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00:01 We've been going through a very great journey. If you have been with First Baptist Church over the past few weeks,
00:06 you would have known that we have actually gone through a quite an interesting roller coaster of a ride in alongside with the Thessalonian church.
00:13 And for the longest time and for the past few weeks, you've also been noticing that we're talking, we have
00:18 been talking about personal sanctification, personal holiness, personal coming to faith, personal application, private
00:25 application, you know, uh like for example, what does a life what does a life that is pleasing to God look like?
00:31 That was what brother Arnold shared. And that's a very individual, that's a very private participation. Uh we learn how
00:38 to lead and serve. Again, that's a personal and individual reflection. We know what we then start we also heard
00:44 about what does it mean to have holy sex. I'm sure that's not public but I think that's of course there's at least
00:51 private and that's a private reflection and of course we learn how to work. We
00:56 can't tell other people how to work because each and everyone's job and occupation and their skill set is
01:02 different. And so that is between us and God individually and then how to live in hope. That's the
01:10 preview of what m what pastor what brother Masimo said yet last week is
01:15 actually to um bridge the g bridge the gap over until today because it begins
01:20 to start talking in a collective order. Now we come to direct application for
01:27 the gospel community where it's no longer you but in the old King James English ye
01:33 for Mandarin I like it it's not just me it's ne
01:39 lulang huh so you people so you're going to look at each other right now and you're going to know that is now going
01:46 to be a joint application turn to your neighbor say we're going to change together.
01:54 Not change clothes. Okay. Change in attitude, change in character, change to the gospel. Okay. Yeah. We're going to change together because this is now
02:01 something that involves the dynamics and relationship of this new family in Jesus
02:06 Christ which unfortunately quite a number of us might have some ill experiences
02:14 being in a family of God that sometimes a bit too nosy, a bit too gossipy, a bit
02:20 too murmuring. It is my solemn responsibility right now that we need to start talking about what does that
02:26 community look like and what is it therefore we need to kick out of the culture of our church so that we may
02:31 actually be the gospel community that we are called to do. And so very three simple points but I
02:38 pray that we will I know for a fact they will take us a while to apply quite a long while. It takes some slow
02:46 and subtle changes like a huge ship where you make a sudden sharp turn, you're going to topple over. So, we're
02:52 doing it things slowly, but know that every step therefore fundamentally counts. So,
02:60 the little phrase at the bottom of the slide at the moment it says not of this world is not specific to this passage,
03:08 but rather I actually put it there as a disclaimer. I want to let you know that the KPIs that you have learned in
03:14 corporate when you try and apply in the church it doesn't seem to match.
03:19 I want you to know that the reason why that happens is because our management system in the church in a gospel
03:26 community is not a secular setup. Sure in this church especially we have a
03:32 chairman a vice chairman. We do this so that we may so that the world may understand who we are. But our heart of
03:37 hearts we may look like we are in this world but we are certainly not of it.
03:44 The difference which you will later which you will later see already in the first verse that the difference between
03:49 a secular world that is condemned by the judgment of God and the community of the
03:54 gospel the community of God that is in the gospel. The huge difference is one is in the Lord one is not. And so we
04:03 need to see that subtle but vital difference so that we may be able to go forward to see to see ourselves as a
04:10 gospel community together. So very simple application the first one already
04:16 a bit tough to some tough to most maybe tough to actually even all of us. And
04:21 the first one is respect our leaders. A gospel community respects their
04:28 leaders. Okay. Now when we say respect we mean respect in the greatest in the greatest
04:34 and truest form. It is not the idea of give face. It's not the idea of
04:39 tolerate. It is not the idea of let him be but rather is to give him that
04:44 respect that is due to him. One to is to acknowledge of the work that he is doing, but at the same time to be able
04:52 to walk alongside him and to be able to edify him, to be able to to be able to to motivate and to add on to maybe what
04:59 our leaders could not see, what our leaders could not think of, what our leaders could not comprehend. We actually say, you know what, you know
05:05 what, sir, you know what, Elder? You know what deacon? I think that's a great idea, but I think we can also do more.
05:10 So, I want to respect that and I want to your permission to do to take that vision and actually take it further.
05:16 That's the respect that is actually due to our leaders. Okay. Now, where am I getting this in
05:23 the text? The text we see here says, "Now we ask you brothers and sisters to acknowledge those who work hard among
05:29 you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their
05:35 work. Live in peace with each other." So the first thing that you will see that this is actually a direct application
05:42 for the church brothers and sisters. Okay. So it's not talking about you
05:48 deacons not talking about you leaders talking about you brothers who are causing trouble in what in one sector of the church is now a general call of what
05:55 a gospel community is like. So it is my dear brothers and sisters all of us we need to learn how to acknowledge and
06:02 respect those those leaders those leaders the leaders in our lives now how
06:09 can we tell there's leaders pastor ma you see in the text here it doesn't necessarily say leaders right well two
06:15 things the we are asked to call and respect to the people who has these two
06:20 traits one is those who care for you in the lord
06:26 Now some of you say it could be my parents. Well, that's a form of leadership. But when we talk about a church setting, who are these people who
06:32 are to care for you in the Lord? It's not your caterer. It's not lee
06:38 oriental catering services on Wednesday night. Sometimes they do give a very good dinner, but I don't think that's
06:43 the point. We're looking at those people who is willing to think ahead and say, "What can we do to best care for you?"
06:51 Okay? And those guys instead of giving complaints we need to actually show uh some respect.
06:58 Okay. And also not just those who care for you but those who admonish you. A lot of us we take we take um we take
07:06 correction from our leaders like a form of losing face. Pisay.
07:11 Okay. But these are the guys if they have any reason to admonish you or to
07:16 correct you it will be only for your benefit. They earn no profit while doing this.
