Sermon Text: Psalm 39
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 26th March 2023
Sermon Text: Psalm 39
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 26th March 2023
Sermon Text: Psalm 38
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 19th March 2023
Jeremy Chan
By the grace of God, I was born into a Christian family and brought up in a Bible-believing church. For as long as I can remember, Christianity has always been a significant part of my life growing up.
However, I was not spared from some of the potential pitfalls faced by second-generation Christians. Growing up in church, I had said the sinner’s prayer many times with my Sunday school teachers, but still wasn’t exemplifying and living out the Christian life outside of Sundays.
It was only in my early twenties that there was a significant evidential change in my life. There was an interest in the reading and studying of God’s Word that wasn’t there before. Attending Sunday service, Bible studies, and fellowship meetings became more than just a routine, accompanied with a desire to be instructed by the Word of God. It was an eventual realisation of the release from the grip of sin, and finally experiencing peace with God after all these years. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
The Lord first led me to Gethsemane BPC in 2012, having heard Pastor Koshy preach during my time in Teenz and YF. However, it was only during the COVID period that I began attending more regularly together with my wife, Sandra. Throughout our time here, we’ve been greatly blessed by the messages which place emphasis on how we should be seeing our life here on earth through the lens of God’s Word. The warm reception shown by the members at Gethsemane BPC to both my wife and myself also helped us assimilate into the family of God here.
We look forward to growing more in the Lord and serving Him here in Gethsemane BPC.
Sandra Wong
I first heard about God during my preschool years. Despite coming from an unbelieving family, my parents had placed me in a Christian kindergarten, by the grace of God. It was during my time in school that I first heard about His goodness – and how He loves the little children, as we sang to the lyrics in ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and gave thanks before every meal. Even though I knew that God existed, I did not associate the singing of hymns nor the giving of thanks to His perfect goodness or to the Gospel.
God continued to draw me closer to Him as I progressed on to a Christian primary school. It was then that I first experienced His goodness. My classmate had shared, with a hopeful demeanour, that her grandmother had passed on. Puzzled, I asked her why she was smiling, to which she responded, “Because God is with her in heaven, where we will meet again.” That was the first time I witnessed the goodness of Christ in His turning ‘death’ - a supposed fear of all men - into faith, hope and joy. Ever since that day, I would always seek Him, though lacking in spiritual knowledge, during times of darkness. Looking back, I realised it was God’s special favour upon me, in allowing that exchange between two young girls to take place and ultimately calling me to commence on my walk with Him.
However, even though I started to identify myself as a believer, my life had not been freed from sin. Despite saying the sinner’s prayer in church during a Christmas service (which I was invited to as a teenager), my desires continued to be worldly. I thank God for eventually leading me to a Bible-believing church in my late twenties - and for prompting me to eventually seek baptism. I was exposed to His Word regularly, and by God’s grace, I found my life deeply nourished by the added knowledge of His Word. I experienced significant changes in my life, which has since revolved around a motivation to be a holy witness for Christ to point my unsaved loved ones to Him.
God eventually led my husband and me to attend Gethsemane BPC more regularly during COVID - a period when access to in-person worship was scarce, yet even more precious. We thank God for Gethsemane BPC’s dedication to allow as many of God’s people as possible to worship within His house. We have been greatly blessed by the messages preached by Pastor Koshy, which have enabled us (through understanding Christ’s love for us) to continue to love and serve each other through our marriage. We have also been truly blessed by the warm fellowship extended to us by fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in Gethsemane. We thank God for calling us to Gethsemane BPC, and hope to continue growing in the Lord here.
