Christ Coming Out of Us - Maturity

In the movies, can't remember which one, about aliens and monsters from outer space, where we find the alien monster breaking out of a normal human being. This scene is a good representation of Christian growing up into maturity. Except in the case, the outer shell is us - the self-centred ugly monster and the inside is Jesus Christ. Christian maturity is about working out (Php 2:12) and letting the treasure (2Co 4:7) of Christ in us, grows out of us that we may conform to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29).

There are other images about Christian maturity such as

• Christ seating at the throne of our heart.
• A seed growing up into a tree and bearing fruit in the earth of God and His Word.
• A earthen vessel slowly becoming transparent to let the light of treasure inside to shine out.
  

We can do Nothing apart from Jesus

One of the profound truth of Christianity is given in John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

More specifically, the phrase "without Jesus, we can do nothing".

Jesus is the Key
The basic of Christianity is Jesus - having Jesus; connected to Jesus; have a relationship with Jesus. Without Jesus, there is no Christianity.

With Jesus, we can bear much fruit. Fruit is outcomes we achieved through enpowerment by Jesus within. The outcomes and the accomplishments bring glory to God and even to us. God honors us when we obey Him.

With Jesus, we can do any and everything. Phil 4:13.

Without Jesus, we can do nothing.
I used to object. That is not true. I can surely do something without Jesus. Look, I am doing it now. The reason we think we can do something is due to the view point we take - from our own view point, we think can do something useful, even for Jesus! But from God's point of view, any thing that is outside of His plan is nothing - even evil.

We are created by God to be a unique part of His creation. If we don't follow His plan for us, without Jesus, we will be doing our thing and spoiling the great plan of God. It is worse than nothing! The great beauty of the Creation is distorted by us who refuses to play the roles that God has created us for.

In the context, John 15:6 If a man doesn't remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. Vine is meant to produce fruits and not as firewood. Without Jesus, we loose our calling and our way and will end up doing things that are of no value to him. We are building things with the wood and hay and are burnt up as in 1 Cor 3:12-15.

God is not interested in our plan. God does not want us to do things for Him (according to our view of what is good for Him). God invites us to join Him in completing the Master-piece of Creation of which we have a unqiue role to play. We can only be fulfilling and useful, producing good fruits, when we are connected to Jesus to discover His plan for us. We are to be led by His Spirit that we can do useful and meaningful thing. Let's humble ourselves, seek Jesus and response to His leading. We will discover the great plan Jesus has for us. We will be surprised by the accomplishments that He has called to do. Forget about our plan and follow His plan so that we can truly enjoy and live a victorious life - showing forth His glory through us. This is the real meaning of Prov 3:5-6. It is not that we abandon our thinking, but that our thinking must be directed by God.

Paul gave us his understanding of this verse in Meditation on the Bible by Reduction. See Hear - Obey - Glorify also.

Joyful vs Painful Work

In the last posting, Satisfying & God Glorifying Work, we discuss the purpose of work for redeemed people. Whether we are saved or not, we all have to work. Born again Christians works for his God's calling while others work for a living.

There is a big difference between in the way work is carried out. For the pre-Christians, the work is a work of pains, stress, struggle and sorrow. For the Christian, since Christ has redeemed us from the curse Col 1:9, our work will be joyful, stress-free, and productive. The work could be hard, but we are satisfied in doing and completing the work. Paul in 2 Co 12:10 said he is content (i.e. satisfied!) with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities for when he was weak then he was strong!

In the world economy (world kingdom), work is a struggle and is very stressful.

 In God's Kingdom or the God's economy, work is joyful and productive. In world economy, there are pressures for people to perform. They are to do whatever within legal restrictions to produce a desired outcome. But due to man's sin nature, man can legalize morally wrong thing e.g. abortion.What is legal may not be morally right in God's view. Competitive forces can cause people to go beyond the limits of ethics. Men and women can become work-a-holics to meet business targets. How can this struggle and burnt-out be prevented ? By innovation and creativity given by God. By the productivity of the resources used that are blessed by God such as in the land, weather and seeds.


God's Kingdom operates differently from World Economy. We must understand Kingdom's operating principles and apply them to lives here on earth to get the benefits. The 1st principle of Kingdom Operation is Mat 6:33 and later stated again by Paul in Rom 14:17. This is best shown below:

To gain better understanding, we need to reverse Gen 3:17-19. There are other verses like Ps 127:2 and Mark 4:27 that shows us it is God who will provide for us as we obey Him, as follows:

Conclusions:

• Do NOT follow the Worldly System of stressful work - working for a living; working for a promotion; be involved in the office politics.
• Trust God's providence and His Kingdom Principles - work for a giving and blessings to others in God's ways glorifying God. God will reward you.

Satisfying & God Glorifying Work

Work is Ordained by God to be a Blessing
Is there any difference between Christians and to-be-Christians attitudes toward work? There is a common misunderstanding that work is the curse and result of Adam's sin. Work is actually ordained by God before Adam's sin. Below is the mind-map giving additional details:

Purpose of Our Work
The main difference then for Christians: work is fulfilling the calling God has for us. We do not work for a living but for glorifying God with our life. Work is our worship to God. Our work is work of faith and obedience to God. The details are shown in the mind-map below:

How Should We Work
If our work is to glorify God and fulfilled our unique calling, then how shall we work? The Bible gives us very clear teaching including the things that we should do. See the map below:

In summary, we work to glorify God and leave it to God to reward us. It is God's responsibility as Father to provide for us and it is us as children to obey our Father in doing excellent work to glorify Him.

