Koinonia Kafe – Blog

We see images of the cross everywhere especially in this time of year leading up to Easter. But do we know what it means? Do we understand what it signifies? Do we even care to know anymore? We see the image on the stain-glass windows of old, run-down church buildings, and like the old building themselves we see the cross as irrelevant, out-dated, out of touch and completely meaningless; belonging to a time long ago that preceded the post-modern, post-Christian, post everything era that we live in today. In many places the cross has been reduced to flashy jewelry, a decorative trinket worn around the neck, an image sown on a piece of fabric or a religious symbol romanticized by sentimental art fanciers. These are just a few of the many examples we find in our culture about how the cross is perceived. BUT, what if the cross had absolutely nothing to do with any of this? What if we were to understand the deeper significance of what the cross truly represented. 2000 years ago, when crucifixion was practiced as the form of public execution, the cross held a much more dreaded meaning. The very sight of it would have made your skin crawl. The cross was a symbol of suffering, humiliation and death. It was on this cruel, unforgiving, wooden object, that Jesus, the divine Son of God, through whom all of creation came into being, suffered, bled profusely and breathed his last. On the day we uphold as Good Friday, God-Incarnate died. But the thing that is even more compelling than His death was the very manner in which He died. I’m speaking of crucifixion. Being made aware of what was involved in crucifixion, and why Jesus died this way, will hopefully change the way you see the cross.

What is crucifixion?

The gospel writers gave limited details about it mainly because they themselves witnessed the ordeal (except for Luke and Mark), but we in the 21st century have never seen a crucifixion take place. So what is it? Crucifixion is the most cruel, humiliating and painful means of public execution ever devised. So much so, that a new word was invented to describe it, excruciating, and this same word interestingly enough was derived from the word crucifixion. The word excruciating literally means “from the cross” and conveys pain that is agonizing, sharp, unbearable and severe.

The earliest form of crucifixion was practiced around the 9th century BC, where a wooden stake ran through a person’s mid-section and the poor soul is left there to linger and die slowly over a course of many days from impalement. In the 6th century, Darius 1, the Mede crucified 3000 Babylonians. Over 2 centuries later Alexander the Great in 332 BC changed the method from impalement to crucifixion that resembled more what the Romans did afterwards.

But it was Romans who perfected this practice as the most painful execution reserved for the most despised people: slaves, the poor and Roman citizens charged with high treason. Roman soldiers often competed with each other in making this ordeal longer and more painful. It was a prolonged and agonizing death of asphyxiation.

The Painful Ordeal

Those who would be crucified were forced to carry a heavy cross bar (about 100 pounds) that would be attached to the vertical post. People hung on the cross from anywhere between several hours to 9 days. They would pass in and out of consciousness; their lungs struggle to breath while labouring under the weight of their body. In order to end the torment, those being crucified would slump over to empty their lungs of air and quicken their death. Some suggests that seats were placed under the buttocks, preventing the crucified to slump and therefore extending the painful ordeal. It was never done in privacy, but in public view. Those crucified would often be at eye level so that a passerby can look at them face to face, curse them and spit on them. They weren’t even given a decent burial. Their bodies were at the mercy of vultures and ravens unless family members came for the bodies.

See how crucifixion was regarded by the culture of the time:

• 1st century Jewish Historian, Flavius Josephus, called crucifixion, “the most wretched of deaths”.

• Roman philosopher, Cicero asked his fellow Roman citizens never even to utter the word, “crucifixion” in the hearing of decent people.

• As far as Jews were concerned, according to Deut 21:22-23, anyone who was hung from a tree was cursed by God.

Jesus went through all of this on top of the traumatic abuse his body withstood from the scourging. By this point, despite being young and in good health, Jesus, was physically a wreck. Being forced to carry a cross bar of 100+ pounds, His body succumbed to the stress of sleepless nights, miles of walking, and would writhe in agony from the scourging by brutal soldiers. When He fell to the ground, you can imagine the cross bar crushing His chest (which some medical practitioners say is the equivalent of having your chest rammed up against the steering wheel in a high impact car accident), and perhaps driving the crown of thorns further into His scalp.

