Hebrews 11:24 "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter."

Last evening's preaching was particularly powerful and interesting, with many gems of wisdom. I suspect that Dr Tong has not finished with this, and would continue next week (and to think that all the 1 hour 35 minutes captivating preaching was on 1 verse only... always never fail to amaze me about the power of God's Word).

Tong started by speaking on the influence of Moses on the history of mankind. He said that no civilisation today is untouched by Moses, in that Mosaic laws influenced the foundation of legal systems all over the world. In the Congress building where American lawmakers gather, there are inscriptions of the names of great men of law on the walls of the building. At the most prestigious place right above where the President stands to address Congress, stands the name "Moses", testifying to his importance in the history of mankind. He related among Moses' Pentatueh (first 5 books of the Bible), and its accuracy and contributions in the area of architecture, botany, science, sociology, etc. For example, the list of clean and unclean animals was discovered in 1940 by an English scientist to be absolutely crucial for people who travel without sufficient water to drink or bathe in, to maintain, or severe health consequences would result.

Tong reiterated the important role Moses' parents played in his life. He insisted that Moses' parents must have had instilled in him all the necessary values and faith while he was under the care of his mother (who providentially was made his nurse-maid by Pharoah's daughter). We do not know how long his mother took care of him, it could be 3, 4 or 5 years; but within that period of time, the parents managed to lay a foundation of faith for Moses, so much so that he was able to refuse all the glory and wealth of the palace. This he said, was no simple feat.

Tong then spoke at length on the importance of parenting, and the Chinese concept that a child's character at 80 was set when he was 3. Tong said that because of advancement in nutrition and childcare, one can even say that a child's character would be set now at 2 or 2 and a half. It is vitally important for parents to train and set a firm foundation at this age, so that they will not depart from the way of the LORD (Prov 22:6). Tong related how he trained all 4 of his children in the same strict manner. He said that in his household, he expects his child to respond to him the very first time he summons them. If they were not attentive, he would correct them. This he said, trained them to pay careful attention and be responsible for the rest of their lives, even in classroom setting in school, thereby saving them lots of precious time later. Inevitably, his children would stray and not pay attention. He said that for all 4 of his children, he kicked them out of the house before they were even 3.

What happened would be a typical child not obeying him, and he would bring the child to his closet, open it up and ask him/her to pick the favorite clothing, socks and shoes. His child would happily pick all sorts of items, and Tong would then give the child a small briefcase to put them it. He would then bring the child outside of the door, and then ask him/her to leave the home since they do not want to obey their father. The kid would of course scream and cry, and Tong said he would cry too. He would then ask the child if he knows what his errors were. Of course the child would say all sorts of things to get back in the house. Tong said that he would spend lots of time ensuring that the child understood his errors, because true forgiveness can only come with true repentence. The child would promise not to repeat the offences, and to ensure that the child understood this, Tong said he would make up a covenant for the kid to sign (and the kid would scribble, not knowing how to write yet!).

Tong said that all these actions had biblical reasoning and principles. He wanted his children to know that love and grace are linked with righteousness. No true forgiveness can come without true repentance, and that one must be absolutely responsible towards one's actions. He wanted to establish these concepts firmly in the minds of his children before they were even three. I thought that his examples were quite funny and drastic, but I did the same type of thing for my daughters as well, and I believe the result verify the methods. My own observations working with our church youth would be that discipline is a real issue for children even as young as 3 in our church (not to mention the teenagers, who would openly sleep in our SUNBEAM class with no respect to the teachers whatsoever; then again, adults openly sleep in our worship service!), because parents failed to instil the right sense of right and wrong in them.

Tong then turned his attention to the person Moses. He highlighted that the Bible had 3 important descriptions of Moses:

1. He was no ordinary child (Exodus 11:23); the Chinese translation said he was handsome and beautiful.
2. He had acquired all knowledge of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22)
3. He was powerful in speech and in action (Acts 7:22)

Tong spoke at length about how having acquired all the knowledge of the Egyptians is no small matter. He spoke about the Egyptian civilisation 3,500 years' ago being an advanced civilisation with the knowledge of the building of the pyraminds, astonomy, architecture, etc. And concluded that Moses would be considered as one of the most learned of the world back then. Historical recordings also indicated that Moses was a great military strategist, winning wars in conflicts. He had everything; physical beauty coupled with wealth, talent in speech and deed. What more could one ask for? And God used Moses. Tong threw in one of his famous lament about how nowadays, seminary students are often people who cannot make it anywhere else, and so they proclaim that God has called them, unlike Moses, who was successful and completely capable.

