Sabbatical & Writing

Dear Readers,

If you are still reading, thank you for taking time to drop by and even leaving comments. I am well aware that I have not updated the blog for almost a year now, and I hope to continue writing soon. The past year has been challenging in terms of time and energy, because there is a little monster looming in the house and demanding all the attention you have barely left after a tiring day, weeks after weeks. It is not for the lack of inspirations that thoughts are not penned down, but surely it requires time to tame and rearrange the words, like you would to your home furniture. I greatly envy those who could write without giving much thoughts on the organization of words, and especially if they do not need much effort to edit the structure and smooth out the reading. When things at home becomes more stable, hopefully within the next few months, I plan to continue writing things that will bless the souls and spirits. Thank you for your gracious support.

Blessings in Christ to you.

The Battle Between Christmas and the Birthday of Jesus

Most may be busy shopping for the giving of gifts for this coming weekend, but have you ever wondered if Christmas Day is the actual birthday of Jesus? While most christians commemorate the birth of Jesus on December 25, it may come as a shocking news to many that December 25 is not the actual birthday of Jesus. Even Wikipedia collaborated with this fact. Below is an excerpt with emphasis.

"Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday observed generally on December 25 to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. The date is NOT known to be the actual birthday of Jesus…"

So, while Christmas is generally observed on December 25 to commemorate the birth of Jesus, there is nothing magical about the day in itself. In other words, take away the "fact" that December 25 is the actual birthday of Jesus, there is simply no way one could turn December 25 into a special holier day than any other days, no matter how good one's theology may be. For this reason, some chooses not to celebrate Christmas since no one knows for sure which day is the actual birthday of Christmas. I hold a different perspective towards Christmas though, as will be shown below.

While we have established the fact that December 25 is not the actual birthday of Jesus, I submit that the spirit behind celebrating Christmas, that is to commemorate the birth of Jesus, in itself is not wrong. Is there any strong theological ground to frown on commemorating the birth of Jesus? I haven't come across any. So there is nothing to suggest that it is inherently and morally wrong to commemorate the birth of Jesus by celebrating Christmas, anymore than celebrating our spouses' birthdays. And we sometimes do celebrate our family member's birthday on the non-actual birthday, as it is more convenient to do so probably because the actual birthday falls on a busy work schedule.

With no surprises, in an increasing trend Christmas is becoming a public holiday where even non-christians are celebrating, though they may not commemorate the birth of Jesus. This is the time when most people get a day off or two to retire from their busy work routine, and to be with their loved ones and friends. This time to rest, affords them to slow down their pace and rethink about their lives and the meanings behind them. This is also a time where songs and hymns about Christ could be sung openly in the public. So the celebration of Christmas is best seen to be God's common grace towards all mankind, in my humble opinion. Granted that while there can and have been abuses when consumerism takes the throne, because humanity is fallen, this in itself does not negate the best view that Christmas is God's common grace towards fallen humanity.

Nevertheless, christians and non-christians alike need to fight against the human weakness to regard December 25 as a special holy day and to always remember that we should commemorate the birth of Jesus every single day, and not just only on Christmas Day. In fact, we are supposed to commemorate as frequently as possible, His death, resurrection and second coming, besides his birth. And for those who see Christmas as an opportunity for increased evangelistic efforts, we need to remind ourselves that "today" is always the day of opportunity.

May you then be greatly enriched by the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus as you ponder about Him in this festive season, and looking forward to His second coming. Here wishing you a wondrous Merry Christmas, a joyous New Year and every blessings in Christ!

Review: The Chronological Guide to the Bible (Thomas Nelson)

What is not frequently talked about is the fact that the various books in the bibles, that we used commonly, are not consistently arranged in their chronological order. Perhaps, beside being certain that the first book is Genesis and the last book is Revelation, we can only be certain that the other books in between the two are not arranged in chronological order. At this point in time, it is a good reminder to understand that while the Scripture is inspired, the order of the books is not. So there is no "the way" of arranging the books, lest we idolized the chronological fashion. Nevertheless, I submit that the chronological arrangement is a reasonable methodology and helpful addition, which will hopefully enrich the readers of their wealth of heritage in the lineage of faith. Interestingly, there seems to be a surge of interest in reading the Scripture chronogically recently and The Chronological Guide to the Bible by Thomas Nelson is among those works of chronological nature.

Looking at the size of this guide, it certainly cannot cover all grounds. But this also means that it will serve as a good introductory material, especially for new believers. Since it can be used with any translation, not to mention the colorful illustrations and materials which are pleasing to the eyes, it is a perfect gift for friends who may not be using the same translation. However, the book would be better if it can come with hardcover as the pages can be rather thin. But I hope this will not push up the price further, as the current price is already high priced in my opinion. And it is also hard to read this guide with the Scripture side by side because one will be flipping the Scripture back and forth. Unless one doesn't mind the flipping exercise, it will serve better as a standalone reading.

