Good morning, Gospel Light. Happy New Year, Happy 2022. I think the last two years have been rough, right, for many of us, not only in gospel light but the whole country and perhaps the whole world. And I hope that over December, you've all managed to spend some time with family and friends to catch up and to renew ties, you know, and just to take things a bit slower towards the end of last year. I also hope very much that in the quieter moments of December, over Christmas weekend and New Year weekend, that you had moments of quiet with the Lord, to be able to renew yourself with the Lord, and to recharge spiritually ahead of 2022. And it is my desire that today's sermon would help a bit in that reflection process. And in terms of formulating goals for 2022 - spiritual goals.

So as PJ has mentioned, this is the first in a five-part series on ‘One Another’. One another is another way of saying ‘Christian community’, right, and we are going to show the next five sermons how critical Christian community is in terms of our own spiritual formation, in terms of how God wants the church to operate. The text that is chosen today is from Philippians, chapter three. Jonathan had gone through it already. But I would just like to point out something interesting about the text, all right? If you look at verses 12 to 16, it talks about an overarching goal for the Christian which is to pursue Christ. And it talks about spiritual goal setting, straining towards a particular price, which is very appropriate for us even as we stand at the cusp of 2022 and we think about what we want to do differently in this year ahead. And interestingly, verse 17 actually talks about ‘one another’ and it actually segues very nicely to the rest of this series, which is about one another.

So let me try to unpack this over the next 45 minutes or so. So there are three sections to today's sermon. The first is on ‘pursue Christ’. The second is on ‘leaving the past behind’. The third is on ‘pushing one another along’. This is just simple three P's - pursue, past, and push.

1. Pursue Christ

The first section on ‘pursue Christ’. Let me read the verses again so that it provides the context. Verse 12 says, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own”. Verse 14 goes on to say, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the outward call of God in Christ”. So there are a few elements which are suggested here in Scripture in terms of pursuing Christ.

(a) Spiritual Dissatisfaction

The first element would be to be spiritually dissatisfied with the status quo. And this is important, because this is the apostle Paul right, the great Apostle Paul, I mean from an earthly point of view, actually saying that he's not perfect. He's actually saying that he's still pressing and straining forward towards the prize. And there's a certain context in which Paul said this. Even as the early church was forming, there were actually various schools of teaching. In rivalry to Paul's doctrine, there were actually two other groups. One was the Judaizers and these are a group that stressed keeping up the Old Testament ceremonial law, the Mosaic law, and that becomes a form of perfection or righteousness. There was another group called the Gnostics. The Gnostics were those who were mystical and they depended on extra-biblical special revelation to them. And through that they felt that they were a higher class, closer to God, and perfection was derived from that. But what Paul is trying very hard to tell the church in Philippi is that, no, there is no spiritual perfection on this side of heaven. And that's what PJ has always said, right? There's not spiritual perfection, but there is sincere progression. So he uses the emphatic words, right, at the start of verse 12 - “Not that”, right? “Not that I've already attained but I want to lay hold of that for which I lay hold of Christ”.

And I'd like to share a parable which Jesus told - this is the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican from Luke chapter 18. And in this parable, Jesus tells the story about two types of people who went to the temple to worship God. One, the Pharisee, you notice is further in towards the temple. And he makes a large show, right, a big show of his religion. And he actually prays aloud to say, “I thank thee, God, that I am not like that other man, the Publican or tax collector.”. The Publican, if you take a look, right, he's actually very far. He's shrinking away from the inner sanctum of the temple. And actually, the Bible says he was beating his chest beating his chest saying, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And Jesus goes on to conclude the parable, asking the question, “Who do you think went away from the temple justified?” And of course, it was the Publican, the tax collector. And Jesus concludes that parable with these words, which is that he that exalteth himself shall be abased, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

So I'd like to suggest, Gospel Light, that a very critical ingredient in us pursuing Christ is to be spiritually dissatisfied with the status quo. So in a way right, God can only work when we are empty of ourselves, right? That's when God can fill up the vessel. But if we think that we are already full and that we really have need of nothing, right, it limits the ability, from a human sense, for God to work in us. So I would ask all Gospel Lighters here and those dialed in: how are you today, in terms of your satisfaction with your spiritual life? Are you sitting in a very plum position thinking there's not much more that needs to be done? Or are you saying with the Publican, with a tax collector, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner?”

