Fashion Forward? Fitness First? and Haggai and the Construction Industry

Due to the many Sloth-venly discussions of late, did not junk but actually went to have a play-around with the looklet.com beta site when the invitation code came in the mail. It's like Polyvore but with live model paper dolls thrown-in for dress-ups.

In a backalley somewhere, a model was aghast to discover herself the locus of a fashion disaster

There is probably a reason why Tom Gunn will not have the benefit of my unique fashion design sense any time soon...

Fitness too is all the rage these recessionary times, corporate rats finally having the time to work off the flab or get that gout treated. In the mail as well this past week was Lance Armstrong's livestrong.com, also in beta, where you can be inspired to find balance in your life, track the calories in your daily food intake and find out how many calories "standing quietly in church" would cost, and make teeth whiteners at home (eh, Micky Jackson?). The idolatry of control over one's life.

But why add to the abundance amongst Christians of the "vain spending of time, idleness, unprofitableness, envy, pride, worldliness, selfishness" (John Owen)?

The returns on the fashion and fitness industries look dim anyway. Haggai has convinced me that now is a good time as any to get into construction.

Mark O'Donoghue, A Sound Investment Strategy (Haggai 1)
Mark O'Donoghue, Crunch Time (Haggai 2:1-9)
Mark O'Donoghue, Investing For The Future (Haggai 2:10-23)

Deo gloria!, we say, to God be the glory! And nightly perhaps we extol, our Father in heaven, honoured be your name! But are God's glory and honour really our chief aim in life?

One can tell one's chief aim in life by one's investments. We all invest. Our investments are that in which we pour our time, ambitions, energies, dreams, money. What do we think will really make us happy? What do we day-dream about in that lull period during the day? What are we living for week after week, month after month? Is our investment in God's glory and honour? Are we giving all that we have to God's glory? And are we being to be singleminded about it? It's far too easy for personal fulfilment and comfort to replace the pleasure of God. Like the remnant of the people of God in Haggai's day who busied themselves each with his own panelled houses (Haggai 1:4) while God's house lay in ruins (Haggai 1:9), so we wrap ourselves in layers of material comfort, the hedonism of relaxation and happy feelings, and reject tough tasks and unpopular stances and exhausting relationships needed to build God's house. When man turns to religion, he wants tickling relaxation - to be soothed, supported, invigorated - hot tub religion. Do we who profess to be God's people have God-centred priorities or has something else just crowded in recently into our horizons? Are we prepared to go anywhere, do anything, give up everything for glory of God?

Sixth month, twenty-fourth day
So back to the construction business. The remnant were to rebuild God's temple, the physical one, with sticks and stones and bricks and bones.

After Christ, we now understand that the temple isn't a place to come in out of the sun and of the rain. The temple is no longer made of stones but of people, with Jesus as the living cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4-5). We are now to build a people amongst whom God will dwell for eternity. Do we want God to be glorified above our personal comfort and everything else? Will we give up financial security and personal safety to put ourselves forward as missionaries? Or will we claim a lack of gifting to thus escape our task?

Seventh month, twenty-first day
About a month after construction commenced, the temple was starting to take shape and it looked...like a ramshackle job, an amateur DIY job (Haggai 2:3). The oldies would have wept for the glorious temple of the past. And perhaps their nostalgia for the past might have sapped energies for working in present. Look at the pile of junk they had been working on. How could this temple ever be like the house in its former glory? Not by their own strength alone for God tells them to be strong and work because the LORD was with them (Haggai 2:4).

It is easy to pine for those halcyon days, which time has inevitably tinted with a shade of ancient rose. Oh, remember how clear and courageous this or that Christian hero was back then, how on fire for God the young people were; ah the thousands of people who wanted to hear the visiting evangelist, wanting to ask questions etc. And oh, look at the current trend, looks like returns on investment in God's kingdom will go down in the future - see all the infighting in church even amongst the leaders, hear how boring the preachers are, look at how lacklustre the men and how manipulative the women and how superficial and corrupt the young people, did you know that attendance at the evangelistic event was at an all time low and the speaker just had a one-to-one chat with the sole attendee? etc.

It is hard work and nerve-wrecking to tell people about Jesus. We just want to keep our head down when people diss stupid dour Christians with their coke-bottled eyewear and beetroot wholemeal sandwiches and smelly doctrines. Be strong for the present and work, Jesus says, for I myself will build my church. For from Christ the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work (Ephesians 4:16). God does not tell us to just pull up our socks, keep calm and carry on, but to be strong and work for he is with us. A comforting assurance when having to stand firm in a hostile classroom or workplace.

So let's keep on reading the Bible with the non-christian whom we met at an evangelistic service, or serving in a small group bible study, or ministering to the sick and grumpy etc. All this looks like thankless work but there is no better project to give ourselves to. Let us be certain about the future, a glorious breath-taking future that will outstrip anything we've seen thus far: a universal people, glorious temple, lasting peace. What a rock solid investment.

Yet also, Haggai 2:3 might be a warning against being easily satisfied with this tatty temple. Stop patting ourselves on the back at this edifice stuck together with duct-tape and get back to work. We are meant to be relying on God but also meant to have a dose of realism too - things are not as they are meant to be. There is a place for godly dissatisfaction with the present.

