Good morning, Gospel Light! It's a privilege to be back. As the third speaker in this three-part series of “Know, Grow and Go”, [that’s me]. Every speaker so far, they have this unique characteristic about them. They bring something special to the table. Hanniel? He has his wide range of exotic German philosophers and theologians that he will introduce us to. Yu Fei will come out and share his different life-stage changes. For me? Here's a fitness tip!

Maintaining Physical Fitness

We commonly know when we grow older, we start to lose the muscle mass we once had. We start to decrease in bone density and muscle strength. The rate [of loss in muscle strength comes] probably around once we hit 40 and above. We lose almost up to 1% of muscle mass a year. That [is] coupled with our decrease in metabolism [and] decrease in physical activity. What we find is that over time, it's easier for us to put on weight. It's easier for us to fall sick, and get injured. Maybe we find difficulty in performing some of the tasks that we once [were] able to do and enjoy.

Here’s a simple picture of the loss of muscle mass: If you chop off your leg, and you take the cross section, you’ll see that over time, when you age, the muscle starts to decrease. The fat starts to increase. But! There is this group of Singaporeans that is quite inspiring to me. They call themselves “The Team Strong Silvers”. This group of old uncles and some aunties will gather quite frequently to continue exercising and going out, keeping fit. In this group, the youngest among them is 60 years old, and the oldest is 81. They have proven that the loss of activity, muscles and fitness throughout the years is not necessarily “true” if you continue to put in the work, to exercise [and] to be disciplined with your body. We’ve talked about physical exercise.

Maintaining Spiritual Fitness

What about spiritual fitness and exercise? Pastor Yu Fei introduced us to this verse last week. 1 Timothy 4:7-8. It says we have to “train [ourselves] for godliness”. And I'm sure the [Greek] word [“train” gymnazo] looks very familiar to you. “Gym” and “Gymnasium”. So, [training in godliness] involves an active going out, an active discipline, an active stepping out, and doing something in terms of our godliness. And that's the same [point by Pastor Yu Fei] - I'll carry on that thought for today.

You see, a lot of us we come to church every single week. There's great stuff being taught! There's great food downstairs! We come in. We feed. We take in. We learn. We grow! And have all these things. But if we're always just taking in and growing, and never really doing anything about it, all [this learning] will do is just expand our heads. But our bodies are weak. When we never put those muscles to work, we will become like this picture, e.g., we're unable to really move or be effective or useful for the mission that God has called us to do. Right? We don't want to be a church like that. When we come to the Word and we grow, and we learn from the services and the teachings, it is not just for our information but for our transformation!

Know – Grow – Go!

If we truly know Jesus, we want to press on for Him, to “grow” in Him, and then “go” for Him. Another way to look at it is: If we are saved, and growing in our sanctification, the natural outflow of that [growth] is [that] now we will serve. Right? So, to “go” for Jesus. I will use [the words “go” and “serve”] a bit interchangeably in today's sermon. To “go” for Jesus is the same really as to “serve”: To be involved in what the church is doing. To come alongside. To serve one another. To love one another. To be a blessing one to another. To bring God's Word to His people and people who have yet to know Him. So “going” for Jesus and “serving” - serving one another - I will use [the terms] quite interchangeably because that's what it's really all about. A saved people will be a sanctified people, and we'll be a serving people. It's time for us now, after knowing [Jesus], and growing [in Him], to “put our hand to the plough” (Luke 9:62); the proverbial “where the rubber meets the road”. Right? Let's start to walk the talk. That's what Peter calls his readers to do.

In 1 Peter 4: 10-11:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves as one that serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I won't repeat the reading of the Word. We saw that earlier. But Peter exhorts his readers to start to step out, serve, and think: “How can we love and serve one another? Be a blessing to one another?”

Three points I'll run through today. Firstly, it is our “Means” to go, [secondly], the “Mandate” or command to go, and thirdly is our “Motivation” to go.

1. 1. What is Our Means to Go and Serve?

All right, so starting off with the means. I will bring us through some of the keywords in this verse for us to slowly unpack the truths that God has for us. The means to go: “as each has received a gift” (1 Peter 4:10). So, upon salvation, all of us have received this “Welcome Pack” from God. It's just like at Gospel Light every week after the service. Pastor Jason will call for newcomers with us [to raise their hands]. Every newcomer gets a welcome gift that has some information to get [him] started on who we are as Gospel Light, and how [he] can be a part of us. So as a believer, when you place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, when you come to know Jesus personally, there is, in a sense, a welcome gift for you! Part of that involves this thing called “spiritual gift”. Once you are saved as a believer, you receive this thing called “spiritual gift”. God gives you everything you need to start your life as a new believer in Jesus, to go and live for Him [and] grow in Him. One of these things is “spiritual gift”. I will not in this sermon go extensively explaining everything – what our spiritual gifts are - because they have been covered in the past when Pastor Jason, for example, brought us through 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

