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00:00 to the talks in front of you. So, can you give me the page numbers of where you are? Yep. It's talk number one.
00:07 Yep. And page numbers for that so that everybody's on board. Okay. Good. What's the page number?
00:14 Oh, no. Page number. So, go to talk number one. Don't go anywhere else. And
00:19 uh what I'm going to do tonight is give you perhaps like an overview, a big picture of one Corinthians. And then in
00:25 the next three, four talks, we're going to plunge in deeper and understand what God is saying to us. So what do you
00:32 think of life? Life is, if I got you to fill in the blanks, life is dot dot dot dot dot. And you could say life is good.
00:38 Life is bad. Life is full of suffering. One way to think of life, the first light comes on. Do you have that? Then
00:44 life is a series of problems and solutions. So I do not know whether you've heard of this uh TV program or
00:50 watch it. It began with a radio program in America and uh it's kids children
00:55 kids say the darnest things and so the interviewer goes around asking children
01:01 and in this particular one asking them for their views of the biggest problems
01:06 of the world and their views of the solutions that they would bring to bear for the biggest problems of the world.
01:12 So child number one said biggest problem in the world pollution. Not bad huh? quite a clever child must be Malaysian
01:19 right and so interviewers said so biggest problem in the world is pollution right
01:25 for a 5-year-old for a six-year-old what's your what's your solution solution is the three Rs right you
01:31 reduce you reuse and you recycle something along those lines next trial
01:36 said biggest problem in the world nuclear not nuclear energy but nuclear bombs nuclear warfare and answer
01:45 get rid of them Finally this child put on my hand biggest problem in the world is my younger brother
01:52 and so interviewer asks uh solution very simple get rid of him
02:00 life is a series of problems and solutions and it's a very simple principle and a simple principle is this
02:07 the bigger the problem the better the solution has to be to put it more plainly the more life-threatening the
02:14 problem the more life-saving the solution has has to be. And so a man was disgruntled with the legal system in
02:20 Sydney in Australia a few years ago because I think he got the raw end of the deal in in a court case that he went
02:26 through. So uh he wrote to the papers or rang the papers and this was before the
02:31 internet and said he had poisoned Arnut's biscuits. Arnuts is one of main
02:37 brands. What do you think Arnuts had to do? Arnuts the biscuit company had to do.
02:43 They had to remove every single packet of Arnut's biscuit from every
02:49 supermarket, from every store. And the lesson is the bigger the problem, the better the solution has to be. The more
02:55 life-threatening the problem, the more life-saving the the solution has to be.
03:01 Are you on board with me? And so the next thing is, how do we get
03:06 people to give up on what's really important to them? Do you have that next thing on the on the slide? Yeah, because
03:13 we're going to talk about the problem of culture. And why is culture a problem for
03:19 Christians? It is according to Paul, especially as he writes one Corinthians.
03:26 How do we get people to give up on what's really important to them? And when you think about it, much of what's
03:32 precious to us, much of you and much of me, our identity, our security, our
03:39 destiny is shaped and fashioned by the culture that we are born into. Chinese
03:46 culture, Indian culture, Malay culture, Malaysian culture, Singaporean culture, Hong Kong culture, chi, uh, mainland
03:52 Chinese culture. And the thing to note about culture is this next slide. The
03:57 cultural values are deeply entrenched and tightly held on to. Look up here.
04:03 Deeply entrenched and tightly held on to. So I grew up in a small town not far from here, Malaca, uh, Tampin near
04:10 Malaca. And uh, you travel in in buses between the small towns. And if you ever
04:16 been on a bus, the time I grew up, 40 years ago, uh, it was usually jam-packed. And you know in Malaysia
04:23 there's no system. I mean did I say that? Yeah. And so they pack you and uh as young boys, as young teenagers, we'll
04:30 be the last ones hanging out the door literally. And I'll be hanging on to those handles at the door, right? Uh
04:36 with my friends and just mucking around, mucking around until we turn knuckle white.
04:42 Cultural values are a little bit like that. They are deeply entrenched and
04:47 tightly held on to because you and I do not know that you have been either the
04:53 victim, the vessel, the recipients, even the perpetrator of this that you've been thinking this way according to your
04:60 culture. That you've been speaking this way according to your culture that you've been doing or acting this way
05:05 according to your culture. Your culture shapes you and me more than we ever care to realize, more than we ever care to
05:13 confess. And so the thing you need to ask is, are you a child of culture, a child of the
05:19 world, or are you a child of God? And specifically, a child of God through Christ Jesus.
05:27 Cultural values, the next slide, they they control us. They become they are
05:33 part of us. And if you don't watch it, cultural values become us.
05:38 So I had a friend who went off to be uh he did Bible study with me followed me up after I became a Christian in Sydney,
05:44 Australia where I studied and uh he went off to be uh a missionary in Latin America and he's Australian and went to
05:52 Latin America. He did student work and started to make uh his ministry was to meet students, evangelize students,
05:58 disciple students and made appointments to meet uh his first students and invited them to his home to BA study.
06:05 And this student came, one of the early students, he made an appointment. I think uh my missionary friend made an appointment for lunchtime and he waited
06:13 and he waited and he waited. And this young student only turned up closer to
06:20 evening time, 4:00, 5:00, almost dinner time, right? Guess what? When he turned up, he hardly apologized.
06:28 And why do you think so? Why do you think he hardly apologized? because his culture is Latin America. It
06:37 is rubber time. It is elastic time. And all you say, "Yeah, nothing wrong. What?
