Notice: I Will Continue to Write Again Next Month (September 2015)

Jesus Commissions the Twelve: Responsibility to bring the Message and to Care for the Messenger

I doubt Jesus looked like this. Just a picture.

“Don’t take any money in your money belts – no gold, silver, or even copper coins. Don’t carry a traveller’s bag with a change of clothes and sandals or even a walking stick. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve to be fed. Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a worthy person and stay in his home until you leave town. When you enter the home, give it your blessing. If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing. If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave. I tell you the truth, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off than such a town on the judgment day” (Matthew 10:9-15, NLT).

Jesus commissioned the twelve (read Matthew 10:1-8). These instructions were given to them. It seem, at first, to be contrary to normal travel plans (I’m thinking of our last Timor Leste medical mission trip. We brought lots of medical stuffs and our bags are heavy), but they simply reveal the urgency of the task and its temporary nature. This was a training mission only; the apostles were to leave immediately and travel light, taking along only minimal supplies. Instead of being sent out as an isolated individuals, Jesus sent them in pairs (Mark 6:7). Each pair of disciples would enter a city or village and stay in the home of a “worthy person.” What does it mean by “worthy person”? “Worthy person,” based on the context, is someone who are eager to “welcome” and “listen” to their message.

The disciples’ dependence on others had four good effects: 1) It showed that the Messiah had not come to offer wealth to his followers; 2) It forced the disciples to rely on God’s power and not on their own provision; 3) It involved the villages, making them more eager to hear the message; and 4) it built long-term relationships. As we do mission, let us take notes of these four dependence effects of Jesus’ command to his disciples.

Jesus also had harsh words concerning those who would reject them and their message. Shaking the dust from their feet would demonstrate to the people that the disciples had nothing further to say and would leave the people to answer to God. Jesus was clearly stating that the listeners were responsible for what they did with the Gospel. As long as the disciples had faithfully and carefully presented the message, they were not to blame if the townspeople rejected it. Likewise, we have the responsibility, but we are not responsible when others reject Christ’s message of salvation.

Think about this: These days, with instant communication, modern transportation, and other high-tech resources, we can be tempted to maintain our independence or to rely on impersonal ministry methods. But God created us to live in relationship and to do his work with others. This training assignment implies that we have clear responsibility to care for those who minister among us, especially those who visit from out of town or those who are not normally among us. What can you do to relate more personally to those who minister in your community? Also this training shows that we are very much responsible to bring the message of the Kingdom of God to the town, village, campus or community that we are in right now. Besides ministering the message through social media (like what I do with my Blog and Facebook now) are you building a long-term and personal relationship with the people you’re ministering now? One more lesson: There is no “lone ranger” in the work of God. Find your partner.

I have to rethinking my own ministry now. Pray.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus commended Mary for having Good Priorities (Bible Study is the One Supreme Necessity)

Let’s consider the lives of Mary and Martha of Bethany. Mary is a great biblical example of a person whose desire was to be taught by Jesus: Every time she appears in the Bible, she’s kneeling before Lord Jesus. In John (chapter) 11, she’s at Jesus’ feet in sorrow. In John 12, she’s at Jesus’ feet in adoration. In Luke 10, she’s at Jesus’ feet to learn truth. Mary, the worshiper, wants her soul fed by Jesus – her sister, Martha, the worker, wants to feed Jesus.

Mary and Martha had welcomed Jesus into their home. With good intentions, Martha took steps to prepare a meal for the honoured guest. Mary is now introduced into the story: “And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word” (Luke 10:39). Martha was in the kitchen cooking food, and Mary was in the living room, learning from Jesus. Martha, annoyed that Mary wasn’t helping with the work, interrupted the Lord, saying, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me” (Luke 10:40). She was giving a command to Jesus – that’s dangerous.

Jesus, in His divine wisdom, analysed the situation and told Martha she was filled with unnecessary anxiety that had harmfully affected her priorities. The things she worried about really weren’t important. “One thing is needed,” Jesus told Martha, “and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42).

