https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/25/remembering-the-sacrifice

The Lord’s Supper or the Holy Communion was always something intriguing that most of us, I believe, were curious when we were yet believers. But it is something that I would think all churches are strict on – you can not partake of it unless you have accepted Jesus as your personal Saviour and Lord. Some churches even insist that one may only partake of the holy sacraments upon baptism. Muslims view it as something mystical that once drank and eaten will trap someone into becoming a Christian. We, of course, know that there is nothing mystical or magical about the holy sacraments as they are made of ordinary day to day ingredients purchased from the local supermarket. Most churches use Ribena for the juice, while there are some mainline churches that use real wine. Yet although there is nothing mystical, there is something supernatural that can come about as we partake of the Holy Communion because we remember the Lord and His sacrifice for us on the cross, as He had shed His blood and had His body broken for our sins.

The first Lord’s Supper was a Passover meal taken the night before Jesus was arrested and brought for trial, which resulted in His crucifixion and death. The Passover meal was celebrated by Jews to remember the grace of God in allowing the angel of death to pass over their homes when they were in Egypt. They had to slaughter an unblemished lamb and splatter its blood on their door posts so that the angel of death knew they were Israelites and thus spared their firstborns. There were a lot of wailing and crying that night on the Egyptian side as they lost all of their firstborns, including their first child and the first offspring of their animals. That was the last straw that broke the camel’s back and led to Pharoah finally releasing the Israelites to Moses, followed by the parting of the Red Sea we spoke about yesterday.

Therefore, like the Jews remember God’s love and grace during their time in Egypt through the Passover, Jesus by initiating the Lord’s Supper on a Passover taught us to remember Him and His sacrifice when we ourselves partake of the Lord’s Supper. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-28, Paul speaks about the Corinthians’ unworthiness in partaking of the Lord’s Supper as they had forgotten to remember Christ and instead were just enjoying themselves in their meal. In those days, the Lord’s Supper was taken as a full meal and not just a piece of bread and some wine and may have become a feast of some sort which Paul was cautioning them.

But Paul’s message remains relevant today even though modern churches do not partake of the Lord’s Supper as a full meal anymore. The Holy Communion may have become too routine and ritualistic that we may have forgotten Christ in the whole mechanical process. Always be thankful to Christ for His sacrifice on the cross that enabled us to have eternal life, a life to be lived with God for eternity one day. Be grateful too for the many blessings that He has given us till today for without Him working in our lives, we would have been lost in a world of our own, pursuing our own interests and ambitions without any regard to God’s plans and purposes for our lives. Instead, we are now responding to His calling for us and are living in the centre of His will! We are now sons and daughters of God, co-heirs with Christ with an abundant and rich inheritance in glory in Christ! Amen and Hallelujah!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/23/gods-mighty-power

Exodus 14 sets out the account of the Israelites fleeing as slaves from their Egyptian masters because although the Pharoah had agreed to let them go due to the numerous plagues inflicted on the Egyptians, he changed his mind and decided to bring them back. Even though the 600,000 Israelites men plus their families were on foot, a considerable gap had been established by the time Pharoah recanted his earlier decision. The Egyptians in their chariots and horses never did catch up as the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea by the time they reached the same. They, however, continued to pursue the Israelites, and when God closed the opening He had miraculously created and engineered at the Red Sea, the pursuing Egyptians were swept away by the waters and perished.

As bible knowledge, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt after Joseph (who was then second in command to the then Pharoah) saved the whole clan of Jacob (who came from Canaan) from the great famine. They thus ended up settling in Egypt after Jacob died. Later, after Joseph passed on, the subsequent Pharoahs did not protect the Israelites, and they ended up as slaves since they were foreigners in Egypt. All in, the Israelites stayed 430 years in Egypt before God raised up Moses to free them and brought them across the Red Sea and the wilderness back to Canaan.

