The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:00 Morning everybody. Morning. They took away my stand.
00:06 I think they they want me to get better. You know why they had a stand, right?
00:11 Because I tend to run here and run there. And the stand was a psychological barrier to make sure I st today if I
00:17 start to go like that, like that, like that. And the camera cannot follow me. You go you do this, I'll come back to the middle. I mean, okay. So, uh, the
00:24 sermons are up there. Alex is speaking on Galatians 6, sowing and reaping and
00:30 then Dr. Peter will be doing boasting the cross and then I'm up on the Psalm
00:37 one. Okay, let me just do some announcement before we go on this
00:44 afternoon at 2:00 we are launching Delta Marketplace Ministry. Just to give you a
00:51 bit of recap, Delta is actually a platform Like for me I I I struggle uh with work.
00:59 I think a lot of people are. If you know yesterday's entire rally, a lot of it was because work is getting harder. SST
01:06 is coming in. Uh so work forms your identity. It doesn't matter whether
01:13 you've been working a long time or you're a young person. So Delta is formed as a platform to support one
01:19 another. We have about 40 registrants at the moment and this afternoon session we
01:26 are just going to start off of why do we work and we have four panelists is going
01:33 to discuss this why do you wake up every day and go to work and I those of you
01:41 who have not signed up we can still take place we're going to be breaking out into groups and we're hoping after that
01:47 we'll form communities like I need support. Now I I I need people to come and speak into my life. Every day there
01:55 is stress. If you're working, work is probably one of the primary stress factors of people and it shapes your
02:01 identity. So I do encourage those of you who haven't signed up, do come in. We already got 40. We can take more people
02:08 and uh we hope to see you this afternoon. Okay, let's go before the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you this
02:15 morning. you're gathered here and I ask that I speak with humility not my voice
02:20 your voice and to claim your promise that your word that goes out will not
02:26 come back north and we say this in Jesus name amen so okay um you all know who
02:32 these two are right this is Hunen strong men of Cambodia
02:38 with Takshin Sinawasra they were good friends.
02:47 Emphasize were. You can see how Hunen holds his hand. This all exploded as you
02:53 know you follow the news in a phone call between Hunen and Sen Takshin's daughter
03:01 and there was leaked purported by Hunen. After that the training just the bars just came out. Hunen went on to say
03:08 Takshin betrayed him etc etc. And this is a classic story of two good friends
03:16 who've been known to hold each other for years and how their friendships broke
03:21 off and it has led to war. Although both sides deny it. I want you
03:27 to see where I'm going with this morning's sermon and you can see my train of thought. This is Snoop Dog and
03:35 Martha Stewart. Some of the older people here don't know who these are. Uh so married to me all
03:42 your illustrations old people cannot understand one so I explain a bith Snoop Dog is probably the most influential
03:49 rapper in the world right he's sold over 23 million uh copies Martha Stewart is
03:56 of course a lifestyle guru she's 83 he is 53 what do they two have in common
04:03 yet they are best friends they're very close you Google you get a hit they do a
04:09 lot of stuff together. And of course, there was this article that came out I thought was quite
04:14 interesting about a bunch of five guys who've been meeting at a pub every Thursday for the last 56 years. Well,
04:24 that's a lot, huh? And sometime you have it right friends from school, they in Malaysia, they have bakut sessions every
04:30 month, you know. Now, let me ask you a simple question. What do you think am I
04:36 going to talk about this morning? Friendship. I think that's a topic we sort of
04:44 don't go enough into and we understate it, but it's an important topic. And so
04:49 I want to start off with this question for all of us to consider. What differentiates Christian friendship
04:57 from others? I just showed you three example. one a close friendship that
05:02 just went apart and two one is a group bond and one is a very unusual bond. I
05:09 want you to take this as we look at friendship as ministry and we're going
05:14 to look at the Galatians text to take us through. But ask yourself this question. Is there a difference in how Christians
05:22 become friends with one another? Then we are friends out there. Okay, take that
05:28 as the mind. Now, one of our very famous books long time ago was called the four
05:33 loves and CS Lewis studies the kind of relationships we had and he went into
05:38 the Greek affection. The Greek word is called skoge. It means parental love and
05:45 and family love and basically you can't choose that you have to love your brother, your sister, your mom, your
05:50 dad. You don't get to choose. OS is both sexual and romantic love and to the Greek that is also something you
05:57 don't choose. you you sort of fall in love. Charity is something almost obligation. Christians do charity to
06:04 everybody. But friendship he picked up. Now friendship according to him was
06:11 something we don't see. Now you ask yourself about your friends. You you you meet someone you like you Cantonese
06:17 you become friends. You don't like I don't become your friend. And there levels of friendships right? You have
06:22 groups of friends close friends. Then some people don't have many friends. They are quite loners. But what CS Lewis
06:30 picked out was quite interesting. He said, "If you study the Bible very carefully, friendship
06:36 is a spiritual discipline very much like prayer,
06:43 like reading the Bible, like worship. Have you thought about that? It is intentional and is a discipline." And
06:50 this is what he says to the ancients. Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves. The crown of
06:57 life, the school of virtue, the modern world in comparison ignores it. Now I
07:03 don't like you. I unfriend you on social media. Correct? I block you. I ghost you.
07:12 Left swipe, right swipe. But not to the ancient Greeks. I want
07:19 you to pick this up. What is the aim of Christian friendship? Ephesians gives it to you in verse four. And this is how
07:27 deep his friendship is. My dear children, for whom I'm again in the
07:33 pains of childbirth until Christ is forming you, how I wish I could be with
07:41 you now and change my tone because I'm plex about you. He's not just their
07:48 teacher, their mentor, their apostle. He speaks as a concerned friend. The aim of
07:57 Christian friendship is about Christ being formed in one another. I want you
08:02 to pick that up. That's going to ground us. All right. Today we're going to look just at six verses and we start with
08:10 verse 25 because the same text about living in the spirit is repeated in 61.
08:17 And we're continuing on about fruit of the Holy Spirit which John led us through last week. Verse 25. Since we
08:25 live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become
08:30 conceited provoking and enuing each other. Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you live by the
08:38 spirit should restore that person gently. But wash yourself or you also
08:43 may be tempted. Carry others burdens. And in this way you would fulfill the
08:48 law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test
08:54 their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else.
09:01 For each one should carry their own load. There is an anchor verse here
09:06 which all scholars have agreed is the key verse that ties the whole section
09:12 and it's verse two. carry each other's burdens and in this
09:17 way you would fulfill the law of Christ. Number one, a friend always carries your
09:25 burdens. Now you say, well, I don't need to be Christian to do that. In fact,
09:31 people in church, I cannot tan one. My non-Christians fans treat me better than
09:38 people in church. Church people very hypocritical, very judgmental. Have you heard some of
09:44 this before? I got a lot of nodding heads. My non-Christian friend better. That's why I come to ABC. I don't talk
09:50 to people after after service. I chabot. A friend carries your burdens. My
09:57 non-Christian friends carried my burdens. Now I want you to pause this because the
10:02 first question we ask ourselves is what do we mean by burdens?
10:08 You say, "Well, that's straightforward, right? I got a problem financially. You help me with money. I'm in sick. You're there. You You help me out. I don't feel
10:15 so bad." Fair enough. Let's see whether the biblical understanding is a bit
10:20 deeper. And the text opens with you who live by the spirit. He's continuing on
10:26 about the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And that takes you to Galatians 5 because
10:32 the section of Holy Spirit starts with Galatians 5. And he say for through the spirit we eagerly await by faith the
10:40 righteousness from which we hope. So what does the holy spirit do? He helps
10:45 you encourage your faith and your hope in Christ when you are going through
10:53 times of difficulties and feel burden.
10:59 That's the way it's going. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Now that's carrying
11:05 each other's burdens. So there is an idea of burdens here. But
11:11 Paul is framing it somewhere else. And you find this sec 2 Corinthians 1:24
11:17 very similar. Not that we lord it over your faith. We work with you. That's
11:25 something all church leaders should remember. for your joy
11:31 because again is by faith you stand firm. You stand firm when you feel you
11:37 are under pressure. So the biblical understanding of burden is anything that
11:45 is crushing your faith, hope and joy.
11:50 It's not just when you have no money and someone writes you a check and you feel
11:55 ah now my financial burdens are better. It's deeper than that. Or you're feeling
12:02 really down and you're asking a friend can we talk and after that you feel better.
12:08 There's something deeper here because Paul is connecting it to your faith.
12:14 Matthew 23:14 Jesus said to the crowds and the disciple, the teachers of the law, the Pharisees sit in Moses seat.
12:21 You must be careful to do everything they tell you, but do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they
12:28 preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's
12:34 shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
12:43 and you pray. ABC is not that kind of church that tells you you better do thish or you go to hell. You better do
12:51 that or we kick you out. You come to church, do this, do that, do do this.
12:57 Wow, my life already very difficult. Come to ABC. Come even worse. I'm
13:02 already so much stress at work. Come to Delta. So much stress in my family. I
13:09 come to church. All I get told, you don't do this. you're going to hell.
13:16 That's what the Pharisees are doing. And so Paul frames it with another
13:23 definition. In this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. Now, that's a
13:28 strange phrase to use because Galatians is all about how wrong the law is.
13:35 You know, we have crucified ourselves against the law. You fulfill the law. So
13:41 what law is he talking about? And the Greek here is pattern. And the key is found in Matthew. Remember Matthew come
13:49 before Matthew 25 on the Pharisees. Come to me all you who are weary and
13:55 burdened. And I want to ask you if anyone is feeling like that because I'm feeling quite burdened. I know a lot of
14:00 people are. Life can be hard. And I will give you rest.
14:07 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I am gentle, humble in heart. You will find rest for your soul. My yoke is
14:14 easy. My burden is light. You can write a book. In fact, there's a book written on this. You can do a sermon on this.
14:19 But what Christ is saying is that come to him. He will do the heavy lifting.
14:26 You are weak. He is strong. You are burdened. Let him take that burden off
14:31 you and give you rest. That is what Christ does. And the function of the
14:38 church is to fulfill that old song burdens are lifted at Calvary.
14:46 How many of you know this? So few people
14:52 not many people from the brethren church brethren assembly Edward you should know this correct all brethren people know
14:59 this man. Days are filled with sorrow. Days are filled with sorrow and care.
15:06 Hearts are lonely and drill. Burdens are lifted at Calvary.
15:13 Jesus is very near. Last line again. Troubled soul. The Savior can see
15:21 every heartache and tear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary.
15:27 Jesus is very near. How are burdens lifted for you? And how
15:35 do you know Jesus is near if you are going through financial stress,
15:42 relational issues, medical problems, feeling lost in life? What helps you get
15:51 your burdens lifted up? And the answer is the Lord provides
15:59 friends. That's how it's being lifted up. Now let
16:04 me tell you what it means to carry each other burdens in the context of Galatians. One to ease another person's
16:11 burden is to take some of the load of their suffering on you or in theological
16:16 term is substitutionary suffering. You are suffering.
16:22 Let me take that suffering. You will see where we're going with the gospel with this, right?
16:29 You are suffering. I will take it. Why? Because burdens are lifted at Calvary.
16:34 Because Christ took the burdens of our sins on the cross. He took our place and
16:40 now he tells the church, "Go and do likewise." That's a difference. Now, let
16:47 me tell you how this works out. Say you're very rich.
16:52 You got a lot of money and not just for example and a poor person comes to you,
16:58 you write him a check for $10,000. For a poor person, there's a lot of
17:03 money. He will look at you with eyes.
17:10 Hallelujah. You lifted my burdens. Correct.
17:18 What did it cost you? You got 50 million in the bank. nothing
17:24 cost you nothing but you lifted his burdens. That's not what Paul is talking about.
17:29 You know, if you are very rich, Paul will say, "Don't just write a check for
17:35 10,000. Get into his life.
17:40 Find out why he's struggling financially." Then you say,
17:48 Ah bully we have different lifestyle we cannot be
17:53 involved you can't talk like that according to Paul you have to get into his life and suffer
18:02 like him well that's the difficulty that's one meaning you take a risk
18:09 two let's see how this plays out so the wall of bus gave example of this guy he
18:16 helped his friend you The friend was in the car living in the car. He told his
18:23 friend, "Don't live in the car. Come and stay on my sofa." So the friend stay in the sofa. Then the friend died.
18:30 So they find him. The internet went a buzz about what they call burden of care. You know what the internet was
18:36 saying? What's his is not his problem. He has no responsibility to take him to
18:41 the hospital. He died. He died. Anyway, the fight was only $500.
18:48 He sent it to the hospital. I think the medical bill even worse
18:53 now. Why? Because in the world I help you according to what? My standards.
19:01 But biblically lifting a burden will cost you. And now the biblical idea was this. Here's a
19:08 friend. My my friend is paralytic and he tells me the savior has come. He has great
19:15 faith. He can heal me. I go to the house pack.
19:21 What do I do? I climb up to the roof and I damage people's property.
19:27 That's exactly what he did. He cut open the roof. You know, guess who's going to have to pay for that? And he lowered the
19:34 guy down. And Jesus looks and says, "Your sins are forgiven." Because I think it was his idea. This is what
19:41 friendship is. They don't care if they cut the roof and the house owner comes and hammer him because I am doing that
19:49 for my friend. That's suffering. I want you to pick this up as we go on.
19:57 So, how far are you willing to carry another person's burden? And John 15, my
20:02 command is this. Love each other as I love you. Greater love has no one than
20:07 this. Lay down one's life or one's friends. You are my friends if you do
20:13 what I command. And there's only one standard you know to die for your friends.
20:20 You tell me whether there's an optional command. This is not the great suggestion.
20:27 You you unless I'm reading the Bible wrongly. This is a command. You are my
20:35 friends if you do what a command. Christian friendship helps to the point
20:40 of laying down your own life. Why? Because Christ laid down his life for
20:46 us. Now we pick this up. Huh? Number two, to carry another person's burden is
20:52 to point them to Jesus and not to you. Let's go back to the guy with 50 million.
20:58 I write a check for $10,000 for that poor person, not me since I that person
21:04 writes the poor person so happy after that he will be your fan number one. You
21:10 know what it does to you? You feel very shocked, you know, who you I must be somebody.
21:17 After a while, you probably start, you know, Anolim charity.
21:22 Then you do street feeding and you feed and then you make sure there's a video there and then you post it in social
21:27 media. And if people say, "Annolim, you're such a noble man." You go over to Chalk and feed everyone and you say,
21:34 "Yeah, actually I'm a very good person." You see what he's doing
21:40 is making you God. When you help someone, here's where the
21:46 doubling down. Make sure no one knows about it and point them to Jesus. Let me show you
21:54 how this is done in so simple ways, you know, because Paul is talking about the
21:59 Holy Spirit. So, I saw this on Newsweek and this really touched me. Fathers,
22:06 listen to this. This is for fathers. Rio Maruyuma from Hawaii shared a
22:13 heartwarming clip on Instagram showing a family excited to meet their new addition while her father Paul had other
22:20 priorities. Rioho just gave birth. Ask yourself, when your daughter gave birth,
22:27 what do you do? The first thing I did was I rushed to see the baby. Correct?
22:32 Huh? Instead, he did this. He walked straight over to me to make sure I was okay. He
22:42 was concerned that she was in pain. He went to see whether could he lift up
22:49 some of that burden of her. It was such a small quiet moment,
22:56 but now it means everything to me. I want you to hear her next words and it
23:02 went out to three million people. You hear this? The new mom told Newsweek her
23:09 dad never ask for recognition is a selfless man led by his faith. He always
23:17 reminds us to stay centered in Jesus Christ. He's Christlike in the way he loves and
23:24 shows up for people. He's the best man I know.
23:31 fathers are. If your daughter says that to you,
23:37 you are more blessed than any human being on the face of
23:44 earth. Is better to have a daughter tell you this than to add 10 million into your
23:51 account. You know what? I found this so
23:56 encouraging and you look the the the clip went 3 million because this is speaking the gospel you know to three
24:03 million people and when he did it it was like no big
24:08 deal. So I want you to think about that. Here's the last one. To carry another
24:15 person's burdens requires humility to emit your suffering
24:21 and discernment to detect those in your midst who need help. You need both.
24:27 Some of us are so proud, especially men, we will never admit it
24:33 in church because in Asian culture is a sign of weakness.
24:38 Some of us are so blur even the person is suffering we cannot
24:43 see. When does friendship happen? When the
24:49 two of these go hand in hand and C Lewis says friendship is born and the moment
24:56 one man says to another what you two I talked to no one but myself and I think
25:03 Sat Singh will tell you in man in the mirror we had quite a lot of this I think he runs a ministry I was in the
25:08 first group with him you had this bunch of men huddling together very shamefully trying to share their problems because
25:14 they not tell everybody men got ego ma after you say the other guy say Oh, you also suffer. I also got that suffering.
25:20 Oh, suddenly you feel very happy. Hallelujah. You're not the only guy in the room. That's friendship. But it requires
25:26 vulnerability and it requires empathy. And one of the things that really encourages me is that after church
25:32 service when you look around the hall sometime you see pockets of people praying, you know, because one sister
25:39 will see another sister and says, "Are you okay?" And then suddenly they're praying. or you go out during the the the garden cafe, you'll find sometimes
25:46 occasionally few people just praying. That's friendship.
25:53 I want you to pick this up, right? But let me tell you the key
25:58 burden. Let me ask you all burdens, medical burden,
26:04 emotional distress, financial, what do you think is the single most
26:10 important burden we all should carry one another? The thing what do you think? Let me suggest
26:19 is this. The most important burden you can help carry a friend is to help them
26:26 overcome the burden of sin. Now that
26:31 is extremely difficult. So we go to verse one. Brothers and
26:38 sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live in the spirit should
26:44 restore that person gently. And we'll break down verse by verse.
26:51 So, how many of you before this concert
26:58 heard of astronomer? Raise your hands.
27:03 Nobody. How many of you after this concert heard of astronomer? Huh?
27:11 If you haven't heard, just Google. So, for those who don't really know,
27:17 that's called the jumbotron. During the concert, Chris Martin, what they do is
27:22 quite common at concerts. They will find random people and flashing up. There are
27:27 how many people here? 10,000, 20, 50, I don't know. It's a huge. What are the chances of your face being flashed up
27:34 there? One in 15,000. Yeah, you can hide. This face went up. Everybody
27:40 looked at them. Normally in a rock concert, if your face go there, you go a because your you got two minute of fame.
27:46 What did they do when their face went up there? They did this. He ducked and she turned around. This public knowledge, so
27:53 I'm not bad mouthing them. And so Chris Martin said, "Oh,
27:59 they're either very shy or they are having an affair."
28:05 Guess what it was? They were caught having an affair. And
28:12 of course after that the internet went viral. There were memes. It went on talk shows.
28:20 Astronomer doubled down. Both of them lost their jobs. She lost a job yesterday by the way. And to to milk it,
28:29 Astronomer engaged Chris Martin's ex-wife as a PR campaign. And you know
28:34 how disturbing that is. Everyone was talking. Now let me ask you
28:40 a question. I want you to think about this. What was everyone concerned about? They wanted to
28:46 know about yo, what happened? Correct. Here's point two. A friend would gently
28:54 try to restore you when you're caught in sin. I want you to look at this entire
28:60 section. The world when someone is caught in a in
29:05 a wrongdoing, they just become what we all like to be. KC
29:13 Padma in scripture when someone is caught
29:21 what is the first priority the Bible has restore.
29:26 Do you see anything out there about restoring two people who were sacked
29:33 from their jobs forced to resign marriage probably went on the rocks. Do
29:38 you see any article out there concerned about the guy's family or the girl's
29:44 family? Nothing. Everybody's rubbing mud in them. But Christians are concerned about
29:51 restoration. That's one. Huh? Now, how do we know that? Because in the
29:57 entire section here, who is being highlighted? the guy or
30:04 girl caught in sin or the person doing the restoration.
30:10 Restoration. Have you noticed that? That's quite interesting, right? In five verses, actually six, if you take the
30:16 earlier text, the emphasis is not on the guy who got caught, you know, it's on
30:23 the guy doing the restoration. That's the beauty of the Bible. The Bible isn't concerned about the guy who got caught
30:28 who he is. But Bible is more concerned about the person who's going doing the
30:35 restoration. Now let me now pick you one other thing and what are they concerned about? They
30:41 are sending a warning to the people doing the restoration. There is a huge
30:48 caution sign here. If you are going to restore,
30:53 watch out for one particular sin.
30:58 And I've highlighted it there. What sin is that?
31:04 If you caught someone doing something wrong and you say, "Aha, I caught yen
31:11 being rude to Mary." He doesn't lie.
31:17 and I'm going to go and hunt yin.
31:22 What should I be worried about? If you look carefully there, there's
31:28 only one sin, you know, and it is the mother of all sins.
31:33 It is the sin of pride. You look carefully
31:39 for pride is spiritual cancer. It eats up the possibility of love,
31:45 contentment, and common sense. I'm going to break it down for you. So imagine I go up to you then I say we need to talk
31:52 and then to add to it I move my fingers like that. Wow. The posture really w you who you
32:00 think you are man you follow me is coming from a place of unconscious arrogance. Often when we go
32:08 around correcting other people, it comes from a place of pride. Number two, just because you see someone
32:15 sinning doesn't mean you have to go around correcting them. It's only when they are caught in sin. Now that's a difference. How do you defend that?
32:21 Because Peter says love covers a multitude of sins. That means you saw a sin, you had grace. And we have first
32:28 Corinthians, we have it. He says love is patient, love is kind, love keeps no record of wrong. What does it imply? You
32:35 bear with someone sinning. Can you imagine a church where every time you said a four-letter word, huh, you sin,
32:41 huh, you cheat your text, huh, I saw you jaywalking. Huh? I think you downloaded something illegal. Die like that.
32:47 Everybody also leave the church, man. You're not caught to be the moral police. You're caught when someone's
32:55 caught in sin. Now, what does that mean? And here is the word. The word restore
33:01 is actually about mending their nest. Here's the second thing. You're not asked to go and correct that person.
33:10 You're asked to go and restore that person. What Christians like to do is go and correct.
33:16 Uh Mr. Anolim on your sermon on July 27.
33:22 You referred to this text. I want to tell you your text is wrong.
33:27 H biblically the word is wrong and you thought something very incorrect.
33:33 You better apologize. Huh? Is that what Paul is asking you to do?
33:42 He's asking you to restore. Not correct. There's a big difference.
33:48 Restoring means mending or putting that guy back on track.
33:56 That's carrying his burden. So this examples of being caught in sin.
34:04 And why you requires friends? Because if you have a sinful habit, you're not going to tell us because you're going to
34:09 be judged. But if you tell a friend, he's concerned.
34:14 And then the people relationship, they just trapped. And the third one, I think a lot of church people who cannot give
34:22 up their ministry, they have this problem. But let us go through this now. Let's go through the first one.
34:30 Since we live by the spirit verse 25 and we know chapter 6 verse1 repeats the
34:36 same line you who live by the spirit the ESV is just you who are spiritual and
34:41 then sandwich between that let us not become conceited provoking and envying
34:47 each other so number one you not only have to have the fruit of spirit is that sometime when you say things this is
34:55 where it's quite fascinating have you noticed it is coming from a place of envy
35:01 Some of us like to correct others because it makes us feel important.
35:10 So years ago, I'm going very far, be very careful my words.
