CHAPTER 1 - Trial, Temptation, and Triumph

In a glance this theme - Trial Temptation and Triump - seems trivial. However, we have to realize this is not a simple topic, as it has deep complexities related to our everyday life.

Why does human have to go thru trials? Why does God allow Satan to temp Christians? And how can Christian triumph over it?

You probably assumed that this book would discuss about those topic separately. But not so. All together will be discussed as a whole. 

In Chapter 1, we will talk about human as an important being. We will see the uniqueness of human being that brings us to trials and temptations. We also will see the beginning of all sin and how it relates to human being. In Chapter 2, we will discuss an important paradox in human life. We will see among five, why human was created after the existence of Satan. In Chapter 3, we will discuss why humans must go thru trials and temptations. And in Chapter 4, it will talk about how Christ triumphs over trials and temptations.

With this method, you might think that what will be discussed is not included in the above topic, but it is thru this method, all will be covered.

CHAPTER 1 - HUMAN: AN IMPORTANT BEING

7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[a] of it you shall surely die.”

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the tress in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die."

"You will not surely die, " the serpent said to the woman,  "For God knows that when you eat of it you eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1-5)

There were two trees in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God allows Adam and Eve to eat the fruits of any tree, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil, because the moment they eat the fruit, they will surely die. However, when the serpent talks to the woman, the serpent twisted the word of God, as if they are not allowed to eat the fruits from any tree in the garden. Then the woman answered, only of the tree in the middle of the garden, but everything else is allowed to be eaten. Here, it happens the inaccuracy of interpretation, for there are two trees in the middle of the garden, which is the tree of life and tree of knowledge good and evil, which God only forbids human to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

I believe you have read the above verses many times, but at this moment we think: How were Adam and Even created and in what condition were they created? Furthermore, what responsibilities did God give them? And at last, what had happened after they violated God's command?

Here, we start to investigate why human must suffer, go thru trials and Satan's temptations. We will also examine the purpose of God in creating human being. Let's think one very important thing, which is we should not only think the circumstances after the fall, but also the situation before the fall.

If human doesn't fall into sin, human are created with a very special, unique status. Thus, we first must understand  the special status of human beings.

1. Uniqueness in Character

The Bible tells us that God created us in His time, with all its beauty . God creates human being with one special element, which is element of eternity. It is why human beings are the most superior being among all God's creations.

The eternity element gives potential to human beings to be able to connect with time. Time is difficult to see, to think, and to explain. Augustine once said, "If you don't ask, I think I know what time is. But when you as, I immediately realize that I don't actually know what time is."

All creatures are subject to time and space. However, among all creations, only human has the awareness that time passes, and awareness of the process that happened in life. Human understands when we were young we had better physical abilities than once we turn old. When we look at the future, it means we are hoping. When we look to the past, it means we look at our memories. Our memory and hope are the function of eternity in the mid of momentarily. 

We are in the middle of progress in time. Often we rebel and don't want to admit it. When we are old, we are not as beautiful, and we don't want to admit that we are consumed by time. Unlike animals, they don't put on make up. And when animals get old, they cannot admit that they are old, they don't realize that they are old. But when human being gets old, often times they don't want to admit it, instead they go to get plastic surgery. Why? Because they don't want to be consumed by time.

Why don't we want to be consumed by time? Because inside of us, we want eternity, which God planted in us because He creates human in His image. This is a paradox. On one hand, time goes on and consumes us in our existence; and on the other hand, in our belief in eternity, we want to outlive the time given to us. This is why it is not easy for us to be human. 

2. The Order

When God created the world, He created according to His plan. And He created human being as His last creation (Latin: ordo creatio). God created everything in order and when He created human, it is His highest final point. Human beings were last in creation after all other animal existed.

The theory of evolution does not accept creation, only changes. While we surely believe the creation as God's doing, which makes all things possible.

When humans were created at last, it does not mean that they are unimportant. It does not mean that what first created is the most important thing. But the opposite! Humans were created at last based on the ordo creatio. It is to show that humans are the most important among all the other creations. What is this conclusion based on? Because everything was created for human being to enjoy.

There are two orders in the Bible: (1) The important comes first; - ordo charisma (2) The important comes last - ordo creatio. The gift of the prophets and apostles are the most important thing, followed by other gifts, and last is the gift of tounges, which is least important. How so? Because God made the prophets and apostles as the foundations of His word - the Old and New Testaments. The Old and New Testaments are the the foundations of Christians' faith. 

However, it is different than ordo creatio. Human needs many things: air, light, food, etc. Therefore, everything was created beforehand. So that human will be able to enjoy and take advantage of them; as human is in the highest position of all creations.

Is there any mother who does not provide everything before the baby is born? When my first daughter was about to be born, my wife and I had to prepare all the necessities, e.g. craddle,  clothes, etc. We prepared everything before the baby's arrival. As God prepared everything before He created human beings, it is clear that human is more important than His other creations.

3. The Fall

Though human was the last creation, but it's not the last goal. I don't want you to stop at this point. I want you to think further for something that you never realize. Human is created not only in ordo creatio natural. Ordo creatio natural is to compare with other creations. But now what we want to see is the eternity as a whole that is supernatural.

Ordo creatio supernatural is very important after the fall. This understanding is the key to  understand what happens after. Human was created after Satan exists. It means human was created in a very difficult situation, between God and Satan. Therefore, human must go thru trials and temptations.

What does it mean, "after the existence of Satan"? Does it mean God created human after He created Satan? Did God create Satan? There is not a single verse in the bible stating that God created Satan; and there is not a single verse in the bible saying that God planned out for sin. At the time of Reformation, the Roman Catholic said that creator of sin. This was further discuss in Lutheran Church. A close friend of Luther, Phillip Melanchton answered  this issue in Augsburg Confession, based on John 8:44. In that verse Jesus said that Satan is a liar, and the father of all lies. And when the devil lies, it is out of his own will. With this all Reformed theology debunked the Roman Catholic's accusation. For Christ said that Satan, in his own will, is that start of all sin, not God. God only allows all things to happen, either to side with God or self.

4. Crucial in Identity

God is the one and only Being with the ultimate wisdom. He is holy. He is good. He is wisdom. He is love. And He is just. Therefore, when God created things, He created in His power, goodness, and holiness. His creations are the proof of His wisdom. He designed with His almighty power, beauty, in order, and full of His wisdom.

When we look at His creations, we can see how wonderful and wise He is, truthful, just, and holy. All his creations reflect His holiness. But all creations only show reflections and don't have all God's characters in them.

However, when created being who has identity, it is extra ordinary. Human beings are created according to His image, who are also have holiness, just, goodness, and wisdom. We are not merely the reflection, but we have all the characters. The difference is, the justice of God is God himself, but justice is created. The eternity of God is God himself, and human's eternity is created. The holiness of God is God himself, and human's holiness is created and planted in us. The justice, holiness and eternity of God are not created.

Therefore, besides knowing that the characters we have in us are different than God, himself. Holy Spirit is the Creator spirit, but human's spirit is created spirit. Therefore, we are dependent on God. When we have to choose between to live for self or for God, then the answer is quite clear: I have to live for God.

5. The Effects of Freedom

When God created human being who has characters outside of God. And human is given a free will which is the foundation of our morality. The foundation of morality is a must and free, to which it's given to those who has eternity. Someone who has the character of eternity always has the character of freedom, which is the key of true faith.

Freedom has two aspects: (1) Live with God as the center, or (2) self-center. Everyone is given the freedom to choose between these two. Therefore, there are also two kind of Christians at church, Christians who live for God, or Christian who live for self. These differences come out as a result of the extensive of freedom in each and every one of us. 

Freedom is given to all human beings. If there is no freedom, then there will be no moral. Freedom is the foundation of morality. When I do something good willingly, then it is called good. But when a good thing is done based on force, then it is not good, and has no moral.

There are two choices how we can use our freedom: First, I want to put God at the center, according to His will, to glorify His name. Second, I live with self-centerness, in which all that I do must be profitable to me, that create a name to myself. 

Have you live for God? If there is a business deal that must be done on Sunday, would you do business with them and forget church? Only we can judge ourselves in this matter. Are we truly live for God? or for ourselves? When we live for ourselves, we will not let God to sit on the throne of our lives. But when we live for God, we will step down from our throne, and  let God take control of our lives. Only these two choices!!

It is the foundation to measure our spirituality. When someone fight with God for the throne, then sometimes he will let God take control, but sometimes he also wants to take control. It is very problematic. God says that He is the creator of all things, so we live for Him, and to deny ourselves. Therefore, Jesus told us the importance to deny yourselves, and take up the cross to follow Him.  (Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23-24). It is not a simple thing, but a requirement that all Christians must fulfill.

"Deny yourselves, take up the cross, and follow Me." is an incredible command. This principle already exists along with eternity. This principle is absolute that God has given for each individuals, who have eternal spirit, which is only angel and humans. We are given the freedom to choose: to live for self or to live for God. It is why there was angel who went against God. And it is where the first sin came from.

So, where does sin come from?

THE BEGINNING OF SATAN AND SIN

To be continued

John 1:1-4 (Stephen Tong) - LOGOS

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God at the beginning. Through him all things were made, without him, nothing was made"

John was the 4th witness in the Gospel, after Matthew, Mark and Luke. Before John wrote the book, the others were already written for tens of years. At that time, Peter already died 22 years, and Paul died 20 years before John. 

The first witness was actually Mark. Peter thru Mark wrote this book. 

The second was Matthew.

The third was Luke, the Greek. And because of Luke's background, he has the most accurate chronology of Christ.

Matthew is the only one that mentions the Kingdom of Heaven; which is actually the same of the Kingdom of God. But Matthew wants to emphasize that the kingdom of Christ is different the all earthly kingdoms.

Mark mentioned that Christ was a slave who came to serve people.

Luke has the character of the Man of Sorrow.

John wrote the character of God who became man. It is Word who became flesh. It is the only book that didn't write the story of the birth and the death of Christ. Because the birth and death are the character of humans. But to John, Jesus is God who doesn't need to go thru the humanism to go to heaven. 

