by Elder Peter Lim

In my previous article, I focused on the changes that occur in a Christian’s heart as he matures spiritually. Today I’d like to focus on changes that occur within Christian circles of friends. There are many different circumstances that lead Christians to decide whether to stay at the church of their childhood (physical or spiritual) or to move on to a new church. There are valid reasons for both. Unfortunately some people make decisions like this for invalid reasons as well. Either way, these scenarios will afford more mature Christians an opportunity to respond differently to these situations than a less mature one.

A sign of spiritual maturity is that changes in friendship occur deliberately for the purpose of maximizing God’s glory.

Here are some common scenarios:

Newcomers

Nobody likes changes when things are going well. In a healthy church situation, there will be close friendships as people share their lives with one another in mutual accountability and care. When new people visit, they come in search of a community of believers who will welcome them into their fellowship. A mature person knows this and will go out of his way to welcome new people into their circles. Eventually, the size of a group of close friends grows beyond the ability of the group to maintain their close ties and also welcome new people in. As a result, those circles will often change and a sense of closeness with the same group of people will be lost. This is good and appropriate because it’s done deliberately for the purpose of maximizing God’s glory.

Station in Life

Collegians often spend a lot of time with each other because they are often roommates with one another and they have common struggles as students. They may even have the same vacation schedule for Summer, Fall, and Spring breaks, enabling them to spend time with one another. As they transition to a working adult lifestyle, many old friendships change. Some start to get married and have children. Almost necessarily, friendships change depending on when children are born since the parents tend to gravitate toward their children’s age group. Station in life changes are obvious but my point in all of this is to remind all of us that just because the feelings of closeness with old friends may change over time, a mature Christian can understand and even deliberately make these changes for the sake of ministry to those who they are better suited for. Old friends are not lost. New ones are gained. Certainly the old friendships will be different due to less time being spent with them. Mature believers will have a heavenly perspective, knowing that to live is Christ. We will have an eternity not only to spend in the presence of Jesus but with old friends as well.

Church Plant

Perhaps nothing is as difficult or deliberate as the change in friendships that take place as a result of planting a new church. The ones who are most likely to leave are those same faithful servants who have been serving actively in key roles at the home church. These would be dear brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we have been developing close friendships with. Why would we put ourselves through this kind of sacrifice? For the sake of the gospel of course. Not many churches are committed to doing this however. That’s because it’s not easy to purposely send people away because the home church would be stronger with them than without them, and it’s not easy to purposely part ways with close friends. This would only make sense if one understands that God’s glory is at stake here. It takes a mature believer to think this way.

Of course these scenarios are just a sampling of the many changes that may take place in a person’s life. These changes are best dealt with by mature Christians because we will deliberately make changes in friendships for God’s glory. We will trust God with those changes that are difficult or painful. Have you deliberately made changes in friendships that result in less comfort/convenience for yourself but results in more glory for God? If so, that’s a sign that you are maturing in Christ.

by Elder Mike Chon

Many of you know that the vision of our church is to plant churches based on Acts 1:8. We took our first step in fulfilling this by planting a church up in San Jose about two years ago. Now we are in the beginning stages of planting another church up in the East Bay area south of Oakland. Hopefully we will be able to continue this vision of church planting as we plant one church after another. Of course none of this is possible without God. We are amazed at how gracious God has been to use inadequate people like ourselves to further His kingdom on this earth as He works in and through us. Therefore we are humbled by the fact that we are beginning to see this vision of church planting come to fruition with each new church being planted.

We also needed the help of our church members to not only support but actually go and be part of the initial church plant. It was amazing to have over twenty of our members commit themselves to move and be part of the church plant in San Jose. We have been tremendously blessed to see how God is using the church in San Jose to be a beacon of God’s truth and love. As we look to the future with the beginning of the church plant in East Bay and future church plants to come, I want to encourage us to continue to not only support church planting but to consider going and being part of this vision. We cannot assume that God only wants us in San Diego and that somehow this is the only place that we can live. Even though San Diego is America’s finest city, we must not look at our earthly lives as an opportunity to just grow old together, but instead use every opportunity for the gospel of Christ and that may mean that you would consider moving to another part of the country (or the world!) for that to be accomplished. I’m sure the early Christians would have liked to live near the Mediterranean Sea and soak in the sun but they understood the call to be ambassadors for Christ and to proclaim Christ and Him crucified to the rest of the world. I know some of us have dreams of staying in San Diego for the rest of our lives but the question you have to ask yourself is why.

