"In Britain, it seems we are obsessed with celebrities...We love our celebrity converts. Footballers, singers, models- if they become Christians, then we buy their books, go to their concerts, trumpet their conversion. Best of all we love to show them off to unbelievers...When we engage the world we try to convince people that we are worthy of being listened to because we are respectable. We hide away the freaks, the mentally unstable, the socially inept, the people who smell, the people who stand too close when they talk to you, the poor people, the stupid people. After all, no-one is going to listen to them...
But Paul takes a very different line in 1 Cor 1:26-31. Paul has been expounding his claim that 'the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God' (1:18). God, he says, destroys the wisdom of the world by revealing his power in soemthing that worldly wisdom does not recognise (1:19-22). It seems as if only powerful signs can impress Jews and as if only clever philosophical ideas can impress the Greeks...We must not think that doing miracles or expounding clever arguments will convert the world, because the power of God and the wisdom of God is found in the message of the cross (1:23-25). Our message must be, and can only be, Christ crucified...
Paul invites the Corinthaians to look at themselves. They do not represent the wise, influential and noble people of this world. There were some in Corinth, like this, but not many. The church was primarily made up of those who were on the fringe- those in soceity who did not have much to appeal to. God is choosing these kinds of people to be part of his demonstration of the wisdom of the cross. God chooses the foolish, weak and lowly to nullify human power and wisdom. He shames wisdom, power and status because we use these things to proclaim that we do not need God."
Tim Chester
Good News to the Poor
(XJ says: It is not our form that convinces people to christianity. Why not seek first of all a walk of obedience to the cross? Thereafter everything falls into place, whether in the form of being influential in the mkt place or not, whatever station we are working in- seeking only to testify of the cross. For transformation preceeds multiplication. The inward must be changed first instead of changing what forms on the outside.)
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
What is the greatest need we face today?
Still reading Tim Chester's book. And the organization of the book is pretty cool, it provides a case for social involvement, and a case for evangelizing the poor. Then he merges them together- i.e. how it can work out on a practical basis.
Here's the portion for the case for evangelizing the poor. I'm still reflecting about it...
"What is the greatest need of people in your area? Your answer might depend on where you live. Some of the needs we face in the area that my church serves are racism, poor mental halth and unemployment. In leafier suburbs, the problems may be less evident, but behind the curtains of the show homes are people facing loneliness, domestic violence, emptiness and household debt. In the shanty towns and slums of the Third World, the need for clean water, proper sanitation, housing, education, regular income, and basic health care. I remember asking the women of a slum in New Delhi about their hopes for the future. The thing they wanted most was electricity. They wanted to be able to run fans to make the heat of the slums more bearable. A few weeks later the temperature soared into the high forties and a number of people in the slum died of heat exhaustion.
A 2001 MORI poll asked people in the UK what they considered the main problems in their local area. Crime and transport were the biggest concerns that people had. Other concerns included limited facilities for the young people and children. Another MORI poll showed that crime was considered by people to be the main problem at a national level while the environment was cited as the main international problem.
Looking at the world around us, we might well agree. But the Bible opens our eyes to a much broader horizon. It reveals that people have a need much greater than any mentioned above and of which we are largely unaware- the need to be reconciled to God and so escape his wrath."
Here's the portion for the case for evangelizing the poor. I'm still reflecting about it...
"What is the greatest need of people in your area? Your answer might depend on where you live. Some of the needs we face in the area that my church serves are racism, poor mental halth and unemployment. In leafier suburbs, the problems may be less evident, but behind the curtains of the show homes are people facing loneliness, domestic violence, emptiness and household debt. In the shanty towns and slums of the Third World, the need for clean water, proper sanitation, housing, education, regular income, and basic health care. I remember asking the women of a slum in New Delhi about their hopes for the future. The thing they wanted most was electricity. They wanted to be able to run fans to make the heat of the slums more bearable. A few weeks later the temperature soared into the high forties and a number of people in the slum died of heat exhaustion.
A 2001 MORI poll asked people in the UK what they considered the main problems in their local area. Crime and transport were the biggest concerns that people had. Other concerns included limited facilities for the young people and children. Another MORI poll showed that crime was considered by people to be the main problem at a national level while the environment was cited as the main international problem.
