From 32, 000 to 300

In Judges 7, it records Gideon’s three hundred men fighting against the Midianites. In total, Israel had 32, 000 men in the troop. Surprisingly, the Lord cut down the number of Gideon’s troops, saying “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’” (7:2) From the beginning, the narrative shows that victory does not come from Israel, but from God alone. 32, 000 men means nothing if they don’t participate in this fight with commitment and courage. God said, “‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’ Then 22, 000 of the people returned, and 10, 000 remained.” (7:3) If your heart is not in it, get out of here.

Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many…” (7:4) 300 out of 10, 000 men were chosen because they didn’t kneel down to drink. Rather, they “lapped, putting their hands to their mouths” (7:5-8). We don’t need to speculate the reason why those who kneeled down to drink water did not get selected. The main point should be the number of Gideon’s troops: from 32, 000 to 300. It’s against human strategy, human will, and human scheme. Against all odds, the end result is that Gideon defeated Midian (7:19-25).

We always move forward with our limitation and inadequacy. We can only move forward with who we are. In case we are too adequate and rely too much on our own, the Lord wants us to bear with our own limitation “lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’” Gideon was filled with self-doubt. At this point, after God showed him some signs, he overcame and moved forward. It doesn’t mean that he became a different, complete person. As God said to Gideon, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant” (7:9-10). God knew his fearful heart. But at least, Gideon improved a bit in his spiritual journey.

In the period of Judges, when there was no king in the land, God raised up Gideon to save Israel. The story shows that God himself is the one who saved Israel, for victory can only come from God. However, he invited Gideon to co-work with him. In the midst of response and hesitation, Gideon hesitated and yet participated in God’s plan. As a result, Gideon was being transformed bit by bit. The progress may be slow, even not noticeable. But it is real.

We save no one. We can save no one.  God alone saves. And he saves through us in spite of our inadequacy. We are being shaped and formed when we allow God to save whatever and whoever through us.

John Stott

John R. W. Stott died today at the age of 90. Christianity Today calls him, an architect of 20th-century evangelicalism shaped the faith of a generation (See the link: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/julyweb-only/john-stott-obit.html).

The Radical Disciple: Some Neglected Aspects of Our Calling (IVP Books, 2010) is the last book that he published. At the end of the book, he wrote the following in the postscript (pp. 136-137):

As I lay down my pen for the last time (literally, since I confess I am not computerized) at the age of eight-eight, I venture to send this valedictory message to my readers. I am grateful for your encouragement, for many of you have written to me.

Looking ahead, none of us of course knows what the future of printing and publishing may be. But I myself am confident that the future of books is assured and that, though they will be complemented, they will never be altogether replaced. For there is something unique about books. Our favorite books become very precious to us and we even develop with them an almost living and affectionate relationship. Is it an altogether fanciful fact that we handle, stroke and even smell them as tokens of our esteem and affection? I am not referring only to an author’s feeling for what he has written, but to all readers and their library. I have made it a rule not to quote from any book unless I have first handled it. So let me urge you to keep reading, and encourage your relatives and friends to do the same. For this is a much neglected means of grace…

Once again, farewell!

Same Presence

In Judges 6-9, these chapters as one unit are about Gibeon. “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you. O mighty man of valor.’” (6:12) Gideon questioned the calling of God based on what he saw in Israel (6:13). The Lord challenged him to save Israel (6:14). Gideon responded with what he saw in himself: “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (6:15). Then the presence of the Lord assured him once again: “The Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you…’” (6:16)

What draws my attention is Gideon’s self doubt and the presence of God as his assurance.  God said to Moses that “I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (Exod. 3:10). Moses replied, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (3:11). Then the Lord said, “But I will be with you…” (3:12) After the death of Moses, standing at the edge of the Jordan River, Joshua was nervous, anxious, and even frightened. The Lord said to him, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you” (Josh. 1:5; cf. 1:9). In different epochs, there are different servants; there is only one God: same presence; different circumstances.

