CHRISTIAN INTEGRITY: Out of the abundance of the heart (Matt. 15:1-20; 12:33-37)

When you ask somene about what a Christian is, what do you hear? Goody-two-shoes? Unconcerned about current events and issues? Killjoy? Hypocrite? Narrow-minded? Exclusivist? Why do such definitions come?

Our churches today are plagued by an ancient spirit, a school of thought that has been a thorn in the side of the Christian faith since the first century. This is the Greek philosophy of dualism, which blossomed into the heresy of gnosticism. This philosophy states  that matter and essence are distinct from each other. Plato even spoke of the Ideal which is supremely superior to the physical objects that we have around us. This then gave rise to the gnoostic thought that the physical is corrupt and evil, as opposed to the spirit which is pure and good. Today, we see this still practiced by Christians in a different form: the separation of the secular from the sacred. We go to church, do quiet time, attend bible studies to feed our souls, but we do not see the need to translate that feeding into our “secular” lives. We are admonished to apply what we’ve learned in our daily lives, but as soon as we’re out the door we forget what we’ve learrned.

 

Witness: the importance of integrity

Christ gave us the mandate to make disciples of all nations. Thus it is important that we maintain our integrity so that the message we bear will be believeable. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 that we are the letter of Christ, written by the Lord Holy Spirit Himself and read by everybody. It may have been Nietzsche who said “If Christians act more saved, then I might have believed in their Savior.” What Paul said to the Jews could very well be said of us, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” If we do not walk our talk, if our faith is not translated into the good works prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10), then our faith is dead (James 2:26) and God Himself is shamed and blaphemed for we are not only made in His image, but are His children.

But we are honest and sincere, we do want to be Christians of integrity, glorifying God in word and deed. But we can’t seem to do it right. How can we?

Being: the heart of integrity

First, we have to go back to the message that we proclaim: Jesus Christ became man and died on the cross to free us from sin and death, and rose again that all those who believe in Him would rise with Him into new life in Him. Jesus did not say follow these and those rules; He said “Follow Me.” Jesus did not call us to join a new religion; He called us into a new and restored relationship with Himself. Why then are we treating this new relationship as if it were a religion? Because we believe that only the soul matters, that missions is all about saving souls, never mind the temporal needs of people. From this belief in the ultimate importance of the soul comes the belief that once we’ve gone to church, given our tithes, attended Bible study, and performed our church ministries we have done all that is needed to nourish our souls and bless the heart of God, and now we are free to do as we please.

Now we raise that all-important question: What is it that we are pleased to do? What do we enjoy doing? The answer to this question is what tells us what is really in our hearts. Jesus makes a telling comment to the Pharisees in Matthew 12:33-37: A tree is known by its fruit. Good men bring out good things from their heart, and evil men bring out evil things from their hearts. And out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. I would endeavor to say that out of the same overflow the eyes see, the ears hear, the hands move and the feet walk. What we say and what we do naturally shows us what we really believe, over what we say we believe. For as the soul prompts, the body moves. Now based on what we love to do and love to speak about, what is really in our hearts? Who are we?

Christian integrity, then, is simply being a Christian. If you had been born again by the Spirit of God, if you had accepted Jesus’ offer of salvation, if you have submitted to the lordship of God in all areas of your life, if you are seeking to know Him, to love Him, and be like Him, then living a life of Christian integrity is automatic, for you are simply living out what you are and what you truly believe.  If you are truly a Christian, then you live as one who had been saved from sin, and hates sin and what it does to people. You live with a consciousness of God’s compassion towards you and thus extend that same compassion to others. You live with a knowledge of what sin did to you and thus treat others kindly and compassionately, familiar with their struggles from personal experience.

Christian Integrity: integration of all under God

In the eyes and the life of the Christian, Christian integrity is the integration of both the secular and the sacred under the lordship of Christ. A Christian is a follower of Christ whether she is in a church setting or in a secular setting. The values of a Christian does not change whether she is doing church ministry or working in an office.  The Christian does everything for the glory of God, whether it be work, studies, hobbies, ministry or recreation. Why? Because the Christian is a child of God regardless of where she is, what she is doing, or whom she is with.

