We are looking for sermon transcribers/transcript reviewers.
Email [email protected] to volunteer.

Greetings can mean great things!

In our preaching ministry here in GLCC, we've been going through the book of Romans. It's been a long, but I hope, fruitful journey for all of us, and er.. we come now, you can heave a sigh of relief, we come now to the very last chapter in the book of Romans. And Romans 16 is a chapter, or at least the first half of Romans 16, speaks a lot about greetings. Greetings is what we see in all of human culture. We say hi, we say hello, we sawadeeka  and all these and so on. That's all greetings and in order to begin our sermon today, let's have a look at a short video clip that we have prepared for all of you.

(Video clip showing different ways of greetings around the world).

Alright, let's give them a round of applause, alright? These are the greetings around the world because today we're talking about greetings, alright? We all know what greetings is all about. It's about hello, it's about saying hi, welcome, and..and we've all that in different cultures throughout this globe. We've people from Thailand who do sawadeeka and sawadeekhrap. Correct, Pastor Sam? (Pastor laughs). And then we've lei hou (Cantonese for how are you?) or ni hao ma (Chinese for how are you?), and Japan, Japanese kind of greetings. I don't know whether this is official Korean or not, but they tell me when you do this, it's supposed to mean Korean greetings. This one hao siao (Hokkien for not true) one. They anyhow do one. I'm sure they anyhow do one. (Pastor laughs).  And bonjour. Jill is really funny here. Italian, em..where they greet cheek-to-cheek, that's a kind of a kiss. And you've street kind of a greeting in US, the simple type which is a fist bump or the complicated type which you do a lot of rituals to perform.

But all that is about greetings and today whilst the world has all kinds of greetings, Christians should also know about greetings. After all this is what Paul wrote in Romans 16. If you look at the verses here, he talks a lot about greetings. As I was studying this text I was wondering what should I share, and it became so obvious when you look at the most commonly occurring word - he says greet, greet, greet, greet, greet, greet, greet, and if that's not clear enough, go to the next slide and it goes greet, greet, greet, greet, greet, greet, greet! So he says greet! Greet one another! This is Christian! This is right! This is what we should do! We should be greeting one another. You say: Pastor how? Should we do this? (Pastor puts his hand together in greeting) Should we do this? (Pastor bows) Should we do this? Or do this? (Pastor shows different actions) What should we do to greet one another?

It's very interesting that the Bible in Romans 16 verse 15 says : you greet, greet, greet, greet, greet, greet, greet and you greet one another with a holy kiss. So Paul is saying this is how you greet one another er..as he wrote to them, you greet one another with a holy kiss! So what are you waiting for? (Pastor laughs). I know you can get nervous. Ha? Are you really serious you're going to greet one another with a holy kiss this morning? No, em.. I'm not really, but don't be too nervous, alright. I know you're nervous because you forgot to brush your teeth, and you don't want people to smell, or some of you say:  ha? We're not going to kiss ah, so disappointed. I thought we came for..for a kissing sermon.

Well, you're not going to greet one another with a holy kiss because culturally that may not be the norm in the day and age, and also we are not entirely comfortable with this today. But that doesn't mean we then take away the original intention or the symbolism in the holy kiss. So what I'm saying is the form may change but the function and the intention should remain. You..we've this aversion towards kissing because oftentimes when we think about kissing, we think about romantic kisses. Maybe the first image that comes to your mind is The Lady and the Tramp, this cartoon about the..they're..they're eating this spaghetti and meat, and they chew, chew, chew until their mouths meet. And oh what a romantic touching scene on kissing! Or maybe when we about kissing, we about Snow White and Prince Charming, the kiss of life, you know, bring her back to life! But this kiss, this romantic kiss, is best reserved in a husband-and-wife relationship.

Just as a side note, alright, it is good for you to kiss your wife. It is said that when you kiss your wife, statistics show ah, when you kiss your wife, stress level goes down, satisfaction in the relationship goes up, em..cholesterol also goes down. So all you men who are struggling with cholesterol problem try kissing. And if you want to lose weight, kissing is good too, because it is said that kissing for one minute loses 6.4 calories, 6.4 very exact. 6..up to 6.4 depending on how hard you kiss, alright? 6.4 calories per minute, and for all of you who are married, it is also said that if you kiss your wife every morning, you will get to live five years longer. Worth it right? Worth it right? I, I presume if you don't kiss your wife, your wife one day will kill you, that's why it's five years shorter. But statistics show that you kiss your wife daily every morning, you live five years longer. So all these are the benefits to kissing, but that's the kind of kissing reserved in a marriage.

We're also familiar with another kind of kissing; we kiss our children. We kiss those we love - our kids - and it's natural to kiss our kids. We kiss our kids, right? When they are born, when they are little kids, you muack, muack, muack, Daddy kiss you! Muack! Muack! And..and you can only kiss them up to a certain age. Once they reach teenage years maybe they say: don't do that, my friends will laugh at me. But it's natural for you to kiss your children.

There's also another kind of kissing which is er.. on respect and devotion. And this is a picture of when you kiss someone's hand. It's a picture of respect and reverence. So there're different kinds of kissing and there's also a kiss for no reason. Er.. Orangutan just kissing you for fun, alright.

Now does the Bible talk about kissing? Of course, there are. As you watch Oscars, you know those er.. Oscars awards, they will have the greatest kisses of all times and they show you throughout history of the films, wah those memorable kisses. The Bible also has its own Oscars, our own memorable  kisses. Let me share with you some memorial kisses in the Bible. One is between Isaac and Jacob. In Genesis 27 it is said here that Isaac said to his son: Jacob, come near and kiss me. Now this is not a very sincere and genuine request. Why? Because all Jacob wanted, or what Isaac wanted was for Jacob to come near so that he could see if this is really Esau as he's claimed or just Jacob in disguise. So it was a hollow, empty kind of a kiss.

There's a second kiss that you may be familiar with. It's a good kiss and it's found in Luke 7 where it's this sinful woman forgiven of her sins, absolutely grateful to Jesus, who came and kissed the feet of Jesus Christ.  It's a great kiss. It's a kiss of devotion, of love, of gratitude for what Jesus has done for her, forgiving her sins. But the all-star kiss of all times in the Bible, which all of us would be familiar with, you..you got it, is the one found in Matthew 27, or 26, where Judas betrayed his master, Jesus with a kiss. This is a hypocritical kiss. He pretends to love Jesus, but he wanted to betray Jesus.

So the Bible talks about kissing, about a hollow kiss, about a devoted kiss, about a hypocritical kiss. But today we're looking at the holy kiss. Greet one another with a holy kiss. It's not the romantic kiss. It's not an empty kiss. It's a kiss with special meaning. It's a holy kiss with symbolism. This is not just stated here in Romans 16. It's also stated in Paul's writings to the church at Corinth. 1 Corinthians.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. (1 Corinthians 16:20)

He repeats it again in a second episode.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. (2 Corinthians 13:12)

He says it again to the church at Thessalonica:

Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. (1 Thessalonians 5:26)

And Peter, another apostle,  also says:

Greet one another with a kiss of love. (1 Peter 5:14)

So this is what it is: greet one another with a holy kiss.

Pastor, should GLCC be a church that performs holy kiss? By the way holy kiss is not mouth-to-mouth la, generally. Er.. it's the Italian one, the cheek-to-cheek, side-to-side that one. A lot of Westerners would do that, right? You all will do that, right? But in Asian countries, it might be a kind of a weird thing to do. So I'm not suggesting we do that. We might, if we do that, we'll be the only church in Singapore that does that, probably. Em..so I'm not advocating that, but as I mentioned, we need to understand the significance behind it, the symbolism behind it to be able to dissociate the form and the function, if possible, and then to find an appropriate expression today to fulfill those functions. Alright, so this is what we're going to do. I'm not trying to get the whole church to be a kissing church, but I'm hoping that the church will understand the significance behind it. So in order for you to grasp it, I just have a simple phrase and tagline today and it is this: greetings can mean great things!

Greetings is a very small thing, I mean it's a hi; it's a hug; it's a handshake. Greetings are small things, but the beauty as given to us in Romans 16 is, if we understand the principles behind it, greetings can mean great things! Can you say this together with me? Greetings can mean great things. Ok I don't think you're so convinced yet. One, two, three, greetings can mean great things! And I'm going to share with you the great things greetings represent, in the Bible, for a Christian, for a child of God in the church of God.

Number one, greetings can mean acceptance. This is very simple. Greetings can mean acceptance. You see Paul said: greet one another with a holy kiss. The intention is greeting; the expression is holy kiss. And the intention is the word greet. Greet one another. What's the meaning of the word greet?  In the original Greek word, it refers to welcome; it refers to an embrace, it refers to receiving; it refers to wishing well; it refers to saluting. In other words you are embracing, welcoming, receiving someone with a holy kiss. It's a word that symbolizes oneness, togetherness. We are a fellowship, we are together as a people. It's about the warm embrace of all kinds of people. It is said that kissing is a means by which two persons are drawn so near each other that they can't see anything wrong with each other. So oneness, togetherness. Paul is saying I know you guys are all very different people, but the beauty of the church, the beauty of the gospel that we've received into our hearts is that we accept, we welcome, we embrace one another regardless of our backgrounds and status in life. We're equal in Jesus, we're one.

This is beautifully portrayed in the list of names given in Romans 16. It almost sounds like a reading competition or.. PSLE now, right? Listening or..or reading exam, oral exams to pronounce all these names, but Paul takes time to say: I want you to greet all these different people. I want you to greet Prisca and Aquilla. You will be familiar with them if you look at the book of Acts, and they were at Corinth. They were well-known fellow labourers with Jesus, er.. with Paul in Christ Jesus and they risked their necks for Paul's life - to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Then they say greet also the church in their house, greet Epaenetus, greet Mary, greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen - they're Jews and fellow prisoners; they're well-known to the apostles. Greet Ampliatus, greet Urbanus, and Stachys and Apelles. Wow, these names xiong (Hokkien for very difficult), ok and then you have er.. greeting those in the family of Aristobulus, of Herodian, the family of Narcissus, Tryphaena and Tryphosa, Persis  which is a Persian name, greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, the only Calvinist here, em.. ok anyway, also his mother who's been a mother to me well. Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes. Wah this one all the ladies will scream - Hermes! How come not Ferragamo but Hermes. Well, Hermes here is not the Hermes of French origin. This is the Greek name Hermes and it's actually a name for slaves, alright. So those ladies you've handbags that are Hermes, people may think you're buying from Greek slaves, alright. Er.. anyway Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, another name, and the brothers who are with them. Greet Philolobus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas.

Wah, so many people to greet ah! Yes, Paul said greet all of them! But the significance of all this is greet all of them, embracing all of them because we are one. And the beauty of this is that there is unity in diversity. It's so different. Look at this! Greet the men! He said. Many of the names here are male names, or they refer to men. In fact there are thirty over names mentioned. Twenty of them refer to the male gender. Then there're those who are ladies. Seven or eight of the names are ladies, feminine names. They are Phoebe, Prisca, which is actually the shortened form of Priscilla, Mary, Junia. Most people think that Andronicus, Junia, Junia will be the lady. Tryphaena, Tryphosa, they are likely to be twins, er..Persis, a lady probably from Persia, and Rufus' mum. So these are the names referring to ladies.