Upon arriving at the place of the crucifixion, they pulled out his beard (Isa. 50:6) and spat on Him, an ultimate act of disrespect in ancient cultures. They drove in 7 inch nails into the most sensitive nerve points on the human body, his hands (more accurately His wrists) and feet. Jesus’ body likely twitched involuntarily in sheer agony. Isaiah, a Jewish prophet who lived 700 years before Jesus was born, wrote about Him as the suffering servant in Isaiah 53:3-6.

3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[a] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!

5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.

6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.

Why such a heinous way to die?

Because the offence that was committed by humanity against God was that heinous. Verse 6 captured it nicely. This grave offence is humanity’s utter rejection of God’s love, His law and His ways. From the time our 1st parents, Adam & Eve committed that rebillious act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden, humankind has made it clear that he preferred to walk his own path than the one God created for him. It was, and has been since, our way of saying to God, “No thank you! But my way is better!” This offence came like a slap in the face to God. The gravity of this offence did not even lay in the act itself. The very thing that made this sin severe was that it was committed against the holy God Himself. By sinning against God they belittled Him; reducing the omnipotent Creator to their level while at the same time assuming His place as lords of their lives. They exchanged truth for a lie, fulfillment for emptiness…. life for death. As a result, sin came into the world. But sin has its consequences.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Sin is that terrible…..it is that offensive…..it is that ugly…..it is that deadly.

The excruciating ordeal that Jesus went through for you and me speaks volumes about the magnitude of His love for us. He carried our weaknesses, moral failures and the sins of all of humanity past, present and future so we can be empowered by His strength, clothed with His right-ness, rescued by His grace….get the drift? It’s about what He already did for us (not what we can do) to make salvation available to all who believe.

The sinful offence was intensely personal to God. So God chose to resolve this personal problem in a personal way. The Son of God never sent Michael, Gabriel or any of the other angelic chief princes, or a seraph or a cherub to undertake this work. He came Himself. I find it intriguing that God timed His arrival in human history so perfectly. Aside from coming at a time when it was more conducive for the gospel to spread through neighbouring countries and the rest of the known world (thanks to the road system the Romans built), He came when the public form of human execution reached its most ghastly, appalling, gruesome peak which unwittingly unveiled the sheer blackness of the human heart. Crucifixion has no equal in the way victims were tortured, humiliated and are forced to die a slow, agonizing death. But this is the death our Lord chose to die, and He did it for all of us….for you and me. It’s no wonder that the cross became the symbol of Christ’s love. Early Christians made the sign of the cross over themselves to remind them of the brutal way Christ died. They took an image that once was a picture of disdain, terror and death, and transformed it into a symbol of salvation, hope and life. This is what the cross signifies. Therefore, let us not reduce it from what it was meant to be.

It’s 2012! A new season has come! But with the start of a new year comes the memories of last year, both good and bad. Some of you may have reminisced about the successes you enjoyed over the course of 2011, whether it be acquiring a new job, a promotion in the company, growth in your business, increased value in your investments, or maintaining a solid A rated GPA score in university. You looked forward into 2012 with the hope that this year will be as promising if not even more successful. Others of you may have felt that 2011 was a painful ordeal because of what you have suffered for the past months. You may have lost a loved one to cancer, been laid off from work when you were already struggling to make ends meet, had a fallout with a lifelong friend or perhaps you were rejected from the ideal college you eagerly hoped to apply. You also looked ahead into 2012, not with excited anticipation, but with dread. You don’t know what else could possibly go wrong and perhaps even wondered if God Himself has deserted you at this point. Whether you are anticipating another successful year or fearing the possible tragedies that may occur in 2012, then the following passage might encourage you.

“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
- Isaiah 43:18-19

These words were written by Isaiah, an Old Testament prophet who lived in the 8th century B.C. He lived in a time when his country, Israel, was in a state of moral and spiritual decline. As a prophet he was God’s mouthpiece to the people of his country, warning them about the consequences of their spiritual rebellion towards the One who created them, rescued them from centuries of slavery, gave them an identity and a beautiful land they can call home. Isaiah sadly knew that they will continue to ignore his words of warning which would lead to the invasion of the powerful Babylonians who would then take them away as captives into Babylon (present day Iraq). When this did occur, the Jews were living in misery as exiles in a foreign country surrounded by a foreign culture. They mourned the loss of their nation’s golden years and wondered if they will never again see the home of their ancestry, or worse yet, if God Himself has abandoned them. But God wanted His people to know that He has not forgotten them nor is He finished with them. He was telling them to no longer dwell on the golden years of the past; that their best days are not behind them, but ahead.

Note the 3 things God told the exiled Jews which can also be applicable to us today:

i) Forget about what’s happened.
Not referring to the positive moments from the past, especially the times when God intervened in amazing ways. Such reminders could help them get through the rough time of living as captives to another nation. But they needed to forget their rebellious actions that have led them to be in that place of misery. They realized they screwed up, but they needed to move on.

What can we take from this?
Forget about the pitfalls of 2011. This can drag you down and cause you wallow in self-pity.
Don’t carry these over with you into 2012.
It’s a new year, a new season, a new adventure.
Sure you have made mistakes or missed out on key opportunities in 2011, but don’t beat yourself over the head for it. Rather than seeing them as utter failures, view them as learning opportunities.
Be thankful for these life lessons in 2011 and start off the new year with a clean slate.

ii) Stop going over old history.
Though it was good to be reminded about how God intervened in seemingly impossible situations years ago, they needed to quit living in the past. If they kept looking backwards, they will not see where God is leading them and will miss out on the extraordinary blessings He has for them in the new leg of their journey.

What can we take from this?
It’s very easy to get caught up in the glory days of yesteryear. Yes, by all means celebrate the highpoints of 2011, but don’t stay there. That year is now behind us and we eagerly anticipate what God has in store for us in 2012.

iii) Pay attention to what God is doing today.
The Jews were encouraged to pay attention to what God was up to even while in exile. God never took a sabbatical, He was still very much active and didn’t want them to miss out on what He was doing around them, hence His admonishment to “Be alert, be present.” They were also encouraged to be open to the new way He will show His grace and power. God was telling the Jews in Babylon that He will do something entirely new, completely different and even more compelling in their lives than even the stories they heard from their parents. He did not want His people to put Him in a box, assuming that He could only operate the same way He did in the past.

What can we take from this?
Stay current. Pay careful attention to what is happening in the news, both locally and globally. Keep your ear to the streets. Find out what the latest buzz is or the most popular social issue people in your neighbourhood are talking about or blogging about online. This can be insightful in helping you to understand where your friends are at spiritually. Certain questions about life, death or our purpose here on earth that you may get from your friends could be an indication of what God is already doing in their hearts. The Lord can help you to use this as a vantage point to work in the gospel in a sensitive yet thought-provoking way. Be also wary of any pre-conceived notions you have in your mind about the way God works. He’s not interested in doing the same thing twice. Don’t expect him to move the same way in 2012 as He did in 2011. This will require for you to be heavily dependent on the leading of His Spirit.

Final Thought
2012 will not be just another year. In this year there will be new friends to make, new challenges to face, new achievements to be made, new mistakes to learn from, new life lessons to embrace and new opportunities for God to show His heart, unveil greater depths of His truth and for you to witness firsthand something brand new He’s doing this year. All the best for 2012!

SHOW ME, TEACH ME, LEAD ME – Part 3

Show me Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day. (Psalm 25:4-5)

III        Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

This part of David’s prayer is perhaps the most difficult.

Again, imagine David’s prayer of Psalm 25:4-5 to represent the different phases of your journey with Christ. You requested the Lord to show you what His ways look like and in doing so you realize how radically different His ways are from your own. You then make yourself teachable. Only by His grace are you able to put aside your ‘know-it-all/I know what’s best for me’ attitude, and humbly become open to the Lord’s way of handling various issues and situations in your life. You have a deeper understanding of what it means to mirror Christ both in the good times as well as the bad, in skirmishes as well as in resolving conflicts.

But now comes that hard part… the bending of the will to the lead of His Spirit.

To say, “lead me” goes beyond merely acknowledging how different His ways are and having a deep theological understanding of His teachings. Here is where the rubber hits the road, or rather where the fun really starts. To have Him lead you, is to relinquish yourself of power, right, freedom and authority and to hand it all over to Him. I mean everything. You are no longer king/queen orthe highest authority over your life, He is. This is not easy because it rubs against the very grain of our fallen nature.

