The Mystery of God's Love for us and our love for one another

Six years ago, while I was still a university student in Sydney, I asked my pastor this question:

“Does God really love ME? Or does he love the Christian version of me?”

The question hardly does justice to the much more complicated argument that I had within myself. The confusion goes thus:

“If God hates me for my sin (which is deeply intertwined with who I am), then He has to love me for who I am NOT. But God loved the world, He loved sinners, so He loves me while I am still in sin. So God loves me because He chooses to. Before His choosing, He did not love me… After His choosing He loves me. There was nothing compelling God to love me the way we “fall in love” with the opposite sex, it is just a “stoic and unconditional” love – something that I would associate a cold person with. But is God like that? God couldn’t be like that can He? Why did Jesus weep for Jerusalem? Crying doesn’t gel with being cold. Then again, if God knows everything and isn’t bounded by time, surely He cannot be happy or sad in a chronological manner the way a human would be, i.e. sad today and happy tomorrow. Does He then feel a constant net effect of the sum of all happiness and sadness in His state of timelessness?”

As I found it harder and harder to reconcile the image of a stoic God (to be philosophically consistent) and an emotive God (to be theologically consistent) - being convinced that arguments for both comes from the Bible all the same, I resolved to be theologically consistent on paper. However, the thought that God is a stoic God remained my conviction to a large extent. After all, how could an all-powerful God be ever emotionally moved by things much smaller than Him? Not just smaller, but things that He created – emphasis being ‘created things’. I can imagine one person loving another person, but surely that person has to love a piece of Lego (a thing) with a love of lower quality than that of another person.

Well, at the end of the day, the reason I asked my pastor that question was probably not as philosophical as it sounded. Somewhere deep inside, I was like a girl asking her boyfriend “Am I special to you?”. 

Somewhere, deep inside, I wanted to feel that God’s love for me wasn’t a mass produced generic commodity. It was hard to not feel that way, I am one out of the many millions saved by God. Surely a boyfriend who loves his girlfriend with the love that he has for a million girls mean nothing special to that girlfriend, so how can God’s Love be special?

Some will say “God knows how many hairs you have on your head”, to which I would gladly reply “So does He about the sparrows that He permits to fall dead, and I’m sure God’s omniscience extend to the number of hairs on the head of some guy burning in hell”. There was just no reason for me to believe that God could be loving anyone in a special way – whatever “special” means.

I have imagined God to be thus for the larger part of my Christian life. Before that, I consider myself to have believed in a God who loved me in a special way – purely out of a false and inflated sense of self-importance.

But why am I writing about this experience which happened six years ago?

Well, my girlfriend has been asking me a series of questions. I might be wrong, but I think the essence of the question is this:

“Joel, do you love me in a special way like you love no other girls?”

The answer which would cause least trouble is probably “Yes” followed with some praises about her virtue. She probably isn’t asking me about whether she has some unique qualities which only she has and that no other girl have.

The problem is that I add additional bits to my answer which completely ruins the moment. Forget my actual reply and consider for a while my thoughts:

“Yes, I do love her. But that is because I choose to love her. If I were born in a different time and met a different girl, I might have chosen to love another girl. Do I love her ultimately because I am attracted to her? (attraction being the sum of some weighted qualities such as physical attraction, intelligence, personality, character, etc) That might be true for now – but in the future, there is no guarantee that she will be the most attractive woman – there must exist someone better. Otherwise, all boyfriends who tell their girlfriends that she is the ‘best’ must be lying. So, back to the question, “Do I love her in a special way like I love no other girls?” Yes, because of a commitment I make in being her boyfriend. And one day when she turns old and haggard and I am no longer naturally attracted to her, I will love her because of a commitment that I made”

No prizes for guessing that speaking out my thoughts won me no favourable reply.

Why did I answer that? Because I thought that there was a more important question for Christians. Therein lies much of the accusation that I have little love for people. Sometimes, people just need to hear words that affirm our love for them. Why am I replying all these philosophical problems? Do I have no love for them that I consider the sport of toying with theological ideas of greater importance that affirmation of love for them?

Firstly, I am thinking about the question and giving that particular reply out of a concern which they probably are not aware of yet (and probably never will, or perhaps they will just believe that God loves them in a special way without struggling through the philosophical contradiction that may arise).

Secondly, to summarize what I say as “Joel has no love” is actually quite hurtful.

Thirdly, it isn’t sport and I am not toying with the idea.

Fourthly, whatever question that was posed to me would probably fade in insignificance when you consider how weighty the philosophical-theological question is.

In any case, accusations above come from non-girlfriends. I would suppose that any girlfriend would already be pre-occupied with the fact that I didn’t give a straight answer.

Such is the tip of the iceberg of pastoral care: there is a practical aspect as well as the theological and philosophical aspect. The next problem lies in my belief that there is a way to tie everything together nicely in one breath. This problem is further magnified in the fact that I cannot execute nor explain what I belief to be true because I am just incompetent at this point. Taking into account my incompetence, how do I resolve the pastoral concern (the question my girlfriend posed to me)?

I do not know how to resolve this. Mind = blank. So let me just think about theological matters as I fail to give a straight answer to my girlfriend who is being overtaken with emotions as I entertain my curiosity about the theological question. After all, I really don’t know how to answer, and “I don’t know” is a really bad answer for the question she is asking me. Now my mind wanders off thinking, “How are we to understand a boyfriend-girlfriend or even a husband-wife love?” Sure, “as Christ loves the church”, but does that mean simply sacrificial love? Of course, in my mind, since we are sinful, sacrificial love is probably the right and dutiful thing to do. I subscribe to that but people don’t like to think of love that way – they like to think of love as something intrinsic about themselves and not just a weighted average of their virtues and vices.

This is damn complicated and I don’t believe I am making it up.

So, now that I have set up the problem, let me share with you what I think I am understanding about God’s love. Whatever you see below is a simplified version of my thought process – you are looking at the “Show final without markup” version of things. Here goes:

I think that God hates us as sinners but still loves us intrinsically because we were “made in the image of God” and that “God breathed into us”. By that, I mean that God has put something “of Him” in us. However, I do not imply the Hindu understanding about how the universe and human beings being an ‘extension’ of God and thereby everyone being a part of God. Part of the answer to why God loves us is simply because there is something “of Him” that He has in us.

This is reflected in Adam’s poem for his wife. In praising her (I assume), he said “Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones”. Eve was made from Adam. When Adam sees her, there is something about him that is in her. 

Am I going too far to say that Eve was “made in the image of Adam”? Maybe a little. I have to account for the fact that the female is also made in the image for God. So at least I can say this, the woman is made in the image of God as well as of the man.

Therein lies the mystery of this love: in God loving us or even in Adam loving Eve, it syncs with Ephesians 5:28-32.

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

The mystery is not just that Adam and Eve is about Christ and the Church, but also the love and union.

I must say more about this love and union.

God the Father is God. God the Son is both God and Man. But Man is only man. In our union with Christ, there is more than just legal justification. In fact, legal justification is the product of an ontological transformation in humanity.

In our union with Christ, the Spirit dwells in us.

We are now not only made in the image of God, but will conform to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). The breath that Adam received, we received more, we have the Spirit of God. The fact that it matches further confirms the nature of the mystery and delights the engineer in me.

But I want to say more about love: What does God see when He looks at us?

John 17:21-23

that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22  The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me

When God sees me, not only He sees me, but He sees “His own flesh” so to speak. Not that God has flesh of course – but rather God doesn’t see me apart from my union with Him. Would it be wrong to say “God loves me”? Probably not, since for him who is united to Christ, “me” is no longer defined as an individual apart from God.

Back to the question I asked my pastor: “Does God love me for me? Or does He love the Christian version of me”. Well, this might be my reply

“As a non-Christian, God loves you for you because of the little left of His image that you bear (so that ‘you’ are not ultimately defined as an individual apart from Him), but largely hates you for the sin that you are in. And in line with His love for Himself (since God cannot be ultimately an idolater by considering us as the ultimate object of His love), He loves us and sent His Son to die for us. As a Christian, you now bear His image in a fuller sense (since you will ultimately confirm to the image of Christ), God loves you for you (with you being defined as united with Him in every way as written in John 17:21-23).

Is God’s love cheapened because there are millions of Christians? No, unless you imply that God’s love for Himself is cheapened in any way.

Are we special because we are who we are? That is an irrelevant question, we are united with Christ, we cannot just define ourselves with just “we”. It would probably be important to say that I don’t mean that creation becomes the Creator in case someone calls me a heretic, but I’m not sure how to define how closely we are united with Christ any more than how closely united Christ’s manhood and Godhood is.   

Back to the girlfriend question, “Do I love her in a special way which I do not love another girl with?” The answer is “Yes, in a reasonably deep way. She has shared her life with me for the past few years. Who she is as a person now has been shaped by who I am as her boyfriend. Who I am has been shaped by who she is. While our one-flesh-ness is not ontological like that of the Christian’s union with Christ, I do love you like I love myself. Is there a girl with better qualities out there? Objectively, there probably will be, but she isn’t quite “us” the way we are. Will I always think of you as the best-est girl? Well, if we continue into marriage for the next few decades, you will be the me-iest girl, and I will love you like I love myself (without the connotation of being selfish).

Well, I didn’t want to end this article on just a girl-boy relationship note and I doubt whatever I said will really calm her down and I’m not sure what to say. 

I just hope that whatever I shared about the nature of God’s love for us will give us a clearer picture of God’s Love – how it is special, not idolatrous of God, how union with Christ not only saves us but also justifies God’s genuine love for us so that we may be confident in God’s love. Much more could be said about Christians' love for one another as members of the body of Christ, but that is a whole other topic for another day.

There are a bunch of other questions which I think about, which, by placing it at the end of this article, makes it one with a bad ending.

So here's the bad ending, about Sarah and Abraham – Abraham lied to Pharaoh and pimped Sarah out. Sarah obeyed and was commended by Peter for submission. That is some crazy stuff going on there. I mean, we could always ask the ethical question as to whether what Sarah did was right or wrong – to which it is actually quite difficult to say as “wrong” if Peter commended her. Then again, she was an accomplice in lying to Pharaoh.

But if we ask whether her submission was her ultimate sacrifice to save Abraham’s life – the one who is “one-flesh” with her, I think nobody could ask for a better wife. Abraham was the one who needs to bear all the blame for failing to offer up his life for her. In this respect, Sarah was more noble than Abraham.

I'm not entirely confident of my exegesis on this passage. Maybe one day I will find a better explanation for Peter commending Sarah, something that sounds more exegetically tight, then I will revise my position. But this is how I’m reading Peter for now.

Simple guide for a safe reading of God's Word

1. The Bible is God's Word. God is the hero of the story - namely Jesus. If Jesus isn't the hero of the story, and somebody else is - you probably got the interpretation messed up somewhere. For example: When we read the Old Testament Laws, a general flow of logic would look like this:
a) God is Uber Holy
b) the commandments are good but I am wicked
c) God save me

A not so good flow is like:
a) OT Law is so holy
b) I shall attempt to obey it and be a noble Christian

2. The Bible is a book. There is a continuity to it. Whenever we read a passage, look verses top and below it - it should help you to understand what the middle is saying. Look up other passages that look like it, it should help you clarify certain things.

3. The Bible is consistent. If you come up to a wild conclusion that contradicts with other thoughts you know, it is worth re-examining.

4. The Bible is firstly about God, His Dealings with mankind, His instructions. It would be helpful to keep these 3 things when we use the Bible for application.
a) God - how does God's heart tell us about our heart and how it ought to be like?
b) His dealings - What does His dealings reveal about Him, and what then should our response be?
c) Instructions - What should we do, and how are these instructions consistent with His Character and His dealings in the past

A danger we can face is to misapply God's character to our character, His dealings to become our dealings, and instructions to be obeyed legalistically.

5. The Bible is a living historical document. It is living. It is historical. Careful not to read narrative as an instruction. Jesus walking on water does not mean that we should step out of a boat in the middle of the ocean. It is a historical narrative - it tells us more about Jesus than about us. It is living in the sense that it does very active work in us as the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts in a very "present" way.

6. Application of the Bible starts from the heart and the mind - then to the hand. Jesus is not legalistic. If Jesus has very difficult disciplines, there is a much tougher heart and mind behind it all - look for it in His words.

7. Jesus is the Fulfillment of the OT. While certain things in the OT doesn't look like it is relevant about Jesus fulfilling them - generally most of them are fulfilled in Jesus. Unclean food in the OT is the reception of Gentiles in Acts, Sabbath is fulfilled in Heb 3-4, Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb, the King, The Prophet, The High Priest, The Judge, The Second Adam. Look out for them, and the Bible makes more sense.

Genesis: A Paraphrase and Commentary - The Creation

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There was nothing in the world and Time just opened its eyes, but God has been around from eternity to eternity.

With the power of His Word, God spoke - and all creation came into existence.

On the 1st day, He said: Let there be light - and God separated light and darkness. On the 4th day, God filled light and darkness with the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the heavens. God is pleased with His work and said that what He created was good!

On the 2nd day, He said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, separating waters from waters" - and God separated between the seas, oceans, rivers and the clouds in the sky. On the 5th day, God filled the skies above with birds, and the waters below with fishes and all the creatures in the sea. God is pleased with His work and said that what He created was good!

On the 3rd day, He said, "Let the water under the heavens be gathered to one place, and let dry land appear". But this time, it was slightly different, God also said "Let there be plants, with seeds and fruits, each according to its kind" - He said this because on the 6th day, the last day of Creation, He filled the earth with living animals and a human.

On the 7th day, God saw all He created and it was good. So He rested on the 7th day and for that reason, He blessed it and set it apart as holy.

All things came into creation by God's Word - He spoke, and it came into existence! And everything was just "good", "good", and "good". However, the creation of man was different. God said to Himself, "Let us make man like Ourselves".

God made a man, and called him Adam. Then God looked at Adam and said, "It is NOT good that you are alone, I will make a helper that is suitable for you. And so God brought all the animals to Adam to have Him give them names just as God gave Adam his name. And so all the animals big and small were named by Adam, but Adam couldn't find anybody that looked suitable.

So God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, and made a woman out of his rib. When Adam awoke to see his wife, he broke out into poetry and said,

"This AT LAST is bone of my bones, and the flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man!"

Because of this, a man shall leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and they shall become ONE flesh. The man and his wife was naked for there was nothing to hide, and they felt no shame.

Thus in an orderly way, God laid the foundations of the universe. And so God made man in like Himself - He was different from all other creation: God took common dust from the ground and formed the man, but breathed His very own breath into the man - and he became alive.

Then God gave power to him to rule over all Creation. God made man as male and female, and told them "Be fruitful and multiply - I have given you EVERYTHING, from the skies above to the earth beneath. God made all things in such a way that all living things ate the plants for food - there was no killing, and no shedding of blood and all the trees willingly bore their fruits for Adam and Eve.

God put Adam in the garden of Eden to take care of it, where the land was rich with precious stones, and it was fertile with streams flowing out of it. Now God placed 2 trees in the garden .. The first tree was called the "tree of Life". The second tree was known as the tree of"the knowledge of good and evil".

God told Adam "You can eat from every tree in the garden, EVERY tree; however, do not eat from the tree of "the knowledge of good and evil" - the day you eat of it you will surely die.

So this is what the Bible writes about God creating the whole world, fills it up with good, and put mankind to work it. Feel free to ask any questions. The next post in this 2 part series will be entitled as "The Fall".

Consider:
1. This paraphrasing business is really not "good". The original passage is so much more poetic. Here lies the ruin of Creation in the hands of an engineer who wants to "set forth the points"
2. Mankind being made after God's likeness is a pretty interesting thing. How was it that man is "like God" and not "God" Himself?
3. The orderliness of God
4. The distinction of man
5. The "first marriage" was by God - becoming one, a man and a woman, naked and not ashamed. The conditions, the woman who came out of the man and is to be united again WITH the man.
6. The 2 trees with special names among the many trees around. The riches and the exception.
7. The origin of all things
8. Reading the original thing at Genesis Chapter 1 and Genesis Chapter 2

God's Will

As Christians, many times we will hear words like "discerning God's will". What is God's will? Doing a search on Biblegateway for "God will" yielded 863 results, and "His will" yielded 976 results - totalling 1839 verses.

As for the 863 and 976 results, there are a small portion of overlapping verses (i.e. "God showed us His will" would give results in both searches). A portion of "his will" searches in yielded irrelevant results (i.e. "his" refer to a mere human rather than Jesus or God. Ignoring those parts, we still have well over 1000 verses on God's Will. 

What I will endeavor to is to find out what "God's will" (along with its various forms like His Will, the will of God, etc) mean - and how does it apply to Christians today.

I will do this in a few steps:

1) Classify the different usages of the phrase

2) Elaborate shortly each of them

3) Explain its relation to us

Classifying:

The few categories that I will list is

1) Promise type

2) Individual specific type

3) General teaching type

The list of verses below are a collection of categories 2,3.

Mark 3:35
Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

John 7:17
If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

John 9:31
We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.

Acts 18:21
But as he left, he promised, "I will come back if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus.

Acts 22:14
"Then he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.

John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Acts 20:27
For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

Romans 1:10
in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

Romans 2:18
if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;

Romans 8:27
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Romans 9:19
One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?"

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 15:32
so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.

1 Corinthians 1:1
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

2 Corinthians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

2 Corinthians 8:5
And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.

Ephesians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 1:9
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

Ephesians 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Galatians 1:4
who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

Colossians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:9
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Colossians 4:12
Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

1 Thessalonians 4:3
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;

1 Thessalonians 5:18
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

Hebrews 2:4
God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Hebrews 13:21
equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 2:15
For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

1 Peter 3:17
It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

1 Peter 4:19
So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

1 John 2:17
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 5:14
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Browsing through them, you will realize that these categories amount to less than 50 verses in total - which leaves 950 verses in category 1.

So, what is this promise type? Here is an example, 1 out of 950+: 

Romans 12:19

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written,"Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

God's will is expressively written mostly in the form of what He will do. For example, in the past, God said in many ways He will raise up a King, the Messiah to save His people. This is His will - this is how almost ALL of "his will" phrases are like. While this may not seem very helpful to help us decide "what is God's will for me" at the moment, what is very helpful is that this can help us create a proper framework of thinking about this whole issue.

While we may ask the question "what is God's will for me" in a sincere way as to desire to know God's desires, or perhaps some of us are guilty of self-centered thinking - Whatever it may be, the focus of God's will is His promise.

By definition, God's will can be thought of what God wants and desires: and we know full well that if God desires or wants something to happen, it will surely happen. Such that God's will can almost be taken as God's promise (with some reservations in a few areas since the phrases are not synonyms although their application might be similar most of the time).

So we have to be very careful to keep thinking of God's will as always self-focusing, for the pattern of the Bible reveals that God is more concerned in a cosmic scale of promise-fulfillments from Abraham to Revelations. 

From here, I would want to branch out to the general teaching type. While the general teaching type may look as though there are little references, much of the promise type are related to the general teaching type. For example when God says "I will be their God and they will be my people" back in the Old Testament, it is always in one of these backgrounds: Future covenant, coming messiah, and a call for repentance.

The thing I want to stress on is the last part: Calling for repentance. This is very general for all peoples: they should repent of their sin. From the list of verses above, example of the general teaching types are Colossians 1:9-12 where Paul prays that the people would know God's will so that they may live in a pleasing way to God.

Or Romans 12:2 about proving God's will as we live lives with renewed minds.

Or 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that says giving thanks to God always is God's will for us.

The list goes on. What would be very helpful to notice here is that everything that is in this category (and the previous category) applies to Christians. Every Christian's conversion experience is "God's will", and the general teaching types are what Christians are called to follow - "God's Will".

The third category is the one that many people run after - "what is God's will for me". The references for this verse is the opening lines of Paul in almost every letter: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Or to stretch the idea a little further is to say that God at one time, forbidden Paul to preach at one place and asked him to go to another place. That was God's will.

While I couldn't continue elaborating on this point as there are too little patterns in the Bible to support this sort of searching for God's will: Many will quote events like Joseph and Daniel becoming Prime Ministers, and David becoming king of Israel, noting that it was God's will for them to become who they were.

I agree that God does call us to certain professions: Paul was called to be an apostle. But as we look just a little closer, it is very interesting to notice that:

Joseph was called to be a Prime Minister so that Abraham's family would not die of starvation and that God's promise of giving Abraham many children is fulfilled!

David was called to be king - and that prophecies are made about Jesus who is the Son of David

Daniel was called to his position when Israel was exiled and he prophesies about the coming of the Son of Man that will crush the kingdoms from before.

All of them are called to their specific positions, and all of them serves the fulfillment of God's promises. That is why it was said of Joseph: After he served his generation, he died. After Joseph was God's instrument to preserve Abraham's line, he died - he served his generation.

In the light of this, I am not sure that the whole idea of God calling us to be doctors or lawyers, or anything along those lines - we really need to think about whether this line of thinking is consistent with the rest of the Bible. While Category 1 is something that we need to anchor into, and category 2 is something we need to continue working on - I suppose category 3 is something that we should only let time reveal.

What is sad is perhaps we would think of category 1 as mere "God's part" which we don't need to care much about, category 2 is something that is not special and therefore we be careless about it, and category 3 as something we would pour in all our prayers for.

A study on Luke 12:13-34

Bible Reading Luke 12:13-34

If any of us own an NIV Bible - this is what the heading says:

The Parable of the Rich Fool

v13-21

Do Not Worry

v22-34

But like all little headings that people put to supposedly make things easier for us, there is very little reason to actually think what Jesus is trying to explain here. Not that the headings are outright wrong, just that it might mislead us to think that Jesus is talking about 2 disconnected things. The study(materials) being focused on the latter half (12:22-34) would be much more helpful if it took into account the context.

As we read the Bible, it is remember that there is a context of what is spoken, such that one verse we would like to quote is consistent with the rest of the chapter, and the rest of the book, and is consistent with the theology of the whole Bible. It is funny how we read a Bible. We pick a few lines in the middle of the book, and then tell a story or give a lesson with little regard of how the rest of the book looks like. We don't even do that to secular story books - we don't start in the middle of the novel do we? But that is what we often do with the Bible.

Getting back to the Luke studies on discipleship; Before anybody thinks I say this of myself, I will just use one line to indicate why it was taken out of context, therefore if taken into account, would be much more helpful in the Bible study.

Luke 12:22

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 

The verse starts with "Then"..."Therefore"...

If we are too quick to label it as "Do Not Worry" then we will just pick it up from "Then" and "Therefore" without remembering those words are actually connecting some very important ideas from before. Jesus was saying something pretty important - Therefore something else.

Before we proceed to study the passage, it would be helpful therefore to read at least Luke 12:13-34 to have an idea in what context Luke 12:22-34 is in.

A simple break down of ideas of the passage is this (there is no right answer, just like the headings that comes with your Bible, they may be helpful, they may not be - we have to be careful):

v13 

Somebody asks Jesus to divide his inheritance

v14-21

Jesus tells a story about a greedy man's life that is self-centered

v22-28

Jesus illustrates to his disciples not to worry of their lives and body following Him

v29-34

Jesus teaches his disciples to be God-centered instead

As we look at the passage over again - let us notice 3 verses that would be very helpful to help us put a "frame" around the whole study.

Luke 12:21

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

and

Luke 12:33-34

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The first chunk talks about a heart that is centered on "store(ing) up things for himself", which is exactly the opposite of "being rich toward God". Rather, see how Jesus comes up with a conclusion that is the exact opposite of that? 

"Sell your possessions and give to the poor" and store "treasure in heaven"

If I may paraphrase it, it is "store NOT up things for yourself, but be rich towards God"

The story begins with a picture of a self-centered man who ends up in God's judgement, and ends with Jesus words to his disciples which receives commendation from God:

Luke 12:32

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

The first idea that is important to note is this:

Who is Jesus speaking to when

1. He was telling the story of the rich fool

2. He was telling "do not worry"

From Luke 12:13-16 we see that Jesus is talking to a crowd. But from Luke 13:22, we see that He is talking to a group of disciples only. There are always crowd following Jesus everywhere; but let us not be confused between "people who just follow Jesus wherever He goes", with "people who truly follows Jesus in their hearts". 

The latter group is who Jesus is speaking to the disciples. Disciples look to their Master. But what kind of Master is Jesus?

If some of us did the "commitment" study a week or some weeks before, we remember Jesus said in just a few chapters before

Luke 9:57-58 

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Such is it like following Jesus 2000 years ago. Jesus is somewhat homeless, and nobody would be surprised that a homeless person would have to worry about food and clothing. But here is Jesus, "homeless" so to speak. Of course His disciples should worry!

Imagine going to work one day in a so-called multinational company - and you see your boss cycling to work in an old bicycle. You would be terribly worried if he is actually going to pay you- and brother, I would worry together with you!

Such is the context as we read Luke 12:22-34. A bunch of disciples who follows a poor Master - but the poor Master is really Christ the King! Jesus comforts His disciples using illustrations from nature - birds and lilies which are worth so little and and such a short lifespan - Jesus assures the disciples they are worth much more, there is no doubt God will care for their very needs. What sort of loving king would neglect His subjects? The earthly kings may do so, but not our Heavenly Father.

Here, let us be extra careful of the context - missing it is to miss everything altogether. The reason why I think this is very important is the misuse of these verses too often.

 

What happens when e have an exam to pass ? we claim the verse "Do not worry, God will give these things to you". But what is that verse in context? "Seek first God's Kingdom, and all these things shall be added to you!". Funnily, we interpret it as "going to CG one day before my exams is seeking God's Kingdom". While seeking God's Kingdom may reflect in that - that is a "blind faith leap" of Scripture interpretation. Remember who Jesus is talking to - and what was it about?

While praying for exams and a promotion are perfectly alright, let us firstly not take a verse out of context to meet our immediate needs. While God DOES meet our needs, we have to really "stretch our faith" to believe that God has in his main agenda in Jesus preaching that "we may get good grades and get a good paying job to support our never ending desire for a more comfortable life".

On the contrary, we have to be very careful, for Jesus warns us that a heart centered on such things(self centered things) calls for judgement. Look at the rich fool! He has so much crops that instead of giving them away, he tears down his smaller barns to build bigger ones to store his crops! What is a modern day equivalent?

Know people who shift homes from the middle lot of the road, to the first lot (the semi D which is about 300 square feet larger) along the same road because they just got a promotion? 

Remember changing cars unnecessarily "to just get a cooler car" even though the older one served you well and you have no need of another? 

Remember how we just go SHOPPING! for things we do not need - when we could use the money better to give them away to "the poor and store up treasure in heaven"?

At this point, please indulge in this part where I really admire Pastor Daniel a lot. He lives in the same house for many years, he drives the same Wira for many years. He spends less so that he can contribute to the needs of the Gospel, both local and international.

Take a look around, many pastor of mega churches take huge salaries out of the weekly contributions of the members. They drive big cars, and preach that "God seeks to make us all healthy, wealthy, wise and everything nice!" It is always Malachi - put more into the offering box and God will bless you richly! Always. No doubt, they live up to it - and they lead many people into such erroneous understanding of Scripture.

Not to distract our focus, but Jesus is the One, who for our sakes - "became poor so that we may be rich". And we would be His disciples if we followed in His footsteps.

There are just a million examples of a heart that seeks to "store things to himself" and "give the remaining bits" to God that we may glorify ourselves to insult Him. But here, Jesus tells a story of judgement for such hearts. But as for a heart that seeks God's Kingdom above all, Jesus assures us that we have no need to worry. God Himself has an active hand in providing for us.

The application questions

The question then for us is this - where is our heart? Do we set our hearts to store treasure on earth or treasure in heaven? Do we love? - and it is most importantly shown whether we share the Gospel. 

Saved souls is definitely the one thing that no "thief can steal" nor "moth can destroy"... 

Every other thing, education, reputation, status, economy, politics - while essential to living on earth as they are(and yes they are) - such are things that will one day come to nothing.

While in the text, Jesus does say very practical outworking of what a Kingdom-centered life is like in 12:32-34. Jesus is ultimately talking about a matter of the heart. Greed is a matter of the heart.

While Jesus does talk about greed in monetary terms, Jesus did mention "all kinds of greed" in 12:15 - this is a matter of the heart.

Before our hands can change, our heart needs to change. And Jesus is not talking about an emotional change - it is about being Kingdom-centered instead of self-centered. Such a change of the heart calls for prayer, and a change of our mind. For God will judge the greedy self-centered person (it is one and the same), but those who seek the Kingdom - Jesus assures that the Father is happy to give it to us, and we have no worries in this life, for God feeds us, and we lay for ourselves treasure in heaven.

Let us pray

Dear Heavenly Father, you are the Creator of the Universe - the cattle on a thousand hills belong to you. You who are rich - You who lives in heaven where there are streets of gold, where the adoration of angelic beings surround you all day long; Even Jesus who lives there, has willingly come down - obeying You. 

Jesus for our sakes, came to be poor, and suffer, being insulted and rejected by sinful men like us - Jesus came to die for our sins - that we may no longer be rebels living in God's world, but to repent of our sins and live righteously for God. While we were still powerless, Christ died for us. We have nothing to claim to merit our salvation or sanctification, but the Holy Spirit alone are able to make Your Love in us effective. Help us God, not to be under the influence of this world, but by your Spirit - help us be holy, to realize that your Kingdom is worth above everything, that our hearts might set its sight on heaven, and not on earth - not on things that will one day pass away. 

Teach us O Lord, to use our finances, our time, and our efforts for your Kingdom, lead us not into temptation, to hoard things for ourselves - but learn that we are but stewards of Your resources who will one day be called before the Judgement Throne for an account. For Jesus' sake, Amen.