M.O.N.E.Y. (May Our New-life Exalt Yahweh)

Imagine this: the only grandson of a wealthy tycoon decides to devote himself to full-time Christian ministry and so, forsakes an inheritance of financial riches and luxuries as his family disowns him. How would you respond to this piece of news? Would you think this man crazy or stupid for making such a decision?

Thus began the first main talk delivered by Pastor Joshua (who would rather be addressed more casually as simply Josh) in this year’s FOCUS Easter Conference (i.e. church camp). Talk 1 on “Rich Dad… Rich Kids” served to remind us that whatever family background we may come from, we were first willing children of Satan. The devil is our father from the start and his lies lead us to the ultimate murder: an eternity in hell. God, however, provides us a solution out of this situation. By the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross, we are saved by grace through faith and are so adopted to become sons of God and heirs with Christ. God is now then our heavenly Father who promises us a future inheritance, which is eternal life itself, and He guarantees and seals this promise with the Holy Spirit. Such blessings illustrate the immeasurable riches of our “rich dad” in heaven. God never forsakes us and as He disciplines us, He is gracious towards us without spoiling us. We are then to learn contentment and free ourselves from the love of money as God has already blessed us with an inheritance that far surpasses that of temporary material wealth.

Talk 2 on “Greedidolatry” warns us against idolatry, which is spiritual adultery. Baal tempts us to worship materialism as we pursue material happiness and try to keep up with the Joneses, fooling ourselves into thinking that we are in control of our own future. As Christians, the lies of Baal become more attractive as he seeks to deceive us by dressing up in YHWH’s clothing. Examples of this include the false teachings of “God’s blessing” by those who preach the prosperity gospel, the illusion of God “calling” someone to a particular profession thus propagating the paganistic idea of career, and the half-truth command to “honour parents” by striving to achieve financial success in order to please them. We are to remember that all these are Baal’s lies and he never delivers, unlike God who always keeps His Word.

Talk 3 on “$tipend, $pending, $haring & $aving” teaches us the attitudes to adopt as God’s stewards in balancing out the different ways we use God’s money that He has entrusted us with. Financial income is a monetary reward for our diligent work but we need to be wary of how much we seek to earn, which may result in us dishonouring God’s name when we resort to sins like theft if we earn too little, or which may cause us to puff up with arrogance and confidence in our own self-efforts if we earn more than needed. As we pray “give us today our daily bread”, so then are we to seek to earn just sufficiently to live on. Our spending would first need to focus on our responsibilities. For some, this includes caring for children and using money wisely in furthering their education, especially their Christian education as the Bible teaches us that parents need to train and raise their children up to be godly. On the other hand, repaying our parents would involve us looking out for their needs but not helping them keep or increase their current standard of living. Since we have also received spiritual food, we are then to give material food in return by giving to the church. This should be seen as part of our responsibility and not merely an act of generosity. Spending money on luxuries is neither sinful nor wrong but God’s Word does warn us of the potential consequences of over-indulgence in riches and pleasures, which can choke us out. The value of generosity is emphasized in the virtue of sharing, with the priority for those who are Christians as they are part of our spiritual family. Saving for a rainy day is wise but how does one balance this with being rich towards God? We are called to use money now well so as to gain friends who will welcome us into eternal dwellings. This is in context of gospel ministry, in terms of helping others become and grow as Christians that they will be people in heaven who has benefited from this way that we have used money.

Talk 4 on “Desiring the Good Life” tells us that there are things in life that are far better than wealth, such as faithful and genuine relationships with other people as well as fearing the Lord. A life of true repentance is a life to be envied. It is indeed a blessing to be part of God’s Kingdom, submitting ourselves to God the Maker and having Him as the King who tells us what to do and who rules over our lives. Judgment Day itself gives us the right understanding of what to live for in this present age. As missionary Jim Elliot put it, “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose”. Following the sound doctrine that the Bible presents to us will help us realize that the world is real but not all there is, and that there is heaven and hell that gives us meaning in life. Our desire should be shaped to first seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness. As people for His own possession, we should strive for attachment to God’s wisdom that leads us to the zeal and jealousy to do good works. We are to pursue the shadow of greed for the Kingdom of the one who is our real rich Father, God.

