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00:02 Let's pray. Father Lord, we thank you these for these words written 2,000
00:08 years ago. And we pray this morning that these words will sink into our hearts as
00:15 your church, as your people, as your field, as your building. Pray Lord, as
00:20 these words come in, we build upon this foundation which you have laid that this church will honor and glorify your name.
00:27 We ask for Jesus sake. Amen. So let me uh continue the uh series on
00:33 Corinthians. Uh last week I spoke about uh gospel mindset the basis of
00:38 community. Today we're going to talk about how the gospel grows the community. the whole one chapter the
00:46 whole chapter three would be uh on the table today and it's a very uh nicely uh
00:52 uh divided passage because it all has very logical divisions uh how the gospel
00:58 produces maturity not disunityity verses 1 to 4 how the gospel produces servants
01:03 for his kingdom verses 5-9 gospel provides a foundation for growth verses 10 to 15 and uh how the gospel ensures
01:12 victory then with the challenge challenge uh to towards the end. Paul challenges us in verses 18 to 23. So
01:19 let's start off. The gospel produces maturity, not disunityity. Now last week
01:24 we we looked back and we looked we referred back to the problem of human wisdom causing people to polarize to
01:32 have divisions. I mean that each one of you says I follow Paul.
01:38 Oh sorry Sunday school kids you can go to Sunday school. All right. Okay, good.
01:44 Just in case you get bored in my sermon. Um, I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I
01:49 follow keepers. I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Is Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of
01:56 Paul? So, there is this division there. And he's saying to them, but brothers, I
02:02 cannot address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, infants in Christ, Sunday school people, right? Um,
02:10 I fed you with milk, not solid food. You were not ready for it. And even now you're not ready. You're still of the
02:15 flesh. When there's jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only as a human way? For when
02:21 one says, "I follow Paul and another says I follow polos." Are you not merely being human? So there is a huge problem
02:29 in this church. It's divided. That's not the only thing. If you look at the Corinthian church, it is a difficult
02:36 church in many ways. like many of our own uh uh churches in this community,
02:43 swayed by powerful personalities, maybe powerful preachers. Uh they polarize to
02:49 each one with an individual loyalties. Sexually active outside marriage,
02:54 questionable business practices, cheating each other, breaking covenant and contracts, suing each other, uh
03:01 swayed by the culture, following what the other Corinthians were doing, especially with temple prostitution,
03:07 taking food offered to idols. They don't know how to conduct themselves in worship. Everybody speaking in tongues
03:12 simultaneously as if it is a sign of spirituality. And they even doubt core
03:17 doctrines like resurrection which is the reason why Paul has spent the whole chapter 15 talking about the
03:24 resurrection. This is the nature of the Corinthian church. And the issue here is flesh. The Greek word is sark.
03:32 There are two kinds of people. The and Paul is saying those led by the spirit
03:38 and those led by the flesh. Although they are Christians because he defines this in this chapter different from
03:43 chapter two. is that they are infants in Christ. They're fed with milk which is basically basic doctrine. Uh where else
03:51 you should be matured in Christ which is the implied uh issue there and you be fed with meat deeper understanding of
03:58 the word. So the the two things but when I talk about flesh the problem is we all get kind of confused. We we sink into
04:05 this Greek idea that is flesh and spirit. And the flesh is basically oh
04:12 the bad things uh murder, rape, robbery,
04:17 violence, spiritual things, nothing to do with that. It's nothing to do with what you do in the flesh. In fact, uh
04:24 not so bad thing but still bad. Jealousy, gossip, hypocrisy, and pride. If you go to average Greek person, he'll
04:30 say, "Look, these are all desires. They're not part of me. I got my spiritual side, then I've got my physical side." Um in fact this is uh
04:38 taken up in in Hinduism. Here is a chapter from the Hindu text. Contact with matter makes us feel heat and cold,
04:45 pleasure and pain. Arjuna, I don't know who Arjuna is. You must learn to endure fleeting things. They come and go. When
04:52 these things cannot torment a man when suffering and joy are equal for him, he has courage. He is fit for immortality.
04:58 So therefore what the Hindus do and also the Buddhists they actually separate feelings desires from
05:07 spirituality. So therefore what you do is that in both religions they they detach themselves from all their
05:13 feelings and desires. They you do yoga, you do meditation and you pray to the
05:18 various gods. But the flesh is not about feelings and desires. The flesh is the
05:26 aspect of your life that actually wants to be God. The desire to be independent.
05:31 And so therefore with all your other desires, you desire food, comfort, sex, competency, uh love and affection and
05:38 power. These are actual desires which God actually has given us. They're not to be rejected, but they be they are to
05:46 be utilized and embraced as a strategy to honor God. Now if you use the same
05:53 desires to please yourself then it becomes flesh. Take for example Adam and
05:58 Eve Garden of Eden. All right. And here we actually have it says when a woman
06:05 saw the tree was good for food was a delight to the eyes and tree was the desired to make one wise. She took its
06:11 fruit and ate and she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate. Do
06:17 you know this actual process takes place every single day? If I took this passage
06:23 out of its context, the day before she did this, she looked at the durian and
06:28 she said, "Wow, looks good, man." Normal people pay 14,000 rupee for this. I get
06:34 it free in the Garden of Eden. It smelled good. It felt good. Delight to the eyes. Desired, right? These are all
06:42 desires. And the day before chapter 3, she gave in to her desires. She ate it.
06:47 It was good. She grew a bit fatter, healthier. The hair was shinier. Nothing wrong with
06:54 that. But the day after that, the next chapter, chapter three, she takes another fruit with the same eyes, the
07:01 same hunger, the same desire, right? And yet it's a bad thing. How come? So
07:08 there's nothing wrong with the desire. is something wrong with the reason, the motive behind the desire. In one case,
07:14 you ate the fruit because you enjoyed it. God gave you the desire and for you to glorify him. Same thing with sexual
07:21 feelings for young people. Nothing wrong with sexual feelings. You all have it. If you're not having it, young men and
07:26 women, something wrong with you. Come and see me. All right? It is given for you to enjoy in the
07:33 context of how God has made you. So, it actually glorifies God when you're participating in it. So nothing wrong.
