Hong Kong Trip 1

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Pictures show:

1 We stayed at a friend’s house in Tung Chung on Lantau Island. When we were kids we had to travel by ferry for nearly two hour to get there. Now with the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) you can travel to anywhere in the New Territories usually within an hour.
2 Waiting for shuttle bus to the MTR
3 Our friend’s condo on the 48/F. You can see the airport from the apartment. The unit is about 1,300 sq. ft. and big by Hong Kong standards. It used to be 5 bedrooms, now remodelled into 2. Just imagine how small the original rooms were because of the scarcity of land!
4 Open concept kitchen.
5 View of dining room from the veranda.
6 My wife could not wait to explore the Causeway Bay Sogo shopping district. There is a mass of humanity there any time of the day.

We originally planned to attend a leadership course overseas, with a view for long-term missions. However, we were delayed in attending twice. The first attempt was to Egypt which was cancelled by them due to political turmoil. The second attempt to the Philippines was foiled due to a mix-up in our registration, despite our booking 10 months in advance. We will try again later, but probably not before a third short-term trip to Panama as we agreed to help until PCBC has a full-time pastor, hopefully expected by 2013. One thing we have learned is that “man proposes, but God disposes”. We just have to obey and submit to God’s leading and be flexible as that’s the best we can do. With the postponement of the leadership course, suddenly we find our schedules opened up and we have an opportunity to do some touring which we never had time for in past hurried trips. So we are taking this trip leisurely to recapture moments from over 4 decades ago.

Do I have a Choice?

Q. Do people get to choose to become Christians? I understand God ultimately chooses people to be Christians. However, if we don’t have a choice, then how is it fair?

A. Yes, people do get to choose whether they want to believe. In the OT, Moses asked the Israelites to make a choice, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live (Deu 30:19)”. He wasn’t referring to physical life.

In the NT, Jesus pleaded with Jerusalem to repent, but they chose to reject Him, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Mt 23:37) Similarly, in Jn 5:40, the Jews refused to come to Jesus to have life. So people do have a choice, except that most choose to spurn God’s free offer.

The important thing, though, is not whether a person chooses to accept Jesus as his Saviour. It is whether God chooses to accept that person into His kingdom. Those who called Jesus “Lord, Lord” in Mt 7:21-23 have certainly chosen to “accept” Jesus, but they were turned away as evildoers because they did not do the will of the heavenly Father. Exactly how does man’s choice and God’s choice reconcile, the Bible does not say. But you can be sure that the Judge of all the earth will do right (Gen 18:25) and be more than fair in His dealings with men.

Is Everything Pre-determined?

Q. If God has plans for me, then why do I even need to make any decisions myself? Why can’t I just be lazy and let everything come to me? Why do I have to study for my next test if it’s already predetermined how well I will do on it?

A. You misunderstood what predestination is about. It has nothing to do with God predetermining everything you do. The word predestined is made up of two parts: pre, which means before, and destination, which is the final stop where people end up. It means that God had decided beforehand the final resting places where people will spend eternity – heaven or hell. That’s the “end”. But God has also decided in advance the “means” to that “end” — the relationship of an individual to His son: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (Jn 3:36)

I’ll illustrate with an analogy. Heaven and hell are the two final destinations. There is only one “ship” that goes to heaven: Jesus Christ. If you are on the Jesus ship, you will arrive in heaven as your destination. If you are not “in Christ”, you won’t get there.

The other aspect of predestination concerns what will happen to those who are already on the Jesus ship, those who are “in Christ”:

* Rom 8:29 “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son”.
* Eph 1:5 “He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ”.

So Christians are adopted as God’s sons, and they will become like Jesus in their character. Nothing is said about God fixing everything for you. On the contrary, the Bible consistently teaches a man reaps what he sows (Gal 6:7). Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously (2 Co 9:6). So you can’t be lazy and have to study!

