God Is Good All The Time

The psalmist declares in Psalms 107:1, that God is good for His loving kindness endures forever. God is good and He is good all the time.

“Summum Bonum” is a Latin word that means the greatest or the supreme good and God is summum bonum, the chiefest good. His goodness is manifested in creation when He saw all that He had created and it was good, very good.

The goodness of God is reflected in His creation. The epitome of His creation is manifested in the creature He created in His own image. The Psalmist is declaring the goodness of God when he sings, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made...”

The goodness of God is ever so evident in the providential care that He showered upon His creation. His goodness is aptly described by the Psalmist in Psalm 145:15-16, “The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

The goodness of God is seen in how He deals with us who have sinned against Him. A.W Pink puts it well when he wrote, “The goodness of God is seen in that when man transgressed the law of His Creator a dispensation of unmixed wrath did not at once commence. Well might God have deprived His fallen creatures of every blessing, every comfort, every pleasure. Instead, He ushered in a regime of a mixed nature, of mercy and judgment.”

There is no better expression of the goodness of God than when He sent His Son to save us from our sins. His goodness is in giving life when what we deserve is death. He is so good that he sent His Son to die for us while we were yet sinners. We were still living in our sins and rejection of God when He sent His Son to die for us. He did not send His Son in response to our cry of salvation and repentance. God is good all the time.

God is good in His justice. Can we seriously say God is good when He does nothing about those who broke His law? Is God good, when men despise His blessing and trample on His mercy and He does not take them to task? Would you say a judge is good if he releases a convicted murderer despite being given all the evidence? I am sure you wouldn’t, so all the more we cannot lower the standards of God.

When God does not convict those who violate His laws, it is not a reflection of His goodness. The goodness of God is exemplified when He convicts men of their sins. Quoting from AW Pink, “It will be no reflection upon God’s goodness, but rather the brightest exemplification of it, when He shall rid the earth of those who have broken His laws, defied His authority, mocked His messengers, scorned His Son, and persecuted those for whom He died.

We do not always understand the ways of God. In life we will face adverse circumstances, we will go through trials. Our prayers may not always be answered in accordance with our desires. However we must know that God is good all the time, He is always good. We must learn to put our complete trust in God no matter what our situation or circumstances may be.

We cannot determine the goodness of God based on our circumstances in life. The fact is that God is good not because of what He has done. We cannot measure the goodness of God. We cannot measure God by the good He has done. God is good for that is who He is.

“He is originally good, good of Himself, which nothing else is; for all creatures are good only by participation and communication from God. He is essentially good; not only good, but goodness itself: the creature’s good is a superadded quality, in God it is His essence. He is infinitely good; the creature’s good is but a drop, but in God there is an infinite ocean or gathering together of good. He is eternally and immutably good, for He cannot be less good than He is; as there can be no addition made to Him, so no subtraction from Him. (Thomas. Manton).”.

“Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”

Romans 2:4

Nightmare

woke up very early one Wednesday morning from a nightmare that seems very real. It was so real that I almost wanted to jump out of bed and scramble to Church for worship. I dreamt that I woke up at 9.30am on a Sunday morning and was extremely late for Church. For a pastor whose service starts at 8.45am this is nothing short of a nightmare.

There was once when I did arrive in Church at 9.30am for the 8.45 am service. However I had a very good reason for being so late. I was in hospital till 5am because of a bad stomach. I made it to service just on time to conduct the Lord’s Supper.

I do find it challenging trying to get everyone to wake up and get ready for Church on Sunday mornings. It is especially so when I have three young sleepy heads. Every Sunday mornings is like rush hour for me. Two of my favourite phrases on any given Sunday mornings are “wake-up” and “hurry up”.

Did you ever have one of those mornings when you have an early meeting in office and you woke up late? Remember how you felt? I would presume that you were probably very upset about it. I can only imagine the wrath upon anyone who stands in your way. .

What about coming late for service? Have you ever felt upset that you were late?

There may be many reasons why we should not be late for worship. In some churches, if you are late you may be locked out because there is no more space. We often also like to tell people that since they will make an effort to be punctual for an important meeting, they should likewise be punctual for worship. There are times when I say we should start the service on time and not punish those who are punctual. However beyond the importance of being punctual for any meetings or events, there is but one most important reason for being punctual for worship. The single most important reason why we should not be late for worship is because we are worshipping God. Is there a more important reason than this?

I know there are some who often try their best to be on time if not early for worship. There are some who want to be early but are deterred by circumstances. I say to you commit your efforts to God.

However there may be others who simply do not have any sense of urgency to be on time. If you are among this group, it may do you well to understand the reason why.