07:22 Okay. And the reason why we respect them is
07:28 because we respect the gospel work in them. I had to be very careful here because the text here says very plainly,
07:35 hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. But we all know
07:41 that Christianity compared to any other faith is that we are not a salvation by
07:46 works. Okay? So we don't promote our leaders because they work very hard. We promote
07:53 and we respect and we acknowledge and we encourage our leaders
08:00 because the work that they're doing is in reflection of the gospel work that is happening in their lives.
08:07 As the old saying goes, we don't work to be saved. We work because we are saved.
08:13 That's the difference in the gospel. The gospel actually springboards us to be able to do his will and we know by ge
08:19 through Jesus Christ by faith we are able. So these are our leaders and the key
08:27 thing the reason to do this is to leave is to live peacefully with one another. Now live in peace with each other is not
08:34 just uh let there be peace. Huh? You sit one corner, you sit one corner, you sit
08:40 at the table there at the at the garden cafe, you sit at the table at the gold cafe. Don't talk to each other, others
08:45 explode. Does that sound familiar? For those who are hockey background, think Chinese New Year dinner.
08:52 Okay. Grandma and grandpa are still awake. Behave. Uncles don't fight with each
08:59 other. But you know, grandma and grandpa go to bed at 10:00 at night, right? So when they go to bed, h the uncle start
09:07 get at each other. That's not the kind of peace we're talking about. The peace that Paul is talking about being Hebrew
09:13 in culture actually knows of this true peace and that is shalom.
09:21 Straight up. I'm telling you now, the gospel community is a community of reconciliation.
09:28 That's harder than peace. It's not peace by tolerance. Not I tolerate you. No,
09:34 it's peace by saying that I want to reconnect that relationship with you again.
09:40 Now the question is, are we ready for that? Are we ready to start that with our leaders? Because we submit to their
09:47 rebuke. We submit to their admonishment. We sub we submit to their to their teaching. Are we ready to do that? It's
09:54 hard because while the gospel is telling us that we
09:59 are to submit by its gospel by by by the gospel that is happening in their hearts
10:05 secularly speaking we respect our leaders so that we one
10:12 day can take that position. We respect our leaders so that we can also be at peace in our little office.
10:20 And in I have to say this although I have never been in business I have to say that even in church this happens.
10:27 One classic example is um we see nowadays a growing a rise in what we
10:34 call a monarchial pastoral leadership where the father gives the leadership to
10:39 the son. Okay. And then the son and then and then the son will give it to the to the other
10:45 son and the other son. Does this guy look familiar to you? Look closely at the young man's shining smile.
10:54 I think you can know who he is. This is Pastor Joel Austin at the celebration dinner when Pastor John Austin has
10:60 passed the leadership over to Pastor Joel without votes. It's very interesting
11:06 because actually John Austin's church, Lakewood Baptist Church, was supposed to be a church by vote, but that changed
11:14 when he took over. It became a monarchial inheritance kind of setup.
11:19 Quite suspicious. All right. Now, despite the work that
11:24 he's doing, despite the things that he says or do, this already at a systemic already brings up potential for
11:31 scrutiny. And we see this also very fi very similarly in some secular setups. I have
11:38 a classmate that's not him. Okay? because my classmate is a girl and he's Asian. He's
11:45 about this tall. Okay. All right. She and I after pre university she went
11:51 to school of hospitality and tourism. Okay. And after that she studied after studying hospitality she went straight
11:57 into the field in hospitality. And she realized that after three years of working her juniors are getting promoted
12:04 faster than her. And finally one day she sat down. She's
12:10 a smart girl. So she did the math and she found out the reason why that she
12:16 gets to that she does not get promoted despite the fact that she works overtime. She's the first to come. She's the last to leave. She helps audit the
12:21 she helps care for the for the bookkeeping after after checking out front desk. She's the one that make sure that all of her fellow workers in the
12:28 housekeeping sector is they are fine. Make sure that the food make sure the food in the catering department is also
12:33 all well and checked. But yet she doesn't get promoted. The reason why she doesn't get promoted because her classmates have found something has done
12:40 something very interesting. They weren't being truthful. They were being tactful. Here's what they do. They notice that
12:49 the boss, the manager needs a smoke break. And then we found out that the boss
12:55 needs a smoke break 15 minutes every two hours. Now, if you work in an 8 hour day,
13:02 you're practically smoking one hour away. Okay, just simple maths, right? So, one
13:10 hour he's smoking and instead of saying, "Hey boss, we actually need your leadership boss. Is there anything that
13:15 you need from us?" Or, you know, or you just leave him in his piece. You know what they do? They pick up smoking and they join him. And so, one hour a day
13:23 they hang out with him. Of course, they badima. They get to know one another.
13:29 They found out they like the same football team. Congratulations Manchester United by the way. You know,
13:35 they all they all diss the same football team. You know, they all respect the and
13:41 they found out they have common likings and they found they become very friendly. And so the next promotion to
13:46 work closer to the manager. Who do you think the manager is going to promote? The one that's hardworking but who he
13:52 never knows or the one that buddies up with him?
13:59 when there's a when there's an international expo for hotel hospitality and tourism in France
14:06 and a manager can bring two can bring two uh can bring two understudies with him who's going to who is he going to
14:13 bring along smoking bilah
14:19 so they can smoke in France together as well now it is the gospel community that
14:25 calls us uh that tells us that we need to step out and say, "Hey, something is not right." But
14:32 what ends up happening is that if we're not careful, we allow this c we allow this culture to come into our church and
14:40 the outcome is catastrophic in the most humblest sense.
14:46 What I mean by this, okay, some of you may think I'm very obsessed with this movie, but I really do like this movie.
14:52 Okay, there's this movie in that was published in 2015 called Spotlight. Okay, young adults, most of you have
14:58 watched this together. Okay, now this movie, if you don't know it, it's a great movie. is a dramatization
15:05 of a real investigative journalistic team in Boston, Massachusetts that had
15:13 found out that priests had been molesting little children and the church
15:18 because buddy with the priests they hide the fact and slowly and slowly
15:25 and systematically the numbers began to increase until they found out in Boston,
15:30 Massachusetts alone 87 Seven priests were molesting children
15:36 and every a priest will in average will molest five to six of them. You will do the multiplication yourself.
15:47 In full disclosure, I must say this. We see this problem in Protestant churches
15:52 as well. There are okay, thanks be to God, not here, but there are. But I want
16:00 to show you that once they start having this secrecy and buddy buddy system,
16:07 it becomes like a disease and fers and grows and then becomes the norm and then we are no different from the world
16:14 and the outcome is chaotic. There's a scene that I like in this
16:20 movie. They finally found all the information. They confirm, yes, 87
16:26 priests are molesting children. And they have fullon stories, multiple stories
16:31 covering 70 odd priests of those 87. And they're ready to publish all the way
16:37 through. But graciously, the newspaper gave some time for the office of the
16:44 Catholic Church in Boston, Massachusetts to respond. Please reply in any way whatsoever.
16:50 Either apologize or defend or say that you've been working hard on it. you know, say something.
16:56 What ends up happening is that the church sends a businessman who is an alumni
17:05 of the editor of that team. So they are buddies in the same school, Catholic
17:11 high kind of deal. So they sit down each other and then the B and then the and then the man says this the
17:17 representative of the church he says this you know you know you know you know
17:23 my dear friend the people need the church more than ever you can feel it
17:29 and the leadership the cardinal and everyone else yeah the they're human we all make mistakes
17:35 but we can't throw everything under the wheel for the few bad apples right
17:42 I mean there 5,000 priests in Boston. Do we want to do we want to end up putting every one of them on trial which is
17:48 because of a small number of 87 priests?
17:54 Then the editor replies the truth of what's happening. And what happens that all these problems seem to disappear not
18:01 because they were rectifying the problem or they were correcting the problem. Rather a guy leans in on a guy and
18:09 suddenly everyone looks the other way. A guy leans in on a guy and we let a
18:15 leader fall to sin. A guy leans on a guy and we realize, "Oh, I like this guy.
18:21 Why don't we elect him?" A guy leans on a guy, hey, actually, uh, let's try and take him down.
18:29 This exactly what is happening in the hotel management situation that I mentioned earlier, only this time it is
18:34 systemic in the Catholic Church in Boston, Massachusetts. Now, of course, after what had happened,
18:40 they've been systematically working to make sure that this does not happen and repeat. But they but when they did an
18:46 internal audit, they found out that actually it wasn't just 87 priests in Boston. It's about a thousand plus
18:52 priests all over the world. And that's because they've been learning to keep things secret.
18:59 They don't rebuke and they don't respect the office of the people who are willing who who say that
19:06 they are wanting to represent Christ to the people and represent people to
19:12 Christ. That's the office of the pastor, the priest, the elder.
19:19 So what can we do then in application? Well, first of all,
19:26 instead of rebuking those that are doing badly, that one is another case of church discipline. That's a whole other
19:33 set system alto together. What we as a collective church, remember, you look to your left, you look to your right, and you say we're going to change together.
19:39 This is what we can do together. We can acknowledge, we can respect, we can
19:44 encourage the leaders are doing the right things. Now, how do you tell the difference? We
19:50 need to find we need to be able to identify the leaders among us who work hard among us who cares for us in the
19:58 Lord. Again, it's not a reflection of their works is rather the fact that the Lord is working in them.
20:06 Now before we do an internal audit to see to
20:12 talk about our elders and deacons because this is a very practical application we need to ask ourselves
20:17 what does a person in the Lord looks like. I have two ad I have admiration for two
20:25 leaders in the in the ma in the maj in the mainstream church denominations in
20:31 United States in in in the west. The first one is Timothy Keller. Okay, we
20:38 may know him now as a great preacher. He was the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, which grew from one church
20:43 campus to three church campus totaling up to 6,000 members in New York
20:50 in in in in evangelistic sense. That's a very hard ground. Very very hard ground.
20:57 So he had been a fantastic preacher, encouraged, did the pastoral work and he
21:03 grew. Now we know him to be a great speaker, a philosopher, a theologian,
21:08 but that's just the that's just the honorary titles. People who know him closely
21:16 may not necessarily be the ones in New York, but there are countless t testimonies of the churches that he had
21:22 served in the state of Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, there was a church, a Presbyterian church where he had
21:28 ministered. When he preaches, when he preaches to them, it goes over their heads,
21:34 a bit too chimla, a bit too deep for the congregation. So, a lot of them don't get it. And when he was called to go to
21:42 New York, they had a send off. And so, some people of course came up and sit some testimonies. The one that he will
21:48 never forget is this. An old lady came up to him, came up and gave a testimony
21:53 about her husband and her three sons went to Mexico for a mission trip. It
21:59 was the first time they ever went on a mission trip. First time they ever went to Mexico and it's for missions. You know, that was during the time when the
22:05 news that the drug cartel was like very scary, especially for a small little uh small little vanilla town in
22:11 Pennsylvania. And so the woman also and the woman also was never really alone at home in her
22:18 life before, but she had to stay in in the States because she had to work. She couldn't take leave.
22:24 She says, "I can't remember a single sermon title Pastor Timothy had ever spoken." The one thing that he's
22:30 supposed to be famous for. But what I do remember is when my sons and my husband was in was on a mission trip, pastor
22:37 came to my house every day. We have tea. She he prays for me. He checks up on me.
22:43 He encourages me that his that my husband and my sons were okay for the whole time, the whole two weeks
22:50 that we were on the that they were on mission trip. And for that I will always remember because not only was he showing
22:56 pastoral love, he was sharing the love of Jesus Christ to those who are alone who felt vulnerable.
23:02 That is a person who's really much in the Lord and it's displayed in that work.
23:09 Another one uh the current archbishop of Canterbury the Reverend Justin Welby
23:16 great theologian actually he is now known the most famous to be the archbishop that protested against the
23:22 legalization of gay marriages in United Kingdom. He voted on behalf of the bishops. He says nope no go. We will not
23:29 we will not uh sanctify we will not solemnize gay marriages. We will not uh
23:35 we will not recognize that uh that registration the church is for traditional
23:41 heterosexual monogous lifelong relationships. That's what he's famous for. The other
23:47 thing that he's also famous for is that when he was elected to be archbishop of Canterbury, he was at this door and they
23:52 interviewed him. Archbishop elect, you're going to be the archbishop of Canterbury in a week's time. What do you
23:59 want to do today? Now Rowan now Rowan Adams the archbishop
24:04 for that famously said I'm going to go home and have dinner with my family you know a relaxing Sabbath and care.
24:11 Reverend Justin Wby on the other hand says that oh I had promised no matter what that on that night that that very
24:17 evening I'm going to help a soup kitchen of the smallest church in my district and I will go and help do the dishes.
24:26 I will keep that promise just like I have been doing every year when he was the bishop of his of his small
24:31 constituency. Now permit me to say this but that's a beautiful work in the Lord. That's
24:38 beautiful care in the Lord. And of course in resp and also therefore in in response that because we felt the
24:46 Holy Spirit's work happening in people like Timothy Kelly and Justin Wilby the churches prosper the people not because
24:52 the numbers increased by according to KPI but because people felt that resonance say you know what I belong to
24:57 this church. Friends have you engaged with your leaders enough to be able to say that
25:03 yes through them I know I belong to this church. If you're not doing that, I
25:09 don't think we're giving them the due respect. If we dismiss them and say, "I don't
25:15 want their leadership because I just don't like them." Then we forget the simple virtue of love in the gospel.
25:22 What is the virtue of the of love in the gospel? Love is a choice even on days when you don't like them.
25:30 It's a big difference between the feeling and the conviction. The question is, are we convinced? Are we convicted?
25:37 And will we be willing to submit and to honor and respect our leaders who are in
25:43 the Lord? Some application.
25:50 Familiar story for some of you. If not, and if it is, bear with me.
25:55 Bob was sharing the gospel to Tim and a cafe. Bob actually has been sharing to
26:00 the gospel to Tim for months now. They've been friends for years. They've been sharing the gospel together. And
26:05 Tim fervently with great discipline says, "No, no, no, no, no."
26:12 And Bob says, "Come on, you see the evidence. You know his love. Receive
26:17 him. Come on." And Tim says, "No. And could you please stop talking to me about Jesus, Bob?"
26:24 Then Bob asks, "Okay, I will stop for a while on one condition. Tell me why.
26:29 Tell me why. I deserve to know why." So Tim says, "Okay, the gospel of Jesus Christ sounds
26:36 awesome, but every time I go to church, I see the direct opposite.
26:42 Calm down, sir." Yeah. You know, I go to some churches, instead of sharing love,
26:48 they were sharing fists. Instead of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, they were complaining about the
26:54 color of the carpet, you know. So Bob says, "Okay, Tim, let
27:01 me ask you a question. I see you have a very nice green jacket. I don't see many men wear green jackets.
27:09 If I steal your green jacket and go and rob a bank, the policeman identifies the green jacket to belong to you because
27:15 it's unique." And I come up to you and the police comes up to you and say, "You are under the arrest. You are under
27:21 arrest for robbing a bank." What would you say? Tim said, "It's not me. It can't be me.
27:27 How do you know it's me? We saw your coat. It belongs to you. You are under arrest because we can identify that. We
27:33 couldn't see the face. We can see you. We can see that code. Therefore, it's you. What would you then What would Tim
27:38 therefore say? Tim would say, "I've been framed.
27:44 I'm being misrepresented." And Bob says, "Exactly right.
27:51 There are plenty of us in the church here who wears the coat of Jesus Christ, but we end up doing
27:59 unsavory things claiming to be the works of Jesus.
28:09 Will we be willing to reflect the coat that we are claiming to wear as followers of Jesus Christ?
28:19 After some months, Tim finally gave up, received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He was called to go and be uh
28:25 business to do business and work in a comp work in his uh work in the company
28:31 overseas. And so Bob sent him off uh sent him off. Tim shook Bob's hand and
28:36 says, "Thank you for sharing me and showing me Christ. You wear his coat very well.
28:47 How do you feel? How would you feel if someone actually come up to you and says, "Thank you, my dear friend. You
28:52 bear Jesus's image." Well, friends, I'm telling you, there are
28:58 people who are willing to go the extra mile, beyond their 9 to5, beyond their 9
29:04 to9 p 9 to 9:00 p.m. work, who is willing to take that extra mile and say, "You know what? I want to reflect Jesus
29:12 and the gospel of hope to those in need and those that and those we therefore lovingly call them leaders.
29:20 Respect our leaders. Some homework.
29:26 If you are part of a gamma group, if you are part of a life group, if you're part of a if you're part of a Bible study
29:34 group, go to your leader today, shake them in the hand and say, "Thank you so
29:39 much. Thank you for hosting your home. Thank you for supplying the material. Thank you for bearing with Thank you for
29:45 bearing with all our nonsense. Thank you for showing me the image of Christ in the best way that you can.
29:53 Once you're done with that, move up. Go to the deacons. Go to the leaders,
29:58 ministry leaders that you know. Go to the elders and and say to them, "Thank you for
30:05 reflecting Jesus. I pray that I can reflect Jesus alongside with you." If
30:10 you do that, every deacon and every elder will agree right now that was worth every sweat and blood that we ever
30:16 shed. Because that's the point. The gospel community respects our leaders because
30:22 our leaders are respecting the gospel of Jesus Christ in which they have committed to bear, wear and display.
