Before the turn of the new calendar year, let’s us reflect upon things that we need to change–aspects of our lives that God is calling us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in.

On October 9, 2006 I wrote this while having a coffee at a downtown Starbucks:

It’s amazing how quickly things can change… but what’s equally amazing is how some things have never really changed at all.  The truth is some things are probably never going to happen; and there things that are not going to change.

Nevertheless, we wonder… are there things in our world that can change??–things in our experience that can be altered?  Are there things within the sovereign will of God that we have been given the ability to control?  Are there aspects of our lives that we have been given the freedom to choose…that we must deal with personally so as to give glory to God and show the world that Christ is supreme?

The answer, of course, is YES–there is!  From what Paul has said to the Philippians in chapter 1 verses 12-20 of his letter to them, the apostle himself exhorts us that we can change a number of important things in our lives.  In these verses, I have found that God, through Paul, calls us even in this postmodern day to intentionally change that which can be changed–things we have control over–namely our mindset, motive, and methodology.  In these 3 areas, let us examine and evaluate ourselves, and to check and change that which needs to be changed.

Continue reading “Changing that which can be changed“…

More recently, I wrote a very personal series on love and obedience.  For a large part of the series, I was venting my disgust about some of the common misunderstandings about love and obedience held by people I know.  Here’s an excerpt: 

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.

After writting this series, I realized that I myself had a long way to go in loving and obeying God.  In failing to love others, I failed in obeying God; in failing to love God, I failed in serving others obediently.

Anyways, check out the rest of the series here:

Love and Obedience: part 1, part 2, and part 3. 

A while back I wrote a long series on authentic worship that’s worth checking it out…

Here’s an excerpt from the series:

I’ve grown up in the church, so over the years, I could easily say that there has been some confusion over this “worship” thing that we do in church and in fellowship (not that worship in and of itself is confined only to times during church services and fellowship programs.) It’s just that we’ve used a lot of modifiers and adjectives attached to worship to define what kind of worship we do: traditional, liturgical, contemporary, blended, seeker-sensitive, charismatic, praise and worship!

Furthermore, we live in an era where worship is now one of the most controversial issues in the local church. Some books even go so far as suggesting that the church today is in “worship warfare.” These 2 words together should cause us to tremble in humble, reverent reflection as to how we have come to this.  The issues of worship, music and instruments have caused many churches to have conflicts within itself between its own members and those who serve in worship ministry; many arguments and debates has risen over controversies as to how worship should or shouldn’t be done.

From Authentic Worship: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6.

If you really know me, the words and feeings described by this image is self-explanatory.

“God, oh Lord, grant me the power to overcome sin. For sin is that which you gave to us when you granted us free choice of will. If I choose wrongly, then I shall be justly punished for it. Is that not true, my Lord, of whom I indebted for my temporal existence. Thank you, Lord, for granting me the power to will my self not to sin.”

-St. Augustine,
From Free Choice of the Will, Book I

Another great series of articles I wrote a while back worth checking it out…

Here’s an excerpt from the series I did on the doctrine of sin (aka “harmartiology”):

For most of us, we might have thought that Jesus Christ’s life, persecution, death and resurrection was enough to save us from our sins, to forgive us, and justify us before a Holy Holy Holy LORD God.  But I think what most of us has forgotten is that this same grace sustains us–day in and day out.  Sanctification, the process of something sinful being made holy, has its source in this same grace–any good that we can ever do, or any obedience that we could ever muster only happens because of God’s grace.  Grace is the source of (good) work.  Our works is the fruit of saving grace–it was exactly what we were saved to do (Ephesians 2:8-10)…and in our working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2) we look forward to the “Future Grace” of God.

It was indeed for our sake & to the Father’s glory that God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin , so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.  Therefore, we are not just a sinner saved by grace.  We are sinners who have been cleanesed, forgiven, transformed, and made righteous and holy in Christ–we are saints!  And as grace is through faith and not by works, so also our identity is not defined by what we do or do not do–namely, sin.  Even though our nature and our sinning would define us by as sinners who are completely depraved in our entire beings, Christ by His covenantal blood declares us as HIS, holy and faithful ones.

From Harmartiology: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

I’m at Urbana 06 in St.Louis this week, so while I’m away I’d like to point y’all to some of my old posts.  They’re from a little while back, but still have some good content!

Here’s an excerpt from the series I did on “internal transformation“:

Some people think that repentance is just a complete 180-degrees turn from doing what they used to do.  They are correct, but only in part.  Just because you change your behaviour 180-degrees, does not mean that you have your heart and mind changed!  And if you have not had a heart transplant yet, serving more–taking on a bigger ministry, leading musical worship, teaching more Sunday School, leading more Bible studies, and helping out on your Fellowship’s planning committee–doing all these good repentant-like things cannot and will not change your heart.  External modification won’t cause an internal transformation.  Sooner or later, and more likely sooner, as time goes by, as you keep on trying by your own strength to do good and repay your debt to God, Satan will tempt you and you will fail in your own self-power and self-trying to live a godly life.  Everything that you have done is meaningless if it does not come from faith, in God the Father, who is the Healer, the Doctor, the life changer, pride breaker, the only Creator and Sustainer of all of mankind.  As King David wrote in the above Psalm, God does not want a sacrifice of behavior from us and He won’t be pleased at all with us paying Him lip service by just doing better things for Him.

Changing your behaviour and just saying you are sorry will not change your heart and mind… No, it does not even come close to cutting it.  You see, the English word “repent” comes from the Greek word “metanoeo”.  It is a compound word.  The first part, meta-,  means movement or change; the second part, noeo-, refers to the mind and its thoughts, perceptions, dispositions, and purposes.  And thus, to repent means to change the mind’s perceptions, and dispostions, and purposes.  (Thanks to Piper for this definition)   In order for true, genuine repentance to happen, we must be “transformed by the renewing of our mind” BY GOD’s Spirit so “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  That’s Romans 12:2.  And for us, whereas this symbol of our hearts basically entails our deepest dispositions and desires in life, this means that I need to be transformed by the renewing of my heart.  I need my heart to be changed; I need a new heart.  

From Internal Transformation: part 1, and part 2.

So my bags are packed and I’m almost ready to go: Urbana 06 in St.Louis, MO.

This will be my first Urbana, and my second participation in a large-scale student ministry conference (the first being Passion 06 earlier this past January).

The theme this year is “you have a calling“, and focusing on Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians.  But I know I have a calling already, as you my dear reader might even know.  So God, please tell me something I don’t know ….

Personally, in the past year and a half or so, God’s call on me to pulpit ministry & preaching has centered around a simple yet serious call from Romans 10:14-15:

But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Since I’ve been seriously job searching during my last job and since that job contract ended at the beginning of September… I have seen job opportunities come and go, interview after interview, the future at my fingertips.  And yet, even in this nearness to a good job, I cannot help it but still feel the voice of God written in my heart and in the Scriptures calling me to follow Him and serve Him vocationally in pulpit ministry.

I shared this with my sister: it just feels like I haven’t past the “event horizon” of my specific call to ministry yet.  Right not, I find myself pulled towards a finding a real job and career (which I could work for a year or 2 and then go into seminary) — and going right into seminary right now.  I mean, I could just jump right into studies for a M.Div and that would be totally fine with me… but it just, doesn’t seem perfectly right just yet.  I could just go either way right now.  ~sighs~

What I gotta figure out thru Urbana is a 4-fold calling I need to figure out for myself

• What: what specific ministry is God calling me to? (pulpit ministry & expositional preaching I know already, but anything more specific–like age, ethnic, nation?)
• When: when should I be going into seminary to equip myself for service?  (apply now? for summer start? fall start? 2008?)
• Where: which seminary should I apply / go into?  (Regent? SBTS? etc..)
• Why: again, I need to figure out in-depth the reasons for which God is calling me to serve Him.

Deep inside my heart, I know I’ve been called.  It’s only a matter of time, and location.  After Urbana 06, I don’t necessarily need a definite YES or NO go for seminary right now–I just need to hear these 4 W’s more clearly, definitively, and be affirmed in what I have heard from the great I AM.

Hmmmm yeh…. I could definitely use the prayers in figuring out life right now.  I feel, stressed to the brink and I’m not even doing much of anything right now.  I just need peace thru the confirmation of the Lord’s active presence in my life… part of me has been so bogged down by the disappointing job search process that I feel so weak, unable to attain any serious solid job yet.  From one perspective, it looks like God has closed some doors for me, and yet it may appear as if He’s opening up a window instead.

Well, here’s to the calling and seeking to understanding what God requires of this skinny, short, single, job-less Chinese guy.