Looking at the world around us, we might well agree. But the Bible opens our eyes to a much broader horizon. It reveals that people have a need much greater than any mentioned above and of which we are largely unaware- the need to be reconciled to God and so escape his wrath."
Monday, February 12, 2007
A visit to the prisons...
I went to the prison today at Tanjong Balai, which is a 2 hr ferry journey from Singapore. Hmm..don't exactly know how to begin this post as there are a lot of thoughts running through my mind.
It was very touching worshipping with the inmates. It spoke so much to me of God's love and compassion for the broken hearted and the sinful. But it spoke to me also, about how sinful I also was, even though technically I had not been sentenced to jail, yet equally having the capacity to sin, and so on equal footing with the inmates. I couldn't understand a word of the Hokkien and Bahasa Indonesian that was being spoken. But when it came to ministry, everyone responded, and we prayed for them. A lady broke down, kneeled and cried. There was another guy that I prayed for, and I saw how visibly touched he was by the Lord. He just kept weeping...and tear drops fell from his face to the floor.
Perhaps it took this, and also yesterday's sermon at church to remind me of God being covenant keeping and faithful. Pastor Edmund explained that Jonah story was actually about a compassionate God seeking those in Nineveh- not wanting any to perish- and also telling Jonah to see His heart...how His heart was compassionate for the sinful ones. And then Pastor Ed explained how Exodus was about the faithfulness of God in delivering His people. Finally, how Nehemiah was about the covenant keeping nature of God, i.e. fulfilling His covenant with Abraham.
I must say I have forgotten this aspect of God, or really do I know God? Doubting His faithfulness and compassion as I think about the lost souls (condemned eternally to hell?), the poor, the broken hearted, and how unfair this world was.
Thought about how limited the human capacity was to love others. And for myself, who I think has the gift of mercy, it is so easy to get disillusioned and bitter about the state of the world, if I base it on my own idealism. God revealed to me the true condition of my heart, is my heart increasingly hardened by the day with hopelessness and bleakness?
The number of people today who came for the gathering was about 20. We don't really need huge numbers to start with, because how precious each of these 20 must be to God. And that is where I shd start with all over again, just making a difference in lives one by one.
It is very easy for a compassionate/humanitarian ministry to be relying on one's own strength, because we could try and pour in more time, energy, money to feed the poor. Yet real transformation, I believe, comes when the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of the people and heal the broken hearts and bring salvation. And then how easy and light this burden becomes when we are servants of the Lord, following His leading.
Again perhaps another reminder on Sunday's sermon, that when God calls us to His work, He will equip and empower us for His work.
Dear God, I pray that You will empower me to do Your work, and that You will always keep my heart from bitterness. Let all that I do be empowered by You. Take away all human pride, all personal agenda. Let my thoughts and intentions be pure before You. Thank You Lord for touching the lives tonight. In Jesus Name I pray, amen.
It was very touching worshipping with the inmates. It spoke so much to me of God's love and compassion for the broken hearted and the sinful. But it spoke to me also, about how sinful I also was, even though technically I had not been sentenced to jail, yet equally having the capacity to sin, and so on equal footing with the inmates. I couldn't understand a word of the Hokkien and Bahasa Indonesian that was being spoken. But when it came to ministry, everyone responded, and we prayed for them. A lady broke down, kneeled and cried. There was another guy that I prayed for, and I saw how visibly touched he was by the Lord. He just kept weeping...and tear drops fell from his face to the floor.
Perhaps it took this, and also yesterday's sermon at church to remind me of God being covenant keeping and faithful. Pastor Edmund explained that Jonah story was actually about a compassionate God seeking those in Nineveh- not wanting any to perish- and also telling Jonah to see His heart...how His heart was compassionate for the sinful ones. And then Pastor Ed explained how Exodus was about the faithfulness of God in delivering His people. Finally, how Nehemiah was about the covenant keeping nature of God, i.e. fulfilling His covenant with Abraham.
I must say I have forgotten this aspect of God, or really do I know God? Doubting His faithfulness and compassion as I think about the lost souls (condemned eternally to hell?), the poor, the broken hearted, and how unfair this world was.
Thought about how limited the human capacity was to love others. And for myself, who I think has the gift of mercy, it is so easy to get disillusioned and bitter about the state of the world, if I base it on my own idealism. God revealed to me the true condition of my heart, is my heart increasingly hardened by the day with hopelessness and bleakness?
