Day 2 of Advent, 12/4/23: Just Say the Word (Matthew 8:8)

A Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his sick dying servant by saying, "But just say the word, and my servant will be healed" (Mt 8:8; Lk 7:7). He didn't think it necessary for Jesus to come and heal him in person by placing his hands on him, but to "just say the word," because he understood Jesus' authority as a centurion with authority over 100 Roman soldiers whom he knows will do whatever he says. He is the only person Jesus commended for having "such great faith" (Mt 8:10; Lk 7:9). [Watch Season 3 of The Chosen.] 

Faith under Fire (Psalm 73)

Find your Faltering, Flickering, Fading Faith under Fire: "...till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood …" (Ps 73:17).

A. Faith professed (Ps 73:1). God is good.

B. Faith questioned (Ps 73:2-14). The evil of envy.

C. Faith refocused (Ps 73:15-20). A new perspective.

B1. Faith unquestioned (Ps 73:21-26). Guided by God's counsel.

A1. Faith affirmed (Ps 73:27-28). God's closeness is good.

5 books of Psalms corresponding to the Torah:

1. Book 1 (1-41). Genesis. Songs of relationship...with God.
2. Book 2 (42-72). Exodus. Songs of redemption...delivernace by God.
3. Book 3 (73-89). Leviticus. Songs of refuge. Sanctuary of God. [reflection]
4. Book 4 (90-106). Numbers. Songs of repercussion. Rebellion...against God.
5. Book 5 (107-150). Deuteronomy. Songs of revival. Renewal with God.

Faith - Flannery O'Connor

Faith is not just a matter of intellectual assent, but also a matter of lived experience.

My faith comes and goes. It rises and falls. It lives and seemingly dies or disappears and vanishes. It encourages me and also leads to despair and depression. My faith often feels like it is faltering. Is it even there or am I just imagining that I have faith?

Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection, Tim Keller, 2021

• Why is it that "my head believes," but "my heart is not moved"?

Faith is the work of the Holy Spirit and is a mixture of reason [truth] and experience, intellect and emotion, the rational and the existential, the theological and the practical, the head and the heart. Thus, faith is not solely a matter of intellectual assent to certain theological propositions, but also involves the experiential and practical aspects of life.

Only in the cross is divinity and humanity reconciled. With the church there will always be attrition and retention.

• What is the difference between relative hope in human agency and infallible hope in God? 210-211.
• Christian hope means that I stop betting my life and happiness on human agency and rest in God alone.
• If you know--and keep remembering--that resurrection happened and is coming, you won't ever be in utter darkness. 215-216. Epilogue (Ps 118:22-23).

How's your heart, courage and faith?

𝒀𝑶𝑼, 𝑰, 𝑾𝑬 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘...

What is God's message for us? Sun, 3/29/2020

These are my thoughts and reflections, primarily from the comments and questions after the sermon on Sunday (3/29/2020): Create Peace, not Fear or Anger (Mark 6:34-46).

• Nianzu asked, "What is God's message to us at this time of the coronavirus pandemic?" My spontaneous reply was that God's message to each person is different. What do you think God's message is to you?

• Defi said, "Feed your faith, not your fear." How true.

• Jim's reply to Michael's question about what Jacob needed to struggle with God and man was, "Though God saves us, we still need to struggle for we still have sin in us." (My paraphrase of Jim's answer.)

• Yohan's comment, which reminded me of his book Reclaiming our Political Roots, was sad yet true: "The heroes and first responders in times of crisis in the past used to be Christians, the Christian hospitals and the churches, but today it is the government."

• Whitney commented and and asked a question about how non-Christians might perceive a Christian's lack of fear as arrogance and bravado.

• Elena commented that Herod's banquet of unlimited high end booze and top notch food sounded better than Jesus' simple fish and loaves...

• Both Adrian and Chris commented how apt this text spoke relevantly to our current situation,

Thanks to all who participated and contributed to a lively exchange after the sermon.

Faith is a gift, not a virtue

The First Servant Song (Isaiah 42)

Hope, Trust and Wait on the Lord (Isa 40:31).

"Even if the enemy's foot be on your neck, expect to rise and overthrow him. Cast the burden of the present, along with the sin of the past and the fear of the future, upon the Lord, who forsakes not His saints. Live by the day—ay, by the hour. Put no trust in frames and feelings. Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement. Trust in God alone, and lean not on the needs of human help." Charles Spurgeon.

42:1-25 (The Servant Saves)

1. God's chosen servant will establish justice on earth (1-4) [Will "not" occurs 7 times in 2-4.]
   
1. God prepares the servant to bring justice (1)
2. What the servant will not do to bring justice (2-3)
3. The servant will not fail to bring justice to all (4)
   
2. God's servant will be a covenant and light (5-9)
1. God the Creator speaks (5)
2. The servant's mission (6-7)
3. God's name is glorified (8-9)
   
3. Sing a hymn of praise to glorify God (10-13)
1. Call for people to sing God's praise (10-11)
2. Reason for praising God (13)
4. God will deliver and forgive the sins of his blind servants (14-25)
1. The blind are not forsaken (14-17)
1. A time of divine silence (14)
2. A time of destruction (15)
3. A time for guidance and light (16)
4. Shame for those who trust idols (17)
   
2. The blind servant's sins result in punishment (18-25)
1. Israel is my blind servant (18-20)
2. God gave them his law (21)
3. The people were plundered (22)
4. Will anyone listen (23)
5. God plundered Jacob for not obeying his law (24)
6. God sent war; Israel did not understand (25)
   

Gospel Credit (Rom 4:1-25)

Rom 4:1-25; 4:5

"But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness" (Rom 4:5, HCSB). "However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness" (Rom 4:5, NIV).