But to explain [briefly] and it will be helpful for us as well: Spiritual gifts are gifts that are graciously, freely given abilities and ways for us to serve the body of Christ, as empowered by the Spirit. In his other sermon on spiritual gifts, Pastor Jason gave us three factors that we can gauge whether this is a spiritual gift or not: [ 1.Ease  2.Effectiveness  3.Excitement] So, as we are serving, as we are going about getting involved in something, [we ask ourselves]: “Do we see it's easy? Do we see it is effective? And [do] we have the excitement as we go about serving?” And that's one of the ways how we can discern if this is a spiritual gift. So, gifts are abilities and power by the Spirit for us to serve the body of Christ.

a)  The means of a “gift” from God

I'll zoom in on the word “gift”. The word “gift” comes from this root word that means “grace”. It's a gift that is graciously given. In other words, we did not deserve the gift. There's nothing you can do to earn it. There's nothing you can do to reach it.  But rather, God has already in His grace freely given that [gift] to you. All right? Some of us, we think in our Christian lives, we need to work to a certain level, to be a certain “level” of Christian to “unlock” the gifts, to “unlock” the blessings. All right?

Back in my time when I was studying, there was this buzzword that came around in the corporate world. That buzzword is “gamification”. So, everyone was talking about how we can implement games into the various tasks and mile-stones. So, if you hit a certain mile-stone, you unlock this thing. You get certain rewards, right? So, [the corporations] decided to put this kind of gamification into all kinds of things! Maybe the more familiar ones that you might be [familiar] with is Grab and its different tiers of membership. Any Grab Platinum members here? Whoa, the big spenders. Right? So, we know that there's multiple membership tiers in Grab. The more you use the app and the platform, the more you spend with them, [Grab] will bump you up the different [membership] tiers. The biggest spenders will be these Platinum members - they get certain benefits. Because of [the Platinum membership tier], there're more vouchers, there's more support. There's this priority allocation when you book a taxi!  Maybe you're one of the first few to get [the ride] rather than the other “ordinary” members.

Sometimes we apply that same thinking [of tiered membership] to church and think that in Christianity, there are different “levels” of Christians. Maybe we think, for us, we are [just] the normal ones. We are just ordinary members. We don't have any benefit. We're just the masses! But people like Pastor Jason? He's the “Platinum” Christian. When Pastor Jason prays, he has the priority answer from God, right? God will hear his prayer first, over the rest of us. And his blessings and all that are more, right? But you see, that's not how Christianity works!

All of us are equal before God. There's no one who is more special than the other. All our benefits of Christianity are unlocked, in a sense, from the beginning! God has already given you everything you need to live out your Christian faith. All your spiritual gifts have been given to you from the start. You don't need to work up to a certain level to earn a gift. Spiritual gifts are undeserved and freely given. There is nothing you need to do to earn it.

b) The word “each” indicates we are unique pieces in God’s jigsaw puzzle

The next word I will zoom into is “each”. Very simply put, each and every one of us has received a spiritual gift. There is no one who is left out. There's no one today who can say that: “Hey…I don't want to serve or I don't want to get involved. I don't need to go for Jesus, because maybe God has missed me. He forgot about me. I'm too small. I'm too insignificant. And I don't…I don't think I have a gift.” That is not true. Because the verse [1 Peter 4:10] does say “each” and every one of us.

Referencing from 1 Corinthians 12 [verse 11], it says: the Spirit of God has “apportioned to each one, individually as He wills”. So, the moment you become a true believer in Jesus, you instantly and definitely receive a gift. And “individually”! [This word] also carries the meaning that every one of us has a unique gift tailored just for you. God has an exact purpose and plan for your life in how He wants you to get involved; where you can specially, uniquely fit into the body of Christ. Just like a jigsaw puzzle, every single puzzle piece is unique, and it has a specific place in the entire picture. That's how it is with us as Christians in the body.

c) The word “received” indicates getting a supernatural ability to do something we previously could not do

The third [word] I’ll zoom into is the word “received”. So, “received” - it means you have already received, past tense [ past participle]. The gift is not something that is going to come to [you] in the future or you need to be a 10-year Christian then you can “get it” or serve for five years and “get it” but you have already “received” it. So, [receiving God’s spiritual gift is] not something that you can generate or learn. You didn't even ask for [the spiritual gift] but God has already given. Now when you think about [the word] “receive”, logically, [the gift] also has to come from somewhere. You have received it “from”, right? We have received this gift from the Holy Spirit. From God Himself. In other words, that means it's a supernatural gift. It's a gift that is empowered by the Spirit. That will be different from just a normal human talent or ability. So, it's maybe something that you have never learned before, never done before. But supernaturally, the moment you are saved, God enables you with a certain ability so that you can serve the church. This is something from the Holy Spirit and not something that we can try and learn and cultivate from ourselves! It is something we receive.

d) The words “varied grace” indicate nuances in similar gifts i.e. none is redundant

Lastly, [the keywords we consider] will be multi-colored [or] multi “varied grace”. So, the word “varied” carries the meaning of [being] multicolored like a rainbow, a whole spectrum of colors; it is almost infinite and you can get a different blend of colors at any single point. That's the point here: Every gift which God has given to each believer is unique; [given] especially for you in its blend and characteristics and capacity; [the gift] is the exact way that God has tailored for you to serve the body of Christ. So, no two Christians will be identical. No two Christians will be [identical]. No one will be redundant. Right? No one can say: “Oh, just because I think he has the same gift as me but he's better, so I don't need to do, then he will just do it.” I know God has a purpose for him. God has a purpose for you. Even though the gifts might be similar, there're different ways. There're different expressions - different areas for you to serve.

e) Lists of Spiritual Gifts for Further Study

So, there are a few teachings on what spiritual gifts are. [There are] a few different lists. I'll just put them here for you, I won't go into all of them.

1 Corinthians 12

Romans 12:3-8

Ephesians 4:1-16

1 Peter 4:10-11

But from these categories, there's the speaking gifts. There is the helping, the teaching, [and] serving gifts. That's opposed to just human talents and abilities [in which] we train ourselves. But in these areas of service, in these ways, these [skills] are how God has empowered Christians to serve one another, and to be a blessing to one another.

Obviously, the next question will be: “How do I know what my spiritual gift is?” Can I take some tests? Can Pastor come and “crystal ball” and say, “Okay… your gift is this!” Not really. Sometimes we have this test online. We see “Spiritual Gift Test Dot Com” or something! Maybe that's a starting point. But that's not really the best way for you to find out what your spiritual gift is. Internet tests? I don't think it's the same as you actually experiencing [exercising the gift] for yourself. So sometimes [doing an online] test [is] simply, like [doing] personality tests, right? When you think, for example: “Today! I feel like – whatever - then I’ll just [choose] this [description]” or “I want to have this spiritual gift!”, then you answer accordingly [to one’s preferences]. But [to] more accurately [know our gifts], [it] will be [helpful] for us to really go and try it out. Go and serve. Go and discover. Go and experiment.

As you get involved in something - maybe you just step out of your comfort zone to try greeting a newcomer or try teaching the children in Sunday school a certain Bible story. As you explore these areas, if you [discover], as you find it, maybe there's an “ease” to it. This [area of service] you find easy! Maybe [this type of service is] really something you've never tried before but suddenly, after you became a Christian, and you start teaching that class, [or] you start welcoming and befriending newcomers, you find it easy; you find [it] something that you're excited to get involved in. Maybe [it’s] something that you realize you're actually very effective at doing! Right? So, when there's ease, when there’s the effectiveness and there’s the excitement, then it is likely pointing that this [ability] indeed is an area that God has gifted you to serve. Right? So, spiritual gifts tests? Maybe [that’s] just a starting point, to get started to try certain things. But it's really when you get into the work itself - when you're out there to serve others, to be a blessing - that's where you discover [your gifting]. That's on how we have been equipped to serve. There is a purpose for [spiritual gifts].

The purpose is that we are given this manifestation of the Spirit - the gifts of the Spirit - for the common good of the Church of the Body of Christ. All of us, we belong as unique and specific parts of the body of Christ. So, it's just like your human body. If any small part of your body, no matter how insignificant it is, no matter how small it is, if it goes dysfunctional, if it starts to not cooperate with you, then you’ll know that there's an amount of pain and discomfort. Just a small organ in your body! Maybe the appendix. [Suppose] the appendix decides one day to get infected. Even though it's so small and so insignificant, it will cause you great discomfort! Maybe it's your small toe and your foot; you injure it somehow. You can't really use it. What happens to the whole body? It is “crippled”. You can't really walk straight. You will be ineffective in what you're supposed to be doing. So, it's the same with the body of Christ. As the church, the body of Christ, we are supposed to collectively be pressing on for God's mission: to lead generations into life-changing relationships with Jesus Christ. But if parts of the body are not working e.g., the hand doesn’t want to work, the eye doesn’t want to see, the liver doesn’t work, then this whole body will be crippled! We will be stuck in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit)! Cannot move. Just waiting for medicine. Waiting to be revived.

So that's why all the parts of the body have to come together: To exercise the spiritual gifts that God has given us. Then, as a church, we will be effective in our mission. All right? So, spiritual gifts! [They are] something that God has graciously given, freely given, as abilities or ways to serve the body of Christ, as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is our means to go.

1. 2. What is Our Mandate to Go and Serve?