(b) Strain Forward

The next element that is suggested in Scripture for pursuing Christ, right, we talk about spiritual dissatisfaction. The next element is another S, which is called ‘Strain Forward’. Actually, throughout Scripture, it's very clear, the Christian life is always likened to either a battle or a race. It's like that - it's not something where you just sit, twiddle your thumbs, you know, and sit on the starting blocks and expect things to happen. It doesn't work that way. This spiritual life is a very active pursuit of spiritual goals. And that's why the language in Scripture - I just flash a few verses. It's almost militant, the language of Scripture is very militant. It's almost extreme, right? If you look at Romans 6:14, it says, “mortify the deeds of your body”. Mortify actually means to put to death, right? You're actually crucifying the flesh, you're actually putting to death the flesh, the deeds of the body so that we might live. And my question to all of us today is, how are we running our spiritual race in this starting part of 2022? Are you even running? Are we fighting? Are we fighting hard? Are we running fast? Right, and that is very important because Paul, the great apostle, was also trying his best to run his race, to keep straining forward, to keep straining towards the finish line. So I hope that example from Paul from Scripture will encourage us to double down on running our spiritual race in 2022.

(c) Securing the Prize

So we talked about spiritual dissatisfaction; we talked about straining forward. The third ‘s’ here is securing the price, securing the price. And it comes to the words in verse 12 and 13. And it's good if you are able to keep on your phone or your Bible to Philippians three, because we're going back and forth in other parts of the chapter as well. Paul talks about ‘making it his own’, to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of him. Now these are very interesting words, right? So what was Paul making his own? What was the goal that he was working towards?

If you look at the first part of Philippians, chapter three, there are a few elements that come forward. Paul talks about knowing Christ. Paul talks about gaining Christlikeness. Paul then goes on to talk about partaking in Christ's sufferings. And then he goes on talking about knowing the power of Christ's resurrection. And he caps off by talking about attaining unto the resurrection of the dead. Right, so these are the elements right, which form Paul's thinking in terms of what he was trying to make his own. And I suggest that these are worthy goals for us to emulate, to make it our own. In other parts of Scripture, if you think about Romans 8:29, which is the golden chain, right, it says, whom did God foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of the Son, right? So the conformance to the image of Christ, the conformance to the image of God’s Son is very, very strong throughout the entire New Testament. If you look at the words of John, the apostle, right - in First John, chapter three, he talks about now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we should be, but we know that when Christ will appear, we shall be like Him and we shall see Him as He is. Again, Christlikeness knowing Christ, gaining Christlikeness must be our price, our spiritual goal in 2022.

And there's another element here that's very interesting in Philippians, chapter three, and in the rest of Paul's epistles. I would suggest that hand in hand with knowing Christ and gaining Christ's likeness, there's always a longing for Christ. There will be a deep longing, longing for Christ, a longing for our eternal home. And in verse 20 of Philippians, chapter three, it talks about our conversation being in heaven, from whence we look for a Savior. In other parts of Paul's epistles, he talks about how he would rather be with the Lord. But he's staying back here in order to be of help to the church. So I will suggest that longing for eternal home is a distinctive part of being a Christian, and is something that we need to cultivate, that we need to long more for heaven and for Christ more in 2022 than in 2021. Right, so I ask that all of us here, consider these as worthy goals for us in 2022.

In a sense, this comes down to what our mission is, right? Every individual or every agency or every organization needs to have a mission. You need to be clear about the mission, at least from an earthly sense. If not, you'll be all over the place. Right? And, well, if you think about the military, for example, the military needs to be very clear on this mission, right? If a platoon is supposed to take this hill, this objective, right, it needs to make sure it goes for that hill and not some other hill, right? If not, there'll be tragic consequences on the entire war effort. So Gospel Lighters, do we know our spiritual mission? Have we known it all these while? And do we want to pursue our spiritual mission with more fervor in 2022, knowing Christ, gaining Christlikeness, longing for Christ?

