Imbakan ng Kaalaman at Karunungan

“na sa kanya nakatago ang lahat ng mga kayamanan ng karunungan at kaalaman.” 

Colosas 2:3 (AB 2001)

Ayon sa mga ulat ng Matandang Tipan, si Haring Solomon ay may taglay na pambihirang kaalaman at karunungan. Siya ay naging bantog dahil dito kaya naman may mga taong naglalakbay mula sa malalayong lupain upang mapakinggan lamang ang lalim at lawak ng kaalaman at karunungan ni Haring Solomon. Ang mga hari mula sa malalayong mga bansa ay nagpapadala ng kanilang mga kinatawan upan dumalaw sa tanyag na hari ng Israel.

Ang mga nagsisidalaw ay mga pagano. Napakaliit ng kanilang kaalaman tungkol sa Tunay at Nag-iisang Diyos ngunit sa kabila nito ay mayroon silang mataas na pagpapahalaga sa kaalaman at karunungan. Ito ay patunay na sa kaibuturan ng bawat puso, alam ng lahat na ang pagtataglay ng kaalaman at karunungan ay kaibig-ibig.

Ang nasusulat sa Colosas 2:3, kay Cristo “nakatago ang lahat ng mga kayamanan ng karunungan at kaalaman.” Si Cristo ang imbakan. Siya ang kamalig. Ang problema ng makasalanang sangkatauhan ay kung saan-saan sila lumalapit upang magtamo ng kaalaman at karunungan ngunit lumalayo naman sa imbakan. Lumalayo sila sa kamalig. Ang Reyna ng Timog ay naglakbay mula dulo ng daigdig upang mapakinggan lamang si Haring Solomon samantalang ayaw lumapit ng mga tao kay Jesus na higit kay Solomon. (Luke 11:31)

Mga kapatid, maaaring hindi tayo matalino at marunong ayon sa pamantayan ng sanlibutan. Maaaring hindi ganun kataas ang ating pinag-aralan. Ngunit kung ikaw ay nakay Cristo, ang imbakan ay bukas. Ang kamalig ay bukas. Sa pagtuturo at paggabay ng Banal na Espiritu, tayo ay nakikibahagi sa kaalaman at karunungan ng Diyos.

☠️ Pura Luka's Ama Namin, Paris Olympics' Last Supper, and the Concept of Deathworks

This post is a follow-up to what has been built in yesterday's post: radical changes are taking place not just in the Western world but also in Philippine social imaginary. The proof we presented is how the public receives the statement "I am a woman trapped in a man's body." In 1987, it was used in the film Jack & Jill with the intent of making moviegoers laugh. Fast forward to 2024, the same declaration is now considered serious and sensible.

You have seen their blasphemous spoof attempts: Pura Luka on Ama Namin and the Paris Olympics organizers on the Last Supper. Maybe you were one of those who protested in righteous indignation. I think we have not seen anything yet. The worst is yet to come. 

Any society moving towards secularization must use the arts to change the public social imaginary. Only a few read the theories of the philosophers. The greater number of people are changed through the arts. Only a few Filipinos were directly exposed to the writings of Jean Jaques Rousseau but a decade and a half of Vice Ganda on Philippine TV reached saturated the hearts and minds of many. Only a few could could grasp the ideas of David Hume but everyone who listened to Gloc-9's Sirena understood what he was saying. 

The power of arts in changing the moral structure of the society is taken to a higher level in Philip Rieff's (1922-2006) concept of "Deathworks". What is a "deathwork"? It is a work of art that assaults the objects of admiration of established cultures. Assaulting the Lord's Prayer (Ama Namin) is one example. The same is true in assaulting the Last Supper.

In his book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Crossway, 2020), Carl R. Trueman explains:

 ❝deathworks are powerful because they are an important factor in changing the ethos of society, of altering that social imaginary with which, and according to which, we live our lives. Deathworks make the old values look ridiculous. They represent not so much arguments against the old order as subversions of it. They aim at changing the aesthetic tastes and sympathies of society so as to undermine the commands on which that society was based.❞

Jack & Jill and Social Imaginary

 

After reading Carl Trueman's The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Crossway, 2020) and listening to a few of his lectures and interviews, this is how I understand Charles Taylor's concept of "social imaginary" at the moment.

