Advent Series: Secret Revealed (Rom 16:25-27)

Snippet of sermon by Rev Tan-Yeo Lay Suan

This morning this last paragraph in our text is a doxology. The word “doxology” comes from two Greek words: “doxa” which means glory and “logos” which means word. A doxology is a word of glory. Paul wants to wrap up his letter by offering up a word of glory to God and not to himself. To glorify something is to draw attention to it or to shine the light on the wonder of something. He shines a spotlight on God and the gospel.

How does God get glorified? How Does God Seek His Glory? First, I want you to notice how God goes about getting glory. Many Rulers Have Other Ideas About Getting Glory. Many have sought it through their power, riches, wisdom, and influence. They have done so at the expense of others. They do it by keeping their people poor, uneducated, and powerless. Many attempt to gain power, influence, glory by keeping others just a bit beneath them and they will use anything to do it: race, gender, politics, wealth, health, where you live or even what kind of car you drive

There are an infinite number of good ways Paul could have given glory to God. He could have listed the attributes of God. Yet here at the end of the letter to the Romans, he decided to takes a different tack.

·       Paul writes that God seeks His glory by making His children strong! He is able to establish you in accordance with the gospel, Isn't that great?! God plans, purposes, and commits all the resources of heaven itself and the holy Trinity to make His children strong in the faith. . But when Paul speaks of our being established, he means putting us on solid, stable ground so that nothing gets to you, or shakes you up, or throws you off balance.

Reflection Question:

·       What usually shakes you up and throws you off balance in your Christian faith and witness? Have you ever had the desire to be established?

·       How may you allow God’s dynamite to work in your life?

This is the goal of all Christian teaching in the New Testament (and especially the goal of the letter to the Romans) that we believers might be brought to that place of security where we are not shaken by things. God seeks His glory by making His people strong. Interestingly, Paul uses the word “dynamite” describing vividly the sort of power that we are connected to when we trusted in the gospel.

It is God himself who is responsible for this through the dynamite of His power. God did that with Abraham, who was an idol worshiper. Abraham could not tell the truth about his wife. He was always lying about her because he thought that would save him from difficulty. He had various character faults but God stabilized him, established him, and brought him to a place where he became one of the great names of all time. God did this with Moses and David and, of course, with Paul himself. God broke him, softened him, changed him and put him through circumstances that Paul did not understand at the time. This finally established him, so that no matter what came, he remained strong, steady, trusting and certain. That is the great good news of this letter. "Now to him who is able to establish you..."

·       God is glorified by creating in believer's hearts that desire to obey Him (v 27)

This gospel has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith. This is the goal of our faith: to bring glory to God by obeying Him from faith. Real faith in Jesus Christ produces obedience and obedient lives make God look glorious. That's what Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Here's the purpose of God strengthening us. To make us obedient by giving us hearts that believe He is worthy of our allegiance. By His word and the present help of His Spirit we now can obey Him.  When we get saved we're not only acquitted by grace we are also transformed by grace. Grace not only forgives us it changes our hearts. It changes what we value, cherish, prize and treasure up in our hearts. This is the word of God's promise in Ezekiel. He says,

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone (hard and unresponsive) and give you a heart of flesh ( living and pliable) I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." The reality of justifying faith is made manifest through the changes God has made in us in Christ.

Reflection Questions:

·       Have you glorified God through the obedience that comes from faith, confidence and trust in Him? How can you begin to obey more consistently? Which area should you begin with?

 ·       The third way God is glorified here is when all nations believe and obey him through the faithful proclamation/revelation of the secret that has been concealed for a long time.

You can hear echoes of chapter one, where Paul said that he was "set apart for the gospel which He promised beforehand through the revelation of His prophets in the Scriptures concerning His Son Jesus.”  This gospel did not begin with the coming of Jesus. It had its origins in the promise of God or command of God in eternity past. God promised the coming of Jesus as early as Gen.3:15 when God told Eve that a child of a woman would prevail over the enemy of our souls. He said, the serpent will "bruise His heal but He will crush his head."

Illustration: Have you played the game Reversi before? Reversi (also marketed by Pressman under the trade name Othello) is a board game involving abstract strategy and played by two players on a board with 8 rows and 8 columns and a set of distinct pieces for each side. Pieces typically are disks with a light and a dark face, each face belonging to one player. The player's goal is to have a majority of their colored pieces showing at the end of the game, turning over as many of their opponent's pieces as possible. The player with the most pieces on the board at the end of the game wins.

