Because He's Worth It: Jesus And Nothing Else

Jesus + Nothing = Everything, by Tullian Tchividjian

       I was given a book by my roommate Paulman as a Christmas present. It was not one that I had heard of before, thought I had once caught a glimpse of his personal copy lying next to his computer in the living room - a simple black cover, with the title in red  and white lettering. At the time, it didn't evoke more than just a casual and passing glimpse from me. Christmas came and went, and it was carefully placed among the other books in my little library, for later reading. But I am suddenly in haste to read it now, and finish it today if I can; it has become an important and urgent priority. It is written by a pastor named Tullian Tchividjian, and it's title is a simple statement, written in the form of a mathematical equation: 

JESUS + NOTHING = EVERYTHING.

    Why the urgency? Two events happened yesterday that brought this to the forefront.

    The first was a casual phone call from someone that I'm close to that began well, but ended leaving me feeling uncomfortable and agitated, even angry. I still feel that familiar, tight feeling in the chest when I'm upset as I write this several hours later, and I know why. I didn't like what I heard, because it touched a raw nerve - the sensitive and conflicted area of my ongoing struggle to carefully think through my experiences with teaching and doctrine amongst different Churches that I have been through. It reminded me that this is an urgent and important issue for me to resolve, and provided fresh impetus to revisit the foundations of my faith and focus on the Gospel as a starting point.

    The second was an examination of my heart during my quiet time this morning as I formulated my priorities, my "first things" for this year, and how I would like to live the next twelve months. I know what I want for 2012. I want to make this a year of systematic seeking for truth in my faith, especially in terms of understanding and differentiating between right and wrong doctrine. I want to explore two foundational elements of my faith in greater depth, which I believe I must stay riveted on in order to make sense of everything else - Christ, and His Gospel.

    Stephen R. Covey, an expert in leadership development, made a statement in his book "First Things First" that has stayed with me: "The main thing in life is to keep the main thing the main thing." Some weeks ago, I wrote a post titled "To Follow Jesus All The Way", in which I quoted from the poem "My Choice" by martyred missionary William McChesney. I'm posting the whole poem here, because I believe it is very relevant to the "main thing" for this year. This is what it says:

MY CHOICE

     I want my breakfast served at eight
     With ham and eggs upon the plate
     A well-broiled steak I'll eat at one
     And dine again when day is done.

     I want an ultramodern home
     And in each room a telephone;
     Soft carpets, too, upon the floors
     And pretty drapes to grace the doors.
     A cozy place of lovely things,
     Like easy chairs with inner springs,

     And then, I'll get a nice T.V.
     - Of course, I'm careful what I see.

     I want my wardrobe, too, to be
     Of neatest, finest quality,
     With latest style in suit and vest
     Why should not Christians have the best?

     But then the Master I can hear
     In no uncertain voice, so clear:
     "I bid you come and follow Me,
     The lowly Man of Galilee."

     "Birds of the air have made their nest
     And foxes in their holes find rest,
     But I can offer you no bed;
     No place have I to lay my head."

     In shame I hung my head and cried,
     How could I spurn the Crucified?
     Could I forget the way He went,
     The sleepless nights in prayer He spent?

     For forty days without a bite,
     Alone He fasted day and night;
     Despised, rejected - on He went,
     and did not stop till veil He rent!

     A man of sorrows and of grief
     No earthly friend to bring relief;
     "Smitten of God," the prophet said
     Mocked, beaten, bruised, His blood ran red.
     If He be God, and died for me,
     No sacrifice too great can be
     For me; a mortal man, to make;
     I'll do it all for Jesus' sake.

     Yes, I will tread the path He trod,
     No other way will please my God,
     So, henceforth, this my choice shall be,
     My choice for all eternity.

- William McChesney

      I have the feeling that this is going to be a very intense, challenging, but ultimately rewarding year. I'm going to do this. By His grace alone. For Christ alone. For His Gospel alone. For His glory alone. Because He's Jesus, and He's worth it. See you in the next post!

     Grace and peace to you.

- The Wisdom Seeker

A Wonderful Year With The Faithful One

     It's 11:15 PM as I write this, and 2011 is almost over. The date marker on my watch is half-way through shifting forward from "31" to "1". I'm sitting in my living room with my roomate Paulman and our friends Angie, Tim, Jacky and Alana, looking over photos of the year gone past and wondering what to do to as the year comes to a close. Paulman has suggested singing some songs, and taken up his guitar. It's been almost two weeks since I wrote my last post, and it has not been for lack of events and thoughts to write about. I will confess to my own tardiness and indiscipline in this matter.

    In any event, I did not want 2011 to end without a concluding post to bring what has been one of the most eventful years of my life to a close. There is so much that has happened over the last 12 months in my personal life and the world around me, in almost rapid-fire succesion. Albert Mohler wrote a wonderful article highlighting the former in a most well-written post, titled "The Year In Review", covering some of the major news stories of 2011 - The Arab Spring; the tsunami and earthquake of Japan; the Libyan uprising and fall of Moammar Gaddafi; the Occupy Movement, and others. I thought of writing a bit about my own significant milestones of the last year.

• January: Yeswanth, my friend from undergrad and second year dorm roommate, died on his way to work in Bangalore, India an accident with a cement mixer truck and transit bus. He had just turned 27. The shock hit me hard. At the end of the month, I began work at my first full-time job out of grad school, working at a job that I love, for a wonderful company that God in His providence led me to. It came at the end of 7 months of hard job hunting, punctuated by moments of elation, despair, hope, piles of resumes and unsuccessful interviews. It will be almost a year that I will have worked there, and I am looking forward to another great year of work :)

• February: Became a member at Willingdon Church. Began leading a Willingdon Entry Level small group for young adults a week or so later. At the end of the month, I went on my first solo long-distance trip for a week on work, to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Since I did not have a car, it was an almost 5 hour trip  each way over Skytrain, bus and ferry. It was very memorable!

• March: Went to a shooting range and fired a gun for the first time in my life. Also bought "Boaz", my first car!

• June: Willingdon Church turned 50 years old and celebrated by holding a major service at the Pacific Coliseum, with almost 5,000 people in attendance.

• July: Turned the major milestone of 30

• August: Went camping with friends for the very first time in my life!

• June - August: Went downtown on my first solo forays in engaging people in conversation and sharing the Gospel

• October: Went to Toronto to visit my parents, and got to see a close cousin I hadn't seen for almost 6 years, and his wife whom I had never met!

• November: Was sworn in as a Canadian Citizen. Around the middle of the month, I got to spend a wonderful week with RZIM as they were in town for a series of speaking engagements at Trinity Western University, SFU, UBC and other venues. 

• December: I passed my Class 5 road test and was finally able to drive my car on my own!

     It has been a very fast paced, eventful, fulfilling and challenging year. As I bring this post to a close, I am reminded of one of the most beautiful conclusions to be found in the Bible, the final verses of the book of Jude:

    "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." - Jude 1:24-25 , ESV

     This is my hope for the coming year, which is already well into its first hour as I finish this post. Though I have stumbled, faltered and been unfaithful many times, He has been faithful. Though I have been uncaring and ungracious, His kindness has been unceasing and His blessings have been new every morning. Though I have been unlovable, He has loved me nonetheless. Though I have been wretched in my sin, He has been gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. Though all around me has been in flux and life has seemed like an emotional rollercoaster, His Cross has been there, solid as a rock and unwavering in its power as an anchor for life. Though my strength and will have failed time and again, His Spirit has lifted me to my feet and given me the resolve to make it through another day.

    I am happy to be alive as one year ends and another begins, that I may faithfully pour my life out and serve my Master and Lord in this new year that he has allowed me to see. To Him be the glory, majesty, dominion and authority now and for all time. May I give my utmost for the sake of The Name that is above every other name.

    Grace and peace to you.

- The Wisdom Seeker

To Follow Jesus All The Way

     Have you ever had one of those moments when you experience a partial flashback of an event, person or memory from long ago, that suddenly hits you without warning? It's amazing how the sudden recollection of two lines from a long-forgotten song from the teenage years can suddenly emerge at an unexpected moment to give strength, encouragement and fill the heart with renewed happiness and determination.

    That's what happened last night at the end of a draining day's work, while in the shower. I have recently been wrestling with some difficult issues that have been close to my heart, related to examining my experiences in churches over the last several years, and discerning right doctrine. It has not been easy, scrutinizing and questioning my own assumptions of teachings that I have absorbed over the years, and in some cases having to face the reality that they might be wrong. It has also been difficult as I have had to think about the possible consequences of what my conclusions might have on my relationships with people in my life who hold views that are differing, or even diametrically opposed to the convictions that I feel moved towards.

