Five Core Principles of Christian Faith
Greetings, congregation. Today we commemorate the 36th anniversary of the Indonesian Evangelical Reformed Church. Imagine this: in this city of Jakarta, for thousands of years no one had heard the Gospel. At that time, we decided to buy a plot of land here, and God led us to build the largest Chinese church in the world. Now I regret that what we built was not big enough; our faith was not enough. Even though our congregation at that time was only five hundred people, I said, “Lord, I want to build a large church building to attract many people to worship.” So how much land should we buy? How big a church building should we build? How much money should we spend? All of that was a question mark. I was alone, so it was difficult, just hoping, relying on God, because I was not rich, I was not someone who had a position, I was not someone who had a high education. I was a person who had not had a father since childhood, only living relying on God.
With every step I say, “Lord, lead my steps.” Before I founded a church building here, I had traveled to dozens of countries, preaching in more than forty cities. Just in the city of Jakarta alone, more than two hundred thousand people have heard me preach. They have their own churches, they don’t know the Evangelical Reformed Church. They do not have a firm foundation of faith, they do not have a deep understanding of theology. I alone had to do a very great job, and I was very alone, I was so troubled, and difficult. So I asked, “Lord, give me Your grace, so that I may complete the work You want me to do.” Every day I kneel and pray before God.
Once I held a meeting, and like a prophet, I prophesied that in the next few decades, we would build a church that could accommodate thousands of people. We wanted to attract many people to believe in Jesus and become Christians. We would build a theological school, a library, a concert hall, a museum, an elementary school, a high school, a university, and a clinic. When I explained these things one by one, many people thought Pastor Stephen Tong was dreaming, that Pastor Stephen Tong was boasting. At that time, I calmed down and didn’t respond, because I had been used to being insulted since I was a child.
When my father died at the age of three, I was disrespected and unqualified to be praised, for I had nothing. My only inheritance was that the Lord is my Shepherd, Jesus Christ is my Savior, and the Holy Spirit is my Comforter. And in this world I wanted to build the Church of God. I read the Bible carefully, I studied music thoroughly, I studied history, I studied culture, I studied philosophy, I studied architecture. Every thing that was considered valuable in the history of this world, I studied one by one.
Today I am eighty-five and a half years old. I dare say that God is the true and living God. God is the father of an orphan, and God is the defender of widows. When I was born, there was a war between China and Japan. The first breath I took was the smell of gunpowder. Could a baby like this survive? Could a child who had gone through such a chaotic war still live? Praise God, God blessed me with a mother who lived a life of deep fear of God.
At the age of seventeen my mother married, gave birth to ten children: eight boys and two girls. There was one boy who died, and seven sons remained. When my mother was thirty-three years old, my father died, and my mother became a young widow. But with tears he said to God, “I have decided not to remarry. I want to rely on God’s grace to raise these children, to be used by God in the future.” And we thank God, one by one his children became adults, and God took care of us one by one. Among seven sons, five became priests. My family is here on earth to witness that our God is the true and living God.
Thirty-eight years ago, I decided to end my teaching career at STT SAAT-Malang, where I had taught for twenty-five years. It was like Abraham leaving Mesopotamia, going to the place God wanted him to go. I decided to move to Jakarta. At that time, many people didn’t understand. Pastor Stephen Tong was leaving Malang. Where was he going? Pastor Stephen Tong, already the chairman of the theological school foundation, had held the highest position, and suddenly left his position. People asked, “Has anyone in Jakarta invited me to become a pastor?” I said no one has. I have such a large family; how will I support our lives in Jakarta? I said I wanted to start a ministry for the Evangelical Reformed movement. Then, with your monthly living expenses so high, are you relying on God to cover them? I said I’m relying on God.
I decided not to accept any honorarium for two years. With great difficulty, day by day, seven hundred and thirty days, I received no honorarium, and I am grateful to God. I founded a church to lead people back to Christ, so that Christians would have pure faith, evangelize, and live by God’s Word. One by one, they would live in fear of God and work for God, glorifying His name. After the church was founded, two years later, as the congregation grew, from 327 people at the first service, to 280 at the second service, I prayed, “Lord, this church is Yours. It’s not mine. If this church reaches 1,000 people, I will announce the purchase of land. I will announce the construction of a church.” After three years, our church reached over 1,000 people. I prayed, “Lord, I don’t know if this 1,000 is a real number or a fake one. Please wait another three months. If three months later there are still 1,000 people, then I will decide to announce the purchase of land.” Three months later, the number had grown to 1,300. I knew that God’s will had come; we could wait no longer. So we announced the purchase of a plot of land to build a church.
After several failures, we still couldn’t build a church building. Until the allocated funds reached six million US dollars, we purchased a plot of land. And I began designing a church building that could accommodate 3,500 people. When we began construction, six mosques nearby protested and blocked the way, forcing us to stop the construction. I said, “Lord, do you want us to build a church building?” God said to me, “Be patient. The hardships you are experiencing will pass.” The Muslims continued to protest, the government refused to grant a building permit, and we were helpless, forced to sell the land on which the building had already been partially built.
