JURONG OUTREACH - August 10
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Gambling |
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Gambling
1st Aug 2010
What's wrong with a little gambling? The British legalised gambling in Singapore in 1823, but the plan backfired with gambling addiction and increased crime rate and that led to the British Colonial Government to rescind the legislation. Legal gambling has since been limited to Singapore Pools. On 18 April 2005, the Singapore Government announced the plan to develop casinos at Sentosa and Marina South. The reason given was that Singapore must remain competitive with her neighbours in the tourism industry; and building Integrated Resorts would also boost the economy and create jobs.
To quote Richard C. Leone, former commissioner for the National Gambling Impact Study Commission of the U S Congress: “In my view, state lotteries have paved the way for great increases in legalised gambling...and they have propagated the myth that gambling is good for society in general and the government in particular. Lotteries are perhaps the hardest form of gambling to justify in terms of their costs and benefits. The best studies all point in the same direction: Lotteries prey on the poor and the under-educated.
”
Gambling may be
defined thus,
“Gambling is
an act by which one party consciously risks money or other stakes in the hope of
gaining at someone else's expense, without giving anything of value in return.”
Does the Bible condone gambling? Is gambling a ‘gray area’ as far as the Bible
is concerned? Let’s examine the Scriptures and see four reasons why gambling is
sinful.
Reason 1: Gambling is Stealing
Paul wrote,
“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with
his
hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth (Eph
4:28).” Gambling is an attempt to get material gain without paying the price.
Paul also wrote, 'If any would not work, neither should he eat' (2 The.3:10). It
is work and responsibility that develop character and prepare for the future. We
should not be taking something for which we cannot give value in return. The
gambler who wins is a thief even as he who steals your wallet is a thief. Just
because the gambler is protected by law or a gentleman's agreement does not make
him any less a thief.
Reason 2: Gambling is Covetousness
“...Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 6:10).” Basically, covetousness is greed. Greed is wanting what others have that you do not have. We live in a culture that stimulates greed and discontent. We are bombarded with it in our newspapers and magazines, on the radio and TV with the graphic message: “You need this to be happy! You should get this to find satisfaction!” Happiness is held out as the abundance of things, and there is the constant invitation to “Eat, drink and be merry.” Gambling is
presented as a means to enjoy that better life. As Christians, we not only want to keep from an attitude of greed; we want to be good stewards of what God has given to us. As we read in Acts 20:35: “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to It is more blessed to give than to receive.” We believe that all that we have comes from God. In His providence He cares for His people. Therefore, we not only want to return to God a portion of what He has given, but we want to use all that He has given in ways that would be pleasing to Him. Gambling is poor stewardship in our use of money; as we have said, if we win, we are stealing. If we lose, we are squandering what God has given us in trust.
Reason 3: Gambling is Idolatry and Unbelief
Instead of trusting God, the gambler turns to luck to solve his problems. The deeper his need, the more he hopes for that one big pay-off. Gambling makes a god of chance. Paul warned, “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry (1Co 10:14). The Scriptures tell us that God will supply our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Php.4:19) - and these are not only our spiritual needs. Certainly, we trust in Christ for salvation and eternal life, but we also trust Him for our physical needs. When we pray, as Jesus taught us, “Give us this day our daily bread (Mat.6:11)”, we are placing our lives, our skills, our circumstances, our needs, and our commitments in God's hands and trusting that He will provide for our needs. But if we gamble, we are demonstrating that we are not recognising God's sovereignty, and not fully trusting Him to provide for us.
Reason 4: Gambling Leads to Other Evils
For example,
the lottery is frequently seen as being innocent, yet far too often money that
should be spent on groceries and other necessities is used to buy lottery
tickets. While it may be argued that the amount usually spent is small, there
are many families where even $10 or $15 a week can greatly affect the budget.
This is particularly true in homes of poorer families who may be greatly tempted
to try the lottery to relieve their poverty. The Scriptures say, “But if any
provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath
denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel
(1Ti 5:8).” Tensions may increase in the home, leading to separation or divorce.
Even for many of those who have won money in the lottery, it has not been the
panacea for which they hoped. Literally hundreds of thousands of homes have been
broken because of a gambling husband or a gambling wife. Even small amounts
spent for the lottery feed the addiction of gambling. Losses in gambling often
lead to embezzlement and stealing, and may even lead to murder or suicide. This
is the way that sin works. One sin often leads to greater sins, and gambling is
no exception.
In all that we do, we should honour our Lord Jesus Christ; we should seek to obey His Word; we should seek to be faithful stewards of all that He has given us; and we should be concerned for the needs of others. Like our Lord, we are to show both by word and deed that 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
Anger
8th Aug
But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.
Jonah 4:1
Proverbs 25:28 says, 'He that
hath no
rule over his own spirit
is like
a city
that is
broken down,
and
without walls.' Anger, left unchecked, can be a deadly emotion, causing people
to say or do things they later regret, causing those in the destructive path to
live with intimidation, resentment, and fear. Are you an angry person? How does
your anger reveal itself?
Jonah was angry. Why? We know from Jonah 1 that God had commanded him to go to
Nineveh, near modern day Mosul in northern Iraq, on the shore of the Tigris
River. Instead he sailed from Joppa on the Mediterranean coast, due north to
Tarshish, in modern day south-eastern Turkey. In other words, at God’s command
Jonah fled in the opposite direction. Jonah lived and preached during the reign
of Jeroboam II in Samaria, a time of unprecedented prosperity for some with
unspeakable oppression for many. Why did Jonah flee from the presence of the
Lord? He did so because he did not want the Ninevites to hear the gospel and be
saved. In Jonah 3:10, after God had used Jonah’s faithful preaching to convert
the vast city of Nineveh, thus averting his certain judgment, he became angry,
in essence saying, 'I knew you to be a God of loving kindness and compassion.
That’s precisely why I fled to Tarshish. I wanted to prevent the conversion of
the Ninevites. This is too much for me. Please take my life.' It is obvious that
Jonah is filled with rage. Why is he angry and to whom is his anger directed? Is
it not clear that Jonah is a racial and religious bigot? He hates the
uncircumcised, pagan Ninevites. They are not worthy of God’s grace. He is angry
at God for bestowing his grace on them.
There are two types of anger. One is righteous and the other is not. Paul
commands that we be angry and yet not sin. He goes on to say that we are not to
allow the sun to go down on our anger (Ephesians
4:26).
So, not all anger is sin. Righteous anger says, 'God is right, and that is
wrong.' When Jesus makes a whip in John 2:13ff and drives the moneychangers out
of the temple he is displaying righteous anger. They were making his Father’s
house a den of robbers. You ought to be angry at injustice. Your blood ought to
boil over the slaughter of the innocents in our country through abortion. You
ought to seethe at usury charged to the poor by loan sharks. But let’s face it -
most of us rarely use righteous anger. Most of us are guilty of unrighteous
anger. That’s when we say, 'I am right. You are wrong, and God is wrong.' When
your child breaks loose from your grasp, runs into traffic, and narrowly escapes
being hit by a moving car, you are justified in your anger. God has set the
world in such a way that bad things happen to children who are hit by moving
automobiles. But when you are angry because your one-year-old has kept you up
for several hours in the middle of the night for five nights in a row, then
that’s unrighteous anger. You see, unrighteous anger comes because we say, 'I
have my agenda, and my goals, and my plan, my vision, and my space and you are
resisting or thwarting me. I am right in what I want, and you are wrong.'
Actually,
unrighteous anger reveals our failure to trust God’s plan. After all, is he not
completely sovereign in all the affairs of this world? Are there really any
accidents? Was God asleep at the wheel when he put that incompetent store clerk
in your path, causing you to be late with your other tasks? Did it catch God off
guard that your boss was unkind to you, embarrassing you in front of other
workers? Unrighteous anger comes because we fail to see God in everything. We
fail to see and trust his sovereignty, goodness, love, and wisdom.
Where does this take us? It
brings loud or quiet displays of anger. You know too well what I mean by loud
displays - things like violent actions, throwing things. It yields vindictive,
vitriolic speech with cursing, swearing, slandering, and gossiping. But perhaps
an even more dangerous display is quiet anger where one becomes withdrawn,
sullen, given to self-pity, wishing secretly for another’s demise or hardship,
withholding love from the person, eventually bringing a coldness of heart for
many other people too. Are you given over to loud or quiet anger?
What are you to do? It is not enough to say, 'I guess I ought to do better.
Maybe I can get rid of this one day.' Unrighteous anger is sin. It is a killer.
