What motivates us in our life of faith? Spiritual formation (III)

Temporal vs. eternal perspectives

We need to have a paradigm shift – from treating the eternal as if it were temporal thereby thinking little about it and making no provisions for it. And treating the temporal as if it were eternal and therefore worth all the effort, thoughts and time spent on it.

Embodied spiritual beings, influence of the body

We need to inculcate Godly habits to replace habits of sins that are deeply embedded in our bodies. Habits which had been taken captive by the worldly values and priorities.

But how do we motivate ourselves to want to put off, to put to death the old self and its habits and to put on the new self?

Students need to study – but how do they motivate themselves to actually say no to a host of things they rather do, and instead study?

We know we ought to read our bibles and pray every day. Thankfully some of us do that, but many more don’t.

We know we need to take care of our bodies, to exercise regularly. The benefits are obvious. We are healthier, sleep better, able to cope with stress and so on. Yet many of us still do not exercise.

I have shared about Marva Dawn and how seriously ill she is.

“Shattered foot; broken, then crippled leg; numerous times on crutches or in wheelchairs; loss of hearing in one ear; loss of vision in one eye and then for a while also in the other; cancer and failing kidneys; failure of nerves in legs and intestinal tract; jaw deterioration and demineralisation of upper torso bones; (diabetes) and so forth”.

For Marva Dawn, it is literally a matter of life and death for her to exercise! While most of her body is a mess, the doctors are amazed at how strong her heart and lungs are. Good blood pressure, very low cholesterol. That is due to lifelong daily exercise.

What motivate her to exercise is not so much to have a longer life, but that she may have a more productive life for the Lord. She says, “ I do not know how many years of life I have left, so I have no time to waste”. So she is very disciplined, very focused and therefore at the end of the day, very, very productive.

At the end of the day what motivates us to get up in the morning to do what we have to do? Basically it has to d with needs for :

• security
• significance
• satisfaction.

These are the primary drives that motivates us, that pushes us and drives us. It and of itself they are not wrong. However what is wrong is that we look to the world rather than Christ to meet our needs. What is unhelpful is to be motivated by what the world considers to be important. Rather than what the bible considers as important.

So what would motivate us to put off the old and to put on the new? What would motivate us to live a disciplined, productive, faithful and fruitful life for the Lord?

Classic views

1. Fear of the Lord

Acts 7.32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

Lk 1.11Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.

It was an ordinary day and Jesus was requesting the disciples to do an ordinary thing, something that as fishermen, they had been doing daily, all their lives. Yet at the end, this was the reaction of Simon Peter, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “ O Lord,, please leave me – I’m too much of a sinner to around you.” (Lk 5. 8)

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."

We have domesticated God – we no longer come in fear and trembling before his presence. How many of you expect to hear a specific word from God directed at you alone? Perhaps we who preach and teach the word have also become insipid souls, we have lost the awe that it is God’s word that we are proclaiming.

It would be wise and prudent for us to cultivate a reverential awe and wonder before our almighty God. For this would sent the tone for how we will live our lives. Either in indolent, indulgent self centeredness or one who says,

1. Do not overdraw me, Lord, I shall break , instead we will say

2. I am a bow in your hands, Lord, draw me lest I rot. And finally as we mature and grow in increasing conformity to Christ, we pray:

3. Overdraw me, Lord, and who cares If I break! (quoted by Ernest Boyer, Jr, p 8 Finding God at home )

There a host of scriptural passages relating the fear of God to knowing him, loving him, obeying him and honouring him.

2 Cor 5:10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.

Who should we fear more? Men or God?

Lk 12. 4"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

Ex 20.20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."

Dt 5.29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

Job 28.28 And he said to man, 'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.' "

Ps 25.14 he LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

Proverbs 9.10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Mal 3.16 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honoured his name.

Acts 9.31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord

Phil 2.12 work out your salvation with fear and trembling

Rev 15.4 who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy

The fear of the Lord determines our priorities. It defines our values. There are certain things we do and there are certain we don’t because we fear the Lord.

2. Love and gratitude (I Jn 4.8-10; Rom 5.8)

Eugene Peterson strongly asserts that it is God that has always taken the initiative. Our task is to discern his actions and to keep in step with him.