Romans 8:1-8

Last week I spoke at the English service of a Chinese church, and they were kind enough to post my message on their website. The title, theme and text were assigned, as it was part of their series. There were some technical problems as they use a Mac which I was not familiar with, so there were some time gaps in the recording. My fault as I’m technically challenged. However, for those interested here are the links for the audio and visual portions of the message. My last 2 posts are actually adapted from this sermon.

Audio: Click on link
http://mcbc.com/media/2012/20120318e.mp3

Visual: Click on link
Rom 8 1-8

Dealing with Sin 2

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Pictures show:
1 Law of the Spirit of life
2 The mind
3 You are what you Think
4 Law of the Harvest
5 Renewing the Mind
6 Hiding God’s Word in your heart

Yesterday we explained that just as the law of gravity caused everything to fall, the law of sin and death acting on our sinful nature made it inevitable that we sin. But just as the law of aerodynamics overpowered the law of gravity and made it possible for a plane to fly, the law of the Spirit of life can overrule the law of sin and death to set us free. Gravity never ceased to be in effect; it continues to pull all objects down. But aerodynamics overcame the force of gravity, and the plane flies. Similarly, the law of sin and death continues to function, and will cause us to fall, unless the law of the Spirit of life steps in and takes over.

But how do we invoke the law of the Spirit of life? How do you live according to the Spirit and enjoy life and peace? This is where the mind comes in. Rom 8:5 tells us if you set your mind on what the sinful nature desires, you will live according to the sinful nature. Conversely, if you set your mind on what the Spirit desires, you will live in accordance with the Spirit. This is the principle of the mind: You are what you think! Biblically, this is Prov 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

This is also the principle of sowing and reaping, or the law of the harvest:
* Gal 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.Why is that? The mind is like a field. It will return to the sower whatever he plants. If he sows melon, he will reap melons. If he sows beans, he will reap beans. So in order to reap spiritual fruit, you must sow spiritual seeds.

How do you sow to please the Spirit? By the principle of substitution. In the physical realm, many people try to improve themselves by reformation. They diet, they exercise, they look after their body, and many have good results to show for it. When it comes to the spiritual realm, they think they can do the same thing. They try observing the law, they try meditation, they practice visualization and other thought-control techniques hoping to curb their sinful desires, but it doesn’t work. Why? Because the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Not only will it not obey God, it can’t. It is impossible to reform it. So how do we overcome this dilemma? We want to please the Spirit, but our sinful nature is hostile to God. Are we stuck? No, not by reformation, but by transformation!

Paul said in Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. One paraphrase has it as “replacing worldly thoughts with God thoughts”. This is not something new that Paul originated. It’s already in the OT hundreds of years ago – Ps 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. So instead of following the ways of the world, you saturate your mind with the word of God. As you fill your mind with His words, they begin to form your thoughts. The thoughts will forge your behavior, and the result is that you will find your fruit.

I used to ask believers whether they prayed. I seldom do that anymore, because that’s not a good indicator of their fervency. Most Christians pray, but much prayer is self-centered. Instead, I ask Christians whether they regularly read their Bible. Those that do usually have good spiritual growth. Those that don’t usually have stunted growth, despite their having been Christians for many years. Don’t expect instant results. Just as in exercising you gradually lose your flabs and gain muscle tone, you reap spiritual harvest slowly over time. Don’t look for shortcuts, those miracle seminars where you hope to see results overnight. They don’t exist. Slowly but steadily you begin to change. You might not notice it, but others around you will. They might even ask you, “You’ve changed. What happened?” It’s not your doing. You’ve simply allowed the Holy Spirit to lead you where He wants you to be. You’ve become an overcomer.

How to Deal with Sin 1

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Pictures show:
* Tired of struggling with sin
* Force of gravity
* Bernoulli’s principle
* When lift > gravity, the plane takes off!

Q. I have struggled with a particular sin over a long, long time. I have genuinely repented many times, but after a short reprieve the sin would come back again, and I’m still wrestling with it after so many years. Is something wrong with me?

