WHY AM I A METHODIST? FAMILIAL HOLINESS (Prov 17:6; 23:13-14; 29:27; Deut 6:4-7)

Snippet of sermon by Rev Tan-Yeo Lay Suan

INTRODUCTION

Parenting is always found to be a highly dynamic season of life. Not only new parents find it a daunting task, but even those who may have had half a dozen kids with some of them all grown up may attest to the challenge that parenting entails. Christian parenting is no different, as the mere fact that someone is Christian does not protect him or her from the challenges faced in the home.

But how does Christian parenting differ from the way that the world parents? After all, just about anyone can give his or her children a good education, a roof over their heads, and enough food to eat. Is it that Christian parents can turn to the Bible to whack their kids over on the head for wrong behavior? Is it because they can threaten their kids with the consequences of disobedience?

SERMON PROPER

The Methodist’s model for family holiness is encapsulated in the practices experienced by John and Charles and their siblings as they came under the authority of their mother Suzanna. John did not have children by his wife, only a step son. There is very little mention of Charles’ family life even though we were told he was happily married. So what we do see in John Wesley and Charles and their siblings were on many accounts the outcome of the strong Christian influence in their family. You might be wondering why very little is mentioned of Samuel Wesley, their father. Samuel was mostly on the move seeking out better pay in different offers to pastor churches and other openings for ministry. At one point, he even left Suzanna alone for an entire year because of differences in political views.  

So we will take a closer look at the way Suzanna Wesley thought about her role as mother to her children. The aim of her parenting

is the salvation of their souls My basic purpose was "the saving of their souls." The salvation of their souls My basic purpose was "the saving of their souls."
In a letter to her husband dated Feb 6, 1711-1712, she wrote: “As I am a woman, so I am also mistress of a large family and through the superior charge of the souls contained in it lies upon you; yet, in your absence, I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my care as a talent committed to me under a trust by the great Lord of all the families both of heaven and earth. And if I am unfaithful to Him or you in neglecting to improve these talents, how shall I answer unto Him, when He shall command me to render an account of my stewardship?... As these, and other such like thoughts, made me at first take a more than ordinary care of the souls of my children and servants, so – knowing our religion requires a strict observation of the Lord’s day, and not thinking that we fully answered the end of the institution by going to church unless we filled up the intermediate spaces of time by other acts of piety and devotion – I thought it my duty to spend some part of the day in reading to and instructing my family: and such time I esteemed spent in a way more acceptable to God than if I had retired to my own private devotions.”
Inspired by a true zeal for God’s glory, she planned to do somewhat more that she should by praying more for them and speaking to those that she often converse with greater warm of affection.

She resolved to begin this with her own children and observed the following method: “ I take such proportion of time as I can spare every night to discourse with each child apart. ON Monday, I talk with Molly; on Tuesday with Hetty; Wednesday with Nancy; Thursday with Jacky; Friday, with Patty; Saturday, with Charles; and with Emily and Suky together on Sunday.

She methodized and arranged everything so exactly, that to each operation she had a time, and time sufficient to transact all the business of the family.

• Academic Subjects & Religious Instructions; 6 days in a week from 9-12; 2-5.
• As to the children, their times of going to rest, rising in the morning, dressing, eating, learning, and exercise, she managed by rule, which was never suffered to be broken, unless in case of sickness.
• the custom of singing psalms at beginning and leaving school, morning and evening. Then also that of a general retirement at five o'clock was entered upon. When the oldest took the youngest that could speak, and the second the next, to whom they read the psalms for the day, and a chapter in the New Testament: as in the morning they were directed to read the psalms, and a chapter in the Old; after which they went to their private prayers, before they got their breakfast, or came into the family.
• They were never suffered to choose their meat, but always made to eat such things as were provided for the family.
• They were never permitted to contend with each other; whatever differences arose, the parents were the umpires, and their decision was never disputed. The consequence was, there were few misunderstandings among them, and no unbrotherly or vindictive passions; and they had the common fame of being the most loving family in the county of Lincoln. 
• Drinking or eating between meals was never allowed, unless in case of sickness, which seldom happened.
• At six, as soon as family prayer was over, they had their supper; at seven the maid washed them, and, beginning at the youngest, she undressed and got them all to bed by eight, at which time she left them in their several rooms awake, for there was no such thing allowed of, in our house, as sitting by a child till it fell asleep.
• Taking God's name in vain, cursing and swearing, profaneness, obscenity, rude ill-bred names, were never heard among them; nor were they ever permitted to call each other by their proper names without the addition of brother or sister.  
• When turned a year old, (and some before,) they were taught to fear the rod, and to cry softly by which means they escaped abundance of correction which they might otherwise have had.
• She had little difficulty in breaking their wills, or reducing them to absolute subjection. They were perfectly obsequious to their parents, and were taught to wait their decision in everything they were to have, and in everything they were to perform.
• They were never permitted to command the servants, or to use any words of authority in their addresses to them.

