Dear BPCWA worshipper, As we live in the last of the last days, we are warned in Matthew 24:1-11 to be prepared for wars, rumours of wars, famines and pestilences, earthquakes, persecution of Christians, and the apostasy within the Christian realm. These are surely observable in our days now. While the whole world is still reeling from a pandemic that morphs resiliently beyond medical science’s ability to fully control, some do not even notice that the world is facing a potential large-scale Russo-Ukrainian war in the east with the NATO allies getting involved as well. If this eventualises, it will bring severe economic instability. Is this another world war coming? With the current fear of escalating food prices due to the pandemic, famines, and an oil crisis due to a possible war, many hearts are naturally troubled. Is your heart troubled too? How should the Christian respond?

Remember that these events are inevitable. The Lord emphasized that “all these things must come to pass” before He returns.  These signs we are living in are inevitable. This means no amount of worrying and being afraid will lessen the growing difficulties of the situation of our times. When we know that the pestilences, famines, wars, and persecutions of Christians are unavoidable, it must help us to submit to His sovereign plans and trust in Him. If a Christian keeps wishing and desiring to see better days to come, and hoping for life to get better and back to the “good old days”, he will become disenchanted, discouraged, and begin to be in denial. It results in him being more troubled when he sees things getting worse. And instead of rejoicing that the Lord’s Return is more imminent than ever and instead of moving on and doing the best under the circumstances, he may just “go into hiding till things get better”. But things will not get better. This is the new normal. Omicron is a new virus that will likely be with us. The government has signalled that the cases of infection in Perth will increase like the other states. And like some flu bugs, it will potentially morph into more strains. How long will you keep avoiding living out your Christian duties? Accept God’s clear statement that the “new normals” are going to be tougher ones during our wait for His Return. If you will not see your life in this light that Christ presents, you will be found as a “bad and unfaithful” servant because you will avoid fulfilling even your normal Christian duties.

Be not troubled. So, God aptly tells us not to be troubled. “Troubled” here means to be frightened, troubled in mind, and hence alarmed. It even means to cry out, making a noise by outcry. The situation of the end times is certainly not without grave concern. Hence, the Lord uses the word “troubled” to reflect the effect it can cause, even in the believer. God knows our hearts. We are easily frightened. We allow our minds to dwell on the “what ifs” of today’s dangers eg where Omicron may be lurking? Or, what might come tomorrow or the day after the upcoming opening of the borders? Or, what will happen if a world war occurs? Our Lord already warned that pestilences and wars and rumours of wars will be part of our times, and in increasing intensity and frequency. Yet, your Lord commands you to not be troubled!  Yes, things are looking very dire. But we are called to not be troubled.

Do not sin by being troubled. “See that ye be not troubled” is our Lord’s command. In fact, our Lord gives a double command here to not be troubled. “See” and “be not” are both commands. Together, these commands us to absolutely refuse to be troubled now, and on an ongoing basis not to be troubled by them. In addition, we are to personally ensure that we do not allow ourselves to be frightened, and we must refuse to be troubled within ourselves. What vehement emphasis! Do realise that our Lord is fully aware of the sorrowful times (24:8) and was not speaking whimsically. The word He chose, “sorrow”, meant intolerable anguish. Yet He issues the double command not to be troubled. It means that regardless of how truly frightening the situation, you must not allow yourself to be afraid and live in fear. If God commands us by telling us that we must not live in fear, it means that we can, and we should. Do not forget, sin is disobedience of God’s commands!

Exercise human responsibility, not be troubled. Be not troubled does not mean you do not exercise human responsibility. We should follow the government’s health advice and protocols which have been thought through. But to be troubled means that even with such measures, you do not have peace, keep mulling about what if this or that happens, alarming yourself and others around you and in your family. Perhaps an illustration is – you do not avoid driving because you hear that a faulty exploding airbag has killed drivers. After doing sufficient research on a car model, you do drive it. You do so while also knowing that the airbag in your car model may be the one in the many thousand airbags that may cause you harm. And you choose to go on with your normal life of driving your car because you know that the safety it provides outweighs the risks should you meet with a real accident. You continue to service your car as part of human responsibility and then drive it without worrying constantly if it were going to explode in your face at a traffic light. That is why you take vaccinations, so that after that you should continue your normal life, while exercising human responsibility in following the necessary precautions and instructions. You do not get paralysed and avoid living out your Christian duties.

Do not be paralysed by being troubled. When you disobey God and allow yourself to be troubled, you will be paralysed with being frightened. As a result, you will not continue in your Christian duties of worship, assembling of ourselves, and serving Him. Yet, these are all part of being found as the watchful wise virgins. By being troubled and then avoiding your duties, you will certainly not be found as “good and faithful” servants when your Lord returns for you. If you let your concerns control you, you will lead others down that road to fail God together with you. Fathers, you will teach your child to view these end-time events as greater than God and that God cannot protect your family. Instead of bringing up godly seed, you will bring up fearful seeds. As we have studied about godly Cornelius in our prayer meetings in Acts 10, fearing God instead of man or situations is part of godliness. Teaching your child faith is part of making your child godly. A troubled heart that responds in fear will teach your child to go against the double command of God. That is a terrible stumbling because the church will not have a godly generation as they live deeper into the end of the end times.

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor