Church Must Defeat 'Enemies of Grace', Says Pastor

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009 Posted: 5:24:13PM HKT

Rev Rick Seaward, founder of Victory Family Centre, preaching on the second day of the annual Pastors' Summit in Malacca, Malaysia. (Photo: CPS)

Rev Seaward, who recently stepped down as leader of the LoveSingapore movement, was a picture of joy and activity as he spoke on stage.

The second enemy of grace is the mentality where a believer thinks, “I do not deserve it”. Using examples in the Bible where God either took undeserving people – like Saul, who became Apostle Paul – or made capable ones incapable – like Moses, who was powerful in word and deed, but who God put to tend sheep in the desert for 40 years after which he developed a speech impediment, and said that the ministry of God is fulfilled by His grace, not human strength. “You do deserve it, but not because of anything you have done… [but] because Jesus hung; He died on the cross; it is the gift of Jesus Christ.

“You don’t need to deserve it,” he said, adding that those who felt that they “deserved it” were also in trouble, with pastors having gotten into money problems because deep down they felt they deserved it. “You can have everything you feel you deserve, but you lose the grace of God.”

Thirdly, believers who think, “I am inadequate” are really hindering the grace of God, according to the pastor. “Your inadequacy is not what allows Him to work through you. It’s simply His grace… If I say I’m inadequate it’s not the grace of God that’s in me; it’s my ability. God never asked people what they could do, but He asked what they had. We think we did something because of what we have. And we try to get more and we can’t do it. It doesn’t matter what our status is.”

“Pride contradicts what grace is all about,” he said in his fourth point. “The moment we allow pride to come in, thinking it’s us, we destroy grace. Pride says, ‘I can do it’, ‘I only need myself’. Peter says God establishes us.” He warned believers to be careful not to have secret pride in them, thinking they have done a good job, but encouraged them to pray consistently asking God to keep them humble. Whenever the pastor prayed this, he shared that God would orchestrate problems to humble him.

The other plenary speakers for the Pastors’ Summit include Rev Edmund Chan, Senior Pastor of Covenant Evangelical Free Church, and Apostle Lawrence Khong, founding Senior Pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church.

Even giving up and feeling a sense of failure is an enemy of grace for Rev Seaward. “It’s actually another form of pride. We are focusing on what we did or did not do.” The pastor stated that it is enough for believers to do what God tells them to do and leave the outcome in His hands, giving the example of sharing the Gospel with nonbelievers. “If I share the Gospel and [the other person] accept, I go away singing hallelujah. If I don’t share, and he pats me on the back and buys me fruit, I haven’t obeyed God.”

Christians ought to care about how God would look rather than how they look. “Sometimes God has to make Himself look bad to kill some pride in you,” said the pastor.

Self-centeredness is another enemy, in fact one that plagues the Church of Singapore more than anything else according to Rev Seaward, referring to how churches tend to think only of their own ministry rather than the bigger picture of the Singapore Church’s ministry such as its responsibility toward the transformation of East Timor and even the rapidly increasing proportion of foreigners living in Singapore - he was talking about the ministries of LoveSingapore to East Timor and foreign immigrants living and working in Singapore - and have in some cases lost the grace of God but are only carrying on by the momentum they have built up.

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Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com