https://odb.org/2023/10/02/the-masterpiece-within

I think whether it is a question of uncovering God’s masterpiece within us or God working in our lives as it is more popularly understood, we still need to do our part. Transformation does not work like a magic wand. In a business, even experienced senior people applying formulas from other places will not work when the market as a whole has changed and moved on. Transformation needs time and effort. What more when the change needs to come from within. Change is not for show or mere lip service. Life changes that make a spiritual difference must be genuine and from deep within us. It’s not a set of moral codes of conduct, but are we becoming better human beings?

As much as Jesus says that His burden is light and His yoke is easy, that He is gentle and humble, we must still carry His yoke (Matthew 11:28-30). We must still be that living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). We have to take up our cross and follow Him.

Our job after we have accepted Christ into our lives is to become that masterpiece of God that had already been crafted in the spiritual realm. Let it come out in our earthly natural lives. We have been made for good works since the foundations of the world. Let our true potential be uncovered and fulfilled as we live our lives for God and His glory.

As we start a new week and a new month this week, let’s make it our priority to press on heavenward towards the goal that Christ has set before us and let God uncover His masterpiece within us. Let our full potential in God be fulfilled. Do our part to work with God, to cooperate with His Holy Spirit, forgetting what is behind but only looking ahead like Joshua and Caleb in the Promised Land. Let us clothe ourselves with the armour of God (Ephesians 6:11-13) that we may deflect the enemy’s fiery darts and destroy his shackles and bondages in our lives and the lives of those we are reaching out to. May His will be done here on earth as it is in heaven!

https://odb.org/2023/10/01/elegant-design

I went AWOL last week as I was away on vacation, visiting Daniel in beautiful and cosmopolitan Melbourne. Had a wonderful time enjoying its good vibes and excellent cuisine. I posted some photos on my insta page – feel free to have a look when you are free at instagram.com/ronlim68/.

Praise the Lord for such privilege to travel, to see His goodness at work in another city. We attended the Chinese Baptist Church in Melbourne 10 mins walk from our hotel and listened to a message filled nearly 90% with testimonies of how God turned around lives in Hong Kong and how China is very much a cashless society nowadays.

As we reflect upon His creation and read Genesis 1, we know that these accounts are not exclusive to us as the creation story and the great flood have been with many civilisations since ancient times. Sometimes, we may question its veracity when confounded by other theories. However, the complexity of the bodily functions of humans and animals can not but point us to a creator. All living creatures share a blueprint in terms of having internal organs that process the food we eat, the air we breathe (even sea creatures extract oxygen from water), and the water we drink. While animals are driven by instincts, human beings have a thinking mind that not only controls the body but also a soul that lives forever. We have been created to not only live a life here on earth but also in preparation for the new heaven and earth that will come about at the end of time. The fact that Jesus Christ was at the beginning during creation as John proclaims in John 1:1 and Jesus Himself quotes Genesis 2:24 as recorded in Matthew 19:5 all point to the truth and veracity of the creation story in the bible.

God is real, and our Lord Jesus Christ is alive today and is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Our afterlife will be in peril if we don’t believe in Him and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. Only He alone has the words of eternal life, and only He holds the keys to Hades. Learn the spiritual lessons and principles well as enumerated in Scriptures. They will stand us in good stead in this life and thereafter.

https://odb.org/2023/09/21/god-covers-our-sin

When we read John 8:1-11, the emphasis is, of course, that no one, as well as Jesus, condemned the woman caught in adultery. The Jewish leaders wanted to entrap Jesus with the question of what you do to the woman in adultery as, seemingly, the law of Moses would have had the woman stoned to death. However, Jesus checked-mate the Jewish leaders by asking the one without sin to cast the first stone. As all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), no one could, in all honesty, cast the first stone. Since Jesus was the only one without sin and He didn’t condemn her either, she was free to go but Jesus ended the encounter with the words, “Go now and leave your life of sin”.

As much as Jesus was and is still compassionate, we have to remember and remind ourselves that the grace and mercy of God is not a licence to sin or do evil. As humans, we will not be able to meet the requirements of the law of God to be righteous on merit. So Jesus died for our sins and redeemed us from the path of sin that led to destruction. But we must remain on the path of righteousness that leads to eternal life. That basically means that our demeanour and approach to life and others around us is one of selflessness, humility, kindness, and compassion too. Like the woman in adultery who was not condemned by Christ, we must leave our life of sin. We can not live a life of sin and still expect to be in fellowship with God. The High Priests of the Old Testament, if they enter the Holy of Holies without consecration, may end up dead in the presence of God. Moses was asked to remove his sandals when he was in the presence of God (presumably sandals being the dirtiest part of our clothing symbolised sin). See Exodus 3:4-5.

Thus, as much as we sometimes may want to avenge some injustice wrought upon us and take matters into our own hands, best we leave that all to God to do as per His discretion and will. We carry on with life believing in faith that, like Jesus did with the woman in adultery, God will find a fresh start for us, although in our case, we are not the ones who sinned. Nevertheless, we believe that God loves us and will not abandon us, but He will find us a way when there appears to be no way. Keep ourselves pure and righteous before Him and remain on the path of righteousness. We can not avoid injustice in this world, but with God on our side, who actually can be against us?

https://odb.org/2023/09/20/shooting-ourselves-in-the-foot

In Mark 10:35-45, John and James, the sons of Zebedee, asked Jesus that they be placed at the right and left hands of Jesus. In other words, in the Kingdom of God that Jesus was advocating, they wanted to be No.2 and No.3. Jesus answered them by saying they didn’t know what they were asking and asked them whether they could drink the cup he would drink? Meaning, could they also die on the cross with Him? They answered yes – because they probably didn’t know what Jesus meant. In the end, Jesus said that their request was not for Him to grant but reminded that whoever wants to be great in the Kingdom of God must be a servant and whoever wants to be first must be a slave to all. For even Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Thus, the basis for leadership in church is service and not to be served. The leader is the one who works the hardest, who tirelessly attends to everyone’s needs. That is why it is very tough to be a pastor in church. Everyone’s problems are yours to help resolve, no matter what time of day. Then you have the weddings and the funerals, the baptisms, and the pulpit. It’s the servant-leader model, where service is key. That is why Jesus said you need to be slave to all!

While not everyone is called to shepherd a church, those of us in ministry will know that once we start, it’s service all the way. It’s somewhat like the disciples of Christ (Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John), although not quite. The day they dropped their fishing nets to follow Jesus, there is no turning back. For example, I have been serving in the church since I was a young boy and have been doing so for the past 40 years. It didn’t matter what my role was, but I continued to play some role here and there, in music, cell groups, and even in Christmas presentations.

The message this morning is for every one of us to continue to serve God in the church and from wherever we are. Service is the essence of Christian leadership. To do great things for God is to serve Him. Start small, but start somewhere. Once you start, you will never be able to stop – you will have your boots on the ground until your dying breadth! I recall my own dad was counselling someone in the morning before he was hospitalised in the afternoon and passed on the next morning. To love Jesus is to feed His lambs (see John 21: 15-19).

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.