Epiphany 4 (30^th January 2011)

Theme: Called to live by godly wisdom (1 Corinthians 1: 18-end)

Last Sunday I spoke about our need to have unity in Church and I pointed out a few ways on how we can achieve and maintain this unity. We have seen last Sunday how groups of people in Corinth have aligned themselves to certain leaders based on their personal perceptions of these leaders.  They were not concerned about the message that these leaders were trying to get to them: they were obsessed by the personalities of the leaders – their capabilities or their intelligence.  

So Paul goes on to explain to them that Christians are not to judge things based on human wisdom and capabilities.  If they are to continue to do so, they will not be able to stay united because each person thinks and sees things differently.  So Paul tells them to forego their human wisdom or the human way of judging things, and try to see things from God’s point of view. If they can do that, they will have a common mind, and they will be able to see things from the same perspective.   

This morning I want you to see how Paul expresses the difference between human wisdom and the wisdom of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.  Paul tells the Corinthians to abandon their “wise-guy” attitude, and really grow to become wise men.  Now, what is the difference between a wise man and a wise guy?

When we speak about a wise guy we often refer to a person who is out for himself. He tends to look down upon other people’s ideas.  He always has something to criticize. Wise guys tend to use their intelligence in a way that destroys, rather than to build up; to discourage rather than to encourage.  On the other hand, wise people know how to use their intelligence to serve others and to help those around them. They are constructive in their way of thinking and they are willing to listen to what other people have to say.

In this passage Paul addressed those in the church at Corinth who claimed to be wise. These people initially started their like anybody else.  They had humbly submitted themselves to Christ, and had not put trust in human wisdom for their salvation.  However, as they grew in faith, they began to take pride in human wisdom and emphasized such wisdom over the gospel itself.  And in their pursuit of wisdom, they became arrogant wise guys, using their “wisdom” in a way that divided the church and set themselves in opposition to Paul.

Paul told these groups of Christians that they had moved back to human wisdom and this was causing great disunity in the Church in Corinth.  Paul told them to heal their divisions because they were contrary to the unity that exists in Christ’s body.  And to do that, they needed to understand that their so-called wisdom was worthless. Such wisdom could not save anyone; it could not further the cause of Christ. All it did was to create frictions among the believers, and if it were allowed to prolong, it could eventually destroy the Church.  So he urged the Christians in Corinth to recognize the folly of human wisdom and to embrace the wisdom of the gospel.

Let us look at how Paul set up his argument here.  First, Paul speaks about two kinds of people in the world: those who are perishing and those who are saved (v.18). Those who are perishing are the unbelievers who live according to human wisdom.  They were those who claimed that the message of the cross is foolishness.  On the other hand, those who are saved are those who believe the gospel, that is, they accept the word of the cross and perceive it to be the power of God.

Paul then points out that human wisdom will be destroyed (v.19).  Paul said in verse 19: “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’”  He was quoting from Isaiah 29: 14, where the prophet rebuked Israel for going against God by relying on the wisdom of the wise of the so-called wise advisors. He told them that God would destroy human wisdom and do things to frustrate the philosophical and religious teachings that humans put up against his revelation.

Paul’s then goes on to say that not only will human wisdom be destroyed: it has been made foolish (v.20).  He asked in verse 20: “Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

Paul uses quotation from Isaiah 29:14 to illustrate his point.  When Isaiah made his prophecy, Sennacherib (King of Assyria) was planning to conquer Judah. The Lord told Isaiah not to worry – not because of the strength of Judah’s army, or King Hezekiah’s strategy.  God promised that Judah would be saved solely by God’s power, with no human help. All Israel had to do was trust and obey. If you read Isaiah 37:36 and 2 Kings 19, you know that God destroyed 185,000 Assyrians with just one angel!

Another way to ask the three questions Paul asks would be to ask, “Where are all the smart people who seem to have the answers?”  How much closer are we to eliminating poverty, hunger, ignorance, crime, and immorality than they were in the days of Paul?  You look throughout history and you will find that human wisdom has never been able to solve the basic problems of man. We may be more educated than our forefathers, but we are not much better off morally. We have more means of helping each other, but we are more selfish. We have more means of communication, but we do not understand each other any better. We know more about psychology and human behaviours, yet we have more crime and more wars. No, we have not changed.

It is natural for us to try to solve our own problems, fight our own battles in our own strength. In terms of salvation, it does not work that way: instead, we are called simply to believe in the message of the cross – the simple gospel.

Let us move on to look at verses 21-25. They read: ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

With all the human wisdom and knowledge we have today, we should have solved most of our problems.  But that is not the case. Man’s increased knowledge tends to increase problems, not solve them. Hatred increases, misunderstandings increase, and so are the increase of mental breakdowns, wars, crimes, addictions, and family problems. They not only increase in numbers, but the problems are getting more serious.  Man can’t solve his problems because he won’t recognize the source of his problems, which is sin.  And the solution to sin is Salvation from God, and not more human wisdom!

The Church brings a simple message – the message of Christ who was crucified on the cross. By his death on the cross He took our sin on Himself. And on the third day, He rose again to prove who He was. We can respond to it by turning to Christ by faith.  When we do that, He can exchange our poverty for His riches, our sin for His righteousness, our despair for hope, death for life. That is the gospel. It is so simple, but that message is unacceptable to many people.  The Jews understood the cross of Christ as a demonstration that Christ was cursed of God (see Deuteronomy 21:23), not blessed as they expected the Messiah to be.  For the Gentiles, the cross is foolishness. They asked: “How can a person be saved because he believed in one man who died on a Roman cross? And how could one trust a God who allowed his human enemies to crucify him like a common criminal?”

Are we going to change the message just because many people see it as foolishness? No. Paul said, “Indeed the gospel of the cross was a stumbling block to Jewish listeners and foolishness to Gentiles, but I’m not to reduce it into something acceptable either of them.”  And God would not stop doing something simply because the most Jews and Gentiles rejected the gospel. He is going to call people, both Jews and Greeks, and he would touch them with his Holy Spirit and they would joyfully accept the gospel of the cross: these were people who had been touched by the power of God’s Spirit.  And finally, human wisdom is outclassed by God’s foolishness. Paul said in verse 25: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”

The message of the cross may be a stumbling block to some and foolishness to others, but we are not going to preach other message, because this is the power of God to us who believe.

The amazing thing about this is that God uses simple people like you and me. Isn’t that something? God is not looking for the very rich and famous persons to do his work.  How nice would it be if God were to convert and use famous TV personalities like Oprah Winfrey or Larry King to spread the Good News? But that is not to be the case.  You just look at who Jesus chose for His disciples – simple fishermen, tax-collector and people of the street. And this is the real paradox of God’s wisdom: that God can make a simple, uneducated, untalented, clumsy believer who trusts Christ and humbly follows Him to become a wise person. 

Today we don’t have Jews in our Church, but we do have people who think like them.  We have people who are like the Jews. They read the Bible, they attend worships in church, but they think it is commitment to their tradition and their sets of religious rules that save them. 

We don’t have Greeks in our Church but there are irreligious Christians everywhere. They sometimes sit in the Church Committees, and they run the church like they run their companies. You can’t talk to them about trusting and having faith in Jesus because they only listen to logical arguments. You can’t discuss with them spiritual matters because they only understand material and tangible things. 

But we also have gospel people. I want to tell you that only gospel people are saved.  If you are Gospel people you are saved because you believe in the word of the cross, that is, the gospel.  Gospel people believe that they are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

How to lead worship

Worship leaders have an awesome responsibility to lead others into the presence of God. Some believe the only requirement for being a good worship leader is to be a good musician or singer. But being a good musician is only the beginning. Understanding the nature of worship and your role in it is crucial if you want to become become not only a better worship leader, but also a better Christian.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. 1
   Spend time with God. This is the single most important thing you can do to become a better worship leader. It's only when you spend time in God's presence that you learn who He is and what pleases Him. You will never be able to lead others in worship if you don't spend time with God.
2. 2
   Listen to God. Ask God what He wants, not only for each individual service, but also for your worship team as a whole. Allow God to direct you in all things. Spend time in prayer before each service asking God to show you which songs He wants for the service. Always be open to new suggestions from God.
3. 3
   Study the Bible. It's crucial that as a worship leader you know what you believe. Worship leaders don't have the luxury of being lukewarm Christians. If you are not grounded in your faith, your worship will be dry and ineffective.
4. 4
   Be humble. Because leading worship puts you in a position to be noticed by others, sometimes your ego can become a problem. Try to maintain a spirit of humility as a worship leader. Remember, pride always comes before a fall.
5. 5
   Exercise authority. Although you need to maintain a humble estimation of yourself, it's important to exercise the authority God has given you. Take charge. You are the one God has chosen to lead your congregation into His presence.
6. 6
   Avoid rebellion. You will not always agree with your pastor or those who are in authority over you. Sometimes they may ask you to take the worship service in a different direction from what you believe God wants. That being said, you should always try to submit to those who have rule over you unless God tells you otherwise. In the end, God will bless you for your faithfulness.
7. 7
   Pray. Spend time in prayer daily for your pastor, your worship team members, your congregation, and mostly for yourself. If you are not spiritually strong, you will not be an effective worship leader. Pray for God to give you the strength to lead people in a way that is pleasing to Him, and ultimately to become a better worship leader.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't get stuck in a rut. As worship leaders, we sometimes become lazy and use the same tired songs over and over again. Many congregations become uncomfortable when new songs are introduced. Don't change simply for the sake of change, but try to keep your worship services fresh and exciting.

Theme: Called to be One (1 Corinthians 1: 10-18)

Epiphany 3 (23^rd January 2011)

A story was told about a man who visited a mental hospital for inmates who had committed serious crimes.  The visitor was shocked to see that only 3 guards were supervising more than 100 dangerous inmates. He asked the guide, “Don’t you fear these people will plot an escape and overpower the guards?”  

“Don’t worry about that,” The guard assured him. “Lunatics never unite.”

