Seize the Word

My Bible study was a little shortened this week due to the tight schedule, so I made it more freeform, and we focused on the end of the passage more than the beginning, and didn’t get to this point. So I’m turning it into an ABC post =P.

Check out Ephesians 4:1-6. In 4:1, Paul exhorts us to walk worthy of the calling “to which we have been called”. Hopefully we’ve all been learning about how God has called us out of sin into life (and if not, go re-read the first three chapters of Ephesians and look for this). Ok, great, but what does it mean to walk worthy and how do we do it? Paul lists out a bunch of things in 4:2-3: humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, and unity in the Spirit.

Notice these are all interpersonal things, about how we should act towards one another. And this is a great link to our theme of “one for all and all for One” and the emphasis on what Christian community should look like. These qualities are all things that should be present in our fellowship. So we should check ourselves: how are we doing on each of these categories, and where can we improve? How can we take practical, real steps in building the strength and unity of our community?

Humility: demonstrate it by serving one another, whether in an official role in fellowship, or in a less formal (but still very important!) way. If you just come to fellowship seeking to get your needs met, perhaps you should check yourself for self-centeredness.

Gentleness: as opposed to being hard on one another, especially in restoration for sin (see Galatians 6:1). If someone came to you with a sin to confess or a burden that they need prayer for, how would you respond?

Patience: literally longsuffering. Are we quick to judge people in the fellowship because of a minor fault? Are we willing to forgive people when they wrong us, sacrifice for them and walk with them on the long road of becoming more Christlike?

Tolerance for one another: some of us will have our differences, but they should not be insurmountable with Christ’s help. Do you have conflict with people in the fellowship that you let remain unresolved? Also related to patience, see above.

Unity in the Spirit: note, that’s “in the Spirit”. That’s the only way we get unity. Look down to 4:4-6. Let us be all for One, and that is Christ.

What stands out to me the most in this week’s ABC (Ephesians 3:13) is Paul’s heart and approach towards ministry.

He writes to the Ephesians, saying that they should not be discouraged, just as he is not, at his imprisonment and other things he has suffered. He says not to lose heart because the sufferings he endures are for their behalf and for their glory.

As someone who’s served for several years in Crossroads, there have inevitably been times where I’ve had to make a small sacrifice for the ministry. I’ve had to adjust my schedule, stay up late studying, or cut other things out of my day in order to fulfill my duties at Crossroads. And there have been times where I have resented that. Times when I wished I weren’t serving as much so I could go and do what I wanted to do, or take it easier. But consider Paul. By the time of the writing of this letter, he’d been through so much more than I have been, and probably more than I will ever face. See 2 Corinthians 11:23-29 for a partial list of Paul’s trials throughout his ministry. It’s pretty staggering. And through it all, he was so much more content, so much happier in his situation than I was in my minor inconveniences, because he wasn’t serving just to get check boxes filled and events dead and done with. He was serving for the spiritual growth and salvation of all the Gentiles. Many times, I’ve lost sight of that fact.

There may be times where serving one another may involve inconvenience or sacrifice. But anything we face today will surely pale in comparison to what Paul had to go through. Ask yourself: do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ enough to be able to do this? How much are you willing to sacrifice? Why do you feel the way that you do? It is my hope and prayer that as we continue to think about being one for all and all for One this semester that we will be able to excel in our Christ-like, self-sacrificial love for one another.

This week’s ABC, Romans 10:12-13 was intended as a follow up to the last Bible study we did, Ephesians 2:11-22, which talks about the reconciliation between Gentile and Jew. And just touching back to that study, Ephesians 2:12 reminds Paul’s Gentile audience that before Christ, they were “without God in the world”. What a change this is now, going from that to a God who is “abounding in riches for all who call on Him”. When both are taken in conjunction, it is an excellent reminder of what we have to be thankful for.

But practically, what does this mean? Well, yes, it increases our thanksgiving and love for God when we are reminded of what He has done for us. But how often do we take advantage of this change? One of the biggest ways that we can do this is through prayer. That is our direct line to God, where we do the calling on Him. How many of us go through a day and don’t pray at all? How often do we do that? Prayer should also be an act of worship and thanksgiving, because it is only because of Christ’s death that we have this ability. If you don’t like praying, or don’t think it’s important, I challenge you to think what message that conveys. It’s like saying that even though Christ’s death has brought us to the point where we can pray openly and directly to God at any time, you’d have been just as happy without that happening. Hmm…

Now, I’m not accusing anyone of actively believing that Christ’s death did nothing. I just want to challenge you all who read this to take (perhaps yet another) look at what Christ has done and have that make a change in your lives.