The calling of Gideon seems to say that when we only look at the surrounding and one’s ability, we are fearful, powerless, and emotionally paralyzed. Just as when Moses was occupied by Pharaoh and Joshua fixed his eyes on the Jordan River and the Canaanites, they questioned themselves. In other words, they questioned God’s guidance, authority, and sovereignty. From time to time, we must tune our inner lens and re-focus on the Lord and his own promises. After dividing the Land among all the tribes, including Levi, it said: “Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (Josh. 21:45).

The geography of the Book of Judges occurred in the Promised Land. In the Land of Promise, people continued to question the God of Promise. The Promised Land failed to serve as a reminder to this faithful God. Rather, it was the Land in which the Israelites lived in and yet stopped living as a people of God.

Judges 5:16-17:

Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds, to hear the whistling for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan; and Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, staying by his landings (ESV).

All these tribes were indifferent to the wider society and just stayed there motionlessly.

一些釋經原則

(Taken from http://fishandhappiness.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post_25.html)

尼采說：「最壞的讀者閱讀時就像是在搶掠的士兵：他們拿取一些對自己有用的東西，弄髒和搞亂自己不要的，因而褻瀆了整體。」（"The worst readers are those who proceed like plundering soldiers: they pick up a few things they can use, soil and confuse the rest, and blaspheme the whole." From Mixed Opinions and Maxims, 1879）

將這種讀者比作搶掠的士兵，真是妙極！他們閱讀時只著眼於符合自己心意的語句段落，並隨意理解，日後也隨意運用，卻又完全不覺得這樣做有何不妥，像是「奉旨」的。此外，這種讀者不會尊重閱讀的文章或書的整體，讀到不合自己心意的內容時，一是視而不見，一是加以曲解，務求不會丟失那些已成為他們「囊中物」的語句段落。

我認為尼采用「褻瀆」一詞（當然是指他用的那個德文對應詞）是有深意的：作者是文章或書的創造者，寫作可以說是一種無中生有的活動，可媲美神無中生有創造天地；對書不敬，就是對書的創造者不敬，可以比擬為對神不敬，是為褻瀆也。

看來，尼采不會認為文本是完全獨立於作者的了。

大驚小怪的必要

(Taken from http://arnoldii.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/作家回塘的原因/)

大驚小怪的必要　20/7/2011　王貽興

【太陽】很多作家寫了一段日子，忽然開始不再好看，也許因為他已經發了達上了岸，又也許是因為他已經失去當初風格與特色，跟以往不再一樣了。

然而更致命也更常見的原因，卻在於其童心與熱情已經不再。當寫到一定年紀，人就漸漸變得沉穩成熟，開始悔其少作，為年少時的大驚小怪與大吵大鬧汗顏，彼時那麼膚淺，怎可能如此不害臊拍案大罵？當你擁有一定的讀者群與地位，當你不小心摔過幾次跤，人就開始謹慎起來，明白獻醜不如藏拙，加上人已無當初那種初生之犢的狠勁與特立獨行，漸被江湖規矩約束，有些話也不便說明，於是就漸漸和稀泥起來了。

然而讀者喜歡你的文章，很多時候就是喜歡你少不更事，喜歡你大驚小怪。沒錯觀點與角度可能不夠成熟，然而坦率直接，不造作，卻也是一種難得的討喜。到後來技巧漸漸成熟，視野開始擴闊，反而很多原本理所當然的就變得不再那麼篤定，無法再像以往那樣一往無前了。

是故不論寫作與做人，如果想活得順遂長久，的確是有必要讓自己變成老油條；然而愛看戲的人要的卻不是這些。他們愛看人碰釘子，愛遠觀無視規則的搗蛋鬼，更愛說出他們心聲的遠吠。

當我們對發生在身邊的事情失去大驚小怪的好奇與熱情，不論做人還是寫作，大可乾脆宣布死亡，接下來已經是人云亦云的行屍走肉了。

Do Not Know the Lord

I was reading the Book of Judges a moment ago. Judg. 2:10—“And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” I was caught by this verse. Generally speaking, the entire, new generation didn’t know the Lord. It sets a sharp contrast in comparison with the previous generation. In 2:7, it said, “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.” Under Joshua’s leadership, people knew and served the Lord. Their serving pointed out the fact that they really knew the Lord, for mere knowing doesn’t promote servanthood in one’s life.

