Jesus is both Saviour and Lord

 

The sermon today stressed on our Christian living coming under the Lordship of Jesus and that our lives in God and service for him should be an outflow of a grateful heart.

Our pastor highlighted the impossibility of separating the person of Christ from the work of Christ, that we cannot have him as our Saviour if we don't also have him as our Lord. I have not heard of such a dichotomy before. But apparently some of us, by our own conscious choice, take Jesus as our Saviour but refuse to live in his Lordship, hence a life without obedience and without the Spirit of God in us.

Some of us may not even realize it and do that in our daily living, thinking that we have Jesus as our Saviour but living our lives as we please.  

Is your life a living sacrifice unto God or do you live by the gratification of your own desires?

pearlie

My Christmas reading

The First Days of Jesus, The Story of Incarnation
by Andreas J. Köstenberger and Alexander E. Stewart

"The birth of Jesus stands as a pivotal moment in the history of the world, marking a dramatic turning point in God’s plan to redeem creation from sin and death. Much to the world’s surprise, redemption had arrived . . . in the form of a lowly baby.

Aimed at stirring your affections for Jesus, this meditative book will lead you on a step-by-step journey through the Gospels’ birth narratives, clearing away common misconceptions, making messianic connections, and setting the stage for Jesus’s later life and ministry."

pearlie

We will be complete when he returns

I learnt about the concept of protogospel from this morning's sermon on Genesis 3. And on checking my commentary, Derek Kidner says on 3:15, "There is good New Testament authority for seeing here the protevangelium, the first glimmer of the gospel."

The first glimmer of the gospel... Wow.

With the gospel beginning right from the start, we are clear that God's redemption plan for us is The One Grand Plan of God, which I have posted three years ago in December 2012. (Wow, I did not even realized I had posted that so long ago. The thought I had still feel fresh to me, which means I should continue developing it.)

Although Gen 3:15 happened after the fall, it does not preclude that it is still God's one grand plan to create us in his likeness, who will disobey him and die, who will need the Incarnate Son of God to die and be raised for us to live. And as his kingdom is already upon us now, this Advent is where we are reminded of our waiting for his coming again, to bring completion to his prefect creation of the world, the universe and us, his chosen people, his royal priesthood, his holy nation.

Our story began back when he created us, and we will be completed in Christ when he returns.

pearlie
Source: Derek Kidner, Genesis, An Introduction and Commentary, TOTC, IVP 1967

Small sins, big sins?

I have just found out that Tullian Tchividjian, a pastor and author whom I have recently been reading, whom I have found respect for, has resigned after admitting inappropriate relationship.

With that on top of one that happened closer to home, both of whom has my full respect, is certainly sad, and most disappointing.

And with what I have posted just yesterday, "What a stupid thing to do, but sometimes we are totally blinded by sin," I begin to wonder how really weak we are as human, but we think we are so great, so strong and so right.

In the face of temptations, we think we are indestructible. We think we can do nothing wrong and so what is before us is not wrong. We succumb to it and then reality sets in but it will be far too late. This is where we so wish we can turn back time.

I also begin to think what my friend said a couple of weeks ago, as I have also heard it many times over, "There are no small sin and no big sin. They are equally all sins before God."

I'm thinking shouldn't some pastors also be resigning because they lie, because they hated some people and spoke badly against them, because they manipulated themselves up the ladder, because they are addicted to pornography? I'm not saying that all pastors are such bad people, but why do only pastors who were in inappropriate relationships resign?

So are there small sins and big sins?

What I think it is this: there are no "small sins and big sins" because in the fallen nature of ours, in our total depravity, that there is nothing good in us except for Christ, the gravity of our sins makes no difference to the already depraved situation we are in. The hole is so deep it can't go any deeper. It is so black it can't go any blacker.

However, that does not help to explain Matthew 12:31-32, "So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven— except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come." (NLT)

But inasmuch as there are no small or big sins, it is different when it comes to the consequences of sin - there will be big or small consequences, and that depends on the expectations of each of us.

Sins that cause the disruption of the fabric of church and community needs to be seriously dealt with.

We can only beat our chest in sorrow and say, "O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner." (Luke 18:13b, NLT)

We can only admit in the face of temptations that we are but weak and in need of Christ, and in doing so we hold our ground with the armour of God, not our own feeble armour, if we can even call it an armour, but God's.

pearlie

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed

We were late for church service today, not realizing that being Easter Sunday, it was an hour earlier. We were half an hour "early" and so we just missed half an hour of the service. I'm sad to miss the praise and worship part, but glad we were there nonetheless.

The sermon today was on John 20:19-31 on "Doubt: Good or Bad?"

I remember blogging about Doubting Thomas before, here.

Back then I was crazily into chiasms. I still am but I don't do it much anymore.

John 20:19-31
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."
24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."

26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe."
28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

I noted then that the passage can be divided into 2 parts: firstly, when Jesus appeared to the disciples but Thomas was not around (v.19-25) and secondly, Jesus appeared to the disciples again and this time Thomas was with them (v.26-29). I came out with this chiastic structure:

Disciples, in fear inside with doors were locked
    Jesus came and stood with them
          Jesus proclaimed peace, showed his physical being
                Disciples overjoyed!
          Jesus proclaimed peace and breathed on them
    Jesus commanded them to receive the Spirit for mission
Thomas was not there, was told, did not believe

Disciples were inside, with Thomas, doors locked
    Jesus came and stood with them
          Jesus proclaimed peace, showed his physical being to Thomas
                Thomas believed – my Lord, my God!
          Jesus proclaimed Thomas’ belief because he has seen him
    (No command given)
Those who have not seen but believe will be blessed

Right now, I don't think this I structure would carry much water. The second chiasm is broken with Part B' missing. But the first one holds. So what's the difference between the two sections?

I think that's where the focus of the passage is--where it diverted from the structure is where the emphasis of the message is. If you compare the two parts of the passage:

Part 1 v.19-25	Part 2 v.26-29
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."	26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.	27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe."
Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.	28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."
24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."
	29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
	30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

I find 20:23 very interesting. Apparently it has to do with the receiving of the Good News of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Spirit in the preceding verse. Colin G. Kruse says, "The non-forgiveness of sins is always related to refusal to believe in Jesus, suggesting that forgiveness of sins comes through belief in him. It is noteworthy that Jesus’ statement ‘If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven’ is intimately connected with the (symbolic) bestowal of the Spirit (22–23), which is in turn related to the disciples’ being sent into the world as his witnesses (21–22; cf. 15:26–27). This supports the view that the way in which the disciples forgive sins and retain sins is by preaching the good news and declaring the effects of believing it (forgiveness) and rejecting it (no forgiveness)."¹

I would the interpret the emphasis of the passage as this:
1. Jesus is risen and he is sending us to preach the Good News
2. So receive the Holy Spirit, and preach the forgiveness of God
3. To those who have yet to believe, believe even though you have not seen
4. Because though you have not seen, the word is given to you that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and by believing you will have life in him

pearlie
1 Colin G. Kruse, John, Tyndale New Testament Commentary, IVP, 2003

It's Friday...but Sunday's a Coming

pearlie

Salvation in Christ through the Holy Spirit

We were studying on the Holy Spirit in CG lately, in line with the Holy Spirit sermon series by Pastor Marvin, and I discovered something interesting this evening.

I have studied the book of Acts in TEE before, but I never saw this till now.

It was stated in our bible study materials that the phrase of being baptized in the Spirit was only mentioned in Acts in two places: 1:5 and 11:16.

Acts 1:5 is the precursor to the Pentecost in-filling of the Holy Spirit for the Jews and 11:16 the interpretation of the in-filling of the Holy Spirit for the Gentiles.

As such, I see that the significance of the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" as the salvation of Christ and for both the Jews and the Gentiles: not as an emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit as much as it is to mark the salvation for all mankind in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Peter underlines this with his truth in his sermon in Acts 2, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (2:38, ESV)

That is, the whole theme of salvation is encapsulated in the unity of all these things: repentance, baptism, forgiveness of sins and receiving of the Holy Spirit, all in one salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.

pearlie

One of the best apologetics sermon on the resurrection of Christ

We had one of the best apologetics sermon I've ever heard on the resurrection of Christ by Pastor Marvin Wong. Here is the mp3 link.

But if I were to name one thing...no, two things...from the sermon today, they are:

(1) Pastor Marvin said that every sermon in the book of Acts is about the resurrection of Jesus. I shall take his word for it, and will take notice from now on as I read the book of Acts.

(2) The resurrection is the linchpin to the gospel of salvation. In the same way a prisoner who has not been released is one who has not fully paid his price of his crime, a Jesus who has not risen, a Jesus who is still dead, will not have fully paid for the price of sin of humankind, for the wages of sin is death. But the good news of Easter is that He is risen! He is risen indeed! The price of sin is fully paid in Christ Jesus and through Him and in Him, we can have life, and life to the fullest.

My friend Heng Yew made this floral arrangement in his church, "to the letter" of the gospel - we have the good news of the empty tomb. We proclaim a risen Saviour.

Happy Easter everyone! May you also believe in the empty tomb and the risen Lord and have life to the everlasting. Amen.



pearlie
Photo: Liew Heng Yew, 2014

It is finished!

Jesus' "τετέλεσται" (tetelestai), "it is finished!" (John 19:30) was the meditation of our Good Friday service yesterday.

I had song practice this morning for Easter tomorrow. During the opening prayer of the practice session, I thought I heard the person praying "it was finished" referring to the finished work of Christ. I may have misheard it but it has again reminded me of the Greek word I learnt some years ago, were the tense is of utmost importance, in that we say "It is finished" and not otherwise.

I shall quote from William D. Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek, Zondervan, 1993, p.218:

It is often the very first and the very last thing we say that is the most important, or the statement that is the most memorable. First impressions and last impressions are the lasting impressions. The same is true for Jesus. The first statement we hear him say is that he should be in his Father's house (Luke 2:49). Even at the age of twelve, he was aware of his divine lineage.

And as he hung on the cross, having lived a sinless life, having paid the penalty for your sins and mine, Jesus uttered his last words before dying. Tετέλεσται. "It is finished" (John 19:30). This one word summary of Jesus' life and death is perhaps the single most important statement in all of Scripture. The word means "to complete," "to bring to perfection." Jesus has fully done the work God the Father sent him to do. Paul spends Romans 5 discussing this very fact, that our salvation is sure because Christ's death totally defeated the effects of Adam's sin, completely.

But the tense of the verb, the "perfect" tense, bring out even more of what Jesus was saying. The [Greek] perfect describes an action that was fully completed and has present-day consequences. Jesus could have used the aorist, ἐτέλησεν [etelesen], and simply said, "The work is done." But there is more, there is hope for you and for me. Because Jesus fully completed his task, the ongoing effects are that you and I are offered the free gift of salvation so that we can be with him forever. Praise the Lord. Tετέλεσται. (Emphasis mine.)

pearlie

More on Christ in the Passover

Noel sent an email to his friends with regards to his thoughts on the sermon I blogged about yesterday. He touched on important points I missed. I have gotten his permission to post it here:

I found myself unexpectedly in Pantai Baptist Church this Sunday.

The Palm Sunday sermon was given by a Dr Richard Harvey, Jewish by birth and a former believer in Judaism who became a Christian and lives in England.

He spoke of his conversion and his missionary activities among the Jews, but the highlight of his presentation was his clear exposition of how the various elements in the Passover celebration point to Christ. He even brought several of this elements with him to the service. I learnt a number of things.

