“God’s People Give Unimpeachable Testimony”
November 17, 2013
The 26th Sunday of the Christian Season of Ordinary Time/Kingdomtide/Time of the Church
Malachi 3: 13-4: 2a; 5-6/Psalm 98/2 Thes. 3: 6 – 13/Luke 21: 5 - 19
His Excellency
The Most Reverend Ariel Cornelio P. Santos D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop and Locum Tenens
of the
Archdiocese of Manila
the
National Church in the Philippines
and the
Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
The common denominator among the Scriptures that was proclaimed talk about a certain day of the Lord, the coming of the Lord; and they all bid us to prepare for this coming. In the midst of the excitement, of the anticipation, there happened several things. In the case of the Thessalonians, they probably thought like we did in 1988, “Why abolish the brass on a sinking ship? Why do we need to work if in a few days, weeks or months, the Lord is coming anyway He will be taking us out of our miseries and take us to the heavens and own mansions having a great time playing our harps on the clouds.” In the case of Malachi, it seemed like there was spiritual burnout that they were discouraged because they saw the wicked prospering and getting away with disobeying God’s commandments. The reading in Malachi was just after the first three chapters where God talked about the sanctity of offerings and tithe to Him. God’s people were offering. They had a form of godliness. They were offering blemished sacrifices to God. He was challenging them, “Why don’t you give those things to your governor? Let us see what he says about them. Why don’t you present them to your President or your Prime Minister? Let us see if they will accept them or they will shout at you because you insulted them. But you dare give those to Me, the God whom you call the “King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!” We sometimes have more respect to people who we look up to as VIPs than we do give respect to God. When we go to Malacañang, we observe a thirty-minute latest time rule. You come observing a certain dress code. Do we do that for God? He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and His instructions hold. People in Malachi’s time thought, “We have been serving God and it seems that it is vain to serve God. It is tiresome and we have experienced so much hardship. It seems that those who don’t obey God are prospering. Why?” Maybe, they have not read Psalm 37 that encourages us to not fret even if we seemingly see that the wicked prosper. It says to continue on the ways of God because the wicked, those who don’t obey, in a little while, they will be no more. You endure. You have need of endurance because God will reward you when the time comes. In the book of Judges, what happened was that they still resorted to having a form of godliness. They were still giving offerings even if it was blemished and short of the full amount of the tithe. They still were “church goers.” They had their own standards and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Micah made his own shrine or altar. He made an ephod, a high priestly vestment. He made idols at home. He consecrated one of his sons to be his priests. It was his own standards and what was right in his own eyes, he did. Toward the end of the book, it said, “The sons of Israel departed.” A full meaning to the word “departed” means departing from the Lord’s ways. They turned back in the day of battle and the face of challenges. Every man went to his tribe and his family. They put their tribe, their identity, their families, themselves over and above the assembly of God which was the church, the ecclesia, in those days. There was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Every one justified what they thought was right because there was no king. There was no leader that they looked up to and obeyed. Today, in some cases, there is a leader, but they don’t follow anyway. They still do what is right in their own eyes. They were justifying things thinking they know better even if God puts somebody over them as king or as leader. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. God is warning us against this because this is way of the world. We are not to be misled. You may say, “My leader is not wise.” Maybe God is not wise because He was the One who appointed him. Maybe God made a mistake. What was right in their own eyes is the way of the world. We think, “Okay, the way of the world does work because they are wicked and they prosper. They have the pork barrel system and while we are struggling with money, their eye bulges with fatness. They go on trips and drive big cars and they have big mansions in exclusive villages.” We wish we had that kind of a life. This is the way of the world. Do not be misled. Do not fret. God has a promise for the righteous. Malachi says, “For those who fear God, the Son of righteousness will come with healing in its wings, with restoration with salvations, with prosperity, peace and joy for those who will remain faithful and fear God.” You may say, “It just literally means those who are alive at that time who didn’t happen to die before the coming of the Lord.” It means those who are living faithfully and who remain faithful and endure to the end. This is the group that will join in meeting Christ. St. Paul encourages us, “Do not be idle. Live faithfully; endure; remain occupied till I come.” Avoid those who don’t follow our instruction to endure to the end.” Bad company corrupts good moral. They may be to you as leaven, affecting you. If you accommodate just the smallest little thing that is negative and destructive, it may affect you; so beware because you need to be on the alert. Do not be misled. The world standards are sometimes subtle and they get you first with the little deception and before you know it, you are embracing their ideology. Beware of that reports. Beware of slander. Beware of gossip and negative things and destructive things. Instead, as encouraged by St. Paul, “Whatever is pure, lovely, holy, of good repute, right and honorable, if there is excellence and if anything worthy of