Stott makes a strong statement by saying that Christians "are called to a radical nonconformity to tradition and convention in order to honor the supremacy of Scripture and the lordship of Jesus Christ". Yet, I can' t help but to think that traditions were originally set up for a good purpose. Certain ceremonies, holidays and events are practiced and commemorated to benefit the present and future generation with the great principles handed down from the past. Wedding ceremonies, the season of lent, and even the holy communion are just a few examples. I think that tradition do have a part in Christian life but Stott is right in saying that they are not to replace or even overshadow honoring the "supremacy of Scripture and the lordship of Jesus Christ".
When I think about the pharisees and their traditions, it makes me think back to Adam and Eve and how they tried to cover up themselves with fig leaves. Both parties being afraid of exposure tried to cover themselves with false securities. The pharisees may have had greater insights as to the holiness of God than Christians do in this present age. However, they failed to please God because they did not have faith in what God revealed through the holy scripture. They failed to see and understand the truth of God behind the laws and traditions which God had ordained and saw only the tradition themselves and depended on their own abilities to adhere to them. Instead of using those tradition to remember certain qualities of God and use them to draw nearer to Him, the pharisees used tradition to cover up their short comings. I do believe that they knew and understood God as holy and perfect and knew they had to conform to his holiness but their fatal mistake was to believe that holiness and righteousness can be attained by their own efforts instead of depending on God's sufficient grace.
Another oversight of the pharisees was the security they placed on their ability to keep the laws and traditions. And upon this false security they also built up pride and self righteousness. The pharisees are not the only ones guilty of this-so am I. The tradition or practice of attending Sunday worship service is one example I'll use for myself perhaps you may be able to think of others. Not that I'm perfect in coming to church on time every Sunday, but just even the practice of coming gives me a certain level of security. My heart may be in the wrong place and I may have missed the point of coming to church to worship God, their is a sense of security, familiarity, a sense of satisfaction of having done what I should have done on a Sunday morning-outwardly at least. Like I said, this is just one area of my life where a certain religious practice gives off a sense of security and satisfaction all the while I fail to meet God where I truly ought to- on my knees both literally and spiritually. It makes me re-examine where my heart is what-ever I do. My first reaction to this realization was anxiety and insecurity at my lack of faith and faithfulness in acknowledging what is right and actually doing it. But I am encouraged to remember God's grace and love. And I have to remember that as I spend more quality time in prayer and reading Scripture, that it won't be so much of my own efforts that will make me more like Christ but it will be the work of the Holy Spirit.

Is it my day??

Hi everyone, I'm not too sure if today is supposed to be my day or Kwijung's day. If it is my day, I haven't read my reflection yet. I have a touch of food poisoning and I had to prepare for work and small group.

Nevertheless, I would still like to contribute. Yesterday, I was listening to a late night radio talk show and the guest was an author of a book called "God's Problem." His atone seemed to be objective and well balanced about God's inconsistencies and how Christianity was basically delusional. With the host's help, they both tore down some basic Christian concepts with a false mask of academic neutrality.

All I was thinking was this..."Man I am so lucky that God has shared some of the mysteries of his word with someone pathetic like me."

I think the two main problems that people often experience when it comes to their relationship with God is

1) People limit God to their own experiences and what they can or cannot see.
2) People are pretty much self-centered and full of themselves.

I know I suffer from all this. I go through daily struggles and misery because I refuse to let myself off of the mantle and give God center stage.

I've been reading sermons by Charles Spurgeon that Dulla lent me and he asks a very simple question all the time through his graceful words. "Who do you think you are???"

Pretty much, I sometimes act like a god unto myself. But God in his faithfulness still draws me nearer to him despite my arrogance. And he often does it through this church.. (so I am grateful to you all.)

I get reminded that God's name must be and will be praised and glorified despite our own problems. Like Pastor James reminds us, "hold on to the cross!"

I have food poisoning, severe diarrhea, nausea, my students are annoying me a little bit, my boss is kinda nuts, my mom calls me every two minutes. I worry about the future too much, I'm anxious, weak, hypocritical, idle, lazy, and just now I spilled half of my gatorade all over my nice pants.

I'm unworthy in every way and a selfish pig to boot. But I cling on desperately to Jesus and the cross because I know that even despite myself, He makes me a little bit better every day.

seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeya.

Debate Over Fraternization

So sorry for the tardy post. I had a day off yesterday and did such a great job checking out mentally that I totally forgot my post!

Its very easy to read this account and shake my finger again at those Pharisees till I stop and admit the thin line between me and those I so easily condemn. At the same time, I have to acknowledge an even thinner line between me and those I pretend to defend. With that realization, I read the "woe to you"s soberly reminded of who those words were intended to warn. Its amazing the power of judgementalism and how quickly it constipates me spiritually. As crude as it sounds, I pray for spiritual ex-lax so that God's love would course freely through my life.

Be Careful What You Wish For

you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." matthew 16:23

i'm very sorry that this blog is off-topic from mr. stott's message for today, but i was compelled by il's blog on monday to post the following comments.

the passage in question is matthew 16:21-28, where peter passionately states that he will not stand for Jesus being killed at the hands of the elders, chief priests and the teachers of the law.

peter is immediately rebuked and "brought down to size" by the Lord, who tells him, "you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men".

it is a hard passage to understand at first. peter's protest against Jesus's dying makes so much sense and is so completely understandable from the human perspective.

but what if peter's request had been granted? a failed insurrection with jesus as a political or military leader? no cross, no forgiveness, no hope of salvation.

we are reminded again that God's ways are not our ways; and His thoughts are far above our own.

as in the case of peter, even the best of our motives are often tainted by self-deceit and self-pride when we really examine them!

although we may not see it at the time, we should be very thankful that there are occasions that God does NOT grant the prayers we ask of Him.

many times we don't know what we're asking for. and most times, we lack wisdom as to when to ask for the things we desire.

i can think of examples in the bible and in real life, where people have stubbornly insisted on doing things "their" way, instead of God's way, have insisted on "their" own timing, instead of God's timing etc.

God appears to grant them their request, but does it really bring them the happiness they thought it would?

one example from the bible is in the first book of samuel, when israel insists on having a king, like the "other nations" do.

God is very displeased with this request, knowing that it is a rejection of Him. He warns them repeatedly that they will be ill-treated and led astray by their future rulers.

israel ignores these warnings and clamors for a king, anyway. God answers this request.

how grievously israel sins under the rulership of her kings, and how far she falls into apostasy and idolatry, is faithfully recorded in 1st and 2nd kings and in 1st and 2nd chronicles.

the extent of the suffering both the northern and southern kingdoms of israel eventually endure, especially in their respective declines, is unimagineable.

at the lowest point of judah's (the southern kingdom) torment, during the siege of jerusalem by the babylonians, mothers were reduced to eating their own children.

we should honestly present our requests to God in prayer. but when we insist on requests that we know are displeasing to Him, watch out.

it just goes to show that with God, be very, very, very careful what you ask for . . . you might just get it.

Thursday, February 14, 2008: The Transfiguration

This is one of the events in the life of Jesus that is written in multiple books of the New Testament and mentioned in other passages (Mark 9:1-13, Matthew 17: 1-13, Luke 9: 28-36 and 2 Peter 1: 16-18). It was a nice exercise to look them up and see how one passage supports the other.

John Stott offers four aspects of interpretation: worth further meditation.

I’m just blown away by the visual: as Jesus is praying, his appearance starts to change. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become as bright as a flash of lightning, Moses and Elijah appear out of nowhere and they are all enveloped by a cloud that speaks to them! So many artists have tried to capture this image. When I get to heaven, I would like to ask Jesus to show me what it really looked like.

The cloud reminded me of the exodus of Israel when God’s presence was seen as a pillar of cloud. This too is a kind of exodus—Jesus is preparing to lead us out of the bondage to sin.

Peter, James and John got a peek into the future. They got to see Jesus in his transfigured body - the way he might look after he is resurrected. And even though Jesus has been telling them about the suffering that is to come, and that he will rise from the dead but how could they really know and understand all these things. They were so frightened and the scripture says they didn’t know what they were talking about. But, this is the part I can identify with… being scared and talking too much!

Someday, we will all see Jesus in all His Glory. Will we be frightened? What will we say?

Finding Ourselves

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

Mark 8:35

Through our simple minds, we already know that gaining is better than losing. What Jesus showed us is little more complex than that. He was telling us that if we try to gain, we will lose, but if we try to lose, we will gain. So in summary, we need to lose in order to gain something greater. Sounds familiar? Everyday, we make purchases. We pay our money to buy products or services. We know we make the purchase because we think it’s worth our money. So you give up the money to benefit something greater. It’s the same with God except it’s not money this time but our selves. We give up our lives, and He will provide something MUCH greater. Hmm Our lives? Too much to give up? If you think about it, He owns that too! You are NOT the owner. He just simply wants you to let it go. That just means you are just admitting to God and believing that He is the owner of your life. It’s funny…because whether you admit and believe or not, He already is.

John Stott gave us three ways people try to gain in this world. Wealth, Power, and Fame. Some might say, ‘one comes after another’.
We often hear people say “Money is evil”. It’s quite interesting because samonim and I were talking about this very subject on Sunday. I never believed that the money was evil. Money does not have mind of its own. In fact, it’s our hearts that are wicked and evil that makes us use the money in wicked ways. Money is just a tool that God gave us to use. If you think about it, they are just measurements of our wealth. Even if we didn’t have paper money or metallic coins, as long as we have some sort of measurements, it’d be okay. If you think in that sense, how worthless is it? Yet, the world lives and dies for this. Just simply to better its measurements. For what? They mean nothing in heaven because God uses different measurements. But it’s not like He’s using some sort of secretive measurements. He tells you exactly what it is. Then, shouldn’t we all live and die for this since this is for eternity?

Concern for God’s Glory

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6: 9-10

As the daily reflections state, I often live my life for my name, my own kingdom, and my will, instead of God’s. I tend to think, it is not fair for me, if I’m living a hard life for God, and not having piece of the reward for myself. I’m not some kind of robot that is programmed to recognize who my master is and to do whatever He tells me to do. I have feelings too. But some of you might think that He is God and being a “robot” is a pretty fair deal for us.
So I began to think about how fair and loving God is, keeping in mind the concern we are supposed to have for giving full sincere glory to God. I guess one of my concerns is how is glorifying God going to benefit me. I know that some of you might think that I sound really self-centered, but I believe we are programmed like that (part of being born in sin).
Now what do I know about being fair, and love? I had to throw me a question that how much do I know about anything at all? And even if I know something about any thing at all, it’s probably based on my own limited imagination. So I come up with conclusion that things that I think benefit to me is only limited, and I’m only limiting what God can do for my benefit. I guess if my God is fair and loving, than I just trust that He will be fair and loving to my benefits. Just like trusting Jesus Christ as my savior from the eternal death, and that’s only a start.