Acts 4:36-5:4

It seems clear that not everyone did as Barnabas did.  What would have been a healthy way to respond to his act of radical generosity on the part of someone in the church who was not as generous as Barnabas?

What Joseph of Cyprus did was different, and that is probably why the apostles would give him a special name to him like “Barnabas” – “Son of Encouragement.”  A healthy way to respond to his act of radical generosity by those who were not as generous would have been to simply, and humbly, strive to learn and imitate his example.

However, unfortunately, not only in Barnabas’ days, but even in current days, when people see radical acts of service to God among Christians – in areas of financial generosity, completely sold out devotion to His work and His church, love and care for each other – people (including sometimes other Christians) do not have a healthy response.  In fact, many people criticize saying that it is too much and that the devotion to God and declare that such acts of generosity and sacrifice is (ironically!) unhealthy.

In deciding to deceive the church, what was Ananias and Sapphira’s approach to church life, and their view of the church?

In deciding to deceive the church, Ananias and Sapphira approached the church as a “marketplace”, like in John 2, where people were buying and selling goods.  For Ananias and Sapphira, their currency of this “marketplace” was respect and esteem in the eyes of the believers which was gained illegitimately.

The tragedy of all this is that they didn’t have to lie about the money that they kept in the first place.  They were already generous in what they did give, and it wasn’t like God would not accept any money unless the whole thing from sales of the land came to him, as it states in 2 Cor. 8:12:  “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.”  Even as Apostle Peter would say, “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold?  And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?”  (Acts 5:4)  For them to sell the land was of their own initiative, and for them to keep the money was also their own initiative.  The problem was, they didn’t want to look like they were less generous than Barnabas.  They could have simply and humbly said, “We are not like Barnabas, although we sold the land, we don’t think we can donate the whole proceeds from it.  But we would like to still give what we can according to our current measure of faith.”

But the problem was that they chose to deceive people, and in the process, it exposed some detrimental things regarding their view of the church:

The church is just a “marketplace” and in a marketplace, you do whatever you can to have people “buy your goods”, even if it’s through deceitful means by making them think that what they are buying is more than what it actually is. They were treating church not as the holy temple of the living God, but as a place to gain something for themselves, and by using illegitimate and deceitful means.  They made people in the church “buy into” where they were spiritually, which was a fabrication and a lie.

It’s all about people and appearances, what they buy into about you, and not the truth – in the process, they ignored the presence of the Holy and living God, who cannot be lied to.  “You have not lied to men but to God.”  (Acts 5:4)

The church is a means to an end. And that end, which should have been to glorify Christ, was not their end.  Their end was to gain respect and esteem of people and create a false image of themselves to others.  It was to probably gain a legitimate and active participation in such a dynamic community without really giving their all as others were freely doing in selling their goods and possessions and sharing with one another.  They found that kind of commitment beyond their ability and desires, but still wanted to “fit in” and be seen as a part of this kind of dynamic community’s inner circle, so they chose to use deceitful means.

What lesson is there in this text about the qualities needed to enjoy the blessing of a genuine Christian community?

The biggest qualities that stand out to me regarding what I personally need to have in myself to enjoy the blessing of a genuine Christian community is honesty and humility.  Honesty to say where I am exactly in my relationship with God and in my faith, and the humility to accept that this before others and myself that this is where I am, and being to acknowledge that others are more mature, more dedicated, and more able to serve than I am.

Ephesians 4:11-13 “ ¹¹ It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹² to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

I think about my own life and how for the first several years, I was miserable in this body of Christ because I wasn’t humble and honest.  I was, like the Korean proverb says, “A mouse starving in a rice barn”.  Here I was, surrounded by the blessings of a genuine Christian community, but I couldn’t enjoy it because I was so filled with jealousy and envy towards others’ gifts and faith.  Meanwhile, my pride prevented me from humbly accepting where I was and just acknowledging this is where I was in relation to others.  Therefore, I couldn’t freely accept or enjoy people’s love or my place in this body of Christ.  It was only when I was finally humbled before God’s truth that I was able to finally say that I am just so thankful to be part of God’s family despite the wretched sinner that I am.  My confession became like that of the Psalmist in Psalm 84:10

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.

What did the early church prioritize? The early church prioritized “the apostles’ teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”  In sum, they prioritized studying God’s Word, praying and building genuine relationship with other believers.

• What was their schedule? Daily they met together in the temple courts and ate together in their homes.
• How did they relate to one another? They related to one another as family members would:  they were together, had everything in common, shared everything they had, met the needs of others by selling their possessions and goods because no one was possessive about their possessions.  This was all possible because they were one in heart and mind.
• What words in the text describe the feel of the culture of the early church? The following words describe the feel of the culture of the early church:  devoted, together, every day, broke bread in their homes, one in heart and mind, shared everything, no needy person among them, filled with awe, with great power, much grace.
• What must it have been like to be a member of this church? As a member of the early church, they were always together and took ownership over other people’s lives. There was daily gathering to hear the Apostles’ teaching and daily sharing of meals with one another.  Everyone’s life must have been wide open in order for people to know the needs of one another.  Each member claimed other member’s life.  They shared everything.  Sharing is only possible when there is genuine love and when someone takes ownership of someone’s life.
• What aspects of belonging to such a community would have been difficult for some people, and why? By belonging to such a community, the following aspects would have been difficult for some people:

• Lack of privacy/personal space:  “all the believers were together”
• No room for personal preferences:  “had everything in common”
• No room for possessiveness or selfishness:  “no one claimed that any of this possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had”
• No room for straddling the fence between the world and the church:  “all the believers were one in heart and mind”; “they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

For anyone who had a grip on desire for privacy/personal space, personal preferences, or possessiveness, he/she would have had a difficult time where individualistic wants cannot coexist with communal demands to build a genuine community.  A person not being one in heart and mind but desiring the benefits of the community would also have a really difficult time belonging to such a community.  That person would not understand why he/she had to live like that and would consider personal sacrifices too big of a price to pay by not understanding why God desires for us to live in a community.

• Consider Acts 2:47 along with this passage from Deuteronomy from a previous DT text:

Deuteronomy 4:5–6

⁵ See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. ⁶ Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

What is the role of a properly functioning Christian community in God’s salvation plan for mankind? The role of a properly functioning Christian community is to showcase how great our God is through the way we live out our lives in obedience to God’s laws, principles & values and to win the favor of “all the people” or nations as they recognize that God’s way of life is the wisest and the only way to live.  The Christian community must function like a magnet to the world by drawing their interest and curiosity by the radically different way that we live as we adhere to God’s laws and values.

Application

How does today’s text apply to you?

Through today’s devotion text, I recommit myself before God to build “Acts 2” church at Davis as I live out a life of obedience and sacrifice.  The church is God’s idea and design for salvation plan.  We are not just born into a spiritual life but born into the church where God will use the members of the body to be nurtured, loved, trained in righteousness and holiness, and equipped to do God’s good work.  God’s salvation plan for mankind is to use the church, the believers as one body, to bring the message of the gospel to the world.  As the world sees the Christian community living so drastically different from this world, they will recognize the source of such power–God Himself.

The word “together” captivates my heart from Acts 2 and the phrase “one in heart and mind” from Acts 4.  I am designed by God to do life “together” with my fellow believers on a daily basis as we become “one in heart and mind” in our view of God, ourselves, the temporal world we live in, godly values that we need to uphold as long as we are in this world, and eternity that we will have with God and with other believers.    Being “together” necessitates letting go of my personal schedule/agenda or my list of things that I want to accomplish for each day, my personal preferences of how I want things to be done or when I wanted it to be done.  Becoming “one in heart and mind” is not something that happens naturally or by default.  It is only possible when I let go of the desires and stubbornness of my own heart and mind and I align my heart with God’s heart and my thoughts with God’s thoughts.  This is too difficult to do it on my own because naturally I am deluded, rebellious and utterly self-centered.  I need my spiritual leaders and spiritual peers to hold up the mirror for me when I am misaligned, to strengthen me when I am weak, and to set me straight when I am not in my right state of mind.  God being a communal God created us to be “devoted” to His teachings (the Word) and to the fellowship with other believers, my sisters and brothers in Christ.  Through our devotion to God’s Word and to God’s people, the world will see the marked difference between the church and any other community in this world.    Unless the church obeys God’s plan for the church, rather than being the conduit of the Gospel we become a hindrance to the Gospel that the world desperately needs.

Mark 3:31-35

In the Mark text, Jesus draws new lines around the idea of “family”.  What is Jesus expressing here about the ties that bond a human family, and the bond among his disciples?

Jesus is saying that the bond he has with his disciples is even stronger than the bond of a human family. He says that whoever does God’s will is his brother and sister and mother.

How is this reordering of human relationships around Jesus consistent with the Gospel?

If a relationship with God the Father is the most important relationship someone can have, it makes sense that those who are also sons of God the Father are those that you will align yourself with, share your life with, be accountable to, and love with concrete loyalty and sacrifice.

For whom would this redrawing of the boundary of family be comforting news?  For whom would it be unwelcome?

This would be comforting for those who have known a broken family, in which instead of love and security, there was strife and anger and hurt; who know that even family, who are supposed to be the ones to love and protect you, can let you down. For those even with a good family background, who know their sinfulness, their tendencies to want to indulge in the coziness and comfort of just a nuclear family, who know that even these good things and relationships can become a curse and idol when not submitted under the lordship of Christ, and who know that they need the church, people to be accountable to with their struggles, so that they could even build up their family to honor and glorify God in the way that it was meant to by being truly a place of love and peace and forgiveness, through which an open home and family could also draw others to experience the love of God – they would also welcome this. This would be unwelcome news for those who want to make their own circle of their nuclear family the center of their lives, even at the expense of doing God’s will and opening up their lives to be in open community with those outside just their own nuclear family.

I’ve always dreamed of having the perfect family, and for some time, I strove after this as the thing that would give me happiness. But when I surrendered my life to Christ, it was through the realization that because I was a sinner, whatever beautiful thing God gave me, if God was not the Lord over it, in my own sin and pride, I would end up ruining it and sabotaging it, and needed God to save me from myself. Without the commitment and love of my church family, who love me and are committed to me, to raise me in Christ, with whom I share a calling and vision to live out God’s will, I can only shudder to think of how my life, and even my family, would look, when I am not striving daily to obey God’s will with the encouragement, love and guidance of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Because of this, and because I know I am a sinner, and need God every moment, I welcome this redrawing of the boundary lines of family, because it’s not just me and my nuclear family left to fend for ourselves in this world on our own strength that quickly runs dry, but because of the thrill and joy of doing God’s will together with His church, I can experience “a hundred times as much in this present age” (Mark 10), even in terms of family, with hundreds of brothers and sisters in Jesus, and be able to raise my own family according to God’s perfect design when I am striving to do His will.

Submitted by Grace Kim, Gracepoint Berkeley

Consider the picture of the tribes encamped in close proximity around the tabernacle, and what kind of life this would have fostered.
By living in this kind of close proximity to the tabernacle & to one another, they would have fostered close communities that provided care, encouragement, as well as accountability and protection for one another. Because they lived so close to each other, they would have seen each other often, be in & out of one another’s homes, and people’s needs would be known & met. Because they all serve the same God & have the common purpose of living out his commands, they would also have provided tremendous encouragement for one another to continue to live according to His ways. Furthermore, I picture the members of the community providing accountability as well as a hedge of protection from temptation to stray, to serve other gods, & fall prey to their personal weaknesses/sins.

Once the Israelites settled in the promised land, how might life have changed if the regulations in leviticus 25 were not in place?
If the regulations in Leviticus 25 were not set in place, the tight-knit communities would not be able to form nor maintained. When a countryman becomes poor & has to sell his land, then to relocate, he would be removed from the community that he was once part of, and as more and more people were moving out & new tenants moving in, close community life would virtually be impossible.

What are some modern day factors that militate against the picture of life envisioned in these passages?
Some modern day factors that militate against the picture of life envisioned in these passages are:
a. People living in different cities, far from church & from one another
b. People moving to different cities and places because of great academic and career opportunities
c. People church hoping for year, or not able to settle or commit to one
d. People having different picture/vision of the church (unbiblical) or people coming to church w/ their own personal agendas.

I have also seen people who have been going to church for years, but never growing into the community God envisions because they are not honest or don’t open up, and they live in isolation in their own thoughts and feelings. this goes along with hidden sins that were not confessed.

Consider the process by which concepts – including spiritual truths become lived-out realities. what concrete elements are required for this to happen? I consider the process by which concepts & spiritual truths become lived out realities this way:
1) Getting to know and familiarizing with one another
2) Get to a level of honesty & trust through seeing one another’s lives and doing life together
3) Be able to fix and speak truth in love to one another
-To fix/correct one’s wrong/unbiblical thinking
-To encourage those who are down with the truths of god’s promises & love
-To turn someone away from sin & a destructive path

4) “Sticking it out”, through the ups and downs, hard, confused, spiritually dry times.
In sum, the concrete elements required for spiritual concepts to be lived out would be investment of time and in relationships, honesty & truth, and accountability/encouragement under the same vision of doing God’s will.

*What would it look like for a modern Christian to order his or her life according to the layout of Numbers 2?
-Living close to church & to one another
-Living among the same people of God over time
-Living under the same purpose of obeying God’s commands
-Living in trusting and close relationship with others

How does this apply to me?
Thinking about the vital necessity of a spiritual community in order for spiritual concepts/values to be lived out, and the process through which this happens reminded me of what the panelists were talking about yesterday at the Do the Right Thing forum. Their answer to whether we can actually do the right thing that we know was the church, a close knit-community that can strengthen one another to do the right thing together. The secular individualistic world that we live in goes against the formation and sustenance of a strong biblical community and I see how it will require me to equip my mind to think biblically as I live out my life in the context of the community that I live in. I need to ensure the vital elements of what makes a strong spiritual community in my life & in the lives of those that I am ministering to – living in close proximity, to have a common goal/vision, to be honest & vulnerable before one another in trust & humility, to keep each other accountable to live according to god’s values, and to stick it out through ups and downs and across time.

