"Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes."

"Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you."

"Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
Because grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the LORD your God,
and cry out to the LORD."

Whitney Houston and Seck Leong

Two people who couldn’t be more different, but who both have gone to meet their Maker: Whitney Houstin is a pop sensation, a culture icon, a musical megastar who has left the world a legacy of beautiful music and power ballads that will go down in history, as well as a hauntingly gorgeous voice that grips and captivates. After a superstar career in the music world, she died at the age of 48, after a life of confusion, addiction, musical success, and paparazzi notoriety. Seck Leong was a simple man, the father of 3, a Singaporean bookkeeper whose only claim to fame perhaps was that he fathered the former CFO of the Singapore Stock Exchange. According to reports, he was a farmer, a storeman, a sailor, and a bookkeeper, amongst other things. From what little I know of him, he sat quietly in the church canteen in his old age, and never bothered anyone. What do these two people both have in common? Both, despite the gulf of difference that stands between them, were sinners in need of the grace of Jesus Christ. 

Both lived lives of rebellion against their Maker, shaking the proverbial fist in the sky, determined to rule their own lives, and plunder His world, to be masters of their own destiny. Both enjoyed the blessing of life, and existence in His world, and both squandered it in lives of self-centeredness, as the Scripture says in Rom 1, “they exchanged the glory of God for a lie, and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever praised. Amen”. Because of this, the wrath of God was rightly upon both of them, irrespective of age, history, gender, race, or accomplishment.

Well, while we don’t know Whitney Houston well enough to know if she truly ever trusted in the good news of Jesus Christ, we do know that Seck Leong did trust that God had provided a good and reliable way for sinners to escape that wrath. By trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ, who earned through His obedience, the full righteousness of a sinless life, he received the imputed righteousness of Christ Jesus through faith in the word of His promise. He found in Jesus Christ the wrath-absorbing work of the Lamb slain in his place, so that he would not suffer the condemnation of his life of sinful rebellion, but instead, the promise of blessing and peace that should have been Christ’s. We pray that Whitney Houston too, knew and believed this gospel, which the Apostle Paul says, has the power of God for salvation unto all who will believe. 

And so, tonight I witnessed the church of Jesus Christ, broken and flawed in all of its sin, hypocrisy and fallenness, stand and sing about the forgiveness that the work of Christ Jesus offers, regardless of race, age, history, or social standing. And we sang these precious words, that I take into the new week ahead:

“Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul! 

My sin, O, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin - not in part - but the whole,
Is nailed to the Cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul!” 

And in response, this is my prayer:

“The hope that the gospel provides for my soul
Is all that this weak sinner knows
For wrath is appeased, and my debt cancelled clean
Glory be unto Christ, for my soul!

And now, standing firm, on the promises of God
Through rapturous joys, or in woe
In loud, ringing anthem, declaring aloud
‘It is well, it is well, with my soul!’ “

Discussion yesterday on community

Flowing from our long 3(?) hour chat at Starbs, these are some of the high points:

• community is a struggle and a challenge in any state of affairs
• in a church setting, it may be uniquely harder for 2nd generation Christians to arrive at a point of acceptance and love because of the web of expectations that are carried with family pressures and familiaritiy
• judgmentalism and criticality are poisons that kills community and acceptance and the message of grace in the gospel
• good intentions are sometimes irrelevant when you’re on the receiving end of criticism
• all human beings by nature resist criticism, and typically justify themselves by explaining away the criticism of an insensitive critic
• sin causes us to resist criticism and correction instead of seeking it as grace
• diagnostic questions to ask: are you closed to correction and criticism? Is there anyone who’s allowed to correct you and tell you that you’re wrong? Do you create hoops for people to jump through in order to correct you? Do you ever take criticism of others to heart instead of just seeing it as advice?
• at the root of successful community is the need for humble hearts
• generational conflict is normal because of the power relations and cultural modes that come with the interaction
• popular perception is that only those who know me well enough can tell me if I’m wrong. Typically however, these people don’t exist
• those who seek criticism and welcome it should be able to give it graciously
• community is hindered by guilt (knowing what I should do and failing to do it), and shame (smokescreen thrown up to divert from my errors) which comes with obligation and expectation in relationships
• the transition from church (the theological ideal) to community (the experiential reality) is sometimes hindered by the expectations that come with the theological ideal
• the only way to begin building community is by taking the first step and putting yourself out there. No one wants to do this.
• there are different ways that we hide from being known, including playing the roles that others have circumscribed for us
• segmentation of life as we translates ourselves from group to group is another enemy of community

Unpleasant exchange today, and the mercy for it

I had a rather unpleasant experience this evening which showed me a few things:

• as Annie put it really well in her testimony- people are messed up, and they continue to be messed up, even if they profess with their lips to be Christians.
• there really are all kinds of people who claim to be Christians, but Jesus was absolutely right when He said firstly, “by their fruit you shall know them” and “not all who call me ‘Lord, Lord’ are mine”
• it takes the Holy Spirit of God to save a sinner like me and keep me saved, and to help me continually overcome self-righteousness, arrogance, pride, bitterness
• I am woefully weak in my tolerance to opposition, and too easily affected by what others say. The words of Peter and James are good for me, and I stand rebuked - ‘consider it joy when you suffer for Christ’s sake,’ and ‘why are you surprised when the world persecutes you?’
• prayer is the secret fuel to anything that we do with words or actions. If we have not cried out to God in dependence, we have not relied primarily on God’s strength
• we need to pray for the lost and the lost hiding among the sheep. There are so many of them. While we should surely pray for the light of Christ to find them where they hide so that their sins may be exposed, perhaps we should also pray that God lovingly show them that they frankly, are not born again into Jesus Christ.

