Water from the Altar

Ezekiel 47:1-12

Ezekiel 47 is a part of the visions God enabled the prophet Ezekiel to see, which started in chapter 40 through the guidance of “a man whose appearance was like bronze” (40:2-3). The man took Ezekiel to different places and gave instructions to him about the east gate (40:5-16), the outer court (40:17-19), the north gate (40:20-23), the south gate (40:24-27), gates to the inner court (40:28-37), rooms for preparing sacrifices (40:38-43), rooms for the priests (40:44-47; 42:1-20), and the altar (43:13-27). Ezekiel says that he was brought back to the entrance of the temple (47:1), because he already came to the temple before (40:48-41:26). But this time, what Ezekiel was made to see was way more exciting. In his first visit, he only saw measurements of doorframes, jambs, and other parts of the temple. But in his return, the man showed him the contents of the heart of God.

Now he brought me back to the entrance to the Temple. I saw water pouring out from under the Temple porch to the east (the Temple faced east). The water poured from the south side of the Temple, south of the altar. He then took me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the gate complex on the east. The water was gushing from under the south front of the Temple.

He walked to the east with a measuring tape and measured off fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water waist-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet. By now it was a river over my head, water to swim in, water no one could possibly walk through.

He said, “Son of man, have you had a good look?” Then he took me back to the riverbank. While sitting on the bank, I noticed a lot of trees on both sides of the river. ^8-10 He told me, “This water flows east, descends to the Arabah and then into the sea, the sea of stagnant waters. When it empties into those waters, the sea will become fresh. Wherever the river flows, life will flourish—great schools of fish—because the river is turning the salt sea into fresh water. Where the river flows, life abounds. Fishermen will stand shoulder to shoulder along the shore from En-gedi all the way north to En-eglaim, casting their nets. The sea will teem with fish of all kinds, like the fish of the Great Mediterranean (Ezekiel 47:1-10, MSG)

In the vision, Ezekiel saw water flowing from under the Temple, most probably right from the Holy of Holies, to outside the Temple down to the valleys. The water was gushing forth, and quite strongly, because the water from the Temple has formed a river 2 kilometers away from the temple, where its waters are over Ezekiel’s head: “water to swim in, water no one could possibly walk through.”

This is an amazing picture of what happens when the glory of God descends upon the church, because the church will not be able to contain the Holy Spirit’s presence and power. If the church is filled with God’s glory, an overflow is to be expected. The temple is situated in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was on a mountain. Jerusalem is neither situated on a great river nor is it beside a river. So where did the water come from? The answer is… I don’t know. But the Bible is clear that water can come out of rocks (Exo 17:1-5; Num 20:1-11). When the glory of the Lord is in the church, nothing is impossible. The vision of Ezekiel tells us that God plans for water to gush out of the mountain where God dwells down to the valleys where life need to grow.

Outpouring for the World

It must also be noted that the water did not come to the temple, as if the temple needed to be cleansed. The water goes out from the temple. Although it is necessary that the church experiences the cleansing and transforming power of the Holy Spirit, that is not all there is for the life of the church. We can all be occupied with the need to be cleansed and sanctified, and we can spend all our lives pursuing these desires—and this is good. But we must remember that we are called not solely to focus on our own spiritual needs. There must come a point when the church is a water-giving station, and not just a bottle that wants to be filled over and over again.

Sometimes we can be too concerned about our own filth and needs that we only pray for water for ourselves. As we mature in our Christian lives, we must learn to get rid of the mentality that Christ died for me and that the Holy Spirit is sent for me. The Bible is clear: Christ died for all and the Spirit is poured out on all flesh (Acts 2:17). The vision of Ezekiel is very refreshing. He envisioned a moment when the church becomes the source of water, when the church is the one that gives, not asks. The church is not a pool that gathers all the water to fill itself; the church is an irrigation system that supplies water to fields. We must go beyond the act of asking, and proceed to the act of giving.

Transforming Effects of Water

Ezekiel’s vision tells us what happens when water overflows from the temple. First, wherever the water from the temple goes, there is healing and transformation. Ezekiel wrote: “This water flows east, descends to the Arabah and then into the sea, the sea of stagnant waters. When it empties into those waters, the sea will become fresh” (47:8).

This is a beautiful picture. The Dead Sea is very salty. When my wife and I went to Israel in 2009, we went for a dip in the Dead Sea. Because of the density of salt in the sea, you would literally float. No matter how much you want to stay underwater, the water will push you upward. The Dead Sea is very salty. When you step on the seabed, you feel as if you are stepping on big rocks, but they are actually big chunks of salt. But because it is also very salty, no marine life is capable of surviving there. It is literally a Dead Sea. But the vision that God gave Ezekiel was that even the worst and most useless sea in the world is transformed when water from the temple flows to it. This is the transforming power of God.