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Submitted by Peter Choi, Gracepoint Berkeley

The tribes’ close proximity around the tabernacle would have been a constant reminder of the presence of God. Accountability before God – no one would have the excuse that they forgot, because the tabernacle is right there! But what is interesting is that the close proximity to the tabernacle would have also insured their close proximity to each other, which would have made them mindful of each other all the time. At first thought I wondered why God did it this way, thinking that the sheer number of people would have made it claustrophobic, making the situation ripe for people to get annoyed with each other. But I realized that when differences are worked out, and it becomes increasingly clear to everyone that it is God who holds them together (as the tabernacle is in the center), there is clear advantage in everyone being so close together. Seeing faith lived out, being mindful of their role in the community, holding each other accountable would have been an everyday reality for the Israelites. The fact that they spent so much time in the wilderness, in close proximity to one another would have insured that a pattern was established over the Israelites’ long tenure in the wilderness as well. The provisions would have also insured that no one wander off to secure a better patch of land for themselves, as would have been the case in the absence of such a provision.

There is something very basic to how people are when it comes to securing something nicer, something more comfortable, something more convenient. So these provisions probably did a lot to prevent a natural degradation of the community over time, as people followed their desires for something better. This is likely the case with the regulations in Leviticus 25 as well. Without them, the temptation would have been very strong for many to try to secure for themselves a better piece of land – to upgrade for something that is more secure, more comfortable, more convenient, even if it was a little bit further out from the rest of the tribe. Just leave the land and start over somewhere else rather than try to work it out. Find a little patch that you can call your own and start fresh. It sounds so appealing. But you are not just leaving the land. You leave the people as well, the positive influence, the spiritual foundations laid over the many years in the wilderness together. The provisions defined in Leviticus 25 made it so that the people do not move away from the land, remain together, and that each person remain connected to the community, with all the benefits. And that’s the kind of life that God envisioned in the first place – where he is the center, and life is lived out in community, where a person’s whim is tempered by the wisdom of the community and a person’s security is derived not from what he owns or what he can do, but from being part of the community.

Modern life, with one’s ability to pick up and move up to thousands of miles away at a drop of a hat, makes such connectedness a challenge. Especially when pressures from society almost push me in that direction. While mobility has made it practical for people to live in suburbs with their nuclear families, not having to deal with a single soul if they didn’t want to, that is not the picture of what God had in mind. With the advent of the internet, a person literally has millions of connections, but not very many meaningful ones. At the end of the day, the modern individual’s preference always win out – his desire for something nicer, something more comfortable, more convenient, more advantageous. Possible? Yes, but from today’s text it’s clear that this was not what God had in mind.

As a person with a natural tendency toward lonerism, I can understand why anyone would be attracted to setting up shop a little further out. I get frustrated with my inability to communicate clearly and feelings of not wanting to deal with people start to creep up. But basically this boils down to not wanting to deal with the reality that I am connected. Frustrated or not, I am part of a people. This is very serious because in its essence, what it means to be human, to be made in the image of God is to be relational, to be connected, to be a part of community. It is no surprise, then, that a life that is lived in isolation is a poor one, where examples are lacking, accountability is non-existent, and encouragement to do the right thing absent. Because that is precisely how I learn to live out my faith – by following the examples that more spiritually mature people have set for me, by being held accountable to high spiritual standards by leaders and peers, and by being an example for others. Without such connectedness, spiritual life is just a fantasy, something to be embraced only in the idealism of youth – certainly not a reality to be lived out into my 40s, 50s and beyond.

So as I continue to live out my life in community, at our church, into my 24th year here, I realize more and more that the kind of connectedness at our church is something to be more than grateful for. I am indebted. And what I have at Gracepoint, flaws and all, is a working model for modern times of how I can order my life according to the layout found in Numbers 2.

Submitted by Ander Chen, Gracepoint Berkeley

These passages about the church are also necessarily about each Christian.  Read each passage, and reflect on God’s vision regarding how Christian life is to be lived out. What do each of these passages tell me about myself?  What is my response to this?

What the passages say to me is that as a Christian, I need to be a more prayerful person and ask God, lean on God, entrusting him with my life and ministry and not trying to rely on myself and what qualities I think I may have (Matt 18:19-20). Im reminded that I am apart of God’s household and so my life must be set apart from the world, in: lifestyle, attitude, outlook, where my focus lies, what I value and treasure, and what drives me in my life. Others should be able to see my life and notice that difference and through my life I am to be a priest, someone who who shares the gospel with others (Eph2:19-20). It also tells me that God has prepared me for works of service so that the church, the body of Christ may be built up (Eph 4) and that I am to be a minister, a servant to others and not myself and in order to train and teach others i need to continually mature in my faith and understanding of God through his word, reflection and in loving others.

As I read this description of the church and of a Christian, I realize how short I still fall in all of these ways. Therefore, I want to commit to praying a lot more this semester, especially as I feel anxious in ministering to the junior class, with so many new people and so many things to get caught up on, more than ever do I feel inadequate and need to life and entrust them to God in prayer. I’m also reminded that my own life and values need to be constantly shaped and reformed so that my life can honor God. That I personally need to continue to grow in my understanding of God, and my own relationship with God needs to deepen. The world and its values of success, independence, and personal achievement still weight heavily in my mind and I need to do the hard work of reversing these ideas and values. It also means that my own struggles with my sin of lust, with my selfishness and pride needs to be confronted each day and confessed to God. My response to the fact that im a minister is that I need to be faithful to this calling God has given me. To not let up but dive in, take hold of the people God has given to me and not let my fears and insecurities of failing paralyze me but to trust God and go and start loving/ministering to the guys God has given me. There is nothing else for me to do but just dive in and get to know these junior guys. I’ve been tasked with the high calling of loving them, discipling them and coloring them and I just need to start and trust God with the rest. I need to pray for them, help them to grow and love them as I did my previous guys. I know God has taken me out of my comfort zone and for that I am thankful. I pray that my heart and capacity can be stretched and I want to respond with just doing God’s work and not stopping.

When things fall apart and get degraded—relationships, churches, families—why does it happen?  What does the process entail?

Application:  How does today’s text apply to you?

One can imagine that it started with the thinking that we have eternity to take care of the eternal matters, and therefore, the immediate concerns seem more important and urgent than they really are.  With that in the backdrop, we slowly reduce relationship with God to mere rituals, the minimal requirements necessary to appease God.  As far as the merchants are concerned, they are simply making it easier for people to come to “worship” God.  Besides, the merchants needed to make a living.  Because all these mundane activities happen around the temple, these mundane activities can almost appear spiritual and right.  These concerns are all too understandable and I can sympathize with them.

While we no longer have a temple in our midst, I see the same tendency in my own heart.  A few weeks ago, Pastor Ed challenged us about how we approach the Word of God in his first retreat message, and personally I made the commitment to really set aside time for God’s Word and come to Him with the expectation to actually hear Him speaking to me.  Since then, there have been too many other things to think about, tasks to take care of and ministry to do, and slowly they began to encroach on my time with God.  I want to spend time with God but I also feel pressured by the immediacy of these concerns, and at times I know I am simply trying to get this out of the way so I can move onto other things.  When my heart is not there, it becomes a hollow religious ritual that I perform on daily basis.   Even as I do my devotion today, I sense the pressure and my worries are things that I need to surrender to God.  Devotional time is only a part of my daily schedule.  Where is my heart when I pray to Him?  Where is my heart when I meet people and talk to them?  Where is my heart when I come to prayer meeting or Sunday Worship Service?  Unless my heart is there to worship Him, experience Him and glorify Him, anything that I do in His name is a meaningless religious ritual.  I need to repent of my heart condition so that when I say I am doing something onto God, I am actually doing something onto God.

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Submitted by Sue Yi, Gracepoint Berkeley

Think about the values represented by a marketplace.  Why was this so offensive to Jesus?

The values represented in the marketplace is of greed for money,  cheating people to benefit themselves and a mentality that they need to look out for themselves in order to gain. It is a place where people profit at the others expense, exploiting the poor and advancing the ones with power.  It is full of competition, greed and deceit. People use others in order to gain something for themselves.

This is offensive to Jesus because there is no regard for God or for people.  The temple was to be a place of worship of God, a place where people could go to pray to God to worship him, but instead it had become a place where people went in order to gain something for themselves. Money caused people to devalue other people and instead of love and compassion, there was competition and greed. There was only self advancement. Seeing this picture, Jesus was so enraged that the place where people were to come to for prayer, for worship, to experience love, hope and forgiveness was replaced with greed, self advancement, competition, materialism. Jesus cannot take lightly want he sees because God’s holiness is being trampled upon, compromised and degraded. He is enraged at what the place of worship has become and he expresses it through overturning of tables.

What are some ways in which such marketplace values can be present in today’s Christian gatherings?

The marketplace values of the world can be present in today’s gatherings when people come to church to find friends, they come to church to network, to advance their business, they come because of good children’s program, they come to consume and to be satisfied for whatever needs that they have but not necessary to find God.  They don’t want to seek God.  Their gathering is more about what they can get out of it and what is in it for them verses worshipping God on a personal level.  There is no growing knowledge of who they are, of who God is.. it becomes a familiar routine where they come to church to keep up an image rather than breaking down barriers and being honest before God.

As God’s holiness cannot be compromised,  I need to first and foremost make sure that my worship of God is not something that is routine, but that my heart seeks to hear from God and to honor God. I need to be one whose personal worship is growing with heart and zeal. And as a leader i need to make sure that our gatherings and that our church is a place where people can come to seek God. I need to be vigilant from market-like atmosphere that can so easily encroach. As our church grows, I need to protect the honor of God and be concerned that our church is not a place full of discrepancy between people’s profession and actual life. It needs to be a place where each person is honest in life and speech, where there is genuine presence of God that can be felt by all who come.

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Submitted by James Chao, Gracepoint San Diego

Think about the values represented by a marketplace.  Why was this so offensive to Jesus?

The marketplace is characterized by everyone acting purely out of self-interest to get as much as they want and that is the main principle at work. In everything that happens, people are motivated to benefit themselves and other people are merely vehicles in them getting what they want. Beyond that, there are always those who are trying to take advantage of you, and you’d always need to be on guard and not be so naive as to take things at face value because things are not always what they seem. Even the “good” relationships that form here are just ones of mutual benefit, and the value of the relationship lasts only as long is that relationship can benefit the parties involved. This is so different than God’s values and what he wants to see in the temple. Rather than being the place where sinners can come to find cleansing for sins or where people can put aside world things to focus on and worship God, there was all this commercial activities where people are calculating with selfish motives and taking advantage of one another for selfish gain. And perhaps among those who really came with an earnest desire to seek God, some were getting distracted and their worldly desires were stirred up through these things. There were all of these things right there in that people had to put up with in order to find God. Most importantly of all, God’s own name and character was damaged by this, as people gained a twisted understanding of religious and spiritual life entails and maybe even got jaded toward worship and toward God. No wonder Jesus was so offended by what was happening there, as his very temple no longer drew people to God but put up more barriers to keep people from God. This is a reminder of how important it is for me to keep in mind the mission of the church to be that place where people can meet God, and to guard against worldly values from creeping in and corrupting the body of Christ. This starts with me guarding myself and being vigilant against my own worldly desires for comfort, for significance through what I can do or achieve, for respect from others. In order for the church to stay clear about its mission, I need to stay clear about my mission as a Christian who has been called by God to bring the Gospel to this dark world.

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Submitted by Becky Fong, Gracepoint Berkeley

Think about the people listed in vs. 14.  What were they doing and why?

The people were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as exchanging money, in the temple courts.  They were doing this for business, to make a profit, because people who journeyed to the temple from far off would need to purchase animals for offerings and exchange their local currency to pay Temple taxes.  But these sellers brought their business for profit into the actual temple courts, which was supposed to be the area where Gentiles could come and worship and pray to God.  This reveals their disregard for actual worship of God and of the marginalized people, the Gentiles, who could not enter closer into the temple to worship and pray to God.

Think about the values represented by a marketplace.  Why was this so offensive to Jesus?

A marketplace represents values of superficial qualities and attributes, of worth based upon appearance or competence, performance.  This is so offensive to Jesus, because the temple was to be His Father’s house, a place of worship where the weak, broken, disregarded by the world, could come to Him, but they degraded it into a place of personal profit with much noise and distraction, treating the holy business of relating with Him into a literal business.  It is also offensive because this is completely contrary to God’s view and treatment of us, which confers value and love to us simply because He claims us as His precious children and not for any merit of our own.

What are some ways in which such marketplace values can be present in today’s Christian gatherings?

Such marketplace values can be present in today’s Christian gatherings in very obvious superficial ways such as favoring/treating people based upon physical appearance, possessions, degrees, etc., being impressed by them, as well as subtler ways such as competence, intellect, personality, or usefulness.  These marketplace values can become such a distraction, both in evaluating others based upon these criteria as well as seeking to gain something through these superficial criteria, from people really seeking and relating with God, in just occupying our minds and hearts, making it harder to be genuine and raw and honest, and causing us to strive and be insecure and envious and miss out on the grace of God and close genuine relationships in the spiritual community He designed for us.

In the face of dead and twisted temple religion, Jesus says: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” What message does Jesus convey here about the true temple, i.e., the Church he will establish with his resurrection?

Jesus conveys the message that the true temple, how people can come to God, is not based upon man’s offerings or a place.  It is through His own death for our sins, and the Church He will establish with His resurrection, His own initiative, and His grace, not merited at all by our tired and hopeless efforts such as their dead and twisted temple religion.  His message must have been scandalous to those who actually understood it, that their previous system of trying to earn their way to being right with God through their rituals and offerings was not the way to God in fact, and that He would provide the way to be reconciled to God out of complete grace.

Picture the scene Jesus witnessed as he entered the Temple courts, and the picture Jesus might have expected.  When things fall apart and get degraded—relationships, churches, families—why does it happen?  What does the process entail?

Jesus might have expected the Temple courts to have been working as they were designed, with people coming to worship and connect with God from afar, including the Gentiles.  His expectation was probably in line with God’s design for the Temple, to be a place where people could come closer to God.  Thus this scene of buying and selling, exchanging money, in the midst of a place that was meant to be a place of prayer and connection with God for all, including the lowly and broken and disregarded, would have been so offensive and upsetting to Jesus.

Things begin to fall apart and degrade when people start to focus on their own individual interests.  I think most of the time it starts with reacting to fears, by withdrawing or focusing on the self to the neglect of or in conflict with others or even things we have become convicted of, thus breaking down relationships, churches, families.  Here, disregarding the holiness and proper awe and worship of God, as well as their relationship to the Gentiles as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ or at least fellow sinners in need of connection with God, the sellers and money changers moved into the only area the Gentiles could come connect with God.  It probably started out just as they needed to make a living, others were profiting more and growing and perhaps they would lose even the little business they had, they had families to feed and care for, etc., and they allowed their fears to drive them to ambition and breaking down/minimizing/ignoring/denying their relationship with others and even proper relating with God as Sovereign Lord and also as trustworthy and faithful.  This happens in relationships too as fears set in and we feel like we need to invest our time, energy, heart, money, more into other things like studies, clubs, our resumes, jobs, families, etc., causing our hearts and relationships to cool and degrade subtly, little by little.  This can happen even in families too, in different ways, but one way is as we respond to fears and ambitions, not only directly it can affect the actual time and energy we spend investing in our familial relationships, it can affect our families in the values and way we relate to each other.  For example, I have seen how a father’s genuine desire to protect and provide for his family has grown to great ambition and value so much of money and status and title that it has degraded and broken his relationships with his children as he evaluates them based upon these external criteria.  For a believer, the process of breakdown entails responding to fear by focusing on yourself and forgetting/disregarding truths you have known, such as God’s faithfulness and the reality of our lack of control in our lives and how God has saved us into a community of faith and commands us to show the dying world what He is like through our love for one another, which is not usually a big dramatic conscious decision, but happens in little steps here and there, to prioritize ourselves over others, to not make the effort to build up our brothers and sisters intentionally in little ways, etc.

Application:  How does today’s text apply to you?

It is scary and such a warning how this process of things falling apart and get degraded is so subtle, and begins with actually just fear and what might sound really reasonable, what we hear often in the world and have quietly internalized without knowing it, that you have to look out for yourself, etc.  I have received so much from God in being saved into this body of Christ with a rich history and culture and strength of leaders and brothers and sisters in a web of relationships, examples of sacrifice and what it means to concretely obey God’s calling and live out the gospel, and it is such a precious entrustment that can be so easily and subtly degraded and broken down by me, that I need to be wary, alert to how responding to my own fears can begin this decaying process.  Fears can seem so innocent, and I can think I am somewhat helpless to them or at least that I have less control over them, but they are this destructive when I respond to them, maybe not in a big sweeping things but in the subtler little decisions I make here and there, to take for granted the relationships and community I have received.  I need to be clear-minded about fears, that I need to face them, pray about them, respond to them by recalling and seeking out God’s Word in application, instead of just responding to them by letting them guide my thoughts, perceptions, and decisions.

Summarize the message of these texts regarding a Christian’s life.  What are Christians called to do and not do because of this identity?

As Christians we are called to be separated from the world, to not conform to their ways, not to be yoked together with unbelievers, not to be partners with them and do things in darkness, not to love the world or anything in the world, not to be friends with the world, and not to have our minds on earthly things and thus become enemies of God.  These are all the things these passages tell us not to do.    These texts tell us to live distinct lives from that of the world, to be the salt, the light in order that our difference can attract people of this world.  We are to expose their darkness with our light and show our good deeds so that it can result in the people of this world praising God.  We are to find out what pleases God and live by it.

What question about Christian life does this answer, or what commonly-held misunderstanding about Christian life might this clarify?

These passages bring to mind the phrase “in the world but not of the world”, as that is what I am called to do.  These passages make it very clear that we are called to be so different from the rest of the world as we are put in stark contrast with clear words like “darkness” versus “light”, “wickedness” versus “righteousness”.  And there are sharp words used against those who love the world, such as “adulterous”, “hatred”, “enemy”, etc.  These clear distinctives leave little room for people who say things like we need to be more like the world so that we can reach out to the world, who take verses like 1 Corinthians 9:20 – “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.” – out of context as a justification for living a compromised, secular life.    At the same time I think these passages answer the question of WHY we have to live such different lives and be so “weird” and not do what we consider to be the “norm” by worldly standards.  In this context, it shows us that we’re not to be weird just for the sake of being weird and different, but it’s because there’s a mission behind it all, which is to turn people of the darkness into the same light that we have found, to do good deeds so that it can result in people of this world praising God.   I think a lot of times we have this misconception of Christian life as just full of dos and donts.  And without understanding the heart of it, it can sound like drudgery, who would want to succumb to such restrictions in your life.  But it makes sense in the context of embracing your identity.  When I got married, I embraced my identity as a wife and didn’t think twice about the dos and donts of marriage, how I’m now restricted and there are things that I cannot do as a married person.  Those were minor and irrelevant in the context of my new identity and mission of loving my husband and treasuring this relationship.  In the same way, when I fully embrace my identity as a Christian and embrace God’s mission to bring others into the same light that I have found, I don’t have to think twice about the dos and donts that are entailed in this relationship. They suddenly seem obvious and something that of course I should submit to and not think twice about in the greater plan of bringing others out of the darkness into God’s marvelous light.    In light of all of this, one point for me to reflect on is how different am I from the world?  Am I living a life that is in stark contrast with the “norm” out there – in terms of how I spend my money (for selfish purposes or others), how I spend my time (consumed in media and personal comfort or serving and loving others and being in God’s word), how I view others (consumed with just my nuclear family or increasing my sphere of concern), etc.  In addition, I need to work on fully embracing the great mission that God has given me and let that shape all of my values and direction of my life.

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Submitted by Jacob Chang, Gracepoint Berkeley

Summarize the message of these texts regarding a Christian’s life.  What are Christians called to do and not do because of this identity?

Christians are called to be distinct from the culture they live in.  The purpose of this distinction is so that the world will see the distinction and glorify God.  This distinction is not a matter of preference.  A Christian is supposed to have a relationship with the living God and this is incompatible with living for things of this world.  The passages make clear that being a friend of the world is equivalent to being an enemy of God.  Christians are specifically called to find out what pleases God, to test and approve his will, and that goes hand in hand with stepping out of the world, not loving the world, etc.  It’s not a suggestion or recommendation; it’s a statement of fact.  You can’t please God and chase after things of the world at the same time.

What question about Christian life does this answer, or what commonly-held misunderstanding about Christian life might this clarify?

These passages clarify the commonly held misunderstanding that God is interested in giving us worldly success or material blessings, and that these are a sign of his favor.  God specifically tells us not to love the world or anything in the world, and that anyone who does love the world does not have the love of the Father.  Since experiencing God’s love is the best thing for us, it is inconsistent to think that God would want to give us worldly success or material blessings (things of this world), which could hinder us from experiencing his love.  This is a warning I need to remember, especially when I come upon a material blessing, such as a promotion or a raise.  It is not necessarily a blessing and may very well become a curse if it causes my heart to become a little less dependent on God.

1 Samuel 8:5, 19-20

The Israelites wanted a king so that they could be “like other nations.”  Reflect on the tragedy of this sentiment given the fact that their entire spiritual identity was that they were NOT like other nations, but a separated, a called out nation.  In what ways are today’s Christians similar to the Israelites in this respect?

The Israelites’ desire for a king is a tragedy considering their identity since having a king opposed God’s design for a community centered around God himself.  God was to be the king of the Israelites, but the Israelites essentially said that they wanted something else in order to be more like the other nations.  Instead of being the example that all other nations were to admire, the Israelites wanted to follow their neighbors.  Also, in giving in to their desire to be like the other nations, they gave up their distinctiveness as the people of God.  The things that exemplified their special identity were not treasured and honored as they should have been.  This shows that, in their hearts, they rejected their identity as a people of God with all its talk of being set apart, distinct and holy.  What they wanted was the things that other nations chased after.  There are many ways that today’s Christians similarly reject God’s design for their lives and follow the things that all other nations follow.  Christians, just like their neighbors, fear uncertainty and try to secure as much as they can for themselves and their families.  Christians today partake in secular culture and buy in to the same materialistic and hedonistic pursuits that characterize those who do not know God and have not received grace.  In so doing, they destroy the community that God created for them and develop inwardly bent hearts that were designed to embrace others.  They live their lives for temporary things despite being eternal beings and trade things that are most valuable like people and relationships for material things or worldly success.

What would it look like for a Christian today to embrace the identity of being “called out” and, therefore, different from the culture around him/her?

To embrace this identity, a Christian today would need to have clear conviction about his identity and be willing to deny the allure of fitting in with the rest of the people around him.  A Christian would need to be alert and self-controlled to keep proper perspective, and he would need to be aware of the negative influences in the culture.  This would force him to respond to his culture with wisdom, even to say no to things that may not be inherently bad, but inadvisable because of its negative effect.  In order to persevere in this stand against surrounding culture, a Christian would need a community of support committed to be people who were “called out”.

On what specific points would God want me to be set apart today from the culture around me?

God wants me to be set apart in my values and the way that I use my time and money.  Essentially, my life cannot be just about me and my family.  The culture of today would have me live selfishly, to focus on my career and to try to make a name for myself.  It would order my priorities such that my needs and desires are taken care of, then my family’s, then others’ needs, but especially those who might benefit me in the future.  This self-focused mentality is opposite of the life that God calls me to live.  I am supposed to be a blessing to others, to consider others’ needs before my own and to consider others better than myself as Christ modeled.

Exodus 19:4-6
“God has chosen a people to be separate from the rest of the world, not just so that they can ‘belong’ to him in some private sense, but in order that they be used by him for a special purpose. […] Israel’s obedience or disobedience to God’s covenant stipulations has implications beyond simply that of Israel’s relationship to God. …  It has ramifications for the outworking of God’s redemptive plan for the world.”[1]

It was probably very surprising for the Israelites, a newly freed slave population, to be called God’s “treasured possession” and “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In what way is this a privilege and a burden? Being called God’s “treasured possession” and “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” is a privilege in the sense that there was nothing in particular that gave these people this distinction, nothing that they did, no special skills, abilities, or competencies, not something that they earned or deserved.  Nonetheless, this is what God calls them and sees them as.  Not just anyone, but God, the only God, the Creator, a being that we cannot fully comprehend and that is so far above us.  However, it is a burden in the sense that it is a calling that they would need to live up to.  They were to be a kingdom of priests, God’s people, God’s priests, to be available and to be used by God for His purposes among all people, for the world.  A priest was to represent the people to God, and they were to be a kingdom of them, pointers to God.  To be holy was to be set apart.  They are not to be like the rest of the world, the rest of the nations.  They are not supposed to do what they do, chase what they chase after, value what they value.  Instead, they are to be different, to stand apart, to be set apart, to be an example that other nations can look to, that can properly represent God.  That is a heavy and difficult responsibility and burden to live up to. As Christians, we are likewise called God’s treasured possession, and we are to be God’s kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  God is giving us this privilege and this burden in our time, our generation.  I pray that I can accept and live up to that identity and that calling that God gives me – to be holy, to be set apart, to be different from the rest of the world, to not value what the world values, to not chase after what the world chases after – money, career, fame, success, comfort, pleasure, and so on – to not do what they do, but to embody the values and character of God and to represent God and honor God properly.

1 Peter 2:5-9
Reflect on the corporate nature of the new identity given to all believers – a “living stone” in a larger building, “people, “ “priesthood,” and “nation.”  How does this square with my view of myself?  My view of my fellow brothers and sisters?
Apostle Peter writes that believers, Christians, are living stones of a larger spiritual house, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.  He does not say we are the house itself, a chosen person, a royal priest, or a holy person.  Together we make up all of these things – not by ourselves, not as individuals.  It is a different view from what the world and culture and society tells us.  Their focus is on the individual – who you are, how you feel, looking out for yourself, being true to yourself, to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, etc.  This corporate nature of the new identity given to all believers doesn’t match up all that well with my own view of myself.  I have grown up being indoctrinated by the world, society and culture, and have become quite individualistic, and as a result, quite selfish as well.  At most, the world tells us to only include our immediate, nuclear family.  As a Christian though, I have been challenged with my individualism and to see myself as something larger, something greater than myself, and to see how I can affect others, my brothers and sisters, the body of Christ.  Before, I viewed them as people who didn’t really have anything to do with me, but after becoming Christian and more and more I am growing to see how what they do affects me and what I do affects them, and that we are to go through ups and downs, joys and pains, celebration and mourning together, to face challenges together, and to live out God’s calling together.

The modern person is thoroughly individualistic, and finds the corporate emphasis in the Bible foreign. What aspects of the scriptural vision of Christian life, and how to live out our call from God would be missed by such an approach?
The aspects of the scriptural vision of Christian life, and how to live out our call from God that would be missed by an individualistic approach are many.  Much of what God calls us to and how God calls us to live cannot be done individually or in isolation, because much of who we are, how we sin, is relationally, what we do to other people, how we treat other people, and sins of omission, what we fail to do for others.  The scriptural vision of Christian life calls us to love one another, to pray for one another, to be a neighbor to one another, to sharpen one another, to show mercy and compassion to one another, to honor one another, to encourage one another and build each other up, to bear with each other and forgive one another, and so much more.  We cannot do this if we are individualistic, isolated, alone, separated, on our own.  We are to be mirrors for one another, to keep each other accountable, to help one another.  We are to represent Christ together, through our lives, through how we love one another.  In the vision of the first church in Acts 2, we are to devote ourselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer, where all the believers are together and had everything in common, selling their possession and goods and giving to anyone as they had need, meeting together everyday, breaking bread in each others’ homes, eating together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  All of these things and more would be missed by an individualistic approach, an individualistic Christianity, if there was such a thing.

