My dear readers,

My dear readers,

Answering Remaining Questions from Calvary Pandan Church Camp 2023 (6)

Question 1: Does our Church family also include Gethsemane, True Life, Tabernacle, Berith, etc. How can we at Pandan love, help, and promote fellowship within us and with them?

Answer 1: "Church family" is understood to be members of the local church who have taken the membership oath to believe in the same doctrines, to worship and serve together as they sojourn on earth to God's glory. They find in the local church a home away from their heavenly home. The commitment through the oath of membership to be accountable to one another and to provoke one another unto love and good works before God and God's people is the bedrock of their time of holy witness and service on earth. Ephesians 4:1-6:"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

From the perspective of eternity, the worldwide church family is also called the invisible church. The invisible church comprises all genuinely born-again believers from the fall of Adam to the end of the Millennium. The knowledge of who these believers are belongs only to God.

Due to believers' imperfections and different levels of maturity of faith in Christ, their understanding of the Bible will differ. These differences will impact the unity of the church. Therefore, when we think of the church family, it will be at the local church level where believers commit to follow a similar understanding of the doctrines of the Bible. The constitution of the church fulfils this purpose.

Help, fellowship, love, etc will be on a personal level among the believers of these congregations. As for leadership, it is difficult due to the nature of the busyness of ministries that we find ourselves in. Sometimes at fellowship levels, certain organised events, like the recent Combined Youth Conference, may fulfil this purpose. In the past, before the dissolution of the B-P Church of Singapore synod, there were the Annual Pastors' Conferences and Synod meetings to facilitate this purpose of cooperation. This was possible because all B-P churches had the same Church Constitution. Now that every B-P church has a different constitution, any cooperation will have to be informal and on a personal level.

Question 2: Is it ok for Christians to attend marriage ceremonies of other religions (e.g. Muslim, Hindu, etc)?

Answer 2: It is not a sin to attend weddings of other religions. The guideline in decision-making is whether attendance is a sin or not. If it is not a sin, is it lawful to participate? When attending weddings of other religions, it is essential always to conduct oneself in a manner glorifying to God. Drinking alcohol or inappropriate behaviour that appears sinful must be avoided at all costs. 1 Thessalonians 5:22: "Abstain from all appearance of evil." Be a holy witness for Christ in these events.

Question 3: If our pastors, elders of like-minded churches are not close, have little unity or love for each other, how can ordinary members like us have any hope of oneness?

Answer 3: As mentioned in Question 1 above, the unity among members of the same local church is different from the unity and closeness between other churches. The former has a level of commitment not found in the latter. Therefore, unity within the church is a necessity that God commands. All of us are to serve, worship and witness for Christ as one.

Question 4: Dear Pastor, I agree every Christian husband has a spiritual responsibility before God. When a husband has a biblical basis where his wife is not submitting, should he then apologise and compromise the faith?

Answer 4: The spiritual responsibility of the Christian husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. It is not a responsibility of his own design or invention. This God-given responsibility means he should help his wife grow in grace and in the knowledge of God, toward her sanctification in godliness, holiness and righteousness according to Scriptures. Then one day, he can present her before God just as Christ will present His church before God in glory.

Ephesians 5:23-28: "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself." [Emphasis added] "So ought men to love their wives" is God's injunction to every Christian husband. The spiritual responsibility and its Christ-centred results are not theoretical but ought to be a desired reality of every godly husband by God.

If a wife is not submitting, the question is, "Why is she not submissive?" Was she submissive at the beginning of their marriage after both husband and wife said their vows before God? If that is true, then it is her husband's fault in that he failed her in making her not submissive to him later in their married life. From the day of marriage, he was duty-bound as a Christian husband to nurture her and help her grow spiritually. He must pray for her and encourage her in all things spiritual. He must set a godly example of holiness before her always. He must study the Bible diligently so that he knows what the will of God is for him in order to help his wife grow in the Lord. He must serve God faithfully so that he can set a godly example for her to serve faithfully too.

 If his wife is not submissive to him, he needs to apologise to her for failing her and for not helping her to grow spiritually. He is responsible if she is carnal and disobedient. He needs to apologise to her for this. With this approach, he can regain his moral responsibility to plead with her to submit to him as unto the Lord, i.e. for Christ's sake. There is no compromise of faith but a restoration of faith, trust, and relationship for both husband and wife.