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.

Pray without ceasing

And don’t put that added pressure of “it doesn’t work until I’m broken because that’s when it’s most passionate” as if you’ve discovered some formulaic approach to 2 Corinthians 12:9-11. Brokenness is not a matter of the circumstantial or existential, but the spiritual reality is that we’re all broken. Right now. Status quo. Baseline. It is just a matter of realizing it.

It doesn’t matter who you are. Where you’re from. What you did. You are broken. Heed not the line, “I’m a good man, with a good heart” from John Mayer’s Shadow Days when your flesh is still bent and inclined towards destruction. How many other song references can I make lol.

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere (2 Corinthians 2:14). Prayer is effective so long as our hearts sincerely have the Matthew 6:9-13 posture.

:]

"Surprised by God"?

Perhaps I’m not a fan of the semantics that involve the word “surprise,” but in the contexts where worshippers ask God to execute something they would deem miraculous, it is almost like Satan putting God to the test (Matthew 4:7). Having written before about God’s will being abundantly clear in order that we be effective disciples, the Christian life is not about “surprises” but an everlasting, sustainable joy. Surprises, therefore, connote some vacillation of that joy.

Let’s take this presupposition: if you are a Christian, then you would agree it takes more “faith” not to believe in God than to believe, because God’s presence is much more obvious than his absence. Therefore, you are never really surprised when God answers prayers. I wasn't surprised on the mission field. Yes, there occurred many amazing coincidences and providential acts that brought much joy, because the God we prayed to was looking out for his name being famous (Psalm 115:3, Colossians 1:16). The Christian prays with the heart of making God famous and nothing else (Luke 6:9).

I’m not knocking on prayer for miracles, but oftentimes our definition of a miracle can be so man-centered. A restored limb benefits one person; a changed heart can transform communities and generations. Is not joy the ultimate goal? And is not joy consummately found in Christ? We have not because we ask not (Matthew 7:7-12).

Can we as a people celebrate at the end of our prayers even when nothing has occurred? David certainly did amidst his betrayals (Psalm 3:8). And have we not greater assurance than David - for the historical death and resurrection of the LORD Christ is rock-solid security that God will deliver us from the hands of our enemy!

:]

The will of God #2

Going through the book of Acts with my missions team besets my soul with an appropriate awe at the sovereignty of God. Quite clearly, he accomplishes his kingdom-expanding purposes by using the beating, flogging, persecution, stoning, and martyrdom of his servants. Through suffering, the gospel mushrooms out of Jerusalem into the land of Gentiles. Indeed, these would be the "greater works" that Christ prophesies would be greater than the works he did during his earthly ministry. I sit here reflecting on what future trials are coming that I would be privileged to face. Christ suffered immensely in order to give life to a dead world, and t'would be a privilege to similarly suffer for the sake of his name.

I also reflect on the nature of fellowship and how it sometimes can lose this paradigm. How many times do we see the fellowship strive for familiar comfort and vain hanging out? Not necessarily wrong in of itself, but it was so clear to me that it was simply a pattern, of that being the natural inclination of our hearts instead of going out of our comfort into the "land of Gentiles." To prevent being passive aggressive, I'll just make it known that I am talking specifically about my college fellowship.

But I also saw glimpses of redemption. We consecrate things to God and his will in our own will, that is, our own intentionality. That, my friends, is a made-up Christian word that will haunt me for the rest of my life...yet it's always relevant. Let's take fellowship hanging out as an example. Drawing lessons from my mentor and my coleaders, debriefing after such things has been tremendously helpful in cementing how we saw God move and how we pray he will continue to work. That is redeeming. That is being God-centered.

Speaking from experience, intentionality in all things has given me great peace these past months to close my college career, as opposed to the frenetic, empty pleasure-grabbing marked by Christians and non-Christians who are both guilty of this. This has involved the following:

• Again, on the subject of preparing for young adult life, I needed to assume that I will have no intimate community. This makes it easy to avoid abusing the community as my source of life which would thereby destroy it.
• Preaching the gospel to friends whom I may never see again was a top imperative. Being a friend to friends whom I may never see again, you can call it the same thing.
• Saying what I needed to say. Not being afraid about people's opinions of me. Being open about who I am, weaknesses and all.

Admittedly, I failed so many times to love and protect others for the sake of self-interest and I can only now see it as a painful means of grace to draw lessons from. Those mistakes stem from lack of intentionality, so LORD, forgive me. Open my heart to see your surpassing worth that I may die to myself and boldly walk in your precepts.

