Yesterday I had the priviledge of going to Toronto to share the gospel with some High school students from our church youth fellowship.
Marvin(Not his real name) and I went around the Eaton Center and tried to talk to people. We were pretty scared, and most conversations did not end with any gospel discussions.
Eventually we talked to some Muslims who were manning a booth, the person who was handing out reading materials referred us to someone at the back after we told him we were Christians and wanted to talk about Jesus.
The person at the back (I'll call him Mohan) started talking about errors in the Bible, how Acts 8:37 was missing from some translations and how that violated Revelations 22:19, I was taken back a bit because I didn't know Acts 8:37 was missing , but told him it probably has something to do with manuscripts.
Mohan then brought up more errors and I remembered not to get caught up in debate on words, so I asked him how he would get to heaven, interestingly he firmly believes that by keeping the law he would go to heaven and that the Apostle Paul was wrong in relieving people of the stray jacket of the law.
I then asked him what he thought of the sacrificial systems of the OT, he said something about the Jews trying to make up a false religion.
We eventually ended our conversation with a discussion about the deity of Christ, he told me if I could show him where Jesus explicitly calls himself God, he would become a Christian, so I told him about the incident when the Jews tried to stone Jesus because he said "Before Abraham was, I am." Mohan denied it and said in the omniscience of God, all men existed before they where born. I told him that was not in the text and we bid our farewell, he told me to come visit soon, and that God willing, we shall meet again. I hope that God willing, he would see the truth and be set free from the bondage of sin and trying to earn God's favor by keeping the law.
Evangelism is exciting and I learned a lot:
1. I need to know my bible better
2. Avoid excessive debates about words and secondary issues and focus on who Jesus is and how he saves men from our sin.
2. Just be yourself and talk naturally and honestly with people, who knows what God is doing in a person's heart
3. Despite being afraid and nervous, I need to take initiative to approach strangers
4. Evangelism is fulfilling and brings a lot of joy. Maybe that's why Jesus told the disciples he has food that they don't know about (Doing God's will).
5. We should do this more often, and God willing this will become a habit for the youth fellowship.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
When obedience is rewarded with suffering
Joseph and Job.
After refusing the continual temptations from his master's wife, he was thrown in jail.
After serving God faithfully, almost everything he possessed was taken away.
Is God cruel? He is if our hope is to avoid suffering.
My desire for a long time was to live a comfortable life, time after time standing at the edge of the diving board, I knew what God expects, to forsake all hope and love for this world and follow him.
Isn't it funny? God doesn't promise comfort, but suffering. "All who desires to live a righteous life will suffer" "They hate you because they first hated me"
Broken families, sickness, strained relationships, accidents, death.
This life is full of tears and sorrow, sometimes becoming a Christian causes more sorrow, and God doesn't take these bad circumstances away.
But there is hope, and comfort. Suffering is like throwing gold into the furnace, what comes out is purer than what went in. It's like a loud reminder of how messed up this world is and how weak and helpless we are in dealing with the waves of history and circumstances. It's a reminder that we are but pilgrims, and life is short.
It is said that the present suffering is light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory that is to come (I have no idea what that's like). Do I really believe that? God help us to rejoice in suffering.
After refusing the continual temptations from his master's wife, he was thrown in jail.
After serving God faithfully, almost everything he possessed was taken away.
Is God cruel? He is if our hope is to avoid suffering.
My desire for a long time was to live a comfortable life, time after time standing at the edge of the diving board, I knew what God expects, to forsake all hope and love for this world and follow him.
Isn't it funny? God doesn't promise comfort, but suffering. "All who desires to live a righteous life will suffer" "They hate you because they first hated me"
Broken families, sickness, strained relationships, accidents, death.
This life is full of tears and sorrow, sometimes becoming a Christian causes more sorrow, and God doesn't take these bad circumstances away.
But there is hope, and comfort. Suffering is like throwing gold into the furnace, what comes out is purer than what went in. It's like a loud reminder of how messed up this world is and how weak and helpless we are in dealing with the waves of history and circumstances. It's a reminder that we are but pilgrims, and life is short.