06:43 Lunch appointment 4:00? Not too bad, right?" You try making that kind of appointment
06:48 with the Japanese. You try making an appointment arriving 3 hours later with uh with a German, with the Swiss who are
06:56 known for the exact precision of everything. Culture shapes us. So I
07:01 spent a sabbatical with my sister in in Australia and I was reading the papers of a woman who was driving along one of
07:08 the main highways and then she was driving along. She blew a tire and she blew a tire. She pulled her aside,
07:15 right? And she didn't know how to change the tire. How many of you don't know how know how to drive don't know how to change a tire? Hands up. Very good.
07:22 Excellent. Yeah. And so she blew a tire. She pulled on
07:27 the side and then she was trying to wave down help. trying to wave downhill. This is way before handphones etc. And as she
07:34 stood there, all of a sudden she felt a sting in her eye. Uh a car that passed
07:39 by with some young people in hindsight threw an egg at her and it uh let me
07:45 just read the story. Uh she felt the sting in her eye. Blood oozed. They threw an egg. She was almost blinded.
07:52 She needed multiple surgeries to re surgeries to reconstruct her eye which
07:58 caused a local newspaper to write an editorial. How do we get young Australians to give
08:05 up on their foolish pleasure? On their senseless pleasure.
08:12 There's good pleasure. There is stupid pleasure. There is foolish pleasure. There's pleasure that you you please
08:18 yourself and you harm your neighbor. And lots of that goes on goes on in the west you know they rag each other orientation
08:25 etc etc. Are you getting the the point that cultural values control us become
08:33 part of us are part of us and become us.
08:38 This was the very thorny issue and the uphill task that Paul the apostle faced
08:47 with Christians in the city of Corinth in first in the first century world.
08:53 And what was it that Paul faced? A thorny issue and uphill task. The next
08:59 slide. Perhaps the hardest and most dangerous responsibility you could embark on. The hardest and most
09:06 dangerous thing you could embark on is to try and confront and change cultural
09:11 values. Deeply entrenched, tightly held to, blindly held to, dyingly held to
09:17 cultural values that slowly become us. So when mysteries went to India, how do
09:25 you get Indians to give up on their burning of widows which in some parts of India have become
09:32 culturally entrenched? How do you get Chinese with a confusion background not
09:38 to think that the number one virtue in life, the number one morality in life is filial piety to the end degree
09:46 and tell them that belonging to believing in Jesus and belonging to Jesus overwhelms and trumps filopiety to
09:55 ancestors and filopiety to parents. From Indian cultural values to Chinese
10:01 cultural values to western cultural values, they are deeply entrenched and tightly held on to.
10:09 To understand any book of scripture, any Bible book, any book, you always need to
10:16 understand the context. And you have an attempt of the context by reconstructing the language within
10:24 the book and then reconstructing the history behind it. Corin was known for
10:30 it. Kale is known for what? What is the icon of Kale?
10:35 CC I guess. Is that correct? KCC, right? One of the icons. So Corin was known for
10:41 his what? Corin was known for his commerce, for his business. It was
10:46 located at an issm and he had two ports. You called it a bless city. To your
10:53 right, to your left, both are ports. You can do business with ships trading through that region on both sides. More
10:59 than a commercial city, Corin was known for its religion. It had at least 12
11:06 major temples, beginning with the temple of of Aphrodite, the goddess of love,
11:11 and the temple of Clipius and the temple of Apollo. But above all, Corinthian culture
11:17 treasured what? Malaysian culture. What do we treasure? Malaysian culture, what do we treasure? Malaysian culture food. Food. Okay. What kind of food?
11:26 All kinds of food. That's the beauty of Malaysia. Don't you think? You see a China man eat uh Indian food and Indian
11:32 men eat Chinese food and it's just wonderful blend of things. Corinthian culture treasured two biggies. Two huge
11:38 things. What is it? They t they treasured the next slide. They treasured wisdom and power.
11:45 Wisdom is used about 20 times the Sophia word. And the majority of it is found in
11:51 the first two chapters of Corinthians 1 Corinthians. And they idolize Greek philosophy and power is used 13 times in
11:59 this letter. So a very simple thing repetition is equal to importance.
12:06 Repetition is equal to importance. And the first take at this is in chapter 1
12:11 verse 25 to 27. Can we read this together? This slide.
12:17 together. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a
12:24 stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles. Carry
12:31 on.
12:44 Brothers and sisters in Christ, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human
12:50 standards. Not many were influential. Not many of you were of noble birth. That's the next verse. How about I try
12:56 that with you at uh First Baptist Church. When you were called, not many of you were wise.
13:02 You'd be insulted, right? What a way to start a letter. What a way to start a sermon with the congregation. uh FBC. I
13:09 don't think many of you are wise. I can see it on your faces. Paul doesn't know how to make friends,
13:14 you know. But they prided themselves as a city
13:20 built on wisdom and built on power. Next slide. Chapter 2:4.
13:26 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Holy Spirit's
13:33 power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.
13:41 So whether it's Corin of the first century or KL of the 21st century or Singapore 21st century or New York or
13:48 San Francisco or Shanghai or Beijing, my friends, most of our modern city, most
13:54 of our cities throughout history have been built on human wisdom, on human power. Agree?
14:02 It's all about power. It's all about making us look clever. And so the deeper Corinthian problem was
14:10 this. Now isn't that true? When you meet someone who is wise, someone who that's
14:16 why I said, right? Someone who has a PhD title behind it, someone who is known in academia, when you meet someone who is
14:23 rich, your guard drops, and you instinctively respect the one who is
14:28 more intelligent to the one who didn't achieve so uh so much in their O levels or their A levels or their SPM or their
14:35 university. You instinctively respect the one with first class honors as compared to one the second class upper.