WE are the ones who want to be (and remain) in charge of our lives.
WE want to call the shots and determine what is best for us.
WE decide what’s truth and what is right or wrong.
WE make our own destiny.

It’s the very root motivation behind the Original Sin back in the Garden of Eden. The prospect of becoming like God was a very attractive proposition that was presented to our first parents. But being completely unaware of the serpent’s deception, they took the bait and instead of acquiring the godly status they were falsely promised, they ran and hid in the bushes in utter shame of their actions. Since then there’s been this innate desire in all of us to be our own god. To freely submit to another ‘unconditionally’ is unnatural. Even when unforced submission is done, say in relationships or legal/contractual agreements, it’s usually from a selfish motive where we’re only doing it because of what we can get out of it.

We are not strong enough to say to God “lead me” on our own because our pride and rebellious nature will get in the way. Here’s where we need the help of God’s grace and the work of His Spirit in our lives so that we can avoid the mistake of the first Adam who gave in to temptation in the Garden of Eden and follow the example of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, who resisted temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus had the opportunity to pull out of His assigned task to bear the weight of our sins and to incur the full wrath and judgement of God, but rather than pleading for God to remove the cup of this incredible responsibility from Him, He instead  prayed, “Nevertheless, not My will, but yours be done.”

This act of surrender is not done in blind faith! In fact nowhere does Scripture teach us to exercise blind faith in anything. That’s really no different than a fool’s wishful thinking. Rather the Word teaches us that the faith we are to exercise must be rooted in fact. For example, if you continue to read the rest of verse 5, David explains why he is willing to make such a request for God to lead him,

For you are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.

God has proven Himself to David numerous times. He has shown Himself to be dependable, faithful and true. So in response to God’s goodness, David, the legendary general of Israel’s army and future warrior king, was willing to take the posture of a lowly servant and entrust his entire life to God. That’s why he has no problem to wait on God “all the day” to hear his next instruction. This language is saturated in David’s deep longing for intimate relationship with His Maker. As if to say, ‘Here I am….Let’s go for a walk…..You lead, for you know this area way better than I do. I don’t have the faintest clue…..I’m all ears.’

When  you really think about it, would it not make sense for God to lead you? Nobody knows your life (and should I add yourself) better than He does and He knows the full gamut that awaits you in your journey. The challenges, trials and surprises have all been included and as much as they may catch you off guard, God had full knowledge of them way before you even took your first step. Why is it like that? I believe it’s to refine your character so that you can mirror the image of Christ to your world the same way the full moon reflects the sun’s light at night. However, the way this can truly happen is not for you to simply acquire more biblical information, nor just to obtain deeper understanding through what He has taught you, but to surrender to His lead and be obedient.

“Not my will Lord, but yours be done in my life.”

Show me Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day. (Psalm 25:4-5)

II         Teach Me Your Paths

David’s inner cry for the Lord to show him His ways was motivated by his desire to passionately pursue the Father’s heart. Fitting, since David was regarded as a man after God’s heart (1 Sam 13:14). However, this would not have been possible without the Lord’s work in David’s life. God was the One who initiated the whole thing. He placed that desire in David’s heart to pursue Him. But not only did David desire to know God’s ways, he wanted them ingrained in him so that it becomes second nature. Being depraved and sinful by nature, David knew that the Lord’s ways won’t come to him naturally. He will have to be taught…over… and over…and over again until he really gets it. David was not only interested in knowing the Lord’s heart, he wanted to walk with Him. The Lord desired for David to be in deep relationship with Him. David, in turn, being open and responsive to the Lord’s act of sheer grace, responded with a willingness from the heart to be open, humble and teachable. In a way, David was responding to God’s invitation to live relationally with his Maker.

