KJ 58 MAHAKASIH YANG ILAHI
PKJ 284 DI BALIK MALAM
1 Di balik malam terbitlah fajar;
bersama Yesus kita senang.
Jerih dunia telah berakhir
di balik malam sorga terang.
...
2 Di balik malam ‘ku dibimbingNya
kepada Bapa yang kusembah.
Hadirat Allah kulihat nyata
di balik malam selamanya.
PKJ 245 Fill My Cup Lord - Seperti Wanita di Pinggir Sumur
Sing Along Songs by ParsonRob
1. I Sing the Mighty Power of God
2. We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise
3. This is The Day
The Servant King" by Maranatha Singers
Praise The Lord
KJ 68 Tahukah Kamu Jumlah Bintang - Weisst du wieviel Sternlein stehen
Great Song Medley Sing Along:
1. Great Is The Lord
2. Thy Loving Kindness (PKJ 209-Kasih Setia-MU)
3. We Have Come Into His House (PKJ 13 Kita Masuk Rumah-Nya)
This is a personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 13 March 2011 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.
Passage: John 9:6-25
After Jesus healed the blind, the whole town was astonished. They debated who Jesus was. Jesus did not withhold His grace from the poor. Many people will favour the rich first because of their money. But Jesus healed the poorest of the poor.
God breathed life into man when God created man. This time Jesus used His saliva upon the man’s eyes and asked him to wash. This is a lesson of obedience. We often question when asked to do what we consider to be lowly. In being disobedient we are very articulate. But in the heart of obedient believers there is no question why. Do we presume that an answer to our questions will make us understand the mystery of God? Does the wisdom of God have to be explained to us? God does all things according to His will and needs no counsellor. If we have a stubborn and rebellious attitude it is impossible to live a life of peace.
This blind man was completely obedient. He immediately responded when Jesus asked him to wash in the pool of Siloam, which was not an easy thing for a blind man to do. Each time he spoke he was honest, showing himself to be selfless and responsible.
When there was doubt regarding the miracle, he acknowledged that he is the man who was once blind. He did not want to escape the comments of the people to conclude the debate. When we bear witness we often speak well of our strengths and hide our weaknesses. It is not so with this blind man. After he confessed he was brought to the Pharisees. This is because a person who has been healed need to be brought to the priest and be declared clean to be accepted back into the society.
When asked how he was healed, he was very precise in his testimony. “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” (Jn. 9:11)
From the Pharisees’ point of view, the person who healed was a sinner because he broke the Sabbath. Some think Jesus was from God because a blind man was healed. But some think He was not from God as He healed on Sabbath day. There was debate about Jesus. God often allowed conflicts and struggles to lead some people to the truth.
With the divided opinions, they turned to the healed man to give his stand about Jesus. He was most honest. He did not know where Jesus was. But as he had been healed by Jesus, he believed Jesus is a prophet.
After he said that, they still did not believe. They suspected he was not the blind man but was only pretending to be. They summoned his parents to confirm if this man was really their son who was born blind, and how is it that he could now see. His parents acknowledged that he was their son who was born blind. This proved that the healing was genuine. But his parents said they did not know how and who healed him, and that he was already an adult who could speak for himself so they should ask him.
The Scripture said, “His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.” (Jn. 9:21-22). This is significant because being put out of synagogue means they were cast out of the Jewish society. Most people just play it safe by avoiding all troubles.
This man was a great man but his parents were very typical people with timid character. Like the healed blind man, we need to learn to boldly stand for the truth. May the Lord have mercy on us.
We Choose the Fear of the Lord, by Maranatha Music
Make Me A Servant - Maranatha Singers
Fill My Cup, Lord
KJ 108 Takhta Mulia di Tempat Baka - Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
NKB 123 DALAM BADAI HIDUPKU - Trusting Jesus - Simply trusting every day
KJ 365b - Tuhan, Ambil Hidupku - Neem mijn leven, laat het Heer
This is a personal summary of the preaching of Rev Dr Stephen Tong on 6 March 2011 in True Way Presbyterian Church. It was preached in Chinese with English translation.
Passage: John 9:1-3
Jesus saw the world differently from us. Sometimes we see actively and sometimes passively. When seeking after something, we see actively and selectively. In Jn. 9:1, Jesus was actively seeing but the disciples were passive. They just followed Jesus.
Jesus saw a man, blind from birth. He first saw that the person was made in the image of God, created by God’s word, exists to glorify God.
If we can see someone in this way first before looking at all his problems, we will treat the person differently. We cannot have good relationships because we do not see this. When we see a person with weaknesses, we need to first respect his humanity, then look at his weaknesses. If we look at the weakness first we start to despise the person. This is the difference between a good and bad minister, a good and bad teacher. We need to first recognise that every man is made in the image of God and not merely judge by appearance.
Any common man who saw this man will first see that he is blind. But Jesus first saw a man made in the image of God. Jesus Christ the Son of Man shows us how to live, how to look at a human being. He never rejects the greatest sinner and never accepts the tiniest sin. In His flesh, He demostrates His divine nature. He healed the most despicable man. When Jesus saw this man, He saw His humanity, the perfection in creation in this man who was born blind. God create us perfect, why do we then equate people with their weaknesses when we see them?