I read and heard about this story of the parting of the Red Sea when I was young, and as much as it is an obvious miracle, I did not realise the magnitude of the power of God on display until today. Today’s ODB life illustration spoke about a hurricane changing the course of river waters flowing upstream for a few hours and liken that to the power of 10,000 nuclear bombs! That’s probably how powerful the east wind that blew and split the Red Sea into two, and that probably went on for hours for the 600,000 Israelites and their families and possessions to pass before the Egyptians then crossed.

This account brings to mind the phrase the angel said to Mary when she was told she was with a child, although she was a virgin. The angel said nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). Indeed, as believers, we must also believe and cling to the truth that nothing is impossible with God, no matter what we are going through. We can believe in miracles and in the supernatural healing power of God. Jesus has said before figuratively – if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains (Matthew 17:20), meaning to say, faith in God no matter how small can do wonders because God is God.

The power of God is mighty. Live in the centre of His will, and we will experience Him working in our lives through His mighty power. Perhaps the change and transformation of our lives is itself the miracle for us! He will make all things beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and He will work all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/22/faith-comes-from-hearing

Paul, in stating that the Jews were not saved because of their unbelief, puts forth an interesting point that faith comes from hearing the message of the Gospel. If we believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord and we confess with our mouth that God had raised Him from the dead, then we will be saved. For it is in your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved (Romans 10: 9-10). In verse 17, Paul expounded that faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

It is thus essential that the message on Christ is shared as faith comes from hearing the message. I have always believed that our job is to share the Gospel, and it is the Holy Spirit who convicts. While that is still true, we need to be aware that faith comes from hearing the message. It is by our sharing and confession that others may likewise believe in their hearts that Jesus is Lord and confess with their mouths that He was raised from the dead. He died for our sins, and thus, we are redeemed by His blood on the cross of Calvary. In other words, there is power in the message being shared or preached. We are not merely sharing. There is power in our sharing as it could bring forth faith in our hearers to believe in Christ.

If we preach from the pulpit, know that there is power in the Word that is shared. It is essential that Scripture is read and expounded in our preaching so that we don’t end up only speaking about things in general. A sermon is not a general discourse of current affairs. It is not about how to be a better person or how to approach life. A sermon is always about the Word and the power of the resurrected Christ in our lives. We have to preach on and about Scripture. Because faith comes from hearing the message!

Be confident when we share Christ with others. As much as it is ultimately the Holy Spirit who convicts and we are mere vessels for God to move in someone’s heart, know and remember that there is power in the word that we speak, there is power in the message. Faith comes from hearing the message as it is spoken.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/21/step-by-step

In 1 Peter 4:7-11, Peter talks about using our God-given talents and gifts to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. Our talents and gifts are the expression of God’s grace in the sense that when we use them to serve God, we are expressing God to others. God is seen and experienced through us. Thus, if we speak (preach or share), we do so as though we are speaking God’s words, and if we serve, we serve in God’s strength so that in all things, Christ may be glorified.

In the context of the unity of the body, if everyone uses their gifts and talents to speak or serve God, then there will be unity and harmony as serving God will be serving the body, which is one another. If we are focused on serving one another, we will have less time and attention to pick on one another’s weaknesses or bicker and quarrel over small things. The big picture is always God’s will and His plans and purposes. Our service is an expression of God’s grace. So how can we not serve and exercise grace and excuse the idiosyncrasies and weaknesses of others? In the body of Christ, we see believers in their various stages of transformation and maturity. Note that our biological age or tenure as a believer does not determine our spiritual maturity. We could have been a Christian for umpteen years and still a baby in Christ because we could have resisted change and stayed at our stubborn ways all these years. We could have refused to yield to the Spirit all this while and thus have allowed our flesh, our old self, to reign supreme. We could even be an old man and have been in the family of God for many years and yet still might not have seriously studied the Word or might not have exercised our faith before and thus have not seen the power of God manisfested before our very eyes.

