Our lives are such contradictions. All of us who have tried so hard to make sense of it, to make sense of who we are, will find that we are often a mess of contradictions. Paul's ministry was a sea of contradictions too. In 2 Cor 6:8-10, he says about his ministry, "...by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." If he tried to define himself by the external markers of his ministry, he would have found it almost impossible.
But we all still try. We try to fit our lives into nice little controllable moulds. We seek stability, security, predictability. In our lives and ministry, we try to reach a state of comfort, and put into plan theories that assure success. But we kid ourselves if we think we can find predictability in our lives sufficient to define ourselves by it.
And Paul knew that. Which is why is verse 2 of 2 Cor 6, he quotes Isaiah 49:8, "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you". Isaiah 49 speaks of the ministry of Christ, a ministry to which He had been "called from the womb."(vs1) To Paul, his ministry too was divinely appointed, and this was the "acceptable time" of the Lord. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor 6:2b)
As I began to meditate upon this, the Spirit began to reaffirm to me that despite the contradictions in my life, the sense of divine calling and appointment on my life remained constant and unchanged. I was here at this point of my life because this was the "acceptable time" of God. Despite the external and experiential contradictions and uncertainties, His appointment for my life was certain. I was His, called from the womb to His divine purpose. Certainty was only found in Him. Praise be to God.
Three barriers to our goal
I have spent some time meditating on Phil 3:12 to 14. "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
As I pondered these verses, the Lord began to reveal to me three barriers to achieving the goals that He had set for my life. I have a sense that I am now at the threshold of the next stage of my life and ministry. Inwardly I know that God has a mission for my life which he wills for me to fulfill and that the only person that can stop me from fulfilling this call is myself.
Some of you reading this may also be on the verge of something new. Perhaps God is calling you to a higher level of ministry, calling you to step out in faith in a new area which you have no experience or competence in. He has set a goal in front of you and you are uncertain if you can discharge His call.
Three barriers lie in our path. The first is the barrier of pride. "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect". The greatest stumbling block in ministry is our pride. When we feel we have made it, or can do it, or that we are the best person for the job because of our abilities, then we lose the anointing. This is because pride causes the ascendancy of the flesh and quenches the Spirit. It is only when we humbly admit that we cannot, that the Spirit empowers and enables us.
The second barrier to our goal is our past. "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead". We all have things in our lives that continue to hold us back. Past failures, past humiliations, past pain, past sins. The past continues to grip us with fear such that each time we try to go forward, the past pulls us back. But we must realise that God is not limited by our past. He can and will restore the years the locust have eaten. As we step in faith into a new tomorrow, God will lift us far above our past, into His glorious purposes. On our part, we must let go.
The third barrier to reaching our goal is our lack of perseverance. "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." When ever God calls us to a higher level of faith and ministry, the devil will quickly move to oppose us. The need is for us to "press on". "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim 3:12). When Jesus was anointed by the Spirit at His baptism, immediately He was tested by the devil in the wilderness. Perhaps the testing of our faith at the outset of our first step into a greater promise is to test that which is in our hearts, to break our reliance on ourselves, and to burn away our false and selfish motives. We press on. We must expect opposition so that when it does come, we will not become discouraged and fall away from our goal. May God be glorified in our lives.
As I pondered these verses, the Lord began to reveal to me three barriers to achieving the goals that He had set for my life. I have a sense that I am now at the threshold of the next stage of my life and ministry. Inwardly I know that God has a mission for my life which he wills for me to fulfill and that the only person that can stop me from fulfilling this call is myself.
Some of you reading this may also be on the verge of something new. Perhaps God is calling you to a higher level of ministry, calling you to step out in faith in a new area which you have no experience or competence in. He has set a goal in front of you and you are uncertain if you can discharge His call.
Three barriers lie in our path. The first is the barrier of pride. "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect". The greatest stumbling block in ministry is our pride. When we feel we have made it, or can do it, or that we are the best person for the job because of our abilities, then we lose the anointing. This is because pride causes the ascendancy of the flesh and quenches the Spirit. It is only when we humbly admit that we cannot, that the Spirit empowers and enables us.
The second barrier to our goal is our past. "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead". We all have things in our lives that continue to hold us back. Past failures, past humiliations, past pain, past sins. The past continues to grip us with fear such that each time we try to go forward, the past pulls us back. But we must realise that God is not limited by our past. He can and will restore the years the locust have eaten. As we step in faith into a new tomorrow, God will lift us far above our past, into His glorious purposes. On our part, we must let go.
The third barrier to reaching our goal is our lack of perseverance. "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." When ever God calls us to a higher level of faith and ministry, the devil will quickly move to oppose us. The need is for us to "press on". "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim 3:12). When Jesus was anointed by the Spirit at His baptism, immediately He was tested by the devil in the wilderness. Perhaps the testing of our faith at the outset of our first step into a greater promise is to test that which is in our hearts, to break our reliance on ourselves, and to burn away our false and selfish motives. We press on. We must expect opposition so that when it does come, we will not become discouraged and fall away from our goal. May God be glorified in our lives.
Are you a false Christian?
What does a false Christian look like? He probably attends church or youth ministry regularly. He may come from a Christian family and have been attending Sunday school from young. He may even be serving in some leadership position in the church, perhaps even as a small group leader or a worship leader. He says grace before each meal and knows all the right answers to the bible study questions. He has a socially acceptable morality - he does not smoke, or gamble. He believes in abstinence before marriage and frowns at cohabitation. But if we probe beneath the shell, we find nothing there. There is little prayer in his life. There is no change in character and he lives in constant defeat to sin. There is little conviction in his witness. At the core, the reality and power and salvation of God is glaringly absent in his life.
Such a person is a false Christian because he only has the form of religion but not its spiritual reality. As Paul calls it, "a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Tim 3:5). Paul knew what it was like to be a false Christian. For many years before his personal encounter with our Lord, Paul was a false Christian. He was a Hebrew of Hebrew, and a Pharisee of Pharisees. All the form, all the external facade, but nothing at its core. Such a person was a false Christian because his entire confidence of his religion was in the flesh (Phil 3:4). In short, a false Christian is one who places his confidence in the form of his religion.
Such falsehood and confidence in the flesh is "rubbish" according to Paul (Phil 3:8). Three times in Phl 3:7,8 Paul uses the word "loss". Relying on the form of religion but having no true spiritual reality is in fact detrimental and harmful to us. Because it lulls us into a false sense of pride and security, thinking we are ok when in fact we deceive only ourselves. It blinds us from our true empty, naked and spiritually impoverished state.
What then is true spirituality? What makes a true Christian? Paul then goes on to tell us in Phil 3:9-11. A true Christian is one who has righteousness that is by faith in Jesus. He is one who knows Jesus, knows the power of His resurrection and has the fellowship of His suffering. Here then lies the key. The suffering of the Lord was embodied in the Cross. Jesus said that if any man come after Him, let him take up his cross and follow Him. And at the core of the Cross was death. There was no resurrection power until there was death. Without death, there is no life. This is a powerful lesson for us. It tells us that without the dying to ourselves, we will never come to know Jesus and His resurrection life. There must come a point of every Christian's life where we die to ourselves. We must follow the Spirit into a point of total and utter surrender, of our judgments, our rights, our reputation and our ambitions. Like a living sacrifice, we lay our lives at the foot of the Cross. For then, we will enter into true spiritual life, into the resurrection power of Jesus, and into sweet union and communion with Him to loves us and pursues us. For we carry in our lives the dying of the Lord Jesus, it is then that the life of the Lord Jesus is manifested in us (2 Cor 4:7-11). "For I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me." (Gal 2:20) That my friends, is the only way to enter into true Christianity. It is the door that the false Christian has never entered. Are you tired of the falsehood? The key to true spirituality is the Cross. There is no other way.
Such a person is a false Christian because he only has the form of religion but not its spiritual reality. As Paul calls it, "a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Tim 3:5). Paul knew what it was like to be a false Christian. For many years before his personal encounter with our Lord, Paul was a false Christian. He was a Hebrew of Hebrew, and a Pharisee of Pharisees. All the form, all the external facade, but nothing at its core. Such a person was a false Christian because his entire confidence of his religion was in the flesh (Phil 3:4). In short, a false Christian is one who places his confidence in the form of his religion.
