Sunday, July 25, 2010

Is Paul a Flip-Flopper?

FFoB 17: Paul's Change of Plans
(NIV) 2 Corinthians 1:15Because I was confident of this, I planned to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17When I planned this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say, "Yes, yes" and "No, no"?

18But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas[b] and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." 20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

23I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.

Apparently, what happened was that Paul's "No" became a "Yes" when he visited Corinth directly instead of via Macedonia. The Corinthians were totally unprepared for his visit. Then Paul's "Yes" became a "No" when he said he would return, but instead he wrote a painful letter in place of himself. His enemies now accuse him of being a flip-flopper.

This is a damaging accusation because keeping to one's promise is an important sign of integrity. The lack of it is detrimental to the trust of his followers to his leadership. (This is how John Kerry lost the election to Bush in 2004) What is Paul's defense?

Yes, there has been a change of plans. But a change of plans is not the same as a change of message. So even though Paul did not keep to his promise of coming late or returning early, the cause of his decisions is the same. He did it because he love them. So regardless of his difference in plans and actual execution, he is always saying "Yes" to them.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Presbyterian Youth Musicians Fellowship 2010 (Part 2)

This is my second post since I designed the poster here. The event is finally over last Sat! It was generally well received.

1-1.30 Sharing by Rev Lee Kian Seng of True Way. He shared on what is True Worship. The sharing is doubtlessly very good and beneficial. It's a pity that half the participants came late.

1.30-2.30 We did an arrangement teaching session. We had presentations from 3 churches: True Way, Christian Grace and Bethany. The standards from the churches were already quite good. The teachers help to demonstrate how they would improve on the arrangement or fine-tune the techniques.

2.30-3.30 The participants were divided into Guitarists, Bassists and Drummers, Keyboardists and Pianists, and Vocalists and Worship Leaders Class. The general feedback is that the session is too short to improve the participants specifically and individually.

3.30-4.30 This is a planning stage where we gather everybody to brainstorm how all the Presbyterians can work together in worship. While we do have some ideas, everybody is reluctant to commit to any specific cause because they were either not authorized or not prepared or feel not good enough. While I understand the considerations, I was slightly disappointed that we have to leave the place empty-handed. Thankfully, we agreed to set up a Facebook group page to continue the discussion. Hopefully, things will bear fruit once everybody see the benefits of sharing and networking.

The objective on the poster is: To gather musicians from Presbyterian Youth Ministries for a time of sharing, playing, learning and relationship building. I think in that sense, we have accomplish that task.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Completed Sermon Series: Malachi

Jubilee has completed its sermon series Malachi. I preached 3 out of the 8 sermons. My reflection is as follows:

1. Malachi should be understood as a unified whole. It is common to focus on a particular passage to talk about divorce or tithing, but these are never the main issues. The root "problem" is their relationship with God, which is tampered by distrust, corruption and indiscipline. These are tough times to continue with loyalty to the covenant. I have previously organized the sermon via the introductory survey by Longman III. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have done the application aspect a lot differently. I would have focused on the issues of doubt and struggles of faith.

2. I did 3 different styles for my 3 sermons. I did a first person half joking style for the first sermon on church leadership, the second is a paper-like logical presentation against the common misconception about tithing (in Chinese), and the third is a run of the mill siowhwee styled conclusion to the series.

2a. Of these 3, I received the best reviews for the second because people found my explanations for tithing clear and relevant. Unfortunately, I like this one the least because the main emphasis of the passage is about returning to God and not tithing. But I couldn't evade the big elephant in the room. I settled for relevance instead for expository honesty.

2b. My wife says that the third sermon is the one that is "good". That means it is of depth. I agree. It is the result of reflecting the entire Malachi. Unfortunately it is too little and too late. I can only hope that future readers can start with this sermon, and then move on to the first sermon. That would be more hugely rewarding.

2c. The first sermon was a refreshing twist. I intentionally used humor to defuse a potentially confrontational situation. I didn't want to sound angry. But I did want the message to drive home. I guess the result isn't too bad.