For me, what is shocking is that the new generation didn’t know the Lord and his works at all. My immediate response is that the older generation, the elders who worked with Joshua before, didn’t teach the next generation faithfully. They failed to inform and educate their descendants. Perhaps, they lived in the Promised Land, which was filled with milk and honey. They inherited and shared the land. They finished fighting for the land. They enjoyed living in the land. They forgot the land as a gift given to them in the first place. They lived for themselves. They lacked nothing, except urgency to build up their faith and cultivate the piety of the next generation.

The older generation served the Lord because Joshua served God among them as “the servant of the Lord” (2:8) and governed them with leadership. We must give Joshua credits, for he had a group of elders working along with him. A lot of leaders died in the wilderness due to their stubbornness. As Moses’s successor, Joshua raised up many capable leaders in his era. After Joshua was gone, something went wrong.

In our era, who are willing to pass on the tradition of the Christian Faith from one generation to another?

The Gate of Heaven

Sue and I attended the evening service at the Redeemer Presbyterian Church. The sermon was based on Gen. 28:10-22. The pastor was my schoolmate at Gordon-Conwell. Jacob fled from Esau and “reached a certain place.” (v. 11) In the OT narrative, the biblical author is often very descriptive about the scene: the name of a place, the time, the people, etc…Here, ironically, Jacob reached to a place with no name. “It’s a non-place,” said the pastor. When I listened to the sermon, I knew that he got the “non-place” insight from Walter Brueggemann. In commenting on Gen. 28:10-11, Brueggemann said:

“The framework of the journey (vv. 10-11) is not very important except that the event happens ‘between places’ where nothing is expected…Here everything is risky. It is enough in this memory that a ‘non-place’ is transformed by the coming of God into a crucial place…And in the process, this ‘non-person’ (i.e., exiled, threatened) is transformed by the coming of God to a person crucial for the promise.” [Genesis (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982), p. 242.]

Due to Jacob’s own mess, he came to this non-place in which he met God the first time. This “non-person” is about to be transformed into a person at this “non-place.” Sometimes we can’t particularly point out where we are at in life stage or journey. We are in this “non-place.” For Jacob, God revealed to him the first time at this “non-place.” After theophany, Jacob said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it…How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” (vv. 16-17)

The pastor said that in the narrative there is a theme of strangeness and lostness. Jacob was lost in exile. He ended up in this “non-place” where he couldn’t locate himself. But this no-name place became the house of God. It became a window for Jacob to say that: “This is the gate of heaven.” Wherever we are at, that is where the gate of heaven is. Our “certain place” can become the gate of heaven in and through which we can encounter God in a fresh and surprising way. 

Luther's Advice

Martin Luther said:

"A student who doesn't want his work to go for nothing ought to read and reread some good author until the author becomes part, as it were, of his flesh and blood. Scattered reading confuses more than it teaches. Many books, even good ones, have the same effect on the student. So he is like the man who dwells everywhere and therefore dwells nowhere. Just as in human society we don't enjoy fellowship of every friend every day, but only of a few chosen ones, so we ought to do in our studies."

--Quoted by Stephen J. Nichols, Martin Luther: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought (Phillipsburg: P&R, 2002), p. 225.

Inside.Outside

(Taken from http://www.andrewfullercenter.org/blog/2011/07/what-is-intangible/)

When human beings—whatever their spiritual or ideological orientation—work together, there is brought into being an ambience, an ethos, a culture. This is a given, for this is how human beings have been made. Humans are culture-fashioners. And there is a feel to their being-together that in some ways is an intangible, something almost indefinable. But it is known and felt as soon as one spends time in the presence of this group of people or at their meetings. This is as true for office staffs as political caucuses and as real for astronomy faculties, law firms and churches. And sometimes the ambience is at odds with the public face of the group. One thing is affirmed publicly, but the reality of what is experienced is different.

As I reflect on my experience of Christian groups, some seemed outwardly more narrow than others in their confession, yet what warmth of love within. Others projected themselves as open and progressive, yet the internal dynamics were really quite nasty. Others affirmed a commitment to God’s sovereignty, yet were paralyzed by fear.

