Pentecost Sunday

Speaker: David Tan
Text: Acts 2:1-21

Pentecost Sunday falls on the 50th day after Easter. It was this day that the Holy Spirit fell upon God’s people causing tremendous excitement resulting in 3,000 saved in one day.

Interestingly, the NT Pentecost happened on the same day as the Jewish Pentecost. Celebrated on the 50th day after the Passover, and subsequently observed as the day Moses came down from Mt Sinai with God’s Law, we can draw very interesting reflections from these important events as they contrast and mirror God’s work in history.

Pentecost Sunday however has more to teach us than mere historical facts. What are they?

The Presence of the Spirit

Acts 1:8. Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples were told to expect the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples in tongues of fire, and they began to speak in various foreign languages to the surprise of all the onlookers. That day marked the real birth of the church.

What has this to do with us today? On the simplest yet deepest level, it reminds us that God’s people and His ministry are spiritual in nature. We must remember that what ultimately drives us - the work we do, the life we live, the Church that we belong to and serve in – is not management skills (although there is a place for it), not human excellence and intelligence (although these too are gifts from God), but the presence of the Spirit, and his enabling power.

• John 14:15,16 – the promise of the indwelling Spirit within believers. He is both Counselor or Helper in the absence of Jesus’ physical presence.
• Eph 1:13,14 – the Spirit is the seal of guarantee of the believer’s salvation
• 1 Cor 19:20 – the Spirit is the mark of God’s ownership of the believer.

There is therefore a spiritual dimension to our lives. The presence of the Spirit within the believer is testimony that we are no longer our own. God owns us; the Spirit possesses us. If the Spirit does not possess us - our thoughts, deeds, habits, ambitions, dreams, recreation, etc – it will show in His absence. And if the Spirit is absent, what or who is in control of the driver’s seat?

The power of the Spirit

Firstly, as Acts 2 reveals, the Holy Spirit’s work is to empower. Unless He empowers, we are finished. “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The Christian life and the life of the Church are undeniably supernatural. So we should expect miracles, divine intervention, and works of deliverance, great revival in the church, which point to the reality of the Spirit’s power in our day.

But as the NT shows us and as church history records for us, these spectacular displays of power are also not as common as we want them to be; that’s why they are called miracles. People still die of diseases; not all Christians are healed; many do fall into spiritual oppression; Christians get killed every day and churches get burnt. Where is the power of God, we cry?

This leads to the second aspect about the Spirit’s power:

We read in John 14:26 that the Spirit is to make Jesus real to believers. John 16:13 further elaborates that it is the Spirit who leads people to the truth, and convicts them of sin (John 16:8). What is often missed is that often this work of conviction, transforming and sanctifying of believers is unseen, and usually slow and plodding. Yet this is very much the power of the Spirit at work.

The primary display of power that the Bible talks about, is seen in a believer’s faithfulness, growing in holiness, transformation of character, persevering through trials, running and finishing the race. Like reading the Bible one verse at a time, page by page, book by book. Nothing glamorous, but this is normal method employed by the Spirit to advance God’s plan.

We need to see both aspects of the Spirit’s power in our church today – the dramatic acts of power, as well as the slow abiding work of sanctification.

The purpose of the Spirit

The work of the Spirit cannot be separated from his purpose.

In Genesis 11, we hear the proud men of Shinar say: "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

God struck down their work on that day and the people found themselves speaking in different languages, and were scattered. The Tower of Babel testified to humanity’s natural instinct to glorify the human spirit. God’s instinct on the other hand is to scatter us (physically and metaphorically) to extend the boundaries of His kingdom on earth. And He did this in Acts 2.

As the Spirit fell on those gathered in the upper room, we saw another scene of people speaking in foreign languages. As in the plains of Shinar, the coming of the Spirit led to a scattering of people – not as a punishment but as a means to spread the good news of salvation throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts :8) This time, the dispersion was not to subvert human ambition, but as a means to point people to Jesus. (John 15:26)

The Spirit’s work is to glorify Jesus (Jn 16:14). You do not read in the NT about glorifying the Spirit or instructions to magnify His gifts and miracles. They are first and last about Jesus and it is always so that Jesus is lifted up and glorified.

