Subtraction before gaining (Isaiah 3-4)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, May 30, 2010

Concerning the breakup of the engagement and the wedding of our brother and sister in our church, I would like to take little bit of time to help you make sense of it.

• You are not married until you walk down the aisle as husband and wife.
• Engagement period is for preparing for marriage, but it is also a buffer time when a couple can make their choice not to marry each other for various reasons.
• It is not my place to elaborate for the reasons for their breakup. But, I will say this much. Although it is hard to see right now if any good can come out of this breakup, I believe that God is in control and he is working in their lives. They’ve worked earnestly through many issues during the premarital counseling sessions. However, in honesty they realized that there were things about their personal convictions and values that couldn’t be reconciled for marriage. And, I want you church to know that it is okay for them to dissolve the engagement and wedding in the light of what they’ve discovered about themselves and about each other.
• To do what’s right for the right reasons takes great courage and dependence in the Spirit of God. And, it is never late to do what’s right even it meant calling off the wedding.
• I am sure you are wondering how you can care for our brother and sister.  Let me suggest some ways for you. 
  • You need to be convinced of the gospel that God is at work and he is in control even in the heart wrenching breakup of engagement and wedding. If you are not sure that God is at work in times like this, you will not be much help to them; you will actually become hindrance to what God wants to accomplish in their lives.
  • You need to know that at times God takes things away from us that we depend on for pleasure and self-sufficiency in order to point us to Jesus Christ as our sufficiency.
  • The best way to help them is to soak them with your prayer. They are both suffering from massive heartaches that God will need to heal.
  • Call them, email them, text them to let them know that you support them, that God is at work. Pray for them in person, on the phone.
  • Offer them your listening ears and understanding and that you are there for them if they want to process with you. Offer your shoulders for them to cry.
  • Don’t participate in gossiping or speculating. Don’t participate in blaming game. If you must know, ask them personally.
  • Remember… we are a gospel community. In all circumstances, we need to trust in the power of the gospel to birth something beautiful and life changing from ugly and messy situations.

Now, for the message, I said earlier that at times God takes things away from us that we depend on for self-sufficiency and pleasure in order to point us to Jesus Christ as our sufficiency and our joy. That is the nature of the gospel. Gospel of Christ turns us away from the world and turns us to Christ. Paul said it well when he said in Philippians 3:7, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” The gospel requires subtraction before gaining, subtracting the idols of self-sufficiency and pleasure in order to gain the sufficiency and joy in Christ.

Jesus explains it this way in Matthew 16:26, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Eugene Peterson paraphrases it like this, “What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?” Who wouldn’t want to gain the whole world? But, if adding the whole world to your possession means losing your life, you understand that this is not a sound proposition. It is a bad deal. Really, who wants to gain the whole world but only to lose your soul, your life?

Subtraction of the idols of self-sufficiency and pleasure must take place before your soul can be sufficient in Christ alone. Something must go, something must be taken out, something and everything that blinds you from seeing God as your true support and supply for your existence they all have to go. Chapter 3 deals with that which must be taken out while chapter 4 envisions what God wants to give.

Subtraction: What must be taken away?

In chapter 3, we see God doing a demolition work. Here is how C. S. Lewis saw our problem in his book Mere Christianity. He wrote, “You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.” Because God’s vision is to build a place, a dwelling for himself, C. S. Lewis wrote, God “starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.” So, what is God after? What is God trying to demolish in order to realize his vision?

Unbelief (chapter 3:1-15)

What we see in 3:1-15 is God rooting out unbelief in him.

Isaiah 3:1 says God was taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah all supplies of food and all supplies of water. And, from Isaiah 3:2-15, we see God taking away both the legitimate and illegitimate leadership: hero, warrior, judge, prophet, elder, the captain of fifty, man of rank, counselor, craftsman (ESV skillful magician) and the legitimate leaders of soothsayer (diviner, fortune teller) and clever enchanter (the expert in charms).

All the supplies and support came from God. And, God established the leadership among them to remind them who is their true support and supplier. But, the leadership was corrupted. They were practically atheists who denied God of all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful.

When God took away the corrupted leadership that people trusted in, we see people desperately trying to fill the leadership vacuum; They put up boys to be their officials; mere children to govern them (Isaiah 3:4). We know it didn’t work because we see in Isaiah 3:5 the nation engulfed in chaos of oppression and uprising. The country became so poor and devastated that if you simply owned a cloak, if you had a coat to wear, that is if you were little better off than the rest, then you could become a leader. But, the reality was that no one wanted to step up and lead because they have forgotten who God is and what God was after. God was after building his Kingdom, but the Israelites were trying to build their own little territory without God.

Isaiah 2:20 says, “Stop trusting in a man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” The Israelites trusted in leadership that was against God. Isaiah 3:8 says that their words and deeds were against the LORD, and they defied God’s presence. Another word, they talked and acted as though they didn’t believe God could see their wrongdoings, or, perhaps, believed that God would just be silent and unmoved by their wrongdoings. Their words and their actions showed unbelief in God who is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful God. Again, practically speaking, they were atheists. So, it makes sense what we read in Isaiah 3:14-15. Since the leaders and the elders behaved like atheists, they had no fear in plundering and crushing the poor, the helpless whom God looked after.

