I thought I would type up a quick update to let you all know I did not hurt myself snowboarding! In fact the snow was so nice, I mostly rode in a foot or two of powder which meant if i did fall (which lets be honest, I didn't lol, kidding of course) it didn't hurt at all! It was a very tiring trip and yesterday I slept the whole bus ride home, took a nap at home and then slept soundly at night as well. I had a blast and learned some new stuff and got a lot better at boarding so that was fun, I also was able to help teach people too which was also very fun! The mountain was beautiful and to get to another side of the mountain I rode a 20 minute long gondola ride which was quite scenic. I saw some monkeys chillin in a tree as well as a bear and what appeared to be its cub, however it may have been another type of animal, but it really looked like a bear. The snow was wonderful, at one point I rode through powder that was up to my chest.
Tonight is New Years Eve so i'm off to do some traditional stuff with my family. In a few days I'm going to Disney Sea! Have a happy new year everyone!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
I'm really enjoying break here, its nice to not have anything to do and no school. I go snowboarding in 2 days, I'm super stoked. Christmas here was good but its is mostly celebrated on Christmas eve. I spent a lot of time playing with Teruki and some of his new toys he got. He like the gifts I got him (or got from my mom who did an awesome job sending presents for me to give). An old home stay student who was with my family two years ago is also here for the holidays and he is really cool, but a little sick, so hopefully he'll feel better since he came all the way over here.
Playing at the park with Teruki. Shortstop Status.
When he pulled this out of the bag he said the japanese equivalent of boo-yah. It was awesome.
My host family!
Teruki's new mini-trampoline!!!
I'm really enjoying break here, its nice to not have anything to do and no school. I go snowboarding in 2 days, I'm super stoked. Christmas here was good but its is mostly celebrated on Christmas eve. I spent a lot of time playing with Teruki and some of his new toys he got. He like the gifts I got him (or got from my mom who did an awesome job sending presents for me to give). An old home stay student who was with my family two years ago is also here for the holidays and he is really cool, but a little sick, so hopefully he'll feel better since he came all the way over here.
Weekly Mediations: Judges 19-21: Civil War
First off, merry Christmas to all of you. Secondly, a bit of a disclaimer to this passage, chapter 19 of Judges may be the most, as Teacher Julie puts it, "R rated" stories in the Bible. It is really quite gross but yet it is also scripture and thus it is God's word. So bear with the passage now, and others like it during your own quiet times or scripture studies. That said, this passage is also quite cool in that there are many allusions to other parts off scripture in this single passage which I think shows God's authorship of the passage, the good parts and bad parts. (You might recognize themes and events in the stories of Jacob, Lot, Joshua, Saul and even Moses)
I think there are many themes in this passage, most of which I've touched on to some extent the last several weeks, and for that reason, i'm going to make a bit of a stretch and talk about something completely new. These three chapters are the account of the civil war in Israel; the civil war amongst God's chosen people. The first thing that comes to my mind after reading that is the "civil wars" if you will, in the church; God's chosen people. For that reason I want to look at this passage and compare it too our lives as members of a local church, and how we can deal with conflict, because sadly, we are all human and thus we all err and therefore conflicts will arise. However, I think how we handle these conflicts not only can glorify God, but also can show a beautiful expression of sacrificial love to others. That said, lets look at this passage thinking about three things: the offense, the response and the reconciliation.
First, the offense. The events of chapter 19 are quite heinous to say the least, and sadly, terrible occurrences do occur in the church, but I want to get at however are smaller problems. The first oft-disputed "church problems" that come to mind is worship style, I think there are also times people disagree with something a preacher says in his sermon and then off course individual disputes also occur often within bodies of believers, take for example Euodia and Syntyche whom Paul addresses in his letter to the church at Philippi. So lets imagine something did happen between two people, some sort of dispute, I think we can take note of Judges 19:29-30 and think of how to first respond. In the text, a pretty terrible crime develops and the nameless Levite responds first by telling people, essentially taking his case to the authorities. It was a big deal so he made a big deal out of it, but for a small dispute, I think we need to put things in perspective. Our initial response should not be to make a huge deal out of it, to gossip, to tell others. A dispute between two people should be resolved by those two people, get an elder or the pastor to help you if needed, but I think it is deconstructive to take your problem and involve others.
With that in mind lets continue to talk about how we respond. In these three chapters in Judges, the Israelites pretty much handle everything the wrong way. From the initial sin on, it is a downhill slope. In our day-to-day disputes I think we need to keep in mind that in this story, one side seeked justice while the other side (the Benjamites), for whatever reason, thought they had done no wrong, and war broke out. As Christians we should not ever want a "war" to break out between two believers as the result of some conflict. When conflicts arise, we need to act calmly and address the issue in a loving manner, face to face with whoever wronged us. When we have wronged someone else, we need to take responsibility for it humbly, as hard as that may be. While in the context of Judges the sinful Benjamites of Gibeah deserved punishment, because of how the situation was handled, the entire tribe of Benjamin ended up almost being wiped clean (of course keeping in mind that King Saul, Esther and Paul were of this tribe, God had different plans). Nonetheless, I think that humility is the key to disputes. That is really hard for me to do, its easy for me to get fired up about something and want to vent and tell a bunch of people without directly solving the problem, but I think it is of great importance to lovingly and humbly address the situation one on one with the person.
Lastly, the reconciliation. In our story, the Israelites continue to be rash, ending up leaving the remnant of Benjamite men wifeless. To fix this the kidnap wives for the Benjamites and murder more people. As I said before I'm making a bit of a stretch but basically I think that after conflicts are resolved, we need to make sure to tie up any loose ends in a Godly manner. Was anyone else affected by the conflict? Do you need to apologize to anyone else? These types of smaller problems and issues can stem off from the main issue. We need to continue in our humility and try to mend any other hurts or problems caused by the initial conflict.
To conclude, if a conflict arises, be calm, be humble and approach it in a loving manner. Confront the person directly in love, leaving other people out as far as gossip goes. Once the conflict is resolved be sure to fix any loose ends. Make sure God is at the center of it all, when we stray away from him, that is when we act rashly and make poor decisions. Sorry if I sound like a middle school counselor but I think that church conflicts are very real things and when handled well can be a great picture of Christ and his love for the very church we are a part off.
I think there are many themes in this passage, most of which I've touched on to some extent the last several weeks, and for that reason, i'm going to make a bit of a stretch and talk about something completely new. These three chapters are the account of the civil war in Israel; the civil war amongst God's chosen people. The first thing that comes to my mind after reading that is the "civil wars" if you will, in the church; God's chosen people. For that reason I want to look at this passage and compare it too our lives as members of a local church, and how we can deal with conflict, because sadly, we are all human and thus we all err and therefore conflicts will arise. However, I think how we handle these conflicts not only can glorify God, but also can show a beautiful expression of sacrificial love to others. That said, lets look at this passage thinking about three things: the offense, the response and the reconciliation.
First, the offense. The events of chapter 19 are quite heinous to say the least, and sadly, terrible occurrences do occur in the church, but I want to get at however are smaller problems. The first oft-disputed "church problems" that come to mind is worship style, I think there are also times people disagree with something a preacher says in his sermon and then off course individual disputes also occur often within bodies of believers, take for example Euodia and Syntyche whom Paul addresses in his letter to the church at Philippi. So lets imagine something did happen between two people, some sort of dispute, I think we can take note of Judges 19:29-30 and think of how to first respond. In the text, a pretty terrible crime develops and the nameless Levite responds first by telling people, essentially taking his case to the authorities. It was a big deal so he made a big deal out of it, but for a small dispute, I think we need to put things in perspective. Our initial response should not be to make a huge deal out of it, to gossip, to tell others. A dispute between two people should be resolved by those two people, get an elder or the pastor to help you if needed, but I think it is deconstructive to take your problem and involve others.
With that in mind lets continue to talk about how we respond. In these three chapters in Judges, the Israelites pretty much handle everything the wrong way. From the initial sin on, it is a downhill slope. In our day-to-day disputes I think we need to keep in mind that in this story, one side seeked justice while the other side (the Benjamites), for whatever reason, thought they had done no wrong, and war broke out. As Christians we should not ever want a "war" to break out between two believers as the result of some conflict. When conflicts arise, we need to act calmly and address the issue in a loving manner, face to face with whoever wronged us. When we have wronged someone else, we need to take responsibility for it humbly, as hard as that may be. While in the context of Judges the sinful Benjamites of Gibeah deserved punishment, because of how the situation was handled, the entire tribe of Benjamin ended up almost being wiped clean (of course keeping in mind that King Saul, Esther and Paul were of this tribe, God had different plans). Nonetheless, I think that humility is the key to disputes. That is really hard for me to do, its easy for me to get fired up about something and want to vent and tell a bunch of people without directly solving the problem, but I think it is of great importance to lovingly and humbly address the situation one on one with the person.
Lastly, the reconciliation. In our story, the Israelites continue to be rash, ending up leaving the remnant of Benjamite men wifeless. To fix this the kidnap wives for the Benjamites and murder more people. As I said before I'm making a bit of a stretch but basically I think that after conflicts are resolved, we need to make sure to tie up any loose ends in a Godly manner. Was anyone else affected by the conflict? Do you need to apologize to anyone else? These types of smaller problems and issues can stem off from the main issue. We need to continue in our humility and try to mend any other hurts or problems caused by the initial conflict.
To conclude, if a conflict arises, be calm, be humble and approach it in a loving manner. Confront the person directly in love, leaving other people out as far as gossip goes. Once the conflict is resolved be sure to fix any loose ends. Make sure God is at the center of it all, when we stray away from him, that is when we act rashly and make poor decisions. Sorry if I sound like a middle school counselor but I think that church conflicts are very real things and when handled well can be a great picture of Christ and his love for the very church we are a part off.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Winter Break!
Winter Break is finally here! I had two classes today and now I'm done for a couple weeks. In the mean time, I'm gonna play basketball on Saturday, Sunday is Christmas, next Tuesday night I leave for snowboarding and I'm going to Disney Sea in early January as well as probably some other New Years festivities (there are more traditional things and festivals here in Japan to see during New Years; kind of like all the countdown shows... but not really). Anyways, its crazy that my first semester is almost over! I'm looking forward to this break, I'll try to take lots of pictures!!
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Judges 17-18; When we Make Plans for God
I think a lot of people hate Christians. It's kind of a weighty statement but I think its true. In countries where freedom of religion is not an institution, by proclaiming Jesus people are killed, jailed and hurt every day. In America though I think a different kind of hatred ensues and I think that this hatred towards the church is in part, the church's fault. Not all the church's fault but maybe 50/50. Now I don't mean a single church but rather the church as a whole meaning the entire body of Christ. So why is it the church's fault it is hated? Personally, after reading these two chapters, I think the church has misrepresented Christ, and in doing so it has come off as a sour taste in the mouths of those who aren't believers. Don't get me wrong, not every local church is at fault nor is it necessarily fair to single one body in particular out, but lets take a quick look at some times when the church has misrepresented Christ through history, and the effects it had.
The Pharisees: The religious leaders of the time, who basically knew Jesus was the Messiah (John 11:45-57) killed him to keep their social status. (of course Jesus had to die to accomplish his task of bringing salvation to the world but nonetheless this is an example of people putting worldly desires in front of God)
The Crusades: In short, this was Christians trying to "evangelize" by killing people. Holy war is something only God can instigate, (see Joshua) not something man can start. It is a dangerous game when one starts justifying their actions with "God told me too".
The Roman Catholic Church in the oh lets say 1000-1600: Instead of aiming at spreading the gospel, the religious authorities selfishly set goals to expand wealth and power (sadly reminds me of the Pharisees). Through false teachings, relics, and many other things, the church's earthly kingdom grew.
