TREASURY OF SERMONS
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Local Ginger is Not Hot
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Message delivered by the Pastor to the 10.30 am Service, Jul 28,
2002)
Text: Matt 13:53-58
Jesus is the virgin born Son of God, filled with
supernatural wisdom and knowledge. His enemies tried to trap Him in
His words, but being puny men, they were in turn, rebuffed. Let me
give you three instances of their abject humiliation.
The first instance comes from the Sadducees who
did not believe the Resurrection. There was a Jewish man who married
a wife. Without any issue, he died. According to Jewish law his
younger brother had her. Without an issue he died also. And the
third brother had to marry her right down to the seventh. All with
no children. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection whose
wife shall she be? Thus they tried to embarrass Jesus. The answer
our Lord gave simply floored them. There will be no husband-wife
relationship in the next life. All will be centred on Christ.
The second instance comes from a lawyer. Being a
lawyer he had learned 248 positive laws and 365 negative laws, a
total of 613. He tried to catch Jesus, "Tell me which is the
greatest commandment?" Jesus replied, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is
like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt 22:37-40).
Jesus’ two answers stopped him from any more mischief.
The third instance is the Jews’ plot to further
trap the Master. This is the case of the woman taken in adultery.
According to Moses, she should be stoned. In a flash the Master put
the accusers in a corner. "He that is without sin among you, let him
first cast a stone at her." In no time the crowd melted away, being
convicted by their own conscience. Our Lord looked up and set free
the unlawfully abducted woman (for where was the man?). With perfect
justice Jesus released her but charged her to sin no more. There is
a greater conspiracy against our Lord that comes from Westcott and
Hort who removed this most maganimous account of Jesus’ life from
the Bible. To take away such a long paragraph text is death, this
cursed passage.
The glory of God that emanates from Jesus’ life
is cast aside by the people of Nazareth, His hometown so much so our
Saviour had to denounce their prejudice. "A prophet is not without
honour, save in his own country" or as the Cantonese say, "Local
ginger is not hot." To further restate, "Familiarity breeds
contempt."
We who are pastors, who serve locally with the
people and must follow our Lord, are being taken very lightly. Let
me tell you my experience. An FEBC student got me to marry him. He
gave me an angpow of $20. But I got a greater surprise when another
fellow from a small B-P church in the western part of Singapore also
enlisted me to marry him. He presented me an angpow of 8 brand-new
one dollar notes. So I was worth less than $10. But this is my
regular disappointment when in 10 weddings I officiate, the newly
weds, while thanking everybody for coming, would 7 or 8 times leave
me out. You may say that they have forgotten me, but in the light of
the angpows I am inclined to think it is the product of a
deliberated heart. Why, as pastor, that is my job. They have no
feelings for me. That’s the way they treated our Saviour.
"And he did not many mighty works (miracles)
there because of their unbelief."
For this reason we FEBCers need not be
discouraged by the meagre results we reap in our two Gospel
campaigns in the year to bring souls to Christ. Sometimes we have
two or three hands to receive Christ and as principal I rejoice. If
there are no hands, neither am I discouraged, for many come in to
hear with a stony heart.
Jesus was a local boy to the people of Nazareth
who said he was the carpenter’s son. They went to the extreme of
chasing him out of town. Romans 8:28. God works out all things for
good, blessing the efforts of His Son. When He came to Galilee great
crowds delighted to hear Him. Five thousand ate His miracle bread
and followed Him wherever he went. It was in Galilee that He found
eleven of his Twelve Disciples (not Judas). From this small
beginning the Gospel spread throughout the world. And we Lifers who
worship Him in Singapore today love our Saviour no less than the
ancients.
For years our efforts on familiar soil in town
remained stagnant. When the time came that God would bless us He
caused us to send three Korean missionaries with a fourth, a
Singaporean to follow, to Cambodia. Our Korean missionaries have
surprised many people how after 5 years they have branched out to
nearly 10 stations throughout the country. We have just returned
from Cambodia to inaugurate a Bible School under Moses Hahn. We also
visited David Koo’s project of a 3-storey school with 30 rooms which
will be completed by end of this year. When we go out to spread His
Word following in our Lord’s footsteps, we will see God’s glory.
On the home front, as long as we begin to
cultivate virgin soil God does the same. For some years Life Church
did not expand. But a deacon who loves the Lord’s cause opened a new
vista of service. He answered the Government’s Before and After
School Care to needy students. We took over 3 such schools in the
northern part of Singapore. By giving them tuition and organising
Bible camps a good many have found Christ. When challenged by
Christ’s words that "It is most blessed to give than to receive,"
these children with concurrence of their parents gave cheerfully to
the tune of US$500 for the poor of our mission in Cambodia. Life
Church has a vast potential of lay people that are ready to chip in
their resources for the extension of God’s kingdom. Whether we are
cast out of a country where prophets have no honour or driven by
love of the Lord’s cause there is good reward for those who are
happily involved. Amen.
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