pastor steve

Doing tings God’s way

2011-03-05T07:47:00.000-06:00

“Doing things my way” can at most achieve goals within that person’s capabilities. Doing things God’s way opens the way to achieving goals that lie within God’s capabilities.^{^[i]}

^{^[i]} John D. W. Watts, vol. 25, Word Biblical Commentary : Isaiah 34-66, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 348.

Give me courage and unselfishness

2011-03-02T06:51:00.001-06:00

What is the good of telling the ships how to steer as to avoid collisions if, in fact, they are such crazy old tubs that they cannot be steered at all? What is the good of drawing up, on paper, rules for social behavior, if we know that, in fact, our greed, cowardice, ill temper, and self-conceit are going to prevent us from keeping them?... nothing but the courage and unselfishness of individuals is ever going to make any system work properly.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Don’t loose your sight on the beauty and the glory of the gospel and love for God of this gospel

2011-02-24T11:03:00.000-06:00

Luke 10:20, "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this [Satan fall like lighting from heaven, given authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you, v. 18-19], but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

When the disciples returned with joy from being sent out to Jesus’ harvest (Luke 10:2) because the demons were subject to them in his name (Luke 10:17), Jesus replied by showing them the greater reality of the demise of Satan because of their work as laborers in his harvest. Yet, lest they forgot, he reminded them to treasure and rejoice what matters the most, the reality of his gospel.

Don't loose the sight on the beauty and the glory of the gospel and the God of this gospel who places my name in heaven. The proper motivation for mission comes from rejoicing in the wonder of the gospel, God who has saved a wretch sinner that I am through the sacrificial death and the resurrection power of his Son Jesus Christ. The motivation, the drive for mission flows out of love of the God of the gospel.

THE STORY IS TOLD of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of the most influential preachers of the twentieth century. When he was dying of cancer, one of his friends and former associates asked him, in effect, “How are you managing to bear up? You have been accustomed to preaching several times a week. You have begun important Christian enterprises; your influence has extended through tapes and books to Christians on five continents. And now you have been put on the shelf. You are reduced to sitting quietly, sometimes managing a little editing. I am not so much asking therefore how you are coping with the disease itself. Rather, how are you coping with the stress of being out of the swim of things?”
Lloyd-Jones responded in the words of Luke 10: “[D]o not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (10:20—though of course Lloyd-Jones would have cited the King James Version).

D. A. Carson, For the Love of God : A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God's Word. Volume 1 (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1998).

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

2010-10-07T11:04:00.001-05:00

The goal of preaching

2010-09-05T19:33:00.000-05:00

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)

2010-08-22T10:30:00.001-05:00

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.

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

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

2010-07-18T11:00:00.000-05:00

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.

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

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

2010-07-11T11:00:00.000-05:00

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.

[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)

2010-07-06T16:04:00.000-05:00

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!

^{^[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)

2010-06-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

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?

[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)

2010-06-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

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?

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

Standing together for the next generation

2010-06-12T05:53:00.006-05:00

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)

2010-06-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

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.

[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.

Subtraction before gaining (Isaiah 3-4)

2010-05-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

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?

^{^[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

2010-05-28T07:48:00.000-05:00

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

Hope that does not disappoint

2010-05-28T07:27:00.001-05:00

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

2010-05-24T07:24:00.002-05:00

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)

2010-05-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

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!

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

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

2010-05-10T14:37:00.000-05:00

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)

2010-05-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

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.”

--------

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?

[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

2010-05-08T03:57:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-08T03:26:00.003-05:00

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)

2010-05-08T02:50:00.006-05:00

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)

2010-05-02T10:00:00.002-05:00

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.

The vision for happy life – forgiven life (Psalm 32)

2010-04-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Corrie Ten Boom is a Christian woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. She said this about forgiveness.

“Forgiveness is to set a prisoner set free, and to realize the prisoner was you.”

Corrie Ten Boom recounted when she faced the former Nazi guard who had become a Christian. Who said to her, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well… will you forgive me?” She described coming to face to face with one of her captors as when her blood seemed to freeze. She remembered her sister Betsie who had died in that concentration camp. It could not be more than split seconds, but to her felt like hours had passed as this former Nazi guard held his hand out and waited for Corrie Ten Boom’s response.

She stood there with coldness and clutching her heart. But she reasoned with the truth; “forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.” So, she prayed, “Jesus, help me… I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.” And, she described what happened next; “the current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.” And, she cried, “I forgive you, my brother with all my heart.”[1]

So, she the prisoner was set free that moment, truly happy! She was set free from bitterness and hatred that was eating her inside. She was set free from the desire for revenge. She experienced God’s power to forgive and this made her truly happy.

The vision for happy life

Do you have the vision of truly happy life? Is there such thing as a prerequisite for happy life? Rather we acknowledge it or not, without honestly dealing with our sins and experiencing God’s forgiveness, we cannot experience true happiness. Without experiencing God’s forgiveness, we cannot extend forgiveness to others. Without forgiveness, we cannot be happy.

David spells out the prerequisite for happy life in Psalm 32. Verse 1 and 2, he says that blessed that is one who is truly blessed, truly happy is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered; blessed, truly happy is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” Forgiven life is happy life.

Contrary to what people believe about God, God really wants us to be happy. He doesn’t want us to settle with substandard happiness but go for the vision of truly happy life. The way you are going to realize the vision of truly happy life is experiencing God’s forgiveness.

Psalm 32 lays out for us how we can experience God’s forgiveness. Let me unpack them for you.

Don’t cover your sins deceitfully. Be honest.

A stumbling block to happiness is temptation to hide and not be honest with ourselves. David calls it deceit in verse 2.

Self-improvement is a form of deceit. It is our act to cover up. It is our attempt to prove ourselves that we are worthy to be forgiven. Do you ever notice after sinning, you have this self-talk going on in your head? “I really messed up. I am sorry God. I am going to try really hard not to mess up again.” So, you feel this surge of self-determination and you begin trying really hard not to mess up. But, soon or later, you run out of steam, you get distracted, and you feel overpowered by temptation, and you are back to where you were.
This doesn’t work because you are not dealing with the core of sin. The truth is that you cannot manage sin; sin must be forgiven. God never forgives your sin because you are good enough. Your good enough will never be good enough to satisfy God’s holiness and his justice. No amount of your self-improvement and self-determination will make you more forgivable. You cannot cover your sins with self-improvement. God has to cover you. God has to forgive your sin.
Matthew Henry in his commentary wrote “the wounds of sin, not opened, will fester, and grow intolerably painful.”^{^[2]} Trying to make yourself good enough to draw near to God is like covering up infections with dirty Band-Aid. It only makes things worse.

Ignoring the guilty conscience is another form of cover up, deceit. David said in verse 3 when he tried to keep things silent, his bones wasted away. Deceit is to believe that if you sweep sins under the rug, if you ignore it and don’t think about it, then somehow it will magically disappear. It doesn’t. you cover up the guilty conscience prompted by the Holy Spirit, it only leads to deeper bondage to sin.
David says in verse 6 that we need to offer prayer to God at a time when he may be found. He is talking about when the Holy Spirit nudges our hearts through our guilty conscience. When you feel that nudge to your heart about your actions of rebellion, missing the mark of God’s standard, crooked evil attitude, you got to know that it is God who is nudging you. Don’t ignore when God nudges you. Pray when he is found.

Another form of covering up deceitfully is to when we don’t mean what we say. When we confess our sins with a purpose to sin again, we are cover up our sins in deceit. It sounds bad, but we do that don’t we? Then, there are times we sin with a purpose to repent again.^{^[3]} Either way, these are sure ways to insult God’s generosity to forgive us.

Don’t be vague. Be specific with sin.

When you read verse 1 and 2, do you wonder why David uses different words to describe sin? In fact here in these two verses, David used three Hebrew words to talk about sin. It is easier to see when we read from more literal translation of ESV.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Transgression is an act of rebellion and disloyalty against God; sin is an act of missing the mark, God’s expressed will; and iniquity is an crooked act with perverse and evil intention.

Why did David use three different Hebrew words with different nuances to talk about sin? He is trying to guard against the temptation to be vague about sin.

When Roger Barrier left for college, his mom who had always done his laundry gave him a canvas duffel bag and told him, “Put your dirty clothes in this every night… At the end of the week, wash them at the Laundromat.”

A week later, he took the duffel bag full of dirty clothes to the Laundromat. To save time, he stuffed the whole duffel bag in the washer, put some laundry power and with right amount of coins, he turned on the machine. Thump, thump, thump went the machine. A pretty gal approached him with a grin and told him, “I watched you load your washer. I think the clothes would get cleaner if you took them out of the bag.”

Another word, confession should never be trite, “Dear God, forgive me for all my sins for today. Amen.” You need to pay attention to individual sin. Are you acting out of rebellious attitude? Are you missing the mark of the moral standard set by God? Are you acting out of the crooked spite?

Don’t be stubborn. Be willing.

David warns in verse 9 against being like the horse or a mule without understanding (v. 9). For these creatures, unless they are forced with bit and bridle, they won’t stay near you.

Neighbor’s dog – Ryle, the neighbor’s dog was on the loose. I saw Bobby and his wife Tenniel struggling to control him. Ryle wouldn’t listen to their voice, their commands, even bacon bits weren’t working. Lyn told me that I should go out with Rocky to help them out. I went out with my dog Rocky hoping that Ryle might come for Rocky. Ryle did, but every time I or Bobby tried to grab his dog collar, he would skip away just out of our reach. That went on for five minutes. Before I came out, Bobby had been chasing after Ryle for a while already. The only way Bobby got Ryle was by ambushing the dog between us. Rocky and I stood at one side of the house and Bobby went around the house and approached his dog from the other side. And, he jumped on him. Finally, Ryle was caught. You should have seen Bobby’s face. Oh, he was angry.

Do you ever play God like this ungrateful dog did to its owner?

Rejoice in God’s forgiveness.

See how David rejoices in God’s forgiveness. Verse 10, “steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.” So, he calls you and me in v. 11 to rejoice, be glad, sing for God’s forgiveness.

Consider how God forgives your sins. And, rejoice in the truth about God.

He covers your sins (32:1b)… Sins make us loathsome before God in guilt. Sins also make us feel shame, feeling loathsome about ourselves. Sins expose us to nakedness just like Adam and Eve felt. But, God covers our guilt and shame as he covered Adam and Eve’s sin and nakedness with the coats of animal skins. It required skins of animal to cover the shame, the nakedness of Adam and Eve, but for true covering, it requires the death of Jesus.

Revelation 3;18, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

Covering sins does not mean God forgets our sins as though he experiences amnesia over our sins. Sins are not covered from God’s omniscience because he sees all and knows all. Hebrews 8:12 says, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” This doesn’t mean that God would forget our sins. What God does is he covers our sins from his justice with his mercy.

God doesn’t count sin against you. This means he doesn’t hold his relationship with us in hostage (32:2b). He is not going to abandon his relationship with us at whim. No, instead he promises to be our hiding place, to protect us from trouble, to surround us with songs of deliverance. .

God’s ready to forgive you; God is far more willing and quick to forgive than we imagine him to be… We think of God as God who has us jump through the hoop before he lets us off the hook, we think of God as stingy with his forgiveness as an old stingy Ebenezer Scrooge from ‘A Christmas Carol’…

We must see the face of the Father of the prodigal son. See how long it took and what it took for David to come to terms with his sins and yield to God’s forgiveness. And compare it to how quickly God forgave David. Compare how long it took the prodigal son to come to terms with his sins and to that of his Father’s eagerness and quickness to welcome his son back by forgiving his son’s guilt and cover his shame.

God’s vision is to give you blessed life. His promise is to instruct you, teach you in the way you should go, to counsel you and watch over you (32:8).

Would you pursue true happiness by being honest, being specific with your sins, being willing, and by rejoicing in God’s forgiveness?

[1] http://www.crossway.org/product/663575723080

^{^[2]} Henry, M. (1996). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Ps 32:1–6). Peabody: Hendrickson.

^{^[3]} Henry, M. (1996). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Ps 32:1–6). Peabody: Hendrickson.

There is a time for everything. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

2010-04-18T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

From talking with some of you, I feel your anxiety, frustration, pains, grief, doubts, tiredness, conflicting emotions that have been wearing you down. When you hear about the vision for CMC, what we are to become, to become the lighthouse that shines the light of the gospel far and broad, you get excited. But at the same time you feel this heavy weight descending upon you and suffocating you. You hear the vision about how God wants to use us beyond what we are accustomed to, you get excited, but again you feel heavy and uncertain. It's not because you don't believe in God's vision to expand his kingdom through our church. You believe that we must become a church that spread the gospel far and broad. And, you know and believe that we as a church must undergo radical changes. Yet, there are these feelings that are really hard to shake off.

In the midst of excitement over envisioning what we can become, you feel discouraged by the protracted confusion about where God is leading our church. You feel discouraged by many voices as to what we must do as church that make it difficult for you to discern. Some of you are frustrated because you are not sure what's going on. Some of you have been disappointed by me and by church and you are struggling to trust again. For some of you, you see the strain and fracture in our church and this discourages you. Many of you feel burnt-out and worn-out and have doubts about how we as a church will be able to thrive not alone survive out there; you feel so spent and tired that you cannot imagine ministering to others. Many of you are feeling relational strains with your parents as they have real hard time believing that there will be anything good out of our us becoming the fully independent church, if it will be worth the cost! Some of you are discouraged because you feel alone in our church.

As your pastor, as God revives me and renews his calling for me to lead you, I've been casting what I believe is God's vision for us. Yet, in my enthusiasm, I feel like I am running way ahead of you.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.

I feel like I am out there calling you to let’s go, but so many of you are burdened with heavy feelings and unable to decisively move. So, I think it is time for me to slow down and help you deal with your burdens. Now, this doesn't mean I am not going to stop casting God's vision for us. It doesn't mean I am not going to stop sharing with you how you must change, how I must change, how we must change in order to realize God's purpose for us.

But, I realize that if you have a hurting leg because of fatigue or perhaps some infections, motivation, cheering, casting vision will not help you run out there to win the game. So, I would like to come along side of you and minister to you as your pastor, as your friend, as your brother in Christ.

Take time to invest in relationship.

In about a week, we are going to find out what God sees for our church. I believe that majority of you already have the clarity about what God wants for our church. And, you will have choice and will need to decide which way you personally want to go. You will have to choose for yourself whether you want to be a part of CMC as an independent church or be a part of EM of KCUMC. Or, perhaps, some of you are thinking about finding a third church option.
Regardless of what you choose, it will be costly decision for you, for all of us. It will be my honor if you would allow me to come along side of you and let me be your sounding board; I would like you to try out your thoughts and your feelings with me that I may help you sort things out. I realize that my strongest gifting is in the area of counseling. And, I am confident that God can use me in your life. I also realize that I am far better at communicating my thoughts and feelings privately than in my preaching. Some of you need to hear more from me about where and how I want to lead our church. I also need the opportunity to hear from you.
So, I am going to make some phone calls this week to talk either on the phone or to meet up in person. So, think about what your concerns and questions and share them with me. I want you to share with me what ways I can help you.
Also, if there is anything about me that bothers you, if there is anyway I've sinned against you, I would like you to talk to me. Just like it damages you when people talk behind your back, please extend the same courtesy to me. Besides, it is the Lord who commanded in Matthew 5:23-24 to go and be reconciled to your brother.

I cannot promise you that I will never disappoint you as your pastor; I can promise you that I will do my best to fulfill my calling to shepherd you. But, for whatever reasons, you become disappointed with me, your temptation will be to go and find someone else to talk about your disappointment over me. But, if you don't come and talk to me, you will be depriving me of the chance to ask for forgiveness for my sins against you; you will also be depriving me of the chance to become a better pastor, you will also be depriving me of the chance to clarify my name. Not only that you will be in danger of sinning by gossiping. For Proverbs says, "A gossip betrays a confidence" (Proverbs 11:13).
Satan would love nothing more than to destroy our church. And one of the surest ways to destroy our church is to put a wedge between you and me and between us. And, the gossip is the Satan's rumor weeds that can destroy God's garden, God's church. So, keep things current with me.
I believe that when our church decides what we must become, we will need to spend time to regroup; we will need time to heal, we will need time to nurture each other. Our relationship needs to be strengthened and affirmed. You will need to allow me to minister to you where you are hurting. We will need to commit to build our connection stronger. We will need to battle distrust by speaking truthfully to each other. We will need to exercise forgiveness and risk boldly by giving trust and earning trust. We must not be satisfied with merely maintaining vague sense of familiarity and confuse it with the genuine relationship in Christ. We need to relearn how to love one another from the zero ground. We will need time to be restored and be united again.
It is a time to heal (Ecc. 3:3)

Take time to identify the sinful attitudes.

We will also need to honestly reevaluate and access ourselves and identify the sinful attitudes that will hold us back from realizing God's vision.
Before we can call other English speaking Korean Americans to join us, before we can bring the gospel to our friends, colleagues, neighbors, and strangers beyond ethnic and racial differences, before we can invite them to church, before they can become followers of Jesus Christ, we will need to confront the sinful attitudes and beliefs that hold us back from responding God's vision.
We must battle against apathy and indifference, we must stop blaming others, but be responsible, we must not be ashamed of the gospel, but become bold, we must let the gospel penetrate our own hearts and let it transform our inner person, our families, our brotherhood and sisterhood, we must confront our selfishness that goes against the very fabric of the gospel. We must know what sinful attitudes and what practices must go and be replaced by godly attitudes and practices in order to become all things to all people to save some.
In order to build, we must first tear down (Ecc. 3:3).