1 Jn 4. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^[b] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for^[c] our sins.

Rom 5.8 but God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet his enemies in foolish rebellion against his person and purposes

The Christian faith is not about keeping of impersonal rules – return a library book few days after the due dates, or break the speed limit. When we sin we are hurting the one who loves us. We are breaking relationships.

We do what we do because we love God and am grateful for all that He has done for us, grace – undeserved mercy and goodness that the Lord showered on us. The experience of God’s grace needs to be fresh in each generation. Each generation must pass on its unique story of love and grace to the next generation. So that the love and gratitude of each generation is fresh, first hand, not stale, second hand history.

We adults feel that story is for children. But as Eugene Peterson reminds us constantly in his books, “story is the primary way in which the revelation of God is given to us. The Holy Spirit’s literary genre of choice is story. From beginning to end, our scriptures are primarily written in the form of stories. Moses told stories; Jesus told stories; the four Gospel writers present their good news in the form of stories”[1]. We must pass on our stories to the next generation. We need to tell of the love of God to us in the past so that we can live for him in the present and trust God in the future. (see Dt 6 .20 in the future your children will ask you, ‘what is the meaning of these laws, decrees, and regulations that the Lord God has commanded us to obey?’ v21 then you must tell them…)

Finally love is the greatest motivator to do what we have to do. A mother shared with Teresa, “ some days I just don’t feel like getting up in the morning to go to work. But when I look at my children, I just “do it”. That’s what bankers are discovering : give small loans to mothers to start their business and over 90% of the mothers would end up doing successfully and repaying their loans. The love they have for their family would ensure this. For men, there is no guarantee that they would not use the loans to buy a fancy car, or gamble or drink it away .

Do we love God and have we experienced his kindness and mercy and love?

Kenneth – kidney transplant – love of wife and God!

3. Our identity and worth is in Christ

Attending wedding dinners can be a joyous and wonderful occasion, especially if the bridal couple is close to you and you are seated at a table together with your close friends. However when we are seated among strangers, then we find ourselves (at least some of us) struggling to carry on a conversation with total strangers. Sooner or later, we will ask each other, “what do you do”. It is not surprising therefore that a lot of our sense of worth comes from what we do and from what people think about us.

But as Kenneth Boa rightly pointed out, “who we are in Christ is not shaped by what we do but by what he did on the cross and continues to do in our lives. Our performance does not determine our identity; instead our new identity in Jesus becomes the basis for what we do”[2].

When we realise our identity and our worth is in Christ, we can say with genuine belief and conviction, that “it is good for us to be and to be who we are!”[3] St Clare, a contemporary of St Francis of Assisi had these for her last words, ‘Lord God, blessed be thou for having created me!” She had lived her life with no regret, only praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. What a way to live!

Instead, a lot of us has a great deal of dissatisfaction with ourselves. We are too tall, too short. Our nose is too broad, or too high. Our eyes are the classic Chinese eyes.

If only my parents were not poor and I had opportunities to go to university! If only my parents had the money to send me overseas, I would today have a future and a hope. And so on and so on.

Confident of our self worth, we no longer need to pander to man. No longer need to be popular, to be accepted. We have the courage, the strength, the conviction to do the right thing.

Our three judges – sworn an oath to uphold the constitution. Tremendous pressure have been put on them to consider race, religion, and culture. In such circumstances, knowing who we are helps us greatly in doing the right thing.

Knowing who we are gives us the moral strength to go against our peers. We do not fear being ridiculed, or ostracised or bullied to conform, to follow, to accept values that are against Christ.

4. Purpose– biblically derived purpose

Having a sense of purpose is crucial. It determines whether we want to get up in the morning or not. When there is a loss of purpose in life, people will experience stress, emotional fatigue and finally exhaustion – physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Not knowing the true purpose and hope of our life, we become driven rather than called. We feel compelled to do a job for God rather than let God accomplish it through them. We end up relying on our own strength rather than depending on God and resting in him.

The apostle Paul had a well defined sense of purpose that involved a passion for knowing and pleasing Christ and for remaining faithful to his personal calling to evangelism and edification

Phil 3. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

2 Cor 5. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

1 Cor 9.24-26; 24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever

2 Tim 4.7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Kenneth Boa’s advice is sound. He says, “ we cannot lay hold of God’s unique purpose for our lives without spending time with him and inviting him to clarify his purpose for us in his timing and way.

We need to wrestle with the reason for our earthly existence. In SBC, I asked this question, do pastors need to have a clear, specific divine call to be a pastor? Most of the students gave me a resounding yes. Do students also need a clear, specific, divine call to be a lawyer? , dentist? Doctor? Accountant?

No wonder so many in later life are so bored with their work. Staying on only for the perks and living for the weekend, where they can begin to do real ministry for God? Do you mean to say that for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for thirty years, you are not fulfilling God’s purpose in your life? No wonder you are not motivated to live for God in your work, in your office, in your profession.

Spiritual formation is the process of being conformed after the image of Christ. We have to want to be conformed after Christ’s image. The natural inclinations of our body is against it. A serious, daily, unceasing spiritual battle needs to be fought against the flesh. Unless we are pulling together in one direction for the Lord or we allow the world, the flesh and the devil to distract us and to be pulled by multiple desires. In the end, we end up disillusioned, fruitless and purposeless. That is no way to live.

Let us make up our minds to live for God and to encourage ourselves as a community to help one another do just that. May the Lord have mercy on us all.

---

[1] Peterson, Leap over a wall, p3

[2] Boa, Conformed to Christ, p 144

[3] The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard, p 370

Why do we do what we do? Spiritual formation (II)

Rom 7.15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

The French captain, Zinedine Zidane, living legend, respected, honoured as one of the best players of his generation if not of all time, who in playing his final competitive match at 34, opened the scoring but lost his cool in extra time, butted Marco Materazzi in the chest and was sent off with the score at 1-1 with around 10 minutes to play.

As result his team was left captianless, his services not available in the penalty shoot up later.

'There are moments, when you take blows ... I'm not saying I'm excusing it but I can understand,' Domenech told reporters. 'It was too bad, a totally useless gesture. We regret it and he also regrets it.'

Why did Zidane do what he did?

Newspaper reports noted that Zidane grew up in impoverish immigrant neighbourhood of Marseille, where fouls and insults are met with instant retribution. The reporter wrote,” Perhaps he could never shake off that you-or-me mentality.”

“You can take the man out of the rough neighbourhood but you can’t take the rough neighbourhood out of the man”, Thierry Henry is reported to have said.

This habitual ‘retributive’ response of Zidane’s tough childhood has never left him and when push turns to shove, Zidane reacted habitually, the way he had done countless times before in his youth.

As a youth, Zidane gave in to anger, that sudden fierce, strong, violent, driving, urge to retaliate, to strike out, to avenge oneself. As an adult this habitual reaction stayed with him, he had been red carded many times in his career – but this time, at the world cup final, where millions of people were watching, surely he could restrain himself? Sadly again, he could not. But now, because of his stature, his position in life, he has so much more to lose than when he was young.

Now we want to say that, the evil that we do is not a result of our upbringing, nor the tough, rough neighbourhood we may have grown up in. The bible says, it is from within, out of men's hearts.

Jer 17 9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

Mk 7.21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

From within us, we are constantly inclined to do what is wrong. But where do those inclinations primarily reside? That is where and how do these inclinations work itself out?

The answer is that is, they primarily reside in the parts of our body. Dallas is right when he says:

“ those inclinations are actually present in those parts and can even be felt there by those who are attentive to their body and who are informed, thoughtful, and willing to admit what they find upon careful reflection.

Note what proverbs 6 have to say,

12 A scoundrel and villain,
who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

13 who winks with his eye,
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers,

14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart—
he always stirs up dissension.

16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,

Others, too, can recognise the tendencies present in our bodily parts- hands, feet, shoulders, eyebrows, loins, tongue, overall posture – and they can play upon those tendencies, to trap us, ensnare us, use us, destroy us. Those who purposefully prey upon others constantly do this. They become experts at it.

Professional footballers – ( constant provocation, Wayne Rooney, red carded [Ronaldo winking at his Portuguese bench]; David Beckham, red carded at last world cup, Cantona by rival fans). Others: Conman, the pimp, the cynical and exploitative boss and CEO They can sense our greed, our lust, our insecurities and our ambition. How? Our eyes, our postures, our body betrays us.

We are embodied spiritual beings and our bodies have a lot of influence on us. From within, we find ourselves driven by desires, influenced for good or evil by moods and emotions, channelled by ideas and stirred by sensations, whether pleasurable or painful, good or evil.

The Centrality of spiritual formation of the body

So, more than environmental, family, influence, for good and evil, the body lies right at the centre of the spiritual life ( p 159,

Hence a person caught up in rage, or lust or resentment is basically one whose body has taken over and at least for the moment is totally running his or her actions or even life.

You see as Dallas pointed it out so well, (divine conspiracy p 375) patterns of wrong doing are simply our habits, our largely automatic responses of thought, feeling, and action. Typically we have acted wrongly before reflecting. And it is this that gives bad habits their power….by and large (the habits) do not, bother to run through our conscious mind or deliberate will and often run exactly contrary to them. It is rare that what we do wrong is the result of careful deliberation.

Instead, our routine behaviour manages to keep the deliberative will and the conscious mind off balance and on the defensive, that leaves us constantly in the position of having to deal with what we have already done.

So road rage

Losing our tempers with service personnel, waiters, government servants….

Physical, verbal abuse in the family

Addiction to drugs, alcohol, porn, computers

Renovation of the heart(p 166)

Note Paul’s teachings about the body.

Col 3. 5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^[b] 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.

(5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them –NKJV)

What does it mean: “members which are on the earth?” Those parts of a life that live entirely in terms of the natural powers of the embodied self. We need no supernatural help to indulge in passions and desires for what is evil, or greed to possess what belongs to others. Just follow the inclinations now built into your bodily existence and they will all happen.

The only reasonable use of the body

Col3. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Rom 12.1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual^[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

What does it mean in practical terms, to put to death, the old self and to put on the new?

Consider the tongue

James 3.5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Dallas assert: It is only as we habitually subject the tongue to the grace of God as an instrument reserved for him, to do his will, that grace comes literally to inhabit and govern it,. And when that happens the effects spread throughout the body. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.(James 3.2)

Putting off the old and putting on the new means “breaking the power of patterns of wrongdoing and evil that govern our lives because of long habituation to a world alienated from God. It is to form new and godly habits, so that instead of habitually doing the wrong things, we now habitually do the right thing, that which is pleasing to the Lord. ( we will talk more of this when we deal with spiritual disciplines)

So that by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit enablement we develop self control. (one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit ). Dallas defined self control ( Renovation of the Heart, p 127) as the “steady capacity to direct yourself to accomplish what you have chosen or decide to do and be, even though you ‘don’t’ feel like it’. Self control means that you do what you don’t want to do when that is needed and do not do what you want to do when that is needed.

Taking practical steps

1. we must actually release our body to God as a living sacrifice
2. we must no longer idolise our body, we no longer make it an object of ultimate concern, or live in fear of our body and what it might ‘do to you’.
3. The body must be weaned away from its tendencies to always take control, to run the world, to achieve and produce, to attain gratification. If we do not do this, the body moves to the centre of our focus and makes its presence more strongly felt.
4. we must not misuse our body – addiction, to control others
5. our body needs to be properly cared for and honoured

Conclusion

God has made every provision for the body we actually have to serve us and him well for his purposes in putting us here on earth. There may be severe problems with our bodies, at least from the human point of view. But the Lord’s power and strength is made perfect in our weakness. So that in the end all glory goes to him!

Life is a Journey, but where are we going? Spiritual formation (I)

One of the best metaphor for life as a whole and the spiritual life in particular is that of the journey. Paul’s favourite metaphor was the Way ( Acts 9.2; 19.9,23; 22.4;23.14,22) if we are following Christ, we are pilgrims on our way home, but there are stages along the way and lessons to be learned.

If life is a journey, it is important to know where we are going. The destination is all important. Without knowing the Way, we can be lost, we can wander around and around aimlessly. We prepare carefully for the journey, but we should prepare more carefully for what we are going to do when we ultimately arrive at our destination.