REFLECTION QUESTION

What’s uppermost in your minds as you lead the family? As you guide your children?

Paul reminds us that we are not to conform to this world but be transformed by the renewal of our minds. Family holiness for Suzanna begins with establishing God’s place in the lives of the children from day 1. For Suzanna, the saving of the souls of the children was of utmost importance. That they were to understand their duty to God and to their families: to live lives that glorify the Lord. She deliberately built into their daily regime incrementally the practice of faith; praying, bible reading, praising…

She remained their spiritual guide throughout their lives. She (Mrs. Wesley) never considered herself discharged from the care of her children. Into all situations she followed them with her prayers and counsels; and her sons, even when at the university, found the utility of her wise and parental instructions. They proposed to her all their doubts, and consulted her in all difficulties.

What was the outcome of her efforts in grooming children set apart for the Lord?

Her Sons:

1. Samuel secured his Master of Arts degree, was ordained and returned to Westminster as a teacher. Twenty years later he moved to Tiverton in Devonshire where he became the headmaster of an endowed school.

15. John Wesley had "avoided" marriage with a couple of ladies in his college years and with Sophy Hopkey in Georgia. They only stayed together for 17 years then she left. He became the founder of our Methodist Church.

17. Charles became a minister and was the most happily married of all his siblings. Charles was constantly active in composing poetry-- close to nine thousand poems, many of which were hymns.

Her Daughters:

3. Emilia: She found employment as a teacher at a girls' school in London and later at a school for girls at Gainsborough. At age 44, about 1736, she married an apothecary named Robert Harper. He took her savings and left her eventually, with his debts and a sickly, dying baby.

6. Sukie: threw herself upon a course, vulgar, immoral man, Richard Ellison. She suffered from his vile behavior and cruelty to a point when she fled to London, taking her children with her and never lived with him again.

7. Mary (crippled): married a pastor John Whitelamb, in 1734. Within less than a year, Mary died in childbirth.

8. Hetty: She eloped with the man of her dreams and came back five months pregnant and unmarried. She was disowned by her father and married off to William Wright, a journeyman plumber from Lincoln. She was a gifted poet, had some of her poems published. Mother Susanna, after showing for three or four years that she had been wounded by Hetty's sin, came around to the point where she accepted her fully. A rich affection grew once more between them, especially after Samuel's death.

14. Anne (Nancy) : Little is known of her till, in her twenties, she married a land surveyor, John Lambert. He is spoken of as a well-educated, well-read man.

16. Martha (Patty): She married Westley Hall at age 30. He was a womanizer and often bring back infants from his other women to Martha. Martha nursed them.Martha herself bore ten children, but all except one died in infancy.  Martha lived to be 85, was a gifted conversationalist, discussing philosophical matters with Dr. Samuel Johnson and others.

19. Kezzie: she proved rather weak as a child, lacking the energy that characterized the rest of the family. At age 19, she became a pupil-teacher in the school at Lincoln at which her sister Emilia had taught. She fell into a lingering illness which terminated in her death at age 32.

Parenting was a wild ride for Suzanna if you have time to read her memoirs. Despite her efforts, not all of them turned out as well as she would like them to. Not all turned out to be 好果实。　We are tempted to ask, “Does it mean that God did not keep his promise that children are a reward to their parents?” Suzanna’s heart ached for her girls who got themselves into trouble.

Today, parents are under intense pressure more than ever to turn out a good product. Many parents flagellate themselves when they do not read enough or play enough with their kids, mindful of possible long-term consequences.  A huge industry of kiddie gyms, kiddie concerts, parenting books and courses has evolved to help parents produce bright sparks who will be a credit to them. Your choice of tools exposes your priority as you hold this child in trust.

How have you set out to set your children apart for the Lord? How have you set out to set your family apart for the Lord?

Family holiness for Suzanna begins with establishing God’s place in the lives of the children from day 1. For Suzanna, the saving of the souls of the children was of utmost importance. That they were to understand their duty to God and to their families: to live lives that glorify the Lord.

