Summary:
The Word of God is meant to help us in our daily lives so that we may be equipped for the good works. Indeed, some portions of the Bible seem mysterious, especially when it concerns things of the future. These things will slowly be revealed by God. But, the Bible focuses on a few points; teaches us how to be Son of God for us Christians who belong to Him. This sermon covers a few symbols in the Bible used to describe the Word of God:

1. The Word of God is like a light and lamp
2. The Word of God is like a mirror
3. The Word of God is like a seed

What does ‘wonderful functions’ mean? The theme for this SM is to encourage everyone to read the Bible and love the Bible more. When we talk about the Word of God, sometimes we may think that it is difficult to understand the Word of God because the Word of God may contain many deep teachings and concern things of the future. This is why many say that the Word of God is full of mysteries. Some non-Christians may even attempt to interpret the Bible with Bible-codes, “Since the Bible is the Word of God, it must contain many secrets and hidden meanings!”

What are the functions of the Bible?
Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17;

16 ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.’

Here it says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Therefore, it is the Word of God; the oracles of God. This oracle of God is so deep, how can we understand them? Although it says that the Scripture is inspired by God, is it something that we truly cannot understand? Is it something meaningless to us? In fact, here it says that it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness; these are practical uses of the Bible. V17 goes on to explain why the Bible was talked about like this. The purpose is that God may be completely and thoroughly for every good work. The Word of God is meant to help us in our daily lives so that we may be equipped for the good works. Indeed, some portions of the Bible seem mysterious, especially when it concerns things of the future. These things will slowly be revealed by God. But, the Bible focuses on a few points; teaches us how to be Son of God for us Christians who belong to Him. There are a few symbols in the Bible used to describe the Word of God.

What are the symbols?

Symbol 1 — the Word of God is like a light and lamp

Turn to Psalm 119:105;

‘Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.’

The psalmist here describes the Word of God as a lamp to his feet and light to his path. Why did he describe it this way and what was he trying to describe?
The Word of God is like a light and lamp that illuminates our path and guides us along the heavenly road. Surely many of us have this experience of threading in darkness. For brothers who have gone through NS, during night exercise, they’d have to drive the vehicles without the lights on. With no light, it’s hard to move and hence they have to move slowly because they’re unsure of the obstacles ahead. At this point, if there is some form of light, it will guide them the path.

Our lives were like this before we knew the Lord — we were living in darkness. The roads we walked were dim. Why is it so? Read Ephesians 6:12;

‘For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ‘

Here Paul describes our opponents and this also means that we were on the same side as them in the past. The opponents are the ruler of the darkness of the age and powers of the air. In the past, we were in this place, under the rule of the wicked one. What the wicked one had shown us was darkness. No matter how we try and move, we’re always in darkness and unable to escape from darkness.

Think of all the things we had done before we believed in the past, is it not as described here to be in darkness? What we thought was good was actually indulging in sin. Perhaps we do not even dare to tell others of the things we’ve done because we know it’s wrong; but at that point of time we didn’t know it was wrong. We probably even enjoyed them a lot and found it cool because everyone did it. Thank God we now have the light. When the Word of God shines into our hearts, we know that all these things are wrong. Therefore, we have to thank God for His words because the Word of God has shone into our hearts and we know now what’s right and wrong; we now understand well what’s right and wrong. The Word of God is very clear, and tells us what we can and cannot do. For example, the Ten Commandments is very clear in telling us what we can and cannot do.

At the same time, in our faith, we realise that there are many grey areas and the Bible has no clear record on what is permissible. When we look at the Bible clearly, we’d understand that though some things are not clearly recorded, the underlying principles are. If we read and understand carefully, by the principles of God, you’ll understand that there are some things you can or cannot do. Or, there are some things that are good for you when you do them and there are some things that are not as good for you when you do them. That is the lamp that is the Word of God, it shines on our hearts to discern good and evil. This is a very practical function of the Bible.

What should we Christians do?
Read Ephesians 5:8-16;

8 ‘For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” 15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.’

Here, Paul tells us that in the past, we were in darkness but now we are in the light of the Lord. First, we must walk as children of light. Though we’ve believed in Jesus, many times we are still in weakness. Therefore, we cannot say for sure that we are always walking in the light. What does this mean? Though we are not 100% in the light, does it mean that it is okay for us to walk in darkness? Can we continue to walk in our darkness since we are weak? Paul says that it is not so. Instead, we should walk as children of light. As much as possible, place ourselves on this path of light. Even when we commit sins in our weaknesses, we are still on this path of light; we know how to reflect and because we’re still in the light, we at least know that our actions are wrong. This is completely different from walking in the darkness. When we’re walking in darkness we don’t even know what’s right and wrong and hence can’t correct ourselves. Though we have weaknesses and the things we do aren’t of the light, we thank God that now we’re in the light, we can see that what we’re doing is evil. Hence, we must grab hold of this opportunity to change and continue walking in this light. V15-16;

15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.’

1. Walk circumspectly not as fools but as the wise (v15) Though we are weak, we must always be vigilant. We must be wise unlike the fools. The fool will tell himself that since he is weak, he shall just continue in his weaknesses; he walks on the border everyday. Once in a while, he slips on to the other side of the border. This is not the action of the wise because the wise will know that he needs to leave the border between light and darkness to be as far away as possible because occasionally, it is very possible to fall in his weakness to be on the other side of the border. At least, he is wise and stays far from the border so that it would be less likely for him to fall into darkness. We must be wise and vigilant.

2. Redeem the time because the days are evil (v16) Paul tells us that we must know the present circumstances. The society today is full of darkness and foolishness. Because we know that the present circumstances are as such, we must grab hold of the time to do good. Let us not waste our time to live in sin and follow the footsteps of the world for they don’t know that they’re walking towards destruction. In our current situation of the pandemic, we have a lot of time. Even if we work online from home, we have already saved on the time we usually spend to and fro the office. In fact, our current situation leaves us with a lot of extra time. How do we make good use of our time? We can use this time to draw near to God. Now, we have much reduced communication with the outside world and the world outside has less influence on us. We don’t have to live the ways of the outside and live our lives according to the manner of Christians and the way God teaches us. We must know how to treasure the time and live the life of a Christians.

The Word of God is a light and lamp and always shines at us so we may know the correct way.

Symbol 2 — The Word of God is like the mirror

Turn to James 1:22-25;

22 ‘But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.’

Here it tells us that the Word of God is like a mirror. What is the purpose of this mirror? The speaker is sure that we look into the mirror everyday and some even carry a pocket mirror. Though some don’t bring a mirror everywhere they go, they use their phones as a mirror. All of us may look at ourselves in the mirror.

Why do we look in the mirror?
Because we want to look at our appearances to check if there are any parts of our appearance that are disorderly. If so, we’d tidy up. This is the primary purpose of a mirror because it reflects our image.

Today, the Word of God is like a mirror. When we see our reflection, we can tidy up ourselves. What can we change? It tidies our spiritual appearance because the Word of God teaches us what is right and wrong. In the passage we read earlier, v22 says to be doers of the word and not hearers only because some people deceive themselves; some only hear the word. Perhaps they are very keen on hearing the words; they may even go on youtube to hear sermons from other countries. They pursue the word in this aspect and such a pursuit of the word is good. But some are keen on the word but don’t do it. Then, they are Christians who deceive themselves of knowing the Word of God very well because they don’t do anything of the Word of God. So, James describes the Word of God in this manner.

When we read the Word of God, it is like looking at the mirror. When we look at the mirror, we must know how to make changes because making changes to ourselves is doing the Word of God. If we look at the mirror and notice a stain on our face but don’t do anything about it, it was meaningless looking at the mirror. Even if we look at the mirror a thousand times but don’t remove the stain everytime we see it, it’s meaningless. It’s the same when reading the Word of God. When we see a flaw, we must make a change. Do we often make changes? We must reflect on ourselves. When we hear the Word of God, it is good and we thank God but when our temper is aroused, we forget all the words we’ve read. We may even scold vulgarities. Then, you think back and remember that the sermon earlier tells us to control our temper and wrath is not good. But in the sermon we read that our temper must be controlled; the sermon was then made unprofitable because we have not used the Word of God to realise our flaws.

Sometimes, we listen to the sermon on the behalf of others. We wish that the sermon speaker may speak on this point because some other person needs this. Sometimes when we hear the sermon speaker speak on a point, we think that he must use this example because we used this point when talking to others but, “As for me, I’ve already changed! My temper isn’t bad at all, it’s great! I’ve endured so much and have directly approached the preacher to speak on this.” Perhaps you’ve done well on this aspect of your temper because you often read the Bible and compare yourself and think that you should not have such a bad temper. Are you truly good in all aspects? We must look at the Word of God and constantly look for areas to improve on.

The final goal is for us to look and have nothing else to change, then, we’ve truly lived out Christ. Just as Dn Shee said in the morning prayer, we’re like the fruit of the Spirit. When others have tasted this fruit, it is like a tasty fruit. Some fruits look good. For example, a durian may look good on the outside; there is no sound when you shake the durian because there is a lot of meat. When you smell it from the side, it’s fragrant. But when it’s opened, it’s not nice at all. Do we appear as a good Christian in front of everyone? Perhaps we always thank God and pray for a long time before we have our meals. The appearance is good but are we really good Christians inside? We must strive for people to see us as good Christians not just in good experience but also when they experience us. We must always use the Word of God to reflect on ourselves.

James encourages us in v25;

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.’

1. Constantly look into the Word of God We must constantly look into this mirror to inspect ourselves. Just as we constantly look into the mirror to ensure a tidy appearance.

If we do not constantly read the Bible, how will we know what the Bible is trying to tell us? Our church has a Bible reading schedule. If we follow the schedule, we’d read about 3 chapters in a week. Our church has many fellowships as well. We can no longer have our meal fellowships presently but we can have a different activity that we should have. Though this fellowship is online, it’s the best kind because they’re Bible studies. In a week, there are many opportunities for Bible studies. Now, we don’t even need to go to someone’s else for Bible studies and it’s so easy to go online to join a meeting. Have we thought about using this method to constantly study the Word of God? Here James makes it clear that we must constantly do this to change ourselves.

1. We must not forget We cannot be a forgetful hearer. Sometimes when we hear the Word of God, we think that we may remember it but we later forget about it. At that point of time when you hear the Word of God, you are greatly moved but forget about it after some time. This is why James asks us to constantly read the Bible. When you constantly read, you will constantly remember it. When you remember it, it leads us to the third action.

2. Do the Word of God When you constantly read the Word of God and remember it, you’ll be reminded to do it. If not, how will you do this Word of God? If we’re unable to do the Word of God, it is because we lack the first two actions. Thank God that we have the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God will remind us of what we need to do. This means that we have to understand the Word of God so that the Holy Spirit can remind us of which Word of God to keep. If we have not even read this portion of the Bible before, how can God remind us? Of course, the Holy Spirit may move you to feel that you shouldn’t do this but the Word of God helps us to understand the reason. The Word of God is important and we must constantly look at it so as to bring it to remembrance and do it. The word of God is like a mirror to see the areas we need to change.

Symbol 3 — The Word of God is like a seed

Last week, Dn Chung Ling also talked about how the Word of God is like a seed. How is the Word of God like a seed? What does it mean to be a seed? A seed has life, it can slowly germinate and grow. That is just like the Word of God. The Word of God can sprout and grow in our hearts. What does this seed grow? Read Romans 10:17;

‘So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’

Here Pauls says that our faith comes from hearing the Word of God and we can have faith from hearing. How do we have this faith? What kind of word do you hear? Is it the teachings of Confucius or the teachings of the world? Here makes it clear that this word is the Word of God. Our faith grows out from the Word of God. The Word of God is like a seed. When we put in care to cultivate it, it will grow and produce faith. In the parable of the sower tells us that this seed can even grow to sixty or a hundred-fold. We can attain this faith of a hundred-fold.

What can cause our faith to be unable to grow?
We turn to Matthew 13:3-9;

3 ‘Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”’

This seed must grow in soil. If not, it is just a seed. There are 4 types of ground which cause the seed to have different ends. The first Is the seed that fell on the wayside. The second is the thorny ground. The third is those among the thorns, and the fourth is the seed that falls on good ground. The types of ground result in very different outcomes of the seed. What does this ground represent? V18-23;

18 ‘“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”’

The grounds represent our hearts and the 4 different types of ground represent the four different types of hearts. Today, when the Word of God falls into our hearts, what kind of ground does it land on?

The wayside is a hard ground because it’s the ground everyone threads on when they walk pass. If we look at the ground outside where everyone walks on, we’d notice that it’s a barren ground with no grass growing on it. It is so because the ground has been threaded on by so many and it’s not possible for grass to grow. Will the Word of God land on such a heart that it is hard and doesn’t want to listen to the Word of God? If we do not want to receive the Word of God at all, our faith cannot grow. When this Word of God lands on such a ground, it Is impossible for germination.

Sometimes you may wonder why you have no faith; is your heart hard like the wayside? When you hear the Word of God, how does your heart receive this word? If you do not wish to follow and do this word and you wonder why your faith doesn’t grow; it is because the ground of your heart is hard and the seed is unable to germinate. If this is the case, you must change.

Here, there are other types of hearts as well. There is the stony ground and the ground with thorns. When the Word of God is sown in our hearts, does it encounter such grounds? Why is it so easy for us to give up Jesus (these 2 grounds both involve the person hearing it and then giving up on Jesus)? The first is unable to persevere in trials while the second is unable to give up the pleasures of this world. Though the Word of God has taken some root in his heart, and he has some faith, because of these 2 factors, these people gave up on the word easily. When the Word of God is sown in our hearts, do we encounter such decisions with these 2 struggles present? On one hand, we know that we shouldn’t do this, we shouldn’t lust after the world.

Possible train of thoughts

1. “I know! When I talk to others, I even tell them to not spend so much time in the world. But I have such a good opportunity now, if I don’t cease it, I won’t make good money. I enjoy myself like this so that I may join more church services in the future. If I’m more free, I’m able to join more church activities. But now is not a good time, I know what I’m doing.”

2. “I know that I’m undergoing persecution. My parents are fierce. My spouse doesn’t allow me to come for service. It’s not that I don’t want to go to church, I want to. Thank God that it’s now online, I can attend services though I secretly watch them. This is good! Even if we can come back to church for service in the future, we should still stream online!”

Are we in such situations? If we have such a mindset, then the Word of God is sown on a stony or thorny ground. We should not say that God will understand and hence not make any changes. We must know that such a line of thinking is not right. Here, Jesus had already made it clear. Jesus said that your root is not deep enough and will be dried up when the sun comes up. For the thorny ground, the thorns will choke you; it will surely happen. If we have wisdom, we know that we have to remove the stones and thorns. The fact that you are struggling is good because you’ve grown some faith; let this faith allow you to make the wise decision. The best is that the seed is sown on good ground. Then, there is a hundred-fold, sixty-fold, or thirty-fold. This should be the final aim of our faith.

The Word of God is like a seed, it will slowly germinate and grow. Let us let this seed grow in our hearts.