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Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"
Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:28-31
I hear about all of the laws and rules and societal norms and commands that are placed upon me everyday of my life. What rules and commandments are binding upon God? Are there laws in the universe or beyond the universe that govern what God does and how He acts? Yes, because Jesus said Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17. Jesus, as God, fulfills the law. There are parameters, laws, commandments that God heeds and obeys.
What would they be? Could those commandments be any less than the ones Jesus described as the first or greatest commandment and then the second commandment? Jesus said that there is no other commandment greater than these! And I personally am thankful that God does obey these greatest commandments as He calls us to do. If I'm a child, I want to know that my parents are living with the same integrity that they are requesting from me. If I'm a student, I want to know that I'm being graded on the same standard as my professor and my fellow students. If I'm an employee, I'd like to know that my boss is willing to do whatever he asks me to do. If I'm a soldier going into battle, I want to know that my squad leader is going into battle with me. If I'm asked by God to follow a commandment, I gotta know that He lives by the same commandment, that there is no double-standard in the most important things.
God is into God, really and truly as strange as it might sound. God is God-centered in that God loves God with all of His heart, with all of His soul, with all of His mind and with all of His strength. So, God's first and utmost priority is to love, cherish and exalt what is most beautiful, most precious and most valuable in all of the universe, namely, God, and to enjoy Himself with unspeakable joy. God's next priority is to love others as Himself.
So to follow the first commandment, God must be God-centered. God must place God at the center of the universe and the purpose for all existence. God must glorify God above every other name, person, cause or ideology. God must love God more than He loves you and me and other created things. God is the Creator. Except for our Creator God, all other things that exist in our universe are created things. We are all creations. We are not creators because only God is.
Secondly, God must love us. God's love towards us is not merely a grandfatherly love of dropping "feel good" items around us. God loves us in a way that is best for us, with His own sacrificial love. God sacrificed His most precious thing, the life of His holy son Jesus, in order to make a way for you and me to not have to bear the wages of our sin, our stubborn rebellion, our violation of God's laws, our belittling neglect to give God all of the glory and honor to which He is due. God provides a means whereby we can enter His presence and enjoy His fellowship throughout eternity, forever. Amazing grace, how sweet it is . . . he saved a wretch like me.
© S. Chan, 2007. All rights reserved.
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My son Travis and I just returned with friends from a trip to China. One thing I learned is that the Chinese characters to say "China" are literally translated into the phrase "Middle Kingdom" because the Chinese historically believed that when the emperor stood in a certain place near the Temple of Heaven to talk to God, then at that time their country was at the center of the entire universe, as in in the middle of the universe or the "middle kingdom".
Our trip provided opportunities to visit ancient and historic sites throughout the country without the maddening crowds which will undoubtedly congregate near Beijing next summer during the 2008 Summer Olympics. We also had occasions to make Chinese friends during our stay. In this country's totalitarian regime, the communist party controls all governmental affairs and also regulates all news and communications such that (i) BBC is virtually unobtainable; (ii) the 1989 Tiananmen Square "uprisings" and killings have been conveniently erased from the public's conscience; and (iii) any attempts to remember the recent (it's been only 18 years since 1989) incident are harshly stomped out by governmental force. See the BBC article of the three Chinese newspaper editors who were sacked for a clerk's inadvertently allowing a small personal ad on June 4th (the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre) which commemorated "the strength of the mothers of people who died on June 4th".
The government espouses ideas that there is no God and that religion is for people who lack sufficient intellectual capacities. China's youth are taught that Bible stories are for superstitious old men who don't know any better. During our visit, we found that Chinese individuals were receptive to new ideas that they hadn't previously considered. One asked what was the difference between Chinese government and "Western" government. It is too broad to categorize "western" government, because western governments do not all have the same global view of the world.
We were able to relate readings from author Francis Schaeffer's book How Then Should We Live? about the differences which emerged during the late 1400's and early 1500's as the Renaissance (from Southern Europe) and the Reformation (from Northern Europe) produced different forms of government principled upon two completely different worldviews. The Renaissance produced the belief that man was the ultimate life-form in the universe, and therefore man could ultimately decide all things, including right from wrong, for all people through government. This man-first form of government manifested itself through socialism and later communism. As a result there are some governments in the "west", such as France's socialism, Italy's fascism and Russia's communism, that are not dissimilar to the basic premises underlying the current Chinese government.
Martin Luther and the Reformation influenced music, art and governments in northern Europe based upon the premise that mankind is not the apex of the universe. This premise of absolutes, which permeated governments spawned by Germany and England and which then jumped the pond to USA, builds upon the assumption that there is someone or something greater than mankind and who has established laws which are universal and applicable to all mankind regardless of what any group of men might legislate. For example, God has written into our hearts that it is unlawful to murder, to steal, to participate in sex outside of a monogamous God-ordained marriage, to covet another person's property, to dishonor one parents, etc. We don't need governments to pass laws to tell us these basic truths.
One of the talks we discussed with the Chinese is how people who deny God's existence tend to use the argument of man's ultimate superiority based upon advancing technology and increasing knowledge. Prior to the launch of the Hubble space telescope in the 1990's, viewing of outer space through earthbound telescopes was hampered because of our planet's atmosphere distortions and light pollution. Now with the Hubble space telescope circling our planet like a satellite and peering deep into the universe, we are discovering new million-star galaxies never seen before. But that does not mean those galaxies weren't already out there. It is that we are just now discovering them and seeing them for the first time. Where we can discover created things, it points to the fact that there must be a Creator, someone more powerful than the strongest group of men.
Also within the last two decades we (mankind) has used the electron microscope to view things incredibly tiny. We take great pride in now being able to crack the code of DNA, a double-helix shaped, nucleic acid molecule that is found in every living thing. However, DNA existed even before mankind discovered it. And we still don't fully comprehend the repeating patterns found within each DNA molecule, but we can see a design within each DNA molecule. The existence of the design reveals that there must be a Master Designer, someone out there more intelligent than the smartest man.
This Creator, this Master Designer is wiser, more powerful, purer than anything we can imagine. He is God. He doesn't leave it for us to guess about His existence or His characteristics, because any god that we could imagine would be limited to the characteristics we project onto it. We know about God because He has revealed some of Himself to us though His written word, the Bible. I was born on a certain date and someday I will die, and my whole life can be defined on a linear timeline. But God is timeless in that He existed before mankind, or our planet, even existed. God will exist long after you and I, and our solar system, no longer exists.
Another interesting aspect is that I can only be in one place at any given point in time. Last Friday I was in Beijing, China (but not Houston or New York City). On Tuesday, I was in New York City (but not Beijing or Houston). Today I am in Houston (but not in NYC or Beijing). Unlike me, space places no limitations upon God as He can be in all places simultaneously. These are just some characteristics that demonstrate how other-worldly God is when compared to you and me.
Another attribute of God revealed in the Bible is that He is pure . . . totally without any contamination, spot, blemish, fault or impurity of any kind. Anything that is not pure and perfect cannot come into God's presence without being incinerated by God's perfection. But again we, as humans, want to imagine a god who conforms to our thoughts. If left to our imaginings, we would fabricate a god who would allow us to join him based upon two premises: (a) if I was at least "better" than someone else I know; or (b) if my good deeds outweighed my bad deeds. And so, upon death, many of us expect God to let us into heaven to reside with God when we present the argument "I know so-and-so, and I am not as bad as (s)he is." Or, the alternative argument might be: "In all fairness, the 1,000 good things I've done in my life surely outweighs the 100 bad things I've done." These are merely man's rationales and they do not reflect the reality that God has shared with us in the Bible.
God is pure. God cannot allow any impurity enter into His presence. If a one liter bottle of drinkable water represents my life and I have only a little sin in my life, that would be like putting in a tiny bit of poison into that bottled water. After that sin, that poison enters the bottle, the water is no longer clean and drinkable. It is no longer pure. It is contaminated. If I were to use a larger 5 gallon bottle with just a tiny bit of poison, the outcome is the same. It is no longer pure. Without purity, I cannot approach God and live with God through eternity.
But God knew this would happen before He created the first man (remember that God is timeless, so yesterday and tomorrow are all the same to God). So God planned for and provided for a mechanism whereby I would be able to spend eternity with God, if only I will accept God's gift upon God's terms. God sent his son Jesus Christ to planet Earth to live a perfect life, while being fully tempted in all things just like you and I are tempted every day, in order to be a substitute for my poisoned life. Jesus lived a perfect sinless life. He was tortured and crucified because of it. Jesus' death became the payment for my sin as he bore the brunt of God's punishment for my sins. Jesus' perfect (pure) life is substituted for me as the life I now can claim to enter into God's presence.
This Jesus, who is described in the Bible, is not only the focal point of the Bible, but He is also the center of the history of man. Even atheists and agnostics who open and read the newspapers this morning refer to Jesus' centrality every time that the date is written. Technically, today is not just June 15th, but it is June 15, 2007 A.D., meaning "from the year of our Lord". And if we were to able to go back 3000 years, we would be approximately in the year 1000 B.C., or "before Christ."
God provided many divine appointments with Chinese nationals in order to whet their appetites that they might seek Jesus and read the Bible. Everything in China is scrutinized by government officials, including individuals who would try to purchase a Bible. Because no one dares to attract government's attention, Bibles are "readily available" officially but are very difficult to obtain in reality. Please consider what level of participation the Holy Spirit might direct you to participate with The Voice of the Martyrs subsidiary's program called "Bibles Unbound" that works to furnish Bibles to many countries.
© S. Chan, 2007. All rights reserved.
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You've heard this question before, or one like it, haven't you? Years ago as I waited for a clothes dryer to open up in my college dorm's laundry room, the question was: "If God is all powerful, is He so powerful that He can create a rock so large that even He cannot pick it up?" It's funny how some things never change.
What the question asks is basically nonsense as it purports to set limits upon the Most High God. Because we are creatures and we are not The Creator, our ability to comprehend God is severely limited. We lack the capacity to understand the power and magnificence of God Almighty. We cannot even really grasp what it means to be eternal, because God is not limited by time or space . . . two of the many things that we humans are painfully aware of. The very God who created us and time and this blue planet and the galaxies spinning around in the rest of the universe . . . He existed before He made all of that.
So to the person who asks the question shown above, how can you or I prove the existence or the attributes of God? Well, the simple and straightforward answer is that we cannot. And that is the way that God intended it. Christians do not live life with a blind faith, an ignorant faith or a stoopid faith. As born-again believers who trust in the providence of God Almighty through the Holy Spirit because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we live with a trusting and obedient faith. Many things are not fully explained in the Bible because if they were then we would be incapable of living by faith.
Back to the question. This question does not deserve an answer because of the presumptions already built into the question. The question borders upon using the same kind of logic that is found in "situational ethics" where if someone builds the right presuppositions into hypotheticals a person could, "logically" speaking, prove the correctness of performing any wrongful act based upon human logic.
Jesus didn't answer every ridiculous question that was presented to Him during His lifetime and His ministry. There were several occasions when people, whom He loved and spent time with, would get Jesus' attention and ask "Don't you care?" Such as when Martha was preparing the meal for Jesus and His entourage and Martha was fuming that her sister Mary was sitting and listening to Jesus rather than helping to cook the food for dinner (Luke 10:40). Or like when the disciples were rowing the boat across the lake in the middle of the storm and Jesus was sound asleep below-deck (Mark 4:38).
Neither you nor I need to feel that we must respond to every argumentative question. Proverbs 23:9 talks about wasting your breath and time and energy on a fool. This is a question that does not deserve an answer. We should use our time wisely, and move on. © S. Chan, 2007. All rights reserved.
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“If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?” Amos 3:6.
Some Christians are saying “God did not make it happen, but He can use it for good” about last week's shooting spree on the Virginia Tech campus. This well-intentioned, but ill-advised statement goes beyond, and is contrary to, what the Bible teaches. And it undermines the very hope the speaker wants to offer. First, this statement goes beyond and against the Bible. People are trying to express, in denying that God “caused” the calamity, that God is not a sinner, that God does not remove human accountability and that God is compassionate. That much is true and is very precious. But to some people who hear this statement, something far more is implied. They hear that God, by His very nature, either cannot or would not act to prevent such a calamity, which contradicts the Bible and undercuts hope. How God governs all events in the universe without sinning, and without removing responsibility from man, and with compassionate outcomes is beyond our total comprehension and involves an element of mystery. Nevertheless, the Bible teaches that God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11).
“All things” includes the fall of sparrows (Matthew 10:29), the rolling of dice (Proverbs 16:33), the slaughter of His people (Psalm 44:11), the decisions of kings (Proverbs 21:1), the failing of sight (Exodus 4:11), the sickness of children (2 Samuel 12:15), the loss and gain of money (1 Samuel 2:7), the suffering of saints (1 Peter 4:19), the completion of travel plans (James 4:15), the persecution of Christians (Hebrews 12:4-7), the repentance of souls (2 Timothy 2:25), the gift of faith (Philippians 1:29), the pursuit of holiness (Philippians 3:12-13), the growth of believers (Hebrews 6:3), the giving of life and the taking in death (1 Samuel 2:6), and the crucifixion of God's Son Jesus Christ (Acts 4:27-28).
From the tiniest molecular thing to the grandest cosmic thing and everything in between, good and evil, happy and sad, pagan and Christian, pain and pleasure - God governs them all for His wise and just and good purposes (Isaiah 46:10). Upon receiving news of the deaths of all ten of his children, Job says, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Then when afflicted with great pain after being inflicted with diseases Job says, “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10). Satan is real, active and instrumental in this world of hurt. In Job 2:7, “Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.” Satan struck Job, but Job realized there is no satisfaction from looking at secondary causes. Job received comfort and hope from looking through the circumstances to the ultimate cause. “Shall we not accept adversity from God?” The book’s inspired writer later points out that Job's brothers and sisters “consoled him [Job] and comforted him for all the adversities that the Lord had brought on him” (Job 42:11). God's purposeful goodness is revealed through Job's misery: “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (James 5:11). Job himself concludes in prayer: “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). Yes, Satan is real and terrible, but he is on a short leash with God's steady hand reining in that leash.
Another reason why it’s wrong to say, “God did not cause the massacre, but He can use it for good,” is that the statement undercuts the very hope it wants to create. If you deny that God could have “used” a thousand events prior to April 16, 2007 to save 32 people from the rampage of an armed college student, what hope then do you have that God could now “use” this terrible event to save you in the hour of trial? One rabbi, commenting after-the-fact on the December 2004 tsunami that swept away over 200,000 people living in coastal communities surrounding the Indian Ocean, said "I will not say that God could have prevented this. I will not charge God with this crime."
What Biblical basis would justify saying that God is wise enough to use these events for future good, but then deny that God is powerful enough or smart enough to use the past events to have prevented the evil of the campus-wide shootings at Virginia Tech? God could have restrained this evil (Genesis 20:6). “The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples” (Psalm 33:10). But it was not in His plan to do it last week in Blacksburg, Virginia. Let us not try to spare God the burden of His sovereignty. Instead, let us be prayerful and cautious of what we say to people who are grieving or who are questioning God, because we do not want to destroy their only hope as they seek help in suddenly facing a bleak future with this unexpected loss.
All of us are sinners. We deserve to perish. Every breath we take is an undeserved gift. We have one great hope: that Jesus Christ dies to obtain pardon and righteousness for us (Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21) , and that God will employ His all-conquering, sovereign grace to preserve us for our inheritance (Jeremiah 32:40). We surrender our hope if we sacrifice God's sovereignty. But there is something we can always tell the hurting survivors, family, friends, classmates, professors and colleagues, neighboring communities . . . "Trust God".
© S. Chan, 2007. All rights reserved.
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For the married woman who trusts Jesus Christ, she has a calling to Hope in God, to Fearlessness and to Internal Adornment.
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives — when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. 1 Peter 3:1-7.
God's calling for a Christian wife is to be subject (i) to her own husband (and not to all men everywhere), and (ii) likewise or in a similar manner as is called for Christians generally in the prior chapter (1 Peter 2) to be subject to governmental authorities and employer/employee relationships, with a reciprocal responsibility for the husband to live with the wife in an understanding way (another version translates is as "in a considerate manner"). These verses are in the middle of a larger passage that ends with the Apostle Peter instructing the whole church to have unity, sympathy, love, tenderheartedness, humility one towards another, and not to return evil for evil.
So here is a powerful portrait of womanhood, starting with a deep strong root of hope in God. A Christian woman does not put her hope in her husband, or in getting a husband. She does not put her hope in her looks. She puts her hope in the promises of God. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come (Proverbs 31:25). She laughs at everything the future might bring, because she hopes in God. She looks away from the troubles and miseries and obstacles of life that seem to make the future bleak, and she focuses her attention on the sovereign power and love of God who rules in heaven and does on earth whatever He pleases. She knows her Bible, and she knows her theology of the sovereignty of God, and she knows His promise that He will be with her and help her strengthen her no matter what. This is the deep, unshakable root of Christian womanhood.
Hope in God produces fearlessness in the Christian woman, as demonstrated by Abraham's wife, Sarah. The Christian woman is a daughter of Sarah by doing good and by not fearing anything that might be frightening. She does not fear the future; she laughs at the future. The presence of hope in the invincible sovereignty of God drives out fear. Or to say it more carefully and realistically, the daughters of Sarah fight the anxiety that rises in their hearts. They wage war on fear, and they defeat it with hope in the promises of God. Mature Christian women know that following Christ will mean suffering. But they believe the Biblical promises like “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,” (1 Peter 3:14) and “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19). Christian women entrust their souls to a faithful Creator. They hope in God. And they triumph over fear.
The third characteristic of the Christian woman is internal adornment, rather than external. A woman's main attention and effort should not be on on how she looks on the outside; but her focus should be on the beauty that is inside. Exert more effort and be more concerned with inner beauty than outer beauty. When a woman puts her hope in God and not her husband and not in her looks, and when she overcomes fear by the promises of God, this will have an effect on her heart: It will give her an inner tranquility, “the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”
The three cords (i) hope in God to perform His promises, (ii) fearlessness of circumstances and the future, and (iii) internal adornment leading to inner tranquility and meekness, weave a strong braid that is expressed in a unique type of submissiveness to her husband, in the same manner as holy women in the Bible to their own husbands. Here is the portrait of the kind of woman the Apostle Peter has in mind when he calls a woman to be submissive to her husband. Unshakeable hope in God. Courage and fearlessness in facing any future. Quiet tranquility of soul. Humble submission to her husband’s leadership. The truth of headship and submission is really beautiful when you see it lived out with the mark of Christ’s majesty on it — the mutuality of servanthood without canceling the reality of headship and submission—it is a wonderful and deeply satisfying drama.
1 Peter 3:1-6 tells us what submission is not.
1. Submission does not mean a wife agrees with everything her husband says. If she is a Christian, her husband might not be. If not, then he has one set of ideas about ultimate reality, while she has another. The Apostle Peter calls her to be submissive while assuming she will not submit to his view of the most important thing in the world — God. So submission cannot mean submitting to agree with all her husband thinks.
2. Submission does not mean a wife leaves her brain or her will at the wedding altar. It is not the inability or the unwillingness to think for oneself. Here is a woman who heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. She thought about it. She assessed the truth claims of Jesus. She apprehended in her heart the beauty and worth Christ and His work, and she chose Him. Her husband heard it also - otherwise Peter probably would not say he “disobeyed the word.” The husband has heard the word, and he has thought about it, but he has not chosen Christ. She thought for herself and she acted. And the Bible does not tell her to retreat from that commitment.
3. Submission does not mean avoiding every effort to change a husband. One point of this text is to tell a wife how to “win” her husband. “Be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives.” If you didn’t care about the Bible you might say, “Submission has to mean taking a husband the way he is and not trying to change him.” But if you believe what the Bible says, you conclude that submission, paradoxically, is sometimes a strategy for changing him.
4. Submission does not mean putting the will of the husband before the will of Christ. The wife is a follower of Jesus before and above being a follower of her husband. Submission to Jesus makes relative submission to husbands — and governments and employers and parents. When Sarah called Abraham “lord” (in verse 6) with a lowercase l. It is like “sir” or “lord.” And the obedience she gives is qualified obedience because her supreme allegiance is to the Lord with a capital L.