The memoirs of Suzanna gives us comfort to know that we are in good company when we think, “Some of the kids in church are gifts to their parents but not my child or children!” Maybe your sorrows have made you more cynical and you’re beginning to wonder just what God means when He uses the words “gift” and “reward.” Or perhaps you can remember a time when you did believe that your children were a gift, during those days when they were little and first smiled up at you with their sweet toothless grins. But now, darker images of angry, spiteful, and bitter words have obscured those beloved memories. Where did we go wrong? What are we missing? Why is this happening?”

God empathizes with us as parent to his people. The Lord Himself knows what it is like to be rejected by His children. Isa. 1:2 Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. Jer. 5:3b-4 You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish. You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.

Israel’s rebellion was not caused by God’s failure as a Father. It resulted from their wicked and foolish choices—and unhappily, they suffered the consequences of God’s righteous judgment. Ponder now the truth that the Lord Himself understands the sorrow of having a rebellious son and remember...you’re not alone. In the book of Ezekiel, God makes it clear that children are responsible for their own choices. In a passage about righteous fathers who have wicked sons, God speaks of personal responsibility and accountability:

“If a man is righteous and does what is just and right—if he…walks in My statutes, and keeps My rules by acting faithfully— he is righteous; he shall surely live,” declares the LORD GOD. “If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though he himself did none of these things).…he [the son] shall not live.…his blood shall be upon himself.” (Ezek. 18:5-6, 9-11,13)

The battle for our families is actually spiritual in nature (Eph. 6:12). The fundamental discord in our children’s rebellion is not between them and us, but between our children and the Lord. When a child decides that he loves the world, he isn’t just rejecting us, he’s rejecting the things of God (1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4). As parents, we shouldn’t be shocked (though we frequently are) that a child who loves the world may exhibit hatred toward us. Yet the Bible teaches, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you” 1 John 3:13. We often we pray and hope that there are “right” parenting formulas that can guarantee you’ll have godly children. For instance, some parents prefer a particular method of discipline. Others insist that a certain type of education is the key, while still others promote a particular curriculum that is guaranteed to instil godly character into children. These parents all believe that by carefully following a prescribed system, they will be assured of success. But are there really any failsafe methods of child-rearing? Does the Bible prescribe specific methods of parenting that promise success every time? The biblical answer to this question is No, there are no foolproof methods of parenting.

John MacArthur writes: Equipping a child with spiritual truth is no guarantee he or she will follow Christ. I know many diligent parents and grandparents whose hearts have been broken by a family member’s rejection of Christ. We can only plant the seeds by teaching and living out the truth. How they respond is out of our hands.²

I hope you can recognize the difference between your responsibility and your children’s. Much of the sorrow we experience as parents of wayward children comes from the self-doubt and guilt we are prone to feel over our failures. What did we do wrong? Did I love her too much or not enough? What did we say or fail to say that would have turned her heart?

Our children aren’t actually ours. They belong to God, ultimately, and He expects no less than our complete devotion to their souls. I hope we can direct him so that when he is older and he sins, he will feel the weight of it, see his need for salvation, and fall in love with Jesus forever.

When good kids go bad

1. Parents may need to repent. Our parents play a large role in who we are (see Prov. 22:7). This is precisely why God mandates parents look after and nourish spiritual concerns: God believes parents can positively influence children. Unfortunately, the other side of that coin is that we can negatively influence our children as well. If we have failed to be the example Christ requires of us we bear some responsibility for the choices our children make. There is no mistake about this: such is sinful.
2. the parents must go on. Do what it takes to be forgiven, and then move on. Let us move forward to do better in the future, and not be weighed down with the past.

We are A Household of Faith

 

1.  Here we are at the start committing to each other

By His word and from our hearts

We will be a family in a house that will be a home

And with faith we'll build it strong

Chorus

We'll build a household of faith

That together we can make

And when the strong winds blow it won't fall down

As one in Him we'll grow and the whole world will know

We are a household of faith

2.  Now to be a family we've got to love each other

At any cost unselfishly

And our home must be a place that fully abounds with grace

A reflection of His face

God's Grace & Love (Luke 15:1-7)

Snippet of Sermon by Mr Daren Lee

Over time it is easy for us to lose the sense of awe of the God who has saved us. The "sting" that grips our heart becomes faint with time.

Background: The Tax-collectors were much hated for they were the ones who chose to sell out their own people by collecting taxes for the Roman rulers. Aside from that, they would add on extra taxes to line their own pockets. The Pharisees did not like it that Jesus associated himself with them. They were longing for the coming of the kingdom of God and was trying to bring it about soonest possible by keeping as pure as possible. But here was Jesus delaying the coming of the Kingdom by associating with sinners.

