Fruit

Fruit-bearing

Q. In John 15, what does Jesus mean by “fruit”? Can it mean making disciples?

A. The word “fruit” occurs 10 times in 7 verses in John’s writings:

• John 4:36 Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
• John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
• John 15:2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
• John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
• John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
• John 15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
• John 15:16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

Many commentators relate fruit qualitatively as the “fruit of the Spirit” in Gal 5:22-23. This is certainly true in the sense that a disciple cannot bear the Spirit’s fruit unless he abides in Christ. However, I believe we can also interpret fruit quantitatively as “making disciples,” for two reasons:

1. The word “fruit” itself implies reproduction, in the sense of “fruitful and multiply,” which occurs 11 times in the Bible (Gen 1:22, 28; 8:17; 9:1, 7; 17:20; 28:3; 35:11; Lev 26:9; Jer 23:3; Ezk 36:11).
2. As John used the word in his gospel, he used it quantitatively (much fruit in Jn 12:24, 15:5, 8; more fruit in Jn 15:2).

No one can make disciples unless he/she abides in Christ, and the Father is glorified when we reproduce many disciples.

So my conclusion is that the Lord meant fruit in both a qualitative and quantitative sense, as in Christian character and making disciples.

Preparing to Face Persecution

Q. It is scary when to follow Jesus means Christians would suffer. How do we, here and now, apply this general truth?

A. First, fear not:

• Lk 12:4 I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.

Sadly, Christians often follow the world more than the word of God and are afraid of things that they do not need to be scared of.

I think the problem lies with inadequate discipling in many Western churches. Take a popular discipleship process as an example:

What are the contents of the classes 101 to 401? Typically, they include the gospel, assurance of salvation, membership class, baptism class, how to study the Bible, how to pray, fellowship, serving in the church and parachurch organizations, how to share the gospel, joining local or foreign short-term missions, etc. If a church member regularly attends worship, Sunday school, prayer meeting, cell group, serve in some ministry, invites friends to church, donates offerings, the church leaders would be more than happy.

Now look at what the NT teaches Christians to pursue:

• Rom 14:19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
• 1 Co 14:1 Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
• 1 Tim 6:11 … and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
• 2 Tim 2:22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
• Heb 12:14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
• 1 Pet 3:11 He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it.

And the process as to how these goals might be attained:

• Rom 5:3-4 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; ⁴ and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.
• 2 Pet 1:5-7  Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, ⁶ and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, ⁷ and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

I have been a Christian for nearly half a century, and have found instructions on godliness, perseverance, peace, tribulations, etc. to be few and far in between. No wonder Christians are ill-prepared:

• 1 Pet 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.

Even our methods are deficient. Our traditional Sunday School consists of classroom lectures and discussions, with little hands-on experience. But a key component of the Lord’s teaching strategy is “on the job training”. He sent the Twelve (Mt 10:5 ff) and the seventy (Lk 10:1 ff) out after instructing them, and let them experience ministry first-hand, not just giving them head knowledge.

So, if you are serious about preparing to face persecution, take a long hard look at both the curriculum and pedagogy of your Christian education function and train your people accordingly. The persecuted church has learned this long, long ago. It is time the Western church does the same, as the “easy days” are fast coming to an end.  

Missional?

Q. Are you okay with the following thinking: The household of God walks in the will of God, that is, be missional.

1. Touching the marginalized (Healing/Caring Ministry)

2. Against the injustice in the community and beyond (Casting out demons)

3. Preaching/Teaching the words faithfully (Word ministry)

Did I miss anything?

Are you defining “missional” based on the Lord’s mission and what He did, as in:

Mt 4:23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. (Mt 9:35)

Lk 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

Mk 1:39 And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.

Mk 6:13 And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

If yes, you are drawing your concept from the text which is exegesis and good. However, some have already formulated their ideas and simply try to find verses to support them, which is eisegesis and not good.