In Isaiah 44:3, God said, “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground.” If in Isaiah what is transformed by water is dry ground, the water in Ezekiel transforms an entire sea. But the core thought is simple: a barangay or town or country pervaded by death and lack of life can be healed and transformed by the blessings overflowing from the church. We are all aware that we live in a world of death, poverty, injustice, and everything that is anti-life. This does not need to lead us to despair, because no matter how dead the world can be, water from the temple is sufficient to bring healing to it.

The Lord heals.   

Life-giving Water

The man who accompanied Ezekiel went on to say that “swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large number of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live… the fish will be of many kinds” (47:9-10). The picture again is stunning. The overflow of God’s work in the church brings life to everything it touches. Out of the church comes the power to bring life into a once lifeless barangay or city. Where previously there was only sin and death, when the Spirit overflows from the church, these areas are transformed as an oasis of life. The same vision was given to John: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:1-2).

The vision of Ezekiel teaches us that the church has a lot to give to the world. The church is meant to give. We cannot just release trickles of water and be satisfied. We cannot be content with ankle-deep results. We must pray that our ministry drowns the world with abundant grace. The church is not like a sprinkler, but is like a dam, which needs to open its floodgates wide.

When the floodgates of heaven open up and transforming water erupts from our church, we will not only see knee-deep and waist-deep spiritual floods around us. The vision of Ezekiel teaches us that when God makes His move, a mighty river is formed.

Christian Plumbing

Ezekiel’s vision was extraordinary, and the church must ask herself if this is happening and is true to her experience today. If not yet, when will it ever happen? Is the church an instrument of radical transformation, healing, and life to the world? Is our local church a source of living water flowing from our sanctuary to the outside world?

If we want these things to happen, then we must do something first. If God’s transforming, healing, and life-giving water is not yet flowing through us and our church in a magnificent way, then it is probably because our lives are clogged. It is probably because we are like wells filled with dirt, stones, trash, and vines that hinder the water from gushing out. The water wants to erupt, but there is so much garbage in our lives that the water simply cannot pass through.

This is something that I do not understand with God. I am a theologian, but I could not understand why God would need to rely on me to accomplish something that He wants. Why do I need to be clean to be a vessel of grace? He is God, and He can do anything He wants to do, regardless of my obedience or disobedience, or my strength or my weakness, or my existence or non-existence. But the mystery of the gospel is that God requires willing and sanctified people to be His vessels. He requires people to be His channels of grace. He requires holy people to be the irrigation through which His transforming, healing, and life-giving work flow.

This is a lot of pressure. This is a lot of responsibility. But the truth will never change no matter how much we ask or no matter how much we disagree: God’s cleansing, transforming, healing, and life-giving water flows out of the church. The world needs the church to do the right thing, otherwise the world will remain a Dead Sea. The church needs to be unclogged because it has been waiting the world for years for its healing and renewal.

Awakening

Ephesians 5:8-14

The Apostle Paul was a great missionary, but the churches that he established during his missionary journeys were somewhat problematic. One such problematic church was at Ephesus. Paul spent two or three years in Ephesus (Acts 19:10; 20:31), probably the years AD 52-54, and he was successful in establishing a Christian community there, especially among the Gentiles (Acts 19:17–2-0, 26; 1 Cor 16:9). After he left, he lost contact and communication with the believers there. In fact, he had been gone for more than seven years when he wrote the letter. It was probably written towards the end of his two-year imprisonment in Rome, along with the writing of Colossians and Philemon, in AD 62 (Eph 3:1, 13; 4:1; 6:20), and he may have been awaiting a judicial hearing. He called himself “an ambassador in chains” (6:20).

The epistle reveals some of Paul’s concerns for the Ephesians: (1) that they might have a better understanding of what God has done for them in Christ (1:18-23), (2) that Christ might dwell in their hearts (3:17), and (3) that they might understand the massive size of Christ’s love for them (3:18-19). Paul heard that the Ephesian Christians who knew him were discouraged by his suffering and their lack of contact with him (3:13), so he also wanted to encourage them.

So Paul’s letter can be said to be a letter of encouragements and admonitions. So today, we will look at one of his most important admonitions to the church. Let us read Ephesians 5:8-14,

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

The phrase “you were once darkness” is interesting because it is used as a description of the non-Christian life. It does not say “you were once in darkness.” Being in the dark means that you are surrounded by evil, and because of this, your life is influenced by the darkness that surrounds you. There is a lot of sense in which this is the description of our world today. We are surrounded by dark agenda. Television shows promote promiscuity, and turns evil things into funny comedies. Even movies that are supposedly for general audience and for children contain violence, dishonesty, non-submission to parents, and other rebellious attitudes. Things are so bad that my 5-year old child is learning bad manners by watching children reality shows on YouTube. Being in the darkness means that the world around you influences you.

But the passage does not say “you were once in darkness.” Paul actually said: “you were once darkness.” It was not the world that surrounded them that was dark. It was them. Paul was basically saying that they were the bringer of darkness. Their society was dark because of them. There was evil in society, in their families, in their homes, in their schools, and wherever they went because they were the ones bringing darkness and vile deeds wherever they went. They were the cause of the darkness of the world.

This is a shocking description of their previous lives. And we may be able to resonate with what Paul was saying to them. When we were in sin, we were the cause of many evils. People were hurt—physically, emotionally, psychologically—because of us. Our families suffered because of us. Our parents and teachers cried because of us. Innocent people experienced discomfort because of us. Our communities were not orderly because of us. The darkness of our hearts brought upon evil the world and to those around us. Our choices were the ones that really contributed to the darkness of the world. We were not victims of the darkness; we were the heralds of darkness.

But these are all in the past. Paul says that “they were once darkness.” Paul describes what happened to them in Ephesians 2:1-5,

You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

And again in Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul speaks about the fact that they are no longer the same: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

It would seem that all is well. They have been made new already. In the first two chapters of Ephesians, Paul celebrates the spiritual gifts that they have received. But it seems that something is still wrong with the Ephesian believers. Ephesians 5:14 admonishes the Ephesians to wake up!

Here is the common problem of Christians: We have already been saved. We have been set free from darkness and have joined the light. We are a new creation, where the old is gone and the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). We have already put off our old selves and identities, and have put on Christ (Eph 4:22-24). But we are dormant and sleeping. Many Christians are professional nappers. They do not sleep at church, and in fact it is when they are at church that they appear to be most alive. But the moment they are outside the church, they are asleep in their faith.

Growing up in the church, I do not remember any moment in my life when I did not love God. But there were countless moments when my love for God was really hibernating. It was there, but it did not make much difference with how I lived, how I made decisions, how I made plans, how I worked, or how I interacted with other people. I know in my head that I love God, but I was not really bothered by what this meant.

  

As Filipinos, we are familiar with the saying, “it is hard to awaken someone who is already awake: mahirap gisingin ang gising.” This applies to sleeping Christians too. I am sure that we are already half awake. It is not as if we are clueless about our own situations in life. It is not as if we have no idea about the very needs of our souls. But even when we know that we need to rise up, we choose to stay down. Paul was aware of this human tendency, which was why in 5:14, Paul was not pleading with admonishing tears. Paul was commanding the Ephesians to wake up and rise from their dead state. He was calling them, or commanding them to rise from the dead. The picture is that of Jesus commanding Lazarus, “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43) or commanding the little girl, “Talitha koum” (Little girl, I say to you, get up! Mark 5:41). The dead hear the voice of God, and they respond. They truly rise from the dead in obedience to God’s command. The promise is clear for us: “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live” (John 5:25).

The consequences of our slumber as Christians is quite drastic. Let me present you some statistics. According to a speaker during the Manila Missions Conference in 2015, there are approximately 180,000 people saved in the world per day. There are 7.3 billion people alive in the world. If the global church reaches out to 180,000 people per day, then there are 65,700,000 people saved every year. If this continues, it will take 111.111 years for 7.3 billion people in the world to become a Christian. This will be achieved in 2127.

The problem is that by 2127, world population will not remain as 7.3 billion. By 2127, the projected world population, according to the UN, is about 19 billion. Thus, if we want the people of the whole world to be Christians by 2127, we need to reach out to 171,000,171 people every year during the next 111 years. This means reaching out to 468,493 people per day for the next 111 years. So, if we are reaching out to 180,000 people per day, then there are an estimated 288,493 who are lost per day for the next 111 years.

Of the 7.3 billion people in the world, 2,173,180,000 are Christians. If there are 180,000 people reached out every day, it means that it takes 12,073 Christians to reach out to one non-believer per day or there is only one in every 12,073 Christians around the world who bears witness to Christ to one person.

These numbers present a stark reality. If we, for a moment, think that Christians around the world are not sleeping, we are terribly wrong. This is why Paul’s admonition is very important. In fact, Paul commands us to awaken from our slumber not really for our own sakes. The purpose of awakening is not so that we gain blessings or gifts from God. Awakening is not an end in itself and for our sakes; it is for the sake of others. If we awaken from our moral slumber, the result is that “Christ will shine on us” (Eph 5:14).

If in the past we were once darkness, and we brought darkness into the world, now we should be light who bear the fruits of goodness, righteousness and truth (Eph 5:9). But we can only be the light of the world if we awaken. More than we care to admit, the church can be like the valley of dry bones pictured in Ezekiel 37. We are a group of dead bodies. We are there. We exist, but we exist in the form of scattered bones. We deceive ourselves by thinking that it is alright to be lying down, so long as we are Christians. But the fact is this: the church of Christ must not be composed of dry bones. We need to wake and rise up and become a living army (Ezek 10:10).

The prophet Isaiah paints a wonderful picture that we must all aspire.

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
² See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
³ Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn

(Isa 60:1-3; cf 2 Cor 3:18)

“Thick darkness is over the people,” says Isaiah. This is the picture of the world as it is today. But there is hope. If we awaken from our slumber, God’s glory will appear upon us. If we “arise, shine, for your light has come,” “nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” We are the light of the word, Jesus said (Matt 5:14), and if we allow our light to shine, peoples and nations will know God.

Awaken. As in the valley of the dry bones, the only way to become alive is through the enlivening power of the Holy Spirit. Maybe what we need today is a fresh touch of the Spirit. 

Honest Prayer

It seems that prayer is one of the most neglected means of grace. Thomas Watson once remarked: “Christ went more readily to the cross, than we do to the throne of grace.” Watson’s observation in the seventeenth century is still true today. The biggest evidence of this is the small number of people attending prayer meetings. Christian commitment to prayer is ridiculously miniscule. Worse still, even during prayer times in worship gatherings, there are evidences suggesting that many Christians do not know how to pray. Honestly, I often wonder if people in church—whose eyes are closed—are truly praying when someone is “leading the prayer.”

We all remember that on His last week on earth, Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the Temple. He caused quite a scene there because He overturned the tables of the merchants and drove them away. Then He said, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers’” (Matt 21:13; quoting Isa 56:7). Today, I sincerely do not think that we are guilty of having turned God’s sanctuary into a den of thieves, but I am not quite certain whether our churches will not be judged for failing to make God’s sanctuary a place of prayer.

The Scriptures has a lot of say about prayer. One of the most crucial ones is written by James: “You do not have because you do not ask God” (4:2).

To be honest, reading James 4:2 makes me very uncomfortable for two reasons.

First, it seems to vindicate prosperity gospel. According to Wikipedia, this is a movement teaching that faith, asking, and positive thinking will increase one’s material wealth. The idea is that when humans have faith in God, He will deliver His promise of security and prosperity. If we confess these promises in faith, God will give them to us. It is a “claim it, have it” ideology.

Secondly, it contradicts what I affirm and believe about God’s Godness. I know that God is free. God cannot be forced to do things. He is the Lord of the universe, and I am nothing. But the passage seems to say that I, a mere insignificant creature—a bug, a useless chaff in the wind (Ps 1:4; Job 21:8), a grass or flower that withers (Isa 40:8; 1 Peter 1:24)—have a significance in the universe that my prayer can affect God’s decision. We do not have, because we do not ask. The verse seems to say that my prayer—yes, my simple prayer—can change the condition I am in, particularly of not having something.

Surprisingly, the same thought was expressed by Jesus: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:7-11).

The only thing we must do is ask! But there’s a catch. How should we ask?

We must ask earnestly. The word “ask” refers to pleading with the whole heart. It is asking what we desire with all our hearts. It is not an uncommitted prayer. It is not asking with the lips; it is asking with the whole heart. It is pleading to the point that we are grieved when what we asked for is not given to us. It is like my daughter asking for a Stick-O, and becoming really frustrated when she is denied. It is not asking with an indifferent attitude, or not caring whether our prayers are answered or not.

What is important is not the number of times we pray, but the fact that we mean what we pray and that we really desire what we pray for. When we pray for the healing of a person, and we really do not care about the person and whether he or she is healed, do we think we truly prayed? When we pray for our food out of plain routine, do we think that God will truly bless our food? When we pray with our mouths for God to bless our pastors and our church, and yet we do not really care about things such as ministry and the like, do we think we really prayed?

Genuine prayer is praying out of the depths of the heart, beseeching God to grant us what we really desire. It is a genuine insult to God when we come to Him with words, but we do not really mean them. John Bunyan once wrote, “When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words without heart.”

I remember some of the prayers I uttered while I was a young boy. Night after night, when I was in my elementary years, I prayed that I would get an academic award when the commencement exercises come in March. Even as a small child, I was very specific with my prayers. When I think about them now, they seem childish, but when I was young, they were the honest contents of my heart. Perhaps what we need today as believers is to go back to being an honest child in praying. As we have matured in our intellectual capacities, we have expanded our vocabulary and learned to construct poetic statements. Then we employ these learnings in our prayers, trying to flatter God [and the congregation] with our jargons and complex sentences. But perhaps what God really desires from us is the simplest expressions of what our hearts truly desire. No pretenses. No sugar-coating. No flattery. Just plain and honest utterances coming from the depths of our hearts.

So the important question is this: What is it that we really desire in our hearts? What do we truly desire? Have we told God about them yet, no matter how ridiculous they might sound? Or are we just mumbling things that we do not really care about?

