https://odb.org/2023/09/19/faithful-but-not-forgotten

Faith is the substance of things hoped for; evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 1:1 (NKJV). Meaning to say that even though reality does not yet reflect our hope, we persevere in believing God, trusting God. Although we can not see God, for He is spirit, we still cling on to Him in faith. Even though we can not see heaven yet, we trust that we will enter into eternal life one day. We unwaveringly hold on to God’s promises for us even though none received what had been promised them in their lifetime (Hebrews 11:39). That’s the essence of faith.

That is why missionaries sow in the present for the future. Many do not see the fruits of their labour in their lifetimes. But they persevere with their calling. They don’t give up even if they do not see results now, believing that things will turn around one day by the power of God. This is particularly so in hard ground and closed countries. Perhaps after one lifetime living among the people they are reaching out to, the next generation will turn to God.

We ponder – is what we are doing now making a difference? The small gestures of kindness and compassion. The recipients of our kindness and compassion may not think too much about it. But one day, when they find out we are believers, they will attribute it to the goodness of God in our lives and perhaps one day at the right time, they may turn to God and accept Jesus into their lives.

The message this morning is to launch out in faith every day, doing good and being kind and compassionate. No one we know may notice or know. But God knows, and the recipients will know. They will ask why? Why is he or she so good and nice to me? I am in no position to make his or her life better. I am a nobody. He will gain nothing being kind to me. But one day, they will find out that we had been so nice and kind because of our God. Then perhaps they may want to know this God of ours and make Him theirs? That, my friends, is the essence of faith, the essence of our faith.

https://odb.org/2023/09/18/the-red-dress-project

An interesting fact I learnt today is that Aaron is not only Moses’s brother and spokesman during the time of the Israelites’ sojourn from Egypt to Canaan but also the founder of the Israeli priesthood. He and his two sons were the first priests of Israel, the first of the Levites whose lives were consecrated to serve the Temple. Thus, although there were 12 tribes of Israelites, only 11 tribes were given land in the Promised Land to cultivate crops and rear livestock. The Levites were not given land as they lived in and for the Temple. The other tribes were hence required to give one tenth of their produce to the Temple as a tithe unto the LORD for the subsistence of the priesthood.

The modern church has used this delineation by God of the Israeli tribes to justify the giving of tithes and offerings to the church with some churches going to the extent to interpret tithes as only for those in full-time ministry and offerings for the general upkeep and maintenance of the church. Churches also set up special building funds when they embark on substantial capital expenditure like the building of a church sanctuary.

The difficulty of this interpretation is that as believers, we are all part of a royal priesthood, each an individual priest to and for God. In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter wrote that – but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

Yet if believers do not support the church, the church and its full-time workers will not be able to live as the latter had given up gainful employment in the world to serve full-time in the church. In the same way that the Levites did not have land to cultivate and grow their own food and livestock, full-time workers do not have an income source outside of the church.

My view is that all that we have is God-given or God-enabled. Thus, we should be generous to give to God to support His work, and that in particular is His church. But there are times when He prompts us to help persons in need and other ministries. We should likewise be generous to respond to the prompting of God. People who live by faith, depending fully on God for their subsistence, actually depend on His children (you and I who are believers) responding to His prompting to give and share. We should give as the Holy Spirit prompts with one tenth as a rough guide because if we want to go back to the delineation of the tribes in Exodus as our basis for giving, the other tribes were not required to give more than one-tenth each for the Temple and Levites. In that sense, the maximum and the minimum remains that amount.

Ultimately, what matters is our heart, and we should give as the Lord prompts as generous as we are able and capable while setting aside for our own rainy day, our future, and our families.

https://odb.org/2023/09/24/compassion-in-action

On Thursday, I don’t know what got into me. I just felt generous. I saw this crippled guy (one leg amputated) at the entrance of the bank, and I have seen him like countless times. He was perhaps similar to the guy crippled from birth that Peter and John must have always seen at the entrance of the temple in Acts 3. I thought that like that guy who was smart to wait at the entrance of the temple, this guy was also smart to wait at the entrance of the bank. So people, after withdrawing cash from the ATM, may perhaps spare him some loose change. That day, the Lord prompted me to give him more than just a few bucks. I gave him RM20 – he could probably have a few meals with that. Then, at night, I had to go to an ATM to activate my Wise card, and I saw a migrant lady selling tidbits, none of which I fancied. Looking at her pleading eyes and just fresh out of a lesson on foreigners, I gave her RM10. She was surprised and wanted to give me some tidbits in return. But I told her it’s OK.

I think these are just small acts of compassion, the amounts being so small to us but perhaps may mean something to the recipients. But exercising compassion must start from somewhere. We start by giving out small amounts before progressing to bigger ones. Ultimately, we can not help everyone, and eradicating hunger and poverty is the job of governments and public policy. But what are we as redeemed children of God when we can’t show compassion to another human being, the crippled and the foreigner?

As Father God was compassionate to us by calling us to be His children through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, we must likewise exercise compassion in our dealings with others. Sometimes, we may be the ones requiring compassion. It’s give and take in life. Sometimes, we may even require compassion from God. We should take nothing for granted, even God’s love. Being compassionate doesn’t cost us much. Instead, we will be reflecting the glory of God through our lives. Go ahead, make someone’s day!

https://odb.org/2023/09/15/the-message-of-the-prophets

I think the story of Jeremiah vs. Hananiah, as recorded in Jeremiah 28:2-4, 10-16, serves as a warning to us not to claim that we are a prophet from God in these modern post-Jesus times. This is especially so when the writer of Hebrews (many believed it to be Paul) clearly stated in Hebrews 1:1-2 that while in the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets… in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. Not that God doesn’t speak through Scriptures, the written Word, but that He speaks to us by Jesus Christ.

I think it is not the same as moving in the prophetic realm or speaking out in words of knowledge if that is our spiritual gift, but we should not claim ourselves to be a prophet from God as though we are like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekial or Elijah or Elisha. Those men dedicated their entire lives to prayer and being a mouthpiece of Yahweh in those ancient times.

The danger and implication if we are a false prophet like Hananiah are very evident. God may pronounce judgment on us here on earth itself even as there could be serious ramifications in our afterlife.

The other thing about the prophets of the past was that they were the mouthpiece of God to the nation of Israel. It is God’s way of speaking to a whole nation, a whole tribe of people. Not to individuals or congregations but to an entire nation of believers or to the universal church since we are now adopted children of God. Perhaps a prophet’s role in these contemporary times is to be like John the Baptist to warn of the coming tribulation and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ? Other than that, we should listen with caution.

Ultimately, we should hear from God ourselves and develop our own inner ear to sense and understand what’s going on in the spiritual realm. God speaks to us in these last days by Jesus Christ, and through His death on the cross, we are now reconciled to God and have direct access to Him. Seek Him out in prayer, and Yahweh, God the Father will reveal the future, our future, to us. Especially His plans and purposes for our lives and His will for our lives!

https://odb.org/2023/09/13/welcoming-the-foreigner

Ancient Israel law was conceived and laid down during the early part of their time at the wilderness (when they were encamped at Mount Sinai and are mainly recorded in Leviticus). The divine law was detailed and covered nearly every aspect of their lives and was used extensively at Kadesh Barnea, the oasis of the desert where they spent most of their 40 years in the wilderness, during their time in Canaan and subsequently even until the time of Jesus and possibly even in the present modern Israel.

One exemplary aspect of the law was God’s compassion, love, and protection of orphans (fatherless), widows, and foreigners. Thus, these marginalised groups of people, for example, were allowed to glean the fields after a harvest, and the harvesters were instructed not to be too efficient in doing so, in order that no one goes hungry in ancient Israel.

There are two types of foreigners during those Israeli times, the temporary ones who were there for trade or business and the ones staying there permanently. The latter group lived among the Israelites and have settled in Israel, but they are usually poor and are odd job labourers, likely remnants of people captured in wars who were not made slaves or had over the years became free (possibly also because slaves were freed every 7 years during the year of the jubilee). They were generally landless and thus had to be hired workers.

You may read about the strangers and gentiles in Israel in the following: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/strangers-and-gentiles

One of the main characteristics of Scripture is to show us the heart of our Father God. Thus, a specific law to safeguard the interests and well-being of the foreigner in Israel tells us that God has compassion and love for the weak and downtrodden. Our application of that characteristic of God is to likewise have compassion and love for the weak and downtrodden since our mission in life as a believer is to be more and more like Christ, more and more like who God is. If God is kind to the weak, we should likewise be. In fact, Christ extended our love for God to also love our neighbours, and these include the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. In our present context, most of us Malaysian Christians (except for those in East Malaysia) are migrants in this land. We are the foreigners. Yet among us, there are other foreigners who earn a living here, especially those who came from faraway lands to take up dirty, difficult, and dangerous (3Ds) jobs that we as locals shun. Do extend our love and compassion to them.

https://odb.org/2023/09/12/be-still-5

Before we go into the topic of the day, allow me to just digress and mention the comment made by Bill Crowder in today’s ODB. The concept of progressive revelation teaches that Scripture doesn’t move from error to truth but from incompleteness to completeness. So, people in the Old Testament didn’t understand many things because of their limited knowledge then. They didn’t understand very much about life after death, and thus, the Old Testament looks at God more in their present lives, with blessings and punishments experienced while they are still living. But in the New Testament, Jesus opened up the concept of eternal life, and through Paul’s writings, we learn about present sufferings being part of our life as believers and we endure and persevere through because we trust that the end will nevertheless be good and perfect. We have, among other things, Revelation 21 to look forward to and the glorified resurrected body of Christ as a clear example of our hope of glory.

I think that if we are going through tough patches in our present life, in addition to the hope at the end, we have the presence of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit in our midst and within us. The still small voice that Elijah experienced at the opening of the cave at the mountain top is something real and tangible that we can seek out and cling on to in times of trials and tribulations, and sufferings. Seek out the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will indeed give us rest and calm our troubled hearts. Ask the Lord to strengthen our inner man that we will have the courage and boldness to face the world as it is, and as it presents itself in our lives. Look out for that still small voice as we face the rigours of life.

I would like to end today’s commentary by encouraging us that we must always read the Old Testament in the context of what they then knew of God, at a time before Jesus came to earth to die for our sins and at a time when they didn’t have the progressive revelations of the truth given to the Apostles like Paul, Peter and John. Our lives are not lived just on earth, but how we live now determines our destiny for eternity. As much as our salvation is assured by the blood of the Lamb, we still need to store up treasures in heaven, love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and love our neighbours as we love ourselves (Matthew 6:19-21, 22:37-39). Jesus’s teachings are not just sayings but truth that have a real impact on our afterlife.

https://odb.org/2023/09/11/which-wisdom-2

In James 3:13, it is written, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” In other words, wisdom is doing good deeds and leading a good life out of humility. Usually, when you are smart and clever, you are proud, but instead, it is wise to be smart and yet humble. As a believer, the wise move is always to do what Christ teaches and not conform to the pattern of the world. That’s the path of righteousness.

The story of a policeman who offered himself in exchange as a hostage on Easter 2018 was both sad and inspirational. He was later shot and died an innocent man in exchange for the life of another. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:14). In the context of Jesus’s teaching, friends there include strangers because the point is the sacrifice and not the who. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/23/french-police-called-to-trebes-supermarket-amid-hostage-reports-shootings

This Easter 2018 story reminds me of the story of believers on board the Titanic at the turn of the century, having given up their places in the lifeboats to others as they already had their salvation assured. The reasoning was that non-believers among them should be given a chance to live so that they may later discover the truth of the Gospel and Christ.

We do not know whether the French gendarme who died in exchange as a hostage to the terrorist was a believer. But we do know that the Titanic passengers who gave up their places to the life boats were. The point is that when the situation requires, we need to do what is right as taught by Christ and as written in the Scriptures. The law is now written in our hearts. It was fulfilled by Christ. It had never been superseded or revoked. Sometimes, we may need to tell the truth of our incompetence and not hide behind excuses. Own up and face the situation as it is. Do what is right, in the eyes of God. He sees, and He knows.

https://odb.org/2023/09/10/promise-fulfilled

When I read Luke 1:26-38, the most touching thing I felt was that although Mary was initially confused by the visit of angel Gabriel, she accepted the promise and prophesy given to her that she will bear a son that will be the Messiah despite she being still a virgin. The prophesy and promise became a task and responsibility that Mary accepted willingly when she answered that she’s the LORD’s servant and thus may your word to me be fulfilled. A visit to an elderly Elizabeth, who at 60 was expecting a child, encouraged her as Elizabeth confirmed that Mary would be giving birth to the Messiah. Later, Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist, who proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God as a precursor to the ministry of Jesus Christ here on earth.

