Isaiah 17:7, “In that day men will look to their Maker…”

The goal of preaching

Once when preaching, cheering broke out for John Chrysostom. He responded:

“You praise what I have said, and receive my exhortation with tumults of applause; but show your approbation by obedience; that is the only praise I seek.”

The God who helps (Psalm 40)

8/22/2010 Sunday message at Cornerstone Mission Church

Back in 2001, there was a report about a British kayaker who capsized in heavy seas off southern England. Mark Ashton-Smith, 33 year old a lecturer at Cambridge University, knew he was in serious trouble. He clung to his upturned kayak in treacherous seas off the Isle of Wight. Immediate thought wasn’t to call nearby emergency services. I guess in England the emergency number to dial is 999. He told the reporters, “I spent several minutes racking my brains to think of someone who could help and could only come up with my sister and my dad.”

His father Alan Pimm-Smith was training British troops in Dubai 3500 miles away when he got the call from his son. Without any delay, the father called the Coast Guard nearest to his son. Within 12 minutes, a helicopter was dispatched and Mark was rescued.[1]

Today, I want you to get this. No matter what kind of troubles you may face, you can always count on God to help you. You call on him and he will come to help you! When you are stuck in life, you can count on God.

Yesterday, I was walking down the neighborhood with my oldest girls and one of the members from our church. We pray for people who lived in each of the homes we stopped by. We prayed according to the acronym, BLESS. “B” for bodily needs like sickness, “L” for labor needs like jobs, “E” for emotional needs like depression, “S” for social needs like broken marriages, broken parent-child relationships, and another “S” for salvation need. We didn’t know anyone personally, but we prayed anyway because we believe that our God is God who helps.

One of the great things about reading Psalms is that they are very honest about life. Psalms don’t sugarcoat life as something sweeter than it really is. Psalms tell it like it is. Psalm 40 was written by David, a king of Israel, and he told it like it was. No pretense. He was honest and transparent about his problems to God. He was also verbal about how God helped him.

To receive God’s help like David received, you begin by being honest with God about your problems.

Be honest about your problems with God.

During our prayer walk in the neighborhood around Joyce Kilmer Elementary School, we put a door hanger at each of the homes we stopped to pray. One side has a picture of a turtle. But, the turtle is upside down. And, the above the picture of turtle is one word with a question mark, “stuck?” Do you feel like you are stuck and need help? You begin by being honest with God about your problems.

David was brutally honest about how he was stuck in life. Psalm 40:12, he told God about the sad reality of his troubled life. “For troubles surround me-too many to count! My sins pile up so high I can’t see my way out. They outnumber the hairs on my head. I have lost all courage.” He described his life of problems in verse 1 as being stuck in the slimy, muddy and slush pit. Imagine being stuck in quick sand. Every move in panic does nothing but sink you deeper. Soon it will be over your head.

The fancy word that describes what David did would be confession. Confession is simply telling God like it is. “God, I did and said some stupid, mean and thoughtless things to people. It seems like I screw things up every time I open my mouth to say something or I do something. God, I am just in over my head. I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.”

But, don’t confuse confession to God with just spewing out your complaints about your problems to yourself or to other people. Don’t confuse confession with thoughtless saying, “Oh my God.” Confession is honesty directed to God.

The King David said this about himself, “I am poor and needy” in Psalm 40:17. How can a king with so much possession say such things about himself? Can a rich person be poor and needy? David thought so.

• To be poor is to feel like you are nothing, unvalued, forgotten; you words don’t seem to count. Your life doesn’t seem to matter.
• To be needy is to be in want. A day laborer who stands on a corner of a street is in want for someone to pick him up for a day’s worth of labor. But, a person of wealth may have no such need, but still struggles being needy; their neediness is in want for bigger, better, brand new stuff. It is pity to have so much, yet to feel like you don’t have enough.

David was gut-honest with God about his problems. Have you been honest with God about your problems in order to seek his help?

But, in order to be truly honest with your problems with God for help, you need to be confident that God cares for you and that he isn’t going to brush you off when you come to him with your problems. You need to trust God in order to seek his help.

How can you place your confidence in God?

The best place to start building your confidence in God is to look back and consider what he has done. If you don’t have much history with God, the great place to start is to read God’s word. The Bible tells you God’s credential and his ability to help you; the Bible gives you great reviews about who he is and what he does.

It’s like this. When I go to a mechanic shop, I want to make sure the shop displays ASE, Automotive Service Excellence certification of its workers. I want to make sure it is listed in Better Business Bureau with A+ grade. I want to make sure it has good customer reviews. When I know these facts about a particular mechanic shop, then I can place my confident in it, I can trust my car to the shop to get fixed right at the right cost.

In the Bible, you find the wonders God has done and his thoughts, his plans (v. 5). The Bible tells a story of God how he opened David’s ears to hear him, to understand him. That’s what David meant when he wrote that God pierced his ears in verse 6. It is in the Bible, you can see God who is pleased to save you and quick to help you as in verse 13. It is in the Bible you begin to grasp God the Father’s love for you. In Psalm 40:14-15, you see David confidently praying to God to put to shame, confusion and disgrace those who tried to harm him and mocked him. Why? It is because David understood God’s protective love for him.

But, the greatest story in the Bible that gives you the confidence in God’s willingness and his delight to help you is the story of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. In the immediate context, Psalm 40:6-8 recounts David’s own faithful commitment to doing God’s will. “Here I am, I have come- it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God.” Although this is David talking about himself, it looks beyond David to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:5-10 in the New Testament imports the Psalm 40:6-8 to illustrate the truth about Jesus Christ. “Here I am, I have come,” Jesus has come and broke into the history through his birth. And, Jesus was completely committed to carrying out God’s salvation plan and he allowed himself to be killed on the cross for our sins.

Jesus has come and he has taken the center stage as all history converged to the moment of his birth, his life and his resurrection, and again all history races to converge to the moment when Jesus Christ will come back to judge the living and the dead.

It is this Jesus, the Son of God who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” in Matthew 11:28. How can you be confident of God’s help? You can be confident because God demonstrated his passion to be your helper, your deliverer, your God by sending his Son Jesus Christ on mission to give you true rest.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-25 this about himself, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain comes down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” This is the basis of David’s confidence you see in Psalm 40:1-4. How can you be confident for God’s help? You can be confident in God’s help because he is going to turn and hear your cry, he is going to lift you out of the slimy, muddy pit, out of sinking sand, he is going to set your feet on a rock and help you stand firmly. And, you are going to sing the God-song of salvation. He is going to do all these in his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Rock. He is the Cornerstone. On you, you will stand!

After David made his confession about being poor and needy, David asked this of God in Psalm 40:17, “may the LORD think of me.” When you are poor which is when you feel like nothing, unvalued, forgotten, when your words and what you do don’t seem to count, when the world seems to think nothing of you, it is God who is going to make your life count in Jesus Christ. Asking God to think of you is asking God to make your life count. When you are needy in want because you really don’t have anything or because you are enslaved in want for bigger, better, brand new stuff, it is God who is going to give you contentment. That’s what it means to ask God to think of you, to make your life count in him with abundance.

Wait patiently for God’s timing.

As you turn to God of the Bible, as you seek after God’s help in Jesus Christ, you are going to feel like God doesn’t seem to work around your schedule, your expectation. But, be assured that God’s not going to waste any time to come and help you. But, he is going to work around his schedule, his plan, his time. That’s God’s prerogative. (Psalm 40:1).

Make your life’s mission to verbally make God look great.

If you are Christian, you know that you’ve received the greatest help; you have received the greatest help of God’s salvation through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You have received the incredible gift of help from God and what do you with it? You got to express it. Look at Psalm 40:16. It says all those who seek God and love what he has done (salvation) rejoice and are glad in God and to “always say” that is always be verbal about making God look great.

Let people know how God has helped you, how God has saved you. You are not grateful to God’s help if you don’t want the world to know about how he has helped you. To hide and to conceal how God made it possible for you to have relationship with him in Jesus Christ (righteousness), how God has loved you, and how God has spoken his truth into your life, is to betray him, is to tremble on the gift of his life, and is to cheapen the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Instead, when you receive God’s help, make your mission in life to share with others how awesome God is, how much he has helped you. Spread the good news about the solid, secure, joyful, abundant life in Jesus Christ. Tell the world how your life counts because of Jesus Christ, that you are not poor and needy anymore, but you are esteemed and rich in Christ.