Hate groups: There are many groups who's slogan is "God hates ______". As Christians we know that this is absurd because 1st John 4:16 tells us that "God is love". Sadly this is essentially a modern day holy war if you will. Groups fighting against something or someone using God's name to justify their cause.
Health, Wealth Gospel preachers: Jesus didn't promise health or wealth on this earth, he promised persecution and suffering. A rapper said it well when he wrote: "like a televangelist preaching out of his Bentley".
Finally, the fact that we are all sinners, even though we as Christians are saved, means that we will mess up and this, unfortunately, misrepresents Christ. I think all of us can confess to that, I know I can.
Through all of this, the church, which is meant to proclaim Christ, has sometimes ended up proclaiming itself. Through all of this I think it is easy to see why people come to dislike Christians. Obviously there are a multitude of reasons for this dislike, but a big one I see is the hypocrisy the church can fall victim too when it tries to do its will rather than God's.
Well, that brings us to the passage. In Judges 17 and 18 we find two smaller stories, one of Micah, a man living in the hill country of Ephraim, the other of a Danite group, set on trouble. Both stories have similar themes flowing through them. They are stories of men trying to worship God but doing so their way. Micah hires a Levite to be his personal high priest. I apologize because I couldn't find the passage that supports this but, Levites were not meant to be personal priests, they served the community, the country of Israel. Micah not only created for himself his personal priest but also had idols he worshiped. The most ironic thing about these idols is that they were created out of silver he stole from his mother but later confessed to. "I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol." Judges 17:3. Micah's mother praises God by breaking the first two commandments. Oxymoronic isn't it?
The Danites on the other hand are looking for land to live in and talk to Micah's Levite asking him if their journey is blessed by God. The Levite, claimed to speak for God (although God had not spoken through them) and blessed their journey. They went on to attack a town and steal Micah's idols an Levite.
All throughout this story we see people attempting to worship God but even more so, trying to accomplish their own agendas, justifying it with a good ole fashioned "God told me too". Just like so many groups through history have done, the folks in this passage justified their actions by using God as a trump card of sorts. David, in his last message at Cove last year talked about this theme. Too often people justify their lifestyle, their decisions and their actions by saying "it's God's will for my life" and all too often God's "will" happens to be contrary to scripture, self serving or comfortable. God's will for us isn't hard to seek out. He wants us to glorify him, he wants us to love others, he wants us to share the gospel. I think if you are truly doing those things then it doesn't matter what you're doing, your doing his will. Take Tim Tebow for example. He's famous, he's making money, but he's proclaiming Christ, he's loving others, he's being a good example to kids across the country and he truly loves Jesus. He is doing God's will. God hasn't given me a sign or a vision but I'm pretty set on moving to Japan later in my life to share the gospel with the Japanese people. I speak Japanese and I know the gospel, sure God didn't tell me to do it, but it makes sense to me, I'll enjoy doing it and it glorifies God. Right now, I think that is God's will for my life and I'm going to keep going until God himself closes a door.
My message here is not to make people love the church; its not a brainstorming session on how to make people not hate the church or stop persecuting Christians. Sadly that is probably impossible. My message today however is to look at your life and ask yourself if you are representing Christ well. Are things in your life the way they are because you want them like that, or is your life in the hands of God? As Christians we need to understand that God's will for our lives is not rocket science. It is not down to every minute detail of what we wear and eat each day. It is simply glorifying God in everything we do. So look at your life, make sure you aren't justifying actions using God's name and look for ways to proclaim Jesus Christ in your everyday life.
Weekend Update
This last week I had the chance to see Christmas lights around Tokyo with some friends. It was very pretty, especially when we were in one of the wealthier, newer areas of town. Other than that I played basketball a couple times this week and am ready to finish the next four days and reach winter break. Its pretty cold here but mostly inside my house because Japanese houses don't usually have insulation and heating the house costs far more money than in the States. Japan beats the U.S. in a lot of ways but warm houses is not one of them.
I wish you all a merry Christmas! Hope you have a fun and relaxing winter break, go Blazers!
I wish you all a merry Christmas! Hope you have a fun and relaxing winter break, go Blazers!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Judges 13-16; Samson
I feel like what I want to say about Samson tonight goes really well with what I talked about last week. Last week the main message was the question of how are you living your life? Are you living to leave behind something finite like a legacy at work or possessions or are you living for eternal things; and if you are living for eternal things, or at least you are a Christian, then what are you leaving behind in that respect? Would your epitaph read "Nice guy, sat in same pew every Sunday" or "Martyred spreading the gospel"? Obviously those are fairly extreme but nonetheless it is an important question to ask ourselves.
Well, that brings us to Samson. Samson's story is fairly simple. He is a blessed man who had great strength which comes from his long hair (his long, uncut hair was a sign that he was set apart to be God's.).
He meets a girl, gets married, tells her friends a riddle and makes a bet, she pries (or in the NLT translation, somewhat humorously "nags") the answer out of him. Fastforward a few events and he meets Delilah, her Philistine buddies want to know the secret to Samson's strength so she pries it out of him and the Philistines capture Israel's judge. With his last burst of strength at a Philistine party, Samson yanks the pillars down, killing himself as well as many Philistines.
To sum it up, Samson makes mistake after mistake during his time as God's chosen judge, ends up at his lowest low but with his last effort saves the day... somewhat.
I think we often look at Samson and call him dumb. His first wife tricks him into giving her the answer to his riddle and he loses a bet. Then, every time he falls asleep with Delilah he wakes up tied up, and this is after she asks him what his weakness is. After the first couple times you would think he would get it right? I know that's exactly what I thought growing up. But I think we need to look at this story the way we look at the mistake-making Israelites throughout the Pentateuch, the pharisees and often naive disciples. It is easy to condemn them but when we look closely at our lives we're not so far off I think. When it comes to Samson I feel like that is definitely the case. Think of the allure of sin. We know its gonna tie us up, we know its gonna destroy us, in fact, apart from Christ we know our sin condemns us to an eternity in hell. But yet we still sin. We tell that lie, take that glance, say those words, the list goes on and on.
The good news here for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to gain salvation and forgiveness for our sins is that when all is said and done, we are God's. No matter how many times we let sin lie to us and fall, God is there to pick us up, and that is great news indeed! The thing is, and going along with last week, how are we living here on earth? Do we want to live our lives dabbling in sin but on the last day still entering in to heaven, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:15 ... he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." Or, do we want to kill the sin in our life and life to the full extent of how God wants us to live for him?
Samson chose the former. He lived his life listening to stupid lies until finally he was captured, blinded and broken. When it counted yes, he came through and destroyed many Philistines, but he did so in a terrible, humiliating way.
Good advice that has been given to the youth group over the years is to find a friend to confess sin to. Bring the sin, that which loves darkness, to light. I encourage you all to live life to the fullest, in Christ! Don't let sin weigh you down but know that Christ, through is death has freed you from your sin! Your chains are broken and you've been set free!
Well, that brings us to Samson. Samson's story is fairly simple. He is a blessed man who had great strength which comes from his long hair (his long, uncut hair was a sign that he was set apart to be God's.).
He meets a girl, gets married, tells her friends a riddle and makes a bet, she pries (or in the NLT translation, somewhat humorously "nags") the answer out of him. Fastforward a few events and he meets Delilah, her Philistine buddies want to know the secret to Samson's strength so she pries it out of him and the Philistines capture Israel's judge. With his last burst of strength at a Philistine party, Samson yanks the pillars down, killing himself as well as many Philistines.
To sum it up, Samson makes mistake after mistake during his time as God's chosen judge, ends up at his lowest low but with his last effort saves the day... somewhat.
I think we often look at Samson and call him dumb. His first wife tricks him into giving her the answer to his riddle and he loses a bet. Then, every time he falls asleep with Delilah he wakes up tied up, and this is after she asks him what his weakness is. After the first couple times you would think he would get it right? I know that's exactly what I thought growing up. But I think we need to look at this story the way we look at the mistake-making Israelites throughout the Pentateuch, the pharisees and often naive disciples. It is easy to condemn them but when we look closely at our lives we're not so far off I think. When it comes to Samson I feel like that is definitely the case. Think of the allure of sin. We know its gonna tie us up, we know its gonna destroy us, in fact, apart from Christ we know our sin condemns us to an eternity in hell. But yet we still sin. We tell that lie, take that glance, say those words, the list goes on and on.
The good news here for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to gain salvation and forgiveness for our sins is that when all is said and done, we are God's. No matter how many times we let sin lie to us and fall, God is there to pick us up, and that is great news indeed! The thing is, and going along with last week, how are we living here on earth? Do we want to live our lives dabbling in sin but on the last day still entering in to heaven, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:15 ... he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." Or, do we want to kill the sin in our life and life to the full extent of how God wants us to live for him?
Samson chose the former. He lived his life listening to stupid lies until finally he was captured, blinded and broken. When it counted yes, he came through and destroyed many Philistines, but he did so in a terrible, humiliating way.
Good advice that has been given to the youth group over the years is to find a friend to confess sin to. Bring the sin, that which loves darkness, to light. I encourage you all to live life to the fullest, in Christ! Don't let sin weigh you down but know that Christ, through is death has freed you from your sin! Your chains are broken and you've been set free!
Church Dinner
On Saturday evening I was invited to have dinner at my church with some of the members. It was a lot of fun getting to know them more and good Japanese practice. An added bonus was the night's "chef" an avid fisherman who also cooks very well. (See picture below). Anyways we had a wonderful meal with three types of sashimi, one of which was the fish below which he himself caught and prepared. We had some beef that was pretty raw but still good, some chicken that he prepared with mushrooms and potatoes and the main course was cooked meat, cabbage and small mushrooms cooked in a pot (also below). Very yummy food and a very fun night.
To finish, a couple interesting facts I've forgot to mention in past posts:
1. Pepsi isn't very popular here so you can get a large can for very cheap. It is a great system for someone with my superior tastebuds which desire the sweet taste of Pepsi over inferior soft drinks like coke.
2. Pretty much whenever there is a soda machine in a restaurant, the flavors it has are unbelievable. When I come back it will be a hard transition back to Cola/Lemon-Lime/Root Beer/23 Flavored substance/juice depending on the maker.
3. The Japanese really are years ahead of us in toilet technology. I thought the Simpsons were joking but no, its true. Portland State has gross toilets I wouldn't touch wearing a biohazard suit. Waseda has heated seats.
4. At Disneyland when your car or ride vehicle takes off the attendants say itterashai, the set phrase mostly said when someone is leaving home. I thought that was very hospitable of them. I wonder if the Tower of Terror people say that.
5. In Japan high school is really hard but college is super easy.
Monday, December 5, 2011
12/5
Nothing much is new here but I thought I would check in.
First off, in case I forgot to mention, on Thanksgiving I was able to Skype with my grandparents which was really awesome!
First off, in case I forgot to mention, on Thanksgiving I was able to Skype with my grandparents which was really awesome!
Two days ago I went to a festival with my host mother and several other of my friends and their host mothers. It was a lot of fun; essentially we watched a parade of large, basically floats of lanterns with people on them, pass by.
Lastly, 22 days until I get to snowboard.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Weekly Mediations: Judges 10-12; What is Your Legacy?
In these three chapters we hear the stories of 6 Judges. Let me sum them up for you:
Tola: 23 years of judging, lived and died in Shamir.
Jair: 22 years, had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and controlled thirty towns.
