A Wedding and A Birthday July 9, 2009
Posted by Jennifer Guo in Personal.add a comment
Tomorrow, July 10, 2009 is a big day. It is 1) Carrie and Michael’s wedding day, and 2) the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth.
So, congratulations Carrie and Mike! I can’t wait to see the two of you get married. May the Lord richly bless the two of you as you love and serve Him together.
And happy birthday John Calvin! Though I haven’t read any biographies of Calvin, and only made it through about 300 pages of the Institutes before deciding my pea-brain couldn’t handle it just yet, I sense the profundity of his influence in a secondary way. Many of the people I respect and admire the most number Calvin among the most significant spiritual influences in their lives. I think next year I will try reading through the Institutes again.
The Power of Sin and What Breaks It, According to John Piper July 4, 2009
Posted by Jennifer Guo in Quotes, sanctification.add a comment
This is a quote from the closing chapter of John Piper’s book Future Grace, a must read on the topic of sanctification.
The power of sin is the false promise that it will bring more happiness than holiness will bring. Nobody sins out of duty. Therefore, what breaks the power of sin is faith in the true promise that the pleaures of sin are passing and poisonous, but at God’s hand are pleasures for evermore (Psalm 16:11). This way of fighting sin with the hope of superior satisfaction, is called, in Hebrews 11:24-26, living “by faith”: “By faith Moses… [chose] to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, [rather] than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin…for he was looking to the reward.” Therefore the cry of this book, to fight sin, is a cry to pursue a joy superior to anything sin could offer. It is the cry of Christian Hedonism.
The Preeminence of Christ June 28, 2009
Posted by Jennifer Guo in Jesus Christ, Sermons, Spiritual Growth.add a comment
For the past few days I’ve been listening to sermons from this year’s Next conference. This year’s conference was all about the Person and work of Jesus Christ. The first message was delivered by Joshua Harris and pertained to the preeminence of Christ. He expounded upon Colossians 1:15-20 and opened up the reality of Christ’s preeminence in all things. Then he asked a pointed question: “Are you living your life and shaping your life around the reality that Jesus is preeminent?” Christian, ponder this question with fear and trembling and do not just assume that the answer is yes. We probably all intellectually assent to the reality that Christ is preeminent; we proclaim it with our lips. But are we living according to this reality in every sphere of our lives?
Josh spent the rest of the time in Luke 6:46-49. Josh said that he had always assumed that he was a “rock” person, and that this passage was for the “pagans.” But Jesus was confronting the hypocrisy of religious people, who don’t always live in a way that matches their theological convictions. He was challenging people who had preeminence on paper, but didn’t have Jesus preeminent in their lives.This part of the sermon really convicted me. I need His grace to live according to my theological convictions.
Josh concluded this message by talking about how if you want to be founded upon the rock, you have to come to Jesus, hear His words, and put them into practice. Josh talked about the necessity of holding to sound doctrine; emotions are good, but they need to be built on something solid and unchanging – the truth about Jesus. Finally, he said that you can read all the theology in the world, but if you don’t put it into practice, your house is built on sand. Christian doctrine is for living.
One of the application questions for this message was this: “What is your practice and plan for growing in the knowledge of God’s Word and the doctrines that summarize God’s Word?” If you don’t have a plan, I highly encourage you to prayerfully develop one. And if you already have a plan, pray for the grace to maintain it; and pray that you will put into practice what you learn. Pray that the knowledge won’t just stay in your head, but that it will drip into your heart and permeate your entire life.
Feel free to comment and post your plan! After hearing this message and reading that application question, I wrote down all the things I wanted to pursue for the rest of this year. Then I looked at my list and realized that it will be impossible to maintain once the fall semester starts. So I need to tweek it and postpone some pursuits for later. I would love to know about your plans for growing in the knowledge of God and of His Word!
A Quote, and Thoughts on Worship June 18, 2009
Posted by Jennifer Guo in Quotes, Worship.1 comment so far
The following is from “Worship: Beholding the Beauty of the Lord“.
The church does more than worship. She leads her people to love, teach, trust, work, offer mercy, even to suffer and to laugh. The church does more than worship, indeed. But the church cannot do less than worship. If the church does many fine things, including the spreading of the gospel, but does not worship, it is something other than the church.
