All of us have some measure of strength. Some strength comes from our muscles, some from our will power; one more strength comes from the heart, from the spirit within us. As Christians, we display our strength in these 3 areas: physical strength, mental strength, and most importantly for Christians, the strength from the spirit.

This sermon won’t discuss the first 2 strengths because the congregation consists of youths; our current age allows us to do this. The older you become, the less able we are to draw strength physically and mentally.

But how about spiritual strength? Spiritual strength is not made manifest by the strength of your body. There can be a person lying on a bed unable to move yet has a spirit full of strength. A person able to run 5km everyday could have a lacking spiritual strength. Whether you’re lacking in spiritual strength depends on the heart.

We need spiritual strength from the heart to lead a Christian life, because society is evil. We don’t need to further discuss the deterioration of morality. There’re a lot of other aspects that aren’t beneficial for Christians. The advancement of technology and many things made convenient aren’t exactly good for Christians because it makes us comfortable. It’s difficult for us to understand and to believe in Jesus under difficult circumstances. All the more we need to have strength in our hearts no matter what circumstances we are under.

Phil 4:13
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Paul says he’s able to do all things. What does ‘all things’ refer to? In the preceding verses, we can tell ‘all things’ refers to physical things he’s lacking in - a place to sleep, food to eat. If such situations is short term, it’s not so much of a problem. But if these situations are prolonged, it’ll cause us much distress. We’d be stressed because we’re always thinking of what to eat. Paul says that even though he was under such a circumstance, he still knew how to draw strength. Even in times of difficulty, we still can be strong.

He also says he has been in situations when he’s full, when he abounds. In such situations, is there really a need for strength? This is where we realise the strength he refers to isn’t physical, but spiritual strength that enables him to continue believing in and relying on Jesus.

That’s why he says he’s able to do all things through Christ who strengthens him. As Christians, we can draw strength from Jesus too.

This is what Paul learnt over a period of time. As Christians we need to learn how to draw strength from Jesus Christ no matter what circumstances we’re under too.

What circumstances will cause us to feel we lack strength? Two circumstances will be discussed.

1. We lack strength because we don’t understand God’s arrangement
   Isa 40:28-31
   Isaiah describes what kind of God God was. “Do you not know that God is like this and like that?”
   From v1 onwards, Isaiah talks about the basic attributes of God. God has strength and power; He neither faints or is weary; His understanding is unsearchable; God has this capability and wisdom. To those who are weak, He gives power. To those who have no might, He increases strength. We must know this.

Even the youths will faint and be weary and the young man will utterly fall.

Why will there be such a circumstances? A young man should not face such a situation. Yet the strong will utterly fall.

Isaiah uses a contrast because a youth shouldn’t faint/fall, yet such a thing happens.

v31 gives us the reason “but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles”.

Do you see the reason? Why would we be faint and weary?

Why would a man be bereft of strength? Because a person doesn’t understand what’s happening to/around him. When faced with difficulties, the first thing we do is to ask why we are faced with it, and think about what we can do to solve it. If it were an ordinary problem, then we would use our efforts to solve it. But if the problem is bigger and more serious, we’d kneel down to pray. This is how a Christian solves problems.

But there are some problems where prayer doesn’t seem very helpful. It seems as if we aren’t waiting on the Lord to help us. We’ll feel in our hearts that God isn’t helping us. We’ll feel we lack strength because God isn’t helping us.

Therefore, the first reason why we feel a lack of strength is because we don’t understand God’s will. Actually, these things are all arranged by God. We need to first understand that everything that happens around us is because of God’s arrangement.

Eccl 3:1
“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven”

Up to v8, comparisons are used. “A time to be born and a time to die”
We may think birth is good and death is bad. But birth and death is something God has planned because there’s a time and season for every purpose. We have to understand that in human life, there’ll be good and there’ll be bad. If we don’t understand this and bad things happen, or we’re in the face of death, we won’t know how to overcome the situation and handle it.

Earlier this year, the speaker’s mother passed away. This was something he had never thought about. Of course he knew his parents, everybody will pass on one day. But he didn’t expect his mother to leave this world in the manner she did. His mother had undergone an operation the doctor was quite confident about. They had done a scan of her pancreas and found a tumour there. When they took a biopsy, they found it to be benign. However the size of the tumour was 3cm. It’s easy for it to become malignant over the years so the doctors recommended for it to be taken out. The speaker thought to himself: “Wah thank God it was found and we can settle it quickly.” He had asked a brother who was a doctor why most pancreatic cancer is found at the last stage.

The doctor said that the operation would be quite major but he said that the recovery would take 2 weeks before she could be discharged. Because the speaker’s mother was a transplant patient. The doctor said if people take a week to recover, she would take 2 weeks. But she stayed 3 months in the hospital.

He never expected his mother’s death to be a result of the surgery. At that time he was wondering what God’s will was. “What does God want to do?” “Are you going to use my mother to bring my other family members to believe in God?” So far, that hasn’t been the case. He didn’t really know what to say God. “What should I do? What does God want me to see?” His prayers seemed ineffective. But his mindset was that he should believe in God and will make His arrangements. Fundamentally, we believe God is good. He’s a God that helps us. So he entrusted this matter to God. One thing the speaker was concerned about was that his mother had not received the Holy Spirit. To the point leading up to her death, she wasn’t so conscious also. The speaker asked God to let him know if his mother was no longer suffering and would go to His kingdom. He doesn’t know if the following was God’s hand. On the day the doctor said his mother would likely pass that day, he told some church members. Dn Chong and his family came down at 7pm. When they arrived, the speaker said, “Let’s quickly go in to pray lest there’s no more opportunity.” Dn Chong laid hands first. Then the speaker laid hands. When he laid hands on her, her heart beat flatlined according to the machine. “Was there a problem with the machine?” There wasn’t, she had passed. She had passed under his hand.

The speaker wonders to himself whether this was a type of comfort God had given him, by allowing him to send her off. This is an issue he has been contemplating. He believes God is righteous and a God who loves us.

The arrangements God had for his mother were all arrangements of love. He can only believe wholeheartedly in this. There shouldn’t be murmurings but a renewal of strength.

The speaker had asked Dn Shee if he could have half a year of no pay leave. But in a month’s time, he was sent to Myanmar for over 60 days. But at least when he went back there were things for him to do, better than being here and letting his mind run.

Then, there was the possibility the speaker had cancer. He thinks this was God’s unique arrangement.

When we feel we have no strength, this is one of the reasons why. We need to learn how to entrust things to God. We need to wait on the Lord, wait for Him to arrange matters for us. With this mindset, we won’t lack in strength but have a renewal of hope instead that God will arrange it for you.

1. We lack strength because we are too comfortable/think we have done enough
   Judges 2:1-7
   When we read this passage, do we feel it’s sad? We tend to read them as if they were stories, but these are all real life events. Do we feel a true sense of sadness when we read this? God pointed out the people’s problems, they had forsaken God. In what manner?
   v2 tells us what the problem is. When they came to the land of Canaan, they should’ve conquered it in its entirety; to completely annihilate the people and the altars of the gods they worshipped. But the people didn’t do this. What did they do?

Judges 1 shows how the people of Israel conquered the land. “Who wants to conquer this place?” Then a group will go. But they didn’t drive out the inhabitants. This happened repeatedly. What did they do? They established covenants with these people. They didn’t treat the inhabitants as equals, perhaps they became slaves. But why did they do this? Was it because they didn’t have the means of completely driving them out?

They took 7 years to conquer the land of Canaan. A 7 year war is arguably long. But they had walked 40 years in the wilderness, what was 7? Furthermore, they ‘cheated’ because they had God’s help. Bees were used to chase the people out. Usually you’d need a lot of toil. God was helping them to fight this battle. What did they have to do? All they needed to do was to go and fight. It was tiring, yes, but not as tiring as the other kingdoms who were really fighting.

Were they capable of completely driving the inhabitants out? Yes.

Judges 1:27
The inhabitants left should’ve just been a small number since most were chased away. Why couldn’t the remnant be driven out? It doesn’t make sense. It’s like washing almost all the dishes and then saying we can’t finish washing one last bowl. We’ve already washed until we’re all sweaty and our hands are wet. Why can’t we do one more? Doesn’t seem logical that they weren’t able to drive out the remnant. There seemed to be a lack of strength. “Let’s just let them off and let them be our servants instead.” A simple and convenient solution to make the remaining inhabitants as slaves and not fight anymore.

Why did they seem to lack strength? Recall that they had already conquered a large part of Canaan. Most of the Israelites would probably have started farming and cultivating the land, and starting their families. A time of peace and security. Perhaps in this, they felt there wasn’t the need to fight anymore. Swords become agriculture tools. “My wife is already going to have the 3rd kid, why still need to fight?”

They had fought 7 years already, and that is admittedly tiring. But what caused them to lack strength was probably a life of comfort. Now they had their own lands, as compared to a hard life in the wilderness.

Is this something God would accept? No. The Israelites were supposed to annihilate them, not subdue them to become slaves. It’s something God required of them. However because they were already a life of comfort, they didn’t.

This is another reason Christians feel a lack of strength. The speaker thanks God the youths attend service, and Sunday youth service. Because it shows we’re willing to spend this time on God. Some youths also try their best to attend Wednesday night service. This is something we display before God and give thanks for.

But do we still feel a lack of strength? Do we still feel like we lack spiritual strength despite attending many services?

Perhaps we are like the Israelites and think: “Ok lah, I’ve done a lot already. I’m already attending so many services. I don’t have to go all in, I don’t have to do everything.”