But Christian integrity does not mean sinlessness or faultlessness. It means even in sin and fallenness a Christian is a child of God, easily admitting to failure or fault and seeking forgiveness.  A Christian of integrity is not a Christian without sin, for that is impossible this side of eternity. A Christian of integrity is a Christian who follows Christ such that, even when she falls, she gets up and continues to follow Him.  A Christian of integrity is not one who no longer sins, but one who refuses to let her occasional sins define her.

If you feel you are not living a life of Christian integrity, one of two things could be the problem: Either there is something wrong with your relationship with God, or there is something wrong with what you believe the Christian life is supposed to be. Thus it is all-important to ask this question: Who is God to me, as opposed to who He is supposed to be to me? Am I a child of God? If so, why aren’t we alike? From this we can work on being a Christian by seeking to follow Christ. And as that relationship grows, so will we spiritually, socially, physically, and psychologically.

Note: This message was given at the 6th College Summer Break Camp held by Passionate Community for Christ, Inc. (PCCI) last April 2011 at Ifugao academy, Kiangan, Ifugao Province.

Unfairly Treated Workers (Matthew 20:1–16)

Every Labor Day, we see labor groups marching on the streets, demanding for higher wages, better working conditions and more benefits. Sometimes they would call for the rollback of the prices of basic goods. Why do they do so? Are our workers really unfairly treated? Given that a lot of our workers are just contractual and thus are not given the benefits of full-time regular workers like SSS, health plans, vacation leaves, and sick leaves, we can say yes. Given that many workers are paid for less than they should given their skills and education, we can say yes. But are all instances of unfairness evil?

The “Unfairly” Treated Workers

In Matthew 20:1-16, we see Jesus telling the parable of the laborers in the vineyard because of the pride shown by the rich person and by Peter in the previous chapter. Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who went out to look for laborers to work at his vineyard. This means that the rest of the story wil reveal how God, as king, will treat those who would follow Him. He found some at 6am and agreed that they will be paid one denarius each for a full days’ work, which is what was the going rate during those days. He went out again at 9am, noon, 3pm and 5pm to hire more workers and promised them to be paid what is right. At the end of the day, he paid each worker the same amount, regardless of how much time they spent working. Those hired first complained that they were unfairly treated because they were paid the same wage as those who worked for only one hour! But the vineyard owner said that he wasn’t being unfair, but simply being generous.

            Looking closer at the parable, notice that he only negotiated with the first group, agreeing to pay them the minimum wage of those days. This is because these workers are the most able, the most qualified, the most hireable--thus these workers can command their wages. The later hirings hung on the promise that they will be “paid what is right.” If these day workers have not been hired yet at the time the vineyard owner came to them, then that means they weren’t that qualified. And being promised to be paid what is right means the best that they can expect is a wage based on how much time they spent working. Given that they weren’t hired before the vineyard owner came, they can’t demand much. Still, some wage is better than no wage. Now, who was unfairly treated?

The Economy of God

Who of these workers do you feel is unfairly treated? The answer to that question reveals how we view God and how we relate to Him. I confess that I feel that the first workers were unfairly treated. Shouldn’t those who work more be paid more? Isn’t Christ encouraging laziness in having the vineyard owner pay everybody equally? Yet God showed by this passage that I am wrong. The first workers were treated fairly because they were paid exactly what they agreed to be paid. The landowner kept his word. The workers who were paid the same for less work are the ones who are unfairly treated, because they were paid more for the work that they did. And all because they believed in the promise of being paid right.

            This then is how God treats us. God is a just God. He will never shortchange anyone. He will give to all what they deserve. He will not withhold from anyone the good that is due to them. But beyond this fair treatment, God is free to be unfairly generous. He will give to those He would like to give, but he would never hold back what good is deserved.

The Scandalous Grace of God

 This “unfairness” extends even to the salvation that He purchased for us at the Cross. How do you think would James and John feel when they, who walked with Jesus and worked in His ministry and supported Him and preached in His name, came into the Kingdom much later than did the convicted robber who was crucified together with Christ? How would you feel if you have served in church at the various ministries and yet the person you hated the most goes on to also be with God because at the last minute before she died she put her faith in Christ? Think of the worst person you know, historical or personal. Can you truly accept that Christ died to save such a person? Could you bear the thought that there is a very real possibility that you will be with this person for all eternity with the God you love?

            But this is the love of God, that “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…while we were sinners, Christ died for us…while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Romans 5:6,8,10). When we look at it, no one really deserves God’s love and salvation. When we look at ourselves we are undeserving of God. But God still extends His love and His salvation to us, just as He extends it to our enemies. When we are to be truly honest, we are all 9am, noon, 3pm and 5pm workers, completely depending on the promise of God because we know that if He gave us truly what we deserve, we will not survive.  Here then is the good news in this parable: God in Christ is a gracious and generous God. If we follow Christ and labor in His vineyard, the LEAST we can expect is what we deserve, equal to the amount of work we put in. But knowing that our God is a generous God, He will give us more than what we deserve “according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19; see also Romans 10:12). God is not our employer who gives us only what we are due, but our Provider who gives us according to His riches, His generosity, His graciousness, and His love.

Challenge:

Brothers and sisters, let us who believe in in the mercy of Christ also extend such mercy to all around us. Let us remember that none of us deserve Christ’s love, and may this thought give us the perspective we need to extend His grace and love even to those we would rather see in hell. Let us accept that it is only by His grace one can be saved, and thus rejoice when the most wretched of people, even people who have hurt us, come to put their hope and faith in Christ and are thus saved, and break bread with those who once broke us. 

*preached as a Labor Day message last 1 May 2011 at Jesus Christ our Hope and Redeemer Church, San Mateo, Rizal

'Behold, I make all things new.' A reflection on "The Passion of the Christ"

Ever since I was young, Holy Week was characterized by presentations of the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. From Fr. Patrick Peyton's Family Rosary Crusade productions (the one where Christ's face was always turned from the audience) to Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth to the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar, my Holy Weeks throughout the years were saturated with opportunities to watch and reflect upon the life of Christ.

When I committed my life to follow Christ and trusted Him as my absolute savior in the early 1990s, I gained a greater appreciation for the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord, building upon the foundation that was built by those years of exposure to Passion presentations. Ironically, going into the twenty-first century, such Passion presentations have become scarce, if not totally dispensed with, on Philippine national TV. Going through the local channels this Good Friday morning in the hope of finding a Passion story, I was disappointed to find telenovela rerun marathons and Dragonball being played. Thank God for DVDs. I pulled out my copy of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and watched it, continuing my personal tradition of mass media reflection. I do this to bring my faith to a more tangible, even visceral, level. I don't want to just know in my head; I want to know in my heart.

Watching the film (albeit interrupted by technical problems where my player jumped several chapters forward) made me relive the horror of what Christ went through to save sinners like me. It was terrible, and brought back my old childhood fear of detailed crucifixes. But the horror of it made me realize the awfulness of my sinfulness, that the Son of God had to go through such an ordeal to pay for my sins, and the sins of the whole world. Thus I am all the more grateful and all the more compelled to extend grace to those around me.

But something of bigger significance came to the fore. During the scene where Jesus was carrying His cross and His mother Mary came to Him, Gibson took some artistic license by putting to Jesus' lips words that can be found much later in Scripture:

"Behold, I make all things new."

This quote from Christ can be found in Revelation 21:5 (the above wording is from the King James Version). Watching the accompanying features of the DVD revealed that the producers intended this line to be the theological backbone of the entire production. And it was fitting, because "in [Christ] the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through [Christ] to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:19-20 ESV). Romans 8:19-21 (ESV) says "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. . . in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."

This is a big departure from the soul-centered salvation that many churches preach today, both Catholic and Protestant/ Evangelical. Yes, Christ died to pay the penalty of sin that those who believe in Him would have eternal life. Yes, souls of those who believe in Him are saved from eternal damnation as per John 3:16. But the salvation that Christ purchased with His blood did not stop there. As the passages from Romans 8 and Colossians 1 attest, the salvation of souls, of human beings is just the beginning of a cosmic plan to redeem and restore all of fallen creation. God wants His world back, the world that was cursed because of Adam's disobedience and rebellion (Genesis 3:17). He wants to purify it from all corruption and detestable thing so that He might live in it with His people and be truly God and Lord over all (Revelation 21:3). And such cosmic scale redemption and renewal began advancing in earnest at the beachhead that is the Cross.

The Gospel as given in the Passion presentations reflect the Gospel as it is preached throughout the centuries: "that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ESV). This is to fulfill Christ's message that "the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15 ESV). Putting these together, Philip Yancey quotes John Howard Yoder as saying "The cross is not a detour or a hurdle on the way to the kingdom, nor is it even the way to the kingdom; it is the kingdom come."*

Whenever I see a depiction of Christ being raised up on the cross, I now hear those reassuring words, "Behold, I make all things new!"

May it be so soon, Lord!

*Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (Mandaluyong City: OMF Literature, Inc., 1998), 196. Emphases mine.

When Unity Goes Bad

Every time there is a crisis or calamity, people often unite to help those in need or to make a strong stand against evil in our society. When the earthquakes occurred in New Zealand and Japan, people from all over the world united to help those affected. Even during our own crises like Ondoy, people united to bring relief to the victims. United peoples toppled repressive governments in Egypt, Eastern Europe and our very own country the Philippines. But unity can also be a bad thing. A united people, if not under God, will only be successful in bringing destruction upon themselves. Let us look at what happens to a people if they are united in rebelling against God.

The Story of Babel: Why did God Scatter Them?

The descendants of Noah began to move out into the new world. When they found a good land, they decided to settle there. Having one language, they came to an agreement to build a city where they will live and a tower to make themselves great. Then God saw what they were doing and said that in their unity they are able to do this, then nothing will be impossible for them. So He confused their languages and they scattered all over the world.

For the longest time this story troubled me. Why did God confuse the people when they were on the verge of doing something great? Was God insecure? Was God being a bossy lord where He is forcing people to follow Him or else? The people were not hurting anyone! They were just making life easier for themselves; is that sinful? The key is in what they built and what they built it for.

The tower is like a huge pyramid and is meant to be their stairway to heaven.


Ziggurat of Ur photo from http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/759360

But this is not a stairway to reach God. No, this stairway was for something else entirely. The best description for their motive of building the tower can be found in Isaiah 14:13–14. This motivation to reach heaven is born out of the root of the very first sin (Genesis 3:5). They were not trying to reach God; they were trying to become God. They want to have dominion over the earth by means of this tower. They want to rule over the earth apart from God. And if they succeed in building this tower, God saw that whatever they plan to do they can accomplish. And since every inclination of their hearts is evil, even after the flood (Genesis 8:21), the “great things” that they are able to accomplish will also be corrupt. And by these accomplishments, they may very well destroy themselves and the rest of the world with them. And God, in His goodness, will not allow that to happen.

Modern-day Towers of Babel

Yet Man still continues to build his tower that reaches up to heaven, even to this very day. We see nations united in their production of oil which gives them control over such resources. Oil production brings fuels to power our generators and fuel our vehicles, but also pollute our air to the point of creating global warming, disrupting our weather patterns and bringing about floods and droughts in various parts of the world. Scientists united to create energy by splitting atoms and thus nuclear power is generated. From there, electricity is produced in many developed countries, but at the same time provided the material for weapons that could destroy the world many times over. Academics and philosophers united to push the idea that there is no God and there is no absolute moral truth, and thus we see our world steadily sliding into chaos. Government officials united to create a culture of corruption in government designed to enrich those in power, but plunged the nation into widespread poverty and social injustice. This is what happens when people are united in their pursuit to become gods themselves.

But what of we who profess to know the Truth? We ourselves have built our own cities and erected our own towers. Just like those people who, by staying in one place, went against God’s purpose for people to fill the earth, we too have become comfortable in our own “saved” place and will not move from where we sit. Just like Peter who, upon seeing Christ in all His glory wanted to stay where he was to enjoy that glory for himself (Matthew 17:4), we are content to keep our Christianity within the walls of our churches instead of incarnating Christ to the unbelieving world. We are only Christians among Christians in church, but outside we are no different from everybody else. We who are meant to be the salt of the earth would rather stay inside the saltshaker. Even in our prayers, more often than not we seek to make God conform to our will instead of seeking His will and asking for whatever we need to fulfill that will. And often, we mistakenly claim His promise that “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” (Matthew 18:20) without first seeking His will and thus be truly coming together in His name. Otherwise, in coming together with our own agendas, we are building our own spiritual tower reaching up to heaven with the express purpose of bending God’s will to conform to ours. Even if we are united in our fellowship and in our prayers, it is still God’s will that will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Challenge: The Example of Christ