So that concludes the first section, which was on pursuing Christ, right, which is the overarching goal. In this passage, there are three elements to that - first, spiritual dissatisfaction; secondly, straining forward, keep straining forward; and thirdly, securing the prize, being very sharp and clear on the goal and on our mission as Christians, which is to know Christ.

2. Leave the Past Behind

Now, the second segment deals with a stumbling block that can actually trip up Christians in pursuing Christ. So let us look at the words from scripture. Verse 13 says, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind.” And this is coming from the great Apostle Paul. And I will hope to show over the next few slides that this is something that actually trips modern day Christians as well - trips us up, and is something that we need to consider. Well, there are few things that we need to leave behind, in our past, in 2021, even as we go into 2022.

(a) Past Achievements

The first thing that we need to leave behind is our past achievements. And this is something that Paul talks a lot about from verses five to ten. If you flip to your Bible on your phone, you see that from verse five to verse ten, he talks about some of his achievements, right? So I just rattle off a few of them. First one, Hebrew of the Hebrews, right? Hebrew of the Hebrews is another way of saying creme de la creme. He is the creme de la creme of Jewish society back then. I mean, you can think Tatler, you can think Forbes Top 100, orsomething like that, right? That is the picture that comes across. So there's a check in a box from earthly point of view. Then he talks about being a Pharisee. Right? And being a Pharisee is actually someone who is very learned. And in modern day vernacular, it could be someone who's gone to Oxbridge, someone who has gone to the Ivy League universities, very well trained, well learned - checking a box. And he talks about himself being circumcised on the eighth day and he talks about himself being from the tribe of Benjamin. Actually, being of the tribe of Benjamin and Judah are good things, because they were the last two tribes standing, you know, after the northern kingdom, you know, carried away by the Assyrians. So the last two tribes standing from which God continued to preserve into his world, Benjamin, although a small tribe was actually a warrior tribe, it was a very powerful tribe in terms of warfare, right? So there is pride to be taken in being of the tribe of Benjamin. All right? So in a sense, you can think about pedigree, right? Whether born into a very prestigious family, etc., right? So that's another checkbox. So check, check, check. And Paul is saying that those are his earthly credentials. Most of us will say, “Okay, we have achieved this.” But you know, I think the spiritual goal that the preacher is talking about is more important, so let's pursue that, right? But we also achieved this. But you look at the way Paul characterizes his past achievements. He says he counts them but dung (Phil 3:7), right? And these are very strong words again, right? These are not normal words that you will use to describe your past achievements. He counts them as dung, worthless, abhorrent, to be despised, right? And I suggest that for us going to 2022, we need to take that view of our past achievements. Because thinking too highly of ourselves, like the Pharisee, right in the parable in Luke 18, right, can get in the way of pursuing Christ, either because you will never come to that point on bended knee, where you tell God, “be merciful to me, a sinner.” or it could be that you're clinging on to your own achievements stymies you from engaging in lowly service in God's kingdom. Right, so past achievements can be a trap - think about it.

(b) Past Sinful Habits

Now, the next thing that we have to forget and put behind us right is actually past sinful habits. Now, this one is serious - past sinful habits, I'll say, is much more serious than having an inflated view of past achievements. Past sinful habits is almost Cardinal, right? I'll say that it is Cardinal. In Scripture, it talks about how without holiness, no man shall see God. In the Psalms, it talks about who shall ascend into the hill of Lord - he did have clean hands and pure hearts. In the Beatitudes, it talks about those who pursue righteousness for they shall be filled. So the entire scripture, from cover to cover, is about a transformed life, is about holiness. It's about being like Christ. So past sinful habits is something that will get in the way. Let me rattle off what might be a few. Maybe some of us might be being economical with the truth, lying or even cheating, to make sure our company gets ahead, or that we get ahead in our own personal stations in life. Maybe some of us have very legitimate things that we pursue, but we pursue them to such an extent that they become an idol, right? That they get in a place of God and you cannot keep that first commandment, which is that thou shall have no other Gods before me. Maybe some of us are being emotionally unfaithful to our spouse, engaging in meetings, meetups and conversations and WhatsApp exchanges which will not be appropriate, and you will be afraid to show to your spouse. So these are examples of past sinful habits which I would plead that we put behind in 2021 and in the past, and move forward, anew, in 2022.

