Sermon on 26 January 2019 by Pastor Justin
Galatians 6:15 - “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”
If you want to understand the thoughts of God, you need to read the word of God. If you want to hear the voice of God, read His word out. God knows our heart very well. One indicator God placed in the Bible is our love for money. During the Chinese New Year, we greet people and they end with a loud shout of ‘Huat ah!’ This is a circumstance where we can share the love of God. We need to realise the opportunity God sends to spread the love of God. When we celebrate Chinese New Year, be careful and beware. Do not participate in any tradition that try to get more wealth, prosperity and luck. In the deep rooted Chinese culture, many things have been distorted. The root of celebrating Chinese New Year comes from the Bible. 2000 over scriptures talk about money. The love of money is the root of all evil.
Matthew 6:24 - “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
You have to hate one and love the other. You can make money because God allowed you to.
Mark 4:19 - and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
God didn’t give us the spirit of fear. We have to enter 2020 with boldness and courage. We do not want to speak fear. You are clothed with Jesus Christ. Do not fight, instead, obey. You have to love God with all your heart. Surrender your mind and heart and nothing should be of yourself. We want to continue being strengthened and understand why we celebrate Chinese New Year and spread the love of God.
Proverbs 23:4-5 - Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
Proverbs 11:28 - He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like foliage.”
Luke 8:14 - Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
Sometimes we get so worried and tied up with the world. That shows that we aren’t mature Christians. Mature Christians will not be choked up by the worries of life. God feeds them. In the past, people said “过年好，恭喜恭喜”, but now, people say ”恭喜发大财”. The emphasis is on wealth and prosperity.
Psalms 62:10 - Do not trust in oppression, Nor vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them.
Luke 16:14-15 - Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
It is God’s will to prosper us. Before Joshua entered the Jordan River, God told him to be strong and courageous. To enter the promise land they need to conquer and have other military strategies. However, God didn’t want this to happen. He wanted Joshua to dwell on the word. Start reading the word and meditate on it day and night. Observe, obey and work it out according to the will of God. God supplies all of our needs and we will have no lack. God’s promises are a yes and Amen.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 - Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Psalms 1:1 - Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
Strong superstitions have dragged us away. Many of them are based on money and wealth. When we trace these back, we will understand the beautiful meaning of why we celebrate Chinese New Year.
Galatians 6:14-15 - But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
Paul mentioned the cross 3 times. You are a new creation. The second time the Bible talked about the cross is in Galatians too. When you have no interest in the world, that doesn’t mean you shut off from information. You can be informed of them but you don’t have to be affected by them because you are secure in Christ.
Jeremiah 17:7 - Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.
We want to always put our trust in Christ. It doesn’t matter whether you run a successful business. What counts is whether you have been transformed into a new creation. There are many Christians who are going through these traditions and they are sucked in by them. The superpower in Christianity is love.
2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The Self, the Flesh and the World
A Righteous Christian will always glorify God for he walks according to the leading of the Holy Spirit and he walks according to the way of the Cross. You walk in the spirit because you are of the spirit. Jesus always tells His disciples that if they want to follow Him, they have to take up the Cross. The knowledge that you have isn’t to win conversations but to win followers of Christ. Walk in the way of the Cross. Many people have the spirit of deception.
The written word of God is the rule!
1 Corinthians 10:14 - Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Celebrating Chinese New Year is a wonderful lesson for us. It is a time that we want to commemorate that God brought us out of the kingdom of darkness.
Similarities between Chinese New Year and the Passover
1. Chinese New Year is known as 过年 and the Jewish New Year is known as Passover in the Bible.
Exodus 12:7 - And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
The Chinese New Year is closely similar to the Jewish new year. The Chinese believe that every new year, the monster ‘年’ will eat up children, and new year greetings are celebrating that their children are still alive. On the other hand, the Jewish new year, known as the Passover, remembers the time when all the first born were killed.
There is a belief that the monster ‘年’ is afraid of the colour red, so the Chinese will paste red couplets on their doors to scare away the ‘年’. Similarly, the Jews smeared the blood of the sacrificial lamb on their doors to protect them from the killing of the first borns.
Exodus 12:12 - “‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will
execute judgment: I am the LORD.”
Just one chapter in Exodus contains a great deal of teaching. We have to obey and apply the blood of Jesus. It is so powerful. It is finished on the Calvary. Once you believe, the blood is on you. You do not have to buy new clothes for Chinese New Year because everyday we are a new creation.
2. Reunion Dinner
Moses instructed the people of Israel that no one can leave the house until they finish the lamb. We have to be careful when participating in Chinese New Year rituals. We cannot accept them wholesale. We have to know and take every opportunity to bless others.
3. Commemorate God’s Salvation
How many of you remember that we were the ones supposed to be nailed on the Cross but because God loved us so much, He made His one and only Son to die for us? We have to grow in Christ’s likeness. It is not about more of God and less of you. After the Cross, God should be our all in all, none of us. God knows your heart and intent. Do everything unto the Lord. God puts opportunities everyday before us. Take the rest of the days to share the gospel and power of the Cross to others.
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