It must be more than a Religion

Thoughts gathered during Ladies Fellowship, sermon from the scripture text 1 Peter 2:1-10. 

Religion is something we practice, something that we do periodically for a purpose. It is a practice that can also be put aside for various reasons. If Christianity is only a religion to us, then it must not be all that important to us, since this is something we can do without if we choose to.

So what exactly is Christianity to us? What is the Christian identity we want to be? With identity comes belonging; with belonging comes a sense of self. A little soul searching brings to mind how, no matter how sinful the state of my life is, the fact that I am a Christian is the only sanity amidst my chaotic life. It is the only comforting thought that reassured me that not all is lost. It is a fact that I clinged on dearly to draw strength for me to go on. Being a Christian to me is no less than my life, it is my very being, my entire self.

I recalled an episode in my life when I was in my teens, not too many years after I first accepted Christ. I was exploring a different church where a lady was tasked to encourage me to join her church. She told me I was not saved at all. What I thought was an acceptance of Christ and reborn as Christian when I was 13 years old was "false" provided I carry out a series of actions to cleanse myself, re-confess my sins and re-declare my belief in Christ. To re-declare my faith was not a problem, I would gladly do this over and over again. However, the moment when I was told I wasn't saved and could not be considered a Christian was as though half of me died. I felt as though I was dealt with a blow that hit right into my soul. Being a Christian is not just practising a religion, it is who I am, it is what I am, without which there is no me. 

Recognizing what Christianity is to us is only the beginning of our new life. To live a spirit-filled life is another study on its own. For a start, I am thankful I can call myself a Christian. I can proudly declare I have been called out of darkness to God's marvellous light. I have tasted God's mercy to allow me to be a child of God. I am thankful this is who I am, it is what I want to be and how I want to live my life.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2: 9-10. 

It is finished but He is not

Mark 16:6"And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him."

Prophecy fulfilled. Words and Promises are all fulfilled when Christ died on the cross. Surely it is finished? Yes, for the first part; No for the next. This is because just His death won't save us. He needs to conquer death to give us life. 

Today, on Easter Sunday, we remember Christ's Resurrection, His great conquer over death to rise to heaven so that we can have eternal life so long as we believe. Truly, the Son of God came to be the Son of Man to die and rose from the dead so that we can become the sons of God. 

Facts of history on Christ's Resurrection is undisputable. It was a fact how His resurrection dramatically changed the lives and characters of the disciples.  Even after He has departed from earth, He called Saul to be His disciples through a dramatic event along the road to Desmacus. His power is everlasting, on earth and in heaven.

If we believe Christ to have raised to heaven, why would we not believe that He will return? How He was taken to heaven will be how He will return. The signs of His return are plenty - the corruption of mankind, the widespread knowledge of the gospel and the return of Isreal to their promised land. The Lord is to return to judge the world, save Isreal and restore the kingdom of Christ. 

In the fullness of time, He will return to reign (Rev 19:11-16). 

So He is not finished, and we are not finished too! Act 1:8 - we shall be witnesses unto Christ in our lives. We need to be God's ambassadors, witness and advocate of His salvation work. Have we worked hard for the Lord in our lives? Have we lived a life worthy of the witness for Christ? May the Lord fulfil His will and plan in our lives as He would to all who are called as sons of God. 

A Good Neighbour

"Love thy neighbour as thyself." 

This commandment is only second to the commandment of loving thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul and all thy mind. Matthew 22-37-39. 

What does it take to love thy neighbour? Proverbs 3:26 is clear what we should not do - withhold that which is due to your neighbour. We should not delay that should have been given to your neighbour. God had provided to us all the goodness at the right time and we have been fully blessed, should we not provide for our neighbours the little bit of goodness that we can give?

In this day and age, having a neighbour that we can communicate is very rare, let alone one whom we can have a good relationship. Yet we know having a good neighbour is so important, but have we made any effort to connect with our neighbours? I have been most blessed to have a good neighbour in this life. Mr Yang is a Peranakan with such a big heart. He has a little Jack Russell that was happily overweight due to all the good food that came from the owner's table. He extended his love even to my two retriever dogs three times the size of his. 10 years ago when I become his neighbour, he became the unofficial guardian of my dogs. Very often he will come with treats from his own dog's stash or off his own table. My dogs grew to love his regular visits as they finally had the chance to eat something sinful, a break from the strict diet they had in my house. 

