Flesh vs The Spirit

Boasting and Persuasion

Boasting in the Flesh

The older I get, the less keen I am to boast in the flesh. That, sadly, leads to a disconnect with people who don't hear well from the Spirit, but are much more familiar with their flesh. (I am using flesh, carnality and related terms here as a contrast to living by the Spirit)

Apostle Paul had a problem with the carnal Corinthians. He found that just using the Word of God and showing the works of God were not convincing enough to them, so he felt driven to pen these words.

2 Corinthians 11:21-29 (NKJV) - But in whatever anyone is bold—I speak foolishly—I am bold also.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

The key idea of Paul here: "I speak foolishly" and "I speak as a fool". In other words, Paul feels it is stupid that he even needs to bring up this topic, and that he feels embarrassed to have to appeal to his experiences rather than the Word of God and the works of God.

2 Corinthians 12:5-6 (NKJV) - Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.

The problem with boasting in the flesh is that it can cause misunderstandings. The carnal people speak to each other carnally, and they know what is meant. When the spiritual use carnal boasting, the carnal can easily misunderstand the words.

Let me give you an example.

When I first started playing drums for worship, it was at a mega-church. In other words, you know they had people to spare, they had standards and expectations from their musicians, and it meant that for me to play drums there at the age of 20, I was not a total incompetent.

But if I were to talk of it, "I first started playing drums for worship at 20 years old, at a mega-church", there will be people to take it to mean I am really skilled or knowledgeable at drums. Nope, I wasn't. It's just that I was not totally incompetent. But I still had a lot to learn then, and I admit to my shame, I was quite arrogant and unteachable at that time. So I didn't learn as much as I could have.

That is why I'd rather not talk about that season. If I wanted to make a point about how drums were to be used in church, I would rather use logic, reason, Scripture (if applicable) and let my own ability speak for itself, if I was worth listening to or not. Look at my music, especially my playing, to see if you should give weight to my opinions on serving via music.

But if someone less skilled than the 13 year-olds I taught drums to when I was 15 would say that when it comes to drums in church, I really don't get it (but he in his incompetence does), and if there are church leaders who would even give consideration to his words (to think he has a point when arguing against something I thought was common sense), that is when boasting in the flesh becomes necessary. I could understand that guy's arrogance, I mean, I was young and arrogant before too (except that I had more skills to back it up of course). But I could not understand if church leaders ever needed me to boast of my experience from the days I am now quite embarrassed about.

2 Corinthians 12:11-12 (NKJV) - I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.

I am no apostle; signs and wonders for me measured in how seldom my boys are late for school even though I am the one in charge of getting them ready for school in the morning. In church I have a cushy ministry; I play music and get to call it serving the church, the people of God. Things cannot get much easier for me, so I don't get to boast of epic works of service. But in what I do know, I would say I know well, and I let those whom I have served decide for themselves if what I say is true.

In other words, the sphere to which I have been appointed includes church music, especially in the churches I serve in.

2 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV) - We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you.

Persuading by the Spirit

Now outside of that, when it comes to other aspects of the believer's life, I would rather use the Scriptures as my authority. When dealing with an unpleasant situation, if the word of God has given clear enough guidelines, that is pretty much all there is to it. I don't know everything in the Bible as well as I'd like, so if there are Scripture passages or principles I missed, do tell me. But if I didn't miss anything but expressed the clear and complete teaching of the Bible on a particular question, the word of God should just settle it immediately.

There are enough rules and guidelines in the Bible on how to live life. God knows how many churches would be fine if the members were taught to follow Matthew 18 in dealing with conflicts. The book of Proverbs contains enough wisdom to keep us from marrying narcissistic sociopaths by mistake. The Psalms transmit the essence of worship and prayer in ways that conferences and seminars are woefully inadequate to.

It's sad that for many of my fellow Charismatics who call themselves Spirit-filled believers, they seem to think they have a Catholic-like dispensation, an exemption from the parts of the Bible they don't like. The believers I know from traditional churches are much more serious about obeying the Word, and if they disagree with me on something they have Scripture-based arguments that I can respect, even if I don't agree with them.