Overall, given that there are already existing commentaries, introductions, surveys and overviews of the Scripture and its historical, cultural and archaeological setting, not to mention the tons of study bibles and specialty bibles (is this a sign of the christian market being over-commercialized - if there should be one in the first place?), I will recommend going straight for one of the chronological bibles such as The Chronological Study Bible, NKJV (Thomas Nelson) or The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order (NIV) by F. LaGard Smith for more worth of value.

This review is part of BookSneeze, of which I have received a free review copy from the publisher.

Review: “What’s with Paul and Women?” by Jon Zens

It is not uncommon to hear people use 1 Cor 14:34-40, Eph 5:21-33 and 1 Tim 2:9-15 as the scriptural basis to “exhort” all the wives to submit to their husbands, or even, taking outside the marital context, to “exhort” all the women to submit to all the men. The implications are gargantuan and range from imposing on wives to submit unconditionally to their husbands, regardless of the husband’s spirituality and what is right vis-a-vis the issues at hand, to prohibiting sisters from leadership functions, preaching, and teaching brothers (besides other sisters and children).

If you have been troubled by some of the “man”-centric interpretations offered on the above passages, you would definitely not want to miss reading “What’s with Paul and Women?” by Jon Zens. Included in this book are the insights gleaned from the Artemis-saturated Ephesian culture where Timothy was left to stand against false teaching, and also an extensive review article of John Piper’s “What’s the Difference: Manhood & Womanhood Defined According to the Bible”.

The key to understanding the gender issue then, I surmised from the book, is to understand the relationship between Christ and His Church, and how the earthly marriage is a foreshadow of the coming heavenly marriage. Eph 5:21-33 itself give us some light on this key. One of the pitfalls in misinterpreting this passage though, is to make inflexible comparison between Christ and the husband, so much so that the husband himself becomes effectively “the Christ” to his wife, rendering the priesthood of all believers (man and woman) to nothing. But does the wife have two Christ? Hopefully, we did not forget about the uniqueness or otherness of Christ which put the egocentric husbands back in their proper places. By the way, I am a husband.

Thus, when marriage is interpreted christologically as Paul did to encourage the believers, it added a sense of richness and motivation to the marital relationship. Just as the Bridegroom unconditionally loves the Bride who submits willingly to the Bridegroom, husbands and wives are encouraged in their mutual submission to each other (Eph 5:21) because the mystery (Eph 5:32) burns deeply in their hearts and rejuvenate their walk with God. Husbands, do you realize you are also included in the “Bride” of Christ? In fact, the wives have a head start here as they can relate better to the Bridegroom and Bride analogy.

Jon Zens put it this way, “Once we begin to see marriage as an earthly pointer to the ultimate marriage of the Lamb with His Bride, it puts the issues… in a completely new light. The emphasis in Gen 1-2 is not on differentiated roles but on one-flesh partnership. The issue is not 'Who’s in charge?’ but ‘How can we in our relationship enhance our love and service to God?’… It should be clear, therefore, that Paul’s motivation for instructing believing wives to submit to their husbands was not to establish a hierarchy in the marriage relationship – nor in any other relationship between believers… In Christ, earthly marriage is an equal partnership, with both husbands and wives willingly submitting to one another as unto Christ.”

As in any healthy relationship, be it in the marital context or within church life, the issue of rights or who’s in control would never appear when both involved parties are in perfect harmony, partnership and mutual servitude towards one another. Are we then better than the disciples who asked “Who is the greatest?” (Matt 18:1-4)?

To top it off, below is a guest review from a friend after reading Jon Zen’s book.

"We do not have to agree with every conclusion in ‘What's With Paul and Women?’, but Jon Zens is surely to be commended for shedding more light on an important topic, especially as it concerns the contribution and functioning of half the body of Christ! A significant lesson we would do well to grasp from this work is that Paul's writings were truly ‘occasional’ letters written to address specific, local concerns set in the Greco-Roman culture of the day. Paul was really applying the timeless gospel into time-bound contexts, an outworking of the Word made flesh in everyday living. We stand to profit much from the Scriptures under the ministry of the Spirit of Christ if we also learn, like Jon, to become more sensitive to such contextual 'hints’ in the apostles' writings. Perhaps Jon should consider writing a brief guide on the basic elements necessary for acquiring such a sensitivity to the Scriptures. It will surely do us all a lot of good!" - A brother in Singapore

This review is based on the free copy graciously given by Jon Zens, Editor of Searching Together.

