Category Archives: Affinity Groups

Christian vs. Worldly Love

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:32-36)

by Jin Lee

It has been my experience that when people are good to me, it is so easy to treat them well and be good friends. I don’t mind going out of my way to help since I know that they will respond with appreciation and thankfulness. I really enjoy treating a friend to a meal or a nice gift because first we are called to serve but also selfishly, I enjoy receiving their thanks and seeing them happy. The people I have a difficult time with are those who expect things from me and those who just don’t show appreciation or thankfulness the way I expect or desire. God has been teaching me a lot lately in terms of giving and helping with no expectation of anything in return. He’s been showing me how even the giving or helping I do is tainted with my selfishness and once again proves that my “good deeds” are like filthy rags to God. I really love the above passage. In Luke 6:32 – 36, Jesus is teaching his disciples what it really means to love. If I love those who love me back, how is this different from the world? It really isn’t. Even the world loves those who love them. In the same way, if we do good to those who in return do good to us, how is this different from the world? The answer is there is no difference. True love comes when we are able to love those who hate us or do good to those who revile us. This is the love that Christ is talking about. The same way Christ loved me when I hated Him. The same way He was generous to me with His grace while I had no regard for Him. This is the love that Christ expects from me. I can try to do this on my own but eventually I will fail because this type of love is not sustainable on my own. However, this love can only come and be sustained when we plug into the power of God and ask Him to help.

It’s amazing how God continues to reveal to me just the darkness of my heart in the midst of my “good deeds.” It’s a true blessing to know that even with my darkened heart, God continues to love me. Let not my love be like the world’s. Let my love be like Christ’s.

One Another-ing

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. (1 John 2:10)

by Josh Liu

Loving one another is such a foundational characteristic and primary activity of a believer that those who do not love others show themselves to not abide in the light–that is, Jesus Christ. This is one theme the youth ministry seeks to emphasize.

Cesar preached on 1 John 2:7-11 for a Lumos Friday night Bible study in November. In a subsequent Bible study, he expounded on the theme of loving one another. He shared with us Tim Keller’s organization of the one another commands in the New Testament (from A Gospel Life: Grace Changes Everything):

Affirm

  • Affirm one another’s strengths, abilities, and gifts (cf. Rom. 12:10; James 5:9; Rom. 12:3-8)
  • Affirm one another’s equal importance in Christ (cf. Rom. 15:7; 1 Cor. 12:25; 1 Peter 5:5; James 2:1)
  • Affirm one another through visible affection (cf. Rom. 16:16; James 1:19; Eph. 4:32; 1 Thess. 3:12)

Share

  • Share one another’s space, goods, and time (cf. Rom. 12:10; 1 Peter 4:9; Gal. 6:10)
  • Share one another’s needs and problems (cf. Gal. 6:2; 1 Thess. 5:11; Heb. 3:13)
  • Share one another’s beliefs, thinking, and spirituality (cf. Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19; Rom. 12:16; 1 Cor. 1:10)

Serve

  • Serve one another through accountability (cf. James 5:16; Rom. 15:14; Eph. 4:35)
  • Serve one another through forgiveness and reconciliation (cf. Eph. 4:2; Col. 3:13; Gal. 5:25; James 4:11; Matt. 5:23-24; 18:15)
  • Serve one another’s interests rather than our own (Heb. 10:24; Rom. 15:1-2; Gal. 5:13)

It has been an incredibly challenging time in examining our lives through the lens of Scripture, particularly in measuring ourselves to these tests of love. It was my personal experience during my youth group years of struggling to love my family members. I fought a lot with my brothers and father. Refusing to love them, and in fact actively hating them, should have revealed that I did not abide in Christ. Yet I was blinded by my own sinful heart. Thankfully, by God’s grace, He revealed the depths of my sinfulness and my desperate need for Christ as my Lord and Savior. Only then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, did I begin to actively love, for I then knew the love of Christ through His life, death, and resurrection, reconciling me to the Father.

Our discussion time after the message during Bible study was encouraging. Some of the youth shared about areas that they struggled in and thoughts on what to do differently next time.

In the same way, I present this challenge to you: examine your life–your heart attitudes, thoughts, actions, speech, tone. Does it reveal one who abides in the light? Or, one who abides in darkness? Are you actively loving others to make God big? Or are you actively loving yourself to make you big? Prayerfully rate yourself in the above one-another’s that Keller summarizes.

