Leading from the InsideOut Conference
Sat: Inside Out: Cultivating Intimacy with God(Proverbs 3: 5-6)
By Rev Edmund Chan
Introduction:
Re-Defining Success: Anton Chekov’s ‘The Bet’
In the world of literature, world-renowned story teller Anton Chekov wrote a short story entitled “The Bet”. It begins in the setting of a lavish dinner party, hosted by a rich old banker. In the course of the party, they talked about capital punishment and solitary confinement. There was a young lawyer at the party, twenty-five years old, who said, “I would rather be imprisoned for life rather than to be executed by capital punishment.” The old banker disagreed. He said that he would rather die than to be imprisoned for life.
The debate between the luminaries and dignitaries at the party about life imprisonment and capital punishment was so heated that the banker challenged the young lawyer, saying, “I challenge you, in your statement that you would rather be imprisoned for life than be executed, that you will not last more than five years in solitary confinement. I bet two million rubles on that.” The young lawyer replied, “Five years? I can last fifteen years in solitary confinement.” With that, they shook hands, and the bet was on. So, if the young lawyer was to go into solitary confinement and last fifteen years, he would receive the two million rubles from the banker. The young lawyer was then confined to a lodge in the banker’s huge garden, and placed under the strictest supervision. He was not allowed any visitors.
During the young lawyer’s stay at the lodge, he passed his time by reading lots of books. He read six hundred volumes of books in the first four years of his confinement. Healsoread the Gospels, and his heart and mind began to change from the inside out.
The years passed by. The banker was losing his money because of his poor investments in the stock market. As his money was slowly depleted, the two million rubles began to mean more and more to the banker. In the fifteenth year of the young lawyer’s solitary confinement, the banker became more and more worried. The banker did not want to lose his money, so he decided to kill the young lawyer.
At 3a.m. on the morning of the last day in the fifteenth year, the old banker went to the lodge. The lawyer was now forty years old, slumped on his desk, fast asleep. The banker was ready to suffocate the lawyer with a pillow, therefore ending his life. However, he noticed a letter on the table that was addressed to him. He took the letter and began to read it.
In the letter, the lawyer wrote that he agreed to this bet for fame and fortune, just to prove a point. But in the course of reading all those books during the years of his confinement, especially the Gospels, something changed from within him. He was now enlightened, and came to realise that the worldly things, including the two million rubles, meant nothing to him, because he realised that enrichment comes from within. To prove this, he would unilaterally break the contract by walking out of the place five hours before noon when the contractwould end, thus forfeiting his claim to the two million rubles.
The old banker began to weep. He began to despise himself and could not return to sleep. At 7a.m. his servant came and told him that the lawyer had disappeared, and therefore the bet was off. The banker had won. He could keep his two million rubles. The banker went back to the lodge to confirm the lawyer’s disappearance, and took the letter. He kept it in a fire-proof safe.
As the story closes, readers are confronted with this question: “Who is the real prisoner:the lawyer or, the banker?”
Many of us think that leadership does not apply to us because we are not leaders. The truth is this:all of us are leaders! We all have some form of influence over another person(s). If you are a parent, you are a leader becauseyou lead our children. If you are a husband, you are a leader becauseyou lead your wife and your family. Even if you are leading nobody in particular, the greatest leadership terrain still exists because you are called to lead yourself.
The fundamental principle of leadership is this: You cannot lead from the outside in; true leadership is from the inside out.
As a Christian, there is a need to cultivate intimacy with God so that we know how to direct our lives and live it with purpose, meaning and intentionality.
There is a profound text in the ancient book that the Rabbis call the ‘hinge-pin’, whereby Judaism hinges upon, and this point is found in Proverbs 3:5-6. In this scripture, there are three keys on how to live from the inside out and how to live wisely before God. It helps us to radically redefine success in life and ministry so that we do not become a prisoner of life.
A Three Fold Wisdom as seen in Proverbs 3:5-6
- GOD Wants Us To Live Life from the INSIDE OUT
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart…in all your ways…”
God has designed us to live life from the inside out. As we can note from the scriptureverseabove, the phrase “all your heart” precedes the phrase “all your ways”. This is an important divine order. It is not by chance that God presented it as such. In the context of this verse, the word “ways” not only refers to the direction of our lives but also the conduct of our lives:where we are headed and how we are leading our lives. But what comes first is the “inside”.
