Living the New Christian Life in the Society - Mind map on Rom 13

Romans 12 covers living the New life within the Christian community. This Roman 13 covers living the new life in the secular world. We are to obey the authorities that God had appointed for our benefits  for good behavior and good testimonies. For those people in the society, we are to love them as loving others fulfills the commandments. Lastly, we are let the light of Christ that is in us to shine out through our conduct by being different from them, staying away from wild parties, sexual immorality, quarreling and jealousy. We are to seize this time while we still have the day light because the night shall come soon.

 The mind-map that captures the essence of Romans Chapter 13 is:

How do we let our light shine out in this world? 
It is seen in the ways we handle

1. those in authorities and 
2. those that are of equal or lower standing that us in the society. 
3. how we behave in general.

Worldly wisdom encouraged people to take advantages of the systems and exploits the loopholes in the systems. The smart people are those who exploit the systems to the maximum without being caught. R.ich people are encouraged to hire tax consultants to minimize paying taxes to the government. They have registered business in tax havens to by pass paying taxes to their own nations. That's not the teaching of Paul here. We are to obey the authorities and pay whatever is dues to them. There are four things we should pay to those in authorities, taxes, revenues(fair prices or wages for goods and services rendered to us rather than using our strengths or connections to exploit them), respect and honor. Paul is talking more than money when he mentioned respect and honor. Do we treat our boss with respect and honor at all time. Some people said bad things and gossip behind their bosses. Such gossips about our bosses with our colleagues only show our bad testimonies. Even when our bosses make mistakes, we are still to give honor and respect, not because of anything else but because they are our bosses that God has put them over us for our good. We should not disrespect our bosses because we are smarter or older than them. We just trust and obey God's commandments.

For those that are our equal or lower than us, we are just to love them as God as love us and commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Loving them are expressed not just in words but also in deeds. Are we concern about them? What have we done for them? We must do these things just because God say so. We don't do those things with ulterior motive, even the motive to get them to come to church.  We even overheard them saying that when Christians invite you for lunch or dinner, they actually 'cheated' you because the lunch or dinner comes with a preaching session as the motive. We destroy their trust when do things with hidden ulterior motive.

While the people go for wild parties of drinking and sexual misconduct, we stay away from them. When people fight for promotion, gossip, or sabotage one another out of jealousy, we don't. We even help others to perform better than us when we can. We rejoice with those that get promoted, even promoted to be our boss. How can do such very different from them kinds of things? Because we have Christ in us and we know finally that it is God who promotes and take care of us.

Lim Liat (c) 30-6-13

Living the New Christian Life - A Mind-Map for Romans 12

How to live the New Christian Life? Romans 12-16 tell and show us how. The overview is first given in Romans 12. It begins with our commitment to worship God with our present life as a living sacrifice,  followed by a transformed mind, and acknowledgement of our roles in the community of Christ's body, discovering and using our gifts to serve the community, and a set 'best practices' for living harmoniously with others. These are all captured in a mind-map for ease of understanding and remembrance.

Living the New Christian Life - Starting from Self and extending to the Community of Christ:

The Five-Steps:

1. Commit to Worship God with our Life as a Living (not dead) Sacrifice.
2. Transformed Mindset to Know God's Will and His Standards (not the world's standards).
3. Knowing the we are all members of the Same Body of Christ. So we need to find out your role and God's calling of our lives. Our calling is related to our gifts.
4. Discover and Use our God's given gifts/talents to serve the community. Serve with passion and consistency.
5. Living well with others in the community - Overcome Evil with Good. 
1. The Objective is Harmony and Peace with all.
2. By Love, Goodness, Respect, Generosity, Hospitality, Sharing & Being with them in joy or in sorrow.
3. The Principle of Overcoming Evil with Good. Converting any enemy to a friend with goodness and love towards them.

Lim Liat(c) 26-6-13

Updated mindmap 18-7-19

The Ten Greatest Things in Life

I went to buy lunch from a Chicken Rice Shop today. The following calligraphy was displayed on the wall. It was about the ten greatest in life. Here are details with translation into English.

• 人生最大財富是健康. Greatest wealth is health
• 人生最大罪惡是不孝. Greatest sin is dishonoring parents
• 人生最大禮物是寬恕. Greatest Gift is Forgiveness
•  人生最大快樂是助人. Greatest Joy is helping others
•  人生最大錯誤是賭博. Greatest Error is Gambling
•  人生最大破產是絕望. Greatest Bankrupt is Hopelessness
•  人生最大失敗是自大. Greatest Failure is Boastfulness/Pride
•  人生最大佩服是上進. Greatest Respect is Progressiveness
•  人生最大卑劣是欺人. Greatest depictable thing is Cheating
•  人生最大笨蛋是吸毒. Greatest Stupidity is be a Drug Addicted

I was thinking that if those are the ten most important things in life, then there must be Bible verses that reflect that. So I also included the Bible verses and they are shown below in the mind map:

Hope you like it.

The True Gospels of Blessings including Prosperity using 5WH2

The Prosperity Gospels is distortion of a partial truth of the Gospels. Taking a more comprehensive view of the Gospels with the help of the 5W2H thinking framework will give a clearer picture. Proverbs 3 speaks much on prosperity and long life. It can be a Biblical reference for our understanding. We conclude that blessings is much more than money and good health. More importantly, it is harmony and peace with God and men. The blessing also includes a discipline from our Father God who loves us much to train us up so that we can enjoy and handle more blessings that He has in store for us. Prosperity Gospels  preachers just claim the blessings without the needed wisdom and maturity. They are treating God like the Chinese Prosperity God or the Genie to answer to our wishes.

The Prosperity Gospels message has come to much attention with the Court Case of Kong Hee and leaders from City Harvest Church for alleged criminal breach of trust and falsifying accounts.  See
Prosperity Gospel - Learning from GLCC Dr Paul Choo's Sermon and Reflections from CHC Kong Hee Alleged Misuse of Funds.