A. Yes and no. Yes, something is wrong because God never intended us to be enslaved by sin. He wants us to be overcomers, and has made provisions towards that end. No, the problem is not unique to you. All of us, including the apostle Paul, struggle with sin. There are no exceptions. As long as we are this side of heaven, we still have our sinful nature which will bring us down if we allow it. So what is the solution? What can we do to deal with chronic sin?

Let me glean a few key ideas from Romans 8:1-8 –
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

Notice the following occurrences:
* Law 5 times
* Spirit 5 times
* Sinful nature/sinful man/nature/sinful mind (same word in Greek) 9 times
* Mind 4 times

You can quickly tell that these are the main themes when the author keeps repeating them within a few short verses. What has that got to do with your question? A whole lot!

First, there is a law of sin and death operating within us that makes sin inevitable. This is a universal law. Just as the law of gravity acting on a physical object causes it to fall, so the law of sin and death acting on our sinful nature causes us to sin. It is unavoidable.

If the law of gravity causes everything to fall, then how does a big, heavy object like a plane fly? Good question. By making use of another law, the law of aerodynamics. When air flows past a wing, the shape of the wing is such that the air current increases speed over the wing. Since part of the energy in the air molecules is used to increase its velocity, the pressure the air exerts on the wing is reduced. With reduced pressure above the wing but higher pressure beneath it, there is a lift on the wing to push it upward. As the plane accelerates on the runway, the uplift increases. When the uplift is greater than the weight of the plane downward due to gravity, the plane takes off! That’s a refresher in high school physics. Now, how does that relate to us?

(To be continued)

Rapture Revisited

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Pictures show:
* Separation of sheep and goats
* Separation criteria

Q. If the rapture occurred at the end of the tribulation, all the saints would be resurrected and transformed into glorified bodies and will enter the Millennium. Why then is judgment needed? After Christ returns the nations are judged, only the “sheep” enter the millennium. That means some of the sheep who know Christ and were not killed in the tribulation period, which leads to the rapture must happen during or pre-tribulation.

A. You seemed to have assumed that the “sheep” are tribulation saints who were not martyred during the Great Tribulation, and that they are the ones who will enter the millennium. But that’s not what the text said:

* Mt 25:32 (NASB) “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

The word “nations” in Greek is ethnos, from which we get ethnic groups, and appears in the NT 164 times, translated in the KJV as “Gentiles” 93 times, “nation” 64 times, “heathen” 5 times, and “people” twice. In the Septuagint, the Greek OT, it refers to foreign nations not worshipping the true God, or pagans. It is in the neuter gender in the Greek. The word “them” in v 32 is, however, masculine. This means that all the all the Gentile nations will be gathered before the Lord Jesus Christ, but He will judge them individually, not as groups. The nations are not the same as Christians. Then who are the “sheep”? I believe the clues are in several OT prophecies:

* Joel 2:11-13 The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
* Zech 12:10, 12-14 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives.

The Day of the Lord refers to judgment day upon Christ’s return. Yet in Joel 2:12, after the Day of the Lord started, the LORD offers His people to return to the LORD their God. In Zech 12:10 the house of David will look on the Lord whom they have pierced and mourn. So there will be Jews who will recognize Christ after He returns. This is belief by sight, not by faith, and therefore not saving faith. They will not be raptured as they have not trusted in Him before His return, and are not yet saved.

But along with the Jewish remnant who will recognize Christ when they look on Him, there will be Gentiles in the same situation:

* Joel 2:32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
* Zech 14:16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

The sheep are Gentiles who have shown mercy to the least of the King’s brothers (Mt 25:40), but who have not believed until they encounter Him after His return. They will be judged, not for entry into heaven, which criteria should be “believe in the Lord Jesus” (Acts 16:31, Rom 10:9), but entry into the millennium kingdom (Mt 25:34), which criteria is what they did to His brothers. They will be given the opportunity to enter the millennium to learn about the Lord and be saved. This is not the same as getting a second chance after death, as they are survivors and still have opportunity to believe. I think this is a better explanation taking all available evidence into account.

