Bible Conference 2014 Day 3
6:30pm – 8:30pm Friday 28 March 2014 @ Wurth room, Roundhouse, Kensington Campus, UNSW
Biblical view, value and inspiration will help you to lay the foundation of your campus life and beyond.
This could be the best time-well-spent event in the beginning of the year.
Biblical message, music, animation
Biblical electronic game
Click here for more information.
Bible Conference 2014 Day 2
6:30pm – 8:30pm Friday 14 March 2014 @ Wurth room, Roundhouse, Kensington Campus, UNSW
Biblical view, value and inspiration will help you to lay the foundation of your campus life and beyond.
This could be the best time-well-spent event in the beginning of the year.
Biblical message, music, animation
Biblical electronic game
# Light meal provided.
Click here for more information.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
Matthew 25:1-13
This parable teaches us the wisdom of preparation for the coming of our bridegroom Jesus.
In this parable, five wise virgins took a jar of oil along with their lamps. But five foolish virgins only took their lamps. So on the arrival of the bridegroom, the foolish virgins had to go to buy the oil. But it was too late.
What does the lamp mean? See Proverbs 20:27 NASB (New American Standard Bible) “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being.”
Also see Matthew 5:14-16.
14“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Therefore, the Christian is the lamp that God turned the light on after he put oil in his soul.
But the parable we read today tells that the lamps of ten virgins were going out because long waiting at midnight. Only wise five virgins had extra oil supply with themselves. This is the very difference between wise and foolish virgins.
Then what does this extra preparation mean? What does the jar of oil means?
If the virgin loves the bridegroom and treasures the moment to welcome him, she would not leave it to the chance. She would ensure the welcome moment the success. The foolish virgins left it to the chance. Basically they were not wise enough but it shows that they didn’t really love the bridegroom. True love at heart can create brilliant ideas to please the mate, in common sense, can’t it?
To ensure that we are ready for our bridegroom, we want direct and strong relationship with God. In the difficult time, how easily do our lamps go out? For example, when someone invokes our anger, we may easily lose Christian attitude. The oil was choked up and the fire was (almost) gone out! Jesus said “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). We are living in wicked generation. We need enough oil to keep our lamp on while we are living in this world until Jesus comes back. How? Read the Holy Bible every morning before facing this wicked world. Pray to God every day. Do evangelism. Tithe. Make disciples. Teach the Holy Bible. Love your neighbours as yourself. Obey God’s Word. Bear the fruit of Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Bear the fruit of life – spiritual children… so that our lamp may not go out in the most difficult time.
Also, oil is something that can’t be shared. Purity, faith, and love toward Jesus can’t be shared with others.
It is essential that a Christian has Christian faith, Christian life, Christian attitudes and is full of Holy Spirit. We shouldn’t let the lamp go off.
Let’s always prepare enough oil throughout today, this week, this month, this year, our whole life through sufficient prayer (spiritual breathing), reading (spiritual eating) and evangelism (spiritual exercise)!
Man-made rules vs the Holy Bible
I am reading the Gospel of Matthew these days. In the recent 3 days, I read Matthew 23. I remember decades ago when I read this chapter first time in my life, it was mind-blowing. Today I would share one important point in this chapter.
Matthew 23:4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
The religious leaders created too many man-made rules to follow. Keeping all these rules was too hard. And these rules altered the real meaning of the Holy Bible (Proverbs 30:6, Deuteronomy 4:2, 2 Peter 3:16).
The issue is summarized as “Man-made rules vs the Holy Bible”.
It is easy for us to create man-made rules as they did.
Check whether you keep “man-made rules” or “the Holy Bible”. Some might think there was no difference but there is big difference between them.
Think based on the Holy Bible. Examine whether the man-made rules you blindly follow are biblical. And start to follow the Holy Bible.
Enforcing “man-made rules of religion” is a great sin (15).
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
Animation based on Isaiah 9:6-7a
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand with the Five Loaves and Two Fish
Luke 9:10-17
In Luke 9:1-9, Jesus sent His twelve disciples out for a mission trip. They returned and made the mission report to Jesus (10a). After this, they went to Bethsaida by themselves (10b). But the crowd learned about it and followed Him (11a). Jesus welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing (11b).
Now it became late in the afternoon (12a). The twelve came to Jesus and said,
“Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” (12b).
The disciples thought the crowd should find their own means to eat and rest. But what is the answer of Jesus? See v13a.
13He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
Jesus asked His disciples to give the crowd something to eat. This teaches the leaders the responsibility for the crowd. Also this teaches us the heart for the crowd. When we don’t have the heart to feed the crowd, we can’t give anything even though we have something to give. But if we have the heart to feed the crowd, we can find the way to feed the large crowd.
But what is the response of the disciples? See v13b.
They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.”
The disciples had only five loaves of bread and two fish, which are not enough for themselves and far too few for the crowd – 5000 men and their women and children. Also it would cost too much money to buy food for all the crowd. According to the gospel of John, the five loaves and two fish were with a child (John 6:9) [1]. It could be a lunch box of the child.
When they see what they have, it was not possible to feed them. How did Jesus solve this problem? See v14-17.
Jesus instructed the disciples to have them sit down in groups of about fifty each (14b).
Then, Jesus took the available food, looked up to heaven, gave thanks, broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the people (16).
As a result, they all were satisfied and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over (17).
Jesus blessed the lunch box of a child and fed the five thousand with it.
Here, we learn that we shouldn’t ignore what we have even though it looks very few or small.
Instead of looking down on what you have, we can look up to heaven and give thanks by faith. And what you have can satisfy not only a child but large crowd!
You may say, I studied the Bible very few and I know very few. But in Jesus, your Bible knowledge could be used to feed 50 million people.
What is your talent? What is your education? What belongings do you have? Do not despise or ignore them. Bring them before Jesus. When you have the heart for the crowd and do not limit God, you can see the miracle.
[1] John 6:9 9“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Give Us Today Our Daily Bread (Matthew 6:11)
Matthew 6:11 Give us today our daily bread.
This is part of “the LORD’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9 – 15), which Jesus taught us to pray.
Here, “bread” represents things necessary for the sustenance of life like food, clothing, health, civil peace and etc (Ursinus, Z., & Williard, G. W. (1888)).
We have to pray for “bread” not only to obtain them but also to be able to enjoy them.
It is God who enables us to enjoy them (Ecclesiastes 5:19). If God does not enable us to enjoy, we can’t enjoy what we own (Ecclesiastes 6:2). Some “bread” might be obtained apparently by our own labour, but we have to pray for it, and recognize God’s provision and His enablement for our enjoyment.
“daily bread” is bread as much as we need for each day to serve God and our neighbour. Note that Jesus said not “weekly” or “yearly”, but “daily”, restraining our raging and boundless desires (Ursinus, Z., & Williard, G. W. (1888)).
Now let us think about “today” in the prayer. This requires “trust” that God will give us “today”. “daily” and “today” two words in one sentence emphasize to live for today. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33-34 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
I realize God faithfully gave me daily bread – I got place to live and clothes. Just then, I had good dinner. I got my computer and desk and etc. All these facts touched my heart and I couldn’t help crying due to His grace and provision.
I think “our” in “our daily bread” means I should be in community and I should NOT leave any brother or sister to live in extreme poverty.
I realize that boundless desires make me never satisfied with the amount of work I do for a day. But when I focus on today and recognize God in my daily life, I am relieved from heavy burden.
Live THE MOST EXCITING LIFE IN JESUS, seeking His kingdom and His righteousness as the top priority instead of the stressful life worrying about tomorrow or future, totally leaving His mission aside.
The above choice is a matter of trust in God and His promise, shown in Matthew 6:33.
Now is the time to put down our covetousness and distrust, and obey God.
Bibliography
Ursinus, Z., & Williard, G. W. (1888). The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism. Cincinnati, OH: Elm Street Printing Company.
Knowing God’s Plan of Judgement and Praying for other(s)
Genesis 18:16 – 33
In Genesis 18:2, three men visited Abraham. In v16, they were leaving and Abraham walked along with them for farewell. Two of them were angels of God and one of them was the LORD.
The LORD said he would not hide from Abraham what he was about to do (17). This shows God treated Abraham not just as a servant but as a friend.
Jesus said in John 15:14-15 “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
God has chosen Abraham (9) and Jesus has chosen His disciples (John 15:16). Not only Abraham and 12 disciples but also all Christians are “chosen” by God (Romans 8:33, Ephesians 1:4, Colossians 3:12, 1 Peter 2:4). In the Gospel of John, the twelve, as the most intimate and most committed followers of Jesus, are presented as the models for all Christians, both in terms of their election and in terms of their mission (Notes for John 15:16).
As a friend of God, Abraham became aware of the Judgement of God against Sodom & Gomorrah (20, 21). V22 – 33 show Abraham’s intercession in regarding to the Judgement of Sodom & Gomorrah, where his nephew, Lot and his family were living.
God responded to the prayer of Abraham in a straight-forward manner (26, 28 – 32) as He did to the intercession of Moses in Exodus 32:11-14. Intercession is a prayer not for oneself but for other(s). God is pleased with intercession. Let us learn Abraham’s intercession and pray for others in this selfish and indifferent generation.
Bibliography
(2006). Notes for John 15:16. In The NET Bible First Edition Notes. Biblical Studies Press.
Replacing the Law of Retaliation with the Law of Christ in personal life
Matthew 5:39 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
Most people are right-handed. How can a right-handed person slap the right cheek of another person? It is possible by slapping with the back of the right hand. Slapping with the back of the right hand is twice more insulting than slapping with the flat of the right hand. Also slapping with the back of the right hand can’t severely injure a person physically. So it is clearly different from brutal attack that can injure the person who receives it.
So, this verse is clearly about how to respond to the personal “insult”. “insult” is felt when you are treated too lightly as a nothing. Sometimes people insult those who believe in Jesus simply because of their belief.
Based on the Law (“an eye to an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, Exodus 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21), a slap also could be sued legally for compensation. Note individuals were not permitted to use this law to settle disputes with others. Only the courts were permitted to do so. People misunderstood and misused this law even against personal insult by insulting back.
The response taught by Jesus is “turning to them the other cheek also”. This is the revolutionary way to respond to the insult. This is how God wants us to handle personal insult. The Law of Retaliation should be practiced not by individuals but by courts.
It is not easy to put down our pride and give up our rights. But this response will show them we have love greater than their hatred and insult – the love that can take further insult on the other cheek, because we are eager to save them.
Also, you are blessed when you have to do this for the sake of Christ (Matthew 5:11, 12).
Reference:
Hughes, R. K. (2001). The sermon on the mount: the message of the kingdom. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
The Beautitudes
Matthew 5:4
Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7 are called “The Sermon on the Mount”.
Matthew 5:1-11 is in the opening part of it, called “The Beatitudes”. Beatitude comes from the Latin “beatitude” meaning “blessedness”. The beatitudes are 8 blessings as written in Matthew 5:1-11. Here, let us discuss the 2nd blessing today.
See v4.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
This verse is a paradox, which draws attention of the readers.
This verse does not mean that Christians should be melancholy and gloomy.
Also, this verse does not mean Christians should not be joyful. Instead the Bible teaches us to “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). Note that the 1st miracle Jesus performed was at wedding banquet, turning water into wine. This shows characteristics of Christianity – joyful!
But Christians should mourn and have “broken hearts” by recognizing both their own sinful status and the sins of the world.
If you mourn over your sins, you are blessed because you will be forgiven, filled with Holy Spirit and be saved.
To help you to mourn, I suggest a following verse to meditate.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Here, ‘him’ is ‘Jesus’. Based on God’s justice, a sinner should die and receive eternal judgement after the death. For us to be forgiven (To save us), Jesus received the fury of God’s wrath on the cross on behalf of us. This satisfied God’s justice against our sins. As Jesus took our guilt, we who believe the good news are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus.
Jesus drank your bitter cup, and He gave you His sweet cup. Do not refuse the grace of Him who took & drank your bitter cup. Instead, take & drink His sweet cup He gives you.
Feel the love of Him, who died on the cross in your place… to save you.
And mourn over your sins that made Him suffer on the cross.
Yes, your sinfulness made Him suffer.
But His love toward you is so great, so, He took the shameful & painful cross for you.
He died for you not because you are righteous but even though you are sinful.
This is God’s love and forgiveness. This is our basis of love and forgiveness toward others.
With God’s love you received, you also should love and forgive others not because they are nice or perfect but even though they are unfriendly or imperfect.
Good mourning!