30:31 Question is, will we respect them? The gospel community respects our
30:38 leaders. Second, the gospel community rebukes our our brothers and sisters.
30:44 The gospel community rebukes our brothers and sisters. Now this is a hard one because we re we we don't want to
30:51 sit next to a person who we you know and so we have two ways of going about it. One is that we sit in separate areas of
30:58 the of the hall. No judgment to either one of you guys on the my left or right
31:04 or we just don't bring the matter up. We don't talk about it and we just sit next to each other.
31:10 Um make like don't know only. Okay. But what does the text say? The
31:16 text says this, "We urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive. Encourage the disheartened
31:24 and help the weak so that we may be patient with everyone." Okay? And so, breaking it down, it's
31:31 another call to the church, my dear brothers and sisters. And now we have two-fold and then we have a three-fold
31:38 ministry. And that is this. We need to correct the backsliders, backsliden. We need to encourage those demotivated. And
31:44 we need to help those who are suffering.
31:50 So these three layers, I think we do the last one pretty well. Charity, Maria's
31:57 home, missions care. Thank you so much for your support. The kindergartens are growing strong. The villages are much
32:03 encouraged. In fact, they want to take things to the next level. Hopefully when hopefully when we can consolidate
32:08 everything we can therefore share because there's so much work that's being done and we are encouraged
32:14 but the harder one is the ones that is next to us. We don't encourage each other that well
32:21 do we don't encourage each other that well what makes you think we will try and
32:27 actually allow someone to correct us in love. Difficult.
32:33 Very difficult. Now what's the context of now what's the context of the church right now in
32:40 Thessalonica? The church in Thessalonica is first and foremost a house church. It's not an institutional church where
32:46 there's a chairman, vice chairman, secretary, treasure, although they might have some sort of leadership. Definitely an elder deacon system. Okay? And but
32:53 it's a house church. So they're really really close to one another. And so when you see someone outwardly being idol, it
32:59 it's contagious to a lot of people. when you see someone serving and working is not as contagious. We're just lazy.
33:05 We're just lazy people. Okay. The church in Thessalonica were having this issue and because they
33:12 think ayah the world's going to end. Mark, we heard this before. One of the main themes in first Thessalonians is an
33:17 esqueological theme which is a theme whereby we believe that someday and whether is in
33:24 their time or a lot later Jesus Jesus Christ will come and everything will be made right. So they thought if Jesus
33:31 coming soon mind if Jesus coming soon I don't need to work anymore
33:38 sit quietly let the world die eat drink tomorrow eat drink be merry for tomorrow
33:44 we die eat cookies drink coffee tomorrow to tomorrow we get diabetes and die why
33:49 not you know so they no longer bear accountability
33:56 they no longer bear accountability to to to the fact that one day we will go before God and we have to be accountable
34:02 to every calorie to eat, every cookie we dunk in the milk, to every coffee we drink, to every rotty chennai we eat, to
34:08 every cigarette that we smoked, every glass of whiskey that we partake.
34:15 Every bit, every every bit, we will one day do that. So we can't go back and just say, you know what, forget it. But
34:23 we can't also scold everyone as if everyone are equally evil like that
34:28 because among them there are some of us who are just very very much discouraged.
34:35 I'm part of a chat group where one day we were talking about any prayer
34:41 requests guys I'm speaking for five days so give me keep me in prayer. Uh I got a
34:47 deadline in work keep me in prayer. Then one prayer point came out. Please let the world end tomorrow.
34:55 That's a prayer. Now, of course, a bit sarcastic, but of course in that heart
35:02 of hearts, it's quite discouraged. And we and for those of us who have been
35:07 into this rat race a little longer than mo than some of us, you know, you can you can actually empathize with how we
35:14 feel. The right ways end up feeling more like a hamster wheel going round and round and round but end up going
35:19 nowhere. Yala better for the world to end. Better for my life to end also.
35:24 What for? Why go through all that suffering for nothing when actually we see no result? The poor guys.
35:32 So Paul hears this and reminds us that the gospel actually gives us the courage
35:38 to actually continue to work at our very best. Not because we're doing it for our
35:44 bosses on this world, but we're doing this for the great boss that's up there. And we're also doing this to encourage
35:49 the brothers and sisters on our left and right. That holiness does matter. That being accountable before God, that
35:56 counts. But now the question is, how do we rebuke one another? How do we encourage
36:02 one another? How can we tell the difference between these two kinds of doubts? One doubt that leads to idleness and the other doubts leads to
36:08 discouragement or just ignorance. We we didn't we we don't know. Well, actually
36:15 the gospel of Luke shares a very interesting story. There were two people who doubted that a miracle will happen
36:21 in their lives. They responded very differently and therefore and and
36:26 therefore the and therefore the teacher uh rebuked them differently. Okay. So the first one is Zachchariah.
36:34 Zachchariah a longtime faithful man of God. All right. a long time, faithful
36:39 man of God, but he's old and his wife is barren. So, he's been praying, "Oh, God,
36:47 give me a son." Just like you gave Hannah and just like you gave Samuel to to to Hannah, give us a son,
36:55 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, never came. And people start gossiping because they don't respect their their leaders.
37:02 So, they end up gossiping. You see, God don't want the blessing of a son. How can you be sure that he's worthy to be a priest?
37:08 That's the culture at that time. That's what they thought. So finally one day when it was Zachariah's turn to go into the holy of holies, he to his sin to put
37:15 incense on the altar. An angel appeared and says, "Good news." Say, "Good news,
37:21 Zechariah. You will have a son and you will name him John. He'll be the forerunner of the great Messiah."
37:27 Now Zechariah had been swimming in doubt for so long that he ended up becoming very bitter about it.
37:34 And so his reply sounds something like this. How can this
37:39 be? I'm already and my wife is barren.
37:46 How can you be sure I'll have a son? Who told you I have a son?
37:51 Now of course Gabriel rebuked him as such. I am Gabriel. I just spoke to God
37:57 five minutes ago. He told me that you will have a son. You who have been faithful, faithful in trying to display
38:03 hope for your people are now having doubt in the holy of holies when an flipping angel is right in front of you.
38:13 That's why the punishments you will be silent until all these things have been accomplished.
38:19 A very harsh rebuke. And so friends, parallel to that, I will
38:24 say this. If you guys if we end up asking questions for the sake of trying to wave to God, say, "God, you're
38:31 unfair." You will not like the answer from God if we follow the proceedings of Gabriel.
38:38 Because Gabriel basically told Zechariah to shut up and think.
38:44 Shut up and pray. So for us who have these bitterness in our hearts, I ask us
38:51 take a moment, rest, step back,
38:56 observe, then pray
39:02 and know that this you're not going to God demanding justice. You're going to God demanding help.
39:09 Then the reply may be similar to this next person. Mary was 14 to 16 years old just
39:16 recently betroved to Joseph but not yet not yet
39:21 seen me yet for registration not yet done so not not legal yet so they were staying in their own individual homes
39:28 angel comes before her and says it says do not fear Mary for you have found favor in God and behold you shall
39:35 conceive a son and you shall name him Jesus he'll be great and be called the son of the most high God and he will and
39:41 he will be the Messiah of all mankind. Now, this is Mary, young in faith,
39:47 confused, not sure what's happening, sees a great vision before and was given
39:52 an audacious miracle. She doubted, but when she asked, she
39:59 asked for clarity and inquiry. And so, her reply sounds like this. How
40:06 can this be? Since my husband and I are not together yet,
40:12 I have never known a man. How can this be
40:17 very simple? Then Gabriel handled Mary very
40:23 differently. He gave an explanation. The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the
40:29 power of most high shall overshadow you. And that's why he will be known as the son of God.
40:39 Friends, when we rebuke one another, the first thing we do before rebuking one
40:44 another is that we must first check our receive. We must check our receivable end. How are we receiving the rebuke?
40:51 Are we receiving the rebuke like a person who never ever want to taste justice and just wants vengeance?
40:59 Or are we the kind of or would we be willing to change our heart, ask God, humble our hearts so that we may
41:05 actually come to the honest question inquiry and say, "Oh God, I need help in this matter.
41:11 If we can get ourselves to the letter that makes a gospel community flourish
41:17 because why the Holy Spirit shall come upon us and it will change us. It will
41:24 revive the it will revive the congregation. But only if we are willing to leave our hearts open and say, "Oh
41:30 God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Oh God, speak to me. I am listening. I'm not
41:36 complaining anymore."
41:46 Homework. Your leaders, go and encourage them. But
41:51 on top of that, try for a few weeks. Don't complain to them.
41:57 Stop sending complaints over to the elders. The emails are full of them. And
42:02 the deacons and the deacons also and the deacons also we're throwing things at each other. We need to we we we need to
42:08 be able to calm down. It's Christmas. Can we not celebrate hope?
42:15 I declare it's Christmas according to the Filipino tradition where they start celebrating Christmas at every bur month
42:22 September, October, November, December. I think that's a good way to go. One-third of year, merry Christmas.
42:30 That's awesome. We need that encouragement. And therefore, we are willing to correct
42:35 one another. And therefore, the second homework to that is in not relation, but in relation to one another, ask yourself
42:40 this question. Is there anyone else outside of your spouse that you're willing that you're willing to hold
42:47 accountability to? Is there anyone any brother or sister
42:53 that you can go to and say, "Hey, brother, I know there's some difficult areas in
42:59 my life. Can you hold me to it? I want to change."
43:04 Once we change the way we receive rebuke, we will therefore we will therefore change the way we handle
43:09 revival. Which finally brings out to my final point. The gospel respects the gospel
43:16 community respects our leaders. The gospel calls the community to re to rebuke our brothers and sisters and
43:23 therefore from there the gospel community revives our community. Now I'm
43:28 using community in two different in two different settings. One is I'm calling the community of God. Those who are called to Jesus Christ and whoever
43:34 believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. But I'm also talking about the community that we actually involve ourselves in that world that we
43:42 relate to as managers of those who are below us as colleagues of those who are with us and as gullies as those who have
43:50 bosses above us. That's the community that we need to work with. And we are called to not
43:57 rebuke it. We are called not just not just to rebuke it. We're called not just to tell boss you suck. No, we're not
44:03 called to do that. We're actually called to revive the community. Okay, so final part is this. It's a
44:11 three-fold application. So bear with me. First one is this. We look at the text.
44:17 The text says this, make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for
44:22 each other and for everyone else. Paul has been talking about esquetology in a whole new setting. The Jesus Christ will
44:29 come and become enthroned as king of kings and lord of lords. The wrongs will be made right. The right will be upheld.
44:37 But how do we want to how do what should we do in order to see this come to
44:42 fruition? Is actually the same thing they have been saying from the very get-go. Doesn't that passage doesn't this part
44:48 of this passage sound familiar? Don't pay back wrong for wrong,
44:53 but always try to do what is good for each other. Now, if you have been a long time in the
45:01 in the church, you'll realize that this is a very common theme that happens in Paul's teachings as well as Jesus's
45:06 teachings. And therefore, it and therefore it it
45:11 convicts me to say this that this therefore needs to be the Christian ethos, the Christian character, the
45:18 Christian habit, the Christian trademark to both fellow believers, that's the
45:24 easy part, the non-believers, that's a bit harder.
