Pre-prayer exhortation:
This hymn reminds the speaker of the parable spoken by Jesus. The Kingdom of God is likened to a king who had a feast for his son. He sent invitations out for people to attend the wedding banquet. Unfortunately many people originally invited had various reasons to turn the invitation down. The banquet was ready. But those invited refused to come. Consequently, the master was very angry, more so disappointed. He had given them such great grace yet they didn’t treasure it. So this grace was given to others. Today, through the church, the Lord conducts the Spiritual Meeting. Thisbsoirtyal ceast has likewise been prepared. Yet some of the children of God haven’t come. Some want to come in their hearts but their physical health doesn’t permit them to be here. But some have physical health that’s alright but don’t have the heart to come. Why? Everyone has their own reasons. Generally speaking, they say: the church conducts the spiritual meeting but there’s hardly any spiritual grace. Some people put on Facebook that True Jesus Church conducts spiritual meetings but no one gets baptised or receives the Holy Spirit. Many people comment things like: see God is not with this church.

Today, some of our members may have such a thinking. Year after year, I don’t receive the grace I want to receive. So year after year, I become less and less interested in attending the Spiritual Meeting. Perhaps weave always looked forward to Spiritual Meetings where we wish to receive spiritual grace. But each time as our hopes are dashed, how do we keep our hopes alive?

What is the spiritual grace we wish to receive? Is there really no spiritual grace? In reality, we probably no longer esteem that true spiritual grace. As far as the speaker is concerned, to be invited in itself to attend the spiritual feast is a great spiritual grace. This feast Jesus talks about isn’t an ordinary feast, it’s a feast in the Kingdom of God. It allows us to enter into the Kingdom of God, so we can enter into our eternal home. This is the most precious spiritual grace in our lives!

Perhaps we may not have such a deep experience. But if the journey of our lives is near the end, or if we’re facing death, if we know we don’t have many days left and turn around to look at the days of the past, many things we deemed important at that point in time is no longer important. We know returning home is the most precious. We want to face the Lord with confidence and fear. We’d surely regret not esteeming this in the past. Let us not have this realisation only when we reach this stage.

So through the church the Lord is conducting this Spiritual Meeting; the feast of this kingdom. This is a reminder that only the heavenly kingdom
We must make our preparation so we can go home.

There is another reason why people don’t come. We think we still have many Spiritual Meetings going forward. So it’s okay we miss this Spiritual Meeting. Some more in Singapore we have 2 a year! In some countries they only have 1 a year or 1 in several years. There’re too many SMs to attend so we don’t need to attend everyone. This is the thinking of some believers so they don’t look forward to or esteem Spiritual Meetings.

Third verse of Hymn 421
“Delay not while this day is thine
Tomorrow may never be “

Tomorrow will surely come but we may not see tomorrow. We don’t know if accident or tomorrow will come first. The speaker doesn’t know if he has many Spiritual Meetings to spend with us. If this was indeed his last Spiritual Meeting, can he not esteem it? Will he like the past take it too lightly and think he has many Spiritual Meetings to attend?

Actually the speaker thinks his body is in pretty alright condition and probably many more years to live. Some people may think he eats a lot of char kway teow lol but actually he’s been eating quite healthily. Despite living healthily, he suffered a heart attack. At that moment he realised indeed our lives are not in our own hands. Perhaps this Spiritual Meeting is indeed his last. So he’ll prepare for it and esteem it. Because he doesn’t have many days left.

We must treasure all we have today. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. But if there is today, let us seize hold of it and treasure it.

May the Lord help us so we can treasure everyday and every Spiritual Meeting the Lord has given us. So we can make our preparations properly and stay firm to the faith we had at the beginning. So we’ll be able to face our Lord with no confidence and fear on that day.

Sermon:

Psa 128:1-6
This psalm is talking about a blessed family, the theme of the Spiritual Meeting. This passage, a mere 6 verses, has the word blessed 4 times in the Chinese Bible.
v1 有福 have blessing
v2 享福 enjoy blessing
v4 蒙福 receive blessing
v5 赐福 give blessing

Indeed this family is a blessed family. All of us want to have a blessed family. But a blessed family doesn’t drop out of the sky. It’s one that needs us to work hard and be dedicated to establish. Just like a fruit will never just drop from a sky. Whatever fruit we want to eat needs hard work to plant the fruit tree. If we do not sow, we will not reap. Why is this family able to be blessed?

v1 tells us that blessed is everyone who fear the Lord and walks in His ways.

As we read on, we’ll discover that indeed this family is a God fearing one. The husband in this household is one who fears the Lord. Likewise for the wife. Their children also fear the Lord. The entire house diligently in walking of the ways of the Lord. Therefore they’re able to establish a blessed family.

In some families, the husband fears the Lord but the wife doesn’t. In some, the wife does but the husband doesn’t. In some, the parents do but the children don’t. In some, the children do but the parents don’t. Such families experience difficulties and problems no one wants to talk about. There’ll be sighings and sorrows no one wants to address.

We need to know these matters clearly. A blessed family is one where the entire household fears the Lord and walks in the ways of the Lord. Then the entire family will be blessed.

• How does the husband in this household fear the Lord?
v2 The husband has kept to the way/teachings of the Lord and labours diligently. One labouring diligently is a practical requirement of a household. Some irresponsible husbands refuse to work for the family. They bring many problems to the family. If even having enough to eat is a problem, how can they talk about being blessed? A husband must hence be hardworking and diligent in working. This way the family can be blessed and matters of the household be smooth.

But does that mean working hard and being diligent in itself can bring blessing?
Exo 20:9-10
God instructed mankind to work diligently in 6 days. On the 7th day, they ought not to work but keep the Sabbath. God would bless and sanctify this day.

Some people say: we have listened to the commands of the Lord and kept the Sabbath. Why hasn’t He blessed us then? Why do we work so hard till we’re half dead? If God blesses us, then we don’t need to work and can enjoy ourselves!

Such people only remember that God said the 7th day would be blessed but forget God said we have to work hard for 6 days. If we’re unwilling to work hard for 6 days, idle and unproductive, do you think God will bless us?

Some people have the idea that blessing is enjoying without working (享福).

Was Adam enjoying the blessing of God in the garden of Eden? Of course, because it was Paradise. But did that mean they didn’t work hard in the Garden? We may think it’s blessing to be able to eat without lifting a finger. They had to work hard too.

Gen 2:15
God placed them in the garden to tend and keep it. In other words, they’re like gardeners. They have to work hard in the garden in order to enjoy the fruit of their labour. So enjoyment in Paradise/a blessed place doesn’t mean we eat and enjoy without needing to work. A blessed place is where we work hard and enjoy the fruits of our hard work.

We often have this wrong concept: because of sin, God cursed the ground. And that’s why we have to work hard on the ground. That they didn’t need to work hard before sin.

But that’s wrong. They DID need to work before sin. It was hard work. But AFTER sin, it was toil and labour.

Gen 3:17
Both thorns and thistles will spring up. These add additional toil and troubles. In the past you need to work hard but you didn’t need to toil with the thorns and thistles. As a result, it’s not just hard work. It’s toil and suffering.

So we must make a clear distinction. God says we must work hard in 6 days. If we keep ourselves pure and done sin, our lives should be quite relaxing. But if we have many evil thoughts, this will add to our suffering, toil and troubles. But we won’t discuss this too much.

The speaker wants to emphasise the ability to work hard is grace, because you can enjoy the fruit of your hard work.

Jesus says, “My Father works to this day.”
Often we think work in itself is a curse, but actually our Heavenly Father works till today. Work is sacred because our God is a working God. He didn’t cast aside His creation after creating it. If our Father is working so hard, are we as a son gonna shake our leg and drink coffee?

We must follow the way of the Lord. We must be willing to work hard 6 days and thereafter we can enjoy the 7th blessed day of the Lord.

Pitifully, some people don’t want to eat the fruit of their own hard work but want to eat the fruit of others’ hard work. So they use unscrupulous means to get what others have. So much so that they engage in illegal activities. Illegal means is the fastest way to gain money. We may receive what we wish for. We may be able to enjoy the supposed blessings we desire. Other people don’t know of our despicable means and illegal activities. They see we’re so successful and enjoying life. But doesn’t your conscience tell you your enjoyment has been built on the sorrows of others. You may appear to be leading a plain sailing blessed life now, but your conscience tells you there’ll come a day you can’t escape your punishment.

You can’t have true peace in your heart while enjoying these things. Even if you can escape the earthly judgment, you can’t escape that in heaven.

Therefore one who fears God, works hard and walks in the way of the Lord will be blessed. Because his conscience is clear; he hasn’t done shutting wrong before God. He may face with many challenges in the course of his work, but God will help him overcome these difficulties. He may not have a plain sailing journey now, but in the end it will be.

One who keeps the word of God will have a blessed family. He works diligently for 6 days and is blessed on the 7th.