14:41 You instinctively respect when somebody walks in church the one who came in with a Mercedes-Benz versus the one who drove
14:47 in with a Proton. Do they still sell Protons? Oh, sorry. Bought over I mean
14:52 J. I mean
14:59 so I went to pick up a guest from a hotel, right? And it's one of the top hotels of Singapore. Every car that was
15:05 in front of me was a a sports car or expensive car, a Maserati,
15:11 a a BMW, a Mercedes, maybe a Ros Rolls-Royce. I think there was a wedding or a huge event. Then I drove up with my
15:17 Nissan Sunny. I guess the fellow opened my door reluctantly.
15:24 What are you doing here? Wrong place. You don't have wisdom. You don't have power.
15:29 Right? So I do weddings. 30, 40 weddings a year and um yeah, I just need to know
15:36 the Bible passage. I just need to know the couple's names, memorize them, pray for them, etc. I hardly read the wedding
15:42 cards until I'm about to go. But that particular Saturday where most of the
15:48 weddings were taking place, I didn't read the card. I knew the venue by heart. I turn up.
15:55 I didn't read the card that it was a black tie wedding dinner. You ever been to a black tie? That mean
16:02 everybody looks like they've been to a funeral, right? That's their way of being posh.
16:08 Black tie. I didn't read that. So, I arrived with my khaki pens because I
16:13 just been to another event which was informal. But thank God I had a shirt and a tie. You get the drift. You get
16:19 the drift. The world that we built in that that we live in is built on face.
16:26 And this phase has to do with wisdom and appearance of wisdom and appearance of power. And when you don't have the
16:32 appearance of wisdom and power, pe people don't open your doors. People don't and they say now pastor Krisha
16:39 will say grace for us in a black tie dinner with my cream khaki pens.
16:46 I do not know how many ministers were there. You see? And so the deeper Corinthian
16:52 problem was this. We are not just shaped by cultural values of wisdom and power.
16:58 But cultural values desensitize us to God.
17:04 Now just take that in. If you find this too hard, just take your phone out, click, click, click, click. It makes
17:10 more sense, right? Being shaped by Corinthian values, cultural values,
17:17 worldly values is already bad enough. But that is not the worst danger. The
17:25 worst danger, the greatest danger is not simply to be shaped by our human
17:30 cultural values, but as a result of it to be desensitized to God. The person of
17:36 God, the purposes of God for the people of God. So these values, the next slide
17:41 and practices were not just cultural but anti-God and anti-God's
17:47 people. And what does this mean?
17:52 We think we are wise in our own eyes. That's a cultural value. Being wise in
17:58 your own eyes and you still don't think it's a problem.
18:04 You think you're powerful in your own strength and you don't think it's a
18:09 problem. Those two things are huge problems to the God who made us.
18:18 Can you see that? It not just shapes you, but it desensitizes you to your
18:24 dependence, your utter total dependence upon God. Last year, we experienced 68
18:32 funerals. I don't know how many weddings and funerals you have in First Baptist.
18:38 68. Average time of funeral in Malaysia, Singapore is how many days? Two nights
18:45 of funeral wakes, one day of funeral. Three nights, four nights of funeral wake, fifth day funeral. So let's say
18:51 you got 70 funerals and the average three days. So how many days of the week did we spend of the year did we spend at
18:58 funerals? 200 over days. So I stand here depressed.
19:05 No. No. I have a pastor in charge of funerals, right? And as a result of it,
19:11 he's going on sbatical. anymore.
19:18 The good things about funerals, you ever seen somebody pass away? You ever watched your father, your mother, your
19:25 grandfather, your grandmother, your uncle, your auntie, your son, your daughter unthinkably slowly fade away from a disease or old
19:32 age and they breathe their last breath and bang, that's it. Pupils fix, pale,
19:40 doctor comes dead. Do you know that every breath that you take comes from God?
19:47 Try that. You know this thing is God's grace towards you.
19:53 You think you should have it. You think the doctors can manufacture this. You
19:58 think they put you on life support is not life support is breath support.
20:03 And they can only go that far. And you don't think that being wise in
20:09 your own eyes and being strong in your own strength is a problem.
20:15 I never had an operation. I went in for appendicitis in 2008.
20:21 Right. And after the operation, it's almost keyhole and straightforward. I
20:26 had an infection. Then I couldn't pass uh motion, couldn't urinate.
20:33 Called the nurse. The nurse gave me a bed pen. Have you ever tried to urinate
20:39 on a bed pen? On the bed? You can't you know I don't know about the woman but
20:44 from young mother tell you you wet the bed you cannot. No. So you instinctively
20:50 they're not right. So you tell yourself I couldn't and my bladder was bursting
20:55 bursting bursting. I had to try and stand up with the tubes and for the first time in my life, oh Lord, help me
21:02 to do this. You ever been totally dependent upon God
21:10 for your life? From the moment you wake to the moment you sleep and everything in between, your life is gate crash by
21:17 the grace of God. Amen. And if God didn't grace you with breath, if God didn't grace you with life, if
21:24 God didn't grace you with health, if God didn't grace you with your with your wife or your husband or your father or
21:30 your mother or your son or your daughter, you'll be an ungraced person.
21:35 So never get used to what? Never get used to being wise in your own
21:40 eyes and strong in your own strength. There is no such person as the self-made
21:46 man. Agree? There is no such person as a self-made woman. That is a Corinthian
21:51 problem. That's a cultural problem. That's a delusion that we make up.
21:56 Agree? That's what Paul is attacking. All our human cities and all our human
22:03 cultures are built on the delusion that we are God. You try changing that. He is now
22:10 changing that. And so the Corinthian church full of problems. The next slide.
22:17 Do you have it there? Yeah. Problems with leaders, chapter 1 to 4. Problems
22:23 about sex, chapter 5 to six. Problems about marital status, single or married or widow. Problems about Christian
22:29 freedom. Can eat food offered to idols. Not problem of Christian meetings. They were abusing the Lord's supper. Problems
22:35 about the resurrection. Problems about giving in Jerusalem. What do you call this church? Problem law. It's a
22:42 problematic church. And there you have it in front of you in
22:47 that table. Here is just one way to understand it. You'll read different scholars they might get slightly
22:53 technical, slightly theological, but here's a way to understand it. On the left hand side, chapter one verse one to
22:59 chapter 4 that we are dealing in overview today. There is the fact of division among the leaders and then he
23:06 gives you the reasons for divisions. Are you are you there with me in the outline on the table? Then in the middle portion
23:12 there's an answer to the report of immorality. There's sexual immorality in um in the
23:18 Corinthian church. There's sexual immorality in f uh first baptist
23:25 and of a kind that even the pagans don't have. I know of somebody in your church
23:30 who's committing incest. A man has his father's wife and you don't say anything about it. That's what
23:36 Paul is saying. And then in chapter 7 to the end, an
23:42 answer to the letter of questions. They ask him questions about marital status. Which status is more spiritual, more
23:48 religious, Christian liberty, food offered to idols, Christian meetings, etc. And so one way to understand it,
23:54 the first portion he's dealing with divisions. The middle portion he's dealing with disorder in the church,
24:00 especially sexual disorder in the church, messed up by Corinthian values. And a final portion, he's dealing with
24:07 difficulties and problems in the church. You got it?
24:13 And so we're going to summarize the Corinthian problem today. Summary of the
24:18 Corinthian problem. Praise God. He has planted a church in KL. So when did
24:25 Christianity first come to Malaysia? Tell me,
24:30 when did the gospel first arrive on the shores of Malaya?
24:35 I'm in Singapore. So you have to tell me. I can tell you when it arrived in Singapore. It arrived in 1843, right?
24:43 Actually earlier with the Armenian Christians running away from persecution and it set up the Armenian church. My
24:50 church Adamro Presbyterian Church belongs the our mother church is Princecept Street Presbyterian Church.
24:55 It was founded in 1843 by an English missionary English man. So
25:01 I ask again Malaysian Christians, when did Christianity first arrive on your
25:06 shores and where? Sometime in the pasta.
25:16 Depends on whether you think the Catholics brought the gospel or the Catholics didn't bring the gospel. And
25:23 then the Protestants Protestants came in the 1800s. Methodist mission, Anglican mission,
25:30 Presbyterian mission, Lutheran mission, all began about 200 years ago.
25:36 Praise God. God has planted a church in Corinth by
25:42 Paul, an apostle to the Gentiles. Praise God. Next slide. Problem.
25:47 How do we get Corinth out of the church? Praise God. He has planted a church in
25:53 KL. How do we get Malaysian values, Chinese
25:59 values, Indian values out of the church? Especially when those values clash with
26:06 our Christian values under Christ Jesus. You got the problem in a nutshell.
26:13 This is the issue before Paul. This was the issue before Paul. This remains the issue for us. And so it's captured in
26:21 the next passage, chapter 3 verse 104. The problem in the Corinthian church is
26:27 not like or problem in Colossians colos was there were false teachers. Problems
26:34 in the letter of Hebrews was that they were relapsing from Christianity back to
26:40 Judaism. Problem in one Corinthians is neither false teachers nor a relapse into
26:48 Judaism or a relapse into paganism. problem is spiritual immaturity.
26:56 And how do you know God are Paul considers them spiritual immature? This passage chapter 3 verse 1 to4 next
27:02 slide. Are you there? Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the
27:08 spirit. But as people who are still worldly mere infants, I told you right in the first four chapters, Paul is not
27:14 a very good pastor. No. Uh dear FBC, I
27:19 could not address you as mature. I address you as immature. On my first talk, I already shot myself in the foot
27:25 twice. But it's not me. I'm I'm reading Paul's letter. I could not address you as people who
27:31 live by the spirit, but as people are still worldly, mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food. You are
27:37 not yet ready for it. Indeed, you're still not ready. You are still, one more time, you are still worldly. You are
27:44 still fleshly. You are still carnal. For since there is jealousy and quarreling
27:49 among you, are you not worldly? Is there any jealousy and quarreling in First Baptist? Surely not. Baptists don't
27:55 quarrel. Only Presbyterians do.
28:01 Are you not acting acting like mere humans? For when one says, "I follow Paul," another says I follow Apollos.
28:06 Are you not mere humans? At that point when you say you find your
28:12 identity and identity and security in a human leader, in a human deacon, in a
28:19 human elder, in a human pastor instead of finding your identity and security and destiny in Christ your savior and
28:27 your lord, the wisdom of God and the power of God,
28:33 then you are still immature.
28:41 So what is your is and by that we don't mean that militant
28:46 group. What is your identity and what's your security?
28:52 Where is it located? Where is it situated? Is it located and situated in
28:58 in the fact that you are first Baptist or it is located and situated that you
29:04 are Baptist? Or is your confidence and security located in that you are church?
29:13 And even that falls short because our ultimate security is tell me.
29:21 Just checking your ultimate identity and security and destiny is located where?
29:29 In Christ Jesus. The Lord who came to love you, die for
29:36 you, rise for you, and turn you from an enemy of God to a friend of God. from a
29:43 rebel against God to a child of God. So your security shouldn't be found in
29:49 first, neither in Baptist, neither even in church cuz sometimes church is a
29:55 million miles away from Christ. If you were breathing your final
30:01 breaths, there is only one one name you call upon for identity, for security,
30:08 for destiny. that name, you wouldn't be calling upon I worship at first. I
30:14 worship at Baptist. I worship at church. That's not your identity. That's not your security. That's not your destiny.