• How about us? Are we Christian atheists? We say we believe in God, but in practice do we reject God who is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful God? Can you think of the ways you may defy God’s glorious presence, talk and act as though God cannot or doesn’t care to see when you wrong or when you don’t do what’s right?

Vanity of self-obsession (Isaiah 3:16-26)

What happens to a nation when the leaders become practical atheists? When the leaders ignore all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful God, what happens to the people? It creates self-obsessed people who only have eyes for luxury and comfort.

When you take your eyes off of God who is all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, God who has his mission for you to make him known in this world, you cannot help but look to yourself. That’s what we see in 3:16-26. When the male leadership of the nation squandered away their God given mandate to lead the nation to make God known in the world, their women became proud and self-obsessed. They became obsessed with everything that made them beautiful, ornaments, headbands, crescent, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, veils, scarves, ankle bracelets, sashes, perfumes, charms, rings, jewels, party clothes, gowns capes, purses, mirrors fine linen garments, head ornaments, and shawls, perfume, rope, elegant hair… The list goes on.

But, Isaiah 3:18 says, “In that day the LORD will snatch away their finery.” Isaiah 3:24 echoes, “instead of beauty, branding.” Instead of fragrance, stench, instead of well-dressed hair, baldness, instead of beauty, branding… NLT makes it clearer, “Shame will replace her beauty.”

• Think about your life. Are you obsessed with yourself? Do you spend most of your time trying to appear put-together, confident, competent, and beautiful? Do you realize that all your effort to appear put-together will amount to nothing? Do you realize that all your beautifying obsession will amount to shame?

What does God want to give you?

So, we see God is after getting rid of unbelief in him who is all-knowing, all-present and all-powerful, we see that God is after getting rid of vanity of self-obsession.  Now, what is that God want to give us in place of unbelief and vanity of self-obsession?

Isaiah 4:2 says that “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful an d glorious…”  The Branch of the LORD is a Messianic title that points to the rule of Christ. The true leadership and beauty are not derived from human leadership, nor from things we put on, nor from the persona we put out. True leadership and true beauty comes from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 4:3 and 4… here, we see God envisioning us as those left in Zion, as the remnants and holy because Jesus washes away our filth from sins and our mistreatment of others. God wants to transform us from being plagued with unbelief and vanity to being covered by his grace, his kindness, his power of forgiveness.

Isaiah 4:5-6… here, we see God envisioning us under his proactive canopy in the desert, covered by his cloud of smoke by day and flaming fire by night, a shelter and shade from the heat of day, a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.  This is one of the most beautiful images of what God wants to give us.  These verses remind me of what apostle John wrote in John 1:14.  “The Word [the Son of God] became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Jesus is the canopy, a shelter and shade, a refuge and hiding place. He is our full support and our full supply. He is our true leader, he is our true beauty. That’s what God wants to give us, his Son Jesus Christ to dwell in us. Isn’t that great?  The gospel seeks to change the idolaters like you and me who sees the universe with ourselves at the center of it^[1], to people who see the universe with Jesus at the center as our true leader and as our true beauty.

Consider what Oswalt wrote in his commentary.

We have sinned in our lust for comfort, pleasure, and security, and we are now experiencing those results. But it is not a cruel God who brings those things upon us, and it is not a rejecting God who abandons us to the fire. Rather, it is a loving God who sees no other way to bring us to the place where he can live in us.^[2]

He is talking about God’s pruning working of subtracting unbelief and vanity of self-obsession.  God takes away precisely because he loves us in order to give us the best that he can give us, his Son Jesus Christ.  That’s love. 

Do you know what must be subtracted in order to gain Christ as your true leader and your true beauty?

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^[1] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (101). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

^[2] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (107). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Structure your congregation to encourage more ministry - Ministry Toolbox - Pastors

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Hope that does not disappoint

Isaiah 49:23, "Those who hope in me will not be disappointed."
Isaiah 29:23, "When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.  Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction."

Hope sees the future beyond helpless, confusing, chaotic swirls of present reality.

Hope sees the future of God in control, working out his sovereign will for the good of those who love him. 

Hope sees the future of God at work with his invisible hands transforming his promises into present reality.

Hope sees God.

Passing on to the next generation

Psalm 78:4, "We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might and the wonders that he has done."  

This commitment to disciple the next generation to treasure the wonders of God is set in the context of salvation history.  The salvation history captured in this psalm tells the stories of the unfaithfulness of the people of God and God's patience towards them, his discipline to correct them, and his act of restoration.  The history tells how fickle we people are, prone to wander, desperately in need to rehear God's salvation stories, to see God's vision for our lives, to run the race set out for us.  So, we must press on to disciple our next generation that they may know and follow God wholeheartedly.

at any time the covenant people of God are never more than one generation from extinction, so it is utterly vital to pass on this accumulating insight to the next generation.  (D. A. Carson)

God saves… to be full of God (Isaiah 2)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

What’s wrong with this picture? The picture shows a boy reaching for an apple and a mother who looks like she adores her son with pure joy.

This picture is not in touch with the reality. As parents, I don’t think we ever seen our girls reaching for that healthy, delicious granny smith and have that pure joy displayed on our face with huge smiles. No, let me break it to you. Here is the reality. Parenting 101, when you take your toddlers to grocery, you avoid the aisle loaded with snacks. Those cute little hands and those little legs, those little hearts are helpless in the sight of candies, you will never get out of the aisle. So, avoid the snack aisle at all cost.

But, then there is the inevitability of having to face the biggest challenge of doing grocery with the little toddlers. Check out line. Here is a typical picture of a checkout line. This is the most dangerous part of doing grocery. You are distracted from having to load the grocery onto the convey belt, having to wait for the clerk to scan them, having to pull out your credit card and sign it, load the grocery to your cart. And, when you are most distracted those little wondering hands can reach for that candy bar and put it in their mouth with the wrapper still on. And, just like that you lost the battle. I lost two battles so far at the grocery lines.

Why do we battle like this as parents? Why don’t we just let them have all the candies they want to eat? Why don’t we just let them have their full? We will have happy children who would love us to death. The simplest answer is because we love them. We know once our children become full from consuming bars of chocolate, they will have no desire to eat the real food at the table, the real food that grows them.

That is the battle we see in Isaiah 2. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” in John 6:35. But, what if you are not drawn to Jesus and don’t want to open the door for Jesus to come in and dine with you because you are already full of stuff from the world?

The vision of the future: full of God.

Isaiah pictures another vision of the future. You know it is the picture of the future because it is “in the last days” (Isaiah 2:2). In his vision, Isaiah saw the mountain of the house of the LORD being established as the highest of the mountains, lifted above all the hills.

There was a story this past week about a 13 year old boy named Jordan Romero. He took out a satellite phone and called his mother and said, “Mom, I’m calling you from the top of the world.” He is the youngest ever to climb the peak of the world’s highest mountain, the Mount Everest at 29,035 feet[1]

The temple ground of Jerusalem is elevated from the surrounding area, but it is no way the tallest mountain. Mount Everest would dwarf it. But, what Isaiah saw of the future was this picture of the nations streaming to God’s house situated on the highest mountain. Many peoples from all the nations of all different backgrounds, skin colors, cultures, languages will be streaming to the summit where God’s house dwell (Isaiah 2:2-3). We see the peoples motivating each other, calling each other out. “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD” (2:3), “Come… let us walk in the light of the LORD” (2:5). Not only they yearn for God’s presence, we see them embracing God’s law, we see their intense desire to be taught in God’s ways, to walk in his paths (3:3). In this future scene where God is elevate above all things in the world, where God is the center and supreme, where God is the judge, we see this picture of incredible peace where the nations turning their weapons into the instruments of peace.

The present reality: full of stuff and full of yourself

Having presented us with the future vision full of God from 2:1-5, now the rest of the chapter 2 deals with the present reality where people are full of stuff and themselves.

In Isaiah 2:6-9, we see what the Israelites were full of. They were full of superstitions, divination and dependence on pagans. Superstitions are instead of believing in the evidence of what God is doing in our lives, believing in something like “luck” or “chance.” Divination was various practices like inquiring dead spirits, studying shapes of kidneys from dead animals in order to learn about future. In our time, practicing divination takes a much more sophisticated shape like trying to figure out the next up and coming companies, or the next hot stock items that’s going to give you greatest returns for your investment. In our time, clasping hands with pagans that is alliance with pagans is equivalent to us trying to seek happiness through other people.

They were also full of idols. He calls them “the works of their hands… what their fingers have made” in 2:8. I don’t know about you, but for me whenever I put my time and energy, and even creativity into making something, it is really hard to let go. When the ancient people either made for themselves or pay dear money for others to make idols for them, the idols required great deal of money, energy and creativity and initiation. We may not pay someone to make us piece of statue that looks like weird disproportional looking cow with big horns, but for us, our idols can take shapes of building career, reputation, keeping up with the hottest fashion, the latest and the greatest thing to have and behold, the next bigger house, the bigger wedding… the list can go. Idols can be anything that we invest our energy, our resources, and our time and takes over the center stage with the promise to make us happy and fulfill. We create idols that they may serve us.

Consider the ugly transformation of Smeagol in the Lord of the Rings. When Semagol saw the ring that his cousin found from a lake, he claimed the ring as his birthday present. He took it by strangling his cousin to death. Over time, he became this ugly creature known as Gollum.

What’s behind the tight grip over idols, the practices of believing in lucks and chances, incessant obsession over controlling their own future? It’s called pride. We see the portrait of pride in more detail in Isaiah 2:10-21. The tall and lofty cedars and oaks, the towering mountains and high hills, the lofty tower and fortified walls of defensive system, the trading ships of economic prosperity were the prize possession of the ancient Israelites. Instead of seeing God’s blessings in their lives, they saw themselves as people who could engineer their own happiness with their own hands and little bit of luck. This is what pride does to a person.

The solution: throw away the idols

The solution for Gollums of today is to throw away stuffs engineered in our pride and to make the room to be full of God. That is what we see in Isaiah 2:20, “In that day men will throw away to the rodents and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship.” Why would any of us throw away that which we consider precious because we made it with our own hand, precious because it has cost us money, energy, and creativity?

Isaiah gives us two reasons. Two reasons are repeated captured in these phrases, “the dread of the LORD” and “the splendor of his majesty.” He does it in verse 10, 19, and 21.

• “The dread of the LORD” answers, “Who is in charge?” Isaiah says in verse 12, “The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled),” verse 17, “the arrogance of the man will be brought low, the pride of men humbled.” When you filter through yourself and what the stuff represent through this question, you can identify if you are holding on to idols.
• “The splendor of his majesty” answers, “Who is it for?” Another helpful way to identify idols is to ask this question. If it is sorely for our own pleasure while does nothing to bring glory to God, you know you have something that needs to go.

May God allow us to be courageous people who deal with the idols in life and the areas of pride with decisive action to rid of them!

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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/sports/23sportsbriefs-jordan.html

Life Group Application on Faith/unbelief (Numbers 14:39-44)

Today’s Bible study explores the difference between belief as embracing God’s promise (God’s best) for your life vs. unbelief as rejecting God’s promise for your life while trying to create your own vision of life.

The context of the passage for Numbers 14:39-44 within chapter 13 and 14…

• God commanded Moses to send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which he was giving to the Israelites (13:1-2).
• 12 leaders from 12 tribes were chosen to explore the land (13:3-16).
• The object of the exploration was to learn about the condition of the land, the type of people living in the land, the type of protection for their towns, the productivity of soil, and to bring the fruit of the land (13:17-20).
• he account of their exploration (13:21-25).

Pick five people to read these sections 13:26-33 (two reports), 14:1-9 (Reactions to two reports); 14:10-19 (God’s first response & Moses’ intercessory prayer); 14:20-38 (God’s response to Moses’ prayer); 14:39-44 (People’s insincere confession and presumption)

In the table below, compare the responses from the majority, the minority and God

	… of the majority (10 spies and the people)	… of the minority (Joshua, Caleb, Moses and Aaron)	Differences between the two groups in …	Differences in God’s responses to …
Report				reports
Reaction				reactions
Faith or unbelief in God’s promise				Faith / unbelief to his promise

God’s loving promise to give the land flowing with milk and honey was God’s best for the Israelites. Yet, we see the majority rejecting to get hold of God’s promise unlike Caleb and Joshua.

• What inspires you about Caleb and Joshua in how they insisted on going after God’s promise? What inspires you about Moses’ prayer?
• Where do you see the gospel in this story?
• What do you need to change in order to respond in faith to God’s promise, God’s best for you?

Apostasy (Numbers 14:39-44)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, May 9, 2010

On Mother’s Day…

“Making a decision to have a child–it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”

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Today, I want to share with you what God’s been pressing in my heart to ponder, the sin of apostasy. D. A. Carson says, “The essence of apostasy is rejection of covenant standing through unbelief.” It is “Knowing the promises and the power of God who confirmed them with an oath,” but refusing to believe. Unbelief in God’s promises and his power leads down the road to despising God; and this spirit of contempt against God leads to rebellion. Once down this road of rebellion, it leads to dispossession of the covenant standing and dying outside of God’s promise.[1]

Simply said, apostasy is rejecting God’s vision for your life while trying to create your own vision of life. The scariest thing about apostasy is that you do get what you want in place of what God wants for you. When God wants to give you heaven, the apostasy desires hell. This is why apostasy is dangerous and we must avoid it.

Now, apostasy doesn’t concern people outside of church. People who don’t know God cannot commit apostasy because apostasy involves standing away from one’s covenant relationship with God. Apostasy assumes that a person has tasted what it is to stand in God’s promises, his grace, his love, his power. So, the warning against apostasy is for you and me.

One of the clearest pictures of apostasy emerges from Numbers 14-15. Our focus is on Numbers 14:39-44. The Israelites appear to be confessing their sins, “we have sinned” and ready to embrace God’s promise, his vision to give them the land. But, they hear these crushing words from Moses, “This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies… Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”

Instead of possessing God’s promises to them, apostasy led them to dispossessing God’s promises and facing the sword of judgment. That was the consequence of apostasy.

Context

Unbelief birthed fear.

In Numbers 13, the spies were sent out to the Promised Land and they came back at the end of forty days and showed the Israelites the fruit from the land.  They confirmed that indeed the land was flowing with milk and honey, which is a metaphor for all good things available through the land's richness (Numbers 13:25-27).  The problem was not that the land was no good. The land was exceedingly good. The problem was that there were powerful people, literally giants living in the fortified and large cities (Numbers 13:28).  Facing these giants, the ten spies were convinced that the Israelites were no match to these giants; compared to these giants, in their own eyes, the Israelites were like insignificant and helpless grasshoppers (Numbers 13:27-33). 

Caleb tried to silence these spies giving the bad report. He demanded, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it" (Exodus 13:30). Joshua, Moses and Aaron were all with Caleb on this. They urged the Israelites to stand in God’s promise, God’s vision to give them the Promised Land. But, the Israelites chose to believe the bad report from the majority voice; instead of embracing God’s vision for them in the Promised Land, they began envisioning life back in Egypt.

Fear birthed grumbling and rejection.

When they allowed themselves to be overcome by fear of these giants living in the fortified cities in the land God promised to give to them, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron (Exodus 14:2). And the grumbling led to standing away from God’s promise.

• They believed that God was not good after all to bring them out to this land only to let them fall by the sword of the giants (Exodus 14:2). 
• They sounded pious and righteous when they raised their concern for their helpless wives and children from being taken as plunder (Exodus 14:3).
• Facing what appears to be the impossible task to take over the Promised Land in spite of what God promised to them, they determined that it was better to retreat back to Egypt where they were slaves (Exodus 14:3). 
• Having rejected the leadership of Moses and Aaron as flawed, they were determined to choose a new leader for themselves to lead them back to Egypt (Exodus 14:4). 

Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb intervened. As the rebellion escalated, Moses, Aaron fell facedown in front of the Israelites, and the two other spies Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes as a sign of great distress (Exodus 14:6) and they intervened to convince the Israelites that God was indeed good and strong to fulfill his promise to them. They were telling them, “Come on, don’t stand away in your own vision. Come and embrace God’s promise for you, his vision for you.’

• if God was pleased with them, he would lead them into the land flowing with milk and honey and give it to them (Exodus 14:8).
• Only if they did not rebelled against the LORD, Only if they did not fear the people of the land, they would take the Promised Land with God's help for the LORD was with them (Exodus 14:9).

Grumbling and rejection birthed violent rebellion.  Their grumbles and rejection turned now to violence as they threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb (Exodus 14:10). 

God intervened. What did God think of their grumbling and rejection of Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb?   God's questions sum up what he thought of them. 

"How long will these people treat me with contempt?  How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?  (Exodus 14:11)... Contempt and unbelief was how God saw their actions.  He was ready to strike them down with a plague and to destroy them and to raise up a nation through Moses (Exodus 14:12). 

Moses interceded.  In the face of God's holiness and his justice, Moses appealed to God's love.  "In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now." (Exodus 14:19)

God's response to Moses' intercession.  "I have forgiven them... Nevertheless... not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times- not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers.  No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it." (Exodus 14:20-23).

Driven by the progression of apostasy of unbelief, fear, grumbling, rejection and rebellion, they stood away from God’s vision for their lives, God now allowed them to have their way, the vision for their own lives.

When they decided to stand away from God’s vision for the Promised Land, they now faced having to stand in the desert and live and die there (Exodus 14:34).

• God's forgiveness meant not treating their contempt and rebellion with swift justice of death right then except those spies who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land; God struck them down to death with a plague (Exodus 14:36). 
• Forgiveness didn't shield them from the consequence of suffering from sins of contempt and rebellion against God's promise, God's vision, God's hope for them.  Their contempt and rebellion resulted in forfeiting God's promise. 
• Consequence of rebellion... spending forty years in the desert and tasting what it is like to have God against them
• Collateral damage... In their fear, they thought they were protecting their children from being taken as plunder by rejecting God's promise, but their rejecting meant their children suffering for their unfaithfulness (Exodus 14:33). Children instead of growing up in the Promised Land, they wandered in the desert for forty years.

Let’s recapture what can be learned from this context:

When people of God grumble and reject God's vision for their lives repeatedly, they forfeit the life God envisions for them while causing the collateral damage. (Instead of enjoying the land flowing with milk and honey, they remained in the desert for forty years, subjecting their children). 

That brings us to our passage Exodus 14:39-44.  Having heard and seen God's judgment against the repeated contempt and rebellion, it doesn't surprise us to see them confessing, "We have sinned."  But, what's surprising is their action.  "We will go up to the place the LORD promised" (Exodus 14:40). 

When God blessed them and promised to go with them to take the land flowing with milk and honey, they dealt God with contempt and rebellion; and the consequence was the forfeiture of the Promised Land.  Now, facing the alternative of having to live and die in the desert for next forty years, suddenly, they gained the new appetite for God's promise of the land flowing with milk and honey. 

The way a child takes the time out shows a lot about their heart.  Biting, screaming, kicking, stealing, etc. get you consequence of timeout or even spanking.  But, suddenly awakened to the consequence to one's action, the child has a surge of tears and begging, "I promise.  I won't do it again."  They sound so sincere.  As parents, we have to discern if this child is responding in genuine repentance or trying to avoid the consequence.

When the Israelites saw the spies with bad report about God's Promised Land struck dead, and now having faced with the alternative to spend the rest of their lives on the other side of the Promised Land in the desert, they are tearing up, they are welling up with strong emotions and sheer determination to make things right.  