You know, the one thing that's wonderful about Christianity is this verse here - Second Corinthians 5:17. Christianity is about second chances. Right? And even though God is infinitely holy, yet at the same time, he is infinitely loving and infinitely merciful. And that's why do we have a chance at all. We just celebrated Christmas and we know that in Christmas, Christ came to destroy the works of the devil and to save a people for Himself. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things can become new. And this is one of my favorite verses in scripture and it gives hope whenever we mess up spiritually. We know that there is a second chance. So I urge everyone here and those listening in to put the sinful habits of the past behind, even as you go into 2022. Make sure 2022 is different from all the other past New Years that you have gone through, right? Without holiness, no man shall see God.

(c) Past Hurt and Guilt Now the third thing that we have to leave behind in the past right, is what I would call past hurt and past guilt. Let me explain what past hurt and past guilt is. Past hurt happens when bad things have been done to you. Right? Maybe someone has walked out of your marriage, maybe someone has character assassinated you to such an extent that you've lost your job, there is deep hurt that results from such things. And actually, the hurt doesn't go away easily, right? It doesn't go away easily. Sometimes, for years, you cannot be in the same room or same hall or even the same, you know, five kilometer radius as that other person, right? Past hurt can bog us down, it can choke up our spiritual arteries, and it can prevent us from pursuing Christ.

Now another thing that can really trip us up is past guilt. And this one is the reverse, which is that we have done something bad to other people, right? We have done something bad that has resulted in material hurt to the other person. Maybe we are the ones who disrupted another marriage, maybe we are the ones who character assassinated, right? So it's the reverse. And past guilt can also be something that weighs us down because sometimes you just cringe, right? You just, you know, either when you wake up, you know, or in the quiet moments, you just cringe that you actually did such a thing, right? And that, the devil can use to say, you know, you're no longer useful, right? You might as well just fold, roll over, and just give up, right? Because you have damaged many other people.

I’d like to now turn to two examples here to encourage our hearts. Under normal circumstances, I think I'll be asking like, “What do you all think? Who does the first picture signify?” but under COVID safe management measures, I think that's not well advised, right. So the first picture there is of Saul of Tarsus - he was the great persecutor of the church, the zealous persecutor of the church. And what did he do? He went from house to house, Acts says, and he actually imprisoned a lot of Christians. And he also put to death some Christians. Those were the early days when he was Saul of Tarsus. And so I ask you, when he became Paul the Apostle and you went on his missionary journeys, and when he came across the family and friends of some of these people, how do you think he felt? If you put yourself in Paul's shoes, I bet you he cringed. I bet you he cringed. Right? Ruined families and people have been put to death. He definitely cringed. And let me give you another example - John Newton. John Newton was a slave trader and he's also the one who wrote amazing grace, which is probably the most loved gospel chorus over the past 200 years. Let me read from a monument to John Newton. It says, “John Newton, once an infidel, a libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored pardon, appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy. That is John Newton. And imagine if Saul of Tarsus and John Newton had let the guilt just choke up internally that they keep replaying and replaying the scenes, there will be no Paul the Apostle, there will be no Philippians chapter three that we're reading today, there'll be no Amazing Grace, the hymn that we sing so often. So if any of you are struggling with past hurt and guilt, put it aside. And Jesus is a healer - he will heal but you have to bring it to the cross. I think there's a chorus that I learned, you know, growing up, and I think it's called, “Bring them all” - “Bring them all, bring them all, bring them all to Jesus. Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, broken toys, bring them all, bring them all to Jesus, and He shall turn your sorrow into joy.”.

So just to wrap up this second section, which is about putting the past behind: firstly, past achievement; secondly, past hurt and guilt; and most importantly, past sinful habits - jettison it even as you cross into 2022.

3. Push One Another On

Now, which brings us to the third section of today's message. It's called push one another on. And this is where the passage segues quite nicely to the overall theme of the next four weeks - the one another, about Christian community. And so what I'll be doing today is to try and paint the broad level, the why and the what of Christian community. And over the next few sermons, my fellow preachers will be delving into the what and how to actually implement it. And hopefully over the five sessions, we have a very good picture of what it means to pursue the one anothers. But let me read from Scripture first. Verse 15 says, “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will review that also to you.” And verse 16 says, “Only let us hold true to what we have attained,”. Verse 17 says, “Brothers,” - and you look at the words which are underlined, right, these are all collective terms - “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to example you have in us.” Us is referring to those brothers, right, collective terms. In some ways, Christianity is a team sport. It is not a individual sport. I'll talk about it in a while. So what this passage from verse 12 to 17 actually suggests to us is that we need to push one another on in Christian community, working with one another in order to leave the past behind and in order to pursue Christ. Actually, the Christian community is a means of grace that God has given the church. It is not a “nice to have”. It is a “need to have”, which I will try to show over the next few slides.

Now, I'm going to use one example. It's a very imperfect example, granted, but I would like to use its example to describe Christian community. All right? I think half in the audience, the guys, would understand 2.4 Kilometer run, right? And those dialing in as well. Actually, within this category of the guys, there are two categories, two sub categories: one who actually enjoy the run and can do very well, and then there's the other category, those that really suffer and just wish that the run would end, right? Maybe I have a show of hands, we can’t speak but we can have a show of hands - who here is in the first category that can run very well and you just love to go and collect your $200 or $400 every time. Can you all raise your hand? Anyone? Oh, I see. Okay, this is just four out the whole audience of 200 or 300. Okay so this is a minority. Who here as a category that is like, “Oh, when will this end?” Okay, many more hands. I wouldn't say which category I'm in, okay. But over the next few minutes, you can kind of decipher which category I'm in. Okay, so let me describe the 2.4 kilometer run to many of our women folk who don't go through that. The first: it is a run of six rounds. In the past we used to run on outside roads, but now it is six rounds around the track. Right? In the first two rounds, usually once you are waved off, everyone chiongs and you go very fast, right? Because adrenaline is flowing, the heart is pumping, and you know the muscles are just primed to go warm and ready to go. So everyone run like, you know, they can maintain that forever, right. But actually, when you come to the third and fourth rounds, for most people except the four hands that we raised their hand early on in the congregation, for most people, it starts to get hard. Actually, you start to gasp for air, right? You start to gasp for air, the muscles feel so sore and your legs feel like lead, you know, you're trying to bring it along. And then because you know, when your body diverts the blood to your muscles, everything becomes surreal, you know, from your eyes and your brain. Everything becomes surreal and you just know that you have to reach the finishing line. But the time you come to the fifth round, many people are saying, “Oh, when will this end? Please stop this, I'm going to give up right.” And you start to see people walking, right? A lot of people start walking and they cannot take it already, right? Just walk. Right? And then very few finish the race, you know, just sprinting and striding through. So that is a 2.4 kilometer run. Actually in my experience, there were a few occasions when I almost had to redo the run, because if you fail the timing, you have to come back and redo. But what made a difference for me, actually, is that there were some fellow runners who came by and said, “Fred, stop walking! You got to pick up speed. If not, you're not going to make the timing you have to come back for RT! You know, go for remedial training. You have to go faster! Wake up, all right? You follow me. You just stick to me and follow along. So in that moment when everything is surreal and you're just thinking about the pain, when a voice comes to say “Wake up”, it actually makes a difference, right? And suddenly, you're like, oh, you know, you find a second wind, a turbocharger, and then you start to run again and try to stick to the person running ahead of you, right?

So in a very flawed way. I would say that this describes the Christian community, that we are all the fellowship of the broken, right? We're all people in need. And the fellowship of the broken is a term I borrowed from Pastor John Ortberg, previously the senior pastor in Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. And in many of his books, he talks about the fellowship of the broken, needy vessels whom God has saved and is perfecting for eternity. And he also calls this the fellowship of the mat - the mat referring to the four friends, if you recall, of Jesus; the stories of the four friends who brought their good friend, a paralytic, to see Jesus to get healed, right? They all carried the mat and they loaded it from the top of the house so that Jesus would heal the paralytic friend. So this is example, a very good picture of Christian community. It's the fellowship of the broken; people struggling on in life but knowing that they are headed for a wonderful eternal home.