The Follower of Jesus

"It was a simmering afternoon. The intense rays from the blazing sun were scorching the paths extending out from the crossroad and caused a blurry horizon when we looked at the mountains. We were on our way to Jerusalem . Suddenly, we noticed that the dust became rather unsettled down the road ahead of us. A blurry figure was emerging slowly from behind the hill. As we were trying to figure out what was approaching us, we came to see clearly that it was a man dressed in clothing with bright and rich colors, a sign of nobility.

We continued walking towards him and saw that he had a pinkish glow on his round face. Bartholomew immediately mumbled how that man must have been well nourished. I almost forgot that we did not have proper meals for the past couple of days since we started our travel. I looked at the man again and realized that he had an aura surrounding him. I could not find words to describe what it was, until Philip whispered to me that the man might be a ruler, probably a leader of a synagogue nearby or some high ranking and reputable person in Jericho .

As we passed by the man, Jesus of Nazareth, who was traveling with us, approached the man and asked him, 'Do you want eternal life?' John quickly nudged me as he turned around and gave me a bright grin like a young schoolboy. I then remembered that our Friend did manage to pull off something similar with a Samaritan woman besides the well some time back.

All of us were leaning towards the man, eager to hear what he would say. The man gave a curious look at Jesus from head to toe and answered, 'Good teacher, the eternal life that you offer sounds good to me. Why don't you come to my house right now so that we can bring it to my storeroom where I kept my other valuable possessions. So come, hurry up and follow me.'" ~ (Adapted from Luke 18:18-27)

Recently, a brother shared with me that he had read a commentary which says that many followers have turned against the Lord and treated Jesus as "Santa Clause", effectively rendering Him as their follower instead. After hearing him, I made up my mind and decided to write something on the topic. So I thought I might as well start off with a story which hopefully will stimulate your interest to investigate and further explore. Are we supposed to call Jesus to follow us, or are we called to be followers of Jesus?

Do you know what was the primary reason that people went to Jesus in the New Testament? Yes, you are right. Miracles. The people in the New Testament, both Jews and Gentiles, raced to Jesus like bees to honey for miracles. Given that the medical technology back then was not well advanced, I can fully appreciate why people gravitated towards Jesus during those days. This was partly because medical treatments were not as readily available, accessible and affordable a it is today. But we are not unlike the Jews and Gentiles in those days.

As a modern equivalent, we often seek Jesus because we assessed that we have some needs which need to be satisfied or fulfilled, and we think that Jesus is able to do just that. The needs can range from wealth, health, fame, respect, authority, power, food, roof over the head, marriage, relationship to freedom or some other things which only the person will know. While there are certainly valid needs, some "needs" should also be more appropriately termed as wants rather than needs. Yet, the bottom line is that it is all about "ME". We go after Jesus because it is about ME. If there isn't anything in it for ME, I will not be bothered or interested. Paul David Tripp in his book "Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands" also said something similar to my delight while I was reading his book.

"In our self-absorbed culture, we need to see the grandeur of this kingdom. We cannot shrink it to the size of our needs and desires. It takes us far beyond our personal situations and relationships. The King came not to make our agenda possible, but to draw us into something more amazing glorious, and wonderful than we could ever imagine... The good news of the kingdom is not freedom from hardship, suffering, and loss. It is the news of a Redeemer who has come to rescue me from myself."

While I do not intend to place a moral value over whether it is wrong or right to approach Jesus with a me-centred mentality especially on one's first encounter (my mum was saved because she sought for healing!), it is crystal clear that a follower of Christ cannot remain me-centered, or at least not for too long, according to Jesus. It is an oxymoron to have a self-centered follower. By definition, a follower seek to do the will of the One being followed and to pleased Him in every possible way, with the help of the Spirit, of course. In order to drive the point home, I wonder if it is a coincident that the three accounts of the Gospel mentioned the following not once but three times in total, fearing that we might forget about it. Let us take a look at them.

Matthew 16:24 - Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Mark 8:34 - Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Luke 9:23 - Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

If you noticed, there are three recurring elements, from the above three verses, namely (1) deny ourselves, (2) take up our cross, and (3) follow Him. And there is also one condition or assumption, (4) that there is a hungering desire to seek after Christ or go after Jesus. We will not be touching on (2) and (3) since they each could be a lengthy topic in themselves. Rather, I hope that you will be able to see that there is a clear link between (4) and (1). That is to follow Christ requires a denial of self, and you simply can't have both (see Matt 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24). There are also many reasons for following Christ, some noble and some not so noble.

Lastly, let us take a close look at the conversation between Peter and Jesus in John 21:18-22 after Jesus had lovingly re-affirmed Peter.

"'I (Jesus) tell you (Peter) the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.' Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, 'Follow me!' Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. When Peter saw him, he asked, "'Lord, what about him?' Jesus answered, 'If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.'"

Does it puzzle you that Jesus mentioned that the kind of death which Peter would face (neither comfortable nor pleasing), would actually glorify God? Bearing in mind that Peter's death happened after the cross where all believers, including Peter, are seated with God in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6), does it then trouble you that even a believer like Peter, who is in Christ with every blessings from God, still have to go through that kind of death? And the seemingly strange reason is just that God may be glorified.

You may be thinking that it is ridiculous! Isn't it when believers live well, eat well and prosperous abundantly that God gets the glory instead? Well, I do have such thoughts once in a while and perhaps Peter did entertain similar thoughts. However, Peter apparently tried not to be so direct in voicing his opinion because he had learnt from his mistakes, not once but twice. So he indirectly expressed his lamentations by comparing John to himself. And Jesus' final reply was a deathblow on Peter's heart issue. In fact, Jesus' answer to Peter, "What is that to you?" could well be addressed to our idolatrous hearts which are prone to wander.

Do you seek to follow Him because you want something which someone else has? Do you seek to follow Him because you want the things He could give and offer you more than you want He Himself? Let us then not be drawn away from Christ, for only He alone is what we really need. We need a Person, not things. Let us constantly remind ourselves and encourage one another to examine our motives and to strive to keep our hearts pure. For indeed, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matt 5:8). Now, since we know that a follower of Christ has to deny himself or herself, do we still profess the desire to be His follower?

If you feel like giving up, my only encouragement (even to myself) is to make His love the motivating factor to follow Him. Think about how great the mystery is, that the Father would send the beloved Son down to earth and even unto the cross for the sake of sinners who sinned against Him; that the incarnation would take place when He owes us nothing; that He would call us to be the beautiful Bride of Christ as part of His ultimate purpose when we are merely dirt in the universe; and that He would pour His Spirit in us when clay pots are better than us for they never complain. Let us then ponder and treasure the glory, mystery and riches of Christ and always remembering Philippians 2:6-11. Let His divine love constraint us from beginning to end. May the Spirit make Him truly the centrality of our faith.

And then, follow Him, and follow Him well in the Spirit until that day when we will see His face and behold His glory directly.

Freedom (by Michael Card)

I am lost, and I am bound
And I am captive to the chains

That keep on holding me down
And all I need, to be found
Is freedom

I am tired, and I am dying
And I am trapped inside the cage

I have made of hopelessly trying
But the door will open, and I will be flying
If I could find freedom

Freedom, freedom
All the burdens we have borne
All the losses that we mourned
Cry out for freedom, freedom

Prison walls, and bolted doors
Something keeps on telling me

That I was made for more
But there is someone, who could restore
My freedom

A gentle voice, I can't evade
Speaks in the darkness of the heart

And whispers, "Do not be afraid
You can be free, the price was paid
For your freedom"

Freedom, freedom
From the darkest of the nights
From desolation to the light
Freedom, freedom

The door is open, the chains are broken
He is your Freedom

Review: Corinthian Elders and Conversation with Jack Fortenberry (Author)

Although we are called to make disciples, these are disciples of Christ. In "Corinthian Elders", Jack Fortenberry addresses the Pauline concern that christian leaders can actually harm your relationship with Christ. Using a high view of the New Testament and the original manuscripts, the book analyzes the reasons for divisions in the church at Corinth and concludes the problem was their focus on even godly teachers.

The conclusion that an emphasis on teachers was hindering the Corinthian believer from abiding in Christ is corroborated by examining the Book of Colossians where Paul expressed alarm that Colossian believers were submitting to teachers and authoritative church leaders. "Corinthian Elders" calls for a return to Paul's model of the church in order to glorify and enjoy God.

More often than not, the appointment of church leadership in today's context is one based on positions of power, which could possibly lead to abuses of power and resulting in lordship or kingship over other believers. Whether you agree with it or not, positional authority vested in an office has the tendency of usurping the authority of Christ in the functioning of His church. Christ is Lord and King. Humans make very very poor substitutes.

An overview of "Corinthian Elders" is as follow:

Prologue
A Painted Picture
Leading or Misleading
To Preach or Not to Preach
Teaching One Another
Ecclesiastical Office
Consensus Governance
The Money
Complete in Christ
New Testament Elders
Epilogue
Appendixes

Most of what Jack wrote in the book, pretty much echoes my heart on the matter. By camping around favourite teachers or ministers, there exists immediately an inclination to divide over non-essential doctrines, ideology or practices. Since we are to receive fellow believers on the basis of an unchanging Person, we will do well to keep Christ as our central focus. It doesn't take a Th.M. to come to the realisation that we do get distracted easily.