07:40 So we actually reject that kind of theology or or approach to life where all desires are evil. They're not evil.
07:46 They're given by God. The day before chapter 3 for you to enjoy in gratitude
07:51 to God. But in chapter three, God said everything you can eat. Uran can, mango
07:56 can, everything can. But this one in the middle and is not necessarily apple you cannot because this represents the tree
08:03 of knowledge, good knowledge, good and evil. And so she's decided to utilize her desires, satisfy desires in defiance
08:11 makes her wiser than God. And so that comes to us. The flesh is work, career,
08:17 business, performance, life, health, family. Nothing wrong with that, right? They're a natural culmination of your
08:24 desires. Correct? Who wants poverty? You like Christianity doesn't say, "Oh, I
08:29 love to be poor. Please make me poor." You know, uh, no, nothing wrong with
08:34 this. But if you utilize all these to live apart from God as a independent
08:41 strategy then it becomes of the flesh of self. And so therefore the the the sin
08:47 of the infants in Christ they were Christians no doubt but they followed
08:52 they they actually when you come in church you got different kind of sins compared to last time. You just Christianize your sins. And what happens
08:58 is that they they sought the support of certain leaders. They want spiritual gifts. their wisdom, miracles, good
09:04 works. Nothing wrong with all that. But they use it to fill their own self-esteem, to build up their own
09:09 self-righteousness, as if this will bring them to heaven. And that is the flesh. And when you do that, then you
09:16 start to look down at others. They're not as good as you. They're not as gifted as you. They're not spiritual as you. So you stand next to the other guy.
09:22 You speak in tongues. He can speak Malay only. And And he looks bad, doesn't he?
09:28 You do a miracle, he can't do no miracles. And he looks bad, doesn't he? and you go around feeling very good
09:33 about yourself because you did this, you did that. And that is precisely the thing that breaks many churches apart.
09:40 They don't do good for the glory of God. They do good for themselves. Spiritual
09:46 gifts are not a sign of maturity. I have got so many churches who go around telling people, "My church is full of
09:52 spiritual gifts. So therefore, we are very spiritual." And yours? None. Haven't heard people prophesy at all.
09:58 But if you look at the verse here, I give thanks to the Lord. These Corinthians, you were enriched in him in
10:04 all speech, all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed among you. They're not liking any gift. And
10:10 this is the very church where there sexual immorality. This very church where they participate in temple prostitution. This is the very church
10:17 where they're totally divisive. This is the very church with Paul says you are infants, babies, immaturity. So
10:24 spiritual gifts are not a sign of maturity. In fact, chapter 13, he says, "If I have prophetic powers and
10:30 understand all mysteries, all knowledge, if I have faith to remove mountains, but I have no love,
10:35 I have nothing." And so therefore, there are differences in the body, but there
10:42 should be no divisions. The whole paradigm, the work of the Holy Spirit is unity in diversity. God says
10:50 in this chapter 12, God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the
10:55 parts that lacked it and that there may be no division in the body that the members may have the same care for one
11:01 another. If one member suffers, all suffers, if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Paul acknowledges that
11:07 in the body there are differences. There has to be differences. God reflects
11:12 himself in different ways. But because there are differences, if if you follow human wisdom, differences causes
11:18 division, doesn't it? The guy comes in Jeff, you know, big size, fair
11:25 complexion, I'm like half his height and look him, gee, I wish I could be his height, too, right? And I feel upset.
11:32 Then we go to sit on the airplane together and I'm really happy because I'm very comfortable in my seat and he's
11:39 overflowing, right? So, we have to compare, right? But God made him big for a reason. He's
11:46 got big things to do too, right? God made me small for different reasons. Bigger mouth.
11:53 But differences do not have to cause divisions. If you know how look that should the only places where there are
12:00 no divisions, there are no differences is cults. Everybody wear the same. You know this why some literature make you
12:05 wear the same. They're cults. They speak the same. Everything's the same. They're cults. uh uh you know and some remember
12:12 this uh p this book which was actually in the New York bestselling list. They took one passage of scripture and
12:19 everybody had to apply it. You know Jabar's call on the Lord Israel saying that you would bless me, enlarge my
12:24 border, your hands might be with me and you would keep me from harm so that it may not bring me pain. Fantastic. Everybody loves this. Everybody stands
12:30 out. Imagine three shopkeepers standing next to other in Taipan and each of them says, "Oh Lord, enlarge my border." The
12:38 next guy says, "Oh large, oh God, enlarge my body." What will happen? There are divisions, right? There
12:43 absolutely divisions. The gospel brings maturity because in chapter two says
12:48 because in him you are in Christ, you become our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. So that you
12:56 start to boast. If you boast, what you boast in the Lord. So you're able to be filled with Christ, filled with love,
13:03 and you're focused on service because he who understands the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him. But we have the mind
13:08 of Christ. The mind of Christ is serving others, pouring yourself out to others.
13:15 Now the second issue here is the gospel produces servants for his kingdom. Look
13:20 here, what then is Apollos? Oh, what is what Paul is saying? What's the big deal about Apollos? Right? What is the big
13:28 deal about Paul? Servants through whom you believed. Servants as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos
13:34 watered, God gave the growth. That he who plants, he who waters anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who
13:40 plants and he who waters are one. Each one will receive his wages according to his labor. We are God's fellow ser
13:46 workers. You are God's field and God's building. See,
13:51 Christian leaders don't own the farm. God owns the farm. The important thing I
13:57 mean we love food isn't that every time I look at the internet all of you are putting on Facebook all the food right
14:04 all right so and and the first thing you want to know about this food what's the first question pops your mind anybody Dr. Coup
14:11 what's the first question that pops your mind looks good what's the first question you ask ah very clever Dr. Fu
14:19 Dr. He where to get it. This one you to fly to Melbourne. Unfortunately, you go
14:26 to the restaurant for the food, right? Would you go there for the waitress?
