Summary:
“New normal” is one of the buzzwords of 2020. However, is the new normal necessarily better than the previous normal? If we reflect on our faith, our conduct and our service (including our attitude, habits, practices), can we say that this new normal has become a better normal, or a stagnant normal, or a worse normal?
This sermon focuses on having a better service in the new normal of Phrase 3 and beyond.

• How can we better prepare to serve the Lord in our various ministries?
• How can we better prepare to attend church services in the new normal?

There are so many buzzwords or trending words in 2020. Words like unprecedented, pandemic, coronavirus, lockdown, have all made it to the Oxford Dictionary’s Words of the Year for 2020. Personally I feel that 1 new buzz phrase is “new normal” which has been appearing over the past few months as society moves towards recovering and bouncing back from the pandemic.

However, is the new normal necessarily better than the previous normal in some regards? I wonder, if we were to put on a spiritual lens and reflect on our faith, our conduct and our service (including our attitude, habits, practices) and compare them to last year, can we say that this new normal has become a better normal, or a stagnant normal, or a worse normal?

I sincerely hope that we are all able to work towards a better normal. For tonight, I would like to focus on 1 dimension which is to have a better service in the new normal of phase 3 and beyond. A better service in 2 aspects - how we can better prepare to serve the Lord in our various ministries, and how we can better prepare to attend church services in this new normal (because attending church service is also a form of service to God).

Towards a Better Service to the Lord

Now let’s first talk about church work. During the past months, church work might have appeared differently to each of us. For some, it might have been almost absent. For example, our Adam Road chefs have no opportunity to cook for the church, and this is something I miss very much. Perhaps we have been looking out for church brethren in the past, but then we stopped because we are no longer able to meet, or they have returned overseas. For my REU class, we set off in 2020 with a roster to look after the cleanliness of their classroom and the mingling corner, but this work came to a halt in just 3 months. Due to the rotational service arrangements, maybe we are not scheduled as often for duty too.

Yet with phase 3 and beyond, more activities might start to resume with less restrictions. We will have more opportunities to attend physical church service. We might be mobilised to take on our past church work again, or the intensity will start to increase compared to our current workload. Maybe there is a need for us to take on new church work or support new initiatives for pastoral or evangelism.

Rom 12:10-13
Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

We have to start to be diligent and fervent in service, and start to care for our family in Christ once again as we did before COVID-19, or maybe even improve and do it better.

Now, how do we feel about restarting and resuming these various works? Perhaps we are excited, or relieved. Perhaps we might be discouraged or uncertain because we haven’t done that for a while. Let’s talk about the latter, whereby we might feel a little rusty after not exercising our gifts for a while. Interestingly, the Bible also talks about the importance of sharpening our tools as this action will affect the outcomes of our labour.

Ecc 10:9-10
He who quarries stones may be hurt by them,
And he who splits wood may be endangered by it.
If the ax is dull,
And one does not sharpen the edge,
Then he must use more strength;
But wisdom brings success.

Here is a simple life lesson that explains the importance of sharpening one’s tool, or one must use more strength than before. If we read verse 9 in context then it suggests that we might end up hurting ourselves if we have not used our tools for a long time, or have not exercised those physical or mental muscles.

One example would be airplanes and air travel. In a recent news article (15 Dec), experts are warning airlines to take extra care when reactivating planes left in extended storage during the pandemic. Why?

One issue is because of insect nests that have built up in key tubes or sensors and they end up disrupting the digital readings delivered to the pilot. Some pilots had to cancel take off because they noticed that their readings were very unreliable and it was because of these hidden insect nests!

Furthermore, there is the potential issue of pilot rustiness. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) cautioned that the number of poorly-handed landings have risen sharply this year with air travel picking up. It is not easy to land a plane smoothly but frequent pilots would be very seasoned with this. However, this precision can be lost without practise over time, and hence the IATA recommends the need for refresher training for those who are putting on their caps after a long break.