Worship is the tip of the spear point of personal and cultural transformation. Without it, no genuine and lasting Christian growth can occur for any of us, nor can any meaningful change in our world take place. Worship makes the gospel more beautiful than any of our idols. Only transcendence can break the church out of the entropic tendency to reproduce the spirit of the age.
Like Piper wrote in “Let the Nations be Glad“, missions is not the primary job of the church; worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.
This begs the question: what is biblical worship? I think this is another theme I will be exploring this summer. I want my personal worship to be pleasing to the Lord; but I also feel a responsibility and weight regarding this matter because I lead worship for InterVarsity large groups. If I err, it doesn’t just affect me.
In the quote above, it said that only worship (transcendence) can break the church out of the entropic tendency to reproduce the spirit of the age. Well…I don’t say this to be controversial…but what if in its worship the church is also reproducing the spirit of the age? This is why it is important for us to explore what biblical worship is, and to not just do what feels good, or what gives us warm fuzzy feelings, or what gives us liver-shivers.
Three Truths Enforced by the Cross – John Stott June 16, 2009
Posted by Jennifer Guo in Gospel, Quotes, The Cross.Tags: Cross, Gospel, Stott
1 comment so far
The following quote from The Cross of Christ concludes the first section of the book, entitled “Approaching the Cross.” It is rather lengthy, so I hope it does not violate any copyright laws. I encourage you to read this quote in its entirety – it will feed your soul and perhaps whet your appetite to read the book. Somewhere else Stott wrote that the cross is the blazing fire at which our love is kindled; but we must get near enough for its flames to fall on us. This book gets us so near the blazing fire!
First, our sin must be extremely horrible. Nothing reveals the gravity of sin like the cross. For ultimately what sent Christ there was neither the greed of Judas, nor the envy of priests, or the vacillating cowardice of Pilate, but our own greed, envy, cowardice and other sins, and Christ’s resolve in love and mercy to bear their judgment and so put them away. It is impossible for us to face Christ’s cross with integrity and not feel ashamed of ourselves. Apathy, selfishness and complacency blossom everywhere in the world except at the cross. There these noxious weeds shrivel and die. They are seen for the tatty, poisonous things they are. For if there was no way by which the righteous God could righteously forgive our unrighteousness, except that He should bear it Himself in Christ, it must be serious indeed. It is only when we see this that, stripped of our self-righteousness and self-satisfaction, we are ready to put our trust in Jesus Christ as the Savior we urgently need.
Secondly, God’s love must be wonderful beyond comprehension. God could quite justly have have abandoned us to our fate. He could have left us alone to reap the fruit of our wrongdoing and to perish in our sins. It is what we deserved. But He did not. Because He loved us, He came after us in Christ. He pursued us even to the desolate anguish of the cross, where he bore our sin, guilt, judgment and death. It takes a hard and stony heart to remain unmoved by love like that. It is more than love. Its proper name is ‘grace,’ which is love to the undeserving.
Thirdly, Christ’s salvation must be a free gift. He ‘purchased’ it for us at the high price of His own life-blood. So what is there left for us to pay? Nothing! Since He claimed that all was now ‘finished,’ there is nothing for us to contribute. Not of course that we now have a license to sin and can always count on God’s forgiveness. On the contrary, the same cross of Christ, which is the ground of a free salvation, is also the most powerful incentive to a holy life. But this new life follows. First, we have to humble ourselves at the foot of the cross, confess that we have sinned and deserve nothing at His hand but judgment, thank Him that He loved us and died for us, and receive from Him a full and free forgiveness. Against this self-humbling our ingrained pride rebels. We resent the idea that we cannot earn – or even contribute to – our own salvation. So we stumble, as Paul put it, over the stumbling-block of the cross.
Toward Becoming a Godly Woman June 15, 2009
Posted by Jennifer Guo in biblical manhood & womanhood.add a comment
About a week ago I wrote about how two topics have been on my mind that I never used to think about: marriage, and biblical femininity. In a recent post I detailed my attitude toward relationships and marriage, as well as what I have been pondering in relation to this topic.
Conversations at Chapter Focus Week about marriage inevitably led to discussions about gender roles in marriage, and, of course, Ephesians 5 was debated. I believe it is clear from Scripture that God created male and female equal in value and importance, but with distinct and complementary personhood and roles. This distinction manifests itself of course in marriage and family as well as in the church, but I am just starting to realize that it is much more far-reaching than that.
I used to never really ponder what it meant to be a godly woman. I never read books specifically addressed to women. I was pursuing God and seeking to grow in godliness “in general,” but I didn’t give any attention to attributes of godliness that the Bible indicates as unique to woman. When I read passages like Proverbs 31, Titus 2, and 1 Peter 3 it was as if I put on a mental post-it-note “cultivate these attributes later” and stored it away in a bin called “When I get close to marriage.”
It was rather foolish of me to think that I could wake up one day as a godly wife and mother (if the Lord wills) without cultivating those attributes. It was also foolish of me to think that biblical femininity only has meaning in the context of marriage. All these years I have ignored this topic, thinking it wouldn’t be relevant until marriage was at least somewhere on the horizon. But biblical manhood and womanhood are still relevant even if one never gets married.
In a feminist society that wants to deny inherent differences between man and woman in nature as well as role, it is difficult to discover and affirm those differences. I used to think this issue was not of foundational importance; the gospel of Jesus Christ is foundational, but this gender-role thing is a side issue. That is what I used to think, but lately I am starting to realize the importance of recovering, cultivating, and living out biblical manhood and womanhood. If God instituted the human covenant of marriage to picture Christ and the Church as Ephesians 5 seems to say, then marriage (and hence biblical masculinity and femininity) is intimately tied to the gospel.
With this topic, I am swimming deep into uncharted waters. Here I go, on a journey to discovering what biblical femininity is, and what it means to be a woman of God.
I really believe this issue is important, and that something big is at stake. But I don’t know what it is since I haven’t really thought about these issues before. I’m sure I will read a book soon that talks about these things, so I will post what I learn.
What A Day! June 11, 2009
Posted by Jennifer Guo in sanctification.1 comment so far
I totally lost it today. I got to campus around 2:30 to cram for an exam at 5:30, and around 4PM I started TOTALLY freaking out. All of the sudden I didn’t know how to do any of the textbook problems, and I started panicking like crazy. I can’t even describe my state of mind or what I was like. Maybe I did literally go crazy, because I was panicking and giddy and the “b word”. I totally snapped at someone who sat down to study with me and I felt awful.
While I was maniacal, I had a few moments of clarity where thoughts flooded through my mind of what a terrible witness to Christ this was. Now granted, in the concourse of the business school where I was studying, no one really new me…except the two people sitting at my table. But still, I berated myself for panicking and not trusting God, for not being the picture of peace and serenity and godliness. I ruminated about how un-Christlike it was of me to snap at the person who had sat down. I felt awful. I was representing so badly the One I love more than anything and anyone else in the world combined. These were the thoughts and emotions mixed in with panic; prayers were mixed in as well, but I stayed a mess all the way until I went to take the exam. Today was a strange day.
I don’t know what was wrong with me. It is often said that one’s true character shows through in the furnace of pressure and stress. Perhaps that is what happened to me today. I need His grace so much. I feel messed up, but I know that He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6). Whenever I am overwhelmed by my sinfulness I fling myself at the foot of the Cross; and whenever I see my lack of sanctification and wonder if I will ever be like Him, I cling tightly to the promise of Philippians 1:6. How incredible that our Father does not call us and leave us the way we are, but that one of His purposes in election is to conform us to the image of His Son!
Father, make me more and more like you each day, for the glory of Your name. For Your name’s sake,would You sanctify me! Sanctify me by the truth, Your Word is truth. Through my life may Your name be praised; through my life may Your glorious gospel be proclaimed! Amen.
A Paradigm Shift? June 9, 2009
Posted by Jennifer Guo in singleness/relationships/marriage.2 comments
Lately two topics have been on my mind that I never really used to think about: relationships/marriage, and biblical femininity. I’ve been a Christian for 4 years, 2 months and 29 days. And I’ve been intentionally single for almost as long – probably around 4 years and 2 months.
When I first got saved I broke up almost immediately with the guy I was dating at the time, because all I wanted was Jesus. And throughout these four years, I have continued to pursue intentional singleness because the single years are a period of life that will never be paralleled again. Never again will there be a season like this where our pursuit of God and His kingdom can be this intense and free from obligation and distraction.
Lately though, God has brought this issue to my mind repeatedly. It started at Chapter Focus Week, where dating, sex and marriage kept coming up in conversations. It probably had to do with the fact that the expositor on our side of the camp was Mindy Meier, author of a wildly popular book in InterVarsity-land, Sex and Dating.
Then earlier this week I stumbled upon an article on the Boundless Webzine about dating. I had never read an article on Boundless before, but this particular article contained an illustration that caught my eye. It mentioned Paul’s analogy of the Christian life as a race, and talked about how Christian singles should be looking to see who is to their right and left as they run. They should look to see who is keeping pace, who is running nearby, who is heading the same direction. Then men can ask women to run a few laps. That’s dating or courtship.
It surprised me to read that illustration, because for the past few years I have had the imagery in my mind of myself running the race God has set before me with my eyes fixed straight on Jesus in single-minded pursuit of Him and His kingdom. I’ve always trusted that when the timing was right according to His plan and will for my life, He would bring “the one.” And until that happened, I was not going to waste my time. But now Boundless is telling me I should be looking around. I am confused! This is a Webzine for the “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” crowd, I think; it’s a site for the young, restless and Reformed. That article is making me wonder if I’ve gotten it wrong. Should I be looking around? Should I be more concerned about finding a future husband?
A link on that article took me to another article on relationships. It talked about how Christians with a high view of God’s sovereignty and Christians with a low view of God’s sovereignty can both err when it comes to relationships and finding a future spouse. It’s definitely making me wonder if I have fallen into some “high-sovereignty errors” in relation to marriage. It’s making me wonder if perhaps I should care more and should actually be looking.
I am definitely confused. I always thought it was fine, perhaps even good, that I was focusing on God and not worried about getting married. But Boundless is making me consider the possibility that my attitude was perhaps not entirely correct, and that I should perhaps change my thinking just a little bit. What do you guys think? I would love some opinions on this.
Next time I’ll write on what I’ve been pondering lately in relation to biblical femininity. It’s naturally connected to the topic of relationships and marriage.
I’m Back!! June 7, 2009
Posted by Jennifer Guo in Gospel, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.Tags: CFW
1 comment so far
I’ve been gone from the blogging world for months and months! For some reason every time I disappear for a long time I always delete all my posts and change my template when I come back. Anyway, without further ado, here a rapid-fire update of what’s been going on in my life as well as what’s on my mind and heart.
The semester ended and summer kicked off with Chapter Focus Week. I did the leadership team track along with three other U of Akron students to pray and dream and plan for the next year. This year’s track was unique in that our team met in the same room as the Wooster and Youngstown State leadership teams the whole week during track time. There was an awesome building of community and fellowship, as well as synergy in feeding off of each other’s ideas and energy and passion.
God really worked and really spoke to us that week. We came away with next year’s theme: “Real Faith: Dirty Hands, Beautiful Feet.” We believe that our God-given vision and focus for next year is a combination of social justice/service (dirty hands) and evangelism (beautiful feet). I am so excited about our emphasis for next year; my heart burns for our campus. My heart burns for revival, and for more and more people to bow their knee to Jesus and confess Him as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
My major concern is that we do not lose the focus (the Gospel); and that we do not forget why we are doing this (to the glory of God the Father). In the midst of service and evangelism, sometimes there is a tendency to forget how good the Gospel truly is (in a personal, experiential way), and to feed our own souls on it less and less. There is sometimes a tendency to be like Martha, distracted from Jesus by service and ministry. Christ and Him crucified needs to be the center of not just what we proclaim, but the center of our personal thoughts, our personal study and meditation, our personal delight, our fear and trembling. Furthermore, there are scores of secular justice and relief organizations; they’re doing good deeds, but perishing; they’re helping people’s bodies but doing nothing for their souls. The gospel must be at the center.
Secondly I mentioned above that I am concerned that we do not forget that it is all to the glory of God the Father. Man is not ultimate; God is. Many of you know that soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone) is one of my primary mottos. I frequently sign my emails with SDG. I believe it is clear from Scripture that the aim of everything is God’s own glory. The aim of creation, fall, redemption, consummation – it is all to the praise of His glory. One day missions and evangelism will cease; there will not be any injustice in the age to come. But worship will not cease. For all of eternity, God’s redeemed, elect from before the foundation of the world, will bow before His thrown and ascribe to Him the glory due His name.
“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
I will continue updating on my life tomorrow! Oh yes, I have to mention that it was awesome to see Koinonia at Chapter Focus Week 