• Why do you think you are at a church that teaches God’s Word so that you can grow in knowledge and wisdom?
• Why do you think you are at a church that seeks to love God and one another?
• Why do you think you are at a church that makes disciples of Christ?
• Why do you think you are at a church that desires to plant other churches?

Could it be that you are at this church to learn and grow so that you can take part in a future church plant? I hope and pray that you would consider going with a future church plant to be able to impart all that you have learned here to the next generation there.

At the same time, I understand that we do have valid reasons to stay. I don’t want to disregard those reasons but every time that an opportunity comes to plant another church, I would hope that each one of us would prayerfully consider going. Please don’t disregard these opportunities and think that it is for someone else in the church to consider. Please don’t use the reason that the church here in San Diego needs you to stay. Let me remind you that no one is actually asking you to stay. If anything we need people to go. Please don’t misunderstand me, I do miss those that have left but at the same time I know that there is a greater purpose for them to leave than to stay. As our churches in San Diego and San Jose are now seeing the start of the church in East Bay, I hope that we never grow tired of seeing another church planted because it is the work of God that we get the privilege to see and experience. It is exciting to see what God will do next in our ministry and in the life of our church. I would hope that as a church we never get used to where we are or what we are doing, but instead we would grow in our excitement for what God will do next in our midst. Please be prayerful now in considering how you will partake in the vision of our church and fulfill the mission and passion along the way.

by Elder Peter Lim

One of the more popular praise songs of the 1980s involved the words, “He’s changing me, my precious Jesus, I’m not the same person that I used to be…” People change. There are good changes and bad changes. Good changes are always a result of the gracious work of God in one’s life. Bad changes are always a manifestation of our own sinful tendencies and resistance to the Word of God.

• As a Christian matures, good changes include: sinning less, gaining in wisdom, learning more about God, increasing discernment, loving/caring more, etc.
• Unfortunately some people change in other ways which have less to do with maturity and more to do with passage of time: hearts become more hardened to certain sins, less tolerance of other people’s “issues”, decreasing excitement about evangelism and the gospel, and more cynical to receive teaching from men whom they used to respect.

I’m sure there are many more that you can think of. So why do some people change one way and others in another way?

I believe that the main difference in the way Christians change has to do with humility. This humility is produced by a growing awareness and hatred of one’s own sinfulness and a recognition that it is only by His amazing grace that He saved a wretch like me. Good changes occur in the heart. This affects all of life since the root cause of how one deals with changes is always related to the heart’s attitudes. A Christian’s heart can never “get over” the gospel since it is permanently changed as it is transformed from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. It is the one thing in life that remains constant (other than change itself): the Christian’s heart grows in its capability to love God and worship Him more wholeheartedly. One illustration of this is the way a husband and wife’s love for one another grows with the passage of time. I’ve always wondered how married couples can honestly say the phrase “I love you more today than yesterday… since that would be admitting that one didn’t love one’s spouse as much the previous day! Since I have been married now for almost 18 years, I have come to understand that my capacity to love my wife has grown, and therefore I can say that I love her more with each passing day. But it takes humility to admit that you weren’t always as capable as you are now.

As already mentioned, the heart sometimes changes in a bad way by becoming hardened due to prolonged exposure to and tolerance of sin. No wonder then that Paul warns against keeping “bad company” in 1 Cor. 15:33. On one hand, some Christians confuse the idea of befriending and caring for their non-Christian friends with keeping bad company with them. On the other hand, Jesus is sometimes incorrectly held up as an example of someone who “hung out” with sinners. Jesus didn’t spend casual, prolonged time with people who refused to recognize who He was. He was there with them for the purpose of rescuing them from damnation. A sign of maturity as a Christian is that our friendship with non-Christians is purposefully evangelistic because we have been permanently changed. That is, one key to not changing in a bad way is by behaving consistently and intentionally with whom we have become in Christ.