A foreigner friend shared that she found it strange that the church messages she encountered in Singapore spoke much about prosperity and not about virtues and charities. It is not strange for us as Chinese because Chinese customs and festivals are filled with worship of the Prosperity God. The most common Chinese New Year Wish is that you may 发财 - make lots and lots of money.

The Bible indeed has much to say about wealth. It talks about how to get wealth and how to use wealth. Warning us not to be enslaved by money but be master over money. Using money to create impact for good and invest in the eternal Kingdom of God. Money is a terrible master but a very good servant.

Nevertheless, the real and true Gospel is much much more than money or wealth. There are more important issue than money which is our relationship with God and then with men. Jesus came to die for our sin and was resurrected to give us new life in Him. We are rebirth in Jesus and become children of God, with Jesus' righteousness and all the blessings of the standings as sons of God.

Since God changes not, His teaching in the Old Testament is still valid, though we are in the New Testament time. Proverb 3 cover much about the blessings of God and how to receive the blessings. This is a good passage for us to examine this issue of the blessings of God. Is prosperity the will of God for us? What else are in the blessings of God? How do we get the blessings? Do we get it just like that immediately? Answer can be found by studying Proverb 3.

One of the best way to think about a issue is to use the 5W2H thinking framework. See The Basic Thinking Framework 5W1H. Applying the framework to Proverb 3, I get the following summary shown in a mind-map form:

 How do I reach the above summary, here are the additional mind-maps showing the 5W2H clearly:

The Details of the How's:

Does knowing the How's and doing the How's means that we are getting the blessings by our own effort? The answer is No and Yes.  It is by God's grace that He adopted us and laid the foundation, the energy source behind the working of His Laws, so that when we listen and obey, we can get the outcomes of His promises. It one way, it looks like we are working to gain it, but the actual fact is that we are only responding to what God has already done and prepared for us.  If we are lazy and are disobedience, then we shall receive not His good blessings but His curses. We can of course be lazy and live off from those who have received the blessings. But that was because of the love that others extend to us. God's love and their love for us is that we may be changed to live rightly that we may be truly joyful and mature, a contributor rather than a parasite.

The key error of the Prosperity Gospel preacher is making giving to God as the only means (even lazy means) of getting rich and making God as our slave to make us rich. In many cases, the giving went into the pocket of the preachers and closed community to benefit their luxury livings. Whereas, prosperity should be the by products of living a righteous and Godly life with and before God.

Conclusion:
The summary is given earlier in the summary map. But just to stress point 3 "The Blessings come from Us Knowing and Living Out God's Wisdom". We are to Love and Obey God. It is not our achievement but the actualization of His grace from inside to external visibility.

Lim Liat (c) 30 May 2013

Prayer is about Changing God or Us?

Many people think that prayer is to get God to do things for us. It is not. It is about changing us to trust and do God's good will for us, especially in times that we don't fully understand.

In Matthew 7, Jesus assured us that our Heavenly Father is a loving Father that will give good things to those who ask of Him. If we ask for bread, He will not give us a stone instead. However, if we ask for cigarettes to smoke, will He give to us? Will you as a father? So in reality, God will not give you things that are not good for you. Or God will only give you things that is within His will for you and within His character.

So, prayer then is not about changing God but about changing us, our mindset and will towards God's way of thinking. Prayer changes our perception of things. It gets us to see things God's way. Prayer actually changes us.... giving us greater clarity of God's will and the peace and will to do His will.

So, sometimes, God gives us the strength to go through the challenges rather than removing the challenges that we may grow up to greater maturity.

In Rom 8:29, we are to conform to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. If we don't think and live like Jesus, we are not His disciples and we are not God's son. It is through prayer, the communication and communion with God, through His words, through His Holy Spirit, and through His grace of empowerment, that we can think and live out the lives that reflect Jesus.

What about our worries and anxieties? It comes from either we don't see God's will or we don't trust His will. The solution is simple as in Philippians 4:6-7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (7) And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It is just to talk to God about it. Thanksgiving is show the trust that we have in God. Let's God guide and assure us of His good will for us. Even Jesus in Gethsemane did that, a night of aggravating pains and the peace to suffer it all through the cross.

Through prayer, we get to be fully convinced of God's good will for our lives. Through this time with God, we also receive the peace and confidence to face the world, no matter what, knowing that we are in good hands. We shall leave with a thankful heart.

Lim Liat (c) 25 May 2013

Meditation on Everlasting - Without Purpose Everlasting is Meaningfess

Everlasting itself is without Meaning.
Everlasting, Forever, Eternal has no meaning unless there is a purpose. 

That was what the Author of Ecclesiastes concluded after observing the endless cycles of life and death. See The Meaning of Life from the Wisest, Richest and Most Powerful King
 
Purpose is the Key
What then is the purpose ? Why do we exist? Where are we going? The answer lies not in the created beings but with the creator. 

How can we judge something as good or evil? It is also with Purpose. Does it uphold or deviate from the original purpose.
Everlasting Contains Change - Making Life Interesting and Engaging.
Everlasting also does not mean unchanging. That is called death or nothingness. It means ever changing with an unchanging pattern of purpose. 

But not Random Changes but Change that befits a Purpose of Love
Life is full of changes, of struggles, of disappointments, of successes, of sadness, of whatever. But if you are anchored on everlasting love of God, then you can have peace and even joy in the midst of all these challenges and no matter what.  

Creation of man is result of the Love of God. Men are created out of the love of God and to enjoy the love God forever.

Everlasting Love Produces Peace and Joy. There is No Fear in Love.
So we can resonance with Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Depressed and Miserable with Your Present?
Taking the verses in reverse, if I can't rejoice in this present circumstances, perhaps I have forgotten it is God's will for me. What does in Christ Jesus mean here? It is through Christ's death that we are redeemed. It is a reminder of how much is the Love of God for me - more than the cost of a His son. 

If we still can't get it, we should 'pray', or talk to God one on one. Speak to him of your worry, of anger, of don't get it ... He can take all we can throw at Him for He loves us.

After our verbose and emotional screams or plead, be careful to wait and listen for His answer and comforting touch. Heb 4:16 may helps ... in time of need, boldly comes to His throne of mercy to find the grace and power that we need.

Leave with the Peace of God
Don't leave the conversation with God until we get our peace. 

Lim Liat (c) 22 May 2013

To Judge or Not to Judge people? That's Irrelevant.

Life is about making choices, making friends and working with and through people. It is irrelevant to discuss about whether we should or should not judge people, but rather it is how we can judge rightly and how we should respond to the judgments of others. We are even further encouraged to discipline with love and rightly(hard or soft according to their attitudes) those that God has put under our charge. 1 Corinthians 4 gives us the teaching.

I was surprised to hear from one of Don Carson's sermons that the most famous verse now of the Bible is not John 3:16 but rather Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged". The present day view is "Everything is relative. Right or wrong depends on the situations. What is good and right to you may not be for others. Hence, judge not." There is some partial truth in it and that is why it is a powerful thing as of all misleading ideas. The church has been deceived in the misunderstanding of this verse that everyone should not judge and everyone should just live happily and peacefully with one another. That leads to many unresolved animosity within the church, spreading of sins, and at times leading to misuses and abuses that may incur the wrath of the Government. (e.g. Reflections from CHC Kong Hee Alleged Misuse of Funds)

Life is about making choices, and making choices is about making judgments, especially of people. Do I want to befriend this person? Can I trust my colleagues to hand him the important task? How can I help others without making judgment? So the question is not about to judge or not, but rather how to judge rightly. 1 Corinthians 4 gives many good guidance on how to judge rightly and to implement the evaluation and corrective actions. Here are the mind-maps that summarize the details:

Judging Rightly and the Process

The Corinth Church as Case Study

The Summary:
Understanding how to judge rightly and the process enables us to hold one another accountable to our unique callings from God, for those under and above our charge, that the body of Christ will be united under Christ to show forth His glory. Here the summary map:

See also:

•  Judging Rightly
• Judge Not yet Correcting
• The True Church Community - Learning from Tim Keller

Lim Liat (c) 18 May 2013

The Theology of Work - The Blessing of Stress Free & Meaningful Hard Work

A good understanding of work and our salvation will enables to work with great joy, energy and creativity to produce excellent work to show forth God's glory through the empowering of the new inner in Christ. This is how you can enjoy the working in the process and the fruits of your work.

Not sure when our Singapore society has become "we work for money" rather than "we work for meaning and fun". The "敬业乐业" Professionalism and the Joy of Work philosophy that I learned in my high school days were somehow lost in this great pursuit of money and high salary policy. “They don't work because they were not paid” was believe hold by many.

Even in the Christians circle that should at the very least, be some conscience of the society, has the ultra-grace and prosperity gospel people singing "Because we are deeply loved, highly blessed, greatly favored, hence we don't have to work. Some even said that work is of the flesh! It is better to let go and let God!".

Actually, we all want to hear what we want to hear ... just give me the blessings without the hard work; the shortcut to riches without the efforts and challenges.

It may be a good time to look at the theology of work and the blessings of hard but joyful work.

1. The Theology of Work:

• Work is Fun. Hard work is even greater fun.
  We need to differentiate 
1. the use of energy in working, 
2. from the emotion work stress and worry in work, and 
3. the output and outcome of the work.
4. the environment where in the work take place (the 6M).
   
   I used to share that I am so blessed that my company pays me a lot to enjoy myself. It is in fact that I enjoy my work that I am able to work hard and long and produces productive and good work that I was rewarded for.
   
• Work is Worship.
  In Hebrew, work and worship come from the same root word - Avodah meaning to work or to serve. Our good work reflects and shows forth the glory of God. God is glorified in our good work. 
• Work is Meaningful
  Our unique calling as in Eph 2:10 gives us meaning to work (Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.) See  You are a Masterpiece Created in Christ
• Work comes before Adam's sin.
  God asked Adam in Gen 1:28 to manage the world, to tend the garden(Gen 2:15 ...put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it) , name the animals(Gen 2:19)  before Adam sinned in Gen 3 and the curse on the ground that follows (Gen 3:17b the ground shall be cursed because of you; you shall eat of it in sorrow all the days of your life.). It is sinning that brings the curse of stress into work. Salvation brings the stress out of work but does not eliminate the work. Eph 2:10, we are saved for good work.

2. Matthew 6 Does not teach us not to work but Not to Worry.
It does not teach us not to plan (Jesus told us to count the costs) but not to worry. While the birds don't plant, they have to hunt for food. There are hunters and farmers in the ancient world. Now we have farmers, manufacturers, business and other kinds of services providers.

Many people are thankful for the contracts won and consider those as blessings of God. But we must watch out and not any good start of blessings to turn into curses. Winning big contracts are good start. But we do know of many companies, big and small, make big losses on big contracts won. It takes hard work and smartness to deliver the big contracts won to make big profits. Only then, can we be confident that they are blessings. Otherwise, it could just as well be devil's traps to sink us!

3. Biblical teaching is about the blessings of diligence and curses of laziness. 

Paul has a strong teaching on this as in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.". 

Proverbs has many verses on diligence and laziness. See the mind-map below:

4. It is all about Stress-Free & Meaningful Hard Work to Glorify God through Us

In Gen 3:17b cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 

There are two parts: 

1. curse on the ground and 
2. the pain to get food from the ground.

In Romans 8:19-21  "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  (20)  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope  (21)  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.", we see that the curse on the ground is still on.

So what is remove must then be the pain of working the ground.

We must clearly see that our salvation from God has not be completed until the 2nd Coming of Christ and the creation of New Heaven and New Earth. Nevertheless, we are re-born as New Creation (2Cor5;17) from the inside, the inner man. The new inner man needs to grow up and overcome the old man as in Romans 12:1-2  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  (2)  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

So the stress, the worry, and the pains of hard work are removed by the Grace of God that we may find great joy, fun and the energy to work hard and long, the wisdom to work productively, producing excellent work for the glory of God through the inner man in Christ.

Hope to clarify and prevent misunderstanding ....

Lim Liat (c) 16 May 2013

Right or Wrong - The Moral Standard According to Ancient Chinese

For  Ancient Chinese, the moral standard of right or wrong is determined not by man but by God as revealed in the created order of heaven and earth. It can be seen in the ancient writings like i-Ching and more obviously in idiom, such as "天经地义" which is presented here.

For something that is fundamentally so right and obvious, the Chinese has an idiom "天经地义" (translated, God's or Heaven's Way and Earth's Rightness) to describe it. It is taken from a history book   左传 written around BC 350 The Warring Period, documenting the Chinese history of BC 722-468. It shows the source of Ancient Chinese Moral Standard.

Unlike Adam (who rebelled against God by taking the forbidden fruit to want to be his own god, see Knowledge Tree of Good and Evil ...), and modern and post-modern men who think right or wrong is situational and relative to be determined by man, the Ancient Chinese let God be the absolute moral standard and consider His laws as revealed in the creation order of heaven and earth as the commandments to be followed by all men.

If we look up a Chinese Dictionary for the idiom, we will get the following definition and explanation:


天经1地义2 （天經地義）

1. 经：规范，原则；Norms, Principles
2. 义：正理。correct principle or valid reason or plain truth

Explanation:
天地间历久不变的常道。
The unchanging principles or pathways within heaven and earth.
指绝对正确，不能改变的道理。
Referring to absolutely correct, cannot be changed principle or rationale.
也指理所当然的事。
Referring to a matter of course. i.e. it should be so.

Source: 《左传·昭公二十五年》：“夫礼，天之经也，地之义也，民之行也。”
The way to behave, the ritual, ( 礼) is from the principles of heaven and of earth, the ways that people should walk in.

Synonyms:
理所当然 - as the matter of course
千真万确 - absolutely true and correct.

Antonyms: 天理难容 - Heaven/God cannot tolerate it.
岂有此理 - Outrageous

Hence, we can see that Ancient Chinese were God fearing and God's laws abiding people. They also seems to have the concept of repentance and sacrifices to the God of Heaven as seen in their history and even many buildings and layouts that still exist today. For example see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Heaven. 

Meditations on Easter - Understand & Live Out What Jesus has done

God's love for us in action is the accomplishment of Jesus' death for our sins and His resurrection for our new life. Jesus' resurrection shows that death has been defeated and we all can have the new life in Him. Our response to such great love is not just merely saying we love Him but to truly understand and live out what Jesus has accomplished for us. That is to know that we are bought and we are His forever  that in living, we live to Him and in dying, we die unto Him. Our lives are no longer our own but to live to glorify God through good works empowered by Him.

On Good Friday, Jesus paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross for us. That was part 1 of God's love for us. If Jesus merely paid the debt for our sins, then His work was only half done. His payment for our sins could just be a license for us to continue in our sins without the fear of punishments. 

The total work of salvation is only completed on Easter Morning when Jesus was raised from the death to take on the new life that He gives to everyone who receive Him. With this new life of rebirth, we are then empowered to live the life that we should - the godly life that we are created for. Grace is not just forgiveness but also power of God to live out the new life. 

Here is the mind-map that summarized the meditations for Easter Morning - The Great News of Victory over Death and the New Life of and in Christ for every believers.

1. Our Response to God's Love is not simply to love God back but to fully understand His accomplishments for us and to Live Out the things that Christ has obtained for us.

2. To know that now we are truly His and we live and die unto Him. We should be able to say with Paul that for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. There is no fear in our living because dying brings us to a better place.

3. We are no longer our own but we are bought with a price. Our purpose of life is no longer to serve man but to serve God, to glorify God in our body and spirit, through the good works of His empowerment.

4. The way to live is then best summarized by Paul in Gal 2:20....

     My old life is crucified with Christ on the cross;

     The life that I now live in the flesh is by faith and of the faith given by Christ.

5. I am confident of my future too in Christ as in:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” ― Jim Elliot

May we live this life well and die well in the Lord and for the Lord.

Lim Liat (C) 31 March 2013

Chinese New Year Yu-Sheng and the Aaronic Blessings

The Yu-Sheng dish is a great opportunity for us to get together and proclaim blessings on one another. The process is called Lo Hei, mixing and bringing up the best wishes and blessings. Here is the list in the order of the serving and blessings. It matches well with the Aaronic Blessings and hence for believers, consider using the Aaronic Blessings as well when you next partake in this dish.

In this 2013 Chinese New Year period, most of us would have partaken at least four to five times in this recent invention of "Yu Sheng" 鱼生 Dish. It is a dish of blessings that we enjoy together with our family, in-laws, colleagues, friends, and business partners throughout these fifteen days. There are a particular order and protocols for serving this dish. As each ingredient is added, a word of blessing is pronounced and finally ends with everyone putting their chopsticks and mixing up and stirring up the ingredients as high as possible signifying the height of great blessings.

This reunion type of lunch or dinner reminds me of believers' holy communion as well. I have always tried to see if we can relate Chinese blessings to biblical blessings as well. The blessings are like the Benedictions of a Church Service. So most of the benedictions can be considered. I also try to search for the relevant biblical verses. Eventually, I found that the Aaronic Blessings of Numbers 6:22-24 shockingly matched the Chinese Blessings, 6 parts blessings to the 6 ingredients to be added to the main salad. Here is the mind map giving the details.

For the final blessing, I think it is good that we give thanks to the Lord God, our Heavenly Father, the source, and giver of all our blessings.

So, in your next Yu-Sheng together, besides the Chinese Blessings, maybe you can consider reciting the Aaronic Blessings as well, especially if you are with believers.

For this Chinese New Year,
  May the Lord 1 bless you and 2 keep you.
  May He 3 make His face shine upon you that you may know his great treasures for you,
                4 be gracious to you putting your life in order and beauty.
  May He 5 turn His face towards you and receive you fully
                6 and give you peace and wholeness of health, wealth, and relationships.
  May His Name and His Kingdom be exalted forever.

Lim Liat (c) 19 Feb 2013

《Updated 1 Feb 2016》
Here is the shortened version of Aaronic Blessings on Yu Sheng Preparation:

Yu Seng is the Aaronic Blessings. See http://christianity-rediscovered.blogspot.sg/2013/02/chinese-new-year-yu-sheng-and-aaronic.html

1 Squeeze Lime on the raw fish and say 大吉大利
The Lord bless you with great fortunes and profits - Num 6:24a

2 Put the fish on the main plate and say 年年有鱼
The Lord keeps you always with having fish to eat &
guard you with a hedge of protection - Num 6:24b

3 Put in the peanuts, and sesame seeds, and say 五福临门  (长寿, 富贵, 康宁, 好德, 善终)
The Lord makes His face shine upon you with blessings that come like the sands of the beaches and the stars of the sky. - Num 6:25a

4 Sprinkle the pepper & spies power & say 招财进宝
and bring in the wealth and precious treasures.
(Some versions use 鸿运当头 Great Fortunes are pouring down on your head.)

5 Pour in the oil and say 顺顺利利
The Lord be gracious to you making sure all goes well with you - Num 6:25b

6 Pour in the sweet sauce and say 甜甜蜜蜜
The Lord turns His face toward you to have intimate relationships with you and that all your relationships may be sweet - Num 6:26a

7 Spread the crackers and say 满地黄金
The Lord gives you shalom peace of abundance everywhere - Num 6:26b.

8 Everyone stirs up the ingredients resulting in 风生水起 (the wind blows and the water is stirred up meaning all things start to grow and make progress) and says 恭喜发财 "wishing all great joy and riches."
Praise the Lord. "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever" Mat 6:13
For you are our glory and joy. 1Th_2:20

The Essence of Christianity - Reflection in Chinese New Year 2013

Chinese New Year is an annual reminder for us to clean the house, pay our depths, close the past nicely and prepare to welcome the new. A key verse is 辞旧迎新 （ or 送旧迎新 or 弃旧迎新）translated as sending off the old and welcoming the new. The old badness is hopefully replaced by the new goodness. But with time, the new will decay to old and we repeat this cycle of life.  It will be great if the new will remain and we add newness yearly breaking free from this vicious circle to a greater height of newer life.  But the Spring of the new year is the abundant growth of new lives. The lifeless winter is replaced by the life of spring, hinting to us the possibility of new life. Giving New Life to remove the lifeless and badness is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The essence of Christianity is best captured in the quote "Jesus did not come into this world to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live!" preached by many famous preachers. We will benefit much by meditating on it.

Here is a mind-map:

1. Not about Making Bad Men Good
This is the differentiating factor of Christianity from all other religions. Religions, in general, teach a set of codes for good conduct and men shall be saved by following the codes. Another form is a summation of good works minus the bad works to give a positive result that qualifies one to enter heaven. But Christianity is gutsy enough to face the fact that while men are created in the image of God with goodness and greatness within, men still suffer from this great sin of wanting to be his own God and wanting to define their own standard of right and wrong. When men could not be right, they legalize it to be right! e.g. abortion. It is in fact because of man's ability to be good that we over qualify ourselves thinking that we are not that bad after all. Paul recognized this righteousness from his flesh is nothing but dung. Philippians 3:8. 
Calvin said that men are so bad that they will not know to seek God. It is by the grace of God that we realize our badness to seek for God. The hope is then not on man to try to be good but to realize man's hopelessness to save himself. The goodness of man is a stumbling block of self-righteousness. The better we become, the more self-righteous and godlessness we become!

2 Making Dead Man Alive!
The solution to man's problem is a transformation of rebirth by the Holy Spirit, and to acknowledge and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (John 3:16-18). Our decaying body is but a simple and sure proof that we are in fact dying and will one day be fully dead. Rom 8:19-22 tells us that the whole creation is 'groaneth and travaileth in pain' waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.

The needed strengths for the new life comes from God through His Spirit and not of our flesh.

See Flesh vs Spirit - Flesh is Not Body by Mapping Rom 8.

May your Chinese New Year be filled with the truly New Life.

 See also Eat, Drink & Enjoy - A Reflection on Sunday's Chinese New Year ...

Flesh vs Spirit - Flesh is Not Body by Mapping Rom 8:1-16

There is much confusion about flesh and body. While flesh and body are closely related, they are not the same. This can be made clear by a study of Rom 6 and 8. In this post, a mind map of Rom 8:1-16 is done. A visual map rather than a paragraph of text help clarify the understanding. The flesh is used in contrast against the Spirit. The body could be ruled by the Spirit or the Flesh which leads to two very contrasting end points of life and death. It is then better to classify our status as either the New Man in Christ or the Old Man in the flesh. Whether New or Old, we have a spirit and soul(mind) that live in a Body. Body per se is the creation of God and is precious. Rom 6:13 tells us to present our body, not for unrighteousness but as instruments of righteousness, and Rom 12:2 tells us to present our body as a living sacrifice to God. So we need to take good care of our bodies.

Here is the visual map of Romans 8:1-16.

A great advantage of a visual map is that it shows the relationships among concepts very clearly. We proceed from higher-level concepts and drill down to finer concepts to increase our understanding. Another good thing about a visual map is that you can start from anywhere and trace it back to gain an increased understanding of the concept.

I have a number of concepts so that you can follow them. It is just a starting point. You may start with any concept you like.

The Key Concepts

1. New Man.
1. The difference between a believer and a non-believer is the concept of a born-again New Man by the Spirit of God. Our spirit is rebirth and is connected to the Spirit of God.
2. Our body remains the same. 
2. Old Man.
1. The key differentiation between old vs new is that old is ruled by the Flesh whereas the new is ruled by the Spirit. 
2. The Flesh has sinned because the Flesh wants to be his own God and does not recognize the true Creator God as God. Rom 8:7-8 tell us clearly that the will of the Flesh is against God.
3. This sin of the Flesh causes the body to walk in unrighteousness and brings forth death.
4. The only way to get rid of sin in the Body is through Jesus Christ 8:3 and be rebirthed into Christ (Node 6) and then we become children of God.
3. Spirit of the New Man
1. The Spirit of the New Man is life and peace (with God too).
2. It has the righteousness of Christ (not the self-righteousness of our Flesh).
3. It is freed from sin and fear. 
4. It is a child of God. 
5. We know God as our Father in our spirit and we cry through our body to call God as Abba (an intimate way of addressing our loving father).
4. Body
1. Can be led either by our Spirit or by our Flesh.
2. If led by our Spirit (rebirthed of God), our body does work of righteousness and brings forth greater vitality of life and eventually eternal life with God.
3. If led by our Flesh through its passion, we walk in unrighteousness and is a living death or dying and eventual to eternal death.
5. Flesh
1. Is not the body but of a mind, mind of the Flesh.
   Tim Keller defines Flesh as the mindset of a man wanting to be his own god and to be in total control. See The Keys to Peace and Joy - Learning from Tim Keller
2. It is against God. Cannot please God, Actually rejects God, and wants itself to be God. Adam's partaking in the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is essentially telling God that he wanted to be his own judge of what is right or wrong. He does not want to be accountable to God but to himself.
3. The consequence is death - existence in separation from the Source of Life --- God.
6. In-Christ - Our New Membership in the Body of Christ
1. We shall have no condemnation.
2. We have fulfilled the Law in Christ.
3. We are sons of God.
4. We follow the new Law of Life of God.

You may also randomly pick any concept and trace it back to learn more.

Hope your knowledge and understanding of this key concept of Flesh, Spirit, and Body are enlightened by this visual map.

Lim Liat (c) 8 Feb 2013

Update 26 Jan 2023

David Jeremiah defined flesh as Self-centredness. It is FLESH minus the H and read backward. You get SELF without Him.

Beatitudes - The Ways of His Kingdom

The Beatitudes as recorded in Matthew 5 give the virtues of the Children of His Kingdom.  They are also the ways of His Kingdom. Here is the process is shown on the map below:

1. Desires for His Righteousness and Jesus
   The poor in spirit is not about a state of poverty but a realization of one's poverty and the desire to seek true spiritual wealth. Spiritual desires are to focus on Jesus and His righteousness. Jesus is the personification of righteousness.
   
   
2. Compassion for the Sufferers
   Mourning comes from witnessing the sufferings of those under injustice and the evils that were done. It creates the desire to right the wrongs and saves those under bondage and suffering.
   
   
3. Motive of Pure in Heart
   Purity is about the singleness of purpose and cleanliness of the heart. Focus enables us to endure under persecutions and distractions of the richness of the world. (e.g. the unfruitful plants in Matthew 13:21-22 of the Parable of the Sower)
   
   
4. Methods for Achieving the Objectives of Righteousness and Jesus.
   
   Three key approaches are suggested.
   
   
1. Meek - Changing and Touching the People with Love rather than by force or violence.
   It is winning their hearts to obey and follow rather than forcing them to fear punishments. It is reaching out rather than condemning and judging.
2. Merciful - Forgiven by Jesus and extending forgiveness to others.
   Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
3. Peacemaker - Resolving conflicts and amending and restoring relationships.
   It is not about covering up the conflicts but revealing them and facing them directly. It is about showing the benefits and reasons for togetherness. It is about working out the visions of the future that all can share and benefit from.
   
   
5. Endurance under persecutions for Righteousness and for Jesus
   
   
6. Objectives of attaining Righteousness and Fullness of Jesus
   When we share Jesus and pursue righteousness in a world that has evil, we shall be persecuted, in various forms, to cause us to abandon our work. But our objectives shall not change or waver because of the persecutions.

The blessings of the beatitudes are the rewards and comfort of rest in His Kingdom. 

Lim Liat (c) 5 Feb 2013

Warning Signs of a Marriage

Ps Oh Peng Kee preached on our Mandarin Sunday Service on "The Warning Signs of a Marriage". It is a pity that I could not capture the very interesting stories and illustrations that he told. But the essence of his message is mind-mapped as follows with a little additions of my own:

I constructed the above mind-map using Mindjet on the Android on a LG 4X HD smartphone and edited it using the mindjet on my laptop later.

Demands of Eternal Life - Love God & Men

It is well known that the Laws and Prophets can be summarized as using the least number of words as "Love God & Men" or may be just "Love God" as loving men is contained in loving God because God love man even to die for them. Those that love men may not know God. But those that love God cannot don't love men for loving men is our expression of loving God. This post present related Biblical references to this famous verse of Luke 10:27 to give a better understanding of what that verse means.

Luke 10:25-28 described an incident when an expert in Moses Laws challenged Jesus. Jesus's behavior, like healing on the Sabbaths, reaching out the sinners seems to run contrary to the Laws of Moses. The expert wanted to expose Jesus seemingly disobedience to the Moses Laws. But in end, he was enlightened to the real meaning of Moses Laws .... not about separation of people and condemning them but about embracing and loving of people besides and in-spite of their sins. Yes, the sins are pointed out clearly by the laws but only loving the people and transforming their heart can help them breakout of their sins. The laws is to reveal sins and condemn the sinful deeds that man be awaken to their needs for salvation and for God. That was the passive ways of viewing the Laws. The positive way is to stress on the Love to break free from not only from sins but be empowered to do good.

