At the same lunch two days ago, my friend expressed regret at having led a somewhat tame 26 years of life.  His friends regularly partied, drunk themselves silly, dated non-Christians, skipped Sunday service, and engaged in a series of other rather "un-Christian" conduct, all apparently without any adverse consequences.  And there he was, apparently languishing in the pews of a highly conservative and traditional church.  And single.

"Oh I can identify with that!", I say wryly.  "I don’t think I’m a good person, but I’ve led a largely compliant life.  Sometimes I look back and think it is a waste that I didn’t get a bit more wasted."

We go on to talk about conscience, and I suggest that there are two possible (extreme) outcomes if he decides to act against his somewhat fragile conscience, by doing something which he knows or thinks is wrong.

The first possibility is that he would not be able to handle the guilt of having acted against his conscience, and would sink in self-condemnation, despair and depression.

The other possibility is that he would numb his conscience.  Having acted against his conscience once, he may lose his moral compass, and feel less inhibited about repeating the act or engaging in even more extreme conduct.  Reversing that, especially when repeated acts become addictions, would be difficult.

Not very conventional "Christian" answers, I’m afraid.  I should have expressed shock and horror that my friend even contemplated acting against his conscience (despite entertaining such evil thoughts myself from time to time).

But this is the reality of sin, is it not?  We might overcome temptation to do wrong today, yet continue to long for the "what ifs" of having acted otherwise, and stumble the next day.  The apostle Paul rightly summed it up when he said -

"I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing … what a wretched man am I!" (Romans 7 : 19, 24).

All we can do is humbly pray that we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10 : 13), and trust that if and when we stumble and fall, we fall into the arms of a loving and gracious God.

Over lunch yesterday a friend commented on how I seemed quite fond of writing about Pharisees and prostitutes (in the context of the Bible), and asked if I thought Jesus loved Pharisees.

"I think so", I said.  "I think Jesus loved the Pharisees as much as He loved the prostitutes".

The problem is that the Pharisees didn’t think they needed Jesus’ love.  The Pharisees, or the self-righteous religious leaders of Jesus’ earthly lifetime as they were otherwise known, had placed themselves in a position where they were adored by men.  Self-righteous and outwardly faultless, they were busy living in the present, full of themselves and of the praise of men, without space and without need for God.

If Jesus was harsh to the Pharisees, it was because they needed a shelling more than they needed a hug - to yank them off their pedestal of self-righteousness.  And that was love.

If Jesus appeared to love prostitutes more, it was because He could see in many of them, a humble acknowledgement of their brokeness and a genuine desire to know God.  Rejected by society, diseased, unloved, and probably unable to escape their "profession", they needed assurance that they were loved by God despite the depravity of their past, and that they had a hope for a future with God beyond the pain of the present.

Jesus therefore spent a good part of His time tenderly teaching and ministering to the prostitutes and tax collectors, who were ready to receive Him.

"The tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you [ the Pharisees ]", warned Jesus in Matthew 21 : 31.

Good morning.

Before I go into the sermon proper this morning, I would like to check – how many of you watch or have watched American Idol before?

American Idol is a popular reality TV singing contest in which winners are chosen by viewers voting through telephone, SMS and the Internet. Every episode, contestants perform one or two songs before a panel of judges who will comment on their performance. The fun part about American Idol is not just the good music. The fun part is also the bad music, and hearing the judges, without fail, make fun of a bad performance or of contestants just for the heck of it.  Some examples of the mean comments which judges have made include -

  “That was terrible, I mean just awful.”

  “It’s quite obvious most of the people who turned up … were hopeless.”

  “If you [ sung ] like this two thousand years ago, people would have stoned you.”

Now imagine that you’ve watched a really, really awful performance. The contestant sounds sincere, but he is also sincerely bad. Everyone expects the judges to come out and slam the contestant. The camera zooms in to the first judge, but instead of a wicked comment the first judge says -

  “Do not consider his singing. You look at the outward appearance, but I look at his heart.”

The entire world will be stunned. Tomorrow, that would make the entertainment section headline news. We judge people based on outward appearances everyday. With social media nowadays if we see anything we don’t like, we can just take a picture with our handphone, upload it onto Facebook or Stomp, and wait for all the critical comments to come in. To judge someone based on the heart, which we cannot see, is a radical departure from the norm.

Continuing on our current theme of the life of David, God told the prophet Samuel exactly the same thing when Samuel was looking to appoint a new king for Israel. Saul, the king of Israel at that time, had failed to obey God, and Samuel was told to look for a king to replace Saul from among the sons of the family of Jesse. So, like a fashion parade, Jesse brings his sons out one by one to meet Samuel.

  When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ .” … Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

  “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

  Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

  So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

- 1 Samuel 16 :6 - 12

This happens for the next seven sons of Jesse. God tells Samuel that none of the tall, good-looking, articulate, charismatic sons that Jesse brings out is the person who would be king. Finally Jesse calls for his youngest son David to come out. Jesse had forgotten all about David, because he was just a teenager and the youngest and the smallest. As David enters the room, God tells Samuel, “Rise and anoint him. He is the one.”

(I)  The Good News : God Looks at the Heart

David is celebrated in the Bible as a man after God’s heart. When God chose David as king, He said that He was not looking for someone based on his outward appearance, but that He was looking specifically at the heart. This man after God’s heart is so central to the Bible, that almost three entire books in the Old Testament revolve around David’s life : 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 Kings. There is so much that we can learn from David’s heart for God, and from his failings.

In 1 Samuel 16 we read of how David was chosen as king as a young boy. Fast forward to 2 Samuel 11 and 12.  About 30 years have passed, and David is now firmly established as king of Israel. In a moment of weakness, does some seriously wrong.

“One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, ‘She is Bathsheba … the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. … Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, ‘I am pregnant’.

… In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, ‘Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die’. So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.

When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.”

- 2 Samuel 11 : 2 - 17

David committed adultery. And he committed adultery not with any woman, but the wife of one of his trusted generals, Uriah. When she becomes pregnant from this sexual encounter, David has to hide what has happened. This is because Uriah has been at war and had not been with his wife Bathsheba for months. So David adds murder to his first sin of adultery - he sends his Uriah to the frontline without any support, and Uriah is killed.

