Forgiveness and Repentance

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Pictures show:
1 Mt 18:21-22
2 Mt 18:22
3 Unmerciful servant
4 Lk 17:4
5 Mt 5:44
6 Rom 12:20
7 Rom 12:21

Recently a brother asked me, “Is forgiveness contingent upon repentance?”. Or, putting it another way, “Is forgiveness conditional or unconditional?” I gave him a quick verbal reply, which was incomplete as further questions followed. Since I had written two articles on the subject earlier, respectively 11 and 9 years ago, I will re-post those articles first, then wrap up by filling in what’s left unaddressed. The first, written in 2001, is as follows:

Q. To what extent does forgiveness apply? I’ve been encountering numerous situations lately where I don’t see positive outcomes from forgiving. It makes me look weak and the other party is taking great advantage of it. How far do we go with it before we end up getting hurt?

A. Two key passages speak to the extent of forgiveness:

* Mt 18:22 Not seven times, but seventy seven times (or seventy times seven)
* Lk 17:4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and say, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.

In other words, innumerable times. Some would even say unlimited, but there are conditions. In Mt 18:23-35 the servant was forgiven but did not have mercy on his fellow servant. His pardon was revoked. This is how the Father will treat us unless we forgive our brother in our heart. Note, however, only the Father has this prerogative of judgment, not us.

Lk 17:4 is governed by 17:3, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” Please note that we are to rebuke sin and forgive if the brother repents. We are not asked to be a doormat and forgive regardless of whether the person repents or not. This puts your circumstances in perspective. If the person is wrong, we are to confront the error and not simply turn a blind eye. You certainly won’t look weak if you do that. But watch your attitude. We are to do it with love and patience, and not be quarrelsome.

What if the person does it again and again? I would still have to abide by Lk 17:4. It may appear that the person is taking advantage of you, but only God knows his heart. Besides, if you rebuke him each time instead of just keeping quiet, chances are repeat offenses will be greatly reduced.

One last thing concerns our attitude. Mt 5:44 says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Rom 12:20 adds, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” In other words, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21). We do not have to descend to our opponent’s level by retaliation; we can be overcomers by doing good to our enemies. It will certainly witness to the life of Christ within us, it may even bring about their repentance.

(To be continued)

Seven Spirits

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Pictures show:
* 7 angels
* Isaiah 11:2
* Zechariah 4

Q. What are the seven spirits of God in Revelations 4?

A. The term “seven spirits” appears only 4 times in the Bible, all in Revelation:

1:4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,
3:1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
4:5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.
5:6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Who are the seven spirits? There are few clues, but the following have been suggested:
1. Seven literal spirits or angelic beings. Some believe that just as there are four living creatures and twenty-four elders before the throne, there are seven spirits as well, possibly seraphim or cherubim. I do not accept this interpretation for the following reasons:
a、 The first reference in 1:4b is sandwiched between God the Father (Him who is, who was, who is to come) and Jesus Christ in 1:5a. It would be very strange if it referred to mere angels who are creatures mentioned on par with the first and second person of the Trinity.
b、 In 4:5 the seven lamps are the seven spirits. In 5:6 the seven eyes are the seven spirits. The language is therefore symbolic, not literal.

2. The sevenfold Spirit, which is an alternative rendering of the Greek as in the NIV text note. The sevenfold is based on Isa 11:2:
a. The Spirit of the LORD
b. the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
c. the Spirit of counsel and of power,
d. the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD—
Some object because they see only a threefold Spirit (#b, c and d above, each with two characteristics) qualifying the Spirit of the LORD, or at most a six-fold Spirit if we take the pairs as separate qualities. This interpretation is possible, but does not quite fit the context of lamps and eyes in Rev 4 and 5.

3. The Holy Spirit, based on the imagery in Zech 4:
a、 4:2 I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights.
b、 4:6 ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.
c、 4:10 These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the earth.
I think Rev 4 and 5’s imagery best fits Zech 4, which refers to the Holy Spirit. Seven in the Bible is the number of perfection or completeness, while the plural “spirits” may suggest the diversity of His powers. The seven horns represent complete authority or power. The seven eyes represent perfect spiritual vision. This interpretation also fits with the seven spirits being at the same level as the Father and the Son in Rev 1:4. The “seven spirits” is therefore the One, perfect Spirit in all His fullness. This is my own position based on all available data.

The Midnight Meeting

Last week I spoke at the English service of a Chinese church. The text and title assigned were Ruth 3 and “The Midnight Meeting”, part of their series on “Ruth, A Woman of Faith”. The theme was the “Kinsman Redeemer”. For those interested here are the links for the audio and visual portions of the message. You can walk through the slides as you listen.

