Bro Koay Kheng Hin
I'm born
in the year of the rooster. I'm going to retire in the year of the rooster. I'm
also saved in the year of the rooster, so the year of the rooster is very
special to me.
I want to
begin with a little bit about the Ang Pow. It's a Chinese New Year tradition.
It was started in the Sung dynasty and it was meant to be about the red color
of the packet. That was more important than what's in the packet. Today, the
symbolism of the red of the packet is less important than what's in the packet.
The red symbolises many good things.
For many
of us Chinese when we look into the coming year there is that anticipation of
prosperity. We have this feeling that it will be more prosperous than the
previous year.
The Jews
also on the Passover night had the blood of the lamb painted on the doorposts.
I want to look at the colour red. The title I want to speak today is on the
Assurance of Providence. I want to say we have this assurance not because we
are smart or capable but because we are the children of the almighty God.
I have
two friends who has GAD (general anxiety disorder). We live in stressful times
and in times like these the stress can get to us. The main cause of anxiety is
the word uncertainty. It's that uncertainty that bugs each and everyone of us.
What is
anxiety? You go to the office and you hear of VSS and you wonder if you still
have a job soon. Your children's grades come down suddenly and you wonder
what's happening with them. Or you have a pain in your back and you went for a
medical check-up but the doctors are still not sure what's wrong. All these are
uncertainties that causes anxiety.
Psalms 31:14-15
14 But as for me, I trust in You, O
Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my
enemies,
And from those who persecute me.
This was
at a time when David was being hunted. It speaks of a time when he was hunted
by Saul and his friends all abandoned him. It was then he penned this Psalm.
The word trust is always connected to trusting God. Verse 15 is where David
mentions the Providence. God is in control of human affairs.
For
example, I can give you every single incident of your daily lives. Today you
are here because of Providence. It is the exact opposite of coincidence. Where
it is the permissive will of God, even if the person is not here today, God is
still with them. Good or bad, we fall under the sovereign will of God. God is
in control but God also permits evil. God has that foreknowledge and control
over it.
Today I
stand here at the pulpit because he has permitted it or he had prescribed it.
God is in total control.
The key
is whether the providence is good or bad
for you. By the end at 12.15pm you will know.
In these
two verses, King David was asking God to deliver him from his enemies. He was
praying for the providence of
deliverance. The certainty come from the believe that God will deliver you from
your adverse circumstances.
Matthew 6:30-33
30 Now if God so clothes the grass
of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not
much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying,
‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For
after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that
you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew
struck a chord during those times. Many who listened to Jesus are people who
are struggling to put food on the table. These are basic provisions. Matthew
quotes the words of Jesus and he said don’t worry about food, clothing or
shelter. That is the promise of provision.
As
children of God most of us have more than enough. Amen? God's promise is that
he will fulfill all our needs. That his children will not beg for bread. But
God has not promised to satisfy our greed. Most of the times we are so anxious
and we worry because of greed.
God bless
us but we have to be wise and be good stewards and we will be alright. Two
things come out very strongly.
You of
little faith. Sometimes we have this uncertainty that things will not turn out
well, it is an issue of faith.
When
David said I trust in you, he also said you are my God. It's the same here, it
says seek first his kingdom. Providence is working in our favour because we are
the children of God. But to have that certainty need two things. To be able to
believe that God is acting in your favour. But there is another by product of
that faith. When you believe in God, it is that faith that draws you to him.
You will
find the issue of faith is about where God is and who God is.
Luke 17:17-19
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were
there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who
returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him,
“Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
The
compassion of Jesus was on them and all
10 were cleansed. Only one came back to thank him. What is verse 18 teaching
us? God is not an answering or vending machine. Someone you go to, to get
whatever you need and then you go away and only coming back when you need him
again. He wants to fellowship with you.
The nine
who were cleansed but cabut (went away) broke the heart of our Lord. God wants
to fellowship with us. The circumstances of life are points where you see his
provisions but also points where he wants to meet with you.
When you
want to have that assurance of providential favour in your life, the rest in
your soul, you must have faith that God is working all the time that all things
will work for good but he desires that you come to him not just for his
blessings but for who he is.
I've a
Christian friend who asked me if he can do Buddhist meditation or yoga to calm
himself. The fact that he had to ask this shows he has not found rest in God.
Outside the church there are so many who has not the peace of God and today as
children of God we are in a position to tell them "let your heart not be
troubled" because Jesus can give them a peace that surpasses all
understanding.
You can
only impart what you have. If you come to me for big bucks sorry I cannot help
you. Not that I have no money, but if you're talking about money for business I
cannot help you. But if you say you worry or cannot sleep, you can give me a
call. Hopefully don't everyone call me.
The peace
of God is our heritage. It is something we can only have if we have the
experience of that assurance working in our life. I'm a science person so
there's the theory and the experience.
