In part 1 and part 2 I have extensively described love in terms of obedience.  I conclude this short series now by speaking about it, in terms of…

The Verb and the Motive

While obedience is the primary way we express our love to God, it is not the same as love.  Love is essentially a motive; it is a verb.  If I were married, I am to love my wife as Christ loved the Church (Ephesians 5:25).  For every Christian, Christ Himself commands that we are to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).  In each instance, love is used as a verb; not a feeling.  While Disney, Miramax, Chinese soap shows/movies and popular radio will tell us that love is a noun, something that we fall into… Scripture again paints us a completely different picture: love is something we do.

As a motive, love is that which prompts and guides other verbs and actions.  For example, I love my enemies first by forgiving them of their harmful actions toward me, and then by seeking their welfare in appropriate ways.  The verbs here are forgive and seek.  Love always needs other verbs to give it hands and feet, for by itself it can do nothing.  This is clearly seen in 1 Corinthian 13 where the noun love is used by Paul as the subject of a whole list of action statements.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

While this passage is too often misused for romantic relationships, the context in this passage is to the Christians in Corinth; the message about how to love one another is about people within the Body of Christ, that is followers of Jesus.  In relating to brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to be patient, and kind.  We are not to envy, and not to boast, and so on.  It is genuine love that drives us bear all things, to believe, to hope, to endure.

To do all these things is to be obedient to Him; and being obedient means we love Him.

Moreover, it is love that gives validity to any of our actions and makes them acceptable to God.  We could choose to seek the welfare of our enemies so they’ll be nice to us and not harm us–but such is manipulation, not love.  Hence, love for God is the only acceptable motive for obedience to Him.  This love may express itself in a reverence for Him and a desire to please Him, but those expressions must spring from love.  Without the motive of love, our apparent obedience may be essentially self-serving

In a negative sense, we may fear God will punish or that He will withhold blessings because of our obedience; our abstaining from sinful action is not out of love but out of fear that we’ll be found out or feel guilty afterwards.  In a positive sense, we may seek to earn God’s blessings through obedience and righteous acts, or we may conform to a certain standard of conduct so as to fit in to the surrounding Christian culture.  We could even obey God outwardly because we want to appear mature, obedient and “good” to parents and authorities.

Both these motives, negative and positive, may result in a form of outward obedience, but inwardly, none are obedience from the heart.  Such obedient behavior may appear outstanding to our friends and parents, but to God it is not acceptable because it does not spring from a motive of love to Him.  The only conduct that is worthy of the name of obedience is the conduct that arises from love.

We must love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, AND we must obey Him wholeheartedly and diligently.  You cannot have one without the other.  It is vain and futile to think that you can fervently worship Him in song in church when there is no accompanying fervent obedience to Him and what He has called you to do.  Consequently, you can be a good, good boy or girl via precise and exact obedient to God’s commands of holy living and still do so in vain and futility if your actions are not motivated by love for Him.

The beauty is that if we can obey God lovingly and love God obediently, there will be an everlasting joy in our hearts for the supremacy of Christ in all things.  As the Apostle said in 1 Corinthians 13:8, love never ends.  It cannot fail.  This simple affirmation refers to love’s everlastingness or permanence as a divine quality, for it outlasts all failures.  Paul strengthens his own point on the permanence of love by comparing it to the spiritual gifts which the Corinthians highly prized: prophecy, knowledge, and tongues, all which will have an end.  But only one spiritual gift will transcend this age and this earth into the eternal state of glory when we see God face to face, and that is love.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I wish I could say I have this joy in my heart from loving and obeying the Lord, but for now I only see in a mirror dimly.  But I pray that we will all soon see face to face and know fully.

Grace to you and peace from our God,
Alex Leung

SDG

[Love and Obedience: Part 1, Part 2]

Betrayal.

Have you ever felt betrayed by a friend?  You know, somebody whom you thought loved you and cared about you, whom you thought was on your side… Have you ever had somebody like that betray you? Maybe you’ve been a disloyal friend like that to somebody else?

There is a saying that goes like… “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”  But the fact of the matter is, it will only stab you in the back eventually, and you won’t even have seen it coming.

But for Jesus, He saw it coming, and in a sense, He didn’t get stabbed in the back like we often are.  He is fully God, and yet He was fully human; He felt the pain of searing loss of a beloved brother who said he loved Him.  I am not talking about Judas, but about Simon Peter.  This famous story is as recorded in John 21:15-19:

Jesus and Peter

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Do you love me more than these?  This probably refers the fish (v.11) representing Peter’s profession as a fisherman, for he had gone back to it while waiting for Jesus (see v.3).  Jesus wanted Peter to love Him so supremely as to forsake all that he was familiar with and be exclusively devoted to being a fisher of men.  The phrase may refer to the other disciples, since Peter had claimed he would be more devoted than all others.

In our lives, can we truly say to our LORD–yes, I love you more than these!  More than my wife/husband, more than my girlfriend/boyfriend, more than my job/career, more than all the fame/recognition/status that we can ever accumulate…. everything, anything, all things: do we truly love God supremely more than all the treasures of this life and this earth?

I think most of us seemingly devout Christians would answer just like Simon Peter did, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”  As much as we mean what we say, we don’t realize that there is actually very little weight (if any) behind those words: there is a lack of a life of obedience that would substantiate such a bold affirmation.  To put it plainly, saying either yes or now would make us liars; for in and of ourselves we are sinful people who are unable to do any good by our own strength let alone obey the commandments of Holy God.

Like I said in part 1, love has much to do about obedience, and that is exactly what Christ calls Peter for…

Feed my lambs.  The word feed conveys the idea of being devoted to the Lord’s service as an undershepherd who cares for His flock.  The word has the idea of constantly feeding and nourishing the sheep.  This served as a reminder that the primary duty of the messenger of Jesus Christ is to teach the Word of God.  (Cf. Acts 1-12 for Peter’s obedience to this commission.)  At its very core, Christ wanted to know if Peter would do what he was called to do.

In our context, will we do what we are called to do?  Or will we rather do our own thing, do what we want to do and think is best for our lives?  We will obey what God commands of us, or will we turn away from the Lord and follow our own selfish ambitions?

Peter was grieved.  The third time Jesus asked Peter, He used Peter’s word for love that signified something less than total devotion, questioning even that level of love which Peter thought he was safe in claiming.  The lessons driven home to Peter grieved his heart, so that he sought for a proper understanding of his heart, not by what he said or had done, but based on the Lord’s omniscience.

The prophecy of Peter’s martyrdom in verse 18 and 19 signaled that Jesus’ call of devotion to Him would entail Peter’s own death.  Whenever any Christian follows Christ, he must be prepared to suffer and die.  Peter lived 3 decades serving the Lord and anticipating his own death that was before him, but he wrote that such suffering and death for the Lord brings praise to God.

This simple passage still speaks right to the heart of us missional Christians today.  Are we genuinely devoted to Christ completely, so as to obey His Word to the point of suffering and to the point of death?  Or are we so happy and comfortable sitting on our safe couch of Christianity that we dare not step into the world of darkness as His light?  Are we even grieved that the Lord has seen through our lazy, complacent hearts into our true selves?  Will we ever mourn for our inequities and repent… and follow?

So many questions for us to ponder if we truly”love” the Lord.

[Love and Obedience: Part 1, .... part 3 coming soon]

I’m teaching the 10 Commandments from Dec-Feb in Sunday School, so it is timely that I share these reflections in preparation.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

The Greatest Commandment

6:1 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

There is a lot of talk about love these days, especially in the romantic sense.  We live in a culture that is saturated with movies (which are generally all about love and relationships) and music (also about love and relationships) which convey the sense that this is something that we feel, a dreamy fairytale-like state-of-mind where all of life is hunk-dory, and prince charming flies in to sweep us of our feet and save the day!

In Scripture, however, we find the Divine foundation for love and the Biblical definition of love.  Like Christ says in Matthew 22:37-40, the great commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind… and the second is to love our neighbor as ourself.  In one sense, Jesus Himself is affirming the Old Testament mosaic law, (Deut.6:5) to love God with all our heart, soul and might… confirming that he came not to abolish the law but to fufill it.

As we read God’s words in Deuteronomy 6, we find that the primary message is obedience to God, and not “love” per se.  Notice such words like commandments, statutes, and rules (NIV: commands, decrees, laws) are prominent, and how obedience to these commandments, statutes, and rules is emphasized.

We are to do/observe them (v.1), keep them (v.2), and be careful to obey(do) them (v.3).  They are to be upon our hearts (v.6).  We are to impress them on our children and talk about them continually; that is, when we sit at home, walk along the road, lie down, and get up (verse 7).  We are to use all manner of reminder devices to keep His commands continually before us.

