Watch, Talk or Walk?

In life, and especially in matters of church work, we so often take up the role of spectators. We sit, warm the bench, cheer a little and then leave. Yes, we sincerely want our team to win, and when they do, we cheer and celebrate like it’s everyone’s victory. But often, we need to help our team win, not just watch them try.

All too often, we are like the chicken’s friends in that children’s fable. We want to eat the cake, but we are reluctant to sow and reap the wheat, grind it into flour, and bake the cake. We just watch. We say, “I’ll help you later.” And when the fruit of the hen’s labour is served on a platter, we say “I’ll help you eat it.”

2 Thess 6:10-11 “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies.”

How often I have heard people say, “Mmm…you try first la. If it works out, then I’ll help out/join you.” It won’t work out if you don’t help in the first place. So many of us praise the plans laid out before us, saying how good they are. Yet, so many of us expect a select few (usually our leaders) to do the job. “So-and-so can do it,” or “So-and-so is a competent leader. I don’t really need to do much.” And if by chance the endeavour should succeed, then we praise and celebrate and (sometimes) take credit. This is not the way things should work.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not belittling moral support in any way. It is an important duty of a Christian to give encouragement to other saints. But let’s face it, the BEST moral support you can give is to get your hands dirty when your brother needs help. We need people who will actually move when push comes to shove, not a large troupe cheerleaders and banners. We can only do so much with those.

Matt. 9:37-38 “Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Jesus was a fine example of a leader. He was the ultimate leader because he was the ultimate servant. He could talk the talk and walk the walk. He did it; he delivered. He was even willing to give up his life for us. We are reluctant to even lift our fingers. How can we compare to Him?

Mk 9: 34-35 ‘But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”’

Life, and Christianity, is not a spectator sport. We need more servants, not cheap talkers. Lest I fall into my own categorisation by babbling on in this post, I’m thinking of what I can do for God today, and by a small measure, I have. Hope you think (and do) something too.

Have a nice day!

Lord

Lord bless this night for when I rest-
let my loved ones sleep as well as I.
Lord forgive me for the wrongs and lies
To right them and repent; I constantly try.

Lord, enchant the lives of the loved, make them not cry
for never will I present to them my sadness in life.
Lord bless their meals and places they sleep-
for they know not how lonely, how much I do weep.

Dear Lord, bless upon me strength to overcome;
For when love does fade, I find not the power to lead.
God, bless upon me a will to have full use-
because without love, this fight I might well lose.

Lord, as sun shines and dew rest on leaf;
Let them too witness thy glory, thy faith and belief.
Lord, like dirt and the sweat that crusts on my face -
Let them never feel this; alike to my disgrace.

Lord, from your humblest creation thus true
Let them always awake - feeling anew.
Lord, as I lay weapon down to seek rest
Please let them know how they always have my best.

Lord, like the stars in the night that doth shine
Let me have their care - as much as they have mine.
Lord, though I may fade in their memories
Let them know they have all of me.

Lord, love them always, as much as I do -
in trust and full heart, I kneel before you.
Lord as I sleep with my cheek on greased steel
Make me forget; of how terrible I feel.

- Sal ( An old friend of mine)

If God knew man would turn from Him, why did He create man in the first place?

When I was doing my guard duty one night, (seems as though I'm doing guard duties aplenty eh? maybe I've been a naughty boy... mmmm...) one of my superiors posed me a question that, to say the least, gave me reason to reflect on my faith.

His question was: since God knows everything, and can foresee the future, why did He still create man, knowing that man will turn from Him and sin? What is God's purpose in creating man?

I didn't have an answer at that time. I mean, it DID make sense! It made me wonder about my purpose in this life... It made me ask: why do I believe in God, when I don't even know why he created man so that man can turn from Him.

I think i might have an answer (at least something that I'm satisfied with).

1) man is created perfect and free.
Contrary to popular belief (thank you John Calvin), we are born PERFECT, SINLESS, SPOTLESS. Just as Adam was created VERY GOOD, each and EVERY person was created VERY GOOD.

We are certainly not created with a natural propensity to sin. Having said that, however, through various traps and devices Satan always manages to get people to sin. Living in a world filled with sin and temptation certainly does not make things easy for the PERFECT creature to REMAIN in that state. thus the creature is LED ASTRAY.

The only way to be led astray is to be created with a CHOICE, or the power to choose. As free moral agents, man is able to choose between following God, or following the proverbrial DARK SIDE (i.e. Satan).

Without this ability to CHOOSE, we might as well be like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator series of movies: ROBOTIC.

2) the plan of salvation was in place FROM THE BEGINNING.
certainly our Father DID know that man would eventually turn to sin due to the influence of the Devil. thus from the BEGINNING of time was the concept of a plan of salvation in place to redeem the creature from the claws of Satan.

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." - Gen 3:15.

Certainly salvation of the world was on the cards RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING. God is (as mentioned in an earlier post) ALL-POWERFUL. He knew of the fall of man even before man was created.

Jesus Christ did not come down to die on the cross for the remission of our sins as a BACKUP PLAN. He was part of THE plan. THE one and ONLY plan of salvation.

3) My question to those who question.
Would you like to be a robot?

I know my answer. Given a choice between being programmed without a choice and having my free will to decide my fate, I'd rather be a being of choice.

-conclusion-

Being free moral agents, we have the POWER to decide what's good or bad for us. Just as Eve chose to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, in so doing breaking God's commandment, many in the world today choose to disobey and hearken not to His word.

Man was created PERFECT. (all infants are perfect, without blemish).
Man was created with a FREE WILL. (man chose to sin).
The plan of Salvation was in place FROM THE BEGINNING.

I hope the readers will be able to understand, I've tried to make it as simple and concise as possible. If however there are any doubts as to the points raised, or if there are any comments, I absolutely welcome them! =) It's a learning journey for me too.

-disclaimer-
This piece was written over a period of 2 weeks. It might not sound coherrent and probably does not. Please forgive this piece if it's been a little too disjointed for your liking.

-request-
I'm flying off to India tomorrow (Monday, 20th March 2006). Please pray for my safety. Thank you! =)

What you can do

Don't know about you all out there but I often feel that I'm really insignificant in my church. No one asks my opinion or consults me on decisions, no one really talks to me apart from my sister, David, Sherman and Beverly (and occasionally Goeh Kien when he comes). Unless they have specific questions like "where is your mother?" or are creating idle conversation like "what are you doing now?" (a question I have answered at least 50 times in the past year - you do the math), none of the adults really care about what I do in church.

So sometimes, it seems really difficult to do my part for the church or for God. I know you're going to tell me that I should be preaching to my friends but that's not really a strong point for me. I haven't got that big a circle of friends. Of my secondary school mates, about 10 of them I don't really see anymore, one is in US and the remaining two I see only once in two or three months. Of my university mates, well... it's hard to talk about this sort of thing with them because they aren't really interested in talking to me unless it's school-related (my being the top student is not helping this).

Yeah, I have a group of about nine close friends and we watch movies together and mamak together but religion isn't a big part of their lives (except for two who are already Christians and one who is a Muslim) so I've never quite known how to introduce the topic to them.

Well, I've gone a really roundabout way to what I want to share but here goes.

About three weeks ago, the sermon on Sunday was about how people could contribute to church work. I was so delighted because the speaker (bless him) was so practical he gave us a list of things we could do. I want to share it with you all because it inspired me so much and opened my eyes to things that were actually in my power:

1. Worship session - preaching, song leading, prayer, planning the men-to-serve list
   
2. Bible session - train teachers, take responsibility for different classes and needs
   
3. Record keeping - attendance, accounts, charting trends
   
4. Building - maintenance, painting
   
5. Guests - greeters, guest cards, show hospitality, follow-up
   
6. Teaching the gospel to the lost - performing baptisms
   
7. Edifying the weak - encourage, admonish, strengthen
   
8. Benevolence
   
9. Technology - help the church in using technology, teach adults how to use it
   
10. Communication - bulletins, Web sites
    
11. Serve others - food, professional help e.g. medicine, law, finance

Which are you doing today?

Treasure Hunt

Forbes, a world-famous business magazine, has recently come out with its famous annual list of the World’s 100 Richest People. Topping the list for the 12th year is William Henry Gates III, better known as Bill Gates (surprise, surprise). In second place is Warren Buffett.

Many in this world will view getting onto that list as one of the greatest achievements a man or woman can accomplish in life. In our capitalist culture of wealth worshiping, the people on that list are probably revered as demi-gods of our time. I know too many people who admire Bill Gates, Orprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, the Walton family (of Wal-Mart stores fame) not for their business acumen, admirable personalities or determination, but simply because they are plain filthy rich.

There is nothing wrong with being rich, or getting rich. In fact, using our money to help God’s cause is highly commendable. But when our lust for wealth becomes an all-consuming obsession that blurs out God, we’re obviously in for trouble.