30:22 I'm going to heaven as I take my final breath because I find my location in
30:28 Christ Jesus my Lord. Amen. The Corinthian Christians were now
30:34 finding their their security identity and security in destiny in Paul and
30:39 Apollos in a human figure. So spiritual immaturity, you're stunted by deep
30:46 cultural values. Are you there? You're stunted by deep cultural values where
30:51 you lack the mind of Christ and you lack the character characteristics of Christ
30:57 in so many areas of your life. And the Corinthian Christians, they lack the mind of Christ and the virtues of Christ
31:04 in the way they thought about leadership, in the way they handle their
31:09 body and sex in chapter 5 and six. In the way they thought about their stasis in life, single, married or widowed, in
31:16 the way they handled their freedom, in the way they thought about their holy communion, they were a messed up church.
31:24 Whatever church you pray not to become, you pray never to become the Corinthian church. It's totally messed up. The
31:31 church you must pray to become is Philippians. And even there there's a quarrel between
31:36 Udeia and Cinti. It's a very good church. It's a model church. But even there there are
31:43 problems. But Corins pray never to become Corin because they found their security in human wisdom and human
31:50 power. Let me play it in in in in quick terms for you. Paul was the original founder, original pastor of this church.
31:58 You read this in Acts 18, right? He his first convert was Titius Justice, the
32:04 synagogue leader. Very important. Who was the first convert in in in Malaysia?
32:09 Go and Google. Go and find out. Say how how how I know. It's so important.
32:15 Really? They ran an article of Princeep Street Presbyterian Church.
32:20 The first missionary who came, Reverend Keithsbury, he planted the church. His whole heart was for Malays. So guess
32:26 what was the name of the first church and at the time it was Malaya, right? Go and Google it. Second church in Ma
32:32 Malaya was the Malay Chapel. The building is there. The photograph is
32:38 there. The the what? Tell me you try setting up a church with that
32:44 name now. You try
32:51 You can't do it. They'll burn it down overnight.
32:58 But when he came, it was the Malay chapel. Paul was the founding pastor of the
33:04 church. First convert was stious justice. He stayed about 18 months. There was
33:11 opportunity and there was opposition. There was political, there was economic, there was religious opposition. Paul
33:17 left not by ending his ministry in Corinth but to extend his ministry from
33:22 Corinth to the rest of Asia Minor. This is Acts 18:1 19. Go back and read it. Then Apollos from Alexandria arrived.
33:31 And Apollos, the description of Apollos is he was learned, he was well taught, he was eloquent, he was faithful, he was
33:39 bold, he was passionate, and he an extra edge over Paul the founding pastor. He
33:44 was more eloquent than Paul. He was more attractive than Paul. Right?
33:50 Most descriptions of Paul is Paul looked like average Jew, not very good-looking, crooked nose. I I do not know.
33:58 So in one sense the church was all right until Apollos and Cphus arrived and turn
34:07 up and then the original apostolic team or the original founding team led by
34:13 Paul didn't look so good compared to Cifus compared to Apollos they look
34:21 pretty ordinary they look pretty pedestrian they look pretty unspectacular
34:27 compared that especially to Apollos who was trained in the Greek art of public
34:33 speaking oretry and that's not his fault he was just trained in that right and many people
34:40 who wanted to succeed in life in the first century world were trained in oretry so Paul and church was okay
34:49 until Apollos and all turn up and it was not so okay then with that background
34:55 you can understand this 1 Corinthians 3:21 is it there? So then no more boasting
35:03 about human leaders. All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cphus
35:09 or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All are yours and you are your ultimate I and S and D.
35:18 Your ultimate identity and security and destiny. You are of Christ and Christ is
35:23 of God. Find your salvation. Find your ultimate location in Christ who came and
35:30 lived and died and rose for you and now intercedes for you and one day will
35:35 return for you and me as the bridegroom coming for his bride. Amen.
35:42 To move your heart, your life, your love, your loyalty from Christ to
35:47 another human leader is actually carnal worldly Corinthian.
35:54 No human leader will ever match the steadfast love of Jesus that came from
36:03 the father's bosom to earth, incarnated and died for you and me. Amen. Amen.
36:11 Amen. Chapter 4:6. So now brothers and sisters, I have
36:18 applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit so that they may learn from us the meaning of saying
36:25 do not go beyond what is written. Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us against the other.
36:33 Never make the church partisan and some of us follow leader A, some of us follow
36:40 leader B. Asian churches, Chinese churches, right? Malaysian churches,
36:46 Singapore churches are known to split up over three Ps. What are they? Three Ps. You guess.
36:53 Number one P, property. You split up over property. At least in Singapore, Malaysians more cultured. You
36:60 never split up on those. Sorry. Second P you split up over is pastors. I follow
37:07 Paul. I follow Apollos. The third P is split up over the program. I don't like the program here. Don't like the program
37:12 there. So, which one has split you up before? I don't know.
37:18 All three of them are not worth splitting up over. You want to write that down somewhere?
37:25 No splitting over property. No use splitting over pastors.
37:30 Pastors, human leaders come and go, but God remains the same. Amen.
37:36 Jesus is Lord and programs ha one day here alpha next day omega
37:46 to really understand the system to really understand how their cultural values were messing them up messing up
37:52 their minds messing up their hearts and messing up their relationships with each other humanly horizontally I have to
37:59 address this technical thing called they function under a client patron system
38:04 and what on earth was a client pl uh patron client system
38:10 whenever you go to a new city right so anybody wants to leave from road has a
38:15 an assignment to Shanghai Beijing New York San Francisco Jakarta uh KL they'll
38:21 say pastor Chris you know anybody in KL or not yeah I do I know I know huh very bad anyway I know this I know that I
38:28 know okay whenever you go to a new city you always need a patron without a
38:34 patron in Corin in In the Roman world, the pat without a patron, your children don't get into schools. You don't get a
38:41 job and you don't get business. What do you call that? A sitting duck. You never arrive in Corin. You never
38:47 arrive in Rome. You never arrive in any city from the first century world to 21st century world without networking.
