要记得耶稣基督 Remember Jesus Christ

Title: Remember Jesus Christ
Date: 15th Oct 2023
Preacher: Rev. Wong Siow Hwee

Allow me to share a strange pastime of mine. I like to watch YouTube travel videos of vloggers visiting Singapore. It is strange because most people would presumably watch travel videos of places they have never visited before, right? Why would you watch something that you are already so familiar with? The best way I can explain myself is that I feel good when these foreigners sing praises of Singapore. Some of them call it a city of the future. Some who are frequent travellers say it is the best place they have ever visited. So lately, this has become a favourite pastime of mine. I guess watching these travel videos makes me proud to be a Singaporean.

I start today’s reflection not to boast about Singapore, but to allow us to ponder over the topic of shame and glory. What makes us feel proud by association, and what makes us feel like denying our ties to them? In today's passage, we'll dive into 2 Timothy 2 and discover how these themes of shame and glory are intricately woven into the lives of early Christians, including Timothy himself. It is a key theme because Christians would undoubtably be associated with Jesus Christ. Yet, as Rev. WK highlighted from 2 Timothy 1, the background issues are the shame towards the message of the crucifixion, as well as the persecution and Paul’s imprisonment. 【1】 Crucifixions were meant for outlaws, and imprisonments were meant for criminals. So, the dilemma that Timothy must have been struggling with, was the implied shame of the gospel.

This feeling of shame directly impacts the instruction of “passing on” in verse 2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” It is easy to pass on what you are proud of. However, the key challenge to this task will undoubtably be the church’s leaders’ feelings towards what to pass on. As Paul confessed in 2 Timothy 1, 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Put yourself in the shoes of Timothy, would you knowingly pass on something that will bring suffering?

Is there a solution? Of course. Just simply remove the parts that are undesirable. You can talk about our resurrection and victory (2:18), and “accidentally” leave out what happened to Jesus at the cross. And if Paul annoyingly nags you about it, then simply cut ties with him as many church leaders in the early church had done (1:15). Anyway, it is not like there is any advantage to being linked to him. Who knows, his troubles with the law might even implicate you by association.

But despite this obvious and simple solution, the strangest thing happened in history. When the early church decided to pass on the story of Jesus from oral to written form, which happened in the years after 2 Timothy, the gospel writers all kept the message of the cross. In fact, all of them, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John made the sacrifice in Jerusalem a highlight of their gospel, at least 30-50% of the entire story of Jesus. It was the same for the story of Paul. Luke made Paul the main character for the second half of Acts. Similarly, Paul’s letters were the ones that were passed on as canonical and authoritative by the early church. What happened? Was the early church that clueless about marketing and being consumer-sensitive that they forgot to remove Jesus and Paul from the gospel? Of course not. You can even say that they deliberately chose to emphasize the death of Jesus on the cross and they did not even censor away Paul’s mentioning of his imprisonment from his letters. What happened?

The answer is in the title of my sermon today: remember Jesus Christ. According to verse 8 of our passage today, there are two things that we must never forget about Jesus Christ: “raised from the dead, descended from David”. It is because Jesus is descended from David that unites him with the ancient promise of a Messiah. It is because Jesus is raised from the dead, that proves that this Messiah has overcome the power of sin and death. And since Jesus is the divinely authenticated salvation from God, then three things have been permanently changed with regards to how we view the glory and shame related to Jesus. I call them the three Rs: Recipient, Rules, and Reward. As we delve deeper into this topic, we'll explore three crucial aspects: the Recipient of our devotion, the Rules that guide our faith, and the ultimate Reward that awaits us.

First the Recipient of our devotion has changed. Paul used the analogy of a soldier who only listens to the commanding officer. This analogy is straight forward because we can all understand that why a soldier would charge up a hill and put himself in the line of flying bullets, based on a single command. One may have many concerns in life, but once you are a soldier, then following orders becomes your only concern. That is the case as well for our concerns of shame when we have to spread the gospel. We may be people-pleasers in life to varying degrees, but on the matter of Jesus, he now becomes the sole recipient, and the only one we should be concerned about pleasing.

