Do Not Put God In a Box: He Is Not [Only] In the Temple or Church (Read 1 Kings 5-8)

In 1 Kings 5, King Solomon began to build the great temple in Jerusalem "for the name of the Lord" (5:5). Elsewhere, Solomon also said, "I have built a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel" (8:20). Every time the word "temple" appeared in 1 Kings as prayer and speech, most of the time this line "for the name of the Lord" will accompany it. To me, this is interesting. Why not just say "build a temple for the Lord"? Because nobody can build a temple for God! God – the Lord of Israel – is big, limitless and supreme. He is not there, He is here. The only thing that we can do is to build a temple or house for His "name." Solomon, the wisest man (at that time), knew it. In his prayer for the Temple's dedication, he reasoned, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27).

Now, since we can't build or labor or work for God (actually we can, but it will always be insignificant), then what we can do? We must change the way we see God and our relationship with Him. Instead of working "for" God, we now must see ourselves as working "with" Him. Max Lucado in his book, Just Like Jesus (1998), says it well: "It's a wonderful day indeed when we stop working for God and begin working with God (Go ahead, read the sentence again). For years I viewed God as a compassionate CEO and my role as a loyal sales representative. He had His office, I had my territory. I could contact Him as much as I wanted. He was always a phone or fax away. He encouraged me, rallied behind me, and supported me, but He didn't go with me. At least I didn't think He did.

"Then I read 2 Corinthians 6:1 (NCV): ‘We are workers together with God.' Workers with God? Co-labourers? God and I work together? Imagine the paradigm shift this truth creates. Rather than report to God, we work with God. Rather than check in with Him and then leave, we check with Him and then follow. We are always in the presence of God. We never leave a church. There is never a non-sacred moment! His presence never diminishes. Our awareness of His presence may falter, but the reality of His presence never changes." Good one Max!

When I read 1 Kings, I marveled by Solomon's grandiose way of building the temple. It was wonderful to read and to see (in my mind's eyes). But the truth is that – God is here, present among us not in only some buildings. The Father is above is; the Son is beside us; the Holy Spirit is within us. Superb! Do you desire to commune with God on a regular basis? He is always available. What can you do today to remind yourself of God's constant presence? And then, how can you start seeing yourself as working with God rather than for God?

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus' Leadership #26 Don't See Others As They Are, See As They Will Become

Laurie Beth Jones observes, "Focus is one of the key attributes of a leader, and nowhere is it more powerful went applied to and on behalf of another human being." When a truly charismatic leader is introduced to someone, the leader will "behold" that person. When Jesus saw the rich young ruler, he "beholding him, loved him…" (Mark 10:21, MKJV). For Jesus, when he sees someone, he doesn't just see them as mere human beings but he treats others as someone special. He focuses his attention on them and single-out each individual. Jesus "puts a 10 on everyone's head" as John Maxwell puts it. He sees others not as they are, but as they could be. It is no wonder that leaders like Jesus often have such a high recall of names. They focus on that person at that moment.

In the Old Testament we read God called His people by names, "Abraham! Abraham!" (Genesis 22:11-13) "Jacob! Jacob!" (Genesis 46:1-4) "Moses! Moses!" (Exodus 3:1-10); In the New Testament, Jesus called people by names, "Martha, Martha!" (Luke 10:38-42) "Simon, Simon!" (Luke 22:31-32) "Saul, Saul!" (Acts 9). Not to forget he called, "Lazarus!" out from the grave and "Zacchaeus!" to ascend down from the tree. And many more. To "behold" someone means to be fully centered and to hold, to embrace, a person at that moment. Leaders doesn't take anyone for granted.

People respond to how you behold them as a leader. Sometimes you don't have to say anything, they can sense how you perceive them. Too often we only view people in terms of our needs and hidden agendas. People flock to Jesus because he sees them beyond their tribes, status, positions and gender divides. He saw them as brothers and sisters – God's beloved children. Leaders like Jesus sees people's great potentials, appreciate them and loved them – they behold others. Don't see others as they are but see them as they will become! Behold!

How much concentrated, focused time do you spend beholding
your followers or people around you?

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus is Infinite and Omnipotent: Boy's Five Loaves and Two Fish Made All the Difference

“Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.’ But Jesus said, ‘You feed them.’ ‘But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ they answered. ‘Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?’ For there were about 5,000 men there”
(Luke 9:12-14, NLT).

“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?’” (John 6:8-9)

The disciples were shocked by Jesus’ response and – so do I. They didn’t understand what he was saying. How could they possibly feed this huge crowd? Thus they gave him the typical reasons his request seemed impossible: too many people, no stores, no money. So Jesus told them to find out what they actually had (see Mark 6:38). A check of the resources yielded just a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish, a small boy’s lunch that he was willing to share for Jesus’ use.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what the boy was thinking or even where his parents were, for that matter. Was he the only one who had thought ahead? He was risking a lot, turning over his lunch to Jesus. We don’t know the interchange between the boy and the disciples, but they brought the food to Jesus. In all the accounts of this incident in the Gospels, we read nothing about the disciples giving of their resources to Jesus. Instead, they expressed their grave concerns about the problem and their doubts about any possible solutions. In contrast, the boy gave Jesus everything he had, even though it wasn’t much in light of the huge need. The boy’s faith in Jesus, expressed by turning over his meager resources, made all the difference.

Think about this: Because we are painfully aware of our weaknesses and limitations, we can easily think we have nothing to offer to God. After all, we might think, I’m only a housewife or I’m only a layperson or I’m only a college student or I haven’t been a Christian very long or I’m poor. We and our resources are meager, but our God is infinite and omnipotent, with unlimited resources. He wants us to release control, to turn everything over to him. Yes, we are poor; He is rich! Yes, we are finite; He is infinite! Yes, we are weak and doubtful; He is omnipotent! With all that we have, with Jesus, we can make a difference. 

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Keagungan Yesus

“Kemudian aku melihat satu lagi malaikat perkasa turun dari syurga. Dia diselubungi awan dan kepalanya dikelilingi pelangi. Mukanya bersinar seperti matahari, dan kakinya seperti tiang api” (Wahyu 10:1)

Saya percaya bahawa “malaikat perkasa” yang digambarkan oleh rasul Yohanes ini ialah Tuhan Yesus Kristus. Yesus seringkali digambarkan sebagai (menyerupai) malaikat di dalam Perjanjian Lama; contohnya di dalam Kejadian 22:15 dan Yesaya 63:9. Di sini kita digambarkan bahawa Yesus “diselubungi awan” melambangkan hadiratan-Nya yang mulia dan “kepalanya dikelilingi pelangi” melambangkan kasih kurnia-Nya yang tidak pernah berakhir. Kini kita akan melihat “muka [Yesus] bersinar seperti matahari”, apakah maksud ini?

Di dalam Al-Kitab, “matahari” ialah simbol untuk keagungan atau kebesaran atau kehebatan Allah. Sebagai contoh, Wayhu 1:16 menulis tentang Yesus, “Tangan kanan-Nya memegang tujuh buah bintang, dan dari mulut-Nya keluar sebilah pedang tajam yang bermata dua. Muka-Nya terang seperti matahari pada waktu tengah hari” (Alkitab BM); “...bersinar-sinar bagaikan matahari yang terik” (Alkitab INDO); “...like the sun shining in full strength” (ESV). Bolehkah kamu membayangkan melihat matahari yang bersinar pada waktu tengah hari terus dengan mata kasar kamu? Terang matahari akan menyebabkan mata kamu buta! Kawan-kawan, itu hanyalah gambaran saiz kecil tentang keagungan Tuhan bagi kita. Rasul Paulus atau Saulus pada masa itu, pernah melihat Tuhan Yesus dengan matanya sendiri. Jika kamu membaca Kisah Rasul-Rasul 9, dia tersungkur jatuh dan menjadi buta serta merta apabila melihat “cahaya dari langit memancar” (ayat 3) – cahaya itu datangnya dari Yesus Kristus (ayat 4). Saulus menjadi buta apabila melihat cahaya keagungan Tuhan Yesus!

Beberapa abad dahulu, ahli-ahli astronomi beranggapan bahawa bumi ialah pusat bagi sistem solar kita. Namum begitu, apabila mereka membandingkan pemerhatian mereka dan membuat pengiraan fizik, mereka seakan-akan tidak boleh membuktikan anggapan itu. Semuanya seperti tidak kena. Sekian lama, datang seorang astronomi yang bernama Copernicus. Selepas dia mengkaji secara mendalam tentang alam semester, dia membuat kesimpulan dan membuktikan bahawa bumi bukanlah pusat bagi sistem solar kita, tetapi bumi dan semua planet yang lain berputar mengelilingi matahari. Matahari ialah pusat bagi sistem solar kita. Apabila dia mengongsikan penemuan ini kepada dunia, semua pemerhatian dan kiraan akhirnya masuk akal.

Begitu juga apa yang akan terjadi di dalam kehidupan kamu. Apabila kamu menjadikan Yesus sumber cahaya kebenaran, Tuhan Yesus Kristus, menjadi pusat utama dalam kehidupan kamu, perkara yang tidak kena akan menjadi masuk akal. “Muka [Yesus] bersinar seperti matahari” menggambarkan keagungan-Nya ini di seluruh alam semesta – di bumi dan juga di syurga. Yesus ialah yang Satu yang menjadi pusat bagi segala-galanya. Inilah keagungan-Nya yang besar! Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Part 2: God – His Being (ii)

Actually, this series is from Understanding Bible Truth booklets by Robert Hicks and Richard Bewes (1981), but I have expanded some texts for modern readers (to make it easier to read) and added Scripture quotes (I’m using ESV Bible) into these writings to clarify its points more clearly. My purpose of making this series available in the internet is single: So that you can be clear the essential facts about the Bible’s teaching in a readily understandable form.

First, What is so Great about God’s Being?

“How may we form a right idea of God’s greatness?” asked J.I. Packer in his classic book Knowing God, “The Bible teaches us two steps that we must take. The first is to remove from our thoughts of God limits that would make him small. The second is [not] to compare him with powers and forces which we regard as great.” In summary, J.I. Packer says that God have no limitations in His wisdom, His presence, and His power; and that God is the incomparable One.

Thus, there are certain aspects of God’s being that are unique to Him, and can never shared with any other being. Here are some aspects that are unique to Him – the Great and Incomparable One:

God is Everywhere (Omnipresent)

God is the Creator of nature, and is therefore not to be confused with it (the mistake of the Pantheists ‘we are all gods’). At the same time we should not separate God from His creation and think of Him as absent (the mistake of Deists ‘god(s) have nothing to do with man’).

The Bible teaches us that there is no place in creation to which we can go that will put us at a distance from God (see Psalm 139:7-12). He is present everywhere in the universe. We must be careful not to limit God in the way that He is present among men. He is presently creatively in His works; He is present morally in the area of human behaviour; He is present spiritually among His people; He is present sovereignty in nations, governments and systems.

God said in Jeremiah 23:23-24:

“Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD”

God is All-Powerful (Omnipotent)

The Bible gives us many examples of God’s power. He brings the designs of powerful nations to nothing. He is in control of nature – and this comes out especially in the miracles Jesus performed.

However, all these instances might suggest to us that God is just a lot more powerful than we are. The fact that He is all-powerful is shown by His role as the creator of all things, the judge of all men, and the one who will subdue all the forces of evil. Job says about God, “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). The Bible tells us He is the only God, and all power belongs to Him. Blaise Pascal writes, “The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost when thinking about it”.

God knows Everything (Omniscient)

God’s knowledge follows from Him universal presence. Because He fills heaven and earth, all things are open to His view and knowledge. He is completely aware of the past, present and future. He knows about all events, thoughts, feelings and actions. Hebrews 4:13 says “no creature is hidden from [God’s] sight”. The knowledge gained by other beings must be built up and learned. God, however, His knowledge is eternal and is entirely His own – He has learned it from nobody.

This teaching is vital to our understanding of God. If God did not know everything, it would not be possible to believe in the justice of His judgments in history and at the end of time. This is also true in the realm of worship. The Christian prays to a God who fully understands our state and our needs, who hears and perceives not only our words but our secret thoughts and desires, and who knows the end from the beginning (See Psalm 139:1-6).

God is Above Space and Time (Eternal and Unchanging)

The Bible describes God as “the alpha and the Omega” (Revelation 1:8), that is the first and the last. He always existed, and He owes His existence to no one. There is no time where God is not! There is no space where God is absent! In contrast to the ever-changing and decaying world, the Scriptures teach us that God is unchanging in His person and purposes. “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6). He neither increases nor decreases (even when Jesus the Son of God incarnates as Jesus the man). He can never be wiser, holier or more merciful that He has ever been or ever will be. A.W. Pink writes, “He cannot change for the better for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worst”

For the Believer, limited by the temporary body and a changing environment, the eternal God provides a permanent foundation and a secure home and resting place.

My Conclusion on God’s Being

Another aspect of God’s being that we should highlight here (among many other) is that: God is personal. He is a living God. He thinks, feels, and wills. He has plans and purposes. He loves and hates, is compassionate or angry, pleased or grieved. He strives and triumphs, woos and wins. All this verbs, applicable only to persons, don’t be surprises… are used of God in Scripture.

God is personal gives comfort to my heart. This knowledge brings joy to my soul for I know that God even though He is sovereign above all, He is not distance from me. Even though He is without limitations and beyond personality, He cares to take a look and be close to a dust-creature like me. Even though He is high and lifted up, He was willing to go low and died for me. What kind of God is this? Full of majesty and love! This is My God.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.