ray choi

Christian husband, father of 3 and bi-vocational pastor

Col 1 – Two Reasons to be Thankful (pt3 of 3)

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Why would Jesus create angels knowing that some of them would fall and constitute the thrones and dominions and rulers and authorities led ultimately by a fallen angel known as Satan? Why would He create man, knowing that we would fall at the hands of Satan whom He created in the first place?

Take any great novel like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If there were no Fall, no ring, no Gollum, no Uruk-hai, no Sauron, no Mordor, then the story would be rather boring. You would have Frodo and Sam frolicking in the fields, happy go lucky. Eating that stale bread like thingy. But a great story has a protagonist and an antagonist and there are points along the journey when it seems like the villain is going to win and the hero is going to lose because evil vastly outnumbers the minority who are on the side of good. How glorious it is at the end when the climax of the story is reached and despite overwhelming odds, good triumphs over evil miraculously.

When this world was created, God’s intention was that we would enjoy God’s goodness in the Garden, but the God who created us with free will gave us the freedom to live for Him or to live for ourselves. And we chose evil and with that choice, all hell broke loose on earth. Ever since, it has been a spiritual battle.

If we stop here, we might not be inclined to thank God. Because sure, God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit created us and they gave us free will, but look at the mess we’ve made. There is not much to give thanks for. But the good news is that this is not the end of the story.

Col 1
17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.

Jesus is before all things. He is the Word and this Word was with God from the beginning and this Word was God. Jesus was the agent of creation.

2) I am thankful because Jesus not only created us, but He sustains us.

Jesus is the agent of creation. He created the heavens and the earth. He created angels knowing that they would become corrupted by sin. He created man knowing full well that we would be tempted by Satan and fall into sin. What this verse teaches us is that Jesus is not an aloof, uncaring, powerless God.

Jesus is not aloof. He didn’t just create and say, good luck! You’re on your own. Call me if you need me. Jesus cares. Rom 8 – Scripture tells us that right now, Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for the saints, for his children, for you and me. He’s praying for you. He sustains. The fact that you and I have breath in your lungs is because Jesus allows it.

God is not powerless. He didn’t create us and then leave us be and forget about us and then one day he tuned into the Earth channel and discovered that Adam and Eve fell into sin. The Fall in Genesis 3 didn’t catch God off-guard. He didn’t see Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and say, oh, no, Jesus, Holy Spirit, come here. We have an emergency. Let’s do a holy huddle and figure out what to do. No, he created us knowing we would fall, knowing full well what kind of mess we would make of our lives. Jesus knew we would open Pandora’s box and allow the demons to reign on earth.

But the good news is that our Creator is our Sustainer. By Him, by Jesus, all things hold together. He holds ALL things together. Not some of the things. Not only the parts that listen to Him. He holds all things together. Even the rebels. He keeps the demons at bay from utterly destroying His children and leading us to eternal separation from God. He is holding the universe together because He wants to give you and me more time to respond to Jesus. To repent and turn from our sin and turn toward Christ and to place our faith and trust in Jesus. By him all things hold together. He holds your life together and prevents it from spiraling out of control into the deep Abyss. He holds His church together, protecting the gospel from false teachers and from infighting and endless fracturing and divisions that threaten the unity of His body. He holds the universe together to buy us time to repent.

As soon as Jesus stops holding all things together, as soon as He removes His hand, the End will come. The tribulation will come. Jesus will return like a thief in the night and all as we know it will disintegrate and be destroyed. At this time, if you didn’t know Jesus, the End will be upon you. The Judgment of God will be at your doorstep. And for those who have persevered to the end, the true saints of God, our future will only just be beginning.

Let’s thank the Lord Jesus for creating us and for sustaining us, holding ALL things together, moment by moment. Truly, apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.

Col 1 – Two Reasons to be Thankful (pt2 of 3)

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Col 1:15-20 [READ]

What a beautiful hymn to our most beautiful Jesus! There are few passages in Scripture that I would choose to give thanksgiving to Jesus than Col 1:15-20.

