Friday, December 12, 2008

Who do you say I am?

I had just received a phone from a dear brother-in-Christ. He mentioned to me that a lifegroup leader had pronounced that this financial meltdown was God’s way of teaching the world, especially the US and Europe.

Rather I have asked him to ponder, “If it is so, why doesn’t the lifegroup leader quit his job right now so that he can achieve God’s will in his life?”

I remembered the tsunami and also 911 - the fall of the Twin Towers. Many people had lost their lives and loved ones. Can you believe preachers proclaiming that it was God’s judgement upon the world and America? Can you accept that Aids disease came from God to teach homosexuals and drug users a lesson?

The world in its chaotic state has been going into overdrive towards self-destruction ever since the fall of Adam. The devil has also been working overtime to seek, kill and destroy Man, whom God created in His image.

Can you see a God who is pleased when people lose their lives? Is that God’s will?

Of course we know (I hope) our Father is not like at all like this. He does not bring sickness, famine or poverty. I was taken aback actually because those condemning words had been spoken by a lifegroup leader.

I can understand when the world points an accusing finger at God for catastrophic events because they do not know Him. But for a Christian to agree with the world’s understanding and also attribute disasters to God is a very, very sad thing.

When the world proclaims doom and judgement, it is nothing new because they do not have hope.

But if the church of Christ says the same things, how are we different from them? Surely we have the answer. Surely we know and can reveal Christ who is the hope of the nations. Surely we are called the salt and light of the world.

If the church does not have hope, who else can share the gospel of hope and the good news to this lost world then? What good are we then in this world?

Jesus assured us with His answer. He said, “I came not to only to give life, but give life MORE abundantly.”

Life abundantly. Life-giving answers. A hope and a peace that the world does not understand.

Who do you say I am?
After putting the phone down, I felt God prompting me, “Son, who do you say I am?”

“You are my Father, who loves and cares for me enough to send Jesus to die in my place and redeem me. Even though my salvation is free, it came at a very costly price – the death of Your Son.”

Then the Holy Spirit reminded me with this verse, “Blessed are you for this was not revealed to you by man, but by your Father in heaven.”

John 3:16 (Amplified)
For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.


Most of us know this verse John 3:16 by hard. But many may not have remembered the next verse.

John 3:17 (NIV)
17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.


God is not on a ‘condemnation’ hunt. The world itself is already condemned. That’s why we need a Saviour.

Do you know that God loved us so much that He is willing to give up His only Son? So why would God want to bring added famine and poverty into this world when it is already spiralling out of control?

Shouldn’t God bring THE answer to the world? Why add more sorrows?

Think about it. Will these so-called disastrous acts of God steer people towards God and know Him as a loving Father, or will such acts make people avoid God altogether?

Romans 2:4
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?


It is God’s kindness and goodness that draw people to Him. Just like how the sinners and prostitutes were drawn to Jesus. Not his wrath. In fact wrath and judgement create a barrier between God and us. They establish a chasm to distance us from Him.

Is that God’s will to put a distance between Him and us?

Read again slowly:
For God so GREATLY LOVED and dearly prized the world that He even GAVE up His Son…

God so loved the world (with us sinners within) that He willingly gave up His Son to take our place. Instead of us facing His wrath and judgement, Jesus took our place. He was separated from God as He soaked up our sins. In exchange we are accepted before God through Jesus' shed blood to make us righteousness by faith.

Remember Jesus shared this parable:
Matt 13: 44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.


The man/merchant in the story is God, who gave up His best (Jesus) so that he could buy (redeem) us back. He saw us as treasures of great value. That is what God’s love is all about.

We were like the hardened criminal Barabbas who was set free in exchange for the sinless and perfect man - Jesus. Jesus died in his place at the cross while Barabbas walked free.

Matthew 27:46
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Jesus had never addressed God as “Eloi” in His life because God was always “Abba, Father” to Him. But now we notice the distance between Father and Son.

God couldn’t stand the sight of His Son because Jesus carried the sins of the whole world – past, present and future. Jesus was ugly, cursed on the cross and marred with God's judgement. “Condemnation” was upon His head.

So God turned His back upon Jesus and embraced us instead. He cast Jesus from His presence so that we can be accepted in the Father. And God’s fiery judgement and wrath fell upon the sacrificial Lamb so that we can now experience God’s love and kindness.

Jesus took every stroke and penalty of the Law upon Himself that we may have the blessings that come apart from the Law.

Why?

We are His beloved now
That we can be close to God. That we can call God – Abba, Papa. That when Jesus died a lonely man, God can say to us, “Child, you are mine forever.” Yes that is how much God loved us.

So much enough to sent His dearly beloved Son to die for us to redeem us.