Certainly, God has given some the gifts of overseeing, shepherding, teaching or mentoring, which I do not doubt. However, it is the nature of such gifts that I dispute, whether it is functional or positional. This, Jack has attempted to address the issue in his chapter on Ecclesiastical Office, using the interlinear as a reference. If you are not familiar with the issue, you may be surprised at some of his findings.

Overall, given the size of the book which is about 70+ pages, I would heartily recommend it as an handy tool for conversation starter. It is certainly not the final word on the matter, but do consider that which have been said, because all that have been said have also been experienced and tested out in real life. And there's no harm in learning another's journey of faith.

Jack has also graciously acceded to my unreasonable request to a "short" interview when I approached him some time back. On hindsight, we have differing views of what constitutes "short". :) So bear a little longer with the conversation between two old men. I trust that Jack's rich experience and journey will be edifying, if not enlightening, to you. Below is the fruit of that labour. So feast on it!

Conversation with Jack Fortenberry

1. In your book (prologue), you mentioned that by eliminating our use of a favorite teacher and turning to New Testament commands in order to grow in the knowledge of our Father, we will then have an unobstructed view of Christ. What do you mean by "an unobstructed view of Christ"?

When I used that phrase, I was influenced by the references to veiled and unveiled faces in 2 Cor 3. Perhaps using the word "relationship" as a synonym for "view" would help to clarify. But before I begin explaining this "unobstructed view" of Christ, let me show the need for this direct relationship.

As with our salvation, so also our sanctification is completely dependent on our trust, belief and knowledge (simply the definition of the Greek word for believe, "pisteuo") in and of Jesus. Consider 2 Cor 3:18 to see this dependence on our relationship with Him for our sanctification.

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." ~ 2 Cor 3:18

We can see from this verse that our transformation or edification is connected to our beholding and understanding who Jesus is. I add understanding because many saw Jesus face to face and yet did not understand His glory. They did not understand or behold Him as who He really is and therefore they rejected Him.

In order to behold Jesus, we must have direct interaction with Him. How can we really know and trust someone with whom we don’t have a one-on-one relationship? The imperfect tense of this word, beholding, tells us that this is not a one-time experience but a continuous process. We see this further from the continuing phrase in verse 18, "we... are being transformed."

An example of a direct relationship. If I want to know you (even if we have previously met), then I might learn a little about you, indirectly, by listening to another who professes to know you. But if I really want to know or behold you, then I must personally be with you and interact with you. Suppose I leave our mutual acquaintance and have coffee directly with you each day. Or perhaps I change jobs in order to work with you or perhaps you move into my home to live, then I would have an unobstructed view or relationship directly with you.

I might still see our mutual acquaintance but I would not need him or her as a mentor for my relationship with you. The mutual acquaintance and I could meet for fellowship, encouragement, and even to teach each other about you. But I would not need him or her to lead me in my relationship with you. In fact, as a mentor he or she can only teach me facts about you, but he or she cannot give me intimate knowledge of you (only of himself or herself). Only you and I can know each other in this intimate fashion.

If I know you in this relationship, then of course, you will also know me as well. This is important. As we must know Jesus, also He must know us because of our Savior's warning in Matt 7:21 that not everyone who professes His name enters the kingdom. In Matt 7:23, He says to some with only academic knowledge of Him, "…depart from Me, I never knew you." We don’t want only academic knowledge of Christ; we want intimate knowledge of Him. The facts we know about Him are only helpful, if He knows us through our relationship with Him.

As I understand Scripture, our Lord desires this one-on-one relationship with us. And I am trying to make the case that if we want an unobstructed view of Christ, then we must trust that He wants us to seek Him, directly, without the mediation of a priest or pastor. From the book, you can see He promises that He will personally teach us everything we need in order for us to love Him and each other. You will see also that Scripture warns us against looking to teachers and leaders in our corporate meetings.

2. What are the circumstantial experiences (which you have been through) that prompt you to arrive at the above conviction?

The circumstance of my salvation, over 30 years ago, was that God unexpectedly saved me while I was reading Chapter one in the Gospel of John. I was suddenly overwhelmed by our Father. I remember thinking "this is really true" as the meaning of life and the deity of Christ were revealed to a sinner who for years had been empty and restless. The conviction of the New Testament role of elders came in a similar but smaller echo of that circumstance.

For years, our family obeyed Scripture (we thought) by joining different churches as we determined appropriate and submitting to various ecclesiastical systems. We were devoted Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night attendants. I received ordination as a lay elder in a denomination and later after changing churches, served as an elder with an independent church as well. This may be subjective but I don't remember those times of institutional church meetings as bringing more enjoyment of God or more love for His children even though they had excellent teaching. Although much fellowship was accomplished before and after the church services, the times I remember and cherish most were in small subgroups of believers in my or their home or alone reading and praying.

