Chapel – Dr. Daniel Wong
Well, this is a good day. We have a friend here to offer us a message, Dr Daniel Wong, who was on faculty at the undergraduate level for over 20 years at Tyndale University, has returned, not like a lost prodigal, but as a friend returning to a home of some sort. So we're grateful that Daniel is with us today, along with teaching here at Tyndale for a number of years, he has also pastored in a number of congregations, Ordained with the CBOQ he is he is the giver of 100 sermons and the author of many articles, including one that's found in this book contextualized preaching. And he is also the co author of one book called Finding our voice, a vision for Asian North American preaching that he co authored with Matthew Kim. For those of you who know Daniel, you'll know that he is a passionate Blue Jays fan, so I'm sure he's happy about yesterday's signing. He is also a crazy fan of Kim's convenience that great CBC sitcom from a year few years ago. He has numerous photos with with the cast of Kim's convenience in his phone. He's married to flora. They've been they met, actually, while Danny was on a mission trip in Taiwan. And they've been married for over 40 years, and they are they have two adult children and four grandchildren. So we're grateful that Daniel is here today to offer us a message. Before he comes, I'd like to read the passage that he'll be preaching from this morning. It's from James one verses 19 through 27 and I'll be reading from the New International Version. My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror, and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it, not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do. Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Let's pray God, we are so grateful that our friend Daniel is with us today. I pray for him that the messages that he has for us have been implanted in his heart by your Spirit, in that as a vessel of Your grace, that he will bring words of comfort and challenge to us this morning, we pray these things in Jesus. Name Amen.
Well, thank you, George for the kind invitation and the introduction. So glad to be back with you. I haven't been too distant. I often frequent the library, as well as last winter, I taught the introduction of preaching course. So I'm glad to stay in touch with Tyndale, and I'm certainly a great supporter of the work here. One of the occupational hazards of being a Christian is that you have to listen to a lot of sermons. So said my preaching professor, Hadden Robinson in seminary. Well, sermons that you hear happen in chapel, in your churches, online, various places where you hear the word of God preached. Of course, your exposure to the scriptures here at Tyndale, whether you're in the BA program, the BBA program, the BRE the MTS or the MDiv programs, all of these have a minimum of four biblical courses related involved. So you have Old and New Testaments, you have theology and you have hermeneutics, which, interestingly, it is called in seminary, Bible interpretation. So you have the main courses, but you also have other courses that. You may choose to take or are part of your program. So we understand that the Bible is certainly the foundation. Here it is stated in the statement of faith, and it's also embedded, of course, in the name Tyndale as being the one who translated the Bible into English. And so, of course, the Bible is an important textbook. It is an important document for our faith and learning our Tyndale President Kerr last week spoke about hospitality, and she quoted the verses that are here from James 1 22, to 25 in terms of saying that we not only need to believe, but we need to behave, related to the word of God. We need to practice it, not just have it as information. And I want to expand on that today in terms of what does this passage say and mean, especially as we are talking about responding to God's word, responding to God's word, we know that James addressed believers facing persecution, and he calls them trials. And during this intense pressure, even fear for their lives, one may be tempted to turn away from God. So how do we respond to the challenges and trials that inevitably enter into our lives? And so in James chapter 1 19, to 27 here, James says that the sure and solid anchor for our living is the word of God, the Scriptures, the Bible, just in the previous verse, verse 18, it reads, He gave birth to us by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So we're born again. We've experienced the gospel. We believe that Christ died for our sins and rose again, and now we're called upon to let and continue to let that word of God penetrate deeply into our lives, and we're called to practice it. We see first that we are to prepare for the word of God as students, you know what it's like to prepare for class. How many have the dreaded 8:15 class so early in the morning, some of you have to travel as commuters to plan your time and route to get here on time, and even if you're in the dorm or you're online, I'm sure that the 8:15 course is a challenge for many of us. So we have this chance to have opportunity to come but we need to prepare, whether it is for assignments or reading, and so we're sure that we have prepared before we come to class. And all of that is important, whether you're in a synchronous class or you're in person or online in a different way. And so before coming to the Scriptures, the word to class, as it were, we have to prepare in one hand, we have to be cleansed. We have to get rid of, as this scripture says, Get rid of the moral filth that can prevent you from hearing the scriptures. The word moral filth actually has at its root ear wax. Well, that's probably not the most pleasant topic to talk about. But you know what happens when ear wax builds up? You can't hear well. And what he's saying is that we need to get rid of this, which one commentator lovingly called crud. You have to get rid of that so that you can receive the scriptures. So getting rid of this moral filth, the evil, so that we can prepare to receive the scriptures. Sometimes that means that we need to have a confession to the Lord before we enter the class. It means that we have to deal with our own attitudes, maybe toward classmates, maybe toward the instructor, maybe because this is a required class, and I have to take it well, that's some of the things that we have to deal with, even as we enter the class and here, before we receive the scriptures, on the other hand, we have to, as the scripture says, humbly receive the word so that it is that we are open to what God has to say to us we are setting aside those things, but we're open. I've read this all before. This instructor can't teach me anything new. That's the type of attitudes that we have. But if we're humbly open to what the Scriptures are saying and what we can learn, then that's what the Lord is affirming here, humbly accept the Word of God so that through that we can grow, so that we come to the Bible more than a textbook, more than something that will be quizzed on, something more than what we have to do. But we come to it so that our lives are transformed. We encounter the Lord through the Word, and we become transformed. Yes, we come to classes alert, awake, not like my student who fell asleep in class. We lovingly let him sleep. We're mentally and spiritually open to receive what the Lord has for us, and I appreciate that there are so many of you students who sit at the edge of your seats. You're taking notes, you're ready to receive and that's very important, and the instructors notice as well. But that is because you're eager to learn, to grow and to be the person God wants you to be.
My seminary classmate always paused before the start of class. He would come in and sit down, and he would pray. He would pray that, I'm sure that the Lord would use that time to speak to him, to speak to the classmates and to be with the instructor. Even as he went to the library, whether he opened a textbook or a Bible, he would pray, and I think that's a great example of preparing to receive the word of God, having an opportunity to pause, reflect and pray. So prepare. Prepare for chapel. Prepare for those Bible classes. Prepare for the encounter with the scriptures. Beyond that, we need to receive the word. It's great to listen to the word. We have opportunity to do that. James 1 19 says, let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. Often we view these as general principles, they are, yes, we should be quick to listen. We should be slow to speak. Would be slow to get angry. But you see that verse 19 is sandwiched between verse 18 and what follows. It's the context of the word of God. Think of it in this way, be diligent. Be quick to hear the word of God. Be slow to speak the word of God, and also be slow to get angry at the word of God, quick to listen, eager, slow to speak it. We know the warnings later given in James about the use of the tongue, and also for professors and instructors, the care that we need, because we are accountable before the Lord, and then slow to get angry at the word. Have you had the Lord poke you if you've listened to the scriptures, whether in your personal devotions or through class or chapel, the Lord convicts us, and sometime we respond in anger, and we said, that's for that person over there, not for me, but the word of God is written for the person sitting in your seat, to us individually, and that's why we have to receive the scriptures. Certainly important to receive it to have that eagerness, through devotions, through Bible study, at worship, all of these times are important. And James uses an illustration about this receiving of the word, and he uses a mirror. A mirror is something most of you looked at this morning. Most of you did something about what was in the mirror. Maybe you combed your hair, or you washed your face. You did something because you saw your face in the mirror, and we know at that time they were made out of bronze. They weren't so sharp and reflective as we have today, but through the word of God, it reflects our life good aspects and aspects that need to be developed. And in this passage, he says that we need to look carefully at the word. The word for look closely, was used of Peter and Mary, who looked into the tomb to see if Jesus body was there. It's a careful examination. It is to see if the resurrected Lord was there. Is that the way you look in Scripture? You look at it closely, not just dissecting it, looking at it closely to see what does it have to say to me and my life. That's what we understand, this looking intently into this perfect law as what does that mean for me? So we need to hear the word. We need to let the word come into our life through these various means, and then we need to practice the word. As that passage says, as you look into that mirror, you do something about it. You just don't go, you know, walking off without doing something about what you see, and that's what the scripture says. Don't be hearers only, be doers of the word. Practice it make a response to what you see in the image the Scripture gives you of your own life. We remember at the end of the sermon of the Mount, Jesus reminded them, therefore, anyone who hears these words of mine and put them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock, and he also said those that have a close relationship with him, like his brothers and his mother, are those that hear the word of God and put it into practice. And so you're saying, well, how do we practice this word? James will give us a number of opportunities to do that. The first is the speech area he talks about having a tight rein on your tongue. Well, especially for those who have the gift of gab, we have to be careful of what we say. Are we building up or are we tearing down through the words that we use? Are we encouraging others, as we mentioned, James talks a lot about the use of speech, and of course, today we have so much social media and so much we need to be careful. Maybe a good way of looking at it is, pause before you post, or you like or you repost. Maybe better is pray before you post, and let that be an opportunity, because right now we have so many differences and chasms of differences, whether they're political, whether they're religious, so many things, and so for those of us that are on Facebook and Instagram and so many of the different ones, like Tiktok, that wasn't canceled here for six hours, we really need God's wisdom on what we say and what we don't say, and someone says we often need the gift of silence so that we don't say anything, or we pause enough so that we make an appropriate response. So I want you to choose one of these three areas that James is talking about. One is the speech area. How might we have better better speech, better supporting and encouraging speech. The second one he mentions is service, particularly those that can't repay. He's talking about the orphans and the widows, those that weren't cared for greatly by the social structures of the day, and they needed the