I’m sure that we all have friends who need to be saved; naturally we want to spend time with them. We will experience some conflict because those opportunities will compete for your attention with other opportunities, such as church activities. There is no definite right answer as to what we should do every time…but whatever we do must be done for His glory. And be careful that you are influencing them more than they are influencing you. I am not proposing that every encounter with a non-Christian friend must include a gospel presentation and a challenge to repent. However, the non-Christian friend should have a clear understanding that although we are both sinners, there is a fundamental difference between us, and that difference is Christ. If this difference is suppressed or minimized, our Christian testimony gets diluted. Compromising our message leads to compromising our values, which is the difference between being a light and salt to the world and being corrupted. Brothers and sisters, we must recognize this sign of spiritual maturity and care for the unsaved because their eternal lives are at stake. We must be vigilent in all areas of our lives, including “gray areas” which are not necessarily sinful, but are not necessarily wise either. Let’s remember to live gentle and sincere love for unbelievers, without being corrupted by their worldly values.

by Elder Mike Chon

As our Argentina team was preparing to leave , I was reflecting on all the missionaries that are currently doing the work of spreading the gospel to parts of this world that are unreached. I am so thankful for these missionaries that have committed themselves to go into another part of this world so that the gospel can be preached and that salvation would be offered to those that would have otherwise never heard. As I sit here in San Diego, my heart and prayers are with those that are preaching the gospel and even risking their earthly lives for the sake of Christ. I have read so many articles on missionaries either injured, severely tormented, or even killed because of sharing a message about our Lord Jesus Christ. These are ordinary men who have been called by God to do an extraordinary work of sharing the gospel throughout the world. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rom. 10:15)

When we talk about heroes, we usually think about those that are well known or have done something remarkable in this world. There have been very well known men and women who have done remarkable things for our God in the past and even currently. We should applaud these men and women for what they have done and be thankful to our God for using them in this way. But let us not forget to pray and also be thankful for the missionaries who quietly serve our Lord and may be the only light and ambassador for the gospel in that part of the world. They find themselves as lambs in the midst of wolves. They find themselves with limited resources and limited comforts. They find themselves tired, hungry and thirsty. They find themselves alone and secluded. They find themselves in danger and under constant persecution. They find themselves completely dependent on God. They find themselves empowered by the Holy Spirit. They find themselves understanding what it means to die to self. They find themselves rich even though poor. They find themselves understanding joy in times of trials. They find themselves praying unceasingly. They find themselves experiencing the comfort from the God of all comfort. They find themselves in the perfect will of God. These are the heroes who cannot be forgotten. These are the heroes who we need to be sharing with our friends, our spouses, our children so that they can have real heroes in this life. These are the heroes who we must pray for so that the work of spreading the gospel can reach those that have never heard. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rom. 10:15)

Take time to remember these missionaries and pray for them today. Even though we may never hear about them or even ever know them, they are the true heroes in this world. May our prayers be heard and felt by our fellow brothers as God works through and in them to do the work of the ministry, for “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send our laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)

by Elder Peter Lim

After having dealt with the prerequisite for Spiritual Maturity, we now move on to the phase of life that will consume all Christians until the day we die: Growing in the Lord. According to Gal. 1:15-18 , soon after Paul first saw the light, he went away to Arabia for three years. There is no scripture that tells us exactly how he spent those years but it’s not hard to guess what he did there. He no doubt went down and reflected how he had spent much of his life as an enemy of Christ. Perhaps he struggled with how he was the chief of sinners since he had blasphemed and violently persecuted Christians. How remorseful he must’ve felt! These thoughts would’ve led him to become even more aware of God’s abundant grace in his life and potentially in the lives of those he would reach with his message of the gospel. He would grow by studying the Old Testament and seeing Christ in passages which now held a much deeper meaning, knowing that his Messiah had come and even revealed Himself to one such as he. What wonderful times of meditation and growing! Did he experience fatigue? Did he experience laziness? Was he distracted by issues such as what to eat or how to entertain himself? Perhaps not in the same way that we might be tempted in today’s society but Paul was still a sinner so it stands to reason that he must’ve had struggles too. Was he confused why a redeemed person would struggle with sinful thoughts? If Romans 7 is any indication, I would say yes. But just as Paul’s conclusion of these thoughts in Romans 7:25 and 8:1 indicates, he celebrates the fact that thanks to Jesus, he doesn’t have to look forward to condemnation but rather a freedom from bondage to sin. What could be more fun and more joyous than this freedom?

When I was in college, I remember growing by leaps and bounds through the Biblical exposition of Scripture and through the living out of Christian love by my peers. I had been a Christian for a few years before this but I had never experienced growth like this. Oh what joy it was to experience the deepening understanding of God’s Word! But predictably, it was easy for a young Christian like me to grow in an unbalanced way. It was hard to understand why others didn’t grow as I did. It was easy to think too highly of myself and look down at others who didn’t seem to be as committed to the Lord as I was. While I was having these kind of thoughts, I still struggled with some desires to sin! How could this be, as I was growing in the Lord? Why would I be tempted by sinful thoughts and actions? I felt like a spiritual schizophrenic because on one hand I was really enjoying growing spiritually, but on the other hand I still struggled with sinful desires. So as Christians, it’s not like we lose complete touch with our sinful tendencies and are oblivious to hedonistic pleasures. Instead we agree with God’s definition of right and wrong, good and bad, and we make a conscious decision that not sinning is better than sinning because sin offends the holy character of God. So in this sense, we enjoy not-sinning more than sinning, because we want to be holy as He is holy.

Have you seen this milestone in your spiritual journey? Have you experienced the joy that comes with the realization that sin is hideous and holiness is fun? If your joy is hindered by the reality of sin in your life, the struggle itself is a good sign that you are growing. If you stop struggling and simply give in to sin, that’s the time to worry because that’s a sign that you are not really a Christian. As Christians grow, we sin less than we used to as we learn to walk closer with Christ. However, we feel worse about the fewer sins that remain since we understand God’s holiness better. So we sin less and feel worse. That’s the way it should be. When you recognize this in your life, that’s a sign that you are indeed maturing spiritually.

by Elder Mike Chon

Since the elections are coming up I thought I would write about the type of perspective believers should have regarding politics and the government. There is a saying that says “if you don’t want conflict, don’t talk about politics or religion.” Well, I’m going to talk about both. There was a time in the history of the United States, when most Americans would have acknowledged that marriage is between a man and a woman, where killing fetuses were wrong, when alternative lifestyles were frowned upon and premarital sex was taboo. Currently these same issues are either allowed by law or are accepted by our culture as the norm. What should our response be to a decline and even a rejection of morality and absolute truth in our society and culture? Unfortunately, many believers have invested time and money to form organizations to counteract this decline in our country using methods that are not found in Scripture, whether it is protesting with signs, forming barriers, yelling and screaming about the injustice, or even worse, using violence to get their message across. If anything, these groups have caused believers to become angry and even antagonistic toward those very people that we are called to love and share the gospel with.

So how are believers to respond to this decline in our society? Are we to remain silent? We have to remember that our battle is a spiritual battle and not a battle against our government to become more “Christian”. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” We are in a spiritual battle against those ideologies and worldviews that are against our God, and the weapon that we use is the Word of God. I am not saying that we ignore what is happening around us. We should vote for things that are honorable and be supportive of those things that are good. We should grieve over the decline of our country in its morality and beliefs. We should stand up and speak up when God is being ridiculed or misrepresented and give a defense for the veracity of God’s Word. At the same we need to realize that the goal is not for our country to become more “Christian-like” but instead it is to share the gospel. We cannot get so caught up trying to change the government and forget or lose the time and energy that should be used in saving souls with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When we live in a world that is constantly changing for the worse, believers can’t be using all their time and energy reacting and trying to change laws or advocating for social causes. We must keep our focus on the mission of the church to share the gospel and make disciples of Christ through the faithful preaching of God’s Word and godly living. If we begin to devote time and energy to anything else it will weaken the mission of the church. Now there is nothing wrong getting involved in politics or social reform but you must ask yourself: are we in the world to conform it to some moral standard, or we are here to evangelize the lost so save people from the eternal condemnation, one person at a time, to God’ glory alone?