I once had a friend whose life ambition was to be a millionaire (or was it billionaire?), yet when asked how he would do it or what he would do with the money, his answer was “It doesn’t matter, I just want to be rich.” I can’t really tell if he meant it all 100%, or if it was his idea of a joke. Maybe at that time, we were still young snd immature. Yet, his rationale bewildered me at the time.

Perhaps his is an extreme case, but when I look around, our culture’s obsession with all that glitters has anything but disappeared. Consumerism, brand-consciousness, even TV shows that highlight obstentatiously huge mansions are all signs of how much we want to be rich and how much we want other people to know the fact.

In fact, moral integrity is fast disappearing in place of ‘do-all to get-all’. It doesn’t matter whose toes get stepped on the way, how many lives are ruined by our actions, how much we had to compromise. As long as we get what we want in the end, the means were fully justified.

Yet, what does the Bible say?

I Tim. 6: 6-10 “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Mark 8: 36-37 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Matt. 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Highly potent reminders in virtual anti-thesis to what the world now teaches, aren't they?
When you think of success remember to measure it with God’s yardstick, not the world’s. And when you think of acquiring wealth, always keep God in the picture.

Have a nice day!

Our All-Powerful God

“If there is an omnipotent God, can He create a being more powerful than Himself ?”
If yes, explain the implications. If no, explain the implications.

This was the question given as an assignment for my Ethics class in college. Designed to trick those who believe in an omnipotent God, this question is a so-called “paradox”. If you answered yes, that would make God no longer powerful, because there would be a more powerful being than Him. If no, then God is not omnipotent anymore, because He cannot create that being.

From the outside, this seems to be a win-lose situation. The atheist has won, because both ways, God is no more omnipotent. Or is He?

This so-called “paradox” is a misnomer from the start. It’s not a paradox, but rather it is question that fails to understand the real meaning of omnipotence.

Omnipotence indeed means all-powerful, but that does not mean that God can do anything. This question may seem logical at first, but the problem excludes vital information about the nature of God, which makes the conclusion invalid.

What the so-called “paradox” above lacks is information about the nature of God. The omnipotence of God is something that is not independent of God’s nature, but rather it is part of it. Therefore, He has a certain nature and His attributes, in this case, His omnipotence operates within His nature. The attributes of a certain being cannot escape the nature of that being. For example, as a human being, I can run. This is my nature. However, I cannot outrun a fast-moving car because my nature does not permit it. My ability to run is linked to my nature and I cannot violate my nature by running faster than the car because I cannot violate my nature.

The same goes for God. His omnipotence is part of His nature, and therefore, He can only do things consistent with his nature. Omnipotence is not the ability to do anything, but the ability to do anything consistent with His nature. This does not mean He can violate His own nature. For instance, God cannot lie. God cannot show partiality. God cannot allow those who have not been saved to enter eternal bliss. If God were to do something against His own nature, He would be self-contradictory. To be self-contradictory, would mean that God would not be true. Similarly, if He were to do something like create a being more powerful than Himself, it would be violating His own nature and therefore self-contradictory. But because God is true, and not self-contradictory, He cannot do something which would violate His own nature.

Another point that this question fails to see is the concept of all-powerful. If something were to be ultimate, in any sense, there cannot be anything that is more ultimate than it. For instance, if something were to be the best in its field, nothing else could be “more best” or “bester” than it. As an example, if a bread company were to claim that their bread is the healthiest in the world, but a few months later produces a different kind of bread which is even healthier than the previous one, that is a paradox. If a certain object is the ultimate in its field, nothing can supersede it. Likewise, God is omnipotent, all-powerful and therefore nothing else can be more powerful than Him alone.

God is Almighty and nothing can stop Him. Not even atheists who try with all their might to do so.

Next time a skeptic asks you a question similar to the one above, dissect the question first. You’ll find a weak spot.

Advancing in Packs

Being in the military has served me many lessons in life and perhaps most have been insightful in helping me understand my vulnerability in this world. I take the example of my experience in the armoured unit of the military.

There is much to be said of the quality of numbers. The Americans (in the Korean war) found out the hard way just how immensely potent the strategy of QUANTITY, which the Chinese used to overrun and overwhelm the Americans, proved to be. Essentially, the Chinese had more soldiers than the Americans had ammunition to kill them with.

I had my brush with this value of quantity just a couple of nights back... here's what happened:

I was doing guard duty at my camp, and due to my current injury, I was placed at the sentry post, which keeps track of the traffic (vehicular or human) at the camp gates.