45:30 friends and enemies alike. Paul says this in many other ways and my
45:37 favorite one is the one in Romans because the he uses poetic imagery so so
45:43 well in this passage. Here's what Romans says. Romans chapter 12 it says this from verse 19. Do not take revenge my
45:49 dear friends but leave room for God's wrath for it is written it is mine to avenge. I will repay says the Lord. So
45:56 we know this you we as a gospel community are not to seek out vengeance. So when we stand for what is wrong in
46:03 our political agenda when we stand for what's wrong in the legal system in this country when we stand for what's wrong
46:09 we're not standing for wrong so that we can have our vengeance we are standing on behalf of God and God
46:15 himself will say vengeance is mine I will repay.
46:23 So we stand for what's right in this church. We stand because we know by
46:29 conviction as the gospel community and we take best to heed it because if not
46:35 vengeance is the Lord's. On the contrary Paul says if your Paul
46:43 quotes from Psalms, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this,
46:49 you will heap burning coals on his head. Now this po now this poetry sounds very
46:54 venual as if oh so if I do gooda I'm pouring coals on his head I'm burning
46:59 him happy Halloween guys no
47:09 two things one is what happens when coals go on your head
47:14 you will respond right you will react you like and if you get a burn you get a second
47:20 degree scalding or a third degree burn, you will seek for help.
47:29 Help. So when we share goodness, we hope therefore that the person who is in sin,
47:35 our enemies may actually raise up and say, "I need help. I need help."
47:44 Now Paul also being Jewish and he's speaking also to a Jewish community. There's something that resonates in Jewish culture when it comes to coal.
47:51 Long before the f long before finding out the discovery of petroleum and gasoline and natural gases they can use
47:58 to be to burn things more efficiently, they use coal. Coal was actually a new
48:03 technology and because of the new technology is used for various various uses like cooking high heat,
48:10 warming up a house though not not for long normally use wood because it burns longer.
48:17 or is also used therefore in the most important of occasions for the Roman temples. It is used to
48:24 therefore burn sacrifices and incense. And the same thing also for the Jewish community.
48:30 Now in the Jewish community, there's this offering called the burnt offering. The whole cattle is given to given to
48:36 almighty god. No one takes a hair from that from that bull from that calf from
48:42 that offering. But what happens if you take that whole animal who was slot which was
48:48 slaughtered but not processed. You take that whole animal and you put it on a bed of coast. What happens?
48:55 You don't get a burnt offering. You get a barbecue. It's slow. It's low. It's
49:00 slow. It's not going to consume the whole thing on time. So what they do is that they'll take coals that is hot from
49:06 the side and start pouring on top of the burnt offering. So that way it is wholly
49:12 consumed. So do you see the poetic imagery that Paul is saying?
49:18 When you do good to your enemies, you are pouring coal onto him so that one
49:23 day he may be a burn the burnt offering. He may be the living he may be a living
49:29 sacrifice like in Romans chapter 12 verse one. I appeal to you my brothers therefore in the by the mercy of God to
49:36 offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing unto him. This is your spiritual act of worship.
49:43 So that means when you do good to your enemies, you are calling him to the gospel of Christ. And hopefully most
49:50 likely if we do it if we if we do it by faith, he will turn.
49:59 Question. What are we doing to our community? Are we just condemning them?
50:08 I call upon this church to reach out to your communities and speak out to them
50:14 especially in this season excusable season of Christmas.
50:20 Reach out to them especially after reading the budget 2018. We need hope.
50:30 Especially when we hear the predictions that 2018 is going to be a very very is very is going to be a very bad
50:36 economical slum for our nation and people will lose jobs. People are losing jobs now.
50:44 They need hope. Would you give that to your community?
50:49 The people that are just closest to you both to each other and also to everyone else.
50:60 some two practice applications. Oh yeah, before I go on, Jesus himself also says
51:05 this, and this is the this is the source of it all. Here's what Jesus says in Matthew.
51:12 You have heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be
51:18 children of your father in heaven. He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and s and sends rain on the
51:24 righteous and the unrighteous. This is the display of the sovereignty of God. You do not think that God does not know
51:30 the good that you do and the evil that the other people are doing. God, he knows one. He also knows the evil that
51:36 you do and the good that they do as well. So you something know, huh?
51:42 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even tax collectors doing that?
51:49 and you greet only your own people. What are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
51:56 You skip a church member because you tangam with him. But then you shake the hands of I don't know Elder Dr. Bill
52:01 because good buddy
52:07 even pagans do that my dear friends. So Jesus is calling us to be not of this
52:13 world where we extend that hand of grace to every person.
52:19 So in application, there's something that we can change in this church to
52:24 reflect that. And number one is this. You know how we do this little thing
52:29 where we take two minutes to greet people. Hi, how you doing? Good to see you. Wow, you change your hair color. Good good to see you. Hey, that shirt
52:36 color suit suits you. Wow, new shoes up. you know, so you say hi and so on so forth, right? Um, do you know why we do
52:42 that? You know why we do that? Number one is we do that because we want
52:48 to welcome the newcomers. So good to have you. Number two is we also want to do it because we want to extend that peace to
52:56 know that we have friends among us. Okay. But the Anglican community has a
53:03 theological reason why they do this. And more specifically, they do this before
53:10 giving out their tithe and offering. Now, as a pastor, I don't have much of a
53:15 life. So, when I don't have much of a life, I like to read random stuff. So, there's one time I I have one time I
53:21 read a bunch of stuff of why is this, why is that? So, like weddings, for example. Do you know why groomsmen and
53:29 the and the groom walks around the congregation saying hi?
53:35 Two reasons. One is he's a host. So he shakes the hands of everyone. Say, "Hi,
53:40 good to see you here." The second reason is he's looking for the ex-lovers of his of his of his bride. He's looking for
53:47 those who could cause a ruckus in the in the marriage in in the wedding. And if he finds one, he calls the henai to go
53:53 and kick him out of the hall. Irish tradition. There's nothing
53:58 Christian about this. I've already apologized to Richard, our our our Irish church member from 9:00
54:05 service, but we all know that. Yeah, it sounds like sounds very familiar to him. Yes.