Scripture clearly teaches us that the remedy for the onslaught of carnality is preaching that confronts sin with burning words and bold rebuke. Consider the preaching of the prophet Isaiah. In the very first chapter itself, Isaiah delivered a startling rebuke of sin. Isaiah denounced the Israelites’ sacrifices as hypocritical. He boldly declared that God despised their oblations, their incense, their holy days and feasts. Then in no uncertain terms, he told them that God would not hear their prayers because their hands were full of blood. Again in that chapter, he denounced them for their oppression of the poor, for their rebellion against God, for their spiritual harlotry. He was unflinching when he remarked that their princes “ran” with thieves (with everyone looking for bribes), and that their leaders did not give honest protection to widows and orphans. And that is only one example from many in the preaching of Isaiah. He preached gallantly against sins!
Consider Nathan, the prophet who rebuked David. He is a fine example of a God-honouring preacher who preaches succinctly against sin. Even King David’s royal pomp was no hindrance to his preaching against sin. So Nathan boldly preached a sermon, using a parable to show the wickedness of David’s sin. Then when anger within David was aroused against the hypothetical rich man who had taken his neighbour’s little ewe lamb, Nathan, with crushing and powerful effect, pointed his finger in the face of King David and said, “Thou art the man” (2 Samuel 12:7)! Nathan showed David his horrible sin of murdering Uriah in order to take his wife, Bathsheba. Nathan did not fear the royalty of David. Therefore, he stood up for God and openly denounced David’s sin.
Consider John the Baptist. He sharply rebuked sin. He did not try to be tactful or mild in his rebuke. He firmly told the Jews, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matthew 3:7-8). He made no exception for the Jewish leaders either. He told them they would be hewn down like fruitless trees to be cast into the fire of hell. He was just as bold when he confronted Herod the king, and told him plainly that he had no right to take his brother’s wife (cf. Matthew 14:3-4).
Consider the preaching of Stephen. Acts 7 recounts the episode of his rebuke of the sins of the Jews. He loudly declared to them, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it” (7:51–53)!
Though many more of God’s servants can be mentioned, let us look at just one more preacher, the apostle Paul, for our consideration. On his first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas came to Paphos. When Elymas the sorcerer withstood them and tried to keep Sergius Paulus, the deputy ruler of the country, from being saved, Paul, being filled with the Holy Ghost, faced him and said, “O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10).
Preachers who refuse to preach against sin for fear of being branded as negative, certainly do not follow the pattern of these great men of God. However, those who do preach against sin hurt the feelings of their carnal hearers and made some of them angry, causing frustrations amid the crowd. But they are faithful to God and to the Bible.
As much as preachers are called to preach about God’s love, they are also called to preach against sin. The Lord Jesus loved men, and loved sinners enough to die for them, but how He hated sin! Remember how He made a whip to drive the traders from the temple, overturned the tables of the moneychangers, and scattered the money on the stone floor! Preaching ought to be like that sometimes. With holy boldness, preachers ought to hate sin and expose it.
Oh, how Jesus preached against sin! He preached against covetousness; He preached against unbelief; He preached against adultery – including even looking on a woman to lust after her. He preached against holding grudges and said that if men did not forgive, neither would the Father in Heaven forgive them. He said to the Pharisees and scribes, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:44). Men hated Jesus because He preached against sin. May God forgive us preachers who do not preach like Jesus because we fear the anger of men.
Today, we need preachers who refuse to be influenced by the sophistry of the popular preachers who do not preach against sin. It is true that preachers ought not to be cowards. They must be courageous to rebuke from the pulpit, as well as privately, if need be. The preacher who never has a word to say against immodest apparel, drunkenness, adultery, lewdness, covetousness and blasphemy is a “dumb dog” who cannot bark. He is a “Balaam” preaching for profit. He has fallen into the snare of the fear of man. We need preaching against sin, against particular sins. May God give us many youthful, vibrant and fearless preachers everywhere, who will speak for God against the carnality that has invaded churches of our time.
Carnality is a swelling tide in churches everywhere, pushing godliness out of the ministries and lives of their leaders and members. Churches are crowded with carnal and materialistic people. Any form of emphasis on modesty, purity and godliness is considered weak and useless, while tolerance of carnality and worldliness is cherished as profitable virtues.