Social imaginary is the way ordinary people "imagine" the world. This is often not expressed in theoretical terms. It is acquired less likely by deep thinking over ideas but mostly by sharing in the collective intuitions of the crowd. It is carried largely in visual arts, stories, movies, music, etc.

Theories are often in the possession of a small minority (a few intellectual elites). In contrast, social imaginary is shared by the society's majority if not the whole of it. It dictates what practices in the society are acceptable and which ones are unacceptable. It is the way we as a society look at the world, make sense of the world, and make sense of our behavior within it.

Let's take this statement as an example: "I am a woman trapped in a man's body." I first heard the statement as a small kid in the late 1980s from the character of Jill in the movie Jack & Jill (portrayed by Sharon Cuneta and Herbert Bautista respectively). It was a comedy film. It was intended to make moviegoers laugh. The fact that the statement is now considered serious and sensible indicates that in a short period of time, radical shifts are taking place not just in the Western world but in the Filipino social imaginary as well.

Ang Diyos na Maawain

PASSAGE: 2 SAMUEL 24:14

Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

Malalim ang unawa ni Haring David tungkol sa pagkamahabagin ng Panginoon. Ang pangungusap na ating binasa ay sinambit ni David noong siya ay pinapapili kung anong parusa ang gusto niya. Parusa dahil malaki ang pagkakasala niya sa pagsasagawa ng isang unauthorized census. Ang mga pagpipiliang parusa ay ang mga sumusunod:

• A. Tatlong taong taggutom sa buong lupain.

• B. Tatlong buwan na siya ay hahabol-habulin ng kanyang mga kaaway.

• C. Tatlong araw ng salot na ikakamatay ng marami sa buong kaharian.

Pili na David. Pili na!

Labis na nabalisa si Haring David sa pagpili ngunit sa huli ay tinanggihan niya ang pangalawang parusa. Mas ninais niya na magdusa sa kamay ng Panginoon keysa sa kamay ng mga kaaway. Bakit? Dahil unawa niya na masakit man magparusa ang Panginoon, taglay pa rin niya ang katangiang pagkamahabagin. Mayamang habag. Saganang awa. Isang bagay na hindi mo masasabi tungkol sa sinumang tao.

70,000 ang namatay mula Dan hanggang Beersheba, at noong susunod na sana ang lungsod ng Jerusalem ay napatunayang hindi nagkamali sa pagpili si David. Sabi ng Panginoon, “Tama na. Sapat na ang parusang iyon.” Ipinamalas nga ng Diyos na siya ay maawain sa isang bayang karapat dapat sa parusa.

Sa mga mananampalatayang dumaranas ng sari-saring pighati, ang paalala ni Pablo sa atin ay ang ating Ama sa langit ay “Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). Ang kanyang trono na ating nilalapitan sa tuwing tayo ay nananalangin ay tinatawag na “throne of grace” at ang mga nagsisilapit ay tumatanggap ng awa at nakakasumpong ng grasya sa oras ng pangangailangan (Heb. 4:16).

Higit sa lahat, ang pagkamaawain ng Diyos ang siyang nagdala ng kaligtasan sa bawat mananampalataya. Ayon sa Titus 3:5, tayo ay kanyang iniligtas hindi dahil sa ating mabubuting gawa. Hindi ito dahil sa ating pagiging matuwid. Bagkus tayo ay kanyang iniligtas ayon sa kanyang awa.

God is Love; God is Just

 

PASSAGE: Romans 3:25 ESV

[Jesus Christ] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Let me begin this exhortation by reminding us of two things about God:

• First, God is love and so he doesn’t want anyone to perish.

• Second, God is just and justice demands that penalty for every sin.

Since God is just, it is but right that he should be wrathful against sin. But to save his people whom he loves he gave his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus shed blood and gave his life— he died on the cross to provide what? “Propitiation”. This word basically means a sacrifice that turns wrath into favor.

Why did God do this? The second half of the verse says that is is meant to show that God is righteous. For in the ages past particularly in the Old Testament times, God in his forbearance just passed over sins. But how could a just God ignore sins? How could he be righteous if he allows sins to go unpunished? Is he like a trial court judge paying lip service to justice then acquits the wrongdoers? Of course not!

The penalty for sin has been paid for, but it is God himself who provided the payment for sin. He sent his Son Jesus, the Sinless One, to take upon himself all the punishment that the sins of his people deserve.

• God is love; it is proven at the cross.

• God is just; also proven at the cross.

It is for these proven truths that we could altogether sing:

Because the sinless Savior died

My sinful soul is counted free

For God the Just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me (2X)

(~Before the Throne Above)

Takbo pa, kapatid, takbo! (Hebreo 12:1-3)

 

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Ang mga unang pinadalhan ng Aklat ng Hebreo ay mga mananampalataya na hirap na hirap na. Dahil sa pananampalataya kay Hesus, ang ilan sa kanila ay nabilanggo. Dahil sa pananampalataya kay Hesus, ang ilan sa kanilang mga pag-aari ay sinamsam. Dahil sa pananampalataya kay Hesus, sari-saring anyo ng pag-uusig ang kanilang naranasan. Sila ay sususko na. Malapit na nilang talikuran si Hesus at bumalik na lamang sa dating relihiyon na Judaismo.

Sa Banal na Nasusulat na ating binasa, sila ay hinihikayat ng manunulat na magtiis at magpakatatag. Sila ay binibigyan ng pampalakas-loob upang tapusin ang mahabang marathon upang sila ay mangagsitakbo hanggang sa dulo.

Sa Kabanata 11 ay binanggit ang mga naunang mananakbo na nagsisilbing mga halimbawa ng pagtitiis at pagpapakatatag sa pananampalataya sa kabila ng lahat ng hirap tulad ni Abraham, Moises, at marami pang iba.

Sila ay dapat nating tularan sa pamamagitan ng pagsasantabi ng lahat ng mga pabigat na pumipigil sa atin upang sila ay makatakbo ng matulin. Sila ay hinihikayat na iwaksi ang lahat ng mga kasalanang kumakapit at pumupulupot sa mga mananakbo (12:1).

Sa ikalawang taludtod ay ang panghihikayat na ituon ang paningin kay Hesus. Siya ang pinakadakilang halimbawa ng pagtitiis at pagpapakatatag. Hindi niya inalintana ang hirap at kahihiyan ng kamatayan sa krus dahil alam niyang kasunod nito ay ang kagalakan ng kaluwalhatian ng pag-upo sa kanan ng trono ng Ama.

Gayundin ay totoo sa bawat nagtitiis at nagpapakatatag sa pananampalataya: may kagalakang naghihintay sa dulo ng marathon.

Mga kapatid, ang mga pag-uusig at iba pang mga hirap na dinaranas ninyo ngayon ay hindi na bago. Pinagdaanan na ng mga sinaunang mananampalataya ang mga ‘yan. Ang mga bagay-bagay na nagdudulot ng panghihina at panlulupaypay ng inyong pananampalataya ay naranasan na ng mga nauna sa atin. Kaya naman ang salita ng Diyos sa kanila ay siya rin namang salita ng Diyos para sa atin. Tanggalin ang lahat ng mga pabigat na pumupulupot sa atin upang walang hadlang sa ating pagtakbo. Tularan ang mga unang mananakbo. Ituon ang paningin sa halimbawang ipinakita ni Hesus sa krus.

Takbo pa, kapatid, takbo! Sa dulo ng marathon ay may kagalakang naghihintay para sa iyo. Magpatuloy sa pananampalataya! Magpatuloy sa paglilingkod! Magpatuloy sa pagsamba!

Ultimate Beauty (Psalm 27:4)

Ultimate beauty is spiritual, not physical. In saying this, I am in no way denying the presence of beauty in the physical world. We can all testify to the breath-taking pleasure we felt upon beholding the physical creation: the moon and the stars. The sunrise. The sunset. The meeting of the sand and the waves in the beach. The mountains, the birds, the trees, and the flowers. Its not hard to find here a husband who is willing to testify of how he was mesmerized by the physical beauty of the woman he married.

