Translated and Edited from a sermon by Rev. Stephen Tong. The translator takes responsibility for errors found here.
For the first night of our Consultation, we will broadly canvass the major developments of the 20th century. With a firm grasp of the past, we would be better equipped to pursue a modern Reformation in our evangelical faith, ethics and missions. Later when we draw to a conclusion, we will analyse and anticipate the challenges of the 21st century on the final session. Armed with an overview of how past ideas have impacted our world, we can press ahead to seize the opportunities before us.
By the grace of God, you and I live at a momentous period in time. Standing at the threshold of a new century, we should not send away the passing century without insights gleaned from history. We should also brace ourselves with courage and alertness to confront an uncertain future before us.
The Philosophy of History
Time is but the moving image of eternity. God as Self-existent, necessary Being transcends space-time continuum. He is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega and the Director of the Course of Time Who Was, Who Is and Who Is to Come. Many 20th century scientists have admitted that the universe is finite and therefore has a starting point. 1 This implies a Creator because nothing can bring itself from non-existence into existence. One of the uniqueness of the Christian faith among other religions is that we do not disassociate ourselves from the space-time continuum. Corporeal existence as God’s creation is not evil in itself and the physical realm is not dismissed as mere illusion.
We have a tremendous responsibility to be faithful stewards in our present life in a temporal world. Even God himself manifested his glory among men in space-time by taking upon himself a finite, fully human nature. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Hence, the Christian relation to space and time exceeds the concepts of other religions in its relevance and realism.
As we step into the next century, we need to have a sense of our place in history. For not a single moment is out of God's sovereign rule. He is the beginning and the end of history. History is “his story” – the unfolding of his plan moving infallibly towards his ultimate purpose. In Isaiah 46:9-11, God says:
Therein, lies the uniqueness of God's proclamation and revelation that supersedes human culture and ideology. In Eastern thought, history is circular. There is nothing new under the sun – only much activity, sound and fury but meaning nothing. In Western thought, history is a linear progression. For the Christian, history has a divine goal and purpose. Once time has passed, it would never be recovered. From that vantage point, temporal priorities should be ordered wisely and responsibly. Christians have a firm basis to know how to live in this finite world, guided by the light of eternity. It calls for wisdom in utilizing time.
We should cherish time for it will never return. The foolish use wealth as asset but the wise use time instead as asset. It is easy to exchange time for wealth but it is not easy to exchange wealth for time. It has been said: Time is the stuff that life is made of. There is not one whose time on earth is longer than his life. It is easy to use time to get money but can we use money to get time? Time is an image of eternity. No one's time exceeds his life for even our mortal life has been predetermined.
On Mars Hill, a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were having a dispute with Paul. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say? He is bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said:
"Men of Athens! ... The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. `For in him we live and move and have our being.'" 2
Note these words again:
He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Man is a paradoxical being. He is confined in space-time yet possesses the potential for eternity. He is bound by temporality yet able to transcend his thoughts beyond the stuff of earth. God did this so that we may seek Him. We are bound in a finite frame but within us there is an infinite vacuum that only God can fill. Man is home sick and restless for his eternal abode in the Divine. This deep-seated longing for the infinite or God-shaped void may be suppressed but it can never be extinguished.
The First Millennium
At the close of the first 1000 A.D., man had great hope that a new dawn had arrived. Historians have called the preceding period "The Dark Age". The reason is this: Since the towering witness of Saint Augustine until the 11th century, no great thinker has arisen in the world scene. After the decline of the Roman Empire, political upheaval and economic instability ensued. Men concerned themselves with daily livelihood and the struggle to simply survive. There was no great philosopher whose thought transcends the temporal. A civilization without its intelligentsia is weak and to be pitied. So is the Church without Scripture-saturated and God-entrenched thinkers a lamentable tragedy. Today, the prevailing anti-intellectual climate in the Church can be attributed partly to the extreme fringes of the Charismatic movement. Spirituality and revival are commonly confused with hyped-up atmosphere and emotionalism without content. Doctrines are trivialized or ignored to the extent that present-day Christians are largely blind to the devious schemes of our enemy. Evangelicals no longer have the capacity to even comprehend the current world crisis, much less to provide a biblically informed solution to it. As a result, we have no discernment of the times like the sons of Issachar.3
In the United States, I was once preaching in English to a 3000-strong congregation. There was a lengthy singing session, which lasted for an hour. They stood and sang heartily for the entire hour! Were they not tired? Of course! When the preaching session commenced, they sat down and began to feel sleepy. I would never allow them to slumber. After the sermon, a reporter from the magazine "Christianity Today" asked me, "How were you able to hold the attention of such an exhausted crowd with both seriousness and light-heartedness?"
There is a common misconception that to preach with a sense of urgent gravity precludes a sense of humour. Or that delight necessarily means being frivolous. Well, our God is both serious about his truth and good-humoured! When His word is received with solemnity, the same is also pure delight to our souls. The Spirit of God would open our minds to understanding and our hearts to savouring the sweetness of that knowledge. He who inspired Scripture with eternal, propositional content would also restore our minds from the noetic ravages of sin. Far from committing intellectual suicide, Christians uphold and return reason to its proper role of receiving revealed truth. Thus shall we vehemently reject the prevailing cloud of anti-intellectualism today – that form of religion – still trapped in a drunken stupor!
For the first night of our Consultation, we will broadly canvass the major developments of the 20th century. With a firm grasp of the past, we would be better equipped to pursue a modern Reformation in our evangelical faith, ethics and missions. Later when we draw to a conclusion, we will analyse and anticipate the challenges of the 21st century on the final session. Armed with an overview of how past ideas have impacted our world, we can press ahead to seize the opportunities before us.
By the grace of God, you and I live at a momentous period in time. Standing at the threshold of a new century, we should not send away the passing century without insights gleaned from history. We should also brace ourselves with courage and alertness to confront an uncertain future before us.The Philosophy of History
Time is but the moving image of eternity. God as Self-existent, necessary Being transcends space-time continuum. He is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega and the Director of the Course of Time Who Was, Who Is and Who Is to Come. Many 20th century scientists have admitted that the universe is finite and therefore has a starting point. 1 This implies a Creator because nothing can bring itself from non-existence into existence. One of the uniqueness of the Christian faith among other religions is that we do not disassociate ourselves from the space-time continuum. Corporeal existence as God’s creation is not evil in itself and the physical realm is not dismissed as mere illusion.
We have a tremendous responsibility to be faithful stewards in our present life in a temporal world. Even God himself manifested his glory among men in space-time by taking upon himself a finite, fully human nature. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Hence, the Christian relation to space and time exceeds the concepts of other religions in its relevance and realism.
As we step into the next century, we need to have a sense of our place in history. For not a single moment is out of God's sovereign rule. He is the beginning and the end of history. History is “his story” – the unfolding of his plan moving infallibly towards his ultimate purpose. In Isaiah 46:9-11, God says:
"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please ... What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do."
Therein, lies the uniqueness of God's proclamation and revelation that supersedes human culture and ideology. In Eastern thought, history is circular. There is nothing new under the sun – only much activity, sound and fury but meaning nothing. In Western thought, history is a linear progression. For the Christian, history has a divine goal and purpose. Once time has passed, it would never be recovered. From that vantage point, temporal priorities should be ordered wisely and responsibly. Christians have a firm basis to know how to live in this finite world, guided by the light of eternity. It calls for wisdom in utilizing time.
We should cherish time for it will never return. The foolish use wealth as asset but the wise use time instead as asset. It is easy to exchange time for wealth but it is not easy to exchange wealth for time. It has been said: Time is the stuff that life is made of. There is not one whose time on earth is longer than his life. It is easy to use time to get money but can we use money to get time? Time is an image of eternity. No one's time exceeds his life for even our mortal life has been predetermined.
On Mars Hill, a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were having a dispute with Paul. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say? He is bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said:
"Men of Athens! ... The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. `For in him we live and move and have our being.'" 2
Note these words again:
He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Man is a paradoxical being. He is confined in space-time yet possesses the potential for eternity. He is bound by temporality yet able to transcend his thoughts beyond the stuff of earth. God did this so that we may seek Him. We are bound in a finite frame but within us there is an infinite vacuum that only God can fill. Man is home sick and restless for his eternal abode in the Divine. This deep-seated longing for the infinite or God-shaped void may be suppressed but it can never be extinguished.
The First Millennium
At the close of the first 1000 A.D., man had great hope that a new dawn had arrived. Historians have called the preceding period "The Dark Age". The reason is this: Since the towering witness of Saint Augustine until the 11th century, no great thinker has arisen in the world scene. After the decline of the Roman Empire, political upheaval and economic instability ensued. Men concerned themselves with daily livelihood and the struggle to simply survive. There was no great philosopher whose thought transcends the temporal. A civilization without its intelligentsia is weak and to be pitied. So is the Church without Scripture-saturated and God-entrenched thinkers a lamentable tragedy. Today, the prevailing anti-intellectual climate in the Church can be attributed partly to the extreme fringes of the Charismatic movement. Spirituality and revival are commonly confused with hyped-up atmosphere and emotionalism without content. Doctrines are trivialized or ignored to the extent that present-day Christians are largely blind to the devious schemes of our enemy. Evangelicals no longer have the capacity to even comprehend the current world crisis, much less to provide a biblically informed solution to it. As a result, we have no discernment of the times like the sons of Issachar.3In the United States, I was once preaching in English to a 3000-strong congregation. There was a lengthy singing session, which lasted for an hour. They stood and sang heartily for the entire hour! Were they not tired? Of course! When the preaching session commenced, they sat down and began to feel sleepy. I would never allow them to slumber. After the sermon, a reporter from the magazine "Christianity Today" asked me, "How were you able to hold the attention of such an exhausted crowd with both seriousness and light-heartedness?"
There is a common misconception that to preach with a sense of urgent gravity precludes a sense of humour. Or that delight necessarily means being frivolous. Well, our God is both serious about his truth and good-humoured! When His word is received with solemnity, the same is also pure delight to our souls. The Spirit of God would open our minds to understanding and our hearts to savouring the sweetness of that knowledge. He who inspired Scripture with eternal, propositional content would also restore our minds from the noetic ravages of sin. Far from committing intellectual suicide, Christians uphold and return reason to its proper role of receiving revealed truth. Thus shall we vehemently reject the prevailing cloud of anti-intellectualism today – that form of religion – still trapped in a drunken stupor!
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