What our Lord Jesus face when He was on earth with the Pharisees and the Sadducee, and what we face today is largely similar. This makes His warning regarding the yeast of these two groups even more urgent.
Yeast is the external element that is added into a dough to make it lighter and more palatable. But we find that this is not God's idea for the church.
The yeast of the Pharisees points to those who seek to make a palatable religion with outward show. Inevitably this leads to legalism and hypocrisy.
The yeast of the Sadducee points to those who seek to make a palatable religion through human rationalisations. The Sadducee deny resurrection and other teachings from the word of God that does not fit into their limited minds, much like the liberal theologians of today.
What we see today is these two groups politicizing the message of Jesus Christ and the cross. On one hand we see the liberal theologians denying the clear message of the bible including denying the virgin birth, the centrality of the cross, and accepting all kinds of watered down, compromised and worldly teachings. Then on another side we see the so-called Christian right, trying to make political capital out of the Christian message, trying to impose Christian values on a unchristian world.
The central message of the gospel is not that we can change the world, but that we must not be of the world. Even Jesus said as recorded in John 17:9, "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me;"
So as those given to Jesus Christ, we must keep ourselves clean from the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducee. We must be His little flock. Those whom can hear His voice directly and follow Him only.
This is the narrow path. There is no other way.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
About Prayer
Most of us find it difficult to devote ourselves to prayer. We often talk about prayer, speak about prayer, read about prayer but never seem to be able to bring ourselves to pray in any significant way.
There seems to be a real battle, a spiritual conflict over our prayer life both individually and corporately. Actually real prayer is a battle. The fulfillment of the God's kingdom and His will on earth cannot be accomplished without the praying of the saints. That is why the Lord taught His disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
When God created man, He gave man authority over the whole earth. That is why man is so significant. On earth, we have God given authority. That is why even though the devil and all his demons have overwhelming advantage over men in power and intelligence, they cannot remove men from the earth. They have to deceive men with wiles and cunning.
Now the authority not only on earth, but also in heaven is with the new man, Jesus Christ. In Christ, we have this authority and we exercise this authority through prayer. So whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatever we loose on earth is also loosed in heaven.
So we see how much do depend on the saints being able to pray rightly. The new man in us must pray. But don't get the idea that praying will be an easy task. If it is ceremonial prayer, if it is uttering pleasantries, if it is just routine it may be easy. But if we mean business with God, if we want to pray for His kingdom and His will to be done, we will come into much opposition. But the enemy has no authority to prevent us from praying. Therefore he uses wiles and deceptions to sidetrack us.
In Ephesians chapter 6, the full armour of God is against the wiles of the enemy. It would seem that after putting on the full armour, we are to fight and to move, not just to stand. To withstand the attack and then to stand.
In Ephesians 6:18, right after the metaphor of using the full armour, the apostle Paul launch straight into the context of his message. It is about prayer. As we start praying, it would seem that all the enemy wants to do is to stop us from praying. To get you into some activity, maybe some bible study, maybe some fellowship, maybe the need to help in house work etc. It is all a ruse. You need to stand in prayer. And after withstanding all the inclination to divert, to continue to stand in prayer. Why stand and not kneel? Because we are praying with authority. The authority of Jesus Christ. We are a member of the New Man. All authority in heaven and on earth is given to Him and to us. So let us pray.
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
There seems to be a real battle, a spiritual conflict over our prayer life both individually and corporately. Actually real prayer is a battle. The fulfillment of the God's kingdom and His will on earth cannot be accomplished without the praying of the saints. That is why the Lord taught His disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
When God created man, He gave man authority over the whole earth. That is why man is so significant. On earth, we have God given authority. That is why even though the devil and all his demons have overwhelming advantage over men in power and intelligence, they cannot remove men from the earth. They have to deceive men with wiles and cunning.
Now the authority not only on earth, but also in heaven is with the new man, Jesus Christ. In Christ, we have this authority and we exercise this authority through prayer. So whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatever we loose on earth is also loosed in heaven.
