Transactional or Relational Faith

Bro Koay Kheng Hin

I want to start my message with a short story. 

One day God decided to do a site visit to one of the churches. He'd send an angel to visit one of the church as a messenger. Somehow the church heard of it and the church board was told that there will be a visit from an angel. So when the day came there was two angel that came instead and the church board asked who is from the Lord. And both said they were from the Lord. Obviously, one was not and the church board needed to find out which was which. 

So the church board asked what message do you have so that we can tell who is from the Lord? 

The first angel came and said I came in a Lamborghini and came dressed smartly in a tie. I came to tell you that the Lord will prosper you in all you do and you will have good success.

The first angel also told the church, God is going to bless them with long life. All your children will be professionals. And you will be promoted. And when you go to heaven the Lord will welcome you as the good and faithful servant. So the board thought this is good, the real stuff. Promises of God.  

The second angel came in a Proton Saga. Like Bro Hooi's. The second angel said be ready. The time of persecution is coming soon. Jesus is coming back so be prepared. But worry not for I will be with you. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. 

During the first century, this will not have been a problem. The wave of persecution took most of their possessions or even their life away. So they had no problem because they look forward to the coming of the Lord. 

But today there may be a board that would call an EGM to see who is the real messenger. 

The question is this, what is your most treasured possession? The first is about temporal wealth. The second holds fast on the confession of your faith. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. 

If you look into your heart, what is your most treasured possession. Your money? Your health? Your children? Or your faith in Christ?

1 Peter 1:6-7
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

There are two words that come out strongly. 

One is trials. 

This was a time when the church was undergoing persecution. There are two types of trials. One is due to you standing up for Christ. The second type of trial are those that we all go through. The trials of circumstances. Like your health failing you. You finances fail you. Or relational issue. Or your children go through a difficult time. 

Peter said these trials are for a little while. They don't last forever. They will end. Peter writes that these have come that their faith may prove genuine. When God allows it, he is in it and he is in control. It is the time of the testing of our faith. It is easy when all are well in our life. But testing comes when things go the other way. Will we still say praise the Lord and still come to church? That is the test. 

Someone once said: "A faith that is not tested cannot be trusted." Most of us see short term. When we go through a problem all we want is a solution to the problem. When the doctor say we are not well we look to immediate healing. We want a solution, nothing more, nothing less. 

When we go through a trial he is interested in you and want to mould you to be more like Christ. People who have not gone through a specific problem cannot see the issue of those problems. It is in the furnace of suffering that spiritual maturity happens. 

I am currently on a high. Last day of school was on Friday so I decided to ask my colleagues about death. And they said "why go and talk about death?" Usually they stay about 45 minutes but that day they all cabut in 20 minutes. People fear suffering. We know we live in a fallen world. For us, God doesn't want us to fear anything or anyone except him. That is holy fear. When we look at suffering we are realistic. In suffering, in Christ we are overcomers and if God allows it, he has a purpose. 

This is one of the purposes of God where he can work out things for good. That is theological. 

I read this about 2 years ago from a famous philosopher and I think he got it right. 

The mark of humanism is suffering. But he said there is one antidote for suffering. Diluted suffering. It is not suffering that matters but whether you find meaning in suffering. If you find meaning, the suffering is diluted. I thought a lot about this. 

Like working. Most of us work 8 hours a day. Now imagine you work 2 jobs a day. 16 hour work day. Will you suffer? You will suffer. You won't say, wah, I enjoy working and no sleep. You will look to the day when you can just work one job or better still retire and not have to work. 

But if the man says he's doing it for his children, every time he goes to work and he sees his two children, and that he goes to work for them, his suffering is diluted because he found meaning for it. It is difficult for him but it is well worth it because it's for his children. 

Looking back on it biblically, we know God will not waste our suffering but has his purpose that is good for us, then we go through it with God's perspective and meaning and the intensity of the suffering will lose its sting. 

Hebrews 12:11
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

As Christians we will go through trials but we are different because God is in our suffering and he has a purpose to work it out for good. 

The second word is faith. 

1 Peter 1:7
These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Peter used gold to compare and he says it's far more precious. Here I want to linger a little more. 

The word faith in verb form is belief. But when the word stands alone, we must look at it carefully. I see two types of faith. 