That story makes me wonder whether the Church is indeed full of lunatics.  If you know about the history of the Church, you will see that the church has been struggling with the issue of unity. You just search it in the internet, and there you see the various types of Anglican Churches – most are within the Anglican Communion and some identify themselves as catholic or Independent; you have various types of Baptist Churches; You have Free Lutheran, Evangelical Lutheran, Apostolic Lutheran Churches; Free Presbyterian, Reformed Presbyterian and United Presbyterian Churches, and there thousands of Evangelical Churches and Charismatic Churches.  You add to that the fact that even within our own little sub-groups, we keep on hearing cases of people bickering, backbiting, and quarrelling with one another.  

Before I go further I just want to bring to your attention the list of sins the God most detests: In proverbs 6: 16-19 it says: There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: ¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes,  feet that are quick to rush into evil,  ¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

As we look at our epistle reading for this morning we hear we find that at least one of the sins that God hates the most was being committed in the Church in Corinth.  Paul writes in verses 11and 12: “My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹² What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”   So in the Church of Corinth there were false witnesses who pour out lies and persons who stir up conflict in the community.  They were committing not one sin, but two.

The divisions in the Church of Corinth were caused by believers following different leaders of the church. They formed cliques around certain leaders. One group considered themselves followers of Paul; another considered themselves as admirers of Apollos; and there were some who like Peter, or Cephas.  

Division in Church is not something natural.  When Paul addressed the Corinthians in the first chapter, he called them saints. The Church is called to be holy wherever it is located.  It is meant to be different from the rest of the world. And one way they can be noticeably different is by the way they live: there must be oneness.  That was what Jesus has designed it to be - to be a functional unity that works together. But why do we tend to disunite? 

Before I go further, I want you to see that it is not always the bad things that cause people to disunite.  In the case of the Corinthian Church, it was the 3 leaders - all with strong personalities and good leadership qualities.  If you have strong and good leadership in Church and there is disunity – I can only ascribe it to one thing.  It must be the work of the Devil. Satan does not want us to be united in Christ, and he will do whatever he can to break that unity, and he will try to use anyone of us to create disunity.  So whenever Satan sees greed, envy, selfishness, discontentment or anger being expressed from our hearts, he will use it to destroy the unity of the Church.  Paul, Apollos and Peter did not cause disunity in the Church of Corinth: it was their followers, who had hidden agenda, or selfish ambitions, or envy in their hearts.  It may be true also that some of them might behave that way out of ignorance.  

It is oversimplification if I am to blame Satan for the whole problem.  He, nevertheless, plays a part in it but it is us who allowed ourselves to be used by him to break the unity.  It was God who created us, and he created each one of us differently.  We are meant to be different from one another, but we are called to be one.  (i) We are to be one when it comes to doctrine.  (ii) We are to be one when it comes to our concern and care for one another.  (iii) We are to be one when it comes to our attitudes. These are areas that have no room for compromise.  But this oneness is not necessarily about ideas.  We are allowed and encouraged to think.  When we exercise out thoughts, we can only exercise them to a certain extent, because of our limitations.  Even if God is to reveal to us the truth, very often that revelation is not in its complete form.  That is why we have meetings and discussions – to complement each other’s shortcomings.

Unity or oneness is also not about everyone doing the same thing.  Paul in the same letter argues about how we are all designed differently and have different strengths.  God intends it to be that way.  So whenever you see there is uniformity, very often it is enforced upon us.   So you may abide by it either hypocritically or grudgingly.  Therefore, when we talk about unity or oneness, we are not called to have the same ideas and to do things uniformly.

What is it that can cause us to lose our unity?   The one point I mentioned just now is: it is the work of Satan.  Another possible reason is that we as believers very often still carry around our old nature. We may have received Christ and been born again, but we still have the ability to do what is wrong. We still sin. As we look deeper into our epistle reading for today, we can see three areas of failure that can cause us to lose our oneness.

Our first failure is that we lose our composure (vs. 11-12).  We can lose our temper easily and get into a fight – if not physically, verbally.  And unfortunately also, quarrels are a part of life.  We have all experienced them in our family, with our friends or colleagues. We can also easily agitate ourselves into factions. The division in the Corinthians Church centred around four characters: Paul, Apollos, Peter and Christ.

Paul started the church three years earlier and he had lived with them for 18 months. So for those who were closed to him, Paul was truly there spiritual father and leader.  Others had affection for Apollos.  He had followed Paul at Corinth with his blessing. He was known as a very good speaker and teacher.  So some people liked his style of leadership.  There were some that had affection for Peter.  He was the primary spokesman of the early church and the first of the apostles.  Those who loved Peter felt that he must be listened to and followed.  The last group sounds like it might be the one that had got it right.  They followed Christ.  Indeed they had the right name, but they have the wrong spirit.  These so-called followers of Christ were nothing more than self-righteous believers, and because they claimed to believe in Christ, they were not going to listen to any of the church leaders.

What these followers failed to realize was the selfishness and pride in them.  Each group was angry at one another because none of them was getting what it wanted.  I remember taking a course conducted by Selwyn Hughes many years ago.  He said that our anger is the result of a blocked goal. We want something but we don’t get it; so we become angry.  Anger, pride and selfishness never bring people together: they only drive people apart.  The amazing when this thing happen is that everybody starts to become spiritual, and each one claims to speak for the Lord. 

The remedy to such situation is not to speak louder or claim to be more spiritual. Instead, when there is disunity everyone needs to repent and be reconciled.  We need to remember that factionalism does not have a place in the church for Christ did not design His body to work in a divided manner.

Our second failure that causes disunity is when we lose our understanding of the truth (vs. 13-16). When we lose our unity, it is so often because we have lost sight of the big picture.  Being the body of Christ, it is essential that we be one.  Jesus has said that he is the Vine and we are the branches.  Second, we are never to forget that it was Christ who was crucified for us all.  So we must never make an attempt to make a name for ourselves.  Instead we must remember under what name we have been baptized, which is Jesus Christ.  So if you are a just a cell group or fellowship, you cannot consider yourselves to be bigger and be more important than a parish.  Likewise, we as a parish cannot be more important than the diocese.  And the Diocese cannot be more important that the Anglican Communion.  We also need to maintain the unity between parishes and churches – and not just within a local church.  It is important to see the big picture, otherwise we forget what the church is really all about.  When we see the big picture, we remember that the Church is the Body of Christ.

Our third failure that often causes disunity is losing our Commission (v.17).  When we forget what we are called to do, we can end up doing what we are not supposed to be doing.   We need to know our mission.  Paul said, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel…”  God has chosen us for a purpose – to proclaim the gospel.  It is not about how good the speaker is or how well he use clever words. It was not about how persuasive or logical his argument is.  The important thing is Christ is preached!

When we forget our mission, we end up doing something that God doesn’t intend us to do.  If we are spending too much time criticizing one another, it is a sign that we have gone astray from our mission.   Our mission is to reach out to the lost and bring them to Jesus Christ.  To enable us to do that, we must have unity within our congregation. The devil doesn’t want us to unite, so he keeps on instigating us to anger, jealousy, fear, suspicion – so that we forget what our mission is. That makes it easier for him destroy the ministry of this church.

We not only need to know our purpose and mission, we need to be in a position to do it.  So we need to recognize the distractions that keep us from fulfilling God’s calling on our lives. Paul, had baptized many followers, but for Paul being a baptizer was not his primary responsibility.  It was a distraction to him. He would prefer someone else to do the job, so that he could continue preaching the word.

We must remember this too in the church.  Our mission is not to pit our opinions against others.  This is not a place where we try win arguments at all costs, and put others in to shame.   God called us to be here because he has a mission for us, which is to proclaim the Good News of Christ.  We must never forget this.

Remember that we are different from the rest of the world because God called us to be different.  When we look at the world, we see divisions – in terms of politics, social status, nationalities, races, sexuality, and class.  So if we want to be different from the world we must seek unity or oneness.  It is possible to be one because of the cross of Jesus has broken all barriers that are in the world.

So here is what we must remember and practice. Unity is a decision of the will.  We must make an effort to stay united, by showing mutual concern for one another; by resolving to live peacefully with one another; and by exercising consistent acts of love.  These are all positive antidotes to disunity.

Unity is important not just because it benefits us: unity also brings God glory.  When we work toward unity, we show that we care more about what God thinks than what we think.  If we are always at odd with each other, our actions grieve the Holy Spirit of God, and we fail to bring him glory.  It is not an easy task to keep peace and maintain unity in Church.  It is hard work but it is honorable work. 

Unity is important because we represent God to the world.  People are watching us and they listen to what we are saying about one another.  When we become angry and divisive, we are not only robbed of our joy, we are robbed of our effectiveness.  When we lack unity, we also lack credibility.  And this becomes a barrier between unbelievers and the gospel.  You see, when we argue and fight, it is not Good News.

Finally, unity is important because it is a testimony of the power of the cross. Jesus died on the cross out of his love for us and his obedience to will of the Father. Unity is the way of the cross. So when you are willing to give up your rights or give way for the sake of others, you are walking on the way of the cross.  You have chosen to live differently from the people of the world, who always demands their rights or who want things done their ways.

Let us pray:

We pray Lord that may our love abound more and more

 in knowledge and depth of insight,

so that we may be able to discern what is best;

and that we may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,

to the glory and praise of God. Amen.

Set your hearts and minds

a devotional series on Colossians 3:1-17

…set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

In the first part of verse 1 we are reminded of the foundation of the spiritual life – that we have been raised with Christ. Now, the Apostle Paul begins to teach us how we are to live in this new way of life (because remember salvation is not just about waiting for heaven one day, it is about living in God’s kingdom here and now!). We begin by “setting” our hearts and minds on different things. Several translations use the phrase “seek the things that are above” as opposed to “set your hearts”. The point that I believe Paul is making is that we must turn our hearts (aspirations, ambitions, desires, affections) and our minds (our thoughts, intellect) to seeking the way of Jesus. In other words, faith isn’t just a mental thing or just an emotional thing – it is a whole life thing!

This reminds me of one of Jesus’ own teachings found in Matthew 6:25-34 in which he tells us how life in God’s kingdom is to be. Jesus says not to worry about the things of this world (material things such as what we wear and what we eat), but to “seek first his kingdom and righteousness”. One way that Life in God’s Kingdom is different than life in this world is that we set our hearts and minds not on things that are temporary and will some day fade away, but on the eternal things that really matter. Now, this does not mean that God does not care about the mundane details of our daily life – in fact it is in the midst of our regular everyday life that we learn to set our heart and mind on different things and begin to see life with a new eternal perspective.

The key in this verse is the “setting” of our hearts and minds. Some people in this world have their “heart set” or their “mind set” on certain goals, dreams, aspirations. Unfortunately, they are usually just earthly things: a nice house, a good career, money, comfort, etc. But, having been raised to a new life, we must now ask our self: “What is my heart set on?” and “What is my mind set on?” And then as the Spirit gently shows us the ways in which we need to be transformed in our hearts and minds, we can begin to do the work of “setting” our hearts and minds on different things!

We do this in several ways:

 we can set our hearts on “Christ-things” by living generously and letting go of our “stuff” – Jesus said, “where your treasure is, your heart will be also”
 we can set our minds on “Christ-things” by studying and meditating – we are wired in a way that we conform to that which we study and concentrate on
 we can set our hearts on “Christ-things” by spending time in God’s presence – there is a time and place for prayer in which we ask for something, but we can also learn to sit in God’s loving presence and allow our hearts to be captured by God’s all consuming love in which all other affections fall by the side
 we can set our minds on “Christ-things” by engaging in activities that promote God’s goodness and beauty – Paul says, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable�if anything is excellent or praiseworthy�think about such things.”
So, as we learn to live in the new way of life embedded in us by the resurrection, we must learn to submit our hearts and minds to Christ and allow them to be transformed and conformed to his heart and mind.

Baptism of Christ (9th January 2011)

Text: Acts 10:34-38

Have you ever believed something, or pictured something one way, only to find out that it was completely different?  Many years back I was invited for the first time by St. Andrew’s Church to conduct a service and preach; and I had never been to Brunei, I had all sorts of imagination about the country.  But none of what I imagined turned out to be true.  I am sure that when you plan to go to a place you have never been to, you too like to imagine what it will be like. 

I think when people start to learn more about God, they have certain picture of him. But after they have spent some time reading the Bible, or hearing proper teaching about him; they find out that God is different from what they have imagined him to be.  Is it possible, that you have always believed something about God, even though it’s not really true?

In our 2^nd lesson for today, we hear about a couple people, – one, a member of the Roman army, and another, the Apostle Peter.  Both of them had different pictures of God, and they later found out that he was very different from how they had imagined him in their minds.  Today I have used the theme: “Being faithful to our calling” to remind us about what the calling is all about.  I am sure that when some of you first became Christians, you had very little idea about God.  It is possible that you have developed certain picture of God in you mind, and you continue to hold onto that image until today. So whenever people talk about God, it brings certain picture into your mind.  However, there are people who decided to become Christians after some deep thoughts, or because they have discovered the truth.   But as time passes, they begin to lose their focus; they lose their first love for Jesus; and in the end they are no different from those who don’t know Jesus.

As we think about the baptism of Jesus this morning, and the story about Peter and Cornelius, you may be surprised to find out some things about God that you had never known before, things that contradict the way you had always thought.  Or, you may be proven right.

We first take a look at Cornelius. Cornelius was a centurion in the Italian Regiment of the Roman army in Caesarea. A centurion was in-charged of 100 soldiers. The Bible describes Cornelius and his family as God-fearing and devout. He was always donating money to the poor, and he followed the religion of the Jews and prayed to God regularly. Cornelius was a good man, and in spite of being busy with doing good things: he donated money to the poor, and tried to live a good, clean life – but he was not saved. Why?

Let us go beginning of the story.  One day while Cornelius was praying he had a vision. God’s angel appeared before him, and told him to send men to Joppa and find Simon Peter. And he did as he was told – Peter came to his house, and shared with Cornelius the true way of salvation. It was on that day that Cornelius realized what was missing in his life, and it was even more important than all the good works he could ever done. He had tried very hard to do good things, but no matter how hard he tried, those good works were not going to get him to heaven. 

What Cornelius was missing was faith in Jesus Christ. He had heard of Jesus before, and he knew how Jesus died. He knew that people were saying good things about him. But he didn’t understand that Jesus was his Saviour.   So Peter had to explain it to him. He said in verse 36, “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.”  Peter told him that if he wanted to be at peace with God – he could only get it through Jesus Christ, and nowhere else.  Then he went to say, “You know what has happened… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power…”  That is what our Gospel lesson talks about just now: at Jesus’ baptism Matthew 3:17 says, “And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” And Peter went to say that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power.  And it was with that power that Jesus “went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him…”  Jesus performed all sorts of miracles but he has one major purpose: that is to show people that he was the Messiah – the only real way to heaven.

