Third Test – Corruption of Absolute Power

In Jesus’ third temptation in Matthew 4:1-11, the devil took him to the peak of a high mountain and showed him all the glorious kingdoms of the world. And the devil says: 9 “All these I will give you,” he said, “if you will fall down and worship me.” What was Jesus’ response? 10 “Away from me, Satan. For it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

POWER ITSELF:

This temptation is about power. Nothing wrong with power in and of itself. We want good people to have authority to effect good positive change in society and in the world. But when we make power the highest good in our lives, it can also be detrimental in our own lives, in other people and detrimental to people we love. Seeking power for the sake of having power can be the cause of our own downfall.

There is a famous phrase written by Lord Acton to Bishop Creighton, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

RATIONALIZING POWER FOR OURSELF:

Have you watched the Star Wars trilogy? If you have, recall Anakin Skywalker (who eventually became Darth Vadar)? Eventually he moved over to the darkside as he was gaining power. He was thinking that with more power, he could overcome the evil that destroyed his own family on his planet. As he toyed with idea of power and battled with anger and revenge, he slowly turned himself over to the power of the darkside. He justified why he should be powerful. He rationalized and reasoned his way toward the darkside until he was unable to perceive how evil had grown within himself. As he became more evil, thought more evil and behaved more evil, he could not see this change within himself. What happened after that? As he became Darth Vadar (the diabolical man in black). He eventually destroyed countless more lives beyond his own world.

Adam and Eve also rationalized this by wanting to be like God. They reasoned their way to idolize the knowledge of God—and rationalized eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

CONSEQUENCE OF ABSOLUTE POWER:

When power becomes our driving force and we reason to make this our ultimate goal, we can inevitably hurt ourselves and others. Look at Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin. When we allow power to dominate our desires and make it our highest good, our sensuous desires and the devil can use it to harm us and other people. We no longer own it; it owns us. When it becomes our idol, it is driven and owned by evil. It draws us away from the goodness of God.

The danger in power is when we seek power for the sake of power, and in order to control others, it can corrupt us. With power comes much responsibility. We do well to remind ourselves of this. So, when temptation comes to us in similar fashion: “I will give it all to you if you will kneel down and worship me.” May we be reminded by what Jesus said, “You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”

Second Test – Trust in God’s Love for Us

THE DEVIL’S BIG LIE:

In the Gospel of Matthew 4, Jesus was tempted three times. In Jesus’ second temptation, the devil tempted Jesus again. He took Jesus to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.” (Ref. Psalm 91:11-12).

This temptation was a test of Jesus’ emotions. It was a test of Jesus’ trust in his heavenly Father’s love for him. It was like saying to Jesus: “If you are truly the Son of God, then I dare you, do something crazy to prove God’s great love, God will surely come and rescue you. If God truly loves you, God won’t let you die. Jump off and prove that you trust in God’s faithfulness. After all, you are God’s Son aren’t you?”

It’s kind of like the devil’s request of God to test his servant Job. If you took away Job’s health and all he has, he will forsake you. What the devil wanted was to prematurely cause Jesus to lose his life even before he got his earthly ministry going.

GOD TRULY LOVES YOU:

Jesus and the devil both already knew the Father loved his Son. At Jesus’ baptism, the Father’s voice spoke from heaven and said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” The devil is good at trying to make a fool out of God’s children.

The devil doesn’t care about life and would prefer if humanity would all die. Death is where Satan his angels are already destined and he is trying, as hard as he can, to separate as many people away from God. He makes light of our faith in God and would love it if we forsook our faith and denied God.

The devil doesn’t know our future, but he does know what our future holds is good… eternal life in Christ Jesus and that we would live in heavenly paradise with God forever.

As Christians, many of us might doubt God’s love at some point or another. We might doubt God every month. Some doubt every week. Some even doubt every day. What was Jesus’ response to the devil? He quotes from Deut. 6:16, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’

As children of God, we can rely on God’s love, on his word that he has spoken into our lives. May God give every child of God faith to believe in his word that we are loved by God forever and that God’s love for us never wanes and will stand unwavering forever. If our faith remains in God’s love, mercy and grace, there is nothing to fear and everything to gain.