Jesus commended Mary for having good priorities, namely, learning the Word of God. Bible expositor G. Campbell Morgan calls this “the one supreme necessity.” Mary’s experience was that of being taught by the incarnate Christ. Each of us can experience the blessing of being taught by the risen Christ – by the power of his Holy Spirit, through the study of God’s amazing Word. Come, God’s people, let us study the Bible, apply it, teach it and live the Word together.

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and

Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory,

Both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

2 Peter 3:18

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

So You Often Quote Him? Augustine of Hippo on the Divine Election

“Has the potter no right over the clay,
to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?”
(Romans 9:21, ESV)

Augustine here argues that all humanity are contaminated by sin, with the result that salvation is a human impossibility. In his grace, God chose to save some from this “mass of perdition.” [A doctrine that I’m still struggling with and of course this (and many other statements by Augustine) contributed to The Augustine & the Pelagian Controversy]. Note the appeal below to the analogy of the potter and the clay (Romans 9:21), which becomes a frequent element in Augustinian and Reformed discussions of election and predestination. He said,

“There are lump of perdition (massa perditionis) out of Adam to which only punishment was due; from this same lump, vessels were made which are destined for honour. For the potter has authority over the same lump of clay (Romans 9:21). What lump? The lump that had already perished, and whose just damnation was already assured. So be thankful that you have escaped! You have escaped the death certainly due to you, and found life, which was not due to you. The potter has authority over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for contempt. But, you say, why has He made me to honour and another to contempt? What shall I answer? Will you listen to Augustine, if you will not listen to the Apostle [Paul] when he says, ‘O man, who art you who argues with God’? (Romans 11:33). Two little children are born. If you ask what is due to them, the answer is that they both belong to the lump of perdition. But why does its mother carry the one to grace, while the other is suffocated by its mother in her sleep? Will you tell me what was deserved by the one whom its sleeping mother suffocated? Both have deserved nothing good; but the potter has authority over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel for honour, and the other for contempt.”

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

References:

1) Sermo 26, xii, 13; in J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, 38.177A-B.

2) The Christian Theology Reader, edited by Alister E. McGrath (Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 1995), p.217 

So You Often Quote Him? Augustine of Hippo on the Relation of God and Evil

In his early period, Augustine was attracted to Manicheism, partly because it provided a simple explanation of the origin of evil (You can read this in Augustine’s autobiography The Confessions). According to this movement, evil had its origins in an evil or defective deity, who was opposed to the true and righteous God. On becoming a Christian, Augustine rejected this dualism, and was therefore obligated to give an alternative explanation of the origins of evil. In this passage, written in Latin during the period 388-395, he argues that evil represents a free turning away from God, rather than a positive entity in its own right. However, he is unable to provide a convincing explanation of why someone should wish to turn away from God in this manner. He writes:

“If there is a movement, that is a turning away of the human will from the Lord God, which without doubt is sin, we can then say that God is the author of sin? God, then, will not be the cause of that movement. But what will its cause be? If you ask this question, I will have to answer that I do not know. While this will sadden you, it is nevertheless a true answer. For that which is nothing cannot be known. But hold to your pious opinion that no good thing can happen to you, to your senses or to your intelligence or to your way of thinking which does not come from God. Nothing of any kind can happen which is not of God… For all good is from God.

Hence there is no nature which is not from God. The movement of turning away, which we admit is sin, is a defective movement; and all defect comes from nothing. Once you have understood where it belongs, you will have no doubt that it does not belong to God. Because that defective movement is voluntary, it is placed within our power. If you fear it, all you have to do is simply not to will it. If you do not will it, it will not exist. What can be safer than to live a life where nothing can happen to you which you do not will? But since we cannot rise by our own free will as we once fell by our own free will spontaneously, let us hold with steadfast faith the right hand of God stretched out to us from above, even our Lord Jesus Christ, and look forward to receiving the certain hope and love which we greatly long for.”

You might want to read this quote one more time… maybe twice and slowly.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

References:

1) de libero arbitrio, II.xx.54; in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vol. 74, ed. W. M. Green (Vienna: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1961), 87.18-88.20

2) The Christian Theology Reader, edited by Alister E. McGrath (Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1995), p. 104

Examine the Evidence of Jesus' Resurrection: 6 Most Significant Evidences

Investigative journalist Lee Strobel was once a critic of the Bible and a sceptic of the Resurrection. Through a series of circumstances, he began and all-out investigation of the truth of Christianity. He writes in his book, The Case of Christ:

“Setting aside my self-interest and prejudices as best I could, I read books, interviewed experts, asked questions, analysed history, explored archaeology, studied ancient literature, and for the first time in my life picked apart the Bible verse by verse.

            I plunged into the case with more vigour than with any story I had ever pursued. I applied the training I had received at Yale Law School as well as my experience as legal affairs editor of the Chicago Tribune. And over time the evidence of the world – of history, of science, of philosophy, of psychology – began to point toward the unthinkable.”

[Quote from The Case of Christ: A Journalist’s personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), p.14]

Eventually, the evidence of the life of Jesus and the Resurrection so changed Lee Strobel’s life that today he is a Christian speaker, author, and filmmaker living in Southern California. What evidence did Lee Strobel and other investigators discover in their search for the truth of the Resurrection?

6 Evidences are the Most Significant Ones. Click title to Read:

1) The Empty Tomb (Click Here)

2) The Lives of the Disciples (Click Here)

3) The Historical Record (Click Here)

4) “Blood and Water” Flowed Out of Jesus’ Side (Click Here)

5) Eyewitness Accounts (Click Here)

6) The Change in the Apostle Paul (Click Here)

“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”
(Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

So You Often Quote Him? Augustine of Hippo on Philosophy and Theology

Pic from the Movie 'Restless Heart' based on Augustine's The Confession

In this writing, originally written in Latin around 397, Augustine of Hippo deals with the relation between Christianity and pagan philosophy. Using the exodus from Egypt as a model, Augustine argues that there is no reason why Christians should not extract all that is good in philosophy, and put it to the service of preaching the gospel. Just as Israel left behind the burdens of Egypt, while carrying off its treasures, so theology can discard what is useless is philosophy, and exploits what is good and useful. He writes:

“If those who are called philosophers, particularly the Platonists, have said anything which is true and consistent with our faith, we must not reject it, but claim it for our own use, in the knowledge that they possess it unlawfully. The Egyptians possessed idols and heavy burdens, which the children of Israel hated and from which they fled; however, they also possessed vessels of gold and silver and clothes which our forebears, in leaving Egypt, took for themselves in secret, intending to use them in a better manner (Exodus 3:21-22; 12:35-36)….

In the same way, pagan learning is not entirely made up of false teaching and superstitions… It contains also some excellent teachings, well suited to be used by truth, and excellent moral values. Indeed, some truths are even found among them which relate to the worship of the one God. Now these are, so to speak, their gold and their silver, which they did not invent themselves, but which they dug out of the mines of the providence of God, which are scattered throughout the world, yet which are improperly and unlawfully prostituted to the worship of demons. The Christian, therefore, can separate these truths from their unfortunate associations, take them away, and put them to their proper use for the proclamation of the gospel…

What else have many good and faithful people from amongst us done? Look at the wealth of gold and silver and clothes which Cyprian – that eloquent teacher and blessed martyr – brought with him when he left Egypt! And think of all that Lactantius brought with him, not to mention Marius Victorinus, Optatus, and Hilary of Poitiers, and others who are still living! [at the time of Augustine writing this]. And look at how much the Greeks have borrowed! And before all of these, we find that Moses, that most faithful servant of God, had done the same thing: after all, it is written of him that “he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’ (Acts 7:22)” [bracket mine].

I would like to add, not only Moses was a learned man from pagan Egypt; but Daniel, Shadrach, Mishael and Azariah also men learned pagan philosophies of the Babylon empire. And yet, all of these men are considered great among God’s people and who showed great theology of the One true God and remain faithful until their last breathe.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

References:

1) de doctrina Christiana (or On Christian Doctrines or On Christian Teachings), II.xI.60-61; in Florilegium Patristicum, vol. 29, ed. H. J. Vogels (Bonn: Peter Hanstein, 1930), 46.7-36.

2) The Christian Theology Reader, edited by Alister E. McGrath (Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishers Inc, 1995), p. 6