Peter later goes on to describe how Jesus took away the sins of the world by dying on the cross and then rising from the dead. You can imagine what was going in Cornelius’ mind as he heard this.  He had always thought that being a good person, helping the poor, praying regularly, believing those were enough to get him to heaven.  But now, Cornelius found out something different: that no matter how good you are, you can never be good enough.  That day he realized prayers and good works would never lead him to heaven: the only way to heaven was through the Saviour named Jesus Christ, who had taken away all of his sins.  That day he also realized that God loved him and had forgiven him because of what Jesus had done on the cross.

The statements that I have made have offended many people who believe that their prayers and good works can help them make peace with God and bring them to heaven.   I don’t know where you faith level is, but if you ever think that you can go to heaven by just being a good person, by praying once in awhile, by helping out the needy, or by trying to live a good, clean life, I want to tell you this morning, “you are mistaken”.  Sure, you have heard of Jesus Christ, and what a good man he was. Just to be a good person like Jesus is not enough. Why? It is because that no matter how good you are, you’ll never be good enough, you’ll never do enough to earn God’s favour. Because God is not just looking at what you are doing: he is watching the motives of your hearts. You can do all the good things with wrongs motives. If we allow God’s word to pierce our hearts, we shall find out that even the nicest person in the world still has his faults, still has his shortcomings; and because of those short comings, we can never be nice enough to earn our way to heaven.

When you have found out who Jesus Christ really is, you would know that he is more than just an example of how to be a good person. You would realize that he has done something for you, something that you really need: he has taken all your faults, all your shortcomings, all your sins, and has washed them away, by dying on a cross. You would find out that Jesus has risen from the dead, to prove to you his power to forgive you for all the mistakes you have made in life and also his love for you.  You can stop trusting in your good works, and now you can start trusting in Jesus Christ as your Saviour.

This good news turned that Roman soldier’s life upside down, for the better. And I hope those of you who have been carrying this wrong understanding of the Christian faith, can also find transformation in your thinking!   We have to abandon the belief that being a good person is good enough to get us to heaven.  Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life – and he is our only way to heaven. Now what about good works? Do they have a purpose in our Christian life? I shall answer that question at the end of my sermon.

Now we look at Simon Peter. This whole situation also turned his life upside down.  In verse 34, Peter says, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”  Peter could not believe what he was seeing. Here he was in the house of a Gentile, and God was converting Gentiles and blessing Gentiles just like God had done for the Jews.  This goes against everything Peter had been brought up to believe.  He had always thought that God was for the Jews only, and that Gentiles were the outsiders, who didn’t deserve God’s attention.

If you read the whole of Acts 10, you will realize that after Cornelius had a vision of the angel, Peter also had a vision. Acts 10: 11-16 says, “He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹² It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. ¹³ Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

 ¹⁴ “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

 ¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

 ¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

That vision transformed Peter.  Suddenly, Peter realized that God loves all people, regardless of what nationality and race they are; and that he wants all people to believe and be saved.  God is a God for every person on the face of the earth, and not just for a select few. This changed the way Peter had thought.

Sometimes we forget this because we have been comfortable with our situation in church.  I want to remind us again today that no matter what a person’s nationality, no matter what a person’s social or economic situation, God wants every person on the face of this earth to believe in Jesus Christ and be saved.  Sometimes it is hard to fully accept this. Remember that God loves you as much as he loves a poor, homeless person who begs on the street.  God loves you who always come to church, and he also loves those people who have made many mistakes in life.   Our God is a God who loves all people, and wants all people no matter who they are, to believe in Jesus and be saved. He does not show favouritism.

How do we translate this new understanding to our Christian life?  Last Sunday I tried to explain to you all the reason why we are here.  God sets his church for a purpose, and the purpose is to get people in touch with this wonderful message, so that God can change people for the better. There are so many people out there just like Cornelius, nice people who don’t know the way of salvation. There are so many people out there like Peter, people who don’t know just how loving our God really is. As a church, we are here to share with people these wonderful truths from God’s Word, so that God can change people for the better. 

Whenever I visit your homes, I can see that you have many relatives who don’t know the Lord Jesus.  They just sit there with blank faces as we say our prayers and sing our hymns. Have you ever tried to share the Good News with them? Some of you have aging or sick parents or grand-parents: have you tried telling them about Jesus Christ?  If you really believe that Jesus is the only way to our Father in heaven, then you have to realise that these people are not going to be with you when you get to heaven. Don’t you want them to join you in the Father’s house?

Now I come to the conclusion and I want to answer that question:  Does good work have a purpose in our Christian life? If good work does not get us to heaven, why do we do it?  Our first reason is the one I have just mentioned: we want other people to believe in Jesus and accept him as their Lord and saviour.  If you want people to believe in Jesus you need to show them what Jesus has done in your personal life.  That is why you exercise charity, love, care, forgiveness, patience in your everyday dealing with people around you.  We want people to see what Jesus has done in our lives and what Jesus can do for them also. 