by Elder Peter Lim

For the first real article in this series (as opposed to the introduction), I wanted to get us all on the same page with respect to the only real prerequisite for spiritual maturity by stating the obvious: one must be genuinely a Christian before one can truly recognize the signs of spiritual maturity. This point can’t be emphasized enough. Even if you’ve been going to church all your life, please examine yourself to see if you are truly a Christian. If you are feeling offended that your Christianity is being questioned, that’s one indication that you are not really one. Instead of taking offense, a true Christian would take it as an opportunity to reflect back on how sinful we are, and how God has rescued us out of our impending doom. We would be overwhelmed with gratitude, and any offense we would feel from a fellow sinner questioning our faith (or in any other situation) would pale in comparison to our offense before a holy God. This is why I would doubt the genuineness of salvation of anyone who is unwilling to forgive a fellow sinner. But that’s a topic of discussion for another day.

The first point of our examination is whether we recognize that each of us is a sinner. Sin is not merely “bad” things we do nor just mistakes that we make. It’s a condition of our heart that condemns all of us and renders us helpless to save ourselves. It’s easy to acknowledge that we made a mistake because after all, everyone makes mistakes. It’s not so easy to acknowledge that we have actually sinned against God because that’s who we are to the core. The actions that result from our condition (what most people call sin) give us a clue as to what we are truly like inside. Unfortunately, some who grow up going to church all their lives sometimes take the gospel for granted and never really come to a deep understanding of the depravity of their own sins. They do not feel excruciating remorse over their own sins but often dismiss their sins as something that just “happens” as it does to everyone else in the world. They give a tacit acknowledgement about the grace of God as if their mental acknowledgement is what saves them. Knowledge of our sinfulness in combination with an understanding of God’s holiness (sinlessness) helps us to understand that the penalty for sin (death) makes sense. So do you recognize your own sinfulness as something that is extremely offensive to God and not merely a bad thing that you’ve done?

The next point of our examination is to understand that this penalty for our sin has been paid by the only one who could’ve paid it for us. The death of Jesus Christ is the total fulfillment of God’s promise to us that “You will surely die” way back in Genesis. This promise can be fulfilled in people in one of two ways: by our death, or by the death of Jesus Christ. In either case, God’s wrath is satisfied. I’d rather accept the death of Christ for payment on my behalf rather than face judgement in my own death, wouldn’t you? It is this acceptance of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement which we call “conversion.” Now that we understand that the penalty of our sins was paid for, it naturally causes us to want to obey our loving God instead of sinning. The more we mature spiritually, the more we would want to please Him in all aspects of our lives instead of merely trying to avoid sin.

This last point of our examination, spiritual maturity, is the topic of study that I’d like to focus on for the next several months as I bring up several milestones in a Christian’s life. These markers will not come up in the same order for everyone. I hope and pray that you will recognize many if not all of these markers in your life. If you don’t, I hope you look forward to meeting them in your not-too-distant future. I have to warn you though, some of them won’t feel pleasant initially, at least in a humanly sense. There may even be some discouragements along the way and perhaps even some doubting as to whether you are truly saved in the first place. These are good struggles because they will result in clarity in growth or clarity in rejection of the gospel. Incredibly, the latter is a preferred state than someone who is self-deceived into thinking that he is saved. (Rev. 3:15) This is because then he clearly understands that it is his rejection of the gospel and denial of what Christ has done for him that will ultimately condemn, unlike those who are self-deceived, merely playing religious games. Friend, I don’t want you to be one of these. Please repent from your sins and let’s move forward toward the Light together while we encourage one another. Let’s all help, pursue peace, and love one another. A local assembly of us, committed to each other and to God is what we call church, and it’s a whole lot of fun.

by Elder Mike Chon

As a physical therapist I have come across many people that are regarded as brilliant in their respective specialties. Whether they are doctors, chiropractors, or other physical therapists there has always been a handful of individuals whom the rest of their colleagues respect for their wisdom and forward thinking that continues to change health care. In one respect I can appreciate the hard work and diligence that these individuals have devoted to their particular area of expertise in an effort to improve the livelihood of the patients that come to them. But at the same time I cannot get over the fact that no matter how innovative they are or how much effort they may devote to medicine or therapy, one thing no one can change is the fact that every person in this world will one day die.

No matter how brilliant a doctor might be, they cannot change the fact that the human race is infected with sin and the consequence of that is death. There is no cure, there is no surgery, there is no pill, there is no therapy that can remove sin and the inevitable consequence of death. This is where we see the infinite wisdom of God, who before the foundation of the world decided on how man can be made righteous before God. The only way was for Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God, to have to die on behalf of sinners. The one that knew no sin had to become sin on our behalf. There is no human mind that could have ever thought of such an answer to the problem of sin that inflicts every individual in this world and thereby having an answer to the problem of death. There is no other way that man could save themselves, but only could be saved by the blood of Christ. As I meet patient after patient complain about all their pain and physical ailments, I am reminded of the effects of sin each and every day. I am reminded that pain is the grace of God that allows us to feel the effects of sin and to help us realize the need for our Savior. It reminds me that for those that do not know Christ that this world with all its pain will be the only heaven that they will ever know. It reminds me to never forget the infinite wisdom of God in saving sinful men through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

For those that continue to mock the foolishness of the gospel need to point their finger back at themselves. The wisdom of man will one day show itself for the foolishness it truly is. I can appreciate the great minds that God has given to this world, but I can’t help but feel compassion to those that do not know Christ. In all their efforts to make this world a better place and to seek the applause of men they will not be any closer to an answer to sin or death than they were when they first began. In this world they were esteemed, but in the world to come they will be made fools for rejecting our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

by Elder Peter Lim

Growing as a Christian is one of the great joys of a Christian’s life. Understanding that we were dead in our sins in which we formerly walked, it ought to be expected that redeemed people would live differently than the world does (Eph. 2). This makes a lot of sense because we are now alive in Christ and no longer slaves to sin. Many non-Christians do not want to become a Christian because it would mean giving up the lifestyle that they want to hold on to so dearly. They understand that if they believe in Christ, their lives will change. In other words, change is expected.

In every Christian’s journey, there are certain signs or indicators by which one can measure progress in our spiritual maturity. This is important because it gives us encouragement that the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. This encouragement lets us know that despite our sinful flesh, God is at work in us (Phil. 1:6). As we grow closer to Christ, we find that more and more of our sins are exposed. Initially we may feel embarrassed or upset and we may even try to shoot the messenger by whom our sins are exposed. But those feelings should quickly turn into recognition that God is at work in our lives. If you never experience this exposure of sins, it could be that you are avoiding fellowship with brothers and sisters and are content to live the life you are living without growing. Then there is no wonder that you are not maturing in Christ. Though you ought to be teachers, are you in need of milk instead of solid food (Heb. 5:12)?

These thoughts lead to a new series that I’m starting here on the Beacon: Signs of Spiritual Maturity. It will be a many-part series on the different ways in which we can measure our progress in becoming more spiritually mature. Believe you me that I haven’t achieved some sort of plateau at which I can look back at where everyone else is. I write these things as one who is in the marathon race alongside you as a fellow runner. But as someone who is on the older end (at least at our church) I hope to encourage you to continue running by pointing out the various milestones that mark our progress together. I am confident that I will recognize even more markers as the years go by because God is the one who is causing the growth. I hope you are looking forward to reading a new article every four weeks on the different Signs of Spiritual Maturity. I know I am looking forward to writing them!

by Stephen Rodgers

This is the hub post for Elder Mike Chon’s five-part series on lessons from a child’s heart. From this page, you can easily find and refer to all posts in this series.

All posts in the Lessons from a Child’s Heart series:

• Sin of Complaining
• Unashamed
• Quick to Forgive
• The Awe of God
• Passion