Category: Discipleship

One of the soberest contemplations of a human being must be where we spend eternity. What is the final state of a human soul when life on earth is done? Where do we go from here when we breathe our last breath? Needless to say, our answers to these questions have tremendous implications on how we live on earth. 

If we believe in universalism that every human being will end up in the better place called heaven, then how we live on earth is hardly that important. And if we believe in annihilation that our soul ceases to exist after physical death, then let’s live it up before we cease to be. 

The Bible is clear that the soul of man is everlasting. Furthermore, it teaches that whether we find ourselves in bliss in our eternal state depends on whether we believe in Jesus. 

Throughout its two thousand years of history, the church has overwhelmingly held to the biblical understanding that those who believe in Jesus live in eternity in the presence of God, while those who don’t believe in Jesus suffer eternal punishment. In Audacity Malaysia, we likewise, believe in eternal life for believers and eternal punishment for unbelievers. 

True knowledge of God is what results in eternal life. But this “knowing God” is not mere intellectual assent to what the Word of God says. It is a personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ. 

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

John 17:3, NIV

As the abode of God, heaven is where believers will spend eternity in the presence of God. Jesus himself asks his followers to prepare for life in heaven by “storing up treasure” there ahead of their entry (Matthew 6:19-20). 

While few will contend the final state of believers, the future state of unbelievers has created a considerable amount of uneasiness with some arguing that the doctrine of eternal punishment is outmoded. Part of the problem stems from what appears to be a tension between the love of God and his judgment. 

Among the images the Bible uses to depict the final state of unbelievers are “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25: 41, 46), “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12), “torment” (Revelation 14:10-11), “the wrath of God” (Romans 2:5), the “second death” (Revelation 21:8) and “exclusion from the face of God” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Whether it involves physical suffering or mental distress or both, it is obviously an experience of intense anguish. 

The one basic characteristic of these images is the absence of God or banishment from the presence of God.  We should, however, note that God does not send anyone to eternal punishment for he does not want anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But endowed with free will, humans will have to choose for themselves the bliss of heaven or the agony of hell. As C.S. Lewis has put it, sin is a person’s saying to God throughout life, “Go away and leave me alone.” Hell is God finally saying to that individual, “You may have what you wish.”

No matter how comforting the concept of universalism is, it is not tenable scripturally. Some have even contended that those who reject the offer of salvation in this life, will after death and Christ’s second coming repent and be reconciled to Christ. The problem is there is simply nowhere in the Bible that indicates even the slightest possibility of a second chance. What we find instead are definite statements to the contrary. 

Another school of thought, annihilationism maintains that although only believers will spend eternity with God, unbelievers will be eliminated or annihilated. Hence none will be subjected to eternal punishment since unbelievers will simply cease to exist. Annihilation appears to be a great proposition except that it contradicts the teaching of the Bible!

Whatever one’s spiritual condition is at the end of life is one’s permanent condition that will continue for all eternity.

Both the OT and NT refer to the unquenchable fire of hell. Furthermore, Jesus’ teaching suggests that there are degrees of punishment in hell. The cities which had witnessed the miracles of Jesus but failed to repent will face more severe punishment (Matthew 11:21-24). There is a similar hint in the parable of the faithful and faithless stewards (Luke 12:47-48). The principle seems to be the greater the knowledge and responsibility, the greater the punishment. The varying degree of punishment in hell parallels the varying degree of reward in heaven. 

In the light of the teaching of Scripture about the final state of unbelievers, the command of God to preach the gospel cannot be trifled with. It is the expressed desire of God that all should come to faith in Christ and believers must do their part to lead as many as possible to righteousness.

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

Daniel 12:2-3, NIV

References:

1. Erickson, Millard J. Introducing Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 1997). 

We believe that God wants to heal and transform us so that we can live healthy and blessed lives in order to help others more effectively. This statement of belief is the heartbeat of Audacity Malaysia. This is why we are who we are. This gets us up in the morning and this gets us burning the midnight oil. 

Right at the birth of the church, we heard God said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). The abundant life that Christ came to give us has been our focus for the last 16 years. 

We understand that a genuine encounter with the living Christ leaves us transformed for the better. Whether it is from flakiness to stability as we see in the apostle Peter or from doubt to faith in Thomas or from greed to generosity in Zacchaeus, the consistent testimony of Scriptures is that knowing Jesus is a journey to a better us.

It is a journey that every member at Audacity Malaysia is invited and enabled to take. For us, Jesus is alive and the Holy Spirit is actively at work to transform the people of God. The church is the community where personal growth takes place. 

It is not possible to follow Jesus without being deeply impacted and undeniably transformed. 

Hence, every believer must have a story of the changes that God wrought in him. The transformed life is the loudest testimony that God is more than a knowledge to be gained, that Scriptures are more than words to be memorised and the Cross is more than history. 

My personal story has been that of rejection, insecurity and performance orientation to that of peace and freedom. For the longest time, I feared the judgment of man and struggled with comparison. Much of my earlier journey comprised hours of personal prayer and Bible reading, sometimes late into the night or rather early morning where I deeply encountered Jesus. It has been a long journey of inner healing and renewal of the mind but one that leaves me deeply grateful for the love and keenly aware of the power of God. Without such transformation, it is not possible to do the ministry that God called me to for the last 25 years. 

I am continually amazed by the relentless faithfulness and grace of God that continually pursue us. It is not that we are worthy and it certainly not because we are smart. We are often too ignorant and sometimes too proud to understand the bondages in our hearts and the foolishness of our minds. Still, Jesus is determined to set us free from the effects of sins and to turn our curses into blessings. 

The grace of God compels our transformation, the shedding of our old man. The love of God insists on blessing us, clothing us with acceptance and authority (Luke 11:22). We are thus re-created in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

In transforming us for the better, we are made ‘transformers’ for others. In blessing us, God turns us into ‘blessors’ to others. Through us, our families and friends are to be blessed. From the very beginning, this has been the intention of God, that his people will be a blessing.

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing”.

Genesis 12:2, NIV

The church is the heir of the Abrahamic blessing. God still blesses his people to be a blessing. No follower of Jesus should miss out on the tangible power of the Cross to transform, heal and bless. Unless we have thus experienced God, our religion is but a form of godliness with no power (2 Timothy 3:5).  

With our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus, let us continue to look to all that God has for us! Our relationship with God may have a beginning but it has no end. We are not seeking to arrive. Rather we are seeking continuous growth. In God, there is more than we can ever fathom. The depths of God can’t be exhausted. He is still doing more than we can ever ask or think!

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21, NKJV

The God who created us and saved us from our sins also has a plan for us to live an abundant life (John 10:10). At Audacity Malaysia, we believe that in order to live the holy and fruitful lives that God intends for us, we need to be baptised in water and be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us to use spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues. 

Water baptism is one of the most fundamental acts of obedience by a Christian. It is an outward demonstration of our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Undergoing the water of baptism is a public declaration of the yielding of our lives to God. 

Water baptism symbolises the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The water is symbolic of a grave. As we are immersed into the water, we declare our relationship with Jesus; our old self dies and is buried just as Jesus died and was buried. It symbolises us being set free from the guilt of our past sin and shame. As we come out of the water, we rise to a new life just as Jesus rose to life again.  

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. — Romans 6:4, NIV 

While water baptism does not save us, it is an important evidence that we have been saved and set free. It is a significant public declaration that we make to God and others of our faith in the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. We no longer consider our life to be our own, rather we live now for the purpose and glory of God. 

While water baptism confirms our faith in Christ, the baptism of the Holy Spirit empowers us for the life and ministry that God calls us to. It is being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Baptism of the Holy Spirit is being filled with the Holy Spirit. 

We believe that the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues, that is having a supernatural prayer language. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray in the Spirit through praying in tongues (Romans 8:26-27). But the prayer language is just the beginning of the many spiritual gifts that God desires for us to have. The Holy Spirit has many spiritual gifts that he wants to impart to the people of God (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). 

The Bible tells us that it is Jesus himself who baptises us with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist declared, “I baptise you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16, NIV). 

