THE BARBARIAN ARE HERE (Intro …..)

INTRODUCTION
There is a clarion call for the Christians to rise up to the challenge of the modern world – or should I say the post-modern world – with a distinct apostolic voice. For too long the church was hiding behind the walls and it is time for us to come out of our slumber and get on with the mandate that Christ, the Great Apostle, has called us to.

In this world of fast technological advances, yet we see a noticeable spiritual decline, a morbid careless attitude towards moral values and ethics, and the breakdown of morality in even in Christendom, there is a need then for us to come back to God and seek His face afresh for a renewal, a revival and a spiritual awakening. A world, by large, has lost its ability to distinguish his right hand from his left. She has lost her sense of reasoning between truth and reality whilst in the midst of exalting reasons itself. In so doing has left God out of the equation. The moral decline, due in large proportion to the reasoning away of God and the coming of age of liberty and freedom had brought more despair and despondency than what it thought was freedom. Freedom and liberty with no belief in absolute truth but latching on to relativity has cast off moral restraint and has breed violence, rebellion, and anarchy instead. What freedom is that when the very freedom sought after brought about evil and suffering?

Therefore, as Christians, who claims to have the answers need to prepare themselves as holy vessels for God’s use in this end times. We need to pray like we are on the eleventh hour of God’s time clock and yet work like it is still day time. Let us now look briefly at where I believe we need to do to tune our lives up holistically – spiritually, mentally, and emotionally – for such a time as this.

to be continued …..

THE BARBARIANS ARE HERE (Prologue)

I have been more than impressed with the writings of the late Carl F.H. Henry; one of the most vocal of theologians. I was in MPH one afternoon browsing through the books and I came across a book on the budget tray. Since it was cheap and also a christian literature I bought it but to my surprise I discovered a great treasure. The title of the book is “Twilight of a Great Civilization”

He wrote that the “barbarians” are here within our civilization, the imminent coming of Jesus Christ, and how does the church stands today. After reading the book I was inspired to develop a study course entitled, The Barbarians Are Here. The main vein that runs through the study is the spiritual formation & transformation needed in our lives so that the we would not relapse into neopaganism.

There are 6 parts to this study and each section deals with one specific area of spiritual development and discipleship using some techie words:

1. Installing the Christ Prototype
2. Configuring of a New Mindset
3. Restructing of a Heart Passion
4. Formatting for Connectivity
5. Inferfacing with Babylon
6. Upgrading of Internal Operating System

I hope to give you a few insights into what I am talking about in the coming post.

WHAT GOOD THINGS MUST I DO? (Part 5)

Let’s now read on VERSES 27 – 29:
Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

We can see here that Peter was about to make the same mistake as the rich young man. Peter was close by and in close fellowship with the Master and yet he missed out on the great lesson – the very purpose of God.

The rich young man came to Jesus and asked “What good things shall I do?” Later on he asked again, thinking that he had kept the commandments, “What do I still lack?” Now, here we see Peter making the same mistake. Let me paraphrase: “Jesus, looks like this man could not follow you because he could not let go of his possessions BUT not so with us – see we have left all and followed you. Okay, Jesus, what shall we receive for such sacrifice?”

Jesus reiterate: Those who left all to follow him NOW will in the day of the Lord receive rulership. And those who forsake all – relationship and possessions for His name sake will receive 100 fold reward and everlasting life!! It is not a case of abandoning your family BUT that Christ has the first place in your life – He is Lord above and beyond our earthly relationship, work, and possessions.

Discipleship comes with a price tag. Lordship is the issue here.

VERSE 30:
But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Jesus made this striking statement – the first shall be the last and the last first. My thought is that it is not how well be start but how well we end. Our journey of faith is not dependent on how passionate we start the race BUT how consistent we are, how faithful we are, in contending earnestly for the faith; to lay aside what lies behind us and pressing forward to what lies ahead of us. Let us run with faith and faithfulness to reach the goal of the high calling of God for our lives.

Read on in Chapter 20 and Jesus told a parable to illustrate what he was talking about regarding verse 30 – “but many who are first will be last and the last first.”

CONCLUSION
What good things shall we do? What do we still lack? What shall we have? But I think that it is not so much what good things we can do for the Lord. I don’t think it is so much a case of how much I still lack. Certainly, in our discipleship, in our following Jesus, it is not what we can get at the end of the day BUT the ability to say “LORD, here am I, sent me!”

WHAT GOOD THINGS MUST I DO? (Part 4)

Next we read VERSES 23 – 26:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I  say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 

After the rich young man has left them with much sorrow of heart Jesus turned to his disciples and said that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is not saying that rich people cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven BUT rather he is saying that due to his riches which he can’t give up, like so many of the same kind in his days, that riches itself hinders them from entering the kingdom of heaven where true riches dwells. 

Juxtaposed it to things like family, career and work, ministry and many others, we see the same result. When these things cannot be given up, when these things cannot be left at the feet of Jesus we have a problem of Lordship and the hindrance of getting into the kingdom of heaven is real!! 

When the disciples heard it they were astonished. They asked, “Who then can be saved?” Now that’s an important question. The demand of Lordship, the demand of radical discipleship and of following Jesus is NEVER EASY, is never dependent on one’s own righteousness or one’s own deal. Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Lordship or following Jesus is not with human effort BUT in total dependent on God and his amazing grace. It is the grace of God through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that we can yield our lives completely to Him and walk in assuring trust and abiding faith!! It is not by our own strength that we can love God and do his perfect will. We need the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit in us will enable us to walk this straight and narrow way. 

In the history of the Church, starting from the New Testament account, we can see that the disciples of Jesus walk this straight and narrow way. In Acts 2:45 we read that they “…sold their possessions and goods ….” In Acts 3:6 we see that Peter and John said that they possess nothing but that the only thing that they have they are willing to give to the lame man, that is, the name of Jesus. With that the biblical record states that they healed the lame man. We can go on and on. St. Paul, Barnabas, Titus, Timothy, DL Moody, CT Studd, David Livingstone, William Carey, Watchman Nee, John Sung, etc, etc. YOU and I!! 

I have come to a place where I believe that I cannot live my life under the Lordship of Christ unless I choose to walk in the Spirit and stay connected with God every day of my life. It is at the point of INTIMACY that I can hear from God and make decision based on the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is at the point of WORSHIP that I am being transformed and being made ready to give up my all for the task for which Christ calls to me. It is at this posture of worship and attitude of yieldedness that I am prepared to give up everything for the sake of the gospel. It is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that gives me the empowerment to walk away from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life and to journey with Him in fulfilling the REMAINING TASK!

…. to be continued

WHAT GOOD THINGS MUST I DO? (Part 3)

Read with me VERSES 17b – 22:
But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The rich young man asked Jesus: “What good things shall I do that I may have eternal life?” We should realize that Jesus was not able to answer the young man’s question without making a right statement about who alone is good. Goodness belongs to God and God alone. No man, none of us can do any good things to earn eternal life. This young man is mistaken. So you see, after explaining what is GOOD, he then proceed to tell him to keep the commandments.

It is interesting to note that he asked what good things that he must do and Jesus asked him to keep the commandments. The more interesting thing to note is that this young man asked which one. Isn’t it an irony? Don’t you think Jesus would have meant all the commandments or at least the Ten Commandments? But this man wants to know which one and Jesus entertained him with an answer. There are two possible reasons why he asked “which ones?” Either he is really interested to know whether he had missed any of the commandments, OR He knew he has kept all the outward forms of the laws and was trying to impress Jesus and those around him with his self-righteousness. Maybe he thought that by the time the conversation is through he would have justified that he did well according to the law and deserve eternal life.

Notice Jesus entertained him by telling him to keep all the commandments that is relational but on a horizontal level – man-to-man; the last six of the Ten Commandments! But not even one speaks of this young man’s relationship with God!!

I believe Jesus knew what the answer would be. “Yes, I have kept all of that since I was young!! What do I lack?” What arrogant? What pride? He missed to whole point of it all. There is no connection with God; no sacrifice, no obedience, and no mentioned of surrender to God at all. BUT all of human effort – holiness equated to keeping oneself from committing murder, adultery, stealing, and false witness or honoring parents and loving one’s neighbor!!

Now Jesus was ready to give the punch line: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” What was he lacking? Can he give up everything for a relationship with Jesus? Can he give up his lifestyle to walk the straight and narrow path? Was he prepared to give all of his possession to the poor and FOLLOW JESUS? Can he truly keep the first part of the 10 Commandment of which Jesus sums up in a command FOLLOW ME? – “I am the Lord your God, You shall have no other gods before me, You shall not make any graven images, and You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain”

Let us bring this account closer to home. Let us see how it applies to us. It is not just about giving up earthly possession and following Jesus BUT we need to understand the ramifications Jesus is drawing out for those who want to follow him. Remember, Jesus is drawing the inferences that He is divine, that he is God incarnate. So to follow Jesus is not to follow a holy man, to follow Jesus is not to do a set of good things, and to follow Jesus is to recognize him as LORD and not just a “good” teacher. It is recognizing no other except Jesus as Lord and Master – remember, no other gods, no graven images, no idols in our hearts.

LORDSHIP is the key issue here. Eternal life comes not only from the grace of redemption and salvation from our sins BUT in acknowledging and living our lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We must love the Lord our God with all our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

IT IS NOT WHAT GOOD THINGS SHALL I DO BUT HOW DO I LIVE UNDER THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST.

May I suggest the following thoughts?

First is the thought of the blessedness of possessing nothing yet possessing all things. Lordship demands that we give all of our possession, life and relationship in order to gain Christ. Philippians 3:7-8 we read this: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted up loss for Christ. But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” This is the paradox of our Christian life; we die to live, and we give in order to receive. When we give our lives as a living sacrifice God takes what we have offered and use it for his glory – we gain all. Jesus asked the rich young man to do just ONE ACT OF KINDNESS – to sell everything and give it to the poor – and come and follow him. Lordship is not a matter of just having a right behavior BUT following the demand of Jesus without “BUT”, without hesitation. Lordship is the DISCIPLESHIP that Jesus is talking about.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, are we ready to deny ourselves, carry up the cross and follow him whenever and wherever he calls? Eugene Peterson, in his book, Subversive Spirituality said:

“Following Jesus means not following your impulses and appetites and whims and dreams, all of which are sufficiently damaged by sin to make them unreliable guides for getting any place worth going. Following Jesus means not following the death-procrastinating, death-denying practices of a culture which, by obsessively pursuing life under the aegis of idols and ideologies, ends up with a life that is so constricted and diminished that it is hardly worthy of the name.” (Peterson, p 12)

This is RADICAL DISCIPLESHIP. This is the upward calling. There needs to be a paradigm shift in us – we need to understand that the demand of Jesus stays the same since He gathered the first 12 disciples while he was on earth.

….to be continued

WHAT GOOD THINGS MUST I DO? (Part 2)

Read with me VERSES 16 – 17a:
Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

The rich young man (verse 22) came to Jesus and asked him a question about life. First he called Jesus a GOOD TEACHER and second, he asked him what good things that he must do to receive eternal life? Jesus responded by asking him back a question: Why do you call me good? With that Jesus went on to explain himself that no one is good but only God.

That’s a loaded statement. What Jesus was implying is that there is no man in the past, present and in the future that is GOOD except God. And for this man to call him a good teacher was he acknowledging that he is God? Or did he know that by calling him GOOD he is implying that Jesus is God, that he is divine!!

Now, we cannot be certain that this young man thought about Jesus being God by calling him GOOD but by the way Jesus responded to that term, is Jesus implying to the young man that he is right in calling him GOOD – a good teacher, a divine teacher?

Let me digress here a bit: it is important for us to realize that the Bible teaches us that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. It is important for us to not only know that but to stand on this very truth – it forms one of the important parts of our Christian belief. And to remove that we remove the validity of the claim of Jesus Christ which he says in Matthew 26:63 – “You have said so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

What Jesus think and believe about himself as in the Gospel account shows us that he “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” (Phil. 2:6). In Mark 2:5 – 7 we read what Jesus said to the paralytic man who were been lowered from the roof by his friends: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” The scribes reacted to that because the meaning attached to those words could only be the prerogative of the divine. In other words, Jesus is God!! In Matthew 25:31-46 he speaks of judging the world. He will sit on his glorious throne and divide the sheep from the goats. Certainly only God can exercise this power.

We can go on and on. But the point I am trying to get across is that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. That’s the first important TRUTH CLAIM that I want to establish.

…. to be continued

WHAT GOOD THINGS MUST I DO? (Part 1)

INTRODUCTION

Matthew 19:16-30 (NKJV)

Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

This conversation between the rich young ruler and Jesus, and the disciples and Jesus after that was also recorded in Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30.

I am very fascinated with Jesus’ conversation with the people he was dealing with. We will find him very gentle with people who come to him with needs in their lives but for those who come to inquire about eternal life, he knew their hearts well and will exposed their hearts very readily.

Let me made a few introductory comments on this portion of the scriptures before I bring you behind the very message I believe Jesus was trying to convey. It is interesting to reflect on how Jesus responds to the man when he called him a good teacher. It is interesting to note that Jesus only quoted the last six of the Ten Commandments that relates with man’s conduct towards others and not the ones about what God should meant to his life. It is interesting how the rich young man went away sorrowful because of Jesus’ demand. It is interesting how Jesus explain the difficult path of eternal life, about salvation; the disciples felt hopeless and how Jesus response to the disciples’ question. It is interesting to note that the disciples were quick to respond that they met the criteria of eternal life, Jesus’ affirmation but also a caution, “…but many who are first shall be last…”

Let me leave you with some thoughts which I believe is very fundamental to our Christian faith. In fact, I believe that what Jesus demanded of the rich young ruler is foundational to how we should conduct our lives and our affairs in this world. As we shall see, when we get into the conversation, into the story, it is not a case of Jesus leaving us with some spiritual principles about inheriting eternal life or obtaining salvation BUT He leaves behind the very key that hinges onto salvation and eternal life. If we miss this fundamental understanding we missed all that is wrapped up in salvation, redemption and the Kingdom of God.

…. to be continued

THE LAST 4 MONTHS

For a starter, let me just relate about what is happening for the pass 4 months.

1. I attended the Tentmakers International Congress in Port Dickson. It was eye-openning; hearing about all the reports of what God is doing all over the world. Sometimes I get discouraged reading about all the arguments from many “thinking people” arguing away the existence of God BUT attending the TI Congress has helped me see that no matter what the ideas people are throwing out God is still on the Throne, He is still in charge and He certainly has millions of soildiers poldding along and winning the war against the enemy, the devil!!

2. Next was the “Ideas Have Consequences” Conference that I organised for the church. Well … Altered Frequency was cool (though a little too loud for me) but I think the youth enjoyed it. Well…unfortunately not too many of the youth understood the speaker LT Jeyachandran. Young people needs to rise up and exercise their brain cells more and tackle with important issues. Experience is important but we need to use our heads as well. Our education system doesn’t help very much in this area and students study to pass their exam and not to gain wisdom and insights. Young people need to think critically and christianly!! But my consolation with regard to the conference is that the adults ( many of them have to excuse themselves from the loud sound of the band but glad they did not go home) enjoyed the talk. In fact, the next day, we have about 50 people attending the talk and it was really a feasting on the Word of God.

3. Last weekend I went to Langkawi to conduct a Seminar – Understanding Today’s Youth Culture. There were about 16 – 18 parents and single adults at the seminar. I enjoyed myself teaching and seeing that the parents were responsive to my talk. We went on for about 6 hours. There was questions raised and I am sure there would be more questions if we have more time.

4. Last 2 days I went to the 3rd FG Plus Networking Conference in Ipoh. The like-minded FGA churches all over Malaysia came together for fellowship, sharing resources, planning things together and eat!! There are great plans ahead of us next year … watch out. One of the thing is to meet up with Ps Steven Wong whom I have not seen for about 23 years to be exact. So glad to meet so many people.

IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

This is the place where I THINK ALOUD. I would like to put down my thoughts and reflection from time to time. It will also be the place where I can share what I have been learning in my daily walk with the Lord. I hope it will bring some encouragement to those who visit this place.

Well … we’ll see what happen then.