Thoughts from The Emissary

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Approved in Christ

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 06:57:00 +0000

One of the more encouraging passages in Scripture is a passage that tends to be overlooked by believers. In Romans 16, Paul takes the time to give a list of various men and women who have been very helpful to him in his ministry and in his own spiritual life. The mere fact that these individuals were singled out and added in the scripture indicates the quality of men and women that Paul commends. There is one commendation that Paul mentions that stands out to me- approved in Christ (Romans 16:10). What does it mean to be approved in Christ? It must mean more than simply being redeemed by Christ since this commendation was given to an individual and not the entire church at Rome. This concept- approved by Christ- is used rather rarely throughout the New Testament, but the meaning is essentially the same: one who is tested by trials and overcomes . Paul emphasizes this point throughout his epistles:

For it is not the man who praises and commends himself who is approved and accepted, but it is the person whom the Lord accredits and commends. 2 Corinthians 10:18

For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the glad tidings, so we speak not to please men but to please God, Who examines our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 2:3-4

There is no greater honor than being approved by God. It far outranks any human compliment; a matter of fact, a man or woman who has been approved by God tends to be unswayed by the opinion of men, whether it is glowing praise or harsh criticism. When any believer hears His Father say "Well done, good and faithful servant", every other commentary tends to fade into the background by comparison. But how do we become approved by God? The answer is given by James:

Blessed is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive the victor's crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12

Our approval of God comes from the various tests and trials that He introduces into our life. This also implies that no person is approved by God overnight- God tests the patience and endurance of our walk by testing us slowly over time. Moreover, for many of us, the tests that He presents to us are not obvious, but they tend to be rather small things in our lives. In my short personal life, I have observed that the vast majority of the tests that I've been given deals with the quality of faith. The expectation of our Christian walk is that we grow from individuals who are initially weak in faith to individuals who triumph and overcome through their faith. A man who exemplified this in the Old Testament was Gideon. Much like David, Gideon was the least of his family and had a number of doubts concerning why God chose him. Gideon's faith was initially weak, as it was evidenced through the outward signs that he requested, but Gideon's life was a life of increasing faith.

The first test that God introduced to Gideon involved tearing down the altar of Baal that his father built (cf. Judges 6:25-35). God tested Gideon on whether or not he would fear the response of his father or the people by obeying Him. He also tested Gideon on whether or not he would tolerate the idol of Baal, which represented a constant stumbling-block of sin for Israel that virtually everyone was born into and was accustomed to. The same test applies to us as believers. Are we willing to forsake our ungodly traditions by obeying Christ? Christ made it clear: anyone who loves their father and mother more than Him is not worthy of Him (cf. Luke 14:26).

Moreover, are we willing to tolerate sins in our life just because they are culturally acceptable? In dealing specifically with American culture, there are many aspects of our culture that have been tolerated in our Christian walk that are contrary to Christ. Number one on the list is the pursuit of selfish ambition under the guise of "finding your purpose", whether it's the ambition to have a great career, the ambition to live a well-off life, or the ambition to live life to be honored by men. No believer who still actively pursues their own path in life can ever expect God's approval. Is God's approval worth more to you than pursuing your own plans and your own desires? If it is not, then you should not expect God's commendation over your life.

The next test that God introduced to Gideon involved defeating the Midianites, who had an army of over 100,000, with an army of 300. Since Gideon was tested by the trial of destroying the altar of Baal, God can now continue to test the quality of his faith. Starting off with 32,000 men, God distinguished the men in much the same way that He distinguishes us as believers. The first group of men who were sent home were the fearful (cf Judges 7:3). Fear in our heart usually comes as a result of unbelief; these men who rallied around Gideon to fight saw their enemy and instead of becoming bold in faith, began to tremble. As a result, they could not be used to fight. The second distinction that God made was much more subtle. In getting water, the soldiers who kneeled to drink were sent home, while the soldiers who cupped the water in their hands remained. Those who cupped with water could scan the area for enemies while the drank. This was a subtle test of alertness. As believers, we are to be alert, ready, and sober at all times, unless we are caught off guard by Satan's attack.

However, more importantly, the picture of the soldier cupping with the hands is a picture of a believer's relation to the world. Those who kneeled on the ground to drink water only could see the water and the ground around them. This is a picture of the believer who is so distracted by the cares of this world that they become fruitless for Christ. In my view, this is the major test in our day of God's approval of a believer. In the days we live in, there are so many distractions and concerns in our life that have the potential to remove our focus on Christ and heaven so that we become bogged down with the things of the world. The believer who is distracted is also an unprepared believer; this is the believer who misses opportunities for encouragement and exhortation because of their day-to-day concerns. However, the picture of the soldier cupping with the water with their hands is a picture of a believer who never loses their focus on heaven, regardless of their day-to-day activities. It is this person that remains vigilant in all things and remains in constant communion with the Father. The difficulties that come in his life serve as validation and testing of the quality of faith that he has in His Father (rather than serving as a stumbling-block that draw him away from the Father); this believer knows that God will provide for Him as a loving Father does.

So where do you fall? Are you numbered among those who are too fearful and too weak in faith for God to use? Are you numbered among those who are too distracted by earthly things that they cannot be of use to God? Or will you strive to be among those who are "called, chosen, and faithful" (cf. Revelation 17:14)- those who have not only been accepted by God but who have been tested by Him through many circumstances and who have been approved by Him. Let us strive to receive the commendation of being approved in Christ.

Learning the Fear of God

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:12:00 +0000

Psalm 34:9 states:

Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

When most people hear the phrase “fear of the Lord”, the image that comes to mind usually involves God executing judgment on those who do not properly give Him the respect that He deserves. To others, this phrase usually involves a fear of punishment, of hell, of wrath, and of damnation. For the sinner, this would be the proper way to understand the fear of the Lord because there is nothing but condemnation to those who have rejected Christ (cf. John 3:18, Romans 8:1) and to those who are coming to Christ, this sort of fear is usually the first work of the Law upon the conscience that brings a person to genuine repentance and living faith in Christ. However, for the believer, what is the fear of the Lord? Is it more than the fear of punishment by disobedience? From my meditations on the topic, the fear of the Lord is very much related to our fellowship and relationship with Christ.

Just as much as earthly fathers relate differently to their children when they young than when they are adults, so does Our Heavenly Father relate to us very differently when we are newborn babes in Christ than when we are mature in Christ. The expectation of an earthly father for their children when they are young is quite different than the expectation for their children when they grow older. Most small children cannot relate to their father in a deep, intimate way as when they become adults and since fathers know this, they have smaller and lesser expectations of the children. Our Heavenly Father treats us the same way when we are young in Christ and His major expectation of us when we are young is that we obey His commandments. When we are young, the depth of fellowship with our Father is initially very shallow because we are newborn in Christ and so, as little children, we relate to our Father by following the commandments that He gives us and trusting Him in the small matters that He presents us with. This is verified by the various statements that Jesus made to His disciples.

If you love Me, keep my commandments. John 14:15

He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is it who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My father; and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him. John 14:21

As small children in Christ, we understand what it means to reverence God by obeying His commandments in much the same way that small children please their fathers by obeying their instructions. As young believers, we show our reverence and honor for God by taking sin seriously and abstaining from it. As young believers in Christ, there is nothing wrong with this picture. However, it is our Father's desire that we relate to Him in a much deeper way than simply keeping ourselves pure from sin as we grow older in Christ. The problem is that our Father finds very few individuals who desire to relate to Him on a much deeper level. For many believers, their understanding of God is much more of a servant-master relationship than a father-child relationship and so the only way that they can show that reverence for Him is through obeying His instructions. For this reason, for many believers, living in the fear of the Lord becomes a source of dead works, which God rejects. The reverence that God desires is intimate fellowship. He desires a reverential affection and devotion to Him, not on the basis of impending punishment, but on the basis of loving Him and knowing Him as a Father. He desires a deep reverence that is founded on the reality that our life and our rest is established in Him. David was a man who understood this and to him, the holy fear of the Lord was much deeper:

The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant. Psalm 25:14

Like as a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those that fear him. Psalm 103:13

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments. Psalm 110:10

David knew that God's intimate thoughts and ways are with those who reverence Him deeply and furthermore, to the person who honors God in this way, He will show this person His covenant of abundant grace. This is an encouragement to those of us who desire to live in the fullness of the New Covenant. He will reveal to us the New Covenant life that Christ paid for us through His blood when we honor and reverence Him with our life. What is also very interesting is that usually Solomon is credited for saying “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. However, this is first quoted by David, who is Solomon's father. This shows that Solomon probably learned aspects of God's nature and character from his father David and through observing the life that his father lived, Solomon can learn what it means to fear and honor God. I do not view this as a coincidence- Paul states in Ephesians that fathers should raise their children under the instruction and fear of the Lord (cf. Ephesians 6:4). Likewise, older believers should instruct younger believers to fear the Lord based on observing their life in God and not based on simply obeying various commandments.

It is statement worth repeating that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Every aspect of understanding spiritual matters and understanding God rest upon a proper reverence of the Lord. It is the foundation and basis of all spiritual activity and the root and source of our relationship with God. Unless a man understands this properly, all of the spiritual knowledge he gains will amount to nothing. A believer who does not understand the proper reverence of God will live his entire Christian life following Biblical instructions without any revelation of Christ or mature relationship with His Father. However, when one seeks to know and honor God in the proper way, he will discover that His Father will commune with Him and share His life with him. This man will discover God's intimate ways, in much the same way that Jesus knew the Father. Listen to the words of Jesus:

You are My friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

This passage states that before the disciples became mature spiritually, Jesus called them slaves- meaning that Jesus hid many things from the disciples about our Father and gave them only the bare necessity to live spiritually. However, as the disciples began to walk more and more with Him, Jesus shared more and more of His heart to them, until the point where Jesus declares that they are His friends. This is the ultimate compliment to a believer- when God calls you His friend. To this person, God withholds nothing from Him, but freely and lavishly gives Himself to Him (because God has seen this person give all of himself to Him). Are you currently experiencing a spiritual life that appears to be limited in depth, but full of more and more knowledge? Then it is quite possible that you haven't understood how to reverence God properly. Our Father is searching the earth looking for those who will worship and reverence Him properly (cf. John 4:23). Do you still relate to God as a servant who attempts to honor Him only through works of obedience? If so, I suggest that you meditate on the reality that you are His child, not His slave. He desires more than just obedience from you... He desire fellowship with you and a living relationship with you. As the reader, I pray that you understand our Father's desire that you do not become satisfied with a servant relationship with Christ, but that you learn the fear of the Lord.

Submitting to Imperfect Authority

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:04:00 +0000

All genuine believers experience the reality of living in a world filled with sin, selfishness, and corruption. For this reason, we are called to pick up our cross, die to ourselves, and follow Jesus daily so that we may escape from the corruption of this world. Many of us pray earnestly, as scripture commands, to keep ourselves unstained from the sin of this world and many of us have experienced personal victories in these areas. However, one of the most difficult situations that virtually all believers find themselves in is having to submit to authorities and leaders who are, at best, imperfect, and, at worst, carnal and hostile towards God. However, scripture is quite clear on the matter

Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. Romans 13:1

This scripture refers mainly to submission to civil government, but in regards to any work of service, whether we are in the position of servant or employee, Paul states our attitude towards earthly authorities quite clearly:

Urge bond servants to be submissive to their masters, to be pleasing and give satisfaction in every way. Warn them not to be argumentative or contradict, nor to steal by taking things of small value, but to prove themselves truly loyal and entirely reliable and faithful throughout, so that in everything they may be an ornament and do credit to the teaching which is from and about God our Savior. Titus 2:9

Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. Ephesians 6:5-8 (also cf. Colossians 3:22-24)

and finally

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a man bears up under sorrows when suffered unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. 1 Peter 2:18-20

For most of us, the reality and testimony of the Christian life is not experienced as we spend time around fellow believers, but it is spent in our secular profession. After all, if we spend 40+ hours per week at a job, then our witness will be seen mainly by our fellow co-workers, and our greatest chance for evangelism and ministry comes in the simplicity of our daily work. This is not a coincidence, but it is God's specific plan that as believers, we become the light of the world (cf. Matthew 5:14). In a very practical way, the “world” that we engage in daily is our jobs and we are meant to be light there. For this reason, our character and behavior around earthly authorities reveals the true depth of our Christian walk and ultimately, the effectiveness of our witness to the world.

In my personal experience, no trial or tribulation that I have encountered in my life reveals more of my need for Christ and His Spirit than my interactions with the authorities that I've been called to submit under. As I've had to submit under earthly authority, I've realized that I lack two major elements in my Christian walk: a deep, unconditional love for others and a full repentance from dead works. John states that any person who does not love abides in death (cf. 1 John 3:14). This verse is usually applied to loving the brotherhood, but we, as believers, are called to love even our enemies. Therefore, this verse applies not only to brotherhood, but it applies to all who we come in contact with... even those who are unreasonable. If we say that we love God and lack in this area, then we are as those who walk in darkness and have no spiritual life in us. Secondly, I realized that repentance from dead works doesn't just apply to our devotion to God, but it applies to all areas of service to Him. This also includes the attitude of service towards our earthly authorities. If we merely pay lip service to those who are have authority over us or work in a half-hearted way just to appease our conscience, we are performing dead works to God, since our service to God-ordained authorities is really a service towards God. It is easy to state one's devotion and wholeheartedness to God in words, but it is a completely different matter to prove it through submission to imperfect authority. God does not desire for us to simply yield, acquiesce, and tolerate leaders in an apathetic way, but the challenge offered by Paul and Peter is to serve our earthly authorities earnestly, sincerely, and in a way that honors God. This attitude was exemplified by Jesus, who was under submission to the imperfect and godless Roman authorities. The words of the Sermon on the Mount illustrate this:

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you, and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. And whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two. Matthew 5:38-41

This passage does not encourage believers to be gullible and naïve, but it teaches us not to pursue personal retaliation against those who have acted unreasonably against us. This applies equally as well to earthly authorities who place irrational and unreasonable burdens over our lives. The response of the world is either to retaliate against them or to harbor bitterness toward them; however, Jesus emphasized that we should love and pray for them, knowing that our service to them is service towards Our Father. In the world around us, we see many of our co-workers exercising many of the characteristics that Jesus and the apostles urged us not to do. In our work places, we see hypocrisy, where co-workers smile in their employer's face and curse them behind their back. We see acts of rebellion, half-hearted work, gossiping, jealousy, self-promoting, divisiveness, and all other matters of wickedness among our co-workers. Usually, most of the cursing and criticism towards the leaders are very well-justified, but the real question is- will you conform to the world's standards or will you conform to Christ's standards? Will you patiently endure while being treated harshly or will you respond to the temptations of your flesh and retaliate against such treatment in your heart? Will you honor God with your service to imperfect authority or will you dishonor God by your rebellion to this authority?

A reasonable question that can be asked is what is God trying to produce in us through our submission to earthly authority. Peter sums this up nicely in the context of submission to elders

You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that He may exult you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:5-7

Ultimately, through our submission to these authorities, God continuously produces humility and endurance in our lives, and as this humility is produced in our lives, He gives us grace to continue to serve our earthly leaders with a sincere heart. This humility enables the marvelous grace of God to cover our weaknesses and sin; however, when we are prideful and rebellious, we expose ourselves and bring shame to ourselves and to God. Notice here that our anxiety is placed upon Christ after our initial submission to authorities. This means that the anxiety that we are casting on Christ is the anxiety and worry associated with humbling ourselves to these authorities. Our example is Christ who “while being reviled, He did not revile in return and while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” When we humble ourselves to these authorities, we are entrusting Our Father to keep, guide, and protect us, while not attempting to preserve ourselves. The grace needed to be a witness in this area is more than abundant for us so that we may walk as Christ walks. I pray that we are convicted by this because there are few things in our lives that are as great of a witness as the privilege and opportunity demonstrating the love and power of God through submission to our earthly authorities. When our co-workers observe us consistently obeying the commands of the scripture by serving our employers or other authorities with joy and sincerity, our lifestyle serves as a dramatic distinction and witness to those around them and verifies to a dying world the reality and truth of the God that we serve.

Grace Greater than Our Sin

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:05:00 +0000

Recently, a hymn has been on my mind:

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Refrain:
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide;
What can we do to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?

As with many concepts of the New Testament, grace is an often used and often misinterpreted word. Most people understand grace in much of the same way that Old Testament individuals understood it- simply God's favor. Most people interpret it as God's forbearance of sin and use it as a reason to overlook various sins. Other Christians look at grace as a vague notion of forgiveness. However, scripture is quite clear: grace and truth only came through Christ Jesus. Look at the distinction that John made

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. John 1:17

As much as the Law was introduced by Moses, grace was introduced by Jesus. Therefore, this grace is understood primarily through the New Covenant introduced by Jesus. It is generally understood by many believers that the Law introduced by Moses is good because it reveals God's holiness and as a result, it produces the knowledge of sin in a believer, demonstrating their need for repentance. However, what many do not understand is that without the Law, this grace from Jesus is not understood. Paul explains this the connection:

And the Law came in that transgression might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:20-21

The reality of the Christian life is that without a deep revelation of the power and nature of sin, there will not be a true understanding of the power and abundance of grace. Without understanding the nature of sin, a believer will live their life, declaring that God's grace is cheap and weak. However, the closer one comes to understanding the holiness of God and the more they see their own sinfulness, the more they will understand that the grace of God is costly and expensive. I do not believe that it is a coincidence that Paul considered himself "the chief of all sinners" (cf. 1 Tim. 1:15), yet understood the meaning of grace (cf. 1 Tim. 1:12-14). Personally, I struggled to truly grasp the concept of grace until God gripped me with Romans 5. It was in this passage that I understood the nature and power of sin.

Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned- Romans 5:12

This is a passage worth re-reading slowly. How powerful must sin be if it has such a strong residual effect! One act of disobedience by Adam so fundamentally changed his nature that he hid from God and one of his children became a murderer after his transgression. This sin is so powerful that it caused mankind, who was created in His image, to become so fundamentally corrupt that God repented in His heart for making man (cf. Genesis 6:6). One initial act of disobedience by Adam changed the nature of man to the point where "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually". Sin affected mankind to the point where Jeremiah claimed that the human heart is "deceitful wicked" (cf. Jeremiah 17:9). Because of sin, David said that mankind lacks understanding and has no desire to seek God (cf. Psalm 14:2). All of this is the result of one act of disobedience. It's amazing to fully understand that sin has produced such effects.

In many ways, sin is the most deadly virus that has infected mankind and the Law introduced by Moses only excited the virus further. This virus destroyed everyone in its path; no virus in history has claimed as many lives as sin claimed, whether it was the Black Death of the 14th century that killed over 100 million or the current AIDS epidemic. This virus, sin, has destroyed everyone and death reigned over all of man. In reality, because of sin, every person on earth was born with a death sentence on their life because of its destructive effects. In current times, those who have contracted the AIDS virus understand that death is near and out of desperation, they desperately seek doctors who would offer them a glimpse of hope for a cure. However, sin is infinitely more damaging than AIDS, yet so few believers understand its seriousness and seek God for the cure with true earnestness. There was no cure for sin until Christ came and introduced this grace to us.

But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ abound to many. And the gift is no like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. Romans 5:15-16

Despite the great power of our sin, look at what the grace of God has done through Christ! If sin is powerful enough to destroy mankind, how much more will the grace that comes through Christ produce? In our personal lives, we have seen how sin has ravaged our lives, past and present, but the grace of God not only cancels out sin... grace overwhelmingly conquers sin! The above passage states that while the power of one transgression produced death, the power of grace conquers a multitude of sins. So what is a practical definition of this grace? The following verse explains:

For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17

Grace is the power of God to overwhelming conquer the power of sin and death in our lives. We receive our introduction into this grace by faith in Christ(cf. Romans 5:2). So grace is not simply an act of God's forbearance or forgiveness- it is His power produced by the great sacrifice given by Christ. As much as sin produced death and ruled in our lives, grace produces life. Because grace overwhelmingly conquers the power of sin in our lives, sin does not have to be a master over our lives (cf. Romans 6:14). As mentioned in the above verse, because of Christ's sacrifice, this grace is abundant to all believers who will put their trust in Christ. So let us follow the exhortation in Hebrews 12:1; let us fix our eyes on Jesus and receive this grace so that we can lay aside every sin entangles us and causes us to stumble.

I ask the reader a simple question: have you received a deep understanding of God's holiness and sin in your life? Have you sought God to reveal this to you? If you haven't, then it is probably true that you haven't understood the meaning of God's grace and its abundance. When you read through the scripture about the holiness of God, I would ask for you to read it slowly that your eyes may be open to the seriousness of sin. Then, as you seek God for the cure for sin, the words of the popular hymn will ring true to you:

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Reflections and Ambition

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:06:00 +0000

This is my first blog of the year and as most people do, I spent a good deal of time for the past month reflecting on my life and my walk with Christ. In the past year, there have been a number of great victories given to me by the grace of God and a number of failures that God is still working on. In many ways, God has demonstrated His faithfulness to me over the past year and His faithfulness has caused me to remain continuously grateful to Him. His kindness towards me has radically changed my life from being an ungrateful Christian who lived on the basis of entitlement to a believer that honors God in all things and trusts in Him, despite life's difficulties. During this year, many scriptures that I've never experienced came alive like never before. There are two passages that come to my mind to describe last year:

The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. Proverbs 4:19

Much of my Christian life in my earlier years were characterized by inconsistency. There were some days where I experienced God's glory in a very real and definite way, and then there are other days where I would spiral into old sins and old religious habits. This up-and-down relationship with Christ was something that I never questioned in my earlier Christian life because I never saw an example of a person who lived consistently in the face of God. However, last year, this scripture gripped me because its truth is inescapable. According to this passage, the righteous man (the man who lives by faith in Christ) should not have such an unstable life, but his life in Christ should grow greater and greater. The righteous man should not live his life, waiting to revive an old Christian experience, but should live his life, expecting a more glorious day in the future. Each day, his walk with Christ should grow brighter and become much more clearer. At the beginning of last year, my life was still very much up-and-down spiritually. The reality was that I was not secure in my foundation of Christ, and as a result, my Christian life flowed based on how my circumstances were. However, when I understood and grasped this scripture, I pursued God that this scripture may become real to me and by the end of the year, I could say that the Word proved itself to be true in my life. I could finally sing the popular refrain without lying: "Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul." My Christian walk was truly growing brighter and brighter each day.

The second passage that came alive to me this past year is from Lamentations:

The Lord's lovingkindness indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion" says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him." The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him. Lamentations 3:22-28

The conviction of the passage comes with a question: Is Jeremiah exaggerating or is he describing his personal experience with God? How can a man who saw the devastation of his people declare that His lovingkindness never ceases and His compassion never fails? I was faced with this question in my life last year as I saw my mother, from a distance, go through various difficulties with her illness. I didn't understand why this was occurring and why I was in a position to do nothing, but this passage is nevertheless true: His faithfulness is great, His lovingkindness never ceases, and His compassions never fail. He changed my heart about the situation when I placed my trust in Him to have His perfect will in her life and I began to see gradual change in her, both spiritually and physically, as the year went on. Although the illness is not gone, the work that God produced in spiritually far outweighed the pain of the physical illness.

The second half of the passage came alive in my life when God placed the burden of building the Church in my heart. Honestly, this was not something that I personally wanted in my life because I knew the difficulties involved in building the Church, but when God told me that this is the purpose of my life, He gave me a great sense of peace about the matter. However, as I began to sit down and meditate on this, I realized that this calling is not a burden, but it is a privilege. It is a honor to serve God as a young man and I remain grateful to God that I have the health of my youth to serve Him and to build His Church. After yielding and rejoicing in His will for my life, He began to surround me with a body of believers who I love dearly and so we, as a body, rejoice in the privilege of serving God and building the Church. As the new year has begun, I have reflected on all of these matters and I can agree with Jeremiah: The Lord's faithfulness is great.

Entering this new year, the Holy Spirit asked me one question and told me to meditate on this before answering: What is my true ambition? Of course, the simple answer would have been to know Christ, but as I began to give an answer, I was stopped because I realized that I did not count the cost for such a statement. If knowing Christ is my true ambition, then every other ambition must be counted as insignificant compared to Him. This includes a great reputation among secular and religious leaders, a great outward ministry, a great professional career as a scientist, and a long list of other ambitions that I previous had. If knowing Christ is my true ambition, how is it reflected in my life? If God changes my life in such a way that none of my ambitions in life ever occur, will I be satisfied in Christ alone or will I harbor bitterness towards God? Will I pursue Him with a deeper fervor than I pursued my academic pursuits or is my response merely lip-service to God? Can I say truthfully as Jeremiah stated "The Lord is my portion"? I pondered these questions and gave God the same answer: to know Him. I will ask the reader the same question: What is your true ambition? In an honest assessment, what is the center of your life? Is it Christ alone or Christ + another ambition? If God strips your life down to the bare minimum so that your personal ambitions are never met, will you rejoice and be satisfied with Him or will you resent Him? Is Christ your portion and your expected hope or is your heart expecting another inheritance?

Let the answer to this question be the start of the new year for you.

Building the Body Through Love

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:15:00 +0000

In the previous blog, I discussed how important the body of Christ is and how building the Church should be the ambition of our heart. I discussed how we should reject the notion of living as isolated individuals as Christians and enter into the Church of God. Now, we must discuss how we must build the body. Ephesians 4:1-3 states:

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

What is this unity of the Spirit that Paul speaks of in this passage? Colossians 3:14 describes love as the "perfect bond of unity". What manner of love unites the Church of God? From my experience, most believers exercise fraternal love or "philia" in Greek. The idea is of cherishing and refers to the union of the soul of one with that of the other. It is a love based usually on similarity of intellectual and emotional outlook. It means more than physical love but it can still be self-centered, for its satisfaction often comes from the feeling that one is wanted, or that one is a benefactor or a protector of that other needy person. This is the best type of love that man can exercise apart from the Holy Spirit and we see this love exercised in many fraternal societies and organizations. It is a tragedy that many of us accept this fraternal love as God's best and build our fellowship based on it. However, there is a deeper love that comes directly from God- agape. This is the love that defines the Church- it is the unique signature that distinguishes the Church from every other fraternal organization on this earth. This sort of love ultimately defines whether or not a person is truly a disciple and whether a local body is the true Church (cf. John 13:34-35). This is the love that God imparted to us by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5) and refers to the union of the spirit of one with that of the other. It is a self-giving love - the love of Calvary's cross.

William Barclay in `More New Testament Words', says, "Agape is unconquerable benevolence, invincible goodwill. It is not simply a wave of emotion; it is a deliberate conviction of the mind issuing in a deliberate policy of the life; it is a deliberate achievement and conquest and victory of the will. It takes all of man to achieve this love; it takes not only his heart; it takes his mind and his will as well. It is impossible for a man to have this love unless the Spirit takes possession of him and sheds abroad the love of God in his heart." A Greek lexicon referring to agape says, "It chooses its object with decision and self-denying compassion. This is love in its fullest and highest form. It has its source in God. The verb-form stands for kindliness towards its object and has reference to the tendency of the will." Another definition of agape is: "It is slow to suspect but quick to trust; slow to condemn but quick to justify; slow to offend but quick to defend; slow to expose but quick to shield; slow to reprimand but quick to forbear; slow to belittle but quick to appreciate; slow to demand but quick to give; slow to provoke but quick to conciliate; slow to hinder but quick to help; and slow to resent but quick to forgive".

We are able to know this love only through our fellowship with Christ. Jesus is our forerunner and the love that He expressed is the love that we all should strive to emulate. 1 John 3:16 says:

We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Jesus gave the definition of love through His sacrificial life and it is through this self-sacrificial love that the Church is built. Paul continues to describe how the Church is built up in Ephesians 4:11-16

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which ever joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Here, Paul emphasizes how the gifts that God gives sovereignly to each individual member of the body is used to build up the Church. What is important to emphasize here is that love of the brethren precedes the operation of the gifts in the true Church. This theme is found in several passages (cf. 1 Cor. 12-13; Romans 12:4-10; 1 Peter 4:8-11) because love for the Church outranks the exercise of gifts in the Church. Unfortunately, we live in a day where the gifts are emphasized much more than love among the Body. Jesus mentioned that this is a sign of a church primed for deception. In Matthew 24, Jesus said that there would be two characteristics of the end-time world: the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12) and false prophets will perform great signs and wonders (Matthew 24:24). Many people chase after gifts instead of love because gifts do not cost a person anything. It is in man's nature to offer God things that do not cost them much; however it is a godly man (and a godly Church) who refuses to offer God anything that cost them nothing (cf. 2 Samuel 24:24). To have the love of God in our lives and in our fellowship, it will cost us all of ourselves because this is the love that is selfless to its core. However, gifts are given by God in His sovereignty and require nothing of us except faith. This demonstrates that it is quite possible to have multiple gifts in operation in the church, yet still fail to be a true witness for Christ. Consider 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Consider a church with a testimony like this! Imagine a church where all members prophecy correctly, understand every mystery of God, and have unshakable faith. Yet, because love is not abundant among the members, this church is nothing. Furthermore, consider a church that gives all of its possessions to feed the poor, which is a appearance of self-sacrificial love. The description of this church appears to be no different than the Macedonian church that Paul commended (cf. 2 Cor. 8). What was the difference between the Macedonian church and this church? The answer is found in 2 Cor. 8:7

But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness, and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also

Paul is correcting the churches in Corinth by pointing the example of the abundance of love in the churches shown by the Macedonian churches. This is the type of Church that God honors and approves of. When God establishes His Church, He establishes it on the foundation of Christ and protects it through the love He pours out by His Spirit. Any other foundation will prove itself not to be the church that God establishes. Consider the warning given by John:

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. 1 John 3:14

This is a clear and obvious warning that many, including myself, have ignored in times past. A church without the love of God among the brotherhood is a dead church. No number of gifts, wealth, or talents among members can resuscitate a church that is dead because of the lack of love. Emphasizing spiritual gifts over love is analogous to trying to convince someone that a dead person is alive by putting more clothes on him. When a person has been dead long enough, the stench from his body confirms that he is truly dead, no matter how much we attempt to resuscitate him. The same is true for the church. The stench, so to speak, from the church that everyone can detect is a result of the lack of love in the church. However, just as Jesus raised Lazarus after he was dead for three days, any local body can be raised back to life if God pours His Spirit of love on the church. The love of God among the Body is our protection. A church that has many gifts and ministries in operation without love is analogous to a large, magnificent city without any walls. Without protection, any city is subject to sieges from their enemies. The same is true for the church. Our great adversary, Satan, devises many schemes to make sure that the true Church is never built. However, when the love of God is abundant in the church, God Himself will be a "wall of fire in our midst" (Zechariah 2:5). The fire of God's love is our protection and we, as believers, should endeavor to protect it at all costs.