5. Submission does not mean that a wife gets her personal, spiritual strength primarily through her husband. A good husband should strengthen and build up and sustain his wife. He should be a source of strength. But when a husband’s spiritual leadership is lacking, a Christian wife is not left without strength. Submission does not mean she is dependent on him to supply her strength of faith and virtue and character. The Apostle Peter assumes just the opposite in the text. She is summoned to develop depth and strength and character not from her husband but for her husband, because her hope is in God and in the hope that her husband will join her there.
6. Finally submission does not mean that a wife is to act out of fear. “You are her [Sarah’s] children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” In other words, submission is free, not coerced by fear. The Christian woman is a free woman. When she submits to her husband — whether he is a believer or unbeliever — she does it in freedom, not out of fear.
Here is . . . what submission is. Submission is the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband’s leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts. It is demonstrated through the disposition to follow a husband’s authority and an inclination to yield to his leadership, with an attitude that says, “I delight for you to take the initiative in our family. I am glad when you take responsibility for things and lead with love. I don’t flourish in the relationship when you are passive and I have to make sure the family works.”
But submission does not follow a husband into sin. In each such instance, submission says, “It grieves me when you venture into sinful acts and want to take me with you. You know I can’t do that. I have no desire to resist you. On the contrary, I flourish most when I can respond joyfully to your lead; but I cannot follow you into sin, as much as I love to honor your leadership in our marriage because Jesus Christ is my King.”
There will be times in a Christian marriage when the most submissive wife, with good reason, will hesitate at a husband’s decision. It may look unwise to her. Suppose I am about to decide something for the family that looks foolish to my wife. At that moment, she could say something like this: “I know you’ve thought a lot about this, and I love it when you take the initiative to plan for us and take the responsibility like this, but I really don’t have peace about this decision and I think we need to talk about it some more. Could we? Maybe tonight sometime?”
This is a kind of biblical submission:
(1) because husbands, unlike Christ, are fallible and we ought to admit it;
(2) because husbands ought to want their wives to be excited about the family decisions, much like Jesus Christ wants the church to be excited about following His decisions and not just follow begrudgingly;
(3) because the way her misgivings are communicated clearly expresses that she endorses the husband's leadership and affirms the husband in his role as head; and
(4) because she has made it clear that if, when the couple has done all the talking that is appropriate, should there still be disagreement, she will defer to her husband’s decision.
We should remember that marriage is not mainly about staying in love. It is about covenant keeping. The main reason it is about covenant keeping is that God designed the relationship between a husband and his wife to represent the relationship between Jesus Christ and the church. This is the deepest meaning of marriage. That is why ultimately the roles of headship and submission are so important. If our marriages are going to tell the truth about Christ and His church, we cannot be indifferent to the meaning of headship and submission. God’s purpose for the church — and for the Christian wife who represents it — is her everlasting holy joy. Jesus Christ died for them to bring that about.
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God’s main purpose for our existence is to reflect the glory of Jesus Christ. God gave us life so that with our bodies and minds and hearts we might draw attention to Jesus and make him look as great as he really is. This purpose for our existence does not change at death. It is the purpose of our dying and the purpose of our living after death. For the Christian, eternal life has already begun and will not be interrupted by death or judgment. Jesus taught this when he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). Already, by faith in Christ, our judgment is past and our death is past. Death is no longer death for those who are in Christ. The essence of what made it death has changed. What has changed? “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56). Christ fulfilled the law perfectly. “Jesus answered, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness’” (Matthew 3:15). He also took on himself the curse that the law put on us because of our sin. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Therefore, in Christ, the righteousness that the law demanded from me is provided for me, and the curse that the law pronounced over me is removed from me. Therefore the sting of death is gone. Death is no longer the terror that death used to be. Death is now a transition from life to better life, from faith to seeing, from groaning to glory, from good fellowship with Jesus to far better fellowship with Jesus, from mixtures of pain and pleasure to all pleasure, from struggles with sin to perfect affections for Jesus. We have passed from death to life. The way we show Jesus to be great in our dying is to treasure these things as we die. That is, treasure them more than what we leave behind. This is how we fulfill the God-given purpose of our death as those who cannot die. The purpose of this deathless dying is to glorify Christ. Death is God’s appointed way in this fallen world for Christ to get his last praise from us on earth before we enter into endless praise. Paul says we do this by counting death as gain: “It is my eager expectation and hope that . . . Christ will be honored in my body . . . by death. For to me to . . . die is gain.” Christ is magnified in our dying when we treasure Christ so much that dying is felt to be gain. Death is a time for glorifying God. God appoints it for this purpose in his saints. Another example is the death of Peter. Jesus spoke to him about his death, “When you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18). Then John interpreted these words for us in his gospel, “This [Jesus] said to show by what kind of death [Peter] was to glorify God” (John 21:19). We all have our appointed time and way of dying. This is our last way on earth of making much of the supreme value of Jesus in our lives. This is the last time on earth for glorifying God. It happens by counting everything on earth as loss (Philippians 3:8) and counting the sight and savoring of Christ in heaven as gain. Those who remain behind feel the loss here deeply. There are untold tears. This is good. It testifies to the preciousness of a gift enjoyed. But even here, through all the tears, there is a way to magnify Christ. Job showed us how. When the news came that all ten of his children were dead, it says, “Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord’” (Job 1:20-21). He wept and he worshiped. Let us pray earnestly for each other, that Christ would be so real to us that we would live and die in a way that shows his supreme preciousness to us. “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). This is the great battle of life: to treasure Jesus like that.
Apr. 16th, 2007 @ 06:24 am
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| » The Battle for Purity over Lust . . . matthew 5:28-29 |
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I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Matthew 5:28-29 When you are enticed sexually, do you fight with your mind to say no to the image and then mightily labor to fill your mind with counter-images that kill off the seductive image? "If you put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, you will live" Romans 8:13. Too many of us think we have struggled with temptation when all we have done is pray for deliverance, and the hope the desire would go away. That is too passive. Yes, God works in us to will and to do his good pleasure, but we are to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" Philippians 2:12-13. Gouging out your eye might be a metaphor, but it means something very extreme, something violent if necessary. The brain is a "muscle" to be flexed for purity, and in the Christian the mind is supercharged with the Spirit of Christ. This means is that we must not give a sexual image or impulse more than five seconds before we mount a violent counterattack with the mind. No more than five seconds! In the first two seconds we shout, "NO! Get out of my head!" In the next two seconds we cry out: "O God, in the name of Jesus, help me. Save me now. I am yours." Good beginning. But now the real battle begins. Remember, this is a mind war. The absolute necessity is to get the image and the impulse out of our mind. But how? Push a counter-image into the mind. Fight. Push. Strike. Don't ease up. It must be an image that is so powerful that the other image cannot survive. There are lust-destroying images and thoughts. For example, have you ever in the first five seconds of temptation, demanded of your mind that it look steadfastly at the crucified form of Jesus Christ? Picture this. Let's say you have just seen a peek-a-boo blouse inviting further fantasy. You've got five seconds . . . "No! Get out of my mind! God help me!" Now, immediately, demand of your mind - you can do this by the Spirit (Romans 8:13). Demand your mind to fix its gaze on Christ on the cross. Use all your fantasizing power to see his lacerated back. Thirty-nine lashes left little flesh intact. He heaves with his breath up and down against the rough vertical beam of the cross. Each breath puts splinters into the lacerations. The Lord gasps. From time to time he screams out with intolerable pain. He tries to pull away from the wood and the massive spokes through his wrist rip into the nerve endings and he screams again with agony and pushes up with his feet to give some relief to his wrists. But the bones and nerves in his pierced feet crush against each other with anguish and he screams again. There is no relief. His throat is raw from screaming and thirst. He loses his breath and thinks he is suffocating, and suddenly his body involuntarily gasps for air and all the injuries unite in pain. In torment, he forgets about the crown of two-inch thorns and throws his head back in desperation, only to hit one of the thorns perpendicular against the cross beam and drive it half an inch into his skull. His voice reaches a soprano pitch of pain and sobs break over his pain-wracked body as every cry brings more and more pain. Now, I am not thinking about the blouse any more. I am at Calvary. These two images are not compatible. If you will use the muscle of your brain to pursue - violently pursue with the muscle of your mind - images of Christ crucified with the same creative energy that you use to pursue sexual fantasies, you will kill them. But it must start in the first five seconds - and not give up. So here's the basic question: Do you fight, rather than only praying and waiting and trying to avoid? Image against image. It must be ruthless, vicious mental warfare, not just praying and wishing. Join me in this bloody warfare to keep my mind and body pure for my Lord and my wife and my church. Jesus suffered beyond imagination to "purify for Himself a people for His own possession." Titus 2:14. Every scream and spasm was to kill my lust - "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." 1 Peter 2:24.
Apr. 14th, 2007 @ 06:02 am
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| » A Husband's Leadership as Lover, Protector & Provider . . . ephesians 5:22-29 |
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Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. Ephesians 5:22-29
During a men's conference at my church this past weekend, I heard a wonderful analysis of the God-designed role of the husband in marriage, which naturally included Ephesians 5. An emotionally-charged chapter for sure, not the least of which are the first two words in the passage quoted above, but we will save that topic for another day. And just as the wife has a certain responsibility, interestingly, God has a number of defined responsibilities (guys need descriptions of specific tasks unless we try to weasel out of them by claiming ignorance) for the husband under the banner of "leadership."
And yet, the husband of a household is destined/called/preordained by God to provide leadership within the God-created institution of family. For example, the findings of a research survey revealed the following . . . statistically speaking, when someone from an unchurched family accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, here are the natural consequences: (A) if the new Christian is a teenager, there is a 23% likelihood of another member from her family becoming a Christian; (B) if the new Christian is the wife/mother, there is a 35% likelihood of another family member becoming a Christian; and (C) if the new Christian is the husband/father, there is a 96% likelihood of another family member becoming a Christian.
How does the Bible describe the traits of leadership for the husband? Answer: Like Jesus Christ or "just as Christ." In other words, in direct relationship of how Jesus Christ treats His bride, the church. The "church" is not a synagogue, temple, shrine building or man-made thing. The church is the entire group of Christians that have ever or will ever live, a total sum of all of the followers of Jesus Christ. So, the task of the husband in a marriage is to do what Jesus did, to imitate Jesus. Jesus is to be the role model of all husbands in all marriages.
