Archive for September, 2012

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Many people struggle, or perhaps worse, never struggle with their salvation.  Some people never feel the security that comes with saving grace and a relationship with Christ, while others cruise through life relying on the old adage, “Once saved, always saved.”  In its most simple form, the saying is true.  However, there should always be the asterisk asking “…but are you saved?”

This is the very case we see in Matthew 7:21-23.  Jesus tells us of people who claim Jesus as “Lord”, but in reality did not follow Christ at all.  The people described in this passage believed that they were true Christians.  How could they have possibly gotten it wrong?  They seemed to have acknowledged Jesus as “Lord” and apparently even did wonderful things in the name of Christ.  Why did they fall short?  The answer comes in the form of a swift, verbal slap.

There was no relationship with Christ. There was no repentance of sin.  No one can claim to be a Christian without a living relationship with their Savior.  No one can claim to be a Christian, while living a “lifestyle” of sin.  Sure, Christians struggle with sin like everyone else, but the main idea is that we “struggle”.  Christians fight and resist sin.  Christians deny themselves things that they know displease God.  A telltale sign of someone pretending to be a Christian is a lifestyle that is completely devoid of repentance and who justifies their wickedness instead of crying out to Jesus for mercy and help.

No one is a Christian simply because they believe they are Christian. Only Jesus can determine whether or not you are His follower.  No amount of Bible study or church attendance can save a person outside of Jesus Christ reaching into their life and grabbing a hold of their soul.  Only within His grasp is one saved.

I am definitely not writing any of this in order to scare people or shake their confidence in Christ’s power to save.  Christ will not lose even one person that has been given to Him by the Father (John 10:27-30).  However, what I am doing, is trying to wake up a generation that is in danger of cruising through life/”Christian walk” and ending up like the people described in the passage.  Yes, as Christians, be secure in your relationship with Christ (Romans 8:16), but do not allow security to lull you into a spiritual slumber.  I have seen many, many brothers and sisters fall away from Christ on account of friends, drugs, boy-girl problems, etc… What shall I say about them?  Did somehow Jesus fall asleep on the job?  Did Christ just decide that He did not want them anymore?  No!  The answer is that they were never Christians in the first place.  The Apostle John made it clear; If you leave Christ, you never had Him (I John 2:19).

So what should we, as Christians do?  Fight the good fight! Run the race! Keep the faith!  The Bible tells us to do everything possible to not leave a shred of doubt about our salvation (Philippians 2:12-13, II Peter 1:10, II Corinthians 13:5).  A young Christian recently told me that he wished to not only run the race, but to get a head start.  That ought to be the attitude of every Christian no matter where they are in their walk.

Johnny Nguyen

praise & worship logo

And so for a long time, there has been an ignored confusion concerning what to call the ministry team which is involved in leading the congregation in song during Sunday services. Some churches called them praise teams, while others worship teams. Some had reasons why their ministry team was called “praise team” or “worship team”, while others did not. This left many in my generation, and perhaps even the current one with a lingering question as to the true difference between the terms “praise” and “worship”.

The first place to start in this discussion (as in all matters of faith) is in Scripture. In the Old Testament Hebrew, the term “praise” is almost always the word “halal” (that’s the word used in hallelujah – “praise Yahweh” as in Psalm 150:6). There is no confusion to its meaning, especially in its use in the Psalms (also known as “the psalter”). It refers specifically to the activity of giving praise, and most of the time it is a direct command. That’s easy enough. The term “worship” is a little bit more difficult. There are two words, “shachach” and “kara” which means “worship” but more specifically refers to the act of bowing down in reverence (holy respect) before God. The New Testament Greek uses the cognate “proskuneo” which refers to basically the same thing. Now, this seems a bit confusing.

What do we do with this mess? Again, we must look to Scripture. In the New Testament, we find in Acts 2:42 no mention of any singing in the early church’s worship. There is mention of preaching/teaching, fellowship, communion (breaking of bread) and prayer. We also know that from passages such as Ephesians 5:19 that there was also the practice of singing in the church. And so here is the conclusive lesson: praise or singing to God is a part of worship, and the term “worship” refers to the whole activity when the church gathers on a weekly basis to acknowledge, thank, and adore God for who He is. And so the Bible’s view on this debate would be that it would be a “praise team” which facilitates the musical part of the worship team. Whereas a member of the “worship team” could be helping out in a number of different areas (such as ushering, welcoming, lights, etc) to help the worship service proceed.

And so we see that praise is very important, yet we are not free to elevate praise and equate it with worship. Praise is an important part of worship, but it is “merely” a part. If anything, the Bible calls our entire lives to be worship unto God (Romans 12:1). From that perspective, it is evident that the Christian’s entire life is worship, and all the different parts of his/her life – work, family, friends, and not just “church life” – are all equally important parts to this massive worship unto God. Let us then all be faithful worshippers of the true God.

This past Monday, we celebrated Labor Day, a day in which (supposedly) we are to enjoy a nice day off from work… a kind of a sabbath. But most people took this opportunity to go on a small break filled with fishing poles, small diners, and the like. This got me to thinking that perhaps the American tendency to use Labor Day to “do work” or “do something with family/friend” is also reflected in the Christian church – whereby we consistently ignore God’s commands to rest and focus only on the commands to work (for example 1 Corinthians 5:58).

Now don’t get me wrong. There is a very real command from the Lord for us to do good work (Ephesians 2:10) in light of our salvation in the Lord. Or in other words, only in Christ can we truly do good work which is fulfilling and meaningful, freed from any self-centered ambition or impulse. Indeed Christians are tasked with the command to do good in numerous places (another example Matthew 5:16). For the most part, we have very little difficulty grasping this concept. After all, it is human logic which says that if we have received something, then we should somehow pay it back. And applying this awesome human logic to Christian life and Scripture, most people think along the lines of (1) God has saved me, and therefore (2) I/we must do good works. However good this may sound, it is in the end not a Biblical concept. God has commanded to work and work hard and diligently (Philippians 2:12).

HOWEVER, we must remember that it is our faith in Christ’s finished works, not our own which has saved us (Romans 4:4-5)! What is the Bible’s lesson on works then? I believe the Bible teaches us to work hard (doing good works), however it warns us from working too much. This lesson is pointed out in the Christian life example given by Christ wherein He took a lot of breaks. There are many examples in the Gospels (one of which is Mark 1:35), where Christ seems to get away from the crazy schedule of life and ministry just to relax.

Now there is something that must be said about Christian rest, which is in contrast to worldly rest. Jesus shows us that Christian rest involves renewing the spirit by praying and enjoying the presence of God, NOT in zoning out in front of the TV.

As said before, we the church need to work hard, but refrain from working too much. Again here is an example of quality versus simply quantity. Furthermore, Jesus shows us the lesson of taking breaks and working well at a steady pace.

special shout out to Rev. Sam Kim, assistant pastor at Great Commission Community Church who taught me this valuable lesson so many years ago