How are we seriously ever able to take up the cross? Jesus calls us to do so in Luke 9:23. We are told that taking up the cross means giving up everything to follow Christ, being willing to sacrifice and suffer for His sake. Is this a mandate too high for anyone to reach? I believe God everytime God gives us a command, he also gives us the power and ability to accomplish this command. Many of us read the verse in Luke 9:23 and kind of sigh resignly to the seeming impossibility of the command. Yet if we were to simply read on to the verses that follow, we will discover an incredible truth about how we can obtain this ability to fulfill the command.
Following the command, Jesus takes about two different realities. The first, the reality the physical world of earth. Jesus says of this world that whoever tries to find his life in this world will lose it (vs 24). And even if a man can gain the whole world, there is no eternal profit if he were to lose his soul (vs 25). Jesus here speaks against two of the most important goals every human being aspires to. The goals of actualisation - ie finding your true self and reaching your human potential, and acquisition - ie. obtaining material abundance. If we are seeking these two things in the physical world, this is foolishness and will come to naught at the end.
In contrast to the first reality of the physical world is the second reality the world of the Kingdom of God, of God and His Angels, of the spiritual dimension, of heaven and hell, and of eternity. Though unseen for the most part to the average human, to Christ, this was the greater reality. For Hebrews 11:3 tells us that the spiritual world preceded the physical world. In this reality, the rules are different. It is not so much how much material acquisitions or worldly status you acquire that matters, it is whether you have loved God. known God and fulfilled His calling on your life that matters. To those who are ashamed of Christ, Christ will be ashamed of him when he comes in glory and with His angels (Luke 9:26). This is the reality of the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:27). And this is the reality that matters for eternity.
The Apostle Luke then goes on to give the account of the transfiguration of Christ. Eight days later, Jesus goes up to the mountain to pray and is transfigured. His face and his clothes shown with glorious light. And Moses and Elijah appeared with Him and discussed His upcoming death. As I pondered upon why the Spirit had chosen it fit to tell us of the transfiguration immediately after the preceding verses, it soon dawned on me. The transfiguration is a graphic representation of the second and greater reality. The story of the transfiguration tells us that this greater reality in fact co-exists and lies beneath our present physical reality, from time to time breaking through the veneer of covering into the physical reality. It is a reality that though we cannot see through our earthly eyes, we can see through the eyes of faith and by revelation of the Spirit.
The appreciation of this greater spiritual reality of the Kingdom of God is crucial if we are to be able to carry our cross. For we can only give up this present physical reality if we see through the eyes of faith the greater and eternal reality of God and His kingdom. That is why we are told to set our minds not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor 4:18). Our liberation from earth only begins when we can see heaven. Let us pray therefore that the Spirit will give us eyes that we may see this greater reality. For it is only when we are rooted in the greater reality of God that we are able to transcend this present reality, to take up the cross and follow Him. For he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose (Jim Elliot).
The Overcommitted Christian
Responsibilities, expectations, deadlines. Trying to balance a full day in the court of law, returning home to be husband to my dearest wife and father to my 7 month old baby girl, add the multitudes of issues and human complexities in my church ministry, and throw in the discipline of an exacting fitness regime, you will see that my life is no easy task. There is almost not enough time every day. Recently my wife brought home a pamphlet from church entitled "Busy Husbands, Lonely Wives". Not sure if she was trying to tell me something.
As I pondered the issue of time and work, I begin to realise that the danger is not that we are unable to do enough for God, the danger is that we are doing too much. Somehow, I feel the Christian life was never meant to be this tiring. It was at this point that I turned to the familiar words of Christ in Matthew 11:28,29 - "Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls." The question I found myself asking was, how really do we enter the rest of God?
As I read around the verses preceding and after this famous verse, and prayerfully asked the Spirit for His counsel, the truth soon dawned on me. In the preceding verses, Jesus had lamented that the Jews had condemned both John the Baptist and himself (11:18,19). He then chided the cities in which his mighty works had been done because they had failed to recognise the works of God (11:20-24). Jesus then went on to say that these things were hidden from the wise but revealed to the babes and that the Father would only be revealed to those whom the Son reveals Him to. Then he spoke the words of rest in Matt 11:28,29. As I meditated on these verses, the Spirit revealed to me a simple truth - There is a pressing need for us to recognise the true works of God. The Jews in their pride were not able to. Only the humble at heart are. The reason for our never ending strife and our tiredness is that in the quest to fulfill our proud ambitions, we are unable to distinguish what is God's work and what is not God's work, but our work. We often claim to be building God's kingdom but are in reality striving to build our own treasures and kingdoms on this earth. The result - we take on much more than God ever intended, at work, in ministry and in our extra-curricular pursuits. It is only to the humble at heart that Jesus will reveal the Father. And it is only those who have seen the Father who are able to discern the works that are from God. The works that come from God, these we should pursue. The works that are not from God but from our flesh, these, we should be wise not to unnecessarily burden ourselves with.
As I moved on to read the verses after Matt 11:28,29, Matthew writes of an episode of the disciples plucking grains in a grainfield on the Sabbath to eat because they were hungry. They were chided by the Pharisees. Jesus then gave the example of David entering into the temple on the Sabbath and eating the showbread. He then makes a startling remark to the Pharisees, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy not sacrifice,' you would not condemn the guiltless." Herein lies the next truth in respect of rest. Only when we are able to recognise the work of God are we able to enter the rest of God. The Pharisees in their own human pride had burden themselves with the works of man, and therefore even on the Sabbath, could never find rest but continued to lay more burdens upon themselves and others. Yet if we were able to see the true heart of God, we would know and recognise His true work. For the work of God was always concerned about genuine need, the needs of His beloved children. The Father's heart was always one of mercy and love. And there was always enough time for each child. Those who engaged in the Father's work, no more and no less, would likewise enter the rest of God, for God himself was able to work for six days and to rest on the seventh.
Only one thing is needful for an overcommitted and tired-out Christian. That is to learn to recognise the works of God. We put aside the strife of our flesh, and embrace only those works which flow from the Father's heart. In doing so, our souls will also experience the rest of God. For His yoke is easy and his burden is light (11:30).
As I pondered the issue of time and work, I begin to realise that the danger is not that we are unable to do enough for God, the danger is that we are doing too much. Somehow, I feel the Christian life was never meant to be this tiring. It was at this point that I turned to the familiar words of Christ in Matthew 11:28,29 - "Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls." The question I found myself asking was, how really do we enter the rest of God?
As I read around the verses preceding and after this famous verse, and prayerfully asked the Spirit for His counsel, the truth soon dawned on me. In the preceding verses, Jesus had lamented that the Jews had condemned both John the Baptist and himself (11:18,19). He then chided the cities in which his mighty works had been done because they had failed to recognise the works of God (11:20-24). Jesus then went on to say that these things were hidden from the wise but revealed to the babes and that the Father would only be revealed to those whom the Son reveals Him to. Then he spoke the words of rest in Matt 11:28,29. As I meditated on these verses, the Spirit revealed to me a simple truth - There is a pressing need for us to recognise the true works of God. The Jews in their pride were not able to. Only the humble at heart are. The reason for our never ending strife and our tiredness is that in the quest to fulfill our proud ambitions, we are unable to distinguish what is God's work and what is not God's work, but our work. We often claim to be building God's kingdom but are in reality striving to build our own treasures and kingdoms on this earth. The result - we take on much more than God ever intended, at work, in ministry and in our extra-curricular pursuits. It is only to the humble at heart that Jesus will reveal the Father. And it is only those who have seen the Father who are able to discern the works that are from God. The works that come from God, these we should pursue. The works that are not from God but from our flesh, these, we should be wise not to unnecessarily burden ourselves with.
As I moved on to read the verses after Matt 11:28,29, Matthew writes of an episode of the disciples plucking grains in a grainfield on the Sabbath to eat because they were hungry. They were chided by the Pharisees. Jesus then gave the example of David entering into the temple on the Sabbath and eating the showbread. He then makes a startling remark to the Pharisees, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy not sacrifice,' you would not condemn the guiltless." Herein lies the next truth in respect of rest. Only when we are able to recognise the work of God are we able to enter the rest of God. The Pharisees in their own human pride had burden themselves with the works of man, and therefore even on the Sabbath, could never find rest but continued to lay more burdens upon themselves and others. Yet if we were able to see the true heart of God, we would know and recognise His true work. For the work of God was always concerned about genuine need, the needs of His beloved children. The Father's heart was always one of mercy and love. And there was always enough time for each child. Those who engaged in the Father's work, no more and no less, would likewise enter the rest of God, for God himself was able to work for six days and to rest on the seventh.
Only one thing is needful for an overcommitted and tired-out Christian. That is to learn to recognise the works of God. We put aside the strife of our flesh, and embrace only those works which flow from the Father's heart. In doing so, our souls will also experience the rest of God. For His yoke is easy and his burden is light (11:30).
Making sense in calamity and suffering - Part 2
How could a loving God allow thousands of innocent infants to die in the tsunami? Doesn't he care? Doesn't he see? This is no doubt a very difficult question to answer. Perhaps we can try to understand somewhat why God works in the way he does when we understand the sacredness of free choice. When God created man, he created man to be free. For only a free human being can voluntarily choose to love and worship him. Man without choice is essentially a soulless robot. However with this free choice came the possibility that man may not choose God, that man may sin. As God foreknew, man did sin, in the Garden of Eden.