The fundamental principle of leadership is that we have to lead our lives from the inside out whereby the “heart” precedes the “ways”, that is where we are heading and how we are leading our lives. The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. The heart is where it all begins.
To lead life from the inside out, we must live life from the upside-down. We must get our orders and instructions and wisdom from God,Who isfrom on high, from the upside. God speaks revelation into our lives and it changes our hearts from within, so that our hearts may be true to Him, true to Christ’s character and the calling to which God has called us.
To live a directed life is a must; this means that our lives must be livedstrategically and intentionality. However, it is not just a directed life that we are called to live, but a God-directed life. God has called us to live life from the inside out, whereby the heart precedes the ways, wherebythe inside precedes the outside.
The Difference in perspective betweenliving life fromthe “InsideOut” and the “OutsideIn”
Life from the Outside In emphasises on: / Life from the InsideOut emphasises on:Accomplishment / Authenticity
Competence / Character
Rituals / Reality
Looking good / Being good
Doing / Being
Guard your heart. The condition of your heart is determined by the appetite of your heart. Whatever satisfies the appetite of your heart determines the state of your heart. If the heart is impoverished, darkened and disillusioned, it is satisfied by the wrong things. But if the condition of the heart is right, it hungers for the right things: the good and,spiritual things.
God has designed us to give attention to the inner condition of our hearts, living life from the insideout. The heart determines everything else in life.
The question for us is this: “What is the condition of your heart?”
- GOD Wants Us To Live Life WHOLEHEARTEDLY
“all your heart” and “all your ways”
God’s delight is when we live life from the inside out wholeheartedly. The word “all” means “all”!
Pastor Edmund made a Lordship decision in his life back in December 1975 when he came back to the Lord after backsliding for four years in high school. He made the Lordship decision with one resounding principle in his heart, which is,“If Jesus Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.” God does not want a discipleship commitment of 99%, but is not total; He wants a wholehearted, 100% commitment. This feat is not possible by ourselves. That is why we need the Lord because the Christian life is a supernatural life.
Thenextquestion we need to answer is this: “Is Christianity possible?” If it is not possible, let us not waste our time. If Christianity is possible, then let us giveour all. The answer is that Christianity is only possible in Jesus Christ.That is why God made discipleship an absolute demand. Jesus does not want to be just prominent in our lives; He wantsto bepre-eminent.
The greatest discovery of the secret of the Christian life is when we realise that we cannot do it alone. The only way we canlive by God’s principles (as expounded by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount) is by surrendering tothe Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, who brought abundance into our lives and made all things new.
When we make Christ the Lord of our lives, it is His power, His grace, and His presence that direct and empower us to discipleship.Jesus thus becomes pre-eminent in our lives. Is it possible? In Him, it is. This is God’s desire that we walk with Him wholeheartedly.
Jimmy Carter, the former president of the United States, wrote an autobiography and in telling his story, told of a time when he had just graduated from the Naval Academy. He was one of abatch ofyoung officers due to be posted to different parts of the navy for their assignment. In order to be posted, these elite officers have to go through an interview with the Admiral and from that interview, the cream of the crop are selected and given high level postings. As Jimmy stood before the Admiral during his interview, the supreme commander asked him one question which he will never forget:“Tell me son, have you done your best?” Jimmy answered, “Yes.” But then something gripped and convicted him. Jimmy paused for a moment and with his head hanging down, said, “Well sir, I have not always done my best.” The Admiral asked him, “Why not the best?”
Jesus is the Son of the living God, and He gave His life for you and me. So the question for us is this, “Why not the best?” Why do we Christians give our leftovers to God? We give Him the leftovers of our time, energy andresources, because we fail to understand that God has given His best for us.
There was a Malaysian athlete (Azizulhasni Awang) who competed in a cycling competition. During the competition as he cycled, he fell onto the ground and had a splinter in his leg. However, he jumped back onto the bike and kept on cycling to the finish line to win a bronze. Most people would have given up. In Pastor Edmund’s eyes, that cyclist was a gold medal champion. The cyclist gave his best, even with a splinter in his leg. We should likewise give our best in the world of discipleship and leadership. That is what God wants from us.
- GOD Wants Us To Live Life with HIM AT THE VERY CENTER
“Trust in the Lord…Acknowledge Him…”
The term “trust me” is a fascinating term.