You need to deal with it biblically. You need to do three things. First, you
ought to do what God asked Jonah. When angry, ask yourself, 'Self, why are you
angry? Are you justified in this anger?' If you are honest with yourself, then
most likely you will admit that you are not justified in it. It simply comes
down to, 'I am right, and you and God are wrong.' So, learn to see God in
everything, submitting to his will. He is in the details. Second, you must
confess your anger as sin. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble
(James 4:6). If you confess your sins, then God is faithful and just to cleanse
you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). And third, you need to hold onto the
twin doctrines of God’s compassion and propitiation. Here’s the glorious and
mind boggling truth. In your unregenerate state, God was perfectly justified in
his anger toward you. You had sinned against his manifold goodness. His wrath
hung over you like a cloud and when the measure of your sin was filled up, his
wrath would have come on you to the uttermost (1 Thessalonians 2:16). 'In a
little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer (Isaiah 54:8)’. Christ
took the cross, God’s just judgment for you. He suffered damnation lovingly,
patiently, compassionately for you. Your sinful anger is a serious matter. Run
to Christ daily for refuge and grace, marveling at his compassion and
propitiation. Use both as a motivation for holiness.
Guilt
15th Aug
David
sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her.
(2 Samuel 11:4)
A former US Presidential candidate admitted to an adulterous affair against his
wife who has been diagnosed with an incurable cancer. The
National
Inquirer broke the
story but he vehemently dismissed the story, calling it 'tabloid trash.'
Recently, while leaving the hotel room of his adulteress and her child
(purportedly his child by her), when exiting the elevator he was met by
photographers and reporters of the
National
Inquirer. When he saw
them his face turned white as a sheet and he ran into the men’s bathroom. When a
security guard came to get him, he asked, 'What are they saying about me?' He
finally admitted to
making a
mistake against his
wife.
Guilt makes people do weird things. It causes some to deny wrongdoing
altogether, dismissing their sin as a poor decision, a mistake, poor judgment,
an accident. So the most they can say is, 'I am sorry.' The reason people very
often feel guilty is because, well, they are guilty. To drop a glass on the
floor is an accident. I may say, 'I am sorry' for that. But to sin, to break
God’s law is not a mistake. It is a deliberate, wilful decision to not do what
God has commanded, 'to love God with all your being and to love your neighbour
as yourself'; or to do what he has commanded you not to do.
I must give you the bad news before I can give you the good news. The bad news is that your sin makes you guilty and accountable to God. Sin is breaking God’s law. It is failing to do what you ought to do. You really are guilty before God. Why? Because He is holy, totally without sin, and you are the crown of His creation and are commanded to be holy as he is holy (see Isa 6:1ff, 1 Pe 1:14-16). You really are accountable to Him. Why? Because He is your Creator and redeemer (see Gen 1:27ff and Ex 19). Not only that, but you also are guilty and living under condemnation, if you are not yet a true Christian. Nahum 1:2ff makes clear that our God is a jealous and avenging God who will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. God is perfectly justified in His anger against you. It’s like a loving father who cares for his son, instructs him, sets him up in business, gives him every opportunity to succeed, and then the son rejects his father, maligning him, and eventually killing him for more of his money. We would have no trouble agreeing that such a son is a malevolent, wicked person who deserves judgment. Our sedition against God, in comparison, is infinitely wicked.
So, how is it that you try to assuage your guilt? Probably in some degree you do what so many of the Hollywood celebrities do. They feel guilty because of their lifestyles so they give themselves to humanitarian causes - adopting poor children from other countries, giving money to disaster victims, raising money to supply children in Africa with mosquito nets. Are these good things? Of course they are. There is nothing wrong with this. Surely we ought to show compassion on the suffering and needy of our world. However, because these celebrities instinctively know they are guilty, in a desire to suppress or wash away their guilt, they engage in humanitarian efforts. These acts make them feel good about themselves. Christians or religious people can do the same thing. Those who call themselves Christians think they gain deliverance from guilt by believing in Christ but also going to church, giving their money, feeling really bad about their sin, serving on church committees, becoming experts in some branch of theology, serving the poor, taking in unwed mothers, etc. Is there anything wrong with these activities? Of course not! They are wonderful things to do, but the problem is that we tend to think our actions in some way contribute to the removal of our guilt. Such people often say that they believe the gospel so much, that they are so in love with Jesus, that by doing good deeds they are assured of God’s love. I say just the opposite. It is not that such people believe the gospel too much. Rather they believe it too little. They really do not understand the terrible guilt and condemnation under which they are living. They tend to think they have merely had a bad day, make a few wrong decisions, done some unwise things.
Instead, with King David who saw the guilt of his sin with Bathsheba, they need
to get to the place where they honestly can say, 'Against thee, and thee only,
have I sinned.' Until you come to this place, until you come to realise your
terrible guilt and condemnation before a holy God, I fear you will not truly
trust Christ as the only means of eternal salvation and deliverance from sin’s
condemnation. The truth is that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Four New
Testament passages refer to Christ as our propitiation (Rom 3:25, Heb 2:17, 1Joh
2:2; 4:10). This word
propitiation
(the Greek word is
hilasterion)
has been very much in debate for the last 100 years or so. To some the idea of
God being angry with the sinner, and thus demanding his own Son’s death to
remove his anger, seems barbaric, or as some have called it 'divine child
abuse'. Some have suggested that propitiation ought to be translated
expiation
(the removal of guilt), and certainly there is a dimension of expiation in
hilasterion,
but the meaning goes much further. God is infinitely holy and righteous and man
is utterly sinful, utterly and completely guilty before the Holy One. God is
completely just in pouring out his wrath on unrepentant sinners (see Jer 50:2ff,
Rom 2:5, 6, 2 The 1:8, 9, Rev 20:11ff, Mark 9:42ff).
My friend, here is the good news as it is in Jesus - you really are guilty and under God’s divine wrath, but Jesus died in your place. He took the guilt and condemnation you deserve. God’s just wrath was poured out on his Son. By obedience to the gospel, you are forgiven, and God’s wrath has been removed. You must believe the bad news (your sin is not a mistake or poor judgment but sedition against the lover of your soul) before you can embrace the good news (Jesus died for your sins and took God’s wrath upon himself). Until you believe this you will continue to project your sin to others, trying to assuage guilt by humanitarianism, and you will continue to live without true joy and peace.
Losing Sight of Sin
22nd August 2010
Psa 51:2-4 “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.”
I was reading recently some words of George Swinnock (a mid-seventeenth century theologian) that seemed to describe twenty-first century Christianity: “We take the size of sin too low, and short, and wrong, when we measure it by the wrong it does to ourselves, or our families, or our neighbours, or the nation in where we live; indeed, in these some of its evil and mischief do appear; but to take its full length and proportion, we must consider the wrong it does to the great, glorious, and incomparable God. Sin is incomparably malignant, because the God principally insulted by it is incomparably excellent”. This saying is in agreement with what the Bible itself says. The ultimate tragedy of sin is not that it spoils my life, disrupts my relationships, scars my world, but that it dishonours, defies, and disgraces my God!
This is a truth, a most basic and elementary truth, that our present generation has all but lost sight of. Sin, if it is mentioned at all, is conceived of almost wholly in self-referential terms. It is described in terms of its “psychological pains and its relational disruptions.” And truly sin does produce deep psychological pains and relational disruptions. The heart and horror of sin however, is not its effect on me, but its effect on God, “the incomparably excellent” God. This is remarkably highlighted in Psalm 51:4. King David had been deeply convicted of his sin by conspiring to have Uriah murdered. And yet, when he comes to cry to God for mercy, David prays, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.” David is not denying his sin against Bathsheba, Uriah, his own family, God's people. He is, however, telling himself, and us, that the true horror of sin is that it is against God. Sin’s ultimate tragedy can only be defined biblically, not psychologically nor relationally.
This is a
truth the church needs to be reacquainted with in our day. We live in a
self-referential culture. The church, rightly, wants to minister the gospel of
God's grace and love into this culture. The ever present danger facing us is
that we contour the Bible's teaching on sin to suit the felt needs of this
culture. This is what many religious denominations seek to do. When you look
carefully at some of their teachings on sin, they basically seek to present sin
almost solely as a psychological, personal and social disrupter. And sin is such
a disrupter. It is the root of all the evils in this world, personal and global.
But until men and women are helped to see that the horror of sin is that it is
against God, and makes you His enemy (Romans 5:10), Jesus Christ will never be
seen for what He most essentially is, the One sent from God and by God to
reconcile us to God, deliver us from the coming wrath, and fit us for eternal
fellowship with God. The root of all our ills is our
sin-ruptured relationship with the living God. Many of the theologians of the
past have called sin "Deicidium," literally “God murder”! Is that how you and I
think of sin? We can so easily lose the felt sense, if not the biblical fact, of
the sinfulness of sin. If we do, we end up talking about sin in ways that sit
easily with our culture. And, when we speak of sin only in self-referential and
therapeutic terms, moral responsibility diminishes proportionately. Is there not
an obvious connection between the loss of the biblical dimension of sin and the
moral dilemma at the heart of professing Christianity?
