Word On The Street: Grace

For the past  week, I was in shocked to see my friends walk away from Jesus. Even today, I grief for them. I think God ordained this time for me to write another post to edify those who are in pain to see their friends saying they walk away from Jesus, find Jesus not relevant, deny Jesus as their Lord and Savior, don’t see any love coming from Jesus, and many more reasons.

Take at least few minutes to read Luke 15:11-32.

My assumption to those who reads this entry would know this famous parable that Jesus taught – Parable of the Prodigal Son. The younger son asks for his father’s inheritance – half of it. And then he goes out and blows the money through partying like a rock star. After spending all the money, he goes out and work to make a living out of a worse labor job ever. Despite all the effort he made, nobody, not even his friends, gave him anything. He was left alone and abandoned by the world.A lot of people are totally depraved in this world. Their eyes are blinded by the gods of this world from seeing the light of the gospel. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. The prodigal son could have ended at Luke 15:16 and the story could have been told like that. Jesus could have told that the moral of the story is this: “Don’t be an idiot like this son at the end of his life.”

Here is a single word that changes everything: BUT. Jesus, however, continues the story with an amazing redemption for this pathetic son. His mind clicks. When the son came to himself he realized that his sin was not only against his earthly father but in the deepest sense against heaven, that is, against God himself. I do not believe, however, that it was any human conscience that caused this son to realize his sin. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that people can realize their mistakes and try to change it. In Biblical sense, the consciousness of realizing one’s sin that moves him or her to repentance can only be done by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the son was deeply sorrowful for the foolish mistake he made for walking his own way and finds words to say to his father before he sees him.

The Father sees his son at the distance. He runs to embrace him and love him. The son confesses his sin to him, and the father throws a party for him because he “was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”

Some of us have went to church only during for Sunday school. Somehow this world (e.g. videogame, girlfriend, boyfriend, partying, smoking, getting drunk) was more attractive than God; therefore, we chose to walk away from God and indulge in this world. At the end of the day, this world leaves you nothing but suffering and emptiness. However, no matter where we are at with God, we are either a friend of Him or a foe. Not everyone will have this “BUT” in their lives where they realize what in the world they are doing with their lives. Some will continuously be stiff-necked, stubborn, and arrogant to continue their folly, which in the end leads them to their destruction – hell.

God is waiting for you to come back to Him and truly want you to experience His unconditionally love and irresistible grace. Good news is this: God extends His grace to you, first, by embracing and hugging you. Referencing from what Reality Church states: The goal of the Gospel is not the gifts God gives, but rather God as the gift given to us by grace.

I will say this again: the gospel always makes the difference in our lives.

“Your GRACE has found me just as I am.” (Majesty by Delirious)

Word On The Street: Compassion

Take at least 2 minutes to read Luke 10:25-37 for this week’s passage of the “Word On The Street”.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is probably one of the famous stories in the Bible. Christians and non-Christians (secularism) know this story and have implemented into the culture. The concept of the “Good Samaritan” is found in the “Good Samaritan law”, helping others and cleaning up the mess in the riot, and I don’t know how many “Good Samaritan _____  “(fill in the blank) there are. Hopefully some of you know what the story is about, but we often miss the main point of the story.

It started out with a lawyer asking Jesus what it takes to go to heaven. Jesus asked, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” The lawyer answered the Great Commandment. Since the lawyer answered correctly, he must apply it. The lawyer wanted to justify himself. What did he mean “justify himself”? To be show what is just and to be made right. Why did he want to “justify himself”? He asked Jesus a question, “Who is my neighbour?” As deceitful and clever this lawyer was, he tried to escape the responsibility of not loving those who are “non-neighbour”, such as the poor, the sinners, the sick, the lame, and those who are in the lower social classes.

Jesus told a story to show an example of what a neighbour is like. A man from Jerusalem got mugged by robbers. There were three people who Jesus talked about: Priest, Levite, and Samaritan. Priest is a descendant of Aaron who had priestly responsibilities in the Jerusalem temple. He saw the man wounded but he passed by on the other side, which was to describe his unwillingness to love his neighbor. Levite is a member of the tribe of Levi but not a descendant of Aaron and therefore not a priest. The Levites were the ones who assisted the priests. He also passed by the man. Then came a Samaritan. Culturally, it would have been unthinkable for a Samaritan to help a Jew (the wounded man could have been a Jew because he is coming from Jerusalem) because Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Jesus, however, emphasized the point that to love your neighbor involved showing care and compassion even to those who would not have any normal relationship or to those who are undeserving to be loved and cared for. The Samaritan ministered and helped the injured man by setting “him on his own animal” because he’s probably too injured to walk, brought him to an inn and paid for the fees because he’s been mugged and has nothing left, and extending whatever more cost and care may be needed for this Jew. On the extended note, two denarii were equivalent of two days salary; therefore, it showed that the Samaritan was willing to sacrifice his money and energy for the well-being of the Jew. Jesus ended with this question, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” And we can all answer: “The Good Samaritan”.

I want to make a personal note that I don’t agree that there is a “Good Samaritan”. The headline of your Bible may say that “The Parable of the Good Samaritan”, but Jesus never said the Samaritan was good although he did demonstrate love and kindness. I think, perhaps, that the “Good Samaritan” was able to show love and compassion for his neighbor was because God showed compassion and love toward him in the first place, if he ever existed. Because of the grace of God, the Samaritan’s heart and mind was able to be changed and renewed by the Holy Spirit. No one is good besides God. No one is righteous besides God. Why did Jesus tell us this parable then? It is to show how the “wise and understanding” (the religious leaders who thinks they are good and self-righteous) do not understand even the simplest commands of Scripture. We too fall short like the lawyer. Like the lawyer, we try to justify ourselves by picking and choosing who our neighbours are. How about the man or woman living in E Hastings and doing drugs and sleeping street? Do they need compassion and need to be loved? How about a new person coming into the youth Sunday School or small group or Bible study and we ignore him or her because we like to be comfortable with the friends we know? Does he or she need compassion and need to be loved?

The gospel is a better news than just helping the poor and paying their hotel fees. It is about Jesus. I think that Jesus wanted to us to see ourselves in the story. Who did the injured man represent? I think it would be, in the context of the Bible, the sinners, the lame, the sick, and living in the lower social class (like you and I spiritually speaking). Who did the priest and Levite represent? The religious leaders. Throughout the story of the gospel, the Pharisees never cared about the sinner and didn’t even want to interact with them because they were afraid that it would defile them. They would condemn people like hypocrites for not seeing the plank in their own eyes. In John 8, Jesus was with the prostitute who was about to be stoned by the Pharisees. It shows that being religious doesn’t work.

Jesus not only taught about “loving your neighbor as yourself”, but He fulfills that command in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:5). It is about Jesus loving the world by demonstrating His love on the cross. Jesus loves those who hated Him. Jesus loves those who are affected by culture (John 4). Jesus loves those who persecuted Him. On the cross, He told the Father to forgive them because they don’t know what they were doing.

Apart from Jesus, if we think that by doing good works will label us as “good” and “righteous” people, then don’t be fooled by the religious culture we are living in. Apart from Jesus, all our good deeds are like garbage. I’m not saying don’t help people and stop doing good, but if Jesus has renewed your heart and mind, then all the good deeds you do are no longer for yourself, but for Jesus Christ. Instead of asking an improper question, “Who is my neighbor?” we should ask, “How can I be a loving neighbor?”

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.” (Luke 6:27; 30)