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Submitted by Myra Chen, Gracepoint Berkeley

It was probably very surprising for the Israelites, a newly freed slave population, to be called God’s “treasured possession” and “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In what way is this a privilege and a burden?
For a newly freed slave population to be called God’s treasured possession and a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, the Israelites must have felt a deep sense of privilege and awe at God’s mercy on them, that the great and awesome God would not only save them, but also give them such a lofty identity. They are a new spiritual nation based on their allegiance to God rather than based other identities such as ethnicity or ability. He calls them what they are not. It was nothing they did nor anything they deserve but merely because God says so and gives them this new identity as a kingdom of priests and holy nation. It is a high privilege in this calling and yet also a burden because there is a feeling of insecurity and inadequacy that they don’t match up to this calling. It means they need to be separate and different from the rest of the nations and this might not be what the Israelites necessarily wanted for themselves. Moreover, not only has God chosen them but the Israelites need to be obedient to God’s covenant.

1 Peter 2:5-9

Reflect on the corporate nature of the new identity given to all believers – a “living stone” in a larger building, “people, “ “priesthood,” and “nation.”  How does this square with my view of myself?  my view of my fellow brothers and sisters? In light of this new identity for all believers to be a living stone in a larger building, people, priesthood, people, and nation, I cannot see myself as merely my own but in the context of the church. There is no such thing as a lone ranger Christian, in which you live Christian life on your own. Jesus never envisioned this kind of solitary life. This is so different from the western view of the self that is often individualistic and about being true to yourself and your feelings. I am not my own nor a mere individual with my own destiny. God loves relationships. Hence I view myself in the context of the church and as a Christian a part of the people of God. So my life, my behavior, my choices, my attitude, etc affects other. And as I relate with others in the church and learned to trust people, I was able to grow in my understanding of who I was, who God is, sin, and experience the love of God in very concrete ways through my peers, coworkers in Christ, and leaders. My view of my fellow brothers and sisters changed in the context of being that spiritual house together. We are being built into this spiritual house to carry out His purposes by declaring the praises of him who called us out of darkness and into his light. We have a mission. As I view my brothers and sister, they aren’t merely people who I get along with, like, respect, and plan to grow old together, but we are bonded by common destiny. Each person is doing his/her part but contending as one man for the sake of the gospel. I am so thankful and feel privileged to be a part of God’s church and to witness His work through people who surrender their lives through small steps of obedience for God. This call to be a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation is not mere rhetoric but God is real and we see this through people’s lives and the church.

The modern person is thoroughly individualistic, and finds the corporate emphasis in the Bible foreign. What aspects of the scriptural vision of Christian life, and how to live out our call from God would be missed by such an approach? A modern person with an individualistic approach of Christian life misses out on the very basic of God’s desire for us to grow and be shaped. As I think about the scriptural vision of Christian life as a church, we grow in our knowledge of who we are, sin, who God is, and experience love and grace in concrete ways. Through getting close and actually rubbing lives with other Christians, I saw a clear picture of my pride, selfishness, apathy, deceit, etc as I lived with my peers and underwent that sandpapering process on my character. As we grew together, we also spurred one another on towards growing in passion and vision for God. I get so encouraged seeing my peers serve faithfully in different ministries. With leaders in my life, I was not merely taught the word of God but experienced God’s love for me through their concrete love and mercy. Their example of obedience and surrendered life to God is part of the spiritual heritage from the older sisters and brothers who blazed the trail before me. Younger sisters and brothers in my life forced me to grow up, grow in my desire to be stretched, and share the heritage that I received with them. And when others struggle or are hurt, I experience the burden of their hurt and struggle because of the connections and love for one another. Without the church, I would be missing on all these aspects of Christian life.

Submitted by Ray Choi, Gracepoint Berkeley

Focusing on the themes of speech and unity, what lessons are there in these three passages? In Genesis 11, the focal point of their attempted unity was THEMSELVES (“make a name for ourselves”), in defiance of God by trying to build a tower that reached to the heavens.  And because of this, God frustrated their attempts. In Acts 2, the disciples were gathered not for themselves, but in obedience to Jesus’ command for them to wait and receive power (Acts 1:8) to share the gospel with the world.  God gave them the Holy Spirit, and it was heard and understood by everyone who was there, in their own language.  Lastly, in Revelation 7, the people from every nation, tribe, people and language were gathered around the throne of the Lamb, all shouting in one loud voice praises to God. The lesson is that when God is not the center of a community or gathering of people, there will be no unity; only when it is God and His work at the center can there be true unity.
What were the central driving forces behind the building of the tower vs. what happened on the day of Pentecost?
The driving force behind the building of the tower was the celebration of man and his accomplishment (“make a name for ourselves”), whereas the driving force behind what happened on Pentecost was the salvation plan of God unfolding after the resurrection of Jesus, culminating in the giving of the Holy Spirit into the lives of Jesus’ disciples.  The driving forces were man-centered versus God-centered; glorifying man’s accomplishment versus waiting in humble submission to God’s will and salvation plan.

Contrast the gathering in Genesis 11 vs. Revelation 7.  What lesson is there here for Christian gatherings? The lesson for Christian gatherings in contrasting Genesis 11 and Revelation 7 is that the center and the motivation of the gathering needs to always be obedience to God’s word, His salvation plan, and His honor.  As soon as the gathering becomes centered around man himself, or around a church, the church’s accomplishments, “making a name for ourselves,” that community/fellowship will fall apart.  It will split apart because the center is not God; people will be guarded, self-protecting, self-interested.  There will be no unity, because everyone will have their different trajectories they want to go in.  Over time, no one will want to stay together. That is the death of a church, when it stops obeying God’s word and just wants to settle and be a well-known, popular church. Personally, the implication and lesson is that I need to be very clear about my motivation of being at our church, of my commitment and my serving.  The center needs to be God’s glory and the carrying out of His will.  If it ever ceases to be about that and begins to be about my success, about my position in ministry, than that will break our community and sever me from genuine connection with God’s people here.  On NPR the broadcaster, in anticipation of President Obama’s second State of the Union address, said that the President is riding on a series of successes – from getting certain measures passed in a lame duck senate, and also from his “rousing” eulogy that he gave for the victims of the Tucson, Arizona shooting.  It was shocking that this announcer was citing the tragic deaths of 6 people as a basis of success for the President.  This is a snapshot of what can happen to any person, and even a Christian, when his focus becomes his record and not God. Whose responsibility is it to keep the center of the Christian gathering around God and His will?  Is it just the pastor and wife?  No, each member needs to do the work of centering his life around the throne of the Lamb.  It’s my responsibility.

Consider the questions God asks in this text. (3.9; 4.9)  How are these questions related? Both questions were God’s attempt to give them a chance to confess what they did wrong.

What relational consequences of sin emerge from this text? Adam and Eve’s sin results in a severing of relationship with God.  They felt the need to hide from Him.  Also their sin caused them to hide from each other.  Suddenly they felt shame of their nakedness before each other as well, so they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. Similarly with Cain, he too cut off His relationship with God through being evasive about the wrong he did to Abel. He severed his relationship with his own brother by killing him. Cain carried on the effects of that first sin Adam and Eve committed against God as he exercised his right to determine what is good and evil.  At that moment out in the field he felt he had the right to get rid of Abel by killing him, because Abel was a constant reminder of how he was less righteous and less favored before God.

Why is it that asserting yourself in defiance of God’s right to determine good and evil inevitably leads to wandering (meaning of “Nod” 4.16), fear, isolation and strife? Because to assert my own good and evil will result in what Cain did, which is to react in a self-centered perspective.  It was based on his own sense of what is good or evil that led him to take Abel’s life so recklessly and brutally.  For his warped self-centered perspective the greater evil was to feel inferior and jealous towards Abel, so to end that guy’s life was a good thing. This sort of defiance of God’s standard of good and evil led to wandering, fear, isolation and strife, because no matter how much Cain might’ve insisted he had a right to do what he wanted, God is the judge.  There is an absolute standard of good and evil, consequently there are consequences to our actions and thoughts. Those consequences include wandering, fear, isolation, and strife. The truth of what we did wrong catches up to us, and it will cause us to be repentant or to take flight like Cain.  To wander restlessly with shame and guilt and with fear.  Cain feared that he would get killed if someone found him out in the world, because he knew that his dastardly actions deserved it.  He knew he that what he did deserved the punishment of death, and so he appealed to God.  Cain in despair cries out to God, “My punishment is more than I can bear.”  And indeed that was true.  The weight of his sin was more than he can ever pay.  And the amazing thing is God didn’t treat Cain as his sin deserved.  God showed him mercy.  God placed a mark of protection on him, so that he would be spared. Some theologians would say that this is foreshadowing of God showing mercy to sinners through the cross of Jesus. In any case, this reveals our God to be a God of grace and mercy.

Joshua 1:1-6, 9
“It was probably intimidating to have been a second lieutenant to Moses, which Joshua had been during the forty years following the Exodus from Egypt […] As the forty years of wandering in the wilderness pass, Joshua goes on with his routine work at the side of a real leader, Moses. Although designated in advance to be Moses’ successor (Num. 27:18-33), Joshua sees himself as an assistant, as a servant. Moses is seen as a great ‘servant’ of the deity; but Joshua is seen as the youthful servant waiting on Moses and is called ‘Moses’ assistant’ (1:1).”[1]

How might Joshua have felt upon hearing God’s command for him to lead the rebellious Israelite people to conquer the vast Promised Land?

Upon hearing God’s command for him to lead the rebellious Israelites to conquer the vast Promised Land, Joshua must have felt intimidated by Moses and his great leadership, apprehensive about measuring up to him in leadership, spirituality and connection with God, knowing what to do especially with rebellious people, whether or not he would be able to handle the people’s rebelliousness, keep order, and keep them together or lose them in an uprising or scatter. Joshua might have thought, “Why me? Why not someone else? I lack __, __, __ – all the things that Moses had. What if I can’t do as good of a job as Moses? What if the people don’t listen to me? What if they all leave? God, are you serious? Are you sure this isn’t a mistake?” Or he might have thought, “Great, why did Moses get to be the hero that led them out of slavery and why do I have to lead them when they are rebellious and uncooperative. They’re just gonna hate me.”

What assurances did God give Joshua in the face of such a daunting task? Why is God’s promise in vv. 5 & 9 so important as Joshua embarks on this task?

In the face of such a daunting task, God gave Joshua the assurance that He had a plan and knew what He was doing in leading Joshua, that every place Joshua set his foot on would be his, that no one would be able to stand up against him all the days of his life, that God would be with Joshua just as He was with Moses, never to leave him or forsake him. God’s promise that He would always be with Joshua as He was with Moses and never leave him nor forsake him was important as Joshua embarked on this task because God was promising that Joshua wouldn’t have to worry about measuring up to Moses, that it actually wasn’t Moses’ leadership or abilities that were so important in making him a great leader, but the fact that God was with him, never leaving him nor forsaking him, but guiding his every decision and step. This promise was God’s invitation for Joshua to stop focusing on himself, stop worrying about his abilities, competence, future, and success, and depend on God, trust and commit to following Him because He is able to accomplish His plans.

-He is able, more than able, to accomplish what concerns me today.
-He is able, more than able, to handle anything that comes my way.
-He is able, more than able, to do much more than I could ever dream.
-He is able, more than able, to make me what He wants me to be.

What daunting task, and accompanying promise, has Jesus given to His disciples (Matthew 28:18-20)?

Matt 28:18-20 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in?? the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The daunting task that Jesus gave to His disciples was to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything He commanded them. The accompanying promise was that He would be with them always, to the very end of the age.

In light of the task given me, what provision of God can I count on, and what would it look like for me to be “strong and courageous”?

I have been given the task of making disciples of all nations. Currently, it is to make disciples on the Berkeley campus, a task that can potentially affect many nations. The provision of God that I can count on is that He will be with me and that He will never leave nor forsake me. For me to be strong and courageous means fighting the desire to stay within my comfort zone to meet new people who could potentially reject me, think I’m a loser, or hurt me. I can do this through reminders of the truth that life is about more than just me and that there is a spiritual battle to fight in a world full of Satan’s lies and schemes that only steal, kill, and destroy the hearts of those who seem or act okay on the outside, but have a lot of hurts, pain, guilt, shame, or just indifference and exasperating purposelessness that they have no idea what to do with. For me to be strong and courageous means opening up my life to people, not just those who are easy-going and nice, but all kinds of people – those who are outright rebellious, those who seem to agree on the outside, but rebel inside which gets exposed through little things, those who hide and refuse to be known or open up, those who have past baggage that needs to be worked through. This means a lot of encounters in which I’m unsure of what to say or do, or times of being spent emotionally and physically, but also times of clinging to the Word of God, mediating on it day and night so that I know and understand God’s heart, and prayer to align and prepare my heart according to God’s Word, then speaking truth and laboring in love. Especially after the retreat as a lot of things were stirred up, I need to be vigilant, strong, and courageous to carefully obey God’s commands, rely on Him rather than focus on myself and my abilities.

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Submitted by Andrew Iskandar, Gracepoint Minneapolis

Joshua 1:1-6, 9
How might Joshua have felt upon hearing God’s command for him to lead the rebellious Israelite people to conquer the vast Promised Land?

Upon hearing God’s command for him to lead the rebellious Israelite people to conquer the vast Promised Land, he might have felt uncertain, doubtful of his abilities to do so and overwhelmed. He was called to be the successor of Moses, one of the greatest faith heroes of the Bible, who had just led the people of Israel out of Egypt, and they were big shoes to fill. And not only that, but he was asked to bring them into THE Promised Land, the land that the Israelites had been waiting for during the many years wandering in the desert. It might be similar to how a rookie basketball player feels right before Game 7 of a basketball championship when the star player goes down with an injury upon being asked by the coach to lead their team to victory. Or how a vice president of a country might feel on the eve of a major political event or battle in a war if the president became incapacitated. “Am I ready for this?” “Can I do this?” “Who am I to be here in this position?” probably would have been questions running through his head.

What assurances did God give Joshua in the face of such a daunting task? Why is God’s promise in vv. 5 & 9 so important as Joshua embarks on this task?

God gave many assurances to Joshua as he faced this daunting task because He knew that Joshua probably felt overwhelmed and frightened by what he was about to do. He reassures Joshua that all the promises He had given Moses were also to be given to him. He reassured them that no one would be able to “stand up against” him. He also tells him that just as He was with Moses, He would be with Joshua, that he would “never leave [him] nore forsake [him].” This would have been such a source of relief for Joshua. He had had a front row seat in witnessing all that God had done for and through Moses throughout the Exodus. He saw how God provided food and water in the dessert for Moses. He saw how God had given them victory in battle over their enemies during the Exodus. He even saw how God never left them even during the “not so great moments” during the Exodus when the Israelites were grumbling and complaining. Through this reminder of this promise, that God would never leave him nor for forsake him, Joshua would have felt greatly encouraged to face this daunting task. Joshua knew that he was not going to go at it alone, but had the Almight God at his side.

What daunting task, and accompanying promise, has Jesus given to His disciples(Matthew 28:18-20)?

Jesus gives a similar daunting task as well as a reassuring promise to the his disciples before he goes into heaven through the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. He calls them to make disciples of ALL nations. This task seems overwhelming even to me today, even with the knowledge of the Internet, the experience of flying around the world, and previous interactions with various people groups. But these disciples were uneducated fishermen from Galilee who had never been more than 30 miles from their home and had no idea what was out there in their world. Before meeting Jesus, their lives were simply fishing, eating, sleeping, etc. And now they were being called to this seemingly impossible task! Surely they would have been frightened and overwhelmed. But again, Jesus gives them that similar promise of reassurance, that he will be with them. “And surely I am with you always…” And just like Joshua with Moses and God, the disciples knew Jesus and would have recalled all of their experiences with him, calming the storm, walking on water, healing the sick, multiplying bread, raising the dead, and even rising from the dead himself. This promise would have reassured them and encouraged them to take on the calling that they were given.

In light of the task given me, what provision of God can I count on, and what would it look like for me to be “strong and courageous”?

I have been given a similar task as the disciples, to “make disciples of all nations”, specifically here at the University of Minnesota and the students and people I meet here. And even here, it seems daunting and there are times that I feel overwhelmed. There are 50,000+ students here and there are only 21 of us here on the church plant. And even with the mission team here right now, we are only at 40. That’s a ratio of 1250:1! And not only is it the numbers that make it daunting, but just the spiritual condition of this place and my own personal fears and insecurities. Many people here have become jaded about church and God because of their personal history and broken past. They mistakenly chase after fools gold and believe that their lives are about romance, career, academic success, money, etc. And even within me, I feel unsure of myself as I attempt to go out among them. Do I have the words to speak that can convince them of the Gospel? How can I relate to these people who are so different than me? But what I’ve experienced just this past week is that “God’s word is living and active” (Hebrews 4) and it reassures me of God’s presence and power in my life and it compels me to be “strong and courageous.” He told me through Isaiah 55 that His word is powerful and that “It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” This reassured me that God’s word is a LOT more powerful and can achieve the things that He sends it out to do. That means I just need to be faithful to preach it to those around me and let Him do the work of transforming lives. He reassured me in Ezekiel 2, that regardless of “whether they listen or fail to listen” I just need to preach to them and not be worried about the “results” of my efforts and that I “do not (need to) be afraid of them or their word.” And then through Jeremiah 1, He addressed my personal insecurities, that I should not look down upon myself and trust that God is “with [me] and will rescue [me]” “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you” God’s word was truly amazing and appropriately addressed me this past week as I thought about the challenge and calling to preach the word to the students here at the U. And in 2 Timothy 4, God tells me that it means to be “strong and courageous”. “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” I need to keep my head in all the situations I am in, to know and remind myself that God is with me and that I have the Gospel message to bear to this world. I need to “endure hardship,” to face the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenge of doing ministry. This means working hard, giving it all with my resources of time, energy, money, talking to strangers, loving people in concrete ways even through it’s difficult, etc. I need to fulfill the “duties of [my] ministry” as one of His disciples of this world. And it’s not like a duty in a burden kind of a way, but as a responsibility as one who has received the Gospel message. God has saved me from my sins and this compels me to go out and face these challenges and fears. And knowing that He will be with me always and that His power is at my side is a great and wonderful reassurance!

Submitted by Hannah Yang, Gracepoint Riverside

Reflect on Jeremiah’s answer to the Lord’s call upon his life (v. 6).  What is the essence of God’s answer to Jeremiah (and the disciples) regarding their adequacy for the task? How firmly have I accepted God’s call upon my life, and how clearly have I set aside notions of my inadequacy and embraced God’s provision for the mission he has given me?

As I reflect on Jeremiah’s answer to God’s call in his life, I see how initially he feels insecure and inadequate for what God is calling him to.  He thinks about the practicalities, the fact that he is being called to be a prophet, and the first thing he thinks about is his own abilities… I cant speak, I am only a child.  He looked at himself and saw that there is nothing there that makes him even remotely close to a prophet.  Maybe he had a preconceived notion of what it takes to be a prophet, that they need to know what to say at the right time, that they need to have presence and authority over people, that they need to be respected among the people and he looked at himself and thought he wasn’t cut out for that.   But to God, none of that matted because in his answer to jeremiah, we can see that God doesn’t even consider his qualification because HE is the one who will do everything.  In vv 7-8, its all about God, not Jeremiah.  He says, go to everyone I send you, and say what I command you, don’t be afraid being I am with you, and I will rescue you.  Jeremiah and his abilities are not even spoken of.  All he needed to do is just be willing and obey.

As I reflected on this, I realized how true this is.  When I are inward focused and just looking at myself and my inadequacies, the result is fear, because I know that I can not do this on my own.  I know that I don’t have what it takes and I start to make excuses because I don’t want to fail and fall flat on my face.  As a sister, and ministering to different sisters thoughout the years, this is such a common attitude that Ive experienced.  There is so much inaction and missed opportunities because I am paralyzed by my insecurities and I refuse to trust in God and trust that He is the one who will give me the words to speak, the courage, the power that I need to carry out His work.  But once I trust in these promises that God is with me and He is the one that will do everything, and that its not about me, then all that fear disappears and I am able attempt new things.  And in my experience, as I attempted these things for God trusting that He is with me, I experienced my confidence in Him being bolstered and my faith in Him increasing.

I was thinking about two sisters who are dear to me this morning.  Its funny because in the past, they used to be among the most insecure people I knew.  They had that mentality of “I do not know how to speak, I am only a child mentality”.  But over the years, I have seen them trusting in God and obeying Him and taking steps of faith and trust in His promise that He will be with them.  And now I see how they are leading people and being prophets in the lives of younger ones and increasing in their confidence because of the Gospel.  I thought about my own life and how I have become less fearful because I focus less on myself and more on God’s power.  Through scary steps of faith, even moving here to Riverside I see how it really isn’t about me.  Even though I felt so inadequate, coming from a really shameful past, not having anything in common with these students, feeling like our team is so small compared to this campus, and wondering what can we really do.  But God has indeed been with us as we experience Him working in the hearts of the students here and now we have over 60 people taking Course 101 and wanting to learn more about the Gospel.  Its so true that its not about me or my abilities but its about God and His zeal and what HE wants to do on this campus.  As I continue doing God’s work, I really want to commit to setting aside any notion of myself and anticipating what God can do through me in the coming year as I trust in His promise… “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you” “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  God is indeed the great and awesome God because he chooses to use broken vessels like me to carry to work out His will on earth.  That is really encouraging to me and gives me a sense of greater courage in answering the call that God gives me!

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Submitted by Will Sam, Gracepoint Berkeley

Jeremiah 1:4-10, 18-19
Consider the scale of God’s call upon Jeremiah—“appoint you as a prophet to the nations” (v. 5) and “I appoint you over nations and kingdoms” (v. 10)—and how Jeremiah must have felt about it.  Consider the parallels between this and Jesus’ great commission to the disciples.

What do these two passages reveal about God’s way of working out his will on the earth?
These two passages reveal that God’s way of working out his will on the earth is going to be done through individual people making individual decisions to obey.  When Jeremiah was called by God, he could only feel the tremendous weight upon his shoulders as he was called to be a prophet to the nations.  Jeremiah, a mere man, was called to be a prophet to the nations and the kingdoms, and he was called to prophesy to them what God had commanded him to prophesy, and quite frankly, the message he was going to have to prophesy would be a message of judgment and coming doom for those who refused to repent.  This would not have been an easy message, especially given the fact that he was one mere man.

In Matthew 28, we see that God’s salvation plan is revealed, and it will be accomplished through the lives of the disciples.  Jesus taught His disciples to go out into the nations.  The disciples were instructed to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey.  This message and this instruction has gone all the way down to me.  And as the Gospel spreads, each individual Christian plays out God’s will on the earth by heeding this call – to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded.

God’s way of working out his will on the earth, then, is done through individual, specific people.  And as people heed the call; as people make the choice to obey, God’s will is advanced.

Reflect on Jeremiah’s answer to the Lord’s call upon his life (v. 6).  What is the essence of God’s answer to Jeremiah (and the disciples) regarding their adequacy for the task?
What’s really interesting about God’s answer to Jeremiah and Jesus’ command to the disciples is what God doesn’t say.  Jeremiah complains to the Lord by saying that he is too young and that he does not know how to speak.  The disciples, upon hearing Jesus’ command to go out into all the nations, must have felt so small in light of how big Israel was, not to mention the countries nearby, not to mention the whole wide world.  God’s answer is NOT to say – don’t worry, you will be fine because you truly are special, you are gifted and you are capable.  As if to reinforce Jeremiah’s fears, God even tells him, they won’t listen to you and they will fight against you.
Having said that, God’s promise is very clear – He will be with them.  God tells Jeremiah, “I am with you and will rescue you;” God tells the disciples – “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  This is God’s promise and this is the essence of his answer to Jeremiah’s and the disciples’ qualm about their inadequacy.  God is almost seemingly saying – Yes, I know, you are likely not adequate for this task, but that’s not the point.  The point is that I am going with you.  Since I am with you, be of good cheer and have faith because I will go ahead and I’ll be the One at work.
How firmly have I accepted God’s call upon my life, and how clearly have I set aside notions of my inadequacy and embraced God’s provision for the mission he has given me?
As I’ve had the privilege to engage in College ministry for the past 4-5 years, as our church has expanded, grown, planted churches, etc., I have really come to see that I am indeed called to be a prophet to this generation.  I would like to say, as well, that I am clearly aware that my own notions of inadequacy have been wiped away clean and God’s provision is all that I rely on daily.  This would not be true, however, as I’m very often plagued by the sense that is not quite inadequacy per se, but pride in a different form.
For me, I often struggle with that sense of “man, I’ve got something to really give to the Lord, He’s probably happy I’m on His team now!”  Now while this is obviously a very extreme form of the feeling, it is actually rather accurate in terms of how I will sometimes feel about myself and my ability to live out God’s mission in my life.  Just like inadequacy, however, this pride ultimately pushes me off the path of living out God’s will because I really don’t have enough strength to fulfill the mission simply based on personal willpower and zeal.  After ministry failures, personal character flaws that keep coming back up, and situations that arise to show me who I really am and what I’m really made of, I fall back into the reality that this Christian life is only possible if I embrace God’s provision.

Note what God tells Jeremiah in v. 5 in light of Jeremiah’s sense of inadequacy for the task God is calling him to.  Do I have a sense that God has known me all my life, and that he has been directing and guiding me long before I became aware of his specific call upon my life?
One thing I often fail to reflect on deeper is the fact that God really has known me all of my life.  I made my decision to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was 21 years old.  God’s place in my life, however, was not absent in those 21 years prior to my decision.  In fact, over the years, I have felt God really reminding me of the many different people, events, things that happened in my life throughout the past that have been glimpses of God.

For me personally, my Mom and Dad both were baptized as believers shortly after I was born.  I grew up in the church until I was around 5 years old.  I actually still remember some of those Sunday School classes.  I remember not liking them, of course, but you know, I can still recall watching a cartoon of Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus.  I don’t know why this visual memory is there, but I do recall feeling warmly cared for by my Sunday School teachers.  I remember other instances throughout my life when I would pop my head back into church – whether for Service, or through a friend’s invitation to a Youth event, or some Christian concert I somehow got invited to; or even in my freshman year when a friend of mine invited me to Gracepoint Sunday Service, where I met some of the older leaders at our church.  God wasn’t present, but He certainly wasn’t far.  I even recall how I was so saddened by my dog’s sudden death in the fifth grade that I made some strange commitment to pray every night before sleeping (maybe it was for my Dog).  My prayers were probably theologically all messed up, but that constant line of communication between myself and God, I think God honored that.

So when I plunged headfirst into moral and spiritual depravity in college, it was to the Christian church that I first turned.  My journey with the Lord, then, wasn’t some “here I am, ready to invite you into my life for the first time” kind of event; rather, it was more along the lines of “well God, I’ve certainly lived long enough away from Your Holy presence and I’ve tasted what that was like.  Lord please forgive me and bring me back to You.”  It was like some long journey BACK to God if nothing else.

