A Mennonite perspective on Left Behind

I find Loren L. Johns' critique on the Left Behind series quite insightful:

"At the end of the day, this series is ultimately a rejection of the good news of Jesus Christ. I say this because it rejects the way of the cross and Jesus’ call to obedient discipleship and a new way of life. It celebrates the human will to power, putting Evangelical Christians in the heroic role of God’s Green Berets. ... Love of enemies is treated as a misguided strategy associated not with the gospel, but with the Antichrist." ¹

1 The Left Behind Series: Description and Critique - http://www.ambs.edu/LJohns/Leftbehind.htm

G.C. Berkouwer on Election

One of the things that I am thankful for my local church is its library which has a lot of now out-of-print books on systematic theology (since the church used to have a Bible School), it was during December last year when I stumbled upon familiar names on the shelf that's labeled Systematic Theology where more prominent names like Bultman, Brunner, Barth, Berkoff would normally standout, one book there that I particularly noticed was a book entitled: Studies in Dogmatics: Divine Election by G.C. Berkouwer.

I borrowed that book and read it through the Christmas season and I was amazed especially at his insight on the Doctrine of Election which rejects both the traditional and Barthian view of the equal ultimacy of election and reprobation.

Here's his take on the subject where he relates election with Christ's work in relation to Ephesians 1:4 ¹:

“The issue here is not a metaphysical contrast between time and eternity, but the foundation of salvation in God's plan as immutable reality. 'Before' (in Eph. 1:4) indicates that this divine act of salvation, preached to us by the Gospel, is free from what we know in the world to be arbitrary and precarious. To be sure in this depth-aspect of God's salvation it becomes at the same time evident that this salvation did not originate in our flesh and blood that it is by no means of human merit or creation. But precisely this fact does not obscure the way; on the contrary it illuminates it. 'Before the foundation of the world” means to direct our attention to what can be called the opposite of chance and contingence.”²

This insight has been very much helpful for me in my understanding of the Gospel message and its relationship with God's sovereignty in the work of salvation.

___

1“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love” Ephesians 1:4 (NIV)

2Berkouwer, p152, Studies in Dogmatics, Divine Election

Benedict XVI and evangelical conversion

This may not be new to most of the people who're acquainted with theology there seems to be an growing emphasis on evangelical conversion (as in talk of personal conversion to Christ) among Roman Catholics with no less than the Pope who spoke of it in his Inaugural Mass where he stated this

“ Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us?...And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation....When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life. ”¹

He also stated this in his God is very much at work in our world today:

"We are all called to open ourselves to this friendship with God... speaking to him as to a friend, the only One who can make the world both good and happy... That is all we have to do is put ourselves at his disposal...is an extremely important message. It is a message that helps to overcome what can be considered the great temptation of our time: the claim, that after the Big Bang, God withdrew from history." ²

This is a welcomed gesture, since talk of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is mostly discussed among Protestant Evangelical circles leaning towards Billy Graham's call for all of us to: “accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior”.

1http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20050424_inizio-pontificato_en.html

2http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdfjosma.htm

Missions and Theology: Dignity in death

We didn’t have the chance to know his name. We only know him as Thin Yannat’s father. He was a living skeleton—with sunken eyes and protruding bones. He was suffering from AIDS. Narlin, Megan, Aye Phet, our Burmese co-woker and I had visited him in different occasion to bring food and medicine. We came to know him because we take care of his child for him and he was grateful to us for doing it. He wept when his child was kidnapped but managed a faint smile when we got her back.
Read more on: Missions and Theology: Dignity in death

My Redeemer Lives

I suppose this is a little bit too late for Easter but here's a very interesting piece that I read from Benedict Groeschel's book entitled Arise from Darkness which I bought a few weeks back when I am asking very deep questions about my local church and I accidentally browsed on a topic in its table of contents entitled: 'when the church lets us down'. Anyways here's an interesting insight that Benedict wrote on Job 19:25.¹

“ My Redeemer – your Redeemer – has the right to be called that because he suffered with us as well as for us. God could have saved us in some simpler, less terrible way than subjecting Himself to the worst that human beings could do, but He wanted us to know how much He loved us when we are in pain and suffering. Salvation surely did not need to come through the murder of the Messiah. But that's how it came, so we could know, in all sufferings and sorrows of life, that our Creator was also our Redeemer, that He would bring joy out of sorrow, hope out of despair, love out of hate, life out of death, eternity out of time. This is our hope. It alone makes sense.”²

notes:

1I know that my Redeemer [a] lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. Job 19:25 (NIV)

2 Benedict Groeschel, Arise From Darkness, p145

Never Forget the Cause

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Saved to serve

Isiah 6:1-8

Another Glimpse of Heaven

As we would see in the prophet Isiah's vision which again gives us a glimpse of Heaven and the worship given by the heavenly beings to the Lord who is seated on the throne.