Jesus called his 12 disciples in Galilea, one of the most humble place in Judea. Because Jesus wants to choose the humble people who does not have arrogance in them. So that the influence, such as John and Peter overcome Socrates or Aristotle. For God can lift up the poorest one to the richest place.

Therefore, John didn't write like the others, who first wrote the story of  Jesus's birth.

In the Bible, only the book of Genesis and John, that starts with "In the beginning..."

Moses wrote "In the beginning..." of the creation.

John wrote "In the beginning..."means prior the creations of all things. It is the beginning of God, the creator; about the contingent and in-contingent. 

Humans are contingent, and survived by their children.

In our world the contingent of existence, there must be one in-cotingent existence forever and ever. (Thomas Aquinas), to keep the existence of the contingents.

(Five ways to prove the existence of God by Thomas Aquinas.)

The basic faith of Christians is there are differences between the Creator and the creations.

"In the beginning was the Word." It is "word" not "God". Why "word"? For it is about the Trinity. 

Above the contingent world, there is the in-contingent, which is "WORD" (firman), the most absolute axiom. For example. 2 + 2 = 4 starts from the beginning, that has no beginning.

So, in the beginning there is the "TRUTH" and the TRUTH was God.

Kong Hu Chu, Muhammad,  and other religion leaders never say that "I am the truth.". Only Jesus did.

When someone speaks, breaths, words come out. (Trinity) 

The spirit of God is the breath of God. The word of God is the son of God.

In China, Confucius asked for another 5 or 10 years to learn about the book of changes

Heraclitus, a western philosopher , "There is nothing permanent, except change."

Difference between human and animal, animals only think of what is seen, while human can think of something that can't been seen.

Stoicism is the ones who are hardest to convert to Christianity, as they think they have the highest value than everyone else.

The first important person of stoicism in the 1st century is Epictectus (a slave), Seneca (very loyal to the king that he committed suicide by jumping to the blast of fire in a mountain).

The 3rd famous stoic people is the Roman King, Marcus Aurelius.

In Chinese culture, the highest dream is the unity between men and the ski. (天人合一)

Logos - The Greek word logos (traditionally meaning word, thought, principle, or speech)

According to the Chinese philosophy, there are 5 most important relationship in the world:

First the relationship between the King and the governors.

First the relationship between parents and children.

First the relationship between husband and wife.

First the relationship between brothers and sisters.

First the relationship between friends.

Can a perfect God create an imperfect world? Can a perfect God create a perfect one?

If God can create a perfect one means that God can create god. So there is a substantial difference between the creator and the creation. Therefore, world cannot be perfect because it is a creation. Only God is perfect. ("All things were made thru Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.")

The one that came from heaven will speak heavenly; the one who came from earth will speak earthly. ("... without Him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:3)

Plato wrote that Demiurge was the creator of the world. 

-- (end ep. 4)

New Identity - The False Disciple (John 13:21-30)

New Identity - John 13:21-30 by Tim Keller

Forgiveness and Grace

1. Nature and Enormity of sin

            Jesus looks at His disciple who's about to betray Him to death. But how did Jesus look at him? He was troubled in spirit. He was torn up inside, because Judas has broken His heart. In Gen 6:5-6 also said that God's heart was filled with pain when humans sin. As an example is a poor widow who raised her son and managed to send him to collage. She always told her son to be honest, work hard, and help the poor. However, his son later on does not care much. All he does probably just sending a Christmas card every year to her. He would say about himself that he is a good person, for he is honest, hard working and always helping the poor. However, he never spends time with his mother who raised him. He is doing those things all for himself, though he owes her everything. And he is not giving her; the love relationship that she wants. This is just like that most people tend to say that they are good person but they don't believe in God. This is the nature and enormity of sin. We never give God what He really deserves.

2. The power of sin

            Sin, according to the Bible, is the soul curved in on itself. So once it deserves itself rather than God or other people, sin makes your own ego / need  the only real thing in the world, and everything else discardable. It is "me first".

            There are 3 things about the power of sin:

            a. Power of sin to remain - insects (e.g. cockroaches) can take 60000 to 70000 more time radiations than human being can. Just like Judas. Tho he had spent three years with Jesus, he never gave his heart to Jesus. Because the "cockroach" of his sin still remains.

           b. Power of sin to hide. - When John asked Jesus who was going to betray Jesus, tho Jesus already answered clearly, but they still didn't understand, because Judas is just like every other disciples. He is not indifferent than any of them. He was sent out to preach, to cast out demon, to heal people, and he did!!! 

For example people like to say,
            "I am not bitter, I just have a strong sense of justice." or
            "I am not a workaholic, I am just productive." or
            "I am not an alcoholic, I am just the life of the party." or
            "I am not abrasive or mean, I just have a high standard." or
            "I am not stingy, I am prudent." or
            "I am not races, I just can't trust those people."