Transactional Faith. 

When things are good they praise God. When things don't go well they ask why. Then their language change. I do so much for the Lord why is this happening? When a person ask these questions, often it will move into a transactional faith. When I belief I expect something good to appear in a concrete manner. 

Transactional faith is well exemplified by my father. When my brother accepted the Lord, my father somehow found out about it when food that was offered to idols, my brother didn't eat. My mother asked why didn't eat? Stomach ache? In the end my brother said he's baptised and became a Christian. My parents practiced self control. And asked me to go buy Indian Mee for him. 

When in the room alone with my parents, my parents complained about my brother. The Cantonese have a proverb. You must tell the emperor before you chop off the head. What's the point you chop off then only tell the emperor. If the emperor wants to spare the person also too late already. I told my parents that he's irresponsible. I said I will never be like that. My father said I have you I "pang sim". (Laughs)

Then my second brother became a Christian. I told my mother, don't worry. Trust me. I won't be like that. 

Then the day came, I became a Christian, I told my father I want to baptise and I want my father's blessings. So I am one step better. My brothers baptised then told my parents but I asked my parents before I got baptised. (Laughs) My father said you have my blessings and told me it is fated for me to be a Christian. 

My father said you can belief but do not be a fanatic. My father's faith is totally transactional. He prays and expects things or blessings. 

Relational Faith. 

But when it comes to Christ, it is not transactional. It is faith in Christ. In transactional it is faith in what God can offer. This is proper biblical faith. This is genuine faith that is worth more than gold. Faith in the God of circumstances. Not the circumstances. 

If you have been praying for blessings, like when is the money coming, then that's a transactional faith. But when you pray and trust in the God that provides the riches, the focus is on him, then it's relational faith. When you have faith in him even if the prayer is not answered. 

It's like if you have not prayed it's your problem. But if you have prayed, then it is Jesus' problem. That is relational faith. 

Hebrews 11:17-19
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

The background is that God required Abraham to sacrifice his son. But before that God told Abraham he will provide Abraham a son and will through him give him descendants that is numbered like the stars. Here is where if you are Abraham, you will wonder since God promised that he will be father of many nations, why sacrifice Isaac? And that God has given him only one son and that he is in his old age. His conclusion is that God will raise him from the dead. 

What is your greatest possession? It would have been his son but in this case faith in God is his primary possession. If your faith is in your possession, in your substance then you need to fine tune your faith. Our faith needs to be on Jesus. 

Sometimes misfortunes fall on Christians. And we cannot explain so it's sometimes better to stay silent. 

I just watched the movie Interstellar. Some of us found it boring but I found it very interesting because I am a science teacher. Interstellar is an interesting story but I can tell you it won't happen. The man moved into a black hole and time became irrelevant. From a physics teacher, it cannot happen. The gravity is so great that I and my handsome face will become a dot. It's just a movie. 

Our faith goes beyond reason. It goes into the supernatural and goes beyond the natural. 

One of the great philosopher, a Christian contributed to human reason by saying that we cannot reason our way to God. God is above our reason. When we come to God, every intellectual or non intellectual have to take that leap to faith. And he used Abraham's position as an example. 

Faith is no longer faith if you can see it. It is something you cannot see. I have faith I'll be going to heaven. And I am often asked if you've not seen it how would you know? I say, if I've seen it I will not need faith. They have only reason. They have stagnant feet and cannot make that leap to faith. 

We know there are spiritual warfare all the time. The devil work day and night. I don't like to credit the devil but I must say he is more hardworking than us. When the devil looks at us, what is on his malicious evil mind?

Will he destroy our wealth and health? Like Job? The devil is not on that level. That is child's play. He may be evil but he is smart. He comes against you to turn you away from Christ. To attack us at the point of faith. He succeeds when one day he hears this, I was a Christian. The most treasured possession, guard it. If you lose everything you still have your faith in Christ. In Christ you have everything. 

And when the day comes, you can say it is well with my soul. I learnt the background of this hymn from Bro Hooi. 

Today I tell you the modus operandi of our enemy. Not everything is due to him. He will seduce and tempt you until you get into trouble and shake your faith. 

You work hard in ministry. Everything you do fails. He whispers and say its useless. He discourages you. 