• How does the wife fear the Lord?
Psa 128:3
The wife who keeps the word of God is one who is in the very heart of the husband’s house. This means she is a virtuous helper to the husband. She’s willing to do this because she understands God created woman to be a helper to the man. Therefore she’s willing to respect the husband as the head and to be his virtuous helper in the house.

Perhaps she’s a boss in the office. But at home, she’s the wife in the inner chamber of the husband’s house. She’ll display submissiveness and gentleness. This is a virtue a wife or a woman should have.

1 Pet 3:3-5
Peter encouraged women not to just pursue outward beauty but also the inner beauty. Outward beauty is no assurance of happiness in the household. But the inner beauty can assure blessedness in the family, it can soften even the heart of a hard man. Like in v1, “even if some [husbands] do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.”

Submissiveness and gentleness can move the hearts of people, and also reduce a lot of conflict. Oftentimes, many conflicts happens because at least one party is not willing to be submissive and gentle.

Peter says in v4 that incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit is very precious in the sight of God. Why? Because this is the beautiful image God has created in the woman.

God has created Man and Woman in His image. If we’re all made in the image of God, shouldn’t the image of Man and Woman be the same? But in reality we know it’s not.

The image of God is righteous and has dignity, God is also gentle and full of compassion, and other aspects. But when God created Man, He specially put in His righteousness and authority in the nature of Man. Don’t misunderstand women don’t have this HAHA it’s just that God especially put this in Man. When God created women, He especially put in compassion and gentleness. This arrangement of God is so that Man and Woman can complement each other and help each other in their weakness.

For example when a child is being very naughty and no matter how much the mother nags, he pays no heed. The father just needs to give a stare and say, “Stop it.” They go quiet.

Sometimes when the child is crying, the father authoritatively says, “Stops crying!” The child continues crying. But when the mother soothes, “Stop crying okay?” The child stops.

Man and women have different nature that complements one another. When a woman deliberately chooses she has broken the very image God has intended for her. But if she understands and manifests the very image God has intended for her, that’s very precious to the Lord. The compassion and gentleness manifested by the woman will benefit the husband and the household. This is how she becomes a fruitful vine.

• How do children fear the Lord?
Psa 128:3
Your children like olive plants all around your table. Children being around the table means they’re filial and caring towards their parents. Perhaps they’re high ranking in society, many people are around their table. But when home, they’re willing to be around their parents table. They understand that they have to honour their father and mother as children. Regardless of how busy they are, they know they must return home to be filial to their parents. They respect and obey their parents. They follow the word of God, consequently the entire household is blessed.

Why is it that they are described as olive plants and not other plants? There’s a special spiritual value in olives. Amongst the many kinds of oil, olive oil is the purest. Because of heart attacks, we have discovered olive oil is good for our hearts. Long before this discovery in medical science, God already knew and that’s why only olive oil can be used in the temple.

This reminds us: can our children be like olive oil to be used in the temple when they grow up? Or are they going to become the wild olive only to be used by the world when they grow up?

Parents not only have the responsibility to raise their children physically but also to raise them to be olives used in the temple of God and not a wild olive to be used in the world. It’s not hard to raise them physically. The question is whether we can raise them to be used by God and not the world.

It’s sad if we put in so many resources into them just to be used by the world. Of course we can receive some rewards and glory from the world. If not who would spend so much to educate and nurture their children. But this glory and reward is short lived. We must look further into the future. Only if our children can be used by God will their value be truly precious.

We are deemed to be children of God. Our children too. But why aren’t they used by God in His temple when they grow up? Whether they’ll be used by God or the world depends largely on how the parents raise and teach them.

v5 The blessing of a blessed family is coming out of Zion. Zion is where the temple is, which represents the church today. God doesn’t bless you from the world. If all the blessings you talk about and seek for are from the world, it may not necessarily be from God.

The god of this world can give you the entire world as long as you bow to him. But the Lord Jesus did not bow down to him.

Jesus tells us that our soul is so precious, nothing in this world can be compared with it. If we gain the entire world and forfeit our soul, what good is it? What can we use in exchange for our soul?

We must have this realisation, especially as children of God. We must preserve ourselves all the days of our lives in this church or God. Bring ourselves and our entire families into the house of God.

We must love to come to the house of God. All the more we must put in our utmost effort to come to the house of God. Bring ourselves and our families to come to the house of God to worship Him.

v4 “Behold this shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord”

May God bless all our families, that our families will fear God and keep His word.