Issachar

“I Am Raising Up the Davids”

2009-10-25T03:44:00.000-07:00

About 3-4 years before the tsunami hit Aceh in Dec 2004, God spoke in my heart that one day there would be a massive earthquake that would hit Aceh and Aceh would open up to help from the outside world. The tsunami hit on 26 December 2004. The next day on 27 December, I received a specific word from the Lord to read Isaiah 6. I was to read the whole chapter, and focus especially on the last verse of the chapter.

Many of us are familiar with the first part of Isa.6, of Isaiah seeing the Lord high and lifted up … and then the often quoted words of Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me.”

We quote that especially in mission conferences and we say, “Lord send me to the nations to bring Your love to them ..” However, not many people are aware of what God was sending Isaiah to. God did not send him to bring His love or good news. Instead, God sent Isaiah to bring them really bad news :

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

He said, "Go and tell this people:

"Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

Because of the political situation in Aceh, and Aceh had been cut off from the rest of the world, even 3 days after the tsunami there was still no clear news report yet of the scale of the destruction. News began trickling in from the 4th day that a few thousand people had been killed. As the days went by, the numbers increased : “more than 10,000”, then "more than 30,000”, and so on. When I arrived in Aceh, I saw what was described in Isa.6 – more than 80% of Banda Aceh had been devastated. Whole villages along the Western coast of Aceh had been totally wiped out. The final figures reported more than 200,000 people in Aceh were killed or had gone missing. Clearly it fitted the description in Isa.6

But what was I to do about that? In verse 12, God said that the devastation in the land would be so bad that the land would be utterly forsaken, and even if a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. Did that mean that God would send another disaster that would totally destroy what remained, and wipe out the whole population of Aceh? Since God told Isaiah to tell them (the people of Israel), did it mean that God was sending me to tell the people of Aceh? I prayed, “Lord, is that what You want me to do, to go tell them another disaster is coming?” I was in fear and trembling. Me, a nobody, go and tell them? They will probably think I am mad. Or they might kill me. But the word was so clear and so strong, notwithstanding my fears, I was prepared to do that if indeed that was what the Lord wanted me to do.

There was however no answer from God. Just silence. I kept asking the Lord. Days passed. Still nothing. Just silence. As I helped various teams in Aceh, God showed me what to do, but He did not answer that one question that bothered me. Months passed, but I kept pondering over it and kept seeking understanding from the Lord. Eventually it became clear to me that God was talking to me not so much about Aceh, but He was giving me a prophetic or symbolic picture of a larger scale reality about the whole world, and also about the church. Just as the people in Aceh had hardened their hearts (see appendix), so the world, and the church, had hardened their hearts.

God was showing me that just like how He judged Israel, and in this case Aceh, that is also how He will judge the people of the world who have hardened their hearts against Him. What was more pertinent was that He was telling me that that is also how He has judged, and will judge the church who have hardened their hearts against Him. In the end, only a remnant will remain.

God Himself hardened the hearts of His people and blinded them and made them deaf so that they could not see, hear or understand the truth. Why? If we look at the history of Israel, it was because they had hardened their hearts against Him. Jesus quoted that to the Jews (Matt.13:11-15). Paul also quoted that to the Jews (Acts 28:25-27). The amazing thing is this, even after God judged them, they still did not wake up but continued to harden their hearts against Him.

I see today that that is the case of the church – church as we know it (to borrow a phrase from Wolfgang Simson). Churches today are not much different from the problem with the Pharisees. Churches are more concerned about doctrine and being right in their beliefs than about living and living right. I have spoken in churches about the poor, but hardly anything is ever done about it. No I am not looking for funds or support from them. That is not what I mean. I have never ever tried to raise any funds or support for any project whenever I have spoken about the poor, lest my message is diluted and people get the wrong idea that all they need to do to ease their conscience is to pull out some money from their pockets. When I say nothing happens, what I mean is that the church will do nothing about what they hear. Life and business will go on as usual. The church will not do a thing about the poor. A year passes and I ask the leaders what they have done about the poor and the answer I get is not much different from what it was before I spoke in their church.

I was once invited to give a message at a national church missions conference about crisis response. I spoke a little about crisis generally but focused instead on poverty and the challenge of poverty confronting us in missions. At the end of the message, an elderly gentleman asked a question. He said, “I have been an elder of the church for more than 38 years of my life. I have heard thousands of sermons in my lifetime. Yet I have never ever heard the message you just gave, or anything about poverty. Why is that?” He had a very troubled look on his face. In reply I asked him, “Sir, first of all, I need to ask you, is there anything I have said that is not Biblical?” He thought about it for a moment and replied, “No, there is nothing you said that is not Biblical. In fact everything you said is so Biblical and so true … and so vital … Yet it is never preached in church … Why is that?”

In reply I said, “Actually the one who should answer this question is you; not me. When you started becoming an elder of the church, I was still a kid running around in my shorts.” For a moment he was quiet. Then he had another question, “Tell me, have you spoken this message in other churches and what happened after you spoke?” In reply I said, “Thank you for that question. Yes I have spoken in many churches and meetings. Each time after I spoke, what happened was what will happen after this meeting. Some of you will come to me and tell me what a good speaker I am and what a challenging message it was, and you will thank me for the message, and next week you will look forward to another good speaker and good message. That’s all. In other words, nothing happened.” There was silence. The chairman of the meeting came forward looking quite embarrassed and promptly ended the meeting. Guess what happened after that? Exactly what I said!

What has become of the church? Our hearts are so hardened and we are so blind and deaf that we don’t realize how far we have fallen from what God intends for us. Even when we talk about revival, what is that today? As Joe Ozawa has pointed out, when the Holy Spirit fell on the early church they sold all and gave to the poor. But what is “revival” today? It is people falling down and getting goose bumps and then going home, back to life and business as usual.

In 2000, I was invited to speak in a gathering of more than 400 leaders from across Indonesia. They had gathered to ask why from 1998 – 2000, more than 3500 church buildings had been attacked and burned by muslim extremist and what was needed to transform the church and transform the nation. I spoke my heart out. At the end of my message, the one chairing the meeting took the microphone and said, “If we had not built all those church buildings and instead we had used the money to feed the poor, perhaps they would not have been so angry with us, and there would have been no church buildings to burn down.”

Has the church in Indonesia learned? I am sad to say, no it has not. Even bigger church buildings have come up since then, some rivaling Singapore’s indoor stadium, but hardly any churches are doing anything to reach out to the poor that surrounds them. Nearly half the population of Indonesia is living below the world bank’s poverty line, but the church is unmoved. That is the same I see in India, Pakistan, Myanmar, etc. Matt.25 on the sheep and goats has been there for the last 2000 years, yet no one seems to take any heed to it. Even when it is pointed out to them! How hardened our hearts have become!

The cry I hear on the heart of God today over His church is the same as what we read in Hosea. God told Hosea to go and marry a prostitute because He wanted Hosea to feel what was on His heart and He was going to get Hosea to deliver a heart breaking devastating message to Israel. Just as Gomer would again and again leave Hosea to go back to her adulteries, God wanted Hosea to tell Israel that that is what they kept doing to God. So God’s message to Hosea was that He is going to forsake Israel and judge her “for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband.” Hos.2:2. Then He asked Hosea to take Gomer back as a prophetic act that would symbolize how He would bring Israel back to Himself :

“The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." Hos.3:1

The message of Hosea is heart breaking. God would judge Israel for their unfaithfulness but He would also be so grieved with having to do that, that in His mercy He would yet again show love to Israel and get for Himself a remnant that would return to Him and love Him :

“The more I called Israel, the further they went from me.” Hos.11:2 But …

"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is churned within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man--the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. They will follow the LORD; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes," declares the LORD. Hos.3:8-11.

What are we to make of this and how would this “pan out” as the Americans would say, in the end times? I could be wrong, but what I see is that God has already judged the church – with spiritual blindness and deafness, and he has hardened the hearts of His people so that they cannot hear, and cannot see and cannot understand. How does that happen? Every time the word of God comes to us, something happens in our heart. Either we listen and respond in obedience or we make excuses why we will not obey it and harden our hearts against what we just heard. Each time the word of God is delivered, it also comes with a judgment. Jesus said, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.” Jn.12:35. When we do not make a decision and act upon the word that comes to us, darkness will overtake us. We will become blind. And deaf. And the word of God will no longer have any effect on us.

When this came to me, I asked the Lord, “So what am I to do? If the church is so hardened that it cannot hear You, then what is the point of me speaking to a wall?” In response, the Lord reminded me to look at the last verse of Isa.6. Whether He is going to bring another disaster on Aceh, or whether He is going to bring disaster on the church is not the point. What He wanted me to know was that He was not interested in reforming the church. He has given up on trying to do that. The church is so hardened that even if He would bring disaster to His people, they would not listen. A case in point was what happened in Nias (see below). Instead, God brought my attention to 1 Chron.12:23. Just as God turned the kingdom of Israel from Saul over to David, He is doing the same today. Saul represents the current top-down ecclesiastical structure of church leadership. In God’s book, that is over. Just as Saul was defeated by his enemies and killed himself in the end, church as we know it will die a natural death. What happened with the church in Europe, is happening in the US, and will happen elsewhere around the world.

God is doing a new thing. He is raising up the Davids – those who have been through the fire of testing but remain true to Him; those who truly love Him. This is the “stump in the land” – the holy seed that remains. Just like what He said to Samuel, the Lord said to me, “How long are you going to grieve over Saul (church as we know it)? I am sending you to find the Davids. Go and teach them and help them to know My heart and My ways. I will show you who they are.”

As I understand it, those between 25 – 35 years old now are going to be the leaders of the church of the future. Shape them now and you will shape the church of the future. They will lead the younger ones in the ways of the Lord. When someone heard me say this, he immediately said, “Not the future, but right now! They are the church right now!” Amen. I agree. The kingdom of God will be made up of servant leaders who will not be concerned about denomination, or money, or position, or image. All they will be concerned about are others whom God puts on their hearts, to see them succeed. (See my other post "Servant Leaders"). To them will come “all those .. in distress, in debt or discontented” (1 Sam22:2). These servant leaders will disciple others in the ways of the Lord. They will reproduce themselves. It is through this spiritual birthing and multiplication that Jesus will get His end-time bride.

Where are the Davids right now? Not in leadership in church as we know it. They will not fit in. Like David and what the Lord took him through, I believe many are in their caves, running from one thing to another, restless, feeling in the dark most of the time, not quite settled on anything that they feel is truly God’s kingdom, dissatisfied with church as we know it, looking for what their hearts tell them - church as it ought to be, but not finding it anywhere, going through multiple testing, possibly stretched to their limits physically, financially, emotionally …

Through the crucible of testing, the Lord has reserved to Himself those who have not bowed their knees to Baal. God knows those who are His. The devil can do his worst on them, but it will only train and prepare them to be even more in love with the Lord and zealous for His kingdom.

* Aceh - After the tsunami, some reporters went around asking the people why God had allowed the tsunami to hit them so badly. The people of Aceh are super religious, possibly the most religious people in all of Indonesia. It was the birthplace of Islam for Indonesia. Islam was brought to Aceh by Indian muslim traders who sailed from India and landed in Aceh. The Acehnese say that Aceh is "the Porch of Islam". From Aceh, Islam spread throughout Indonesia.

It was amazing what responses the reporters got from the Acehnese. Everyone acknowledged that it was an act of God, but everyone blamed it on someone else - either on the sins of the central government of Indonesia, or the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, or the immoral practices of the Indonesian military which they hated, or on the west. Not a single person said, "God judged us because we are guilty." Amazing! It never occured to them that if it was the sins of others, why didn't they, for example the Indonesian government headquartered in Jakarta, get hit with the tsunami instead?

* Nias – is an island off the west coast of Sumatra. On 28th March 2005, an 8.7 earthquake rocked the island. More than 1750 church buildings collapsed, but the main mosque survived with just a few cracks. More than 85% of the islanders claim to be Christians, but I am told that about half of them are steeped in the occult. Even pastors I am told are involved in the occult. When I went with a team in response to the earthquake, many pastors approached me to help them with funds to rebuild their church building. I asked them, “Why did God not save your church building? Why did God save the mosque instead? If God did not save your church building, can you give me a good reason why I should help you with funds to rebuild it?” They just didn’t get it. They kept wanting my contact details.

Further Reflections on Suffering – Being Made into His Likeness

2009-10-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

I have already alluded to the purpose of suffering in my other posts “Making Sense of it All”, and “Rom.8:28 – the Most Misunderstood Verse in the Bible”. Here are further reflections on suffering. (Not easy, but I am trying to make each post more “bite size”!)

I believe God has allowed suffering to be central to why He created us in the first place. It may not be apparent immediately, but if we step back and get a “big picture” of the scriptures from Genesis to Revelations, it is sufficiently clear that God’s ultimate purpose in creating us is that He would ultimately have people who would be like Him, in order that they may be one with Him and enjoy love and communion with Him.

How does God go about to accomplish this?

Let’s start with Genesis. In Genesis we are told that God made us in His image or likeness. Does that mean that we were created to be exactly like Him? I don’t think so. I believe it means that we were made with a potential to be like Him. We are obviously so very, very far from the likeness of God. But God has a plan for how He will mold and shape us to be like Him and in the end He will accomplish His original purpose of making us into His likeness. The Bible refers to that process by different terms : “bringing many sons to glory” (Heb.2:10), “to be conformed to the likeness of His Son” (Rom.8:29), “purify for Himself a people that are His very own” (Titus 2:14).

It has often been thought that God’s original plan to have a sinless utopia was ruined by Adam and Eve falling for Satan’s temptation and deception, and then God had to go into a rescue plan to get back what was lost. But that is a total misunderstanding and incorrect interpretation of scripture. On the contrary, the apostle Paul was clear especially from Romans chapters 8 – 11, that God’s plan from the very beginning was that He Himself subjected us to sin so that He would show His mercy and love for us. Not only that, but central to His purpose for creation is that God also subjected the whole of creation to frustration with the purpose that through all the sin and decay of this world we would be put through a process of purging, refining and molding and through it we would become overcomers of sin and death and be like Jesus :

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Rom.8:17-21

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Rom.8:29

“ .. to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory” Rom.9:23

“For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” Rom.11:32

“Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.” Dan.11:3

So God uses trials, difficulties and suffering to purge, refine and mold our character. The writer of Hebrews calls it God’s discipline. God’s ultimate aim in molding our character is so that we may share in His holiness : Heb.12:10. Sharing in His holiness, I believe, means being set apart to be His – to be like Him and enjoy communion with Him. It is through trials and suffering that the Adamic self–nature within us is slowly whittled away from us. It is as we get less and less, and we learn to know His heart and character more and more that He becomes “formed” in us and we become like Him to enjoy communion with Him.

Understood in this light, contrary to what may seem to be God’s inattention or failure to intervene and save us, suffering is instead evidence of His love for us as His children and possibly the best thing that God can do for us :

“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons :

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Heb.12:4-12

A Job Test for Each of Us

Just like the Job story, I believe Satan has a wager/bet with God over each of us, and it goes something like this : “You can save them, but can You make them Your sons? Can You turn them into Your likeness?” This, I believe, is the ultimate destiny for us, and the end-goal for God. He does not just create us, and save us, but He also molds us to become like Him.

I believe the story of Job is prophetic for the end times when the whole world, including the church will be severely tested. Just as the Father did not deliver His Son, the question that God will ask of each of us is, “Will you still love Me if I don’t deliver you?”

Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." Job 1:8-11

God is glorified in the eyes of the angels and demons when through the persevering patient suffering of His people He shows that He can accomplish and complete what He set out to do – to make us into His likeness – to develop us to the point where we will truly love Him for who He is, and not what He can do for us, so that like Jesus, who in love laid down His life for us, we too would in love lay down our lives for others :

“This is how we know what love is : Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” 1 Jn.3:16.

"The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed!" Rom.8:19

My brothers and sisters, I have no doubt about it, that if we are the last generation, then we will go through the tribulation. If not all of it, at least some part of it!

This question was put by Satan to God, “Will Job fear (serve) you for nothing?”

That same question ought to be asked of ourselves : Will we serve God for nothing?

• Will you serve God if there is no money, no salary or any other reward in it?
• Will you serve God if you had to put out your own money to do so?
• Will you serve God if no one will know about it?
• Will you serve God if no one will remember you for it?
• Will you serve God if you are the only one left to do the job and everyone else has gone on to something else?
• Will you serve God if you had to do it without any position or recognition?
• Will you serve God if you will be misunderstood for what you are doing?
• Will you serve God if you will be falsely accused of personal gain?
• Will you serve God if you will be ridiculed for the kind of work involved?
• Will you serve God if you will be humiliated by doing so?
• Will you serve God if the work involved is unimportant or “too little”?
• Will you serve God if you have to take orders from someone else?
• Will you serve God if you have to take orders from someone else who is less knowledgeable, less qualified, less experienced or younger than you?
• Will you serve God if the task is too demeaning to you?
• Will you serve God if it will cost you your health?
• Will you still serve God if God will not heal you?
• Will you serve God if he does not bless you in return for it?
• Will you serve God if you have to lose your possessions and everything else precious to you in doing so?
• Will you still serve God if He does not restore your possessions or that which is precious to you?
• Will you serve God if you have to give up your life in doing so?
• Will you still serve God if He does not rescue you?
• Will you serve God if He tells you there is no reward even in heaven for the job?
• Will you serve God for nothing?

Job said, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job 23:10

See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. Isa.48:10

Paul says it is through the church that God will reveal God’s plan of the ages :

Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me : to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, Eph.3:8-10

There is therefore a far greater cosmic reason and heavenly battle that is being waged, when God allows suffering in our lives, than we might be aware of.

It is only through suffering that we can learn to love, and it is through suffering that our love for Jesus is tested and perfected

It is easy to love when everything is fine. It is easy to give when we have plenty. But true love must involve sacrifice. It is when we have little, and when things are difficult, and our knowledge is partial, that our love is really tested : 1 Cor.13. It is only through suffering that we can really learn to love. There is no other way.

It is also through suffering that Jesus will get His bride – those who would love Him for Who He is, not what He can give them.

Jesus came as the Son of Man to suffer and show us the way to glory

There is no other way to glory than through suffering. Jesus Himself was glorified through testing and suffering. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, I send you.” Jn.20:21. In the same way, God will take us through testing and suffering before we are brought to glory :

“ .. Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”Lk.24:26

“In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.” Heb.2:10-11

“Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” Heb.5:8-9

The glory that awaits us will be worth far more than all the suffering we experience

Even when we are aware of all this, it is only human to avoid and recoil from suffering as far we might be able to. Jesus Himself agonized over the crucifixion and the separation from His father that awaited Him. However, knowing that no matter how bad it gets, it will ultimately pass, we are encouraged to endure it for the sake of the higher eternal glory that awaits us.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Rom.8:18

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Cor.4:16-18

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Pet.1:6-7

If you are reading this and you are going through your valley of pain and grief, I pray that these words would have brought you some comfort. God knows what you are going through and He feels your pain more than you can comprehend. My encouragement to you is to go to Him and immerse yourself in His embrace.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Heb.4:15-16

Through my darkest times, this has been a poem that has faithfully spoken to me each time :

Until I learned to trust, I did not learn to pray
And I did not learn to fully trust, till sorrows came my way

Until I felt my weakness, His strength I never knew
Nor dreamed till I was stricken, that He would see me through

Who deepest drinks of sorrow, drinks deepest too of grace
He sends the storm so he Himself, can be our Hiding Place

- Horatius Bonar

I have written a longer article on the subject of suffering – too long to post in this blog. If you would like to have a copy, do email me : acts1322@gmail.com

Rom.8:28 - the Most Misunderstood Verse in the Bible

2009-10-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

I think that most Christians have grown up with a wrong picture of God and life that has been nurtured through Sunday school and church. The picture is a God who is absolutely loving and in absolute control, and because He loves us He will make sure nothing wrong will happen to us. If ever something does go wrong, it could be because we weren’t obedient or we were living in sin, but if we repent then somehow God will correct whatever went wrong and put everything right and it’ll all work out somehow. And we just need to try and bury our past and move on.

A favorite verse in the Bible among Christians that lends to this picture is Rom.8:28 :

“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose”.

The “good” in this verse is usually understood from the human perspective; not God’s perspective. We think that God will somehow work everything out in our favor and everything will be alright. But Paul is actually saying the very opposite. The “all things” Paul is referring to, is suffering, and the “good” and "purpose" is explained in verse 29 – that we would through the suffering be molded to become like Jesus – God’s highest purpose for us. Rom.8:28 must be read in its context which begins from verses 16 – 39.

Begin reading from verse 16 and follow through Paul's thought until the end of the chapter and you will see why from verses 31–39 Paul says that no matter how bad it gets, no matter how condemned and abandoned we feel, and even though God does not deliver us, he is nevertheless convinced that God’s love for us is not diminished one bit. Instead, it is through the suffering that we are molded to become overcomers and conquerors :

“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In other words, one of the best things that God can do for us, to mold us to become more like Him, is to send us suffering or to allow suffering to come into our lives. Quite shattering when we think about it! But let's face it. The problem with most Christians’ rosy, benevolent and benign picture of God is not only that it does not square up to scripture, but that it flies in the face of the harsh realities of life. It is far easier and more realistic for us to accept that God is not our servant to answer every prayer the way we would like it, nor is He always there to get a parking spot for us and cater to our comfort, but that He has far higher purposes for us than to make sissies out of us.

Rest in the Security of His Sovereign Love

How then are we to interpret all the trials and difficulties of life in general? Are all suffering therefore ordained by God with this purpose in mind? Is God sitting up there just waiting to strike us at our next turn? I don’t think so. Although there are times when God either directly sends or indirectly allows suffering for a purpose - when God judges sin or when He wants to discipline us, and He does it with His utmost love (see my other post “Further Reflections on Suffering”), I believe there may be times when suffering has nothing to do with punishment or discipline nor is it due to any fault on our part. Jesus was clear that when bad things happen to someone it may have nothing to do with sin or fault : Lk.13:1-5, Jn.9:2-3.

We live in a fallen world where accidents happen and we may become victims to bad weather and natural disasters or to sin and wickedness in the world. Even so, we may take comfort in this – that whatever it may be, it is still in the sovereign control and purposes of God. God has His purpose in everything that happens to us (Eph.1:11). No matter how bad it gets, for us, as God’s people, the simplest and most profound prayer that we can pray is to say to God, “You are God and I am not”, and rest in the security of His sovereign love :

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa.55:8-9

God is Sovereign

Scripture is clear that God is always in sovereign control and nothing can happen without His will. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them can fall to the ground without the will of My Father” : Matt.10:29. This means that whatever it may be, and wherever the source of the suffering may be, and difficult as it may be, God is still in control. There are also numerous places in the Bible where God’s sovereignty extends to using the enemy for His purposes (email me for the references if you need them). We therefore need not fear what the devil can do because he can do only what God allows him to do and no more.

I have to put a caution here that there is a lot more that needs to be said on this subject. Please do not run away with what is said in this post as the "be all and end all" about suffering. I have written a longer article on the subject of suffering that is too long to post in this blog. If you would like to have a copy, email me for it. This is my email address : acts1322@gmail.com

More Shaking

2009-10-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

This is something I wrote in October 2008 :

I was in an email conversation with someone in the US. He said it appears that people in politics who were against the bailout seemed to be taking that stand more out of consideration for their political career than anything else.

In reply, I agreed with him that self preservation / fear of death is what keeps all of us under bondage : Heb.2:15.

How are we to look at the global economic crisis? (Not only that, but also global terrorism, global outbreak of virus attacks, and so many other things that is happening?)

I believe it is all part of God's end time scenario. People think it is man's ingenuity and capability that we have been able to build up a system that keeps this world going. The truth is, it is God who has been sustaining everything. Were it not for God's mercy, everything would have collapsed long ago. But it is also His mercy, and the time has come, for Him to remove His hand and let things run their natural course … towards chaos .. in the hope that man would wake up and return to Him. I believe Rom.8:20-21 is coming into its final stages.

“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

But the end is not yet. There is more to come. Now people have woken up just a little – they now realize we can't trust financial institutions. But governments are bailing financial institutions out and it looks like there is still some hope left in the system. We can still save ourselves somehow. But soon people will discover they can't trust governments either. Eventually everything is going to crash.

This might sound terribly cold and unkind, but I am not praying for things to settle and for security, sanity and stability to return. Instead I am praying and I think we should pray for more shaking. We should pray, "Let Your kingdom come. Come and shake what needs to be shaken so that only what cannot be shaken will remain. Come Lord Jesus."

Crazy?

How much do we want God's kingdom to come? How much are we attached to the kingdoms of this world?

In September-October of 2007 I had a very strong feeling that the world's economy was soon going to collapse. I shared it with two friends. One of them is my jogging buddy. The other an agent for unit trust investments. I said, "I don't know. Maybe I am wrong, but I think God is telling me this. But maybe it’s just my own imagination. But then again I can't seem to shake it off. I am pretty sure it is God." She did not accept what I said. She said the market had never been better. And in January 2008 the market was even more bullish. Many stock markets around the world hit all time highs. Hmmm …

Two years before the December 2004 tsunami, I had a very strong feeling that one day a massive EQ will strike Aceh and that God would open the door to Aceh through that EQ. I also had a very strong feeling that not just Aceh but the whole of Indonesia was about to experience a lot of disasters, and disasters would multiply around the world. I tried to get the church to get ready. No one seemed interested.

The tsunami came and went .. some churches are now a little more interested. Just a little. Like how the world has woken up .. just a little.

Massive disasters are coming. I can feel it in my bones. If I say I feel it in my spirit, you might think I am trying to sound spiritual! So I won’t say that .. but really, that’s what I intend to say :) Not just disasters, but all sorts of crises are coming. Will people ever wake up? Will the church ever wake up?

Making Sense of it All

2009-10-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

How can we make sense of the suffering in this world? Why does God not intervene or intervene more? Where are we now in history and what are we heading to? How should we respond to all that is happening around us?

Scott Peck begins his book “The Road Less Traveled” with the statement “Life is difficult”.

If we start with the premise that life is meant to be all fine and well, and God is there to make everything right, then we will always be expecting things to work in our favor and we will be upset, distressed and disappointed when it doesn’t. But if we begin from the premise that life is meant to be difficult, then we will be thankful for every grace, every little blessing, and we will be appreciative and have so much to be thankful for, all the time.

This reminds me of a particular time when I was distinctly thankful for what would otherwise have been a “take for granted” norm of everyday life. I had just returned from a whole month in Bangladesh. I made myself a cup of tea, took a sip, put it on the table behind me, sat at the computer and proceeded to type out an email telling of my experience in Bangladesh. After typing out a paragraph, I turned around to take another sip and I remember I was so thankful I did not see 10 flies sitting on the rim of my tea cup! It had been a daily experience for a whole month in Bangladesh of keeping those pesky flies off my tea cup. Most of the time we are so ignorant of what the people in Bangladesh, and other such nations trapped in the depths of poverty suffer every day. I need to remind myself ever so often how thankful I need to be every day, and the need for me to go and share what I have with them.

Those who are devout animists go the other extreme when they believe that life is meant to be suffering, and everything has already been fated or determined, and so their belief keeps them from working to improve anything, or seeing and appreciating the little joys in life. Most nations whose predominant culture is animistic remain in poverty, trapped in their worldview, unable to see the resources they have, and are ever dependent upon aid from more developed nations.

So how do we make sense of it all?

This side of heaven, I don’t think we will ever have a complete or accurate picture. In 1 Cor.13, Paul said we know in part, so we have to make the best of it and learn to live with the incomplete. But I believe a more accurate picture than what most Christians have is possible and necessary. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings : Prov.25:2. I believe that God purposely hides Himself and conceals things to give us the joy of discovering Him and discovering the “hidden” things.

I look back and realize that 10 years ago I did not know, see or understand life as I do now. That tells me that 10 years from now it is very possible that I may again look back and realize that what I know, see and understand today could be quite far from the truth – assuming I am progressively getting a more accurate picture as the years accumulate!  So I could be very wrong in how I understand it now, but currently this is the picture I have :

I believe God meant life to be difficult. I believe God purposely subjected the whole of creation to frustration (Rom.8:20-21) for several reasons. First, it is in the hope that through the trials we go through, we would be desperate enough to seek Him and return to Him. He put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden knowing full well that man would take the fruit, with all the terrible consequences of that choice for all of mankind and for all time. Nevertheless it was a crucial part of His plan. If he had kept man from having a free choice, all He would have had would be automatons who would not know love.

God is love, and He desires a love relationship with us. Love cannot be programmed. Love cannot be compelled. Love is not love if it does not come freely from one’s heart. So He had to give us free choice and He had to let that free choice be tested. He had to let man go, for it is only when we return to Him that He can say, “Now you are truly mine.” (See my other post "Why God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of eden"). God longs for us to be passionately and madly in love with Him, just as He is passionately and madly in love with us. (See my other post : “Who was this Woman?”)

Second, He intended the whole of life to be a test. Our lives are very temporary, indeed a very short testing and training ground for what is to come. It is in the crucible now that we are tested. I believe God hides, silently watching to see what choices we make. What we do with what we’ve got, how we respond to the experiences of life, both good and bad, will determine how close we get to Him, how much He will reveal of Himself to us, what position we will occupy, and how we will relate to Him when He comes again in the fullness of His kingdom on earth. I have seen unknown, nameless, faceless nobodies do, "little things in great ways" (in the words of Mother Theresa) that God sees (like the widow with her two mites) that I am sure God will honor in time to come.

This short life is not all there is to it. There is much, much more to come. We were made for eternity, not just time. Nevertheless what choices we make and what lessons we learn in this short difficult life are significant. Notwithstanding that life would be difficult, life is meant to be appreciated and enjoyed. We are to make the most of what He has given to us – time, relationships, abilities, talents, opportunities, etc. Some have been given more, some less. Some have a better start in life, some a worse start, some have it very much better, and some really bad. What will we do with what He has given us?

Third, in the midst of the uncertainties, the trials and difficulties, and the limited knowledge we have, we have been given the opportunity and indeed privilege to learn to love and to learn to be overcomers, for how else can love be learnt and experienced? And how else would we learn to be overcomers? Each situation we encounter is therefore not only a test but also an opportunity to learn.

Fourth, I believe that trials, difficulties and suffering serves God's highest and ultimate agenda for each of us - to be molded and changed to become more like Jesus. I always say that Rom.8:28 is probably the most misunderstood verse in the Bible. Most Christians think that it means when bad things happen to us, we don't need to worry, we just need to pray and trust God and He will work and straighten everything out for our good, and everything will be OK. But that's not what the verse says. In fact quite the opposite. We make the mistake of understanding the "good" from our perspective of what's good. However, the "good" and the "purpose" that Paul is talking about in verse 28 is actually the suffering that God will use to change us to become like Jesus (verse 29). Verse 28 has to be read in its whole context beginning from verse 16 to verse 39. So one of the best things that God can do for us to to allow suffering to come into our lives. Not to straighten things out, but straighten us out! God desires to complete what He started out in Genesis - to make us into His image and likeness. (See my other post "Reflections on Suffering")

I see that at times God intervenes, but most of the time He does not. In His mercy and grace He somehow holds back the full consequences of our folly, for otherwise we would have destroyed ourselves long ago. So it is His grace that the world has lasted so long. Somehow, by His grace, there’s more sanity ruling in the minds of men than insanity, and His mercy and grace has saved us from an earlier self-annihilation. Most of the time however, He lets nature, from the time of the fall, run its course. He will intervene only if we pray, for prayer opens the door for Him to intervene (see my other post "Why Pray"). Otherwise He stays out of our world.

But even when we pray, He does not necessarily intervene in the way we want Him to, or expect Him to. Though God has a servant’s heart, God is not our bell boy nor servant. He does what He pleases and no one can question Him or hold Him to accountability for anything. He however delights to intervene when we truly call on Him with a sincere heart. So He waits for us to go to Him, and to come into union with Him for what is on His heart. When we discover His heart and become one with Him for His will to be done, then it would be not just His will but also our will and God can have His way into our world and we can together change and transform things from what is to what can be. Being made in His image, that is the glory He has destined for us – to be creative and to take dominion and reign and rule with Him over all that He created. (See my other post "Why pray?")

What about the positive choices that we make that are aligned to His will? Will we be able to bring complete transformation to this world? I don’t believe we will. The best we can do, even with and through His strength and power, will be limited. There is a time frame for this imperfect world. Everyone who got healed eventually died. We will only see the fullness of His kingdom when He comes again. Nevertheless, we are to work with Him at change and transformation and for His kingdom to come. It is not so much what is accomplished and what is achieved that counts, but how we ran the race.

As the time nears for this time of testing to end, for this world to end, God will withdraw His hand of mercy and grace and allow us the full consequences of our choices, and He will mete out His judgment for the choices we make. I believe we are near the end and we are already beginning to see that happening. We will see increasingly the breakdown and collapse of everything that God did not build. Every man-made system and institution will collapse. Every kingdom will fall. Everything will be exposed for what it is. God will remove His hand that has been holding things together and shake everything that can be shaken so that only what cannot be shaken – what He made and what He built will remain. (See my other post "Costly But Not Precious"). In the end, only His kingdom will remain. Rev.11:15

It is also through the shaking that our hearts will be tested. In His mercy He will push man up against the wall and confront him with what Watchman Nee calls “the most basic question in the whole universe” – Who’s in charge? In other words, every man will be confronted with this question from God, “Am I, or am I not God?” because until every person, including Christians, answer that question, we are doomed. God has no future for anyone who refuses to become part of His kingdom where only He rules and reigns. Every other little kingdom has to fall and will fall.

Where are we now on God's calendar?

I'm not sure. I could be very wrong, but this is what I see :

The current global economic crisis is testing us. Another test has been happening over the last 30 – 40 years with the exponential increase in disasters and explosion in poverty. Have a look at the graph in

http://www.emdat.be/Database/Trends/trends.html

and you will be shocked. Click on "Natural Disasters", then click on "World 1900 - 2008", then click on "Number of Disasters".

Jesus called the end-time crises the beginning of birth pangs. By that, we know that before the "birth" of the fullness of His kingdom on earth, there will be a tremendous increase in the number and intensity of crises. These are the "contractions" before the baby is born. I could be wrong but I believe we are already at the doorstep of Matt 24 and in the next few years we will see a massive outbreak of disease, ethnic conflicts, religious persecution, wars and natural disasters.

But the main point I would like to make here is not on the issue of timing or urgency but this - It is significant that Matt 25 on the sheep and goats comes immediately after Matt 24 on the crises that will hit the world with its resulting increase in humanitarian needs. How have we been responding to the needs of people in crisis? How will we respond to the poor and needy? I am still talking about tests. As I mentioned in another post, the poor are a test for the rich.

With the terribly poor record of how Christians have responded to the needs of the poor (see statistics in "Awakening to a World of Need"), it is no wonder that one day, many will say to Jesus, “When did we see you hungry, and thirsty, naked, sick and homeless and in prison?”

That is currently my “big picture”.

Who is qualified?

2009-10-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

Some people have questioned what qualifies me to say some of the things I have been saying. They are right. I am not qualified.

But is anyone qualified?

I don’t know about others, but I believe I would be in self deception if I ever think or feel I am qualified to say, teach, be or do anything. Truth needs to be spoken and heard, and it would be no less truth whether it comes from a donkey (Balaam’s donkey) or from a murderer (Moses, David, Paul).

I could be mistaken, but I think it could have been Michael Green who said that the right way to understand evangelism is to see it as one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. We are not trying to tell unbelievers that we are right and they are wrong, are we? I believe the same should be said of anything else in serving God. I’m hungry and I think I’ve discovered where to find bread and I’m just sharing it with those who are also hungry. Can any of us lord it over others? Do any of us have the answers because we have “arrived”? Is it not by God’s grace alone that we are just instruments and channels of what He deposits in us?

The more closely Paul walked with the Lord, the more he realized how far short he was of God’s righteousness and of God’s calling on his life. He first saw himself as the least of the apostles, then less than the least of all God’s people, and at the end of his life, he saw himself as the chief of sinners. Rick Joyner alluded to this, about how deceived people are, when they thought themselves as having qualified themselves to be anything in the service of God’s kingdom. And Paul also taught this in his epistles, and he went on to add that even if his conscience was clear, that did not mean he was thereby justified in God’s eyes.

Sadly, this is another one of the things in the institutional church that has disempowered people from serving the Lord, or discovering and realizing their God-given potential to do so. There is such a false sense in the church that you have to be more “holy”, more “spiritual”, more this or more that, before you are qualified to serve the Lord. As a result, many feel unqualified and stay away from ministry.

This false belief also breeds false expectations from church members of those who are in ministry. So those who are in ministry are put on a pedestal and they are pressured to put on a front. Many leaders’ personal lives and their families are a wreck but they are putting on a false front. I feel for them, but I am also sad that unwittingly they are breeding and reinforcing this culture in the church. Why keep putting up that front?

It is amazing how the world can see through all that, but the church itself remains blind to it. I have friends who have withdrawn from the church because they told me that the church was the place where they found the most hypocrisy and the least grace, the least forgiveness and least understanding. They felt they could breathe more freely when they were among “lesser mortals”.

