The call to Awake – Part 1
Mark 13:33
Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will
come.
It was in the late 90s, at a leaders meeting at CHC
where Pastor Kong talked about end times, the possibility of tribulation
and for us to extend the Kingdom of God. It was an awakening of the
urgency of the Kingdom, and there was a sweet presence of the Holy
Spirit as we sing “Amazing Grace” to end the service. And they did make
a difference with over 30,000 people added to the church!
My friends at CHC were on fire for God, and to
extend the kingdom. I was the black sheep, involved in ministries, but
not as zealous. I was the quiet gentle lamb. More than a decade later,
some of those friends have become rather hostile to Christianity. I got
scolded for offering to accompany back them to CHC church services.
Perhaps, the call for awakening is not what we do for Christ in that
moment of time, but whether our faith will stand the test of time,
circumstances, and deception of false prophets and through the different
phases of life. That was the warning to be ready when Jesus comes back.
Mark 13:33 is not so much as about an awakening for
ministry, but rather an anticipation of trials, tribulations, and being
misled away from the faith through deception, or simply falling away
from our faith in Jesus to the extent that when Jesus comes back, we no
longer worship Him. We are told that the date of His return is not
known, thus keeping us on our toes lest our faith fail to stand through
the test of time.
Few of my gay friends stayed at CHC. The church is
so busy condemning gays but they forget that since sexual orientation is
natural and not a choice, we are a participant in the whole scheme of
deception where we lost the entire gay tribe for the Gospel sake. Ie we
put our heterosexuality and man-made laws and culture before the Gospel
message. If our interpretation of the bible concerning gays as sinners
were wrong, the moral and spiritual consequences will be very great. To
support one lie, we had created many lies, associate gays with unrelated
wrong doings, and even made up a Gay agenda. Therefore, we are called to
wake up to avoid false teachings that will divert us from the core
Gospel message. We are called to wake up and repent before Jesus comes
back again.
The Pharisees were so concerned about the law and
sin until they crucified Jesus at the Cross. Hence, they are out of the
Kingdom of God. The gashing of teeth is not referring to Christians but
to the Pharisees who had rejected Jesus and judgement came in the fall
of Jerusalem in AD70. Likewise, our anti-gay teachings are wrapped with
hypocrisy and a lie from the gates of hell which has prevented gays from
coming into the church of Jesus Christ. It is time for the church to be
awake before Jesus comes back and find us abusing those He gave us to
take care.
The call for Awakening is not a call for those
sleeping too much in the church pews, lest there be judgement and
accountability of not using their gifts to extend the kingdom of God.
Rather, it is to be awake of the future events, circumstances and false
teachings that will take away our faith from Jesus Christ or causes us
to perpetuate harm and injustice hence undermining the Gospel of Christ.
We are to be awake to the harm that we can cause in the name of
religious faith.
When Jesus called on the disciples to “awake”, it
was not as if they were lazy or not living a Christ centred lives in
following Jesus. They had after all risked their lives and gave up their
jobs to follow Jesus. He was telling the disciples to see beyond the
physical to the spiritual, and also to see into the future. He was
gently reminding the disciples not to be so ignorant or in the Singaporean
slang – “blur”! We focussed on the actions and works, but Jesus asked the
disciples to seek understanding, wisdom, and revelation of the meaning
within. We often see the minute details, but missed the big picture that
ultimately our faith in Jesus Christ is at stake, not only today but
will it suffice until the coming back of Jesus.
In a shock factor, Jesus then talks of the 10
virgins, or the parable of the talents. The parable of the talents is
not about “talents” to be used for the Kingdom of God, rather the
Pharisees failed to preach the message of the coming Messiah before it
was too late. They had the bible - religious text, yet they hid the
revelation of those text, which if sowed and reflected would have
revealed Christ the Messiah. Hence, they were kicked out of the
Kingdom of God not because they were lazy or not doing Christian
ministry but because they rejected Jesus Christ Himself.
The talents are about the message given to each one
of us concerning the Kingdom of God. The primary message is that Jesus
is the Messiah, our Lord and Saviour. And when we plant this core
message, we will be given more and more talents, add-on to what the
Kingdom of God meant under different context, and historical timeline.
For some, it will be a ministry to the poor, for others to the GLBT
peoples, and to some others, to the sex workers. Which good tidings are
you called to proclaim?
The message of the Kingdom is not about
accountability or punishment if we are not awake, or whether we are lazy
or just a pew warmer at church doing nothing much for the Kingdom of
God. Each of us have at least one talent, receiving and accepting the message of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. The rest is what is given to us, the work to do,
to extend the Kingdom of God. The major difference is that we are fellow
labourers with Christ, not as in a master servant relationship but as
fellow kinsman.
There is no compulsion in the kingdom of God unlike
the kingdom of this world where there are rewards, penalties, and
judgement. In the Kingdom of God, once we sowed the first talent, ie
receive and accept the message of the Good News in Jesus Christ, we are
then given new talents – new assignments and work to do to extend the
kingdom. When we finish this assignment, we are given greater
assignments – larger responsibilities. When we do the “little” things
for God, be prepared, for God has a way of giving us bigger tasks.
The Pharisees failed altogether even to enter the
Kingdom let alone do its work of multiplication because they rejected
Jesus, and hide the message of God’s love, grace and mercy in the
ground.
When Jesus talked about being “awake” to the
disciples, they were still grappling with the issue of Jesus being the
Messiah. This was in-spite the power ministry that Jesus had in the
miracles done, and the continuation of the Messianic Kingdom message in
the baptism of her followers. Jesus subsequent death and resurrection,
and later on the destruction of Jerusalem would bring greater meaning
and revelation to the disciples. The Pharisees who killed Jesus did
indeed suffer gashing of teeth, as they suffered and died by the hands
of the Romans in AD70.
When Jesus preached to the disciples about the
master who had gone to a far country and had come back, and not to be
unawares of the times and the seasons that the master will come back, it
was comical because Jesus the Master was already back. It was not
something in the future. Prior to the earlier fall of Jerusalem, and the
subsequent exile to Babylon, God was in the midst of her people in the
temple and the Ark of the Covenant. With the ransacking of the temple,
the Ark was lost, the presence of God lost. Hence God was not with
Israel for more than 400 years from the last prophet. It was during this
time whereby the scripture was firmed and written from the oral
tradition handed down. Jesus was the returning master coming back, yet
the Pharisees were so blur as not to recognise it. Would we recognise
Jesus when He comes back again?
We are called to be Awake, to guard of hearts, our
minds, that we may not be distracted from worshipping false Christ and
false prophets and their teachings. There is a powerful spirit of
deception. They will take away the place and honour of Jesus or causes
us to perpetuate harm and injustice against the outcast instead of
showing love. Will our faith
stand through the test of time and circumstance? For many gays, the call
is too late, as they have departed from believing in Jesus due to the
anti-gay teachings of the church masqueraded as coming against sin. The
only sin here is our grave hypocrisy and self-righteousness following
the steps of the Pharisees.
There is a
wake-up call for the church to embrace justice and radical love before
Jesus comes back again lest we be found in the act of causing harm to
the least in the community. Then there will be gashing of teeth.
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