Make no mistake about this. Making your mission in life to share with others requires you to be verbal. Don’t think that you can just live a good life and hope that those around you will connect your good life to God’s help. People may think that way, but more likely they will think you have a good life because you work hard, because you are smart, because you are good person. You have to be verbal about God’s help if you want people to know it is God who helps you. That’s what the call to proclaim (v. 9) means. It means be verbal about God’s help in Jesus Christ. That’s how you are going to express your gratitude to God who helps you.

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[1] http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/520211/posts

Immaturity to maturity (Hebrews 5:11-6:3)

7/19/2010 CMC Sunday message

My youngest girl started to take the baby steps; I think in about a month, she will be walking; very soon, we will be chasing after her running away from us.  But, before she can confidently walk, there will be a lot of practice of walking while holding daddy’s and mommy’s hands as well as her older sister’s hands.  I also fully expect that she will fall down more than she has ever done now that she is learning to walk. The wobbly, unbalanced, overly dramatic movements of her body, her wide and awkward gait for better balance, they are all part her learning curve towards maturity in walking. When she gets into her groove, you see fire in her eyes. She won’t settle for crawling; she starts to squeal as though trying to communicate to us to come down to her level and to hold her hands so she can practice walking. It is really funny how she doesn’t get tired of keep trying the same thing over and over again. It really is beautiful thing to watch a child mature.

As Christians, growing, maturing process needs to be a natural part of what it means to be Christians. It ought to evoke a sense of beauty and awe as we watch each other take the steps and run towards growth.

But, unfortunately, for too long, our growth has been stunted. We had been on a spiritual autopilot mode, doing the same thing without much purpose, without getting our hearts, our passion involved, simply living off of yesterday’s spiritual growth, just getting by…

But, God has jolted us out of the autopilot mode for the last year. He has brought the perfect storm to our church and we had to disengage the autopilot mode.

I would compare what we have gone through as a church for the last year as what happened in the movie, The Incredible. Do you remember how Elastigirl had to disengage the autopilot because her plane carrying her children Dash and Violet was about to be shot down by the missiles?  Do you remember the mayhem, the panic?

Not too long ago, the family’s objective was to blend into the rest of the world. They have gone underground. Elastigirl was just a mom trying desperately to hold her family together, Dash was a little boy who just wanted to run as fast he could, Violet was a shy and insecure girl, and Mr. Incredible was miserable, bored out of his mind, constantly day dreaming of what he could be doing. But, their vanilla flavor life as usual came apart when Mr. Incredible answered the call to the life of adventure.

There are quite the similarities between us and the story line. They were jolted out of the comfortable, anonymous, risk free, bland vanilla flavor life into the life of adventure. They were without soul, without passion, but the crises awakened them to the life of mission, the life with purpose.

We no longer have the comfortable suburban church building to hold our services. Now, it takes much more sweat and time just to setup to meet together, but only to take down everything. We no longer can lean on our parents’ generation to take care of us. We cannot any longer hide behind the pretension that everything is okay; no, we have to deal with our fear and fog factors head on. We are out of our comfort zone; we are now in an uncharted and risky territory. But, what we have now that we didn’t have before is that we are on adventure together, we are on a mission together. We lost our passion and soul, but now we see something, perhaps dimly, but still we see our hearts, our souls engaging. God is awakening us to the life of adventure.

That’s what we see in Hebrews 5 and 6. The writer was trying to awaken the Christians out of the immaturity into the maturity, risk free life to the life of adventure to fulfill God’s mission.

Hebrews 5:11-14 explains their immaturity, their stunted growth. Verse 11 says they were slow to learn. It means they became dull and unresponsive to the word of God. It means they had neglected to hear from God’s word and they had stopped believing in his word. They stopped dreaming their lives in God’s promise, in what God can do through them.

And, because they stopped dreaming the life of adventure with God, they saw no leaders emerging out of them; no one was burdened with God’s mission; no one was burdened to teach others to commit to God’s mission; and, because their hearts were not into the mission of God, they were spiritually insensitive and dull; they were unable to choose truly good life instead, life was all about them. Because their souls were not awakened to the mission of God, they could only think of what’s in it for them.

Babies requiring milk requires high maintenance. They are helpless unless someone else feeds them, changes their dirty diapers, and helps them to even sleep. New Christians are like babies that take milk. But, it becomes a weird thing when the grownups still suck down a Sippy cup with milk in it and act like helpless babies needing constant help and attention; instead, maturity should drive them to rigorous training to become contributing members of their society.

Hebrews 6:1-3 continues the same theme, but now focuses on maturity. Maturity means leaving the elementary teachings about Christ and go onto maturity. What were the elementary teachings about Christ? It involved repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of the hands, resurrection, eternal judgment. I don’t think the writer is saying these are no longer important matters for Christians and they don’t need them any more in their lives.

A commentator explains it like this. As a child we learn alphabet and phonics. But, it is not enough for a child to know how to recite alphabets and know their sounds. The knowledge of alphabets and phonics become the building block to the next level of growth. It opens the door for a child to read simple children’s books, but soon a child will be able to read C. S. Lewis’s Narnia series, be able to read the Bible.^[i]

The basic fundamental knowledge and beliefs of Christianity need to produce in us the life of righteousness, the life of vigorous training to discern good from evil, the life of diligence instead of laziness according to Hebrews 6:11-12.

Movement from immaturity to maturity is about moving away from seeking what’s in it for you to what’s in it for God and for others; it is about moving away from your own mission to God’s mission; it is about moving away from what you want to see in your life to what God wants to see in your life and through your life. Immaturity to maturity is about moving away from simply possessing Jesus Christ, claiming him for ourselves to sharing Jesus, proclaiming Jesus.

Have we become people who suck up the knowledge about Jesus Christ, but never bother sharing Christ with anyone? William Fay has phrase for such phenomenon in his book Sharing Jesus without Fear. He calls it spiritual constipation.

• The number one solution to immaturity is put sharing Jesus with non-believers as your top priority; as long as you put sharing Jesus as an option, you will remain a immature Christian who never take any kind of risk for Jesus, who cannot handle being rejection for him, who will continue to deny Jesus with your silence about him.
• Embracing the call to maturity also means you and I share Jesus with each other. We need to live out his gospel, his good news with each other. Jesus said that the world will know that he has sent us by the way we love one another in his love. I got some soul searching to do and you have some soul searching to do in regard to the state of our relationships. We’ve got to step up our effort to love and care for each other.

Sharing Jesus with non-believers, sharing Jesus with each other is what maturity looks like. Is there such thing as a healthy Christian who doesn’t share Jesus Christ? Is there such thing as a successful Christian who doesn’t obey the mandate to share Jesus? Can you be a mature Christian if you read the Bible, if you pray, if you come to church, if you go to life groups/small groups, but you don’t share Jesus?  No, without actively sharing Jesus with others, it is only an illusion to think that we can become healthy, growing, maturing Christian. 

Here is a story about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village. They walked by an old man sitting beside a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one tourist asked, "Were any great person born in this village?" The old man replied, "Nope, only babies."

We were all born as babies requiring milk, but we are not babies any more, are we? We had to learn alphabets, but we can read great books now, can’t we? For years, having spent a lot of time listening to sermons, reading the Bible, praying, and somehow, have we convinced ourselves we are spiritual healthy? But, are we really healthy? Or, have we simply reduced Jesus as our little savior who exits to make us happy, make us feel good about ourselves? Can we be healthy and mature Christians if we don’t share with others about Jesus our Savior, who went to the cross to be killed in order to give himself for us and for the world?

What practical steps can you take towards maturity?  How can you grow in sharing Jesus with others. 

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^[i] Adeyemo, T. (2006). Africa Bible commentary (1523). Nairobi, Kenya; Grand Rapids, MI.: WordAlive Publishers; Zondervan.

The Fog Factor (Matthew 16:21-17:8)

7/11/2010 CMC Sunday message

Florence May Chadwick was a U.S. long-distance, open-water swimmer. She was most famous for being the first woman to swim 23 miles across the English Channel between England and France in both directions.

On July 4, 1952, at the age of 34, she attempted to be the first woman to swim 21 miles across the Catalina Channel, from Catalina Island to Palos Verde on the California coast. The weather was unfavorable, the ocean was ice cold, the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats that followed her, and the sharks prowled around her. But, for 15 hours and 55 minutes she swam over twenty and half miles. She had only a half mile to go. But, she gave up.

Later Chadwick told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.”^[1]

Can you imagine giving up the race after swimming for almost 16 hours, perhaps only twenty or thirty minutes left to go? Twenty and half miles behind you, and only a half mile to go, but she lost her heart, she lost her courage, she gave up, she sunk deep into her own despair and couldn’t climb out of it to finish the race.