Please see next posting Joyful vs Painful Work

Voices - Reasons & Conscience & Sensuality

There are three voices that influence us when we make decisions.

One is the voice of reasons - our mind. The facts, the logics, the advantages vs disadvantages, the risks and the likely outcomes of various options.

The other is the voice of conscience - our heart. The values that we hold and the sense of right or wrong beyond the material and physical benefits of our reasoning.

The third is the voice of sensuality - our body. What will give us pleasure and make us feel good.... taste good, smell great, look good, etc.

The voices correspond to the tripartite nature of man --- spirit, soul, body.

When we have to make a choice, which voice do we listen to ?

Josh Billings has a famous quote "Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does."

It is common belief that the order should be Conscience over Reasons over Sensuality.

This is not to say that Sensuality is always wrong. There is nothing wrong but in fact it is good that we enjoy good food and sex (with the right party - your spouse). This order comes into play when there are conflict of interests.

e.g. smoking -

Sensuality says : Ok. It gives temporary pleasure. (for me, it does not. But for some, it does).
Voice of Reasons says: No. It is harmful to the body in the long run.
Voice of Conscience says: No. It is harmful to those around us.

So, the conclusion is no.

e.g. profiting by selling thermometer at price during high demand time of SARS day
Voice of Reasons say: Yes. It is profit maximization.
Voice of Conscience say: No. It cannot be so highly price so that only the rich can afford.

So, remember that when there is a conflict,

the priority is Conscience, Reasons and then Sensuality.

Feeling is Not Always Wrong - Listen Carefully
With this understanding, I want to clearly differentiate the different types of emotions or feelings. There is the common misunderstanding that one should not listen to our feelings but to our reasons implying that feeling is bad. This is incorrect. Our feeling is a response to something deeper.

We have to differentiate the source that causes the feeling.

* It is from the external through our body senses, or
* due to our thinking and reasoning, (we feel sad or happy when watching movie) or
* due to our conscience.


If the feeling of peace or uneasiness comes from our conscience, we need to listen to it. When we feel uneasy from our conscience, we sometimes want to use our reasonings to overcome it. We should not. We should always listen the inner voice of our conscience. However, if we continue to suppress our conscience by our reasonings, our conscience will be numbed. To ensure we have sensitive conscience, we should feed it by reading Bible, prayers, and obedience.

Feeling can be directed by our thoughts and our conscience. The best kind of feeling is the passion we felt for doing a good cause according to our conscience and our reasons.

Let Go & Let God - Spiritual or Just Plain Lazy?

There are many so called 'grace-based' preacher that preach men should not do anything and let God do it. There is this nice phase that say "Let go and let God". They see that any effort on man part is of the flesh and men should just lay back and wait to receive from God. Such teaching without clearer explanation is very misleading and wrong. It resulted in people just plainly waiting for God.

It is clearer to say "God initiates and man respond". Man duty is to discover God's plan and then follow accordingly by faith. God has initiated in speaking to man in the past through His prophets and His son Jesus (Heb 1:2) . We are to respond in faith by receiving Jesus as our Savior and Lord. That was the 1st step. Subsequently, we have to discover more of Jesus and God and follow accordingly. The discovery is through the study of God's revealed Word (the Bible) and communication with God. We have the static Logos word and the dynamic Holy Spirit inspired Rhema word of God. This discovery (of the spiritual laws at work) will increases as we experience the working of the spiritual laws through our application by faith.

We can see this in the natural world which are governed by natural physical laws. To do well in the physical world, we need to understand the natural physical laws governing this universe. We understand gravity easily enough to know that we could not fly. However, when we understand fluid dynamics, we learn about the 'lift' as air flows through a wind-shaped object, and then we could build plane that fly. By understanding and application of natural laws, we can do thing that seems to defy natural law. Actually, we did not. Our ability to fly still follows the natural laws, except that we use the law of lift to overcome the law of gravity. Both laws are at work when we fly. We can never defy natural laws.

Similarly, in the spiritual world, if we want to have good success, we must understand the spiritual laws and apply accordingly. Without application according to the spiritual laws, we will not have any benefits. So don't be fooled. We need to do work - work of faith - of discovering God's will and spiritual laws - and putting them to work.

If we are hurt by someone, we are to rely on the Love of Christ and to forgive the person causing the hurt. It is very hard on our flesh. But we must put our trust in God's spiritual laws - love our enemy with the love that Jesus has given me.

If we are out of job, we spend the time discovering God's will, preparing and learning new skills and getting new jobs, trusting God will bring the right job at the right time to us. But we are not to just wait lazily. We are to occupy till He comes Luk 19:13.

Normal Christian Life Style

An excellent teaching on the normal Christian Life Style that we should be living is given by Peter in 2 Peter 1:1-10. It is about knowing God and knowing what we have in Jesus Christ. This knowledge is to be followed by actions so that we realize the calling and election of God for our lives.

The 8 stages of Christian growth, which also represent the growth of Peter's own life, are pointed out in v5-8, are faith (the beginning stage), virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. The mind map below gives more detail on the exposition of the verses.

Better than the Lord's Prayer

What could be better than the Lord's Prayer of Mat 6:9-13?

The Lord's Prayer has been widely recommended as the Model Prayer. A model prayer is a template when the content can be changed to meet the needs of the time. However, for quite a few, they just memorized it and recite it at times without much thought to the content.