I benefitted from Mr Yang's generosity as well. Knowing that I would rather starve than to cook something in my own kitchen, my neighbour will give me a bowl of his own lunch or dinner whenever I am at home. He always thinks I will really starve and selflessly provided me from his own table. His portion is always good for 2 or 3 of my own meals and without him, home cook food would have been a rarity in my life lifetime. Mr Yang is my neighbour, the guardian to my dogs and a second father to me. I thank God for His provision of such a good neighbour in such abundance that truly I do not deserve. 

A Perfect Representative

Throughout history, people elate leaders to represent them, as a nation, as a race or as a collective group. This elated leader represents the people in thoughts, deeds, decisions, and whatever the fruits or consequences are enjoyed or borne by the people collectively. This is not a new concept; it is an inherent nature of man to group together and elate a leader. Why would it then be strange for Christ to be the elated representative of man, albeit elated by God? All that is required is to recognise and acknowledge this fact, and the benefits of what He has done would be passed on those who choose Him. 

Romans 5:12-21 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Man is represented by 2 great persons in history, one who got us into this mess, and another who saved us from it. 

Adam was the first man who fell short of God's law and caused mankind to be condemned. He was the default representative of all mankind since all men descended from him. The lineage and genealogy of man proved this so. Because of Adam, sin and sufferings entered the world and became inherent to all who are born after him. There has never been a need to teach a child to sin for it comes as second nature. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are all that man pursued in his lifetime, without the slightest need to learn how to do it. In fact, man would become so creative and resourceful at sinning that without external intervention there is no hope of ever getting out of the bondage of sin by himself. 

Christ by the elation of God, became a man to represented us and substituted for us to pay for the price of sin. The son of God became the son of man to qualify as man's representative for His redemption work. He did what Adam could not do, perfect obedience to God's commandments for a full 33 years of His life without a single sin. In fact His conquered Satan during 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness where He was tempted repeatedly with the same 3 sins of Adam. He passed all the tests under dire conditions while Adam failed all of them in the comfort of the luxurious Garden of Eden. He went through the water baptism by John the Baptist and all that was necessary to qualify Him as required by God. Finally, when He had to pay the ultimate penalty of sin according to God's righteousness, even God forsake Him on the cross as He alone bore the sin of the entire world and died for us. When the work of atonement was completed, Christ rose again from the dead to conquer death as God would, for He is God and only man for a period of time for our sake. What this representative had done for us would be lost if we chose not to recognise it. 

Do You Understand?

Daniel 12:8-13

And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

God's Words are meant to be understood by believers. These are the milk we needed as babes in Christ; the meat we needed to grow and be strong in the Word. 

There is wisdom in the Bible and more yet to be revealed as future events unfold. During the times of Daniel, certain truth was not revealed to him as the passage talks about the events of the future. We are blessed today to have other passages in the Bible to help us understand this passage. For Daniel he went by faith, knowing that God controls the entire future and all that was written will come to pass.

The key to understanding the wisdom in the Bible is through salvation. Without the belief, there is no understanding of the truth in the Bible. As a believer, the Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom to interpret the Bible as we study the Word.  As we grow in the faith through the study of God's Words we grew also in the deeper understanding of the Word and it's an application to our lives. Our thinkings, feelings and actions will then be more aligned to the teachings of God. We will then go through the process of sanctification, and become more and more Christ-like. This is the path God wants us to take, to grow and gain more understanding of what God wants of us in our lives.

In this week's weekly newsletter, there is an article on the English Translation of the Bible. An article was written by TS Eliot in 1962 on the then-new translation of the New English Translation vs the established Authorised King James Version. In the article, there was a few interestingly funny translation of the passages in the Bible that showed the simplicity of man when they decided that the old translation was no longer relevant and must be discarded. Examples of such translation include: "Do not feed your pearls to pigs"; "Or how can you say to your brother, 'let me take a speck out of your eye' when all the time there is that plank in your own?"; and as for the house built upon sand, "down it fell with a great crash!". Any student of the Word knows that the wisdom of God is written in parables and never as literal meaning. When man uses his own understanding to interpret the Bible, it not only make a mess of it but also misled people down the wrong path. The scholars of old had God as their guide to provide the faithful translation in King James Version, we will do well by following that translate and pray for wisdom to understand God's Word as it is revealed in the Holy Bible.