Conclusion

The progressive revelation of God throughout history points to dramatic periods of preparation and fulfillment. The Old Testament was about the 'old creation.' In the 'new creation' of the New Testament, the focus is not us, not a place or possessions, but a Person - Jesus. All that we are, all that we do, all our desires will never satisfy unless we are satisfied in Jesus. It is the Spirit's work to nudge us, challenge us, empower us, sanctify us, inspire us, so that our passion for glorifying God will be the most satisfying thing in our lives. May we allow Him to accomplish that in us in the days ahead.

God is the Potter, We are the Clay

24 May 2009
Speaker: David Wang
Text: Isaiah 64:8

John Williams (1796-1839) was an Englishman trained as a foundry worker and mechanic. When God sent him to the Polynesian islands in the South Pacific as a missionary, he was able to use his training and skills to help build strong ships of 60 feet long to ease travel between the many islands there, and extend God's kingdom successfully. His was a life that was much used by God, till the end when he and another missionary were killed by some islanders and eaten by them.

In the same way, God has His purposes for our lives, as we can see from the texts in:

Isaiah 64:8 - Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

Psalm 138:8 - The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands.

Principle 1

God has a purpose for each of us who are created unique individuals by Him. We are not here by chance or accident.

Psalm 139:13-16 - ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Principle 2

God is in the process of moulding our lives for His purposes.

- He will complete His work. Paul is confident that "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

- He is doing a good work in us: making something beautiful of us, to become like Christ in character and doing the things He does -

Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

2 Peter 1:5-8 - ^"5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Principle 3

The steps we need to take to make God's purpose a reality in our lives:

1. Submit to and obey God in everything. We need to submit and cooperate with God our Potter and allow Him to mould and shape us by discipline and hardships sometimes in order to smoothen our rough edges and cleanse us from our sins.

2. Seek to discover and develop our God-given gifts and ministries, and use them to serve Him.

Pastor Hsi (1836-1896) was an opium addict who became a Christian and a leader, and then ran a ministry to opium addicts in many locations over a considerable area, establishing clinics and churches.

God will use us for His kingdom and His glory, if we will let Him, submitting all our selves, lives, gifts, abilities, experiences, whatever little we have (like the little boy with 5 loaves and 2 fishes), into His loving and wise hands.

Beautiful, beautiful, Jesus is beautiful,

And Jesus makes beautiful things of my life,

Carefully, touching me,

Causing my eyes to see

That Jesus makes beautiful things of my life

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Tithing, Giving and the Grace of God

17 May 2009
Speaker: Ps Barnabas Boon
Text: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

Why talk about tithing and giving? Tithing and giving in church is very important and we should learn what the Bible says and teaches about giving and tithing.

Giving in the OT
In Genesis 14:18-20, we read of Melchizedek who received a tenth of all that Abraham gained in the battle with Kederlaomer and his allies. The reason that Abraham gladly gave of his tenth or tithe was that he was grateful that God had given him victory and that his giving to God a tenth of all that he earned was a sign that he submitted to God and his purposes. Hence giving in the Old testament right from the beginning teaches us that tithing is a voluntary action and is a sign of personal submission to God in gratitude for all his blessings

In the book of Leviticus 27:30-34 , God gave a specific command to the Israelites that they should a give a tenth of all that they owned viz: land, soil, fruit and flocks. Furthermore when they gave they could not choose which portion to give of their possessions. Hence the principle of giving in the Old Testament is clear. God was clear what he wanted. The Jews were to give him a tenth of everything and this was a command.

In Deuteronomy 14:22-23, the command to give to God a tenth of all that the Israelites owned was reinforced. But in this portion of scripture, the way that the giving was made clearer. After the tenth was given to God, they were to consume them together with the family at the temple. In this way they were to enjoy God's presence and grace even in the midst of their sacrifice. The principle taught here in this portion of scripture was that even as the Israelites gave of their tenth they were to receive back what they gave and to enjoy it in the presence of the Lord. This finds an echo in the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 6:33 where Jesus reminds us that we must “seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given (added) to you as well.”