Take time to be responsible.

As your pastor, your friend, and your brother, I want to also encourage you to be responsible. You've heard me speak enough about what I believe is for our church, to become fully independent church with the renewed vision for the future. I know that many of you share my conviction. Yet, I also know that the some of you feel so strongly that you shouldn't leave your families at KCUMC.
Here is the reality. I cannot make the decision for you. No one can make the decision for you. It is time that we all become responsible adults and make our choices.

You've been praying for long time about this, you've been thinking about this long time, you've been talking to others about this for awhile. You have common senses. You know the word of God. Now, it is time to choose. As I have said in the past, it is wrong to frame the decision to join EM of KCUMC or to become fully independent CMC as all or nothing. Some of you have strong conviction that you don't want to leave KCUMC. Then, you should stay and do what you can to serve the vision of KCUMC. But, some of you like me have different conviction to pursue different vision for CMC. Then, stand on that conviction and move to build up CMC. In either way, in the totality, God gets the glory; his kingdom will be expanded among the 1st generation Korean Americans through the ministry of KCUMC and his kingdom will be also expanded through CMC as the English speaking Korean Americans reaches out with the gospel as Paul did beyond ethnic boundaries. Paul never forgot his people for he didn't stop reaching out to the Jews; it just that he didn't limit himself only to the Jews with the gospel. The mandate of the gospel upon him was bigger than just the Jews. We as CMC will not be able to forget English speaking Korean American generations, so we will continue to reach out to them. But, the mandate of the gospel demands that we embrace the Pauline attitude, to become all things to all people to save some.

Remember even after Paul and Barnabas had their sharp disagreement and they went their separate ways, the end result was that instead of having one missionary team of Paul and Barnabas, now there were two missionary teams, Paul with Silas and Barnabas with Mark (Acts 15:39-40)

Remember Peter stayed behind to build the Jewish church; he gave his life to build up the 1st generation Jewish church. But, also remember Paul went to build the Gentile churches, primarily non-Hebrew speaking, but Greek and Latin speaking Gentiles.

So, it is time to be responsible. You must be responsible with your choice. There is no need to demonize either choice. There is no need to blame anyone else; there is no need to make decision because of someone else. Don't fool yourself for one second believing the lie that you don't have the choice. Don't let others make the decision for you, even me or your parents. You always have the choice. So, be responsible and make your stand.

Take time to grieve.

The wisdom says that there is a time to plant and a time to uproot (3:2). And, there is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance (3:4), a time to embrace and a time to refrain (3:5) a time to search and a time to give up (3:6), a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak (3:7), a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace (3:8).

I believe that we are at a time to uproot, a time to weep, a time to mourn, even for a time of war. I saw many of your tears; I've heard how deep the pain goes for you to be part of the independent church away from your family church. It is a time when many of you will face the anger, bewilderment and misunderstandings from your families, even from people who know you very little. And, I know that for some of you, it is a time when your family relationship feels like it is being torn apart. And, it all hurts like crazy! If your choice is to build up CMC and be carried away in the zeal of the apostle Paul, it is now time to grieve. As a pastor, I release you to grieve. So, give yourself permission to grieve. I too grieve with you. I don't know how long it will take to grieve, but we must grieve until there is no more tears. I don't know when the pain will stop for you and me.

Time to hope

But, as the wisdom says, as there is a time to grieve, there will be a time to celebrate. Having uprooted, it will be time to plant, having cried the tears of pain, there will be time to laugh and dance, having restrained, there will be a time to embrace, having given up, there will be a time to search again, having faced a war, hate, and tear, there will be a time to mend, a time to love and time for peace.

Break from the past and become what you really are. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

2010-04-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Lately, I've devoted my sermons on casting the vision for our church under the premise of Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” In my vision casting, I’ve challenged us out to subject our church under the supremacy of the gospel. I’ve challenged us to embrace and to live out the explosively powerful gospel. And to do this we have to make changes. We cannot do church the way same we’ve been doing for over a decade. Because the gospel must go out beyond the boundaries of cultures, ethnicity and races, we must build our church towards multiethnic/multiracial vision. Because the gospel must go beyond maintaining and perpetuating the familiarity of biological family ties and because it must create spiritual families, we must answer to God’s call to evangelize. The reality is that we cannot subject ourselves to the supremacy of the gospel unless we as church are willing to change. And, willingness to change requires willingness to count the cost and willingness to boldly risk.

Having spent so much of time seeking God’s vision for our church, the big picture for our church, I believe it is now time for us to decide. I know that we are up against skeptical minds who cannot envision how small church like us can really survive and thrive on our own. But, I believe that 15 to 20 is more than enough to build the kind of church that is for our generation if that 15 to 20 are committed to the biblical vision for the church.

Two paths are before us, one is to become a Korean church and the other is to freshly envision the new course for CMC. Each of you must decide. I believe that some of you are better suited to serve in English ministry of Korean church. No doubt there is need for that. But, I believe that for many of you including myself and my family, we are created to be like apostle Paul to become all things to all so that by all possible means we might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22). And, to realize this, we cannot do the church the same way anymore. We need to radically step out and change in order to embrace the explosive power of the gospel. So, it is time that you decide.

Now, let me switch the gear little bit. So, far I’ve concentrated on the vision casting to help you see what God can through our church. Here is the reality check. We can envision all we want about what God can do through our church, what we can offer the world. But, unless you and I experience the gospel personally, we have nothing to offer. The vision casting for our church tells us that we can be the lighthouse that can shine the light of the gospel broadly and far. But, without first the gospel brightly shinning here at home, here inside of each of us, the light won’t shine far.

In order to shine far, our lives must brightly shine. To burn brightly, we need to break away from the past and become what you really are. There are things from the past, unless we put them to death, they become hindrances, major stumbling blocks to embrace God’s vision for our lives.

Perhaps, I can use another analogy… Before we can invite people to enjoy our home, we got to do spring cleaning to do. We got to break away from the past and become what we really are.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11, "Do you know not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

The past…

Let’s read the list again: the sexually immoral (sex before marriage), adulterers (sex outside of marriage), male prostitutes (sex for money), homosexual offenders, idolaters (worshiping anything other than God), thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers (badmouthing others falsely), swindlers (cheaters)… Paul said these are what some of the Corinthians were. Before the gospel came to them, before they became Christians, they were defined by how they perpetually behaved. Their sexual promiscuity defined them sexually immoral, adulterers. Their love of money defined them thieves and greedy. Their lack of self-control defined them drunkards. Their words of hatred defined them slanderers while their selfish behaviors defined them cheaters.

Here is a little background about the Roman and Greek culture of their time; these out of control behaviors of sexual promiscuity, selfishness, hatred, and drunkenness and idolatry were tolerated and practiced readily. Another word, the bar of standard was set pretty low. Living in the morally comprised environment, many of the Corinthians were defined by these behaviors. They were enslaved by these behaviors.

Break from the past.

But, once the gospel infiltrated their lives, they were no longer under the power of these behaviors. Once the gospel shined their hearts, they were now given power to break away from what once consumed them, behaviors marked by self-serving, self-indulgent and self-destructive attitude. Once the gospel infiltrated their cords, they had to reject their society’s low standards of morality. The bar was no longer set by what their peers tolerated and practiced. The bar was set by the holiness of God. So, Paul called for the break from the past. What mastered you yesterday, what you were enslaved by yesterday no longer holds power over you today when you stand in Christ. That’s the message of the gospel. In Christ, you can break from the past.

Not only can you break from the past, but more than that, you can

Become what you really are.

As a Christian do you know who you really are? Are you becoming what you really are, one who is washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God?

You are justified. This speaks to what you really are your true identity. To be justified means you are declared righteous. When Satan, the accuser tries to define you by the past behaviors, you have to remember that he no longer has power to call you anything. Satan has no power to define you anymore. It is now Jesus Christ who defines your identity. Every day when you rise, every night when you go to bed, every moment between them, Satan’s going to hunt you down in order to pull you back to your past, yesterday’s sins, yesterday’s wickedness. So, today, you must actively recall in your mind what you really are. You are not a wicked person. No you are a righteous person in Christ. That’s who you are, righteous person.

You are sanctified. This speaks to becoming what you really are. Since in Christ, you are not a wicked person, you don’t do wicked things. Since in Christ you are now a righteous person, it means you become righteous person by doing what’s right.

You are washed. This speaks to the spiritual reality of baptism. To be baptized in Christ Jesus is to identify with his death and his resurrection. This is what it means to identify with Christ’s death. You are dead to sin. Meaning, you no longer respond to sins. When sins walk into your life, what they are should find is that they walk into a morgue only to find a dead body on a stretcher. That’s what it means to be dead to sin, to identify with Christ in his death.
To identify with Christ’s resurrection means, you are alive to righteous. You are rewired now in such way that you respond to righteousness.

Breaking from the crippling past, breaking from the sin infested identity, breaking from the power of sins and becoming what you really are in Christ is what the gospel is all about.

While I challenge you to envision new way of doing church, you must also envision new way of doing life. We must not live by the past. God paved the way for you to break from the past, from sins, from addictions. God pave the way for you to become what you really are. Do you believe it? Do you believe that in Christ you can be dead to sinful impulses and behaviors? Do you believe that in Christ you can be alive and responsive to godly impulses and behaviors? Do you believe?

Hope against all hope (Romans 4:17-21)

2010-04-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Romans 4:17-21, “As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead- since he was about a hundred years old- and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

To ‘hope against hope’ is to have hope even when the situation appears to be hopeless…

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength. (G.K. Chesterton, Signs of the Times, April 1993, p. 6)

What causes hopeless?

· Powerless to dream… Hopeless sets in when you are just getting by and trying to be content with status-quo. But, you are aching because you know deep down inside of you that you are created for something more; you are created to dream beyond what seems possible because you know God. Yet, you have lost the ability to dream. You no longer think in what’s possible. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God “has set eternity in the hearts of men.” You are made for eternity, but you have lost your way and you don’t dream any more. Busyness, trying to survive and get through, even the entertainments bore you now... You no longer dream and you are hopeless.

· Powerless to know where you are going… when you feel lost, when you don’t know where you are going, when you cannot see the big picture, when you are not driven by God given purpose in life you lose meaning.

· Powerless to change… It’s been too long since you saw real changes. Nothing is changing and you’ve been slowly sinking into the deep hole of hopelessness because you feel powerless to see any meaningful change.

· Powerless against setbacks… When you are defeated, when you mess up, when life turns for worse, it also cause hopeless.

What causes you to feel hopeless about your life? What makes you feel hopeless about the state of your family? What makes you feel hopeless about our church, about our nation?

When God stepped into Abraham’s life, God spoke in the language of promise of what he was going to do. He was going to raise Abraham to be the father of nations, to bless all people, all nations through him. When God spoke in this language of promise, sure certainty, it was as though God set his eternity into Abraham’s heart. How could he an old man 100 years old, how could Sarah his wife beyond human possibility to get pregnant at 90, how could he, how could she dream the possibility to have a child, to dream the birth of many nations? … The present reality, the human impossibility, was so far off from what God said he was going to do through Abraham. One without faith would brush God off as making a cruelest and insane joke.

But, it was far worse in those and agonizing dark days when Jesus’ dead body was put away in the tomb. There is nothing in the world that can compete against the lethal power of death to destroy hope. Death is like great flood that wipes away anything and everything in its path. Death is like great fire that burn down homes with memories into rubbles and smokes. Death is like catastrophic engine failures and structural failures that impair an flying airplane to nose-dive to destruction. Death leaves casualties of hopelessness.

Yet, on this Easter Day, God has set eternity into the hearts of men and women like he has never done before. When death seemed to have the final say, when death seemed to have pronounce all is lost and gone, when death seemed to have destroyed any hope, God broke into the darkness moment of history. But, it was like the sun rising from the east and the darkness couldn’t hold it back.

Just like that God broke into the powerlessness to dream, powerlessness to make sense out of meaninglessness, powerlessness to change, powerless against setbacks. Just like that God broke into the dark present reality with his eternity. And, the history has never been the same since then.

I believe that just like the way God evoked Abraham and Sarah to dream that which was humanly impossible, just like the way God brushed Abraham and Sarah with eternity, he is doing that with you and me. God wants you to know today that he has power to do what had promised to do with your life, in your family, in our church, in our nation, in our world. You will not thwart God’s sovereign purpose. Your choice is either to yield to his purpose and welcome it in faith or you reject his purpose and descend into hopeless death. Romans 8:28–30 says,

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

God’s goal is that you share in his glory as Jesus shares in the Father’s glory. It is the purpose beyond time boundary. Before you were born, while you were little like the babies today, while you were children like my older girls, while you were teenagers, now as grownup adults, God’s purpose is that you be conformed into the likeness of Christ and lived for God’s glory, get on with the Father’s business!

Church, brothers and sisters in Christ, today God has set his eternity in your heart. So, set your heart on something far greater and far glorious beyond your present situations. Don't be defined by powerlessness to dream, inability to see where you are going, powerlessness to change and powerlessness to fight against setbacks. It is time to rise and to march with Christ. Don’t let the present reality defines you. Let the Great I AM of eternity defines your today. Set your eyes on God’s purpose to conform you to the image of Jesus, to embark on his mission to bring glory to God.

So, as apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:14,

Church, I charge you today, “Wake up, O Sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

The Supremacy of the Gospel demands Risk takers for the gospel (Matthew 14:22-31)

2010-03-21T10:00:00.001-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, March 21, 2009

I have spent last two weeks laying out for you what I believe is God’s vision for our church, Cornerstone Mission Church. Because God has his vision for our church, our aim is not about ceasing to be a church. Rather, our aim is to make some radical changes in order to faithfully live out God’s vision for our church.

Let me take little bit of time and revisit the vision for CMC that I laid out for you last two weeks. From the message about the supremacy of the gospel over cultures, I see us shaping CMC where we can “become all things to all men” so that “by all possible means… save some” “for the sake of the gospel” according to 1 Corinthians 9:19-27. From this, I can see us .

· Within the next year, we envision each of CMC members making meaningful friendship with at least one non-Christian, sharing the gospel to this person, and inviting the non-Christian friend to our church.

· Within the next year, We envision CMC equipping members to share the gospel through evangelism training.

· We envision CMC not as an ethnic church, but as a church that engages broader network of friends, co-workers, colleagues, neighbors around us.

· We envision CMC to be a church where we can proudly invite anyone to witness the power and the reality of the gospel.

From the message about the supremacy of the gospel that redefines family, I see our church being shaped and strengthened by the spiritual family bond rather than the biological bonds. (Mark 3:31-35)

· We envision CMC to be a church where people of different ethnicity or race, singles or nuclear families can belong together in a spiritual family.

· We envision CMC to realize the spiritual family bond by doing God’s will together.

The supremacy of the gospel envisions risk takers for the gospel

And, today, I am going to cast another vision for CMC. The supremacy of the gospel means evangelism beyond ethnic, racial, class boundaries and creating spiritual family. The supremacy of the gospel also means that CMC becomes church of risk takers. Imagine you and I belonging to church culture where taking risks for the sake of the gospel is not only acceptable but encouraged and expected. Imagine risk takers thinking outside of box, outside of what’s seems possible, in order to live out their faith courageously and adventurously and fearlessly.

Fear factors

Before we see how the supremacy of the gospel calls for risk takers for the gospel, I want us to consider the fear factor.

Taking risk requires overcoming fear, doesn’t it?

In today’s passage, Matthew 14:22-33, Peter had to deal with fear before he could take the risk of walking on the water towards Jesus. As a fisher man, Peter knew better than anyone what could happen out in the open water during powerful storms.

Right before this passage, Jesus cared and fed miraculously well over ten thousand hungry men, women and children out of five loaves of bread and two fish. What do you think the disciples thought of Jesus at this point having witnessed and tasted this utter impossible being carried out by Jesus? I bet they were bewildered, awestruck, surprised; perhaps, they felt healthy dose of respect and reverence toward Jesus. They experienced the supremacy of the gospel. Peter was touched by the supremacy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Without any break from the story of Jesus’ miracle of feeding, we see him in Matthew 14:22 instructing the disciples to immediately… get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side” probably to find a shelter to spend the night in Galilee. Jesus stayed behind to disperse the crowd to make their ways to each of their homes.

In verse 23, we see Jesus going up on a mountainside to pray and by evening time, he was alone. While Jesus was alone praying, we see the disciples struggling to cross the Sea of Galilee in their boat. They were stuck in the middle (Mark 6:19) unable to make any more progress.

Jesus walked miles on the water to where the disciples were in their boat during the fourth watch of the night. That’s between 3 – 6 am.

It says in verse 26, the disciples were terrified seeing Jesus walking on the lake. In fear, they mistakenly believed that this unbelievable sight of man walking on the water was a sight of a ghost. I am sure we would have done the same if we saw someone walking on the water. Nevertheless, it is not pretty trying to image twelve grown men crying out in fear. Not a manly sight at all, right?

I want to pause here and think about fear factor in life. Until Jesus told them who he was and encouraged them, the disciples were gripped with fear. They feared that their boat crumble by the pounding waves. They feared they were going to drown to death. And, they feared the ghostly figure walking on the water.

What fears are you dealing with as I encourage you to embrace God’s vision for CMC which calls us to the path of radical changes?

· Do you fear of making wrong mistake, choosing the wrong path for our church?

· Do you fear of what KCUMC congregation might think of us, perhaps many of your parents? Do you fear for the relationship breakups and hurts?

· Do you fear of unknown as to where we will gather to worship or how we are going to afford financially?

· Do you fear leaving the boat that you’ve been dependant on for long time?

