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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 48
26 April 2009
A Tribute to Our
Teacher – Remembering a Servant of the LORD
(Message delivered by Rev (Dr)
Quek Suan Yew at the Vigil Service for the late Rev Dr Timothy Tow at
Calvary Pandan BPC in Singapore on April 21, 2009)
Rev Tow is my teacher. Please permit
me to rephrase and say “Rev Tow was OUR teacher”. We are here tonight
because Rev Tow lived a life that has touched our lives. He has taught
us how to live as Christian and how to love his LORD Jesus Christ. May
these words from Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 be true of us all tonight as
we leave here. “A good name is better than
precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. It
is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of
feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to
his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the
countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the
house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.”
I first heard Rev Tow preach when he
spoke at Sunset Gospel Hour (today called Sunset Gospel Bible
Fellowship) early 30 years ago. His messages from God’s Word were simple
and yet profound. He had the gift of bringing out the thrust of the
passage he spoke from with the greatest of ease. His statements and
restatements of God’s Word were like gems from heaven. This is
especially true when he taught the Psalms. Psalms 34 – As One Snatched
from a Tiger’s Mouth and Psalm 36 – Man’s Megalomania vs. God’s Majesty
are but only two examples of many. Rev Tow explained God’s Truth with
very apt and precise illustrations and testimonies. He made sure that
the Word of God was always applied to the hearts whenever he taught.
Once, he taught his students that if the Word of God is not applied it
is like shadow boxing. “The application has to be very pointed like a
shot from a high powered rifle and not like the many pellets from a shot
gun,” Rev Tow would remind his students. But the most well known of all
his illustrations that he repeats over and over again till it is
indelibly etched into his students’ mind is the “banana skin story.”
We learned from Rev Tow how to teach and preach
God’s Word with precision.
My first personal encounter with Rev
Tow was when I was looking for a Bible College to study in preparation
for the fulltime ministry. I had visited other Bible Colleges before
visiting FEBC. What struck me on my first personal contact with Rev Tow
was his godly counsel. He pointed me to God in my search, unlike others
whom I spoke with who merely trumpeted the strengths of their Colleges.
Rev Tow lived as he preached and taught God’s Word. At the end of the
meeting he prayed for me unlike the others who treated fulltime calling
as a profession and they just said ‘good bye’. Rev Tow understood and
empathized with a young man’s struggles and search for training and
ministry. He always pointed us to Christ, and not to himself. There was
no need for all these degrees in counseling. He taught many times that
the only thing counselors need today is the Word of God, not a piece of
paper. With the Word of God in our heads and hearts, we are to counsel
according to God’s inerrant and infallible Truth. We learned from Rev
Tow how to counsel according to Scriptures.
Rev Tow was always available to all.
He made time for all who came to see him no matter how insignificant the
matter was; even if it was for road directions! His life was his
ministry and his ministry was his life. “24/7” was his motto and he
practiced it. To serve man in the Name of the LORD is to serve God. To
love man, even his enemies, in the LORD was to love the LORD Himself. 1
John 4:20-21 – “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he
is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can
he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from
him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.” No call to
preach God’s Word or to share the gospel was refused. Rev Tow was ever
ready to go, because he was always shod with the shoes of the gospel of
peace. He needed no day off. An off day was like any other day … a day
spent on God’s work and Word. He never talked about salary. “The moment
a pastor speaks of his salary he is a hireling,” was what Rev Tow
declared oft times. The line was very clearly drawn. There were few
“grey areas” in Rev Tow’s life. The Bible was Rev Tow’s infallible
guide. He made friends with the Bible as his basis. His love for man was
not sentimentalism. It was according to the Truth of God’s Word. For
example, those who attack his LORD and the Bible were not his friends. I
once observed that Rev Tow did not shake the hand of one who attacked
the Word of God, even when that person’s hand was stretched out in front
of him. The LORD and the Bible were the foundations of his life and
ministry. We learned from Rev Tow the meaning of fulltime ministry.
On many occasions Rev Tow stood alone.
Rev Tow’s strength and courage was in his LORD. For the sake of truth
and righteousness, Rev Tow would forsake all, even his ministry, and
especially when the ministry is no longer God honouring. The reason is
that Rev Tow’s ministry was His LORD, not a church or a college or based
on some sentimental feelings. Blood is not thicker than water when it
comes to truth and righteousness. As long as that person or church or
Bible College loves the LORD, Rev Tow would go out of his way to help.
But when God’s perfect Word or the Name of his LORD Jesus Christ is
diminished even in the very slightest way, Rev Tow would stand up for
his LORD and fight the good fight of faith to the very end.
We learned from Rev Tow biblical courage and strength.
Rev Tow always held God’s Word in the
highest regard. His life was temperate and self effacing. He not only
taught his students God’s Word but he lived out God’s Word. He
constantly reminded his students that the world is a dangerous and
wicked place. Beware the sins of the lust of the eyes and lust of the
flesh and the pride of life. The world would persecute or seduce us.
Either way we are destroyed if we succumb to these sins. Be circumspect
and flee even the appearance of evil. Rev Tow was not perfect, for no
man is, but Rev Tow was holy – he lived his life as he preached. We
learned from Rev Tow that life is a battle ground and not a play ground.