14:32 Would you? Do you? Julia is shaking her head. Very dangerous if your husband goes
14:39 there for the waitress, right? We don't go to the restaurant for the waitress. We don't go to the church because of the
14:44 service. We go because of the food. Because of God who causes the growth. It's as stupid as that. Famous preacher
14:51 called DL Moody says the gospel is like a lion caged lion. All the preacher does
14:57 open the door, the lion comes out and the lion eats you alive. Because when you hear the word of God, you are
15:03 hearing God in your heart. That's how powerful the word of God is. If it's properly allowed to come out of the
15:09 cage, most of us block the cage, you know. So basically, it's about the lion.
15:14 And then but we have this non-Christian idea that the leaders are all there is.
15:20 We polarize around them. So I looked at this uh average compensation of GLC leaders versus the median salary of
15:26 Malaysian workers published uh last month by Kisham Rashid at New State Times based on pay in 2017.
15:34 5.5 billion for average GLC CEO per year versus 25,920
15:42 which is the average salary would be CEO would be half a million and the average guy like you and me would be 2,000 a
15:50 month which is basically 22,816% higher or two you know is it worth it if
15:57 you look at some of the biggest companies in the world Bergkshire Haway how much do you think this fellow gets
16:03 paid? Anybody have a guess? You all recognize who he is, right? How much?
16:09 $1. No. Well, I got $1.
16:16 Is the best one of the biggest companies. Oh, Jeff. You know, not Yeah. He only gets paid $336,000
16:24 US per year. A poultry amount, you know. And actually they've actually
16:29 done a study that says that the 15 most overpaid CEOs, the return on investment was only 3.1%.
16:36 And the return on investment for most 15 most underpaid CEOs was 11.7%. You must
16:42 pay them less. All right? Because our whole idea is that the leader brings in the money,
16:47 isn't it? Uh there was another uh church in Singapore. I never mentioned church in Malaysia.
16:53 And you look in his book he writes uh FBC has grown FCBC has grown because of
16:59 my strong and anointed leadership mine. I'm okay to quote this because it's
17:04 published. All right. So again I think it's a misunderstanding isn't it? Um there's an international coalition of a
17:10 apostles and they write you know there certain pastors who are called apostles nowadays. So the uh in this person is a
17:17 strategist a general a governor in his science sphere. When one is sent out aspostos,
17:24 he's the full delegate representative ambassador of descender, he carries in his person the full authority of him who
17:30 sent. So leaders are like grasping for authority and people are trying to give
17:35 them the kind of authority. We need to differentiate in scripture two things being authoritarian
17:41 and being authoritative. Being authoritarian means it is right because I say so it's intrinsic.
17:50 Being authoritative I say this because it is right. All right. So which means it's delegated authority. Methodology in
17:57 authoritarian leadership is coercive. Methodology in authoritative leadership is persuasive.
18:03 And here the authoritarian leader says I know best. And here the leader exists to
18:08 unlock potential. Authoritarian leader the pope intrinsic authority to his
18:15 person. He's a supreme leader of the Catholic Church. controls church doctrine. And if you look into Vatican 1
18:22 in 1896, they've declared all the bishops at that time declared that the pope is
18:28 absolutely infallible when he speaks excedra in terms of doctrine. This is
18:33 authoritarian uh uh uh leaders which but the trouble is Ephesians says for the husband is the
18:39 head of the wife. This is even as Christ is the head of the church. There is no
18:45 intrinsic authority in leaders. It is intrinsic in Christ. We have delegated authority. Who are they? What is Paul?
18:52 Servants. Neither he and and and as the Lord has assigned to each one. Neither
18:58 he who plants, he who waters anything. Only God gives the growth. Whereas
19:03 servant is delegated authority. So if you actually have authoritarian
19:08 leaders, they actually abuse their leadership. And these are some of the traits. a special uh uh
19:15 authoritarian leaders will have special insight and authority from God or we need to sell these premises and go to
19:21 new one. Why? Because God told me last night over dinner. And can you question him? No, no, no, no, no. God told me.
19:27 Didn't tell you, ma, you're not leader. I'm leader. And there there's no room for criticism
19:33 if you criticize them. I remember attending a church in EO when I first came back as a young man. hot behind the
19:40 collars in night when he was 25 years old working in EPO. There was a church there where um the pastor put himself
19:48 every single committee every single one you know nothing moves without him and actually it was just authoritarian kind
19:54 of leadership and we actually I wrote a paper to basically say that this is not necessarily a good thing and then the
19:60 next time I knew he started calling me son of the devil and I had to leave the church. Uh you
20:06 know but later on God protected the church and he left the church. uh he surrounded himself with yesmen.
20:12 Authoritarian leaders always surround themselves yes men events designed to glorify him rather than equip the
20:19 saints. You you create a a culture which is dependent on one leader or leaders for spiritual information. That's why in
20:25 this church we we try to highlight many leaders up here and not focus on one
20:31 leader as people tend to do so. So so that it is not authoritarian leadership. It's a culture of fear and shame. If you
20:37 don't follow what the leader says, he then puts you and calls you son of the devil, right? And kicks you out of the church. And also one of the things about
20:44 authoritarian leaders is that because their authority rests on them being correct all the time, they cannot
20:49 repent. They cannot show transparency. They cannot show you that they're human.