Secondly, it is our mandate or command to go. All of us, because we have received this gift, the command is therefore to use it. Since you have received, the command is to use it. Now, who can tell me that very famous line that Peter Parker's uncle told him near the start of his [Spiderman] career? Anyone? Yeah! That's right! So, some from the younger side of the congregation have eagerly answered: “With great power comes great responsibility.” And if you think about it, isn't that exactly the same for us? Our spiritual gifts are powerful, because it's not our power, but it's God's power working through us. So, every one of us - you have great power. It's not your own. It is God's. But it's given to you, so that you can use it to serve. Now that is our responsibility. Because you have been given the gift. Use it to serve. Right? So, I went through before: As the body of Christ, we are one. We are connected. We are united. We have to be part and contributing members of that body.

• a) Church is not a “One-Man-Show”

It's a very sad thing because sometimes, we think that church is just a “One Man Show”, right? It’s sad that, most of the time, sometimes, church resembles more the picture on the right, than on the left. We think that: “Hey, we just come to church. And we sit and we spectate!” Like… it's like consumers! Almost like [we are] coming to a cinema movie, right? The pastor is here. It's the pastor's job to just do everything for the church. The pastor preaches. The pastor shakes [hands] and welcomes people. The pastor goes and meets the newcomers. The pastor goes and does counselling, and organizes the Bible-study, and sings the worship, and then goes home [to] do the YouTube video! And if one pastor has to do all of that, for all 1000 plus of us, it is definitely impractical and unrealistic! It's actually impossible. We can't expect Pastor Jason to do that for every single one of us, Gospel Lighters.

That's why all of us, we have to play [a] part. We have to be serving in the various communities and care groups and different areas of service that we are in. We shouldn't be like the [picture] on the right and, just come to “watch the show”, e.g. if the pastor is entertaining, I’ll put more money in offering bag. If the pastor is stern, he scolded me today? Then sorry! No money for this church! That's definitely not what God intended us to be. The church is not a “One Man Show”. [Church] is [about] all of us coming together to be a united body.

• b) Good stewardship = Good management

The next word I'll talk about is good “stewards”. So, “steward” is not a very common word in today's day and age, but we can understand [the word] as “manager”. I think a lot of us are managers in some capacity. Maybe in your workplace, you manage your company's resources. [Perhaps] you manage a project and the company gives you funds and money and manpower to go and do a certain thing. Maybe at home, you're a homemaker and you manage the household. If you’re a wife, maybe you manage your husband's money. It's not your money, but somehow is yours and you manage it; you become the financial controller. Then as children, we also manage as children - we just manage to make a mess!

But all of us have some experience in managing something that is not our own. So, what has God given us to manage? God has given us His spiritual gifts, His resources, His empowerment, and He calls us to be good managers of what He has given. It is just like a state manager or private wealth manager - you manage something, resources that is not your own, on behalf of the owner, on behalf of the master. So, our hope is that we are good stewards. Good managers of what God has given us. That brings to mind the thing in the book of Matthew, where Jesus - when He returns, or when we go to meet Jesus again, when we go home to be with the Lord - and He [says], “Hey, well done, my good and faithful servant. Well done, my good and faithful manager. You have managed what I have given you well. Enter into the rest of the Lord.” That's what we should be aiming for. In our Christian lives, as a church, we want to be productive for God. We want to be active and going out; using whatever God has given us to be fruitful.

So, in terms of [serving], I'll go on to show that Peter - he categorizes serving in two large, broad categories. One is in speaking. One is in serving. Serving, in other words, [in] the activities that we partake in. Spiritual gifts - also you can see that [division of gifts] in these two broad categories as well! Speaking - such as when we preach, we teach, we do a Bible study, we encourage a brother or sister, when we welcome people, when we preach the Gospel to someone who hasn't heard before - all those are the speaking kinds of ways we serve. In the serving or the service part, there are other things that we physically do. [For example] of “helps”, administration, giving mercy and so on. Right? So, two broad categories. I'll run through them quickly.

Firstly, when we speak, we must be speaking the oracles or the revelations or the Word of God. All right? So, synonyms! We need to be representing God's truth accurately. There are many instances, especially in a Christian environment that we will be talking about Christian things, e.g., Christian discussions, biblical discussions. We need to make sure that when we present these things, it is not our own ideas or opinions. Right? We are blessed by Gospel Light at having very biblical and Scripture-focused pastors over the years. I pray, moving forward, if any one of us ever, when we stand on stage, and we preach something that is not the Gospel, we teach something that is not the Gospel, please take out your tomatoes and shoes and throw at us and drag us off stage! All right? Because when we speak, we must be speaking the Word of God, the truths of God, and there's no deviation. There's no room for any kind of personal opinion [or] twist on that.