Three days after I entered FEBC I was
assigned to preach during the Homiletics class. This was the swimming
pool of preaching for every student. We are thrown in and learn
immediately how to swim homiletically. I was literally trembling when I
stood behind the pulpit. Thank God that the pulpit was made of wood and
not the transparent perspex or else Rev tow would have seen my knees
knocking uncontrollably. We feared him, yet we loved and admired him. He
looked stern and had a no nonsense demeanour. But behind the stern
facade and small stature was a kind and compassionate giant with a
tender heart of gold. He gives chances upon chances to all who are
prepared to learn and repent and turn from sin and errors. He set aside
personal feelings for the sake and cause of Christ. He knew many had
taken advantage of his mercy and grace but Rev Tow would always err on
the side of mercy and grace rather than turn one genuine repentant
sinner away. We learned from Rev Tow justice
and compassion tempered with mercy and to give second chances.
Perhaps out of all of Rev Tow’s
testimonies, what he has taught his students best is his life of
humility. Time and time again Rev Tow would remind his forgetful
students the formula for success in ministry is HUMILITY! HUMILITY!
HUMILITY! In an age and time where pastors are more concerned with form
than substance, Rev Tow stands out like a rose among thorns. When the
people are as their pastors who are more concerned with decorating and
beautifying church buildings, Rev Tow “built” the lives of sinners and
tuned them into saints by his life of humility and faithful preaching of
God’s Word.
Pastors today pride themselves in
their hundred dollar hair styles and strut around like peacocks in their
thousand dollar suits. Rev Tow would quietly stroll around the grounds
of FEBC dressed in his well worn slacks and blue FEBC T-shirt and, of
course, his feet were shod with the famous “char kia.” His demeanour was
most unassuming. “His LORD Jesus Christ must increase and Rev Tow must
decrease,” was the message he constantly sent to his students as he
walked among the trees and plants in FEBC. Those who didn’t know him
would never guess that Rev Tow was principal and founder of FEBC and the
B-P Movement, a ministry that spanned across the globe from Tanzania to
Canada and Australia and the uttermost parts of the jungles of Indonesia
and Borneo. He looked more like the doorkeeper of God’s house than a man
mightily used of God. But that was Rev Tow. He did not need all the
external trappings to be who he was … a servant of the Most High God. To
Rev Tow, “a day in thy [God’s] courts is better than a thousand. I had
[he’d] rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my [his] God, than to
dwell in the tents of wickedness.” (Psalms 84:10). We learned from
Rev Tow the true meaning of humility.
The list of lessons learnt from the
life of Rev Tow is definitely not exhaustive. Rev Tow has made full
proof of his ministry by his long years of courageous and faithful
service. 2 Timothy 4:5-8 sum up well the life of Rev Tow as it summed up
the life of the great apostle Paul, -“For I am
now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
All his students thank God that the
LORD has graciously guided our lives to cross that of His servant, Rev
Tow. The impact of Rev Tow’s life in his students is immeasurable. His
students owe Rev Tow their theology, precious lessons on how to live a
godly life, how to minister with humility, to be sacrificial without
complaining, how to love God and man even his enemies, that it is more
blessed to give than to receive, and so many more that time and space
would not permit the listing of them all tonight. All his students thank
the LORD for Rev Tow’s life of obedience, faith and service. Rev Tow has
served us in his life even as he served the LORD Jesus Christ. Now his
students must remember Rev Tow, not by serving Rev Tow or praising Rev
Tow but by serving Rev Tow’ LORD Jesus Christ. He would not have it any
other way. All of Rev Tow’s life has been to point his students to
Christ and not to himself. Let us all honour our teacher, God’s faithful
servant, Rev Tow by loving the LORD Jesus Christ and continue to
faithfully and courageously defend the inerrant, infallible and divinely
inspired and preserved prefect Word of God. We are to uphold the Name of
our Saviour Jesus Christ by a life of holiness. Rev Tow has left behind
for us an example to follow even as he followed the LORD.
Rev Tow is not dead. He is more alive
now than ever before. He did not die of old age or Alzheimer’s (he was
most alert whenever the Word of God was preached even as recent as a
week ago for his mind was lucid and clear though his body was weak) or a
broken heart. He has been called home to glory, for his labour in the
LORD is complete. His well earned rest has just begun, and he is safe
and secure in the arms of his Saviour. Rev Tow’s enemies can take his
earthly works but his spiritual works have followed him to glory.
Revelation
14:12-13
– “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from
heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord
from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labours; and their works do follow them.” Rev Tow’s works are not
made of bricks and mortar. Rev Tow’s works are the lives and ministries
of his students who have been forever transformed by the power of the
LORD and His perfect Word.
One day we shall meet our teacher
again in the clouds of glory. This separation is only for a moment. Rev
Tow’s work for the LORD is done. His students remain to continue the
work of God. While we wait for the blessed reunion, let us be faithful
and true to our Saviour Jesus Christ the way that our teacher Rev Tow
has been faithful. May we be comforted and encouraged by the words of
the LORD in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18- “But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore
comfort one another with these words,” AMEN.
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