A Place of Discovery

Is It Lawful to Divorce? Matthew 19:3-8; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 Ps Paw Liang What are some stories of divorce have you encountered? What do you think? Should the couples restore their marriages? Should they dissolve? Why? To understand Jesus’ teaching, first we need to understand the context. In the ancient Jewish culture only the husband could divorce their wives. But in the Hellenistic culture both parties could call off their marriages. Divorces were very common. There were two school of thoughts in the Jewish communities: 1. Conservative’s View –Shimmai was a bit more cautious. They taught a husband could divorce the wife if there was a sexual infidelity.   2. Liberal’s View—Hillel; husbands could divorce their wives for some simple reasons eg the wife burnt the bread, etc.   Jesus is much stricter than the Jewish’s customs. He refers to God’s ideal of marriage. Marriage is a covenant relationship. God’s ideal for this covenant is for life. But, because ...

A CALL TO RETURN “‘Even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’ Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” Joel 2:12-13 NIV One of the many good things of following the church calendar is, it helps us to check and stay in tune with God, to stay in God’s story! Ash Wednesday is  day of repentance, marking the 6 weeks of preparation for Easter, the Resurrection. The Scripture text today serves as God’s call for all His people: “return to me with all your heart ... rend your heart and not your garment...”  It’s not just a fashion to put ashes on foreheads before going to school or work although it’s a good practice to remind us of our mortality, “from ashes we come to ashes we shall return”. The ashes, as symbol, also help to strengthen our desire to repent/ret...

OBEDIENT TO CHRIST “ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV The two letters to the Corinthians present to us all  kinds of human pretensions. The driving force behind all these quarrels, divisions, immoralities, false teachings, I believe is human ego where we think we know it all that we are better than others. And the worst was they (and we, too) have forgotten that the knowledge of God is supreme to all their knowledges including their doctrines, customs, and practices.  Paul reminded the people in Corinth...“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ”  The challenge: How can I take captive of my thoughts and make it obedient to Christ? What are some thoughts and practices that we still keep so...

TAKE HEART, IT IS I; DO NOT BE AFRAID! . “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by. ... for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.””  ‭‭Mark‬ ‭6:46-51 NRSV‬‬ Two thoughts come to me: Jesus has a discipline, to spend time with God alone in prayer. Second, Jesus gives room for His disciples to solve their own problems. Jesus is never too far to come into His disciples’ rescue, including you and I! In this scene, drowning in troubles, the disciples were too panic to recognise Jesus’ present. Instead of asking for help, they thought Jesus was part of their problems, that He was a ghost. Nevertheless, Jesus helped them. He stilled the storm in their hearts before He stilled the storm on the sea of Galilee: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” How about us? New Year comes with new...

KNOWING GOD AND PERSONAL BRANDING . “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.” James‬ ‭3:13-14‬ ‭NLT‬‬ . “Don’t tell anyone about this...” said Jesus (Mark 1:44). Jesus didn’t need a self promotion nor personal branding, even when the disciples found out   that He was The Christ, the Saviour (Mat 16:18:20). . While on earth, He walked from village to village, town to town faithfully teaching people about God and doing many good deeds—“the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” Matt.‬ ‭11:5‬; Cf. Mat 10-11). In those days, good news spread fast. Though bad news, I believe also dispersed in a competitive speed.Not so sure abou...

THE SIN OF FAVOURITISM . “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? . If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?” ‭‭James‬ ‭2:1, 3-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬ . How well are we handling this tension: To be aware of the charm of the rich and all what their money can do? To be sensitive and compassionate towards the poor and needy without being overwhelmed by their needs? . How can we love both the Haves and the Have-Nots as how Jesus would love them? To relate with them as how Jesus would relate to them? Jesus remained the same when dealing with the Rich Young Ruler and with the poor and the destitute people around Him! He might minister and love each of them differently according to their needs and ...

FAITH AND GOOD DEEDS “Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” James‬ ‭2:15-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬ I accepted Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour when I was at Primary 4. I was put to make a decision after reading a Muslim c omic about hell. And I knew to escape hell, I need Jesus, the only way to heaven. One thing that troubled me that time, “what will happen to grandma?” She had died possibly without ever heard about Jesus. To me she was an angel, the kindest person I had known. Without fail, she would feed two crippled brothers who came her house every day. They were unable to make their own living, poliomyelitis since they were infants. In those days, the crippled esp if they were also poor were despised. Perhaps the same...