(Hebrews 3:7-15)

The question of exhorting one another should be commonly practiced everywhere we are in this world as Christians. Merriam-Webster defines: Exhortation is defined as the act or process of making a strong urging or appeal. An example of an exhortation is an emotional speech that inspires people to act.

So its strong. Urging someone. Appealing to someone. Emotional speech to inspire. That’s “exhort”. 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

The Reason of Exhortation

Because of the fear of falling away due to unbelieving hearts. Now it says “Take care, brothers…..less you fall..” (v12). This refers to believers, as brothers. So there is a possibility for believers born again Christians to fall away because of an evil unbelieving heart developed, obviously from believing heart in the first place. I guess this is backsliding to the scale of de-conversion like well written by Dr Michael Krueger on de-conversion. This should make us to be even more all out to exhort one another, because there is such a thing of de-conversion, the antithesis or opposite of conversion. It’s very sad, and there are few big names in America who have sided into that.

I know Westminster confession says, just like Calvin has said:

The Westminster Confession of Faith (19.1) states, “They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.”

This is called the Doctrine of perseverance of the Saints. “The doctrine described says that the elect are not only redeemed by Christ and renewed by the Spirit, but that they are kept in faith by the almighty power of God.”[1] That’s a very important phrase right there, “kept in faith” by the almighty power of God. We are not only saved redeemed by Christ and renewed by the Spirit, but KEPT in faith by God’s power. That means there is always a tug of war trying to pull us away from God by the forces in this world and the forces of devil.

Curtis Thomas puts it well, “This doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not maintain that all who profess the Christian faith are certain of heaven. It is saints, those who are set apart by the Spirit, who persevere to the end. It is believers, those who are given true, living faith in Christ, who are secure and safe in Him. Many who profess to believe fall away, but they do not fall from grace, for they were never in grace. True believers do fall into temptation, and they do commit sins, but these sins do not cause them to lose their salvation nor do they separate them from Christ.”[2]

The question is many who profess faith in Jesus also fall away, why? Because they were never in grace, therefore they can’t fall away from grace. But they so called profess their faith.

Where are the NT promises for that?

When we come to the New Testament (the new covenant) we find one promise after another that God will preserve His people. Jesus says, “it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matt. 18:14). In John chapter 6, Jesus promises, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. … And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day” (John 6:37–39). Speaking of the Good Shepherd and the sheep, Jesus very clearly teaches the doctrine of the security of the believer: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27–30).[3]

Jesus said it “I shall lose nothing of all..”(v14).The “no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand”. So those who fallen away, are those who were never in the grace.

Dr. Curt Daniel has done valuable work in explaining and setting these verses in their proper context in The History and Theology of Calvinism, Dallas: Scholarly Reprints, pp. 420–425. I conclude with his words: “The Reformed doctrine of perseverance is that a regenerate soul will certainly persevere through the trials of life and continue to believe and repent. He will slip and fall, develop bad habits, wrestle with doubts, but through it all he will keep on going even as he began. … all believers slip and fall into sin. But the truth of the matter is that no believer stays down. Just as God gave him faith and repentance unto initial conversion, so He supplies him with faith and repentance all along the way to heaven” (p. 415 ).[4]

But the most important thing is “Do not harden your hearts…” for 40 years Israel tested God and saw the miracles of God for 40 years and yet there were a number of them who rebelled against God, fallen totally away. Imagine that? After seeing some of the phenomenal miracles that will pale anything we have seen today? So if they could fall away even after seeing greatest miracles one earth, watch out in your own lives. Don’t take things for granted. There must a continual fear of God, deep reverence of God and a sense of piety and love for him.

Hebrews 3:7-9 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.

Feeling God’s Anger & Frustration

10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’11 As I swore in my wrath,‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

Sometimes people forget that God has emotions too. He gets angry, and his holy anger rises and shown many times especially in the OT. He has deep passion for his people Israel in the OT, and in the NT and now, he has deep feelings for his church, who was purchased by his own blood. We are his. He is our God. Amen.

