Mystery of God revealed

As preparing for teaching the book of Ephesians this fall, one thing stood out to me was that the mystery of Christ, which has now been revealed very clearly, which all Christians should be so thankful...

It seems though that it wasn't so clear to the original readers of this letter that Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus and Asia minor in 1st century.
That was one of reasons why Paul had to write this letter to them at the first place. There was division problem between the Jews and the Gentiles in the church due to their different background. It was hard for the Jews to see that the Gentiles who were so immoral and idolaters came to know Jesus and became believers. Their moral understanding was probably so low compare to the one of the Jews, even if they became Christians because the church was still pretty young when Paul wrote this letter. It was probably no more than 4years old.
So, It is not so hard to imagine that the Jews were saying to the Gentiles, "You can not be sharing same inheritance in the kingdom of God", As matter of fact, Paul himself sounded like confirming what they were thinking of: Eph 5:5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

However, if we read the book of Ephesians from 1st chapter to the last carefully, we can recognize that Paul says to the Gentiles again and again that they have exact same inheritance as the Jews have in Christ. How he says this again and again shows that the Gentiles really needed to hear this truth from him. (Read verses below)

Ephesians 3:3-6 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Perhaps, that was why Paul used the word, 'mystery'. He was saying to the them that it was the mystery to the Jews in the Old Testament times before Christ and His Spirit came. Yet, it was made known to the holy apostles (including himself) and prophets by the Spirit and he was saying that sharing the revealed mystery with everyone is his mission. (Eph. 3:7-9) Another reason why he used the word, 'mystery' was possibly to combat against the mystery religions, which people of Ephesus were being so much influenced by. So those who used to be from those religions had thought that only few special ones would have a special knowledge or mystery.

Paul's message here is that the Gentiles are having same promise and inheritance in Christ. And there is no secretive knowledge for only few special ones. The clear revealed truth is that their identity is now the beloved children of God. And he doesn't stop there but goes on further as telling them that then they have to act like one in other chapters of the book. Since they know that they are the beloved children clearly now, so they need to be walking like children of God.

Later on, Paul adds one more point of the mystery of God in 5:32. The mystery is the relationship between Christ and the church, which became one in comparison to the relationship between the husband and wife. Christ is the head and the church is body, which is one body.

So, there is no more mystery of God hidden... He loves to share the truth with everyone, to bring to light for everyone!!! (Eph.3:9)

Once again, this message from Paul encourages me to share this gospel with those who don't know what identity they have in Christ and with those who don't know that the mystery God revealed is to bring to light for everyone...

Snap shots from the previous school that we have finished sucessfully by Grace of God

It was one of our students Daniel's birthday. As we spent days and nights (kind of) together in the school to study the Bible for 9months, we felt that we became a real family!





As we study the book of Hosea in our class, we did a Drama to illustrate how God showed His faithful love to His children, who wasn't always faithful. This drama was showing the part that priest Hosea married to prostitute, Gomer.
Hosea 1:2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD." (ESV)


Our students were teaching the Bible to international university students in Darlana. Besides this, they were teaching in different home groups with different ages...
This outreach experience inspired many of students to teach the word of God, passing on what they have been given to others!
















It was one of applications coming out of the Book of Leviticus from students that we all came together to enjoy our fellowship with great food. True meaning of 'Love feast'... It was something that God has designed originally...

Teaching Bible Overview during Seminar in the school. I had become Abraham... Although I didn't make myself look like him at all, I pretended to be him as telling his story like mine. :)






My surprising birthday party. I was born close to Jesus' birthday...
There was already nice candles decorated as waiting His Birthday, Christmas!


Having fellowship beside work was super important to bring life not only to myself but also to students... Korean noodle party and some games...

I taught the Book of Daniel this year! It was a lot of fun to study and to teach in spite of the fact that it was a quite challenging book to study!





Love-least just before graduation day. It was celebrating time for hard work that students and staff had done for more than 9months. Many thankfulness expressed both to God and to each other, which made many of us looking for tissues to wipe out our tears...

Class on the book of Esther... we were celebrating 'Purim"...

The famous prophet Jonah didn't like the mission God gave him

Isn't this so interesting to think about that the well known prophet Jonah, who was miraculously saved out of 'a big fish' after 3days of being in it, wanted to throw away God's mission in the first place because he didn't like the idea of the mission?