    And then last night, two lines came to mind from a little song that I had learned in a Christian youth group during my high-school years in Dubai. "Youth In Action" was founded by an elderly couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Ambrose, who were also directly responsible for bringing my own parents (and many other families that we would come to know), to saving faith in Christ. While meeting in weekly small groups in different cities in the UAE, we would all meet once a month for a youth rally. It was during one of those rallies during my first years in YIA that I heard the words of the song "I've Got My Mind Made Up". Some of the people singing that song that day - Ronnie Thomas, Nibin and Nisha Oomen, Anjali Vase - would go on to become very dear friends of mine.

     It was their voices and two lines from the chorus that I suddenly heard in my head in the shower yesterday. I am very grateful to the Internet for being the archive of even the most obscure things, and for Google in helping us find them. Here is a verse and the chorus of that song, written by Norman Hutchins:

I've Got My Mind Made Up

  Chorus:
    I've got my mind made up,
    my heart is fixed to follow Jesus all the way.
    I've got my mind made up,
    my heart is fixed to follow Jesus all the way.

  Verse:
    On this journey, there'll be many ups and downs,
    but I know the Lord will see you through.
    There has never been a time when He has let me down,
    that's why I'll follow Jesus all the way.

     I've been thinking about these words since last night and all of today, and asking myself the question - What does it mean to follow Jesus "all the way"? There are several thoughts that have come to mind as I've contemplated the implications of these words.

    Implicit in the phrase "to follow Jesus all the way" is the assumption that He is going somewhere, and that I know Him well enough to have confidence that the "somewhere" good and worthwhile for me to follow Him to. This raises the question of His character and trustworthiness. What do I know of Jesus? Is what I know about Him accurate? Is He trustworthy and truthful? Do His words make sense to me, in what He has to say about my origin, search for meaning, the condition in which I find myself, the deepest questions of my heart, my destiny? How has He proven Himself? Jesus had a lot to say about these things:

    “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, 'Lord, kwe do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.' Philip said to him, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.' Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."

- John 14: 1-3, ESV

    Following Jesus all the way also implies that it involves a choice, not a compulsion. I must make up my mind and set my heart on going with Him, and count the cost of this journey. And this cost might be great; He might ask of me everything that I have and hold dear and valuable. Jesus talked about this as well:

    "Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 'If anyone comes to me and odoes not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sfirst sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." 

- Luke 14:25-33, ESV

    "As they were going ralong the road, someone said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' To another he said, 'Follow me.' But he said, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' And Jesus said to him, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" 

- Luke 9:57-62, ESV

     These are not easy words for any of us to hear, including myself. What will I give up for Jesus, to follow Him all the way? I might not like what I am asked to let go of. For some of us, it might be a relationship that is dear to us - parent, lover, husband, wife, children, relative, friend. It might be a dream that we have longed earnestly and worked hard for. It might be things that we have built our identity on - our ethnicity, culture, religion, organization. Those of us who are parents might have to surrender their wishes or preconceptions of what they perceive to be ideal futures for their children, so that Jesus can do something greater with them. And there is the ultimate surrender of one's own life, trusting that Jesus has a purpose even in the midst of terrible personal suffering and death, and that the glory of His cause and name is greater than any personal glory that I can gain for myself.

     Ultimately, what I am willing to let go of and the extent to which I am willing to go says a lot about the value that I place on Jesus among everything else in my life. I am reminded of the words of the missionary Jim Elliott, who wrote: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." As I bring tonight's post to a close and head to bed, I feel my conviction solidified by the following words composed by the martyred missionary William McChesney:

    If He be God, and died for me,
    No sacrifice too great can be
    For me; a mortal man, to make;
    I'll do it all for Jesus' sake.

    Yes, I will tread the path He trod,
    No other way will please my God,
    So, henceforth, this my choice shall be,
    My choice for all eternity.

- William McChesney, from the poem "My Choice"

     My mind is made up. My heart is fixed. I'm following Jesus all the way home.

- The Wisdom Seeker

     This post is dedicated to Uncle and Aunty Ambrose, my brothers and sisters at Youth In Action whom God used to sow the seeds of the Gospel in my heart many years ago, and to Nibin Oomen and Nisha Susan Philip who have followed Jesus all the way these many years at great personal cost and suffering for the sake of His name and glory.