That invitation is made to us today, and has been made towards humanity for years, decades, generations and centuries. The Lord’s invitation was made the loudest 2,000 years ago, when His Son, Jesus, came down to our fallen, sinful, dark, violent, fearful, chaotic world not simply to introduce a new teaching; illuminating hungry minds and hearts with a deeper understanding of Old Testament principles. Nor did He come to simply be the ideal moral example for humanity to follow. He came ultimately as the solution to our problem of sin. The very thing that has separated us from God and has innately oriented our thinking, emotions and will to do and be the very opposite of what our Father has lovingly created us to be. You see, sin is not only a spiritual problem, it’s a relational problem as well. Our broken relationship with God has severely impacted our relationship with each other. Jesus came to restore our broken relationship with God. He took upon Himself our sin, died in our place and conquered death to give us hope in this
life and the next. Through Him we have eternal life, which is being in relationship with the Triune God where we truly learn to live life, grow in His grace and continuously being re-shaped into His wonderful likeness….Christ-likeness that is. Through Jesus we have the incredible opportunity to once again walk with God. Like David’s plea for God to teach him His paths, we echo the same cry through a similar request, “Lord, teach me to love what you love and hate what you hate.” Initially, it sounds childishly simplistic, but when you really think about it, it is deeply profound.

I’m reminded of the dialogue Moses had with the Lord in the wilderness, which very much reflects the sentiment of the above devotional passage,

“Now, therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show
me Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.” (Exodus 33:13)

Moses wanted to understand the Lord’s ways, discern His will, feel His heartbeat, see the world through His eyes, understand His revealed truths, deeply perceive His objective moral standard and, finally, to live in a way that pleases Him, a way that would find grace in His sight.

David echoed that request over 5 centuries later.

But what about you?
Once you’ve seen how different God’s ways are from your own, what is your next move?Will you throw both hands up in the air and say, “Forget this! That’s way too impossible for me!” and then walk away? Or will you humbly respond by saying, “I know your path is THE only right way, but I can’t follow it without Your help. Please teach me Your how to walk in it so I can know You more in a greater way.”

Show me Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.  (Psalm 25:4-5)

This passage is part of a psalm written by David, a prominent psalmist of the Old Testament and perhaps the most famous king that has ever ruled Israel during the monarchical era of the nation’s history. It’s uncertain as to when in his life David wrote Psalm 25, but scholars agree that it is one of the unique psalms with its mixture of the author petitioning God for help and repenting of his past sins. Shortly after he begins this prayer-like plea, David seeks to understand the ways of Yahweh, and the way he shares this is quite interesting because it also outlines for the readers the very manner (or perhaps phases) in which the Lord works in our lives today.

I           “Show me Your ways, O LORD”
Before He does anything else, God first shows us what His ways look like; which are radically different from our own. If you want proof, just read over the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught in Matthew 5. The principles he expounds in this sermon rubs against the very grain of our fallen nature. “But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matt 5:39) Our immediate response to that teaching is, “Excuse me?! I don’t think so! I prefer to leave him bleeding!” Of course Jesus never meant that literally, but was illustrating how we need to resist the innate tendency to retaliate whenever we felt an injustice done to us. We often times hear, “Don’t get mad, get even.” But Jesus says don’t even try to get even. By getting even we feel we are doing ourselves a favour. We want the other party to suffer for the misery or pain they brought on us and the moment they experience it we have this sense of satisfaction, feeling that justice has been served. But what we often perceive as justice, is really nothing more than revenge. The Lord wants us to seek true justice. Justice is never selfishly motivated. We don’t seek justice simply because we’ve been hurt at one time or to make a name for ourselves. We do it simply because it is the right thing to do. It’s THE way to love your neighbour (not the guy who lives next door or across the street, but the stranger you don’t know, in fact, as in the case of Jesus’ parable, the Good Samaritan, even your enemy). God’s form of justice is to seek for the good of others, not for your own sake, but for theirs.

There are also moments when God’s ways seem rather strange, as in the case with the weird military strategies he had Joshua employed in Joshua 6 and king Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. His approach may seem so bogus at times that it defies logic….at least our level of logic. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18) clearly implies that God is not the least bit anti-logical, but rather operates in a logical way that infinitely transcends our own. After all, He is the Author of logic who created humankind with the capacity to reason, but we must never forget what He said in Isa 55:8-9,

⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God has consistently shown throughout the course of biblical history that His ways are the superior way and are for our best interest. We do well to follow them; and not just His ways, but Himself as well. God’s most personal revelation of Himself to humanity was through His Son, Jesus Christ, who has already shown us that He is indeed THE way to the Father and eternal life…..no one else.

Jesus said to him,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Our cry:
“Show me your ways oh Lord!”
Jesus responds:
“I did. My question to you is, will you now follow Me?”