The appearance, mannerisms and pursuits of many members of modern churches speak volumes about the tragic level of accommodation of worldliness that exists within the churches today. It is all too obvious that preachers, who have been entrusted to “preach the word… reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine”, have drastically failed in their duty. Many preachers, even those who claim to be biblical preachers, shy away from rebuking carnality within their congregations. In fact, preaching has become much worse than that. Licentious preaching is heard everywhere. Many preachers have deteriorated to the point that they even make fun of preachers who warn relentlessly against the worldly mentality of churchgoers. The “acceptable preaching” of our times requires refraining from the rebuking of carnality, and the dishing out of ready reassurances and blessings to all churchgoers, even to those who indulge in carnal living.
The Bible clearly speaks about the reasons for the tolerance of carnality by preachers. Three of those reasons are discussed below:
The insatiable desire for popularity is often the cause for preachers’ tolerance of sin within their congregation. They would rather maintain a comfortable relationship with their carnal members than have to deal with their ire when rebuked for their carnal living. Tolerance of sin is a very different issue from being patient with a man who is repentant and submissive to the rebuke of the Word. Tolerance is to permit members to continue in their unchaste behaviour without being rebuked or warned. A preacher, who wants to be in the good books of all men, hardly dares to expose or confront his members’ sins.
A pastor who rebukes the carnality of the people is often called “a negative preacher”. He receives comments such as, “O, his preaching is too negative”; “he is a narrow-minded and intolerant preacher”; or “he has this ‘holier than thou’ attitude”. The “crime” of such a faithful pastor is that he calls their sins, “sins”. How should God’s people read and apply the Ten Commandments that God has given through Moses? Eight of them are negative! Jeremiah’s preaching ministry is summarised as: “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10). Four negatives and two positives! So was the preaching of every other faithful servant of the Lord.
Our Lord Jesus preached fearlessly against the sins of His hearers. He did not mince His words against the sins of His “religious” hearers so that He might become more popular among them (cf. John 8:44; Matthew 23). Would modern churchgoers that dislike preachers who strongly warn them against their carnal living, ever have God’s prophets like Moses, Jeremiah, Malachi, John the Baptiser, etc. to preach to them in their churches? Would they have Christ and the apostles to preach to them?
The apostle Paul instructed Timothy to “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). In the context of this instruction to preachers, Paul warned, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Timothy 4:3-5). Irrespective of people’s opinions, faithful preachers must preach against the sins of their hearers.
Another reason for preachers’ present lack of rebuking of sin is their greed. Today, many who fill the role of pastors are men of “corrupt minds”, whose philosophy is “supposing that gain is godliness” (1 Timothy 6:5). The prophet Isaiah mentioned greed as the reason why false prophets of his time stirred up the wayward nation of Israel, instead of rebuking it sharply. Read carefully Isaiah’s words that rebuked the prophets who failed to warn against the sins of the people – “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant” (Isaiah 56:10-12).
Many pastors are wary of offending prominent and rich members of the church who are carnal men. The covetous hearts of these pastors would rather speak words that please the wealthy and the prominent ones than offend them. They gather people by means of pleasing music and other entertainments, and then send them away in ‘high spirits’ to continue in their sins. It is no more uncommon to see skimpily dressed singers and dancers on the church stage during worship services. Undiscerning men and women gather around these performers with loud applause and screams. Sunday services are increasingly becoming religious entertainment for a “carnally thirsty” crowd. Why would Christian preachers promote such activities? One reason, according to the Bible, is that these provide them with many gains. In turn, they also teach their congregations that “gain is godliness”. Peter describes them as “beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children” (2 Peter 2:14b). Likewise, Jude warns, “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core” (v. 11)!
Another biblical reason accounting for preachers’ tolerance of carnality within the church is that they themselves are carnal men. The apostle Peter wrote, “Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin” (2 Peter 2:13-14). They will not rebuke but quietly approve the carnal mannerisms of the congregation because they themselves are men with “eyes full of adultery”! It is impossible that a righteous man would tolerate carnal behaviour and activities within his congregation. Preachers ought to be “preachers of righteousness”.
Church leaders, who know of carnality in their congregations and yet do not reprove it, may well be living in the lust of the flesh. Outwardly, such men may look religious and pious, but the Lord who knows all hearts, says that these are men full of lust. 2 Timothy 3:5-7 says of such men in the churches, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Sermon Text: Psalm 37:25–40
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 5th March 2023
Sermon Text: Psalm 37:1–24
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 26th February 2023
Elder Mah Chin Kwang
“Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.” Thus saith the LORD in Psalm 72:18-19. May we all humbly acknowledge that it is the LORD God Almighty alone that doeth wondrous things in our lives. And so may we all always bless His glorious name for ever! I am certain that this is the happy, recurring affirmation, the joyous perspective and reaction of the entire mission team, as we reflect on what the Lord has done in our midst during the short-term mission to Pangasinan.
There were several significant uncertainties encountered in the planning of the mission trip. In certain situations, we were able to plan for contingencies, but for several others, we would not know till the very moment of execution. The need to actualise the very theme of this mission, “Give Me Understanding”, amidst these uncertainties, was in the hearts and minds of many who were actively praying and waiting on the Lord for answers to our prayers.
The Lord did not disappoint. Indeed, what He did for us will surely be the repeated refrain of brethren who will be sharing their testimonies in the coming days. Do read the testimonies from team members’ perspectives when they are available. For now, my reflections of the Lord’s goodness expressed in the paragraph below would suffice as a lead-in of the entire blessed story to be told by other team members, together with the photos accompanying their reflections.
The Lord’s providence, undertakings and leading are certainly evident when we consider the spontaneous show of support by our BOE, other leaders and brethren who readily rendered love-gifts (financially and in kind), words of encouragement and prayers. That’s not all. God’s mercy was further manifested as follows: this mission trip’s timing of a choice window of opportunity during a special, atypical one-week school break; the safety and well-being of every team member, together with local brethren (some of whom having to travel several hours from their homes to the Mission Church); safe and incident-free clearance by the Immigration and Customs authorities; an 11th-hour approval by the authorities of the local elementary school of its covered basketball court and assembly hall as the venue that amazingly accommodated 349 adults and children who came for the special event on Saturday, 11 February. “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 107:1). And so we say in response – “Praise the Lord! Purihin ang Panginoon!” – as our Filipino brethren would echo.
Mission Pangasinan 2023 gave us all the blessed opportunity to be mutually encouraged and strengthened in God’s Word, and in serving joyfully as His people. Furthermore, the mission trip gave us the joy of renewing our ties with brethren we have known before and of being acquainted with other brethren we have just met in the mission church. In particular, we thank God for the joy of standing and seeing for ourselves the very place that we all hope (in the Lord and by His providence) will stand the Mission Church’s building, for the extension of God’s work.
May the Word of God in Zep 3:17 – “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing” – be our joyful assurance and hope, as we all continue to walk and serve Him; as well as be that of Rev. Donald, his family and brethren in the Pangasinan Mission Church.
Dns Diana Chan
When I learned that Mission Pangasinan 2023 would be held from 8th to 12th February 2023, I prayed that God would enable me to join the trip. Praise God for His grace in clearing the way for me to join the Mission Team. I thank God for the help rendered by Elder Mah, Sis. Luan Kheng and Bro. Matthew Mah in sharing the children’s Bible lesson outlines and other material (such as bookmarks), as well as pointers on how to plan the Children’s Vacation Bible School in Pangasinan.