I think while we hope for prophesies and promises of God to come true in our lives, rarely do we make the concerted effort to work with God to make those a reality. I think most Christians hope for prophesies and promises to be magical. That somehow God through His miraculous power, will make those promises and prophesies come true for us. When Mary said may your word to me be fulfilled, she meant it more like I will see to it that the Messiah is born and I will raise Him up until He is ready to achieve His mission for the world. If this is your calling and mission for me, I will make sure it comes to pass, for I am a servant of the LORD.

Can we be like Mary? Can we do our part and prepare ourselves as God calls us? Can we make God’s promises and prophesies for us our task and responsibility? Can we actively work and engage with God to fulfil His promises and prophesies for us? Can we start taking small steps of faith before we take the final big step to launch into the deep with Jesus? Preparation is key to everything, and God’s promises and prophesies are no exception. We need to accept and then prepare ourselves and work with God for those prophesies and promises to come to pass.

“I am the LORD’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”

https://odb.org/2023/09/08/the-god-of-surprises

I recall during my varsity days of having responded to an altar call to go into full-time ministry to plant churches. Of course, it was in the context of my previous church, and things did not work out for that church in the long run. Although I had continued to serve God in two other churches after that, I never did go full time. Instead, I have pursued a corporate career all these years, like my peers. I got married, settled down, and raised a family. But perhaps like the person in today’s life story in ODB, I may have a second chance later in life.

Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and his brother John, however, responded to Jesus’s call immediately. They dropped everything they were doing and followed Jesus – from fishermen to fishers of men, almost in an instant into a lifetime of service until their dying day. They suffered and endured persecution but persevere on for His name’s sake. There was a lull, perhaps a few days after Jesus was arrested, sentenced to death, and died. But after Christ resurrected and appeared to them, it was all systems go, especially after the Day of Pentecost when the promised helper, the Holy Spirit, descended upon them and they spoke in tongues and was filled with power from high.

If the Lord had called us before whether to full-time or to a life of a missionary to a far land or to an around the world trip via Dolos and for some that could just be to the island of Borneo, don’t give up! Continue to believe in that calling and trust God to make it happen. That day will come. We will be able to break free from our jobs and serve God in the space He had called us to. The blessing to us is perhaps that we will be that bigger brick in the universal church that will take more weight of ministry upon our shoulders. As we launch into a life of faith, we will see God’s supernatural and amazing power working through us in the lives of people, pulling them out of the miry clay and transforming them into beautiful pieces – indeed, beauty for ashes.

https://odb.org/2023/09/06/im-nobody-who-are-you

Philippians 3:8-9 is undoubtedly an interesting piece of Scripture where Paul declared his life before knowing Christ as dung or rubbish although he was at that time the creme de la creme of the Jews, being a Pharisee trained by Gamaliel and a member of the Sanhedrin. Thus, a popular interpretation of these verses is that the quest to be somebody in the world is a meaningless and useless pursuit and should thus be abandoned.

But seriously, will Philippians 3 be sufficient to deter us from wanting to carve a name for ourselves in the world? Even in the Christian world and the church, Christians want to be somebody rather than a nobody. Pastors want to have a Dr to their name and pursue academic qualifications, some for credibility, some for recognition. I personally do not think there is anything wrong with further studies as the more knowledge we have, the better equipped we will likely be to minister and serve, and to fulfil God’s plans and purposes for our lives. However, I find it strange that there are ministers going for titles like Apostles and Prophets. But I digress.

For me, I think the quest to be somebody in the world is a natural drive that perhaps should not be suppressed but should instead be sanctified and committed to God. Like our dreams and ambitions, if sanctified and aligned with God’s plans and purposes for our lives, it would surely kill two birds with one stone! We get to fulfil both God’s plans and our dreams. Of course, we must still follow Paul’s narrative and consider all that we are in the world or the church or in ministry as dung compared to the honour and privilege of personally knowing Christ. Knowing Christ beats everything else as He is the only thing that is truly eternal for He is the Word. He was at the beginning and will be there at the end. He is our Alpha and our Omega, the author and finisher of our faith.

Whether we are pursuing a name for ourselves in the world or the church, it is not of significance compared to Christ. Christ is the only way to the Father. He is the only one who really matters. What benefit is it to us if we gain the whole world but lose our souls?