“We Shall Overcome” (Nehemiah 4:1-9)

 

The Art of War

There was a man from China named Sun Tzu (544-496 BC), who was a famous war strategist and author of the Art of War. In his book the following statement is particularly famous and often quoted: “知彼知己 百戰不殆,” which means, “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.” This art of war applies equally when we fight a spiritual battle. When we are in a spiritual battle, we must know the enemy and know ourselves. But there is more! We must know who God is. If we know these three – the enemy, ourselves, and God, we will never be in peril but win every battle.

Know the Enemy

Then, first of all, who is our enemy? The Bible says our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but… against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph 6:12). Our battle is not against people (Sanballat and Tobiah), but against the Devil, who is much stronger and wiser than us. We must fight the battle in the right way. 

The enemy’s purpose is clear. He comes only to steal and kill and destroy us (John 10:10a). The Apostle Peter says to followers of Christ, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pt 5:8). In the book of Nehemiah, we learn how the enemy works, particularly throughout chapter four, five and six. The first weapon is discouragement (Neh 2:19; 4:1-3). When Nehemiah and his people started rebuilding the wall in earnest, Sanballat and Tobiah mocked and ridiculed. They said, “What are those feeble Jews doing?” “That stone wall they are building – any fox going up on it would break it down!” The enemy discourages God’s people with words. The enemy’s another weapon is to cause internal confusion as well as external threats. The enemy intimidated Judah, the leading tribe (leadership), and the people of Judah began to complain out of their fear (4:10-12). Judah had three major points of complaint: (1) The workers are getting tired, (2) There are too many hindrances, and (3) The task is impossible. Those complaints are very persuasive and realistic. To make things worse, Nehemiah had to deal with internal dissension between the nobles and the poor among his people (5:1-13). The enemy attack was persistent. It was one thing after another. There was further opposition to the rebuilding – it was the slander against Nehemiah (6:1-9). The enemy was not able to compromise Nehemiah’s stand; so now they sought to misrepresent him. Nehemiah was charged with pride and self-seeking. They spread rumors and gossip. They said to Nehemiah, “Your ulterior motive is to satisfy yourself. You are rebuilding the wall to revolt and become a king!” Lastly, there was a false prophecy. Prophet Shemaiah prophesied that Nehemiah should run into the temple to save his life. We have learned there were four or five different kinds of the enemy’s tactics, but all of them had one same purpose, that is to discourage Nehemiah and his people and stop God’s work. We must remember this. Nehemiah was well aware of this. So, in 6:9 Nehemiah prayed, “But now, O God, strengthen my hands!” Let this be our prayer.

Know God

In order to win the battle, we must know the enemy. But that is just a first step. We also must know who God is. For Nehemiah, God is real and alive, mighty and awesome. Every time Nehemiah faces opposition, he doesn’t directly fight back against the enemy. Instead, he always takes that challenge to the Lord in prayer. When he first heard the devastating news that the wall was broken down and its gates were burned by fire, his first reaction was fasting and praying as well as mourning and weeping. He took it to God in prayer who is able to help and save. He started praying in this way, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God!” (1:5a). When the enemy intimidated Nehemiah and his people, he said to God’s people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome!” (4:14a).

When the early church Christians faced severe persecution, they were gathered together. They got together not to launch a counter attack or retaliate, but to pray together. They did not pray that God would stop the persecution. Instead, they did pray that the word of God would continue to grow and spread. In Acts 4:29-30 they prayed in one spirit, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus!” Their prayer was answered. The word continued to spread, and the church was built up and increased in numbers.

In the middle of the challenge Nehemiah did not pray that God would stop the enemy’s attacks. Instead, he prayed that God would strengthen his and the people’s hands, so they can carry on and complete God’s work. His prayers were answered. The more the enemy intensified attacks, the more prosperous Nehemiah’s work became. (1) The enemy mocked and ridiculed; Nehemiah prayed; God unified his people to work in harmony (ch. 3). (2) The enemy was angry and made more effort to discourage Nehemiah and his people; Nehemiah prayed; God intervened and helped. So the people worked hard in one mind, and the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city (4:6). (3) The enemy became even more angry and intimated Nehemiah; Nehemiah prayed; God strengthened Nehemiah’s hands, and he completed the wall in 52 days in the shortest time possible (6:15). When we work, we work. When we pray, God works. That’s the right way to fight the battle. Our God is great and awesome. Our God is mighty to strengthen us, help us, uphold us. God is mighty to complete His great work in our lives and in our church. Do you believe this?