Such falsehood and confidence in the flesh is "rubbish" according to Paul (Phil 3:8). Three times in Phl 3:7,8 Paul uses the word "loss". Relying on the form of religion but having no true spiritual reality is in fact detrimental and harmful to us. Because it lulls us into a false sense of pride and security, thinking we are ok when in fact we deceive only ourselves. It blinds us from our true empty, naked and spiritually impoverished state.
What then is true spirituality? What makes a true Christian? Paul then goes on to tell us in Phil 3:9-11. A true Christian is one who has righteousness that is by faith in Jesus. He is one who knows Jesus, knows the power of His resurrection and has the fellowship of His suffering. Here then lies the key. The suffering of the Lord was embodied in the Cross. Jesus said that if any man come after Him, let him take up his cross and follow Him. And at the core of the Cross was death. There was no resurrection power until there was death. Without death, there is no life. This is a powerful lesson for us. It tells us that without the dying to ourselves, we will never come to know Jesus and His resurrection life. There must come a point of every Christian's life where we die to ourselves. We must follow the Spirit into a point of total and utter surrender, of our judgments, our rights, our reputation and our ambitions. Like a living sacrifice, we lay our lives at the foot of the Cross. For then, we will enter into true spiritual life, into the resurrection power of Jesus, and into sweet union and communion with Him to loves us and pursues us. For we carry in our lives the dying of the Lord Jesus, it is then that the life of the Lord Jesus is manifested in us (2 Cor 4:7-11). "For I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me." (Gal 2:20) That my friends, is the only way to enter into true Christianity. It is the door that the false Christian has never entered. Are you tired of the falsehood? The key to true spirituality is the Cross. There is no other way.
How bad are you?
How bad are you? What have you done in your life that is so bad that God will not forgive you? Could it be the seriousness of a particular sin, or the fact that you have confessed the same sin so many times that you lose count, and lose hope that one day God's patience will run out and His forgiveness will stop. Have you committed the unpardonable sin, whatever you think it may be? You feel you are a Christian for the most part but there is this nagging doubt about your salvation cos you aren't really sure if God has really forgiven you...after all the sin was pretty bad.
In 2 Samuel 11, we see a shocking display of sin by a man who was said to have a heart after God. One day from his palace, David saw a beautiful girl bathing. He lusted after her and had her brought to the palace. He then slept with her and got her pregnant, all the while knowing that she was married. If this was not bad enough, he then orders the commander of the woman's husband to put him in the front of the fiercest battle and then to withdraw from him to let him be killed. The commander does as the King orders. The man is brutally killed. To satisfy his lust, David had committed adultery and murder, two of the most severe moral sins before God. Can you top that? How bad is your sin compared with that? I don't think many of us can lay claim to have done something that is worse than that.
What was surprising was really God's willingness to forgive once David repented. The prophet Nathan confronted David about this sin. There was no hesitation, no protest, no attempt to hide the sin. David's response was swift and to the point. "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Sam 12:13). His repentance was immediate. The response from God through the prophet was equally swift. "The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die". Immediate repentance was met with immediate forgiveness.
Psalms 51 gives us an insight into what was going through David's mind at that time. The Psalm was written when Nathan had confronted him about his terrible sin. David knew that until he acknowledge the sin, it would always be before him and before God. He also knew that it was against God and God alone that he had sinned. And God desired truth in the inward parts. David knew that he could not simply just cannot hide his sin from God and pretend that it will go away. For God saw everything, knew everything and felt everything. And God was waiting for him to come clean.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalms 51:1-12
How bad are you?
In 2 Samuel 11, we see a shocking display of sin by a man who was said to have a heart after God. One day from his palace, David saw a beautiful girl bathing. He lusted after her and had her brought to the palace. He then slept with her and got her pregnant, all the while knowing that she was married. If this was not bad enough, he then orders the commander of the woman's husband to put him in the front of the fiercest battle and then to withdraw from him to let him be killed. The commander does as the King orders. The man is brutally killed. To satisfy his lust, David had committed adultery and murder, two of the most severe moral sins before God. Can you top that? How bad is your sin compared with that? I don't think many of us can lay claim to have done something that is worse than that.
What was surprising was really God's willingness to forgive once David repented. The prophet Nathan confronted David about this sin. There was no hesitation, no protest, no attempt to hide the sin. David's response was swift and to the point. "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Sam 12:13). His repentance was immediate. The response from God through the prophet was equally swift. "The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die". Immediate repentance was met with immediate forgiveness.
Psalms 51 gives us an insight into what was going through David's mind at that time. The Psalm was written when Nathan had confronted him about his terrible sin. David knew that until he acknowledge the sin, it would always be before him and before God. He also knew that it was against God and God alone that he had sinned. And God desired truth in the inward parts. David knew that he could not simply just cannot hide his sin from God and pretend that it will go away. For God saw everything, knew everything and felt everything. And God was waiting for him to come clean.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalms 51:1-12
How bad are you?
What makes a leader?
What makes a leader, specifically a Christian leader? His charisma? His ability to preach and inspire? His organizational ability? While these gifts can be a blessing to the church, they are not enough. On the contrary, Christian leaders who are 'gifted' with leadership abilities in the worldly sense have a much greater temptation to lead out of human strength than of the Spirit. Human wisdom, human planning and human perspectives can oftentimes be the greatest impediment to the work of the Spirit. This is because the foundation of our reliance is on flesh and not of the Spirit.
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD .
He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives."
(Jer 17:5,6)
As I prayerfully sought the Lord on what He required in His leaders, two things came to mind. The first is sensitivity to the Spirit. A leader must be a person of prayer, and sensitive to the Spirit. True leadership is leadership on its knees. Many of us including myself often just pay lip service to prayer, teach and talk alot about it, but simply do not walk the talk. The alarming thing is that a leader who does not pray, and who cannot hear God, is like a captain of a ship who does not know where he is going. Forgive our sins Lord, hear our prayer and let us hear Your voice clearly. Let us hear what you, Holy Spirit, are saying to Your church.
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD ,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
(Jer 17:7,8)
The second essential quality of a Christian leader is servant leadership. As the world mourns the lost of Pope John Paul, what struck me most in an article about the life of this great man was his commitment to servant leadership. Too many of us exalt ourselves in our God-given positions, claiming glory and infallibility that is God’s alone. In our good intentions, we think we know what is best, guard our turfs and become resistant to views adverse to our own. Like the Sons of Zebedee, we crave the glory of sitting on the right and left of His throne in heaven. Yet the Lord saw things differently.
“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave– just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
(Matt 20:25-28)
Perhaps now is the time for each of us to examine our lives to see if we are leading on our knees or from our exalted pedestals. Let us get off our pedestals and fall on our knees in prayer and servanthood. For only then, will we be fit to lead his church.
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD .
He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives."
(Jer 17:5,6)
As I prayerfully sought the Lord on what He required in His leaders, two things came to mind. The first is sensitivity to the Spirit. A leader must be a person of prayer, and sensitive to the Spirit. True leadership is leadership on its knees. Many of us including myself often just pay lip service to prayer, teach and talk alot about it, but simply do not walk the talk. The alarming thing is that a leader who does not pray, and who cannot hear God, is like a captain of a ship who does not know where he is going. Forgive our sins Lord, hear our prayer and let us hear Your voice clearly. Let us hear what you, Holy Spirit, are saying to Your church.
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD ,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
(Jer 17:7,8)
The second essential quality of a Christian leader is servant leadership. As the world mourns the lost of Pope John Paul, what struck me most in an article about the life of this great man was his commitment to servant leadership. Too many of us exalt ourselves in our God-given positions, claiming glory and infallibility that is God’s alone. In our good intentions, we think we know what is best, guard our turfs and become resistant to views adverse to our own. Like the Sons of Zebedee, we crave the glory of sitting on the right and left of His throne in heaven. Yet the Lord saw things differently.
“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave– just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
(Matt 20:25-28)
Perhaps now is the time for each of us to examine our lives to see if we are leading on our knees or from our exalted pedestals. Let us get off our pedestals and fall on our knees in prayer and servanthood. For only then, will we be fit to lead his church.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)