Imagine the world is the Reversi board. It appears that God’s world is going to be completely reversed, the dark pieces overcoming the light pieces. That’s how some of us are thinking that perhaps God has gone on tea-break leaving the world to drive itself to the ground. But the doxology lifts our heart upwards to sound the fact that the game is not over. Adam and Eve had made the wrong move but it will not ruin God’s plan forever. When we read the Old Testament you find men and women puzzled as to how God was going to put together all its great promises and themes. There is the promise of the restoration of Israel. There is the promise of the forgiveness of an individual's sins. There is the mighty promise of the healing of the nations and the cessation of war. Then it began to unfold. Jesus came. He was the secret. He would be the one who would bring to pass all the tremendous promises and themes of the Old Testament. That is what Paul means when he says that the mystery was "hidden for long ages past, but now revealed."

 And these promises are for ALL nations not just Israel. It’s not an “Ang Moh” faith. The secret that needs to be revealed is that the gospel promises are meant for all who believe in Jesus for there is no distinction for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That is the mystery, the secret that we must begin to share.  Paul in his doxology reveals that God intends to add to his battle strategy, all the other nations and races. He intends to unite both Jews and Gentiles into one body. All that God is, wrapped up in a Person and given to you and to me -- the only hope we have of ever discovering the glory that God intended for us as human beings: Christ in you, the hope of glory. The subversive element is planted in each person when they respond to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the radical, powerful secret of authentic Christianity: Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Reflection Questions

·       Do you know that mystery? Do you know it, not only in your mind, but do you live it? Picture our lives as a reverse game board. What would it look like? The Holy Spirit works in us to establish us, turning our sinful selves on their heads.

·       Are you actively cooperating with the Spirit in obedience to the gospel, living out the change that Jesus has been sent into the world to effect? It is the knowledge of it and the living of it that turns Christianity into an exciting adventure. It may be demanding, it may even be scary, but I can guarantee you one thing: It will never be boring, because the mystery is at work.

·       God is glorified when all the Gentiles come to the obedience that comes from faith in the gospel. There is this global, cosmic aspect that will bring the glory of God to a crescendo. The present creation, which began at the beginning of the heavens and the earth, has long since grown old and is passing away. But gradually through the centuries God has been building up a new generation, a new race of beings, a new kind of man which the world has never seen before---better even than Adam. But he has had a goal and a purpose in mind that he intends to fulfill, and the instrument by which he is doing it is the Church. This is something we can never fully grasp, but it involves the education of the whole universe.  

Reflection Question

·       What can you do to be part of this new race that can be involved in the education of the whole universe about the ways of God?

CONCLUSION

Do not lose sight of what God is doing. The world cannot see it. It has no idea what is taking place. But you know, and you can see it, so do not lose heart.

Advent Series: Apostolic Instruction (I Thess 5:16-24)

Snippet of sermon by Rev Helen Hoe

Background : Paul was in prison but he was able to continue his work. He wanted to get the good news out to the people. When we talk about being strengthened and reach out, we need to begin rebuilding our inner life in 3 aspects:

1. Cultivate a heart of Thanksgiving: 1 Tim 6:17The Love of money is the root of all evil. Things of God will pale in comparison when we cherish this love. We do not want to join the world in our grumblings. While complaining makes us feel better in that it enables us to get our frustrations out, it also giving the devil a foothold to spread discontent and discord. Psalm 77:3 talks about growing seeds of bitterness in each others' lives. Choose rather to cultivate a heart of thanksgiving. While it is true that it is alright to complain to God (psalm of lament), something happens inside us when we give thanks. We need to build that tank of resource: giving thanks. Do we compartmentalize our life or is the Lord the Lord of all aspects of our life? Build that tank of resource. Problem: our daily routine our priorities shifted to look like that of the world. We are to pray without ceasing. We must practise keeping that posture of prayer throughout the day. Many of us discontinue our conversation with God when we close our Bibles after our quiet times.

2. Grow in Discernment: When we lift our hearts to God, we become alert to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophesizing (i.e. declaring the mind of God in the power of the spirit). We must learn to test everything, even the prophecies. Be mindful that we can be so  sincerely wrong. It is possible to find someone sharing in all earnestness, yet what he shares does not gel with the Bible. The Bereans Acts 17:11 searched the scriptures daily to check things out  especially the conflicting views about God's will. We need to grow in our discernment.

3. Rest in God's Promise. 1 Thess 5:23-24 God is able to minister to our whole being. Until we reach the end point: the coming of the Lord, we look forward to God's kingdom come. Our lives need to tell a different story.     

Reflection Questions
1. Have we allowed the seeds of bitterness to grow in our lives? What can you this Advent, to grow the resource  of thanksgiving.

2. What would you say about your alertness to the Holy Spirit? Do you run what you hear from prophets through the scriptures to check things out? What would the issue be?