I also believe you’ve captured all the essential elements:

1. Word ministry:
   1. Evangelism – Proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, preach the gospel to the poor, proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
   1. Discipleship – Teach
2. Healing/caring:
   1. Physical – heal diseases and the sick, recover sight for the blind
   1. Spiritual – cast out demons
3. Social Justice – release the captives, set free those who are oppressed

However, my classification is somewhat different from yours. But some of Jesus’ ministry could fit several categories, e.g. depending on the type of captivity in view, “proclaim release to the captives” could fall under:

• Evangelism – release from bondage to sin (Rom 7:14)
• Discipleship – release from being held captive to philosophy and empty deception (Col 2:8), captive to the devil’s snare (2 Tim 2:26)
• Healing – release from being bound by Satan (Lk 13:16)
• Justice – legal protection from unrighteousness (Lk 18:7-8)

So how you classify them depends on what you have in mind. One thing I would recommend is to incorporate activities in your teaching. Some “talk” a good theory but there is no “walk”. It’s purely academic, which does not help the church. We have enough talkers but not enough “doers”. For example, visit friends and neighbors to share the gospel, not just teach the content in class. Serve in community projects to show you care. Take your trainees on a mission trip to experience ministry first-hand. You cannot be missional if there is no action.

Diaspora Ministry

We participate in two prayer meetings. The first one is with two other families who have been our prayer partners for the last dozen years, without which I would not have survived in ministry. The other is with 15-16 people who are part of the Diaspora Ministry of our mission agency. Diaspora means the dispersion of any people from their homeland. In our case we focus on the Chinese and Vietnamese.

What I like about the second group is that they are “doers”. They love missions, not just talking about it, but in action. All of them have gone on short-term (ST) trips, some dozens of times over two decades. There are a few pastors and full-time missionaries, but the majority are lay men and women who love to share Christ, especially with those who have never heard of Him in faraway lands. The age range is from early 50s to late 70s, so age is not a barrier; the heart is. So long as there is a fire burning in the heart, they’ll find a way to overcome financial and other obstacles to witness for Christ. Nor is it evangelism only, as other teams focus on discipleship to train leaders for the churches planted.

Every month we get together to pray about the needs in the field, discuss challenges the ST teams face, and to encourage one another. If there is one thing I find lacking is that there are no young people in the group. While we value experience that comes with age, we also need continuity and stamina to grow the work. Where are the Timothy’s and Titus’s who will carry the baton for the next leg of the relay? Pray for more young men and women who are mission-minded and willing to step out of their comfort zone to witness for the Lord. May their tribe increase!

Gay Struggle

Q. My friend is gay and he knows it is wrong. He has prayed for God to take away his same-sex attraction but his homosexual orientation remains. Why did God not take away his struggles?

A. I don’t know God’s thoughts in this particular case, but I’ll try to answer by reframing your question. “My friend is straight and he knows lust is wrong. He has prayed for God to take away his promiscuity but his heterosexual lusts remain. Why did God not take away his struggles with lust?”

I am not saying that homosexuality is not wrong, because it is, and uniformly condemned in the Bible. But unlike many people who sees homosexuality as worse than most sins, the Bible places it in the midst of a list of sins which are equally bad and just as condemned:

• 1 Co 6:9-10 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
• 1 Tim 1:9-10 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.

Following a general description as wrongdoers, lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, the list goes into specifics including:
1. the sexually immoral, including fornicators, incest, bestiality,
2. idolaters,
3. adulterers,
4. men who have sex with men i.e. practicing homosexuality – gays, lesbians,
5. thieves,
6. the greedy,
7. drunkards,
8. slanderers,
9. swindlers,
10. those who kill their fathers or mothers i.e. patricide or matricide
11. murderers,
12. slave traders,
13. liars,
14. perjurers.

We may differentiate between those who commit more serious sins such as murder and homosexuality, from those who commit less serious offenses such as stealing, lying and being greedy, but that’s our distinction. The Bible sees them all as serious enough such that the perpetrators will not inherit the kingdom of God. If you want more proof please read Gal 5:19-21 or Eph 5:3-5, only there homosexuality is not mentioned specifically, but lumped under the general category of sexual immorality.

