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One of these days…
By Ern Sheong | April 13, 2009
Well it’s already past Sunday midnight but anyways, Happy Easter!
Today I was very touched in church service when a group of about 30 people went up one by one saying a line which begins like this:
“One of these days….
“… I can stop worrying about life and providing for my family for there would be abundance in heaven.”
“… I can stop comparing myself to my peers and trying to outdo them for in heaven there is no need to outshine people.”
“… I can stop worrying about career and how people perceive me.”
One of these days… when we see our Savior face to face.
For me it would sound like: One of these days, I can just stop struggling between the tension of serving myself and serving Him and simply give everything to Him.
Then my reaction would be: Why not give it all now? It’s a hard question. If the Bible and what is says is true, it would have serious implications on my life. Everything changes. No longer can one serve himself by pursuing high flying careers for it would be a selfish life and serving Money as well. No longer should one seek high positions of fame and power and authority to fill one’s greed for such things, to simply look good and be respected. I still struggle with these things. Giving it all is so hard… As a college student, it’s easy to give all. I have nothing right now. Just money in the bank for survival and a couple of possession in my dorm room. The real test comes later in a few years…
I am very honest. I can be Christian and have some tension inside me as well. Christians aren’t perfect. Christians are like you and me. Broken and sinful in nature. All wanting to rebel against the Almighty God who created us.
Pastor Ed told a story today. One lady who lived lavishly on earth died and went to Heaven. The angel welcomed her and escorted her through the gates of Heaven. She saw streets of gold, and everything was magnificent. But the angel brought her past the nice part of the city to the outskirts of the city, to a small hut which can barely fit her. She was angry and demanded, “Why am I being placed in such a small and drab place!?” To which the angel replied, “I’m sorry, but this was the best which we could do with the treasure which you sent up to Heaven.” (I want to clarify that he meant this story as a joke, and not some theological argument.)
Maybe life is about storing treasure in heaven instead. But most people seem to be doing the opposite, but would they regret it later?
G-Live I was acting/dancing in the Freshmen Skit. It was a fun and funny skit, but it’s meaning is profound. It touched three aspects which students in college face in life. Romance (non-committal relationships), success (money and position) and escape from reality (online gaming, etc). Many of us seek happiness through these things, but would these things eventually bring us happiness in the long run? You should answer it for yourself. That’s the truth. But would you act on the truth?
That’s the hard part.
Topics: General | 11 Comments »
April 14th, 2009 at 5:53 am
while we can store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, i hardly think not doing so leaves us with a metaphorical hut.
is it not written that we have every spiritual blessing because of what Christ has done for us? i daresay that we will find abundance in heaven – all of us! just that some will be rewarded with extras. like their names carved on pillars in gold and all that.
April 14th, 2009 at 8:24 am
it’s true that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessings as said in Eph 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”. However, why wouldn’t you seek to be rewarded with the extras? there’s no point in storing for yourself treasures on earth?
April 16th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Ern Sheong, I beg to disagree with what you posted. =) Please don’t take it personal okay?
You don’t have to wait until one of these days come and you get raptured. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (Joh 10:10) If it is only in Heaven, that you will have an abundant life, the verse would have read, “I have come they they may die and go to Heaven to have life, and have it to the full.”
What does that mean?
TODAY, I can stop worrying about life and providing for my family, for my Heavenly Father is the Jehovah Jireh (the Lord is providing). (Gen 22:14)
TODAY, I can stop comparing myself to peers and worrying about how people perceive me because I am what God says I am: more than conquerors in Him (Rom 8:37), hidden in Christ (Col 3:3), the head and not the tail (Deu 28:13), and many more. Read the Bible to find out what God says about you.
In fact, because God says that I am the head and not the tail, that means I can forget about trying to outdo others, because when it matters, I know that I am going to win before the battle even start.
TODAY, I can stop worrying about career, because God has something higher for me, and it is called “calling”. (Rom 8:30)
Since we’re on this topic, the word calling has this religious connotation that means called to be full-time ministers, but this is not true.
God can call you to be a businessman to make money for Jesus and to impact lives in the business world.
God can call you to be a homemaker to raise champions who will be future movers and shakers.
God can call you to be a doctor to fight diseases alongside Him.
God can call you to be a biologist to discover the wonders of this world and ponder the complexity of His creation.
The list goes on.
TODAY, I can forget about struggling about who to serve, because first and foremost, Jesus came to serve me, to die for me, to give me this life. God wants me to focus on that, and not myself. It’s not so much of what you can do for Jesus; it’s all about what Jesus has done and will continue to do for you. Your perspective will change, seriously.
The only one of these days that got it right is yes, one day, we will see Jesus face to face. Until then, we have the Holy Spirit in us as a seal of ownership.
Some people find that they have a passion for doing something, but that something happens to be secular and they think that they are serving themselves, but that’s a religious concept.
I have established that a calling is not necessarily full-time ministry, so you can be serving God in secular world.
It is a gross misconception, Ern Sheong, to say that “pursuing high flying careers for it would be a selfish life and serving Money as well”. You can have a lot of money and your heart is still for God. God isn’t against you having a lot of money; God is against you letting the money have you. There are businessmen who are funding the expansion of the kingdom of God, as God blesses them financially. Without Christian businessmen, missionaries would have no money to sustain themselves.
This “give all” concept, did you get it from Mark 10:21? This go and sell your possessions thing. Let’s not take the Bible verse out of context. The church already has religious but unbiblical concepts for people of the world to ridicule on.
While we are on that, note that poverty being holy is a religious concept. Even other religions say that. If prosperity is sinful, then Abraham, David and Solomon were evil people.
Another misconception. You are not sinful in nature. You are now a new creation in Christ. (2Co 5:17)
You might think that seeing yourself incorrectly is not important, but the Bible says as a man thinks, so is he.
Ern Sheong, if you see that you have a sinful nature, then sinful deeds will manifest in your life, even though you no longer have a sinful nature. That is why put off your old self, not the characteristics of your old self. (Eph 4:22) The characteristics of your old self were discarded with your old self when you were born again, so today, what you need to do is to put on your new self. If you see yourself as a new creation (who still do sinful things here and there) your identity becomes “new creation”! Your sinful deeds won’t completely disappear (noone is perfect, the Holy Spirit is manifesting the work of Christ in us), but you know what? It doesn’t change your identity in Christ as “new creation”. As you agree with God on your new identity, your sinful deeds, like splinter in your arm, will eventually fall away.
I will refrain from commenting on what your pastor teaches, because it is not my place to question other churches’ teachings. However, I will have to ask for Biblical reference for whatever that your pastor said about the “little hut”, because whatever story that is taught in any church needs to be Biblically backed up.
I’ll be looking into Bible verses on “treasure in heaven” when I have time to see what it really means.
April 16th, 2009 at 9:59 am
One more thing.
I agree that romance doesn’t bring happiness in the long run. Only God’s love can satisfy and give us the strength to wait for a proper marriage.
I agree that escape from reality don’t bring us happiness in the long run. I have been there before, and trust me, when you are back, that false happiness disappears and you are in even deeper despair.
With success, it depends. If it is success by own effort, of course it doesn’t satisfy.
It is God’s pleasure, however, to grant us effortless success in life, so that we will be blessed (because God-initiated success is supernatural) and His name be glorified.
God gives us money so that we can enjoy our lives and still have more than enough to fund the kingdom. He gives us position so that we can influence others and impact lives.
Jesus didn’t save us so that we will live a loser’s life.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:57 am
to kenneth,
haha of course i’m not saying we shouldn’t store up heavenly treasures!
i was referring to that story about the old lady going up to heaven and being put in a drab little hut because of her lack of heavenly treasures. i think that’s erroneous and misleading. we cannot have the impression that we need to do good works just to get ourselves something decent at the end of the day.
like the previous poster said, Jesus didn’t save us so that we’ll live a loser’s life.
He promised that we who are saved will reign in life. that we have abundance of life. I know that when I go up to heaven, I will have the fullness of God’s blessing. That I will see the abundance of God – for me! And it is there because of what Christ has done for me, and not because I’ve slogged my life away storing up heavenly treasures.
At the same time, some people get extras. I think there are sections of revelations which describe the things that the apostles and some others get.
Yes, I do want to serve God and store up these heavenly treasures! But I don’t want to do that out of a fear that I haven’t stored up enough to live in better conditions than that old lady’s hut.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:59 am
i think the story of the hut and the woman was not meant to be an accurate description of whatever the Bible says. perhaps just to convey that if we neglect to store up “treasure in heaven” then the natural consequence would be that we would have less “treasure in heaven,” however way we want to interpret that.
on success, it depends on the definition of success. what I meant here was just self serving position, authority and riches. success in serving the Lord in myriads of ways is no doubt good.
i agree with you that calling does not mean just full-time ministry. most people are not ministers, they serve God while maintaining employment elsewhere. in fact, it would be disastrous if everyone just joins ministry and there is no production and economy. thus there is no dispute there.
actually i don’t see why john 10:10 cannot refer to eternal life. Jesus may not be referring to earthly life at all. having said that, i do not believe that Christians are losers in any way. I just think that there are many teachings out there (namely, the prosperity gospel) which are advocating that Christians should give and be richly blessed. This movement is especially evident in Singapore and the US (City Harvest is one of them) and growing fast in Malaysia. while it is good to be able to give a lot to ministries and God’s work, I feel that such churches such as CHC teach a lot of dubious teachings regarding money and the truth of money in the gospel. (I haven’t attended NCC before, but I suspect that NCC is also in the prosperity gospel list of churches)
while we are made new, one cannot say that since he has received salvation he would go on to live a perfect life. He would still be imperfect, and thus he would need to go back to the cross to receive forgiveness. there is a sinful nature in man, but because of the cross, we are forgiven.
well the “one of these days, I…” remarks were all made by people struggling in their lives. so it does not reflect the ideal selves as said in the bible, but rather genuine concerns and imperfections in life which people struggle in. i am not saying that we are not healed and made anew in Christ, what I am saying (and what these people are saying) is that they are struggling from these concerns and imperfections here on earth, but one of these days in heaven such concerns or imperfections would vanish.
“You can have a lot of money and your heart is still for God.” Well I think it depends… there are two very large schools of thought, one of them is the prosperity or health and wealth school. it depends on how you live your life, too. I don’t know how a pastor or the leaders of a church can be driving luxurious cars and living in bungalows and be a pastor at the same time. it just contradicts. i pray you watch out regarding this phenomenon in Singapore or maybe even in your church too… it’s becoming very rampant.
i am also quite aware of Pastor Prince’s Grace-themed messages and thus I am not so surprised to your quoting those verses from the Bible. I shall have to look into what that really means first.
April 16th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I agree on the difference between success with and without God. Success without God will fall apart in one way or another. I was pointing out that there is a need to differentiate between the two kind of successes.
*sigh* My theology is not as strong as you, maybe, but let me try to theologically entertain you. Don’t take it personal okay? =)
There are many Greek words used for life in the New Testament (which is written in Greek), but the word used in John 10:10 is “zoe”.
Take out the original Bible in Greek and do a search on the Greek word zoe. There are 134 occurrences of them in the New Testament, but after shuffling through a few, (listed in verse order, so from first occurrence in Mat 7:14, second in Mat 18:8 and so on…) I see that in Mat 19:16, the word “zoe” appears together with another word to form “eternal life” in English.
So if the word “zoe” were to refer to eternal life, it would have been…
Aionios zoe. The word aionios means “perpetual”, “eternal”, “forever”, “everlasting”.
You will find these occurrences in Mat 19:16, Mat 19:29 (this occurrence is spoken by Jesus Himself, so that also debunks the argument that the occurrence in Mat 19:16 is not spoken by Jesus, so perhaps only people other than Jesus use “aionios zoe” for eternal life), Mat 25:46, and the list goes on. About 40 occurrences.
So, now that we have established that the word eternal life would have been written as “aionios zoe”, we come back to look at the word “zoe”. If it were used in other places, context notwithstanding, could it refer to eternal life?
In Matthew 18:9, Jesus said that “And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter *life* with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”
This verse has been misquoted as enter Heaven, that is, in a sense, eternal life.
The thing is, in eternal life, we will have a new, perfect body. We are not going to see anyone with a blind eye or an amputated arm in Heaven, simply because all things are perfect in Heaven. If anything, the only “imperfection” we will see in Heaven is the scar on Jesus’ hand. (Even that is perfection, because at the Cross, God’s mercy kissed God’s justice, and God’s demand kissed God’s provision.) It would be the only man-made thing in Heaven. Other things, such as diseases and poverty (as your friend mentioned) wouldn’t be in Heaven. So it doesn’t make sense that we can enter Heaven with one eye.
Or there is an argument that we can enter Heaven with an imperfect body, then we can get our body transformed. (I know it’s wrong, I’m simply using human arguments here.) However, in 1Co 15:52, it says that “at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” So 1. the dead will be raised imperishable, which is of course, the new, perfect body, not zombie la! And 2. we who are still alive by the Rapture will be changed, that is, get a new body.
Another interesting occurrence is in Luke 16:25, which was in the Rich Man and Lazarus parable. Abraham said, “son, in your *lifetime*…” Do you know that the word “zoe” is used here? “Zoe” can be translated to lifetime even!
One possible occurrence of “zoe” that you can bring against me is in Matthew 19:17. Here, Jesus simply said life/zoe, but it refers to eternal life, but please look at the context? Earlier, the rich young ruler was asking Jesus about eternal life, so Jesus is answering “life” in the context of what he asked, that is, he was simply omitting the adjective “eternal” on the premise that it is understood (well, between Him and the rich young ruler, at least). The same thing occurs in English. If you ask me, “who owns that big red polka dot bag?” I can answer, “oh, that big red polka dot bag belongs to…” or I can answer, “oh, that bag belongs to…” and both will be grammatically sound, right?
Remember that the Bible is inspired by God, and every detail, every word, every order, is there for a reason. If you say that God may have meant for the word life/zoe alone to be eternal life, then you are saying that God has made a mistake of leaving out the word eternal, and you are either questioning the infallibility of (not the teaching of my church or any church but) the Bible (in its original language; we agree that errors occur over translations) or you are making out God to be sloppy God.
If there is any reader left in jawdropping confusion, not to be arrogant here (lol how can I, if I am arrogant at Ern Sheong’s blog I will kena ban by him xP) but yes, at NCC, this is the depth at which we study the Bible.
Thought I’d give you something better than “but I think…” or “I’m not sure…”. In any case, you are entitled to your opinion . =D
“such churches as CHC”
I will not comment on other churches’ teachings. All I will say is that NCC’s teaching is different from CHC’s teaching, and I don’t think that it is fair to lump all churches that say “it is God’s will for you to be rich” together and brand them with one church’s teaching.
As for NCC, no, we don’t believe in the prosperity gospel; that would be a wrong definition of our teaching. We believe in the gospel of grace, and that one of the results of the gospel is prosperity. It is a by-product, not what our eyes are on.
What does God say about prosperity? Jesus paid for it. Jesus became poor at the Cross so that we, through Him, might become rich. (2Co 8:9) That’s as plain as it can go. Prosperity is the reward of the righteous, says in Proverbs. (Pro 13:21)
“How dare you say that! How dare you say you are righteous!”
Yes, I dare, because I believe not in my own righteousness. I believe that I am righteous by the blood of Christ alone. And the blood of Christ has purchased me riches. I don’t know about anyone else, but I will take it, thank You Jesus.
It is a Biblical truth that God is not a God who withholds good things. It is His pleasure to give us all things (Luk 12:32) as we seek the kingdom of God (please, please go and find out what it really means, search the Bible for the kingdom of God); all these things (look at the context, they are food, clothing) will be added to you. (Mat 6:33, context Mat 6:31-32)
I can go on and tell you what I see in the church, the lives transformed, marriages healed, debts cancelled, supernatural giving, worshipful mindset, but I think it means nothing here. We argue based on the Scriptures, Amen?
No, I’m not saying that in the natural sense, we are perfect. Now, God sees us as perfect, because His blood has removed our sins. Please understand that. There is work to be done to manifest the new life in us outside, but it doesn’t change the fact that your nature is a new creation. You are a new creation that has struggles with sin here and there. Do we still have our sinful nature?
I have to go for Japanese oral test now. The answer will continue in the next episode. =P
April 16th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
to jared:
yeah, that’s true. We need to store treasures in heaven by having the right intentions and motive. Not because we want to have a lot of treasures in heaven. Besides, it’s clear that though we can trick ourselves to do lots of things to store treasures in heaven, but God looks at our heart and through the flames He will test their reliability.
Matt 11:11 “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
It’s true that the disciples and apostles will be given extras just like Peter as described in Matt 16:17-20. But then again, we need to remember that we’re considered equal in God’s eyes as God called us as His children; heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).
April 16th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
@ome:
i guess at this point it is best for me to shut up instead of pursuing a theological debate. my theology is obviously too shallow
…
anyway i don’t see how this blog post came to illicit so much discussion. I don’t think i am contradicting the Gospel message at all with whatever that I am saying in this post. in fact, i think a lot of the arguments presented here by ome were implied, for I did not explicitly say much of what is being argued against here in your comments
let’s take a look at what I said:
“No longer can one serve himself by pursuing high flying careers for it would be a selfish life and serving Money as well. No longer should one seek high positions of fame and power and authority to fill one’s greed for such things, to simply look good and be respected.”
Here I was referring to the worldly pursuits of possessions and power, which implies the love of Money.
“I still struggle with these things. Giving it all is so hard.”
By “Giving it all” here I mean that I am to surrender my life to Christ and not control my own life by my own will. Giving it all means letting God take control of my life, not giving it all as in draining away my entire bank account and go live in the streets begging and looking holy. Or serving on full time ministry. Giving it all is to put God on the throne of my life instead of the person called Myself.
“Broken and sinful in nature.”
I believe that all men are broken in sinful in nature. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) It is, rather, by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, that we are redeemed and saved from condemnation. I do not contradict what the bible says that we are made new in Christ, but originally we are broken and sinful people nonetheless. We are “jars of clay” with a treasure within us which sustains us. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)
These are not refutations of your argument. Rather I am showing that well, there is really nothing to argue about. You probably read too much into my few lines in my blog post.
April 18th, 2009 at 12:50 am
Thanks for the clarifications Ern Sheong.
And no worries, by no means am I engaging you in theological debate… just thought that since you ask, I’d give you a solid answer. =)
Amen, I stand with you in being against the love of Money. The Bible doesn’t say “money is a root of all kinds of evil” (distinction needs to be made here) but it definitely says “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1Ti 6:10), and I am against that.
Okay, clarified on surrendering. I understood. =)
Indeed, you are *not* contradicting the Bible. You are right, we *were* sinful and broken, but now, we *are* a new creation. I think the way the original post was written was such that only the earlier half was recognized, and it is important to remember both halves, not only the sinful and broken halves, because if we only remember the earlier half, soon enough we’ll have this error that this earlier half (sinful and broken) is still the controlling nature today, which is where we miss it.
Aren’t we thankful to Jesus that because of Him, we are a new creation? =)
Not trying to defend myself here (you know me) but I think I pointed out these fine points because they can really be read that way, (unless it is something like the small hut thing, that one was outrightly erroneous) and if what I derived implicitly are true, such misunderstandings can derail you in your walk with God. By no means I am saying that you (Ern Sheong) are this, you are that; the spirit of it is I am simply pointing out the pitfalls to avoid.
Example, if I believe that now, I am sinful and broken, whenever I commit a sin in life, I will despair that I am sinful and broken, and I will never break free of that sin in life. I will struggle and struggle until Christ comes still struggle.
But if I believe that now, I I am a new creation, whenever I commit a sin in life, I will thank God that I am a new creation, and sin does not have dominion over me, and eventually, that sin falls away. This is Biblically backed up, but I think the readers have read enough, so I’ll end here. =)
By the way, permission to quote the entire thing on my blog. It was an interesting discussion regardless. =P
April 18th, 2009 at 2:58 am
@Ome:
Thanks bro for your initiative. This discussion made me really look into the Bible for answers. It actually made me read it on my own account and not because of “Devotion Time” guides which my church has for everyone to do. I shall begin doing this more from now on.
Having read your whole argument, I must say that I fully agree with what you mentioned in the previous comment (the one right above this) and hence whatever discrepancies I wrote earlier, I stand corrected.
Hey Ome, you take care over there okay? In any case, thanks for watching out for me and taking the time to point out some points which you thought could be pitfalls for my walk in Christ.
permission granted