So Paul says, in the church, don't make a distinction. Greet the males and greet the females, greet the men, and greet the ladies! To us today, no big deal, we're used to it. But in those days, it's a big deal because women are despised. They..they don't have the same standing in society as men, but what Paul is saying is this. Because of Jesus, because of the gospel, because we're now united in Christ, there's now no more male or female, we're one people. Amazing. Revolutionary if you really think about it, in those days. But not only is this about gender, the diversity in gender, there is diversity in race. Because he says actually in effect greet the Jews, and the Jews here are people like Prisca, Aquilla, Andronicus, Junia, Herodian, Apelles. But he also says greet the Gentiles, and the Gentiles here are people like Rufus, Stachys, Hermes, Persis and Gaius. Greet them! Again this revolutionary because the Jews and the Gentiles never mixed together! The Jews always see the Gentiles as unclean and the Gentiles look at the Jews as stuck up. No way are we going to fellowship! No way are we going to be friends! But Paul says in Rome, there's a beautiful church and I'm writing to you, continue to greet, to embrace, to accept, to welcome one another. You are displaying the beauty and the supremacy of the gospel, Jews and Gentiles. That's what Paul says in Ephesians, no more male nor female, Jews nor Gentiles, the barriers are taken away in Christ.

Besides gender and race, notice that there is also diversity in freedom. There're many of them who live freely. They do not belong to someone else like in slaves. But Paul says in the Church of Rome, I know there're those who are owners and masters, there're those who are slaves, like Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and Quartus. These are slaves' names, but greet them, don't greet just the doctors and the lawyers and engineers. Greet those who are slaves, helpers, workers, labourers because in Christ we're equal, we're one. It's beautiful, don't you think? I can picture the church in Rome. What wonderful diversity and yet what wonderful humility and unity! No high-class superstar who will be treated specially but everyone greeting one another, loving one another, the slave embracing the master, the male and the female together. If..the..the.. and..and one more, Andronicus and Junia, they were imprisoned, and one more which is the famous and the obscure together as a people.

You say who are the famous people? Phoebe, Prisca, Aquilla, Andronicus, Junia, Herodian, Aribostulus and Narcissus. Phoebe is well-known. She's a rich woman. It is said that she's the patron. It's..it's in Romans 16:1,2. She sponsors a lot of ministry. She's a well resourced lady. She's well-known. Then there's Priscilla and Aquilla, well-known again, if you look at er..Paul's er..chronicles in..in Acts. Then Andronicus and Junia -  they are noted amongst the apostles, famous amongst the leaders of the church, well-known people. Herodian is said to be of royal lineage. Aristobulus is said to be the grandson of king..of Herod and a friend of Emperor Claudius. Narcissus is a resourceful and influential person. All these are with research, of course, but the point I'm just trying to make is that they are famous people. And there're also unknown people. It doesn't matter. Paul says greet them all with a holy kiss.

Unity. Fellowship. Embrace, oneness, togetherness. This is what the gospel brings, and this oneness and togetherness is not just found in a local church but it's to be found throughout the entire world in the universal church when Paul says in verse 16 all the churches of Christ greet you. You are the church at Rome. But the church at Corinth greets you, the church at Thessalonica greets you. All the churches greet you. We are one people in Christ and greetings portray powerfully acceptance. If you're someone despised, if you're someone who is trodden down in life, I pray that in our church, in the church of Jesus Christ, you experience warmth and love and acceptance and people don't look at you because of your race, or your background or your status in life, but they appreciate the reality that Jesus has united us as a people.

Greetings mean great things. This is deep because it absolutely breaks down biases, prejudices, traditions that have been built up over time, the blood of Christ abolishes it all. Wonderful acceptance! But let me go on to the second significance.

Greetings can mean great things because it tells you not only about acceptance, but number two, it tells you about appreciation. It's amazing that Paul, right here, writes his greetings to these people in Rome and in particular appreciates those who labour. Look at what he says. He says: Priscilla, Aquilla - they risked their lives for me; Mary worked very hard; Urbanus, our fellow worker - the word there is labourer - works till the point of exhaustion; Tryphaena and Tryphosa - they worked hard; Persis worked very hard; Apelles who's approved, meaning he's tried and tested - he must have gone through a lot, suffered a lot probably; Gaius who's host to me. Notice that Paul appreciates again both male and female.