It is said that the present suffering is light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory that is to come (I have no idea what that's like). Do I really believe that? God help us to rejoice in suffering.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Drawing out people's desires
Have you ever noticed that Jesus asks people a lot of questions? If God is omniscient, why does he ask questions?
It's definitely not to gain information or understanding, because he's omniscient, but it's for the good of the person who's being asked these questions.
We are human beings with blind or hazy spiritual eyes, men's hearts are like deep waters, who can understand it? But a wise man(!) can draw it out.
This is something I've been noticing and learning, especially from the story of the rich young ruler, I noticed God's kindness to self-righteous, blind sinners.
The young man thought 3 things were good, Jesus, himself, and money. Maybe he calls Jesus good to flatter him, or maybe he has heard of his miracles and teachings and are intrigued. He thought himself was good and has obeyed the commandments since he was young. He thought money was good, because he was unwilling to part with it.
But the truth is only God is good. When the young man went to Jesus with flattery, and self righteousness, Jesus did not respond with hatred or contempt, but Mark's gospel tells us that he loved the young man, and finally asked him to give away his wealth to help him see his bondage to the love of money.
Way too many times I'm quick to speak rashly and harshly when sharing the gospel and try to condemn people's sins in a self righteous manner, perhaps that's why I've been afraid to share the gospel. God have mercy.
It's definitely not to gain information or understanding, because he's omniscient, but it's for the good of the person who's being asked these questions.
We are human beings with blind or hazy spiritual eyes, men's hearts are like deep waters, who can understand it? But a wise man(!) can draw it out.
This is something I've been noticing and learning, especially from the story of the rich young ruler, I noticed God's kindness to self-righteous, blind sinners.
The young man thought 3 things were good, Jesus, himself, and money. Maybe he calls Jesus good to flatter him, or maybe he has heard of his miracles and teachings and are intrigued. He thought himself was good and has obeyed the commandments since he was young. He thought money was good, because he was unwilling to part with it.
But the truth is only God is good. When the young man went to Jesus with flattery, and self righteousness, Jesus did not respond with hatred or contempt, but Mark's gospel tells us that he loved the young man, and finally asked him to give away his wealth to help him see his bondage to the love of money.
Way too many times I'm quick to speak rashly and harshly when sharing the gospel and try to condemn people's sins in a self righteous manner, perhaps that's why I've been afraid to share the gospel. God have mercy.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Focus
Recently 1 John 5 and Jesus' words of him rebuilding the temple after 3 days have been very encouraging to me.
People have told me before that the church is not a building but people, I've never truly grasped this until recently, it happened when I was preparing for sunday school, there was this activity with a maze, where you are supposed to find a path to the church.
I tried to find the path to the building, which was super complex. Then I read the words at the bottom, which said that the church is not a building, but people! And voila, I see a group of people in the lower right hand side with a very simple path that led to them!
It was cool because Jesus and the apostles thought this way too, what was precious to them wasn't a physical building, but people redeemed by the blood of Christ.
When Jesus told the Jewish leaders he would destroy the temple and raise it up again, they thought it was a physical temple, but he was refering to his body. When Paul warns against sexual sin, he tells us that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God will take vengeance upon everyone who destroys the temple.
What is amazing is that through faith we are united to Christ's resurrection, so that as he is risen, we have are also risen and have newness of life, and will receive a new body in the age to come.
This leads to 1 John 5, which says that the testimony of God is life in Christ, and that all believers have this testimony in them. That's why the focus of church is not buildings or programs, but the people, our relationship with God and with one another.
With God, our hatred is turned to love, commandments shouldn't be burdensome, but should be a delight to obey. With other believers, bitterness and grudge holding, malicious and suspicious thoughts should be turned into understanding, kindness, and forgiveness. Yet we are still a work in progress, may the Lord help us to grow in grace.
People have told me before that the church is not a building but people, I've never truly grasped this until recently, it happened when I was preparing for sunday school, there was this activity with a maze, where you are supposed to find a path to the church.
I tried to find the path to the building, which was super complex. Then I read the words at the bottom, which said that the church is not a building, but people! And voila, I see a group of people in the lower right hand side with a very simple path that led to them!
It was cool because Jesus and the apostles thought this way too, what was precious to them wasn't a physical building, but people redeemed by the blood of Christ.
When Jesus told the Jewish leaders he would destroy the temple and raise it up again, they thought it was a physical temple, but he was refering to his body. When Paul warns against sexual sin, he tells us that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God will take vengeance upon everyone who destroys the temple.
What is amazing is that through faith we are united to Christ's resurrection, so that as he is risen, we have are also risen and have newness of life, and will receive a new body in the age to come.
This leads to 1 John 5, which says that the testimony of God is life in Christ, and that all believers have this testimony in them. That's why the focus of church is not buildings or programs, but the people, our relationship with God and with one another.
With God, our hatred is turned to love, commandments shouldn't be burdensome, but should be a delight to obey. With other believers, bitterness and grudge holding, malicious and suspicious thoughts should be turned into understanding, kindness, and forgiveness. Yet we are still a work in progress, may the Lord help us to grow in grace.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Gospel call, human response, discipleship, and healthy church community
Do you want a good, loving church community? Are you a leader who is frustrated and perplexed at why it's so hard to motivate people to live for Christ?
The solution can be found in a honest, and strong grip on the gospel and it's contextual truths.
The gospel is called a light that shines in darkness, the word itself means news that brings blessing.
Therefore, pastors, leaders must not compromise it's contextual truths, that all natural men are slaves of sin, living in darkness, with no hope of digging ourselves out of the pit.
Only when this truth is grasped, and declared without compromise will the gospel be any good. Because only the sick needs a physician. Self righteous people always reject the gospel.
The difficult task in sharing the gospel is that this truth offends people, so we are tempted to compromise. Compromise produced massive damage in churches, men came up with many unbiblical, false methods to "convert" people, then discipleship is difficult because church members are still living in darkness, full of hatred for God and his commandments, no wonder nobody wants to follow Jesus.
Some examples include: redefining the church's mission into something that excludes the above truths from being declared, presumpsiously declaring people to be saved, an all inclusive mentality that blurrs the line between believer and non believer and true and false chrstians, emotional experiences passed off as spiritual and a right relationship with God with no regard to whether the words which produced such emotions are true or not, mysticism without understanding what the bible says about weighty matters.
Secondly, the gospel demands a response, the good and proper response to receive the gospel is repentance and faith. Again, due to a lack of understanding of repentance and fear of offense, repentance is hardly talked about in detail. (Faith is because it's not offensive).
But men cannot separate what God has put together without doing damage. A lack of understanding of true repentance makes it difficult for pastors to care for the souls of the congregation, it makes it difficult for people to examine their own lives so they can have assurance of salvation. If only faith is talked about and taught in churches then we have a man with only one leg, he cannot stand.
When talking about repentance, many may think it is contrary to being saved by grace, because it sounds like works, but this is not true because repentance is not the same as moral reformation and making myself better.
True repentance is rooted in sorrow at the realization that I have sinned against God, and a desire to turn away from sin and towards God. It is different from moral reform, or making comittments to better oneself. The later can come from a trust in myself and lead people further into their depraved, sin nature to find a cure, but the former always leads to trust Christ who is external, out side of men, to find righteousness and justification from the sins we've committed.
True repentance is also a lifelong journey, because even though Christians are righteous and becoming better as time goes by, the fact that we have sin is true until the day we die. 1 John 1 says that if we say we have no sin, then we lie, and declare God a liar. (John uses we so he is included too).
True repentance might start in shame, guilt, and sorrow, but it does not leave you in shame because heaven rejoices over 1 sinner who repents, a good motivation for repentance is hope to obtain joy from God.
True repentance brings a person new relationship with sin and God - the sins we loved we hate and wish to be rid of, the God we hated and who's commands we despised we now love and wants to obey
True repentance leads to a degree of changed behavior - this is different in each person, it's wrong to set up how one person's behavior changes as the standard everyone should follow, because that doesn't address the heart.
Therefore, those who responds to the gospel in repentance and faith can be discipled. When majority of the church members are like this, a healthy church is formed.
I hope this helps and may God bless you and give you comfort in realizing these issues the church is struggling with, and also encouragement and comfort knowing that the solution is a simple grasp of the gospel. Also we need courage to not compromise, and love to not be cruel in our endeavor to stand for the truth. God help us all.
The solution can be found in a honest, and strong grip on the gospel and it's contextual truths.
The gospel is called a light that shines in darkness, the word itself means news that brings blessing.
Therefore, pastors, leaders must not compromise it's contextual truths, that all natural men are slaves of sin, living in darkness, with no hope of digging ourselves out of the pit.
Only when this truth is grasped, and declared without compromise will the gospel be any good. Because only the sick needs a physician. Self righteous people always reject the gospel.
The difficult task in sharing the gospel is that this truth offends people, so we are tempted to compromise. Compromise produced massive damage in churches, men came up with many unbiblical, false methods to "convert" people, then discipleship is difficult because church members are still living in darkness, full of hatred for God and his commandments, no wonder nobody wants to follow Jesus.
Some examples include: redefining the church's mission into something that excludes the above truths from being declared, presumpsiously declaring people to be saved, an all inclusive mentality that blurrs the line between believer and non believer and true and false chrstians, emotional experiences passed off as spiritual and a right relationship with God with no regard to whether the words which produced such emotions are true or not, mysticism without understanding what the bible says about weighty matters.
Secondly, the gospel demands a response, the good and proper response to receive the gospel is repentance and faith. Again, due to a lack of understanding of repentance and fear of offense, repentance is hardly talked about in detail. (Faith is because it's not offensive).
But men cannot separate what God has put together without doing damage. A lack of understanding of true repentance makes it difficult for pastors to care for the souls of the congregation, it makes it difficult for people to examine their own lives so they can have assurance of salvation. If only faith is talked about and taught in churches then we have a man with only one leg, he cannot stand.
When talking about repentance, many may think it is contrary to being saved by grace, because it sounds like works, but this is not true because repentance is not the same as moral reformation and making myself better.
True repentance is rooted in sorrow at the realization that I have sinned against God, and a desire to turn away from sin and towards God. It is different from moral reform, or making comittments to better oneself. The later can come from a trust in myself and lead people further into their depraved, sin nature to find a cure, but the former always leads to trust Christ who is external, out side of men, to find righteousness and justification from the sins we've committed.
True repentance is also a lifelong journey, because even though Christians are righteous and becoming better as time goes by, the fact that we have sin is true until the day we die. 1 John 1 says that if we say we have no sin, then we lie, and declare God a liar. (John uses we so he is included too).
True repentance might start in shame, guilt, and sorrow, but it does not leave you in shame because heaven rejoices over 1 sinner who repents, a good motivation for repentance is hope to obtain joy from God.
True repentance brings a person new relationship with sin and God - the sins we loved we hate and wish to be rid of, the God we hated and who's commands we despised we now love and wants to obey
True repentance leads to a degree of changed behavior - this is different in each person, it's wrong to set up how one person's behavior changes as the standard everyone should follow, because that doesn't address the heart.
Therefore, those who responds to the gospel in repentance and faith can be discipled. When majority of the church members are like this, a healthy church is formed.
I hope this helps and may God bless you and give you comfort in realizing these issues the church is struggling with, and also encouragement and comfort knowing that the solution is a simple grasp of the gospel. Also we need courage to not compromise, and love to not be cruel in our endeavor to stand for the truth. God help us all.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Signs that something is wrong with a church
Have you ever felt that something a church/christian organization is doing is off, but feels too afraid to do anything because you are not sure if you're discernment is right? Here are some signs that may indicate something is wrong with a church.
Ignorance of scripture - This can come in many forms. Sometimes it's the excuse "Doctrine is not important because it brings arguments and divisions". Other times it can be subtle manipulation in preaching, where a pastor adds his/her own ideas and preferences dogmatically into the Bible(this can be tricky to tell).
No one is allowed to bring up concerns to the leaders - People who bring up concerns are labeled as the bad guys and sometimes "scripturally thumped" into silence. Leadership never communicates the reasons behind their decisions and just wants the congregation to obey whatever they are told.
A rigid rule systems is taught instead of the gospel and spiritual principles - the congregations is never encouraged to think and make decisions on their own
No discipline/bad discipline - Sin is not called out and repentance is not urged. In large people don't hold each other accountable. Or sin is called out and dealt shamefully when the person wants to be free from it, and accountability is done so people feel good about themselves.
Lack of care/warmth in relationships - relationships are superficial where people just greet each other on sundays asking "how are you?" No one cares/are too afraid to ask how people are walking with the Lord. Or people ask about others' spiritual lives just to validate themselves and shame the other person when they are struggling.
If you find yourself in such situations, run far far away(unless you are sure that God's plan for you is to reform the church) and find a good church where the bible is honored and properly handled, where the gospel is repeated over and over again, and where the people love and care for each other deeply and truthfully.
Ignorance of scripture - This can come in many forms. Sometimes it's the excuse "Doctrine is not important because it brings arguments and divisions". Other times it can be subtle manipulation in preaching, where a pastor adds his/her own ideas and preferences dogmatically into the Bible(this can be tricky to tell).
No one is allowed to bring up concerns to the leaders - People who bring up concerns are labeled as the bad guys and sometimes "scripturally thumped" into silence. Leadership never communicates the reasons behind their decisions and just wants the congregation to obey whatever they are told.
A rigid rule systems is taught instead of the gospel and spiritual principles - the congregations is never encouraged to think and make decisions on their own
No discipline/bad discipline - Sin is not called out and repentance is not urged. In large people don't hold each other accountable. Or sin is called out and dealt shamefully when the person wants to be free from it, and accountability is done so people feel good about themselves.
Lack of care/warmth in relationships - relationships are superficial where people just greet each other on sundays asking "how are you?" No one cares/are too afraid to ask how people are walking with the Lord. Or people ask about others' spiritual lives just to validate themselves and shame the other person when they are struggling.
If you find yourself in such situations, run far far away(unless you are sure that God's plan for you is to reform the church) and find a good church where the bible is honored and properly handled, where the gospel is repeated over and over again, and where the people love and care for each other deeply and truthfully.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Assurance of salvation
Assurance of salvation(being sure that you are saved and loved by God) is an amazing blessing. It brings lots of joy in life and it gives Christian power in their ministry.
But the problem is Christians can be in a state where they are unsure whether they are saved or not. And that is an agonizing state to be in.
The Bible speaks of something like tasting the goodness of God, or experiencing the heavenly gift and partaking the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 6). It is like something that stirs up inside of us when the gospel is preached, we understand what is being said and "see" the glory of Christ (with faith, not with physical eyes)
It is hard to put into words, but that is what stops people from trusting in their works and efforts, and rest in peace on the righteousness of Christ, and that is where assurance of salvation is found, and that is what it means for Christ to be our solid rock.
What can cause a lack of assurance?
1. Sinning or doing something against our conscience is the main cause. But the bible tells us how to deal with it.
The preventive measure is to avoid doing things that we know are sins, and things that we are unsure of but we know would go against our conscience, while also caring for others by being mindful of what would defile their conscience. (not putting a stumbling block in a brother's path)
But when prevention fails and we sin, 1 John tells us that sin is not erradicated in this life, and we need to confess our sins to God, then He will be faithful and just to forgive us. Denying the truth that sin still exists in a Christian or doubting whether or not God will forgive us when we confess will further kill our assurance.
