Pastoral Views

"The heart wants what it wants.”

A famous celebrity declared when he was criticised for making poor moral choices.

"I want…." Sigh. From time memorial, it is desire that has gotten a person into trouble. 

The first time you discipline your child, it is likely because he or she is wanting something and wailing for it.

If only Eve (yes, it was her first!) did not lay her eyes on the fruit and found the though of gaining wisdom desirable. (Genesis 3:6) She wanted wisdom. She shared the fruit with Adam and in so doing poisoned her husband and the rest of mankind. Ever since, man’s desire for wisdom is insatiable.

If only David did not see the UFO from his roof top - an "unclad female object" (2 Samuel 11:2). It was an ancient form of pornography. The longer he looked the more he needed desired the object. Indeed that was how he saw her: an object to fulfil his sexual desires. He wanted her. Roused to passion, those desires were unstoppable. That sparked a chain of murder, lies, sin and pain that brought much sorrow to all around him. No least, himself. And the consequences continued to the next generation.

How about Judas? As we will hear at Maundy Thursday Service, he betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matt 26:15). Scholars will say that it is about USD $200. Imagine. Whether it was money or desire for something else, desire again reigned.

This is an amazing Psalm, all of it. My apologies for getting stuck at and being struck by the first line: 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

What a difference life will be if instead, we let Him shepherd us. For if so, "we shall not want.” There is a deep satisfaction that comes knowing, loving and serving Jesus. This path keeps our basal desires in check, allowing us to pursue the calling to bear the imago dei in our lives.

Have you lost your way? Are there unfulfilled dreams, broken promises? Do you feel like a helpless prisoner chained in the dark dungeons of your desires? 

It is still not late.

Return to the Shepherd.

Amen.

This was a prevalent question asked when I first became a Christian in the mid-70’s. Today this question is still a popular one. In biblical times, this question was also commonly asked. Jesus Himself taught that those who do not see, and yet believe, are blessed (John 20:29).

This chapter focuses on this issue and beyond that, extols it’s central importance:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Heb 11:1)
The visible world is created by what is invisible - the spoken word of God (Heb 11:2)

Heb 11:6 is the crowning verse: And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

This verse is not discussing the existence of God the way we intellectually would in modern times. This is why I prefer older Bible versions which simply say “must believe that He is.” Do we believe that God is who He says He is, the "I am that I am”?

The rest of the chapter gives many accounts of how many past saints have acted out of faith (invisible) and trust God (whom we cannot see) for future outcomes (which was yet to be seen). These saints achieved remarkable outcomes for they acted on what cannot be seen: faith in God. They pursued what was on the heart of God.

This passage reminds me again of the importance of faith in God as opposed to our constant desire to act on what we can sense or see. For what we cannot see is sometimes more real and powerful than what we can. For example, sin often appeals to our senses: the seeing, the touching, the sensing, in the now. But for the one who fears and pursue God (whom he cannot see), refrain and hope in the future, he builds a life that is truly rich. Jesus has said, “For what does it profit a man, who gain the whole world (which he can see) but loses his own soul (whom he cannot see)? (Mark 8:36)

Additionally, the church often pursues the tangibles and debate on them as if they are the most important aspects of church life. We are all going to be surprised one day about the truth of the matter. Let the Holy Spirit fill us once again and with his winnowing fork, separate the chaff from the wheat. (Matt 3:11,12)

Let faith be the active verb of your life. And pursue the heart of God in all you do.

One of the greatest gift of life must be community. I became a Christian at 13. Up till that point, participation in meetings and gatherings outside of the home were periodic and normally associated with club or society activities. 

After I came to the Lord, meetings became a regular affair. It can be almost a daily experience in school or church. My Sundays were changed forever. 

As I look back, I thank God for the richness of the Christian community. I have experienced so much. I have learned so much. I have found so much encouragement. Growth in certain areas would not have been possible without community. 

For countless times, I have encountered the Lord in His people. I am grateful for those who have spoken into my lives.  Some can be very hard to get along with. And yet through them, I became aware of my own limits.

I also learn to form deep friendships with brothers and sisters from other races, something which would be more difficult outside of the context of church. 

Since 1986, the Christian community became my place of work. My participation in Christian meetings increased exponentially. 

I have no regrets. The Christian community is an amazing gift. Singapore, we have freedom to gather for worship. Don't take that for granted. 

Take every chance to be with God's people. Love His Church, love His people. 