What are the things that bring you great happiness in life? What are the best things that you have in life? Likely they include persons and things about your life that delight you and bring you love, joy and peace. Good food does that for me, since I am a foodie. I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit that during my latest and current trip to Manila and Malaysia I gained 9 lbs (4 kg) in a month! It seems that I turn into a glutton whenever I go back to eating food that I ate growing up. I also love pets. Thus, I also loathe to hear about cruelty inflicted to animals who are virtually at the mercy of humans. It seems as though I still grieve inwardly whenever I think about losing both my dog and my cat. Surely the best things we have that bring us delight and joy are people close to us. After 33 years of marriage my favorite person is still my wife, who is my best friend and the person I would most rather be with...even if we annoy each other whenever we are together. Usually it is in fun and jest. At other times it is our unintentional highly annoying idiosyncrasies. I wrote this last year after 32 years of marriage. As a grandfather, it is such a delight to just see my grandkids pictures and videos on Facebook and Skype. I've also experienced good heath and success in life. Virtually all the things that brings me happiness and joy are basically free gifts. As Christian I realize that I deserve and earn none of them. If anything, I know that I deserve the opposite. I know that the countless blessings I experience are all entirely God's mercy and grace to me, freely given, especially His Son (Gal 2:20, MSG). God blessed me before I believed in Him. God continues to pour out his blessings upon my life after my conversion in 1980. The key verse Rom 4:5 fully resonates with me in that I did nothing but sin as an ungodly person (Isa 64:6; Gen 6:5), while God only blessed (credited) my life as though I lived a perfect life (2 Cor 5:21), which is anything but the truth.

The Gospel Excludes Pride and Boasting (Rom 3:27-31)

Romans 3:27-31; 3:28

"So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law" (Rom 3:28, NLT). "Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law" (Rom 3:27-28, NIV).

I love to boast about my uniqueness. I'm an introvert. Though I love engaging and interacting with others, I also love my time alone time of solitude, reading, meditation and contemplation. I'm autonomously driven. Though I will listen to what others say, ultimately I'll make my own decision, even if it is unpopular. I'm an agent provocateur. I simply love stirring things up. I even love annoying my cats and my wife in fun and jest. Incidentally, my cats are often annoyed by me and swipe at me in response, but my wife has accepted my highly annoying idiosyncrasy as part of our complex marital intimacy and joy...most of the time.

The Daniel Plan

Rick Warren's new book, The Daniel Plan, encourages healthy living based on the following essentials (Tim Challies' review.):

1. Faith (Phil 4:13).
2. Food (1 Cor 10:31).
3. Fitness (1 Cor 6:19a, 20b).
4. Focus (Rom 12:2).
5. Friends (Eccl 4:9).

I. FAITH

1. God Wants Us to Chew On His Word (Josh 1:8).
2. For Good Health, Confess Your Sin (Ps 32:3-5).
3. Eliminate Negative Self-Talk (Prov 4:23; Phil 4:8).
   
4. Be Grateful, Not Regretful (Eccl 6:9b; 1 Cor 4:7-8).
5. Your Life is Shaped by Your Thoughts (Rom 12:2).
6. You Need God's Power to Change (Rom 7:24-25).
7. You Need a Battle Buddy (Jas 5:16).
8. Trusting God is Good For Your Health (Ps 116:7; cf. Prov 14:30).
9. Stop Procrastinating (Phil 4:13; Prov 13:16; 27:1).

Faith (Deuteronomy 2 - 3)

The Theology of Remembrance. This may be a major theme of Deuteronomy: When the people of God remember the grace of God that redeemed them from slavery, they will want to obey him wholeheartedly. Ajith Fernando titles his sermons of Dueteronomy as "Loving Obedience to a Loving God." When we remember how much God loves us in saving us, we will thus want to lovingly (rather than grudgingly) obey him.

The theme of each chapter. Though there is much overlap and repetition throughout the book of Deuteronomy, the following may be identified as the single predominant theme of the initial chapters (in brackets):

1. Sin (1)
2. Faith (2-3)

How can a Holy God "Credit" Sinners with Righteousness? (Gen 15:1-6)

"Abram believed the LORD, and he (God) credited it to him as righteousness" (Gen 15:6). "Credited" has also been translated "counted" or "reckoned." 

How can a holy God "credit" a sinner with righteousness? This seems to contradict the Bible, which says that God "does not leave the guilty unpunished" (Exo 34:7), and that God's "eyes are too pure to look on evil" (Hab 1:13). 

Yet, through out the OT, God rescues his people and establishes personal relationships with those who continually fail to meet his standard of righteousness (Gen 15:1-6). Also, God refuses to credit sin to sinners (Ps 32:1-2; Rom 4:7-8). On what basis can a just and holy God do such things?

How the Divine Deals with our Doubts (Gen 15:1-21)

"...how can I know...?" (Gen 15:8)

In response to people’s delight in his failure to win the 2011 NBA finals, LeBron James said this after he lost (June 12, 2011): ““All the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they have to get back to the real world at some point.”

He's not going to win any friends or fans by his careless defensive remarks as the loser. But what he says is true. Similarly, Henry Thoreau observed, "The masses of men lead lives of quiet desperation." From Genesis 15, we will see how God helped Abram face life in the real world of personal problems and quiet desperation.


Theme: God gives real confidence to Abram when he had humanly irresolvable doubts about God and about himself.


Goal: To plant confidence in God’s people when they are filled with their own doubts, sorrows and fears.


Application: Only the bloody cross of Jesus taking our sins upon himself enables us to live with real confidence in the real world, despite all of our doubts that are inevitable.