Queen's Road Cell

Looking at Paul's line of argument in Eph 3:14-21 we can see how he takes up a thought in 3:1, interrupts himself, then takes it up again in v.14. After describing Christ's work to unite Jews and Gentiles in the church, he then prays for strength in the inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through vaith, so that we have the ability to grasp the love of Christ, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. This last goal is so ultimate and striking in its extent that we should be led to awe and worship. This is a great basis for giving Christ full control over our lives. We spent time sharing the areas in our life where Christ's lordship should be manifest. And we spent time exploring Christ's lordship in depth in the following areas: 1.  Our leisure time. I shared that it is difficult for me to surrender this because we may feel entitled to a time for ourselves without anyone (even God) telling us what to do after a hard day's work. The B...

Knowing God’s will Introduction Don’t all of us want to know God’s will? Why do non-Christians read horoscopes? For ‘success’. We may wish to be prosperous, secure and trouble-free. We are to be different. We are to do God’s will to please Him? When we speak of God’s will, we are not talking of a single concept. What does the Bible teach about God’s will? 1. There is a revealed will (‘of command’. God’s preceptive will) This is expressed in the form of commands given in Scripture. We are told not to murder or steal. If I say, "God spoke to me that I should be the most successful bank robber in the world and kill those who get in my way", we can be confident that we are not in the will of God. In this sense, many people are seeking God's will when it is already obvious. There’s no need to pray whether you should have a non-Christian boyfriend, or join a business partnership where you are expected to be dishonest in daily practice. God des...

We talked about ideas and situations from the recently-concluded Church Camp. Noel (visiting for the first time) talked about how the Camp speaker for the Mandarin ministry mentioned a situation where it should not be thought of as appropriate for a guy and girl to cohabitate before marriage, or for a couple to spend the night in the same room. We asked then: where does the Bible say that this is wrong? So we said that the following Scriptural principles would apply: 1. What is lawful is not necessarily helpful (1 Co 10:23). And what is helpful is defined by what makes us and others around us more conformed to the image of Christ (Ro 8:29) and that gives glory to God (1 Co 10:31) 2. We are asked to flee temptation  (2 Ti 2:22, 1 Co 6:18) - that is, to be put ourselves in situations where we would find it easy to sin. We are not asked to *fight* temptation. Underlying the idea of what is not helpful and what is sin is that the Bible teaches that the physical pleasures of sex are...

I said that today's study is deceptively simple. There are issues there that need some subtlety  - and more to the point - a great deal of faith. If Jesus is sovereign Lord, then what does it mean when the preamble to the study says that "He has given each of us free will to live out our lives the way we like"? Do we conclude that God chooses to limit His sovereignty in favour of human 'free will'? If "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers" (2 Co 4:4), how can humans even be free, or held accountable? Is Christ Lord when bad things happen to us? Of is it the case that God will always keep His children safe and well and our suffering is a reflection of our lack of faith or a temporary triumph of Satan. Jesus was very clear in Luke 13 that both natural disasters and the evil of men are what every one of us deserves and are not outside of God's sovereign control. We are spared what we deserve only because of grace.And our ideas...

Discipleship in action – Purity Introduction P urity can mean: 1. freedom from anything that debases, contaminates, pollutes. 2. physical chastity; virginity. 3. freedom from any admixture or modifying addition. 5. ceremonial or ritual cleanness. The person who is in right relationship with God is to live a life of purity. Again and again in Scripture, we are told to have a pure heart (Matt. 5:8; 1 Tim. 1:5; Heb. 9:14; Jas. 4:8; 1 Peter 1:22). In the original languages purity renders the Hebrew tahowr , zak, bar (ritually clean, purified   in the Pentateuch. Flawless. “Clean animals,” “pure gold”) or Greek hagnos, atharos (chaste,   clear, clean) (cf. the linen cloth wrapping Jesus’ body (Mt 27:59) Understanding this helps us to understand that the concept of purity is closely related to holiness and righteousness. It has to do with sinlessness. There are both external and internal aspects to these concepts. You can hav...

Joyce and I shared about our attending the wake of a son of a Christian couple I had known from my JC days. This young man had been having problems at work and had just broken up with his long-standing girlfriend. We saw the broken hearts of the parents and remembered also our own bereavement when Doreen died. Suicide is always the hardest way to die in how it affects the family of the deceased. I know we have spoken on this issue before, but we again affirmed that suicide is not an unforgivable sin - but one in which the sinner has no chance to repent. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is truly unforgivable, is when the sinner has no desire to repent.So the believing Christian who is truly saved should be saved even if he/she sins and takes his/her own life. Not every one of us will have the opportunity to confess our sins if we die suddenly, after all. We also did a brief recap of "why bad things happen to good people". Our response then is: 1. There are no good...

We asked ourselves what makes a comparison "false", as opposed to "true". A "false comparison" is so if certain things are not meant to be compared in the first place, and this includes aspects of our relationship with the Lord. It is also "false" when the attitude behind wanting to know more about another person is incorrect. It is certainly not wrong to be concerned about another Christian or to compare ourselves to one another. In fact, when we "stir up one another to love and good works" (Heb 10:24-25), and interact with one another as "iron sharpens iron" (Pr 27:17), comparisons are necessary for our spiritual growth. A certain competetiveness is not unchristian (c.f. Paul's use of this to encourage the Corinthians to give in 2 Cor 9:1-5). What would be wrong is when comparisons are done because of insecurity, self-gratification of curiosity and a desire to be superior to others. Busybodies and gossips seek and ...