Jesus' prayer in John 17, recorded for our knowledge and learning, is Jesus applying his own teaching to himself. It is an illustration of the Model Prayer with updated content. As a diversion, let me point out a critical and common error as we read the OT and pray like the OT. We must know that many prayers, especially in the Psalms, are already fulfilled in the NT and we should not pray like the OT people as if God has not answered in the NT. Christ came to fulfilled the OT and so for those prayers in OT that have been answered, give thanks instead. Back to Jesus' prayer in John 17. He was going to the cross. His task on earth is coming to an end. He gave a review and the needs for the future - for us!

The similarity to the Lord's Prayer and additional points are shown in the mind map below:

The key point is that Jesus has answered in John 17 the requests in the Lord's prayers. He has empowered and provided for us all things to live out the requests of the Lord's prayer. When we have 'eternal life' (= knowing and oneness with Jesus and Father God), we glorify His name (hallowed be thy Name) by fulfilling His calling on us here (On earth as it is in Heaven). We forgive and love one another as we have oneness in all and in the Father, and the Father's love for Jesus is also in us. Father kept us from evil and His Word sanctify us (deliver us from temptations). His Word is our daily bread. We should eat it daily.

Judging Rightly

In the last post Judge Not yet Correcting , we said Jesus did not tell us not to judge (Luke 6:37) but tell us not to judge blindly with prejudice, subjective, biased and hasty conclusions about others. We are told by Jesus in (John 7:24) to judge with right judgment.”

We said the proper way to judge is to really follow the process of the typical court. Paul in 2 Tim 3:16-17 tells us how to do it properly.

• 2Ti 3:16-17 KJV All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

I. The Truth & Standard

Firstly, we must have the truth - the correct doctrine as standards for measure. In other translation, teaching is used in place for doctrine. We must have the materials - the Bible and then we must teach and train our people.

Secondly, in the application of our learning, our behavior, words or beliefs can be compared and validated against the Biblical teachings, and judged to be right or wrong. GNB uses "rebuking error" for reproof - pointing out the wrong beliefs or lies we may hold.

Thirdly, knowing one's error is not good enough, we need to know what is correct belief. Correction is more than saying what is wrong and must say what is right. Rebuking & Correcting is better known as Counseling. This order is very important - Training comes before Counseling. Counseling is needed when we put our training into practice and encountered diffculties when we need Coaches to help us. Most people don't attend training and expect just Counseling to solve their problems. It is not effective and waste more time.

So, judging correctly must begin with an understanding of the Biblical Truth & Standard and then observing and finding the behavior and comparing against the Standard, rebuking and correcting towards re-establishing the right thinking and right behavior. If judging is not a good word to use, substitute "Counseling" or "Coaching" in its place. We are not to blindly judge but to counsel one another wisely in gentleness and the Biblical Truth.

The forth part is "training in righteousness" or in GNB "instructions for right living". The Biblical Teaching or Truth in part 1 should result in practical applications and instructions for right living. Paul in his letter always start with doctrines and then cover the practical applications - how one should behave as a Christian, as parents, children, bosses, employees, elders, etc. Making an error helps us to understand the "instructions in right living" better.

II The Observations
A potential error in making judgment is the not observing correctly, insufficient or wrong facts, unvalidated hear-says, and so forth. At times, even the witness may make observation errors or there are false witnesses. The Biblical teaching is very clear, Mat 18:16, 2Co 13:1, 1Ti 5:19 evidences(not hearsay) of two or three witnesses. The accused should have the right to face up with the witnesses and questions them for clarification. 1Ti 6:12, 2Ti 2:2, many witnesses should be preferred. Because of the possibility of false witnesses, the character of the witness should be considered as well.

III The Internal Motivation
Finally, the true judgment should be made of the intention of the heart and not the outward behavior. But we can only infer the intention. Only God knows. Our judgment could be wrong. Hence the need for more judges.

With such difficulty, it is no wonder why Jesus admonish us not to judge blindly. Nevertheless, we have the responsibility of helping and counseling our brothers when the needs arise. We prayed that we can do them wisely and gently with insights from the Holy Spirit. As a reminder, Training must comes before Counseling.

Judge Not yet Correcting

On the one hand, we have Luke 6:37 teaching us not to judge another so that we may not be judged. On the other hand, we have the responsibility of admonishing, rebuking, correcting our wayward brothers in Christ(2Tim 2:25 ESV, 2Tim 3:16 ). How can we correct another without first making a judgment? Is the Bible inconsistent?

The Bible is the written Word of God (2Tim3:16) and hence cannot be inconsistent. Whenever we come across such seemingly contradictory teachings in the Bible, we must first conclude that it is our outstanding and not the Bible that is at fault. We must also congratulate ourselves that we have hit upon a treasure of wisdom. If unravel the contradiction, we would have gained a great understanding.

• 2Ti 3:16-17 KJV All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Way Out 1 - Differentiate the Act and the Person
In Luk 6, we can see that the text refers to the people more. We can judge the actions as evil but not condemn the person at the same time. We are told to love the person and not his evil or sinful acts. We have the Bible as the standards of right and wrong and we can for many cases make a sound judgment provided we have all the relevant facts. However, the intentions of the heart are not easily observed. We could only make inferences. Even if the accused said what his intention was, his words need to be evaluated as to whether he was speaking the truth or not. This leads us to the next interpretation of 'Judge'.