Here is the crux of the matter. With free choice comes moral responsibility. The wages of sin is always death. You could say God created man knowing that some would not choose him and go to hell. Why would a loving God live with that possibility? Because the sanctity and sacredness of free choice demanded that. Free choice that was necessary for us to exist as true, morally independent and free human beings. And we might make conjecture that creation of man was a superior option than no creation at all even though some might go to hell in the process. We might then ask why doesn't God tamper the consequences of the wrong choices we make? Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t. If he did so every time, nobody would go to hell even if they rejected him. You see, free choice necessitates consequences of that choice without which the free choice would be meaningless and the choice itself illusory. If we were to be protected from the consequences of our choice, then there would be no avenue for moral responsibility. God in his wisdom has therefore seen it fit that as morally free beings, we face the consequences of our moral decisions.
How does this apply to the situation like a major calamity? The fact of a decaying creation is the consequences of sin. Creation is in bondage to decay because of Eden. The natural order of things are progressively falling apart. This is the consequence of the morally free choice of our forefathers, the indirect consequence of sin, both in our lives and the lives of our forefathers. God does not always mitigate the evil or tragic consequences that ensue because to do so would remove any avenue for moral responsibility and render the freedom of choice itself illusory. If God were to do so, taken to its extreme, nobody on earth would die, nobody on earth would suffer and nobody on earth would go to hell. Then our decisions simply would not matter. Our freedom of choice rendered farcical.
As to why God saved one child from the waves but allowed another to drown, we will never know. What loving father would allow his son to die? The God we know would. He did, some 2000 years ago on the Cross. To all who were looking on that Calvary morning, the cross was foolishness. Unexplainable foolishness. A man in his prime, full of potential, full of the anointing, yet a life wasted after 2.5 short years of ministry. To the Jews, the cross was an offense and it still is to them today. To the Greeks, the cross was foolishness. Yet the cross is to us the wisdom of God and the power of God. Some things we can only know with the benefit of hindsight. Every dying child, every drown child, every fibre of our being screams and demands to know why? For it violates everything we see as fair and just and kind. But then we survey the wondrous Cross, on which the King of Glory died. How could it be? As I ponder the Cross, and all its seeming insanity and contradictions and illogicality, disbelief gives way to faith, and confusion to hope. For I can never understand enough of God to "darken His counsel with words without knowledge". I can never understand. I can only trust.
Here is the crux of the matter. With free choice comes moral responsibility. The wages of sin is always death. You could say God created man knowing that some would not choose him and go to hell. Why would a loving God live with that possibility? Because the sanctity and sacredness of free choice demanded that. Free choice that was necessary for us to exist as true, morally independent and free human beings. And we might make conjecture that creation of man was a superior option than no creation at all even though some might go to hell in the process. We might then ask why doesn't God tamper the consequences of the wrong choices we make? Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t. If he did so every time, nobody would go to hell even if they rejected him. You see, free choice necessitates consequences of that choice without which the free choice would be meaningless and the choice itself illusory. If we were to be protected from the consequences of our choice, then there would be no avenue for moral responsibility. God in his wisdom has therefore seen it fit that as morally free beings, we face the consequences of our moral decisions.
How does this apply to the situation like a major calamity? The fact of a decaying creation is the consequences of sin. Creation is in bondage to decay because of Eden. The natural order of things are progressively falling apart. This is the consequence of the morally free choice of our forefathers, the indirect consequence of sin, both in our lives and the lives of our forefathers. God does not always mitigate the evil or tragic consequences that ensue because to do so would remove any avenue for moral responsibility and render the freedom of choice itself illusory. If God were to do so, taken to its extreme, nobody on earth would die, nobody on earth would suffer and nobody on earth would go to hell. Then our decisions simply would not matter. Our freedom of choice rendered farcical.
As to why God saved one child from the waves but allowed another to drown, we will never know. What loving father would allow his son to die? The God we know would. He did, some 2000 years ago on the Cross. To all who were looking on that Calvary morning, the cross was foolishness. Unexplainable foolishness. A man in his prime, full of potential, full of the anointing, yet a life wasted after 2.5 short years of ministry. To the Jews, the cross was an offense and it still is to them today. To the Greeks, the cross was foolishness. Yet the cross is to us the wisdom of God and the power of God. Some things we can only know with the benefit of hindsight. Every dying child, every drown child, every fibre of our being screams and demands to know why? For it violates everything we see as fair and just and kind. But then we survey the wondrous Cross, on which the King of Glory died. How could it be? As I ponder the Cross, and all its seeming insanity and contradictions and illogicality, disbelief gives way to faith, and confusion to hope. For I can never understand enough of God to "darken His counsel with words without knowledge". I can never understand. I can only trust.