Guys, we’ve been through so much together for this past year. By December of last year, we were about to be blown apart into many fragments. The dense fog descended upon us and we weren’t able to see where we were going. We got discouraged and confused. But, as a ray of light breaks through a dark cloud, God broke through our confusion and discouragement with his vision. We began to dream together that we don’t have to repeat the passionless and joyless church life. Starting with me and to you, God began to show us that our lives are to be the display of his glory, the display of what he can do and how he can change us through his Son, Jesus Christ. And, God began to awaken us to the life of church that is neither about you nor about me, but church that is all about what God can do through broken and massed up people like you and me to transform the world. We’ve come a long way together to be here.

But, the danger of fog remains, the fog that can easily rob our vision and courage and derail our journey together. My goal this morning is to help you deal with the fog factor. First, we are going to see how Jesus understood his identity and his mission with clarity and without the fog of confusion. And, later, we are going to see the fog factor through Peter’s response to Jesus’ mission.

God’s revelation of Jesus’ identity

Let’s get right to it shall we? Peter made the most amazing discovery about the identity of Jesus Christ. Peter didn’t make the discovery because he was a really smart guy. No, Jesus made it clear in Matthew 16:17 that it was his Father in heaven who revealed to Peter about the identity of Jesus Christ his Son. It was the Father who revealed to Peter about his Son that Jesus is the Christ (the anointed), the Son of the living God. The way Jesus fed thousands of people out of few bread and fish, the way Jesus healed the blinds, the way Jesus casted out demons, the way Jesus forgave sins… Jesus was the Anointed Son of the living God.

Jesus’ declaration of his mission

Now that Jesus’ identity was revealed by the Father in heaven, it was the right time for Jesus to let his disciples in on his mission. It was the time for Jesus to help his disciples understand how his identity would determine what he was going to do with his life. It was the time for his disciples to see the complete agreement between his identity and his mission, what he must do with his life.

Jesus understood who he was and what he must do early on. When he was twelve years old, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the annual pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. After they made the visitation, they left go home. Least Mary and Joseph thought it so until they discovered that Jesus was missing for a whole day. The amber alert went off and they searched for him for the next two agonizing days, worrying to death. Finally, they found him in the temple courts, mingling with the teachers of the law; twelve years old boy was discoursing with the teachers about the grownup issues. It was like finding a sixth grader talking to the professors of theology in a divinity school. People were amazed by how smart he was; but Marry and Joseph, they weren’t impressed because they’ve been half out of their minds looking for him. They questioned Jesus in bewilderment, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you” (Luke 2:48).

And, Jesus equally bewildered by their worries asked them, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) Do you see it the language of must in Jesus’ words? “Don’t you know that I have to be in my Father’s house?” Whenever you hear someone talking with “I have to” attitude, you know that person means business. It wasn’t that Jesus stumbled into the temple courts accidentally after losing his way. No, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem purposely because he was compelled to be in the presence of his Father, compelled with the Father’s business. He knew who he was, he knew to whom he belonged, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do in life.

Now coming back to our passage, Jesus revealed clearly what he must do with his life as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matthew 16:21, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”[2]

Jesus’ language of “must” tells us that he meant business, he meant what he must do with his life, he meant his mission. And to Jesus the mission was not optional; it was not something he would do if he felt like doing it or something he could abandon in a heartbeat if things became too uncomfortable, uneasy, and unbearable. To be true to his identity meant to be true to his mission without deviation. That is why Jesus began his journey towards Jerusalem with the “must” attitude. It didn’t matter that false accusation, the illogical madness and rejection and ultimately the most horrifying form of execution waited him in Jerusalem. His journey towards Jerusalem that began with the “must” attitude ended in Jerusalem on the cross.

The crucifixion was the most feared forms of execution. Romans used it very effectively to deter any kind of rebellion or insurrection in their empire. The condemned was forced to carry a crossbeam to the scene of crucifixion. And, there at the execution site, the condemned was nailed to the crossbeam and also to the upright beam. Then the whole cross was lifted into place,^[3] so that the condemned would die most painfully.

His last words having accomplished resolutely what he set out to do nailed on the cross with the “must” attitude, were, “It is finished” according to John 19:30. With these words, Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Do you know what was beneath Jesus’ “I must go” attitude towards the cross? Romans 5:6-7 tells us what drove Jesus’ death wish. It says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus’ mission was determined by who he was. And, Jesus was the Son of the living God who was deeply in love with you and me, with the people. He loved so much that he had to do something about the predicament of humanity facing hell in sins. Out of that love, out of that compassion, the mission of God was born, to die the horrible death of crucifixion in my place, in your place, in our neighbors’ place, in our colleagues’ place, in our families’ place to be condemned for our sins; he died the death of crucifixion to display the power of God to raise him from the power of death and thereby to raise you and me to life from the power of death and sin.

For Jesus, the mission was very clear; the land was in plain sight for Jesus because he was driven by love for you and me, for the people. His “must” attitude toward the cross was continually renewed and fueled by his love and his compassion for the hell bound world. He wasn’t asking, “What’s in for me?” Instead, he poured himself out, he emptied himself out and became obedient to death even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8).

Do you have the “must” attitude of Jesus? Do you have the death wish like that of Jesus? Is your life about pouring yourself out, emptying yourself out for God’s mission for the world because you love the Savior who did it for us and for the world? Or, are you asking, “What’s in for me?”

The fog factor

Jesus always knew who he was and what he must do, but there was a dense fog of confusion in Peter’s mind about Jesus’ identity and his mission.

When Jesus declared to the disciples that as the Son of the living God, his mission was to die the horrible death of crucifixion for the world and to be raised from the dead, Peter jumped and started rebuking Jesus.

Peter was so convinced that Jesus was out of his mind to talk about his death wish like this. Peter was convinced that he needed to shake Jesus out of this “must” attitude to suffer to and to die.

Peter thought he had to protect Jesus from the silly obsession with suffering and dying. Peter thought he was looking out for Jesus’ comfort and safety, but what he ended up becoming a stumbling block to Jesus who was determined to accomplish God’s mission.

A. B. Bruce wrote what is very perceptive about the situation here. He wrote, “Jesus recognizes here His old enemy in a new and even more dangerous form. For none are more formidable instruments of temptation than well-meaning friends, who care more for our comfort than for our character.”[4] So, here we see Peter, well-meaning friend, caring for Jesus’ comfort more than his character, caring for safety more that the mission of God. “Heaven forbid, Lord… This will never happen to you.” “Goodness sake, why are you talking about your death like this? Don’t you know that kind of negative thinking and negative talk about yourself will bring down the whole group? So, stop being so darn negative about it and think positively.”

This was Peter who just made the incredible confession about Jesus’ identity with God’s help. How do you understand this dichotomy? Jesus’ identity compelled him to take the most difficult path as the way to fulfill his mission while Peter’s understanding of Jesus’ identity compelled Peter to stop Jesus from going after his mission. Jesus answers it for us in Matthew 16:23. “You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

When you have in mind the things of men while ignoring the things of God, you begin to ask, “What’s in for me?” instead of asking “What’s in for God?” You ask, “What can I do?” and feel insecure or feel overconfident instead of asking, “What can God do through me?” with humility. Jesus’ heart was breaking for Peter, for the disciples and for the whole world and he was going to do something about it. But the fog factor clouded Peter from seeing Jesus’ “must” attitude through Jesus’ incredible depth of his compassion.

You see this, “What’s in for me?” attitude in chapter 17. Peter, James and John were given the incredible privilege to the prescreening show up on a high mountain. The prescreening was about Jesus in post-resurrection glory; transfigured with his face shining like the sun, his clothes beaming with white light, accompanied by Moses and Elijah, two great figures of the Old Testament.

And, what was Peter thinking? Matthew 17:4, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Didn’t Jesus talk to Peter just a week ago about the fog factor of minding the things of men rather than minding the things of God?

But, here was Peter going after what was in for him. Why go back down to the miserable earthly existence, when I can stay here with Jesus and rest and be fed in his glory and hang out two of the most famous people in the Old Testament? Why go back to Jesus’ negative talk of suffering and dying when this glory can be the reality now?

A week ago, Peter heard mouthful from Jesus for being clouded with “What’s in for me?” question instead of “What’s in for Jesus?” question. Now Peter hears it from God the Father.

“Come on Peter, This is my Son, whom I love; with him and I am well pleased. So, stop questioning him, stop being a stumbling block to carrying out his mission. Instead, I want you to listen to him. I want you to participate in his mission.”