Way Out 2 - What is the Meaning of 'to Judge'
To make a judgment of right or wrong, we need to have the following steps as shown in the mind map below:

I think the 'judge' used by Jesus in Luk 6:37 does not mean the whole fair process of collecting the facts from all angles and then making the best conclusion, but a hasty, narrow, biased and prejudiced conclusion. This interpretation is supported by the following verses. In v39, it was recorded for our benefits that "He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person?"... showing he meant making a blind judgment. In v41 "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?", it shows we are making a biased and prejudiced view of our brother actions. Jesus also provided the answer on how to judge rightly in v42 "Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. ". We need to first remove our biases and prejudices first. i.e. follow the proper judicial process to arrive at a proper judgment. Since only God knows the intent of the heart, God is still the best judge of all. We must humbly acknowledge that we have a biased tendency and need to take steps to minimize that.

So, I think a better translation of Luke 6:37 is: "Do not jump to hasty & biased conclusions about others so that you are not similarly judged....."

2Tim 3:16-17 shows the better way of making judgment and correcting our brothers .... next post judging rightly and see also Making a Judgement and Being Judgemental

God Initiates & Man Follows

There is much confusion about man's effort in relation to God. On one side, we hear that man should rest on God's finished work and hence man should do no work, otherwise it is of the flesh and that is against God. On the other side, we hear that man should be the light and the salt of the world and hence need to do good work. People who lack understanding will be struggling between Book of Roman's Grace and Book of James' Work.

Hopefully, the chart below, a 2x2 matrix, can shed some light:

We starts with Quadrant 1 when God and Man make no effort. In this case, Man will naturally go to hell.

In Q2, God still rest and Man tries his best to save himself. Man comes out with all kinds of religions, every educational efforts to save himself. Man tries to follow God's laws to get justification. All he ends up with is either self-righteousness ( I attain the standards of God by my own interpretation) or self-condemnation when I fail. All these man efforts without revelation of God's will and initiated by man alone are dean works. After all the hard efforts, man still go to hell.

In Q3, God does all the work of saving man (by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for us). Man just rest and really rest on God's finished work. He does not want to take any effort, everything is wait on God. There is the extreme case that since God has already saved me and then I can do all the things I like, including sinning.... we have this abuse of God's Grace.

In Q4, God initiates and man responds by following God's direction. In this way, the saved and new spiritual inner man is revealed in the outer man of good works that bring glory to God and satisfaction to man. God is glorified through the victorious living of man. Man is relying on God's grace to live up to God's standards. This is the desirable and ideal state. Man needs to do the work that God has called us and saved us for. Eph 2:10.

Taking Back the Initiative - Going the Extra Mile

With reference Mat 5:38-48, especially v39, "...But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also", many people are confused about what it means. Some people even misunderstand it to mean Christians are to give in to bullies.

In the passage, we have the contrasting teachings of the world and the kingdom of God.
The worldly teaching is

1. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. vs38
2. You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. vs43

In contrast, the Kingdom of God's teaching is:

1. Do not resist the one who is evil - give more than than he needs. v39-42
   
2. Love your enemies & pray for those who persecute you.

In v39, we must first differentiate the 'one', the person, from his 'evil' deed. The evil deed is defined in the context of slapping (one has not such right to hit another), suing to take tunic ( he is using legal means to get something that is probably not his), going the extra mile ( the special privilege of the Roman soldier) and so forth. The evil is making unreasonable demand on someone.

Surprise him - Do more than is Needed!
The worldly wisdom is for us to fight for our own right and to strike back or counter sue. Here, Kingdom's teaching wants us to look the need of the person who resorted to such evil act. He must be in dire needs to do such thing. Our reaction is not to fight back, but to find out the person's motivation and needs behind those evil actions. Jesus want us to ignore the bad acts and to empathize with the person and to help him instead. We need to go deeper to fix the problem at the root. Instead of fighting back, we ask "why are you doing it?", "what is your real need". Once we find out, we go out of our way to truly help him out.

Making unexpected reaction will surprise the aggressor (he expected us to fight back) and we take back the initiative so that we can be in position to influence and change the outcome for good.

Let's go One Step Further!
Not resisting evil and going the extra-mile while is good, is still not good enough. It is relatively passive in helping others; we are waiting for them to take action first before we response. So, Jesus go further in v44 that we should take the proactive step of loving enemy; praying for them first.

Before we argue with God that it is impossible for us to that, we need to know that God already know that we could not. That is why God has given us Jesus Christ in us to enable us. Because we are children of God with God's identity, then we could what God want us to do (v45, 48). We are to love with the love of Jesus that is in us. I call this the Rhodium Rule (Rodium is about 4-6 times the price of Platinum). As a side track, the three rules of love are:

1. The Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would others do unto you (empathy is implied)
   
2. The Platinum Rule - Do Unto Others as They Would Have You Do Unto Them (Do they know what is best for themselves?)
   
3. The Rhodium Rule - Do unto others as Jesus would have us do unto them (For their Good from God's viewpoint).
   

Applying Them in Our Lives
We can apply the "Going the Extra Mile Rule" in our lives - in our business, family, and friends tec. In business, it means delighting the customers and differentiating our services from our competitors. Innovation Rules (BVITS's Intensified/Extremity) operator) tells us to look the needs and feedback not just from our normal customers, but the extreme ends of our customers. Those that are extremely happy with us and those that hate us. Digging deeper into their feedbacks can tell us a lot about our product and services and give us leads on to how to improve our products and services.

