Christ’s Finished Work: Gifts of Christ

24 February 2022 Leave a comment

The Fivefold Ministry

We have heard about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts but have we heard of the gifts of Christ (also called “ascension gifts”, “fivefold gifts”), and did you know that these gifts were part of Christ’s finished work? Receiving this truth would enable us to move ourselves towards Christian maturity and the fulness of the stature of Christ.

An intriguing scripture portion in Ephesians 4 explains this. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men” (Eph 4:7,8). The background is of course that of a victorious king returning to the capital to great acclaim, with captives defeated in the battlefield in chains trailing behind him. In celebration, he shares the spoils of war with the city, even though they did not fight the battles and did not deserve any reward at all. Yet the king graciously and generously gives gifts to them. Paul however was describing how Christ gave gifts to the world, particularly the church, after he had victoriously defeated Satan, sin, and death by his death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb. These must be significant gifts for they came out of the sacrifice of his life.  What are these gifts and what purpose do they serve?

The scripture goes on to explain what these gifts are: And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph4:11-13). These gifts are men and women with spiritual authority and various complementary gifts that can equip the church to do God’s will. These God-designed, holistic, complementary ministries, if welcomed in their fullness, and not partially, by the church, will bring about church effectiveness, growth, unity of faith and intimacy with God, maturity and the greater glory to God. 

The gifts of Christ are sometimes called fivefold ministry or fivefold offices, or fourfold (combining pastors and teachers into one) ministry gifts of Christ. The five are gifted people who have received grace to be used by God to bless and build the church in dimensions that complement each other to maximum impact. We need all of them.

Apostles

The apostles (“sent out ones”) are those who establish churches among unreached peoples. They evangelise the lost, equip the saints, establish the church and the doctrines, set up and equip leadership and move on to new territories. Apostles love the church and have a passion for establishing and multiplying local churches.

Prophets

The prophets forth-tell and foretell. He forth-tells in the sense of receiving God’s “now” word for God’s people and faithfully declares the fresh rhema message to them, often calling them to turn from modern forms of  idolatry to God himself. God may also grant them intimations of the future which they will deliver faithfully so the individual or church may take heed and prepare, or be encouraged, strengthened and comforted. In the last days, when the love of many will wane cold, this gift of Christ needs more recognition and acceptance. Prophets love the presence of God and are passionate about delivering the current word of the Lord to fire up the hearts of God’s people.

Evangelists

The evangelists spread everywhere the good news of Jesus Christ with convincing clarity and persuasive power to the lost. They are graced to move unsaved people to open their hearts to accept the truth of the good news of Jesus Christ. They love being with lost people and they are passionate preaching Christ and his salvation to them.

Pastors

Pastors are the shepherds (literal translation) of the church and their job is to feed the sheep, care, and watch for their souls. His number one task is to be a faithful example of faithful Christian living. He is the walking visual aid that inspires, encourages and comforts the congregation to be devoted and faithful to the Lord. He loves spending time with God’s people and is passionate about growing them in the love of God.

Teachers

Teachers love to inform, instruct, and explain the things of God using Scriptures. They love to make fundamental teachings of the Bible accessible, clear and applicable for God’s people, whatever their level of understanding. Faithfulness to the meaning of the text, and diligence to live out the truth are their bottom line. Teachers love spending time feeding on Scriptures and are passionate about communicating truth effectively.

Welcome Mat

The gifts of Christ are God’s gifted servants appointed to bring different nutrients to the body of Christ and together they impart a balanced, multi-faceted ministry the church needs for growth into the maturity and purity and beauty of the Bride of Christ, ready to be received by Christ the Bridegroom.

God is faithful and will provide these gifted people to the Body of Christ. It is for us to recognise who they are and roll out the welcome mat so the church can receive their complementary gifts with thanks, and grow in maturity.

This is the seventh in a twenty six series of A to Z of Christ’s Finished Work. Click HERE to access the earlier posts>

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Impact of ACS Clock Tower Revival: 50th Anniversary

15 February 2022 4 Comments

This Is The Lord’s Doing

The ACS Clock Tower revival is one part of what God was doing in the 1970’s. I would call it the 1970s Charismatic Revival as the fires that were lit among the mainline Anglican and Methodist churches, among students in schools (of which one is ACS), and at Jedburg Gardens, all happened during the early 1970s and continued to burn strongly for about a decade. This revival would have great impact on the renewal and growth of the church in Singapore and overseas.

In my case, I was spiritually born and bred in the revival atmosphere that began in the backside of science laboratories of Dunearn Secondary Technical School in the middle of 1972. When I reflect on what happened 50 years ago, I cannot help but exclaim with the Psalmist: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23)

The impact of the 1970s Charismatic Revival would vary in significance and lasting fruit. The Anglican renewal’s impact would have the greatest of lasting outcomes as it touched its top leadership, the bishops Chiu Ban It and Moses Tay. Furthermore, Rev Dr James Wong brilliant channeling of renewed Anglican members into church planting works resulted in the formation of several churches that are well established churches today: tangible monuments to the work of the Spirit. The ACS Clock Tower school students’ influence, unlike the top-down of the Anglicans, would be ground-up. It would go on to open the heavy doors of the Methodist Church to the fresh wind of the Spirit, and this was clearly miraculous because students, even Spirit-filled ones, were pretty low in the church hierarchy. The Jedburg Gardens revival would be associated with the formation of the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship International, a super-spreader of the renewal to all other denominations in the 1970s. The Dunearn Secondary Technical School revival became a local church with a strong focus on missions, World Revival Prayer Fellowship.

1970s Charismatic Revival Bore Much Fruit

One of the blessings of the 1970s Charismatic Revival was that it facilitated the gathering together of churches of different traditions and beliefs, and prepared the way for unity movements like the Love Singapore unity movement, and the great inter-denominational events like Here’s Life Singapore, Billy Graham Crusade and Festival of Praise.

It would result in the renewal of many nominal members in traditional churches. It would be a great spiritual awakening of first love for Jesus. Their lives would be turned upside down by the Spirit’s dynamic power and compel them into zealous works of service and ministry. Like people madly in love they would boldly spread the gospel and the blessing of renewal everywhere: in schools, homes, and the marketplace. Thousands came to Christ during the revival.

While many of these revived saints will remain in their vocations and be effective salt and light where they were, for some, this experience of first love would result in these revived saints leaving their jobs to go into full time Christian vocations: in churches, mission fields and para-church ministry. Personally, I could count about 20 persons I know from the Dunearn revival who have gone into missionary or pastoral work. I cannot imagine the numbers in other bigger more significant centers of revival.

The growth of the Christian church in Singapore and its expanded role in missions may be attributed to the 1970s Charismatic Revival which sort of raised the tide of spiritual renewal to overcome personal and church structural barriers to evangelism and missions. I would even say that the rise of many of the megachurches could be traced back to the influence of the 1970s Charismatic Revival. 

For those who want to read a well-researched, notable and comprehensive work that described the 1970s Charismatic Revival do purchase and read, “Unfolding His Story” by Georgie and Galven Lee (pic below).

To read more about factors surrounding this this revival, go HERE.

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Christ’s Finished Work: Forgiveness of Sins

11 February 2022 Leave a comment

The forgiveness of sins is certainly one of the most precious gifts resulting from Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension. It is so important it was included in the Apostle’s Creed next to other fundamental beliefs in the confession of our faith: “I believe in…the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body”.

Resolving the Problem of Sin

Few realize the full extent of the consequences of our breach of God’s laws. It drove apart our relationships with God, with one another, and with creation. Guilt, shame, cover-up and blame crept into our relationships. We saw this with Adam and Eve. It caused them to withdraw from God even as God in his mercy and grace searched for and reached out to them. In mercy and foresight, God justly punished them for their rebellion against his rule, but he had in mind a future redemption plan for the whole human race. 

The forgiveness of sins resolves the key issues that block us from having an intimate and loving fellowship with God, with one another and a proper care of creation. This cancellation of the punishment that we deserved for our sins absolves us from guilt and grants us peace with God and oneself; frees us from shame and gives us dignity; makes cover-up unnecessary and promotes authenticity; and stops the blame-game and encourages us to take responsibility.

When sin is committed, the natural tendency is for us to try to atone for it by being good and doing good deeds. We want our good deeds to outweigh our bad deeds or at least balance out the deficit, so that we stand a chance before God at the judgement, or have a better reincarnation in the next life. This leads to uncertainty right to the very end of one’s life, no matter how much good deeds or philanthropy one does.  For example, for a bad deed like slander or lust after a married person, how much and what type of good deeds must one do to atone for each transgression. No one knows. And during the final tally, can we be assured that what good we have done outweighs the bad we have committed? Uncertainty at the day of judgment is fatal because it is final and there is no way to try to increase the shortfall in good deeds. 