Trials and Spiritual Growth

LENT: GROW THROUGH OUR TRIALS

The season of Lent can be a time when we as Christians can strengthen our personal faith. During Lent, some Christians practice fasting and prayer for 40 days. Denying yourself of food or other things you likewell, is not easy.

Fasting and prayer has been used by Christians to move closer to God. In the Gospel of Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus had set out to fast and pray in the desert. He wanted to seek out the voice of his heavenly Father. But he faced three distractions and temptations from the devil.

Trials and testings of worldly power and desires can distract us from the highest good and from making God the main object of our affections.

When we face testings, we might see them as bad, but God can use them for our good in order to build up our faith in God.

FREE FROM SIN IN CHRIST

When we fail in our testings, it might feel like we’ve made a deal with the devil. Some people have made many deals. Some are luckier and don’t have as many deals as others (depending on what you consider lucky).

With God, however, there is always a way out of the shame and guilt of our sin. Jesus showed that the word of God is more powerful than any sleight of hand the devil might deal out to us.

We can remind ourselves that we are baptized Children of God and that as God’s children, God has provided us a way out in Christ Jesus.

The Apostle Paul said in Romans 5: “You who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

We as the church on earth have been given an opportunity to live in the joy and delight in God’s will and to walk in His ways. By confessing daily, “[God] is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Let us move forward because Christ has already died for us and has already justified us and are saved through Christ from the wrath of God. There is always a way out and that is good news.

May this season of Lent remind us of whose we are, and of our calling.

My next several posts will deal with the three temptations of Christ from Matthew 4:1-11.

A broken and imperfect people

Do people view Christians as imperfect people? Yes, we Christians are imperfect; and we don’t need to hide this fact. And I’m one of these imperfect ones. I’m not ashamed to admit that I am imperfect. I have known some who put on a facade–like a make-over to look like that “perfect and righteous Christian.” Nothing can be more phoney. Pastors, elders, deacons can be pressured to put on a facade because of fear of not looking like that good example. This can be true of any church.

Our younger generation are totally not into this “old school” hypocrisy of “fake it till you make it.” They want people to be real, genuine and true to themselves. They want this of themselves. I don’t mean that we show off our sin like a peacock. By this I really mean that we ought to trust in God’s forgiveness with boldness and courage. Without a true understanding and experience of God’s grace, the freedom to do this is impossible.

This generation has been raised in a non-religious society but it realizes its need for God and spirituality. I see the rise of two cultures clashing. One culture realizes the imperfections we all have and rebel against the injustices of our society’s leaders, including our political, business and religious leaders. It wants to fix this broken culture.

The other culture realizes our own need for a savior because we have seen our hopelessness of trying to fix ourselves and our society. This savior has been revealed to us, and He is the one who saves us from having to rebel and fight (not that we don’t strive to improve society). This second culture is the Christian or Jesus culture.

I have been a broken person and see my own imperfections more than anyone else. I just try not to show it or make it too obvious. If this is how you feel too, then you’ll understand it is why we need a God who loves us despite our imperfections. We don’t need a god to make us feel better about ourselves. We need a savior who loves us despite our brokenness. This is what grace is. This is the most liberating way to live.

This understanding of righteousness and setting God’s righteousness above our own human righteous is how Christ built the Church from nothing. A personal spiritual revelation of God’s grace is the only thing that can revive the Church today. I see a new generation of Christians rising up today that is full of faith and a new found sense of spirituality. This gives me new hope in the Church.

Everything about me has been and is going back to God’s grace. It’s amazing. Yes, it’s God’s grace that’s amazing. It truly is. When I listen to the song: Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace) by Hillsong, I’m amazed by the words of the lyrics. It goes like:

All these pieces
Broken and shattered
In mercy gathered
Mended and whole
Empty handed
But not forsaken
I've been set free
I've been set free ….

You take our failure
You take our weakness
You set Your treasure
In jars of clay
So take this heart Lord
I'll be your vessel
The world to see
Your life in me….

Then the amazing part goes like this:

Oh I can see You now
Oh I can see the love in Your eyes
Laying Yourself down
Raising up the broken to life

After I realize God’s love despite my broken and shattered life,
Despite my need to be mended and be made whole,
Despite my failures, weaknesses,
God still wants to make me into a vessel of his to be used by him.