The story doesn’t end there. God sends the prophet Nathan to rebuke David. When David comes to his senses, he confesses that “I have sinned against the Lord”. Seeing his remorse, God spares David from the full consequences of his sins of adultery and murder. Nathan tells David –

  “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But … the son born to you will die.” (2 Samuel 12 : 14)

I don’t think any of expect to commit murder today and get away with it. But here we see that David has escaped the full consequences of his sins. God looked past his conduct. He looked and saw a heart that was repentant and devoted to God, even though David did not always do the right thing.

I’m not saying that we should sin and hope to get away with it. What I’m here to offer is hope. All of us are imperfect, even if not to the extent of committing murder or adultery.

I watched a video recently about a very old couple that had been married for about 80 years. The man was asked for his secret for staying faithful to his wife for so long. He was asked : Did you ever consider divorce? Or did you after think of going off with another woman? The old man replied, “Divorce has never crossed my mind", paused a while, then continued "but murder, several times”.

If God were to judge us based on the wickedness of our conduct or thoughts alone, we are all doomed because we are so imperfect. The Bible says that our righteousness when compared to God’s standards is like filthy rags. However, the good news is that God looks past our momentary sins and imperfections; He looks at our hearts. He upholds those whose hearts are right, and spares us from the full consequences of the sins which we commit in a moment of weakness.

(II)  The Bad News : God Looks at the Heart

I’ll go more into what it means to have a “right heart” later, because I want to first touch a bit on the “bad news” that flows from God looking at our hearts.

The "bad news" is that outward religiousness in itself does not please God, because He looks at the heart. This is "bad news" because it would be much easier for us to determine who is going to heaven or hell, if there was a checklist of religiousness that we could tick against. Compare for example the widow in Mark 12 and a couple who sold their house and gave the monies to the church in Acts 5.

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. … A poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on’.”

- Mark 12 : 41 - 43

 

“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and gave it to the church. Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God’. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, ‘Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that is the price.’

Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.’ At that moment she fell down at his feet and died.”

- Acts 5 : 1 - 10

David committed adultery and murder, but he was not struck dead. The widow donated two coins, and is raised and remembered for her faithfulness. Ananias and Sapphira sold their house and gave almost all of the money to the church, but were struck dead! Superficially, I have to say – wow God, that’s really harsh! But these illustrate a principle the runs throughout the Bible :

  When you do something, the heart with which you do it matters more to God, than what or how much “good” you do.

Or

  More important than what you do, is the heart with which you do it.

This is a bit of "bad news" because it is difficult to tell when someone is doing something with the right heart. Wouldn’t it be easier if I knew for sure that by selling my house and giving all the money to church, I would go to heaven and be blessed a hundred times in return? But what if we had such a checklist? I’m going to carry out a "Who’s Going to Heaven?" survey now. Hands up those of you who think you belong to the right side of the checklist ? Hands up those of you who think you belong to the left side of the checklist ?

 

If God were to compare our conduct against a checklist, we are all doomed because we would simply not measure up to God’s standard of righteousness. However – thank God – He looks past our momentary sins and imperfections; He looks at our hearts.

Some of you might think that this sounds like a easy way to get away with murder, while claiming to have a heart that is right before God. Can we trick ourselves into thinking that we have a good or right heart before God, maybe even when we do something wrong?

Definitely. The religious leaders in Jesus’ time were blind to their own failings, and took pride in their outward religious conduct even though they had secret sins and their hearts were evil. Even King David was blind to his own sins. In the account of David’s adultery, the prophet Nathan first approached David with a story of how a rich man abused a poor man. David became very angry when he heard this and wanted to punish the rich man. Nathan had to point out that “you are the man” before David saw that, really, he was no better than the rich man he was angry with. Jeremiah 17 : 9 states that -

  “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure – none can understand it”.

Even David the man after God’s heart was blind to his own failings. What about us? How then can we be sure that our hearts are right before God? How do we ensure that we are not deceiving ourselves? Two Psalms composed by David, the man after God’s heart, show us how –

  The first is Psalms 139 : 23, 24. “Search me, O God, know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”. Like David, we must humbly come before God and ask Him to show us where we are right, and where we might displease Him. We can do this by reflecting on what we do against what we read in the Bible, by listening to what pastor and other Godly people might have to say about us, and by what God might impress on our mind as we pray.

  The second is Psalms 51 : 10, which David wrote after Nathan confronted him over his adultery. “Create in me a clean heart … and renew a right spirit within me”. David was the king, and he could have hardened his heart and ignored Nathan. He could even put Nathan to death for accusing the king of sin. But David was repentant, and God honoured that. So this is how we can guard our hearts from pride and deception. The first is to humbly seek God, to find out what pleases and displeases God. The second is to be repentant, to seek God’s forgiveness when we find out that we have done something which displeases God. And we have the assurance that, even if there is a momentary lapse of judgment, God will uphold us when our hearts are right before Him.

(III) The Great News : God Looks at the Heart

So far we have been reflecting on how God looks at our hearts and not at our imperfections, and how this is good news for us as believers, for us within the church. The great news is that are also truths in this which apply to those outside the church. Even for non-believers, God does not look at just the external or outward conduct, and reject them. God responds emotionally to sin in love, and God wants to deal with sin by dealing with the root of sin which lies in our broken hearts. What does this mean?

1.  Firstly this means that God does not reject us and those outside the church because of their sin. We have all heard before that salvation is by grace (Ephesians 2 : 8). We are saved by grace through faith, and not by whatever good things we might do. Although we are condemned because of our sins, we are not rejected because of God’s grace. God doesn’t look at how terrible a person’s sins are, and decide whether he is good enough or too sinful to receive His love and grace. In the same way, as Christians we are bearers of this great news and should not consider anyone so sinful as to be undeserving of God’s (ie. our) attention and love.

2. Secondly, God has a heartfelt response to sin. Recently a Christian pointed me to Romans 1 : 18 - 32, which says that “The wrath of God is being revealed … against all … godlessness and wickedness”, and that God has given such people “over in their sinful desires of their hearts”.

In short, he felt that some unbelievers are just too sinful to be saved. I was quite troubled by this, and in response I pointed him to Luke 15, which is the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son. Here, Jesus shared not one, not two, but three parables to illustrate the extravagance of God’s love.

In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the good shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep behind to look for one lost, unbelieving “sheep”. In the Parable of the Lost Coin, the lady of the house turns her entire house upside down and spends days looking for a missing coin, which represents the unbeliever. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the loving father who represents God keeps a daily lookout for the return of his wayward son. When the father sees the wayward son appear over the horizon, he recklessly runs out to hug him and welcome him home. This is reckless because the father did not know if his son was repentant, or even possibly up to no good such a robbing the family.