The message today, I believe, is to begin to serve God. As we serve Him, we manifest His grace in its various forms. God will use us and our God-given talents and gifts to bless others. It could be a helping hand to move house or a love gift for someone to make ends meet. It could be praying for someone’s healing or a direct involvement in ministry. The point is we need to serve God and thus one another in the body, and in the process, God’s grace will be manifested through us, and we will be transformed and blessed when others are blessed in parallel. Every time we bless and help others, we ourselves will be blessed and transformed by God and will mature in our faith. As we serve God and bless others, we will be made more perfect and complete to face the end of time.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/20/true-religion-2

I have mentioned before in these pages that as believers, we can not interact with our LORD God in isolation, although faith is something personal. Our faith, although personal, is also communal. It is personal in the sense that it’s a relationship with Jesus Christ, and we are personally accountable for our actions and beliefs. Yet, it can not be professed and practised in isolation. We need to serve and worship God in His Kingdom, whether in a local church or as part of a mission. We need to encourage and edify others in our church and likewise be encouraged and edified, acting as a counterbalance for others and having others as our counterbalance. When our faith is not practised in relation to our brethren, then there is a high possibility of us being lopsided – either too radical or too liberal when moderation is always the wisest path to take.

On top of being personal and yet communal, the other aspect of our faith is that it has to be real. Thus, James 1:22 says that we are not to only listen to the Word and deceive ourselves, but do what it says. James continues in verse 27 that the religion God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Coincidently, as bible knowledge, James here is believed to be the half-brother of Jesus, who was one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, the same James that Paul met after Peter when Paul first came to connect with the body of Christ in Jerusalem 3 years after his conversion on the road to Damascus (see Galatians 1:19).

Our faith must be real, whether with fellow believers or those outside of our faith. For example, we may fret about the politics in Malaysia and how greedy politicians play up race and religion to gain votes and power, but when we are faced with our brothers from the other side, we must love them and be kind to them. In fact, we must stand with those who are distressed and who are unfairly treated regardless of their faith, race, or creed and can we say, regardless of their political inclinations. Everyone has their own agenda, but when faced with injustice, we must still love and be compassionate. Always face hatred with love and not more hate. Life may or may not be fair to us, but we must be kind to others. Always ask – will Christ be glorified? Will our Father God be proud of us? Don’t ask net net; is this better for me? Never a pros and cons analysis, but the question is always whether we are real and true to God?

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/19/live-in-freedom

Galatians 5 records the challenge faced by early Christians in the transition from Mosaic law to faith in Jesus Christ as most early Christians were Jewish in origins, including Paul and the other Apostles like Peter, John and James. In fact, in Paul’s missionary trips, he usually preached at synagogues. For the Jews, the non-Jewish who embraced Christ like the Greeks need to be circumcised. They probably asked – is circumcision not an outer sign of our allegiance to the LORD God Jehovah?

But Paul put his foot down and stressed that it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Are we to go back to another yoke of slavery? From freedom from sin, do we now become slaves of the law (Mosaic law)? Paul’s argument was simple – if you want to follow the law, then follow it completely. Take everything and not just on the part of circumcision. If not, we then go by faith in Jesus Christ, the one sent by God Himself to fulfil the requirements of the law once and for all. The law is thus written in our hearts, and loving one another (even our enemies) encapsulates the law. In Galatians 5:13-15, Paul stressed that we are called to be free but do not use our freedom to indulge in the flesh but to love one another. We are now led by the Spirit. Thus, the practices of certain churches in observing Jewish practices of the festivals, the Shabbat, and other religious rituals are moving in uncharted waters as Christ’s calling for us is to the New Covenant and not back to Old Covenant (Mosaic).

Although Paul was speaking of actual Mosaic law versus the law of the Spirit through our faith in Christ, present-day Christians do have a tendency to live by certain church imposed rules. Most are for our good and our spiritual well-being, introduced to transition us from a non-Christian life into a life in Christ. But there are some rules that may make us slaves again – to the church or the rules themselves. We are called to freedom in Christ, not called to another yoke of slavery.

I feel the message this morning is to be cognisant and be careful that we are not swept into another life of slavery as we are called by Christ to freedom. If we ever become slaves again, let’s be slaves to God, to His service in ministry. Not slaves to man-made rules lest we become oppressed and live defeated lives in our struggle to meet those man-made rules.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/18/fixing-go-karts

Today is a pretty special day – I turn 55, and just 10 years ago, I would have retired. It was in 2013 that the Malaysian government increased the retirement age for the private sector from 55 to 60, although civil servants had theirs changed to 58 earlier than that. There are pros and cons in working until 60, but the change of retirement age means that as an employee, I have the option to work on if I want to and I have 5 years to consider leaving to pursue my other interests. As far as my EPF (employee provident fund) is concerned, my accounts are now consolidated into one Akaun Emas (Golden Account), and I may withdraw all of my old age savings if I wanted to.

Coincidentally, today is also Father’s Day, and as I reflect upon my late dad, I still recall those days when I was around 5 or 6 when we used to go fishing by the river to catch prawns or the time when I was 11 when we went out to the sea for an overnight fishing trip. On that trip, we faced a storm and had to land and spend the night on an island. Or those scouting camping trips with his school’s boy scouts when i was 8 to 10. Those were the memories I cherish the most with my late father.

He was an avid badminton player, but strangely, we hardly played together much. This was because when I finally reached his level of skills, he stopped playing temporarily (can’t recall exactly why, but maybe the town hall was under renovation) and then when I reached the public examination years, I too stopped playing.

We grew apart during those varsity years as I seldom went home even during semester breaks, either busy with varsity or church activities. Later, I started working and got married, and even though we made it a point to return home during Chinese New Year, we spent less time together until both my late parents came over and stayed with us when my second child Daniel was born. There was great bonding between my boys and my dad then, and since he stayed with me, he was always close by.

For my wife and I, we prefer our children to be nearby when they start to leave the nest. Ivan is currently working abroad, and Daniel will be going abroad for a single semester exchange programme. The next 5-6 months, both our children will be far away. I guess that’s part of life and them maturing in tandem to meet the challenges in the future as adults.

What’s the message this morning? As believers, we are thankful and grateful that we have a loving and compassionate Heavenly Father whose love is beyond comprehension, whose love is steadfast and never ceases, whose love is renewed every morning like dew. But if our earthly fathers are still alive, spend some time with them. Make great memories together as their time with us will not be forever, and only memories will remain once they leave us.

Happy and blessed Father’s Day to all fathers, and have a great Sunday celebration today at church, everyone! Take care, and God bless!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/16/gods-unfailing-memory

I’m not too sure about today’s ODB’s life illustration of a person who had forgotten his bitcoin account with millions in it being compared to God who does not have failing memory. This is because God being God, His memory can never fail. He knows even the number of hair strands we have and every single memory we may have, every single moment of our lives – the past, the present, and even the future. God is omniscient, He knows everything. He is also omnipresent, He transcends time and space.

Having said that, He does remember us in the sense that He will not abandon or leave us behind. He will not be the father who forgot about his son at the highway rest area and continued his journey, leaving his son behind. That can be a major catastrophe for young children who may have no means to contact their parents. That is why in this age of only keying in mobile phone numbers, we must commit to memory at least one contact number. Both my sons know my phone number by heart, and I know my wife’s by heart too.

Of course, when we are going through difficult times and some tough suffering in the flesh, we will naturally feel like God has abandoned us. Left us behind. Abandoned us. Especially when it was our stubborn heart that had led to our present predicament or perhaps our haughty attitude or rebellious streak. The Israelites were rebellious and went against the ways of the LORD, and He allowed both the Assyrians and the Babylonians to overrun and take them into captivity. From free men, they became slaves. They complained that the LORD had forsaken them, but when free, they worshipped other gods. Yet despite their insolence, the LORD affirmed to them that He had not forgotten them. He still remembers them and will redeem them one day, which history has shown that He did.

Of course, God’s relationship with Israel in the Old Testament is a relationship with the nation of Israel as a people. It is not a relationship with individuals, and thus, at the personal level, the Israelites may not have experienced God’s redemption in their lifetimes since the actual liberty came a few hundred years later. It is nevertheless a precursor to our personal relationship with God in the present times post the death and resurrection of Christ that has reconciled us as individuals with God.