For the Israelites that meant tying them on their hands and foreheads (v.8) and writing them on their door frames and gates (v.9).  For us, it might mean a “Post-It” note with a pertinent verse of Scripture stuck on the bathroom mirror or the clock on our desk.  And thus, it is in the midst of this strong emphasis to the Jews on obedience to God’s Law and on the practical necessity of keeping its precepts always before them so they would obey, that we find the greatest commandment (v.5): You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Whatever else that may be involved in loving God with all our heart, obedience to His law certainly seems to be a major part of it.  Throughout Deuteronomy, we find that this equating of obedience to God with love to God is a very common theme.  (Check out 10:12-13; 11:22; 19:9; 30:6-8; 30:19-20)  It shouldn’t surprise us that obedience to God’s permanent moral law is a major part of loving Him.  Indeed, Christ has said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21); and as the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.”  The proof of our love to God is our obedience to Him.  Our love to God will always manifest itself in obedience to Him.

I reckon that our love and thus obedience to God always takes on one of 2 approaches: cruise-control obedience, or race-car obedience.

In the cruise-control obedience, we press the accelerator pedal of obedience until we have brought our behviour up to a certain level or “speed.”  The level of obedience is most often determined by the behavior standard of other Christians around us.  We don’t want to lag behind them because we want to be as spiritual as they are.  At the same time, we’re not eager to forge ahead of them because we don’t want to be different.  We want to just comfortably blend in with the level of obedience of those around us.

Once we arrive at this comfortable level of obedience, we push the “cruise-control” button on our hearts, ease back, and relax.  Our particular Christian culture then takes over and keeps us going at the accepted level of conduct.  We don’t have to watch the speed-limit signs of God’s Word, and we certainly don’t have to experience the fatigue that comes with seeking to obey Him with all our heart, soul and mind.  This “cruise-control” obedience is likely descriptive of our spiritual lives for many of us much, if not all, of the time.

On the other hand, race-car obedience is just like race-car driving.  Such drivers would never use a cruise-control, they’re not interested in blending in with the speed of those around them, and have no desire to simply curise at a comfortable speed–they wan tto win the race.

To love God with all our heart, soul and mind means to obey Him with all our heart soul and mind.  We should “strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord“, or rather, we should “make every effort to be holy” (Hebrews 12:14).  God is not impressed with our worship on Sunday morning at church if we are practicing “cruise-control” obedience the rest of the week.  We may sing with reverent passion or great emotional fervor, but our worship is only as pleasing to God as the obedience that precedes & accompanies it.

Such is the sense of uneasiness that fills my mind as I struggle with the concept of “love”, loving God, loving others, and love one other.  I may not be living with some flagrant sin in my life, I was just simply living in a “cruise-control” mode of obedience.  Somewhere, somehow along life’s winding road, I had lost the commitment and intensity that is implied in the pursuit of holiness.  I wasn’t seeking to obey God’s law with all my heart, soul, and mind.  Instead, I had settled into a comfortable routine, in which there were no major vices, but their was there an all-out effort to obey God in every area of my life, especially in interpersonal relationships.

Let us rather, discipline ourselves in love–in obedience.  Let us run to win the race, to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, est after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

-1 Corinthians 9:24-27

(This series is actually my paraphrased notes from Ch.7 of Jerry Bridges’ “The Discipline of Grace“)

This first video is from the WorshipGod06 Conference Aug. 9-12, 2006. Ryan Ferguson is giving a memorized dramatic recitation of Hebrews 9 and 10 … all from the ESV Bible. God’s Word is powerful! (HT: Worship Matters)
The last 2 videos here are documentary clips about Benny Hinn. If you didn’t know that Benny’s a devout follower of Joel Osteen’s “get rich” mentality, now you know. Here’s how he spends your donated money: $10-million, 7,000 sq. ft. home. $112,000 per month for a private jet. Two $80,000 cars. Luxury hotel rooms that are 5,400 sq. ft. for $10,800 per night paid for and stayed at during a “layover.” Tips over a 3-day period for $4,500. A salary of half a million to a million dollars per year–plus book royalties.
(HT: Justin Taylor)

LOL It’s just soo funny how John MacArthur has this accent to how he says the word “discernment”–he says it with a lil twist: dizzernment!