This is why I can see God more clearly today. I have looked into God’s loving eyes who gave himself up for my broken life. Now I’m set free. Set free from having to hide my imperfections. Set free from human performance. This is true freedom.

Yes, Snoopy needs God’s grace too.

Seek God’s kingdom

Luke 12:31-32 – Jesus told his disciples:  “Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.  Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

In these words is a secret that is hidden in plain sight. When we allow worries and anxieties to overtake us, we stumble and fall and resort to our own human will rather than allow God’s sovereign will to take charge in our lives.

Why do we worry?  We worry because we do not have faith that we will have enough.  We also worry that others will stop us from getting what we desire.

As a result, we get angry—angry with those who stand in our way.  We might even find ourselves directing our anger toward those we love, and toward those who may be trying to comfort our hearts.

If we can stop for a moment to calm down. Give ourselves space to reflect.  Reflect without anxiety and fear.  Ponder on the Lord without worries floating within our minds.  Think on godly things. Put aside things that prevent our hearts from feeling God’s love.

God who might be trying to get our attention might have a good message for us.  Focus on God and the spiritual things that belong to the kingdom. 

Things that concern God’s kingdom might be totally different from what we desire for our own kingdom.

Ask God. Pray.  Seek God.  See if he has something else within the kingdom for our lives.

Be open to receiving different things that we might never have expected.  Such things might result in becoming a huge blessing in our lives.

Fragrance: a good gift not only for Christmas

Wisemen from the East gave gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

At Christmas, we think of gift-giving. As a baby, Jesus received fragrant gifts of frankincense and myrrh. These were aromatic resins used for personal, religious and medicinal purposes and for burial.

Near the end of Jesus’ life, he would receive one final and generous gift from a faithful woman.  She would be remembered as giving a generous legacy-gift. It would become a sweet-smelling fragrance that would accompany him to his burial.  In Mark 16, this woman came to Jesus with a jar of perfume to anoint Jesus from head to toe.  Some well-meaning folks around Jesus were concerned that this expensive perfume could have been sold and the money be given to the poor. Jesus’ response them was:

“She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Mark 14:6-9, NIV)

a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

What a gutsy thing to say to those who are concerned about the poor!  A couple things here that Jesus knew early on: 1/ The good news would be preached around the world; and 2/  That her generosity would be recorded and be re-told as a legacy.

One, Jesus had already known that the religious leaders were after him and wanted to kill him. He had already made this known to them by clearly drawing an analogy about his perceived death warrant in his telling of the parable of the tenants (i.e., the murder of the vineyard owner’s son).  Jesus would have assumed his pending death would be like a seed being planted, and later, sprout into good news being spread around the world.

Two, Jesus would have expected his death be recorded on paper and/or spread via word-of-mouth. How else would this woman’s generous gift be re-told to future generations?  As the Son of God and the Human One, Jesus is omniscient (all-knowing) as God is all-knowing. He would have known his future would result in a grander legacy than merely a post-generational myth. His own futuristic vision lays a groundwork for a new faith that would reach far beyond a reformed-type ofJudaism.

Faith in Jesus would bring about a radical and worldwide transformation.  Today, Christianity has a worldwide following that is fairly evenly spread throughout all continents. It is not an ethno-centric religion like Buddhism in East Asia, Hinduism in India, or Islam in the Middle East.   Billions of dedicated adherents of every race, ethnicity, culture, and hemisphere, are following Jesus.  Many thousands more each day are coming to trust in the Lord.

Upon the Advent or Coming of Jesus Christ, we will be celebrating a grand birthday around the entire globe including Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe (now being the minority).  We have hope in the Expected and Anointed One.

Oaks of righteousness

The prophet of Isaiah uses some powerful images of God’s strength in our lives.  One such image in Isaiah 61:3, the prophet says his people will be called “trees (or oaks) of righteousness, the planting of the Lord to display his glory.” God’s righteousness is compared to oak trees. Oak trees are big and strong. They withstand strong winds and still remain rooted and unmoved.

