A Wedding and a Funeral

This morning I was in church for a wedding rehearsal. Two of my church friends are getting married next month and I'm playing in the band. And this evening I attended the funeral wake of a granduncle.

Although they were not read out at either the wedding rehearsal or the funeral wake, the following verses came to my mind:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."

""He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."" - Revelation 21:1-4 (NIV)

Marriage

Apart from believing and being baptised, marriage is one of the most (if not the most) glorious moments in life (I imagine). It is a profound mystery, a picture of Christ and the church. Even so, it is a mere shadow of the reality it points towards - our union with Christ forever and ever.

Finish then, Thy new creation
Pure and spotless let us be
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee

Changed from glory into glory
Till in heaven* we take our place
Till we cast our crowns before Thee
Lost in wonder, love and praise

*the new heaven and the new earth

Death

On the other hand, death is the wages of sin, the ultimate affront to life. Even so, it is a defeated foe which awaits its own destruction - the death of death itself.

"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death." - Revelation 20:14 (NIV)

So marriage is good, but the new creation is even better. Death is bad, but the new creation conquers it.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going... I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:1-4, 6 (NIV)

God knows if you will marry, who you will marry and when you will marry. He knows when you will die and how you will die. As the pastor preaching at the funeral wake said, "God is sovereign. He knows best."

He alone is faithful and true
He alone knows what is best for you...

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His heart

"He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"" - Revelation 21:5a (NIV)

Are you single? God is making everything new. Are you married? God is making everything new. Are you in the prime of life? God is making everything new. Are you facing death? God is making everything new.

"I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!" - Lesslie Newbigin, Bishop of Madras (1965-74)

Link: God is making everything new (25 Dec 10)

True Gain

I'm reading the Bible in one year and the Old Testament reading for Dec 16 is Malachi 2:17-4:6.

"You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty?'" - Malachi 3:14 (NIV)

The answer is - everything.

"O greedy men, what will satisfy you, if God Himself will not?" - St. Augustine

"Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favour and honour; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you." - Psalm 84:10-12 (NIV)

Besides, instead of asking "What can we gain for ourselves?", we should be asking

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" - Luke 9:25 (NIV)

and

"But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand." - 1 Chronicles 29:14 (NIV)

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain
For me, who Him to death pursued!

Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!

Dec 8 to 14

Dec 8: "Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." - Jude 21 (NIV)

Dec 9: "I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." - Revelation 1:18 (NIV)

Dec 10: "Keep falsehoods and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread." - Proverbs 30:8 (NIV)

Dec 11: "To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations." - Revelation 2:26 (NIV)

Dec 12: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." - Revelation 3:20 (NIV)

Dec 13: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." - Revelation 4:11 (NIV)

Dec 14: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." - Revelation 5:9-10 (NIV)

And on Earth, Peace to Men

This morning's message in church was on Luke 2:14, the verse which the Greater Doxology (Gloria in Excelsis Deo) begins with and is named after.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests." - Luke 2:14 (NIV)

How can we be at peace with God?

1. Believe.

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal." - Isaiah 26:3-4 (NIV)

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." - Romans 5:1-2 (NIV)

"And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him." May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." - Romans 15:12-13 (NIV)

2. Pray.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

3. Know (and do) His will.

"Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." - Philippians 4:9 (NIV)

*****

"May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." - Hebrews 13:20-21 (NIV)

A Time to Wait

Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot. But all too often the greedy eyes are only deceived; the fruit that seemed so precious is still green on the inside, and disrespectful hands ungratefully toss aside what has so disappointed them.

Whoever does not know the austere blessedness of waiting - that is, of hopefully doing without - will never experience the full blessing of fulfillment. Those who do not know how it feels to struggle anxiously with the deepest questions of life, of their life, and to patiently look forward with anticipation until the truth is revealed, cannot even dream of the splendour of the moment in which clarity is illuminated for them...

For the greatest, most profound, tenderest things in the world, we must wait. It happens not here in a storm but according to the divine laws of sprouting, growing, and becoming.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." - Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." - Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

"Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him." - Ecclesiastes 8:5-6 (NIV)

Dec 1 to 7

Dec 1: "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." - 1 John 2:17 (NIV)

Dec 2: "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law." - Proverbs 29:18 (NIV)

Dec 3: "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him." - 1 John 3:21-22 (NIV)

Dec 4: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." - 1 John 4:18 (NIV)

Dec 5: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." - 1 John 5:14 (NIV)

Dec 6: "Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the LORD that man gets justice." - Proverbs 29:26 (NIV)

Dec 7: "So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."" - Zechariah 4:6 (NIV)

Prayer According to God's Will

I'm reading the Bible in one year and the New Testament reading for Dec 5 is 1 John 5:1-21.

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." - 1 John 5:14 (NIV)

Do our prayers simply change us and align us to God's will, without having any bearing on His will? (Then why pray? For example, why pray for the salvation of the lost if the lost are saved completely apart from our prayers?)

Do our prayers have a bearing on God's will to the extent that our prayers determine His will? (Then what if two people pray against each other? For example, what if one person prays for sunny weather and another person prays for rainy weather?)

Or do our prayers provide the means by which God, knowing what we would pray for and how He would answer accordingly (be it yes or no), accomplishes His will - His good, pleasing and perfect will?

God answers prayer! He will answer yes when answering yes is for the best; He will answer no when answering no is for the best. And whether He answers yes or no, His will is exactly what we would desire if we knew all the facts.

Links: Prayer Changes Things (26 Nov 10), A Molinist View of Prayer (31 Dec 10)

Freedom and Boundaries

The question of the real content and meaning of the Christian faith is enveloped today in a greater fog of uncertainty than at almost any earlier period in history. Anyone who has watched the theological movement of the last decade and who is not one of those thoughtless people who always uncritically accept what is new as necessarily better might well feel reminded of the old story of "Lucky Jack".

The lump of gold that was too heavy and troublesome for him he exchanged successively, so as to be more comfortable, for a horse, a cow, a goose, and a whetstone, which he finally threw into the water without losing much more; on the contrary, what he now gained in exchange, so he thought, was the precious gift of complete freedom. How long his intoxication lasted, how sombre the moment of awakening from the illusion of his supposed liberation, is left by the story, as is well known, to the imagination of the reader.

The worried Christian of today is often bothered by questions like these: has our theology in the last few years not taken in many ways a similar path? Has it not gradually watered down the demands of faith, which had been found all too demanding, always only so little that nothing important seemed to be lost, yet always so much that it was soon possible to venture on the next step? And will poor Jack, the Christian who trustfully let himself be led from exchange to exchange, from interpretation to interpretation, not really soon hold in his hand, instead of the gold with which he began, only a whetstone which he can be confidently recommended to throw away?

- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity (1968)

Training vs 'Tekan'

Today one of our trainers said that whether something is training or 'tekan' (Malay for 'punishment') depends on our attitude.

We think that doing 20 push-ups for exercise is training, while doing 20 push-ups for being tardy is 'tekan'. So what's the difference? It's not the act of doing 20 push-ups. It's the context in which the 20 push-ups are done.

But even if we end up doing 20 push-ups for being tardy, isn't it still a form of training? Doing 20 push-ups can be seen as training (positive) or 'tekan' (negative). It depends on how we look at it.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." - Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)

Trials vs Temptations

So it is with the will of God. Whether something is a trial or a temptation depends on our attitude. More precisely, whether a trial becomes a temptation depends on our attitude.

1. God does not tempt us.

"When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone." - James 1:13 (NIV)

2. Nevertheless, God puts us through trials to test our faithfulness to Him and - more importantly - to prove His faithfulness to us.

"But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." - Job 23:8-10 (NIV)

3. A trial becomes a temptation when we start blaming it on ourselves, others and ultimately God.

"But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." - James 1:14 (NIV)

Something which we do not want can be seen as a trial (positive) or a temptation (negative). It depends on how we look at it.

""Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." - Job 1:21-22 (NIV)

""Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said." - Job 2:10 (NIV)

"Then Job replied to the LORD: "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."" - Job 42:1-6 (NIV)

4. Even then, God in His sovereignty and mercy will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear.

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

5. Furthermore, even when we are tempted and fall to temptation, God works our free choices for His glory and our good - if we repent and return to Him.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28 (NIV)

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful?
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." - Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)

Links: Discipline and Security (23 Oct 10), True Training (25 Oct 10), Training and Development (14 Nov 10)

Nov 22 to 30

Nov 22: "My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore." - Psalm 131 (NIV)

Nov 23: "He swore an oath to the LORD and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: "I will not enter my house or go to my bed - I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."" - Psalm 132:2-5 (NIV)

Nov 24: "Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers." - 1 Peter 3:7 (NIV)

Nov 25: "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." - 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

Nov 26: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

Nov 27: "For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 2 Peter 1:8 (NIV)

Nov 28: "Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God."" - Daniel 3:28 (NIV)

Nov 29: "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." - 2 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

Nov 30: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9 (NIV)