“This, then, is how you ought to
regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God
has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must
prove faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2)
We began the year with the
Gospel of Luke which was in fact the continuation of the Luke’s study last
year. The Gospel led us to the teachings and events and miracles of our Lord Jesus
who came and walked on the dusty and rugged roads in the towns and villages of the
small land of Palestine. Amazement, majesty, sovereignty, mystery, sternness,
kindness, compassion are a few languages in describing the Lord Jesus Christ
who had visibly manifested the beauty and glory of the Father God in heaven. He
is the healer and the savior of the poor and needy and anyone who comes on to
him with any problems in life. Most of all, in order share his resurrection
life, the most powerful force in heaven and on earth with the elect he gave his
life as a result of the violent death on the cross of Calvary just as it was
told and prophesied in the Law and the Prophets. Christ Jesus is the
fulfillment of God’s oath to man.
In fact, he was God before he
came down to the earth from heaven. He was still God while he lived on the
earth. He was Immortal and yet forsook his right, position, status as God and
gave his life with blood unto the Father in heaven. Although he knew all, even
the deep things in humanity and had power above all authority and power in
heaven and on earth, he kept on pleading his people to come unto him and have
life in full and more abundantly in the fully and well prepared banquet. That’s
the reason our Lord Jesus came down in the likeness of man to bring back the
lost from the slavery of sin and black darkness to the liberation and freedom
through repentance now and forevermore. The Gospel teaches and gives us a
greater revelation to see through life in a more realistic and truthful way via
the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the meantime, we came to one
of the Epistles of Apostle Paul, First Corinthians. Unfortunately, but
truthfully the problems happened in the church of Corinth in the first century have
been visibly and amply going on and manifesting in almost all the churches
throughout the centuries and even in our days. That’s reason of the study of
this Epistle in order to see and understand the realities of the saints in
action. There are a lot of misunderstandings and errors about the church. Some are
so idealistic that they don’t think that Christians can sin any longer. Many a
Christians is baffled and bewildered by the fact that what they discover all
kinds of problems in the church just like they experienced in the world before coming
to Christ. They are like cliques, quarrels, divisions, sexual immorality,
lawsuits among the saints. Worse is that they are gradually getting used to
doing the same thing and accepting it as the normal practices.
But that is not true at all.
Apostle Paul wrote the Epistles four times among which two of them are persevered.
The Letters are designed and presented to the saints in the churches all
throughout the centuries to correct the wrong practices and misunderstandings and
errors about the church. This Epistle is followed by Romans in which the
apostle nailed down the meaning and implication of the righteousness of God
through which the saints have been liberated from the devil and adopted to the family
of God. All saints in Christ have now the fellowship with Christ Jesus the Lord
which is graciously given for the elect (1 Corinthians 1:9). So, Christians can
love one another, being united in one mind and heart in Christ regardless of
differences in race, culture, status, age, sex, color, and etc.
Christ is the mystery God in
whom we can truly understand the nature of fallen race and thus love our
enemies and even those who hate us. Christ is the perfecter of faith through
the death on the cross of Calvary, being both the sacrifice offering and the
high priest who carried the blood of the lamb into the temple in heaven. In Christ
Jesus, all saints are united into one body, the church. Though there were many
problems in the church at a flourishing and bustling city, Corinth, it was
still the church of Christ Jesus the Lord. It is sadly true almost every
Christian goes through the experience of being carnal and fleshly. It is
hopefully true that just as a new born babe grows not into the adulthood in one
day so also are not the new born Christians. The spiritual growth is the
process, maybe a long and painful process. It’s going on to each and every
child of God with the guarantee of being perfected and holy. That’s
imperishable, unshakable, and eternal hope kept in heaven. Prophet Jude tells
the enduring hope for the believers of Christ Jesus.
“To him who is able to keep you
from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault
and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and
authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!
Amen.” (Jude 1:24-25)
Thankful and grateful for the
children and students of bible who were being equipped with the mysteries of
God through the revelations of the scriptures and the realities of lives even
the difficulties and struggles and troubles experienced throughout the year.
Pray in hope and faith that we may be continually equipped and molded by the
truth and mysteries of God. Thankful and grateful for the opportunities of open
door to reach out the neighbors and communities through prayers and bible
studies on and off campus. Thankful for the opportunities to present the gospel
stories in the conferences and online blogs. We may continue to study the
Gospel of Luke through which we may be strengthened, enlightened, revealed, and
empowered by our Lord Jesus who is the mystery of God. Amen.
January 1, 2016
Reporting by David Lee
Reporting by David Lee
No comments:
Post a Comment