The Folly of Futile Legacies

Mr S Rajaratnam was a founding father of Singapore, patriot, politician and the former foreign minister. He died at the age of 90 years in Sep 2006. In 1988, soon after he stepped down from the Singapore cabinet, Mr Rajaratnam was asked what he would do during his retirement from politics. He replied: “You know in Alice in Wonderland, there is the Cheshire cat who goes away but leaves his smile behind? I hope I will go that way too.”

A local newspaper, the Straits Times, commented, “The answer was quintessential Raja, unexpected, yet unexpectedly apt, leaving a smile on his listener’s face.” I agree. Many people wish to be remembered as the ones who have made a difference. They want their lives to matter. Like Raja, I prefer a less assertive influence, just a smile.

This same sentiment was expressed when I retired as Executive Vice Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Singapore's third and newest medical school on the 31 Mar 2019. I had the unique opportunity of starting the School from scratch in 2011 in partnership with the Imperial College London. On retirement, I told colleagues that I think the only lasting legacies are the memories of friendships made. I went on to sing "The Way We Were", a song chosen to celebrate all the friendships made at LKCMedicine and the memories of moments spent with one another. 

How could most of us believe that in our lifetimes we could contribute sufficiently to leave a lasting legacy? Any achievement we make will very quickly, be forgotten. Those who aspire to make a significant mark hardly leave anything behind to amount to anything in the long run.

The desire to leave lasting legacies found expression in ancient history in the Tower of Babel. The tower of Babel was probably the first mega-building project in history. A building that was to be so gigantic it would be an architectural marvel and would have brought fame and posterity to the people who built it. What were the motives of the builders? What vision did they have in their sight? Gen 11: 4 recorded:

"Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

The tower was to be a centre for their identity, their security, an expression of their community. It was to be something of lasting value and significance to pass on to the world. However, they were attempting to do the whole project without a single reference to God. In the end, the Bible recorded that God destroyed the tower and they became separated from each other in confusion and misunderstanding. Now tragic: Lofty Aims - Great Downfalls.

Most of us do not live special lives. We are seldom called to make great contributions or to perform heroic deeds. If we are feeling too ordinary, St Francis of Assisi gave all of us  a chance to build a simple but lasting legacy. This chance is found in his famous prayer:-

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

The key word to this prayer is the word, instrument. If we are willing to be instruments, God’s instruments then we have the chance to leave behind something more lasting than bricks and mortars. The builders of the tower of Babel had got it all wrong while St Francis of Assisi got it all right.

May our aspirations instead be "Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace"

Lionel

Being Poor

"Blessed are  you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." Luke 6:20

The first of the eight beatitudes (blessings) declared by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is the blessing to be poor. What's more Jesus stated that the poor will inherit the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom Jesus said was imminent when he began his earthly ministry in Galilee.

The poor inheriting heaven is a very radical idea. While Luke refers to material poverty, Matthew added a spiritual spin to this by stating 'poor in spirit'. The Bishop Solomon (Ref 1) interpreted this as a 'sense of spiritual bankruptcy and brokenness'. The poor in spirit are those who had come to the end of their ropes, causing them like the prodigal son to truly repent. This repentance becomes the gateway to the Kingdom of God, one of the first messages taught by Jesus, "The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!" Mark 1:15

There is a relentless drive in Singapore to get out of the poverty trap. At first glance it seems the right thing to do but who could have predicted that a self-absorbed materialistic world would appear in the 21st century? It seems that the chief preoccupation is the accumulation of wealth and not the eradication of poverty. It is said that Singaporeans value cash, cars, condominium, credit cards and country clubs more than anything else. This rat race can cause some to fall by the wayside. No one may be on hand to pick them up. Bishop Solomon cautioned, 'In their wealthy state, the rich may end up not not caring at all for God. The poor probably have a better chance of learning dependence on God. Their material poverty may make it easier for them to recognise their spiritual poverty too and turn to God for mercy and help'. 

Does anyone really care? There are two individuals in church history that embraced poverty as their way of life, caring for the poor and downtrodden. Both became saints, Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Teresa of Calcutta. 

St Francis founded the Franciscan order and he was renowned for love of simplicity and practice of poverty. He was nicknamed Poverello. He was known for his fondness and love for the downtrodden, the poor and the lepers.

Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a order of nuns first started in 1950 in Calcutta and now has over 5000 nuns in more than 150 countries. They took vows of poverty and 'give whole-hearted service to the poorest of the poor'.

Both led inspiring lives and have influenced countless people. Consider the wisdom of their quotations:

Saint Francis:
'Lord make me an instrument of thy peace, where there is hatred let me sow love'.
'While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart'.
'Start by doing what is necessary; then what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible'.

Saint Teresa:
'It is not how much you do but how much love you put into what you do that counts'.
'Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love'.
'If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one'.

The lives of these two saints and their legacies indicate that the most long-lasting impact on people and on the world are not made by people of means and riches but often by those who are poor and saintly. 

Unfortunately very few of us bother. In one of his sermons, John Wesley lamented, "One great reason why the rich, in general, have so little sympathy for the poor, is, because they so seldom visit them. Many do not know because they do not care to know: they keep out of the way of knowing it". 

One Singaporean exception is my friend Dr Goh Wei Leong. Wei Leong was a prosperous general practitioner, who exchanged his Maserati for Charity when he founded HealthServe Singapore in 2006. HealthServe's mission is to serve disadvantaged migrant workers in Singapore through healthcare, counselling, casework and social assistance. There are many migrant workers in Singapore and Wei Leong started a charity clinic in a poor area in Singapore call Geylang at first seeing the patients himself and he enthused other Christians to assist in this work. HealthServe now have 4 clinics/offices in Singapore. In recognition of his ministry and service, Wei Leong received the Straits Time Singaporean of the Year Award in 2017.

Two years ago, my church, Charis Methodist Church started a migrant workers ministry in the Joo Chiat area under Gladys Han.

We should not forsake the downtrodden and poor. Indeed Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor, the weak will become strong and the poor rich'. For such grace and blessing, let us 'Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart'

Lionel

Ref 1: Robert M Solomon, The Sermon of Jesus, Genesis Book, 2013

Grace is free but not cheap

"I know your deeds, you have a reputation of being alive but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds not complete in the sight of my God." Revelations 3:1

In these days of instant coffee and noodles, we expect gratification to come quickly and cheaply. This instantaneous on-off feel-good emotions have permeated into the Christian experience in entertaining worship services found in some churches. The loud expressions of praise and worship give the impression of lively and vibrant congregations. 

The prosperity gospel teaches that it is a Christian entitlement to good health and wealth. God will always provide happiness and prosperity to be appropriated by faith and prayer. In Matthew 5:45, Jesus said, in relation to loving your enemies, "He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous". This tells us that we should never assume that it will 'not rain on our parade'. Indeed beneath this veneer of worship enthusiasm and prayer guarantees lurks an insidious immaturity that expects rewards without effort and blessings without giving. This is Christianity without depth. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian spoke out against this pervasive false Christianity and called this 'cheap grace'. He was an exceptional person, a Christian clergyman who challenged Hitler publicly; even returning to Germany to speak out against the regime, after having escaped for a time to England and America. The Nazis arrested him in 1943. Himmler ordered him hanged in April, 1945.

Bonhoeffer wrote an insightful book, "The Cost of Discipleship". For Bonhoeffer, the book became a personal prophetic fulfillment; he paid the ultimate price of his life for his Christian faith and beliefs by exposing the evils when so many of his fellow theologians and churchmen colluded with the Nazi movement. 

He wrote these words, “Cheap Grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ. Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field, for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Costly grace is costly because it calls us to follow. It is costly because it cost God the life of His Son: “You were bought at a price (1 Cor 7:23) and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us."

The Bible has something to say about these churches who expound cheap grace. Such churches received the condemnation of Rev 3:1. In contrast authentic Christianity requires commitment and service, a radical discipleship. In his book, The Radical Disciple, John Stott stated, "Many of us avoid radical discipleship by being selective, choosing rather those areas by which commitment is appealing and steering well clear of areas where it will be costly.  

Lionel

http://www.ushmm.org/bonhoeffer/

The Prodigal Father

"The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand" Psalms 37:23-24

The celebrated Rembrandt painting, 'The Return of the Prodigal Son' has a prominent place at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Staring at it, I was quickly drawn to the figure of the father in resplendent red. Rembrandt's portrayal of the father captures the divine act of compassion in a most human person.

This was the moment when the father received his errant son back into the family with unconditional love and forgiveness. The father that Rembrandt chose to paint is that of an aging blind man. The significance is not lost to any repentant sinner; God is 'blind' to our excesses when we return to Him like this prodigal son.