Throughout the 4-day mission trip, God is ever faithful. Morning by morning, new mercies we saw. On the first day (Thursday, 9 February), we did 4 home visitations. When we visited the homes of Bro. Kyt, Sis. Charlene Mae and their daughter Hannah, and later, Bro. Jumar and Sis. Olive, I praise God for them – for their serving, hand-in-hand, with Rev. Donald in the Lord’s vineyard. I thank God that we could visit Sis. Charlene Mae Abrena’s family. I was so impressed by and thankful for how the family could use a half-complete house for the home worship of the Lord and for the communion of saints. I felt so blessed that the Mission Team, together with the brethren of each family, could listen to the preaching of God’s Word (by Elder Mah, Pr Samson and Pr Jeremiah) and also sing hymns and spiritual songs to praise God.
Home visitations on Fri (10 Feb), were a different experience from those of the previous day, whereby we had to travel long distances from one home to another. That day, we did more walking (which was over rather rugged terrain). Thank God for His protection as some of us are quite senior in age. Along the way, we could enjoy the beauty of God’s creation, the lush greenery of corn fields, golden yellow rice fields, dried river beds, fruit trees, colourful flowers, goats and cattle. It was a joy to visit Sis. Cecile’s family. Praise the Lord for her siblings, nephews and nieces – for their service to the Lord. I was encouraged by the brethren for their warm Christian hospitality. We were delighted when served with fresh home-grown organic groundnuts, which is something so rare in Singapore.
I praise God for the street evangelism conducted with the local brethren, youths and adults alike. We paired up with the local brethren. I thank God for partnering with Sis. Marianette, who is the sister of Bro. Jomart Tindaan. By God’s appointment, we shared the Gospel with a villager. Sis. Marianette interpreted the sharing of the Gospel from English to Tagalog, the local dialect. I was pleasantly surprised to see the young man’s wife, son, mother-in-law and two other family members attending the Saturday’s children programme throughout the whole day. Praise the Lord! May God be merciful to save the family unto salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.
How wonderful it was that, at the end of that day’s activities of home visitation and street evangelism, we could go into the quietness of the Lord’s sanctuary in the Mission Church for the Friday Prayer Meeting. Thank God for a blessed hour of prayer, listening to God’s Word, delivered by Pr Jeremiah. We brought before the Lord our praises and thanksgiving, as well as our petitions and prayers, especially for the Adults’ Teaching Programme and the Children’s Vacation Bible School (to be held the next day on Saturday).
Come Saturday (11 February), we were excited. Everyone in the Mission Team had a role in serving the Lord, either in the Adults’ Teaching Programme or in the Children’s Vacation Bible School. When we stepped into the Inlambo Elementary School, we tried to familiarise ourselves with the place. As we were discussing the layout and logistics, testing the equipment, we could see children, adults (some of whom with toddlers in their arms), all streaming into the school. They. We were caught by surprise by the great numbers! Yet we were joyful! Thank God for giving us “understanding”. Our local brethren quickly changed their way of registration. Rev. Donald quickly relooked at the ordering of meals for lunch and tea breaks. The Mission Team quickly reviewed the schedule of the programme and made changes to the singspiration, art and craft session, with little or no compromise on time allocated for the Bible lessons.
Thank God that the brethren from the Mission Church and the Mission Team were united in serving the Lord joyfully. I thank God for the youths, who were so ready and prepared to serve the Lord. They stepped in quickly to “fill the gap” on their own accord, such as in interpreting Bible lessons to small groups of younger children, singing with them, helping them in art and craft, and serving lunch. As I looked at the multitude of children and adults, the harvest truly is great. I pray that, by the Lord’s grace, many of the children and adults will be saved through faith, according to God’s will and time.
On the morning of the Lord’s Day, we could see little children, youths, adults and senior brethren all getting ready to worship the Lord. It was heartening to hear that some brethren, who have to travel long distances to the Mission Church, would come to the church on Saturday and camp overnight in the open field of the church, so that they could be on time to worship the Lord on the Sabbath day! How grateful our hearts are to the Lord! Thank God that all of us could “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4).
I thank God for Rev. Donald, Sis. Sejin and their son Jesher, together with the local brethren, for their labour and toil in the Lord’s vineyard. I praise God for Pastor Koshy, our elders and the church for the support of the Lord’s work in our Pangasinan Mission Church.
Praise the Lord for Elder Mah for his leadership in Mission Pangasinan 2023. Thank God for Dn Gan for his support of the Lord’s work in the trip. Praise God for all the brethren, for the care and concern for one another as we served the Lord together. Most of all, I thank our most High God for His grace, mercy and protection of the Team. I am awed by the miraculous power of God and how He could use each of us in the mission trip for His purpose. To God be the glory, great things He had done!
Dn Gan Chin Hwi
I thank the Lord for the encouragement of my daughter, Chien Huey, to participate in Mission Pangasinan way back in April 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this mission trip was postponed to February this year – a lapse of almost 3 years. By the grace of God, we were once again able to travel to serve the Lord in the mission field of Pangasinan. Indeed, the Lord decides the timing.
This is my very first mission trip. I did not have much idea of what to expect. Elder Mah had asked me to support the mission as the assistant mission lead; I simply yielded myself, knowing that the Lord had placed me there for a specific purpose and that I would be able to learn from Elder Mah and other team members.
I praise the Lord for enabling the Mission Team to work together as one body in Christ, everyone functioning as a member of the same body, receiving the grace that is given unto us by God to work on the different needs of the mission (cf. Rom 12:5-6). In the process, I have experienced the love, joy and commitment of each of the team members, serving harmoniously together, with much humility, and with one heart.
I have also seen God’s intervention in facilitating the Mission Team to cross the checkpoint at Clark International Airport smoothly. We were granted a swift clearance by the customs officer when we presented the supporting letter from Rev Donald to him. I knew we cannot take this for granted, it was truly the intervention of God!
The visitation to 8 homes by the Mission Team was most encouraging and enriching. Our hearts were knitted together with the brethren in Pangasinan as we fellowshipped and rejoiced in the same Lord, sharing the same faith in Christ Jesus. Whilst the purpose of the Mission Team is to encourage our brethren in Pangasinan, I was even more encouraged by the testimony shown and the hospitality showered by our brethren in Pangasinan. They live a simple life, as compared to us; yet they showed no lack of praising and thanking God for what they have (cf. 1 Tim 6:6). At times, I felt that the Lord had given them a more rewarding and enriching life than us living in affluent Singapore. Our daily quests for the material world have, on many occasions, blinded our hearts to turn away from the simple truth of leaning on our Lord and enjoying Him forever!
Saturday (11 February), was one day that I will not forget. The sovereign Lord had brought many to hear the Word of God – way in excess of our initial estimates. When I looked at the faces of those children, I saw many eager souls wanting and determined to learn, and to know more. This is especially the case for those Grade 5 & 6 students, as I observe their focused participation during the art & craft session. I cannot help but pray within my heart that the Lord of the harvest will be merciful unto many of them, and that some will soon come to the knowledge of the saving grace of our Lord. Though none of these children turned up at the worship service the following day, I am comforted that the Lord had used us on that day to sow the seeds. The rest, I know my Lord will lead the way.
I praise and thank the Lord for this unique experience of serving Him in the mission field of Pangasinan. The Lord has been very gracious and merciful in leading us all the way; it was not as tough as I expected it to be. My heart is enlarged, and encouraged to serve Him in future mission trips. Indeed, the Lord has preconditioned and planted the deep desire in me to serve Him in future mission trips. There may be different challenges and even greater obstacles to come, but whatever it may be, there is joy going through the process of submission to the Lord, trusting in His protection and provisions, and seeing the mighty hand of God leading us to serve Him in the mission fields. As Psalm 32:8 reminds us, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” All glory be to His name!
Taken from Jeremiah Burroughs’ “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” (p.45-47), published by Banner of Truth. Jeremiah Burroughs (1599–1646) was an English Puritan preacher, who played a prominent role in the Westminster Assembly of divines.
A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition, as by way of subtraction. That is his way of contentment, and it is a way that the world has no skill in. I open it thus: not so much by adding to what he would have, or to what he has, not by adding more to his condition; but rather by subtracting from his desires, so as to make his desires and his circumstances even and equal. A carnal heart knows no way to be contented but this: I have such and such possessions, and if I had this added to them, and the other comfort added that I have not now, then I should be contented. Perhaps I have lost my possessions, if I could only have given to me something to make up my loss, then I should be a contented man. But contentment does not come in that way; it does not come, I say, by adding to what you want, but by subtracting from your desires. It is all one to a Christian, whether I get up to what I would have, or get my desires down to what I have, either to attain what I do desire, or to bring down my desires to what I have already attained. My wealth is the same, for it is as fitting for me to bring my desire down to my circumstances, as it is to raise up my circumstances to my desire.
Now, I say that a heart that has no grace, and is not instructed in this mystery of contentment, knows of no way to get contentment, but to have his possessions raised up to his desires; but the Christian has another way to contentment, that is, he can bring his desires down to his possessions, and so he attains his contentment. Thus, the Lord fashions the hearts of the children of men. If the heart of a man is fashioned to his circumstances, he may have as much contentment as if his circumstances were fashioned to his heart. Some men have a mighty large heart, but they have straitened circumstances and they can never have contentment when their hearts are big and their circumstances are little. But though a man cannot bring his circumstances to be as great as his heart, yet if he can bring his heart to be as little as his circumstances, to make them even, this is the way to contentment. The world is infinitely deceived in thinking that contentment lies in having more than we already have. Here lies the bottom and root of all contentment, when there is an evenness and proportion between our hearts and our circumstances. That is why many godly men who are in a low position live more sweet and comfortable lives than those who are richer. Contentment is not always clothed with silk and purple and velvet, but it is sometimes in a home-spun suit, in mean circumstances, as well as in higher. Many men who once have had great estates, and God has brought them into a lower position have had more contentment in those circumstances than they had before.
Now, how can that possibly be? Quite easily, if you only understood that the root of contentment consists in the suitableness and proportion of a man’s spirit to his possessions, an evenness where one end is not longer and bigger than the other. The heart is contented and there is comfort in those circumstances. But now let God give a man riches, no matter how great, yet if the Lord gives him up to the pride of his heart, he will never be contented; on the other hand, let God bring anyone into mean circumstances, and then let God but fashion and suit his heart to those circumstances and he will be content.
It is the same in walking: Suppose a man had a very long leg, and his other leg was short—why, though one of his legs was longer than usual, still he could not go as well as a man both of whose legs are shorter than his. I would compare a long leg, when one is longer than the other, to a man who has a high position and is very rich and a great man in the world, but he has a very proud heart, too, and that is longer and larger than his position. This man cannot but be troubled in his circumstances. Another man is in a low position, his circumstances are low and his heart is low too, so that his heart and his circumstances are even. This man walks with abundantly more ease than the other.
Thus, a gracious heart thinks in this way: “The Lord has been pleased to bring down my circumstances; now if the Lord brings down my heart and makes it equal to my circumstances, then I am well enough.” So, when God brings down his circumstances, he does not so much labour to raise up his circumstances again as to bring his heart down to his circumstances. Even the heathen philosophers had a little glimpse of this: they could say that the best riches is poverty of desires—those are the words of a heathen. That is, if a man or woman has his or her desires cut short, and has no large desires, that man or woman is rich.
So, this is the art of contentment: not to seek to add to our circumstances, but to subtract from our desires. Another author has said, The way to be rich is not by increasing wealth, but by diminishing our desires. Certainly, that man or woman is rich, who has his or her desires satisfied. Now, a contented man has his desires satisfied – God satisfies them, that is, all considered, he is satisfied that his circumstances are, for the present, the circumstances. So, he comes to this contentment by way of subtraction, and not addition.
Sermon Text: Psalm 36
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 19th February 2023