One area that we should examine is the condition of our hearts. I believe a heart that is truly seeking first the kingdom of God will have an urgency to be punctual for the gathering of the saints in worship. If we truly love the Lord with all our heart, we will have an urgency to be punctual, If we are like a deer who pant for the water in the water brooks, we will not drag our feet each Sunday but will sprint towards worship.

The psalmist sang, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem,” Psalms 122:1-2.

You can almost feel the joy and eager anticipation as he prepares to enter into the house of the Lord. May our hearts be filled with gladness as we look forward to enter into His Sanctuary to worship this Sunday.

The Absolute Truth Of The Gospel In An Age Of Tolerence

We live in an age of tolerance and relative truth. We have a growing tolerance in the liberalization of moral values. Truth is becoming more and more relative. In a multicultural society like Singapore with our myriad of beliefs, truth cannot be anything but relative. In a nation with a growing global community, we must expect a growing tolerance of different value system.

However on closer examination of this age of tolerance, we will find there is little tolerance for the truth. In an age where truth is relative rather than absolute, there is a high degree of intolerance towards any claims to absolute truth. The fact that the assertion that truth is relative is an absolute statement seems irrelevant

We live in a secular society. In its most basic definition it refers to a separation from any religion. While this does not imply that there is hostility towards any religion but it does contradict our Christian faith. Our faith demands that God be at the very centre of our life. The secular society demands that we separate our religious life from our daily dealings.

While there is a level of tolerance for all religion in a secular society but this can serve as a double edged sword. The secular society jealously guards the freedom of belief. It has very little tolerance for any group trying to convert another group. It is highly sensitive to any form of proselytizing. It is not just sensitive to proselytizing but it is also highly sensitive to anything that can cause offense to another religion.

We must not be deceived into thinking that society at large is tolerant of the gospel we proclaim. The moment we claim that it is the absolute truth; we are already in contention with this age of relativism. The society will be tolerant as long as we do not claim to proclaim the absolute truth. We may have the freedom to proclaim the gospel but we do not have the freedom to proclaim it as THE truth.

As Christians we believe that there is only One True and living God. The “problem” with such a belief is that it would naturally imply that all other religion is false. This certainly does not bode well in a secular society. We believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. This can only imply that all other religion does not offer true salvation. This is highly offensive.

However this is the truth that we hold, to deny this is to deny God. To deny there is only one way to salvation is to deny Christ. When we take Christ out of Christianity we have nothing, there is no religion for us at all. So how can we be obedient to the command of our Lord? How can we go and make disciples of all nations in a secular society?

The first thing we must do is to get rid of a very “secular” habit that we have. We live in a society that also thrives on meritocracy. The downside to meritocracy is that it calls for a comparison. Naturally to be good involve being better than others. Although unintended (I hope) we rise when others are down. We look good when others look bad. The most glaring example can be found in the political arena. So often we see opposing teams tearing each other down in an attempt to expose the other parties’ weaknesses.

As believers we are in danger of having that tendency. We may remind ourselves that we must be sensitive to other religions. In practice we often forget and get carried away with our enthusiasm. I suspect the reason is because in teaching the truths we hold, we have a habit of contrasting it with what we believe is false. So we study other religion not so much to understand but to put down.

I would like to encourage us in sharing the gospel to really know our gospel well. The best way of helping others know the truth is to teach them the truth and show them the truth. We do not need to tell them what we think is false. Once they can see the truth for themselves, they will be able to determine for themselves what is true and what is not. We can only do that when we know the truth well and when we live out the truth well. Most important of all is to remember our primary task is to proclaim, salvation belongs to God. Let us be enthusiastic in sharing the gospel. Let us be careful not to put our enthusiasm into overdrive and we end putting down others. Let us in not being ashamed of the gospel do it with much grace and humility.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH”

Romans 1:16-17

For Whose Sake

A reporter once interviewed a person who was involved in humanitarian ministry. This person was well known for the great sacrifice made in humanitarian work. The reporter asked what motivated the person to make such great sacrifice and the answer was the person did it for self. The person wanted to make sure that enough good deeds are done to ensure salvation. My immediate reaction was to shake my head.

I know it is easy to cast a judgment on the person. However how many of us can truly say that we are not doing what we are doing for ourselves? I am certainly in no position to judge another person’s heart and I can only examine my own heart. Even then my heart can be so deceiving.

On Sunday mornings I rush to make sure I am on time for Church. The reason I would like to give would be because it is God whom we are going worship and thus we should be early. However many times I found myself rushing for a myriad of other reasons. One of the biggest reason is because I am the pastor and at other times because I have invited speakers. I have to constantly remind myself it must be because I am going to worship God.