As you do so, I suggest using the following from The Passion of Jesus Christ: Fifty Reasons Why He Came to Die…To Show the Wealth of God’s Love and Grace for Sinners, by John Piper, to reflect on Christ’s love for us.

One will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7-8)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7)

The measure of God’s love for us is shown by two things. One is the degree of his sacrifice in saving us from the penalty of our sin. The other is the degree of unworthiness that we had when he saved us.

We can hear the measure of his sacrifice in the words, “He gave his only son” (John 3:16). We also hear it in the word Christ. This is a name based on the Greek title Christos, or “Anointed One,” or “Messiah.” It is a term of great dignity. The Messiah was to be the King of Israel. He would conquer the he measure of God’s love for us is shown by two things. One is Romans and bring peace and security to Israel. Thus the person whom God sent to save sinners was his own divine Son, his only Son, and the Anointed King of Israel—indeed the king of the world (Isaiah 9:6-7).

When we add to this consideration the horrific death by crucifixion that Christ endured, it becomes clear that the sacrifice the Father and the Son made was indescribably great—even infinite, when you consider the distance between the divine and the human. But God chose to make this sacrifice to save us.

The measure of his love for us increases still more when we consider our unworthiness. “Perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8). We deserved divine punishment, not divine sacrifice.

I have heard it said, “God didn’t die for frogs. So he was responding to our value as humans.” This turns grace on its head. We are worse off than frogs. They have not sinned. They have not rebelled and treated God with the contempt of being inconsequential in their lives. God did not have to die for frogs. They aren’t bad enough. We are. Our debt is so great, only a divine sacrifice could pay it.

There is only one explanation for God’s sacrifice for us. It is not us. It is “the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). It is all free. It is not a response to our worth. It is the overflow of his infinite worth. In fact, that is what divine love is in the end: a passion to enthrall undeserving sinners, at great cost, with what will make us supremely happy forever, namely, his infinite beauty.

The Aseity of God

by Pastor Patrick Cho

This past week at Grace Life, we continued our series on the attributes of God. This week’s study was on the aseity (or independence) of God, and it was a wonderful time of fellowship and instruction. We encourage all of our married couples and parents to come out on Thursday evenings to join us for Bible study as we walk through this helpful series. The following is the “blurb” from this week’s study:

The aseity of God is the idea that the Lord is independent and self-sufficient. The term is derived from the Latin a se (“from himself”). The basis for this doctrine is found in several passages of Scripture that indicate that God is completely content and sufficient on His own such that He does not depend upon His creation. In Acts 17:24-25, Paul explains to the Athenians why God is unlike their false gods. Their gods needed their service, but our God is not “served by human hands, as though He needed anything.”

The very nature of God supports the idea of aseity. God exists because existence is a necessary part of His eternal nature just like we die because death is a necessary part of our finite and fallen nature. In this way, the Creator/creature distinction is emphasized because God is of a completely different nature as us. Consider this thought from Wayne Grudem:

The difference between God’s being and ours is more than the difference between the sun and a candle, more than the difference between the ocean and a raindrop, more than the difference between the arctic ice cap and a snowflake, more than the difference between the universe and the room we are sitting in: God’s being is qualitatively different. (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 162.)

God is thus existent in Himself and is not dependent upon any part of creation for His existence. Even if none of creation was ever made, God would not only still exist, but He would also be the same perfect God Scripture reveals Him to be. The name of God revealed to Moses sums up God’s aseity well: “I AM WHO I AM” (Exod. 3:14). Moses expresses the thought in the Psalms, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God” (Ps. 90:2).

The relationships of the Trinity also shed light on God’s aseity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have enjoyed perfect fellowship for all eternity. In John 17:5, Jesus prays, “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.” In other words, since eternity past, the Father and Son shared in perfect glory. Later in John 17:24, Jesus says, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” In other words, the Father and Son shared in a perfect love relationship before time began. For all of eternity past, God was perfectly happy, content, fulfilled, and sufficient in Himself through the relationships of the Trinity. There is nothing that created beings can offer that would possibly compare to what God enjoyed in Himself.

This attribute of God establishes an eternal Creator/creation distinction. The gods of the nations required man’s service and worship. Our God does not need us. He does not need our service. He does not need our worship. God does not need us to repay Him. We don’t give to God as if He needs us, and He certainly is not obligated then to repay us for our service. We serve the Lord out of gratitude and worship, but not because we’re doing God a favor. Wayne Grudem writes,

People have sometimes thought that God created human beings because he was lonely and needed fellowship with other persons. If this were true, it would certainly mean that God is not completely independent of creation. It would mean that God would need to create persons in order to be completely happy or completely fulfilled in his personal existence. (Ibid., 161.)