praise and builds up, dwell on these things.” It is not on the sensationally destructive and negative. How we love showbiz talk shows. The headlines that they give are: Showbiz couple split; A married actor committed adultery. These cause us to be glued to the TV because we want to know the details. It seems like the negative are the juicy items and what interests us. It should not be. This is the way of the world. What is true, honorable, right, lovely, pure and good report, dwell on these things. If anything worthy of praise and builds up, those things are what you dwell on. In the Gospel, Jesus told us, “Make sure you are not misled. Make sure world events don’t dictate the tempo of your Christian life. I give you the leading. Make up your minds to not prepare beforehand.” It seems like a contradiction. The whole passage from the gospel of Luke was about preparation and Jesus is saying, “Do not prepare beforehand to defend yourself.” Is He contradicting Himself? No! In fact, all the information that He gave was for preparation. By saying, “Do not prepare to defend yourself beforehand,” Christ is actually saying, “Prepare not to prepare beforehand.” Prepare yourself not to come up with your own spiel, your own speech according to your own wisdom, but consistently live out the life and for then, you will be prepared because you are used to the leading of the Holy Spirit. When it comes to the subject of Mathematics, this is my philosophy: my review, my preparation for an exam is the whole semester, not a few days before. If you did not listen to the lessons from day 1 and built up to the quarterly exam, then you are not prepared even if you read your book for one week prior, even if you have your books open, and you have your calculators or ipads. The subject of mathematics requires understanding – living out. I never reviewed for a Math quiz because Math, if you understand it and lived out, you are prepared anytime. Jesus tells us, “Get used to the leading of the Holy Spirit. For when you need to make a testimony, it already right there.” It is your DNA. You don’t need to prepare a speech. It will just flow out of your heart like living water gushing forth. It has been right there and you will have been prepared anytime. It will be an opportunity for you. Prepare for it actually because your preparation is getting used to hearing and being led by the Holy Spirit. No need to review; no need to prepare. Understand it; live it out; experience it. This is the best preparation. This is the best defense. This is the unimpeachable testimony that we can offer to the world. John 1:18 says, "The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” His witness is unimpeachable, unquestionable, undeniable and uncontestable.” Jesus is the end of all moral, theological, doctrinal arguments because He is the embodiment, the fullness of the Godhead – all things about God; all theology is embodied in Him. Jesus says, “He who has seen Me has seen God the Father.” Can you argue with Bartimaeus about healing? The Pharisees argued with this man born blind in John 9. They said, “How did you receive sight?” Bartimaeus said, “He touched my eyes! I was blind. Why do you argue? I can see you! To prove to you that I can see, make me do something.” Can you argue with something like that?” Can you argue with Lazarus about resurrection? The testimony is unimpeachable and undeniable. We have to follow God and not be misled by what is happening in the world. Jesus said, “These things will happen but they are not your guide. My Word, My testimony, living and true, is what you listen to. Endure in following it! By your endurance, you will gain your lives. You will be betrayed by friends and love ones and be hated by all. Still endure and be faithful to obey My commandments because God allows and causes things to come to bring out the best in us.” Jesus said, “These things must take place first before the end for which you shall endure.” These things must take place because these things will shape your endurance and will build you up if you don’t allow them to pull you down. These things will be the proof of your salvation to whom who endures to the end. The end happens after all these things which must take place. What are you going through right now? Maybe, Jesus is telling you, “These things must take place first before your salvation. By your endurance of these things, you will gain your salvation.” It must take place first before the end when you have proven your endurance and receive your salvation. God knows these things, and sometimes, He causes things to happen. He asked Philip one time when there was a multitude, “Where are we to buy bread to feed these people?” Jesus asked knowing what He intended to do. He was building up the faith of Philip. One time, He told the disciples, “Get on the boat. Go to the other side and I will meet you on the other side.” Jesus dismissed the multitude and followed them. He walked on water intending to pass by them. Was His intention to scare them? To make them think that He was a ghost? Jesus said, “It is I, do not be afraid.” What you are going through, chances are, God intended for those things to be there. These things must take place before the end so that you may prove, in the end, your endurance. Philippians 1 says, “Your endurance of opposition is sign of the opposition’s destruction and your salvation.” How do we prove that we have the salvation life of God? By overcoming these things that must take place. He who endures to the end shall be saved. God allows these things to happen. In His wisdom, He also regulates what happens. He only allows things that you can handle to come to you. God only gives you challenges that you will be able to bear because His purpose is not for your dismay or for your irritation, not so that life is hard for you, and definitely not for your destruction. It is for your edification and for the proving of His life in yours, His strength in yours, His provisions in your life, His joy in you, and His ability in you and to prove that you indeed are like God in character. This is the way it is in His kingdom!
LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION WITHCARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCHAND VENERABLE PRIMATEOF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGHTHE WORD EXPOSED
The common denominator among the Scriptures that was proclaimed talk about a certain day of the Lord, the coming of the Lord; and they all bid us to prepare for this coming. In the midst of the excitement, of the anticipation, there happened several things.
In the case of the Thessalonians, they probably thought like we did in 1988, “Why abolish the brass on a sinking ship? Why do we need to work if in a few days, weeks or months, the Lord is coming anyway He will be taking us out of our miseries and take us to the heavens and own mansions having a great time playing our harps on the clouds.”
In the case of Malachi, it seemed like there was spiritual burnout that they were discouraged because they saw the wicked prospering and getting away with disobeying God’s commandments. The reading in Malachi was just after the first three chapters where God talked about the sanctity of offerings and tithe to Him.
God’s people were offering. They had a form of godliness. They were offering blemished sacrifices to God. He was challenging them, “Why don’t you give those things to your governor? Let us see what he says about them. Why don’t you present them to your President or your Prime Minister? Let us see if they will accept them or they will shout at you because you insulted them. But you dare give those to Me, the God whom you call the “King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!”
We sometimes have more respect to people who we look up to as VIPs than we do give respect to God. When we go to Malacañang, we observe a thirty-minute latest time rule. You come observing a certain dress code. Do we do that for God? He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and His instructions hold.
People in Malachi’s time thought, “We have been serving God and it seems that it is vain to serve God. It is tiresome and we have experienced so much hardship. It seems that those who don’t obey God are prospering. Why?” Maybe, they have not read Psalm 37 that encourages us to not fret even if we seemingly see that the wicked prosper. It says to continue on the ways of God because the wicked, those who don’t obey, in a little while, they will be no more. You endure. You have need of endurance because God will reward you when the time comes.
In the book of Judges, what happened was that they still resorted to having a form of godliness. They were still giving offerings even if it was blemished and short of the full amount of the tithe. They still were “church goers.” They had their own standards and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
Micah made his own shrine or altar. He made an ephod, a high priestly vestment. He made idols at home. He consecrated one of his sons to be his priests. It was his own standards and what was right in his own eyes, he did. Toward the end of the book, it said, “The sons of Israel departed.” A full meaning to the word “departed” means departing from the Lord’s ways. They turned back in the day of battle and the face of challenges. Every man went to his tribe and his family. They put their tribe, their identity, their families, themselves over and above the assembly of God which was the church, the ecclesia, in those days. There was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Every one justified what they thought was right because there was no king. There was no leader that they looked up to and obeyed.
Today, in some cases, there is a leader, but they don’t follow anyway. They still do what is right in their own eyes. They were justifying things thinking they know better even if God puts somebody over them as king or as leader. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. God is warning us against this because this is way of the world. We are not to be misled. You may say, “My leader is not wise.” Maybe God is not wise because He was the One who appointed him. Maybe God made a mistake.
What was right in their own eyes is the way of the world. We think, “Okay, the way of the world does work because they are wicked and they prosper. They have the pork barrel system and while we are struggling with money, their eye bulges with fatness. They go on trips and drive big cars and they have big mansions in exclusive villages.” We wish we had that kind of a life. This is the way of the world.
Do not be misled. Do not fret. God has a promise for the righteous. Malachi says, “For those who fear God, the Son of righteousness will come with healing in its wings, with restoration with salvations, with prosperity, peace and joy for those who will remain faithful and fear God.” You may say, “It just literally means those who are alive at that time who didn’t happen to die before the coming of the Lord.” It means those who are living faithfully and who remain faithful and endure to the end. This is the group that will join in meeting Christ.
St. Paul encourages us, “Do not be idle. Live faithfully; endure; remain occupied till I come.” Avoid those who don’t follow our instruction to endure to the end.” Bad company corrupts good moral. They may be to you as leaven, affecting you. If you accommodate just the smallest little thing that is negative and destructive, it may affect you; so beware because you need to be on the alert. Do not be misled.
The world standards are sometimes subtle and they get you first with the little deception and before you know it, you are embracing their ideology. Beware of that reports. Beware of slander. Beware of gossip and negative things and destructive things. Instead, as encouraged by St. Paul, “Whatever is pure, lovely, holy, of good repute, right and honorable, if there is excellence and if anything worthy of praise and builds up, dwell on these things.” It is not on the sensationally destructive and negative.