Note that all these are emotional responses by God to sin. Objectively, it makes no sense to abandon ninety-nine sheep, turn a whole house upside down, and recklessly out to embrace to the prodigal son. If I were the father I would at least have waited to be sure that the prodigal son had come in peace, instead of running out and subjecting myself to the risk of being killed. But God’s love is so extravagant that He will spare nothing to redeem a lost soul, even when that person’s conduct suggests that he is totally lost to God. Yes, God may allow a sinful person to suffer the natural consequences his sin – to “give them over the sinful desires of their hearts” (Romans 1 : 24) – but this does not mean that God has given up on him, rejected him, and no longer loves him. God will spare nothing to redeem that lost person.

If God demonstrates such a heartfelt and extravagant response to sin, as Christians can we love any less? If God does not reject a person based on conduct alone, as Christians we cannot reject or exclude a person on that basis.

3. Finally, God wants to deal with sin by dealing with our hearts. By design, all of us long to love and be loved (by God), even those who say that we don’t need God. Ecclesiastes 3 : 11 says that there is a longing to connect with God in every person, that God has “set eternity in the hearts of men”. Sin is rebellion against God. But it is also an expression for an unfulfilled longing in a wrong way. For example, there are people who try and deal with grief by drinking or taking drugs. This is their expression for an unfulfilled longing, in a way that harms their family and health.

I want to introduce you now to Henri Nouwen, a Roman Catholic priest who was once involved in a charity reaching out to AIDS patients in San Francisco. As you may know, San Francisco is a very liberal city (in a sexual and other senses) and the rate of HIV transmission there is very high partly because of that. Philip Yancey, a Christian author, interviewed him and wrote :

“He told me of young people banished from their own families, forced to hustle on the street. Some of them had hundreds of [sex] partners whom they had met in bathhouses, whose names they had never learned, and from one of those partners they had contracted the [HIV] virus that was now killing them. Nouwen looked at me, his piercing eyes bright with compassion and pain. ‘Philip, these young people are dying – literally dying – because of their thirst for love.’ He went on to tell me individual stories he had heard there. The accounts all had in common a search for a safe place, for a safe relationship, for a home, for acceptance, for unconditional love, for forgiveness.”

We can, and people outside the church can, look for fulfillment in the wrong places. In Jeremiah 2 : 13, God tells the Israelites that they were doing just that. You “have dug your own wells, broken wells that cannot hold water”. The Israelites were spiritually and emotionally thirsty, but instead of turning to God for living water, they dug their own wells and tried to satisfy themselves with that. But their wells were defective - it was broken and had holes! They were looking in the wrong places to satisfy their thirst, and until they turned back to God they would be unsatisfied. God is the living water and desires to minister to that unfulfilled longing for love in every person.

In John 10 : 10 Jesus said that “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. As Christians, we are called to minister to that unfulfilled longing. A lost person might suffer “judgment” for his sin by an accident that happens to him when he steps out of his house. Maybe less dramatically, there is the law of cause and effect. If he gambles, he might become bankrupt. If he has an extra-marital affair, he might destroy his reputation and his family. If he visits prostitutes, he might contract a sexual disease. But a lost person will not experience the love of God by just stepping out of his house, and looking at the sunrise. He might stand in awe of creation, but he will not experience God’s love.

Christians must bring God’s love to the lost. Christians are called to minister to that unfulfilled longing for love in every person, by giving others a foretaste of God’s love. Our hope that they will become intoxicated by it and want more of the real thing, from none other than God Himself.

Those of you who know my kids, will know that they are very unadventurous when it comes to food. They don’t like to try new types of food. So it takes a lot of effort on our part to persuade them to try something new. Sometimes it takes some trickery on our part – yesterday we told Josh that the soft-boiled egg was tofu to get him to try some. That wasn’t very successful though and he didn’t want to try a second spoon. We’ve had success though with strawberry ice cream - how can anyone not like ice cream? After a lot of bargaining we finally got Josh to try a little bit of strawberry ice cream for the first time. Now he loves it and will ask to eat ice cream from time to time. 

In the same way, Christians are called to give people a foretaste of God’s love, a foretaste of divine strawberry ice cream. And when people have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalms 34 : 8), their hearts will long after God and a change in outward conduct will follow.

However, if Christians in self-righteousness stand apart from non-believers and refuse to reach out in love, they will only hear of God’s judgment but will not experience his love – and they will forever be lost. Jesus rebuked the religious teachers for their heartless self-righteousness – an outward religiousness that excluded people who looked too sinful to be loved.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” (Matthew 23 : 13)

Concluding Reflections 

As we close today let us reflect on what we just heard. We thank God for the good news that He is a God who looks at the heart, and not at outward appearances.

When we look within ourselves, this means aspiring to be men and women after God’s heart. It means guarding our heart from pride and from deception, asking God to show us what pleases and displeases Him, and repenting of things which upset God.

Finally, when we look outside of ourselves, we have great news to share with those outside of the church.  We do not reject others based on outward appearances, just as God does not reject us based on outward appearances. It means loving others just as God loves them, and reaching out to fulfill every person’s unfulfilled longing to be loved and accepted by God, just as God fills our lives with love.

People are frequently offended by Christians because of our dogmatic approach to faith.  And an equally frequent response I hear from Christians when they know that they have offended someone, is to shrug their shoulders and say that Jesus offended people too with His teachings.  (What we forget as Christians, is the fact that the Pharisees took offense with Jesus for a somewhat different reason - He was not dogmatic enough).

I think that there will always be disagreements - to put it mildly - in matters of faith.  What I think Christians should strive towards when discussing faith, is to sound less like a Pharisee, and more like Jesus ("full of grace and truth" - John 1 : 14).  In this connection, I recently penned on a Facebook thread some thoughts on how Jesus might approach discussions of faith :

(1)  Jesus said that "out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34), so when speaking / writing, it is important to examine the heart.  If it is proud, self-righteous, vengeful, hateful or otherwise unloving, the words that come out will be negative.

(2)  Jesus is the Great High Priest who is able to sympathise with us in our weaknesses (Hebrews 4 : 15), because He chose to identify with people like us who are broken.  And so when speaking / writing, we should also seek to identify with those whom we are addressing.  When we can see through their perspective, and understand how they feel, what we say and do will more likely be full of grace even if we disagree with them.

Finally, as a practical matter, it is unhelpful to engage in name-calling / (negative) labelling, and / or to make statements which are inaccurate, poorly researched or which cannot otherwise be reasonably supported by evidence (though evidence on some issues is admittedly, ambiguous).  I think it is downright rude or even callous of a person to make sweeping statements which he has not bothered to research or otherwise think through carefully, as that shows that he simply does not care whether his audience is presented with accurate / sound information or not.

I grew up in a church in which one had to be "properly dressed" (ie. pants or jeans, no "burmudas" or shorts) for service.  But last Sunday, perhaps tired of religious formality, I decided to go to church in shorts.

We’re approaching Good Friday, and sitting there in church in what felt mentally to me like a mini-skirt, I choked - just a teenie weenie bit - at the reminder of the brutality of the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross, and the acceptance that came along with it - mental mini-skirts and all.  One of the songs went -

"Come to the Father, though your gift is small
Broken hearts, broken lives, He will take them all"

I’ve never had such an adverse reaction to Good Friday before.  And it struck me then that we are entering a sort of International Sinners’ and Broken Peoples’ Week.

Despite the distance that the institutional church sometimes puts between itself and non-believers (and some types of non-believers are for some reason worse than others), Jesus spent His last few hours on  his earth eating, drinking, washing the feet, and giving a hug and kiss to those who would deny or even betray Him.

I grew up thinking that there can be no worse offense than betraying the faith the way that Judas did, and that may well be true.  But despite that it was to Judas that Jesus passed a piece of bread at dinner - an offer of continuing fellowship - and whom Jesus hugged and kissed in the Garden of Gethsamane - an offer of continuing affection.

Looking at my fellow believers I sometimes get the impression that we want to crucify others - Christian or not - who do not subscribe to the same faith or who do not subscribe to faith the same way that we do.  (Reflect on how Christians have badly abused City Harvest recently).  At other times, we just erect a wall between us and others, a moral barrier that seems impossible for anyone outside to cross over into.

Jesus did the exact opposite.  He left the protection of the house in which he had dinner and went to the public park where He would be found, betrayed, and arrested.  He allowed Himself to be crucified.  He allowed His heart and body to be broken, so that He can hold out the prospect of reconciliation and fellowship to the very people who rejected and who would reject Him.

Jesus Friend of Sinners, founder and patron of International Sinners’ and Broken Peoples’ Week, break our hearts for what breaks yours.

 

Good morning.

We have been celebrating the Chinese New Year in Singapore in the past week. Even if you’re not Chinese and are not celebrating it yourself, you probably know someone who has.

As part of the Chinese New Year celebrations, we Chinese would be sweeping away the bad luck of the previous year by spring-cleaning our rooms and houses. We put up decorations in red, dress up in red, and exchange red packets, in the hope – because red represents good luck – of welcoming good luck and imparting good luck to family and friends.

Then there would also be the traditional reunion lunch or dinner with family, usually accompanied by Lo Hei (tossing luck). Like many of the other things that are done during the Chinese New Year, every ingredient in the Lo Hei symbolizes something of importance to the Chinese. For example

– Fish or “Yu”, which sounds like abundance in Mandarin, is served together with a blessing “Nian Nian You Yu”. This means “abundance throughout the year”.

– Oil is poured out on all the ingredients, to symbolize money flowing in all directions, together with the blessing “Yi Ben Wan Li” and “Cai Yuan Guang Jin” which means “may you profit increase by ten thousand times” and “numerous sources of wealth”.

– Deep fried flour crisps in the shape of gold ingots are also added, to symbolize a floor full of gold. The blessing which goes with this is “Man Di Huang Jin” which literally means, “floor filled with gold”.

The other new year which we celebrate in Singapore – the “English” New Year – is not anywhere as elaborate. There isn’t the same kind of tradition, or symbolism behind everything done during the “English New Year”.

What about the Bible ? If God had to celebrate the New Year, how would He do it? Let’s turn our Bibles now to Exodus 12. Exodus 12 is the first time in which a New Year celebration is mentioned in the Bible. Here, God gives the Israelites instructions on how to celebrate the New Year. Like the Chinese, there is a meal eaten with the family through the generations, and also a great deal of symbolism behind everything that is done. But first, let’s look at the background to Exodus 12.

Background to Exodus 12

Exodus is the account of how God rescues the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, to bring them to the “Promised Land”, which today is the very land occupied by the country of Israel. “Exodus” means “to bring out”.

At the end of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, the forefathers of Israel – Jacob and his sons – settle down in the land of Egypt. Over several generations, the population of Israelites grows, and the native Egyptians worry that the Israelites will one day become more powerful and rule over them. So they force the Israelites into slavery. The Israelites cry out to God, who hears them, and sends them Moses to lead them out of Egypt.

Moses confronts Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, and asks him to release the Israelites. Because Pharaoh does not agree, God brings about nine plagues or disasters on Egypt to get Pharaoh to change his mind, but each time Pharaoh does not. Pharaoh is a very proud and stubborn man. Exodus 12 tells us how God is about to bring the last and most terrible disaster on Egypt. This is the Plague on the Firstborn, in which God will cause every firstborn male and animal in Egypt to die.

However, the Israelite children would be spared, and God gives Moses and the Israelites instructions on how to avoid this terrible disaster. This – the Passover – also marks the beginning of the new year for the Israelites. And like the Chinese New Year, the Passover is celebrated every year by Jews even today, with a Passover meal.

Exodus 12

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. … 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. …

11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

14 This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord — a lasting ordinance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

When the Passover was first celebrated, it was a time of fear and anxiety. The Israelites were still slaves in Egypt, uncertain of what Pharaoh would do next. After the Israelites left Egypt, it became a celebration of joy. Just like the Chinese New Year is a celebration of joy – of a fresh start for the new year – for the Chinese.

(I) A LONGING FOR SOMETHING BETTER

For most of us, most of the time, the Chinese New Year is a time of celebration. However, for some people it will not be the easiest time of their lives. By this I don’t mean the times when relatives ask embarrassing questions about the boyfriend or girlfriend which you’ve never had, when you’re getting married, or when you’re having kids.

For some, the Chinese New Year will be a time when they experience intense loneliness. This can be because they have been studying or working overseas, or have children who are studying or working overseas, and the family has not had a chance to get together for a long time. For others the issues may be more complex – they may have fallen out with their families for various reasons, may long for reconciliation or acceptance.

This Chinese New Year I visited a grandaunt who, in true Peranakan tradition, started to talk about the extended family and how some younger relatives were rude for not visiting, how other relatives are fighting over family inheritance, and other relatives were no longer talking to each other. Underlying all this, is a bitterness over what has happened, and an unsaid longing for reconciliation in the future. Of course, we’re Chinese and we like face.

Most of the time, you won’t get anyone pouring out to you their sad stories during the Chinese New Year. The only thing that we Chinese are not shy to tell others about, is money and good fortune. That is why we are all dressed in red during the Chinese New Year.  But we tend to keep mum about any personal unhappiness.

Interestingly, the Bible does not try to hide the reality of bitterness. The Passover meal is in fact specifically cooked with bitter herbs to remind them of the bitterness of the past. In Exodus 12 : 8 the Israelites are told to “eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs”. So if I were to compare the Chinese New Year reunion meal with the Passover meal, I would say that both meals point us to a very basic desire in all of us – a desire to put the bitterness of the past behind, and a longing for a future that is better.

But the Chinese New Year sort of ends there, with a longing often left unsaid and unresolved. What the Chinese New Year did for my grandaunt, was bring to boiling point her grief. What the Chinese New Year does for most people, is to bring to the surface – to their realization – how unhappy they are. But there is nothing in the Chinese New Year which shows us how to move forward; it only uses symbols of luck and good fortune to paper over the cracks in our lives.

(II) LONGING NOT WITHOUT HOPE

But in the Bible, and even in how the New Year is celebrated in the Bible, God plants hope in the reality of bitterness. The Bible neither denies the reality of disappointments in life, nor leaves us without hope.

In the Passover, this is seen in the instructions that the Israelites are to eat the Passover meal “with your cloak tucked into your belt, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste …” (Exodus 12 : 11). In addition, the Israelites are told to eat bread made without yeast, because if bread were prepared with yeast, there would be no time to wait for the bread to rise before it was time to leave Egypt. The eating of bread without yeast continues to be part of the Passover tradition today.

Eating the Passover meal in clothes which the Israelites were ready to travel in, and preparing bread without yeast because there would no time to wait for the bread to rise – the implication is that the bitterness was temporary, and that God had plans for the Israelites to move on.   Similarly for us as Christians today, this holds the promise that the bitterness of the present is temporary, and that God wants us to move on in hope.

(III) HOPE IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB

But on what is this hope based ? For the Chinese, hope is pinned in the use of the colour red to bring good luck and good fortune. We wear red clothes, and we hang up red decorations, and give red packets with .

For the Israelites, hope was also pinned in the colour red. But this red is the blood of the lamb slaughtered for the Passover meal.

“… slaughter [ the lamb ] at twilight. Then … take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where [ you ] eat the lambs. … On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn – both men and animals – and I will bring judgement on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” (Exodus 12 : 7, 12 – 13)

Why must a young and innocent lamb be killed so brutally as part of the Passover meal ? I recently talked to a colleague who is on an overseas assignment in China. He told me that one of the highlights of the Shanghai Zoo is the feeding of live chickens to lions. He said that he did not understand why people would want to be witnesses of such brutality. Watching a lion eat a zebra on Animal Planet was more than enough for him.

In the Bible, such brutality was intended to remind the Israelites of the price of their escape from Egypt. When slavery was practised, you could buy the release or freedom of a slave by paying his master or owner a price. For the Israelites, their freedom could not be bought in money; it had to be paid for in blood. For God to rescue or redeem the Israelites from slavery, a lamb had to be brutally sacrificed. An innocent life had to be given in exchange for their freedom.

For us as Christians today, this blood of the Passover lamb is the blood of Jesus, that flowed from Him when He died on the cross. How does Jesus bring hope ?

First, Jesus is the like the innocent Passover Lamb, who by his sacrifice on the cross, died to take away the sins and shame and bitterness of our past, to give us a new hope for the future. In John 1 : 29, John the Baptist proclaims that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. For us as Christians today, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is a demonstration of the depth and breadth of God’s love for us, that He was prepared to give the life of Jesus Christ His only son, to redeem us from the sins and shame and bitterness of the past.

Secondly, free from our past, we are now free to live more abundantly. In John 10 : 10, Jesus declares that “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly”.

Finally, there is a promise that at the end of our earthly lifetime, we can look forward to an eternity with God, in which there will be no more bitterness. In Revelation 21 : 3 – 4, we read of a future in which “the dwelling of God is with men … He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain …”.

Every first Sunday of the month, we celebrate the Holy Communion in church. As one community, we eat a wafer and drink a small cup of red juice. When Jesus first gave His disciples instructions on what is today the Holy Communion, He was in fact eating the Passover meal with His disciples.

“So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. … While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them saying, ‘Drink from it all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. …’.” (Matthew 26 : 19, 26 – 28)

The wafer that we eat today, was in Jesus’ time the bread that was baked without yeast. At the Passover meal, Jesus broke that bread into several pieces, to symbolize that His body would also be broken on the cross, for our redemption. The red juice that we drink today, was the wine which Jesus shared with His disciples at the Passover meal. It symbolizes the blood which Jesus shed on the cross, for our redemption.

So the Holy Communion that we celebrate together in church every month, is in fact a condensed version of the Passover in Exodus, a celebration of a new year and a new beginning, and of a hope placed in God.

We do not take bitter herbs with our Holy Communion, but we bring to God the imperfection and brokenness of our lives, and acknowledge the need for Jesus to take away the bitterness of our sins and past, and to give us a new hope.

We are not packed to leave the country when taking the Holy Communion, and we eat a wafer instead of bread baked without yeast. But with the background to the Passover, we are reminded that the disappointments of today are temporary, and that in Jesus Christ we can move on with a hope for tomorrow.

We do not slaughter and cook a lamb as part of the Holy Communion, and we drink blackcurrent juice instead of wine. But our understanding of Jesus as the Passover Lamb and the red in the juice, reminds us of the high price that God had to pay to redeem us from the slavery of our sins and past – the brutal sacrifice of Jesus.

In this we see how great God’s love is for us, and our hope is complete.

Over lunch with an acquaintance last week he told me how he had lost faith and that if he attended church, it was more to provide companionship to his single father than because of a deep faith.