So we see how much do depend on the saints being able to pray rightly. The new man in us must pray. But don't get the idea that praying will be an easy task. If it is ceremonial prayer, if it is uttering pleasantries, if it is just routine it may be easy. But if we mean business with God, if we want to pray for His kingdom and His will to be done, we will come into much opposition. But the enemy has no authority to prevent us from praying. Therefore he uses wiles and deceptions to sidetrack us.
In Ephesians chapter 6, the full armour of God is against the wiles of the enemy. It would seem that after putting on the full armour, we are to fight and to move, not just to stand. To withstand the attack and then to stand.
In Ephesians 6:18, right after the metaphor of using the full armour, the apostle Paul launch straight into the context of his message. It is about prayer. As we start praying, it would seem that all the enemy wants to do is to stop us from praying. To get you into some activity, maybe some bible study, maybe some fellowship, maybe the need to help in house work etc. It is all a ruse. You need to stand in prayer. And after withstanding all the inclination to divert, to continue to stand in prayer. Why stand and not kneel? Because we are praying with authority. The authority of Jesus Christ. We are a member of the New Man. All authority in heaven and on earth is given to Him and to us. So let us pray.
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Knowing according to the flesh
We must remember and be reminded not to take in spiritual things according to the flesh. This kind of pseudo spirituality does not advance the kingdom of God but is in fact an hindrance.
Examples to illustrate this type of mind is when at the garden of Gethsemane the apostle Peter drew his sword to defend the Lord. On surface, it seems a noble act. It was Peter who declared, "even if all forsake you, I will not forsake You". In fact he was willing to fight with the sword, but he was unable take the path of the cross as Jesus did. That is to go through the trial and rejection of the cross.
Then there were the Zebedee brothers, John and James. For the insult that a Samaritan town showed to the Lord, they wanted the Lord to call fire to come down from heaven. Jesus answered them, "You know not what kind of spirit you are of."
We can "understand" the things of God, like Christianity, Church, righteousness, in a fleshly and worldly way and thus miss the spiritual reality altogether. The fleshly mind sees only the outward things. The politics, the money, the success etc. The reality is not like that. It is the Spirit of God in us. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory.
The world will always misunderstand and even altogether ignore the real spiritual reality. It is hidden by God and revealed only to those whom God has given eyes to see and ears to hear.
The world and the worldly think themselves wise. But in the end God judge them foolish. So do not be surprise, those whom have come to know spiritual reality, that the world does not know you. The world thinks you are foolish. The world thinks you are nothing. It is ok. It is a better indication of your faithfulness than if you are widely acclaimed and celebrated.
Let the Lord praise you. Let the Lord commend you. It is a far far better thing.
Examples to illustrate this type of mind is when at the garden of Gethsemane the apostle Peter drew his sword to defend the Lord. On surface, it seems a noble act. It was Peter who declared, "even if all forsake you, I will not forsake You". In fact he was willing to fight with the sword, but he was unable take the path of the cross as Jesus did. That is to go through the trial and rejection of the cross.
Then there were the Zebedee brothers, John and James. For the insult that a Samaritan town showed to the Lord, they wanted the Lord to call fire to come down from heaven. Jesus answered them, "You know not what kind of spirit you are of."
We can "understand" the things of God, like Christianity, Church, righteousness, in a fleshly and worldly way and thus miss the spiritual reality altogether. The fleshly mind sees only the outward things. The politics, the money, the success etc. The reality is not like that. It is the Spirit of God in us. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory.
The world will always misunderstand and even altogether ignore the real spiritual reality. It is hidden by God and revealed only to those whom God has given eyes to see and ears to hear.
The world and the worldly think themselves wise. But in the end God judge them foolish. So do not be surprise, those whom have come to know spiritual reality, that the world does not know you. The world thinks you are foolish. The world thinks you are nothing. It is ok. It is a better indication of your faithfulness than if you are widely acclaimed and celebrated.
Let the Lord praise you. Let the Lord commend you. It is a far far better thing.
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