Lord’s Day, Vol. 2 No. 17
(1) Blessed Good Friday and Easter Sunday Services
Thank God for gathering us for worship on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Our youth choir sang for the first time on Good Friday to the praise and glory of His blessed Name. The hymn was “Jesus Paid It All” with Mrs. Siow conducting and Miss Lois Lek on the keyboard. It was a memorable Good Friday service with Mrs. Ivy Ng–Jamieson joining us for worship after a two-week treatment at the National University Hospital. Thank God for sustaining and keeping her. Praise God also for new visitors including my aunt who came to church for the first time. May the gospel seed sown, take root and bear fruit. All praise and glory to our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
(2) Charity is not easily provoked (1 Corinthians 13:5a)
“To provoke” is “to rouse to anger or indignation.” It describes one who is short fused. It has the idea “to irritate, to cause to be upset”. The grammatical context tells us that it is an external provocation that stirs up this anger perhaps when our expectations are not met. We may be provoked because of fear or frustration, due to hurt or that we have experienced some injustice. This charity is that God-given grace where a person is not easily offended in the face of provocations. The Apostle James says in James 1:19-20 “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” The man of God who shows charity is able to exercise good self-control over his response to provocation. He is good tempered. He is not easily irritable. He is righteous or God-honouring in his response to evil. This is often very difficult but it shows forth a sanctified heart that results in sanctified words and actions. In a sense, we are not speaking about righteous anger as when our Lord Jesus casted out the money-changers and those who sold doves in the temple of God. Our Lord explained the grounds for his anger in Matthew 21:13 “…My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” There is a righteous anger that does not incur God’s wrath.
The first covenant home set up by Adam and Eve was devastated when one sibling killed another, Cain killed Abel. It must have grieved the hearts of the parents to see such carnage in the home. The Bible says Cain was very wroth (very angry). There is that boiling anger that caused Cain to lose his peace in his heart, to be provoked so much as to take the life of his brother Abel.
An article in The Straits Times dated on 25 November 2009 headlined, “Violence Cuts Across All Classes”. It was reported that spousal abuse – largely man hurting his wife in the privacy of their home – remained the most common of family violence in Singapore. Cases of the elderly, children, siblings, husbands or dating couples being hit by those they love are also on the rise. Even divorcees are increasingly being harassed and threatened by their former spouses. Another headline read, “More better-educated abused women, double the number in recent years, are seeking help.” The victims are more articulate, self-assured, and often have to juggle looking after children and careers. Some have master’s degrees and even PhDs. What has gone wrong? Domestic violence in the home is very common even among Christian homes. Physical and/or verbal abuse resulted in family life grinding to a stand still! Hot-tempered spouses because of their anger often cause untold miseries to their family. Somehow the knowledge of God’s Word is not translated to a meaningful change of heart. We give a mental assent but lack an inner conviction to walk with God, to live as true Christians should! Unresolved anger has caused many a family to be broken.
This aspect of biblical love teaches us to examine our hearts and not let such sinful emotions to cause us to lose our peace and to provoke us to wrath. We need to surrender ourselves to God and seek His ways and not allow such selfish anger to ruin our Christian testimony. May we ask the Lord to give us a good temper that we may not be easily provoked but bear this spiritual fruit of charity! Amen.
Yours lovingly
Pr Lek Aik Wee