Getting Into The Blogging Habit

    I've stopped blogging for a while because I couldn't think of anything to write about. I didn't want to write about trivial, non-essential stuff. There's too much of that going on already. I wanted this blog to be the medium by which I could put into words my experiences, thoughts, and reflections as a Christian who is living out my faith in a post-modern world. It turned out to be more difficult than I thought.

    Lately though I have discovered something worth blogging about  - books and our Bible study discussions in our small group! I began habitually reading again when I came across the writings of John Piper. Through his books, I have come to fully embrace Christian orthodoxy. Some may say it is old time religion, but it is still fully relevant today as it was in the past. God does not change and so his revelation through the Bible of sin, redemption, atonement, living a holy life, and the destiny of this world remain the same even though the world is continuing to change rapidly. The Bible says that in the last days there will be false teachers that spread unbiblical ideas and distorted interpretations of God's Word. I have found that returning to orthodoxy helps me recognize what is the truth and what is the lie in the church and the world today which I'll write about in future blogs.

     What John Piper's books helped me to do was to go back to basic Christian doctrines and understand them to such depths that I have never before reached. My long unanswered questions on human suffering, evil in this world, sanctification, and even the meaning and purpose of life were satisfyingly answered through his sermons and books which are available online at Desiring God ministries.

      So my prayer is that this blog will glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31) and help lead readers to Jesus Christ.






   

The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:5-13) PART 1

    As far as I can recall, I have never heard a sermon on the Lord’s Prayer. Yes, I’ve heard the prayer recited many times in church but I have never heard it expounded on and taught in-depth in order to teach and equip believers. A disciple asked Jesus, “Lord teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1), and Jesus gave them this prayer, hence the name “The Lord’s Prayer”. The more accurate title really should be “The Disciple’s Prayer” because it was given to us by Jesus to in order to teach us how to pray correctly.

  Prayer is essential to a believer’s spiritual life. Therefore, a believer should learn how to pray and the logical starting point must be the Lord’s Prayer. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. It isn’t surprising then that there is a lot of confusion, wrong application, prayerlessness, and teaching of “prayer styles” that are not Biblical. The Lord’s Prayer has been relegated to mindless recitation or a doxology to be sung at the end of the service. Even worse, it has become to some a prayer to be repeated several times in order to pay penance for sin. Ignorance and lack of knowledge of the great truths found in the Lord’s Prayer has led to wrong theology and wrong application. Conversely, the right theology leads to right application and right thinking.

    This is the next topic in our Tuesday Bible Study group. We’ll go through and unfold Matthew 6:5-13 verse by verse. I will blog about what we learned, the points of discussion or debate, and what truth was revealed to us that night.  At the end of our study, my hope is that our desire to pray will be stimulated and that we will understand what a great privilege it is to pray to the one true God.

    These are the main references that I have used for my preparation :

1. The Prayer of Our Lord by RC Sproul
2. The Lord's Prayer by RT Kendall

Neither Rich Nor Poor

There are 2 ways that we sin with our money or wealth :

1. We spend it all and get into debt

"The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get."

-Proverbs 21:20 (New Living Translation)

When we fall into debt we become servants to the lender (see Proverbs 22:7). The creditor becomes our master and we are forced to cede control of our income to him.

Here's the only debt we should have - the debt of love that we owe to each other.

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law."

-Romans 13:8 (New International Version)

2. We hoard our wealth

Placing our security on financial assets will lead to destruction.

"Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf."

-Proverbs 11:28 (New International Version)

We turn arrogant and prideful. We look down on the poor. We crave and relish the power that our wealth brings. Making money becomes an addiction and we will never be satisfied (see Ecclesiastes 5:10). Paul's had a specific instruction for Timothy regarding the rich :

"Tell those rich in this world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they'll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life."

-1 Timothy 6:17-19 (The Message)

The love of money destroys our lives and the lives of others. This should be our attitude and prayer regarding wealth :

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD ?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

-Proverbs 30:8-9 (New International Version)

God gives us the ability to produce wealth so that we will be able to obtain what we need in order to live. When we use the money that we make in this way, we avoid the two extremes - debt and hoarding wealth. And we will honor God with what we have.

A question to think about : why then should we save and invest? Clearly it is the wise thing to do but how do we avoid falling into the sin of trusting in our wealth instead of God who provides all things?

An answer is coming in the next post....

Peace!