Importance of Defense

Since the soccer world cup is coming soon, I gonna share a bit about my second favorite national soccer team: Italia. It's a team that many people dislike because they don't play pretty (entertaining) soccer, they rely on their borderline physical play, they tend to exaggerate in front of the referee to the point of simulating fouls (which I think many teams do it nowadays). But I like them. Besides that fact that I like the blue color of the Italian jersey, I like their defense. There was a time when they had an all-star line of this line of defenders: Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro, and Alessandro Nesta. Their defense is so focused and strong, that it is their foundation to achieve victory by not letting the opposing team score.

Recently, two brothers and I were meeting frequently with a some mormon missionaries. It is funny because they saw me at Philip one day, and on the next day another brother found the same mormon missionaries at Lester, and we just decided to meet together (instead of separately). Another brother joined us too, and we met up 6 times during 2 weeks. During the last meeting, they gave up on us, saying that they had shared all their "truth", that it was up to us to decide, and that they need to spend time with other people.

It was a challenging experience for me because it was my first time that I have to defend my faith against false teachings. The mormon missionaries are well trained, they speak very well, they take control of the conversation, and the message they spoke was like 90% similar to what I believe. I am sure that they purposely hid some aspects of their "sketchy" beliefs. That is why it is so important for every Christian to know the truth, to know how to express it, and to know how to defend it. The importance of defense is to not let the opposing team score, and to eventually overwhelm them by our firmness.

During these 2 weeks, I spent time researching about the mormons and preparing to defend the truth that I stand for, and it was a very rewarding learning experience. In terms of biblical, archeological and historical facts, there is an overwhelming number of ways to defend the truth of Christianity against the mormons. Whenever we point out a biblical truth that contradicts the mormon doctrine, the mormon missionaries (they say they believe in the bible) will just tactfully comment on it, change subjects or go in circles, so it was a bit disappointing. Most of the things that they talked to us about don't even come from the book of mormons, but from other sources such as the words of their prophets and another document they have about covenants. In the end, I found it very hard to convince them that Christianity is true by arguing, but that my role is to let the Word speak with the hope that the Spirit will convict them about the truth from Scripture. I told them to read Galatians 1 on their own as my last words =P

Summary of the things I learned in interacting with mormon missionaries:

• Love and compassion: I felt anger because they are preaching a false gospel, blaspheming the Word of God, and they are very active on campus. I was all pumped to enter into arguments and debates with them. But I realized that will not go anywhere, and that preaching the gospel has to be done with love.
• Let the Word of God speak: I could use many biblical facts to bash their teachings, but a better approach to minister to them by showing them what the bible says and let them read it themselves.
• Don't go alone: Go with someone who can help you with prayer while you talk and support you, there is a spiritual warfare.
• Grace vs. works: the mormons believe that they need to do works to earn salvation. I was thinking, why is salvation by works so attractive? And I realized that there can be boasting in such teaching, while we as Christians only boast on the cross because it is not because of what I do, but of what Jesus did.
• Heart is deceitful: the mormon tells you to rely on your feelings while discerning the validity of the book of mormons, but we ought not do that because feelings are deceiving but we use wisdom.
• Pray constantly.

Protecting with zeal

I heard this funny and interesting clip from Paul Washer in this sermon:

The Purpose of Marriage (Paul Washer)
(the link automatically timed to 28:40, just watched for like 1-2 minutes)

I agree in the intensity in protecting the people who are dear to you. That includes our brothers and sisters in Christ =)

Fuerza Barca!

For those who have to endure the painful announcements that I made during CCF, I often like to use pictures from one of my favorite soccer team, Barcelona, as a reference of a point I want to get across. Barcelona just had two epic seasons. Even though they didn't get to the UCL finals this year, Barcelona won the Spanish Liga consecutively, beating their historic rival Real Madrid.

What I love the most about Barcelona is their game philosophy. It is about playing fútbol that is pleasant and entertaining. It is about circulating the ball with precision. It is about constantly going on the offensive and taking the initiative to score. It is not jut about winning, but about winning with style. It is an art. And this team is faithful to this game philosophy no matter what the score is, no matter who they playing against, and no matter whether they are playing home or away.

This makes me ponder if I am faithful to the lifestyle of a Christian disciple, whether I am living in congruence with what God has called me to and entrusted with. I also also myself if I am consistently having this lifestyle no matter what the circumstances are. Many times I do fail, and it is by His mercy and grace that I can get strength to persevere.

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you." - Philippians 1:27-28

Missionary Student

I found another cool article in the Resurgence: 7 Ways to Be a Missionary in College

For a long time the aspect of evangelism has been criticized in CCF. There has been suggestions about making Friday nights (fellowship) more evangelistic focused. There are questions about why we aren't doing evangelistic events such as Lifesong (big drama production) or Coffeehouses anymore. Also, why there isn't a single CCF poster on campus? It is not a secret that CCF is weak in evangelism.

The common response is that the fellowship should start doing more evangelistic events to address this. I agree that this addresses the symptoms, but it doesn't target the root issue. I have seen that Lifesong is good by unifying the fellowship but it ends up being another CCF event lacking of a strong vision and failing to follow up with the very few non-Christians who attend.

The reason why events like Lifesong haven't happened for a while is because we were lacking in the fundamentals of our faith, so we wanted to focus on them. If we truly understand our faith, then evangelism should be more than natural. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) should be in our agenda everyday. Understanding the gospel should make me realize how much love and grace has been given to me, and that God uses me to make this gospel known to the people around me. Because the gospel is so good, that I should be excited to talk about Jesus to others. If I am conformed into the image of Christ, then I should feel compassion for the lost.

I believe that the fellowship should teach and challenge all of us to understand the gospel and live according to the gospel. We meet so many people in university that we should not be too comfortable in the CCF bubble, but seek to invest time in our non-Christian friends.

Though actions of love can speak volumes, I feel that it is important to engage in discussions to share the reason for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15). Because anyone can do actions of love, but we are ambassadors of Christ and we are given the privilege to share the gospel. And if we truly love our friends, then we should be more than compelled to share this message because it is about the salvation of their souls.

I am very weak in this area. It is not easy and it can be scary. But it's time for me to be more intentional and really live according to the gospel. I have been challenged by a brother who shared with me this quote from John Piper: "A silent servant-hood that never speaks the Gospel contradicts love."

I think personal evangelism is the way to go. I am not saying that evangelistic events are bad, but that instead of asking ourselves what the fellowship should do, first we should examine ourselves in our own lives.

Short clip from John Piper when he said the previous mentioned quote:

Variety in fellowship

I came across this video "Gospel 101" from the Resurgence.

Gospel 101 from Sojourn Community Church on Vimeo.

It made me think about the purpose of a body of Christ (like church or CCF) and also the variety of gifts that exists in a body. According to this video, there are people who focuses on:

• Bringing the message of the gospel out to the streets and on doing deeds
• Teaching the body about the truth of the gospel
• Emphasizing on the grace of God

I can see how in CCF, members can be roughly "categorized" into these previous three points. There are definitively people who are zealous on serving, there are people who are hardcore in presenting the truth in Scripture, and there are people who focuses in encouraging and caring for each other.

The beauty of this is that if we only emphasize in one of these three points alone, there is a danger of falling as we are not living out the complete picture of what a Christ-centered community should be. Part of being in a community is to spur one another, as one's strength and help other's weakness. This is how a body of Christ should work, everyone united focusing on the same goal and partnering in the gospel.

CCF has a majority of people who come from a conservative Chinese church background, and these members are usually focused on the Scriptures. Recently, we are blessed with having members coming from charismatic churches, and they are more focused on being filled by the Holy Spirit. An interesting discussion came out several times about what the focus should be. If we focus too much on the Scripture alone, the fellowship can become very dry spiritually. But if we only focus on the Spirit, then the fellowship can become "drunk" by the lack of truth. So it is important to have both together. Two passages (Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:18) give a good indication that knowing the Word and being filled by the Spirit comes hand in hand.

you are you

I used to go to my friend's place back home to read the Slam Dunk manga. My friend came from Hong Kong and he bought the volumes in Chinese, so I had to just look at the figures and guessed the dialog. The manga is about basketball, and there is this particular game in which the captain of the main team (who plays in the center position) is getting owned by the opponent's center, and he is losing his confidence and making many mistakes. Then one of his past rival knocks the sense out of him, and he is reminded that "he is he", and "I am me" (reference). He quits comparing himself to his opponent, and starts doing his best for the team :D.

This reminds me of a struggle that some of us have in comparing ourselves with others. I see a lot of that among traditional Chinese parents who like to compare us with siblings or cousins in terms of academic performance and success in life. Some of us tend to compare ourselves with other members of the fellowship in terms of spiritual maturity, leadership, serving, etc. I personally think that is very damaging because low-esteem and feelings of inadequacy appear in one end, and resentment and envy appear in the other end. All these hurt the body of Christ.

We have to remember that each of us is a beloved child of God. And that we are one in Spirit, we share the same faith, we have one Lord, and we are united by His love (Eph. 4). Even though each of us are given different gifts and services, it is by the same Spirit (1 Cor. 12) and with the same purpose to glorify God and edify the body. Every good work that is done through our fellowship is to glorify God, and make His name known to others. Each of us is given a plate, and by God's grace we do our best to serve for His Kingdom with what we have been entrusted. At the end of the day it is between God and you.

So yeah, you are you, he is he, she is she, I am me. Don't compare, but do the best you can for our winning team to further God's Kingdom.