Jonah is known to be a great prophet to our times. It is so because he has been viewed as a faithful prophet who was sacrificial to let himself be thrown into a sea and was alive for 3days in the big fish, which shows that God definitely had a divine calling in his life to speak His divine words to a nation. And the result out of his preaching was people of the whole city, Nineveh, repented. What an anointed minister of God he was!!!

While the above description about him was somewhat true, it is also true that the book of Jonah records of how his own agendas stood up before his divine calling.

First of all, he ran away from his own country, Israel, to further-est city that he could go to, which was exact opposite of Nineveh, where God had called him to go to.
From what or whom did he run away? He ran away from the presence of God as believing that God's presence was only limited in a certain place or nation.

Jonah 1:3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. (ESV)

During the ancient time that Jonah was living, people served different gods as believing that they would protect their lives from natural disasters, diseases or/and their nation from wars. It could have been that Jonah had same belief that God of Israel protects people of Israel and He stays in Israel not in any other countries. Perhaps, he had learned that he was not limited in their own nation after the event of what was going on in the book of Jonah since God showed up with His power and words while he was in the big fish in the middle of sea and God was there in and just outside of city of Nineveh.
He may have known in the begining that his God is the God of all the earth and heavens including all people and nations, but it didn't click his mind so well since his heart was so focused to see Him as his own national God. He wanted his God to be only the god of his nation.

Second of all, why on earth did he desperately want to run away from his calling?
Perhaps, it was so because he couldn't bare to witness that God's steadfast love and grace would fall onto one of wicked and great threatening neighbor countries to their nation, Israel. It was too painful for him to accept that God's concern is bigger than his own people. He didn't want to see neighbor countries being prosper as Israel was by God's grace.

Jonah 4:1-2 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. (ESV)

Jonah put God into his own box that God of Israel should only concern the nation Israel so He should only stay in that country. And he didn't want to accept the fact that God cares all people and all nations even if he kind of knew that (That was why he didn't want to go to Nineveh at a first place because he knew that he would forgive them if the people of Nineveh repent). His own agenda was as strong as dark deep sea that he was even hoping to die twice. Through this book, God was teaching people of Israel, the original readers of the book that God was a god of all the nations and all people whose heart is right before God that people of Israel might learn God's steadfast love and grace not limited in one nation.

And The book of Jonah brings a great lesson for us to see that our own picture of God could be so different than Who really God is just because we sometimes want God to be desperately according to our own agendas.

It is sort of encouraging to recognize Jonah's character in this way since I could see that he was a really human. Yes, he was definitely being used by God greatly and he had a really profound relationship with God since he was able to express his feelings and thoughts to him. But, he didn't have such a great love like God's.
It doesn't give me any excuse that I don't have to truly love everyone out of my whole heart because we have now the Holy Spirit living us and helping us growing into the likeness of Jesus. Yet, it does give some comfort that I don't need to beat myself up whenever I recognize myself that I don't have huge love for every single individuals and every nations on the earth.

In spite of how Jonah had his own agenda and how he wanted God to be, I believe that it counted to God that Jonah actually went to speak the words of God to people of Nineveh after of all. Obedience of him at the end in spite of all his struggles seemed being counted to Him. His obedience resulted in saving the city of Nineveh at least for about 100years.

God, let my heart be softened before You, so I would obey You with throwing my own ideas or agendas.

…Man doesn't live by bread alone, but...

At first, I didn’t really understand of what it really means in Deut 8:3, living by every word coming from God.
What does it mean by a man live by every word coming from God???
And why did Jesus say in Matthew that as resisting Devil's temptation?
So, I had to look at the original context of the Deuteronomy text, which was Exodus 16. And then, it totally made sense to me even what Jesus meant by it in Matthew 4:4 and how the original audience in New Testament time might have understood of what it meant as well.

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (ESV)

One of themes that the book of Deuteronomy shows is 'to Remember' as God was renewing His covenant with people of Israel who were about to enter the promised land, Canaan. They had to remember how God delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt and led them so closely as providing every need. Furthermore, they also had to remember how unfaithful their parents' generation was toward God's covenant in previous years, about 38 years in the wilderness time. It shows a clear contrast between God's faithfulness and unfaithfulness of people of Israel.