Pastor Jason, as I mentioned, says very often that a Christian life follows a sincere progression. And what sincere progression means is that actually there are ups and downs, right? It's not like the stock market bull run all the way. It is not - it is ups and downs. And imperfect people struggling with their own sins, their own flaws, trying very hard to trend towards a higher goal, going up and down. And I think in God's spiritual economy, He has ordained that we are not always up or always down at the same time, right? For different seasons, some of us may be up; for different seasons, some of us may be down. And the whole idea here is that in Christian community, in the one another, that those who are doing better for that season care for the rest. So sincere progression, not sinless perfection.

I’d like to also share what I understand about Alcoholics Anonymous. Alcoholics Anonymous is a society that has done wonders for people trying to break the habit of the bottle, to overcome the bottle. And in the first check in session, I understand that you have to go there to say, “I am so and so. I am Fred Chew and I am an alcoholic.” You have to start there, you have to say, “I am an alcoholic” because that shows you acknowledge your problem. It shows that you know you are a sinner or an alcoholic. It also says, “I need help”. So Christian community is about the fellowship of the broken. Later, we will talk about whether we are availing ourselves to Christian community as God intended.

This picture here is about Pilgrims Progress. And can I just check how many have read the book Pilgrim's Progress? Okay, good. So it's about half. Okay, so this wouldn't be totally unfamiliar to everyone. Well, if you google ‘Pilgrim's Progress’ right, it is one of the top 10 best sellers of all time. In all history, there were 250 million copies sold. It was written by English Puritan John Bunyan in the 1600s. And in it he describes in an allegory, the journey of a Christian from where we are to heaven, right, what is called the celestial city. In Pilgrim’s Progress, the key character is this gentleman called Christian, right. And along the way, he forms friendships, a company of believers, and one of them is called ‘Faithful’, right? And I'm going to read from an excerpt of Pilgrim's Progress. Now, to give you a sense of what Christian community is, at least in the eyes of John Bunyan. And this is a passage from the dark valley right? For those of you who have read before, the dark valley occurred about one third way through Christian’s journey. And the dark valley is actually an allegorical way of describing when we are down and out, when the Christian is down and out in the pits of despair, when everything around is giving way, and what happens in those moments, right? So, let me read.

Midway through this valley, I noticed the mouth of hell close to the pathway. Now, thought Christian, what shall I do? Flame and smoke spewed out continually and in such abundance this is in the dark valley with sparks and hideous noises, things that could not be dealt with by Christian’s sword that he was forced to shift his sword and take up another weapon called “prayer”. So he cried, “O Lord, I beg you, deliver my soul.” Thus, he went on for a great while, yet still the flames reached toward him. Also, he hurt sorrowful voices and sounds of great movement back and forth, so that sometimes he thought he should be torn in pieces or trodden down like mud in the streets. He saw and heard these frightful sights and dreadful noises for several miles, and reaching a place where he thought he heard a company of fiends (referring to evil spirits), a company of fiends coming forward to meet him, he stopped and began to consider what would be the best thing to do. Sometimes he had half a mind to go back, go back to the city of destruction, which is where he started off from. Then again, he thought he might be halfway through the dark valley and he remembered how he already conquered many dangers, and that the danger of going back might be actually worse than going forward. So he resolved to pull on. Yet the fiends seem to be coming straight at him. And he cried out forcefully, “I will walk in the strength of the Lord, God.” So the fiends gave way and came no further.

One thing I could not help noticing, and John Bunyan is writing from a first person point of view, looking into the scene. One thing I could not help noticing - by now, poor Christian was so confused that he did not know his own voice. I realized this because just as he came up to the mouth of the burning pit, one of the wicked ones got behind him and started whispering and suggested terrible blasphemies to him, which he actually thought came from his own mind. This was a greater trial to Christian than anything he had met with so far, even to think that he should now blaspheme Him that he loves so much before. Yet if he could have helped it, he would not have done it. But he had not the understanding to either cover his ears or to know where these blasphemies came from. When Christian had traveled in such a disconsolate condition for a very long length of time, he thought he heard the voice of a man going before him in the distance, saying, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”