35:15 There was somebody I knew who like to write memo for church. After church, they will write long letter signature
35:22 campaign. Oh, some people nodding their heads already. The pastor on this date did
35:29 this at the church office. Ha John go. Mana John go. I saw John go. I got his
35:34 permission to use this. Uh go to church office and fill in a claim form and he
35:39 overclaim man John go. I think we better start a signature
35:45 campaign against him. You know what that's doing? It's coming
35:51 because you are actually enjoying belittling people. That's exactly what
35:58 the text is saying. Now, it's quite fascinating because Paul is making a connection between being conceit and the
36:05 Greek word here is about bringing glory to yourself. And you know how you get glory when you catch someone doing
36:13 wrong. So here's the first lesson. When you correct someone who's doing wrong,
36:19 how does it make you feel? If it makes you feel good, know ah I did the Lord's
36:25 work. Hallelujah. You have this problem. And what Paul is saying, correcting someone is always
36:32 uncomfortable. So if you never feel uncomfortable correcting a problem, correcting a person, you have you might
36:40 have this problem. That's one. Two, restore that person gently. I feel this
36:46 should always be read with that famous verse in Matthew 18. If a brother or sister sins, go and point out their
36:53 fault just between the two of you. So let's just say again with John goh.
36:58 And I got very angry. I meet John afterwards. I say, "Hey John, you fill
37:03 in a form, you claim $10 more. Better give back the money." You know, I
37:09 tell you, huh? Give back. Huh? Huh?
37:14 Wow. John upset going complain to Peter. Peter say, "Hey, you had a fight with John with John." No, I followed Matthew
37:21 18. I talked to him one to one. I'm was very biblical. He didn't listen to me.
37:29 Now, strictly by law, I followed Matthew 18. But was I gentle?
37:34 No. Now, let me reverse the same thing. Let's just say someone went and goring you behind your back. Be sick. Be sick.
37:41 Say, you know, I saw you also at a co-play concert.
37:47 Why you bullet already? No, I don't care. He got problem. He should talk to
37:53 me. Then you listen. You talk like that. Nobody also want to talk to you. I don't
37:58 care. Bible say got problem talk to me one to one. You see our issue. You see
38:05 the problem of Matthew 18 is often weaponized by alpha males. You know I
38:10 know that because I'm guilty of this. You talk one to one. We take the Bible we goring around you like that like that
38:16 like that afterward you also get confused. So of course who want to talk to you see you talk like they alo scared already Lord but don't talk to you Lord
38:23 that's why sometime you hear church people say hey uh can we talk to that leader hey don't bother like he won't listen to you correct seeing his ah so
38:33 that's a lesson for all of us including myself okay that's point two the third one he's doubling down on this watch
38:40 yourself you may be tempted now what is what's the temptation it's
38:46 very simple actually is reversing you. You know what he's saying? You think you also never sin.
38:54 That's exactly what he's saying. We know that because it's doubled down in verse
38:59 three. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they
39:04 deceive themselves. There he says something quite strange. Each one should test their own actions. They can take
39:11 pride in themselves al alone without comparing themselves to someone else.
39:16 For each one should carry their own load. Now that's quite strange because verse two he's talking about carrying
39:21 each other's loads. Suddenly verse three he's talking about carrying his own load. Now it's intentional. Now why is
39:26 he comparing themselves to something else? And verse 14 gives you the clue.
39:33 You don't boast except in the cross because earlier on I have died. I no
39:39 longer live. Christ lives in me. I have been crucified with Christ. Now what is
39:44 he comparing himself? Let me ask you a question. When you saw that video of the
39:49 jumbotron and you saw this astronomer guy caught
39:55 and if you are like me, we have this sinful habit of
40:01 there will be one group of people who watch that would squirm.
40:07 You know who are they? those who have been caught in adultery
40:12 because they look at that it is a mirror back to them. But when you watch that,
40:17 you know what you're saying? Oh, thank God I don't have that problem. I thank God I'm not like that sinner.
40:25 I'm such a holy man. So you go around fingerpointing at other
40:31 people, but please remove the log in your eye. That's what Jesus would say. And he
40:37 doubles down because what is he saying? We should not compare oursel with. Never
40:43 compare yourself with somebody else who got caught in a sin and say, "Wow, he
40:48 sin. I'm not like that. Thank God I never sin." You know, that's the problem.
40:55 I I give you a simple example. That day someone text me
41:02 and he said, "Hey, you heard about this church?" I said, "Yeah, actually I know the church quite well. I know the
41:07 leaders." Then he asked again, "You heard what happened to the pastor?" [Music]
41:14 "No, what happened?"
41:19 The pastor was asked to step down. What? What? What? What? What? What?
41:27 Forget I told you. After that, what happened to me? I will die to pick
41:34 up the phone to call my friends. Hey, I heard your pastor. I tell you, I
41:39 literally had to pray not to do it. There is this insidious side of us who very KPC one. You know,
41:46 we are not interested in restoring people. We're interested in the mud. Correct?
41:54 And here's the last one. Carry each other's burdens and in this
41:59 way you will fulfill the law of Christ. And I'm going to quote Tim Keller on this.
42:05 If you have never loved that person, never walked with him when he was
42:11 struggling in other issues, you have no business telling him his
42:18 sins. That's right off the text. If you have never
42:26 once were concerned for that person, if you open your mouth is coming from a
42:33 very bad place. And Tim Keller doubles down. He says, and he rarely uses words. He said, you
42:39 better shut your mouth. That's how strong it is. So I I'll give you a
42:45 simple case study. If you caught someone who's considering having an abortion,
42:51 should you tell them it is a sin? How many of you say yes? Raise your hands.