What are two reasons to be thankful for Jesus

1) First of all, I am thankful because Jesus created us.

Gen 1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

We normally think of God as the Creator. This is true, but I want you to be amazed by the fact that the Trinity–God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit–all three Persons of the Godhead were involved in creating the universe. God is obviously there. He is the one speaking–let there be light and there was light. The Holy Spirit was there. The Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit, was hovering over the surface of the waters. Where’s Jesus?

To get at the answer, we have to read John 1:1-3.

John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was distinct from God the Father. Yet this Word was God. And all things were created through this Word.

So when God said, let there be light, and these words left His lips, Jesus was present as the embodied words of God. Jesus is known as the Word. God was like the architect and Jesus was like the foreman at the construction site directing the workers what to do. And the Holy Spirit was the one who carried out the orders of Jesus.

It’s correct to say, God is our Creator, but we should never forget that Jesus is the agent of creation.

Isn’t the Word of God cool? This Bible is better than any of the literary masterpieces of Shakespeare, Hemmingway, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Tolstoy, Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen. Kids, yes, even better than J.K. Rowling of the Harry Potter series. The Word of God is more exciting than Thor, Iron Man and all the Avengers and super heroes, Ender’s Game, Hunger Games all rolled up in one.

What did Jesus create?

Col 1
16 For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him.

Jesus created everything. Everything in heaven and on earth. This word “heaven” is not the heaven that we often think about. The place where God dwells or the place where we will one day be with God forever. “Heaven” refers to the invisible, spiritual reality that we are a part of right now.

We make a grave mistake if we think only what I can see with my eyes and touch with my hands and perceive with my 5 sense is all there is. There is a heavenly, spiritual realm, an invisible world that is far, far, infinitely more important than the visible, physical reality that we are in.

This heavenly realm is connected to the phrase in v16–thrones, or dominions or rulers or authorities. Whenever the Bible uses this type of language, it is speaking of the demonic world.

Where did the demons come from? They are fallen angelic beings. Angels. Satan is their leader. Eph 6 – the spiritual battle is raging around us and the angels of the Lord are on one side and the demons and the forces of darkness are on the other side and they are battling for your soul.

Col 1 – Two Reasons to be Thankful (pt1 of 3)

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Happy early Thanksgiving!

I am thankful today for many reasons. I have 5 reasons I am thankful today. The first 3 are easy to remember because they begin with the letter “T.” “T” for Thanksgiving. 3 T’s for why I am thankful.

First T: Turkeys. I am thankful for turkeys. Turkeys all around the world are laying down their lives for our dining pleasure. 3 of them gave their lives for us this morning so that we can enjoy a special Thanksgiving dinner.

We have 2 accomplished turkey chefs and one untested rookie. John Shen is my turkey cooking disciple. I handpicked him and trained him as my protege. He’s a scientist so I think he is adding some secret, illegal chemicals to make his turkey extra tasty. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. Audrey is also an accomplished turkey chef with many years under her belt. She is a strong contender for the Turkey Cooking Champion title. We take our turkey cooking very seriously around here.

The untested rookie is DY. This year is his first year cooking turkey. I tried my best to give him the turkey cooking discipleship crash course. There are so many steps involved in cooking a turkey because turkey doesn’t taste good. Chicken or beef, you just throw it on the pan and add a little salt and pepper and a few minutes later, it tastes halfway decent. No skill required. But turkey in the wild is just a bland chunk of feathery flesh. Which means, you have to spend hours and hours of preparation, literally massaging or injecting flavor into the turkey meat and then you put it in the oven and pray. And you have absolutely no idea how it’s going to turn out.

Let’s be merciful on the rookie. For his first attempt, as long as it is not bloody, then it’s a win. I am thankful for turkey and thank you for the turkey chefs for laboring, quite literally, in love to serve us. Mario is also quite a chef so maybe we can get him to join the competition next year.

Second T: Testimonies. Thank you to Minjoo and Jackie for sharing their testimonies. I love testimonies.

Third T: Time. I am thankful for testimonies because the longer the testimonies, the shorter my sermon.

All kidding aside, from Col 1:15-23, I am going to touch today on 2 reasons to be thankful and I will save 3 additional reasons to be thankful for next Sunday. These 8 verses are so packed that I think spreading out this section over two weeks would give us more chance to digest what the Lord has for us.

Hearing the testimonies reminded me about an important principle. That gratitude is contagious. Have you noticed that when you are around a thankful person, it makes you a thankful person? You hear them giving thanks and you want to give thanks on their behalf and then you recall things you should be giving thanks for. Gratitude is contagious.

Every time we gather as a body of Christ, one of the dominant characteristics that needs to shine through is gratitude.

Psalm 100
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. 5 For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Psalm 107:1
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Ephesians 5:20
Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…

Colossians 3:15-17
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Be thankful. This is a command of God. No matter what kind of week you had or what kind of year you had, God commands us to be thankful. Gratitude characterizes the people of God. When people out in the world see us, the body of Christ, what do they see? What would they say about us? I pray one thing they would say is, man, I don’t know what it is, but those people at the Hill, they’re thankful. Someone there has cancer, another person lost their job, another person didn’t get into the school of their choice, but they keep on giving thanks. It makes no sense. I got to check out this Christianity thing.

When Jesus enters Jerusalem during the Triumphal Entry, the crowds are shouting to Jesus, here’s our king who comes in the name of the Lord. And apparently their praise was so loud that the Pharisees got annoyed and asked Jesus, can you rebuke your disciples and quiet them down? How does Jesus respond? His response is very interesting. He says, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!”

Jesus is going to get praise one way or another. If we are silent, that won’t stop Jesus from receiving praise. Even if our hearts are stone cold and fail to give praise to Jesus, Jesus is going to be praised one way or another. Because instead of our stone cold heart that refuses to give Jesus praise, he would declare the stone right outside the church building to speak and the stone would break the silence and and give praise to Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I want to be the one to give praise and express my thanksgiving to Jesus before He forces a stone to speak in my place. It would be pretty shameful if God’s people failed to praise Jesus and the Lord had to resort to inanimate objects.

Deut 1: Thanksgiving Service (pt3 of 3)

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To recap, grumbling is a sign that you are in a spiritual wilderness. Second, fear is one reason Christians remain in the wilderness. And lastly, sin keeps us in the wilderness.

Let’s read from Deut 1:3-8.

Deut 1
3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. 5 East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying: 6 The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. 8 See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

Moses and the Israelites find themselves exactly in the same place where they were 40 years prior. At Kadesh Barnea, where 10 out of the 12 spies gave a bad report and God forbid them to enter the Promised Land. 40 years have passed and they are in the very same place, Kadesh Barnea. There, God tells them basically, you’ve been here long enough. It’s time to get moving. When you are in a wilderness for 40 years, you get used to it. You get used to having lower expectations for your spiritual life. You get comfortable. You stop moving. There is a spiritual inertia that is difficult to overcome the longer we stay in the wilderness.

Grumbling becomes commonplace because it’s drudgery. The same thing–manna, quail, sand for miles and miles. God says, it’s time to enter the Promised Land, which for us, symbolizes the Spirit-filled life of a fruitful believer. v7 – break camp and advance into the HILL country of the Amorites. Another hill. v8 – go in and take possession of the land.

It’s time for Moses to lead his people into the Promised Land. Finally. The day he’s been waiting for. But something tragic happens. In the eleventh hour, Moses sins. Deut 1:37 doesn’t give much details. It just says the Lord was angry with Moses and therefore he was not allowed to enter. We get more details in Num 20. The Israelites entered the desert grumbling. And 40 years later, the Israelites are still grumbling. They are thirsty. And God gives Moses explicit instructions to gather the people and to speak to the rock and then water will gush forth. But instead of speaking, Moses strikes the rock, not once, but twice, in frustration, and water comes forth. And we read in Num 20:12–

Num 20
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

This incident is reminiscent of an event that happened in the same exact place 40 years prior. The people were thirsty. At Meribah, which is in Kadesh Barnea, Exodus 17 records how the people were thirsty and the Lord tells Moses to strike the rock and water will gush forth.

