Note: This is an article from Christianity Today about Lesslie Newbigin. An influential thinker on the church and its message to a pluralistic, secular society, Newbigin puts forward the idea of the gospel as public truth. If you work as a witness in the campuses, this article will help you.
It was an unlikely adventure to launch a global ministry—a tediously long bus journey from Madras, India, to Birmingham, England. It was an unlikely background for a champion of the gospel to emerge from—the theologically liberal Student Christian Movement. It was an unlikely age at which to unintentionally initiate the emergent and missional church movements—age 66 after 35 years of cross-cultural missionary service. But Bishop Lesslie Newbigin made his most important contribution and did his most profound thinking in his 70s and 80s. Can this man, whose birth centenary was celebrated in December, help today's church navigate a critical period of change?
American Christianity is a long way from disappearing, but it is embattled. Newsweek magazine, bus placards, and best-selling books are all proclaiming the death of Christian America. Over the past 35 years, American confidence in religious leaders has dropped significantly—and dropped farther and faster than confidence in leaders of other institutions. Of those under age 30, only 3 percent hold a favorable view of evangelicals, compared with 33 percent who hold a favorable view of gays and lesbians. The 2009 American Religious Identification Survey showed a 10 percent dip in the number of self-identified Christians while also reporting that the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990, rising from 8 to 15 percent.
These figures come as no surprise to someone from the other side of the Atlantic. The European church has long struggled with plummeting attendance. The most optimistic reading of our latest church attendance statistics describes the U.K. as "pulling out of the nosedive." Penn State's Philip Jenkins sees Europe taking the lead as the "acids of modernity" (journalist Walter Lippmann's term) dissolve the Christian foundations of a continent.
Others, like sociologist Grace Davie, see Europe as the exception, the only place on the planet where the church is in decline and facing increasing marginalization. Despite the best efforts of the militant New Atheists, we have ended up not with secularism but with religious pluralism.
In the face of alarming statistics, secularist attacks, and media scaremongering, the church has an important ally in Lesslie Newbigin. His writings continue to call the church to its missionary vocation in the midst of cultural change and ideological pluralism.
Newbigin was born 100 years ago on December 8, 1909. After completing theological studies at Cambridge University and working briefly for the Student Christian Movement, he left for India in 1936 to labor as a missionary, evangelist, and apologist. There he was instrumental in bringing together the Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches from India, Pakistan, and Burma into one ecumenical denomination: the Church of South India. On his return to England, he was shocked to find that the West was as urgent a mission field as the East. Refusing to settle into retirement, he wrote prolifically, issuing a clarion call to the Western church to rediscover its missionary mandate.
This was not merely a response to the declining state of the church, but the result of Newbigin's wrestling with the interplay of such enormous ideas as election, modernity, contextualization, the end of Christendom, and missional ecclesiology. Seeing the bigger picture of the gospel has inspired many of Newbigin's readers to grasp more fully the interaction between gospel, church, and culture. Three major themes stand out as particularly pertinent to our time.
Bigger than we think
When I speak with students around the world, I find them confident in their ability to present the gospel. They tell me that God loves me, that I have sinned, that Christ died for me, and that I need to believe in Jesus to get to heaven. Their confidence is reassuring, but their content is worrying. Doctoral students and seminarians often seem to have no deeper grasp of the gospel than do Sunday school children. The gospel they present has been reduced to a personalized product that offers the ultimate bargain—exchanging spiritual poverty for eternal riches. The problem with much of our evangelism is not what we include but what we omit: the Holy Spirit, the church, persecution, obedience, mission, reconciliation, resurrection, and new creation.
The gospel according to Newbigin challenges this thinking in two distinct ways. First, he calls us back to a gospel that brings personal reconciliation with God, but also a gospel that connects us with God's reconciling purposes in conscience, culture, church, creation, and cosmos. Second, he calls us back to a gospel that is more than a series of bullet points, a story that centers on the flesh-and-blood character of the divine Christ.
Newbigin's call is earthed in his careful exposition of John's gospel, but it draws as well on thinkers such as Martin Buber, Michael Polanyi, Hans Frei, and Alasdair MacIntyre, synthesizing their reflections into a powerful, unwittingly postmodern-friendly apologetic. Newbigin encourages us to tell the stories of the gospel as part of the grand sweep of the biblical drama. This is vital if an increasingly biblically illiterate generation is going to hear the gospel for the first time. We must explain that the stories of Jesus, true both historically and experientially, are the only way to understand how our individual stories make sense, and we must demand a personal decision to follow the Lord of all history.
As Newbigin explained in 1994, "The true understanding of the Bible is that it tells a story of which my life is a part, the story of God's tireless, loving, wrathful, inexhaustible patience with the human family, and of our unbelief, blindness, disobedience. To accept this story as the truth of the human story (and so of my story) commits me personally to a life of discernment and obedience in the new circumstances of each day."
As we tell the Jesus story, we draw people to him as a person worthy of allegiance rather than as a proposition to be evaluated.
The gospel as public truth
In God Is Back, Economist editors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge cite economics as the reason Christianity has fared better in the United States than in Europe. They argue that the disestablishment of the American church opened a free market in which religious ideas flourished while their European state-backed religious counterparts disintegrated along with other politically enforced institutions. This insight offers us hope that European-style decline is not the future of global Christianity, and that the American model may hold the key to the re-evangelization of Europe.
But there is a danger in free-market spirituality. Christianity becomes just another lifestyle option. As we become more aware of the multiplicity of worldviews and religions, and as we rightly value diversity, we can grow increasingly reluctant to commend the truthfulness of the Christian message. Privatized relativism is a real danger for the church. We are tempted to vacate the public square, avoid evangelism out of fear of offending others, and retreat into ghettos. The only alternative seems to be to try to impose Christian values on the wider culture by exerting moral muscle.
Newbigin offers a third way. He challenges the post-Enlightenment separation between so-called objective facts in the public realm (taught at school and presented without the need for the preface "I believe") and the subjective values of the private world of religion and ethics. He argues that the church needs to humbly yet boldly enter the public sphere with a persuasive retelling of the Christian story—not as personal spirituality, but as public truth. He takes the logic for this public dialogue from the scientific community. A scientist does not present research findings as a personal preference, but with hope for universal agreement if the findings stand up to investigation. In the marketplace of ideas, we should likewise present the gospel not as personal preference but as truth that should gain universal acceptance. This allows us to commend the faith with the humble admission that we might not have exhaustively grasped the truth, but that we have truth that needs to be investigated and seriously engaged.
The gospel in community
I remember being in a crowded living room in Birmingham as a group of university evangelists and apologists sat at the feet of a very old man who needed a magnifying glass to read his tightly typed notes. He explained that the bottom line of his whole theological project was "the doctrine of election." That was my first encounter with Newbigin, and after immersing myself in his writings for five years, I discovered that his entire missiology revolved around that idea. God's people are elected to join in God's mission to call others to God in keeping with the Abrahamic calling, "blessed to be a blessing." There is therefore a dual purpose: God wants to reconcile people to himself, but also to reconcile people to each other. The election of individuals cannot be separated from God's election of the church: we are elected to be God's missionary people.The church is, by its very nature, missional.
This has two major implications. First, the church, not the individual, is the basic unit of evangelism. A community that lives out the truth of the gospel is the best context in which to understand its proclamation. This insight is at the heart of courses like Alpha and of the best examples of church planting and church growth.
Second, the unity of the church matters to the mission of the church. Disunity undercuts the gospel of reconciliation that we claim to bring to the world. Newbigin the evangelist's own lifelong commitment to church unity throws down the gauntlet. Whatever we need to do to help this generation to hear the gospel, we need to do together.
As Newbigin wrote, "I have been called and commissioned, through no merit of mine, to carry this message, to tell this story, to give this invitation. It is not my story or my invitation. It has no coercive intent. It is an invitation from the one who loved you and gave himself up for you. That invitation will come with winsomeness if it comes from a community in which the grace of the Redeemer is at work."
Over the past 100 years, the church has made a global impact, and God has proved faithful through every cultural shift. He can certainly be trusted for every new challenge the church faces today. Hearing Newbigin's call to present Christ publicly with courage and humility, in all his glory and with the integrity of a united church that lives his message before a watching world, should fill us with eagerness to prove God faithful in our day and over the next hundred years.
Krish Kandiah is executive director of churches in mission for the Evangelical Alliance U.K.
Copyright © 2009 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Following our Servant Lord
I did not come to be ministered unto but to minister. (Matthew 20:28)
The idea of servant leadership has become quite popular; it has been completely secularized, as Christmas and Easter are secularized. What I mean by secularized is that people use the words but deprive it of any connection to the Biblical ideas surrounding it. The concept of serving people is no longer a Christian ideal. Now even sportsmen like Tiger Woods and Manny Pacquiao, despite their marital problems are careful about their reputations in order not to diminish the quality of their service to their fans. Multimillion dollar corporations are careful so that their products provide the kind of service that would bring the highest satisfaction to their customers.
Christians and churches buy into that mentality and it colors their understanding of ministry.
Let me illustrate what I am saying. Two weeks ago I had to pass by Iloilo because I have some meetings to do there before proceeding to Boracay. Along the way it is quite instructive to see how local churches name themselves. Here is a church that defines itself as “fundamental,” another as”conservative” another as “Bible”, another as “apostolic” and of course “Roman Catholic.”
Why do churches have such titles? Who are the intended receivers of these titles? Muslims? Hindus? Atheists? These religions could hardly care whether you are fundamental or apostolic. These words are meant to measure the people in those churches against other Christians.
They are conservative because other Christians are liberal.
They are Bible because other Christians are unbiblical.
They are apostolic because other Christians are modernistic.
They are Catholic because other Christians are narrow and nationalistic.
Whether churches or individual Christians we have a tendency to look at ourselves through the lens of other churches and the implied message is, “We are better than you are.” We have more money. We have more influence. We have more power. Join us.
That reminds of two churches I saw one evening in Singapore. One had a large building capable of seating perhaps a thousand. If it has a sign I didn’t see it. But there are spotlights that highlight the design of the building. It was a building meant to convey success and wealth. Next to it was a very small chapel, I think only five meters across. I calculate maybe less than 50 can be accommodated within. But it had a large blue neon sign blazing at the top of the building. What does it say? “The True Church.” We may be small but we are true. We may be small but we have the power of God.
Indeed implied in service is strength for those who are too weak cannot serve. There is no service if we have nothing with which to serve. No capital to use for our resources. But any form of power in itself is dangerous commodity.
In the late 1980’s a born again general by the name of Efrain Rios Montt, seized power in Guatemala through a coup d’etat. Evangelical leaders in the United States rejoiced and Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were very supportive of him and became his friends. With Rios Montt in power there was much talk about introducing reforms in Guatemala that would result not only in evangelizing the country but also in eradicating poverty.
These were false hopes. His vision of the rule of law was a military junta that subjugated the opposition, silenced freedom of the press, and created military tribunals with the power to impose the death penalty. In a short time, 600 villages in Guatemala were reduced to ashes. In 1982 alone over 10 thousand native Indians were killed and tens of thousands more were annihilated by death squads in the following months.
The regime of Rios Montt, the first born-again president of Central and South American went down in history as the most violent that the American continents have ever produced. Rather than exalting the rule of God, he diminished it. He corrupted the meaning of what it means to be born again.
There is no doubt that Jesus had power. The devil saw it. But Jesus saw what game the devil was playing and resisted it.
Since we are in quoting Scripture hope to emulate Jesus, not sportsmen or captains of industry, how do we understand what he meant by serving and not being served?
For that we have to go back to the way he understood his mission. And we find that in Luke 4 where Jesus said,
18‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
Is Jesus saying that salvation is limited to the poor alone? No. Is he even saying that the poor are to be given preferential treatment in his ministry? To some extent yes. But it goes beyond preferential option. It is looking at the world from the lenses of the world of the weak, the captive, the blind, and the oppressed.
Jesus defined his mission through the eyes of the underprivileged.
How did he do that?
First of all he identified himself with them. There is a distinctive odor to poverty. You who have served among them know that. It is the odor of the earth, of animal dung. And that is the odor with which Jesus was born into. Jesus was familiar with animals. He spoke of sheep and cattle, fish and sparrows. He was familiar with the hard life of shepherds, farmers, and fishermen. He did not shun prostitutes and publicans. He walked with them and ate with them.
But there is more to than solidarity with the oppressed rather than being a tool of oppressors. Jesus leaned towards the outcasts, the dispossessed, and the weak as the mirror whereby to understand the mission of God in the world.
The lepers, the woman with the issue of blood, the Samaritans—these were the untouchables of Jesus’ day. Jesus not only touched them but allowed them to touch him.
The woman with an issue of blood, she touched Jesus and was healed. Have you ever wondered why Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” Wasn’t that rather insensitive, to expose this woman’s uncleanness to the crowd? He could have let her have what she needed, her healing and release her. But could she go back and be restored into the life of her community? No. Why? Because how could they know she was healed? She would be healed but remain an outcast.
In exposing this woman to the crowd, Jesus was acting as the priest who pronounced healing upon the unclean so that she could return to her community not only healed but reconciled. Once again her children could touch her, and she touch them.
In the healing and restoration of the bleeding woman Jesus is saying that God is calling the outcasts to himself. Jesus presence in society is a beacon of wholeness to those who are bleeding. The bleeding woman’s healing and restoration is a sign of reconciliation between those who are out and those who are in, between those who benefit from the rewards of a corrupt society and those who are left behind, the sick and the stragglers and the lost.
If indeed the church is the body of Christ in the world, if the church is the living presence of Jesus in the world, then the church can be no less a sign of that same healing and reconciliation that happened to the bleeding woman.
Who do we want to touch us? Who do we want to surround us? That is the issue.
After our Sunday service I hurry back to our ministry center where I have a little room. It is comfortable but it is not Boracay. I have to hurry back because there are people waiting for me to open the gate of our center. These are the homeless, street dwellers of Cebu. We minister to their spirit but we also minister to their bodies. About 100 of them adults and 60 children. While crossing from Jollibee a woman approached me and crossed the street with me. She is one of them. At the gate about a dozen or them were sitting on the ground or standing. But another dozen were lying on the ground, resting. Bare ground. There is a puddle of dirty water on the street. Don’t lie on the ground, I said. Come in.
One said, don’t worry pastor, this is our life.
There was a stab of pain in my heart. How could you say we are used to this? I wanted to go back and give them a lecture on cleanliness and on the image of God. But something held me.
Why am I reacting? Because I don’t want these people with their filth and their smell to invade and foul up my antiseptic space?
And where would I rather have this people to lie down? Near a place where sex traffickers are already watching over the growing bodies of their children? Where drug pushers are already at work? Where criminal lords are recruiting children to use?
Efren Penaflorida as you probably already know was a World Vision sponsored child. Through the help of strangers he was able to finish high school, then an associate in computer technology and finally an honors degree in education. I know similar people like him who have risen up from poverty. But as soon as they find a job they forget where they come from. They surround themselves with the kind of people they would like to become, sometimes reinventing themselves with a new name and a new background.
Efren chose to go back. He chose to look at his world from the vantage point of the scavengers and street dwellers. His life is in inspiration to others who dream of becoming heroes themselves. As I look at him I feel rewarded too.
To you in the literature ministry, you too will feel rewarded…
To the extent that the Christian literature ministry continues to publish good news to the poor, deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; …
To the extent that the Christian literature ministry continues to inspire those who work among the outcasts and the bleeding of our society,
to the extent that the Christian literature ministry continues to heed the call of Jesus to deny itself, take up its cross and follows Jesus…
then to that extent you too will feel rewarded.
Message to OMFLit Staff Cebu 9 December 2009
The idea of servant leadership has become quite popular; it has been completely secularized, as Christmas and Easter are secularized. What I mean by secularized is that people use the words but deprive it of any connection to the Biblical ideas surrounding it. The concept of serving people is no longer a Christian ideal. Now even sportsmen like Tiger Woods and Manny Pacquiao, despite their marital problems are careful about their reputations in order not to diminish the quality of their service to their fans. Multimillion dollar corporations are careful so that their products provide the kind of service that would bring the highest satisfaction to their customers.
Christians and churches buy into that mentality and it colors their understanding of ministry.
Let me illustrate what I am saying. Two weeks ago I had to pass by Iloilo because I have some meetings to do there before proceeding to Boracay. Along the way it is quite instructive to see how local churches name themselves. Here is a church that defines itself as “fundamental,” another as”conservative” another as “Bible”, another as “apostolic” and of course “Roman Catholic.”
Why do churches have such titles? Who are the intended receivers of these titles? Muslims? Hindus? Atheists? These religions could hardly care whether you are fundamental or apostolic. These words are meant to measure the people in those churches against other Christians.
They are conservative because other Christians are liberal.
They are Bible because other Christians are unbiblical.
They are apostolic because other Christians are modernistic.
They are Catholic because other Christians are narrow and nationalistic.
Whether churches or individual Christians we have a tendency to look at ourselves through the lens of other churches and the implied message is, “We are better than you are.” We have more money. We have more influence. We have more power. Join us.
That reminds of two churches I saw one evening in Singapore. One had a large building capable of seating perhaps a thousand. If it has a sign I didn’t see it. But there are spotlights that highlight the design of the building. It was a building meant to convey success and wealth. Next to it was a very small chapel, I think only five meters across. I calculate maybe less than 50 can be accommodated within. But it had a large blue neon sign blazing at the top of the building. What does it say? “The True Church.” We may be small but we are true. We may be small but we have the power of God.
Indeed implied in service is strength for those who are too weak cannot serve. There is no service if we have nothing with which to serve. No capital to use for our resources. But any form of power in itself is dangerous commodity.
In the late 1980’s a born again general by the name of Efrain Rios Montt, seized power in Guatemala through a coup d’etat. Evangelical leaders in the United States rejoiced and Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were very supportive of him and became his friends. With Rios Montt in power there was much talk about introducing reforms in Guatemala that would result not only in evangelizing the country but also in eradicating poverty.
These were false hopes. His vision of the rule of law was a military junta that subjugated the opposition, silenced freedom of the press, and created military tribunals with the power to impose the death penalty. In a short time, 600 villages in Guatemala were reduced to ashes. In 1982 alone over 10 thousand native Indians were killed and tens of thousands more were annihilated by death squads in the following months.
The regime of Rios Montt, the first born-again president of Central and South American went down in history as the most violent that the American continents have ever produced. Rather than exalting the rule of God, he diminished it. He corrupted the meaning of what it means to be born again.
There is no doubt that Jesus had power. The devil saw it. But Jesus saw what game the devil was playing and resisted it.
Since we are in quoting Scripture hope to emulate Jesus, not sportsmen or captains of industry, how do we understand what he meant by serving and not being served?
For that we have to go back to the way he understood his mission. And we find that in Luke 4 where Jesus said,
18‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
Is Jesus saying that salvation is limited to the poor alone? No. Is he even saying that the poor are to be given preferential treatment in his ministry? To some extent yes. But it goes beyond preferential option. It is looking at the world from the lenses of the world of the weak, the captive, the blind, and the oppressed.
Jesus defined his mission through the eyes of the underprivileged.
How did he do that?
First of all he identified himself with them. There is a distinctive odor to poverty. You who have served among them know that. It is the odor of the earth, of animal dung. And that is the odor with which Jesus was born into. Jesus was familiar with animals. He spoke of sheep and cattle, fish and sparrows. He was familiar with the hard life of shepherds, farmers, and fishermen. He did not shun prostitutes and publicans. He walked with them and ate with them.
But there is more to than solidarity with the oppressed rather than being a tool of oppressors. Jesus leaned towards the outcasts, the dispossessed, and the weak as the mirror whereby to understand the mission of God in the world.
The lepers, the woman with the issue of blood, the Samaritans—these were the untouchables of Jesus’ day. Jesus not only touched them but allowed them to touch him.
The woman with an issue of blood, she touched Jesus and was healed. Have you ever wondered why Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” Wasn’t that rather insensitive, to expose this woman’s uncleanness to the crowd? He could have let her have what she needed, her healing and release her. But could she go back and be restored into the life of her community? No. Why? Because how could they know she was healed? She would be healed but remain an outcast.
In exposing this woman to the crowd, Jesus was acting as the priest who pronounced healing upon the unclean so that she could return to her community not only healed but reconciled. Once again her children could touch her, and she touch them.
In the healing and restoration of the bleeding woman Jesus is saying that God is calling the outcasts to himself. Jesus presence in society is a beacon of wholeness to those who are bleeding. The bleeding woman’s healing and restoration is a sign of reconciliation between those who are out and those who are in, between those who benefit from the rewards of a corrupt society and those who are left behind, the sick and the stragglers and the lost.
If indeed the church is the body of Christ in the world, if the church is the living presence of Jesus in the world, then the church can be no less a sign of that same healing and reconciliation that happened to the bleeding woman.
Who do we want to touch us? Who do we want to surround us? That is the issue.
After our Sunday service I hurry back to our ministry center where I have a little room. It is comfortable but it is not Boracay. I have to hurry back because there are people waiting for me to open the gate of our center. These are the homeless, street dwellers of Cebu. We minister to their spirit but we also minister to their bodies. About 100 of them adults and 60 children. While crossing from Jollibee a woman approached me and crossed the street with me. She is one of them. At the gate about a dozen or them were sitting on the ground or standing. But another dozen were lying on the ground, resting. Bare ground. There is a puddle of dirty water on the street. Don’t lie on the ground, I said. Come in.
One said, don’t worry pastor, this is our life.
There was a stab of pain in my heart. How could you say we are used to this? I wanted to go back and give them a lecture on cleanliness and on the image of God. But something held me.
Why am I reacting? Because I don’t want these people with their filth and their smell to invade and foul up my antiseptic space?
And where would I rather have this people to lie down? Near a place where sex traffickers are already watching over the growing bodies of their children? Where drug pushers are already at work? Where criminal lords are recruiting children to use?
Efren Penaflorida as you probably already know was a World Vision sponsored child. Through the help of strangers he was able to finish high school, then an associate in computer technology and finally an honors degree in education. I know similar people like him who have risen up from poverty. But as soon as they find a job they forget where they come from. They surround themselves with the kind of people they would like to become, sometimes reinventing themselves with a new name and a new background.
Efren chose to go back. He chose to look at his world from the vantage point of the scavengers and street dwellers. His life is in inspiration to others who dream of becoming heroes themselves. As I look at him I feel rewarded too.
To you in the literature ministry, you too will feel rewarded…
To the extent that the Christian literature ministry continues to publish good news to the poor, deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; …
To the extent that the Christian literature ministry continues to inspire those who work among the outcasts and the bleeding of our society,
to the extent that the Christian literature ministry continues to heed the call of Jesus to deny itself, take up its cross and follows Jesus…
then to that extent you too will feel rewarded.
Message to OMFLit Staff Cebu 9 December 2009
Marking Time
As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, “Do business with these until I come back.” ( Luke 19:11-13 NRSV)
Some years ago I discovered Advent. I am talking about a season in the Christian year in which we celebrate hope.
It used to be that the second coming of Jesus was a hot topic in many sermons. We even have charts that showed such things as when the rapture would happen, what happens after the rapture, the tribulation, the battle of Armageddon as well as the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Today all of these things seem quaint, as are songs such as He’s Coming Soon, and Mansion Over the Hilltop. Our songs today are all about our present experience of worship. To think of God as a very present help in time of trouble is a wonderful truth. But it is too narrow. And the result troubles me because too much of what we read and hear today is how to religion. Go to any Christian bookstore and you see that the titles that sell are practical guides on how to be a good father and husband. How to be a good mother and wife. How to succeed in your career. How to pray. How to worship. Etc etc.
Now there is nothing bad about these how to books. The only question that should bother us is what do these topics have to do with Jesus? I find that many of these books have a lot of things in common with the favorite topics used by motivational speakers such as Scott Peck, Og Mandino, and prior to them Dale Carnegie. How to Win Friends and Influence People.
What I am saying is take away the verses, take away reference to Christian churches and you find little that is distinctively Christian in many so-called Christian books. What they say could be said by an atheist or a Hindu or an Muslim.
How to religion is a religion of self-improvement; and a religion of self-improvement is a religion of self-salvation or works of the law.
The grand celebrations of the Christian church, whether it is Sunday which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, or the Lent season which celebrates the salvation brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost—all of these are celebrations of the acts or the works of God on our behalf and they put context into our practice of the Christian life.
There is a place for works in the Christian life. There is a place for improving ourselves in the Christian life. But as a result of salvation, not as an effort to save or redeem ourselves.
This is the reason why we need to put our efforts all of these how-to’s within the context of these grand celebrations of grace or our efforts will degenerate into works of the law and our attempts to win favor from God, from other people or even to improve the way we look at ourselves. That is self-salvation.
1. To sum what I have said, Advent is a way of refocusing our Christian life so that it is grounded upon what Christ has done to start our salvation and what Christ will do to complete our salvation. In other words, our works is a response to grace; and, because we do them through the power of the new life of Jesus in us, are themselves acts of grace.
2. Secondly, the Advent season helps us to find a reason for being. Why in the world are we still here? Let me illustrate what I mean.
Americans have a day they call Black Friday. Until Lonni told me what that means I thought it has to do with some massacre that happened in their history. Lonni told me it is a shopping spree when department stores outdo each other by offering huge discounts. It was more like worshipping at the temple of mammon.
Well, I have a friend in America who wrote me what he and his son did on Black Friday. “We are both typical males and got everything we thought of and then left the store. We even went on-line previously and bought items. Now women on the other hand would be at the store the whole day and then return half of the stuff the next day. The difference between the sexes!!!” To which I answered back, Long live the difference!
That’s it! You got what you want. Why stay any longer? I can imagine an American husband fuming in his car waiting while wife and daughter merrily hop from one shopping mall to another.
That’s the puzzle of salvation. The goods are safe in our hands. The logical thing is to enjoy what you haveWhat is the purpose of this time between the two comings? Waiting it out until God is done with his Black Saturday shopping? In the meanwhile, what do we do? Sit it out in church listening to sermons that bore you to death? Make sure the pastor and his family doesn’t starve? Make sure he rides a nice Pajero so he doesn’t embarrass you before other people? Be good and try your best not to lose your salvation?
No wonder we are bored.
In Jesus parable of the ten virgins all the virgins have to do is light their lamps and wait.
There is nothing so frustrating as to wait for the big thing to happen. The Cebuano language has a word that has no equivalent other Filipino languages. it is the word “tagihuwat.” It means waiting for the big break. It is waiting for that man to propose or for that girl to say yes. It is waiting for that notice from the Embassy saying that the petition for your immigration has been approved. It is teaching in a small school while waiting for the government to approve your application for ranking. But I think there is a word for it in English—marking time.
Tagihuwat is life being lived between neither here nor there. It means being frozen in a present existence that produces nothing. It is walking on a treadmill. It is life lived in the meanwhile. I am waiting for this to happen…in the meanwhile, I do this. I feel sorry for the tagihuwat. But I feel more sorry for the people who employ them. The tagihuwat’s heart is not in his present job. It is waiting. Just waiting. Marking time.
Just as pathetic are people who have high notions about serving God but never put it into practice. They talk about the mission field. But they can’t even relate to their friends. They talk about changing the world but don’t know how to change their bed.
They remind me of a story I heard. A stranger asked an old farmer how to get to the next town. The old man scratched his head and answered, “If I were you, I would not start from here.”
We’ve got to start somewhere but where do we start?
This is the point being made by another parable--the parable of the ten stewards. Most of us don’t really see this parable because we read it thinking it is the parable of the talents. But this is a different parable. There are ten stewards, not three. All are given the same amount. And then they receive this simple command, “Occupy till I come.”
The word occupy is quite interesting. It only occurs here. And the root is pragma from which we have the English word pragmatic…which means to be practical. The word Jesus used could be translated, “to put this money to good use” or “to invest this money” or “to do business with this money” until I come.
We start from the fact that in salvation the Lord has invested us with the capital of his grace. That’s the entire starting point. Now get busy! Do something about God’s grace. Be occupied until I come!
I remember how I was filled with the Holy Spirit. It took me a long time. But when the Spirit finally gushed out of my being, it was as Jesus said, living water flowing from my belly. For almost half an hour I was in ecstasy. My mentor, the man who won me to the Lord was waiting. While walking home he gently said to me, “Narciso, you’ve received a wonderful gift. Don’t use it all on yourself. This afternoon, join me. Let’s do some preaching.” That afternoon we went out street preaching. My knees were still trembling. I did not know what I was saying. But I got started.
Being occupied, being pragmatic, is the exact opposite of the tagihuwat interpretation of the present Christian life.
The tagihuwat Christian does not know what to do with his time while waiting for things to happen. But the pragmatic Christian has his work cut out for him. Capital has already been placed in his hands. How he invests that capital is up to him.
People who are not where God wants them to be have a great capacity for mischief. So if indeed there is a waiting period in your life, you want to make yourself useful,. be of help, but don’t get in the way. Inspire others; don’t be a source of discouragement.
Conclusion
Tagihuwat is certainly not in the vocabulary of Efren Penaflorida. He is a young man who put his conviction to work.
“From the muddy streets and wet markets of his Cavite City hometown to the flashy lights of Hollywood thousands of miles away. That’s how far teacher and civic worker Efren Penaflorida, 28, has gone and will go in his passion to bring education to out-of-school youths and very young children whose poverty may have limited their options to either jail or the graveyard.”
Penaflorida said, “I would rather do something than complain.” And he did something to change the situation that he saw. His made a difference. And so can everyone of us if we put muscle into our good intentions and if we put to work the capital of grace that God has invested into our lives.
Some years ago I discovered Advent. I am talking about a season in the Christian year in which we celebrate hope.
It used to be that the second coming of Jesus was a hot topic in many sermons. We even have charts that showed such things as when the rapture would happen, what happens after the rapture, the tribulation, the battle of Armageddon as well as the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Today all of these things seem quaint, as are songs such as He’s Coming Soon, and Mansion Over the Hilltop. Our songs today are all about our present experience of worship. To think of God as a very present help in time of trouble is a wonderful truth. But it is too narrow. And the result troubles me because too much of what we read and hear today is how to religion. Go to any Christian bookstore and you see that the titles that sell are practical guides on how to be a good father and husband. How to be a good mother and wife. How to succeed in your career. How to pray. How to worship. Etc etc.
Now there is nothing bad about these how to books. The only question that should bother us is what do these topics have to do with Jesus? I find that many of these books have a lot of things in common with the favorite topics used by motivational speakers such as Scott Peck, Og Mandino, and prior to them Dale Carnegie. How to Win Friends and Influence People.
What I am saying is take away the verses, take away reference to Christian churches and you find little that is distinctively Christian in many so-called Christian books. What they say could be said by an atheist or a Hindu or an Muslim.