I think this is a good analogy for us to consider if we might need to sharpen our tools or rekindle our zeal once again in serving God zealously once more like we did before. If we are not prepared, we might feel discouraged thinking about the work that we have been assigned to take on. Perhaps we might feel less confident, or hope for others to do it instead of ourselves. This is just like Moses in Exodus 4 after he had spent 40 years looking after sheep in Midian, and was now commanded to deliver the Israelites.

Exodus 4:1, 10, 13
Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’ ”
Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

From these passages, we see he is reluctant to return to the work because he fears the people will not take him seriously, and that he is not eloquent or good enough for the work. He asked for God to send someone else because he feels others are more qualified. Now God was angry with his reluctance to serve Him, but at the same time God was gracious to him and assured him with signs and gave him a companion. So this is comfort to us too because we can turn to God for help if we ever feel inadequate or insufficient, or have doubts about restarting our service to Him in our ministries. We are asking according to the will of God and He will hear and strengthen us.

How can we polish our tools and talents? We start from our heart. We start off with setting the right heart and having the mindset to want to serve.

Ezra 7:10
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Ezra is a great example of a person who starts from the heart. While Ezra was captive in Babylon, he was already planning for the future. He was diligently studying and keeping the law of the Lord so that he can be proficient, accountable and a good teacher to the Israelites even before he left for Jerusalem.

Like Ezra, we can first reflect about the recent and current state of our spiritual family, whether there are any physical or spiritual needs of members that we know of, or if there are any aspects of the church that we can continue to strengthen. And when we see these needs, we do not just stop there, feeling negative and hopeless about them. We should ask ourselves - how can I contribute in my own capacity to serve these needs, in harmony and unity with co-workers and leaders of the church?

In addition, Ezra also had to leave the comforts of Babylon to make the 4-month long journey to the city of Jerusalem which was still in ruins. Like him, we also have to think if there’re any sacrifices we have to make, in terms of dedicating our time and energy, or giving up our own pleasures and activities, to do church work. One example would be talking to or visiting church members. Maybe in the past we have been looking out for a brother or sister, but due to the circuit breaker and zone arrangements we have not kept in meaningful contact like before. We can start to think about how we want to re-establish contact again, be it meeting in church for the same service, having a meal after service, or having some activities at a good time.

1 John 3:16-18
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

This passage reminds us that it is easy to love or serve with our thoughts and words, but more effortful to love and serve with our actions done within the truth. We love and serve because Christ first loved and served us. Therefore, I hope that this verse can motivate and spark that inner zeal in us to show genuine care and serve our spiritual family (the church) once more.

Towards a Better Worship in Service

At this point I would like to shift the focus to one of the most basic services to the Lord that we can all be a part of - attending physical church service, especially in the coming months when we are likely able to attend more services here than before. I feel that this can be influenced either positively or negatively by our new routines and habits that we have adopted over the past 9 months, and that is why I want to focus on this.

Readjusting our Physical routine

Firstly, let’s consider how this period may have changed our physical routines and habits, and how this might affect our most basic service to the Lord - attending church services. For myself personally, sometimes I will go for a run after work on Wednesday or Friday evening, and I can make it back for dinner and the livestream by 7.30pm. For some of us, we might have started to cook more during this period because we knock off earlier and we save time on travelling on Wednesday and Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday for the youths. Some of us may have also been learning a new skill from online courses or videos, or picking up a new craft or hobby, and weekday nights are the best time for us.

1 Tim 4:8
For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

Now these interests are good and healthy, and the Bible also provides a guideline for us here, where Paul talks about bodily exercise as something which is helpful for us. However compared to matters of godliness, its benefits are far less, and so we should esteem godliness more than exercise. I think for our discussion, we can swap exercise with any of that physical activity or habit that we have taken up. Yes, while it may be helpful to you, whether in terms of your own physical or mental health, or your career and family, yet we have to consider whether it clashes with matters pertaining to godliness. If it does, then we have to learn to realign our priorities. We may not have to give that up entirely, maybe just change the timing or frequency in a week, so that we will not be hindered by them in making our journey to church. Yes, these few months may have been a blessing for us to focus on our interests and hobbies, but now it is time for us to shift our focus on better blessings that come from above.