These are the sense of denial we have, which show the power of sins to hide.

            c. The power of sin to grow. - In John 13:2, Satan puts something into Judas' mind. And in John 13:27, Satan enters into Judas. That is progression! Sin has the power of gradual growth that eventually can take you over. Such as Cain and Abel. Abel was becoming successful, and Cain became displeased. Cain's identity was built over what others see him. He felt good about himself, because he was better than Abel. So when Able became more successful than Cain, he became bitter. So, he had 2 choices, either re-adjust his identity, or eliminate Abel. If you are indulging in bitter thoughts, and keep on grumbling, in the end, if you don't master your sin, you = grumbling. You won't realize it, but others will. The reason Cain killed Abel is not because he had insuppressible urge to kill people, but because he has an identity that based on "Mom and Dad like him better than Abel."            

3. Medicine for sin

            It  says that after dipping the bread, Jesus gave it to Judah. - it is a sign of honor, love, and friendship. Tho Jesus has seen everything to the bottom, He still loves him. When Judah grabs the bread, his heart was resolved. He was plunging into the spiritual darkness. Because God is perfectly loving and just, He was on the cross, though we are so unworthy, to offer us a new identity.

True Faith

I just finished listening to Dr. Stephen Tong's sermon in Indonesian about faith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5pByUs2jm4

He said that many people claim that they know what the true faith is. But the more we try to find out, the more confusing it gets. This leads to the topic of epistemology. 

So, he continuously told us about a very important thing Confucius, and Socrates both said.

Confucius:
"If you know, say that you know. If you don't know, say that you don't know. For that's the beginning of knowing."

Socrates:
"When you honestly admit you know nothing, that's the attitude you begin to know something."
He also said, "I know nothing, but only one thing that I know, which is that I know nothing."

And the Bible says:
"If there is someone who claims to know everything according to what should be known, s(he) has yet known nothing."

Prayer:
Lord, I want to learn more about you. I always claimed that I already know You, yet I don't know. Give me a humble heart to know that I don't know anything, so that I may know more of nothingness that I know, to know about You that I know nothing about.

Confused, huh?!?! Me too!!! *_*

What is then the true faith? It is in the Apostle's Creed.

Motivation to Read the Bible

Peace and wisdom of God I need to face every challenges in this fallen world. Wisdom comes from fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord comes from knowing who He is, what His will, and His way.

It is not easy to understand God, or I would say to myself, not possible. Why? Because if God is the creator of in this universe and everything in it, nothing can be bigger than Him. Just like if someone created a robot. A robot could never understand its creator. It is only designed to obey the creator's commands. But God created human being in His image. We are created with mind and freewill, to wonder and follow our own hearts, or to obey and go with His way. But nowadays, the saying "Follow Your Heart..." is accepted more than "Trust and Obey". It seems that the word "obey"is only for little children. Moreover, many Christians, including myself, often twists the "trust God" part in our own ways knowingly or unknowingly, such that we just do what we WANT to do, and let God take care the rest, which is somehow against Jesus' teaching, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." (Matthew 4:7)

Reading the Bible should not merely based on obedience. It is also  not just something you want. If it is a mere obedient, it would bring to self righteousness and pride, which then lead to self destruction. If it is just something based on want, it would lead to lack of understanding and appreciation. It is like food we eat everyday. We want and we need food to live, not too much and not too little.

Being obedient of something we don't understand yet is the hardest part. For the world has gone far in the opposite direction of the Bible. We get confused a lot of what we need and what we want. We focus more on physical needs, and neglected our soul. When we realize our souls are in hunger, we blame it on our body, activities kept us away from our spiritual need. It is true that when we are physically worn out, it is almost impossible to sit and pray. All we want to do is just to lay down and rest totally, our body and mind. Prayer sometimes requires me to think more, which I often fail to do when I am exhausted once I am back home from work. When I force myself to pray and read the Bible a little in the midst of my work and house chores, it doesn't give me any peace at all. Instead I am always burst out in anger afterwards. It is like I pour out my heart, read the Word to renew my heart, but does not have the ability to actually "chew" and "digest", and everything is "thrown up". Is it because I do my prayer and Bible reading out of obedience alone? Or my motive's probably just not right. To gain wisdom for my own pride to stand on my own understanding against others is indeed a sin. Reading Bible and prayer should be a way to worship God, not for our own benefits, but HIS. To lift up our happiness in HIM alone, to live according the Creator's purpose, to desire what HE desires. It is overall not about our own gains. Our looses might be HIS gains, and HIS gains are always our true gains. But Satan always tempts us with his lie that we could live happily without given up our own gains, just as how Satan tempted Jesus on the mountain. But Jesus answered him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord, your God, and serve Him only." (Matthew 4:10)

The Great Promise - Rest for Your Soul (Matthew 11:25-30) - 9/14/2014

By: Tim Keller

                At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
                "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
                "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

This is a very famous passage, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest...rest for your souls." This passage takes to the heart of what Christianity is all about. It is to remind us of who it is we are serving, what we are about, who it is we are lifting up. It tells us a lot about Jesus and what he offers. So, it's about "rest for the soul". And we are going to learn 3 things about that rest, deep inner rest, not just rest of the body, it's rest of the soul. We are going to learn:
1. Why we need it - The need for it.
2.  What it is - the character of this rest.
3. How to get it.

