chongs · worship

Imagine being able to overhear a Jedi Master pass on to his young padawan all the skills of being a Jedi Knight. Or a violin virtuoso giving away playing tips to budding musician. At our church, we’ve just finished preaching through 1 & 2 Timothy – two letters that offer us a window into the glorious gospel of our God Jesus — and the apostle Paul’s parental heart as he pours out his passion and wisdom into Timothy and future generations of Christian leaders.

As with previous sermon series at PCBC, we had the delight of inviting a number of guest preachers to share in “Guarding the Gospel / Proclaiming the Word”, including Peter Anderson (his memoir and other books are a wonderful read!), Keimei Suzuki (one of our church’s partner missionaries), and Dr Paul Windsor (Director of Langham Preaching’s International work, and still blogging faithfully!). A newcomer commented how it was so refreshing to hear “different takes” on the same Word. I couldn’t agree more!

For those preparing to preach through these two letters, I personally found the Proclamation Trust volumes (1 Timothy by Angus McLeay and 2 Timothy by Jonathan Griffiths) the right length and depth for a busy dad, pastor and student. The Greek text can be a bit tricky at times so at times it was helpful to consult other commentaries, although there’s no replacing going through the text itself slowly. It was also a help to follow along Carey Baptist College’s “Mentored For Ministry” Karakia (chapel) series in 2024, and to have gone through these books before at our previous churches.

A few reflections in no particular order:

• As it’s fresh in my mind from this past week, I have to say it was a real privilege and treat to hear Paul Windsor close our preaching series from the final words of his apostolic namesake (2 Tim 4:9-22). Through him, God challenged us, even as we hold many, many people in our hearts, to be filled with the Lord in our hearts ourselves. To hear from one of the most experienced preachers in NZ not only careful exegesis (e.g. he brought out the NT Greek wordplay in using “love” in 1 Tim 4:8/10 and “repay/vindicate” in 1 Tim 4:8/14), but also offer clear and relevant challenges to how we live and lead as Christians was special. The analogy he shared of the bathtub was particularly relevant: in all ministry there will be things that drain, and things that fill our tub. To endure in gospel service, you’ve got to get the flow right! After all the trials and hardships of this past year, to have our bath-tubs filled again on Sunday by the Lord was a joy.
• Earlier on in this series, another Sunday felt particularly special for our congregation. On that day, we had a missions update from a sister and prayed for Mongolia; sang an 1800 year-old worship song with a modern twist called “The First Hymn“); had the privilege of one of our members Billy (Ngāti Porou) leading us in te karakia o te Atua / the Lord’s prayer (something our Chinese-heritage church would not have imagined was possible 30+ years ago!); all culminating in one of our young men Isaac preaching a clear, Christ-centred sermon on the practice, purpose and power of prayer from 1 Timothy 2.
• 1^st Timothy attracts a lot of attention particularly because it is ground zero in many churches and denominations regarding debates over gender roles in ministry and leadership (e.g. 1 Tim 2:11-15, 1 Timothy 3). So much so that before being called to our church, I was told by a member: “So long as you don’t preach on that topic, it should be be OK”. But when our Senior Pastor picked these books as the focus for 2025, given our shared commitment to preaching through whole books of the Bible, I knew the time had arrived to preach this part of God’s Word without apology.
• As our pastoral team and many in our congregation hold different views on the “should women preach” question, we sought to give a balanced perspective on the relevant passage (Albert preached 1 Tim 2 for our Cantonese congregations; while I preached 1 Tim 2:8-15 for our English congregation), and to do so in a way that honoured the many gifted and faithful sisters and brothers in our church. Accordingly, one resource I found particularly helpful was this April 2025 podcast episode by Rebecca McLaughlin (interviewing Dani Treweek and Ellie Wiener). These sisters not only unpacked some of the heated questions and applications with exegetical skill from both egalitarian and complementarian convictions (although these terms don’t always map neatly outside Western cultures), but did so with a reverence and respect for the Scriptures and a wonderfully gracious manner – I suspect in a way that three men on a podcast wouldn’t have been able to accomplish!
• It’s important to remember though that who can or can’t lead in churches or preach in gathered worship isn’t the primary issue in Paul’s letters to Timothy. Rather, his priority in both 1 & 2 Timothy is that everyone is to guard the gospel and proclaim the Word, both in speech and in lifestyle (1 Tim 4:16).
• In the Lord’s providence, many of the passages I was assigned to preach popped up at timely moments in our fifth year of pastoral ministry at this church. In a year that’s brought about a fair amount of uncertainty and change in our midst, I was personally ministered to as I rejoiced in how Jesus saved even me, the worst of sinners (1 Tim 1:12-20); remembered that character matters in church leadership (1 Timothy 3), reflected on Paul’s priority to encourage the next generation among us (1 Timothy 4); and was challenged to think more deeply about honourable leadership (1 Tim. 5:17-25) and true contentment (1 Tim 6:1-10) living in a culture where it’s gotten harder and harder to find good examples of either. God truly ministered to me through these tender, parental words of Paul -for that, I’m filled and grateful.

