Queen's Road Cell

In this chapter Edmund Chan asserts that we have "substituted commitment for surrender". The committed life emphasizes what we must do for Christ; the surrendered life, what He has done for us. The Christian life "is not try, but trust". The first emphasizes what we can do, while being surrendered means we know we can do nothing apart from God. One is 'doing', the other is 'being'. One exalts our competence; the other, our character. One centres on operations, the other, on obedience. One issues out of good intentions, the other, out of God's intention.  We can be outwardly committed, but not inwardly consecrated and surrendered to the will of Christ. We must see that it is not we who work for God, but God who works in us. We said that commitment involves a choice, whereas surrender meant giving up choices. One was active, the other, passive. Commitment is to have a purpose with an end in mind. Surrender is to give up purpose. The word 'su...

We discussed the statement, "True Christian giving is not motivated by reward". The unspoken questions then would be, "What then is it motivated by?" and "How do we define reward?" We would commonly say that, because God has given us His Son and saved us, giving should be motivated by gratitude, or love, and that these are sufficient motivations to give. This is true: we who have received so much out of God's grace must learn to give generously to the undeserving as well. In this view, we have already received all we need to be motivated to give, and I think this is right - all of God's riches of grace (Eph 1:7, 2:7) and glory (Ro 9:23, Eph 1:18, 3:16, Phil 4:19, Col 1:27) are ours to enjoy. So we are to give out of our wealth in Christ - that is why we are able to be generous in our giving. But 'gratitude does not replace reward as a motivation. Gratitude reminds us of God’s past faithfulness so we trust his promise of future reward' (...

Edmund Chan says that modern-day discipleship must be re-grounded in Christ-centredness. Christ is not merely to be a figurehead monarch or symbol, but truly the Lord - the one who makes the decisions. Christ must have authority and give Him full ownership over our individual lives. Paul's Christocentricity is seen in Colossians: Christ is the prototokos (firstborn, 1:15). Not a created being, but the One through whom all things are created (1:16), who has all the privileges and rights of a firstborn son ("I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth" Ps 89:27). Christ is also the eikon (image, 1:15) of the Father, just as we are called to be in His image (1 Co 15:49, 2 Co 3:18, Col 3:10). All things were created by Him (1:16), through Him, and for Him (1:16). He existed before all things, and he sustains the universe 'by the word of His power' the pleroma (fullness/completeness, 1:19). He is the One in whom all the fullness of Deity dw...