Jesus told 3 stories in succession to illustrate God's way of overcoming sin in this world: it is not about destroying sinners but redeeming sinners. God's way is to show mercy on the sinner and in redeeming the sinner, bring an end to sin.

Story: A teenager in Michigan was very upset with her parents as they saw her putting on the nose-ring, the super short skirt etc.. She decided to leave for detroit. There she met a boss with a big car. To the boss, the young teenager was a jewel as men would pay a good premium for her. She was feeling great for the first few weeks then she fell sick. The boss she was in love with threw her out without a cent. To provide for her drug habit, she lived as a woman of the world. But one night, she thought about home and decided to call home but three times, it was answered by an answering machine. However in the last attempt, she left a message: "Wondering if I can come home. I will get home by midnight if you'll not there at the bus terminal, I will understand." As she journeyed on that 7-hour bus ride, she rehearsed the many possible scenarios that would greet her and when the bus paused for 15 minutes, she kept asking herself, "Should I get off now? or should I move on?" When the bus finally hit the bus terminal, she saw a big sign, "WELCOME HOME" and there was a crowd of cousins, grandparents and her dad right in the middle. There as she was about to say her prepared speech, her father whispered, "hush, we have no time for apologies, there is a big party waiting for you at home. " There must also have been a party in heaven rejoicing at the return of this child. This story illustrates the father heart of God.

Daren then gave his testimony of having one of the greatest Chinese teacher in his secondary school days. How she continued teaching them despite being pregnant and a difficult one at that. She read them a terrible essay after which the class roared, proud of the poor chinese standard of their class but he could see in the teacher's eyes, the disappointment at being treated like a joke for her dedication. This is the type of love that God has for us.

1. To those who have not found this love, open your heart to this Savior. The Lord is a gentle savior he never barges in but always knocks.
2. To those who have been Christians for a long time, as we partake of the Holy Communion let us remember the great love of God and what he has done for us. Invite him to renew our hearts. 

Surveying the Cross: A Place of Direction (Hebrew 12:1-3)

Snippet of Sermon by Rev Helen Hoe

 

Life is a journey with different junctures, where we need to make decisions. How do we make the decision? We look to how Jesus took the path. Writer of the Hebrews spoke of life as a race. We are running the race of life. We want to fulfill the goals that we have set for ourselves. We come to a point where we become aware of our encounter with God. that encounter gives life a new goal, a new purpose and destination. We see this in Abraham.

 

We are here for a purpose - to live our lives in fulfillment of God's intent for us. Heb 11:13-16 " Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country." (The Message) They form the cloud of witnesses. Each example, without exception, had lived their lives in such a manner. I am but a transient being in this world longing for a true home.

Reflection Questions:

1. Do you see your faith as a Sunday matter? Do I compartmentalize my life?
2. What constitutes finishing well?
3. Has my life here made an impact in this community?

Fixing our Eyes on Jesus

Look to him because he is motivated to finish his life by doing things God's way.

• Looking to Jesus keeps us from being distracted. J. Hudson Taylor: "“God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.”    Do you feel that you have to help God but in the process, you decide to do it yourselves?
• Look to Jesus when we grow weary and lose heart. We are invited into his death... yet what is certain is that we will experience a surge of life. Isaiah 40:30-31 " Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. " Christ is IN US empowering us. Eph 3:16 says we find his strength has been imparted to us  "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being". He has gone within us to provide us the power. Matt 28:18-20.

Picture the scene "where the heavenly stadium is filled with old saints, all cheering you on, and you keep moving forward. Then you see the One at the finishing line, no one has run the race like him. You hear his voice like no other. You decide, 'yes the race is hard but you persevere because you will know joy as you never know. You can't wait to see his face. Then crossing your finishing line, you collapse into his arms and he says, "I have waited for you since the beginning of time, I am very glad that you've finished the race. Well done Good and faithful servant, enter into my joy."

Reflection Questions

1. How are you keeping up at the race? How can the promise of the Lord to empower you be appropriated?
2. Share with someone your special need in this journey.

Surveying the Cross: A Place of New Beginnings (John 12:24-26)

Snippet of Sermon by Rev Tan-Yeo Lay Suan

Men were still stirred by this amazing miracle that had happened just over the Mount of Olives, in the little village of Bethany, and they were talking about it everywhere. Evidently these Greeks, coming up to Jerusalem, did not merely want to see him as a kind of tourist attraction; they wanted conversation with him. They wanted an interview with Jesus. Philip and Andrew made a quick decision and brought their request to Jesus. When they reported the request of these Greeks, the Lord replies to them very strangely.