20:55 And if that kind of leadership destroys the church because you're living a lie, we are all sinners. CS Lewis says, "It
21:03 seems the higher we reach, the more good we achieve. The greater will be the temptation to cling to those accomplishments and use them to build
21:10 ourselves up. Leaders will use the time of the pulpit, the time in our ministry to build our own self-esteem up and
21:17 others will latch on to us to be our gang so that their self-esteem will also be built up." But the delegated
21:24 authority is limited in its nature. If you look in Hebrews chapter 13, obey
21:30 your leaders. Submit to them. They keep watch over your souls to as those who have to give account. Let them do this
21:36 with joy, not with groaning that the world that would be of no advantage to you. It's limited. You know why? Because
21:42 here you say the word obey pato in Greek is called be persuaded by there is
21:48 authority. You have to submit to them. Why? Because they are watching over your souls. You have to submit to them not to
21:54 bring them tea. you know you submit to them because they're watching over your souls. Now in Romans every person should
22:00 be subject to governing authorities but there's no authority except from God. So therefore this is delegated authority
22:06 which means there is a limit. If you look at uh Mark talked about some of the Pharisees
22:13 coming to see you know is it right to give taxes to Rome and what did Mark uh
22:18 uh Jesus do in Mark? What he did was he gave them a coin. They ask, "Hey, whose face on the coin?"
22:25 Tiberius Caesar. So then you give to whatever whose face is there. So you
22:30 give to the coin to Tiberious Caesar because his face is on a coin. Give back to him what is his. But he also said,
22:38 "Render to Caesar the things that Caesar rendered to God and the things that God look at your face, Mr. Wong's face, Mr.
22:45 face." Who does that look like? Not Tiberious Caesar. Doesn't even look like Najip. Looks like what? It looks
22:52 like God. So which means the image of God is greater than image of Tiberius Caesar overrules that submission to
22:59 human authority is always limited by our submission to God. Renderous Caesar is
23:04 limited and defined by rendering to God. It's a stunning letter from a detained Christian pastor Wang Yi in uh um in
23:11 China recently and he wrote, "I believe the communist regime's persecution against church is greatly wicked,
23:18 unlawful action. As a pastor of a Christian church, I must denounce this wickedness openly and severely. The calling I receive requires me to use
23:24 nonviolent means to disobey those human laws that disobey the Bible and my God.
23:30 My savior Christ requires me to joyfully bear all costs for disobeying wicked laws. Submission to delegated authority
23:37 is limited. All right. Um and here you look at one pet. So I exhort the leaders
23:43 among you as a fellow elder. So therefore the word exalt in Greek is para calleo which is basically I come
23:51 alongside and whisper in you hey look as a fellow elder okay to uh as a witness
23:58 of the sufferings of Christ as a partaker of the glory that's going to be revealed to shepherd the way the the the
24:03 the Christian leader supposed to do is to shepherd the flock exercising
24:08 oversight not compulsion willingly not for shameful gain but not doineering
24:15 over those in your chart examples. The way of Christian leadership is different because it's delegated authority. It's
24:20 completely different from non-Christian leadership which is dominionering. If you look at the headlines uh yesterday,
24:26 New York Times Trump orders officials to give Jared Kushner security clearance.
24:32 You find that his son-in-law couldn't even pass security clearance because he's got a lot of dodgy dealings. How
24:37 could you expect him to represent the United States, right? So all the intelligence officials say, "No, cannot
24:43 give this guy security clearance." Trump ordered them to give it and it's just found out. But Trump is correct. Under
24:50 the Constitution United States, the president has full authority. He could give a security clearance to his dog and
24:58 a dog can go and sit in the bubble. Why? Because human authority is
25:03 absolute. Well, biblical authority isn't. The
25:09 attitude that motivates authority is different. So uh Oswwell Sanders writes the difference between secular
25:14 leadership and Christian leadership does not lie in the absence of authority but an attitude that motivates authority.
25:20 The sanctified nature of ambition and motivation. It's the motive behind the
25:25 authority. We're watching over your souls not for shameful gain. So the spiritual authority is person who is
25:32 confident in God. He knows God. Seek to finds God's will. Self-defacing.
25:37 Finds and follows God's methods. Delights to obey God. motivated by love for God and man and he's basically God
25:44 dependent all the time. He doesn't necessarily know all the answers. There's no intrinsic superiority. You
25:51 see, fan clubs are based on the fact that you like the guy, you're going to follow the guy, but it's a two-edged
25:57 sword. Here he says, "What then is Apollos? What then is Paul?" They're nothing. They were just assigned, right?
26:04 They were just given a particular task. What's the big deal about Paul? What's the big deal? Fan clubs are about
26:11 security. But you know, same thing. Some people say, "Oh, very good, very good." If anything happens tomorrow, right? The
26:17 same people turn around and say, "Very bad, very bad. Today you're everybody's hero. Tomorrow you're everybody's
26:23 enemy." Is it? And for a warning for leaders, do not exalt in the glory of
26:29 your members to say, "Oh, very good. You preach very well. Tomorrow anything happen ah people turn, isn't it? They
26:37 have no loyalty. You know, um why is delegated authority limited? Delegated
26:43 authority is limited simply because we are all made in the image of God. We
26:50 are all made with the kind of intrinsic image of God that allows us to relate to
26:55 God directly independently to God. We don't have to depend on anybody else in
27:00 that sense. We can make up our minds. Uh we all have the indwelling the Holy Spirit. So when leaders lead, they lead
27:07 from the position of what? Equality. There is no intrinsic superiority. Which
27:14 means the leader isn't more superior than you. When you lead from the lead
27:20 from a issue of of on the basis of equality, then he can't tell you what to
27:25 do. There's no command and control position because the command and control
27:30 diminishes the person. If you're saying to Dr. Coup you must do this because I tell you to do this. You're actually
27:36 diminishing Dr. Coup as a human being as an image of God. All I can do as a leader is come to Dr. Coup says the word
27:43 of God says this might be a good idea for you to translate this into your life. I
27:49 remember somebody telling me uh a church in in Australia where they're into
27:55 disciplehip. So everybody is discipled. It's got a mentor. Everybody mentor. The girls got a mentee or mentor and the
28:02 boys got a mentor. And then we come to dating. The mentor of the girl and the mentor of
28:09 the boy must agree that they can date. Hello. Based on what?