54:14 So, I asked this question. Why is it that the Anglican communion must do this? Must greet each other with a sign
54:20 of peace before even giving an offering. So, I was very curious and I couldn't
54:26 find an answer. So, I asked a friend to ask a pastor. Okay, asked an Anglican pastor and the Anglican pastor was quite
54:32 surprised that I don't know this. And so he took my number. He gave me a call and he told me this. Mark, are you telling
54:37 me you have no idea why we do this? Don't you know it's scriptural?
54:43 In the most Malaysian Baptist way, I I I could possibly be. I just went, "Huh?"
54:50 We Baptist sometimes we throw the baby with the bath water. You know, we need to think very carefully. Actually, it's
54:56 scriptural. Here's the text. In application
55:02 of asking for forgiveness and for change in the community, there are two things that Jesus told us. One is this. The
55:11 text here in Matthew 5:23-24, it says this. If your if you are offering your
55:16 gift at the altar and then remember that your brother or sister has something against you, the scripture says leave
55:23 your gift in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them, then come
55:29 and offer your gift. Friends, that very symbol tells us very
55:35 clearly that Jesus would rather have reconciliation between us as brothers
55:41 and sisters than offerings of money and kind on the altar.
55:47 Our Lord, our God has no need and therefore
55:52 demands for nothing except for one thing that we reflect his love by reconciling
55:58 with one another. The question is are we? So something we can think about in our
56:04 church service. The second thing is part of the whole church or the Anglican
56:11 liturgy. There's this beautiful piece which even we Baptists are very jealous. We like to do it once in a while.
56:17 We like to recite the Lord's Prayer once in a while in beautiful old King James
56:22 English. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
56:29 as it is in heaven. Maybe not so dramatically. Give us this day our daily bread. Why
56:34 only bread? Never mind. But forgive but forgive us our depths
56:41 as we forgive our debtors. Did you know that this is the only part of the prayer that there's a
56:47 prerequisite because Jesus is revealing that true
56:54 gospel lives, true gospel communities are able to forgive one another because
57:01 we were first forgiven. And that's why
57:07 Jesus even puts a clause there in verse 14. If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly
57:14 father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others or their sins, your father will not forgive your sins.
57:24 Anoa, how in the world?
57:33 What does this mean? Again, this is not a salvation by works, friends. Rather this is rather rather this is actually a
57:38 reflection of how much do we understand and comprehend the gospel that has changed our lives by fact we are
57:43 forgiven we can therefore forgive
57:50 and we are called to forgive therefore otherwise we don't know what the gospel of forgiveness is like
57:59 we need to do that and we therefore we need to first ask forgiveness of ourselves
58:06 CS Lewis puts it very nicely.
58:13 He doesn't want to turn. He doesn't want to show up. Aha. Nope. Back up, please. Thank you. CS Lewis says this. To be a
58:21 Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the
58:26 inexcusable in us. The question is
58:31 can I or not? If we don't know how to forgive,
58:38 we therefore don't know how we are forgiven. But if we truly say we know how we have forgiven,
58:44 then it's easy for us to forgive. Forgive me. Anybody?
58:54 No. Okay. Quick summary worship team come up.
59:01 The gospel community respects our leaders and that's really a very huge culture change to the secular world
59:08 where we are gossiping, murmuring, you know, writing poison letter about
59:14 our bosses. The gospel community rebukes our
59:20 brothers and sisters. And you know what? We take it like friends. Thank you so much for telling me that I'm bad with
59:26 administration. Thank you so much for telling me that I'm a bit crude at sometimes, especially
59:32 after the after the occasional can of beer or so. Teach me to control.
59:44 And the gospel community revives the community by showing them what true love
59:51 and forgiveness looks like. Now, the question is, are we ready for that?
59:57 I pray that we have to we have to otherwise this is nothing more than a
60:03 social club. If we change this very core then we
60:10 really stand for what this church vision stands. It means gospel community
60:16 missions.
60:22 Let's pray.
60:34 Father God, we want to come before you.
60:41 We say first, we say first the ancient of desert prayers. Oh Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
60:49 We say, "Oh Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us, your church. We're still sinners."
60:59 And Lord, so we ask that you change our hearts so that we learn to respect our leaders.
61:04 And in doing that, we learn to respect you, the true leader.
61:11 We remember our boys brigade friends.
61:16 We have a captain Michael Tan. We pray for him but only because he is called to reflect the great captain of that
61:22 company which is Jesus Christ. And the same thing therefore we pray for every elder, every pastor, every deacon, every
61:30 leader. We pray that we will learn to respect them and particularly respect the
61:37 Christlikkeness in them so that we too may change. Oh Lord, open
61:43 our hearts that we may be they may be able to receive rebuke for one another for our own correction, not for anyone
61:50 else's benefit of our but our own.
61:56 Teach us, oh Lord, to set aside our face and our shame and know that we are in a firm and a
62:02 safe community to be vulnerable.
62:08 And we pray that Lord that as we go through this process of repentance and growing in faith,
62:14 we see the community looking at us and see us with so much hope and wondering maybe they have an answer and we do. And
62:20 the answer is revival through the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
62:27 But God, let there be a light in our hearts. And as we come into the Christmas
62:34 season, we ask, oh Lord, we let it shine brightly in the night in
62:40 the communities that we reach out to.
62:46 Thank you. Thank you for using dirty vessels like us, cleanse us and make us whole once again. And in the mighty
62:53 power of Christ that changes us from dead to life, from evil to righteous is
62:59 in the precious name of Jesus and in Christ alone we pray. Amen.
