Category: Ramblings

Luke 6:36-38

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.

Taking JI Packer’s paraphrase of the Moral Law, we can fully appreciate that it is the blueprint of a Christ-like life – a life characterized by loving God and loving one another.
“You shall worship your covenant God exclusively and wholeheartedly, according to His own revelation, regarding Him with consistent reverence and setting aside regular time for rest and worship in His honour; you should respect those who have nurtured you, labour to sustain the family unit; you must do all you can to safeguard the life, sexual purity, property, reputation, and well being of all you meet, and knowing that your God watches over you, you are to be content with what you have.” – JI Packer.

In Luke 6:36-38, our Lord gave us a practical account of what it meant to love one another.

We should show mercy to one another.
We should not be judgmental or have a condemning spirit against another.
We should be forgiving towards one another.
We should be generous towards one another.

What is a judgmental or condemning spirit ? Jesus told this parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Gatherer to some people who believed that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt. Luke 18:9. Viewing others beneath us in spirituality is false spirituality. That is spiritual pride with a judgmental or condemning spirit. We see ourselves as good and minimizing our own faults while maximizing the faults of others.

Showing mercy, especially to the poor and needy, also entails being generous. And when we are generous, God will repay us with the same measure of generosity in return. Prov 19:17. Jesus our Lord gave the following illustration to explain what generosity was. In His days, when one buys from a grain seller, and if the grain seller is generous, he will pour into the measure till it is full. Then he will shake the measure for the grain to settle to the bottom and even press down the grain. And he will continue to pour till the grain overflows into the buyer’s lap. That is generosity explained.

Such a wonderful passage on relationship between one another in Christ has been taken out of context to justify two wrong teachings by false prosperity and hyper grace teachers.

The first wrong teaching is on judging. Our Lord was teaching us not to have spiritual pride with a condemning spirit; but it did not mean we should not discern and judge false teaching and blatant sin. Our Lord and the Apostles judged the Pharisees, Judaizers and those who denied Jesus is the Christ for their hypocrisy, twisting of the gospel for their gain and the anti-Christ teaching respectively. The Scriptures even exhorted not to associate or receive such false teachers and to ex-communicate those who sin blatantly without remorse. 1 Cor 5; Titus 1: 11,13.

The second wrong teaching is on giving. The verse “give and it will be given to you” is taken out of context by prosperity gospel teachers to encourage giving with the promise that God will return many fold. As explained earlier, our Lord was exhorting a generous spirit towards one another.

Christian Joy is a fruit of the Spirit and it is not the same as Happiness as defined and desired by the world.

The Scripture described Joy as gladness in the heart in anticipation of something great while the dictionary defined Happiness as a satisfying or pleasurable experience.

Joy is such that even when one is in need, or in pain, or in the middle of a storm in life, he can still have joy. Joy does not depend on circumstances and is permanent. Unlike Happiness which depend on circumstances and is fleeting due to the vagaries of life.

A Christian, who truly loves the Lord and obeys His commands to bear the marks of a disciple, will surely experience joy and will not oscillate between happiness and sadness because his family, self and possessions do not have any hold on him and are all surrendered to our Lord. Luke 14:25-35.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and JOY in the Holy Spirit. – Romans 14:17.

Count it all JOY, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. REJOICE and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. – Matthew 5:11-12

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will REJOICE, and no one will take your JOY from you. – John 16:22

In this you REJOICE, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. – 1 Peter 1:6-7

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the JOY that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:1-2

Let us REJOICE and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; – Revelation 19:7

The reaction to what I said about this (debate) was mixed. Some evangelicals responded thoughtfully and theologically, others with inflexible dogmatism – I find myself increasingly out of sympathy with excessive evangelical dogmatism – and a third group, especially in the US, was positively hysterical in its denunciation…It’s a very distressing thing about evangelicalism that we are not good at responsible domestic debate. But the hallmark of an authentic evangelical is not the uncritical repetition of old traditions, but the willingness to submit every tradition, however ancient, to fresh biblical scrutiny, and, if necessary, reform.

– John Stott, Balanced Christianity

How often we find ourselves similarly distressed debating over certain paradoxical doctrine. And we often confused debate on balanced Christian living with balanced view of doctrine. Let me explain so that we can have a clear understanding of the difference.

The Bible is full of exhortation to stay balanced in our Christian living. For example in Prov 30:8-9, the psalmist asked not of poverty nor riches for either extreme would be dishonoring the name of God or disowning Him altogether. We must not also be so generous as to be financially irresponsible towards providing for our own family, while at the same time not to be so miserly in not giving anything to anybody at all.

Concerning certain paradoxical doctrine (not including all other clear biblical truth but only referring to paradoxical ones), truth is accepting the biblical truth in both extremes, even mutually exclusive ones. For example, Jesus our Lord is 100% God and 100% man though they are mutually exclusive. In real life, we find light to have both the properties of particle and wave which has confounded scientists eversince, yet it does not deter scientists to continue their research and invention based on acceptance of both properties. Why must a scientist be so dogmatic on just one property of light and miss the whole picture ?

We find this paradox running across so many debates :
1. Faith alone and Works.
2. Predestination and Free Will.
3. Love and Suffering.
4. Etc.

We must bear in mind that God’s ways are definitely higher than ours, so what is impossible for us with our limited understanding may be possible for Him. I have come to believe truth may be found in the biblical part of both extremes. Standing on one extreme may be unbiblical as it will definitely include an unbiblical part arguing against the other extreme.

An example is the existence of both poverty and prosperity gospels. What the prosperity gospel disagree with the poverty gospel insisting that Christians must be materially poor is biblically correct, but that does not make the prosperity gospel a true biblical gospel with some truth in it. The true gospel is the balanced view in the stewardship gospel.

John 17 : 6-19
I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Our Lord’s prayer for His disciples in John 17 is the most important exemplary prayer we should pray for one another. Jesus our Lord prayed for His disciples :

1. To believe the Word of God and be sanctified by it.
2. To be united in love.
3. To experience the same peace and joy of Him.
4. To be protected from the evil one.
5. To be sent out into the world to make disciples.

Now in the last days, the urgency to pray for one another is even more acute because there will be troubled times or persecution ahead and false teaching will proliferate.

The hyper grace false teaching is drawing large numbers away from believing the truth in the Word of God and be sanctified by it. Many are experiencing the false security in idols of wealth and well-being instead of true peace and joy in Christ. Many are blinded spiritually by the evil one with very subtle teaching of blending messages which extol grace and promote self-gratification at the same time. Knowing fully well that the hyper grace gospel is a false gospel, we are most uncharitable if we do not warn the believers who have fallen for such teaching and pray for them.

Stop hearing and believing dangerous teaching that we do not need to practise righteousness after believing in Jesus. 1 John 3:7-8. The clear evidence of who are the children of God or the children of the devil is this : those who do NOT practise righteousness is NOT born of God. 1 John 3:10. 1 John 2:29. Beware of the counter twist by the false teachers that if we practise righteousness, we are actually nullifying the perfect atonement of Christ our Lord on the Cross. That is a punch below the waist.  Such twist is good enough for the naive and the blinded. What actually happen is when we sincerely repent and believe in our Lord Jesus, God’s seed abides in us (the Word of God and the Holy Spirit) and we will practise righteousness as evidence of a sanctified life. We will pursue godliness because when we are led by the Spirit, we will set our minds on the things of the Spirit. Rom 8:5.

Stop hearing and believing another dangerous teaching that discipleship is not necessary once we believe in Jesus. Jesus never give us such an option. He stated the necessary demands of discipleship.   Luke 14:25-33.  We are sent out to make disciples, not professing believers, and to teach them to obey every command of Jesus.  Matt 28:19-20

One clear evidence of false teachers today is this: whether they make up clever lies to get hold of your money.  Note the word “CLEVER”.  They will extol grace in their teaching and yet hookwink their believers into giving more of their money in one way or another.

2 Pet 2:2-3 NLT.

Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will make up CLEVER lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.

So if we truly love Jesus, we have to pray often for the protection of His beloved from the enemy and his agents.  We have to pray for them to have such hunger for the Word of God and be sanctified by it.

1 Sam 15:2-3; Deut 20:16-18

Why did God order the genocide of the Amalekites and the Canaanites including the children ? On the surface, it will seem that God is not merciful though just.

We must first remember that God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than ours. Is 55:9, Rom 11:33-36. We must trust that He is good as well as just.

Because King Saul did not obey God’s commandment to annihilate the Amalekites, decades later, the survivors were able to take King David’s family captive. This would never happen if King Saul obeyed.

And same for Canaanites which God forewarned that they would teach the Israelites detestable things such as worshipping idols and sinning against God. God was preventing future greater evil by giving such an order.

To judge such tribes without any righteous person seems fair but the difficult part of God’s command is the killing of children and infants.

But if the lives of the children and infants end before a certain accountable age to know right and wrong and they are saved, it will be a different matter altogether and in fact, it reveal God is merciful on the contrary. As seen in the case of the Amalekites, by sparing the young, they still grew up to be as wicked as their forefathers.

Two passages seem to suggest this possibility.

2 Samuel 12:22-23

22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

Isaiah 7:14-15

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

When the life of King David’s son was ended, King David assuredly said that he would go to him in future implying that he will see his son in heaven.

In the other passage on the sign of Christ given to Israel by the prophet Isaiah, there was an accountable age mentioned by which he would know how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

So I strongly believe that all children and infants who die before the accountable age will get to go to heaven by the grace and mercy of God.

Similarly those, who suffer from mental illness before the accountability age and are unable to how to refuse the evil and choose the good, will get to heaven by the same line of reasoning.

This concept is popularized by most charismatic churches today. What is of contention with other non charismatic churches is the belief of the continuation of the office of apostles and prophets.

I believe the contention is due to the failure of both camps to see that there is a primary and a secondary sense of these offices. I have drawn up a table to illustrate what I believe and actually experienced.

The mention of these five fold ministry comes from Eph 4:11-12.
Eph 4:11-12
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

Prior to these verses we read in Eph 2:20-21 that the church was built on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Jesus our Lord being the chief cornerstone. It is clear the divine revelation of the prophets and the apostles is complete in the OT and NT as canonized in the Holy Bible. The Bible is the complete foundation on which nothing more need to be built further. Rev 22:18,19. So in the primary sense, the offices of the apostles and prophets have ceased.

But in the secondary sense, we continue to see the continuation of these offices in recent times like the ministry of David Livingstone and Hudson Taylor. Allow me a little foolishness to say that I had this experience in the lesser sense as shared in my book.
Because of the warning of the presence of many false prophets in the last days and the clear evidence of their existence today, we tend to despise all prophecy instead of obeying Scripture to test each and every prophecy.

If the office of apostle in the secondary sense is still continuing, the good reputation of the office is definitely not helped but made worse by those who carry it like a superior title or badge of authority. Matt 23:8-12. We have seen mega-church pastors calling themselves as apostles carrying the title more as a big title and position of authority. How specific are their missions as compared to that of David Livingstone or Hudson Taylor ?

http://www.christianheroes.com/ch/missionaries.html

Great men of faith grew spiritually like Paul who started his ministry defending his apostleship, then called himself the least of all saints later in his ministry and finally called himself the chief of all sinners at the end. And these self styled apostles today cannot even boast of any of the weakness that Paul had boasted. On the contrary, they have all the lavish lifestyle of tycoons. But such abuses should not cloud out the many missionaries and prophets in the lesser sense who are continually obeying God in strengthening, encouraging and comforting the church.

I have reason to believe that the tongues spoken at Pentecost were intelligible languages and those mentioned in 1 Cor 14 seemed to describe some fervently ecstatic and sincere utterances not necessarily intelligible to listeners or even the speakers themselves and require interpretation.

As shown from the chart,  if we lump all the conflicting evidence to form a single opinion or belief,  either extreme of cessation of tongues and the continuation of this gift is questionable.

Could it be the former had ceased while the latter gift continued ?

I had first hand experience of my loved one with the latter gift of tongues in praying for a sick person once and convicting him to believe in our Lord Jesus.  It seemed to be one off and she did not have that gift anymore so far.  I believe it was a desperate and sincere utterance due to lack of words to pray sincerely for the sick.  The sick person was so cut to the heart that he wanted to be baptized immediately and did that later in the day.  And he went to the Lord a few days later.  Would I doubt that the Holy Spirit was present to convict the sick man to have faith ?   If it was so, what to make of the utterance of my loved one ?

(Martin Luther, the champion of sola scriptura, said this, “The signs here spoken of (Mark 16:17-18) are to be used according to need.  When the need arises, and the gospel is hard pressed, then we must definitely do these signs, before we allow the gospel to be maligned and knocked down.”  –  Believer’s Bible Commentary.)

(Information gleaned from Spiritual Maturity by J Oswald Sanders)

There are times, though we know clearly the teaching of the Word of God, we are still unable to discern whether we are right or wrong about our response towards a particular issue.

As we seek God for wisdom in the first instance, we will not be disappointed. He had promised in James 1:5 that He will give generously without reproach.

Once, my wife was particularly disturbed about the long corporate prayer in church and had this feeling that the person who prayed was not really sincere in her prayer and deliberately prayed long prayers to impress the congregation. I did not want to make any similar judgment immediately. Firstly, I might err in having a critical spirit on such an important worship as corporate prayer. Secondly, I might hurt my wife by disagreeing straightaway if it turned out it was really so. In Matt 6:5, our Lord did mention that there could be hypocrisy in prayer by loving to stand and pray in synagogues to be seen by others.

I prayed on a Saturday as we would be hearing this long corporate prayer during worship service the next day. I wanted to know if my wife could really discern the hypocrisy or we were overly critical. After finishing my prayer, I turned on the TV. I saw Mr Ron Atkinson (aka Mr Bean) in front of the computer typing this question : “What is the difference between praying in the church and praying in a casino ?” The reply came back from the computer : “In the casino you really mean it.”

I believed it was surely God’s reply to my prayer. I could very well turn on the TV a few seconds late and this scene would be over. The timing could not be more perfect to give me the answer.

Here is another episode of how God answered my prayer with such unique circumstances.

I was disturbed by the malice of the lay leader and his wife, who was a choir leader, against some brothers in church a decade ago. I had no choice but to bring up to higher leadership in the denominational church. As I was about to meet the leadership over this matter, I prayed the day before whether I should simply ignore the whole matter or should I stand on justice.

I could not sleep whole night thinking about how the discussion would go. Would the leadership try to cover up as it would be embarrassing for the church ? Would I be portrayed as a troublemaker ? Did I err in suspecting them of malice ?

At 3 am which I should be sleeping, I turned on the TV and switched to the Crime and Investigation channel. An episode of the Top 10 Crimes – the BTK Killings – was about to start.

What a surprise ! I hardly watch crime stuff. This crime was about a serial killer who was the president of the church council of a Lutheran church and his wife was the choir leader. What a coincidence. The crime came to be known as BTK as the serial killer, Dennis Rader, described how he bound (B), tortured (T) and killed (K) his victims deliberately challenging the police. He went into hiatus when his children were born and he was really a good father. He was only caught later in his 70s when he felt he would not have the strength to commit another crime later. The court granted his wife immediate divorce upon conviction to protect her from possible mental health problem. He was a good husband, good father and a good church leader all this while. Unbelievable !

But I got my answer to my prayer – human hearts are deceptively wicked – and I was right about the malice of the lay leader and his wife. In my discussion with the higher leadership, I told them to read up the BTK killing crime. Later the lay leader and his wife left the denominational church when their malicious acts were exposed.

If I did not turn on the TV at the right time, I would not have watched this similar crime episode.

Surely these are not coincidences. These are God’s specific answers to my prayers. Praise the Lord for His divine guidance always.

Luke 10:17-20

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

When the 72 disciples returned, they were elated that they had authority over the power of the enemy. I believe our Lord warned them instead that pride was the reason Satan fell from heaven. In Matt 7:22-23, we were reminded that even with such power and authority, our Lord may not know us.

It is, therefore, safer to rejoice in the salvation by the grace of God which was exhorted by our Lord.

In my faith journey so far, I have experienced miracles, visions, acts of providence and divine guidance by the grace of God. And I know how easy I can get conceited just like St Paul who was given a thorn in the flesh to humble him. Now in my second decade in evangelistic missions, thanks be to God for His grace is truly sufficient for me and I am actually more glad to share of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can rest fully in me.

By the grace of God, I have learned how to live in joy in the salvation so graciously given us and to walk as our Lord has walked by the gracious guidance of His Spirit.

I can’t say it better than 2 Pet 1:3-11 (NLT).

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are short-sighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. 11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

John 10:11
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Psalms 23
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

How we see God will determine how we respond to His love. If we see Him as a harsh judge, we are likely to see all trials in life as punishment and alienate Him. But if we see Him as a Good Shepherd, we will see all trials as His discipline for our own good and we will seek Him first and dwell in His loving care always.

When we walk through the many valleys of danger and hardship including the shadow of death in life, He does not promise to remove us from it. Instead, He will be with us in going through. His rod – the Word of God – will correct, reprove and train us to stay in line in the path of righteousness. And His staff – His Holy Spirit – will convict and guide us back always into His care and protection.

Like a Good Shepherd, He will look for a good Table-land (plateau) with good grass, close up all the danger snake holes and ward off predators (enemies) before shepherding His sheep to the Table-land (plateau).

Like a Good Shepherd, He will anoint our heads with oil – His Spirit – to soothe our souls from all kinds of anxieties (flies that constantly annoy us the sheep).

As long as we are obedient to be led by His Spirit, surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives.

And we will see Him soon and dwell with Him forever !

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord forever and ever !