38:53 Correct or not? The patron client system was this.
38:59 You go there, a patron will connect up your children, will connect you up with business, connect you up with jobs, and
39:04 then you pay him a fee and you advertise him. Right? So according to one of the best
39:11 New Testament scholars on this, Ben Wrington, he said this. Next slide.
39:16 Self-promotion had become an art form in Corinth. People live with an honor shame system. Corin was a magnet for the
39:23 socially ambitious status hungry people. Nobody ever goes to a city to remain
39:31 socially stagnant. How many people move to KL to go down the social ladder, the economic ladder?
39:38 Hands up. I came to KL to go down the ladder. I came to Singapore to go down
39:43 the social economic ladder. I went to Hong Kong to go down. No, you always move from your villages in a small town
39:50 to a big town to a big city to climb the social economic ladder.
39:56 So the Corinthian values was this. Wise in your own eyes, powerful by own
40:01 strength. A whole city and ecosystem. A whole city architecture built on self.
40:10 Built on self. So Corinthian values with a patronin inclined background. You
40:15 understand this? Corinthian values led to this. Next slide.
40:21 Ungodly comparison of their pastors. Paul, Apollos, Cphus.
40:27 And when you compare your human leaders, it will lead to number two, unnecessary
40:32 discontentment with one of your leaders or some of your leaders or most of your leaders. And then that's not the end
40:38 thing. You start with ungodly comparison of leaders. It leads to un unnecessary discontentment. But the end goal where
40:44 Satan wants to take your sinfulness, Satan wants to work on your sinfulness is unhealthy divisions in the body of
40:52 Christ. You know that Satan has four main weapons against the church. Tell me
40:60 his four main weapons against the church from the Old Testament to the New Testament. One, physical persecution,
41:06 which is happening a lot now, especially in Muslim dominated countries where
41:12 Christians live. If you cannot get the church through physical persecution, he will get you
41:17 through doctrinal confusion, false teaching.
41:23 And he cannot get you through physical persu persecution and doctrinal confusion. He will get you through sin, moral compromise.
41:30 What you do in the four walls of your room, what you do on your handphone when you think nobody's looking, but God is
41:36 looking, you don't think there is a God, so you just carry on with your pornography, that is moral compromise.
41:42 If Satan cannot get you on physical persecution, doctrinal confusion, and moral compromise, he will get you
41:48 through relational division. Satan was getting the Corinthian church
41:54 big time on moral compromise and relational division. And in chapters 1
41:60 to4, relational fallout and relational divisiveness based on their leaders.
42:06 And so if our reconstruction of the history and the theology is
42:13 right, then it led to leadership competition,
42:19 pastoral competition. And we need to ask ourselves that was patron, patron and
42:25 divisions in the first century world. What about patronage in the first
42:32 century world? uh in the 21st century world. Please know the difference between the next slide. Looking the part
42:39 and living the part, please know the difference between faking it and living it. So I do not know whether you've
42:47 watched this movie called Spotlight. Have you seen it? If you haven't, go get it.
42:52 Spotlight is about the Boston Globe
42:58 and it began with an investigation of a possible sexual a sexual allegation
43:05 against a Catholic priest in Boston. And as the newspaper investigated this
43:12 story, right, it found there were the at least 200 Catholic priests with
43:18 incidences of molestation and sexual abuse of children and youth under their
43:24 care in Catholic churches just around the Boston precinct.
43:29 And as a result of their investigation, they found thousands of abuse cases in
43:35 Catholic churches all around the world. Do you have a photo of this man? This
43:42 man is Father Sears of Australia. Father Sears looks like a very godly
43:49 man, a placid man, a man you could walk up to and entrust your life and entrust
43:56 your children to. Investigations showed that Father Sears
44:03 pull a handgun on his parishioners, stabbed a bird with a screwdriver in
44:09 front of children. They found that Father Seerson, who was accused of sexually abusing children
44:15 from the 1970s to the 1990s over a 20-year period as being a priest of a
44:21 local church or many local churches, he once held a knife to a young girl's chest and told her, "If you move
44:29 obviously while I'm molesting you, this knife will go through you." Sen died in
44:36 2009 and was described by the Catholic uh cardinal of Sydney as one of the most
44:43 unpleasant priests I've ever met. But look at him with his collar.
44:50 He really looks like a father. Some people come to my church say, "Hey,
44:56 Father Cha." I say, "I'm not Father Cha. The only people can call me father are
45:01 my two children. You call me father, I'll get angry. Father Cha, Pastor Cha,
45:08 please know the difference between looking the part and living the part.
45:14 Please know the difference between faking it on a Sunday for two hours at Faith at First Baptist, faking it at
45:21 Eden Road Presbyterian Church and not living it from Monday to Saturday.
45:27 Please know the difference of being wise in your own eyes and being a fool in
45:33 God's eyes. And please know that if you think you're
45:38 wise in your own eyes, that you live with a veneer and a facade and appearance of godliness, of
45:44 spirituality, of religiosity, but you're living a double life and you're getting away with it.
45:51 And you don't think twice about it. You think yourself very smart.
45:57 It doesn't bother you. Doesn't bother me that you have been faking it all these
46:03 years in First Baptist. That I've been faking it all these years in Eden Road Presbyterian Church.
46:09 That's what Paul is saying. Never get used to being wise in your own eyes,
46:15 strong in your own strength. And just because you could fool your wife, you could fool your children, you
46:21 could fool 800 people or thousand people in First Baptist, please do not ever reach the simplistic conclusion you can
46:28 fool God. Can you get it right?
46:34 So no more boasting about human leaders. We are but servants of the gospel. Amen.
46:42 We serve the risen Lord. We are not the Messiah. He is the Messiah.
46:49 Modern day differences here. Modern day patronage. I guess in the Catholic
46:55 Church, in Catholic circles, you have the patronage of the cloth
47:00 where the priest is highly respected and the pope is revered.
47:05 And so in a Catholic church, you are as secure as your
47:11 dot dot dot dot dot dot dot. You come from a Catholic background. You're perhaps as secure as your latest ritual
47:18 that you do in front of the priest priest whether it's your confession or you are only as secure as what the
47:25 priest does for you. Hundreds and thousands of children,
47:30 hundreds and thousands of parents entrusted their children to host and to
47:36 homes run by Catholic priests. And if not for the story breaking that was
47:42 shown in spotlight the movie we will not be the wiser for it. Just because
47:48 someone has a reverend in front of it right reverend left reverend reverend doctor doesn't mean anything. That's why
47:54 the only time I ever use those titles is when people say uh we want to invite you but you got anything or not?
48:02 I got my wife. You want her? Then she will speak up for me. I've got
48:07 my children you want not we have gone mad why do you need to only invite me
48:13 after you see I got reverend doctor right in Christian circles that's why I
48:18 went to do my masters I went to do my doctorate in ministry I started ministry
48:23 after graduating from Sydney and I got a bachelor's of theology after I finished
48:29 my first degree of bachelor of of accounting and finance from New South Wales then I worked as a journalist then
48:35 you know Then uh they invited me to teach at seminary two years into my job
48:40 to to lecture and the the principal said to me actually all the faculty here must
48:46 have a doctorate but in your case we made an exception. So when are you going to do your masters
48:54 the church itself has gone mad you know you now need a title the godliness and
48:59 the gift is not enough you now need a title. You know there are many Christian leaders with titles who are ungodly. I'm
49:06 not one of them. Sorry. That's when Corin has come into the
49:11 church. Are we the church in Corin or Corin is in our veins and in our
49:17 arteries? Then we judge people by the look. We
49:23 judge people by the skin. We judge a book by its cover. So charismatic. I
49:28 guess the patronage of the worship leader, right? And this is a charismatic
49:34 worship leader. And this leader will take you into the presence of God. That is mistaken theology.
49:40 No one can take you in the presence of God. Amen. Except who?
49:45 You're very good. Because you as long as you keep keep giving Jesus, you're right.
49:51 Whatever question you ask in Sunday school, the children know in my church. Just say Jesus. I don't know. Don't
49:56 understand the question, but just say Jesus. Sure. Correct one.
50:03 You think the leader of Hill Song is going to lead you into God's presence? You think John and Charles Wesley who
50:09 composed hundreds of thousands of f of you know of of hymns is going to lead you into I was once preaching at a
50:15 Baptist church in in Australia and says true Baptists sing the hymns of the 1800s.
50:23 I didn't know any Baptist hymns of the 1800, you know. And the person was about to ask me, I was saying, "Oh, help me
50:30 Lord. And of course in our circles you are
50:35 only in evangelical reformed Bible teaching circles. You're only as secure as your last sermon
50:42 as your last Bible study. Our true security is the Lord Jesus.
50:49 Amen. Very important. We never get desensitized to what is important. And
50:56 so who's the patron of your church? I do not know. But it should be Jesus and
51:01 Jesus alone and none other solution. Then this then is how you ought to
51:08 regard us as servants of Christ as those entrusted with the mysteries God has
51:13 revealed to us. You see that is that is that Bible verse there? I can't see
51:18 this. Yep. Nope. 41. This then is how you ought to regard us. Is it there? as
51:25 servants of Christ, as those entrusted with the mystery God has revealed to us.
51:31 And so enduring lessons for us is never judged as Christians who have repentant
51:39 who have repented from Corinth and the world. We should repent from judging by
51:45 the face, judging by the cover. So it's very Corinthian to do what? Next slide.
51:51 I hope very Corinthian to sorry I better go down
51:57 there. Okay, got it. Let me come down here.
52:05 Very Corinthian to judge leaders by the cover. Apollos is sounding and looking
52:10 better than Paul, right? And be divided over human leaders and then travel from
52:16 confidence in Christ to arrogance in men. That is a church run by human wisdom,
52:22 run by looks and run by human power. But it's very Christian to the next
52:28 slide. Is it next one? It's so Christian to
52:35 judge leaders by the cross or whether your leaders love Jesus and
52:40 they love Jesus by saying I am a sinner saved by the grace of God. You started
52:46 that way. You continue that way. You end that way. Amen. You do not start by grace, continue by
52:52 merit and enter by works. Some of us do that. And it's so
52:57 Christian to be united by Christ and you travel from arrogance in man, trust in
53:03 men to confidence in Christ and Christ alone. Amen.
53:09 This is the way to solve our problems between leaders and members, the church
53:14 of the first century to the 21st century. Next slide. So why are there problems in your heart
53:22 in your church? Perhaps you're more a child of the world than you are a child
53:28 of God. Is that possible?
53:34 And you start with the possibility and I'm going to just use my name. I
53:40 Christian at this moment, June the 10, 2017
53:45 is perhaps more a child of my culture, of my world, of my sinful nature than
53:51 I'm a child of God. Oh, help me God to repent.