Christ, who could have just stayed in heaven, came to earth and became like us in every way except sin. He showed us how it is to be like God by walking with God. And He who was without sin died on the cross so that we who sin could have life where we need not sin anymore. We need not build towers to reach the heavens because heaven came down when Christ was lifted up on that cross, suspended between heaven and earth. If Christ is truly in us, we need not build cities for us to be united, for Christ Himself is our unity. And wherever we go we will never be alone for Christ is ever with us (Matthew 28:20). And wherever there are fellow believers, we can find a home. Let us then stop building towers that reach up to heaven, but instead build our houses upon the Rock who is Christ, and be united that we might be a temple where dwells the Living God.

(Message given at Jesus Christ Our Hope and Redeemer Church, San Mateo, Rizal, 3 April 2011)

Stewardship: The First Command

What is the first command given by God to human beings? We can find this in Genesis 1:28 where God commands humans upon being created:

1. Be fruitful
2. Increase in number
3. Fill the earth
4. Subdue it
5. Rule over all other creatures

These commands can be encapsuled into two general commands:

1. Be fruitful
2. Be in control

The role of humans is repeated in Psalm 8:4-8. Humans are meant to be stewards — lord-servants — of creation, rulers and managers of the whole created order as representative of God, the image of God. The invisible God is visible in His physical creation through His image. God rules over the earth through Man.

Fall of Man brought mismanagement

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they did not lose their being as the image of God, that is, the mandate to be fruitful and rule; but they do so now under Satan, and thus the whole of creation was cursed. They were called to be fruitful, but they are now unable to be because they now have a corrupt sense of what being fruitful means. They are called to be in control, but they are now unable to control because they have a corrupt sense of what being in control means.

And as they were, so are we.

We are called to be fruitful, but we are unable to be because they now have a corrupt sense of what being fruitful means. We usually think of fruitfulness in terms of numbers: How much money we have, how many people have we shared the Gospel with, how many friends we have on FB, how many church members we have, how many gadgets we have, how many…, how much…. Thus we think we are being fruitful, but we produce no fruit in the things that really matter: good relationships with others, an unblemished name, changing of lives, a preserved ecosystem, justice, mercy, the things that God values.

We are called to be in control, we are unable to control because we have a corrupt sense of what being in control means. We usually think that being in control means the freedom to do what we want, when we want, how we want. So we indulge. And then we find that what we want has enslaved us to the point that we can no longer do anything other than “what we want,” as any addict will attest.

In addition, we often sacrifice one for the other. In our desire for more fruit, we sacrifice control, like the student who spends long hours studying to graduate with honors only to later find that she is getting sick from over-fatigue, alienated from her friends and family because of her withdrawn and irritable disposition, and depressed because of lack of sleep. Or the control freak team leader who wants to do everything himself, only to find himself hated by his team and their project in ruins.

Redemption of Man and Man’s original purpose

The good news is God the Son came and became the Son of Man that He might reclaim for the rest of humanity the purpose that was lost at the Fall. When Christ was crucified, our greed for false fruit and our lust for control was crucified with Him. And when He rose from the dead, these stayed dead. So if we choose to follow Him, we are free to be fruitful and rule over creation in His name, as we are designed to be. For if we died with Him, we will rise with Him and reign with Him who is the Son of Man (2 Timothy 2:11-12).

Christian Stewardship: fulfilling the first command by obeying the first commandment

But the full redemption of creation is still yet to come, and perverted fruitfulness and dominion still plague this world. How then can we be good stewards of everything that God has given us? First, we have to know Whose stewards we are. We have to acknowledge that it was God who gave us authority over everything, but our management has to be according to His will and to fulfill His purpose: the redemption of all creation. But to manage and bear fruit according to His will, we must know what His will is. And to know what His will is, we have to know who He is and for what His heart beats. And the only way to know this is to love Him. Thus the first greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and have no other.

But how does loving God make us better stewards? One of God’s favorite images for His desired relationship with His people is that of a groom with his bride. Anyone who has loved can tell you that it is a pleasure and a privilege to seek knowing what would make the beloved happy, and do those things, just to see that happiness. In the same way, loving God creates in us a desire to make Him happy, to do things His way, to be more like Him. Our view of time, money, resources, and people will shift closer to how He views them. Our sense of fruitfulness will conform to His purposes, and we will see our authority over creation as a trust that He has given to us.

But how can we love Him? If we are honest, we are like Theresa of Avila who prayed, “I don’t love You. I don’t even want to love You. But I want to want to love You.” If we want to want to love God, we have to acknowledge that we can’t do it. But if we really want to, God Himself provides the way: “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) We are to receive His love, feel His love and let it overwhelm us. Look to the Cross and feel the love that would and did give all. Only then are we able to know Him, love Him, love others and this world as He does, and thus be the stewards that He intended us to be. Only then can it be said that we are made in the image of God.


Note: This message was given at the 6th College Summer Break Camp held by Passionate Community for Christ, Inc. (PCCI) last April, 2011 at Ifugao academy, Kiangan, Ifugao Province. I got some of the insights from Dr. Melba Maggay's talk on "Christian Writers as Channels of Social Transformation." during the Christian Writers' Fellowship last Feb. 25, 2011.

The Extent of my Love

(Church message delivered last 7 November 2010 at Jesus Christ our Hope and Redeemer Church, four days after Rita accepted the love I offered to her)

The love of a husband—a reflection of Christ’s love (Ephesians 5:22–33)

Introduction

Last Wednesday, November 3, is one of the happiest days of my life. On that night, the woman I have loved and pursued, Rita, accepted the love I so ardently offered, and gave me her own heart to hold and cherish and guard. It was a glorious night, full of joy and love. And yet if I am to truly walk in the way of the Lord, this love that was given to me has certain responsibilities attached to it. But if my love be true and pleasing before the Lord, then these “responsibilites” are not so much hinderances or duties, but true manifestations and expressions of love, as first expressed by the Author of love Himself, our Lord God.

The charge to lead

Turn with me to Ephesians 5:22–24, one of the most controversial passages in the Bible today. Here, wives are called to submit to their husbands just as the church submits to Christ. Why? Because as Paul pointed out, husbands are to be the head of the wife just as Christ is head of the church, which is His body. There cannot be two heads in a family. Otherwise, the family will be torn apart.

But the head cannot make a decision without input from the body. And the head cannot decide only for itself, apart from the body. Whatever happens to the body happens to the head, and if the head were to be the sole center of decision-making, then the head is responsible for whatever happens to the body. The head enjoys all the good that happens to the body, and suffers with the body all calamities that come to it. Thus, as this passage calls wives to submit to their husbands as an act of obedience to Christ, so also does this passage calls husbands to step up and be the leaders that God called them to be. If wives are to follow their husbands, is it not only expected that husbands should be followable? Is it not only right that husbands should be respectable, decisive, and able to look after the well-being, fulfillment and overall holiness of his wife and children? If the wife is called on to trust the husband to make decisions for her and her family, then the husband is called to be worthy of that trust.

But is this whole submission issue just a matter of duty and responsibility? I remember one lady speaker at a forum who presented a Christian feminist view of the story of Mary and Martha. When she was asked, “Don’t you, as a woman with feminist beliefs, find it hard to submit to your husband?” She answered, “I have seen my husband stand by me when I was at my worst. He took on all my arguings, my whining, and my unreasonableness, and still he stood by me. On top of this, he said that he loved me so much he would take a cannonball for me, and I know he would. Because of such great love, I cannot help but submit to him. I think any sane woman would gladly submit to a man like that.” And a man like that is a man who striving to be like Christ.

The call to be like Christ

If the wife is called to submit to the husband as an act of obedience to Christ, the husband is called to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. And how did Christ love the Church? He gave Himself up for her, the greatest expression of which is the Cross. Christ died for the Church so that she may be cleansed of her sin, cleansed of her shame, and made holy to enable her to be with her Bridegroom. He gave her His Word that she may be able to follow Him. He came to earth and spent His life that she may become the people He inteded her to be.