Going by the same grain of thought, why would God want to punish the world if He had already sent His Son to save us? Isn’t it contradictory?

Do let me know if you had ever read in your bible where Jesus once told a man with a shrivelled arm to stretch forth the other arm. Looking at the normal arm, He pronounced, “Be withered!”

Then Jesus preached a convicting sermon to warn everyone that God is against sin. Looking at those withered arms again, he left them crippled and unhealed to remind the man never to sin again.

Did such a thing ever happen in the bible?

Or perhaps Jesus called down fire and brimstone upon the woman caught in adultery? Or stirred the storm further into a greater frenzy to teach faith to His disciples whom He called “O ye of little faith!”

Why would a doctor inject you with sickness only to administer you with his saving medicine? Would any father purposely put his son’s hand into the baking oven to teach him about not playing with fire?

How would you feel about such a doctor? Will you ever visit him again? What about the father? Would you ever do such a thing to your son?

Gee, there is only such a place for these people - in the mental asylum!

Yet we see God in such a way. And even preached Him to be such!

What will people think about this almighty yet vengeful god? Would you want to draw close to him? Surely not I! I’d rather be far from him lest I incur his wrath.

Therefore it makes no sense that Christians speak of my Father as a God who is out on a sin and condemnation hunt; when in truth, He had sent His son not to condemn the world but to save us.

Let him who has ears, let him hear.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, I've always thought the Christian God is supposed to be a wrathful and vengeful God (I believe those were His own words in the Old Testament?)

After Christ came and declared a Gentler, Kinder Father figure in Heaven, I suppose the whole idea of the angry God went out of vogue.

And yet, didn't the Apostle Paul (don't get me started on him - I have serious issues with this guy) strike someone dead for "misdeclaring" his tithe amounts (but attributed the death to the workings of God)? And I'm quite sure I remember lots of gnashing of teeth, wailing and rendering of sackcloth described for a myriad of sinners?

I'm just sayin', that the kind and compassionate God is not quite what you readily find in much of the Bible, no?

Kaffein said...

monkeysee> Actually, I've always thought the Christian God is supposed to be a wrathful and vengeful God (I believe those were His own words in the Old Testament?)

Kaffein> God seemed wrathful and vengeful because He had to. The Law requires that anyone who sins had to pay a price. Good news is Jesus came to pay that price, though we didn't deserve it. It's called grace.

Kaffein> That's why there is the New Testament. It's up for people which covenent they want to believe in - the old or the new.

Kaffein> It says that God found fault with the old covenent because no man can achieve it. It's not that the old covenent was faulty, but man can never uphold the Law, so God gave Jesus who came as a man to fulfill the old and bring the new.

monkeysee> After Christ came and declared a Gentler, Kinder Father figure in Heaven, I suppose the whole idea of the angry God went out of vogue.

Kaffein> I wouldn't say 'out of vogue'. Christ was the personified figure of God - "If you have seen me, you have seen God. If you believe in me, you will believe the one who sent me."

Kaffein> So to me, Jesus really showed who God is - a loving Father who wants to embrace His children. However because of the Old Testament Law, He was unable to due to the sins. Sin requires a blood payment.

Kaffein> Doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to know who will want to draw closer to - a father who demands excellence and beats his child whenever he fails, vs a father who loves a child to bring out his excellence.

Kaffein> It has been proven that people excel better when they know they will not be rapped for mistakes. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying to those who intently and purposely keep on erring.

monkeysee> And yet, didn't the Apostle Paul (don't get me started on him - I have serious issues with this guy) strike someone dead for "misdeclaring" his tithe amounts (but attributed the death to the workings of God)?

Kaffein> Definitely not Paul. I believe it's Simon Peter. Anyway, the passage you have referred to is Annias and his wife. If you read carefully, the couple were not disciples because in Acts, whenever a Christian is mentioned, it is always written as "a certain disciple".

Kaffein> Annias and his wife were referred to as a certain man and his wife, not a certain disciple.

monkeysee> And I'm quite sure I remember lots of gnashing of teeth, wailing and rendering of sackcloth described for a myriad of sinners?

Kaffein> I believe these descriptions like gnashing of teeth as mentioned by Jesus in parables in the New Testaments were referred to as those who reject the Messiah. As for the Old Testaments, those sackcloths were used for mourning and repentance. Quite sure they didn't refer to sinners.

Kaffein> Actually God is no longer against sinners after Jesus had died 2000 years ago. Before Jesus came, man was judged by the Law (10 commandments). After Jesus came, the Law was judged upon Jesus.

Kaffein> Now everyone can choose which covenent they want to live in. If you reject Christ, you are automatically in the old covenent under Law. To be blessed and righteous, you need to fulfill the 10 commandments. Failing 1 equals failing all 10 (James 2:10).