Secondly there're those who serve God in different ways. There're those who risk their lives, there're those who work in general and there're those who host. In those days hosting is big-time business, I mean really important stuff because they've no place to go to and they may be left by themselves and..and the host to take them in is a tremendous act of generosity.

Thirdly, you look at people who serve, they..they may be very unlikely candidates for service. The name Tryphaena and Tryphosa really mean dainty and er..delicate. You know the jiao sheng guan yang (Chinese for pampered) we say in Chinese . They're very soft people and sometimes we think to ourselves: ai ya, I'm very delicate; I'm very dainty; I cannot serve God. Well, dainty and delicate worked hard in the Lord. No excuses.

But number four, I..I see in this passage there is a difference in working and there's a difference in working very hard. Can you see that? There're those who worked very hard and there're those who worked hard. It's not by accident. It's an honour to work hard for Jesus, but it's a greater honour to work harder for Jesus, to work much for Jesus. Paul, in essence, in this greeting, is saying, when you greet one another with a holy kiss, not only is this a picture of acceptance, this is a picture of appreciation. Thank them for their ministry. It's like Paul is saying: you think that I'm the superstar of er..Christendom. No, it's about teamwork; it's about these brothers and sisters in Christ who risk their lives, who labour much, who played host to many people. We all serve together and I want you to know them; I want you to appreciate them. Appreciation. And I pray in our church we will have a culture, a spirit of appreciation. We should appreciate people who labour for the Lord. This..this is vital, because human nature, and I would say in particular, Singaporeans, we're very good at picking problems, excellent at it. We diagnose issues very quickly and we say this no good, that no good and we forget the importance of appreciation.

I've been in GLCC for 19 years, only church I know. This is where I got saved; this is where I grew; this is where I serve. I've been pastor now for eight years. And I say if there's anything I wish we would be, it's that we would exemplify more of the grace of God in appreciating one another. Because ministry is not easy already in the first place, it makes it far better when the church of Jesus Christ, because of the love of God, appreciates one another. Did you ever stop to think to appreciate those who labour amongst us and in your lives? Those who come early in the morning - I do not know what time, 6 plus, 7am? I'm not even here. They come early in the morning, lay out the cable, lay out the AV systems. They tape up the cables so that you don't trip over them. Do you, do we stop to just thank them? You say no lah, this one is Pastor's job lah. No, no, no, greet one another. It's not the pastor's job alone. I need to grow in that grace, sure, but it's a ministry all of us can do. Appreciating one another! Appreciating one another!

Do we appreciate the worship team? We take people for granted. You know, I must say this, and er..throughout the history of our church, worship has always been the battleground. It is difficult to serve in worship because we're very good at picking problems. And the feedbacks come, generally lah, eighty per cent negative lah. And so I filter the eighty percent, I tell them the twenty per cent good ones. No, I'm kidding, but, I think it's great to point out areas of improvement, but let's realize that whilst..I think Paul could have picked out a thousand and one faults. He's absolutely sharp. If you think that picking out problems display your intelligence, let me say this, I think Paul is far more intelligent than anyone of us. But I don't see him saying er..Tryphaena should be more, should be stronger - she's too delicate. Or er..who ah? I can't remember, Andronicus and Junia, they should have died, and not just risked their lives, should have died. No, no, he doesn't talk about the negatives; he encourages them. And look at the appreciation he gives.

So appreciate those who labour. Appreciate our greeters, our ushers. Don't give them that look - ai ya always ask me to sit there. No, appreciate that they're doing their job. Appreciate our front desk, appreciate our people who..you know creative team is Ivan and Derrick you know,  appreciate the videos they do. To show you one minute ah, I do not know how many hours they've to spend. But be thankful that they're labouring to communicate God's word to people who may not have an interest in the Scriptures in the first place. Appreciate my friends, your care group leaders. You know, you're in care groups, you..you're ministered to; you've this environment where you can grow and have you appreciated him, her? Have you just gone to him and said thank you so much for..you're not the best but thank you so much (Pastor and congregation laugh). At least you thank him or her for the labour, work hard.

Have you thanked those who serve in the Bahasa ministry? The Filipino outreach? The Chinese ministry? Paul is a great guy who has a great mind but he has a great heart to see the labour of love of his fellow workers and say greet them, embrace them, show your appreciation to them. Again, it is not the same when the church does it. It's different. It's very different from me giving appreciation to someone and..and all of you also coming in and..and thanking one another. There's a wonderful encouragement because you're telling them your labour is not in vain. We see it; we saw it; we appreciate it. And if we could have seen it, God will have seen it. And if God were to use Paul to record in the book of Romans for all prosperity, God records it in heaven for all eternity. You're reminding people to keep pressing on for Jesus. What a tremendous ministry!

So don't underestimate a small thing like greeting by coming to the person and say:  brother, John, I really appreciate this - what you've done; you've laboured hard and I thank God for you. He realizes people see it; he's reminded God knows it. A small thing, just an arm around the shoulder, pat on the back, but you have done a great ministry for your brother and sister in Christ. Greetings can mean great things.

The last thing I want to share about greetings is that it is a wonderful symbol and communication of affection. This is obvious. The holy kiss is something very affectionate. I mean, wah, very close eh. I've..I've never done it in my life, but I can imagine and I think it is something that communicates intimacy, that it's cheek-to-cheek, chest-to-chest, very intimate, and it is to supposed to communicate affection. After all Peter says

Greet one another with the kiss of love. (1 Peter 5:14)

Same greetings but instead of talking about it as a holy kiss for believers, he's saying this is to communicate love, the kiss of love. And this is a passage that is oozing with love. I mean, he says greet my beloved Epaenetus, Ampliatus my beloved, greet my beloved Stachys, and greet the beloved Persis. It's..it's about love.

Just a side note, Paul is a very precise and careful person. He says my beloved, my beloved, my beloved, then the beloved. Why? Because these three are guys and this is a lady. It's obvious, right? My beloved, my beloved and the beloved. See, he wants to make it clear. I think that's the reason and he's very precise. But that's a side note. Paul here is really demonstrating his love for the people. And I think he's absolutely sincere. I know that because he recalls every single name. He didn't just say ah..greet everyone in Rome ah, thank you. He says greet..greet..Andronicus, Junia, Hermes, Philologus and so on and so forth. He remembers everyone even though he's never been to Rome before. He's not seen that church. Even though he is the most famous evangelist in the world in those days. He's the great evangelist with a worldwide vision, but he never says because I am a big guy for a big ministry, I forget your names. He has a true shepherd's heart.

A story is told of Billy Graham - you may not agree with what he's done and so on and so forth,  but that doesn't mean that he's not well-known. He's a well-known guy, alright - Billy Graham. And there was this man who had breakfast with Billy Graham and he said he was impressed with Billy Graham for two things. Number one, when the bill came, Billy Graham was the first to reach out for the bill. You know, when you're a big shot, you sit back and let other people pay lah. But Billy Graham was the first to want to get the bill and to pay for it. Second thing he was impressed with was that Billy Graham was in this restaurant about a year ago.  This time he returned he remembered the waiter's name and asked him specific questions on his family.

Billy Graham, a worldwide figure, big ministry and so on and so forth, had attention and concern for a waiter nobody cared for. What's impressive is not that he knew his name, not..not that he asked his name, but he remembered his name - one year later. Shows you the heart of a man, that no one that walks by you is unimportant. The world may see them as unimportant but not to you, because you realize everyone is made in the image of God and in particular, in the church of Jesus Christ, everyone who belongs to Jesus is blood-bought by Jesus.

One of my desires as a pastor is to remember your names, but it remains a desire. It remains a dream. (Congregation laughs).  I really don't know how best to do that, but I.. but if I could say, I really try to but when four, five people come together at the same time, and they have Chinese names, I'm lost. If one by one I could accumulatively still remember. But I feel we should try. We should always be trying, and..and some of you say ai ya, so hard, so many to.. So you entirely give it up. No, don't give up please, because the heart of concern should always be there. And people love to hear their names called. People love it, and so make every effort. You may not know everybody but make every effort to know more and more and more people and greet more and more and more people, because that shows your affection, that shows your love for one another.

So Paul is saying I assure you my love. I've sent my message of love to all of you. And so Greetings can mean affection. It symbolises it. So this is my tagline. Greetings can mean great things. Again, pastor are we going to be a kissing church? No, er.. you may spread hand-foot-mouth. (Pastor and congregation laugh). That's not what I want to do. But we need to be a greeting church. You get that? We may not be a kissing church but we must be a greeting church. And we must be able to fulfill the function even though the form may change.

The function is to express our acceptance, regardless of race, background, social status. It's to express our appreciation to one another: thank you so much for labouring; thank you so much for your ministry; appreciate your love for the Lord; to express our affection: sis, I'm..I'm so glad we're brothers and sisters-in-Christ, I'm grateful for you, I want to tell you I love you and I've been praying for you. Affection. It's not easy. It's not easy, especially in our Asian culture, isn't it? You don't even show your affection at home with your dad and mum. It's the same for my family. My dad's affection for me is not expressed in words or touch, never. The only time he touched me was to spank me. (Congregation laughs). But I know my dad's love language is food, so every Sunday I eat like a pig because that's his demonstration of love.

But in church, let's greet one another. This morning after service, Eng Chuan past me: Nah, I greet you with a curry puff. (Congregation laughs). Ok, that's one way to greet one another. Some of you may use curry puff, some of you may use handshakes, some of you may hug one another, some of you may put your arms around them, but let's greet one another. Touch,  greet, know their names, wish them well, appreciate them. It's a simple thing. It's not hard. Greetings can mean great things.

You say: I'm an Asian, very hard. Let me tell you, you're first Christian before you are Asian. Don't say: I am a Chinese ah. Ya I know you're racially Chinese but more important than the fact that you're a Chinese is that you're a Christian! You're a follower of Jesus Christ! Jesus didn't say I'm God ah. He didn't say: I'm..I'm..I'm so holy I cannot touch. No, he came and he touched. He came to be born as man to touch. To touch what? Royalties? To touch the lepers, the sick, the despised, those who are marginalized. He could have healed them by a word. He could have healed them by thinking about it, but He healed them with His touch.

And that's what followers of Jesus Christ need to learn. I need to learn this. We need to learn this. People need to know that there is love, and in order for them to know, we got to show. We live in a world that is cold, you know. It's a very isolated, lonely and cold world out there. You say: no lah, I got many friends on Facebook. No, no, no, no, no, let me tell you, the more you are engaged in social media, actually the more isolated you can become. You lack the touch. You crave that warmth and where do we see it? We see it in the body of Christ, not just your pastor, by the way, not just your greeters, not just by your ushers. But when you greet one another, something beautiful takes place. Just now after the first service, someone remarked: Wah! How come everybody is greeting me? I feel so loved. After first service..after sermon lah, but next week I will see again lah. But you see, my..my aim is not for you to do and be proactive about greeting because I preached about it, but because you saw that greetings can mean great things because it's about following Jesus and it's manifesting the love and the warmth of Jesus through our hands and through our mouths. That's what it means to live out Christ as a church.  Yesterday someone mentioned: attention is the highest and purest form of generosity.

Do you pay attention to the people around you? Or early in the morning, come church already late. Better rush in. Already late, ignore..tunnel vision you know? Ignore the people, just come, right in, sit in a chair. Best ah.. No one sit around you that type. So sit by yourself - it's me and God. You want me and God, you go home and watch YouTube, please. You come here.. I believe in worship services there is a dynamic of me and God. True but there's a dynamic of one another. I think that's why we sing to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. There's a horizontal dimension and when you come here, you have a ministry. Pastor, I never sign up for usher, greeting. No, no, your ministry is to one another. Every Sunday you can be greeting one another, doing something small but believing that God can take our cumulative small things called greetings and make them great things, that people will know the acceptance that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We'll see the appreciation for the labour of love towards the Lord and to see that they're wonderfully, affectionately loved.

