Matt 18: 19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree
about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in
heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with
them.”
I once entered a huge church, the largest church on earth in the eternal
City on the seven hills. They had a high priest at the door, the
mediator between heaven and earth to see who gets in. Only straight
people can get in although it is rumoured that some of the prince of the
church are gay. Who knows?
Here in this mega of all mega churches, the face of Jesus was there
still hung on the Cross, and the congregation was gathering at different
altars worshiping the life sized potraits of the Saints before. In our
humanity, we still crucify Jesus and worship our favorite Christian idol
instead of the risen Lord. Jesus was here too, at the door, waiting to
get in for He is gentle and kind and will not demand their worship.
I entered into another church, much smaller yet unique but hidden in the
byways of humanity. Unlike the first church, no tourists would visit
here and many got lost to find this place - some lost because it is
neither here nor there, and others not daring to enter lest they find
themselves, their own humanity, worth, and sacredness in this church.
It is a special place. They had no gates nor locks for all are welcome
and Jesus was welcomed here too. All are free to come in and to go. In
the center of the church, was a large statue of a thinking man, the
thinker. He was thinking about humanity, about the love commandments,
kinship, how to champion the rights of the oppressed. The thinker was
naked, for all are naked before God with nothing to hide.
In this church, Humanity became the divine, the altar of many colours
made beautiful in the image of God. Yet, Jesus was there too in their
kind hearts as they go out to the byways to lend a helping hand to the
rainbow coloured outcasts in our common humanity whom the large mega
churches have thrown onto the streets and discarded as waste. Jesus was
toegther with them picking up the discarded leftovers for these are
precious in the eyes of Jesus. The Kingdom of God became the kindom of
God of frienship and loving each other as Christ has loved us.
Lastly, I entered a small church, the smallest on earth down to where
two or three gathered in "My name", in the name of Jesus. It's no longer
about us, the numbers of attendance, whether we are ordained or not or
which bible college we have graduated from, the size or the comfort of
the building, or whether we are associated with a historic religious
institution with an organization structure/authority reaching up to the
heavens.
Here in this church, we have not much of humanity to speak of - we are
simple, not the well educated thinkers, nor the rich with their large
houses and cars, but simple people on this pilgrim journey of faith.
Here in this small church, there is no money, no place to worship, and
no glory. But God is glorified and honoured here because Jesus is
honoured and the Holy Spirit free to be. It's all about Jesus and not
them. Here, Jesus is the altar. It's not about us.
At the end of the road, it's all about Jesus - His humanity, His servant
life, His divine power and authority as God, His death and His
resurrection as our champion before God, the Lion of Judah, the royal
champion and the Messiah redeemer, the King of Israel. Jesus is worthy
to lead us, as a royal King, as the servant High Priest, as the sinless
Man, and as the eternal God.
At the end Jesus became a friend - the Son of Man in Luke, Jesus the
humble servant and the high priest serving before us in Mark, the
Saviour King - the Lion of Judah in the Gospel of Matthew, and finally
God Himself to be worshipped and adored as the Son of God in John.
The four faces of the angels that surrounds the throne of God reflects
His glory -
- the face of a lion
- Jesus the Lion of Judah, the Jewish Messiah, who goes before us in
battle to redeem our lives as the Saviour King. Jesus became the banner
who leads the way forth to redeem humanity that through Him was have the
way back to God. He is fighting for His Kingdom. Jesus is our King with
a royal lineage from the Covenant of faith and promise of Abraham -
hence the spiritual and moral lineage to be worthy to lead us.
Jesus, the Son of Abraham, the Son of of David is worthy to lead us. In
Jesus, we have become connected and joined to the root of Abraham, the
the covenant of unconditional promise and blessings - the covenant of
grace. Jesus, our Messianic Saviour will lead us into a new heavenly
kingdom. His was not a Kingdom on earth but in heaven. In Christ, we
come into the Kingdom of God with Christ as the Lord and King.
- the face of an Ox
- Jesus the humble servant who had nothing much in life in terms of
belongings and who died even with his garments taken away. He died
willingly, as a Lamb of God to the slaughter. Jesus became the
sacrificial King and the humble servant.
In this world where power, wealth, and glory rules, and where a church
pastor has not reached success until he has a BMW 7 series, and the
churches have bank accounts of gold and large cathedrals, Jesus had to
come down from the throne of heaven and finally made Himself of nothing.
He had to empty Himself and finally at the Cross, He lost everything yet
gained everything for He gained us.
We are now connected back to God when we humble ourselves, acknowledge
that we are sinners before God and needing the redemption brought forth
to us at the Cross of Calvary. By our humility, we enter into the Cross
for Jesus has borned the Cross for us and not by our works that we could
boast of. It is a narrow path where few enters because it takes a choice
to believe in Jesus and His resurrection power. It is His way and not
our way nor of the many religious faiths that we have.
- the face of a man
- Jesus who was born a man, born of humanity and well aquainted to its
pain, sufferings, and temptations that He might relate to us as a
friend. Jesus became worthy to represent us, to represent humanity and
to take upon Him all our sins of falling short of the glory of God and
for rebelling against God. We are in a condemned state and Jesus came
into our prison to open the gates of hell, to lead us out. Without being
a man, Jesus could not enter into our prison to take us out. He became
flesh, so that we can be transformed into a new creation, a new body not
of flesh but of the Spirit of God.
Without being a man, Jesus could not die for us as a man, and our sins
could not be imputed upon Him. Therefore He could not have provided a
way out, a path into the Kingdom of God for mankind without entering
Himself into this Kingdom first and be the 2nd Adam. For the 1st Adam
has fallen into sin and decay, but as descendents of faith in the 2nd
Adam we are led to eternal life back to the Garden of Eden of a close
communion with God. For Christ has come on to this earth to be one of
us, and has gone ahead on behalf of us in His humanity to be transformed
into a new creation (not of flesh) in the Kingdom of God that we
too might enter into His Kingdom in heaven.
We are now of Christ, a bond servant to Him for He bought us at Calvary.
- the face of an Eagle
- the emblem of the power, authority and majesty of God - the great " I
AM" who is and was God, and was with God in the beginning. Jesus became
the Saviour God, whose whose perfection and divine holiness became
worthy and acceptable sacrifice before God. Jesus death and sacrifice
overpaid the price for our sins because not only we are forgiven, but in
Christ, we become heirs, a child of God worthy to receive the blessings
and favor from God. As Jesus is, so are we in Christ.
We often worship ourselves, our humanity and our divinity but forgotten
that Jesus is God worthy of our worship, honour, glory and praise. We
worship God, for He is. We honour God by acknowledging His majesty and
His finished works at the Cross of Calvary.
Whom we honour and glorify, is whom we worship. "Jesus is God" is a call
to put Jesus at the centre and altar of our faith and our lives. He is
God, not a prophet or a good teacher or a good man doing good works of
love. He is the personification of God in a world where there are
so many religious faith claims to be of God. Who do you say Jesus
is?
We have played the "inclusive" message over and over again like a broken
vinyl record, but at the end is not about whether we are gay or
straight, the oppressor or being oppressed, but its all about
Jesus.
I am entering into this small church again, and the word of God to me
was that "It's about Jesus", it's about His glory and fame and not about
me. It's His way and not my way. He has made me gay for a purpose and a
reason for such a time as this - that He may be glorified and that His
love, grace and mercy may abound to the last tribe on earth, to the
least of my brethren.
In this small church, we are the least, but Jesus is with us and we can
see Him for we have nothing else to see or come between us and the
Spirit of the living God.