In light of all that is said about God’s aseity, this does not mean that God is impersonal or somehow does not want us. Consider the amazing truth that the Lord created men to have relationship with him even though it was not necessary. What motivated God’s free choice was His grace. And then consider that this sinful man sinned against Him and rebelled against His will, and yet God redeemed him. What an awesome testimony of God’s infinite, matchless grace especially in light of His aseity. God made us because of a choice of love, and it is not because He had to satisfy some deep need. It was His gracious choice by His divine free will to create man.

Tired Singles: Single Life Ministry Update

by Johnny Kim

With the start of this Fall season, I have the privilege of serving as the elder overseeing the Single Life ministry. Having been on the Single Life ministry staff years ago when I myself was single, I am excited to return to serving Single Life, this time joined by a ministry partner (my wife!). As I think about my own past experiences as a single adult and all the lessons learned that I could possibly share, one lesson about being single sticks out in particular because it seems I learned it only after getting married. Before I go any further (and before I risk getting into trouble with my aforementioned ministry partner), I can’t help but to say that I absolutely love my wife and being married in general. Though I would not trade marriage for any other life stage here on Earth, the one thing that marriage made me finally realize about singleness was just how precious singleness is.

Allow me to explain.

It just so happens that it’s the same lesson that the Apostle Paul was trying to teach the church at Corinth throughout 1 Corinthians 7. Throughout the chapter, we can see that Paul extols the virtues of being single as opposed to being married. Paul presents the simple and plain truth that, compared to their married counterparts, those who are single face less hindrances and concerns in the way of offering complete and undistracted devotion to the Lord. Opportunities for greater devotion to the Lord are definitely precious and no Christian, single or married, can deny that.

And yet, as single adults, we (I am also speaking for myself when I was single) can sometimes fail to see the preciousness of the single stage of life. We fail to see that our freedom as singles grants us a whole host of opportunities to serve Christ and His church; opportunities that would surely be harder to come by if we were married. Rather than celebrating singleness as a special stage of life, we can be prone to treating singleness as if it were an unnatural state. Some might even reduce this special stage to nothing more than a sort of waiting room in life where we sit around simply waiting for bigger and better things to come our way. Under the weight of those kinds of attitudes, devotion to the Lord is replaced by discontentment with our life and discontent singles then quickly grow tired of being single.

On the contrary, throughout 1 Corinthians 7, Paul paints a picture of singleness where the single person is not tired of being single, but more likely tired from being single. It’s the picture of a single person who without a wife or husband to be concerned about, is free to work wholeheartedly for God and His kingdom purposes. Without the various needs of a spouse vying for their time and attention, they are free then to devote all of their time and attention (and at all hours of the day) in service to God. The single person can completely tire themselves out in total devotion to the Lord without worrying that they will have nothing left of themselves to give to a waiting spouse at home.

Marriage is definitely a blessing from God as is singleness according to Paul. It is my desire that Single Life would be a ministry full of tired singles; singles who are absolutely tired and spent from being wholeheartedly devoted to serving God while in the single stage of life. In a society that offers singles plenty of other reasons to be tired, including the pursuit of career advancement, higher education, travels around the world, hobbies and the like, it is my hope that the Single Life ministry can be characterized by singles who are completely tired for the sake of Christ.

Singles, are you tired of being single or are you tired from being single?

Age of Opportunity: Chapter 1

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you…
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
(Proverbs 2:1, 5-6)

by Josh Liu

Proverbs and other portions of Scripture are wrought with examples of godly parental instruction to children. Parents, fathers in particular, are seen as significant spiritual influences in the lives of their children (cf. Deuteronomy 6:20; Ephesians 6:4). The youth ministry, then, seeks to support and build up the ministries of the parents. To better equip ourselves in partnering with the parents in the discipleship of their children, the youth staffers are going through Paul David Tripp’s Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens for the 2013-2014 academic year. We hope to better understand Scriptural precepts, principles, and examples of godly parenting in order that we might more faithfully minister to the families in Lumos.