I read about a pastor who said that his church had a visitor who came and the visitor subsequently said that that was his last shot in life. Because he was intentional on after leaving the service to drive off the cliff and to take his own life, until he said, in the church, one man bothered to turn around, to greet him, to hear from him, to pray for him and to love him. Do you know that in our church there was a lady once, who came and within two weeks she took her life? She's not a.. she's not a person with a lot of problems I think in financial sense and so on, she looked fine, but she was..she was troubled. You know what, as far as I knew, the only person that greeted her was myself because I was at the door. And nobody, no one in church, no one bothered to say: hi, are you new? So glad to see you.. No one. Maybe if one of our ladies could have connected with this lady, she might be in the Lord today. I don't know. But this is not the ministry for one man. This is a ministry for the church. This is the ministry that Paul says: let's all greet one another. Don't do it superficially. But do it understanding there are great things that can come out of it. At the end of the day, it's because Jesus did it for us.

I pray our church will have such warmth and affection, going beyond our comfort zones so that others may see there is love - See how they love one another, and by this shall all men know we are His disciples. It's a simple thing, folks. Simple. Stepping out of our comfort zones, being proactive, greeting one another. Would you do that? Not because, not because I preached about it, or we're.. This is the topic but would this is your conviction every time we gather as a church? Serve one another, greet one another. And may the good Lord use this church for His glory.

Let's bow for a word of prayer.

This morning I spoke a lot about something really, really practical, something really simple. I'm encouraging you to take steps of faith to go out of your comfort zone, to speak to someone beside you. He may be a familiar face, he can be an unfamiliar face. It doesn't matter. He might have scared you before or he may have offended you before, it doesn't matter. Jesus is worth your while reaching out to the person who's sitting right beside you or someone you meet as you exit from this place. It is a ministry. It is a privilege. For us to live out the life of Christ is something as simple as this- provoking one another to love and to good works. It begins by a simple greeting, a touch of concern, a word of appreciation, a heart that genuinely cares. Gospeliters, would you that, for Jesus' sake?

The church is supremely to be a demonstration of God's love. You're not going to need to die for one another often, but in these small things, everyday life, that's where your love can be seen. Because people need attention, people need affection, people need appreciation, people need acceptance. You realize they all need that? We all need that. So as we draw from God's love, as we look to Jesus and how He served us, touched us, saved us, let that love fuel your heart to do so likewise.

Maybe today you're here. You're not a Christian. Can I encourage you to look to the love of Jesus? He loves you and He showed it on the cross when He came to die for your sins. God is demonstrative. He doesn't hide His feelings for you. He shows His love in dying for you. And He says whosoever believes, whosoever repents and believes in My Son will be saved. Jesus is Lord who came to die for your sins. Would you receive His gift of grace? Would you receive His love? If you'd like to do that, I'll like you just in this moment of quietness before the Lord, whatever decisions you need to make before God, it's between you and Him. Just take this time, commune with Him.

People are hurting everywhere. They just don't show it. Would you be the instrument, the tool in God's hand to minister to lives? Tremendous privilege we have.

Father, we thank You this morning, we can see Your love in Jesus Christ, what He has first done for us. May this gospel love fill our hearts and may this love then motivate and move us to take practical steps to love one another. Lord, help this church be a greeting church, a loving church, an affectionate, appreciative, an accepting church because of Jesus Christ. Be with those who today need to be saved, need to repent and believe in Jesus. By your Holy Spirit call them to yourself. Work in their hearts, help them to believe. We thank You that as we hear Your words, and ask the Spirit to work in our hearts, You can change our lives, You can grow our church, You will glorify yourself through us. So this is our prayers, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

We are looking for sermon transcribers/transcript reviewers.
Email [email protected] to volunteer.