53:56 Of being wise in my own eyes and being powerful by my own strength, I still
54:01 continue to judge life and people by their looks, by their cover.
54:09 you judging people by their looks, by their cover.
54:16 Jesus didn't look like the Savior and they nailed him to the cross.
54:22 And by the time we get to chapter 11, you will know how how dishonoring it is
54:29 to still judge life and people and live relationships and conduct your relationships based on looks.
54:38 We need to repent people of God. We need to repent people of God. Which
54:47 child should you love? Which child is easier to love? A highly intelligent, gifted child, or a
54:54 child who has autism, a child with invisible disabilities, or a child with
54:60 physical disabilities? Answer. Answer.
55:06 Humanly speaking, always easier to love the child who is gifted, who is strong,
55:13 who carries your genes, you know, has little of my wife's jeans.
55:20 That's not my problem. It's your problem. I'm just articulating it on your behalf.
55:25 Then you go backwards two slides. One more. You're wise in your own eyes.
55:30 You're powerful in your own strength. You're judging life and self and others by the skin, by the color.
55:40 If we gather as church every week and we gather once a year or once in two years here and you're still judging people by
55:47 appearances, we are still a child of the world.
55:52 Who do you say hello to more willingly? Who do you speak to more deeply in
56:00 church after service? So, as a pastor, I try to stand at the
56:05 door, welcome people, right? Who do you think appreciates my handshake the most?
56:12 There are some people who walk in and don't want to shake your hands. You know,
56:18 you realize that you look at me, who wouldn't want to shake my hands? Everybody, I'm so nice, right? smiling
56:24 all the time. But number one people who love shaking my hands are the domestic helpers.
56:31 I stretch out my hand. Indonesian made, Filipino made, memes made, the same thing. They almost look shock my hand.
56:39 You you you want to shake my hand cuz for the whole week everybody scolded
56:44 them. Scold them in in English or Malaysian English upside down.
56:50 And for once on the Sunday somebody reach out their hand, a domestic helper walks into your fellowship. Do you give
56:57 them light of day? Do you say hello to them? Do you really talk to them as if
57:03 they are a brother or sister in Christ purchased by the blood of Christ?
57:10 You just judging. Oh, this one mate only mate doesn't need so much time. Mate
57:15 doesn't need so much effort. So after service in first baptist, I don't know how how it is. You say hello to the
57:21 older folks here, the young folks. I mean, Gen Y, Gen X, everywhere I go around the world, I see
57:27 this. No, I'm always looking, how good is this church? And one barometer from the corner of my eye is not how good the
57:34 sermon is, not how good the music is, but how good is the love fellowship? Immediately after the service, all the
57:41 interest groups hang hang together. All the singles hang together. All the youth hang together. All the old folks hang
57:47 together. All the parents with young children hang together. All the ch All the parents with young children. All the
57:53 parents with older children hang together. How many of you as youth like talking to old folks? You know not what
57:58 it's like to talk to old folks. This week you say hello uncle Jack.
58:05 Uncle Jack is 70 years old. Example. Uncle Jack say uh uh this week I went for cataract operation.
58:12 All right. Then next week you meet him. Oh, this week the other eye. Then next week is my knee.
58:19 As a young person say, oh, this kind of conversation I cannot carry on. It's called the spare parts conversation
58:27 cuz you're in a season of changing spare parts. You're judging the old person by the
58:33 cover that I have no patience for you. I have no time for you. You're getting the
58:39 message from leaders across the spectrum. So I
58:45 have been we've been blessed that my church has the most highpowered scholars
58:50 who have come from Oxford to Cambridge or Harvard or MIT or whatever. We also have people who are from a drug
58:55 background. We go into prison and preach the gospel in prison. Men and women who
59:01 are full of tattoos from head to toe. Men and women who are full of tattoos
59:06 from head to toe. and we greet them with the equal love of Christ Jesus. Amen.
59:13 This is the gospel and this is the church where we are equal in sin, equal
59:20 in our savior, equal in salvation. More of that tomorrow. Why don't we stand and
59:26 pray together?
59:34 We thank you and praise you, heavenly father. that your word is truth,
59:41 setting us free from the lies of the devil, the lies of the world, and sometimes the lies of our heart, or most
59:49 times the lies of our own heart, which are deceptive above all else. We are
59:55 confronted as we open your living word in one Corinthians. We are warned ourselves that we have
60:03 gotten so used to living life and judging life and people by appearances.
60:10 We are wise in our own wisdom. We are strong in our own strength and we build
60:15 cities and build whole cultures and build whole civilizations based on
60:20 ourselves as the center of the universe. You have sent Jesus to destroy the
60:26 kingdom of men. You have sent Jesus and the wisdom and the power we have in him destroys the
60:33 wisdom and the power of men. So as we depart from here tonight after our
60:39 discussion, may we find our true identity and security in Christ and
60:44 Christ alone. And finally, when the end comes, whether in your glorious return
60:50 or our impending death, we will find our eternal destiny by simple faith and
60:55 obedience in Jesus as our savior and our lord. Rescue us from every force
61:03 pretends of confidence. If we have come from a Catholic background, rescue us from the patronage
61:10 of the cloth of the title of the rank of the priest of the pope. If we have come
61:16 from a charismatic background, rescue us from the force assurance of the patronage of a worship leader who can
61:23 take us into your presence. If we have come from an evangelical uh church and
61:28 background, save us from the false assurance of finding our assurance in a Bible teacher. In all of this and every
61:36 shade in between, rescue us that we might truly be no longer a child of the
61:42 world, but children of God in hearing your gospel and being rescued by your
61:48 gospel. In Jesus mighty name, we dare to pray. Amen. Amen. Turn to people around you and say,
61:55 "I learned something." Hope you learned something, right?