Three takeaways from Christian’s Journey Then Christian was glad and for these reasons. First, because he gathered from this that he was not alone in this valley. He was not alone in this valley. There were others here who feared God as well. Second, since he perceived that God was with them, with the other person ahead of him, in this dark and dismal state, then why not with him as well? Even though in the present circumstances, it did not seem like it. And third, because he hoped he could overtake the person in front and have company by and by, so he went on and called out to the man was ahead of him. So the man was actually Faithful, whom Christian journeyed with for a while more until they reached Vanity Fair. And I would like to suggest that the dark valley actually represents a lot of the pits that we go through, the spiritual pits, the moments of despair, the moments when everything seems so dark and there's no way out. And the way John Bunyan wrote was very frightful, just even thinking about the adversity that Christian had to face. And God has given Christian community for those three reasons which John Bunyan cited, right? Firstly, to know that you are not alone in this dark valley, that there are others who also walk in the dark valley. Secondly, when you see God working in the life of a brother or sister, you know that God can also work in yours. You can infer that, even though at the moment, everything seems bleak. And thirdly, to have the company of saints to encourage you along this journey. That is Christian community. There is strength in Christian community. And the question is, how many of us are availing ourselves to this strength? How many of us are availing ourselves to one another, to the fellowship of the broken, to the fellowship of the mat, to help us to pursue Christ and to help us forget the past?

Oh, before I go to my final slide, I'll just like to say, even for myself, I grew up in a Christian family and I am a second generation Christian, but I don't think I really understood the gospel until the last year of my university. And I still remember that there was one pivotal factor that arrested my attention, that helped God work in me. And that was two brothers in the faith - two brothers in a faith who were studying in the same university as I was, and their work was totally different. There will be like a shining light around them, you know, in some way, right. And looking at them, I knew that there was something real here, that there's something real about Christianity, something that they had that I did not have. And from there, they helped lead me on to understanding what it means to be a Christian. And I would say that throughout the subsequent seasons of life, God had always been very kind and merciful to send along groups of Christian brethren, brothers and sisters, who will encourage me on Christian faith. Right, so this is real - Christian community is real, how many of us are partaking of that?

Conclusion So in my concluding slide, let me first sum up. We talked, first of all, about pursuing Christ as the overarching goal. And when we pursue Christ, there are a few things, there are a few elements: one, spiritual dissatisfaction; two, we need to strain forward, keep straining forward; and thirdly, we need to secure the prize which means we need to be very sharp on what the goal and what the prize is for our spiritual journey. In the second section, we talked about forgetting the past or leaving the past behind. There are three aspects to that: one, past achievements; two, past sinful habits, which is the most key; and three, past hurt and guilt. And in the last section we covered pushing one another on in the Christian community. That is a critical means of grace that God has provided the church. It is not a nice-to-have, it is a need-to-have, and those who have experienced Christian community will testify to that. And so now to conclude, a call to action: what will you do in 2022? Walking out of this hall later on, many of us may have lunchtime appointments. Some of us may be prepping, getting our kids ready for school next week. Now once you hit tomorrow, right, work starts and it's all back to the grind, the daily hustle and bustle, and then the kids are going back, at least for primary school kids it is on Tuesday if you are in Primary 1, or Wednesday for the rest, right. And then things restart again. What will you do differently in 2022?

Call to Action: What will you do in 2022?

Let me suggest a few tasks or few things that we can work towards, even as we try to pursue Christ. Firstly, in the area of pursuing Christ, I think it's important that we try and cultivate a pilgrim mindset in. A pilgrim mindset that says, in the words of the song, right, this world is not my home and I'm just passing through. If you think about Hebrews 11, right, and what it says of the saints of old, it says that they desired a better country, a heavenly country, the City of God. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He had prepared for them a city. That is Hebrews 11. And so it all starts there. Do we have a pilgrim mindset, right? Then the rest falls in place, right it follows. But if the mindset is not settled, right, then it starts to waver. Right? It is neither here nor there. Develop a pilgrim mindset. Linked to that, very critical, is that we need to develop our devotional life. We need to cultivate our devotional life. We need to spend time, right, in the words of the hymn, we need to take time to be holy. Because the world marches on, we need to spend much time in secret with Jesus alone, by looking to Jesus, and like him we shall be, by friends and by conduct, his likeness shall see - take time to be holy.