Jephthah: 6 years, saved Israel from the hands of the Ammonites but couldn't save his daughter when he swore to sacrifice to God the first thing that came out of his house after battle. Who should unfortunately and even slightly ironically come out but his daughter. Despite his great work in war he will best be know for this err of words. Speaking of err or words he also killed 42000 Ephraimites in a somewhat amusing story of their inability to pronounce an "sh" sound.
Ibzan: 7 years, had all of his kids (30 sons 30 daughters) marry outside his clan.
Elon: 10 years.
Abdon: 8 years, his kids and grandkids rode donkeys.
There we have it. 6 stories, five of which are quite boring while the sixth, extremely unfortunate. Judges is full of heroes, God's heroes, who saved Israel from all sorts of harm at the hands of the surrounding peoples. In this chapter however we find one war-hero overshadowed by a dumb pledge and two men who aspired for their children to ride donkeys. Wow! Can you imagine young Hebrew boys asking their grandfathers to tell them the great tales of the judges? I would assume that none of these stories ever got told. Surrounded by the tales of Gideon and Samson (next week) you would be crazy to talk about Abdon and Jair and their donkey riding kin. "And when you grow up, you can ride a donkey just like Jair's children!". What did these people do for God? Obviously in some way they served him; they were judges, but nonetheless what ever they did do was overshadowed by donkeys!
As Christians I think we can ask ourselves the same question. What are we doing for the sake of the gospel? To further God's kingdom? Someday when we see God face to face will he tell us good job for giving up comfort and safety for my kingdom or will he pat us on the back cause we learned how to ride a donkey and then taught our kids. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should strive for any praise in this, however I do think at the end of the day what will our legacy look like? Did we wholeheartedly serve God? Did we give him our all? Or did we go to church most Sunday's and participate in weeknight programs, oh and we read our bible a lot, and, and we prayed and one time we gave a homeless guy a dollar. I think as Christians we too often fall into two places. First, and worst we fall into the gears of life. Our dream legacy is a great house, great job, great kids who carry on our legacy. All we care about is making much of this life. But don't you see? By doing that all we are doing is putting our kids on donkeys and then dying. Secondly I think Christians fall into a checklist mentality. We check off our spiritual to-do list and hopefully we'll be good enough when we die to get into heaven.
Neither of these methods are how we can leave a great legacy for the Kingdom of God. Rather, we need to remember that Jesus Christ has already paid the price for our sins and through that we have salvation. Not through how many people we convert (as if its even us who converts them) or how much we go to church. Then, we need to put our faith fully in Christ and give up our life to him. We need to be radical, we need to put our life on the line for the gospel. Get out of our comfort zones so that someday we can leave a legacy that shouts "Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior and my life was lived for the glory of his name"!
Tola: 23 years of judging, lived and died in Shamir.
Jair: 22 years, had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and controlled thirty towns.
Jephthah: 6 years, saved Israel from the hands of the Ammonites but couldn't save his daughter when he swore to sacrifice to God the first thing that came out of his house after battle. Who should unfortunately and even slightly ironically come out but his daughter. Despite his great work in war he will best be know for this err of words. Speaking of err or words he also killed 42000 Ephraimites in a somewhat amusing story of their inability to pronounce an "sh" sound.
Ibzan: 7 years, had all of his kids (30 sons 30 daughters) marry outside his clan.
Elon: 10 years.
Abdon: 8 years, his kids and grandkids rode donkeys.
There we have it. 6 stories, five of which are quite boring while the sixth, extremely unfortunate. Judges is full of heroes, God's heroes, who saved Israel from all sorts of harm at the hands of the surrounding peoples. In this chapter however we find one war-hero overshadowed by a dumb pledge and two men who aspired for their children to ride donkeys. Wow! Can you imagine young Hebrew boys asking their grandfathers to tell them the great tales of the judges? I would assume that none of these stories ever got told. Surrounded by the tales of Gideon and Samson (next week) you would be crazy to talk about Abdon and Jair and their donkey riding kin. "And when you grow up, you can ride a donkey just like Jair's children!". What did these people do for God? Obviously in some way they served him; they were judges, but nonetheless what ever they did do was overshadowed by donkeys!
As Christians I think we can ask ourselves the same question. What are we doing for the sake of the gospel? To further God's kingdom? Someday when we see God face to face will he tell us good job for giving up comfort and safety for my kingdom or will he pat us on the back cause we learned how to ride a donkey and then taught our kids. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we should strive for any praise in this, however I do think at the end of the day what will our legacy look like? Did we wholeheartedly serve God? Did we give him our all? Or did we go to church most Sunday's and participate in weeknight programs, oh and we read our bible a lot, and, and we prayed and one time we gave a homeless guy a dollar. I think as Christians we too often fall into two places. First, and worst we fall into the gears of life. Our dream legacy is a great house, great job, great kids who carry on our legacy. All we care about is making much of this life. But don't you see? By doing that all we are doing is putting our kids on donkeys and then dying. Secondly I think Christians fall into a checklist mentality. We check off our spiritual to-do list and hopefully we'll be good enough when we die to get into heaven.
Neither of these methods are how we can leave a great legacy for the Kingdom of God. Rather, we need to remember that Jesus Christ has already paid the price for our sins and through that we have salvation. Not through how many people we convert (as if its even us who converts them) or how much we go to church. Then, we need to put our faith fully in Christ and give up our life to him. We need to be radical, we need to put our life on the line for the gospel. Get out of our comfort zones so that someday we can leave a legacy that shouts "Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior and my life was lived for the glory of his name"!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Judges 9; The Ultimate Judge
Sorry for the delay but as I said in my Disneyland post I got in late last night.
Today I want to talk about the ultimate judge. Now the word ultimate can mean two things; first it can mean final and second it can mean greatest. I think that both definitions can well describe God but the point I want to make today is in God's ultimate judgement as he is the final judge.
I will quickly summarize what Judges 9 is all about but hopefully you've read it. Essentially Gideon's son Abimelech goes to his mother's brothers in Shechem where he persuades them to make him the leader of their city. Upon his "election" he then takes a band of mercenaries and murders all of his half-brothers. Jotham however escapes and hides. Jotham eventually gives a speech to the Shechemites foretelling their doom. Abimelech and the Shechemites eventually begin bickering which ends with Abimelech murdering the city folk. While he is attempting to finish them off a women drops a millstone, it hits Abimelech, and he has his servant kill him so as not to be killed by a women. In short, Abimelech and the Shechemites do some bad stuff, Jotham gives them a chance to repent, they don't repent, live on for a little bit and then die, fairly horribly.
I think in life it is easy for us to want justice a little too much. I know there have been times in my life where someone has wronged me, very minutely, and my first thought is how to get back at them. A snide reply, a honk or yell at a biker, the list could go on. When someone wrongs us, we want them to be judged. We want justice right? I think Judges 9 is a good picture for us to look at though. Jotham was thoroughly wronged yet he 1. offered his enemies a chance to, essentially, repent and 2. did not seek revenge. I think we should do the same.
1. As Christians we know that we have thoroughly wronged God, yet God in his mercy has told us to repent and believe in him to fix our broken relationship with him. I think likewise we should always be forgiving of others, no matter how hard that is. Remember, Jesus said those who do not forgive will not be forgiven.
2. We shouldn't seek revenge. We should want justice, but we need to realize that it is not our job to bring justice. God will ultimately bring justice at his appointed time so us replying with an insult, punching back, etc will get us no where and will definitely not reflect Christ. Justice will come, but for now we need to act in love and try to show those who have wronged us that they need to repent just as we have done as Christians. While they wrong you or me, they are wronging God even more so. As Christians we know that we were once enemies of God but have believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to save us from God's judgment against us. Likewise we should share this gospel, even with our enemies.
God will ultimately judge everyone's wrongdoing, even Christian's. Instead of plotting revenge, let us act in love, sharing the love that Christ himself showed us through his servant's death on the cross.
Today I want to talk about the ultimate judge. Now the word ultimate can mean two things; first it can mean final and second it can mean greatest. I think that both definitions can well describe God but the point I want to make today is in God's ultimate judgement as he is the final judge.
I will quickly summarize what Judges 9 is all about but hopefully you've read it. Essentially Gideon's son Abimelech goes to his mother's brothers in Shechem where he persuades them to make him the leader of their city. Upon his "election" he then takes a band of mercenaries and murders all of his half-brothers. Jotham however escapes and hides. Jotham eventually gives a speech to the Shechemites foretelling their doom. Abimelech and the Shechemites eventually begin bickering which ends with Abimelech murdering the city folk. While he is attempting to finish them off a women drops a millstone, it hits Abimelech, and he has his servant kill him so as not to be killed by a women. In short, Abimelech and the Shechemites do some bad stuff, Jotham gives them a chance to repent, they don't repent, live on for a little bit and then die, fairly horribly.
I think in life it is easy for us to want justice a little too much. I know there have been times in my life where someone has wronged me, very minutely, and my first thought is how to get back at them. A snide reply, a honk or yell at a biker, the list could go on. When someone wrongs us, we want them to be judged. We want justice right? I think Judges 9 is a good picture for us to look at though. Jotham was thoroughly wronged yet he 1. offered his enemies a chance to, essentially, repent and 2. did not seek revenge. I think we should do the same.
1. As Christians we know that we have thoroughly wronged God, yet God in his mercy has told us to repent and believe in him to fix our broken relationship with him. I think likewise we should always be forgiving of others, no matter how hard that is. Remember, Jesus said those who do not forgive will not be forgiven.
2. We shouldn't seek revenge. We should want justice, but we need to realize that it is not our job to bring justice. God will ultimately bring justice at his appointed time so us replying with an insult, punching back, etc will get us no where and will definitely not reflect Christ. Justice will come, but for now we need to act in love and try to show those who have wronged us that they need to repent just as we have done as Christians. While they wrong you or me, they are wronging God even more so. As Christians we know that we were once enemies of God but have believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to save us from God's judgment against us. Likewise we should share this gospel, even with our enemies.
God will ultimately judge everyone's wrongdoing, even Christian's. Instead of plotting revenge, let us act in love, sharing the love that Christ himself showed us through his servant's death on the cross.
Disneyland!
So yesterday I went to Disneyland but I got home really late so I'm posting today.
Me, four people from my group and two Japanese students all went to Disneyland yesterday. We started off with a couple rides on Space Mountain and then from there tried to find the shortest lines we could and rode Jungle Cruise, Its a Small World, the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder (twice, one of which was at night), Splash Mountain twice (one of which was at night), Peter Pan, Pirates, Star Tours and finished with the Buzz Lightyear ride which is actually super fun. We were lucky to ride it as all day there was a 100+ minute wait that peaked at three hours wait. We rode it very last and we some of the last people they let in line.
I was a little disappointed in the lack of characters that were roaming the streets. We saw the Fairy Godmother but she had a plastic face, reminiscent of when Dwight Schrute cut off the CPR dummy's face and wore it as a mask. She was pretty scary. Other than that I think we saw like two or three other, fairly obscure characters.
Disneyland here is pretty much the same thing minus a few rides. It is kind of surprising to me but Tokyo Disney has a Tom Sawyer island, canoes etc. It is such an American thing but I guess Tokyo Disney is basically a carbon copy so they added it.
Overall I had a lot of fun with my friends and I'm looking forward to going to Disney Sea (although I think I like the Magic Kingdom more) in December.
In other news I'm not counting down days til Christmas this year but rather to when I get to snowboard.
29 days left !
More pictures are on my Facebook page but here are a few:
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Yesterday I had the day off so my host mother and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. It was cool because there is a lot of stuff a bit further out from where I live that I didn't know about. There are tons of temples and a large graveyard where a few Tokugawa family members are buried (They were the leaders before the Meiji Emperor came to power). We ate cake at a cake shop, it was super rich and yummy. I also saw a store with white peach soft cream, holla! We went to a spot where you can see Mt. Fuji but it was too cloudy.
