We will continue on with the next message, and that will be on the verse that is the theme verse for this camp, and that is Joshua 24:15. Let us open our Bibles to Joshua 24:15. Let's read this verse together.
Reading — "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, KJV)
We see this almost in every house, every home of believers, with some pictures or reminders, a verse that speaks this: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I pray that the moment you read this, you will be reminded of the message we went through during this camp. We have to go back to the Bible. Again, I have to recall this so that we will not forget to go back to the Scriptures, our basis, our foundation in our service. We cannot base anything from this world, from the teachings of the modern world. We have to go back to the Bible, and we have the pattern. God has given us these standards to follow.
There must be the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It is the fear of God that we know what to do. And when we fear God, we go back to His Scripture, to His Bible, to His Word, in order to know what He wants us to do. That's the right kind of fear—the fear of the Lord. And with that, of course, we have to love Him, love Him with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, that we may serve Him the best that we can. And, of course, we can only do that when we are indwelt by the Spirit of God. We can love Him because He first loved us. We have to acknowledge first that He has given us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This week is important because we can recall and remind ourselves of the great work of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. And of course, we want to find a place to serve. I believe all of us have settled to serve in Bethel BPC. We're not thinking of other churches or thinking of moving to another church or thinking of serving in another church or organisation. We want to serve the Lord in this church.
You may think, "Oh, we are so many, almost every ministry is occupied, almost every ministry has its own leaders and workers. I don’t have a place to serve." There is always a place for us. God put us in this church because He has a place for you to serve, a position for you to fill, a gap for you to stand in so that, as a whole church, we can serve the Lord. And that’s true also with our bodily system. There is no part of our body that is useless. Everything that God has designed for our body is important. That’s also true with the local church. Everyone, even the children—thank God for Noah here—is a very encouraging sight for me. It is something that can encourage us to continue.
What is truly a love from parents— you know, we are in a world today where people are even worse than the beasts of the field. The wild animals, the Bible tells us, if you rob a mother bear of her cubs, she will run after you and kill you. I remember when I grew up in a remote village, my mother used to rear chickens and hens. When they noticed hawks coming, she would always scold us and tell us to cover them with sticks. You could hear the chirps, and then the chicks would just come. They knew the danger was there, and they would hide, and the feathers of the hen would make it look like a bigger kind of animal, although it's a small hen. It shows how she takes care of the young, willing to fight, willing to die for the young.
We are in a world where so many are even abandoning their infants and not even caring for their own children. It's an encouragement to me. I'm greatly encouraged by this sight. Thank God for this opportunity to witness such love from parents. So, these are the things we have to be reminded of. We all have parts to play. Noah here, we may say, "Oh, he cannot lift anything," but his presence is filling a gap, teaching us something. We all have a role in the church, a part to play. That’s why there is no person in the church who is useless—no one should be sitting on the bench doing nothing. Everyone has to play their role, their part.
With that, we know we also have to understand why we need to serve. We have a place, but we must be convinced that we need to serve. Because if we are not persuaded that we must serve, then there will be a haphazard, dragging way of service. It will be hard, full of murmuring, full of complaining, full of finding faults, full of false accusations, because we are not serving based on what the Scripture says—that we need to serve, because we are saved to serve.
There are many who are serving just for the sake of serving, letting their names be listed. I know of a person who left the church because she was serving, and then her name was not written in the weekly bulletin that she was part of it. She was so angry that she left the church. In that case, we know that’s not the purpose or reason why we serve. It’s not for our names to be listed as the chairman or the one who is in charge of this. We have to move on and continue to serve because we are persuaded that God has saved us, has even brought us into life. We were dead in trespasses and sins. Now we are made alive, quickened by the Spirit of God, and we can do something for the Lord, even though what we can do is nothing compared to what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us.
We just heard that when we know we need to serve, there are things we have to remember. We have to serve the Lord with fear and trembling, in sincerity and in truth. We have to understand that there is a guide. The Bible is still our guidebook, our compass, in doing the will of the Lord and following His ways. We cannot do it our own way. We cannot apply the things of the world to the church. Of course, there are things that, well, let us be practical. You might think, "Why are we using computers and cameras in the church? Isn’t that from the world?" That is a nonsense question. But we have to think of philosophies and ideologies that are contrary to God’s Word—those that many churches today are introducing and bringing into the church, transforming, reversing, and changing the doctrines of the church.
Sadly, as we talked yesterday with Jeffrey, teaching the young people about the history of the Bible Presbyterian Church is important. It’s good to remind them. Sadly, one of the first denominations that became modernistic—some might even say atheistic in a way—was the Presbyterian Church. When they denied the five fundamentals of the faith in the early 1900s, many fundamental evangelical conservative scholars, like Min and McIntyre, left that denomination and studied Orthodox Presbyterianism. They came out of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church to form the Bible Presbyterian Church because they wanted to maintain the purity of life, not just purity of doctrine.
It’s not just about purity of doctrine. The problem with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in those days was that they still went into smoking, drinking, and other things. We thank God for McIntyre and the founding pastor, the man who was used by God to start the BP movement in Asia and also in Australia, the Reverend Dr. Timothy T. We should not forget this. We don’t worship them. We don’t remember them as equal to the saints in the Roman Catholic Church, but we have to remember the good work they have done.