I am sure you can add your own fear to these fears. Without clear direction, clear vision from God, we had been paralyzed to make any meaningful decision. I too was paralyzed for many months without clear vision for our church. Without the vision for CMC, I seriously thought that merging with KCUMC and become a part of Korean church was the right solution.

But, I think differently now. I see it differently because I’ve been able to dream again for the future of CMC. In addition to envision the church that pushes for the supremacy of the gospel to go beyond the ethnic, racial, class boundaries and for the supremacy of the gospel that creates the new spiritual family, now I envision our church of risk takers overcoming fears…

Risk takers overcome fears…

Consider that it was not Peter who first envisioned Jesus walking on the water. He and the rest of the disciples were not able to see clearly Jesus because of their fears and misconception. Although they witnessed Jesus performing amazing miracle of feeding over ten thousand people, they didn’t think it was possible for Jesus to walk on the water.

It was not Peter or any other disciples, but Jesus himself who revealed himself to them. “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (verse 27). This was the defining moment for the disciples, especially for Peter. Until this moment, they didn’t have the vision of Jesus. All they had was fear of drowning and perishing helplessly; their fear of death was heightened by what they thought as a ghost. But, it all changed when Jesus revealed himself to them.

As soon as Jesus said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” Peter responded in verse 29, “Lord, if it’s you… tell me to come to you on the water.” And, Jesus replied, “Come.” And, we see Peter getting down out of the boat and started walking on the water and coming toward Jesus.

Do you see what’s happening here? Peter went from being paralyzed by fears to boldly talking the biggest risk thus far in his life. Peter changed because he heard Jesus speaking to him, he saw Jesus standing on the water, and he heard Jesus calling him to take the risk. His voice, his vision, his calling is how Peter overcame the fears. That’s how he took his first steps.

I believe that is what’s happening to us as church. You and I were stuck in the crazy storm; we were confused and weren’t able to see clearly where we need to go. But, I believe now that he has been speaking his words of affirmation to us. “Take courage, CMC! Don’t be afraid.” In a way I did the same thing that Peter did. I asked Jesus to show me and show us the vision for our church. I asked Jesus to call us out with his vision to himself. That is how Jesus has shaped the vision I see for CMC; his vision to build church where the supremacy of the gospel reaches out beyond the boundaries of ethnicity, race and class, the supremacy of the gospel that transcends biological family bond to create far stronger and eternal spiritual family bond forged by his blood. That’s what I see.

As the Lord casts his vision for CMC, I believe it is now for us to become the risk takers for the supremacy of the gospel; it is time to get down out of the boat and take our first steps on the water. It is time to walk on the water.

The risk takers are covered by the grace of Jesus

As with anything taking risk assumes even failures as Peter did. Peter took those steps out on the water fixing his sight firmly on Jesus who stood on the water. But, he started sinking as soon as he saw wind and was afraid. The fear of death came back when he took his eyes of Jesus. He began to fail when he took his eyes of the vision.

But, this failure was only momentary lapse. Because Peter took the risk and walked out of the boat on to the water, what we see is Jesus covering Peter with his grace. Peter didn’t sink into death as he feared because Jesus was right there to catch him. Verse 32 says that the wind didn’t die down until Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat. This means Peter after being pulled out of water began to walk again along side of Jesus.

Taking risks has its cost. There is the cost of having to face fear when we lose our focus on the supremacy of the gospel. When as church we take the risk for the supremacy of the gospel, God’s vision for our church, things will not get easier. Remaining in the boat is infinitely easier than to walk on the water. But, the cost of taking risk will be rewarded because Jesus takes care of those who take risk for his gospel. He will be right there for us along the way even when we get distracted from his vision and start to sink. Jesus will be right there to pick us up and we will walk on the water with him again.

The risk takers worship

Look at verse 33. It says those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Because Peter took the risk, he walked on the water with Jesus; this took them to the new level of worship and adoration of Jesus.

I believe that when we take risk for the supremacy of the gospel, we are going to experience whole new level of worship. To worship in Greek means literally to prostrate oneself before God. This new level of worship, deeper allegiance to Christ will be the reward when we take risk for the supremacy of the gospel.

The Supremacy of the Gospel: “Yes” to Jesus for changes (2 Corinthians 1:15-22)

2010-03-21T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Explore the flickering nature of human faithfulness… I know that some of you love playing golf. Depends on the outcome of the first Annual CMC golf outing in April, perhaps, I will become one too. Who knows? Well, you don’t have to be a golf fan to know something about the disgraced superstar, Tiger Woods. Known for his clean image and integrity, he has made tons of money through endorsements and advertisements. One company called Accenture had built its company image through the image of Tiger Woods, nice guy with integrity and excellence in performance. Their ads assume this about the company, “We know what it takes to be a Tiger. Talk to us to see how we can help.” It fits well with the company’s mantra, “High performance. Delivered.”

As you can imagine, the company soon found out that they really didn’t know what it takes to be a Tiger. Beneath the high performance delivered in golf fields, beneath the squeaky clean image of integrity, was the ugly truth of unfaithful husband at home. Accenture was the one of the earliest companies to drop Tiger Woods from their ads.

Tiger Woods, the iconic sports super star’s rise and fall isn’t the unique story. I am afraid that he not only represents the world of golf, but also the world of unfaithfulness, the world that has gone out of control behind the façade of excellence, high performance and control. What’s important in the world is not to produce a perfect product, a perfect life, because that would be too costly and consuming with no means for profitability… The world values the mere appearance of excellence that’s going to guarantee the bottom line profit. The world doesn’t want perfection.

As Christians, if we take our cues from the world on how to live our lives well, we will undoubtedly go after the appearance of high performance and excellence. But, the supremacy of the gospel doesn’t envision mere appearance of excellence. The gospel envisions the perfect and spotless mirror that reflects the full glory of God. The gospel is not after raising compromised people; the supremacy of the gospel envisions uncompromised people who don’t settle for the appearance of excellence, but the perfection of Jesus Christ.

When the vision is the formation of the perfect image of Christ, the only way to realize it is through saying “yes” to Jesus. Instead of asking, “Am I living excellently?” we need to ask, “Do I say “yes” to Jesus?” Only when you say “yes” to Jesus, you are going to see changes. And, those changes are what’s going to make your life count for eternity.

The illustration of “Yes to Jesus” in Paul’s life

Paul’s life illustrates this “Yes to Jesus.” Do changes equal to inconsistency?

Let me give you the context to better understand what Paul is talking about in this text. Paul was being accused of being fickle, changing plans at whims. Therefore, some accused him unfit to lead with authority.

The plan A laid out in 1 Corinthians 16:2-8 was the itinerary plan was Ephesus-Macedonia-Corinth-Jerusalem. But, here in 2 Corinthians 1, Paul adopted to the plan B, Ephesus-Corinth-Macedonia-Corinth-Judea. But, then the actual itinerary was not the plan A, nor plan B, but Ephesus-Corinth (=the painful visit”) –Ephesus-Troas-Macedonia.

· Plan A: Ephesus-Macedonia-Corinth-Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:2-8)

· Plan B: Ephesus-Corinth-Macedonia-Corinth-Judea (2 Corinthians 2:15-16)

· Actual: Ephesus-Corinth (=the painful visit”) –Ephesus-Troas-Macedonia (2 Corinthians 2:1, 2:12-13)

So, he was accused of talking things lightly (2 Corin 1:17), changing his plan arbitrarily and selfishly without regard to his promises or concern for the Corinthians. He was accuse of flip-flopping, saying “Yes” to one thing, but then later saying “no” to it.

Was Paul indeed unfit to lead because he disregarded his own plans, because he took things lightly? Was Paul unfit to lead because of his presumed low performance due to changing his mind? Surely excellence and inconsistence don’t go together!

“Yes” to Jesus = Changes in Paul’s life

To this Paul argues that the fact that he changed his mind about his plans, not once, but twice isn’t because he is flawed in his character, but rather it shows his commitment to Christ; it shows Paul knew how to say, “Yes” to Jesus.

In his plan A, his desire was not just to “make only a passing visit,” but to spend the winter with them, to spend more time with them (1 Corinthians 16:7).

But, he decided not only to visit once, but to visit them twice in order to benefit the Corinthians twice. Paul said “yes” to Jesus for living to benefit the Corinthians. So, there was his plan B.

But, when he went to his initial visit to Corinth, it became an incredibly difficult visit for him. Paul calls the visit “painful visit” in 2 Corinthians 2:1. It was a painful visit because he faced the rebellion against his apostolic authority. And, to revisit them as he planned in plan B, would have meant that he would have to exercise his apostolic authority to rebuke the rebellions and to exercise the church discipline to expel those who rebelled. So, instead of risking another “painful visit” (2:1), Paul decided to return to Ephesus. There in Ephesus, he wrote them a letter; Paul said he wrote it “out of distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve [the Corinthians] but to let [them] know the depth of [his] love for [them].” (2:4).

But, some considered Paul as a coward who couldn’t face up his accusers. But, the truth is Paul made the change of plan not because he was afraid of people, but because he was driven by the mercy of Christ. In 1:23 he called on God to be his witness that indeed it was to spare them from God’s judgment that he didn’t return to Corinth. Instead of defending his reputation against those in rebellion by exercising his apostolic authority, Paul sought to win those in rebellion over through his letter rather than through his visit. Paul said “yes” to Jesus and showed the mercy of Christ.

Paul went from plan A to plan B but ended up doing plan C. Paul argues that such changes reflect not a deficiency in his leadership, but his commitment to Christ. Paul was compelled by the gospel of Jesus Christ and instead of selfishly being motivated to promote himself, he was motivated to benefit those he loved.

“Yes” to Jesus… my changes…

Perhaps, some may argue that I am being inconsistent in my leadership as a pastor. Many of you know that I until December and the first week of January I encouraged us to consider the possibility of joining KCUMC. But, then shortly I came out strongly against merging with KCUMC and started advocating for continuing the life of CMC; not only that I’ve also been advocating for replanting our church outside of our current location, to become truly an independent church.

Perhaps, some might wonder if I am I taking things lightly, if I am being inconsistent in my leadership, if I care for myself. I tell you that left to my own natural self I will not be choosing the path to lead us out to become fully independent church. I don’t like taking risk. I don’t like when people don’t like me. I don’t like taking responsibility for which I can be blamed later if things don’t quite work out. Left to my natural tendency, I will avoid risking, concede and appease people so they like me, and I will shrug my shoulders and passed my responsibility to others to make the call.

But, I tell you that God is doing something very unnatural inside of me. He has ignited the fire, the deep passion for the explosive power of the gospel. He has awakened me to the vision of the supremacy of the gospel over cultures and over biological ties. He has awakened me to the vision of equipping you to be accomplish God’s mission; God’s mission to call the lost so they can be found, to give life to death, to give hope to those who have given up, to free up those who are captured, to call those who are lonely to belong.

As Paul says in our text, I want to see our church being built up so that there is not “yes” or “no” but only “yes” to the promises of God, to that which God wants to accomplish through us. Verse 20, Paul says, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” It means that God is going to fulfill his promises through the gospel of his Son Jesus Christ.

I want to see our church full of people who are tired of saying “no” to Christ out of fear, out of lazy comfort, out of lack of vision and challenge. I want you to be tired of saying to “no” to the great things God wants to accomplish.

I want to see our church full of people who say “yes” to Christ, who will dare to risk, who will dream big, who will sweat and work to make God’s vision happen.

As I reflect on what God has entrusted me, to take care of you, his sheep, his lambs, I am compelled to lead you to the path, to the direction, that you will not venture out on your own. So, have I changed? You bet I’ve changed. But, I am not satisfied. I want more changes.

So, what’s going on here? And, you are seeing changes taking place as I learn to say “yes” to Christ. And, I believe that when you say “yes” to Christ, you cannot help but want to change and experience change.

Reasons to say “yes” to Jesus

Paul gives three reasons why we need to cultivate lifestyle of saying “yes” to Jesus.

· You stand in Christ. God ordains to stand firm in Christ.

· You are set apart. God anointed you.

· You belong to God. God owns you.

· You have God’s vision for your life. (God put his spirit in your hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come)

Are you in the habit of saying “yes” to Jesus?

Difference between excellence and obedience

· To aim for obedience is to aim for perfection, not for “excellence”…

· Mere excellence allows room for a mixture… not a fixed standard… a mixed standard.

American businesses are in search of excellence, not perfection. Perfect products, perfect service is too costly because it eats into profits. Rather than be perfect, businesses know it’s enough to seem perfect to their customers. By stopping short of perfection, they find a profitable balance between quality and costs.

So, the businesses ask, “How far can we go and still seem perfect? By how far can we stop short?” To find that profitable point of stopping short at the middle ground of excellence.

While in business it’s profitable to seem perfect, in the spiritual realm it’s merely comfortable to seem perfect. It is never profitable.[1]

With excellence we try to cover our disobedient tracks.[2] Satisfied with mere excellence, we stop short of God’s standards. We move nearer our peers only to find distance from God.

Excellence is the result of living out obediently… the goal is to obey, not to perform excellently.

It’s time to step up.

· If it’s important, then you will make it happen no matter what. If it is not happening, it is because it doesn’t matter. Time to repent!

· In order to move forward, you need to own this church as yours. This is such a crucial time, the major crossroad that you need to step up to the challenge. Is this your church? Does it matter what happens to it?

Let’s not ask How far we can go and still be called a Christian? Instead, let’s ask how holy I can be?

[1] Areterburn & Stoeker, Every man’s battle, Colorado Springs, Colorado: WaterBrook Press, 2000, p. 50.

[2] Arterburn & Stoeker, p. 51.

^{^[3]} O'Brien, P. T. (2002). Vol. 44: Word Biblical Commentary : Colossians-Philemon. Word Biblical Commentary (228). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

When things turn bad to worse… (Genesis 37-50)

2010-03-14T10:00:00.001-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Last Saturday morning, I received a call from a man. He needed to talk to someone from church about his life. He said he was waiting for Loan modification for his home. As the economy has tanked last couples years, he too was hit hard financially and needed a favorable and affordable loan term to pay back his mortgage. Things were looking bad, but he got a call from the loan office that he was going to get the loan modification he applied. He was ecstatic that it came through knowing that many were praying for him in regard to this.

But, then just few days ago, he received the devastating news that turned things bad to absolute worse. He was told that the loan modification fell through; not only that, he was told that he had a month to clear out and vacate his home. All that happiness evaporated, gone! He asked me, “Why is God doing this to me?” “I was so happy to hear that the loan modification was going to be approved, but not only did it fall through, now I am going to lose my home. Why is God allowing this? This is death to me.”

We’ve all been there when things go bad to worse. Perhaps, you are there now and you are asking the big “Why” questions. You are trying to make sense of your life but you can’t. You try to get traction in your life, but you are slipping further into deeper hole. And, you can’t make sense of what God is doing now in your life. You feel either God is against you, or he has abandoned you. God seems distant, indifferent, and capricious to you seemingly inflicting pain in you for no purpose. And, you don’t what to think and what to feel about God.

Or perhaps, you know friends or families who are bitter in life because things are going bad to worse and they are not able to make sense of life. They are angry, perplex, and confused. And, they are looking to you for advice and direction. But, all you can say is, “Gee, I don’t know what to tell you.”

I want you know to know that the Bible is not silent about this concern. God has laid out in his word the way to make sense when things go bad to worse. Consider with me the life of Joseph.

Joseph’s rise preceded by 12-13 years of sustained fall.

If you know the Bible even little bit, you’ve heard about the story of Joseph. A musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is based on the story of Joseph from Genesis. An animation, Joseph- King of Dreams is based on the story as well. The story of Joseph is a powerful story that can help us make sense when things go bad to worse.

The story goes something like this. Joseph grew up in a completely dysfunctional blended family; he was among twelve brothers and one sister. When you read the account from Genesis 29 and 30, it sounds absolutely ridiculous. It is worse than even the worst of soap operas. Two sisters, Leah and Rachel both married to Jacob, were at each other; Jacob favored and loved Rachel more than Leah. In those days, women who were able to have lot of children were highly esteemed. It happened that un-favored and unloved Leah was the first one to give birth to the four sons. Highly jealous, Rachel who couldn’t have any children took matters into her own hands; she enlisted her maidservant Bilhah and produced two children. Leah who couldn’t have children after her first four sons counteracted Rachel by enlisting her very own maidservant Zilpah and producing two more sons. Then, the race resumed when Leah started having more children of her own adding three more. The race ended with Rachael having Joseph and later dying after giving birth to the youngest son Benjamin.

Seriously dysfunctional, won’t you say? The children grew up in a toxic environment poisoned with jealousy and hatred. No wonder the half brothers turned against Joseph.

Jacob favoring Rachel over Leah, he also heavily favored Rachel’s children, Joseph and Benjamin. And, of all, Joseph was Jacob’s favorite. And, talking about poor parenting, he made sure everyone knew about who was his favorite. It says in Genesis 37:3, “Now Israel [that is Jacob] loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.”

What’s was the result? It says, in Genesis 37:4, “When his brother saw their father loved him [Joseph] more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.”

To make things worse, Joseph was a dreamer; literally a dreamer who told the dreams that horrified and enraged his brothers. The theme of his vivid dreams was basically that all his brothers and even his father and mother would bow and submit to Joseph. It says in Genesis 37:11, Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and that in verse 18 they were plotting to kill him.

Well, all wasn’t lost since Reuben came to his sense how ridiculous was the plan to get rid of their own half brother. In spite of his effort to free Joseph, the rest prevailed in getting rid of Joseph. They sold Joseph to the Midianite merchants (Genesis 37:28) and later Joseph was sold in Egypt to Potiphar (37:36).

