"Doing God's Will" Sermon Reflection

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Discovery: Paul is very clear what God's will is for all believers. Here in 1 Thessalonians he gives this very challenging three-fold imperative: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." That is as straight forward as they come.

Application: Alas, the challenge is to actually do something with God's Word...

Are we "joyful always?" This seems like an impossible feat. The only way to do this from a human perspective is to fake it a majority of the time. But Gordon Fee states that, "the emphasis on joy is not so much the experience of joy, but the active expression of it." I read this as "Will I choose to be joyful in my response to people and situations even when it is negative or hard?" My honest response is, "NO!" The only chance I have it responding in joy each and everyday is to start each day with the right perspective. The only way that I have figured out how to do this is to start the day in reading the Word of God and journalling about it.

Are we "praying continually?" This two seems impossible to do on our own. We either have to become monks and nuns or we have to adopt a "new age" approach to prayer in which everything we do is some pseudo-spiritual watered-down version of true biblical prayer. F.F. Bruce states that this verse actually means to "persevere in prayer." It means that regardless of how slow God seems or how insurmountable the odds may be, we are called to diligently and faithfully pray.

Are we "giving thanks in all circumstances?" Paul speaks of giving thanks over 30 times in his writings. Giving thanks was deeply rooted in Paul's theology. He truly believed that everything happened for a reason. He believed that nothing, not even suffering and death, had the final word. The last word was reserved for God and God alone and that word was always resurrection and life. Paul teaches us that giving thanks is rooted in the supremacy and sovereignty of God. This is the only way that I can explain how so many fellow brothers and sisters who suffer through so much can emerge on the other side with a song of praise on their hearts and mouths. Thanksgiving is truly remembering that God is in control.

Prayer: Help me do your will each and everyday. Stretch me me to be joyful. Instill in me a hunger to pray with perseverance. Give me a bigger view of You so that thanksgiving will flow from my life.

"How do we Give?" Sermon Reflection

Luke 16:1-15

Discovery: A common problem for many Christians is that we compartmentalize our faith. There is a separation between "spiritual" and "mundane" things. Things such as reading the bible, going to church, giving tithes and offerings, etc. are consider "spiritual" while other things such as working, shopping, and saving are considered more "mundane." This is definitely not what Jesus had in mind when he called us surrender our lives to Him.

Our passage today seems strange at first and a little confusing. In this parable of the dishonest manager, we see a character who clearly has major character flaws. Knowing that he is going to get fired, we see the dishonest manager go and make backdoor deals with some people who are indebted to his master and cuts them a nice deal. What is particularly jarring to us "good" Christians is that Jesus affirms this dishonest manager's mentality. In v. 8 it says, "The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly." It is important to note that the master commended the manager for his shrewdness and not his dishonesty. There are a lot of technical definitions for the word "shrewd." I would define it as "street smarts." This guy is knows how to survive and he knows how to leverage things to his benefit.

Application: A few things stood out to me in this passage.

1. Context: The previous chapter (Luke 15) Jesus lays into the Pharisees for their self-righteousness and hard hearts. He tells three parables about how God is the one who seeks, saves, and loves the lost (parable of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son). Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they have missed the mark and are out of touch with God's heart. Here in Luke 16, Jesus is talking to his disciples. He is also warning his disciples to not "miss the boat" like the Pharisees.

2. Call to be shrewd with our money: For the disciples, the area in question is money and how they will manage money. The call of Jesus is to be shrewd money managers just like the character in this parable. I told the story of a customer at Bank of American in Hawaii where I worked part-time as a teller. He would bring in a dozen malasadas (Portuguese donut-like confections) almost every week to our branch. We loved the Malasada Man. Whenever he walked into our branch, we would bend over backwards for him. Even if you were closing up for the day, people would open up their window and have him come to front of the line because he came bearing tasty treats. Not only was the Malasada Man very sweet and generous... he was shrewd. This weekly $5 investment gave him privileges and service that even the best of our business and Prima customers could only hope to get. This is what Jesus is talking about! In fact, Jesus says in later part of v. 8 "For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light." This is unfortunately so true.