1. Why we need it - The need for it.

                It starts by saying, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" The question is, "Does he talking about a discreet group of people? the hurting people? Burned out people? And the rest of us, who are more normal, we don't need it? or is it something for everyone?" It's such a solemn statement that it seems like it's an offer to everyone. But how do we understand that then? Horace, a Roman poet, says, "No one lives content." It's hard particularly for younger people to believe that. Most younger people think, if I get a professional success, and I find somebody to love, and I do good in society, I would feel a deep satisfaction, and peace of my life; And I'll be happy with my life. I will be happy with myself. But when you get older, even if you get a professional success, love, and do good for the world, you come to realize that you are discontent, and it's a lot deeper than we think.
                Even though some of us have started to see that some people's lives go better, some are worse. But even though to some of whose lives are better, realize that as the years go by, I am still looking for something. So, Horace says that "No one lives content." While Stephen, who's a more modern writer, says, "Even in contentment, I still feel the need of some imperishable bliss." What it means is, as you get older, even if you are enjoying something, what tends to ruin the enjoyment is the thought that I'm gonna lose this. So, if I'm having a love relationship, the person is going to leave me, or they will die. And as you get older, everything just seems to go away, and life is constantly taking away from you. And he says, "the older I get, the more I can't be content with anything. Because if I am enjoying it, I can't help to think that this is going to perish. And it ruins my enjoyment of it." And if people say, Well, just live for the moment, enjoy it for now. And you are saying, No, no! That's just like an animal, who lives by instinct. I am a human being. I am thinking about things. And I want to think. And the more I think about it, and the older I get, the more I realize everything is going to be taken away from me. And the harder and harder for me to actually be content. Henrik Ibsen, a Norwegian playwright, says, "When you take away the life's lie of anyone, they lose all their happiness." What it means by the "life's lie" is that everyone spends their years being happy in anticipation. In other words, most of us can actually deal with life when we say someday I will be happy, but not now. But there is a possibility that I will be happy. And the "life's lie", according to Ibsen is, you say If I find Ms. or Mr. Right, if I get the professional success, if I can just get this done and I make enough money...you tend to say, If I can just get to 'this place', then things would be okay. And the life's lie is, if you think "this" or "this" or "this"... is going to make you happy. And you get there, and you find out, it doesn't. And when the life's lie is taken away, you lose all your happiness. 

                Jesus is saying, I am the only one that can give you the deep inner rest that you are looking for in all these other things. What does it mean by "rest"?? Does he just mean "fulfillment" in general? Probably not. Because when he says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened..." Later on, in Matthew 23:4, he says, "The teachers of the law ... tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them." which means, they can't practice what they preach. He is talking about a kind of religion that the teachers of the law put on people and they're burdens. And the burdens were, "if you do all these commandments, regulations, then God would love you, and bless you, and take you to heaven, and favor you, and hear your prayers." And Jesus says, That's an incredible crushing burden. Because you have to lift up and everyday you will never be sure you are moral enough or religious enough, or good enough. And it's a terrible burden. And you says, Well, fine! But I'm not an orthodox Jew. I don't bound myself to all the mosaic ceremonial laws, and all that rules and regulations. But some years ago, Judith Shulevitz, wrote a great article on New York Times magazine, in 2003, which later turned into a book, called "Bring Back The Sabbath". And even though she's a Jew's woman, writing and trying to tell the workaholic Manhattanites taking time off is great, but she knows, the Christian, the Biblical idea of Sabbath goes beyond just taking a day off to get rest. This is what she says, "Most people believe, what you have to do to stop working, is to not work. But the machinery of self-sensorship must shut down too, stilling the eternal murmur of self reproach." Even if you are not an orthodox Jew, we all have inner self-sensorship....self reproach...the eternal murmur. What does it mean? Everybody is trying to live up to a standard, maybe your parents' expectations, or maybe you got a church background or some kind of a religious background that fills you with guilt even though you are trying to get over it, but you still feel guilty, because you are not living the way you were raised. Maybe the reason of a restless feeling that I am not good enough, is not because of your parents or your church background, but maybe it's because you just moved to New York City.  Do you know the history of the colony? Massachusetts was found as a place to live. People in Europe says  I want to find a place where we can live life and practice our religion and our way of living freely. So, people started with Virginia. They started to South Carolina to live. Do you realize why New York City was started? It was started as a trading post, a place to make money. People did not originally come here to live. They came here to work hard and make money. And guess what? We have not escaped our history. This is not a particular easy place to live. It is not a place that is not set-up to make it easy to live. It's a place set up basically for professional success. It is set up for work. And some years ago, in New York Times, by a writer, a young guy's trying to make it by coming to New York, trying to be a writer. The competition, expectations, the emphasis on success, on work, were driving him crazy. And he said, "...the quality of my work became the measure of my worth." He was being crushed under the need to live up. And Judith Shulevitz's saying, well you don't have to be an Orthodox Jew, to have a deep inner restlessness, a burden. We are all trying to live up. We are all trying to have the "eternal inner murmur" of self reproach. And Jesus says that I am the only one who can actually give the solution to that. The scientist tells you that if you sleep all night, but if you don't get REM sleep, you would wake up exhausted. And Jesus says, you are taking time off, taking breaks, going on trips, and you still can't get the deep spiritual inner rest, the REM of the soul. Only I can give you that. And he's saying that to everybody in the world, not just to the Jews at that time, not just religious people, but to everyone. I can give you, and only I can give you, a complete rest from the machinery of self-censorship, the eternal inner murmur self-reproach.

2.  What it is - the character of this rest.

Jesus is going to tell you that our culture is absolutely counter intuitive. You couldn't make it a more outrageous statement in our society than what He is about to say. So, let's ask Jesus, "What is this rest?"
And He says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me and you will find rest for your soul." See, come to me, and I will give you rest for your soul. "Take my yoke upon you" is a synonym. What is a yoke?

A yoke is something that you put on a burden, or oxen in the old days, and they carried wagons, or they carried plows, they were piece of burden, because every yoke attach you to a burden. That is why He can say, All of you who are burdened, come to me, and take my yoke upon you. This is astounding. Because Jesus Christ does not just say, Come to me and believe in me... or Come to me and pray to me, and I will just take all your troubles away. He says, You must yoke yourself to me. In the old days, all teachers, when the disciples came to be with the teacher, when Jesus says take my yoke upon you... means be my disciples - which is not a new idea created by Jesus. In those days, when you decide to follow a teacher, you were said to be yoked to the teacher. Here is the reason why. If you are in NYC, you want take a couple of courses, you may show up, and you will to know the teacher, the teacher grades your papers, etc; But in those days, when you want to be a disciple of a teacher means, you want to live with the teacher; And you serve the teacher; And you live in a community with other disciples; And the teacher completely dominated your life. Jesus is saying I want you to come and let me be the complete master of your life. I want you to center all you entire life around me. I want you to let me dominate your life. And that is how you find rest for your soul. If He just said, "Come to me and I will give you rest." we all will imagine some kind of spiritual experience, right?! But then He says, what I mean is take my yoke upon you, become my disciple, let me dominate your life. Give up your right to self determination. Give up your right to live a life you want, and let me completely dominate your life, and then you will find rest for your soul. You understand why it is astounding for our culture. Because our culture says that You must not give authority of your life over to anyone. You must be the master of your own life. No one has the right to tell you how to live. No one has the right to tell you what is right and wrong. You have to decide for yourself. You have to stay in control. You need to be free, to be absolutely free! And you can't possibly get it and become a Christian and now you lost your ability to decide what is right and wrong for you. No way! So, it sounds crazy to Jesus when He says, If you want inner freedom, to no longer be proving yourself. To be a complete peace with yourself. To be happy with your life. To be satisfied with your life. That's inner freedom. And Jesus says You will never get that kind of freedom, unless you let me be the master, unless you completely make me Lord.  And we say It's crazy. The only way to be free, is to be free! Now, what is the answer to that? It is actually in there, but not that easy to see, unless you emphasize the word. If you see Jesus' saying, "Take my yoke upon you..." it sounds like it's saying Well, if you want to be free, you need to come and lose all your independent and let me be your Lord or your life, and we go Thanks! But no thanks! What is the implications there? What He is saying is, all of you are already burdened. Everybody is restless. And what does it mean? It means, you are already yoke to something. Jesus is not saying you are independent. Give up your independent and come to me.  What He's trying to say is Look! We need to be politically free. But nobody is spiritually free. You are already yoke to something. What do you decide to live for? Everybody has to live for something. And whatever you decide to live for, you are yoked to. You are not free anymore. You gotta have it! Let's just say, you are living for some kind of relationship, whether it is a love relationship, or a spouse or partner, the main joy of satisfaction of your life is that person. Do you realize that you are yoked to that person? Do you realize that you are being mastered by that person? Because if that person's love and happiness is the main thing in your life, first of all, you will be emotionally over dependent on them, you will not be able to take criticism from them, it will devastate you. You won't be able to give criticism to them or be honest with them, because you can't take their anger. If they have a problem, you can't take it. Then you say, Oh yeah! I heard that co-dependence is bad. So, let me live for my job, my career. I won't be emotionally dependent on anybody. I will be a self-sufficient person. If you are living for your career, you are not a self sufficient person. You are yoked to your career. You make the quality of your work the measure of your worth. That's burned out! That's terrible!!! Then you say, maybe I'll live for my children. Many people look at me right in the eye, saying Pastor, I live for my children. If I don't have my children, I really don't have any good reason to live. Well, you're destroying your children then. If you live for your children, either they do whatever they can to get away from you, because you are dominating their lives, or worst than that, maybe they are not trying to get away from you but you are dominating their lives; and you are living your lives thru them , and they never grow independent self-sufficient adults eventually. Then you say, Alright, I should depend on my children. I shouldn't live for love or romance, I shouldn't live for my spouse.  I shouldn't live for my career. I will be a good person. I am just going to be a great person. Maybe I'll be religious. I will come to church. I read the Bible and I'll pray. I clean up my life and I'll help  other people.  And you know what that means? if you decide to make the quality of your morality, whether liberal or conservative, the measure of your worth, so that you are feeling I am living a good life. I am living out my standard. I am better than most people, then you would become self-righteous, and people will hate you, and you deserve it. And if you are not living up to your standard, you will hate yourself, and you'll beat yourself up. In other words, your soul will be either shrunk or frozen. You are not independent!! You are not in control of your life! You are living for something. You are yoked to it! We should be politically free and independent, and self determination. They are very important. But spiritual self-determination is an illusion, and it's fatal if you are trying to get it.  Because you think you are in charge of your own life, but you are being driven by career, by pleasure, or by love/romance, or something. And Jesus says Take my yoke. I am the only master that if you yoke yourself to me, I will forgive you when you fail me. And I will satisfy you when you embrace me. I am the only one like that. The only way for you to be truly free is to let me be your master, because otherwise something else will be and you won't be free. That is so absolutely basic understanding what the Christian life is about; what is the Christian messages about. And if you say Boy! The idea of making Jesus Christ my Lord, my Master, so that I have to do only what is in the Bible, I can't live my own life. Suffocating! Horrible! I want to be free the way I want to live.  You are in the veil of illusion.  It is an illusion!! It is not true. And you need to see the truth.

3. How to get it.

How do we get this peace? Interestingly enough, it's up here. You may not be looking at it. The center of gravity of this passages is obviously v. 28, 29, 30. It is so lovely, so soothing, so wonderful. And you tend to miss what is before. But look at v. 25, At that time, Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. Now in v. 20-24, Jesus's warning a certain town that had rejected the messenger and the Gospel. He's warning them, then he turns to v. 25, says Who is it that does receive my salvation?? Not the wise and learned, not the self-sufficient, not the people who feel I've got it together, it's little children. These are the ones who understand the Gospel; who receive and get revealed to them; The truth of the Gospel and who actually enter into My rest. Now, what does it mean to become like a little children? You know that this is a very common way that Jesus talked about becoming a Christian. For example, in Matthew 18:3, "...unless you change and become like little children, you will ever enter the kingdom of heaven." To come to Jesus, to become a Christian, to be converted, and to become a little child, they are all synonyms. Why then, would He use 'become a little child' to be a synonym? You have to think about the metaphor, and of course if you go thru the rest of the Bible, you realize that it does not mean that to become childish. But there are at least two characteristics in little children for you to become a Christian, and how to receive this Rest. First of all, little children know that they are helpless. It means that you have to swallow your pride. You have to be somebody who knows you can't be like the wise and the learned. You can't say Well, I have done good things, but I've done bad things. So, I need a little help from God. NO!! A Christian is somebody who says, I've done bad things, and I have done good things. But the good things were done for bad motives in general. And therefore, I need a complete grace salvation. I need forgiveness. I can't save myself. I can't make good my debt. I can't earn my salvation. I can't pull myself together. I need grace. I am spiritually helpless!! That's an extraordinary hard things for modern people to say. But that's the first thing you have got to do - to become a little child, and admit the spiritual helplessness. Secondly, they are exceedingly confident that you love them. You know that you can be with a little child, a two year old, for example, and they are just a pain to be with. They are crying , and they want this, and they want that. Then you give them that, then they don't want that, and throw it away. And they are just incredibly difficult. They will outgrow this eventually. But no matter how big  of a pain and awful they've been, they are sure that you love them. It's astounding. That's the second aspect of being a Christian. I have seen plenty of people who come to admit that they are sinners, have screwed up, and done very, very badly, and need God, then you just have to believe that Jesus Christ loves you, that He forgives you. Then you  can rest in His love. A lot of people just can't go there. They just can't believe Jesus loves me.  Therefore,  you are not a little child yet. Then how do you get there? Jesus, himself, says, I want you to take my yoke upon you, I want you to be lord of  your life. And I won't abuse you. I know you are afraid if you give up your independence I will abuse you. But, I am gentle and humble in heart. That little addition, "I am gentle and humble in heart", is critical to understanding the salvation of Jesus Christ. In the beginning of Matthew 11, John the Baptist was offended by Jesus, because of his weakness. John the Baptist said, I thought the messiah is going to be a strong man, that he come together and put together, at least a political movement, or maybe an army, because the job of the messiah is to bring judgment on evil. And because you are supposed to bring judgment to evil, why, in the world, aren't you a strong person? Why are you gentle and humble? Why are you surrounded by weak people? Why do you hang out with the poor and oppressed? Why aren't you with the strong? He was offended, and Jesus turns to him and say, I didn't come as a Messiah to bring judgment. Because if I brought judgment on evil, nobody would be left. I came in weakness to bear your judgment, to bear you punishment. And if you want to become a little child, watch Jesus Christ going to the cross and you notice something - compare Him with other Christian martyr stories, such as Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley who were burned at the stake for their faith at the monument in Oxford. As the flame were licking up, evidently, Latimer turned to Ridley and said something like this:  Don't worry, tonight we are going to have a merry supper with the Lord. (we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out. - Wikipedia) There are lots of stories of Christians who went to their death in peace are filled with rest. Why? Because they knew God was with them. And they knew they were going to be with God. Jesus Christ did not go to the cross that way. Think about it! He was in the Garden of Gethsemane with bloody sweat, the agony; when He was on the cross, He was crying out My God, My God! Why have Thou forsaken me? He had no rest on the cross. He was cosmically restless, because God was not with Him. God abandoned Him, because He was taking the penalty that we deserved. He was getting a taste of the cosmic restlessness that we deserved. So that He can turn to us and say, Come now. I took your restlessness, and I can give you rest. It is not achieved. It is not something you earned. It is a gift! You become like a little child when you say Lord, Jesus, if you would do that for me, not just die on the cross, not just simply lose your physical peace, but Your spiritual peace; experienced that cosmic infinite restlessness and agony for me, I know You won't abuse me.  I can take on Your yoke, because of Your gentle way, and humble in heart. You died for me.  In that minute, you, not only, admit that you are helpless, but also you finally rest in His love, assured in His love. Once you realize that you do that, you take off the great burden - the burden falls off your back of having approved yourself. See, Jesus is saying If you try to rest in your own works in order to prove yourself, to God, or to your parents, or to whoever or whatever, you never have rest in your heart. But if you rest in My work, you have rest indeed - As the hymn goes,