Similarly, when we go and maybe share the Gospel with someone, someone new, a friend, or family member, and we want to spread the Good News of God, it is tempting to omit certain inconvenient parts, right? Some parts that are hard to, hard to explain. Hard for people to accept e.g., when we say that Jesus is the only Way; when we say that there is a condemnation and penalty [for] sin; when we say that there is an eternal separation from God in hell. Sometimes it's tempting for us to skip over certain parts because it's difficult. But what we end up doing is presenting an incomplete Gospel, or even maybe a Gospel that has been changed and modified to suit the hearers of today. And that's not what we should be doing. We need to be speaking the Word of God.

Maybe it's in the way we encourage and talk to people. Oftentimes, when we talk with our fellow brothers and sisters, we want to bear each other's burdens, right? Maybe they share with us some life struggles that they have. Problems at work. Problems at home. Problems in school. With the best of intentions, you want to offer encouragement and advice. But sometimes, we have to think through: “Hey! Is this advice [I’m about to give] something that is worldly? Advice is just popular opinion in the world? It's sound advice but [it] is worldly advice. Or is this Godly advice that does point people back to God?” So, we need to be also speaking [and] encouraging with wisdom from above, not wisdom of the world (James 3:14-17). So, these are the speaking [types of service].

Next is serving [through physical ways]. We need to be serving by the strength that God supplies. Okay. So, imagine with me. Imagine. Imaginary scenario [where] these technological entities have a meeting to see who is the best. So, Wikipedia is the first to come up. He says, “I'm the best because I know everything. There's nothing in this world that is not documented in what I have. In my repository! I know every single thing about every single topic.” Then Facebook comes along and says, “Hey! That's not that impressive because I know every single person. There are maybe more Facebook users than humans on this world.” Somehow, Facebook knows more people than those that exist! Then Google comes along and says, “Hey, that's not that important. You don't need to know everything and you don't need to know everyone so long [as] you can find anything when you search it. And I can find anything!” So, the three are discussing and an old, wizened entity comes along. It is the Internet and he says, “Without me, you, young ones are nothing! You can't function without me.” But lastly, there was this small, insignificant and silent member of the group. And Electricity decided to leave the room. After that everyone went silent!

• c) Serve God in His strength - No Task Too Small

So, in that same way, there is a certain energy we need to serve God. When we “go” for God, we need to go and serve by the strength that God supplies, depending on the Spirit of God. That is the electricity, in a sense, for Christians. When we partake in spiritual activities, when we are out there to serve and be a blessing, to love one another, we need to be consciously depending on the Spirit of God for His strength, for his wisdom, for his enabling - no matter how small the task might be. Because it's quite easy to blur the lines between serving in our own ability versus depending on the [Holy] Spirit.

Sometimes we feel, “Hey, just because I've done this a long time, I'm so familiar with it, I can do this with my eyes closed.”; we stop thinking about God. We stop thinking about how we are able to obey God in every single thing, and listen to God's leading; be depending on God's strength. And we start doing it by ourselves with our own ability. Sooner or later, we burn out. We actually do not give God the glory. But we have started doing things for the wrong reasons.

• d) Facing the Difficult, Unglamorous, Inconvenient, Non-rewarding and Humiliating

Furthermore, serving with the strength that God supplies empowers us to serve, even when it's difficult. That brings to mind that picture, right? When Jesus was near the end of His earthly ministry, He showed the example [of humility] to the disciples. He demonstrated serving and love for them by coming to wash their feet. Imagine the Teacher, the Master, the Son of God, would kneel down and bend down [to] wash the feet, the dirty, smelly feet of the disciples. That is usually a task given to the lowest of lower slaves and servants. But Jesus Himself knelt down and showed the disciples that, hey, this is what service is about. Even when it's unglamorous. Even when it's inconvenient. Even when there's no reward. Even when it's difficult and requires sacrifice. Even if you might lose face because of it. That's what really loving each other, and serving, and “going” [for Christ] is all about. Only when we are depending on God, for that strength, for that love, for that capacity to serve [do we truly serve]. Can we do this joyfully?

So, pray [to understand] that we - as well - have that same responsibility [like Christ], in a sense. To understand that we are good stewards. That once God has given us these gifts, we are supposed to use them, to be good managers of whatever God has given.

1. 3. What is Our Motivation to Go and Serve?

Thirdly, I'll bring us through the motivation for us to go. Sometimes when we first come to Christianity, we think that, “Hey, you know, I only came to Christianity to just get my ticket to heaven! To believe and get saved from hell. Now suddenly you ask me to do this and do that and get involved [in] everything? I didn't sign up for this! That's not what was expected. That's not part of the deal! You ask me to serve but you know, life sometimes is so packed, right? It is so tiring. You work hard from the Monday to Friday and sometimes, Saturday as well. The weekends are for me. I need to rest! I need to sleep. I need to catch up with my favorite shows. I need to do the house-work. I need to bring the kids for tuition, for swimming lessons, and for piano lessons. There's no time now to serve. I'm not ready for these kinds of things! Maybe! Maybe I will serve after I retire, when I'm free. After I've done all the different things I want to do in life, I've travelled the world, I've retired from my job, and I have a comfortable retirement fund, then now I can use my free time to go and serve.” Right? So, that might be the thinking of some of us today.

I hope that isn't so because we do have motivation for us to get involved - serving even right now! And there are three [motivating reasons] I'll run us through.

• a) We want to be found actively faithful when He returns

Firstly, the time to serve is now. It's not later after we retire, near the end of our life. Because [in 1 Peter 4:7] Peter writes, “The end of all things is at hand,” - which means we are coming to the end-times. The world as we know it? It doesn't go on forever, and ever, and ever... There is a certain end point to the whole world history [when] Jesus will return and the world history will end. God will judge the earth. God will reward [faithful] Christians. God will punish those who have rejected Him. So, if we're thinking we can delay and we can just wait to another time - hey, we don't know exactly when Jesus [will] return. No man knows the hour that He returns. And so, in Romans 13:11, it reminds us, hey, the hour [of His return] is coming. It's time for us to wake up! It's time for us to get moving, get active again. Because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed (Romans 13:11b).

This was written 2000 years ago. We are even 2000 years closer, then when this was written! So, the end is getting nearer and nearer. It's just like in a relay race. Maybe it's just the feeling that hey, we're coming to the end of the relay race. We are one of the [few last-lap] runners of this race and we need to start getting involved. And the church, as a whole, we need to start waking up and really be serious about the mission of God, because this world as we know it, will come to [an] end one day. That day is coming sooner. What happens when the end comes? Jesus, as the Master, He returns.

Luke 12 gives us that parable and analogy of Jesus as this Master of the estate, of this household. He goes away, and He leaves everything in charge to His servants. The servants have to manage the household, have to feed other people, have to use the funds wisely. So, what kind of household would the Master want to return to? If He comes back and sees His whole house in disarray? And it's been raided? And the money is all spent? And the servants are lazy, and they're sleeping? Right? Definitely, He will punish [such] servants. But if the servants have been faithful, [if] they've been actively working, [if] they've been using the resources well, and when the Master returns, He sees them awake and actively receiving Him - then He [will say], “Blessed is that servant, whom his Master will find so doing when He comes.” (Luke 12:43)

So, when Jesus returns, if He returns, like right now, like at this moment, what kind of church would Jesus return to? What kind of church will Gospel Light be? Will we be a sleeping church that has misused the resources God has given us? Or will He come back and find us to be a fruitful and serving church? So, that is [our] motivation in looking at the end [that] is coming. Jesus is returning.

[Focusing on His imminent return] also will encourage us to serve even when it's difficult. Very briefly, in 1 Peter, he's really writing to a persecuted church, a church that's going through difficult times. It's not like [life then] was just very easy, they had nothing better to do so [they said], “Let's come! And serve each other!” No. In their day-to-day life, most of them were running and hiding, finding ways to survive in a very heavily persecuted environment. The Roman authorities and the Jewish leaders were against Christianity at that time. They were trying to put Christians down. They were trying to wipe out the faith. It was difficult to be a Christian. But in those circumstances, Peter was still encouraging his readers, even though they were going through all this, [saying]: “Let's still serve. Let's still love one another. Let's still work things out as a church, that by the tested genuineness of your faith, when Jesus comes back, it will result in praise and glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7) Basically, [Peter is] saying: When Jesus comes back and reveals Himself, there will be praise and honor and glory, [and] the Church will not find itself ashamed and thinking, “Oh, suddenly, we're caught unaware. We're caught unprepared.” But [that the Church has] been actively loving and serving, even when times are tough. And times are still, in a sense, tough.

As Christians today, we may not face physical persecution like the Christians did back then. But we face different kinds of biases against us - different kinds of attacks from worldly thinking and [the] worldly culture. Christianity runs very counter-cultural to the values, morals, and ethics of the world today. For that, in social media terms, it's very easy for us to get “cancelled”, very easy for us to get put down, and spoken against, and ridiculed. That makes it tough sometimes for us to think, “If I get involved, if I make it more public that I'm participating in church, would people laugh at me? Would people ridicule me? Would people alienate me?” But allow this [worldly mockery] to be the motivation that hey, we're not doing this for people, we're not even doing this for ourselves! We're doing it for Jesus [so] that when He comes back, and He sees us, and sees our life, would it have been a fruitful and obedient life to what He has called us to do?

