On prayer

“It is possible for a Christian to be perfectly orthodox and yet to be defeated, and to be living a defeated and a useless life.”
– Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Not to want to pray, then, is the sin behind sin. And it ends in not being able to pray. That is its punishment — spiritual dumbness, or at least aphasia, and starvation. We do not take our spiritual food, and so we falter, dwindle, and die. ‘In the sweat of your brow ye shall eat your bread.’”
– P. T. Forsyth

From May 10, 2015 sermon, Renewal Presby.

Freaks Alum vs. Students Battle (edit)

Clips from Freaks of the Beat reunion. Edited out Alex’s burns..

Full clip: https://youtu.be/km8B_Jm6WRo

Video credit: Chi Tu

Chinese churches in America

Thankful for the past weekend of catching up with old friends. A brother recently wrote about a particular burden of his:

“In my personal experience in the DMV area, Chinese-American or Asian-American churches are either:

1) Family Churches
2) Just YA’s / Single’s / Young couples

Young Adult’s ministries are either thriving, dying, or non-existent. Praying for more churches with solid inter-generational fellowship.“

There could be, in the same way second-generation Asians are trying to navigate and define their standing in the mainstream culture, a spiritual parallel of identity-seeking that causes this disconnect within the second-generation church with respect to fellowshipping across generations.

To the praise and glory of our God, there are a couple examples where this true inter-generation fellowship and love occurs, albeit with specifically 1.5-generation and primarily Chinese-speaking members. One comes out of a city church where the leadership holds deep convictions about manifesting God’s covenant to his people – think children sitting through the entire service and young adults actively serving the disabled and elderly. Another example comes from a selfless, sacrificial love on the part of some young adults in a suburban context, where that environment costs them career and social advantages.

Both were Chinese churches, one presbyterian and the other non-denominational (baptist), yet both saw how desperately they needed each other for the sake of their own discipleship with Christ (Acts 2:44). Even more ideal would be the marriage of the best of these two theological traditions: a deep covenantal commitment to each and every member (Hebrews 10:24-25) while each one heeds the call to diligently strive for individual holiness (Colossians 1:29).

The potential perspectives and gifts that could be shared across generations simply blows the mind. Thank you again for the brothers who hold this vision by the Spirit.

One reaps what they sow, always

All of human existence can be summed in Galatians 6:7-8. 

If you spend just a little time on something, that thing will start to fester inside of you. People may deny it, but what you consume (movies and music) or fantasize about (an idea or a person) will deeply shape your character. 

Even if what you're doing is mindless, the eventual result is you'll be a mindless person. Working and talking with people without an interest in either the work or the people. Watching series on Netflix or endless entertainment on Youtube. 

There's no such thing as a standalone thought. Decisions aren't made in a vacuum. What you feed will only grow. God is not mocked, that is, you can trick yourself but you can't trick God.

And there is the (potentially hopeful) converse: what you starve will not grow. Avoiding violent and irreverent media makes one dignified. Refusing temptation and curbing bad habits simply makes one a self-controlled person.

We hear the continual refrain to set our minds in a particular way (Colossians 3:2, Titus 3:8, Philippians 4:8, Romans 12:2). There is divine wisdom here, because the war of the mind is the war for everything. 

Hospitality is defined as “love for strangers.”

Ecclesiology/Soteriology #n

“As a new Christian, Drew seemed to have an insatiable love for the things of the Lord. He could not find enough Bible studies. He got as many Christian books as he could get his hands on. He took copious notes during every sermon. His presence seemed to open and close every gathering of his church.

Now five years later, Drew seems to be a different man. The sermon notebook doesn’t accompany him to worship anymore. He seldom attends the gatherings of his small group. He barely has enough time to have a brief moment of worship before he starts his day. 

What happened to Drew? The same thing that happens to many believers. Drew came to Christ as a lonely young man. Although he did not know it, his enthusiasm for the gospel was not about the grace and glory of Christ. No, in the church, Drew found the circle of friends he had always longed to have. In the church, Drew had found a family. And while that is very good, the spiritual problem was that the end (a love relationship with Christ) had functionally become the means to another end (acceptance with a family of people). Big kingdom glories were a way to experience little kingdom treasures.

And these relationships with sinners proved to be flawed, as they always will be this side of heaven. Eventually, Drew’s growing lack of enthusiasm for the gospel revealed that his excitement about his newfound faith was simply was kingdom of self dressed up in the costume of the kingdom of God.”

– Paul Tripp, Chapter 6 of A Quest for More: Living for Something Bigger than You

Ecclesiology Revisited #13

“None of us ever gets to be in a relationship with a finished person [read: Jesus]. God’s redemptive work of change is ongoing in all our lives.

…

When I fail to worship God as Savior, I am too casual about my sin and too focused on yours … When you are sinned against, you will be impacted by the weaknesses and failures of that other person. When this happens, you need to allow God to use you as an instrument in his redemptive hands, rather than seeking to make changes in the other person yourself.”

–Tim Lane, Chapter 6 of Relationships: A Mess Worth Making

“Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it.

…

Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.

God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together.”

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Chapter 1 of Life Together

Ecclesiology #14

It is through the messiness of relationships, and not in in spite of, where God works. Idols are exposed and people change.