It is the Son of God himself who baptises the people of God with the Spirit of God for empowerment. Jesus himself said he will ask the Father to give the Holy Spirit to be with us and in us (John 14:16-17). And just before he ascended into heaven, he told the disciple to stay in Jerusalem because not long after his ascension, they will be baptised in the Holy Spirit. Ten days after the ascension, on the day of Pentecost, the first group of disciples were baptised with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4)!

It was the baptism of the Holy Spirit that gave both the disciples and now us the enabling power of God to do the greater works that Jesus talked about (John 14:12). When we are baptised in the Holy Spirit, we have the revelation and knowledge of Jesus (John 16:13-15). We will be led by the Holy Spirit and be empowered to bear spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-26), and to live above sin (Romans 8:13).

It is critically important for us to obey the command of our Lord to be water baptised as a public confession of our faith (Matthew 28:19). And it is not possible for us to live the victorious Christian life that God has ordained for us without being filled with the Holy Spirit. Hence, let us all make sure that we do as God has commanded us and receive all that God has for us through the power of the Holy Spirit!

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you”.

John 14:16-17, NIV

Throughout our churches and in our prayers and songs, Christians routinely address Jesus as Lord. It is a designation that we are so familiar with that we seldom reflect on its implication. Indeed, Jesus is identified as Lord more than 80 times in the New Testament. 

But what does the Lordship of Jesus entail? Firstly, the confession that “Jesus is Lord,” affirms a fundamental truth concerning the relationship between Jesus and the cosmos. Jesus is not just the Saviour of humanity, he is the Ruler and Lord of the universe. More poignantly, by virtue of our personal commitment to him, “Jesus is Lord” means that Jesus is the Ruler of our lives.

In confessing Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we acknowledge that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, our sins have been fully paid for and we have been reconciled to God, and the lives we live on earth should be lived in a manner worthy of him (Ephesians 4:1, Philippians 1:27, Colossians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:12). 

Furthermore, for Jesus to be our Saviour, he must also be our Lord. 

The Biblical teaching is that it is not possible to separate Jesus’ role as our Saviour from his lordship over our lives. Hence, at Audacity Malaysia, we believe that in order to receive forgiveness and the ‘new birth’ we must repent of our sins, believe in the Lord Jesus, and submit to his will for our lives. In other words, Jesus is not our Saviour unless he is also our Lord. 

The conversion experience is the act of turning away from our sins in repentance and turning to Jesus in faith. This act of repentance and faith is what results in the forgiveness of God for our sins and the birth of a new life through the Spirit of God. The conversion experience and its emotional accompaniments vary greatly indeed and every believer should have his own testimony of a personal conversion experience. Nonetheless, it inevitably comprises turning away from sin and toward Jesus in faith. 

This is made abundantly clear throughout the New Testament. In his short admonition in Mark 1:15, Jesus sets forth what constitutes the essential personal response for salvation — repentance and faith.  

Repentance was the central proclamation of John the Baptist, Jesus and the early church; and the focus of apostolic teaching. The New Testament teaching of repentance centres around the Greek word, “metanoeo” which essentially means “to know after,” that is to have knowledge about something after it happens. It involves the change of opinion resulting from such knowledge. It also involves the resolve to alter one’s future in response to the regret and sorrow ensuing from the changed opinion. 

Repentance is intricately linked to conversion and involves a radical change within the core of our personal being. 

The inner change is the evidence that repentance has taken place. Without the recognition of the need for repentance, we cannot receive the provision God made in Christ. It is not enough to believe in Jesus and accept the offer of God’s forgiveness without a true change of the inner man. 

However, repentance alone is insufficient for salvation. Our sense of sorrow for sin cannot make amends for the past; nor can our desire for change alter the future. The other aspect of the conversion experience is faith. Jesus and the early Christians emphasised the importance of responding in faith to the gospel. Likewise, faith was central to apostolic teaching. 

Saving faith comprises three components — knowledge, assent and trust. 

It begins with the hearing of the gospel message (Romans 10:17). Then following that, assenting to the truth claims contained in the gospel message and making a personal commitment to the truth. Faith remains incomplete without personal trust. 

In repentance we see ourselves as sinners alienated from God. We become aware of the good news that Jesus died for our sin and rose again by God’s power. We acknowledge this truth as applicable to us personally and we appropriate the work of God in Christ for ourselves; trusting Jesus alone for salvation and confessing him as Lord. In doing these, we are born again into a new life as a child of God!