Making sense in calamity and suffering
How can we make sense of what has happened recently? More than 125,000 dead and the death toll is climbing. Where is God in the midst of such suffering? Here are some thoughts on the issue:
1. The biblical perspective commonly taught on the subject of suffering is that it can be used by God either as a form of chastisement or temporary judgment (as opposed to final judgement in hell) for sin. It can also be used by God to build character, build faith and perseverance and to reveal what is in the heart of man. Suffering teaches us not to rely on ourselves but on God which is ultimately crucial if we are to learn to appropriate grace. But one may ask how does such a theory sit with the thousands who have died? Especially the young children and infants. Here we turn to our next possible answer.
2. The second biblical answer we can give is that suffering is caused as a result of the sin of man. When Adam sinned, the natural world fell into bondage to decay and nature began to progressively breakdown. Natural calamity like earthquakes, etc. result simply because of the breakdown of natural order. God does not cause the suffering but allows it because his salvation of the world is being systematically unfolded in his perfect time. God's approach in dealing with the issue of sin was first to address the evil in the heart of man by Christ's death on the cross. By the cross, the penalty and power of sin was broken in the life of the believer. The next stage of salvation is the second coming when God will transform the physical bodies of all believers and restore the natural order disrupted because of sin. God is not sitting by idle in the midst of sin and suffering. He is intimately concerned about it but we must trust that the unfolding of his perfect salvation can only take place in his perfect timing.
3. The philosophical perspective on the quest for meaning in suffering is a more complex one. When someone asks for meaning in suffering, there is a presumption of order and logic, ie. a rationale answer, that things must ultimately make sense. This presumption can only stand if one believes in creation and the fact that the universe is ordered by an Almighty Being who works all things for a purpose. Without the acknowledgment of the existence of God, we are only left with evolution, which is ultimately the theory of randomness and chance. In such a theory, there is no place for the question "why". Things just happen because it does. Natural forces of physics, chemistry and biology interplay. DNA, molecules and forces determine our future. There is no higher purpose, no transcendent rationality. Like the role of the dice, things just happen. As a philosopher once said, "DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is and we dance to its music." Without God, when we look out at the stars and shout for an answer, there is only the defending silence of an disinterested universe. The atheist who tries to disprove the existence of God by pointing to the lack of meaning in the present suffering finds that his denial of God invalidates his very question. Without the presumption of God's existence, he cannot justify his need for a reasonable answer to his search for meaning.
1. The biblical perspective commonly taught on the subject of suffering is that it can be used by God either as a form of chastisement or temporary judgment (as opposed to final judgement in hell) for sin. It can also be used by God to build character, build faith and perseverance and to reveal what is in the heart of man. Suffering teaches us not to rely on ourselves but on God which is ultimately crucial if we are to learn to appropriate grace. But one may ask how does such a theory sit with the thousands who have died? Especially the young children and infants. Here we turn to our next possible answer.
2. The second biblical answer we can give is that suffering is caused as a result of the sin of man. When Adam sinned, the natural world fell into bondage to decay and nature began to progressively breakdown. Natural calamity like earthquakes, etc. result simply because of the breakdown of natural order. God does not cause the suffering but allows it because his salvation of the world is being systematically unfolded in his perfect time. God's approach in dealing with the issue of sin was first to address the evil in the heart of man by Christ's death on the cross. By the cross, the penalty and power of sin was broken in the life of the believer. The next stage of salvation is the second coming when God will transform the physical bodies of all believers and restore the natural order disrupted because of sin. God is not sitting by idle in the midst of sin and suffering. He is intimately concerned about it but we must trust that the unfolding of his perfect salvation can only take place in his perfect timing.
3. The philosophical perspective on the quest for meaning in suffering is a more complex one. When someone asks for meaning in suffering, there is a presumption of order and logic, ie. a rationale answer, that things must ultimately make sense. This presumption can only stand if one believes in creation and the fact that the universe is ordered by an Almighty Being who works all things for a purpose. Without the acknowledgment of the existence of God, we are only left with evolution, which is ultimately the theory of randomness and chance. In such a theory, there is no place for the question "why". Things just happen because it does. Natural forces of physics, chemistry and biology interplay. DNA, molecules and forces determine our future. There is no higher purpose, no transcendent rationality. Like the role of the dice, things just happen. As a philosopher once said, "DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is and we dance to its music." Without God, when we look out at the stars and shout for an answer, there is only the defending silence of an disinterested universe. The atheist who tries to disprove the existence of God by pointing to the lack of meaning in the present suffering finds that his denial of God invalidates his very question. Without the presumption of God's existence, he cannot justify his need for a reasonable answer to his search for meaning.
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