42:57 You see, I knew it. Nobody there already. They think this speaker loaded, you know.
43:03 Okay. Why do I say that? I say yes, we should. Anybody else want to follow me? Nobody. That mean all of you say if you
43:11 saw someone having an abortion, you are not going to tell them it's a sin. Here I experiment again. We know how FBC
43:18 people are all fence fence sitters. If you think it is okay not to tell
43:24 them, raise your hands. See, same thing again. ABC.
43:30 So, let me tell you, yes, you should. But there is a condition
43:36 and it is this. If she is a teenager, she has no physical, emotional, financial support.
43:43 would you take that burden off her? Now, that's where the rubber hits the
43:49 road. It's very easy to judge.
43:54 It's very hard to say, "Look, you're pregnant.
44:00 Your mom doesn't care about you. Your boyfriend left you. I will help you raise that child." And that's taking the
44:09 burden as Christ took our burden because that will really cost you. That is the
44:14 context. I want you to think this through a bit. And the biggest damning of the church is
44:23 what happened to Rabi Zachariah. Because when he fell, they were very
44:30 fast to run him under the bus. And I'm not giving excuse for what he did. But
44:36 guys, he died. He can't defend himself, please. But
44:42 what was worse was what it did to his wife and his children. And if you Google
44:47 and read how the children responded to the church, you will see the calamity of
44:53 the evangelical church. We are quick to judge, quick to catch people,
44:60 very very slow to restore. not just him
45:05 but his family. So let me give you a few objections. One,
45:10 I'm not qualified to try and restore another person caught in sin. Go and find a godly person. Go and get Yidian.
45:16 Yian is a very godly man. Look at him got white hair. He look like a seafue. He's not like honor. Very offensive. Yid
45:23 should go correct people. He correct also very gentle and quiet. Don't ask me.
45:29 The other qualific also came very gentle.
45:36 I'm going to stop there. Now I want you to look at the text. There's only one pre-qualification.
45:44 If someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the spirit should restore. I
45:51 want you to hear this. Uh this is not optional. This is a commandment. You know, it's not the great suggestion. Now
45:58 ask yourself who is Paul referring to when he says you who live by the spirit.
46:04 Are there few divisions in the church? Are somehow ye then lives by the spirit
46:09 but you don't? Who is he talking about?
46:16 You who live by the spirit? Everybody.
46:22 Because we all should be living by the spirit.
46:28 That's a commandment. So I want to say this. We we tend to say I didn't sin. No, I wasn't caught in adultery. I
46:35 didn't cheat my facts. I did maybe minor sins with nobody knows. But when you see someone doing wrong and you don't do
46:41 anything, you sort of feel is optional. I I don't need to confront him. You tell me what that text is saying, I will tell
46:48 you that's disobedience. Right off the text. Now that's hard, but that's the truth. And so Paul trip
46:56 recognizes it and he says we are all people in need of change. Helping people need change. I tell you why I struggle
47:03 to tell someone caught in a sin that they're doing wrong. Because if I do that, it points back to me. It means I
47:10 have to clean up my egg. So I rather live in sin. You live in sin. We all just go to God and pray for the best.
47:18 But that's not what scripture is saying. the if I'm a sinful person go and tell
47:23 you you're a sinful person you need to change you know why that's very good because I won't be pointing the finger
47:28 at you I'll be saying you know what I got problem also let us let us do it together so that's objection one here's
47:36 objection two uh this is quite interesting from the text because the text gives you only one
47:45 sin for everybody pride Pride. So some people say, "Yeah,
47:51 I'm afraid." Can you imagine me telling Anna, "Oh, he's so scary, man."
47:56 So I don't have a problem with pride. I'm a timid person. I'm I'm very I'm very mild. I like to disappear in
48:02 church. I like to be very lowkey. You don't ask me go and talk to all these scary pie people. I don't have the
48:09 problem of the text. I have no pride. That's referring to all the alpha males
48:14 in the church. I want you to refer to a verse in Isaiah 51. And this is a rebuke to Zion, you
48:22 know, to Israel at the time of war. And this is what Yahweh tells the
48:29 Israelites. I even I am he who comforts you. That's lifting our burdens. Who are
48:37 you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass that you forget
48:45 the Lord your maker? John Piper puts it this way.
48:53 What is the root of pride in the secular world? We see pride as
49:00 very aim. got a lot of money walk very high like that like that law
49:07 but that's not how the Bible looks at pride you know what's definition of pride in the Bible the definition of
49:12 pride of the Bible is selfindependence from God
49:19 that's why it's the root of all sins and it came at the garden of Eden when Eve
49:24 decided that she rather be God than trust God so here's to everybody who
49:31 says I'm very timid I'm very mild Now I'm very quiet.