On a more personal note, the long weekend away at camp was indeed a priceless experience to understand what the Bible has to say about money and wealth. Through the four talks, I am challenged by the fact that it is not my money but God’s money that I am using and so, I am called to use it wisely, all for the glory of God. The reminder that there lies an ultimate inheritance of eternal life in the future rings a bell for me to give thanks for God’s providence and to learn contentment with what He blesses me with in this present age. Being assured that God is faithful in His promises, trusting in His goodness subsequently extends to a response to share the goodness found in the gospel of Christ with others as well as to mutually encourage others belonging to this spiritual family to strive after the Kingdom of God, knowing that this is what gives meaning to life.

Luke 5:12 - 6:11 ~ The Maverick Messiah

What makes a person maverick? He is unorthodox and unconventional, demonstrating independence in his thought and behaviour.

Jesus Christ Himself is a maverick. Instead of saying, "Be healed", He chose to say, "Be clean" in cleansing the leper in Luke 5:12-16. This shows that there is more to the event than just plain healing of a sickness. Cleansing is important in this context as one cannot approach God if he is unclean. Even more maverick was the touching of the leper when the Old Testament laws stated that such an act will cause one to be unclean. But Jesus, being the Son of God, cannot be made unclean - instead, He is able to cleanse others. His command to the cleansed leper to tell no one (Luke 5:14) indicates that He came primarily to preach, not heal.

Jesus' healing of the paralytic in Luke 5:17-26 once again displayed His maverick side as witnesses glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today." (Luke 5:26). The maverick line of "Man, your sins are forgiven you." (Luke 5:20) shows that Jesus has come to deal with the problem of sin. This is in line with His further claim that He has not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). In the incident where He was questioned about fasting (Luke 5:33-39), Jesus' reply implied Himself to be the bridegroom of the people (i.e. God) in the Messianic banquet foreshadowed in Isaiah 25:6. In a further occasion, Jesus identified Himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath, drawing parallels with King David, when accused of allowing His disciples to pluck grains on a Sabbath (Luke 6:1-5). On another Sabbath when Jesus healed a man with a withered hand (Luke 6:6-11), it is interesting to note the turn of events as the scribes and Pharisees plotted to do harm to Jesus on the day (Sabbath) that they were meant to save and do good.

In summary, the 'outside-the-box' Jesus is a preacher, the Messiah, the ultimate bridegroom, and the Son of Man. He has come to deal with the root of the problem i.e. sin itself. More astounding is the fact that He has come for us who are sick and sinful. His death on the cross, as hinted in Luke 5:35 and Luke 6:11, is indeed a maverick way of rescuing us. Our faith in Christ is then a call to repentance in leaving everything and following Jesus, allowing Him to run our lives instead of our vain self-centred attempt. Indeed, the maverick things we do in following Jesus is simply because we are following a maverick Messiah.

Will you be maverick for His glory's sake?

Luke 4:14 - 5:11 ~ Jesus: The Liberator

When Jesus professed that "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21), He claimed to be the one sent to proclaim liberty to the captives (Luke 4:18). This then begs the question: what kind of liberator is Jesus?

Jesus brought with Him a complete power revolution. The power of the Spirit was involved as Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14) and it was also reflected in how the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus (Luke 4:18). There was also people power as demonstrated by how people were gathered to follow Him with much love and respect (Luke 4:14-15, 20-22, 37, 40-43). Jesus, however, faced home rejection as He recognized that no prophet is acceptable in his hometown (Luke 4:24). The Old Testament examples of Elijah and Elisha were also quoted, further irking the Jews to the extent of trying to kill Jesus albeit a failed attempt (Luke 4:29-30).

The power revolution continues with Jesus having power over demons (Luke 4:35-36) who acknowledged Him as the Son of God (Luke 4:41). He too had power over sickness as He healed many including Simon's mother-in-law, where interestingly, He rebuked the fever (Luke 4:38-39). His healing boasted a 100% success rate as every one of them on whom He laid His hands were healed (Luke 4:40).

Despite all these various powers, the kind of liberator Jesus is was revealed in Luke 4:43 where Jesus explained that His mission and purpose was to be a preacher of the good news of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43). The fishing miracle He performed in Luke 5 was but a foreshadow of how He exhorted His disciples to be fishers of men (Luke 5:10).

Jesus has come not to bring about a political regime change. Neither was He delivering people out of poverty and hunger. Instead, He confronted the devil himself. In His power to liberate those falling victims to captivity under demons / devil, Babylon or Rome (with ensuing poverty and oppression), and sickness / disease, Jesus echoed the sentiments of Isaiah 59 that ultimately, He is delivering people out of captivity under sin itself.