Conclusion

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

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[1] Curtis Thomas , Safe and Secure,  https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/safe-and-secure/

[2]Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

Hebrews 2:10-12 (ESV) 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

It’s just so beautiful to see that Jesus is bringing many sons to glory. That’s to say that to enter the heaven of eternal bliss, He will bring many sons to glory, not just into heaven. So what’s glory? Romans 8:30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Paul spells it out here clear with those God called, justified, and finally he gloried them. Why would God glorify those saved? Justified I can understand, but glorify? But when I read “bringing many sons to glory”, I can understand better. When one is justified, it means he is cleansed, he is already glorified. Jesus is glorified, he is returned to heaven to his old glory that he had before the foundation of the world. Glory is part of God’s characteristics, no one can see the Lord without holiness, for example. But when someone is purified by the blood of Jesus, we are qualified to enter to see him in his return, and we shall also be glorified. People who are not glorified, cannot see the Lord, because he is so full of glory, blazing fire (Revelations).

But what touches me most is the phrase “bringing many sons to glory”. It’s like he’s hold our hands bringing us into glory. What a beautiful picture of our shepherd, savior, bringing many of us entering into glory. He didn’t just send a thousand angels and have us line up and huge lines (can you imagine billions of us?) and even take a number? No, but he brings us in himself. Once we are in, we are glorified.

The next one is he sanctified us, or purifies us. There can be no sin in heaven. Now v11 says he is not ashamed to call them brothers! Wow, this is really endearing. He is not ashamed of us in front of angels and the Father in heaven. He’s saying “Hey, these are my brothers.” Remember he’s brought us from our background utter darkness, brokenness, godless, rebellious, sinful full of self, and now into the presence of the holiness in heaven, he validates us, he affirms us, he says “they are mine, they are my brothers & sisters.” Oh, how beautiful and moving. Intimate, more than friends, but brothers. This is immediately entering into familyhood, and we are also adopted in God’s family through Jesus, and we call him Abba Father! Amen! All because of the Lord Jesus. The amazing awesome Savior, our spokesman, our mediator, our advocate. He represents us in front of the Father.

Not only that, v12 “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

He will tell of our names to his brothers on the midst of congregation, he will praise us. It is amazing how warm and endearing Jesus is. He is no aloof dude, king, who wants to control us only.

Conclusion is who wouldn’t want to join the family of Jesus? Who wouldn’t want to leave this world and join him for eternity?

I hope this will encourage you to see the intimacy of Christ with us, and how personal he is with us? He calls us brothers (or sisters) in front of angels and his Father. He will say “Welcome to my family” when we eventually get there! Hallelujah!

Let me just say that self-denial and asceticism is not part of our delights in life. But Jesus commanded it.  

Matt 16 ²⁴  Jesus says “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”.

Taking up the cross, means crucification. Crucify our flesh to the Lord. If you ask someone to do that, he will probably rebel. Let me say briefly that self-denial and taking upon the cross, actually debunk us from the tight reign of this material world upon us, upon our lives, desire, imagination. To be really genuine Christian, there must be a sense of heavenliness in our lives, and we can’t just talk like someone who’s so earthly material bounded, i.e. earthly pleasures etc.

Let me define: Asceticism: the practice of strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline : the condition, practice, or mode of life of an ascetic : rigorous abstention from self-indulgence

Abstention from self-indulgence. The kind of conversation we have as Christians have to reflect that heavenliness. Not so self-indulgence on earthly pleasures only.

Colossians  3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

Col 3 days set your mind on things above…..because you have been raised with Christ. Seek the things that are above. What’s all this? This is all heavenly desiring language. The only way we can be such heavenly minded, is based on what Calvin writes as below:

First, it’s by means of greater eschatological desire. What’s eschatological? a belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind specifically : any of various Christian doctrines concerning the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, or the Last Judgment

Eschatology is about the second coming of Christ.  It’s about the end of the world, about the ultimate destiny of humankind.

John Calvin writes: Motivation to self-denial and any ascetic discipline must always by means of greater eschatological desire, for “the only way to make right progress in the Gospel is to be attracted by the sweet fragrance of Christ so that we desire him enough to bid the enticements of the world farewell.” [1]

So what’s eschatological desire? It’s the desire that comes with the second coming of Christ, at the end of the world, when Jesus will take all his elect into his eternal bliss (joy) with him in the heavenly kingdom for all eternity. All eternity, its more than a million years! (Just to get perspective) while our lives in this world is only up to like 100 years only. That will completely transform our worldview in life. When you realize that there is a trillion years and more coming, and if you really believe that, you will drop everything to seriously examine that! So that’s what Jesus says in a parable, a man who fund riches treasures under a field, went and sold everything he has, and bought that field. That’s it!

So contrast that with the worldly pleasures, traveling to see nations, cities, eating good food, traveling and sight-seeing, all these are mundane worldly pleasures. It’s fleeting. We can have some of them sometimes, or not at all. We must not be bound by them.