Matthew doesn’t tell us why the transfiguration took place. But, I cannot help but to think if Jesus allowed Peter, James and John, the leaders among the twelve, to the prescreening for his post-resurrection glory to comfort their hearts. They heard Jesus’ mission to suffer, to die and to be raised from the dead. And, he knew it was hard for them to get over his suffering and dying parts. So, here Jesus let them taste the victorious glory beyond his death in resurrection. But, even then, Peter couldn’t stop thinking what was in for him.

Rid of the fog

Guys, as long as you keep asking, “What’s in for me?” you are not going to see the finish line, you are not going to see the land that you’ve been swimming towards, you are not going to see clearly the vision God has for CMC. If you try to make the church exist for you, if you come with the attitude of demands, “What’s church going to do for me?” I guaranty you that you are going to crash and burn.

The way of the cross is pouring out, emptying ourselves for the cause of the Christ. The way of the cross is to stop asking “What’s in for me?” instead begin to ask “What does God want to do through me?” The way of the cross isn’t being afraid of holding back in fear that you are going to burn out. The way of the cross recognizes that being vitalized is to do the will of God as Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of God” John 4:34. The way of the cross means stop formulating your idea of Jesus as your genie and stop trying to fit Jesus into your life. No, the way of the cross demands that we fit our lives around Jesus’ life. We got to fit our lives into Jesus’ identity of love and compassion for the world, his mission to the world.

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[1] http://www.answers.com/topic/florence-chadwick

[2] After Jesus had undergone and victoriously emerged out of the devil’s temptation against him, it says in Matthew 4:17, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” This marked the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the Galilean area. Matthew 16:21 marks the end of the Galilean ministry and the beginning of his mission to Jerusalem. It marks the final steps to accomplish what he came to do on the earth.

^[3]Wilkins, M. J. (2004). The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew (571). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[4] A. B. Bruce, “The Gospel According to Matthew,” 226.

Fear Factor (Exodus 3-4:17)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, July 4, 2010

During a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”

The mother gave him a smile and a reassuring hug. “I can’t, dear,” she said. “I have to sleep with your daddy.”

A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big sissy.”^[1]

Hey, I don’t ever want my girls to think of me as a coward who crumble under pressure. Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities in my house to be the super brave daddy to my girls. My girls, now that includes my wife, have terrible fear of spiders. You always know when the girls have discovered a spider. After their discovery are the usual shrills and commotion. “Daddy, Daddy, Come over here!” Judging from their panic, you would think they discovered a huge poisonous spider that can kill you! But, often I have to bend down to spot a tiny creature minding its own business inconspicuously on a wall. I almost feel bad to impose my super power to rid of the tiny creatures. But, I do it anyway. I do it with confident smirk on my face that says, “Hey, This is nothing. Let me take care of it.” Sometimes, I become too cocky and don’t move quickly enough to track down the offending target. But, the majority of times, I walk away with the prize wrapped up in toilet tissue with great cheers from my girls. Mission accomplished! My girls have their hero!

Just between you and me though, there are times that I get little scared when I come across unusually fatty and colorful spiders. Well, I arm myself with extra layers of toilet tissue and usually I am good to go.

Do you ever wish you could attack all things in life with such ease and confidence with very little fear in you? Is there an alternative world where we can insulate ourselves from fear factors? How about the world where we choose not to do anything that is unfamiliar or scary? What if we choose not to do anything that makes us insecure? What if we choose not to be vulnerable, but choose only to insulate ourselves from any kind of disappointment and hurt? How about the world that has no fear of failures because we choose not to do anything adventurous even worse risky? What if we choose not to be honest with our own past failures, but instead choose to blame others for our failures? I guess it would be possible to insulate ourselves from fear.

But, you and I both know such is life of a coward. Someone said this,

“There are at least two kinds of cowards. One kind always lives with himself, afraid to face the world. The other kind lives with the world, afraid to face himself.”

For some of us, it takes very little bravery to kill spiders with toilet tissue in our hands, but it takes guts to face the world that doesn’t see much in us, the world that forecasts our doom before we even venture out; and, it takes everything to face and own up to our failures with brutal honesty; it takes great courage not to allow our failures to crumble us, not to embitter us, not to take the wind out of our sales, not to give up.

The history has known such man who didn’t surrender to the past failures nor fear of failing in the future in facing the world and facing himself.  It is not an overstatement to say that the President Abraham Lincoln truly was the greatest president for our country. But, before the legacy of his impeccable presidency, he was a man of many failures, but he was never known as a quitter.

Starting 1831, he failed in business, was defeated for legislature, again failed in business, elected to legislature, sweetheart died, had a nervous breakdown, defeated for speaker, defeated for elector, defeated for Congress, elected for Congress, defeated for Congress, defeated for Senate, defeated for Vice-President, defeated for Senate, and finally close to 30 years later in 1860, elected President.

The turbulent time required a man who wouldn’t give up under the fear of failures, oppositions both from friends and foes, and fear of being disliked, even hated because he set his sight high on the freedom of men kind. The history required a man who became better in spite of his past failures. Abraham Lincoln was that person.

Moses was also a man who was familiar with the failures in life. When he saw an Egyptians beating a Hebrew slave, one of his own people, he took the matter into his own hand and murdered an Egyptian. Exodus 2:12 records, “Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and him in the sand.” What he did was quickly discovered. He was rejected by his own people and he became a fugitive. He settled down in a distant land beyond the reach of Pharaoh, beyond his own people. Once a proud royal prince of Egypt, he was a shepherd hiding in fear of past failure unable to see much for his future.

When the world saw a fugitive, paralyzed with the fear of failure, God saw something different. He saw Moses who will lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. What you see in Exodus 3 and 4 is God calling Moses out of his past failures, out of his fear of failing in order to accomplish his miracle through Moses.

God’s vision was very clear. In Exodus 3:7-8, you see God telling Moses he had seen and heard enough of the misery of his people in Egypt. It was the time for him to act and rescue them from Egypt and lead them to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. To accomplish this, God told Moses in Exodus 3:10, “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” The irony here is that God was calling Moses right back to Egypt where he tasted his miserable failure, where he ran away from, and where he stayed away from so long. Responding to God’s calling, God’s vision meant Moses facing his fear in Egypt. But, we see him faltering, second guessing himself.

“God, I don’t think you get it. I don’t think I am cut out for this. Really, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh to bring your people out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11) What if they question who sent me to them because they don’t trust me? (Exodus 3:13) What if they don’t believe me or listen to me that God you are really leading them out of Egypt? (Exodus 4:1). Really, why should they believe anything that an ex-murder had to say to them? God, I don’t think I am cut out for this. I’ve never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to me. I am slow of speech and tongue. Really, I am terrible at public speaking (Exodus 4:10). God, please, I think someone else can do far better than job than I can. So, send someone else (Exodus 4:13).”

Here are the reasons why Moses had difficult time getting over himself and respond to God’s vision.

• Moses feared that his failure and mistakes in life could not be redeemed.
• Moses feared rejection and distrust from his own people after all he was known as the disgraced prince who ran away to save his life.
• Moses feared that he just wasn’t good enough.

Moses kept looking at his own failures, his own inadequacies and kept on making excuses for why he couldn’t do what God envisioned for him. That’s what fear does to us. It inflates our problems so big that it blinds us to God who is far greater than any of our problem; it blinds us to see our God is God who can do all things through his people.

Enough about Moses, let’s see what God was doing with Moses. While Moses threw his objections and excuses one after another, God worked patiently with Moses; he didn’t dismiss Moses with his fear and objections.

“I will be with you. Moses, this is not about you, it is about me being with you and help you to lead my people out. Really, it is not a matter of if, but it is matter of when you bring my people out of Egypt. I am going to lead you step by step. So, get off your self-pity and you got to start trusting me. Don’t be fearful of being rejected by the Israelites; just tell their leaders I sent you to free them from slavery and to give them a good land. They are going to listen to you. You are going to go to Pharaoh with the leadership of elders and tell Pharaoh to let my people go. I know that Pharaoh will not listen to you. But, don’t worry. I got this in control. I am going to strike him with my wonders against his country. He is going to let you go. Not only that I am going to make sure that you don’t go out empty handed because Egyptians are going to give you whole bunch of stuff. What? You worry that the Israelites won’t believe that I appeared to you. How about showing them some miracles? What? You worry about your speech problem? Come on, I made your mouth. I will help you speak and even teach you what to say. What? Send someone else? No, I am not sending someone else. You are going to go with your brother. He is going to be your mouthpiece. I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.”

God was patient. God didn’t dismiss Moses’ fear instead God assured him, gave him tangible signs, provided a helper. More than that, God himself came to Moses as his Great Helper.

