Preacher’s Chat
Our Life is Like a Vapour

Last Sunday, the nation was shocked that the Prime Minister was taken ill while giving his National Day Rally speech. I remember following his speech on Twitter when I received an update that he has fainted. At first, I thought that it was a mean joke. However, after I switched on the TV, I realised that it was true. I was relieved to see him back on the podium an hour later to complete his speech, thankful that his fainting spell was nothing serious.
However, the nation was saddened next by the passing away of our ex-President S R Nathan. You can read of what he has accomplished for the nation in the local newspapers of major news websites. Two major events involving our national leaders in just two days!

As I pondered upon these recent events, I was reminded of God’s Word in James 4:13-14 – “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Even great men are but mere mortals!

Alas, many of us in Singapore are so consumed by materialism and consumerism that we think our lives will never come to an end. We are so involved in buying and selling, and life itself, with no inkling of God in our lives. Brethren, beware of the love of money! Let us not fall into the same trap, but rather make sure that our lives count for the Lord Jesus Christ. May we say together with the Apostle Paul, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

A second lesson we can learn from these events is the need to pray for the nation. How many of us have taken for granted the peace that we have in this land! If we have been spiritually complacent in praying for the nation, the recent events should be a wake-up call for us. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

Chastity in the Church

Last Sunday, I wrote concerning how we ought to maintain chaste relationships in the church. This week, I learnt of a case involving a teenage girl having an ungodly relationship with another boy. How careless we are in keeping the Seventh Commandment!

Dearly beloved, if you have not read the article last week, please do so this week. The issue is critical! I hope everyone will do our part in keeping ourselves pure for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sexual indiscretion will ruin your life. “Flee fornication.” (1 Corinthians 16:18) Guard what you see, hear and touch.

We live in perilous times. One of the characteristics of these perilous times are men “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5). Is not the proliferation of sexual sins in the church one of the indicators of such dangerous times? Churches are supposed to be places where chastity is proclaimed and practised, and yet we find such permissiveness of sexual indiscretion in God’s house. Is this not hypocrisy? Therefore, let not our churches become places where we give lip service to the truth, but are actually citadels of Satan. Pray earnestly that the Lord will protect us from such evil.

Q&A

Question: “Why did Jesus forbid His disciple to disclose to others that he was Jesus the Christ in Matthew 16:20?”

One reason why Jesus forbade His disciples to disclose to others that He was the Christ was due to an overwhelming movement that sought to made Him the political Messiah of Israel. The purpose of Christ’s first coming was to die on the Cross to save His people from their sins. However, the children of Israel desired a king who will deliver Israel from the Roman rule and restore the nation politically. To advertise Jesus as the Christ would therefore attract undue attention which may lead to a premature end of Christ’s ministry. It was not yet time for Christ to go to the cross. Therefore, Christ commanded this information to be withheld from the people.

Another reason why Jesus did not want His disciple to disclose that He was the Christ was that of judgement. In Matthew 16:1-5, we read of the Pharisees and the Sadducees seeking a sign of heaven from Jesus. However, Jesus only gave them the sign of Jonah. Jesus had already taught many things and performed many miracles by this timeof His ministry. It is thus ridiculous of the Pharisees and the Sadducees to ask Jesus for further signs of heaven. It was an indication of their hardness of heart and rebellion against the only begotten Son of God!

This idea of judgement against the Jews is further reinforced in Mat-thew 16:6-12. From these verses, we see that Jesus had just performed the miracles of the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand. When Jesus taught them after the miracles that He was the Bread of Life that came from heaven, the people were highly of-fended and left Him (c.f. John 6:66). Since the people rejected Him, they will now be judicially blinded. Nevertheless, for those who are ordained unto eternal life, they will see the miracles, hear the Word of God, and believe.

Lovingly in Christ,
Preacher Clement Chew