So my friends, I am terribly unqualified. In fact, totally disqualified. The more I realize these things that I write about, the more they judge me, and the more I realize how far I fall short of these things. I tremble at the thought that one day what I really am inside, which is probably far, far worse and darker than I realize, will in the light of God’s judgment be shamefully exposed for all to see. But there is a stirring in my heart which I believe is from the Lord to share these things, because it is in acknowledging our hunger and need, that we also experience grace and find the Bread of life. So if some of these things help someone, I would be encouraged. :)

The Devil has Deceived the Church into Accepting a Limited Gospel and a False Understanding of Church

2009-10-07T00:40:00.000-07:00

In my other posts "What is the Gospel and What is church?" and "Paradigm Shifts", I talked about how the church had withdrawn from the world. How is it that we have been so stuck in our narrow understanding of the Gospel?

I believe that it is because the devil has deceived the church into accepting a limited and much smaller scope of the gospel than what the gospel really is. The devil deceives unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel. But the devil has been deceiving the church also, because the church is God's agent for His kingdom to come on earth. If the agents are limited in their understanding of the scope of their task, then they won't be able to bring the fullness of all that God intended for His kingdom to come on earth.

The key to understanding this is to consider what Jesus said :

"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

How does the devil steal, kill and destroy? From what Jesus told us, it is obvious -by lies.

Lies lead to death. Truth leads to life.

Jesus wants His abundant life to be experienced by all. But the devil wants to take away life. So he deceives people by getting them to believe in half truths (see my other post "What Happened in the Garden of Eden?") - half truths that blind them from seeing the real thing and causing them to accept what they have as the whole truth. He does that with unbelievers. He does that with believers also.

The church clings closely to a salvation only gospel and miss the wood (forest) for the trees. Meanwhile millions around us live in squalid conditions with simple lack of sanitation and clean water killing between 30,000 - 35,000 children everyday, and other poverty related problems like human trafficking, child abuse, etc spiraling out of control, but the church doesn't care. When we keep 96% of all tithes and offering in the church and less than 1% go out to the poor, aren't we deceived? (see my other post "Awakening to a World of Need" for poverty and giving statistics)

Not only that, just as the apostles were stuck in Jerusalem for 25 years with an introverted vision of building up the church in Jerusalem as the center of worship, the church today is stuck within its four walls totally focused on building up a stronger church, and does not see the scope of the Gospel of the Kingdom penetrating and reaching into every sphere and aspect of life so that Jesus would be Lord of all.

The church is not the center of the kingdom. Yet all of Christian activity today is centered in the church. How many times did Jesus mention the word "church"? Only twice; and he did not even care to explain what He meant by "church". Instead He kept talking about the kingdom. What do we talk about today? We keep talking about church and hardly ever about the kingdom. No wonder we have more than 38,000 church denominations in the world today. What does that tell us of ourselves? Each denomination is trying to re-define what the church is. Otherwise there is no need for yet another denomination, is there? And everyone of the 38,000 think theirs' is right one.

Imagine if you are Jesus. You know you are about to be crucified, wouldn't you give a seminar to your disciples about church - what church is, how to organize and run it, etc.? After all, they are going to have to set up something called "church" for which they have had no idea or previous experience how to do that, right? Wrong! Clearly Jesus did not care to do that, either before His death or after He rose from the dead. Why? I think it is because He did not intend us to be introverted and focusing on ourselves. He wants us to get on with His kingdom advance. He wants us to look up and look out at the needs around us and bring His love to them. Not get them to come to "church".

The terms we use in missions "church planting" and "church growth", are so revealing of how we've got the ladder up against the wrong wall / we're climbing up the wrong wall. It is like we have been innoculated with a little bit against the real thing. We are so stuck on "church" we don't see kingdom. Why are we so focused on ourselves? Can we stop focusing on ourselves - how we can be a better and more complete church, and get on with God's kingdom advance instead?

I have highlighted only a part of the gospel of the kingdom that we have missed out and become blind to - of the need for us to engage with the poor and bring His kingdom to the poor. There is so much more of the gospel and power of the kingdom that we have yet to see and experience and become channels of to the world in every aspect of life.

Lord, have mercy on us. Open our eyes and set us free. Help us come back to You, surrender our concept of church, our ministries, our structures, our systems, our identity, our dreams, our fears, who we are, everything .. to You. Share Your heart with us. Help us feel afresh Your heartbeat for the people around us, especially those who are trapped in deep poverty. May we be transformed by Your love, and be agents of Your kingdom. Let Your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as in heaven. Amen.

The Poor are Closer to God (and a Test for the Rich!)

2009-09-29T04:43:00.000-07:00

I believe poor people are closer to the Kingdom of God than most other people. Indeed Jesus said they are the people of the kingdom : Lk.6:20. Why did Jesus say that? And why did Jesus say that He was anointed to preach the gospel to the poor? (not the rich!)

I believe it is because the poor are generally meek, humble, childlike, vulnerable, and marginalized. The poor feel rejected and despised. They are voiceless and fearful. Such people are usually what the Bible describes as “contrite and lowly in spirit”. That makes their hearts the most attractive place for God to dwell! God said He lives in a high and lofty place but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit (Isa.57:15). And Isa.66:1-2 is astounding. God in effect says that He dwells with and His resting place is in, the heart of the humble and contrite and those who tremble at His word!!!

Of course not all poor are humble and contrite. But most poor people are. That’s why the poor are closer to the kingdom. And they are the people of the kingdom in the sense that they (who are humble and contrite) are the kind of people that God counts as His kind of people … along with children, and those who are meek, those who are merciful, who are pure in heart, who mourn, who are peacemakers, who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who are persecuted.

When Jesus came, He did not go to the rich and powerful. He went to the poor. He felt comfortable and at home with them. God seeks out those who are contrite and brokenhearted. That is what He is after. Why? I believe it is because they are of like heart, of like spirit to Him. Reflect on this for a moment – the Creator of the universe comes as a man, knowing full well that the world will reject him, and even his own people will reject him, and gets down on his knees to wash the feet of his disciples, including one whom he knows is about to betray him. Isn’t that mind blowing?

When we sing "How Great Thou Art" or "How Great is our God .." what picture do you have in your mind? For most people I think it is of God on His throne with the angels surrounding Him in worship, or it could be the majestic mountains and starry skies. One day I was singing "How Great is Our God .." and God gave me a picture of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples! I sank to my knees in tears and bowed in renewed awe of Jesus. When I shared this, in response someone shared with me that he had a dream in which he was taken up into heaven. As soon as he arrived, he was taken to meet Jesus. The first thing Jesus did was he hugged him and then got down on his knees and washed his feet!! Awesome!! That’s why all the angels worship Him. What kind of God is He? What is His heart like? Our God is a servant.

How can we understand this – that God is a servant? That’s something that can only be understood and appreciated in our hearts. Theological studies and seminaries have their place, but unfortunately most church leaders who graduate from seminary tend to run churches more from an intellectual approach than anything else. So most of Christianity has been centered on being doctrinally correct rather than experiencing God. Being right is paramount. Living the life is secondary. So most of “church” is in meetings, preaching, teaching, evangelism – all to do with textual truth than living truth.

We can attend a Bible study on the subject of joy and go home satisfied after a comprehensive study on the subject, with all our notes on joy, but not really have joy. But that doesn’t seem to bother us that much. It bothers us more if there was a disagreement during the Bible study on the correct way of understanding joy. In the same way, we can have a correct understanding of the subject of love, but we don’t actually go out and love. But it won’t bother us that much. Why is that?

I think that’s because evangelical Christianity arose from the west and was developed in the west. In the west, getting it right and being correct is everything! If you are born in that culture, in that paradigm, and you grow up in that paradigm, it is hard for you to come out of that paradigm and see things from any other perspective. I too was born again into a western Christian paradigm. I became a typical evangelical. Then I went and studied law in England. That made me even worse. I was more concerned about understanding things right than about living right.

But Jesus was not so concerned about people getting their doctrines and beliefs right. Even though they had obviously misinterpreted the Old Testament on the coming of the Messiah, Jesus never corrected the Pharisees on their doctrines or their interpretation of the Old Testament. Instead, He was against their hearts.

Life is not found in the knowledge of the Scriptures. Life is found in Jesus. Jesus told the Pharisees : “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” Jn.5:39-40. In effect He said, “You think getting your doctrines right will get you into heaven? Well, you can have all your doctrines right and yet have no life in you.”

I heard someone once put it very well. He said when we die and we are taken to the pearly gates, the angel Gabriel is not going to give us a test on our Biblical knowledge or our doctrinal position to see if we qualify to enter. Instead he is going to put his stethoscope to our hearts and listen to find if there is life in us. “Because he who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son, does not have life; but the wrath of God remains on him.” Jn.3:36.

Someone said this : “The Word did not become a philosophy, theory or a concept to be discussed, debated or pondered. The Word became a person to be followed, enjoyed and loved.”

The strange thing is this. It is very possible to be committed and zealous for God but not know Him personally. Paul said this : “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.” Rom.10:2. Paul himself knew this - when Jesus appeared to Paul the first time, he asked, ”Who are You Lord?” Acts 9:5.

It is the heart that counts, not what’s in our heads. So poor people may not have correct beliefs, and they may even be trapped in false beliefs, which is why they are in such debilitating situations, but they are closer to the Kingdom than professors of theology who know their Bibles inside out but whose hearts know little of contrition or what it means to be servants. I was very grieved when I heard how evangelical theologians questioned whether Mother Theresa was saved. Some of her beliefs about salvation seemed questionable, but I bet you she was closer to the heart of God than many evangelical leaders of megachurches who doubt if she is now in “heaven” with the Lord.

At the end of the day, it is not material poverty or material riches that is the issue. Those who are materially rich might even be poor in spirit, although that is seldom the case. It is what material poverty or material riches does to our hearts. According to the Bible, material riches are a curse more than anything else, because material riches blinds us to the condition of our hearts, and to God and others. Jesus said how hard it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. But "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." Luke6:20. Want to be spiritually rich? Simple, be materially poor! Give it all away, and your heart will be rich. Hang on to it, and your heart will remain cold and dead.

At the end of the day, Jesus said how much we love God will be evident from how much we love the poor : Matt.25:31-46. Indeed not only does God identify with the poor, the poor are really a test for the rich.

Who was this Woman?

2009-09-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

There is a passage recorded in all the gospels that is very intriguing. It tells of an incident in which an unknown woman came up to Jesus and poured out her affection on Jesus in a very dramatic way. In response, Jesus told all the people who witnessed this incident, “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." Matt.26:13

See corresponding passages in Mark14:3-9, Matt.26:6-13, Lk.7:36-47, Jn.11:1-2, Jn.12:1-7, Lk.10:38-42

Who was this woman? Why did she show such an outpouring of affection on Jesus? And why did Jesus say that wherever the gospel is preached, what she did will also be told in memory of her? Have any of us done that? Many of us have preached the gospel many times, but have any of us in sharing the gospel ever added to it this story of what she did? What is the connection between the gospel and what she did? Could it be that we have been missing something vital? Could it be that our understanding of the gospel falls short of what Jesus meant by the gospel?

To find answers to this, first we need to ask if there is anything in the record of the gospels that might give us a clue as to why this woman would show such an outpouring of affection on Jesus. Perhaps there is. I believe it is very possible that this woman could very well be the same woman who was caught in adultery in the account in Jn 8:1-11. There is a hint in the Luke passage that lends some weight to this. Luke describes her as a woman who had a lived a very sinful life. And Simon the leper thinks to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman this is – that she is a sinner.”

Here’s the scenario. Her partner got away with not even a mention. She however was caught and dragged out to be humiliated in public. Where were all her “lovers”? Did no one love her enough to come forward to speak up on her behalf? This was the crunch. Not only was she shamefully exposed, she was being condemned to death. In her hour of crisis, condemned to the punishment of being stoned to death, no one showed her the kind of love like Jesus did. Not only did Jesus save her from being stoned to death, we can imagine how touched she was by Jesus’ kindness and love. That could give the background to why one day, she could hold it no more but she just showed up all of a sudden, uninvited, unannounced, and lavished her love upon Jesus. Her breaking of the alabaster box and the outpouring of the perfume symbolized so dramatically the breaking and outpouring of her passion from deep within her for Jesus.

It is quite possible too that this woman was Mary Magdalene who apparently had a very close relationship with the Lord. That however is another issue, which unfortunately has been twisted by Dan Brown in the Da Vincci Code.

OK, we can understand that Jesus would have been touched by her dramatic show of gratitude. But Jesus makes no mention of that. Instead He links what she did with the gospel. What is the connection between her show of affection and the gospel?

I could be wrong, but this is how I read it. I believe this is the picture that Jesus was giving us of the end goal of the Gospel – of a woman pouring out her love and passion upon Jesus. This is what the gospel is all about. It is not so much about eternal salvation as it is about God’s long lost bride forsaking all other love, leaving her adultery, and returning to Him and lavishing her love upon her Bridegroom. Throughout the ages, God has been looking for a bride – a people who will fall hopelessly in love with Him – a people who will forsake all, give all and lose themselves in response to His love.

Unfortunately most of what church is today has been built around nothing more than "fire insurance". Sadly, evangelical Christianity's focus on salvation, seems to appreciate nothing else for why Jesus came except to save us from hell. Evangelical Christianity that makes correct doctrine its cornerstone has no idea of a Jesus who came to die and win back His bride for Himself.

Why did God create us in the first place? Why a man and a woman - a husband and wife, as the image of God? Why did God call Israel His wife? Why did God say that Israel had committed adultery against Him? Were these just strange inappropriate metaphors that crazy wild eyed prophets conjured up in their minds on their own, or could it be that they understood just how hurt and jealous God felt for us and how passionately He longs for us to return to Him?

Have you ever fallen in love before? When you fall in love, madly in love, you become crazy. You become beside yourself. All decorum is swept aside for a display of what is raging in the heart. I believe that this is the crazy love that God is looking for. Does the present day church understand this?

Make no mistake but it is quite possible that there can be people who are committed and zealous for God but not know Him personally : “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.” Rom.10:2. Paul himself knew this - when Jesus appeared to Paul the first time, he asked, ”Who are You Lord?” Acts 9:5.

What do christians today understand of being filled with the Spirit? Being filled with the Holy Spirit is usually understood only in terms of power and anointing; not intimacy with God. I dare say many Christians, have never experienced being filled with God’s love. What do we know of God's love? Suppose I were to say to you, “God loves you.” What would come to your mind? God’s provision of food and shelter for you? His giving you a good family? His protection over you daily? His dying on the cross for you, saving you from hell, and giving you eternal life? These are what most christians would think about when they think about God’s love for them. In the Bible however, God’s love for us is described not only in terms of how He cares for us and provides for us, and how He saves us and gives us eternal life, but also in romantic terms :

• As a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. Isa.62:5
• I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you to Myself. Jer.31:3
• The Lord your God will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. Zeph.3:17

Various pictures are given to us in the Bible of God’s relationship with us : Shepherd and sheep, Master and servant, Commander of the Army and soldiers, Vine and branches, Potter and clay, etc. but the final picture in Revelations is the Bridegroom and His Bride. That is really the ultimate relationship the Lord seeks of us. Right from the very beginning we were made in the image of God – male and female (not only male) : Gen.5:2. In our earthly human relationship with each other as males and females, we have a picture and understanding of the relationship that God seeks from us. All through the Old Testament, God spoke of Israel as his wife who had deserted Him and committed adultery with other lovers.

God desires a passionate relationship with us. God longs to be intimate with us and us with Him. Eternal life is described by Jesus not in terms of length of time, but as “knowing” (ginosko) God : Jn.17:3 That is the same Greek word used for how Adam knew Eve his wife, in the Septuagint.

Though the Ephesian church was zealous for Jesus and totally committed to Him, yet they had “left their first love” : Rev.2:1-7. Look at how Jesus described the church of Ephesus. Is there any church you know of today that comes close to the dedication, commitment and zeal of the Ephesian church as described by Jesus Himself? I was baffled, so one day I asked the Lord what He meant by “first love”. In reply, the Lord asked me, “How did you love your wife when you first fell in love with her?” Ha! I immediately understood. I remembered how I longed to be with her all the time, how I could not bear being apart from her, how I would be dying to see her again whenever we had to be separated even for a few hours, how hours with her would feel like just minutes, how I delighted in her, how I dreamt of her all the time with open eyes, how crazy I was about her .... Yes there was a time I loved Jesus this way. Do I still love Jesus this way today?

Jesus is not looking for Marthas, but for Marys : Lk.38-42. God does not just want commitment and a sense of duty from us. In the story Jesus told of the two sons, contrary to the popular way it is understood, I believe the main character of the story is not the prodigal son. Some say it is about the father and his love. Perhaps so, however I ask what the main point of the story is about and I find that it is more about the elder son because Jesus was trying to tell the Jews how they were so much like the elder son. It was tragic that the elder son served his father obediently, even slaved for him, but did not know his father’s heart : Lk.15:11-32.

In Jn.4:24, John says that God seeks worshippers. In Acts13:22, it says that God found David a man after His own heart. What was it about David that God could say that of him? David said, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek : that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Ps.27:4. Not 5 things, not 3 things, but 1 thing. In Ps.63:1 David said, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

I believe that God wants us to go to Him in prayer not just as a time to request and petition Him for things, but as a time to enjoy being with Him, expressing our love for Him. That is what God ultimately desires and wants to move us towards – knowing His love and loving Him in return, as a bride would be in love with her bridegroom. Just enraptured in love and delight in each other.

God will not be satisfied with anything less than all of our hearts :

Search for me with all your heart : Jer.29:13
Return to Me with all your heart : Joel 2:12
Trust in the Lord with all your heart : Pr.3:5-6
Love the Lord with all your heart : Mark 12:30

Jesus reminded the pharisees that life is not found in the knowledge of the Scriptures. Life is found in Jesus. Jesus told the Pharisees : “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” Jn.5:39-40.

Someone said this : “The Word did not become a philosophy, theory or a concept to be discussed, debated or pondered. The Word became a person to be followed, enjoyed and loved.”

Like lovers in love, when this love rages on in our hearts, it will compel us to be fools for Christ. Paul spoke of even being mad : “If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us .. “ 2 Cor.5:13-14. True ministry is an outflow of this love.

How can we have this love? Dare we ask God for it? When a woman marries a man, she surrenders herself completely to him. She henceforth no longer belongs to any other, not even herself but to him. No doubt the liberated women of today would be upset with this, but I believe that that is because there is so little real love these days. I dare say things would immediately change if someone who would die for his woman were to show up in her life. That of course is our Jesus. The question for us is this : Are we willing to be possessed by His love with all the consequences that follow – that we will lose ourselves and our lives to Him?

So much of teaching in church encourages people to love more, to pray more, to fast more, to evangelize more, study more of the Bible, give more, attend more of this, get involved in more of that, go on more mission trips, etc. but where do we find the impetus to do more of all these? I see many church workers especially flat out trying to keep up with more of everything. It is no wonder that for many people, if we were to ask them what their picture of God is, quite honestly they will tell you it is Someone sitting supreme on His throne demanding more holiness and more of everything from us.

