从觉醒到警醒 The journey to stay awake

Title: The journey to stay awake 从觉醒到警醒
Date: 16th Apr 2023
Preacher: Rev. Wong Siow Hwee

I remember the times when I first heard the story of Exodus in Sunday School. Each time the Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go, I would cheer and jeer as the plagues fell one after another upon the Egyptians. In my mind, the Egyptians deserved it for enslaving the Israelites and oppressing them. But as I matured in life, somehow my sense of vengeance was diminished, and instead I felt pity for the poor Pharaoh, especially when he lost his first-born son in the final plague. Why didn’t he just give up and give in earlier? How could a mere mortal hope to win against God?

But you know what? The Pharaoh probably didn’t see it that way, because he saw himself as a god. And so when Moses approached him with God’s request to let the Israelites go, from the Pharaoh’s perspective, it was god vs. god. That’s the world he knows, the one he was indoctrinated into from birth: he is a god. In a way, that sounds like the truth. He has power over all other mortals. His sorcerers can do magic and his mythical pyramids allow him to live forever. The Israelites were his slaves, building his things for him. Why should he give them up freely to another “god”. And it remained the truth, until he encountered the one true God through the ten plagues. It was probably the first awakening for him: that there is a God beyond his presumed “god-level”. It was as if the Pharaoh was living in a dream and he finally woke up to the truth. At the tenth plague, he finally realized that he is no god.

And so I no longer cheer and jeer when I revisit the story of the ten plagues. I couldn’t because now I see it as a sad story of a man who couldn’t wake up until it was too late. Am I really that morally superior to claim that the same thing is not happening to me? Could I be asleep without realizing it? You might have seen this storyline repeatedly in many dramas, of a man who awakens only when something horrible and irreparable happens. In dramas, the rude awakening would typically be a terminal illness or a family breakup.

Brothers and sisters, do you know why it is so difficult for a person to wake up? The late David Wallace described it this way: “Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute centre of the universe. The world as you experience it is there in front of YOU or behind YOU, to the left or right of YOU, on YOUR TV or YOUR monitor. And so on. Other people’s thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real.”【1】When you think you are the centre of the universe, it is like you are the god of your world. You cannot wake up, or maybe you refuse to wake up, until something breaks into your world bubble to awaken you to the reality beyond your own.

If it is challenging for a person to wake up, it is even more difficult for the world to wake up. Because we keep telling and reinforcing the assumptions of one another: this is the way. For example, we know that violence begets violence. But what do we do? We continue to use violence. Why? This is the way. Will the world ever wake up?

Revelation 16 is basically the New Testament retelling of the Old Testament story of the ten plagues of Exodus. The seven bowls practically repeated most of the ten plagues with hailstones, boils and sore, darkness, water to blood, and even frogs. But just as Pharoah didn’t wake up from the ten plagues until it was too late, we were told that the world also would not wake up despite the plagues of the seven bowls. Instead, three times we were informed that, “they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.” Revelation 16 made it very clear that these judgments were fair and well-deserved. 6 For they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve. Violence begets violence. The world refused to wake up despite all the repercussions of our sin. Why is the world like that? But then again, what else can we do? We keeping thinking to ourselves: this is the way. We keep telling one another: this is the way.

Brothers and sisters, we were all like that. The world says, “this is the way” and we just follow along. We were asleep, just daydreaming along like zombies. Until by grace Jesus gave us our awakening in John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. Brothers and sisters, it is time to wake up. Jesus is the way. And his way is not the ways of the world. And if you are finally awake, then you have to stay awake. Just to be clear, being awake means following the way of Jesus.

On the topic of staying awake, I want to introduce you to the ancient city of Sardis, one of the seven churches that Revelation was written for. It had an acropolis at the center of the city. 【2】Sardis’ acropolis was famous for its impregnability as a citadel. 【3】It had three sides with high and thick walls on top of precipitous cliffs, and just one gentler side for access. In case of a siege, the defenders just have to deploy the main forces to guard the narrow access side. This was why it was “regarded as the strongest fortified place in the world.” 【4】

However, the same impregnability was also what made Sardis infamous. At 547BC, Sardis was captured within “fourteen days. A Mardian named Hyroiades managed to climb an escarpment of the acropolis so sheer that the Lydians had thought it unnecessary to post a guard. He was followed by the rest of the Persian army.” 【5】This was how the Lydian empire which had survived for almost 700 years met its downfall. Brothers and sisters, I want you to imagine yourselves as one of the Persians who took over this city. I imagine that you will pass down the story about how the city of Sardis was captured in 14 days for generations. Don’t you ever neglect the three sides like the Lydians! This is why I’m posting you as a lookout over here for guard duty. Whatever you do, make sure that you stay awake, and surely this city will be safe.

But guess what? The same thing happened yet again 300 years later in 215BC. 【6】 The people guarding the walls were careless and so the city was breached again and captured in exactly the same manner. Despite knowing the importance of staying awake and vigilant at these walls, the defenders still let the enemies in yet again.

Using this interesting and infamous background of the city, of soldiers being negligent and falling asleep twice as a metaphor, Jesus in his letter to the church in Sardis served this warning in Revelation 3: I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! 3 But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

I want to let the words of Jesus to the church in Sardis sink in. Jesus told them not just to wake up, but also to continue staying awake. This warning to the church in Sardis is not just relevant to them, but to all of us living in the last days. When the seven bowls of calamities fall upon mankind, the same warning is given to the people of God: 15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

The story of Sardis reminded me of the difficulty of staying awake. Once I was on guard duty during my NS days. Because I knew a turn-out drill was imminent, I didn’t sleep when it was my turn to rest. In fact, I kept my entire uniform including the boots and helmet on as I sat on the bed just waiting for the turn-out drill. I was ever ready just as Jesus taught, “so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” Smart right? Next thing I knew, I was awakened by the others calling “turn-out” and “fall-in”. And since I was groggy from being half-asleep, and my legs were numb from hanging them over the side of the bed, I totally failed the turn-out drill. Just to be clear, I had somehow fallen asleep even though I was trying to stay awake.

So I can empathize with the guards of Sardis who messed up. It is one thing to know the importance of being vigilant and staying awake. It is quite another thing to actually perform it to perfection. And when you are there standing at the walls and looking out into the absolute darkness, time trickles by slowly. One min, two min, three min, one hour, two hours, three hours. You might have fallen asleep even without realizing it.

Brothers and sisters, it is the same with us. We were awakened by Jesus who revealed that he is the way. But we have to stay awake in a world which repeatedly tell us “this is the way”, or “that is the way.” Sooner or later, we will doze off unknowingly. We fell asleep when we drift along with the ways of the world. We might end up like Pharaoh when even bowls of plague cannot wake us up. Jesus said to Sardis in Revelation 3:3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. I hope my sermon today serves as this reminder. In fact, let every Sunday sermon be our weekly reminder. If you have strayed away, it is time to come back, and remember what you have received and heard. Wake up and remember that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Hold it fast and repent. Wake up and live the way of Jesus once again.

【1】https://fs.blog/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water/
【2】https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis
【3】https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sardis_(547_BC)
【4】https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardis
【5】http://sardisexpedition.org/en/essays/latw-cahill-persian-sack-sardis
【6】http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0234%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D15

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