The carnal are good at coming up with excuses. "You don't understand", "You don't know what it's like", "You have never been through what I have been through". *shrug Show me from the Scriptures since when those are valid reasons for nullifying the Word of God.

Don't Get Me Wrong

I don't obey ALL of the Bible either. I don't do everything I know from the Scriptures I ought to do. And because of that, I know I am NOT entitled to all the benefits of obedience. It is as simple as that. Any area of my life I do not obey the Scriptures in, is an area I cannot complain to God about when things go wrong or if I have no rest in my spirit.

And that is what I say to my fellow siblings-in-Christ. Obey the Scriptures, the best you can. Don't make excuses for not obeying, and later expect God to lavish on you the benefits of obedience anyway. Let me not have to boast in my flesh to tell you the Word of God will prevail. Let me not have to tell you stories of all the nasty lessons I learned from life because I was too stubborn to learn from God's Word directly.

And if God brings mentors into your path, for God's sake listen to them. Don't talk to them about how well you heard from God before, and that is why you don't need to obey the Scriptures immediately, now. A God-sent mentor can drastically level you up in your wisdom and following the ways of God. Empty your cup, be humble, let the Word of God through your mentor prune you further that you may bear much fruit.

John 15:2-3 (NKJV) - Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you



More blog posts coming up, God willing. :)

Wear White? Worldly Wisdom

To the Wear-White People

Let me make it very clear: I am a conservative, evangelical Christian. I hereby challenge you, whom I consider siblings in the faith, to observe and consider your own actions. I put it to you that your actions and reasoning are worldly, carnal and will yield no fruit worthy of the Kingdom of God.

Why wear white to send a message? You want numbers to impress the press, society and LGBT activists. You want to put on a show of power. You are, at the root of it all, playing a political game. Now tell me, where in the Scriptures do you see the people of God trying to get their way by a show of power?

Public display? Let me remind you of where in Scriptures we have public displays, people trying to get their way with the powers that be, through a show of numbers. The first was astroturfing with Pontius Pilate, when the chief priests and elders of the Jews persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. Pilate saw he could not prevail, that a tumult was arising, so he gave in. (Matthew 27:20-24) The second was the public rally at Ephesus, when Demetrius stirred up the silversmiths to protest against Paul and his missionary efforts. It led to city-wide confusion that the civil service had to step in and remind the people to follow set procedures and go through official channels. (Acts 19:26-41)

I think these two examples from Scripture are sufficient to show that such mass movements to rally support and put on a show of power are carnal and worldly. You can say the Wear-White display is nowhere like these two examples. I say it is nothing like the approach and the ways shown us in Scripture either. When the Bible shows us the people of God maneuvering amongst political leaders, they operate behind the scenes. Two examples come to mind

Nehemiah – when he desired to rebuild Jerusalem, he first prayed, and then brought up the matter with King Artaxerxes at the opportune time. When Artaxerxes questioned him further, Nehemiah showed that he had already put in thought and planning (able to give the king a time-frame, Nehemiah 2:6). Nehemiah astutely managed the conversation with the King and persuaded the King to provide resources and building materials for the rebuilding. All this was done in a private conversation, not in a public debate.

More importantly, note that Nehemiah only began to rally public support among the Jews only AFTER he had the political support of the king (Nehemiah 2:17-18). If he did it the same way we are trying to do now, you can imagine what the king would have thought of the matter!

Mordecai – When Haman the Agagite sought to use state machinery to destroy the Jews within the Medo-Persian empire, Mordecai did not try to rally support amongst the Jews, nor did he try to call in political favours he was owed by that time (he had saved the king from an assassination attempt, that must have had some political clout). He called upon Queen Esther to use her influence to save the Jewish race (Esther 4:8).

Even in the New Testament, Paul’s problem with the Ephesian rioters in Acts 19 was NOT handled with public confrontation or getting the believers in the city to put up their own power display. The political leaders contacted him behind the scenes and told him to just stay out of sight. If he had tried to counter the Ephesian rally with a rally of his own, you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out it would all turn out very badly!

Finally, it is foolish to play political games with the LGBT activists. They know what they are doing, we have no clue. Example: one of the movies that was made with the deliberate purpose of eliciting sympathy for the LGBT cause grossed US$157.3 million in ticket sales in USA alone. And most of us Christians here in Singapore had no clue about that movie’s true purpose. Many of us probably watched the movie ourselves and even recommended our church friends to do the same. The figure of US$157.3 million, by the way, was only the first installment in the movie series, some of sequels grossed much, much more.

If we could not even discern this one move from one of their sympathizers, how can we expect to out-maneuver them in worldly wisdom? We cannot. Not only will we fail, we will fail miserably. I have read their playbook, people. And it amazes me how dense some people from the Love Singapore movement can be when I explain to them what the LGBT activists want to achieve and what frustrates them. Jesus told us Christians to be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves. I’ve seen many of us get the two mixed up…

“Then what should we do, JJ? Nothing? Just let them have their way?”

Pray.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (NKJV) - For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds

And I don’t mean pray for Christian politicking to work. I don’t know everything about God, but I believe he has no interest in granting such a carnal, worldly prayer. There are so many prayers recorded for us in the Bible, we should be praying those. Note that the political efforts of Nehemiah and Esther & Mordecai were preceded by prayer. We too ought to pray. We should be praying until we catch the heart of God and receive heavenly wisdom, wisdom that is pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (James 3:17). We should be praying and seeking God until we truly perceive the glory of God.

And after that we are to display the glory of God.

Matthew 5:16 (NKJV) - Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Contrary to what some of the LGBT community would say of us Christians, we aren’t all cruel, uncaring and merciless bigots. But the wear-white movement draws attention to a wear-white message, when God wants the community we are in to see ALL the good that we do.

1 Peter 2:11-12 (NKJV) - Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Do good works. Show kindness. Let them see what God the Father is like.

Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJV) - But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

If we think the LGBT activists hate us and what we stand for, then we have instructions from Jesus to do good to them. And don’t think for a moment we can get-away with a passive-aggressive kind of thing, to buy a coffee or a meal for an activist just to make a condescending point. They won’t be impressed, and neither will God. We have to look into really seeking common ground with them.

For example, when there were gays beaten and even killed in Russia recently, how many of us believers mourned? How many of our churches here spoke up against the beatings and killings? The local LGBT activists could garner at best 200 signatures for their petition to the Russia Embassy. If just a few of our smaller churches started their own petition calling upon the Russian government to stop the hate crimes and violence, would we not easily garner more support than that? Would we not have sent a message to the community at large that God loves the world and we actually do something to show it?

Another example – we all know the activists organize the Pink Dot gathering at Hong Lim Park pretty much every year. Did it ever occur to us that security is a concern for them? If any nutcase goes bonkers there and starts hurting or killing people… *shudder How many of us prayed for the safety of the people, that violence would not erupt there?

My point is this – there will be common ground between us and the LGBT activists. If we are active in doing good in the common ground, that will glorify God. For example, we don’t like to see an effeminate teenage boy get mocked, heckled or bullied in school. We don’t want to see teenagers estranged from their parents because of their sexuality and get chased out of their homes. Because of our resources and connections, we can actually actively help make things better for society even in such areas.

And that is the opportunity we still have at this moment. Whatever message we want to send to the government, press, society and LGBT activists, the MOST important message is: God is real, God loves the world, and we Christians are out to show it.

Don’t tell me I am naïve, unaware of the agenda at hand, uninformed about the persecution that awaits us Christians should those lobbyists have their way. As I said earlier, I have read their playbook, I know what is up and coming. But I also know the Bible, I know how God wants us to live in these times. If we want God’s kind of results we cannot achieve them without doing things God’s way. If we want to know the will of God we have to first make sure we do not conform to the pattern of this world. It all boils down to this: how much do you believe God acts on behalf of those who wait for him (Isaiah 64:4)? I am betting on it, how about you?    

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This was written in response to