And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified." (John 12:23 RSV)

This reply must have startled Philip and Andrew. For 3-1/2 years while they had been with Jesus they had heard him say over and over, "My hour has not yet come." You have the first account of it in the first miracle Jesus did, when his mother came to him and asked him to do something about the wine for the wedding feast. Jesus said to her, "Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come," John 2:4). He did not mean by that that he would not do anything for her, because he did. He went on to change the water into wine. But he meant by it that it would not result in anything significant. There would be no display of his glory through it. No one would understand who he was, no one could see him for what he was, because of that miracle. And so it proved to be true.

Then in the seventh chapter of his Gospel, John tells us that Jesus told his brothers to go on up to the feast at Jerusalem but that he was not going up because "my hour has not yet come" John 7:6).And, in the eighth chapter, as he is speaking in Jerusalem and already the opposition against him is beginning to form, John says, "No man laid hands on him to arrest him, because his hour had not yet come," (John 8:20).Yet now, when a handful of strangers come and the report is carried to Jesus that a certain group of Greeks want to see him, suddenly, to his disciples' amazement, he seems greatly moved with emotion and says, "Now my hour has come. The time has come for me to be glorified." This first sentence excited their hearts. This event seems to be to Jesus like a great clock striking the hour, a momentous moment of his life when all that he had lived for shall now find its fulfillment.

SERMON PROPER

Here when the Gentiles and crowds press down on him, Jesus shared his hour had come to be glorified by God. Jesus came to the Jews then and to us today with a new view of life. God is going to give him more glory than he already has. But Jesus didn't mean the kind of glory they thought He meant. The Jews of Jesus’ day and most of mankind today look on glory as conquest, the acquisition of power, the right to rule. But every succeeding sentence after that, made them stagger. Jesus looked on glory as a cross. Using the analogy of the seed being planted in the soil, Jesus was speaking about his own death. Those who dreamt of a conquest, had their dreams turned into visions of a cross. It didn't make sense. He says in verse 24, "Very truly I keep on telling you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains, keeps on remaining only a single seed. But if it dies , it produces and keeps on producing many seeds.”

Every basic seed or grain of wheat has a covering on the outside. As long as that covering is on the outside, that grain cannot reproduce. It cannot grow. You remember the “Grow green bean in brand essence bottle?” experiments?  When that seed is put in the ground /cotton, the rot and decay sets into that outer part and as it decays and decomposes, the life that is inside springs out and then that seed begins to grow and produce fruit. And that's exactly what Jesus says.  

When Jesus became incarnate, like a pure corn of the finest wheat, he fell to the ground, and when at his death, "He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death," he fell into the ground: and now what an abundant harvest of glory to God, and salvation to souls, hath that death, and grave of Jesus produced! Had Jesus never died, how would he have seen his seed, and the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hand? Had Jesus not descended to the grave, how would he have been the life-giving, the soul-quickening root of all his church and people? But now, by this one precious corn of wheat falling into the ground, and dying, how hath the store of God been filled, and is now continually filling, with his seed!

‘As long as My body is alive, the life that is in Me cannot escape. It is when I go into the grave, the death of My body releases the power of life within My person.’ If Jesus doesn't die, then He remains alone. He doesn't produce life for anybody else because His life-giving power is like a seed, it's only good if it dies. And that's why the Bible says, are you ready for this? He can only put away sin by the sacrifice of...what?...of Himself. That's the only way. That's the only way. The way of the cross

Well, you can imagine their reaction. They were waiting for a King and He was talking about dying. Isn't it a marvelous thing that He was willing to die? We're the...we're the harvest, did you know that? We who love Jesus Christ, we're the harvest of His death, we're the fruit that sprang out of that seed that died. God brought something new, a new dramatic change the Blessed harvest...blessed harvest, through his willingness to undergo the process of decay and destruction.

And the history of Christianity is just this, is one long harvest yielded by the spiritual seed that was sown on Calvary's cross and that's the way that God has ordained that Jesus could receive the insuppressible, empowered life. He did not need to die. He was no martyr to a failing cause. He himself said that he did not need to die. "No man takes my life from me," he said, "I lay it down of myself, and I take it up again of myself," (John 10:18). This new beginning is made possible by the willingness of Jesus to go to the cross.

