Camping
VAY Bay Area Camp
I had the pleasure of attending the VAY Camp during the weekend of June 27-29, 2015. If it wasn't for one of my kids who insisted that I had to be there with her, I woudn't have been there. Not that I didn't want to, but I would have felt uninvited, like I was not supposed to be there. It was great, a nice little retreat during which I was able to complete my writings on all of Romans 9 for both English and Vietnamese, and a part of chapter 10.
Here is a little album of photos I took during this trip. I'm sure someone at the VAY staff will post something at their website to document this event. I will be focusing on the sermons of the special guest speaker David Huynh.
Pastor Huynh preached 3 sermons based on three Scripture passages: True Contentment - Philippians 4:11, True Relationship - Matthew 7:15-23, and True Power for Living: Galatians 5:13-26. I took the liberty of giving titles to these sermons as I listened to them and thought they best described the ideas that Pastor David Huynh was trying to convey. Though I will be summarizing Pastor Huynh's sermons here, I can't help weaving in my own reflections in the context of what the pastor has laid out.
True Contentment
10I have great joy in the Lord because now at last you have again expressed your concern for me. (Now I know you were concerned before but had no opportunity to do anything.) 11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content in any circumstance. 12I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing. 13I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:10-13)
Pastor Huynh sets up this message by relating to the young folks listening to him the pressure to conform, the inner striving for significance, and many other things that young people face that deprive them of the peace that should be theirs as children of God. Pastor Huynh aims to help the young folks to get to the place in life where they can be content in the "whatever."
It's easy to point out that things young people want such as career, relationship, romance, material possession, cannot bring true contentment. Because the moment they get what they want, dissatisfaction sets in. Things they fantasized about become less glorious in the flesh, dreams take on their real size. Such is the nature of worldly pursuit. But there is an even more dangerous pursuit.
Even when people try to do the "things of God," such as reading the Bible, delivering a sermon as in the case of the pastor himself, leading worship, prayer, etc.. There are times of great success, sermons are well received by the congregation, personal devotions were effortless with much inspiration, spirit riding high while preparing for Sunday worship and even while leading the congregation in worship. But it is tough to keep looking for the same feeling, same intensity of devotion, same altitude of spirit flying high.
Pastor Huynh pointed out that the reason for our discontent was because we base our lives on what we do. Since we are not machines, we cannot maintain the same level of performance all the time. We feel good when things go well, and we feel bad when things get worse. The true abiding contentment is based on something else, or rather someone else, or best yet SOMEONE ELSE.
Pastor Huynh coined a phrase, if memory serves me well, that I thought was great: true contentment is not based on what we do, even things as noble as doing the things of God, but on who we know. It's the relationship, stupid. Ah, amen to that. This is what I want to hear not just from Pastor Huynh, but from anyone who stands at a pulpit. Words that bring joy to the heart, that lighten the burden. Because what you do is "work," while who you know is the embodiment of "grace." What else can make your yoke easy and your burden light? (Sorry pastor Huynh, I can't help but feeling exhuberant talking about this wonderful stuff)
I'd probably phrase Pastor Huynh's concept a little differently: It's not what you do, but it's who you think you are in the eyes of God, or your identity in Christ for short. We tend to want to be defined by what we do or what we own, but I found relief in knowing what God thinks about me, and I know that however God thinks about His Son, it is also how He thinks about me because I'm in Christ. Do I dare to believe that God says this about me: "In Nghi I am well pleased"? Yes, I do. How wonderful it is that you're defined not by who you are in the wretched flesh, but by the identity of the one redeemed by Christ. That contentment abides, it is the true Sabbath Rest.
Pastor Huynh has successfully delivered this sermon.
True Relationship
15"Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. 16You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? 17In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of heaven - only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22On that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?' 23Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!' (Philippians 4:15-23)
Pastor Huynh continues expounding on the concept that our contentment should not be based on temporal things but on who we know, namely Christ. We normally think of being fruitful when we do Christian things. But this passage shows us that our normal assumption concerning fruit and the bearing of it are faulty at best. The doing of things that look like fruit, or even legitimate things that Christians do, are not necessarily signs of our real relationship with God (verses 22-23). Here are some of my thoughts which I'm sure is shared by Pastor Huynh, the more a ministry focuses on the fruits or the bearing of fruits, the more it takes their eyes off of Christ. It breaks the principle of do vs. who required for true contentment.
My thoughts: God absolutely insists on the end of all fleshly effort before His work can begin. Prime examples are the lives of Moses and Abraham. God used 40 years in the desert to bring a prince down to the humble place where the dream of delivering his people from Egypt was all but forgotten, the oratory skill of a national leader is reduced to a stuttering herdsman. God insisted that this man must cease all his doing before He can do His own thing through him. This seed must fall to the ground and die before it can become fruitful (John 12:24). Moses must die. He must die of all his doing, even the dream of delivering his people must die so God can instill His own dream in Moses' heart. It's the same thing with Abraham and Sarah. They must be dead in their ability to produce offspring so God's seed can be planted.
My thoughts: Don't challenge youthful flesh to do the things of God. In doing so you will destroy their relationship with God. Teach them to be like Mary, to choose the better thing, to sit at Jesus' feet and learn of Him. There is true contentment.
Like the first sermon, pastor Huynh also successfully drove home the point of this message.
True Power For Living
19Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, 20idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, 21envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God! 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another. (Galatians 5:19-26)
Pastor Huynh was ingenious in setting up this sermon using a collection of jokes that demonstrate the irresistable urges of the flesh, the part we all inherit from Adam and Eve's sin nature. All the negative qualities described inexhaustively in verses 19 through 21 are not about only some folks in the audience, but are attributes of every single human being who ever lived. If you think they describe some people other than yourselves, you must have a huge case of logged eye. And the warning in verse 21 is not again reserved only for some folks, it's for you, high and mighty faith leader, whoever you think you are. It's saying that damnation is reserved for all, not excluding anyone. It's a way for Paul to lead you to the only way of escape: to live by the Spirit.
The only way to live by the Spirit is to cease all fleshly effort. Pastor Huynh had preached the previous two sermons to drive this point into our thick skull which needs a renewal of the mind to understand that we become undone because of tenacious tendency to do stuff. Unless we fully realized that God accepts us singularly for our faith in Christ, we will not experience a true contentment which is really the REST commanded us by Paul in Hebrews 4:11, to "make every effort to enter that rest." And unless you have entered that rest, what you produce is the fruit of your flesh, not of God. It's a fruit for death (Romans 7:5).
Conclusion
Thank you pastor Huynh, and of course the staff for having invited you, for 3 great sermons which were something I never get tired to hear. Something we all can do, something we can achieve, something already ours as part of the inheritance we get as we receive Christ, something available to us through faith. And you're so right, that the secret lies not in the things we do, but in the One we know. Because the more we know Christ, the more we know how much his blood covers us, and it covers all our blemishes, now and forevermore.
True contentment lies not in what we do, but in WHO we know
Scripture quoted by permission. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Nghi Nguyen
Disclaimer: This is my own opinion on the topic, which does not necessarily reflect the church's theology, or beliefs of the individuals in it — Nghi Nguyen