Finally, after tonight’s events, this the big question on my mind: do I have to have the right to say something is wrong if it is wrong, or is the act of you pointing out your right to individual choice just a smokescreen to hide the fact that it’s wrong? Or again, if the action you commit is wrong, must I have the right to point out it’s wrong for it to be truly wrong, or do I have to know you well enough to say it? We live in an era where people use their individual rights and freedom of expression in order to mask their blatant errors and hide their defective character. What an insidious and dangerous world we live in.

I pray that by God’s grace, in my actions, I have upheld the Word of Christ in Eph 4:1 “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV) or again, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29 ESV) Surely Eph 4:29 is a must-memorize verse for those who struggle with online communications. 

These really are evil days, when the world looks like the church and so much of the church looks like the world. “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV) Oh, how we need the wisdom of God to make us like Christ Jesus. 

This then, is what we must surely do: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” (Ephesians 6:10 ESV)

—-

Heavenly Father, as I come before You at the end of this day, I thank You for Your mercies which have sustained me through this day. I remember that Your Word is truth and the sum of Your Word is the rule by which we are to live our lives. I reconsecrate myself to You in obedience to You. I confess that I struggle with pride and self-righteousness, and I have judged others with the plank in my eye while I gawk the speck in others’. I have not acted wisely, and I have trusted in my own strength, failing to see that in Christ Jesus I have all things needed for life and godliness. I have not called upon Your resources for wisdom and strength, and I confess my lack of dependence upon You, Holy Spirit. Forgive me for Jesus’ sake and have mercy upon me. I thank You for the work of Your Son, who in the garden fought against pride and idolatry and prayed, “Not my will but Yours be done”, thereby fighting idolatry and winning on my behalf. I thank You that in the Great Exchange of the gospel, by faith, we can rest upon His finished work in our place. I pray for my brother with whom I had the exchange this evening and I ask that in his life, Your will be done. Most of all, Lord, have mercy upon him and open his eyes to the sinfulness of his heart and the wretchedness of his life. Show him his foul speech, his retaliatory ways, his prideful attitude and bitter condition of soul. I ask that you do a work in his life to draw him to You, that he may find in You, hope and health and salvation and all his good. I pray that You continue to satisfy me with Yourself, and that You cause me to change and become more like Jesus. Strengthen me to be faithful to You and help me not to bruise quite so easily, but instead, be tougher for Your service. Help me to leave these thoughts behind, but to surrender them to You, for You are the Sovereign Lord and You will do as You deem fit, paying back those who sin against You what they need to, unless they by faith, turn to Jesus Christ for their salvation. I thank You for what YOu have taught me today, cause me to rest in You I pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Prayer of repentance from Joel 1:13-14

O Lord God,

I come before tonight in prayer and supplication, asking for your mercies upon Your people, the people that You have redeemed for Yourself, through the saving work of Your Eternal Son, Jesus Christ. O Father, I come before in lamentation, as one of the priests that You have made me according to Your holy gospel. In Your perfect plan, You set apart for Yourself, men from every nation to be a new holy nations of priests to You. So I come, praying and wailing before You as Your Word commands in Joel 1. I come in the night, at the close of the day, remembering the many sins of the people and seeing their faithlessness, my own included, against You and Your new covenant. We have withheld worship and praise of Your holy name, trading them instead for the worship of created things, and failing to worship the Creator who is worthy to be praised forever! Amen. We have not loved You with all our hearts and souls and minds and strength. So many fail to even enter Your house and join with Your people. In our rebellion, we have closed ourselves off to one another, Your holy house, and we have not loved one another as we should. We have withheld the praise and the worship that is fitting for Your people,  we have withheld the obedient lives of mutual love that is appropriate for Your people. O Father, I come in consecration and solemness, help me to gather brothers and sisters in repentant prayer and remorseful supplication for our church. I pray that You will help me to cry out to You with Your people, to gather the different leaders and call a solemn assembly. Help us to be a repenting people, a people who see their sins and weep for them. O Father, help us to pray for our church, for the sinners that make up her full number. We come before You asking You, Holy Spirit to do a consecration, drawing, assembling work. Draw people whose hearts are set on You to come together and pray, that through prayer we may unleash Your power in the world. Lord, Your Word says that when we pray together and when we pray in Your name, whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatever is released on earth is released in heaven. So I pray that You help to assemble such prayer warriors, who will, through their faithful prayers, rain down all of heaven’s richest blessings upon the church, and beg You, Holy Spirit, to do a reviving, transforming work amongst Your precious people. We think of the church as the bride that You love and gave Your life for, O Lord Jesus. You loved her so much that You were willing to die for her. No greater love is there than that, that You should show us how to love - not that we first loved You, but that You first loved us, and became the propitiation for our sins. We pray that because of Your work in Jesus Christ, will You vindicate Your holy name and Your people, that we may be seen to be the true temple of God, and that Your holy presence is indeed seen to be with us. We pray and ask it desperately in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.