Kaffein> If you choose Christ, you have believed that Christ has fulfilled the Law for you and paid the penalty for your sins. Based on the requirements of the Law, if you fulfill the 10 commandments, you will be blessed and called righteous, ie righteous by faith.

Kaffein> I'm sure you know which covenant you want to live in.

monkeysee> I'm just sayin', that the kind and compassionate God is not quite what you readily find in much of the Bible, no?

Kaffein> That's why Jesus came to show us who His Father really is - a God who is not on a sin and condemnation hunt, but a Father who wants to love and protect you. Unfortunately the Law requires Him to be judge and executor.

Kaffein> With grace, God's righteouness is justified because someone paid for our sins. So now God can fully love and embrace a sinner when he receives Christ. The Prodigal Son is a good read on the love of a father.

Kaffein> monkeysee, now that you can see God's plan and purpose for man, that He wants to accept and love us in spite of our failings and sins, what's stopping us to receive Christ as our Saviour?

Have you received Christ today, monkeysee? Rejecting Christ automatically puts you in the old covenent where you will struggle to uphold the Law and God's righteousness.

Accepting Christ is just believing that He died for us and paid for our sins. You will be transferred from darkness to light immediately and God can only love and bless you.

If you will like to accept Christ, say and belive these words, "Father, I receive Jesus Christ into my heart and accept Him as Lord and Saviour. I believe He paid for my sins 2000 years ago. I am now your child and you are my Father. In Jesus' name, Amen."

That's it. And you will see wonderful changes and blessings in your life.

Kaffein

ArtBoon said...

what's happening the market currently is simply a cycle.
and churches that misread the cycle... good luck...

http://www.newcreation.org.sg/one-north/faqs/faqs.html

Kaffein said...

ArtBoon said...
"what's happening the market currently is simply a cycle.
and churches that misread the cycle... good luck...

http://www.newcreation.org.sg/one-north/faqs/faqs.html
"

Kaffein> Quite sure you have misread article, or are you on a bashing trip against the Christian churches? *scratches head*

I never said anything about any churches misreading the cycle. What I said was not to attribute misfortunes, failures and disasters to God.

I have also never mentioned anything about New Creation Church (NCC) but you have purposely put a link about NCC's One-north project. Perhaps you have something against that church, I don't know. Whatever NCC plans to do, they will have their own board of directors, auditing and the people to account to. I don't think it's in my business to interfere unless there is something fishy.

Anyway, you are entitled to your opinion about misreading the cycle. But you must concede to the fact that whatever you have learnt, whatever gurus have predicted, whatever the world's leading economist and financial analysis have said, all have fallen flat on their faces.

Be it cycle or no cycle. This economic crisis has stumped many countries all over the world.

For me and my family, we believe we have a Joseph (typology of Jesus) who knows when famine and propserity are coming. Because of Joseph's position in Eygpt, he was able to rescue and feed all the Jewish people in times of famine. Though the lands around Eygpt were wasted, Eygpt prospered.

Whatever the case, I rest in my heavenly Joseph (Jesus). He will sustain and prosper me and staighten my path for His namesake.

Cheers,
Kaffein

ArtBoon said...

i am saying, i agree with you. i don't think what is happening now is a specific wrath of God. it is just part of the usual business cycle.

I believe in the same God as you do.

Therefore, if I want to engage commercial/ economic activities, I hope I can be wise to be aware of such cycles.

Cheers

Kaffein said...

Hi Artboon,
Sorry if I had misinterpreted your comment. It wasn't clear if you were agreeing with my article.

Whatever the case, my intention is to show that God is not condemning the world since He had already condemned the sins of the world in His Son.

The only hindrance is on man's part - whether to accept what His Son had done.

God bless,
Kaffein

Ravi said...

Good article...check out my blog on spirituality as well at: http://www.lifeblog.co.nr/

Anonymous said...

Hello Kaffein came to your blog from Ps Mark Conner Blog, look forward to reading more post from you l must say l do like your prospective on Egypt and Joseph.
For me this financial season is great opportunity for many Christians and non Christians, just a matter if they open to grow and keen to keep learning what there heart truly showing them. To me this time and season there has never been a greater opportunity to run a home base business,when you have found your business niche(your passion sown by God in your heart)using your creative gifts and the internet as a tool.l believe this season God will raise up many Entrepreneurs amongst his chosen to Passover to the promise land from slavery working for big corporate boss who in the past have just got richer why the worker works longer hours and harder (they may choice child care so they can make a reasonable living)the tide is turning the waters are parting for true ownership of family(mum and dad no longer will see needed for childcare because of this open door season upon us now!)keep up the great work Kaffein look forward to further reading