It is a struggle that I think I understand, at least in part.  Perhaps as an outcome of a melancholy personality coupled with an inclination to sometimes think too deeply - matters of faith that once seemed so straightforward to me when younger, are no longer.

And so I admitted that I too wrestle with God, and struggle with faith.  That maybe, if I were not married and / or did not have kids, I might not go to church so often.

But for now, I am thankful for where I am in life, and acknowledge that family is one way in which God has been gracious to me.  A sense of obligation towards the spiritual upbringing of my family, and reminders of God’s love as I see in and through their lives, keep the embers of faith from dying.

This is not to say that if I did not have a family, I would renounce the faith.  Or that those without family do not experience grace.  With what little faith I have, I would say that God and grace cannot be boxed into a formula; God’s grace is manifested in varied and multiple forms.  Family, friends, creation, circumstances - a seemingly random act of kindness or even a disappointment - God can and does use all of these to reach out to us in love.

"Was reflecting on our lunch conversation last week", I message my friend.  "(Perhaps or maybe I should say I’m certain that) your father is a demonstration of God’s grace to you.  Grace in how much your father loves you, and grace in that your love for your father has kept you from being entirely unplugged from God.  The journey is not over yet - let’s see where God takes you from here."

*** ***

"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief." (Mark 9 : 24)

I’ve yet to watch the movie, but I hope that this - one of my favourite excerpts from the book - will inspire us to be more gracious in 2013.

***

The next morning at sunrise Monseigneur Bienvenu was strolling in his garden. Madame Magloire ran up to him in utter consternation.

“Monseigneur, Monseigneur!” she exclaimed, “does your Grace know where the basket of silver is?”

“Yes,” replied the Bishop.

“Jesus the Lord be blessed!” she resumed; “I did not know what had become of it.”

The Bishop had just picked up the basket in a flower-bed. He presented it to Madame Magloire.

“Here it is.”

“Well!” said she. “Nothing in it! And the silver?”

“Ah,” returned the Bishop, “so it is the silver which troubles you? I don’t know where it is.”

“Great, good God! It is stolen! That man who was here last night
has stolen it.”

In a twinkling, with all the vivacity of an alert old woman, Madame Magloire had rushed to the oratory, entered the alcove, and returned to the Bishop. The Bishop had just bent down, and was sighing as he examined a plant of cochlearia des Guillons, which the basket had broken as it fell across the bed. He rose up at Madame Magloire’s cry.

“Monseigneur, the man is gone! The silver has been stolen!”

As she uttered this exclamation, her eyes fell upon a corner of the garden, where traces of the wall having been scaled were visible. The coping of the wall had been torn away.

“Stay! yonder is the way he went. He jumped over into Cochefilet Lane. Ah, the abomination! He has stolen our silver!”

The Bishop remained silent for a moment; then he raised his grave eyes, and said gently to Madame Magloire:—

“And, in the first place, was that silver ours?”

Madame Magloire was speechless. Another silence ensued; then the Bishop went on:—

“Madame Magloire, I have for a long time detained that silver wrongfully. It belonged to the poor. Who was that man? A poor man, evidently.”

“Alas! Jesus!” returned Madame Magloire. “It is not for my sake, nor for Mademoiselle’s. It makes no difference to us. But it is for the sake of Monseigneur. What is Monseigneur to eat with now?”

The Bishop gazed at her with an air of amazement.

“Ah, come! Are there no such things as pewter forks and spoons?”

Madame Magloire shrugged her shoulders.

“Pewter has an odor.”

“Iron forks and spoons, then.”

Madame Magloire made an expressive grimace.

“Iron has a taste.”

“Very well,” said the Bishop; “wooden ones then.”

A few moments later he was breakfasting at the very table at which Jean Valjean had sat on the previous evening. As he ate his breakfast, Monseigneur Welcome remarked gayly to his sister, who said nothing, and to Madame Magloire, who was grumbling under her breath, that one really does not need either fork or spoon, even of wood, in order to dip a bit of bread in a cup of milk.

“A pretty idea, truly,” said Madame Magloire to herself, as she went and came, “to take in a man like that! and to lodge him close to one’s self! And how fortunate that he did nothing but steal! Ah, mon Dieu! it makes one shudder to think of it!”

As the brother and sister were about to rise from the table, there came a knock at the door.

“Come in,” said the Bishop.

The door opened. A singular and violent group made its appearance on the threshold. Three men were holding a fourth man by the collar. The three men were gendarmes; the other was Jean Valjean.

A brigadier of gendarmes, who seemed to be in command of the group, was standing near the door. He entered and advanced to the Bishop, making a military salute.

“Monseigneur—” said he.

At this word, Jean Valjean, who was dejected and seemed overwhelmed, raised his head with an air of stupefaction.

“Monseigneur!” he murmured. “So he is not the cure?”

“Silence!” said the gendarme. “He is Monseigneur the Bishop.”

In the meantime, Monseigneur Bienvenu had advanced as quickly as his great age permitted.

“Ah! here you are!” he exclaimed, looking at Jean Valjean. “I am glad to see you. Well, but how is this? I gave you the candlesticks too, which are of silver like the rest, and for which you can certainly get two hundred francs. Why did you not carry them away with your forks and spoons?”

Jean Valjean opened his eyes wide, and stared at the venerable Bishop with an expression which no human tongue can render any account of.

“Monseigneur,” said the brigadier of gendarmes, “so what this man said is true, then? We came across him. He was walking like a man who is running away. We stopped him to look into the matter. He had this silver—”

“And he told you,” interposed the Bishop with a smile, “that it had been given to him by a kind old fellow of a priest with whom he had passed the night? I see how the matter stands. And you have brought him back here? It is a mistake.”

“In that case,” replied the brigadier, “we can let him go?”

“Certainly,” replied the Bishop.

The gendarmes released Jean Valjean, who recoiled.

“Is it true that I am to be released?” he said, in an almost inarticulate voice, and as though he were talking in his sleep.

“Yes, thou art released; dost thou not understand?” said one of the gendarmes.

“My friend,” resumed the Bishop, “before you go, here are your candlesticks. Take them.”

He stepped to the chimney-piece, took the two silver candlesticks, and brought them to Jean Valjean. The two women looked on without uttering a word, without a gesture, without a look which could disconcert the Bishop.

Jean Valjean was trembling in every limb. He took the two candlesticks mechanically, and with a bewildered air.