I ask you: what is the meaning of life? I believe that the answer to that question can be found at the very end of the Bible study we did last Friday. Below is the verse in question, Ephesians 2:10:

For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

We were created “in Christ Jesus for good works”. This is what we are meant to do in our lives here on earth. Notice that we’re not talking about salvation by works here, though: Paul has just finished saying that we are saved by grace through faith (see 2:8–9). We are saved by grace, but God wants us to put us to work when that has happened.

So what implications does this verse have for our lives?

1. God has something for you to do. If we are created for good works and God has prepared them, there are things that we are supposed to do. The works that He has laid out before us aren’t meant to just sit there and go unnoticed. This goes for everyone. No one can say “I have no spiritual gifts: therefore I can’t do anything for God” or “God’s not calling me to be a pastor, so I don’t have to do anything else except come to church.”
2. Find what God has created you for and do it. Given that God has already laid out things for you to do, seek to discern and find the open doors and the works that He wants you to accomplish, and then follow in them. Check yourself: how well do you do at this right now? If this isn’t in your mind or your life at all, then think about it and pray for guidance as to where God might be calling you to serve.
3. Don’t take pride in what you’ve been able to accomplish for God’s kingdom: you can’t. This is important once you’ve started following in those works and God’s begun to work through you. As someone who’s served in Crossroads for about four years now, I find it easy to look at what God has done through me and think I’ve done a good job creating opportunities for His kingdom. But that is false. Everything I’ve ever done for Christ has been solely because God set the path beforehand and not of my own strength or intelligence to open that path. For those who are serving, this is an important thing to keep in mind so that our sight remains on Him, where it should be.

Ultimately, this is our purpose in life: to be used by God, for the purposes and the works that He has preordained for us. Serving in ministry and being God’s vessels should be a great joy, something that we do out of gratitude and something that should be very, very fulfilling.

In Daniel’s prayer (Dan. 9:4–19), he petitions:

O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.

The following are his last words after that (9:18–19):

O my God, incline your ear and hear.
Open your eyes and see our desolations,
and the city that is called by your name.
For we do not present our pleas before you
because of our righteousness,
but because of your great mercy.
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive.
O Lord, pay attention and act.
Delay not, for your own sake, O my God,
because your city and your people are called by your name.

What do we see here?

The first thing that we can notice is the emotional urgency in Daniel’s pleas: he emphatically repeats what he’s said, not meaninglessly but, after a more detailed petition with more explicit explanation based on the situation, with more force and with a stronger appeal, not merely to the situation itself but to God’s own character. After this he crests into even more fervent cries for God to do something.

The second thing we can see is that not only is this prayer not casual-sounding (I dare you to act this out convincingly without sounding very into it), but its fervency, its earnestness, isn’t lessened by the actually rather formal language. In plainer terms, it’s not really in street language but in a “higher” speech, if you will.

But why is it not destroyed by the formal language? Why does it not sound wooden and listless? Despite the higher formality, the prayer is no less authentic. Despite its lack of whining, it sounds real. This is because, more formal as it is, it’s not flowery by any measure: it’s plain and reverently formal.

One thing this shows us, then, is that you can have very carefully reverent but very earnest and authentic prayer, just as you can have sloppy, lackadaisical prayer. The prayer as a whole is actually rhetorically a great piece of work: it’s very premeditated in its words as well as just the general idea, and there’s no bubble-gum filler. Of course not all our prayers will be literary classics, but the care we give to what we say honestly and frankly to God should reflect how much we really mean it.

This week’s ABC, from the Bible study: Daniel 9:18–19

O my God, incline Your ear and hear!
Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name;
for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own,
but on account of Your great compassion.
O Lord, hear!
O Lord, forgive!
O Lord, listen and take action!
For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay,
because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.

Several weeks ago, I put Colossians 4:12, about wrestling in prayer, up as the ABC. This is a great example of how to do that. Daniel is praying for the nation of Israel and for their spiritual lives, as Epaphras was for the Colossians. Though it’s only text, I think we can see that Daniel obviously had a lot of passion in giving this prayer and for seeing Israel’s return to God.