Turn, Turn, Turn

A couple of weeks ago I officiated the funeral service for a sister’s mom, who was in her late 90’s. We always liked her. Even though life was tough when she grew up at the beginning of the last century, she always had a positive attitude whenever we met her. She was raised in a Buddhist family, which caused some unfair treatment because of superstition, but came to know Christ when she was about 90, and baptized a year later. She also had one of the most alert minds I’ve seen among all the seniors I’ve ministered to, but age takes its toll on the body, regardless of how smart or educated you are.

Whenever I conduct a funeral, I’m often reminded of a song I grew up with – Turn, Turn, Turn adapted by Pete Seeger from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

[1]There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
[2]a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
[3]a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
[4]a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
[5]a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
[6]a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
[7]a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
[8]a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

The lyrics are actually a beautiful poem with a very wise message. Seeger rearranged it to make it rhyme, and added 2 lines of his own to fit the tune he composed. The Byrds popularized the song in the mid-60’s as folk rock with beautiful harmony, which is the version I used when I bid farewell to my congregation last year, but there are folk versions which I also like e.g. the Seekers, whose Judith Durham had a strong, clear voice, and Judy Collins, who also had a sweet, soothing voice.

One of my pastor colleagues had suggested that I write about aging using Ecclesiastes as a backdrop. I think that’s a very good idea which I will get to, but not immediately as I need to mull over it first. But in the meantime, here are the songs for you to enjoy.

One Year Old!

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Recently we celebrated our younger grand-daughter’s 1-year-old birthday. Many came to the party at a Japanese restaurant, more of a treat for the adults than for her. Pictures show:

* Little munchkin surrounded by, or rather buried with, gifts
* Special birthday cake made out of all healthy ingredients, without flour or sugar. At first she tasted tiny samples, then gobbled it when she found out it was sweet, despite no sugar added. Her face is all covered with “chocolate”.
* She looked like she’s having a haircut, but it was only a napkin serving as a bib.

Happy birthday SEL!

Cults Arithmetic 2

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Pictures show:
* Exposing the cults
* Multiply and divide
* Arithmetic operations

Yesterday we identified two cult characteristics – adding to the Word of God and subtracting from the deity of Christ. Today we conclude by examining multiplying and dividing.

3. Multiply Salvation’s Requirements
A third common error is that cults multiply the requirements for salvation, typically by works of the law, instead of trusting in Christ alone. The Bible teaches that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, but saving faith manifests itself by good works. In contrast, JWs try to earn their escape from Armageddon by going door-to-door distributing their Awake! and Watchtower magazines, while Mormons need to tithe and undertake their temple ceremony. Jesus chastised the scribes and the Pharisees for multiplying such man-made requirements, which Paul denounced as a different gospel.

* Mt 23:4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
* Lk 11:46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
* Gal 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

4. Divide Believers’ Devotion
The fourth trait of cults is they divide the disciples’ devotion to Christ, and also divide the church. Even though you can trace the cults’ beginnings to some heretical doctrines or gross misconduct on the part of their founders, all of them claimed that they are the “One True Church”. They believe that the historic Church had deserted the truth, and that they are the only one who remained faithful and truly represent God. As such, they demand loyalty to their organization or their leader, and any follower who deviated from their teachings or rules will be extra-communicated and ostracized. They thus divide the followers’ devotion to the Lord and cause division when they crept into the church.

* Jude 1:19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
* 1 Co 7:35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
* 2 Co 11:3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

There are many other marks of the cults, such as cutting off relationships between a cult member and his/her family so that he/she becomes dependent on the organization. Many have myriads of rules besides those relating to salvation, but these four – addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division cut across many cults to help you identify them. The bottom line is:

* Mt 7:16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
* Mt 7:20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

They do not enter the kingdom of heaven themselves, and they will not let seekers enter by shutting the door in their face (Mt 23:13). Be warned.