RECIPE FOR HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR
(Message delivered by Pastor at the RELC 10.30 am Service, Jan 18, 04)
Text: Lk. 6:38
This year Chinese New Year dawns very early. It arrives in three days’ time. Adding the weekend it is four full days and many spend the long stretch for a vacation.
The Chinese world usually wishes one another an empty Kong Hee Fatt Choy and thinks of gaining from Ang pows. But for us Christians I would rather give you a package of happiness. Why happiness? For even among us Christians there are families that are infected with sadness.
1. I have known of a family which migrated to another country because husband and wife are on the verge of divorce. Fortunately both of them repented by the mercies of God, not because they
migrated. Happiness is restored.
2. This is an age not of filial piety. Children who should have supported their poor parents can now awaken to their responsibility.
3. These are bad times with much retrenchments. Have we done our part to help our poor relatives? Jesus and Paul tell us to remember the poor and charity begins at home.
4. We have sick friends staying at such a place as Ling Kwang Home who long for our fellowship but have we done anything to help?
5. In the days of Jeremiah there were those who built houses but owed their workers wages (Jer. 22:13). In our case we got a good deal from our contractor building our Mersing 4-star resort. Yet some Session members of Life Church criticised the contractor had overcharged us just because the Mersing Resort newly completed was not earning enough. Now we shall deal with each of these five cases.
Our scripture text in Lk. 6:38 – “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” Here Jesus is talking about money but applying the text I am talking about happiness. My topic is: Give happiness and you will get
happiness which money can never buy.
1. The case of an unhappy couple on the verge of divorce. What is the Biblical solution? The husband should take the initiative. Paul says, husbands, love your wives. This Chinese New Year you take four full days including the weekend. Take a Star Cruise or any other holiday and come together yielding yourselves by reading the Word of God. The matter of leaving the first love in other
instances is just as serious and must be quickly dealt with.
2. This is a real instance reported to me. The mother has an only son whom she lovingly brought up. When he started to earn he gave to his mother liberally. When he got married this sum was reduced to $300 per month. The combined salaries of husband and wife rose to $7,000. But soon it was reduced to $200. What’s your judgement? Restore to $300!
3. Singapore has fallen on hard times and many of the lower echelons are retrenched. Are we doing something as Christian to help them this Chinese New Year? Jesus and Paul both remind us to
remember the poor. If you hold a New Year feast call him for Jesus in Lk. 14:12,13 says, “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.”
4. The mention of Ling Kwang Home refers to Miss Ng Sang Chiew who worked for Kelapa Sawit Church for almost 20 years with great distinction. She is dying for our fellowship. Give her happiness by visiting her and buying her cream crackers to boaster her up between meals. She aches all over her body. Ladies, give her a massage.
5. Instead of thanking those who have done a fine work for us, we unjustly criticise them to their hurt. The contractor of our Mersing Resort we tried to win him to Christ. We had given him gospel
tracts and paid him on time. When the hurtful remarks reached his ears I said to myself, Let me restore him the Jesus way. As Chinese New Year was near and he brought me something for the Occasion I returned with an Ang pow of four figures. My prayer was he might be brought to Christ.
Give happiness this Chinese New Year that you will find happiness!
Amen.
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Without Faith It is Impossible to Please Him
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Heb. 11:6
This is my third Chapel Message to you this year and is a logical progression from the first 2 which are
(1) My Glory will I not give to another
(2) I believe in a 100% Perfect Bible without any mistake.
There are many things about God beyond the comprehension of our intellect and the gap is bridged only by the faith which God gives us. For example the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. The Three in One Doctrine, One in Three and Three in One are distilled nonsense to a professor of mathematics in the University. But by faith an old woman of the Korean Church understands and knows it.
Similarly she knows the Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence of God. By the logic of faith she believes in a 100% Perfect Bible without any mistake. She fulfils the demands of Heb. 11:6 – “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Believing who and what God is she
can understand all His mysteries. Calvin says, “Faith is far superior to human intelligence. It comes from illumination of the Holy Spirit. Faith, thus given by God, has a two-fold aspect. It enlightens the mind to understand the truth of God and establishes the heart in it. And the Holy Spirit not only originates faith, but increases it by degrees, till He conducts us by it all the way to heaven (2 Tim. 1:14).
You are a student of theology. And theology which is the study of God must be learned by faith. Without faith truly it is impossible to please Him, but God is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him.
I have a student who break away from me. When I side with another who believes in fully preserved Bible, without mistake, he ridicules us for our “foolish faith”. But God declares it not foolish and Calvin has a treatise on faith that goes to 43 paragraphs.