Although we might think of conversion as our response to the work of God in Christ, the Biblical truth is that even repentance and faith are gifts from God. It is the Holy Spirit of God who convicts us of sin and gives us faith to trust in Jesus. So our salvation is truly a gracious work of God in us and for us. 

While growing in our submission to the Lordship of Christ is the lifetime journey of a believer, we need to constantly remember that the Lord himself says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:23-26, NIV).

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 

Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV

References:

1. Erickson, Millard J. Introducing Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 1997).
2. Grenz, Stanley J. Theology for the Community of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).

At Audacity Malaysia, we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ as both God and man, is the only One who can reconcile us to God. He lived a sinless and exemplary life, died on the cross in our place, and rose again to prove his victory and empower us for life. 

In other words, Jesus Christ is our Saviour. In him, we find not only the self-revelation of God, but God acting for the salvation of humankind. This faith assertion is found in actual events in history for the Christian faith is not based on a grand or lofty idea or a philosophical system. At the heart of Christianity is the historical reality that Jesus Christ is God incarnated. The church of Christ was born out of the acknowledgement that Jesus is Immanuel — “God with us.”

Jesus is fully divine and fully human. He is the eternal Word, the Creator who calls all things into existence (John 1:1-4). He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13).

Yet, the eternal Son of God participated in our existential humanness. The purpose of his coming into the world was to atone for our sins. God became man, so that humankind could be brought back into an eternal fellowship with God. 

Jesus saw his sacrificial death as constituting a ransom to be paid for our sins (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45). His death was the substitute for our death penalty (John 15:13). Furthermore, his substitutionary death brings an end to the enmity and estrangement between God and humankind. 

As Erickson writes, “By substituting himself for us, Jesus actually bore the punishment due us, appeased the Father, and effected a reconciliation between God and humankind.” 

The most fundamental confession of the Christian faith is that in the historical Jesus of Nazareth, we find the reconciling work of the Triune God.

Jesus of Nazareth did indeed, claim a unique relationship to God the Father and God confirmed his claim by raising him from the dead. It is on the basis of this historical foundation of Jesus’ claim and its confirmation through the resurrection that the church asserts the divinity and humanity of Jesus.

That Jesus is both divine and human may appear paradoxical to us. But the reality that Jesus was fully God and fully human was crucial in his role in God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. Jesus’ ministry is inherent in his identity, and we cannot understand his identity in isolation from his mission in the world. 

Jesus’ humanity means that his atoning death is applicable to humankind. He was a genuine human being representing us (Galatians 4:4-5). On the Cross, the sin of humankind is transferred to Christ, just as in the Old Testament rites, sins were transferred to the sacrificial lamb. 

The New Testament repeatedly speaks of Jesus as our Saviour. He is the second person of the Godhead who participated in our humanness and died for sin in our place. There is no other way of saving humankind but by his death. The death of Jesus is of infinite worth and covers the sins of all humanity for all times. In Jesus, we have eternal security in our relationship with God. Our relationship with God is unshakeable because the basis of the relationship is the sacrificial death of Christ.

In confessing Jesus as our Saviour, we acknowledge that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, our sins have been fully paid for and we have been reconciled to God.

Without the incarnation of Christ and his work on the Cross, we would have remained estranged from God, lost in our sins and faced with an eternal doom. In accepting Jesus as our Saviour, it is vitally important that we understand the depth of God’s love that God would become man to save us. Our appropriate response is found not only in our confession of faith but in living our lives in deep gratitude and appreciation for what Jesus accomplished for us.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 4:10, NIV

References:

1. Erickson, Millard J. Introducing Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 1997).
2. Grenz, Stanley J. Theology for the Community of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).

“Who are we?” is a familiar question that humanity has asked over the centuries; for we, human beings are plagued with an identity problem. The Bible’s answer to this age-old question is that we are God’s creatures. 

Our foundational identity lies in the scriptural assertion that our origin is found in God. 

To truly know ourselves, we must begin by accepting that our ultimate identity is dependent on a transcendent reality much greater than ourselves, the divine Creator. In his well-known prayer, Augustine speaks of human life as a ceaseless movement seeking the divine, “You have made us toward yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” 

Likewise, the acclaimed theologian Stanley Grenz noted, “Within cosmos, we are the restless creatures that look beyond the material universe for ultimate fulfilment. We are designed to find our meaning and identity in relation to and only in relation to God.” 

The Bible testifies not only to the fact that we originate from God but that we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). To be created in the image of God does not only mean that we are inherently endowed with distinct godlike faculties and freedom, but also we are created to live freely and gladly in relationships of mutual respect and love. Our lives in relationships reflect the life of the Triune God who eternally lives not in solitary existence but in communion. 

The incarnated Christ is our ultimate example of what it means to be human created in the image of God. 

Jesus Christ is the fullest expression of what God intends humanity to be (Colossians 1:15). In beholding the life of our Lord, we learn that our true humanity is expressed in a self-transcending life in relationships of love and service to God and others.

However, despite being created in God’s image, humans have, nonetheless, become sinners who deny creationism. The image of God in which we were created in, is obscured and distorted by sin and the violence that often accompanies it. At Audacity Malaysia, we believe in the creation of man and that sin has separated each of us from God and his purpose for our lives. 

Sin is primarily disruption of our relationship with our Creator. This disruption not only separates us from God but causes us to lose our way in life. It expresses itself in many ways. Perhaps the most obvious is our self-centred idolatry. We have become largely preoccupied with our own desires, often living our lives to please ourselves. Sin is ultimately our resistance to our essential relationship with God and our denial of our dependence on his grace.

Creation is a grand and gracious act of God’s calling “into existence the things that do not exist” (Romans 4:17). And as God’s creatures, we simply cannot know what it means to be truly human without the awareness and acknowledgement of our divine origin and design; and our absolute dependence on the grace of God who created us. 

As beings created in God’s image, we are the recipients of God’s unceasing care and endless pursuit. As Migliore writes, “The God who lives in relationship calls us to life in relationship. We are humans as we are addressed by God. Our Creator freely gives us life, calls us, covenants with us, and wants our response; God addresses human beings in the psychophysical totality and in their particular historical situations, God wants the free response of the whole person.”  

Indeed, we have been gifted by God with the freewill to respond to him. Even as we might deny our dire need for our Creator’s grace in our sinful state, he nonetheless pursues us relentlessly in his purpose to restore his image in us. We will do well to turn towards him for we are ultimately created for him. 

As Christians, we must acknowledge that to be a truer human, we are called to increasingly be transformed into the image of Christ, as we contemplate him and follow his example (2 Corinthians 3:18). In so doing, we discover the riches of God’s grace that work powerfully for our good and divine purpose. Turning freely and wholly towards our Creator, we will find that despite our fallenness, we are fearfully and wonderfully made!

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalms 139:14, NIV

References:

1. Grenz, Stanley J. Theology for the Community of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994). 
2. Migliore, Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).

One of the most intriguing truths about God is surely that he is one, and yet three. That God is a Trinity — there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — is one of the most foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. It is crucial for our proper understanding of what God is like and how to relate to him. 

Scripture is equally clear in both the Old Testament (Isaiah 45:22-23, Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and New Testament (James 2:19, 1 Corinthians 8:4,6, 1 Timothy 2:5-6) that God is one. And yet the Bible also amply testifies to the divinity of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

On the surface, these two truths — that God is one in essence and three in Persons — seem contradictory. Yet, this contradiction is not real but only apparent from this side of heaven. As much as we would like to have a perfect knowledge of God, it is truly beyond the human mind. As someone noted about the Trinity, “Try to explain it, and you’ll lose your mind; but try to deny it, and you’ll lose your soul.” 

We recognise that even when we seek to worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and with all sincerity, God can often still seem like a mystery to us. He is both revealed and hidden. He is known and yet not fully comprehended. He is simultaneously the Saviour and the Judge of the world. He who is perfect holiness and hates sins, is also the one who loves depraved sinners so immeasurably that he died for our sins. 

Undeniably, God is beyond full human comprehension. Perfect knowledge is itself a paradox for us, for while we remain on the earth, we only know in part (1 Corinthians 13:12). Yes, God is a mystery; but not a mystery to be solved but to embrace. Embracing everything that God is and the apparent paradoxes is what faith calls us to. 

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts”. — Isaiah 55:8-9, NKJV

As the leading evangelical professor of theology, Millard Erickson points out, “We do not hold the doctrine of the Trinity because it is self-evident or logically cogent. We hold it because God has revealed that this is what he is like”.

For believers, more critical than a full comprehension of the Trinity, is our encounter with the triune God and its implications for our Christian lives. Because God is triune, our experiences of God must be with all three Persons of the Trinity.

To encounter the Trinity is to encounter the Father who loves us, the Son who redeems us and the Holy Spirit who empowers us for new life and service. 

To encounter the triune God is to encounter him who is totally loving and completely holy. The love of the Trinity is expressed in God’s gift of creation at the beginning and in the still greater gift of new life to fallen humanity through salvation. The holiness of the triune God is not simply purity or perfection that places fallen humanity under judgment but a gracious holiness that seeks our sanctification. The suffering of Christ on our behalf at the Cross and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the free act of love of the triune God. 

Not only do we encounter the Trinity through his perfect love and absolute holiness expressed at the Cross and Pentecost, we experience the Triune God in the community of his people. The very structure of human existence as community bears the image of the Trinity. Hence, the divine declaration that it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). 

A human life without community is truncated and impoverished. Not only are we created for community, we are redeemed for community. The church is therefore, an ecclesia, an assembly, a gathering.

In our Christian lives, there must be the sharing of life. 

How else would the triune God be abundantly experienced and adequately expressed but through the worship and life of the ecclesia, the community of God’s people? To fully embrace the triune God is therefore not just to gratefully accept the life-giving Godhead, but to graciously live in the life-sharing community of the ecclesia. Our worship, prayer and Christian witness can only be sustained by our encounters with the Trinity in the assembly of redeemed. 

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV

References:

1. Migliore, Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
2. Erickson, Millard J. Introducing Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 1997). 
3. McLeod, Donald. “The Doctrine of Trinity”. The Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, Vol 3, No 1, Spring 1985.

I remember well my first Bible. It was given to me by a good friend when I was in Form Two. It was the Good News Bible in simple English. I was not a Christian, had never been to church nor had I heard much about Jesus. I was, however, asking questions about life’s purpose and meaning, and did read quite a fair bit of the Bible. But it would be a few years later after accepting Jesus as my Saviour that the Word of God completely changed my life. Now I am well acquainted with the authority and power of Scripture. Billions of people over the centuries would likewise be able to testify to the same experience of being transformed by the Word of God.  

According to the March 2007 edition of Time, the Bible “is the most influential book of all-time… The Bible has done more to shape literature, history, entertainment, and culture than any book ever written. Its influence on world history is unparalleled, and shows no signs of abating. Even pop culture is deeply influenced by the Bible.” With estimated total sales of over five billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the best-selling book of all time. As of the 2000s, it sells approximately 100 million copies annually. 

It would certainly be peculiar for an ancient book like the Bible to be so relevant and influential through time and history except that the Bible is no ordinary book. It has as its source divine inspiration and its content the very revelation of God. By revelation, we mean God’s communication to humankind of the truth that we need to know in order to relate properly to him. 

And by inspiration, we mean the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Scripture writers which rendered their writings the very Word of God.

As the pre-eminent professor of New Testament, Gordon Fee writes, “Historically, the church has understood the nature of Scripture much the same way as it has understood the person of Christ — the Bible is at the same time both human and divine … Because the Bible is God’s word, it has eternal relevance; it speaks to all humankind, in every age and in every culture. Because it is God’s Word, we must listen — and obey. But because God chose to speak his Word through human words in history, every book in the Bible also has historical particularity; each document is conditioned by the language, time, culture in which it was originally written.” 

At Audacity Malaysia, we hold to the full inerrancy of the Bible. By full inerrancy, we mean that the Bible, “when correctly interpreted in light of the level to which culture and means of communication had developed at the time it was written, and in view of the purpose for which in it was given, is fully truthful in all that it affirms.” 

This means that the Bible’s assertions are fully true when judged in accordance to the culture of its time and for the purpose for which they were written. It is further important to note that no biblical text should be taken as erroneous because of the difficulties we might encounter in understanding or explaining it. 

God has given special revelation of himself and inspired his servants to record it through the enabling of his Holy Spirit. The Bible is a dependable source of God’s revelation and is fully truthful in all its teaching. It is fully accurate, authoritative and applicable to the life of every Christian and must be adhered to as the standard of our Christian faith. 

Scripture is indeed the defining document of the Christian faith. It specifies what we as the followers of Jesus are to believe and how we are to conduct our lives. It is to be used for building us up into maturity so that we may be “complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17) according to God’s purpose for us.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17, NKJV

References:

1. Biema, David (22 March 2007). “The Case For Teaching The Bible”. Time Magazine.
2. Fee, Gordon D. and Douglas Stuart. How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth (Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 1993), p.17. 
3. Erickson, Millard J. Introducing Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 1997), p.63. 

As we commemorate Good Friday this week, we remember a Saviour who willingly suffered and paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins by dying on the cross. The marks of our Lord’s crucifixion are forever etched onto his nail-scarred hands (John 20:19-20, 27). It was sin that nailed him to the cross and his scars testify to the brokenness of the world. 

We too have scars and they too testify to our brokenness. They tell the stories of things that went wrong in our lives. Whether they were grave mistakes, missed opportunities, broken dreams or unexpected tragedies, they caused us pain and suffering. 

When we view our scars negatively, they become the reasons for our resentment, bitterness or struggles. A failed relationship that remains in our heart, an unfulfilled dream that we refuse to give up, a betrayal that we couldn’t forgive; they continue to inflict pain on us well past their time. 

Seeing our life through our scars, we are tempted to see it as a glass half-emptied, believing that it has been less than what it should be. We live with “if only” and if we are not careful, unhappiness and unforgiveness grip our hearts, constraining the life of God within us. 

This Good Friday, as we shift our eyes from our scars and behold our Saviour’s nail-scarred hands instead, we might realise that scars are part of God’s redemptive work. 

Jesus’ scars tell us that he is our Saviour and our scars tell us why we need a Saviour.

Our scars are part of God’s workings in our life. They are visible reminders that Jesus is our saviour, redeemer and healer. It is when we have experienced deep pain and suffering that we will understand our desperate need for God’s saving grace. 

Suffering has a way to impel us to embrace a greater purpose. Superficial living can find no thriving ground in a life deeply wounded and powerfully healed. A deeper faith and a stronger hope are born out of accepting our scars as part of our redemption story, our journey into a fuller grace.

Jesus took our brokenness to the cross. This is why Jesus came. Good Friday happened so that God could bring wholeness to brokenness. It is fitting that we surrender our scars and allow Jesus to mend our brokenness. No matter what pieces need to be fixed back again, Jesus makes everything beautiful in his time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  And this is why Good Friday is “good” when it commemorates such a dark day of suffering that ended with the crucifixion of Christ. 

Good Friday marked the dramatic culmination of God’s plan to save us from our sins. It had to happen for us to experience the joy of Easter. Without that day of suffering, sorrow and shed blood of the Saviour on the cross, God could not be both “just and justifier” of those who trust in Jesus (Romans 3:26). 

The day that seemed to be the greatest triumph of evil paradoxically set us free from the power of evil!  

On Good Friday, we find the convergence of our sins and God’s forgiveness. On the cross of Christ, God’s righteousness coincided with his mercy. Jesus took on the brokenness of the world in exchange for our freedom. Where the nails pierced his now scarred hands, our scars find healing.

Because of Good Friday, we don’t have to doubt the love of our Saviour even in the depth of grief or the battles we fight. If we are willing, our surrendered brokenness brings forth new strength for a greater purpose. It doesn’t only bring fuller grace or life to us but to all around us. 

This Good Friday, let us not go through our religious duty of merely remembering or even thanking God for the cross of Christ, but let us allow the blood that was shed to flow over us. Let us allow our bondage to be broken and the balm of God to heal our scars. 

At Calvary, the Saviour surrendered himself so that our freedom could be purchased. On Good Friday, good triumphed over evil and mercy won the ultimate victory. Beholding our Saviour’s nailed-scarred hands, may we see our scars too as part of God’s redemptive story and may we lift higher the cross of Christ! 

Like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

Isaiah 53:3-6, NIV

In the beginning, the earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the surface of the deep (Genesis 1:2). When God spoke, creation took shape. Out of chaos came order with each creation in its rightful place, functioning according to its divine purpose. God is a God of order and not only does creation testify to this but throughout Scriptures, we see divine’s admonishments to live an orderly life. 

When God led his people out of Egypt, one of the very first things the people learned in the desert was order. At Mount Sinai, God gave the Israelites the ten commandments (Exodus 20) and divine laws that cover a wide range of activities and relationships. God also gave them the blueprint for the first house of worship, the tabernacle. The instructions for the building and setting up of the tabernacle and everything pertaining to it, including the offerings are given in great details (Exodus 25-30). In the book of Numbers, we find the organisation of the twelve tribes of Israel, with each tribe assigned their respective leader, position and duty (Numbers 1-2).  

Order is the proper or harmonious arrangement or organisation of life. It governs everything that God created. Order creates peace and frees us from confusion, inefficiency and breakdown. The opposite of order is chaos. This happens when things are in disarray, when they are not functioning as they should.  When any part of creation is in disarray, we suffer negative and painful consequences. We see this in the breakdown of the family, society or nature or even our body. 

As part of divine creation, we need to live our lives in an orderly manner.

The need to be orderly applies to every aspect of our lives. It applies to the stewardship of our resources like time, finances, talents and space. It applies to the management of our work and health.  It applies to our priorities in life and it applies to our family, church and relationships.

Whether we realise it or not, much resources are wasted when our lives are disorderly. The disorganised life is often distressing. Whether we work on a messy desk or live in a messy space, our efficiency is affected. We all know people who are constantly misplacing things. They often waste time searching for what they need since they can’t remember where they placed what. Then there are those who are habitually late, miss datelines, or simply forget to do what they need to do. These are all the results of the disorders that we have allowed to overrun our lives. 

It is even worse when we don’t organise our priorities or don’t understand divine order. When we dishonour God or leadership at home, at work or in church, we are out of order. 

If you are struggling with disarray, you need to bring order into your life. Creating order is all about managing your priorities, relationships, time, tasks, finances, space, stuffs properly. It will save you tons of wasted energy and time. It will relieve you from a lot of unnecessary stress. It will help you to stop fighting fires and break you out of the cycle of similar problems and crisis. And it will make working and living with you less stressful for other people!

Beginning with your priorities, create order in your life. As Christians, our lives should be organised properly into four areas — relationships, work/study, ministry/service, rest/recreation. This does not mean that we spend equal amount of time or resources on each area. It means that we need to manage our time and resources (finance, energy, talents) in all four areas appropriately. 

When we neglect any area or overdo any area, our lives become disorderly. Overdoing work and neglecting our family for example create disarray in our family. Overdoing personal recreation and neglecting ministry creates disconnection with God while overdoing ministry and neglecting rest creates burnout. 

Organise your time by setting a calendar so that you can manage all the four areas of your life. A calendar is the best way to help us minimise the wastage of time. And if you do it well, it can help you cure your unpunctuality. Many Christians neglect ministry/service, because they mistakenly believe that they don’t have enough time to serve God. No wonder so many believers are apathetic and feel no genuine intimacy or excitement about God.  

If you are not serving, ask yourself why. You are likely to find that you have overspent your resources in at least one area of your life.

Not only must time be organised, our finances, energy and space need to be orderly. Learn the basic principles of order. For example the simple rule for organising finance is budgeting, and for organising space is “A Place For Everything.” 

Order does not mean we don’t enjoy creativity or even the bursts of spontaneity. All of creation is simultaneously orderly and creative. Rather order is aligning ourselves to the divine design for us.

As you create order in your life, you will find fiction easing as life comes together in an easier rhythm and greater harmony. But more importantly, order helps us to fulfil God’s purpose for us so that God can be glorified in our lives. 

But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

1 Corinthians 14:40 (NIV)