That was a mistake. Her bag was stolen, passport and all.

She was distraught. We felt devastated when we heard the news. Here is someone thinking that a church must be safe. Hitherto, her trip in this safe and beautiful island of Singapore must have pre-disposed her to think that surely the church grounds are even safer. 

We put ourselves in her shoes. Quoting another church leader, "Losing one's passport in a foreign country is terrifying. Losing it in a church in a foreign country is several magnitudes worse."

What's more ironic is that we are reciting "Thou shalt not steal" every Sunday during Lent. 

So, what is so wrong about thievery? Actually, most sins between human beings (which is most of what the commandments are about) have to do with someone being robbed, deprived or betrayed of something: dignity, rights, promises, trust, safety and so on. Daily, millions of lives in our world have something taken or yanked from them. It hurts and often, irreparably so. Some victims are children. Right at a tender age, they lose their innocence and are scarred for the rest of their lives.

This is why Jesus said: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10). 

That's right, to steal is to bedevil, willed from the very depths of hell.

This sister lost her passport and personal belongings. We felt deeply for her.  We pray that she will never lose her trust in the goodness of God and His people. But we know that there is a thievery which is far worse: losing our right to be a child of God and our right to life with Him in eternity.  

In the late 90's, I watched a Italian movie, "Life is Beautiful" which I still remember till this day.

It is about a Jewish-Italian bookshop owner who tried to shield his son from the horrors of Nazi occupation during World War II. For his son, life appeared to be beautiful as his father did his comic best throughout the movie to shield him from the dark realities of life. Just as Western liberating forces was approaching, his father was finally led to his death and even then, he still put up a front and his son did not realise what was happening.

Only in adulthood, did he realise how much his father had sacrificed for him to ensure he had a beautiful perspective of life as a child. 

In some ways, this is a parable of our life here as well. There is so much beauty and good. And yet, so much of this life is deeply marred. As we can see from this passage: 

There is distress.

There are tears, weeping actually.

An infant who died young, some at birth.

An adult who never reached his full life and potential.

A house that one never got to live in. Or even if he did, never quite a home due to family brokenness and pain. 

A farm that never benefited the planter. A man's life-work came to nothing. 

The list goes on. Some of us have experienced this. Or just as troubling, pains observed. 

The Christian hope - heaven as some of us will call it - is a hope for perfect restoration of what life is suppose to be. 

No more tears. Work and creativity that produces. A true home. Everlasting life. 

The thing is, this is what Jesus has come to redeem.. Unlike the film, His Son was not shielded by His Father. He experienced life in all its darkness and evil. 

That of what we know as "earth and heavens" may be made new (and perfect). Jesus new body (first fruits - see 1 Cor 15:20) is a promise of what is to come in this new order. 

Continue to follow Jesus and one day, we will experience in perfection life, love, creativity, home, family and God. 

And talking about home, it cannot be perfect without my late mum being there. I hope my dad will be there too. 

Life is indeed beautiful because of this hope we have in Christ our Redeemer.

In Exodus, work for the Jews has become a source of bondage, a tool Pharaoh used to control them. Work took on a nasty turn as an instrument of enslavement. Human beings become objects. While work is mandatory, God has not instituted it to be a hard master to deprive us from what is important - family, worship, friends etc. Indeed, it is this idea of slavery that Christians in recent centuries have fought hard to stop. 

The principle of the "one in seven" Sabbath (a central teaching in the Pentateuch) is important in the way we view life and work. Rest is not a luxury. It is a necessity. We are also created for worship and community. 

If work has become a master which drains and controls every aspect of our life, as in this passage, we need to look to the Lord for help and deliverance. 

For your life is the Lord's, not Pharaoh's. 

We make promises but we break them all the time. This include oaths, which we understand today as "formal promises." I have conducted countless wedding and hear the vows recited again and again.

I sometimes wonder whether life can be lived without vows, oaths and promises. After all, if they are not made, no one will be disappointed. No one will be betrayed.

And yet, we know that this is simply not possible. A life without promises will drift aimlessly. The promises and oaths still guide and give structure and direction to life, even if they are imperfectly kept.

As we see in this passage, God promises. God make oaths. The writer calls it a "double certainty" or "twice-unchangeable" (Heb 6:18). For God who cannot lie has promised. It would have been enough if God just says it. For in a sense, everything He says is a promise as He cannot but keep His word.