Finally, what is the result of building the body in love? As stated previously in Ephesians 4, "we are no longer children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming". So, what distinguishes children from adults: stability and maturity. As the body begins to build up itself in love, the Church becomes more stable and more mature. The stability of the Church increases in the sense that we are not shaken by the many attacks that inevitably come to the Church. As love continues to grow among the Body, we become more rooted and established in Christ. The maturity of the Church increases in the sense that we are no longer gullible and easily deceived. One characteristic of a Church that is growing is its increasing ability to avoid various distractions. Many churches demonstrate their lack of maturity by following everything that has the appearance of godliness. In this way, churches lose their primary witness by chasing after secondary pursuits. However, a mature Church looks beyond the appearance and uses discernment to weigh the actual substance. This sort of Church avoids many distractions because it has built itself up based on what God desired for them.

Therefore, as Paul warns us, we should be careful on how we build upon the foundation of Christ. There are many good works that a church can do that will prove to be worthless, unless love is first established among the brotherhood. Let's remember the example of the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. This church had outstanding ministries, but because they left their first love, they were in danger of losing their witness (cf. Rev. 2:1-7). Let us not fall into the same example of sin, but let us build the body of Christ through the love of God.

Leaving the Congregation and Entering the Body

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:38:00 +0000

Zechariah 12:10 states:

And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.

This prophecy specifically addresses the siege of Jerusalem due to Israel's idolatrous acts towards God. However, if we meditate on this passage, we will find great meaning for us as New Covenant believers. The first question that should be addressed is why was Christ crucified for us? For what reasons was He pierced for us in the context of this passage? As believers, we all know that Christ was crucified for our sins, serving as a substitute for us on the cross. However, in this passage, the emphasis is not placed on individual justification, but the emphasis is placed on "the inhabitants of Jerusalem". Looking through the New Covenant, this is a picture of the Church. So, the question becomes in the context of the Church, why did Christ give Himself for us? Why was it necessary for Christ to be crucified on behalf of the Church? The answer of this question lies in John 14:12-14

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father

In speaking to His disciples, Christ says that the person who believes in Him in the full conviction of faith will not only perform the same works as Christ (such as miracles, signs, and wonders), but they will also do works that are qualitatively different and greater than Christ's works on the earth. What works are greater than the works that Jesus did on earth? The answer is the unity and completion of the Church. When Jesus was on Earth, he healed the sick and raised the dead, but He could never make the apostles one. This became the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So on God's priority list, so to speak, the oneness of the Church on earth with Christ is of highest priority. This was so important that the last prayer in John before He went to the cross was a plea to the Father that we may become one:

"...they may all be one, even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in you, that they also may be in Us, that the world may believe that You did send me. And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that You did send Me, and did love them, even as You did love Me." John 17:21-23

This is the heart's desire of our Lord and Savior; He believed that the oneness of the Church is so important that it was worth giving up His life for and sending the Holy Spirit for. The same desire still exist; the Church is still the bride of Christ and Christ constantly repeats this prayer to our Father, pleading that we may become one. Our Father also seeks to find those who has the same passion for the Church as He does. Sadly, in today's church, we don't see an united Body of Christ growing together in love, power, and grace. What we see today is a congregation of isolated members- an Old Covenant representation of the church. We live in a Christianity today where it is perfectly acceptable to go to a church building and passively listen to a preacher preach, while the elders carry the majority of the burden for the Church. Today, it is perfectly acceptable to sit next to a person week after week in a church building and have no genuine concern for their spiritual well-being. Today, it is perfectly acceptable that there are cliques within the Church, wide-scale division, selfish ambition, and jealousy among the members, and these things are accepted. What has been troubling to me is that very few people see this as bondage and captivity. The reality is that although a person goes to church every Sunday and Wednesday, they are very much alone. They live their Christian life isolated from others and many pastors will justify their behavior by stating that true believers usually live their life isolated from other believers. They do not know that they are held in bondage and captivity because a person's spiritual development is intricately tied to their fellowship with others. 1 John 2:10 states that the one who loves his brother genuinely abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. However, to the one who is apathetic towards fellowship with their brothers, he walks in darkness and stumbles because his eyes have been blinded by darkness (1 John 2:11).

What we are seeing in modern times is the destruction of the Church; the question is whether or not anyone truly cares? Going back to Zechariah 12:10, is anyone weeping and mourning concerning the state of the Church? Is there anyone zealous for the house of God, which is the Church? I ask this question because this was my life experience for the first 5 years of my Christian development, until God convicted me concerning His Church. I lived my life, ignoring the true meaning of fellowship until I realized that my spiritual development came to an abrupt stop. I realized that I was living in captivity- in the same type of captivity that Israel experienced when they were exiled to Babylon. I realized that the enhancement and proof of my sanctification is done through the body of Christ and not through a congregation. The passages of scripture that I was led to was found in Nehemiah 1-4, Psalm 133, and Ephesians 4. Nehemiah was the answer of the prayers of several prophets before him who longed to see the restoration of Jerusalem following the Babylonian captivity. Nehemiah had a fairly comfortable life as cupbearer to the king and when he heard about the state of the remnant who had survived the captivity, he responded as follows:

"... I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, 'I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven... let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel You servants, confessing the sins, which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned." (Nehemiah 1:4-6)

Here is a man who lived his life comfortably and when he heard about the distress of the captives, it convicted him to the point where he left the comforts of his life and dedicated himself to rebuilding Jerusalem. Moreover, his conviction prompted him not only to confess his own sin in causing the captivity, but he took responsibility for the sins of everyone around him- as a true intercessor does. What was in Nehemiah's heart that prompted him to do this? Ezekiel 6:8-9 describes the heart of the exiles who escaped:

"Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes, which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations."

This was the position that Nehemiah took; after hearing about the distress of the exiles, he was brought to complete repentance because he realized his role in the matter. He realized that his sins not only hurt the heart of God so deeply that it caused Him to bring Israel into captivity. Where do we find individuals like this who understand the modern desolation of the Church literally breaks God's heart? Moreover, where do we find men and women like this who will leave their nice Christian life and dedicate their lives to the rebuilding of the Church? This is why the Holy Spirit needs to be poured out upon the Church; we will only devote our lives to building fellowship when we see how much our Father desires it and we will only become zealous about this matter when the Holy Spirit fills us. After the godly concern for the restoration of Jerusalem was in Nehemiah's heart, we see God's sovereignty at work. God stirs the heart of the king to the point where the king doesn't just give permission to Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem, but He completely financed the entire trip. This is the beauty of our God- when we are zealous for the Church to the point where we begin to labor for Her, our Father does whatever is necessary to restore the Church. Even in the midst of opposition, if our heart is towards the restoration of the Church, then our Father will be as "a wall of fire in our midst" (Zechariah 2:5). Nehemiah and his fellow builders faced great opposition from those around them to the point that the workers became discouraged and fear. However, when Nehemiah saw their fear, he arose and said:

"Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses!"

The same is the case for us. There are many ways by which the Church can become divided, but it has already been promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. Therefore, with this faith, we must fight for our fellow brothers; we must constantly challenge, encourage, and comfort one another. This is how the Church prevails against any opposition: when the opposition comes, it must draw us together closer. Listen to the words of David

"Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, coming down upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commands the blessing- life forever." Psalm 133

It is only when dwell in unity together as a body that the Lord gives us life. When we are isolated and divided, only death and destruction can persist in us. In our divided state, we are very much like the dry bones in a valley described in Ezekiel 37- lifeless and powerless individually. Once again, in this passage, what enables the valley of dead and dry bones to become an exceedingly great army is the Holy Spirit. When God's breath came upon the bones, Ezekiel looked in amazement as the bones began to re-attach to one another with skin and flesh and then through God's breath, life entered into the bones and they became an exceedingly great army. What a marvelous picture of the Church! We see this concept in Ephesians 4

"And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature, which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness by deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love."

This is our destination- growing to a mature man in the stature of the fullness of Christ as one body. When this occurs, we will see all of the deceptive powers of Satan and man put to nothing. When God breathes His life in us, He produces a zeal for the Church so that each individual part may fit together so that there is mutual edification and fellowship. However, as this passage states, this only occurs when there is the proper working of each individual part. For this reason, we must all participate in the building of the true Church of God. No gifting is insignificant for the Church, but every single gift is needed so that we can stand as the Church. In reading Nehemiah 3, we see that God takes the time to mention the name of every person who assisted in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Much of the work was not grand, but it was the heart and passion that moved God to mention them. The same is for us today. To those whose heart is full of faith and conviction for the rebuilding of the Church, He records our name as being faithful to the calling by which He gives us. When we all complete our appointed task, then we will see God works miracles for the Church. It is only then when Satan will be crushed under our feet (Romans 16:20).

However, this process of building the body starts only when we leave the congregational-counterfeit of the Church and enter into the true body of Christ. Our oneness is not based on personality, socioeconomic status, hobbies, vision, or even doctrine; our oneness is based on the foundation of our faith which is Christ Himself. The Church exist for Him and as believers, our destination is to be conformed to His image. We must reject the belief that we can exist as believers on an island; the one who desires to walk the Christian walk is seeking his own desire and acting out of selfishness. It is this person who will never leave the Old Covenant church and will live in constant defeat of sin. To those who are desiring fellowship, I want to encourage you to remember God's sovereignty- because your heart is turned toward Him and His thoughts, He will not allow you to walk this path alone. He will bring others from unexpected places so that you can build fellowship. Remember the story of Elijah; after running from Jezebel, he believed that he was the only prophet zealous for the Lord. However, the Lord rebuked him, saying that I have 7000 who haven't bowed to Baal (1 Kings 19). So like the apostle Paul, I entreat all of you to walk with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit at all cost (Ephesians 4:2-3). Our union as a Body is proved when we refuse to allow any breaches in our fellowship due to unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, or selfish ambition. Let us be filled with His Spirit of grace because grace is the strength that enables us to forgive quickly, to become transparent with one another, to live humbly before one another, and most important, grace is strength that enables us to knit our hearts together as a body, even during the most difficult of circumstances.

I will end this on Psalm 126

"When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with joyful shouting; then they among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them'. The Lord has done great things for us... Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him"

The context of this passage refers to the remnant who survived the captivity finally leaving Babylon, a picture of the counterfeit church, to enter Jerusalem, a picture of the Church. Imagine being an Israelite- for several generations, everyone you ever knew lived in captivity and eventually, after living in captivity so long, you begin to adjust and accept that it is the fact of life. Imagine the joy on the faces of Israelites, after being in harsh captivity for several generation, when they have the opportunity to leave. The moment is so surreal that it feels like a dream, until you realize that it is real. All of the prayers and crying to God has finally been answered as you pick up your belongings and leave captivity. Therefore, all of the tears turn into joyful shouting and all of the prayers that have been sown, so to speak, have now come to harvest.

This is a picture of the multitude of individuals who will escape from the congregation and come to the Body of Christ. Many have been living in a second-rate Christian experience of fellowship that they have begun to accept this as normal. However, there are some who look around them, observing the captivity, and refuse to accept this situation. They will leave the congregation and actively in faith pursue the rebuilding of the Church. They will give up their lives and comforts for this because they know how valuable our Father views the Church. All of the labors, tears, and hardships that will be faced will all be worth it because God will fulfill His promise. God promised that He will build and establish His Church and it will be as a blameless and spotless virgin for Christ. So, all of the tears that we shed for this to occur will be transformed into joyful shouting when we see the completion of this project. Moreover, all of the saints before us who labored in prayer, who were martyred for keeping the faith, and who left the professions for the gospel will all be made complete (remember that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses). We all will rejoice together because God will complete, perfect, and establish His work through us! Therefore, let us stop pursuing other selfish ambitions, and let us leave the congregation of the weak church and begin the journey of entering into the Body of Christ.

Faith in God's Promise

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:42:00 +0000

In previous blogs, I have discussed the glory of the New Covenant life and how this is an inheritance of each believer if they desire it earnestly. However, for some, the failures of their past life and the current difficulties of their Christian life has caused them to see these promises as more of an abstraction than a present reality. The strong pull from the world has caused some to see this life as an impossibility and in other cases, the standard of fellow Christian brothers has caused some to accept a watered-down and defeated Christian life. I know this to be the case because this is something that I lived with for most of my Christian life. I realized that although I believed in my mind that God would complete His final purpose with me, I did not truthfully believe in my heart that the type of life preached about in the scripture is obtainable. In addressing this, the Holy Spirit spoke two different passages of scripture to me. James states:

What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?... Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works... But are you willing to recognize you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless. James 2:14,17,18,20

As James states, what is the usefulness of having faith if it doesn't produce action in a believer? What is the purpose of having the testimonies of Paul, Peter, and John if it doesn't challenge me daily to pursue God's heart? More importantly, what is the purpose of the living testimony of Christ and the promises to those who believe in Him if it doesn't fundamentally change my life? When I came to Christ, I did not come to him hesitantly; I came to Him in the full assurance that Christ died for my sins and by His blood, completely cleansed me from them. I was so convinced of this that it caused me to repent of my sins and former life and turn to Him. If this is the condition by which I came to Him- in full assurance of His salvation- then why do I not have full assurance that He is able to send me into this New Covenant life that is also promised in scripture?

Moreover, James makes a strong statement: Can that sort of faith save him? If a partial belief in the promise of God for justification is not genuine enough to save a person, how much less can a half-hearted belief in the promise of God for sanctification cause him to walk in newness of life? James 1:5-7 states this as follows:

But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The context of this scripture is referring to asking for Godly wisdom, but it still speaks of the spirit of faith. The truth of the matter is that a half-hearted, half-convinced, partial belief in God's promise comes down to doubt in God's word. A person with this sort of faith can fully expect to live an unstable Christian life: a Christian life that is beset with many weaknesses and enslaved with a number of sins. However, to the one that asks in genuine faith, God will give us His wisdom generously and liberally (James 1:5) so that we can live this life that the New Covenant speaks of. The reason that God generously gives His wisdom to all those who has genuine faith is because it is absolutely necessary in order for us to live this victorious life in Christ. Consider the testimony of our example Christ:

In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His devotion. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey the source of eternal salvation. Hebrews 5:7-9

In order for Jesus to live a victorious life over all matter of temptation (Hebrews 4:15), He was fully confident in His Father that He would deliver Him. This caused Him to pray night and day to Him, knowing that through faith and patience that He would obtain the promise. Jesus is our example and if we desire to live the life He lived, then we must have faith of the same nature as His.