Moses had to cross the threshold into believing in this God. It really was not about what Moses could do; it was all about what God was going to do through Moses for God’s mission. In the same, guys,

this whole church thing, it is not really about you nor is it about me; it is neither about your fear nor my fear; it is not about what we think and should happen. But, it is all about God doing his things to make sure his vision come true through you and me. Church is really about God on Mission.

I am so glad that God is nothing like Chef Gordon and church is nothing like Hell’s Kitchen. I watched one of the episodes with my wife last week and I walked away feeling sick to my stomach. You would definitely not see Moses surviving in this show with all his insecurities. It really is a nightmare to compete in that kind of environment where your competitors brutally chew you out, Chef Gordon only affirms your top performance, but the moment you screw things up, you are going to be called, “donkey” and whole bunch of other stuff and be thrown out.

No, our God is different. He has his vision he wants to accomplish, the vision of transforming you and me to be missionaries to Buffalo Grove and wheeling areas, to be missionaries to our immediate neighbors, our co-workers, our colleagues. But, he is not going to accomplish it by beating us down. When people reject us, doubt us, when our past failures haunt us, when we are gripped with fear, he is not going to come with hammer and pound us down. No, he sent his Son Jesus to be our Great companion with the promise, “I will be with you always”; He comes as the Great helper, “I will help you.”

So, I refuse to surrender to both unfound fear and real fear. Instead, I am going to lean hard on Great companion and Great helper to accomplish his vision! And, so should you!

I know that some of your fear is found in me. Can Pastor Steve change, can he be consistent, or can he care for me? I regret that my past actions or inactions have given any kind of room for you to doubt me. But, I appeal to you that you extend the gospel that you receive from God to me. God raised a murderer, a fugitive who was rejected by his own people, an inadequate and reluctant man in order to accomplish his vision for freedom and blessing for his people. Surely, God can use me in spite of my inadequacies and my past failures. I need you to breathe in me the gospel and see me as God sees me.

And, I also I refuse to see any of you as unable to move pass beyond your fear, your doubts, whatever is holding you back. My goal is to prepare each of you to become missionaries who serve God of mission to the community where we do church, where you live and where you work. I am going to work patiently, persistently, fearlessly because I believe in God’s vision for us. So, should you!

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^[1] Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (465). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Faith in the gospel of God who helps you (Isaiah 7)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, June 20, 2010

Does any of you in this room this morning doesn’t know how to ride bike because you have never learned how to ride bike? Good, you all know how to ride bike. Now, do you remember who taught you how to ride bike?

So, far I’ve taught my two oldest girls how to ride bike. I’ll let you in on how I train my girls to ride bike on their own. I start off their training by first removing the training wheels. Second, I have my girls sit on their cushion and have them balance their bike without trying to ride on them. I tell them to put their feet off the ground as long as they can. The goal is for them to feel the force of gravity trying to topple them down; but more importantly I want their bodies to learn to balance against the gravity. The last stage is the most crucial stage. While holding their bikes, I have them put their feet on the pedals and tell them to pedal hard as they can. With a bit of my help pushing their bikes and helping them balance, they take off and I take off with them. Now, this is where it really gets tough on daddy. Around the age of four and five, their bikes are quite low. So, I have to bend down, flex my knees and slightly lean towards to my right in order to hold on to the back of their seats. That’s how I have to run with them as they pedal hard as they can and gain the momentum to work against the gravity. I do this for 10 minutes, 20 minutes until I see that my girls are able to balance well on their own. Then comes the crucial moment when I let my hand go but still right there to hold on to the seat, and still running next to them awkwardly. 5 feet, 10 feet, 15 feet, 20 feet, 25 feet… uh, uh, they start losing their balance, but I am right there to catch them from the fall. That’s when I get really excited. I yell out, “Did you feel that? Did you feel that? It was all you. I didn’t have to hold your bike. You rode your bike on your own!” And, my girls reply, “I did?” “Yah, that’s right. You did. I am proud of you. Let’s do it more.” All the pain in my back, the strain on my knees, lungs burning, it’s all worth it for the proud daddy seeing his girls ride their bikes on their own.

I am still working on my middle child. She is still working on the fear part. She need to learn to overcome her fear of falling off her bike; she is going to be able to overcome fear when she learns to trust that her daddy running next to her awkwardly with his hand on her bike won’t let her fall. Well, I know it is a matter of time she learns to trust me and will allow me to train her to ride her bike. Perhaps, before the summer is over.

God is like that. He goes out of his way to help his children. And when his children succeed with his help, he gets really pumped up. I could see God going off, “Hey, everyone do you see what my kid can do?”

Today, on Father’s Day, I want you to know God as your Father who goes out of his way to help you. He holds nothing back to help you. And as it is a child learning to ride bike, all you need to do is to trust God is with you, runs next to you, he holds on to you and always ready to catch you when you fall.

Ahaz’s perspective

The perspective that a father has about riding bike and a child’s perspective on learning to ride bike is vastly different. Initially, all that a child can think of is falling off the bike and getting hurt. For a child to learn to ride bike, fear must be overcome by trust in his or her father. In the case of Ahaz in Isaiah 7, he never got over the fear part. God went out of his way to help Ahaz, but he never learned to trust God.

Around the time Isaiah 7 was written, sometime in 734 B.C., the Assyrian empire became the new bully in town. To deal with the new bully, the king of Aram and the king of Israel, the northern kingdom splintered off of Judah the southern kingdom, formed an alliance together to oppose Assyria the new bully. But, they knew that the alliance was still weak and needed to shore up their force. This is where Ahaz, the king of Judah comes into play. According to Isaiah 7:6, the new alliance of Aram and Israel aka Ephraim plotted to topple down the king Ahaz in order to replace him with a puppet king. And, this puppet king would be anti-Assyria and pro-alliance to lead Judah to join the alliance.

That’s what we see in Isaiah 7:1, the alliance of Aram and Israel marching up to topple Ahaz the king of Judah. But, they didn’t succeed for it says, “they could not overpower it.”

Even though the alliance’s attempt to topple Ahaz and force Judah to join the alliance failed, Ahaz and his people became fearful; Isaiah 7:2 described their fear level to that of the trees of the forest being shaken by the wind of hurricane like force.

What was Ahaz to do against Assyria the new bully in town and the alliance formed to oppose the new bully? 2 Kings 16:5-9 shows what Ahaz did.

Ahaz placed his bet on Assyria and against the alliance of Aram and Israel. He was a shrewd politician. He instinctively knew that Assyria was a force to be reckoned with; he knew that neither his country nor the newly formed alliance could match themselves against Assyria. So, instead of trying to fight off the bully and get beat up by the bully, he reasoned that he should join the bully and let the bully beat up the guys messing with him.

It w a shrewd move to have the bully on your side, but it comes at a great cost. To have the bully’s protection meant Ahaz had to cough up his wealth to the bully; he had to strip off the silver and gold from the Lord’s temple and he had to dip into his savings from his treasuries, all in order to buy the bully’s protection; it also meant Ahaz was only a king in title, he was now nothing more than a pawn in the hands of the king of Assyria. But to Ahaz, his perspective was that it was better off being a vassal to Assyria than being terrorized by the alliance.

Going back to Isaiah 7 we see Ahaz at the aqueduct inspecting the water source for the city of Jerusalem. He was out there making sure the supply line for water was working properly. He was not only a shrewd king, but he also was a smart king who knew the important of securing the water source for the defense of his city.

We see Ahaz making a political treaty with Assyria for protection, doing his part to protect the water source. But, what we don’t see is Ahaz turning to God for help. Another word, Ahaz’s perspective on overcoming his fear was to cling to the biggest bully in town, while shoring up his defense. He never learned to trust God.

God’s perspective

When a father works with his child to learn how to ride bike, his perspective is quite different from that of his child. While the child is fearful of falling, the father doesn’t fear it because he is right there to catch the child from falling. While the child doesn’t know how to ride bike, the father does.

From a human perspective of a commander-in-chief, what Ahaz did was the right move. Why wage war against the bully you know you cannot overcome even with the help from other guys? Why experience the sure defeat from the bully when you can be on his side and the bully can be on your side to fight for you? Ahaz thought he could protect himself and his country by being a shrewd manipulative politician, by protecting the water source.

But, that’s not how God saw it. From God’s perspective, the survivability of Judah depended not on Ahaz, but on God himself. Although Isaiah 7:1 doesn’t say explicitly why the alliance couldn’t overpower Jerusalem, in the context, it becomes clear that it was because God protected the city. However, in spite of God protecting Jerusalem the capital city of Judah, Ahaz and his people panicked because they trusted in themselves to figure things out; they didn’t trust God was running with them, .