Illustration :

Suppose you decide to move from LA on the west coast to NY on the east coast of the United States, where you have decided to spend the last 30 years of your life. The journey by car to the east takes a week. You carefully planned the journey – pouring over every detail of the journey. Which route to take. You decided to be adventurous, combining the easy national highways with some scenic, the road less travelled routes. You take great pains over what clothing you will wear, what rest stops to use, where you will refuel your car, what motel to stay at, what meals to eat, and where and when to eat them.

In fact at Chicago – Midwest, about half way to NY – you decided to stay at a motel for about 5 days. While there on second day – you decided that you do not like the décor – so went out and bought new lamps, laid new carpet, renovated the bathroom so that you could have a long bath.

Nothing was left to chance on the journey, but upon arrival in NY where you are supposed to spend the last 30 years of your life, you have no idea what to do.

In this analogy the 10 or so days journey from LA to NY represent our earthly sojourn and the 30 year stay in NY our eternal destiny.

It is ludicrous of us to treat with so much care, concern, worry and importance the brief journey from LA to NY, and not do any preparations at all for the 30 year stay subsequently in NY. But that is precisely how many of us live.

In actual fact many of us treat the temporal (this brief earthly life we are living) as if it were eternal and the eternal as if it is temporal – in that we make no provisions and no preparations for the eternal life at all. We spent the bulk of our time worrying, caring, obsessing over the temporal as if this world is all there is.

Many of us make sure we have a passport to heaven. We professed our faith in Jesus and say the ‘sinners’ prayer’. Once assured of passage to heaven however, many of us do not make any preparations for eternal life.

We treat the eternal as if it were temporal and the temporal as if it were eternal.

Take note of this important statement :

Our presuppositions shape our perspective. Our perspective in turn shapes our priorities and our priorities shaped our practice.

Suppose you hold the presupposition that “ this world is all there is. There is no eternal world awaiting us. what you see, is what you get”. No more and no less. When you die, you disappear. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. It is a material version of annihilation. This world, this life is all that there is. You have only one chance to make it in this life.

This presuppositions then shaped our perspective: how we view things, evaluate circumstances, determine how we live.

So we say, if this world is all there is, then I jolly well better make “hay while the sun shines”. I will go all out to make sure I enjoy this world to the maximum.

My priorities are to pursue the good life, to enjoy pleasures, to look out for myself. Good and evil does not in the end matter very much. If I can do evil without being caught and being punished and doing evil rewards me well, then I will do it.

And that is exactly how I will live, how my practice will be.

The temporal value system demands no trust and dependence upon God because it is entirely based on what is seen. Hence our secular culture bombards us with the message, that this life is all that is and therefore our goal in our life is to maximise pleasure and minimise pain. And everything is up to me and my efforts. Nobody is going to help you or be there for you.

Our goals in life:

Security : wealth, power and influence

Work : influential, absorbing and agreeable work bringing great rewards in terms of reputation and wealth.

Family : spouse who loves me and meet all my needs, children who will carry on my good name.

What is the end result of all this? Emptiness, delusion, despair!

You may say to me: these are important issues and considerations. My answer God knows that these are important, but can God be trusted?

Mt 6.25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[b]?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Christian world view or the eternal value system is In contrast unseen and therefore requires a walk of faith (2 Cor 5.7) 7We live by faith, not by sight. Rom 8 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

What are the goals of this Christian worldview?

• Knowing God
• Seeking the approval of God
• Servanthood
• Humility
• Integrity and character

We have hope in a living, gracious, merciful, all powerful God who knows us by name and is for us and not against us. So there is no need to strive, no despair.

Above all, the main goal of this worldview is Christlikeness :

We are to be like Christ! What a challenge. Who among us is equal to that call? Yet we must all rise to that command. (Consider the following verses of scripture: Gal 4. 19 “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you”. 2 Cor 3.18 “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit”. Rom 8.29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.”)

Returning to the metaphor of life as a journey. As Christians we are on our Way home –

Ps 23 5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Jn 14.1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God^[a]; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."