The statement “Ultimate beauty is spiritual, not physical” is grounded on the truth that God is a spirit and he is incorporeal— he has no body and he is not composed of matter. Though God has no body and is not composed of matter, God is the most beautiful of all. He is not only the most beautiful of all; he possesses all beauty and excellency in infinite measure. And there’s more: as the Creator and Sustainer, he is the source of all beauty that could be found in the created order. If something could be rightly called beautiful, it is because God gave such beauty.

At the incarnation, the Son of God who was without body and uncomposed of matter took upon himself a human body. We can name multiple reasons for the incarnation but surely one of the central reasons is that he may be offered on the cross as a sacrifice. Yes, he who is infinitely beautiful was given a body so he could be pierced, wounded, crushed and murdered. Through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the elect were made holy once for all (Hebrews 10:10).

How then shall we respond? We can respond by being vocal in our appreciation of the beauty of the gospel in songs and in conversations. As we do so, we make our feet beautiful as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15). We can respond by resolving in our lives and songs that we will not trade the adoration of the ultimate beauty to lesser beauties.

Come let us rise and worship him who is ultimately beautiful.

Authentic Christian Ministry in the Light of Christ's Sacrificial Love (2 Cor. 5:14-15)

 

from the free stock images of Pexels

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV)

Generally speaking, there are motivations behind the things we do or why we are acting and behaving in a particular way.

• One young man may have the reputation of being a pugnacious drunkard who gets into trouble daily. Yet after marriage and having three kids, the man becomes a hardworking father who is consumed with the motivation of putting food on the dining table and saving money for the future of his family. 

• An underdog athlete’s daily grind in the gym motivated by proving the odds wrong.

• Your neighbor who seldom greets anyone or smiles at anyone suddenly reverses his ways as the election day for Barangay officials draw near. 

• Law enforcers know this very well that when they are investigating a murder case, one of the important questions they ask is “Who has a probable motive behind the murder?”

Fellow worker, what is the chief motivation behind your service to the Lord? I am asking this question because not all motives behind outward acts of piety are good. There are those who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain (1 Tim. 6:5). Even preachers with the right message could proclaim Christ out of envy and rivalry (Phil. 1:15).

There is some complexity in 2 Corinthians but what we can say at the very least for the purpose of this post is that in Corinth there were false apostles who were offering a form of ministry which was very different from how Paul ministered. They peddled the word of God for profit (2 Cor. 2:17). They did “ministry” through secret and shameful ways like the use of deception and distorting the word of God (2 Cor. 4:2). They presented themselves as “super-apostles” displaying excellence in public speaking (2 Cor. 11:5-6). Nearer to our passage is 2 Cor. 5:12: they take pride in the externals rather than what is internal. They put premium on outward appearance and not what is in the heart. So much of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians is a defense of authentic ministry. In our day and age counterfeit ways of doing ministry are still rampant. For this reason, the lessons on authentic ministry in 2 Corinthians are still relevant.

In the verse that immediately precede our passage (see verse 13), we can see that Paul’s ministry is characterized by a devotion to God and a concern for people. This is the last unit of thought that the apostle connects with our passage with the coordinating conjunction gar (“For”, ESV). In this context, the conjunction provides the “ground” <1>  (or the foundation) of this God-centered and people-oriented ministry. This leads us to the first of the three headings.

1.   The Sacrificial Love of Christ: The Controlling Motivation for Authentic Christian Ministry

“For the love of Christ controls us,” (v.14). This is the ground, the foundation, the controlling motivation for authentic Christian ministry. There are two options on what “the love of Christ” means. The first option is to take it as an objective genitive. In this case, Christ is the receiver of our love. The other option, which I think is the right option is to take it is as a subjective genitive—that is Christ is the giver of this love and we are the receivers. The reason why I think this is the correct option is because in context, what is being emphasized is the sacrificial love of Christ manifested in his dying in behalf of his people.

This love, the Apostle asserts, “controls us”. This word sunecho in Greek, like any other word, has different shades of meaning depending on the context. I think Louw & Nida’s lexicon’s hint on this particular verse is very helpful: “in 2 Cor 5.14 'Christ's love controls us' may be rendered as 'the fact that Christ loves us causes us to act as we do.'”<2>  In other words, Paul and his associates do ministry in a God-centered and people-oriented way because the love of Christ causes them to do ministry that way.

If there is something I would like to add with the useful hint in Louw & Nida’s lexicon, it is the seeming weakness of the word “causes”. It seems to me that the definition should be stronger in the light of how the different translations render it: “controls” (ESV), “impels” (NABRE), “compels” (NIV), “constraineth” (KJV). These are all stronger words than merely communicating causation. Both the sense of “control and compulsion”<3> is carried here. The love of Christ holds control over us. It restrains us from doing certain things and compels us to do other things. The inclination of your carnal self is to go that direction, but the love of Christ stops you in your tracks and moves you toward the opposite direction. And the direction of a Christ-controlled ministry is toward the glory of God and the benefit of his people.

Yet we should not see this controlling power over us as something that is intrusive and oppressive. It is not something that violates our will. For the Apostle continues that this comes about by a conclusion we have made. It is a conviction burned deeply in the heart. We are fully convinced that this one Christ “has died for all, therefore all have died; is the one that died for all”. This brings us to the next heading.

2.   Our Union with Christ in His Death: Mystical Yet Real

What is being referred to here is that biblical doctrine we call Union with Christ. This could be defined as: “The sharing of believers in the life of Jesus Christ by faith, allowing them to share in all the benefits and riches that result from his person and work”<4> .  It has four different aspects::

•  We are in Christ
•  Christ is in us
• We are like Christ, and
• We are with Christ  <5>

All of these aspects have one thing in common: they are all mystical— a spiritual reality not apparent to the senses. Yet it is factual, it is real because the Bible says so. So real is this that when the believers are persecuted, Christ is also persecuted (Acts 9:4-5).

Back to our passage, Paul says that he is thoroughly convinced that in the death of one (Christ), all died (cf. Rom. 6:1-4). Another way of putting this is the phrase “dying to self” (Rom. 6:6). As we die to self, pride dies. The flesh dies. Insincerity dies. This explains why Paul does ministry very differently from the way of the false apostles in Corinth. They are still motivated by self-exaltation and self-promotion. No doubt the old Pharisee in Paul could have had stood toe-to-toe with their ways. But that old Pharisee in Paul is dead because Christ has died. Thus, the ministry of the New Paul is characterized by being God-centered and people-oriented. And these should characterize our ministries too.

We can view this clearer as we move into the final heading of the message.

3. Living for Christ: The Purpose of Our Union with Him in His Death

Here in verse 15, Paul repeats the proposition that Christ died for all. What is new here is that he adds a purpose clause: “so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.”

There are two ways to live. You either live for your own selfish desires or you live for the one who died for you. But the second way to live is available only for those who are in union with Christ in his death. We therefore cannot understate the importance of conversion and regeneration. Only God can convert a soul. Only God can regenerate a heart. There is no union with Christ without conversion and regeneration.

Since there are two ways to live, there are also two ways of doing ministry. These are in sharp contrast against each other. One way of doing ministry is for the self. It promotes self. It exalts self. Its focus is on the self. In contrast, biblical ministry promotes Christ. It exalts Christ. Its focus is on Christ for this is the very purpose of the death of Christ—so that the worker could no longer live for himself but for him who died for him. Elsewhere, Paul puts it this way: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20)

CONCLUSION

Close to 2,000 years after the Apostle Paul, the temptation to do ministry the wrong way has remained strong. It is a pitfall too attractive to the weak flesh. The call is to remain steadfast in practicing authentic Christian ministry. This is built on the sure foundation of Christ’s sacrificial love that has rendered us dead to the phony ways of doing ministry. Let this be the controlling power for everything we think and do both in life and ministry.

FOOTNOTES

<1> Fredrick Long, II Corinthians: A Handbook on the Greek Text (Baylor University Press, 2015)

<2> Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Nida; Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (United Bible Societies, 1996)

<3> George H. Guthrie; 2 Corinthians (BECNT, 2015)

<4> Dictionary of Bible Themes (Manser, McGrath, Packer, and Wiseman, editors)

<5> Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 2nd edition