Audio: Click on link
http://mcbc.com/media/2012/20120520e.mp3

Visual: Click on link
Ruth 3

Worship Styles

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Pictures show:
* A Methodist church with liturgical style
* A Baptist church with contemporary style

We attended two churches during our stay in HK. The first was my wife’s old home church with traditional worship. Everything was more formal, starting with the choir’s and pastor’s procession to the choir loft and pulpit in gowns and robes, and ending with a formal recession. It appears that everything in between was scripted, including responsive reading, confession, chanting of hymns, and prayers recited from the denomination’s prayer-book. The songs were from a hymnal; there was no contemporary music. The pastor wore a clerical collar and stole, and the bulletin listed out everything in detail, with little room for spontaneity. Some enjoyed this formal liturgical style as it adds reverence and dignity to the service, and emphasizes the office of those who lead the worship.

The second was a leading free church with a mixed style. Instead of a choir, there was a nine-person singspiration team and band, 8 of whom were young people in a majority middle-aged congregation. The format was very similar to other contemporary-styled churches in N. America, with pop or soft-rock music singspiration, announcements and pastoral prayer, scripture reading, sermon, offering, closing hymn and benediction. The lack of formality tends to make the worship and pastoral team more approachable, though this is also dependent on the personality of those who lead.

Which one is better? I think that’s the wrong question. Unlike doctrine in which there is absolute truth and right and wrong, style is a matter of personal preference. Some seek out the formality of the liturgical style as they felt the contemporary follows too much the way of the world. Others felt the liturgical is too like “Roman Catholic” for their taste. Personally I’m more used to a mix of hymns and contemporary songs that combine solid biblical content and expression of heart-felt worship. Must we use 19th century European or 20th century American hymns or 21st century fusion music? Not at all. Just think of people from all ethnic background worshipping using their local customs and music. I think God is pleased with all styles that are in Spirit and in truth. Worship with your heart, not your ego. The latter has no place in worship.

Grand-kids top videos

Two of the best-liked clips according to our relatives:

KSP Mommy vs Daddy – The Battle of the Sexes never ends.

SEL Some have said that when they were down, this cheered them up and made their day!

Grand-kid copycats

Both are growing up real fast. Here they are copying their dad and mom respectively. Do realize that they copy what they see, both good and bad. So be careful what you are modeling.

KSP copycat:

SEL copycat:

Grand-kids pushing carts

KSP: Everything is in her way!

SEL: It should be the dog pulling the sleight but Sophia is strong (the dog weighs as much as her) and can manouver the cart very well

At what age should we baptize a person?

Q. At what age should we baptize a person? Our church ties baptism to membership and requires age 18 because then the person is an adult and can vote, but allows younger persons to be baptized, though without vote. My son is 14. However, he has been brought up in church and truly understands the Christian basics.

A. There is no particular age specified in the Bible. Our Lord Himself was baptized by John at age 30, though He actually did not need John’s baptism for repentance because He was sinless. Christian baptism is for identification with Christ and not the same as John’s baptism. I subscribe to believers’ baptism myself, and would baptize only those who personally place their trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior. This would exclude infants who don’t have the capacity to know what they are doing. Those who adhere to infant baptism argue that the New Testament contained several accounts of whole households being baptized, which surely must include children. While this is possible, it is an argument from what was NOT said and therefore not reliable.

Your church’s tying baptism to membership is a common practice nowadays, though it is based more on tradition than Scripture. In the NT believers are baptized shortly after their conversion, because Christians were persecuted initially by the Jews and then by the Romans and people did not profess faith in Christ lightly. Typically only those who had genuine faith and were serious about following Jesus confess Christ. Therefore there was no long waiting period with class instructions to test if they are true believers. Furthermore, there were church rolls for older widows who were dependent on the church, but no list of voting members similar to today. The NT church was led by Spirit-filled elders who were assisted by deacons, and they listened to the needs of the congregation. It was not a one member one vote democracy as we know it now. Some modern church practices are modeled more after society than the Bible.

My own church requires baptism as a prerequisite to membership, but the two can be undertaken separately, not necessarily joint. We recognize that there are situations that people would want to treat them separately. For example, foreign students come to our church as non-believers, became Christians, want to be baptized in obedience to the Lord’s command, but will return to their home country soon after graduation. They therefore want to have their membership in their home country church. It is true that you can always transfer membership, but why take steps that are not necessary in the first place?