But, the problem was that their contempt and the rebellion against God's vision for their lives in the Promised Land didn't go away.  Behind the façade of confession of their sins was still the same attitude of contemptuous rebellion. It was too late to stand in God’s promise. Moses made this very clear to them, "Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword" (Exodus 14:43).  Yet, the sad reality of apostasy is that they didn’t believe this would happen to them. They thought few tears, and sheer determination to take back what they rejected repeatedly would be good enough. But, it was too late.

That’s the sad reality of apostasy. Apostasy doesn’t go away with few tears. You cannot undo the sin of apostasy. When people push aside God’s vision for their lives repeatedly wanting nothing to do with God’s vision, God allows it. Instead of the Promised Land, you get the desert.

Having tasted the heavenly gift of manna, witnessed God’s power to break them free from the bondage under Egyptian rule, seen the parting of the Red Sea and walked on the dry ground of the Red Sea, all those who had experienced God, yet couldn’t trust God’s promise to give them the Promised Land, they were to stand away from God’s promise.

In the New Testament, Hebrews 6 speaks to the sad reality of apostasy. It says:

“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” (Hebrews 6:4-6).

Although the writer of Hebrews spoke in this stark warning against apostasy, he remained optimistic and hopeful about the readers. He said in verse 9, “Even though we speak like this,” meaning warning against apostasy, “dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case-things that accompany salvation.”

So, it is in the similar tone that I speak to you this morning. Although I speak to warn against apostasy, against standing away from God’s promise, God’s vision for your life, I am optimistic that you will stand in God’s promise. I am confident that you will learn to envision your life as God envisions for you.

This ought to give you tremendous hope. When you look back, you are reminded of your failures, your sins, and your darkness. When you look back, you are faced with spiritual apathy and lethargy. When you look back, you wonder if your life can be any different. Yet, not because you are able to change anything about yourself, but sorely because of the gospel of good news for the new heart and the new life transformation, you can envision better things that accompany salvation.

This is why we must hear the gospel freshly and daily. The gospel is not just for those who don’t have relationship with Christ. The gospel is not something that gets you in the kingdom of God, but then you can forget about it. No, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that he suffered and died in our place for our sins, and that he remained in the tomb, and that he was raised to life by the power of God, this gospel is the power of God that allows us to have relationship with God and to experience things of salvation, now, today, everyday. In the gospel, you can be honest with your sins, your failures, your darkness because God covers you with forgiveness. In the gospel, you can hope for transformation, because the gospel is all about producing lasting changes in you so that you conform to Christ. In the gospel, you can envision your life freshly as God sees your life, unhindered by your dark past. So, keep the gospel at the center of your heart. Keep sin out of your heart. And, keep God’s vision, his promise for your life alive.

Illustration from Jesus

Let me close the sermon by sharing the story of parable that Jesus told in Matthew 25. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise to take oil in jars along with their lamps, while the foolish five did not take any oil with their lamps.

Only those who were prepared, ready with the oil were able to greet the bridegroom and enter the wedding banquet. But those, without the oil and on their way to buy some oil forfeited the opportunity to greet the bridegroom and be at the banquet.

The vision that is laid out in this parable is the vision of wedding banquet. Christ is the bridegroom who is coming. The church is the virgins waiting for the return of the bridegroom.

We all know how much our friends who are getting married spend their time, energy, money to get ready for their big day. It takes months and months of preparation, getting reception hall, getting the guest list ready and invitations mailed out, getting premarital counseling, preparing the wedding ceremony details, then there are rehearsal dinner, gifts for the wedding party, oh and also honeymoon trip to take care of. Did I mention photography and video, limo service? How about place for the wedding guests to stay? How about losing those extra pounds to fit into the wedding dress and the tuxedo? Are Makeup and hair ready?

Six month to a year or even more is spent when people get married. Apostasy is like once envisioning that wedding day, but then you decide that you don’t want to marry that person anymore. So, you break the engagement and break the relationship to pursue new relationships.

Perhaps, none of us are prepared to go all the way to break our engagement with Christ. But, church, how are you spending your energy, resources, and creativity to prepare to meet your bridegroom, and the wedding banquet?

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[1] Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition (4th ed.). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.

Jeff Vanderstelt from Soma Communities interviewed by Ed Stetzer

Ed: Obviously, the word "missional" is spoken of, used by, and claimed by many groups. Instead of giving another definition for the word, can you tell the readers an example of where you and your wife are seeking to live missionally?

The best expression of mission for my wife, three children and I is our own neighborhood and our children's elementary school. We have called a group of Christians to join us in the mission of making disciples who will make disciples in these two fields. These people have reoriented their lives along with us toward this mission.

This looks like meals together with believers and unbelievers 2-4 times a week; cleaning up the yard of our widowed neighbor next store; serving at the elementary's auctions, community events and after school programs; going through "The Story of God" 1-2 times a year with unbelievers to introduce them to the Gospel; sharing our house for others to live with us and join us on the mission; having an "open door" policy to our neighbors and friends; throwing parties regularly to meet more people who we hope will also come to faith in Jesus; etc... We focus on demonstrating the change the Gospel makes in our lives through tangible expressions of serving and declaring the reason why we live this way by sharing the Gospel.

In this past year, our group grew from 9 to 27, with 6 people coming to faith in Jesus and 5 people trained to lead new MCs. We recently sent out some leaders to start more groups to reach more people. Now my family is leading mostly new believers and unbelievers in living this Gospel-centered, missionally focused life together (all the others were sent out to start new works).

Ed: In terms of missionSHIFT and the Missional Manifesto, what would be a great end-game in your mind for this event and process?

I would love for the church to have a better understanding of the mandate of The Great Commission and better clarity on the term "missional"--t hat it isn't just a new form of social justice in action, but it is getting back to the heart of Jesus' mission to make disciples who make disciples leading to every member in the Body of Christ being a minister and missionary of the Gospel all day long, all week long, all life long. And, I would hope that we would be able to move from theory and talk to belief and action in very tangible ways so that North America might experience in this century the most pervasive missionary movement of Gospel centered and sent people it's ever experienced.

Seven Characteristics of Highly Evangelistic Christians

By Thomas S. Rainer, President and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources (3/29/2010)


1. They are people of prayer. They realize that only God can convict and convert, and they are totally dependent upon Him in prayer. Most of the highly evangelistic Christians spend at least an hour in prayer each day.

2. They have a theology that compels them to evangelize. They believe in the urgency of the gospel message. They believe that Christ is the only way of salvation. They believe that anyone without Christ is doomed for a literal hell.

3. They are people who spend time in the Word. The more time they spend in the Bible, the more likely they are to see the lostness of humanity and the love of God in Christ to save those who are lost.

4. They are compassionate people. Their hearts break for those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They have learned to love the world by becoming more like Christ who has the greatest love for the world.

5. They love the communities where God has placed them. They are immersed in the culture because they desire for the light of Christ to shine through them in their communities.

6. They are intentional about evangelism. They pray for opportunities to share the gospel. They look for those opportunities. And they see many so-called casual encounters as appointments set by God.

7. They are accountable to someone for their evangelistic activities. They know that many good activities can replace Great Commission activities if they are not careful. Good can replace the best. So they make certain that someone holds them accountable each week, either formally or informally, for their evangelistic efforts.
The “Secret” of Evangelistic Churches

The secret is really no secret at all. Ultimately, evangelistic churches see more persons become Christians through the passionate efforts of highly evangelistic Christians. More than any programs. More than any church events. More than anything else, we are the instruments God has chosen to use.

Sometimes we ask the question "What is my church doing to become more evangelistic?" But the better question is "What am I doing to become more evangelistic?"

Charles H. Spurgeon was right. We need more soul winners.

We need more highly evangelistic Christians.

The Gospel is for Christians: Various ways to say it (Justin Taylor)

From Tullian Tchividjian’s Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels (p. 16):

I once assumed the gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in order to be saved, but after they believe it, they advance to deeper theological waters.

Jonah helped me realize that the gospel isn’t the first step in a stairway of truths but more like the hub in a wheel of truth.

As Tim Keller explains it, the gospel isn’t simply the ABCs of Christianity, but the A-through-Z.

The gospel doesn’t just ignite the Christian life; it’s the fuel that keeps Christians going every day.

Once God rescues sinners, his plan isn’t to steer them beyond the gospel but to move them more deeply into it.

After all, the only antidote to sin is the gospel—and since Christians remain sinners even after they’re converted, the gospel must be the medicine a Christian takes every day. Since we never leave off sinning, we can never leave the gospel.

Debt of love (Romans 13:8)

Sunday Sermon @ Cornerstone Mission Church

Romans 13:8, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love another for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law."

Back in the days when my wife and I graduated from colleges and when we were paying off our student loans after we were married, we felt this huge burden. When we were paying minimum payment amounts, it was hardly making any dent on the principle amounts. We felt this huge burden that we should pay them off as soon as we can. So, for about four years, we start paying extra hundreds of dollars and kept going at it without missing a single monthly payment. And, within five years of our marriage, we were able to pay them off our student loans and we remained debt free except the mortgage from the condo where we lived in Oak Park.

Many of you know exactly what I am talking about. Debt obligation is huge responsibility to anyone. If you are a responsible person, you have this desire to pay off what you owe to others. That's a good thing. And, the Bible commands it.

Paul likens loving one another to debt obligation. A difference from the financial debt obligations like student loans and mortgages is that this debt obligation to love one another is the continuing debt to love.
Another word, this love debt is something you cannot pay off in your life time.

So, paying towards this love debt becomes a way of life. Loving one another requires sustained and constant effort. Loving one another is not an option just like not paying off your financial debt is not an option. As Christians, loving one another is not something we do if we feel like it. It is something we do because we are Christians. Being Christians is reason we love one another.

Now, let's apply this to our church life. And, see how we are doing with this paying debt of love.  Tim Sanders, former chief solutions officer at Yahoo and author of Love is the Killer App illustrates how to set priorities in life. He said to take your life and all the things are important, and put them in one of three categories, glass, metal and rubber.

