| Andrew's profileAndrew spacePhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
11/30/2007 List of postings: Sept '07 to Nov '07I am often asked about what I think about the future of Chinese churches in the next few generations - and so this quarter featured my response to that important question (29 Oct). Another issue that seems to keep coming up is the often strained relationships ABC Christians have with their parents, whether they be Christian or non Christian parents. And so there are a series of posts on that issue (01, 04, 07 and 26 Oct, and 29 Nov) - check them out and share them with others!
October 2007
November 2007
[ PS: during this period which were your favourite posts? which did you feel strongly about? ] 11/29/2007 Reaching out to your non Christian parentsThey might have been keen for you to go to church earlier on, but now they're not so sure, because you're taking it far too seriously. They hoped that you'd learn some good morals and manners at church - but you've become really serious about Christianity - much too serious for their liking!
Or they were against you becoming a Christian from the very begining. They were horrified when you started going to church, and have put every obstacle in your way ever since.
Opposition from non Christian parents can come in various forms. They give you a hard time every time you want to go to church or Bible study. They even schedule family events to purposely clash with church events so as to force you to choose between family and God. They may even forbid you to go to Bible study, and will most certainly point out all your faults as being hypocritical. "Aha", they say with delight, "is that what good Christians do?"
Sharing the gospel with your parents can be very hard, but there are three important things you must realise.
Firstly, there is a reason why parents find it hard to hear the gospel from you - and that's because you are their child. You are younger than them - and you always will be. They can remember you drawing on walls and biting the furniture. And now you want to tell them which God is real? You want to tell them that the stuff they've been believing all along is completely wrong? Well of course you want to tell them these things - and it's for their own good. But they will find it impossibly hard to listen, for the simple fact that you are their child, and they are not disposed to learn such things from their child. Imagine for a moment that roles are reversed - and your own child is telling you how it is. You would probably also find it hard to believe your child knows better than you!
Secondly, does this mean that it's completely hopeless? No. Because while they will be ill-disposed to hear the gospel from you, they will hear it much better from someone their own age and life-stage. And this is simply how natural relationships work - they are much more likely to listen to their own peers. But how can you transform yourself from being a child, to being a 50-year old person? The answer is that you can't. However, chances are that there are others in your church (maybe even your congregation) that are already at the same age and life-stage as your own non Christian parents.
That's right, the parents and adults in your service are exactly the thing you need to witness to your non Christian parents. And what you (and your church) needs to recognise is that you aren't the only one who reaches out to your parents - instead your church as a whole should be reaching out to your parents. And so what you and your church needs to do is to mobilise the parents and adults in your church / congregation in reaching out to your parents.
How can you do this? If Jon, your good friend at church has Christian parents, why not drop hints to see if your parents would like to come over to meet your friend Jon - and Jon's parents. And as they meet Jon's parents they see that Christian's aren't strange and immature - they are in fact people just like them. And as they build relationships they can hear the gospel explained to them by someone their own age, and their own life-stage.
That's a non-institutionalised way of doing it, but there are other ways that you could formalise it as well. You could make a point of finding out about events that the Cantonese side is running, and telling your parents about them. You could encourage your pastor or older people in your congregation to catch the vision of reaching out to the non Chrsitian parents of youth. But even if they don't go for it - you could still do things on the small scale, like I described.
Thirdly, does that mean that there's nothing for you to do but sit back and watch? No. You play an important part in the process, by witnessing to your parents, showing them what Christians are like in day-to-day life. Jon's parents can explain to them what Christianity's all about, but they can't hang around to live out the Christian life for your parents - only you can do that. And as you make work at being godly at home, as you make gospel-driven decisions, as you repent from your sin, you are witnessing to your parents.
This doesn't mean that you have to be perfect at home - for no Christian will be perfect. And in fact, that's not what a Christian is in the first place! Instead you are showing to them that a Christian is a sinner who has been forgiven, and is growing in godliness. They may still make sarcastic and hurtful comments when they catch you at your worst (and we are all at our worst at home). But if you are turning from your sins, and seeking to walk in righteousness, they will notice.
So that's how to reach out to your non Christian parents. Don't think you can do it all by yourself - make use of your older brothers and sisters at church! And make sure you play your part well - the part that only you can play!
[ PS: ...and Chinese parents do become Christians! ] 11/28/2007 Looking back on your ministry yearBut as each of us looks back on the year, with our different experiences, perspectives, and responsibilities, it's almost certain that even in the same ministry team, different people will all be feeling slightly different things...
When psychologists talk about the emotions, they talk about something called the primary emotions. The five primary emotions you can have are: happiness, sadness, fear, anger and feeling 'bad' (see diagram). Just like you have primary colours, which you mix together to get other colours, so too do you have primary emotions, basic emotions, and other emotions tend to be combinations of, or variations in intensity of these basic primary emotions - but they are all built on these primary emotions.
And so as you look back on the ministry year, you might feel one or more of these different emotions inside of you. What can we say pastorally about these different feelings?
[ PS: be aware that different psychologists will identify slightly different primary emotions! ] 11/20/2007 Different kinds of prophetsMost people divide up the prophets into the major prophets (by which they mean the big ones), and the minor prophets (by which they mean the rest of them). But that's an entirely unhelpful division. A much better way is to consider that there are in fact four different kinds of prophets:
And I have been summarising the message of each of those different category of prophets using a series of diagrams...
This first one represents the former prophets, like Elijah and Elisha. They went around and warned the kings of Israel that they were heading the wrong way, and that if they did not repent, God would bring judgment on them.
Their message could be summarised as, "Watch out!" In the diagram you see them projecting a message of judgment (red) into the distant future.
The eighth century prophets spoke to Israel in the period before they were attacked by Assyria in 720 BC (eg. Amos and Hosea), and then to Judah before they were attacked by Babylon in 587 BC (eg. Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah and Habakkuk). Their message was primarily one about judgment (red) - they announced that it was now too late. His people had been unfaithful to the covenant, and had triggered the covenant curses (Leviticus, Deuteronomy). God had already decided to pour out his judgment on his people, and it was coming soon. So their message was: "Too late!"
And yet at the same time they also begin to hold out a tiny ray of hope for the distant future, on the other side of judgment (yellow). They promise that there would one day be a faithful remnant, a new temple, a new king...
The exilic prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel wrote just prior to, and during the early stages of Judah being conquered and taken off into exile by the Babylonians. They are right now standing in the midst of judgment (red). And so these exilic prophets interpret their current experience for God's people. It wasn't that God was weaker than the Babylonian gods, it wasn't that there was some horrible mistake - they confirm that this was in fact God's own doing.
However they also confirm that there will be a restoration on the other side of judgment (yellow). They hold out a future hope of incredible restoration - a glorious and new temple, a new king just like David, hearts of flesh given instead of hearts of stone. And so their message was: "Have faith!"
The Babylonian empire was conquered by the Persians - and the policy of the Persians was to send exiles back to their land. And so after 50 years of exile, God's people were able to return to the land and rebuild it - but the return wasn't anywhere as wonderful as they had imagined. Where was the glorious restoration they had expected? Yes, they were physically back from exile (red), but theologically the exile hadn't yet ended.
And so the post exilic prophets like Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi wrote to these returnees to encourage them to remain faithful to the Lord in the present (pink). This meant getting on with rebuilding the temple, priests doing their job well, people offering unblemished sacrifices. And they pointed God's people on to the future hope (yellow). God had not given up on his people, so their message was: "Keep having faith!"
Some of the prophets are quite large, and it's easy to get bogged down in them. And so having a big-picture view of what each of the different kinds of prophets are saying will help you to know where your passage fits in the overall structure of that prophet's message.
[ PS: you can get the talks and powerpoints for the talks at the ND website here (look for November 2007)... ] 11/17/2007 Christians and alcoholAlcohol features highly in Australian celebrations. And as we approach the end of the working year, the start of office parties and even schoolies, you may find an alcoholic beverage thrust into our hands. What then does the Bible say about alcohol?
The Bible on the good of wine
Historians tell us that wine in the Old Testament was fermented grape juice, and was drunk undiluted. Wine mingled with water was seen as spoiled. Herbs and spices could be added to wine to make them highly intoxicating. Certain additions could also make wine stupefying. During the Maccabean period, the use of diluted wines became much more commonplace
The Bible tells us that alcohol is part of God's good gift to us, and the Psalmists even give thanks to God for the gift of wine (Psalm 104):
The consumption of wine is depicted in a whole range of both normal and celebratory incidents such as Genesis 14:18 (a show of hospitality), 27:25 (a family meal), Judges 19:19 (normal part of travel provisions). 2 Samuel 16:2 also tells us that wine was normally used refresh people. Wine even features in the interaction between God and humans through the sacrificial system (Leviticus 23:13, Num 15:5,7,10).
Wine is also used as a metaphor to describe what the inheritance God's faithful people will be like (Gen 27:28, Deut 7:13, 11:14, 33:28, Prov 3:9-10).
The Bible on the abuse of wine
However the Bible also shows that this is one way in which God's good creation can be abused by humans. As early as Genesis 9:21, the Bible recounts an instance of drunkenness. In 1 Samuel 1:14-15, Hannah is encouraged to give up wine, because Eli thinks she is drunk.
Furthermore the inebriated state is used as a metaphor for God's judgment (Psalm 60:2-3, 75:8). And the destructive potential of wine is aptly illustrated in the following lines from Proverbs 23:
Drunkenness illustrates a love of wine, of being controlled in first place by wine, and not by God! This leads to a life of foolishness, as opposed to a life of wisdom (Proverbs 21:17).
Wine is also spoken of as leading to a lack of clarity of decision making. A drunk man is easier to convince to do something immoral, and we see an instance of that in Genesis 19. Wine (and beer), when abused, can lead people astray (Prov 20:1). Proverbs also warns against spending time with drunkards, as in Proverbs 23:20-21. It also appears that those who are in important decision making capacities should avoid wine so as not to cloud their judgment - the Levites (Leviticus 10:9), and famously King Lemuel (Proverbs 31:4-7) are instructed to avoid wine for this reason. The king who wishes to be wise, and rule with justice is warned not to drink wine as they have to rule. This is not that wine is bad, but that it is inappropriate for one who has to judge.
Therefore wine itself is seen to be a good gift of God, finding many positive uses in society. However, the Bible condemns drunkenness as being a foolish thing to do, and warns about its use by those who must make important decisions. It may be helpful to think of alcohol as being much like money – also a gift of God, but which people can also foolishly love, and so end up hurting themselves (1 Tim 6). As Christians we are to be controlled by God - and must be careful not to give up control of ourselves to a three-dollar drink.
Addiction and the law
In today's world, we must also take into account a range of other considerations.
Firstly, there are those Christians who have scruples about alcohol, and who incorrectly believe that it is a wrong thing for Christians to drink (as opposed to being drunk). We would want these Christians to grow in their understanding in these matters, but not put them in a position where they were expected to 'accept' alcohol before they are ready. Thus Christians should talk frankly and openly about alcohol - but be careful not to lead their weaker brother to places they are not ready to go.
Secondly, there are those in our society who are addicted to alcohol, and those who are recovering alcoholics. These people and their families are in danger, and it would be unloving to place them in situations of greater temptation. If we drink alcohol, we must therefore be careful around whom we drink.
And thirdly, there are those who, by law, are prohibited from drinking (in particular those who are under age, and those who are driving with P plates). Such people are to obey the government in these matters, and should not be tempted to drink.
[ PS: plus, most Asians turn an embarrasing shade of red... ] 11/15/2007 Why you should bother with the prophetsFor most of us the prophets are the black hole of the Bible.
See, we probably know our New Testaments really well. And if you've been to Sunday School as a kid you'll probably also have a good memory of the first half of the Old Testament - stories about Abraham and Noah, about Joshua and David and Gideon and Samson - you would at least know about those stories.
But for most of us the prophets are like a black hole - we're pretty fuzzy about who all these prophets are. We don't really know what they have to say to us. And I suspect for many of us we struggle to say how these prophets relate to us today.
But relate to us they do - because they point forward in expectation to the Lord Jesus Christ. They describe what it is that he will one day come to do, and in consequence, they can inform our faith. Now the prophets aren't going to tell us something completely different from what we already know in the New Testament - you'd be very worried if that were the case! But they will give us a deepend, strengthened understanding of our faith.
Now I know that some of us are already thinking that it's too much trouble. We already have our salvation, and that's good enough for us, we don't want to now have to bother with the prophets - and that's because we're pragmatic Chinese!
But let me put it this way: do you find yourself lacking in spiritual passion? Do you find yourself not moved by the gospel itself? Are you spiritually stale and dry?
Because if that is you then you will be surprised to know that the prescription for that is actually to go back to these Old Testament prophets.
And you're thinking: "how can this be, the prophets are the most boring of books in the whole of the Bible. You're telling me that's meant to give me back my spiritual passion?"
And the answer is: yes, that's exactly what they do for us. They help us understand the gospel not just in its New Testament clothes, but in all its glory. In the rich and lavish clothing given to it by the Old Testament prophets.
See the New Testament tells us that Jesus is our king - and we think: "huh, OK that's nice". But the Old Testament prophets flesh this out for us - Ezekiel actually describes how oppressive it was to have bad kings, and how wonderful it would be one day when God's king would arrive - someone who will lead God's people with justice and truth!
The New Testament tells us that Jesus is our sacrifice - and we think: "nice, that's very nice". But the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah gives that to us in full on Technicolor - describing for us vividly what things that sacrifice would one day bear for you and I.
See you and I, we can get by with just the New Testament. But really, our spiritual lives suffer, and whimper and wheeze along because it doesn't have the muscle that the Old Testament prophets give to the gospel.
Do you want to be spiritually fresh? Do you long for a passionate spiritual life? Are you perhaps in danger of thinking that the gospel itself is just not good enough, that you need something more, some greater blessing beyond the gospel?
