PASTORAL CHAT
My Dear Readers
A new church, not one for disappointed Lifers only, is taking shape at RELC where we have booked for a year. There is a sizable group of Indian BPs who are joining us, and BP’s from here and there. From 200 the first week it grew to 249 last week. The offering also increased to $16,900.
The auditorium has a mezzanine floor, affords accommodation to nearly 500. Here is where you can step in.Bring a friend, an unsaved family member who are lost in sin. Jesus is ever awaiting to save them. And how about you old-timer while he is calling you, like the Rich Young Ruler into fulltime service? Jesus is coming real soon! Hurry! That is the watchword in these end-times.
Your affectionate pastor
T T
What lack I yet?
(Message delivered by Pastor at the RELC 10.30 am Service, Oct 12, 03)
Text: Matt. 19:16-26; Mk 10:21
Here comes a rich young man, called a ruler in Lk. 18, i.e. a man of high position, who is very happy with his earthly attainments, but now he is worried about his after life. Are you this young man? Since he recognises Jesus is the Good One, our Lord leads him to what is in his mind, keeping God’s commands. To keep God’s commands is to try to be good. This everybody who is God fearing agrees to be so. Particularly the Jews. At a bookstore in Jerusalem I ask the salesgirl about going to heaven. She replied, “Keep the Ten Commandments and do charity.” But by keeping God’s Law, the Rich Young Ruler had no confidence. He said, “What lack I yet?”
Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. The greatest hindrance to serving God is this. I know how when the richer a man becomes the less money he brings to church. So Jesus tells the Rich Young Ruler to sell all his estate and distribute to the poor and he will have treasure in heaven. But he could not part with a million dollars in today’s language. He was now about to lose his way to eternal life. As Jesus loved him that he might become an apostle, Jesus invited him to take up the cross and follow him. This is the surest way to eternal life.
There is a price to pay for everlasting life. To take up the cross means to be prepared to die for Him. To follow Him means to believe in Him and obey His Commandments. We regret that money was the obstruction to the Young Man’s path to eternal life. To other rich young men, it may be sinful sexual pleasures, gambling, illicit business, and you know what. The price that Jesus Christ the sinless Son of God paid on the cross for our sins is billions of times more. Do you know He is God? Therefore death cannot hold Him. He rose for our justification on Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Believe in Him and you will be saved.
And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible (v. 24-26).
Today, perhaps it’s the first time you come to church. And Christ’s call to you to sell all you have and come and follow Him has become offensive to you. But with God all things are possible. Let me tell you how St. Peter who was a rich fisherman yielded his life to follow Jesus after a miraculous experience with the Son of God. Luke 5:4-11 – “Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.”
Finally heed again the words of the Son of God who has provided two shiploads of fish to Peter worth thousands of dollars, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt. 6:33).
HOW JESUS TAKETH PUNY MEN IN THEIR OWN CRAFTINESS
XIII. Jesus Exposes another long line of hypocrisies not only of Pharisees but lawyers
“And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.” (Luke 11:37-54)
Commentary
The above narration ends: “Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.” Puny men have still not learned their lesson. They rather are those always taken by God’s Son in their own craftiness (Job 5:13).
