What is the Trinitarian model?  It is a fancy way to say that Seminary has to be well-rounded to provide three crucial areas of concentration: Depth of Theology, Character formation, and Effectiveness in the Ministry.  I do not believe them to be mutually exclusive, but rather they, just like the Trinity, not only complements one another but the fullness of each distinct category can only be realized with, not without, the fullness of the other two categories.  One cannot have fullness in one’s understanding of the depth of theology, without at the same time, grow in Christian character in the image of Christ.  At the same time, without an effective out-working of such theological knowledge, how can one honest say they have mastered a particular field of understanding?  I should elaborate on each of these categories.

The Holy Father model – what I mean here is that a seminary should teach the Whole-Counsel of God, the Fullness of His Glory.  Many seminary today unashamedly declare: “we are not here to teach you to be a theologian, but teach you to be a pastor.”  As if to say a pastor really doesn’t need to know theology at all, but merely enough to get by.  This is really unfortunately when throughout the Bible God makes no such comment, but rather, He commands us to know the Fullness of His Glory, the Whole-Counsel of God, and our life is a life to seek after Christ, who is the complete revelation of who God is in the flesh.  We don’t seek to know only “enough about Christ to get by as a pastor”, but our goal is to seek to know the “Fullness of Christ’s Gospel”, and that means our learning of theology should never cease, it doesn’t stop “just enough” to do our jobs as pastors or missionary or counselor, etc.  It doesn’t stop after we graduate from Seminary, and it doesn’t even stop after we get a Ph.D. in Theology.  Rather, it is a life-learning journey of the whole-counsel of God.  Usually people say “we don’t train theologians” the assumption is that the more you know, the more you will become a “dead-intellectual of the faith” and not a “true emotional loving Christian leader”, again that is not the Bible’s view on a created man, a person, looks like.  The Bible is very clear that a person, as the way God created, reflects the image of God as a WHOLE.  That means a person can seek to love God not just emotionally, but also psychologically.  After all, our Love of God is not “blind love” as there is no “blind faith”, but we are clear of our faith of Christ and His redemptive work, and we are also clear of our love for Christ in His eternal grace and comfort.  Since this is a blog post I will not linger on too long on any specific point, but the major point of this category is that any serious Seminary that aims to seriously train effective ministers, missionaries, church-planters, etc. should also take their theological convictions seriously, and do not discount the depth of theology that God has revealed in the Bible, and the Holy-Spirit’s motivation of generations of great Christian men’s hard work in their explorations of the revelation of God.  The students should have courses that covers “cover-to-cover” the entire Bible.  The major categories of Systematic Theology that we have today must be go through.  Serious study of Church History and learning about God’s redemptive work.  Acquire a good knowledge to defend the faith with Apologetics, and being effective in ministry with Practical Theology.  Now, of course the endless debate of how many courses in each category, how much time spend on each course, and when is enough, well, enough.  I believe the current USA paradigm of 90 total credit hours is necessary for a well-rounded foundation to be possible.  However, at the same time, the most important message a seminary can give to its graduates is not that “you have learned enough for a life-time”, but that “you should be humbled to realize you have a long way to go, the seminary has provided you a paradigm to go farther and dig deeper, and have fun in your life-long journey of exploration of God’s Truth for the rest of your life.”

The Holy Son model – we are taught by the Bible that only Jesus the man is the perfect revelation of God’s glory in the flesh.  This is such an encouraging verse because we as mankind is also being taught by the Bible that a Christian journey is a life-long journey to be Christ-like, growing in Christ’s image and shedding away our old-self.  The catch phrase here is “Character Formation”: are the seminary students being transformed by the grace and mercy that they are taught in each course, that as their depth of theology increases, that it humbles them, motivates them to serve, and sums it up, are they becoming more “Christ-like.”  Are the graduates of your seminary leaving your school saying: “Seminary affirms that I am a great Christian to begin with, and now I’m a greater Christian with more knowledge of God and any place is lucky to have me to lead them.”  Or are the graduates saying: “it has been a brutal journey that I am not only intellectually challenged, but personally challenged to realized that, I, as Paul would say, am really a great sinner.  However, where sin abounds, grace abounds even more and now having experience the transformative power and renewal in the grace of God and the love of Christ with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’s comfort, I am ready to share that grace and love to the world, and serve anywhere any place that God wants me to be.”  The world tells us all leaders should have qualities of the late-Apples legend Steve Jobs: tough-love, dictatorial management style when you know you are right, call people out, and never show personal weakness or your private side.  Rather, we should have the Christ-centered model: power is shown through meekness and humility, love is shown through service to the lowest of the low, and the willingness to carry the cross on your own like Jesus did when no one will carry it with you.

The Holy Spirit model – God doesn’t just work, but He works effectiveness, but of course He is God.  Imagine going for a heart-surgery, the doctor tells you that patients he operated on in the past has a mortality rate of 85%, but he then tells you don’t worry, he graduated number one of his class from med school, what would you do?  I know I would run like crazy and find a surgeon can actually perform a surgery!  As Christians we hate to “judge” people, but it is clear to say that Bible does want the Church to exercise good wisdom in who they put in charge of the Church.  After all, Paul spends much time writing about what “overseers” and “deacons” should be like in the Church, and that requires “judgment calls” from a Church seeking to put such people in such positions.  The real tragedy is that the people of the Church are making judgment calls anyway: by routinely “relieving” the duties of ministers that fail to perform up to the expectations of the Church.  Seminary, in my opinion, has a duty to make sure their graduates at least needs to be sufficient in their areas of calling.  Don’t just teach ministers-to-be in teaching and preaching ability, but their ability to relate to people, counsel and comfort the, ability to serve effectively in major Biblical ministries such as Evangelism and Mercy Ministry.  The statement “we’re a school and not a Church so we don’t do these things” is not even an excuse, but a cop-out.  If the Church is the body of Christ and Seminary sees itself as training effective leaders of the Church, Seminary has a duty to provide training and supervision the same way it does to a graduate’s theological learning and character formation.  Now, in reaching that goal Seminary must partner with local Churches, and might even need to partner with local Churches of different denominations and theological traditions based on the seminarian’s preferences, areas in need of improvement, and maturity of theological convictions (and of course whether the Church welcomes your students.)  Before graduates can become shepherds they need to be shepherded, they need to be exposed of their areas of weaknesses not in discouragement, but in encouragement that God will carry you through.  Just as Moses says he’s bad in speech but God called Moses to be His mouth, the graduates need to be told where he is weak at not to sulk in defeat, but triumph in Christ as he works hard to overcome his inadequacies, and under the supervision and guidance of mature and loving Christian leaders.  Just as people in the medical profession need to go through Residency to learn how to apply book knowledge in everyday healing of real personal human beings; in the same way, Seminary graduates need to go through supervised ministry services, so the Church can testify areas that the graduate has great blessings, and other areas that they need to continue to pray for God to give grace.

Like I said earlier these three category of Trinitarian model are not just complementary, but also the fullness of one is realized and can only be realized in the fullness of the other two.  Without a Christ-centered character and effectiveness in ministry a seminary graduate with all the knowledge of God in the world is at best a “good High-Priest.”  Without the a life-time learning the whole-counsel of God and ministry a Seminary graduate with all the kindness of Christ but without action nor knowledge of God is only a like a cross people wear: it represents something much grander and much better in symbolic value, but by itself it is just a decor.  A seminary graduate with all the knowledge of God and character of Christ, but ineffective in ministry, is, well, a Seminary Professor (this is a sarcastic joke for all people that didn’t get it).  Sorry, had to throw that one in.  But in all seriousness, it would be such a shame for that to happen and the Church should do all its best to make sure such person is blessed in the field as he is blessed in classroom and in his character.  If anybody that thinks he is in this category, please don’t despair, but knowing that your fruits of the field will not fallen in vain, and God is molding you and grooming you in your failures just as He has in your successes.

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them
3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,
(Mat 18:1-5 ESV)

First what is a “child”?  Today the magic number seems to be 18, if you are less than 18 years old then you are still a “child.”  In the time of Jesus, you are considered an adult at the age of 13 (there’s an elaborate ritual to go through) and you have adults rights (like give a testimony in court.)  The point is I believe this child, in the presence of Jesus, is very young in age.  Of course now we are in the area of conjecture but I am hypothesizing that the child in this passage is around the age of 4-7.  Which of course gives the “shock” in the teaching of Jesus (the way Jesus seems to do in every other of His teachings to His disciples: shock them with unimaginable examples), I am imagine myself as a disciple: why is my teacher insulting me that I am not even better than a child?

The key here of course is in verse 4: “Whoever HUMBLES himself like this child is the GREATEST in the Kingdom of Heaven” (emphasis mine.)  Reading through a bunch of famous commentaries and online comments, the interpretation basically falls into this paraphrase: Jesus is teaching Christians about heavenly Christian character, and how virtuous characters, like humbleness, will be greatly rewarded in Heaven.  We are simply to believe in Jesus and the Gospel like a child, don’t over think it, just believe with a pure and innocent heart, blah blah blah.  The common presupposition, I think I can sum up generally in this way, these writers are unknowingly treating the ‘child’ in this passage within the confines of an adult frame of mind, or a metamorphosis of adult characterization in the image of a child.

The more I meditate on this the more I am thinking that we should let the “child” be a “child”, no matter how childish that might seem at first glance (full pun intended.)  So of course the follow up question is this: what does Jesus mean when He says we must be “Humble like a Child” which leads to being “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  What is the analogy/teaching here that Jesus is trying to make with a “child” as an example?

If I may be bold to use my child as an example.  Being a father is truly an amazing experience in itself.  You have a little one in the family that follows you around and rely on you for their livelihood.  The amazing responsibility and sense of natural obligation to treat this child the best you can treat him/her.  Over the years what have I noticed about my child that shocked me?

1) My son wants to be a mini-me.  How many times have you heard parents say: “Our son is so much like his father when he was young…”  It is not that I spend most of my time teaching him how to talk like me, laugh like me, act like me, but he picks it up naturally and purposefully.  He wants to be another me.  To Him I am the Holy Grail, the perfect example for him to learn and follow in this new world to a child that they are still learning to live and understand their surroundings.  The way for them to grow and learn to “fit in” to the world is he copies everything from me: the goods and the bads.

2) If my son is at time of despair, fear, threaten, there’s no doubt who he will turn to: not his favorite toys, not his favorite blanket, not hiding in a corner, in his room, he goes to find me (or my wife) and he finds comfort and safety in us and us alone.