I. The husband is to be the lover. Not just someone looking for sex (often a person's desire for sex originates from selfish motives), but to be fully willing to love just as Christ did, a Godly (self-less) love which is . . . meeting the other person's greatest need and doing whatever, even at great personal cost, is best for that other person. Similarly, the husband's responsibility is to connect with his wife at her greatest point of need and doing whatever is best for her.
II. The husband is to be the protector and standard bearer. Jesus not only redeemed His bride, the church, from sin by dying a crucifixion death on the cross. But Jesus also protected His bride by being a standard bearer, the righteousness that allows every Christian to enter into the presence of the Holy God.
III. The husband is to be the provider. Just as Jesus nourishes and cherishes the church, so ought the husband to provide whatever is necessary (the freedom and the means) for his wife to flourish and be all that God has designed her to be in God's perfect will.
There are at least five love languages that are "spoken" in a marriage relationship. Every wife needs at least one (a woman might prefer one love language over another) of the following:
(1) Affirming words - such as compliments, thankfulness, appreciation, expressions of feelings and enjoyment, etc.;
(2) Physical touch - such as hugs, kisses, holding hands, etc.;
(3) Time together - such as weekend get-aways without kids, dates like before marriage, togetherness without the television on, etc.;
(4) Receiving gifts - such as mementos, items revealing that she is in the husband's thoughts, things to break the daily monotony, etc.; and
(5) Acts of service - such as tasks around the house, with the kids, on activities/tasks in which she has a keen interest, etc.
© S. Chan, 2007. All rights reserved.
Mar. 20th, 2007 @ 06:44 am
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| » This is Jesus . . . |
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This is the LORD JESUS CHRIST, the God Almighty
He is the First and Last, the Beginning and the End.
He is the keeper of Creation and the Creator of all!
He is the Architect of the universe and
The Manager of all times.
He always was, He always is, and He always will be . . .
Unmoved, Unchanged, Undefeated, and never Undone!
He was bruised and brought healing.
He was pierced and eased pain.
He was persecuted and brought freedom.
He was dead and brought life.
He is risen and brings power.
He reigns and brings Peace.
The world can't understand him,
The armies can't defeat Him,
The schools can't explain Him,
The leaders can't ignore Him.
Herod couldn't kill Him,
The Pharisees couldn't confuse Him, and
The people couldn't constrain Him!
Nero couldn't crush Him,
Hitler couldn't silence Him,
The New Age can't replace Him, and
Scientists cannot explain Him away.
He is light, love, longevity, and Lord.
He is goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, and God.
He is Holy, Righteous, mighty, powerful, and pure.
His ways are right,
His Word is eternal,
His will is unchanging, and
His mind is on me.
He is my Redeemer,
He is my Savior,
He is my guide, and
He is my peace.
He is my Joy,
He is my comfort,
He is my Lord, and
He rules my life!
I serve Him because His bond is love,
His burden is light, and
His goal for me is abundant life.
I follow Him because He is the wisdom of the wise,
The power of the powerful,
The ancient of days, the ruler of rulers,
The leader of leaders, the overseer of the overcomers, and
The sovereign Lord of all that was and is and is to come.
And if that seems impressive to you, try this for size.
He desires a personal relationship with me!
He will never leave me,
Never forsake me,
Never mislead me,
Never forget me,
Never overlook me, and
Never cancel my appointment in His appointment book.
When I fall, He lifts me up!
When I fail, He forgives!
When I am weak, He is strong!
When I am lost, He is the way!
When I am afraid, He is my courage!
When I stumble, He steadies me!
When I am hurt, He heals me!
When I am broken, He mends me!
When I am blind, He leads me!
When I am hungry, He feeds me!
When I face trials, He is with me!
When I face persecution, He shields me!
When I face problems, He comforts me!
When I face loss, He provides for me!
When I face Death, He carries me Home!
He is everything everybody needs; everywhere,
Every time, and every way.
He is God, He is faithful.
I am His, and He is mine!
My Father in heaven can whip the father of this world.
So, if you're wondering why I feel so secure, understand this . . .
He said it and that settles it.
God is in control, I am on His side, and
That means all is well with my soul.
Everyday is a blessing because Jesus lives!
Feb. 27th, 2007 @ 06:01 am
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| » Christianity and American Democracy |
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A year and a half from now there will be another presidential election in the United States. I am starting to think about the election because the line of wannabe candidates is queuing up even as I write this.
The incumbent president is completing the last of his two-term limit, and with a divided Congress squabbling between two major political parties and pointing their fingers at each other. Most of us Americans have a myopia that blinds us from looking farther back beyond our last paycheck or past quarterly reported earnings or last IRS audit, but over the last half century American politics has shown the ebbs and flows of one major political party becoming so powerful and self-serving, that it has fallen out of popular favor to the other major political party, which has proven to be just as powerful and self-serving.
With each passing day less and less is found within our American society that points to Christianity, while more and more of our society resembles the self-importance of the Greek empire, the self-determination of old Japanese and Chinese empires, the wantonness of the Roman empire and the materialism of ancient Egyptian and Babylonian empires. Although the founding fathers of the United States were men guided by upon Christian principles, it is naive to infer that the existence of Christians within the citizenry of any nation makes that country a Christian nation. We have seen countless aspects of America that display how un-Christian we really are . . . from racial slavery, rampant violence, pornography, to the tobacco and alcohol industries.
There is a huge distinction between Christianity, on the one hand, and the American society, culture and political system, on the other hand. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, atheists, and all other non-Christians need to know this for Christ's sake. They need to know that the one and only Jesus Christ - crucified for sinners, risen from the dead, and reigning as God from heaven today - was accomplishing His purposes, gathering a people for Himself from every culture, and building His church long before America ever existed, and He will be omnipotently doing the same centuries from now, even if America becomes nothing more than a footnote in world history. Christianity and the American culture are radically distinct. It is possible to be a faithful Christian under any regime in the world - and may be easier to be a radical, cross-bearing disciple of Jesus in regimes less prosperous than America. We should make that clear over and over in these days and the ones to come. Nevertheless, Christian participation in, and support for, democracy and freedom is rooted in our supreme allegiance to Jesus Christ. This is true in at least two ways. 1. Because Jesus Christ is the only person who can be trusted with absolute power, Christians are very suspicious of any move toward the dictatorship of a sinful man-that is, any man. For the Christian, democracy is not rooted in the wisdom and trustworthiness of self-governing man, but in the sole right of Christ to govern absolutely with his supreme wisdom and trustworthiness, and in the folly, pride, sinfulness, and untrustworthiness of all other men. C. S. Lewis said it like this in 1943: I am a democrat [believer in democracy] because I believe in the Fall of Man. I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason. A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that every one deserved a share in the government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they're not true. . . . I find that they're not true without looking further than myself. I don't deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation. . . . The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters. ("Equality," in C. S. Lewis: Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces) 2. Because Jesus Christ accepts only un-coerced belief and obedience, Christians reject the use of the sword and the bullet to constrain religious faith, especially Christianity. Jesus said, "This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me" (Matthew 15:8). He also said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting" (John 18:36). Coerced lip-religion is vain. A kingdom built with bullets is not the kingdom of Christ. He alone will build his kingdom in the end, and it will be with the sword of his own mouth, not the sword of our hands (Revelation 19:15, 21).This leads to the position that for the sake of Christ, Christians support freedom and its inevitable correlate, pluralism, in politics and culture. That is, for Jesus Christ's sake Christians support the legal protection of many beliefs and behaviors that are anti-Christ. In summary: 1. For Jesus Christ's sake we must radically distinguish Christianity from the American cultural, political system of democracy and freedom. 2. And for Jesus Christ's sake we may support and serve the cause of truth and justice through that system.
Feb. 15th, 2007 @ 06:36 am
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| » A Thorn, Recurring Failure to Temptation & Guilt . . . micah 7:8-9 |
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And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
As time passes, I am becoming more and more convinced that Paul's thorn in the flesh could have involved not necessarily a physical impediment (like his eyesight or physical appearance, as is taught in some churches), but a seemingly ever-present temptation . . . because Satan had dispatched one of his demons specifically to continually send messages or thoughts to Paul in order to buffet, or hammer away at Paul's susceptible weakness. And we see that Paul admits his own failure.
For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. O wretched man that I am! Romans 7:15, 18-19 & 23. [Please consider reading Romans 7 in its entirety to make sure that I'm not taking anything out of context.]
Having attended several months of Celebrate Recovery (for "recovering addicts") worship meetings at my church, I am beginning to appreciate how Satan attacks the addictive quirks of our personalities to lure each of us individually, even Christians, into lifestyles focused on our own selfish desires or on abusive living that draws our attention away from Jesus Christ. Satan, a keen studier of human behavior over the centuries, seemingly knows which buttons to push at our most vulnerable moments, when we are most prone to falling to substance abuse, or co-dependency and enabling, or sexual fantasies or even acting out. My "Achille's heel" is not the same as yours; my vulnerability to a particular temptation may be greater than your vulnerability, but you have a weakness, an area of your life that will more quickly bring you down.
Satan exploits these differences, when we have failed, by whispering into our minds something to the effect of "You are really worthless to have yielded to that sin again. Isn't that the umpteenth time you've promised God that you wouldn't do that again? Do you really think that the God of the Universe will put up with you jerking Him around? How in eternity can you ever expect to be a great witness, or to have a thrilling testimony, or to talk to others about Jesus? What a hypocrite you are! You're the only Christian I know who would ever try to run other peoples lives when you're still wallowing in the same sins before you met God. Actually, you're into worse and filthier sins than ever before. You'd better try harder to get your own life straight before you go shooting off and telling other people how to live their lives." This very same voice that set the bait in the trap, put the trap in my path, and then encouraged me to consider how tantalizing the bait is, now has changed to "the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night" per Revelations 12:10.
Last month at Passion07, Pastor John Piper addressed about 22,000 college students on dealing with personal recurring sin, specifically how to Biblically deal with sexual sin in the life of a Christian. See this link.
"The great tragedy is not mainly masturbation or fornication or acting like a peeping Tom (or curious Cathy) on the internet. The tragedy is that Satan uses the guilt of these failures to strip you of every radical dream you ever had, or might have, and in its place give you a happy, safe, secure, life of superficial pleasures until you die in your lakeside rocking chair, wrinkled and useless, leaving a big fat inheritance to your middle-aged children to confirm them in their worldliness. That’s the main tragedy.
"My aim is not mainly to cure you of sexual misconduct. I would like that to happen. Oh God let it happen! But mainly I want to take out of the devil’s hand the weapon that exploits the sin of your life to destroy your valiant dreams, and make your whole life a wasted worldly success.
"Micah 7:8-9 is a picture of what you and I are to say to our enemy when he scoffs at our defeat. Here is what you say. The believer admits that he has done wrong and that God is dealing roughly with him. But even in a condition of darkness and discipline, he will not surrender his hold on the truth that God is on his side. Take your theology and speak like this to the devil or anyone else who tells you that Christ is not capable of using you mightily for his global cause."
Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. Micah 7:8-9.
“Rejoice not over me, O my enemy.” You make merry over my failure? You think you will draw me into your deception? Think again.
“When I fall, I shall rise.” Yes, I have fallen. And I hate what I have done. I grieve at the dishonor I have brought on my king. But hear this, O my enemy, I will rise. I will rise.
“When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.” Yes, I am sitting in darkness. I feel miserable. I feel guilty. I am guilty. But that is not all that is true about me and my God. The same God who makes my darkness is a sustaining light to me in this very darkness. He will not forsake me.
“I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me.” O yes, my enemy, this much truth you say, I have sinned. I am bearing the indignation of the Lord. But that is where your truth stops and my theology begins: He—the very one who is indignant with me—he will plead my cause. You say he is against me and that I have no future with him because of my failure. That’s what Job’s friends said. That is a lie. And you are a liar. My God, whose Son’s life is my righteousness and whose Son’s death is my punishment, will execute judgment for me. For me! FOR me! And not against me.
“He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.” This misery that I now feel because of my failure, I will bear as long as my dear God ordains. And this I know for sure—as sure as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is my punishment and my righteousness—God will bring me out to the light, and I will look upon his righteousness, my Lord and my God.
My brothers and sisters, when you and I learn to deal with the guilt of sexual failure with this kind brokenhearted boldness, this kind of theology, this kind of justification by faith, this kind substitutionary atonement, this kind of gutsy guilt, this kind of unshakable position that you and I have in the crucified, risen, invincible king Jesus Christ—when you and I learn to deal with the guilt of sexual failure this way, we will fall less often as Christ becomes increasingly precious to you and me.
And best of all, Satan will not be able to destroy your dream of a life of radical obedience to Christ, to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. Lord, may it be so.
© S. Chan, 2007. All rights reserved.
Feb. 13th, 2007 @ 06:57 am
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| » Do Not Lead Us Into Temptation . . . luke 12:3 |
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I have long been familiar with what is called the "Lord's prayer", although it might be more appropriately called the "Lord's model for an apostle's prayer".
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. Luke 12:2-4
This morning as I talked with a dear friend who is preparing for examinations that could impact her life, she was all concerned that not passing the exam could slam shut doors of opportunities which would doom her to a failed life. She had become so anxious pursuing a particular career and future, that she let temptations distract her temporarily from God's sovereignty and promise to provide.
She is still responsible for studying and applying herself with all of her God-given talents and abilities, but without the need to succumb to anxiously worrying and fretting about what will happen if things do not turn out in line with her personal ambitions. Satan uses the world to tempt us and to distract us from hanging on to the promises of God.
Satan is a powerful being, but absent the express permission of Almighty God, Satan is powerless to touch a follower of Jesus or to force us do anything even though the old joke used to be "The devil made me do it." All that Satan and his demons can do is try to bait us with little traps set alongside our paths to lure us off of our walk with the Holy Spirit.
When I have prayed "don't lead [me] into temptation", without realizing it, I might have been asking that God doesn't give me the new job or the promotion that I thought I wanted, or the passing of a test, which God in His sovereign knowledge knows lead to a situation which is a temptation too great for me to resist. We have all seen situations where some athlete, model, movie star or famous person has stumbled upon monetary wealth far greater than they could handle maturely. Their lack of stewardship led to a huge downfall and a waste of God's provisions. One of the greatest blessings is to remember that God is wise enough and loving enough to spare each of us from such troubles when we sincerely pray that God won't lead us into temptation.
© S. Chan, 2007. All rights reserved.
Feb. 12th, 2007 @ 11:26 am
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| » Glory of God |
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Creator God from ages past
The Living One, The First and Last,
You are the Lord of all eternity.
The God who is and always was.
The world is only here because
The Word You spoke brought everything to be.
And when You speak again that day
The earth and sky will melt away
And we'll see You in Your glory.
(chorus)
The glory of God, the glory of God.
Your people bow down, casting our crowns before Your throne.
The glory of God, the glory of God
Our voices proclaim, praise to the name of God alone.
And when You come upon the clouds
And all the creatures cry out loud . . .
"Hallelujah to our Lord and King."
Then You will gather all Your own
Away to our eternal home.
A song of everlasting joy we'll sing.
And there our tears will all be gone
In heaven's bright majestic dawn
Where Your glory shines forever.
So every moment, every day
Everything I do and say
I'm living only to display Your glory.
from the Lifeway CD titled "Downpour"
Feb. 11th, 2007 @ 11:41 pm
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| » valentine's day . . . ephesians 5:25-33 |
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Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:25-33.
The covenant involved in leaving mother and father and holding fast to a spouse and becoming one flesh is a portrayal of the covenant between Christ and his church. Marriage exists most ultimately to display the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church. Marriage is a model of Christ and the church, for at least three reasons: 1) This lifts marriage out of the sordid sitcom images and gives it the magnificent meaning God meant it to have; 2) This gives marriage a solid basis in grace, since Christ obtained and sustains his bride by grace alone; and 3) This shows that the husband’s headship and the wife’s submission are crucial and crucified. That is, they are woven into the very meaning of marriage as a display of Christ and the church, but they are both defined by Christ’s self-denying work on the cross so that pride and slavishness are cancelled.
Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman in which they promise to be a faithful as husband and a faithful wife in a new one-flesh union as long as they both shall live. This covenant, sealed with solemn vows and sexual union, is designed to showcase the covenant-keeping grace of God.
Since Christ’s covenant with the church is created by and sustained by blood-bought grace, therefore, human marriages are meant to showcase that covenant grace. In other words, in marriage partners live hour by hour in glad dependence on God’s forgiveness and justification and promised future grace, and then they extend it out toward their spouse hour by hour—as an extension of God’s forgiveness and justification and promised help.
Marriage is designed to be a unique display of God’s covenant grace because, unlike all other human relationships, the husband and wife are bound by covenant into the closest possible relationship for a lifetime.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Colossians 3:12 As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive”—your spouse. As the Lord “bears with” you, so you should bear with your spouse. The Lord “bears with” you and me everyday as each of us falls short of His will. Indeed, the distance between what Christ expects of me and what I achieve is infinitely greater than the distance between what I expect of my spouse and what she achieves. Christ always forgives more and endures more than we do. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Bear with as He bears with you. This holds true whether you are married to a believer or an unbeliever. Let the measure of God’s grace to you in the cross of Christ be the measure of your grace to your spouse.
Additionally, if you are married to a believer, you can add this: As the Lord counts you righteous in Christ, though you are not in actual behavior or attitude, so count your spouse righteous in Christ, though he or she is not.
There is going to be conflict based on sin and strangeness (and you won’t be able even to agree with each other about what is simply strange about each other and what is sin); The hard, rugged work of enduring and forgiving is what makes it possible for affections to flourish when they seem to have died. God gets glory when two very different and very imperfect people forge a life of faithfulness in the furnace of affliction by relying on Christ.
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The "prosperity gospel" (saying that God will drop wealth and riches upon God's followers) is deceitful and deadly. It is deceitful because of Jesus teachings such as "Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." Like 14:33. And it is deadly because the desire to be rich plunges "people into ruin and destruction". 1 Timothy 6:9 Yet, the prosperity gospel is popular because many speaker who present this message desire to become popular and they desire to raise large sums of monies for their own purposes. The philosophy of the prosperity gospel says the more money that a person gives to the speaker's favorite "ministry", the more that God will bless that person. It is a "give to get" mentality, with the resources given almost always ending up directly or indirectly under the control or influence of the speaker.
The prosperity gospel promotes trusting in wealth and this makes it more difficult for people to get to heaven. Recall the rich young ruler who sorrowfully was unwilling to let go of his many possessions, and he walked away from Jesus and eternal life. Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." Mark 10:23-27.
The prosperity gospel belittles contentment and kindles materialistic desires that lead towards lust, greediness, ruin, sorrow, destruction and sometimes suicide. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:6-10.
The end of the prosperity gospel results in excess and waste instead of Godly stewardship. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21.
The prosperity gospel promotes hoarding, rather than giving. Seeking wealth establishes a testimony though a person's lifestyle that possessions are someone's greatest treasure, instead of Jesus Christ. We are to steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Ephesians 6:28. The responsibility of being entrusted to possessions does not have to be flaunted, but its temporal nature should encourage modest living. When God entrusts riches to a person, it is important to use such riches in furtherance of God's kingdom by meeting physical needs of others to open doors to meeting spiritual needs in order that God will be glorified.
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Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 1 John 3:1-3.
The glory of God does not consist only in someone perceiving God's perfections, because she may recognize the power and wisdom of God and yet take no delight it it, but abhor it. People who are like that do not glorify God. Nor does the glory of God consist particularly in speaking about God's perfections because words evidence nothing more than an impression of the mind. The glory of God, therefore, consists in a person's admiring and rejoicing and delighting in the manifestation of God's beauty and excellency. The essence of glorifying God consists in someone's rejoicing (having joy and happiness) in God's display of His beauty. The focus of our existence is that God may communicate happiness to a person because if God created the world so that He may be glorified in that person, God created it so that the person might respond by rejoicing in God's glory, for the two goals are actually one and the same. ***
The Clear Reason for Living
The Bible is crystal clear that God created you and me for His glory. Thus says the Lord, "Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory" (Isaiah 43:6-7) Life is wasted when we do not live for the glory of God . . . that means all of live. It is all for His glory. This explains why the Bible gets down into the details of eating and drinking. "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31) We waste our lives when we do not weave God into our eating and drinking and every other part by enjoying and displaying Him.
But what does it mean to "glorify God"? We must be careful not to put a dangerous twist on the meaning. Glorify is like the word beautify, but beautify usually means to make something more beautiful that it is, to improve its beauty. That is absolutely NOT what we mean by glorify in relation to God. God cannot be made more glorious or more beautiful than He already is. God cannot be improved, "nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything" (Acts 17:25). Glorify does not mean to add more glory to God.
Glorify is more like the word magnify, but this can also be misleading because magnify has two distinct meanings. When we talk about God, one meaning is worship and the other meaning is wickedness. You can magnify like a telescope or like a microscope. When you magnify like a microscope, you make something tiny look bigger than it is. A dust mite under the microscope can look like a monster. Pretending to magnify God like that is wickedness. But when you magnify like a telescope, you make something unimaginably great look like what it really is. With the Hubble Space Telescope, pinprick galaxies in the sky are revealed for the billion-star giants that they are. Magnifying God like that is worship.
We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life. God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes Him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that He truly is. In the night sky of this world, God appears to most people like a pinprick of light in a heaven of darkness. But He created us and calls us to make Him look like what He really is. This is what it means for us to be created in the image of God. We are meant to image forth into the world what He is really like. ***
Do You Feel Used?
Many people do not feel loved when they are told that God created them for His glory. They feel used. This is understandable given the way our enemy has almost completely distorted the meaning of love in our world. For most people, to be loved is to be made much of, and our culture reinforces this distortion of love by teaching that love means increasing someone's self-esteem. Love is helping someone feel good about themselves. Love is giving someone a mirror and helping her like what she sees.
This is not what the Bible means by the love of God. Love is doing what is best for someone. But making self the object of our highest affections is not the best for us. In fact, it is a lethal distraction. We were made to see and savor God - and savoring Him, to be supremely satisfied, and thus spread in all the world the worth of His presence. Not to show people th all-satisfying God is to not love them. To make them feel good about themselves when they were created to feel good about seeing God is like taking someone to the Himalayas and locking them in a room full of mirrors.
The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon or that the foothills of the Alps and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. As such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves. And each of these rare and precious moments in life - beside the Canyon, before the Alps, under the stars - is an echo of a far greater excellence, namely, the glory of God. The Bible says "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork." (Psalms 19:1)
Sometimes people say that they cannot believe that, if there is a God, he would take interest in such a tine speck of reality called humanity on Planet Earth. They say that the universe is so vast that it makes man utterly insignificant. Why would God have bothered to create such a microscopic speck of dust called the earth and humanity and then get involved with us? Beneath this question is a fundamental failure to see that the universe is about. It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe bit to say something about Himself. And He says it for us to learn and enjoy . . . that He is infinitely great and powerful and wise and beautiful. The more pictures and information that the Hubble telescope sends back to us about the unfathomable depths of space, the more we should stand in awe of God. The disproportion between us and the universe is a parable about the disproportion between us and God. And it is an understatement. But the point is not to nullify us, but to glorify Him.
Back on topic, the meaning of love has been almost totally distorted. Love has to do with showing a dying soul the life-giving beauty of the glory of God, especially His grace. We can show God's glory in a hundred practical ways that include care about food and clothes and shelter and health. That is what Jesus meant when He said "Let you light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16).
Every good work should be a revelation of the glory of God. What makes the good deed an act of love is not the raw act, but the passion and the sacrifice to make God Himself known as glorious. Not to aim to show God is not to love, because God is what we need most deeply. The Bible says that you can give away all that you have and deliver your body to be burned and have not love. (1 Corinthians 13:3) If you do not point people God for everlasting joy, then you don't love and you waste your life.
The Glory of Jesus Christ
In these last days it is imperative that we tell of the excellence of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners and risen from the dead. Jesus Christ must be explicit in all of our talking about God. With so much pluralism around us we cannot afford to talk about the glory of God in vague ways. A god without Jesus Christ is no God. And a no-God cannot save or satisfy the soul. Following a no-God -- whatever his name or whatever his religion -- results in a wasted life. God-in-Jesus-Christ is the only true God and the only path to joy. To rescue you and me from a wasted life, God made his Son, Jesus Christ, a bloody spectacle of blameless suffering and death. The eternal Son of God "did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing." He took the "form of a servant" and was bone "in the likeness of men". Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:6-8.
This Jesus was and is a real historical man in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" Colossians 2:9. He is "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God" as the Nicene Creed says, and His death and resurrection are the central act of God in history. Therefore "all things were created through him and for Him" Colossians 1:16. This shows that everything, including you and me, were created for Him, for His glory, for the glory of the Son of God.
Jesus prayed in John 17 "Father the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you." John 17:1. Ever since the incarnate, redeeming work of Jesus, God is bladly glorified by sinners only through the glorification of the risen God-Man, Jesus Christ. Jesus' bloody death is the blazing center of the glory of God. there is no way to the glory of the Father but through the Son. All the promises of joy in God's presence, and pleasures at His right hand, come to you and me only through faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the litmus test for all persons and all religions. Jesus said "The one who rejects me rejects him who sent me." Luke 10:16. People and religions who reject Jesus Christ also reject God. Do other religions know the true God? Here is the test: Do they reject Jesus as the only Savior for sinners who was crucified and raised by God from the dead? If they do, then they do not know God in a saving way. that is what Jesus meant when He said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." John 14:6. Or when Jesus said "Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him." John 5:23. Or when Jesus told the Pharisees "If God were your Father, you would love me." John 8:42. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confessed the Son has the father also. 1 john 2:23. Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. 2 John 9. There is no point in romanticizing other religions that reject the deity and saving work of Jesus Christ, because they do not know God. People who follow those religions tragically waste their lives.
If we desire to see and savor the glory of God, we must see and savor Jesus Christ, because Jesus is "the image of the invisible God." Colossians 1:15. If we want to embrace the glory of God, we must embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only are we sinners and need a Savior to die for us, but this Savior is Himself the fullest and most beautiful manifestation of the glory of God. Jesus purchases our undeserved and everlasting pleasure, and He becomes for us our all-deserving and everlasting Treasure.
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The one thing God is doing in all of redemptive history is to show forth His mercy in such a way that the greatest number of people will throughout eternity delight in Him with all their heart, strength and mind. When the earth of the new creation is filled with such people, then God's purpose in showing forth His mercy will have been achieved. All the events of redemptive history and their meaning as recorded in the Bible compose a unity in that they conjoin to bring about this goal. . . . God being glorifies and God being enjoyed are not separate categories.* They relate to each other not like fruit and animals, but like fruit and apples. Apples are one kind of fruit. Enjoying God supremely is one way to glorify Him. Enjoying God makes Him look supremely valuable. [* The Unity of the Bible: Unfolding God's Plan for Humanity, by Daniel Fuller, 1992]
God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the most loving act. Anyone else who exalts himself distracts us from what we need, namely, God. But if God exalts Himself, He calls attention to the very thing we need most for our joy. If great paintings could talk, and they saw you walking through the gallery staring at the floor, they would cry out "Look! Look at me. I am the reason you are here." And when you look and exult in the beauty of the paintings with those around you, your joy would be full. You would not complain that the paintings should have kept quiet. They rescued you from wasting your visit. In the same way no child complains "I am being used" when his father delights to make the child happy with his own presence.
Feb. 1st, 2007 @ 05:37 pm
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| » Come for me |
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Jesus come take me away, I long to see Your face
This world is broken yet beautifully made,
Jesus come take me away
Jesus I’ll patiently wait, till like a vapor I’ll fade
Help me fulfill all your dreams for these days,
Jesus I’ll patiently wait You’ll come again with a shout,
like a thief in the night you’ll come riding on clouds
Finally the voice I have followed for life
has a glorious face that is lit up with light
And you’ll come for me, no more pain, but peace,
No more fear, release
Just lost and consumed with my glorious King, And you’ll come for me Jesus today I am tired, I need your music to come and inspire
I give myself to be refined in this fire,
but Jesus today I’m so tired Come for me
Lyrics to Charlie Hall's song "Come For Me" from the CD titled "Flying Into Daybreak"
Jan. 30th, 2007 @ 06:43 pm
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| » What would not have been, if Jesus had not been born |
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Have you ever asked yourself what would be different if Jesus had never been born?
If Jesus had not been born: - This would not be the year of our Lord 2006.
- We would never hear a single Christmas carol or Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.
- No city would be named Corpus Christi, Texas, or St. Paul, Minnesota, or St. Petersburg, Florida.
- We would have never heard of William Tyndale, John Wycliffe, John Knox, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, John Hus, Billy Graham, Elizabeth Elliot, Amy Carmichael, Corrie Ten Boom, Fanny Crosby, Alexander Solzenitzen, C.S. Lewis, Chuck Swindoll, John MacArthur, Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, John Piper, or… make a list of your own.
- There would be no organizations such as Wycliffe Bible Translators, Campus Crusade for Christ, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Navigators, Bethel University, The Red Cross, Methodist Hospital, The Salvation Army, Christian Book Sellers Association, National Association of Evangelicals, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Purdue, and countless others.
- We would have no such books as Tale of Two Cities, Dickens’s Christmas Carol, or even The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
- We have no movies such as Ben Hur, The Cross and the Switchblade, Chariots of Fire, Narnia, and scores of others.
- We would never ever had heard such songs as “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” “Fairest Lord Jesus,” “Joy to the World.”
- Idioms would never have been brought into our language such as the Good Samaritan, the prodigal son, lost sheep, or any of Jesus’ other parables.
- We would not have teachings that have entered our every day speech such as turn the other cheek, go the second mile, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and love your enemies.
- It’s unlikely that this continent would have seen the arrival of the Pilgrims, and if they had come by some other name, years later President Washington could have been King George instead.
- It could be easily argued that the United States Founding documents would not be what they are.
- The Wuaorani Indians of Ecuador would still kill white men instead of baptizing their children.
- The Arawakan Indians of the Caribbean would still be cannibals.
- Descendents of the Mayans in Chiapas, Mexico, would still sacrifice their children instead of teaching them to praise the true Creator.
- Prophecies would remain unfulfilled, the serpent would not be crushed, we would not be delivered, and God would be a liar. Death would not be conquered.