The will of God #1

Here I am, finally a post-grad young adult. Far from being a violent transition, there have been many things I've been doing the past year in order to simulate and prepare for this point. The aim: to saturate purpose into every hour of every day. The motivation: to align myself to the will of God - simple enough. The motivation for the motivation: to enjoy his spirit leading the way. Honestly, any one of those three statements could be switched with the other lol such is the language of Christianese. Regardless. Many times I've failed to align myself to his desires, but his mercies have been new and newer to strengthen this almost-man child of his.

The will of God. We should thank God for his word in helping us understand what this means in non-abstract, non-mystical, non-hypothetical terms. The Christian that is frustrated with "lack of direction" has put his faith in the wrong thing, namely, trusting circumstance for security instead the God controlling the circumstance. His clarity is what makes him a gracious God, and we put our faith into what he has made clear. Using scripture, therefore, John MacArthur has provided a helpful framework in discerning his will, explained below in order of priority:

• He wills that I be saved. Again and again. There is no desire of God's outside of this one whereby he would want anything other than for me to be steeped in the intimate knowledge of my sonship. (2AM has not shown mercy on my prosing)
  
• He wills that I be sanctified. I cannot not be aware of my sin and call that God's will. It's all about greater awareness: my fallenness, my identity in him, my working out his salvation with fear and trembling.
  
• He wills that I be spirit-led. Far be it from me to over-spiritualize something, especially in light of recent tragedies like this. Following the spirit involves abiding in the word (ever pondered the manifold wisdom of an infinite God and the condescension it must take to put that into human language? Just wow...never take your Bible for granted) and being sharpened by a community likewise abiding.
  
• He wills that I be sacrificial. No room for sideline Christianity. Am I number 1 or are others? No matter how "busy" I'll get with life, there will always be examples (other than Jesus himself) of busier people who still lay down their lives for the kingdom, leading to..
  
• He wills that I be a servant. Honestly, John, I don't know the difference between this and the last point, but things are still worth repeating. Is my life being poured out for the sake of the gospel? May I never be too busy for this, I have 168 hours a week at my disposable. Trust me, I've done the math!

The more I adhere to these clear outlines of his will, the more joy I experience. To repeat a Timmy K. quote I tweeted earlier, "The lack of joy in our life is due to our lack of mission." And so by converse, fullness of joy is found in him because he makes known to us the path of life (Psalm 16:11)!

Missiology #6

“And [evangelism] is also what we are called to do. We must not wait until we are healed first, loved first, and then reach out. We must serve no matter how little we have our act together. It may well be that one of the first steps toward our own healing will come when we reach out to someone else.” - Rebecca M. Pippert

To perhaps zoom in on the second point of a previous post regarding paradigm shifts, a church is only healthy when it is sent. Increased fellowship among the members will not fully restore it; it truly comes together as one in order to bring light into a dark world.

Of course, Pippert is speaking on a more micro level. Peter personally saw his restoration complete in light of himself having to be sent wholly at the cost of his life (John 21:15-25). Personally and anecdotally for me, battling loneliness and isolation in the last year neccesitated looking to meet brothers in similar situations, and obviously enough there would be mutual healing in that ministry.

Missiology #5

Credit to Michael Hu and Campus Renewal Ministries for material.

Ministries can avoid confusion and disappointment in expectation mismatch with regard to missional initiatives if specific vision among the leadership is well-established. There are four main blocks for mission vision, and the specific contexts I wrote as examples are in a college setting because that is what I relate to the most. The explanations for each column and row are:

• Partial: targeting specific segments of population, single ministry involvement
• Whole: targeting whole institution, partnership of multiple ministries
• Tactical: isolated event, short-term
• Strategic: long-term build-up with follow-through efforts

You move block to block by shifting vision. The southwest block is the one that transforms culture.

Missiology #4

Credit to Michael Hu and Campus Renewal Ministries for material.