3. How can I/we be shrewd with our money and our witness? We are right in the heart of the holiday shopping/craziness. I believe the challenge from our passage is not "don't give into the materialism of Black Friday" but rather "how can we exercise godly spending during this holiday season." I know for a fact that our church family is good at finding deals. Rather than just finding deals for ourselves or our loved ones, could we also be shrewd in finding deals for others? What would it look like to buy something extra (i.e. a scarf or sweatshirt) and gift it to a neighbor or friend? What would it look like to pick up a great deal for toys for a niece or nephew and buy another for your neighbor who has a child the same age? Wouldn't this be a great way to open doors in relationships and bridges in friendships? Jesus says it very clearly in v. 9, "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." He continues in v. 11, "So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" I hope we really will step up to the challenge to be shrewd in our monetary witness.

Prayer: Lord, help me be "street smart" with my money and creative in my monetary witness as I move into this holiday season. Please lead our church as we experiment with some creative shopping exercises to not only bless those who don't have as much but also our seeking friends whom we will bring along for the experience.

Matthew 25:14-30 Sermon Reflection

Why do we give?

Discovery:

The parable of the talents is found in the middle of two teachings of Jesus. In Matthew 25: 1-13 we see the parable of the 10 virgins. This parable tells of 5 foolish and 5 wise virgins who were waiting for the bridegroom. The wise ones came prepared with oil for their lamps and thus were ready when the bridegroom came in the evening. The foolish ones were not prepared and thus had to go and buy oil and thus missed the arrival of the bridegroom. The moral of the story is that we need to be prepared for the coming of Jesus.

In Matthew 25:31-46, we see the story of the sheep and goats. This describes the return of the Son of Man in which he separates the sheep from the goats. The ones that are chosen and blessed are those who showed mercy and compassion to the "least of these brothers of mine." The ones who are separated and judged are those who didn't not serve the least, the last, and the lost as if it were Jesus Himself. These are led into eternal punishment. The moral of this story is that we will all need to give an account for our lives.

The parable the talents is perfectly placed between these two stories. If the parable of the virgins is about anticipating the return of Jesus and if the story of the sheep and goats is about the judgement of Jesus when He returns, then our story is about the "in-between" time. It is essentially a lesson of how we should live our lives.

Each of the servants were given wealth (talents) that the master wanted invested and multiplied. It is a story of biblical stewardship. In verse 15 it says that the servants were given talents "each according to his abilities." Our parable reminds us of a very simple yet powerful truth: everything is from God and we are merely stewards of God's wealth.

The sad part of this story is in regards to the one bad servant. While the other two invest and return the initial investment two fold, the bad servant doesn't do anything with it. He simple buries it and is content in not losing it. His remarks in vv. 24-25 tells us of his view of the master, "Master I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. so I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you."

My main point in my sermon was that bad theology leads to bad giving. If our view of God is small, tight-fisted, legalistic, and ultimately cold-hearted then our giving (as many other areas of discipleship) will be limited and shallow. But if we know that God is gracious, generous, extravagant, and flowing with love then our lives will reflect our theology.

Application:

My view of God has become too small.

My good friend Pauline Fong came and shared with us this past Thursday at our monthly Joint Soul Care about her ministry with InterVarsity and her new position as Regional Director of the Northwest region. As I was hearing her speak, I was fondly reflecting on my days as a campus staff worker with IV. I remembered how hard it was to fundraise and the internal turmoil that I experienced from it. I remember having to overcome my parent's objection to me being a "full-time beggar" and my own personal sense of failure and inadequacy in this area of trusting God. And yet, it was through fundraising that I truly experienced living by faith. When I first started, I didn't know if I could raise enough to be on staff for more than a year and yet God provided so that I could spend 5 of the best years of my life living, trusting, and serving Him.

The challenge for our family now is to continue to be stretched in terms of trusting God with our finances. I have to keep remembering the thrill that I received every time I would get my monthly statement from IV and see a new name on my donor list. One of the best donation was a gift of $5 from a elementary student at MVCCC. This little girl was just someone that I got to know when I came back and served at the church during the summers. To see someone who was so young take the time to give $5 to my ministry was so touching... in fact it was inspiring.

I realize that I am now on the giving end of the exchange with my fellow ministers of the gospel. I need to remember to think, pray, and support those who are on the front-lines of ministry and missions. I need to remember the call to be not only be a good steward of my money but to be a great steward of God's blessings to those who are actively serving the King. I still need to walk in faith in this new phase of my life. I still want to experience the thrill seeing God come through and save the day.