Know Yourself

Now we know the enemy. And we know our God. Along with this, we must know ourselves. Who are we? We are the Church. We are God’s people. We are members of God’s family. Nehemiah had such a strong God’s family identity. In the middle of the project the enemy stirred up dissension and sowed the seeds of strife among God’s people. Some of Nehemiah’s co-workers were discouraged. The nobles didn’t get involved. The poor complained. Many in Judah were bound by oath to Tobiah, the enemy (6:18). But Nehemiah had never been shaken. He firmly believed he and his people (community) were mutually bound together by a common destiny. He was tired of working, and the job seemed to be impossible to complete, but he never dreamed of going back to the city of Susa. For Nehemiah, if the people perish, he perishes. If the people prosper, he prospers. When he saw that the nobles and officials were exploiting the people, he confronted them and spoke the truth in love. Not only this, but also did Nehemiah sacrifice himself. For twelve years he refused to claim the governor’s food allowance, because the people already carried a heavy burden (5:18). After the completion of the wall, Nehemiah and the leaders volunteered to remain in the city of Jerusalem. At that time, the city of Jerusalem was a militarily vulnerable and dying urban area. So they had to defend the city and carry out the redevelopment at great inconvenience (11:1-24). But again, Nehemiah was willing to sacrifice himself for his people, God’s people.

We, as a church, need this sense of community solidarity that binds us together in a common destiny. We are members of God’s family. When we get into a family, in other words, when we are born or adopted into it, we don’t have the right to choose our family members. We don’t choose who will be my father or my sister. Among the family members, there might be a difficult uncle, an emotionally unhealthy aunt, or an immature older brother. But no matter who they are, we are still family. We are still bound together. In the same way, the church is God’s family. We don’t choose who will be my church family members. Once we become a member in the family of God, we’re in! We belong to each other. We are bound together by a common destiny. We are united and will be eternally united with each other by the blood of Christ. The church is “eternal fellowship community.” If the church, the body of Christ, perishes, I perish. If the church prospers, I prosper. When we have this Christian “family” identity, the enemy cannot easily break the unity of the church.

We Shall Overcome

Winston Churchill once delivered the following speech during World War II:

“We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end… We shall defend our island, whatever the cost. We shall fight on the beaches; we shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”

I would like to paraphrase him to give us words of encouragement as we fight our spiritual battle and move forward:

“We shall not stop or give up. We shall go on to the end. We shall defend our church, whatever the cost. We shall pray in the morning. We shall pray in the night. We shall pray in our prayer closet. We shall pray together in the church. We shall watch over one another in love. We shall build each other up. We shall never stop building up the church.”

Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). We fight from victory, not for victory. We shall overcome. 

“Out of the Ashes” (Nehemiah 2:1-8)

Spiritual Reflexes

“How do you respond when you hear bad news?”

We all know about reflexes. When a doctor gently taps your knees with his or her rubber-tipped instrument, your leg pos upward, almost by itself. We call it a reflexive response.

In a very similar way, most of us have a reflexive response when life’s challenges hit. We don’t think about it, we don’t plan it, we just respond.  When trials come, some people respond by giving up. They just quit and say, “I can’t take it!” Others do the opposite. They get angry and lash out. Still others respond to life’s challenges with a cool indifference and apathy. And finally, there are some who stand firm and press on even when life seems to press in against them. Psalm 112 says, “Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands… They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes” (vv. 1, 7-8). Let me ask you. What is one challenge you are facing during this season of your life? How do you respond?

Nehemiah, A Man of Prayer

Nehemiah’s first response to the challenging news was an honest outpouring of emotion and prayer. “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4). That was Nehemiah’s reflexive response. He was a man of prayer. Nehemiah overcomes life’s challenges through prayer. There are three things that are really standing out in his powerful prayer life.

The Power of “WE” Prayer

When he prayed for those in distress, Nehemiah included himself. “I now pray before you day and night for your servants, the Israelites, confessing the sins of the Israelites, which we have sinned against you. Both I and my family have sinned” (v. 6).

This past week I served as a hospital chaplain on call. I was asked to come and pray for the patient who was passing. On the way home I felt something was missing – a lock of empathy. I didn’t emotionally engage. I didn’t include myself. Nehemiah didn’t have to pray and fast. His life was comfortable and secure. But he put himself in another’s shoe. He fully engaged, struggled, wept, agonized, fasting and praying. He prayed passionately and desperately, holding fast to God’s promise. And his prayer was heard. That is the power of “WE” prayer.

The Power of “Specific” Prayer

Another quality we can learn from Nehemiah’s prayer life is the power of “specific” prayer. Nehemiah’s prayer is a good model to follow. His prayers consists of three parts: Adoration (Praise and Thanksgiving) –  Confession of sins – Supplication/ Petition. In particular, Nehemiah concludes his prayer this way: “Give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man (the king)!” (v. 11) At first, the challenges seemed overwhelming and impossible to overcome. Once he began to pray, God showed him the way. His vision of what needed to be done became clearer and clearer. And he prayed for next steps. He didn’t pray for God to send somebody. He specifically prayed, carefully planned, and volunteered, “Here am I – send me!”

The walls of Jerusalem had been in ruins for 141 years. Several attempts had been made, but not successful. Through Nehemiah’s specific prayers, first, the king’s heart was stirred, then the people’s hearts were stirred, then the rebuilding plan succeeded. As we pray, God tells us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. As I was praying for the future of the church, at first I felt lost. But as we prayed daily and weekly (at the Wednesday Prayer Meeting), our core values, our mission, and our vision became clearer. Our core values are worship, discipleship, fellowship, outreach, and evangelism. Our mission is to make disciples. Our vision is to become the most loving place in town – “inclusive” and “outwardly focused” community. As we pray for the next steps, God shows us the stepping stones to his vision (what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.)