What’s my point? It is rather than expect God to take away our orientation to sin, we are responsible for our own actions. We are all born with a sinful nature which inevitably leads to sin. The difference is that while for some their orientation is homosexuality, for others their tendency to sin is with members of the opposite sex. For still others it may have nothing to do with sex at all, but with things (e.g. theft, greed, substance abuse etc.) or character flaws (e.g. anger, cheating, lying etc). All are responsible for controlling their behavior, and God is ready and willing to help all when they seek Him. The struggle is real for the gay, just as much as it is for the straight addicted to sex. It takes time to be holy, and all are encouraged to curb their tendency towards sin by following Jesus as Lord and practicing discipleship.

Does God deliver miraculously? Sometimes He does, but often the path of victory is a long obedience in the same direction. There are no shortcuts unless God intervenes, which He seldom does as He is more interested in us learning to love and obey Him, even when it is hard and the going is tough. He wants us to be mature more than gaining instant victory. I hope we all learn this soon.

Church-Planting Workshop

We were very glad to be invited to join a workshop hosted by the mission agency for all her workers, on the development phases of church-planting (CP). There were 13 career missionary participants in 6 CP teams, who used the book “Global Church Planting” by Craig Ott and Gene Wilson (Baker) as a frame of reference. Each team compared their current experience to the biblical principles and best practices cited in the book, to gain insight into how they can improve their strategy and implementation.

Since it was only a half-day workshop, they were able to cover only the following:
1. Before Launching
a. Targeting and Commissioning
b. Understanding and Strategizing
2. Launching – Evangelizing and Discipleship
3. Establishing – Congregating and Maturing
Each team charted their progress using metrics given in the book, and it was very exciting to see milestones accomplished and yet to be achieved.

Discussion of the last two phases:
4. Structuring – Expanding and Empowering, and
5. Reproducing – Strengthening and Sending
will have to wait till next time, due to time limitations.

Essentially we got a glimpse of CP as insiders, from the ground up, something money can’t buy. It was like being in the “Situation Room” observing as the event unfolds. We were very thankful for the valuable insights shared, and got an appreciation of the hard work and challenges involved in CP. Thank God for church-planters on the front-line waging spiritual warfare on enemy territory. They liberate captives for Christ to advance His Kingdom, and are worthy of your support. Pray for them and supply their needs. It’s one of the best investments you can make.

Hakka Church

Front entrance of four-storey building

Ground floor sanctuary

Second floor hall

Third floor parsonage

Fourth floor storage

Hakka is one of the unreached people groups in Taiwan. Of Taiwan’s 23 million people, only about 600,000 or 2.6% are Protestant Christians. However, if you lower the microscope to Taiwan’s 4.3 million Hakka people, only about 15,000 or 0.35% are Christians. The Chinese Christian Evangelistic Association (CCEA) counted 100 Hakka churches in Taiwan, but many of them are small, with less than 25 in worship attendance. This implies that a large proportion of Hakka Christians are not in church on any given Sunday. That’s why the Hakka had been identified as unreached and targeted for outreach.

Our missionary hosts’ calling is to call the Hakka to Christ. They partnered with a dying Hakka church, and with God’s grace revived it from the ashes. Originally the church had a thriving congregation, but the church building was destroyed during the 1999-9-21 earthquake. The members tried to rebuild the structure at the original site, but after spending a lot of money on two different architects, the structure remained unfinished. The congregation dwindled as the building was finally completed, and by the time our hosts arrived at the scene they were down to only one couple plus a senior. However, before they commenced their first service the senior died, leaving a congregation of two! So essentially they started from scratch.

But bit by bit, by the grace of God, they slowly rebuilt the people. Different means were tried to draw newcomers, but what proved to be attractive was worship dance. Some of the participants joined a Bible study, were led to the Lord, then discipled, and formed a core group for service. Our hosts trained them to feed themselves when they had to return to the US for a couple of months, and they managed! Even though the congregation is still small, they have grown to a point where they can survive when their missionary pastors leave. This is as it should be. Just as many adolescents do not really grow up until they leave home and fend for themselves, sometimes churches do not grow until their pastor leaves and they have to mature quickly.

Worship dance

Performing at community center

Large audience

Do we need to plant more churches? Most definitely! But just as important is not only the quantity of churches, but the quality. You need reproducing churches, churches that are not only self-governing and self-financing, but also self-propagating. God bless the church planters who had trained the lay leaders to take over the ministry after they are gone.

