Church camp starts tomorrow! So excited. Plus, Michelle and I are having our worship leading debut tomorrow during main service too! Okay, not me really, it's her. I'm just helping because she got pushed two months ahead of schedule last minute. As usual, spiritual attacks abound; my toothache came back again two days ago, but slowly subsided. It's a constant reminder of how I must never steal a single piece of limelight from God, for it's with His strength that I can even have a voice to sing, it's for His victory over death that I even have something to sing about.
Last Sunday was the Global Day of Prayer organized by some of the largest churches in Singapore. Some of the youths and I went for it, and though we were late, we still managed to catch quite a large part of it. Everything went pretty good, there were few screw-ups (the major ones being the power-point, as usual), but something was strangely amiss. The worship was fantastic, the crowd was wild and party-like, the atmosphere was on fire. But there was a problem.
Firstly, this was a Global Day of Prayer event. But the amount of time I spent praying was less than 1/4 of the entire time I was there! Worship took half the time, sermon and some performances took up the other quarter. Instead, it seemed like a youth-outreach program! The organizers had lined-up performances that were very much eye-candy. Some were totally weird, like beat-boxing and break dancing, then calling it a Christian performance. Alright, I'll let that off, but I could tell Jason was definitely not happy about it. I blame it on the fact that we grew up in a conservative Christian environment, but there's still something strange about rapping "Yo, Jesus, He's the man, yo." It's just... strange. But the thing that irked me was that I expected to go there and pray, but we hardly did so.
Secondly, and more dangerously, was that the Global Day of Prayer targeted the audience. It was all about the audience. How important they were, how they need to stand up and go forth, how they are unique and special blah blah. I was squirming in my seat consistently; such messages are... wrong. God doesn't NEED you. He isn't Uncle Sam. If you don't want to get up and obey, He'll find someone else. God INVITES you to do His work, "Whom shall I send? Who shall go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8a) He doesn't look and say, "Hey bro, I need you. You're the key." It's nice to think that we are the key people with Messianic destinies predestined since before time. But I'm sorry to disappoint you, if you're not willing to help, that's just too bad. You missed your chance. You're not Neo from The Matrix or John Conner from Terminator. Neither are you the Phoenix from X-Men Chronicles or Leonidas from 300. God's kingdom will not come any slower if you're not willing to play a part in it, there are many others who are more than happy to stand in your place.
If revival is going to come, it'll come with a re-emphasis not on who we are, but who God is. The church comes dangerously to telling the Good News with the listeners as the main figure. If this doctrine continues, there is no difference from the advertisements on television. Prosperity sermons come from this evil, misaligned strain of human wisdom. The Bible talks more about the path of Jesus being one of suffering, not prosperity. We are warned that the path is not easy, that suffering is commonplace in the Christian walk, then called to suffer with Jesus. We are even commanded to make Christ's suffering complete in us(Col 1:24).
The Church doesn't need softies. No great movement ever took forth with people making a huge din then running away in the face of suffering. No great transformation ever took place with people waving huge banners and fleeing the authorities.
Least of all, no great Christian revival ever took place by focusing on teaching people about how great they are and how important they are to the Kingdom. On the contrary, great revivals take place by telling people simply who God is. In the 1800s, the hellfire and brimstone preachers were relegated as pessimistic preachers, and the "revivalists" who focused on the mercy of God began to gain prominence. The wannabe world evangelists today follow that trend by talking about God's mercy and grace (and for some of them, prosperity too!), but they forget one thing. The people in the 1800s (because of the slowly dying out but still prominent hellfire and brimstone preachers) were strongly aware of sin, that's why the mercy/grace sermons had their effect. The people today do not have an awareness of sin that is as evident, and mercy/grace sermons are slowly being dominated by prosperity sermons that sound good to the human ears.
If revival is to start in church and in Singapore:
1. We must know God intimately
2. We must disregard ourselves as nothing but disposable instruments called to serve and obey
3. All efforts at evangelism must aim at making people aware of sin again
Without this three things, revival will not come, or at best, match the level of other major religions or new-age doctrines that focus on ME ME ME. My "energy", my "qi", my "optimistic perspectives". Christianity MUST differ in that we focus on GOD GOD GOD. It matters not if Christians start leaving the church when suddenly their lives are filled with suffering. It matters not should global church leaders debate over something so "point blank" in the Bible. It matters not if pre-believers start getting turned off when they find out through Christianity that the world doesn't revolve around them (and not because we start becoming obnoxious, self-glorifying and rude).
But because the world REALLY doesn't revolve around them, (or us, for that matter). It revolves around HIM, and will continue to, till the end of time.
Let Jesus be everything, and I, nothing. I'm nothing but a small instrument in His hands. It matters not what happens to me, it only matters that people love Jesus more each day. -Mother Teresa
Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. -Paul (2 Thess 1:4-5)
No comments:
Post a Comment