Understanding Grace

One of the very best teaching I have heard on grace came from Dr. A. R. Bernard who preached it at City Harvest Church on 18 January 2014.

He started off his teaching on the purity of love. If there are reasons for love, it means that there are conditions. I love you IF ...., you get the drift. That's human love. 

On the other hand, God's love or God's kind of love is unconditional. A man, for example, is to love his wife redemptively, sacrificially and unconditionally. Yes, a man is to love his wife as Christ loves His church. God is love. Pure love is redemptive, sacrificial and unconditional. These constitute grace, and we need solid-food teaching in the Body of Christ on grace (and much more) to ground and establish us in the eternal Word of God. And, live life as God has intended for us; His Words are Spirit and Life.

Before the advent of Christ, we have the law which constitute the rules that govern human conduct. The law of Moses is a complete system lacking nothing.  When Jesus came, He elevated the Mosaic laws and raised the bar for He examines and deals with the intent of our hearts. It is already a sin when we conceive it in our minds before we decide whether to proceed with it or not!

In the Kingdom of Christ, we are blessed and highly favoured. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. We are now in this window of time called the dispensation of God's grace. 

Grace is an expression of God's love and graciousness is the quality of being warm hearted, considerate, affectionate, forgiving and sympathetic. With grace, what we believes determines what we receive whereas the law is merit and performance based.   

In the account from John 8:1-12 on the woman caught in the very act of adultery with the male counterpart conspicuously left off the hook, the Law (Pharisees) accuses and wanted to know what Grace (Jesus) would say. Jesus said, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

Dr. Bernard summarized that: 

1) Jesus did not dispute the charges;

2) Jesus gave her protection from the accusations of the law;

3) Jesus gave her dignity;

4) Jesus offered her forgiveness;

5) Jesus released her from condemnation; and

6) Jesus made a demand on her lifestyle ("go and sin no more").

I think the biggest slice of takeaway from this message for the Body of Christ is that SIN HAS CONSEQUENCES as certain quarters of believers may be over-emphasizing grace to the point where sin is like a mere mosquito-bite to be soothed by the balm of Christ's blood.

As recorded in John 5:14 after Jesus had healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda who had an infirmity thirty-eight years, He cautioned him, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." 

With humility, fear and trembling, I submit the following 2 Scripture verses which shed further light that sin has consequences, too, even after we have come to an initial saving knowledge of Jesus Christ:

"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away,to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame." (Hebrews 6:4-6; NKJV)

"For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”says the Lord.And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:26-31; NKJV)

The call remains remain for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ Jesus. More grace to love people into the kingdom of God and more knowledge for us to stay in the Kingdom of God till Christ comes again. And, to be mindful that grace makes a demand on our lifestyle. For we were bought at a price so as to glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:20; NKJV)

P/s: This article is adapted from Dr Bernard's sermon at City Harvest Church on 18 January 2014 and, if you are interested, please proceed to procure a CD copy from The Ink Room.

JESUS, Our Best Friend

Many people will find it a great honour to have tea with a person of great stature such as the President or Prime Minister of their country. Indeed, many of you may have had the privilege of doing so from time to time, year after year. But, what if you have the privilege of having breakfast (by the Sea of Galilee would be nice) with the King of kings and the Lord of lords every day? Lunch and dinner are do-able, too.

On 11 August 2006, my cell group leader shared that it is a privilege to be in relationship with God and that serving God is a privilege. Upon reflection, it hit me that we must never take our relationship with God for granted. The danger is that we tend to lose what we do not value.

Once we were part of the crowd, searching for purpose and meaning in life. As the following song puts it:

One day I was wandering, what’s it all about
Life is full of heartbreak, restlessness and doubt
Then a gentle stranger whispered words of love
Pointed me to heaven, wrote my name above

Chorus:
I know where I’m going, and who I’m gonna see
I have a Friend named JESUS, waiting there for me
He has given me something that only He could give
He gave His life in payment so that I could live

JESUS is no longer a stranger to us now, but has become our Saviour and LORD. We began our walk with Him as follower amongst the crowd of new believers, moved on to become a disciple (disciplined, consistent and faithful follower), and, as we keep walking with Him, we can experience Him as a Friend (think of Abraham, Enoch and Moses).

For sure, God anoints us for roles such as shepherd, under-shepherd, king, priest, and prophet. Yet, God desires that we do not neglect spending time with Him in intimate fellowship so that He can impart His secret things (great and wondrous truths from His word) through the Holy Spirit, our Helper. Just as we share our secrets (aspirations, dreams, visions, etc.) with our close friends, God will do the same with us when we cultivate a close fellowship with Him.

And, we can become a friend of God when we choose to obey His word and the Holy Spirit. God is not a dictator who insists that we must obey Him. The truth is that God, our Creator, knows what is best for us and everything that He desires of us is actually for our own benefits, first of all. When He sees us arranging our lives under His principles, He rejoices over us because His blessing will be ours to receive. Remember, Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10b; NKJV)”

In Jeremiah 7:23 (NLT), God said to the Israelites, “Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!” What a privilege it is when God is for us! The choice is ours to make by deliberate acts of obedience to His word. Hear then the words of JESUS: “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, FOR ALL THINGS THAT I HEARD FROM MY FATHER I HAVE MADE KNOWN TO YOU. (John 15:14, 15; NKJV)” What an awesome privilege it is to be a friend of JESUS!

Have we failed our Friend, Jesus, or grieved His Holy Spirit, our Helper? Repent, come back to embrace His good, acceptable, and perfect will for us. As Jesus asked Peter, He may well asks us, too, “Do you love Me?” Jesus could see that despite Peter’s failings, he (Peter) loves Him in his heart of hearts. Let’s love (agape) Jesus at all times, and He will guide and lead us towards His plan and purpose for us through the times and seasons of our life.

“Thank you, JESUS, for being our Friend. You are the best friend we can ever have. Help us to nurture our friendship with you, day after day. Amen.”

(Scripture quotations are taken from:
- the Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
- Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. All rights reserved.)
© Copyright 2006, by Michael S K Chu.

(Free to Share article posted by me with FaithWriters.com on 18 August 2006)

Seeing Jesus Face to Face

During the worship segment of a City Harvest Church service on 22 June 2013, we sang of seeing Jesus face to face according to the line in one of the song. The very thought of it caught me by surprise and stirred up my inner man.

For the longest time, as believers, we treasure the experience of being in the very presence of God during our personal Quiet Time and in a congregation of believers. But, I suspect that it’s not very often that we entertain the thought of seeing Jesus face to face, be it in the here and now or hereafter.

In Genesis 14:18 Abram saw Jesus when he had communion with Melchizedek king of Salem (Peace), who is the Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ -- the Prince of Peace. Jacob struggled with God at a place he then called Peniel (Face of God) for he has seen God face to face there, and his life is preserved with God giving him his new name, Israel. (Genesis 32:30)

In the days of Jesus’s sojourning on earth, many people living in Israel had had the opportunity to see Jesus. Though they saw Him, the great majority did not see Jesus for who He is. As Jeremiah 5:21 puts it prophetically, they had eyes and see not as well as ears and hear not.

Before his proclamation of the coming Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6, the prophet saw the Lord and described his encounter in Isaiah 6:1-5 (NKJV):-

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. ² Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one cried to another and said:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!” ⁴ And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵ So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.””

Not having seen Jesus would not make us less of a believer in Him. As Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Whether we have seen Jesus or not, we can still receive a revelation knowledge (Gr. epignosis: true, accurate, thorough, full knowledge of God) just as how Peter, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, perceived Jesus to be the Christ and Paul spoke of how the gospel which was preached by him is not according to man, but came through the revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11-12).

If Jesus has a Facebook account without a picture of His face, we could still learn much about Him through his writings. And, that’s just like how we obtained much of what we know about Him through the Holy Bible and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

As John, the disciple who has a thorough grasp of how much God loves him and described himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, had seen Jesus again while he was exiled in the island of Patmos, it could well be that the Jesus he beheld would be one whom we are unfamiliar with, depending on our knowledge of who Jesus really is in the fullness of His glory. John said, “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.” (Revelation 1:17a; NKJV)

Take heart, it’s fine to wanna see the face of God and live. Though Moses did not get to see His face in the Old Testament, he did see Jesus face to face on the Mount of Transfiguration in the New Testament. As Jesus said, he who has seen Him has seen the Father.

In anticipation, much as we desire to see Jesus face to face, I think God is anticipating the look on our faces, too, when we see Him face to face.

For now, the next time we sing Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus by Helen H. Lemmel, it would (I hope) bring greater depth and richness to our walk of faith.