Every day with tears we wash our faces. “Lord, how do you want us to live this life?” In the next half year, the rupiah continued to devalue, the funds we had set aside to build the church building went from six million US dollars to only one million dollars. I said, “Lord, You have given me six million, now I am left with one million. One million American dollars cannot build anything. Lord, until I die, I will be powerless to be able to raise another five million American dollars. What is Your will?” God said, “Be patient, be patient.”
I was so troubled and sad, so disappointed. Who should I tell about this hardship? The people who used to give offerings one by one had become elderly. From six million US dollars, the value had dropped to one million, and everyone was disappointed. I could only pray with tears, “Lord, give us land, give us land. Lord, give us the funds for the construction. I want to build a large church building for You, so that it can meet the needs of thousands, tens of thousands of people in hearing the word of God.” I knew I was helpless, I knew I had no money.
One day while I was preaching in Hong Kong, a telegram was delivered to me. The building committee said they were negotiating for three plots of land to be purchased. The first plot was 4,500 square meters. The second plot was 7,600 square meters. The third plot was 14,370 square meters. “Pastor Stephen Tong, which plot do you want?” Four thousand five hundred square meters was enough to build a church.
After I prayed, I immediately sent a telegram, saying, “I want fourteen thousand three hundred and seventy square meters of land. The largest land.” They said, “Pastor Stephen Tong, but this is too expensive, too big. We don’t need this much. We don’t have enough funds.” I said, “How about buying the largest land? Where is that land? It’s right here, at the church where we hold services now.”
From east to west, it’s 235 meters long. From south to north, it’s 57 to 65 meters long. I prayed, “Lord, please provide us with the money.” We thanked God for buying this land. If we had bought a smaller one, God wouldn’t have been pleased. If we hadn’t bought this larger piece of land, it wouldn’t have been enough for us now.
Today is the 36th anniversary of the Evangelical Reformed Church. I tell you, today there are over seven thousand people attending the service in this building plus the smaller buildings. Here there are four thousand two hundred and forty people. In the building below there are thirteen hundred people. In the hall of our theological school and in our chapel, there are still people attending the service. Today there are over seven thousand people attending the service.
Earlier, I said, “I regret building this building too small.” But at that time, no one agreed to build a larger one, because our congregation at the time only had five hundred people. Why build one that could accommodate six thousand? Was Pastor Stephen Tong too ambitious? Was Pastor Stephen Tong insane? His congregation only had five hundred people, so why build a building that could accommodate six thousand? Today, we realize that what we built was not big enough.
The Bible says, “God opposes the proud, but God blesses the humble. He gives blessings to the humble.” God bestows greater grace. Because our faith is too small, we cannot witness God’s great power. When we read the Bible indistinctly, our spiritual growth stalls and stops progressing.
If God could restore my youth, we might build a building that could accommodate ten thousand people, for God would bestow greater blessings. Now, I cannot be young again. This elderly Pastor Stephen Tong cannot be young again. I only ask God to forgive my lack of faith.
Today I preach here, celebrating the 36th anniversary of our church. Today I will preach about the five core principles of the Christian faith. First: who is the true God? Pay close attention, this is the first core of the Christian faith: who is the true God? If you believe wrongly, not only have you wasted your life, you will forever be lost. So this is the first, most important point.
The second: where is true revelation? In this world, there are two kinds of religions. One is religions that do not accept revelation, such as Confucianism, Lao Tzu, Shakyamoni, and Hinduism. None of them dares to claim to have received revelation. And the second kind is religions that claim to have received revelation, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three major religions all accept revelation. But the faith of these three religions differs, and this is related to which revelation is the truth given by God.
The third core is between God and humans, who is the only and true Mediator? Before God, representing all humans in this world; before humans, representing the true God. Who is this Mediator? Who is he? Christian faith says that He is Jesus Christ incarnate as a human. For He is actually the word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh, living among us, full of truth and grace. Jesus Christ is God and Jesus Christ is also man. So Jesus Christ is the Mediator between God and humans, the only true Mediator. This is the third core of the Christian faith. What is the fourth core? What did Christ bring? What did Christ accomplish? The Bible says that He came to replace us by dying on the cross. He took God’s wrath and curse in our place. He replaced us, and gave humanity eternal hope.
The fourth core of the Christian faith, namely the Gospel from God. All of us who believe in the Gospel, we are not going down a path that has any deviations, we are not far from the truth. We believe in the true God, we accept the truth, we accept the true Mediator, and we understand the true Gospel. So what is the fifth core of Christian faith?
Fifth, who is a true Christian? One who is in the church and one who preaches the gospel. This is the sermon I am delivering today. May God bless us.
(This sermon summary is taken from: https://pusat.grii.org/publikasi/khotbah)