The problem is, we forget history. We forget how the Lord used them, how the Lord started this movement, and how the Lord separated us from the modernistic, liberal Presbyterian Church. Many, even in the Bible Presbyterian Church today, are moving back into that fold, going back into that cycle, and returning to the false teachings of the world. So I pray that it is good to remind yourself of the history of the BP movement, how the Lord truly took us out, just like the Israelites were moved out from Egypt, wandering, but placed in the Promised Land.
And we are commanded: you have to maintain the purity, sincerity, and truth in service. You don’t have to accommodate and put back the gods of your fathers. You have to leave them out. You have to focus on God alone. For if you love the world, we know we cannot serve two masters. It’s either we love the one and hate the other. We have to love the Lord, our God. Our Lord, our God, is one Lord. And we have to remain in Him. I pray that the Lord will help us to remember this so that we can continue on serving Him in the right way and serving Him reasonably. This is our reasonable worship so that we will not conform to the image of this world, but we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And how can we be transformed? What is this renewal? How do we renew our minds? We understand this morning: it is the meditation of the Word of God.
We thank God that your church here continues to teach the Word of God in many avenues, in many ways. The YPG, your care group, your Bible studies, you have DHW, you have your worship service, and you have your prayer meetings that are still centred on the Word of God. These are things that we must maintain, and we must pray, especially for our pastor, for our leaders, that they will continue to follow the ways of the Lord. Because as soon as they depart, immediately, the whole flock will be taken. You know that, and you understand that this has happened in many churches. It is the pastor, the leader, who is under great attack. Once he falls, everything—even the whole church—will be affected. So that's why we must pray for them, remember them, ask the Lord to lead them and help them, to encourage them in the faith.
It is always the case that pastors are put at the centre and used as targets by many people, even members of their own church. It's like they are in the archery field, constantly targeted by many members. This should not be the case. We should love the leaders, the under-shepherds, that God has placed in our church, so that we can be moved and encouraged to continue following the Lord. If the shepherd leads the flock into other ways, to poisonous pastures, to waters that are infected, or whatever it may be, it will affect all of you. That’s why it's important to consider following the Lord and praying for those appointed as shepherds, leaders—not only the pastor, but our deacons, elders, and others in the church.
And now here in verse 15, we are told, or Joshua tells the people. He says, “You have to serve the Lord in this way, you have to follow the Lord, there is a prescription, you have to have this purpose, there is a way you practice your service.” But if it seem evil unto you, if you don’t want it, if you think this is too hard, if you think it is burdensome, if you think it is too difficult for you to serve the Lord in that way, please, don’t take away the context in verse 14. If you don’t want that way, you're going to say, “I will continue to serve the Lord, but I will not follow what verse 14 says.”
Joshua says, “That is the way to practice or serve the Lord, but if you don’t want that, and it seems bad, evil, heavy, or difficult for you to serve the Lord in that way…” That’s what he means by "if it seem evil." There is a choice. You are not forced to do it just because you are a member, and you think, “Anyway, the pastor told me to do this, so I have to do it.” But without your heart, without your mind, without loving it, without the desire to serve the Lord, you just do it because, “Well, I’m assigned to do it,” grumpily, dragging your feet, angry. You’re serving because you are assigned and forced to do it.
The Bible tells us you have a choice. You don’t have to force yourself if it is not according to your heart, if you are not convinced that you are to serve in that way. You don’t like the way of service. You don’t want that kind of service. If it seem evil unto you. And the word “evil” here means something bad for you, troublesome for you, disastrous for you, dangerous for you. You may think that it is distracting to your faith or to your life. If you don’t want it, if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, if you think this will disrupt your family life, if you think this will affect your work, and you won’t be promoted because of that function or teaching in the church, and you think that your income will be affected, your holidays will be affected, your other desires in life will be affected, don’t force yourself to choose to serve the Lord. He gives them a choice. If it seem evil, if you think it is bad, then don’t serve the Lord. Don’t just be there because you are assigned, and your name is listed. It will affect the whole church, because you are not doing it with submission to the Lord. You are not doing it with reverence to God. You are not doing it with love. You are doing it just to fulfil what has been assigned to you.
Please, stop. Don’t do it if you think it is something you don’t want to do. It will not help the church. It will not help the congregation. It will not encourage others when people see you dragging your feet, complaining, murmuring. Why continue serving in that area? You have the choice. I don’t challenge you to stop and leave, but this is what Joshua desired for them to know: if you don’t want it, don’t do it. It’s simple. Don’t show off that you are assigned, but in your heart, you don’t like it. It will affect you. The Lord knows. You might think that people will appreciate you because you are still there, continuing to serve even though your heart is rebellious. God knows, and that will affect not only your own ministry, but the whole church.