At times, we just don’t get it and we simply cannot see what God is doing in our lives. And, God has to show us how he is helping us. Ahaz and his people didn’t get it either. So, we see God dispatching Isaiah to Ahaz in order to show him that God was running next to him.

God told Isaiah to take his son Shear-Jashub which means “A remnant will return.” It meant that God was going to protect those who trust in him. Isaiah’s son’s name was like a subliminal message flashing in the back ground to inform Ahaz God is God of help.

But, this subliminal message through Isaiah’s son’s name didn’t get through Ahaz’s fear. So, God decided to speak straight up to Ahaz through Isaiah.

“Come on Ahaz! Be careful now. Don’t lose your cool. Be calm. Think this through instead of panic in fear. Don’t be discouraged by the alliance that is attacking you. You and your people are terrified of them. But, let me tell you my perspective on this. The alliance is nothing more than burned off stubs. The alliance could plan all they want to rid of you, but mark my words Ahaz, it won’t happen. It won’t happen because the alliance between Aram and Israel would be broken off because the nations themselves would be broken apart; they would be too shattered to even be recognized as a people any longer in the near future.”

That’s what God told Ahaz through Isaiah verses 6-9. It was a straightforward, undiluted perspective from God that he was going to help Ahaz and his country as God already helped by protecting the city of Jerusalem.

God sent a subliminal message about his help through the name of Isaiah’s son. God sent a direct message of his help through Isaiah. But, just in case it was still hard for Ahaz to trust God’s help, he decided to make it really easy for Ahaz to get it.

We see in Isaiah 7:10-12 how God spoke to Ahaz through Isaiah to ask for a sign from God. God was saying to Ahaz, “Let me help you trust me on this. I want you to ask me any sign you can think of that would help you to trust in me. Don’t hold back. Ask for a sign, weather in the deepest depths or in the highest heights, meaning there is no limit on what sign you can ask from me.” As Ortlund illustrates, essentially God handed Ahaz a blank check. He could put whatever the amount he wanted and cash it.[i]

Gee, can God make it any easier for Ahaz to ask for help? What else could God do to help Ahaz realize God really wanted to help him?

Unbelief

In spite of God going out of his way to assure Ahaz of his help, Ahaz refused to ask for the sign. Ahaz actually used the scripture to reject God’s help. Deuteronomy 6:16 says not to test the LORD and Ahaz equates asking for a sign as testing the LORD. The irony is that it was God himself who told Ahaz to ask for a sign from him. Isn’t it illogical to think that doing what God has told you is tantamount to testing him? To step out of fear and to trust God’s promise to help you is not testing God. It is faith. But, what we see here is Ahaz in his unbelief driven by fear making a bad decision.

We see also his unbelief masked behind religiosity. He sounded religious and pious, but really he didn’t trust God for help, nor desired for God’s help. What we see here is that piety is not the same as faith. Oswalt said, “Piety is the appearance of religion while trust in God is the substance of religion.”^[ii] Ahaz had the façade of spirituality, but inside he was nothing more than a cynical unbeliever.

Ahaz refused to embrace God’s perspective over his own deeply flawed and troubled perspective. He knew that trusting God and accepting God’s help meant doing things God’s way. He would rather hold on to being in control in his way. That’s unbelief.

The consequence of unbelief

What happens when you reject God the Creator, the Great Redeemer, the Savior who wants to come along side of you and help you? God doing everything he could to help you which is a lot when you remember it is God doing everything… when you reject this God who really wants to help you, then what happens?

The answer comes from the sign the Lord himself gave to Ahaz. Since Ahaz refused to ask for a sign in trust, Isaiah 7:14, God himself gave him a sign.

And the sign was that “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us.” As it was the case with the name of Isaiah’s son, here another child’s name carries spiritual significance.

Immanuel, “God with us,” carries a double edge sword. On the one hand, for those who accept God’s perspective and God’s help, Immanuel means the Great Companionship, God’s abiding presence of help. It can be your source of comfort as well your confidence if you walk in faith.

But on the other hand, if such abiding presence of God’s help is rejected, it is no longer the presence of neither comfort nor confidence, but it is the presence of judgment.

That’s what we see in Isaiah 7:15-25. Before the prophesized child came to the age of understanding right from wrong, the two kings would be destroyed by Assyria, the bully (7:16). But, Assyria would not stop there. It would also turn against Judah that sought its help. A rather strange image from Isaiah 7:20 of the king of Assyria shaving off hair from Ahaz is essentially the vision of Ahaz being shamed and crushed by the Assyrian king he once trusted.

Faith response

In the light of the double edged sword reality of Immanuel, God with us, how should we respond to God?

Raymond Oswalt said “faith is the God-awakened capacity to respond fully to Christ.”[iii] Although we don’t see the name of Jesus Christ here in Isaiah 7, Isaiah 7:14 is one of the most celebrated verse for the Christians. Do you know where this sign of Immanuel God gave to Ahaz as a sign of judgment is picked up in the Bible? Matthew 1:23 quotes the sign of Immanuel from Isaiah 7:14 on the account of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The whole world will rise or fall on the account of Jesus Christ. There is now no excuse to ever think that God doesn’t care for you. There is no excuse ever to think that God isn’t with you. There is no excuse ever to think that God doesn’t want to help you. There is no excuse ever to think that God doesn’t love you. There is no excuse ever to think that God isn’t looking out for what’s best for you. There is no excuse any more to question God’s motive. You simply do not question the motive of someone who lets his own son be executed in place for you, to pay your monstrous crimes you committed. The sign of Immanuel was partially fulfilled in Isaiah’s time as a sign of judgment. But, now the sign of Immanuel fulfilled in Jesus Christ two thousand years ago the sign of grace, that which you and I must respond in faith.

Isaiah 7:9, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” Ahaz rejected in unbelief the gospel of God who helps. How about you? Are you standing firm in your faith? Are you standing at all? Are you standing firm in the radical surrender to the love of God fully expressed and demonstrated in the sign of Immanuel, ^[iv] in Jesus? Do you have the faith that produces calm confidence in the hurricane size storms?

Do you know that God is running next to you holding onto your seat, ready to catch you when you fall, cheering you and empowering you to succeed so that you become an effective witness in the world?

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[i] Ibid., p. 90.

^[ii] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (142). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[iii] Ortlund, Raymond C. Isaiah: God saves sinners. Crossway Books: Wheaton, IL. 2005. P. 89.

^[iv] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (145). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Commissioned life begins with the gospel transformation of your life (Isaiah 6)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, June 13, 2010

I am going to begin my sermon by telling you a story about William Wilberforce who lived from 1759-1833 in England. I want to tell you little bit about him to show you what a commissioned life looks like, what it looks like when a person takes up God’s cause and go for it wholeheartedly.

This was said about Wilberforce, “No Englishman has ever done more to evoke the conscience of the British people and to elevate and ennoble British life.” When people of his time accepted and justified slavery as indispensible necessity for the economical wellbeing, he stood with few others for abolition of the slave trade. He wrote, “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequence be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.” In his early years in the Parliament, he was optimistic for a quick success to end the slave trade, but his legislative effort to pass the bill to end the slave trade was repeatedly defeated. From 1787 till twenty years later in 1807, he campaigned tirelessly to end the British slave trade. And, then for the next 26 years until July 26, 1833, he worked to outlaw slavery itself only three days before his death.

He didn’t give up throughout the years of failure to end the slave trade and slavery itself. Twenty years later the slave trade was outlawed, another twenty six years later, slavery itself was outlawed in England.

Do you wonder what motivates a person like Wilberforce to spend one’s whole life singularly to promote the great cause? Do you wonder how a person like Wilberforce perseveres against the tide of defeats without losing the courage to believe in the great cause? Do you wonder how you can too live a commissioned life to go after God’s cause?

As Wilberforce was commissioned to spend his whole life to end the slavery, Isaiah was commissioned for God’s cause. Isaiah 6:8-9 tells us Isaiah was commissioned to go and to tell people God’s message. As we will see from Isaiah 6:9-13, Isaiah would encounter long years of people rejecting God’s message to their destruction before seeing some turning to God.

• God is looking for men and women who will give their lives for the cause of the gospel.
• God is looking for men and women who will advance the gospel faithfully in spite of drawn out defeats and failures and rejections.
• God is looking for men and women who will advance the gospel without losing heart.
• God is looking for men and women to take the gospel to their neighbors, to their friends, to their coworkers, to the colleagues, to the families.
• God is asking, “Whom shall I send?” God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is asking, “who will go for us?” Isaiah 6:8.