28:15 Based on what? You see this is when the church oversteps its bounds and it diminishes
28:21 the the independence and the image of God in that particular person. A a church leader can come up to the church
28:28 member and tell them uh can I date? Hey, what does the God say? God says do not
28:33 be unequally yolked. It's like you going to God in garden of Eden. Hey, what to
28:39 eat today? And God says all can eat but this one cannot eat. Next day you come out. Yesterday I had durian uh uh today
28:46 can I have goring pis? And God says all the trees of the garden you can eat. That one you cannot eat.
28:52 Next day you eat, you want you feel like mango. You ask God and God gives you the same command every single time. Why?
28:59 Because you want to use your brain stupid.
29:04 Some of you are acting as if there's no word of God. The word of God allows you the kind of freedom. And the leaders
29:09 should empower you, give you the tools to make up your decision and make up your mind because you know why? You in
29:16 the end you're going to answer to God. You're not going to answer to me. anything happened legacy.
29:22 My job is just to tell you your job is to kill yourself or to glorify God. See
29:29 leaders must not because we cannot overstep our bounds. Okay? We are to
29:34 unlock the potential. We are going to see that person and help him unlock the potential because we are equal. We're
29:41 not better than you. You know this happened in Pakistan and India. They had a big fight and they sent some airplanes
29:47 across and it was struck down. Uh and then this uh chap was captured. I think
29:52 his name is Arbinda Nadan Waman. They're driving a little old the old I don't know. It's amazing this plane can still
29:58 fly. They call them in India flying coffin. Yeah. Because there's too many
30:03 accents with this airplane. Uh Americanmade unfortunately but it's way beyond time.
30:09 And and he actually is a son of the airfield marshal. Okay. The air marshal
30:15 of India and immediately when they recognized it, they saved him from the crowd and just yesterday they returned
30:20 him across the border. Um you know you know this fellow is the air marshall's son. You know got to return him right.
30:26 If it's Peter sonan different story but years ago in 1965 there was another
30:32 war. There's the India Pakistan war 1965
30:37 and there another Indian pilot was shot down and he was captured and he was the
30:45 son of field marshal KM Karapa field
30:50 marshal not air marshal field marshal means in charge of army navy and you know and immediately the Pakistan uh uh
30:59 field marshal rang up this chap because they both serve in the British army
31:04 together before there was partition years later on and the first thing said look it's your son I'm going to return
31:10 him as soon as possible you know what Karapan said Karapan said these words all prisoners of war are my children
31:18 don't release my son which means Karapan took himself even
31:25 though he field marshall of three armed services as equal
31:30 do not treat my son differently My son is the all the sons of India. They're
31:35 soldiers. See, that is the attitude of Christian leaders. We are equal. We're no better.
31:42 We shouldn't have a parking spot that's different from yours. We shouldn't have a head table. We shouldn't be different
31:48 because we are serving from a area of equality. And yet today we see certain
31:54 church leaders. They cannot wait 16 hours in the airport. They must buy.
32:01 Well, the rest of the world starves. It's a different kind of leadership, isn't it? Where leaders think they are
32:07 entitled. The purpose of authority is unlocking potential. Paul says he gave
32:13 apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry for
32:18 building up of the body of Christ. Our job is not to do the job of going out to evangelize, but to prepare you to do the
32:25 kind of job. But our personalities take over. This is David Mains who was a
32:30 founder and pastor of circle church in Chicago and he actually shared later on that I allowed my identity to merge with
32:36 the church. I should have been God's man and let the church develop its own personality. Sometimes we want to stamp
32:42 our ideas, our personality on the personality of the church and the church is made after your own image which is
32:48 wrong. And here we have delegated authority means accountability.
32:54 Lord assigns to each one. Everyone will receive wages according to his labor. We are God's fellow workers. You're all
33:01 just doing different things. In First Baptist Church, you park there, you preacher. Very simple, isn't it? All
33:07 right. So, be careful. Don't park there. Uh Bill Hibel, senior pastor of Willow
33:12 Creek, um after 42 years, he had to step down recently because of a series of um
33:20 sexual scandals. And they write in Chicago Tribune, "We have tragically witnessed the profound wounds inflicted
33:26 on victims when abusive leader surrounds himself with those who are supposed to hold him accountable, instead find
33:32 themselves protecting and defending him while at the same time ignoring and vilifying those he was wounded." Typical. It was situation where church
33:38 leaders messes up. The elders, protects him and vilifies those who complain about him, which is not how it happens
33:45 because we are all servants. Um, Elizabeth Elliott writes in a book
33:52 called No Graven Image, a story of a missionary called Margaret Sparhawk. Um,
33:58 you know, we are supposed to be God's fellow workers, but often we think we're the other way around. And what Margaret Sparhawk was doing was she was working
34:04 among the Quicha people in Ecuador. And, um, key to her work was translation. She
34:11 went there to translate the Quicha people's language uh, uh, into a written word. And key to her work was a
34:18 gentleman called Pedro who understood both her language and the native
34:23 language of the Quicher people. And one day Pedro fell sick. He had cellulitis
34:28 infection of his leg. And Margaret Sparhawk uh you know did the best she
34:34 could and she gave him penicellin. Didn't realize you were allergic to penicellin. He had an analytic reaction.
34:41 Got really bad. And she laid hands. She prayed. The family prayed. Everybody prayed and Pedro died.
34:50 Pedro died. Not only Pedro died, there was a huge flood and all the little
34:56 cards where she wrote in all the translation was washed away.
