The Story of Grace: What Would You Become If You Didn't Meet Christ

We are going through a series about Grace in the youth small group. Before the end of our sharing and discussion last Friday night I asked the boys to think of an incident in their lives where they experienced God’s grace to them as ‘homework’ for next week’s sharing. Being a leader myself I am prepared to share mine. While I was going through my memories to pick a good one, I started to wonder what my life would be like if I didn’t meet God. Seriously it is a very valid question, my life is completely changed since I become a Christian, more preciously, a follower of Jesus. Looking back to who I was, the way I thought and behaved, there is a high probability that I would have died, probably suicide.

You probably think I am overly pessimistic, maybe a bit I would admit. However it wouldn’t be far off from being a depressed, insecure and ‘lost’ person, i.e. no purpose. For me I always think if life has no purpose, there isn’t any meaning to live, knowing neither money nor fame nor power nor sex would bring a deep satisfaction l long for that is crying out from my heart. And it seems death is the only answer. It’s not hard to find stories of those who are highly successful in people’s eyes, whatever they were actors/actresses, businessmen, footballer that committed suicide because they couldn’t find any purpose in life anymore. I can actually relate to what came through their minds. Last year when I was handling a friend of mine who was briefly occupied by suicidal thoughts, God reminded me one morning of that same dark side of myself as a teenager during my quiet time.

I think bully is probably one of those elements in students’ lives that hunted them the most. I am no exception. I started to develop thoughts of self-hatred and wanted to ‘change’ my characters. I thought at that time that if I changed myself and copied the behaviors and attitudes of those popular ones and became like them I would become one of those ‘cool’ kids and have lots of ‘followers’, or Bieliever if you like. Well of course that didn’t happen, but suicidal thoughts did develop in my minds. Thought like stepping out of the pavement when I was waiting to cross a road and saw a car coming or jumping out of the bridge while I was crossing it became more and more frequent. I know in my mind I wanted to start my life over again. I thought if I didn’t die but in coma and lost my memories it won’t be a bad idea either. But I probably lost who I am during the process which I was reluctant to do.

It all changed since I met Christ and through my journey with Him over the years I began to understand that there is a purpose in life, my future is certain, God is sovereign and I can trust Him with everything. I believe that was the reason God reminded that part of my previous life, to let me remember who I was and how far I have moved on by knowing His love and grace. It does allow me to treasure more of this relationship as it is literally all I have, it is secure. The insecure side of me didn’t stop at the moment I became His lover, it took a process of inner healing. I have to come to accept of who I am that God created me to be and understand that I am loved by. The gospel is about freedom and transformation.

Talking about knowing or knowledge, the meaning of the word know has 8 different meanings in the original Greek. Two of the most commonly used in the NT are oida and ginosko. Classical uses of oida are connected to the concept of “seeing.” They include observe an object or event, or to be acquainted with a fact. It is concerned primarily with information. Ginosko on the other hand usually presupposes more personal involvement with the person, event, or principle that is “known”. It included recognition, discernment, or opinion that results from personal experience or observation. The word was also used of the marital relationship^[1]. It carries the same meaning as the Hebrew word yada, to know someone personal and intimate. I believe the knowledge of grace is the latter one, gnosis, through personal and intimate interaction with God, hence knowing through experience. One preacher once said that the older you are and the further your journey with God, the more you understand the beauty of grace. I think he’s right, because grace changed me.

Hong Kong

19.01.2014

[1] The explanation of oida and ginosko are citied from The Pioneers’ New Testament blog: http://pioneernt.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/word-study-29-to-know/

Christmas: A Time to Remember

Sunset at CyberPort, Hong Kong

Have you ever thought of losing your memory for sake of removing the pain, hurt and sorrow that you would never want to remember, just because it seems too much for you to handle? I certainly have had that idea, in the mist of all the crying and aching. However I would never want to do that because without memory I not only lose all my painful ones but also the happiest and joyful one. But most importantly I would lose myself. It is because my memory is a part of who I am, or one element that makes me become who I am.

In fact I want to argue that pain and sorrow are ultimately beneficial because they reveal the greatest thirst that deep inside our hearts when we cry out to God to remove that hurt. God did promise one day there will be no sorrow or tears, until that day comes His love, mercy and grace is enough to fill that gap, even though it is not meant to be easy at all.