If you’re interested, you can listen in to the sermon series in English here: “Guard the Gospel, Proclaim the Word” (1 & 2 Timothy). We preached 1 Timothy over 10 talks, and 2 Timothy over six sermons.

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” – 2 Timothy 4:2

It took nearly five years, 7 different series and over 50 sermons. Yet in God’s kindness, yesterday our English congregation at PCBC completed an expository preaching journey through the gospel of Matthew. Out of the dozen or so sermon series we’ve completed at PCBC English, this one has been the most meaningful to me personally – my first sermon as pastor was from Matthew 1 (in the midst of the COVID pandemic, no less!), while diving into Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount firstly in 2020 and more recently at this year’s Equip Conference continues to convict and challenge my own walk with the Lord.

Alongside our senior pastor Albert, it was a privilege to share the pulpit for this Gospel with a number of fellow pastors including Sam Cutforth, John Tucker, “John the Baptist” (😉), Michael Drake, Dave Giesbers, Nathan Cutforth and Peter Anderson (an unforgettable message on the resurrection!). We also took the opportunity to train some of our own members to preach from this eyewitness account, and even had the joy of two students from a visiting college mission team preach from the crucifixion accounts earlier this month. For our children and alternative learners, we also paired the main sermons with worksheets and resources, graciously prepared each week by Eva and Cheryl from our English congregation.

For those preparing their own preaching series through Matthew’s gospel, I personally found the following commentaries most helpful:

• Matthew (EGGNT) by Charles Quarles – a clear and convenient first stop for original language and syntax-related questions. Anytime I stumbled in translating the Greek text, this volume offered well-informed translation options and helpful preaching suggestions based on the text.
• Teaching Matthew by David Jackman and William Philip – at times I felt like the authors flew too high above the text (e.g. summarising multiple chapters in one sermon), but in general this book gave some concrete and practical ways to keep my sermons focused on explaining Matthew’s gospel in the context of God’s Old Covenant promises fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
• JC Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on Matthew were particularly helpful in connecting the truths of this gospel to the thoughts and concerns of the average congregation member. It was a delight to listen over his shoulder, in a sense, to think how the gospel should shape the various concerns of our daily life.
• For Matthew 5-7 specifically, Jonathan Pennington’s The Sermon the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary was paradigm-shifting in a good way, as was Jonathan Dodson’s Our Good Crisis on the beatitudes specifically (I also shared a few exegetical thoughts on this part of Matthew’s gospel when we encountered it together in 2020).
• Tim Patrick and Andrew Reid’s “The Whole Counsel of God” gave me permission to think long-term when it came to preaching through this gospel, and offered a practical framework to schedule and plan to preach through the book in a setting where it wasn’t always possible to preach seriatim for more than a few weeks at a time (unlike other series, this book didn’t align with our Cantonese congregations’ preaching schedules).

I also learned a lot from other churches that journeyed through Matthew’s gospel at the same time or beforehand. In particular, I’m especially grateful for Tim Bradford’s input during our time at Petersham Baptist in Sydney when we went through Matthew’s gospel from 2017-18, and for Nathan Cutforth at Papakura Baptist who helped me wrestle with some of the harder parts of Jesus’s discourses (e.g. the end of the age stuff in Matthew 24).

Looking back at older sermons you’ve preached over the years is also a good way to grow in humility! When I scan the sermon archives I’m reminded of rookie mistakes, bad preaching habits, the sermons that felt woefully unprepared in the midst of a busy ministry life, and the attempts to be clever that thankfully nobody will remember once Jesus returns! My hope and prayer each week was simply that sinners were convicted to turn to Christ, and saints were built up to abide in Christ. It’s been a privilege to let Matthew’s Gospel tell the gospel at PCBC English, and to preach the Word in season and out of season.

