The Darkness and the Beauty of Japan

Living in a foreign culture like Japan is really an eye-opening, thought-provoking, and often heart-wrenching experience. It is easy at times to be deluded into thinking that “this isn’t that different from America.” Japan is a modern country. We have all of the technological conveniences that we had in America. Most people drive nice cars in Japan. We have many American based businesses in Japan like McDonald’s, Starbucks, and 7-11.

But, Things are so, so different! For one thing, when you order a medium size drink at McD’s it is a lot smaller than in America. But, more importantly the size of the church and individual churches are smaller. The church in Japan makes up somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of 1%. Less than 1/2 of a percent! The average church in Japan is around 30 members. The growth of the church in Japan is also very slow.

Make no mistake. Japan is indeed a pagan culture. It has deep roots in Shintoism and Buddhism. This is not to be read lightly or dismissed out of hand. It is easy to say, “yes, yes, we know. We’ve heard that countries like Japan and China worship false gods.” That is easy to say when you aren’t looking into the face of someone you have been preaching the gospel to for 2 years, when she says that she went to the Shinto shrine on Sunday to pray for a safe delivery of her new grand-son/grand-daughter. Who or what is she praying to!? I pray that God will open the eyes of the Japanese people to see that there is only one true God who can hear and answer prayer.

The temples and shrines in Japan are really beautiful. But, the longer I live here and the more I think about what they really are, the more I dislike them. The real beauty of Japan is its people.

Me and my dear friend and co-laborer in the gospel, Mr. Dedachi

Gospel Contextualization

It is interesting how each generation of the church wants to re-define what the church is. This is particularly true of the American church since the 1960’s. This comes from the very western notion of individualism as well as from the 60’s ideas of freedom and self expression. While these things taken by themselves are not all bad, the problem comes when the church fails to properly remain true to its heritage, particularly the Scriptures, but also the heritage of the church. Or the other extreme of remaining true to the heritage of the church while failing to engage the culture.

Now, we certainly do not want to hold on needlessly to church traditions that are of purely human origin. Those traditions that have no basis in Scripture need to be examined carefully in light of Scripture to see if they are worth continuing.

But, what is needed is a proper contextualization of the truths of Scripture. What does that mean? It does not mean a compromise of Biblical truth. It is sharing the truths of Scripture in ways that connect with the people in the context that the church finds herself. This isn’t easy! We don’t want to isolate ourselves by becoming too much of a sub-culture. Though, the church will be somewhat isolated simply by the nature of being Christians in a non-Christian world, we are called to engage the culture as salt and light.

We are to love our neighbors, not look down in disdain at them. We ought to know that we are just as undeserving of God’s love as they. The only difference is the love of Christ and the grace of God in our lives. We have done nothing to earn the love that God has lavished on us. This is true not only of our past, before we became Christians, but it is also true of our lives now. Even the righteousness that we think we have attained since becoming Christians is tainted with impure motives and impure actions. Our only righteousness before God is what Christ acheived on our behalf in His life. His perfect righteousness is credited to us by grace alone through faith alone.

It is with this attitude of humilty, knowing that we are Christ’s only by grace, that we can engage the culture in love. This is the kind of contextualization that we need in order to reach the lost while not compromising Biblical truth.

Oyumino Alive, Update 1.21.07

Today (Sunday, January 21, 2007) we held our 3rd worship service at Oyumino Chapel. Oyumino is a town of 36,000 people and growing rapidly. This church plant will be the only church in this booming town! After worship we held a vision meeting to discuss where we are headed as a church plant and how we are going to fulfill our purpose as a congregation of believers.

It is so exciting to be a part of building God’s kingdom in Japan! God is so gracious that He is allowing us to be a part of His work!

The night before we held an outreach event. I built a fire outside (much safer than inside) and we roasted marshmallows, made s’mores, and drank hot cocoa. My kind of outreach!

No longer a slave, Part 1

Galatians 3:26-4:7

Introduction
I think that it is safe to assume that you all know the situation that occasioned Paul’s letter to the Galatians. That the Galatians were being deceived by a group of people who were telling them that they, being gentile converts to Christianity, must follow all of the old covenant Jewish laws to be real Christians. Essentially telling them that they must add to their faith in order to be saved. Paul writes to correct them and reminds them that “the righteous …live by faith” not “by observing the law.” In Chapters 1 and 2 he defends his authority as an apostle and the authenticity of his gospel; and that both were affirmed by the other apostles.