The journey to our ultimate home, is not one we embark on alone. Christ is our guide and our shepherd. Boa sums up this view well. He says :”To follow Christ is to move into territory that is unknown to us and to count on his purposeful guidance, his grace, when we go off the path and his presence when we feel alone. It is to learn to respond to God’s providential care in deepening ways and to accept the pilgrim character of earthly existence with its uncertainties, setbacks, disappointments, surprises and joys. It is to remember that we are in the process of gradual conformity to the image of Christ so that we can love and serve others along the way.

Seen in this light, the primary point of this earthly existence is preparation for our eternal citizenship in heaven.

Spiritual formation is the lifelong process of becoming in our character and actions the new creations we already are in Christ ( 2 Cor 5.17); 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! it is the working out of what God has already worked in us ( Phil 2.12-13) 12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

However there is warfare between an earthly and demonic wisdom and a heavenly and divine wisdom.

James 3 13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Each of us is required to make a choice. Which will we believe? Secondly and more importantly, how consistent is our behaviour with our belief?

What we need is an effective paradigm shift

A paradigm is a way of seeing base on implicit or explicit rules that shape one’s perspective. A paradigm shift takes place when the rules or boundaries change, so that we no longer see things from the same perspective; when the rules change, our way of seeing is altered. The most celebrated example of a paradigm shift is the Copernican revolution in astronomy. Until the time of Copernicus, the reigning paradigm was Ptolemy’s geocentric system; the sun and planets were thought to orbit the earth.

For centuries, astronomers held to this Ptolemaic way of viewing the solar system in spite of the fact that a umber of observations did not fit this model. But instead of questioning the paradigm, astronomers invented complicated theories of epicycles to explain why some planets appeared to stop, go backward for awhile, and then resume their original direction. Copernicus’s breakthrough was the realization that all of these observations make perfect sense by switching from a geocentric to a heliocentric view of the sun and the planets – in other words, we do not live in a terrestrial system but a solar system.

What are the logical implications of our Christian world view?

• life is about God and not about us
• we were created for relationship with God
• bible inspired by living God and we would be wise to learn, understand, experience and apply its precepts and principles
• warfare between the temporal and the Christian worldview

Holy Spirit, Prayer and Community (IV)

Holy Spirit, Prayer and Community (IV)

Lessons from 1 John

Let us go back to the scene of the birth of the church.

Pentecost

Holy Spirit falling on men and women – tongues of fire, men and women praising God in foreign tongues. Powerful and fearless preaching of Peter

36"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."

40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

The Fellowship of the Believers

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

However within the span of a generation we have this admonition in Hebrews

Hebrews 10:25
24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

What happened?

People got bored with one another? Tired of one another?

Had better things to do?

Got discouraged, coming together or not coming together, makes no difference?

Scripture however takes community life seriously

1 Cor 12¹¹All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.¹²The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Eph 4: ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Above all we are to love one another.

Jn 13³⁴"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

1 John 3:11
This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:23
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1 John 4:7
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:11
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 2 John 1:5
And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.

Summary

Love is the highest and most complete expression of God’s revelation :

God is love (1 Jn 4.16)

Love is also the highest and most selfless expression of the human person:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ( 1 Jn 3.16)

Herein lies the problem.

Nothing makes us more cynical than to see how we have generally failed to love one another. We have all heard horror stories of quarrels, fights, divisions and hostilities. Christians have sued one another and taken one another to court.

Sure we love those who love us. Those who helped us and have been good to us.

Matthew 5:46

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

But when it turns really ugly – there is often no difference in how we act and behave towards one another.

Why is this so?

The exceedingly sinfulness of sin

The reason why we fail to love one another is that we have not taken sin seriously.

We know Rom 3.23 very well - all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We remind one another over the pulpit and each time we partake of the holy communion that we are sinners, we are not worthy to be forgiven and given the grace and privilege of being redeemed.

Yet when people sinned, behave poorly, let us down, betray us; we are shocked! These kind of things should not happen in the community of God. He is a pastor, an elder, a CG leader, a SS teacher, a Youth Adviser, Worship Leader…….

In one sense these things should not happen among a people who belong to the Lord. The church, its leaders and its members ought to answer to a higher standard. As Peter puts it : 1 Peter 1:16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

Similarly we read in 1 Tim 3” Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.”