Second, besides the recipient, the rules that guide our faith have also changed. Paul used the analogy of athletic games whereby the rules alone is the only arbiter of whether you win or lose. I was reading about the controversy at the recent Asian Games women’s 100m hurdles final. 【2】The officials took a while to decide what to do because there were two runners who had false starts. The only way to resolve it without further dispute was simply to follow the rules. The rules say they are allowed to race pending a judgment. And in the end, one was disqualified while the other wasn’t, because the rules state only the first false starter is to be disqualified. It is the same when we are worried about being associated with Jesus during evangelism. The rules are clearly stated:
11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12 if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
In short, we must cast away whatever concerns we have about shame, the way to honour is to stick with Jesus through thick and thin. Those are the rules. The rules will eventually confirm that we will be resurrected with Jesus and reign with him.

Lastly, the reward has changed. This time, Paul used a farming analogy linking hard work and harvest. We can all understand the principle of reaping what you sow. But I think this metaphor is especially relevant to the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross. Let’s appreciate this metaphor in Jesus’ own words in John 12: 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. The shame of suffering is temporal, just like the hard work of farming. But it would be all worth it if the reward is eternal glory (2:10).

Now that we've explored these concepts, let's discuss how we can apply them in our daily lives as Christians. One of the key ministries that we have be called to serve is in evangelism. Moment of truth: our feelings towards the gospel directly impact our motivation to evangelize. I started with a reflection of our hometown. If I’m proud of Singapore, I would be proud to profess to be a Singaporean, and I will welcome people to come visit Singapore. Whereas if Singapore has a bad reputation, I would be evasive about my hometown, isn’t it? So, we must be honest about our true feelings of being a Christian, or being associated with Jesus Christ. I remember when I was a teenager, I was rather evasive about being a Christian. I was afraid that I would be typecasted as a goody-two-shoes, and be excluded from all the “fun” activities that the cool kids would be doing. Even today, when I tell new people I meet that I’m a pastor, I admit I still have a slight hesitation, I wonder in my head if they have negative thoughts related to the anti-Science, or pro-Trump Christians in America. No surprise then that I am not that enthusiastic about evangelism if I’m not convince the gospel is good news to anyone.

Today, maybe unlike the early church, the shame of the Cross is no longer a concern, and neither is Paul’s imprisonment. But perhaps we still have other concerns linked to pride and shame, such as the fear of rejection, or the fear of being marginalized by those biased against Christians. Paul’s reminder to Timothy may be the essential mindset shift that we all need to have: Remember Jesus Christ.
First, we remember that he is now the recipient. It is not the world’s affirmation that we need. It is not even about pleasing ourselves and making ourselves feel good. Jesus Christ is the king of kings, and the lord of lords, and the only one we need to please.
Because when we remember Jesus Christ, we are reminded of the second thing that has changed: the rules. This world tells us that if we want to be accepted, then we need fame and fortune. But what if the only acceptance we need comes from Jesus Christ? Then we need to be in union with his death and suffering and count that as our salvation. When you really know the rules, then you will see that all the shame means nothing, and all the fame and fortune of this world means nothing.
Because when we remember Jesus Christ, then we realize the reward has changed. Jesus was mocked and shamed, but he endured the suffering even to the point of death to receive the final vindication from God. Today he is sitting at the right-hand side of God. That is the reward. What we truly want becomes the eternal glory in resurrection.

This explains why the early church stuck with the message of the cross. Paul said that 8 This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Nothing could stop the truth of the gospel from moving forward because the recipient, the rules, and the reward has changed because of Jesus Christ. In conclusion, let's reflect on what it truly means to remember Jesus Christ and how it impacts our faith and our mission as Christians. The final Sunday of this month is our evangelistic Sunday. And if you remember Jesus Christ, I hope you serve him well too. If you feel moved by the message today, then spread the good news. Cast away all other concerns of pride and shame because Jesus should be your only concern as the recipient, the rules, and the reward. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Bring those who have yet to hear the gospel on the last Sunday. Inform your cell group and zone pastor of your plans, so that we can all pray for you, and welcome them into the family.

【1】https://www.jubilee.org.sg/sermons/?sermon_id=1276
【2】https://www.espn.in/espn/story/_/id/38537095

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