“Now,” said the Bishop, “go in peace. By the way, when you return, my friend, it is not necessary to pass through the garden. You can always enter and depart through the street door. It is never fastened with anything but a latch, either by day or by night.”

Then, turning to the gendarmes:—

“You may retire, gentlemen.”

The gendarmes retired.

Jean Valjean was like a man on the point of fainting.

The Bishop drew near to him, and said in a low voice:—

“Do not forget, never forget, that you have promised to use this money in becoming an honest man.”

Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of ever having promised anything, remained speechless. The Bishop had emphasized the words when he uttered them. He resumed with solemnity:—

“Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.”

***

Before Jesus there was John the Baptist. 

John was an austere and fiery preacher who lived in the desert, ate only locusts and honey, and who did not shy away from using harsh words to warn the crowd to repent because "every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire".  Still, John had a certain charm about him, because a not insignificant crowd followed him.

Then Jesus appeared.  The crowds following John started to thin; John’s crowds and even more began to follow Jesus.

Not that Jesus didn’t denounce sin like John did; He just taught forgiveness a lot more.

Not that Jesus didn’t fast like John did; He just feasted a lot more, and often with people regarded as the "sinners" and outcasts in society.

The God as projected by John the Baptist was a God who appeared faraway and aloof, who required man to approach him for forgiveness.

Superior to that, was the God who as projected by Jesus was personal.  God was no longer distant and unapproacheable.  Jesus was Himself the Son of God who had come to make His home amongst men, to empathise with us, and to bring God’s love and forgiveness to us, instead of demanding that we go to Him.

That is why Jesus’ other and unfortunately lesser known name (at least to non-Christians), is "Immanuel"  which means, "God with us". 

And that to me has always been the meaning underlying the nativity scene in which we see the baby Jesus surrounded by his parents, shepherds, and animals : that God is made His home with us, in order to bring us home to Him.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Good morning church.  Today, I’m going to share from a book called Philemon, a letter written by the apostle Paul and recorded in the New Testamant. 

I have to confess that I chose Philemon because I got a bit lazy.  It is such a short letter, just 25 verses in all or one page long, and I was hoping this would mean having to work less hard at preparing the message today. 

But seriously, I chose Philemon because it is a rather “Christmassy” letter.  As we go through the passage later you will see that Philemon, unlike most of the other New Testament books, doesn’t go into deep theological issues.  Rather, it is a very personal letter asking for love, forgiveness and acceptance.  A very “Christmassy” theme.

And as I read Philemon it struck me how much the love of God is like a well cut diamond. When I was shopping for a diamond engagement ring for Joyce many years ago – that was before we got married of course – I learnt that a well cut diamond is one which reflects and refracts light such that from far, it sparkles at every angle from which you look at it.  And when you look at the diamond closely, you should see a beautiful pattern or rainbow of colours at every angle as you turn it.

The love of God is like that.  Attractive from afar.  Beautiful up close.  Infinite in its variations.  Surprising us at every angle.

As we read Philemon today, I want to show you three facets of God’s love.

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:

3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother.  He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord. 

17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

…

25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Philemon is a letter which Paul wrote personally, in his own hand, to a friend and disciple named Philemon. Other than Philemon, central to Paul’s letter is a person called Onesimus.  But Onesimus was not really a person in the eyes of society at that time.  He was a slave, which means that more people would look at him as property – perhaps like a farm animal which you could own – than human.  Not only was Onesimus a slave, he was one who had escaped from his master or owner, who was none other than Philemon.  Back then, slavery was considered as normal as domestic helpers are today in Singapore.  A slave who had run away could be punished very severely if caught.  He could be whipped, or branded – branding is where a hot iron is pressed against the skin of a slave so that there is a permanent mark of ownership.  A runaway could even be executed.

While on the run, Onesimus had somehow come into contact with Paul.  For reasons which this letter does not say, Paul offered friendship and protection to this illegal runaway, who eventually learned about Jesus Christ through Paul and became a Christian.

Paul then writes to Onesimus’ master, Philemon, asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus, and to set him free from slavery.

One of the first things that come to my mind is that Paul was pretty crazy to associate with a runaway criminal, who if desperate enough may even have attacked or killed Paul.  Remember, at stake for Onesimus was not just his personal freedom, but also his life.  If he was caught, he could be severely tortured or even executed.

Yet amazingly Onesimus the runaway slave, became Onesimus “my son”, “a brother in the Lord”.

#1        A love which transcends our past

In this Paul reflects here one facet of the love of God.  A love which transcends or looks beyond what we were or what we have done wrong in our past.  A love so great, that it is willing to take a gamble with criminals.

The letter does not say how Onesimus came into contact with Paul.  But I imagine that Onesimus did not come to Paul the way the church likes people to come to it. 

I suspect that because of conditioning by society, we are more likely to accept a person who looks and behaves a certain way when they step into church.  This person doesn’t have to be in a suit, but he can’t be dressed too untidily or skimpily.  This person doesn’t have to talk well, but he mustn’t sound crude (like someone from a Jack Neo film) or worse, use vulgarities.  This person can be struggling with sin, but the sin mustn’t be too scandalous, like adultery or prostitution. 

Onesimus would not fit into this model of a person most of us would feel comfortable sitting next to in church.  He did not knock on Paul’s door saying, “I heard there is a pastor staying here, and I want to confess my sin and ask for prayer because I have broken the law.  And after you have prayed for me, I will go back to Philemon’s home to be punished”.

Onesimus was a slave on the run from his master.  He looked dirty.  He smelled bad.  He sounded rough.  He was hungry, fearful and desperate enough to kill.  He was a criminal and dangerous.  Paul took a gamble and loved him.

God’s love, as reflected by Paul, extended beyond average, mild-mannered persons.  It reached out to a criminal who was dirty, crude and dangerous.  It reaches out to us today, and to everyone who has not yet believed in God, regardless of who we are, and regardless of our past.

If you think about it, all of us are criminals.  The only difference is that some of us get caught, while others don’t.  All of us have at some point or other, cheated on parking coupons, or on homework or in tests, or told lies.  Some of us may have done worse things that we don’t dare to tell others about.

If you struggle with your past today, the good news is that God looks beyond that.  The love of God does not accept only the mild, average looking person.  It reaches out, within and beyond the walls of this church, to even those who are dirty, crude and dangerous.