Second, prayers and good works are our responses to the love of God. We cannot repay all the good things that God has done in our lives: so we return the favour to our friends and neighbours. If you feel that you have been blessed by God, you will, in turn want to bless others. For some years now, our parish has been giving out some money to help other churches in the Diocese.  This year, I shall be travelling around and spend a bit of time outside this parish to minister to the people outside our parish. I know that you need me here, but I hope you also understand the need to share our resources and blessings with other people in the other parishes, churches or chapels. And at the same time, I hope that we can get other preachers to minister to you here because you just cannot listen to Andrew, Humphrey and me talking to you every Sunday. If we want to be a healthy and growing church, there need to be a process of give and take – we need to be blessed, and at same time do all the good works required of us by the Lord.

Finally, I want to welcome this morning our new brother-in-Christ and receive him into our Church. I want to invite Mr. Tan, who has spent most of his life having heard about Jesus Christ, but has not committed himself to Jesus.  And as he has made a decision to believe in Jesus and accept him as Lord and Saviour, I want to welcome him and accept him as a Catechumen in front of you all this morning.  During the Iban Service earlier on, we also accepted a few people as catechumens.    There are many more people like them outside there, waiting to be invited and encouraged to open their hearts to Jesus, and it is your responsibility to bring them in.

  

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Christmas 1 (2nd January 2011)
Text: John 1: 1-9

