Not Yet to the Ends of the Earth

Pretty fascinating story about an unreached (in every sense of the word) people living in Brazil being captured as subjects in a rare photo-op. Not only is it pretty amazing considering how small our world has become because of technology and globalization but I can’t help but to think about it from the perspective of a believer. We may be inclined to think that we’ve reached everyone alive with the Good News of Christ simply on the basis of our impression that the world has been fully discovered. However, a story like this one serves as a small reminder that the church still has some work to do to fulfill the Great Commission completely. On another level, it’s a comfort to know that despite man’s shock at what he may find beyond the edges of civilization, God knows all places and people intimately and fully. Surely in divine wisdom and by sovereign timing, He will bring the message of His grace there as well.

For He looks to the ends of the earth And sees everything under the heavens. (Job 28:24)

You Might be Better than Me, BUT…

Last month, the leaders went to the Together for the Gospel Conference. We’ve already made some recollections about the trip in earlier posts. But I wanted to recount a specific moment near the conclusion of the conference that left an indelible impression on everyone who was there. There were a number of gifted preachers who taught from the pulpit throughout the course of the conference: John Piper, John MacArthur, RC Sproul, among others. CJ Mahaney was the last preacher during the last session of the last day. A placement that he revealed during his message in typical self-effacing style, was wholly appropriate considering his preaching “talents” relative to the speakers who preceded him. (By the way, it goes without saying but Mahaney is a great preacher, no matter what he says and many others would concur with such a sentiment).

Regardless of his trepidation from following such gifted men on the pulpit, Mahaney shared a quote from Charles Spurgeon (or rather, his grandfather) that he found strengthened him to preach regardless of his supposed-”lesser skills”. Apparently, Spurgeon’s grandfather was also a pastor like the “Prince of Preachers” himself, but did not find his better-known progeny tempering his desire to preach the message of the Cross:

“He may preach the gospel better than I can, but he cannot preach a better gospel.”

It was the first time I heard that quote, but I loved it the instant I heard it. I think we all feel (even those who are quite good by others’ standards) that we are inadequate in our abilities to preach the Gospel. By “preach” of course, I do not mean in the technical sense of being on a pulpit though it applies here also, but in a broader sense of proclamation and evangelism. But take heart, as Mahaney did, that though others might preach it better, the glorious truth of Christ is securely and immutably grand. So then take it and preach it with joy and conviction:

How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!” (Rom. 10:15)

Fighting or Dying with Tulip

I’ve been making my way through a recent seminar on Calvinism entitled, “TULIP“, that John Piper held at his church earlier this year. It’s been refreshing to hear what can otherwise be conveyed in a stale manner, the doctrines of grace preached passionately and winsomely, yet with a sensitivity to the confusion naturally evoked in sinful man to these truths. When one can teach Calvinism absent of the patronization that typically leads to justifiable disdain from those that do not understand or believe in TULIP, it only makes the case for the doctrines of grace that much more appealing.
What I appreciate most is the way that Piper weds these biblical truths with daily life. He constantly directs the beliefs espoused by Calvinism to where they need to go; namely, in a more vigorous and passionate pursuit of God and in the expansion of His kingdom.
One sure sign that God has chosen certain individuals to be His own before the foundation of the world for salvation (cf. Eph. 1) thereby rendering them the “elect” is Jesus’ teachings regarding “His sheep” (cf. John 10). In reminding those who were attending that Calvinism is not to be believed for the sake of debate but rather for the sake of provoking one to share the Gospel to all those who are, “not yet of this fold” (John 10:16), Piper brings the issue of Calvinism to bear into the practical Christian life, where it most belongs. Piper states the following in his 5th session of the seminar:

“Don’t become ingrown. Don’t you Calvinists dare become ingrown. ‘Us little elect and no more!’…[God says], ‘I have other sheep!’ Find them! Lay down your lives for them. Go everywhere and speak my words because my sheep hear my voice and if they don’t hear it, then they can’t respond! So go say it!
“These teachings [about Calvinism] are not for fighting about, they’re for dying with…“

Even with all my Calvinism, I feel nice and small now. May we pray that right doctrine would never restrain us but only empower us to do the Lord’s work.

Bible Study Rocks!

Paying attention during Bible study is helpful on a number of different levels beyond just a better understanding of God’s Word. It can clear up your complexion, make you more physically fit, and help you to be more social, among a plethora of other benefits. Case in point: I have a friend named Robin who recently committed to membership and was baptized this past Sunday. She sent me this message talking about how our current study through the Minor Prophets has even helped her to understand the plot to a recent film she watched:

“so i watched 300 for the first time today and this whole time, i thought the spartan loses to the persians. And while i was watching the movie, i was like how can this be?? medopersians return greek?! and then at the end i found it was just the 300 soldiers that dies. Pretty cool huh??

Moral of the story? Come out to Bible study. Pay attention during Bible study. And stop thinking about movies during Bible study.

 

Big thanks again to Pastor Peter Chung and all the hard work that he has put forth this past month in developing our Minor Prophets overview curriculum!

Grace and Peace to You

This past Sunday, I was appreciative of what P. Peter was teaching us regarding God’s peace. Specifically, his directing our attention to the simple idea that being aimless, restless and/or in a state of turmoil as the conceptual antithesis to peace. He illustrated this truth with two examples from the book of Genesis; first, in Adam and Eve being cursed to a life of toil, pain, and hard labor after the Fall and Cain’s being cast out as a “wanderer” after his murder of Abel. It reminded me of Augustine’s famous statement to God: “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.” It seems that all the talk of humans being born with a “God-shaped hole” in their heart is true after all and that only trusting in Christ can fill that void. After all, we have been designed to glorify God and until we are united to Christ by faith, we are unable to fulfill the purpose for which we have been made.

P. Peter also touched on the inherently offensive nature of the Gospel. The Gospel can be a stumbling block on its particular requirement that those who come to God be stripped of any self-confidence or trusting in one’s own good works. This is a prerequisite that is sharply incongruent with the cultural mantra: “Build up your self-esteem!” “You are unique, you are special, you ought to feel good about yourself!” It calls to mind an unintentionally amusing quote from David Wells’ new book, The Courage to be Protestant, (a book that I hope to share more from later):

Quite a few public schools have banned competitive games because they dent the self-esteem of those who do not win. Most schools have so elevated self-esteem over performance, feeling good over doing well, that we have produced a nation of children whose estimate of themselves is sky-high but whose academic performance lags ever further behind that in many other nations.

Maybe we’re underachieving in the classroom because of all the noise we are surrounded by.  Maybe we should turn off all our computers and cellphones, especially in environments of learning.  Maybe I should go take my own advice.  Bye. 

Village of Hope by John Tang

This past Sunday five Bereans, including myself, had the opportunity to volunteer at the Village of Hope serving dinner to a small group of poor and homeless. We started out sorting canned foods into distinct food group containers. After about 30-40 minutes of work, we began serving dinner. I expected to be worked like a slave serving hundreds of people when, really, only about 15 people showed up for dinner. We all finished serving after no more than 10 minutes, so we served ourselves some dinner and sat down to eat with them. I spoke with Jeff, who was currently looking for work in the manufacturing industry. We chitchatted briefly about work and what life was like at the Village of Hope, and shortly thereafter he left. Dinner was over within 10-15 minutes. All of us ended up leaving because there wasn’t anything else our supervisors wanted us to do. It seemed like a general, but unspoken consensus among all of us that we thought we could have done more.

Could we have done more? We did all our supervisors asked us to do- but they didn’t ask us to do much. I felt somewhat dissatisfied with how little we did there, but as I was thinking about it, I kept asking myself the same question: “What were you expecting to accomplish there?”

Deep down, I expected big things. I expected lives to be changed. I expected repentance and commitment to Christ. While I don’t think that’s completely wrong, as I want to witness and take part in the expansion of God’s kingdom, there’s something that made my expectations wrong. It was a lack of commitment. This was the first time in about 6 months that I volunteered to help the poor. And I can’t remember how long it’s been since I last committed to pray for their needs. I expected great things for the kingdom, but I did nothing to see that desire through.

So what now? I guess the question I’m asking myself now is: “What can I do?” Our Mercy Ministry is still in the works, and we’ve yet to find a place to invest ourselves in. We’re still growing in our awareness of the needs around us and of how we can care for those needs. I want to commit myself to whatever our Mercy Ministry will do and to pray for its needs as well as for the needs of those we serve. It’s small, I know. But it’s a start. I’m hoping that as I volunteer, more needs and opportunities will arise for our team, and myself, to commit to regularly.

But there’s a problem. I’ve made this commitment before. Before the beginning of every quarter this school year, I told myself I would commit to help serve dinner at the Santa Ana Civic Center once a week. Time and again, I ended up dragging my feet and making excuses. Will this time be any different?

I know I’m not the only one who’s made a resolution for God’s kingdom and failed miserably at keeping it. If you’ve failed before but still desire God’s kingdom to grow, let’s keep at it together. Let’s start with committing ourselves to the needs of our surrounding community through our Mercy Ministry. There are always needs around us, so let’s be aware of them and care for them. Let’s keep each other accountable in our desire to commit more of ourselves to the expansion of God’s kingdom.

Here are some opportunities within our Mercy Ministry that I will try to be more deliberate about and aware of. I hope you’ll work with me to be more aware of opportunities, big and small, to invest in. Let’s push for God’s kingdom together:

1. Canned food drive – the Village of Hope, as well as other organizations, is always accepting donations for canned foods. There’s a box in the Mercy Ministry section of the church office where we take donations for canned goods.
2. Jars for Jesus – the Mercy Ministry is collecting any spare change we might have to help support the Migrant Worker’s Camp in Beijing that our summer missions team helped out with last year.
3. Care Packages for the homeless – these are available at the office, free of charge, to anyone who wants one. It’s a Ziploc bag that’s filled with several useful goodies to give away.
4. Village of Hope – they’re always taking volunteers for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our Mercy Ministry is trying to set up a sign-up for weekly volunteers.

Baptism: May 25, 2008

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Romans 6:1-7)

Congratulations to all who were baptized. For a full-res shot of the photo above, please click here.

To download their full and unabridged testimonies on PDF, please click here.

Minor Prophets: Session C Notes

Please click here to download a PDF of Session B Powerpoint slides of our study through the Minor Prophets.