The story is picked up in chapter 39 with the new scene now in Egypt. Joseph found himself as a slave under the Egyptian master, Potiphar, the officer and captain of the guard. Joseph made the best of the bad circumstance by being responsible, reliable, trustworthy and a hardworking servant; he rose up the rank and earned his master’s complete trust. Yet, when things were looking better, things turned for the worse. Joseph was entrapped and falsely accused by Potiphar’s wayward wife; Joseph lost the hard earned trust of his master Potiphar and ended up in the jail.

And, now in chapter 40, the story is picked up in the jail scene. Just like Joseph earned the favor of Potiphar, here Joseph earned favor and trust from the warden. To Joseph were assigned two new prisoners, high officials of Pharaoh the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt. Both of these two men had dreams that terrified them. Joseph the dreamer interpreted the dreams and it came to pass; Pharaoh restored the cupbearer back to his former position while condemning the baker to death.

And, in chapter 41, the plot moves from the jail scene to the court of Pharaoh. Here too, Pharaoh had two troubling dreams. It is this time when the cupbearer who completely forgot about Joseph remembered him and introduced Joseph to Pharaoh. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream with God’s help; finally Joseph climbs out of the worse and rises to the rank of second-in-command in Egypt.

Now, those of you who are familiar with the story of Joseph, do you know how much time had passed for Joseph from being betrayed by his brother, ended up in Egypt as a slave, then later ended up in a jail? Do you know how long it passed from the time the cupbearer was restored back to Pharaoh and to the time when he actually remembered Joseph?

Genesis 37:2 says that Joseph was “a young man of seventeen.” That’s when he was betrayed and sold away by his brother. And, Genesis 41:46 says, “Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” So, that’s about 13 years or so from the time being sold as a slave to assuming the second-in-command position. And, Genesis 41 tells us that two full years had passed since the cupbearer forgot about Joseph to the time he remembered Joseph before Pharaoh.

That’s thirteen years as a slave and a prisoner. That’s a long time for things to go bad to worse, won’t you say?

Gain perspective when things go bad to worse

What does the story of Joseph tell us about when things go bad to worse?

1. Discern the origin of hardships.

God made the world with the built it system where making rebellious, sinful, unwise choices will make things bad to worse in our lives. Obviously, this wasn’t the case for Joseph since he was the victim of being wronged.

In the case of things going bad to worse because of our rebellious sins, the solution is to repent and turn to God.
God designed the world in such way he allows things to go bad to worse in order to wake us up from persisting in rebellion.
In the case of suffering consequences of sins and rebellion is to ask God to restore us to the right living, healthy living, righteous living.

But, then, as was the case for Joseph, there are time injustice are done to us, and there are times we simply cannot explain why things go bad to worse. Joseph didn’t do anything bad, but things got worse for him for long thirteen years before things got better.

This means we don’t falsely believe that just being Christians would guarantee happiness and trouble free life.
The most important questions are not, “Why is this happening?” rather ask, “What is God trying to accomplish in me through the hardships that I am facing?” “And, in response to what God is doing and trying to accomplish in the midst of hardships, how should I live?”

2. What is God trying to accomplish in you through the hardships you experience?

God wants you to believe that he is purposeful and good, not capricious or malicious. He is not allowing hardships in your life just because he wants to mess with you. No, he wants to accomplish greater goal through your life.

God’s purpose for Joseph… Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the savings of many lives.”
Remember God is God who sent his Son to subject himself to suffering, persecution and death in order to save you and me from evil and death.

He wants you to believe he cares for you not indifferent or aloof.
He wants you to believe that God is able to help you because he is in control and he is sovereign.
He wants you to believe that he knows better than you do. Don’t waste your energy trying to outsmart God. In his timing he will help you make sense of the hardships you face. Don’t waste all your energy to asking “Why” questions.

Job told God in Job 42:3, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”

He wants you to experience his power to restore you, heal you, to make you stronger in him, to purify you through the hot furnace of life’s troubles. So, that at the end you emerge as a man and woman fit for the life in the kingdom of God.

3. How should you live your life in the midst of hardships?

Knowing God has greater purpose for you, knowing God cares for you, knowing God is in control, knowing God knows what he is doing, knowing God wants you to experience his power, what you need to do is
Live faithfully trusting in God.
Live patiently waiting on God.
Live hopefully for God’s right timing.
Live victoriously for God’s redemption.

The Supremacy of the Gospel – redefining family (Mark 3:31-35)

2010-03-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

The story of Joyce’s dad… adoption into a new family… illustrates the supremacy of the gospel that redefines family as more than based on blood relationship.

As I have mentioned to you last week, I am devoting the month of March to explore God’s vision for our church, Cornerstone Mission Church. In order to understand what God envision for CMC, we must understand the exclusive demand of the gospel to share Jesus’ commitment to God and radically inclusive nature of the gospel

When family is understood as connection built on blood relationship, you will find these definitions for family.

A group of individual living under one roof and usually under one head

A group of persons of common ancestry (clan)… < a people or group of people regarded as deriving from a common stock (race)

The basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children… a single-parent family[1]

But, the supremacy of the gospel taught and lived out by our Lord Jesus envisions family quite differently. There is another dictionary definition of family that is not defined by blood relationship.

A group of people united by certain convictions or a common affiliation (fellowship)[2]

The gospel envisions family not just as relationship defined by blood relationships. The gospel envisions God’s family beyond the boundaries of the nuclear family ties, extended family ties, beyond clan, tribal, ethnic or racial ties. The gospel envisions radically inclusive family, God’s family based on the exclusive demand to share Jesus’ commitment to God’s will.

The supremacy of the gospel demands exclusively sharing Jesus’ commitment to God

Let’s consider how the supremacy of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ redefines family.

Do you know what family values are? Family values are so highly regarded by churches that most of the Christians believe that it is essential and foundational for churches. Wikipedia defines family values as “political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society.”[3] When we as Christians focus so much on the values of building nuclear families, we become desensitized the biblical vision for God’s family, spiritual family.

Paul uses the language of “God’s household” to describe the biblical vision of God’s family.

“God’s household” in Ephesians 2:19, Galatians 6:10, “those who belong to the family of believers,” 1 Timothy 3:15, “God’s household”, 1 Peter 4:17, “the family of God.” Oikos of God.

So, how is the biblical vision of God’s family different from family values?

We can see the clear difference when we consider how Jesus explained about why he came to live with us.

Matthew 10:35f-36, “For I have come to turn “’a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law- a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”

Luke 12:53 reads, “They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Jesus is not saying that family isn’t important. Family defined by blood relationship was God’s idea and it is quite important. But, what Jesus is saying is allegiance to family, blood relationships, is only important if it honors Jesus’ commitment to God. The gospel carries the vision of division and strife over family relationship because the gospel demands complete allegiance to Jesus’ commitment to God. Let me illustrates this from the Wall Street Journal article from March 6.

The article is about an interview with Mosab Hassan Yousef who is the son of Hamas founder and leader, Sheikh Hassan Yousef. Mosab said, “I absolutely know that in anybody’s eyes I was a traitor… To my family, to my nation, to my God. I crossed all the red lines in my society. I didn’t leave on that I didn’t cross.” He explains his encounter with the British cabbie who gave him an English-Arabic copy of the New Testament. Reading through it, he said, “I found that I was really drawn to the grace, love and humility that Jesus talked about… I converted to Christianity because I was convinced by Jesus Christ as a character, as a personality. I loved him, his wisdom, his love, his unconditional love.”

And, he had some very harsh words to say about Muslim; there will be people who will try to kill him for what he said about Muslim. “At the end of the day a traditional Muslim is doing the will of a fanatic, fundamentalist, terrorist God… The problem is not in Muslims… The problem is with their God. They need to be liberated from their God. He is their biggest enemy. It has been 1,400 years they have been lied to.” About these dangerous words that he spoke against the religion of his family, Mosab said, “Palestinians have reason to kill me. Some Israelis may want to kill me. MY goal is not to defeat my enemy. It is to win over my enemy.”

His father Sheikh Yousef issued a statement that he and his family “have completely disowned the man who was our oldest son and who is called Mosab.”

Family values are only good if they serve the greater purpose of our Lord Jesus Christ to advance God’s will. But, if family values demand allegiance to families over Jesus’ commitment to God, he will not compromise, but will bring division and strife.

The supremacy of the gospel envisions inclusive family of God

Let’s consider now the story about Jesus and his family from Mark 3:31-35. What we see leading up to our text is Jesus actively engaging the world beyond the boundaries of social norms. While religious Jews were afraid and refused to associate with anyone beyond their ethnic and religious boundaries, Jesus touched and healed the leper, liberated demon possessed men, healed the sick, dined with social outcasts, and sinners. Jesus was even accused of casting out the demons because he himself was possessed by the prince of demons, named Beelzebul. To which Jesus dismissed their accusation as silly nonsense and sternly warned them of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

And it says in Mark 3:21, “When he his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”” They thought Jesus was going mad. The family believed that Jesus had to be stopped.

To “take charge” is to force. They showed up in order to force Jesus to abandon his madness. When they arrived, they stood outside and send someone in to call him. They were outside looking for Jesus in order to take charge of him, to force him to leave what they considered as craziness.

To this Jesus replied, “Who are my mother and my brother? …Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Do you get the picture? Jesus’ biological mother Mary and his half brothers were standing outside; they were outsiders because they opposed Jesus and his mission. Those who were inside of Jesus’ family circle were those who did God’s will.

This would have been utter shock to the first century mindset. The family defined by blood was the foundation of society and economy; unlike us, they couldn’t envision their own identities apart from identity that of belonging to a group, their family.[4]

Jesus rejected the priority of biological family relationships; he rejected putting family values first, family values to preserve their family lines, family wealth, family honor…[5]

Jesus rejected the belief in exclusively defined family; instead, he completely redefined family inclusively to include anyone who shares Jesus’ commitment to God. Family defined by Jesus cuts right through the boundaries of class, race, or ethnicity as long as there is the obedience to God’s will.

Only one qualification matters to belong to God’s family… “Do you share Jesus’ commitment to God?” Do you see how Jesus redefined inclusively?

The vision for CMC

Envision family inclusively- We must work towards the vision of inclusivity to expand God’s family beyond the boundaries of ethnicity, race, or social class. This means, we must consider the future of CMC beyond the immediate family relationships many of you have with KCUMC. Will we be able to fulfill effectively the inclusive vision of God’s family as CMC or as a part of Korean church? I believe that we can be much more effective in realizing God’s vision of inclusive family by not defining our church as an ethnic church.

Envision family exclusively -We must focus on sharing Jesus’ commitment to God for this is how the biblical family bond can grow. The biblical family grows through the inclusive vision with the exclusively sharing Jesus’ commitment to God.

“Our shared commitments to God tie us more closely together than biological kinship.”[6]

Envision family beyond nuclear families- We must envision the purpose of nuclear families as the means to realize the biblical vision of spiritual God’s family.

“The French novelist André Gide, in Les nouvelles nourritures, bitterly expressed against the selfishly ingrown nuclear families: “Families! I hate you! Shut-in homes, closed doors, jealous possessors of happiness.”[7]

Envision family to grow - We must work towards growing the family by diligent and creative evangelism. We have experienced a lot of natural births in our church. Imagine what would be like to share the joy of spiritual new birth and grow church that way! We must become church where people can experience adoption into God’s family.

Envision family to belong - We must become a church where lonely and people of differences can find meaningful family relationship in Christ through doing God’s will together. We must adopt each other as family.

Envision family to restore -We must become a church where healing and restoration is possible for people who have been wounded in their broken and dysfunctional families.

Envision family to love - We must envision the family of God that extends grace, forgiveness, acceptance, and hospitality to each other and also loves enough to confront sins in each other.

[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/family

[2] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/family

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_values

The vision of the supremacy of the gospel over cultures (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

2010-03-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

You probably have not memorized what Proverbs 29:18 says. But, you’ve heard it enough that you know it by heart. KJV says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Often people think of vision in this verse as coming up with your freshly minted, never thought of, original kind of stuff that grabs you. But, here the vision is of the prophetic nature, meaning it is what God had communicated to the people through the prophets. And, the prophetic ministry was called into place in order to call people back to God. So, without God grabbing the attentions of the people through the prophetic vision, without the word from God through the prophets, there would be quick descend to anarchy and destruction.

Let me illustrate it this way… I am a stickler when it comes to wearing seatbelts. My girls will tell you that I get very intense when it comes to wearing seatbelts correctly. When I first learned how to put seatbelts on my little girls, I took my time, I watched video on how to put it on correctly, and I read a manual about it. The prophetic word from God is like parents putting on seatbelts on their children correctly so that if they ever get into accident, their children will not fly off the windshield, but be kept safely.

Now, imagine parents no longer putting seatbelts on their children correctly… you are going to find little children squirm their way out of their seatbelts. You will see the little children “cast off restraint” sort to speak and put themselves in danger.

Last year I felt like a child without wearing my seat belt, vulnerable and fearful. I felt this way about us as a church. It felt like we as church were heading towards a crash without our seatbelts on. Without God’s vision, we perish!

But, what difference it makes when God speaks through his word. In this month of March, I am going to share with you confidence I have because God has placed me back in my seat, and put the seatbelt to secure me. He is been speaking to me through his word. I believe that you and I as church will experience confidence because God is securing us for the ride ahead of us through his vision, through his Word. God’s vision, his word absolutely demands changes. You cannot embrace his vision and do things as usual. We have to change. No status quo in the kingdom ride.

I believe that God wants to secure you in his vision not to have you ride on the all too familiar smooth, comfortable, lazy scenic route we’ve been on too long. It’s been a journey with no edge. God knows that the boredom without adventure is going to kill you because you are a creature shaped for the kingdom adventure. I like my Toyota Siena… but really I think it is time for my family to trade it with Land Rover with eight seats because we are about to go off the trail for the kingdom adventure. And, I want you to come with me. Buckle your seatbelts and fire off your Land Rover. Are you up for the adventure?

The word of God that has been speaking to me is 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. What you are going to see in this passage is the vision of the supremacy of the gospel over cultures.

The supremacy of the gospel over cultures

You know great deal about Paul, how he lived, what he lived for through my preaching from Acts and 2 Timothy. 1 Corinthians 9:19-27 is another passage that speaks so clearly how Paul was a man who was fully committed to the supremacy of the gospel over cultures.

If you know Paul, you know Paul was once the proud Jew, so proud of his culture, traditions, and beliefs that he didn’t think twice about cracking down any threat against his Jewish culture; he would never have befriended the Gentiles. It wouldn’t be wrong for me to describe him as once an ethnocentric jerk.

But, in our text, we see him speaking with words like, “I make myself a slave to everyone,” “To the Jews I became like a Jew,” “To those under the law I became like one under the law,” “To those not having the law I became like one not having the law,” “To the weak I became weak,” “I have become all things to all men.” Paul wasn’t talking about being a man with no sense of identity and character, full of compromises and no purpose in mind; merely a chameleon shifting his colors depends who he was talking to with no moral convictions. No, that’s the farthest thing from what Paul was saying here.

To “become all things to all men” had very specific purpose… “to win Jews,” “to win those under the law” that is God-fearing Gentiles and among those who converted to Judaism, “to win those not having the law” that is the Gentiles, “to win the weak” that is the social misfits of his time, “to win as many as possible,” “by all possible means… save some,” “for the sake of the gospel.” Paul stood for the supremacy of the gospel.

Paul went from being an ethnocentric jerk with massive dose of superiority complex to being a sincere and humble, winsome, down to earth kind of guy; he was able to befriend, to come along side of non-believing people of different backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs; he didn’t befriend them just because they were potential converts to Christ and only to abandon friendship if they rejected the gospel. He really cared for them and loved them.

Just like Jesus who befriended people labeled as sinners and misfits of the society, Paul did the same thing. All for the purpose that some of his non-Christian friends from different culture, backgrounds might come to embrace the gospel and be saved.

Paul was gripped by the telos, the vision, the end goal of the gospel that can never be contained, restricted into the domain of one subculture. To restrict the gospel into one dimensional subculture is like putting a wild mountain lion into a 6 by 6 foot cage. No, they need tens of hundreds of square miles to roam and thrive. Paul understood this about the gospel. Do you?

I believe that each of you is uniquely gifted to live out the vision and the power of the gospel. Generally speaking, the first generation immigrants cannot engage the greater territory effectively; they cannot broaden the network of friendship beyond those who speak the same language.

But, you are uniquely positioned with God given capacity to form friendship with anyone you choose to and you can invite them to Jesus. Imagine with me. Imagine what it would be like us as church being driven by the supremacy of the gospel over cultures. What would it be like to be released from the restriction of a subculture into the wild? Once you’ve seen the wild, I don’t think you would want to go back.

Some of you heard from me last time to consider the path to join KCUMC and become their English Ministry instead of continue CMC. And, hearing from me today, you might be thinking that I did a 180 flip on you. You may say I had a vision to join KCUMC and now to I have a different vision. As I told one of you, I would say that through the month of December last year, I lost the vision for CMC. I had no resolve to see what could be. And, it is not an understatement that I felt like I was slowly dying inside.

But, as I renewed my relationship with him, as I recommit my love to Jesus and freshly hear his call to me to feed you, his sheep, and to lead you, God is making things very clearly to me.

The decision that was before us, either to cease to exist as Cornerstone Mission Church and join KCUMC or to continue to exist as Cornerstone Mission Church, is not a moral decision. Whether there is one church or two separate churches, there is only one true Universal Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, it becomes a moral decision of right or wrong when it involves what God wants to see with CMC, with us. If God has his vision set on for Cornerstone Mission Church to be a church that honors the supremacy of the gospel, to be released into the wild beyond the little plot of our subculture, then surely it become the moral decision. We either obey God’s vision for the supremacy of the gospel and go for the kingdom adventure that requires bold faith or withdraw from his vision and remain in our comfortable, non-threatening, non-committal lot only to die in boredom and frustration.

What do you think?

Proud to be his messenger (2 Timothy 4:1-22)

2010-02-28T09:00:00.000-06:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Here is the image involving the disqualification of Apolo Anton Ohno on Friday’s 500 m finals short track competition. He was disqualified for pushing Canada’s Francois-Louis Tremblay into the padded boards. He later won bronze medal in men’s 5000 meter relay to make it total of eight medals.

He said this about the disqualification… “I kept waiting and waiting and on the last corner, I ran up on the Canadian guy… I put my hand up so I wouldn’t run into him. There was just no space to move up.” “You know, it’s the head Canadian referee out there and there were two Canadians in the race.” He was implying that the judges were somehow favoring Canadian player and unfairly ruling the case against him.

Well, last Friday on that track, whatever Ohno thought happened didn’t matter. What really mattered was what the referees saw and judged. People can argue over it, but at the end of the race, the final call came not from Ohno, but from the judges.

Judging from how Paul used to illustrate spiritual journey with the sports theme, I bet he would have loved watching the Winter Olympic. To Paul, finishing the race was very important to him. The most important thing about finishing the race was the opinion of the righteous Judge. Paul says in 4:1 that it will be the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who will be the righteous Judge who is going to judge the living and the dead. And, sitting in his prison cell, there was genuine happiness about the way he ran the race… “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” No disqualification here… He looked forward to the moment when the righteous Judge would award him on that day, the crown of righteousness for finishing the race well.

Paul said in verse 6, “the time has come for my departure.” He meant the moment of execution. Looking back at his life and looking ahead for his impending execution, and his eternal life, Paul wanted nothing more than Timothy, his spiritual son to run the race and to finish the race without disqualification. So, he wrote his final words to Timothy. That’s what we have it here in the last chapter of 2 Timothy. Would Timothy finish the race, run the race without being disqualified, would Timothy preach the word even though it would cost him?

Are you proud to be his messenger?

One day, without any exception, we will all face the righteous Judge who is going to account the quality of our lives. Paul knew that the Judge will disqualify many for not finishing the race, not running the race at all, for cheating.

So, Paul gives this solemn charge to Timothy, “Preach the word.” Perhaps, when you hear the word “Preach,” the immediate image that comes to your mind is the ordained clergyman like me standing in his pulpit on Sundays preaching. When Timothy heard the charge to preach, this isn’t exactly the kind of image that came up in Timothy’s mind. Rather, the original Greek word evoked in Timothy’s mind an image of the imperial herald; as the spokesman of the emperor, the Imperial herald proclaimed with authority on behalf of the emperor; and it was understood that the message delivered by the imperial herald was to be accepted and be carried out without delay.^{^[i]}

To preach the word is to be King, Jesus’ messenger. This preaching the word, proclaiming and announcing the King’s message requires a sense of pride. Are we proud of the message contained in the word of God? Are we proud of Jesus Christ? Are we convinced that the world needs to hear what the King of the universe has to say to them? Are we so convinced that our non-believing friends, families, coworkers, neighbors, colleagues need to hear the message from Jesus?

Let me share you few accounts of men and women from the first three centuries. These are stories of those who were proud of Jesus Christ and his word and proved their pride in the message of Jesus with their lives.

Ignatius of Antioch was one of the earliest post-New Testament martyr. He was the second/or third bishop of Antioch arrested for atheism, denying the roman gods. Upon his arrest Christians tried hard to free him. But, to those who tried to free him he wrote, “I fear your kindness, which may harm me… You may be able to achieve what you plan. But if you pay no heed to my request it will be very difficult for me to attain unto God.” What was that he desired to attain unto God? He said, “Now I begin to be a disciple… Let fire and cross, flocks of beasts, broken bones, dismemberment… come upon me, so long as I attain to Jesus Christ.”

Polycarp was a bishop of Smyrna. He was arrested at the age of 86 for his message of the gospel. Before the local proconsul, Satius Quadratus Polycarp was threatened to be thrown to wild beasts, to be burned at the stake… To this Polycarp responded by saying while the proconsul’s fire lasts but a little while, the fires of judgment cannot be quenched. And, he concluded, “But why do you delay? Come, do what you will.” So, the soldiers grabbed him to nail him to a stake. Polycarp stopped them and demanded, “Leave me as I am. For he who grants me to endure the fire will enable me also to remain on the pyre unmoved, without the security you desire from nails.”

Perpetua… a Christian noblewoman at the turn of the third century lived with her husband, her son, her servant, Felicitas in Carthage of North Africa. Emperor Septimius Severus was determined to cripple Christianity so he focus on North Africa. She was arrested as she and four other prepared for baptism. All she had to do to be free was to deny that she was a Christian. On her trial, Perpetua’s father who was a pagan intervened by carrying Perpetua’s son in his arms and burst into the room and begged Perpetua, “Perform the sacrifice. Have pity on your baby!” And, the governor, Hilarianus chided her, “Have pity on your father’s gray head; have pity on your infant son. Offer the sacrifice for the welfare of the emperor.” To this Perpetua replied, “I will not.” “Are you a Christian then?” asked the governor. “Yes I am,” Perpetua replied. She and others were sent into the area floor to be devoured by the beats and be slayed by the sword.

Timothy lived in the time the cost of believing in the message and the cost of proclaiming the message confidently and proudly was huge; Paul was the living example of how costly it was to preach the word in the pagan world.

Paul experienced rejection from the people who rejected and opposed the gospel message, but he also experience rejection even from well-meaning Christians when they deserted him at his first defense in Rome (4:16).

Yet, we see Paul unfazed, so confident and proud and faithful witness to God’s message. He had his head in all situations, always sober, clear-minded, he endured hardship, and he discharged all the duties of his ministry that is he fulfilled his ministry. We see no fear as death stared at him. Death was simply the time for his departure (4:6) into present of Christ whom he longed to see (4:8).

How was this possible? I believe it was because Paul was proud to be the messenger of Christ? Are you proud to be his messenger?

Are you ready?

How do you know if you are really proud of Jesus? How do you know when people are proud of something? They show it by their enthusiasm. Don’t they?

Mark my words… in short months, you are going to see people walking into your favorite coffee shops and café with their brand new IPad. Eyes will turn and people will talk.

Have you met parents who cannot stop talking about their little children? I might be one of them. I don’t normally update my Facebook. But, when I do, you bet it has something to do with my girls. Latest update on my Facebook reads… “My 4 yr old girl asked me, “Can God juggle?” My answer, “Well… I think God can juggle!” LOL. How would you answer her?” Guess what… I got zero responses… I thought it was so cute how Audrey thought about God and wanted to share it with the world. But, the world doesn’t seem to get excited about it. But, guess what… the next time I share something on Facebook, I bet it is going to be something about my girls…

When people get genuine excited about something, they tend to be spontaneous instead of calculating to find the exact moment to display their excitement. Imagine what would it be like to be so genuine excited about Jesus Christ and we start talking about him spontaneously? Paul had this uncontainable excitement, enthusiasm and conviction in the message of Jesus Christ that, even in the most hostile environment, he managed to share the message of Christ.

I don’t know about you, but I have this tendency to wait for the right “even” divine moment to share the gospel message with someone. To this Paul says, “No, you don’t wait for the right or perfect moment to share. You don’t wait for the opportune time. You don’t wait until when people beg you to share the gospel. You share because you are proud of Jesus. You share because you are convinced that people need Jesus; it just they don’t know it yet. You share because you know that there will be a day when everyone will have to stand before the righteous Judge and all must give account for their lives. You share because you want to expose the lies of Satan, expose the wrongs, and encourage and cheer for that which is right.

^{^[i]} Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English Reader (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).

Are you built on the Scripture to shine? (2 Timothy 3:10-4:8)

2010-02-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Illustrations for two different foundations…

A vulnerable foundation… under heavy rain solid soil turns socks up rain and turns into mud… And, what you see is once a solid foundation turned into mudslide, destroying any structure built upon it.

Compares this to this picture of Tillamook Rock lighthouse built on the solid rock formation off the coast of Pacific Ocean of Oregon. Built in 1881 and deactivated in 1957, for 77 years, nicknamed, “Terrible Tilly” had withstood the enormously powerful ocean storms pounding on it without mercy… Its light was visible 18 miles out to sea. When it was deactivated and replaced by a red whistle buoy, Oswald Allik, the keeper penned the final entry in the logbook. After turning off the light for good, this is what he wrote in the log (displayed at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon):

Farewell, Tillamook Rock Light Station. An era has ended. With this final entry, and not without sentiment, I return thee to the elements. You, one of the most notorious and yet fascinating of the sea-swept sentinels in the world; long the friend of the tempest-tossed mariner. Through howling gale, thick fog and driving rain your beacon has been a star of hope and your foghorn a voice of encouragement. May the elements of nature be kind to you. For 77 years you have beamed your light across desolate acres of ocean. Keepers have come and gone; men lived and died; but you were faithful to the end. May your sunset years be good years. Your purpose is now only a symbol, but the lives you have saved and the service you have rendered are worthy of the highest respect. A protector of life and property to all, may old-timers, newcomers and travelers along the way pause from the shore in memory of your humanitarian role.[i]

Paul was built to shine brightly; he was a Christian sentinel, working tirelessly against the torrents of the false teachers, persecutions from the Jews and the Gentiles alike. In the dark and demonic world oppressed with fear and drunk with selfishness, he burned brightly shinning the gospel of the radical love of Christ from Jerusalem to the very heart of Rome. Now, he had reached the end of his earthly journey and was waiting for his execution. Yet, he was not resigned or helpless in the inevitability of the impending execution; he was ready to depart, to sail beyond the horizon into the very presence of his passion, his life, his everything, Jesus Christ. Looking beyond the horizon, you see Paul determined to see his spiritual son Timothy be built to shine brightly with the gospel in the midst of all kinds of trails and persecutions.

So, we see Paul writing to Timothy in verses 11 about his first missionary journey which is chronicled in Acts 13 and 14. Paul wanted to remind Timothy how he was persecuted and suffered for the gospel and how the Lord rescued him from all. At Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas, his coworker, faced the jealous Jews who stirred up persecution against them and expelled them from the city (Acts 13:14-52); At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas fled from the Jews and the Gentiles alike who plotted to mistreat them and stone them (Acts 14:5-6); In Lystra, Paul and Barnabas were welcomed by those who thought they were gods. But, in the hands of those who opposed the gospel, he was stoned and dragged outside the city left to die. But, Acts 14:20 records how after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up… and continued on with his missionary journey. In such ways, the Lord rescued him from all persecutions; so he endured persecution and sufferings. Paul was built to shine the gospel in the harshest and darkest environments. And, he was determined to see Timothy do the same, built to shine.

If you were to be featured in ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, what kind of buildings would accurately represent your persona?

Is this what you picture in your mind, one of the many varieties of nice homes?

The cover for ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST FOR CHRISTIANS… if there is such thing, it would prominently feature the lighthouses built on the solid foundations to shine their lights far.

The questions I want you to ask this morning are… Are you built to shine brightly? Is your way of life, your purpose in life built so that you experience persecution and sufferings? But, you endure persecution and suffering patiently and passionately without wavering in your faith in God’s ability to take care of you. These questions are designed to probe if you are living a godly life in Christ Jesus?

Paul says in verse 12, “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…” When you are built to shine brightly in darkness, you are bound to face some people who dislike you, hate you and even curse you in pain for shining brightly their eyes with the gospel light that are only accustomed to darkness.

The reason so many of us don’t experience anything near persecutions or sufferings is because we have not taken seriously our true identity as spiritual lighthouses. God is in the business of building light houses that will shine brightly in darkness. And, Paul identifies the Scripture as the bedrock of the spiritual lighthouses.

That’s the connection we see in verse 14-16…

“But as for you…” unlike those evil men and imposters going bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived,” because they ignore and reject the Scripture, as for you Timothy, “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you have learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

When the bedrock of the Scripture teaches, informs and shapes your way of life, your purpose, when the Scripture becomes the foundation of your faith, your patience, your love, when the Scripture becomes the bedrock of your spiritual lighthouse, then you will shine even in persecutions and sufferings.

So, the key to realizing your identity as the spiritual lighthouse is how seriously you take the Scripture and build your life on it.

Your attitude towards the Scripture

So, this morning I want you to think about your attitude and understanding of the Scripture, God’s word, the Bible.

The attitude towards the Old Testament… V. 15, “the holy Scriptures [literally “the sacred writings”], which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Paul here is referring to the Old Testament which was taught to Timothy even from his infancy.[ii] He grew up hearing God’s word as it was “the responsibility of every father to instruct his sons in the Torah, starting at age five to six; evidently they began with Leviticus (Str-B 3:664–66).”^{^[iii]} There are some Christians who readily dismiss the Old Testament as not as important as the New Testament… but they are seriously mistaken. Without the Old Testament, you lose the big picture of God’s salvation plan. You lose the perspective about God who is God of the history, God of eternity.

Poetries, histories, laws, prophecies of the Old Testament witness to God who patiently, sovereignly, faithfully works out his salvation plan to bring up new generation of faithful out of unfaithful generations, to point the new generation of faithful to his Son, the Messiah long promised, who was prophesized to fulfill his destiny to give his life for us all. Your Bible reading should not neglect the read of the Old Testament.

The attitude towards the inspiration of all Scripture… V. 16, Paul talks about “All Scripture as God breathed.” This is one of the most important statements about the inspiration of the Bible.

All Scripture is God-breathed means the writing of the Scripture was inspired by God, directed by God, recorded by God without disregard to personalities of the individual writing. It also means all Scripture as written in the very earliest original text are without errors. With each proceeding manuscripts, that is copies of the original, mistakes can be introduced.
But, as for the Old Testament, when the scholars compare the newer manuscripts copied by the special groups of Jews called Masoretes and the ones found in Dead Sea which predates the newer manuscript for over 1000 years, they differ only in three words and only in spelling. Two manuscripts copied 1000 years apart, but only three words in difference? That’s remarkable.[iv]
Consider the sheer amount of 24000 some fragments of New Testament manuscripts other than the original Greek language, 5000 manuscripts in Greek language; these are manuscripts made within first few centuries since the original writings. There is one manuscript of entire book of John that copied 150-200 years later from the original, one almost entire New Testament copied 250 years later, and two complete New Testament manuscripts copied less than 300 years.

What does the sheer volume of manuscripts available for the New Testament and the short number of years between original and earliest surviving manuscripts? F. F. Bruce explains the significance this way: “If the great number of MMS [manuscripts] increase the number of scribal errors, it increases proportionately the means of correcting such errors, so that the margin of doubt left in the process of recovering the exact original wording is not so large as might be feared; it is in truth remarkably small.”[v]

Name	Number of years between original and earliest surviving manuscript	Number of existing manuscripts
Caesar’s Gallic Wars	900	10 good ones
Tacitus’ Annals	1,000	2
Thucydides’ History	1,300	8
History of Herodotus	1,300	8
New Testament	150-200	1 (entire book of John)
250	1 (almost entire New Testament)
Less than 300	2 (complete New Testament)
Within first few centuries	Over 5,000 Greek fragments; 24,000 in other languages

(source: http://www.irr.org/bible-reliable.html#5)

Consider the Incredible unity of the books of the Bible (39 Old Testament books, 27 New Testament books)… imagine what kind of unity you would get if you put some of the great writings of the world by Plato, Aristotle, Josephus, Dante, Shakespeare?
Consider the insurmountable opposition to destroy God’s word and the followers… emperors, dictators, totalitarian governments have unsuccessfully tried to destroy the Bible… burning, confiscating, imprisoning and persecuting anyone found reading it, or secretly keeping it[vi]…

The attitude towards its power to transform…

Does God’s word have the role to teach you the right way to live, does it have the right to rebuke you for the wrongs you commit, does it have the authority to correct you, train you in righteousness, in right behaviors, and does it have the ability to equip you for God’s work?

Is the word of God the foundation that which your life is built to shine?

[i] http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=135

[ii] ("The holy Scriptures" is ta hiera grammata (lit., "the sacred writings"), an expression found in both Philo (Life of Moses, iii.39) and Josephus (Antiq. x.10.4) for the OT, which is what Timothy was taught as a child. (Gaebelein, Frank E. The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Volume 11. 409. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, © 1978.)

^{^[iii]} William D. Mounce, Word Biblical Commentary : Pastoral Epistles, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002). 563.

[iv] http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:hak5FQ6EpxAJ:www.irr.org/bible-reliable.html+the+accuracy+of+the+bible+manuscripts&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=u

[v] F.F. Bruce The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? 6th ed. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 1981), 14.

[vi] Peter Williams, Opening Up 2 Timothy (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2007). 83.

Love that destroys… (2 Timothy 3:1-9)

2010-02-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

“3 killed in University of Alabama…” a text message from Associated Press appeared on my phone. Yesterday, a biology professor, Amy Bishop, of University of Alabama was charged over triple campus murder. She is 42 years old, a Harvard-trained neurobiologist and an assistant professor; she was at the biology faculty meeting on the Huntsville campus… when Bishop learned she wasn’t going to get what she wanted, tenure status, she got angry and shot and killed three faculty members and injured three other university staffs. It is reported that as police led her away in handcuffs, she said, “It didn’t happen. There’s no way. …They are still alive.”[i] And, late yesterday, a Massachusetts police chief disclosed that Bishop fatally shot her own brother in 1986. It was dismissed as an accident, but now in the light of what she did, some doubts if it was really an accident after all.

