Category: 其他书信

How do we renew our fellowship with God?

Preached on 2023-2-16 at DTS.

(Image)

            I like to tell you a story about a little girl named Priscilla. Priscilla’s father that loves her very much, and she loved her father too. Growing up, she enjoyed sweet fellowship with her father. She especially enjoyed their fellowship when they walked a beautiful garden near their house on every Saturday morning. She eventually grew up to be a successful businesswoman. She worked very hard to advance her career. But she seldom had the time to call her father. The father calls her frequently and longs for his daughter to visit him, but Priscilla had other priorities and seldom returns his calls. They have not walked the garden for a long time. They are not as close as before. She is losing her fellowship with her father.

(Needs)

            How about you? Are you so busy with studies and ministry that you have neglected to fellowship with God, your heavenly Father? Maybe you are not as close to your heavenly Father as before. Maybe you are feeling lonely or empty deep inside you. These may be signs that you are losing your fellowship with God. It is a sad thing to gain your ThM but lose your fellowship with God. What do you need to know about God to renew your fellowship with Him? What do you need to change if you want to renew your fellowship with God?

(Subject)

            My subject today is “How do we renew our fellowship with God?”. Again, my subject today is “How to renew our fellowship with God?” Our text for today is 1 John 1:5-10. In 1 John 1:5-10, God tells us there are three things we to need to do to renew our fellowship with God.

(Background)

            1 John was written by Joh at his old age to his spiritual children so that they can have fellowship with John and with God the Father and with His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Please look with me at 1 John 1:3, “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

(Body)

(Transition)

            How do we renew our fellowship with God?

(Main Point 1)

First, we must know God is light.

(Explain)

Please look at 1:5 with me, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Why must we know God is light to have fellowship with God? Because John singled this out of all God’s characters when discussing fellowship with God. This is very obvious that John 1:5-10 is about fellowship with God, for John mentioned fellowship twice in verse 3 and again twice in verses 6-7, which we will discuss later.

What is the meaning that God is light? It means God is holy. Please look at the second part of verse 5 with me. “in God there is no darkness at all.” Light represents moral purity. The light-darkness theme is one of John’s signatures in his gospel and his epistles. Later in 2:20, he wrote that God is “the Holy One”. God’s moral purity forms the basis of His relationship with us. No darkness “at all” means God is absolutely pure. Holiness is the only character of God that is repeated three times in a roll in Scripture. In Rev 4:8, John wrote that in heaven, the four living creatures worship God by singing, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty.”

(Illustration)

            Let me illustration this. I brought my family to visit the McDonald Observatory in West Texas recently. The Observatory has one of the largest telescopes in the US. We joined its Sun viewing program, where an expert showed us live views of the Sun through a telescope. The Sun is so bright that if you look at it with your bare eyes, you will go blind. They had to put in special filters in the telescope to look at the Sun. I know that the Sun is bright, but the experience expanded my knowledge and understanding of the brightness of the Sun. However, I found out that even the Sun has dark spots due to different in temperature on the surface of the Sun. The sun, God is bright, God is light, He is Holy. But unlike the sun, God has not dark spots, in Him is no darkness at all!

(Application)

            You can only enjoy fellowship with God to the extent of your knowledge of His holiness. He is light, He is holy, and in Him is no darkness at all!

            Next time when you sing the song, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” do not just sing it. You need to know that God is light, He is Holy, and in Him is no darkness at all! You need to see with your spiritual eyes that God is light, He is Holy, and in Him is no darkness at all! You need to meditate that God is light, He is Holy, and in Him is no darkness at all! You need to grasp that God is light, He is Holy, and in Him is no darkness at all! I suggest you take time in your devotion to meditate on the holiness of God. He is light, He is holy, and in Him is no darkness at all!

(Transition)

            How do we renew our fellowship with God? First, we must know God is light. But fellowship with God is not only about our mind; it is also about our will and our actions. How do we renew our fellowship with God?

(Main Point 2)

We must walk in the light because God is in the light.

(Explain)

Please see look verses 6-7 with me, “If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practise the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

What is the meaning of walking in the light? Walking in the light means walking with God. How do I know that? Look at verse 7 with me. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light.” God is in the light; when we walk in the light, we are walking with God. What does it mean to walk with God? It means living a life in obedience to the word of God. Fellowship with God is not only in our devotion, although that is important. Fellowship with God, who is light, is a lifestyle of walking in holiness with God, who is holy, who is in the light.

What would happen if we do not walk in the light and say that we have fellowship with God? We become liars, and we do not practice the truth.

What would happen if we walked in the light? When we walked in the light, two things will happen. First, we have fellowship with one another. Some commentators think it means fellowship with God; some think it means fellowship with other believers. I think John could mean both. When we walk in the light, we will have fellowship with God, but we will also have fellowship with other Christians as a result of us living according to God’s word.

Second, the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. Walking in the light does not mean we live a sinless life. Walking in the light means we sincerely practice God’s word, although we still will fall short of the perfect holiness of God, or else there is no sin to cleanse. This verse shows us that the blood of Jesus does not only work to make us righteous in our justification; it also works to make us holy in our sanctification. We thank God for the blood of His Son! Because nothing can wash away our sin, but the blood of Jesus! “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus; What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” The text emphasized the blood of “Jesus His Son” to highlight God’s love for us! The theme of love is another of John’s signatures in his writings. The blood of Jesus is a reference to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. God loves us so much that He sent His begotten Son to die for us!

(Illustration)

            Let me illustrate this. Last Summer, I brought my family to hike the Rocky Mountains. One day, we were hiking the Chasm Lake trail, one of the more challenging but beautiful trails in the entire park. Its peak is at 9400 feet elevation! We told my son he must walk with us. We told him we must walk in the daylight because it would be dangerous to walk at night. At one point, my son did not obey my words; we were separated. We could not have fellowship when we were not walking together. We were so worried about his safety. Thank God we finally found him, and we walked together again. (Explain the illustration) In the same manner, to renew our fellowship with God the Father, we must walk with God by walking in the light as God is in the light.

(Application)

            Are you walking in the light or walking in the darkness? If you say you are having fellowship with God but are walking in darkness, you are a liar. Do you practice what you teach and preach? Are you so busy with studies and ministry that you ignore loving your family and friends? I suggest you slow down, examine your current lifestyle, and ask the Lord what you can change so that you walk with God again. Maybe you need to call your parents more. Maybe you need to be more patience to difficult people in your life. Maybe you need to trust God more. Maybe you need to keep your body holy for God. Maybe you need to you need to stop watching the movies or youtube videos that are corrupting your mind and heart.

(Transition)

            How do we renew our fellowship with God? We must know that God is light, we must walk in the light because God is in the light. Does that mean you need to be a sinless, perfect Christian in order to have fellowship with God? (pause) No. In fact, walking in the light will make us more aware of our sins. Therefore,

(Main Point 3)

            We must confess our sins as we walk in the light (1:8-10)

(Explain)

            Please look at verses 8-10. “ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Walking in the light will reveal our sin. The more we walk with God, the more we see our sins, not because we sin more, but because we are closer to the God who is holy. What would happen if we did not confess our sin? If we did not confess our sin, we will not lose our salvation, but we will lose our fellowship with God. Verse 8 says if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth of God is not shaping our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. Verse 10 says if we say we have not sinned, we made God a liar, and God’s word is not in us.

What will happen if we confess our sins? God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The word sins is plural. It means we need to confess a particular sin, not just sin in general. Some Christians think they do not need to confess their sins. It is not biblical. Jesus also taught us to ask God for forgiveness in the Lord’s prayer. God is faithful means God will keep His promises. We can count on Him! God is just means God demands justice for our sins, and justice has been paid by the blood of Jesus His Son! What does all unrighteousness mean? All unrighteousness means all unrighteousness!

(Illustration)

Let me illustrate this. There is a super washing machine that is free. You don’t need to put in money in it. It is free. It can wash away the worst stain. But you need to put your dirty cloth in it. In the same manner, you do not need to pay for the forgiveness of your sins, because Jesus has paid it all. But you need to confess your sins. There is no sin that is deeper than the forgiveness of God. I like the song, Jesus has paid it all, do you? “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

(Application)

            When was the list time you confessed your sins to God? Last week? Last month? Last year? How frequently do you confess your sins? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Yearly? Or never? Maybe you have slowly become arrogant as you learned more in seminary, confess your sin. God will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness! Maybe you have neglected your family when pursuing your ministry, confess your sin. God will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness! Maybe you have walked in the darkness, confess your sin. God will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness!

            God the Father is saying, “My child, confess your sins to me, I will forgive the wrong you had done. Any wrong you have done. Because my Son, has paid it all! My Son, has died for you. My Son had shed His blood for you! My child, confess your sins to me.”

How do you actually confess your sins? One suggestion is you can incorporate confession into your daily routine, so you can do it daily. You can add a short confession time to your daily devotion. If you have neglected your daily devotional time with God, God is telling you today, you need to come to Him again. You need to walk with Him again. Ask the Lord to show you is there any thing you have done that have sinned against Him and ask for His forgiveness.

(Conclusion)

(Close Opening Image)

            One Saturday morning, Priscilla finally took the time to call her dad. She said, “Dad, I am sorry I have not returned your calls. Will you forgive me?” “Of course, my child,” her father replied. “Why don’t you come over for a brunch?” Priscilla drives across town to spend time with her dad on that bright Saturday morning. Her dad cooked a delicious brunch for her. After brunch, they walked together in the beautiful garden near his house, just like before. She had a wonderful time of fellowship with her dad. She had renewed her fellowship with her father.

(HP)

How do we renew our fellowship with God? To renew our fellowship with God, we must know God is light, we must walk in the light as God is in the light, and we must confess our sins as we walk in the light.

2023-02-18
What can you do to win spiritual warfare? (James 3:1-4:12)

Preached at Prosper Fellowship Church Youth Service on Dec 4, 2022.

Introduction (5 mins)

Peace to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to speak God’s Word to you today. Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Ken Yeo. I was born and raised in Malaysia. I am married to Sarah, a godly beautiful lady from Chengdu, China. We have a 10-year-old boy, Isaac. I am a preacher. I moved here to continue my theological education at Dallas Theological Seminary a year ago.

(Image) Because I am new to Texas, I like to bring my family to visit interesting places in Texas. During Thanksgiving week, we went to the National Pacific War Museum at Fredericksburg. It is a fantastic museum about World War II. Do you know that three days from today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day? 81 years ago, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched an air attack on Pearl Harbor that plunged the US into World War II. War is a horrible thing. At the end of the war, a total of 16 million Americans served in WWII. 750,000 were Texans. 25,000 Texans died. The soldiers could be as young as 15. Imagine how stressful it was for those 15-year-old boys and girls.

(Need) Thank God that today we are not WWII. However, all Christians are involved in another kind of war. It is called spiritual warfare. You are at war with yourself, with the world, and with the devil. The devil is constantly using the world to tempt you to go against God. Conflict in life is a sign that you are in spiritual warfare.

What kind of conflicts are you facing right now in your life? Maybe you have a conflict with your parents? Maybe you had an argument with one of your friends? Maybe you are not in a good relationship with one of your classmates. Maybe you have a tense relationship with one of your teachers at school. Or maybe you have a conflict with someone at church. How do you feel when you are in a conflict? Maybe you feel depressed? Maybe you feel nervous? Or lost? Do you feel powerless?

(Subject) Today, my subject is “What can you do to win spiritual warfare?”

(Text) Our scripture for today is James 3:1-4:12. This section of James is a unit because it starts and ends with topics that are related to our words. Because I do not want you to stay here longer than you need to, and we have a large passage, I will only cover the main ideas.

(Preview) I have three main points. I will take about the problem, the solution, and the practical application.

Body (20 mins)

Problem: Our tongues are destructive, and we cannot tame them (3:1-12) (7 mins)

Main point 1 is the problem: Our tongues are destructive. What is the cause of conflicts in our life? Well, there could be main causes, but James is focusing on one major cause of conflict in our life, which is our tongue.

(Subpoint 1) Our tongues control the rest of our bodies. Let’s look at verses 2 and 4. “For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.” He says our tongues, although small, control our bodies. Just like a small bit could control a large horse, and small rudders could control a big ship.

(Subpoint 2) Our tongues are destructive. They defile us and hurt others. Let’s read verses 5-6, “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.”

(Subpoint 3) And we do not have the power to tame our tongues. Verses 7-8 say, “For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

(Subpoint 4) Our tongues reveal our hearts. Let’s look at verses 11 and 12, “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.” When you yell at your parents, your tongues reveal the pride of your hearts.

Our tongues are destructive, and we cannot tame them.

(illustration) Two ducks and a rather egotistical frog developed a friendship. When their pond dried up, the ducks knew they could easily fly to another location, but what of their friend the frog? Finally, they decided to fly with a stick between their two bills, and with the frog hanging onto the stick by his mouth. All went well until a man looked up and saw them in the sky. “What a clever idea,” said the man. “I wonder who thought of that?” “I did,” said the frog. Just like the frog, our prideful words hurt us. And in real life, hurt others as well. Our tongues are destructive, and we cannot tame them.

(Application) I want you to think about the conflicts you have with your parents. What words did you say that hurt your parents lately? (pause) Think about the hurt your words have caused in their hearts. Maybe your friend said something that hurt you.

(Transition) What can you do to win this spiritual warfare?

Solution: We need the wisdom from above to win this war (3:13-18) (7 mins)

Main point 2 is the solution. The solution is we need the wisdom from above to win this spiritual warfare.

(Subpoint 1) The tongues reflect our hearts: full of jealousy and selfishness (3:14). Look at verse 14 with me. “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.” Our words manifest the condition of our hearts.

(Subpoint 2) The reason you have jealousy and selfishness in your heart is that you have been influent by worldly wisdom. Let’s look at verses 15-16: “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” Pay attention to the adjectives of worldly wisdom: earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. Worldly wisdom is demonic. It came from the Devil. Satan wants to influent your heart with the wisdom of the world. He uses materialistic social media influencers to ignite your heart with jealousy. He uses music videos that are filled with selfish ambition to fuel your lustful passion.

(Illustration) Recently I witnessed the power of worldly influent on a youth. I was at a thanksgiving dinner. A mom asked her son to come to eat dinner. The son, who was busy playing violent video games on his phone and, at the same time, watching a violent video on his iPad, replied, “get out of my face!”. This youth was being influent by worldly wisdom.

(Application) What area of your life is being influent by worldly wisdom? I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to examine your heart right now. Ask the Spirit to reveal to you what you have done that hurt people whom you love in your life. Or maybe you have been hurt by someone who is influent by worldly wisdom.

(Subpoint 3) Do we have hope for our problem? Yes. Our hope is the wisdom from above. Look at verses 17-18 with me, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” If you live by the wisdom from heaven, your life will fill with peace, shalom. Think about the feeling of lying on a beach listening to the wave of the ocean. Think about standing at the top of a secluded high mountain, looking out at the vast beautiful landscape in silence.

We need the wisdom from above to win this spiritual warfare.

(Transition) We talked about the problem is our tongues, which is a reflection of our hearts’ condition, and the solution is the wisdom from above. But what does living out the wisdom from above look like?

Application: Submit and humble yourselves before God, and He will exalt you (4:1-10)

This is our third and final main point. To live by the wisdom from above, you need to submit and humble yourselves before God, and He will exalt you.

You have two choices. Option 1, befriend the world, but enmity with God! Option 2, befriend God but enmity with the world. What would you choose?

(Subpoint 1) If you live by the wisdom of the world, you will be at war with ourselves and others, and be friends with the world and become enmity with God. Let’s look at 4:1-4, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

(Subpoint 2) If you live by the wisdom from above, you should submit and humble before the Lord, and He will exalt you, meaning God will give you the power to have victory over your sinful nature, the devil, and the world. Let’s look at 4:7-10, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

(Summary) You are in conflict with people because of what you speak. What you speak reveals the condition of your heart. Satan is constantly influencing your heart with this fallen world. Therefore, you need the wisdom from above. To live by the wisdom from above, you need to submit yourself to God and humble yourself before the Lord.

Conclusion (5 mins)

(Christ) I know some of you have tried and failed. That is because you do not have the power to do it (pause)… unless you see that Jesus Christ is the only one who has fully submitted Himself to God and humbled Himself before God. Christ is the Son of God. He is equal in power and majestic with God the Father. But He willingly submitted Himself to the Father to come down on this earth as a human to live a completely devoted life to God. Jesus came to find you. He was in total submission to the Father, to the point that He was crucified on the cross for your sins.

Your words are destructive, but His words are truth and give life. The solution to resolving conflicts in life is to live by the wisdom from above. You know what? Jesus is the wisdom from heaven! Col 2:3 says all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ! 1 Cor 1:30 says, Jesus Christ became to us wisdom from God! You failed to fight with the world and the devil. But Christ has complete victory over the world and the devil. The tomb is empty. Christ has risen.

Not only that. If you believe in Him, He is going to come and live in you. Many of you grew up in the church, but you have not believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. You have been living under the kingdom of darkness. Today, Christ is taking to you. He wants to redeem you from the power of the world and the dominion of the devil. Will you put your trust in Jesus Christ now? (pause) Please come to talk to me after the service if you want to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Many of you are already Christians. But you are living under the influent of the devil instead of Christ. You are living by the wisdom of the world instead of wisdom from heaven. To submit to nobody instead of submitting to God, who saved you. You are living with pride in your heart instead of living in humbly before the Lord. Will you repent and renew your commitment to Christ today? When you submit to God, you will have the power to resist the devil, and the devil will flee from you. When you humble yourselves before the Lord, He will exalt you. That is the promise from God. No matter what conflict you are facing in life, you can have victory. That is God’s promise to you. He will exalt you.

How does submission to God looks like? First, if you hurt someone, apologize to him or her. Second, if you have been hurt by someone, forgive him or her, because Christ has forgiven you.

Let’s pray.

2022-12-12
Eternal Rewards for Pastors

Introduction

(Image) Imagine your graduation day has finally arrived. You are extremely excited. You have worked very hard for four years. You have been waiting for this day to come. At the graduation service, your friends and family are there. Your fellow graduates are there. The professors are there. The president, Dr. Mark Yarbrough, is there.

Your name is called. You walked up to the stage. Dr. Yarbrough is examining your transcript for a final check. You are standing in front of him nervously. Dr. Yarbrough finally looks up. He said, “we got some problems. First, a professor in the pastoral ministry department has reported that you plagiarize your outline and manuscript. We have decided that you have not been faithful to the task the Lord has called you to do at the seminary. Second, your parents told us you have never called or visited them during seminary. And the scholarship department has reported that you lied about your financial situation. Therefore, we have decided that your character is unsuitable for serving the church as a preacher. And finally, I can read your heart. Your motive to study at seminary is to glorify yourself with your own power by preaching your ideas instead of God’s word. I am sorry to tell you that you have lost your ThM degree.” And then you woke up. You are on your bed, dreaming. It is not graduation day yet.

(Needs) The story was totally made up. Dr. Yarbrough cannot read your heart to find out your motives to study and serve the Lord. But the Lord can. One day, at the end of this church age, the Lord Jesus will return. You will stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of your life and ministry. The judgment seat of Christ is not about eternal salvation. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph 2:9) . You already have it. You will never lose it. The Lord has paid the price to redeem you at the cross. His precious blood has cleansed all your sins. Your salvation is secure in His hands. The judgment at the judgment seat of Christ is about eternal rewards. How you live your life for Christ will determine your eternal rewards. It is a very important topic for all Christians, especially for teachers in the church, because “we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” (James 3:1).

(Subject) What I want to talk about today is “How you live for Christ in this life will determine how Christ will reward you in eternity.” We only have one life. We only have one shot. Therefore, we need to take this topic seriously.

(Text and Preview) We will be looking at three passages of scriptures today. They are 1 Corinthians 4:4-5; Luke 19:11-27; and 1 Pet 5:1-4. We will look at one basis for eternal rewards in each passage, for a total of three bases that will determine our rewards in eternity.

Body

Your motives in ministry determine how Christ will reward you in eternity.

(Explanation) First, your motives in ministry will determine how Christ will reward you in eternity. I get the principle from 1 Corinthians 4:4-5. “For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

Some of the Corinthians believers have been judging Paul’s motives in ministry. Paul said, “I have examined my heart, as far as I know, I am not aware of anything against myself. But I am not the judge. Christ is”. When the Lord returns, He will reveal the purposes of our hearts. We will receive praise from the Lord based on our motives in ministry.

(Illustration) I believe Paul gave a parable earlier in chapter 3 that illustrates this principle. He gave the parable of builders. A builder could build a building using gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. At the end of the construction, the building will be tested with fire. Only what was built with gold, silver, and precious stones will remain. What was built with wood, hay, and straw will be burned up.

Similarly, at the judgment seat of Christ, all our motives in ministry will be tested. All the purposes of our hearts will be revealed before the Lord. Any work we did with the motive to glorify ourselves instead of glorying God will be burned up. Only the work with motives that please the Lord will remain.

(Application) What is your motive for studying in seminary? What is your motive to serve the Lord? Is your motive to glory your name or to glorify Christ’s name? While you can hide your motive today, you cannot hide from the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ. If your motive is to glorify yourselves, your work will be burned up at the judgment seat of Christ.

Let’s be honest, no one has completely pure motives all the time in this life. All of us will have some self-glorifying motives in ministry. Therefore, you need to frequently ask the Lord to help you examine your motives in ministry. Every time when you embark on a project or ministry, ask yourself this question, “will this glorify Christ or glorify me?” Ask the Lord to give you a pure heart to serve Him. Ask the Lord to reveal more of His love to you so that your motive is to respond to His love and to glory Him. You serve Him because His love compels you. That is why Paul lived for Christ. He reveals his motive in the second letter to the Corinthians, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:14-15).

Your faithfulness in ministry determines how Christ will reward you in eternity.

(Explanation) Not only will your motives determine how Christ will reward you in eternity, your faithfulness to what Christ has entrusted to you will also determines how Christ will reward you in eternity. I get this principle from Luke 19:11-27, the parable of the minas. Jesus told this parable at the end of His journey from Jericho to Jerusalem. It goes like this. A nobleman went to a far country to receive His kingdom. Before he left, he gave one mina, which is about 100 days of wages, equivalent to about $20,000 in today’s money, to each of his ten servants and told them to engage in business until he returned. When the nobleman returned, he ordered the servants to give an account of what they had done with the one mina.

The first servant reported he had turned the one mina to ten minas. The nobleman praised him, “Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little (v17), you shall have authority over ten cities. The second servant reported he had turned the one mina to five minas. And the nobleman rewarded the faithful servant with five cities. But the third servant did not do anything with the one mina. The nobleman took the only mina he had and gave it to the first servant, who had ten minas. What is the point of the parable? Your faithfulness to what Christ has entrusted to you in this life determines how Christ will reward you in eternity.

(Illustration) I used to work in IT. There are two kinds of programmers. The sloppy and the faithful. How can you tell one from the other? A regular person will not be able to tell because it is behind the scenes. What separates a faithful programmer from a sloppy programmer is his code. A sloppy programmer writes code without proper structure and without comments. But a faithful programmer writes code with proper structure and with proper comments so that other programmers can look at the code and know what he is trying to do. A faithful programmer puts in the hard work behind the scenes that is not apparent to the end users.