49:36 I dare not go and confront people. Do you know what Paul would tell you?
49:42 You are proud because you fear man more than you fear
49:50 God. You see why I thought this was very telling was
49:57 this. Let's just say a church scandal broke
50:02 out. By the way, no church scandal better qualify.
50:08 Say someone in a leadership, I don't know, stole money from the
50:15 church and you found out about it.
50:21 What would you do? If you're like me, we're like everybody here. We only
50:27 interested in the mud. We want to find out what happened at Garden Cafe. Hey, I heard Anna stole
50:34 money. You know why he stole money like that? Like that. Oh, he stole how much did he steal? Oh,
50:41 oh, did he been stealing a long time? Oh, why did he still fall? Oh,
50:50 hey, I think we should talk to him. You You talk to him. Very scary like you talk to him. We pray for you. We pray for you.
51:00 And the Lord will say, "You have no problem
51:07 talking behind his back." And you don't think that's a sin.
51:16 And you do not feel my wrath. But when I say you talk and restore him,
51:23 you dare not. Now I want you to pause on this.
51:28 Fearful people are the best people to restore someone else. You know why?
51:36 They have no pride. If I come up to you very shaking, I say, you know, I'm sorry. I don't want to
51:42 tell you about the way you talk. I cannot tan. I will listen to you. You come up to me
51:49 like that. O the way you talk cannot tan. You always button everybody talk so so fast. Can you stop talking about labu
51:56 or not? You don't understand labu. Okay or not? Your next sermon be more inclusive. Okay or not? You think I listen to you?
52:04 Fearful people are the best. And if you cared for that person and
52:11 prayed for that person and loved that person, they will listen to you.
52:18 A true friend both comforts you during difficulty and confronts you
52:25 when you're caught in sin. Genuine biblical friendship involves both. You
52:30 can't have one without the other. Why? Because the gospel confronts and confronts.
52:36 Let me finish with one last point and I want us to take stock about ourselves.
52:42 And is this spiritual friendship is one of the most powerful ways of evangelism.
52:48 Now where do you get that? John 15. I read it to you before. We talk about friendship.
52:55 We talk about loving one another. But look at John 13. A new command I
53:02 give you. Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
53:07 And hear this. By this everyone will know you are my disciples if you love
53:15 one another. That's evangelism. How are you evangelizing?
53:22 So if I'm a non-Christian have keysh and I come to church,
53:29 you think people are going to be saved by the sermon? They're not going to be saved by the
53:34 sermon. If a non-Christian comes here or a person who's wounded from another
53:40 church, he's going to be watching you.
53:45 Watching what? Watching the way you treat one another.
53:53 And if you if he sees a bunch of people who number one are a click,
54:01 oh, 57 years in a pup together, very good. But you have your holy huddle.
54:08 He will be stumbled. If you see people borning together, you
54:13 know, you could be Martr Stewart and Snoop Dog, but you're actually both speak the same language. You're both
54:19 very rich, but he he doesn't see you reaching out to a Zo person. He doesn't
54:25 see you talking to a very poor person. Guess what he sees about the church?
54:32 But most importantly, what is the Takshin and Hunen story
54:38 telling you? If he sees church leaders leaders
54:45 fight and when they meet each other, one look up, inspect airon, other one look down,
54:52 inspect flrap, walk by one another.
54:58 And then he sees the same people very active in the ministry will go everyday
55:03 serve but see in church [Music]
55:12 he will not see Jesus. [Music] What differentiates Christian friendship
55:20 from others? And I will close with this. when you consciously choose
55:27 to extend friendship to people you normally would not.
55:33 And Paul gives us this in church there is neither Jew, Gentile,
55:39 slave, free, male, female, all colors, all sorts. And so, Kellus
55:47 says this, "Spiritual friendship is eagerly helping one another know, serve,
55:53 love, and resemble God in deeper and deeper ways." You know what's interesting in this? It means you don't
55:59 actually have to like me. And actually, I don't even need to like you,
56:05 but we are to love one another and be friends. Do you know how radical
56:13 that is? And if people see that
56:18 they see Jesus and they would say what a
56:24 friend they have in Jesus
56:29 and I want to be friends with Jesus too. Let us
56:35 sing this song and as we ponder God's words in our lives. And so Lord, we have
56:41 taken this in prayer. And we thank you. We have a friend in you.
56:49 And greater love is nothing more than laying down our life for a friend. As
56:55 you laid down your life for us so that we can live free lives under your grace.
57:02 Teach us to take each other's burdens sacrificially in humility.
57:08 Teach us to be better friends with one another in this church. Teach us to reach out to people we may
57:15 not have anything in common with but to say you are forming Christ in me and I
57:22 am forming Christ in you and by that shall all men know
57:29 [Music] we are your disciples. And all God's people say amen. God bless
57:35 you all. Let's go out there and be friends with somebody else. Amen.