Same issue–grumbling over not having enough water. 40 years separate the two similar incidents. In the first one, God tells Moses to strike the rock but in the second incident, God tells Moses to speak to the rock. And because Moses struck the rock out of frustration instead of speaking to it, Moses, the faithful leader for 40 years, is prevented from going into the Promised Land himself. Why is this sin so terrible? Striking a rock instead of speaking to it. What’s the big deal?

We get help in interpreting this from 2 other passages. Psalm 106 and 1 Cor 10.

In Psalm 106:32, it reads,

Psalm 106
32 By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them; 33 for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.

Moses’ sin involved the speaking of rash words.

1 Cor 10
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

1 Cor 10:4 says that the rock that Moses struck was Christ. When Moses struck the rock at God’s command, I believe it was to show the people the gravity of their sin. Their grumbling was tantamount to striking Christ directly. It was a visible picture of what sin does to Christ. It was the sins of the people that caused Christ to be struck at Calvary. The first time, Moses was obeying God and teaching a lesson to the people about the consequences of sin. But the second time around, Moses took matters into his own hands. 40 years of being around grumblers had worn out his patience and instead of obeying God and speaking to the rock, he strikes the rock in anger.

Do you realize that you are striking Christ whenever you lack self-control and you speak out in anger? Even when Moses had every right to be angry, he sinned because he let his emotions get the best of him when God clearly told him to speak and allow the Word of God to convict the people of their sin rather than Moses’ visible display of frustration of striking the rock to convict the people of sin. And this sin prevented Moses from entering the Promised Land.

Practically, what can we learn from this passage?

Grumbling is a sign that you are in a spiritual wilderness. We were not meant to be in a wilderness. We were saved so that we can be filled with the Spirit and bear fruit and shine the light of Jesus to the world. Monitor your thanksgiving meter. What does your gratitude or your thereof reveal about your spiritual condition?

How do we get out of the wilderness? First, don’t be afraid. Be courageous. Take risks. We are surrounded by plenty of hill countries. We are surrounded by many things that might make us feel small like grasshoppers. We might stay in the wilderness because we’ve lowered our expectations so much that just coming on Sundays and getting by spiritually has become the new normal.

I want this church to move forward into the Promised Land. To take back lost territories for the Lord. To advance as an army of light. I want each person here to thrive spiritually. To be filled with the Spirit. To be excited that we have been set free by the Savior. And we are overflowing with thanksgiving because for the rest of our lives, we get to love him and serve him and serve our neighbors.

You have to fight for your spiritual fruitfulness. No one will hand it to you. To bear fruit, you have to remove the weeds, you have to water the land, you have to prune things from your life, even good things. Are you fighting for your fruitfulness? Do you prioritize your times with the Lord? You got to fight.

A second way out of the wilderness is confession of sin. When is the last time you repented? Are you careless with your words toward others? For Moses, rash words before the people was a sin because he failed to honor God before the people and he failed to trust him by obeying what God clearly told him to do. Are there things that God has asked you to obey, but you’ve been making excuses, or dragging your feed. Confess your sins.

Let’s not stop in the wilderness where we will grumble all the way to our graves. Let’s cross over to the Promised Land. One thing I can say about a fruitful, Spirit-filled Christian is that they are always thankful. No matter what is happening in their life, trouble, hardship, sickness, losing a job, whatever life throws at them, they are resilient and they can give thanks in all circumstances. Don’t you want to be a person like that?

We got to get to the Promised Land. Let’s live out Deut 1:21 as a church.

21 See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.