In the final pages of the Old Testament in Malachi 3:8-12, the Old testament teaches us that giving a tenth would see a return of great blessing. Malachi the prophet challenged the people of God to bring the tithe into the temple and to supply God's house and he promised from the word of God that the floodgates of blessing from heaven would open and that the blessing of God will inundate them like a great torrent. The principle taught here in the Old Testament is clear. Tithing is for God’s house to be supplied, and when that happens, God promises blessings from heaven.

In the New Testament, giving is taught in many places.

In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, we are taught that giving should be a regular event with the people of God giving a portion of their income. Here the standards pertaining to giving is a higher one. There is no more stipulation of a fixed amount but that giving is a free will event. The reason why people gave to God was that they had experienced grace. Hence the principle of giving in the New Testament was this: The standard of giving is higher in the New Testament because grace always goes beyond the law

2 Corinthians 9:6, 8, 11 teaches us that we are to give give generously. And that those who put God to the test will never be disappointed.

Conclusion
In giving we can commit two extremes. One extreme is that because we are so fixated on the giving of a tenth, we never move beyond that of giving more than we can afford. The other extreme is that since scripture in the New Testament does not spell out an amount we do not give anything at all. We must not be legalistic. We must heed the teachings of the New Testament and give as grace would teach us to give. In the end we must trust God and try God and his promises

A Worthy Woman

10 May 2009
Speaker: Ps Barnabas Boon
Text: Proverbs 31:10-31


We are all called to be worthy people and the Bible is replete with examples of worthy men and women. In Proverbs 31:10-31, we read of the Jewish epitome of a worthy woman. In verse 10, it praises her as a worthy woman whose price is far above rubies
The bible teaches us that the worthy woman is characterised by a number of wonderful characteristics.

First, she has faith.

Proverbs 31:30 Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain; But' a woman that fears Jehovah, she shall be praised.

Here we see a number of qualities that gives us insight into her faith. She knows Jehovah, the name of God revealed specially to Moses. While the Jews never speak of the name of God as Jehovah, the writer of the book of proverbs specifically mentions that she knows God as Jehovah just as Moses knew God as Jehovah. She does not major in the minors. There is no “Deceitful grace”. The outer aspects of faith such as grace can be faked.

However a worthy woman who has Jehovah God will be less likely to deceive. Her faith marks her as one who “Fears God”. It is written in the word that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The worthy women fears God and is on the way to have wisdom. She is mature spiritually. Vain beauty is faked beauty. But beauty that emanates from within is that which comes from the worthy woman. So let us cultivate true godliness. Beauty and grace is alright but all these must be subservient to a God-given beauty and grace.

Second, she is a woman of substance.

Proverbs 31:26 She opens her mouth with wisdom; And the law of kindness is on her tongue.

The words of “Mouth and tongue” establishes her personality. What we say reveals who we are. The tongue is a great revealer of our beings deep down. She also has the law of kindness in her words. What this means is that kindness that emerges from all that says is is consistent and just. The worthy woman ministers out of her being. There is no put on but a grown in. She is who she is and all that she says is consistent with her identity.

The next thing about this woman of substance is that of diligence and forethought. This woman of substance is a thinking woman. Proverbs 31:16 She considers a field, and buys it; With the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. In considering to buy a field and planting it as a vineyard, the worthy woman shows us that she has brains. There is careful consideration and forethought before a commitment to commit large resources like buying a field. Planting a vineyard signifies a woman who has the ability to generate and sustain an income. One thought before we move on. Are we using all that God has given us so that we can apply ourselves to fruitful labour?

One more thing about this woman of substance. She is a diligent woman. Three verses describes her so:

• 31:14 She is like the merchant-ships; She brings her bread from afar.
• 31:15 She rises also while it is yet night, And gives food to her household, And their task to her maidens
• 31:18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable: Her lamp goes not out by night.

These give us a picture of toiling into the night while yet getting up early in the morning. She is diligent not only for herself but with those whom she manages. She toils to gather the right knowledge so that she is able to deal with the outside world of merchants and ships. Thus, are all the work that we do effective? Do we have enough of outside knowledge other than what impacts us in the home and family that helps us to navigate our way successfully in the world?

Third, the worthy woman is characterised by the quality of her relationships.

