Christ’s Finished Work: Ministry & Message of Reconciliation

What is the most important ministry of the church? It is the ministry of reconciliation, that God has entrusted the church with. What is the most important message of the church? It is the gospel, the message of reconciliation. What is the most important role of the church? That of being Christ’s ambassador. It is Paul who tells us this in this text 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sinfor us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

These entrustments are gifts of God’s grace to the church and the world. These can only exist if Christ died and rose again to be exalted at the right hand of the Father. They are blessings of Christ’s redemptive work. Without the finished work of Christ, there is no ministry of reconciliation, because it was his redemptive work that made sinful man’s reconciliation with God possible. There is no message because the message is the message of the gospel of the finished work, of the beautiful exchange that took place on the cross of Christ (2 Cor 5:21) when Christ took our sins on his own self and bore the penalty of death that was due to us; and in exchange, he gave us his righteousness to us, so that we have right standing before God. 

All persons of the holy trinity were involved in the reconciliation process. The Father initiated the whole redemptive plan. Jesus Christ accomplished reconciliation by his death and resurrection from the dead. The Holy Spirit implements the reconciliation for without his activity and work in the world and through the church, reconciling sinful people to a holy God would be humanly impossible.

These sacred entrustments must be faithfully and diligently pursued and kept by God’s people, because the advancement of the kingdom, the health, growth and survival of the church, and the soon return of Christ are subject upon their faithful discharge.

As followers of Christ and members of the church, we can respond by committing ourselves to seek the reconciliation of sinners to God, by our exemplary lives in the home and workplaces, by our good deeds and kind acts, and by our persuasive sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ. By praying for the lost to know the Lord; by giving towards the church fund so that the church is resourced for outreach and missionary endeavours; and by getting enthusiastically involved in church programs that reaches out to the lost, we faithfully discharge these duties.

Lord Jesus, you came to earth to seek and save that which are lost. Embolden us to follow in your footsteps and engage in reconciling sinful people to God. Give us love to seek, courage to proclaim, and humility to lead people to You. Amen.

This is part of a planned series of writings on the topic, “The A to Z of Christ’s Finished Work”. I am writing it alphabet by alphabet. Thus far the others that I have written can be found HERE.

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Lunch with Tung Ling Friends

I cannot remember how we got together but my first contact with Rev Dr John Sim was through Facebook years ago. I had learned that he took speaking engagements whenever he was in Singapore visiting his in-laws, so I invited him to preach in our church in early 2019. John and I were in the second batch of Tung Ling (1979), when it was situated at the Church of Singapore, Marine Parade mother church. We then caught up with what happened in our lives over the 36 years gap. For me I had been pastoring in World Revival Prayer Fellowship all that time. For John, it was back to ministry with Canon James Wong in an Anglican parish, followed by training in Christ For the Nations Institute (where he got to know Marguerite, another of our course-mates), further studies, another stint with the Anglicans, and furthering his studies still more till he had two Masters’ degrees and a Doctorate from Princeton Seminary and Fuller Seminary. It had been adventure after adventure, school after school, until he finally landed in Vanguard University for two decades of faithful ministry as co-ordinator, then registrar, then instructor in digital pedagogy and adjunct professor. He is probably the most theologically educated among all of Tung Ling’s alumni.

John asked if I had contact with any of our Tung Ling Bible School course mates. I only knew of one and that was Benjamin Foo, who after Tung Ling went on to theological studies in Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He returned and bacame a bi-vocational pastor who also worked as Executive Vice President of the Singapore Exchange (SGX). I bumped into him when I was a guest preacher at Geylang Evangelical Free Church (which is in the building next door to where the church I attend is). He is currently an Elder there, a speaker and author of two books. I remembered we had a few lunches together the three of us.

Then it was John who linked us with Marguerite in our Whatsapp chat group. I remembered her but we have all more or less lost contact with each other. She is low-profile and has to remain so because of the ministry she co-founded with her husband, which provides Bible and ministry training for indigenous workers in unreached countries around the world. 

Since John came back for a short visit, we took the opportunity to have a long, long lunch fellowship at Orange & Teal at Rochester Mall. I could not locate it and had to ask a security guard outside some car park. The magic words I used was, “Do you know where Chee Soon Juan’s restaurant is?” Immediately he pointed me in the right direction, and told me to use the escalator up. We had a great time catching up and talking about our families, our ministry, US politics and culture, the Ukraine war, covid-19, and as folks over 60s were sure to talk about: health matters and remedies.

John could not preach in Singapore this time because he would need to apply for a work permit to preach in churches here and that would be too onerous. The church would miss his preaching but I got to fellowship with him, Marguerite and our lunch sponsor, Benjamin. I was energized and encouraged as I left for home after lunch. How lovely to be among such godly, faithful and humble leaders. How lovely for brethren to live in unity. It is like fragrant oil coming down on Aaron’s head down to his feet. Altogether a wonderful, refreshing time.

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A Visit to Sembawang Hot Spring Park

My neighbour’s daughter used to go there as she searched for relief from the pain in her joints. That was the first time I heard about Sembawang Hot Spring. I also read in the newspapers that they had done something to enhance the surroundings and make the natural hot spring more accessible and give the place a relaxed atmosphere. I had thought of visiting that place at least once but never did it. Until last month. Out of a whim, I asked Pastor Eng Hwa if he would like to cycle around his neighbourhood, and bring me around.

Soon I was in the MRT with my folded Brompton, traveling from Jurong East station to Sembawang station on the North-South line. I met him there and the first place we cycled to was the Sembawang Hot Spring Park.

I was impressed with what the National Parks people have done. Clean and systematic as the water moved from the hottest temperature at the chest level to the warm temperatures at lower levels where we could soak our feet comfortably. The weather was humid but the waters were inviting. I could not smell any sulphur or minerals but some people came to collect water in pails because the spring water was special in some way.

We did not stay long but dried our feet and continued our cycling to Sembawang Park. I cannot say the ride was very picturesque or interesting but we put in a good distance to our ride before we had lunch and talked about what’s going on in our lives.

We skipped the ride to Ulu Sembawang as the clouds began to look dark. I was glad I went to Sembawang – this journey to the north. It fulfilled a desire to visit the Sembawang Hot Spring. Maybe the next time I will bring some eggs along to boil in those special hot water.

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