Agape Celebrates Sg50
Jeremiah 29:4-9, 11
Guna Raman
Aug 9th 2015
God has given us in Singapore 50 blessed years. We are like no other nation in modern history.Just a while ago we reiterated all the great things God has done for Singapore in our thanksgiving declaration.
This is a miracle nation, a nation that got transformed from Third World to First World in just one generation.We have a strong and stable government and leaders of integrity with insight and foresight and imagination bringing our nation to where she is today.
God preserved us in the Asian financial crisis. He has thus far protected us from the evil of terrorism. He united us as a people in the face of SARS and drew us closer together when we lost our children in the Sabah quake. He sheltered us from the tsunami and continues to give us great peace within our shores. None of these are to be taken for granted. We have been so blessed. Thus far the Lord has helped us.
Great is his faithfulness!
How a 700 square kilometer island could race to become one of the wealthiest nations on earth today, boasting a GDP of over 280 billion USD, is simply astounding. Economically, undoubtedly, Singapore is a miracle.
The big question is, will this miracle be sustained for the next 50 years.50 years from now, a new generation will be celebrating Sg100.
Then, will Singapore remain the exceptional nation the world admires?
We all know from history that nations rise and nations fall. Job 12:23 tells us that it is the Lord who makes nations great; it is he who enlarges them and it is he who also brings them down.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew once said that whether Singapore flourishes or flounders is in the hands of the next generation.Yet how the next generation turns out depends much on this generation. And according to the Word of God, it depends on how this generation walks with God.
The text we just read in Jeremiah 29, begins with God is speaking to his own people who are now exiled in secular, ungodly Babylon.God is speaking to his people who are anxious about their future.They are increasingly getting this feeling that they don’t belong to this ungodly city.
They are afraid for their children and the future generations.
And the word of the Lord comes to them through the prophet Jeremiah.
“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” Jer 29:4
The whole question is will they listen to the word of the Lord? Will they heed what God says so that they will prosper and their future will prosper?Or will they instead listen to the popular voices of the day. Because right at the time Jeremiah was bringing the word of the Lord,
there were also other prophets who were saying the very things the people wanted to hear, which was –
“just disengage with Babylon;
we don’t belong here; this city is doomed.
There is no future here.”
We hear similar “prophets” right here in our city. Singapore is getting from bad to worse, they say, flooding their negative input on social media.
The MRT constantly breaks down. The pressure in our schools is incredible. The cost of living is too high.The identity of Singapore is changing
with all these foreigners taking our place and our space.The city is just too overcrowded.The pressure at work is crazy.The moral fibre of the nation is weakening rapidly. Singapore is no longer the Singapore that it used to be.So if you get the opportunity, get out.
Babylon in the days of Jeremiah became a place that was increasingly difficult to live in for the people of God.Babylon was a city wher everyone
had his own idea of religion and morality.Yet it was a very successful city economically and culturally. The question for the people of God was
how do you live in a city and prosper
there and see that your children prosper there when everyone has his own idea
of religion and morality and success?
How do you live in city to see your future secured where everyone is competing for your space and place?
The prophets of the day and the diviners said, complain against the city.Show your disdain for it.Despise the city. Speak doom over the city.
And if things get worse, get out. Unroot yourself. Never plant your roots in the city for it has no hope and no future.
But the Lord God speaks through Jeremiah and says, “…this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.”
Jer 29:8-9
Be careful who you are listening to.Your future may be at stake.Here is God telling his people how they can prosper in an ungodly, secular culture like Babylon. Here is he telling them how their children can be blessed.And it is a very different call from what the prophets of the day
and the diviners were saying.
What was God saying?Its in verses 5 to 7.
5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Jer 29:5-7
Babylon was filled with idolatry.The culture was promoting all kinds of immoralities and sexual perversions.It was hard for a God-fearing person to do life in a city like that. It wasn’t God-friendly or church-friendly.Yet God had the audacity to say,
“Seek the peace and prosperity of the city.
Pray to the Lord for it, for if it prospers, you prosper.”
In other words,
“Bless the city,
not complain against it.
Root for it, not against it.
Pray for the city. Make a long term commitment to it. And love the city
in which I have placed you.”
God says that is how you will prosper in the city and that is how the future generations will see the city flourish continuously.
This is astounding because it goes against the grain of the culture.If you are not happy with what is going on, you should be complaining, not blessing. If you find that you are not directly benefitting from the system, you pull out, not continue to contribute.