How about a change of picture? I want to share with you the Jesus who loves you romantically, who even now longs for you to just be alone with Him and immerse yourself in His love.

Who was this woman? This woman is the true church, His bride, who loves Him like crazy, that Jesus is coming back for.

Parable of the Old Man who Wanted to Go to the Bathroom

2009-09-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

This is a story I read a long time ago. It touched me deeply when I first read it. I took a photocopy of it and subsequently included it into the crisis response manual I compiled. I am sorry but I do not have the name of the author nor the journal or newsletter it was published in. I hope that if you are the author or if any of you reading this can tell me the source, I would be very grateful.

"While serving with Operation Mobilization in India in 1967, I spent several months in a T.B. sanitarium with tuberculosis. After finally being admitted into the sanitarium, I tried to give tracts to the patients, doctors and nurses, but no one would take them. You could tell that they weren't really happy with me, a rich American, (to them all Americans were rich) being in a government-free sanitarium. They didn't know that serving with O.M., I was just as broke as they were. I was quite discouraged with being sick, everyone angry at me, not being able to witness because of the language barrier, and no one even bothered to take a tract or Gospel of John.

The first few nights, I would wake around two a.m. coughing. One morning as I was going through my coughing spell, I noticed one of the older (and certainly sicker) patients across the aisle trying to get out of bed - He would sit upon the edge of the bed, try to stand but because of weakness would fall back into bed. I really didn't understand what was happening or what he was trying to do. He finally fell back into bed exhausted. I then heard him begin to cry softly.

The next morning I realized what the man was trying to do. He was simply trying to get up and walk to the bathroom! Because of his sickness and extreme weakness he was not able to do this and being so ill he simply went to toilet in the bed.

The next morning the stench in our ward was awful. Most of the other patients yelled insults at the man because of the smell. The nurses were extremely agitated and angry because they had to clean up the mess and moved him roughly from side to side to take care of the problem. One of the nurses in her anger even slapped him. The man, terribly embarrassed just curled up into a ball and wept.

The next night, also around two O'clock, I again woke coughing. I noticed the man across the aisle sit up to again try to make his way to the washroom. However, still being so weak he fell back whimpering as the night before. I'm just like most of you. I don't like bad smells. I didn't want to become involved, I was sick myself but before I realized what had happened, not knowing why I did it, I got out of my bed and went over to the old man. He was still crying and did not hear me approaching. As I reached down and touched his shoulder, his eyes opened with a fearful questioning look. I simply smiled, put my arm under his head and neck and my other arm under his legs, and picked him up.

Even though I was sick and weak, I was certainly stronger than he was. He was extremely light because of his old age and advanced T.B. I walked down the hall to the washroom, which was really just a smelly, filthy small room with a hole in the floor. I stood behind him with my arms under his arms, holding him so he could take care of himself. After he finished, I picked him up and carried him back to his bed. As I began to lay him down, with my head next to his, he kissed me on the cheek, smiled and said something which I suppose was thank you.

It was amazing what happened the next morning, one of the other patients who I didn't know woke me around four o'clock with a steaming cup of delicious Indian tea. He then made motions with his hands (he knew no English) indicating he wanted a tract. As the sun came up, some of the other patients began to approach, motioning that they would also like one of the booklets I had tried to distribute before. Throughout the day people came to me, asking for the Gospel booklets. This included the nurses, the hospital interns, the doctors, until everybody in the hospital had a tract, booklet or Gospel of John. Over the next several days, several indicated they trusted Christ as Saviour as a result of reading the Good News!

What did it take to reach these people with the Good News of salvation in Christ? It certainly wasn't health. It definitely wasn't the ability to speak or to give an intellectually moving discourse... Health, ability to communicate cross-culturally and sensitivity to other cultures and peoples are all very important, but what did God use to open their hearts to the Gospel? I simply took an old man to the bathroom. Anyone could have done that!"

This is what I would call living out or fleshing out the gospel. Whoever you are, Mr.OMer, thank you for loving that old man, and thank you for sharing it with us.

Paradigm Shifts

2009-09-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

Paradigm shifts are not an easy thing to make.

When it was first discovered that the earth is spherical in shape, not flat, it came as a complete shock to most people. They could not accept it. Their eyes told them otherwise. It took a long time for many people to embrace that. Some refused to accept it no matter what scientific evidence was presented to them. Even up till today, there are those who refuse to accept it. They formed a society called the “Flat Earth Society”.

Another example was when Jesus was crucified and resurrected. His disciples went through a paradigm shift. Their idea of their Messiah was that he would lead them to overcome the Roman empire and establish His rule on earth. They were totally devastated when Jesus did not defend himself but needlessly surrendered and died at the hands of Roman soldiers. They had to go through a paradigm shift. When Jesus came back to life, they went through yet another paradigm shift about their Messiah and his mission. Eventually after their experience of Pentecost they went through yet another paradigm shift of their own identity and mission.

Did you know that despite having been commissioned by Jesus to go to all the world, the apostles remained in Jerusalem even though everyone else had scattered and went around sharing the gospel? (see Acts8:1-4). So in Acts 9 Jesus starts work on Paul to send him instead. But in Acts 10 and 11, I see God knocking Peter on his head with an open vision followed immediately with the Cornelius household experience, giving Peter and the apostles one final chance. But despite the fact that they finally recognized that the gospel was not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles, yet they still remained in Jerusalem for the next 20 years!

Why were they stuck in Jerusalem? Quite obviously it was because the old Jewish idea that Jerusalem was to be the center of worship was stick stuck in their minds. Paul goes on his first missionary journey (about 2 years) and returns, and they are still in Jerusalem. Paul goes on his second missionary journey (at least 3 years) and they are still stuck in Jerusalem!! Amazing! After Acts 12, except for the council in Jerusalem in Acts 15, there is no further mention of the original apostles. From then on, it is about Paul taking the gospel to all the world. We know from history that the apostles were finally forced out of Jerusalem and scattered to different parts when the Romans ransacked Jerusalem in AD70.

God’s Purposes Advance through Paradigm Shifts

Paradigm shifts require a death to long held (even sacrosanct) ideas first, before we are ready to embrace new ideas that contradict our old long-held ideas. The Jewish religious leaders in Jesus’ days refused to do that. Jesus said new wine cannot be put into old wineskins. You need new wineskins for new wine. It is not easy for people to give up long-held ideas. Jesus also said that those who have drunk the old wine don’t want the new. They will say the old is better.

Such is our human nature. We are naturally resistant to change. It is therefore not surprising that there are numerous examples of paradigm shifts in the Bible. Each key person that was instrumental in God’s agenda, had to go through radical paradigm shifts before God’s purposes could advance through him/her : Job, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Mary the mother of Jesus, Peter and all the disciples, Paul, etc.

It is very evident as history unfolds, that for God’s purposes to take place, each step, each advance, required a paradigm shift of His people. We may think we have already understood God’s ways and His plans and purposes, but guess what? They are always far bigger and greater than our narrow minds can comprehend.

I believe the church needs a paradigm shift in its understanding of the gospel that will lead us to a paradigm shift in our understanding of our role, of God’s mission for us, in this world. When that happens, it would definitely also lead us to a paradigm shift in the way we “do” church and missions. Everything begins with our understanding of the gospel. When that changes, then church, ministry and missions will also change. Are you ready for a paradigm shift? I would like to invite you to read my other posts "What is the Gospel?" and "What is Church?"

Awakening to a World of Need - An Urgent Message for the Church Today

2009-09-27T05:06:00.000-07:00

We are commanded to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute, to defend the rights of the poor and needy, the cause of the fatherless, and to plead the case of the widow (Prov.31:89, Isa.1:17) because God commands us to love them as He loves them. Deut.10:18-19. That is the purpose of this article. The purpose is not to criticize and judge but to inform and provoke us to urgent action. May we feel the heart of God as we ponder over this message and its implications.

Some thoughts expressed in this message are mine, some are borrowed from others who share a similar burden. Statistics have been drawn from various sources including from UN agencies, World Relief Corporation, David Barrett and Todd Johnson of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, World Evangelization Research Center, Caleb Project, etc.

This is an urgent message for the church today. What are the basic humanitarian needs in the world today? What concern is it of the church? Should it be of concern to the church?

Facts and Figures

Here are some statistics :

· 34,000 children die everyday of hunger and preventable diseases.

· More than 1 million children join the sex trade each year.

· 120 million street children in mega-cities.

· 349 million homeless/family-less children.

· 670 million children work to earn a living instead of being in school.

· 250,000 children will become permanently blinded this year for lack of a 10 cent vitamin A capsule or a daily handful of green vegetables.

· Millions of children are orphaned by war, civil strife, revolution and terrorism.

· 55 million refugees and internally displaced people (35 million who are children).

· 2.64 billion people do not have basic sanitation and safe drinking water.

· 1 billion “absolute poor and destitute” defined as those whose existence is characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy and disease, and do not have access to basic health care, education and safe drinking water (230 million or 23% are Christians).

· 500 million are on the verge of starvation.

· 246 million child laborers.

· 10 million babies born malnourished per year.

· 3 billion (nearly half the world’s population) living below the World bank’s poverty line.

Christians / the Church in the World Today

Now let’s take a look at how Christians and the church have responded to the plight of the poor :

· Christians today have a total annual income of over US$17 trillion

· It would cost less than US$70 billion a year (0.004% of total annual income of Christians) to provide all people in developing and under developed countries with basic education, health care and clean water - the fundamentals to eradicate poverty.

· However, 96% of all money given by Christians stays in the local church

· 3% of all money given goes to work among those who are already evangelized

· Less than 1% of all money given goes to work among the 2.2 billion unreached in the world (who are also the poorest) – that works out to roughly 0.00001% of the total annual income of Christians

God’s Laws Concerning the Poor

There are numerous verses and passages in the Bible that tell us how God has a special concern for the poor. A simple word check in a good concordance on words such as “poor”, “needy” “widows” “orphans” “fatherless” “destitute” “alien” “stranger” “sojourner” “hungry” “naked” “weak” “afflicted” etc. will tell us a great deal about how God feels for the poor and needy. Take for example God’s institution of the tithe and how it is to be used. The collection of tithes was an Old Testament law that was instituted for a particular purpose. Although there are no commands in the New Testament for the collection of tithes, the church today has adopted the practice of collecting tithes based on the Old Testament. The church today challenges its congregations to tithe with Old Testament verses and passages. But the church largely seems to be ignoring the commands in the Old Testament as to the purpose of the tithe and how it is to be used.

In the Old Testament, the tithe was in the form of food; not monetary currency “so that there would be food in My house” Mal.3:10. Who was in God’s house that needed feeding? Deuteronomy 14 and 26 tells us that the tithe was to feed the Levites, the fatherless, the widows and the aliens. The aliens were people who were landless - displaced because of war or famine. Today we call them refugees. God identified with the Levites, fatherless, widows and aliens when He commanded the Israelites to set aside that “sacred portion” for them. He considered giving to them and feeding them as giving to Himself. In the New Testament, Jesus said the same thing, “In as much as you have done it for the least of these My brethren, you have done it for Me” Matt. 25:40. That is how God feels for the poor and needy.

How about us? When we keep 96% in the church and give less than 1% to the most needy; that is surely a horrifying reflection of what we, the church think and feel about the poor. When only 0.00001% of our total global annual income goes to work among the poor; is that not a terrible indictment on the state of our hearts?

Parable of the Good Samaritan : Luke 10:25-37

Whenever we read scripture, we must ask ourselves how it applies to us today – what God is saying to our present day situation.

The lawyer asked, ”What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The answer Jesus acknowledged as correct was not the confession of sins and acceptance of Him as our savior. Rather, it was to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. That should challenge our traditional evangelical understanding of salvation!

The Samaritans in those days were people who were not accepted by the Jews as true children of Abraham. They were not considered as part of the chosen people of God because they inter-married with other races. In today’s church language we would say they were mixed up with the world; not true Christians.

What about the priest and Levite? Who would they be in today’s context?

Why did the priest and the Levite pass by on the other side? Could it be because they didn’t want to get defiled? It seems to me they didn’t want anything to interfere in their religious duties. They didn’t want their schedule upset or interrupted. They were too busy with their own agendas and businesses to take care of. It was inconvenient to care.

The awful truth is that we are not much different from them. Most of us care enough to do anything only if it is convenient for us to do so; not like the Samaritan who went out of his way to care. Many in our churches today express a desire to serve God, but come short of full surrender. The honest truth is that people want to serve God only upon their own terms. When we want to serve God only when it is convenient to us; when we determine how, when and to what extent we will serve God, do we not remain master of our lives? Are we not just being religious?

I have been asking that question in many churches : “Why did the priest and the Levite pass by on the other side?” The best answers came from a group of Sunday school kids from a slum. One little boy said, ”I know Uncle, its because the priest and Levite did not want to get dirty”. Another little girl said, “I know Uncle, they thought that someone else would help the man”. Perhaps they were speaking from their own experiences.

The lawyer’s concern is not much different from the average person’s concern – who’s job is it to take care of the man? Who is my neighbor? To what extent am I under obligation to help? Jesus however side-stepped the issue brought up by the lawyer. Jesus looked at the whole thing from a different paradigm. To Him what is really in issue is not who’s job and responsibility it is – that’s looking at things from a selfish and legalistic perspective. What really matters is - how is our heart towards those in need? Who was truly a neighbor to that man? Are we being neighbors to people in need? The paradigm is shifted : we need to look at it from the perspective of those in need; not from our’s. From the perspective of those in need, are we being neighbors to them?

It is true that the command to love our neighbor does not just apply to the poor but to everyone around us. However it is also pertinent to note that Jesus answered the question of who our neighbor is, with this parable, focusing on people in need. Clearly Jesus was making a point to the lawyer that “love” was not to be kept within our own families and communities but reaching out especially to people in need.

In our world today, in our churches today, how much are we concerned for the poor and needy? How much are we like the Samaritan who went out of his way to care? How much are we like the priest and Levite? How much does our heart go out to the poor and needy? Aren’t we too busy with “church” to care about the poor and needy? Or do we think that it is someone else’s responsibility; not ours – “someone else will go and help them” ?

When we keep 96% in the church and give less than 1% to the most needy; when only 0.00001% of our total global annual income goes to the poor; are we not passing by on the other side?

Whose Responsibility is it to Feed the Poor?

Before Jesus fed the 5000 in Mark 6, the disciples told Jesus that the people were hungry. Jesus replied, “You feed them”. If Jesus were standing right in front of us and we were to say to Him, “Lord, 35,000 people are dying of hunger each day”, I believe He would reply no different to us today. I don’t believe He would tell us to call the UN to go and feed them.

We need only to ask ourselves two questions, “Does God care?” and “Is He able?” If the answers to both are a resounding “Yes”, then the question to ourselves must be, ”Why aren’t we doing anything about it?”

Perhaps the truth is, we don’t even care enough to ask what the situation is and where the poor and hungry are. I have shared these statistics in many churches and Christian meetings. It has come as a surprise to many. How is it that in our churches, we never ask about the poor? Many have responded that in all their 10 or 20 years or more in church they have never looked at, discussed or considered the problem of poverty, whether in the world or in their own communities. This is true even in churches in poor nations like India and Indonesia. Could it be we are so caught up in ourselves and our programs and activities that we don’t care? Or could it be that our whole theology and understanding of what Christianity is, is terribly misconceived?

Not Seeing the Wood (Forest) for the Trees?

Often we can get so caught up in the details that we loose sight of the big picture. The Pharisees were so caught up with the tiny little details of the law and making sure that everyone kept strictly to it, but clearly they lost sight of the heart and soul of what the law was all about. They loved the law but not the God of the law or the people whom He loved. They were so blind that when Jesus was standing right in front of them they couldn’t recognize Him as the very God they professed to serve.

It is important always to ask what’s the big picture. For example if we were to ask what the book of James is all about, many of us would agree that it can be summarized in one sentence – true faith will result in action. One day the Lord asked me a question : “How would you summarize the whole Old Testament?” I thought about it a while, scanning through in my mind the whole of the Old Testament. What was the cry of the prophets in the OT against the kings and religious leaders? For what was Israel and Judah judged by God? It was for idolatry, for worshipping false gods and for ignoring the plight of the poor, for failing to defend the poor, for passing unjust laws that oppress the poor, for forcing the poor to work for nothing, for enslaving the poor, for taking land from the poor. I realized the whole of the OT can be summarized in 2 points : Worship God and God only and obey all His commandments; and love people, especially the poor and needy. In response, the Lord reminded me that that was why Jesus said the whole of the law hangs on just these 2 commandments ; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourselves.” Mark12:30.

How would we summarize 1 John? I believe it might go something like this – if we really love God, we would love people. True love for God will naturally and evidently be expressed in love for people. If we truly love God we will feel His heart for people, especially His love for the poor.

What is True Spirituality?

The focus of evangelical teaching has been on personal spirituality alone. Spirituality is rarely understood or expressed to include love and concern for others. Spirituality is understood only on the individual and personal level/context. Spirituality is individualistic – private daily devotions, understanding of spiritual things, praying in tongues, etc. Spirituality is hardly ever understood in the context of the needs of others in the world. Yet the greatest commandment includes both loving God and loving our neighbors. That surely must have something to say about what true spirituality is if not being the yardstick or measure of spirituality.

As Bryant Myers has pointed out, if the spiritual world is only an interior private place and the church has allowed itself to be relegated to this spiritual world, while the state and other human institutions assume responsibility for what happens in everyday life, and since the spiritual realm is confined to the inner invisible life, the gospel as we know it has little to do with the material condition of the poor nor can it provide adequate solutions for the present. Again, in our limited understanding, since the gospel’s focus is on eternity, there is no vision for a better present, instead the Christian hope waits for the return of the Lord when He will be the final equalizer, where He will wipe away every tear from the eyes of the poor.

Gospel of the Kingdom or Gospel of Salvation?

What is God’s intention for this world? Many Christians today believe Jesus is coming back again soon. That He is not concerned about this world and neither should we. It is perishing. We ought not to have anything to do with this world. We just need to wait for Jesus to return when He will establish a new heaven and a new earth. Meanwhile let’s stay close together in our holy huddles and make sure the world doesn’t get into the church. It is for this reason that I believe the church has ceased to be “salt and light”. To be “salt and light” I believe, is to be visible and relevant.

Suppose I were to ask you to close your eyes and I would give you a word, let’s say “table”, what would you see in your mind’s eye? Each of us would imagine different sizes, types and colors of tables. Now let’s try another word, “church” – what do you see? I think for many of us who are evangelical Christians, we would no longer see a building but people. We are very proud to say that in our understanding the church is not a building but people. But in what you saw in your mind’s eye, what were the people doing? Many, if not all of us would see the people in a meeting – either in a church service or Bible study or cell group whether in a church building or some other building or even on the beach, but still in a meeting. The understanding of church has shifted from being a building to a meeting of people. There is a meeting on Sunday we call a Sunday service, then there is a meeting on Wednesday we call the mid week prayer meeting or Bible study, then there is another meeting on Saturday we call the youth meeting and another one we call the children’s meeting and another one we call the women’s meeting, etc. But is that all what church is supposed to be? No wonder the world thinks we are irrelevant. And we are invisible too because we are usually still stuck inside some building or other.

