Only Jesus is Altogether Lovely

Sunday, 6th December 2009

Last Sunday, because Ps Reuben was not preaching in my own home church, my wife and I decided to go to Suntec to listen to Ps Lawrence Lim preach.

Ps Lawrence must have mentioned Jesus at least a hundred times during his sermon, and rightly so! After all, it should be all about Him and His finished work. Back in my home church, I have heard sermons whereby the name of Jesus is not even mentioned once, except when the pastor closes off his prayer after the sermon with the standard phrase, "In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen."

Anyways, the content of Ps Lawrence's sermon, which was so full of Jesus, is probably something that NewCre takes for granted. But believers in other churches need to hear such sermons and more of them, rather than being preached about an angry and demanding God, who is never ever satisfied with us. Faith comes by hearing the rhema word about Jesus Christ. Amen?

I found it extremely refreshing and nourishing to be fed the Bread of Life. Thank you, Pastor Lawrence!!!

In particular, Ps Lawrence mentioned that Jesus is "altogether lovely". Every which way you turn Him, there is beauty and excellence. Even when Jesus was in the temple overthrowing the tables of the moneychangers, there was an awesome wonder in what He did.

He said that even the nicest guys have an ugly side to them, but not Jesus.

I remember a Sunday School teacher who was the most avuncular person I have even known, even to this day. He was what one would term a "model Christian", always smiling and polite. Yet there was one occasion when he was so angry (for no apparent reason other than the boys in the class being a bit talkative) that he shouted at one of the boys to get out of the class. There was silence all around after what happened, and till this day, 31 years later, I can still recall that incident with such clarity as though it happened only yesterday.

Another case in point, is Tiger Woods. He may be the richest sportsman and be excellent in golf, his area of expertise. Yet, we read in the papers over the past few days about how he has been fooling around with other women behind his wife's back.

And this is a lesson that I myself have learnt over the past couple of years as well -- that we should not put any human or any church on a pedestal, lest he or she fails us. I have to say this extremely carefully in case I offend my newly-made friends from NewCre, but I used to think extremely highly of NewCre and thought that if I transferred over to that church, all my problems will be solved. After all, the messages preached week-in week-out are spiritually sound, and everyone in church should all be united in one spirit and purpose, all tuned into the grace frequency.

But I have since gotten to know several NewCre worshippers that made me realise that she has also got her fair share of "works-in-progress". And this is one of the factors that contributed to my decision to remaining in my own home church because there is no such thing as a perfect church.

For example, there was this ex-colleague (who has been attending NewCre since it was founded in the early 1990s) that I thought would make a good lunch/prayer partner. I was thus shocked when I learnt from other female colleagues that he had been harassing them and touching them inappropriately, even though he is a married man with two kids! It took me some time to get over my disillusionment.

Another NewCre member actually told me that since the Law does not apply anymore, it was okay for him to beat the red light or make an illegal u-turn, so long as there was no policeman around!

And then, there are another couple of them who come across as proud and arrogant, as though they are God's gift to mankind. Not much of a testimony to pre-believers, if you don't mind my saying so.

I suppose out of a membership of 23,000, a handful of such cases here and there is not too bad a statistic. I know of many other NewCre members like Douglas, Angie, Joshua, Stan, Geri, Joshen, Lip Kee, Chong Sun, Kat and Pearly (just to name but a few), who are the most wonderful people one can ever meet.

But the point I am making is this. At the end of the day, our faith should not be based on a pastor, or a person who attends a particular church. Nor should we be hero-worshipping an actor or a sportsman. Rather, our faith should be solely based on the person of Jesus Christ, and He alone deserves our praise and worship. Because only He is altogether lovely. Amen?