Greatest Hits of the OT: Psalm of Lament Psalm 13

Snippet of sermon by of Rev Dr Maggie Low

Lament Psalms are number one in the collection of Psalms as they form the largest number. There are only 30 psalms of praise but there are 40 psalms of lament. We see that the people of God were often bringing their complaints to God. Christians often have this misconception: Good Christians are supposed to praise the Lord all the time, they are not supposed to question God for the things that they do not understand and the unfairness of it all.  When we live this conception, we fail to admit our true feelings and to be honest before God; we end up suppressing or repressing them. The Psalms of Lament shows us how to express our disquiet to God so that we can encounter Him in a deep and personal way. Ps 13 is a good representation of a lament psalm.

This psalm lists 3 things that we often complain about:

1. God  2. Himself  3. Enemies

1. V1: Complain about God. Isn't that an audacious thing to do: to complain about God to His face? Testimony: There was a Church member who met with multiple losses at one time: He lost His job, lost his girl-friend, his mom was diagnosed with cancer and a while later, his dad too. She asked if he had told God how unfair it was for him to go through all these altogether. He shared how fearful he was that he could not utter his complaint about God, “What if God strikes me dead for complaining to God.” To register a complaint is an act of faith because it is in complaining that we recognize God as One who cares and does not forsake us. Because we know He is supposed to protect and defend us, in faith we complain, “it doesn't seem like you Lord.” That helps to keep us clinging on to Him. God recognizes that we are made with emotions, and God cares about our emotions. To be angry and sad are not bad in themselves because that's what makes us human in the face of pain, fear, rejection, loss, abandonment. God cares. If you bring to him your struggles, you will be able to hear him speak. If you do not complain, you are likely to turn away from him.

V2 Complaining about himself. It is ok to tell God our pains and sorrows, our inability to comprehend what's happening in our lives. Illustration: a woman who had been widowed for 10 years but never got over it. When asked if he had brought his mother to a counsellor, the son replied that there was no need. It would be sufficient to just pray and trust God. But God wants us to pour our hearts to him so that he can heal us. Have you been keeping them all inside? Do we believe in God who is empathetic walking side by side with us? We always point to Job as our example, being stoic about his loss, Job 1:21“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” We fail to continue to read and discover how Job began to complain for the next 37  chapters. God was patient with Job, willing to hear him out and it was in this complaining, that he encountered God himself.

V3 Complain about his enemies: Enemy in the singular refers to death here. Foes in v 4b is in the plural referring to friends, colleagues, family members etc. Have you been played out by friends? Abused by a family member? What are you facing at work: backstabbing, people taking credit for the work you do, people accusing you wrongly? Christians also have another misconception that we should forgive and not get angry with our enemies. But immediately we suppress our hurts, get depressed, find ourselves releasing our pent up anger at our family members. It takes time to heal a wound and it is no use simply to put a plaster over a deep wound. We have to squeeze all the infection out of the wound first; be it our anger, our desire for vengeance. The longer they remain inside of us, the more they will fester and create much more damage. We need to release it to God who can heal us. When we turn to the God of justice and leave our hurt with Him, we are ready to be healed.

God gives us permission to complain. He invites us to bring to him our struggles. V 3-4 is the call for help and the Psalmist believes that God can see and answer. “MY God” tells us that this psalm is a personal psalm of lament. Jesus uttered Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” when he hung there on the cross. Between God and us is a committed relationship. God will respond because we are his children. We need to cling to this personal relationship that we have with God.

Even though the front part is filled with complaints, in V 5-6 the Psalmist reveals and affirms his confidence in God. It is through complaining that we truly learn to rely on the character of God. God is/has

1. Khesed: v 5 “I trust in your unfailing love.”  Dr Maggie shared about an old lady that lived in her then husband-to-be’s house. She was destitute when her children make off with her money. Her husband’s family took her in and looked after her till the day she died even though they were not really related. This is a wonderful example of Khesed. That's what God does to us: He takes us in and takes care of us. Unfailing love.

