Friday, November 29, 2013

Guardians or Fathers?

I have been surveying young adults with this question: “Is there someone in your life, someone older and wiser spiritually, whom you can turn to for godly counsel and advice?” Only one out of ten say they have one. I would presume from that answer they cannot even go to their parents, especially their fathers, for such a need. It saddens my heart that young people are left on their own to figure out what to do in life, or via their peers or the google. While they may have information at their fingertips, yet what they lack is the wisdom learned through experiences, hard knocks and spiritual maturity. Why should they repeat the same mistakes that others further down the journey had committed? Or on a positive note, take the route of successes?


It is clear from Scriptures that God is concern that history doesn’t repeat itself. Romans 15:4 “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” 1 Corinthians 10:11 “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” But our stubborn and sinful hearts are foolish enough often to ignore the wisdom that is already there, not just in the Bible, but also in older people who have “eaten more salt then we have eaten rice”. That is the beauty of generations and there should be no reason why any generation cannot do better than the previous one in terms of their moral influence and social impact.

There seems to be an invisible barrier. Sociologists have termed this as the generational gap and our Enemy relishes that fact. But it was never God’s design. We observe in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 that the family is central to God’s redemptive plan. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a clear affirmation of passing on of one’s birthright and heritage from one generation to the next. This is very much a relational model of the Jewish family, where the Shema is regularly recited. Certainly the spirit of this command is not merely a ritual that one goes through, but the deliberate connecting of hearts of the fathers to their children when they talked about the commandments of God in their daily living. In this fast pace society, we can understand the problems of tired fathers, who are present but not really present. One man shared honestly at a Men Alive! meeting: “We give our best at work and by the time we reach home, we are at our worst.” The fathers’ role is now limited to be a financial provider and disciplinarian of last resort. Mother-child relationship became central and fathers are peripheral. 

A child is more likely to see God as his Father if he sees God in his own father. Ken Canfield, author of “The 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers”, used this metaphor: “We are fathers like God is a father. We are walking object lessons to our children on who God is.” Malachi’s last words in the Old Testament were that the Elijah would come and “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” (Malachi 4:6) When God unites the hearts of the fathers to their children, and vice versa, we are not merely talking about restoring the rightful authority the fathers have over their children, but the rightful relational ties with each other. Through that, generations thereafter will have a right understanding of who God is and right theology determines right behavior in fathering our children and showing them the way to have a personal relation with God.


My heart’s desire is to see intergenerational discipling starting first and foremost in the family. If discipling does not take place in the home, it will not take place in the church because the family unit is a microcosm of the wider Body. Fathers need to recognize that they are not merely legal guardians of their children. Every man can be a biological father, but not every man knows how to be a spiritual and godly one. Apostle Paul repeatedly extols the need to father the Body of Christ. 1 Cor 4:15-17 "Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me." (The “guardian” in this context is a slave tutor in a Roman family that supervises the child.) Fathers need to be spiritual. 1 John 2:12-14 sets the path of spiritual development for everyone to grow from a child to a father. The fathers in our midst know the heart of God intimately and live out a life desiring the pleasure of God. He models the same to his children. I believe this fathering and discipling mandate is first given to biological fathers and then to other older men and women in partnership within the Church to disciple the younger ones. 

In our Christian Church, not only do we have the biological family, we are blessed with a wider body of a spiritual family. The Christian faith is not just an individual faith. There is every indication especially by Apostle Paul to remind us that we are part of the Body (1 Cor 12:12-31; 27-31; Rom 12:4-5). So we do affect one another for the better or for the worse! “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen 4:9) was the first disastrous effect of the sin of murder. Sin kills the family bond. We who are older and more mature must take the responsibilities of discipling younger people and training them to be godly parents some day.

The command given in the New Testament to bring up our children “in the training and instruction of the Lord” is given to fathers, although it certainly is applicable to mothers as well. Fathers are singled out and the implication is that one day the Lord will single us out too when we are asked about our children. It is not good enough to provide for them by giving them the fish. Teach them to fish so that they are well equipped spiritually not just to be good people, but to exemplify a transformed Christ-centered life!

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Prophet Amos

We are preaching through a series on the book of Amos. In my preparation for this weekend's message, I am acutely aware that the Bible is full of God’s emotions. We need to understand what makes Him angry, sad, feel sick, and what makes Him happy. Sometime we are so obsessed with our own feelings about God that we missed out altogether God’s feeling about us. It is not just about how we feel, but how God feels. Have you ever thought about that when you go to church each week? What does God think of you each day?

The things Amos prophesized seems so remote yet when we look at how he described the society then, it sounded strangely familiar!

