to live at peace one with another, we must operate in a third dimension within which God is with us.
Trichotomy recognizes that we have a body, we have a soul, but we also have a spirit. Therefore, we live for ourselves, we live for our society, but we also live for our God.
In this perspective, we bring the kingdom of God to bear on everything that we say or we do. We look at everything from a heavenly perspective.
This is what happened to Joshua once he recognized who the man before him was. His perspective changed. His inquiry changed. The way he looked at issues changed. We read in Joshua chapter 5, verse 14:
Then Joshua fell face down on the ground in reverence and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?"
Once Joshua recognized who this man was, Joshua bowed down in worship and prayer, asking God: God, what do you have to say about conquering Jericho? God, what do you have to say about these circumstances?
When we move from a two-dimensional worldview to a three-dimensional worldview, our perspective on everything changes. We immediately recognize that we are men and women in a mission.
This means that whether you are a doctor or a secretary, whether you are a politician or a pastor, whether you work in an executive office or in a duty college shed, you will recognize that you are there as a man or woman on a mission. A man or a woman sent by God.
You are neither for nor against anybody. You are there to bring the presence of God. You are there to make a difference in the place where you are.
So when you are on Twitter or on Facebook, your postings must reflect the glory of God. Your discussion must reflect that you are a man sent from God. Your talk must show that you are different from everybody else. You are not an ordinary person. You are not for us or against us. You are there as a man or woman sent from God.
You will recognize that you are an ambassador of Jesus Christ for the kingdom of God. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 19:
God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us.
This means that even in the current scenario, we must move from viewing politics from a narrow prism of Jubilee and NASA. We must move instead to a bigger political arena—the kingdom of God—where we are bringing God's agenda to bear on the things that are happening in this country.
In our interactions, we must move from provocative celebrations against the losers or insulting complaining against the winners. Instead, we must take the higher way of weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice.
When Jesus went to Cana in Galilee for a wedding, He was there for a celebration. Even though His heart was vexed with the sins He was seeing around Him, that was not the time to talk about sin. It would spoil the party. It would spoil the wedding. He sat there and enjoyed the wine and the drink because this was a time for celebration. He celebrated with those who are celebrating. When wine ran out, He was the one who brought the better wine that made the party even better.
Don't go into a place where people are celebrating and say, "Why are you celebrating here? Don't you know we are weeping?" No. Join in the moment. Rejoice with those who rejoice.
When Jesus went to the house of Martha and Mary, it was a house of mourning. He found that family distraught. They were crying. Their beloved Lazarus had died. Jesus did not come there and say, "Blessed are those..." No. The Bible says Jesus wept. You cannot go into a place where people are mourning, somebody is hurting, and say, "Why are you mourning? Are you the one who lost elections?" That is cruel. That is not Christian.
When we see things from a God dimension, we weep with those who weep. We rejoice with those who rejoice. That is what makes a difference between us and the world.
We are commanders of the Lord's army. This man that appeared to Joshua had a sword in his hands. Brothers and sisters, we too who are called by Jesus' name must have swords in our hands.
The Bible tells us that we must be ready with the full armor of God, with the sword of the Holy Spirit in our hands—which is the word of God. Respond to every situation using the word of God, not what people are saying, not the rumors you have heard, not the pictures you have collected, but with the word of God.
That is the sword that this man carried, and we too must carry the sword of the Holy Spirit. Each one of us must put on the full armor of God so that we can take a stand against the devil's schemes, remembering that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against powers of this dark world.
Therefore, we must put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, we can be able to stand our ground. And after we have done everything to stand, that is what Hasabica means. That is what it means to make a difference where we are.
We must speak against evil when it is necessary to speak against evil. We must speak the right thing at the right time. Because our God is not against us. Our God is not for us. Our God is with us—Emmanuel, God with us.
This journey begins by saying: "Lord, make me Your child."
Maybe you are here this morning and you've never made that commitment. Or you're watching and you've never made that commitment. I want to pray with you this morning. Would you put up your hand and say, "Lord, I want to be a child of God"?
Is there any such person upstairs? Somebody who has never made a formal commitment to Christ but you want to do so today? Downstairs?
I also want to pray for people who are mourning this morning. It is very sad that the people who are mourning the loss of the elections are the same people who have been killed by the bullet. It is an unfortunate situation in our country, but we must rise up against that.
If you're here and you're feeling pain in your heart and you're saying, "I don't just need someone to pray with me. I want to pray with you this morning," is there such a person? Let's put up your hand where you are. I see those hands. Even if you're watching, just lift up your hand where you are—in your room, in a hospital bed, wherever you are. God is seeing you.
Let's pray together. Everlasting Father, what a joy to know that You are not a God who is far removed from us, but You are Emmanuel—a God who comes to be with Joshua in his fight, a God who comes to be with us in our times of struggle, a God who comes to walk with us in our moments of pain. Lord, You see the hands that are uplifted, and I'm praying for every one of them.
Oh God, whatever is the cause and source of that pain, step in. Oh God, lift them out of that sorrow. Lift them out of that pain. According to Your word: "Come to me, all you who are weak and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We commit them to You, Father, believing that You who promised, You will do it. For we are prayed in Jesus' name. Amen.
