1 Corinthians 4 Devotional Sharing by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint – Berkeley):

1 Cor 4:20  For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

This verse reminds me of something that Manny shared couple of weeks ago when we had a group of students from Austin visit with us at Berkeley for the annual Thanksgiving Retreat.  During that time, we had some of our college senior sisters host the sophomore sisters from Austin.  The Austin girls were so impact by the maturity and care of the senior girls.  As a result, one of the sisters shared how she now has a picture of the kind of older sister she needs to be back at Austin as she shared how the senior sisters gave up their personal beds so they could sleep in comfort, how they woke up early to pray for one another before setting up for Sunday worship service, how they cooked for them, and overall was so hospitable to them, and even giving each of our Austin sisters personalized cards to remember them by.  She was ‘overwhelmed’ and felt that she was given a picture of Christian love.  She said knowing herself, and how she thought, she would have never opened up her apartment to students she didn’t know and yet now, she is saying she wants to be the same way.

This story reminded me how acts of genuine love speak much louder than an eloquent message.  We have so many opportunities throughout the day to preach about God’s love through our actions.  Some people can get focused on being in a position of leadership rather than exercising this kind of servant leadership regardless of the title.  What these sisters did reminds us that the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk or of position but of real power demonstrated through this kind of sacrificial love.

Romans 4 Devotional Sharing by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint – Berkeley):

Romans 4:19-22

18Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Once again, I’m so amazed by Abraham’s faith.  Although the odds were stacked against him, he chose to “not waver through unbelief.”  He was not engaged in foolish optimism.  He “faced the fact that his body was as good as dead.”  And he chose to be “strengthened in his faith” and to be “persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

This kind of faith is so rare.  Even during Jesus’ times, faith was so rare despite all the miracles that Jesus performed.  Jesus complemented only to two people for their great faith – the centurion in Matt 10 and the Canaanite woman in Matt 15.

In ministry I have encountered people who seem to ignore God’s word and persist in unbelief.  Although the Bible is very clear that God loves them unconditionally (Romans 5:6-8), they cannot believe that God loves them.  Although the Bible is very clear that their sins have been forgiven (1 John 1:9), they cannot believe that they are forgiven.  Although the Bible is very clear that they are a new creation and therefore they do not need to allow their past to haunt them and make them feel worthless (2 Corinthians 5:17), people choose to continue in their sense of worthlessness.   Although the Bible is very clear that God wants to use them to show all surpassing power from God  (2 Cor 4:7), they doubt that God can ever use them.

Trying to reassure people like this can be pretty frustrating.  It seems that they are bent on thinking in a certain way regardless of the word of God or living examples of people who embody the truth. They choose to not believe.  Of course I understand and I do sympathize with them as I know that many people have all sorts of reasons for such unbelief. They have been hurt and lied to and trust is something that’s hard to come by.

So, what’s the solution for cultivating Abraham like faith?  It’s a choice.  I just have to choose to believe.  The solution sounds too obvious and simple and yet it works.  My experience repeatedly shows me that when I choose  to believe, something wonderful happens.  The word of God comes alive and it provides strength.  I actually get strengthened!  It’s more than positive thinking or optimism.  It’s as if my choice to believe is the mechanism that releases God’s power to strengthen my FAITH.

There have been so many times in my life where I felt like I couldn’t go on as I face some difficult situation in ministry.  During those times, I refuse to believe in my feeling that I am all alone in this cold universe facing this difficult situation.  Instead, I choose to cling unto passages like Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 28:20 as well as numerous other passages in the Bible.  Of course this is not as easy as it sounds.  My feelings often feel so much more powerful and real than God’s promises.  So, I have to push my feelings out with prayer and I have to labor at clinging unto God’s promises.  It almost feels like a battle but when I do, the word of God proves to be powerful enough to overcome my feelings and I get “persuaded that God [has] power to do what he had promised.”

Romans 1 Devotional Sharing by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint – Berkeley):

Romans 1:14-16

14I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.   16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile

“These… verses express the theme for the book of Romans, and they contain the most life-transforming truth God has put into men’s hands. To understand and positively respond to this truth is to have one’s time and eternity completely altered. Paul was imprisoned in Philippi, chased out of Thessalonica, smuggled out of Damascus and Berea, laughed at in Athens, considered a fool in Corinth, and declared a blasphemer and lawbreaker in Jerusalem. He was stoned and left for dead at Lystra […] But the Jewish religious leaders of Jerusalem did not intimidate Paul, nor did the learned and influential pagans at Ephesus, Athens, and Corinth. … He was never deterred by opposition, never disheartened by criticism, and never ashamed, for any reason, of the gospel of Jesus Christ. …  Although every true believer knows it is a serious sin to be ashamed of his Savior and Lord, he also knows the difficulty of avoiding that sin. When we have opportunity to speak for Christ, we often do not … criticism, ridicule, tradition, and rejection prevent many believers from leaving the security of Christian fellowship to witness to the unsaved.”[1]

Reflect on how Paul saw his life as being obligated to everyone in his generation.  To what extent do I see myself as “obligated,” and to whom and for what purpose?

Paul saw his life obligated to others.  This is so different from the worldly perspective.  For many people in our society they only feel obligation toward themselves and their immediate family.  And because for the most part this feels natural, they are able to live selfishly without feeling any guilt.  Christians, too, have been infected by this idea.  Some people feel quite heroic as long as they are loving toward their immediate family.  They don’t understand that this is basic, and that God calls his children to a broader sense of obligation.

This past week, Ed and I along with Manny and Sunny spent time visiting campuses for our church plant.  As a church, why should we continue to plant new churches when we can all stay in our current cozy community with relationships that share such a rich and long history? As a church, why do we need to continue to start new ministries and embrace more and more into our lives?  Why spend all this effort launching new ministries like Interhigh?  What do we have to do with these youth who are coming out to Interhigh?  We do not benefit from them one bit.  We are not doing this with the hopes of increasing our membership.  We are not doing this to bring more funds to our ministry.  We are certainly not doing this because we feel like we have so much capacity to do more.  Why, then?  Because we are obligated to these youths.

We are obligated to them because of the gospel.  That is why we are so eager to do something like the Interhigh ministry.  Today’s DT text in Romans is such a timely message in light of this new ministry where we as a church spent thousands of dollars, thousands of man-hours, trying to launch this new ministry.  This past weekend, for our first Interhigh monthly, we had over 30+ Interhigh staff and 60+ college mentors spending Saturday afternoon getting our building ready to embrace the youth, doing everything from cleaning, preparing food,  setting up the class rooms for the apologetics classes,  practicing for the praise time, preparing for the game time, and then spending the whole evening with the precious youth kids who came.   While their peers in the world were for the most part spending time pursuing personal agendas, these young adults and college students were spending a nice Saturday getting excited and preparing to embrace bunch of youth.  Again, why?  All because of the gospel.  Because we understand that the gospel obligates us to others and compels us to minister to them even if it means letting go of our personal comforts and inviting a little suffering.

It’s amazing that Paul was not ashamed of this gospel that brought so much suffering to him.  People get swayed when what they are involved in gets criticized or, worse yet, persecuted.  What enabled him to be so unashamed despite all of his suffering?  I think it’s his deep sense of conviction regarding his own depravity, sense of amazement for the gospel and his conviction that gospel is the hope for all mankind.  He clearly understood the high stakes involved in what he was doing.

I think often, the reason why we aren’t more passionate about the gospel is because we forget what kind of high stakes ministry we are involved in.  I think a fireman is willing to risk his life because he understands without a doubt that it’s about saving lives.  I think often we reduce what we do down to getting people to come out to our church, taking course 101, come to outreach events, shopping for an event, setting up and taking down for an event, etc and nothing more.  We underestimate how each of the steps are things that God can use to usher people into eternity, to save lives.  When we fail to see the significance and the stakes involved, things become dull and routine.   For this reason, I need to return again and again to the clarity of my own sense of depravity,  mankind’s condition, and the gospel which is “power of God for the salvation of everyone.”

[1] John MacMarthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Romans 1-8. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991) 49-50.

Matt 25:21

21″His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

Through the 1st anniversary of Gracepoint Austin, we got to experience the truth of this verse. Our Austin church plant team came here less than a year ago. They were faithful with little things like cooking meatloaf for 30 people for the first bible study hoping that some students would show up (only to have no one show up and having to eat the left-over meatloaf for a whole week), using Photoshop skills to make flyers, setting up and taking down sound equipment each week for Friday bible studies as well as Sunday worship service, barbecuing in the sweltering heat, shopping for food at Costco, fighting sleep at 6 in the morning to pray for the UT campus and for the students that God was bringing, going to the campus and striking up conversations with undergrads who are half our age for some of us, passing out flyers, calling students and inviting them to come out to various events, organizing getaways, hanging out with college students… Indeed, these are all small things that the members of Gracepoint Austin church plant team were faithful in.

And yesterday, during the 1st anniversary, we were able to experience the truth of this verse that God entrusts much to those who are “faithful with a few things” and that we get to “share [the] master’s happiness.” We were able to celebrate God’s faithfulness for past one year with about 100 UT students. We felt that God was entrusting us MUCH in response to our faithfulness with small things. He was entrusting the lives of these precious students for us to love and minister to. This was especially made clear through the baptism as we got to hear testimonies of 3 brothers who were un-churched before they came to our church. They all uniformly shared that it was the warmth and commitment of the staff, made evident through the small things that our team were faithful in, that led them to seek God and investigate Christianity. It was a time of much joy for the entire Austin team as well as all of us who joined the 1st Anniversary service from Gracepoint Berkeley and Gracepoint Davis. After the heartfelt praise time, we had a performance by our very own orchestra composed of 10 UT students led by Dominic, followed by the historian report by Margie. Then we listened to the baptism testimony video of 3 brothers, David, Wayne and James, and witnessed the first baptism for Gracepoint Austin. Then Pastor Ed challenged all the students to join us as harvest workers as the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matt 9:37). We ended the whole service with Casting Crown’s “Until the whole world hears.” That song could not have been a better choice as we all committed to be Jesus’ hands and feet until the whole world hears about the gospel for the “harassed and helpless” (Matt 9:36). It was truly a little glimpse of heaven as many of us felt like we were standing on holy ground and felt renewed conviction that we need to join in the master’s work and share his happiness.

Until the whole world hears by Casting Crowns

Lord I want to feel your heart
and see the world through your eyes
I want to be your hands and feet
I want to live a life that leads

chorus
ready yourselves
ready yourselves
Let us shine the light of Jesus in the darkest night
ready yourselves
ready yourselves

May the powers of darkness tremble as our praises rise
Until the whole world hears Lord we are calling out
Lifting up Your name for all to hear the sound
Like voices in the wilderness we’re crying out
as the day draws near
we’ll sing until the whole world hears

Lord let your sleeping giant arise
Catch the demons by surprise
Holy nation sanctified
Let this be our battle cry

chorus

we’ll sing until the whole world hears
we’ll sing until the whole world hears

Want to be your hands and feet
Want to be a life that leads
To see you set the captive free
Until the whole world hears

and I pray that they will see more of you and less of me
Lord I want my life to be the song You sing
Until the whole world hears Lord we are calling out
Lifting your name up for all to hear the sound
Like voices in the wilderness we’re crying out
as the day draws near

we’ll sing until the whole world hears
we’ll sing until the whole world hears
we’ll sing until the whole world hears
we’ll sing until the whole world hears
we’ll sing until the whole world hears
we’ll sing until the whole world hears

One of our brothers forwarded me the following link to Joshua Harris’ message and I found this message to be really convicting on the whole issue of self-control, use of time, media, internet  and wanted to share this with you.

Matthew 22 Devotional Sharing by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint – Berkeley):

Yesterday, we heard the news  that John’s mom passed away.  She had been battling leukemia.  As I was praying for John and his family, I thought about Matthew 22, that morning’s devotion text.  In light of this news, I saw how indeed tragic is the parable of the wedding banquet.

How did people in the parable respond to the invitation to the wedding banquet?  It says, “they refused to come.”  And when the king “sent some more servants” and invited them to come, “they paid no attention and went off – one to his field, another to his business.”  And then others took one step further and “seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.”  If they are not going to respond, at least they should just be sorry.  But why did they respond with hostility?  Maybe they knew they were being unresponsive to a loving invitation, and a part of them felt conflicted.  Maybe human pride has to power up when we let go of something that’s good for us.  Deep inside, we know that we are making a mistake but our pride wants to not acknowledge that.  So, we have to turn against the very invitation.

In the rest of the chapter, the ongoing attempts by the Pharisees and the Sadducees to trick and trap Jesus illustrate this parable.  Why were they so against Jesus? Although he amazed them again and again with his answers to their ridiculous questions, and, of course, the miracles he performed throughout, why were they so closed off to Jesus and refused to accept the invitation to the “wedding banquet?”

Like the people in the parable of the wedding banquet, they didn’t just passively resist the invitation.  They ended up killing the son of God–all because they needed to protect their agenda. But  what happened to these people?  In the end, they all died along with their agendas, their pride, their status in the religious order, etc.   In the same way, I see people walking away from the truth of God that can save them because their attachment to this world is too strong – money, success, comfortable life, family, or just pride, which causes them to refuse to submit to their Creator who has a legitimate and total claim over their lives.   Although people see human frailty within themselves and all around them, they rarely become humbled by them.  When we see our aging parents no longer so strong, when we see our friends’ parents dying from cancer, when we hear news of some young person dying in a freak accident,  these should all serve as reminders to hold on loosely to all that we think are so important.  Instead of just getting discouraged or just not thinking about it because it’s depressing, we need to let the reality of human frailty make us humbler and, therefore, wiser people and respond to the greatest invitation to the “wedding banquet.”  Because at the end of our lives, the only thing that matters is how we responded to this invitation. I’m thankful that John’s mom had responded to this invitation when she was young so that we can all take comfort during this time of grief.

Surrender All (by Sovereign Grace Ministries)

Take all I am, Lord and all that I cling to
You are my Savior, I owe you everything too
Take all the treasures
That lie in my storehouse
They cannot follow
When I enter Your house
So I surrender all to you
I surrender all

Matthew 20 Devotional Sharing by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint – Berkeley):
Matt 20:1-16

• What is my reaction to the fact that there is no extra “reward” for serving God longer?  What is my attitude towards God’s generosity and grace towards others? (From Today’s Devotional Reflection Questions)

I think my gut reaction to the fact that there is no extra “reward” for serving God longer is that it’s unfair.  But just with little bit of thinking, I know how ridiculous this kind of thinking is since participating in God’s work is an undeserved privilege to begin with.  The fact that a holy God chooses to use sinners like me should never cease to amaze me.  By participating in God’s work, I am protected and spared from living a life of utter meaninglessness all to end in death.   But living in this world, it’s easy to forget this.

In this parable, it describes the state of the workers before they were invited to the vineyard to work as people “who were standing in the market place doing nothing.”  Although it may sound offensive, this is an accurate description of life outside of God.  Sure, people are busy pursuing their lives, making money,  getting married, starting a family, but in the end, all of their pursuits are meaningless in light of the fact that they will die one day.

It’s hard to see that life outside of God as “standing in the market place doing nothing.”  It’s so easy to feel like all the action is in the “market place”  and doing the things that people of the world are doing seems like that’s the way to go, to maximize one’s life.   And by serving God, we are led to feel like we are missing out.  Some people even go as far as feeling like they are being short changed for having been inducted into God’s work too early.  They envy the so called eleventh-hour workers and wished they could’ve lived it out first.

This parable has a huge warning for me, someone who has been a Christian for a long time and is serving the LORD in a fairly active manner.  I need to guard my heart against this kind of sense of entitlement and forgetting much which led the workers who were hired first to grumble against the owner’s generosity towards the eleventh hour workers.

How can I heed the warnings from this parable?  I need to regularly meditate on how I have been the recipient of God and others’ generosity and grace.  I need to remember that all that I have and enjoy I don’t deserve and the fact that I get to even serve God is a huge privilege and protection.  Lord, please give me a generous heart that comes from remembering how much I have been given so that I can truly give you praise when I see you being generous with others and join you in doing the same.

Matthew 18 Devotional Sharing by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint – Berkeley):

Matthew 18, from this week’s DT, hit me with a renewed sense of appreciation.  The whole chapter deals with the issue of sin in relationships.  It deals with what to do with sin that affects me, sin that affects others, other people’s sins that affect me, other people’s sins in the body of Christ, and the whole issue of forgiveness.  I am a sinner and I live among sinners and the thing that we all know how to do best is sin.  All of us are so thoroughly sinful that even with the best of our intentions and resolutions, we still sin.  Here, Jesus lays out the principles for how we as sinners should relate to each other.  If only we could live by these verses, how much better the world would be, how much better marriages would be, how much better the church would be.

Jesus doesn’t tell us to simply forget each other which is the solution that parents sometimes give to their bickering children out of frustration during a long tiring drive – “Don’t anyone talk to each other or touch each other!”  Instead, he tells his children to move towards each other and act in a loving manner.   How are we to do this?

1. Don’t cause others to sin (v.6)
2. Deal with your sins.  Be responsible.  Take drastic measures.  (vv.8-9)
3. Take the initiative to be reconciled with those who have sinned against you by bring up issues first privately, then with others, then to the church (vv.15-17)
4. Finally, forgive just as Jesus forgave you

As I was thinking about Jesus’ words,  I thought about how easy it is for us to focus only on (3) and (4).  We are so busy thinking about all the ways that we have been wronged rather than all the ways that we have sinned against God and others.  At the end of each day, most of us come out positive in terms of people that we need to forgive rather than people that we need to receive forgiveness from.  But I wonder how true that is to reality.

I know that this is certainly true of me.  The longer I live, the more I feel that I’m accumulating more and more hurts.  This is just a reality of living in a sinful world full of broken sinners.  Although I have done  my share of hurting others as a sinner, the thing that I remember vividly and still with raw emotions are the ways that I have been hurt by others.  This is such a warped perspective through which to see the world, and yet this feels so right.  But in my clearer moments I have a strong sense that the truth is actually far from this perspective.

I think in heaven, I will find out how much I have been the recipient of others’ grace and mercy and, of course, foremost from God.  As it says in 1 Cor 13:12, in heaven, I think I will see clearly how much I have been loved by God and people around me as on that day I will see clearly what kind of porcupine I was to those who tried to love me and how much I was a sinner to those around me.

1 Cor 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Matthew 15 Devotional Sharing by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint – Berkeley):

Matthew 15:21-28

21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”
23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
27″Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Every time I read this passage, I am amazed by this woman’s humility.  I don’t think it’s simply because she was in a desperate situation that she was able to humble herself in this way.  Jesus basically calls her a dog but she doesn’t seem to dwell on that at all.  She just accepts it and quickly moves on to begging Jesus for help.  It’s sad when people are clearly in a desperate situation, but because of their pride, are unable to humble themselves.

Because of her humility, her child received healing from Jesus.  Similarly, humility is the condition for all kinds of healing:

• If I don’t know something, I need to ask and risk being looked upon as dumb.
• If I am in need of something, I need to ask for help.
• If I feel disconnected or lonely, I need to call someone and initiate.
• If I am struggling about some sin, I need to let someone know.
• If I need people’s prayers about some issue that I am going through, I need to be honest and  vulnerable.
• If I feel depleted emotionally or physically, then I have to acknowledge my weakness and seek rest and recovery.
• If I am unable to handle life, then I need to rely on others.
• If my relationship with someone is tense, I need to initiate  reconciliation.
• If I did something wrong to someone, I need to say sorry.
• If I’ve been running away from people or some truth, then it takes humility to come back.
• If I’m on the wrong path, then it takes humility to turn around.
• If I sinned against God, then I need to confess it to God.

All of this requires humbling myself.  So many people forfeit “healing” of many kinds because they are not able to humble themselves.

Lord, please help me to acknowledge my weak and humble state and not be afraid to humble myself and forfeit healing in my life.

Matthew 13 Devotional Sharing by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint – Berkeley):

Matthew 13:31-33

31He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
33He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Two weeks ago, our Elderly Care Ministry (ECM) had a chance to celebrate Grandma Bessie’s 100th birthday.  She is someone that our entire church has come to know through our ECM.  One of our sisters Lauren who is leading this ministry with her husband shared the following in her testimony about Grandma Bessie:  “At the age of 23, as a young single woman, she committed her life and joined Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Missions as a missionary. She served in China for 17 years until her and her husband were captured by the Communists in 1949 and were forced to leave. After she returned to the US, she continued in ministry with her husband. At 100 years old, she thanks God that He has preserved her eyes so she can still read her Bible, which she still reads every day.  Many of our church people who have visited her say that she clearly stands out from the rest of the other residents in her grateful and bright countenance.” 

This past Gracepoint Berkeley Mission Night, we showed a video of her singing “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine” during our Sunday Worship at her nursing home and her birthday party where we sang for her, “Thank you for giving to the LORD,” and gave her a large print Bible that she wanted.  I think for many of us, her video was the most inspiring part of the Mission Night.  What made it so special?  I think it was the fact that she is 100 years old still being faithful to God in this nursing home, which she says is as a much a mission field as China was.

As I thought about her life, I was brought back to the previous day’s devotional text about the kingdom of God being like a mustard seed.  It starts out small.  I thought about the multiplying effect that her one life is having on all of us in addition to the many lives that she must have touched back in China all those years ago and the lives of people in the nursing home today.  The fact that she is 100 years old and still standing strong and joyful because of Christ is a huge encouragement to our church full of young people and yet she will not know how much she has ministered to all of us through her presence.

It’s often difficult to see the effects of our obedience.  It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by all that opposes Christianity and all that is working against us.  And it seems like our efforts seem a like a drop in a bucket at times.

I wonder how grandma Bessie felt when she decided to go to China –the most populous nation in the world full of people different from her in terms of language, culture, etc.  She probably felt at times whether or not her work was going to amount to anything.  I wonder how she feels nowdays when she is sitting in her wheel chair waiting to go home to be with the LORD, trying her best to minister to people in her “mission field.” In heaven, she will know fully!

This is a big reminder to be faithful with whatever God entrusts me with as the full effect of my obedience is something I will never know on this side of heaven.