In business, going the extra mile for staff means

1. as staff: giving our best in our works from our hearts as if we are working for Jesus Christ (Eph 6:5-8).
   
2. as bosses: treating our staff with fairness, recognition, appreciation, trust and delegation of decision making authority, accountability and forgiveness for failures (Eph 6:9).

As a spouse, as parent, as children, etc are all covered well in Eph and Col.

Where is Our Confidence?

As we start the journey of a New Christian Life, our main concern is how we can live a life that is pleasing to God. Some older Christians are even worrying about whether they can keep their faith in the increasing uncertainties and evil in the world.

It is best to get guidance from the Bible, especially from Paul. The book of Galatians (AD 49) was the earlier writing of Paul and 2 Timothy (AD 66) was his last. When Paul started his ministry, his motto for life was in Gal 2:20 as shown below:

The key to Christian Living is living by the faith of Christ in us. The mind map below shows an exposition of the verse.

By the end of his life, Paul gave the reason for his confidence and the driving force behind his life of victories - overcoming all the sufferings in various forms he described in 2Cor 11:23-28. It is in 2Tim 1:12 shown below:

After 17 years of living in Christ, Paul used the word "oido" for know - to know completely. According to Vines 'The differences between ginosko and oida demand consideration:

• ginosko, frequently suggests inception or progress in “knowledge,”
  while oida suggests fullness of “knowledge,” '.

We need to know Jesus Christ, believe in Him, and be fully persuaded and convinced that He is able to keep the work He has entrusted to us.

Our confidence is in our faithful Saviour - Jesus Christ to complete the work He has given to us. It is so simple - He gives and He ensures our victory in life. Let us rest on the fact that He is our assurance that we will live up to His calling for us. We work from this sure foundation of victory and success.

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A Summary:

Learning from Galatians 2:20:

Galatians 2:20 encapsulates the profound transformation that occurs in the life of a believer, emphasizing the Lordship of Christ and the essence of true discipleship. This verse provides a rich theological foundation for understanding the believer's union with Christ and the daily implications of living a crucified life.

1. Crucifixion with Christ:

   • “I am crucified with Christ:” This signifies the believer's identification with Christ’s death. The "old me," which includes the old nature, the ego, and the self-centered way of living, is considered dead. This death means:

     • No longer being one's own god.
     • No longer needing to justify oneself.
     • Surrendering the right to rule one's own life, handing it over to Jesus.

   • Romans 6:6 and Galatians 6:14 further illustrate this concept, highlighting the abolition of the body of sin and the believer's separation from the world's influence.

2. New Life in Christ:

   • “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:” The believer now lives a new life empowered by Christ. This new life is characterized by:

     • Becoming a new creation in Christ (Galatians 6:15).
     • Receiving a new heart and a renewed spirit, which includes:
       • Intuition and communication with God.
       • An awakened conscience.
       • A new relationship where God and Christ are first and all.

   • The soul, which includes the mind, emotions, and will, undergoes transformation:

     • The mind needs renewal through the Word of God (Romans 12:2).
     • Emotions are stirred by the love of God, producing fruits like joy and self-control (Galatians 5:22-24).
     • The will learns to yield to the Holy Spirit.

   • The body becomes an instrument for good works in Christ, living as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1, Ephesians 2:10).

3. Living by Faith:

   • “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” This indicates that the believer's daily life is lived by the faith of Christ within them, not merely faith in Christ.
     • Philippians 2:13 supports this, stating that God works within the believer.
     • This faith brings confidence and assurance, as expressed in 2 Timothy 1:12 and Jude 1:24.

4. The Lordship of Christ:

   • The believer belongs to the Lord, whether in life or death (Romans 14:8-9).
   • Living is for Christ, and dying is gain (Philippians 1:21).
   • Christ died and rose again to be Lord of both the dead and the living.

5. Practical Application:

   • Colossians 3 outlines how this new life in Christ should be lived out:
     • Seeking things above and setting minds on things above (Colossians 3:1-4).
     • Getting rid of the old self and its sinful practices (Colossians 3:5-9).
     • Living out the new self by loving and building up one another (Colossians 3:10-17).
     • Embracing godly roles in various relationships (Colossians 3:18-25, 4:1).

By daily choosing Christ's way over our own, believers continually live out their new identity in Christ, growing in faith and reflecting His lordship in every aspect of life.

The Lord's Word & Doctor's words

Do we give the Bible the same weight as our medical doctor's words?

We say we believe the Bible is the Word of God. It is the standard of our behavior. It's promises are true. Its commands are to be obeyed. Yet for many of us, when we feel God wants us to do something, we want to decide first - whether we should do it or not.

However, when our medical doctor gives us a prescription and advice, we are quick to follow, knowing for sure that they are for our good.

Why is that so? Do we trust our God less than our medical doctor?

One reason I can give is that at times we are not sure whether is word is from God or not. We want to be sure it is from God. 

At times, even when we know it is from God, we are unable to see how to execute it. God will make it clear to us when we have the intention to follow Him. Taking time to make sure, and seeking wisdom for execution are good for us to learn to hear God better. 

But we must make sure we don't treat God's Word less than our medical Doctor's.

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ChatGPT gives the following summary:

In summary, while it is natural to wrestle with these issues, the journey of faith involves growing in our ability to hear, trust, and obey God's Word, just as we trust and act on the advice of a medical professional. Balancing discernment with trust is key to deepening our walk with God.