Think about the people and groups arrayed against Jeremiah, all of whom would oppose his message, disagree with his words, dismiss his warnings (vv. 17-19).  What does this tell me about the position and relational situation I must be willing to face as I obey God?
As I obey God, I must be willing to be that fortified city, iron pillar and bronze wall.  The biggest problem is that the attacks and opposition come from all angles.  It comes from the Non-Christian who disdains the Christian call to objective truth, the claim that there is but one God, and His Son, Jesus Christ in whom all salvation is found.  It comes from other Christians who aren’t heeding the call of discipleship and cross-bearing as seriously – the battle to define what a “normal Christian life” is, the incessant need or desire to call anything outside of their understanding of following God “radical” in order to paint the picture in the extreme and to draw things back to their understanding of normal.

The battle is clearly going to be relationally difficult because we are, in the end, called to obey God.  And as I attempt to do so, I won’t be given that clear and easy path.  I therefore need to make sure that my relationship with God’s Word is always fresh.  The incessant desires of the heart and the rest of culture and society is to settle down, to not live in the extreme, to not be too into anything.  The call to discipleship, however, is a call to live out our Christian faith with conviction and zeal.

Isaiah 55:1-3
What is the human condition according to this passage, and how much am I in agreement with this diagnosis?
- That we are thirsty and hungry – symbolically referring to our soul and spiritual being hunger and thirst
- That we have no money – we may have physical money to buy things in this world, but we don’t have what we need to get things that will truly satisfy, which is a restored relationship with God. Because of a broken relationship with God, we’re missing what we truly need and we have no way, on our own, to attain that. We’re spiritually poor.
- That we spend and labor, even at a high price, to feed our soul on all these things that will not satisfy.
- That what we pursue doesn’t lead to “the richest of fare” and for our souls to live

I am in agreement with this diagnosis – that apart from God, my life is described in these ways, and my hunger/thirst couldn’t be filled by anything else no matter how much I tried, invested, pursued.  I am in agreement with this diagnosis, now that I am with Jesus, that Him and His ways really lead to richest of fare and fullness of life.

What are some aspects of God’s heart revealed in vv. 1-3?
This passage shows God pleading with us.  Expressed in the passage is the note of concern and also puzzlement – why invest on things that will not satisfy or will only harm you?  This is the picture of God pursuing men and always pleading with men. It also reveals God’s heart of wanting to bless. Just like in John 10:10, the same sentiment is expressed that He really wants our life to thrive.  I’ve come to really experience this truth over the years as I got to know God more and got to know myself more.  In my moments of pride and arrogance, I rebelled against God only to learn that my way couldn’t lead to what is truly good. Then I came to the understanding that God has been good all along and what He says has always been true. It reveals God’s heart and desires to be in a covenantal relationship with us, to be with us.

Isaiah 55:6-8
Meditate on the words “he will have mercy on him” and “he will freely pardon.”  Why is an attitude of reluctance regarding repentance so out of place with the heart of God revealed in this passage?
Seeing God’s heart and human conditions revealed in this passage (and throughout the Bible), I see again how many times I have such twisted, broken views of God. Because of wrong views of God and not seeing ourselves and our conditions correctly, we doubt or think that God is on some kind of a power trip when he wants us to repent and return to him. We think he tells us “Say Sorry now!” – trying to push His weight around, trying to get us to respond so that He can satisfy His ego and win, just like what some adults would do to a frustrating, rebellious child who just wouldn’t comply. Or He wants to take away all the fun so He establishes boundaries and laws for us to abide by.  But all the passages in the Bible are so, so opposite from that and these words reveal God’s heart so differently. He’s the God who is pleading with us, wanting to reason with us and wanting us to live and thrive.  And despise our rebellion and our foolishness of pursuing things that will not satisfy, still God says He will have mercy and He will freely pardon (v.7), only if we will return to Him. This is God’s heart! And in light of this, an attitude of reluctance regarding repentance is so out of place and is really missing the heart of God. Our ego, pride and arrogance are really Satan’s ways of wanting us to cling onto our sins and perish, rather than to humble ourselves and live.  It takes so much humility, first of all, to admit that we are thirsty and hungry, that we are in need, that we don’t have what it takes to restore that broken relationship with God, and that only God can provide and we need to simply humble ourselves and turn back to Him. Repentance is the one thing that ONLY Christians can do, and the fact that we can repent is good news because we have a solution for our misery and sin-filled life because God will freely receive us.  Such reluctance is so out of place because (1) to not respond to such loving invitation is hurtful and offensive and (2) what other solutions and alternatives do we have so that my soul can “delight in the richest of fare” (v2) and “may [truly] live” (v3)?

Isaiah 55:2-3; 10-11
How is the word of God described in these passages?
- It is good, that it will lead my soul to delight in the richest of fare
- It leads to life (that your soul may live)
- God’s word will accomplish what He has willed and desired – it will achieve and fulfill HIS purpose.

In what ways have God’s words accomplished his purposes in history, in our world, and in my life?

God’s word accomplishes His purposes….

In history: in the beginning, He used His words to create something out of nothing. He used His words to pursue and plead, and to send deliverance for His people. He used His words to bring about His salvation plan for mankind, as God’s word became flesh, Jesus, and He came to show us the way back to God (John 1:14).  And God used His words through the early Christians and forefathers to spread and embody the Gospel.

In our world: He uses His words to convict the hearts of people to repentance and turn sinners back to Him.  He uses His words to convict the hearts of Christians to respond in obedience and doing His will.

In my life: God uses His word to teach me that I was created by Him and to have a relationship with Him. His word gave me wisdom, understanding and knowledge for my salvation. God uses His word to convict me of my sinfulness and rebellion against Him. He uses His words to reveal His heart and His highest vision for my life. He uses His word to lift me up in my discouragement and defeat, and He uses His word to restore hope even in times of sins and failure. He uses His words to train me and equip me for the spiritual battle He calls me to, for my own soul and also for the souls of others He has entrusted to me.

What about human nature and the nature of faith is revealed from the fact that Apostle Paul urges Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of …”?  i.e., if Timothy was convinced of it, why would it be necessary for him to be urged to continue in it?

It reveals the fact that our minds are frail.. The truth that we have come to see somehow fades.  C.S. Lewis said that faith is continuing to hold onto what you were convinced of as true.  Just coming back down from the retreat where I realized many truths, I know that I would be a fool if I thought that the fact that I’ve realized the truth once will somehow sustain me.  I have seen too many times when such realizations, as convinced as I was, fade away into irrelevance once I step away from the retreat.  I can come face-to-face with undeniable truths about my own sinfulness, about my own mortality and the fact that I need forgiveness from Jesus.  I can be convinced to the core of the truth regarding the gospel of forgiveness, how that is truly the only hope for a sinner like me.

But all of that, if I don’t continue in it, simply fades.  And it’s not because I was confronted with some awesome intellectual counterargument against the truths that I’ve learned.  It’s not because I experienced some hardship that caused a crisis of faith.   I would just wake up, get started on my work, get a little stressed fighting traffic, deal with a slight headache, talk to my professor or boss about some project, and before I know it, God doesn’t seem so real.  The gospel doesn’t seem to be so relevant.  What changed about my sinfulness?  What changed so that God doesn’t seem so real?  Nothing much, really.  It’s the mundane things in life that strips away the truth.  If I don’t intentionally “continue in what I have learned and have become convinced of”, I am setting myself out to forget the truth that I’ve come to see.  Concretely, that means I need to make sure to take a time-out from the mundaneness of the world to focus my attention on the truth again.  It seems that the main way the mundane activities of the world takes away the truth from me is through spending time — spending time to go from one place to another, spending time taking care of errands, etc.  So that means I need to be mindful to break the monotony of the day with focused reminders of the truth.  I need to treat my DT’s and prayers as those times of breaking the monotony of mundaneness, an insertion of reality into my days.

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Submitted by Sarah Song, Gracepoint Austin

Timothy 3:13-14

What about human nature and the nature of faith is reveald from the fact that Apostle Paul urges Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of …”? i.e., if Timothy was convinced of it, why would it be necessary for him to be urged to continue in it? Human nature is prone to forget the truths that I’ve learned and become convinced of. There’s something about us that is attracted to the opposite, in going away from God’s truths and believing in lies generated by this world, by our own feelings, by Satan. It somehow degenerates if I don’t continue doing it, affirming it with my life and actions. My commitments, feelings towards God and the life he’s called me to, the urgency of the gospel…these things which I’ve learned and become convinced of intellectually, experientially, even emotionally can be easily lost because there are so many competing voices and lies that are espoused as truths in this world that competes with God’s truth. I have that sinful nature still a part of me that needs to be fought and struggled with, and I’m reminded that the spiritual battle is very real…it’s real within my own heart, real within the hearts of my students who I’m trying to help God’s truths get planted and grow and change their lives. I can’t be naive and think that just teaching it to them once or having them listen to a message once will be enough, but knowing how our old nature fights against our new nature and all the lies that this world hands out as truth to me and this generation, I need to really up the ante in my personal convictions and go back to the truths that I became convinced of and continue in them.

2 Timothy 3:15-17

What are the Scriptures able to do, and what is the Scripture useful for?

The Scriptures are able to to give us wisdom for salvation through Jesus Christ. It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

Reflect on the times in which I experienced some of the above aspects of Scripture. As I think on times in which God’s word came to me, many times it’s been to teach and correct and rebuke me. These aren’t words that I get excited over. However, more often than not has God’s word comes to me to reveal the wrong and sinful patterns, thoughts, words, actions that I’ve done. Some have been easy to recognize, such as my stinginess and greed over money. Sometimes God’s word has had to come to me again and again before I really registered that there’s an issue within my heart, and those times have been regarding my view of myself or my little ol’ me attitude. Even this past TFN’s message on Luke 13, the 4 soils, that although I’ve heard of this parable many, many times and I know the applications for each type of soil, yet through it God’s word corrected my thinking and revealed to me the greater urgency to pray for people and for myself as I was struck by the fact at how there are so many obstacles, distractions, and so many things in everyday life that could block God’s word from becoming fruitful. I had forgotten how God wants to partner with me in helping people’s hearts become like the good soil, to dig up those rocks and thorns in people’s lives and to help soften the path-like hearts through loving acts and prayer. It caused me to evaluate my heart, especially as the Austin Winter retreat is coming up, and not to think that because I’m staff that my heart is all ready to hear God’s word. God revealed to me that my busy schedule, children, work, even the duties that I’m given within ministry has crowded my own heart and kept God’s word from really entering in deeper and that I haven’t been doing the hard work of reflecting as much on God’s word. I’m reminded how again, God’s word has power to correct my thoughts and feelings, to rebuke me out of my complacency, to teach me once again aspects of human nature and God’s heart.

Hebrews 4:12-16

How have I experienced the word of God to be “living and active,” “sharper than any double-edged sword… judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart?” Being here in Taiwan, the greatest blessing is being able to spend more extensive time in God’s Word and in prayer and learning to apply God’s Word into my life more concretely. Coming here initially, many of my values regarding finances, family, etc. were exposed, and I realized the foundation that I was building my faith on was not that firm. During this time, my leaders exhorted me to carefully read through Jeremiah and Proverbs and see how the verses could apply to my life. The first time, I went through the verses hurriedly and the verses didn’t really come alive for me. Later on, my leaders taught me how to read over God’s word verse by verse, reflect and pray over each of them. Instead of simply glossing over and saying that’s me or that’s not me, I began to ask myself “to what extent am I like this?” or “in what specific ways have I acted this way towards God?” It was God’s Word that ultimately broke through to me, as I saw how God longed for a relationship with His people and how He wanted to restore me back to Him. Through confessing my sins more specifically, I’ve begun to learn more about myself and God’s Word and grow in my conviction of my sin and need for God’s grace. Previously, my reflections and devotion times have been more shallow and surface-level. Now, in my devotions times and reflection, I’m still learning how to write more, to internalize how God is speaking to me, and allow God’s Word to penetrate into my heart, and again and again I’ve experienced God’s word exposing my motives and my heart. Instead of seeing the Bible as something written some time ago, I’m growing in my desire to read God’s Word and learning to see how God is a real God, how He is God of history, how He has longed to restore a relationship with His people since the beginning, and how He still longs to speak to me each day through His Word.

Ezekiel 33:31-32

These verses provide a scathing indictment against Ezekiel’s audience.  What was their attitude in listening to God’s word? Their attitude in listening to God’s word was that this was something they had to do because it was already a habit. This was something they usually did as our text says. And so it had become such a regular habit to just come before God to listen, but not to put things into practice. It was almost the expected norm to just listen to a lot of commands of God, to listen to the repeated words of God, and not have any intention of changing their life or values.

What does the analogy to “one who sings songs” communicate about the way they listened to God’s word? This shows that they listened to God’s words almost like it was entertainment. Perhaps they came with the attitude that they wanted to hear a new nuance into a text. Perhaps they came with the attitude of wanting to feel some emotional tug on their hearts. In the context of listening to messages, like bible studies or sermons of today, they may have wanted to hear some good stories or illustrations that would move their hearts; causing them to laugh or bring them to tears. But they had no intentional of allowing those emotions to ever really penetrate into their hearts to affect change. So even in hearing the word of God, their attitude was very selfish.

James 1:21-24

What does it mean to “merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves”? To merely listen to the word implies that you heard what it said, you were possibly even convicted by some part of it, but as our text says, you didn’t put it into practice. Why would it be that someone deceives themselves after they heard the word? It may boil down to an emotional response verses a response with our actions. When we hear God’s word there is that temptation to respond with a feeling; like I felt convicted by God’s word, or something really struck me. And so we leave that time feeling like God really spoke and addressed my issues. But once we leave that time, we don’t put what we felt into practice. I personally can recount numerous times when I felt convicted by the word of God, I felt like God was addressing something in my life, but then I finished my devotion time or the message ended, and suddenly I get caught up in the busyness of life and completely forget what I had committed to or felt during that time. But then my attitude is that this was a good dt or message, I felt hit by the message and I deceive myself into thinking that this was the same as listening to God.

Ezekiel & James

What lessons from both of the passages regarding listening to God’s word do I need to heed? The obvious lesson is that I need to put into practice what I hear. When I come to the word of God, I first need to have the attitude of expectation that God can address me through this message or this dt. I need to go into each of these times with the attitude that this could change how I live or what decisions I make. After hearing the message, if I was struck by some point, I need to find someone to share it with. I need to share any commitments I made immediately because otherwise I know that I will forget it. This also gives me accountability and causes me to take my commitments more seriously because I’ve shared it with someone else. Sharing my commitment can also help to make something that may have been vague in my mind become something that is more flushed out as I put into words what I’m feeling or how I felt like God was speaking to me. Another way to solidify what I heard is through reflection. I think an important practice that my leaders have taught me is to reflect on a weekly basis; to take time out each week to think about what happened in the previous week. I need to take these times seriously so that I can properly process all the ways God spoke to me in any given week.

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Submitted by Joyce Lee, Gracepoint Austin

James 1:21-24

What does it mean to “merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves”? It means to just hear the word of God, but neglecting to integrate the truth of it into my life.  I think we can deceive ourselves into thinking that by listening to the word, we are living by it.  I can deceive myself, that because I am reading God’s word, doing my devotional each day, having good realizations about God, and myself, going to church on Fridays and Sundays and being addressed by God, being challenged, that I am actually living out a good Christian life.  But if this doesn’t translate to concrete action in my life, then there was no use in the word of God that I heard.  I am deceiving myself.  Just merely hearing the words of God doesn’t mean that I actually believe and live out its truths.  In so many places in the Bible, the importance of obedience versus just hearing is stressed.  Romans 2:13 – “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.”  Matthew 7:24 – “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock…” For example, if I am really hearing and believing the warning regarding a fire that is approaching my house, then I would respond appropriately by evacuating my house.  I would make adjustments in my life that fits with the truth I heard.  In the same way, if I really am hearing and believing in the truth that God is my Provider, that He is trustworthy and faithful, but this doesn’t lead to concrete acts that show that I actually believe this, then I am deceived because the truth of what I heard does not stay with me, and I soon forget it.  If I just merely hear the word of God, and don’t take any action, then in what sense am I living by the truth, in what sense am I living out my Christian life?  I am deceiving and lying to myself.

Ezekiel & James

What lessons from both of the passages regarding listening to God’s word do I need to heed? To humbly accept the word planted in me, which can save me…  I need to listen to God’s word with a humble attitude.  Whenever I approach the word of God, either through devotionals, through messages, and through people God has placed in my life, I need to approach it with a much humbler attitude.  I need to deny and lay down my desires for approval, desires to be “successful” in ministry or at Christian life – knowing that I am at the core a sinner, knowing that there are many areas in my life that needs to be corrected, that needs to be chiseled, and shaped… so that I won’t build a wall around myself, so that I can actually hear what God has to say to me and humbly accept whatever truth may be shown to me, and be able to experience repentance, forgiveness, and transformation.

Look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom… not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it… I need to heed what James says about looking intently into God’s law, meditating on the truths of His words, and not forgetting it.  In light of yesterday’s devotional, I see how quickly my heart can become a path, rocky, thorny soil, forgetting the truths of the words that I heard, the things that I was addressed by, giving into mental laziness, letting situations and circumstances dictate my actions and responses, passively returning to my old patterns and habits, not proactively allowing God’s word to have an effect on my decisions and actions.  I recognize that I need to engage in a lot of hard work to keep my heart tender and good soil that can respond to God’s word and live out the truths of it in my life.  And I see that it really is going to involve hard work on my part, much more diligence, thought, awareness, alertness, vigilance, especially because passivity is my default and comfortable mode.  I need to remind myself each day God’s truths through times in devotionals, meditating, reflecting, and be thinking throughout the day, actively looking for opportunities to live out what I learned and was challenged by.  This is the hard work that I want to commit to doing, so that the word of God can do its work of transforming my life, giving me freedom, and bearing fruit.

Matthew 13:1-23

Which soil would be an apt description of my spiritual condition today? As I think about my spiritual condition today, I think it’s between the thorn phase and good soil.  Having just come back from the Riverside mission trip, God really softened my heart and opened my eyes to see and ears to hear many things He was trying to communicate to me.  I was reminded of the incredible responsibility I have as a bearer of the Gospel, and how this really is the most precious thing I have been given.  I also was challenged about my role to be Ezekiel on the college campuses.  As the devotions were so fitting during the mission trip, God reminded me that I need to prophesy His words to the valley of dry bones on college campuses, especially the UT campus which is where God has currently place me.  Even with all these meaningful, personal experience from just this past week,  I already do sense Satan at work to try and filter my heart.  He is trying to make my heart filled with all types of thorns and rocks already.  The everyday responsibilities at work, the burdens of parenthood, the upcoming retreat and semester.  He is trying to make me filled with all kinds of worries and anxieties.  And so I’m reminded today of the fragile nature of my own heart, of the difficult work it is to try and have a fertile heart.  With the retreat coming up for Austin next weekend, I know that I need to be vigilant to keep things from cluttering or hardening my heart, so that God’s word can take root in my life.

The rocky soil is actually a reference to a type of shallow soil not uncommon in that area that had a thin layer of rock underneath it.  Thus, the roots could not penetrate deeper into the soil.  Given the link between having no root, and falling away when troubles or persecutions come, what might be some layers of rock that keep the gospel at a shallow level in my life?

The thin layers of rock that have the ability to keep the gospel at a shallow level in my life are my own pride and arrogance.  To think that I’m okay with myself, and that I have it together is something I’m constantly reminding myself against, because my tendency is to think I can get make it my own way just fine, which I know to be far from the truth, yet this is the insanity of my pride.  Pride is a monster that will continue to be something I battle against perhaps for the rest of my life.  Though it may not be so visible, not something I easily see everyday, the reality is that it resides in my heart.  It is there, and I would be foolish to think that it’s not there.  Another layer of rock is my family ,and my responsibilities of being a husband and father of two kids.  There are many aspects of family life that can keep the Gospel at a shallow level in my life.  For one, there are responsibilities of parenting that take their physical and emotional toll.  And when this happens, it can cause me to be lazy in my walk with God.  It can cause me to be mechanical in the way I approach my devotions and ministry.  Rather than spend quality time dwelling on what God may be trying to say to me, I’ll have a hurried approach, wanting to just get through and complete the questions.  This approach is pharisaic, merely something that I can potentially get proud about doing.  Yet the main purpose of the devotions, to get me closer in my relationship with God, will be unmet.

Acts 20:22–24

If vs. 24 can be characterized as Apostle Paul’s “statement of purpose” for his life, what is the “statement of purpose” for my life?  Based on the way that I have lived my life, how would I fill in the blanks to the statement: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may _______________   and complete the _________.”  What steps can I take to make my life conform more to Apostle Paul’s statement of purpose for life?

Apostle Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and everywhere he was going he had warnings of prison and hardships, yet he was not into preserving his life, self-promoting, or shrinking back in any way. Rather, he considered his life worth nothing to him, if only he may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given him – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

I was thinking about how easy it could be for me to think that my statement of purpose is the same as Apostle Paul. I’m out here in Taiwan, serving God, reaching out to students, trying to love the people around me. But if I really paused to think about it, I have to ask myself am I really compelled by the Spirit, moving in the ways God wants me to, even if prison and hardships face ahead? I think often instead I am compelled by my own emotions, my ego, my preferences, my own agendas. When things are familiar and comfortable, when it won’t be too taxing on me physically and emotionally – I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. In other words, do I really consider my life worth nothing to me? Or is some of me, trying to preserve myself, remain safe, comfortable, self-promote in some way?

The steps that I must take to make my life conform more to Apostle Paul’s statement of purpose for life, is to push forth when the hardships come, push forth even not knowing what will happen to me. I have to fight against every hesitation, the fears that entangle, my own sins. There are people to meet; in fact, the gospel obligates me to everyone. The spiritual battle seems only more and more fierce, but the gospel “is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” As I get older, I have to fight against my body, against notions of wanting to just slow down, of just settling into grooves. In this cold weather, no matter how much I want to crawl under the covers, I have to get up. When I do not want to have a tough conversation or be confrontational and rock the boat, I have to deny myself and do the hard thing. When I am hurt, I have to let go and be gracious. Though prison may not lie ahead, hardships certainly will. To make my life conform more to Apostle Paul’s statement of purpose for life, I must ensure every moment of my life is living FOR Him. It’s because I am learning that I can consider my life worth nothing, but this.

I’m thankful for the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task to testifying to the gospel of His grace. I can consider my life worth nothing to me – just when I think about my own experience of his endless mercy and grace, that he would ennoble my life that was once in such hopeless darkness and despair with such purpose and hope. The reminder of His grace in my life compels me to press on. It’s His spirit, the truth of this gospel, and the love that I have received. And as I press on, I have the undeserved privilege of experiencing His grace touch the lives of others. As I think about the past 3 months here, how we are able to witness 5 salvation decisions here in Hsinchu, I am so amazed how God is so good and His grace so boundless. What an undeserved privilege! This reminds me that I cannot slow down and encourages me to keep pressing on, dying to me and living for Him.  I just marvel that God would use me in this way and give me this task to testifying to the gospel of His grace. Daily, I’m reminded of the obligation I have to others and really pray that I will live out a statement of purpose that conforms more and more to Apostle Paul’s.

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Submitted by Jisup Hong

Hold Firmly

What is the test of genuine faith based on these verses? The test of genuine faith based on these verses is that it perseveres, that it causes the person to hold firmly to what they believe. It says “if you take your stand” otherwise you have believed in vain. Why? Is it conditional? No, it’s just the nature of what it really means to understand a truth that is important.  This truth of the gospel is so powerful that if one really understood it, it will cause you act.  It’s like if I really believed this ceiling was going to cave in in the next 30 seconds, I’m going to jump to my feet and move. It’s because it’s a self-involving truth that if I really understood it, it would cause some kind of response.

What does it mean to “take your stand” and “hold firmly” to the gospel? I think one thing it means is to persevere through difficulty. When  anyone takes a stand on anything, it is always in the face of adversity, e.g. people taking a stand on their principles, people taking a stand against racism in the face of a culture that fully embraces it, etc. Taking my stand upon the gospel means that I’m going to hold firmly to the gospel amidst difficulty, in the face of adversity. What is the adversity that I need to stand against? It’s my own sins and failures, it’s just life happening, kids getting sick, feeling weak, seeing my own character flaws in a more glaring light, temptations to slow down and settle, difficulties in ministry, there’s satan, that sleepless enemy who is constantly looking for ways to dull our faith, make us give up or just slow down. To hold firmly to the gospel means that I’m not just going to sit there and let entropy set in, I’m not going to let satan hurl things at me without defending myself; it means I’m going to do something about it – holding on means going back to my testimony and remembering God’s real hand in my life, it means I’m going to meditate and memorize verses that snap me back to the truth that the one who is in me is greater than the one in the world, that he can do immeasureably more than I ask or imagine, that the spiritual battle is real, it means that I’m going to pray instead of just feeling down, I’m going to act instead of letting satan lull me into spiritual slumber or into my same old cynical attitude.

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Submitted by Susanna Lee, Gracepoint Davis

What does it mean to live so that God’s grace is not without effect? To live so that God’s grace is not without effect means to live a life that testifies God’s grace that saved us from sin.  It is a life that hates and fights against sin daily because it is sin that separates us from God and sin that crucified our Savior on the cross.  When we continue in sin, this has no effect on the grace that we have received from God.  In reality this means that I need to daily die to the self, my sinful nature: self-centered desires, self-elevation/promotion, self-comfort, ego/pride, my temporal/narrow perspective of life, my warped/twisted thoughts, etc.  Unless I willfully die to my sinful nature each day, God’s grace cannot have its effect in my life.

What kind of attitude would be in a person who works hard but knows that it’s not him but the grace of God that was with him? The attitude of humility and gratitude stemming from the sense of privilege (undeservingness) would be in a person who works hard but knows that it’s not him but the grace of God that was with him.  This would result in joy and gratitude regardless of how hard she works or how difficult the task might be.  She would be willing to take on more as she would trust in God’s grace to enable her.  Whatever God asks her to do, regardless of how much personal sacrifice is required, her attitude would be that of a servant’s attitude and the willingness that comes from knowing that this would be an opportunity to personally experience God’s grace and power enabling her to do what is not possible by herself.  Also, the knowing that it is not me but the grace of God that is in me will protect me from getting proud when I do something well or falling into despair when things don’t go well.  Even failure would be seen as a humbling, learning opportunity to depend on God rather than something that diminishes the self.

Submitted by Gina Han, Gracepoint Davis

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Reflect on v.2 and what it says about the centrality of Christ and the cross for Apostle Paul.  To what extent do I share this resolve to make Christ and “him crucified” the central theme of my worldview and my understanding of the gospel? As I grow older and continue to see myself and the patterns that I have built up in terms of how I react to situations and how I relate to people, even now I still get surprised at the things I do and say, and it’s still eye opening to me when God’s Word or the people of God bring out into the light sinful things about my character and my worldview. By default, I am proud and blind to myself, and so I really need to reflect on and know deeper and deeper the meaning of the cross, and the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified for me, my very real sins that come out each and every day. When I know just my own viewpoint and reasoning in my relationships each day, this does not lead to power as the ways of the world would seem to indicate – , but instead leads to others being hurt and relationships being broken, when I am just bent on exalting my own reasoning and pride. True power and love in relationships is instead when I am crucified, surrendered, dead to my own sinful and proud perspective for the sake of others. True power is when I deny my own emotions and pride, and for this, I need to resolve to make Christ and him crucified the central theme of my life. To know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified, what does that look like on a daily basis in my relationships? It’s to know that my Lord, Jesus Christ, had to be crucified in order to deal with the sin in me. It’s to know that I am this sinful, never mind how long I have been a Christian, how long I have served in ministry, what kind of position I occupy in the church – Jesus Christ was crucified for my sin. That means I am a sinner in a serious serious way, and I must never let anything else that is going on in my life allow me to think otherwise. As I have known very well what happens in my life and relationships when I know and insist on my own pride and perspective, I want to make knowing Jesus Christ and him crucified the central theme instead, the thing that I most know – that I am only a sinner in need of forgiveness each and every day. And by the grace of God, I am so thankful for His promise that this message of the cross is what will lead to true power of God being displayed in my life.