                Lay your deadly doing down
                Down at Jesus' feet
                Stand in Hi, and in Him alone
                Gloriously complete.

You have a burden of guilt of something you did in the past? Here is another hymn,

                The terrors of law and of God,
                With me, have nothing to do
                My Savior's obedient and blood
                hides all my transgression from view.

As Paul says, in Philippians 3:9 ... I want to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - God, now, looks at you, and He sees you are righteous in Christ; He sees absolute beauty - no more proofing of yourself - that is how you receive this rest! That is how you destroy, for good, that internal self-censorship, constant internal murmur of self-reproach. Don't say You are not good enough! You are not good enough! But My Savior's obedient and blood hides all my transgression from view. Finally, you are free!! And don't forget this, to be a Christian is to receive this free of salvation. But then, you are supposed to be a disciple. Jesus wasn't just talking to people then. What does it mean to be a disciple? It means Now, I am learning the Bible, learning to pray, leaving with other disciples! I am accountable! If you just show up at church, and you are not seriously being instructed in the Bible; you are not seriously in any kind of accountable Christian community; if you are not a disciple, you are not having this piece of God work at every corner of your life. Come to me, all of you who are already weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learned of Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart ,and you will find rest for your soul. Because, only My yoke is easy, and only My burden is light.

The Fourth Wise Man Story

Yesterday, while my husband and I were having lunch, we were discussing about a question brought up by EY and her mother at the end of the last Friday Bible study. As far as I can remember, she asked something like this, "If someone is elected to be saved, will one lose one's salvation?" Nn, who was not the leader that time, offered her answer to EY's question, which is, "not necessarily, for Judas was chosen by Jesus, but he didn't receive salvation." The end answer "...he didn't receive salvation" was right, but her answer was wrong. Because Judas was never chosen to be saved, but only as a disciple, according to my husband's explaination, which I agree. This brought us to think of a situation where if someone is Christian, but then later on, (s)he switched to another belief, would (s)he still be saved? We both believed that (s)he would not receive salvation at the end. Why not?? Then my husband told me the story of "The Fourth Wise Man" by Henry van Dyke in 1895. Here is the short summary I got from wikipedia.org:

The story is an addition and expansion of the account of the Biblical Magi, recounted in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.^[4] It tells about a "fourth" wise man (assuming the tradition that the Magi numbered three to be true), a priest of the Magi named Artaban, one of the Medes from Persia. Like the other Magi, he sees signs in the heavens proclaiming that a King had been born among the Jews. Like them, he sets out to see the newborn ruler, carrying treasures to give as gifts to the child - a sapphire, a ruby, and a pearl of great price. However, he stops along the way to help a dying man, which makes him late to meet with the caravan of the other three wise men (from the Bible). Since he missed the caravan, and he can't cross the desert with only a horse, he is forced to sell one of his treasures in order to buy the camels and supplies necessary for the trip. He then commences his journey but arrives in Bethlehem too late to see the child, whose parents have fled to Egypt. He saves the life of a child at the price of another of his treasures. He then travels to Egypt and to many other countries, searching for Jesus for many years and performing acts of charity along the way. After thirty-three years, Artaban is still a pilgrim, and a seeker after light. Artaban arrives in Jerusalem in time for the crucifixion of Jesus. He spends his last treasure, the pearl, to ransom a young woman from being sold into slavery. He is then struck in the temple by a falling roof tile, and is about to die, having failed in his quest, and yet he knew that all was well, because he had done the best he could. A voice tells him "Verily I say unto thee, Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me," and he dies in a calm radiance of wonder and joy. His treasures were accepted, and the Other Wise Man found his King.

After hearing that story, I did somehow agree with the ending...just for a few seconds...until my husband reminded me of the Truth in the Bible when Judas Iscariot suggested to sell the expansive parfume Mary was using to wash Jesus' feet and gave the money to the poor.  And Jesus responded, "You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me" (John 12:3-8) which is completely against the ending of the story of The Fourth Wise Man.