The Case for Christian Community

In a recent Sunday message on chapter 3 of the Letter to the Colossians, we explored the Apostle Paul’s discussion of the ways God calls us to live as Christians. Paul goes into considerable detail, and does not mince words. As Christians, we are to “put to death…sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness” (v.5). We are to “[put away] anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth” (v.8). We are not to lie to one another (v.9), and are to “put on…compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other…” (vv.12-13).

In the message, we came to understand how the power to live our lives this way—especially the power to keep going when we stumble--comes from our identity in Christ. Our knowledge that, as Christians, our “old self” with its sinful practices has been buried, and we have put on a “new self,” through faith in Christ, “which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (v.10). This old-self/new-self transition is not something we are called to do. It is something that has already happened. What we are called to do is to live out its implications.

But one aspect we did not discuss in detail was practical application. How do we actually go out into the world and, empowered by our identity in Christ, live according to the precepts of Colossians 3?

Obviously, we can and should practice these attitudes and behaviors with our friends, family, classmates, and co-workers. But we will only learn and grow in them from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Why? Because living godly lives does not come naturally. If it did, Paul would not have to write a letter exhorting us to do it! Because our identity in Christ is the power for us to live godly lives, we will be most able to harness that power in Christian community.

If your house is on fire, how successful will you be in putting it out if the people around you do not believe it is on fire? They may not actively hinder you, but neither will they help you. After all, putting out a fire is hard and sometimes dangerous work. Likewise, how successful will you be in “putting to death” certain attitudes and behaviors if the people around you do not believe them to be worthy of death? What God calls sexual immorality or obscene talk, the world may call healthy self-expression. How successful will you be in “putting on” certain attitudes and behaviors, if the people around you do not believe them to be worthy of putting on? What God calls humility or forgiveness, the world may call weakness or fear.

Our self-knowledge as Christians, as sinners saved by God’s grace, is our most important identity, more important than our identities of nation, race, social class, or occupation (v.11). Through it, God calls us to live as we would not otherwise choose to live, and to grow as we would not otherwise be able to grow. Our identity in Christ gives us both an assignment and the tools to complete it. Brothers and sisters, let us use those tools! Let us actively seek out and embrace Christian community, knowing that through it, we grow in the knowledge of both our God’s call to us and his empowerment of us. And, thereby, do we grow in the knowledge of him.

Click on the “Connect & Grow” tab at the top of the screen, and then on “Community Groups” to connect with an FPC community group.

Stories of Grace

In John 5:17, Jesus tells us that “My Father is always at his work, to this very day…” In Philippians 2:13, the Apostle Paul reminds us that “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” In our "Stories of Grace" feature, church members are invited to share a particular instance of how God has been at work in their lives.

Our contributor this month is Judy Bigby.

I was born in a culturally Taoist and/or Buddhist family that did not practice religion heavily. But they did practice it during special festivals, and lived within the worldview of a pantheistic Eastern religion. Ever since I was a little girl, I believed that there must be a lord of all the gods, the king of all the gods, the chief amongst the gods, and all the gods would have to listen to this greatest god of all the gods. I also would see ghosts. They would scare me by showing up in human forms out of nowhere, coming out of the wall, or just in a white cloud form, at first, and then turn into a white human form. None of the Taoist or Buddhist ways to appease these ghosts would work. Calling out the name of Buddha was useless. 

One day, I asked my mother if she knew whether there is a God, or if she knew God. My mother answered me by saying, “I do not really know--some call that God ‘Buddha,’ some call it ‘Allah,’ and still some call it ‘Jesus.’ ” I thought to myself, “If she does not know, I will just ask him myself.” So I started praying to this lord of lords by myself, introducing myself to him and asking for his name and for his guidance in my life. I told him that I wanted to know him and follow his guidance, if he would reveal himself to me and show me the way to the right path.

Ever since elementary school, I had been blessed with very good Christian friends. This was true all the way up through high school, where my classmates formally introduced the whole message of the gospel to me, including sin, hell, and Jesus’ salvation available to me if I repented of my sins and received him into my heart. In the beginning, I thought it was crazy to believe that we did not all evolve from monkeys. It also seemed to be totally disrespectful to burn other people’s gods. This foreign God was definitely not for me! But the more I interacted with my classmates, the more attracted I was to the special kind of love they had between themselves and among their immediate family members. I envied it, and wanted it for myself.

After debating with them for at least a year, I had to admit that I was sinful like everyone else, that I had no righteousness of my own before God, and that I was heading to hell if I did not accept this Jesus they were talking about. As my friends prayed for me fervently, the Holy Spirit worked in my heart. Then, one day, when I was alone in my bedroom, I prayed to this God that I had been praying to my whole life and said, “God, if your name is Jesus, please let me know by answering three prayers of mine so that I would know for sure. And I will follow you all of my life, do whatever you tell me to do, and be loyal to you to the end.” 

God answered all three of those prayers. One of them was for me to not have to see ghosts anymore. I stopped seeing them after that. As a matter of fact, when I sensed one, all I needed to do was call out the name of Jesus, and it had to flee from me. I then realized how powerful the name of Jesus was and how demons are terrified of his name. I did not know exactly what I was getting into, but God had mercy on me and helped me receive Jesus into my heart that day when I asked for the three things, and as I admitted to my sins and my need for a savior and lord over my life.

After that, as described by my mother years later, I was blissfully happy for an entire month. I told my parents that I had become a Christian, that God had answered my prayers, and that my sins were forgiven. What a relief to have all my sins forgiven!  I personally do not remember that honeymoon month with God when I first believed, but I could imagine it to be a honeymoon high of the relief of the burden of my sin’s punishment and the start of having a personal relationship with God. After that first month, a constant joy has remained in me as I continue to walk with God in my everyday life.  

I was not very well discipled after that because I had moved away from my high-school friends. But God’s grip on me never loosened. During my university years, I had a very good mentor from Campus Crusade for Christ who discipled me, challenged me to live for God, and changed me forever. All these godly friends and mentors shaped my spiritual walk, and I am forever grateful for these many individual witnesses that have made a lasting difference in my life. I would happily do the same for others, should God give me the opportunity to do so.  
 

Michelle Ko - Mission Update

Friends! 

My last newsletter was in March 2015. Where I have been since then? Many places, but mostly in Australia and Taiwan. I am still happily alive and in a transitional season, waiting to go on an exciting mission journey. I will move to Tanzania, East Africa in 2018.

“Why?” you might ask. As you know, I spent nine years living in Kenya, ministering to HIV positive orphans. I had accomplished my first calling which was building a home for those who are HIV+ infected orphans. But by the end of the mission I was very much running on fumes. I realized it was time for me to take a break from Africa,  and I left Kenya in May 2011. After I left Kenya, God unexpectedly opened a door for me to be a mission mobilizer and pastor in Australia. Two months of praying later, I accepted His new challenge for me. It has been an incredible six years serving God in the "down under," and Australia is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

So, why shouldn’t I continue to stay in Australia? I’ve had a few tempting offers from organisations to stay in Australia and continue my work here. But deep down, I knew I missed Africa. I missed all the friendships I had made, especially the children. I had spent my very last day in Kenya with one of the orphans, who was suffering from an illness. He was only 8 years old and had to be hospitalized due to the severity of his illness. Saying goodbye to him was the hardest goodbye I’ve ever experienced. Our last talk ended in tears, and I cried throughout the six-hour journey back to Nairobi. But in my heart, I knew this goodbye was not the end. This goodbye was not forever. There are great needs all around the world including Australia and Taiwan.

However, we have only one life and we can only be in one place physically at one time. I’m not 21 years old anymore. I don’t have a whole life in front of me. So why not spend what I do have following God’s calling at this time in my life? Be in Africa. Reach the unreached. Make Him known. Let His light shine in the darkness. Once again, I’m starting a new faith journey, serving with the same organization, SIM (Serving in Mission), and preparing to go to Tanzania.

A faith journey means totally relying on God’s provision through partnerships, unceasing prayer, and financial support. It’s a familiar missionary path, yet a challenging one and there’s a surprise around every corner. “His mercy is new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:23

More details of my new faith journey will be coming soon via newsletters.

I will be in Taiwan from December 5th, waiting and preparing for Tanzania.

Click here for a look at my experience in Kenya

Praises and Prayers:

Thank God for providing me with everything I needed. As I start preparing, let me experience His amazing grace every step of the way.

See you in Africa,

Michelle Ko

Email: michelle.ko@sim.org

Here's how you can give:

AUSTRALIA

Online giving in Australia: www.sim.org.au/ko

USA

USA website: A gift can be given by check, credit card, debit card or a transfer using electronic funds. Here is the link to our website: https://www.simusa.org/get-involved/give/

UK

Account Name: SIM UK Account Number: 90461164 Sort-Code: 20-94-67 Reference: Ko. Please email the finance supervisor Jonny Green (email below) and let him know the amount of your gift and that it is for me. jonny@sim.co.uk t: +44 (0) 1449 766464

SINGAPORE

Direct deposit into SIM DBS Bank Account Beneficiary Bank: DBS Bank Account name: SIM East Asia Ltd. Account number: 025-011051-0 A deposit notification has to be emailed to eastasia.giving@sim.org with each gift.