#2        A love which transcends our future failures

The second facet of the love of God that I see in this leter, is how God loves despite our continued imperfections, or despite how we might fail in the future.

In this letter, Paul appeals on the “basis of love” and asks Philemon to take Onesimus back “no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother”.  Paul certainly tries his best to sway Philemon’s emotions (“if you consider me as a partner, welcome him”).    However, Paul stops short of using his authority or threats to force Philemon to forgive Onesimus.  To use a Facebook term, Paul does not threaten to “unfriend” Philemon.

So does Philemon forgive Onesimus?  Was Philemon’s love for God so overwhelming, that he forgave Onesimus?  We would of course like to think that Philemon listened to Paul.  But in all honesty, I don’t know.

What if Philemon did not listen to Paul?

I think Christians today like to romanticize sin.  By this I mean that we sometimes paint a picture of how simple it is to overcome sin, or old habits and old ways of living and thinking.

So when we read the account of Jesus telling the adulteress or prostitute “go and leave your life of sin” or “your sins are forgiven”, we imagine that these women really change and never go back to do the wrong which they did previously. 

I want to be honest and say – just as in the case of Philemon – that I don’t know if the adulteress and the prostitute listened to Jesus and lived perfectly after that, because the Bible doesn’t tell us what happened next!  What I do know, from reading the Bible, is that one of Jesus closest disciples Peter – and probably the most passionate one too – disowned Jesus three times when questioned.  And this was just shortly after Jesus clearly warned Peter that he would disown Jesus.

Even Peter did wrong despite experiencing the love and presence of Jesus Christ on a very personal basis.  Can we be sure that the adulteress and prostitute listened completely to Jesus?  Can we be sure that Philemon listened to Paul on the basis of God’s love?

What if Philemon did not listen to Paul?

If Philemon did not listen to Paul, and continued to treat Onesimus as a slave, I think God would have felt very grieved.  But God would have continued to love Philemon.

You see, it is precisely because Peter would deny Jesus, it is precisely because the adulteress and the prostitute might not immediately leave their sinful past, it is precisely because Philemon might not listen to Paul and forgive Onesimus and set him free, that Jesus died on the cross.

The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, is what brings to Christians forgiveness of our sins and a reconciliation with God.  And Jesus died on the cross despite knowing that Peter would deny Him.  In the same way, Jesus died on the cross despite the possibility that Philemon might not forgive Onesimus.  In the same way, Jesus died on the cross despite the possibility that we might not change overnight, and would take time to overcome sin, or old habits and old ways of living and thinking.

I have friends who tell me that they can’t become Christians because they can’t live up the high standards demanded of Christians in the Bible.  They just don’t see themselves as being able to change old habits or ways of living or thinking. 

And I know Christians too who carry a tremendous burden of personal guilt because of the expectation that they should be without fault, but live in a reality where they continue to sin, after they become Christians.

If you struggle with the same issues, whether or not as a Christian, the message today is that God (to put it in Facebook terms) will not “unfriend” us despite the fact that we are imperfect.  This is not an excuse for us to continue doing what is wrong, or not changing our bad habits. 

But when we do fail, we have this assurance of the second facet of the love of God, which is a love that looks beyond our future failures.  It is a love is so deep and wide that it comprehends our human weaknesses, and waits patiently for us to change and transform into the better persons that God has meant us to be.

#3        A love which transcends all differences

The third facet of God’s love which I see in this letter is how it is a love that transcends all differences which otherwise separate people in society.  These can be differences over race, nationality, wealth, status or other things.  

When Paul looked at Onesimus through the eyes of God, he did not see a crude, uneducated slave who was from a lower class in society, and who did not deserve his friendship.  Rather, Paul saw “a fellow man and a brother in the Lord” (v 16).Because we are created as social beings, each of us instinctively long for acceptance.  For this reason we find rejection very painful.  The pain is felt more deeply if we are rejected by someone who we are close to, but even if the rejection is by someone we know only casually or professionally, such as a supervisor or a colleague, it still hurts.  To protect ourselves, we form communities of people with the same interests or from the same backgrounds.  This is why most of us have a circle of closer friends who accept us as we are.  This is partly why, in any country, you would find foreigners of the same nationality forming their own social groups. 

This is also partly how Communism was dreamed up.  The theorists behind it wanted to take acceptance to its extreme, and create a classless society in which everyone would enjoy equal status without discrimination.

Communism may no longer an ideal which is pursued seriously today, I think we still long for something close to it.  If I may over-simplify things somewhat, I think that this is much of what the current debate in Singapore over the “haves” and “have nots”, the “elites” and the “heartlanders” is about.  A desire to see all differences accepted, and greater equality despite our differences.

Well, the Bible got to it first.  In Colossians 3 : 11 – 14, Paul writes that -

“… there is no Greek or Jew, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.  Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

However, there is a critical difference between what political theorists advocate and what the Bible advocates.  Political theorists believe that the classless society is the ideal.  Underlying this is the hope that with a classless society, people will be more accepting of each other.  Sadly, when you look at the history Communism or the ideal of a classless society, you don’t really see acceptance.  What you see are people who were prepared to go so far as to kill and destroy to achieve this goal.

In the Christian faith, a classless society is not the primary goal.  Rather, it is the love of God.  And it is this love, coupled with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, which transcends our differences.  Love is what enables Christians to accept and fellowship within and outside of the church despite differences that we may have in race, nationality, status or otherwise.

By this I do not mean to say that the church or that the Christians inside a church are perfect, or that we love each other perfectly.  We are still human, and a lot of times our human weaknesses will get the better of us.  That is why we cannot be certain that Philemon had listened to Paul and forgiven Onesimus.  That is why it took over 1800 years after Christ for Christians to finally come to common understanding that slavery should be abolished.  But it was also men who were moved by the love of God, that led the political and social movement that eventually resulted in the abolishment of slavery.

If acceptance is what you are looking for today, whether or not as a Christian, then the message today is that God loves and accepts us regardless of our differences, and that reflecting the love of God is the ideal which the church works towards, even if we get it wrong sometimes.  If you have not been attending church regularly, then I encourage you to give us imperfect people a shot.

For the rest of us, God’s challenge is to reflect every facet of His love to people around us, even more brilliantly.  Remember – like a diamond.  Attractive from afar.  Beautiful up close.  Infinite in its variations.  Surprising at every angle.  A love which :
-  transcends the past
-  transcends the wrongs which we may do in the future
-  transcends all differences