• b) Real love expresses itself through action

A second motivation is that we are called to love one another earnestly. And serving is really how we express that love one for another. So, imagine at home. Maybe you're just sitting at home and you're doing your thing… and your wife wants you to help out with certain chores at home. Right? [For example] “Dear, can you wash the dishes?” Using the phone, you [nonchalantly say to your wife] “I love you!” And you go back to doing your thing. “And dear, can you take the children out for something?” Then you [simply] tell her, “I love you.” And then you continue with your own thing! Well, you can, you can tell your wife you love her 100,000 times a day. But if you never move [or] lift a finger to back that up, if your actions do not follow your words, if your walk does not align with your talk, then all that verbal saying of “I love you” means nothing.

This the same for us with God and with His people. We can say we love God. We can say we love the church. We can say we love the brethren. But if our lives, there's nothing in it to show for [the love], then can you really say that there is a love for God? Right? So, serving and really getting involved is the way for us to express [the] love that we have. That's exactly what God has commanded us [to do]: That we love one another just as He loved us. By that people will know that we truly are the disciples of God; even when it's difficult to love. And serving? Sometimes we know that [serving is] tough. There needs to be sacrifice. There needs to be time and money. There needs to be patience. Sometimes people are just tough to love - we are unlovable people! But when the church is able to love itself in such a supernatural way, that's how the world will see that, hey, there’s a supernatural God; that God is real; that there's no human explanation [as] to why this community of people can be so loving, and be serving, and be a blessing to [one another], except [for the fact] that their God is real. And that's a God of love. So, as we love each other, as we serve each other, may that be the motivation for us to really put our hand to the plough and get involved.

• c) God’s glory vs Self glory

The third motivation will be that in everything God may be glorified. This brings to mind the verse as well from 1 Corinthians 10:31: “whether you eat or drink” [or] whatever you do [do it all for the glory of God]. So, no matter how small or insignificant you think the task is, [or] the role is, in every single way, God can be glorified in what you do. Even if it’s just shaking the hands of a newcomer. Even if it’s just turning to your neighbor and welcoming them to Gospel Light and saying “Hello”. Even if it's teaching the young children and the preschoolers in the Sunday school, and so on. No matter how small, no matter how minuscule, all things can bring God glory. So, whatever we do, we can point [people] back to Jesus.

Sometimes we have misunderstandings or misconceptions of what serving is about. Serving is really not to earn favor from God. There's a reason why “Go” [serve] is the third part of this series. Before [we can “go” for Jesus], we need to know Jesus. We need to come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Then we are growing in Him. We get increasingly sanctified. And after that [growth in sanctification] comes the “going” into serving for Him. So, serving and getting involved in church is not a means to earn favor and righteousness from God. [Serving] is a result of [salvation and sanctification]. We serve out of gratitude. Serving also does not erase any of our sin. It does not make you holier and more lovable in God's sight. Maybe some of us as Christians, we have our failings during the week. We commit different sins. We have certain habits. We fall to certain temptations and you [may] feel, “Okay, to make up for that [sin], I will come in and get involved on Sunday. And maybe the good and the bad will balance out! And so, when God looks at me, He says, ‘Okay lah, not so bad. Got five good points and five bad points. Then average!” But serving is not a means to erase our sin. God has already loved and accepted us. Our sins are forgiven. Serving does not mean God loves you any much more. You're already as loved as you can be. But [my point] is again back to: We serve because we want to bring glory to God. It is out of a heart of gratitude when we understand what God has given us.

Serving also should not be [about] promoting ourselves. That's very easy sometimes. We come to church and we take on roles and responsibilities. We stand in front of people to speak. We lead certain care-groups or Bible study-groups and we think, “Now, I am somebody. People look up to me. I organize things. I lead things.” [Serving] can be very easily made into a self-promoting activity. And that definitely is not what we want to do. We don't want to rob glory from God. We want to give glory to God.

Lastly, serving is also not [for feeling] “spiritual”. Or to fit in! [We may] see that, “Oh, just because everyone around me is serving! And, and I am Kiasu… I don't want to lose out! I don't to be left behind! So, I get involved just to make myself look acceptable amongst my peers.” That's also not a right way to get involved in serving. So, serving is [doing] everything [so that] God may be glorified. If there is one statement I want you guys to walk away with today, if everything else you forget, you take home this one: “(I think that's good enough!) We are saved to serve so that God is glorified.” Right? So, the whole purpose, the whole reason of why we serve is that we want to bring glory back to God. You see, everything we have in our lives has been given to us. Our breath. Our days. Our spiritual gifts. We want to use [these blessings] to the best of our ability to bring glory back to the Giver, instead of focusing on ourselves. Instead of focusing on what we've been given, we want to bring the focus back to God who gave us in the first place. And that's understanding the heart of gratitude because of the grace that God has first shown us.