Devotional Sharing, Submitted by Gary Chang, Gracepoint Hsinchu

In verses 1-6 it says that “all the people assembled as one man” from daybreak until noon and “listened attentively” to the Book of the Law.  The picture of the spiritual community that emerges from this observation is one in which the Word of God is at the center of the lives of every member of the community.  What defines the spiritual community belonging to God separate and distinct from every other community out there, at its core, has to be the Word of God as the central authority in the people’s lives.  And this is what we try to prioritize as well as a church.  “Connecting with God” is the foremost of our church’s core values.  Here in Taiwan we start our day every morning at 7:15am when we all gather at the fellowship hall to do DT, so that we can all start our days on the right footing of the Word of God.  But more importantly than studying and reflecting on the Word of God, of course, is the importance of living it out in the concrete details of our lives.  To the extent I can have true fellowship with God, to the extent I can personally claim that the Word of God is central to my life, I am to put the Word and its teachings into practice and daily strive to live it out, down to patterning my life after it in the mundane matters.

In verses 7-12, however, was the central passage for me this morning.  I was personally struck by the phrase, “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  This was the point of emphasis from Ajith Fernando as well when he visited our church.  There are the pains of life and ministry and there is the joy of the Lord, and the joy of the Lord needs to always be the source of our strength, the power sustaining everything that we do, and the buoyant in our lives that keep our heads above the water.  I thought about in what sense is the joy of the Lord the strength in my life.  Having served here in Taiwan for some time now, I have experienced deeply, more than ever before, how the joy of the Lord has indeed been a tremendous source of strength in my life that keeps me joyful and hopeful.  I could have focused on the less encouraging things in my life: the sorrow over my own sins and inconsistencies, the discouragement from people whom I invested heart and prayers in but who ended up being unresponsive to or walking away from the Gospel, etc.  I know that when I do focus on these things, I can easily end up feeling glum or down.  But when this happens I will again and again snap myself out of it, for to focus on these things is to ignore the greater reality of the joy of the Lord that is in my life:

- There is the grace of God that is new every morning, for as inconsistent as I am, as sinful as I am, when I come before God and confess and repent of my sins there is the grace and mercy of God that forgives me and purifies me from all unrighteousness.

- There is the presence of this spiritual community that is the Taiwan Team, as I see my brothers and sisters giving their all to serve the Lord and reach out to the students here, and as I see their hard work and zeal, I get really encouraged and spurred on to likewise give myself fully to the worthy work of building up an Acts 2 church here in this idolatrous nation.

- Then there are the recent salvations within the past two months that is the evidence of God’s zeal and faithfulness in wanting to bring these precious students to come to know Him, and it reminds me that His Spirit is actively at work in our midst.

- And, finally, there is the fact that I get to have the privilege of being here to build up our church, knowing that with every person we impact with the Gospel we are pushing back a little bit of Satan’s hold over this country.  [...] There is simply nothing like the joy of watching a church grow and the hearts of people being transformed, especially in a place like Taiwan.

I can go on and on about the joys of the Lord that sustain me and from which I draw strength daily.  But each one of them is indeed a tremendous source of joy for me.  And when I draw strength from the joy of the Lord, it gives me the renewal and the perseverance that I need to press on toward the goal for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Submitted by Michelle Sun, Gracepoint Berkeley

Ezekiel 37:1-10

Whenever I read this chapter I think about the fact that there has been many “dry bone becoming flesh” experience in my life.  I have seen many who did not have any spiritual hunger come to life after much prayer, after years of ministering to them. What do the dry bones represent?  A dried up heart, a human heart that does not respond to truth and has been in that state for a long time.  A human heart seem so impossible to move or to change at times, especially if that person is really set on wanting something.  There is no life and no sign of life in that person and there has been no response to the truth for a long time.  In this kind of situation, God is very clear that he is able to even make these dry bones come to life.

There is really nothing that the dry bones contribute to.  It’s God and his prophet who preaches to the dry bones that do all the work.  God says  “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”   But God does ask Ezekiel to do one thing which is to preach to the valley of the dry bones.  He has to preach in such a way so that he believes in God’s word and knows that what God says will come true.  As we are in the process of planting many churches, what we are experiencing as a church is this very vision of seeing a valley of dry bones come to life slowly.  The process is slow, but the promise is true and the outcome is certain.  I think about Riverside Campus where there is literally no sign of life and where a group of our staff are trying to preach to the campus.  Even though they don’t seem to quite understand, there is some stirring..

God delights to do these impossible things.   It’s not like some things are so much more impossible than others to God, as he is not like us.  He is able to do all things, even change the hearts that have been in the grave for so long.  As long as God is involved and he is in the picture, there is the work of recreating life that takes place. Our church plant team is like Ezekiel preaching their heart out because God has told them to.  What an amazing promise God gives us as he say “ I will do it”..  I will do this and I will do that.  You watch and you just obey and do what I told you to do..  It’s really exciting to think about the day when the valley of dry bones in Riverside will produce an army of Christians, when the valley of dry bones in SD and Minnesota will produce an army of Christians.  There is no other work that is more exciting and fulfilling than doing this life-creating work that God has given us to do.

Submitted by Phil Choi, Gracepoint Hsinchu

Ezekial 37: 1-14

How must have Ezekiel felt as he saw the state of Israel in the vision of the valley of dry bones? He was probably full of despair and pain as he saw the valley of dry bones. Maybe he had a lot of regrets of what could have been better.

What does God command Ezekiel to do in v. 4, after he digests the vision and its implications? God tells Ezekial to prophesy to the dry bones and say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!”

How does Ezekiel’s vision—God’s ability to raise a living army from a valley of dry bones—give me hope in God’s ability to handle difficult, or even hopeless, situations today? The idea that God can raise a living army from a valley of dry bones gives me hope for what God can do in Taiwan. I think the picture of a valley of dry bones is an apt picture of people in this country. They go day to day working tirelessly, studying relentlessly, worshipping idols in the hope of receiving blessings or a better lot in life, but you can clearly tell that there is a dryness in their hearts. There is a sense of aimlessness and hopelessness; people doing a lot but not quite sure why they are doing it. And as I read this question of God’s ability to raise “a living army” from a valley of dry bones, the picture of spiritual revival came to mind for me. It’s something I’ve been praying more for Taiwan ever since the Thanksgiving retreat and Pastor Manny’s session on college revivals. Throughout history, it was through a few people who decided to be passionate, committed, and prayerful that God ignited a spiritual fire. And it often happened at the most unlikely times. Likewise in Taiwan, it’s an uphill battle. But this passage encourages me to keep having hope that spiritual hunger will take over the people of this country, not for idols or false worship, but a hunger to know the One and True Living God! And if God can raise up an army from a valley of dry bones, then surely He can accomplish this. But what’s my responsibility? It’s to be faithful in loving people, and being committed to pray for this to happen.

What are some personal situations that I can invite God’s word to address?  What are some promises in the Bible that might provide some hope in this situation? This semester alone, we’ve experienced 4 salvation decisions in Taiwan, and 3 of those came within the past 1 month! It’s such an incredible overflow of blessings, and I’m so thankful to God for what He’s done in the hearts of these students. But now the hard work begins of having to disciple them. They are, frankly, the future of this church. We as “outsiders” can only do so much. But they have a firsthand understanding of the culture and know how to impact people, so they can do so much more. But discipleship means a lot of ugly sins, character issues, and past pains have to be dealt with. Personally, this is where some fear settles in because I don’t want any of them to backslide or leave when it gets hard. I’ve seen people, including my friends, walk away because it simply got too difficult to deal with their personal sins. And as I think about the future of this country, I pray that our students will not turn away from their battlefield. One verse that provides hope for me is Isaiah 37: “For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” From this verse, I’m reminded that it’s the zeal of the Lord that will accomplish this, just as it was God’s zeal that brought them to salvation in the first place. And it gives me hope to see a remnant come out of Hsinchu, and out of NTHU and NCTU a band of survivors. I’m reminded that I need to be even more prayerful for our students so that they can grow and mature as Christians. And I should not be worried but instead trust in God’s power in their lives.

Ezekiel 37:12-13

God’s plan for mankind includes resurrection.  What can I conclude about God’s intention for me as I am reminded about God’s promise for our resurrection? God’s intention for me is to raise me up on the last day. This is His promise of eternal life. For me, this promise of eternal life gives me the motivation to give my all for God in this life. If my eternity is set, then I can give myself to fully serving God while I am alive. I don’t have to grasp for money, power, influence, material goods, etc. because ultimately those things are to make my life now better. But that’s not why I’m here. The promise of resurrection and eternal life means that my true life begins later. But now, while I’m alive, I have this short window of opportunity to serve God. I have this one chance to make a difference for God. This is something I’m really thankful for because I struggled a lot with making myself something in this world. But there came a time when God’s love took me over, and His promise of eternal life destroyed all the fears I had of what I was going to do in this world. And it’s verses like this that remind me that God’s purpose for me is to give Him my best while I can and not to worry about my destiny because my life is in His good hands.

2 Kings 22:11-19

Reflect on Josiah’s response to the reading of the Word (vv. 11-13; 19).  What does Josiah’s response show me about crucial steps in allowing the word of God to impact my life? This passage shows how Josiah allowed the Word of God to impact his life in a real way.  First, the Word must be read and heard.  This is what Josiah did first, and through reading the word it led to his conviction of his and his nation’s sin.  As Josiah tore his robes after reading the Word, he sought the Lord to know more about his sin and his nation’s sin.  He did not dismiss the Word or take it lightly, but instead he wanted to know the Word clearly and thoroughly as it applies to him and his nation.  Secondly, he inquired of the Lord about the Word and what it means for him and his nation who has sinned.  Thirdly, he acknowledged the truth of the Word as it described him, his nation and his nation’s idolatry and sin.  He saw clearly that the Word was a true indictment against his nation and that against the Word of God, his sins and the sins of his nation were clear.  He saw and acknowledged his sin as it was made clear through the Word.  He admitted to the truth of the Word, especially as it applied to him and his people.

These are the steps Josiah took to have the Word impact his life.  But I have to ask if I take this kind of seriousness and active role in reading the Word and responding to it.  I see clearly, how Josiah took the Word seriously that led to his repentance, tearing of his robe and inquiring of the Lord so that he would have a clearer understanding of the Word and thus his and his nation’s sin, and then to acknowledge and confess that they are guilty of not obeying the Word.  But so often this is not how I respond to the Word.  I need to take the Word much more seriously in my life and allow the incredible truths of the bible to sink in and transform my life as I properly respond in repentance.  But instead I often take the Word lightly, as yet another DT, or bible study or Sunday message.  There are very few times when it really sinks in and hits me and works in my heart to have the same kind of wrenching (and objectively, the only proper) response that Josiah had.  If I would just read the Word, really hear it and look for deeper understanding of it and acknowledge my sinfulness then I would be humbled and really experience the hand of God as Josiah did.  However, often I don’t allow myself to even hear the Word when it is spoken.  I think it is for someone else or I have simply become immune to it.  But clearly the Word is powerful and truthful and through it, life can be found, as Josiah found life through proper response and repentance brought about by the Word.  It is I that am really missing out on experiencing true forgiveness and mercy, as Josiah did in this passage, by not responding to the Word in this way.

Submitted by George Hu, Gracepoint Berkeley

Reflect on Josiah’s response to the reading of the Word (vv. 11-13; 19).  What does Josiah’s response show me about crucial steps in allowing the word of God to impact my life? King Josiah’s response was one of great sadness and tragedy that he and the people had been living apart from God’s law, and had been disobedient to it for so long.  According to Josiah’s example, the critical steps of allowing God’s word to impact my life are: being open to hearing the word of God, not being defensive about it (Josiah could have reacted by saying it’s not his fault, it happened during the reign of his predecessors, etc.), and humbling himself before God’s words, and approaching God in prayer.  One of the key aspects of his response is the fact that he was humble before the word of God, instead of acting defensively.  Technically, it was not him who disobeyed, but his predecessors, and he could have shirked the responsibility.  But his response of sadness and tragedy shows that his perspective was not self-centered but God-centered.  The self-centered response would have been to think that it was not his own personal fault, but he was doing the best he could.  The God-centered perspective sees the situation as God does, which is with great sadness and anger at the people’s disobedience, and Josiah sees it as his responsibility now as the king to inquire of the Lord.  Also, Josiah took quick action to respond to what the word of God was convicting him.  He did not delay, but quickly inquired of the Lord.

How did the content of the Book of the Law change Josiah’s perspective about the future of his nation?  To what extent do I allow the word of God to dictate my sense of reality regarding life? Josiah was busy at work repairing the temple of the Lord, probably looking forward to a time of prosperity and favor from God for the work that he was doing.  He probably thought everything was going so well in his kingdom.  But it was brought to his attention that his nation had been living in disobedience, and the prophetess declared to him what would happen.  It turns out that God was very angry at their disobedience and rebellion.  Josiah’s previous idea of the future of his nation was based on a false notion of security, and it turned out that reality was very different from what he thought.  For me, it is easy to have a similar false sense of security, thinking that God is pleased with me because of the amount that I serve at church or my attendance at different meetings, or even titles within the church.  But the reality is that my heart could be far from God and I could be living in rebellion even if with all of those things.  I need to make sure that my perspective on myself is constantly measured according to the standard in the word of God.