“I’ll go Bangkok/Bali/Japan/etc. for a break.”
There’s nothing wrong to go overseas. But why do we gain strength by travelling?

Why do we still lack strength despite attending so many services? Perhaps there are still many things we haven’t completed in its entirety.

The speaker reckons the youths today are quite good - they attend services and serve. But he reckons the youths aren’t able to garner strength. We’re still weak and our strength disappears after a while. This is a pressing problem. Why do we still not feel strength after attending service? Perhaps it’s because we just attend service. We lack zeal for the commission of God.

Without this sense of commission, we won’t have this strength. We just come for services as routine. There’s no strength that compels us to do this.

The speaker hence thinks the youths are good but have not reached a desirable level yet.

In the Youth Spiritual Meeting (YSM), how many youths 30 years old and above were present? The picture that was taken during YSM is a good representation of the current situation today. After youths pass the age of 30, they’re no longer as active in church. After this age, they start to slow down. Why would this arise? Perhaps after we turn 30, we think we’re old. Is that really old? You don’t need progressive lenses yet. What you have experienced in life doesn’t give you a license to brand yourself old. In actuality, you’re just beginning on the path of a fully grown adult. At this age we start to feel, “I’m older. I want to rest more and do my own thing.” “If there’re things to do, let the 20 something youths do it. Don’t ask us 30 something youths.” When these youths get married and have children, they become busy beyond measure.

That’s why we find that this demographic (youths above 30) isn’t a group we can tap on. When we ask for help in certain areas, we find we can’t get help from this group. Because when they were younger they thought to themselves attending services and serving in some work was sufficient. But to have strength, we can’t just attend services. We need to have this motivation to do more for God. Youths today lack this.

The speaker is having a hard time finding a youth to become a preacher, for many youths have not thought about their life of faith to the point that they’d want to offer their entire lives to God. “What I’ve done is enough already. No problems.”

But the speaker reckons this is a big problem. He wonders how the church will become 20 years later.

If the best the youths can offer is service attendance and nothing beyond that, it’ll be difficult to have continuity in the way the church is run.

For the youths, this is where we’re lacking in strength. Even though our lives are quite comfortable now, we should not let this affect us. We need to have the mindset of giving back to God. We need to think what aspirations we have for Jesus. “What area can I do even more?”

A majority of us probably haven’t thought of this. Let’s carefully consider this matter.

On the topic of gaining strength:
In Myanmar, the speaker felt he lacked strength. At that point, he suddenly recalled a hymn he heard 20 years ago. When he searched the lyrics up, he found it was really meaningful. It was based on Psa 8. He wants to share this hymn with us so that we may be able to recall this hymn when we lack strength.

Title: How excellent your name is

Link: https://youtu.be/BM8INqEELQA

Lyrics:
O Lord, our Lord, how excellent Your name is.
How excellent Your name in all the earth.
Your glory fills the heavens beyond the farthest star.
How excellent Your name in all the earth.
When I think about the heavens, the moon and all the stars,
I wonder what You ever saw in me.
But You took me and You loved me and You’ve given me new life
And now I’ll praise Your name eternally.
O Lord, our Lord, how excellent Your name is.
How excellent Your name in all the earth.
Your glory fills the heavens beyond the farthest star.
How excellent Your name in all the earth.

What the speaker likes about this hymn is that our God is really excellent. His glory is set above the heavens beyond the farthest star. Yet, He still considers me. And who are we that God should consider us? “Who am I that God should consider me?” “Why does God consider me and why did God create me?” When we think about this, we’d be moved how God cares for us.

With this, the speaker regained strength.

Christians need time to consider themselves. Do a self-reflection to think what kind of Christians we are and what kind of Christians we want to be. Often we just attend service and go home. We don’t think about who we are and who we aspire to be. That’s why we find we have no strength, because we don’t spend time thinking of this. We need to quieten our hearts and think about this.

May Jesus Christ guide all of us and add to our strength.

332: The Love of God

May Jesus Christ move all of us to do more for Him, such that the youth can truly become a source of strength for the church. If you’ve been following the string of events in Hong Kong, we see that every weekend without fail the youths gather. They bring along expensive equipment too. Who supports them? Older, 40+ year old people. The MTR was suspended to inhibit them from gathering. But when this happened, the 40+ year old people volunteered to ferry the youths around. They explained that they did this because they while they feel the youths are a strawberry generation, it’s the youths that stood up against the government. The speaker qualifies that he doesn’t support this nor does he encourage rebellion. Yet why was the youth movement able to be sustained? Because the older people look up and respect the youths. They initially thought the youths weren’t very strong and weren’t able to do much. But the youths have sustained this for over 3 months.

For the church situation, if the church really needs us, how many of us youths would be willing to stand up for Jesus to fight for the truth? If the church was shut, how many of us would stand up? Do the youth in the church today have such a strength?