From what’s known thus far, Bishop murdered her colleagues for not getting what she wanted... the tenure status she thought she deserved. Her Indignation and her perception of insult to her sense of justice, fairness for herself was so strong that in her mind killing was the right thing to do. To her, those who decided against granting her tenure status deserved to die. The insult to her love of herself was reason enough to kill others. This is what a person does when self-love, selfishness is carried out to its extreme.

Love that destroys…

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1, “in the last days,” the expanse of time between Jesus Christ’s first and his second coming, there will be “terrible times.”

The Greek word translated here, “terrible” occurs in one other occasion in Matthew 8:28. There, “terrible” is translated as “violent” to describe “two demon-possessed men” who came from the tombs and met Jesus. These demoniacs “were so violent that no one could pass that way.”

I want you to see this connection. When Paul describes the last days as terrible times, he is talking about the kind of violence and damages that will be ensued and sustained by the essence of evil; the essence of evil that has wreaked havocs in disguise of subtleness... Where you find troubles of broken trusts, lies, power struggles, conflicts that have shattered friendships, marriages, and families, where you find troubles of peoples being irresponsible and making others responsible for their failures, where you find troubles of people going astray, what you will find in the midst of human troubles is the essence of evil, destructive love of self that traces back to Satan.

God created Satan as a powerful angel to love, worship and serve the Creator, to live out his identity as God’s privileged angel. Yet, he made the choice to reject the creative purpose to love, worship and serve God. Instead, Satan chose to love, worship and serve himself; he sought to make himself like God. And, this is exactly how he seduced Eve and Adam in Genesis 3:5, “… when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

He became like the fallen Babylonian king in Isaiah 14:12, “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations”; Jesus said the same thing about Satan in Luke 10:18, “I saw Satan fall like lighting from heaven.” Satan was rejected because he refused to love, worship and serve his Creator, instead he became lover of himself.

Why have there been terrible times in the last days? The creative purpose to love God has been marred and replaced by the demonic bent on love of self.

“People will be lovers of themselves” says Paul. We are creatures created for love-relationship with God. Love-relationship with God now broken and rejected, what preoccupies people is love for themselves. This obsession for self, this love of self, results in evils that destroy. Love of self without love for God is demonic in nature and it destroys.

Lovers of themselves become lovers of money and lovers of pleasure; lovers of themselves are unable to contain the attitude of pride so they gloat boastfully of what they possess. Since lovers of themselves use people for their own gain, they see nothing wrong in abusing people. Lovers of themselves begin young in their distaste for legitimate authority, so they are indifferent and out right disdainful for anything that their parents have to say to them. Lovers of themselves demonstrate no gratitude to the true Giver of life. Lovers of themselves see no reason to be set apart for God’s purpose; they have no taste for holiness, only for secular. Lovers of themselves have very little room to love others for they waste all their energy on loving themselves. Lovers of themselves relate to others only to the extent that it benefits them; so they are unforgiving and resentful. Lovers of themselves empowers themselves by accusing others slanderously, that is falsely. Slanderous is translation of Greek word diabolos, which is also translated as the devil. The devil, Satan’s trademark is accusing falsely to destroy. Without self-control, lovers of themselves are inflamed with lust. Lovers of themselves lose their humanity and become brutal and cruel. Lovers of themselves are treacherous and act like Judas did betraying their friends even for meager profits. Lovers of themselves are rash so they take no time to be considerate to others. Conceited, they are drunk with self-importance.

In sum, love of self without love for God, namely selfishness, is demonic in nature as its destructive force produces evil vices.

Empty shell of destructive love of self

Paul likens love of self without love of God as “having a form of godliness but denying its power” in verse 5. Beneath the shell of godliness, what is missing is love directed to God and for people. The shell of godliness has no substance of corresponding reality of love of God. Without the reality of love of God, there is no divine power to bring about godly changes.

Form of godliness that is not found in the reality of love for God and love for people is counterfeit faith. William Mounce said, “True Christianity consists not in the show of religiosity but in the powerful proclamation of the gospel accompanied by the life of obedience that conforms to the demands of the gospel.”[ii] The essence of the gospel is God in pursuit of the loss generation through the self-giving love of his Son Jesus Christ to bring about real changes, conformity to the image of Jesus. When love of God is replaced with love of self, the empty shell of hypocrisy can only bring about evil destruction.

The religious frauds of Paul’s time showed their true faces when they wormed their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women. Paul highlights some women of his time who were duped into believing the religious frauds as genuine lovers of God. The women of the ancient time were less educated in traditional religion and assumed lower social standing and thereby had less to lose and much more susceptible to the façade of godliness… Because in the Greek society the access to women were restricted in public arena, the religious frauds sought to gain access to the household to win the hearts of vulnerable women, playing on their emotion, passion and even their fear. Winning the wealthy women, these religious frauds gained financial support from them, but entrapped them and burdened them further into sin for they never learned the truth…

Today, it may look like this… A person rebukes you for what is clearly wrong on your part, but you walk away feeling shamed, discouraged, put down, not loved and not cared for; you walk away feeling like something is terribly wrong with you without hope that God can change you for better.

A person encourages you to take the path of the least resistance that pleases people but doesn’t please God.

A person tries to make you do things by shaming you, obligating you, subjecting you, dominating you… their motive is calculating and manipulative to steer you to what works for them for their good, rather than the interest of God and others.

Wow, did you ever think that selfishness can be so destructive? After all aren’t we all selfish to varying degrees? So, what’s the big deal?

The big deal is that love of self without the love of God, the religious frauds empty of God’s love cannot bring about godly changes in themselves or in anyone else for that matter. Only God can bring about godly changes.

That’s what happened to Jannes and Jambres. The facts about Jannes and Jambres were widely known in the resources outside of the Bible as Pharaoh’s magicians who opposed Moses in Exodus 7:11. Initially they were able to counter God’s power by turning their staffs into snakes. But, in the story of Exodus, they couldn’t match the genuine power of God with their silly magic. Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. They failed to copy the plague of gnats (Exodus 8:18-19); they failed to stand against the plague of the boils (Exodus 9:11)… They were fools living in the empty shell while believing that they possessed the power of God to change, when in reality, they were nothing more than frauds bent on destruction. So, soon, their folly became clear to everyone. William Mounces says, “When God is removed as the priority in life and is replaced with self, money, and pleasure, all the other vices naturally follow.”^{^[iii]} Peter Williams says, “when self is on the throne of the personality, then love for God and other people is of little consequence.”[iv]

Whose priority do you follow? Who is sitting on the throne of your personality? Who do you love the most? The enemy, Satan’s game plan is to seduce you to walk the path of destructive self-love, the path of defiance that rejects God’s rule, the creator’s directive to love, worship, and serve the loving and good God, your Creator… Don’t fall for it.

[i] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7026077.ece

[ii] William D. Mounce, Word Biblical Commentary : Pastoral Epistles, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002). 547.

^{^[iii]} William D. Mounce, Word Biblical Commentary : Pastoral Epistles, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002). 547.

[iv] Peter Williams, Opening Up 2 Timothy (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2007). 68.

Christian Quality Assurance- Approved by God (2 Timothy 2:14-26)

2010-02-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, February 7 2009

Akio Toyoda, CEO and President of Toyota Motor Corporation and the grandson of the company’s founder bowed and gave a formal apology at an evening news conference in Japan. It was after two weeks since Toyota announced massive and the biggest almost 8 million global recalls due to the issue of sticking accelerator pedals. Adding to the insult, now the U.S. Transportation Department is investigating Toyota’s Prius hybrid car after the Japanese government ordered an investigation of its braking system.

A professor (Dr. Hrebiniak,) in the Department of Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania expressed his trouble by the fact that “Toyota had clues there were quality problems-not only general problems, but that there was an accelerator problem.”[i] Many wonder how the famed Toyota for their reliability and their workmanship failed so miserably lately. Perhaps, it’s the cost-cutting measures, or their push to expand the markets in unsustainable pace… whatever the causes are, the current state of Toyota reveals that they have made seriously compromise the quality of their workmanship.

Paul thinks of Christian life in terms of quality as well. Will you and I be able to pass the quality control as Christians? Will you and I be known for the quality of workmanship? For Paul, the key to the Christian quality is becoming a worker who does not need to be ashamed but approved by God.

Someone said this, “I really cannot give you the formula for success. But I can give you the formula for failure. It’s this: Try to please everyone.

What Paul taught to Timothy and what he teaches us today is that we have the calling from God to aim our lives to please him. The key to the success for Christian life is becoming a worker approved by God. When testing is done, will you and I emerge as genuine and honorable or will we be ashamed?

A worker approved by God knows how to correctly handle the word of truth.

In the postmodern world we live in, people reject the notion of absolute truth; they are much more comfortable with relativism, the world where no one can claim to have truth. Truth is determined not by absolutes, but by what makes one feel good. Truth is reduced to matter of preferences, merely what one favors. When you push the world of relativism and tolerance to its logical conclusion, it is whoever has more power gets their way. Dorothy Sayers writes in “The Six Other Deadly Sins” about the world we live in:

"...In the world it calls itself Tolerance; but in Hell it is called Despair. … It is the sin which believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and only remains alive because there is nothing it would die for...."

God envisions a workman approved by him, one who honors his truth, his word. In the age where talk is cheap and words don’t mean whole lot because people don’t live it out, Paul calls us to correctly handles the word of truth. This is a call to live out the convictions that are hammered out of the anvil and the fire of God’s word.

Can you handle the word of truth correctly? The Bible says the word of God is the sword of the truth.

When I was young, I dreamed of being a martial art hero. Walking from school, I would look for that perfect sword made out of tree branch. And, in the privacy of my little world, I became the most powerful warrior anyone has ever known. Well, sadly, if you live with me, you may occasionally find me in my spacious home breaking into my warrior fight with my red broom or the old shower curtain rod. But, really who am kidding? I am no fearsome warrior prince. I cannot handle any kind of sword except kitchen knives to cut fruits and vegetables.

Can you handle the word of truth correctly?

It takes immersing yourself in the word of God where God reveals who he is, his perspectives, his will, his purpose, his character. A month has passed, now we’re in February. I encourage you to continue the reading of God’s word as you planned. Whatever plans you picked reading four chapters a day, a chapter a day, a paragraph, whatever it is. What matters is that you read God’s word consistently.

A worker approved by God avoids quarrelsome and argumentative attitude.

Paul says a person whose convictions are grounded in God’s word avoids quarreling about words (v. 14), godless chatter (v. 16), foolish and stupid arguments (v.23).

When I speak to you about contending for the faith, wielding the sword of truth, I wonder if I am drawing a picture in your mind of a person who goes around blasting people with the Bible, pounding any who disagree with you with the hammer of truth, out to destroy the heretics, to argue against the opponents into submission.

Well, this isn’t the case at all as you can read from Paul’s letter. The world sees enough of angry and bitter so called Christians who are argumentative, and quarrelsome over trivial doctrinal matters, who justifies killing a doctor who performs abortion, who talks about love of God but shows no concern for the hungry, poor, single mothers, etc.

The world needs to see Christians who are approved by God, something other than quarrelsome and argumentative.

A worker approved by God instruct gently.

Paul’s take is that we are to be unmovable when it comes to our conviction in the truth of God’s word. We are to never deny Jesus even if someone threatens to kill us for our faith.

But, when it comes to communicating the truth of God’s word to the world, Paul says being argumentative or quarrelsome or militant is not the way to go. After all, are we not serving the Master who laid down his life for the enemies? The way to win the world is not by the sword of that cuts down people but the surgeon’s knife that cuts out the dangerous cancer tissues.

Consider how Jesus treated Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. We see no record of Jesus treating Judas harshly, as he, a betrayer, deserved. Jesus was stern and firm towards the self-righteous hypocrites like Pharisees and teachers of laws who lived behind the facet of righteousness. But, overall his attitude in instructing people was gentle and kind. Jesus expects the same from us.

A worker approved by God is set apart.

Paul illustrates a worker approved by God in verse 20-21. He likens workers approved by God as household articles that are for noble purposes and workers unapproved by God as household articles of ignoble purposes. The difference is that the articles of noble purposes are made holy, meaning set apart for the Master’s purpose. Being set apart, workers approved by God are useful for the Master and are prepared to do any good work desired by the Master.

You need to get this in perspective… the ignoble articles of household in the ancient time is what you find in your bathroom. You know the thing that you have to use when things don’t go well after using bathroom. Toilet plunger is dispensable and has no other value than unclogging toilet. Now, picture in your mind your home. Quickly scan in your mind your possessions… what are your possessions that are of great value because they are simply not irreplaceable, priceless…

You need to know this about yourself. As Christians, God treats you not as disposable and only good for ignoble purposes. God is after transforming you into his proud possessions of great value for his great purposes, for his good work. He is after setting you apart for himself. Understand this clearly… this is your identity; this is your destiny; this is your calling. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

…

God sees each of you and he envisions workers who are set apart by him for his good work, one who knows how to handle his word correctly, not quarrelsome or argumentative, but one who can instruct gently because you are confident in what he can do through you… this is what God wants to accomplish in your life. This is the gospel, transforming unworthy people like us into worthy people to carry out the King’s good works.

[i] http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2423

The Spiritual ember to ignite life beyond yourself (2 Timothy 1.6-7)

2010-01-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, January 17 2009

Something that we take for granted is fire. All that is needed to start a fire is a quick stop at a convenient store to pick up a match or lighter. If all the modern conveniences are stripped away, then what do you do? Here is a picture a fire-kit made by Mark Whitcombe with stone tools (http://homepage.mac.com/laddie/fire_by_friction.html)

With all the handmade tools ready, Mark works with a stiff bow and a taught string and considerable down-pressure. He vigorously spins the spindle against the notch of the hearth (harth) board for 15 to 20 seconds to produce a suitable ember.

When thick smoke starts to pour out of the hole, black powder around the bottom of the spindle, and the notch is filled with it, now it is time to knock off the raw ember.

He would put the edge of the tinder under the hearth board and gently knock the raw ember out when it’s ready. And he would place the ember in the tinder. And, you see a curl of smoke from a dark-brown/black ember about the size of few peas as it rests on the Cedar bark tinder.

Getting that dark brown/black ember is only the beginning. The ember at this stage requires just the right kind of tinder like the inner bar of white cedar Mark used. And, fresh cedar bark wouldn’t do. It has to be the cedar bark exposed to the elements at least ten years.

With the black/brown ember wrapped in the tinder, he blows at it gently. And, as more spoke is produced, he blows harder. Soon, what you see is a glowing red ember. By then, Mark knows he got fire.

After wrapping the glowing red ember with the tinder of older cider bark and a few good puffs, then you got flames.

The spiritual ember that ignites lifestyle living beyond oneself

Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:6, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God…” I would call the gift of God given to Timothy as the spiritual ember that was ready to take Timothy to a completely different trajectory in life to live beyond himself for the greater cause. Since then, for the last two millenniums the gift of God, the spiritual ember, has been igniting people to burn brightly, not for themselves, but for the cause of Jesus Christ. Once the spiritual ember enters into your life and you experience the flame, you are no longer content to live life just for yourself. Another word, discontentment in life will persist unless we fan into flame the gift of God and live beyond ourselves for God and for others.

Jim Elliot understood this when he wrote in his journal in October 28, 1949, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” He was a man of sincere faith who was compelled to give his life for the cause of God’s Son Jesus Christ. Jim gave his life away in sharing his faith to the savages. But, he gained so much more. Jim gained true fellowship with Christ. He would ask, “Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things.’ Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame.”

God gave Timothy, the gift, the spiritual ember to live beyond himself, to share the life of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. And, God has also given us the spiritual ember that is endowed with power, love and self-discipline to ignite us into the new movement of living beyond ourselves for the audience of one.

Think about it. It is Jesus who calls us to follow him. Didn’t he say, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-24) What else can you expect from yourself when you follow Jesus who lived beyond himself? Didn’t Jesus live beyond himself for his Father, to do his will? Didn’t Jesus live beyond himself for you and me? In sharing his life unto death, Jesus has ignited unstoppable chain reaction for the new kingdom lifestyle, living beyond oneself to the will of God and living beyond oneself for others.

You and I are called to embrace the new narrative of selfless people living out selflessly beyond themselves in God’s power, love and self-discipline. That is our legacy!

How we snuff the spiritual ember…

When Paul reminded Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God, he did it because there was the risk of letting the spiritual ember snuffed. The dark brown/black ember had to be wrapped up in the tinder of white cider wood, it had to be infused with fresh air in order to glow red and ignite into flame. But, when you don’t fan into flame, the spiritual ember becomes dormant, inactive.

Being ashamed of Jesus Christ snuffs the spiritual ember.

Do you remember what happened to Peter? He is the first one to get Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised Savior, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). He is the one who boldly proclaimed his loyalty to Jesus, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” (Matthew 26:33). Yet, it was he who denied knowing Jesus when people recognized him as Jesus’ disciple, not just once, but three times.

Lyn and I’ve been teaching our children not to use God’s name in vain. Listen to what Mikayla did. When her classmate said, “Oh my God,” Mikayla to her, “Hey, don’t say that! That’s King’s name.” Isn’t that great? 6 year old defending the name of the King! If she chose not to say anything, it would be because she was ashamed to stand for God.