But the people of God nevertheless will still sin. John Owen, the great Puritan Divine, who wrote, “Sin and Temptations and JC Ryle, the former bishop of Liverpool all made it clear that the holier a person is, the more of a sinner he knows himself to be.

John made it quite clear that the people that he was writing to, were all sinners:

1 Jn 1⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

John used the word and phases “lie” or “liar” five times (1 Jn 1.6,10, 2.4, 4.20, 5.10). “Hate” four times (2.9, 11; 3.15; 4.20), “child of the devil once in 3.8 and commits sin once in 3.4. He also makes reference to failure or refusal to love (3.10, 14; 4.8), self deceit, (1.6) and refusal to help someone in need (3.17)

We cannot remove sin permanently this side of heaven. We need to be realistic about this. Failing to do so will make us permanently cynical and bitter. We become disillusioned, and we break fellowship and go our own way.

That’s what sin is : the breaking of relationship –not just a breaking of a rule. Scripture warns us to be very careful of breaking relationships. Of being self sufficient.

When we are sinned against, we forgive

But here is the crux of the matter. What we fail to understand is: when and if we are sinned against, we are to forgive.

Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

If our leaders fail us we are to forgive them. This does not mean that the leaders do not need to face the consequences of their actions. But that is another matter, one that we will not deal with at this point in time.

If fellow members sinned against us, even grievously so, we forgive them.

Why?

Because we ourselves have been forgiven such dreadful, terrible sins. How can we not forgive the comparatively trivial sins that others have committed against us?

Or do we disagree and think of ourselves as fairly respectable people and it is just and right and proper that our sins should be forgiven us?

Therefore instead of forgiving those who wronged us, we seek first and foremost for justice, for redress, for vindication. When our wrongs have been addressed, and we have been suitably compensated, then we may be willing to be reconciled or wonder of wonders, willing to forgive and let bygones be bygones.

In this way, how different are we from the rest of the world?

Listen to Jesus :” you have heard it said, ‘ love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. “ But I tell you, ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

That is we are called to show kindness, compassion, justice to our enemies. If need be, we forgo our rights, our legitimate claims. It means ultimately we go to the Lord for redress, for he has said, Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

Then you may want to object;

True, genuine relationship is two way. We who are wronged must be willing to forgive. But the one who did the wrong need to repent and ask for forgiveness too.

This is true. If there is no justice, no importance and seriousness attached to what is wrong and right, there can be little or no genuine relationship.

Leaders who did wrong need to repent, and ask for forgiveness.

The more serious problem occurs if both sides feel they are right and it is the other side that must repent. We are willing to forgive, but you are wrong, admit it. Since you do not admit you are wrong, how can we continue to have genuine friendship with you?

Further a friendship that has been fractured is not easy to mend. Relationships once broken is hard to restore. In place of former warm and genuine gladness, we have wariness, distrust and superficiality – we smile, say hello but it has the depth and genuineness of the supermarket checkout counter clerk.

In such situations, what can we do, what should we do?

We should pray that the Holy Spirit would convict us of sin, of the right thing to do.

In the final analysis, we need the deep, inner, convicting work of the Holy Spirit, without which we cannot build community.

Teaching alone is not the answer

Neither is the emphasis on right behaviour.

We can think correctly and even biblically and still live badly. We can behave impeccably and yet still live selfish, self centred lives.

We need the Holy Spirit ‘s grace and presence in our midst.

Final challenge

Getting to grip with our history

Emmanuel is more than 35 years old. In any community that old, there is bound to be history. History of conflicts, of hurts, of being wounded, of being dealt with unfairly. As a result, there are some people that we just cannot get along with. That we feel cold towards. Some people that we do not trust or feel comfortable with.

What is Jesus saying to us, that is echoed repeated by the apostle John in his epistle?

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you today?

Is it time to let go, to forgive and ask for forgiveness?

Have we been intentionally withdrawing from fellowship?

Have we been nursing our grievances?

Are we sure we are righteous or have we been self righteousness?

How important to us is this community of God that we are placed in?

Let us do serious business with God.