The number of people today who came for the gathering was about 20. We don't really need huge numbers to start with, because how precious each of these 20 must be to God. And that is where I shd start with all over again, just making a difference in lives one by one.
It is very easy for a compassionate/humanitarian ministry to be relying on one's own strength, because we could try and pour in more time, energy, money to feed the poor. Yet real transformation, I believe, comes when the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of the people and heal the broken hearts and bring salvation. And then how easy and light this burden becomes when we are servants of the Lord, following His leading.
Again perhaps another reminder on Sunday's sermon, that when God calls us to His work, He will equip and empower us for His work.
Dear God, I pray that You will empower me to do Your work, and that You will always keep my heart from bitterness. Let all that I do be empowered by You. Take away all human pride, all personal agenda. Let my thoughts and intentions be pure before You. Thank You Lord for touching the lives tonight. In Jesus Name I pray, amen.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
William Carrey
I'm reading Tim Chester's Good News to the Poor: Sharing the gospel through social involvement.
Wow, quite a good read, I've extracted something interesting about William Carey here. Truly he was a missionary, and much more in India.
"Two hundred years before, in 1793, William Carey arrived in India. Ruth and Vishal Mangalwadi begin their appreciation of Carey with a fictional quiz. They imagine a competition for Indian university students in which the question is asked: 'Who was William Carrey?' The first reply is that William Carey was a botanist who published the first books on the natural history of India, introduced new systems of gardening and after whom a variety of eucalyptus is named. Next an engineering student says William Carey introduced the steam engine to India and began the first indigenous paper and printing industries. Another student sees Carey as a social reformer who successfully campaigned for women's rights. Another as a campaigner for the humane treatment of lepers. An economics student points out that Carey introduced savings bank to combat usury. Carey is credited with starting the first newspaper in any oriental language. He conducted a systematic survey of Indian agricultural practices and founded the Indian Agri-Horticultural Society, thirty years before the Royal Agricultural Society was established in England. Carey was the first to translate and publish the religious classics of India and wrote the first Sanskirt dictionary for scholars. He founded dozen of schools, providing education for people of all cases, boys and girls. He pioneered lending libraries, wrote the first essays on forestry in India. To a significant degree he transformed the ethos of the British administration in India from colonial exploitation to a genuine sense of civil service.
And so it goes on with Carey's contribution to science, engineering, industry, economics, medicine, agriculture and forestry, literature, education, social reform, public administration and philosophy all being celebrated. Yet most of us know William Carey as the cobbler from Northamptonshire who became a pioneer missionary and evangelist. Who was the real William Carey? The answer is that Carey was all these things and more."
Wow, quite a good read, I've extracted something interesting about William Carey here. Truly he was a missionary, and much more in India.
"Two hundred years before, in 1793, William Carey arrived in India. Ruth and Vishal Mangalwadi begin their appreciation of Carey with a fictional quiz. They imagine a competition for Indian university students in which the question is asked: 'Who was William Carrey?' The first reply is that William Carey was a botanist who published the first books on the natural history of India, introduced new systems of gardening and after whom a variety of eucalyptus is named. Next an engineering student says William Carey introduced the steam engine to India and began the first indigenous paper and printing industries. Another student sees Carey as a social reformer who successfully campaigned for women's rights. Another as a campaigner for the humane treatment of lepers. An economics student points out that Carey introduced savings bank to combat usury. Carey is credited with starting the first newspaper in any oriental language. He conducted a systematic survey of Indian agricultural practices and founded the Indian Agri-Horticultural Society, thirty years before the Royal Agricultural Society was established in England. Carey was the first to translate and publish the religious classics of India and wrote the first Sanskirt dictionary for scholars. He founded dozen of schools, providing education for people of all cases, boys and girls. He pioneered lending libraries, wrote the first essays on forestry in India. To a significant degree he transformed the ethos of the British administration in India from colonial exploitation to a genuine sense of civil service.
And so it goes on with Carey's contribution to science, engineering, industry, economics, medicine, agriculture and forestry, literature, education, social reform, public administration and philosophy all being celebrated. Yet most of us know William Carey as the cobbler from Northamptonshire who became a pioneer missionary and evangelist. Who was the real William Carey? The answer is that Carey was all these things and more."
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