Then the third way is he gives you wrong doctrine. Faith in the wrong Christ. 

But the devil is most dangerous when he encourages you. You may ask how?

I take Bro Jacob as an example. He has been worship leading for the last 30 years. And one day the devil whisper to him and said he is the best worship leader. And one day he comes up to worship lead and say he is the best and don't need God. 

After Bro Jacob gets angry with me so I also put myself in his shoes. I preach a sermon and I hear praises that I'm very good. And one day I think I no longer need God's anointing. Devil's praises and men's praises are very different. If your cell leader is doing a good job, praise and thank him. It is okay to encourage.

Hebrews 12:12
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

They were at that time heavily persecuted. There will be times when our faith level will be low. This verse is for us. There are two reasons given in Hebrew. 

Hebrews 12:16
See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.

This is the negative and a warning. Esau exchanged his birthright for a bowl of soup. The Hebrew is telling us that our faith is so precious that we sell off our spiritual birthright in exchange for the things of the world. Life is more than just a bowl of soup. 

Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Look to Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. And this statement by Paul shows his statement of life. 

2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

His faith in Christ was intact and a crown awaits him and not just him but all who waits for the appearing of Christ. 

So in our life whatever we go through, hold onto the faith of Christ. 

True Love

Rev Ng Kok Kee

President of Bible College Malaysia 

I always enjoy coming to Penang and I'm glad to be back again. I was here for the Baptist Theological Seminary Graduation dinner so I drove up and we have more days here to visit places we wanted. So this weekend I was wondering what I'll do so I invited myself to TOP. Your pastor cannot refuse me (laughs).

And I got to drive on the second bridge and my wife was worried because there were no cars before us and no cars after us. It was so empty I wonder why they build that bridge. We drove and drove and there was no end in sight. It's so much longer than the first bridge.

Matthew 22:34-40
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

In 1944, a Polish Jew born in America Isaac Rabi a physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance, which is used in MRI magnetic resonance imaging. He was also involved in the development of the cavity magnetron, which is used in microwave radar and microwave ovens. He was then asked by reporters how he discovered the sciences. His mother used to ask him questions every time he came back from school. He said his mother was not so much interested in what he learned but how he conducted himself in school that day. She would ask him whether he asked a good question that day. And that, he said made him become a scientist. He wanted to know the truth.

The Pharisees never really wanted to know the truth. They just wanted to test Jesus. They asked questions with wrong motives. They were not trying to learn, they were trying to trap Jesus. They wanted to do damage to his reputation. But Jesus was up to the task.

They asked Jesus which is the greatest of the Commandments. Sometimes I would ask what is the greatest commandments for the Muslims. I realised that Halal certification is serious. I read that we are the first nation to have a Halal CSI unit. To make sure that all halal products are 100% halal. I'm sure you've heard about the chocolates issue. Also recently a Muslim man tried to help Muslims touch a dog to remove the fear. But the next day it's being called haram. We may laugh and think that being halal is perhaps the Muslim's most important commandment.

So I want to throw this question to the Christian. What is our greatest commandment? Like we cannot do this or that. There are so many rules. You know what I mean.

The Jewish knows that the Do Nots were more than the Do's in the Torah. The negatives outweighed the positives. Scholars have different opinions. And any answer would risk pleasing someone at the expense of offending someone else.

So they knew if they threw a theological question to Jesus, he may say something that would offend someone. Bad questions. But Jesus must have stung them with his answer.

The greatest is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. And the second is to love your neighbour as yourself. And he said on these hung all the laws. He struck them with his answer.

What is this love? If you asked children you will find their answer to love is very wise and innocent. And we can learn from them.

Jesus saw that the Pharisees were so rule oriented that he said if you don't love God it doesn't matter what else you do. It's strange that God commands us to love him. If pastor Gideon can command the church to love him he'll be the most successful pastor in the world.

We cannot command love because it's a commitment. Look at Jesus. Your love is the only one thing God cannot take from you. It's the only thing God can have only if you voluntarily give to him. He can take your money, your house or your life, but only you can give your love. He cannot take it from you. Love is not a feeling but a commitment.