  • A society where the rich grow richer at the expense of the poor.
  • A society where basic rights are denied to the needy. 
  • A society where the rulers live for their own pleasures.
The problems with God's people is that they moved away from what God had intended for them as an example and ambassodar to the nations. Instead of standing out as holy people set aside for His purpose, they became like the pagan nations surrounding them. It sounded like the stories of the lives of many Christians. They are no different! I am reminded through Amos that God's people are doubly accountable. For much is given, much is expected! We need to wrestle through many ethical issues to be in line with Scriptures.

The Bible has also described a familiar cycle of perpetual rebellion in our hearts. It's an irony of sort. Because we are blessed people, part of that would include material comfort and wealth. The very thing that is a blessing can be a snare. The common progression of comfort-complacency-compromise-corruption seems to be the cycle God's people go through. At the end of each cycle would be a loving call of God to return, sometimes with dire consequences because we are stubborn and refuse to repent. David Pawson in his book "Unlocking the Bible" candidly wrote that "The people of God were so used to sin they have forgotten how to blush!" The book of Judges illustrates that very well.

If we look at God's laws set out in the Old Testament, we notice a familiar pattern of compassion to those who are "widows, orphans and aliens." God requires His people to "To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

An example of such an act of compassion can be found in the following. They are not exhaustive but gives you room to study for yourselves the heart of our Heavenly Father for His people. These are laws for God's people during those time but equally applicable in the spirit of it now.

Portrait of Life in Society (Deuteronomy/Leviticus/Exodus/2 Chron)

God cares for the economically disadvantaged. 
- There should be no poor among you (Deut 15:4)
  • Sabbatical years - debts cleared, slaves set free (Deut 15:1-6; 2 Chr 36:15-21)
  • Year of Jubilee - All land revert to its original owners. (Lev 25:8-28)
  • Annual tithing – 3rd year are all given to aliens, orphans, widows and the landless (Deut 14:22-29)
  • Guidelines for loans, interest and collateral were deliberately crafted and interpreted with poor borrowers (widows, orphans, aliens) in view rather than the lenders. (Ex 22:25-27; Lev 25:35-38; Deut 23:19-20; Deut 24:6, 10-13, 17-18)
  • Gleaning law – during harvest leave some behind for the poor to pick up. (Deut 24:19-20). That’s how Ruth met Boaz.
  • Debt repayment guidelines favoured the poor. (Deut 15:1-11)
  • Guidelines for employers favoured employees (Deut 24:14-15)
(All the verses can be found in this document.)

In the Sabbatical years, every 7th year, there is a reset button for personal debts. Every 50th year of JUbilee, there is a reset button for land ownership. No one should ever be in a perpetual poverty cycle. No susbsequent generations should suffer for the sins of the previous one. Compassionate laws are found for loans, interests and even heart of generosity for those who are poor by setting aside what God has blessed us with through the laws of gleaning and tithes.

There are laws too on how aliens are treated. Closer to home, how do we treat our foreign workers and our foreign domestic helpers? I have written a paper on "Ethical Treatment of Foreign Domestic Helpers" and if you are interested you can write to me here and I will email you a copy.

Let me end with this story about the founder of the Methodist Church, Rev John Wesley.

Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.

John’s annual salary was 30 pounds, (RM21,000*) enough for a single man to live well on. He took up a position in Oxford University and his salary increased to 60, 90, 120 and eventually over 1000 pounds (RM700,000). An event in Oxford changed Wesley forever in terms of his giving when he was 28 years old. Evidently, after purchasing some pictures for his room, he noticed one cold winter day that one of the chambermaids had nothing to protect her except a thin linen gown. When he reached into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat, he found he had too little left. Immediately, the thought struck him that the Lord was not pleased with the way he had spent his money.

From that day, in 1731 (age 28) Wesley determined to maintain his standard of living at the same level and give away everything above that threshold. At that time, with earnings of 30 pounds and living expenses at 28 pounds, he gave away two pounds. When his earnings increased to 60 pounds, he gave away 32. As they increased to 120 pounds, he continued to live on 28 and give away 92 pounds. Much of his income comes from the sales of his writings. 

Wesley became known for his saying, “What should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living, but his standard of giving.”

He continued this practice his entire life until he dies at an age of 87. Even when his income reached 1400 pounds (RM 1 million), he lived on 30 pounds and gave the rest away. Wesley was afraid of laying up treasures on earth, so the money went out in charity as quickly as it came in. He reports that he never had more than 100 pounds at any one time. Wesley “rode 250,000 miles, preached more than 40,000 sermons … and gave away 30,000 pounds,(RM 21 million)” while the published version of his Journal ran to over twenty volumes.

Gain all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.

*The conversion to Ringgit was derived from a website that calculated how much the pound then would be in today's value.

So, what does God think of you?