Project Contempo Blog » 2008

Praise God for the very humbling, rebuking, and eye opening lesson I learned while going through the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter 1:8-9 (NIV) states that “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Evaluating my own relationship with the Lord, I must repent and ask for the Lord’s forgiveness because I do not always experience this “inexpressible and glorious joy” when spending time with the Lord. To help personally bring this into context think about a time when you were extremely happy; maybe it was meeting up with an old friend, or participating in an activity that you really enjoy. I am sure that the happiness you felt can be described in great length and detail. This happiness and joy is probably something that you look forward to and would be willing to put in the time and effort to enjoy again.

Now these are only temporary secular/worldly joys and yet some of us expend great amounts of time, energy and even care to obtain.

Being Christians, we have been giving a gift of inexpressibly and glorious joy in the Lord, but do we experience this type of joy and happiness in knowing what God has done for us in Jesus Christ and what is kept in heaven for us as “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:4 NIV)? What type of joy do you feel knowing this marvellous truth about God’s great mercy and love? Do you find spending time with the Lord pure joy or a something less?

Pause and really think about this. Is your life centered around God in everything that you do? (1 Corinthians 10:31) Are you doing everything with the ultimate goal of glorifying God and expanding his kingdom? We should all strive to have a heart of excitement and joy in spending time with God. This joy should result in spending daily sincere time with the Lord, which will then expand into our daily living; into the way we work and perform our career/job as yet another means to please the Lord.

Do we pursue spending time with God in the same manner that we pursue a desired career or job promotion? Are we as attentive to offending God by our daily behaviour and thoughts as we may be about offending our boss or coworkers? Is God the true centre of your heart, your ‘CEO’? Are you sincerely striving to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27 NIV), or is something else your true master? Remember that we have all been warned that, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24a NIV).

Can we honestly claim to be experiencing the inexpressibly and glorious joy in God; knowing that though we were dead in our sins and deserving of God’s wrath, in His great mercy, God made us alive with Christ while we were dead in transgressions (Ephesians 2:1-5); that by faith in Christ, we have been born of God and have been given the right to become children of God (John 1:10-13).

The type of joy that we experience through secular things should only point to an even more amazing and sincere Love for the Lord. The way we behave at the horizontal secular level should motivate us to strive after God even more honestly at a vertical Spiritual level. The way we love the ones close to us should point us to express a love even greater for the infinitely more deserving God. The way we spend time to pursue temporal things on earth (horizontal level) should point us to a more fervent dedication in our relationship with an infinitely more deserving Lord (vertical level).

Returning back to the idea of realizing an inexpressibly and glorious joy, are you experiencing such great joy in the Lord? If not, what is hindering such joy? Is it trials or hardships that you are facing? Is it sin in your life? Is it that you are spending too much time and energy chasing after the things of this world? Whatever the cause, set time aside each day to reflect on what God has done for your in Christ, and consider how you ought to live that day in light of His mercy.*

(Toronto - Ben)

_________________________
* Dr. David Hwang, “Toward the Goal…”, CGYG & LIFE Bible Study – 1 Peter 1:3-5. Toronto: Chinese Gospel Church, November 7, 2008.

I was struck by a quotation that I saw recently on a book bag. It called out in bold letters: “GO INTO THE WORLD AND DO WELL. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, GO INTO THE WORLD AND DO GOOD.” The source is Minor Myers, Jr. (1942-2003), former president of Illinois Wesleyan University.

Many position their career path so that they can “do well.”   This is
their route to success.   Evidence for this is seen in a prestigious,
high paying job that yields home ownership with a new car in the garage.
Other amenities go with this lifestyle.   In a sense Christians are to
“do well.” This may not translate into material possessions. It
does mean utilizing one’s gifts and living out one’s calling. They “do
all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31 - NIV).

To “do good” is becoming more important to people. This may mean
volunteering at a food bank, contributing to a charity, or running for a
cause. Christians are to “do good to all people, especially to those
who belong to the family of believers (Galatians 6:10). People of
faith serve at church and other places to expand the kingdom of God. A
number of people are taking pockets of time to serve in needy areas at
home or abroad.

I myself have been stretched by preparing and serving meals to the
homeless and taking part in a number of short-term mission trips that
assist to fulfill physical and spiritual needs. I have experienced the
joy and fulfillment of what Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than
to receive” (Acts 20:35).

I affirm this provocative quotation to do well but more importantly, to
go into the world and do good. It is not easy for those engulfed by
their careers to invest time in the latter dimension. Many of us have
found those investments give additional meaning to our careers and help
us to live more holistically.

Dr. Daniel L. Wong, Toronto

http://www.tyndale.ca/~dwong/

I just got back from the Toronto ESCM (English Speaking Chinese Ministerial) Fellowship – a monthly gathering of about 30 pastors and parachurch workers connected with the Chinese churches in Toronto. Today’s topic was, “Courage to Be Relevant with Non-Christians” and the speaker was Ian Elliot, the Director of International Student Ministries at Inter-Varsity. It was a wonderful talk, and Ian clearly has lots of experience sharing his faith with neighbours and other un-churched people. He is a man of grace, and I sensed God speaking to me through him in many ways. I loved hearing his stories of relating with non-Christian friends and his own life story of how God has worked in and through him.

Ian spoke of the importance of Time; Prayer; the Bible; the Holy Spirit; Love; Natural Points of Contact; Risk-taking; Hospitality; Listening and Getting Permission. All his points resonated with me, but the one issue that caused me to reflect deeply was his last point, the need to get permission when evangelizing. What he meant was that when we share our faith with people outside our church – neighbours, co-workers, classmates, the hockey moms and dads we meet, the guys on the team, etc. we need to recognize that ultimately we’ll be inviting them to our churches. Have the others in the church given us the permission to invite these people?

Of course the church should be open to all ethnicities, people of different education, backgrounds and cultures… but are we really? What would the church members think if we started bringing in people that are different from them – i.e. the “tax collectors” and “sinners” that Jesus hung around with? After being a pastor for over 14 years in a Chinese church, I realize this is one of the greatest hurdles that evangelical Christians in a Chinese church face. There are so many unsaid by understood “taboos” in our churches… don’t bring in certain kinds of people (the social outcasts, etc.). I sincerely believe that after a while, we tend to restrict who we spend our time with and who we evangelize to because we instinctively know that this person/co-worker/neighbour/school-mate, etc. would not “fit” into our church culture for some reason or other. This definitely affects how we live out our faith in the workplace.
What do you think? Am I off the mark?

Sincerely,
Rev. Ted Tham

November 2008

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