"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 25:35

Prayer:

Remind me of the countless ways that you blessed me throughout my life. Help me be a great steward of the ability to bless my fellow brothers and sister through the share of Your wealth.

Name Change for MVCCC Worship!

This week's entry will be a departure from the ordinary.

Check out and support Ellie Fun Day:

On Sunday, we had Elton and Sarah Lin come and share about Ellie Fun Day. I would encourage you to go and check out their new social enterprise. http://www.elliefunday.com/

What's the new name?

The main thing that I wanted to write about was the name change for our English congregation's worship. Here is a little description of the new name: "Intersect."

James 1:22 states, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

The vision of Intersect is to be a Church Family that hears the Word of God and applies it together. Our Sunday Worship is a time in which our lives intersects with God's activity. As we worship, pray, fellowship, and learn, we want God to speak into our lives and to transform us from the inside out.

What's behind the name change?

Over the last year or so, God has really been blessing our congregation and church. We are "growing up" and beginning to form our own unique identity. In the past, I have balked at the idea of a name change because I didn't want to do it just for the sake of change. But it became clear that our church family was entering into a new stage of life in which a name change seemed appropriate.

The reality is that our church family has been striving to "intersect" with God's Word for a long time. There are stories upon stories of our members wrestling with the implications of God's Word upon their lives. As I have been saying as of late in many of my sermons, "It is all about application!" and to see our church members strive to do this has been really encouraging to me as a pastor. The names "Intersect" isn't really anything new... it is just a word that articulates what has been going on here in our Church Family for some time.

Personal Note:

When I first became a Christian, my youth pastor taught us how to do our Quiet Times. He first told us to get a journal and then he said that we should write in it every day. He told us to divide it into two major sections.

The first section was "Discovery." After reading the Bible, we were suppose to write down the various things that we learned from that day's reading. What new things stood out to you? What are particularly interesting or convicting about the text?

The second section was "Application." What does this mean in your life? What was I suppose to do with what I just learned? What was God wanting me to change?

He told us that that the section on "application" should always be bigger than the section on "discovery." It's good to learn new things about God but it far more important to spend the time to write down the applications for my life. It is far easier to find the things from God's Word that was interesting but than it is much harder to find specific applications for one's life. Ever since I started journaling, I have struggled to find enough honest things to write down in my "application" section so that it would as long as if not longer than the "discovery" section.

20 years later I am still struggling with this challenge and yet still dutifully press on in trying to apply what I read each and every day. The rhythm of my devotional life has not changed since I first started. Discover and apply. Discover and apply. Discover and apply.

This is what we are trying to do together at Intersect...

Mark 6:30-44 Sermon Reflection

"How Do We Serve?"

Discovery: The question of how we serve is not about mechanics or methodology. It is about understanding and living out the heart of God. In our passage today, we see Jesus' heart. Our challenge is to emulate it.

After a successful ministry venture, in which Jesus sent out the disciples two by two to proclaim the gospel and to drive out evil spirits, the whole group gathers for a time of debrief. In v. 31, Jesus noticing that the crowds were gathering again and thus not giving his disciples even a chance to eat he suggests, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

When they do get to this quiet place, our text tells us that people had already gone ahead of them and were already there when they landed. Our key verse is v. 34, "When Jesus landed and saw the large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things."

Application: How would you have felt if you were one of these disciples? Your expectation was that Jesus was going to give you a time of rest and now it feels as though the needs of other people are creeping into that space. In the sermon, I talked about the whole story of how Jesus responded to the people and what it means to follow in his footsteps.

For those who have gone through the InterVarsity Mark Manuscript study, you may be familiar with one of the key questions and observations from this passage. Who was the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 for? Was it for the crowds or was it for the disciples?

Clearly the crowds benefit from this miracle. They see the compassion, the wisdom, and the power of God all manifest during this time. But the ones who were most impacted by this miracle had to be the disciples.

Jesus is teaching, demonstrating, and modelling what it means to have God's heart. When Jesus looks at the crowd, he doesn't see them as a nuisance or inconvenience but rather as an opportunity to show the mercy of God. By recruiting the disciples to break the groups into small groups of 50 and 100 and to hand out the food, Jesus is pushing them out of their comfort zones and reminding them this simple truth: ministry is about interacting and touching people's lives. By taking the 5 loaves and 2 fish and performing a miracle of provision, Jesus is telling the disciples: I can take what little you have a multiple it a hundred fold.

This is the lesson for the disciples and it is our lesson as well.

Prayer: Jesus, help me see every person who comes across my path as an opportunity to serve versus an obstacle to overcome. Help me get back to the "bread and butter" of discipleship by getting back involved in the lives of our church members. Take what little I have and what little I give and multiply it for Your glory sake.

1 John 4:19 Sermon Reflection

"Why Should We Serve?"

Discovery: Many things in life are "caught" and not "taught." This is very true in the Christian life. The principle of serving and loving is not something that we do because someone told us to. It is something that is modeled to us and thus we learn to emulate it. 1 John 4:19 tells us this: "We love because he first loved us." God set the example of how to love and serve. We need to simply reflect this to the world around us.

Application: It's one thing to know the truth but it is another to live it out. This love that God demonstrated to us is not some sort of philosophical idea or intellectual principle. It needs to be a living reality. We need to ask ourselves the question, "Am I experiencing the love of God for myself firsthand?" In addition, we need to be asking the question, "Am I loving and serving others in the same way that God loved me?" We need to do a little inventory of our lives to see if love is truly flowing in and out of us.

The reality is that being loved and loving others is not easy and thus there are real barriers and obstacles that prevent us from doing it. For some, they have never experienced the love of God at all. They have not acknowledge the fact that God is the seeker and savior of the lost. Others have become calloused in their hearts and thus have forgotten that they were once counted among the lost. One way to know if you have a calloused heart is if you have fallen out of the practice of repenting of your sins. As we get "older" in our faith, we begin to simply accumulate our sins until it reaches a boiling point before we come to the cross and repent of them. For others, they simple stop coming to the cross at all.

The only way that we can love and serve is to ask God to pour out His love anew into us today. We need to remove things such as sin that blocks our ability to receive this love but most importantly we need to choose to turn our hearts towards Him again. We can't settle for a broken, defeated, lesser life. We need to settle for nothing less that experiencing His love on a daily basis. This is why we love and serve... because He first loved (and continues to love) us.

Prayer: Lord I love being at the foot of the cross. Help me find my way back "home" to this place each and every day.

Luke 9:18-27 Sermon Reflection

"Who is called to serve?"

Discovery: In vv.18-22, Jesus asks two questions of His disciples, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" and "What about you? Who do you say I am?" Jesus is not interested in doing some market research here. He is wanting to know if His disciples truly understand the meaning of following after Him. Even after Peter responds, "You are the Christ of God," Jesus goes on to tell them what that statement truly means.

He says that road to the cross is marked by three things: denying self, taking up the cross daily, and following Him. In vv.24-27, Jesus acknowledges that there are real temptations that would prevent us from following in His footsteps. The temptation to save one's life and to attempt to profit the world are real and tempting alternatives to the three-fold call to follow Him. Jesus warns however that there are real consequences to these choices and He ends our section by pointing to the promise of eternal life.

The simple answer to the question, "who is called to serve?" is this: anyone who chooses to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. The road to the cross is not easy and there are real temptations and challenges but the heart of serving is found in following His example.

Application: The question for us today is what is your faith marked by? Are you someone who is saving your life or are you someone who is losing it for Jesus and the gospel?

Is you life marked by vanity and success? These are just two ways in which we are holding on to our physical lives and striving to accumulate the "toys" of this world.

Is your life marked by immaturity and irresponsibility? These are two others ways in which we are trying to hold to a mirage of our lives being free from responsibility and duty and seeking to fill ourselves with the pleasures of this world.

Is your life marked by control and rigidity? We want to be in the driver's seat of our lives and thus it is difficult to allow Jesus to lead us and direct us in directions that we are unfamiliar with.

Ultimately we need to evaluate our lives through the three-fold call to follow after Him.

Is your life marked by the ways that you deny yourself and elevate Jesus and others?

Is your life marked by the ways that you take up the cross daily and strive to live your life in service to Jesus and to be His ambassador of grace to the world around you?

Is your life marked by the ways that you are following after Him? Does your day start by asking that God's will be done in your life rather than your own will?

Prayer: Lord, help me take a long look in the mirror so that I can truly see if I am following in your footsteps everyday. Help me get back to the basics of discipleship of starting each day asking that Your will would be done in me and through me.