let Me teach you... Part 4

Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light"

So, back to this question: Why should we learn from Jesus?
1. "...for I am gentle and humble in heart"

Imagine learning from a person who is aggressive and short-tempered, who believes in physical punishment for any mistakes made, whose anger is spelt on their faces. How many times would you have gotten scolded and punished, with cane marks all over your body? And imagine learning from a person who is proud, who sees only himself and none around him. What will you be learning from him? Arrogance? Probably so.

You see, to be able to learn from someone, the person must first be approachable. Jesus himself has encompassed 2 very important characteristics that made Him so easily approachable. God wants you to know that He is not the fearsome, intimidating, and frightening God that some of us imagined Him to be. He is far from that. Just like how a baby response with pleasure to gentle and friendly handling, God wants us, as His children, to come to Him and ENJOY His presence, knowing that He is in control of everything that has happened thus far. And by gentle, believe me, just like how a parent will be so gentle to his newborn child, God does even better, even gentler because we are His precious creation, His beloved sons and daughters.

And how humble can Jesus be? Well, let's take a look at Philippians 2:6-8.

"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!"

Yes, Jesus being God, knew of the path that was set before him, and instead of finding a way to escape the cross, He chose to humble himself so that His death will give us hope. And this, is true humility. Indeed, there is so much to learn from a God so humble, because no matter how humble we say/think we are, we aren't comparable to Jesus, not even a bit.

As a saying goes, "the moment we think that we are humble, we have become proud."

Coming Soon: let Me teach you... Part 5

let Me teach you... Part 3

What about the fairness of God?

Think about this:
If God had been fair, He would have let us go--all of us. He would have allow us to continue with our sins, and not provide a way for us to return to Him. If God is fair, He would not have sent Jesus--the sign of God's unfairness, for our sake.

Jesus died--so that we can be saved. Who are we that we deserved God's attention? Unfair.
The prodigal son left the family and squandered all his assests--His father called for a celebration when he returned. Unfair.
The workers employed at the last hour gets the same pay--the one employed earlier on gets the same too. Unfair.
To the murderer who repents--No need for a sacrifice, no need for a price--God hears and forgives. Unfair.
To the lost sheep--God is willing to find you. Unfair.
Jesus paid everything--All you need to do is, to believe. Unfair.

Yet, through the unfairness of Christ, we receive a grace that this world can never give.
A God who gives His everything for the completely undeserved-- you and I.

As Henri Nouwen points out, "God rejoices. Not because the problems of the world have been resolved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, nor because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising him for his goodness. No, God rejoices because ONE of his children who was lost has been found."

God didn't have to do all these. You and I know that.

let Me teach you... Part 2

Let me first address the issue of the existence of God by drawing your attention to this webpage:

http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html

If the above doesn't convince you that God is real, then history should.

An excerpt from "More Than A Carpenter" by Josh McDowell

We can appreciate the tremendous wealth of manuscript authority for the New Testament by comparing it to textual material available to support other notable ancient writings.

The history of Thucydides (460-400 BC) is available to us from only 8 manuscripts dated about AD 900, almost thirteen hundred years after he wrote. The manuscripts of the history of Herodotus are likewise late and scarce. And yet, as F.F.Bruce, Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester, concludes, "No classical scholar would listen to an argument that the authencity of Herodotus or Thucydides is in doubt because the earliest manuscripts of their works which are of use to us are over 1,300 years later than the originals."

Aristotle wrote his poetics around 343 BC, and yet the earliest copy we have is dated AD 1100 (a gap of almost fourteen hundred years), and only five manuscripts exist.

Caesar composed his history of the Gallic Wars between 58 and 50 BC, and its manuscript authority rests on nine or ten copies dating one thousand years after his death.

"Consider Tacitus," says Bruce Metzger, author or editor of fifty books on manuscript authority of the New Testament, "the Roman historian who wrote his Annals of Imperial Rome in about AD 116. His first six books exist today in only one manuscript, and it was copied about AD 850. Books eleven through sixteen are in another manuscript dating from the eleventh century. Books seven through ten are lost. So there is a long gap between the time that Tacitus sought his information and wrote it down and the only existing copies.

"The quantity of the New Testament material," confesses Metzger, "is almost embarrasing in comparison with other works of antiquity."

When I first wrote this book in 1981, I was able to document 4600 Greek manuscripts of the Bible, abundantly more source material that exists than for any other book written in antiquity. However, as of this writing (2007), even more Greek manuscripts have been found, and I can now document more than 5600 of them.

Jewish scholar Jacob Klausner said, "If we had ancient sources like those in the Gospels for the history of Alexander or Caesar, we should not cast any doubt upon them whatsoever."

Anglican bishop and New Testament historian Stephen Neill argues that "we have a far better and more reliable text of the New Testament than of any other ancient work whatever."

New Testament Greek Scholar J. Harold Greenlee adds: "Since scholars accept as generally trustworthy the writings of the ancient classics even though the earliest manuscripts were written so long after the original writings and the number of extant manuscripts is in many instances so small, it is clear that the reliability of the text of the New Testament is likewise assured."

If you are still unconvinced, allow me to challenge you to pray this: "Dear Lord Jesus, I have doubts about your existence. If you really are God, then please open my eyes and let me see, so that I may believe. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen."

Trust me, God hears and understands. Accept this challenge and you will see God's power in your life.

let Me teach you... Part 1

Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light"

Learn from God? How can I learn from someone whom I can't see nor hear? How can I even learn from someone who does not even understand the problems that I am going through now, the crazy and ugly world that I am living in now, the horrendus boss who only knows to spit fire at me all the time. Who is He to give me advice on the situation that I am in now?

That must be on Jonathan's mind throughout the sermon after a week of thrashing by his boss. Going to church has never been Jonathan's idea, if not for his wife. He enjoys the melody of the songs during worship, but never the repetitive lyrics that always revolve around Jesus. He loves the outgoing pastor who never fails to get the attention of his audience, but always has doubts over the message delivered.

"If Jesus is real, then He must have disliked me so much as to put me in such environment!"

This sentence alone is what Jonathan believes strongly in - a sentence that can disprove everything that has been preached about God thus far. "Yes, there may be a God, but He is a unfair one, and one who doesn't know how to care for His creation."

Don't you think all these sound somewhat familiar? If God is real, why is there so much evil and suffering in the world? If God is fair, why then let the righteous suffer and the evil prosper? God, why am I in such a state? Why is life so miserable for me, yet so enjoyable and meaningful for others. Why am I bedridden? I thought you are a healing God? Why? Why? Why the injustice and ugliness of mankind? Why do You say that You are perfect when everything else seems so imperfect?

The many many unanswered whys have led many christians away from church and pre-believers to avoid the church. Yet interestingly, while the many whys seem to put God in such a bad limelight, God, in His Word, tells us to learn from Him. Learn from a God who is so unfair? Hmm, that may drive more away from the church at first thought.