At the end of December I'm going snowboarding with the international club; super stoked.
Tomorrow my Oregon group is having Thanksgiving dinner... as best we can.
I'm gonna go play basketball in about an hour.
At the end of December I'm going snowboarding with the international club; super stoked.
Tomorrow my Oregon group is having Thanksgiving dinner... as best we can.
I'm gonna go play basketball in about an hour.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
11/20/2011
Sorry for the lack of updates, I tend to forget to do stuff a lot here. Nothing to new for me. I had one midterm last week and I have one tomorrow. No school this Wednesday but that is for Japanese Labor Day, not Thanksgiving. On Friday my Oregon group is going out for a "Thanksgiving" dinner, which of course will not be the same but I will still stuff myself silly. I played basketball yesterday, raw tuna is growing on me, Friday night me and my friend I met at a snowboard shop went out to an izakaya (japanese bar) and had dinner. Japanese bar food is really good!
Weekly Meditations: Judges 6-8; Gideon
I feel like trusting God is one of those phrases that has become a cliche in the church. Don't get me wrong, I think that there is lots of faith in God in many churches and in the hearts of many Christians, but nonetheless it has become a really easy thing to say rather than do. An old saying comes to mind as I often find myself talking the talk of faith, but not walking the walk with action.
Enter Gideon. In chapters 6 and 7 of Judges we meet Gideon, a man who was in the weakest clan and was least in his family. Essentially he was worthless in the eyes of his community. But in these two chapters we see Gideon show true and extraordinary faith in God and lead the Israelites to freedom from the Midianites. Gideon accepts his task, puts his trust in God, then follows through.
As Christians we have all been given many commands from Christ. A cover-all would be "love God" or obey God, and thus by doing this we would essentially follow every other command. Two other important commands come to my mind as well (not to say there aren't many others), which are Love others and share the gospel. Gideon was tasked with the job of saving the Israelites from oppression. If we continue with the oppression = sin metaphor than we could see this as freeing others from the oppression of sin, a.k.a sharing the gospel. That said, lets compare stories.
God came to Gideon and told him to save the people (Judges 6:14), Jesus has commanded us to take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Gideon felt like he was not fit for the job but God encouraged Gideon that he would be with him (Judges 6:16), Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit will be with us when we proclaim the gospel (Acts 1:8).
Gideon asks for a sign (Judges 6:17-18, 36, 39), When the Holy Spirit comes on the disciples at Pentecost, God shows us an amazing display of his power (Acts 2:1-41).
Gideon accepts his task, of course it takes him a few signs from God before he accepts, but by the end of chapter 6, Gideon is ready to take an army, outmatched as they were, to fight the Midianites. We too need to accept our task of sharing the gospel. You don't need to hop on a plane and fly to Tuvalu or some obscure place to share the gospel, that would be amazing but that is not what I'm getting at. Rather, I know for a fact there are people in your life who don't know Jesus and they are the people you can share the gospel with. Maybe someday you will go to the ends of the earth, but right now, proclaim the gospel in your Jerusalem, in your Judea.
Next we see Gideon put his trust in God. We first see a small token of this when he tears down his father's idols. That was quite the leap of faith as the next morning the townsfolk wanted him dead (Judges 6:25-32). However, I think the biggest way we see Gideon trust God is in the way he sends men from their already under matched army home. In the first 8 verses of chapter 7, God on two occasions has Gideon send men home so that only 300 men end up fighting against the Midianite army. Gideon humbly accepted God's guidance even though it was suicide in any human logic. What are your limits for trusting God? Gideon let his army dwindle to 300 men when facing an army of well over 30,000. How far out of our comfort zone do we trust God. It is hard for me to share the gospel with others, I know I need to let go of fears and truly trust God with the faith Gideon had. Maybe God is prompting you right now to let go of something in your life. Many of you reading this know a couple who are leaving everything to share the gospel of Jesus Christ far from family and friends. I think that that is a wonderful example of faith in God.
Finally, as I said earlier, we need to walk the walk. It is one thing to put that faith in Christ but then we need to act on it. After God struck the Midianites into a frenzy where they simply attacked each other, the survivors fled. However, Gideon and his men finished their task. They chased all of them down, even traveling quite far to finish off the Midianite army with no help from surrounding nations (8:6, 8). We too need to act. Think of someone you can share the gospel with, pray about it, figure out a way that you can share with them, then do it.
Enter Gideon. In chapters 6 and 7 of Judges we meet Gideon, a man who was in the weakest clan and was least in his family. Essentially he was worthless in the eyes of his community. But in these two chapters we see Gideon show true and extraordinary faith in God and lead the Israelites to freedom from the Midianites. Gideon accepts his task, puts his trust in God, then follows through.
As Christians we have all been given many commands from Christ. A cover-all would be "love God" or obey God, and thus by doing this we would essentially follow every other command. Two other important commands come to my mind as well (not to say there aren't many others), which are Love others and share the gospel. Gideon was tasked with the job of saving the Israelites from oppression. If we continue with the oppression = sin metaphor than we could see this as freeing others from the oppression of sin, a.k.a sharing the gospel. That said, lets compare stories.
God came to Gideon and told him to save the people (Judges 6:14), Jesus has commanded us to take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Gideon felt like he was not fit for the job but God encouraged Gideon that he would be with him (Judges 6:16), Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit will be with us when we proclaim the gospel (Acts 1:8).
Gideon asks for a sign (Judges 6:17-18, 36, 39), When the Holy Spirit comes on the disciples at Pentecost, God shows us an amazing display of his power (Acts 2:1-41).
Gideon accepts his task, of course it takes him a few signs from God before he accepts, but by the end of chapter 6, Gideon is ready to take an army, outmatched as they were, to fight the Midianites. We too need to accept our task of sharing the gospel. You don't need to hop on a plane and fly to Tuvalu or some obscure place to share the gospel, that would be amazing but that is not what I'm getting at. Rather, I know for a fact there are people in your life who don't know Jesus and they are the people you can share the gospel with. Maybe someday you will go to the ends of the earth, but right now, proclaim the gospel in your Jerusalem, in your Judea.
Next we see Gideon put his trust in God. We first see a small token of this when he tears down his father's idols. That was quite the leap of faith as the next morning the townsfolk wanted him dead (Judges 6:25-32). However, I think the biggest way we see Gideon trust God is in the way he sends men from their already under matched army home. In the first 8 verses of chapter 7, God on two occasions has Gideon send men home so that only 300 men end up fighting against the Midianite army. Gideon humbly accepted God's guidance even though it was suicide in any human logic. What are your limits for trusting God? Gideon let his army dwindle to 300 men when facing an army of well over 30,000. How far out of our comfort zone do we trust God. It is hard for me to share the gospel with others, I know I need to let go of fears and truly trust God with the faith Gideon had. Maybe God is prompting you right now to let go of something in your life. Many of you reading this know a couple who are leaving everything to share the gospel of Jesus Christ far from family and friends. I think that that is a wonderful example of faith in God.
Finally, as I said earlier, we need to walk the walk. It is one thing to put that faith in Christ but then we need to act on it. After God struck the Midianites into a frenzy where they simply attacked each other, the survivors fled. However, Gideon and his men finished their task. They chased all of them down, even traveling quite far to finish off the Midianite army with no help from surrounding nations (8:6, 8). We too need to act. Think of someone you can share the gospel with, pray about it, figure out a way that you can share with them, then do it.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Judges 4-5
A pattern I find a lot in the bible is contrast. There are endless examples of stories that essentially contrast two different people, events, things, whatever, and the contrast is pretty much always the same. On one hand is God, and on the other, some form of separation from him.
In the two chapters we will look at now we find the Israelite people separated from God by their own choice. They are following idols and indulging themselves in the pleasures of the surrounding people groups. However, it is not all fun and games as they are soon oppressed by Jabin, a king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor (verse 2). The Israelites eventually call out to the Lord and he sends the current Judge Deborah into action. Long story short, Deborah, Barak and the armies of the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun defeat Jabin and restore peace to Israel (chapter 4). Then in chapter 5 we read the song Deborah sings to praise the Lord.
So what is the contrast? On one hand, we have the Israelites following their own desires and shunning the God who gave them the promised land. On the other side, we see them turn to God, put their trust in him and thus win their freedom. The same is true for us in our lives as Christians in our battle with sin. When we are caught up in our own lives, work, school, relationships, we lose sight of God and become prey for sin to overtake our lives. Satan's greatest weapon against us isn't one of the "bad things" we might put on a list of sins. No, it is busyness. It is the conformity into a pattern of life that drags us deeper and deeper into the cycle and further and further from God. But friends, on the other side of this is a life that praises God. It is a life that draws near to God. So I encourage you to feel and see the value of a devotional time. Understand the importance of prayer, of attending church. We don't read the bible, pray, go to church, to check it off a list. We also don't do those things so that we gain eternal life, or blessings, as if any small good deed we do could pay back our pile of sins. No, we do these things as Christians because we are in a relationship with God, and when you are in a relationship with someone, you invest time into them. You get to know them, you learn their likes and dislikes, their favorite foods, music, their tastes, you try to learn who they are and as you grow together you know each other deeper and deeper. Our relationship with God, with Jesus Christ is just that; a relationship! So reading the Bible becomes a daily date with God where we see him more and more clearly. Prayer, a long phone call we spend talking with him. Going to church is meeting with God's people, the family and friends of Christ if you will. Friends, don't take these things for granted. Invest time in God for just as the Israelites are freed from their oppressors, we too will change and turn from sin. Of course we will always sin as we are human, but it is very true that certain things in our lives will leave us. I can remember a time where I would get very frustrated when I played pretty much any sport and didn't perform as well as I thought I should. There was a point in my life where that clicked off however and it is not something I struggle with anymore. I feel that I owe that to the time I spent with God changing me.
Lastly, in chapter 5 we see a direct response of thanks and praise to God. In the same way we should constantly be thanking God for Jesus and his sacrificial death for us that has freed us eternally from sin. We should also praise God for this great feet no matter what our circumstances are. Remember that whatever is going on in our life changes but God is always the same amazing God who deserves praise.
In the two chapters we will look at now we find the Israelite people separated from God by their own choice. They are following idols and indulging themselves in the pleasures of the surrounding people groups. However, it is not all fun and games as they are soon oppressed by Jabin, a king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor (verse 2). The Israelites eventually call out to the Lord and he sends the current Judge Deborah into action. Long story short, Deborah, Barak and the armies of the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun defeat Jabin and restore peace to Israel (chapter 4). Then in chapter 5 we read the song Deborah sings to praise the Lord.
So what is the contrast? On one hand, we have the Israelites following their own desires and shunning the God who gave them the promised land. On the other side, we see them turn to God, put their trust in him and thus win their freedom. The same is true for us in our lives as Christians in our battle with sin. When we are caught up in our own lives, work, school, relationships, we lose sight of God and become prey for sin to overtake our lives. Satan's greatest weapon against us isn't one of the "bad things" we might put on a list of sins. No, it is busyness. It is the conformity into a pattern of life that drags us deeper and deeper into the cycle and further and further from God. But friends, on the other side of this is a life that praises God. It is a life that draws near to God. So I encourage you to feel and see the value of a devotional time. Understand the importance of prayer, of attending church. We don't read the bible, pray, go to church, to check it off a list. We also don't do those things so that we gain eternal life, or blessings, as if any small good deed we do could pay back our pile of sins. No, we do these things as Christians because we are in a relationship with God, and when you are in a relationship with someone, you invest time into them. You get to know them, you learn their likes and dislikes, their favorite foods, music, their tastes, you try to learn who they are and as you grow together you know each other deeper and deeper. Our relationship with God, with Jesus Christ is just that; a relationship! So reading the Bible becomes a daily date with God where we see him more and more clearly. Prayer, a long phone call we spend talking with him. Going to church is meeting with God's people, the family and friends of Christ if you will. Friends, don't take these things for granted. Invest time in God for just as the Israelites are freed from their oppressors, we too will change and turn from sin. Of course we will always sin as we are human, but it is very true that certain things in our lives will leave us. I can remember a time where I would get very frustrated when I played pretty much any sport and didn't perform as well as I thought I should. There was a point in my life where that clicked off however and it is not something I struggle with anymore. I feel that I owe that to the time I spent with God changing me.
Lastly, in chapter 5 we see a direct response of thanks and praise to God. In the same way we should constantly be thanking God for Jesus and his sacrificial death for us that has freed us eternally from sin. We should also praise God for this great feet no matter what our circumstances are. Remember that whatever is going on in our life changes but God is always the same amazing God who deserves praise.
"Insert Creative Title Here"
I had a really fun week. I played basketball on three separate occasions; Wednesday was a make up day for my circle since we didn't meet last week due to a holiday, Thursday I met with Niji-no-Kai, the international club I'm a part of and balled with them and Saturday I played pick-up ball with some friends including a guy I went to elementary and middle school with who happens to be studying at another Tokyo college (Aoyama Gakuin). I am very sore and my back hurts but it was well worth it.
Today I went to church with my friend's host family. It was a very lively, fairly charismatic church who's pastor is a big Hawaiian guy. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards I went to their house, a very nice house, for dinner. It was a very fun evening.
Saturday in my Japanese class we had to perform mini-dramas in groups so you better believe I gave 110% on that assignment.
Today I went to church with my friend's host family. It was a very lively, fairly charismatic church who's pastor is a big Hawaiian guy. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards I went to their house, a very nice house, for dinner. It was a very fun evening.
Saturday in my Japanese class we had to perform mini-dramas in groups so you better believe I gave 110% on that assignment.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Mortal Judges: Judges 3:7-31
First off I would like to apologize for not having the passage posted here, but it would make these things very long so hopefully you are reading the passage on your own, otherwise what I say might not make that much sense.
Last week we looked at how Jesus is our eternal judge; judge in the sense of our leader who saves us from sin. This week I want to look at the judges differently and focus on their humanity. While the judges were a pointer to things to come, they also were humans who God chose to lead the people of Israel.
In these verses in chapter 3 of Judges we are introduced to the first three judges of Israel: Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar. We are given each of their stories, Othniel's is fairly short, Ehud's goes into a little more depth and Shamgar's is but one sentence. Nonetheless I think we can look at these men and see two things. First, we see that they are humans who God used to help bring his people back to him. As Christians we are God's people in this present age and we too have this same task (Acts 1:8). Secondly, each of these men has a unique ability. Othniel we read, has the Spirit of God fall on him and lead him in battle, Ehud was left handed. The writer of Judges includes a seemingly useless fact about Ehud's blade; "...which he strapped to his right thigh...". Eglon's guards didn't check Ehud for left-handed weapons so he was able to sneak the blade into the King's presence. This simple ability of being left-handed was used by Ehud to accomplish his task of helping Israel be freed from the oppression of the Moabites. Shamgar, in his one sentence, we learn was quite the warrior as he killed 600 Philistines with only an oxgoad, a spear-like cattle prod. Just as these men were each equipped with a different ability, today we all have been given spiritual giftings (1 Corinthians 12). I encourage each of you to use those gifts to help further God's kingdom and to preach the gospel. Some of you might be gifted monetarily, so give. Some of you may be great prayers, pray for people while alone or with them. Some of you may be gifted in music, lead God's people in worship through song or teach a young man or women in the church an instrument. Whatever your gifts may be use them sacrificially for God.
Lastly, since we are God's chosen people, we are called to bring others the gospel just like the judges brought Israel back to God. I encourage you to share the gospel through your words, your actions and your love.
Last week we looked at how Jesus is our eternal judge; judge in the sense of our leader who saves us from sin. This week I want to look at the judges differently and focus on their humanity. While the judges were a pointer to things to come, they also were humans who God chose to lead the people of Israel.
In these verses in chapter 3 of Judges we are introduced to the first three judges of Israel: Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar. We are given each of their stories, Othniel's is fairly short, Ehud's goes into a little more depth and Shamgar's is but one sentence. Nonetheless I think we can look at these men and see two things. First, we see that they are humans who God used to help bring his people back to him. As Christians we are God's people in this present age and we too have this same task (Acts 1:8). Secondly, each of these men has a unique ability. Othniel we read, has the Spirit of God fall on him and lead him in battle, Ehud was left handed. The writer of Judges includes a seemingly useless fact about Ehud's blade; "...which he strapped to his right thigh...". Eglon's guards didn't check Ehud for left-handed weapons so he was able to sneak the blade into the King's presence. This simple ability of being left-handed was used by Ehud to accomplish his task of helping Israel be freed from the oppression of the Moabites. Shamgar, in his one sentence, we learn was quite the warrior as he killed 600 Philistines with only an oxgoad, a spear-like cattle prod. Just as these men were each equipped with a different ability, today we all have been given spiritual giftings (1 Corinthians 12). I encourage each of you to use those gifts to help further God's kingdom and to preach the gospel. Some of you might be gifted monetarily, so give. Some of you may be great prayers, pray for people while alone or with them. Some of you may be gifted in music, lead God's people in worship through song or teach a young man or women in the church an instrument. Whatever your gifts may be use them sacrificially for God.
Lastly, since we are God's chosen people, we are called to bring others the gospel just like the judges brought Israel back to God. I encourage you to share the gospel through your words, your actions and your love.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
4 Day Weekend
Thanks to "Culture Day" and the "Waseda Festival", I was done for the week after school on Wednesday. I was gonna post each day like a four part series but forgot so now I'm just gonna sum up the last few days in one post; nothing spectacular will happen tomorrow I'm pretty sure. Before I begin I will answer the question you all probably have. Yes, there are a billion holidays and festivals here, most of which are small enough for school to continue going on.
Thursday: My host Mother and Father told me they were doing something and invited me to come so I had absolutely no idea. I figured we would all get on a train and cruise over to Miura and check the place out and eat some fish. Instead, I found that their neighborhood takes a pretty-much-annual trip, usually to Miura and so as a group of too many to count we headed off on a tour bus. First we drove through Tokyo and let me just say, traveling around by subway is great and convenient but riding on the freeway and seeing the Tokyo skyline was something else. I'm not gonna try to describe it because my words nor a photo from inside the bus with my cell-phone-camera could do it justice. After a brief bathroom break in Yokohama we headed over to Enoshima, the small island I went to on my Kamakura trip. Unbeknownst to me, the Island has way more than I thought it did and I had fun seeing a cave, some nice scenery and a whole different side of the island, including the ocean which was quite pretty despite the clouds.
After our stop at Enoshima we piled back on the bus and rode to Miura where we went to a restaurant and ate fish. Miura is famous for tuna I think, at least this restaurant was. I have a picture of three tuna heads but you can check it out on Facebook, I don't want anyone who is faint of heart to be forced to see it. Anyways I'm not a huge fish fan but this tuna was super good. The cooked stuff was my favorite but the raw tuna was the best sashimi I have ever tried.
Friday: pretty uneventful, just rested and did homework/studied.
Saturday: Today I went to the Waseda Festival. Pretty much the whole campus was packed, barely any room to walk. All day various clubs put on performances, dancing, singing, comedy etc. Food booths lined the streets selling all sorts of stuff. It was pretty cool. I went alone because I figured I would probably see someone I knew, and this method ended up working out because over the course of the afternoon I ended up seeing a lot of people so that was fun. No I am at home typing my blog, tomorrow I'm gonna go to church and then I have no plans at the moment. Nap maybe?
Thursday: My host Mother and Father told me they were doing something and invited me to come so I had absolutely no idea. I figured we would all get on a train and cruise over to Miura and check the place out and eat some fish. Instead, I found that their neighborhood takes a pretty-much-annual trip, usually to Miura and so as a group of too many to count we headed off on a tour bus. First we drove through Tokyo and let me just say, traveling around by subway is great and convenient but riding on the freeway and seeing the Tokyo skyline was something else. I'm not gonna try to describe it because my words nor a photo from inside the bus with my cell-phone-camera could do it justice. After a brief bathroom break in Yokohama we headed over to Enoshima, the small island I went to on my Kamakura trip. Unbeknownst to me, the Island has way more than I thought it did and I had fun seeing a cave, some nice scenery and a whole different side of the island, including the ocean which was quite pretty despite the clouds.
After our stop at Enoshima we piled back on the bus and rode to Miura where we went to a restaurant and ate fish. Miura is famous for tuna I think, at least this restaurant was. I have a picture of three tuna heads but you can check it out on Facebook, I don't want anyone who is faint of heart to be forced to see it. Anyways I'm not a huge fish fan but this tuna was super good. The cooked stuff was my favorite but the raw tuna was the best sashimi I have ever tried.
Friday: pretty uneventful, just rested and did homework/studied.
Saturday: Today I went to the Waseda Festival. Pretty much the whole campus was packed, barely any room to walk. All day various clubs put on performances, dancing, singing, comedy etc. Food booths lined the streets selling all sorts of stuff. It was pretty cool. I went alone because I figured I would probably see someone I knew, and this method ended up working out because over the course of the afternoon I ended up seeing a lot of people so that was fun. No I am at home typing my blog, tomorrow I'm gonna go to church and then I have no plans at the moment. Nap maybe?
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Our Eternal Judge - Judges 1:1-3:6
Last week we concluded our time in Philippians, looking at the idea of joy in different contexts. For the next several weeks I want to go back in time to the book of Judges. Judges was a book that I wanted to teach to the middle school group but never had time for and it also gives me the challenge of expositing an Old Testament book. Keep in mind while Philippians was a letter, Judges is a historical narrative.
In the first 18 verses of Judges, we read about the people of Israel, a fairly new nation, conquesting their Promised Land. As the Israelites moved throughout the land of Canaan, the Lord was with them and they easily defeated their enemies driving out all of the inhabitants. This in its self brings up the topic of a "holy war" but we aren't going to look into that. Let me just say that the Israelite conquest of Canaan was ordained by God but I would not say the same about the Crusades or any other war in mankind's history. This shows the trouble we can get into when we as man put words into God's mouth that justify what we ourselves want to do, even if scripture explicitly says different. That said, for these first 18 verses, the Israelites follow their command, they drive out the peoples of Canaan but as we hit verse 19, something changes. The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots (emphasis added). The rest of chapter 1 tells of the peoples Israel failed to rid the land of. In Joshua 9 we read about the Gibeonites who deceive the Israelites, but we can add to this list many more people groups.
As chapter 2 begins, we fully see why leaving these peoples was problematic. I think Exodus 32-33 says it very clearly: "Do not make a covenant with them (the peoples of Canaan) or with their Gods. Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you." God wanted the Israelites to have the land to themselves. It was their land! But they left other peoples in the land and we see this cause the Israelites to fall over and over again. Their history is plagued by bad decisions and evil kings. I don't think we are too far off of this path. God wants us to have an amazing life in him yet over and over we sin against him. When I say sin I don't just mean doing a bad thing. Stealing or lying or calling someone a name. No, sin stretches much further, sin is separation from God and we do this everyday when we worry about life, focus on this life rather than God. Spend our time poorly and of course, when we do do those "bad things". We leave this sins in our lives just like the Israelites left peoples in their land; and just like the Israelites, sin causes us to grow further apart from God.
This leaves us at a point of desperation. We are separated from God and seemingly have 1. no way of getting back to him and 2. even if we were able to get back to him, we need to defeat the sin in our lives. Well lets look at what God did for the Israelites. In chapter 2 verse 16 we read that God began raising judges up for the Israelites. These aren't judges like the supreme court or Judge Judy however, these judges were simply heroes who fought for Israel and led them to victory when enemy nations attacked them. There was only one problem though. The Judges were finite. They got old, they died. Israel and even us nowadays need someone who can help us defeat sin at all times, not just during a single lifetime. That is where Jesus Christ comes into the picture.
Jesus is our eternal judge. He fought for us on the cross and died for our sins in our place. He bore God's wrath, he took the punishment we deserved for all of our sin. But friends, he didn't simply die for it, he rose again from the dead three days after! This means that he not only paid the price for our sins with his death, but in his life we can find forgiveness over and over again. His grace is like an endless spring that never stops flowing. With this great and glorious news then, we can answer those initial questions.
1. Through faith in Jesus Christ alone we can have our relationship with God made right. No actions or works gains us salvation. We can't pray enough, read the bible enough or preach the gospel to enough people to gain salvation. These are things we should do, but they don't gain us salvation. A pray we prayed when we were young also doesn't mean we have salvation. Because we believe there is a God or even that Jesus died for us doesn't give us salvation. Rather, when we put our faith fully in the work of Christ on the cross and thus literally change our life by making Christ the Lord of our life, we gain salvation.
2. We are forgiven, sin no longer has a hold on us. Unfortunately as we are human we will continue to sin but know that 1. We are forgiven and don't have to feel the guilt and weight of sin and 2. Through Christ and his power we truly can defeat the sin that rots our lives.
Friends, I hope that you choose to put your faith in Christ and receive the salvation that comes from that faith. If you have already done this then know that sin has no grip on you. Through Christ you can overcome sin because he has already overcome death and died for our sins!
In the first 18 verses of Judges, we read about the people of Israel, a fairly new nation, conquesting their Promised Land. As the Israelites moved throughout the land of Canaan, the Lord was with them and they easily defeated their enemies driving out all of the inhabitants. This in its self brings up the topic of a "holy war" but we aren't going to look into that. Let me just say that the Israelite conquest of Canaan was ordained by God but I would not say the same about the Crusades or any other war in mankind's history. This shows the trouble we can get into when we as man put words into God's mouth that justify what we ourselves want to do, even if scripture explicitly says different. That said, for these first 18 verses, the Israelites follow their command, they drive out the peoples of Canaan but as we hit verse 19, something changes. The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots (emphasis added). The rest of chapter 1 tells of the peoples Israel failed to rid the land of. In Joshua 9 we read about the Gibeonites who deceive the Israelites, but we can add to this list many more people groups.
As chapter 2 begins, we fully see why leaving these peoples was problematic. I think Exodus 32-33 says it very clearly: "Do not make a covenant with them (the peoples of Canaan) or with their Gods. Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you." God wanted the Israelites to have the land to themselves. It was their land! But they left other peoples in the land and we see this cause the Israelites to fall over and over again. Their history is plagued by bad decisions and evil kings. I don't think we are too far off of this path. God wants us to have an amazing life in him yet over and over we sin against him. When I say sin I don't just mean doing a bad thing. Stealing or lying or calling someone a name. No, sin stretches much further, sin is separation from God and we do this everyday when we worry about life, focus on this life rather than God. Spend our time poorly and of course, when we do do those "bad things". We leave this sins in our lives just like the Israelites left peoples in their land; and just like the Israelites, sin causes us to grow further apart from God.
This leaves us at a point of desperation. We are separated from God and seemingly have 1. no way of getting back to him and 2. even if we were able to get back to him, we need to defeat the sin in our lives. Well lets look at what God did for the Israelites. In chapter 2 verse 16 we read that God began raising judges up for the Israelites. These aren't judges like the supreme court or Judge Judy however, these judges were simply heroes who fought for Israel and led them to victory when enemy nations attacked them. There was only one problem though. The Judges were finite. They got old, they died. Israel and even us nowadays need someone who can help us defeat sin at all times, not just during a single lifetime. That is where Jesus Christ comes into the picture.
Jesus is our eternal judge. He fought for us on the cross and died for our sins in our place. He bore God's wrath, he took the punishment we deserved for all of our sin. But friends, he didn't simply die for it, he rose again from the dead three days after! This means that he not only paid the price for our sins with his death, but in his life we can find forgiveness over and over again. His grace is like an endless spring that never stops flowing. With this great and glorious news then, we can answer those initial questions.
1. Through faith in Jesus Christ alone we can have our relationship with God made right. No actions or works gains us salvation. We can't pray enough, read the bible enough or preach the gospel to enough people to gain salvation. These are things we should do, but they don't gain us salvation. A pray we prayed when we were young also doesn't mean we have salvation. Because we believe there is a God or even that Jesus died for us doesn't give us salvation. Rather, when we put our faith fully in the work of Christ on the cross and thus literally change our life by making Christ the Lord of our life, we gain salvation.
2. We are forgiven, sin no longer has a hold on us. Unfortunately as we are human we will continue to sin but know that 1. We are forgiven and don't have to feel the guilt and weight of sin and 2. Through Christ and his power we truly can defeat the sin that rots our lives.
Friends, I hope that you choose to put your faith in Christ and receive the salvation that comes from that faith. If you have already done this then know that sin has no grip on you. Through Christ you can overcome sin because he has already overcome death and died for our sins!
Nikko
Today my Oregon group travelled to Nikko, a spot of beautiful scenery and many shrines and temples. As I have done a lot of travel already around Japan, it wasn't too much new stuff for me. While everything was still very beautiful and the craftsmanship was wonderful, it is essentially the same thing I have seen multiple time, even on this trip alone. Unfortunately the lack of novelty sort of takes away from the experience but I nonetheless had a wonderful time and climbed up 207 stairs to see the tomb of the Shogun who united Japan. I am in a history class about Japan but I can't remember his name, I should probably go study.
hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys
Well, sorry I haven't posted much recently. To be honest not much new is going on. I'll be continuing to post on Sundays and try to post once a week to let you all know whats going on.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Yokohama
Yesterday some of the people from my Oregon group as well as several Japanese students took a trip to Yokohama which is about an hour away from Tokyo. We started our tour of Yokohama in its Chinatown where we ate lunch and looked at a shrine. After that we went to the port and walked around on a pretty sweet viewpoint/dock feature. Next we went over to a mall which was quite spendy, especially for a building who's outside looked like a prison. There were $100 earmuffs to give you an example. After this we went to a newer but still expensive mall where we looked at the Pokemon Store, essentially a Disney Store but with Pokemon stuff. They had several other themed stores that some people went in but I am not an anime person so I went and sat with some people on a bench. After this we rode a curved escalator down to the lobby and walked to the Landmark Tower which currently holds the tallest viewpoint in Japan (soon to be beat by the Tokyo Sky Tree). It also has Japan's fastest elevator and we travelled at 750 km/hour, up 69 stories in 40 seconds. At the top we were greeted by a beautiful view of the city and Tokyo even. Buildings and lights went to the horizon. My pictures don't do the view justice so I apologize, but honestly it is one of those things you kind of have to see yourself to fully experience. It was a very tiring day but nonetheless I had a lot of fun and it was my first time to Yokohama so that was sweet!
Chinatown
The bay!
seriously a very odd but cool structure
Sunset. Wish I was at the top of the tower right now...
... but this was still sweet.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Joy in Giving (Philippians 4:2-23)
Well, it is our last week in Philippians, I just got home from a trip to Yokohama (details tomorrow hopefully) and it is 11:12 p.m. and I need to study for a quiz, so I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors, random thoughts etc.
Today I want to talk about giving. I think that when the offering plate comes around there are two types of people that put money in. 1st, there are those who put money in for the wrong reasons: it will make God happy and less mad at me, give me some reward, because I have to, because it makes me look good, etc. Alternatively there are those who put money in for the right reasons and thus take joy in their giving. That is what I want to focus on tonight.
I think giving is a hard topic to touch on and even as I type I believe it will be the hardest exposition I have written so far. I also acknowledge that I may not have all the answers or even might not have the perfect view on giving, but I'm going to try hard to faithfully write. I think Pastors have to have the hardest time preaching on giving. Think about it, they go up in front of everyone and talk about how Jesus commanded us to give but still stay completely faithful to scripture and somehow not put in his personal agenda or any thought about how the church is doing financially. Well, I am not a pastor but I still want to tell you that giving to your local church is important. This statement carries some connotations:
1st: You are a Christian. You believe that, in short, Man has sin or separation from God, which deserves punishment but Jesus Christ took on flesh and died for mankind's sins thus creating a way to a right relationship with God. Thusly, you have put your faith in Christ and live your life for him now.
2nd: You belong to a local church. The reason I think giving is important is that giving is what keeps churches running. Therefore, if you are a member of a church, it should be important to you to keep that church running and spreading the gospel. That is why we should give! Giving to a church honestly makes no sense unless you are a part of that church.
With all that said, let us look at scripture. In verse 9 Paul writes: Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put into practice. Paul has given a pretty good example of giving his entire life for the sake of the gospel, therefore I think we can infer that giving is part of the Christian walk. Monetarily is great but physically giving yourself for the sake of the gospel is also great. It has been very truthfully said by John Piper that there are goers and senders (people going into missions and people sending them monetarily) and if you aren't one of these than you are sinning. Jesus commanded us to share the gospel, he also commanded us to give and to love God, in other words obey God's commands which we just said were sharing the gospel and giving.
Paul continues on to exhort the church for giving to him. I'm not going to get into this but, Paul tells them that they will be blessed for their giving. I don't think giving will directly give you blessing but there are many stories of God meeting needs after someone gives. I think it is all about trust in God.
Last year I began giving to my church, one because I began to see the importance of my role as a church member. I'm not just going to sit, sing and listen, I'm going because it is my fellowship and body of believers which I am a part of. Secondly I felt like if I wasn't trusting God with a little bit of my money each month, how can I trust him to help me pay for things like school and studying abroad.
To conclude, if you are a member of a local church and you aren't giving, think about why not, and truly consider giving to help the church that you are a member of. If you aren't a member of a church but you are giving and maybe even regularly attending, I would ask you why you haven't formally said you would like to be a part of the body. In Muslim nations, they don't need church membership because the church is very separated from the rest of the country. However, in America there are lots of people who say they are Christians who truly aren't. Membership is a way for a pastor and elders to look at someone's life and say yes, they are following Christ and should become a part of our body here. If you aren't yet a Christian, I would ask you to consider Jesus. Where do you think evil comes from? Christians believe man is inherently sinful and this is a big problem because it separates us from God. Through Jesus Christ alone however, we can gain salvation.
Today I want to talk about giving. I think that when the offering plate comes around there are two types of people that put money in. 1st, there are those who put money in for the wrong reasons: it will make God happy and less mad at me, give me some reward, because I have to, because it makes me look good, etc. Alternatively there are those who put money in for the right reasons and thus take joy in their giving. That is what I want to focus on tonight.
I think giving is a hard topic to touch on and even as I type I believe it will be the hardest exposition I have written so far. I also acknowledge that I may not have all the answers or even might not have the perfect view on giving, but I'm going to try hard to faithfully write. I think Pastors have to have the hardest time preaching on giving. Think about it, they go up in front of everyone and talk about how Jesus commanded us to give but still stay completely faithful to scripture and somehow not put in his personal agenda or any thought about how the church is doing financially. Well, I am not a pastor but I still want to tell you that giving to your local church is important. This statement carries some connotations:
1st: You are a Christian. You believe that, in short, Man has sin or separation from God, which deserves punishment but Jesus Christ took on flesh and died for mankind's sins thus creating a way to a right relationship with God. Thusly, you have put your faith in Christ and live your life for him now.
2nd: You belong to a local church. The reason I think giving is important is that giving is what keeps churches running. Therefore, if you are a member of a church, it should be important to you to keep that church running and spreading the gospel. That is why we should give! Giving to a church honestly makes no sense unless you are a part of that church.
With all that said, let us look at scripture. In verse 9 Paul writes: Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put into practice. Paul has given a pretty good example of giving his entire life for the sake of the gospel, therefore I think we can infer that giving is part of the Christian walk. Monetarily is great but physically giving yourself for the sake of the gospel is also great. It has been very truthfully said by John Piper that there are goers and senders (people going into missions and people sending them monetarily) and if you aren't one of these than you are sinning. Jesus commanded us to share the gospel, he also commanded us to give and to love God, in other words obey God's commands which we just said were sharing the gospel and giving.
Paul continues on to exhort the church for giving to him. I'm not going to get into this but, Paul tells them that they will be blessed for their giving. I don't think giving will directly give you blessing but there are many stories of God meeting needs after someone gives. I think it is all about trust in God.
Last year I began giving to my church, one because I began to see the importance of my role as a church member. I'm not just going to sit, sing and listen, I'm going because it is my fellowship and body of believers which I am a part of. Secondly I felt like if I wasn't trusting God with a little bit of my money each month, how can I trust him to help me pay for things like school and studying abroad.
To conclude, if you are a member of a local church and you aren't giving, think about why not, and truly consider giving to help the church that you are a member of. If you aren't a member of a church but you are giving and maybe even regularly attending, I would ask you why you haven't formally said you would like to be a part of the body. In Muslim nations, they don't need church membership because the church is very separated from the rest of the country. However, in America there are lots of people who say they are Christians who truly aren't. Membership is a way for a pastor and elders to look at someone's life and say yes, they are following Christ and should become a part of our body here. If you aren't yet a Christian, I would ask you to consider Jesus. Where do you think evil comes from? Christians believe man is inherently sinful and this is a big problem because it separates us from God. Through Jesus Christ alone however, we can gain salvation.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
A Quick Update
Sorry I haven't been posting but honestly the awestruckness of first arriving has pretty much worn off and now I am in the swing of life. Thus there isn't much new info to write down each day. I am still having a lot of fun but this week has been very busy. Yesterday I was extremely lucky to be able to have dinner with the wonderful Josh Mize, my cousin! It was very fun! Otherwise I am doing a lot and sleeping little and looking forward to some weekend naps.
P.S. Happy Birthday wishes to my Grandma, my father and my cousin Marek, who's birthdays are all this week. Love you all, have a wonderful birthday!
P.S. Happy Birthday wishes to my Grandma, my father and my cousin Marek, who's birthdays are all this week. Love you all, have a wonderful birthday!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Joy in Heaven (Philippians 3:12-4:1)
As I read through these passages, I'm finding that Paul's messages tie into one another very well. This passage is no different as "joy in heaven" is something I have already mentioned in other contexts within this letter. Today I want to focus in on how we who profess Christ and believe in his death as substitution for our sins, can take joy in what awaits us in the next life, an eternal life in heaven. I think we do this in two ways, looking to the future, not the past, and hoping in the spiritual, not the physical.
Paul in verses 12-14 speaks metaphorically of the Christian walk as a race. He says he will press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (vs 14). He continues in verse 15 to say all of us who are mature should take such a view of things. Paul encourages us that if we truly are following Christ, we should be looking ahead, pushing forward to heaven. Now this can be done in a couple of ways. First off, if we are looking forward, it means we are not concerned with this life. We will talk about this in the next section as we think about putting our hope in the spiritual, not the physical. Another way we look forward however, is not looking back. It is very simple I know but think about Lot's wife in Genesis 19 who looked back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
If we are not looking at our past what does that mean? Should we forget memories? Forget old friends, family members who have passed on? No! What I mean to say, and what I think Paul is getting at, is that we need to forget who we were as sinners. I think we need to look at Christ and say "Jesus, you died on the cross for my sins, and I am forgiven for everything I have ever done to sin against you". Then, get rid of guilt, quit dwelling on sin and rejoice that you are forgiven! This doesn't mean we should forget that we ever sinned or try to act like we have never sinned but rather, we need to understand that we once sat in destruction but have been saved by the grace of God and are forgiven. With this in mind we can rejoice in Christ and rejoice in heaven which awaits us as we press on toward that final goal.
Secondly, I also think we need to hope in the spiritual and not in the physical. Paul sums it up in verse 20: But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ... We need to be hopeful for Christ's return! I know I don't think about that enough but we as Christians should be eagerly awaiting Christ, our savior. So as I have said in weeks past, where are we putting our hope, our time, our energy? I've been waking up at 2:30 Monday morning to "watch" football. I have never woken up that early to read the Bible. We as Christians, as a church, as a group of believers committed to following Christ, need to build each other up and help each other to avert our eyes from the world and set them on Christ. We need to stop putting our hope in things of this world! Now, be clear, this doesn't mean we should stop living life, or go run into the wilderness and hide. No, we are citizens of heaven but right now we are ambassadors to earth. This means then that we should keep living here, but we need to be sure that our lives are different from the people of the world. Our goal throughout the day should be to glorify Christ, not a paycheck. I think a great illustration is this: When your hand is clenched tightly around a pencil, that pencil can't be removed from your hand, and it is your pencil. However, when your hand is opened and the pencil is laying on top of your hand, the pencil is still yours, but it can be removed. All of our possessions, relationships, everything in our lives is that pencil. Is your hand clenched tightly around it, not letting go, or is your hand open to God, letting him decide what stays in and what leaves your hand?
Friends, let us feel the freedom of Christ. Let us throw off the weight of sin and of guilt and look forward to eternity in heaven with Christ. Likewise, let us be ambassadors to earth, sharing the good news of Christ with everyone, and let us open our hands to God, let us make him Lord of our lives, and let us focus not on this world, but on the glorious life we will one day have with Christ, for eternity in heaven.
Paul in verses 12-14 speaks metaphorically of the Christian walk as a race. He says he will press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (vs 14). He continues in verse 15 to say all of us who are mature should take such a view of things. Paul encourages us that if we truly are following Christ, we should be looking ahead, pushing forward to heaven. Now this can be done in a couple of ways. First off, if we are looking forward, it means we are not concerned with this life. We will talk about this in the next section as we think about putting our hope in the spiritual, not the physical. Another way we look forward however, is not looking back. It is very simple I know but think about Lot's wife in Genesis 19 who looked back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
If we are not looking at our past what does that mean? Should we forget memories? Forget old friends, family members who have passed on? No! What I mean to say, and what I think Paul is getting at, is that we need to forget who we were as sinners. I think we need to look at Christ and say "Jesus, you died on the cross for my sins, and I am forgiven for everything I have ever done to sin against you". Then, get rid of guilt, quit dwelling on sin and rejoice that you are forgiven! This doesn't mean we should forget that we ever sinned or try to act like we have never sinned but rather, we need to understand that we once sat in destruction but have been saved by the grace of God and are forgiven. With this in mind we can rejoice in Christ and rejoice in heaven which awaits us as we press on toward that final goal.
Secondly, I also think we need to hope in the spiritual and not in the physical. Paul sums it up in verse 20: But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ... We need to be hopeful for Christ's return! I know I don't think about that enough but we as Christians should be eagerly awaiting Christ, our savior. So as I have said in weeks past, where are we putting our hope, our time, our energy? I've been waking up at 2:30 Monday morning to "watch" football. I have never woken up that early to read the Bible. We as Christians, as a church, as a group of believers committed to following Christ, need to build each other up and help each other to avert our eyes from the world and set them on Christ. We need to stop putting our hope in things of this world! Now, be clear, this doesn't mean we should stop living life, or go run into the wilderness and hide. No, we are citizens of heaven but right now we are ambassadors to earth. This means then that we should keep living here, but we need to be sure that our lives are different from the people of the world. Our goal throughout the day should be to glorify Christ, not a paycheck. I think a great illustration is this: When your hand is clenched tightly around a pencil, that pencil can't be removed from your hand, and it is your pencil. However, when your hand is opened and the pencil is laying on top of your hand, the pencil is still yours, but it can be removed. All of our possessions, relationships, everything in our lives is that pencil. Is your hand clenched tightly around it, not letting go, or is your hand open to God, letting him decide what stays in and what leaves your hand?
Friends, let us feel the freedom of Christ. Let us throw off the weight of sin and of guilt and look forward to eternity in heaven with Christ. Likewise, let us be ambassadors to earth, sharing the good news of Christ with everyone, and let us open our hands to God, let us make him Lord of our lives, and let us focus not on this world, but on the glorious life we will one day have with Christ, for eternity in heaven.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Last night I went to the baseball game (pictures up on Facebook). It was a lot of fun, although the team I like, the Chunichi Dragons, lost pretty bad. Nonetheless it was a good experience. Japanese fans are nuts and have numerous chants which are led essentially by cheerleaders throughout the fan sections. The teams chant and sing non-stop while their team is at bat and then rest while their pitcher is on the mound. How they retain their voices so long, I don't know.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Random Thoughts
I'm pretty much settled into a routine. Mondays are my long days, Tuesdays are restful, Thursday nights I look forward to basketball and Modern Family, Fridays no school, Saturdays are my exploring days and Sundays I have church.
So far I've been really impressed with the Japanese classes done by CJL (not to be confused with SILS who's classes are in English, and so far have been sub-par. The teachers are awesome people and are probably decent teachers in Japanese, but since the classes are in English, not so much. ) the teachers are some of the best Japanese-language teachers I've ever had, they are relaxed, helpful and the textbook, class style, lesson plan, everything, is great. It is also great to be in Japan so I can practice what I learn in class outside of class, and study things on my own.
Things are going well here, I'm excited for the weekend and the baseball game!
So far I've been really impressed with the Japanese classes done by CJL (not to be confused with SILS who's classes are in English, and so far have been sub-par. The teachers are awesome people and are probably decent teachers in Japanese, but since the classes are in English, not so much. ) the teachers are some of the best Japanese-language teachers I've ever had, they are relaxed, helpful and the textbook, class style, lesson plan, everything, is great. It is also great to be in Japan so I can practice what I learn in class outside of class, and study things on my own.
Things are going well here, I'm excited for the weekend and the baseball game!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Joy in Christ (Philippians 3:1-11)
Fun fact: this passage was actually the first passage I taught to the middle school group at Hinson, about a year and a half ago. Tonight (today for you) I am going to look at it through a different lens and break down two world views, of which every person falls into. Therefore they are black and white, no gray area. The first is a worldview that finds its joy in this world, this life and themselves. The second is a worldview that finds its joy in Jesus Christ.
In verses 4-6 Paul tells us how he used to fall in paradigm #1. All of his joy was found in the world. He explains his background, Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, basically Paul was a stud as far as Hebrew culture goes. He was the wealthy, handsome, athletic high-schooler of today's world. His life was awesome by the world's standards, he was revered, loved and even feared. I think its safe to say that all of us deep down want this. We want the wealth, the looks, the abilities, whether athletic, artistic or intellectual. We want people to like us. We want people to notice us, to praise us and society uplifts those who are all these things. Too often do we find our joy in the world; and not just that, we find our meaning in the world and we are consumed by the world. Our lives are down to a systematic pattern, wake up, shower, eat, go to work or school, come home, go to sleep, start over. Our goals are consumed by the world. Get rich, be prettier or more handsome, be smarter, dress better, the list goes on and on. But this life, this worldview, the joy in all of this, it is so very temporal. We soon find the thing we strove so hard for is not good enough. We need something new now. There is no end to the desires as fulfillment never comes. But friends, there is a second path, a path to fulfillment. Take it from Paul. He had it ALL. But look at what he says in verse 7.
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. Paul gave up his life as a celebrity and he gained so much more. Friends, life in Jesus Christ is fulfillment. Jesus is called a spring of life because he quenches our thirst. Instead of drinking money and a better job or house, relationships, clothes, being cool, being liked, take a drink of the Spring of Life that is Jesus Christ. A worldview that takes it joy in Christ literally gives up everything else. Your life slowly becomes shaped to match that of Christ's life. Worldly things don't matter because of the knowing Christ; that is, putting your faith fully in Christ's death on the cross as atonement for your and all mankind's sins. Friends, we all of sinned. You, your mom, your dad, me, my pastor, your pastor (if you have one), Paul and everyone else but one man. Jesus Christ came to this earth, lived a perfect life then died in place of us. We deserve the just punishment of God for our sin, but God in his great love send Christ to die in our place. By putting your faith in this act of atonement, you can receive forgiveness from your sins, eternal life with God and a new heart that yearns for Christ, that takes joy in Christ and that changes your worldview, like Paul, so that you see Christ as all that matters over the many trivial things of this world.
The Bible is often mistaken for a rulebook. It is true, it has laws in it, however those don't apply directly to us and they cover a very small portion of the entirety of the Bible. The Bible in fact is a story, the story of God's love and Christ's sacrifice. The story of how we can gain relationship with God, the same God that created the sun, the moon and stars. Yes, Christians follow "rules". Don't cuss, don't get drunk, don't do this or that, but Christians are still sinners like everyone else. The difference is that Christians have decided to focus their worldview, their joy, around Christ. So I encourage you today if you have not made the decision to follow Christ yet in your life to do just that. Yes it may be painful, it may mean changing your lifestyle, it may mean giving things up, but friend, it will be so worth it as you experience the joy of Jesus Christ in this life, and the joy of Jesus Christ forever in eternity.
In verses 4-6 Paul tells us how he used to fall in paradigm #1. All of his joy was found in the world. He explains his background, Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, basically Paul was a stud as far as Hebrew culture goes. He was the wealthy, handsome, athletic high-schooler of today's world. His life was awesome by the world's standards, he was revered, loved and even feared. I think its safe to say that all of us deep down want this. We want the wealth, the looks, the abilities, whether athletic, artistic or intellectual. We want people to like us. We want people to notice us, to praise us and society uplifts those who are all these things. Too often do we find our joy in the world; and not just that, we find our meaning in the world and we are consumed by the world. Our lives are down to a systematic pattern, wake up, shower, eat, go to work or school, come home, go to sleep, start over. Our goals are consumed by the world. Get rich, be prettier or more handsome, be smarter, dress better, the list goes on and on. But this life, this worldview, the joy in all of this, it is so very temporal. We soon find the thing we strove so hard for is not good enough. We need something new now. There is no end to the desires as fulfillment never comes. But friends, there is a second path, a path to fulfillment. Take it from Paul. He had it ALL. But look at what he says in verse 7.
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. Paul gave up his life as a celebrity and he gained so much more. Friends, life in Jesus Christ is fulfillment. Jesus is called a spring of life because he quenches our thirst. Instead of drinking money and a better job or house, relationships, clothes, being cool, being liked, take a drink of the Spring of Life that is Jesus Christ. A worldview that takes it joy in Christ literally gives up everything else. Your life slowly becomes shaped to match that of Christ's life. Worldly things don't matter because of the knowing Christ; that is, putting your faith fully in Christ's death on the cross as atonement for your and all mankind's sins. Friends, we all of sinned. You, your mom, your dad, me, my pastor, your pastor (if you have one), Paul and everyone else but one man. Jesus Christ came to this earth, lived a perfect life then died in place of us. We deserve the just punishment of God for our sin, but God in his great love send Christ to die in our place. By putting your faith in this act of atonement, you can receive forgiveness from your sins, eternal life with God and a new heart that yearns for Christ, that takes joy in Christ and that changes your worldview, like Paul, so that you see Christ as all that matters over the many trivial things of this world.
The Bible is often mistaken for a rulebook. It is true, it has laws in it, however those don't apply directly to us and they cover a very small portion of the entirety of the Bible. The Bible in fact is a story, the story of God's love and Christ's sacrifice. The story of how we can gain relationship with God, the same God that created the sun, the moon and stars. Yes, Christians follow "rules". Don't cuss, don't get drunk, don't do this or that, but Christians are still sinners like everyone else. The difference is that Christians have decided to focus their worldview, their joy, around Christ. So I encourage you today if you have not made the decision to follow Christ yet in your life to do just that. Yes it may be painful, it may mean changing your lifestyle, it may mean giving things up, but friend, it will be so worth it as you experience the joy of Jesus Christ in this life, and the joy of Jesus Christ forever in eternity.
Friday, October 7, 2011
The Tokyo Dome
Today I did a bit of exploring as I had to go to my ward's office to get my alien registration card. I rode the community bus over to the civic center, got my card, and then went for a walk around the Tokyo Dome and the surrounding area. I must say, the Tokyo Dome is quite the place. It not only has the baseball stadium where the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants play, but there are shopping centers, many restaurants, an amusement park, which by the way has an awesome-looking roller coaster, and probably much more. It is a colorful campus which I can only compare to if the Anaheim Angel's had their stadium in Disneyland. Of course in this case it is the wealthy Yomiuri Giants creating a funland around their stadium, not the stadium inside the park. So I guess it is more like if the Yankees built an amusement park around their Stadium, but right now no one is very amused in New York :). (if you don't follow baseball than you won't get that joke)
Sorry to ramble on about the stadium but it was honestly quite awe-inspiring. The roller coaster has a section on the department store's roof! Anyways, during this escapade I picked up 2 tickets to watch the Chunichi Dragons (my favorite Japan League team) play the Giants next week! Im very excited, Japanese baseball is amazingly fun to watch. Plus, I get to sit in the Giants section which will really add to the ambiance and the experience of the game. Im in right field so hopefully I'll catch a home run ball!
Teruki biking
This is where I have been playing basketball!
Our dog Cocoa; we have really bonded over the past few days.
The Tokyo Dome
I will conquer this roller coaster
One of the department stores
Sorry to ramble on about the stadium but it was honestly quite awe-inspiring. The roller coaster has a section on the department store's roof! Anyways, during this escapade I picked up 2 tickets to watch the Chunichi Dragons (my favorite Japan League team) play the Giants next week! Im very excited, Japanese baseball is amazingly fun to watch. Plus, I get to sit in the Giants section which will really add to the ambiance and the experience of the game. Im in right field so hopefully I'll catch a home run ball!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
I realize I haven't posted in a few days but that is pretty much due to nothing too interesting going on here. I've just been going to school, hanging out with friends and hanging out at home for the most part. Today I was introduced to a restaurant that probably had the best noodles i've ever eaten. They were very soft but also fairly big ramen style noodles and they were served with some oil and vinegar and it was very tasty.
Other than that school is going fine I guess. Its school.... After my classes tomorrow I have a lot of fun things planned tomorrow night, and over the weekend so I have that to look forward to!
Other than that school is going fine I guess. Its school.... After my classes tomorrow I have a lot of fun things planned tomorrow night, and over the weekend so I have that to look forward to!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Weekly Meditations: Joy in Serving
I think its safe to say that you, the reader, have at some point in your life, served someone else. Whether you did some community service, baked someone something, held a door or gave a compliment, I’m sure that you have at some point in your life served someone. I think it is also safe to say that afterwards, you probably felt good. I know anytime I do a good deed for someone else I get that nice “warm, fuzzy” feeling inside. However, as we look at chapter 2 of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, I think Paul is getting at something more than a mere feeling, and I certainly think that Paul is encouraging us to serve more than a monthly event or a situational good deed and to serve for a cause other than our own self-gratification. I think Paul breaks down service into two categories: serving others, and serving God. Let’s begin by looking at how we can serve others.
In the first 11 verses of chapter 2, Paul encourages the Philippians to serve one another. Now at face value this seems like an easy task. Say hello to a couple people, smile at someone, maybe take somebody out to lunch and check it off the weekly list. No! That is not at all what Paul means when he says in verse 4: each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Our service should not be something we do because we have to, or even because we want to. It also doesn’t have a quota of X amount of good deeds to do this week. Service should be our lifestyle as Christians because of the new heart we have in Christ. Verse 1-3 reads: If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Essentially what Paul is saying is, if you are a Christian, then act in humility and consider others better or before yourself. In short, being a Christian means you put others before yourself. This is also known as love, and Christ commanded us to love God and love our neighbors. As Christians, we need to look for ways to serve, or love, everyone (a side note, just in case: when I use love here I do not mean chick-flick-I-just-met-you-yesterday-but-now-I-love-you “love”, but rather the love Christ has for the church, a self-sacrificing love we see in verses 6-11.). This is a very hard thing to do. Loving everyone means loving our family, our friends, people on the street, people who despise us, our enemies, everyone. While this is a hard task, we are nonetheless commanded to love everyone because by our love for others, our crazy love for even those who hate us, we show Christ’s infinite, eternal, majestic love. So continue serving at monthly functions and keep trying to do those daily good deeds, but remember that service is something we can do at all times of the day, for everyone we encounter.
In verses 12-30 Paul continues by talking about serving God. While there is lots of content in this passage, I want to focus mostly on verse 17. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. This verse evokes the image of Paul’s life as a sacrifice, being poured out, to God. If we look at Paul’s life we can attest to this truth that his life was in fact very sacrificial, all for God’s glory. So how then can we serve God? Well I first want to say that nothing we do, no way that we serve God, can ever atone for our sins, and earn us salvation or eternal life. Rather, Jesus’ death on the cross after living a perfect life was an atoning sacrifice for our sin. By putting your faith in this work, in Jesus literally taking your place and the punishment that you and I deserve, is what gains salvation for sins. That said, I do think that we can serve God and we do this by being obedient to him. Jesus served God; he followed the command to love God by being obedient to God the Father and dying on the cross. We too can serve God in many ways by being obedient to his commands. We are called to love others, are you loving others? We are called to be baptized as a proclamation of our faith, if you are a Christian and have put your faith in Christ and are living for him, have you been baptized? We are called to share the gospel, are you? We are commanded to deny ourselves and take up our cross, are you living for today, for this world, or are you living with your eyes focused on Christ, for eternal things?
There are many ways to serve God by being obedient, most sources I looked at had 49 commands of Christ, and following these is one way to serve God. I think another big and life-changing way is to serve God through missions. We can do this in many ways including taking the gospel where it has yet to go, taking the gospel to another country, taking the gospel to those in your area and supporting missionaries and missions agencies. Our lives are not of this earth and everything we have will not follow us into eternity, so I challenge you to think about a missions vision in your life. It might not be moving to a remote country, and that is ok! But you could give us comfort by sharing the gospel with family, friends or coworkers that don’t know Jesus.
I titled this “Joy in Serving” but I haven’t talked much about joy yet. Honestly, I believe that if you are serving others and serving God, you are truly following Jesus, and this will bring you great joy! You may be poor, you may be sick, you may be broken, cold, and hungry, you may suffer, and you may be persecuted. But if you are following Jesus, you will never be short of the joy that comes from the Savior.
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