After years in those larger institutional church structures, we found ourselves house churching for the second time. We had enjoyed house churching 20 years earlier with a group of 15 to 20. At that time, a couple of the seminary trained men in our assembly had then assumed the teaching of the group as opposed to the interactive participatory meetings described by Paul in Corinthians and Colossians. There was sufficient interaction after the meetings to bring much encouragement in the faith. However, during the meetings when the teaching precluded interactive participation, the encouragement was not so obvious. In essence we had a miniature institutional church. After a few years, there was no one left in our meetings but our family and the seminary trained teachers. Then the seminary trained brothers left for larger ministries. We were the last family standing. Perhaps it was my personality.

So our renewed efforts at house churching in 2005 came with low expectations, which I am sure would have been fulfilled, if not for the fact that one of my fellow elders from a previous church had insisted that interactive meetings were biblical. Not wishing to squelch the fellowship, I skeptically went along for a month or so until I realized that spontaneous interactive meetings were wowing me and all of the families involved! Hearing about how God is working or how He revealed Himself through Scripture to your brothers and sisters is incredibly encouraging and almost magical in the way it fosters relationships.

For my own assurance, I had then searched the New Testament to reassess leadership and preaching to affirm that we were following New Testament instruction. How could these untraditional meetings seem so right? What I found was a unity of New Testament Scripture regarding teaching ministries and supported workers complimented by Pauline instruction for the participation by all believers. Similar to my circumstance at conversion, this realization through Scripture withstood every subsequent test of Scriptural corroboration.

Although my enthusiasm was met with different responses by those outside our assembly, I realized that many already understood and believed these same issues. I was amazed to find two different seminary trained brothers in Mississippi who had left church ministry (in the traditional sense) because of their realization through study of the Greek New Testament that elders were commanded not to shepherd a church for money. Why did I not see this earlier!

3. What do you think are some reasons for the inclination of humans to look up to leaders? What will be some practical solutions?

Reasons of the heart are difficult for us mortals, but perhaps an improper view of the Godhead may incline us toward leaders. I have talked with many who see leadership (even castes!) as the natural order of life established by God.

Perhaps the reason is our own fleshly nature. We want to please God in our own way and not in His way. In our zeal to earn or justify His love, we overlook the fact that we please God by our simple trust and love of Him and each other. This is so basic and rudimentary that perhaps we desire to go further in our service for our Lord. Once we desire to do great things for Him in the flesh, we may look for a teacher or leader to help accomplish this. I am concerned that after we set our minds on great works for Him, perhaps our pride takes over and we then set our eyes on our work and not so much on Him.

I am not saying that we should not build mission agencies, hospitals and orphanages because we should, but I am saying that setting ourselves over or under other believers in our church meetings is detrimental to them and us. Our Father wants us to engage in one another ministries and He wants us to follow 1 Cor 14 when we assemble as brothers and sisters.

Maybe some look to leaders because they see Christian growth as growth in academic knowledge instead of growth in knowledge and trust in the Person of Christ. Or, maybe the problem is that some do not believe they can understand the New Testament without a mentor or seminary trained teacher to lead them. But this is simply not true for a child of God.

Another possible reason for our desiring of leaders, may be our understanding of the Bible. Sometimes we are implicitly taught that the Christian assembly is a form of Old Testament temple sacrifice and worship, thus the Levitical order is brought forward into the Christian church today. Instead of simply following New Testament teaching, we may shuffle New Testament instruction with Old Testament instruction in order to come up with a recommended structure. From this systematic theology, we have our mandate for leaders.

The solution to the problem of combining Old and New Testament law is to simply read and apply the New Testament. In fact the solution in all of these cases is to simply trust Jesus and His Word. Trust that He can and will give us 100% of everything we need to 100% enjoy and glorify Him without a Plato type teacher or leader. Again, we deal with some of these Scriptures in the book, Corinthian Elders.

4. How has your understanding of leadership revolutionized your role as a husband and father in the family? And in your workplace?

The role of husband and wife is so special and such a picture of Christ and the church that perhaps you would allow me to defer discussing that until another occasion.

I do hope to clarify that the Scriptural role for leadership in the assembly of believers, is different from the Scriptural role for parents and employers. The Scriptural role for leadership in our assemblies actually supports the Scriptural role for parents by giving them equal participation with other families. In consensus government and participatory meetings, parents do not release their spiritual authority over their children to any priest or preacher.

Unlike when "free in Christ" believers met to fellowship in 1 Cor 14, Scripture clearly reveals that God gives authority to parents over their children. The word for obey when Paul wrote "…children obey your parents" in Eph 6:1 is a different Greek word from the word translated as "obey" in Heb 13:17 when he said "…obey your leaders". When Paul spoke of children obeying, he used a word for military type obedience. But when referring to leaders, he chose a word meaning trust, which was unfortunately translated as obey. Likewise in workplace relationships, the New Testament speaks of an employer's authority in very simple clear terms.

Nevertheless, your question touches me because my understanding of leadership does affect my family foremost. It hurts to think about times when my concern for authority itself, superseded my concern for them as individuals. Alas.

When my now grown daughters were living at home, I understood and incorporated God's examples of authority as revealed in Old Testament structure into the New Covenant. So my concepts of leadership, whether in the context of government, church, workplace or family, were similar. At that time, I still used a bible interpretation framework of Judaism combined with Christianity, instead of a New Testament framework that was corroborated and pointed forward from the Old Testament. I fear my family was often taught to submit, follow and obey at the expense of loving, trusting and enjoying Jesus. Of course, our Father loves our obedience (and possibly compelled obedience is of some value), but He is pleased with obedience from our hearts and He is most pleased with our trust and joy in Him.

Focusing on the duties of leading and following caused me to sometimes lose sight of the most important job, which is to love Him and my family. If we focus on Christ, our obedience will flow, but the reverse is not true and that can be dangerous. All things work for good to those that love Him, but I do repent of falling short in that area. And I also pray I will not overreact by being too patient with my younger daughters.

5. What would you suggest or advise someone who is seeking an unobstructed view of Christ?

Trust Him! Trust His love for you and His ability to directly give you love, wisdom, and knowledge of Him. You don’t need anyone else to be complete in Christ. Complete! Yes, corporate life is important and it is the way He has chosen to especially sustain and love His children, but He will provide fellowship and everything you need for life if you seek Him first.

Avoid christian authority over yourself and your family, except for 100% allegiance to your Savior and His Word. Again yes, we should all submit to one another. Yes, God’s Word clearly tells us to submit to parents, governments and employers unless that contradicts His Word. But in the case of authoritative church leaders and teachers, we should leave them in order to seek our Savior.

If we trust Christ and His Word to equip us for every good work, then why do we need a mentor or teacher? Yes, we should submit to one another and assemble with believers regularly. But if we are going to church to be fed God's Word by a man, then we are only seeing a crooked refraction of our Savior at best, a deception at worst. You may be thinking that you can still submit to a church with an authoritative pastor or teacher, and at the same time compensate by enjoying Christian fellowship other times during the week. This may be true for you, but condoning a leadership model which is contrary to Pauline instruction may hurt members of your family in ways you do not realize.

It may seem harsh to separate your family from loved ones in the pews. And it will be hard. But I am grateful that our daughters saw the difference between interactive meetings and leader focused church meetings in time to affect their view of the church before they went to college.

One last encouragement. At the same time we are avoiding a charismatic teacher, we should be humble enough to realize that Christ indwells others whom He may use to teach us. Therefore do not be a respecter of person and fail to learn from our Father because someone He is using does not have the grammar, education, haircut or age that we commonly expect in our leaders and teachers. Sure, theology and doctrine are important, but knowing God and the practical application of knowing and trusting Him is not an academic achievement. The theology we need is the whole of the New Testament personally taught from Him, and He also teaches us through our brothers and sisters. Trust that our Father can and will teach you through any brethren with whom He puts in your path.

6. Is there any other thing you would like to share with the readers? And believers in general?

Concerning Body life, I would like to share the joy of Christ that I have known in the last five years embracing participatory meetings and consensus governance. I have never been this encouraged after five years with any pastor or elder led church. Both of our grown daughters and our son-in-law participate in interactive meetings on Sundays in their neighborhood or with us. They also see the realness of New Testament style meetings. In my walk with Christ prior to participatory meetings, loving God with all my heart and my brother as myself was embraced theologically but in application these commands were often superceded by the ministry itself. I did not see it then, but the ultimate goal of our meetings was to grow the ministry or denomination, learn a doctrine, support a leader/teacher, hoping that our Father would further His Kingdom through our pyramid. I missed many opportunities to simply love Him and to love my friends.

Concerning individual believers, I share my heartfelt desire that they would drop any ambition to be or follow a leader as part of their service to God. Many sweet brothers have left their first love for a full-time preaching ministry. They thought being a "full-time" church leader would be the way to completely give their life to Him, when actually this violates the Paul's teaching and changes our focus from loving each other to using those around us to further our ministry. Don't miss the opportunity to love your brothers and sisters in order to be or follow a leader. You will end up with different priorities, shutting yourself off from other believers due to theological, or even less noble, reasons. Be content to love God and His children where you are and where they are. Is this not His greatest commandment?

You can download the interview in pdf format here.

This review is based on the free copy graciously given by Jack Fortenberry.

Flow Like A River

Flow Like A River

Flow like a river
Fall like the rain
Streams of compassion
Flow from His throne

Wide as the ocean
Deep as the sea
Life giving fountain
Is God's love for me

Feast at the table of mercy
Drink from the cup of His grace
Dwell in His infinite goodness
Live in His healing embrace

Review: One Million Arrows

The recently released book, "One Million Arrows: Raising Your Children to Change the World", casts a vision for parents who want their family to live with purpose, passion, and to be counted among the heroes in the pages of "His Story."

Using a generous supply of inspiring testimonies of both families and young people worldwide who are currently being used by God in mighty ways, author Julie Ferwerda offers three stages of raising kingdom-minded kids: gather, sharpen, and launch. Gather up the children - your own, others in your circle of influence and, if possible, broken children who need a family. Sharpen them in the Word, raising them as disciples of Jesus. Launch them into the world, ready to use their God-given gifts, talents, and resources in order to make a difference for the Kingdom.

Interwoven throughout the book is also a call for families to get involved in the care and spiritual development of orphaned children worldwide who are being rescued, discipled, and spiritually trained to be launched back into their own countries with the life-changing Gospel.

The inspiration for this call to action came from Julie’s visit to India where she met world changer, Dr. M.A. Thomas. M.A. Thomas, known as "Papa" to many thousands throughout India, began rescuing orphaned and abandoned children off the streets in the late 70s. In India, it is estimated that there are approximately 80 million orphaned and abandoned children - more than half of the world’s estimated number in one country alone.

This troubled M.A. Thomas deeply until one day when he read Psalm 127:3-5, where all children are described as a gift and reward - like arrows in the hands of a mighty man - not just one's own children. He asked God to show him how he might help restore many more children on the streets of India, the "throw-aways" of society, to the earthly and heavenly purposes for which they were intended. It was then that God gave him the vision of gathering one million orphaned and abandoned children, sharpening them as "arrows for God," and launching them to start one million churches in the 600,000 villages and cities that have never heard the Gospel.

Whether you agree with M.A. Thomas' vision or methodology is besides the point. I only pray that our Father will give us the conviction and love to invest in the next generation who will raise up to fulfill His desire.

Interview with Julie Ferwerda

You mentioned the notion of parents investing in or training their children. Isn’t this what parents already do?

Some parents do invest in and train their children to some degree, but there is also a lot of hands-off parenting in our society today, especially in training character development as well as teaching our children how to live for the big-picture - like what were they made to do in this world, what are their unique gifts and abilities, and how can they use them to make a difference now?

We have to train our children to serve others - it doesn’t come naturally. But for many of us, once our kids head into kindergarten, it’s easier to let someone else take over a lot of the training, or to allow our kids to fade into their entertainment-driven culture in their spare time. We need to see parenting as a much bigger opportunity and invitation than that!

I use an illustration in OMA from 9/11 about victims, bystanders, and firemen, the roles people take when lives are at stake. We must teach our children to see themselves as the firemen of this world… the heroes who are willing to set aside their own comforts in order to make a radical difference for others who are suffering or even in danger. There are so many in our world - whether the world around us or the world at large - who need our help and care in order to be saved from terrible circumstances.

I am so encouraged to see a great movement of young people in our world right now who are joining God in His work, coming back to historic levels of competence, purpose, and service for their fellow man. OMA emphasizes helping your kids find what they are passionate about and then training them to use it to serve and positively impact others.

You can read Chapter 1 here.

This review is part of OMA Blog Tour, of which I have received a free review copy.

Review: The Expanded Bible (New Testament)

The Expanded Bible is a modified version of the New Century Version, functional-equivalent based translation, and a product of Tremper Longman III, Mark L. Strauss and Daniel Taylor. What's interesting is that this New Testament incorporates alternative translations, literal meanings, traditional wordings, commentaries, textual variants and references directly in the main text. Yes, you are reading correctly. They are all in the main text rather than the footnotes. The scriptures are bolded, so you wouldn't need to worry about mixing up the texts and the additional information.

And since I do not already own a hardcopy NCV, I certainly enjoy adding it to my library for references but I doubt I will use it for primary reading. This is because I find it easy to loose focus on the context of the passages due to its presentation format. Or perhaps it is just my unfamiliarity with NCV! At any rate, if you are looking for alternative bibles, this is something you may like to try out. But if you are tight on budget, I will suggest you get something more "traditional". :)

This review is part of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger Program, of which I have received a free review copy.