Loving God means keeping his commandments. To love God the way he wants to be loved is to obey God. I can tell how much you love God by your answer to me. Do you love God because you have to or because you want to? Parents will know this very well. They'll want their children to obey them because they want to. Not because they are afraid and have to.

There is this story of a rich merchant looking for the apostle Paul. He met Timothy and the merchant found Paul and saw this old man who was frail but had a serenity about him. He asked what was this man's strength. And Timothy said Paul is in love with Jesus Christ. Is that all, the merchant asked. And Timothy said that is everything. In love you don't have to act. People can see and know. It will be very evident if you love God or not. Some have to do so much to show they love God. It's not what you do or say. It's what you exudes when you love God.

The second part Jesus says to love others as yourself. God gave us two hands. One to hold on to God and the other to hold on to others. If our hands are holding on things of the world we cannot hold on to God and others. When we love God, his love will flow out to others.

There are four types of love.

Love among equals. This is not difficult and is perhaps the most common.

Love for the less fortunate, it is compassion. To love the ones that are poor, sick or abandoned.

Love for the more fortunate. This is rare. To love the ones that has more than us. In my words like the pendatangs love the bumis. To love your sister when you have 6A and one B when she has 7 A's. This is the love that always confuses the world because it's a saintly love.

Love for the enemy. The one that hurts you, condemn you, that hates you. This is a tortured love that loves the torturer. This is God's love. This is demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.

I think we need all these four types of love.

In a harbour there are two lights that guide the ship. As long as the lights are kept in line the ship will travel safe at the harbour. If we keep ourselves in line by loving God with all our heart and to love others like ourselves, we are in safe harbour in our Christian walk with God.

People say that love is blind, I say love is the only thing that sees. Let us love.

Pastor Gideon praying for some of the team members going on the mission trip to Sarawak

The Transfiguration of Christ

Bro Koay Kheng Hin

Today's message is going to be something we seldom hear about. We are quite familiar about the incarnation or the birth of Christ. God became man. And we are also familiar with the baptism and temptation of Christ. The point of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is also another one and of course the resurrection, the empty tomb. The resurrection followed by the ascension. Today I'm going to talk about something a little more different, the transfiguration of Christ.

All the worship songs by Bro Jacob ties in with my message today. We are trying to reach out to the folks in Teluk Kumbar and also pastor’s vision to reach out to the drug addicts, a good place to take stock of is that we must always remember the focus of the Christian faith is not primarily the ministry. The focus is the minister. Our Lord Jesus Christ. As we move into ministry we must never forget our first love. Everything we do must spring from the Lord.

Luke 9:28-29 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning."

Matthew 17:2-3 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus."

As he was praying his appearance changed. Luke did not use transfigured but Matthew did. Jesus was praying and he was transfigured.

The first insight is that communion brings the glory of God in your life.

Jesus radiated the glory. As he was praying something happened to him. It's metamorphosis. And in that word we think of the butterfly as a student. The metamorphosis word tells us that what happened to Jesus was not just the outward. Today I wear different from normal because I'm preaching. Normally I'll were a t-shirt but today I wear long sleeve and a tie. Looks more handsome la. Transfiguration is also inward. The glory radiated from him.

When we put our hands on the plough and put our lives into ministry, first and foremost it must come from a communion from our Lord. If not two things will happen. We will become tired and burn out. And second we will not bear spiritual fruits.

Exodus 34:29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord."

His face was radiant with the glory of God and the connection is that he has spoken with the Lord. He was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights.

Here was a description of his face being radiant because he has spent time with the Lord, had communion and spoken to the Lord. Moses was carrying the word of God. He has commune with God and his face was radiant.

A few months back I had a session with the ushers. And I asked them what is the most important asset of an usher. Like for example, a worship leader must be able to sing. To the usher it's their face, their countenance. For the teacher of the word will need to have God’s grace on him to be able to think. To be able to reason. The ushers must smile and the people look at our face. I told them they need to spend time with the Lord so that their face will shine the glory of God. Their countenance will show the glory of God. For the ladies, you can save some money on cosmetics with the glory of God. Or perhaps less make up.

Now that I have a smartphone, I found that a fashion designer Versace I think whose face is shining because he overdid his plastic surgery.

Often the words we say do not fit our actions, and some says the action or body language says more. Like an angry father may say to the son “do you know how much I love you?” Screaming at the child with anger. The child will think if love is like that, better don’t love me.