Not surprisingly, the love and nastiness and fear were never dwelt upon publicly: but any time spent in the group soon revealed the reality. O may our gatherings and groups be marked in truth by the ambience and the culture of the Spirit!

光頭. 起眼

(Taken from http://littlehohk.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post_13.html)

礙眼

最近刮光了頭髮，成為光頭佬。光頭男人在這裏十分普遍，但中國人就絕無僅有，所以走到街上，感覺上比以前有較多目光注視，內心也感不太自然，有時也怕容易被人點相。

因為身體特徵不同，使自已從人群中區分出來，一般可以形容為「起眼」，但當自信心不足時，我會形容為「礙眼」。其實「礙眼」未必帶有負面含意，如同「樣衰」一樣。「礙眼」就是介乎「起眼」和「樣衰」之間。「礙眼」的「礙」字，正好說明我用這詞語來形容自我感覺的原因：一粒小「石」令人產生「疑」問，就像入了鞋中壓著人腳底的一塊「異物」，令人不感到混身不自在。

從這角度看，基督徒應該是很「礙眼」的，教會也應是很「礙眼」的。令人感覺「順眼」、「養眼」的東西，已成為人體或社會系統的一部份，代表著你沒有獨立的存在價值，因為你已被「馴化」，也因此令大家可繼續互相依附地保持現狀。唯有「礙眼」的東西，才能刺激起人想到自己世界的不健全，提醒人注意到alternative的可能性。

做「礙眼」的「異物」，風險是會被鏟除，令人覺得你是「阻住地球轉」多於帶給人思考。但這不是耶穌在地上所受到的遭遇嗎？

A Process of Correlation

Christian spirituality is the integration of personal issues, denominational considerations, and attitudes to the World, Culture, and History.[1] God has given me a particular type of personality and a specific set of institutional factors. I have been shaped by all these “given” factors. Christian spirituality is the integrative work to put all these things as a unified whole so that I can keep on continuing to find out His will and respond to it in my life. Besides that, as a pastor, it’s my burden to help others integrate different pieces of fragmented information in them.

Alister McGrath writes:

Christian spirituality can be thought of as the attempt to bring into contact and correlate a set of theological beliefs on the one hand with a very specific set of personal and institutional factors on the other…The point is that it is this process of correlation which is of central importance within spirituality. Spirituality is not something that is deduced totally for theological presuppositions, nor is it something which is inferred totally from our experience. It arises from a creative and dynamic synthesis of faith and life, forged in the crucible of the desire to live out the Christian faith authentically, responsibly, effectively, and fully.[2]

Christian spirituality is a process of correlation: Christian experience and Christian theology are mingled together as one integrated expression.

---

[1] See Alister E. McGrath, Christian Spirituality: An Introduction (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), pp. 8-9.

[2] Ibid., p. 9.

The Pastors and Teachers

Pastors must be able to teach. Pastors are God’s gift to the church. “He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4:11). The pastors and teachers are considered as one category in the text, for there is only one Greek article in front of both groups. Therefore, they are “teaching pastors.” Pastors have different functions. However, their teaching function ought to be distinctive. If pastors don’t teach the truth in the church, who will?

John Piper writes:

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:11 that Jesus has given to his church pastors and teachers. And it tells us that these pastors and teachers should be “able to teach” (1 Tim. 3:2). They should be good teachers. So all of us pastors should be thinking, God is giving me as a gift to my church. And he is telling me, The way you will be a gift to your church is if you are an effective teacher.

