LENT, day 8 - WAKE UP!

I read this week's reading this morning. And I became...worried. This piece of scripture is confusing, and it comes from a group of scriptures that are universally considered to be a little "taboo" because of it's sheer scariness.

Of course, the reading comes out of the book of Revelation. And one of the most revelatory things about this book is that this IS God. The same God from all the other chapters. We're so accustomed to a God of grace that we're literally a little shocked (and kind of off-put) when He shows that He is also a God of justice. Justice in accordance with His infinite holiness, and not our shady relativism. I honestly, had no idea what to write, at first. However, I got a small deja vu moment while reading it the second time. And that deja vu was that "everything is connected" feeling I mentioned earlier. So without further ado:

Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 

 - Revelation 3:2-5

Just this past week, in one of my small groups, we were talking about the Flood in the book of Genesis. And we were literally comparing the end of the world at the beginning of the Bible to the end of the world a the end of the Bible. In many ways, I think they are VERY different. But there is one way in which they are the same...

The people were absolutely shocked:

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  

- Matthew 24:37-39

In the scripture in Revelation, Jesus is not referring to his 2nd coming but He is talking about shocking them "I will come like a thief..." Correction would be coming to them, and it would be harsh. When I was a kid, a whoopin' could happen suddenly. Not to me...but to other people's kids. My mom believed in a really long lecture prior to discipline, so I was never caught off guard. But I knew kids who after being given instruction, were never warned again. They just are talking and laughing and SUDDENLY they've been hit in the mouth. Not like punched in the face. But whatever they were saying was out of line, and they were immediately stopped. But why did it happen like that? 

Asleep. 

I mean, physically awake, but mentally asleep. Careless in their conversation. Oblivious to the displeasure of their parent. Spiritually, the church in Sardis is asleep. They are careless in the work of the Church, and oblivious to God's displeasure. Until NOW. They are now getting the lecture that precedes discipline. And it goes something like this: 

You have a problem...

• Wake Up! - Open your eyes and seen. Become alert and aware. This is first.
• You're Not dead...Yet -A person who does nothing but sleep, doesn't eat. They don't exercise. If you slept all day, every day...you'd certainly die. Imagine being asleep for 4 days straight (not a coma, just sleep). No food. No water. No exercise. When someone shook you awake...what would happen? You'd have a very urgent to-do list, or you'd die. Take care of the urgent spiritual needs. Strengthen what remains of YOU! This is second.

And do you know why you have a problem...?

• A Job Half-Done is Not Done at All - You thought you were done. You tried to checklist your salvation...didn't you? "Accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior? Check!" "Baptism? Check!" "Go to church sometimes? Check!" But did you present your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, yielded over to perform the works that God has prepared for you? (Romans 12:1; Ephesians 2:10)
• Remember when You were Happy? Remember when you first heard the gospel and it changed your life? Remember how excited you were? How happy? What happened to that? What has pulled your attention? What do you want that's more? To what lie have you subordinated the truth? All rhetorical questions. But go back...to what your first heard and received. And repent all over again. Be broken by the gospel all over again. I once heard a pastor say that we always want something "new" both carnally and spiritually. But sometimes you don't need "new"...you need "original." God is calling you back to that original spot that was so incredible. Sometimes you have to go back.

 

So, this is going to hurt me a lot more than it'll hurt you...

• Don't get shocked... - You won't even know what hit you!

Don't go down like that people!  But how do we wake up? How do we spiritually see?! 

I think, first, you have to realize that you're asleep. This could be very difficult!! Last night, I kept having this dream that my front door was unlocked (which scares me), and so I got out of bed, locked the door, and went back to sleep. Easy peasy. Except...that never happened. I never got up! I dreamed it.  And then I realized I dreamed it. I'm so sleepy, but still I force myself out of bed, literally rolling onto the floor, walking to the door, locking it, and then going back to sleep. Except...that never happened either. I dreamed it AGAIN! And then I was freaked out, worried that I was in actual danger and that God was warning me to get up and lock my door...but even that fear was only embedded in my dream. I never got up. Not until my alarm went off at 6:38 a.m. And so I hurriedly put on my workout clothes and headed towards the door to go to the gym. But I forgot something. So I go back to my room, get the forgotten headphones, and then just stood in front of the door. I couldn't decide if I threw the deadbolt before I went back to my room for the headphones. Or if the door had always been...unlocked. 

It freaked me out a little. In the grand scheme of things that's a semi-meaningless story except...don't sleep through your warnings. Don't sleep on your warnings. It might be very real.

Wake up.