When reaching a specific institutional context - such as a college campus - with the gospel, it is imperative to evaluate possible limitations within your church body’s current paradigm. Three shifts are proposed, with the shift being a more expansive and inclusive paradigm over the original:

• Moving from a come-to church to a go-to church. College fellowships take painstaking efforts in planning events to draw outsiders in, but the simple truth is that the majority of students view Christianity antagonistically, and no matter how much coaxing these students will not go to a Christian-sponsored event. Mostly, these events are good for seekers. By being go-to, a church body develops a sent mentality and claims places of authority within the realm of different fields. For college students, this means acquiring leadership positions in clubs of all kinds and serving others within those contexts.
• Moving from fellowship unity to functional unity. By looking outside of itself to determine the specific needs of the surrounding community, the body simultaneously forms strong fellowship while fulfilling gospel imperatives. We should avoid saturation of in-house bonding activities because, in the words of Dr. Ed Gross, love that stays inside starts to smell bad.
• Moving from church growth to transformation. Numbers are a good metric but not a complete one. PKenny would use the phrase, “Don’t miss the miracle.” Gauge ministry success based on the working of the spirit prompting sheep to make more disciples. Transformation takes two avenues: believers bearing fruit, and the world around them taking notice to respond. We hope in a time when Jesus enters the mainstream vernacular with respectful disposition.

Missiology #3

From http://ceruleansanctum.com:


Evangelicals don’t seem to understand the lives of non-Evangelicals, which is why Evangelicals continue to fail to connect with people who are different from them. Blame this on a bunker mentality. Honestly, how many liberal friends do most Evangelicals have? Why expect any influence at all then?

That lack of influence illustrates how Evangelicals have forgotten the root of their label: evangelism.

Evangelicals must learn that no political party is their friend. Selling out to the GOP has hurt Evangelicalism more than it can imagine, and Evangelicals must stop believing that any one political party represents them. Strange bedfellows have hurt the cause of Christ in America, and it is high-time the reflex to vote Republican stops. Evangelicals must support political candidates, regardless of party affiliation, who more accurately reflect the nature of God’s character and who perfectly answer how God can be known. Evangelicals must also realize that values voting is a major failure because it does not take into account all aspects of who God is. Picking and choosing values only further muddies Evangelicalism’s larger stance on what it means to be in Christ. All of who God is must be considered, and that means looking at aspects of God’s character Evangelicals have neglected. If Evangelicals were as well-known for championing the causes of the poor in America as they were for championing the cause of traditional marriage, perhaps those single, urban mothers who went en masse for “the other guy” might have voted differently.


(Original link)

Missiology #2

I don’t quite understand why people make a big deal out of sharing the gospel, especially in a non-persecutory place like America. Communicating the gospel should be pretty easy for Christians. Just as much as I believe my father’s surname is Zhang and my mother’s is Xu, with equal certainty I can talk about facts and truths about my heavenly father with fair ease.

Why do we make belief and faith such fluffy, tenuous words? Paul uses the word “faith” in a manner that means “persuaded.” Are you thoroughly convinced of your sonship? Can you replace faith/belief in scripture with words like “my entire framework through which I interpret the world” and really mean it?

More than communicating the gospel, living out the gospel is tenfold harder. And yet tenfold more effective to the cause of mission. It still encapsulates verbally communicating truths. But above all is love (Colossians 3:14). Sharing your life and time with people (1 Thessalonians 2:8). So egregiously more difficult, inconvenient, and loving is the way of obeying the gospel.

Missiology #1

The reason God hasn't taken life from the Christian is because they are on mission. No other possibility. The implication there is that if you are not on mission now, you won't be in another field.

Want vision? It's a matter of opening one's eyes (John 4:35).

Once that's accomplished, hopefully you'll feel overwhelmed. Good. The more you know yourself to be insufficient for mission the better candidate you are for mission.

How to provoke my parents

Big Chinese gatherings are the best environments for such an endeavor. Here, we have females my age that my parents would want me to talk to. With the latest email received a couple minutes ago replete with contact info for some Chinese schoolboard official’s niece who goes to Bucknell, I’m convinced this whole matchmaking thing is fun for them. I’d probably do the same to my kids, but probably more for entertainment than actual looking out for them.

So when we finally have these sought-after conversations, I would refuse to stop talking about the Bible and how God’s working in my life. Much to my mom’s dismay. “You’re doing it all wrong!”

Your loneliness is not a mark of your imperfection but rather your perfection

Our loneliness and desire to be understood by others should prompt an “aha!” that yes! We were made to be in community to reflect the perfect community of the trinitarian God - father, son and holy spirit all joyfully pleasing the other in a communal dance.

That means “no” to a solo Christian walk this summer, guys! :) Serve the local kingdom in accordance to your savior’s example and promise to bless you tenfold in return.

14

is the number of guy friends that got dumped by girls over this past year.

For my dudes, cling hard to the supremacy of God. What's the first thing you think of when you wake up? It better be: "It cost Jesus getting dumped by the Father to save me."

Use the time to live for his interests and nothing else (1 Corinthians 7:32-35). Love you all, let's talk sometime.