35:01 And as a result of that, she told all the people who supported her mission field, I'm not giving you any
35:06 newsletter. I got nothing to write. I got nothing to write because God just took everything away. I mean, you know,
35:12 it's it's uh you know, I don't know what's happened. And then later on, she actually wrote these words, God, if he
35:19 was merely my accomplice, had betrayed me. On the other hand, he was God, he
35:25 had freed me. You know what she means? She means, you see, Paul says, you are God's fellow workers. Many of us leaders
35:32 think God is my fellow worker. Is there a difference between you are God's fellow workers or you say God is my
35:38 fellow worker? There's a big difference. If you say God is my fellow worker means the job and the title is yours. God was
35:45 only helping. God is your accomplice. And actually what why it's called do graven image is because bar
35:52 hawk worshiped a god made in her own image. This is a god that asked her to come to the quicha people. This is a god
35:58 that will keep pedro alive. This is a god that will make her allow her to translate the language. This is a you
36:05 know she got all these ideas about god. You to put god in a little box. But when Pedro died because of her injection,
36:12 because of her nothing wrong, she did the best she could and the flood came, everything beyond her control, she
36:18 realized she serves a living God. And she writes these words. Margaret realizes that the demise of her plans
36:25 has shattered her false god. And now she was free for the first time to worship the true one. Now she had been liberated
36:31 to put her hope not on her agenda and her plans, but in God himself. As we
36:38 serve God, we are God's fellow workers. We sometimes you don't understand what he's doing. Some churches rise, some
36:44 churches fall, some people do well, some people don't, but it is still God's
36:49 field, not ours. Thirdly, uh the gospel provides foundation for growth. We are
36:55 God's fellow workers. Now verse 11, you are God's field and building according to the grace of God given to
37:01 me. Like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation. Someone else is building on it. Let each one take care
37:06 of how he builds in it. For no one can lay a foundation other than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So this is
37:13 the foundation. The foundation is actually the word of God. It is the word of the cross which is folly to those who
37:19 are perishing. But to those who are being saved, it is a power of God. The people in the Corinthian church were
37:25 using a different foundation. They're using a foundation of human wisdom, Greek philosophy. uh and if the the the
37:32 foundation is very important. If you look at the leaning tower of pizza 54 meters high, you know how the deep the
37:38 foundation 3 mters. If you compare that to the twin towers, 451
37:43 mters, the foundation 120 m. The foundation matters. The authority of the
37:50 elders is related to their proximity to the truth. So therefore, the delegated authority you have, the stronger it is
37:56 is the closer you are to the word of God. is like a lizard, you know, lizard in the dark, no energy. The closer the
38:04 lizard goes to the sun, the stronger he becomes. Same with the Christian leader. The closer the
38:10 Christian leader comes to the word of God, the stronger he becomes, the more authority he has. Why? Because of the
38:16 sun. Because of the word of God, not because there's something intrinsic about battery operated lizard. All
38:23 right? But then again, we don't seem to believe that today. Here is a elf lucau
38:29 in South Africa. They brought this man in and uh you know he's supposed to have
38:34 raised him to the dead, right? I don't know why he does that. You know why? Because people actually noticed that when the guy was lying down there before
38:40 he even touch him, he was already breathing. It was a scandal. And then in fact uh uh
38:45 Lucal says he completed a miracle that God had started. Oo
38:52 a miracle which God you can help God clean up the mess right God can't do
38:58 can't complete one single miracle it's like our child you know you cannot complete his math's homework you come
39:03 and help God clean up the mess why does he do that why do pastors do that why they want it to be based on
39:12 because he's the guy who raised the bed what happened to the to the attendance of the church tomorrow if the you raise the dead all the weeds will come and
39:19 they also want to be raised from the dead. They got people to be raised from dead. That's a wrong kind of uh uh uh
39:26 idea of the foundation. Jonathan Edwards is basically one of the pastors who
39:32 actually changed the face of American Christianity. There was great revivals after him. I mean, if you have a pastor
39:38 at Jonathan Edwards, you know, you would be really blessed. Did you know in night 1750
39:46 they had a church business meeting and this famous fantastic preacher
39:54 you know how many% vote he got anyone guess
39:60 10%. 90% say bye-bye. You know why? Because for years before
40:07 that his grandfather started said that people in this church are two
40:13 classes of membership. One is covenantal membership and one is non-venantal membership. Covenantal me membership are
40:19 those members of church who have made the profession of Jesus Christ. They believe in him. They can have Lord's supper. The non- covenantal membership
40:25 is those people who have never accepted Jesus Christ but cannot take the Lord's supper. And later on what they did was
40:33 allow all the non- covenantal means they are not Christian. They haven't made a commission to Jesus Christ and allow
40:40 them to take the Lord's supper. You know why? Because non- covenantal member outnumber covenantal membership. If you
40:45 don't allow them they leave our our tithing go down profit finish. Correct.
40:52 You can understand why they vote 10% only. Isn't it? Because Jonathan Edwards stood up and said, "Look, you cannot
40:58 participate in the Lord's supper because it is not the gospel, isn't it? A non-Christian who doesn't accept Jesus
41:03 Christ take the bread. It's just bread and ribbina. That's all. It is not the body of Christ." And so therefore, he
41:09 lost the vote and lost his job and he died six years later on. But that doesn't mean he was wrong. Just because
41:15 that was when the congregation is wrong. We build on the foundation of the gospel
41:22 and we what we do is we redefine things. We change the gospel. We say sin is a
41:27 sickness or addiction. Say sinner is a victim. Uh sin is a flawed strategy to gain fulfillment. We change. This is
41:34 Bill Hyel when he was younger and what he did was when he started his fellowship. He's got about 76 people in
41:40 his fellowship which he started uh and he rented a movie theater called Willow Creek and what he did was send three
41:47 students to do a survey. Okay. And the survey came back
41:53 with the findings. Non-Christians don't like to be bucked for money. Program and
41:58 church is boring, predictable and routine. Program is irrelevant to their lives. You always left the church
42:04 feeling guilty. The Christian message is too negative with sin. So Bill Hbert say ah we can fix this and within a few
42:11 months from 76 went to 1,000 and later on Willow Creek is like 20 over thousand
42:17 strong. You see church attendance and worldly acceptability you basically say
42:23 give them what they want not what they need in fact. So you you focus on personal fulfillment, identity,
42:29 companionship, marriage, family, stress, relief, meaning morality. You focus on
42:35 these things then people will pack your church nut and that's not building on
42:40 the gospel. You have to give people what they need not what they want. John Piper writes the irony is that the more you
42:46 adjust obscure biblical doctrines to make Christianity Christian reality more attractive to unbelievers the less
42:51 Christian reality there is when they arrive. Piper writes, "Watered down, diluted theology will fail to produce
42:58 deep reverence, deep worship, deep repentance, deep humility, deep
43:03 understanding God's nature, his work, his ministry, his laws, his standards, his principle, it fails to make the
43:08 people of God the people that are God centered. So we need to build on the
43:14 foundation." Now, anybody builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each man's
43:21 work will become manifest on that day. Will disclose it. There will be revealed fire. The fire will cast out what sort
43:26 of work each one has done. For the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If
43:33 his work is burnt up, he will suffer loss. Though he himself will be saved as true fire. So therefore here we have
43:41 imperishable versus perishable. You know it doesn't matter don't work out, you know, whether your work is gold or
43:46 silver or precious stones. One part will there are only two types of work. One
43:52 burns up and one doesn't burn up. Okay. Uh and basically uh you know you have the Dallas Theological College. Oh,
43:58 there's a sign outside the registars's office that says salvation by grace by graduation by works.
44:05 Which means on the last day, Paul is not talking that you won't be saved. You
44:11 will be saved. But there is a system of rewards in our faith that God rewards
44:17 people who work for his glory rather than for the flesh. And the last day is
44:23 not going to be like a courtroom where where you stand there and you either live or you die. In fact, it's going to
44:31 be like graduation uh like uh the the Greek heroes, they go for a uh the crown
44:39 which is actually put on them. uh they get reward uh each man will receive his wages before according to his labor.
44:47 Okay. And even uh uh uh anyone built has built on the
44:53 foundation is the one that will survive and uh it is your faith more precious than gold that perishes though is tested
45:00 by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor revelation of Jesus
45:05 Christ. Um the nature of rewards the Bible tells us heavenly treasure which
45:11 you cannot imagine commendation from God authority and rule. You know Michael
45:17 Phelps is about the only human being 2,160
45:23 years after Leonidis of roads. They both won the same number of gold medals. 12
45:31 individual gold medal not not team. Leonidis has already died. We know where
45:37 his medals are. He left it behind. Michael Phelps will die one day, too.
45:44 But Revelation say, "I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from
45:49 now onwards. Blessed indeed, says the spirit. They may rest to the labors for their deeds follow them." Michael Phelps
45:59 medals won't follow him. Whatever you do in the short life on earth are the only
46:04 things that you will bring along. And Jesus says in Mark, it's not the magnitude of effort. You don't have to
46:10 be like Michael Phelps to win. I mean say too late already. I'm 60 60 years old. How am I going to win my Olympic
46:15 gold medal? Isn't it? It's a bit late, isn't it? But Jesus said, I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of
46:21 water in the name in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. All right. In chapter four,
46:28 it says each one will re, you know, uh the do not pronounce judgment for a time before the Lord comes who will bring to
46:35 light the things now hidden in the darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Each one will receive his
46:40 commendation from God. You will be judged. So judgment day is like
46:48 graduation ceremony. Remember the graduation ceremony that you had? Some of you had you go up there, you receive
46:53 your scroll. Some of you will have first class honors.
46:59 Some of you will have second class honors. Some of you are third class honors. Some of you will just graduated,
47:04 right? And and you're going to go up there and sort of think h you know you know I wish I had first class honor. I
47:10 did I didn't get first class honors. I had a problem with pediatrics and I wound up with this second class upper. You go up to your aggression you think
47:16 oh my god I should have second class upper. Why should I have first class? I was thinking about that particular exam.
47:22 Uh Samuel Hoy writes to overdo sorrow aspect of the judgment seat is to make
47:28 heaven hell. To undergo undo the sorrow aspect is to make faithfulness inconsequential. You will stand before
47:35 God. I think there's certain degree of regret. You didn't get first class honor. You got secondass orders. Right?
47:42 There's a certain tinge because otherwise if there is no reference to that then then then faithfulness is
47:48 inconsequential, isn't it? it really wouldn't matter. But the overwhelming
47:55 overwhelming feeling from graduation is what?
48:00 Happiness. You've made it. And that's a very nice picture of what judgment day will be
48:08 with God. I remember in Sububa Medical Center this morning uh visiting this young this lady
48:16 who was younger than me who is in ICU and her entire body is riddled with
48:23 cancer and I actually stood up and her heart already stopped and the doctors
48:28 have issued a do not resuscitate warning already that if she stops again she won't be resuscitated and I was
48:35 wondering what to pray and I remember Stella comes from a Baptist church further town near Oldtown and she came
48:42 with a whole bunch of people like Chong and other people and and the church had a lot of political problems and many
48:48 people had left and I'm being very naughty what I did was hey why don't you come and join our team here we need a
48:55 pianist and she plays and she told me you know doc um I'd love to come my
49:01 church is dying but I have to play the piano for them I'm the only one and she
49:07 stayed she stayed made. I think she'll be happy here. But as
49:13 she's lying in ICU, 55 years of age, I don't think she's going to make it. But
49:19 one thing I remember is that her faith, as long as they need me to play the
49:25 piano, I would stay. You see, life is short. And so many of
49:33 us are so focused on so many other stupid things. The day they tell you you've got cancer, your time is up. And
49:40 it's the only time you can honor and glorify God. And you don't have to be a Michael Phelps, my dear. You don't have
49:47 to be the best. You just have to, you know what you said? A cup of water.
49:52 At the last day, the motives of which you play the piano, the motives of which you do this and do that will be revealed
49:59 to the honor and glory of God. And there's no other time which you are going to gain this. the small cup of
50:06 water, the friend you gave a lift home to, every single one of you will be at that
50:13 graduation ceremony, I hope, and God will commend you. And that's something to live for, isn't it? And yet, we live
50:20 in a world where we never think of judgment. We never think about doing what we need to do to honor and glorify
50:26 him. Lastly, the the gospel, I want to end with a positive note. Ensures
50:32 victory. Do not do you not know you are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in
50:38 you. Anyone destroys the temple, God will destroy him. You for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. Do you
50:44 not understand that first Baptist church is a temple and you know what the word temple in Greek is? The temple in Greek
50:50 is called naos. Naos is actually the word describing the holy of holies
50:55 inside the temple. Temple, you got the temple precinct outside. Then you got the temple proper. you when you go in
51:02 with the sacrifices and then there's a big curtain and behind that curtain is a cubuidal room where the only the high
51:09 priest goes once a year the name for that place is naos
51:15 and Paul describes that you not just Dr. Ku no is Mr. Wong, Professor Tan, you
51:23 collectively are that temple. And and the thing is that people love temples.