- The New Testament would never have been written.
- There would be no mediator between God and man, for the man Christ Jesus would not have been born. We would remain dead in our trespasses and sins, the veil not yet rent.
But he was born! May the realization of the sweeping impact of his birth, life, death, and resurrection bring you a very Merry Christmas! (with appreciation to Sam Crabtree)
Dec. 24th, 2006 @ 12:07 am
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| » You Are God Alone |
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You are not a god
Created by human hands
You are not a god
Dependent on any mortal man
You are not a god
In need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is
(chorus)
You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
You are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You're the only God
Whose power none can contend
You're the only God
Whose name and praise will never end
You're the only God
Who's worthy of everything we can give
You are God
And that's just the way it is
Unchangeable
Unshakable
Unstoppable
That's what You are
(by Phillips Craig & Dean)
Aug. 28th, 2006 @ 04:38 am
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| » Heap Coals of Fire . . . romans 12:20 |
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Vengeance, revenge, tit-for-tat, retribution . . . we have a million ways of getting back for wrongs done to us. "Don't get mad, get even." However, the calling for Christians is altogether different.
Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. Therefore"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21.
We are to turn the other cheek, feed the hungry enemy, give drink to the thirsty enemy, overcome evil with good . . . so what does this have to do with heap[ing] coals of fire [up]on his head? Are we to try to burn our enemies to death? Doesn't that just undo all the good will that is being generated? It turns out that in the wilderness the second most important possession is fire (the first, most important possession is drinking water). Recent reality television shows reinforce this point because when a survivor team is able to make fire, it has a huge distinct advantage over the other survivor team, in terms of warmth, ability to cook food, boil water and purify things, dry clothes and bedding, make smoke signals, melt metal for reuse, etc.
The same has been true throughout history. Fire was tremendously valuable, and the ability to transport fire was crucial to the survival of whole tribes of people. Much like in parts of rural Asia and Africa today, many heavy or awkward items would be carried on people's heads. The same is true of fire as glowing embers (i.e. coals) would be carried in clay pots which were balanced on the heads of men or women traveling with a roaming tribe.
So the "heap coals of fire on someone's head" thing is to provide the biggest favor imaginable. It is to give them something that they need to be able to live. It is to give them plenty (heap) so that they don't have to worry about the fire being inadvertently blown out with the next downdraft. In the end, it is overcoming evil with good.
You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew: 5:43-48.
So if we emulate God, who loved us even when we were enemies against Him, then Jesus declares that we will just as our Father in heaven is. That's just perfect.
© S. Chan, 2006. All rights reserved.
Aug. 21st, 2006 @ 06:53 am
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| » The Glory of Your Name |
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It was in the way You came
As a lowly babe
That Your glory was displayed
And it was in the sacrifice
Of the purest life
It was in Your Father’s will obeyed
(chorus)
The perfect Lamb that was slain
And there’s the glory of Your name
No other one, no other way for me to see
You took my place, You are the way
And there’s the glory of Your name
Yes, there’s the glory of Your name
It was in Your victory, risen for the world to see
That all who would believe could enter in
And it is in the passionate price
Now demanding all my life
And beating in the chambers of my heart
And there is nothing in this world
That could take the place of You
That could take the place of You my Jesus
And there is nothing in this life
That could take the place of
One life, one love
One power to save us all
One hope, one truth
And one glory in it all
One glory in it all
(Thank you Christy and Nathan for a decade of letting Jesus' light shine on you, and your radiating back through some of the purest music the reverential praise due to the name of the Lord Most High. It is always a joy to listen to the freshness of the Watermark songs lifting God to His rightful throne in your music and in our lives. As one chapter in our lives leads to another, it will be wonderful to see what God has in store next for your talents and His touch. God bless both of you as well as Noah Luke and little Elliana Noelle.)
© S. Chan, 2006. All rights reserved.
Aug. 20th, 2006 @ 06:23 am
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| » Jesus Knows Somebody At Your Church . . . Luke 18:9-14 |
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You probably know him, too:
He attends church pretty regularly and is well respected.
He is financially honest.
He is fair in all of his business dealings.
He never extorts money from other people.
He is married and he is sexually faithful to his wife.
He is considered to be a morally upright person.
He consistently tithes or gives a meaningful offering to church.
He prays regularly.
He participates along with the church from time to time in a fast for spiritual discipline.
He is a religiously devout person.
He recognizes that every blessing is from God.
He gives God credit for making him upright and devout.
He knows that he cannot be righteous without God's help.
He is not a legalist, trying to earn his salvation to heaven.
He loves the sovereignty of God.
He says "Not I but the grace of God in me has worked this righteousness."
He thanks God for it.
So, is there a problem here?
Also He [Jesus] spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14
Now, wait a minute, if I had called the person at your church a Pharisee then you would have instantly known that Jesus would have an issue with that person. But since labels prematurely prejudice our thinking and conjure images of stereotypes in our minds, let's forget a moment about the label. Let's just look at what the guy does, going all of the way through the list, to see whether any single item is necessarily wrong or right.
It is pretty hard to pin blame onto any of his characteristics. Aren't these all good characteristics? He looks like a pretty normal solid citizen like the guy who works in the office down the hall, or who lives next door, or your sunday school teacher, or you, or me. Why does Jesus, when He compares the two men, declare that the second man [the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other [guy, the first man]?
The "other", the man thanking God for his righteousness, is the person who is not justified. That person is condemned. It is because he trusts in his righteousness. Yes, he is thankful to God for righteousness. That is no mistake. But he trusts in this righteousness, even as a gift from God, as the basis of his justification. The lesson Jesus teaches here is: People who trust in the righteousness that God has worked in them for the basis of their acceptance and acquittal and justification do not go down to their house justified. People who believe that the righteousness that God helps them do in this life is a sufficient basis for their justification are wrong. This is deadly serious. There are thousands of church members who think they will go to heaven, but Jesus says they are not justified because their trust is misplaced. We are not justified by the righteousness that Christ works in us. We are justified only by the righteousness that Christ is for us. God made Him to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
How can you and I tell if we are trusting in ourselves that we are righteous? Look back at the first verse and see to whom Jesus was speaking. Jesus spoke to some people that trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. Righteousness within you and me, even when we attibute it as originating from God, leads to despising other people. If there is somebody you can think of who repulses you, anyone that you find disgraceful or unworthy or repugnant, perhaps somebody who is really easy to ignore or to pretend doesn't exist, then haven't you despised him or her? Aren't you trusting that you are better than that person?
On the other hand, the tax collector looked away from himself and looked to God. The tax collector trusted nothing in himself. He trusted in God only. This tax collector was the man who God declared righteousness. He was the person who was justified.
Catch the difference. Take it to heart. It can affect your eternity.
© S. Chan, 2006. All rights reserved.
Aug. 15th, 2006 @ 06:01 am
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| » "I Will Fight For Your Right to Disagree" |
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Last month while traveling abroad, one of the interesting questions I encountered from Brazilians who wanted to know more about the American way of life came from my interpreter Grazielle as we rode a bus one afternoon between different communities within the City of Niteroi. Grazielle said "I see all of the news reports on television and all of the articles in the newspapers. Tell me, do all Americans always oppose what the President does?"
The ensuing discussion helped me to realize that the United States really is unique (in a good way) compared to much of the world, even in comparison to other nations that hold democratic elections from time to time such as Brazil. My response to Grazielle's question follows.
The political party which has its person sitting as President is considered to be "in power" and the political party without a person sitting as President is the opposition party. Currently President George W. Bush and his Republican political party are in power and the Democratic political party is the opposition party. Before George W. Bush, it used to be that President Bill Clinton and his Democratic political party were in power and the Republican political party was the opposition party. Regardless of the political affiliation, the President and his party in power (I will call them collectively, the "Administration") will naturally draw lots of media attention because of laws being passed and enforced. In America we view it as important that the news media be given full access to report the claims and charges voiced by the opposition party. During any Administration, the opposition party's frequent criticism of the Administration keeps the Administration honest and also provides alternative solutions to problems that are different from the solutions proposed by the Administration.
What makes U.S.A. so unique is twofold: First, with the American freedom of the press, the media is sure to report on the differences and culture clashes between the Administration and the opposition party. Secondly and just as importantly, the American public places value on hearing the comments and expressions from the opposition party. We need to listen to both sides of every argument, to hear both sides' pros and cons to be able to determine who is telling the truth and who is exaggerating the truth. Many foreign countries that are considered to be democratic still have massive governmental influence as to what gets printed in the newspapers and what is aired over the radio and television airwaves. In Brazil, there is a general resignation among the populace that corruption and money-hungry politicians are the norm rather than the exception, and that any change in administrations would bring only marginal changes, if any. There is in such countries a lack of understanding of so many attitudes that we Americans take for granted as basic rights. So when I mentioned the saying below, it would draw blank stares from folks who have never had that thought, from people who find it difficult to imagine the authenticity of those who would say such a thing. It seems that only in the U.S.A. is there such a common American phrase as:
"I might not agree with what you am saying. But I will fight to the death for your right to say it."
© S. Chan, 2006. All rights reserved.
Aug. 14th, 2006 @ 06:34 am
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| » Trust Beats Fear . . . jeremiah 17:7-8 |
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I read the story about a recent city council meeting where the possibilities for a certain project were narrowed down to two choices and then the councilmen reached a stalemate on how to move forward as each choice has pros and cons that seemed to offset each other choice's advantages and disadvantages. Each of the choices had as much support as the other choice. But to stand pat and not do anything would have been worse than going down the path of any of the choices, so the council decided to pick one of the two choices using the old "rock-paper-scissors" method. You remember that game we played as teenagers (before Nintendo or X-Box existed): Rock crushes scissors. Scissors cuts paper. Paper covers rock. One of them always beats another. That incident reminded me of the Old Testament passage which illustrates that trust beats fear.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8
This man's trust and hope are not just in himself or his own abilities and resources, or anything or anyone else other than God. His trust and hope are in the Lord. If you and I, like this man, fully trust the Lord God Almighty by placing our hope only in the Lord, then we will be like a large, established leafy-green, fruit-yielding tree with deep roots tapping into and drinking the life-giving river water even when the heat comes and stays for a year of drought. When you and I are rooted into the promises of God there is no place left for anxiety or fearfulness because we rest exactly where God would have us be. Even the harsh external conditions that come into our lives for a season like a drought to not stop the Holy Spirit from producing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience and endurance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22) in our lives when we rest with our trust and hope in our sovereign God. If this is a period of time in your life and my life into which God has brought situations of drought and need, then we should use this season to full advantage by trusting and hoping in God. If this is a time of abundance and plenty, then how much sweeter to grow our roots deeper and farther into knowing the mind and the heart of God by learning to love to spend time with God in prayer and in reading the Bible. Every experience and event which comes into my life and into your life is God-ordained. time is precious, to be redeemed or to be wasted, as you and I would choose. Choose wisely.