This new beginning is the inheritance of everyone who believes in Jesus. I remembered immersing someone in the waters of baptism but the candidate would not have the waters cover all of him. It’s like I want the inheritance, the new beginning that God has procured for me on the cross, yet I will not completely die (be immersed). Jesus puts it to us plainly here, first, we must die if we are to live. What he has done will have no value for us, nothing of value can start till we have died to it. There is no spiritual life for you, for me, for any man, except by dying into it. When Semanie was in Kindergarten, her teacher was very exciting. She actually got in a box a few caterpillars and the children had the opportunity to feed it daily and watch it grow. Then came the day they turned into chrysalises. The outer layer turned darker and darker till it looked like some dried leave. Then the teacher opened one of them, the butterfly wasn’t ready… and it died without ever flying… the butterfly had to go through the entire process of dying to its life and existence as a caterpillar. Not one shred of caterpillar-ness must remain.

Some of us only have a little experience of the new beginning but it quickly disappears and revert back to the same people we were before we believed in Jesus. There appears to be little difference. Why? Because we were never resolute about not carrying any of what is previously within us. We think we have some good stuff inherent in us and we think God wouldn’t mind us keeping them. But we fail to realize that these “old things” will stifle us from allowing God’s life to re-make us. In fact if you remember, Paul, a righteous Pharisee according to their law faultless had this to say, "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish [1) any refuse, as the excrement of animals, offscourings, rubbish, dregs a) of things worthless and detestable], that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.... 我 为 他 已 经 丢 弃 万 事 ， 看 作 粪 土 ， 为 要 得 着 基 督" Philippians 3:7-10. The Chinese translation of this word “rubbish” is nearer what it is supposed to mean. 粪土 Paul was saying that all his Jewish practices with the legal and moral laws, he considered them detestable as excrement of animals, to be discarded and gotten rid off as quickly as possible.

Reflection Questions:

1. Have you a fine-spun righteousness of your own? It must die. Have you any faith in yourself?
2. It must die. Count EVERYTHING as loss, EVERYTHING. The morality/goodness you felt inherent in you, put that away. It will keep you from desiring what the Spirit will work in you because it is easy to fall back on the familiar [the old nua nua T-shirts that Pastor Helen spoke about a few weeks ago]. 2. Does your Christian life lack vibrancy? 要死不死的样子。The newness is not there. “I ‘m still the same person before I believe in Jesus Christ.” God wants to make you alive with His transforming power.

He wants to make NEW everything in you. God has something infinitely more desirable than all that we can ask or imagine…  a life filled with His goodness… where the beatitudes will not sound hollow but be the norm that we will exhibit…

Next, we must surrender everything to keep it. " Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Those who love their lives dearly and has always lived that way, Jesus says, “Brother, you can never have spiritual life, hope, joy, peace, heaven, except by giving everything up into God's hands.”

Many of us spend our entire lives trying to figure out who and what we are. We spend so much time trying to live life OUR WAY, and in the end WE ARE NEVER EVER SATISFIED!!!  . We worry decades of our life away trying to hold on to this temporal existence, letting true life pass us by because we are too terribly consumed with OUR LIVES, to actually LIVE A LIFE WORTH LIVING!!! But Jesus Christ calls each of us not to Our life, but He calls us to be part of His life!!! 

John 10 v 10B “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Matthew 16 v 25 “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

We fail to realize that our lives by themselves do not carry eternal value. That is why when it is stripped of all that is valuable to us, the worth of our lives hits rock bottom.  Many successful persons reach their old age and find no reason to live after retirement. Jesus speaks with warning: "Suppose a person lives for safety and security and for self; suppose WE gain the whole world; then suppose that WE find that life is not worth living, what can WE give to get life back again?" And the grim truth is that WE cannot get life back again (no take 2, ng in acting). In every decision of life WE are doing something to OURSELVES; we are making OURSELVES a certain kind of person; we are building up steadily and inevitably a certain kind of character; we are making OURSELVES able to do certain things and quite unable to do others. It is perfectly possible for a person to gain all the things they set their heart upon, and then to awaken one morning to find that they have missed the most important things of all. God, life, family, friends, and eternity…

Jesus said of the people who would be His disciples, "Let him deny himself." We will understand the meaning of this demand best if WE take it very simply and literally. "Let him say no to himself." If a person will follow Jesus Christ WE must ever say no to OURSELF and YES to Jesus Christ. WE must say NO to OUR OWN natural LOVE of ease and comfort, and personal self-satisfaction. WE must say NO to every course of action based on self-seeking and self-will and self-desire. WE must say NO to the instincts and the desires which prompt US to touch and taste and handle the forbidden things. WE must unhesitatingly say YES to the voice and the command of Jesus Christ.