Mission Possible!

After much searching and waiting, we have joined SEND International of Canada as Associate Missionaries for short-term service. Our personal mission is to turn non-believers into disciples of Jesus Christ who are committed to: love God, love one another, and love those still outside the Lord’s fold. We believe in multiplying disciples and church-planting as the strategy to fulfill the Great Commission. This is very much aligned with SEND International’s mission to mobilize God’s people and engage the unreached in order to establish reproducing churches, hence our choice.

“Associate Missionaries” means we are on project work, and are not career missionaries on staff. We are free to continue supporting ministries which are dear to our hearts, but under the umbrella of SEND Canada to which we are accountable. We will be involved in a series of assignments, including ministry to the Chinese Diaspora outside China. Our first mission will be a short-term trip of two months to Taiwan to learn the SEND approach and to assist in the ministry there, including evangelism, discipleship, preaching and teaching, and of course to brush up our Mandarin. Please pray for the Lord’s leading as we take a small step out of our comfort zone to serve Him.

Martyr’s Oath

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* Persecuted church
* Where Christians are persecuted

When I was a young lay church leader, I used to study the big and fast-growing churches in North America as models of how we can grow our own church. I would examine their programs to see if we can adapt them to a small, Chinese church setting, but was often frustrated by the fact that what worked for them, did not always work for us. However, when I became a pastor, I realized that perhaps these “successful” churches are not the right models for us to follow. I went back to the Bible to study what our Lord wanted His church to be and to do, and because I was interested in missions, what churches in the Third World are doing to fulfill His mandate. That’s when my interest in the persecuted church grew, because the more I studied, the more I recognized that our world is racing towards the end of the age, and that the traditional N. American church models are ill-equipped to prepare God’s people to face the onslaught of what will soon fall on all churches.

As an example, I was drawn to how Christian leaders behaved when Hindu extremists began attacking Christians and burning churches in Orissa, India a few years ago. Two verses came to mind:

* 1 Pet 2:23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
* 1 Co 4:12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it.

They were following the examples of our Lord and Paul under extremely difficult conditions. How did they do it? What type of training did they receive? It was puzzling until I came across the following “martyr’s oath” which all graduates of Emmanuel Theological Seminary and Bible College in Kota, India are required to pledge:

1. I stand with the apostle Paul in stating that “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
2. I take a stand to honor the Lord Jesus Christ with my hands to serve all mankind.
3. I take a stand to honor the Lord Jesus Christ with my feet to spread the gospel to all the ends of the earth no matter what the cost.
4. I take a stand to honor the Lord Jesus Christ with my lips by proclaiming the Good News to all who hear and by edifying the Body of Christ.
5. I take a stand to honor the Lord Jesus Christ with my mind as I meditate upon His Word and His promises to me.
6. I give my earthly treasures and all that I possess to follow the way of the cross.
7. I commit to love my family, orphans, widows, lepers, the wealthy and the poor the way that Christ loved the church.
8. I surrender my will and life to His will and life.
9. I commit to the service of the Lord by being a good steward of my time.
10. I surrender this body on earth to the perfect will of Jesus, and should my blood be spilled may it bring forth a mighty harvest of souls.11. I pledge allegiance to the Lamb. I will seek to honor His command. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.
12. Lord Jesus, Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
13. I love my India and my fellow citizens, and I claim India for Christ.

This is only one example of the type of requirement an Indian seminary placed on her graduates. I assume others have similar “spirit” built into their curriculum. There is no emphasis on attendance, buildings, or cash, only solid discipleship. No wonder many are able to stand the test, when many in N. America are failing to make the grade. Don’t “pity” your Third World brothers and sisters for their lack of resources. Follow their example. We have much to learn from them as to how to follow the Lord and survive when persecution comes.