We live in a world riddled with the problem of sin but we have a powerful liberator in the perfect man, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He has died on the cross that we may be freed from the bondage of sin and have life anew in Him. May the mind of Christ transform the way we think, speak, act and live that we may give God all the honour and glory He truly deserves.

Will you be a fisher of men, calling them to join God's family in His Kingdom?

Luke 4:1-13 ~ The First Temptation of Christ

Temptation seeks to lead one astray from the framework of life. Since God sets the right framework of life itself, temptation has the potential of leading one to sin. That said, temptation itself is not sin for Jesus Himself was tempted but still remained sinless and perfect. And it is here in the first half of Luke 4 that we see the first temptation of Christ right at the start of His ministry.

Essentially, the nature of the temptations can be summarized as: (i) fending for yourself for your physical needs (verses 3-4), (ii) gaining own kingdom through false worship (verses 5-8), and (iii) testing God's protection (verses 9-11). From verse 2, we can see that it is the devil who tempts. What makes it tempting is that his lies are half-truths. Temptation (i) contains the half-truth that it is not wrong to meet our own physical needs but the lie is that it is the be all and end all, and that there is no need to rely on God. Temptation (ii) tells the half-truth that the devil is the prince of the world but the lie that he has the sole authority to give the world to whoever he wants. Temptation (iii) quotes lots of Scriptures but lies in the misuse of the Scriptures, presuming miraculous protection based on our own terms.

It should not surprise then that Jesus would counter the temptations put forth to Him by using Scripture as well. He quoted Deuteronomy 8:2-3 that the Word of God is the word of promise and that we are to trust God's promised word in response to temptation (i). Temptation (ii) was countered using Deuteronomy 6:10-14 in which we are reminded that God is the one who gives us His Kingdom and it is Him and Him alone whom we should worship and serve. As for temptation (iii), Deuteronomy 6:14-16 was quoted to remind us of a past example to not test God where the Israelites questioned if God was really with them despite Him just only providing them with manna. It is thus important for us to know the Scriptures in our hearts so that when temptation arrives, we can rely on God's framework for our life.

The devil has tempted Jesus by first saying "If you are the Son of God" (verses 3 and 9) - the temptation that comes to Jesus is then precisely because of the fact that He is the Son of God. What then is Jesus' role as the Son of God? Luke 3:38 tells us that Adam is the son of God. Jesus is then the representative or second Adam. However, unlike the first Adam, Jesus is not going to fall but is instead the obedient Son who lives by God's Word.

Jesus is also not just the representative Adam but a representation of Israel, with Israel being referred to as the firstborn Son of God in Old Testament (e.g. during the time when Pharaoh refused to let God's people go). Just as how God's people were led to the desert for 40 years during the exodus, Jesus was led to the wilderness for 40 days. He is indeed the true Israelite who does not give in and who will take us into the promised land and salvation. Where Israel failed, Jesus succeeds.

Jesus is also the Messiah described in Psalm 2. He is God's superhero who has to suffer first before attaining victory. The temptation is then to take the shortcut to attain victory without the suffering. Matthew 26:52-54 describes how Jesus has the power to call on all the angels so that He didn't need to be arrested but He didn't. All the temptations were then to lead Jesus away from the cross.

The phrase "until an opportune time" in verse 13 tells us that this is not the last temptation. We see an example of this in the same temptation of having the Kingdom without first going to the cross in Peter's rebuke where Jesus then rebuked back saying, "Get behind me, Satan!" (Matthew 16:21-23). In Luke 22:42-46, we see how Jesus prayed that His disciples would not fall into temptation. Similarly, we need to pray for God's will to be done first and foremost.

In order to understand victory over sin, we need to identify three things: the real enemy, the real temptation, and the real Son. There is a very real spiritual dimension in which Satan himself is the real enemy who wants us to fall - he is a liar and murderer from the very beginning. There is indeed a real temptation that Jesus did go through. Luke 22:44 describes the anguish that He experienced while Hebrews 4:15 describes Him as a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses for He is one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. In not giving in, He knows the depth and strength of the temptation as well as the pain that comes along after it, especially the temptation to not go to the cross.

Jesus represents us as the real Son of God, not just Adam or Israel but representing all of humanity. He is the Messiah who went through the real temptation but did not give in for us. If He did give in, He will not be perfect and as a consequence, we will be in hell for not being able to overcome the real temptation. Christ is not merely our example but our Saviour.

Hallelujah, what a Saviour!