The Power of “Persistent” Prayer

The third thing we can glean from Nehemiah’s prayer life is the power of “persistent” prayer. On the surface, it looks like God answers Nehemiah’s emergency prayer “on the spot.” The king said, “What do you request?” So Nehemiah sent his quick “telegraph” prayer to the Lord (2:4), and the king granted him what he asked (v. 8). But here, we need to remember, Nehemiah’s emergency prayer is backed up by four months of fasting and praying. (*In the month of Chislev (1:1) = Nov-Dec, In the month of Nisan (2:1) = April) For 4 months, Nehemiah persistently prayed and prayed and prayed.

One day Jesus told the disciples a parable about their need to pray all the time and never give up. A story of a persistent widow and unjust judge. This poor widow kept coming to see the judge every sing day, saying, “Give me justice!” At first, the judge ignored her. But finally he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice.” Then, Jesus said, “How much more will your heavenly Father grant justice to those who cry to him day and night?” (Luke 18:7)

Story of Adoniram Judson

Lastly, I want to share a story of a man of prayer who is like Nehemiah. His name is Adoniram Judson. At the age of 25, he got a vision from God for mission. As he was praying for the unchurched, he was moved with compassion. He became the first missionary to Myanmar. He had to face so many challenges and obstacles. He was in prison, beaten and tortured. His wife and children died from the disease. It took 6 years for him to baptize his first Burmese convert. It also took 12 years to make 18 new Christians. But, he prayed through, and through, and through for Burmese revival. God faithfully sustained him, guided him, and showed him the next steps. When he died, he left the Burmese Bible, 100 churches, and over 8,000 believers. And now Myanmar has the third largest number of Baptists worldwide. Still, many Burmese and missionaries do remember Judson and celebrate “Judson’s Day” in July.

Many others’ religious work and their visions were like footsteps in the sands. They disappeared. But, Judson has engraved his work on imperishable granite. The secret of its endurance is his prayer life. Judson said, “Endeavor seven times a day to withdraw from business and company and lift up thy soul to God in private retirement. Begin the day by rising after midnight and devoting some time amid the silence and darkness of the night to this sacred work. Let the hour of opening dawn find thee at the same work. Let the hours of 9, 12, 3, 6, and 9 at night witness the same. Be resolute in His cause. Make all practical sacrifices to maintain it. Consider that thy time is short and that business and company must not be allowed to rob thee of thy God.”

My prayer is that our reflexive response to life’s challenges is always prayer. May my life and your life be shaped by prayer, filled with prayer, and led by prayer. Like Nehemiah, and like Judson, may we be remembered as a woman and man of prayer and shine like the stars forever. Amen. 

“The Power of One” (Judges 7:1-8)

God’s Method

When you feel spiritually dry in your prayer life, what do you do about it? For me personally, I go back and reread spiritual classics and learn from spiritual giants. One of my go-to persons is E. M. Bounds. His book, Power Through Prayer, begins this way[1]:  

We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.

This book was written in 1913. But it is as relevant today as it was then. Persons – women and men – are God’s method. You and I are God’s method to advance God’s kingdom. The Bible says, “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Chronicles 16:9, NIV). God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him (MSG).

 

Gideon and His 300 Men

In today’s scripture God found Gideon, who was an unlikely candidate. He was hesitant, he was riddled with self-doubt, he was nobody. When he was called, he said, “But Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15). That’s how Gideon sees himself. But God sees Gideon’s heart and says, “I am with you, and you are a mighty warrior” (6:12). God calls him, equips him, molds him. Gideon slowly but steadily grows into the person God wants him to be.

At first, when Gideon blew a trumpet, about 32,000 men stepped up. It is a good number of people. But compared to the Midianites, Israel was so outnumbered. Judges 7:12 says, “The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.” They were the allied forces, and their numbers were countless. But, the Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands.” (7:2) Then, God commanded Gideon to tell the people, “Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave now.” So about 22,000 men left, and 10,000 remained. But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men!” Finally, God chose his 300 soldiers to save the entire Israel.

God does not save with numbers, but with the people who are willing and fully committed to him. Psalm 147:10-11 says, “[God] takes no delight in the strength of a horse, and gains no pleasure in the runner's swiftness. But the Lord is pleased with those who fear him, with those who depend on his gracious love” (ISV).

Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, testifies “the power of one.” By faith one person conquers kingdoms, by faith one person administers justice, by faith one person gains what has been promised, and by faith one person shuts the mouths of lions. As we start this new year and move forward as a church, let us not be concerned about numbers, saying, “How many people will step up?” Instead, let us ask ourselves, “Am I willing?” “Am I fully committed to God?”

 

Gideon and Christ

I don’t know about you, but for me, I don’t trust myself. I am a planner. I used to enjoy making New Year’s goals and resolutions. I no longer enjoy it, because I know I can’t carry on throughout the year.

Gideon’s story is more than just a moral lesson. Gideon’s story is not just about imitating him and following his good quality. Gideon’s story ultimately points to Christ. Gideon foreshadows Jesus. Jesus Christ is the true and better and perfect Gideon. Just as Gideon was from a humble family, Jesus was born in a manger. Just as Gideon won the battles miraculously in his weakness through a small army, Jesus disarmed the evil forces, triumphing over sin and death through his sacrificial death on the cross (Col 2:15). By this victory, Jesus opened the door to new life to all who believe in him. So not by our willpower, but by the power of his Holy Spirit, we are able to live a victorious life.

 

It Starts with One

God still gives life through Jesus Christ. God is still looking for Christians whose hearts are fully committed to him today. It starts with one person or a small group of people. Once Henry Varley, a close friend of D. L. Moody in the earlier days of his work, said to Moody, “It remains to be seen what God will do with a person who gives himself or herself up wholly to Him.” When Moody heard this, he said to himself, “Well, I will be that man.” His heart was stirred and fully committed to God, and God was able to use him.

At the age of 87, in his letter to one of his preachers, John Wesley wrote this way[2]:

“The danger of ruin to Methodism does not lie here. It springs from quite a different quarter. Our preachers, many of them, are fallen. They are not spiritual. They are not alive to God. They are soft, enervated, fearful of shame, toil, hardship… Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth.”

God found Gideon, whose heart was true to him, and used him to deliver his people. God is still looking for people who are totally committed to him. By faith, may we say, “Here I am, Lord. Use me, and send me to revive your people. So be it." Amen. 

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[1] E. M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer (p. 1). Christian Classics Remix. Kindle Edition.

[2] John Wesley, writing at age 87 to Alexander Mather, quoted in Luke Tyerman, The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley (London, 1871), III:632.

Illustration by Michael Woodruff

“Back to Gilgal” (Joshua 5:1-9)

Gilgal

Some places in our lives are special to us. If you were born here, Houlton or Hodgdon is a very special place. If you came to Christ here in this place, this church is a very meaningful place. For Israel, Gilgal was a very special place. It was the place that Israel kept coming back to while they were conquering the Promised Land. It was their base camp (ex. “Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.” Joshua 10:15, 43)

Why is Gilgal so special to the Israelites? It is because there they experienced God personally for the first time. As we know, the Israelites in the Book of Joshua are the second generation. The first generation who had a Red Sea experience all died after forty years in the wilderness. This second generation always heard about it from their parents, but now they themselves cross the Jordan miraculously. As soon as the priests’ feet touch the water, the flow of water is cut off upstream and the river stands up like a wall. After this, God commands them to set up the twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the very spot. The purpose is this: “[God] did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you (Israel) might always fear the Lord your God” (Joshua 4:24). Every time the Israelites went to war, they first passed this place and looked at the twelve stones and remembered. After the war, they returned to this place and remembered God. They kept coming back to this place, Gilgal.

 

At Gilgal

At Gilgal, not only does God command his people to set up the twelve stones externally, but also he commands them to be circumcised. What is circumcision? It signifies purity. It signifies the removal of sin and holiness to the Lord. We need to remember that right now the Israelites are in wartime. They already sent spies to Jericho, and anytime now the war may begin. God knows this, but still he commands the Israelites to be circumcised first. That means they are to disarm themselves and completely vulnerable for several days. That means they are to be exposed to the risk of the enemy’s surprise attack. We can learn a very important lesson from this: It teaches us that as we move forward, what we really need is more than just creative ideas and strategies. What we really need is purity and holiness to God. What we really need is an obedient heart.

Under Joshua’s leadership, the Israelites obey God. They are circumcised and consecrate themselves. And they celebrate the Passover and remember God. Then, what happens? God intervenes in the battles and fights for Israel. We say, “The battle belongs to God.” But how many times do we fight the battles with our own strength and wisdom? When the Israelites were circumcised and consecrated themselves, God did intervene and fight for them. It was God who knocked down the wall of Jericho and gave the city. It was God who stopped the sun and the moon for Israel. And it was God who hurled large hailstones and destroyed the enemies. The Israelites didn’t need to fight. God did it for them. Perhaps you might have heard a Haitian proverb, “Mountains beyond mountains.” It means as you solve one problem, another will present itself. So how can we fight “mountains beyond mountains” of challenges in life? We cannot. In fact, we don’t need to fight. Our part is to repent and fully rely on God. When we consecrate ourselves and trust in God, God works for us.

 

Back to Gilgal

The Israelites keep coming back to Gilgal, their spiritual base camp. They keep returning to Gilgal where they encountered “my God” for the first time. They keep returning to Gilgal to remember what the Lord has done for them, how he brought them into the Promised Land with his mighty hand, and how he did save them and fight for them. The word “Gilgal” sounds like the Hebrew for “rolled.” In Joshua 5:9 when the Israelites are circumcised, the Lord says to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So this place is called Gilgal since then. God wants us to come back to our Gilgal. God wants us to remember what he has done for us, how he saved us, how he raised us, how he healed us, how he was extremely patient with us who were ungrateful, and how he has helped us up to this point.

