100 Years in 10 Minutes!

Robert Heinlein once said  “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” All our experience with history should teach us, when we look back, how badly human wisdom is betrayed when it relies on itself” Martin Luther. Here are some of the remarkable events that shook our planet for the last 100 years.

Alice Walker put it this way “All History is current; all injustice continues on some level, somewhere in the world.” Still I agree with Ernest Renab that “All history is incomprehensible without Christ.”

One Sunday, One Book

Coming up on  February 12 we will have the opportunity to listen to Professor Wellum and Dr. Haykin take us through the Epistle of the Aposle Paul to the Colossians. We covet your prayers and ask you to join us and to spread the word around for those who might benefit from it.

One Sunday, One Book

Singing the Melodies of Christmas to All Nations (III)

Singing the Greatest Story of Salvation to All Nations (Phil 2: 1-11, Continue).

Previously we argued that the heavenly Father not only sends his inifite Son in finite human flesh but, he pours out his wrath on him in such a way that his Son bears ultimate shame and humiliation of the cross. The Father treats his Son as if his Son has rebelled against him, turned his back on him, rejected his rule, and acted like you and I have acted all of our lives towards God…even though He is the only Son who has never ever acted that way towards the Father. He bears the humiliation that we ought to have borne in our place. And this, the Apostle Paul says, displays for us the humility of Christ. The Apostle Paul says, ‘Christian, look at your Savior. How can anyone not be amazed by this display of love! O Come Let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

Christ’s exaltation. What are the consequences of Christ humiliation? (2:9-11). The exhortation leads to consider the humiliation but the humiliation opens the gates on the exaltation.

Hebrews 12:2 catches it, that the Lord Jesus Christ “endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy set before Him!” Humility is true greatness. True joy in life comes through humility, through the servanthood and through the way of the cross.

That’s not all! There is going to be final exaltation of Jesus Christ. He is going to be “highly exalted.” The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:10 says that the purpose of God in sending his Son for redemption is that the whole universe will be brought under the headship of Jesus Christ. Christ for the glory set before him humbled himself and now God exalted him above everything.

There is no exaltation without coronation (2:9). Jesus himself has fulfilled all of the obligations of the covenant of grace that God has made with Abraham, and God has given him not only a great name, but the greatest name. According to the Bible, God alone has the name which is above every name. When the Apostle Paul announces that Jesus has the name which is above every name, what is that but a testimony to the divinity of Christ and his equality with the heavenly Father? There is exaltation, coronation but also:

Global adoration (2:10). This is what happen when kings are chosen. Some will do it willingly others not. A day is coming when from every corner of the universe, at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth.”  Since the Bible says we should worship God only, the babe in a manger worshiped by the Maggi is none other than God himself.

In the global adoration, every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. Christmas story is a story of humility but more so of adoration. Jesus is not humble because he is born in a manger but because he was God. The manger does not make him humble. He is humble because of his nature and origin. We are now in a political battle over rhetoric. Whether we should say “merry christmas” or happy holidays” and God knows what holiday that would be without Christmas.  Yet a time is coming when there will be no political game. The Apostle Paul says there will be a universal confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Let us reflect and meditate on the Incarnation. Let us thank God for entering human history to redeem us from destruction. Let us pray that we would know Jesus in his full humanity and deity. And may we worship Jesus in the fullness of his glory. And finally may we seek the humility to serve Jesus as a reflection of his humility in the incarnation.

Singing the Melodies of Christmas to All Nations (III)

 Singing the Greatest Story of Salvation to All Nations (Phil 2: 1-11)

There seems to be different kinds of Jesus in our days. Some would like to see him just a babe in a stall, others will prefer to call him a moralist or prophet. But the Jesus of the Christmas is more than what we make of him in Christmas time. He is God incarnate.

Paul exhorts the Christians in Philippi, and you and me, about how to stand up for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Christians in Phillipi Paul says, are to be steadfast, that they must be strong in the grace of Christ knowing the work of the gospel begun in them will see it completion through the power of God. It is therefore important that they are united for the sake of the gospel and for one another in love and humility. Their participation in the gospel ministry with Paul will only be successful if the stay the course on the gospel unity, gospel humility, and gospel participation (Philippians 2:1-4).

Gospel participation, humility, and unity is the only way for the Phillipians to experience gospel’s joy. What a way for us then in this Christmas season to reflect on Paul’s exhortation and its implication for our life as we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Now of course, what it is that the Apostle Paul holds up before them as an example is Jesus Christ. Hence, the exhortation in verse 5 to  embrace the outlook, or the mindset, or the attitude of Christ. What is the outlook or the mindset or the attitude of Christ? It is humility.

 Jesus-Christ’ humiliation. How do we see that? In verses 6-8, we see the humility of Christ in:

Realizing who he is. Jesus Christ is divine. He is God. We understand the reality of Christ’s humility only when we understand His supreme divine status. “Christ Jesus was in the form of God”…in the very image of God. He was the exact representation of God (cf. Heb 1:1-3). Paul is pointing to the divinity of Christ, and he’s saying no one will understand Jesus’ humility until s/he understands who he was through the incarnation.

Perhaps there some who think of Jesus as a poor man, an outsider, a wise and strong willed prophet speaking truth against the oprressing powers of his day. Perhaos he is one of the greatest moralist in the world. He probably could certainly share the hall of fame of great men and women of history with Ghandi, Conficius, Mother Theresa, Nelson Madela, Dalai-Lama, etc. That’s all some think about Jesus Christ.  But the Apostle Paul is saying if that’s all you think Jesus is, you’ll never understand how humble he was. One has to understand that he’s God in the flesh before understanding how humble he is. How do we see Jesus’ humility? By realizing that the baby in a manger is not just a man but God.

Jesus’ humility is manifested in his abnegation. That is, his refusal to stand on his own right and demand to be treated as he deserves, his refusal to cling to his own prerogatives, his refusal to come into this world with pump and clinging cymbals and to demand that the world treat him as he rightly deserves (Phil 2:6-8).

His Abassement. But there’s a third thing that we see. It is not only that He refused to claim his rightful prerogatives; it is that he abased himself. We see not only His supreme divine status, not only His abnegation, but His self-abasement, His self-emptying. We read in verse 7, “He made himself nothing.” The KJV says “He made himself of no reputation.” Therefore in his self-abasement we see his humility though he has the status of divinity, he not only refuses to stand on his rights and prerogatives, but he abases himself.

Jesus humbles himself as a bondslave (2:7). Jesus willingly has taken up servitude for us. Jesus has become a bondslave to free us from slavery. By doing so he humbled himself to the point of serving God, and serving us. Jesus through the incarantion became the servant of his people. He came to serve not to be served. His humility is seen in that he is divine, and yet he has not stood on his rights. He has emptied himself, and he has taken upon himself the role of a slave for the well-being of his people.

But fifthly, we see his humility in his condescension in becoming man (7-8). “Being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form….” Jesus has become man. There is nothing condenscending for us in being born in human form. That’s what we are made to be. But for the living God to be made manifest in humanity, to take upon himself the fullness of humanity and to live in our flesh and blood – that is an act of condescension! And the Apostle Paul is reminding us that Jesus did that for us.  When Jesus took upon himself humanity, he committed himself to manifesting himself in that humanity forever, so that we will see God in the flesh with our own eyes. We will behold him in glory, forever God and man. It was an enormous act of condescension on his part.

Christ endures ultimate humiliation and shame: “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” How do we see the humility of Christ? In his abnegation, self-abasement, his servitude, in his condescension and in his embrace of the ultimate shame… to be continued…

Singing the Melodies of Christmas to All Nations (II)

Singing the Greatest Story of Peace to All Nations (Luke 2:8-14). In singing Christmas to all nations, by declaring the glory of God to all of them, by summoning them to join us in praising God, and by warning them of the coming judgement if they refuse to repent from their sins and be forgiven,  our real ambition should be to preach Christ where he had not been known. And for that matter, there are still people group in the world that are still unreached with the gospel and there are still many around us in this city who still don’t know Jesus or have a vague notion of his person.

Christmas is truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving to others the true love we received from God through Christ. Christmas time is a time we could sing the melodies of true peace as the angels sang:“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests”  (Luke 2:14).

It is very difficult to talk about peace now in the world. We live in a hostile world. In fact peace is not just absence of war or terror. Political upheavals do not bring peace, the collapsing world’s economy does not bring peace, and the uncertainties of the world of tomorrow are troublesome and making all of us insane. Governments’ politics have never been so disconnected from people. The societies’ fundamental values are eroding and disappearing in a speed of light; the increasing number of people using antidepressants and drugs just in North America alone for depression, burnout, and domestic problems, lack of self-esteem and recognition, excessive stimulation in an ever changing technological world is alarming. Something is not right, we say we are developing, emancipating yet humans have never been less humans in their attitude and behaviour. Child abuse and exploitation, love for animals replacing love for children and humans, the laws of our countries serving the criminals more than the victims, the lack of social justice and equality, the rich becoming richer and the poor poorer, the notion of right and wrong confused, and on it goes. Jesus’ time was no better, yet the angels sang “Peace on Earth”. 

This song is not a wishful thinking but rather an affirmation of what happen when God decide to rend the heaven and come down. Many times in the past when God came down he brought judgement. But according to the angels this time God is bringing peace. Christmas time is time we could sing the greatest story of peace to all peoples. By showing them that God send his Son so that by faith we will have

 I.  Peace With God. The angels were the first ones to announce the good news of the long-awaited Messiah’s birth. Jesus came into the world to die on the cross to reconcile us with God our Creator; we are in peace with him. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand (Rom 5:1-2). In order to have peace with God we must repent from our sins and

Be justified by God through Faith in His Son. True peace and happiness begins when we realise we need to restore our broken relationship with God. Jesus was born to die on the cross for our sins so that we will be right with God. Once we restore our legal standing before God, and our criminal record erased, we can now live a peaceful life, with God and with the world. There is no gain acquiring the world of happiness if we are not in peace with God (Rom 8:1-2). 

Be reconciled  with God through Him. Those on whom God’s grace rest are those who have been reconciled to him. They are those who have now legally become the children of adoption ( John 1:10-12). The birth of Christ and his ultimate death is All from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ. God made peace with us by sending his Son to earth. The angels were right! Jesus Christ is the peace Child through whom God will reconcile himself with the world. God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them (2 Cor 5:18-6:2).  God send his Son so that by faith we will have peace with Him but also

Peace with Mankind. Through Christ we learn to make peace with those who offend us. Peace is a gift from Christ.

Through Christ we learn to become peacemakers. God not only has reconciled himself with us, he also gave us the ministry of reconciliation to All Nations. We have now become ambassadors of God to announce peace just like the angels did. The church is called to be a caring and sharing community of God’s peace. The joy of the children of God is testifying to a peace towards others, even those whom we judge to be undeserving of our love.

Through Christ we learn to enjoy inner peace. In our world of upheavals, revolutions, wars and insecurities, we can choose to make ours the peace only our Lord can provide.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:6-7).

 How then do we sing the Christmas melodies as pacemakers?

One of our goals in singing Christmas to all nations this season all the way through 2012, is to allow ourselves as God’s children to be trained as peacemakers or peace singers who will be able to proclaim or to sing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and bring people to taste the divine peace. How do we do that?  Invite the Holy Spirit to use us in becoming peacemakers

1. The Holy Spirit will teach us how to live a balance life that is glorifying to God.
2. The Holy Spirit will help us know the power of the gospel on everyday basis
3. The Holy Spirit will help us love and care for the Church and for one another.
4. The Holy Spirit will have us teach and mature in the Word of God.  We have no peace when there is no stability in our life. Our faith is reinforced and stabilized when we are rooted in the Word of God.
5. The Holy Spirit will help us continue in our effort to add more souls from every nation to the Church.  We want God to fill us with wisdom and the knowledge of his will so we are fit for the gospel to take root in us and to produce lasting fruits.

Christmas is the season of peace. The Old Testament tells the story of how God set the stage to introduce the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus came to break the cycle of sin by making peace for us with God “through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20). Instead of blaming us for all the trouble we cause, He bore the blame for all of us. He is now recruiting followers who, having received His forgiveness, want others to receive it as well.

When we accept forgiveness from God, we lose our desire to withhold it from others. And when we live in peace with God, we are eager to make peace with others. We can both give and receive the gift of peace this Christmas.

May the gifts of Joy, Peace and the Saviours’ Love abound toward you this season, as you celebrate His birth. And May the peace and joy from God be yours through the year to come and may we Sing the Greatest Story of Peace to All Nations and Peoples.