One of these elements, the roasted egg, symbolises the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

Another element, the horse radish root, symbolises the emotional trauma/bitterness of Jewish sufferring. The expression "root of bitterness" in Heb 12:15 is probably influenced by this Passover connection.

Parsley (hyssop) symbolises Jewish tears shed.

The roasted shank bone, another important element, symbolises the Jews who were saved from 10th plague as described in Exodus.

The importance of unleavened bread and the removal of any leaven from Jewish homes during Passover lies behind 1 Cor 5:7 (clean out the old leaven...because Christ our Passover has also been sacrificed).

As we focus on the cross where Jesus died in our place, may our love for him who is the first born of all creation and the perfect image of the invisible God who is our heavenly Father, grow more and more as our insight and wonder deepens.

pearlie

Christ in the Passover

We were in for a real treat today. We had Dr Richard Harvey as our speaker. He is a Jew who believes in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was with us today and shared with us a delightful message of Christ in the Passover.

He introduced to us the Passover meal that is observed by Jews every year during the Festival of the Unleavened Bread. He showed us the items involved in the meal: the hyssop or parsley leaves in salty water, bitter herbs, the Haggadah, etc. but what intrigued me most were the matzah tosh and the afikomen, and the four cups of the Passover. I never knew about them and I am amazed at their significance in light of Jesus.


A Matzah Tosh


A Matzah Tosh's Three Pockets

The matzah tosh is a bag with three parallel pockets to place the matzah or unleavened bread in. The matzah from the middle pocket will be taken out, broken and wrapped in a cloth and subsequently hidden. That is the afikomen. It will be brought back at the end of the meal to be distributed and eaten as the final morsel.


The afikomen wrapped in cloth

Dr Harvey said that this is significant because the three pockets could very well signify the Triune God. The bread taken from the middle pocket (of the Son) will be broken (will die), hidden (buried) and brought back (resurrected) to be given to be eaten (partaken). He said that during Jesus and the disciples' Last Supper, it was the afikomen that was broken and distributed, "take, eat, this is my body" (Matt 26:26b, ESV).


The Four Wine Cups

The four cups, they commemorate the deliverance of Jews from the Egyptians in the time of Moses. They consist of the Cup of Sanctification, Cup of Deliverance, Cup of Redemption and Cup of Praise.

Dr Harvey said that it was the third cup that Jesus passed around to the disciples, "drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matt 26:28, ESV)

After which, when it came to the fourth cup, the Cup of Praise or Restoration, Dr Harvey believed that Jesus and the disciples did not drink from it because Jesus said, "I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom" (Matt 26:29, NIV).

I was quite amazed. But I began to also wonder where and when did the matzah tosh, afikomen and the four cups come about. As far as I can remember, they are not mentioned in the bible, not in Old Testament and definitely not in the New.

Noel, who happened--or divinely arranged--to attend the same service today, asked me the same question, if these items were mentioned in Scripture.

I said and he agreed: if they were mentioned in the bible, Christian scholars would have already picked it up and we would have already known about it. These items and what they stand for are significant. So my take is that the bible as we have it, is sufficient by God's design for our understanding, for the Gentiles. For the Jews on the other hand, they have their practices since the OT days, which were, and are, special for them, since the gospel is after all, first for them.

The Jews have indeed, a richer and fuller background and history of the salvation and deliverance of the Messiah. It is my prayer that they will come to find Jesus as their long awaited Saviour.

As for me, I am blessed with a deeper understanding of Jesus' Last Passover, and the significance of what he said to the disciples, and of what he says to me.

I eat of the bread of life, broken, hidden and brought back. I drink of the Cup of Redemption, being redeemed back into his fold. And I look forward to drink of the Cup of Praise, Restoration and Joy with Jesus when I am finally in the Father's kingdom. Amen.

(Here's the link to the sermon: Christ in the Passover).

pearlie

Photo sources:
1. Chow Ee-Tan, 2014
2. "Little Flock" Messianic Fellowship
3. MessianicSeder.com
4. Amy Letinsky
5. superhoop @Flickr