A beautiful hymn I used to sing in my youth days has the chorus that says:
Build Your church Lord
Make us strong Lord
Join our hearts Lord through Your Son
Make us one Lord in Your body
In the kingdom of Your Son
Even as YCK Chapel turns 61 this year, let us consider what it means to be a church in the light of this song.
Build Your church Lord
We are reminded that YCK Chapel belongs to God. It is God who brings her to existence and it is He who sustains her to this day. The church exists for the purposes of God and not for our personal consumption. We must constantly challenge our instinctive consumerist mind-sets that threaten to convert the church to a consumer centre. Secondly, the growth of the church depends not on human efforts, it can only happen through divine providence. It is God who builds His church. Therefore let us be found praying constantly for YCK Chapel.
Make us strong Lord
The church is not a building or a location. We are the church. God grows the church by making us “strong” in Him. We are strong in Him when we possess the joy of the Lord (Nehemiah 8:10 – “The joy of the Lord is your strength” ). This means we find our delight in the Lord and make Him our all-consuming passion in life. As King David exclaimed: “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4) Let us be intentional in pursuing Him as our deepest delight!
Join our hearts Lord through Your Son
We are not joined together by our personalities, economic status, family background, race, language or culture. Ephesians 2:17-18 says: “And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” We are joined together through the blood of Christ. We must be careful less YCK Chapel becomes a homogeneous people group where newcomers who are different find it hard to fit in. We must overcome our tendencies to stick with only people who are similar to us. Let us receive one another as Christ has received us. Let us greet one another in the Lord, especially those who are seated around us all these months!
Make us one Lord in Your body
We are one in Christ. This oneness is not cultic uniformity, but unity in diversity.
Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 4:1-3 “I… beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. The secret to lowliness, meekness, patience and forbearance lies in us having a deep appreciation that we ourselves are unworthy sinners forgiven and accepted by a loving God. Those who have been forgiven much, love much, and those who have been forgiven little, love little. Let YCK Chapel be a community where there is no condemnation and no ranking of sins. We love because He first loved us.
In the kingdom of Your Son
We are reminded that we are God’s kingdom representatives in this world. As His church, we are to exhibit His design and values to this fallen world. We are to be in this world, but not of this world. Let us therefore be careful less affluence makes us complacent. God rebuked the complacent Israelites living in exile: “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:4) Are we giving too much attention to this temporal earthly life (and raising our children to do the same), forgetting that we are but pilgrims on this earth. May we remember that we are salt of the earth and light of this world.
Will you sing the chorus with me?
By Rick Toh, Lead Pastor/Elder (YCKC Bulletin 4 October 2015)