Four reasonswhyit is hardfor a personto trustanother:
1)The person is not trustworthy
2)The person wants to help but is unable to do so
3)The person isable to help but unwilling to do so
4)The person is able to help but has an ulterior motive
Why is it so hardto trust God? God is trustworthy, He is not unable and not unwilling, and He has no hidden agenda. God has been proven to be faithful, and His intentions are good, for He intends to bless His children. Yet, people still find it so hard to trust Him.
The truth is that people find it so hard to trust God because they are afraid of losing control. They are unable to let go. They want to haveand retaincontrol over their lives.
Life can be very uncertain. That is why we need to trust in God’s faithfulness. Trusting God is something we must do daily. It is not something we do only for a period of time when things go the way we want them to. Even when things do not go the way we had hoped, even when we are confused, lose our sense of security and become uncertain, we must not lean on our own understanding but learn to trust in God’s timing and purpose. In times of uncertainty, when we do not know the future, we need to learn to trust the One who holds the future. We need to learn to let go and let God be in control.
You can trust the One who died for you. Jesus died for you. If you cannot trust the one who died for you, who then can you trust?
When you are worried about making ends meet, when you are concerned about your health, when you face problems at work, when you are anxious about your future, when life is spinning out of control, you can trust the One who died for you. When God called you to cultivate the inner life, He is inviting you to trust Him. We are afraid of committing ourselves to God because we do not realise how committed God is to us.
On missions, we do not fully understand the theology of mission. The mission field is where God has placed us: where we live (our community), and where we find a living (our workplace, i.e. the marketplace). Whether itis cross-culturally (where we engage with a culture or race that is not our own) or in the marketplace, we are all called to missions.
The church has beenseduced, blinded and disillusioned. We have exchanged and substituted respectability for spiritual revival.There is a reduced susceptibility to revival. We become respectable people by doing things that gain us respectability in the eyes of man. We go to church, attend cell group meetings and study the Bible. However, respectability becomes the obstacle to true revival. God wants us to put aside our respectability and trust in the Lord with all our hearts, to cultivate our inner life and to give Him our best.
The ultimate question is this:‘Is your direction in life, the direction God intends for your life?’
Conclusion: You Can Trust Him Who Died For You!
Leading from the Inside Out Conference
Sun: When Your Dream is Yet Unfulfilled(Zechariah 4:6)
By Rev Edmund Chan
Introduction
Tommy went home after school, and complains to his father how he was always being picked by his teacher in class. The boy asked the father to go to schoolwith him, so that he could observe this for himself. So he went to the schooland attended the history classwith his son the next day. The history teacher posted the class a question, “Who signed the Declaration for Independence?”,and sure enough, directed the question to Tommy. The boy turns to his father, and says, “See, she picks on me all the time”. The father stood up and with great concern, said, “Son, if you have signed it, please admit it”. So much forthe love ofhistory…
Three Significant Numbers
In leadership, history plays a very important role. In Jewish history, there are 3 significant numbers to remember:
- 586 B.C. – This is known as the Babylonian captivity (or Babylonian exilefrom Jerusalem).
- 536 B.C. – The Persian Empire allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple, thus ending the captivity of Babylon. Although work was started onthetemple rebuilding, progress was slow and half-hearted. Thenhalf-way through, work on the Temple was stopped and remained uncompleted for 16 years after it was started. Any developerof reputewould bedeeplyembarrassed if a building project cannot be completedwithin16 years!
- 520BC – God’s word was released, the work restarted and the reconstruction of the temple was completed within the next 4 years so thatin 516,the temple was rededicated to the Lord. So, what made the difference?
A leader knows that having a vision and plan alone is not enough. But what is important is to have something from the inside, something that is from on High, that it must be done and will be done. The power of God is perceived when the Word of God is received and believed. Something happens then. However, there are obstacles to dreams:
- The building process may be hard, but rebuildinga broken structureis even harder.
- The greater the dream, the greater will be the obstacle.
Three Principles
Rev Edmund Chan says that there are three core principles that he gleans from the reading of this text (Zechariah 4:6) in dealing with Unfulfilled Dreams:
- The Principle of CONFIRMATION:
Make Sure that the Dream is from God
In God, no dream is hopeless. In Him, there will be promises from God.
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you” (Zechariah 4:9).
The phrase, ‘His hands will also complete it’, represents God’s promise and God’s direction to us. Our challenge would be this: Can we fulfil these dreams, because they have been entrusted to us and hence,they become our responsibility, without neglectingourother responsibilities, particularlyto our family.