In the opening chapter, Tripp confronts a familiar tension within parents: teenage hormones. He challenges that instead of viewing teens as victims of hormones or that parenting teens is a season of survival, it ought to be considered a golden age of parenting. What he means is that prior to these teen years when the parents’ role was mainly authoritative, now, these are unprecedented opportunities to engage with their children like never before. The seemingly mundane or trivial trials of adolescence are the opportunities for parents to “jump into the battle and move toward [their] teenager. It is a time for engagement, interaction, discussion, and committed relationship. This is not a time to let a teenager hide his doubts, fears, and failures, but a time to pursue, love, encourage, teach, forgive, confess, and accept” (Tripp, p. 23). Children going through adolescence are experiencing many new things and are beginning to process those experiences differently from pre-pubescence. Don’t misunderstand–parents of young children ought to be engaging, instructing, discussing, etc. but many parents of teenagers often fall into authoritarian parenting that exasperates their children, or relinquish their call to disciple their children and become disconnected with their children. Adolescence is a great opportunity not to be missed by parents, or by the church.

age of opportunity

Adolescence is also a great opportunity in the progressive sanctification of parents. Tripp makes the insightful observation that these teen years expose the parents’ heart; they reveal the parents’ desires, wishes, fears, and so on. A teenager does not radically change parents in an instant; rather, they often expose what was already in the heart. Tripp notes that our culture tries to avert parents’ responsibility by saying, “we need to come up with positive strategies of survival that preserve the sanity of the parents and the stability of the marriage, and that keep the teenager out of as much self-inflicted danger as possible” (Tripp, p. 18). This sounds great, but it distracts from a core issue: the parents’ hearts. Tripp concludes that “when parents begin to recognize, own, confess, and turn from their own wrong heart attitudes…the result is a marked difference in their relationship to their teen and in the way they view the struggles of the teen years” (p. 18). Adolescence is a great opportunity for parents (and the church) to mature and love Christ more.

In reflecting on all this, I was reminded that adolescence is a great opportunity for the teenagers themselves. Yes, these are formative years that build up to a particular way of life, but more so, these are significant years to shine the light of the gospel to those around them. I often challenge junior high and high school students who profess to know Christ as their Lord and Savior that they have an incredible opportunity to witness to their friends and family now. They get to see their classmates each day, often for a number of years if they continue going to the same school. They get to show their peers how one who loves and submits to Christ lives his life, responds to trials and temptations, invests his time, depends on Scripture, pursues peace and reconciliation, and so on. Adolescence is a great opportunity to evangelize and make disciples of Christ.

The youth staff and I are continually thankful for the privilege of participating in this particular time of the youth’s and parents’ lives. Indeed, this is a great age of opportunity. Please, pray.

Nursery Update

by Sandra Kim

The Nursery Ministry has always been such a blessing in my life in so many ways. Many years back, when we were cramped in a 10 x 10 room with 1 bin of toys and about 4 children, I relished in spending time with the youngest children of our church. It was fun to get to know them and their families as we supported one another to help the kids practice sharing, singing, and praying together.

As our children multiplied (Praise God!) our rooms moved, and buildings moved altogether, our focus on the children were the same. I took a break from serving in Nursery while my daughter Samantha had her turn to sing, read and play with her beloved Nursery teachers. Now that she has moved up to Sparklers, I get to come back to my smock and sing praise songs on the yellow rug.

Through all these transitions, God has reminded me of the importance in loving Him and loving his people. There are times when my arms were sore the whole day after serving in Nursery or I felt pressure to memorize “Rock of Ages” because one of the children only wanted to sing that song as he envisioned himself as Mr. Eugene Park and we had to sing along as he strummed the air popper toy as his air guitar, or take trips to the bathroom every 15 minutes to practice potty training with the kids. God can use all moments to remind us that we can worship Him as long as our hearts are focused on God. I have learned so much through my interactions with the babies, children and parents of our church. It is a joy each Sunday I get to serve, teach and minister alongside so many ladies. I learned and practiced how to change diapers and hold babies in Nursery and now I get to share my experience with the younger ladies in our ministry. I hope and pray that you too find a ministry you can share in the joy of serving and sharing in each other’s lives.

God Is Awesome

by Pastor Patrick Cho

The word “awesome” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “causing feelings of fear and wonder.” This is undoubtedly a fitting adjective to describe our God. To borrow from the old worship refrain, our God is an awesome God. What is desperately needed in the church today is a greater sense of God’s greatness and majesty. In order to preserve the idea that Jesus is our friend, we have adopted perhaps too casual of an attitude towards God. We treat Him like He is our buddy. This casual attitude is sometimes reflected in our prayers. We talk to God like He is anyone else. Of course, we can come to the Lord honestly and pray to Him candidly, but we would do well to remember that we are speaking with the God of the universe and of our lives.

This casual attitude also manifests itself in our casual approach to Sundays. Our worship services have adopted this casualness. People waltz into church consistently late. Even the way we dress is oftentimes embarrassingly casual. This isn’t to say that church should be stuffy or follow some rigid liturgy. But when someone walks into church on Sunday morning, there should be a sense of passing through a threshold into the presence of God.

One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Exodus 33:18-23 and 34:4-8. This is the account where Moses asks the Lord to show him His glory. God quickly reminded Moses that no one could see His face and live, but He accommodated His servant by promising to walk by and reveal His back. The next day, when Moses ascended Sinai, the Lord hid him in the cleft of a rock and passed by. As He passed by He proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

If Christians today could experience the brief encounter Moses had with the Lord on Sinai, perhaps they would be quick to respond the way Moses did immediately after his meeting. The text says, “And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped” (Exod. 34:8). Moses worshiped because this experience all the more helped him to understand what an awesome God he served. He knew it from what he was able to see, but perhaps he knew it more from what he was able to hear. God’s own words revealed to Moses who he was and what He was like.

Considering this, perhaps we have something much closer to Moses than we might have originally suspected. I would argue that we have something even greater in the Bible we possess. We enjoy the incalculable privilege of holding the completed revelation of God’s Word. Everything God has desired to communicate to us is perspicuously written in the Bible. Moses received a couple sentences, but we have received sixty-six books! Moses looked forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises. We get to live on this side of the cross and look back on much of what God fulfilled in Christ.

Living in such privileged position with our access to the God of the Scriptures, we would be remiss to ignore the incredible benefit afforded us. Shouldn’t we be doing all we can to gain more of Him, to know Him more and be more intimately acquainted with God our Savior? This year, our Grace Life family ministry will be walking through a study of God. Our hope is that through this time together we will develop a greater appreciation and deeper worship, that the thought of God would evoke in us feelings of fear and wonder!

Single Life Update

by Julia Chen

I’ve been coming to Lighthouse for about two years now, and it has been a tremendous blessing to be a part of this particular church family. I appreciate the elders for their commitment to preaching God’s Word, and the members for continually seeking to build each other up in Christ. It’s true that there are many joys in life that I can attribute to my “Christian lifestyle” — I belong to a wonderful church community, and I have purpose in life, just to name a couple. But what if, hypothetically, Jesus Christ has not risen? Would the benefits of Christianity, outside of eternal blessing, be enough? These are some of the questions that Alex Ko raised in his sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:19 entitled “Most to be Pitied.”

In the passage, Paul argues that if Christ has not risen, then Christians would, in fact, be the people most to be pitied. In order to reach this conclusion, we must consider the implications of the idea that the dead cannot arise. Paul’s logic goes something like this: If the dead cannot rise, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our faith is worthless, since Christianity revolves around the historical event of Christ’s resurrection. All believers would still be in their sins and would be condemned to eternal punishment because our hope in Christ goes only as far as this life.

So then why are Christians the most to be pitied? In Luke 9:23, Jesus says “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” This is not something to be taken lightly, but it is a complete and perpetual commitment. If we are to proclaim ourselves to be Christians, then we are to be Christ to the world, to bear His name. If Christ has not risen, then wouldn’t our natural response be to avoid suffering and seek out what’s best for us—YOLO, as it were? Conversely, we are called to live a life that is counter-cultural, to invest in heavenly rewards rather than pursue worldly pleasures.

As a young single adult living a relatively comfortable life in sunny San Diego, it’s easy to get lost in worldly pursuits. It’s not that the blessings in my life are bad; moreover, I need to remember the gospel, and my testimony—that I once hated God and was hopelessly lost in my sin. I need to take responsibility for my personal disobedience and acknowledge that it is only by God’s grace that I am saved. As Christians, we have all experienced God’s grace and have been set free by the glorious truth of Christ’s resurrection. Therefore, we should live in a way that reflects this. What we do in this life should bring us closer to God. We should be wholly dependent on our Sovereign Creator, and we should actively seek to glorify Him in all that we do. We are the most to be pitied if Christ has not risen because we have been called to the narrow path—and this is the path that we must strive towards—but we can find comfort in the fact that Christ is indeed risen, and that our hope in Him extends into eternity.