In communion there is something that the Lord does.

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

In this verse we reflect the Lord’s glory. Radiate comes from the essence of who we are. Moses reflected the glory of God. For us we must understand that we are a little bit better than Moses. Because the Holy Spirit is in us and he works in us so that we can reflect the glory. The reflection is outward. If you commune with God, the reflection will be strong but if you are busy with other things the reflection will be dimmer. It is something we must do daily.

I watched a movie called long ago called The Fly. This man invented teleportation where he enters a pod and transmit himself to a second pod. One day, as he experimented, he went into the pod and a fly happened to fly in there and the genes of the fly infused into him, as he was teleported to the other pod. And soon he became more and more like a fly. Why am I saying this?

We have the capacity to be more like Jesus as we commune with him. In the story, the man became more like a fly and he cannot control it. In our case, it depends on how much we yield to the Lord. As we spend more time communion with him, we are transformed from glory to glory.

If we ask ourselves, Jesus has prayed many times. Why on this particular juncture he is being transfigured. Here we have to read the passage upwards. The transfiguration was connected to Peter’s response.

Luke 9:18-20 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”"

The transfiguration is the precursor to the full glory of God. He authenticated it by being transfigured. It is here that Jesus reveals himself that he is the Christ, the Messiah.

If you look at Luke you'll find the authentication became complete when God the father spoke. Much like what Jesus heard when he was baptised. If you compare the voice of God during the baptism and the transfiguration you'll find that at the baptism the voice was for Jesus. But in this transfiguration it is the three disciples that heard the voice. It was to confirm the messiahship of Jesus to the disciples.

So do you now really really know who is Jesus? It is easy to call Jesus the teacher, the healer, the prophet. In many other faiths what the God can do is more important than whom the God is. In Christianity who he is is far more important than what he can do. I want to elaborate a bit more on this.

Most of us are from Taoist background. If you worship “tua pek kong” and you asked for something and it's not answered, you may move to another “kong”. In Buddhism, the philosophy overshadows the founder. In the case of Buddhism if you follow closely you can become the next Buddha. In Christianity if you take out Jesus you have nothing. Christianity falls on the person of Jesus. Who Jesus is is of paramount importance.

At the transfiguration, the three of them, Peter, James and John recorded this down.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

2 Peter 1:16-18

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain."

For John and Peter this was the defining moment in their lives. The other one was James, died by the sword and Peter was crucified upside down and John was persecuted until his last days on the island of Patmos where he wrote the Book of Revelations.

In the transfiguration, they knew Jesus is indeed God. Whatever experiences you have it is a point of contact. That point of contact must lead you to the point of focus. And that focus is to lead you to the person of Jesus.

There are two things that will grasp and take our attention.

One, we have to be practical. The pressures of life are very real. The circumstances of life are real. On the other end is the Christ of God. If we want to mature we must turn our focus from the circumstances of life to the Christ of God.

There are four Ps in my bible. 

Person Presence Power Peace. 

When you focus upon the Person of Christ you will carry the Presence of God. In the presence the Power of God will manifest and you will have the Peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

Our tendencies are that we focus so much on our circumstances we loose focus on Christ.
When you look to Christ, the providential blessings of God will impact your circumstances.

The transfiguration showed them that Jesus is the Messiah and that changed their whole outlook on life. Let's turn out eyes to Jesus as the author and finisher of our life. Coming back to the ministry when we focus on God, our ministry will bear spiritual fruit or if you do it on your own you will have to slog it out yourself. The ministry is God’s work not your work.

The last question I want to ask is where the answer is not very clear.

What was the content of Jesus‘ prayer?

You will probably search the bible and theologically this is the best answer we have. If you look at 9:28-36pp – Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray."

Luke 9:22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”"

Jesus was talking about him going to the cross. Also mentioned when Jesus prayed at the garden of Gethsemane. If you tie them all in, the one interpretation is like this.

This was a precursor to the garden prayer. The prayer about the cross and the transfiguration is God the Father’s answer to Jesus. Jesus was facing the cross. You must understand that he asked if it’s possible to pass it away from him. Jesus was looking at the abandonment and it is a deep struggle for the Lord. But in the end, Jesus submitted to the will of God. This was what we believe was in Jesus’ mind.

God the Father’s answer about him going to the cross did not take the cross from him. But what God gave him was victory over the cross. The transfiguration was an inkling of the resurrection. In it is the future glorified body of God. In the suffering on the cross is the glory that would come.

As children of God and Disciples of Christ, we must understand that there is suffering before the glory. Even if none of us has the transfiguration experience, the word of God tells us that we through communion with God the voice of the word will bring the presence of God into our lives.

There are three things we learn.

Our communion with God must drive our commission. God must drive the ministry.
Communion is not primary for the commission. The communion transforms you. In that presence is the peace and power of God.

The focus is not on our need but on God. Focus on God and your need will be met. Jesus is more than just what he can do for you.

And lastly, the Christian Faith is first and foremost a call to sacrifice and in it is the completion in glory. 

Get Real!

Rev Gideon Lee

I want to continue from the book of Matthew. 

Matthew 23:1-12

​1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’

8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

The world on Friday just celebrated Halloween. To me that is one great pretend. There is a song called The Great Pretender. How many of you are young enough to know the song or is it a group? I don't know why they want to be like Dracula or Ghouls. Halloween used to be called All Saints' Day or Allhallows Eve. The saints in the past were not pretenders. They suffered for their faith. 

Sometimes we come to church and put on many many masks. And the world call these people hypocrites. The church has often been bombarded by this. They said the church don't practice what they preach. Hypocrites are described in today's term as actors. In the past, in plays they don't have an actor for all parts. So some actors play many parts. They had many characters. So they would change in between their characters and used masks so that they don't confuse the audience. The word hypocrite comes from that. What you see is not what you get. And Jesus is saying this of the Pharisees. 

Jesus said this, that the people must do what the Pharisees told the people. Jesus recognised the authority of the Pharisees. Follow what they tell you but do not do what they do because they do not practice what they preach. 

Sometimes we see something that is so nice but once in our hands it does not seems what we thought it was. We have to get real. Because the world is looking at us. Many do not want to come to church because they think we are hypocrites. That we are actors. They say one thing and do the other. That in church and at home or at work we are different. 

At the Hokkien service, they say I look like an actor. Alex Mun. I told them I'm not an actor and that I hope what you see is what you get. Pastors too are not perfect. But I will want to be real. 

Jesus demonstrated who he was by coming to earth. In the book of Philippians he humbled himself and came even to the point of death. He was as real as what he says. We can count on what Jesus says. The Holy Spirit is real. He is not an actor. He is not someone who only says but not do it. 

When Jesus was breaking bread with his disciples before he went to the cross, he washed the disciples' feet including who? Judas. We often do not see the significance of washing feet. We don't always practice this in church but it has great significance. 

In bible school I washed my leader's feet. I washed the youth leader's feet. They were young, like Alicia. I did not tell them except my key leader as I needed someone to prepare the water. They were wondering what I was going to do. I then told them I wanted to wash their feet. Some were glad and quickly took off their socks and shoes and I almost fainted. 

But my key leader didn't want me to wash her feet as she saw me as her pastor. She was like Peter. You cannot stand to wash someone's feet. You have to go down on your knees. In church we seldom see people kneeling down. You see that in temples where some were even lie prostrate. In bible school we God cushions in prayer room for people to kneel down. 

I got down on my knees and went to all my leaders and washed their feet. I had to put their feet on my thighs. Dipped the towels in the water and washed their feet. Some of them was crying while some were emotionless. I told them I had to do that because I came to serve them. And I told them they also need to do that to others. We have to practice what we preach. 

How many of you want a leader who tells you to do this and do that but never do it himself? People in the community can smell you whether you are real or not. We got to be real. And Jesus was as real as can be because he demonstrated it. We cannot afford not to be real. Nothing kills a ministry faster than being a hypocrite. 

When people see us and say cannot be trusted one. Cannot believe. Talk is cheap. That is why Jesus can say follow me. And Paul can say follow me as I follow Christ. We gotta get real. There is no place for hypocrites.

Remember I told you about Kampung Sampah. Where drug addicts are at the landfills and scavenged to recycle and sell. The question is where are we as a church? We say we love them as God say he does not want any to perish. Let's get real. Let's get our hands dirty. Let's lead by example. That I will not only say but back up my words with action. 

