Can you love Jesus and hate the Church?

There seems to be a growing trend of “Jesus loving, Church haters”. Those who are more interested in their own ‘individual personal growth with the Lord’ and wanting nothing to do with the church, the corporate body of Christ. Looking at the scandals, sexual abuse, money and power-hungry ministers, political, judgmental and hypocritical behavior of some in the church today; it is no wonder that the ‘Church’ itself has become to some a stumbling block to Christianity. Some have become offended, frustrated, disgusted and therefore decide that they want out of it. It has become all about the particular individual and his/her own experiences, opinions and judgments about the church rather than what God thinks and feels about her (the church).

Here’s the thing. Jesus loves the church and it is through the church that God’s redemptive story would continue. Ephesians 5:25 shows us how Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her just as how husbands are to love their wives. Ephesians 3:8-11 tells us that ‘through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places’ and that this was according to the eternal purpose of God realized in Christ Jesus. If you are a disciple of Jesus, you are automatically born and grafted into the church. There is no choice between Jesus and His Church. Christ is the one who has ‘built this church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Mat 16:18).

It is helpful to note that the church is not a building, not a weekly meeting and not the kingdom of God itself. The original Hebrew word ‘qahal or edhah’ meant a gathering, community or congregation of Israel. The Greek word ‘ekklesia’ means ‘called out ones’ while ‘kuriakon’ means ‘belonging to the Lord’. It is clear then that the church is a community of believers made up with people from every tribe and tongue. This means that there will be flesh and blood people in a physical location; and it’s this flesh and blood that most people have a problem with! Yet it is this local church that we get to practice being disciples, and what it really means for us to carry out Jesus’ new command: for us to love each other.

Japheth Chew

What is Justification, Sanctification and Glorification?

I once heard that those words were not meant to be understood and that all we need to know about our salvation is that Jesus loves us. True (in that Jesus does love us and that we may never fully understand the full extent of what each of those three words mean), but false, in a sense that in order to understand our 'salvation' it is crucial to know the elements of what salvation actually means. For the longest time ever I could not grasp the concept of how the three related to one another until I heard it mentioned this way. In a nutshell, we have been saved - Justification, we are being saved - Sanctification, and we will be saved - Glorification. 

Justification (We have been saved) - The finished work on the cross by Jesus (the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of our sins) meant that the price for our sins and guilt has been paid for. We are now justified before God the Father by faith in the redemptive work of His Son. (Rom 3:24-25, 5:1,9). This means we are now declared right before God (not because of our own righteousness but because of the righteousness of Jesus) and can now approach God in confidence, not in condemnation (Rom 8).

Sanctification (We are being saved) - The word sanctified in the New Testament means to separate or make holy for God. In a sense, we were sanctified the moment we were justified before God (we were made holy and set apart for God). However, it is clear that neither the word or the concept of sanctification are limited to the past tense. We find examples of believers 'being sanctified' (Heb 2:11, 10:14). Paul prayed that believers might be sanctified completely (1 Thess 5:23, Eph 5:26) and that our sanctification is found in 'abstaining from sexual immorality' (1 Thess 4:3). The reality is that we are living in a fallen and sinful world and must continue in the sanctification process to gain the imparted righteousness of Christ. When we sin, we must repent and put to death those deeds; we know that God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Glorification (We will be saved) - On the day that Jesus comes back to the earth, we are resurrected to meet Him in the air with our resurrected / glorified bodies and salvation is complete. Glorification is the completion of the salvation process and marks the completion of our sanctification. This is the blessed hope that Paul talks about in Titus 2:13; when Jesus appears in the sky and we finally get to be with Him where He is. 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 talk about the second coming of Christ and our consequent resurrection. This is our glorious hope and the reason we need to persevere until the end!! (Mat 24:13)

So Yes, all that does matter for starters is that Jesus loves you, but there's so much more to His love in His plan of salvation for us!

Japheth Chew

Has the Church replaced Israel?

Only until a little more than a year ago, I had never heard of the term, 'replacement theology' or bothered much about the topic of Israel. I had little to none understanding of the various Jewish feasts or anything Jewish for that matter. All I knew was that the topic of Israel was a sensitive one, and growing in an environment that was hostile (and still is) towards Israel, nobody talked much about it.

Don't get me wrong, I never considered myself anti-Semitic at all at any time in my life. I knew we were supposed to 'pray for the peace of Jerusalem' but that was as far as my theology towards Israel went. I enjoyed blowing the shofar, and the few video clips I had saw about Israel and Jewish feast did intrigue me, but it never had any impact in my life, or my faith, for that matter. In fact, something about 'Israel' and 'Jewish' sometimes seemed taboo or offensive somehow (I now realize that there is a spirit behind anti-semitism in just the way the world has hated the Jews and Israel from the very beginning). It was simply because I grew up in churches that never taught much about Israel, or how we should treat them. 

When I heard then about 'replacement theology', for the first time I realized how big this mess has become, that me, and many who I knew around me, succumbed to this theology; that the church has replaced Israel, that all the promises in the bible that were related to Israel is now for us (the gentile church), and no longer for Israel; that God was done with Israel. We believed that Israel was no different that the other nations and that He had now a new people, the gentile believers, the church, the New Man under the New Covenant. At the same time, ironically, whenever we read the curses and negative stuff regarding Israel, we put Israel back in the picture and believe that God is indeed punishing Israel. We take the good for ourselves and throw away the bad. Weird huh?

Here's the truth. God is not done with Israel and she plays an important role in the second coming of our Lord Jesus. Jesus Himself, (Yeshua) was Jewish and so were all the apostles including Paul.While certain practices (such as Mosaic legislation and temple worship) was replaced, the fact remains that the covenants with the nation of Israel and the plans for the land did not change. There are no 'two peoples' of God, but only one; as mentioned by Paul in Romans 11 who claimed, "Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew." Ephesians 2:15 (NLT) states that 'He made peace between the Jews and Gentiles by creating in Himself one new people from two groups." Gentile believers get to be grafted in into the Jewish tree, making that 'one new man'. God has a huge heart for His chosen people in these last days to come to Salvation and recognize that their savior has come. Would we partner with Him for the salvation of many Jewish souls in these last days to receive their King Jesus who will reign from Jerusalem in the Millennial?

Japheth Chew