But how do we get out? By the end of the world (eschatology) desires of that bliss coming by Jesus. That’s what turn our eyes from the earthly to the heavenly. In fact he says with that we can say farewell to worldly enticements farewell.

We are organic beings. We must have something to look forward to , for us to make the sacrifice of self-denial, and ascetic. We can’t be told to do it, because we don’t like to. But if we see the joy ahead of us, that eschatological desire and hope, we are then willing to do it. Just like Jesus endured the cross for the sake of the joy set ahead of him. Heb 2: ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let me end with this:

Psalm 37 ³ Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
⁴ Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.⁵ Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday.

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[1] John Calvin, The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.  (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1964)

I am most amazed with what John Calvin wrote about non-Christians who lead virtuous life, kind compassionate, generous, and helping the poor and needy, but not accepting Christ as personal Savior and Lord. He said their accomplishments in the world is considered as garbage in the sight of God because their good deeds were done without a worship unto the Lord who created them on the first place. All this boils down to ‘worship’. Truly without worship, awe and acknowledgement of the Almighty God who birthed you into the world, all the good deeds and virtues in the world will get you nowhere because you have not acknowledged and honored the God who has given you everything including your ability to do good deeds to others.

I am so blessed to better understand why good non-Christians won’t go to heaven. I am struck with that important, in fact, the most important facet of life, is about worship of the living God, not about how good a person you are. In all honesty and truth, it’s not about you, it’s about God. Nothing of the fragile weak fallen broken human and would get you anywhere in the holiness and sight of the transcendent God.

So doing good deeds just as a nice person, law abiding person, good heart on its own, though appealing, is not what will make the difference. What matters is doing good deeds, kind and law abiding as a worship unto the Lord. That’s the difference. You have to first put your faith in Christ as your Savior and Lord and then any good works will be as a result of that as a living sacrifice unto the Lord. Romans 1 explains the emptiness of people who refuse to honor the creator God, no matter how good they are as a person.

Romans 1:20-23 (ESV) 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

We all know that Christians fail God and even society as well. And the fact is it’s even more complicated by the fact that just because a person goes to church, it does not make him to be a real born-again Christian. The doctrine of teaching on ecclesiology is that only the elect will be saved into the Kingdom of God. And the odd thing is not everyone in the church are part of the elect. Theology calls it the visible church and the non-visible church. Non visible church consist of the elect.  Who are the elect?[1]

The invisible church consists of only the elect. The visible church consists of elect + non elect, and you will never really know until the end time. And that’s why, you would so much hypocrisy and some even apostacy in the churches today, because not all of them really belong to Christ.

The main point carrying forward is: Worship.

Good deeds ————(not equal) —-Worship

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[1] John Calvin, Of the Eternal Election, Institutes of the Christian Religion Unconditional election (also known as unconditional grace) is a Reformed doctrine relating to predestination that describes the actions and motives of God prior to his creation of the world, when he predestined some people to receive salvation, the elect, and the rest he left to continue in their sins and receive the just punishment, eternal damnation, for their transgressions of God’s law as outlined in the old and new Testaments of the Bible. God made these choices according to his own purposes apart from any conditions or qualities related to those persons.

I was stunned that David, while fleeing from his enemies, and being hunted by the power against him, and in the midst of crying out to God for help, he inserted an anchor verse that explained his meta-thinking of his life philosophy. I can see why the Lord loves David, favors him. Look at v2-3

Psalms 27: 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

Evil doers assailed him to eat up his flesh, what a gross graphic of description in David’s words, and its canonized in the Psalms! (Talking about politically correct?)

Then he said that its they (his adversaries) who stumble and fall. I am not sure if this is spoken or written before or after the fact, if before, that shows his confidence in the Lord, or after, his celebration and thanksgiving.

Then v3-gives the theoretical upcoming threats and forces against him. Look at that:

3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

Where does his confidence come from? It’s a relationship he has with God that’s amazing. He knows his God. He pours out his heart to God. Like Augustine poured out his heart in The Confession book, I say that we need to bare our souls with the Lord every now and then. Read psalms and you will find how David gets it done, and beautifully.

Now, it comes to my key point of this blog. He actually not just asks the Lord to deliver him from his troubles, enemies who wanted to kill him, but above all, he says there is “One thing” that he has asked of the Lord, that he will seek after, that he may well in the house of the Lord all the days of his life.

4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

The house of the Lord is obviously the temple in his days or church gathering today, but he also above all, means the presence of God. He means he wants above all, to dwell in the presence of God, or in more contemporary words, to live in the presence of God.

That’s what I love about David. He is not asking for power, wealth, beautiful women, which he has them all, but above all he asked for the presence of God in his life. Not just in troubles.

What really intrigues me is that fact that, in the midst of all his struggles and faith in the Lord for protecting him and delivering from evil forces, he wants God’s presence. In other words, he loves the Lord and taking a cue from Tim Keller, he doesn’t just wants God’s blessings, but above all he wants the Lord.

That’s what makes David such a man after God’s heart, and how much God was with him in all he does.

The result is always amazing:

5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;

As I prayed this morning, I got a sense of this. There is a difference between what you want to do for God and what God’s will for you to do. The problem is I put in what I want to do for God, maybe it’s self ambition , what I want to do, and what makes it spiritual is the words ‘for God’. But if you think about it, God may not want what you desire to do that even though you use it for God. Because that’s only a label, and anyone can do that. But it’s more important for me to humble myself and submit myself to God to do what God wants.

That brings up another problem, so we don’t know what God wants even though I could be dreaming of doing something great for God. How about I start doing nothing, does that please God? Because that will ensure I don’t drift off to my wonderland, trying to fill in what I want to do and asking God to fulfil it. But that doesn’t work either, because being dormant is bad too.

So this is a dilemma. I need to know God’s will first before exploring it? But most of the time we don’t know. All we can do is to pray and have a sense of God’s leading, and then put our heart into it and God will adjust it, or bless it, or reject it, and we will know for sure after a while. If it’s a status quo, we are moving into a mode of waiting, a time of maturing. Like Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness, can someone tell me exactly what he did? Did he continue to dream big for God? He was consumed with a passion to save his people, the Jewish people. Bravo to him, and he was humbled for 40 years in the wilderness looking after sheep in the cold or hot in the wilderness, a pretty lonely job, and also a non glamor job. But God came back to him and this time, it really happened, God called him out of a burning bush to deliver his people Israel out of Egypt. He was frightened, and insisted he can’t do it, he is slow of speech. What the heck? Where is the Moses who was brash, strong, young, even impulsively not able to wait to deliver Israel from the slavery to Pharaoh? He is a completely different man now, after 40 years in waiting. God will deliver in his time, in his way, and what I see here is God completely took out the pride, glamor of the Prince of Egypt and transplanted him to be a humble Jewish shepherd to do the job. Interesting thing is, it’s still the same man. Nothing has changed outside, but the inside of that man has changed drastically. God didn’t give up on Moses. I am not sure what went on on Moses.  But the fact that God came back and called Moses after that 40 years, is astonishing. If you look at the history, God called Abraham out of nowhere. God called David out of nowhere. ELijah, Elisha, Joshua, it goes on. You can only say it’s the sovereign will of God. He calls and equips at his will, and his only.

Conclusion: Our satisfaction in life is to do his calling, and we will know as we are in it. Do not fret, be patient, and follow him and love him with all our hearts, minds, souls. Amen.

I think Pentecostal roots have gone too far misusing the term of binding the power of sickness, darkness and so on.

Recently I saw a tweet a below: Do not pray: “We bind this sickness in Jesus’s name!” Instead, pray: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!”—Gabriel Hughes

What does Binding & Loosing Mean in the Bible?

1. Keys of binding & loosing given to Peter

Matthew 16:18-19 (ESV) 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

This is what Jesus spoke to Peter after Peter confessed that Jesus is Son of God & the Savior of the world. Then Jesus rewarded him and anointed him with the ‘keys of heaven. So what’s the keys of heaven?

In the context of these verses, and as per commentary: (WBC62Vol) 19 Peter, as the leader of the twelve, is the “rock” upon which the new community will be built. With this commissioning of Peter comes the authority symbolized by his possession of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” For “kingdom of heaven,” see Comment on 3:2. “Keys” are above all a symbol of authority and, hence, a symbol of power over something. In the context of our passage.

Jesus gave Peter the keys of heaven. What are keys for? To open or to lock up. Jesus us referring to his new kingdom that Jesus has given to ‘you’ which is plural in Greek, meaning Peter and those who confess Jesus like Peter, will be given keys of heaven. What that means simply is that we have to power, or rather delegated power from God, to open door or close door for people to be admitted into the kingdom. Jesus said specifically I will give you keys of the kingdom of heaven. It’s the keys of the kingdom. That means folks like Peter hold that key now. That’s what Jesus means about bonding & loosing.

