Exposed: Repentance

Exposed 3

Repentance

By Daniel Carandang

The cross.

To some of us, it's just a wooden religious artifact. Might even be a bling to some.

But for us Christians, it is a symbol of sacrifice and unconditional love. 

It is actually one of our biggest motivations in our journey towards the path of Christ-likeness. The cross is the rallying symbol of Christians, our pride. 

However, many of us tag ourselves as Christians but continue to live a double life.

Too many people claim that they are Christians but few live for Jesus. Too many people think that they are genuine followers but if you examine the way they live, they are the very opposite of what they say they stand for. 

Mahatma Gandhi can testify to such. There was a brief incident in his life when he considered of observing the Christian church.In his autobiography, he writes: “I was together with some Christian friends when one of them said something I was not prepared for.  ‘You cannot understand the beauty of our religion. From what you say it appears that you must be brooding over your transgressions every moment of your life, always mending them and atoning for them. How can this ceaseless cycle of action bring you redemption? You can never have peace. You admit that we are all sinners. Now look at the perfection of our belief. Our attempts at improvement and atonement are futile. And yet redemption we must have. How can we bear the burden of sin? We can out throw it on Jesus. He is the only sinless Son of God. It is His word that those who believe in Him shall have everlasting life. Therein lies God's infinite mercy. And as we believe in the atonement of Jesus, our own sins do not bind us. Sin we must, It is impossible to live in this world sinless. And therefore Jesus suffered and atoned for all the sins of mankind. Only he who accepts His great redemption can have eternal peace. Think what a life of restlessness is yours, and what a promise of peace we have.’

“The argument utterly failed to convince me. I humbly replied: ‘If this be the Christianity acknowledged by all Christians, I cannot accept it. I do not seek redemption from the consequences of my sin. I seek to be redeemed from sin itself, or rather from the very thought of sin. Until I have attained that end, I shall be content to be restless.’” 

Gandhi's most famous quote with regards to Christianity is: 

I like Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

Such comment is a big blow towards Christianity.

Being a Christian is more than just a Saturday (for Youth groups) or Sunday thing. Telling others that you are a devoted follower of Christ just because you attend church every Sunday yet live the opposite during the weekdays doesn't validate your claim. The impact of the cross, of what Jesus did should not just be in our after life...but also in our present life.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

Matthew 3:8

The verse comes from the story that can be found in the third chapter of the book of Matthew. In this tale, John the Baptist is ministering in the wilderness and telling the people around who listened: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

The term repent originated from the Greek word metanoia which means 'to change.' When we repent, we must change our way of thinking and turn away from our sinful ways. Instead of letting yourself immerse in sinful pleasure, choose to rise up from the dump and change for the better. 

People were moved by his words and God spoke to their hearts. As a sign of genuine faith, they confessed their sins, repented and were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Matthew 3:5-6)

Watching nearby where the so-called Holy Ones of the land. With a critical eye, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, known to be Men of God who are fully 'knowledgeable' in the Word, watched John as he baptized the people.  But before they can even take a step closer, John's words stopped them.

Despite their reputation of being the holiest of holies, John saw them for what they really were: brooding vipers. How come? These men, however closer to God and holy they may claim, did not know the meaning of genuine repentance. Because of this, John knew that they did not bear any good fruit, a proof of humble repentance.

Today, there are Christians similar to these people. They are holy during Sundays but live otherwise on weekdays. Their lives do not reflect their claims. Jesus never intended for us to be only okay in church. He wanted us to bear fruits.

This leads to John's saying that repentance is the key to produce good fruit. 

Repentance is turning away from sin and turning to God evidenced by a changed life. Our obedience to Christ should not be out of fear. The Christian life is not just a religious ritual but a response to what Jesus did on the cross for us. 

Familiar with the story of Zacchaeus?

In Luke 19:1-8, we learn that Zacchaeus the tax collector is not the type you'd want to be friends with. He cheats on the people, steals their gold and claims all the riches to himself. He was the A+ sinner but still, Jesus wanted to be a guest in his home. On that day, Zaccaheus encountered Christ and his life was never the same again. He understood the heaviness of his sins and decided immediately to turn over a new leaf. He decided that he would return what he stole and even more than what he owed. Why?

Because he encountered Christ and experienced a radical transformation.

Pause for a moment and ask yourself: can the people around you testify that your life has been transformed?

A radical change from Christ is proven by the big difference in our words and how we respond to things. 

And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. ⁴ If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. ⁵ But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.

1 John 2:3-5

A real follower of Christ obeys His commandments. He doesn't just proclaim his faith by mouth. His actions reflect his stand. His goal of producing fruit to honor his God is a solid proof.

CONSTANTLY producing fruit. It is written in the present tense. How can we constantly produce fruit? By reminding ourselves of the cross and His sacrifice. Let it be our motivation to reflect the image of Christ by serving others rather than being served. Help a friend in need today. Respect your parents. Be the model image for your siblings. Let love abound.

Genuine repentance always produces undeniable evidence. 

Give yourself a heart check. Have you totally surrendered your past to Christ? Have you committed a new life for Him?