I think that implies that ordinary folks in the pew need help understanding their Bible. If the sheep did not need help understanding their Bibles, God would not have given shepherds who had to be apt to teach. The shepherds would just read the Bible on Sunday morning, and the people would see and feel all they need to. No teaching or preaching required. But that’s not how Jesus set it up.[1]

To say it from another perspective, David Wells says:

Across much of evangelicalism, but especially in the market-driven churches, one therefore sees a new kind of leadership among pastors now. Gone is the older model of the scholar-saint, one who was as comfortable with books and learning as with the aches of the soul. This was the shepherd who knew the flock, knew how to tend it, and Sunday by Sunday took that flock into the treasures of God’s Word. This has changed.[2]

Pastors become administrators, organizers, church overseers, program directors, etc…We do all things, except being a faithful Bible expositor and teacher. We fail to keep the main thing the main thing. Paul said to the Ephesians elders: “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27, ESV). Paul had faithfully taught and preached the whole plan of God’s salvation as revealed in Scripture.

---

[1] John Piper and D. A. Carson, The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry. Edited by Owen Strachan and David Mathis (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), p. 61.

[2] David F. Wells, The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-Lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), p. 40.

Pastor as Scholar; Scholar as Pastor

My new book arrived today, John Piper and D. A. Carson, The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry. Edited by Owen Strachan and David Mathis (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011). 

After finishing up his theological degree at Fuller Theological Seminary, John Piper was wondering what he should do with his life. He wrote:

But what to do with my life? The advice I got was, if you have the energy and a wife who’s willing, go ahead and get your final degree (a doctorate), and then all the doors will be open to you. So, after I was rejected at Princeton and accepted by Leonhard Goppelt at the University of Munich, we headed for Germany in July 1971. (pp. 40-41)

At this moment, this piece of advice sounds good in my head.

The Language of Sin

The church is losing its prophetic voice against the surrounding culture. We are silent to the point where we are succumbed to the force of cultural agenda. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world—like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don’t hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all” (Matt. 5:14-15).

One of the ways we hide our light under a basket is to make the notion and reality of sin disappear in our message. The language of sin is offensive. It’s judgmental. It is not welcome in our society. “Words such as disease, antisocial behavior, and lack of moral development had replaced sin as explanations for human behavior.”[1] The notion of sin in relation to God is taken away from public conversation. Instead, the concept of psychological and personal improvement in relation to oneself and one another dominates our common language.

Albert Mohler wrote:

This is an abdication of the gospel. Where sin is not faced as sin, grace cannot be grace. What need have men and women of atonement when they are told that their deepest problem is something less than what the Bible explicitly teachers? Weak teaching on sin leads to cheap grace, and neither leads to the gospel.

Scripture identifies sin as humanity’s willful revolt against God. It is rebellion and disobedience. Furthermore, it is “missing the mark” of faithfulness to God’s holy standard. It is the most fundamental human problem, and it is the reason we need a Savior. It is a revolt against God’s authority and an insult to God’s glory. It is humanity in moral revolt, usually disguised as personal autonomy.[2]

Gay marriage misses the mark of God’s holy standard. It is a willful revolt against God’s original design in creation. It’s an anti-creation practice. The Scripture names it SIN.

Jesus affirmed heterosexual relationship when he discussed divorce and marriage in Matthew 19 by quoting Genesis 1:27 and 2:24: “”They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’ And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ (19:4-5, NLT) Jesus affirmed the creation account. We affirm what Christ affirmed.

Lev. 18:22—“Do not practice homosexuality; it is a detestable sin.” (NLT)

Lev. 20:13—“The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have committed a detestable act and are guilty of a capital offense.” (NLT)

Rom. 1:26-27—“That’s why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved.” (NLT)

1 Cor. 6:9-10—“Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers—none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God.” (NLT)

1 Tim. 1:9-11—“But they were not made for people who do what is right. They are for people who are disobedient and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who murder their father or mother or other people. These laws are for people who are sexually immoral, for homosexuals and slave traders, for liars and oath breakers, and for those who do anything else that contradicts the right teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God.” (NLT)

---

[1] R. Albert Mohler Jr. The Disappearance of God: Dangerous Beliefs in the New Spiritual Openness (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2009), p. 26.

[2] Ibid., p. 28.

Tolerance and Openness

In The Disappearance of God: Dangerous Beliefs in the New Spiritual Openness (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2009), R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in the preface:

Indeed, the abdication of biblical faith is one of the hallmarks of our age—whether you prefer to call it postmodern, hypermodern, or post-postmodern. Yet, once the faith is severed from biblical authority, Christianity becomes essentially plastic; a malleable and changeable belief system that just begs for transformation into some other shape and substance.

The situation is complicated further by the embrace of an “openness” that is not open to authentic biblical Christianity. Tolerance becomes a code word for avoiding truth, and openness means never having to make a judgment about truth at all.” (pp. xii-xiv)

We live in an age where we are supposed to tolerate everything and be open to everything. Otherwise, we are being labeled as close-minded, rigid, judgmental, conservative, etc…

One of the examples that the author uses when he comments on the Emerging Church is homosexuality. When one of the Emerging Church leaders, Brian McLaren, was asked about the issue of homosexuality at a conference, here is his position: “McLaren insisted that there is no good and satisfactory position for Christians to take, because all positions will hurt someone… McLaren also took refuge in the assumption that homosexuality as we know it today may not be the behavior or phenomenon so roundly condemned in the Bible.” By using D. A. Carson’s own words, “As Carson explains McLaren’s position, ‘that is always bad.’” (p. 82)

Many in the Emerging Church Movement prefer to take refuge in an either/or, both/and, and inherently ambiguous understanding of truth. All this leads Carson to ask a crucial question: “Is there at least some danger that what is being advocated is not so much a new kind of Christian in a new emerging church, but a church that is so submerging itself in the culture that it risks hopeless compromise?” (p. 83)

When we are open and tolerate without firmly standing on the authority of Scripture, we make God disappear in our age, for we fail to promote the presence of God with biblical beliefs about God.

Our Good Things

In the story of the Rich Man in Mark 10: 17-27, the rich man asked, “What should I do to get eternal life?”  After quoting the second half of the Ten Commandments, the rich man said, “Teacher, I’ve obeyed all these commandments since was a child.” In verse 21, Mark said, “Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. ‘You lack only one thing,’ he told him. ‘Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”

Jesus reveals two levels of religious commitment. The first level is one’s own religiosity. We obey the laws and avoid all sin. It sounds rigid. But it’s easy to follow. It doesn’t lead to life, though. It’s dead orthodoxy. The second level is one’s commitment to Jesus himself. One’s agenda must be put aside, for He has a new priority implanted in us. He always wants us to go deeper. Perhaps, in the beginning of faith, the simple truth “obey all laws and avoid all sin” works for a while. As time goes by, Christian faith is not that linear. Jesus raises the bar a bit, saying “go, sell, come, and follow.” What Jesus is saying is that what you have becomes your god. That’s why Jesus doesn’t quote the first half of the Ten Commandments. You may live an ethical life, but you are far from getting into eternal life. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” (10:25) We can’t hold on to our god. And at the same time we want to enter the Kingdom of God. Not only do we “obey and avoid,” but also “go, sell, come, and follow.”

Tim Keller said:

In other words Jesus says: “If you want to follow me and to have eternal life, of course you shouldn’t commit adultery; you shouldn’t defraud people or murder them. You shouldn’t do bad things. But if you just repent of doing bad things, all it will do is make you a religious person. If you want eternal life, if you want intimacy with God, if you want to get over that nagging sense that there’s still something missing, if you can’t find a way to get the stain out, then you have to change how you relate to your gifts and your successes. You have to repent of how you’ve been using your good things.” [King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus (New York: Dutton, 2011), p. 131.]

Of All Nations

For the past few years, I spent time to read, study, and apply discipleship in a local church. Perhaps, I know this topic fairly well now. My interest has been gradually shifted from a local setting to a global setting. In other words, it’s shifted from “make disciples” to “of all nations.” God has been doing surprising work around the globe. How should I respond to God’s work? For the past few months, I’ve started to read books on globalization or global faith. How can I prepare myself to go globally in the future?  I just start to read Timothy Tennent’s Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology (Zondervan, 2007). There have been many shifts in the “center of gravity” of the world Christian movement. The gospel is for all people and all nations. It’s not owned by any particular group.