(Application) Similarly, if you want to be a faithful preacher, you will need to put in the hard work that may not be apparent to the congregation. (Smile) You cannot avoid it. Some people will think you only work for one hour on Sunday when you preach in the pulpit. But none of the work you do will be in vain. The Lord knows all the hard work you put in behind the scenes, and He will reward you lavishly. In the parable, the nobleman lavishly rewards the first servant who turned one mina, about $20,000, to ten minas, about $200,000, with authority over ten cities. When you are faithful in little things, the Lord will reward you with greater responsibilities in eternity.

In today’s celebrity church culture, men praise famous preachers, but the Lord praises faithful preachers. Faithfulness means doing the hard work of exegesis. Faithfulness means do not compromise the word of God in fear of men. Faithfulness means doing the hard work of knowing God’s people and applying the Scriptures to their life. Faithfulness means praying for the flocks God has entrusted you even when no one knows it. Men praise famous preachers, but the Lord praises faithful preachers. Therefore, serve the Lord faithfully with the spiritual gifts the Lord has entrusted to you.

Your character in life determines how Christ will reward you in eternity.

(Explanation) Not only your motives and faithfulness in ministry will determine how Christ will reward you in eternity. Your character in life will also determine how Christ will reward you in eternity. I get the principle from 1 Peter 5:1-4. “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

Pastors are not only called to preach the word faithfully; pastors are called to practice the word faithfully. Pastors are also called to be examples to the flock of God. Pastors are not only called to apply the word to the flock of God; pastors are called to apply the word to themselves first. When the Chief Shepherd, Christ, returns, He will judge pastors based on their character in life and will reward those who reflect the character of the Chief Shepherd with the unfading crown of glory. Character matters.

(Illustration) When I was a young man, I used to love cycling. And Lance Armstrong was my hero. After beating testicular cancer that had already spread to other parts of his body in 1996, Lance Armstrong won Tour de France, the most prestigious and difficult race in cycling in the world, in 1999. Not only that, he repeated the victory seven times in a row before retiring at the age of 33! His status was really elevated, and he became one of the most revered athletes of all time. However, in 2012, US Anti-Doping Agency reported that Armstrong cheated in the races with illegal drugs. In 2013, Armstrong publicly admitted that he doped during each of his Tour de France wins. He was stripped of his seven Tour de France victories. Character matters. Because of his character, he lost all seven of his rewards. (pause)

(Application) Similarly, your character in life will determine how Christ will reward you in eternity. How you love your family will determine how Christ will reward you in eternity.

How you treat your friends determines how Christ will reward you in eternity.

How you love your neighbors determines how Christ will reward you in eternity.

How you serve the church will determine how Christ will reward you in eternity.

How you live for Christ in this life will determine how Christ will reward you in eternity.

Your character in life matters.

Therefore, you need to cultivate your character to be more like Christ starting today. Are you spending time with the Lord daily? Do you take time to reflect on your relationship with the Lord and with the people in your life? Are you constantly abiding in the Lord like a branch abiding in the vine? Does your family sense that you love them? Do your friends and classmates sense that you care for them?

I like to suggest two applications for you. First, no matter how busy you are, spend some time alone with the Lord daily. Talk to the Lord. Hear from the Lord. Cultivate your relationship with the Lord. Second, look around you and ask the Lord whom you can show the love of Christ in this stage of your life. Take a step of faith and reach out to that person. Help him, encourage her, support him. Cultivate your character starting today because a Christlike character is not formed in one day. A Christlike character is formed slowly over a long period of walking with the Lord, submitting to His will, trusting Him, and taking small steps of faith daily to extend the love of Christ to people God has put in your life. If you do that, slowly and surely, you will be more like Christ, the Chief Shepard, over time. And when you meet Him at the judgment seat of Christ, you will be rewarded with the unfading crown of glory. Your character in life will determine how Christ will reward you in eternity.

Conclusion

(Close intro Image, cast vision, repeat HP and main points) Imagine it is graduation day. But this time, this is not a dream. It is not DTS graduate day. It is your life graduation day. You are not standing in front of Dr. Yarbrough. You are standing in front of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Chief Shepheard, your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Imagine the Lord praises you because the motives of your ministry are to express your love to Him and to glorify Him. The Lord praises you because you have served the Lord faithfully with the spiritual gifts He has given you. Imagine the Lord rewards you with the unfading crown of glory because your life as an undershepherd reflects the character of the Chief Shepherd. One of the Lord’s faithful preachers, CT Studd, missionary to the Chinese, Indians, and Africans, once said, “Only one life, it will soon be past; only what is done for Christ will last.” You only have one life, one chance, one shot; make it counts for eternity. (HP) How you live for Christ in this life will determine how Christ will reward you in eternity.