The worst possible scenario for a Christian is when he or she does not desire anything godly anymore, which is why he or she does not have anything to pray about too. He does not have because he does not ask; and he does not ask because he does not care. To make the questions more focused and general to us:

Could it be that there is no personal growth in us because we do not really seek or desire to grow in our faith? We do not have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control because we do not ask God for these virtues, because we don’t really care. Could it be that we are not asking for more of God because we are already content with our spiritual status as infants? We do not pray much because we do not really care much about God anyway.

Could it be that the reason why the church is not growing is that we are not praying about it, because we don’t really care. We do not have the desire to see our empty seats filled. We do not care whether our attendance is dropping. Anyway, we can find another church if our local church closes down. Could it be that there are not even 5 or 10 who are genuinely praying and desiring for this church to become a sanctuary-filled people whose lives have been transformed by the grace of God?  

Could it be that there is no revival in our church and in our nation because we do not really ask for it from God, because we don’t really care? We do not have the desire for ourselves, for the church, and for the nation to be swept away by the mighty power of God. Yahweh once said, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron 7:14). Could it be that the reason this is not happening in our lifetime is that we do not desire it? There is no intense longing to see our neighbors become transformed by the power of the gospel.

Could it be that there seems to be nothing happening in our lives and in our church because we do not have spiritual desires and aspirations? Could it be that we are already content with where we are? Could it be that our spiritual desires and aspirations are swallowed up by our earthly and worldly desires (James 4:4, 7-10)?

These are really tough questions that every believer should courageously face and answer. We are accountable to God, whether we like it or not and whether now or later.

The Church: Body of the Risen Lord

Jesus died, but He also rose from the dead. He was persecuted, but He was triumphant. He was rejected, but was also received by many. He suffered pain, yet He was given incorruptible body. He experienced shame, yet He is now glorified. He died a lowly death in the cross, yet He is now exalted in the heavenly realms. The church is the body of the risen Lord. What does this entail for the church?

A look at what happened to the disciples when Jesus died will give a good contrast. When Jesus died, the disciples were like “Oh man! We chose the wrong side!” The Jewish leaders were like “Hihihihihi! We have won!” The disciples were absolutely devastated. They have invested three years of their lives following the rabbi called Jesus, fully trusting that He is the Messiah the whole nation of Israel has been waiting for. They have left their businesses and occupation. They left their families. And now that Jesus is dead, there was nothing waiting for them but the same shame and treatment that Jesus received.

Of course they were completely distraught. Here are some of the things that happened to them:

1. The disciples were scattered. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the only disciple mentioned to be nearby was John (John 19:16). This is because when Jesus was being arrested at the Garden of Gethsemane, “everyone deserted him and fled,” including a disciple who ran naked, leaving his garments behind (Mark 14:50-52).
2. The disciples went to hiding: “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders” (John 20:19). They were hiding their identity. If Peter denied Jesus Christ three times, the rest of the disciples were now making sure that nobody recognized them. They were so afraid of the religious leaders. Of course, why would they want to be identified with a convicted criminal who was merciless tortured and crucified? This is true about the church today. We act as if Christ is still dead and defeated. We do not want to be identified as a Christian to others because of fear. We wear our t-shirts with godly inscriptions only when we go to church and church-related gatherings. Like the disciples, we meet together and gather in order to hide from the world. We hide our Christian identity within the confines of our homes and the sanctuary. We gather in order to strengthen each other while being afraid of the authorities of the world that challenge our faith.
3. The disciples became idle. In John 21:2-3, at least they already stepped out of the upper room. Seven disciples were together once again, doing nothing. The fact that they were doing nothing is significant, because we must remember that even before Jesus died, they were commissioned to visit villages to minister to the people’s needs (Matt 10:1). In fact, they were so busy that at one point, “they did not even have a chance to eat” (Mark 6:31). But when Jesus died, they abandoned their mission and started to do nothing. Not only this, but Peter seemed to want to go back to his old profession as fisherman and the others followed his lead (John 21:3), when they should be fishing for men (Matt 4:19). They have forgotten their mission.

Like the disciples, the church sometimes is sometimes acting as if Jesus Christ is still in the tomb. We are afraid. We are idle. We gather only to go back to our old patterns of living. No wonder why the world is witnessing a lot of churches closing down, declining in membership, or are just barely surviving.

The church is not meant to be the body of the buried Christ.

There is a parody of the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers,” and I like this parody because this is the national anthem of many churches today:

Backward Christian soldiers, fleeing from the fight, 
With the cross of Jesus, nearly out of sight. 
Christ our rightful master stands against the foe 
Onward into battle, we seem afraid to go.

Like a mighty turtle moves the church of God. 
Brothers we are treading, where we’ve often trod. 
We are much divided, many bodies we, 
Having different doctrines, but not much charity.

Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, 
But the cross of Jesus hidden does remain. 
Gates of hell should never ‘gainst the Church prevail, 
We have Christ’s own promise, but we think it might fail.

Sit here then ye people, join our sleeping throng. 
Blend with ours, your voices in a feeble song. 
Blessings, ease and comfort - ask from Christ the King, 
With our modern thinking, we won’t do a thing.

This hymn is the hymn of the body of the buried Christ. But Christ is no longer buried. He is risen from the dead. He is alive.

The resurrection changed the lives of the disciples. They were no longer afraid of death because they know that life awaits at the end. They have found the true meaning of life. They became bold, aggressive, and full of joy. The finest illustration would be Peter. He denied Jesus to a lowly girl, but after the resurrection, he stood in the temple courts defying those who were responsible for Jesus’ death (Acts 4:20). In Acts 2:22-32, Peter preached about the resurrection in the same city where Jesus died. Many were even eye-witnesses of his death. And such a tragic tale was just two months ago, and for sure, the discussions have not died out yet. Peter was addressing people who were very interested about it. In the crowds were probably the same people who shouted “Crucify!” and religious leaders who were responsible in the death of Christ. Yet Peter stood up.

What happened to Peter? The resurrection of Jesus Christ gave him lots of courage. Here are the things he said in his sermon to the Jerusalem crowd:

1. “God raised him from the dead… It was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” (2:24). Basically, he was saying that because God is involved, no human activity can ever triumph over him. It does not matter what humans invent or seem to achieve. Human plans and schemes do not work on Him. Human situations are irrelevant. Humanity’s greatest weapon to threaten other humans—death—does not work. Paul wrote, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).
2. David prophesied about it happening, and once it is said, it will happen (Acts 2:25-28). God is faithful to accomplish what He said He would do. The people knew that once a prophet has spoken, it is as good as done. God’s promises will be fulfilled. This was affirmed by the Israelites: “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses” (1 Kings 8:56).
3. Jesus is “the author of life” (Acts 3:14-15). John said that “in Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Jesus affirmed the same (John 5:26-29; 11:25; 14:6). There is power in the resurrection. There is power in life.

Here is the good news: “If we have been united with Jesus in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom 6:5). Just as we share in the suffering and death of Christ, we will also share in the victory of his resurrection. The Church is the body of the crucified Christ, but it is also the body of the risen and victorious Christ. The church is not only a suffering church; it is also the church of the risen and triumphant Lord! Our participation as a church in the death and resurrection of Christ is revealed in the words of Paul: “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil 3:10).

But what is “the power of the resurrection?”  

It is interesting that the Greek word used for “power” in Philippians 3:10 is the same word used in the promise of Jesus to the disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power (dunamin) when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” It seems that the coming of the Spirit is crucial in receiving the power of the resurrection. And this is just proper, for it is through the Spirit that Jesus Himself was raised from the dead: “He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit” (1 Pet 3:18).

The Spirit who gave life to a lifeless lump of clay will also give the church life. The Spirit who made an army out of dry bones will also empower the church for its mission. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (1 Peter 3:18) will also raise the church from its slumber. The church is not a tomb. Christians are not meant to lie and rot in a tomb. Just as Christ rose from the dead, the church is called to rise from its death and slumber. The church is the body of the risen Christ!

The Church: Body of the Crucified Christ

If I were to look at the life of Christ, I would not want to be in His shoes. John summarized His life pretty well: “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him” (John 1:9-10). From his birth to his resurrection, he experienced rejection:

• He was denied a decent place to be born in Bethlehem by inn keepers (Luke 2:17)
• He was intended to be killed by the ruler King Herod (Matt 2:16)
• He was belittled by reflective thinkers like Nathaniel (John 1:45-46)
• He was rejected by His religious leaders (Mark 11:27-12:17)
• He was disowned by His own town mates (Luke 14:14-30)
• He was the subject of suspicion by the masses (Mark 5:17)
• He was deserted by His other disciples (John 6:66)
• He was denied by His closest friend Peter (John 18:15-27)
• He was doubted by His own disciple (John 20:24-29)
• He was the subject of conspiracy by the chief priests (Matt 28:11-15)

Worst of all, He was so hated by many that he ended by being murdered.

The Persecuted Church

The night before he died, he had a serious conversation with His disciples, and some are these words:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ (John 15:18-25).

These are not very encouraging words. They are extremely gloomy words. But the fact is clearly stated by Jesus: His followers will be rejected and persecuted, just as He experienced the same. In other words, if the church is the body of Christ, then just as the head experienced suffering at the hands of the world, so should the body expect the same. This is what it means for the church to be the body of the crucified Christ. John said, “Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:13).