God revealed Himself to the prophet in a vision that prompted him of his personal sinfulness, and revealed to him the truth that by ourselves we are totally unworthy of God and His fellowship if not for Christ.

In the same manner as that of the seraphs that cleansed Isiah's mouth with coal, Christ too in His act of love on the Cross has also cleansed us from our unrighteousness, a cleansing which we receive by God's grace in Jesus, whom we can receive in our hearts by faith in Him.

Isiah's response

As worshipers it is equally important that we look at Isiah's vision in light of what God has done to us when He confronted us with His holiness through the Scripture but also at the same time also called us into His fellowship through the Gospel.

Looking back at God's work of saving us and cleansing us of our sins in we should respond in the same manner to that of Isiah when the Lord said: “whom shall I send?” (Isiah 6:8a)

Isiah said: “Here am I send me...” (Isiah 6:8b).

Everything in our Christian life and service flows from our relationship with God. If we are not in vital fellowship with Him, everything else will be out of focus.¹

Reflections:

1. Have I ever responded to God's love by making myself available to His service?

2. If ever you are already in service of God in the church do we ever take time to look at our service as a privilege that God has given us or do we tend to look at it more as job that needs to be done because that's what's expected of us?

3. Have you ever experienced how it is to beset free from sin, that you might serve Jesus Christ?

Our response

“Save me from bloodguilt, O God,

the God who saves me,

and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.”

Psalm 51:14

1J. Oswald Sanders, Enjoying Intimacy With God, p.12

Worship: An attitude of the heart

Revelations 4:11

A view from Heaven

The passage gives us a view from Heaven which gives us an idea of what awaits us there: it is eternal worship to God who is truly worthy of worship because He is God. Every glimpse of Heaven that we have in the Bible is always a glimpse of worship and rejoicing because God is who He is.¹

God demands, seeks and requests our worship because He deserves it, because it is the nature and destiny of a Christian to worship Him.²

What is worship?

Literally, to worship is “to fall down before” or “bow down before” God. Worship is a an attitude of our spirit. It’s an internal, individual action, it should be done all the time in our lives, regardless of place or situation. Therefore, Christians ought to worship all the time, seven days a week. Because worship is more than just singing praise and worship hymns, or going to church on Sundays, attending Bible studies, or reading our Bible daily.

Furthermore, John 4:23-24, tells us that we must worship “in spirit and in truth”. This has to do with our innermost being and requires several things. First, we must be born again. Without the Holy Spirit residing within us, we cannot respond to God in worship because we do not know Him. “No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11b). The Holy Spirit within us is the one who energizes worship because He is in essence glorifying Himself, and all true worship glorifies God.

Second, worshiping in spirit and in truth requires a mind centered on God and renewed by Truth. Paul exhorts us to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:1b, 2b). Only when our minds are changed from being centered on the many things that are around us to being centered on God can we worship in spirit and in truth.

Something to think about...

One very important thing that this study shows us is the fact that one must know God (as opposed to knowing about God), in order to become true worshipers, because genuine worship is a product of an intimate desire to for God's fellowship. In fact, the late A.W. Tozer once defined 'true worship' as being: “personally and hopelessly in love with God.”³

Now the question would be is that have we ever stopped to consider that being 'personally and hopelessly in love with God' should come forth as a response to the Lord's ultimate public display of affection for us in the Cross of Calvary, where He showed the seriousness of His love and desire for fellowship with us by dying for our sins just so that we could enter into a personal relationship with Him who loves us?

Genuine worship is a product of an intimate desire for God's fellowship.

Reflections:

1. Do we always examine ourselves with how we live our lives whether it is pleasing to the Lord in light of knowing that worship involves our daily walk with God here on earth?

2. For those of us who are serving in our respective ministries have we ever stopped to consider that whatever ministries we have right now will come to past but our worship belongs to eternity with God? Do we often stop and think if our ministries are the result of us being personally and hopelessly in love with God?

3. Knowing now that destiny in Heaven is to worship God have we ever stopped to think that our personal acts of worship here on earth is but a rehearsal to our ultimate destiny of worshiping God in eternity?

Our response

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there Is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24 .

1A.W. Tozer (1985) Whatever Happened to Worship p.14

2http://www.gotquestions.org/God-demand-worship.html

3Ibid

Worthy of Service

Isiah 6:1-8

It (service to God) calls on us to put to death the sin and the indifference we have in our hearts toward God and our fellow persons. And it beckons us to enter once again into the joy of the Lord—the joy of a new life born out of a death to the old life¹

The prophet Isiah's vision again gives us a glimpse of Heaven and the worship rendered by the heavenly beings to the Lord who is seated on the throne.

