My Comment on 1Co 11:17-22

My comment on

“17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.” (1Co 11:17-22)

by Pastor Lau Chin Kwee

It is not praise worthy when human beings come together for the worse rather than for the better. When human beings are engaged in battle, they come together to kill and destroy each other for whatever reason. War is seldom praise-worthy. Paul was not writing about come together to fight in a physical sense. He wrote: ".. when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly be.ieve it." That there were divisions suggest boundaries and different territories among the Corinthian believers. But these were not physical divisions for Paul went on to write, "For there must be also heresies among you .." Heresies speak of departures from what is commonly taught in the Church. So the Church at first has no divisions as she is united in the faith. Then came heresies which caused divisions.

God has His purpose in allowing heresies in the Church. "There must be heresies ... that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." His purpose is the manifestation of those who are approved among God's people. Every local Church is a representative of God's people in this world. The only way to know if one is approved among God's people as represented by that local Church is for that local church to speak up when differences come along. The Local Church speaks exactly to express her unity in the faith. Those not approved by that local church are not part of that representative of the Body of Christ. They could well belong to another representative of the Body of Christ.

The Apostle Paul wrote that whenever people with divisions among themselves come together, the supper they take can never be the Lord's Supper, no matter how pretentious. The Lord's Supper is not meant to satisfy the physical hunger of people, nor to give people the opportunities to despise another. It is meant to express the unity of the faith and spirit as manisfested in that particular local Church at that particular time. God wants His people to be clear and not vague when speaking. When we are not sure, it is better not to speak than to "give the sacrifice of fools". Statements of faith clearly expressed are indeed honouring to God, not to be ashamed of. Once spoken those who are approved are made manifest.The Lord's Supper is not meant for people who has divisions among themselves. If your church conducts Lord's Supper among people who have divisions among themselves, be sure that the Apostle Paul "partly believe it".

In fact, the Apostle Paul warned that such coming together is not for the better, but for the worse. The Apostolic warning is not to be taken lightly. The Lord's Supper properly taken in this life, gives us a greater longing for the Supper of the Lamb at the end of time. A Supper of compromise leaves us spineless and confused.

May God help us not to desecrate the Holy Supper.

My Comment on 2 Chronicles 7:14

My comment on

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2Chronicles 7:14)

by Pastor Lau Chin Kwee

That God should speak to His sinful people is a sign of His grace. We who are conscious of our sins and miseries are at the loss as to how to be reconciled to the good God and Father against Whom we have sinned so grievously. He comes to us while we are confused and lost.

He said to us that as His people we must be humble, prayerful, seeking and willing to change. After all we are called by His Great Name and have yet much to be dealt with by way of becoming more like Him. Blessed are those who have seen Him and know it to be their calling to be more like Him. Such people cannot help but being humble, prayerful, seeking and willing to change.

Our Father and Lord deals with us by hearing us from heaven. He calls us from Heaven because He would bring us there. Heaven is where no sin is found, a blessed place where God's creatures there would not hurt each other, but be a perfect blessing to each other and together praise and magnify the God of their salvation. From where does God hear and call you whenever you seek His face?

What does God say to His humble, sinful people who would turn from their wicked ways? Would He chide us and sent us back to try harder before returning to Him again? Or, would He says, "I forgive you only for Christ's sake, and let us walk together and let me help you along the way. In that way, I will heal your land."

When the land is dead and barren, the living creatures are all threatened. The healing of the land speaks of sustenance and life. Do you have a piece of land that needs healing? Our Lord and Master promise healing to those who humble themselves and seek His face in repentance?

Are you discouraged because God points out your sins to you and asks you to deal with them? Take a second look at His intention for doing that and you will certainly be much encouraged by His love for you. He wants you to look away from yourselves and to look to Him Who alone is able to save you. What hope is there in yourself that you should constantly rely upon your own efforts? What comfort is there for us if God put down the condition which we must fulfill all by ourselves? What He commands He must enables or we would be lost. He wants us to look to Him and rely upon Him completely.

This then is our strength which cannot fail.

My Comment on Acts 2:23

My comment on

“Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” (Acts 2:23)

by Pastor Lau Chin Kwee

In this verse we have the clear teaching from God's Word that God is sovereign even over the crucifixion of His own Son (an heinous crime indeed), while at the same time wicked men were responsible for crucifying Him.

Can God be Sovereign and men be held responsible at the same time? If men cannot but do the sovereign will of God, how can he yet be held responsible? Can there be really freedom on man's part in such a situation so that he can be held responsible? How much freedom must a creature have before he can be held responsible? Must he be as free as God Himself? Even God is not free to act contradictory to His own nature, so can a man be more free than God before he can be held responsible?

A rational, moral creature can be held responsible so long as he acts freely according to his own nature. Can such a free act according to one's nature be fully known by God even before it is performed? Not only God knows how such free acts will turn out given a certain enviroment, He determines what they should be when He rules in the minutest details what the environment would be in each frame of history.

Some people think that this is a great mystery and paradox cannot be understood by men, like many other antinomies in the Bible. In the name of such paradoxes, they piously advocate the idea that something in Scripture should just be left alone in their contradictionary state, and that it is impious to even try to harmonise these passages. This is wrong. Scripture must always be harmonised for God's people to walk confidently with Its light. God's people must work hard to do that from generation to generation.

In my puny attempt to harmonize this matter of God's Sovereignty and man's responsibility, I've written two versions of "The Counterfeit Coin", posted on my blog. Do look at and play this interesting game as you learn how free acts can have determined outcome.

God bless.