I believe this is what Jesus says when He teaches His disciples that we should be humble and realize we are like child in the presence of God.  We think we are providing for ourselves, but the reality is just like earthly parents provides safety, home, food, clothing, comfort to their children, in the same way, it is our God that provides all the safeties, necessities, and comfort in our lives even today.

Also, let us be humble like a child to realize we don’t know any better in this world and we need to be mini-Father-in-Heaven to make sense of this world.  The way to live and understand the world that we live in is not by our own knowledge, wisdom, or abilities, but seek out to be like our Father-in-Heaven as He revealed Himself according to the Scriptures.

Then, be like a child that at times of despair, fear, threatening situations we run to our Father-in-Heaven.  Not to money, to our houses, to our stocks, not even to our spouses or children or family, but we run to our Father-in-Heaven for safety and comfort.

Somehow I believe if we can do those two points: copy our Father-in-Heaven in everything He does, and make a habit of running to Him and Him only at critical times, will we be surprise if that will earn us the position that Jesus says will happen: being the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?  How great it is for a child to do that, and how ashamed it is for us adults to dismissed that as “childish” (yes, pun intended) and unworthy and adults should act like adults: Pride – why should I act like someone else even if I know it is right?  Greed – why should I limit myself to certain ways of life or behaviors?  Lust – why should I deny my physical and personal pleasures just because someone in ‘authority’ tells me so?

We spend so much time dismissing “childish behaviors” and can’t wait for them to be more like “adults” that we shouldn’t ignore Biblical passages that asks us to take children seriously and even in their early stages of reflecting the glory and image of God they have plenty to teach us.

I do not want to turn this to parenting blog since it’s just my simple meditation.  However, some parents might say: “that may be your child, but my child is nothing like that.  He has different tempers, different characters, different ways of talking and acting, and they sure don’t come to me when they are in distress.”  While I am not a parenting expert I can reflect my best hypothesis to this with my own experiences: do we dismissed them to a point that they learned not to come to us?  I’ll admit it, I don’t always responds positively when my son comes to me.  Sometimes I am too busy with my work, my own comfort zone, just don’t want to deal with their puny insignificant and childish issues (pun again) that I may ignore them, dismissed them quickly, or turn them to alternative solutions besides parents (TV, Computer games, etc.)  Children pick up real fast how you response and act accordingly.  After all, if you go to someone with something twice and both times got dismissed, I doubt you’ll return for a third time.  If you found you have lost influence on your child, don’t just completely blame it on their sinful nature or society, but it’s time to reflect your parenting; and a time for us to take comfort in the fact that fortunately our Father-in-Heaven never dismisses us, never think anything we bring up to Him are too childish for him to handle (pun), and will always give us 100% attention every time we turn to Him and says: “Father, I need help.”

One thing that us Reformed people like to do is that we love to criticize… er…. I mean “speaking the truth in love” towards other denominations or non-Reformed believers in general.  We are sharply trained in the art of recognizing “consistency with the Biblical expressed faith” and we can see an inconsistency easily and clearly in others.  Because we can spot their short-comings, what follows are a series of dismissals based on these short-comings.  So what if Baptist and Methodists and all other non-Reformed evangelical churches around the world are having thousands times more members than we have?  Their theology is flawed, their faith is flawed, and their membership, at the end of the day, is flawed.  If they want to grow they should come and learn from us, they should come to the holy land of true faith (Reformed) and humble themselves and bow to our tradition, i.e., they need to be reform into the Reformed.  Yes, non-Reformed Evangelical churches around the world seems to be thriving, however, at the end of the day we shouldn’t envy them, but rather we should just shake our heads at their fool-hardiness, as if all they have done, at the end of the day, is barely worth recognizing or learn from because at the end of the day, their theological foundation is flawed, their methodologies, as a result, is man-centered and not God-centered, and their worship and Christian lives, are flawed at best.

Let me first say this is not a call to dumb-down the Reformed Faith.  We should definitely be faithful to what God has revealed to us and if God revealed to us the most consistent expression of Biblical faith that’s what we should hold dear and affirm.  This post is also not a call to not be critical of everything we do as Christians.  However, this post is seeking to challenge ourselves, the Reformed folks, to any blind spots (if any) that we may have in our faith.

This is a huge topic and no amount of pages can be comprehensive, so I will limit this blog to use Evangelism as a test case.  What is Evangelism and Conversion?  In the Reformed Faith we know it’s God’s work using human instruments.  It is the call of God, realized by the Holy Spirit in the heart of the people who are called, and recognizing that they are the elected ones in Christ and response to the Gospel in Faith.  I.e. Reformed folks proudly and unashamedly, correctly, emphasized God’s role in Evangelism and Conversion.  If that is truly the case, if we truly believe in that, if we truly believe that the Biblical Truth to the ministry of Evangelism and Conversion is purely on the calling of God alone, the work of the Holy Spirit alone, and the salvation in Christ alone, then it is also curious how we can look down on the amazing work of Evangelism and Conversion that all other denominations are doing and enjoying.  Unless we want to say a good percentage of their converts are fake converts (which I hope no one is saying), that even, hypothetically, if 70% of their great work of Evangelism are genuine conversion of faith in Christ, what does that mean in real terms?  It means our Heavenly Father is blessing their work very very much.  God delights in what they are doing and showing His divine blessings on them day by day with new amounts of people evangelized, converted, and joined their church membership.

How has Reformed folks such as ourselves look at this situation?  Do we delight in what God delights in?  Do we humble ourselves to learn from them and why they receive such divine blessings in arguably the greatest work that Christ expects of us: the Great Commission?  No.  Rather we spend our time and energy on pointing out why what they are doing is not-worth repeating in our Tradition because of various flaws, inconsistencies, etc.  While we are amazed at the results, even then we spend more energy to discredit the results rather than humbly learn from them.  Yet I am not proposing we learn from them if the methodologies are clearly non-Biblical, however, we need to face the fact that whatever they are doing is worth learning with wisdom because it’s painfully obvious God takes delight in their work and blesses them day after day.

Sometimes I think the Reformed Church is like the first son of a family.  A son that listens to his father perfectly, always seek to understand his father perfectly, and takes everything his father ask of him seriously and wanting to do it perfectly so he doesn’t let his father down.  The other sons of the father are slower to learn, rush to action, but rarely does things right.  However, one day the father asks his sons to go out and bring in the harvest from the field.  The eldest son started to design a tool for the harvest, refining it as to perfectly cut into the wheat and trying to figure out the perfect way to make the cut and how much strength he should use on each slice.  Then he designs his own clothes, what to wear when he’s out there that will best assist him in cutting the harvest, and then study the field map and design which area to start is most strategic and best energy-effective.  While the eldest son is doing that the other sons are busy in the fields, racking in the harvest.  While they are not cut perfectly, their ways are ineffective, they seems to be running like headless chickens, however, the harvest is plenty and workers are in abundance.  When the other sons bring back baskets and baskets of harvest the eldest son laughs at them, how they are poorly cut and then go out, because the day is almost over, he brings back a handful, perfectly cut and gathered, and proudly laughs at his other brothers: all your harvests are not as good as mine.

No our faith and ministry is not decided by numbers, but clearly numbers is a sign of divine blessings and a sign of how well we are responding to Christ’s final call: the Great Commission.  From the OT of the Creation Mandate when having abundance of children and fill the earth is a blessing of God, to the Great Commission of converting the world into Christ’s Gospel, it is clear we should care about numbers.  Not in an idolatrous way of being enslaved by it, but it should grief us and concerns us when we live in neighborhoods when 90% of people are destine to hell and only a few is sure of their heavenly status and the Church is ok with that.  When we are amazed when we tell each other “I spend 20 hours preparing a 45-minute sermon!”  Wow, you are a real saint.  I am really curious how many hours a typical Reformed pastor spend in a week on thinking about Evangelism and bring the Word out to his neighborhood.  Or is the typical stereotype correct: we spend all our time reading theological books, dived into teaching ministry, focus on the existing flock, and we are ok with the fact that Sunday after Sunday our “new friends” or “visitors” is only ranging from zero to five?  I yearn for the day for a Reformed pastor to tell me: “I only spend 2 hours preparing the sermon because I spend 60 hours last week on Evangelism and trench ministry”

My personal reflection in the Evangelism of Evangelical churches is that it is not the case that God delights in them more.  But God’s divine blessing is on anybody who is willing to carry His message of repentance and redemption.  Maybe God is like that father that has real high hope for his eldest son, and his eldest son shows so much potential, but for whatever reason his eldest son just don’t like to go out and get his hands dirty, all in the while the father is hoping for his eldest son to be as urgent and restive in going out and dive into the ministry of Evangelism.

http://www.hjenglish.com/new/p99435/

Yes, I too sometimes wonder how the rich in China carries around cash, when cash is still the dominant and prefer way of economic transactions in China.  Going to the bank and take a backpack load of money to do any business is threatening, and the new $500 Renminbi proposal seems to do just that, relief tension and ease of transactions.

However, the nature of the diversity of financial classes in China makes this a complicated issue and why China has stick with $100 bill for decades.  $500 is the monthly wage to many people in China, and at $1000 you’re probably looking at a standard deviation of 60% of the population, and at $2000 that number increases to 70%.  Imagine carrying a few $500 bills on you, that’s a hack of an incentive to rob you and kill you for a month of pay.  So reason #1: $500 bill is as bad an idea as a $10,000 USD bill.

Counterfeiting – Chinese are great at it and it won’t go away.  $100 bills are already being heavily scrutinize by many places because of high occurrences of counterfeits.  $500?  Talk about incentives to get those printing presses going and running hot.  Better security marks on the bills won’t help, the average citizens still cannot tell the difference and like I said, the Chinese are really good at counterfeiting (with all the security marks and designs included free of charge.)

Standard level of living certainly do not need a $500 bill.  Trying to catch a cab with $20 fare and whip out a $500 bill?

While there are many people in China that can wipe their nose with $500 bill and not flinch, the reality is most people in China are still relatively very poor, and makes between $1000-2000 per month.  Again, imagine someone proposing making a new $10,000 USD bill, we would think that’s nuts and impractical, the same I would say for the $500 renminbi suggestion.  Once again the rich people with some capitalist background got way over his head and not thinking about the whole nation but instead worry about how to carry $5,000 Renminbi for a night out of town and his wallet isn’t big enough to fit them.

The solution I would say is to reduce the need for cash transactions and help the big spenders spend on safe, secure, and convenient alternative payment options (such as credit cards, direct bank to bank transactions, etc.)  Make them safer and ease of use.  Going forward with this $500 bill will bring so much harm (exponential increase in robbery related crimes, counterfeiting, and finally risk of inflation) that the easier route is to get the upper-middle class to the rich to learn to make their transactions in a non-cash type of way.

I believe what made him suspicious of CCEF is their willingness to interact, and at times even willing to learn from, the research and development that happens in the Secular Psychology field.  One, one thing must be emphasized, to learn from the research and development of the field of Psychology is completely different than accepting their paradigm and having the entire agenda re-oriented by the paradigms set by Secular Psychology.  For example: I can learn Kantian Philosophy that will help me get a better grasp of Van Tilian Apologetics, and even advance Van Tilian Apologetics as long as my foundation, like Van Til, is thoroughly Biblical/Reformed Theological.  Just because I (and Van Til himself) interact with modern Philosophy (especially Kant) that doesn’t mean I’ve (nor Van Til) has “integrated” modern philosophy into Reformed Apologetics.

What makes CCEF willing to have a dialogue with modern Psychology?  I believe it’s their interest in the human heart and their correct Biblical understanding that the human heart is not just a directed result of human sinful behaviors, but the heart’s desire, values, beliefs are the motivation that drives sinful behaviors.  Thus CCEF are interested in what modern psychology has found, in their research and development, of such concepts as “Desire”, “Needs”, “Self-Esteem”, “Belief System”, “Values”, etc.  Not to carbon copy them directly into the Biblical Counseling, but filter their finds through the Bible and see if there’s any “Borrowed Capital” in their research (Borrowed Capital means sinners, by God’s Common Grace, can also find and even develop teachings that are consistent with the Truth of God.  For example: do not murder is not strictly a Christian Teaching, but many non-Christians outside of the Gospel of Christ teaches that too.  That is a borrowed capital.)

Why is CCEF doing this?  Why can’t it, like Nouthetic Counseling seems to focus on, just tell the counselees their heart are not in the right place (not Gospel-centered, not relying on God, don’t really believe in Christ’s salvation) and that’s why they are doing sinful behaviors.  The answer is to be re-convicted of their salvation in Christ, truly accept the Gospel in your heart, and then do Godly behaviors to counter the urge to do sinful behaviors, be nested in a good Church community that fosters Godly behaviors and this is the simple, “Biblical” way to real change in Christian life.

Romans 7:13-25

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Notice what Apostle Paul said:

“15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

“19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

“21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

Of course the first answer we need to say is that is this Paul’s mental state when he is already an Apostle, or was Paul describing the time he was Saul and a Pharisee?  I believe verse 25 answers that: this is Paul’s current mental state as an Apostle, and he is saying how the Gospel of Christ is the true relief for him in his never ending battle between his flesh to do evil deeds but his good desire to do the deeds of God.

Verse 15 – Paul is honestly confused.  He does NOT understand his own actions.  Now, he knows sometimes he’s not doing good, and he still has weak moments from time to time, and he still does things that he hates because he knows it’s against God.  But look at this honest assessment to the situation – he does NOT understand why, when his mind know perfectly the Laws of God, the entire Old Testament, the centrality of the Gospel teaching, that he is still, at the end of the day, a flawed human being that will do sinful behaviors from time to time.

Verse 19 – here we have an Apostle Paul that is trap in a cycle, a horrific cycle.  A man that knows perfectly the Laws of God, Holiness of God, and the soteriological of Christ’s Gospel in releasing us from the bondage of sin, and yet he is still, in his own words, trap in doing what he doesn’t want to do.

Verse 22 – Paul says he DELIGHTS in the Laws of God.  This is not a person that is confused, ignorant, disdain form the teachings of good works in the Laws of God, he DELIGHTS in them.  But yet he still CANNOT do them all the time and start, at moments, will degenerate and do actions that are counter to the Laws of God.

Verse 24 – at the end no matter how hard he tries, as a Christian, as a firm believer in the centrality of the Gospel and all the riches of grace, salvation, that it teaches, he has only one conclusion in his current physiological state as a functional human being – he is a “Wretched Man.”

May I suggest this is exactly the situation CCEF is wishing to help?  How can people, and especially those people that knows the Gospel and what it represents, and yet still find themselves in the tragic cycle of never ending despair of uncontrollable sinful behaviors?  Is the problem really that people who commit sinful actions are either still ignorant of what the Gospel meant to them?  That they are still not really convinced enough in their heart their relationship with God ?  That all they need is a push from the counselor and be in a Spiritual Godly community/environment that promotes Godly behaviors?  As long as people keep doing Godly behaviors to counter their sinful behaviors that they will be transformed and experience heart change?  To summarized Paul’s answer in Romans 7: “been there, done that, it doesn’t work.”

The answer, is Paul’s verse 25 and into Romans 8:1-11

“25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [1] 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you [2] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, [3] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Now, be careful Paul’s language of mind and flesh is not dichotomy between human psychic and human body(flesh), the Greek word “sarx” in this context means the wholisticly – i.e. Paul is talking about an entire human being (both inner psychic and human fleshly body.)  The “mind” and “flesh” language are an interplay of who is really your master?  The “new mind” that is now convinced of Lord Jesus Christ as our new master?  Or the “flesh” (the old sinful state of yearning of the ‘good old days’ of sinfulness) that still controls us to do sins?  Romans 8:5 is an example of Paul’s framework between “mind” and “flesh”

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

Notice another word, “Spirit”, and no this is not Paul talking about an enlighten state of “mind”, but “Spirit” here is that our new resurrected faith has bought us a new resurrected state of existence in Christ as a “new man”, in our totality (mind and body) sense, and we need to “live according to the Spirit” – we need to offer both our mind and body to the guidance of the Holy Spirit that dwells in our flesh.