Saved in the Icy Waters

Today at Sunday service there is a very touching story in the weekly newsletter. It is a simple story but it demonstrated the sovereignty of our God and His loving-kindness towards those willing to seek Him. The story is reproduced below.

Just before midday, April 10, 1912, the White Star liner Titanic sailed out of Southampton Harbour to begin her maiden voyage to New York. The ship weighed 46,000 tons and travelled at 22 knots. It was the largest and most luxurious ship afloat, and because it had a double-bottomed hull which was divided into 16 water-tight compartments, it was thought to be unsinkable. The captain of the ship, which carried 2,223 people was Captain E J Smith.

Shortly before midnight on Sunday the 14th, the Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. Five of the watertight compartments ruptured and the ship sunk just after 2am the next morning with the loss of 1,513 lives.

The rest of the passengers and crew were rescued from lifeboats by the Cunard liner Caparthia, which arrived several hours after the Titanic had sunk.

Among those who perished was a Baptist minister named John Harper. When the ship began to sink, hundreds of people jumped into the icy cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. One of these was a young Scotsman, who was a careless and ungodly sinner. Soon he found some object and clung desperately to it. People were crying and wailing all around him. John Harper was also clinging to alone object to keep afloat and drifted near this young man. He called out to him,"Is your soul saved?" He replied, "No, it is not." Then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," said Harper urgently and lovingly.

The two men drifted apart for a time, then the current drew them together again. "Is your soul saved?" Harper cried out,"I fear it is not." "Then, if you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, your soul shall be saved," said the minister, with the deepest feeling. Again the current separated the two men. Herper loudly spoke the gospel messages to others who were struggling in the water.

The young man in desperation cried unto Christ to save him. He believed on the Lord and was saved.

In a few minutes, the young man heard the preacher say,"I'm going down... I'm going down, then"No, no, I'm going up", and John Harper was gone, his body into the dark, cold waters of the ocean, but his spirit went to be with Christ whom he had just proclaimed.

The young man remained afloat until he was rescued. Years later, he gave his testimony of how the Lord wonderfully saved him and had kept him in the ways of God.

Story written by R. Cameron Smith.

A very simple story of faith with the most straightforward message of "just believe and you will be saved." It is such a simple truth, but few believed it to be so. Surely there are so many difficult and complicated things we have to do to redeem ourselves in order to be saved? But the truth cannot be simpler than this. The ways of men are not the ways of God. God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, has done all the "complicated redemption" work that we thought we had to do. We could never have done anything to redeem ourselves for we are sinners; Christ being sinless, died so that we can live. I thank God I was given the ability to believe in Christ, purely based on this simple truth - "believe and thou shalt be saved."

All That Thrills My Soul

This Sunday service we sang such a joyous hymn "All that thrills my soul is Jesus, He is more than life to me." Many times we would rather walk away from Jesus rather than stay with Him. In John 6:66-69 was an account where the people still leave Jesus and only 12 left. Simon Peters knew and saw the truth "And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

Many times in life we walked away from Jesus not because we do not know who Jesus is, but precisely because we know exactly who he is, and we were ashamed. We felt we were not worthy of Him because of our sins. Truly we are not worthy but Christ delivers those who recognize this and confess their sins. Running away from him is not the answer. Run towards Him to receive the gift of salvation; repent and place Jesus at the center of our lives. Jesus is much more than life to those who follow him.  

There is a very different feeling when we are in Christ. There is peace and joy in our hearts, such feelings that we ourselves are unable to full explain why. A simple lightness in our steps, a joyous beat in our hearts and a sense of peace and contentment knowing that we lacked nothing so long as we are in Christ. We ahould lean closer to Him to enjoy the peace, joy and blessings knowing that we have Jesus who is much more than life for us.