Many
times in our desperate situation we cry to God but when God deliver us the
house become quiet. If you look at faith in Hebrews 12:2, Jesus is the source of our faith.
Hebrews 12:2
looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God.
He is the
perfecter of our faith. It is both an event and a process. The day we accept
Jesus is an event. We are changed from
being an orphan to become the children of God. Someone who was helpless to
becoming children of God.
That
faith should keep on growing. Until the time when you meet with every problem
your faith has surpassed it and you remain cool and calm, where the peace of
God will rest in you. A peace that surpasses all understanding.
Every
time we talk about prayer, there is a place for petitional prayer but have you
practiced conversational prayer or have stopped contemplative prayer? That is
what Jesus uses to perfect our faith. How do we experience this faith?
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we
hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
The
assurance of providence provides a certainty that will remove any anxiety.
This is
only half the story. For non Christians they cannot understand providence. For
those who do not believe in God providence does not gel but faith does. They do
what they can and then it fails. They say what can be done. It's fate.
But for
someone who believes in God, you talk to the person if things don't work out,
they will say what to do, it's God's will.
But as a
Christian when you talk about the will of God, we may think it's not the best.
If the person cannot accept that the will of God is not the best for him, how
do you tell the person to rest in the providence of God. I call it the battle
of wills.
When a
person becomes a child of God, he will have on one side, God's will and on the
other side his will or dreams. When a person accepts Christ on Sunday morning
don't expect him to be like Paul on Monday morning. He will start with a mix of
God's will and his will. But as he grows, God's will grow while his will
lessens. Maturity comes with how much God's will is actualized in your life.
Providence
will finally overcome and shine above everything else.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect
will.
Paul says
you are struggling but if you still think as the world thinks, you will battle
with God's will. Then only you can says God's will is perfect.
Then you
will not say "what to do? God's will" and instead say, praise the
Lord, God's ways are better than my ways and his thoughts higher than my
thoughts.
I want to
tell you a little story.
When we
talk about the life of faith, we say we have a problem and we pray. No answer.
We then ask our cell leader to pray with us. Then another week goes by, we
persevere. Then God answers. Your faith is now even more than your cell
leader's faith.
When
Daniel went into the lion's den you can tell Daniel was praising God. Who has
more faith, the man in the lion's mouth or the man who has been delivered from
the lion's mouth. Many of us our faith gets a booster when God answers our
prayer but not when God has yet to answer. Don't Praise God for the suffering
but praise God in our suffering because we believe God has his purposes beyond
what we can comprehend.
What we
talk about faith the Chinese calls heaven's will. The best illustration is from
the Chinese novel, the romance of the three Kingdoms. One of the wisest in the
novel at 80 years old, he cornered his enemies and burned the army. The general
of the enemy was going to commit suicide and that wise man was smiling with
victory in sight. That time was the driest of a 7 year drought and while he was
basking in his victory, a heavy downpour came and the fire was snuffed out and
the enemy escaped. He looked up to heaven and said heaven's will cannot be
opposed. And in the movie he vomited blood, never recovered and he died.
Compare
him to our great man Joseph of Genesis. Seventeen years old and was sold as a
slave. Met Potiphar wife's and was thrown into prison. By the time he came out
of prison he was 30 years old. It was a long long time. And at the end this was
how he saw God's providence.
Genesis 50:19-20
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t
be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God
intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many
lives.
Joseph
was someone who had a strong grasp of the providence of God. What came out of
Joseph all the time was God. It is the basis for Romans 8:28. God at times
permit it but God did not stop there. He will use the circumstances to turn it
around for his propose. The perfecter of your faith. From that incident came
David and from David, Jesus.
I want to
encourage you that no matter what happens in your life, his providence is not
only for your good but because he has a greater purpose.
I'm a
chess player and you must have a game plan. God has a game plan. His provisions
always have a part in his kingdom. God has his jigsaw pieces all laid up. We
cannot see it.
God is
not a slave driver. He does not use us and not care about us. He is a king with
Kingdom purposes and he cares about his citizens. But more than a king be is
also our Father and he cares and his work in our lives is part of that jigsaw
that has a far greater purpose than those who don't know God.
The
passage about the battle of will is best represented in Matthew 26. Jesus is
both a perfect God and a perfect man. The Bible says Jesus was hungry and
thirsty. He was 100% man. His humanity at this time shows his suffering was
real. He was on the cross as the perfect man. In that perfect humanity Jesus
approached God the Father and prayed.
Matthew 26:39
Going a little farther, he fell with
his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup
be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
But what
is most beautiful is that he said not my will but your will. Your will be done.
In KJV, thy will be done shows the graciousness of God's providence in our
life. The will be done has brought us to where we are, saved, to be sanctified
and glorified. God is always good. You may not understand it but if you can
just cry, thy will be done and you will be most blessed.
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