Anyway, return to the post.  What is true release from this never ending cycle of sinful behaviors?  Not stronger will power to do Godly behaviors to offset, counter, the sinful behaviors and that in term will change our heart.  But the issue is in the heart and do counselee realized their heart has already changed in the Gospel?

In Romans 8 we get a recount of the Gospel of what Christ has done for us – we are already free!  We are truly released from the bondage of sin!  The note verse 9 – the Spirit of peace is ALREADY in us.  We are already saved in Christ and the evidence of that is the Spirit that currently dwells in us.  The point, for Paul, is not to set Godly works to help us understand better the Gospel and what it has done for us.  The point is, no matter how sinful we might sometimes be in our behaviors (this is certainly the case for Paul himself it seems), that fact of the matter is we are already saved in Christ and have a reconciled relationship with God.  There is no need for us to “feel guilt”, “letting God down”, “bad Christian” mentality.  All is done in Christ.

Finally, the concluding remarks of Romans 8

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because [6] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, [7] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

This is our goal:

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Notice Paul didn’t say: “hey, the Gospel has done so much for you, now it’s time to pay back with perfect good behaviors or shame on you for letting the Gospel down.”  But Paul says the Spirit continues to help our WEAKNESS even today, and in our current Gospel-centered life we still DO NOT WHAT WHAT TO PRAY FOR AS WE OUGHT, but the Spirit himself (Holy Spirit) will help us.  We are still not perfect, but that is not the point, the point is:

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

I can see Paul’s pastoral counseling coming through: the point is don’t lose hope, faith, peace of mind in you because you’re stuck in the endless cycle of good/bad behaviors, you WILL BE GLORIFED in the end times.

Now, my no means I’m suggesting Paul is teaching Antinomianism (our actions don’t really matter, so go sin freely since you are saved anyway.)  Paul does have teachings to change your behaviors:

4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because [6] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, [7] for those who are called according to his purpose.

So no sorry guys, no cheap grace in Paul.  We, in our new life in Christ, has a duty to live according to the Spirit, to live a life worthy of being called child of God, to aim for Godly behaviors.  However, my hope is to aim that all of these, started not in what we can do to change the heart, but a conviction that our heart is already changed in Christ and filled with the Spirit.

This is why CCEF is so interested in the “heart”, or in modern Psychological terms: “Desires”, “Values”, “Systems”, “Cognition”, “Beliefs”, etc.  All of them reveal in part the matter of the human heart.  We learn from their research and development not to let modern Psychology dictate the agendas of Biblical Counseling, but let Biblical Counseling, with God’s revealed Word, filter the results of their research and development, and be convinced, under Common Grace, that maybe they have found something that helps us understand the intricacy of human heart better.

How people Change?  It’s not a simple matter of working towards change.  For people that are in the Covenant (Gospel) our hearts have ALREADY changed.  As Biblical Counselors our aim is not to change people’s hearts for only God can do that.  Our aim is to show them that their hearts are already changed by the power of the Spirit in the context of the Gospel.  We are already “new man” in Christ.  It is not that they lack something that they need to earn their way back to a Godly life.  Godly life is already a reality in their life (the Spirit prays for them) and they need to learn to live it out by relying on the power of the Spirit in Christ.  It is never the horrific quote “God helps those that help themselves”, but instead “God helps you who can’t help yourself but you need to set your mind on God who even at this moment is helping you with His Spirit, and with the same power the Spirit will guide you and work with you to live out a new Godly life.”

Biblical Counseling is not a boot camp, as if we can help someone master a new life through methodological set of do’s and don’ts.  Biblical Counseling is relationship, not primarily between Counselor and Counselee, but a relationship between God and His people, and the job of Biblical Counseling, at the end of the day, is to bring the confused sheep back to God and help the sheep to begin realizing: 1) Godly life is not just a possibility but a reality, and 2) The Counselor will help you begin to walk with the Spirit as you re-gaze your heart to the right ultimate master: the Holy Spirit of Life in God.

P.S. let CCEF itself tell you about their theological foundation and counseling model here:

http://www.ccef.org/ccef-history-theological-foundations-and-counseling-model

And listen I did.  A phrase I picked up on the internet is his argument: “because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.”  Whoa!  Case closed!  I need a new profession!  The Universe has no God, the Universe needs no God.  But wait, science has taught me to be a good scientist I should actually try to observe and test this phrase further, and to justify the money I spent on all those philosophy courses in college that I don’t need to graduate, test it’s validity and logic.

So before I’m renouncing my religion all together I decided to act on that phrase: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing.”

BECAUSE there is a law such as gravity

THEREFORE the universe can and will create itself from nothing

(IMPLICATION) -  “God” does not need to be in the equation of the existence of universe.

Hmmm…. wait a minute…… Hawking says “universe comes from Nothing”, but Hawking also says “Law of Gravity” (which, I’m told by the alleged apple that had fallen on Newton’s head, means sometings; Law of Gravity is something, not nothing) gave the universe its source of existence….. hmmm…. something doesn’t sound quiet right here, shouldn’t we be talking about nothing and not something???  To move it a step back further: if Laws (of Gravity) needs to exist to give scientific reason to the idea that the universe can and will exist by itself without “God”, then may I ask a question: “Where did the ‘Law’ come from before pre-existent universe?”  Or is Hawking trying to tell me the universe comes from nothing in which I have to ask, if that is the case why does he sees a need to throw in this “The Law of Gravity” – which one is it.

Let’s assume A: he’s saying nothing produced the universe.  Typically I find it interesting that when I read atheists (the fun ones: Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hitchens, they make it worth while) ultimately their answer will always be: “It just exists ok?  There don’t need to be any explanations.  Only religious nuts will seek to find answers they don’t comprehend fully themselves.  True enlighten folks will settle for the ultimate scientific and rational answer: “it just happened for no reason/no meaning/no God, it is spontaneous.”  Hmmm…. last time I did that on my Biology exam decades ago the answer “it just did” I’m pretty sure I got a zero as a grade…. I guess my bio-teacher wasn’t scientific/enlighten enough to realize the genius of my ultimate answer to the ultimate reality of life and universe.  Is it wrong of me to think an answer like this is…. well…. unscientific?

Perhaps Stephen Hawking meant what he said (B): Law of Gravity is the reason and proof the universe exists without the need for “God”.  Ok, but there is this philosophy professor in college that used to teach us that we cannot argue for the existence of contingent things with other contingent things (contingent means things that depend on others to exist, like water depends on Hydrogen and Oxygen, and Hydrogen and Oxygen depend on… you get the idea.)  Unless of course Stephen Hawking is trying to tell us the Law of Gravity is that being of essence which is not contingent on anything else in the universe (which for all our sake I hope he isn’t….)

So…. I guess unfortunately I have to say no to Stephen Hawking and keep my current day job of continue to serve the invisible man upstairs and believe that somehow He has a hand in this big vast of vacuum we call universe.

Today there’s a general notion that the more you learn about God, especially the “heavy books”, they may be nice in arguments, but useless in the sanctifying lives of “ordinary” Christians.  However, like my previous Church History professor says: “It doesn’t make sense that the more you know about God the less loving you are.”

More and more Church leaders and teachers are giving in to the notion that one should divide the “heavy stuff” with the “ordinary stuff”, as if the “heavy stuff” are just reserved for a few elite people in the Church, and everyone else can only comprehend bullet points materials.

Now, this is not a call for everyone to read Cornelius Van Til.  There is a sense that it is up the the Church leaders and teachers to teach the Truth in languages, expressions, and communicate in a way that a 5th grader can understand.  Leaders and Teachers should always be on the look out to teach the “Whole Counsel of God”, in its depth as well as width, to the flock that God puts in their midst.  We have the burdens to not short-change the theological richness of the Bible to our congregations, but the challenge is for us to teach them effectively, teach them so they would understand, reaching out without dumbing down.

I generally have issues with your typical “lay person Spiritual Christian book”, as beautiful as they may be written, as easy as they are readable, as comfortable as they are in expressions, as easy as they are in relating to our everyday lives, most of the time I find their theological foundations to be lacking, Truths to be inconsistent and incoherent and even contradictory from chapter to chapter, and at the end I feel like they are moralistic rather than Gospel-centered and driven.

It is my hope that more M.Div. trained pastors, more theological Ph.Ds, more seminary professors, start to write books for the Church at the congregation’s level, and start to write books for spectrums: elderly, families, young couples, teens, children, etc.  And do a great job at it.  We shouldn’t be satisfy that we give up a significant part of teaching ministry to “lay Christian writers” who range from minimal training to none at all.

Finally, I would like to say please do not misunderstand this post as in saying only trained Christians can write books.  There are definitely exceptional books that does not fit into the critiques of my post here.  I myself find many times there are wisdom in lay person books that even humbled me and challenged me.  However, I am speaking of the wider culture of dichotomy between Church teachers and their attitude of feeding the flock, and second, as well as there are some great lay Christian books but it is in this blogger’s opinion that majority of these books are poor in theology, and at the end may harm the sheep rather than help it.

Fast forward to my life as an ordained pastor.  I bought up the idea to the session and particularly any small group leader who’s willing to listen, and the initial reaction is always the “Are you nuts?” look on their faces.  Then I would spread this idea amongst other pastors, and what shocks me is they would also give me the same “Are you nuts?” reaction.  One pastor even jokingly told me: “You’re lucky if 15 minutes after the worship service the congregation still remembers what you say.”  Now, I am not feeling sad for this idea being rejected seemingly by everybody, however, I am sad by what these reactions reflect: we are wasting our time on Sunday.

Is this what we have come to accept as norm nowadays?  That congregations are “expected” to forget what the pastor’s preach on Sundays?  That Church leaders do not see a need to make in-depth reflections on probably the most important rite in Protestant religion: Sunday Preaching.  That we are ok with members in-one-ear, out-the-other, mentality, or at best, for them to savour some “great points” or “good reminders” or “key highlights” and yet forget all the parts that connect the dots?

I spend many hours on each of my sermons, the most that I do than any other teaching duties at Church.  Sunday School, Fellowship, Bible Studies, counseling sessions, etc.  On average I spend 10 hours on each sermon, careful reading of original languages and Biblical exegesis, initial reflections, consultation of key commentaries, more reflections, consultation of various related theological books and writings, more reflections, read and re-read at least 3 times, final product.  I suspect other pastors are the same in general, and probably spend more hours to work out finer sermons than I do.

Yet as pastors and Church leaders what are your expectations of sermons?  Challenging?  Engaging?  Applicational?  But for how long?  Is it like that pastor says: we’ll be lucky if the congregation remembers what we have preached 15 minutes after the service is over?  Are we ok with this?  Or can we do something about it?

This is not pastors being prideful and force the congregation to “take seriously” the work we have done.  But if we truly pour our hearts out on these sermons, if we truly believe they are used by God to Challenge, Engage, and Apply in the congregations’s lives, if we truly believe that they are one of the most intricate part of our religion, we should not be satisfy with the “listen-and-forget” phenonemon, but rather help the congregations to reflect, remain engage, and remain challenged by the sermons.  Just like any Christian reading any book can be mislead, misunderstand, misinterpret, and misapply what they have read if there’s no proper guidance and assistance from the Church’s teaching leaders, what more can it be true as sermons as usually condensed work of long hours of Biblical exegesis, theological reflections, and life applications.

What I want to talk about is him bringing Buddhism into view.  He says in his interview that he has been a faithful Buddhism follower since his childhood and it’s only recently that he went astray from his faith, and that is when he got into trouble, and presumbly that is when he started to sleep around.  As much as this incident is serious, as much as a pastor I am train to show compassion to all, but after reading this on the news wire I can’t help but have a smirk on my face.  Really Tiger?  Buddhism most of your life?  Give me a break.

As a child I grew up in a Buddhism family.  My grandma is a staunch Buddhist, and so is my uncle, or better yet pretty much almost everyone around me is a practice Buddhist.  Buddhism is pretty simple when you come down to it: all materials, emotions, pleasures of this world are “vanity” or “empty” and at the end only causes suffering, true meaning of life can only be found in escaping from this world, escaping from your senses, your pleasures, and in a way self-denial, and that is the only way to end suffering and find true enlightenment.  Deny who you are and you will find yourself, Buddhism is full of these kinds of contradictory quotes that aims to challenge your common senses, and only through that can you escape suffering, truly find your true belonging, which is of course, to be an enlighten one.

True Buddhist, in practice, aims to deny as much worldly pleasures as one can short of starving you and your family to death.  Because money, power, materialism, all leads to suffering, and a Buddhist goal is to end suffering.

Which brings me back to Tiger Woods.  I heard he is a billionaire already, making millions more each passing day.  Live in a mansion like any other celebrity, best food, best clothing, best car, etc.  And he tells the world with a straight face that he follows the way of Buddhist most of his life.

Finally, this reaches my conclusion to this blog post.  Most of us are not unlike Tiger Woods.  We treat religion as a buffet.  We want to pick and choose what we want to consume.  My guess is Tiger loves the part of Buddhism on self-discipline, self-meditation (concentration), because from what I can see you don’t become the greatest golfer in the world without a strong self-discipline, and you don’t make all those incredible comebacks without strong concentration.  So maybe he is right in his own minds, he lost discipline when he let himself to suck into a lustful life.

What is your buffet mentality towards your own religion?  Going into the church today we see a group of people with the buffet mentality.  It amazes me how brothers and sisters, who could be worship together in the same church for over 10 years, but their views on the Bible and theology can be so different that sometimes you wonder should they be better off going into separate churches.  One may love to hear about God’s absolute grace and man’s absolute inability to find God without grace, but the other sitting next to him might turn off his ears because he believes man finds their own answers, when there’s a will there’s a way, and the ears will be turned back on when the church invites a preacher with Arminian bend.  Some believers may struggle for years trying to live a life of holiness, while other believers around them may live out a carefree life of no worries, at least no worries from whatever the Bible says.  When I was a child in America I was amazed that most of my friends say they are Christians, but some are bullying/cursing/stealing/cheating, and luckily I also see some are friendly/dedicated/loving/caring.  I always wonder how can this be?

The religious buffet attitude should not be tolerated at Church, nor by Church leadership (assuming themselves don’t have that attitude).  All believers need to strive to learn, as Apostle Paul would call it, “The whole counsel of God”, as is the “Gospel of Christ”, and that is the “Kingdom of God.”  Unfortunately, it seems like the church has turned a deaf ear to the beloved apostle.

For one snow reminds me how dirty we and our environment really is.  It’s easy to be caught up with the marvels and glamour of our modern society.  Beautifully paved roads, pretty houses, shiny cars, until snow falls and exposes the dirtiness of our modern world.  Snow changes to light brown, brown, and even black color because of pollutions that we produce, dirt in the air, or whatever else.  Sometimes after a snow storm and see the way snow changes color I can’t believe I live in such a dirty and polluted environment, and survive.  It’s a starling reminder: this world is a dirty place and there’s plenty of cleanup to do.  Snow exposes us and our pretty society.

Yet another reason I like snow is that the Biblical phrase “whiter than snow.”  Our LORD is whiter than snow.  He isn’t afraid to be expose by snow because He is whiter than snow.  There’s nothing to expose: our LORD is perfectly sinless and clean, and not only that but shines out the glory of God in fullness, and it is in this sense that our LORD not only stands in the test of snow, but shames snow by being whiter than snow.  Our LORD is the ultimately “exposer” of how dirty we, or our world, really is.

This is why I say every winter: let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.