Living under fear snuffs the spiritual ember

Often the cause of feeling shame on account of Jesus is fear. A spirit of timidity or cowardice evokes fear in what others might think of us if we defend our faith in Jesus Christ. Going back to Peter in his denial, it was this fear fueled by a spirit of timidity that paralyzed him.

How do we fan into flame the spiritual ember?

So, how do we live so that we are not controlled by shame and fear and live like cowards? How do we fan into flame the gift of God so we live beyond ourselves in a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline as Jesus did?

1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” The way to fan into flame the gift of God is by renewing our relationship with Jesus Christ. When relationship with Christ grows fear and shame is dispelled and living beyond ourselves for God and for others becomes the way of life.

It is love that always controls you. If we deny knowing Jesus like Peter did, it is because we love our lives more than we love Jesus. If we lose our lives like Jim Elliot did in sharing his faith in Jesus with the savages, it is because we overcome the fear of being killed in our love for Christ.

Do you remember how Jesus fan into flame Peter’s spiritual ember that was covered with ashes of doubts and gross failure? Having denied Jesus three times, Peter went back to the old way of life, fishing to make ends meet with other disciples. It is at a shore while fishing he first met Jesus more than three years ago. And, now again it is at a shore Peter met the resurrected Jesus.

Do you remember what Jesus was doing at the shore while they were fishing? John 21:9 says, “When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.”

Do you remember what Jesus said to Peter after eating? Jesus asked Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” To this Peter answered, “Yes, Lord… you know that I love you.” Three times Jesus asked if Peter loved him. Three times Peter confessed his love for Jesus. And, each time Jesus followed with the call to live beyond himself, to do the will of God to feed his lambs, to take care of his sheep, to feed his sheep.

Do you see what Jesus was doing with Peter? He was fanning the flame by calling Peter to commit once again to relationship with him, to renew his love for him. Listen to how people of God yearn for rekindling of the spiritual ember?

Amy Carmichael “Give me the love that leads the way, the faith that nothing can dismay, the hope no disappointments tire, the passion that will burn like fire. Let me not sink to be a clod; Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.”

Robert Murray M’Cheyne, “The oil of the lamp in the temple burnt away in giving light; so should we."

Richard Baxter, “What have we time and strength for, but to lay out both for God? What is a candle made for, but to burn?”

Samuel Chadwick, “Men ablaze are invincible. Hell trembles when men kindle.”

John Wesley… “Get on fire for God and men will come and see you burn.”

J. Oswald Sanders… “The wick exits only to be consumed. If it survives, it has failed of its purpose. There is no such thing as costless spiritual service. As we minister to others, virtue will go out of us. Ours is the privilege of offering ourselves as fuel for the flame of God.”

Do you want to be fuel for the flame of God? Do you want to be ignited? Do you want be invincible? Do you want to make the hell tremble because you are ablaze in flames?

Rekindling requires changes, rearranging, stirring the embers… what means of changes, rearrangement do you need to see your amber emitting hot burning flames? What do you need to do renew your love for Christ and live beyond yourself?

Prayer that seeks God’s eyes… (Psalm 17)

2009-08-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, August 16 2009

There are two great commandments from the Bible that sum up what it means to be Christians, to love God and to love people. Christian life is about being in love relationship with God and with people. And, the latest encouragement to read God’s word in my sermons and to spend time with God has its goal set on growing relationship with God. One of the key ingredients for growing relationship with God is prayer. I like how Warren Wiersbe framed Psalm 17 in his short message. He framed the prayer in Psalm 17 in what we need from God, namely his ears, his eyes, his hand and his face. We pray because we need God’s ears to hear our petition, his eyes to examine us, his hand to deliver us and his face to satisfy us.[1]

For the purpose of speaking clearly without jamming in too much stuff into one sermon, I am going to speak in two sermons. Today, I will touch on our need for God’s ears, eyes and his hand. Next week, I will speak on our need for God’s face.

Prayer of callous hearts

Before I talk about prayer that seeks God’s eyes, I need to speak to you about what might be a typical way people pray. A typical prayer is prayer that seeks God’s ears and his hand; it seeks results from God. We want him to hear to us and to do something for us, to help us to do well on test, to do well at work, to keep us in good health, to help us succeed… Now, there is nothing wrong with wanting God to hear us and lend his hand to help, to rescue, to deliver us. Seeking God as the one who hears us and helps us with his mighty hand honors him.

David sought in his prayer for God’s ears and his hand in Psalm 17. David is asking for God to “hear” him to “give ear” to his prayer (17:1) and to save him by his “right hand” (17:7). He doesn’t write about the details of the problem he is facing; but words like “vindication” from 17:2, the descriptions from 17:10, “the wicked with “callous hearts” who “speak with arrogance” and 17:11, how they “track him down and “surround” him like “Lions hungry for prey” and “crouching in cover” to ambush him… all these indicate some kind of attacks unleashed against David by the wicked people around him. And, he is asking for God to hear him and to life his hand to deliver him.

So, we know that there is nothing wrong with seeking God’s ears and his hand to help us. But, if this is all that we seek, God’s ears to hear us and his hand to help us, then something isn’t quite right about this. When we seek God’s ears and his hand, but not his eyes and his face, we treat God as our personal genie who exists for our wants and needs.

David, in Psalm 17:10, describes the attackers as ones with “callous hearts.” Literally, “callous hearts” speaks to closed up hearts in fat. A commentator sees the "fat" of the hearts of the wicked as their greedy, self-loving, and insensitive nature.[2]

I got my blood test result back last week and it showed that I have abnormally high triglycerides level. I did some quick web research and found out if this abnormal triglycerides level persists I have greater risk of suffering strokes and other heart complicated illnesses. Triglycerides level is directly link to high Carbohydrates consumption, high calorie diet, along with low exercise. Basically, I am talking in too much calories, too much carbohydrates without burning it up in regular exercises. I have callous hear sort to speak.

Spiritual fatty, callous hearts are hearts that want things from God without being responsible to him. Fatty, callous hearts only want God to hear them and extend his hand to help them out, but otherwise they see no other need for God. It is seeing God as a genie, a personal assistant available to assist us in our troubles, like On-Star systems that some cars have or AAA. Callous heart of an ungrateful child wants whole lot of things from his parents, but has no sense of responsibility.

Are you suffering from fatty callous heart? How would you know if you are treating God as your personal assistant to show up at moments notice when you are in trouble? If your prayer language focuses mostly on God hearing you and God doing things for you, then you should suspect the condition of fatty callous heart! If you persist on asking for God’s ears and his hand without his eyes and his face, you will experience spiritual strokes or heart attack.

What you and I need is the kind of prayer that does away with fatty callous heart. And the way we are going to turn this potentially life threatening condition is by seeking God’s eyes and his face. As I said, today, the focus will be on seeking God’s eyes.

Prayer that seeks God’s eyes

What is prayer that seeks God’s eyes? In David’s prayer, what we see is “righteous plea” that is “not rising from deceitful lips” in Psalm 17:1. Prayer that seeks God’s eyes is prayer that his honest, not deceptive.

Many of you who are following M’Cheney’s Bible reading schedule would have read Jeremiah 42 this past week. There you would have noticed the Israelites asking Jeremiah, “Please hear our petition and pray to the LORD your God for this entire remnant… Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do… Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD your God… we will obey the LORD our God” (Jeremiah 42:1-6). It is a beautiful prayer of petition to God to lead; it is a prayer of confession in their willingness to trust and submit to his guidance.

Jeremiah told them that they should go into exile to the foreign land of Babylon and there God purposed to bless them. He told them that they should not go down to Egypt, falsely believing that they would be safe in Egypt from the Babylonians. But, their reply reveals the true nature of their earlier prayer. Jeremiah 43:2 reads their response, “You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’”

This is praying with “deceitful lips”, praying dishonestly. It rose from their callous hearts, fatty hearts that were bent on using God for their own gains. So, when they heard differently from God than what they really wanted to do, they dismissed God completely. How do we prevent this kind of deceitful prayer? We need prayer that seeks God’s eyes to evaluate us and refine us.

Prayer that seeks God’s eyes… take alone time with God at night.

Psalm 17:3, David talks about God probing his heart and examining him at night. Night is when usually work is no longer carried out, when normal social relationship are at rest. Night signifies time of aloneness when no one is around you, but God alone.

Not only do we need the time in the morning, but we also need the time at night when you and I are alone and apart from the seeing eyes of the people, but not from the seeing eyes of God.

After long day, often temptation is to veggie out, checking emails, reading news, watching TV and to fall asleep. But, David’s practice was to during the aloneness of his nights to come to God who saw him.

What was David doing in his aloneness of nights? He came to God for two things, evaluation and refining.

Prayer that seeks God’s eyes… let God evaluate you.

Psalm 17:3, David talks about God who sees him probing his heart and examining him. To probe is to investigate, to interrogate, and to evaluate what otherwise would be hidden away from our conscience. It is not that God doesn’t see or God needs time to evaluate us. He already knows our character, our days, the condition of our hearts and our lifestyle. The problem is that unless we come to God and draw near for evaluation, we won’t know what’s going on in us. God has to reveal his evaluation to us in order for us to know what’s going well and what’s not going well.

Prayer that seeks God’s eyes… let God refines you.

David also talks about in Psalm 17:3 God testing him. Testing here comes from the language of metal worker refining precious metals like silver and gold to take out dross in order to produce highest quality of silver and gold. Psalm 66:10 says, “you refined us like silver.” Testing and refining are the same Hebrew word translated differently. So, this language of refining describes what God does in his people. Isaiah 1:25, “I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.”

You need God’s eyes to search your inner make up of who you are. What gave rise to your anger during your day? What gave rise to lustful thoughts today? Why did you lie today? Why did you waste your time? What hurts you today? What fears did you have today? How did you hurt, sin against others?

As the Lord searches our hearts and reveals the dross, the impurities, then you and I can take them to the cross where Christ covers them with his blood and he cleanses us. When this takes each night, when this refinement process repeats each night, you and I will become purer each day.

1 Corinthians 3:12-14 says, “If any man builds on his foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

When the time when God will account you and me, what will you and I have to show for?

[1] http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=10242

Yahweh Mekeddeshem (Exodus 31:13) life application, 7/24/2009

2009-07-22T02:55:00.001-05:00

Read Exodus 31:12-18

Some are too young to even know that there was a time when “Google” wasn’t even a part of everyday vocabulary. Google hosts a fact sheet on itself. As for the meaning of “Google,” it plays on the term “Googol,” which is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros (10¹⁰⁰ = 10000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,
0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000).[i] And, it says that the company’s mission is to organize the immense amount of information available on the web. Information overload is the reality today and Google is capitalizing on us trying to make sense out of the complex web of highly hyperlinked world.

In the ancient world of Israel, it wasn’t Google that helped them make sense, but God alone.

Consider Yahweh Mekeddeshem (Exodus 31:13), which means, “I am the LORD who makes you holy, to set you apart holy, to sanctify you.” Today, this will be like God saying to us, “The way you are going to make sense is not by immersing yourself in the world of information and entertainment overload. The way you are going to make sense is by drawing near to me into my kingdom where I am your Creator, your Deliverer, your Provider.

How do you think taking the Sabbath, which meant stop working and resting on the seventh day, allowed the Israelites to make sense?

Read Exodus 23:10-12 about the Sabbath year.

Who benefited when the Israelites faithfully observed the Sabbath rest of the land on the seventh year?
Taking the Sabbath year of rest required trusting in God to provide and learning to express God’s generosity. How does the act of trusting and being generous help you make sense?

Read Matthew 11:28-30.

Take time to discuss what’s confusing, unnerving, or disappointing in your life and how you are trying to make sense of it all.
The Sabbath rest faithfully obeyed allowed the Israelites to live out the set apart life unto God. Share what you are doing to take regular, on going, proper rest in Jesus?
The image of shedding your heavy weariness and burdens while picking up the easy and light yoke and the burden of Jesus Christ is what is like to shed selfishness to gain the ministry of Jesus as the light and the salt in the world. How are you moving from selfishness to grace-giving generosity?

[i] http://www.google.com/press/facts.html

Yahweh Mekeddeshem - I am the LORD who makes you holy (Exodus 31:13)

2009-07-19T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon July 19, 2009

Today, I would like to explore with you another way God made himself known in the Old Testament, namely, Yahweh Mekeddeshem, which means, “I am the LORD who makes you holy, sets you apart as holy, or sanctifies you.”

Ephesians 1:4, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. 1 Peter 1:16, “Be holy, because I am holy.” God’s purpose for you and me is that we become like him in his holiness. What we are going to learn today is that becoming holy and blameless in God’s sight happens when you and I remind ourselves of God’s grace giving character and when we demonstrate God’s grace to others.

The particular passage which includes Yahweh Mekeddeshem that I would like to draw your attention is Exodus 31:12-17. Please, turn your Bible to Exodus 31:12-17 and let’s stand together for God’s word.

Ways to be reminded of God’s grace giving character.

What is stated in this text is how the practice of the Sabbath resulted in knowing God as grace giving God, Yahweh Mekeddeshem, “I am the LORD who makes you holy.” Yahweh Mekeddeshem is grace giving God because it is his grace that allows us to be holy.

For God to be Yahweh Mekeddeshem, the One who makes you and me holy, he would have to be holy God. Consider these verses: Leviticus 11:44-45, “be holy, because I am holy… I am the LORD who brought you out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” Leviticus 19:2, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” When God who is holy calls you and me to relationship with him, he calls us to become like him in his holiness.

God who is holy is completely free from the moral imperfections, impurity and frailties. Unlike you and me, no flaws can be found in him; he never gets tired of being good; never fails to be good and perfect. He is sinless. God who is holy is also completely faithful to his own promises again unlike us who can be unreliable as faulty bows when it comes to keeping our promises.[i] Psalm 105:42 speaks to his holy character of his promises, “For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham.” Exodus 15:11 speaks of holy God as one who redeems, who saves, “Who among the gods like you, O LORD? Who is like you-majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”

God who is holy has the quality of otherness about him; because he is transcendent beyond our ordinary limits of moral imperfections and sins, to sin ridden, imperfect, unreliable people holy God is utterly unapproachable. According to Colossians 1:21, human condition is such that of being alienated from God and being his enemies in minds because of evil behavior (Colossians 1:21). You may see a blatant and hostile attitude towards God, or you may see the attitude that treats God as irrelevant; “God doesn’t matter to me,” some might say and live accordingly. God who declares, “I am holy” will not be reduced to irrelevancy. God who declares, “I am holy” will not tolerate those who rebel against him. There will be a day when holy God will judge the attitudes, the lifestyle, and the deeds of those who insist God as irrelevant to them, those who continue to oppose God and refuse to yield to him.

So, when this holy God declares, Yahweh Mekeddeshem, “I am the LORD who makes you holy,” this is God’s message of his grace giving character. Your best of best shots at shunning evil, moral imperfections and failures, temptations, your most sincere intent to be good and holy will never measure up to God’s standard of holiness, his goodness. Your best of best effort and striving will not get you anywhere but restless and fruitless life. Holiness for Christians as it was for the Israelites is something that cannot be conceived outside of God’s intervention. It is God’s grace of making you holy that enables your effort and striving to bear lasting fruit.

To help the people of Israel know this grace giving God, God gave them the Sabbath; the Sabbath practice was a way to be reminded of God’s grace, the One who makes his people holy. So, let’s consider how the Sabbath was a way of God reminding his grace.

The verbal form of the Sabbath means to cease, to pause. What were they to stop, to cease? They were to stop doing things that sustained them. Consider when God gave manna when the Israelites lived in the desert. On the sixth day, God gave them a double portion of manna so that next day on the Sabbath they wouldn’t have to work to collect manna (Exodus 16:22-26). This law of stop working after six days and resting on the seventh day was so important that non-compliance was dealt with death penalty (Exodus 31:14). God called the Sabbath a sign, which allowed the Israelites to remember important things about God; their week in and week out of stop working and resting on the Sabbaths was designed so that the Israelites would grasp God’s grace giving character.

In Exodus 20, you will find the Sabbath as one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:11, you read the connection between the Sabbath and God’s creation account of creating for six days and resting on the seventh day from the work of creating. So, the weekly practice of the Sabbaths was designed as a sign that would point them to God as their Creator.

In Deuteronomy 5, you also find the Sabbath listed as one of the Ten Commandments. But, here the emphasis that comes after the Sabbath is the call to remember their former condition as slaves in Egypt and how it was Yahweh who brought them out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

In their weekly practice of resting by pausing from working, they were reminded God was the Creator who provided for them and that it was God who delivered them out of bondage. It wasn’t their labor, but it was the grace of the Creator who provided for them and the grace of the Redeemer who delivered them. So, the Sabbath was designed as a sign to point the Israelites to the grace giving Creator, Redeemer.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:8, “… the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.” The way it works for Christians now is not by observing the Sabbath as the Israelites did, but by finding ourselves in the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ.

He said in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

It is only in Jesus Christ, you and I can become holy, be set apart for God. Yahweh Mekeddeshem, “I am the LORD who makes you holy,” Yahweh calls you and me to rally around Jesus, to come under him, to find ourselves in him, for through Christ’s blood, his death and resurrection, we can become holy.

How you spend the sacred time with Jesus will determined if you will grow in holiness. For some of you, the struggle is overworking. You need to learn to take time to rest in Jesus Christ. But, many of you, the struggle is not so much about overworking, but taking wrong kind of rest. In your spare time, if your goal is simply to vege out in front of TV, mindlessly surfing on your computer, this wouldn't fit the kind of rest Jesus envisions for you.