The interesting point is that even this legalistic Laws expert recognized positive intention of the Laws that he summarized well with Jesus' approval.


Luk 10:27  And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

It shows not even unbelievers can discover the truths. Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.

It is such an important verse, the summary of all Laws and Prophets, that we should study it carefully. Here is mind-map with the verse broken down in parts and each part augmented with relevant verses to highlight the key teachings.

The Demand of Eternal Life

The demand of eternal life is to love God and men. It is easy to see that we have failed. If we don't know God, we fail immediately. If we know God and not love him totally as shown in v27, we also failed. So this statement just tells us we have no hope to have eternal life. There need to be another alternative way, as revealed in John 3:16. God have to intervene and gives us the eternal life separately from such a demand. So we receive Jesus as our Savior. Being saved, however, does not mean we don't love God and men but rather we are empowered to do more. The demand is just a reflection of what eternal life should look like. It should be something that we do naturally out of the new Zoe Life of God that we are re birthed to become.

(1) It Becomes Natural for the New Life Believers to LOVE

The evidence of our reborn nature is the ability and the urge to LOVE. We become sensitive to God and to the needs of others. Our mind has shifted from self only to awareness of God and of others.

(2) Yours - Personal

The relationship is not an indifference or a general love of some kind. It is 'your' God and 'your' neighbor. We don't say we love the people far away from us. That is easy because we will never meet the people far away. Our love is to be expressed in our direct relationship with God and those in our contact.

(3) God - Our God and the Lord

God is our personal God those God is the Lord of all including us. As God is my Lord, we should obey and worship Him. I have to internalize God's will as my will. Joh 4:34b My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

(4) How to Obey or Do God's Will - With My ALL
We obey and do His will with all of your heart of passion, our will of determination, our full body strengths and capabilities of our mind and thoughts.

(5) Love Neighbor as We Love Ourselves- Any in Need in Our Contact

1. Our neighbor is not just those we know but those that have needs that arouse our heart. 
2. How we love them begins with how we love ourselves. If we are in their position, what do we expect others to help us. Mat_7:12 "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
3. Confucius teaching bring in additional light. "己欲立而立人，己欲达尔达人“ We must stand up to help others to stand. We must succeed to help others to succeed". So, our own growth is important. In our growth, we must also help others to grow up as well.

(6) God and Men are Together
The way we serve God is usually through serving men. In the judgement day, Jesus said that God is in the least of men! Mat_25:40b 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' and Mat_25:45b T... as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' We cannot say I love God but hate man! 1 John 4:20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

See also Christianity Rediscovered: Gospel in One Word

Lim Liat (c) 1 Feb 2013

Paul's thorn in the flesh and weakness are not his!

The weakness that Paul refereed was not the deficit weakness(e.g. our sins or defects) that we usually attribute it to. On the contrary, it was his strengths that were inadequate for the challenge so that he needed the grace and power of God. Even his strengths is not enough. We must develop our strengths and not boast our deficit weaknesses. Our strengths, better called gifts. are of the Lord and we need to steward them carefully. We need to build and use our strengths under the direction of the Lord not for our own glory but for His glory to benefit the community of His body. It is about our strengths not being enough for the God's appointment that we may grow up further in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Verses that tell us our Weakness is Good! Do they really say that?

2Co 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2Co 12:10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Why was the thorn given?

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, of his success in surviving and overcoming the beatings, shipwrecked, toils, hardships, hunger, thirst, sleepless nights etc in 1Cor 11:23-29, that may cause Paul to proud 

What is the 'thorn' ?

To understand the real meaning of any word, we need to see it in the context.  The purpose was to stop Paul from being proud and forget about God. The origin of the thorn is from the devil as Paul clearly stated and it is to harass him.  The Greek word for harass is G2852 kolaphizō, Thayer Definition:

1) to strike with the fist, give one a blow with the fist

2) to maltreat, treat with violence and contumely

Hence, it is obvious that the thorn refer to the persecutions that were incited by the devils. Wherever Paul went, the persecution seems to follow him shortly after. He was not able to shake them off. They just came after him. This view is further supported in 12:10 where weaknesses are lumped together with insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities (his life story in chapter 11). 

Some famous preacher put it well. He said 'the thorn of the flesh' in modern term is 'the pains of the neck' or the 'pains of backside' referring not to sickness but to people that irritate us.   

What is then the meaning of weakness?

Weakness then does not refer to our deficit or sins. It actually refers to our strengths, especially in the case of Paul, that are seemingly insufficient to meet the challenge that God has called him. Who can bear what Paul had went through? While Paul could take good charge of his talents and positions as given by God, he could not control the behavior of the people that went after him, from city to city. There are many great preachers nowadays with a great following, enjoyed great popularity and prosperity but for Paul, his life was filled with challenges and persecutions, imprisonments and eventual martyrdom.  They have what the Chinese called a smooth sailing kind of life. Paul had it the rough kind. 

Therefore, the meaning of weakness is not about deficit but about lack of enough strengths for the challenge. Putting it another way, if we think we can accomplish something easily because of our strengths, it only means that the something is too low a goal. To make sure our strength can grow, God will give us challenges greater than our present strengths that He may bring us to a greater height. The weakness is defined from the external challenge or mission that God has assigned us to. The weakness does not refer to our deficit but on the contrary to our strengths.!

What should me our attitudes to our strengths and weaknesses?

We should be discovering our strengths, more appropriately called our gifts,  and developing them for use by God. Strengths and weaknesses are not to be defined internally but according to the external missions or tasks that we are given to accomplish. God will assign us tasks that we may develop our unique gifting (strengths) for His greater use. We must therefore diligently steward our gifts and not to boast of our deficits as if they are a glory for God. We must correct our deficits and often draw upon the complementary gifts (strengths) of others, to form a team that together work effectively for the glory of God, with each contributing our gifts to the work.

See for example Spiritual Gifts, Grace & Ministry - Learning from Tim Keller.

Lim Liat (C) 26 Jan 2013

What is True Worship?

Worship is more than going to church and singing hymns. Paul tells it is offering ourselves as the living, not dead, sacrifice. It is becoming like Jesus just like the common saying of  'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery' ! Now is set our vision of becoming like Jesus into motion.

Last week in our discussion, we discover the meaning of true worship. It was stressed in our Sunday service too.

What is worship? What is your understanding?
If you say it is singing hymns, you got the common surface level understanding.
Praise is a key element of worship. (Heb_13:15  Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. )

Some may worship is more than singing. It should including the hearing of surmons too. Aren't church service called worship service?

But true worship is much more. Let's go deeper.

If you say we must worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth (John 4:23),
then you are giving the textbook answer.

But how do we really do that?
We will usually say that we worship God with our whole heart and in sincerity.
Message Bible:  “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth and are  simply and honestly yourself before God.

Paul tells us more the true worship is about becoming like Him.

We are to be

(1) the living sacrifice with our body, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.... Rom 12:1

  This means more than with just our mouth of praise, but our whole life, our total living, as a offering to God.

  What kind of life? Holy and acceptable to God.
  It is God's definition of Holiness and not our own.

(2) to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29)
The measure and target of our worship is be like Jesus - feel, will, think, behave like Jesus.
The common people language: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

(3) Then we need to convert the vision of becoming like Jesus into practical steps.
What will these steps be? What will you do? How will you live?
See  Christianity Rediscovered: Five Habits for Effective Christian Living

Did the Midwives lie? Exo 1:15-22

Exo 1:15-22 told the story of Hebrew midwives not obeying the Pharaoh's order to kill the male babies at birth and they were blessed by God. Most people thought that the Midwives lied to Pharaoh and thereby got into the difficulty of trying to explain that Biblical teaching of "the ends do not justify the means".  This post tries to show that the Midwives did not lie at all and therefore such contradiction does not exist. 

We will get to see a better picture by asking some questions.

1. How many midwives did Pharaoh command?

There could not just be these two midwives Shiphrah and  Puah for the large Hebrew population living with them.

2. Why then only these two were mentioned?

Because only the two of them did not obey Pharaoh's command to kill the male babies at birth,

3. What was the reason given to Pharaoh?

The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.

4. Could this be true?

Yes. Woman working in the fields daily tend to give birth easily to babies. 

Gill's commentary on this verse said that "it is said women will go aside from their work, or from the table, and bring forth their offspring, and return to their business or meal again; and especially in the eastern and hotter countries, women generally bring forth without much difficulty, and without the use of a midwife". My friends said that such births did happen in the farming families in China.

5. Is Pharaoh wise or stupid?

Yes. Pharaoh would not just believe what the two midwives said. He would surely check with the other midwives and they must have confirmed the midwives story. If their claim was not true, Pharaoh would have them killed.

By taking a system approach, and relating to the actual and bigger environment that our story usually could not cover well, we get a better understanding of things. The Bible does not contradict itself. It is usually our lack of understanding that creates the contradiction. When we come across such seemingly contradictory verses, we should take a wider look at things, especially the environment surrounding the story.

So we get back to the conclusion that "The ends does not and should never be used to justify the means." Looking at it another way, God cannot act out of His character to accomplish His work. God will surely not ask us to cheat our ways to achieve His purpose. Never use the Name of God to justify the evil and illegal methods that we use to achieve our own desires. That is one form of using the Name of God in vain. Illegal and evils ways will never be the will of God. 

Lim Liat (c) 6 Jan 2013

The Lord is my Banner - God or Me for Victory?

What is the meaning of the "Lord is my Banner"? Is the victory due to me marching with the banner or God's supernatural power? The right answer should be both. This is the world that both God and man got engaged in and excluding one from the other does not make sense. It is more important to find out the parts or roles that each play and do the part that belongs to us, man and leave God to be God. While the right order is God initiates and Man responses, God has given man a good mind and a free will to response to Him and the options, staying with God's values and will,  are a plenty to choose from and we are to use our mind with His further strength and favors to accomplish the mission that God has created and given to us for. Don't just split but integrate too. God's love for us ensure His ways for us are good and the outcome are for us and Him because God is glorified through us and when we are most accomplished so will our God (Mat 5:16) because we raise the banner of God.

"The Lord is my Banner" can be found in the story recorded in Exodus 17:8-15. Here is the mind-map and please go through the points carefully:

A typical danger of inductive Bible Study (generalizing from specific instances) is to over extending the meaning of the particular instance. Most instances are situation specifics and are not meant to be generalized. To guard against over generalizations, we need to find other similar cases and discover the pattern. A typical humor shared  by preacher is that someone notice that Jesus healed by spitting and then form the healing school of spitting,

For this case, I am assured that this is meant to be a lesson for us because of v14-15 when God commanded that this story be remembered and especially for Joshua's and an Altar was built with titled "Jehovah Nissi - the Lord is my Banner". I also cited two other similar examples where God supernaturally acted with man asking and supporting and defeated their enemies. 

The Key Lessons are:

1. This is a Dual World of Spiritual and Natural and God has given man authority to influence both worlds.
2. Lift up the Name of God by worship and trust. Do all things from, with, and in Him. Know that we are sent by Him.
3. We are to find out first the Will and Values of God.
4. We are then to execute, with His strength, and with our mind (See the smartness of Aaron and Hur to use a stone for Moses to seat and to lift Moses hands with theirs)

Hope you are clear about you are with God in living out your life on earth.

Lim Liat (c) 3 Jan 2013