The Apostle Paul always remembered his Gilgal and kept coming back to this place. As he was preaching the gospel, he went through countless hardships. If he wanted, he could persuade people with words of human wisdom. But he said, “I resolved to know nothing (while I was with you) except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2), because he found his source of strength and hope in Christ alone. At the first opportunity he always preached Christ and him crucified. There were two particular occasions when Paul had a great opportunity to speak for himself – before the people of Israel (Acts 22) and before King Agrippa (26). But both times, he didn’t speak for himself to be released. Instead, he did bear witness to Christ whom he met on the way to Damascus. Damascus was Paul’s Gilgal. He revisited this place over and over again and remembered the first hour he believed.

 

Remember Ai

There was one single battle in which Israel was defeated. The battle of Ai was the only defeat of Israel. Why were the Israelites defeated? Achan took some of the things devoted to God. But that was not the only reason. The more significant reason is “pride” among the whole community of Israel. You see, as they were going to war, they said to Joshua, “Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there” (Joshua 7:3). Somehow they totally forgot how the city of Jericho was captured. They forgot how God did fight for them. And they thought, “I defeated Jericho. And I can do it again for the city of Ai.” They forgot their Gilgal. The moment they forgot, they were completely defeated. There is a power in remembrance.

 

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

At 2005 Standford commencement address Steve Jobs said, “Stay Hungary. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” For Christians, we may say, “Stay humble. Stay weak. Stay dependent on God. Keep coming back to Gilgal.”

Yesterday my family and I celebrated Lydia’s 14^th birthday. About 14 years ago, it was not long after Joyce and I came to the US. At that time we were strangers and foreigners in this country. We had no family, no money, nothing. We were living on a seminary campus. Every time the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays came, the school was empty. Only a few international students remained. Joyce was pregnant. We were lonely. All we had was God and the church family. Around that time, God put one particular hymn into our hearts. The song goes like this:

 

Since Christ my soul from sin set free,

This world has been a Heaven to me;

And ’mid earth’s sorrows and its woe,

’Tis Heaven my Jesus here to know.

 

O Hallelujah, yes, ’tis Heaven,

’Tis Heaven to know my sins forgiven;

On land or sea, what matters where?

Where Jesus is, ’tis Heaven there.

 

Yesterday we sang this song together. (During the offertory my family and I will sing this song.)

 

Let us go back to our Gilgal. New Year is a perfect time to do this. Now is the time to revisit our Gilgal and reexamine our relationship with Christ. Now is the time to put off our old self and consecrate ourselves. Now is the time to remember what Christ has done for us and restore our first love. May we stay hungry, stay foolish always.

 

 

“The Gift” (Isaiah 9:2-7)

 

Amazon Box

Do you recognize this box? Yes, it’s an Amazon box! Perhaps many of us received these boxes this past week. Every time a box comes to our home, it is a reminder that someone who lives far away in our family or from our friends is thinking of us and we are not alone. Or perhaps some of us have ordered gifts for our children or grandchildren, we had them come to our door, we put them under the Christmas tree, and we can’t wait for them to come and open those gifts on Christmas Day. It is a reminder that we are thinking of them and care for them.

The Gift

During the Christmas season, many of us exchange gifts. It is a reminder that God gave us the Gift. It is a reminder that God still gives us the Gift today.

Love came down at Christmas. Love came down today (tonight). The message of Christmas is this: “We are so lost, so dark, so unable to save ourselves, that nothing less than God himself could save us. So God came down. He came to our messy life and loved us just as we were. He became one of us. He became our sin. He lived to die to give us new life. And he invited us to be part of his family. He invited us to play an important role in his story. He showed all this great love for us, while we were still sinners.”

When we receive God’s gift, the Christ Child, our lives are transformed forever. At the first Christmas, Joseph’s life was changed, Mary’s life was changed, the shepherd’s lives were changed forever because they received the Christ Child, because they believed in the Christ Child. I still remember when I was wandering and walking in the dark in my college years. I knew I was lost, but I didn’t know what to do and where to start. I didn’t have strength to turn around. Although I tried hard to pull myself together, I just was not able to do it. But God was constantly pursuing me. He came to my broken and messy life. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” I was one of them. I saw the light, and my life was changed forever.

 

The Road

There are times when we wonder whether God cares for us. When we look around the world, we wonder whether God’s goodness prevails.

The Road is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy. The story begins with a father and his son who survive after the total destruction and end of the world. All plant life and animal life are extinct, only a few human survivors are left. The man and boy travel on a road to the coast, to the South, hoping that they can find safe haven. In their journey they encounter so many hardships and dangers. At the end of the story, they finally make it to the coast. But the father is fatally injured, dying. Because he is dying, he had planned to kill his son to protect him from greater suffering after he himself is gone. But when the time comes, he takes a leap of faith. He chooses to let his son live, trusting in the goodness of God—that somehow God will care for his son in spite of the horrific dangers of the world.[1]

On this Christmas Eve we are convinced that God’s goodness prevails. We are convinced that God’s light is greater than darkness. We are convinced that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from God’s love. Today (tonight) love came down.