Jesus however preached the Gospel of the Kingdom; not the Gospel of Salvation. What's the difference? According to the Salvation concept - this world is evil, this world is perishing; have nothing to do with it. Let's get people saved from this world and its systems. Let’s get people into our churches and keep them away from this bad, bad world. Soon Jesus will return and take us away to heaven. According to the Kingdom concept - Jesus came to redeem all things to Himself. God is concerned with every aspect of what’s happening in this world, in people’s lives. Christians should be penetrating into the world and affecting the world by their values. Christians should be taking the lead in business, education, entertainment, sports, engineering, science, technology, civil administration, government, social concerns, family, environment, etc. to model to the world Kingdom values. Jesus told us to occupy till He comes; not run and hide till He comes.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” The focus of the gospel should therefore be this world; not heaven. Our role is not to try and get people to heaven, but to live out kingdom values and be God’s agent for His kingdom to come into every sphere of life. If we confine “ministry” to the “spiritual”, and therefore only “full time” ministry workers do the work of the ministry, we will never be able to fulfill God’s mandate in Matt.28 to disciple nations, because the rate at which we are raising up “full time” ministry workers is being far exceeded by the natural birth rate of nations by millions of times. Instead, if “ministry” is understood not only as preaching, teaching, prayer, Bible study, etc. but being agents of reconciliation and transformation in every aspect of life and bringing the whole counsel of God and of His rule to every work place and community, and the skills and natural talents of every Christian is seen as ministry and harnessed and released into the world, only then would we be discipling nations and allowing His kingdom to come through us.

Jesus

In Jesus’ ministry, Jesus showed a special concern and love for the poor and needy. He said He was anointed to preach the good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to release the oppressed, to give sight to the blind. He touched lepers, healed the sick who had no money for medical treatment. He had a special interest for the crippled, the lame, children and prostitutes. He said when you give a banquet, don’t invite your friends, or your relatives or your rich neighbors; instead invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Luke 14:12-13. Not everything of what Jesus did was recorded in the Gospels : John 21:25. However in Acts10:38, Peter who had been with Jesus, said this of Jesus : “You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him.”

Compassion or Pity?

The church needs to rethink its mission. Where the poor and needy are concerned, the way the church thinks and responds seems to be no different from the world. Darrow Miller has pointed out that150 yrs ago, in the English language, the word “compassion” meant “suffering alongside someone”. Now in the English dictionary, the word “compassion” has a modern meaning – it means “pity”. Compassion is measured by how much we give ourselves to the plight of the person in need. Pity is merely feeling sorry for someone without getting involved with their situation. When we feel pity, we give money to ease our conscience. We are motivated by guilt; not by compassion. Compassion is a feeling that makes the person want to help or show mercy. Pity looks and feels but stops there. Compassion looks, feels and then does something.

Someone said this : "It might well be that the greatest threat to human survival now confronting us is the loss of compassion. We are confronted daily with the pain of human tragedy to such an extent that we soon learn to turn off what we see. In order to cope with our feelings of helplessness, we teach ourselves how not to feel. The tragedy in this response which is probably more widespread than we dare to believe is that we also deaden our capacity for love.”

When we have compassion, we will seek to enter into the world of the person in need. In the Gospel record, Jesus had compassion for the poor; He had compassion for us. God did not just throw down some food from heaven, or send His prophets with a rescue plan. He Himself came in person to identify with our situation. He identified so much with our condition, He took on our sins on His own body and took our punishment. In today’s context, it would be going to jail for someone else. It would be going to be executed in someone else’s place. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you” Just as He entered into our world, we are to enter into the world of those in need. It is to suffer alongside the poor, the helpless, the oppressed.

What is Missions?

St. Augustine is attributed to have said, “Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words”. What did he mean? I believe no matter what culture, background or educational level a person may be, one belief is universal throughout this world : action speaks louder than words. Missions and Gospel must be redefined to reflect more of the Biblical mandate – not only of preaching and teaching but the original mandate given to Abraham – that all nations will be blessed through him (now us, as children of Abraham). See Gal.3:8.

Eph.2:8-9 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith; not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.” The next verse says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should do.” (verse 10). The preceding verse cannot be read on its own. The thought in the preceding verse continues into the next verse and often gives light and meaning to the preceding verse. We are certainly not saved by good works, but what are we saved for? We are saved to do good works! “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no works? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” James 2:14 -16. “If anyone … sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3: 17-18.

Why do we confine Church planting to getting people into meetings? Should we not be concerned for the welfare of the community? In extending the blessings of Abraham, and in being concerned for what God is concerned, nutrition, shelter, water, education, health care, etc should not be taken as just a means of reaching people with the Gospel. All these - nutrition, shelter, water, education, health care, a means of livelihood, etc. are a part of the Gospel and ought to be part of our mission. Why? Because God cares and He has sent us to care.

I was training a group of pastors and church planters working in very poor areas. I asked them, “If a child in the community was seriously sick and needed emergency medical evacuation, won’t you immediately take him to the hospital?” They answered “yes” without hesitation. I asked, “Why? Are you sure that is part of your ministry as church planters?” They replied, “Yes of course, because we are to love and care for people.”

Then I asked, “So its part of your ministry to love people only after a problem develops, but it is not a part of your ministry to prevent or mitigate the problem from happening in the first place? You mean giving someone medicine is part of your ministry as church planters, but helping his parents with livelihood so that they can provide nutritious food to that kid and he wouldn’t be so susceptible to sickness is not part of your church planting ministry? And visiting someone in prison is part of ministry, but helping him with getting good income so he wouldn’t get into crime in the first place is not part of ministry?”

They gave me a perplexed look. They confessed they hadn’t thought about that. They said they had been taught in seminary not to get involved in social work but to concentrate on ministry. They confessed they had been having a fixed mindset/paradigm about church planting and ministry. Its amazing how the church has divorced church planting and ministry from life itself. Notice how Jesus kept talking about the kingdom; and not about church. Unfortunately, for most of Christendom, we have been focusing on church instead of the kingdom. It is no wonder we have more than 38,000 denominations in the world today!

Seek first the Kingdom of God

Besides a faulty theology, there is a second reason why we don’t respond to the needs of the world. We give to the needs of the poor and missions but all too often only after we have paid our mortgage, our insurance, our car, etc. When Jesus taught us not to worry about life, food, clothes, etc. His purpose was not to just comfort us when things are financially tight. Rather, we are told not to worry about these things so that instead we can give ourselves in the service of God. What hinders our love is a lack of faith. Lacking faith in God’s ability to provide and care for us, our priorities are upside down. Darrow Miller was right when he said we have bought in to secularism and a closed system where the belief is - for one man to gain another man must lose. So we conserve and preserve and hold on tight to what we have in case we lose it. Even when we do share we share only what we think we can afford, “in case there’s not enough for ourselves”. But that is a big mistake. In God’s economy, the one who gives gets more in return. We must understand that Biblical Theism calls us to live in an open system where God can intervene; not a closed system where all we have is all there is. Churches challenge their congregation to give and to live by faith, but are churches themselves afraid to give “in case there’s not enough for ourselves”? Otherwise why do the statistics tell us that 96% of all money given stays in the local church?

Timothy Chester says this - the New Testament has little to say on how and when we should evangelize. Instead it has much to say on how Christians should live their lives. 1 Pet.3:13-16 tells us to always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us for the hope that we have. Why would anyone ask us this? Only when they see how we live our lives not caring for worldly things but living for others. If we live for the present blessings it is not surprising that we are not asked to explain our hope. No wonder then that our evangelism is ineffective. While we lay up treasure on earth or while we make future security a priority, while we live like the rest of the world, people are not going to ask about our hope. Having become like everyone else, we have nothing to tell them because our lives do not provoke their questions. When that happens, our evangelism ceases to be based upon a lifestyle of trust and hope and becomes a technique.

Books abound telling us how to evangelize effectively, how to turn conversations around to Christ. We are answering questions that people are not asking! When Christ is Lord of all our lives, when we are living radically for the kingdom, no conversation will need to be turned around.

I end this message with a plea that we hear the cry of the poor and needy. More than that, may we hear the cry on the heart of God.

PS. Please feel free to circulate this article. I also welcome your feed-back. I once shared this message (condensed form) in a church. As soon as I finished, an elderly man asked, “I have been an elder of the church for more than 38 years of my life and I’ve heard thousands of sermons and teaching, but I’ve never heard anything about poverty or what you just shared. Why is that?” Why do you think that is so?

What is the Gospel? What is Church?

2009-09-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

I first visited Bangladesh in 1994. That visit radically changed my understanding of missions. Over the last 10 years my involvement with crisis relief has taught me that the gospel is not only a message of good news. I have come to understand that God is concerned for the whole person, not just his spirit and soul; not just his eternal salvation but also his whole being here on earth. I have by no means “arrived”. But I wish to share a little of my journey to understanding of a Holistic Gospel, which also changed my understanding of church and ministry and missions.

Spirituality – Individual and Private?

I was a typical evangelical. I was also a typical charismatic, which in some ways made me have an even more lop-sided view of spirituality. Reflecting on my own theology, I have come to realize that spirituality among evangelicals and especially among charismatics is rarely understood or expressed to include love and concern for others. Spirituality is understood only on the individual and personal level/context. Spirituality is individualistic – private daily devotions, understanding of spiritual things, praying in tongues, etc. Spirituality is hardly ever understood in the context of the needs of others in the world. Yet I did not reflect on this until much later that the greatest commandment includes both loving God and loving our neighbors and that surely must have something to say about what true spirituality is, if not being the yardstick or measure of spirituality.

Spiritual v. Non-Spiritual?

I think as evangelicals we commonly view the spiritual world as an interior private place and the spiritual realm as confined to the inner invisible life. Somehow we focus only on this spiritual world, while we leave the state and other human institutions to assume responsibility for what happens in everyday life. Our understanding of the gospel has its focus on eternity and has little to do with politics, economics and social issues of the world around us. From this viewpoint it does not appear to provide answers for the present. It is no wonder that the world thinks we are inadequate and irrelevant. I think we have failed to be salt and light in our communities largely because of our lop-sided theology differentiating between what is “spiritual” and what is “non-spiritual” and focusing only on what we consider as “spiritual”.

Since my first time in Bangladesh, I have through the years re-read the Bible with a new perspective. I do not see the Bible having this differentiation. I have been very much challenged by the words of St. Augustine : “Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words”. I believe no matter what culture, background or educational level a person may have, one belief is universal throughout this world : action speaks louder than words. Missions and Gospel must be redefined to reflect more of the Biblical mandate – not only of preaching and teaching but the original mandate given to Abraham – that all nations will be blessed through him (now through us, as children of Abraham) : Gal.3:8

Heaven or Earth?

When we think of the Gospel, we usually think of the Gospel as the message that people need to believe in to get into heaven. So for most Christians, the focus of the Gospel is heaven. And we preach the gospel to try and get more people into heaven. One day however, it hit me that we have got it wrong. In the “Lord’s Prayer” we are taught to pray “Let Your kingdom come and let Your will be done on earth as in heaven”. That tells me that the focus of the Gospel should be earth, not heaven. God wants His kingdom in all its fullness to come to earth. Salvation, as essential as that is, is but a part of that kingdom. God is not only concerned for each person’s eternal future but also his life and his relationships on earth. His kingdom begins here and now. He wants His kingdom to rule both in the hearts of individuals as well as in every family, community, workplace and nation. That necessarily encompasses the physical, mental, emotional and social; not just the spiritual.

Made in the Image of God

Jesus said that the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost. Well, what exactly was lost? Most Christians think only in terms of lost souls that need to be saved. Actually, there is so much more that was lost that Jesus came to restore. To really understand the gospel, we need to go back to Genesis and ask why God created us in the first place. Genesis tells us that God created us in His image. That tells me that it is in looking at Him that we find our purpose.

When we think of God, we usually think of God as one. We also think of God as a Trinity, but when we think of that, we usually think of it only doctrinally. I did not realize this but one day it came to me “out of the blues” that God : Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a community. So what does it mean to be made in the image of God? I believe that God intended us not to be individuals but to be community. We were made to be community - to share and to love. That’s why loving our neighbors as ourselves is part of the greatest commandment, and that has to permeate everything we do as ministry.

Intercession – the Heart of Crisis Relief

When I first started doing crisis relief, I understood it more as a strategy to bring the gospel to unreached peoples. At the first crisis relief training I attended, I learnt that crisis opens doors of opportunity where we can be salt and light and through that we can share the message of the gospel. That was the emphasis. No doubt that is true and that is one of God's strategies for the end times. Most crises happen among the most unreached (who are also the poorest).

However, when I actually began to work among the poor, God spoke to my heart and I began to realize that crisis relief is not only a good strategy from the Lord, but what was more important - crisis relief is about His love for the poor and broken peoples of the world. I began to realize also that crisis relief is actually intercession - God using us to intervene into a community to bring His love into the lives of people. We are there not just to bring a message of love but to actually come alongside the poor and help them rebuild their lives. The Lord began to speak to me and questioned some very fundamental things that I thought I had already understood very well. He asked me what the gospel is. I began to realize that the gospel is His love for the nations and His desire for the nations to be reconciled to Him expressed by 3 Ws : Word , Wonders and Works.

What is the Gospel?

From my observations, most of the evangelical world understands the gospel only in terms of it being Word (message of good news) - the first W : Christians try to tell people that God loves them and they need to be saved. Then came the pentecostal and charismatic move of the Holy Spirit. Christians began to realize that the gospel is not only good news but also signs and wonders. This is the second W. Christians wanted not only to tell people, they wanted to demonstrate the reality of God through the power of signs and wonders. The message was not only a God in heaven but also a God actively operating on earth who wants to set you free right now. The gospel is not only about future salvation in heaven but present salvation on earth too. Not only do you need to be saved, you need to be set free from demonic power and sicknesses etc. Inner healing also came on the scene - God wants to set you free from mental and emotional bondage too.

It appears that much of the church is still on the first W. Many have included the second W into their theology and understanding of the gospel, with some practice of it (only some). Many think that's all there is to the gospel. We think that we have the full gospel now. We call ourselves "Full Gospel” this and “Full Gospel” that. I thought so too. I discovered I was wrong.

I believe God began to show me that there is a third part of the gospel that the evangelical church at large has yet to realize - and for many years I did not realize it. This is represented by the third W : good works. Not just a message of love or the power of God to set you free. The gospel is also the love of God in action. In fact the heart of the gospel is love. Because God loves us, He doesn’t want us to be separated from Him. Because God loves us, He sent His Son. Because God loves us, He does not want us to continue in bondage and His power to set us free is a demonstration of His love for us. And because God loves us, He is concerned for our well being.

God created us to be spirit, soul and body. He is concerned for our whole being. Installing a well for a poor community or starting a health clinic or school in a poor community is not just a good strategy or means to enable us to share the gospel with the people. The installation of the well and the operating of the health clinic and school by themselves, motivated by God’s love, are already part of the Gospel.

Good Works – Good Strategy?

I think many Christians agree that helping people is good. No one disagrees with that. But not many understand that as part of the gospel. I believe God wants us to love people practically; not just talk about His love and not use good works only as a strategy.

When we see good works only as a strategy, then it will be only that way - just a strategy, and people will feel it. They will feel that all we want is to convert them. Can you imagine how you would feel if people of another faith did that to us just to try to win us over to their faith? Surely we would question how genuine their love is. But if we really understand that good works is in itself a part of the gospel as much as the message of John 3:16 is a part of the gospel and as much as God's power to set free is a part of the gospel, then the kingdom of God will come into a community. All 3 are necessary. Otherwise we are not bringing the full gospel to people.

What is Church?

Once our understanding of the gospel changes, then our ourstanding of why we exist as a church will necessarily also change. God has given me the privilege to travel and meet the church in many different nations and cultures. It has been a delight to meet brothers and sisters of various cultures all over the world. Sadly however, from my observations, most churches are introverted and withdrawn from the community around them. There are very few churches that are truly mission-minded. Most churches are still locked into a self-focused and self absorbed mentality. However, even for churches who are very mission minded, most talk of church planting only in terms of the first and second W. Church planting is centered in meetings. Any kind of community projects is seen only as incidental and as a strategy. When I talk of community projects, immediately most churches will think that it costs too much money and too much time and effort, and the time should better be spent doing "outreach, preaching and teaching".

Most churches do not see that good, clean and safe drinking water, and children learning Maths and English, and the creation of work opportunities so that parents can work to earn good profits so that they can feed their children well and not be enslaved to money lenders - that all these are also a very essential part of church. The amazing thing is, we believe all this is absolutely necessary for ourselves and our own children, but not for the people we are trying to reach. Why is that?

I was training a group of pastors and church planters working in very poor areas. I asked them, “If a child in the community was seriously sick and needed emergency medical evacuation, won’t you immediately take him to the hospital?” They answered “yes” without hesitation. I asked, “Why? Are you sure that is part of your ministry as church planters?” They replied, “Yes of course, because we are to love and care for people.”

Then I asked, “So it is part of your ministry to love people only after a problem develops, but it is not a part of your ministry to prevent or mitigate the problem from happening in the first place? You mean giving someone medicine is part of your ministry as church planters, but helping his parents with livelihood so that they can provide nutritious food to that kid and he wouldn’t be so susceptible to sickness is not part of your church planting ministry? And visiting someone in prison is part of ministry, but helping him with getting good income so he wouldn’t get into crime in the first place is not part of ministry?”

They gave me a perplexed look. They confessed they hadn’t thought about that. They said they had been taught in seminary not to get involved in social work but to concentrate on ministry. They confessed that they had been having a fixed mindset/paradigm about church planting and ministry. It is amazing how the church has divorced church planting and ministry from life itself.

Planting Churches?

Actually, I don't like the term "church planting". The term implies something we do to create or bring about a certain grouping, fellowship and meeting of believers in a geographical location. I understand the need for church, but church as I understand it, from how it began in the book of Acts, is a sharing of lives, not a project. God Himself came and shared His life with us. He showed the extent of His love for us and died on the cross for us. Then on the day of Pentecost, which some say is the birth of the church, He poured out His Spirit, His life, upon us. Just as God shares His life with us, church is meant to be a community, a sharing of lives.

We meet, we talk, we share our thoughts, we go on to share our hearts, we make friends. That is how friendship comes about. We do not go about on a project with a target to make 10 friends by the end of this month, do we? If we did that, would that not be rather artificial and "plastic"? In the same way, church as it was meant to be, comes about through a sharing of lives. Church must not be confined to just preaching and teaching and meetings. In sharing of lives we would be concerned for the welfare of the community. In extending the blessings of Abraham, and in being concerned for what God is concerned, we would be concerned for their whole person which ultimately involves restoring their image of themselves as children of God and to recover their vocation as productive stewards of God’s creation. That involves restoring the ability to stand on their own feet and have the dignity of true children of God.

