Rev Gideon Lee

The Chinese New Year is good for getting together. Just like the church. This morning I'm going to preach on a Chinese New Year message. I'm going to talk about China. How God's plan includes China. China was mentioned in the bible. 

Romans 1:18-23

God's Wrath on Unrighteousness

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

In the book of Romans, it says God has revealed himself. The bible says it has been made very plain to man. Through creation. When man look at the stars in the skies they wondered who created the stars above. God has made himself plain and did not hide himself. That everyone will know who God is. But instead of giving God glory, or ascribing all these to God they ascribed it to someone else. 

A complete lunar year is 60 years of 5 cycles each. The Chinese calendar is quite complicated. And each year is represented by an animal. So 12 animals are represented. And this year is the year of the goat. But as Christians we know and understand that this is not the year of the goat. This is the year of the Lord's favour. We tell our children you are born in the year of the dog or rat. And we tell them that if they are born in the year of the rat they will have the attribute of the rat. So everyone wants to be born in the year of the dragon. This is all man made. 

We need to ascribe the glory back to God. Sometimes my children ask me what year am I born in. What animal year they asked. I tell them according to the Chinese calendar she is born in the year of the dog but you are not a dog. You are a human being and you are born in the year of the Lord. We should not be bound by these tradition if they are not aligned with the bible. 

The CNY is not only celebrated in China only but also celebrated all over like Mongolia, Japan and Korea. They say it's even celebrated in Iran. There are Chinese is every continent or part of the world.  

Some people mentioned that this year the firecrackers are not so much. So I joked that it's because of the GST. What was the legend behind the firecrackers. There's the story about "nien", a ferocious dragon. They believed that this dragon would come during CNY and would eat people. And they believed that only wearing red can chase away this dragon and also to have firecrackers to frighten it away. 

The old Chinese people has this concept of the dragon symbolising evil. But satan cannot be scared off by the colour red. Except the red can be symbolised by the blood of Jesus. 

If you look back at China's history, it went through four religious stages. 

The Light was Revealed

The first was a China of one God. If you look at verses 18-20, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. 

At the Tower of Babel God confounded the people and they spoke different language and they moved to different parts of the world. Some moved to China. The original religion of China was monotheism. The believe in one God called "Shangti", or the God of heaven. This was way before Buddhism came to China. Or Confucianism. That there was only one supreme God. 

The Light was Rejected

Secondly, China became the land of many Gods. Over time they believed in many Gods. What happened to China was familiar to other countries in the world. Look at America. They were founded by the pilgrims. They were believers who were persecuted who migrated to America. And they have thanksgiving to give thanks to God. But today, they have forgotten that. Some called it turkey day because they must have turkeys. 

This also happened to many other countries. Many other Gods and cults came in. That's what verses 21-23 says Romans 1:21-23 Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

The Light was Removed 

Then the third stage, China became a nation of no God. How many of you remember Mao Tze Tong. He called Christian missionaries as spiritual aggressors. And the next ten year he persecuted and chased all the missionaries out of China. Even until today, there are Christians who are persecuted in China. Now they worshipped no God. He closed the door of China from the world and communism ruled the day. 

The Light has Returned

Now China has entered into its fourth stage. Now the light has returned. 

Jeremiah 16:19

19 O Lord, my strength and my fortress,

My refuge in the day of affliction,

The Gentiles shall come to You

From the ends of the earth and say,

“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,

Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”

Isaiah 49:12

12 Surely these shall come from afar;

Look! Those from the north and the west,

And these from the land of Sinim.

According to Strong's concordance and Hudson Taylor, the word Sinim refers to China specifically. God is saying the Gentiles including those in China would come back to him. That the Chinese will come back to the one true God. And this is what is happening in China. They say there are 1,000 people coming to God every hour in China. Great revival is happening in China. Many are getting saved. 

We hear of many many miracles happening to many Christians in China. Can you imagine how many is added to the Kingdom of God in a day? 24,000 people becoming a Christian everyday. If it happens in China it can also happen here in Malaysia. A time will come where people will know the one true God. As we celebrate CNY, we need to know we have a part to play in God's plan. 

I believe God wants to do that for our country. Start with us and then our relative. I pray we will be a bright and shining light for all our relatives. I shared about some traditions do not aligned with the word of God. We need to make sure we stand on the right side. Is there anything wrong with wearing red? No. But for us it's like any other colour. It's okay to give ang pows right? But it should not be we become covetous like to go to many houses just to collect ang pows. 

We all know that it is God who bless us. That's why I try not to use Gong Xi Fa Cai. A better word will be to bless others with peace or health. Our believe and our trust is not in these things. It's in God. We need to ascribe greatness to our God. 

It's not because if we put "Fook" at our house it'll be more blessed. No. It is because God bless us. We must not let these superstitions control us. We are a child of God and we know since the beginning of time it is God that bless us. So we must be different and shine for Jesus. 

Good tradition like visiting people we must do. Also the tradition that we must settle all our debts before CNY. By the way I don't believe we should be in debts, not talking about the bank. Like lion dance and firecrackers we should not be doing. Firecrackers also cannot meh? But we know the government also ban firecrackers so it's illegal. In Singapore they have banned firecrackers. 

It is the blood of Christ that sets us free. Amen.