Gemini said:

Ultimately, the goal is not to pit faith against science but to integrate both in a way that honors God and benefits our lives. By approaching both with respect and discernment, we can cultivate a deeper trust in God's plan and purpose.

Perplexity:

The key might be to develop a more integrated approach to decision-making that values both spiritual wisdom and practical expertise, recognizing that both can contribute to overall well-being. Ultimately, for believers, cultivating a deeper understanding of and trust in God's word could lead to it being given equal or greater weight in decision-making processes.

Imitation of Christ & Living Out Christ

(go to Chinese 华文 text)

We are all called to be Christ's clone in the world Rom 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 

We are to imitate Christ. But we all know that Christ's model is of the highest standard and we have trouble imitating it. Many shy away from admitting they are Christians in front of others because they know that even non-believers have some high expectations of Christians. There are some who decline leadership because they don't think they can live up to the standards required of leadership.

In my own experience, when being reminded of the need to correct some bad behavior, or to start some new project, I told God that it was tough on me. I argued that it was the way I was built. I am strong in there and weak in here. Can you, God, let it go? 

But God reminded me that it was not a good excuse. He understands our weaknesses and hence has given us :

• Jesus Christ in Us (CIU) Col 1:27(To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.). 
•  We have 2Co 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And 
• 2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Our imitation of Christ is only possible when we draw from the Grace that is in Christ in us. We need to live out the Christ in us. It is impossible to live to Christ's standard through our own efforts.

• Ephesians 6:10 - "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power."

Hence, let us in faith, trusting in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, boldly step out in this journey.

Comments by ChatGPT: Is the message good?

Yes, the message is thoughtful and encouraging. It acknowledges the realistic struggles Christians face in living up to Christ's example and offers a balanced perspective by emphasizing reliance on God's grace and strength. Here are a few points that make it effective:

1. Realistic Acknowledgment: It starts by recognizing the difficulty of imitating Christ, which can resonate with many who feel the same way.

2. Scriptural Foundation: It uses specific Bible verses to support each point, grounding the message in biblical teaching.

3. Encouragement and Hope: It shifts from acknowledging human weakness to offering hope and encouragement through God's provision and grace.

4. Practical Application: It encourages believers to act in faith, relying on Christ's power, which is a practical and actionable takeaway.

Overall, it effectively combines empathy, scriptural support, and practical advice, making it a strong and motivational message.

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基督的模仿与活出基督

我们都被呼召在这世界上成为基督的形像，罗马书 8:29 （因为他预先所知道的人，就预先定下效法他儿子的模样，使他儿子在许多弟兄中作长子。）我们要模仿基督。但我们都知道，基督的模范是最高标准的，我们很难模仿。

• 许多人在其他人面前不愿承认自己是基督徒，因为他们知道即使是非信徒也对基督徒抱有一些很高的期望。
• 有些人拒绝领导，因为他们认为自己无法达到领导所需的标准。

根据我自己的经验，在被提醒需要纠正一些不良行为或开始一些新项目时，我告诉上帝这对我来说很难。我辩称这是我天生的方式。我在某些方面很坚强，在某些方面很脆弱。上帝，你能放过我吗？

但上帝提醒我，这不是一个好借口。他了解我们的软弱，因此赐给了我们：

• 基督在我们里面（CIU）哥罗西书 1:27（神愿意叫外邦人知道这奥秘的丰富荣耀是什么，就是基督在你们心里成了有荣耀的盼望）。
• 哥林多后书 12:9 但他对我说：“我的恩典够你用的，因为我的能力在软弱中显得完全。”
• 还有哥林多后书 9:8 神能将各样的恩惠多多地加给你，使你在各样事上常常富足，可以多多行各样的善事。

只有当我们从基督里的恩典中汲取时，我们才能模仿基督。我们需要活出内在的基督。通过我们自己的努力，不可能达到基督的标准。

• 以弗所书 6:10 - “我还有末了的话：你们要靠着主的大能，和他权能的能力刚强起来。”

所以，让我们带着信心，靠着耶稣恩典的大能，勇敢的开始吧。

Lim Liat (c) 28-12-2007 updated 21-8-2023

Giving & Receiving in Christmas

Christmas is about the greatest gift of God, His Son, Jesus Christ, to man.
It is the greatest from God's viewpoint - His only Son given to die and to pay for man's sin.
It is the greatest from man's viewpoint - Man can now live forever with God.

We catch the spirit of the loving God - giving of Himself.
We say the spirit of Christmas is about giving.

However, now that God, in His love, has given us the best and greatest gift, it is more important for us to receive His gift of love.

A gift of love not received is a great pain to the giver. The greater the love and the gift, the greater the pain that rejection causes. Don't reject this love from God. Receive His gift of Jesus Christ.

I prayed that in this Christmas, many will truly receive the Gift of Jesus Christ from God and be born anew into a new joyful relationship with God the Father. The very wish of God the Father is for us to receive His Son, the Gift.

Let us learn to receive the gifts of love from those who dearly love us this Christmas.
Christmas is more than just giving but also properly receiving the gifts of love, especially, the receiving the greatest Gift of all from God our heavenly Father.

