Some thoughts...

I felt I need to write this… this is a collection of thoughts on discipleship that pour out of my journals….
And it leads back to Sermon On the Mount. Takes some time to read…

One question that I ask ( since we completed Matthew chapter 5 ) : why is God’s standard so high? Let’s look at the portions on anger/murder ( 5:21-26) and lust/adultery (5:27-30): both anger and lust are considered to be ‘natural’ human response. If one is to be honest, we fall into sins of anger and lust almost any other day (according to the ‘upgraded’ standards as preached by Jesus). Is the standard unattainable? If it is unattainable, why would Jesus preached it?

From a human perspective, I have no doubts that God’s standard is indeed high. He is a Holy God; He cannot possibly lower these standards. But why would God want to set such a high standard for us? I think it is a goal, through the course of a lifetime to work, towards this high standard God has set for us. And the reality is that we may not be able to reach a state where we can proclaim that we reach a stage where we don’t struggle with sins. It is through the eyes of these high standards that we shall see how far we have fallen. No one is spared from being labeled as a sinner. No doubt, we will fail again and again, but God’s grace is enough. Our salvation is already secured at the cross; our salvation is not gained (read: salvation by works) through the practice of the things listed in Sotm. It would be wrong to think that God will love us more if we managed to achieve the standards set out in Sotm.

So hey! This leads to the next set of questions: since God don’t require us to be perfect Christian, wouldn’t it be great to ignore Sotm altogether? Why not just continue to live in our sinful ways? Besides my salvation is already secured , regardless of whether I not live by the standard set out by Sotm ( or any other portions of the bible), so why not just take the easier way out?

This points back to a bigger question: why did you want to be a Christian in the first place?

Lately, I have come across some articles from Dallas Willard and John Piper and had watched some videos from Randy Alcorn (should check out his stuff) and Hull (off bible.org). At the same time, I also started reading John Stott’s exposition on Sermon on The Mount. All these guys point out something that is so basic and so true :

You can be a Christian, but NOT a disciple of Jesus Christ.

So many Christians today are Christians by name. We call ourselves Christians but do not behave like one. At one stage of my life, people cannot differentiate me from the non-Christians. (Of course, this issue gives way to many terms now used in church: backslide Christian, Sunday Christian, lukewarm Christian, fake Christian, another-Christian-hypocrite) I claimed to be a believer of the Almighty One but shared the same desires, goals and wishes as my non-christian friends. My worldview is essentially the same of the world. God had called me to be salt and light of the world , and here I am failing to penetrate my Christian beliefs into the decaying world. Instead, it was the other way around: my views were conformed to the values of a dying world. I tried to find happiness through video games, food, movies, friends and sex. I worry constantly about my future. I thought that my life would be complete if I have a nice family. My life would be complete if I have a good career with a nice pay package. I tried to impress people with my achievements. The list can go on and on.

I am very sure that God wants us to be set apart for Him in all things (one term used is sanctification). All throughout the bible, we read how God wants to occupy every space of our hearts. We are to be set apart from the Cannanites and not to worship the idols that the nations worship. We are supposed to trust in God’s providence only. But of course, as we read in OT, Israel has failed many times to obey God’s commandments. They build a golden calf (Exodus) , they desire to have a king in order to go to war like the other nations (1 samuel 8) , they intermarry ( Soloman, Ezra 9,10 and Nehemiah 13). To put it simply, Israel has succumb itself to the ways of the world, instead of the humble submission to the Hoy One that God has required of them. They desire the things that the nations desire.

It is essentially the same thing going into NT. God’s desire is that we are to be set apart for Him. Our worldview changes when we become a Christian. Our worldview is now centered on Christ. God does not desire us to conform to the ways of the world (Romans 12). It will not be an easy path if we choose to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. There will be suffering. There will be persecution. It will not be easy.


One thing that really strikes me as I think about these things is that, in terms of the theology of salvation, we like to go about preaching the doctrine of justification, but misses out the preaching of doctrines such as sanctification and regeneration. We like to work towards converting people BUT not disciple them to be a true believer of Christ. We think the work of disciplining belong to pastors. But that is simply not true. And one reason why we avoid the work of disciplining out converted friends is simply because we are not constantly practicing the things that makes us true disciples of Jesus Christ.

*imcomplete.... *

Do not be fooled by numbers. Make a choice today to be a good tree or a bad tree???