Jesus invites us to begin to taste the life that he is giving to us. The eternal life. Our lives begin to become more and more priceless as it is joined to Christ. The value is not in its being an extraordinary long life. John shares with us about this eternal life 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” It is rather a life of discovering and knowing God, understanding how our lives are purposeful as the Lord allows his power, his life to flow through us. And this new experience known as eternal life holds value and grows in value into eternity.

Reflection Question

Have you experienced this eternal life as a Christian all these years? This assurance and certainty that your life is fulfilling, priceless because of what the Lord has been doing in you? Are your hoarding your life? Reserving all for yourself?

Not once or twice but many times Jesus insisted that the man who hoarded his life must in the end lose it. , and the man who spent his life must in the end gain it. William Barclay made this observation, “No doubt we will exist longer if we take things easily, if we avoid all strain, if we sit at the fire and husband life, if we look after ourselves as a hypochondriac looks after his health. No doubt we will exist longer--but we will never live.” We will not truly lived to experience the radical joy, peace and freedom that comes from risking our lives for the sake of Christ.  What are some of these loves of ours that we are too engrossed and consumed with that we do not have any room left to enter into life eternal? Matthew chapter 10 records for us a powerful, powerful statement of Jesus. Verse 37, "Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…” Did you get that? "… anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” ³⁸Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it. He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it."

You shall have everything in Christ when you are willing to have nothing of your own. A

full surrender of everything to God is the only way to keep it. Some of God's people find this literally true. I have known a mother keep back her child from God, and the child has died. Wealthy people have worshipped their wealth, and as they were God's people, he has broken their idols into shivers. You must love your all if you would keep it, and renounce your most precious thing if you would have it preserved to you. Living to serve self, living to get only what YOU want out of life, in the end only brings bitterness and eternal despair…But He who lives for God WILL GAIN ABUNDANTLY AND POSSESS ETERNAL LIFE!!!!!!!

This principle leads to verse 26. "If any man serves Me, let him follow Me. Whoever serves me must follow {habitually follow this command or call} me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."

The Lord Jesus sets a criterion for those who would serve him. With his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, many people are excited to join his cause. They are thinking of the honors they will receive being in the service of the King-to-be candidate.  But Jesus plainly says that they must meet the criterion that he sets which is to follow him. To follow him in what sense you might ask? To follow him means to imitate him in what he does. And in this context, it means to follow him into death. If it's persecution, that's what it is.

With this statement, Jesus separated the crowd from the true disciples. We are not unlike the many people who crowded around Jesus for a place in his “cabinet”… and I must say that some of us have served Jesus without following him. Some serve:

·         Motivation: For earthly honors, to be seen by others how hard it is we’ve been serving, to impress people we want to know. We enjoy the ministry for our own sakes, not for Christ’s.  We may even enjoy ministry for it’s own sake. We like it for ourselves.

·         Means and methods: with earthly methods that go against everything that Jesus stands for…

and yet at the back of our minds, we want to end up

·         where Jesus would be i.e. exalted at the right hand of God.

·         Receiving honor from the Lord.

In Matt 7:22-23 “²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ”  It is in dying, when we are not afraid or sorry that we’re being poured out daily for the Lord that is to follow after Christ. Like Paul in Phil 2:17, “17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”  My brothers and sisters, let us not shrink from the exertion that would see us “buried, hidden and even dying” yet bearing fruit to the glory of the Lord. Let us raise the condition/degree of our consecration that we may be found more worthy of our Lord and of his glorious cause.

CONCLUSION

This simple parable talks about consequences, the consequences of trying to protect our lives is the loss of our lives. The consequence of spending our lives for God and His Kingdom is eternal life.

Picture in your minds the white thing thrusting up out of the earth into the sunlight and turns green, and becomes a blade. Then it grows into a long stem, and begins to form a head with new kernels of wheat, each like the original and yet each one different; no duplications, and yet the reproduction of one life. At last that grain of wheat finds itself fully developed, becoming what God intended it to be, because it consented to the process of dying.

Reflection Question:

• 1. Are  your living a shallow, mediocre, indeterminate Christian lives because you  have not yet discovered this divine Lordship at work?
• 2. What aspect in your dying are you afraid of? During this week of the Lent season, consider starting anew:

1.      We want to be resolute about one of our “old familiar things” that stifle us from allowing God’s life to re-make us.

2.      Identify one love of ours that we keep us too engrossed and consumed with that we do not have any room left to enter into life eternal and renounce it? Have you experienced this eternal life as a Christian all these years? This assurance and certainty that your life is fulfilling, priceless because of what the Lord has been doing in you.

3.      Following Jesus’ all the way to that great humbling experience to serve the Lord.

Surveying the Cross; A Place of Fear (1 Cor 1:18-25)

Snippet of Sermon by Nathaniel Goh

During the provocative passage in her concert in 1996, Madonna was shown on a mirrored cross wearing a crown of thorns. She has explained that it was meant to illustrate a theme of confession. Then Madonna pleaded with audience to see the world as a unified world. publicity stunt.

We need to care about what we see at the cross and what it should mean to Christians today. What does it mean for you today?

Crucifixion is for state criminals meant for the lower classes. It was to be so harsh so as to be a deterrent. The public display sought to utterly humiliate the victim who would be left to feed the birds. With grim humiliation, ignobility, abject shame, deepest pain,  suffering and torture, the family would have to bear the emotional anguish of watching the entire execution. The cross is representative of what one could fear in life. Paul says that the message of the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews. Foolishness: madness and insanity. There are other religions that believe in dying gods, e.g. Egyptian God but they are mostly free from the shame of the cross.

Deeply perplexing, the Gnostics, could not fathom how could the designer of of the Cosmos could subject his people to the madness of the cross. So they would prefer to think of it as but an appearance only. In Deut 21:23 to be hung is to be under God's curse. The Apostle Paul started out persecuting believers because he could not accept the cursed one as the Messiah. Greeksthink it is sheer insanity to believe in a savior on the cross because it is for the weak and vulnerable. In Mark 8:24, Rev Wilfred Ho shared that we who come and follow Jesus have all custom made crosses to carry: to symbolize the cross of being alone, the cross is your anger with yourself, boss, government, with your lot in life. It could be a cross of despair, of cancer, of family members having delivered a still born. It is not uncommon for us to question the power and existence of God.

In the midst of it all, you hear comments, what good is God and Jesus? The Apostle Paul understood the dilemma and contradition: He could not separate Jesus from his death. Surely the cross must have the last word or else God is dead. Here is his confidence from God that in Christ, He has redeemed the weakness of this world. That same power that oppressed others have been subverted. The Corinthian church was looking for a way to water down the humility of the cross and the crucified Christ... Are we any different today? We claim Jesus as Lord but sometimes our lives show that the cross is useless, we rather put our trust in other things and persons. To counter our fear, anger, abuse from our subordinate, we need to encounter the cross, this place of fear and allow it to be transformed by a fact: the damnable cross is transformed into an object that absorbed all the pain and Jesus became a curse for our sakes. He forgave us all our sins, canceled it away by nailing it t the cross, he made a public spectacle of them. The cross became the place of victorious freedom rather than fear. It is difficult to carry the cross for crosses remind us that life will pose difficult questions at us. It could be a deliitating sickness, real crosses, pain and fears, but our solidarity in the cross will bear fruit in Christ.

The God who Hung on the Cross Story gospel came to Cambodia 1999: most villages were steeped in  Buddhism and spiritism. But in one small village they warmly received the gospel for they have been waiting for him for 20 years.

"For 20 years, the inhabitants of a Cambodian village worshipped 'The God who hung on a cross' - without knowing Jesus," reports pastor David Em. The village in Khampong Thom province was controlled by the Khmer Rouge, but the people have since readily accepted the gospel, almost as though they had been waiting for it. An old woman told Em that God protected the people from being massacred with 1.7 million others in the 1970's. They were forced to dig their own graves while soldiers prepared to execute them. Desperate, they called on all the gods which came to mind to help them. Some prayed to Buddha, some to other gods, and the old woman prayed to 'the God who hung on a cross'. As they cowered on the ground, waiting for the shots, they saw a vision of the cross, then heard a voice telling them that they would be saved: 'None but I can save you,' it said. When they opened their eyes, the soldiers had vanished. Since that time, they have prayed to the God who rescued them, but they knew nothing about Christ until Em preached to them. "They now know Jesus by name and have started a church. The old woman is so happy; she had waited for this day for 20 years."

We are not called to suffer in silence, to distract ourselves from fear, we are asked to look to Jesus the one who faced shame and death and came through victorious. If we cling to the oldrugged  cross, circumstances will not improve right away. In those times remember Jesus who hung on the cross. We may still feel alone at times, things may not have changed dramatically, but bear in mind that it was a place of real fear but for all who will trust in Him, He will exchange your cross for a crown.

Reflection Questions:
1. Name your fears in the presence of God. Surrender them one by one.
2. Let the words, "None but I can save you", be your meditation as your go through the roughest time of your life.