2. I will sing because God has been good (גמל gamal ) to me. His praise of God is based on the character of God. Instead of the usual Hebrew word “tov” the Psalmist used an interesting word in Hebrew: Gamal which means fullness, bountifully, comprehensively, exhaustively. 帮人帮到底 idea.

God cares deeply for us and he has his own timing when it comes to responding. The man mentioned earlier in the sermon did find a job, an excellent girl-friend. His mom came to know the Lord. Although his dad has passed away, he came to know the Lord as well. Previously he was always resistant to the gospel. This is God's Gamal. God invites us to bring our sorrow, our laments to him. Tell him about your enemies, because he is your personal God. Look at his character, hang on to God's goodness which will surface in his own time. Truly live for God, listen to Him. Walk that path towards God.

REFLECTION EXERCISE

1.     Are you worried because life is unfair? Have you been betrayed by friends? Are you angry with your circumstances? Simply be honest with him, take these things to him in prayer.

2.     Ask the Lord to help you see his unfailing love (Khesed) and his goodness (Gamal).

Greatest Hits of the Old Testament Psalm 103: Psalm of Praise

Snippet of Sermon by Dr Andrew Peh

Ps 103 is sometimes known as the Mount Everest of the Psalm of Praise.

We are a forgetful people. Devise ways not to forget people: naming places, building monuments after them. How are we do? With all the gizmos that we hv, have we become smarter. We are dependent on them. Object that should rightly serve us becomes that which we are enslaved to. UMH 66 Praise My Soul O King of Heaven.

Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven; To His feet thy tribute bring. Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, Evermore His praises sing: Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise the everlasting King. Praise Him for His grace and favor To our fathers in distress. Praise Him still the same as ever, Slow to chide, and swift to bless. Alleluia! Alleluia! Glorious in His faithfulness. Father-like He tends and spares us; Well our feeble frame He knows. In His hands He gently bears us,

Rescues us from all our foes. Alleluia! Alleluia! Widely yet His mercy flows. Frail as summer’s flower we flourish, Blows the wind and it is gone; But while mortals rise and perish Our God lives unchanging on, Praise Him, Praise Him, Hallelujah Praise the High Eternal One! Angels, help us to adore Him; Ye behold Him face to face; Sun and moon, bow down before Him, Dwellers all in time and space. Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise with us the God of grace.

This Psalm is attributed to King David. It is one of the best loved Psalms. Henry Francis Lyte wrote it in 1834 based on this Psalm. As the stanzas move along, we can see how the Psalmist praises the Lord. Note the expansive pattern in this Psalm of Praise:

·        V1-5 His personal praise.  Individual ·        6-18 He enjoins his people, the community of God to praise. Communal ·        V19-22 The whole of creation. Global

http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/5Kernels.html

The Pilgrim Fathers who landed at Plymouth Rock nearly 400 years ago knew nothing of the affluent times which you and I enjoy today in this great country of ours.  The next time you and I are tempted to complain about inflation and the state of our economy, remember the following:

During that first long winter at Plymouth Colony, seven times as many graves were made for the dead as homes for the living. The ship which was to bring food and relief brought 35 more mouths to feed, but not an ounce of provisions.  Touching indeed is the picture of William Brewster, rising from a scanty Plymouth dinner, consisting of a plate of clams and a glass of cold water, to thank God “for the abundance of the sea and the treasures hid in the sand.”

The Pilgrims didn’t have much, but they possessed a great gratitude and it was upon this very thing that America was built. These stalwart people, strong, devout and sincere were the timbers upon which our nation was founded.  

For many of those first thanksgivings they had a custom of putting 5 kernels of corn upon each empty plate before dinner was served. Each member of the family would pick up a kernel and tell what they were thankful for. It was to remind them that the very first Pilgrims were in such dire straits that their allowance was only 5 kernels of corn per person each day.  In the 5 grains of corn we can remember 5 things to praise God for using Psalm 103:1-5.

1. The Kernel of Forgiveness

Verse 3a: “…who forgiveth all thine iniquities…”

From the depths of our hearts, a sense of gratitude should well up.  We don’t deserve forgiveness, but He gives it to us anyway.