Well if that is you, then what you really need, is to come to know the gospel in all its richness, in all its strength and majesty. And with that you can be passionate even in the darkest prison. The prophets like Zechariah, Ezekiel and Isaiah adorn the gospel with rich and heavy and bold colours that engage our affections.
If you have been avoiding the prophets, let me encourage you to not be afraid, but to get into them!
[ PS: we are currently going through an overview series of the prophets at ND... ] 11/6/2007 Programs vs. relationshipsMany churches make the mistake of putting the emphasis on programs and events - rather than on relationships. As a result, people tend to feel overwhelmed, busy, and burnt out from all the events they have to attend, and all the programs they have to run. And significantly, they find that with all these programs and events, they never really connect with other people - it leaves them too busy for actual relationships with other people at church.
And all the while, they think they are doing the right thing - because they have lots of programs in place!
Compare that to the refreshment and challenge that can sometimes come through a conversation with a brother or sister. As your brother or sister in Christ gently and incicively reminds you of the promises of the Bible, over a simple cup of coffee.
No programs - just two people doing simple ministry in the context of relationship.
Now this doesn't mean that we should abandon programs and events... programs are useful. It's just that programs should serve relationships, not detract from them. They should be the catalyst, the meeting point for relationships to happen. And in the context of those relationships, we serve one another with the gospel.
So is your ministry about serving programs? are events at the centre of things? Or do the programs and events really serve us as we minister to one another in relationships?
[ PS: sometimes there are other reasons for us not focussing on relationships - such as our prioritisation of career or study... ] 11/4/2007 Planning your prayerFor many of us, prayer is something we know we should do more of, but we find hard to do. We're aware that there are hundreds of things worth praying for - but very rarely will they make their way into our actual prayers. However, it's not a difficult thing to plan your prayer life - as long as you remember two things...
Firstly, keep it simple. When people set out to plan their prayer lives, they often make the mistake of designing an elaborate, all-singing, all-dancing system that contains everything, incorporates a card system, and is maybe synchronised to their PDA ... but then lasts for two days before being too hard!
The trick is to keep it simple - so that on Monday you are praying for this, Tuesday you are praying for that, and so on. You may not be covering everything, but at least it won't take a lot of effort to maintain - giving it a better chance of life.
Secondly, keep it memorable. If you can't easily remember what you should be praying about on Tuesday, or Saturday, then your system is too complicated. Just by knowing what day it is, should be all you need to know what to pray about. Otherwise, simply not knowing what to pray about will become the excuse to put off prayer for that day - and perhaps spell the end of your prayer plan.
So for example if you have a leaders' meeting every Wednesday night, pray for something related on Wednesday night - perhaps for church leaders, or your pastors. If you have a Bible study on Friday nights, pray for your group on Fridays. If you find yourself on a train going to work on Monday mornings - pray for your witness to your colleagues at work... By linking your prayer plan with things in your weekly schedule, you'll easily remember what to pray about.
So there you have it - keep it simple, keep it memorable.
[ PS: give it a go! ] 11/2/2007 Reformation braveryThe 31st of October is remembered by most people as Halloween. However for those who know, it's actually Reformation Day - on 31st October 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Thesis on the church door of Wittenburg Castle. That was an event protesting the sale of indulgences, and sparked off what is now known as the Continental Reformation.
In preparing something to share with our leaders on Reformation Day, I came across this painting depicting the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
The Reformation had spread from Germany across Europe, as people rediscovered the precious message of the gospel. In France, the protestants were known as Huguenots. But in August and September of 1572 Catholics in Paris began murdering Huguenots in their thousands. They began with murdering the leadership, and continued by killing whole families of everyday Huguenots in the streets of Paris. Some were spared if they converted back to Roman Catholicism. But by the end tens of thousands - some report hundreds of thousands - of everyday protestants were killed for their faith by their fellow countrymen.
Later on a wholesale amnesty was proclaimed to protect those who participated in the killing. The Pope of the day commissioned a medal to commemorate the event, and a special day to celebrate the massacre - the 11th of September - the other 9/11!
Of course there were protestants in other countries as well who lost their lives for the sake of the gospel. When Queen Mary took the throne in England, she tolerated protestants for a while - but then began persecuting them. This woodcut depicts the burning of Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer in 1555.
Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, and Hugh Latimer were a few of the hundreds who were burnt at the stake for being protestants. As the fire was lit, Latimer encouraged Ridley with these words: "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out."
Shocked by the ferocity of the Marian Counter-Revolution, England returned to protestantism when Queen Elizabeth came to the throne just three years later.
Not only did the Reformation recover the gospel of justification by faith alone, it also gave us examples of men and women who boldly stood for the truth of the gospel - even if it meant giving their very lives.
[ PS: want to learn more about Reformation church history? Moore College has an excellent PTC subject on that. Why not sign up for the start of the December term? ] |
|
|
