My dear readers,

Answering Remaining Questions from Calvary Pandan Church Camp 2023 (3)

Question 1: Dear Pastor, could you share the godly qualities that a fellowship group must have? In your opinion, where do our church fellowship group(s) fall short?

Answer 1: Fellowship groups are designed to help church members integrate according to age levels. The reason is that different age levels face different challenges in life as they struggle to witness for Christ. For example, the youths face studies and perhaps girlfriend and boyfriend problems, including home issues, as they adjust to the transition to young adult life. This is contrasted by the young adults who might be preparing for marriage or are married with young children. Their struggles include finances due to new homes with high mortgages, learning to be new godly parents, how to care for and nurture infants and young toddlers, etc. For adults who might be at the height of their working life, they struggle with teenage children and married life issues, etc. Senior adults might be thinking of retirement and what to do next after retirement. The golden years age group struggles with the evening years of life where they can see the finishing line or are enjoying grandparenthood and learning how to help grandchildren come to know Christ. All these fellowship groups must help their members grow in grace and knowledge of Christ with every transition. The transition has to be smooth and provide upward spiritual growth.

To do that, the Word of God is critical. With proper teaching of God's Word, focusing on their respective challenges according to fellowships, the hope is to help all of God's children draw closer to God in Christ. Finishing well requires them to continue well in the Lord. Once they are close to the Lord, they will learn to stand on their own two feet, trusting and leaning on God to sustain and help them.

Once they can do that, then Christian fellowship becomes a blessing. Christian fellowship is not leaning on others, but supporting others. This must be the intent and understanding when attending fellowship. If we are there expecting to be reached out to, and when it does not happen, we will experience disappointment. Fellowship is not just a place to get to know others. It is a place to know God better with fellow believers experiencing the same challenges. Learning to stand alone with only Christ on our side is what every believer must enhance in his life. At the point of salvation, it is Christ and him alone. This experience must be strengthened through diligent study of God's Word and unceasing prayer.

It is difficult to generalise and say this or that fellowship has fallen short. We all know that all ministries, including fellowships, will always have room for improvement. We all need to be teachable and keep improving for the better, for the blessing of God's people and God's glory.

Question 2: Dear Pastor, Philippians 1:9 was Apostle Paul’s prayer request for the Philippians, for God to work in them so that their "love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment". Shouldn't we pray and seek God to work this work in us? Through your messages it seems we need to seek these by our strength and not relying on God's grace. Could you kindly clarify?

Answer 2: We all need to pray Paul’s prayer for ourselves and others in Christ. If the impression you got from the messages preached was that by our own strength we can receive these spiritual experiences, I sincerely apologise. I will strive to improve my preaching and communicate better. Jesus Christ taught us clearly that without Christ, we can do nothing. We are the branches, He is the vine. Every branch must be attached to the vine to bear fruit. Once we are cut off from Christ, we become fruitless. We become useless. We are cut off when we lean on ourselves instead of God and Christ. We will lean on self when we do not pray. We cannot understand the Bible without God's help. Nothing can be done in the spiritual realm without God's help. That is why God commands His children to pray without ceasing (cf. 1 Thess 5:17).

John 15:1-7: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

Question 3: With reference to morning messages 3 and 4, was Jesus then known as the Greatest Doormat in the Bible? Was Jesus not the meekest Lamb in the Gospels? If yes, wouldn't the doormat illustration be inferiorly unconvincing to motivate us to bite our tongues and turn the other cheek? With pseudo religiosity amongst us in our midst to keep up with appearances, partially contributing to casualties in adolescents seeking greener pastures elsewhere, would urging the congregation to attend fellowships, whilst not repenting unto life, be truly effective in promoting sweet godly fellowship?

Answer 3: The meaning of "doormat" is "one that submits without protest to abuse or indignities" (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Christ is the Son of God who became the Son of Man to experience the greatest indignities that man could ever experience in order to save us from the innumerable sins we committed against God and Christ. Christ was the greatest "doormat" for me before God, especially when I read the accounts of His suffering in the four gospels. It is, therefore, my privilege to be a doormat for Christ when witnessing for Him in these last days. Every preacher and teacher of God's Word strives to explain the Word of God as clearly as possible within different cultures and contexts. “Doormat” is a term that our generation understands. Using contemporary terminologies to explain God's Word is commonly done to help with understanding. Christ is the meekest of all, as Philippians 2 teaches us. Therefore, using figures of speech, illustrations and testimonies to help is not meant to detract from or replace biblical phrases or words. It is meant to help hearers understand God's Word better.

With regard to "convincing" hearers, that is the domain of the Holy Spirit alone. Man can only strive to explain the Word of God as clearly and accurately as possible and trust in the Holy Spirit to work in every heart.

"Fellowships groups" are so called because the fellowship is with God first and then with fellow believers. As explained above, the heart and soul of fellowship groups is the study of the Word of God to reach out to believers of all age groups struggling with related challenges. This emphasis on fellowship aligns with the Bible's teaching on assembling ourselves together to provoke one another unto love and good works. Hebrews 10:24-25: “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

Whether the person who attends is pseudo or genuine in his faith, the fellowship will help him. The Word of God may bring real conviction and conversion to the pseudo one. To the genuine one, the Word of God will help him mature as a believer through the fellowship.