The gospel text for this morning is the same one that we read on Christmas morning, except that it is 5 verses short. Since I did not preach on this text last Saturday, I want to touch on it this morning as our starting point for the theme “Growing Together in the Body of Christ” for 2011.
One week after we have celebrated Christmas, and two days into the New Year, I think that it timely for us to reflect upon what we have done the previous years and what we plan to do in the future. Now, if you are to ask for my opinion as to how we have been doing these last few years, I shall say that we have not done enough, and neither have we done what we were supposed to do. I think in some ways I have failed and I don’t want anyone of you to tell me not to blame myself because as a priest-in-charge I know I should have done better. And that goes with every one of us here. The reason I say this is because it is so easy to blame outside factors and unforeseen circumstances for our failures: it is easy to point fingers at somebody or anybody, without thinking about our own shortcomings.
I have said on last Christmas Day that God was happy we could be in Church on Christmas to celebrate his Son’s birth. But I believe that God is more interested in what we are going to do with this Jesus every day of our lives. That’s why we start with John 1 – to help us understand what difference this child makes in our life. John doesn’t mess around with a lot of details about the birth of Jesus: he summarizes the whole event by saying this, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (1:14). Jesus is the Word, and he was there in the beginning of time, and the Word, Jesus, was God. On Christmas Day, God came to earth as baby Jesus.
God had come in the flesh to walk among us, to experience the same ups and downs we do, the same temptations, the heartbreaks, even to experience a brutal death on a cross. Why would he do this? Why would he leave the splendor of heaven and come to the darkness of earth as a weak human infant named Jesus? The Bible tells us he did this because he loves us that much, he knew that if he didn’t come to earth, we could never experience a truly full and abundant life; we could not walk in the light of his paths, and we could never be adopted as his children.
There are three results of the Word becoming flesh:
First, we become adopted as God’s children. God wants every person on earth, every person here, to be his child. Just because we are born into this earth doesn’t mean we are his children. We must be born again, born of his Spirit to become one of his children. And when we believe that God came in the flesh and have accepted him into our life, we are given the rights to become a child of God. We are adopted into his family and we receive all the benefits of being children of God. What are the benefits? They include forgiveness, eternal and abundant life, light, blessings of love, joy, peace, etc.. These treasures God give us in abundance and He works them inside us so that they are unaffected by whatever bad things or suffering we must endure. God tells us we will experience suffering in our life but those who keep the faith will receive his treasures which will endure forever.
Second, we can receive his life. Verse 4 says, “In Him was life.” John repeats this over and over in his gospel, that Jesus has come so that we might have life, he even concluded his gospel by writing that the very purpose of his writing his gospel account is so that we might have life. What does he mean by that?
He means two things. First, God wants us to experience eternal life. He wants us to live forever with Him forever in heaven. Jesus repeated many times over that no one could experience eternal life without him. Second, having life refers, not only to a future, but to a present reality. We can live a full abundant life right now because of Jesus. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).” Without Jesus, we cannot live life to the fullest, we cannot have abundant life, and we cannot receive eternal life because he is the source of all good things.
Do you know what happens when we don’t receive his life? We experience selfishness, pride, hopelessness, guilt, anger, bitterness, and broken relationships. That is why as we look around us we see so much of these: they are the results of life without Christ. Even so-called Christians may experience these if they have no personal relationship with Jesus.
Third, we can receive his light in our darkness. John goes on to say, God came in the flesh, not only that we might receive life but so we could receive his light, “In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (v. 4-5).”
Whether we like to believe it or not, our world is shrouded in darkness. It has been shrouded in darkness since the very first man and woman walked the earth. It is shrouded in darkness because people follow the darkness: they make bad choices, say stupid things, and do stupid things. We may like to think that the world is getting better, but the reality is darkness still remains and will always remain until every person on earth receives Jesus, the light. The truth is we don’t have the power strong enough to resist evil, temptations and sins. God says there is only one way to eradicate darkness from our life, from our community, and from our world: and that is Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 8:12).
I know most of you have received Jesus at some points of your lives. But some of us still have problem of darkness hovering over our lives, like a shroud. Even those of us who are in the light can still fall into darkness, sin, and temptation. God tells us we will never be free from temptation and the only way to keep us falling into temptation is to have the light of God shining on all areas of our life. We may have received God’s light but certain parts of our lives are still in darkness because we have not let him deal with our anger problems, or our resentments, our fears, our selfish desires, our addictions, or whatever darkness we struggle with. Sometimes when we think that we have overcome certain temptations or sins, new ones will come out to make us fall. That is why God’s light has to shine all over our life, and not just one time but all the time; otherwise it will continue to bring a shadow over the other areas of our life.
Now, I want to take you to look our proclamation verse for today: “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…” (Eph 1: 11). I started with John’s Gospel because that is where we must begin. Now we look at a more specific reason as to why God came into this world and why he wanted to give us life and live in his light. Paul tells us that God has chosen us to be his children and that we are chosen for a purpose. Before Jesus was born God had already chosen Mary and Joseph to be his mother and guardian. And before Jesus, started his ministry, God sent someone else to go ahead of him, to prepare the way. The man was John. When God wanted the Good News to spread to the gentiles, he called Paul. You will find that pattern repeating itself in the Bible and in the history of the Church: that when God wants something done, he will send someone to do the job.
I believe St. Margaret’s Church was put up in Seria for a purpose. God did sent some people to start the Church. Whoever was called by God to help start this Church knew the purpose. But as years passed by and with so many developments taking place, that sense of purpose gradually become forgotten. So today many of us are content to be on maintaining mode. But all these years God has been sending someone to do something new and something more for him in this church. Do you want to know whom God has chosen and sent? It is every single one of us here, and including those who are not in church this morning.
Why are we chosen and sent? Look back at verses 6 & 7: “There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe”. That was a job description for John and it is also our job description. God chose and sent us as “witnesses to testify concerning the light”. God has no other plan or purpose or need for us, other than as witnesses and to bear witness!
I believe that we have missed the purpose and the process of effective evangelism right here. And now I know why the average church of Jesus Christ has limited power in our outreach. We miss a step and the step that we miss is a fundamental step in our witnessing attempt. Indeed, we are to bear witness of the light. We are to tell everybody about Jesus and what he can do. But before we bear witness, we are supposed to be witnesses. In other words, before we can tell somebody what Jesus can do for them, we must show them what Jesus has already done in our lives. That’s being a witness.
The reason we have a lack of power in the church today is because we only want to bear witness but most of us are not prepared to be witnesses. We want to talk about Jesus but we have not shown people what Jesus has actually done in our personal lives. But if people don’t see our lives to be any different from them, why should they believe in what we say?
I am not saying that Christians are perfect people. The church is a place where people come for spiritual or emotional healing, and naturally we will find people with various problems in church. But those of us who have been here for a long time, we can’t stay emotionally or spiritually unhealthy after we have encountered and accepted Jesus. Those of us who have received God’s forgiveness must be forgiving; those of us who have received God’s mercy must be merciful; those of us who have experienced God’s love must be able to love others; and those of us who have experienced God’s grace must be gracious to others.
We put our theme for 2011 as “Growing together in the Body of Christ” because we want to recapture the original purpose of the Church. Before we can be witnesses again to the outside community, we need to put our relationship with God and with one another, right. We need to grow and work together: there must be a team spirit. Each one of us needs to sincerely ask ourselves: Am I really contributing to the growth and the unity of the Church? When people look at me, do they see me as a witness? Do they see Christ in me? And if our answer is ‘no’ then we are not helping the church to grow. I know that God can do a miracle by just pointing his finger from heaven and bring immediate unity and love within this church, but he is not going to do that. He wants you and I do it. He wants us to work together to achieve it.
There is one final point that I want to make before I conclude. Note that, to bear witness is to point to Jesus as the Light. John was very clear about the role of John the Baptist. He wrote in verse 8: “He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”
This is an important point to remember because people who are witnesses are not free from temptation – the temptation of wanting to be the Light. I have encountered good Christians, people who love God and trying to give God their best – end up talking about their own achievements. In other words, they were pointing to their own lights rather than Light of Christ. I tell you if you are a true witness you will indeed have a light and people will see the glow; you will also have power and peace from God. And the temptation is that you may want people to see your light. And that is why some people with the light, fall into disgrace because they allow their light to eclipse the Light of Christ, by bragging about all that they have done in the kingdom of God.
The words that I share with you as we begin the New Year are both words of encouragement and caution. We are chosen, saved and sent to be witnesses and to bear witness. God does not choose us so that we become spectators or observers. God calls us so that he can give us certain responsibilities in his Kingdom. And for those of us who are actively doing something for God and glowing in light, we must also remember not to let out light eclipse the Light of Christ. Let the glory belong to God.
May I wish you all a Blessed New Year.