In the same way, husbands should love their wives so much that he would lay down his life for her. To the extreme, he is to die in her place should it come to that. If not, then he is to live his life devoted to his wife’s good. He should be the spiritual leader, making sure that she is growing in knowledge and relationship with the Lord. He should be able to teach her the Truth that would make her more and more into the image of Christ. He should strive to make her more pure, more righteous, more holy. And, possibly more painfully, he should nurture her to the point that she loves Christ more than she loves him. The husband should seek to lovingly correct his wife of her faults, so that none may find fault with her, and praise her for her good traits. But to do all this, the husband may be called upon to give up his ambitions, his dreams, his aspirations, even his lifestyle, so as to better care for his wife and make her happy.

The call to provide and nurture

Christ, as Head, cares for His Body, the Church. He feeds her with His Word and His riches. He provides for her every need, as we have seen in our church here. He gives her guidance as to what He wants her to do, that she may reach her full potential and be a glorious reflection of Christ here on earth, to be a channel of His love to the lost.

In the same way, the husband should care for the needs and desires of his wife, as if he were caring for himself. He should see to her every need—physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual. He should support her in her pursuit of her dreams, that she may feel fulfilled as a person and as a child of God. When he does all these, she will be a gloriously beautiful reflection of himself, and moreso of God. In a profound way, this fulfills Genesis 2:24, for the condition of the wife and the family is a reflection of the character of the husband, just as the condition of the Church is a reflection of the Christ who saved her and brought her to Himself.

A living parable

You may be wondering why I speak of husbands and wives when I am just a boyfriend. It is because to me, a boyfriend is a husband in training, just as a girlfriend is a wife in training. For what is the point of being a boyfriend and having a girlfriend if I do not have marriage in mind for her? To think anything less is to make a mockery, a plaything, out of one of the most beautiful gifts given by God to us humans: romantic love. The courtship stage is a period where Rita and I explore the possibility of being married to one another, and thus we strive to know each other ever so deeply whenever we are together. We seek to build a deep friendship that would be the foundation of our love, so that when the fires of passion have cooled, we would still want to be with each other because we are the closest of friends. And above all, we seek to know God more deeply, for He is the author and perfecter not only of our faith, but also of our relationship that would glorify His name before all the world.

I speak of this in the Spirit of God because I follow Christ. And if I were to love this wonderful daughter of the Father, then I must seek to become more like His Son Jesus. He has set for me the standard of Ephesians 5:22-33, and by His grace I will be up to that standard. And thus far, God has given me a love for her of such passion and intensity that I would be eternally grateful for the privilege of laying down my life to see that she be happy, fulfilled and well cared for. This relationship that God has given to us would be a reflection of God’s love to us and of our love for Him, and of how He loves each and every one of us.

Challenge

Brothers and sisters, especially brothers, God calls us to become more like His Son, Jesus Christ, especially in our relationships with our wives and girlfreinds, as the case may be. Sisters, God calls you not to blind and mindless obedience, but to supportive and loving submission to your husbands and boyfriends—as the case may be—as your act of obedience to the Lord. To those of you who are waiting and looking for that significant other to be given to you, look to Jesus and how He loves you. May His love for the church be the standard by which we love one another, not just as romantic partners, but as brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

12 June 2010, possibly the happiest day in my recent history. On the surface, it’s just a day when three friends did some gaming and watched a movie, but for me it was far more. This is the day when my two best friends from high school, Robert and Bryan, and I had a nostalgia trip unlike any other that went before it. Possibly, we might not have anything like this ever again this side of eternity.

The day started out normally enough. The plan was Robert, Bryan and I will play a round of Dungeons and Dragons-ish role-playing gaming. (I say Dungeons and Dragons-ish because we were using Bryan’s home-brewed rules system that borrowed from old school D&D, the Microlite system and other things that he got from other systems or came up with on his own. But the genre is still medieval fantasy.) then later watch the A-Team movie. I drove with Bryan to Robert’s place where we played the game and had a blast. We were later joined by Dennis, another of my good friends from high school. We were playing a combination of silly and serious, a series of fumbles and failed dice rolls and some minor successes which lead to a good gaming session. But we had to cut it short because it was getting late in the afternoon and we still had the plan of watching the A-Team movie to execute. Dennis had to leave at this point.