51:30 If you look at the non-Christians, they build huge temples. You you find some idols inside or something in the mor
51:35 people want to kill each other for that, right? And yet when you come to church,
51:41 it's a little bit different, isn't it? What? Look at the expression these people's
51:47 face. Give me one word that describes the
51:52 expression in their face. Anybody throw out a word for me? Huh? Huh? Hopeless.
51:57 Hopeless. Yes. Possible. Anyone else? Huh? What? Sad.
52:06 Happy. Not sad. Not happy. What? Hopeful. I don't think hopeful. You look
52:12 at their face. Typical church. Indifference.
52:21 They won't lead. Neither will they be led.
52:26 It's indifference. The typical church Monday. They can't lead and they won't
52:31 follow. And yet, if we actually value First Baptist Church, we come together as that
52:37 holy time. You know, somebody came and visited us, a pastor just a couple of weeks ago, and he said to me, "Something
52:42 wrong with your church." at 8:45 hardly anybody is here. You
52:49 stroll in half an hour later and worship of God is the the the worship is like Sunday school a few
52:57 songs and then just for preliminary the main meat is the sermon
53:02 and you're treating God and his church not with holiness you know you're
53:08 treating it like an entertainment and you're totally indifferent you can't lead but you won't follow we tell you
53:14 it's 8:45 if I lock the door at 8:50 you'll be upset with me, right? But it's
53:21 not me you to worry about. You actually have to worry about God because God is a holy God and we are a holy church. Isn't
53:29 that important? That's the most important thing. Someone said church is
53:35 like the sand hill cranes, you know, they they fly thousands and thousands of miles. They're successful because of
53:40 three things. They rotate leadership. They never have one guy up there all the time. leader gets tired, the other goes
53:47 behind, next one takes over. All right? And then they always choose a leader who
53:52 can tan the turbulence. And the last one is when the leaders in front, everybody's honking, why cheering him
53:59 on. That's what a church is. That's what we're like. If you can't lead, you honk,
54:08 isn't it? We're like a church is like
54:13 iceberg. What you see in front is nothing. Underneath is the power of God.
54:18 If it destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. God's temple is holy. You are that. If you can destroy God's
54:25 temple by what? Indifference. You can't lead, but you won't follow. You're not bothered. You're a roadblock
54:31 or you're fighting and the leaders are all focused on breaking you two up. Always
54:37 trying to secure peace. God protects his temple. We may look lousy outside but
54:44 inside is the power of God. So we need to treat God's temple all of us with a
54:50 kind of pride and holiness. We come next week we come to worship come on time.
54:57 Not for me not because I'm going to lock the doors like BSF but because it is a holy time. It is a
55:05 sacred time. It is a time where we honor God. You know, we are a church and we're
55:12 never going to lose. In Caesar Philippi, there's a huge temple to pan. And near
55:18 that temple, Jesus took his disciple and he said to him, "Peter,
55:24 on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The gates,
55:32 the temple, the world will not prevail against it." When Paul on Damascus road was
55:38 encountering Jesus Christ, Jesus said to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's hard for you to
55:45 kick against the goat." You know what the goat is? The goat is that stick. You drive the ox and ox don't like you
55:50 driving and they kick and they kick and this thing poke you. The more you kick, the more it pokes you.
55:56 The Christian church will survive. All kingdoms have fallen. The church is
56:02 the only organization that survives. We grow because of the gospel. It produces maturity, not disunityity. It produces
56:10 servants for his kingdom. It provides a foundation for growth and it ensures
56:15 victory. Paul challenges us in the end. You know what he says?
56:21 Let no one deceive himself. If any of you think he's wise, let him become a
56:26 fool. But he became wise. For the wisdom of the world is folly with God is written that he who catches the wise in
56:31 their craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, they are futile or they are stupid.
56:37 The challenge is don't deceive yourselves. They're all fighting. You know, it's like football cards, you
56:42 know. I like Lionel Messi. I like Neymar. I like this. Hey, why must you
56:48 choose one fellow? My question to the people who football, you know, why you go to football card, you only like
56:54 Neymar, you don't like Messi. Why is it he like you know this one and that? It's as stupid as children fighting over
57:01 football cards. You know why? He says let no one deceive himself. Anyone thinks he's wise in age. Let me become a
57:07 fool that he become wise. For the wisdom of the world is folly of God is written. He catches the wise in their craftiness.
57:13 And again the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise. They are futile. Let no one boast in men. All things are yours.
57:19 Whether Paul, Apollos, Kos, world or life or death or present or future,
57:27 they're all yours. And you are Christ and Christ is why settle for one football card.
57:35 I will have Nessie. I will have Neymar. I will have all of them because you have
57:42 the victory in Christ. So the reality in Christ is that it's very stupid to polarize against certain leaders because
57:48 they all belong to you and you belong to Christ in Christ belongs to God. That is a beautiful glorious reality that if we
57:56 understand this reality the church will move on in victory and unity.
58:04 So I hope this will be a challenge to our church for the next 10 years. The
58:09 victory is already ours. Let us live in the victory that Christ provides us.
58:15 Let's pray. Father Lord, we just thank you for your word.
58:22 And as we approach your table now, we're going to bring out the elements.
58:28 The most important thing in the world for us this morning
58:34 is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It brings us maturity.
58:39 It provides us servants for the kingdom, foundation for growth. It ensures
58:45 victory. We just praise you and ask that we open up our eyes and to live life
58:52 mindful of this victory that's already ours. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen.