We also specified that the minimum age to receive baptism to be 14, not because it was explicitly stated in the Bible, but for practical reasons. While modern society normally treats 18 as adulthood, according to Jewish law, a Jewish boy comes of age at 13 (bar mitzvah; 12 for a girl) and become responsible for their own actions. This roughly corresponds with their puberty. Why did we pick 14? Up to age 12, children normally follow their parents to church and accept their faith. However, when they enter high school, many face challenges from peers and wrestle with faith issues themselves. By 14 many have either embraced the faith as their own, or turned away actively or passively. Obviously this is not the case for everyone. Some know the Lord personally at a young age, while others can be immature even in their 20s and 30s. But for pragmatic reasons 14 works well for us. Of course age is only one factor. Each candidate needs to be considered individually.

Good Business Skills to Acquire

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Pictures show:
* Problem solving
* Decision-making
* Persuasion
* Negotiation
* Conflict resolution

Q. My son is entering university to pursue business. Besides compulsory subjects, he has a number of electives. What courses would you recommend for him to pick up useful skills?

A. As a pastor, of course the first thing I would recommend for a commerce student is for him to acquire Wisdom:

Prov 8:11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Prov 16:16 How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!

But then you can only attend a wisdom literature course, but you can’t get wisdom by sitting in class. You have to fear the Lord and put His precepts into practice. Having said that, there are a few courses I recommend that are useful for someone who is interested in business or management.

My own undergraduate studies was in engineering, then I added graduate studies in management, and finally I switched to biblical and theological studies. The early logical, methodical training in analytical thinking provided a very solid foundation, but I did not use any of the calculus or higher mathematics when I entered into the working world. However, one course I found very interesting was called “Engineering Economy”, which is essentially Finance 101 for engineers, as even engineers need to understand cost/benefit analysis and net present values to get their projects approved. From that beginning I moved onto other subjects that were useful in many disciplines, but which at that time (nearly 40 years ago) not many people studied as their value have not yet been fully recognized. These are:

1 Problem-solving: Our world is full of problems. If you can come up with neat, elegant, creative solutions to problems, you will be in much demand.
2 Decision-making: This is a necessary part of problem-solving in choosing the best alternative from all available options, but you need to master the human side, the art as well as the science of decision-making.
3 Persuasion: This includes the art of argumentation, not arguing in the bad sense we commonly understood. Unless you are a dictator, you need to convince all stakeholders that your proposal is the best one and worthy of their support. This is influence or leadership.
4 Negotiation: There will be competing ideas and counter-proposals. You need to learn how to collaborate without compromising principles and the big picture. Everyone should learn the basics of bargaining.
5 Conflict resolution: Not all negotiations can be a win-win. How can you resolve difficulties and still carry on despite differences is a basic survival skill.

The about are core competencies that a good leader should acquire, whether he/she is in sales, marketing, manufacturing, finance or other business disciplines. They may not be full courses offered by the faculty, but could be seminars/workshops. There are, of course, many leadership qualities such as focus, determination, perseverance etc. that should be part of the training, but I’m not aware of courses for them besides in sports psychology. Whatever the packaging, these are some basic skills I recommend for your son, aside from knowing and practicing the Bible.

Hong Kong Wetland Park

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Pictures show:

1 Front entrance to visitor center
2 Park is neatly landscaped with fountains and small waterfalls.
3 Discovery Trail
4 Boardwalk goes through different habitats, including fresh water marshes, mangroves, mudflat, reed beds, tidal ponds, forests, scrublands and streams.
5 These habitats provide food and shelter for different plants and animals.
6 In 2011, there were 238 species of birds, 16 species of crabs, 20 species of fresh water fishes, 50 species of dragonflies, 36 species of reptiles and amphibians, 153 species of butterflies, and 11 specials of mammals.
7 A stuffed tiger in the gallery. There were other specimens too, including moose, foxes, owls etc.
8 Finding Nemo!
9 The park is also home to a river crocodile Pui Pui, so named as it was captured 8 years ago in Shan Pui River in Yuen Long, New Territories.

We visited HK Wetland Park, a 60 hectares conservation area in Tin Shui Wai, accessible via the West Rail and then LRT. We were quite impressed to find such a reserve in the midst of a concrete jungle. It is a good learning experience for school outings, as well as a favorite waterhole for ecology lovers and photographers.

Reminds me of one of the first lessons I learned in seminary. I was taking urban ministry, and the prof urged all students to find a “quiet place” where they can go for prayer and communion with God. Even if there are few green spaces around, he suggested that we periodically take short breaks to reflect and spend time alone with God. See if there is a “hiding place” “up on the roof” if you are “downtown”, or just walk around the block by yourself.

Tell God everything you are experiencing, “the good, the bad, and the ugly”. Ask Him for directions. This way you will keep your sanity and composure. That was wise counsel which we often forget, but provided calmness in the middle of a storm when we do remember. Try it. We all need a “quiet room”, even if it is mental and not physical.