2. Ignorant of scripture - need to find balance and have our reasoning guided by scripture
This can come in many forms. In my personal experience it's not understanding God's standard of what is good and right. For example, it is shown in the 10 commandments that thou shalt not steal, and I would make excuses for downloading copyrighted material. And in doing so, I'm denying the essence of the law to not steal by taking thing I didn't pay for.
Another instance is when people discover something about election (Some people say that every teaching on election should come with a big warning - "Will cause a crisis of faith!"). Then their reasoning takes them to extremes, thinking: if God chooses people to be saved before the foundation of the earth, then what's the point of me trying anything? or How do I know I'm one of the chosen?
But looking at scripture, it presents a balance between God's work of election and human decisions. 2 Peter tells us that we are responsible for making our calling and election sure by doing a whole bunch of stuff after we have faith. It's true that faith is a gift, and we know we have that gift when we can say with confidence that my righteousness is not within myself, but only on the righteousness of Christ, but we have to put in efforts as well. We are responsible for making a response to God's word. Because that's the means God uses to give us faith. "Faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of God."
So our concern shouldn't be whether we are chosen or not, but have I responded to the gospel as God wants me to? (repent and trust in Christ) Then we know we are chosen if at this moment I can say with confidence, yes I have, while looking to God's promise for the future that he who began a good work in you will finish it until the day of Christ Jesus.
May God bless us with assurance and joy.
But the problem is Christians can be in a state where they are unsure whether they are saved or not. And that is an agonizing state to be in.
The Bible speaks of something like tasting the goodness of God, or experiencing the heavenly gift and partaking the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 6). It is like something that stirs up inside of us when the gospel is preached, we understand what is being said and "see" the glory of Christ (with faith, not with physical eyes)
It is hard to put into words, but that is what stops people from trusting in their works and efforts, and rest in peace on the righteousness of Christ, and that is where assurance of salvation is found, and that is what it means for Christ to be our solid rock.
What can cause a lack of assurance?
1. Sinning or doing something against our conscience is the main cause. But the bible tells us how to deal with it.
The preventive measure is to avoid doing things that we know are sins, and things that we are unsure of but we know would go against our conscience, while also caring for others by being mindful of what would defile their conscience. (not putting a stumbling block in a brother's path)
But when prevention fails and we sin, 1 John tells us that sin is not erradicated in this life, and we need to confess our sins to God, then He will be faithful and just to forgive us. Denying the truth that sin still exists in a Christian or doubting whether or not God will forgive us when we confess will further kill our assurance.
2. Ignorant of scripture - need to find balance and have our reasoning guided by scripture
This can come in many forms. In my personal experience it's not understanding God's standard of what is good and right. For example, it is shown in the 10 commandments that thou shalt not steal, and I would make excuses for downloading copyrighted material. And in doing so, I'm denying the essence of the law to not steal by taking thing I didn't pay for.
Another instance is when people discover something about election (Some people say that every teaching on election should come with a big warning - "Will cause a crisis of faith!"). Then their reasoning takes them to extremes, thinking: if God chooses people to be saved before the foundation of the earth, then what's the point of me trying anything? or How do I know I'm one of the chosen?
But looking at scripture, it presents a balance between God's work of election and human decisions. 2 Peter tells us that we are responsible for making our calling and election sure by doing a whole bunch of stuff after we have faith. It's true that faith is a gift, and we know we have that gift when we can say with confidence that my righteousness is not within myself, but only on the righteousness of Christ, but we have to put in efforts as well. We are responsible for making a response to God's word. Because that's the means God uses to give us faith. "Faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of God."
So our concern shouldn't be whether we are chosen or not, but have I responded to the gospel as God wants me to? (repent and trust in Christ) Then we know we are chosen if at this moment I can say with confidence, yes I have, while looking to God's promise for the future that he who began a good work in you will finish it until the day of Christ Jesus.
May God bless us with assurance and joy.
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