Truly, just as Jesus said, the church has always been under persecution. The beginning of radical persecution that even led to brutal murders started in AD 40, during the reign of Emperor Nero. Historians report that during his reign, Christians were used as human torches to light Rome. Christians were fed to wild animals. They were burned alive. They were beheaded, if they were Roman citizens. They became entertainment at the arena. They were stripped naked and displayed for the world to see and mock. They suffered shame and death, just like Jesus did. Some of the disciples died brutally. Peter was crucified upside-down in AD67/68. James son of Zebedee was put to death by Herod Agrippa in AD44. John brother of James died at Patmos as an exile between AD89-120. Andrew is reported to have been crucified at Achaia.

Up until today, the church still suffers at the hands of the world. Rejection, persecution, and mockery come from religious communities (e.g. Islam), from atheists (e.g. Dawkins, etc.), and from immorals (e.g. LGBT community). And just like Jesus Christ and the Christians of the early church, Christians today suffer shame and death.

For the Sake of Others

We have all decided to follow Jesus, and hopefully there is no turning back from such a commitment. Jesus Christ did not turn back from His commitment to us, although it has cost Him everything. Christ embraced the cross for the sake of others and the world. Such is also the challenge for us. We endure pain and shame not because we are masochists, but because we are thinking of others. But in particular, we are thinking of Jesus Christ.

Jesus did not flee from the cross, but accepted it. The church must be the same. Just as Christ was crucified for the world, the church is also called to take up the cross for the world. Just as the suffering of Christ leads to the salvation of humanity, our sacrificial suffering can lead others to Christ. The paradox of the Christian experience is that even our suffering can be used by God as a testimony to Him. Luke writes:  “They will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. And so you will bear testimony to me” (Luke 21:12-13). 

In fact, suffering for Christ is an integral part of our being witnesses. This is particularly highlighted in Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The Greek word used for “witnesses” is martyrion, where we get the English word “martyr” today. So, literally, Jesus is saying: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my martyrs in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Two things are important here: First, our witness involves being martyrs. Being a martyr might mean different for us today, but in the NT era, this meant being killed publicly. Our witness as Christians is tied to our willingness to accept suffering, pain, and shame. Secondly, we need the Holy Spirit to empower us. On our own, we are incapable of rising above ourselves and our instinct to steer away from pain and humiliation. We are creatures of self-preservation, and apart from God’s empowerment, we will always be “me-people.” It is only when we are able to look beyond ourselves, our own needs, our comfort, even our lives that we are able to truly accept our calling as witnesses of Christ.

It is probably just coincidence, but it seems that being witnesses/martyrs of Christ really involve persecution. The call of Acts 1:8 is to be martyrs in Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth; Acts 8:1 later says, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1).

I am not saying that we must be persecuted in order to become witnesses. But a wholehearted acceptance of possible persecution and suffering is what’s important. According to John Piper, “comfort and ease and affluence and prosperity and safety and freedom often cause a tremendous inertia in the church.” The church must be careful in investing a lot of its efforts and resources for the sake of providing comfortable and relaxing worship experience, because it might produce Christians who are self-centered, apathetic, and pre-occupied with security and comfort. In the parable of the sower, Jesus said that “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). John Piper once said: “Persecution can have harmful effects on the church. But prosperity, it seems, is even more devastating to the mission to which God calls us.”

There is power in suffering. In fact, we are saved precisely by the suffering of another human being for us. The forgiveness of our sins is grounded in the sacrificial suffering of Christ. That is the power of the cross. Paul writes: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

The church is the body of the crucified Christ. It is through the cross that we are forgiven. It is also through carrying our crosses that other people are saved. Jesus did not shy away from the cross in order to save humanity. The church must not shy away from its cross in order to be the means of saving others. 

The Church: Body of the Incarnate Son

Filipinos love taking pictures or have their pictures taken. At almost every wedding or birthday I have attended, there will always be a photo booth. In many of these booths, head gears and face masks are available. We can pick one or two of these gears and wear them and take our wacky shots. The problem is that our formal attires are also visible in the photos. This means that our heads or faces do not really match with our bodies. There is a disconnection between our wacky heads and our formal bodies. Our heads do not match our bodies, basically. This disconnection between the head and the body is a problem that the church experiences. The Bible is clear that the church is the body of Christ (Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 12:12-31; Eph 4:11-13; Col 1:24), we are members of the body (Eph 5:29-30), and that Jesus is the head of the body (Col 1:18; Eph 4:15-16; 5:23).

The church has many designations in the Bible, including “the house of God” (1 Tim 3:15), “household of God” (Eph 2:19), “household of faith” (Gal 6:10), but for me, the church must be understood primarily in relationship to Jesus Christ. This time, we will deal with the church as the body of the incarnate Christ.    