2022-10-21
Important Topics in Hebrew
1. Christ is the heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe (1:2)
2. Christ is the exact representation of God the father (1:3)
3. Christ sustains all things by His powerful word (1:3)
4. Christ is greater than angels (1:5)
5. Jesus the son of man was made a little lower than the angels (2:7)
6. Christ brings many sons to glory (2:10)
7. Christ is the Apostle and the High Priest (3:1)
  1. the Apostle (ch 1-4)
  2. the High Priest (ch 5-10)
8. Christ is greater than Moses (3:3)
9. Christ is greater than Joshua (4:8)
10. The word of God is living and active (4:12)
11. Christ is the Priest in the order of Melchizedek (7:17)
12. Christ is the guarantee of a better covenant (7:22)
13. Christ is able to save completely those who come to God through Him(7:25)
2014-01-10
James 5

Warning to the Rich (v1-6)

v1: Notice James used “you rich people” instead of “dear brothers” as in the rest of the epistle. His stern tone has continued from chapter 4 to chapter 5.

v2: All of our earthly material treasures will one day corrode and vanished.

v3: James especially rebuke rich people that didn’t share their wealth but hoarded their wealth.

v4: These rich people gained their wealth by unethical methods, like exploiting the poor who work for them, and even condemned and murdered innocent men (v6).

v5: These rich people lives in luxury and self-indulgence, instead of living for God and use their wealth for God’s works.

Wealth by itself is not evil. James is taking about how wealthy Christians should live their life. There are many wealthy christians who love the Lord and have used their wealth for God’s works, to support mission works, to care for the poor and needed, to express God’s love.

Patience in the face of suffering (v7-v12)

v7: The tone has changed from rebuking to consoling.

v7: The used of farmer waiting for rain fall and crops to ripe as analogy for believers to wait for the Lord second coming.

v11: James used Job as an example of perseverance in time of suffering.

Healing of the Weary (v13-20)

v13: Pray and Praise, both are essential to christians’ life.

v14: Can be interpreted in two ways:

1) sick (G770, astheneo) refers to physical sickness. oil refers to the use of medicine. When someone is sick, we need to pray and use medicine.

2) sick refers to spiritual sickness. Someone who is weak in faith (Rom 14:1), possibly due to sin in his life (v16). Further more the “sick” in v15 is G2577 (Kamno), the only other use in NT is Hebrew 12:3, which refers to spiritually weariness. “Anoint (G218, aleipho) with oil” refers to common practice of using oil as a means of bestowing honor, refreshment, and grooming. The weak and weary (astheneo and kamno) would be refreshed, encouraged, and uplifted by the elders who rubbed oil on the despondents’ head and prayed for them.

v16: pray for each other, a sign of mature christian is someone who has the desire and burden to pray for others. How often do you pray for your own needs compare to the needs of others?

v20: James ended the epistle with a calling for mature believers to care for the one who is weak in faith.

2013-01-05
James 4

Three Enemies that Prevent Us to be matured in Christ (v1-12)

v5: This is a very difficult verse to understand, because it is not obvious whether James was referring to the “Holy Spirit” or our own “spirit”, and not obvious whether he was referring “envies” as in good envies, or bad envies. My take is James was referring to the Holy Spirit that live in us grieves (envies) intensely when we became friend with the world.

Self

v1: We fights and quarrels to win. We desire others to agree, to respect and to follow our will. Our own will and desires are controlled by our sinful nature. Christ told us in order to follow Him, we must first deny ourselves (Matt 16).

v3: When we pray, do we pray with our own motives, which are mostly wrong motives. That is why our prayers are not answered. Christ told us that we should pray “may Your will be done on earth as it is on heaven”. We ought to search, study, and meditate on the will of God, and pray that His will be done, not ours.

v6: Our self is always prideful, and God opposes the proud. Do we want more grace from God? Just learn to humble ourselves (v10).

v11: When we are full of ourselves, we think we are better than others and we started to judge others. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, and He is no any one of us.

Satan

v7: Satan will never flee us, unless we resist him. However we do not have the power to resist Satan ourselves, we need to submit to God, with the power of God, we can resist the devil.

World

v4: What is the world? The world is the all the philosophy, systems and people that denies the authority, the teaching, the salvation and the person of Christ. The example the hollywood entertainment industry. Are you a friend of the world? Then you just made God your enemy, a bad position to be.

v4: When we became friends of the world, we became adulterous people.

Acknowledge The Sovereignty of the Lord in Our Life

We can plan for future, but we need to always be ready that the Lord has a different plan for us. We need to recognize His sovereignty in our life and submit to His will and His plan for us.

2013-01-04
James 3
How to Use Our Mouth

We can find out a lot about a believer’s maturity by just listening to his words. Words are powerful tools given by God to His children to teach the word of God, to praise Him, to encourage and edify others like spring with fresh water, and to product fruits.

v1: Every believer is a priest, all of us have spiritual gift to serve the Lord. However not every one is gifted in teaching. Our role as teachers or students also depend on the context. For example a young man is a student and learned from the elder men at church. But hen the young man is at home, he is the teacher of his children in his home.

v1: God has higher standard for the teachers in His church, because teachers are given with greater talents to teach the word of God to His church. For those who He gave five talents, He expect greater return than the ones with one talent. (Matt 25)

v2: There is no perfect man other than the Lord Jesus. That means all of us have spoken words that displease the Lord in our life, and would happen again in the future.

Analogies of our mouth
1. mouth of horses (v3)
2. rudder of ships (v4)
3. fire (v5)
4. animals (v7)
5. spring (v11)
6. tree (v12)
That proper use of our mouth
1. Teach (v1)
2. Praise (v9)
3. Produce fresh water (v12)
4. Produce fruits (v12)
  - Is our heart the tree and our words the fruits or the other way around? I think both of true. The more godly truth we speak, more fruits are product in our heart. The closer we are to Christ in our heart, more fruits are produced by our mouth.
Heavenly and Earthly Wisdom

Characters of Heavenly Wisdom (v17-18)
1. pure
2. peace loving
3. considerate
4. submissive
5. full of mercy
6. good fruit
7. impartial
8. sincere
9. harvest of righteousness
Characters of Earthly Wisdom (v14-16)
1. unspiritual (v15)
2. came from the devil (v15)
3. envy (v14,16)
4. selfish (v14,16)
5. disorder (v16)
2013-01-03
James 2

Favoritism Forbidden

v1: If we shown favoritism to people base on social status, outward appearance, wealth or anything else, we are not worthy to be believer of the glorious Lord (v1), because that is no glory in favoritism.

v2-4: do you look down to people based on their outward appearance?

v5: Notice how James call the readers: my dear brothers. He used it many times throughout the letter.

v5: the kingdom of God is for who? Only for those who love God! Not just accept Him, not just believe in Him, but also love Him.

v5: God looks at people in totally different perspective then how the world looks at people. Do you look at the people with the eyes of the world, or with the eyes of God?

v10: Have you kept all the laws? If you break one, you break it all! So James is certainly not teaching salvation by observing the laws, if that is the case, no one could be saved!

v12: Do you have the habits of immediately judging and condemning others when you first learned about others mistake or sins? Or do you have the habits of having mercies? How do you like God to treat you? With Judgement or with mercies?

Faith and Deeds

v19: Even demons believe there is one God! The demons recognize Jesus as the Son of God. What is the different between demons and believers? Demons know about the the existence of God, they know about the power of Christ (Mark 5:7), but they do not worship God, they do not obey God’s command. You may know about God, but do you follow and obey Him?

v22: Faith and deed work together, faith was made complete by our action. If we say we have faith but our life does not reflect it, it is very likely that we are not as spiritual as we think we are.

2013-01-02
James 1

Author and Recipients (v1)

There are many James in the NT, most of them were on the upper room praying after the ascession of the Lord Jesus (Acts 1:13). The author is the brother of Jesus.

The recipients are Christians Jews that were scattered among the nations, those who live outside of Jerusalem.

Trials and Temptations (v2-18)

Trials (G3986, peirasmos) and Temptations (G3985, peirazo) derived from the same Greek word. Trials are from God to test our faith to develop perseverance, with the goal of making us to become more mature Christians (v4).

Temptations are not from God (v13). Temptations are us responding events in our life with our evil desire (v13).

God promised not to allow more than believers can endure and never without a way to escape (1 Cor 10:13). We choose whether to take the escape God provides or to give in.

When we faced with trials, we ought to pray and ask God for wisdom (v5) to handle the trails, and believe that God will provide an answer (v6). If we doubt God we will not receive any answers (v8).

When we stood the test, we will receive Crown of Life (v12), which I believe is to experience spiritual victory in Christ (v12).

Sins do not happen randomly. It started when we give in to our own evil desire. When the desire conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full-grown, gives birth to death (v15). To eliminate sins from our life mean to submit to the will of the our heavenly Father instead of our own evil desire. Our heavenly Father is the Father of heavenly lights (v17), every good and perfect gift is from Him, He does not change.

We are born by the Holy Spirit and through the word of truth. It was the word of God that makes us repent and choose to believe in Christ. (v18).

The resist temptation, we must submerge ourselves into the Word of Truth (v18), because the Word of Truth will expose the lies of satan.

What is the meaning of [..we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created](v18)? The Lord Jesus is the first fruit (1 Cor 15:23).

Listening and Doing (v19-27)

James urged the readers not to deceive themselves as mature Christians by just listening to sermons but without any real actions in help others.

2013-01-02