In this context of the book, Deut. 8:2-3 recalls the event of Manna and explains the purpose of it. It says in Ex 16:4 that God will test them whether they will walk in God’s law or not. What we know out of Exodus 16 is that when people didn’t follow exactly according to the instruction of God, the word of God, then manna was gone bad while it was totally okay when God said them to save manna for the Sabbath day. Therefore, it shows that God was teaching them to follow every His word, which Jesus also taught us that in Matthew 4:4 as quoting the text from Deuteronomy 8:3 while resisting the Devil. Following God's commandments was something that they had to learn through this event of Manna.

Matthew 4:1-4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." (ESV) But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

God was more interested in teaching them to follow His ways than interested in providing food to them if we look at carefully how He provided Manna to them and how Jesus responded after fasting for 40days. God's test, disciplining people of Israel to trust God and to keep His commandments during the wilderness time in the Old testament was being reappeared in Jesus wilderness experience for 40days, although it is recorded in Matthew as that the Devil tempted Jesus not God tested him. Jesus passed this temptation as quoting the passage from Deuteronomy 8:3.

I have always thought about how God's awesome provision was as thinking of the story of manna for the people of Israel in the wilderness. It has encouraged me to keep on believing His provision.
However, I have never thought about the purpose of manna in a way that Moses mentioned in Deut 8:2-3, which was to test people of Israel, so that they might know that man does live by every word coming from God not by bread alone. It shows that God wants us to learn not to focus on the material blessings we get from God but to focus on Himself and to learn His ways to follow. What would mean to focus on Him and to follow His ways? Perhaps, it means that we need to build up a good relationship with Him first. When we know Him better, we would be convicted better to walk in the ways of Him.. And God has clearly recorded of His ways in both in the Old Covenant and New Covenant, to love God with all our strength and to love people as ourselves.

As meditating this, I question to myself if I am focusing on God's provision or blessing part only or I am focusing God Himself and His ways to follow. It is sill not so easy to fully trust in His provision as being a missionary even if I have been living like this for more than 9 years. Yet I found myself that it is more difficult to fully trust God's guidance and to follow His ways in my daily life. And It is so easy for me to focus the material things rather than the precious relationship that I am having with God, a daughter of Heavenly Father.

I am hoping and praying that I could be disciplined in this area better, so that I won't stay being a child who is looking at only a gift, which his/her father brings, but I would become a grown up child who knows the father heart of God, giving every good gift to His children, and wants to follow His ways, loving God & people, out of the relationship that I have with Him.

I wonder how long I have to walk through in God's training or disciplining course of wilderness... Perhaps my life time...

Deut 8:5-6 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

God's love in my boots...

During last term, I have dealt with an issue in my heart about accepting the fact that God truly loves me. As I was struggling with this, one day I started thinking about that perhaps God would show His love in a way that I could understand, which means that I would be probably able to understand His love in a way that I understood from my earthly father. So, I was trying to think about how I recognized my dad's love and then, I remembered that I recognized his love through his material provision while I was living at his home.
As soon as I realized this, I kind of told Him to give me money to show /prove His love to me out of my frustration because dealing with this issue again wasn't really fun. I was actually a bit ashamed of going through this issue again as thinking about how I have been walking with Him to teach His words, His love to others.

Next morning, I was in class and learned about God's approach to us in His love, which could be the ways in 5different love languages as if God was confirming my thoughts above. It made me pondering more of how I could feel or receive His love in my heart on that day... That pondering thought came to a conclusion on that day that one of my love languages could be 'giving and receiving'.
And as I was about to finish the busy time of the day and about to enter my house, I was trying to take off my boots. While doing that, I realized that I have been feeling something in my boots all the long, which I was thinking that I should get ride of that. I shook my boots and the next moment, I found myself not being able to believe what I was looking at... It was a 500kr (Swedish Krona) bill falling out from my boot. I was thinking perhaps someone accidentally dropping it in my boot at first thought. But after thinking over where I took off them and placed it last time I realized that it wasn't possible, which I came to a conclusion of someone putting it to my boot on purpose as a blessing. So, I had to check the other boot, which I found another 500kr bill falling out... As soon as I saw that second bill, I was being reminded of that I actually prayed or told God to prove His love to me by giving money to me not too long ago, just a day before.

It was something that God was almost ready to show or prove His love to me. Actually this event broke some strong hold of my heart, which caused me not be able to accept His love deeply in my heart. God's love is just so amazing!!!