Ninth month, twenty-fourth day
Three months after project commencement and... the people were still in God's bad books! But aren't things supposed to get better after we turn back to him, the people might have muttered. Ok, so we admit that God was right to punish us before we bothered to build the temple (Haggai 1:6) but now that we've started construction, why is there so little wine (Haggai 2:16) and grain and fruit (Haggai 2:19)? And why has the little that we have and toiled so hard for been struck by blight and mildew and hail (Haggai 2:17)?

Don't presume on God's gracious blessing, says Haggai. God isn't a vending machine into which you put in a bit of sweat and get back a good harvest. Religious association alone is not sufficient. It's easy enough to be corrupted by what is unclean but impossible to be corrupted and evil by that which is clean and holy (Haggai 2:11-14). An unclean people inevitably offer up unclean sacrifices, so all their sweat blood and toil in construction came to nothing really because a holy God can only accept holy sacrifices.

Yet, suddenly, God promises to bless them who did not deserve to be blessed. Just like that. What grace. What mercy. No one would understand just how he could do this, until Jesus the Son died on the cross for all the sins the world had committed and would commit.

So we are left to pine for God's glorious future. On that day when God shakes the heavens and the earth, when he destroys the strength of the kingdoms of nations and overthrows the horses and their riders (Haggai 2:21-22), only the investments made for God's glory will stand. The crash to end all crashes.


Thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts: Yet once a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
And I will shake all nations; and the desire of all nations shall come.
(Haggai 2:6-7)

The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the Covenant, whom you delight in; behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
(Malachi 3:1)

A Death, A Wedding, A Youth Camp, A Good Dinner and Inagiku

An eventful week: news of a friend's wife's meaningless death at the hands of Pakistani terrorists in Mumbai (refusing to accept the meaninglessness of a life suddenly ended, some have tried to paint her as a martyr or a heroine),

followed quickly by a most delightful wedding (featuring hilarious speeches by best friends, a groom who managed to insult the bride's sister, the bride and his own mother in his speech and a demonstration of why masking tape is better than sliced bread), whose intimacy was a marvellous celebration of relationship (cf the usual Chingay parade) and great reminder of much-awaited union of Christ and the church,

then immediately on to a week of youth camp. At the well-appointed Fairy Point Chalet 7, an old colonial bungalow overlooking the yachts moored off Changi Beach Club, with Pulau Ubin on the horizon. There was a field at the front of the house for a bit of football, a room equipped with table-tennis tables, nests in the surrounding trees to amaze visiting toddlers, a huge kitchen to the delight of the camp mother (inhabited, unfortunately, by huge hardworking ants), 4 toilets, 3 showers, 9 beds...

Because this was a holiday camp, indoor games included Cranium, Saboteur, Sleeping Queens (bought on a whim and has proved absurdly popular so far!), Taboo, Rush Hour, River Crossing, real-life Scrabble, Gift Trap ("I am really not a bimbo ok? I'm not! I...oh! Professional make-up lessons!"), Shadows Over Camelot - a co-operative board game, Citadels, round-robin table-tennis (with plastic plates as bats) and wave-boarding while clutching to sofas and walls.

One night, the boys went fishing. Another night, there was a rainy barbecue at the side of the bungalow, where there was an umbrella boy to shield the fire from the rain and wailing cats fanning into flame the, erm, charcoal provided by God. Then, there were observation-logic games (Open or Close?, What Number Is This?, Bang Bang Bang Who's Dead? Crossed-Uncrossed) and the bad jokes:

Which is the biggest city in the world?
Dublin. Cos it's always doublin'.

How is Ironman a woman?
He is an Fe-male.

What did Sushi A say when it saw Sushi B?
Wassup, B! (wasabi)

Man tou and siew mai went to watch a sad movie but only siew mai cried. Why?
Cos man tou didn't have filling (feeling).

Groan.

All this play was sustained by good meals from the kitchen (the cheerful servant-hearted kitchen assistants had strange fake Indian accents) and from visiting wives and moms: chicken stroganoff, beef stroganoff, babi assam, beef bolognaise, pasta with porcini mushrooms, fried beehoon, beef hash, mandarin trifle, banoffee pie, brownies, hot chocolate.

The theme for the camp was the recently-concluded Beijing Olympics. The main talks were centered cheesily around the One World One Dream theme: ie, One World, One Dream? (Ephesians 1:9-10), One Garden (Genesis 2:8-17), One Mistake (Romans 1:18-19), One Saviour (Romans 5:9-11), One Decision (John 14:5-7 and a can of Anything and another of Whatever), One Life (Ephesians 4:17-24). The focus talks on Amos for the leaders and scampers were a real treat: standing on the shoulders of Hugh Palmer, L preached faithfully on God's judgment, his salvation and the terrible danger of presuming that past rescue meant exclusion from present judgment.

We read Vaughan Roberts' Battles Christians Face for the scampers' book club. Chapter 8 was a particularly good reminder of the God-instituted media by which we keep on keeping on in the faith: by his word the Bible, by prayer and by the encouragement of the other members of God's church.

In the same way I wondered why repeat campers still didn't quite get the gospel but continued to idolise Jay Chou, why professed Christians didn't see the need for Bible study, so I realised that I hadn't quite grasped the concept of primacy of God's word either despite understanding it intellectually. Instead of relying fully on the Word to save, was nervous(?) enough to try to contextualise too much in the seminars. Repented of not trusting in the Word to do the job it promises to do: being the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), quick and powerful, sharper than double-edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). It is the things that look weak and foolish in this world that God uses for his kingdom (1 Corinthians 1:27).

The leaders' morning meetings at 7.45am-ish were good times to review the previous day and preview the new day and to express our dependence on God for all things.

Sent the camp to Old Changi Hospital and Pulau Ubin for the wide game: a time for the campers to get out of campgrounds, run about in packs and have opportunities for good conversations. The ones who bothered to check with the Gamesmaster got useful hints about taking the van, the ones who'd gone off on their own theory of where they were supposed to be heading ended up cycling (they said it was very nice) and one fell over and had to have dirt scrubbed out of her wounds back at base camp later.

This wide game was less Amazing Race and more of a build up to the Final Challenge. The clues were meant to reinforce what the campers had learnt about eg. the garden, the fall... One of the teachers said it was useful. Throughout the game, I also gave out "Prophet Notes". Like the OT prophets, these popped up in their own time and told the camp their current status: a great gap had opened up between them and the Safe Haven, they needed something to bridge the gap, or someone. The Final Challenge consisted of us locking the main gate on them and preventing the tired, sweaty, mozzie-bitten, hungry people from returning to Safe Haven. J totally relished his role as St Peter With The Keys. One leader irritated by the heat time being of the essence said he was going to go off if the gate wasn't opened by 7pm, other campers tried (with big Bambi eyes) pleading, alternately, their good works, the Virgin Mary and unsubstantiated grace. Finally, a designated saviour revealed himself and upon hearing that he had to die for them to enter the gates, the mob ran towards him screaming,"Get him! Kill him!" So much for that Messiah.

After camp, stumbled home and konked off for the rest of the day, waking up just in time for a delicious meal of in-bone ham, applesauce, beef short-ribs, mash and salad with 3 types of dressing, and Ironman on HD for dessert. Grateful for the generosity and hospitality. The host had more bad jokes of his own:

Who is the most business savvy woman in the Bible?
The pharaoh's daughter cos she went down to the banks to get a little prophet (profit).

Who is the most famous orphan in the Bible?
Joshua, son of Nun (none).

Who is the shortest man in the Bible?
Nehemiah (knee-high Miah).

Sigh.

The next day, a surprise birthday party for a big boy (who did not look the least surprised), a real life roti prata man, kiddies being introduced to beer (they weren't too impressed and wisely decided that the ice surrounding the cans and bottles was more fun afterall), after which I was thankful for conversations on dealing with sin, frustration with the self-centredness of professedly sorted people and the lack of good conversations on things of eternal value, they preferring to waste time and energy either promoting themselves or fawning over "senior leaders"zzz, and dealing with own sinfulness and the sinfulness of these people in humility and grace.

On Sunday, Joshua Ng preached on Haggai at Bethany Trinity Presbyterian Church and Hosanna Baptist Church. The prosperity gospel, he noted, is only half right. Hillsongs and the mega-churches in Singapore are getting God's timetable wrong. And Satan's strategy has always been half-truths. Of course health and riches are good but God promises them only for the future. And just as we do not expect them now, we also should not expect our labour for the Lord to bear fruit immediately or ostensibly. We can work hard at it but our Bible study groups might keep shrinking; we can prepare to meet up with a young Christian and change our schedule to fit him but in the end, he may stand us up for a soccer game on telly.

Later, a belated birthday lunch at Inagiku where the sashimi and wagyu beef and garlic fried rice and tempura were ok, but the news of another person setting foot in the kingdom of God was terrific indeed! Told people at the table about Haggai and thanked God for his grace in keeping me in him. The effort I put into his work has borne little if any fruit and much as I want to save family and friends from their certain fate I've achieved nothing, yet despite my obvious disinterest in my career, God has provided a boss who thinks well of me and colleagues who don't have too much of a problem with that. If God had let me be too tempted by the path of less resistance, I may not have stood.

Altogether a very humbling and therefore refreshing week, PG, lived in light of major awareness of the suddenness at which the light can be switched off on life. Yes it was more than worth missing Kraftwerk for.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

[Edit: a self-appointed regulatory officer has pointed out a lack of transparency in the matter of bad jokes. So in interests of full disclosure, I hereby declare that I too contributed to the bad joke fodder with the following stinker thought up during the talk on Amos 9:

Moses warned Pharaoh of all the disasters that would befall his country if he did not let the Israelites go and Pharaoh saw that God did indeed do as threatened. Yet, he did not believe (in) God. Why?
Because he was in the Nile (denial).

And later, because the skin on my ears and knees was sunburnt from sailing and peeling, I was proud that I was a-peeling (appealing).]