Be of good cheer! The LORD remembers us even in our difficult predicaments and tough situations, whether physical, medical, financial, or otherwise. He will deliver us. He will rescue us. But in His time. In the meantime, repent if we have sinned against Him.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/15/putting-the-pieces-together

When we read Philippians 1:6, there is a tendency to think that God will somehow make us perfect in due time, that Paul is like saying that we will be perfected until the day of Jesus Christ as though we will appear before Christ smelling like roses in squeaky clean white robes on that day.

Perhaps we should read Philippians 1 in the context that Paul was already in prison by then and that he was writing to this church in Philippi that he started earlier and that he was encouraged that they are still going strong in the faith. He prays with joy for them due to their partnership with him in the Gospel from day one until then, and the word he used for partnership is koinonia, which usually denotes fellowship. Thus, Paul was confident that He who started the good work in them will bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. The work in them as well as the koinonia partnership in the Gospel.

As much as God wants fellowship and relationship with us, service for Him goes hand in hand. That is why I don’t believe that we could exist as Christians in isolation, merely practising our faith one to one in prayer and worship with Him without being part of any larger congregation. Our faith can not be independent of His work, His Gospel. I believe Paul used koinonia to denote partnership in the Gospel as it is a fellowship to work together for God and His plans and purposes. So that we may live at the centre of His will as a congregation of believers, not just as an individual.

Therefore, Christ who began the good work in us and in our koinonia partnership with one another will carry it to completion only if we work together with Him and one another. I think it is wishful thinking to say that Christ will somehow perfect us. It is obvious that we need to work with Him and yield ourselves to Him, and it is essential that we work with one another in koinonia partnership in the Gospel for Christ to bring His work to completion. In other words, serving God in partnership with our fellow brethren is probably the best way for Christ to complete His work in us. Our faith in God will grow and mature exponentially as we serve Him with others in ministry. We will grow and mature as we pray together, break down spiritual strongholds together, and conquer new grounds for God together. Since ancient times, there has been strength in numbers, and we all know that two is better than one, and three is better than two!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/14/texts-troubles-and-triumphs

In the Christian world, as much as we say that we do not want to be conformed to the pattern of this world, we are still attracted to the snazzy, slick, and flashy. So, to some of us, brilliance triumphs faithfulness. We could perhaps understand this more for music and song, but when it comes to preaching, we should always look out for what God is speaking in spite of the delivery.

I feel faithfulness is the better virtue to aspire to, mainly, because it has less to do with our God-given talents but points to our preserverance and discipline, both of which may be cultivated as we grow in God and mature in our faith. For example, we may not speak so eloquently as a preacher, but if we persevere on, people will grow to appreciate the spiritual message that we share. Even with worship leading, we may not be the best of singers in the congregation, but with discipline and a consecrated life, we may bring the life of God and His anointing into our worship leading – bringing transformational changes in lives as the Spirit ministers and uplifts us in worship.

On the day of the Lord, what we are so much looking forward to hear is that we have been a good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23). Faithful is pistos in Greek and speaks of being truthful and dependable. Meaning to say that we have done the task or responsibility given us consistently over a long period of time. Faithfulness denotes years. We are no flash in the pan. We are that pan, always ready for our owners to cook a nice meal. Do people change their pans every other day? No, people use them for years.

When we read Hebrews 11: 32-40, we cringe in horror the persecution some of our fellow brethren had to go through at that time to preserve and protect their faith. How could they have done so well in such suffering? Because they had placed their hope in something much, much better in Christ Jesus. Faithfulness means we are willing to pay the price to follow Christ. We may or may not be rewarded in this life, but we will nevertheless stay the course, undeterred by the discomforts that come our way. We refuse to take the easier path. We refuse to betray our Lord. We want to be true to Him. We want to be dependable for His sake. We want to be pistos unto Him, for He is our Saviour and our Lord and God.