Making Holidays Holy

Making Holidays Holy

It’s back! The long awaited year end holidays and a well deserved break. Some have planned it for fun with friends, entertainment, leisure activities, computer games, etc., and others have planned to spend it on holidays and tours. Recreation is necessary for well-balanced lives. As Christians, we must seek to refresh our spirits and bodies by recreation for the glory of God. It is observed that many times, recreation brings out the worst in us and not the best. Some have engaged in unprofitable conduct, putting themselves in harm’s way of temptation and sin. Sinful pleasures are dangerous to the body and damning to the soul.

Dear brethren, I encourage you to make your holidays a blessing. “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Eph 5:15-16. God is not protesting against the innocent recreational activities but the sinful ones. In making our holidays a blessing we need to identify our motives behind recreational activities. Here are some guidelines on what may constitute proper recreation for the believer.
* Will Jesus Christ forbid me from doing it, if he were personally present on earth?
* Is the recreation beneficial in making me stronger in body, happier in mind and purer in heart?
* Does my engagement in the recreational activity hinder me later from alertly turning to the Bible and to prayer? Will this activity violate my conscience? Romans 14:22, 23.
* Will this weaken my influence as a Christian? Or will my doing it cause others to fall or stumble in their faith? I Corinthians 10:23-33.
* Can I glorify God in my body while doing it? Can I do it for the glory of God? I Corinthians 6:19, 20.

There is a place for legitimate recreation – after all God’s creation is meant for us to enjoy. But let this be done with God as our guide. The Westminster Catechism of faith, Q1 re-affirms this truth. What is the chief end of man?” “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Let me close with 19th century author T. L. Cuyler’s quote“All work makes a man a sorry slave. All play makes him a sorrier fool. The wise person avoids both extremes. When at work, they work like men and Christians. When at play, they relax and sport like little children. That is human nature; that is wise; that is beautiful.” Christian recreations must be right, proper, commendable, and beneficial.
 

Have a Blessed Holiday
Pr. Mathews Abraham

News & Announcements

1. Pr Mathews brings the message to our 1st and 2nd worship services today.

2. A 1-hour movie presentation entitled “Paul, The Emissary” based on the life of Paul will be screened today at 9:30am in the YF Room and again at 11:15 at the Mandarin Sancturary. All Sunday Bible Class students should attend.

3. Parents of children’s choir members, please be reminded that your children will be involved in afternoon rehearsals today at 1pm in the main sanctuary. Morning rehearsals at 9.30am will also continue due to a need for more practice.

Remodelling Our Imperfect Families (Genesis 37:1~11)

Title: Remodelling Our Imperfect Families
(Genesis 37:1~11)
Speaker: Pr Mathews Abraham

Turn Away From Godlessness (2 Timothy 3:1~17)

Title: Turn Away From Godlessness (2 Timothy 3:1~17)
Speaker: Dr Robert Rapa

Chapter 13: Of Sanctification

Understanding The Westminister Confession of Faith
Chapter 13: Of Sanctification

SANCTIFICATION is described as “the carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration.” This extends to the whole man (see Rom 6:13 and Col 3:10). And it is the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption who carries on this work. He does this by “bringing the whole nature more and more under the influences of the new gracious principles implanted in the soul in regeneration” (Easton).

The WCF teaches that, “Christians have a new heart and a new spirit created in them, and are further “sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them … and strengthened, in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

This is the spiritual direction we are to embark on and continue to move in, so that we can “…grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

While sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, practically we are to look at it as an injunction to separate ourselves to the service of God. Psalm 4:3 teaches that, “The LORD has set apart the godly for himself.” And Paul reminds us that we are the temple of the living God, so therefore we are to “separate from” the ungodly. Then he says, God “will welcome you” (2 Cor 6:17).

All this should lead to the mortification of sin. (Mortification here means to exercise discipline to overcome the desire for sin and to strengthen the will.) That is why Paul calls us to “know how to control [our] own body in holiness and honour” (1 Thess 4:4).

This is referred to as “the practice of the law” by Walter Marshall, an English Presbyterian minister in his excellent work on sanctification first published in 1692. In his book, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, he says that “several endowments and qualifications are necessary to enable us” to do this. He says, “for the immediate practice of the law … we must have an inclination and propensity of our hearts thereunto; and therefore we must be well persuaded of our reconciliation with God, and of our future enjoyment of the everlasting heavenly happenings, and of sufficient strength both to will and perform all duties acceptably, until we come to the enjoyment of that happiness.”


These holy “endowments and qualifications” necessary for the practice of the law can only be received from the fullness of Christ. We do this by constantly fellowshipping with Him – we must be in Christ, and have Christ Himself in us!

“Be sanctified in truth” (John 17:19) therefore is a call to endeavour diligently to make the right use of all means appointed in the Word of God for the obtaining and practising of holiness according our faith.
 

In Him,
Rev Robert Chew

News & Announcements

1. We welcome Dr Robert Rapa of Asia Baptist Theological Seminary of Cornerstone University as the Lord’s messenger to our 1st and 2nd worship services today.

2. Students of ALL Sunday Bible classes (9:30am & 11:15am) are to attend the Combined Sunday Bible Class Meeting today at 11:15am at the Mandarin Sanctuary.  Please be punctual. Parents of younger teenage students are welcome to observe.

3. There will be a 1-hour movie presentation entitled “Paul, The Emissary” based on the life of Paul next Sunday, 25th Nov at 9:30am in the YF Room and again at 11:15 at the Mandarin Sancturary. All Sunday Bible Class students should attend.

4. There will be a final presentation of the Church Constitution Review at 1pm today in the Main Sancturary in both English and Mandarin. Members who missed the previous one are encouraged to attend.

5. Parents of children’s choir members, please be reminded that your children will be involved in afternoon rehearsals starting 25th Nov at 1pm in the main sanctuary. The usual morning rehearsals at 9.30am will also continue due to a need for more practice.

6. Children’s Excursion: Date 30th Nov. Time: 8:30~4:30pm. Visit to: Hay Dairy, Dragon Fruits Farm, Aero-green Technology, Animals Resort. Lunch at MacDonalds. Cost $10 inclusive of entrance fees, lunch & transport. Please register with Mrs Grace Seah.

Chapter 12 - Of Adoption

Understanding The Westminister Confession of Faith
Chapter 12: Of Adoption

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

The verse above teaches us that every true child of God becomes one, not by some legal process by which he is “adopted,” but by the new birth. That is the only way to become part of the family of God.

Chapter 12 of the WCF teaches that those whom God justifies will be made “partakers of the grace of adoption.” They are “taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God.” They are “pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by him as by a father … sealed to the day of redemption … as heirs of everlasting salvation.”

The word “adoption” is translated from the biblical Greek term which appears only in Romans 8:15, 23; 9:4; Galatians 4: 5 and Ephesians 1: 5. It is a compound word formed from “son,” and “to place.” Therefore its meaning is: “to place as a son,” “to give to one the position of a son.”

The Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of biblical theology describes adoption as the “Act of leaving one’s natural family and entering into the privileges and responsibilities of another.” In the Bible, adoption is one of several family-related terms used to describe the process of salvation and its subsequent benefits. God is a father who graciously adopts believers in Christ into his spiritual family and grants them all the privileges of heirship. Salvation is much more than forgiveness of sins and deliverance from condemnation; it is also a position of great blessing. Believers are children of God!

The believer’s adoption as a child of God was determined by God from eternity: God “predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ.” This adoption is not the result of any merit on the part of the believer, but solely the outworking of God’s love and grace (See Ephesians 1:5, 7).

For the true child of God, what this means is this: when we are adopted into the family of God, we are freed or released from the slavery of sin and the law and become a free heir of God. For the heir, the inheritance includes the promise of the ultimate privilege of being like him (1 John 3:2) and being conformed to the glorious body of Christ (Phil 3:21).

Today, the challenge for us is to do what the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:16 urges us to do: “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

To God be the Glory,
Rev. Robert Chew

News & Announcements

1. We welcome Dr Norman Barnard of Asia Baptist Theological Seminary of Cornerstone University as the Lord’s messenger to our 1st and 2nd worship services today.

2. Students of ALL Sunday Bible classes (9:30am & 11:15am) are to attend the year-end Combined Sunday Bible Class Meeting next Sunday 18th Nov at 11:15am at the Mandarin Sanctuary. 9:30am class students are to attend the 1st worship service next week.

3. Marriage Counselling Class resumes today at 1pm.

4. Children’s Excursion: Date 30th Nov. Time: 8:30~4:30pm. Visit to: Hay Dairy, Dragon Fruits Farm, Aero-green Technology, Animals Resort. Lunch at MacDonalds. Cost $10 inclusive of entrance fees, lunch & transport. Please register with Mrs Grace Seah.



5. We thank God for His blessings on Sembawang BP Church as brethren there mark their 37th Anniversary today. May God continue to prosper them in their worship and ministry.

6. Pr Mathews (9th~17th Nov) & Elder Gilbert (9th ~ 12th Nov) are away on a mission trip to Cambodia. Please uphold them in prayer as they establish another mission station & teach at Kampong Som Bible School.

7. A second presentation of the Church Constitution revision will be made next Sunday at 1 pm at Moriah. Members who missed the first one in Oct are urged to attend.

Consider Your Ways (Haggai 1:1~14)

Title: Consider Your Ways (Haggai 1:1~14)
Speaker: Dr Norman Barnard

Where To Place Your Trust (Hebrews 2:1~18)

Title: Where To Place Your Trust (Hebrews 2:1~18)
Speaker: Rev Robert Chew

News & Announcements

1. Marriage Counselling Class: Please be reminded that the next class will be held on Nov 11, 2007 at 1pm.

Chapter 11: Of Justification

Understanding The Westminister Confession of Faith
Chapter 11 - Of Justification

He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. (Rom 3:30)

It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Rom 4:24-25 ESV)

Justification is a forensic term, a kind of legal argument that opposes condemnation. In its biblical and spiritual nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which He pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands

The eleventh chapter of the WCF on justification begins by saying, “Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous: not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone … by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them … it is the gift of God.”

John Calvin in his Institutes teaches that...
·      Man’s only resource of escaping the curse of the law (and recovering salvation) lies in faith in Christ.
·      When we come to faith in Christ we receive two principal benefits: (1) when we are reconciled by the righteousness of Christ, God becomes an indulgent Father instead of a judge; and (2) we are sanctified by his Spirit such that we can aspire to integrity and purity of life.

From this we can see that faith alone is the only instrument of justification. However, note what Calvin says. He says that after we are “sanctified by His Spirit” we can then “aspire to integrity and purity of life.”

This is the part that must concern all modern Christians today. This is the part that most occupy my prayers for you.

James in his letter in 2:17 insists that faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. This is saying that works must follow faith. The faith that does not produce works of love and mercy is without the living principle which energizes all true faith.

When John the Baptist began his ministry to prepare the way for one who is “more powerful” than him, he refuses to baptize those who come to him unless they can prove to him that they can “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Beloved, let us remember that “fruit” is not the change of heart, but the acts which result from it.

In Him,
Rev Robert Chew