Lord’s Day, Vol. 5 No. 03
(1) Am I a Soldier of the Cross?
- A Painful Memory
Isaac Watts had painful memories of his early years. His parents were dissenters, people whose religious affiliation was outside of the Church of England, the state church. Dissenters often suffered persecution in the seventeenth century.
His father, a deacon in a Congregation Church, was arrested and imprisoned several times. When Isaac was an infant, his mother would sit on a stone opposite the jail and nurse her baby while visiting her husband. Fifteen years later, the Toleration Act of 1689 granted freedom of worship for Dissenters. Isaac was old enough then to remember the persecution when religious freedom was denied.
When Isaac was twenty-five years old, he became assistant pastor of Mark Lane Independent Chapel, London, and three years later became its pastor. Often he would write a hymn for the congregation to sing at the conclusion of the Sunday service.
Remembering the suffering for the faith and the courage of his father, one Sunday, Isaac preached on “Holy Fortitude”, using the text “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13). Based on the same text, he wrote the following hymn that challenges all of us to be “soldiers of the cross.”
Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His name?
Must I be carried to the skies
On flow’ry beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize
And sailed thru stormy seas?
Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?
Sure I must fight if I would reign.
Increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.
Life often becomes filled with painful memories. But, as with Isaac Watts, when our remembrances are surrendered to the Lord, He turns them into songs of courage and faith.
“Jesus has many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His cross,” wrote Thomas Kempis. The cost of discipleship has never been lowered. There are no bargain rates. As of old, Jesus still calls to would-be disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24).
Isaac Watts witnessed in the persecution of his parents what it meant to be a “soldier of the cross.” His hymn echoes Christ’s challenge of the cross, calling us not to a frolic but to a fight, not to a picnic but to a pilgrimage, not to self-indulgence but to self-denial, and not to comfort but to the cross.
[Extracted and edited from Songs in the Night by Henry Gariep]
(2) Youth Fellowship’s 2nd Anniversary
Thank God for gathering our youths to remember God’s goodness in the YF’s 2nd Anniversary on 7 January 2017. The message was “Remember Now Thy Creator in the Days of Thy Youth – God’s Answers to the Problems of Young People Today” (Ecclesiastes 12:1)
Youths face many problems, but God has the answer to them all. Those answers are found in the Word of God. It is not enough, however, to know the answers. They must take them and put them into practice in their daily lives. Our youths are exhorted to make time for YF in this new year. Meetings are scheduled on the first Saturday of each month from 4pm to 5.30pm.
(3) 3rd Anniversary Thanksgiving Service
We shall be gathering for worship in Thanksgiving to the Lord on 22nd January 2017 at 3pm on the occasion of the church’s 3rd Anniversary.
The theme of our Thanksgiving Service is “Steadfast, Unmoveable and Always Abounding” based on 1 Corinthians 15:58.
Please pray that the Lord may bless our Thanksgiving Service for His honour and glory.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee