something I'm thinking about in scripture
I've been thinking about how Ephesians 2.18 possibly shows us that God's reconciliation between the hostile Jews and Gentiles (cf. Eph 2.11) happened first as we were both reconciled to God at the cross. It's quite a surprising thing that Paul sort of draws out the distinction between the Jews and Gentiles as what seems to be first a matter of ethnicity and circumcision, leading to ethnic hostility, but doesn't actually land on Jesus coming down to tell us to be nice to each other. Instead, a bigger reconciliation takes place: between us and God, in the body of Jesus on the cross. The result is that hostility is killed, not just eased.
The implication would be that nothing quite gets peace into people who hate each other than reconciliation with God, because the hostility between us and God is the bigger, serious problem that had to be solved in the death of Jesus on the cross.
ministry updates
I've just completed my first month as an associate at SMU Christian Fellowship. It started in July, and our first day orientation included a delicious meal cooked by Angela, Paul's wife.
Notice Sarah explicitly banned CF and UNIQLO shirts hence I had to look for one of my non-usuals.
The semester starts in mid-August, so this period has been doing preparations and seeing what studying we can do ahead of time. Part of the associate program involves attending Gospel 360, where there's Bible handling as well as practical ministry training.
For the first semester, we're studying Ephesians for both small groups and Bible handling. I'm genuinely quite excited to dig into this book again because of its brevity and yet comprehensiveness, and I know it never fails to get me real excited to get on board God's big plan to bring Christians into union with Jesus.
For practical ministry the first assignment is going to be doing an evangelistic preaching practice, for which I was given the choice of Luke 15's prodigal sons. It's been quite a journey writing a 10 minute talk on something more than a few verses, and figuring out how to be faithful to the text while also doing lots of concept building for someone who might know be clear on what sin, lostness, and forgiveness is. I think at the same time I have been convinced that the best way to handle a passage is to be faithful to it, and that when it comes to telling the message, the best way is to simply let the passage speak with light contextualization. Luke 15 is simply brilliant, and akin to Jonah, people often stop at the first good ending, when the younger son returns home. And so it's been interesting to follow the text and see how Jesus is showing that the elder brother doesn't have a relationship with his father either, but was hoping to earn his father's wealth through obedience.
I'm quite excited to work with this staff, and it's been very interesting how we generally have the tendency to all show up at least 15 minutes early before the meeting time. Here's one time when we all arrived 30 minutes before:
Looking ahead, there's CCA fair where we encourage Christian freshmen to join CF as well as share the gospel with non-Christian freshmen if they will stop, and then our welcome camp before the semester swings off. I'm quite excited to be getting into the work of proclaiming the gospel, feeding in the word together and joining Jesus' mission to seek and save the lost. At the same time, I'm also feeling a growing gravity of this work, particularly at how the work is not to be done lightly because we are calling for a dying, hell-bound world to accept rescue in Jesus. It's these moments where I'm reminded I get to make my first job (to make disciples) my only job, that it's a breathtaking privilege, but it's one where I should feel inadequate if I'm relying on myself. The reminders from SSBC this year have helped me to see that I also serve a powerful God who can transform sinners to life through weak vessels.
I've also realized that it's possible, in the short term, to focus on pointing others to Christ without setting my own mind on Christ, even if my work is saturated in God's word. I'm praying that this isn't what will happen over my time here in SMUCF, and that I'll keep growing in my own maturity in Christ as I am used as an instrument to grow others.
something fun and unrelated
I finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows (Rawls), it's a touching short novel about a boy and his two hunting dogs. He goes on a hunting competition with his two dogs and there was a point where they compete for the best looking dog. The way the dog won brought tears to my eyes:
As graceful as any queen, with her head high in the air, and her long red tail arched in a perfect rainbow, my little dog walked down the table. With her warm gray eyes staring straight at me, on she came. Walking up to me, she laid her head on my shoulder. As I put my arms around her, the crowd exploded.
It was such a heartwarming exploration about the way that the dogs and boy bonded together, and how our hearts do yearn for deep connection. Worth a read!
Just so you know my definition of fun isn't limited to reading books, here's some pics from a trip to JB that I took with Andrew and David to gokarting, pick up beans and Hai Di Lao.
(Nothing like sun in your face to make the eyes really smile)
(super nice coffee place, not my picture got it off Google)
partner me
Please be praying for me to keep fighting pride, especially when I can take the knowledge of the Bible as a way to justify my righteousness. Pray that I'll be growing in my view of God's holiness and how I can only be accepted through the blood of Christ.
Pray that the staff team will continue to grow in holiness and our love for Jesus and his flock, and that we'll be serving him joyfully out of our weakness. Pray that God will be bringing freshmen to SMUCF and that they will be built up by God's word, and that we would have opportunities to bring non-Christians to faith too.
Additionally, you can consider partnering me financially. During my term at SMUCF, I'll be receiving a monthly allowance of $2600 that is completely funded by our CF alumni. Concurrently, the staff are encouraged to raise 30% of our allowance on a best-effort basis, in order to alleviate the financial strain on the CF. To use the words of Paul (the Apostle), not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. If you would be willing, the details can be found here!