2. The Kernel of Redemption

Verse 4a: “…who redeemeth thy life from destruction…”

The Lord not only saved our souls from hell, but He also redeems our lives from the clutches of the devil. Satan is bent on damning our souls and destroying our lives. But thanks be to God who redeems our lives from Satan’s power. All one has to do is take a look at our penitentiaries,

3. The Kernel of Healing

Verse 3b: “…who healeth all thy diseases…”

Just as surely as some disorders of the body can be cured by medicines and surgery, so the soul of man can be cleansed, purged and purified—and made whole when God the Holy Spirit is allowed to possess us completely.

4. The Kernel of Love and Compassion*

Verse 4b: “…crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies…”

The loving kindness and tender mercies of the Lord accompany our lives every day.

5. The Kernel of Satisfaction and Renewal*

Verse 5: “…who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” When we seek God’s righteousness, He grants it. But that’s not the end. Verse 5 also says that God will renew our youth like the eagle’s. I am constantly being renewed, refreshed, and revived in my soul and God is doing it all!

No wonder then that the Psalmist said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” 

In 1 Sam 7:12 it was recorded for us how the Lord gave Israel victory over the Philistines. “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.””  Pastor Andrew’s friend decided to make it a point to raise an Ebenezer to recount how the Lord has journeyed with him. Ebenezer means Stone of Help in Hebrew. Before long, he had a rock garden in his room.

Many of us need a spiritual audit to take stock of the many things we have taken for granted. A neuro-theologian shared his research on how the brain works: our brains shut down when we rest and it takes 800 000 connections that will help us recall yesterday when we wake up. That’s transparent to us but it works every morning. Last week, we learned that God is the Divine Insomniac that watches over us, not so much that he cannot sleep but because he will not sleep. Isn't that something that we can give thanks for? Do we take our family and friends for granted? Do we cherish them to spend time with and be spent for them? These are tangible ways of being thankful.

Forget not all his benefits. It is a natural thing to break out in praises. William Law wrote, “Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world: It is not he who prays most or fasts most, it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it.”

Reflection Exercise:

1.     Do you have a heart ready to thank God? When have you asked for grace to see God in the best and the worst that life has to offer?

2.     Do a spiritual audit account for some blessing that the Lord has given you in the past week. Remember not to forget his benefits.

GREATEST HITS OF THE OT : Psalm 121 (A psalm of Ascent) With God through time

Sermon Snippet by Dr Mark Chan

What are some metaphors used to describe time?

1.     Carousel: History is a never ending cycle doesn't sit well with our experience.

2.     Arrow: Time is like an arrow propelled forward, it has direction and is going somewhere. This model turns history into deterministic force. We are constantly making adjustments to the number of possibilities before us. They call to us and we make the adjustments to take into the future.

3.     Journey: Time history or life is a journey en route to a land that God has called us to. We turn our backs to something and move on to something else. This sense of time, marching on and hurrying along, becomes more acute as we grow older. History is not a succession of meaningless episodes. God is the Lord of time and history is the arena in which God moves. Time is the platform on which God acts. What is God doing?

·       PAST: How should we respond to the past? We are to discern the sovereign hand of God in our lives. We are where we are today because of the grace of God. God has been very good and has given much. Dine so much. All those seeming solo encounters. He had orchestrated all the events in your lives to make you the person that you are. While there are also days of disappointment and failure, when we put the good and bad together, overwhelmingly the good overrides the bad. Joy is quenched when we focus on

a.     the one thing that went wrong and forget the many things that went right.

b.     what we do not have and forget what we already have.

The ability to jump out of bed and see what's around you is not accidental but a gift from God. But one failure can loom so large as to blanket out all of God's blessings. We have life and breath and every step we take is taken in mercy, in the atmosphere of grace. The past cannot be changed but can only be transformed/transfigured. There is no reverse gear in time. History is irreversible. Words hastily spoken cannot be retrieved. The Apostle Peter could not go back in time and choose not to betray Jesus.  Judas was painfully conscious that there was nothing he could do to change the past. But unlike Peter, Judas could not deal with this failing past and he allowed it to overwhelm him and choke the life out of him. Pioneers of the future are prisoners of the past who allow their pasts to be transformed to become a platform of the future. Gospel is about turning mistakes into the possibilities of the future, forgiveness, relief from the mistakes of the past.

Reflection Questions:

Which memories need to be brought to the Lord for transformation and healing?

·       FUTURE: Brace ourselves for the future time platform on which God acts, how then shall we live? Cultivate a spirit of curiosity like children constantly asking questions. What are you teaching me? What is God telling us? Some of us stay perpetually in a state of apathy born out of failure or apathy born of achievement. “I've been there and done that. Now we’ll just cruise along.” Apathy that comes out of learning from the past, being open to all the exciting possibilities that God has in store for us.

Law of entropy: Just as marriages will not cruise along if left to their own devices will also die over time, it is the same with the Spiritual life. We need to take active step to nourish it. Unless new energy is pumped in, it will wilt. Just like the way we look after our physical health, paying loads of money to check our cholesterol level etc., have we done a spiritual check-up? Have we grown too big for God? Cultivate a holy curiosity about God. Commit yourself to the exciting possibilities that God has in store for us.

Reflection Questions:

a.     What is this new thing that I am learning? What do I need to pay attention to what God has done and is doing? What is he asking me to do to partner him in the work that he has in mind.

b.     What must I do to relinquish control over my life? We cannot change the past but God is not done with us yet. Use that as a launching pad to the things God wants to do. Plan no surprises. Ask God to surprise us, relinquish control.

c.      Are you prepared to say, “Whatever it is, I believe you have my best interest at heart and I will trust you.”? Is this a risky step? Trust God in the present.

·       PRESENT: About the God who follows us in the present. Trust God in the unexplored future. As the pilgrims go up to Mt Zion singing this psalm, they were singing in the abstract. Along that journey, the Psalm gives us assurance. From a distance, pilgrims could see the end but in between, there are still some hazardous parts to conquer. They may be accosted by bandits, suffer exposure to the sun. . a long way more to go, Psalmist reminds us of God's presence. Journey is still ahead, still have dangers. Exposure to the burning suns, post guard for protection, our diviner body guard. Divine protector. Hills: places where pagan deities thrive.... Looking to alternate gods. Financial markets etc. our help do not come from other sources but from Yahweh Covenantal God. What is he like?

·       Close at hand, He will not let your foot slip. He promised to be there in an instance. Quick as lightning, catching us when we fall. It is so easy to take a wrong step so this is very comforting.

·       Our God will not ever sleep. We can rest in peace and go to bed without worries because the Divine Sentry is watching over us. He doesn't go off duty as long as we are on the journey. Human sentries will sleep, but God will not. The early American Indians had a unique practice of training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and the tribe. But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and he was terrified! Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night long. (Our Daily Bread, October 1995) In the same way God protects us from the heat of pressure. He protects us from danger on the outside: conniving colleagues in our office, crazy people who detonates bombs... Yet He protects us from the inside too. Not just physical internal viruses that destroy the body but those insidious desires, wickedness, from ourselves not just from others. He protects us from that which destroys the way we think, generating unholy thoughts, from insinuations from the devils, from evil tendencies that fester in our spirit from time to time.

Just as the pilgrims were invited to worship the pagan gods that they met on the journey, we will also experience the invitation to worship other gods: to trust our educational abilities. Should we heed these calls?

This psalm is for people on a journey. It is not something abstract. All of us are on the journey: some into a new job, becoming a father or mother... for others, it is a journey to a scary place, to unemployment, a new opening, new relationships, journey into the unknown, the cancer ward, a failure in examination.

Reflection Question:

a.      Where are you on the journey? Are you poised for an unknown situation? What keeps you from trusting in the Lord?

b.     What are some of the competing voices calling out to us to put our trust in them?

Life is not a colorful carousel... it is not a cycle of fatalistic journeys coming out of the past and rolling into the future. We need a holy curiosity to further the agenda of God. Can I trust and look out for the lessons to be learnt? Can I look forward to the new and exciting things that God has in store for me? Can I trust that He will continue to do great things for us, mindful that God has a great future for us?  

Trust in this God who watches over us, Be faithful to One who is faithful. He is at work in our life. What will our God do with you, for you to you?

I recommend this lovely song by Cliff Richard The Faithful One

THE GREATEST HITS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT (Ep 5:19; Col 3:16; James 5: 13)

Snippet of Sermon by Rev Tan-Yeo Lay Suan 

HYMN BOOK

Why are we taking time to look at the Psalms, this "book of praises"? Many of us are familiar with the modern worship songs. Why bother with an old collection of praises? We are exploring the Psalms for the next few weeks because I hope we can nurture still further our responses to God in worship. There are so many ways to respond to God found in the Psalms that we haven’t really explored in our lives.

The whole collection is put under the heading of praise. But what exactly does praise mean? Often we equate it with thanksgiving, but while this is part of praise, it is not the first or most important part. “The dead do not praise the Lord, all those gone down into silence” (Psalm 115:17). Death is characterized by lack of praise; on the other hand, life manifests itself in praise. When we pass from death to life in placing our trust in Jesus Christ, we have passed from a life of praise-lessness to one that is continually filled with praise. There cannot be true life with God without praising him. Praising God and being a living creature belong together in the Bible. Praise is an act of religious memory; we are from God and en route (on the way) to God. It is a corrective to pride and arrogance, because it helps us to remember that we depend on God and are God’s creatures.

Is praise unnatural for you? You feel you almost have to force it out of you? Have you wondered why? Around the 2nd century, A.D., Claudius Ptolemaeus espoused a model to explain the motions of the heavens. In what was after that known as the Ptolemaic system, the Earth was the center of the Universe and all other celestial bodies (the stars, the sun) revolved around it in concentric circles. This Geocentric model was accepted for over 1000 years by the vast majority of Europeans to be the correct cosmological model. This understanding came to form the basis for a very important spiritual belief—that humans were at the center of the Universe! But in 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus revealed this primordial error and proved that, in fact, the Earth was not stationary—it was only one planet circling around one of billions of stars. His discoveries were the keys that unlocked the mathematics of the Universe, and the Copernican Revolution was born. The people of the time were not excited about his discovery. Earth no longer held a preferred place in the cosmos, and as a result, neither did humanity. Man’s ego took a bashing with the revelation shared by Copernicus.

This is the same with us in our relationship with God. Previously, before we paid attention to God, all of life revolved around us… what we thought up, what we built, we attributed all them to ourselves. “白手起家”But when our attention is drawn to Jesus Christ, a “Copernican Revolution” sort of re-orientation took place. We begin to reckon with a God who claims the central place in our lives. All our successes we can no longer be attributed to our hard work and efforts but gifts from the Lord, the Giver.

 When our praises are scarce, perhaps we have not really come to see God as the centre of our lives… we have difficulty taking our place among all that exists around us, with the rest of creation as totally dependent on God for all things.
Reflection Question: Does that explain your lack of praise or participation in praise? Is our God, the source and root of all your life? Where is God vis-à-vis everything else in your life? Where are you in the practice of praise?

As we praise continually, our identities as the created ones, dependent on God for all of our lives will be repeatedly affirmed in us. That will open our eyes to the many gifts of God that remain invisible to us for so long.

PRAYER BOOK

The Psalms take our human life, in all its dimensions, very seriously. And in this book of praise are many sung prayers, full of “heart” and full of feeling. They are born out of the everyday interactions of our lives, in our deeply felt blessings and joys and our deeply suffered pains and hurts. There are approximately 50 psalms that are cries of pain. It is a type of prayer with which we are not very familiar and are not comfortable. But it is a thoroughly biblical form of prayer, occurring in both the Old and New Testaments. We learn from the Psalmist the language of faith seeking answers to heartfelt questions: “Why?” (Psalm 10:1) and “How long?” (Psalm 13:2). These imply, “I do not understand what is happening” and “I cannot hold on much longer!” for the afflictions which all of us can identify with: sickness (Psalm 6:3), danger and mistreatment by others (Psalm 6:8), loneliness and alienation (Psalm 31:12), shame and humiliation (Psalm 4:3), old age (Psalm 71:9) and death (Psalm 28:1).

Many of us become fearful of expressing our doubts about God. We almost feel that we need to dress up our raw emotions before we unleash them (let them loose) before the Lord. But the Psalmists show us that God is not troubled about those emotions as we are. In many of these Psalms, we find the Psalmists coming to wrestle with God, to argue with the Lord. A large number of them also show us how their thoughts turned at some point to a place of rest where their hearts and minds are finally submissive and receptive to what God would bring to pass, even if it is completely different from what they had wanted. As they waited on the Lord in prayer and opened their hearts to his will, they were able to gain strength, find the resource to backtrack, to return, etc. The pain is in our lives because of the misalignment between our goals and God’s purposes. It takes that wrestling, sorting out with the Lord till we are aligned with His will that brings rest.

Reflection Question: Where do you go when you are disorientation due to your afflictions? What is our recourse for the experience of a gaping lack/hole in our lives?  Do we leave the church, curl us somewhere with our unresolved anger, our existing doubts, etc.?

The Psalmist points us to the way: We need to return to the One who is able to re-orientate us. God is not afraid of you coming to wrestle with him. Where are you in the practice of prayer? Nothing in our experience is foreign to our God, or too confusing and conflicting for Him.

CONCLUSION

All our experiences in life cannot be separated from experiences of joy and sorrow and in the Psalms we have a rich resource. In it we find resources to

·         give praise for God’s ongoing and gracious care in our lives—orientation.
·         Express our need when our lives take a turn for the worse
·         Express our thanksgiving when we experience God’s deliverance and help.

Putting God at the centre is not just a personal pursuit, but the responsibility of the community. Aligning ourselves to God’s purpose and call is not just a personal assignment but the responsibility of the community. It is our individual experiences of praise that feed the communal praise on Sundays. It is our individual experiences of prayer that contribute to the communal plea at our prayer meetings.

Reflection Question: How are we doing individually in the praising the Lord? How are we doing individually in praying to the Lord? How are we doing communally?

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[1] **From her earliest childhood years writing simple songs and poems with her father, through her twelve years as an overseas missionary, to her present, multi-faceted career as an author, lyricist/songwriter and conference speaker, Mary has always been adept at using words to communicate her heart to others. She is the President of CQK Records & Music of Dallas, Texas, a company which creates and produces songs in a panorama of musical styles for a variety of audiences, She is the host of "I Write the Songs," a nationally syndicated radio talk show, especially created to inspire and instruct the more than 40 million aspiring songwriters in the U.S. Mary is a frequent public speaker and seminar lecturer and teacher of songwriting in her popular Living Room Seminars. She is a Contributing Editor for The Internet Writing Journal ^®. You can visit her website at: www.cqkmusic.com. You can reach Mary by email.

PARENTS & THE SACRED WALLS OF PROTECTION

Snippet of sermon by Rev Tan-Yeo Lay Suan

INTRODUCTION

Posted on 11 Sep 2011 Kiasu mums now tag along on dates and even follow kids to parties.

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/758350/would_you_mums_tag_along_on_dates_and_bring_kids_to_thai.html

This is some mothers’ attempt to keep watch, to be around, to be available, to guide. Biblical values such as

1.     Virginity until marriage

2.     celibacy in the single life

3.     faithfulness during marriage

We want to affirm that the biblical standards of morality are universal and timeless. They are applicable to all generations, to all societies, and to all subcultures. They apply to New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, and your community just as much as they applied to biblical Corinth and Rome.

SERMON PROPER

Our text takes us to the time of the exile in the life of Israel. It has been twelve years since  the reformation under Ezra, and the coming of Nehemiah. It brings us to the con­tinuation of the work commenced by Zerubbabel in the matter of the rebuilding of the wall in Jerusalem. It is intensely interesting, because in large measure it is autobio­graphical. Nehemiah tells his own story, with a freshness, and a vigour and transparent honesty which are full of charm. He had news about Jerusalem and was burdened by the thought of the ruins lying where exiles were beginning to make home. He carried his burden in prayer and the Lord answered him by opening a door of opportunity to go and complete the defense for the returning exiles.

Nehemiah and his men are engaged in a serious work. In fact, the future of Jerusalem and of Israel itself depends on the successful completion of their project. As they labor, they provide a valuable illustration for the church that must stand fast to God’s calling to be a holy people, a people belonging to God to declare …. Into his marvellous light.

If only that were true of the church. Carroll, Web Editor for Juicy Magazine, offered the following comments when interviewed for this article, "Christian is just a title. The belief system, morals, values, and responsibility that come with that title isn't always practiced the way it is taught. Religion doesn't stop "Christians" or anyone else from answering to their flesh, it a real deal relationship with whatever higher power you answer to, that weighs in on the decisions people make." “Christians do not have a special immunity to these lusts and temptations.” We know Christians who were the ones to have caused breakdowns in their marriages and that of others… Rev. Michael Robinson, M.S. a News Journalist and Christian Relationship Counselor made these observations: “When church members and pastors commit adultery (e.g., sex with a partner, other than one’s spouse) and fornication (e.g., sex before marriage) – sexual immorality - this inappropriate behavior violates and erodes the spiritual faith and trust that people fervently want to ascribe to the Christian church body. Once people lose trust in the church body and God, valuable spiritual capital is squandered. The anathematic behavior of sexual immorality can create chaos, confusion, infidelity and hedonism within a church congregation.”[1] But worse still, the light on the hill (Our witness) is compromised, it’s darkened. No one can see it like before. It is easy to go away saying, it’s just my own failure… nothing to do with the church. But we never only represent ourselves when we are in Christ.

Reflection Question

1.     What have our friends and family members said when they meet with unrepentant couples, living together unmarried, cohabitating? What spiritual capital is being squandered?

Part of the brokenness in our witness is sexual immorality in the church. It needs to be attended to not just by individuals, but all of us as Nehemiah demonstrates in his task. From the mission of Nehemiah, we learn the importance of building sacred walls. Nehemiah gave the people in Jerusalem the challenge to rise up and rebuild the walls. Each family was to rebuild the wall closest to his home. Everyone was to help with wall building. From Eliashib the High Priest to the merchant, goldsmith and countrymen all were assigned a place to work. No one was too good not to work.

Nehemiah demonstrates how important it is that everyone should begin over against his own house.

Reflection Question:

2.     Is there a piece of ruined wall in my household, my own neighbourhood? What would it take for you to arise and repair it?

The community of faith, the community at large, need to see that it is possible to live against the flow. It is possible to stay pure as an individual, as a household. What would some of the restoration work that we need to do?

1.     THE WALLS OF PRAYER: In the Bible, we read about Job and how he would pray for his children. Job 1:4-5: “4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.”  He was concerned that during these feasts, the children may have offended the Lord in their drunkenness… in case they sinned while they were partying. Are you worried about the young people that you have influence over? Sometimes we have lots to say to them, but we never remember to pray for them to the Lord.

2.     THE WALLS OF PROTECTION: If parents work together, there is one thing they can control: the home environment. How can you improve the protection for those who are impressionable at home? Think of the forms of entertainment that you make available to your children and youths who come visiting your home? What other alternatives can you provide?

Learn from each other about the current fad/interest that captures the attention of our young people. Be that winsome adult that keeps a look-out for your neighbour’s children. You may just be the person to persuade, dissuade, successfully the child/young person who is no longer open to the counsel of his/her parents. Who can you be that winsome adult to?

3.     THE WALLS OF GODLY WISDOM: For most children sex is a taboo subject about which they receive little accurate information, especially from their parents." “Parents, in [the educators’] view, have simply not done their job to protect their children, fail to affirm their sexuality, and even discuss sexuality in a context of moralizing, so we need ‘professionals’ to do it right. Parents in trying.” The answer? Instead of simple information, our programs have turned into full-blown sexual instruction for youth! It covers, in detail, sexual desire, AIDS, divorce, condoms, masturbation and much more. Yet it nearly excludes any mention of abstinence, marriage, self-control and virginity. They are actually promoting sex to children. The reasons for avoiding premarital sex have been minimized or removed. Many believe that telling children not to have sex is naïve and that we must provide any and all information to prepare them for WHEN—not if—they have sex. Sex education has been broken since its inception and—like many things in our culture—we blindly follow it, never asking any questions. But sexual instruction is one part in a system that turns an innocent young mind into a lusting sexual being.

In addition, children of varying ages are taught to be tolerant of all forms of sexual expression. Worse yet, teens and even small children are being exposed to alternative lifestyles without even parental knowledge. Under the banner of tolerance, parents have been removed from teaching their children and establishing proper morals. The seeds of tolerance and mass information have not helped children to make better—healthier—choices about their lives and futures? While this may have been the original goal, the system has been hijacked and the goals perverted.  

How can the church take on this role to teach our young people and children the biblical principles regarding this aspect of life?

Let us educate them by watching over our own lives, our choices, the part that we have been assigned to build. There is so much that the church can do to demonstrate the blessedness of following God’s instructions about this part of life. A clear message from one family is nothing compared to the onslaught of immoral messages our children receive in a day. But if every home and family represented in church can sound the same message, children will learn the powerful bond that sex within marriage creates.

4.     THE WALLS OF MUTUAL ENCOURAGEMENT: An officer on the battlefield aimed his cannon toward what he thought was the distant enemy. Just before he fired, the commander, looking through his field glasses, shouted, "Your aim seems perfect, but stop! They are not the enemy; they are our own people." Not all of us are wise all the time knowing what to do that will be in the best interest for our young people. It is easy to criticize this parent or that parent for it. Did you ever think that when you aim criticism at God's people so thoughtlessly, you are actually aiming your cannon at the Lord of your brethren? Rather, be empathetic, particularly to those who tries but are crestfallen when all their best efforts appear to go down the drain. Be there to encourage, be there to strengthen the weak knees and the drooping hands.  

5.     UTILIZE THE WEAPONRY THAT WE HAVE AT HAND TO SPEAK UP, OBJECT, MAKING KNOWN OUR CONCERN OVER PROGRAMS THAT ARE INTRODUCED COMMUNALLY. Speak up against pornography and promiscuity. Speak up for the beauty of sex as God intended. E.g. The basic instructor's guide for CSE (Comprehensive Sexuality Education) run by Aware (in the year 2009[2]) 2 years ago in our schools as part of the school curriculum to teach children about sex.  Concerned parents acted to sound the alarm to protest against it as it contained lines which condoned homosexuality and stated that anal sex was 'healthy' if consensual and done with a condom. Think of the latest forum protest about a giant size advertisement plastered on a building, using almost entirely one side of the Cathay building for display.

Denis Distant Denis' Protest against Offensive Ad wrote to protest against the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore and the owners of the building who did not have the muscle or the moral will to remove the advertisement (Published on Oct 1, 2011). Some of us are purposely placed by the Lord to make decisions of this nature to guard the hearts and minds of society. What would the Lord require of you in the face of glaring indecency?

CONCLUSION

Years ago, Theodore Roosevelt noted, "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood; . . . and who, . . . if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Where do you see yourself in this picture? Is your face marred with dust and sweat and blood for daring to come forward to do something to erect the walls and be standing tall?  Are you being pelted by unfair criticism as you are serving Christ by raising alarm bells in the church community? If so, keep on going and God will reward your efforts. Or do you recognize yourself as one who tends to be critical of others? If so, it's time to quit the demolition team and join the construction crew. — Haddon W. Robinson (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Let all of us come with a fresh commitment to get our hands dirty to help erect the sacred walls for our young people.

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[1] http://www.thechurchreport.com/index.cfm?objectID=138221

[2] http://www.we-are-aware.sg/2009/05/07/chronology/