We packed up or stuff, still talking about the events that transpired in our collective imaginations through the role-playing game that we played. Then we went to one of the nearby malls where Robert did some grocery shopping first before we all proceeded to the theater. Inside, we were rather disappointed that it looked like we were the only ones watching the A-Team! But, no matter. We were packed with our burgers and fries and drinks. We had left behind for a little while whatever was troubling us. We were ready to be taken back to what we enjoyed more than twenty years ago. We were ready for The A-Team!

Boy, we were floored!

Perhaps it was God who arranged that it would only be us and a few other people in the theater because we were really laughing so hard at the movie it would have annoyed those around us. I know I was laughing hard! And it’s not laughing at the movie in the sense that it was so badly made that one couldn’t help but laugh at it, despite the fact that the makers of the movie did not intend it to be funny. Not at all! It was entertaining! It was funny in all the right places and serious in all the right places, faithful to feel and the spirit of the A-Team TV series that we grew up with in the 1980s. This modernized version is a true homage to John “Hannibal” Smith, Templeton “The Face” Peck, Bosco “B.A.” Barracus and “Howling Mad” Murdock. They got the characters right. They got the team spirit feel right, a far cry from what the revival of “Mission Impossible” became. They got the humor right. They got the overall feel right. And the suspension of disbelief is just right. A realistic film this ain’t, but that’s the way we like it! (I mean come on, if I wanted realistic action, I’d watch the news!) If the producers and the director of this film made any upgrades or improvements, they made all the right ones without taking anything from what made the original series still resonate with people of my generation even after two decades. Let’s see any present-day telenovela or TV series pull off that stunt! Even after the movie is done and we were driving home, we were still talking about it!

That is when Bryan noticed it: we were re-living our high school days! During those more carefree days, we would role-play in the afternoon, and then watch TV shows like the A-Team in the evenings . . . and then copy the day’s assignments from more studious classmates before the bell rings for the first class. (Yes, we were not model students back then, but we did manage to graduate from high school and college, though with some wear and tear. But that’s another story.) The evening just turned into something truly memorable for us, especially for me. When we dropped Bryan off, he called to us, “Oy, may assignment pa tayo bukas!” to which I answered, “Kopyahin na lang bukas!” We laughed at that.

I just re-lived the past. I had just gone to a place where I could touch one point in time where I was truly happy. My then 14- to 15-year-old self may not know it yet, but it may be that is as good as it gets. It is being happy in an unadulterated way. It is true, though, that there were times when I felt happier, like those times that I fell in love with someone really special. But those episodes of happiness always had a mixture of sadness to them, a taint of ill feelings, a shadow of tragedy that ruins the ecstasy that could have been enjoyed. I so long for such carefree joys again, and God was gracious to let me have this one day with two of the best buddies a man could have. But one can only live in the past for so long. Though I could have days like this, in varied degrees of remembrance and joy, I know they will not last. Even now, as my energy level drops to dangerously low levels, I realize that those days are gone. Though I can recreate them, I cannot enjoy those days as I used to, for I am no longer the same person I was who once enjoyed such things. And there are some things that simply cannot be recreated.

But those days can be remembered. And so long as those days are remembered, and remembered fondly, those days are not truly dead. At this point in my life where I have nothing to look forward to and thus am tempted constantly to despair, God, in allowing me this remembrance and recreation, shows me that it is possible to be that happy. At this time where I see that my future holds little promise this side of eternity—and I do so long for eternity with my Lord—God has let me touch base with my happy past, perhaps showing me that there is potential for happiness in the future.

Happy past and uncertain future merged this night in the present, and I am glad. God made His encouragement clear through Hannibal Smith when he said something like (I’m not sure of the exact words.) “When there seems to be no plan, trust that there is a plan at work.” From what little I know of God, I am certain that with regards to my life as well as the history of the world and the cosmos, He will one day say, “I love it when a plan comes together.”