For the Israelites, the Sabbath keeping was a sign that pointed them to God's grace giving character. What kind of rest would point you to God's grace? Are you taking such rest on ongoing base?

Ways to love others through demonstrating God’s grace to others:

When you read carefully Exodus 21:10 and Deuteronomy 5:14, you will find a comprehensive list of who were to remember the Sabbath. “On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.” It was for the whole people, whole creation that were to pause from work of labor and to rest in God, the Creator, the Redeemer. So, through the practice of the Sabbaths, the Israelites were called to love people and love creation. Loving people meant tangibly allowing others to stop working and experience God’s grace.

The principle of the Sabbath extended not weekly, but on every seventh year as well.

Exodus 23:10-11… Consider the Sabbath year. God promised to bless on the sixth year, to produce enough for three years that can last until the harvest of the eighth year. So, they were told to give the land a Sabbath of rest (Leviticus 25:4); During this Sabbath year of rest, then the poor would be able to eat from the land at the Sabbath rest. Consider Deut 15:1-3… the Sabbatical year for canceling debts… “At the end of every seventh years you must cancel debts.”

Pretty radical stuff, right? God has no interest in raising up generations that are self-absorbed and have no interest in demonstrating God's grace to others. Jesus said the first and the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. And the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. One's confession of love to Jesus without following his command to love others is not genuine and downright unchristian. Faith without deeds is dead faith. Faith must be expressed in good deeds. So, as we seek to be immersed in God's grace to make us holy, we must seek tangible ways to bless others, to demonstrate God's unearned grace to them.

Life Group Application: Yahweh Nissi - The LORD is my Banner!

2009-07-17T19:30:00.000-05:00

Read Exodus 17:8-16, Deuteronomy 25:17-19, 1 Peter 5:6-9

The Old Testament’s account of the Amalekites illustrates the spiritual reality of the battle that we Christians face and must prepare for. What is the enemy’s strategy to capture its prey? Who does the enemy go after?

“When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind.” (Deut 25:18) The Israelites’ weariness, being worn out, lagging behind speaks to the spiritual condition that made them vulnerable to attack by the enemy. And, the context of their weariness and being worn out was that they complained and grumbled against God and doubted God who delivered and provided for them numerous times. How does the attitude of complaining, grumbling, doubting make you lag behind? Share the nature of the spiritual battles you face?

When the Israelites rallied around the concerted effort to raise up the banner (Moses’ raised up hand and the staff), they were winning. What would it look like for you to declare God’s name, Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner,” and come rally around the LORD? And, how would it affect your spiritual outcome?

יְהוָה נִסִּי - Yahweh Nissi… The Lord is my Banner! Exodus 17:8-16

2009-07-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon July 12, 2009

Let me start off by drawing your attention to the words of apostle Peter from 1 Peter 5:6-9. Here he speaks about the spiritual reality, namely the hostile existence of the devil and how we as Christians ought to respond in the light of it. He says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…”

There are times when this seems much more of obvious reality than other times. Whether you acknowledge it, or refuse to believe it, or forget to remember it, the spiritual battle is reality. The great problem for so many Christians and non-believers alike today is that they are oblivious to the reality of the spiritual battle. Christians are oblivious to God’s call upon them to resist the enemy, to stand firm in the faith! They think that apostle Paul’s call in Ephesians 6 to put on the armor of God, to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests, to be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints, is a call for some extraordinarily spiritual Christians. No, to put on armor of God, to pray always, to pray for all the saints, to pray for each other are not just for the select few super Christians. These are mandate to all for all of us in the light of the spiritual reality.

My prayer today is that God would shake us out of spiritual malaise, laziness, naivety, naked vulnerability, that he would awaken us to desperation, urgency and dependence on him. So, it is fitting that I speak to you today about God’s name by Moses, Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner!” Before delving into understanding what it means to k now God as Yahweh Nissi, I want you to first consider where this name is found in the Bible and see the spiritual reality.

1. How do you know when you are vulnerable to attack?

Last week, I talked to you about how Yahweh tests us, not because we he doesn’t know us, but to reveal to us our true character, the condition of our hearts. Only after three days since they witnessed God’s deliverance from Egypt, when they arrived at a place called Desert of Shur, they began to grumble against Moses and God because they could not find drinkable water, but only bitter, pungent water. It says in Exodus 15:25, this was no accident, but God’s design to test them to reveal them their own character, their hearts. God turned the bitter water to drinkable and quenched their thirst.

And, in Exodus 16, traveling further south of Sinai Peninsula, we see the Israelites again grumbling. There they complained, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus 16:3). Again, by raining down bread from heaven and giving them specific instructions as to how they were gather manna for themselves, it says in Exodus 16:4, “In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.”

And, in Exodus 17:1-7, what you find is further south of Sinai Peninsula at Rephidim, we see the Israelites blatantly quarreling with Moses and demanding water since they found absolutely no water this time at Rephidim. Moses questioned them, “Why do you put the LORD to the test?” (Exodus 17:2). Instead of trusting God Yahweh Yireh to provide for them as he rained them the bread from heaven, as turned the bitter water to drinkable, instead they digressed and became cynical and skeptical questioning if the LORD was even among them (Exodus 17:7), if the LORD even cared.

In the midst trials and difficulties, their true character was revealed. And, it wasn’t pretty. This is the nature of the spiritual battle. The presence and the power of God was abundantly clear and unmistakably demonstrated, yet, here they were doubting if God was even among them and rejecting him. Forgetting who God was, what he had done, and what he promise, they digressed further becoming discontent, complaining and grumbling and distrusting God’s presence and ultimately rejecting God.

Now enter Exodus 17:8, in the state of forgetting, becoming discontent, complaining, grumbling, and rejecting God, we read, “The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.” The Amalekites who lived in the desert, south of Canaan around Kadesh were the descendants of Amalek, the son of Eliphaz, Easu’s eldest boy (Genesis 36:12). In other words, the Amalekites were the cousins of the Israelites. If the Amalekites believed God’s plan to bless all nations through Abraham including Amalek as he said in Genesis 12:3, there should have been no reason for them to feel threatened by the Israelites. But, instead of believing in the promise made to Abraham, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. It is instructive to read Deuteronomy 25:17-19 which explains how they went about attacking the Israelites. It shows that they went after the Israelites who were lagging behind, meaning those who were vulnerable. Numbers 24:20 tells us that they were first among the nations to attack Israel.

As in 1 Peter 5:6-9 which tells us that the devil our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, here we see the Amalekites prowling to devour the weak and the vulnerable. Here is how you know if you are nagging behind, if you are weak and vulnerable to attack? You know it when complaining and grumbling defines your heart instead of thankful gratitude; you know it when you feel numb to the presence and the work of God, when you forget God. You lag behind if your character is in shamble, if your heart is divided when God tests you.

2. What do you do when you are attacked, when your character and heart fails?

When the Amalekites came and attack those who were lagging behind, those who were weak and vulnerable, we see two responses. On the ground, Moses charged Joshua to lead the way to fight the Amalekites. And, Moses went on top of the hill and stood there with the staff of God in his hands and he held it up high. Joshua going out with the chosen men to fight the Amalekites is s no brainer. But, what’s with Moses going up to the top of the hill and holding up his hands and how it determined the outcome of the battle?

“The staff of God [Elohim]” symbolized the Yahweh’s powerful presences. A staff in Moses’ hand, which God turned into a snake and back to a staff (Exodus 4:2-4), which Moses struck the water of Nile and turned it to blood (Exodus 7:16-17) and a staff of Aaron which Yahweh turned into a snake and when challenged by the Egyptians who turned their staffs into snakes, the staff of Aaron swallowed up theirs, there on the top of the hill, the staff of God represented the power and the presence of Yahweh.

Exodus 9:22-23 when Yahweh told Moses to stretch out his hand toward the sky so that hail would fall all over Egypt, Moses responded by stretching out his staff toward the sky; Exodus 10:12-13 when Yahweh told Moses to stretch out his hand over Egypt so that locust would swarm over the land, Moses responded by stretching out his staff over Egypt; Exodus 14:16 when Yahweh told Moses to raise his staff and stretch out his hand over the seas to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on the cry ground, Moses again obeyed. Moses’ held up hands along with the staff of God was the symbol of the power of Yahweh and the conductor of his power upon the fighting men of Israel. It presented Yahweh as the Banner over them, their lead in the battle.

And, here is the key phrase from Exodus 17:11, “As long as”! “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.” “As long as” speaks to long journey of perseverance, faithfulness and obedience.

As long as Moses had his hands held up high, the fighting men on the ground was winning. The outcome of the battle was sorely dependant on whether Moses’ hands were held up high or lower, not on the strength of the sword of the fighting men.

Moses’ staff, his hands raised up symbolized the Banner, Yahweh’s abiding and powerful presence that energized the fighting men on the ground and enabled them to overcome the enemy that prowled like a lion to devour.

Moses knew this. So, we see in Exodus 17:12, Moses trying really hard to keep the Banner up high, to bless Joshua and his fighting men on the ground with the power and the presence of Yahweh, but Moses couldn’t overcome the physical fatigue and his arm muscles cramping with burning pain.

This is when Aaron and Hur stepped in. Exodus 17:12, they got a stone and put it under Moses so he could sit on it. And, “Aaron and Hur held his hands up- one on one side, one on the other- so that his hands remained steady till sunset.” Exodus 17:13 says that because Moses’ hands were held up high steady until sunset, “Joshua overcame the Amalekites army with the sword.”

As the phrase, “As long as” speaks to remaining faithful and persevering, “remained steady” in verse 12 speaks to faithfulness, steadfastness and patience under severe trials.[1] As long as, they remained steady by raising up the Banner of Yahweh high, as long as they let the fighting troop know who was in charge of the battle and who was fighting for them, as long as the Israelites rallied around the Banner of Yahweh, they were victorious.

So, we see Moses in Exodus 17:15 making this confession, Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner.” As Walter Kaiser says, “There was no such thing as a “holy war” in the OT, but there were “wars of Yahweh.””[2] Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner,” means the battle belongs to the LORD; not only is he in charge, it is he who fights the battle and determines the outcome. And those who rally to the Banner, Yahweh, fight his battle. So, the Banner of Yahweh defines their identity and orients them to who they are, and gives them courage, hope, strength and the ultimately victory.[3]

So, what do you do when you are attack? What do you do when you notice the noise of grumbles, complaining, and distrusting in your heart? What do you do when you see your character failing? You declare, Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner,” and you look to him and you rally around him, you recognize that you are fighting the LORD’s battle, and he is fighting for you.

Isaiah 11:10 reads, “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious…” The Root of Jesse is a Messianic phrase that points to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, he stands as the Banner for the peoples, for the nations to rally to him and there they will find rest, security, and hope.

Another passage, namely Numbers 21 also foreshadows the Messiah as the Banner. It’s an account of the Israelites en route to the Promised Land. Along the way, they grew impatient… they spoke against God and against Moses and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food [manna]!” Yahweh responded by sending venomous snakes that bit and killed many of the Israelites. People came to Moses and confessed their sin against Yahweh and against Moses and pleaded for Yahweh to take away the snakes. To this Yahweh told Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” Here, the word, “pole” is the same Hebrew word, “nes” used for “banner” in other places.

Jesus quoted this account in talking to Nicodemus to speak of his death on the cross, “so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). It was grotesque to look upon the bronze serpent but utterly necessary to live and to the Jews the crucifixion was a sign of curse, repugnant to behold, but again utterly necessary for eternal life. So, the Banner of the snake raised up is a picture of Jesus Christ cursed, who became sin for us as He hung on that awful tree.[4]

What do you do when you are attacked? You declare Yahweh Nissis, “The LORD is my Banner.” You rally to Jesus Christ and behold the cross where he died, you rally to Jesus Christ who died and was raised from the dead. He is your Banner over you!

Application

Pray… Practically speaking, what was Moses doing while he had his hands lifted up high with the help from Aaron and Hur until sunset? Philip Graham Ryken thinks that while Joshua fought with sword, Moses fought with prayer[5] And, I quote, “In our prayer we acknowledge our absolute dependence on God to conquer the enemies of our faith.”[6] What do you do when you are under attack, when you notice the noises of grumbling, complaining, and distrusting in your heart? You declare Yahweh Nissis, “The LORD is my Banner,” and turn to Jesus in prayer.
Understand and remember the battle belongs to Yahweh… Exodus 17:14, we see Yahweh’s command to write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it…” Joshua was on the ground with sword fighting the Amalekites and didn’t have grasp on what took place on the top of the hill. Understanding it is God’s battle you fight, understanding God is in charge of the battle, of you, and actively remembering this fact Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner” … this is the key to be victorious and not become a victim to the enemy that prowls to destroy.
Confess you have no strength apart from God’s strength… Confess you have no strength apart from strength in the Lord as it says in Ephesians 6:10-11. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
Rally around the Banner of the cross… Remember that your rally point is the Banner of the cross. Colossians 2:13-15 says, “When You were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” It is there at the cross, you know the power of death, the power of the enemy, the power of the sinful flesh was nailed to the cross, there at the cross, you know the resurrection followed. And, when you rally around the cross and behold the Banner of Christ, you will be able to sing victoriously as in Revelation 19:2, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servant.” And, Revelation 19:6, the roar of a great multitude in heaven will be heard, “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.”

[3] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus, Crossway, 2005, p. 466.

[4] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald Barclay Allen and H. Wayne House, Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1999), Nu 21:7-9.

[5] Phlip Graham Ryken, Exodus, Crossway, 2005, p. 462.

[6] Ibid., p. 463.

CMC Life Group: Yahweh Yireh, the LORD will provide!

2009-07-05T23:49:00.001-05:00

Read Genesis 22:1-19

*Genesis 22*	*Read the verses below and write down your own observation on how they relate to the Genesis account.*
Genesis 22:6… the wood… placed… on his son Isaac…	John 19:17
Genesis 22:9…Isaac’s silent trust in Abraham and ultimately in Yahweh	Isaiah 53:7 Isaiah 53:10 1 Peter 1:19-20
Genesis 22:10… Abraham didn’t hold back his son Isaac from God.	Hebrews 11:17-19 Romans 8:31-32

Yahweh Yireh tests you… Why did God test Abraham?
Worship your Provider, Yahweh Yireh… Abraham to his servants in Genesis 22:5, “We will worship and then we will come back to you.” In Genesis 22:10, you see Abraham drawing the knife to slay his son, not withholding Isaac from God. How does Abraham’s response to God’s command reflect the heart of worship?
Trust your Provider, Yahweh Yireh… How did Abraham trust Yahweh Yireh? How did Isaac trust Yahweh?

Share & Apply…

Share how Yahweh Yireh has tested you or is testing you to reveal your heart and what you are made of?
Worship is matter of priority. How are you worshiping Yahweh Yireh, your Provider?
Reflecting Hebrews 11:1, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” what does it mean for you to trust Yahweh Yireh, your Provider?
Pray for each other that worship and faith in Yahweh Yireh is restored and revived.

pastor steve

Doing tings God’s way

Give me courage and unselfishness

Don’t loose your sight on the beauty and the glory of the gospel and love for God of this gospel

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

The goal of preaching

The God who helps (Psalm 40)

Be honest about your problems with God.

How can you place your confidence in God?

Wait patiently for God’s timing.

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

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

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

God’s revelation of Jesus’ identity

Jesus’ declaration of his mission

The fog factor

Rid of the fog

Fear Factor (Exodus 3-4:17)

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

Ahaz’s perspective

God’s perspective

Unbelief

The consequence of unbelief

Faith response

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

The gospel transformation in seeing God

The gospel transformation of humility

The gospel transformation of forgiveness

Standing together for the next generation

The fruit of the gospel (Isaiah 5)

The portrait of God’s love

God’s response to bad fruit

The nature of bad fruit

Greed (5:8-10)

Self-indulgence (5:11-17)

Cynicism (5:18-19)

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

Social injustice (5:22-24)

Subtraction before gaining (Isaiah 3-4)

Subtraction: What must be taken away?

Unbelief (chapter 3:1-15)

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

What does God want to give you?

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

Hope that does not disappoint

Passing on to the next generation

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

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

Apostasy (Numbers 14:39-44)

Jeff Vanderstelt from Soma Communities interviewed by Ed Stetzer

Seven Characteristics of 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):

Debt of love (Romans 13:8)

The vision for happy life – forgiven life (Psalm 32)

There is a time for everything. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

Break from the past and become what you really are. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Hope against all hope (Romans 4:17-21)

The Supremacy of the Gospel demands Risk takers for the gospel (Matthew 14:22-31)

The Supremacy of the Gospel: “Yes” to Jesus for changes (2 Corinthians 1:15-22)

When things turn bad to worse… (Genesis 37-50)

The Supremacy of the Gospel – redefining family (Mark 3:31-35)

The vision of the supremacy of the gospel over cultures (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

Proud to be his messenger (2 Timothy 4:1-22)

Are you built on the Scripture to shine? (2 Timothy 3:10-4:8)

Love that destroys… (2 Timothy 3:1-9)

Christian Quality Assurance- Approved by God (2 Timothy 2:14-26)

The Spiritual ember to ignite life beyond yourself (2 Timothy 1.6-7)

Prayer that seeks God’s eyes… (Psalm 17)

Yahweh Mekeddeshem (Exodus 31:13) life application, 7/24/2009

Yahweh Mekeddeshem - I am the LORD who makes you holy (Exodus 31:13)

Life Group Application: Yahweh Nissi - The LORD is my Banner!

יְהוָה נִסִּי - Yahweh Nissi… The Lord is my Banner! Exodus 17:8-16

CMC Life Group: Yahweh Yireh, the LORD will provide!