Has Jesus Grown Bored of Our Churches?
Have you ever wondered whether Jesus ever gets bored visiting His own church?
No? Yes?
Well, I have.
Often.
Our Well-Oiled Worship Services
Just think about it.
Week after week, He watches us repeat the same routine: practicing for pitch-perfect worship, preparing polished sermons, producing catchy media, procuring clever jokes and pithy lines—so that everything will run seamlessly like a well-oiled, time-stamped machine.
It’s the Singapore way: excellent, efficient, correct… and sometimes a little soul-less in its pragmatism.
Does Jesus Miss the Days of Awe?
And I find myself wondering—does He ever miss the “good old days” when His people gathered with awe-struck fervor in His manifest presence, “feasting on the abundance of His house and drinking deeply from His river of delights”? (Ps 36:8)
Does He remember the days when believers clamoured for a fresh infilling of the Spirit, then fanned out from the church building to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, raise the dead, and preach His word with signs following?
When they carried their cross and followed Him with fearless obedience into the nations to disciple, teach, and baptise? (Matt 10:8; 28:19)
Or—has He sighed, shrugged, and gone along with our program because… well, no choice?
Well, of course not!
The Jesus Who Refuses to Settle
The “other Jesus” Paul warns about in 2 Corinthians 11:4 is delighted for people to attend a choreographed church service once a week—or an online show enjoyed from a sofa.
But the Jesus I know—
the One whose eyes blaze like fire,
who sees that underneath our branded apparel and designer spectacles we are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked,
the One who rebukes and disciplines those He loves,
whose voice thunders like rushing waters,
who waits for His Bride to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and pure—
This Jesus refuses to settle for any (and all) subpar Christian witness and lifestyle.
If He Wrote to Singapore…
I sometimes ask myself:
If the Great Revelator were to send one more letter to a church in Asia—the church of Singapore—what would He write?
Allow me to share my prophetic ponderings.
Perhaps it might sound something like this…
A Prophetic Letter to the Church of Singapore
To the angel of the Church in Singapore, write:
I know your works—your generosity, your compassion for the downtrodden, your desire for justice, your excellence, your commitment to bless the nations without and the nation within.
This has been pleasing to Me.
But I hold this against you:
You have sacrificed precious covenant relationships on the altar of unforgiveness and offence, causing disunity and brokenness in My Body. This makes me angry.
Instead of the world recognizing you as My disciples by your love, they accuse you of hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance.
They are not wrong.
You have allowed the works of the flesh—“adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies”—to run rampant in My house- even permitting such people to serve at the sanctity of My altar. (Gal 5:19–20)
This too stirs My wrath, for you are no longer merely ‘in’ the world—you have become ‘of’ it.
You have trampled upon the Spirit of Holiness and the Fear of the Lord.
Serving in the institution of church has replaced serving Me in My Kingdom.
Your leaders raise and surround themselves with those who make them feel comfortable, instead of welcoming prophets like Elijah to shake them out of religious atrophy.
Your screens have become your idols, and you are allowing technology to replace Me as God.
Your first love is no longer Me—your first love is you.
You faithfully analyse and exegete My Logos Word, yet you refuse to release My Rhema Word from the pulpit.
Why do you not allow My Spirit to have free rein, to speak to My own people what they need to hear from Me?
Shema, My children!
Make Me your first love once again. Love Me with all of you.
Don’t let excellence outrun devotion.
Don’t let structure replace surrender.
Don’t let the noise of the world choke the whisper of My Spirit.
Stand firm against the redefinition of what I call holy.
Worship Me with wholehearted abandonment—
I detest polite restraint in My house. Folded hands and sanctimonious expressions are an affront to me.
“These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.”
Do not repeat ad nauseum that you love Me. Prove to Me that you do!
To him who has ears to hear.
To the one who eats all of My scroll and doesn’t cherry-pick his pet theology, I will etch a new name on his forehead- Authentic.
To the one wild in worship/warfare, radical in reaching the lost, and yielded to my yoke, I will give an anointed hammer to break the rock (Jer23:29) and destroy the enemy. (Judges 4:21)
To the one who overcomes the fear of man and enters into the fear of the Lord; who ascends the holy hill of the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart- on him I will pour out fresh, fragrant oil that will overflow into the nations.
Maranatha, Lord Jesus.
Before You return to rule from Jerusalem, won’t You please come and reign in Your church in Singapore?
Your Spirit and the Bride from Singapore plead, Come!