How to religion is a religion of self-improvement; and a religion of self-improvement is a religion of self-salvation or works of the law.
The grand celebrations of the Christian church, whether it is Sunday which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, or the Lent season which celebrates the salvation brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost—all of these are celebrations of the acts or the works of God on our behalf and they put context into our practice of the Christian life.
There is a place for works in the Christian life. There is a place for improving ourselves in the Christian life. But as a result of salvation, not as an effort to save or redeem ourselves.
This is the reason why we need to put our efforts all of these how-to’s within the context of these grand celebrations of grace or our efforts will degenerate into works of the law and our attempts to win favor from God, from other people or even to improve the way we look at ourselves. That is self-salvation.
1. To sum what I have said, Advent is a way of refocusing our Christian life so that it is grounded upon what Christ has done to start our salvation and what Christ will do to complete our salvation. In other words, our works is a response to grace; and, because we do them through the power of the new life of Jesus in us, are themselves acts of grace.
2. Secondly, the Advent season helps us to find a reason for being. Why in the world are we still here? Let me illustrate what I mean.
Americans have a day they call Black Friday. Until Lonni told me what that means I thought it has to do with some massacre that happened in their history. Lonni told me it is a shopping spree when department stores outdo each other by offering huge discounts. It was more like worshipping at the temple of mammon.
Well, I have a friend in America who wrote me what he and his son did on Black Friday. “We are both typical males and got everything we thought of and then left the store. We even went on-line previously and bought items. Now women on the other hand would be at the store the whole day and then return half of the stuff the next day. The difference between the sexes!!!” To which I answered back, Long live the difference!
That’s it! You got what you want. Why stay any longer? I can imagine an American husband fuming in his car waiting while wife and daughter merrily hop from one shopping mall to another.
That’s the puzzle of salvation. The goods are safe in our hands. The logical thing is to enjoy what you haveWhat is the purpose of this time between the two comings? Waiting it out until God is done with his Black Saturday shopping? In the meanwhile, what do we do? Sit it out in church listening to sermons that bore you to death? Make sure the pastor and his family doesn’t starve? Make sure he rides a nice Pajero so he doesn’t embarrass you before other people? Be good and try your best not to lose your salvation?
No wonder we are bored.
In Jesus parable of the ten virgins all the virgins have to do is light their lamps and wait.
There is nothing so frustrating as to wait for the big thing to happen. The Cebuano language has a word that has no equivalent other Filipino languages. it is the word “tagihuwat.” It means waiting for the big break. It is waiting for that man to propose or for that girl to say yes. It is waiting for that notice from the Embassy saying that the petition for your immigration has been approved. It is teaching in a small school while waiting for the government to approve your application for ranking. But I think there is a word for it in English—marking time.
Tagihuwat is life being lived between neither here nor there. It means being frozen in a present existence that produces nothing. It is walking on a treadmill. It is life lived in the meanwhile. I am waiting for this to happen…in the meanwhile, I do this. I feel sorry for the tagihuwat. But I feel more sorry for the people who employ them. The tagihuwat’s heart is not in his present job. It is waiting. Just waiting. Marking time.
Just as pathetic are people who have high notions about serving God but never put it into practice. They talk about the mission field. But they can’t even relate to their friends. They talk about changing the world but don’t know how to change their bed.
They remind me of a story I heard. A stranger asked an old farmer how to get to the next town. The old man scratched his head and answered, “If I were you, I would not start from here.”
We’ve got to start somewhere but where do we start?
This is the point being made by another parable--the parable of the ten stewards. Most of us don’t really see this parable because we read it thinking it is the parable of the talents. But this is a different parable. There are ten stewards, not three. All are given the same amount. And then they receive this simple command, “Occupy till I come.”
The word occupy is quite interesting. It only occurs here. And the root is pragma from which we have the English word pragmatic…which means to be practical. The word Jesus used could be translated, “to put this money to good use” or “to invest this money” or “to do business with this money” until I come.
We start from the fact that in salvation the Lord has invested us with the capital of his grace. That’s the entire starting point. Now get busy! Do something about God’s grace. Be occupied until I come!
I remember how I was filled with the Holy Spirit. It took me a long time. But when the Spirit finally gushed out of my being, it was as Jesus said, living water flowing from my belly. For almost half an hour I was in ecstasy. My mentor, the man who won me to the Lord was waiting. While walking home he gently said to me, “Narciso, you’ve received a wonderful gift. Don’t use it all on yourself. This afternoon, join me. Let’s do some preaching.” That afternoon we went out street preaching. My knees were still trembling. I did not know what I was saying. But I got started.
Being occupied, being pragmatic, is the exact opposite of the tagihuwat interpretation of the present Christian life.
The tagihuwat Christian does not know what to do with his time while waiting for things to happen. But the pragmatic Christian has his work cut out for him. Capital has already been placed in his hands. How he invests that capital is up to him.
People who are not where God wants them to be have a great capacity for mischief. So if indeed there is a waiting period in your life, you want to make yourself useful,. be of help, but don’t get in the way. Inspire others; don’t be a source of discouragement.
Conclusion
Tagihuwat is certainly not in the vocabulary of Efren Penaflorida. He is a young man who put his conviction to work.
“From the muddy streets and wet markets of his Cavite City hometown to the flashy lights of Hollywood thousands of miles away. That’s how far teacher and civic worker Efren Penaflorida, 28, has gone and will go in his passion to bring education to out-of-school youths and very young children whose poverty may have limited their options to either jail or the graveyard.”
Penaflorida said, “I would rather do something than complain.” And he did something to change the situation that he saw. His made a difference. And so can everyone of us if we put muscle into our good intentions and if we put to work the capital of grace that God has invested into our lives.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Numbering Our Days
Psalm 90:`12Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. NIV
So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. NRSV
I don’t know about you but I was confused about the thing we are observing today.
When I was growing up all I know is kalag-kalag or pista minatay, and that’s supposed to be on the 2nd of November, but that it’s bisperas or the mass is performed on the eve of kalagkalag.
Later, I don’t know who, perhaps it was our catechism teacher or our own teacher in public school, said, “No you got it wrong, we are not celebrating the dead, but honoring all the saints.” Todos los santos. A feast to honor all the saints, and that is today the 1st day of November.
So now comes the Americans and their magazines and newspapers and TV shows talking about Halloween and that it falls on the 31st of October. So now which is which—30 or 1 or 2?
For most Filipinos this practical question is simple, when do we visit the graves of our loved ones? I think most are agreed that it is on the evening of November the 1st, whatever you call it.
So let’s go to why we are celebrating on these three days, for it is clear somehow they are all associated with death, dead martyrs, dead saints, dead Christians. The simplistic answer is to lump all of these as pagan, like Christmas is pagan, and Easter is pagan. This is the kind of mistake made by people who think they know more about the Bible than their neighbors. It is one thing to know the Bible, it is another thing to read the Bible with some understanding about the longings of the human heart.
This day is about patching up the missing gaps, the empty spaces of our lives, spaces that could have been filled with stories. But when loved ones die, they take away their stories with them. So those stories will have to be filled up by those who are left behind. We, all, human beings need to find those connections. Without them we are like lonely flotsam and jetsam tossed to and fro by the ocean waves.
This is the reason behind all of this confusion, this failure to understand the longing for connectivity in our lives.
1. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church tried to put Christian meaning into pagan practices. So Todos los Santos was originally Fiesta para los Martires, a festival to honor the martyrs of the Church. But that would leave out Saint Mary, for she did not suffer a martyr’s death, and all others who lived saintly lives but did not die violently. So a festival was made in commemoration of them, and it took the place of the pagan festival for the dead. So it became a Fiesta para Todos los Santos, “A Feast for all the Saints.”
2. But instead of honoring the saints what did the Christians do? They went to the graves of their loved ones anyway. Instead of honoring Sta Felicita and Sta Barbara and San Bernardino, and San Martrin de Porres, they went to the graves of nanay and tatay and undo, and inday, lolo and lola.
So the church again thought all of this was sheer paganism. To solve it they said, “Hala, if you cannot be prevented from your celebrating dead loved ones, go ahead, but pray for their souls in purgatory. “ So that’s why we have All Soul’s Day. The idea is to make this a day for intercession for the dead who were not good enough for sainthood, whose souls languished in purgatory.
It was a good move for it made money. Not any one can just pray for the release of a soul from purgatory. You need to have a priest. And you know that priestly intercession is not free. Well for those with money it was fine. But it seems to me as far as the general public was concerned, they would rather give their money to the rice trader, cook some puto and suman, and sikwate and eat it at the grave, and that was enough.
3. And what about Halloween? That came from two words, hallow is the same is holy, or saintly, which is for all saints day. But the mass for all the saints is said the evening before, and evening is often shortened into even and even into een. So we got Halloween. And it became just a thoroughly pagan celebration involving witches and ghouls and masks, etc.
It has been said, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We only succeed into creating a monstrosity. People who are so afraid of paganism, who don’t celebrate Christmas and Easter, and even Sunday, don’t understand that not everything pagan is evil. We have to distinguish between what is human and what is demonic.
To be homesick is human. To long for departed loved ones is human. To visit their graves is human. My grandmother, mother, brother and aunt—they were all buried in the ground. Eventually the cemetery their remains decayed and other bodies were put in their place. But my father was placed in a niche. A year ago I visited it, alone, a week after All Saints Day. Something in me wanted to speak to him and I did. Then I reached out my hand in a parting farewell, to trace his name in the headstone. It reminds of a poem quoted during the funeral of Princess Diana.
Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love,
time is eternity.
Henry Van Dyke
I was scanning old family photos to be posted into an online family photo album. As I looked at the photos of my mother and father, my brother and sister, my aunt a powerful wave of longing came over me. If only I could let them see this city, go with me to Boracay.
There are huge gaps in my father and mother’s life that I know nothing about. I would like to know how this illiterate boy learned to speak very good Spanish. Who taught him to cook, for he was exceptionally good in making fine Spanish sausage, ham, smoked fish, etc. Who taught him fine cabinet making, making intricate inlay work on jewelry boxes, etc.
Then in Boracay a former student showed up. He told me he is now working with a microlending corporation and financing small businesses. Then he gave me the name of his boss, “Not the Chinese but the original owners of this family name. “ I know that family I said. For my father worked with them. Making boats, fishing, speed boats, yachts. Wood boats, steel boats, and fiberglass. Then I told him about the shop where my father worked. The hum of machinery, the squeal of wood being sliced, the flash of welding steel to steel, the smell of steel being ground smooth, the vat where they were cooking ham, the boatyard, the ice plant, the piggery.
And most wonderful of all, the frame of a small canvas skinned airplane hanging from the trusses of the shop. An engine eventually was fitted to the frame and my father was its first passenger in the test flight. I knew told him many more little bits of information that only someone who family well would know.
The following day I received a text message from my student. What is your father’s nickname? After giving the nickname of my father, a text answer came back, “My boss wishes to meet you.” I couldn’t believe it. I look forward to my meeting with this man for it will fill up the gaps in the story of my own life.
We belong to a web of humanity. We have to find the connections, otherwise we are like spiders lost from their web. We are like jetsam and flotsam bobbing In the vast ocean alone. For the same reason we create Facebooks, celebrate birthdays, hold family and class reunions, so we celebrate today. For the same reason the Bible gave us genealogies, so we celebrate today. Connections. For God did not make us as individuals but as a family that started with Adam and Eve.
There is one more reason why we celebrate this day.
Today people all over the Philippines are flocking to the cemeteries. The memorial parks and the cemeteries will be bright and there will be music and dancing.
Yesterday American children carved pumpkins and put candles inside them. The Frankenstein masks are sold even here in the Philippines. But only for today. Today we can make fun of death. Because tomorrow, next week when the tombs are desolate, we don’t want to visit again.
We are cowards and we know it. Death haunts us. Terrorizes us. Walking in a dark place. Riding an airplane. A narrow mountain road. A trip to an island when the sea is rough. News of another typhoon. Waiting for the result of our annual physical examination. A headache, a rise in blood pressure. We panic.
Kalagkalag is really a coping mechanism. We make fun of that which we fear. We are cowards and Satan knows it and takes advantage of our fear and binds us with that fear. I can almost see death grinning and saying, “Salig mo ron kay daghan mo. Suwayi balik sunod semana, ikaw ra, wa kay kauban.”
If you want to take way the dread, the horror of death, there is a better way. Find someone who died and came back to tell the story.
The Jesus of glory now says, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Rev 1:18).
The Christian hope is not based upon the promise of immortality. It is based upon a fact of history. Jesus too faced the terror of death, pleading to his Father, “Let this cup pass from me.” He suffered, he died and was buried. He followed humankind’s destiny which is the grave. But on the 3rd day he defied that destiny. Jesus rose again triumphantly.
It is in the triumph of Christ that Paul could exult, “O death, where is thy sting? Oh death where is thy victory?”
So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. NRSV
I don’t know about you but I was confused about the thing we are observing today.
When I was growing up all I know is kalag-kalag or pista minatay, and that’s supposed to be on the 2nd of November, but that it’s bisperas or the mass is performed on the eve of kalagkalag.
Later, I don’t know who, perhaps it was our catechism teacher or our own teacher in public school, said, “No you got it wrong, we are not celebrating the dead, but honoring all the saints.” Todos los santos. A feast to honor all the saints, and that is today the 1st day of November.
So now comes the Americans and their magazines and newspapers and TV shows talking about Halloween and that it falls on the 31st of October. So now which is which—30 or 1 or 2?
For most Filipinos this practical question is simple, when do we visit the graves of our loved ones? I think most are agreed that it is on the evening of November the 1st, whatever you call it.
So let’s go to why we are celebrating on these three days, for it is clear somehow they are all associated with death, dead martyrs, dead saints, dead Christians. The simplistic answer is to lump all of these as pagan, like Christmas is pagan, and Easter is pagan. This is the kind of mistake made by people who think they know more about the Bible than their neighbors. It is one thing to know the Bible, it is another thing to read the Bible with some understanding about the longings of the human heart.
This day is about patching up the missing gaps, the empty spaces of our lives, spaces that could have been filled with stories. But when loved ones die, they take away their stories with them. So those stories will have to be filled up by those who are left behind. We, all, human beings need to find those connections. Without them we are like lonely flotsam and jetsam tossed to and fro by the ocean waves.
This is the reason behind all of this confusion, this failure to understand the longing for connectivity in our lives.
1. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church tried to put Christian meaning into pagan practices. So Todos los Santos was originally Fiesta para los Martires, a festival to honor the martyrs of the Church. But that would leave out Saint Mary, for she did not suffer a martyr’s death, and all others who lived saintly lives but did not die violently. So a festival was made in commemoration of them, and it took the place of the pagan festival for the dead. So it became a Fiesta para Todos los Santos, “A Feast for all the Saints.”
2. But instead of honoring the saints what did the Christians do? They went to the graves of their loved ones anyway. Instead of honoring Sta Felicita and Sta Barbara and San Bernardino, and San Martrin de Porres, they went to the graves of nanay and tatay and undo, and inday, lolo and lola.
So the church again thought all of this was sheer paganism. To solve it they said, “Hala, if you cannot be prevented from your celebrating dead loved ones, go ahead, but pray for their souls in purgatory. “ So that’s why we have All Soul’s Day. The idea is to make this a day for intercession for the dead who were not good enough for sainthood, whose souls languished in purgatory.
It was a good move for it made money. Not any one can just pray for the release of a soul from purgatory. You need to have a priest. And you know that priestly intercession is not free. Well for those with money it was fine. But it seems to me as far as the general public was concerned, they would rather give their money to the rice trader, cook some puto and suman, and sikwate and eat it at the grave, and that was enough.
3. And what about Halloween? That came from two words, hallow is the same is holy, or saintly, which is for all saints day. But the mass for all the saints is said the evening before, and evening is often shortened into even and even into een. So we got Halloween. And it became just a thoroughly pagan celebration involving witches and ghouls and masks, etc.
It has been said, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We only succeed into creating a monstrosity. People who are so afraid of paganism, who don’t celebrate Christmas and Easter, and even Sunday, don’t understand that not everything pagan is evil. We have to distinguish between what is human and what is demonic.
To be homesick is human. To long for departed loved ones is human. To visit their graves is human. My grandmother, mother, brother and aunt—they were all buried in the ground. Eventually the cemetery their remains decayed and other bodies were put in their place. But my father was placed in a niche. A year ago I visited it, alone, a week after All Saints Day. Something in me wanted to speak to him and I did. Then I reached out my hand in a parting farewell, to trace his name in the headstone. It reminds of a poem quoted during the funeral of Princess Diana.
Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love,
time is eternity.
Henry Van Dyke
I was scanning old family photos to be posted into an online family photo album. As I looked at the photos of my mother and father, my brother and sister, my aunt a powerful wave of longing came over me. If only I could let them see this city, go with me to Boracay.
There are huge gaps in my father and mother’s life that I know nothing about. I would like to know how this illiterate boy learned to speak very good Spanish. Who taught him to cook, for he was exceptionally good in making fine Spanish sausage, ham, smoked fish, etc. Who taught him fine cabinet making, making intricate inlay work on jewelry boxes, etc.
Then in Boracay a former student showed up. He told me he is now working with a microlending corporation and financing small businesses. Then he gave me the name of his boss, “Not the Chinese but the original owners of this family name. “ I know that family I said. For my father worked with them. Making boats, fishing, speed boats, yachts. Wood boats, steel boats, and fiberglass. Then I told him about the shop where my father worked. The hum of machinery, the squeal of wood being sliced, the flash of welding steel to steel, the smell of steel being ground smooth, the vat where they were cooking ham, the boatyard, the ice plant, the piggery.
And most wonderful of all, the frame of a small canvas skinned airplane hanging from the trusses of the shop. An engine eventually was fitted to the frame and my father was its first passenger in the test flight. I knew told him many more little bits of information that only someone who family well would know.
The following day I received a text message from my student. What is your father’s nickname? After giving the nickname of my father, a text answer came back, “My boss wishes to meet you.” I couldn’t believe it. I look forward to my meeting with this man for it will fill up the gaps in the story of my own life.
We belong to a web of humanity. We have to find the connections, otherwise we are like spiders lost from their web. We are like jetsam and flotsam bobbing In the vast ocean alone. For the same reason we create Facebooks, celebrate birthdays, hold family and class reunions, so we celebrate today. For the same reason the Bible gave us genealogies, so we celebrate today. Connections. For God did not make us as individuals but as a family that started with Adam and Eve.
There is one more reason why we celebrate this day.
Today people all over the Philippines are flocking to the cemeteries. The memorial parks and the cemeteries will be bright and there will be music and dancing.
Yesterday American children carved pumpkins and put candles inside them. The Frankenstein masks are sold even here in the Philippines. But only for today. Today we can make fun of death. Because tomorrow, next week when the tombs are desolate, we don’t want to visit again.
We are cowards and we know it. Death haunts us. Terrorizes us. Walking in a dark place. Riding an airplane. A narrow mountain road. A trip to an island when the sea is rough. News of another typhoon. Waiting for the result of our annual physical examination. A headache, a rise in blood pressure. We panic.
Kalagkalag is really a coping mechanism. We make fun of that which we fear. We are cowards and Satan knows it and takes advantage of our fear and binds us with that fear. I can almost see death grinning and saying, “Salig mo ron kay daghan mo. Suwayi balik sunod semana, ikaw ra, wa kay kauban.”
If you want to take way the dread, the horror of death, there is a better way. Find someone who died and came back to tell the story.
The Jesus of glory now says, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Rev 1:18).
The Christian hope is not based upon the promise of immortality. It is based upon a fact of history. Jesus too faced the terror of death, pleading to his Father, “Let this cup pass from me.” He suffered, he died and was buried. He followed humankind’s destiny which is the grave. But on the 3rd day he defied that destiny. Jesus rose again triumphantly.
It is in the triumph of Christ that Paul could exult, “O death, where is thy sting? Oh death where is thy victory?”
Monday, September 14, 2009
Our Work: Our Calling
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 2Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. (Genesis 1:31-Genesis 2:1, 2)
Last Sunday I talked about bringing order out of chaos and that the first step in that process is making distinctions. Light and darkness, night and day, earth and sky, man and woman, Creator and Created. Today let’s talk about one more distinction made in this passage of Genesis, the distinction between work and rest. In this passage both are good, both are important.
But there was a time in the history of Christianity that one was exalted above the other. In fact I grew up in a culture where the good life, or success, whatever you may call it, is defined by the absence of work. The ideal life is to be able to command others to do the work. It is an exalted position to sit on a rocking chair and speak with a condescending voice to the servant, “O Inday, and tsinelas ko. Inday, isang basong tubig. Inday ilagay mo to sa pridyeder.”
In fact I have observed in Boracay that even the poorest visitor gets a perverse pleasure in being able to throw things at the street. There is an expectation that somebody gets paid to pick up litter that one throws away. For a few days in the island, every visitor is a master. Others have to do the dirty work.
During the time of Rizal the priestly vocation was considered higher than the vocation of the ordinary workingman. The command of the priest was considered the command of God. But Rizal in his letter to the women of Malolos criticized this attitude. He said,
Napagkilala din ninyo na ang utos ñg Dios ay iba sa utos ñg ParÃ, na ang kabanalan ay hindi ang matagal na luhod, mahabang dasal, malalaking kuentas, libaguing kalmin, kundà ang mabuting asal, malinis na loob at matuid na isip.
You know that the commandment of God is not the same as the commandment of the priest, that religion is not a matter of how long you kneel or how much you pray. It is not a matter of how large is your scapular or your religious medal. Rather it is a matter of proper conduct, clean conscience and a righteous mind.
Rizal was struggling with a belief system that considers prayer more important than work. It was believed that work was a curse and burden to be avoided if it exceeded what was enough for a modest life. The life of a priest and a nun was most suited for that kind of ethic or belief-system.
With Martin Luther there began a new understanding of Christianity.
1. It was a Christianity that understood that every believer is a priest unto God. But how does this priesthood offer its sacrifices to God? Not only in times of worship and prayer. But where everything we do is worship and prayer.
In Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
The body and all it does becomes an instrument for worship, whether it is done in church, or at home or in the workplace. These are various expressions of worship.
Work for the Christian, is not a curse but a blessing. It is the means by which we glorify God. Speaking to slaves who cannot receive earthly reward for their labor Paul said,
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:22-24).
Our work then is a means of glorifying God. Idleness does not glorify God. In his letter to the Thessalonians he discouraged Christians from making themselves a burden to other believers.
Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right. Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
2. There is another thing that we owe to the Reformers. It is a different attitude towards time and money. The Reformers believed that the idle person who spends one day sitting at home spends more than what he spent for his needs that day. He has also spent the money he should be receiving from his wages.
Furthermore, if he was a businessman he lost the opportunity for his money to beget more money. If you murder a hen you also murder all her chicks for a thousand generation. If you murder a thousand pesos, you lose the potential of those thousand pesos to yield more money.
More than greed is involved here. Excess wealth in the pursuit of honest labor is distinguishab le from avarice. To the Reformers economic gain is a sign of God’s grace.
The Roman Catholic who goes to the priest and seeks to be absolved of his sins finds assurance in the words of absolution. But the Biblical believer who knows from the promises of the Bible such as John 1:12, and the inward witness of the Holy Spirit that he is a child of God (Romans 8:16), finds external assurance elsewhere. One of those external signs is the material blessing of God upon our lives.
Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Reformers to the life of the ordinary believer is their belief in calling. Most of you are in awe whenever pastors talk about their calling. But there is a calling in which all of us can participate. It is the calling to live our lives in the world, and to be used by God so that our lives can bless others. John Wesley said, “Earn as much as you can. Save as much as you can. Invest as much as you can. Give as much as you can.” This summarizes the Protestant work ethic.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Cor 10:31.
In a sense, therefore there is no ordinary believer. All are priests unto God. All share in the calling of giving glory to God through his or her vocation. The priest performs it at the altar, the minister at the pulpit. The farmer’s altar and pulpit is his rice field; the carpenter and mason, the house they are building, the clerk, his or her desk. For others it is the call center, the factory, the store.
As heirs of the Reformation, we have every reason to take pride in the work of our hands. Paul did so. He said, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ “ (Acts 20:33-36).
We have as much responsibility, then, not only to share the Gospel with our neighbors, but also to share our blessing with the needy. But we can only share what we possess. That is why it is not enough for a Christian to say,”Makakaon lag makabisti ok na.” If can feed ourselves; if we can clothe ourselves, it is enough. It is enough if we live in a world where everyone has equal opportunity to feed themselves and to clothe themselves. But we live in a very unequal world. Some are too ill, some are too weak, some are too discouraged. It is the height of selfishness for us to say that.
• If you are a laborer then pray that the Lord will give you a job that will provide more for you and your family.
• If you are an employee then seek to be promoted.
• If you are a businessman, then pray that the Lord will bless your business so you can hire more people, and be a blessing to the church and its mission. You have a calling to prosper so you can be a blessing.
In 2003 Sonia and I arrived to assume our responsibilities at Faith Village. We did not like what we saw. The place was unkempt, garbage was everywhere. There were only two workers who spent most of the day sitting down and watching over the property.
Today Faith Retreat looks neat and trim. We don’t have the money to landscape but we make us of what we have to create beauty and a restful atmosphere. But the grass is always mown and our calachuchi trees provide color in the summer peak season.
Furthermore we employ nine workers now. And out of our proceeds we send fifty elementary school Ati children and provide scholarship to two college young people. We pay the wages of two preschool teachers. We provide training for the teachers.
With the help of Mission of Mercy and Alan’s church we educate and feed a hundred Ati children every day five days a week.
No, never consider work as a burden. It is a privilege given by God. It is a calling.
Last Sunday I talked about bringing order out of chaos and that the first step in that process is making distinctions. Light and darkness, night and day, earth and sky, man and woman, Creator and Created. Today let’s talk about one more distinction made in this passage of Genesis, the distinction between work and rest. In this passage both are good, both are important.
But there was a time in the history of Christianity that one was exalted above the other. In fact I grew up in a culture where the good life, or success, whatever you may call it, is defined by the absence of work. The ideal life is to be able to command others to do the work. It is an exalted position to sit on a rocking chair and speak with a condescending voice to the servant, “O Inday, and tsinelas ko. Inday, isang basong tubig. Inday ilagay mo to sa pridyeder.”
In fact I have observed in Boracay that even the poorest visitor gets a perverse pleasure in being able to throw things at the street. There is an expectation that somebody gets paid to pick up litter that one throws away. For a few days in the island, every visitor is a master. Others have to do the dirty work.
During the time of Rizal the priestly vocation was considered higher than the vocation of the ordinary workingman. The command of the priest was considered the command of God. But Rizal in his letter to the women of Malolos criticized this attitude. He said,
Napagkilala din ninyo na ang utos ñg Dios ay iba sa utos ñg ParÃ, na ang kabanalan ay hindi ang matagal na luhod, mahabang dasal, malalaking kuentas, libaguing kalmin, kundà ang mabuting asal, malinis na loob at matuid na isip.
You know that the commandment of God is not the same as the commandment of the priest, that religion is not a matter of how long you kneel or how much you pray. It is not a matter of how large is your scapular or your religious medal. Rather it is a matter of proper conduct, clean conscience and a righteous mind.
Rizal was struggling with a belief system that considers prayer more important than work. It was believed that work was a curse and burden to be avoided if it exceeded what was enough for a modest life. The life of a priest and a nun was most suited for that kind of ethic or belief-system.
With Martin Luther there began a new understanding of Christianity.
1. It was a Christianity that understood that every believer is a priest unto God. But how does this priesthood offer its sacrifices to God? Not only in times of worship and prayer. But where everything we do is worship and prayer.
In Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
The body and all it does becomes an instrument for worship, whether it is done in church, or at home or in the workplace. These are various expressions of worship.
Work for the Christian, is not a curse but a blessing. It is the means by which we glorify God. Speaking to slaves who cannot receive earthly reward for their labor Paul said,
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:22-24).
Our work then is a means of glorifying God. Idleness does not glorify God. In his letter to the Thessalonians he discouraged Christians from making themselves a burden to other believers.
Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right. Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
2. There is another thing that we owe to the Reformers. It is a different attitude towards time and money. The Reformers believed that the idle person who spends one day sitting at home spends more than what he spent for his needs that day. He has also spent the money he should be receiving from his wages.
Furthermore, if he was a businessman he lost the opportunity for his money to beget more money. If you murder a hen you also murder all her chicks for a thousand generation. If you murder a thousand pesos, you lose the potential of those thousand pesos to yield more money.
More than greed is involved here. Excess wealth in the pursuit of honest labor is distinguishab le from avarice. To the Reformers economic gain is a sign of God’s grace.
The Roman Catholic who goes to the priest and seeks to be absolved of his sins finds assurance in the words of absolution. But the Biblical believer who knows from the promises of the Bible such as John 1:12, and the inward witness of the Holy Spirit that he is a child of God (Romans 8:16), finds external assurance elsewhere. One of those external signs is the material blessing of God upon our lives.
Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Reformers to the life of the ordinary believer is their belief in calling. Most of you are in awe whenever pastors talk about their calling. But there is a calling in which all of us can participate. It is the calling to live our lives in the world, and to be used by God so that our lives can bless others. John Wesley said, “Earn as much as you can. Save as much as you can. Invest as much as you can. Give as much as you can.” This summarizes the Protestant work ethic.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Cor 10:31.
In a sense, therefore there is no ordinary believer. All are priests unto God. All share in the calling of giving glory to God through his or her vocation. The priest performs it at the altar, the minister at the pulpit. The farmer’s altar and pulpit is his rice field; the carpenter and mason, the house they are building, the clerk, his or her desk. For others it is the call center, the factory, the store.
As heirs of the Reformation, we have every reason to take pride in the work of our hands. Paul did so. He said, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ “ (Acts 20:33-36).
We have as much responsibility, then, not only to share the Gospel with our neighbors, but also to share our blessing with the needy. But we can only share what we possess. That is why it is not enough for a Christian to say,”Makakaon lag makabisti ok na.” If can feed ourselves; if we can clothe ourselves, it is enough. It is enough if we live in a world where everyone has equal opportunity to feed themselves and to clothe themselves. But we live in a very unequal world. Some are too ill, some are too weak, some are too discouraged. It is the height of selfishness for us to say that.
• If you are a laborer then pray that the Lord will give you a job that will provide more for you and your family.
• If you are an employee then seek to be promoted.
• If you are a businessman, then pray that the Lord will bless your business so you can hire more people, and be a blessing to the church and its mission. You have a calling to prosper so you can be a blessing.
In 2003 Sonia and I arrived to assume our responsibilities at Faith Village. We did not like what we saw. The place was unkempt, garbage was everywhere. There were only two workers who spent most of the day sitting down and watching over the property.
Today Faith Retreat looks neat and trim. We don’t have the money to landscape but we make us of what we have to create beauty and a restful atmosphere. But the grass is always mown and our calachuchi trees provide color in the summer peak season.
Furthermore we employ nine workers now. And out of our proceeds we send fifty elementary school Ati children and provide scholarship to two college young people. We pay the wages of two preschool teachers. We provide training for the teachers.
With the help of Mission of Mercy and Alan’s church we educate and feed a hundred Ati children every day five days a week.
No, never consider work as a burden. It is a privilege given by God. It is a calling.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Reordering the Chaos of Our Lives
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3
Growing up after the war we were so poor because my father was too ill to work. I often fantasized about money. I had this recurring dream. I would either be going up or down the bamboo ladder to our house. My foot slips and I would fall. My fall breaks the ground and lo and behold before my eyes is a box full of money. The dream was so vivid I would wake up panting with excitement.
As I was growing into adolescence and learned how to swim, me and the other boys would think of how to use our skill to bring fortune. We would fantasize about a rich woman crossing the bridge. Something happens. The woman falls screaming into the river. Then we would rescue her and naturally she would be grateful and offer to marry her rescuer. Then the rest of us would have to find other rich women to rescue.
Most of us fantasize about getting more money. If the Lord granted you a wish, how would you like him to bless you? Would you rather have it the way of my dream? You don’t have to do anything about it, it shows up like magic. Or would you rather find a rich man or woman to marry?
Do you remember the Disney cartoon of the Sleeping Beauty? Well, she had three fairy godmothers, each with a wand and they could make things appear and disappear. When Sleeping Beauty’s wedding gown was being made, the godmothers could not agree on the color. So with the zip or a wand, the gown turns into blue; another zap of the wand, it turns pink. And so on and so forth.
God can bless us by magic. He did that when the disciples needed money to pay tax. Jesus sent them to the sea to catch fish. And one fish had a coin in its mouth, enough for the poll tax. Not much, this is no goose that lays the golden egg story.
But the miracle of Genesis is not so much creating things out of nothing as much as bringing order out of chaos. To the Hebrews living on the hills of Palestine, the sea was sinister, wild and turbulent. But the Spirit of God brooded over the waters and things began to take shape.
Chaos is confusion, clutter, a mess. Junk.
How do you create order out of chaos? First of all you have to take some boxes and label them, putting some things here and other things there. It may require throwing unnecessary things away. In other words you make distinctions.
And this is just what God did. Open your Bibles to Genesis 1. What did God separate?
• Light from darkness
• Earth from sky
• Land from sea
• Man from animals
• Woman from man
Although it is not explicitly mentioned, there is one more distinction to be made. God is not part of creation. He is distinct from the things he created. He is holy. For that is what holiness means, to be distinct, to be set apart. We are not to confuse God with nature. We are not to confuse God with ourselves. This is what sets apart Bible religion from the religion of Greece and Rome. For their Gods were mere mortals with supernatural powers. They lie, cheat, commit adultery just like ordinary mortals do. God asked, “To whom will you compare me?”
Salvation then is the beginning of the work of creating order out of our confused lives. Let me use my own life as an example of this process of making distinctions.
Before I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ, God wasn’t a part of my life. I see religious people and sometimes I wished I could be like them. But I wasn’t really aware of God. I think of religion as kind of belonging to a club where you have certain rules to follow, certain uniforms to wear at certain times. But God wasn’t a part of my understanding of religion.
1. Then I was introduced to Jesus and things began to change in the ordering, first of all of my awareness of reality. I became aware of the presence of God. Have you experienced working and then without looking back became aware that someone is standing behind you? Somebody has intruded into your space.
I became aware of his place in the affairs of my life. It’s like you’ve been living alone in your dormitory room and then a stranger knocked asking if he could share your room. Remember I’ve known about this person before but he has no part in my life. Now he is sharing my room.
I was used to running my life the way I wanted to, now here’s this person who was getting in the way. Things got complicated. I find that word in FB profiles.
Relationships? Some answer, “Complicated.” Jesus does complicate our life.
He got in the way of my social life, for example. Would I introduce him to my friends? Would I rather not? Could I take him to this place where I hang out with other friends? Would I rather that he kept his own company while I kept mine?
So I began reordering my life with Christ around. I began doing what I have never done before, praying. My mother taught me some prayers. But knowing prayers and praying are two different things. Prayer is awareness of the Other Person before you. Prayers are like reading a book. The characters don’t leap out of the book and talk to you. Prayers are risk free. You do the talking; you do not consider the possibility of interruption, like, “What do you mean?” or “Why did you say that?” When you pray you are aware that the Other Person has something to say about what you are saying.
So praying is an interruption of my privacy. The more I talk the more I am allowing interruptions. But without talk Jesus remains a stranger and that’s difficult to have a stranger rooming with you. That creates a very awkward situation.
2. As soon as I began to see that there is a distinct Person who had become part of my life, I also came to realize that I had to make a distinction with regards to time. Prior to Jesus it was all my time. With his coming, he invites me to his time. Prayer is basically very much my call. I choose the time and the place. But not Sunday. It is his time and he chooses the place not me.
Until I met Jesus Christ Sunday had no significance for me. Other than the fact that I don’t go to school that day and that my father is at home and not working on Sunday, it was still part of my time. When I met Jesus, it became his day. The English language retained the old pagan name which is Sunday or the day of the Sun. But you can’t escape the meaning in Spanish. It is Domingo, which means the Lord’s or the day of the Lord. It is there I meet his people.
3. Now I have to make another adjustment. For, to be frank, some of his people I don’t like at all. I still think that some of my own people were better behaved than this bunch. There was this young man for example who just got in my nerves. He went to the same school as I but he was too loud. He was drawing too much attention to himself and his religion. He would call me in school and shout, “Brother Dionson!” Weird.
But I discover one thing. The difference between his people and my people is that I can easily drop people I don’t like in my circle. But I cannot drop people from his circle. I have a choice to do. I can drop out entirely. But that means losing the people there that I learned to like. I found out that the discipline of staying put with these people is helping me in many ways. I see myself much better because his people provide kind of a mirror through which I see myself. This is not always true in my circle where people just tell me what I like to hear.
Furthermore, I found out that being in fellowship with his people, my circle of friends actually expanded with people I could trust.
4. As I got to know Jesus better I find out there is a gradual but definite reordering of my outlook. I was born in poverty. Early on, I developed a defeatist attitude towards life. This was what scared me as I was graduating in high school. It was not so much that I lacked interest in pursuing a career. It was rather that I wasn’t sure what to do with a career. Finding Jesus in my life was like having an experienced mentor who told me, “Don’t be afraid, I’ll help you.”
It was that assurance that gave me the courage to take up the Christian ministry as my career. In fact it was a relief when I finally decided after months of agonizing prayer what to do with my life. Being in Bible school was a pivotal experience for me. More than the things I learned, the lifelong friendships I developed, and the awesome experiences with the Holy Spirit, what Bible instilled in me was the development of habits that eventually would prove to bless me in ways I never imagined. These habits Sonia and I carried into the raising of our family.
• We woke up before sun-up to read the Bible and pray.
• We ate our meals together.
• We worked from 8 to 5.
• We studied between 7:30 and 9 in the evening.
• We went to bed at between 9:30 and ten at night. We knew nothing of night life.
• We went to church together every Sunday. It was a holy day for us.
• We gave ten percent of our income to the Lord.
• We saved money. Bonuses. Extra income. Gifts.
• We entertained people at home.
There was a time when our squatter congregation was still quite small. I was working at home, pounding my typewriter writing a manuscript for sale to a publisher. An old Japanese gentleman opened the gate and introduced himself as Reverend Sato. Without saying anything he started unzipping his trousers. I was shocked. Is this Japanese going out of his mind? Then he pulled a cloth bag, opened it and gave me a hundred dollars. He said the Lord had told him to find me and give the gift to me.
I have a few experiences like that. But I could see that most of the time, the blessing came like Paul said it in Acts 20:33, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
The blessing came as I gave. I started my first congregation in Cebu among squatter people. I had to find work to rent a house where we met. I gave a tenth of my income to the District because I was an ordained minister of the AoG. It was like a seed. Our congregation grew. And the time came when I did not have to work. Not only that as the congregation increased in number and as our income grew, they took care of me and my family in a very generous manner.
In my last visit in Boracay I spent a few nights at Beth Shalom our own property in Boracay. We built a school there. It’s small now but it will grow. I sat down at the carpet of grass so carefully tended by Nanay Teling. And I was just overwhelmed by God’s goodness. Through the years the miracles that the Lord brought in our lives were the miracle of being connected with the right kind of people, of being at the right place at the right time. As though an unseen hand was guiding our decisions and even our failures and shortcomings became part of a tapestry of light and shadow that God was creating out of our lives.
Too much clutter in your life? Too many complications? Has somebody knocked at your door, saying, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice, open the door and let me in. Let me help you with that junk. Let’s put order into your life.”
I can tell you this, you’ll never be sorry you let him in.
To Ichtus Youth
“In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.” Acts 2:17
I was overwhelmed by the 6th Anniversary of FNJ last Friday. It says a lot about you.
1. That you could have a church group for 6 years, maintain it and keep its momentum.
2. That you could find IF a church worth loyalty, energy and enthusiasm despite its many obvious shortcomings.
3. That you could keep fellowship with previous Ichtus youth who are scattered abroad.
IF does not have to create a youth movement; it is already here. The boundless energy is there; the bond is there; the spirit of adventure is there.
The question is where to? In this passage about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, young men and old men share the capacity for seeing things that are not. I wish it was the other way around though, old men dreaming dreams doesn’t sound as nice as old men having visions.
You have proven that being Christian and being young can be a lot of fun. It is now time to turn the power of Ichtus youth into the service of the kingdom.
I have four ideas to suggest to you on this 6th anniversary of Friday Night Jam:
1. That Ichtus reclaim the campuses. This has always been the mandate of Ichtus Youth and many of you have come to know the Lord while in college. But what I mean is a determined and aggressive campaign to bring Christ into the campuses.
2. That as Ichtus graduate into Ichtus Alumni you the same drive, and creativity and idealism into the work place. Ichtus Alumni, whether singles or marrieds, consider yourselves as models and as mentors to Ichtus college youth.
3. That Ichtus Alumni now scattered in the country and around the world form Ichtus International, using the internet as means of communication and maintaining reunions and forming extensions of Immanuel Fellowships around the world.
4. That Ichtus serve the wider Fellowship. You are already doing that. Through your diverse ministry involvement. Still, I want to be able to say to you, “There’s an old lady in the hospital that needs a young person to comfort her.” I need to be able to say to you, “I need someone to teach a new Bible study group in Lahug.”
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.” Acts 2:17
I was overwhelmed by the 6th Anniversary of FNJ last Friday. It says a lot about you.
1. That you could have a church group for 6 years, maintain it and keep its momentum.
2. That you could find IF a church worth loyalty, energy and enthusiasm despite its many obvious shortcomings.
3. That you could keep fellowship with previous Ichtus youth who are scattered abroad.
IF does not have to create a youth movement; it is already here. The boundless energy is there; the bond is there; the spirit of adventure is there.
The question is where to? In this passage about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, young men and old men share the capacity for seeing things that are not. I wish it was the other way around though, old men dreaming dreams doesn’t sound as nice as old men having visions.
You have proven that being Christian and being young can be a lot of fun. It is now time to turn the power of Ichtus youth into the service of the kingdom.
I have four ideas to suggest to you on this 6th anniversary of Friday Night Jam:
1. That Ichtus reclaim the campuses. This has always been the mandate of Ichtus Youth and many of you have come to know the Lord while in college. But what I mean is a determined and aggressive campaign to bring Christ into the campuses.
2. That as Ichtus graduate into Ichtus Alumni you the same drive, and creativity and idealism into the work place. Ichtus Alumni, whether singles or marrieds, consider yourselves as models and as mentors to Ichtus college youth.
3. That Ichtus Alumni now scattered in the country and around the world form Ichtus International, using the internet as means of communication and maintaining reunions and forming extensions of Immanuel Fellowships around the world.
4. That Ichtus serve the wider Fellowship. You are already doing that. Through your diverse ministry involvement. Still, I want to be able to say to you, “There’s an old lady in the hospital that needs a young person to comfort her.” I need to be able to say to you, “I need someone to teach a new Bible study group in Lahug.”
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Laws of Prosperity: The New Testament
Luke 6:38. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’
Mark 4:20. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
2 Corinthians 9:6-15. 6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9As it is written,
‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures for ever.’
10He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Last Sunday we began a series of talks about giving. We started with giving in the Old Testament giving. Today we continue with New Testament giving.
We said that the law did not invent tithing; that it was already practiced among pagan worshipers before Israel became a nation with laws. The law merely regulated how and where the tithes were to be given. Therefore we cannot use the law as an excuse for not tithing.
But we also said that tithing saved Israel from the demonic excesses of other forms of pagan worship. There were no children to be burned, no wives were to serve as temple prostitutes and no eunuchs. The tithe was a sober, mathematically precise manner of giving. This precision is the hallmark of an orderly life, life that is not based on caprice and whimsy. It is not enough to say, “I forgot what the preacher said but it was good.” The practice of tithing helps us to involve the mind in worship and removes capricious and emotional giving which can be disastrous at times.
Tithing then is methodical, precise, a rational mode of worship that is the foundation for an orderly manner of living. There are two fundamental ways in which NT giving differs from OT giving.
1. First, too much method and preciseness in giving can also mean being exacting and calculating, in the negative sense of the term. It is the shield of those who don’t want to give any more than they have to give. These are the people who say to God, “I have given you your fair share; now let me do with mine what I please.”
That is hardly the attitude of one who has experienced God’s grace. We are God’s not once but twice, once by virtue of creation and second by virtue of redemption. We no longer belong to ourselves but utterly and completely Christ’s. It seems to me that we people of grace should do more than the people of the law, not to do less.
The ungrateful does not understand nor appreciate grace. That ingratitude takes him down below the level of the calculating Jew who counts his tithe of cumin. Not only that, it places him below the pagan who sacrifices child and wife to his divinity.
Gratitude distinguishes giving under grace from giving under law. The motive power of the law is fear. Malachi calls those who fail to tithe as thieves. And robbery is a punishable crime. Punishment can only go so far in making a person behave. You know how Filipino drivers behave. They have been fined so many times and yet they never learn.
Gratitude never forgets. If people forget it may be they never really have experienced salvation in the first place. Have you really experienced God’s forgiveness? Have you really experienced being released from Satan’s grip? Have you really experienced deliverance from fear? hopelessness? Have you really experienced healing? If so, how can you be stingy to God? How can you forget?
2. The second fundamental difference between NT giving and giving under the law is this: the tithe is primarily division but giving in the NT is multiplication. Tithe is one over ten. I give to God what I owe to a landlord. It is his share. What I give to God diminishes what remains in my possession. This is the main reason why many who have good intentions fail to deliver. If I have difficulty with ten tenths how can I manage with nine tenths? The NT speaks a completely different language when it speaks of giving. It is the language of multiplication. It is the language of sowing and reaping, or in the language of the entrepreneur, investment and gain.
In Matthew 13, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to seed being sown. If the seed falls on good soil, its harvest is several times-fold the amount of the seed sown. In 2 Cor 9, Paul uses the same analogy. Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly; whoever sows generously will also reap generously. V 6. “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness,” v 10. God will not only increase the harvest; he will also increase your store of seed. In business terms this means not only an increase of profit but an increase of capital.
The NT answers a question posed by economics. Can wealth be created or can it only be distributed? If wealth is finite, for you to get my share is to diminish mine while it increases yours. That is an injustice.
But if wealth can be created, then I can increase my store of wealth without necessarily diminishing yours. This creation of wealth has happened in unbelievable ways within our lifetime. It used to be that wealth is tied up with land and mineral resources. Not anymore. Property is no longer measurable in terms of meters and kilograms. Property is no longer hard but soft. The only raw material of a computer is a small grain of sand that possesses the characteristic of a semiconductor, a material that acts as a gate to open or close the flow of electrons with the speed of light. There is far more wealth in creating software than in making computer hardware. What counts today is creativity of ideas. You don’t even have to invent a completely new product, just improve that one that is already existing. A computer screen that will filter the glare away cheaply. A non-slip cell phone casing. Paper that will degrade rapidly and help in composting. An inexpensive design for healthy and low carbon demand Filipino homes and buildings. In the 60 years since liberation the Filipino jeepney design has not been improved. They are ugly and uncomfortable. They are still made by hand in backyard shops using engines thrown away from Japan. It is waiting for somebody with a good idea.
The words of the Bible are unbelievable. Listen to this: “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” v 11. I don’t know how anybody can interpret this other than what it simply says here.
It is God’s intention to enrich his people. Do you believe God is blest by our poverty? Do you believe God is blest by our misery? God may be glorified despite our poverty, despite our misery, despite our sickness but not because of them.
God is honored when his power and goodness is manifested in our lives. God is glorified when we are generous because of the riches he has bestowed upon our lives. God is exalted when we have become givers and not only receivers.
But haven’t we heard this before? Isn’t this OT teaching also? Didn’t God say if we tithe he will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing there will be no room to receive them?
Yes, of course but the premise is different. God’s blessing is conditioned in the Old Testament by obedience to his law. When in the OT the people failed to tithe, God shut the windows of heaven. Instead of blessing, the people were cursed. Enemies overcame them. Locusts devoured their produce. Famine stalked the land.
We do not hear such curses in the NT. For here the premise is different. The blessing of God in the NT is not conditioned by obedience but by faith. Grace does not operate by fear of the law but by faith in the promises of God.
If Jesus could not perform miracles in Galilee and Judah it was not because people failed to heed the law but because they did not believe. We are poor not so much because we are disobedient but because can’t summon the will to believe. Our failure does not lie in not living up to the commandments but in unwillingness to try so that we can experience the power of faith. When Jesus said, give and it shall be given unto you he was counting on his hearers to demonstrate faith.
Whether it is listening to Jesus’ call to salvation or listening to Jesus’ call to fish, the formula is still the same: by grace through faith. That opens the possibility of wealth open to everyone.
Grace appears to us when we toil all night and there is no fish. Experience tells us that when the moon is full the fish won’t be attracted by the light of our lamps. Not last night, not tonight. Not tomorrow night, And certainly not in broad daylight.
But Jesus calls us, “Children, come to the deep.” Grace always comes to us as a challenge. In salvation we accept the challenge to put our faith in the finished work of Christ upon the cross and say, “He died for me.” In the miracle of provision we put our faith in the promise of Jesus, “Give and it shall be given you, pressed down, shaken together and running over.”
The most important word said by Peter was “nevertheless.” It changed the conversation from “We toiled all night” and “We caught nothing” into “At your word we will go the deep and let down the net.”
Conclusion
Some of you are facing tough situations. This is not the kind of message that want to hear. You want something soothing. A pat in the back. A word of comfort. But if you are toiling and catching nothing. If you have little to show for your labor. If an unforeseen situation has come that is turning all your plans upside down. If you are facing an enemy. What you need is not a pat in the back but a word of faith.
So this morning let’s apply this message to our giving. I want us to give like we have not given before. To give beyond the tithe, beyond calculation and exacting measurement. To give in gratitude and to give in faith. I want the ushers to give every one an opportunity to give. Not as though we are ashamed of what we are doing. That would be robbery. After we have given I would like us to pray God to release his creative, enriching ideas upon us. Come let’s pray for each other.
Mark 4:20. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
2 Corinthians 9:6-15. 6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9As it is written,
‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures for ever.’
10He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Last Sunday we began a series of talks about giving. We started with giving in the Old Testament giving. Today we continue with New Testament giving.
We said that the law did not invent tithing; that it was already practiced among pagan worshipers before Israel became a nation with laws. The law merely regulated how and where the tithes were to be given. Therefore we cannot use the law as an excuse for not tithing.
But we also said that tithing saved Israel from the demonic excesses of other forms of pagan worship. There were no children to be burned, no wives were to serve as temple prostitutes and no eunuchs. The tithe was a sober, mathematically precise manner of giving. This precision is the hallmark of an orderly life, life that is not based on caprice and whimsy. It is not enough to say, “I forgot what the preacher said but it was good.” The practice of tithing helps us to involve the mind in worship and removes capricious and emotional giving which can be disastrous at times.
Tithing then is methodical, precise, a rational mode of worship that is the foundation for an orderly manner of living. There are two fundamental ways in which NT giving differs from OT giving.
1. First, too much method and preciseness in giving can also mean being exacting and calculating, in the negative sense of the term. It is the shield of those who don’t want to give any more than they have to give. These are the people who say to God, “I have given you your fair share; now let me do with mine what I please.”
That is hardly the attitude of one who has experienced God’s grace. We are God’s not once but twice, once by virtue of creation and second by virtue of redemption. We no longer belong to ourselves but utterly and completely Christ’s. It seems to me that we people of grace should do more than the people of the law, not to do less.
The ungrateful does not understand nor appreciate grace. That ingratitude takes him down below the level of the calculating Jew who counts his tithe of cumin. Not only that, it places him below the pagan who sacrifices child and wife to his divinity.
Gratitude distinguishes giving under grace from giving under law. The motive power of the law is fear. Malachi calls those who fail to tithe as thieves. And robbery is a punishable crime. Punishment can only go so far in making a person behave. You know how Filipino drivers behave. They have been fined so many times and yet they never learn.
Gratitude never forgets. If people forget it may be they never really have experienced salvation in the first place. Have you really experienced God’s forgiveness? Have you really experienced being released from Satan’s grip? Have you really experienced deliverance from fear? hopelessness? Have you really experienced healing? If so, how can you be stingy to God? How can you forget?
2. The second fundamental difference between NT giving and giving under the law is this: the tithe is primarily division but giving in the NT is multiplication. Tithe is one over ten. I give to God what I owe to a landlord. It is his share. What I give to God diminishes what remains in my possession. This is the main reason why many who have good intentions fail to deliver. If I have difficulty with ten tenths how can I manage with nine tenths? The NT speaks a completely different language when it speaks of giving. It is the language of multiplication. It is the language of sowing and reaping, or in the language of the entrepreneur, investment and gain.
In Matthew 13, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to seed being sown. If the seed falls on good soil, its harvest is several times-fold the amount of the seed sown. In 2 Cor 9, Paul uses the same analogy. Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly; whoever sows generously will also reap generously. V 6. “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness,” v 10. God will not only increase the harvest; he will also increase your store of seed. In business terms this means not only an increase of profit but an increase of capital.
The NT answers a question posed by economics. Can wealth be created or can it only be distributed? If wealth is finite, for you to get my share is to diminish mine while it increases yours. That is an injustice.
But if wealth can be created, then I can increase my store of wealth without necessarily diminishing yours. This creation of wealth has happened in unbelievable ways within our lifetime. It used to be that wealth is tied up with land and mineral resources. Not anymore. Property is no longer measurable in terms of meters and kilograms. Property is no longer hard but soft. The only raw material of a computer is a small grain of sand that possesses the characteristic of a semiconductor, a material that acts as a gate to open or close the flow of electrons with the speed of light. There is far more wealth in creating software than in making computer hardware. What counts today is creativity of ideas. You don’t even have to invent a completely new product, just improve that one that is already existing. A computer screen that will filter the glare away cheaply. A non-slip cell phone casing. Paper that will degrade rapidly and help in composting. An inexpensive design for healthy and low carbon demand Filipino homes and buildings. In the 60 years since liberation the Filipino jeepney design has not been improved. They are ugly and uncomfortable. They are still made by hand in backyard shops using engines thrown away from Japan. It is waiting for somebody with a good idea.
The words of the Bible are unbelievable. Listen to this: “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” v 11. I don’t know how anybody can interpret this other than what it simply says here.
It is God’s intention to enrich his people. Do you believe God is blest by our poverty? Do you believe God is blest by our misery? God may be glorified despite our poverty, despite our misery, despite our sickness but not because of them.
God is honored when his power and goodness is manifested in our lives. God is glorified when we are generous because of the riches he has bestowed upon our lives. God is exalted when we have become givers and not only receivers.
But haven’t we heard this before? Isn’t this OT teaching also? Didn’t God say if we tithe he will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing there will be no room to receive them?
Yes, of course but the premise is different. God’s blessing is conditioned in the Old Testament by obedience to his law. When in the OT the people failed to tithe, God shut the windows of heaven. Instead of blessing, the people were cursed. Enemies overcame them. Locusts devoured their produce. Famine stalked the land.
We do not hear such curses in the NT. For here the premise is different. The blessing of God in the NT is not conditioned by obedience but by faith. Grace does not operate by fear of the law but by faith in the promises of God.
If Jesus could not perform miracles in Galilee and Judah it was not because people failed to heed the law but because they did not believe. We are poor not so much because we are disobedient but because can’t summon the will to believe. Our failure does not lie in not living up to the commandments but in unwillingness to try so that we can experience the power of faith. When Jesus said, give and it shall be given unto you he was counting on his hearers to demonstrate faith.
Whether it is listening to Jesus’ call to salvation or listening to Jesus’ call to fish, the formula is still the same: by grace through faith. That opens the possibility of wealth open to everyone.
Grace appears to us when we toil all night and there is no fish. Experience tells us that when the moon is full the fish won’t be attracted by the light of our lamps. Not last night, not tonight. Not tomorrow night, And certainly not in broad daylight.
But Jesus calls us, “Children, come to the deep.” Grace always comes to us as a challenge. In salvation we accept the challenge to put our faith in the finished work of Christ upon the cross and say, “He died for me.” In the miracle of provision we put our faith in the promise of Jesus, “Give and it shall be given you, pressed down, shaken together and running over.”
The most important word said by Peter was “nevertheless.” It changed the conversation from “We toiled all night” and “We caught nothing” into “At your word we will go the deep and let down the net.”
Conclusion
Some of you are facing tough situations. This is not the kind of message that want to hear. You want something soothing. A pat in the back. A word of comfort. But if you are toiling and catching nothing. If you have little to show for your labor. If an unforeseen situation has come that is turning all your plans upside down. If you are facing an enemy. What you need is not a pat in the back but a word of faith.
So this morning let’s apply this message to our giving. I want us to give like we have not given before. To give beyond the tithe, beyond calculation and exacting measurement. To give in gratitude and to give in faith. I want the ushers to give every one an opportunity to give. Not as though we are ashamed of what we are doing. That would be robbery. After we have given I would like us to pray God to release his creative, enriching ideas upon us. Come let’s pray for each other.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Memo to Worship Bands
Here is an article from Christianity Today that I encourage our worship team to read. Articles posted from sources other than me do not always reflect my own opinion. They are meant to be used for discussion. So I welcome your comments. dionson '09
______________________
Memo to Worship Bands
Five sound reasons to lower the volume.
Christianity Today
John G. Stackhouse Jr. | posted 2/02/2009 10:41AM
Can you hear me? You can? I'm sorry if I am shouting, but I have just spent half an hour in a church service with a typical worship band, and my ears are ringing. I'm sure to be fine in a minute. Or hour. Or day—I hope.
Why does everything every Christian musician performs nowadays seem to require high amplification?
I was at a Christian camp not long ago where we gathered to sing around a bonfire. Guitars appeared, but just before I could get nostalgic and suggest we sing "Pass It On," the microphone stands appeared, too. Apparently three guitars for 40 people were not enough. No, they had to be amplified.
I am not 110 years old, friends. I grew up in the 1970s with fuzz boxes, stacks of Marshall amplifiers, and heavy metal bands loud enough to take on Boeing 747s and win. I have played in worship bands for more than 30 years, and like lots of juice running through my Roland keyboard or Fender bass or Godin guitar. Furthermore, I'm a middle-aged man and my hearing is supposed to be fading. But even I find almost every worship band in every church I visit to be too loud—not just a little bit loud, but uncomfortably, even painfully, loud.
So here are five reasons for everyone to turn it down a notch—or maybe three or four.
First, I know it's breaking the performer's code to say so (the way magicians are never supposed to reveal a secret), but cranking up the volume is just a cheap trick to add energy to a room. The comedic film This Is Spinal Tap showed us all the absurdity of using sheer noise to compensate for a lack of talent. (The knobs on the band members' guitars and amplifiers were modified to go to 11.) Do not compensate for mediocrity by amping it up to MEDIOCRITY.
Second, when your intonation is not very good—and let's face it, most singers and instrumentalists are not anywhere close to being in perfect tune—turning it up only makes it hurt worse. If I hear one more "harmony singer" have trouble deciding whether to hit the major or the minor third and instead split the difference at a scalp-tightening volume, I think my head will split also.
Third, the speakers in most church PA systems cannot take that much energy through their small, old magnets and cones, especially from piano, bass, and kick drum. So we are being pounded with high-powered fluffing and sputtering—which do not induce praise.
Fourth, consider that you might be marginalizing older people, most of whom probably do not like Guns N' Roses volumes at church. And if you suspect older congregants may be secretly delighted behind their tight smiles, ask them. I dare you.
Fifth, let me drop some church history and theology on you. By the time church music matured into Palestrina and Co. in the 16th century, it had become too demanding and ornate for ordinary singers. So Christians went to church to listen to a priest and a choir.
The Protestant Reformation yanked musical worship away from the professionals and put it back in the pews. Luther composed hymns based on popular melodies, including drinking songs. Calvin insisted on taking lyrics from the Psalms. This was music in which almost anyone could participate. The problem today, to be sure, is rarely elaborate music. We could use a little more artistry, in fact, than we usually get with the simplistic and repetitive musical figures of many contemporary worship songs.
No, the contrast with the Reformation is the modern-day insistence that a few people at the front be the center of attention. We do it by making six band members louder than a room full of people. But a church service isn't a concert at which an audience sings along with the real performers. Musicians—every one of them, including the singers—are accompanists to the congregation's praise. They should be mixed loudly enough only to do their job of leading and supporting the congregation.
Now, I like Palestrina and I like good Christian rock. So, church musicians, if you want to perform a fine song that requires advanced musicianship, by all means do it. We will listen and pray and enjoy it to the glory of God.
But when you are leading us in singing, then lead us in singing. And turn it down so we are not listening to you—or, even worse, merely enduring you. I know that is not what you want to happen. But I am telling you that's what is happening.
Sorry, again, for shouting.
John G. Stackhouse Jr. is the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. His most recent book is Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World (Oxford University Press).
______________________
Memo to Worship Bands
Five sound reasons to lower the volume.
Christianity Today
John G. Stackhouse Jr. | posted 2/02/2009 10:41AM
Can you hear me? You can? I'm sorry if I am shouting, but I have just spent half an hour in a church service with a typical worship band, and my ears are ringing. I'm sure to be fine in a minute. Or hour. Or day—I hope.
Why does everything every Christian musician performs nowadays seem to require high amplification?
I was at a Christian camp not long ago where we gathered to sing around a bonfire. Guitars appeared, but just before I could get nostalgic and suggest we sing "Pass It On," the microphone stands appeared, too. Apparently three guitars for 40 people were not enough. No, they had to be amplified.
I am not 110 years old, friends. I grew up in the 1970s with fuzz boxes, stacks of Marshall amplifiers, and heavy metal bands loud enough to take on Boeing 747s and win. I have played in worship bands for more than 30 years, and like lots of juice running through my Roland keyboard or Fender bass or Godin guitar. Furthermore, I'm a middle-aged man and my hearing is supposed to be fading. But even I find almost every worship band in every church I visit to be too loud—not just a little bit loud, but uncomfortably, even painfully, loud.
So here are five reasons for everyone to turn it down a notch—or maybe three or four.
First, I know it's breaking the performer's code to say so (the way magicians are never supposed to reveal a secret), but cranking up the volume is just a cheap trick to add energy to a room. The comedic film This Is Spinal Tap showed us all the absurdity of using sheer noise to compensate for a lack of talent. (The knobs on the band members' guitars and amplifiers were modified to go to 11.) Do not compensate for mediocrity by amping it up to MEDIOCRITY.
Second, when your intonation is not very good—and let's face it, most singers and instrumentalists are not anywhere close to being in perfect tune—turning it up only makes it hurt worse. If I hear one more "harmony singer" have trouble deciding whether to hit the major or the minor third and instead split the difference at a scalp-tightening volume, I think my head will split also.
Third, the speakers in most church PA systems cannot take that much energy through their small, old magnets and cones, especially from piano, bass, and kick drum. So we are being pounded with high-powered fluffing and sputtering—which do not induce praise.
Fourth, consider that you might be marginalizing older people, most of whom probably do not like Guns N' Roses volumes at church. And if you suspect older congregants may be secretly delighted behind their tight smiles, ask them. I dare you.
Fifth, let me drop some church history and theology on you. By the time church music matured into Palestrina and Co. in the 16th century, it had become too demanding and ornate for ordinary singers. So Christians went to church to listen to a priest and a choir.
The Protestant Reformation yanked musical worship away from the professionals and put it back in the pews. Luther composed hymns based on popular melodies, including drinking songs. Calvin insisted on taking lyrics from the Psalms. This was music in which almost anyone could participate. The problem today, to be sure, is rarely elaborate music. We could use a little more artistry, in fact, than we usually get with the simplistic and repetitive musical figures of many contemporary worship songs.
No, the contrast with the Reformation is the modern-day insistence that a few people at the front be the center of attention. We do it by making six band members louder than a room full of people. But a church service isn't a concert at which an audience sings along with the real performers. Musicians—every one of them, including the singers—are accompanists to the congregation's praise. They should be mixed loudly enough only to do their job of leading and supporting the congregation.
Now, I like Palestrina and I like good Christian rock. So, church musicians, if you want to perform a fine song that requires advanced musicianship, by all means do it. We will listen and pray and enjoy it to the glory of God.
But when you are leading us in singing, then lead us in singing. And turn it down so we are not listening to you—or, even worse, merely enduring you. I know that is not what you want to happen. But I am telling you that's what is happening.
Sorry, again, for shouting.
John G. Stackhouse Jr. is the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. His most recent book is Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World (Oxford University Press).
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Laws of Prosperity: The Old Testament
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Malachi 3:10
I understand the dilemma that many decent and sensitive pastors face when they have to speak about money in the church. It seems to be self-serving. Even Paul struggled with the issue of whether or not to accept support from the churches. I have one advantage over other pastors in this regard. I have work of my own. I have waived aside the right of remuneration. Because of this I cannot be accused that I preach of this topic for my own advantage.
Early in my Christian life I found the blessedness of giving. As a working student in Bible school I had to work three hours Tuesday through Saturday and then 7 hours on Mondays. My job was digging foundations, mixing cement. I learned the art of laying stones to make retaining walls.
For all that work we received a Bible school education, room and board and a stipend of two pesos every month, the present equivalent is about P200. That money had to be carefully budgeted. First item in the budget was always the tithe of two pesos. The remaining one peso ninety centavos went by order of priority to toilet soap, toothpaste, pomade, laundry soap, charcoal for ironing, and school supplies. I always carried a pocket notebook to take notes in church. At the back I wrote some of the things I could not afford from my two peso stipend. A mosquito net, a pair of shoes, a Bible. I forgot about them. A year later In looked at my notes again and I was surprised. I had all of them! I scrawled at the bottom of the page. “Lord, you’ve done it; thank you!” I began collecting books for a library while still in Bible school. I began saving to buy Christian books. I had to be careful what I buy; and today books bought back in 1959 are still with me: C S Lewis and James Denney among others.
Because of my experience it never occurred to me that people would object to the giving of tithes. I just assumed that people would give tithes if they were taught.
One of the most common arguments against tithing is that we are no longer under law but under grace. This argument not only exalts the law too much but also cheapens grace. This Sunday let me just speak about the first.
Exalting the law too much
I say it exalts the law too much because it assumes that Old Testament believers were happy go lucky, lazy and adulterous thieves until the law came along. Far from the truth.
Take Abraham for example. He lived perhaps half a millennium before Moses received the law from God in Sinai. There was no temple, no regular worship, no priesthood, no nation. Yet Abraham was already giving tithes in Genesis 14. So why did Abraham gave tithes to Milchezedek?
The answer is simple. Tithing was already a universal religious practice long before God called Abraham and long before Israel became a nation. The instinct to go to a holy presence with an offering is a universal instinct. And the tithe answered the question, how much should a worshiper give to his God?
God could have made us with six fingers to our hand. Then we would count by the dozens. But he made us with ten fingers because with the base of ten we can perform the easiest as well as the most complex mathematical calculations. The tithe is a mathematical figure, it is the tenth. What the tithe did was to rationalize worship. Worship is not all feelings. It involves the mind. The tithe answers the question, how much should I bring to the Lord? The tithe takes away the guesswork. It is precise.
As Filipinos we have difficulty with precision. You ask what time do we hold our 2nd service and you get the answer,”Mga alas dies.” Around 10 o’clock. How good was the message? Medyo. What did the pastor talk about? Kuan. Mga and medyo and kuan are the cities of refuge of the uncertain, the imprecise mind.
That is the reason why many Filipinos have problems with mathematics. And without math there is no science, without science there is no industry. Without industry we simply become hewers of wood and drawers of water for other nations, consumers of their produce.
Tithing puts preciseness in the way we manage our resources. Because we know that money is not ours we budget it carefully. We do not spend money on a whim. But most of all we consider money as a means of worshipping God. This is the kind of thing that develops the habits that lead to progress.
Tithing puts a check on wild, emotional and dangerous forms of spending our resources.
Jephthah
We find this emotionalism in a strange character in the 10th chapter of the book of Judges. Jephthah had a sad childhood. He was the son of a prostitute but he grew up in the family of his father’s wife. Naturally this led to trouble. Furthermore the legal children didn’t want Jephthah to have a part in their inheritance. So they drove him away. Jephthah was a born leader and warrior, so when the Ammonites threatened the tribes of Israel who would come to visit but his own brothers. They begged him to lead the army. Before meeting the Ammonites, Jephthah prayed, “Lord if you make me win this battle, the first to greet me on my return, I will sacrifice as a burnt offering.”
The vow was unnecessary. It was rashly spoken. Jephthah the outcast wanted so much to win this battle. It was meant to send a message to his brothers. He, despised son of a prostitute, is better than them. In coming to seek his aid, the brothers were eating humble pie. But he wanted far more. And whatever it was he wanted the result was tragic. The first to meet him at the door was his own daughter. She requested only two months to bewail her virginity upon the mountains of Gilead.
Emotional giving is costly. It is the kind of giving that demonic pagan worship demands. Walking over live coals. Lying on a bed of nails. Human sacrifice. Temple prostitution. Tithing casts away the demonic from worship. All the nations who practiced these excessive emotional and self-destructive forms of worship eventually vanished. Emotional giving is the kind of giving that cults exploit.
If we don’t want to give our tithes to God then watch out for other gods. People who will not give a tithe to the Lord yet will blow that away in one expensive dinner. Christians who will not give tithe but will keep on buying the latest gadgets. Christians who will not give tithes but are forever decorating and redecorating their homes to keep up with the neighbor. Christians who will not give their tithes but have a secret love affair. These are habits that lead to impoverishment.
As I said it was giving too much credit to the law to say that the practice of tithing came out of the law. The law did not invent tithing. It was already there. Pagans practiced it long before the law was given. What the law did was to regulate the method of tithing, especially where and how the tithe was to be deposited. Provision was made so that there were storehouses manned by priests and Levites throughout the land, a portion of which was sent up to the temple In Jerusalem. Bring all the tithes to the storehouse. That is all the law did. Bring the tithe to the church and offer it to the Lord. That is what the law accomplished.
Conclusion
Let me say it again. Tithing puts mathematical preciseness in the way we manage our resources. You will find orderliness in your life. You will learn to manage your resources. You will avoid the excesses and habits that drain your resources. These are prerequisites to progress whether you are a laborer or a professional or an entrepreneur.
The starting point is to acknowledge God as the source of supply and give him at least what other worshipers have done since the dawn of time. If you haven’t practiced it begin now. If irregular do it regularly. If you give only a fraction try to give the full tithe.
When you tithe you will be surprised what other levels of your life will be affected for the better.
I understand the dilemma that many decent and sensitive pastors face when they have to speak about money in the church. It seems to be self-serving. Even Paul struggled with the issue of whether or not to accept support from the churches. I have one advantage over other pastors in this regard. I have work of my own. I have waived aside the right of remuneration. Because of this I cannot be accused that I preach of this topic for my own advantage.
Early in my Christian life I found the blessedness of giving. As a working student in Bible school I had to work three hours Tuesday through Saturday and then 7 hours on Mondays. My job was digging foundations, mixing cement. I learned the art of laying stones to make retaining walls.
For all that work we received a Bible school education, room and board and a stipend of two pesos every month, the present equivalent is about P200. That money had to be carefully budgeted. First item in the budget was always the tithe of two pesos. The remaining one peso ninety centavos went by order of priority to toilet soap, toothpaste, pomade, laundry soap, charcoal for ironing, and school supplies. I always carried a pocket notebook to take notes in church. At the back I wrote some of the things I could not afford from my two peso stipend. A mosquito net, a pair of shoes, a Bible. I forgot about them. A year later In looked at my notes again and I was surprised. I had all of them! I scrawled at the bottom of the page. “Lord, you’ve done it; thank you!” I began collecting books for a library while still in Bible school. I began saving to buy Christian books. I had to be careful what I buy; and today books bought back in 1959 are still with me: C S Lewis and James Denney among others.
Because of my experience it never occurred to me that people would object to the giving of tithes. I just assumed that people would give tithes if they were taught.
One of the most common arguments against tithing is that we are no longer under law but under grace. This argument not only exalts the law too much but also cheapens grace. This Sunday let me just speak about the first.
Exalting the law too much
I say it exalts the law too much because it assumes that Old Testament believers were happy go lucky, lazy and adulterous thieves until the law came along. Far from the truth.
Take Abraham for example. He lived perhaps half a millennium before Moses received the law from God in Sinai. There was no temple, no regular worship, no priesthood, no nation. Yet Abraham was already giving tithes in Genesis 14. So why did Abraham gave tithes to Milchezedek?
The answer is simple. Tithing was already a universal religious practice long before God called Abraham and long before Israel became a nation. The instinct to go to a holy presence with an offering is a universal instinct. And the tithe answered the question, how much should a worshiper give to his God?
God could have made us with six fingers to our hand. Then we would count by the dozens. But he made us with ten fingers because with the base of ten we can perform the easiest as well as the most complex mathematical calculations. The tithe is a mathematical figure, it is the tenth. What the tithe did was to rationalize worship. Worship is not all feelings. It involves the mind. The tithe answers the question, how much should I bring to the Lord? The tithe takes away the guesswork. It is precise.
As Filipinos we have difficulty with precision. You ask what time do we hold our 2nd service and you get the answer,”Mga alas dies.” Around 10 o’clock. How good was the message? Medyo. What did the pastor talk about? Kuan. Mga and medyo and kuan are the cities of refuge of the uncertain, the imprecise mind.
That is the reason why many Filipinos have problems with mathematics. And without math there is no science, without science there is no industry. Without industry we simply become hewers of wood and drawers of water for other nations, consumers of their produce.
Tithing puts preciseness in the way we manage our resources. Because we know that money is not ours we budget it carefully. We do not spend money on a whim. But most of all we consider money as a means of worshipping God. This is the kind of thing that develops the habits that lead to progress.
Tithing puts a check on wild, emotional and dangerous forms of spending our resources.
Jephthah
We find this emotionalism in a strange character in the 10th chapter of the book of Judges. Jephthah had a sad childhood. He was the son of a prostitute but he grew up in the family of his father’s wife. Naturally this led to trouble. Furthermore the legal children didn’t want Jephthah to have a part in their inheritance. So they drove him away. Jephthah was a born leader and warrior, so when the Ammonites threatened the tribes of Israel who would come to visit but his own brothers. They begged him to lead the army. Before meeting the Ammonites, Jephthah prayed, “Lord if you make me win this battle, the first to greet me on my return, I will sacrifice as a burnt offering.”
The vow was unnecessary. It was rashly spoken. Jephthah the outcast wanted so much to win this battle. It was meant to send a message to his brothers. He, despised son of a prostitute, is better than them. In coming to seek his aid, the brothers were eating humble pie. But he wanted far more. And whatever it was he wanted the result was tragic. The first to meet him at the door was his own daughter. She requested only two months to bewail her virginity upon the mountains of Gilead.
Emotional giving is costly. It is the kind of giving that demonic pagan worship demands. Walking over live coals. Lying on a bed of nails. Human sacrifice. Temple prostitution. Tithing casts away the demonic from worship. All the nations who practiced these excessive emotional and self-destructive forms of worship eventually vanished. Emotional giving is the kind of giving that cults exploit.
If we don’t want to give our tithes to God then watch out for other gods. People who will not give a tithe to the Lord yet will blow that away in one expensive dinner. Christians who will not give tithe but will keep on buying the latest gadgets. Christians who will not give tithes but are forever decorating and redecorating their homes to keep up with the neighbor. Christians who will not give their tithes but have a secret love affair. These are habits that lead to impoverishment.
As I said it was giving too much credit to the law to say that the practice of tithing came out of the law. The law did not invent tithing. It was already there. Pagans practiced it long before the law was given. What the law did was to regulate the method of tithing, especially where and how the tithe was to be deposited. Provision was made so that there were storehouses manned by priests and Levites throughout the land, a portion of which was sent up to the temple In Jerusalem. Bring all the tithes to the storehouse. That is all the law did. Bring the tithe to the church and offer it to the Lord. That is what the law accomplished.
Conclusion
Let me say it again. Tithing puts mathematical preciseness in the way we manage our resources. You will find orderliness in your life. You will learn to manage your resources. You will avoid the excesses and habits that drain your resources. These are prerequisites to progress whether you are a laborer or a professional or an entrepreneur.