• Things of rubber… when you drop them, or I would say you throw them around, they will bounce back. No harms done when these things dropped. i.e.) my grass is getting taller. Now, with fresh rain last night, it will grow another inch or so to ankle deep. But, no sweat here... I will just pull out my trusted Honda lawn mower and I am good to go. No harm done, here.
• Things of metal.. when dropped, they create a lot of noise. But, you can recover from the drop… For example, if you missed a test, you can tried to retake them. If you fail a test, you can try to make up for it with other tests.
• Things of glass… when dropped, shatter into pieces and will never be the same again. You can glue back together, but they are altered forever. Sanders said that you're the only person who knows what those things are that you can't afford to drop. More than likely, they have a lot to do with your relationships with spouse, children, family, and friends.

When I consider relationships in our church, what I see is a lot of brokenness. We are nice and friendly to each other. We ask the routine question, "How are you?" and we give the routine answer, "I am fine." We are very familiar with each other for going to the same church for long time. But, beyond the familiarity, do you feel like you really know the others in CMC.

The reality behind the vague sense of familiarity and closeness is that many of our relationships have gone through quite of bit of stresses. We are more like cups that have been broken several times and someone has tried to repair them as best they could, but they remain fractured with many missing pieces. You pour into them, but the water doesn't hold in the cups because they leak through the cracks and holes. Relationships don't hold much in our church because we've been fractured as a church for too long.
For doing church together for over 3 years, 5 years, 10 years and for some of you for really long time, it saddens me to know that not many of you would think of each other as friends. When things are difficult for you, the first person pops in your mind to talk about your situation is not from this church, rather he or she exists somewhere out there, but not here.
I recently realize how ironic it is to preach about being the light in the world, to bring the gospel of reconciliation that turns enemies into friends, brothers and sisters. To tell you that we must envision making friends with the non-Christians in order to share them the gospel, while we ourselves don't even know how to relate to each other as friends, that's ridiculous. How can we befriend non- Christians when we don't even know how to be friends with each other in this church? It makes no sense, doesn't it? If we cannot even envision the gospel making any difference in our relationship right here in CMC, then how can we envision that the gospel can make any difference out there?

As long as, we remain acquaintances on Sunday, as long as we go through our routines of being nice and friendly each other, as long as we remain non-committal to each other, there is no need for the gospel in our church, and there will be no compelling reason to reach out the world with the gospel.
Tim Keller said that when the gospel penetrates us deeply, the way we look at ourselves change.

"I am more sinful and flawed than I ever dared believe."
"I am more accepted and loved than I ever dared hope."

Now, where in the world are you going to learn that you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe? Where in the world are you going to learn that you are more accepted and loved than you ever dared hope? Where is this safe place where we can let down our guards and be known in our ugliness of being liars, angry and violent, bitter, lustful, addicted, isolated, lonely, messed up people and at the same radically accepted and loved, and be called out with hope for transformation? Isn't church supposed to be that place where you can lose it, but you can still be loved?

But, here is the reality of our church. So many of us are just nice and friendly to each other, we don't even have the opportunity to sin against each other, not alone reasons to forgive each other and grow together. If I were to ask you when the last time was when you received forgiveness from someone in this church or you forgave someone in this church, I bet many of you would have difficult time to remember it. Why is it? It is because our relationship with each other is superficial at best.

I believe that my wife is one of the wisest people that I know. No kidding. Let me share you what she often tells me about her vision for our family. She wants our home to be a safe place where our children can lose their temper completely and receive face consequences like timeouts or even spanking, but come away knowing that they are forgiven, accepted and loved. Believe me in my home, we have six messed up people, dad who lose his cool and gets angry and resorts to shaming children in order get obedience from them, husband who emotionally neglects his wife, a wife who can tell you herself her own sinful behaviors, four growing children who copies the sinful behaviors of their daddy and mommy. And, we have the seventh child in the pipeline who has not yet able to verbalize her sinful will. But, believe me she is well on her way to join to make the family of seven where there is not a day when we don't sin against each other. But, do you know what holds us together? Do you know what hope we have as a family? It is in my family we know we are more sinful than we ever dared believe. And, it is in our family, we know that we are more accepted and loved than we ever dared hope. Another word, my wife's vision for our family is where the gospel makes differences… our sins are exposed like they are in the daylight, but we cover each other with forgiveness. My wife envisions our family to be a place where we experience God. I told you my wife is wisest person I know.

I never thought I would say this, but here I go. In order to love one another, I believe we need to become a church that sins more. What we need is not more of niceness, but more for you and me to sin against each other. Now, I don't mean we go out of our way to hurt each other. What I mean is committing to go beyond superficial niceness, committing not to hide behind fake masks, but be who we really are in all the ugly and the good, that we commit to create the culture where we can be ourselves because we are all sinners needing the gospel on daily base.

Can you imagine church as a safe place where you can be honest with others, where you can be accepted by others, where you can experience forgiveness and transformation? To create the culture of honesty, forgiveness and transformation, we need to freshly hear God's call to renew our commitment to love one another, to let no debt remain except the debt of love.