I entitled this post the Prodigal Father to express the largess and magnanimity of this old man. This blind old man in red was not concerned about himself. He loved unconditionally, caring only for son. He gave without expecting anything in return. Seldom will one experience this kind of love.

George Matheson, preacher and theologian, was born on 27th March 1842. After excelling at school he entered Glasgow University where he studied Classics, Logic and Philosophy. He graduated with first class honours when he was only 19 years old but a deep tragedy was being worked out in his life.  He had an incurable condition that would eventually result in total blindness. Whilst at University he had met and fallen in love with a girl who was a fellow student and they were planning to get married. He broke the news of his impending blindness to her, would she still marry him? To his deep sadness her blunt answer came to him with the force of a dagger to his heart, “I do not want to be the wife of a blind man” she said – and with that they parted. George never did marry but he learnt soon enough that there was another love and this love is enduring - the love of Christ for the sinner. He penned these words 

"O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be."

When the prodigal son forsook his father and took his inheritance, he expected the father to disown him. There must have been a deep seated grief in the father when this unfaithful son left. That did not prevent an attitude taking shape in the the father towards this wayward son, a willingness to forgive. This forgiving spirit translates to generosity in the extravagant reception and feasting when the son, returning home was restored to his place and wealth.

King David of Israel confidently wrote in Psalms 23:6, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever". Unlike David, I am not so confident and ever so often, I need a reality check. Like the prodigal son, I feel that from time to time I will digress, stray and leave. Yet somehow there is a Love that will not let me go. Hence I believe, I will always return. There is a love that burns within us, a love that guarantees that although we may stumble, we will not fall for the Lord upholds us with His hand.

Lionel

True Repentance

The Prodigal Son in Repentance

"If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sins and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

In the heyday of the evangelistic crusades, scores of people answered the altar call to find salvation in Jesus. Despite the emotional outpouring and the prayers to receive Christ, many did not receive salvation. The Bible said that they are like seeds that when sown never took roots and did not bear fruits. Their encounters with Jesus were short-lived and no true conversions took place.

One would assume as these people stepped forward they would regret their sinful nature. They would make a U-turn and return to God and find in Jesus, forgiveness of sin and strength to live a new life. That would be true repentance or t'shuva in Hebrew and it means more than to regret or to feel sorry; it means to turn back. Unfortunately many were led by emotional responses instead of truly repudiating their past lives and sins and then, coming by faith to accept Jesus Christ as their saviour.

J I Packer in his book, Rediscovering Holiness (Ref 1) argued that Christians are called to a life of habitual repentance. Packer pointed out that the very first of Luther's ninety-five thesis, nailed to the Wittenberg church door in 1517, declared: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent" He willed that the whole life of believers should be one of repentance".

What is repentance? J I Packer outlined that repentance means:

• Realistic recognition that one has disobeyed and failed God, doing wrong instead of doing right
• Regretful remorse at the dishonour one has done to the God one is learning to love and wanting to serve
• Reverent requesting of God' pardon, cleansing of conscience, and help to not lapse in the same way again
• Resolute renunciation of the sins in question, with deliberate thought as to how to keep clear of them and live right for the future
• Requisite restitution to any who have suffered material loss through one's wrongdoing.

One example of true repentance is found in the return of the Prodigal Son. This man had disgracefully sought after his inheritance from his father and squandered it in riotous living. He left home with pride and money but he was reduced to looking after pigs, losing all his dignity. He was no longer considered a human being. He was down in the dumps. That was exactly where we were at until we made the choice to return to God. The Prodigal finally came to his senses and made the long journey home.

Repentance is not easy. Its effects must be deep, changing our characters, behaviours and lives. John Wesley said that God has forgiven all on the cross, but not all have repented. After we have repented and found the forgiveness of God, like son and father we are reconciled. This is the same place we should all want to be in; our relationship with God being fully restored. Henri Nouwen wrote in the "Return of the Prodigal Son", (ref 2) "The father's embrace of his son told me that I was desperately searching for the that inner place where I too could be held as safely".

Lionel

Ref 1: J I Packer, "Rediscovering Holiness - Know the Fullness of Life with God". Regal 
Ref 2: Henri Nouwen, "The Return of the Prodigal Son - A story of Homecoming." Image books Doubleday