3. What is one promise that I desperately need to stand firm till the coming of Christ?

Advent Series: Taking the Long View - 2 Peter 3:8-15a

Snippet of sermon by Rev Tan-Yeo

INTRODUCTION
The media has gone wild over the 2012 craze. This Mayan calendar thing has almost eclipsed the relevance of the Second Coming of Jesus. Are the two events one and the same? Is it possible that the Lord Jesus will use December 21, 2012 as the date of his return to the earth? All speculation is vain, but there are some very important Bible facts that have not changed, even though many are, even as we speak, throwing out any and all Bible beliefs, and swallowing hook line and sinker all the Mayan Myths. Nostradamus, Church prophets, New Age Humanists, New World Order followers, and all the internet websites in the world cannot change the validity of the Bible.

This letter, 2 Peter, was written to young believers to rescue them from spiritual disaster. The seductive influence of new and forceful teachers in the congregations was already destabilizing the faithful. They were attracting a following that was growing with high-sounding promises to bring believers to a hitherto unknown “freedom of experience (2:19). It was Peter’s intention to expose the false teachers and also to alert the congregations about guarding against error less they are deceived from the truth. Today in our text, the Apostle Peter shifts his attention from false teachers (which were in the previous chapter) to Christians in the community. Generations of believers have found in the eternal God alone a true refuge and satisfying dwelling place. By contrast, the new teachers are entirely content with the world as their home, and look for no other. This is because they do not know the Lord, either in his compassion or in his justice.

SERMON PROPER

THE LORD’S COMPASSION: Many times when coming to parts of scripture like this one here, I would not be thinking God’s compassion. When he comes and he presses the red button “delete”, I think of the people who will be left out. BUT again Peter reminds his readers that there is something they must keep in mind when thinking of the parousia of Christ. In vv. 8-9 Peter recall to them the nature of God as different from men. Time and Eternity are two quite different entities, and since God is eternal and man finite, they look at time in different ways. The quote is from Psalm 90:4 where man is pictured as "numbering his days" while God is "from everlasting to everlasting." In eternity there is no time, i.e. past or future, but only the present. Thus "time" and "delay" are virtually meaningless to God, and man must learn to adjust to that. This should help us greatly in facing the centuries that have passed since New Testament times.

3:9 LONGSUFFERING TOWARD US: Moreover Peter was anxious to reverse his opponents who insisted that the seeming delay in the parousia is proof that God is untrustworthy in fulfilling his promises. The Apostle Peter who had witnessed the love of God in Jesus explained that it is not faithlessness or even slowness tardiness which delays the coming of the end, but because God is patient! The word is makrothumeo, "that quality by which God bears with sinners, holds back his wrath, refrains from intervening in judgment as soon as the sinner's deeds deserve it, though not indefinitely" (Bauckham). God’s mercy moves Him to prolong the day of salvation. Instead [Not the usual contrast word but a strong contrast word meant to awaken the hearers] God is patient [Present Active Indicative: He keeps on staying patient. I am learning about patience these days… patience is not about having the offending element taken away. No… patience is an exercise in enduring the troubles, the injuries and offenses of the one who grates us. So Patience is not without sacrifice or value. Imagine the Lord suffering the indifference of man, their cursings, their finger-pointing, their ignorance and arrogance… and not acting to repay them for all of these… that’s patience. He keeps at showing mercy and delays his return for that very reason that someone may turn, repent and be saved. [Alla but]That they may, with that delay, make that once and for all decision to make space for the truths of God for the love of God. 

So when those who do not understand this truth about God go ahead and rant at God, do not join them. Don’t join in all that scoffing. The word for “scoffing” only appears another time in the whole NT in Jude 18. Jude 18-19 reads, ‘They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”’ These mockers were also the false teachers who interpreted God’s mercy and forbearance as betraying divine impotence or negligence. 

Peter reminds us that the non-appearance is because God is still keeping the door open… waiting.

Reflection Question:

1.     What then is left for us to do in view of God’s compassion? Can we share God’s compassion, God’s heart to rescue? We make it our urgent task in life, to ensure that God’s compassion is not “wasted/abused” by our non-action/ indifference. The very fact that you are placed next to someone who does not know Jesus is God’s assignment for you. Let his compassion be rewarded by our diligence to save one more from destruction.

Behind His apparent delay is a heart that is not willing that any should perish. Many scriptures establish that fact, notably 1 Timothy 2:4, Romans 11:32, 2 Corinthians 5:19, and Ezekiel 18:23 (let’s take a look at them). He has made provision for all to come to repentance, but if they exercise their God-given free will to refuse He cannot prevent it, for it is that free will which marks us out as men and not animals or robots.