Platinum Rule - Loves as Jesus - NT Extends OT

In our home group meeting last Friday (26 Oct 2007), there was discussion about the people who were given visions of hell saw people suffering there as a result of not-forgiving others. Mat 6:15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Someone commented that if one does not forgive, he cannot taste the forgiveness of God and may still leave in defeat even though saved.

The verse is before Christ's cross (ie. OT way). After the cross, the verse in the NT is forgiving comes from new character of God.

• Col 3:13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
• Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

On Sunday, Ps JK preached on "Forgiveness". He cited the golden rule

• Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
  

The golden rule was actually the summary of the Laws & Prophets. ( I usually add a qualification of cultural sensitivity where the way to express love differs culturally - giving of roast pig is a Chinese way of showing honor and appreciation but could be insulting to other cultures and religions.). In the NT, we should forgive as Jesus forgave us ... or do as Jesus do, love as Jesus loves, or more precisely, love as and with Jesus' love. He called it the Platinum Rule - Love as Jesus.

In a message that I preached last year (30 Apr 2006) on "The New Commandment",

• 1John 3:23 And this is his commandment,
• (1) That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and
• (2) love one another, as He gave us commandment.

The Love-God of the OT becomes "Believing in His Son Jesus Christ"
The Love others as yourself becomes "Love one another as Jesus with His Love"

By believing in Jesus, we are rebirthed with His New Life and we are filled with His Character and Love. With His love in us, we are then able to love others and to forgive others.

Someone mentioned that loving others as yourself is not trustworthy enough ( How do I know whether you love yourself or not? and what you like may not be what I like...). It is better to love as Jesus loves and with His love in us.

While we are on the subject on forgiveness, we need to clarify and get rid of some misunderstanding about forgiveness.

1. Forgiveness is about the hurt, the debt and not the debtor.
2. You can forgive the debt by yourself alone . You do not need the corresponding action of the offender.
3. You can only be freed by forgiving... otherwise , you are bond by bitterness (that the offender may not even be aware of ). It is all about you. You grow by forgiving.
   
4. You should not and never wait for the offender to make the restitution or apology. He may not know. He may not be able. He may be gone (death, or un-contactable). He may not even care.
5. Forgiveness is not Reconciliation. Reconciliation is a relationship and needs the offender to admit or clarify. You can forgive and need NOT has or want to has relationship with him. Relationship depends on the other party as well. Rom 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
   
6. Forgive does not meant you trust. The forgiven person needs to earn your trust again if he has betrayed your trust before.
7. Consider your future, do you want to be trapped ?
8. Consider the forgiveness that you have received from others and from Jesus Christ.
   

Christianity is as Simple as 123

This is what I learned from studying The Letter to the Colossians.

Christianity is as Simple as 123 and living the victorious Christian life should be as easy as 123. The truth and the method are obvious. We need to know the Truth and then follow it through. For many of us, the Know and Do seems to be a big gap. Let talk about the simple truth first.

The Simple Truth of 123.

1. Jesus Christ is the Greatest.
   
2. You have Christ in You.
3. Just live OUT the Christ in us.

1-Jesus Christ is the Greatest

1. Jesus is God.
   He makes God visible so that we can know and relate to God. Col 1:15a
   God Himself was pleased to live fully in His Son Col 1:19
2. He is the source - everything was created by Him. Col 1:16
3. He is the purpose - everything was made for Him. Col 1:16b
4. He is the energy that unite all - everything IS held together by Him Col 1:17
5. He is above all things. Col 1:18c
6. He is the Head of His body - the Church Col 1:18
7. He brings Man back to God through His sacrifice on the cross Col 1:20
8. He is the Key to God's mystery Col 2:2d. All wisdom and Knowledge are in Him Col 2:3
   
9. He conquered all other powers and make a show of them Col 2:15
   
10. He is all and in all Col 3:1b
11. He is seated at the right hand of God. Col 3:1c
    

2-We have Christ in Us & That's is sufficient

The greatest mystery and wonder of all time that is now revealed is "Christ the Greatest dwells in Christians." Col 1:27c "Christ lives in you". Because we have the greatest in us, we are complete in Christ - Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

How can we have Christ in us ?

1. Firstly, it is Christ who make the way possible by His death on the Cross of us. Col 1:20-22.
2. Secondly, it is us, who receive Him into our lives by our faith in Him Col 1:23, Col 2:6.
   

We don't need anything else.

We just receive Christ by faith and we need not do anything else. False teachings and religions err in one main thing - we can save our selves by doing good work or we can make ourselves acceptable to God by doing good things. Christians cults say that Jesus' cross was not complete and you have to complete it by doing some good work. The religious teachings may sound wise but they come from the powers of this world and is of no use Col 2:8. Man's own definitions of good works (not God's, since man don't know God) are typical of 3 types (Col 2:

1. Observance of rituals - days. Col 2:16
   
2. Asceticism - abstinence of foods, enjoyments and other self-denial. Col 2:21-22
   
3. Mysticism- special 'visions', deep knowledge, worship of angels. Col 2:18

But these things have appearance of wisdom but no use in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Col 2:23. 1 Tim 4:1-6 makes it even clearer by saying these are the doctrines of devils.

3-Live OUT the Christ within

Because of the New Man in us (Col 3:10,12), we have a New heart of peace of God, of thankfulness, and wisdom (3:15). Our mind needs to be renewed in with the Knowledge of Christ (i.e. read the Bible) and hen it will result in a changed in outward behaviour. The outward behavior is the fruit of inward changes. An outward act of kindness can be put on show for a short time and for people to see. But an inward change, a new heart, of kindness, will put on acts of kindness all the time, any time, whether people are seeing or not. Col 3:12-14 reads like Gal 5:22-23, mercies, kindness, humbleness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing, and a special stress of "Love" Col 3:14. The putting off of badness, Col 3:5-8, is again, like Gal 5:19-21, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness (which is idolatry), anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy words and Lies.