Bucket List 2

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* Sample list 1
* Sample list 2
* Spiritual bucket list

Yesterday we looked at the principles behind a Christian bucket list. Today we propose 50 suggestions for your consideration. They are not my ideas, just ideas I came across and jotted down. They are not in priority ranking, but are grouped around 10 broad areas of loving God, loving your neighbor, loving yourself, the great commission, stewardship, and just for fun. You may want to skydive, bungee-jump, eat all the fancy foods, or drive the fast cars, but that’s your list. Drop a comment if you have good suggestions to share.

I Devotional – Knowing God
1 Read through the entire Bible in a year, or 90 days. How can you obey God’s commands if you don’t know them?
2 Learn to pray better, not just petitions for yourself, but intercession for others, worship, confession and thanksgiving.
3 Kick that nasty habit that has been plaguing you for years.
4 Find your spiritual gift and put it to use. God gifted you to serve Him in that capacity, don’t waste it.
5 Fast weekly as a discipline, or an extended period when there is a special need. It won’t kill you.
6 Take a real retreat to get directions from God, then write your own bucket list.

II Relational – Love Your Neighbor
7 Tell everyone you love that you love them.
8 Find those you’ve offended and apologize. If possible, reconcile with everyone.
9 Forgive those who have wronged you. God has forgiven you for much greater offences.
10 Find your benefactors and do something special for them. Gratitude is good.

III Community – Love Your Neighbor
11 Volunteer in parachurch organizations/community service, especially those engaged in mercy and justice.
12 Visit the ICU and see if there are family members of patients who need prayer.
13 Visit a nursing home and minister to residents who rarely have visitors. Some are really lonely.
14 Become a volunteer at a children’s hospital.
15 Give a needy child the Christmas of his/her life.
16 Do random acts of kindness.

IV Physical – Love Yourself
17 Change to a healthy diet.
18 Exercise 3 or 4 times a week.
19 Lose excess weight.
20 Learn a new sport e.g. Tai Chi as an exercise, curling etc.

V New skills/interests – Love Yourself
21 Widen yourself by learning a new skill or language e.g. Mandarin, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew etc.
22 Develop your latent talents such as music or art. Learn a musical instrument.
23 Deepen yourself by mastering your favorite subject.
24 Read the books you’ve always wanted to read but never had time e.g. the classics.
25 Master one of the new hi-tech gadgets e.g. 4G phone, Skype etc. That’s nothing to a 20-something, but a challenge to some non-tech boomers.
26 Learn the social network i.e. Facebook, Twitter etc.
27 Do a blog. Write a book.

VI Financial – Neighbor and Self
28 Pay off all your debts, except the continuing debt to love one another.
29 Make a will. Leave something for the Lord’s work.
30 Send someone in need some money anonymously.
31 Contribute a significant sum to the Lord’s work. It is truly more blessed to give than to receive.
32 Donate to lasting projects e.g. drill a well in third-world countries.

VII Evangelistic – Great Commission
33 Learn evangelistic tools such as Evangelism Explosion, Gospel Bridge etc.
34 Write out your own testimony/life story and be ready to use it anytime, anywhere.
35 Memorize witnessing verses.
36 Share the gospel to win someone to Jesus. Ask God for opportunities.
37 Make sure all within your circle of influence are saved, especially family members.
38 Train new believers to share the gospel. Start them early while they are hot for the Lord.

VIII Discipleship/Multiplication – Great Commission
39 Become an expert on some books of the Bible/some biblical subjects.
40 Take courses in bible school and share what you learned in Sunday school. That’s your teaching mandate. Better still, teach with your life example.
41 Disciple/mentor someone to become a discipler. Freely you have received, freely give.
42 Start a church, locally or in the mission field. Assist if you are not a church-planter.

IX Missions – Great Commission
43 Take a short-term mission trip to open your eyes and heart. Get out of your comfort zone. You’ll be amazed at what you will learn.
44 Give significantly to missions to advance God’s Kingdom. There are many worthwhile causes, but some have eternal impact while others have only temporal.
45 Get to know your church’s missionaries personally and support them, both in prayer and financially.

X Travel – Fun
46 Visit the Holy Land. The Bible comes alive after you’ve experienced it first hand.
47 Take your family on a cruise/trip.
48 See the wonders of the world.
49 Visit every continent.
50 Visit your home country 鄉下。