Col 3:1-2
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Let us refocus our attention away from things below and towards things above - things which concern our spiritual life and the life which is to come.

Readjusting our Mental Routine

We talked about our physical routine, now let’s move on to consider our mental routine, or in this case new mental habits that we might have adopted. One that I would like to talk about is our recent ability to have multiple sermons to choose from during our service times. For those of us who know many online video channels of different TJC churches all over the world, we now have options for sermon topics to choose from, and can even decide our own service timings to keep by watching different livestreams. And I thank God if these options have really helped to encourage you in your faith or increased your knowledge in God’s word over these past months.

But when you listen to sermons - do you find yourselves being more selective in choosing your sermons? Do we have this thought that - since I’m going to spend 1 hour listening to a sermon, I might as well find a sermon topic that would relate to me the most, or a sermon that will likely interest me more for today? Then maybe we start to look through the various channels and playlist for a topic that catches our eyes. Then maybe we evaluate the sermon speaker, e.g. “oh I’ve listened to him many times and he is a good speaker”, or we choose the language, e.g. “I want a English speaker only without interpretation”. And then we play the sermon during our Sabbath worship, but maybe after 3 minutes, we decide to look for another sermon to listen to…

If we find that these scenarios seem familiar to us, then I urge you to exercise caution concerning this new mentality you might have unknowingly adopted, which might have become a new routine or habit for your keeping of the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday services. Because when we return to Adam for more frequent services, we won’t be able to select our speaker or topic or even the length of the sermon. How would we feel about this? Or would this new attitude of being a selective listener actually hinder our return to church regularly?

1 Cor 2:4-5
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Paul advises us that when we listen to the word of God, we have to be careful not to emphasise only on human wisdom and persuasion, such as the content or delivery of the speaker, because we may end up neglecting other important aspects like the Spirit and power of God.

1 Thess 2:13
For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

Like the Thessalonians, we have to receive these sermons not as the word of men, but as the word of God. We should not allow factors like public speaking skills to decide what truths we want to listen to for the day, but we have to welcome it as the truth which God wants to impress in our hearts today. And that is how the word of God works in us effectively. We feel edified after listening to a sermon (even if it doesn’t match how you’re feeling or what you went through today) because we believe in those words as the truth from God.

1 Thess 1:5-6
For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,

We soften and open up our hearts to be receptive, and that is how the gospel or the truth can come to us in power and in the Holy Spirit, and our feelings are stirred, whether it is joy or other emotions, by the Spirit within us.

So, let’s prepare ourselves to return to Adam Road church more often for physical services in the coming weeks and months. Let us attune ourselves once again to our local service timings, sermon speaker styles, their strengths, and idiosyncrasy as well! (Someone said I tend to flap my arm when I interpret during the spiritual meeting - so I can only ask for your patience and forgiveness and well-intentioned comments to help me improve). It is fine to continue listening to sermons by other TJC churches at other times of the week, but let us dedicate the appointed timings on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday to attending services in Adam Road church whenever we are able to.

Conclusion

As a summary, I’ve shared some thoughts on how we can strive to enter into a better spiritual normal in terms of resolving and restarting our service to the Lord in our various ministries, as well as evaluating our routines, habits and mindset to attend more physical services in church in the coming months.

To conclude, I would like to go back to the first question I asked you in my introduction - is the new normal for us really going to be a better normal? In some aspects, the old normal may actually be better than the new normal.

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus says the LORD:
“Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Over here the Lord encourages us to actually look back because that might be where the good way is for us today. And we should remember the good way that we were once walking on. That good way (whether it was pre-COVID or years ago) whereby we loved the Lord and our spiritual family, and our faith was accompanied with zealous actions. Let’s use that as a positive reference for the way forward, to have a better service to the Lord in this new and better normal.