5 “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 

They must make sure that anything they want to do there must be witnesses that applauds them. They want to be the main actor, the star. They won't do it behind the scene. But we know we do it for the father to see. 

Phylacteries are things the Jews wear as its a leather box with the bible in there. And they made it extra wide so that people can see. They made their tassels extra long. They want to make sure that you see it. They do all this not because of the father but because they can receive praises from men. 

Here's the remedy. How many of you like the solution?

8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Jesus said the remedy to be real is to be a servant. Jesus said he will exalt you. Jesus humbled himself. The remedy for hypocrisy is to humble yourself. Jesus did that and he was given a name above every other name. That every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. 

It is easy to get caught up with all the outside trappings. I find it difficult when a person gets a honorary doctorate and he goes around being called a doctor. Didn't put in the work but want the fame. To be great we have to be a servant leader. Servant style. 

This morning I pray we get real. There was a time I decided to be in full time ministry but I had problems with the church as I felt there were so many hypocrites. But God spoke to me and said that if I look to men I will be disappointed because men will fail but God will not. 

Let's get real. Let's not put on masks. Sometimes we put on so many masks we forget who we are. 

I am going to close with this. A real story. You know what is humility? The dictionary says the quality of having a modest or low view of one's importance.

A good example is how our Lord did it by even washing the disciples' feet. There is in scripture Jesus calls a spade a spade. We do not judge but we must judge rightly. If a brother sins we need to call a spade a spade. But we got to do it in love. In the right manner and spirit. That we will say what is right. What is black is black and what is white is white. 

Pastor John Ortberg tells a wonderful story about Clarence Jordan, best known for his Cotton Patch Gospels. Jordon went one time to do revival services at a church in the Deep South. This was more than fifty years ago, when segregation was the norm in the South. Clarence Jordan got up to preach, and he realized that the congregation was not segregated at all.

There were black folks and white folks all together. After the service, he asked the pastor, an old hillbilly preacher: “How did your church get this way?”

The old hillbilly preacher said: “What way?”

Clarence Jordan said: “Well, black and white folks all together. Integrated. Is that because of the Supreme Court decision?”

The preacher answered: “Supreme Court! Why would Christians need the Supreme Court to tell us that black folks and white folks ought to be all together?

Jordan asked: “Well how did it happen? What’s the history?”

This old preacher said: “Well, there used to be about twenty people in this church . . . When the old preacher died, they couldn't get no one to preach . . . So after about two months, I told the deacons I’d preach. They couldn't get anybody else, so they said, ‘Yes.’ I got up the next Sunday, opened the Bible, put my finger down on that verse that says:

‘In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus’ (Colossians 3:11). 

So I preached on that. I told them how Jesus makes all kinds of people one. When I finished, the deacons said they wanted to talk to me in the back room. When they got there, they told me they didn't want to hear that kind of preachin’ no more.”

Clarence asked: “What'd you do?”

The old preacher said: “I fired them deacons! If a man’s not gonna’ ‘deac,’ he oughta be fired!”

Clarence Jordan was amazed. “Why didn't they fire you?” he asked.

“They didn't hire me,” said the hillbilly preacher, “so they couldn't fire me! You know, once I found out what bothered those people, I gave it to them week after week. I put the knife in the same place Sunday after Sunday.”

Jordan was stunned. “And they put up with it?” he asked.

“Not really,” said the old preacher. “I preached that church down to four people. Sometimes revival happens not when people come in, but when people go out. If people were going to stand in the way of the moving of the Spirit of God, it’s better they be gone. After that, we decided that we were going to build the church on people who were actually serious about following Jesus. And that’s when it started to grow.”

That night Clarence Jordan stayed at the home of a member of that church, a graduate of Yale, a college professor, who had a PhD in English Literature. He drove seventy miles each week to go to this church. Clarence asked that brilliant young professor: “Why do you go to that church to hear an old hillbilly preach? You have a PhD from Yale. He can't utter a single grammatical sentence?”

The young man said: “Sir, I go to that church, because that man preaches the Gospel.”

Let's get real and do not put on a mask. The key to being great is first to be humble. Let's serve with humility.