church to step up and help out. Dr Kerr talked last week about hospitality for those who enter into our space, into our Tyndale, and also implying that we need to have hospitality to those outside, whether they in the future, they will be in Tyndale green or those local opportunities that we have to serve. Let us seek where we might serve. Many years, I taught a course, which was called seminar in ministry, and we talked about many different issues, and I felt there's something missing. And so one year, I said, we need to go out and serve together to serve those that are marginalized. And the last time I taught the course, we went over to North York, Willowdale and served in a food bank as an opportunity to really get involved with our community, to show aspects of hospitality and care for the other. And I know Tyndale supports the food bank, but I hope that in many ways, you can serve people, whether they are outside, within your churches or particularly within the Tyndale community. One thing I learned from pastoring and teaching, everyone is hurting. Everyone is struggling with something they mentioned in the worship about the addictions. For sure, we're all struggling. We all have that happy smile on our face, we are so able to cover up the pain and the hurt that we all feel. Hope somebody can ask you, how are you doing? And you're willing to say, can you pray for me? I'm hurting. How can we serve and support each other with a listening ear, with a hand on the shoulder, with a helping hand, with different ways of finances or other ways of service? May the Lord give us that strength, the wisdom and the people to touch and reach out to and we know that as we reach out, others reach out to us. And that's the way that service comes about. That's the way, as one of your courses, radical hospitality, takes place this semester. Yesterday was Martin Luther King's birthday, and was overshadowed, of course, by the US presidential inauguration. But Martin Luther King's dream for justice and racial reconciliation, of course, still reverberates with that to us now, as one who was ultimately known as a Baptist preacher, cultivate sensitivity, as Jesus did. He looked on the multitude, and he was moved to the gut with compassion, and he reached out and served others serve. I saw a cement mixer one time, and I had a wonderful slogan on the side that said, find a need and fill it, well that's a great slogan for a cement mixer company, but good for us too. What's the needs around us? And by God's grace and help and appropriately, find a need and fill it. And the third area is the area of purity or holiness. Keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Are we making a mark on the world, or is the world making a mark on us? And we know that, particularly this little guy here is can be the greatest instrument, but maybe for us the greatest temptation, whether it's endless scrolling, whether it could be pornography, whether it could be chatGPT. There's so many good and bad and somewhat neutral things that happen, but we need to navigate that well, so that we can live the lives God wants to us, for us, a life of purity, the life that strengthens us to be the type of persons God wants us to be. The Word of God demands a response. That's the emphasis for this morning. The Word of God demands a response. It's not just an academic exercise. It is how we respond with our lives, so that we can serve the Lord. I asked my son, who's a registered psychotherapist and a 2013 Tyndale seminary graduate in clinical counseling. I asked him to look over this passage, because I thought it was a bit harsh. It seemed to be a bit onerous for us and giving us a lot of heavy pressure. But he said, no, it's a good passage, especially if we look at it as acceptance and commitment, accepting who we are and making certain commitments, making a step toward being the selves that we want to be, or a step back, making a step forward. And in Christian terms, being the type of person God wants you to be, taking those steps forward by the grace and the strength of the Holy Spirit, and that what the Lord provides. And I want you to think about one of those three areas. What step can you make move forward in the area of speech, the area of service, or the area of purity, where may God be touching you and giving you that next step to take, not being overwhelmed by being perfect, but being progressing, being the type of person God wants you to be. And it says in that passage that you will be blessed in what you do, not just hearing, but it's in the doing, you will have that blessed life, that wonderful life as you do. Let's pray, our Father, we thank you for this scripture that challenges us in so many ways, I pray for our dear brothers and sisters here that you would encourage them to make their step forward by your strength. I know we're all struggling. We all have temptations and trials, but I pray Lord, that we will see how you are helping us to move forward, to be more like Christ, to see our character change and to move forward in the life that you want and have for us. And I pray that each one as they focus on a particular area, Lord, as we know that you will challenge them in that area, but you will also help them to be move forward in those areas. So thank you, oh Lord, that You are so gracious. You make all this possible and to you be the glory in Jesus name, Amen.