To her husband, she is one who trust in him and cooperates with him in his work outside. Proverbs 31:11, 23 and 28 reminds us of the proverb...that for every successful man there is a quiet diligent woman behind him who supports him and prays for him.

To her children, she is the epitome of love and a caring heart. Proverbs 31:28 Her children rise up, and call her blessed. Her children thrive because they are the recipient of her kind ministrations.

To others, she is the hand of mercy and compassion. Proverbs 31:20 She stretches out her hand to the poor; Yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy. Those who come to her gates for help and succour will find they are never turned away.

Conclusion

This worthy woman has strength and dignity. She lives well in the present and triumphs in the future. Proverbs 31:25 Strength and dignity are her clothing; And she laughs at the time to come. Indeed she will reap the reward of all who know her.

The Righteous Live by Faith

3 May 2009
Speaker: David Tan
Text: Galatians 3:1-14

The letter of Paul to the Galatians represents one of the most important books in the Bible, describing how humanity is justified by God, or put right with God. In Chapter 3, Paul continues his defense of this key teaching in Christian theology. The focus here is how a Christian attains righteousness.

The cross of Christ

At the heart of our Christian faith is the cross of Christ – not the baby in the manger, not the Virgin birth, not even the resurrection (because there can be no resurrection without Jesus’ death), not answered prayers, and not even the 2nd coming of Jesus or the final defeat of Satan.

1 Cor 1: 23 “… but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”

Gal 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which* the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

So important is the centrality of the cross that Paul reprimands the Philippians for rejecting the accomplished work of Jesus on the cross. In buying into the Judaizers false teachings, these Christians had dismissed Jesus' sacrifice as nothing. This is because the faith that saves does not rest in keeping the Law and its rituals, but in believing that Jesus’ death on the cross had done what the Law could not do, and made us right with God.

What is the significance of the cross and how does it save us?

Christ redeems

The imagery used by Paul tells us that Jesus’ death on the cross was a price paid in blood to buy the world out of slavery to sin (Gal 3:22): Jesus has redeemed us. In order for God to forgive, a price had to be paid. Just because God forgives does not make sin disappear – either humanity pays or God pays. Thankfully, Jesus the Son of God paid the world’s debt of sin on the cross.

The act of forgiveness involves bearing someone else’s wrong. Jesus spared us from paying the debt of sin by bearing it upon Himself. Jesus has demonstrated what forgiveness means and we are called to follow His example. In the words of Bonhoeffer, “…the call to follow Christ always means a call to share the work of forgiving men their sins. Forgiveness is the Christlike suffering which is the Christian's duty to bear.”

Law condemns

In 3:10 Paul says again that the Law cannot help us – it merely condemns us. It is like a curse, exposing our sin. None is righteous before God. Arguing from Leviticus 18:5, Paul stresses that unless one keeps God’s law perfectly, there cannot be favour with God. But out of God’s generous mercy, He forgives our sin by taking our place on the cross, bearing our punishment, taking the full force of holy wrath on behalf of the whole world. As John Stott puts it so clearly:

“The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We…put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God puts himself where we deserve to be.”

This is what Scripture means when it says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21).

The generosity of Jesus displayed on the cross, is what Paul calls ‘grace’ (Eph 2:8). As Abraham himself was counted righteous simply by believing in God, the Christian too is justified by the simple act of faith in God’s promise.

What does the cross of Christ mean for us today?

In 2:16, Paul uses a legal term to describe justification – how God declares sinners innocent. More incredible still, using accounting imagery, Paul says in 3:6 as God counted Abraham as righteous, Jesus’ righteousness has also been credited unto us on the basis of our faith. Our debt has been paid in full on the cross. God presses the reset button – we start clean and fresh.

The promise in Habbakuk 2:4 that “The righteous shall live by faith” anticipated Jesus’ finished work on the cross. To be made righteous is to enjoy God’s favour. When we have favour with God, we’re able to live in fellowship with God. (Stott) The blessing that comes to us through Abraham (referred to in v9) is our justification. All we need to do to be saved is to accept it in grateful faith.

If God does not justify, all humanity stands condemned. That Jesus has made it possible for us to enjoy both favour and fellowship with God gives a Christian’s new purpose in life – the pursuit of holy living to the glory of God.