Throughout our lives, we will face many challenges. Sometimes, the pressures we might face can be insurmountable. It feels like we are going to fall. We might feel like giving up. If you’ve had some ethical dilemmas where you had to make tough choices, sometimes, we might make some wrong choices in life, and there is guilt and shame.

As people who need forgiveness and redemption, we don’t want these pressures, our sin, guilt and shame to take us down. In these times, God can give us strength to stand up under the pressures. It’s not in our own power or might, but it’s under God’s righteousness. God’s strength and righteousness can hold you up and be your source of strength.

We can rely on God’s righteousness, confess our sins and trust that God forgives.  Then, like a strongly rooted tree we are under the attentive care of the strong and mighty arm of the Lord Almighty.

God prunes us like a gardener

I’ve planted tomatoes, squash, and other vegetables in past seasons. This year, nothing. Only a raspberry bush that had already been growing. Like a good gardener, I pruned it and tended to it carefully. As a result, I got to harvest some ripe and sweet raspberries. Branches that did not grow fruit needlessly took up nutrients that otherwise could be used by branches that do bear fruit. I snipped these off.

The Gospel of John talked of gardening. In John 15:1-4, Jesus said,

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.”

Jesus is like a vine in a plant/tree; Father God is like a gardener who tends the garden. A good gardener must prune and cut out branches that do not flower and bear fruit in order to give more nutrients to the rest of the other branches on the tree/plant. Why? So that nutrients can be redirected to branches that are growing fruit. More nutrients means more fruit. This passage made sense to me because I have done pruning which helped the plant grow more fruit. My personal experience gardening gave a better understanding of the writer’s intent in John 15:1-8.

Does this mean that we might also need some pruning in our lives? Sometimes, we might feel unfruitful in our personal ministry and life. This might mean that our personal lives needs a little pruning. Do you see areas of your lives where things might be distracting your attention from spiritual growth? If you do, God may be speaking to you about needing to do some gardening in your personal life. God has recently spoken to me about this in my own life.

We are his sheep and know his voice

How many Christians can say that we know God’s voice? We don’t necessarily hear an audible voice but we ought to recognize the Holy Spirit speaking to us in our hearts (inner being).

Jesus said in 10:4 “…his sheep follow him because they know his voice”). Contrast this with v.12-13

“The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”(John 10:12-13, NIV)

In today’s world, who might be represented by the hired hand? There are lots of other voices in this world telling us what we ought to believe and how we should think.  But they don’t really care about us.

Jesus is like the true shepherd because he owns us.  We belong to Jesus and we ought to know his voice.  “Hired hands” might claim they speak on behalf of God but they do not truly care about us.  They may speak some truths and say things we may agree with.  But their hearts are not for us as God’s heart is for his own children.  We follow Jesus, our Father and our guide (Spirit).

“Lord, thank you for being my father. I belong to you; and I follow no other.  I may hear the voices of this world, but these voices are not your voice. Give me discernment so that I may recognize your voice and not be confused with the voices of the world.  Amen.”

Walking in the light

Jesus was teaching Nicodemus about living in the light and being born again into the kingdom of God.  He said in the Gospel of John, ch. 3:20-21,“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (NIV).

As human beings, all of us fear being exposed of our sinful or unlawful acts because we feel shameful of our sinful acts, habits or practices. We are guilty of breaking the moral, and even, civil laws given to us by God or society. But if we enter into the merciful courts of God’s presence, there is nothing God cannot delete from His list of our wrongs.

Walking in the light of Christ means that we are to daily confess to God all our sins—yes, telling God everything we have done, said, or thought, that day or week. It means exposing everything to God means we are walking in safety—not in fear like walking on hot coals.

But what if our fear overtakes us and we run and hide away from God’s light?  The Holy Spirit wants us to learn to trust that it is safe to expose our sins to God and to trust that God’s grace is always forever merciful. The Spirit wants us to have more courage and boldness to walk in the light of Christ.  Yes, this is a hard thing to do.  Even though I have been a Christians for decades, I still find it a constant challenge for me to trust that God and man can be merciful. Perhaps it comes from my Asian heritage, which is a shame-based culture.

Prayer: Lord, constantly be my lighthouse to shine into my darkness so that I may contemplate my sins within your perimeter of light and become cleansed by your gift of forgiveness.