That was how He made a promise to Abraham. He swore by Himself as there was no one greater He could swear by (He's 6:13).

This doubly-sure and twice-unchangeable Abrahamic promise lives on in and through His Church.
No wonder the writer could speak of a steadfast anchor of the soul (Heb 6:19).

We need not drift aimlessly.

We can anchor our lives amidst tossing seas and at times, frightening storms.

We may sometimes let go. But twice over, He never does.  

Daniel 2:20-23 (Holy Communion) 

These words were Daniel’s response after God revealed to him in a vision the interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.  

Times and seasons are in God's hands. He changes them. I find that reassuring to know. For there is something about times and seasons, and with it the powerful forces of culture, which seems to assume their own power and dictate the affairs of men. 

Likewise the succession of kings and rulers. While on the throne, they seem so powerful and untouchable. Yes, God removes and sets them up. They rule but only for a moment and for a season permitted by Him. (See also Romans 13:1-2)

Daniel never loses sight of who the supreme king is and who is in control of nature and politics. 

It is this kind of faith that will help us to stay faithful through changing times and kings. There is much in today's rapidly changing world that cause us anxieties and leaves us clueless sometimes.

Singapore has her own challenges and on recent times, we are wondering about the next 4G leadership. But I often try to imagine what it will be like to live as a Christian in some of today's troubled nations. In the Cathedral, we are constantly praying for the situation in Syria, which do not seem to have any political solution in sight.

I can recall this prayer meeting when I was in Tung Ling Bible School as a student soon after I graduated from varsity. There was this Sri Lankan brother who was praying in deep desperation for his war-torn country which was in civil war. He was wailing and shouting. I wept along with him. It was hard to believe then that there can be any political solution. Yet today, peace has returned to his nation.

As we continue to pray for Syria, North Korea and so on, it does seem at times that our little prayers are only going up as far as the ceiling in the Cathedral, which while higher than most, is not where we want them to end up. Yet Daniel here reminds us that our prayers are based on a deep trust in God who is in control of the changing times and kings.

How comforting for those living under seasons of oppression and humbling for those who are on power to be reminded that "these too will pass."

Hebrews 3:7-19 (Morning Prayer)

In yesterday’s meditation, the passage from Jeremiah reminds us of the deceptiveness of the human heart (Jer 17:9). Here, the writer of Hebrews speaks about the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:13) and how coupled with an evil and unbelieving heart (Heb 3:12), can lead us to fall away from a living God.

The process is not sudden and the text here, as used elsewhere in the bible refers to a “hardening” process. You may have heard Casting Crowns’s 2007 favourite, Slow Fade, which goes this way:

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white are turned to gray
And thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade

Indeed, people never crumble in a day. Bit by bit, the deceitfulness our sinful hearts can lead us further and further from a living God.

This is why Heb 3:13 says that we need to “exhort one another every day.” We need to hear from another Christian, not just once a week but daily! The word exhort is a strong word, akin to strongly encourage or pressuring a person to do something. The same writer later will use another strong term,  how we need to “stir up” one another to love and good works (Heb 10:24).

We need one another. And we need one another constantly. 

This is what the Word is saying. This also bears out in real life. We need the Lord, of course. We need to do our personal devotion daily, of course. But on our own, we can be easily deceived. I can tell you there is nothing that can be more frightening than the Christian who lives without any accountability. One clear evidence of this self-deception is being closed up to others even though they may be socialising. But deep inside they are emotional clams - not sharing what is really going on in their hearts or lives. Sadly, they have no real spiritual friends. 

We need to open our lives to another. We need companions for the journey of life. Some of us have good Fellowship or Bible Study groups where we have found spiritual friends. If we are serious about following Christ and spiritual growth, this is necessary. Or else, we are just self-deluded, setting our own rules and imagining that God is sanctioning our way of life and values.

On our own, we can be easily “scammed”. I once talked with someone who was obviously being scammed. He was giving thousands of dollars on a regular basis to someone overseas who claimed to have prophecy and spiritual insights. This is a clear case in point where he can pray on his own as much as he wants and yet remain deceived. I had a very hard time trying to convince him of the truth for he was trapped in his own bubble of reality.

None of us believe that we can be scammed. That is just another word for being deceived. The Ancient Scammer has been around. He scammed Adam and Eve and many others ever since. 

Be wary of him. Be wary of our own hearts.

Start reaching out and open your life to another believer. 

Jeremiah 17:5-10 (Morning Prayer)