A few more reflections in no particular order:

• Five years is probably a bit too long for a sermon series in Matthew – barring our family and a couple of others, most of the people who heard Matthew 1 have since moved on from PCBC English, while others have joined without ever hearing the start. Nevertheless, in the context of a 20 / 25-year preaching ministry, it was worth the time and effort to let the Word set the agenda for us time and time again.
• There’s a lot of time and energy spent putting into words the vision, mission and values of any organisation (our church included). But there is no better summary of God’s vision for His church than what the resurrected Christ declares to his disciples at the end of Matthew’s gospel: “As you go, make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit… and I am with you always to the end of the age.” If we ever wonder the purpose and vision for any church, Matthew’s gospel makes it clear – to be disciples who make disciples because of the good news about the risen Lord Jesus!
• The more I’ve read and thought about Matthew’s gospel within a cross-cultural setting, the more I’m convinced that this is the one that came first (i.e. Matthean priority). There are lots of academic debates about this, but it’s interesting to me that for much of church history it was held that Matthew was the first gospel to have been written (followed by Mark, Luke and John, as per our present-day book order). Other well-known authors (e.g. Augustine) have explained this, but I personally see a coherent logic where Matthew was written as a comprehensive account for the first generation of mostly Jewish background believers, while Mark subsequently summarised and rearranged Matthew’s content for a church becoming more multi-ethnic, cross-cultural and less conversant in Old Testament prophecies and typologies.
• Matthew chapter 1’s long list of names seems to be a rather unexciting way to begin sharing good news. However, there is something particularly resonant in a non-Western church to begin with a genealogy – just as Māori customs begin a serious conversation with a pepeha (introducing one’s place and people), Matthew introduces Jesus’s place and people to a hurting world longing for God to be truly present with us (Immanuel). Preaching through Matthew raised for me how our society’s incessant focus on the individual is not necessarily a worldview that is shared by much of the world.
• Team preaching carries with it a number of benefits and challenges. It takes more planning and coordination to make sure the gospel is consistently preached and explained season by season. But there is something wonderful in letting people see that it is the gospel (proclaimed through fallible preachers) that speaks, that their pastor also sits under the preacher’s authority, and that it is the Scriptures that serve as our supreme authority on matters of life and faith. It’s also wonderful to look back and see how many different partnerships in the gospel began and continue today through the simple ministry of opening God’s Word section by section, week after week, year after year.

If you’re interested, you can listen in to each sermon series here:

1. The Return of the King (Matthew 1-4)
2. The King’s Speech (Matthew 5-7)
3. Deeper into Following Jesus (Matthew 8-12)
4. Summer Parables (Matthew 13)
5. Action Jesus (Matthew 14-16)
6. Servant King (Matthew 17-20)
7. Lead Us To the Cross (Matthew 21-28)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore as you go, make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you [Immanuel!] always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

It’s the clichéd answer on how to spur a church towards corporate unity around a building project: trot out a teaching series on how Ezra and friends rebuilds the temple, or how Nehemiah and friends restore the walls of Jerusalem, and exhort brothers and sisters to unite and do the same. But more than likely, we’re less enamoured by the long lists of names (repeated several times), puzzled by the jumps back and forth in time, and confused by some of the actions of the titular characters (Ezra pulls his beard, while Nehemiah pulls others’ hair?) And where do these books fit in God’s grand story of redemption? At the heart of these books, we see a sovereign God working through human action to make a people for Himself – precisely the same theme that Jesus’s death and resurrection fulfils, and a relevant message for any church of any age, culture or setting.

Our Chinese-heritage church spent much of this year preaching through Ezra & Nehemiah. As part of our church’s biennial theme, “United in Service”, it was fitting to hear closely from this part of God’s Word and learn from a time when God’s rescued people seemed to be at their best. Certain parts of the story hit differently in the context of a cross-cultural, immigrant church: the reverse-immigration from Babylon to Jerusalem; first-generation and second-generation differences in the life of God’s people (e.g. the older men who wept at the temple foundation); the complexities when religious opponents are related to you; and the disappointment felt by Nehemiah when the Israelites had lost their “mother tongue” (hint: he’s not sad because of the Hebrew per se).