On one hand we need to acknowledge what is wrong but we also need to ask people to repent with the love of God. Francis Schaeffer opened the L’abri ministry to welcome anybody who had nowhere to go and wanted to find answers about life. It is a shelter for many intellectuals who had lost their faith to come with honest questions. His books, “The God who is there”, “Escape from Reason”, “He is there and He is not silent” and “How then shall we live” are targetted to address honest doubts about faith.
Schaeffer said that Christians should respond to this world, to give honest answers to honest questions. We should not reject people just because they do not believe or despise them because of their weaknesses. This will influence the way the church grows. When there is lack of respect and empathy and pastoral work, people will leave the church.
When seeing the blind man, Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (Jn. 9:2) If it is the man himself who sinned, what sin did he commit and how did he commit it before he was born? Could it be his parents’ sins then? Humans like to ask this kind of curious questions. When reason observes things it cannot understand, it tries to compare and question.
We often try to find who is to be blamed for something that goes wrong. When we see problem, we cannot save and cannot comfort, and what we can do is to find who to blame for the problem. Most people do not contribute to the society. All they do is to look for scapegoat to blame. When we see problems in the society, we blame the government system, the media and everyone else. This is not the way to solve problem.
Jesus’ attitude was different. He answered: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” (Jn. 9:3). Jesus’ reply is philosophically significant. People tend to have either-or thinking which locks them into narrow answers, but Jesus’ answer is neither-nor. His paradigm is different because He is the Son of God. We are created, limited and polluted. We are not Creator, so we cannot be so right. We are so limited ourselves so we should not expect too much from others. We are polluted so there is no ground to be self-righteous.
Jesus Christ is indeed the truth. His response was not to play the blame game, but to accept reality and recognise God’s sovereignty. This is the best general direction to solve problems. Jesus said, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
We need to learn from Christ. Pray to God to enable us to recognise His works. What is God’s will and plan above all the sufferings and difficulties in life? The message of Christianity gives the answers.
Passage: John 9:1-3
Jesus saw the world differently from us. Sometimes we see actively and sometimes passively. When seeking after something, we see actively and selectively. In Jn. 9:1, Jesus was actively seeing but the disciples were passive. They just followed Jesus.
Jesus saw a man, blind from birth. He first saw that the person was made in the image of God, created by God’s word, exists to glorify God.
If we can see someone in this way first before looking at all his problems, we will treat the person differently. We cannot have good relationships because we do not see this. When we see a person with weaknesses, we need to first respect his humanity, then look at his weaknesses. If we look at the weakness first we start to despise the person. This is the difference between a good and bad minister, a good and bad teacher. We need to first recognise that every man is made in the image of God and not merely judge by appearance.
Any common man who saw this man will first see that he is blind. But Jesus first saw a man made in the image of God. Jesus Christ the Son of Man shows us how to live, how to look at a human being. He never rejects the greatest sinner and never accepts the tiniest sin. In His flesh, He demostrates His divine nature. He healed the most despicable man. When Jesus saw this man, He saw His humanity, the perfection in creation in this man who was born blind. God create us perfect, why do we then equate people with their weaknesses when we see them?
On one hand we need to acknowledge what is wrong but we also need to ask people to repent with the love of God. Francis Schaeffer opened the L’abri ministry to welcome anybody who had nowhere to go and wanted to find answers about life. It is a shelter for many intellectuals who had lost their faith to come with honest questions. His books, “The God who is there”, “Escape from Reason”, “He is there and He is not silent” and “How then shall we live” are targetted to address honest doubts about faith.
Schaeffer said that Christians should respond to this world, to give honest answers to honest questions. We should not reject people just because they do not believe or despise them because of their weaknesses. This will influence the way the church grows. When there is lack of respect and empathy and pastoral work, people will leave the church.
When seeing the blind man, Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (Jn. 9:2) If it is the man himself who sinned, what sin did he commit and how did he commit it before he was born? Could it be his parents’ sins then? Humans like to ask this kind of curious questions. When reason observes things it cannot understand, it tries to compare and question.
We often try to find who is to be blamed for something that goes wrong. When we see problem, we cannot save and cannot comfort, and what we can do is to find who to blame for the problem. Most people do not contribute to the society. All they do is to look for scapegoat to blame. When we see problems in the society, we blame the government system, the media and everyone else. This is not the way to solve problem.
Jesus’ attitude was different. He answered: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” (Jn. 9:3). Jesus’ reply is philosophically significant. People tend to have either-or thinking which locks them into narrow answers, but Jesus’ answer is neither-nor. His paradigm is different because He is the Son of God. We are created, limited and polluted. We are not Creator, so we cannot be so right. We are so limited ourselves so we should not expect too much from others. We are polluted so there is no ground to be self-righteous.
Jesus Christ is indeed the truth. His response was not to play the blame game, but to accept reality and recognise God’s sovereignty. This is the best general direction to solve problems. Jesus said, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
We need to learn from Christ. Pray to God to enable us to recognise His works. What is God’s will and plan above all the sufferings and difficulties in life? The message of Christianity gives the answers.
KJ 412 Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah - Tuntun Aku, Tuhan Allah