Now in the area of leaving the past behind, I would suggest to everyone here that we need to pay attention to our sanctification. Don't flirt around with danger, or past sinful habits. It is going to kill you. Right, it's going to kill you. It will torpedo your spiritual journey totally. You have to put it behind, make a decisive break. Where past hurt and guilt concern, I would suggest that we need to break out of the swamp that we are in. We need to break out and we need to step forward in faith. And God is a healer. And He will enable us to do so if we take steps of faith. Leave that past behind and leave the hurt and guilt behind.

In the last area of pushing one another on, can I encourage all of us here to reach out to others? And this is very critical. As I mentioned, there are seasons in life when you are doing okay, and there are seasons when you're not doing okay. Right, and in God's Spiritual Economy, he has ordained for those who are doing okay to help those who are not doing okay. And the tables will turn, right, you know, a few years down the road. And so please reach out to others. You know, in a sense, COVID has been very tough on this front. We have all become much more insular, right, due to COVID. And it's kind of just us in our own family units because the interactions outside are very limited. But we need to make an active, deliberate effort here. I think the words of Christ to Peter, before Christ ascended actually are relevant here. He said to Peter, now after asking him three times “Do you love me?” and at the very end of that, He says, “When you are restored, feed my sheep.” So this is very critical. We need to understand this, that we have to reach out and help others alone.

The second part here: be part of care groups and ministry groups in 2022. If you have not taken the plunge, I would say that, you know, in the Hokkien term, mai tu liao. You just got to go. It is a no brainer, no regrets move. Right, plunge in, be part of care groups, be part of ministry groups. It will be of tremendous blessing to you in your spiritual journeys. Midway through the series and at the end, Pastor Kay Hong will actually be coming up on stage to share about how we run our care group ministry here in Gospel Light, and to give practical tips for how to get assimilated, get involved. So this is something that we need to do.

Alright, so that concludes the sermon today. I'll just have a final word, which is to say that it's now the morning of second January, and we have about probably eight, nine hours before the day, or 10 hours before the day draws to an end. And then you know, it’s back to the daily grind, right? I would urge that for those of us who maybe have not had the time to take spiritual quiet moments out to converse and to renew yourself with God, right, and to do so in the rest of the day. One less appointment is fine. You have many appointments along the way, but you need to get in touch with God.

I think of the story of Jacob at Peniel. Jacob at Peniel was when he wrestled with Angel of the Lord, right, which was the pre-incarnate Christ. He wrestled with God. Right? And he said these immortal words, right, which lasts until today: “I will not let you go until you bless me”. “I will not let you go until you bless me.” And I hope that spirit of wanting to wrestle and come to a meeting point with God before we enter 2022 - “God I will not let you go until you bless me and You walk with me into 2022.”. I think that's critical for us this year. I really hope that 2022 can be different for all of us, compared to previous years in that 2022 will mark a decisive leap forward in terms of our journey, our spiritual journey.

Prayer Let us pray. Dear Lord, we just thank you so much for the wonderful words from Philippians chapter three. And those are glorious words, Lord, words that can really encourage our hearts and motivate us, Lord, to pursue Christ, to put the past behind, and to push one another on. Lord, please help us in our infirmity. Many of us are struggling. We know what we have to do but so often, we do not have the strength. So Lord, we just ask this prayer, that for all Gospel Lighters and for all those who are dialed in today, that you be very kind and gracious to meet us on this second day of the new year, and to show thyself strong, and to give us hope, courage, and strength for the year ahead. We ask for your Holy Spirit's enablement, for without your Holy Spirit's enablement, we cannot do this on our own. Help all of us, Lord, to value Christian community and to understand what a wondrous element that is in your Spiritual Economy, that Christians will help one another as we journey to the celestial city. And now to conclude with a benediction from the book of Numbers: May the Lord bless you, all Gospel Lighters and those dialed in, May the Lord bless you and keep you, May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, May the Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon you and give you peace and go with you into 2022. Amen.

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