In preparing for my sermons, it is a constant battle of trying to impress the hearer and being faithful to the exposition of God’s word. It is not easy to differentiate the intent most of the time. It is only when I react to feedback given that I am able to know what is truly in my heart. I always pray for God to enable me to deliver His word faithfully and carefully because it is His WORD.

I question the intent of my heart when I show care and concern for others. I have to ask is it because I see it as my responsibility or am I compelled by the love of Christ? Both entails an obligation, one is an obligation out of love for Christ and the other is out of love for self.

Outwardly I can be seen as a good pastor. I can be caring and be a good expositor of the word. I can be a very good teacher and a visionary leader. In the eyes of many I may be considered a very good pastor. However if my aim is to develop a personal branding then what I have done is only pleasing in men’s eyes. I am not doing it for the glory of God. It may well be a case of “I must increase “and not “He must increase and I must decrease”.

I may have given my life to full time ministry work but it does not mean that I have given my life to Christ. I may have made many sacrifices to serve in the Church but it does not mean that I did because of Christ.

The apostle Paul has set for us a good example through many of his letters. In Philippians 1:21 he declared, “For me to live is Christ.” In 2 Corinthians 5:14, he wrote, “For Christ’s love compels us.” In Galatians 2:20, he shares, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” In 1 Corinthians 10:31, he exhorts us to do all things for the glory of God.

Who are we living for? For whose sake are we doing what we are doing? Consider what it means to do all things for the glory of God and may we live a life that is compelled by Christ’s love for us.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

Psalms 139:23-24

In Prayer We Trust God

Why do we pray? How do we react when our prayers are not answered?

I was reading a devotional by Oswald Chambers and he made some remarks on prayer that really caught my attention.

He wrote, “Whenever the insistence is on the point that God answers prayer, we are off the track. The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer.”

I began to ponder on the times when I do not get the answer that I am looking for from God in my prayers and how I have felt dejected and I begin to ask why I feel dejected. I ponder on the times when I just learnt to fully trust in God and expected Him to work things out by a certain time and it was delayed and I felt disappointed and I begin to wonder why I felt disappointed more specifically why I was disappointed with God.

I wonder what I am really seeking when I pray. Is it wrong to make petitions to God? The answer is no because we are instructed to make petitions to God? So if it is not wrong to make petitions to God than should we not in faith trust God to answer our prayers? The answer is yes we should trust God to answer our prayers. However the focus of our petitions is not on the answers but on God, when we bring our petition to God, it is an expression of our faith and it should lead us to learn to trust in Him completely. In making our petitions what we should ultimately seek is God. Whatever the answer to our prayer maybe, we learn to trust in God completely.

We were also instructed to make intercessions for others and perhaps we may feel more justified in expecting God to answer our prayers. After all we are praying for the good of others, it is not about us. Again there is a need to refocus. In making intercession we represent the needs of others to God but in so doing what we are expressing is our God given love for others which must stamp from our love for God. So even in making intercession for others our focus is still primarily on God.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray in Luke 11, He began by telling them the manner on how they should pray and He began by saying, “Father hallowed be Your Name.” The very first focus of prayer is on the glory of God’s Name, the very first focus of our prayer is God and not us.

If we are only impress with God when our prayers are answered, we too have missed the whole point of prayer. When we only give thanks to God when our prayers are answered according to our desire we have missed the true essence of prayer. Paul exhorts us in Ephesians to give thanks for all things and in Philippians he reminded us we are to rejoice always. Regardless of circumstances regardless of the answers to our prayer we give thanks for all things and we rejoice always because we are giving thanks to God and we are rejoicing in Him. God is the source of our thanksgiving and He is the source of our rejoicing.

“Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]’”

Matthew 6:9-13

The Mortification Of Sin

I was listening to a sermon online and it was one of those fiery sermons on sin. The speaker gave an illustration that I have heard before but never quite applied it. It is a story of a monkey who put his hand inside a cookie jar and got stuck in it. Upon seeing the hunter coming, the monkey struggled to get his hand out but was not able to because his hand was still grabbing on to the cookies. Often that is how we deal with sin, we struggle with it but we refuse to let go of it.

The scripture exhorts us in Colossians 3:5,

“Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” What it primarily calls for here is a mortification of sin meaning to put sin to death. It is what Romans 6:11 exhorts, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Sin is often still very much present in us and the temptations of the world is very alluring and we do often struggle with sin but consider with me our struggle with sin, how do we struggle with it? I suspect often we struggle with sin in our own strength. We use many creative means to try to prevent us from falling into temptations and it usually works for a while that we find ourselves falling again. While an ongoing struggle with sin does provide proof of our faith but it can be also because we are relying on our own strength or it can be something more than that, it could that we are still in love with our sinful life.