 

Barbara’s Card

In early December I received a Christmas card from a 95-years-old former church member. Recently, she lost her husband after 69 years of marriage. She had heart surgery, knee surgery, hip surgery, and recently two teeth had to be pulled out. But still, in her card, she says, “I’m thankful that at 95 years of age I can remember at all and depend on and love my Lord. He sustains…” The other day I had a chance to talk to her on the phone. She said, “Pastor, I can’t imagine life without God and the church family. Every Monday morning six of us still get together. That keeps me going. God is good.”

One morning I was overwhelmed with the problems. I was almost paralyzed and unable to even to get out of bed. No strength, no desire to start the day. On that day my four-year-old daughter, Hannah, gave me this coloring paper that she had made at school. At that time she herself was having trouble adjusting to the school. The coloring paper simply said, “P is for Praying.” That moment I heard the inner voice saying, “Why worry? Why discouraged? You can pray!” That day she carried me out of bed and into life again. It’s God’s grace. It’s God’s light.

 

The Gift Is on the Way

Life is hard. But for those who received the Christ Child, they always carry the fire. We Christians always keep the light within us, and darkness can never extinguish it.

God’s gift (God’s presence, God’s reign, the Christ Child) is like a mustard seed. It’s like the life of a child. We can barely notice, barely see at first. But it grows and grows. It transforms us. In the meantime, we still suffer, we grieve, we die. But that’s not the end of the story.

Not only did God come down to be with us here on earth, but also he will take us his home. In Revelation 21-22, the Apostle John by the Spirit says this way: “Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with us, and we will be his people. God himself will be with us. He will wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain” (NLT).

At the first Christmas God gave the greatest gift to his people. On this Christmas Eve God still gives the greatest gift to us. So today, we hear and believe and proclaim this same Good News:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace… He will rule with justice and with righteousness from this time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will do this.”

May we receive God’s gift and believe in the Christ Child. May we come to him, abide in him, and walk with him always. Amen.   

 

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[1] Alan Noble, On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living (p. 102). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

“Christian Joy” (John 3:22-30)

Two Stories

In his sermon, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” Pastor John Piper shares two different stories with us.^[1] The first story goes like this. In his church two of the faithful church members, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards, who went to Cameroon as missionaries, had both been killed because of a car accident. Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. As people read this story in the paper, they said, “What a tragedy!” But no, that is not a tragedy. That is a glory. Then, Pastor John tells us the second story, what a tragedy is. He reads to us from the Reader’s Digest: “Bob and Penny… took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their thirty-foot trawler, playing softball and collecting shells.” Yes, there’s a time for relaxing and taking a vacation. But if the purpose of our life is the American Dream: a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, collecting shells, that’s a tragedy. If Bob and Penny’s life describes the last chapter of our life, what a tragic way to finish the last mile before entering the presence of Jesus who finished his last mile so differently. 

 

Two Joys

As we celebrate Jesus as our joy this morning, I want us to ask ourselves this question: “What is at the bottom of my joy?” “What is the feeder of my happiness?” All of our joys have a foundation. What does it mean by that? Let me give you an example. Once my daughter Grace said to me, “Dad, when I grow up, I want to be either pastor or teacher.” I said, “Great. But why do you want to be a pastor or teacher?” She said, “Because you teach and talk in front of many people, and they listen to you.” So I asked, “Why does that make you happy?” She replied, “Because you can tell them what to do and boss them around.” If we continue this “why – because” conversation, we get to the bottom of what makes us happy. At the bottom there are only two possibilities of our joy: making much of me, or making much of God. Self or God.

The default mode of human heart is self-centered, self-exalting, making much of self (cf. Jer 17:9). That’s why being “born again” is necessary. The new birth changes the default mode of our fallen heart. It changes the bottom of what makes us happy. It changes the foundation of our life.

 

Nicodemus

In John 3 we see a contrast between a person who has self at the bottom and a person who has God at the bottom – a contrast between Nicodemus and John the Baptist. But both of them have something in common: Their worlds are falling apart. They are going through a major crisis in their lives.

First, we meet Nicodemus. The Bible introduces Nicodemus as a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews (v. 1), the teacher of Israel (v. 9). In other words, he was serious about God. He was a good man, moral man. He was knowledgeable, experienced, respected, full of credentials. Seen from outside, he was a perfect example of how to live as God’s people. But in reality, Nicodemus’ inner world was falling apart. He felt miserable. He felt thirsty. He felt something was missing. Why? Because there was self at the bottom. Because self at the bottom could never satisfy his heart made for God. Blaise Pascal rightly said, “There is a God-shaped hole in the heart of every person which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”

So Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. And Jesus said to him, “You must be born again.” Here Jesus was saying, “Nicodemus, you need something new at the bottom. Now God is not at the bottom. You are at the bottom. You must exchange yourself at the bottom with God.” So, to be born again is to experience this exchange at the bottom – an exchanged life! It is no longer I at the bottom, but Christ is at the bottom.