Peter’s possession of the keys of the kingdom grants him the right to admit or deny admittance into the kingdom, i.e., into the experience of the beginning blessings of eschatological salvation, as the following words confirm. This authority is expressed through the distinctive rabbinic idiom of “binding and loosing” (WBC)

2) Binding & Loosing in the context of ex-communicating unrepentant church members

Matthew 18:17-18 (ESV) 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

This is clearly binding & loosing folks to be part of the membership of the body. Binding & losing in Matt 18:18 must be explained in the context of v17 which is a guy who refused to listen to correctio in church by the leader, and eventually to the church, he will be released from church membership. That’s what Jesus really says. In a sense you bind the guy, he’s out of the communion of the church or body of the church. But if he’s loosed, he’s back right in. That’s what it means,

3) Binding the Strong Man as in Cosmic Warfare

Mark 3 ²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ²³ And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

This is an interesting passage on binding the strong man. This is definitely a spiritual warfare with the cosmic battle with the devil & his cohorts. In this particular case, we have the Son of God himself casting out demons, and it’s the scribes accusing Jesus as the prince of Beelzebul, which is also demonic, to cast out demons.

(WBC62Vol) Few would question the applicability of this parable to Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom. Many would trace it back to Jesus himself. Clearly the “strong man” (ἰσχυρός) stands for Satan; his “possessions” (σκεύη) represents those possessed; the “binding” (δήσῃ) of the “strong man” takes place in Jesus’ ministry; and the “plundering” (διαρπάσει) bespeaks Jesus’ own exorcisms of those “possessed.”

So its clear what transpired here is definitely a kingdom clash between God’s & the power of darkness. SO how was the strong man, who is referred as Satan himself, bound? Jesus has bound the strong man.

So when was the strong man bound? (WBC62Vol) Best also has taken 3:22-30 in light of the temptation scene but argues that the defeat of Satan in the temptation (1:12-13) represents the “when.” The exorcisms are but the plundering or “making real of a victory already accomplished” at the “very beginning of the ministry of Jesus” (Temptation, 15).

Remember Luke 10 ¹⁷ The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸ And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. That’s another mark of clear defeat of Satan.

So some commentaries expounded that the plundering of the devil’s house really begun at the defeat of Satan in the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. I would agree that would mark the beginning of that ‘binding’ of the strong man. But that’s a continuing process with ultimate defeat of Satan & the power of death on the cross at Jesus resurrection from the death.

Conclusion:

How to bind the strong man?

Consequently, this saying makes clear the ultimate or eschatological character of Jesus’ ministry of exorcism that has accompanied his preaching and teaching (1:21-27, 34; 3:11-12) as being a consequence of Satan’s being “bound” or having “met his end.”

I don’t see how Jesus has asked us to pray binding & loosing in prayers. There is no such indication all the 3 set of verses.

I would support the continual ministry of preaching, teaching of the Holy Scriptures that brings healing, restoration of souls in church ministry. In such way, we continue to bind the strong man & loose souls to the kingdom of God.

Albert Ngu

You should never go to God because he’s useful. Go because he’s beautiful. And yet there’s nothing more useful than finding God beautiful. —Tim Keller

I have found this confusing and in fact struggled to find God beautiful? How? First, I can’t see God, second, Jesus was marred beyond recognition and he was not beautiful per se. The notion of beautiful is always tied to the physical look. That’s how we understand it. Of course, we can say, what he has done is beautiful, in that context everyone understands.

I would phrase that very famous teaching of Tim Keller this way:

You should never go to God because he’s useful. Go because he’s beautiful in character. And yet there’s nothing more useful than finding God beautiful in character. — (Revised by me)

This way, every body understands gets it. I bet even Christians and pastors will struggle at the face value of this quote. God is not beautiful in his look. He is majestic, glorious, but no one can see his beauty in physical form, but we all know God is beautiful in his grace, patience, mercy, compassion, righteousness, insight, wisdom, power, suffering and so forth. That will make it so much clearer.

Why do I write this? Because this is a major theology that many and countless Christians fall into of seeking as useful and not beautiful as a person in character in his being. Keller is right, too many of us seek God to find him useful, and that’s not acceptable, in fact, God will be upset and grieved with that!

Some preachers have out it this way: God’s not your vending machine. Lol. Of course not! But don’t we call upon God to find a parking spot in our prayer? So I don’t think it’s merely asking petty prayer requests that make us like seeking because he is useful. I would say whats most important is a pious heart towards God, and no matter how you ask God, he knows you reverence him and love him, they will all be acceptable. God is very relational. Exodus 6: 7 ⁷ I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. He wants us to have a sense of belonging. Not a usefulness. He wants us to have a fierce loyalty and love, not making him a gateway to heaven.

I would use the word, we seek God because He is our help. Now that hits home. Psalms is full of the Lord is my help. From where does my help come from?

Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalm is full of verses like this. God wants to be our help. He is the Almighty God who created us and loved, and I would argue that to show that He is our God, our Father, He will have to express that love and concern. And of course he will want to help us his children. Tell me, which father would not help his children when they cry for help? So to philosophize somehow God is just beautiful and neglecting the fact that He is our help, will not be helpful in our journey with God. There is a big difference between “useful” and “help”. It sounds likes this: “He’s been a great help”, and “He’s useful”. Useful has a connotation of using someone, even manipulating someone.

So I would use say come to God not because he is useful but come to God because He is our help. Because He is beautiful in his being, and loving, just, righteous, compassion, and graceful. I love him.

Psalm 96: Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

Psalm 145

The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love.

⁹ The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.

Amen.

We want to see flourishing of all God’s people in our church. That’s really important, because that is the will of God for us to flourish. I love the term “flourishing” because it is holistic. It resembles “prosperous”. We have plenty of scriptures on these. Jeremiah 29: ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” This is a common theology especially by Tim Keller on living for the city, loving the city that God puts you in. Remember God doesn’t prosper you and stops there, but for showing his glory and touching lives. And then we have this famous verse that everyone loves to quote: ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Sure, this is our God. He loves to prosper us but he wants us to be in his plan of loving the city. Reading the City of God by Augustine (difficult read) will open your mind to a thousand concepts of the city of God that you never had before. Chinese people love the word prosper, as we often say A Happy prosperous Chinese New Year. Why? Because it denotes finance, money. But God’s prosperous is multi-dimensional, goes far beyond money, but to the joy of our souls, and the well being of the community, the city.

First of all we need to define flourishing. My concept is it has to be God centered and not you centered. Actually, when you are God centered in your life, giving glory to him, and honoring and loving him first and foremost, we find we flourish in the midst of it. As Jesus says “I am the vine, you are the branches, abide in me and you will bear fruit”.  Without Christ, we will wither. John 15: ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

Now a really important statement is this” God is good”. This is fundamental to all human endeavors and human flourishing. That’s why it has to be God centered. Psalm 118: ¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Psalm 118:

¹⁵ Shouts of joy and victory
    resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
¹⁶     The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
    the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”

Recognizing and remember that God is good is absolutely vital in our existential living, because that has to fill our hearts and souls. It’s the goodness of the Lord that sustains us, protects us, guides us, as we cry unto the Lord when we are in need, and book of psalm is full of that. Today, countless Christians can testify to the goodness of God in their physical healings, emotional healings restoration, financial deliverance and so forth. The danger is that we must not turn God into a vending machine, as in the prosperity doctrine. We must love the Lord with all our hearts and minds, and that becomes easy when we remember his goodness, faithfulness, and steadfast love. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

If you meditate on this statement, it brings smile to your face no matter how you feel at the moment. It’s actually very therapeutic. Why is that so? Because scripture says all good things come from the Father in heaven. The world may give you some good shots, but none of that is going to stay. They will evaporate real soon. But God’s goodness is eternal. Which one do you want?

Heb 1 (ESV) “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”

There are many hurting people in the world, and they need help. They need healing, emotionally, physically, spiritually as God does want us to flourish. We are not saying we will all be happy all the time, as there will be time for sorrows, repentance, mourning as well as rejoicing, exultation, and shouts of joy. But there has to be an internalization of scriptures in our hearts souls so as we can live out our theology, and the truths in scriptures. This will mean overcoming sins, persecutions, temptations and embracing community love and forgiveness. And also helping out folks facing problems in their lives in this broken world, by deeds and scriptural renewal of lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.

What better environment we can offer to attract folks to join our church? Like in Acts 2 new ones are being added daily to the earliest church in Acts 2 because the presence of God is real, people love and are committed to the Lord and one another. ⁴⁶ And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

When all these are happening we will see fruit, as we abide in our vine, our Lord Jesus. We look forward to building a flourishing God centered church.