When we talk of the mortification of sin, the aim may be to destroy sin completely but note that we are unable to do so in this lifetime. Just because we have some small measure of success in overcoming sin, we think we have destroyed. It will not be long before the sin revisits us.

When Paul is sharing his struggle with sin, in that somewhat controversial passage in Romans 7, he asked, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” and in the very next sentence he proclaimed, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” The answer is simple enough isn’t it, “Through Christ.” but how?

It is by being dead to sin and alive in Christ. To be in Christ means we no longer struggle with sin but we put to death all our sinful desires. To mortify sin we must place our absolute trust in Christ and rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the strength. Unless we are truly converted we cannot mortify sin. The mortification of sin involves surrendering every area of our life to God. It involves a willingness to obey Him in all things. Every area of our life must be lived out in obedience to God.

We cannot begin to put sin to death until we begin to surrender our all to Christ. Unless we learn to let go of our desires and surrender them to Christ, our struggle with sin will always be a struggle it will not lead us to put it to death.

We may desire to do what is pleasing to God, we may desire to live a life of obedience but that desire must be expressed through the surrendering of our all to Jesus

“So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

Romans 8:12-14

"I" At The Centre

It was observed that we lived in a very self centred world, which is nothing really new actually. One of the most phenomenal products invented in this century begins with “I”. Often we go through life without realizing how much the “I” is at the very centre of our life. It is therefore really not surprising that when it come to our faith, the “I” will naturally take centre stage.

Many in the churches respond very well to the love of God and it is so touching when told that even if there is only person in the world God will still send His Son to die on the cross. Many would naturally be drawn to conclude that if they were the only person in the world God would still send Christ down to die. It sounds good but it is a ridiculous statement to make. It is a statement that panders only to the natural inclination of the “I” because it is an impossible scenario; it is not going to happen. Right from the beginning of creation God has already determine that it is not good for man to be alone. I would discourage us from using such an illustration as it does not magnify the love of God it only serves to magnify our ego. The love of God is fully displayed on the cross where Jesus was hung.

Our culture encourages us to be self motivated and to have faith in our self to achieve and you wonder why I make it sound so negative. Even within the body of Christ that is how we often encourage one another isn’t it. Another of our favourite phrase is God help those who help themselves. I know the intentions are good especially when we try to encourage students to not just pray but to do their part by studying as well and indeed we must do our part in that sense. However as good as the intention of phrases like these may be but often they have no biblical basis. God helps those who helps themselves is certainly not in the bible at all, in fact scripture points to the fact that God helps the helpless and this is so very true when it come to our salvation. For it was when we were yet sinners, spiritually dead that God sent His Son to die for our sins and call us to a new life. Sadly we do attempt to try to take some credit for our salvation when there is none at all for us to claim. It is all glory to God.

Is it any wonder than that you seldom hear the call to take up our cross and follow Jesus when that is one of our most fundamental calls as Disciples of Christ? It should not come as a surprise to find people lifting up their fist when faced with tribulations rather than bowing in submission to the Lord.

Even when we decide to walk in obedience to God we may be in danger of having the inclination to want to dictate terms for our obedience. When our obedience does not lead us to the desired consequence we protest and rebel. True obedience demands that we obey God period and we leave all the consequences with Him. Regardless of consequences we simply obey.

I also know that many wants to know the secret to a successful prayer life and by definition it is usually a prayer life that always sees God answering our prayers. We want to learn the secret of how we can claim God’s promises or “command” God to answer our prayers.

The secret to a successful prayer life begins with a heart willing to submit and it leads us to a total submission to God. It is not something we are willing to do when we are so pre occupied with self. We want a dynamic prayer life, we want to lead a powerful Christian life. Many are obsess by those who claim to have the power from God to heal, to send blessings of health and wealth and all leading to personal self gratification. True prayer does not merely lead to answered prayers but it must lead us to God and it is not just bringing us closer to God but it must ultimately lead us to trust in God fully and surrender to Him totally because we know He is God. The journey begins when we acknowledge Jesus not only as our Saviour but also our Lord. It involves the “I” in us to be in Christ, to abide in Him.

The battle must begin in our hearts. The words of a saint 400 years ago rings so true when he wrote,

“It were an easy thing to be a Christian, if religion stood only in a few outward works and duties, but to take the soul to task, and to deal roundly with our own hearts, and to let conscience have its full work, and to bring the soul into spiritual subjection unto God, this is not so easy a matter, because the soul out of self-love is loath to enter into itself, lest it should have other thoughts of itself than it would have.”–Richard Sibbes, The Soul’s Conflict, and Victory Over Itself by Faith, XV:vii:6, in The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, Vol. 1, (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1862), 200.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Galatians 2:20