The second passage that the Holy Spirit pointed me to was the story of Joshua and Caleb in Numbers 13. In this passage, Moses sends spies to Canaan, which is a symbol of the fullness of God, to assess the general condition of the land. When the spies returned, Moses heard report after report claiming how fortified the cities were and how strong the inhabitants were. As the children of Israel murmured before Moses, Caleb quieted the people and with the spirit of genuine faith said:

We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome. Numbers 13:30

The other spies continued to spread the bad report to all of Israel to the point that all of Israel desired to return back to the bondage of Egypt. However, in agreement with Caleb, Joshua pleaded with Israel, saying:

The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us- a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord and do not fear the people of the land, for they shall be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them. Numbers 14:7-9

Much like Moses, all believers are faced with two different opinions: the voice of the overwhelming majority or the voice of God. How is that 2 young men can fully believe in the promise of God, over the voice of over a million dissenters? It is because both Joshua and Caleb had genuine faith. Their faith was not based on the difficulty of the obstacle, but was based on the power and promise of God's word fully. The other spies who sent bad reports only saw sure defeat as they crossed into Canaan because they only believed God's promise partially- they were not fully convinced that God was able to deliver them from this trial, despite the numerous victories that God gave to Israel previously. Much like the history of Israel, every trial revealed the fragile and unstable nature of their faith in God and it is only a matter of time before God gave them over to the dictates of their unbelieving heart, causing destruction of an entire generation. However, Caleb and Joshua had a different spirit that saw with eyes of faith, believing that there is nothing that can stop God's promise from coming to fruition apart from our unbelief.

This is the reality of the New Covenant life. It is a magnificent and glorious life that is fully impossible by human standards to obtain. Only those who live in the assurance of faith of God's promise will enter into this life. Much like Israel, many will strive with their own strength and discipline to obtain a measure of godliness and they will see defeat after defeat in their lives. For them, the only thing that they can see in front of them is the enormity of their sin and how it will constantly defeat them. Just like the children of Israel, it is only a matter of time before they develop an evil, unbelieving heart towards God, leading to their spiritual downfall. This is the life of the frustrated Christian and it is the very purpose of God to frustrate the plans of man so that God's plan may stand. Unfortunately, many Christians will have obtain the same testimony of Israel:

Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs, which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have no listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it

And again in Psalm 95:10-11

For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in my anger, truly they shall not enter into My rest.

When I read this, I determined within myself that I will not leave this earth without experiencing the life in Christ that is available to those with genuine faith. The encouragement of this passage is that God fulfilled His promise for Caleb and Joshua. While every other person in the wilderness died only to see the land, two young men who simply believed God's word entered into this land. There were many battles that they had to fight and many lessons that they had to learn, but the greatest testimony given to Joshua's generation was that God would not allow them to fall since they had put their trust in Him. In the book of Joshua, God cut off the Jordan River (Joshua 3), brought down the most fortified city in Canaan (Joshua 4), and even made the sun stand still during a battle (Joshua 10:13)! This is the awesomeness of our God; when any person puts their faith in Him completely, He will not cause him to fall; He will do whatever is necessary for the believer to triumph. This is why we know that He always leads us in triumph in Christ (2 Cor. 2:14); this is how we know that all things work together for the good (Rom. 8:18); this is how we know that sin will not have dominion over us (Rom. 6:14); this is how we know that the God of peace will crush Satan under our feet (Rom. 16:20); and ultimately, we know that we will overcome the world by our faith (1 John 5:4). By His Spirit, all of these things are not only possible, but they are our birthright as children of God through faith. Even so, the New Covenant life of victory in the fullness of the Holy Spirit is obtainable; to those who have faith in His promise, He will do whatever is necessary to fulfill His word.

So, let us be diligent in pursuing this life in God on the basis of faith unless while a promise remains of entering in, we should fall short of it. Moreover, let us be very careful not to develop an unbelieving heart like the children of Israel and fall away from the promise that He gives us in His word. Our Father is faithful and He has given us everything needed to live a godly life. Once again, we are given two choices: we can live a life full of the life of God or we can live the life that the children of Israel lived and millions of Christians live today. Let us endeavor to choose the life that Christ died for and enter into the rest that is still open for believers today.

Living Stones

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:55:00 +0000

1 Peter 2:4-9 gives an analogy of the Christian life as a spiritual house fitted together by living stones:

And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed." This precious value, then is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve,"The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone," and, "A stone of stumbling and rock of offense", for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word and to this doom they were also appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

The question that one must ask is what is a living stone and how does this analogy fit to describe the New Covenant life? From my meditations, I've come to understand this passage doesn't just speak of the body of Christ, but it also has deeper meaning for an individual's spiritual life. If we look at a house, the first aspect that most people focus on would be the superstructure of the house. Many will notice how large the house is, how large the property is, and other external things. Only skilled workers who construct homes will notice what foundation the house built on; furthermore, even the most skilled workers will only ask about the foundation if the house itself is defective. Otherwise, the assumption is that the foundation of the home is built well. Most people will learn about the strength of the foundation of the home only if the house collapses. The same is quite true for the lives of many believers. Most believers will evaluate the spiritual condition of another by looking at the external activities that a person does; only spiritual discerning people will ask the question of whether or not the person built the Christian walk on the foundation of Christ. As Matthew 7:24-28 describes, there are 2 general ways that a person can build their Christian life- they can build it based on hearing and obeying the Word of God or they can build it simply by hearing the word of God and acting on their own desire. To many people, this has an obvious outcome that is expressed through the motives for their actions. However, Paul looks at a deeper issue in 1 Corinthians 3

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.

Paul indicates here that it is one thing to build upon the foundation of Christ since no other foundation can be laid, but it's a deeper matter to build on the foundation of Christ with materials of the same strength and value as the foundation. After all, what is the purpose of spending lots of money building the foundation of a house if the superstructure of the house is made of cheap materials? However, this is the testimony of some; a believer may sincerely come to Christ and receive forgiveness of sins and justification through Him, but then after this process, he may begin to pursue his own personal ambitions that are not established in Christ. In this way, they have stunted their Christian development and in essence, they have put cheap, temporal materials over their foundation. Our Father knows that we are prone to this type of activity so in His grace, God presents us with circumstances and trials early on in our Christian walk to test the quality of these endeavors, knowing that these useless and dead works will be shown to be worthless. Consider how great of a grace this is! God doesn't wait for a long time until the near end of our lives to test the quality of our work, but He evaluates these works as soon as our hearts are open to Him. He does this because He knows that it's much better to endure the pain of removing dead works sooner rather than later. A warning should be given here- it's a dangerous thing to rebuild our lives with the same materials that God has judged as worthless and invaluable. There comes a time where God will stop evaluating these works that we cling to and will simply allow us to build a monument made of worthless materials. It will be a sad day for that person to invest his life with a spiritual house made of worthless materials.

So what should our life be built upon? Our life should be built upon with the same materials that our foundation is built upon: the life of Christ, faith in His life, and the fruit that come from His life. What separates an ordinary stone that is used for building any house and the living stones that build the Christian life is that living stone do not decay overtime. No matter how meticulous a person is in building a home and no matter how much money was spent on the home, an ordinary house will eventually decay and fall apart as the cumulative effects of weather and erosion takes its toll on the house. However, a house of living stones can never decay because the life within the stone, so to speak, keeps the house firm against the effects of weather and erosion. This is a picture of the Old Covenant life versus the New Covenant life. The Old Covenant life was built upon by dead stones, which were our righteousness and by extension, the righteousness of the high priests of the Old Covenant. No matter how much we try to meticulously control our behavior and to come to a pure life in God by our own strength, it's only a matter of time before the trials of life will destroy our life and defeat us. This is why Paul and Peter tells us to build our house with precious stones, just as Christ Himself is a precious stone.

Peter states that God purposely laid the precious cornerstone of Christ in the Church, not so that we can only establish our foundation, but so that we can understand how to build our lives. Our lives are built by our continuous growing faith in Him and in the grace that He freely gives us. The important emphasis is that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit and the continual filling of the Holy Spirit that we can be living stones- not a Christian life that is alive one day and dead the next day, but alive forever with Him. Understanding the precious value of Christ gives us this victory and enables us to withstand the snares of the enemy. Consider the words of apostle Peter

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 4:8-10

Notice that the emphasis is that our resistance here against Satan is through the God of all grace. He is the one the strengthens and establishes us as believers. His grace is greatly ab so that we continue to be living stones. As a final note to this topic, consider the words of the prophet Jeremiah:

Ho! Everyone who thirsts come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy, and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live... Isaiah 55:1-3

This passage gives the picture of a believer coming to the river of God and feasting on the abundance of His presence. Notice that Isaiah exhorts believers to drink from the only source that will satisfy you and give you strength, which is God Himself. Many people drink from "broken cisterns that cannot hold water" and as a result, they deal with perpetual frustration in their Christian life, as they fall in defeat time and time again. In times past, I use to read this passage without looking at the context and the audience. If we look back in the previous chapter, we see that the audience that this passage was intended to were those who were afflicted, storm-tossed and not comforted (Isaiah 54:11). Many can relate as they are afflicted by the attack of Satan, tossed around by the trials our life because their foundation is unsure, and deal with perpetuate anxiety because they haven't experienced the comfort of the Holy Spirit. To this audience, Isaiah says that

No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord... Isaiah 54:17

To the ones that are afflicted, storm-tossed, and not comforted, the Holy Spirit says that no weapon targeted towards you will prosper. This has the implication that a person sees the weapon formed against them, yet knows in faith that the weapon will not prosper. The picture that I have in my head is a large army of spiritual darkness who have all of their weapons at me. The question is: do I have the faith that these weapons by this formidable army, which is the temptations of sin, will prosper? The Holy Spirit says that this is our heritage- this is the inheritance that we are given as believers and the way that we practically enjoy this inheritance is by feasting on the grace and presence of God, which is the topic of Isaiah 55. What a promise from scripture this is! The temptations of this world can bombard me day in and day out and I do not have to yield to them at all... this is the promise of the New Covenant. We can come to the river of God and drink continuously. In my experience, this is the only way that we can continue to be living stones built up by the chief cornerstone of Christ. My prayer is that we live our lives in this way as living stones, knowing that we can live a life completely free to God continually.

A Heavenly Inheritance and Indestructible Life

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:55:00 +0000

For the past 2-3 weeks, I have been reading through Hebrews and 1 Peter to gain further clarity on this new life in Christ that is available to every believer and this study has blessed me a great deal so I thought I would share it. Hebrews 7-10 gives a description of the fundamentals of the New Covenant, while contrasting it with the Old Covenant life. In particular, Hebrews 7:11-16 state:

Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also... and this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.

This is the wonderful nature of living in the fullness of Christ and the covenant that He instituted. It's not built on the strength of the human will, nor is it based on external physical requirements, but it's based on the One who has proven with His death and resurrection that His life is indestructible. In like manner, the life that the Holy Spirit gives to believers is based on His indestructible nature; moreover, the fruit that He produces from our lives submitted to Him, such as love, joy, peace, humility, and etc. (Galatians 5:22-23), are likewise indestructible. The apostles lived this type of life and described it in several different ways. Peter described this as "greatly rejoicing with joy inexpressible and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8) and Paul described this as "peace which surpasses all comprehension" (Philippians 4:7). In regards to Paul, he had an inner life that could not be destroyed, despite the circumstances that encompassed him. Paul describes his life in 2 Corinthians 11 as being filled with various dangers and trials that most people today could not imagine, yet he could still rejoice in all things, be content with all things, and still have undisturbed peace. When I was confronted with such a victorious life, I asked myself two questions: (1) are the apostles exaggerating and speaking in hyperbole? and (2) did God show partiality to the apostles? Can Paul really advise others to rejoice in all things if he didn't rejoice in his circumstances? Can Paul tell others to pray always if he didn't practice it? However, the most important question is: is this life possible? Can a person living in this world truly have joy in their heart that is undisturbed at all times? Can a person sincerely love a person that despises them and harms them on a continuous basis? Can a person patiently endure all of life's trials without being disturbed inwardly? The answer to all of these questions are yes because there is no partiality with God. If one person in the whole world can be found to live this life, then it is available for everyone to live.

This is the great mystery of godliness in scripture: living in a corrupt world that constantly tempt us, how does one live an overcoming life? Through the examples of the New Testament, there are 2 main prerequisites for entering into this life: desperation and faith. The key of desperation is understanding the cost required and going well beyond the cost to obtain it. When a person understands the value of having this inner life, they will calculate the cost and go over and above that which is necessary to obtain it. Consider the example of Zaccheus in Luke 19. Here was a man who came to Jesus, not in a position of mere desire, but out of a position of need. He understood that he defrauded multiple people in his profession as a tax-collector and so before Jesus would step into his home, he made the following statement:

Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.

Consider the cost he paid! The Law only required 1/5 as restitution for money acquired by fraud (Leviticus 6:5) and Zaccheus was willing to pay well above that because he realized that Jesus is more valuable than anything that he gained legitimately and illegitimately. I asked myself the same question here: do I value Christ and the life that He gives as more valuable than any of the good works and deeds that I've done? Do I need this life or is this just an accessory to a good life? When Jesus saw his heart, He declared that salvation has come to his home. Jesus made several parables concerning how valuable this life is. Jesus describes this kingdom and life that He gives to believers as a hidden treasure and a costly pearl in Matthew 14:44-45:

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Once again, I had to ask myself the same question- is this just a life that is an accessory to what I already have or is this something I desperately need? In the context of the above parables, will I be counted among those who saw this pearl and disregarded its value? Will I be counted among the many who saw Christ and regarded him as worthless or will I be among the few who saw the surpassing value of Christ and pay whatever cost to obtain His fullness? In a metaphorical manner, am I willing to hand God a blank check and have Him full out the cost for living this life? How much and how long am I willing to dig to find the treasure? Hebrews 11:6 says that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seeks Him... this also implies that He is not a rewarder of those who seeks Him half-heartedly.

After the desperation is there, faith is the next step, for without faith it's impossible to please Him. The reality of our Christian life is that the New Covenant is a will and testament. Because Christ has already died, everything in this will is available to the believer and it is completely independent of our merit. There was a time where I believed that I had to earn the fullness of the Holy Spirit, but this was until I realized that the Holy Spirit is a gift- even more, the Holy Spirit is the pledge, or down payment, of our future inheritance (Ephesians 1:14)- meaning that He is our rightful possession. The Holy Spirit is available to every believer on the same basis by which we received justification- by grace through faith alone. It has taken a long time for me to truly understand this, but faith does not involve sinless perfection- it involves helplessness. If I believe that I have to earn it, then I'm no longer in a position of helplessness. In that case, the Holy Spirit is like a wage given to me based on my work. This statement brought strong conviction to me because it nullifies the entire sacrifice of Christ. I'll ask the same question to those who are reading: are you trying to earn the Holy Spirit like a paycheck for good works? The Lamb of God was slain entirely because of us and He should receive the reward of His suffering, not the reward of our works. Furthermore, when Jesus uttered "It is finished", He meant more than simply forgiveness of sins- His desire was that believers in Him would not be slaves to sin and their flesh, but would crush Satan and his power under their feet and His death and resurrection finished this. Therefore, we have confidence in Him that if we come to Him with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, we will receive the fullness of His Spirit so that we can live this life.