So let us pray, “Lord, if this is the ministry you want me to serve, if this is the kind of work you want me to do, it may be hard for me. Sometimes, you know, I will be leaving my family early, I will go to church early, and they will be left behind, or they will come later. Or there will be inconveniences. I have to ask the Lord, I have to seek the Lord’s will. Because it is useless to just show off that you’re doing it, yet your heart is not in it.”
"If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve." What are the choices? And now you who have the choices, Joshua also gives the choices here. The choices are clear: if you want to serve, then serve, but if you don’t want to serve the Lord, your other choices are to serve the gods of your fathers, to go back to ancestor worship or worship of Baal, or worship of those false idols, of those false gods. Idols, worship of the sun, worship of the tree, worship of stones. If you think that is better for you, of course, it is not saying that you should do it, but he says, these are the choices.
“Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell.” When he refers to the gods of the Amorites here, it refers to the gods of those people in the land: the Hivites, Hittites, Debusites, Canaanites, Girgashites, Perizzites, and all those. They had different gods. They had the god of the plain, the god of the hill, the god of the sea, the god of the forest. Each of them had gods.
I remember when I was still in the Roman Catholic Church, we had saints. When we travelled, we prayed to Saint Jude or Saint Christopher. Saint Christopher, because he was the one who carried Christ. We prayed to him. There were also Marys, different Marys, who would help you conceive, help you pass your exams, help with marriage problems, help with sicknesses. Different saints. This is similar to the gods of the Amorites—different gods. If you have concerns in agriculture, fisheries, or any other need, you go to that god.
If you don’t want the Lord, if you don’t want to serve Him, go to those gods, he challenged them. If you think it is hard and difficult to serve the Lord, then go back to your own gods, to the gods your fathers served in the past. You have the choice.
And this is what is happening openly now and even practised by many Christian churches. I believe some of you may still be in favour of what Billy Graham did. Yes, he did many good things in the past. He started well as a good preacher, but later, when he was puffed up and the media promoted him, he started gathering all denominations, not only the Protestant denominations, but even the Roman Catholics and others. And they put them at the back. When it came time for decision-making, people had to sign and state, “I am from an Anglican church, I am from a Methodist church, I am from a Roman Catholic church,” and then those who were from the Roman Catholic Church were sent back to their church. Although they had decided to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, received Him as their Lord and Saviour, they were turned over to the apostate Church. These churches, which don’t even believe in the God of the Bible, are the gods of these churches. And that is what is happening.
Many Christian churches today are all the same. And so you can worship other gods, worship these gods, and they think that, "Oh, we have the same God." No, it's different. We have only one God, and the God that we have, the Lord God, is one. He is the God of the Scriptures. And if He is characterised differently from what God says or what the Scripture says, what the Bible says, then He's a different God. As many of the Protestant churches today don't believe that we have a Christ who is able to do these miracles. It's interesting that many don't believe that these miracles were done by Christ. They say these are myths added by the apostles during the days when they wrote the Scriptures in order to make Jesus as God. So today, their teachings in the Christian churches mythologise. We have to take out the myth. And if you take out all these myths, all these miracles that are so-called done by the Lord Jesus Christ, then we have a Jesus who is just a model person—a good person, a loving person, a good teacher. He was just that man; He was not God. He is not God. And when He resurrected, no, He was not resurrected as in bodily resurrection; He was just resurrected in the hearts and minds of people. They were just encouraged to think that, "Oh, He is with us." And you think that it's the same Jesus as you have in the Bible, and you can associate with Him? These are the gods of the— we can say the gods of the 'ems,' the gods of other religions, the gods outside the Scriptures. And so we have to choose one, and this one is, of course, what is given to us in the Scriptures. And we think, why do we have to think on these things? Why can't we just serve the Lord lovingly, carefully, and with compassion and gentleness to all people, welcoming them, serving them? You know, bring people to church and to know Jesus. Why so much of this— you have to think of the doctrine, whether He's God or not? It is important. That's what the choice here is given: whether you want to serve God in the way of the Scriptures or to serve God that is outside of the Scriptures. If you don't want the way the Scripture says it, then serve other gods. You're not forced to do it. You're not a robot to just be, you know, controlled by a pastor to do this, do that. We have to do it from our hearts, with passion, with zeal, with conviction—that I must do it because it is for my God. It's for my Lord, who saved me, who gave Himself for me, who died for me on the cross, who shed His blood so that I can be forgiven, who gave Himself, even being smitten, scourged for me. With all the pain, excruciating, humiliated before people, because of me, I want to serve God because He has done so much for me. And this is the God whom I will serve, not the gods of other religions, or other denominations, which say that Jesus is just an ordinary man, or He did not rise from the dead. He was just a man who encouraged people. And we thank God that we believe in the premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We may think we have different views, but He will come. He will come again to bring us with Him. That was the promise. It was mentioned this morning, "I have prepared a place for you. If I did not do it, then I would have told you. I will come and bring you unto Myself, so that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2–3) And that's a promise. And this is the God whom we are waiting for. It is not the God who will make this world so good, so right, and soon we have a utopia, a place where everyone will be kind to one another, there will be universal peace—making this world great again. This is not the promise that the Bible tells us. We're going down and down. The world is going to get worse and worse each day. But we have the hope of the coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Because when He comes, yes, there is a great tribulation that will come, but later after that, we will be reigning on this earth for a thousand years. That should be in our hearts and minds. That's why that would enable us to serve, to continue on doing the work of the Lord, because we have the hope of this—not only eternal life, but also life on this earth for a thousand years, reigning on this earth, and this earth will be restored back to its original form, when God created it, at the beginning, where even the lions and the lambs will lie together, and children will play with venomous creatures. I believe there will be no venom for the snakes at that time. That would be the hope of every believer, and that will move us, causing us to serve the Lord with all our hearts. And He says here, "If you don't want Him, if you don't want to serve according to what He has prescribed, if you don't want to serve God according to the book that He has given us, then you can serve other gods. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15) For me and my house. It was not saying, "For me only." The headship of the Father, the headship of the husband must be there in the family. "Me and my house." We cannot afford to just serve the Lord and leave out my family. There are some pastors who would say, "I'm the only one called. Don't talk about my wife and children because they are not called. Only me." Please understand, we have a covenant-keeping God, a covenantal God, a familial God. When God gave the grace to Noah, He brought with him the wife, three children, three sons, and their wives. We have that kind of God. When God called Abram, He brought with him Sarah. When God called all those people in the past, they were with their families. Think, "What about Peter?" And some of those apostles—actually, they left their families behind. No, please remember, when they were under training, they may have been away from their wives and families, but you can see that when they were in the Book of Acts, they were with their own family members, the women, who we believe were their own wives, and even their children, who came to help them, assist them. And that's how important the unity of the family should be. The headship of the husband and the submission of the wife. Yesterday, I did that. Husbands, submit to your wives. The Bible tells us that it is the wife who will submit to the husband. (Ephesians 5:22) But there is also submission to one another. I think it's good for us to go into this family plan of God, to go into Ephesians, Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Let us begin with the reading in verse 21. I will read to you from verse 21, Ephesians 5:21. Okay, maybe it belongs to a different paragraph, as you might say here, but it's again part of it. It says, "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." (Ephesians 5:21) Okay? One to another. Although there is this instruction of wives, "Submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." (Ephesians 5:22) Submission of the wife to the husband. And this is now partially and even maybe totally erased by the feminist movement today. That's why we cannot serve as a family, because there is no real family that we can now describe as a biblical family today, because of the introduction of teachings, ideologies, and philosophies of the world, such as the feminist movement. We have to understand, yes, we are created equal. I believe this is preached and instructed to you—we are created equal before God, men and women, we are the same. There is no salvation that is greater for men, and less for women, but we have roles. Again, we have roles. We have parts. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. Submission of the wife to the husband. The headship of the husband must be there. And you will understand later that this is what God planned, not only for the family but even for the church. "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." (Ephesians 5:23) And if there is no submission of the wife to the husband, then how can we think of a church, which is being headed by the Lord Jesus Christ? If the practice, if the way we do it in the basic, in the foundational level, where the wife is not submitted to the husband, it is the character and nature also of the church, not to submit to Christ. That's why it's important that we have to go back to the Bible and understand what a family is. It is not putting the husband as a master, ruler, one who dictates everything, but we have to understand the biblical concept of what it means to submit to the husband. The wife can still say, but the final say is the husband. And husbands also, and this is a problem with us, husbands, I myself, also, have this problem, because sometimes we are undecided. That's why we leave it to the wife to decide. We have to be biblically grounded in order to understand what must be done. Of course, there are things that we must entrust to our wives, decisions for our children, for other things, and we can interfere with that. Then, don't dare to go there and correct your wife about the kitchen, or else you will be coming out from the kitchen full of those, you know, ketchup or whatever—soy sauce. We have our roles, of course, but we have to understand that the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. So let us serve God as a family, and what is a family? A family is described here: we have a wife, we have a husband, and children. And it's also, again, one thing that is being destroyed by society today. I hope it is not illegal to say here in Australia, but I would say the LGBTQ movement is trying to cause the destruction of our family makeup, where man and man, woman and woman. It's clear, the Scripture says, we have wives submitting themselves to the husband, the husband is the head of the wife. The husband is the man, the wife is the woman. You cannot be a lady husband or a male wife. If you go into the original language, it's very clear—this husband is male, it is masculine, and the wife is feminine. You're going to make a feminine husband and a masculine wife? It's stipulated clearly in the Scriptures. That's why we have to maintain this kind of family, although the world will see us as some kind of old-fashioned people who will not adapt to what the world says, but we have to follow what is stated in the Scriptures. "Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5:24) Now, we know today that there are some working wives and husbands staying at home. That is not a problem. The Bible did not make some kind of rule here that, "Okay, husbands must be there at work," although we know that the wives must take care of the children.
But even though the wives are working, husbands stay at home, take care of their house and whatever chores, it is still that the husband is the head of the family. Is that because the wives are bringing in the cash flow into the family, that I become the head of the family? The family must be husband, wife, and children.
You think wives, it is hard to submit to your husbands, but we have an even bigger burden. I mean, it's not a burden for us, maybe, but it's a temptation for men. It's a weakness of men. That's why the Bible tells this repeatedly: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25).
Because this love is not an ordinary love of care and gentleness and just giving all your resources, giving help to the wife. You see, the picture that is given here is that this is the love of Christ towards the church. And we can imagine this love of Christ towards the church during this Passion Week. We can remember how great the work of Christ was done for us. This is the kind of love that we have to extend to our wives. This is not easy. There's something that we have to go through with suffering and agony, just like what the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on the cross. And we must be ready to give this or to show this to our wives, even to the family.
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25-27). Let us encourage our wives to be engaged also with spiritual things, not just to let them be left behind, for our children to do the chores at home, to cook, to prepare the house, to clean everything, but we must also build up their spiritual lives in order for them to be meeting the needs that we have as husbands.
I heard of a pastor who said, "The measure by which we truly love our wives is when we try to determine how equipped they are, how they have known the Lord Jesus Christ since we got married until now. Is our wife loving the Lord more than when we got married? Is our wife growing in her spiritual life compared to the time when we got married? Or are they drifting away from the church, from reading the Bible, or from following God?" That's a measure. It's not how we provide for them, how rich they are, or how they have all the jewelry they wanted. It is how they grow in the Lord. That's the measure of love that we have for them. That's the spiritual love that God here refers to when we truly love our wives—how they grow in the Lord, how they love the Lord.
Because when our wives also love the Lord and want to serve the Lord, they can help the husband, go here, do this, do that. We can help, and that will show that it is the whole family. Children will see that. It is not that there is quarrelling. "I'm going again to the church," and the wife will complain, "Why do you spend more time in the church? Why do you spend more time on that work or that ministry than us?" We will not complain about that.
That's why it was strange to me one day, when one brother asked me, and it really puzzled me, but later I understood. He said, "Can you help me with this problem? There is this wife who accuses her husband, that he loves the children more than her." I mean, it seems like the wife is jealous over the children, wondering why the husband loves the children more than her. She said, "It's quite difficult," because why is it that mothers would always love to see the father, the husband, take care of the children? Why, he said, does it seem there is competition between the wife and the children?
So I said, "Brother, I don't know how to answer that question." And later, I realized that actually, that happened because the wife was a second wife and the children were, I mean, the children of the first wife. So I understand why there was some kind of competition between them. But when we talk of service, we cannot say, and wives cannot accuse their husbands, "You give yourself more to the church than us, in the family." There is no such thing that will come from the mouth of the wife if she is growing in the Lord. She would even push the husband to do this, to do that for the Lord, if she is mature in the faith.
And the husband will know also that he will devote his life for the Lord, because the more that he's serving God, the more that he's serving the church, the more that the Lord will bless the family. Sometimes, you know, when in our family, my children would think of me, "Okay, this father, we are always borrowing from us." I help them, provide for them, but later, I will borrow from them. But they understand. They say, "Oh, we can give it to you. No, you don't have to think of paying it back anyway. You don't always pay us." But they are willing to help. Why? Because they know it will always be for the ministry, for the missions. They're ready to give up even their own resources, because they know that whenever I borrow from them, I ask help from them, it will always be for the work of the ministry. They are ready. They say, "No, don't think of listing how much you've borrowed anyway since you have not paid us."
But they know, they know that it is for the ministry. They know that it's for the Lord. So there is no such thing as, "Why do you do this more for the church than us? Why are you spending more time in the ministry than us?" There is no competition. We are serving as a family, and the wives and the children are willing to say, "Go," or, "Let us do it together," or, "Let us even keep these resources. We may be going through a difficult time, but if this is for the Lord, let us do it. Let’s be willing to keep ourselves in a very low economic situation, keep ourselves just with these things because there’s work that is needed." You don’t compete. There is no competition because it is me and my house to serve the Lord. I pray we have this in our family.
We can see that the more husbands give themselves to the church, the wives are so happy, and children are also willing to give themselves, helping their fathers, helping their mothers to serve the Lord. Now, we understand that when our children are young, it’s quite difficult for the wives to be engaged in the ministry. That's natural, because we know that they need some care in the house. You have to take care of them when they are young. And sometimes, they are left behind, as the only ones who will take care of the children, the house, cook, everything, as if they are maids. A husband is out there working for the ministry. When he comes home, sometimes late in the evening because of Bible study, because of some ministries or counseling, please, wives, don’t expect that when they come, there’ll be murmuring, complaining. "Why are you late? Why are you doing this?" We have to understand. We know they are serving, and we even pray for them. I mean, wives must pray for their husbands. Wives must pray for those who are involved. Children must pray for their parents. This is serving in their family. They may not be part of that work, but if they are praying, they are serving as a family.
The husband is there. Maybe the wife and the children, they are still young, they are in the family. They cannot go to the church in some ways or another, but they are serving as a family because they are supporting. They’re praying, they’re encouraging their father, their mother to do it. Parents are also encouraging the young people to do this. And let this be the service of the family. It's not one man’s show or the husband's show; it is for all to do this for the sake of Christ.