© S. Chan, 2006. All rights reserved.
Aug. 13th, 2006 @ 06:24 am
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| » Afflictions Given Reluctantly . . . Lamentations 3:33 |
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The Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. Lamentations 3:31-33
I am encouraged to know that when God does cause grief, it is for wise and holy ends, and God does not delight in our calamities. All pain, sufferings, grievances and afflictions can rightfully be attributed as coming from God, because to the extent an all-knowing and all-powerful God refuses to step in and stop a calamity from happening, then it is correct to equate His refusal to prevent the calamity as being the same as His causing the calamity. All of the afflictions from God, and that consists of all of the afflictions that come our way, are the result of what God does but God does not do them willingly. That means that the sufferings we receive from God's hand do not come from God's heart. God afflicts us with sufferings reluctantly or grudgingly.
When God dispenses favors through His kindness, He does it out of His good pleasure because it pleases God to show His kindness and benevolence. However, when God ordains bitter things for us God does it out of necessity for us and not because He derives any pleasure from our suffering. God does not delight in the death of sinners, or the disquiet of Christians, but God places afflictions on His creatures with a kind of reluctance.
When you and I are "neck-deep in alligators" (as the saying goes), we need to remember that everything God does is for a purpose. He is not whimsical. God does not have a masochistic bent. He is not like you or me when we were children using a magnifying lens to focus sunlight onto an ant mound to burn ants. God will use painful incidents to draw us closer to Him.
I have often heard how shepherds such as David of the Old Testament will work with a young lamb to keep it within the herd of sheep, but if the lamb keeps on wandering away at its own peril then a wise shepherd will break one of the lamb's leg and then carry the lamb on the shepherd's shoulders until the leg is healed. Such an extreme measure teaches the lamb the importance of staying with the flock and more importantly, staying close to the shepherd. The act of breaking the leg and shouldering the lamb also displays the great love and back-breaking sacrifice the shepherd must endure to teach the painful lesson to the lamb.
God also will use painful incidents to draw us closer to Him to knock out all of our props from underneath us so that we might learn to be more dependent upon Him. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 God does not care as much about our comfort and ease as He is concerned that we learn to be wholly dependent upon God. God wants to be our provider, our resource, our sole sustenance, but we must be weaned from the self-sufficient tendencies of this world.
© S. Chan, 2006. All rights reserved.
Aug. 9th, 2006 @ 06:25 am
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| » Dual Citizenship . . . Luke 20:25 |
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Last month in Brazil, I befriended Rafael, who plays lead guitar for the Christian group called "Band Tenda". Rafael was a big encouragement because his grasp of spoken English was better than most of the native Brasilians in the City of Niteroi. During times when I spoke to his church's congregation I would use a Portuguese-speaking interpreter, but by watching Rafael I could see him listening to my English and when my thoughts "clicked" or registered in his brain, then I could see a wave of acknowledgment wash across his face.
Rafael was born in New Jersey, U.S.A. but he moved with his family back to Brasil before he turned one year old. So Rafael is a citizen of two countries, Brasil and USA. He has dual citizenship. As he grew up in Brasil, his father would joke "This is my son, the American who speaks no English!" Rafael's english is almost impeccable now.
Rafael's dual citizenship reminds me of when Jesus was confronted by the priests and Pharisees: So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor. Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me? Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?" They answered and said, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent. Luke 20:20-26
As a citizen of two countries, my friend Rafael has the benefits and privileges of being a citizen both of Brazil and of USA. But privileges comes with responsibilities. Rafael must obey as a citizen the laws of both countries to which he pledges his allegiance. If you have committed your life to God as I have, then you and I are also dual citizens like Jesus demonstrated in His life. Jesus lived in the "here" and "now" of a particular time and space on this planet, while maintaining his citizenship in heaven.
As a born-again Christian, I have been birthed twice, once physically and once spiritually, and I am a citizen of a local country here on Earth and of heaven. So I have privileges and responsibilities as an American and as a follower of God.
In trying to provide a graphical image of what that means, I think I have an image. Consider a sine wave (for all you mathematicians) going horizontally across a blank page where everything above the line represented all that I must do to conform the the laws of my country and everything below the line represents things that I am not compelled to do. Now, graphically imagine along the same axis a cosine line (yes, we are staying with mathematics) that crests and troughs along the line in different locations from the sine line. Any space that is above either line is now part of my duties and responsibilities to ge a good citizen of both ruling authorities. The point being that having a dual citizenship necessarily implies having additional responsibilities. No professing Christian should use his or her relationship with Jesus as an excuse to not step up to their own responsibilities. Instead, embrace the additional responsibilities of dual citizenship as a privilege not otherwise available to many people. Don't let your actions or inactions be spoken of to put the kingdom of Jesus Christ into disrepute.
© S. Chan, 2006. All rights reserved.
Aug. 5th, 2006 @ 06:14 am
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| » Defeating Persistent Personal Sin |
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Recently in response to a difficulties that my friend has been going through, I shared some ideas with him that helped to pull my own thoughts together. The issue is how to deal with a sin in one's life that won't stay conquered when a temptation keeps reappearing. I'll speak as to myself, but see whether or not it also applies to you.
As Apostle Paul confesses in Romans 9, I tend to do in my heart what I know in my mind that I shouldn't be doing. Part of the reason that I cannot seem to give it up is that either (i) I have not yet had to deal with the full consequences of the sin (I might think that it's not so bad or I might think that I've gotten away with it), or (ii) I fail to consider the heinousness of the sin against a pure and holy God. The thought of that particular sin lingers in my brain and my heart. If I cherish sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. (Psalms 66:18) It isn't that God is unable to hear my prayers to Him, but that He refuses to when there is cherished sin in my life. I describe "cherished sin" as a sin where the seductiveness of it lingers in my memory. For example, someone might says "There is a sin that I haven't done in the last ten years, but I'm not sorry that I did it back then." That right there is cherished sin. And as long as it continues to lurk within my heart, it will affect my fellowship with God (notice, it does not affect my relationship with God). I need to not only confess (as we have watered down that term in the 21st century) and repent, but I need to renounce that sin. I need to look and see that sin to be as awful and as death-creating as God sees it. If I cannot realize that on my own, I should ask the Holy Spirit to help me view the sin as He views that sin. The Holy Spirit will follow through on that prayer request as it brings glory to God.
Galatians 5 describes how I used to be before God adopted me into His family, and then describes the fruit of the Spirit that the Holy Spirit is waiting to grow out of my life. The key of the entire passage to unlocking the fruit is If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25) As used here the work "walk" is actually a military word (think Roman army) meaning "to stay in step" like a platoon parading before the commanding general or the emperor, or even like a high school or college band marching in formation during halftime of a football game. The trick to "stay in step" when marching in formation is using your peripheral vision to watch the pacesetter out of the corner of your eye. Then if I get out of step, I can do the "half-shuffle" to get back in step. That is exactly the word picture the Apostle Paul draws for us, in that we are to keep our eye on the Holy Spirit with our peripheral vision and when we notice that we aren't in sync then we get back "in step."
Despite that, our enemy Satan and his henchmen-demons lurk for every opportunity to trip us up with temptations. So what am I to do when the urge, the temptation, the desire, the longing to do that sin crops back up? James 4:7 provides the answer, "Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." That isn't so much a promise as it is a statement of fact. When I resist the devil, he will flee. Period. End of statement. Think back to the times when you had successfully avoided succumbing to the temptation, and what was it that lead to success? Basically you told the devil "not only no, but hell no!" Any temptation, if you resist, you will notice that in a very short while the urge for that temptation will fade and disappear. Hardly ever as long as 15 minutes, but more often that not the urge will dissolve and disappear within one or two minutes.
We can take great comfort in the example Jesus provided when He was tempted. The devil has only three arrows in his quiver to attack us with, and when we recognize them we are on the way to deflecting them. According to 1 John 2:15-16, we are told "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world." So there it is, the only weapons that are available to the devil: (1) the lust of the flesh - the devil whispers to us that we NEED it (whatever "it" is) to survive, just as Jesus after fasting for 40 days was offered an opportunity to change the stones to loaves of bread; (2) the lust of the eyes - the devil tells us that we WANT it, just as Jesus was told to cast Himself off of the temple to prove up that He had the favor and protection of God the Father as predicted in the Old Testament; and (3) the pride of life - the devil suggests to us what we think we DESERVE it, just as Jesus has been promised to be given all of the kingdoms of the world and at Satan's third temptation Jesus could accomplish it without the horror and humiliation of a Roman crucifixion.
The key to resisting is shown by Jesus each time the devil brought a temptation. Jesus didn't dwell on the temptation but, rather, Jesus focused His mind on one single thing and that is passages from God's word (also known as scripture, or the "sword of the Spirit"). Scripture is the only offensive (as opposed to defensive) part of the Roman soldier's uniform. Although scripture memorization would be wonderful, most of us are not disciplined enough on a regular basis, so what then? Start by having a daily quiet time alone with God of 10 or 15 minutes each morning as soon as you wake up by talking to God (prayer) and then allowing God to talk to you (reading from the Bible). Even when I read parts of the Bible that I don't see how it will apply in my life, the memories of the readings sit back there and are available whenever the Holy Spirit wants to bring it back into my memory.
This battle is an ongoing one each day because Jesus' call on my life and your life is that each of us is to take up our cross daily and follow Him. (Luke 9:23). Don't let the daily quiet time become a burden or a chore or something to rush through and check a box, but linger and delight in it until Christ Jesus becomes your joy.
© S. Chan, 2006. All rights reserved.
Jul. 12th, 2006 @ 10:24 am
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