“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."
-- Revelation 3: 14 - 18
In Singapore we are blessed with prosperity. And maybe it's our Asian drive mixed with Western ingenuity that has led us to pursue success in every area of our lives. I mean we can easily define success as the amount of money we earn every month, the brand of the cars we have, or even how well our kids are coming. It can be even the less tangible things, such as the amount of options our education degrees gives us, or how happy we are with our current job.
We may even stretch this in the context of our Christian lives. Some people gauge the success of the church by the number of people attending, or the amount of donations. Others look at reputation, or highlight the number of celebrities at their church.
What if I were to tell you none of that mattered?
The costs of following Jesus
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
-- Luke 14: 25-33
In my interactions with my fellow Singaporean Christians, there seem to be an idea that following God would results in blessings gained. However in the verse above, the message is clear: in following Jesus, we must be prepared to give up everything.
That is what has been missing from a lot of preaching I heard in Singapore. The idea that we will suffer, lose or even die when we following Jesus. To deny that is disingenuous to the early Christians or our suffering siblings in North Korea and the Middle East.
The genuity of worship
But Samuel replied:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams"
-- 1 Samuel 15:22
As shown in the verse above, God desires genuine worship. It is not enough to give money, time and effort if our intentions are not enough. So what if we are wealthy and give God 10%, 50% or 90%? So what if we hit all the right notes in the songs?
Sincerity in worship is more important. If I am allowed to be frank, I rather have a smaller congregation with real worshipers, than to be in a church with many numbers but little sincerity.
The choice between truth and peace
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
-- 2 Timothy 4: 2-4
If we are not careful, we may fill our ears and thoughts with things we simply like, and not what the Bible says. As the song goes, "the heart wants what it wants."
If we want someone to affirm Christian homosexuality, we can find someone to that. If we want to find a respectable person to support the idea that Christianity is about being wealthy and healthy, we can look for that too.
That would be contrary with what the Bible teaches. Christianity is not about peace at the expense of the truth of Jesus. It is about the truth that Jesus died for our sins, and the only way for reconciliation with God is through Him.
Often we are afraid to offend people in Singapore, especially since the country prides herself in religious harmony and secularism. Thus there is a tendency to treat all religions as equal. Even my ex-pastor recently went on a Buddhist meditation trip.
It may be unpopular, and even cost us our jobs. But we must declare that Jesus is the only way.
Conclusion
The truth is this -- in our lips we may condemn the prosperity gospel or claim we are following God, but in our hearts in may be different.
Dear friends, it is my plead that we all follow Scripture, even it is brings us to the unfavourable conclusion that we must change our lives in order to follow God.
For further thinking