That’s why it’s repeated here, in verses from 28 onward, even to chapter 6: "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church" (Ephesians 5:28-29). So you see, the comparison is with the Lord towards the church. He’s not speaking of material things. He’s not speaking of jewels or whatever treasures that we give to the wife. It is spiritual: "Even as the Lord the church." For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh" (Ephesians 5:31). This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" (Ephesians 6:1). Sometimes, children think that they’re wiser than their parents. And of course, you are. You know, you know much about these things, and I open the computer and I don’t know how to manipulate it or do these things.
My son will come and says, "Ayo, you boomers." Boomers, yeah, okay, you may call me some other, but please help me. I don't know this. You know many things. Even children, they know, you know, even young children, three years old, they know how to use their handphones and many things that we don't know, they can do it. And they know much, you know more, but please understand the Bible still says, Obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right (Ephesians 6:1). It is not changed. We don't have a Bible that says, "Parents, obey your children in the Lord." Sometimes we do. Parents, we obey our children rather than them obeying us. So let this remind our children. Yes, you know more. You are wiser, you can do more, you can do many things. Use this for the Lord. Don't use this to mock your parents. Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise (Ephesians 6:2).
By the way, when my son will call me this, he will just say, "Okay, Boomers," still call me Boomers. But of course, he will help, he will be there, he will always be helping me. He does all things in the ministry—live streaming and correcting, and all these things, I thank the Lord for him. So for our children, let us give ourselves unto the Lord. Don't let the world use you in ways that will take you out from the service of God. You have many talents, yes. Give it to the Lord. Serve him. Young people, you can do much, yes, if you can do much, do it for the Lord. Don't do it for the world.
I pray, thank God that Joshua is there, Joshua Na, who is now studying God's word. We pray that the Lord... I mean, parents, please don't pray that, "Oh, please, Lord, don't call my son. Don't call my daughter." That's a terrible way to pray, being a pastor. I know how our pastors suffer. I don't want him to be like that. Please, parents, pray that our children will be called. I mean, that's my prayer for my children. That's my prayer, that the Lord will call them to serve the Lord. There is no other job. There is no other profession. There is no other work on earth that is more noble than bringing souls to Christ. I mean, we can all do that, but to be in the full-time ministry, of course, we trust that it's the Lord who calls, but we can pray. Please, there are parents who don't want their children to come to serve the Lord. Let us pray, that if there are opportunities, if this is God's will... Of course, if it is God's will, don't force your children to go to full-time so that we will be seen as good parents. No, of course not. It will end up in them leaving the ministry after a while or leaving the Bible college after a while. We cannot force them. It is God's call, but we have to pray.
You know, when we see in the Book of Psalms or in the Book of Proverbs, where we know that we have to discipline, nurture our children in the admonition of the Lord, we have to pray that they will follow the Lord. They will follow what God will ask them to do, that we will not... Of course, there are some parents who don't want because, you know, you don't have money in being a pastor. You cannot take care of us after, and if you are old, you know, pastors don't have much. How can we go for vacation? How can we have medication for our ailments? You have to be a doctor, you have to be somebody, you have to be a lawyer, you have to be an accountant. Good, if that is the call of God for them, they can still serve the Lord. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that if you are serving the Lord when you are in a full-time ministry, that's very wrong. You cannot just say you are in the ministry, and that is the kind of service. You can be of service to the Lord in any way, be it a doctor, a lawyer, and still serving the Lord. But if the Lord would want our children to serve Him fully as full-time ministers, please don't discourage them. Even pray for them. Ask the Lord, "Lord, if this child of mine, is—" Usually, the case of parents, you know, will say, "Oh, you are talented, you have this skill, you know much. Okay, you go to AI—I mean, IT course, or you are good at this, math, or whatever. Okay, be an accountant." "Oh, this child is nothing, is all rubbish. Okay, go to the Bible college." It's always a decision of parents. All those who can do, who can understand as if they are foolish children, "Okay, you better go to the Bible college." Those talented, those skillful, "Okay, you get a degree." That is not giving our best for the Lord. You know, when we give our best for the Lord, it's the best that we can offer. Of course, again, it depends on God's call. You don't have to force your children to go just because you desire for a child to become a pastor, one who is serving the Lord in teaching children. It depends on the call. But please understand that we as parents must lead, must not discourage our children to serve the Lord.
That's why the reason why many... I mean, in FEBC today, there are zero Singaporeans. Thank God for two Australians. And many are coming just because somehow, just because they want to escape war or problems in their own country. There's a reason why they are in Bible College, not really interested to serve the Lord. So I pray that more and more will devote their lives to the Lord, serving as a family, serving as one in the Lord.