This is so important that we need to remind ourselves and emphasize it repeatedly. In our efforts to “win over the lost” we must not take nutrition, shelter, water, education, health care, etc as just a means of reaching people with the Gospel. All these - nutrition, shelter, water, education, health care, a means of livelihood, etc. are part of the Gospel and ought to be part of our mission. God cares and He has sent us to care irrespective of whether people respond to our message. Of course ultimately we desire that people be reconciled to God and that their eternal future be secured, but love must be unconditional. We should do our part in loving unconditionally and leave to God the results. People know when they are just the “targets” of an evangelistic project or if they are really being loved.

Church or Kingdom?

Here’s another thing that for many years that I did not realize, although I was a leader in church and in full time ministry. It struck me only much later that Jesus talked about church only twice, and He never even explained what He meant by “church”. All the time He kept talking about the kingdom of God. But we keep talking about church.

Imagine if you were Jesus and you were about to leave your apostles and go back to heaven. They are going to be the pioneers of a new worldwide movement called “church”. Won’t you prepare your apostles how to run church? Yet it is really amazing that Jesus never gave a seminar or training to His apostles what church is or should be or how church should be run. Could it be that we have really got it wrong and focused on the wrong thing – “church” instead of “God’s kingdom”? Isn’t it because we keep focusing on church rather than God’s kingdom, that there are now more than 38,000 denominations in the world?

Alongside the spiritual v. non-spiritual trap, this is another reason why the church has failed to be salt and light. We have retreated from the world because we have been focusing on “Church” rather than on the “Kingdom”. Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, whereas the church has been preaching the Gospel of Salvation. What’s the difference?

From the Salvation perspective - this world is evil, this world is perishing; have nothing to do with it. Let's get people saved from this world and its systems. Let’s get people into our churches and keep them away from this bad, bad world. Soon Jesus will return and take us away to heaven.

From the Kingdom perspective however, Jesus came to redeem all things to Himself. God is concerned with every aspect of what’s happening in this world, in people’s lives. Christians should be penetrating into the world and influencing and affecting the world by their values. Christians should be taking the lead in business, education, entertainment, sports, engineering, science, technology, civil administration, government, social concerns, family, environment, etc. to model to the world Kingdom values. Jesus told us to occupy till He comes; not run and hide till He comes.

On re-reading my Bible, I find that “church” is just the Body of Christ or the people of God. God did not intend the church to be an institution, organization or structure to do evangelism or missions or ministry. The command to disciple nations and to love and serve is to the church as the people of God, not to the church as an institution or organization or structure. But because we think of the church as the institution or organ to do ministry, that is why in an average church less than 10% of its members are engaged in ministry. 90% are just spectators, leaving it to the “full-time” people or their leaders to do that.

How did we become the way we are now? I think it has a lot to do with church history. It all began with how the pagan emperor Constantine became a Christian in order to solidify his political power and as part of his strategy he institutionalized the church. How sad that up till today, we continue to follow that unbiblical model or structure.

If we confine “ministry” to the “spiritual”, and therefore only “full time” ministry workers do the work of the ministry, we will never be able to fulfill God’s mandate in Matt.28 to disciple nations, because the rate at which we are raising up “full time” ministry workers is being far exceeded by the natural birth rate of nations by millions of times. Instead, if “ministry” is understood not only as preaching, teaching, prayer, Bible study, etc. but being agents of reconciliation and transformation in every aspect of life and bringing the whole counsel of God and of His rule to every work place and community, and the skills and natural talents of every Christian is seen as ministry and harnessed and released into the world, only then would we be discipling nations and allowing His kingdom to come through us. Our role would not be to try and get people to heaven, but to live out kingdom values and be God’s agent for His kingdom to come into every sphere of life.

Entering Into Their World

One day I reflected on how God came as a man to dwell among us. The Word became flesh. God did not just throw down some food from heaven, or send His prophets with a rescue plan. He Himself came in person to identify with our situation. Jesus identified especially with the poor, with those who were the outcasts and rejects of society and He said, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you”. Just as He entered into our world, we are to enter into the world of those in need. Jesus emptied Himself and became a servant. We are called to the same thing – to serve, to be a servant, not to show them the way things ought to be done or to tell them what to do. It is not to be “big brother” to them or to go to them with a “savior mentality”.

When we understand this, then we will realize that the gospel is not just a philosophy, or a concept or a message that can be objectively stated and that we convey through verbal, written or some other kind of communication. The gospel is not just about Jesus; the gospel is Jesus - the Word made flesh. In the same way, the gospel cannot be a message that is separate from who we are. The gospel has to be "fleshed out". It is a living message. We have to be the gospel. We have to be the living Bible, read by all who we seek to share our faith and our lives.

May His Spirit so live in us and so move us to be good news for all we seek to share Jesus with. May they feel from our hearts and see on our faces something of His beauty and love.

Did You Learn to Receive My Love

2009-09-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

I have been greatly influenced by the writings of AW Tozer and Watchman Nee. They have passed on to be with the Lord. But of all the people who are still alive that have influenced me much, I will have to say that no one has influenced me more than Joe Ozawa. This is an account of a dream that Joe had many years ago, that I would like to share with you. It has meant a lot to me. He tells it in his own words :

"One day while asleep, I had an unusual dream. Maybe it was a vision? I found myself suddenly before God in heaven. How did I know it was God? I couldn’t see His face, but it was like looking straight at the sun. So very bright. Only, it wasn’t a burning feeling. Only a sense of great love and a power I didn’t understand.

I fell to my knees and began to apologize for myself. In fact, I didn’t quite know what to apologize for, but I figured that if this really was God, it would be a really smart thing to begin our conversation with my apologies.

“Oh God, I’m sorry that I have not prayed enough,” I said weakly.

“Well, that’s very important, but that’s not the most important thing,” He said in return in a very deep, rich voice.

“Then, well....yes, I’m so sorry that I eat too much. You know I can’t help myself sometimes. I know I should be fasting more, but I can’t seem to do it,” I apologized.

“Well, that’s very important, but that’s not the most important thing,” He said.

I began apologizing for everything I could think of. What else could I have done wrong? Maybe I didn’t give enough money to the poor? Maybe I didn’t have enough faith? Then a thought came to me.

“Oh God, I know now. I haven’t been very nice to my wife. I know I should love her better. That must be it!”

“Oh, that’s very, very important, but that’s not the most important thing,” He said once again.

“Oh God, oh God, what do you want from me anyway?” I asked, whining like a little spoiled child. He was really frustrating me! I just couldn’t figure Him out. What did He want from me anyway?

“When you appear before me the final time, I will only have one question to ask you......”

(Now to this day, I still don’t know exactly what “the final time” means).

“When you appear before me the final time, I will only have one question to ask of you......

DID YOU LEARN TO RECEIVE MY LOVE?

Then He said, “Now, go tell this to the world!”

With that, He waved His big, big hand and sent me

flying through the air.....

(like an astronaut flying through outer space)

and I landed back on my bed

with a thud!

I turned to my wife. “Honey, guess what happened? I just went to heaven,” I said loudly.

“Tell me tomorrow morning,” she replied, rolling over and going back to sleep.

Please write this down, and remember that phrase, “Did you learn to receive My love?” for I’m convinced that one day, you too will be asked that question about God’s great love for you."

- Joe Ozawa

Faith - What is that?

2009-09-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

My Story

There was a time in my life when I was in a quandry. I was desperately seeking the Lord to know what He wanted me to do. I was out of a job, I did not have any income and I did not have any savings. I had a wife and three children to feed. I could not get employed as I was already quite senior in my years as a practising lawyer. I was so much more senior than many of my colleagues who ran their own law firms. Of course I could enter into a partnership with some friends and draw a good salary and share business profits with them. Several of my friends were inviting me to do that, but that would also necessarily involve commitment to a long term business partnership. I could not bring myself to give my commitment to that because my heart was not in it and it wouldn’t be fair nor exactly honest to give my commitment to people when I had no intentions of staying in partnership with them long term.

Actually at that point, career, was really far away from my mind because God had laid a tremendous burden on my heart for missions to the poor and unreached peoples. I wanted very much to serve the Lord. However, because of several things that happened, I was also going through a lot of misunderstanding, being falsely accused by the church of some things, the result of which I could not work in any churches nor would any Christian organization take me into their employment. I wanted very much to be on the mission field but neither would any mission agency take me under their wings.

When I asked God what he wanted me to do, I expected Him to tell me exactly what to do, where to go, who to see, what arrangements to make, etc.. and how I am to feed my family and have a decent roof over our heads. Before He revealed to me anything more, He showed me that the underlying basic and fundamental thing I had to learn is faith. When questioned by His disciples, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”, Jesus answered, “The work of God is this : to believe in the One He has sent.”Jn.6:29. Yep, just simply this - to believe in Him.

My wife and I went through many struggles to learn to trust God. We were literally living from day to day, not knowing how we were going to have our next meal. Through a long and difficult time, we saw the faithfulness of God each day providing for us miraculously. We had no list of supporters. We had no newsletter or prayer letter. We did not have anyone or any organization providing us regular support. One thing was clear to us – we were not to let anyone know our needs, but to depend on the Lord alone. We were to rest assured that so long as the Lord knew, that would be sufficient. This meant that each time the Lord provided it was truly a miracle. This continued for several years. Yet God never failed to provide. Not only that, the Lord began sending me out to many poor nations, similarly miraculously providing for the air fare and cost of each trip every time.

Over a period of time we learnt what faith means. I would like to share here some of the things we learned. (Note – God leads each of us in different ways; how God led us may not be how He is leading you, but fundamentally He requires faith from each of us)

Some Things We Learnt

So what is faith? When asked, most Christians will quote from Heb.11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. This verse however does not tell us what faith is. It only tells us how faith operates. To understand first what faith is, we need to look at the meaning of the word as used in the Bible. The word “faith” is “pistis” in Greek in the NT. It means trusting, resting or leaning upon, being fully persuaded, even abandoning your entire weight upon…what you believe. ‘Believe’ in Greek in the NT is “pisteuo”. It is the verb for “pistis”. To have faith in God or to believe God is to trust, to rest or lean upon, to be fully persuaded, to abandon yourself, your entire weight upon… God.

When we first ran out of money (with a wife and 3 kids), this is what the Lord said to me, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. For the bread of life is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”Jn.6:35, 33. This is how God was speaking to me - All life comes from God. God is the one who gives life. If I understand that, then I need never ask myself how we would be able to live with no salary and no employment. As you know it has been more than 12 years now and we have never been late in our rent, never missed a meal, never had to ask or tell anyone we needed anything and never owed anyone any money. Not only that, to God’s glory, we have been able to bless more people now than when we had a salary!

God may lead you in different ways, but the fundamental thing is this - we need to believe Him. This requires a paradigm shift in our thinking. There is more to life than just working for our living. We need to rise above that. We need to rise even above the thought of serving God and earning a living at the same time. All I want to do is to serve God - that is all that matters. That is all He created me for. He’ll take care of the rest. Whether I earn a salary or a living or not makes no difference. He did not create me to earn a living. He created me to serve Him. If I take care of His business, He’ll take care of how I’m going to get my daily needs.

I believe that is what Matt.6:33 means : “Seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” You may not be called to live like we do; but in essence it is no different. Though you may earn a salary or operate a business, that is only incidental. The primary thing is we are all created by Him and for Him and His purpose. God can give you regular business or no business at all for weeks and then all of a sudden without you working for it at all he can send a whole lot of business at one go. Or nothing at all, but you’ll still get the money or food somehow. He is the source. He is the prime mover. We need to believe that.

Three Basic Essentials

When I first began to launch out living by faith, God taught me some things which I discovered later that Selwyn Hughes had in his counseling seminars, put it across so clearly, with 3 words - security, self-worth and significance :

God created us to have 3 basic needs :
1. the need for security or unconditional love
2. the need for a sense of self-worth or identity
3. the need for significance or purpose and direction in life

These needs are even more fundamental than the physical need for food and shelter. It goes into the very reason for our existence. Without this, people have no reason to go on living.

The interesting thing is that having these needs does not reveal a weakness. Instead, God designed us to have these needs and designed it so that these needs can only be met in God Himself. Not in anything or anyone other than God Himself. Whether people are aware of it or not, they try to satisfy these needs with things or a career or a profession or they look to people to give them love or acceptance or to give them their sense of identity and purpose. We men especially see our career or profession as the security for our lives, where we look to for a living, where we gain acceptance, recognition, find our identity in and it determines the purpose and direction of our lives. This of course is a false belief which sooner or later will be discovered to be lacking, frustrating or at any rate unsatisfactory.

How Will I Live? Who Am I? Where Am I Going?

I wonder if God has somehow been doing something in your life to shake your belief in yourself and He is addressing the question of your existence, identity and purpose. How am I going to live? What am I good for? Who am I? Where am I going? I have observed that very often, when people become Christians, their religious belief changes. But nothing else in their belief system about themselves and what they are doing changes. That remains unconverted. God however will not allow that to go on very long. If we take Him seriously, sooner or later He will bring these things to our attention. He wants to get to the core of our being to have a real change of heart. He wants us to know Him as our security, get from Him our identity and sense of self-worth, and for Him to determine for us our purpose and direction in life.

Whether I have a job or income or not, makes no difference. Even with a job and income, God is to be my security; not the job or the income. He wants me to know I am precious to Him; that He loves me unconditionally. I don’t have to earn His love. He wants me to know who I am in His creation, what He has designed me to be and how much He values me. I don’t have to prove myself or try to be someone I am not meant to be. He wants me to know the purpose for which He created me and it is in walking in that purpose that I will be fulfilled.

Self, in place of God

God designed us to have these 3 basic needs met by God alone; not by anything or anyone else. People however do not realise this and try to have these needs satisfied by things or people. Instead of focusing on God and receiving His love and loving others in return, man has become self-centered. All our energies are channeled to preserve and protect ourselves and serve our own interests. Instead of looking to God for love and acceptance and an understanding of who we are, a sense of our identity and value and getting from God purpose, meaning and direction, we have become independent of God and we are trying by self-effort to make our lives work. This really is the whole problem of man. Self-suffiency, self-determination, self-justification, self-effort, self-love, self-centeredness, etc. describe man's condition.

Satan's lie to Adam was that he could be a more fulfilled person by being independent of God. Ever since then, everyone has operated on the same belief. We don't want anyone to control our lives; not even God. We fear losing control of our lives. Satan told Adam, "You can be like God; you can be in control." Man has become his own god. What we don't realise is that we were never meant to function like this. God told Adam that if he became independent, he would die. The more we want to be independent, the more we are getting away from God's design and destroying ourselves. It is going back to God’s original design for us.

Faith is Resting in God’s Love

Through the struggles we went through, I came to realize, that faith, is returning to God and depending on Him and finding in Him the security, love and acceptance and approval we need. Faith is returning to the relationship that God originally intended for us - of total dependence upon Him, constantly drawing life from Him. Prov.3:5-6, Jn.5:26, Jn.15. It is going back to God’s original design for us. Faith is also knowing from God the unique and special person He has created each one of us to be. We have a true understanding of our identity and worth from God Himself. Faith is also receiving from God direction and understanding of the destiny He has planned and purposed for us based on how He has designed us.

When I know God loves me and I rest in His love, then :

• I am not fearful of my future
• I don't have to strive to make things work in my favor
• I know He will provide for all my needs and I don't have to strive to make sure my needs are met
• It is not important how others see me; whether others love or accept me; and it doesn't matter whether others misunderstand me or reject me. I know I am loved, accepted and valued by God
• I will not fall into the performance trap. God values me for who He has created me to be, not in how well I perform
• I will have meaning, direction and purpose in life
• I will be able to relate openly, genuinely, warmly and lovingly with others
• I will serve God to my utmost, not to prove to myself or anyone or even to God what I can do, nor to gain anything, but simply out of my love for Him as I share His heart and His concerns

“We love because He first loved us” – John, 1 Jn.4:19

“For the love of Christ compels me.” – Paul, 2Cor.5:14

When God is my security and when I know that God loves me unconditionally, then I need not fear anything. I don’t have to strive to survive. I don’t have to do or be anything to earn His love. I don’t have to strive to gain His acceptance and understanding. I just need to trust Him, rest in Him, and He will take care of me and all whom I love. I and my family are safe and secure in His hands. Knowing the Father’s love is everything. That’s the first and most fundamental thing God wants us to know deep in our hearts. We are to rest in His love.

Next, when I know God regards me as precious to Him, I have my sense of self-worth and identity. I am His son, His bond-servant. I belong to Him. That’s the greatest thing there can ever be. I know who I am. I don’t need the recognition of men to tell me who I am. As I press on to know Him and His calling on my life, I will understand more and more the position and function I occupy in His body. It is God who tells me who I am, what I was created to be. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone, not even to my own self, to know my identity or my own worth.

Last of all, when I know God has uniquely designed and purposed me before the foundation of the world to not only be a part of His creation but also to be actively involved in the continuous creativity of God, then I have purpose and direction. It is God who will not only direct me specifically but also show me how He has purposed me to make a significant impact upon this world, to be part of His on-going work to bring about His eternal plan and purposes. This is what gives me my purpose and direction in life. I don’t have to figure out on my own what I’ll do or where I am going to end up. When I understand this then I know I was created for a purpose; I am not just an insignificant nobody who happens to be living in this time period in the history of the world. I am here to make history - to be a significant part of His story.

We must turn our lives over to Him. A.W. Tozer said, “Faith is resting upon the character of God.” God can be trusted. If we don’t trust Him, who shall we trust? As Peter said, “To whom shall we go to; You have the words of eternal life.”

Costly but not Precious

2009-09-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

In April 1999, one night, I had a dream. In my dream I was with my wife. She was carrying some shopping bags with things we had bought. I was carrying a baby. We were on the ground floor of a large multi-storey shopping center. It was like a typical restaurant/food court area in a shopping mall in Singapore. The walls were glass all around and you could look out and see the sea outside. Some distance out at sea there was an island with a tall building on it, like a hotel or some luxury seaside resort or something.

As we were looking around for a place to sit, I happened to look out at the island with the building on it and I was shocked to see that massive black clouds were gathering very rapidly over the island. It happened so quickly. All of a sudden it was like the whole black sky came crashing down, like the wrath of God fell on that island with a thunderous roar. It was so thick that you could not see the building on the island anymore. Everyone was looking at the phenomenon in utter shock. Then the darkness cleared and to everyone’s amazement, we saw the building toppling and crashing into the sea with a deafening sound.

While everyone stood frozen and horrified, somehow I knew that the building we were in was also going to come crashing down any moment. Somehow I knew that the building that fell was like the epicenter of an earthquake that sent shock waves out and it would bring everything down. But it was like no one else knew it. I yelled to everybody to get out of the building we were in, but no one listened.

I yelled to my wife but she was busy looking for the shopping bags. Somehow she had put them somewhere and couldn’t find them. She asked me, “Where are the bags?” I replied, “I don’t know. You were carrying them. Forget the bags! We have to get out NOW, RIGHT NOW!” She ignored me and kept looking for the bags. In desperation with one arm I hung on to the baby and with the other I yanked her away and we ran out of the building. Even though I kept yelling “Get out! Get out!”, no one else followed. The ground started shaking violently and just as we got out of the building, the whole building we were in came crashing down with possibly thousands of people in it. It was frightening. Then we were running down a street and all the buildings around us were crashing down like a Hollywood doomsday movie. It was absolute chaos, like the end of the world. People on the streets were fleeing in all directions in absolute terror as buildings after buildings fell.

All of a sudden the scene changed and it was like many people were following me as we were running and we came to a flight of steps going down a grass slope. I don’t know where we were running to but I was still carrying the baby. Just as we were about to run down the stairs it was like I somehow just knew that the stairs would collapse under us if we did that, so I yelled to everyone, “Don’t run down the stairs. It will also collapse. Follow me.” I ran to the side and ran down the grass slope. Many followed me, but many did not and ran down the stairs. Just then, the stairs collapsed just as I said it would. Then I woke up with my heart pounding at 100 miles an hour. The dream was so vivid I was trembling and it took me a while to calm down.

I knew this was no ordinary dream. I knew God was showing me something. And I had such a keen sense of the presence of God. The first thing I did I woke my wife up and told her the dream. We talked about the end times and wondered if God was telling us that we were going to have another baby, and what it would be like to bring kids up in the end times. We had decided not to have any more kids. We already had three. So is God going to give us another baby in such awful times? I couldn’t understand the dream. I kept thinking about the baby.

Later in the afternoon, I was stuck in a traffic jam. The A/C in my car wasn’t working well. It was hot and I was almost nodding off to sleep. I wasn’t even praying or thinking about the dream, when all of a sudden, in a flash, God spoke to me very clearly :

"Don’t you understand? The baby is not a real baby. It’s symbolic. It represents what is really precious. Just as the shopping bags are symbolic also. They represent what is costly but not precious. The buildings are also symbolic. They represent all the structures and institutions that man has built, and all the pride of man. They are all going to come crashing down. Go and tell them that everything that I have not built will collapse and it will come very suddenly. And tell them this – they had better know how to distinguish between what is really precious (the baby) and what is costly but not precious (the shopping bags). Unless they can distinguish between the two, they are all going be caught up in it (like my wife searching for the bags) and perish in the collapse of everything. Remember the stairs? That is also symbolic. It represents what is man-made. Far better to trust what I created (the grass slope) than trust what is man-made (the stairs). Go and tell them …"

Why God put the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden

2009-09-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

I came to know the Lord in 1974 at the age of 16. Soon after I became a Christian, I was on fire for the Lord. I read George Verwer’s book ‘Hunger for Reality’ and immediately wanted to serve the Lord as a missionary in India. But I felt the Lord telling me again and again to go to university and study. Eventually I went to the UK and studied law. The study of law trained my mind to think analytically and critically. I discovered that I was rather skillful at that. I also became too intellectual and skeptical for my own good. I did not stop believing in God, but my heart eventually got colder and colder towards the Lord and my spirit became almost dead.

I returned to Malaysia in 1983 and immersed myself in my legal practice and became quite well known working among some of the top lawyers in my country. But all the while, for about 8 years, from about 1981 – 1989, I was away from the Lord and my spirit shriveled till it died. By God’s mercy, in 1989 the Lord allowed me to be hit hard with a physical affliction and through the ordeal I was brought back to Him. The account of how I came back to the Lord is told in another story.

After I returned to the Lord, I was really grateful and glad to be back. I could really feel my spirit alive again, and communing with the Lord became a reality again. I could feel Him speaking to me again. I read the gospels afresh and God seemed to reveal new things to me that I previously did not see. But there was one thing that troubled me for a long time, from the time I first came to know the Lord really, that I still needed an answer to : Why did God put the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden?

I reasoned that all the terrible atrocities, wickedness, cruelty , tragedy, pain and suffering in the world can be traced back to that tree and man’s fall. Surely God knew that would happen. Surely God knew that Adam and Eve would fall for the devil’s temptation and eat the fruit from that tree with its consequences. Yes, He came to save us and show us His love, but why did He put that tree there in the first place? If I could have the answer to that question, I surmised that the whole of the Bible would open up to me. I remembered I read sometime ago that someone, it could have been CS Lewis or Spurgeon or other, said that if we can understand Genesis we can understand the whole Bible. I had to have the answer. It was a huge piece of the jig saw puzzle that had to be found and fitted in or I would not be able to go on. So I asked the Lord to tell me. He did, but His answer came in a rather unexpected and unusual way.

My wife and I love dogs. (When I once told this story in a church in Indonesia, I paused and asked them if they loved dogs. The whole congregation smiled and nodded. Several of them were grinning. My interpreter laughed and told me, “Ya, we all love dogs .. on a plate!” They were a Batak congregation. I learnt that Bataks love eating dogs! “Oh no!! that’s not what I meant! Horrors!” I exclaimed. Cross cultural teaching has its cross-cultural boo-boos).

We were living very busy lives and did not have a dog. My neighbor had a dog. Instead of getting a dog of our own, we vicariously enjoyed our neighbor’s dog without having to look after one ourselves. Almost everyday, in the evenings, we would go to the chain link fence between my neighbor’s house and ours and stick our hand through the fence and my neighbor’s dog would come and lean itself against the fence and we would pat it. One day, my wife and I were in our house and we heard two dogs barking! We went out to see and lo and behold my neighbor had acquired another dog, a lovely golden retriever. We immediately fell in love with it. The golden retriever learnt very quickly. Whenever they saw us, both dogs would come and lean against the fence and my wife and I would stick our hands through and pat them!

One day, my neighbor was very amused watching us do that and he enquired, “Hey you love my dogs so much, why not take one of them? I can’t look after two dogs. But don’t take my old one, he’s attached to me. Take the new one.” “Really? You mean it? Wow, thanks!”, I said, really delighted and thrilled to take the golden retriever. I renamed her “Betsy” as I thought “Fifi” was such an awful name. (Here’s another boo-boo. When I once told this story in another church in Indonesia, the whole congregation laughed out aloud, almost bending over in stitches, on hearing me say this. I was puzzled and wondered what it was that was so hilarious. It turned out that the name of the wife of one of the pastors was “Fifi” !! I could have died there and then!).

I brought Betsy back to my house. I bought a chain and tied her down and I closed the front gate. Everyday I would let her go out to “do her business” but when she had “done her business” she would go back to my neighbor. I would have to go and bring her back to my house and close the gate and tie her down. The next day, the same thing happened. And the next .. and the next. This went on for at least a week. One day, I let Betsy out but after she had “done her business” she came back to me! I was so delighted as I saw her coming in through the gate. I exclaimed in delight, “Betsy, you came back to me!” As soon as I said that, I heard the Lord speaking so clearly as a voice in my head : “Betsy was never your dog until today.” That’s all He said. Immediately the whole Bible opened up to me. I suddenly saw at once why God put the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. (By the way, I don’t always hear the Lord so clearly. I usually have an “understanding” that God is saying something to me rather than hear specific words. But sometimes God speaks so clearly as an inner voice in my head. This was unmistakably such a time).

What did God mean by that? It was abundantly clear to me. So long as I kept Betsy tied down with my front gate closed, Betsy was never really my dog. Just like I had to let Betsy go and in time she would come back to me and become my dog, so God had to let man go in the hope and plan that he would return to Him. That’s why He put that tree there. He had to give man the freedom of choice so that when we return to Him, He could say, “Now you are really mine.” Of course God knew the consequences, but there would have been no other way He could really have us.

God is love, and He created us in His image. That means we were created with the potential to love. But that potential would remain only a potential unless freedom of choice could be exercised. His desire is that we would become like Him, that we would come to know His love, and we would love Him and love one another and enjoy love in its fullness. That, obviously, can only be experienced freely. Not something that can be programmed into us. Love necessarily means that it has to flow out of a heart set free to choose. As terrible as the consequences would be in the exercise of free will, that would however be the only way love could be experienced and enjoyed. And total freedom of choice with the capacity to choose good and reject evil means that God cannot be attributed with blame for man’s choices.

Since that revelation, everything in the Bible has made so much sense to me; not only why God let man go, but also why He doesn’t seem to intervene when we wish He sometimes would. Though in His grace He does somehow keep the world intact, or we would have earlier annihilated ourselves totally, He generally lets history run its course with all the terrible consequences of our folly, in the hope that in the degradation and decay, we would wake up to a realization of our folly and depravity and seek Him and thus be set free from it : Rom.8:18-21

As I reflected on this, I also came to realize that my own story, how I went away from the Lord, how in His mercy He allowed me to be afflicted, so that I would seek Him and return to Him, was like a parable or a small version of the big picture of why God created us, why He let us go, why He allows and endures all the terrible things in this world, only to wait in hope for our return to Him. It is naturally messy and complicated. But all relationships are messy and complicated. Not cut and dry, and clean, and ordered, systematic and perfect. It is heart to heart, not computer programming. It is love, not laws and rules.

The book of Hosea also makes so much sense to me. There I see, not a distant sovereign, almighty, holy and just God sitting on His throne somewhere in the skies above, but a God who takes Israel’s unfaithfulness (and indeed ours too) personally - a God who gets deeply hurt, who expresses shock, regret and grief, who gets jealous and takes revenge, and who pines with longing for our love. I am indeed thankful that I can experience Him. In my spirit, I feel Him sharing His heart with me more and more, not just how much more He loves us, but how much grief He experiences over our condition and estrangement from Him. It is painful but I would rather have a heart that can feel, than just a brain or mind to reason.

And for disasters, I see also how He has to judge, but also how His heart breaks for us while He unleashes the fury of His wrath, all in the hope that we would wake up and return to Him. I have seen the death, destruction and havoc wreaked by disasters. But I have also seen how it could have been worse. Indeed mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13), and in that I hope, and believe, and work.

What Happened in the Garden of Eden?

2009-09-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

GE 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

GE 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

GE 3:4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

GE 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

This passage contains some very fundamental and vital truths for us to understand. It explains how the world is the way it is, and why we are the way we are. It also contains the key to understanding a hidden principle in each of us, of how we live and function in our daily lives, that most of us are unaware of, but when understood can unlock the mystery of why we are here on this planet, and what our destiny can be.

Satan told Adam that when he ate that fruit, he would not die. Instead it would make him like God - his eyes would be open and he would know the difference between good and evil. Adam ate it. Did he die? No. Did his eyes become open? Yes. Did he acquire the knowledge of good and evil? Yes. Did he become like God?

So was the devil telling a lie or telling the truth? I have shared this in several places over the years. At this point, when speaking or teaching in church or a seminar, I would ask for a show of hands. Usually about one third of the congregation or class would say the devil was telling the truth. Another one third would say he was telling a lie. The other one third would not be sure and prefer not to answer – perhaps this might be indicative of how subtle and deceptive the devil is and how confused we are!

I think the devil told Adam a half truth. Half truths are more dangerous than outright lies. Half truths are distortions of the real truth. When I was a lawyer, I always found that the best liars in court are those who tell half truths. When a person tells an outright lie, it is easy to catch them out in cross examination. Truth is always consistent. Lies are always inconsistent. Every time a person tells a lie, he would have to tell another lie to cover up for the first lie. Then on further cross examination, he would have to tell yet another lie to cover up for the second lie, and this goes on. In the end, through a series of questions from the cross examiner, and a series of lies the witness would give in reply, he would have painted himself into a corner, and inevitably the first lie would be exposed. Not so with those who tell half truths. It is difficult to tell how much of what they say is true and how much is a lie. That is the subtlety and deceptive nature of half truths.

The world today is full of half truths. Ancient religions have half truths. Modern forms of eastern mysticism have half truths. Modern secularism and other philosophies that are espoused and taught by so many modern day “gurus” are full of half truths. That’s what makes them so appealing. A good example of a half truth taught universally today is in the popular teaching of belief in self. It is known by different names : self confidence, positive thinking or self actualization. Another one is global peace and harmony through tolerance and respect for all religions and philosophies. More subtle are the half truths in the Church today (see below).

All half truths actually began in the garden of Eden. Satan in effect told Adam, “No, you will not die, but you will live ..” and in there was the half truth of all half truths. I believe that though Adam did not die, yet something in him did die – that part of him that enjoyed sweet communion and relationship with the Lord died. But just like Satan said, something else became alive in him – something that entered into Adam from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Indeed when Adam disobeyed God and asserted his independence and ate the fruit, what came from that tree into Adam is what the apostle Paul calls the flesh or carnal nature or the self-life. That tree is also a tree of life – the self life. That self-life is lived out in the ability to distinguish and discern for oneself good or evil, right or wrong and to weigh out pros and cons, independently of God. It is human wisdom – thinking and reasoning not from God’s perspective, but according to man’s perspective. When Adam had his own knowledge of good and evil, and right and wrong, he no longer needed to consult God. The self does not consult God. Instead the self uses its own wisdom to discern and determine everything for itself, and act out its decisions.

Satan also said, “ .. you will be like God ..” Did he become like God? I think he did. Not exactly like God; but something like God. Another half truth. Because he now weighed out everything for himself and made his own decisions, in effect he became his own god. That same human wisdom and self-life has been passed down to all mankind. What happens when you plant an apple seed? You get an apple tree. What do you find on an apple tree? Apples. What’s in an apple? Apple seeds. What’s in an apple seed? A whole forest of apple trees! Adam’s self-life or carnal nature has passed down to all of us. We're all our own gods. We were born with it. God is not the Lord and Master of everything in our lives. We are. The truth is, we are independent of God.

Even for Christians, for the most part, God is relegated to the role of a servant. He is there to bless us. We go to Him only when we can't handle things ourselves. He's there to help us out. We live out our lives according to what we think best. We may have accepted Jesus as our savior, but we look at God as having the responsibility to protect us, bless us, straighten out the kinks, remove the obstacles, smoothen out the creases, make life comfortable for us and get us to heaven. And what is prayer? As my favorite author AW Tozer said, prayer for many Christians, is giving God advice. Basically we run our own lives the best way we know how, choosing what we think is good and avoiding what we think is evil. Someone once said that the simplest and most profound prayer that everyone needs to pray is, “Lord, You are God, and I am not.”

Half Truths in the Church

There is something else that is intriguing in the Genesis 3 passage. Why did Adam listen to Satan? In 1 Tim.2:14, the apostle Paul said that Adam was not deceived; but Eve. In other words, Adam knew what he was doing. He went in with his eyes wide open. He took the fruit because he wanted to be like God. Why? Here we can learn another vital principle of how the devil works. I believe Satan was appealing to something that was already implanted in Adam by God – the desire to be like Him.

Let’s ask ourselves : “What is God’s highest desire for man?” You’re right! To be like His Son Jesus! To be like God. Satan knew this and worked on the very thing that God had already intended. No wonder that Genesis 3:1 begins the account with how crafty or subtle the serpent is. This should teach us a lesson. So often Satan will work on the very things that God desires of us, to get us to do those very things, but not within God’s timing or God’s ways or plans, but in our own timing, way, wisdom and strength, and independently of God. And so often it will appear in every way to be right and in God’s will, even appearing to give God glory, but it will be one of the works that will be burned up as wood, hay and stubble on the final day of accounting.

One of the most obvious half truths in the church today is the health and wealth or prosperity gospel that is being preached. There are already sufficient literature that exposes its unbiblical principles, so I need not go into it. But I think I need to point out that the health and wealth gospel is but only one example. Another example is how we measure success in ministry. Success is measured in terms of numbers and size – how many church members, how many staff, how big the church budget and bank account, how big the church building, what sound system we use, how “effective” our programs, how many people attending meetings, how many raising their hands to be saved, how many healed, how many church planting teams, how many outreaches, how many bible colleges, how many missionaries sent out or supported, how glossy the newsletter, how professional the management and reporting, how many orphanages, how much this and how much that.

But God’s measure may be very different. Let’s pause for a moment and ask, how many disciples did Jesus have at the end of His life? Only four : three Mary’s (Mary His mother, Mary Magdalene, and Mary wife of Cleopas) and one John, at the foot of the cross. All others abandoned Him. Imagine if we were there at Golgotha watching the whole thing. Would we say that Jesus’ ministry was a success or a failure? You know and I know what we would think. But what do you think His Father would have said to Jesus? Now that we have the benefit of time and the New Testament, we know the Father would have looked at His Son and said, “Son, You were totally successful and did exactly what I desired.” Indeed God looks at things and measures things quite differently from the way man does.

There are many other half truths in the church. I shall not get into them. The main point here that I wish to convey is that we, especially those of us in leadership, need to be so aware of how Satan works – if he cannot succeed in distracting us from God’s plans and purposes for us, then he focuses on the very things that God puts into our hearts and he distorts it, to get us to pursue after what is really a counterfeit of the true and pure. Unless we have the discernment of the Holy Spirit, unless our hearts are pure and humble and we are constantly communing with and listening to the Lord, we will easily fall into the trap of the enemy. We will plan, strategize, preach, promote, recruit others, expend time and energy and funds to build what we think is for God’s kingdom, but is not. And it will one day collapse when Jesus comes again. How will we know? Simple. Ask the Lord. Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Prov.3:5-6

God's Army - People of a Different Spirit / Moving in the Opposite Spirit - How Jesus Defeated Satan

2009-09-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

I could not decide which would be a more appropriate title for this piece, so I decided to call it both. Either title will do. I believe that God is looking for people who are like Joshua and Caleb - people of a different spirit - people who will go against the current, against the spirit of this world. They will be like their master Jesus who moved in the opposite spirit, laid down His life , and thus defeated Satan, These are the people that will make up God's End time army.

In the Kingdom of God many things work in the reverse. The more we give, the more we receive. The more we hang on to what we have, the faster we lose it. We overcome evil with good. Getting down will get us up - the greatest in the kingdom of God are the servants and slaves. We bless when we are cursed. We rejoice when we are persecuted. We praise God when the situation around us appears hopeless. We humble ourselves when others around us are proud.

Not only are God's ways different from man's ways, moving in the opposite spirit is what defeats the devil and breaks his power and dominion over us and over those around us. When Paul and Silas sang praises to God in the inner prison, God sent an earthquake which not only set them free but also set the other prisoners free. The devil wanted them bound and to feel depressed and defeated but they moved in the opposite spirit and got the victory for themselves and for others who were similarly bound with them.

There is a very interesting verse in Hebrews that I believe holds the key to understanding how Jesus defeated the devil, and it is the key for us in spiritual warfare. No, it is not about binding and losing. It is not about discerning and naming the principalities and powers. All that is important. But perhaps more imporant than any of the other dynamics of spiritual warfare is the heart and spirit of the person engaged in the battle - the one whom God uses, the one upon whom He clothes with His power and anointing .. one who like his master, empties himself in sacrificial love for others.

In Heb.2:14 we read that Jesus came in the flesh and as a man He died and by His death He destroyed the devil who holds the power of death. see Col.2:15, 1Jn.3:8, Jn.12:31, Matt.28:18. When I first read Heb.2:14 I was puzzled. I had always been taught that Jesus triumphed over the devil by His resurrection. I asked the Lord how He destroyed the devil by His death. The Lord showed me the following :

1. God rules and reigns in heaven. In heaven there is only one will - all the angels submit to God and do His will. Ps.103:20-21

2. But 1Jn.5:19 tells us the whole world is under the control of the devil. How did that happen? Gen.1:26-28 and Heb.2:6-8 tells us that God gave Adam dominion over all creation and put all things under his feet. Instead of listening and submitting to God, Adam listened and followed the suggestion of the devil. Whenever and whoever we listen and submit or yield to, we give that person authority over us.Rom.6:16. Thus Adam gave Satan authority not only over himself but also over all that God had put under his authority ie. all of creation. Luke4:5-6.

3. The same thing happens every time we sin / move out of God's will - we don't realise it but we are actually submitting to the devil's desire rather than to God's. By following the devil's suggestions we are giving the devil authority over us.Eph.2:1-3. When we don't repent he gains a foothold in us.Eph.4:26-27.

4. There is no one who has ever submitted himself to God and obeyed Him fully. Every person alive has at some point or other given the devil authority over his life. Thus the world is under the control of the evil one.

5. If there was one man who could obey God fully and not submit to the devil, that man would have authority over the devil. If that man submitted to God, then that man would bring back God's rule over every place and everything he owned / within his sphere of dominion.

6. The devil's rule and authority over men was unbroken until Jesus came in the flesh. As a man, although He was subject to all the trials and testings, temptation and suffering, weaknesses and limitations that we encounter (Heb.4:15), nevertheless He did not give in to the devil but submitted Himself fully to the Father.Philip.2:5-8.

7. At the point of His greatest test, Jesus did not love His life so much as to shrink from Calvary. No matter what the devil threw at Him, He did not assert His rights or save Himself or preserve Himself. Although He had the right and the power to do so He did not retaliate against those who persecuted Him. He moved in the opposite spirit. He obeyed and submitted to God fully even to the point of death. Luke22:42, Philip.2:5-11. In this way Jesus defeated the devil.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't think the devil wanted to kill Jesus. Instead all he was trying to do was to get Jesus to save Himself and preserve His natural life and so move out of the Father's will. Not only that, if Jesus saved Himself, there would be no redemption for us. When Jesus said "Not My will but Yours be done", He knew what the Father's will was - that He would lay down His life for others. The key to His victory is in Jn.14:30-31, "The prince of this world has no hold on Me...because I love the Father and do exactly what My Father has commanded Me."

8. Rev.12:11 tells us we overcome the devil in the same way -"and they loved not their lives even unto death". Heb.2:15 tells us that we are held in slavery/bondage by the devil by our fear of death. What is this fear of death? It is the fear of loosing our lives, the fear of loosing all that we love, all that we count precious to us. It is the fear of losing our rights, our reputation, our comfort, our independence, our individualism, our selves, etc. The fear of death or the fear of loosing ourselves leads us to preserve ourselves. We know naturally how to preserve our comfort, our reputation, our rights, our independence, our individualism, ourselves, our lives. In every situation our natural reaction is to save ourselves, but that is how we remain under bondage. "He who saves his life will lose it. He who loses his life for My sake will save it."Luke9:23-24.

So long as we keep preserving ourselves, the devil has got us in bondage and we forfeit ourselves of the abundant and victorious life that God promised to give us. We naturally want to have both : we naturally want the best of both worlds - We want to have God's promises and blessings but we are not ready to give up what this world can offer; we still want some part of this world and its comforts and pleasures. But the Lord says we can't have it both ways. God's ways and the ways of this world don't mix. The natural and the spiritual are contrary to one another.

When Jesus said to follow Him, He meant just that - just as He denied Himself and went to the cross we are to follow Him to the cross so that just as through the cross He was resurrected by the power of God and exalted to glory, we too in dying to ourselves would be saved by the power of God and experience His victory. Death to self would restore us to the place of dominion where we reign with Christ. Rev.2:26-27, Rev.3:21. We follow Him through Calvary to the resurrection and to be seated with Him in the heavenly places. When we allow His death to work in us, we are released from bondage. Heb.2:15. Otherwise scriptures like Heb.2:15, Jn.10:10, 2Cor.5:17, Eph.2:6, etc. remain only positional truth and not experiential truth ie. a reality in our experience.

9. 2Chron.16:9 says that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro over all the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. God is looking for people who will believe Him for great things and give their lives to see it happen. Such people are what we can describe as "kingdom people". They will live and they will die to see the kingdom of God established on earth. That is their one passion - to see King Jesus exalted on earth. All their time, energy and talents are channeled towards that one consuming desire. Like Jesus they will live lives that go against the current of this world. They will be like Joshua and Caleb - people of a different spirit. That is what it will take to overcome the devil and win this world for Christ - people who move in the opposite spirit, against the current of this world.

1 Jn.3:16 says, "This is how we perceive the love of God - Jesus Christ laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" - this includes those who are not presently our brothers in the Lord but who will be as a result of our laying down our lives to see them come into the kingdom. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, so send I you" Jn.20:21

10. We are to deny ourselves in relation to the will of God. There is no virtue in self-denial itself. In every situation we choose God's will and choose to please God rather than self. Matt.26:39. Like Jesus, we do so out of love for the Father.

God will not override our wills. The will to deny ourselves and lay down our lives has to come from within us as we are moved by the love of God; but the strength to do this comes from abiding in Christ (just as Jesus abided in His Father). As we spend time worshipping the Lord and delighting in Him we are renewed in our spirit and denying self and living for Him then becomes a joy even in the midst of trials. As we are united with Him we are seated with Him the heavenly places above the devil and we can then exercise authority over the devil. As we abide in Christ, we bring God's rule back on earth - over every place and everything God has given to us eg. our homes, our workplaces, our nation, etc. and every place we claim for Him in His name. Ps.2:8.

Perhaps nothing illustrates this principle of dying to self for others (and thereby overcoming the enemy) more than a story I read that was told by Hal Oxley. In the 2nd world war, many soldiers gave their lives to save the lives of others. Hal Oxley was an officer in the British army. He fought against Gen.Rommel in the desert in North Africa. He tells us of a time when together with other officers they were commanding a force of 20,000 British soldiers. Their orders were to capture a fortress that had between 40,000 to 50,000 German soldiers inside. The fortress was surrounded by rows of barbed wire with booby traps of explosives hanging on them. Anyone who tried to cut through the barbed wire would set off the explosives and be killed instantly. The way to get through the barbed wire was to use what they called "bangalore torpedos". Some engineers would get close to the barbed wire in the dark and they would carefully push a bangalore torpedo into the wire. From behind the sand dune they would plunge the detonator and the bangalore torpedo would explode and make a big hole in the barbed wire.

Unfortunately, they did not have any bangalore torpedos with them. They had to capture the fortress by a certain time. It was an impossible situation. The officers got together and decided that some of the soldiers would have to voluntarily give up their lives so that the others would be able to achieve their objective. They came up with a plan. They would ask for 6 volunteers. The first 2 would run up to the barbed wire together and throw themselves on the wire. They would be killed instantly. Then the second two would use their dead bodies as a bridge to run up and throw themselves on the wire. They too would die. The third two would do the same. This would clear a bridge which the troops could get through.

The officers formed a company of 210 men and gathered them behind a sand dune. About 10 minutes before they were to go into action, they told them the plan. They explained that when they gave the command they wanted 6 volunteers to step forward. Then they called them to attention and gave the command, "Alright, 6 volunteers step forward." Immediately the whole company of 210 men stepped forward one step. There was no hesitation. They decided they would die for the others. The officers had to pick out 6 men at random. They carried out their plan and it worked. A large hole was blown in the wire. The 6 men died. The troops got past the barbed wire and fought their way into the fortress. Two days later they captured the fortress.

The 6 soldiers knew they would die instantly. Whatever it was that motivated them, one thing is certain - they counted that/those things more valuable than their own lives. Jesus loved us more than He loved Himself. It's a question of what or who we value or love more - our ambitions, our comforts or God. God is not calling us to prove our love for Him by going and drinking cyanide down. That's stupid. That's what the cults do. But God is calling us to die to our selves so that we will live for Him. We can't live for ourselves and live for God at the same time. It's one or the other. "He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and rose again." 2 Cor.5:15. Will we die to our selves and live for Him ?

Like the story above, I believe God is looking for "6 volunteers". In every sphere, God is looking for a small band of men and women who will be willing to step forward to be the pioneers. They will lay down their lives and pave the way for the bigger army that God is raising to get through enemy lines to dispossess the enemy of what they have taken from the sons of Adam, and take it back for God's kingdom. May the love of God and the vision of His kingdom so burn in our hearts that we will count nothing else more valuable than stepping forward to this calling.

Litany of Humility

2009-09-26T09:20:00.000-07:00

The first Christian book I read 2 months after I came to know the Lord in 1974 was George Verwer's 'Hunger for Reality'. That book revolutionized me. I am still grateful to George Verwer for that. There is a prayer in that book called a 'Litany of Humility' that I would like to share with you.

Nowadays, I hear of some speakers talking about praying powerful prayers that shake the heavens and the earth. I wonder. Well if ever any of our prayers do shake anything, then this must be one of the most "powerful" prayers anyone can pray. There is probably no "greater" self-emptying prayer than this. If only everyone of us were to pray this from time to time :

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.

Deliver me Jesus,

from the desire of being loved,
from the desire of being extolled,
from the desire of being esteemed,
from the desire of being honored,
from the desire of being praised,
from the desire of being preferred to others,
from the desire of being consulted,
from the desire of being approved,
from the fear of being humiliated,
from the fear of being despised,
from the fear of being rebuked,
from the fear of being forgotten,
from the fear of being ridiculed,
from the fear of being wronged,
from the fear of being misunderstood,
from the fear of being suspected,

And Jesus, give me the grace to desire

that others might be loved more than I,
that others may be esteemed more than I,
that in the opinion of the world others may
increase and I may decrease,
that others may be chosen and I set aside,
that others may be praised and I unnoticed,
that others may be preferred to me in everything,
that others may become holier than I, provided
that I become as holy as I should

Servant Leaders

2009-04-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest need in the church today are servant leaders. Jesus showed what it means to be a servant leader. He said He came not to be served but to serve and to give His life for us. Then He actually did that. Can you imagine the Almighty Sovereign God of the Universe came to wash the feet of His disciples? He was not interested in building a ministry. He left no building, no organization, no institution, no staff, no equipment, no money, no name, no corporate image and almost no disciples. At the end of His life, except for three Marys and one John, all His disciples left Him.

If we were standing there and watching the scene at Golgotha, would we think Jesus succeeded or He failed? Yet today we know that His Father looking down from heaven would have said, “Son, You totally succeeded!” By this we realize that God looks at success in a very different way from man.

Jesus loved even unto death and showed us what it means to be a servant. In what ways are we practicing top-down leadership? In what ways do we need to change to become more like Jesus?

In God's Kingdom, leadership is servanthood

For a start, correctly understood, leadership is a function and role that someone needs to fulfill; not a recognition of superiority or seniority; not an appointment to control and lord over others. In the kingdom of God, it goes even further. In the kingdom of God, leadership is servanthood. Servanthood involves a servant-heart attitude, a humility and a heart that desires only for the welfare of those being led. Servant-leadership is serving those whom we lead and influencing them by our lifestyle to become servants to others. Jesus is our example. He is the servant king. He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I send you.” Jn.20:21, so we are to be servant leaders like Him.

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matt.20:25-28

Jesus, our example

Jesus taught us that in God’s kingdom, the leader is the servant, not the master. He did not just teach it by words. He demonstrated it and lived it : John 13:1-17. He washed Judas’ feet even though He knew that immediately after that Judas would betray Him. He died to self and became nothing so that others might live : Philip.2:3-11.

Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and told them, "You call me `Teacher' and `Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” Jn.13:13-17

Paul told us to be like Jesus : “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus : Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!” Philip.2:3-8

God is a servant at heart (truly amazing!)

Jesus came to serve and not to be served, not just because He came to function as a servant, but because He is a servant at heart. The greatness of God is not just in His power and sovereign rule over the universe, but in His humility. Isaiah shows us the nature of God : “For this is what the high and lofty One says--he who lives forever, whose name is holy : "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Isa.57:15.

In Isa.66:1-2 : This is what the LORD says : "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem : he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

Amazing! God feels at home in the heart of one who has a servant-heart. Why? I believe that’s because God is drawn to someone who is of like nature to Him and He delights in dwelling in the heart of such a person! Therefore the more we are like Jesus, the more we would naturally be a servant like Him. This begs the question - what kind of leaders are we?

The devil's style of leadership

When leaders desire to be on top, they model the devil’s style of leadership :

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.” Isa.14:12-15

The focus of servant leaders - others

Like Jesus, who did not focus on His kingship, the servant leader understands that his role is to serve the people he leads. His focus is not on himself, his vision, his calling, what he wants, what he plans to do, etc. but his focus is on the people he leads. All the time, he wants to see how he can serve and support the people he leads, so that their vision and dreams can be fulfilled. Jesus said “I know my sheep”. Just like Jesus, the servant leader seeks to know the heart of his followers.

Servant leadership does not mean no leadership. Servant leaders must still lead, but their attitude is that of a servant. Leading involves bearing the burden of responsibility and decision making. But most of all, leading is about influencing others towards a certain goal. Servant leaders encourage and inspire by lifestyle and example.

What is the goal of servant leaders? Their focus and goal is the welfare and interest of those they lead. Servant leaders desire to help those they lead to discover and realize their purpose. In the Kingdom of God, servant leaders help those they lead to discover God's purpose for their lives and then help them to walk in it.

The focus of the top-down leader is his own vision, his dream, his calling. The top-down leader gets the support of his followers so that his vision, his dream and his calling can be realized. His line to his followers is, "Help me to be successful. When I am succesful, you will be successful also." This is the typical leadership modeled by politicians and business people in the world. But not so the servant leader. The focus of the servant leader is the vision, dream, purpose and calling of the people his leads. Unlike the top-down leader, his question to the people he leads is, "What is the vision and dream that God has put on your heart? What has God called you to do? How can I help you to be successful in what God has called you to do? When you succeed, I would have succeeded. But if you fail, it means I have failed."

Servant leaders empower and then dissappear ..

Servant leaders influence others to also be servant leaders. Servant leaders produce not just disciples but disciplers : 2 Tim.2:2 The goal of servant leaders is to work themselves out of a job. Their success is when the people they lead succeed. Imagine someone who positions himself to take the weight of another so that the other person can stand on his shoulders and reach up to pluck the fruit of a tree. The guy who climbs on his shoulder succeeds in getting to the fruit, but they did it together. The servant leader sets an example for the one who plucked the fruit to be like him – bear someone else on his shoulder.

Servant leaders strive to be like John the Baptist who pointed his disciples to Jesus : Jn.1:29, 36. Servant leaders become less so that Jesus would become more : Jn.3:27-30. Like John the Baptist, they prepare the way of the Lord : Matt.3:3 and then dissappear ... The servant leader's dream is to be the donkey that Jesus rode on!

Process; not results

Nowadays there is a lot of talk about ownership. The principle in leadership that is being articulated is that the vision needs to be owned not just by the leader but by the people as well. The understanding is that unless the people own the vision as well, the leader and the team will not succeed. But servant leadership is not primarily about the success of the leader's vision or even of the vision of a group or team of people. Servant leadership goes beyond that. It is not just for the purposes of ownership, or efficacy, but more out of love, that servant leaders never make any decisions without first consulting with the people they lead, to hear what’s on their hearts.

Servant leaders keep reminding the people of the team’s vision, but they also spend time with their people and build relationships with them and foster the building of relationships among team members. Servant leaders know that the process is as important as, if not more than, the final result. Servant leaders make the development of the people their goal and trust in God for the final results.

Top-down leadership dis-empowers

Contrary to what most people think, the role of the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher in Eph.4 is not to do the work of the ministry but to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. When the leader focuses on the people he leads, there is empowerment and equipping. When the leader sets a system in place where the people focus on him, they are disempowered. People are not set free to be what God has made them to be or called them to be. Instead, they are trapped inside that system trying to live out the dream of the leader. They learn not to be creative or to take any initiative. Eventually they become dead inside. This results in one man ministries and churches where 90% of the people are just spectators. Such churches will never fulfill Matt.28 to go out and disciple nations. If the leader serves and empowers the people, then there is multiplication and Matt.28 can be fulfilled.

Prayer : “Lord, teach me to be like You. Make me to become like You. You are a servant; make me one too. Amen."

2009-04-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

The Sons of Issachar

“ .. the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do ..” 1 Chron.12:32

When all the tribes of Israel gathered at Hebron, they were made up of tens and hundreds of thousands of fighting men : 1 Chron.12:23-38. One tribe in particular was however not described by their numbers or their fighting skills. Instead they were singled out as having understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. The sons of Issachar understood that God was bringing an end to Saul’s rule and knew that it was time to turn Saul’s kingdom over to David, and make David king.

Saul is a type or symbol of top-down leadership. David is a type and foreshadow of Jesus' servant leadership. I believe that God is bringing Saul's type of leadership to an end, and raising up Davids to prepare the way for the full realization of His Lordship and Kingdom in this world.

How is He doing that?

An army no matter how equipped and powerful, cannot function and do what it needs to do without getting the battle plans and hearing the instructions of its Commander in Chief. In every generation, God has “Issachars” to whom He gives understanding of what His plans are and what His people are called to do.

The question in point is, in the advance of His kingdom today, how is God transitioning from Sauls to Davids? What are the sons of Issachar seeing? What needs to be done? How is it to be carried out? What are we to be?

There is a lesson we can learn from the position that God placed the tribes of Israel as they camped and moved out. The sons of Issachar were not to lead in battle. That was the role and position that God gave to the tribe of Judah. Issachar was to follow behind Judah (Num.2:3-5, 10:14-15, Judges 5:15) giving Judah the support they needed. When Jacob pronounced the blessing, he prophetically saw the role of Issachar as that of a burden bearer : Gen.49:14-15.

Issachars are therefore servant leaders. They shun visibility and attention. They desire only to serve others so as to see others fulfill their role and calling. That is their delight.

Here is a call to all the Sons of Issachar : what are you hearing from the Lord?