If you have never done something like this, or haven’t done it for awhile, I encourage you to do so this week. Pick a person or a group of people on your heart, and pray for their spiritual life. If you constantly worry about someone or if a good friend of yours is going through some hard times, try praying for them. And when you pray for them, don’t hold back. Pray out loud if it helps; move around if you feel like it; cry for them if God puts that on your heart. As Jasmin shared this week at BCS, it’s ok to look foolish before God in these things.

In our first Bible study we covered Elijah’s prayer duel in 1 Kings 18:17–46. Through Elijah’s prayers, God sent a three-and-a-half-year drought, as well as fire from heaven to consume a big offering. The point of that study was to recognize that prayer is powerful, and that through it God does some pretty awesome and amazing things. But when I read stuff like this, there’s always the temptation to step back from it and say that my prayers can’t do something that amazing.

But James speaks to the contrary in James 5:16–18:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

Elijah, he says, was a man with a nature like ours. It’s the same power, the same God that works behind my prayers. And we actually have more access to God through Christ than Elijah ever did. How often do I live my life, pray, have faith, and trust in God’s power to use my prayers in completely mind-blowing ways? What would it look like if I did?

I encouraged the people in my Bible study group to think about this: going a day where nothing is done from selfish ambition or conceit. That’s already hard. On that same topic, though, what about our thought lives? I know that I can be pretty stuck-up and arrogant in my thoughts, even if it doesn’t always show up in my actions. Jesus didn’t even consider the possibility of equality with God while He was on this earth. But He was, and could have rightfully done so. Just shows me that there’s a long road ahead in that regard.

I guess another thing I’m thinking is about considering others as more important than myself. I’m a pretty busy guy, and my time is valuable to me. So I sometimes get annoyed when I feel like people are taking it up. When I do that, I’m implicitly considering my time, my work, my whatever as more valuable than this person. Yeah, this kinda goes back to the thought life and arrogance and selfishness there. It’s challenging for me to put this into action, since I like things efficient and on time (heh), and I don’t take delays as well as other people do.

So, I guess, think about people in your life that you might find try your patience or nerves, eat up your time, or whatever. What would it be like for you to live considering them more important than you?

I think one of the difficulties I have is finding balance between humility and boldness. Although I understand that the two aren’t mutually exclusive, or that they aren’t necessarily on opposite ends of a spectrum, I feel that, in practice, falling in one particular direction inevitably pulls me away from the other.

During winter break, the pastor from my church at home was talking about spiritual gifts. We are all blessed with various spiritual gifts, even if it’s not one typically associated with a particular ministry (I know some of you make fun of me when I talk about a “cooking ministry”, but we really do have one back at home!). It was interesting that after I came back to Berkeley, Pastor Ken’s sermon was also on a similar topic. This led me to really think about what spiritual gift I have.

Growing up, my mom used to always tell me that my personality draws people and that I could be a really influential person if I chose to be. I used to think that she said that only because she’s my mom and she had to say nice things to me. But since joining Crossroads, I’m starting to see some truth in it. And to be honest, it scares me a little. Even though I joke around among Crossroaders about how cool and well-liked I supposedly am, I feel almost arrogant to actually believe what I say. I feel safer thinking that I’m insignificant and thus what I say and do doesn’t matter as much. But it think it’s actually important to get over that insecurity and inferiority complex. God gave me the ability and the desire to talk to people, and I should step out of my comfortable shell and be confident about it, not just for the sake of being outspoken, but to serve his purpose and motives.

I think my point is, as much as we emphasize humility, there are times when we do need to be bold. God has blessed each of us with a gift or talent — or multiple gifts and talents! — for a reason and we have to not be shy about it. Rather, we should embrace it and use it proactively as God intended.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

-Philippians 2:3

I think that this, in conjunction of what we talked about in BBS this past Friday, is a very startling and diametrically opposed attitude and value set in terms of what we’re used to seeing. We’re used to seeing something of this sort:

Help someone if you have time left over, if you’ve got nothing better to do.

Compare this to what we talked about in BBS about Paul’s values (“If I don’t see you in heaven, then all my efforts will have been for nothing”) while Jesus made the ultimate example of humility when He, God, came to earth as a human, and not just a human, but a human servant in order to save us — in other words, not for self.

So anyhow, I just wanted to bring up that we should be more like this.

New Attitude, New Priorities

This brings me to ask: What sort of things can we do to reflect this change of attitude and priorities? What shall we do with our studying habits? Keep Reading