A simple quote by [Martin] Luther - and he says:

“ [such] confidence and personal knowledge of divine grace makes the Christian joyful, bold, full of warm affection towards God, and all created things, all of which the Holy Spirit [works in faith] and empowers…such a Christian will, without constraint, be willing and eager to do good to everyone, serve everyone, and suffer all manner of ills in order to please and glorify God, who has shown toward him such grace..”

When we understand the grace of God given to us, then [our] going out to serve is simply the outpour of gratitude, of a way of saying: “Thank you” to Jesus, “Thank you” to God; and we want to honor Him and glorify Him in return.

So three points we've looked at today: Our means to go; our command / mandate to go, and thirdly, our motivation to go. [We’ve also considered] the gifts [we’ve] been given to manage as good managers so that we bring God glory.

1. 4. Practical Steps to Take Now

All right, so we can't end a sermon on “Go” without talking about the practical applications. How do we practically “go”? What can we actually do? Just drawing, firstly, from Galatians 6:10 “We are to do good to everyone, especially to those of the household of faith.”

So, the first, natural way that we can really get involved in serving is through the existing church platforms that we have. I've looked up our website. It's actually very easy for you to find out where you can be a part. See, for the whole church to be running - our services to be running - there are many people who work back-stage or behind the scenes; who labor hard to sacrifice to get everything going right. From our traffic-marshals or ushers to our AV team. Even beyond that, there are many positions and categories of how we can get involved. I looked it up and they are over, I think, about 66 different categories and positions for Gospel Lighters to get involved and “go” for Jesus. So, there is something for everyone. There's no excuse to say, “Oh, just because I’m introverted or extroverted or I prefer to do this or that, then there's nothing for me.” Right? There are 66 things! Over different categories. So, I think there is something for everyone to be involved.

Even more than just the established ministry platforms, [there] is really just the interpersonal relationships that we have one with another. How can we serve people in a more intentional and life-on-life way? It doesn't mean that you have to join a mission platform. But even just around you, like just beside you. Your neighbour? How can you serve them by talking to them? By welcoming them? By being hospitable? How can you welcome a newcomer to church? How can you serve the younger ones? How can older men serve the younger men? Or the older women serve the younger women? How can you be in church getting involved in contributing to your care group? How can you get involved in making disciples so that we fulfill our mission of leading generations into life-changing relationships with Jesus Christ? And all these are also means for us to serve the body of Christ.

Just want to share, in the youth ministry we are very blessed. We are very privileged to be a part of seeing how youth - as they come to know Jesus, and they get saved in our ministry – [how] they grow, and they want to “go” for Jesus. They want to use their life, their time, their energy to get involved in serving and serving each other. So, to the youth across our ministry platforms, I want to honor them. Thank you, guys!

Looking at how the greater church gets involved as well - just the past December, we had our Youth Camp. I was very blessed and encouraged to see many people from across different ministries - from varsity, to the adults, to the younger adults and older adults and [how] they all came together to contribute and just serve the youth and play a part. [The support was just as well for] the Kids Bible Camp we had in November. We had many adults who came in as facilitators, as teachers, as games ICs. I think that's really sacrifice [because] maybe [in] their natural state [when] you see them in church, they’re dressed well, they’re stoic, they’re proper. But when they came down for Kids Bible Camp, they put all that aside! And really served the children, to get to know them. They were just like “Rah-Rah!”, and running around, and playing games with the children. And I was blessed to see all of that and how Gospel Lighters really want to live out their faith in how they love one another.

Beyond just the church platforms, I think there's definitely a call for us to go outside as well, when we serve God by bringing His Word to other people. We are likewise commanded in Matthew 28:19-20 that we go therefore, to all nations, preaching, teaching, baptizing, and making disciples of everyone. So, that’s definitely a way that we serve God: that we also make disciples, and fulfill our mission. We want to be an Acts church for today, a place that believers come together; we are growing, we are serving and we are bringing the Gospel out to others, that we can be a fruitful and effective church. So, I pray that if anytime Jesus returns, that when He comes back, He will find us to be a church that is not weak, not inactive, not sleeping, but a church that is actively involved, growing, being strong in how we serve and love one another; how we are good stewards, good managers of the gifts and resources that He has given to us. As we serve, we bring God all the glory. So, allow me to close us in a word of prayer.

Closing Prayer

God, we thank You for Your Word preached today. We thank You for how You have blessed and empowered Gospel Light through its 35 over years of existence; how You have grown us from strength to strength. And I pray that in the years to come, we will not become a church that is unfruitful and sleeping and just lazy, and resting on the achievements of the past, but we will still be a church that continues to grow, that continues to be involved in serving one another, and the community around us. So, I pray You empower every Christian, encourage every Christian here to play our part in the body of Christ, that as we love and serve one another, we bring our glory back to You. So, we thank You and ask in Jesus’ name, Amen!