DFC Weekly

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.” – Psalm 107:1

At our church every year, we have a revival for the Korean Ministry. I was told a few years ago we had a missionary who served as a prison guard for many years of his life. He offered a series of personal testimonies. He spoke of the difference of those who knew the Lord versus those who did not know God and how they faced their execution. The most hardened criminals would face the gallows with a glow of peace about them once they had gave their lives to Christ. But there was one particular Buddist, a spiritual leader who was renown for his moral behavior while in prison, who faced the gallows with such a different attitude. The missionary said that as they brought him toward the gallows, he was screaming and cursing with every ounce of his breath expressing the greatest fear of death.

“Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once.” -William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

The exit of those who know Christ is far different than those who do not. Polycarp, the early church father, was commanded to denounce his faith in Jesus Christ. His reply… “Eighty-six years I have known Him and served Him and He has not once betrayed me. How then can I now blaspheme my King and Savior?” They then burned him at the stake.

The Apostle Paul was martyred in Rome and in the last days of his life, he was tormented by many who betrayed him. He writes in his last epistle, “Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching. At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.” (2 Tim. 4:14-16)

But even with the freshness of betrayal on his thoughts, the Apostle died with praise upon his lips, “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me… The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (vv. 17-18)

The reality of our faith does not rapture us at the moment of our deaths but it rings loudly in our living. Separated from friends, unjustly accused, brutally treated, if any man had a right to complain it was Paul. But while languishing in prison, Paul’s lips were not filled with complaints but with words and songs of thanksgiving!

Just look at his life, in prison in Philippi, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” (Acts 16:25) Read his words from another prison epistle, “Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph. 5:18-20)

It was certain that those around him saw and heard his thanksgiving. Who is to say that the Pretorian guards who guarded Paul were not instumental in influencing the Emperor Constantine when he made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.

To Paul, thanksgiving was not a once in year attitude but it rang loudly for he “gave thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:18) everyday of his life. Thanksgiving was a daily reality that made him a joyful person. How about you? Is there a reality greater than the goodness of God in your life? May God bless you richly.

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.” – Psalm 107:1

Pastor Sung

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ”  – Philippians 3:7-8

I recently saw an altercation between two NBA players, Rajon Rondo of the Celtics and Chris Paul of the Hornets. It was heard that Rondo was yelling at Paul that he has a championship ring and that Paul will never get one. Paul chased Rondo down the players’ hallway screaming, “You will respect me as a man!” Quite silly. Two grown men, making millions but acting like a couple kids on the blacktop in middle school.

We all get offended, upset. I still have an anger that scares my poor children every once in awhile. Here is a truth that we can observe in our frustration- Whomever or whatever we place our confidence, the greater the potential for our disappointments. True? If you find your identity in USC football, you would be very disappointed last week. If you place your identity in your relationship, you can be depressed and desperate when you break up, get the idea? But if you place your confidence in God? Then whatever happens, good or bad, you rejoice! (Phil. 1:18, 3:1, 4:4)

But I came across something in my recent study for a sermon that drastically changed my way of thinking and how it directly affected my own anger issues.

This passage is found in the middle of the Apostle Paul’s wonderful testimony. Please follow along so that you can get the heart of what he is saying. First of all, let me offer a little background- there were individuals that were informing the people of this church that they must become Jews before they can become Christians, i.e. they had to become circumcised. Paul directly attacks them by calling them “dogs, evil workers, those of the false circumcision.” (3:2) Paul was condemning anyone who believed a salvation apart from grace through faith alone, that we need not add works to grace. When someone is dependent on religion, they are dependent upon works, their deeds, something they can boast about, something others can see so they can receive attention.

Paul said if there is anyone who can boast in the flesh, the works that someone has accomplished, it is him. See, Paul was everything a Jew would want, he was wealthy, he was well educated, he was a “Hebrew of Hebrews,” the Jewish poster child, a modern day Justin Timberlake or Tom Cruise. But when Jesus brought him to faith, he says, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” All those things that were envied in the eyes of men, now in Christ, they are nothing to him, a “loss”, a disadvantage in terms of comparison.

But he doesn’t stop there and here is the burden of the text, he then says, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.” The key word here is “all” Paul says when coming to Christ, he has suffered all things a loss.

Now we know when we come to Christ, we count our sins to be a loss. We can count on Christ dying for our sins, but what about the “all”? Paul is saying not only the bad (sins) but also the good (his merit) that he counts as a loss.

You see, when you come to the cross, the sins die at the cross and so do all the goodness of yourself as well. We think inherently that there is something good about us, that we are kind, we are descent, we are smart. There is a lot here for God to use for His glory. However, for God to be glorified, we must fully count all things a loss. That is the only way God can transform us into the image of His Son. To be conformed to His image, there must be no traces of our own goodness! Your goodness must die at the cross as well, “loss of all things.”

Now what does that have to do with anger and being offended? Just this, that if we cannot claim any confidence in ourselves, then how can we ever be offended? If all our goodness was nailed at the cross as well, then the only identity we are left with is Christ in us, “I have been crucified with Christ, I no longer live but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20) When someone teases us, threatens us, when we come to suffer, we were called to this purpose, “When reviled, did not revile in return, when suffered, offered no threats, but entrusted Himself to the One who judges righteously.” (1 Peter 2:21) Our only offense is at the sake of Jesus Himself.

Let us walk worthy of the calling of the Gospel, let us suffer “a loss of all things” so that we can glorify God in our character. God bless.

Pastor Sung