Going through this book again reminded me of the difficulty of preaching Old Testament narrative, the value of wise friends who have thought deeply about the rhetorical function of these books (thank you Alex Prentice!), and how much these accounts of God’s Old Covenant people, even at their best, still reveal their desperate need for a greater Priest, Leader and Redeemer to create a transformed people from the inside out. This series was another good opportunity to experience the necessity and power of Old Testament preaching that exalts Christ, rather than burden us with works.

In preparation for the series, I found the following books most helpful:

• Dean Ulrich’s Now and Not Yet: Theology and mission in Ezra-Nehemiah (from the NSBT series) gave some of the most clear and sensible Christ-connections, and helped me to keep returning my sermons back to the missional purpose of God orchestrating Israel’s return to Jerusalem. I was convinced by Ulrich’s argument that, rightly understood, Ezra-Nehemiah lays out a mandate for mission (taking part in God’s purpose for his world) that Jesus later fulfils in his first coming and beyond. There is joy-filled, genuine restoration ‘now’, but hope in God’s promises (‘not yet’) as His people follow His instructions concerning the mission laid out for them.
• The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah (co-written by David Shepherd and Christopher Wright) was also helpful. It goes a bit deeper into the Hebrew and Aramaic text, and helps to answer a few thorny textual questions.
• For Ezra specifically, I found Teaching Ezra by Adrian Reynolds (Proclamation Trust) an excellent guide to preparing sermons from this book. Because Ezra is the more neglected of the two books, I appreciated the range of thoughts on how to connect the events to Christ in helpful ways.

For preachers, teachers and keen Bible readers, here are some more thoughts in no particular order:

• On structuring a series, I’d strongly recommend preaching both Ezra and Nehemiah, rather than taking one and leaving the other out. Although this makes a sermon series longer, it becomes far easier to see how connected they are. In both Ezra and Nehemiah, rebuilding the temple / wall is followed by the necessity of rebuilding the people through God’s revealed Word.
• Ezra-Nehemiah is a story of God’s people at their best who return to worship Yahweh, yet fail and leave us longing for a better Redeemer to come. It’s an opportunity to consider what worship songs support this theme. In particular, songs that use “we” language will support the series more consistently than “I” language. We also want people to see Jesus as the better Israel / Son of God, better Leader, and better Teacher.
• The repeated lists of names are not identical, and so they serve slightly different purposes. One is to emphasise the priorities of the people – in Ezra 2, so much care and attention is devoted to the names of families involved in reestablishing proper worship. The second list of returnees (Ezra 8:1-14) is smaller than the first but is more generous. The detailed list of those who had intermarried sinfully in Ezra 10 emphasises the seriousness they took the situation.
• I think it’s right to portray Ezra (from Ezra 7 onwards) as a 2nd-generation, cross-cultural gospel worker. After all, he’s trained and sent into a foreign land (at least to him), to teach and disciple a subsequent generation of returnees some 58 years after they went on mission. It’s less a church-plant-from-scratch moment but a revitalisation work. For God’s glory to be truly displayed among the nations, it is more than a temple is required – the people themselves need to be rebuilt, and it will have to be done through the Word of God, by someone fully devoted to explaining it and living it out.
• It is very tempting to turn both Ezra and Nehemiah into people to emulate. But a Christ-centred reading will need to show how as noble as they were, they had their flaws and leave us longing for a better Priest, Teacher and Leader. The final chapter of both books are perfect opportunities to reflect on the limitations of these human leaders, the harshness of their actions. Sending wives away and beating up husbands is the antithesis of how Jesus will one day deal with sin and rebellion to God’s Word.
• When the story takes a “we will do this” turn in Nehemiah 10 with the whole country making promises), it’s important to point out the awkwardness of those vows early and often. On first glance it can seem like a wonderful moment of collective solidarity, yet by the end of the book, the side-effects and consequences of this rule-based living comes back to haunt them. I made the comparison that looking back on my wedding vows brings joy and sorrow (joy because of God’s grace towards us, and sorrow because I’ve failed to keep the vows time and time again!) In the same way, we need a bit more skepticism when Israel makes their bold promises because each of them are subsequently forsaken in Nehemiah 13.

Our church considered Ezra & Nehemiah over 25 series (11 in Ezra and 14 in Nehemiah), though we could have certainly combined 1 or 2 sermons. You can check out the entire series here.