For Christians, we have the free gift of forgiveness of sins when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence” (Ephesians 1:7,8). The forgiveness of sins is free for believers but for the sinless Christ it meant paying the great price of an unjust death on the cross, and taking upon himself the punishment that is due for the sins committed by all peoples past, present and future. That cruel death was not deserved by the sinless Jesus Christ, but in a divine mystery, is God’s way of making atonement for the sins of the whole world. The forgiveness we could not deserve or earn by being good and doing noble and charitable things, was earned and deserved by Jesus on the cross and made available as a free gift to all who would repent and believe in Christ’s finished work.

Repentance and Confession of Sins

Repentance is a change of mind and heart leading to a change in one’s attitudes and action. We have to be willing to change our mind about what sin and holiness is, about who God is, about trying to earn forgiveness of sins, and how we are to live our lives. This repentance process is accompanied in varying degrees with sorrow, tears, crisis of belief, conviction, confession, and struggles and this journey continues beyond initiation and baptism.

Forgiveness of sins does not depend on a complete confession of specific sins. This would make our salvation insecure and undermine assurance and joy. Even after being Christians, we constantly fall short of God’s glory and fail to walk in God’s ways. In thought, in speech and action, we daily fall short. Furthermore we are often unaware of our failings and the sins we commit and the good we omit in our daily life. Thus if our salvation is dependent upon a perfectly complete confession of specific sins, we would all be doomed should the Lord take us home suddenly. Even if we had time to prepare, how would we know we have confessed all our sins. Christ’s finished work perfectly atoned for all the sins of the whole world and must necessarily include past, present and future sins. Believing this is the basis of our assurance that God will not hold our sins against us should we suddenly be taken home before we had a chance to confess our sins.

Confession of sins is simply nodding before the Lord that you have wronged him, or people in thought, speech or action. Being specific helps us to know ourselves better about where we tend to be vulnerable to temptations. It replaces the sense of unworthiness and unconscious withdrawal from God, with assurance and peace and joy (1 John 1: 9). It also releases spiritual energy in us that so that we want to change in order to please Him (Philippians 2:13). 

Go and Sin No More

Forgiveness is a precious gift that enables us to live godly and follow Christ faithfully. Faith in the finished work of Christ liberates me from the fear of judgment in the future, of rejection in the present, and the condemnation of the devil about my past. Because my sins (past, present and future) have all been atoned for by Christ, I feel assured and certain about facing Him on the day of judgment and being with Him forever. I am no longer haunted by past sins no matter how shameful and evil they were. I live my Christian life fruitfully, with assurance and without condemnation because I know that even when I fail or fall, underneath is the embracing, comprehensive, and fail-safe net of God’s forgiveness of my sins past, present and future. “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered”(Psalm 32:1).

This blogpost is the 6th part is a series of 26 parts about the A to Z of Christ’s Finished Work. To read the other blogposts you can click on the below titles:

Access

Blessings

Church

Deliverance

Eternal Life

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A Covid-19 Chinese New Year

7 February 2022 Leave a comment

It was a calm, peaceful and quiet Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration 2022, not a tigerish one. Not that there was nothing to do. We had family visits and meals over four days. My wife cooked and had family over every day for four consecutive days.

The Eve

On Chinese New Year eve’s evening, my son Joshua, nephew and niece, Paul and Bethany Lee, and brother in law Simeon Poh came to my home for steamboat (what else?) reunion dinner. It was pleasant but we missed the usual crowd, which normally included my son Matthew’s family of Juyoung, Chloe and Claire; my daughter Elaine, and daughter in law Ping, and sister in law Baby and husband Jack. Yes, it used to require two tables, but I loved the crowd and chatter and the company of my grandchildren. This sounds rather strange for an introvert to say, but I guess as I grow older I kind of balance off with more extroversion. Then on the fifth day of CNY I met with my brothers and their wives. The week went so quickly I was curious how it sped by.

Steamboat during reunion evening

CNY 1st Day

The first day of CNY, we went to the Choa Chu Kang Cemetery to visit our departed loved ones. The Garden of Remembrance was sheltered but not the gravesite, where we ended up searching for Jenny’s mum gravesite, and my departed son Caleb’s gravesite – an unmarked grave. It was traumatic for me and my wife when the Lord took our twin son home six days after birth, and we sort of left the grave without any tombstone, as our burden laid elsewhere since the surviving twin-brother Joshua needed a lot of medical attention, and it also took many years for us to be healed of the grief and pain of loss. We will have to go back again another day and seek the help to locate his grave, as we simply couldn’t find it with the information we got from the cemetery office.

  • Paying respect at my wife’s father’s grave
  • At my dad’s and mum’s niche

CNY 5th Day

After the dinner at my eldest brother’s home, I saw some old black and white photographs of me and my younger sister, took our my mobile, and shot a few of them. Those were the days when photos were mainly black and white. I am surprised they did not fade even after sixty years in storage. The many photographs perked my curiosity as I tried to figure out who is who, and smiled at the hairstyles and dressing of those days. Looking at these old photographs are fun and makes for good conversations and learning about our family of origin and our relatives. It also made me realize that some of them are no longer with us and in a matter of two or three decades, neither would we be around. Will my children and grandchildren be swiping their iPads and looking at snazzy unfadable colour pictures of us and reminiscing about the “good old days”? I hope so! If they remembered us there is a high chance they can learn something of the wisdom of the past, even if it is what not to do.

  • Dinner at Colin & Linda’s home
I am the little boy seated second from left. My mum is the third lady from the left.

In All Things Thankful

I feel thankful for the opportunities to meet up over meals despite the restrictions to a maximum of five visitors per day and visit. If it helps to minimize the spread of Covid 19, I am most willing to do my part. Despite Singaporeans trying their level best, the number of infections tripled during the CNY period. I pray regularly for Singapore and all the countries around us, asking God to extend his mercy upon us and help us win the fight against Covid 19. I also pray often for the bold and powerful preaching of the good news about Jesus Christ and for souls to be saved and saints to be revived. The pandemic has ripened the crops and the harvest is ready for churches and Christians to reap and bring the harvest in. May the Lord enable us to do this with diligence for “he who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame”(Proverbs 10:5 ESV).

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Spiritual Direction Formation Program Has Begun

25 January 2022 Leave a comment

I have begun my Spiritual Direction Formation Program: the last two Saturdays were intensive sessions from 9am to 5pm. In the first introductory session we were introduced to the history of this program, to the spiritual directors, formators, supervisors, and lecturers. They shared with us who they were and how they entered this ministry and the joy and growth it brought them. All the participants shared our stories too: how we chose to sign up for this formation course.

Course Components

The course would have as its main aim to form the life of the future spiritual directors. Form, not train, because it is not about mere skills, but the forming of our disposition, inner life, and values. A few of the components of this formation is each student meeting with an assigned spiritual director every two or three weeks for the duration of the course. I had already met with my spiritual director twice before the sessions began. We will also be in silent retreats every semester with the number of days increased each time. There would be input seminars for learning content. Books to read of course. Supervision, at a later stage. This is off the cuff from what I remember. 

I enjoyed the sessions thus far. Hearing the stories of all the participants, teachers and learners, in the first session was inspiring and moving. I was surprised I had stayed alert from 9am to 5.30pm that day. Of course, I shared my story too: what was in my last blogpost. No need to re-invent the wheel. The second Saturday, was more content based, but done in such a way there was fun interaction in groups of 5 and questions and answers with the lecturer/formator. Sister Linda Lizada from the Cenacle Sisters taught the session. Teach less, learn more. I also got to know more of my fellow course-mates and felt blessed and privileged because they share with authenticity and vulnerability.

  • Sister Linda Lizada

We were blessed with good bento food and tea breaks and we have a firm but friendly safety officer, herself a trained spiritual director, who made sure of social distancing and safety measures were taken, like eating in your small groups.

On A Personal Note

I have two friends as course-mates. One is Ps Seng Chor, a retired pastor like me, with whom I have gone on retreats with, and with whom I am in a 1-2-3 group sharing group. The other is Juliana, whom I knew from a camino, and our work with the team at Iganatian Journey, that organizes retreats and caminos.

  • Me and Seng Chor with course mates in background
Me and Seng Chor and course mates in background/
  • Juliana and me

I met a fellow participant with whom I resonated with. She had been praying and writing in to the Life Direction team asking when they would run another course. They had run this course three times in the past and it has been about ten years since the last one. So this would be the fourth locally run course and I am glad to be on it for it had been my prayer too. There are overseas courses available but I preferred a local one for its local context, and the ongoing community with which I can receive further input, supervision and support.

I am also thankful that my grown-up children told me they would sponsor the remaining shortfall in fees. They are really kind and generous and I am blessed to have such children. In more ways than I can number, they have showered me with gifts and support and encouragement. I would have missed out on this course had it not been for the intervention of the Lord through an anonymous giver, and another pastor friend who helped substantially in the fees. I am glad and excited because this is part of a new chapter in my life.

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