 

John the Baptist

The second person we meet in John 3 is John the Baptist – the one who has God at the bottom of his joy. How do we know what’s at the bottom? Oftentimes, storms in life reveal what’s in there at the bottom. Right now John is going through a major crisis in his career. He was a rising star. Everyone in Israel was talking about him, and many of them came out to be baptized by him. But then, all of sudden a storm came. He saw his ministry begin to fade away as Jesus began his ministry. His disciples said, “Rabbi, your star is sinking. Your ministry is diminishing. All are going to Jesus, the one whom you testified. What are we going to do?” They were upset, anxious, jealous. But, John said to them, “I am not the Messiah. I am not the Bridegroom. I am the friend of the bridegroom, his ‘best man,’ who stands beside him and hears him, rejoicing greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30). So what’s at the bottom of his joy? Making much of Christ!

William Barclay tells us about the role of the bridegroom’s friend in Jesus’ time as follows[2]:

The “friend of the bridegroom” had a unique place at a Jewish wedding. He acted as the liaison between the bride and the bridegroom… And he had one special duty. It was his duty to guard the bridal chamber and to let no false lover in. He would only open the door when in the dark he heard the bridegroom’s voice and recognized it. When he heard the bridegroom’s voice he was glad and he let him in, and he went away rejoicing, for his task was completed.

The joy of the best man! The joy of making much of Christ, the Bridegroom! This is the new birth, new heart, new creation, new exchange! John the Baptist is new you, new me. When we are born again, myself being made much of ceases to be the bottom, and God becomes the bottom for the first time. God becomes the source of all our joys. Then, so naturally, we treasure him, savor him, enjoy making much of him!

 

Look to Jesus

Our Christian journey is a journey from making much of self to making much of God, a journey from a life of Nicodemus to a life of John the Baptist. It takes a miracle to change. We need the new birth. “How can this be?” “How can I be born again, born from above?” Nicodemus asked. And we ask today. Jesus answers, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (vv. 14-15). It is not enough to be educated. It is not enough to grow up in the church. It is not enough to do religious activity. We must look to Jesus, who gives a new foundation of joy.

Elizabeth Prentiss was a native of Maine. She was a pastor’s wife, and was very good at writing prose and poetry from a young age. But sadly, for much of her life she lived the life of a near invalid, she always suffered from chronic pain. To make things worse, she lost a child and shortly thereafter a second. In her diary Prentiss wrote, “Empty hands, a worn-out, exhausted body, and unutterable longings to flee from a world that has so many sharp experiences.” But it was then that she looked up to Jesus, and she was able to refocus her understanding of her own value and worth from doing to being – being with Christ, being in Christ. In the midst of grief and suffering, she found peace, rest, and joy[3]. That night she wrote the four stanzas of her hymn, and the second verse goes like this:

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;

Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best;

This all my prayer shall be:

More love, O Christ to Thee,

More love to Thee! More love to Thee!

 

John the Baptist became less and less. He was slipping off to the sidelines. Perhaps he struggled with self worth and purpose in life and questioned himself whether he was on the right track. Then he looked to Jesus. He saw Jesus exalted. And he was filled with joy and said to the whole world, “Look, look to Jesus, the Lamb of God! Look to Jesus, and you will live! Look to Jesus, and you will be filled with joy!”

In the same way, there are times when we wonder whether we are on the right track – especially when our health is failing, when our life is falling apart. But if Christ is exalted and glorified in and through our lives, we are on the right track. By this, we can rejoice. Yesterday I visited one of the church members who was going through the final hours. I was sitting at her bedside. All I could do was to help her to keep her eyes on Jesus. I visited another church member who recently lost his spouse, confused and overwhelmed with sorrow. I held his hand and prayed with him, encouraging him to look to Jesus, our exceeding joy (cf. Psalm 43:4).  

Looking to Jesus is not just the ABC of the Christian life but the A to Z of the Christian life. Everyone who looked to the snake on the pole lived. Everyone who looks up to Jesus on the cross lives. Nicodemus looked to Jesus and lived. John the Baptist looked to Jesus and lived. Let us look to Jesus – not just once, or twice. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus even when our world is falling apart. Then, Christ will become the bottom of our joy, and we will be filled with joy – joy of making much of Christ, saying, “More love, O Christ to Thee, More love to Thee!”

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[1] John Piper, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/boasting-only-in-the-cross/excerpts/don-t-waste-your-life

[2] Kent Hughes, John: That You May Believe (Crossway, 1990), 93.

[3] “History of Hymns: More Love to Thee, O Christ,” https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-more-love-to-thee-o-christ

"Peace Impossible" (Mark 1:1-8)

 

Whose Side Are You On?

“If you are a real Christian, it’s impossible for you to be a Democrat,” one devout Christian woman said to me.

Many Republicans and Democrats see people in the other political party as closed-minded, dishonest, immoral, unintelligent and lazy. In 2022, 72% of Republicans said Democrats were more immoral, and 63% of Democrats said the same about Republicans.[1]

One day Jesus is sitting at a well and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” In Jesus’ time, Jews and Samaritans did not associate with each other. The Samaritan woman had a binary worldview: “Whose side are you on? Are you in or are you out?”

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and saw a man standing before him with his sword in his hand. Joshua asked, “Are you for us, or for our enemies?” And the man said, “Neither, I have come as commander of the Lord’s Army” (Joshua 5:14). The natural tendency of humanity is an “either/or.” But Jesus’s is a “both/and” and a “neither/nor.” Jesus is neither conservative nor liberal, but he is also both. Pastor Tim Keller once said to young pastors, “For us preachers, the longer it takes people to figure out where we stand on politics, in all likelihood the more faithfully we are preaching Jesus.”[2]

One New Humanity

Once we had no peace with God. We were separated from God, we were hostile to God, we were out of it altogether. But Christ is our peace. Through the cross, he broke down the dividing wall of hostility. He made peace. And he made us one. He created one new humanity, new society, new community, that is, the Church, for us to taste and see God’s new reality – unity and peace.

 

The Church Is a Family

By Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, God gave birth to his church. Church is God’s idea. Church is God’s household. Church is family. God is our Father, and Jesus is our Brother. And we are all brothers and sisters. Let us think about the nature of family. We don’t get to choose our family. We don’t choose who will be our parents or siblings or uncles. Our family is chosen for us by God.

In the same way, we don’t choose our church family. We don’t choose one another. Instead, we are given to one another by our heavenly Father. Justin McRoberts says, “Being a Christian can sometimes feel like being in a family with a thousand drunk uncles.”[3] But we need to remember this: Like it or not, uncles are still our family. We don’t throw in the towel on the family. As members of God’s family, we are called to stick together through thick and thin.

The Church Is Not a Club

There is a significant difference between the church and a club. The club consists of “like-minded” people who have something in common – school, hometown, interest, age, politics, or jobs. The club members are kind of “natural friends.” So those who have different perspectives, cultures, and experiences find it difficult to be part of it. But the church is different. By design, God created the church to be made up of “natural enemies” we don’t naturally enjoy. D. A. Carson writes in his book, Love in Hard Places this way[4]:

[The church] is made up of natural enemies. What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together, not because they form a natural collocation, but because they have all been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him a common allegiance… In this light, they are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake.

I think Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham showed us a great example of loving natural enemies. They both came from very different backgrounds in terms of their theology, their culture, their experience. However, they saw amazingly positive things in each other’s ministry and expressed their appreciation to each other. This is back in the 50’s and 60’s when racial tensions ran high. Once Graham said to Martin Luther King, “I will stay in the stadium and make them integrated. And you go ahead on the street and do your thing.” Graham was well known for integrating his ministry and insisting on integrated crowds at many of his rallies. In his later years, but still Graham lamented, wishing he’d done more for the cause of racial equality. And he publicly repented and asked for forgiveness, even though he had done so much. While Graham and MLK were in Latin America together on a mission, Dr. King said, “Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been.”

If we are united because we are natural friends, we are not necessarily called “church.” But if we are united because we are family washed by the blood of Jesus Christ no matter what the differences, we are the church.

 

Prepare the Way

The local church is the classroom for learning how to get along in God’s family. The local church is the classroom where we can grow and become more like Christ.

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain” (Isaiah 40:3-5). Here the Prophet Isaiah by the Spirit is describing the natural state of the human heart. It’s uneven, crooked, ups and downs, rocky, rough, closed. So the very first step to prepare the coming of Christ is to repent – to fill in the valleys, smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks in our hearts.

Living a life together in the church community can help us to prepare the way and make the path of the heart straight and smooth, a highway for God. Especially, those who are different people, and difficult people are actually a gift from God. They are like a mirror, that shows our reality – how selfish, how loveless, how unforgiving we are. As we learn how to get along with them, practicing forgiveness and compassion, we become a person whose heart is filled with Christ’s love.

 

Our God Is Able

There is a gap between God’s reality and our reality. If we look around, it seems impossible to have unity and peace even in the church. But our God is able. When everything seems hopeless, John the Baptist proclaims, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:7-8).

Is anything too hard for God? With God nothing is impossible. The other day one of my mentors shared his faith journey with me. A few years ago, he went through life threatening crisis. He was very sick and on the verge of death. But miraculously he was recovered and given a second chance at life. He said, “Because of that experience, I changed from conservative to real Christian.”

If we focus on difficult people, difficult problems, difficult issues, debates will be endless, and the church will be divided. But if we focus on Jesus, exalting him, we will be united. From day one my prayer for our church is to be known as the “most loving place in town.” Being loving is more important than being right. Let us always ask ourselves, “What is the most loving thing I can do in this situation?” “How can I love my natural enemies?” Let us make every effort to keep the unity of the church by the power of the Spirit. The One who began a good work among us will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

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[1] "As Partisan Hostility Grows, Signs of Frustration With the Two-Party System," Pew Research Center, August 9, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/08/09/as-partisan-hostility-grows-signs-of-frustration-with-the-two-party-system/, quoted in “Transcending Toxic Polarization,” Mathew59.org.

[2] Scott Sauls, Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides (p. 4). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

[3] Ibid., 50.

[4] Ibid., 54.