Remind yourself of the cross. And every single day will never be the same.

Written by: Ashley Petallano (c)2013

Exposed: Grace

Exposed 2

Gratifying Grace

By Daniel Carandang

The word GRACE is no doubt pleasant to the ears. Besides possessing a sweet sound to it, the word's meaning adds to the comfort provided by the word. It's very unfortunate, however, that most of us only know of the word 'grace' and it's powerful meaning. We often say 'grace' but we just don't understand. 

What does it mean to truly understand and experience GRACE?

¹¹ For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. ¹² And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, ¹³ while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. ¹⁴ He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

Titus 2:11-14

Grace is derived from the Greek term charis which means FAVOR. Basically, it is an attitude of approval, bestowing preferential treatment or providing support as a sign of approval. It is one of the ultimate acts of kindness.

Grace is usually bestowed unto those who did not earn it. We can define grace as:

Undeserved

Unearned

Unmerited

FAVORS.

Let's say there's a man who works for Mr. I-Own-Pretty-Much-Everything. Mr. I-Own (as we call it) is the richest man in the city. He owns everything and he has lots of money. He is indeed very powerful. Then comes along mejo bad boy Mr. I-Need-To-Have-Money who works under Mr. I-Own. Mr. I-Need-Money is quite devious and is really in love with money. There were incidents where he was able to trick his boss, Mr. I-Own, to give him money by lies. One day, he decided to steal Mr. I-Own's money from the bank. In the process, he kills the men guarding the vault and runs away.

He succeeds but unfortunately, he was caught. To pay for his selfish and evil deeds, the authorities have decided to punish him with a death sentence. He was to die at sunset via lethal injection. Mr. I-Need-Money panics at the thought of dying in a few hours. He suddenly feels the pain of his choices, regretting them one by one. As the hours pass and he is being led to the room where his death will be finalized, Mr. I-Own appears.

Mr. I-Need-Money is surprised. He first thought that maybe his boss has come to gloat at him for his punishment. But the unexpected happens-

"Let him go," says Mr. I-Own says, "Set him free."

Did he hear right? His boss, whom he had deceived and stolen from, was willing to forgive him?

What his boss said next was even more shocking.

"Let him go and I'll take his place."

SUCH IS GRACE.

That type of GRACE is what our Heavenly Father has provided for us, the unloving and undeserving recipients. 

In the New International Version, Titus 2:11 reads:

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

The grace of God has appeared, meaning it has become tangible, something that we can finally reach. Despite our filth and wretchedness, God has enabled His grace to be visible for us. How so?

Our Heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son to die in our place.

We have to understand that the gravity of our sins is no joke. Being the perfect God He is, God cannot simply withstand the filth of sin. He is perfect. But, despite the fact that we have offended him deeply with our wrongdoings, He still chose to make grace available to us.

...who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Titus 2:14

As describes in Philippians 2:7, Jesus made himself NOTHING. He stripped himself of His divinity and accepted the role of a mere servant, being made in human likeness. 

Sin has enslaved us. We are like the blacks who were victims of the slave market in the early 17th to 18th century. We cannot pay for our own freedom because we are bound to our sins. We were already destined to rot in hell.

But Jesus was sent to redeem us from such fate. Before He came, we were slaves but He arrived with our ransom. Jesus took our sins with Him rather than allowing us to suffer our fates. Similar to Mr. I-Own and Mr. I Need Money, Jesus took the place of the sinner. Sin offered a curse. But in exchange for the blood of the Lamb, we were freed. We were FAVORED.

God made him who had no sin to be sin^[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus died because He wanted us to be His own. He desired to re-adopt us into His loving family. But in order to do so, He had to die a criminal's death to pay the price. 

God demonstrated His grace by coming to this earth and paying for our sins. We were not saved because of our own efforts but because of His love for us.

Have you experienced His grace?

A person who was experienced His grace is filled with excitement beyond words. He is eager to do the bidding of the One who set Him free. Experiencing God's grace radically changes a person from the inside-out.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

Romans 6:11-13

Know your God more in order to experience more of His grace. 

If we do not possess His grace:

- we judge others

- we live immoral lifestyles

- our hearts are unforgiving

- we are apathetic towards the lost

However, if we understand and experience the grace of God:

- we have compassion for others

- we practice holy lifestyles

- our hearts are forgiving

- we are empathetic towards the lost

Don't miss out on the grace of the One who set you free! You were bought with a price, a price that symbolizes the love illustrated through grace of the One who saved us all :)

Blog by: Ashley Bernadette Petallano (c) 2013

Exposed: What Is The Cross?

Exposed 1

What Is The Cross?

By Daniel Carandang

The cross is a common symbol we see wherever we go. It is a religious installment in most churches here in the Philippines. Sometimes, we can see bling-bling versions of the cross. Organizations have made use of this image for their organization banners.

The cross is everywhere. But do we know what the real deal is?

Friends, the cross is not just the letter A, it's the A-Z in the alphabet of life. It is the foundation of our faith and answer to all our problems.

You might wonder: how can  the cross be the answer to all our problems? What is it with this figure?

The cross in not just a wooden figure you wear around your neck or hang by your wall. It's more than a bling or a religious artifact. The cross is the solid proof of a fantastic kind of love- a love only a God could possibly give. The cross leads us to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in order to mend the broken relationship caused by sin between man and God.

Have you ever experienced owning a new phone?

When you use it for the very first time, you rarely part with it. A new phone means the chance to explore its new applications and capabilities. It is precious to you and you take good care of it so as to avoid scratches and all that. However, as time flies, your appreciation of your phone decreases as it starts to become old. Eventually, you're not as mindful as you were when you first got it. You start dropping it countless times, leaving it  in some places and basically just taking it for granted.

It's very unfortunate that the same happens with our treatment of the cross. When we were first enlightened of Christ's sacrifice for us, we held it close to our hearts. We were basically on fire for Jesus and determined to carry our cross with Him. But, as the days pass and as months come and go, we forget the meaning behind his sacrifice. We take this deed for granted, completely becoming unmindful of its importance in our lives. 

¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of^[a] your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Colossians 1:19-23

It makes one wonder why reconciliation was needed. What is the cross' role to this reconciliation?

In order to understand, we have to realize one thing:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23

Nobody's perfect. Ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, man's relationship with God was destroyed by sin. No one is better than the other and no one had the power to mend the broken relationship between man and God.

The worse is stated in Romans 6:23:

For the wages of sin is DEATH.

Not only are we separated from God, we are also doomed to death. 

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. ² You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.^[a] He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.³ All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

Ephesians 2:1-3

Our sins caused us to be spiritually dead in the eyes of God. We weren't any different from the minions of Satan because we too were under his control. Because God cannot stand such, we were subject to His unimaginable wrath. In Revelation 21:8, our fate is further described. We were destined to end up in hell. You may claim that you've never murdered, raped or stolen from anyone, but we all stumble to the fact that every one is a liar. 

For years, man has attempted to come up with solutions of his own. In order to bridge the gap between him, he attempted to solve the problem on his own: giving to charity, being good to others, inflicting body pain during the holy week and all that. But it is not enough. The prophet Isaiah calls these good deeds as 'nothing but filthy rags' (Isaiah 64:6). We can do nothing in and of ourselves to change it.

But God had mercy for us.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Romans 5:8

Sometimes, we do not take the death of Christ seriously. We often just think of Christ being nailed to the cross and not even minding to know the pain He had to go through for people who weren't even acknowledging Him. What he had to go through was no joke.

For starters, the flog used on him as we often see in movies such as The Passion is inaccurate. It is not a mere whip made from leather. Bits of bones, metal balls and glass are attached on the edges of the whip. The flogging process also involves a flogger who is muscular enough for the job. Before He was flogged, Jesus was tied and his back was stretched. Once the flogger, with a swift move, unleashes the flog on the victim's back, it doesn't cause any mere stripe. Your innards are in danger of being pulled off.

System of Flogging

Jesus Christ was flogged thirty-nine times. One time was painful enough but to be flogged for almost forty times is unimaginable. His back was torn and ripped- because of His unconditional love for those who do not even deserve it.

²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. ²⁹ They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!”

Matthew 27:28-29

After being flogged, Jesus was forced to don a scarlet robe. The cloth automatically attached itself to His fresh wounds. As mentioned in the verse 28, he was stripped. Stripping the cloth meant opening the wounds once more. Not satisfied with this, Jesus' tormentors even fashioned a crown of thorns for Him and set it on His head. It pierced His skull.

And then, He was led off to be crucified.

Jesus was forced to carry His heavy cross on His way to Calvary.

And all the while, He was thinking of us.

Once He arrived, He was being prepared for the nailing. The nails used on Jesus were not mere carpenter nails the size of screws. They were 9-inch nails. These nails were positioned on the wrist because if it were on the hands, His pulse would rip. The very same nails were also placed on His foot.

In order to breathe, Jesus had to lift Himself up. He was hanging on the wooden beams and breathing was a difficulty. Who knew that inhaling and exhaling would take much effort? But He endured it all...for us.

The worst of all: His crucifiction caused spiritual suffering. 

Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Mark 15:34

This was the first time that Jesus did not call God His Father. During His suffering, all the sins of mankind. God, being the perfect being He is, could not stand to look at His only begotten Son because He was covered in  filth. He forsook His own Son. Jesus had to face the persecution...ALONE. 

All of these, Jesus faced because He loved us.

And here we are, taking everything He did for granted.

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,^[a] so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21

The cross represents Jesus' sacrifice for us to be reconciled with God!

So, how should we respond?

And so, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.^[b] 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

Do not let Jesus' sacrifice be in vain. Don't conform to the ways of this world! Stand out and share the news, the Good News of Jesus and the Salvation that He offers. Offer yourself in service to God and He will lead you to the path He knows is right for you.

Remind yourself of the cross everyday. The cross should not just remain as a religious artifact. The cross is real and what it stands for is bigger than life.

Blog by: Ashley Petallano (c) 2013