John 14:12 tells us that the One whom the prophet saw was our Lord Jesus Christ, which is full proof that our Savior is God. In Christ Jesus, God is seated on a throne of grace; and through Him the way into the holiest is laid open.²

A close look at Isiah's vision gives us an account as to what happens when man is exposed to God's holiness: All vain-glory, ambition, ignorance, and pride, would be done away by one view of Christ in his glory. (Isiah 6:5)

A glimpse of such Heavenly glory would not only remind us of our personal sinfulness, it would also reveal to us the truth that by ourselves we are totally unworthy of God and His fellowship if not for Christ who acts as our Mediator before God.

In the same manner as that of the seraphs that cleansed Isiah's mouth with coal, Christ too in His act of love on the cross has also cleansed us from our unrighteousness, a cleansing which we receive by God's grace in Jesus, whom we can receive in our hearts by faith in Him. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:22)

As worshipers it is equally important that we look at Isiah's vision in light of what God has done to us when He confronted us with His holiness through the Scripture but also at the same time also called us into His fellowship through the Gospel.

And in looking back at God's work of saving us and cleansing us of our sins in we should respond in the same manner to that of Isiah when the Lord said: “whom shall I send?” (Isiah 6:8a)

Isiah said: “Here am I send me...” (Isiah 6:8b).

God is totally worthy of our service because of what He has done for us in Christ.

Everything in our Christian life and service flows from our relationship with God. If we are not in vital fellowship with Him, everything else will be out of focus.³

Reflection:

1. Do I ever take the time to look back at who I was before I met the Lord?

2. Do I ever stop to consider the depth of God's grace in the person and work of Christ?

3. Have I ever responded to His love by making myself available to His service?

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1

Notes:

1A.W. Tozer, http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/A.-W.-Tozer/1/index.html

2Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume 4

3J. Oswald Sanders, Enjoying Intimacy With God, p.12

Worthy of Worship

Revelations 4:8,11

"Worship is the human response to the self-revelation of the triune God, which involves: (1) divine initiation in which God graciously reveals himself, his purposes, and will; (2) a spiritual and personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ enabled by the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and (3) a response by the worshiper of joyful adoration, reverence, humility, submission and obedience"¹

Is God worthy of our worship?

The passage gives us a view from Heaven which gives us an idea of what awaits us there: it is eternal worship to God who is truly worthy of worship because He is God. Every glimpse of Heaven that we have in the Bible is always a glimpse of worship and rejoicing because God is who He is.²

Truly, there is none like Him who deserves our all in worship. But before worshiping the Bible also at the same time instructs us that the God who deserves our worship should be the God that we must know on the basis of a personal relationship with Him.

In fact, Acts 17:22-31 tells of the story in which the Apostle Paul praised the religiosity of the Greeks in Athens but at the same time admonished them to give worship only to the one true God whom we can only approach on the basis of our response to: “Him whom He has raised from the dead.” (Acts 17:31).

That person is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ who was born of a virgin, suffered under Pontious Pilate, died on the Cross and rose from the grave to make worshipers out of rebels³ We are brought to God and to faith and to salvation that we might worship and adore Him.

God has provided His salvation that we might be individually and personally be vibrant children of God, loving God with all our hearts and worshiping Him in the beauty of holiness.⁴

So to answer the question of whether God is truly of our worship can only be answered with a simple 'yes!'. Yes because He is God! The greater question lies more on what is true worship?

The late A.W. Tozer once defined 'true worship' as being: “personally and hopelessly in love with God.”⁵

Now the question would be is that have we ever been that hopelessly in love with the God who saved us?

We can only answer that on the basis of our personal response to the Gospel of Christ who compels us to come to Him as we are as poor sinners, in need of a Saviour.

Reflection:

1. How do I view worship? Do I look at it in light of a personal relationship with my Creator, Redeemer and Lord?

2. How do I view my salvation? Do I look at it merely as my ticket to Heaven? Or do I look at it as God's work so that I may commune with Him in the beauty of who He is?

The Lord of all being is far more than the Lord of all beings. He is the Lord of all actual existence. He is the Lord of all kinds of beings--spiritual being, natural being, physical being. Therefore, when we rightly worship Him we encompass all being. ⁶

^Notes

1David Nelson (2002), Authentic Worship, p. 149

2A.W. Tozer (1985) Whatever Happened to Worship p.14

3Ibid

4Ibid

5Ibid

6A.W. Tozer, http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/A.-W.-Tozer/1/index.html