Many of us have plenty of cool ideas about the end of the world. It is just a separation of the devoted followers and the nominal followers of God… we are mostly also not thinking unbelievers. Then God metes out the punishment to all the different groups. A mild closure… after all how scary can it get. We also secretly hope that there is a safe place to catch all (those who have not professed faith in Jesus)…

THE JUSTICE OF GOD

At least twice in this passage is the description of the end. There is nothing cool there. Jesus will come like a thief in the night and then the destruction of the present heavens and earth will take place. It would be as previously stated, by unceasing fire, totally destructive. Everything as we know it is going to melt or dissolve into nothingness. Think of the expensive homes that we have invested our monies in… all things material will not be preserved. The structure (Gk. stoichea) of the universe would melt and the present civilization of men would disappear. There is no safe place to be. For many of us, it’s like yes, I know but isn’t all this just scare tactics used by the Apostles to control people and exercise power over them.

Chuck Colson is right when he says: Not to believe that there will be a time for the reckoning of all accounts, for the consummation of history as we know it, is not to believe in a just God. For Christians the great eschatological hope is that Christ will return and judgment will be rendered, accounts will be set straight, the scales balanced, wrongs righted, and we will live in the love of God for eternity. This is why most Christians are able to affirm what the apostle Paul said, that to live is Christ, to die is gain.

In view of God’s justice,

Reflection Questions

2.     Examine your priorities, how much of your time is for laying up treasures on earth, only to watch them burn up in the day of the Lord?

3.     How can you re-prioritize your life if the fiery end is a certainty?

4.     Are we asleep basking in the sunshine of God’s Kingdom oblivious to how the day will turn out?

RESPOND WITH THE DAY OF THE LORD IN MIND
Only those who diligently lived out their pilgrimage on earth will be spared. Set against the fearful background of the Day of the Lord, how are we to live? The false teachers lived as men of the world in contrast to those who know the truth. Today, even within the church, there are teachings that promise their listeners that spiritual hunger and heavenly aspirations can find complete satisfaction in the here and now. There is no urgency to long for Jesus’ coming. It will merely be an enhancement of the happiness solely in this world.  Nothing spectacular. The end is going to be a smooth ride out of the turmoil, just like the way we go through the rides at the Universal Studios. After the scary explosions, come the calm. With striking incisiveness Peter returns to his exhortation to godly living.

· 3:14 BE DILIGENT: Peter now returns to his word of 1:5 and 1:10 "be diligent," to urge a practical result of their forward-looking hope. Jesus himself had raised the question: "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8). He left the question hanging in the air, waiting for each hearer to answer in his own heart. Peter suggests a diligent response that seeks to avoid the shame of the false teachers ("spots" and "blemishes"), has dealt biblically and honestly with any personal failure and therefore has found peace that passes understanding. We need to make every effort, hasten to exert yourself  give it due diligence and make that once and for all decision not to waver but be found to be spotless (i.e. unsullied) and blameless (that cannot be censured, blameless, without rebuke) and at peace with Him. Illustration: Talking about spots and blemishes, my girls are growing up and increasingly we notice these on their faces. However, they are still not too conscious or even if they are, they want to appear pretty cool about them. Their resolve to put the cream on their spots each night is weak… they waver and just let them be when they are too tired after a day in school or when they think the spots are improving a little. My husband is particular about them so when he sees them appearing on the faces of my girls, he will run after them with the Daktarin, his miracle cream, and smear it on the blemishes and spots every night. He goes at them with a vengeance.

 Reflection Questions:

5.     What about you when it comes to the spots and blemishes that continue to be in us? Do we decisively work at them with the intention that they are removed for the sake of Christ? Or do we simply let things be or keep wavering in our resolve to deal with the parts that sullies our lives and our witness to Jesus Christ?

Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way. Advent is a season for training in righteousness for those who desire peace with God. By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation, we can make our hearts a place where a blessing of peace would desire to abide and where the birth of the Prince of Peace might take place. Check the blemishes and the spots:

Reflection Questions:

6.     "During this season of Advent, let us daily make an Advent examination. Are there any feelings of discrimination toward race, sex, or religion? Is there a lingering resentment, an unforgiven injury living in our hearts? Do we look down upon others of lesser social standing or educational achievement? Are we generous with the gifts that have been given to us, seeing ourselves as their stewards and not their owners? Are we reverent of others, their ideas and needs, and of creation?

These and other questions become Advent lights by which we may search the deep, dark corners of our hearts. 

Many of us believe in God but haven’t come round to believing in God-in-me. Many of us believe in God in heaven, but we haven’t come round to believing in God-on-earth. This is to take the short view about the end. Don’t let this advent season go to waste. Let the Holy Spirit stoke the kind of fire in our worship and devotion that can truly change our hearts.

Peace is the heritage of Christians and its presence indicates one whose expectation of the return of Christ has given a sense of balance and proportion despite whatever chaos the world may present.