The starting point is to acknowledge God as the source of supply and give him at least what other worshipers have done since the dawn of time. If you haven’t practiced it begin now. If irregular do it regularly. If you give only a fraction try to give the full tithe.
When you tithe you will be surprised what other levels of your life will be affected for the better.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Changing the Conversation
Changing the Conversation
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ John 1:45
The story is so simple that we miss the significance. Philip had found Jesus. We are not sure how he found Nathanael. Did he intentionally look for him? Or did he meet him by chance. Regardless we know what he did. He told his friend, “We have found the one whom Moses talked about.”
Like Simon Peter and Andrew, Philip had arrived at the same conclusion about Jesus. “We have found the Messiah.”
I listen to the conversation
of the men while we were waiting for dinner. They were all talking about food. Do you know that the best chicharon is no longer in Carcar but in Liloan? Do you know that the best siomay can be found in Tisa? Do you know that the best liempo can be found in Tres Borces Street Mabolo and it is called Liempo sa Balamban or Sugba Sugbo? I cannot add much to the conversation for I am hardly a restaurant hopper. I can say though that when Jerry took me from the airport I told him that I know a place where we can have good fish Tinola.
We enjoy telling our friends about good food.
I also listened to the conversation of the ladies. They were also talking about food. But with a slight twist. They were counting their calories. They were counting cholesterol levels. They were keen about too much oil, too little fiber. They know all about anti-oxidants and omega 3 fatty acids. Eventually the conversation turned to doctors and homeopathic medicine. Very soon they were recommending gynecologists and pediatricians.
I also listen to conversation Among Christians. Yes we talk about religion. We talk about churches, pastors, praise and worship and a lot of things in between.
But there is something in this passage that I don’t find very often in our conversation, most especially in our conversation with people of other faiths. When Philip told Nathanael, “We have found him” we cannot miss the excitement and the thrill of someone who has stumbled upon hidden treasure. In short the main topic of their conversation was Jesus. We found him.
This worries me.
Call it shyness, call it uneasiness, call it timidity. We do not share the kind of boldness and openness which these disciples had when they talked about Jesus. And I often wonder about that because I not only find it in other Christians but I even find it in myself. It is difficult for me to share my faith with others.
This worries me. Why because unless we can talk about Jesus as freely, as unashamedly, as excitedly as those first disciples of Jesus did, I am afraid that Jesus has little space in the church we are trying very hard to establish. In fact it shows even in the way describe our own congregations. We talk more about this or that pastor’s church than Jesus’ church.
Is it because to us today Jesus is only a memory?
He is an object of our study rather than the subject of our conversation. We can talk about Jesus’ teaching; talk about what he did; talk about his religion. We can analyze how Jesus was perceived by his disciples, by his enemies, by the jews and by the Romans. But we cannot talk in the same way and say with a hush, “I have found him!”
For that reason we substitute our own experience, our learning, our fellowship, our pastors, our cell groups, our mission programs, our worship experience. We can freely discuss what is wrong with our pastor, or what is missing in the program of the church. We have plenty of suggestions about how to make our worship more meaningful, our fellowship more loving, our mission program more effective. We can talk about how little or how much money we have in the church and how to raise more funds.
We can talk about anything and everything under the sun that affects our lives. We have a million things to say because this is our story. Because this is us; this is real. But Jesus? Jesus is history.
But wait a minute. What about Paul?
He wasn’t one of the 12 was he? He didn’t see the miracles of Jesus did he? He didn’t talk or sat at dinner with Jesus, wasn’t there when he instituted the Lord’s supper, wasn’t there at Calvary. Yet listen to him:
Acts 27, I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” and I said,”Who are you sir?” And the Lord replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” v 14, 15
Phil 3, I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” v 7; “I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus, v 12;
2 Cor 5, We once knew Christ in the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creature, the old things have passed away; behold, all things are new, v 17
2 Tim 1, I know him whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day, v 12
These are not the words of someone who considers Jesus as history. Unseen, yes, but absent? No! These are the words of someone who considers Jesus Christ present in his life who has taken hold of him, and is now trying to know him more. All he could talk about was Jesus so much so that when king Agrippa listened to him, the Jewish ruler cried out, “Paul, you are mad!” That is not something you hear people call pastors and missionaries today. Unwise, pushy, uncaring, unfair. But not mad.
Brothers and sisters, we have committed ourselves to 3 things: to gather, to build up, to send out. In short, to build Immanuel Fellowship.
But what kind of fellowship? We can build a fellowship built upon the memory of Jesus. But it would not be the fellowship of Jesus. It will be our fellowship, our church, but not the church of Jesus. It will be one pastor’s church, the product of his charisma or his preaching, or his goodness, but it will not be the church of Jesus. We can build a church built around the program of the Assemblies of God, and I love the AoG, the doctrines of the AoG, but it will not be the church of Jesus.
The only way for IF to be the church of Jesus is if He, like Paul says, possesses it, if he is the Lord of it, if he is exalted in it; but most of all—if he is the topic of conversation in it.
Jesus said, “I will build my church.” He did not mean around his memory. Then that is not the way to do it. It will be in the passive, “My church will be built.” Others will do the building after he is gone.
You like Saul may think you are doing Jesus a favor, when you may be persecuting him. You may think you are helping his church when you are hurting him. You can be well meaning but when you do things only in the memory of Jesus you may be pulling down what Jesus is building. How? By speaking, acting, deciding, as though Jesus isn’t here with us, now.
He is building his church now. In other words the question we have to answer is what is the relationship between what Jesus is gathering and building and sending has to do with what we are gathering and building and sending. The only way to do that is for us to go to Jesus and ask him. Talk it over with him. Not act as though he was not around.
Conclusion
And that my friends, is what will change our conversation. Two things are involved, then.
1. Let’s talk to Jesus.
a. First of all let’s talk to him about our own selves. Thank him. But tell him what your cares are. Tell him what worries you about yourself, your family. Before you tell Jesus about others, tell him first about yourself. Habits you don’t want to enslave you. The unkind words that you utter and you are now ashamed of. Tell him about your fear of witnessing and standing up for him.
b. Let’s tell him about our church, our Immanuel Fellowship. Chances are the things you find in yourself you can also find in others. Thank Jesus for the fellowship you enjoyed with your brothers and sister in him. This time you will not talk to Jesus to accuse them because you too need the same forgiveness. Talk to him about your leaders. The pastors and the elders. Again, chances are they too are struggling with the very same things that you struggle with.
c. Let’s talk to Jesus about our friends who do not follow him. Share with him the miseries they share with you. Ask him to strengthen you and make you a good witness for his sake and for their sake. Once you have talked to Jesus about your friends and loved ones you will want to report to him what you have done.
d. Let’s talk to Jesus about our city and about our country, Before you talk to him about the bad politicians first ask him to show you what you as one person can do to show appreciation that you live in this country. Then tell him about the bad politicians and bout our friends and loved ones, our neighbors. Let’s talk to him about our city and our country and what is destroying us. We can’t always have a people power to solve the persistent problem of corruption. Cory Aquino is no longer with us. Let’s talk to Jesus.
2. Let’s talk about Jesus
a. Before you talk to your friends and loved ones about Jesus first listen to their conversation. When you are a good listener, people will know that you care for them and will open their hearts to you. Maybe the talk is about their health. Maybe you can suggest praying with them. People loved to be prayed for. They hate a lecture. Wait for them to ask you questions about your faith. When that time comes then they are willing to listen because you also listened. You have earned their trust. Then you can speak with boldness..
b. Finally let’s talk about Jesus to each other.
i. Let us see Jesus in each other. If Jesus is working in my life, he must also be working in yours. So we have to trust the work of Jesus in building up the life of our fellow believers. Don’t usurp the role of Jesus in the life of others. That way you are setting yourself up as their Savior.
ii. Let’s testify what Jesus is doing in our lives. In every way possible let us exalt Jesus in our conversation.
It’s time for changing the conversation. Let’s talk about Jesus. Let’s build this church. After all this is his body.
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ John 1:45
The story is so simple that we miss the significance. Philip had found Jesus. We are not sure how he found Nathanael. Did he intentionally look for him? Or did he meet him by chance. Regardless we know what he did. He told his friend, “We have found the one whom Moses talked about.”
Like Simon Peter and Andrew, Philip had arrived at the same conclusion about Jesus. “We have found the Messiah.”
I listen to the conversation
of the men while we were waiting for dinner. They were all talking about food. Do you know that the best chicharon is no longer in Carcar but in Liloan? Do you know that the best siomay can be found in Tisa? Do you know that the best liempo can be found in Tres Borces Street Mabolo and it is called Liempo sa Balamban or Sugba Sugbo? I cannot add much to the conversation for I am hardly a restaurant hopper. I can say though that when Jerry took me from the airport I told him that I know a place where we can have good fish Tinola.
We enjoy telling our friends about good food.
I also listened to the conversation of the ladies. They were also talking about food. But with a slight twist. They were counting their calories. They were counting cholesterol levels. They were keen about too much oil, too little fiber. They know all about anti-oxidants and omega 3 fatty acids. Eventually the conversation turned to doctors and homeopathic medicine. Very soon they were recommending gynecologists and pediatricians.
I also listen to conversation Among Christians. Yes we talk about religion. We talk about churches, pastors, praise and worship and a lot of things in between.
But there is something in this passage that I don’t find very often in our conversation, most especially in our conversation with people of other faiths. When Philip told Nathanael, “We have found him” we cannot miss the excitement and the thrill of someone who has stumbled upon hidden treasure. In short the main topic of their conversation was Jesus. We found him.
This worries me.
Call it shyness, call it uneasiness, call it timidity. We do not share the kind of boldness and openness which these disciples had when they talked about Jesus. And I often wonder about that because I not only find it in other Christians but I even find it in myself. It is difficult for me to share my faith with others.
This worries me. Why because unless we can talk about Jesus as freely, as unashamedly, as excitedly as those first disciples of Jesus did, I am afraid that Jesus has little space in the church we are trying very hard to establish. In fact it shows even in the way describe our own congregations. We talk more about this or that pastor’s church than Jesus’ church.
Is it because to us today Jesus is only a memory?
He is an object of our study rather than the subject of our conversation. We can talk about Jesus’ teaching; talk about what he did; talk about his religion. We can analyze how Jesus was perceived by his disciples, by his enemies, by the jews and by the Romans. But we cannot talk in the same way and say with a hush, “I have found him!”
For that reason we substitute our own experience, our learning, our fellowship, our pastors, our cell groups, our mission programs, our worship experience. We can freely discuss what is wrong with our pastor, or what is missing in the program of the church. We have plenty of suggestions about how to make our worship more meaningful, our fellowship more loving, our mission program more effective. We can talk about how little or how much money we have in the church and how to raise more funds.
We can talk about anything and everything under the sun that affects our lives. We have a million things to say because this is our story. Because this is us; this is real. But Jesus? Jesus is history.
But wait a minute. What about Paul?
He wasn’t one of the 12 was he? He didn’t see the miracles of Jesus did he? He didn’t talk or sat at dinner with Jesus, wasn’t there when he instituted the Lord’s supper, wasn’t there at Calvary. Yet listen to him:
Acts 27, I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” and I said,”Who are you sir?” And the Lord replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” v 14, 15
Phil 3, I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” v 7; “I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus, v 12;
2 Cor 5, We once knew Christ in the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creature, the old things have passed away; behold, all things are new, v 17
2 Tim 1, I know him whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day, v 12
These are not the words of someone who considers Jesus as history. Unseen, yes, but absent? No! These are the words of someone who considers Jesus Christ present in his life who has taken hold of him, and is now trying to know him more. All he could talk about was Jesus so much so that when king Agrippa listened to him, the Jewish ruler cried out, “Paul, you are mad!” That is not something you hear people call pastors and missionaries today. Unwise, pushy, uncaring, unfair. But not mad.
Brothers and sisters, we have committed ourselves to 3 things: to gather, to build up, to send out. In short, to build Immanuel Fellowship.
But what kind of fellowship? We can build a fellowship built upon the memory of Jesus. But it would not be the fellowship of Jesus. It will be our fellowship, our church, but not the church of Jesus. It will be one pastor’s church, the product of his charisma or his preaching, or his goodness, but it will not be the church of Jesus. We can build a church built around the program of the Assemblies of God, and I love the AoG, the doctrines of the AoG, but it will not be the church of Jesus.
The only way for IF to be the church of Jesus is if He, like Paul says, possesses it, if he is the Lord of it, if he is exalted in it; but most of all—if he is the topic of conversation in it.
Jesus said, “I will build my church.” He did not mean around his memory. Then that is not the way to do it. It will be in the passive, “My church will be built.” Others will do the building after he is gone.
You like Saul may think you are doing Jesus a favor, when you may be persecuting him. You may think you are helping his church when you are hurting him. You can be well meaning but when you do things only in the memory of Jesus you may be pulling down what Jesus is building. How? By speaking, acting, deciding, as though Jesus isn’t here with us, now.
He is building his church now. In other words the question we have to answer is what is the relationship between what Jesus is gathering and building and sending has to do with what we are gathering and building and sending. The only way to do that is for us to go to Jesus and ask him. Talk it over with him. Not act as though he was not around.
Conclusion
And that my friends, is what will change our conversation. Two things are involved, then.
1. Let’s talk to Jesus.
a. First of all let’s talk to him about our own selves. Thank him. But tell him what your cares are. Tell him what worries you about yourself, your family. Before you tell Jesus about others, tell him first about yourself. Habits you don’t want to enslave you. The unkind words that you utter and you are now ashamed of. Tell him about your fear of witnessing and standing up for him.
b. Let’s tell him about our church, our Immanuel Fellowship. Chances are the things you find in yourself you can also find in others. Thank Jesus for the fellowship you enjoyed with your brothers and sister in him. This time you will not talk to Jesus to accuse them because you too need the same forgiveness. Talk to him about your leaders. The pastors and the elders. Again, chances are they too are struggling with the very same things that you struggle with.
c. Let’s talk to Jesus about our friends who do not follow him. Share with him the miseries they share with you. Ask him to strengthen you and make you a good witness for his sake and for their sake. Once you have talked to Jesus about your friends and loved ones you will want to report to him what you have done.
d. Let’s talk to Jesus about our city and about our country, Before you talk to him about the bad politicians first ask him to show you what you as one person can do to show appreciation that you live in this country. Then tell him about the bad politicians and bout our friends and loved ones, our neighbors. Let’s talk to him about our city and our country and what is destroying us. We can’t always have a people power to solve the persistent problem of corruption. Cory Aquino is no longer with us. Let’s talk to Jesus.
2. Let’s talk about Jesus
a. Before you talk to your friends and loved ones about Jesus first listen to their conversation. When you are a good listener, people will know that you care for them and will open their hearts to you. Maybe the talk is about their health. Maybe you can suggest praying with them. People loved to be prayed for. They hate a lecture. Wait for them to ask you questions about your faith. When that time comes then they are willing to listen because you also listened. You have earned their trust. Then you can speak with boldness..
b. Finally let’s talk about Jesus to each other.
i. Let us see Jesus in each other. If Jesus is working in my life, he must also be working in yours. So we have to trust the work of Jesus in building up the life of our fellow believers. Don’t usurp the role of Jesus in the life of others. That way you are setting yourself up as their Savior.
ii. Let’s testify what Jesus is doing in our lives. In every way possible let us exalt Jesus in our conversation.
It’s time for changing the conversation. Let’s talk about Jesus. Let’s build this church. After all this is his body.
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