The filthy rags of the Tugutil

( Read this in French / Lisez ce en français )

In our Worldview Rethink curriculum, we carefully lay the foundations of the gospel story in order for a person to have a clear understanding of the good news of Jesus Christ. We take time to cover the four irreducible minimums of the gospel:

• A holy God
• A helpless sinner
• A sufficient substitute
• A personal faith

It’s important to start with the character of God—who he is and what he is like. Then, it’s equally important to talk about humankind’s sin condition—how our sin separates us from God.

In our curriculum, we often use the visual aid of a dead rat to help communicate how God sees our sin condition—utterly repugnant. Only perfect people can live in the presence of a perfect God. If a person fails to understand this, he or she may not understand the need for a saviour. As we are frequently reminded, “Before a person can be saved, he must know that he is lost.”

A while ago, we received a testimony that illustrates this point brilliantly. Jeremy,* a missionary in East Indonesia, was teaching the Law to the Tugutil tribe. They had a visual much like our dead rat—they used filthy rags. Here’s the story:

When teaching the Law (Exodus Chapter 20) to the Tugutil people, I illustrated the holiness of God with a brand new piece of cloth that was perfectly clean and free of dirt, stains and mildew—pervasive marks of the hot, steamy tropics in which they lived. Holding up a filthy piece of clothing, I told them that the dirty stains and mildew that ruined our clothes were a picture of how sin ruined our relationship with God.

Hearing this, one of the men jumped to his feet and protested, “I’m not like that dirty rag!” At this point, I thought to myself, “Here we go—he’s going to insist that he is like the clean cloth.” But, contrary to what I expected, he said, “When I compare myself to what I now know God is like, you are going to have to make that rag a lot more dirty if it is going to be like me!”

So, seeing a mud puddle from the previous night’s rain, I took the filthy rag and sloshed it in the mud. Nearby there was also a pile of fresh cow manure. Knowing their revulsion at being anywhere near that stuff, I then took the rag and dropped it in the manure. Then our friend spoke up again. “Now that’s what my heart looks like when I compare myself to God.” Those sentiments were echoed by many of the large group of listeners. The Holy Spirit had done his work of conviction among these self-righteous people who found it so easy to find fault with others but were blind to their own failures.

I asked them, “If you had a basket of brand new clothing, looking nice and clean, would you allow this smelly filthy rag to be put into that same basket with the new, spotless clothing?”

“Of course not!” all the women responded.

I went on to say, “Just as our dirty, filthy clothes cannot be mixed in the same basket with our nice new ones, in the same way, it is impossible for us who are sinners to be acceptable by a God who is holy and righteous. Our sin has cut us off from God!”

Once we had taught the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we reminded them of the illustration of the “dirty rags” and again showed them the nice clean cloth that illustrated the holiness and righteousness of God.

I then held up the dirty cloth and reminded them that’s what we were like as sinners before God. But, for those who were now trusting in what Jesus had done for them on the cross, they would be placed into Christ and covered over by His righteousness.

I took the basket of nice clean clothes and asked them if I could now place the dirty rag—now wrapped in a clean cloth—into the basket. They all agreed that it was all right to do so.

I explained how, now, we could come into the presence of a holy and righteous God. Why? Because Christ’s holiness and righteousness provided a covering that made us totally acceptable in God’s sight.

What a wonderful visual aid to explain not only our sin nature but also how God declares us righteous and wraps us in Christ’s righteousness when we put our trust in Jesus for salvation. We’re so thankful that the Tugutil people understand. And that’s why we have a similar visual aid in the Worldview Rethink curriculum. We want to help people comprehend the nature and extent of their sin problem in contrast with God’s perfection.

(*Name changed as per GoodSeed policy.)
Photo credit: “Mentawai jungle house (Indonesia)” by Ahron de Leeuw is licensed under CC BY 2.0