But God says, bless and pray for the city. And this call only makes sense if you put it in the context of everything the Bible says about cities. Saint Augustine wrote a book called City of God. He read the Bible, and he said the Bible tells us that the history of the world is basically a tale of two cities. The whole history of the world can be summed up as a tale of two cities. The Bible talks about two cities:the city of man and the city of God. And you see them contrasted, especially in the book of Isaiah and the book of Psalms.
For example, you go to Isaiah 26, it talks about the city of man, the earthly city, and it’s called the “lofty city”.The city of man is characterized
by pride, and it operates on the basis of human pride.
It’s like we look back at the last 50 years of nation-building and we can take pride that we have done it for Singapore, taking her from a
fishing village to the city that she is today.We can become so proud that we start building our identity around our success and start looking down on other cities around the world that is not making it like Singapore.
In every case of city-building, people go into the human city to make a name for themselves, to get recognition, to get a self, an identity, to find recognition and power and achievement. That’s the basis for the earthly city.
Everyone is in the city for themselves.Even today, we make a living in Singapore for our own benefit. We do what we do to build ourselves, establish ourselves, to make a name in our field of work for ourselves, we engage the city to get the much needed recognition, to be somebody. And in the process, we can exploit the city, use the city for our good, or the good of our family and our tribe.And when the city does not serve us well, we complain, we react, we curse.We feel entitled to the city. We think the government owes us a good and comfortable life because we elected them into power.We want the city to bless us.But we are not in the city to bless the city.
People, that is the beginning of the fall of the city. Our founding fathers, our forefathers, the early pioneers came into Singapore to build this city. They sought to prosper the city and in it prosperity, they prospered. But today, we are nurturing a totally disgruntled generation who feel the city is there to serve them and to bless them and are no longer interested in being a blessing to the city. And that is the beginning of the fall of any city. If that’s the kind of people we are nurturing for the future, a self-absorbed, strawberry generation, we have every reason to worry for the future of Singapore.
Two things happen when you live in an earthly city with a sense of entitlement to exploit the city for your personal benefit only. Both will lead to the fall of the city in the long run.
One, there is exhaustion.People become tired because they work so hard to keep themselves in the competition. They become driven by fear and insecurity and selfishness. Yesterday, Today newspaper published an article asking the question: after 50 years, what is the Singapore identity?
How would Singaporeans describe themselves? They conducted a street poll with 525 respondents, 354 Singaporeans and 171 foreigners —across all ages, who were asked to pick any three words to describe the Singapore identity. The Singaporeans in the poll picked up the word “kaisu” to describe themselves.“Kiasu” is a Hokkien word that captures the uniquely Singaporean trait of being afraid to lose out. Second, to “kiasu” was “kiasi” which means a lack of courage; afraid to step into the unknown, wanting to stay safe all the time.That is why when our comfort is threaten, we whine, we throw tantrums. And we are tired from the anxious fear of losing out in the competition.
Parents get tired trying to help their children to succeed. People at work do what they do for all kinds of selfish motivations.They go into the city needing to get –it is all about getting, never giving:
getting more money, more power,
needing to get more recognition,
needing to get a resume,
needing to get love, needing to get whatever from the city for own benefit.
It leads to exhaustion which leads to more complains and more dissatisfaction and more fear and anxiety,compounding the kaisu kiasi spirit.
The second thing that happens is oppression. Because people are in the city to get, they see everyone else as a competition to their space and place. So they despise foreigners in the land.They are not happy that there are others now sharing their space and taking up their opportunities.
They fill social media with hate messages and fuel dissatisfaction amongst the masses. And they are happy to step on anybody to get up the ladder. This again leads to massive unhappiness about the city and over time a beautiful city, built on right foundations can start to crack up.
In contrast, to the earthly city, the Bible keeps talking about the city of God in Isaiah and the book of Psalms.The city of God does not work on the principle of pride. It works on the principle of peace. It is not about oppressing others to get what I need; it is about blessing others for the common good. The city of God produces joy not exhaustion. And the driving force of the city of God is the grace of God.
The people in the city of God have found God’s grace, which means they already know who they are. So you don’t come into the city of God looking to get, but looking to give. You already know who you are by God’s grace. You’re already loved. You already have an identity.
You already are assured of God’s sovereignty over your life and future.You are certain God is with you and he is for you. You are therefore not afraid, not anxious, you are not afraid you will lose out and you see no need to protect your own turf with your own self-effort. You already
know who you are because of whatJesus has done for you to save you and set you free and to give you a hope and a future.
So the people from the city of God work on this principle:
“I come into the city to give to the city, to bless the city, to benefit the city because I already know who I am.”
But the people from the earthly city work on the opposite principle: “I go to the city to get. I am only happy with the city for as long as the city can benefit me.So I have to exploit the city to reach my own ends.”
God says through the prophet Jeremiah that the way for you and I to see our personal blessing and prosperity is when we go to the city to give to the city and not to get from it. Jesus in Matthew 5, in the
Sermon on The Mount, says to his disciples,
“You are a city on a hill. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matt 5:16
Here is what Jesus is saying: every human city is both the earthly city and the city of God.Every city is two cities.The city of God is a mini-city in every city.The city of God is the redeemed people of God. In the city of Singapore, you and I are the city of God.You are the city on a hill.
Saint Augustine says the minute you are born again, you have dual citizenship.You become a citizen of the city of God and a citizen of the earthly city. And Saint Augustine says
the citizens of the city of God are the very best citizens in their earthly city.
Why? Because they are not there to exploit the city to just benefit themselves. They are fueled by the grace of God.They know who they are in Christ.The gospel defines their identity in Christ. They are therefore not kiasu or kiasi. Hence, they are there to bless the city, to give to the city,
to contribute to prosper the city.They seek the shalom of the city.And the word shalom does not just mean peace, it means the total flourishing of the city in every dimension – socially, economically, physically, spiritually.
Singapore has come this far because our founding fathersand the pioneer generation have served to build this nation to where it is. Through those difficult early years, they gave to build this city. And they ended up prospering because they served to make the city prosper.
But today we have a rising generation that seeks to live for themselves; that feels entitled to all the blessings around them and that is quick to become disgruntled with anything that works against their comfort and convenience.
Where will Singapore be 50 years from now depends on how we nurture this rising generation. And it does begin with us, especially us who
are also the citizens of the city of God.
Mom and dad, do you love Singapore? If you do, do you pray for Singapore? Are you actively engaged in the various prayer events and prayer movements in the city?As a Singaporean or a permanent resident or just someone who is now in this city, are you here just to get from the city,
to exploit the city for your benefit or are you here to give to the city and help her prosper? Parents, do you pray for your children’s school, the teachers and the principal?Are you a blessing to them?
Are you conscious to keep our nation green and clean but more than just that, are you committed to preserve the moral compass of our nation because you love Singapore and you want to see her flourishing for another 50 years?Are you a voice in the public square that speaks out against the tide of evil seeking to flood our nation?
Or do you join in the chorus of complains that rises from the citizens of the earthly city because they feel they are not getting enough from the city or do you instead find ways to be a blessing to migrant workers and to those around when the MRT breaks down?
God says, “If you seek the prosperity of the city, you will prosper.” That is the winning principle. And I tell, like it or not, your children who are the next generation Singaporeans who may be celebrating Sg100, they will pick after you. You complain and curse, they will do the same,
only with greater intensity.
But when you choose to build and bless, give and serve and be the best possible citizen of the earthly city because you are the citizen of the city of God, they will also pick up after you. Our hope for the future of Singapore is the next generation. And we are their examples.
But you know how you can go on and on being the blessing that you are meant to be? You must know who you are.You are not defined by your job or your performance or the city. You are defined by the love and grace of Jesus Christ. That is why if you want to be the best citizen of the earthly city, you must first grasp how deeply you are loved by God in Christ. You must understand the gospel.You must first be the citizen of the city of God so that you can keep seeking the shalom of Singapore.
Christians cannot live in the city like the citizens of the earthly city. We belong to another city. God is our Father. Jesus is our Saviour. The Holy Spirit is our sanctifier. Therefore, we seek the shalom of Singapore so that in it we will prosper.
In his 1966, National Day Rally,
Mr Lee Kuan Yew said this; “Every year, on this 9th August for many years ahead – how many, I do not know – we will dedicate ourselves anew to consolidate ourselves to survive; and, most important of all, to find an enduring future for what we have built and what our forebears will build up.”
This morning, fellow Singaporeans, permanent residence and those of us
who live in this wonderful city,
let us dedicate ourselves to the Lord
to use us to be blessing to Singapore, to seek the peace and prosperity of the city.
Let’s pray.
