13 & 14 July 2024 (Pastoral Page) FROM THE “HOW” TO THE “WHY”

By Dn Ernest Tan

Some time ago my colleagues and I were working on a policy matter (part of my work as a civil servant). It was a complex issue, and there were many views as to what we could do to solve the problem statement. However, we could not reach a resolution on the best approach to take.

It was getting late in the day, and many of us were tired and irritable as we could not find a way forward. Thereafter, my boss joined in on the discussion. After listening to the options, she paused for a moment, then used a thick, black marker to write the following on the office whiteboard:

“The answer to the HOW is the WHY”.

My boss explained that we needed to take a step back to ask ourselves why we cared about the problem before going into “solution-mode”. Some of us were bemused, others skeptical. After all, there were deadlines to meet and operational concerns to iron out!

How is this relevant for community outreach?

The Bible Church has done meaningful work for the West Coast community, whether by blessing the nearby residents, working with the elderly or educating the young. More can be done, and the council is thinking of how to advance our community outreach efforts in ways that align with God’s leading of our church.

Alongside these plans (the “How”), it is good to pause and reflect on why we undertake these efforts (the “Why”).

Freedom in Christ - to love our neighbours

In his letter to the Galatian church, Paul describes the application of the truths that justification[1] comes by faith in Christ rather than works of the law. Because we have been justified, Christ has set us free. And this freedom should not be used to indulge our own sinful desires, but to love our neighbour as ourselves (Galatians 5:13-15).

Imitating Christ – to love our neighbours

In another of his letters (this time to the Philippian church), Paul writes about the joy of being united in Christ, and asks the church to look out to the interests of others by following Christ’s example. As Paul writes:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)

What did Christ’s sacrifice amount to? Read on:

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11 ESV, emphasis added)

Finding purpose in our actions

As believers in Christ Jesus, we have been set free – not just to pursue our self-interest, but to love others and follow Christ’s sacrificial mindset. In doing so, we experience the fullness of joy and the promises that God Himself bestowed on Christ Jesus. We will be “repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14).

If we know the “Why”, the motivation for the “How” becomes clear. Yes, the “How” will need to be planned and executed, but let us partake in the joy of Christ by following after His example and love our community. After all, “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

1 In short, justification is “the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands”. (Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary)