Eccl 5:1-2
These verses tell us about our ears and mouths in the house of God. Firstly, we ought to draw near to hear with our ears. Regarding our mouths, let your words be few.

This sermon will discuss when we come to the house of God, we shouldn’t just attend but also listen.

Let our words be few and let our ears pay full attention to God and His word.

The True Jesus Church is like family; it IS a family. We come here for worship. Many people are familiar with each other because we don’t just attend service but also talk to and care for one another. The atmosphere is also family like. Informal and not pompous. On the other hand, we can be a little bit too relaxed. It’s good to be less formal e.g. insisting on wearing a coat and tie to church is overly formal. As long as we dress modestly and neatly, it’s good enough for God. It’s not good to be pompous. If we look at our church, it’s very simple. But it’s not good to be overly relaxed and think: oh we’re family. We’re at home.

We’re callous. We’re not too particular about the way we attend service and that’s not good. The speaker has seen people clipping their fingernails while the service is going on lol. The speaker doesn’t think we should be against the wearing of sandals but he has seen people taking off their footwear and putting it on the pew or towards others. When some people sit, they stretch out their arms and occupy the space of 3. When receiving spiritual food, people behave like they’re at the dinner table, talking as they like. This is being callous, and irreverent before God.

So let’s take a look at how the Jews in the 1st Century gathered for worship, and let’s learn from their piety and reverence.

1. Fix our gaze on the speaker
   Luke 4:20
   This is the time when Jesus was in the synagogue at Nazareth. The way they gathered for worship is somebody is gotten to read the Scriptures. After that, someone else or the one who reads will share the word of God. During this occasion, Jesus was the one reading from the book of Isaiah. He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him! They were expecting to hear something from Him. That was the spirit of the synagogue attendees at that time.

Today when we gather in the church for service, when someone gets up from the opening prayer, do we fix our gaze upon him? Or when the service leader invites somebody to come to the pulpit to preach, do we fix our gaze on him? The speaker isn’t saying we should fix our attention on every movement of his, rather he wants to highlight how we should emulate how the Jews fixed they gaze on Jesus.

Fix your gaze on the speaker because we know the sermon is about to begin! When the service leader (who is also the speaker) ends the prayer and gets to, do we prepare ourselves to listen to the word of God? Some people they can engage with their ears on the sermon while their eyes are on their mobile phone.

The speaker was told by a brother that he happened to sit behind a young sister who was the pianist that day. She was looking at her mobile phone from the beginning to the end of the sermon. We may think: “What’s wrong with that? Now we have our Bibles on our hand phones!” But he was directly behind her and he told the speaker she was surfing the internet from the beginning to the end of the sermon. She went to play the piano. Went back to her seat. Surfed the internet. Then went to play the piano. The speaker wonders what went on in her head while she was playing the piano. She’s part and parcel of the people who serve God and serve the people in the service. Playing the piano is not unimportant. It’s part and parcel of a sacrifice to God. When we lift up our voice to God, it’s an offering of praise.

In the Old Testament, these were things done by the priests! The people who weren’t priests brought their animals to the priests. These were very very holy to the lord. In the Old Testament, people who sang to the lord 24h were also specialised people - Levites.

Today we are so privileged. We are so blessed in that we are priests unto God. We can burn incense and offer sacrifices up to Him. We have direct access to God! Do we even honour this great blessing God has given us?

Playing the piano is part of the SACRED music ministry. It’s not just easing people into the hymns. This is also your personal offering to the Lord. How can our minds not be on the word of God when the sermon is on? From the time we begin the hymn singing in the name of Jesus to the time the congregation is dismissed, God is in our midst receiving everything from us. So what do we give Him? Our nonchalance, attitude?

A number of years ago when Sembawang still worshiped in Jalan Shaya(?), the piano was near to the pulpit and congregation. Because the piano was so near, the speaker realised the pianist was playing different for every stanza. It went very well with the lyrics of the hymn. The speaker wasn’t expecting that so he didn’t psycho himself into being uplifted while singing. The moment he knelt down to pray, his tears flowed down uncontrollably. That’s when we sing with our hearts. Often the atmosphere plays a part. To the musicians in church, you’re playing holy music to the Lord. Your playing and the singing of the congregation blend together to be a sweet aroma to the king of kings!

So what that sister did was totally wrong.

Also when we are attentive when the sermon is on, when we have active engagement with the speaker, when we are consciously focussed, it keeps our minds from wandering away. Sometimes we find our minds wandering away. We think engaging attention is the work of the speaker. Yes, speakers should try their best to engage attention. But whose duty is it? Ours, the congregation. It’s our duty to actively consciously focus. It requires effort! If we do that, it’s very hard to fall asleep.

There was a young man who had just started work, he was quite successful. Don’t try to guess who because it was many years ago. He was diagonally in front of the speaker, suddenly during the sermon he did a swinging action with both arms. What happened? He was disengaged from the sermon and was transported (not by the Holy Spirit of course) to the golf course LOL

Acts 20:7-12
Paul was preaching into the midnight and a young man named Eutychus sitting by the window fell three stories to his death. In January 2019, the papers recorded the death of a boy who fell to his death at W11 on a Saturday. When the speaker first read it, his first thought was wondering if it was from our church. But when he read he fell from the 8th storey, he was relieved because W11 church is on the 4th storey.
Eutychus fell to his death. But let’s read the verse before that. v9 says he was at a window and fell from there. The preceding verse v8 says there were many Lanka in the upper room where they were gathered together. Why? Because Paul preached to midnight (v7). There were many lamps in the upper room. After saying there were many lamps, Eutychus falling from the window was mentioned. This struck the speaker. Why is there the need to say there’re many lamps in the upper room? It doesn’t add to the story right? The speaker realised that the guy at the window was sitting at the border between light and darkness. It is midnight so outside the window would be very very dark. It’s not like our modern cities where outside the window are still lights. And then inside the room is not just one or a few lamps. The Bible says specifically there were MANY lamps. So it’s very dark outside and very bright inside! And where was he sitting? At the border, the border between light and darkness; inside and outside. He fell 3 storeys and died. Why? His mind was shut off from listening to the words of life, and he died. He didn’t die while listening to a sermon. If a person dies while really listening to a sermon, he’s blessed. There’re people who have died while praying. It’s a blessing! But this young man didn’t die while listening to the sermon because the Bible says he gave in to sleep, meaning his mind was already shut off, causing him to fall 3 storeys down.

This reminds the speaker of what Paul said in 2 Cor 12. He talks about the reverse, a man who went three ‘storeys’ up in heaven. We believe he was speaking about himself. He heard inexpressible words that is not lawful for a man to utter. So if you die while serving God just like (probably) Paul, it’s a blessing not a tragedy. We know of people who died while serving God, while praying. It’s a blessing.

But not for Eutychus. He died after his mind was shut off from listening to the sermon - the words of life. And not everyone is as fortunate as Eutychus. (Eutychus means good chance/luck/fortune) The one who spoke the sermon happened to be Paul through whom God worked mightly. Paul went downstairs and Eutychus was raised to life.

If the windows here are not shut and someone falls to his death while the speaker is preaching, he does not dare to think God will work through him to raise the person up from the dead.

Many of us don’t physically die, but spiritually. We’re weakened, close to death, some of us might have died. Because we do not focus on the word of God when it is preached. We have full attendance in church. But why is it people who have full attendance in church can fall away, commit mortal sin, leave the church. Because they have full attendance but don’t give full attention to the word of God. So spiritually slumber sets in. They don’t fall one level, two levels, but three levels down. And so the third heaven will have no place for them. Be careful of spiritual slumber.

When we have our eyes fixed on the speaker, we will not be able to talk. When we’re fixed on the speaker and Bible, we won’t turn to the person next to us. Actually there’s no need to talk. Is there any need to talk now? Even if you find something interesting that the speaker was talking about, there’s no need to talk. Just listen. Unless you’re asking what verse you’re supposed to turn to, because sometimes our ears not very good. But if we have good ears and need to ask, it shows we lost focus.

People who talk when Jesus like were usually negative.
John 6:41-43
The Jews complained against Jesus because they could not stomach what Jesus said. Likewise, when the speaker says something you don’t like, you talk to the person next to you.

The first point: Fix our eyes on the speaker like they fixed their eyes on Jesus

1. Draw near to the feet of Jesus
   Luke 10:38-39
   Martha invited Jesus to her house and was busy preparing food for Him. Mary, on the other hand, sat at the feet of Jesus. This is opposite from Eutychus. He sat the fringe. What was he doing that at the window? In a room full of light, you choose such a spot. So when we come to church, we notice something. The speaker says it’s very clear that the back half of the hall is very dense while the front half of the hall has empty benches. We’re Eutychus? We’re not, we don’t have good fortune. Be careful not to fall down 3 storeys.

Let’s be like Mary. Come to the front, the centre. Want to be near the word of God.

Martha was unhappy. It wasn’t that Mary didn’t want to serve the Lord, because Jesus sided with her. There’s always a time and manner to serve. When you sit at the feet of Jesus, are you not serving Him? He’s only there at their house to eat? Jesus loved going to their house not to eat but because they loved Jesus. Sitting at His feet would reflect that. Why is a service called a ‘service’? Because the most basic form of service is worshipping God - singing hymns and opening our hearts to listen. When we have such a service, there’re duty personnel from the ushers, AVA, cooks. They’re here not because we’re here to play but because we’re here to worship God. They facilitate the service.

Duty personnel have the need to be physically distant; sometimes just outside the door, sometimes in the kitchen. But with your minds and hearts you should be in close proximity.

The speaker likes the set up of Adam church because there’s a tv panel. Duty personnel can still see the speaker and listen to the sermon. In the kitchen there are speakers. The Adam church set up is good. Even when you don’t want to miss one word but really need to relieve yourself, walking along the corridor and being in the toilet enables you not to miss a single word. But how many of us make full use of such facilities?

When you’re on duty, we cannot be in this hall. But we can still be close to God and His word with our hearts and mind. AVA personnel are part of the service. The speaker knows that sometimes because of technical problems, the hymns don’t catch up. But many a time, it is not because of technical problems but because the AVA personnel are distracted. AVA personnel are part of the service. They’re there not just to click to change the hymn. They’re to sing as well! They’re not there just to worship with their fingers! When we stand up to sing, they have to stand up too. When we kneel in prayer, they kneel too. But this isn’t a given.

We need to be very engaged with the service even when we’re doing our duty. We have to pay more attention to the Bible verses than the people here, because you have to display the verse for everybody.

There was once when the speaker was serving Holy Communion. He was serving outside. The receptionists outside were chatting. He wanted to not serve them, because they were talking not singing!

Let us remain at Jesus feet, whatever duties we’re performing during the service.

1. Seek God early/earnestly
   Psa 63:1-2
   The English Bible says, “I want to seek God early.” But in Chinese, it says, “I want to seek God earnestly.” The Hebrew word is ‘dawn’, hence the English translation. But when you say you want to seek God at dawn, it reflects earnestness. You’re so eager, you seek God at dawn!

Prov 8:17
“I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”
The word ‘early’ here is the same as in Psa 63. It also means ‘diligently’ - we have to seek wisdom diligently. If we really think we need God, like in Psa 63, then we’ll wake up early. We’ll prepare ourselves to come to church early. This shows we’re eager to worship God. Like a deer panting for water in a dry thirsty land. We need God! The Sabbath Day is a time we can really get ourselves nourished. Do you thirst to come to God on the Sabbath Day?

In the past when we only had one church in TK, the speaker had to take a bus from Queenstown. He had to leave at 1 for a 2.30 service, because the bus arrival wasn’t as stable as today. Every time bus 33 turns into Telok Kurau area, his heart would beat fast. That was his feeling that time. Like a deer panting for water. When the speaker was still working in the world, Friday afternoons were when joy would fill his heart. He thanks God it’s Friday. How many of us have such a feeling?

The speaker once read a book by Maria Von Trapp who was a Catholic nun become governess (sound of music). She said that traditionally, the Jews quicken their paste when they’re nearer the synagogue. But when they leave the synagogue, they’d slow down. To show they’re eager to worship God but reluctant to leave. We shouldn’t do this just for show but we should be eager to come to church and be reluctant to leave.

Many of us are the other way around. Very eager to leave. Park car also park strategically. Our temperature rises and we wait for people to leave.

Psa 145:15-16
We should look at the hand of God, because in His hands is our spiritual fulfilment. We come to God to be fed with spiritual food. Should we not wait on Him?

Psa 25:5
We’re here to receive God’s guidance, to be guided into God’s truth. The psalmist says here to be guided the truth, he was willing to wait the whole day.

We should come early and wait on God. It shouldn’t be God waiting for us. It shouldn’t be us walking in 15min late. We should instead come perhaps 30min early. Pray. And attend the hymnal session, which is a biblical way to prepare ourselves. The hymns we sing before the sermons is an important preparatory stage. So we have to come early and wait on God.