But this great man told God when he was called that he was slow in speech and tongue (Exodus 4:10). Tong said that some Muslims used this to argue that the Bible is filled with contradiction, and went on to analyze why Moses said that (which is rather unusual because most people simply preach that Moses was trying to escape the duty, but Tong believed that Moses was telling the truth). Tong proposed that there were three likely reasons why Moses would think of himself as inarticulate:

1. He had been with the sheep for too long (he made a big joke out of the whole thing)- 40 odd years; so his speaking skills had deteriorted
2. In comparison with Aaron, Moses probably believed he was not as good a speaker
3. Moses thought that as a Hebrew, he would not be able to stand up to the Egyptians in their legal courts

Tong then went on to speak at length about this being a paradoxical understanding; in that the talented and great often in honestly do not consider themselves as such. He cited the example of the apostle Paul, who said that he was the least among the apostle (1 Cor 15:9) but that he worked harder than all of them, both at the same time. This is because a truly great person would be able to see the power above the powers of man, the authority above the authorities of man, the throne above the thrones of man. As much as he understands the reality of his gifts and talent, he understands more the power of God almighty. Tong said that most of us have false humility, and kept saying we cannot do this or that, not because we can't, but we won't. In the end, we waste away all that God has given to us, time and talent. A person who is truly talented will serve in fear, but understands that compared to God almighty, he is still nothing.

Tong used himself as an example. For 38 years, he taught at the Malang Theological Seminary. Since he has preached to some 20 million people worldwide and trained more than 1,500 full-timers through the seminary, naturally he has been asked to teach homiletics (the art of preaching). He has steadfastly refused to teach this topic until he started his own seminary 12 years' ago; and even so, he has only taught the course twice in the past 12 years. He said that this is because he honestly believed that he is not a good preacher. He does not have a system of thought or methods relating to preaching, or a formula that he can give others to emulate. All he knows is that he is to preach the Word faithfully with all his abilities. He also does not believe that preaching is a result of simple training. This I certainly can testify for him. I have been translating for him since 1997. Not once did I see him preach from a script, or from anything other than the Bible. So I don't know how he could teach anyone to do that even if he wanted to... Tong said that God would make great use of talents who are truly humble.

The last portion of the preaching concentrated on the decision Moses made as he grew up, not to be identified with the Egyptians. Tong said that no matter how decadent or lustful a lifestyle one can envision, no matter how much enjoyment one can imagine, it will not beat what Moses had as an Egyptian prince. Moses gave all that up. This decision was a tremendous decision, one that could not have been made without rock-solid values.

According to Tong, Moses was the world's first real existentialist. He understood that his values were completely apart from the values of others. Tong went on a little discourse about existentialism, how the world of existentialism is segregated by theistic existentialism (as represented by Kiekegaard, the Danish philosopher) and aethistic existentialism (as represented by Nietzche, the German philosopher). Theistic existentialist believes all things exist in relation to the existence of God; while aethistic existentialist believe in existing for the sake of existing. The philosopher Sartre for example, believed that value is to be determined only by the self, and not others (hence he refused to accept his Nobel prize for literature in 1964 since he refused to believe in others determining that he deserved the prize).

Moses was able to establish his value system based on 4 areas:

1. Faith - His faith is the foundation of his value system, determining for him what is eternal and what is temporal. He sought for the eternal over the temporal.

2. Status - Moses knew that his status was that of a Hebrew, not that of an Egyptian. Tong said that the whole problem of humanity is not realising our status, our correct place in the universe. Once we move away from that status or get confused about it, our value system goes awry, and we cannot find our way home. We are not able to tell what is important, versus what is trivial. Although Moses knew of the luxuries of the palace, he knew that his place is not in there, but out among his people, which was a much higher calling.

Tong related that recently, Mochtar Riady (Indonesian billionaire and member of Tong's church for 12 years) was appointed as the first Chinese chairman of the board of a prestigious Indonesian university (University of Indonesia I think). Riady told Tong that he is looking for a chancellor for the university, but could not find an appropriate person. He said that the most appropriate person for chancellor should be 'Stephen Tong'. Tong said he does not know if Riady was joking, but he replied to Riady that he is not willing to lower his status to be chancellor, and the audience laughed aloud. But Tong was serious. He said that as chancellor of a prestigious university, all he can do is to influence a few hundred students. But he is a servant of God Almighty, preaching to the world the mighty Word of God. He would not swap that status for something that he considers as low, regardless of how the rest of the world views it. It was a moving testimony from a true servant of the LORD.

3. Vision - Moses was clear that God called him, and responded to that vision. What about us, he asked. Do we have any vision from God, or do we simply while away our days?

4. Responsibility - Moses understood his duty and responsibilities toward the Hebrews, and he stuck to his task, not succumbing to seduction of the world.

Tong ended by saying that if one is not clear about his values, or if the values are built on the wrong foundation, 2 conditions will occur from a wrong self-esteem, resulting in 6 sins:

Either one would have a wrong sense of superiority, or a wrong sense of inferiority.
For the first, one would think of himself as more than he should, resulting in the 3 sins of Taking away the glory of God, Dispising others, and not being able to work in a team for God.
For the second, one would think so lowly of oneself, resulting in the 3 sins of being jealous of others, grumbling day and night, and debasing oneself.

I got a feeling that he will expound on the last portion next week, because he ran out of time.

END

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.