In Chapter 3 Paul begins his formal defense of the gospel. In the passage that we just read, however he is drawing some conclusions based on what he has discussed previously in chapter 3. So, before we get into the passage I would like for us to look at some of his arguments that lead up to these conclusions.

1^st – Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. (v. 6)
2^nd – Those who believe are Abraham’s children. (v. 7-9)

This second point is extremely significant. The men who were pressuring the Galatian believers to be circumcised were probably using Abraham as their chief argument to insist that the Gentiles must be circumcised in order to be included in the covenant blessings given to Abraham and those of his household. Entrance into the household and covenant blessings of Abraham would have to come first through the rite of circumcision. But, Paul is telling us that this is not the case.

3^rd – All who rely on observing the law are under the curse of the law.

(v. 10-12)
4^th – Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. (v. 13-14)

a. to give us the blessing given to Abraham

b. (righteousness and the promise of the Spirit)

c. these blessings come by faith.

5^th – The covenant depends on God’s promise not the law. (v. 15-18)
6^th – The law is not opposed to the promises of God. (v. 21)
7^th – The law was put in charge until Christ came. (v. 23-24)
8^th – Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the

supervision of the law. (v. 25)

 

If I am a son, why do I feel like a slave?

i. We will feel and behave like slaves (under the curse of the law) to the extent that in practice, we judge our Christian lives, primarily, by how well we are performing. (by our ability to keep the law).

Paul tells us that before Christ came, we were under the supervision of the law. He uses a word in verse 24 that tells us what kind of supervision this was. Pedagogue was a word used to describe a trainer of boys. Some versions translate it schoolmaster. But schoolmaster is really quite different. The pedagogue was more a guardian and disciplinarian. The picture he is trying to give us is that of a guardian to restrain and discipline the boys’ behavior. This guardian would go with him wherever he went to keep him out of trouble.

When I was a boy, I got into a lot of mischief. I did not have a guardian watching me when my mother wasn’t looking. When I was about 7 years old my family lived with my grandparents for a year. My grandmother had these beautiful flowers in front of the house. The flowers had a really long stem with purple flower on the top. My friend and I thought it was really fun whacking the tops of these flowers off with a stick. I can still remember my grandfather yelling at me in German. I was terrified because I had no idea what he was saying. But I got the point: don’t decapitate the flowers.

Now, that’s a really mild example compared with some of the other things we did. But, If I had had a guardian with me watching my every move, do you think I would’ve gotten into so much trouble? This is what Paul is telling us the law was like. God’s people were being guarded and restrained by the law until Christ came.

Paul has told us already that now that Christ has come, we receive the covenant promises through faith and not through the law.

When we live our Christian lives thinking God is watching us waiting for us to slip up so that he can whack us with a big stick and yell at us in German, we are living in fear. We are living like the slave under the law.

When we think that God will love us and bless our ministry to the extent that we are able to keep the law, we are behaving no different than the slave still under the curse of the law. We will feel and behave like slaves ( under the curse of the law) to the extent that in practice, we judge our Christian lives by how well we are performing.

No longer a slave, Part 2

ii. We will feel and behave like slaves (under the curse of the law) to the extent that we fail to believe the gospel promises are for us when we struggle with sin.

When we struggle with sin, and we all do, and we fail to remember the gospel promises are for us then we begin to think that we are under the condemnation of the law. When I say struggle with sin, I mean struggling with it not living in it. And when I say believing the gospel promises, I include in that belief, turning in real repentance back to the Cross and recognizing that Christ has paid the debt for that sin.

This is where I have the most difficulty with feeling like I am still a slave under the curse of the law. Sometimes I really get into the rut of thinking that I am on probation again. I don’t mean that I have ever been arrested. But I mean probation in the theological sense. What I mean is that Adam was on probation (or under a time of testing in the garden). After the fall, Man is in a state of reprobation (or rejection). But in Christ, we are in a state of approbation (or a state of acceptance). Some think that after we become Christians, we go back to a state of probation like Adam in the garden. And every time we sin we go back to a state of reprobation till we repent and rededicate our lives to Christ again. And in this theology you had better hope you don’t die with unconfessed sin.

 

 

But, in Christ we are accepted by virtue of His perfect righteousness. We don’t go back to a state of probation.

 

When we, in practice, begin to think that we are back on probation with God, we live a defeated life. We are again living in fear. When we sin, God is just an angry judge and not a loving father. And it is in this state that we behave like the slave under the curse of the law and fall more easily into more sin. Because Paul tells us in Romans 7 that through the law comes the knowledge of sin. And when we try to live under the law, sin seizes the opportunity and brings forth death.

For example, we set out to live by a set of good Christian disciplines in order to be good spiritual Christians. And the first time we fail to get up to that 4:30 alarm. Or we fail to keep up with our prescribed daily Bible reading. We begin to kick ourselves for not doing better. We say “I’ll just try harder.” And we become discouraged and think that God doesn’t love us much, or He won’t bless our ministry because we’re failures. Now, this example really belongs with judging your Christian life by performance. But, what about when we sin? We do the same thing. We kick ourselves because we’re failures. We think that a real Christian would have been stronger. So, what do we do? We try to be stronger, we try harder. It’s like falling into a deep hole and trying to dig your self out. But, you can’t dig yourself out of this hole. Actually, I’ve always thought that digging yourself out of a hole was a strange expression. What is the usual product of digging? :a deeper hole, right? So, if you’re in a hole and you begin digging, what are you going to get? :deeper. That is exactly what happens when we try to dig ourselves out of sin.

The only solution is Christ.

It is only through trusting in what Christ Jesus accomplished for us that we will live a life of holiness. Christ in His passive obedience, His sacrificial death on the cross, paid the debt of our sin, and in His active obedience, of living a perfectly righteous life, He secured perfect righteousness for us. So, it is only through faith in Christ that we can live righteous lives. By this I mean two things 1) That we are righteous in Christ’s imputed righteousness. And 2) that as we are gripped by the knowledge that God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to accomplish for us what we could not do for ourselves, then our personal righteousness will flow out of a heart of thankfulness and love for Christ. The second is built on the first. That we are righteous by virtue of Christ’s imputed righteousness. And then as we are gripped by the knowledge that God loves us so much that He sent His Son to redeem us without any view to our merit, then our personal righteousness will flow out of a heart of thankfulness and love for Christ. This is why we obey his commands: because we love Him. Not out of fear of reprisal or rejection (See Romans 8:14-15). When we sin there may certainly be consequences. But, if we are His children, we are not rejected, we are dearly loved children. And as such, our heavenly Father will discipline us as needed. But, never confuse the two.

No longer a slave, Part 3

II.The “actual results of this passing from the reign of law into grace through faith in Jesus Christ”

 

i. all who believe become “sons/daughters of God

 

ii. all who believe become equal with all of the other saints. They are not lower than any other Christian. There are no second class Christians.

 

iii. all who believe become heirs according to the promise

 

Adoption

 

We have already looked at Paul’s description of the law as guardian. Now, he continues here to contrast our old lives before Christ and our new lives now in Christ.

 

We are no longer under the guardian of the law. Christ has redeemed us so that we might receive the full rights of sons. If you are in Christ; if you have been justified by the free grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus, then you are a son/daughter of God. Has God sent His Spirit into your heart, that cries out “Abba, Father?” How great a love is this, that He has redeemed us from the curse of the law, and adopted us as sons and daughters? “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”

 

God is the king of the universe. And he has adopted you as his son or daughter. As a slave you had no rights and no property. You had no choices in how you lived your life. You could really do nothing to change your situation. But, now the king has adopted you and made you a co-heir with the great prince. You are now part of the King’s family. You have the privilege of fellowship with the rest of the family. You are now an equal with the princes and princesses of the kingdom. And now instead of a life of despair as a slave with no hope of ever being anything other than a slave (And that is what living under the law is like: no hope of being able to fulfill all of it any more than the slave thinking that he could become a prince of the kingdom by his own effort.) Now you are an heir of the Kingdom, because the King, for the good pleasure of His will, has adopted you and lavished all the blessings of the Kingdom on you. What great joy we have in our great and glorious King! He has shown us such love!