Where does all this leave us? We must labour to speak relevantly to this culture. Paul's address in Athens (Acts 17) is perhaps a model for us in many ways. We need to speak to people where they are, not where we would like them to be. We need to be less concerned with “success” and more concerned with “faithfulness.” We need to cultivate Paul's confidence: 2 Co 4:1, 2 “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.” One of our great challenges is to commend the gospel relevantly without becoming gimmicky. This is easier said than done, but do it we must.
Where then do we start? With sin? No. With God! Should this incomparably excellent God of glory appear to you, and show you a glimpse of His excellent glory; should He reveal to you but a little of that greatness which the heavens and heaven of heavens cannot contain, of His perfection that knows no bounds – what would you then think of sin? And that is exactly what He has done through the pages of inspired Scriptures! If we are to see sin for what it truly is, we must first come to see God as He truly is through a careful study of His Word. And so one of Swinnock’s contemporaries, Thomas Goodwin, wrote, “… if you would see what sin is, go to mount Calvary”. Because there, we see God as He most truly is – holy, wrathful toward sin, just, compassionate, merciful, the mighty Saviour, the great Redeemer, the Lover of our souls.
The Lord Jesus extends a welcoming and merciful invitation toward all and any who would respond. Come to Him and be saved. Come and experience true rest for your souls from the weight of sin. Do not delay. Believe on Him, repent of your sins, confess His Lordship and be immersed for the forgiveness of your sins. What hinders you from coming? Shall pride be regarded as more valuable than the security of your soul? Or shall some pet sin be the obstacle that stumbles and prevents you from laying down your arms against almighty God? None of these should matter more than a right relationship with God! Flee from the wrath to come and find salvation in the everlasting arms of Jesus.
What must
I do to be saved?
29th August 2010
What is the greatest question ever propounded by mortal man? Some businessman might say it is the question of how to make a fortune. Those old and feeble might say it is the question of how to live to be one hundred years of age and remain in good health all that time. The sick might answer that the greatest question has to do with a cure for cancer, tuberculosis and diseases of the heart. However, the statesmen might contend that the greatest question is how to promote peace among nations and prevent all future wars. While these are all important questions they have to do with the fleeting things of time and this life only.
When the jailer asked "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30), he knew little or nothing about Christ and had no faith in Him. However, the earthquake of the occasion and the miracle in evidence confirmed the fact that Paul and Silas were servants of God. In answer to his question they began at the very first and said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." This was a sort of blanket proposition meaning that he would have to obey Christ and trust in Him for salvation. They then preached Christ unto him so he could believe, for faith comes by hearing the word. (Acts 16:32; Romans 10:17.) He evidently believed and repented for he took them and tried to undo the harm done, and washed their stripes. He also was baptized the same hour of the night - at midnight. (Acts 16:25, 33.) He was then saved by Christ who had said in the commission, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." He rejoiced after his baptism. He did not "hit the saw dust trail" to have his sins prayed away at an altar. He also was saved by obedient faith and not by faith only. (Heb. 5:9.)
When many asked our great question on Pentecost saying, "What shall we do?" (Acts 2:37), unlike the jailer, they had just heard about Christ and been called upon to believe in Him as "Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:37.) They had been pricked in their hearts by the truth which they had heard pointing out their guilt in the murder of Christ. (Acts 2:37.) Since they were already believers, but had not put their faith into obedience, they were simply told what to do by faith in order to be saved. The apostle said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2:38.) They were to do this "for the remission of sins" for which Christ had shed his blood. (Matt. 26:28.) When the service was over, there were no seekers turned away with the explanation that they should keep on seeking in prayer until they should find. But the record says, "They then that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:41.) The last verse says, "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." (Acts 2:47.) In no case were any said to be saved who had not heard the gospel and obeyed it. Furthermore, the Lord added all of them to the same church, the church of Christ which he had said he would build. (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:47; Eph. 1:22, 23; 5:23; 2:16; 4:4.) They were simply Christians and wore no human religious name. (Acts 11:26; 1 Pet. 4:16; James 2:7.) They subscribed to no human creed and were members of no denominational church. They were united in the one body as Christ had prayed that they should be. (John 17:20, 21; Eph. 4:3.)
Today if you heard the good news of salvation, what will your response be? 2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation)