WOUNDS OF APATHY (JOHN 12:37-40)

Sermon by Rev Tan-Yeo Lay Suan

APATHY : a deadness to spiritual things; spiritual carelessness, neglect.

Ancient and monastic response to avoid this deadness is to reflect daily on the workings of one's heart and from this examen to learn the solutions to life's challenges and temptations.

For us today, we have no explicit and systematic spiritual formation. As long as we don't do and think what harm others, we think we are doing ok. Spiritual practices are now considered optional extras for an eccentric few. At the top of the list of excuses are "I have no time for that sort of thing" which simply means not having enough hours in the day or not having the inclination. Helping people to overcome spiritual carelessness is one of the key tasks of the church today.

Can God be wounded by our apathy?
The Scriptures give us glimses of God's desire to see come to pass what he does not sovereignly command, a freewill positive responsiveness in his children.

1. Matt 23:37-39 - Through Christ, we see God openly expressing his broken heart for the people that he has just condemned. Rather than hating the hypocrites, he had longed to gather them and save them from eternal peril. But would not come to Him. The picture of the hen gathering her chicks can also be found in the Old Testament e.g. Exodus 19.
2. Luke 23:26-31 - As Jesus staggered along the Via Dolorosa, his words in v 28 startled them when he wept still for them and directed them to the severity and tragedy of their rejection of Him. He did not want them to pity him, but rather that they turn in repentance, faith, obedience and cross bearing.
3. Ezekiel 18:30-32
4. Hosea 11 (particularly v 8) - A man commanded to take a prostitute for his wife and to suffer her repeated unfaithfulness. The betrayed lover is God also when we neglect our relationship with him, when we would go and worship other gods the rest of the week.
5. Luke 15 - the picture of the compassionate father and how he must have hurt while his son stayed away from home.

We are often fearful of the full investment that God demands of us.
A quote from Rev Wilbur Rees is worth thinking through: "I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please - not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant worker. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of a womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I'd like to buy just $3 worth of God, please."
Don't go away thinking that God is contented so long as we're spending time and money on him on Sundays, even if we continue serving our other gods for the rest of the week.
Are we, as Ben Witherington says, only wanting "acceptance as we are, not repentance so we can be who we ought to be." Think on these things.

Do we have a correct view of Jesus? Why did the crowd finally turned their backs on him, demanding his blood and his death?
Daniel Myers shares with us that "Jesus was much more than meek and mild. He was more than a poetic philosopher. Jesus was the Light of Heaven hitting a darkened earth like a meteor blast. He made claims and demands that left people undone. He named realities that others sought to bury. He broke barriers and battered bastions no one else had the nerve to assault. He called for the utter dismantling of the way things were and the new creation of something so much better. Jesus was not politically correct. He was not religiously pious. He was not socially tame. Jesus was a dangerous man because he was, and is, the God who is dangerously good. "  That's the reason why he often introduces his call in terms of leaving parents, getting out of safe boats, selling possessions etc. not that there is anything wrong with these. He simply wants us to decide if we would define and pursue these values in the way of the world or pursue them in the way of the Lord, the Kingdom's way.

Lent is the season when Christians take courage to look down at their feet and examine the line they've been walking, the investments they've been making and the loyalties they've been dividing in order to start walking in a different way.
Where have you placed your feet? Are you still trying to stay on the fence, happy with just $3 worth of God?

In 2007 we did the 40 Days of Purpose and we know that God intends for us to move inwards towards the center of the concentric circles. When our lives become focused on living out God's purpose, establishing his rule over our lives, our collective lives in the church and all those within our circle of influence.

Apathy using this picture of the concentric circles would be to stop moving towards the center, to keep at the same spot, indifferent to the various invitations of the Lord Jesus Christ to become more and more committed to him.

Why do we avoid following Jesus?

We avoid from a failure of intellectual nerve, unwilling to investigate and take a risk with God. E.g. my disbelief in football is based upon my not caring anything about it and not caring enough to do anything about it. Is this your reason for avoiding Christ? Will you choose to care? Will you choose to stir from your unwillingness to invest more and more in following Jesus?

When we diligently follow him, it will mean knowing the difference

• between the holy and profane, and moving on to do something about it.
• between righteous living and ungodliness, and moving on to do something about it.
• between the truth and hypocrisy, and moving on to do something about it.

This will be the outcome of the one who puts behind his apathy.

The Consequences of Staying Apathetic

To continue in our apathy is to hurt ourselves deeply without even knowing it. There was a time when people didn't know about germs. We lived in blissful ignorance. Then the day came when we learn about germs and the ill effects that they can have upon us and we changed and became more demanding in terms of hygiene. Similarly, our apathy [refusal to learn more about God, refusal to investigate the claims of Christ, refusal to take a risk in deepening our relationship with God] will cause us to become blind to the dangers and the eternal outcome of staying that way. 

Sir Francis Drake, explorer and naval pioneer during the Elizabethan era offers a challenging prayer that we can use in response :

A Prayer for Disturbance

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new Earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope and love."

WOUNDS OF BETRAYAL (PSALM 41:9; MARK 14:10; LUKE 22:47-48)

Sermon by Dr Kwa Kiem Kiok

Betrayal is to be given over to an enemy by a friend (Ps 41:9): someone with we had shared bread together. The pain is great because it done by a friend.

Why does betrayal happens? Why did Judas betray Jesus, a master with whom he had lived with for 3 years?
Even though Scripture tells us that "Satan entered Judas", that doesn't absolve him from the betrayal that he did to Jesus.

Judas had 2 main interests:
1. As a zealot, he had been challenging the establishment of a Jewish state, independent of the Romans.
2. To be loyal to Jesus Christ. Yet this loyalty is questionable since we are told too that he often helps himself to the common pool of money that they share as a team, over which he had been placed in charge.

When approached by the High priests, he weighed those 2 interests and found (1) to be more important than (2). In fact, he felt that Jesus would undermine the possibility of an independent state. So he decided to betray Jesus and protect his interest (1).

Another part of betrayal is denial. To deny someone is to claim that we don't know him, we turn our backs on him. Denial happens e.g. when a colleague claims credit for what you have done, when a friend does not acknowledge you. This is hurtful and painful.

Jesus experienced both: Betrayal by Judas Iscariot and Denial by Peter. So it was more than just the physical wounds that Jesus experienced but also the emotional ones inflicted by dear friends.

Peter also had 2 interests:
1. Self-preservation: it was unsafe to be associated with Jesus
2. Loyalty to Jesus
Peter weighed them and gave Jesus up for self-preservaton.

What happened to these 2 men who inflicted such pain on Jesus?

• Judas Iscariot: he returned the 30 pcs of silver (the price for a slave) and committed suicide
• Simon Peter went through dark days till the day the resurrected Christ absolved him.

Jesus suffered because he was crushed by the 2 men who were his disciples.

Lent is a time to reflect on what the Lord had gone through, how he had bore in addition to his physical wounds (of crucifixion), he had to contend with the emotional wounds of betrayal. Lent is a time to become more mature as followers of Jesus.

Heb 4:15-16 says, "¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. "

Whatever pain you've gone through, Jesus understands the hurt inflicted by friends. When our days are dark and lonely, we can be sure the Lord draws near for he has been through those darkest moments as well.

Betrayal is wrong and none of us should ever do it. When given 2 options, choosing an option that suits your best interests, your ideals, your jobs and Jesus, would you ever deny him?

Lent is a time to weigh our priorities and values, take stock about putting God first in our lives rather than choose the easy way out. God does make demands on us, would we be like Judas and Peter, choosing rather to uphold our own interests?

We deny Christ everyday when we:

• do not acknowledge one another in the community.
• gossip in the name of sharing Prayer items.
• make public statements about being a christian (via sticker on car, wearing of crosses etc.) by do not live up to it.

How can we pick up the cross daily and follow Jesus? When we think of these issues, how can we be strengthen?
That's where the church community is so important.

Suggestions how the church community can strengthen us to pick up our cross and follow Jesus daily

1. Practice together showing gratitude to the Lord and extending God's forgiveness. This works particularly well in small groups. When we are constantly grateful to God and reminding each other of God's goodness in the community (e.g. in a prayer meeting), that helps to strengthen our bonds. You will notice how the Psalmists often invite others to join him in showing gratitude to God for his blessings, even the simple act of saying grace is a constant reminder of God's provision.
2. Sharing answers to our prayers in the community also reminds us of our priorities and God's significant place in our lives.
3. Practice forgiveness when there are times of failure. We need to learn to forgive just as Jesus forgave Peter the terrible words of denial. Forgiveness is something we do when we are reminded of the costliness of forgiveness. Through the monthly practice of Holy Communion, we have the opportunity to forgive the hurts that we have caused each other, praying for forgiveness intentionally. This can also be done corporately within the family as well.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Have you experienced the pain of betrayal? Meditate on Heb 4:15-16 Jesus has gone through the worse of these betrayals, he invites you to come to him because he understands and cares for you. 
2. Have we betrayed Christ in any way? Is it time to seek the Lord to ask for his forgiveness? Do not run away, he waits for you the way he waited for Peter.
3. How can you strengthen your loyalty to Jesus with the help of the community? What are some of our competing interests and priorities that need to be straightened out?
4. How can you participate in the community to grow in appreciating God's faithfulness and goodness? in learning to exercise confession and being forgiven?

WOUNDS OF ABANDONMENT (Mark 14:50; Matt 27:46)

The worship service was deliberately arranged in a guided reflection format.

Scripture Reading: Heb 4:15-16; 5:7-8
Introduction: (Straits Times 2 Apr 2002) The mother who threw her eight-year-old daughter down a rubbish chute from her fifth-floor flat was sentenced to 2½-years' in jail yesterday. The maximum sentence for her offence, culpable homicide, is seven years' jail. Imagine the child in the chute, among the rubbish, in the darkness of the chute and the surrounding stench.

What does it feel like to be abandoned, to be excluded and nobody stands with us?

Nearing the arrest of Jesus, he was alone bearing the weight of anguish at the Garden of Gethsemane, his closest companions: Peter, James and John, could not share in the hour of prayer. They fled at his arrest. While hanging on the cross, Jesus experienced separation from God His father. There was no one to comfort him as he tasted the full wrath of God on his own. His cry of abandonment was real. It wasn't just the brutal physical separation, but a profound spiritual separation from God because He is holy.

1. Sin separates us from God, He does not take sin lightly. God has forgiven us because Jesus had been forsaken by His father, carrying all of our sins. When we consider the depth of what Jesus went through, do we then continue to cheapen the grace he has given to us? When we think that we can come before God without confession, we are presumptuous and belittling God . Do we just worship with our lips, will we come before God to confess our sins before him? Will we, could we continue to break God's heart through our disobedience. Grace is given to enable us to walk away from our past and start again in a totally new direction. Have you misunderstood the grace that you have received?

2. Jesus remained faithful to the Father's Word even when no one was with him, when no one understood what in the world he was doing, submitting himself to be crucified, when nobody appreciated his sacrifice. Will we be faithful to the task and call that God has given to us when no one understands, when no one thinks the same way?

Questions for Reflection:
1. God has forgiven us and pardoned us from sin. What's our attitude towards sin? Do we belittle God, are we presumptuous when we come into his presence?
2. In trying to be faithful to God, do you feel at times, all alone, abandoned? Remember these times when you were in despair and hurt when no one stood by you? Jesus understands these moments well, he wants to draw close to you. Will you tenaciously hold on the way Jesus held on to his call and mission?

Pray for:
1. Yourself and your relationship with God.
2. People you know who is experiencing these moments of abandonment.
3. Charis' Leaders whom you know struggle to be faithful to the task God has given.

Scripture Reading: Heb 5:7-8

CHRIST POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS 2 COR 12:1-10

Sermon by Prof Lionel Lee: Snippet:

Introduction: When a bulletin is but off target by a few inches at the rifle range, there is no telling how far wrong that bullet can go 10 miles down the road. It is important to be alert to false teachings that may be 95% sound and 5% wrong as it can wreck a congregation. Paul the Apostle, was anxious that the Corinth church be alerted to the insidious teachings that were infiltrating the church.

3 erroneous teachings were:
1. Visions and Revelations v 1-6: the false teachers were boasting of their visions and supernatural spiritual experience. The man he mentioned who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven was probably himself. Yet even though he alluded to it, he spoke of it in the 3rd person and still did not disclose the contents of that encounter with the divine. It was a private encounter to be kept for his own edification, not for public exposure.

• Today there are still many who are quick to authenticate their ministries by prefacing their sharing with "The Lord told me..." and surround themselves with supernatural aura by boasting of their miracles and visions. This parade of spiritual power and spirituality not only puffs up the one who does the boasting, it also harms others in a negative way. Those who hear are inadvertently relegated to being of a different class who never ever have these experiences.

2. Healing v 7-8: Paul never share with his readers what this could possibly have been. But clearly it was a torment. He prayed in earnest for his torment to be taken away 3 times, but the Lord did not answer his prayer. He was able however, to see beyond the thorn that God is working to keep him dependent on God always, rather than upon himself. Today there are many who believe that if the Kingdom of God has truly come, then not only the soul but the body will be made whole. There is also teaching that God does not want anybody to be sick. Here is an instance that Paul shares with us how his prayers for healing were unanswered and he continues to live with that tormenting thorn.

• Today there are still people who deny the face of suffering in the Christian life. Yet the reality is that God, quite often as in the case of Paul, choose not to heal no matter who many times we impose on him in prayer. This sort of teaching leaves behind a trail of despondent wrecks who are told, perhaps you have unconfessed sin, there is a curse in your family etc.

Besides the theology of healing, there is alongside the theology of suffering. Suffering is also an instrument that can bring glory to the Lord. There are some things that will remain unhealed and it behoofs us to follow in the steps of Paul, to go behind the loving purpose of God in allowing the thorn to remain.

3. Success (v 9-10) : The super-apostles led the Corinthians to associate Christian leadership with power and prestige which is inconsistent with the servanthood of Church. Corinth was a buzzing city much like Singapore. It was easy for believers in such environment to succumb to the false teaching that the evidence of God's blessings on faithful believers is success and power in society.

look up to strong men and women and measure them in terms of the visible rewards that they enjoy: high position in society, wealth etc. It is easy to mistake material blessings as a badge of our own spirituality.

J I Packer in his book "Re-discovering Holiness": "Now, you don’t hear a lot from preachers today concerning holiness, repentance and total surrender to God. It’s not because you don’t find a lot of information about these in Scripture. The Bible is loaded with information about these topics.

Most likely, the reason you don’t hear anything about these topics is that it’s not very popular to speak on holiness, repentance and surrendering to God. Sadly, the Christian church today seems to prefer hearing about success and positive feelings, getting health, wealth, freedom from care, good sex and happy families. "

What do Christians preach and teach these days? What do we value in our leaders and teachers? We no longer value their sanctified lives or their holiness but their gifts, skills and resources. If we don't have these things, then our faith is weak, God is not happy with us, we did not pray hard enough, we did not serve him enough etc. In today's church, the fullness of Christ may be demonstrated by achievement of success and wealth. But Paul says, "No." He wanted them to understand this Christian paradox: "For when I am weak, then I am strong." Paul boasts about his weakness that He might talk about the strength that God provides because Jesus is ready to draw near and supply divine strength and grace to help us in our weakness.

I asked God for strength that I might achieve.

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health that I might do greater things.

I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy.

I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.

I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

Written by: Unknown Confederate Soldier, aka The Creed for the Disabled

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

1. Can we tell if a "teaching" is 5% off the mark? Why not? What can you do to grow in wisdom to separate truth from error?
2. What are the measures you use to measure one's spiritual standing? What would Paul say about them in the light of this passage?
3. Do we walk the talk is what authenticates our spiritual lives? Have we been faithfully and intentionally doing that?