So children, obey your parents, submit yourselves to them, even though you are already in the university, even though you know more than your parents, as you think, please still consider God has assigned your parents to lead you, to guide you, submit to your parents. You cannot serve the Lord if you are disobedient to your parents. You are so good and kind in the church, you appear very lovely and caring to many children, but when you go back to your house, you are so rebellious to your parents. That is useless. You are just showing off that you are such a kind man in the church, and then after that, when you go back, you don't even greet your parents, you don't even submit to your parents, you even shout against your parents, you don't even tell your parents, you even curse them, and then when you appear in the church, you appear like angels and saints. Please don't do that. That is not serving the Lord as a family. We are serving the Lord as a family. You submit to your parents. Of course, there are those whose parents are not Christians. But we have to respect them. We have to submit to them. We have to still give our reverence, our respect, honouring them. Of course, if they disagree with the scripture, then we don't have to follow them, but tell them in the right way. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). And it can be done also by the children: As for me and my house, my father, my mother... And for those who are not yet in the Lord, they will see in you, you are serving the Lord, or you are serving the church, and they will see how big the change that I see now in my daughter, in my son, that before it was this, but now because he's in the church, he started the Word of God, he is this kind of child. And they will ask, "What is that church? What is the teaching of your church, that you have changed?" And that's the way you bring them to the Lord.
So these are things that we have to consider as a family. Husbands, we have to be strong, as leaders of our family. Sometimes we are wishy-washy. We are afraid. We're scared to lead. This is the role that God has given us. We have to do it. Of course, with the guidance of the Scriptures, the Bible is our guide. Wives, you may be wiser than your husbands. We have a family, I know about a family before where the wife, she said, "I may be a lawyer, I may be a doctor," and the husband was just an ordinary worker, a construction worker, but there was much respect for the wife. I know that this is a family that follows the biblical pattern. And so for the wives, submit to your husbands, in everything, and husbands, love, let us love our wives.
It is a temptation today of the world to lure husbands away from their wives because of the internet, pornography, and other things. Let us be careful. When you have heard of one example of a minister who once served, I respect him so much. In fact, I listened to his series of messages on expository preaching. I'm talking about Steve Lawson, you see, a lecturer in Master's Seminary, he reformed, preacher, good in expository preaching. But later, because of, you know, there was this relationship with another woman. He's already 70 years old, I think, but still became a victim of this enticement, seduction of the world. I found out that even one student who was also attending his lectures in the Philippines, he realised that when he goes to these places, he was alone. I thank God when an invitation came that I can come to speak, Pastor or the letter was that you can also bring your wife. So I must bring my wife. I know I'm weak. I cannot trust myself. I know I have the Lord, I know, I have God, I know God will protect me, but I know who I am. That's why I have to bring my wife. I told her, "You must always be with me. You know this man, you cannot just... you know, just trust, I cannot just trust myself. I trust in God, but the world is so seductive, the world is leading people away from the family." Because the service is to be done by the family, and if the husband is taken away or led away by these evil deeds, then it's all destroyed.
So I pray, wives, submitting to the husband is important. Husbands loving our wives is important. We must trust the Lord, but we must also help one another in keeping our vows, our all to the Lord. Because in these days, we are in the last days where Matthew says, "If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matthew 24:24 KJV) And we know it is impossible, but if it were possible, that's how deceptive, how seductive, the temptations today are. But in the last days, even the elect, if it were possible, can be deceived. That's how these temptations come to us, and so we pray that the Lord will preserve the family in order for us to serve the Lord.
"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15 KJV) Don't just take yourself—I'm the one called, I'm the one serving. I don't care about my family. I don't care about my wife and children. Let us all together come, because it is what God designed for us. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. For young people, bring your family. Involve your family. Let them know what you are doing. Don't just be seen in the church as serving and you don't even subject yourself to your parents. Husbands must be careful, and be careful of our ministers, because we know times are difficult. Wives must support their husbands so that husbands will be encouraged to continue to have faith in God.
So I pray this will be in the mindset and hearts of every believer. We have to understand this, we have to go back to the scriptures. We don't have enough time to go through the whole scripture to do this, but I trust and I believe it is being taught to you by Pastor. I know, let's continue on, learning the word of God and be instructed. And I pray, as Joshua says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15 KJV) If you don't want that way, if it is evil for you, if it's bad for you, if you don't want that kind of service, leave it. But for me, and not only for me, but my house, including my family, my wife and children, we will serve the Lord.
And let it be our conviction today—my family, me, and my family will serve the Lord. I will serve the Lord. I will bring my wife, though maybe physically, because they are busy, but they are supportive of me. They are praying with me.
And one thing that we have to do, as we close this message, is this important, really, that we have, especially for those with young children, to have regular family devotion. This is one thing that is lacking in many families today. And this is where the headship, the leadership of the husband, can be seen when we lead the family devotion, worship. It can only be done in five minutes, fifteen minutes. It depends on how busy you are. Of course, you'd have to take care of other things, but you must have a time with the family where your children will not only hear the words from the pastor and the elders, but they will hear from their own father the word of God.
And I thank God for this conviction. It's not me—I'm not that sincere also in those days—but I was just trying to encourage my children to be in devotion. I have told you that when we were in Pandan, I had to travel around 45 minutes to FEBC in those days, there were no MRT or train systems as much as we have today. So I had to go through some buses, but we had to do it. Before I left, they were still sleepy, but we had to do our devotion. We had to sing a hymn. We had to read the RPG. Don't force them to read the adult RPG—they have the children's RPG, or whatever materials from the church that your pastor recommends. That is a family devotion, family coming together.
If you're going to do it daily, then do it. Somehow, twice, thrice a week, there must be some time that you come together, pray together, and read the Bible. Husbands, fathers may not be able to expound because you may not have much training and you are still new to the scriptures. You can just read the devotions. It's not for you to stand up and give a sermon, but they will hear it from your own mouth. "My father, my dad, read this to me."
And we have to come together. In fact, even today, it’s not to boast, but I thank the Lord that even though they are already adults—twenty-plus years old—we still gather around every Wednesday to pray for one another. Although we cannot gather physically, today, we can have video calls. We come together to pray every Wednesday night. We have to pray for one another. They are still under our care. They are already in their twenties, almost thirties. I’m praying that somehow the Lord will give them partners, but still, they are under me, and I have to pray with them, to pray for the ministry, because they are part of the family. We must serve the Lord.
Thank God that there are young couples here. I pray you will start. If you have not started, I know some of you—many of you, in fact, maybe all of you—are doing this. We have to continue on, to have this family devotion, a prayer time, reading of the scriptures, just a portion of it in order for them to hear. I know it is hard, especially for when they come to this age.
One time, my son—okay, again, my son—but one time, he got addicted to some games. I think it was when he was almost in his early teens, to Minecraft or whatever. So I struggled with him, and we had a regular Bible study. It was hard. Purposely, when I sat down and read the Bible to him, he would close his eyes and try to really discourage me, but I still had to do it. Repeatedly, every fortnight, in order for him to be reminded. I thank God that he recovered from that problem.
They will discourage us, but let’s continue to nurture, admonish, and bring up our children to know and follow the Lord. Especially in these days, with the internet and all these gadgets, it is really hard to attract or to get the attention of young people. But we have to do it. We have to continue doing it, because we want to serve the Lord as a family.
How can we say, "Serving the Lord as a family," and only the father or only the mother is serving, and the children are all the way far off? Is that serving as a family? Let us pray for one another. Let us pray for our children, for we must accept and acknowledge that some of us, of course, many of us here are still young. Some of us are now in our fifties and sixties. We don't have much time left to live another thirty or forty years on this Earth. What will happen to our church and to the work of missions and evangelism if our own children are not even in the church or not even knowing the word of God, or not interested in serving the Lord?
Let us pray, and let it be that we all together, as one body in Christ, should not be judging one another, saying, "Oh, my family is better than yours," or "My family is more devoted than yours." No, we will encourage one another. In fact, don't see us as a family as a model one. No, we are far from it. We have struggles, we have problems, but we have to do it for the Lord, because He has done so much for us—such a great sacrifice He has made for us. Why can’t we offer a little bit of that sacrifice for the few years we have on Earth when He has reserved for us a place for eternity, where we shall rejoice together with Him?
If that is what gives us the hope and trust that we have in eternal life, why can’t we give a little bit of that?
Let me close this with an example of an apostolic, let me say, apostolic father, because he was already not an apostle—a Polycarp. Polycarp, when he was tried and he was there, put on a pole to be burnt, one person was there asking him, "If you want to recant, you will be burnt. I am bringing the fire now. I will put it on, and you will die. Please recant."
It’s just for eighty and six years the Lord has been so faithful to me. He has never wronged me. He has not done anything against me. How can I deny my Lord and my Saviour?
If we recall our lives from the beginning, can you enumerate or can you list even one, or two, or even five times that the Lord failed you? I would challenge you. List, just make a list of those times that the Lord failed you. He did not answer you, He did not help you, He did not give you, He did not provide for you. List them, and then try to list also how many times He has been so good to you, kind to you, loving to you.
As a Christian, don’t count your salvation—just the things that you deserve, you receive from the Lord. And count and compare. And use that as your basis. I mean, we have the scriptures, of course, but think and understand why we need to serve the Lord as a family.
I pray the Lord will help us and guide us, and use our families here to even promote the Lord Jesus Christ, even to glorify His name. Let us pray.
- All glorious, merciful, gracious Father in heaven,
Thank Thee for Thy mercy and grace upon us,
People who have done wrong, evil, wicked, even before Thee.
We have received so much from Thee, but we have failed Thee,
but Thou art our God, who is gentle, merciful, compassionate,
that Thou hast brought us again, even when Thou chastise us,
Thou art so gentle to whisper and to us how much Thou lovest us,
and Thou hast continued to care for us.
And even for our families, O Lord, we pray that Thou wilt help us
to understand how we need to serve Thee as a family,
how we need, as fathers, to love our wives,
our children and wives to submit, love their husbands,
children to submit and honour their parents,
that we may be seen as worthy servants of Thine.
So, Father, be with us, continue to bless this church,
continue to be with this church, especially for the leaders of this church.
And to everyone who are here, thank Thee for how Thou hast given us this privilege
to come together, and the presence of one another is an encouragement.
So we pray, Lord, that Thou wilt bring more people, even into the church,
but let it be also that those who are here will give themselves to serve
in whatever opportunities, privileges that Thou hast for each one of them.
Thank Thee, Lord, for Thy mercy and grace upon us.
We pray and we ask all this with thanksgiving in the blessed name
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.*