Back to the Know - Do Gap.
How can we address the big problem and struggle of Knowing what to do and yet not able to do it? This is the same story of Paul in Rom 7, especially 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. He provided the answer in 7:25 Through Jesus our Lord. We have the struggle because we are not acting from our inward beings. As mentioned earlier, putting on an act can be done by us for a short-time on occasions because they take great effort. It would be easy if it comes naturally. The old man of the flesh is not able but now we are the new man of the spirit.

The only answer to close the Know-Do gap is to feed the new inner man through the Word and Spirit of God by renewal of the mind and thereby causing a lasting change in external behavior. These inward changes comes by Col 3:15-16 let the peace of God rule in our hearts (someone interprets this as letting peace be the judge of what is right or wrong), be thankful, let the Word of Christ dwell richly in all wisdom, and through fellowship (teaching, admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, songs), and worshiping of God. Whatever we say or do, we do all in and by Christ as our thanks to the Father Col 3:18, 3:23.

The best practice for various roles of husbands & wives, parents & children, bosses & employees are given in Col 3: 18-4:1.

Our witnessing to pre-believers are to be

1. walk in wisdom &
   
2. speech with grace and salt to provide the answers to all queries and
   
3. to redeem the time.

A Victorious Believers' Story - 1&2 Thes

Paul loved all the believers. However, some he praised and some he corrected. It is like Jesus' letters to the seven churches in Revelation. Do you know which group of Christians that Paul praised?

Paul wrote long letters to rebuke and correct the Corinthians on their divisions, sins, disorderliness even though they were blessed with wonderful spiritual gifts of all kinds. Paul rebuked the Galatians not to go back to circumcision and the Jewish laws. Faith in Christ alone is all that is necessary for salvation and eternal life. It is not Christ + Jewish Laws or Christ + works. In Col 4:11, Colossians were Paul's comfort. Philippians were Paul's joy and crown (Phil 4:1). The Thessalonians were Paul's joy, crown and glory (1 Thes 2:19-20).

There were good reasons for Paul's pride for the Thessalonians - they had became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia (1 Th 1:7) for their work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in Lord Jesus Christ (1 Th 1:3).

All that did not happened by chance. It was Paul & his team good mentoring and the Thessalonians' obedience and faith. The whole process can be shown in the diagrams below:
The keys for the successful stories are good mentors and good learners. Coaching can be summarized in the chart below:

Victorious Life - Armor of God

"Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. " is probably one of the most famous quote among believers in spiritual warfare. It is probably the most misunderstood and misused verse as well.

There are two misunderstanding:

1. It is not the Armor but the Truth signified that is important,
2. It is not for defense but for attack into the enemy territories.

The Armor

(this diagram is related to the "Victorious Life" diagram of previous post. Red is Spiritual man. Blue is Soulist man and Orange is the Bodily man)

1. Belt of Truth
The foundation, the belt that hold all other pieces together is the Truth. If we fail to know the truth, we will be in bondage. Jesus said in John 8:32 "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."


2. Breastplate - Heart of Righteousness
We must know that our enemy the devil are always out to condemn us. If he succeeds in getting us to feel guilty then we are paralyzed. We should know that our righteousness is from Jesus Christ by his death on the cross and His resurrection to give us new ZOE (God's kind of ) Life. We are children of God. 1Jn 3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. Righteousness brings us victory.


3. Helmet - Renewed Mind.
Our mindset must be of God. Rom 12:2 shows us that our mind must be renewed with the Word of God. We do not follow the values and thinking of the World. We have the mind of Christ 1 Cor 2:16.

• For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, (2Co 10:4-5)

4. Shield of Faith - Body Protection too.
As we advance into the enemy territories, they will attack us with flaming darts - persecutions, sicknesses, terrors, etc.... We must be able to trust our God to protect us from all evils. No weapons formed against us will succeed Isa 54:17 .


5. Shoes - Movement of the Gospels
Shoes are for us to move - to spread the Gospels throughout the world.

6. Sword - Word of God
The offensive weapon that we have is the Word of God. Only the Word of God can destroy all pretenses, lies, distortions and evils. We move forward and preach the Word of God.

7. Prayer -Communication with God all the time
As we move in, we maintain contact with our Commander-in-Chief, who will lead us and give us grace and wisdom to overcome. We asked for boldness to go.

It is not that we put on the individual pieces of armor daily. It is about living out the Truth of Jesus in Us so as to bring glory to Him. As we bear good testimonies in the world we live in, in family, in work, in church and in mission fields, that we draw people to Jesus.

Update 5 Jun 14. Derek Prince has a good series of podcast spiritual warfare. He suggested the four offensive weapons:

1. Prayer: The promises of God’s word are not a substitute for our prayer, they provoke our prayer, and it takes our prayers to make the promises of God’s word effective in our spirit. It also takes our prayer to release the intervention of angels on our behalf.
2. Praise: Psalm 149:6 ‘Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands.’
3. Preaching: Heb 4 :12 ‘Sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit’ 
4. Testimony: Revelation 12 : 11 ‘They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death’ “