I believe that it is you and me that God wants to commission to go and tell the gospel. But, before you can share the gospel to anyone, you must be exposed to the gospel and experience its power to transform your relationship with God. That’s how it happened with Isaiah and that’s how it happened with Wilberforce and that’s how it must happen with you and me. First is the experience of the gospel transformation daily in your own life, and then the daily faithfulness to the commissioned life to share the gospel with the world. Commissioned life begins with the gospel transformation of your life.

The gospel transformation in seeing God

Isaiah 6:1-8 tells the vision of this gospel transformation that took place in Isaiah before he was commissioned to go and tell the gospel.

Isaiah 6:1 tells a little piece of information that it was when the king Uzziah died he had his vision of God. Before I walk through with you of the vision of God, I want to stay and explore the significance of this information about the death of a king.

2 Chronicles 26:16-21 tells the story of Uzziah, the king of Judah. He was the tenth king. He became the king at the age of 16 and reigned next 52 years. It says in 2 Chronicles 26:5, “He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. And as long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.” And, the passage goes on describing the success God gave him over the Philistines, building up the nation’s defense system of fortified cities, and a well-trained, supplied and equipped army. And, 26:15 tells us, “His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.” Then, there was the turning point to worse, “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.

He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.” When you read further you see Azariah the priest and other 80 courageous priests confronting the king for doing what was wrong. It says in verse 19, Uzziah became angry at the priests trying to stop him from assuming their priestly role. And, immediately God struck Uzziah with leprosy, visible on his forehead. And, there is the sad commentary about his reign in verse 21, “King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a spate house- leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD.”

Let me explain to you why this act of a king assuming a priestly duty amounted to unfaithfulness to God. When God instituted kings to rule Israel, he wanted make sure that the people and the kings knew very well that it was their God who was their true King. Another word, the kings of Israel were commissioned to serve the true King, their God under the ministry of the priests. So, Uzziah trying to assume the role of the priests was equivalent to him rejecting God as his true King. His action undermined God’s reign over him through the ministry of the priests. The king Uzziah who was commissioned to serve God his true King, instead became proud. He attributed the success to his own skill and ability and he saw no need to submit to the true King.

What does this have to do with the gospel transformation? It shows that the heart of the gospel transformation is about knowing, trusting and serving God as our true King. The gospel transformation is about living under God’s reign.

Although the earthly throne was vacated by the death of the king, God’s throne is never vacated. True King lives forever. So, Isaiah was given the amazing vision of God’s presence in the holy temple. It says that temple was filled with the train that is the hem of God’s robe by his ankles. The vision shows that God is so big that the temple itself cannot contain him. And, there are seraphs heavenly and mysterious creatures with six wings, flying two wings while covering their faces and feet with the rest of their wings. And, the vision shows them calling to one another. And, the sound of their voices shakes the temple and filling it with smoke. Their voice had the explosive thunder like the explosion of hydrogen gas.

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Holiness is God’s otherworldly character that sets him apart from his created order. As the Creator of the world, God’s otherworldly character is not stained by the sin, corruption, evil, lies, hatred in the world. Holiness unstained by the corruption of the world is like a light in darkness. As darkness cannot overcome a light, the darkness of the world cannot overcome God’s holiness.

So, here Isaiah writes for us his vision of God the true King as big beyond our imagination, fully worthy of our worship from the whole creation, and powerfully holy and uninfluenced by the darkness of the world but transforming it with his glory.

The gospel transformation of humility

When Isaiah was exposed to this unveiled vision of God who is big, worthy and holy, he was hurting. It was like the naked eyes staring at the fully glory of sun and feeling the scorching pain over his utter sinfulness. The pain he felt was like the pain felt when the purifying agent of salt liquid is poured over the exposed wound infested with infection.

“Woe to me… I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

I think Isaiah realized how he had tried to reduce God to be a small, unworthy, and compromising deity. And, God would not concede to men’s effort to box him to something he is not.

Contrast Isaiah’s response was to that of Uzziah. When the priests courageously told Uzziah the truth that it was not right for him to undermine God’s reign over him by assuming the priestly role, Uzziah responded not with humility but with the pride of anger. He probably thought, ‘I am the king. And, I can do whatever I want. You priests, who are you to tell me what I can do and what I cannot do. Get out of my way.’

The gospel transformation of forgiveness

Being exposed to the true vision of God, humbling himself to King’s reign, and now we see God doing that which Isaiah could not do, that which none of us can do.

We see the heavenly creature taking a live coal with the tongs from the altar and with it touching Isaiah’s mouth. And, the creature proclaims with the voice of thunder, “See, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Cleansing, forgiveness is something God does on the basis of his provision. It was God’s provided sacrifice that took the place of Isaac under Abraham’s knife. It was God’s provided lambs that took the place of Israelites under their sins.

It is God’s provided perfect lamb, Jesus Christ who took our place of guilt, condemned, crucified to die on the cross.

Contrast this to that of Uzziah. Being confronted by the priest of his sin, his rebellion against God, the true King, becoming angry in self-righteousness and the attitude of I can do whatever I want to do, Uzziah was struck down with leprosy. While Isaiah received cleansing through Christ’s sacrifice when he humbled himself, Uzziah received the mark of unclearness fit for his heart that undermined God’s reign over him.

This morning, who do you see in yourself? Do you see Isaiah who was commissioned because he was humbled himself and experience God’s grace in Christ or do you see Uzziah who was shamed from participating in God’s work because of his pride?

William Wilberforce used to pray this way. “Oh Lord, purify my soul from all its stains. Warm my heart with love of thee, animate my sluggish nature and fix my inconsistency, and volatility, that I may not be weary in well doing.”[i]

As Isaiah was, as Wilberforce was, God wants to use you for his great cause of the gospel. Would you let God to shine his bright light on you to expose the sins? Would you let God shower you his grace to forgive and restore? Would you let God commission you to be faithful to share the gospel regardless of how people respond to you?

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[i] http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Biographies/1492_Peculiar_Doctrines_Public_Morals_and_the_Political_Welfare/

Standing together for the next generation

Here is an amazing footage of a buffalo calf under attack from a group of vicious lions and how it was rescued from them... Envision the children's ministry through this footage.  The older generation collectively standing together for the next generation...

"The living, the living- they praise you, as I am doing today; father tell their children about your faithfulness." Isaiah 38:19 

"what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statues for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.  They would not be like their forefathers- a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not not faithful to him." Psalm 78:3-8

"Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come." Psalm 71:18

The fruit of the gospel (Isaiah 5)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, June 6, 2010

In this passage, I want people to understand who God is, especially of his covenant faithfulness, his love towards his people and the consequence of rejecting his covenant faithfulness, his love. Rather than rejecting this God of love, God of covenant faithfulness, I want people to respond to him and embrace justice of loving others. Call people to respond to the gospel and bear the fruit of righteousness and justice, loving God and loving people.

Few weeks ago, I brought our family van to Busse Automotive in Mt. Prospect to get break repaired. The great thing about this place is that I usually can have a loaner car if the job requires few days of work. That day, Mark Busse the owner didn’t have a loaner car for me. So, I opted to wait for the repair. I headed down to Caribou coffee

Shop across the Metra station. There were signs over the town. “Vote for Lee,” “Vote for Lee Dewyze.” The guy worked in the local paint shop. He would show up to work in the mornings and would belt things out in the back of the shop with his guitar.[i] He sang his way up to in American Idol to win it with millions of people voting for him. It’s crazy. Something about Lee, something about his sinning raspy voice has moved people to become his fan.

That’s kind of what we see here in Isaiah 5. Imagine Isaiah belting out with his guitar. He is not singing for himself. He is not singing to win a completion. He is singing for the one he loves a song about his loved one’s vineyard hoping that the Israelites would hear his song and be changed. But, the reality was people plainly rejected his song. I am praying that instead of rejecting the truth, we would listen to the song of the vineyard for transformation.

The portrait of God’s love

The song is an allegory about God’s love for Judah and Judah’s non-response to God’s pursuit. God in the song is the owner of a vineyard who works hard at it to provide just the right condition for the vines to yield abundant crop of good grapes.

But, in this case, the vines which represent the people of Judah, they miserably fail to yield good grapes; instead they yield only bad fruit.

In verse 2, we hear that the vineyard belongs to Isaiah’s loved one and that the vineyard is located a fertile hillside. It is a fertile hillside, but with many stones to be cleared. Here, we see the owner of the vineyard going out to the field digging out and clearing the vineyard of stones. It’s backbreaking work to rid of stones from a field. I am sure such work would leave the hands of the laborer blistered and bruised. Not only is the ground fertile and now cleared of stones, the owner plants the vineyard with the choices vines. He personally handpicked them, chose them. And, in order to protect the vineyard with the newly planted vines from the animals, intruders, the owner builds a watchtower with the cleared stones from the vineyard and guards it to ensure its safety. To be ready for the time when he can extract grape juice to make wine, the owner cut a winepress out of lime stones. There was no fancy breaking hammer, hammer drill or rotary hammer; it was all done by hands with crude tools to cut out a winepress.

We see the image of the owner of the vineyard going out of his way with his selfless hard works to ensure the best possible condition for his handpicked, chosen vines to yield good crop of grapes. The owner gave his best that he could give and nothing was held back to take care of the vineyard. In verse 4, God asks, “what more could have been done for my vineyard that I have done for it?” Nothing, there was nothing more he could have done for his vineyard.

What else God could do than to having sent his own Son, to work, to suffer, and to die in our place for our sins on the rugged cross and to raise hip up from the dead? What more could he have done to demonstrate his love for us? Nothing!

Having poured out his own sweat, his labor, his life, the owner of the vineyard having nothing more to give now expects fruitful yield from his chosen vines. But, instead of getting plum grapes, all he got from the vines are bad yield of wild grapes. I read that wild grapes only produce small fruit with large seeds and are often sour."[ii] Wild grapes are not the product for which the owner had planned and labored. The wild grapes of inferior quality were worthless. They were bad.

We learn from verse 7 clearly what this allegory means. The LORD Almighty is the owner of the vineyard. The vineyard is the house of Israel and the vines are the people of Israel, the chosen people of God’s own delight.

And, the fruit that the LORD looked for was justice and righteousness, but what he got from his people was the bloodshed and the cries of their victims from their self-serving greed. I really like what Dennis Bratcher had to say about righteousness and justice.

Righteousness is what is owed to God because he is God… not a moral category of perfection, but living a life… that acknowledges that God is indeed God. It is a response of faithfulness that is willing to accept the responsibility of being God’s people. It is a relationship in which the people “love the Lord” totally and completely.

And, when righteousness reigns that is when people love the Lord, it is manifested in justice. Bratcher says this about justice.

Justice is… a way to talk about equality and fairness arising from a concern for others that is willing to place human need and relationship as the highest priority of life flowing from relationship with God. In the fullest sense, to “do justice” is the same thing as loving one’s neighbor as oneself.

God is after the response of righteousness and justice that is love of God and love of people from you and me. Righteousness, love of God, justice, love of people is truly the fruit of the gospel. Anything else is bad yield unfit for the gospel.

God’s response to bad fruit

Verse 5 and 6 describes God judgment against the vines that yield only bad. To protect the vineyard, often throne hedge or stone hedge were built around its parameter. Here, in response to vines that only yield bad fruit, he would remove the hedge thorns and wall of protection. And, the hedge that thwarts away the wild animals and the invaders now gone, the vines would be trampled and destroyed; God withholding the rain, withholding work of pruning, cultivating, the vineyard would be reduced to a wasteland.

When God lifted his protective force shield around Israel, it became vulnerable to the surrounding nations and would face devastating invasion from Assyria and exile. James Mead said that this judgment didn’t mean Israel lost its election status, but instead what they lost for many generations was the blessings of that election.[iii]

Read Isaiah 5:25-30, we see the devastating effect of God removing his hedge of protection over Israel. In his righteous anger, we see God lifting up a banner for the foreign nations, giving them permission to be the rod of his anger against unfruitful, unfaithful Israel. 5:27-30, we see how fierce these forces against Israel… mighty strength, readiness to attack with their destructive weapons, and the sound of battle cries, their roar that sends chills to bones, even the light will be darkened by the clouds. That’s quite depressing.

Colossians 1:16 speaks of Jesus as the image of the invisible God… all things were created… by him and for him. And, verse 17, “in him all things hold together.” This hedge of protection from God is too often unappreciated and unnoticed by us. It is chilling thought to imagine what could happen if God lifts up his hedge of protection over us. And, if God lifted up his hedge of protection over Israel because they didn’t love him and love people, should you and I be alert by the tragedy of history and turn to God?

We too face the same warning from Jesus. Jesus warned against unfruitfulness in Matthew 21:43, “the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”

How do we make sense of this chilling warning against unfruitfulness? God’s goal is not to just to plant choice vines. His goal is to grow vines that would produce the fruit of righteousness and justice, the fruit of loving God and loving people.

The nature of bad fruit

If we are not growing in righteousness of loving God and justice of loving people, we are bound to produce the bad fruit. Isaiah 5:8-24 identify the specifics of the bad fruit.

• Greed (5:8-10)

for bigger houses and more land… they violated God’s ownership of the land and the spirit of stewardship…  In verse 9-10 we see that the greed of possession would meet the consequence of dispossession and unfruitfulness. C. S. Lewis, in The Great Divorce…he likens hell to an enormous city with mansions set off at vast distances from one another, because nobody likes anybody else and they end up living alone.[iv]  “a ten acre vineyard will produce only a baht of wine, a homor of seed only an ephah of grain”… this is an image of ineffective and unproductiveness (5:10). 10 acre = 10 yoke (each yoke equals the area of land where a single pair of oxen can plow in a day); “bath” liquid measure = “ephah” a dry measure of grai = between 4.5-9 gallons.  “homer” a donkey load, the amount of grain a donkey can carry = 1/10 of an ephah.

• Self-indulgence (5:11-17)

… is the preoccupation with worldly stuffs, worshiping the object of God’s blessing instead of worshiping the Giver of all good gifts in life.  It shows “no regard for the deeds of the LORD and no respect for the work of his hands” (5:12)

• Cynicism (5:18-19)

… talks like this to God, “bring it on God… whatever judgment you have against me, go ahead and bring it on because I am just going to go on doing whatever I feel like doing.”  The cynicism about God emerges as it becomes clear there is a conflict between what I want and what God’s revealed will is. If there is no submission of my needs and myself to God at that moment, cynicism about him is the logical next step: “If God doesn’t like what I am doing, let’s see him stop it.”^[v] 

• Rationalization/justification… Moral perversion (5:20, 21)

Rationalization is calling sin not as sin, evil not as evil… conscience is seared.   It assumes their own personal moral authority over God’s moral authority.

It is like the way synsepalum dulcificum works. A slightly tart “Miracle fruit” West African berry can turn sour to sweet by altering taste buds about an hour after you eat it. So, you may see people eating up lime wedges as if they were candy. Straight lemon juice tastes like lemonade, goat cheese tastes like it is covered in powdered sugar, beer tastes like milkshake, rhubarb tastes like a sugar stick… physiology behind it… the fruit’s protein polyphenols binds to taste buds and altering the tongue’s sweet receptors to activate when they come in contact with sour foods.[vi]

Greed breeds self-indulgence. Self-indulgence dulls and clouds the spiritual faculty making it easy to rationalize sins.

• Social injustice (5:22-24)

Social injustice is born out of greed, self-indulgence, cynicism, and rationalization.  “The astounding truth of the covenant is that how we treat each other is perhaps the most significant indicator of our relationship to God… If we are to be in a relationship with him, we must agree to treat one another fairly and with fundamental respect, recognizing that a person’s life, possessions, reputation, and marriage are inviolable. This is so because God is a person and this is how he treats persons”^[vii]  There cannot be social justice until some persons decide that the meeting of their personal needs must be secondary to having the basic needs of others met. This will never happen until such persons come to the realization that God wishes to meet their needs and can do it better for them than they themselves can.^[viii]

So, what can you do to stop the growth of these sins? Simply trying really hard not to be greedy, self-indulgent, cynical, not try to rationalize, not to become unjust is not going to go too far. The best way to retard and rid of the growth of bad fruit is by producing the good fruit of loving God and loving people.

Righteousness and justice, loving God and loving people begins with responding to Jesus who calls us to remain in him. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” The gospel points us to relationship with Jesus. It is in relationship with Jesus we see clearly to what extent God went to care for and to protect his vineyard. It is in relationship with Jesus we understand we are created to produce the fruit of righteousness and justice. And, it is only in relationship with Jesus that we are empowered to produce the good fruit.

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[i] http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/06/american-idol-lee-dewyze-sang-in-the-paint-shop-all-the-time.html

[ii] http://www.cresourcei.org/lectionary/YearC/Cproper15ot.html

[iii] http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=10/5/2008&tab=1

[iv] C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. pp. 20-22.

^[v] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (117). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[vi] http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=81

^[vii] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (117). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

^[viii] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (118). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.