Talking about remember or remembrance it reminds me of what Paul talks about remembering who we were before we met Christ:

…remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Ephesians 2:12

Paul wrote what Jesus said in the Last Supper before He died on the cross:

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

We as Christians are not only called to remember who we were, what Christ has done for us, but also to remember the less fortunate ones:

On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

It is always in God’s heart to remember His people:

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

Genesis 8:1

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

Genesis 19:29

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew..

Exodus 2:23-25

There are many more examples elsewhere in the Bible. Clearly God didn’t “forget” His people, but every time God “remembered” someone or His covenant with someone, it indicates that He is about to take action for the person’s welfare.

I remember while I was still a student at Warwick one year around May/June while I was still in the mist of all my exams, I decided one evening to have a walk after my dinner. Since it was summer time and the Sun won’t set till 9 at night, it creates the perfect time for me to have the last glimpse of the Sun before the end of the day. Not far from my house there was a cemetery, and I walked pass it a couple of times. But that day I decided to go in and have a look to see what it’s like.

I started off to be a bit nervous while I was in the cemetery as it was my first time walking in a cemetery on my own and probably first time since I became a Christian. I wasn’t afraid at all I have to say as I have nothing to be afraid of. The feeling was a bit like seeing an old friend after a while and you always find it a bit nervous somehow. But not long after that, my heart started to settle by the quietness and peacefulness in the cemetery, with the wind gently breezing through the air. The only sound I could hear was the touching of the wind and the leaves and branches of the trees and the singing voice of the mockingbirds at the background. There was hardly anyone in there and it was exactly what I needed. There were rows and rows of gravestones, hundreds of them, standing opposition to each other on both sides of the paths. I began to walk down those paths, rows by rows, up and down. As I walked along those gravestones, I started to read the words that were graved on them –names, year of birth, year of death, messages from family etc.

After walking for at least 5 or 6 rows, I sat down on one of the branches. Looking at all those gravestones, my mind started to imagine what those people looked like while they were still alive. At the same time I was wondered by a question that hunted my thought – those who lay underneath their gravestones, who will remember them? Maybe their spouse, their children or even their grandchildren. But how about in 20, 50 or 100 years time? Who will remember those people? Who will remember what they had done? What legacy will they stand apart from those gravestones of theirs? Suddenly I heard God spoke to me powerfully with authority across the quietness of the cemetery,

“I remember them, every single one of them who is my child. I remember their names, their faces, their deeds. Those memories live in my heart. I will raise them up in the last great day, every single one of them, and I will remember their sins no more.”

This is exactly what it is written in Jeremiah 31:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34

We remember what God has done for us only because God remembers us at the very first place. Christmas, it’s a time to remember and also a time to look forward, not just for us, but for God too! This meant a lot more than you would imagine.

Hong Kong

24.12.2013

Uganda Mission Trip, Day 1: From Europe to Africa

Bright Sunny Day in Kampala

It is 12:00am, less than half an hour before we leave for Uganda, and there is no sign of my roommate Dave. I never doubt that he would be late as I know him well, and my heart was alarming peaceful, not about Dave, but for the trip that were to come. I did my final check-up for my passports and other essential items, while in my mind “looked forward to” the coming epic 22 hours journey to reach our destination. 12:30am, everyone was ready and we sat off. Making the loudest voice by our suitcases’ wheels and hoping that we didn’t wake anybody up, we arrived at the coach station for our coach to Birmingham International Airport.

Our whole trip was marked with a lot of waiting, in terms of hours; and when we looked back now, we realised that it was only the start – waiting at the airport for flights! Fast forward the time of waiting at Brussels and Rwanda, we arrived, safely, at Uganda, at last, at 11:00pm. Guess what the very first thing we did as soon as we collected our luggage and were waiting to be picked up? It was having mosquitoes spray over our arms and legs, which suggested how much we disliked the mosquitoes. Throughout the whole trip, mosquitoes spray, sun cream, anti-bacterial gel and Doxycycline would become our best friends.

There was a bit of a challenge of getting our entire luggage into our minivan. By God’s grace it was all sorted, somehow. After another hour of journey with the girls singing in the background we arrived at our hostel, Novak. It was a really nice place to live if I am honest, for African standard. I was very impressed. A reasonably size room with a lovely two part farmhouse gate as door (if you know what I was talking about); a table and a chair and nice bed with a mosquitoes net hanging on top of it. No bad at all! But it was already 1:00am, so we got changed, brushed our teeth and went straight to bed.

We had a bit of a lie in the next morning. We had a shower (cold one for boys), had some breakfast and waited for the church van to pick us up. On our way to All Saints’ Cathedral, we finally could have a picture of what Uganda was like in the light. The road was all orange in color, millions of people on motorbikes with all kinds of random stuff on the back of the bikes that I could never imagine, I even saw someone having their bed frame on his motor bikes! I mean how could it even possible? I guess it’s all a part of the experience.

We arrived at All Stints’, formally introduced by our Uganda team, being showed around the Cathedral etc. We then attended the mid-week service. It was a very different experience going to church in Uganda where everyone dressed as smart as they possibly could, like going to a wedding. I will tell you more later when we went to Sunday services.

Although I haven’t been to Africa or encountered with many Africans, so far so I didn’t feel much of a culture shock. Yes it’s different, but not shocked, as the very least. Maybe I am so used to going to a different country and experiencing different cultures. And the next day (Day 2), we would go up north of Uganda to a rural town called Gulu for 4 days to do some ministries there. It would become one of our highlights of our trip. Oh yea, and the 8 hours of road journey ahead of us too!

drafted in Kampala, Uganda

written in Oxford
27.03.2013

In Your Season

River Thames at Christ Church Meadow, Oxford, in Early Morning

Although God has spoken powerfully to me recently through different people in different places, it seems like He is silent to me when I asked Him some personal questions, like what He wants me to do and where He wants me to be next year. I was desperate if I am honest, I found it hard to hear from God.

Having an advice from Emily, I decided to do something different, something I don’t normally do – early walk at Christ Church Meadow after breakfast. It just turned bright and the sky was so fresh, and so blue. To my surprise it wasn’t cold at all, just a gentle breeze of the morning wind. Anastasie, Paulina and I were supposed to have our own quiet time in the meadow, but Anastasie and I ended up chatting! We talked about a lot of things, our lives before the internship, why we would love to stay in England (if we could), a bit about family, our ministries and life in general really. But we spent quite a lot of time talking about the future – things like what we would like to do in summer, next (academic) year and even next year summer! Through the conversation we kinda share the same frustration that we simply don’t know God’s will and plan for us individually. What direction is He guiding us to? What is it that is on His mind? We simply didn’t have any answers for all those questions, and we want them, now!

It wasn’t my first time walking in the meadow, so all the scenery and buildings are not unfamiliar to me and they are gorgeous, you will never get bored of looking at them! When we were walking past those familiar scenery and buildings, I remember the photos that I once took some time back. If I took the same photos at the same spots where I was, the photos would be quite different even though they are the same Christ Church College and the same River Thames, because we are now in different season! I felt like God was speaking to me saying that although I am now at different season of my life, He is still the same in every season. He is still the God who guided me through the lows of my life. He is still the same God that loves me. He is still the God whom I could always trust and rely on. Maybe I just need to be patient and let Him do His will in His own time and in His own way. I remember my friend said to me once that if God tells me everything I am gonna do in my life, life won’t fun anymore! I laughed when she said it because I know she is right! Once again I was reminded by God of this verse in Romans 8:

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.

Romans 8:38

Oxford

08.01.2013

Worship, Glory and Shine

We were looking at the subject of Worship the other week. Worship is of course glorifying God by giving Him praise and adoration; in modern days worship is mainly through music. In the Old Testament era, sacrifice of praise was the main form of worship alongside instrumental worship. Peace offerings, burn offerings were the main form of worshiping God and through sacrifices sins are forgiven. Of course we don’t do any animal sacrifice anymore as Jesus has been the perfect sacrifice for us once and for all[1], we can have a gist of what it is like in 2 Chronicles 5-7 which recorded the dedication of the Temple that Solomon built.

Here is the account of the temple dedication:

Solomon assembled the Levites to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion. Then Solomon and all the congregation of Israel were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered (2 Chronicles 5:6), hence worshiping God. The priests then brought the Ark of the Covenant to the Most Holy Place, followed by singing praises to God through songs with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments. Then the house of the LORD was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to ministry because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God (2 Chronicles 5:14).

Solomon then blessed the LORD and people, and stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel praying to God

“And now arise, O Lord God, and go to your resting place,

    you and the ark of your might.

Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation,

    and let your saints rejoice in your goodness.

O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one!

    Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.”

2 Chronicles 6:41-42

As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (2 Chronicles 7:1-3)

Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep (that’s a lot of meat!). So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry; opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood. (2 Chronicles 7:4-6)

Can you imagine (apart from the amount of meat being burnt!) the whole scenery of worship and dedication (it lasted for 7 days!)? It is glorious (and pretty glory too I can imagine)! But what strike me the most lies in here - the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. Wow! The glory of God was so full that the priest cannot even enter the Lord’s house! Have you seen anything like it before? Can you imagine what it is like to be filled with God’s glory? However the question that I asked when I read it was: What is the glory of God? We have said it hundreds and thousands of time about the glory of God, the glory of God; but what is it exactly? Moses asked similar question and let us see how the Lord God answered him.

And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

Exodus 33:17-23

“I will make all my goodness pass before you… I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious… show mercy to whom I will show mercy”

The glory of God is all about God, it has absolutely nothing to do with us! It’s not about how great the music is when we worship God; it’s not about how good you can deliver a sermon; it’s all about Him! It reminds me of the chorus lyrics of Heart to Worship, and it does sum up plainly what worship is all about:

I’m coming back to the heart of worship,

    And it’s all about you, all about you Jesus.

I’m sorry Lord for the things I’ve made it

    When it’s all about you, it’s all about you Jesus

Matt Redman – Heart of Worship

I went to Student Night one Thursday. At the end of the night we had time to wait upon the Holy Spirit to speak to us as the talk of that night was about desiring to seek God. I could feel the overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit at church; I saw people knelt down on their knees seeking God, people praying for one another, arms in the air worship God at the top of their voices. We had people sharing what God has spoken to them, scripture and pictures, for encouragement. The meeting was overrun by an hour and a half as we kept on praying and worshipping!

I was thinking is it something we want to say after we went to a Christian meeting, that we could say “I could feel the presence of the Spirit”, “I know God has spoken powerfully to me”, and most importantly, proud to say “I surely have met God in this place!”? Sometimes I think we often are too easily pleased with our normally ‘church activities’, but not grabbing hold on God and say, “I am not letting You go unless I have seen Your presence and Your blessing flooded in this place!” I believe once you have seen His glory shining through the sky, you would hook on it and hungry for more of Him! This is what we are made to desire for!

You may ask, “If God’s glory is all about Him, then how is it to do with us?” I believe we can find the answer in Act 27. Paul was in Athens and he saw the city was full of idols. The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers heard that Paul was preaching about Christ and His resurrections, so they came to him and ask what the new ‘strange’ thing that Paul was presenting as the Athenians who lived there would spend their time doing nothing but telling and hearing something new. And this is what Paul addressed to the Athenians:

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.

Acts 17:22-27

“Yet he is not far from each one of us”. Indeed God is close to us. How close? Very close! It is written in Ephesians 1:

In him (Christ) you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14

We are sealed with Holy Spirit as it is promised by Christ, and now Holy Spirit is in us, so how close are we from God?

If you have ever been to churches that have beautiful glass windows with paintings painted on them, the images look so much alive and real if there is light shine through those windows from outside. I believe this is the perfect image that describes who we really are – glass windows with beautiful paintings. God is often describes as light, “God is light, in Him there is no darkness” (1 John 1:5). As His light shine through us (the glass windows), the image that are painted on us can be shown. It is God’s glory that is shown on Earth, but through our images. God doesn’t need us in order His glory to be shown, but beautifully He chose to! I believe there are three reasons why God chose this way: He is not ashamed of His created being which are made in His own image, despite our own sinfulness and imperfectness because Christ has already dealt with it on the cross. Secondly I believe God wants to let us know the beauty that He has stored in us, through our images! God wants us to know that we are truly loved and treasured by Him, because this is His nature and character.

Remember the answer that God gave to Moses about His glory?

“Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

Exodus 33:21-23

The following is final reason but also the most important one:

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord

2 Corinthians 3:18

Because of the His Spirit that God has put inside us, we are now transformed into His likeness and hence able to shine in God’s glory. This is what God intended us to be: to transform us into Christ-like and shine in God’s glory through worship.

I end with the same ending and prayer that is written by A. W. Tozer in his book The Purpose of Man:

May God grant us a desire for God that supersedes all other desires.

Dear heavenly Father, the world is very evil, times are waxing late and we are running out of time. Oh, God, lay hold of us. We pray that we may have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand. We pray that we may be saved from the routine and rut. We pray that we may have eyes inside and outside, anointed understanding. Help us, Lord, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

A.     W. Tozer – The Purpose of Man

05.01.2013

Oxford

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[1] Although Paul talked about offer ourselves as living sacrifices in Romans 12, we won’t go into details here