As usual, guards being the same the world over, I was eagerly waiting for the change in duty whereby I could return to the guard-house for some well-deserved (all right, probably not WELL deserved) rest.

To kill the boredom of duty, I sang songs... everything from Guns n Roses to Green Day and even the Goo Goo Dolls. About an hour into the solo repetoire, I noticed this black dog lying down at the entrance to the sentry post. I'm not much of a dog lover, but this being the year of the dog, I decided to be nice and not disturb it from its rest and carried on dishing out the hits.

Around halfway through 'Something About You' by Five for Fighting, I heard the howling and barking of the other dogs next to the post (there were a total of three in my immediate vicinity). At first I thought they wanted me to keep silent since I'm not much of a singer. But upon turning my head and taking a quick glance around the area, I noticed a pack of around nine dogs fast approaching my position.

Within seconds, the pack was surrounding the sentry post, howling like hyenas and baring their teeth just like the New Zealand All Blacks while doing the Haka war cry. It was then that I knew there was going to be trouble.

To spare all the details, the original 3 were each separated by the 9, and each were soon attacked and overwhelmed by the numbers on the other side. The 3 suffered bite marks and were bleeding from their inflicted wounds. It got pretty tense for me as the dog that was resting at the entrance retreated to the refuge of my legs before being assaulted. I DID try to fend off the rest of the other dogs by using the baton issued to us, but to no avail.

What have I learnt from this long encounter with our canine friends?

1) Satan's army is big and resourceful.

There is so much that the Tempter can beguile us with. The cares of this world, the pride of life, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye all can lead us away from safety.

In our busy schedules, punishing workload or time spent with friends not from our spiritual family, it is often easy to lose track of what's most important to us.

And just like the dogs, Satan can and WILL shoot his fiery darts not one at a time, but a few or many at a time, so as to overwhelm us, to make us shout out loud and say: "I GIVE UP!". No matter who we are, we can be caught up like the seed which grew amongs the thorns in the parable of the sower.

2) There is strength in numbers.

Of course, quality of growth is considered spiritual growth in the kingdom too. But like the adage of old goes: many hands make light work.

With more people in the kingdom, the work of the kingdom can be spread out. And who knows what talent each new person in the kingdom will bring with him? Just like the parable of the talents, some are blessed with 5, some with 2 and others with 1, but every single talent is useful and profitable to the kingdom.

Just like the dogs, in numbers, the kingdom is strong. You never know how the next person you bring is going to contribute to the kingdom. So go out there and bring in the sheaves, for the harvest truly is plentious, but the labourers, oh so few.

-Conclusion-

The victimised dogs are indeed all fine now. They're still staying at the guardroom each night, the bloodstains from that assault have all been cleaned up.

I've learnt much from my experience with the dogs, but i'm sure that there's so much more that could be brought out. Perhaps those reading about this encounter would like to pen down your reflections... I'm sure a lil' sharing would benefit the whole a lot.

* * *

Lucas Quek is a member of the Lim Ah Pin Church of Christ in Singapore and just turned 20 in January. He is currently serving his two years of compulsory national service with the Singapore Armed Forces. More importantly, he is also a faithful servant of the Lord. Welcome Lucas to the team!

Fear

Do you know fear?

Fear is imagining what the worst possible consequence is.
No, it's more than just feeble products of imagination. It's almost foresight. Seeing it happen. Just that it hasn't. It would, or would not. Premonition not on what it is to be, but what could be.
Fear is a defensive mental mechanism.

Fear was standing at the divider of a busy road, trying to catch up with my brother, aged 16, feeling all intrepid bravado being stripped away and coming to terms with the magnitude of the situation. Fear was the intensity of headlights zipping past. Fear was being swallowed by the whirlwind of swishes. Fear was not knowing whether to jay walk across the busy road of a cross junction. Fear was seeing a car coming right at me.

Fear was remembering that humans are flesh and blood, weak, fazed, vulnerable and succumb easily to error.

Relief was seeing the traffic light change from green to red. Relief was finally making it through to the other side unharmed. Responsibility was making sure my brother was safe.

Do you know fear?

Ecc 12: 13 - Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Psa 112: 1 - Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in the commandments.

Heb 12:28-29 - 28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverance and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Fear is being afraid. Being very afraid.

Relief is making it through to the other side. Relief is knowing that there is a place in Heaven for a faithful Christian.

John 14:1-3 - 1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that were I am, there ye may be also.

Responsibility is preparing ourselves to meet our God.

Amos 4:12 - Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.

Do you know fear? If so, what are your plans for eternity?