In our dealing with the world, we are challenged to represent Jesus Christ with who we are and what we have. The Filipino ventriloquist Ruther Urquia talks about how we can be a blessing with what we already have. We do not need to be someone else or desire to be someone else. We just need to look at what we have in our hands or bags, and use them to reach people to Christ. There is an absolute truth to this. This is a model exemplified by Moses with his staff, by David and his slingshot, and Paul with the perks of being an educated Roman citizen.

But Christ takes another and more extreme road: He becomes what He was not just to redeem us. The glorious mystery of the incarnation is that God became what He is not. And when He became human, He made Himself vulnerable to all our human experiences of pain, sorrow, even death. The word incarnate comes from two Latin words: in carne, which means “in the flesh.” John 1:14 writes: “The Word became flesh.” In order to save humanity, He became like one of us. He was human like us in every way (Heb 4:15). He went through all of human experience. He hungered and thirsted. He experienced pain. He ate our food. He sat in the grass. He slept on floors and boats. He walked with people. He came to people’s homes. He ate with people. He socialized with the outcast. Jesus did not build His ministry around the Temple or around a physical location. He came to the masses. He went to the lost to serve them.

The church is the body of Christ whose presence in the world must be modeled in the incarnation of the Son. The church is the body of Christ, whose members should imitate Jesus Christ in His willingness to be who they are not yet just to be able to reach others. The church is a spiritual reality incarnated within space and time, meeting the needs of the world. The church empathizes with its audience. The church goes where the people are in their situation.

This is called incarnational ministry. This can mean two things: (1) being better than who we are now, and (2) stooping down to the level of others. So if the former, the questions are: what are our self-conceived inefficiencies? How can we overcome them? How can you be equipped? If it is the latter, the questions are: What should I give up in order to serve? What hinders me from reaching people of lower positions?

When we are not able either to overcome our weaknesses or humble ourselves, then we become passive. If the church is the body of the One who made Himself in the flesh, then the body herself must be visible, tangible, and active. It cannot be that the head of the body is fighting and the body is hiding. It cannot be that the head of the body is incarnate and the body remains “spiritual.” That is a scary picture.

The church is the body of the incarnate Son, and in the same way that Jesus made himself available to the needy, the sick, and the unrighteous, the church must make herself present in the world for the sake of others. According to William Temple, “the church is the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefit of its non-members.” The hand is not only there to feed our own mouths. Our arms are not there so we can embrace ourselves. Our tongues are not there so we can speak to ourselves. Our feet are not created just so we can walk only within the church. We exist not for our own sakes and for our mutual benefit. It is true that it is important for us to huddle up together, but at the end of the day, the church must also realize that it is the body of the One who makes Himself available to the world.

One Body, One Spirit

Ephesians 4:1–7, 11–13; Romans 12:3–8

What constitutes a great picture? Sometimes people take an extremely wide shot picture. In these pictures, the people are so miniscule you can hardly recognize them. We usually critique these pictures, saying “what they have taken is not really them, but the background.” What we might not realize is that such may be intentional. They really want to emphasize the background more than their selves. If our lives are pictures, then in many of them we are not the center. Many of our life pictures are more meaningful and worth looking at and remembering when it is the background that is emphasized. These backgrounds may be buildings like churches, or places like schools or parks or landmarks. These pictures with these backgrounds tell us that these places are more important than we ever consciously think of them.

What constitutes a great picture? Sometimes we cherish a particular picture not because we are there, but because with us in the picture are people who are close to our hearts. The value of the picture is not dependent on my presence, but in the presence of another. We keep these pictures because they tell us that we are not alone. It is these pictures that usually give us smiles or sometimes tears. It is these pictures that warm our hearts.

Life is composed of many attempts to construct pictures, with different scenarios, variables, characters, and goals. What we did here is only a reflection of what our lives are consists of. But it is not just the “I” who is constructing pictures. We often forget that we too are a part of someone else’s life picture. They are trying to fit us in. We contribute to someone else’s picture, consciously or unconsciously, voluntarily or not. The question is: are we a nuisance or do we contribute to make such pictures beautiful?

What constitutes a great picture? In our game, we constructed pictures. In each picture, we played different roles at different times. These roles are not important in themselves – their importance is grounded in the contribution they make to the picture. Is this not what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:14–26: “Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. … the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”

If our lives are composed of picture-making, then we must accept that fact that we play different roles as we try to contribute to everyone’s life. Sometimes these roles require humility from us, because we are being asked to play less honorable roles. Sometimes we stand, but sometimes someone has to sit on us; sometimes we are at the center, but sometimes we need to lift others up; sometimes are the most important piece, but sometimes we are only supporters to someone else; sometimes we are leaders, but most of the time we are followers. We must be ready to fulfill inconvenient roles––roles that we think are below our rank, degree, or position. How can we do this? Paul said “I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Rom 12:3).

In the body, we fulfill different functions for the sake of the whole. This is why Paul said in Romans 12:3-8: “I… beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift… The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”