When I realized this, I stopped trying to impress my Father with my works, but I came to Him in full confidence of His work and a more enlightened view of my helplessness. When we come to Him with this hope and sense of desperation, we begin to enter into this glorious life promised in the scripture. This is part of the inheritance that we have as believers:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-4

The inheritance that He gives us is completely imperishable, incorruptable, and reserved for me. Can you imagine a life that is imperishable in quality- a love for others without hypocrisy and guile and joy and peace in the midst of distressing trials? This is the life that is reserved for us if we are diligent and desperate enough to have it. We can have this life where we are "living stones" (1 Peter 2:5), just as Christ; our inner life and godliness will not decay or erode over time because of circumstances because His life is in us, causing us to live a life pleasing towards God. Our spiritual houses do not have to become dilapidated because of the trials of life, but we can be a strong spiritual house for Christ if we diligently pursue this heavenly inheritance and indestructible life.

My Early Christian Days

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:59:00 +0000

On my last blog, I discussed how I came to Christ after going through stages of rebellion against God. While going through my journey to Christ, I experienced the sovereignty of God in all of my affairs, as He redeemed my life and purchased me by His own blood. After I made this decision, I had a "honeymoon" period with God as He continued to reassure me concerning my justification before Him and how the depth of His love for me. This period lasted for about 3 months and then I began to experience a fundamental truth concerning the Christian life: all who live godly will suffer persecution. At the time that I read this scripture, I thought that this referred solely to unbelievers, but while in high school, I learned that this also applies equally well to unbelievers.

My conversion to Christ occurred during the summer of my sophomore year in high school so by the time that I came back to school, I was a completely different person. When I came back to school, the indifference that characterized my life was transformed into an unquenchable fire for the things of God. So as most young Christians do, I decided to share my faith with my classmates. They were quite baffled by the fact that I have changed so quickly over such a small period of time, and I learned that my stand for Christ isolated me more and more from my peers. I lost the small amount of friends that I had and then I learned that I was being openly mocked while in high school. At the time, I couldn't understand why more people disliked me now than when I was a depressed atheist and as a young Christian, this was a huge struggle for me. It never made me question my faith, but I battled endlessly on why God was allowing this to happen. I figured that if I took a stand for God, then He would not cause any of the these things to happen in my life. It was at the time that I learned about the cost that it takes to be a disciple. Unfortunately, when I became Christian, I did not sit down and count the cost necessary to be a disciple and because I didn't, I spent a lot of my early Christians days perpetually frustrated. In my experience, I have noticed that many others never count the cost necessary to call oneself a disciple and so they had the testimony of the seed that fell on rocky soil: they receive it with joy until the necessary affliction caused by the testimony of Christ causes them to fall away. In other cases, the trials that inevitably come into their life do not produce fruit from their life, but produces bitterness and frustration. In my case, the trials that I went through illustrated that there was deep pride within myself that Jesus needed to get rid of. They also illustrated that if I don't put to death my self-life completely, then I could never follow him (Matthew 16:25). So in a very systematic way, God removed these things from me, and what I discovered is that as God began to remove these elements of pride and selfishness, it caused me to become isolated. I didn't have any legitimate friends while in high school so as all Christians do, I sought fellowship at my local church.

It was fitting that the first local fellowship that I went to as a Christian was by and far, the most difficult time for me personally because it demonstrates that fellowship is more than Christians meeting with mutual interests. In my case, it involved edifying, exhorting, and loving individuals that God has connected me with that perpetually irritated me and frustrated me. In every believer's life, our Father asks us to accept His will in difficult situations and as a believer, we can choose to be a disciple by embracing the cup that the Lord has given us to drink or we can choose to be an immature, carnal believer by rejecting the cup that He has given us. This church was the cup for me to drink; at this church, the Lord asked me this question: am I truly submitted to Him or am I just a "fair-weather" fan? If I desire to live for Christ and to reign in victory with Him, am I willing to die to myself (2 Timothy 2:10)? Am I willing to endure hardship with Him or do I want everything handed to me for free? How much do I want the life of Christ within me?

These questions were presented to me as I had to submit to a pastor who I didn't agree with regarding much of anything. In this church, there were many arbitrary rules placed over teens in general (such as not going to the prom) and then specific rules placed only on me (such as not playing jazz on my saxophone or being in marching band). I was ridiculed openly by my peers at church because of my ambitions of going to college, scolded by elders in the church because I didn't speak in tongues (which made me spiritually inferior to everyone else in the church), and rebuked by the pastor constantly for not being a better example to my peers. Even though the teens around me were openly fornicating and openly admitting their carnality, I was the one being rebuked openly and the one whose spirituality was constantly in question. When I was asked to play my saxophone for this church, the church musicians decided that they didn't want any part of this so they purposely muted my mic when I would play. Furthermore, it became more apparent over time that the leadership of the church were slaves to sin, particularly sexual immorality and the love of money. However, in all of these things that I saw, God continued to repeat the phrase: humble yourself. Once again, the question was posed to me again: am I truly submitted to Him or am I a "fair-weather" believer? For many individuals, this is the question that is posed time and time again. God places us in multiple situations that are both confusing and difficult. However, are you humble enough to admit that you do not know how to plan your life better than how God can plan or are you so arrogant to believe that you can instruct God on what's most beneficial to you? Isaiah stated as follows:

Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, and informed Him of the way of understanding. Isaiah 40:13-14

Are you humble enough to admit that God sees further in the future than you? Are you humble enough to acknowledge that God knows more about your needs than you do? Jeremiah knew the answer to these questions:

I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct His steps. Jeremiah 10:23

These were questions that I asked myself, but in my pride, it grew more and more difficult to obey God under these situations because I saw no point. Eventually, resentment grew in my heart because I was in the worst of positions- going to a church with no fellowship and going to a school where most of my peers avoided me or despised me. As I've met more and more Christians over time, I've heard a similar story. Many believers find themselves in the situation where they feel isolated because they do not have fellowship with others around them. In particular, as a person becomes real with God and walks as a disciple, they will find that they will have fewer and fewer people to walk with. However, because God ordained fellowship for believers, He will always supply that need. In my life, as I finally accepted God's will in this matter, He led me to various people in school who became a source of encouragement for me. They never became close friends, but whenever I needed encouragement, edification, or correction, He sent someone along my path. By my senior year in high school, I finally understood why God placed me in those various situations. I was sent there to be a witness, just as Noah was a witness in the world around him. Hebrews 11:7 states:

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

What is wonderful about our Father is that He only needs one person to be a witness for Him. As I went through this, I realized that it wasn't my responsibility to call out various elders in the church for being hypocritical, nor did I have to call out various teens for living a compromised my life. I was called to live a victorious life in Christ and be a faithful witness for him while living in the midst of people who choose to live a compromised life. My life had the effect of condemning some and attracting others to Christ. What I learned was that as I humbled myself under the circumstances that He placed me in, He provides grace for me to overcome the frustration and resentment that I had until the entire root was removed in my heart. So as they continued to mock me in public, their reproof had no effect on me because I was no freed from their opinions; I no longer sought their honor or respect because their opinion was fit for the garbage. I then learned that it's impossible to be a servant of Christ if I seek to please men in any way (Galatians 1:10). All of the strivings that I had within me about being accepted and about having friends in school and in church quickly dissipated as I found out that He has something much better for me: His life. I have experienced that many believers still seek to please men in some respects either by gaining their honor or by keeping a good reputation and this may be the chief reason why the life in Christ in them is so dim. Their life is subject to the whim of the word of a person so they could never come to a life that is complete and established in Christ. Through my experience with this church, I learned that even the opinions of believers- their praise or criticism- are irrelevant if it's contrary to how God views me.

To those who are reading this, being free from the fear of men is one of the greatest liberations that a person can have and it's a promise of the New Testament. It was totally liberating as a teen to realize that I can be myself totally without worrying about how others viewed me at all. I didn't have to disguise my personality or my personal interests out of fear of what others might say, but I can rejoice in how God made me. When I was in high school, I began to enjoy the fact that God made me no mistakes in making me at all, even if few people willingly accepted me. Therefore, I was completely unashamed to speak openly about my faith to others and how this life in God is so glorious and in like manner, you can be completely unashamed to be an ambassador of Christ as well. They will call you a number of names, and at times, some will completely curse you because of the stance that you take. However, when you have this freedom, those words will not disturb you one bit since you live your life seeking to please God.

The example that I lived for this church proved to be very needed because in the near future, the church suffered a tragic ending. It became known that the pastor of my church was guilty of sexual molestation of young boys in the church. Once everyone accepted that these accusations were true, it completely shattered the faith that many young men had in Christ. In their eyes, if God couldn't keep their pastor free from such an egregious sin, then what hope do they have? However, most importantly, if the pastor couldn't keep himself free from sin, then how can we believe anything that he taught? I asked the more important question: why is one person's faith in Christ tied so deeply into their pastor? Since we are instructed to work out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12), why does a person fall from Christ if their pastor fell into sin? The answer to this question was that many in the church were following a man, and had never met Christ. Unfortunately, there are too many individuals that base their relationship with Christ on their pastor or respected elder and it takes a dramatic event in order reveal this to some people. It was at the time where I realized that God had been preparing me slowly for this moment. If I didn't demonstrate a life of consistent faith to them previously, then everything that I would tell them now would be invalid. So for me, all of the frustrating moments that I had at the church was used for this moment... so I can comfort and build up those who need to be comforted. I have been convinced that every seemingly arbitrary position that God places me in has a very distinct purpose for those who will walk a similar path as mine. Furthermore, none of the struggles and temptations that I face are unique to me. The book of Hebrews offers great comfort for all believers:

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

Jesus went through much worse situations that I have been. He was called a prince of devils, a glutton, and a blasphemer, while being forsaken by his closest companions. Yet He completely overcome the temptation to become frustrated or vengeful... He simply forgave them. When I saw this, I repented of my attitude during this time, knowing that God was building me up to be a true disciple and witness for Him. For those going through a somewhat arbitrary situation where God has placed you in a confusing and difficult position, know that our Father never does anything that doesn't work out for your good (Romans 8:28). This does not mean that it won't inconvenience you (it usually will remove you from your comfortable life), but it does mean that all of these situations will make become more and more like Jesus (Romans 8:29), which is the ultimate treasure for every believer. In every situation, God will find a way to obtain maximum glory out of my life, starting from my early Christian days, and I'm confident that He will do the same for any genuine believer.

My Personal Journey

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:22:00 +0000

For the past 3 or 4 weeks, I have been attending a new church that spends a lot of time emphasizing fellowship and discipleship among the members, which has been a much needed change in my life. On this Sunday in particular, a verse of scripture was brought to my remembrance from 2 Corinthians:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort... or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort. 2 Cor 1:3-6

This passage came to my mind as I began to ask God what has been the purpose for my seemingly circuitous route in my Christian development. I wondered why I've never had a pastor who I could trust or a body of believers to fellowship with who did not have questionable motives. It was this passage that came to my mind several times in the past and it came to my mind today as I was recollecting the events of my life. As I have gotten more and more revelation and light about my life, there are two things that stand out for me: the absolute sovereignty of God in my affairs and the unsearchable, inscrutable ways and wisdom of God in His dealings with me. As I meditated on this, I began to realize that there is nothing that can happen to me that is out of God's control and furthermore, God does His work in such a way that it will be a testimony for another believer and give Him glory. Therefore, instead of questioning God's methods (which is a form of pride), I've decided to rejoice in these things, knowing that He is absolutely in control and that He absolutely loves me. For this reason, every event of my life has a greater purpose than just teaching myself a lesson; these testimonies encourage and exhort others that God has drawn to me. So in this blog, I wanted to describe a portion of my personal journey in hopes that it will be an encouragement and comfort to someone.

As I look at my childhood as an adult, there are two words that come to my mind: grace and protection. Both grace and divine protection define my childhood very well. Like many African-Americans, I was raised in a Christian home and as a whole, my extended family were devout Christians because my maternal grandfather was a minister of the gospel. He was a man who was very respected in his community and his life was a witness to the rest of my family to live for God. However, at the same time, as a young child, we lived in Brooklyn, NY during a time where there was much crime and drug abuse that otherwise would have a strong impact on a child. Even though my mother and father were divorced, they both agreed on raising their children so I had the privilege of having the impact of a mother and father in my life to counteract the influences of the environment around me. I see this as the grace of God because so many Americans grow up in a home where either the mother and father left the home or their parents had an abusive, loveless relationship with each other. Despite how badly any family situation appears, God is still absolutely sovereign and presented you with a situation that He knew that you can handle. For many individuals who feel like an orphan due to how their parents treated them (or neglected them), God declares to them that He is their Father and that the family of God is your true family. There is no person on this earth that can compete with the goodness of our God; He doesn't just save a person from their sins and give them eternal life... He embraces you with a love strong enough to heal the most shattered hearts and treats you as His most beloved possession.

As I grew older, my family moved to the metro Atlanta area and it was during this time that I became a cold, indifferent adolescent. Because of the way that my peers were treating me at the time, my anger progressed to a point where I became indifferent (Contrary to popular belief, the opposite of love is not hate, but it's indifference... this is why God prefers a person to be totally for Him or totally against Him). I felt like an outcast as soon as I moved to the South and because I was ostracized from my peers, I decided to shut down completely and become an introvert. During this time, my anger towards men shifted towards an anger towards God because I felt that He should work according to my wishes. I made the most drastic turn when I turned 12 and I renounced God completely by becoming an atheist. I felt like many people do today... God was a superstition and all of the Christians I know (including my family) were worshipping superstitions. I began to laugh at Christians derisively and it came to a point where I proactively attempted to cause others teens to denounce God. I tried to use logic to show them how their view of God was a contradiction. Also, seeing the hypocrisy and lack of power over sin among church members gave me more ammunition on attacking the fundamental premise of God, particularly in Christianity. At the time, I thought I had found enlightment, but I was a desperately wicked man and an instrument of satan. As much as I tried to assert my own will, I soon learned that God was absolutely sovereign over my affairs and He can humble any person in a second.

By the time I turned 15, I had developed a reputation as being a cold and heartless individual and very few people would talk to me. However, one of the students in my class was a legitimate born again believer who was born of the Spirit and to this day, I do not know why she decided to spend time with me, apart from the fact that God sent her to me. She was a spirit-filled lady who had words of knowledge over my life about intimate things that I never disclosed to anyone. When this started to happen, I was in disbelief because she is actually demonstrating some validity to the scriptures. This would mean that I would have to renounce my former beliefs and accept that God exists. Because I was unwilling to do this, I decided to become prideful and to ignore what I have heard. It was at this time that I began to realize the omnipotence and absolute sovereignty of God. As I began to ignore this young woman more and to become more prideful, I began to deal with long stints of depression that only grew worse and worse each day. This depression got to the point where I seriously contemplated committing suicide on several occasions and once again, this young woman would have words of knowledge about this situation. After dealing with depression, fear and anxiety began to grip me and I was left with one conclusion: God is listening. For all of you that happens to read this, God is listening and watching. Nothing escapes His sight or His ear. Psalm 139 says quite eloquently: He knows your thoughts from afar and is intimately knows all of your ways. Even before a word can leave your tongue, He knows it. There is no where you can go to run from God; running away from Him is like running on a hamster wheel... it's only a matter of time before you realize that you are running towards inevitability. The question is are you going to submit to Him as conviction has hit your heart willingly or will you bow to Him by force as He breaks you after this transient life ends?

Shortly after these things happened, my brother invited me to a church and I decided to go (I kept my attitude towards God secret from my family) and as soon as I came into the place, strong conviction hit my soul. I began to see how God orchestrated the various events of my life piece by piece; when I was diagnosed as being mentally challenged by several doctors, He had mercy on me and healed me; when I stole video games from a store, His mercy kept me; He protected me from 2 near-death experiences and at this moment, He said "I have led you and protected you this far. Come to me and repent." At this point, I could no longer hide from God; His grace is so incredible. How could a God this holy accept a person like me who laughed derisively at Him and caused His children to stumbled? It was at this time that the preacher began to preach about heaven and how grace has enabled us to "enter the joy of the master". I gave my life to Christ completely at the point and never turned around since then. As I've reminisced on this recently, I couldn't help but to relate to the apostle Paul. According to Paul, he was admittedly a blasphemor, a persecutor, and violent aggressor, but he makes such a profound statement in 1 Timothy:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthen me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service; even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:12-16

Today, hearing these words come from the apostle Paul completely humbles me because I can relate it. I spent so many years blaspheming Christ and persecuting Christians just for fun. I spent so many years as a teenager denying God's existence and at other times, becoming quite angry with Him. Yet mercy found me because He loved me. He didn't save me just for myself, but He saved me so that this testimony would demonstrate the awesome character of God. God doesn't just have patiences with us; His patience is perfect. While He is being patience, He is not frustrated with us and lash out in anger, but His patience coupled with wisdom makes everything that He does purposeful and deliberate. This is the type of salvation and deliverance that makes a person celebrate and praise as Paul did as he began to meditate on His wisdom:

Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:17

Everytime that I sit down to reminisce about the first part of my journey, I find myself praising God for it. His purposes will be established forever and ever; the plans of His heart has stood from eternity past and will continue to stand as eternity goes forward. With a God so glorious and with a salvation that is so precious to me, I ask myself what is the conclusion of the matter? Paul describes the solution in Colossians:

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. Colossians 2:6-7

In the same gratitude, passion, and desperation that I received Christ, I should walk in Him. Reminiscing about my personal journey always serves as a personal check to me to see if my passion for Christ has wavered over time. I must always ask myself whether or not I have forgotten the purification from my former sins; have I forgotten how much God has delivered me from my past? Have I lost the simplicity of devotion to Christ that I had when I initially came to Him or have the cares and desires of this present world choked out the life of God in me. I would urge every person who has experienced redemption to remember how they came to Him and ask themselves the same question. If we live our Christian lives in the same manner by which we initially received Him, we would experience the victory that scripture promises us. However, a believer who forgets these things will soon discover that their passion for Christ has greatly gone and perhaps one day, they will find themselves useless and unfruitful for Christ's purposes.

Letter to my Fellow Christian Musicians

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:30:00 +0000

I think that it is now time to discuss the sad reality of what is called "Christian music" these days and in particular, I'm referring to modern gospel music.

Like many African-Americans, I grew up listening to gospel music as a child. My mother loved to play Mahalia Jackson in my household and I remembered how my mother used to sing Blessed Assurance in my house. Although I was trained in jazz and classical music, gospel music had a very strong impact in my development as a saxophonist. As I started to play in various churches, I began to listen to singers such as Daryl Coley and John P. Kee and it was quite obvious that these individuals were not singers... they were ministers and worshipers who God blessed with a singing voice. These were people who laid before the Lord and produced songs that emanated from a mature walk with Christ. There was one song that I sung often as a younger Christian named Beyond the Veil by Daryl Coley, which mirrored my personal heart's desire toward God:

Beyond the veil is where I witness all Your glory,
seated on Your throne in majesty and power.
I lay prostrate before You, oh my King,
in this place of sweet communion;
this is my earnest prayer,
this is my earnest plea,
and You'll bid me,
You'll say come ye beyond the veil.

I have entered Your gates with thanksgiving,
I've entered Your courts with praise,
Yet I hear You say,
"come closer, step into this holy place".
And because the blood of Christ for me,
it continues to prevail,
now I'm standing in Your presence face to face,
beyond the veil.

When I was first blessed with the privilege to minister through song, I played the song Oh the Glory:

Jesus all glorious
Create in us a temple
Called as living stones
Where you're enthroned
As You rose from death in power
So rise within our worship
Rise upon our praise
And let the hand that saw you raised
Clothe us with Your glory
Draw us by Your grace

Oh the glory of Your presence
We your temple
Give you reverence
Come and rise from Your rest
And be blessed by our praise
As we glory in Your embrace
As your presence now fills this place

As I became older, I began to listen to hymns more and more often, as I realized how rich in truth they were. A song that I've sing often is How Great Thou Art:

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Other songs that come to mind are Rock of Ages, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, and All Hail the Power of Jesus Name. These hymns have such profound meaning in their simplicity and with many of the hymns, it is clear that God breathed on the artists as they penned. The sad truth is that despite the great legacy and heritage that our past Christian artists have laid down for us, we have forsaken them to produce popular, easygoing, spiritually shallow (and sometimes doctrinally incorrect music). As each generation of Christian artists before us continued to hand off the responsibility of bringing others to a place of worship before our Holy God, we have dropped the baton, so to speak.

As I have observed, the most pervasive problem these days are that praise and worship leaders are singing about a relationship with God that they do not have. In an attempt to lead others into worship, many have realized that they are constantly lying to God. Many claim that they love God, but the reality is that they love the attention and reputation that comes with being a gospel singer. Many claim that they are doing God's work, but the reality is that God didn't establish their ministry... they decided to do a good, religious deed and prayed for God to bless it. For some, they spend more time doing Christian work than ministering to God.

Instead of deepening our worship for God, we have decided that we would make the musical quality greater. So these days, we have huge Christian bands and professionally trained singers with top notch production, but God's presence is visible absent. Many of us have acknowledged this and the solution that many have come up with has been to make the music louder. These days praise and worship in churches is more like a concert... the songs stir up our emotions and send us to a fit of frenzy, but in the midst of all of the noise, the presence of God is no nearer than when people walked into the building. I mean, even if our musical quality has improved over time, how can we expect anything different if our worship songs are as follows:

Bless me, Bless me
Oh Lord, Bless me indeed
Enlarge my territory
Oh Lord, Bless me
I pray for increase
Bless me indeed, I pray for increase

Keep Your hand upon me
So that evil cannot harm me
Sunshine and rain, sickness and pain
God I humbly come to You
Enlarge my territory
Oh Lord, Bless me

Or

We're all a part of God's body.
Stand with me, agree with me.
We're all a part of God's body.
It is his will that every need be supplied.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.

I need you, you need me.
We're all a part of God's body.
Stand with me, agree with me.
We're all a part of God's body.
It is his will that every need be supplied.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.

In the New Testament, a person's ministry is an outgrowth of their private devotion to God. Just as much as a tree will not grow unless it's deeply rooted in the earth, Christian ministry does not produce fruit for God unless it's deeply rooted in Christ. When a minister attempts to grow faster than their own "root system" can support, then they are subject to fall and become unfruitful. The same is true concerning Christian musicians. No worship leader and musician can expect to develop any true fruit if their private life is shallow, but unfortunately, this is the reality of many. There are many worship leaders who live hypocritical lives and still expect the glory of God to appear in their churches. I know this because I've observed it with my own eyes and experienced it personally. When I was in college, I played with a couple of choirs on and off campus where there was sexual promiscuity among choir members. I played with choirs where some of the musicians weren't believers at all.

For me personally, I experienced firsthand what it means to play in a church and to have a half-hearted devotion to God. I realized that although I played for a ministry throughout college, my private devotion was very shallow and had no real depth. Then God sent me to 2 passages: 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 and Hebrews 12:25-27. Whatever was not rooted in God, established in God, and finished in God will be shaken and removed by Him so that His work may be established. I realized that it was necessary for me to sit down from ministry until I was rooted deeply in God; otherwise, all of my work will be fruitless. I pray that other musicians will examine themselves in like manner.

The Love of God

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 05:13:00 +0000

For the past week, I've been doing a lot of thinking and meditating on His love for me as His son and the kindness that He continues to demonstrate towards me day after day. During this time of meditation, I read a chapter from Andrew Murray's book Abide in Christ that truly opened my eyes to greatness of God's love and I hope that it blesses you as well.

"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: abide ye in my love." -John 15:9.

Blessed Lord, enlighten our eyes to see aright the glory of this wondrous word. Open to our meditation the secret chamber of THY LOVE, that our souls may enter in, and find there their everlasting dwelling - place. How else shall we know aught of a love that passeth knowledge? (Eph. 3:19)

Before the Saviour speaks the word that invites us to abide in His love, He first tells us what that love is. What He says of it must give force to His invitation, and make the thought of not accepting it an impossibility: "As the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you!"

"As the Father hath loved me." How shall we be able to form right conceptions of this love? Lord, teach us. God is love. (1 John 4:8). Love is His very being. Love is not an attribute, but the very essence of His nature, the center round which all His glorious attributes gather. It was because He was love that He was the Father, and that there was a Son. Love needs an object to whom it can give itself away, in whom it can lose itself, with whom it can make itself one. Because God is love, there must be a Father and a Son. The love of the Father to the Son is that divine passion with which He delights in the Son, and speaks, "My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:17) The divine love is as a burning fire; in all its intensity and infinity it has but one object and but one joy, and that is the only begotten Son. When we gather together all the attributes of God - His infinity, His perfection, His immensity, His majesty, His omnipotence - and consider them but as the rays of the glory of His love, we still fail in forming any conception of what that love must be. It is a love that passeth knowledge. (Eph. 3:19)

And yet this love of God to His Son must serve, O my soul, as the glass in which you are to learn how Jesus loves you. As one of His redeemed ones, you are His delight, and all His desire is to you, with the longing of a love which is stronger than death, and which many waters cannot quench. His heart yearns after you, seeking your fellowship and your love. Were it needed, He could die again to possess you. As the Father loved the Son, and could not live without Him, could not be God the blessed without Him - so Jesus loves you. His life is bound up in yours; you are to Him inexpressibly more indispensable and precious than you ever can know. You are one with Himself. "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you." What a love!

It is an eternal love. From before the foundation of the world - God's Word teaches us this - the purpose had been formed that Christ should be the Head of His Church, that He should have a body in which His glory could be set forth. In that eternity He loved and longed for those who had been given Him by the Father; and when He came and told His disciples that He loved them, it was indeed not with a love of earth and of time, but with the love of eternity. And it is with that same infinite love that His eye still rests upon each of us here seeking to abide in Him, and in each breathing of that love there is indeed the power of eternity. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." (Jer. 31:3)

It is a perfect love. It gives all, and holds nothing back. "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand." And just so Jesus loves His own: all He has is theirs. When it was needed, He sacrificed His throne and crown for you: He did not count His own life and blood too dear to give for you. His righteousness, His Spirit, His glory, even His throne, all are yours. This love holds nothing, nothing back, but, in a manner which no human mind can fathom, makes you one with itself. O wondrous love! to love us even as the Father loved Him, and to offer us this love as our everyday dwelling.

It is a gentle and most tender love. As we think of the love of the Father to the Son, we see in the Son everything so infinitely worthy of that love. When we think of Christ's love to us, there is nothing but sin and unworthiness to meet the eye. And the question comes: How can that love within the bosom of the divine life and its perfections be compared to the love that rests on sinners? Can it indeed be the same love? Blessed be God, we know it is so. The nature of love is always one, however different the objects. Christ knows of no other law of love but that with which His Father loved Him. Our wretchedness only serves to call out more distinctly the beauty of love, such as could not be seen even in heaven. With the tenderest compassion He bows to our weakness, with patience inconceivable He bears with our slowness, with the gentlest loving - kindness He meets our fears and our follies. It is the love of the Father to the Son, beautified, glorified, in its condescension, in its exquisite adaptation to our needs.

And it is an unchangeable love. "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to the end" (John 13:1). "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee" (Isa. 54:10). The promise with which it begins its work in the soul is this: "I shall not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (Gen. 28:15). And just as our wretchedness was what first drew it to us, so the sin, with which it is so often grieved, and which may well cause us to fear and doubt, is but a new motive for it to hold to us all the more. And why? We can give no reason but this: "As the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you."

And now, does not this love suggest the motive, the measure, and the means of that surrender by which we yield ourselves wholly to abide in Him?

This love surely supplies a motive. Only look and see how this love stands and pleads and prays. Gaze, O gaze on the divine form, the eternal glory, the heavenly beauty, the tenderly pleading gentleness of the crucified love, as it stretches out its pierced hands and says, "Oh, wilt thou not abide with me? wilt thou not come and abide in me?" It points you up to the eternity of love whence it came to seek you. It points you to the Cross, and all it has borne to prove the reality of its affection, and to win you for itself. It reminds you of all it has promised to do for you, if you will but throw yourself unreservedly into its arms. It asks you whether, so far as you have come to dwell with it and taste its blessedness, it has not done well by you. And with a divine authority, mingled with such an inexpressible tenderness that one might almost think he heard the tone of reproach in it, it says, "Soul, as the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you: abide in my love." Surely there can be but one answer to such pleading: Lord Jesus Christ! here I am. Henceforth Thy love shall be the only home of my soul: in Thy love alone will I abide.

That love is not only the motive, but also the measure, of our surrender to abide in it. Love gives all, but asks all. It does so, not because it grudges us aught, but because without this it cannot get possession of us to fill us with itself. In the love of the Father and the Son,it was so. In the love of Jesus to us, it was so. In our entering into His love to abide there, it must be so too; our surrender to it must have no other measure than its surrender to us. O that we understood how the love that calls us has infinite riches and fulness of joy for us, and that what we give up for its sake will be rewarded a hundredfold in this life! Or rather, would that we understood that it is a LOVE with a height and a depth and a length and a breadth that passes knowledge! How all thought of sacrifice or surrender would pass away, and our souls be filled with wonder at the unspeakable privilege of being loved with such a love, of being allowed to come and abide in it for ever.

And if doubt again suggest the question: But is it possible, can I always abide in His love? listen how that love itself supplies the only means for the abiding in Him: It is faith in that love which will enable us to abide in it. If this love be indeed so divine, such an intense and burning passion, then surely I can depend on it to keep me and to hold me fast. Then surely all my unworthiness and feebleness can be no hindrance. If this love be indeed so divine, with infinite power at its command, I surely have a right to trust that it is stronger than my weakness; and that with its almighty arm it will clasp me to its bosom, and suffer me to go out no more. I see how this is the one thing my God requires of me. Treating me as a reasonable being endowed with the wondrous power of willing and choosing, He cannot force all this blessedness on me, but waits till I give the willing consent of the heart. And the token of this consent He has in His great kindness ordered faith to be - that faith by which utter sinfulness casts itself into the arms of love to be saved, and utter weakness to be kept and made strong. O Infinite Love! Love with which the Father loved the Son! Love with which the Son loves us! I can trust thee, I do trust thee. O keep me abiding in Thyself.

After reading through this and meditating on His love, I began to ask myself a number of questions. If His love is so amazing, then why do I fear and doubt anything? Why do I live my life without full assurance of His promises? Why do I seek self-preservation when He is the one who preserves and upholds my life? His promises are quite clear: from eternity past, He has loved me with an everlasting love and nothing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If this is the case, where is the room for doubt? He held back nothing from me and sacrificed everything for me... He's redeemed me when I desecrated His name. In all of these things, why do I resist His will? I realized more and more that this love is not something that comes through simple observation, but it comes through the pursuit of God as He reveals Himself to His children. I realized that my weakness was His design: just as sin made grace to abound more and more, my weakness made His love to abound. The depths of His love allows Him to be patient and forgiving as His love proves to be much greater than my weakness. And as my eyes are opened to His love, I become compelled to give all to Him. What man can resist the One who has demonstrated an immutable love towards him? I've learned that the measure by which I understand His love will be the measure that I surrender to Him. Truly, His love satisfies me when everything else fails. The strivings for earthly things are akin to desiring garbage when a feast has been placed in front of me.

His love remains irreplacable in my life and it is my prayer that all will have their eyes opened to see how great a love our Father has for us.

Pursuit and Passion

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:03:00 +0000

Recently, I have just gotten back from a much needed vacation in Atlanta. Because of the inner frustrations that I was dealing with while living in Colorado, it was very much enjoyable to go home and to visit my loved ones. While on this vacation, I had the time to do a lot of thinking about my life, my walk with Christ, the ministry that God has entrusted me with, and my relationship with other people and what I've discovered is that there is something that is missing in my life. For the first time in my adult life, I was faced with the dilemma of not enjoying my work, and what has troubled me has been that I wasn't sure why my work is enjoyable.

From an outsider's perspective, I have everything that a person could want as a young man: high quality friends who continue to keep me accountable, a great family that support my endeavors, great prospects for a future career as I pursue my doctorate in one of the top institutions in the country, and having a growing relationship with Christ that is producing fruit. In spite of all of this, there was much restlessness and a strong lack of enjoyment and fulfillment in the work that I have been given to do. I have begun to see my passion and desire for things to wane significantly: my desire to study Austrian economics and political theory has become nonexistent as well as my personal desire to play my saxophone. These two things have always been my core hobbies, and, at times, a source of relaxation for me, but they have faded much in my life. However, it is not very unusual that a person's hobbies change over time, but what has been most surprising has been that my passion for my profession, atmospheric science, has been rapidly declining over time. This has shocked me because to me, I've always believed that this would be a permanent interest of mine (after all, I've been interested in this field since I was a child).

So at this moment, I began to seek after God and asked Him: have I lost the joy in my profession willingly or is God systematically removing certain desires from me? What desires are God exchanging for my own? At this point, I would describe this meditation as a groaning in my heart. On one hand, there's a great desire to passionately serve Christ and throw myself on Him completely and to have the walk that is fitting for a believer...much like how Adam walked with God before the Fall, where he heard the voice of the Lord walking beside him.However, on the other hand, I feel like the majority of the work that I'm doing is unfulfilling and the motivation is quickly leaving me. In my heart, I believe that many believers can relate to this experience: what do you when God places you between two different realities- the reality of your current dissatisfaction and the reality of His calling?

As always, whenever we ask God anything in faith, He always provides an answer and in my situation, it was answered in two ways- through my girlfriend and through the words of C.S. Lewis. I described this to my girlfriend first and she mentioned several things that brought clarity, but one statement stuck out the most. She stated that:

"...God has withheld the satisfaction you received before from the things that you used to do and He is releasing satisfaction for the things that you don't always get a chance to do, like minister directly to others and now your desires are aligning with your calling or better yet, your passions are aligning with your purpose."

This is a very true statement because before any person can walk in their calling, their heart, will, and passion must align with the heart and passion necessary to complete their calling. In Christianity today, there are too many individuals who complete the work of God without having God's heart; there are many individuals who do God's work out of obligation and duty, but not out of the passion and joy that God desires for us to do. As a result, we see very spiritually dry ministries where the power of the Holy Spirit is absent. For me personally, when I accepted my calling as a pastor, I was grateful for being called to do such a work, but since that time, God has continued to reveal to me that I do not have the heart of a shepherd yet. My heart still has a number of other passions that are not in line with my calling, and until all of these other passions are counted as less than nothing, my heart will continue to groan for something that it cannot reach.

After hearing this from my girlfriend, I continued to meditate on these things and search my own heart to determine what other passions are conflicting with His calling for my life. After these meditations, I asked a more fundamental question: if God is my supreme delight and treasure, then why am I unsatisfied at all? This question fell in line with a book that I'm reading named Desiring God by John Piper. In the introduction to this book, Piper quotes C.S. Lewis:

"If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

To me, this is a profound statement which lead me to repent for my attitude towards Him. It is not that my passions are dissipating, but rather God is drawing me in pursuit of a higher and complete satisfaction only found in Him. My problem is not that I have so many interests and passions, but my problem is that I'm satisfied and comfortable with my surroundings to the point that it has caused me NOT to pursue Him as my highest satisfaction. This is the marvelous work of God: He draws our heart to the point where we begin to desire a satisfaction in Him and His work to a measure that we never could experience previously. Our heart craves Him and can only be satisfied with Him, but for whatever reason, I was more concerned with being satisfied with my ambitions. As John Piper writes in His book:

"...it [the pursuit of joy in God] is the key to breaking the power of sin on our way to heaven. Matthew Henry, another Puritan pastor, put it like this: “The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our spiritual enemies and put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.” This is the great business of life—to “put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.” I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than to gain a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God...God remains gloriously all-satisfying. The human heart remains a ceaseless factory of desires. Sin remains powerfully and suicidally appealing. The battle remains: Where will we drink? Where will we feast? Feast on God."

I believe that my experience speaks to the current circumstance of many. If you feel your heart and your passion drifting away from your current way of life, know that this is the work of God, pushing you to never be satisfied with anything outside of God. He will continue to place frustration in your heart until you seek Him as your reward and your treasure. Remember that in His presence, there is fullness of joy and only in Him (not His gifts) will you be satisfied. Know that He longs for you to delight in Him fully as your portion and that everything else is secondary and inferior. Know that your delight in Him reaches its consummation as your fulfill His will for His life and everything else leads to frustration and vanity. The words of Isaiah says it plainly:

"Everyone who thirsts come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat... why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance." Isaiah 55:1-2

If you come after Him with this mindset, you will find that nothing can compare to Him and the peace that you have in Him will erase your previous frustrations. You will realize that your only true possession is Christ. I leave you with this quote from A.W. Tozer:

The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. They are `poor in spirit.' They have reached an inward state paralleling the outward circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem; that is what the word `poor' as Christ used it actually means. These blessed poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of things. They have broken the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but by surrendering. Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things. `Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'

The Danger of Comfort

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:04:00 +0000

Little children, guard yourself from idols.

These are the words of the apostle John... a man who was given the privilege to walk with Jesus and to be one of His closest companions. Throughout the afflictions and trials that he faced throughout his entire life, during his latter years, John ended his first letter with these words: guard yourself from idols. This is a necessary statement because John knew how subtlely the influences of idols can be on believers; any small attachment to anything outside of Christ serves as the leaven that "leavens the entire lump". John knew that the old man seeks after idols to replace the living God and every believer must constantly be on guard to ensure that our heart develops no dependency or attachment to anything outside of God. This attitude is expressed in the words of Jesus:

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Matthew 10:37

...No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62

Unfortunately, the words of John have not been heeded these days, as many believers have found various things in their life that have distracted them and, in some cases, drawn them away completely from God. Paul foresaw these days and described them to Timothy:

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconciliable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of god, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these. 2 Timothy 3:1-4 [Emphasis mine]

We have seen virtually all of these characteristics in many of the churches in this country; in particular, this passage states that in last days, there will be believers who will passionately love one of four things: lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure, or lovers of God. In reality, this means that believers will either love God passionately or love everything outside of God. In my observation, most believers are quite aware of the dangers in being self-centered and loving money, but few believers are aware that loving pleasure is extremely dangerous as well. In American Christianity, loving pleasure can be seen in how believers have developed an attachment to comfortable living and entertainment.

In everything that God desires for a believer to claim as His inheritance, the world has a cheap counterfeit in order to distract a believer from God's best. In this case, there is the comfort of the Holy Spirit that brings an abundance of life and peace to a believer and then there's the worldly comfort that comes from loving the cares of this world. There is no inherent problem of having a comfortable life, but the problem lies when a believer begins to set their affections on it or develop an attachment to it. When believers begin to set their affections on the cares of the world, Jesus says that it begins to choke and squeeze out the word of God in a person's life (Matthew 13:22). There is a deceitful nature to easy, comfortable living because it places a person at ease and once a person enters this mindset, they are prime for spiritual deception. For many, the ease of life tends to cause their spiritual acumen to atrophy until they are unable to see their true spiritual condition.

Like all deception, this process doesn't occur overnight, but it's a slow, gradual process over a believer's life. For some, it may begin as simply as aspiring to get a promotion for their job. This promotion will require them to work extra hours and gradually, their devotion to God wanes as the demands of their job increase over time. Their prayer life decreases, their time in fellowship with believers becomes nonexistant, and after a period of months, they realize that their spiritual life is nothing more than a shadow of what it use to be. For others, this process may start as trying to keep a job and standard of living because of a fear of poverty for themselves and their family. For this reason, they concede small compromises over time, such as participating in activities with unbelievers that they are convicted about in order to keep their job. After a period of months or years, they realize that although their family is no longer poor, their souls have been compromised in the process. They realized that although they are materially well-off, their faith and spiritual development is akin to tasteless salt... useful for none of God's purposes.

For some entertainment is the crutch in their lives. For a large number of Christians, television, movies, and games have distracted many from spending more and more time with Christ. Many Christians find their relaxation and release after a long day of work by watching television or playing games without realizing that our heavenly Father desires that we find our release in Him. For some, it starts by watching a television program every evening until they realize that have developed an attachment to it to the point where they are upset if they miss a show. For others, it starts by watching movies that supports things that God despises (for a list, see Galatians 5:19-21 and 1 Peter 4:3) until they realize that the Holy Spirit has left their lives. In every single scenario, the purpose of every worldly counterfeit is to make a person unfruitful and to ultimately lose their reward in Christ. The deeper issue is that because of comfortable living, many are more afraid of losing their reputation (lovers of self), their standard of living (lovers of pleasure), and their wealth over losing God. Consider the example of Moses:

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. Hebrews 11:24-26

This passage is not calling for asceticism (another deception for some), but it admonishes believers to constantly examine themselves if their faith is in accordance to the Biblical standard. The reality of the Christian walk is that everyone who chooses to live godly will undergo trials and affliction (2 Timothy 3:12), no matter what culture they live in. For some in the world, it may be physical persecution because of the name of Christ, such as in Sudan and Indonesia (for more information on the persecution of early Christians, read Foxe's Book of Martyrs). For virtually everyone in this country, the suffering and trials will largely be internal. The question that should be asked to every believer in this country is whether they are living their life to avoid trials and affliction. If we look at the examples of the apostles and Jesus, we will find that they were much more concerned about displeasing God than enduring personal suffering. We must be honest with ourselves and with God about this: are we more concerned about losing friends than displeasing Christ? Are we more concerned about losing our reputation than losing Christ? Are we more concerned about living in poverty than grieving God? Are we more willing to sacrifice our needs for men rather than God? If any of those questions apply to you, then it is quite probable that you love pleasure and comfort more than God.

The fact that we go through periods of suffering demonstrates God's grace and mercy. Through this process, our Father brings us to a deeper love of Christ. Our Father knows that our hearts are prone to wander from Him; He knows that enjoyment and ease too easily satisfy us, which makes us unfit for full fellowship with Himself. He allows us to go through suffering in the hope that when we have found rest in Christ during these difficult times, we will choose to abide in Him through prosperity and affliction. Paul experienced this personally throughout his life and discovered that due to his suffering, he learned the secret of being content (Philippians 4:11-12). During these difficult times, we learn that the Holy Spirit is the true Comforter; we learn that our joy and peace are found in Him and that nothing is a substitute for the communion of God in our lives. However, if we resists God's correction and avoid trials and affliction because we are too attached to our comfortable lives, we will miss God; do not be deceived: godly life without affliction is just as impossible as Christianity without the cross. After a period of perpetual resisting, a time will come when the Spirit of grace will no longer strive with men (Genesis 6:3) and He will no longer correct us. A time will come when God will allow you to pursue your heart's desire and allow you to live in ease (Romans 1:24-32). This is a fearful realization because if God doesn't discipline you, then you are not a child of God (Hebrews 12:8). No man knows when this day comes so if conviction has come to your heart, today is the day to hear God's voice and to respond to it. Repent of your attachment to pleasure and receive the One who will give you the fullness of joy. Repent in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord... that you may see that everything is counted as less than nothing in comparison to the surpassing value of Christ.

A New Gospel

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:50:00 +0000

Within the past 50 years, a virus has infiltrated the body of Christ which has caused many to fall into ruin and destruction, known as the prosperity gospel. This false gospel has become anathema to the spiritual life of the American church; it is as heretical as Gnosticism yet it is accepted as face value as new revelation from God. However, if we analyze the foundation of its beliefs and see its effect, we will recognize that this is nothing more than worldliness with a whitewash of religion.

As a whole, the American church has become a shallow husk of Christ's original intentions. There are churches on virtually every corner in major cities, yet the cities remain filled with deep darkness. If we take a panoramic view of the American church, we see grand cathedrals around the country, filled with millions of people every Sunday. In the church, we hear millions sing praises to God, as the music brings many to tears. A casual observer would conclude that the growth of membership in the Church is a sign of God's favor on this new gospel, but those will discernment will declare the same words that Amos stated:

“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria... Those who recline on beds of ivory and sprawl on their couches and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall... who drink wine from sacrificial bowls while they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, yet they have grieved over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles”. Amos 6:1-7

Jesus echoed these sentiments in Luke 6

“But woe to you who are rich, for you already are receiving your consolation and have taken and enjoyed your comfort in full. Woe to you who are full now (completely filled, luxuriously gorged and satiated), for you shall hunger and suffer want! Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep and wail! Woe to you when everyone speaks fairly and handsomely of you and praises you, for even so their forefathers did to the false prophets.” Luke 6:23-26

Despite the increase in membership and grandiose display of religiosity displayed in churches around the country, this message has caused the American church to become too attached to their wealth, and for this reason, the Church remains in shambles. Christ stated quite clearly that there are two masters in this Earth: Christ or riches. The heresy that many believe is that you can lay your affections on both and still claim to be a genuine believer. Nothing can be further from the truth; Christ stated quite clearly that there are only two choices: to love God and despise money or to love money and despise God. The reality that the American church is facing is that we are mirroring the pattern of the lukewarm church of Laodicea in Revelation. Because God has not exacted judgment on the false teachers of this heresy yet, many remain comfortable by the direction of the church. Religious devotion can be manufactured and contrived for an entire person's life, but the spirituality and character of a person will always reveal itself. If we simply take a casual examination of the life of Christians in this country, we will see that this gospel has produced masses of superficial, half-converted believers.

The testimonies that we hear from believers these days are pitiful to say the least. In churches around the country, we hear people testify how God gave them promotions, new houses, new cars, and new clothes, yet they don't realize that material blessings are nothing in comparison to victory over sin. Where are the testimonies of men and women who say that they have defeated anger and depression? Where are the testimonies of those who say that they have learned the secret of contentment? Where are the testimonies of those who say that they have victory over the fear of man? The gospel of prosperity is a repetition of the Old Covenant way of life: a life of material blessings without victory over sin. It is a gospel that washes the externalities of man while leaving the inner man dead. This is the reality of many churches around.; many do not examine their spiritual lives because their focus on wealth has blinded them. They do not realize that although they are materially well-off, they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

The effect of this insidious gospel has been immediately evident in the current economic crisis. The response of the Church to this has been virtually identical to the response of the world. Like the world, many in the Church became anxious, worried, and mourned about their future. The response of pastors have been even worse; there are programs on Christian television where famous pastors are telling other pastors to preach more messages on hope and God's restoration of their finances over other fundamental issues. This worldly wisdom continues to illustrate how attached people are to their riches and way of life; the Church mourns more over finances than sin! Isn't this the most obvious example of a compromised Christianity? When was the last time that the believers were grieved in their heart because of the sin in their life? When the Church mourns more over houses and cars than a revival of souls in the Kingdom, then we know that the Church has been hopelessly corrupted. Before faith can be applied to hope, repentance must come to the Church. Another result of this gospel is the wide-scale compromise of Christians. The distinction of character between Christians and unbelievers is quite negligible simply because this gospel ignores the development of godliness. Instead of walking the narrow path of godliness, humility, and faith that leads to life, this gospel has produced a generation of believers who do not have a radical hatred or sin and seek comfort over the will of God. When these conditions exist, it becomes impossible for a person to live a godly life since persecution and trials create a godly life. As a result, we see anger, bitterness, depression, strife, gossip, fornication, and a host of other sins as prevalent in a believers' life as with unbelievers. However, since many are comfortable because of their attachment to their wealth, they are blind to their lack of spiritual maturity and remain children.

We see the effect of this gospel in contemporary Christian music. The reverence of God has virtually been eliminated from music because the gospel of wealth permeates through this music. Instead of music that pushes people away from the idol of riches, Christian music continues to chant the accumulation of wealth as the inheritance of believers. Because of this clandestine pursuit of riches, is it any surprise that many believers are incapable of true worship, since they are serving another master? Is it also a coincidence that the musical artists that preach against this era of materialistic Christianity, such as those in Holy Hip Hop, are largely rejected from most churches? In today's gospel, money has replaced the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. When a man receives the fullness of the gospel of God, instead of the counterfeit produced by this new gospel, you will hear Christian music like this:

Truth of the matter is we're arrogant, spoiled
America's soil has soiled us, sort of
And pastors insist on declaring us royal
And it's true that we are but we take it too far
To the point where we break and we take down the bar
And forsake all the parts of The Faith that are hard
To embrace after all we've outsmarted the martyrs
We race up the charts- if you trace it to the start
You will find that the way to escape from the dark
And your wake is to carve off the weight and the heart
Of the truth, until everybody loves you
Jesus said woe to you old and new saints
That hold a view that you can go through The Faith
With nobody loathing you, that's a view
That you only can hold when your home is the states
So, don't think it strange if a change might occur
If it does, are you ready and prepared for the curve
And a turn for the worst- would you fight, would you fall
Would you die for the Christ, that's the price of the call

When you have accepted this new gospel, you hear music like this:

It's yours; it's yours
Get your inheritance
The head, not the tail
Above, not beneath
A lender, not a borrower
Get your inheritance
Get your inheritance
You are the seed
by faith receive
the blessings of Abraham
the blessings of Abraham
get your inheritance

We observe the effect of the prosperity gospel in the presentation of the gospel. Instead of preaching to others to repent of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of their sin, we preach another gospel where we simply believe on His name and He will begin to bless us. We preach of a Jesus who is an accessory to our life that will help us pursue our own selfish ambitions, instead of preaching the biblical Jesus... One who gave up the riches of heaven to descend to our level and bring us redemption. The cross of Christ is no longer preached in this gospel because it undermines its message. When a believer truly understands the wrath that should have fallen on him and the penalty that Christ took as a substitute on the cross, he will no longer live for himself, but his life will be radically centered on God. This man will regard gold and earthly riches in the same way that heaven regards them- under his feet and out of his heart. However, the man that came to Christ based on this new gospel will serve God joyfully when God blesses his labor, and will make demands upon God whenever his wants aren't satisfied. Truly, this is a man-centered gospel and any gospel where man is exalted above the sovereignty of God is earthly and demonic.

Christ has made it very clear: choose riches or choose Me. To desire both in the heart of any believer is akin to spiritual adultery- anyone who is a friend of this world makes himself an enemy of God, no matter how many pastors declare the contrary. If you have been a believer that has fallen pray to this deceitful gospel, it is imperative that you repent of this sin and give your heart fully to Christ. Remember that anyone who doesn't give up everything to follow Christ is not worthy of Him, but also remember that the riches of Christ Himself outweighs every counterfeit that this world has to offer. This is not mere philosophy; the apostles experienced this, the 1st century Church experienced this, multiplied millions of genuine believers who have passed on experienced this, as well as millions of people living today has experienced this. The spiritual harlotry that we see in America produced in part by this gospel will lead a person to becoming part of spiritual Babylon. If you are convicted by this, you have a chance to escape the judgment that will undoubtedly fall on Babylon. Repent from your attachment to your wealth and material things and receive with all of your heart the Lord Jesus and you will realize what A.W. Tozer realized:

“The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.”

Casual Dating

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Sun, 24 May 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Recently, a friend of mine on Facebook asked me to watch a movie/documentary called The Diary of a Tired Black Man, which appeared to be a response to Tyler Perry's movie/play The Diary of a Mad Black Woman. I became more and more upset at this production, not because of the story of the movie, but because of the idea that it presupposes. While watching this movie and observing the events of my life as well as countless others around me, I've come to the conclusion that there are few things in American life as dysfunctional as the dating world. This dysfunction is seen in a variety of different ways in casual dating, but three will suffice: immaturity, selfishness, and lovelessness.

The immaturity that we observe in the dating world is simply a symptom of the immaturity with people in general. Here, in our culture, we have developed an institution that attempts to mask an individual's personal problems.We escape from personal introspection and examination, as we attempt to surround our lives with anything that will cause us to avoid the obvious truth about ourselves. In particular, we run to entertainment to dull ourselves from these things. For many people, dating is nothing more than a means to remove our boredom for the day. Some people even go on dates because they are hungry and feel like getting a free meal from others (after all, if a man offers to pay for a meal, why should I object to it?). Because of the mentality entering into dating, there is no real intention to develop any meaningful friendship with a person. There is no real intention to learn about the uniqueness or essence of a person, but it's simply a means to satisfy our own desires. This is the same mentality that a child takes into their human interactions so is it any real surprise that the overwhelming majority of the interactions that we have with others are superficial and temporary?

However, since many people believe that this is primary way that romantic relationships occur, they continue to play the same game without realizing that they are sowing the seeds to their own destruction. Developing maturity is a process that takes years to develop; just as much as we cannot expect a boy to transform into a man overnight, maturity cannot be developed instantly. This also means that if we avoid the maturation process by choosing to remain comfortable in our immaturity, then we will stunt our own growth.What happens if a person never learns how to develop mature relationships because they chose to accept the counterfeit, shallow, and casual relationship exhibited around them? My concern is that many have reached this point already, but my question is when does a person put away childish things? In our culture, we have too many children dating other children.

I perceive that we have reached this point due to the blatant selfishness and lovelessness exhibited in many relationships. Our natural inclination as fundamentally depraved beings is to seek our own interest and to only consider another person's interest if our self-interests collide. This selfishness breeds a number of other problems. A selfish person will become angry at a person and create strife for not satisfying their needs. A selfish person will not exercise patience with another person nor overlook minor irritations and faults because their life is completely consumed with themselves. However, the most unfortunate aspect of this is the lack of love in relationships. Our culture treats people as expendable since it is too inconvenient or too uncomfortable for us to walk with a difficult person. Essentially, we have taken a precious thing in the site of God and debased its value. God never intended for any of us to treat our brothers or sisters lightly (since He doesn't take our lives lightly), but He placed others in our lives to serve them. If God placed a person along our path, we are supposed to be stewards and treat them as precious. However, in the mode of dating these days, after 3-4 dates, if we are bored with a person, we have no intention to deal with them again, unless we need something from them. This is the epitome of a loveless and selfish heart (see Philippians 2:3-4).

Within serious committed relationships, we see the same trends because the behavior that we practice becomes the character we develop. If we have developed a habit of having temporary relationships through casual dating, then we cannot expect to have a long-lasting committed relationship. However, most importantly, how can a person expect to develop a strong romantic and intimate relationship if they cannot develop a strong and intimate friendship? For a culture that carries the banner of freedom and liberation, it's amazing how many people are still in bondage because of their fear of rejection and intimacy. Could it be that casual dating and casual friendships are a defensive mechanism for these fears? Could it be that people are so afraid of being heartbroken that they run to everything that is temporary and shallow? Perhaps this is why many people accept sexual and sensual relationships, rather than pursuing true love from a pure heart and true intimacy. After all, for some, it's much easier to lay down with a stranger than to open your heart to a friend since you find your self-worth in a person or because the rejection in your heart has never healed.

To all of these issues, I say do not be conformed to this world and its system. Do not be foolish enough to believe that you can develop a godly relationship with anyone while using the same mentality of this world. Do not believe that you can have any a genuine relationship with anyone while accepting the shallow and temporary relationships that this world gives. As mentioned before, genuine relationships take time to develop and the time of development is filled with various obstacles and various trials, but if you have found them, be careful to guard them with all diligence. Take time to nurture them fully because this world gives us many distractions so that we neglect the most precious things for the insignificant. To those who are remain captive to fear of rejection and intimacy, know that perfect love removes all fear. The love of God and the grace of God are abundant and are strong enough to heal any wound, no matter how deep. Pursue His grace and meditate on His love and with faith believe that He is more than able and willing to see you restored. I will leave you with these verses:

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world- our faith...And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know tha twe have the requests which we have asked Him. 1 John 5:4,14-15

Fellowship with Believers

noreply@blogger.com (The Emissary) — Sun, 17 May 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Recently, there has been an ongoing debate among some individuals in my church concerning the definition of fellowship and whether or not fellowship involves something deeper than simply hanging out with Christian friends so I figure this will be a good time to address this. Starting from 1 John 1, we read:

"What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life- and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us- what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ."

This passage gives a great working definition of how Christian fellowship ought to develop. According to this passage, the basis by which Christians fellowship is ultimately founded upon each person's relationship with Christ. What each believer experiences with God on an individual basis draws and connects other believers to them. Moreover, the degree by which we walk in the light of Christ determines how deep our fellowship will be with each other (1 John 1:7).

This passage also implies that fellowship with other believers is difficult to find because it requires a dynamic, growing relationship with the Lord- something that cannot be manufactured by simply spending time with Christians. Even though fellowship is rare to find, it is absolutely necessary for every believer to pursue fellowship with likeminded believers because this keeps us from being deceived (2 Tim. 2:22). Although there are periods of time where God will pull us away from others in order to further His work in our lives, it is a great deception to believe that sanctification is possible without fellowship with believers. Proverbs 18:1 states that the person that separates himself seeks his own desire and quarrels against all sound wisdom. Although many serious believers will testify that walking with the Lord requires the ability to be comfortable walking alone, God will never allow a believer to spend all of his days walking by himself. Elijah experience a similar situation in 1 Kings 19. After performing miracles by the hand of God, he reached a moment of weakness when he fled from Jezebel into Horeb. In 1 Kings 19:14 he states:

"I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets. I alone am left; and they seek my life to take it away."

However, God declares to Elijah in verse 17,

"Yet I will leave 7000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him."

Knowing that the life of a prophet is impossible to walk alone, God told Elijah that he is not alone in his zealousness for God. In another words, for every David, there will always be a Johnathan; in every sincere believer's walk, God has always drawn believers together in order that there may be mutual edification.

In order to develop fellowship with one another, the love of God must be abundantly present in our lives. Unless the love of God is the foundation, then the blessing that God gives us through fellowship will be perverted into manipulation. Just as much as fellowship with our Father requires honesty and transparency, fellowship with other believers require the same. Too often, many believers cannot develop intimacy with one other because they will not be transparent with their brother. It is a sad state of affairs that believers are so enslaved to fear of rejection that they cannot open their hearts to one another. This bondage is so deep at times that believers are more willing to open their hearts to unbelievers than their own brothers and sisters in the Lord! This is a tragedy and it can only change if one person values the needs of his brother more than the potential rejection that he may face. As mentioned before, if fellowship among believers are to grow, it is dependent upon each believer's personal relationship with the Lord. Fellowship comes to an abrupt stop whenever believers stop growing deep in fellowship with the Lord.

In my opinion, in America the biggest hindrance to fellowship is our culture. Virtually every interaction that is encouraged by American society, generally speaking, leads to shallow relationships. Because of the lack of patience and attention span of many Americans, many people will not take the necessary time to develop deep relationships, but they will accept the counterfeit shallow relationships that are easier to develop. Unfortunately, because many American believers cannot differentiate between these two, the American Church has accepted the counterfeit over the blessing the God gives. This fact is seen by observing what the majority of Christians do together when they are around each other. Much like the world, if one takes a cursory examination of things, much of the activities that surround Christian activities appeals more to the soulish elements of a person than the spiritual development of a person. A lot of the activities involve things that entertain us, such as television, movies, games, and etc. These activities are perfectly fine if a person is a new believer, but doesn't the heart long for something deeper than these things? These things are not intrinsically wrong and in some cases, they may stimulate fellowship among believers, but there are times that good things are the enemy of God's best. At the end of the day, a person becomes what they choose and fellowship works in the same way. In order to develop great fellowship with believers and with our Father, individuals must choose the best options over the range of good options presented to them. Godly fellowship takes much time and sacrifice and many believers will testify that this sacrifice pays off greatly in the future.

Another indicator of our society's influences on the Church is by observing the conversations that Christians engage in. As Christians, we are exhorted to avoid idle and empty talk (2 Timothy 2:16); however, if we observe the topics that our conversations gravitate towards, we will notice where our true affections lie. Because the mouth speaks the abundance of the heart (Luke 6:45), if our conversations gravitate towards idleness and emptiness, it is not surprising that this results in shallow fellowship. In my own personal experience, I have discovered that there are believers who I have known for several years who I cannot have fellowship with at all because it's a struggle to edify one another in conversation; at the same time, there are people who I have met once and fellowship between one another was simply glorious. We could sit for hours, encouraging each other, building each other up, correcting each other, praying for each other, and loving each other. Fellowship is a glorious gift from God; as such, it is important that we seek godly fellowship with other believers and don't accept the counterfeit.