How we love showbiz talk shows. The headlines that they give are: Showbiz couple split; A married actor committed adultery. These cause us to be glued to the TV because we want to know the details. It seems like the negative are the juicy items and what interests us. It should not be. This is the way of the world. What is true, honorable, right, lovely, pure and good report, dwell on these things. If anything worthy of praise and builds up, those things are what you dwell on.
In the Gospel, Jesus told us, “Make sure you are not misled. Make sure world events don’t dictate the tempo of your Christian life. I give you the leading. Make up your minds to not prepare beforehand.” It seems like a contradiction. The whole passage from the gospel of Luke was about preparation and Jesus is saying, “Do not prepare beforehand to defend yourself.” Is He contradicting Himself? No! In fact, all the information that He gave was for preparation. By saying, “Do not prepare to defend yourself beforehand,” Christ is actually saying, “Prepare not to prepare beforehand.” Prepare yourself not to come up with your own spiel, your own speech according to your own wisdom, but consistently live out the life and for then, you will be prepared because you are used to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
When it comes to the subject of Mathematics, this is my philosophy: my review, my preparation for an exam is the whole semester, not a few days before. If you did not listen to the lessons from day 1 and built up to the quarterly exam, then you are not prepared even if you read your book for one week prior, even if you have your books open, and you have your calculators or ipads. The subject of mathematics requires understanding – living out. I never reviewed for a Math quiz because Math, if you understand it and lived out, you are prepared anytime.
Jesus tells us, “Get used to the leading of the Holy Spirit. For when you need to make a testimony, it already right there.” It is your DNA. You don’t need to prepare a speech. It will just flow out of your heart like living water gushing forth. It has been right there and you will have been prepared anytime. It will be an opportunity for you. Prepare for it actually because your preparation is getting used to hearing and being led by the Holy Spirit.
No need to review; no need to prepare. Understand it; live it out; experience it. This is the best preparation. This is the best defense. This is the unimpeachable testimony that we can offer to the world.
John 1:18 says, "The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” His witness is unimpeachable, unquestionable, undeniable and uncontestable.” Jesus is the end of all moral, theological, doctrinal arguments because He is the embodiment, the fullness of the Godhead – all things about God; all theology is embodied in Him. Jesus says, “He who has seen Me has seen God the Father.”
Can you argue with Bartimaeus about healing? The Pharisees argued with this man born blind in John 9. They said, “How did you receive sight?” Bartimaeus said, “He touched my eyes! I was blind. Why do you argue? I can see you! To prove to you that I can see, make me do something.” Can you argue with something like that?”
Can you argue with Lazarus about resurrection? The testimony is unimpeachable and undeniable. We have to follow God and not be misled by what is happening in the world. Jesus said, “These things will happen but they are not your guide. My Word, My testimony, living and true, is what you listen to. Endure in following it! By your endurance, you will gain your lives. You will be betrayed by friends and love ones and be hated by all. Still endure and be faithful to obey My commandments because God allows and causes things to come to bring out the best in us.”
Jesus said, “These things must take place first before the end for which you shall endure.” These things must take place because these things will shape your endurance and will build you up if you don’t allow them to pull you down. These things will be the proof of your salvation to whom who endures to the end. The end happens after all these things which must take place.
What are you going through right now? Maybe, Jesus is telling you, “These things must take place first before your salvation. By your endurance of these things, you will gain your salvation.” It must take place first before the end when you have proven your endurance and receive your salvation.
God knows these things, and sometimes, He causes things to happen. He asked Philip one time when there was a multitude, “Where are we to buy bread to feed these people?” Jesus asked knowing what He intended to do. He was building up the faith of Philip. One time, He told the disciples, “Get on the boat. Go to the other side and I will meet you on the other side.” Jesus dismissed the multitude and followed them. He walked on water intending to pass by them. Was His intention to scare them? To make them think that He was a ghost? Jesus said, “It is I, do not be afraid.”
What you are going through, chances are, God intended for those things to be there. These things must take place before the end so that you may prove, in the end, your endurance. Philippians 1 says, “Your endurance of opposition is sign of the opposition’s destruction and your salvation.”
How do we prove that we have the salvation life of God? By overcoming these things that must take place. He who endures to the end shall be saved. God allows these things to happen. In His wisdom, He also regulates what happens. He only allows things that you can handle to come to you. God only gives you challenges that you will be able to bear because His purpose is not for your dismay or for your irritation, not so that life is hard for you, and definitely not for your destruction. It is for your edification and for the proving of His life in yours, His strength in yours, His provisions in your life, His joy in you, and His ability in you and to prove that you indeed are like God in character.
This is the way it is in His kingdom!
WITH
CARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
AND
VENERABLE PRIMATE
OF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGH
THROUGH
THE WORD EXPOSED
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