In its simplest definition, discernment is nothing more than the ability to decide between truth and error, right and wrong. Discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth. In other words, the ability to think with discernment is synonymous with an ability to think biblically.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 teaches that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be discerning: “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” The apostle John issues a similar warning when he says, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). According to the New Testament, discernment is not optional for the believer-it is required.

The key to living an uncompromising life lies in one’s ability to exercise discernment in every area of his or her life. For example, failure to distinguish between truth and error leaves the Christian subject to all manner of false teaching. False teaching then leads to an unbiblical mindset, which results in unfruitful and disobedient living-a certain recipe for compromise.

Unfortunately, discernment is an area where most Christians stumble. They exhibit little ability to measure the things they are taught against the infallible standard of God’s Word, and they unwittingly engage in all kinds of unbiblical decision-making and behavior. In short, they are not armed to take a decidedly biblical stand against the onslaught of unbiblical thinking and attitudes that face them throughout their day.

Discernment intersects the Christian life at every point. And God’s Word provides us with the needed discernment about every issue of life. According to Peter, God “has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). You see, it is through the “true knowledge of Him,” that we have been given everything we need to live a Christian life in this fallen world. And how else do we have true knowledge of God but through the pages of His Word, the Bible? In fact, Peter goes on to say that such knowledge comes through God’s granting “to us His precious and magnificent promises” (2 Peter 1:4).

Discernment — the ability to think biblically about all areas of life — is indispensable to an uncompromising life. It is incumbent upon the Christian to seize upon the discernment that God has provided for in His precious truth! Without it, Christians are at risk of being “tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14).

-John MacArthur on Pulpit Magazine.

Today’s photos are for my mom, who is in Hong Kong right now visiting her mom & siblings… I know she misses us and we sure miss her too

You taught me everything
And everything you’ve given me
I’ll always keep it inside
You’re the driving force in my life, yeah

There isn’t anything
Or anyone that I could be
And it just wouldn’t feel right
If I didn’t have you by my side

ohh You were there for me to love and care for me
When skies were grey
Whenever I was down
You were always there to comfort me
And no one else can be what you have been to me
You will always be
You will always be the girl in my life for all times

Mama, mama you know I love you
Ooh you know I love you
Mama, mama you’re the queen of my heart
Your love is like
Tears from the stars (yes it is)
Mama, I just want you to know
Lovin’ you is like food to my soul
Yes it is, yes it is (ooh), yes it is, yes it is, yes it is

You’re always down for me
Have always been around for me even when I was bad
You showed me right from my wrong (yes you did)
And you took up for me
When everyone was downin’ me
You always did understand
You gave me strength to go on

There was so many times
Looking back when I was so afraid
And then you’d come to me
And say to me I could face anything
And no one else can do
What you have done for me
You’ll always be
You will always be the girl in my life (ooh)

Never gonna go a day without you
Fills me up just thinking about you
Could never go a day without my mama

Today is Thanksgiving. And even though I myself am not an American, I want to take the opportunity to join my American friends (apparently, there are many of you reading this) in celebrating this memorable occaision.

In Canada, Thanksgiving is not as big of a deal as it is in the States. In my family, we don’t usually do anything big or extravagant; we don’t cherish this opportunity much for getting together extended family for a big feast of Turkey. This past Canadian Thanksgiving, I don’t remember what we did, so it seems we didn’t do much. Hopefully in the future, my family could start a tradition, just to go around the table a few times to share about things we are thankful for.

Nevertheless, Scripture gives us many examples of Biblical thanksgiving:

Thank the LORD God of Israel through all eternity!
Amen and amen! (Ps. 41:13)

I will always thank you, God, for what you have done;
in the presence of your people
I will proclaim that you are good. (Ps. 52:9)

Enter the Temple gates with thanksgiving;
go into its courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise him. (Ps. 100:4)

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Cor. 15:57)

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Cor. 9:15)

Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. (Phil. 4:6)

Over at girl talk, the ladies suggest 3 important ways to prepare to glorify God this Thanksgiving Holiday: Prepare for People, Prepare for Memories, and Prepare for Gratefulness.

So wherever you are, American or not, today is as good as any day to give thanks: to express gratefulness to God for the many evidences of grace we have experienced this past year, and most of all, for the substitutionary sacrifice of His Son for our sins. May the overwhelming gratitude for the cross of Jesus Christ be the distinguishing mark of our Thanksgiving Day, and every day throughout the year.

Happy Thanksgiving!