An excerpt:

We live at another one of these important transitions in the history of Christianity as we experience the rise of the Majority World church and the signs of the possible, although once unthinkable, demise of Western Christianity. Evidence of this development is seen, for example, when we observe where the majority of Christians are now located around the world. This is often referred to as a shift in the “center of gravity” of the world Christian movement. The statistical center of gravity refers to that point on the globe with an equal number of Christians living north, south, east, and west of that point.

After its birth in Asia, Christianity had its most vigorous growth as it moved steadily westward and northward. As more and more people in the West embraced Christianity, the statistical center of gravity moved north and west. However, beginning in 1900, the statistical center began to shift dramatically southward, and in 1970 it began to move eastward for the first time in 1, 370 years! Today, the statistical center of Christianity is located in Timbuktu! This means that for the first time since the Reformation, the majority of Christians (approximately 67 percent) are now located outside of the Western world.

Some specific examples of how the church is changing will, perhaps, help to illustrate this shift better. At the turn of the twentieth century the Christian church was predominately white and Western. In 1900, there were over 389 million Christians in Europe and less than 10 million on the entire continent of Africa. Today there are over 367 million Christians in Africa, comprising one fifth of the entire Christians church. Throughout the twentieth century a net average gain of 16, 500 people were coming to Christ every day in Africa. From 1970 to 1985, for example, the church in Africa grew by over six million people. During that same time, 4, 300 people per day were leaving the church in Europe and North America.” (pp. 8-9)

Discipleship Letters 39-40

Discipleship Letter 39                                                April 26, 2009

This is my third time to go to MetroYouth, Lake Champion. I am not too excited about going to this conference; however, I am looking forward to helping them grow after the conference. Evangelism is a necessary step toward the beginning of a Christian life; discipleship is an indispensable strategy toward the maturity of faith.

I don’t limit different ways of how God is going to change the lives of these young people. God is always beyond my religious system: his ways are higher than my ways. All I need to do is to find the most suitable way to help others grow. God will take care of the rest. Someone said, “When we take care of God’s business, God will take care of our business.” I find this saying insightful. God is always active among us. He is always looking for his servants.

What if we had twenty new people today, what if the twenty of them needed to be nurtured, would you be able to nurture them? Would you be willing to disciple them? You need to grow, and you need to help others to grow. You can’t focus on one thing and ignore the other. If you don’t grow, you can’t help others to grow. If you only help others to grow and neglect your personal growth, you will mess up the growth of others. “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18a).

-- 

Discipleship Letter 40                                                May 3, 2009

The church usually says that each believer has a responsibility to share the good news with others. There is no doubt that it’s one of our greatest responsibilities. Yet, in the gospel story, we see that not only did Jesus go to different places to preach the kingdom message, but also discipled the twelve followers while they were following Him around. The Twelve followed by invitation only. Jesus invited them and said to each of them, “Come, follow me.”

The church rarely says that we have a responsibility to nurture other believers. It seems that this noble task only belongs to pastors and a small circle of church lay leaders. This is absolutely wrong. Each believer has to nurture others. Each believer should say, “You should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s” (1 Cor. 11:1). This is not arrogant. This is discipleship. Christian growth is about following. We imitate Christ, and we invite others to imitate Christ through us. It’s a noble, yet dangerous task.

“The modeling we experience has a lasting effect upon us, for good or for ill…We have to see the wrong modeling we are following in order to renounce it. The goal is to replace the poor modeling with the modeling of people who ‘imitate Christ,’ the ones in his Body who show us how he would do it; then we can do it the same way…We imitate those who imitate him.” [Henry Cloud and John Townsend, How People Grow: What the Bible Reveals about Personal Growth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), pp. 140-141.]

Follow me, just as I follow Christ. We should emphasize the second “follow” first, then the first.

Follow My Thread

I bought a book on Sunday. It’s Timothy Keller’s King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus (Dutton, 2011). The book is about the life of Jesus according to the Gospel of Mark. The first half of the book is about Jesus as the King; the second half, Jesus’ Cross. The way Tim Keller interprets the text is ok, but the way he communicates the story of Jesus to modern readers is very good. As I read, I realize that not only do I learn the life of Jesus according to Mark, but also Keller’s communication skill. The way he uses illustrations is amazing. However, most of the illustrations that he draws from are sophisticated. You have to pay attention to get it. Once you get it, you are hooked and start to think about it.

To illustrate what it means to us when Jesus said to the disciples: “Come, follow me.” Tim Keller said:

About 150 years ago George MacDonald wrote a children’s book called The Princess and the Goblin. Irene, the protagonist, is eight years old. She has found an attic room in her house, and every so often her fairy grandmother appears there. When Irene goes to look for her she’s often not there, so one day her grandmother gives her a ring with a thread tied to it, leading to a little ball of thread. She explains that she’ll keep the ball.

“But I can’t see it,” says Irene.

“No. The thread is too fine for you to see it. You can only feel it.” With this assurance, Irene tests the thread.

“Now, listen,” says the grandmother, “If ever you find yourself in any danger…you must take off your ring and put it under the pillow of your bed. Then you must lay your forefinger…upon the thread, and follow the thread wherever it leads you.”

“Oh, how delightful! It will lead me to you, Grandmother, I know!”

“Yes,” said the grandmother, “but, remember, it may seem to you a very roundabout way indeed, and you must not doubt the thread. Of one thing you may be sure, that while you hold it, I hold it too.” A few days later Irene is in bed, and goblins get into the house. She hears them snarling out in the hallway, but she has the presence of mind to take off her ring and put it under the pillow. And she begins to feel the thread, knowing that it’s going to take her to her grandmother and to safety. But to her dismay, it takes her outside, and she realizes that it’s taking her right toward the cave of the goblins.

Inside the cave, the thread leads her up to a great heap of stones, a dead end. “The thought struck her, that at least she could follow the thread backwards, and thus get out…But the instant she tried to feel it backwards, it vanished from her tough.” The grandmother’s thread only worked forward, but forward it led into a heap of stones. Irene “burst into a wailing cry,” but after crying she realizes that the only way to follow the thread is to tear down the wall of stones. She begins tearing it down, stone by stone. Though her fingers are soon bleeding, she pulls and pulls.

Suddenly she hears a voice. It’s her friend Curdie, how has been trapped in the goblin’s cave! Curdie is astounded and asks, “Why, however, did you come here?” 

Irene replies that her grandmother sent her, “and I think I’ve found out way.”

After Irene has followed the thread and removed enough rocks to create an opening, Curdie starts to climb up out of the cave—but Irene keeps going deeper into the cave. Curdie objects: “Where are you going there? That’s not the way out. That’s where I couldn’t get out.”

“I know that,” says Irene. “But this is the way my thread goes, and I must follow it.” And indeed the thread proves trustworthy, because her grandmother is trustworthy. (pp. 22-25)

This story is a bit long. But it makes you think about the phrase: “But this is my thread goes, and I must follow it.” Jesus is trustworthy. An hour ago, I was reading Psalms. I paused, mediated, and prayed to God when I was reading Ps. 84:11b-12:

“No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right.

O Lord Almighty, happy are those who trust in you.”

Subtract, then Add

Reading Jim Cymbala’s Fresh Faith challenges me from time to time. In chapter 12 Addition by Subtraction, he talks about the fact that we can only move on by losing some things in life. There are certain things we must give up in order to move ahead and follow the Lord. In other words, we must empty ourselves in order to be filled with. Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk. 1:15) Repentance points to the reality of being emptied; trust, to the reality of being filled with God’s blessing in Christ. This is a kingdom principle in the life of faith.

Jim Cymbala wrote:

We have to face the fact that in order to be what God wants us to be, he will have to take away things in our life that don’t belong. In any life or ministry devoted to him, we must stop and ask, “Are there attitudes here that grieve the Lord? Are there habits that need to be broken? What are the impurities that must go? How about that desire to be seen, that competitiveness, that seeking for glory and acclaim? What about the prejudice or judgmentalism toward others?” We must be absolutely open in inviting God to thoroughly search us and take away anything he sees fit. (Kindle location 2346, 2356).

In the process of growth, God gives us more by first taking things away from us that don’t belong to us as God’s children. “His process is to subtract in order to add. He will never make a treaty with our secret pockets of sin.” (Kindle location 2337)