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How do we give ourselves to a life of attending to God? Join us as we look at the contemplative tradition, a prayer-filled life.

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Today the contemplative tradition is the first of a series of uh so-called uh spiritual traditions that I'd like to explore with us. But in a way, today's uh topic kind of set the tone for the rest of the traditions because it always begins actually with prayer and uh contemplation of God. That is where our spirituality begins. I'd like to begin by just reading perhaps a familiar passage from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verse 38 to 42. It says, now as they were on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house, and she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the feet of at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister had left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken from her. So in this uh story, Jesus actually commented the posture of Mary, even though in the culture and tradition of that time, it is totally out of place. For a woman to sit at the feet of a rabbi is out of place. Uh, don't ask me why, it's just the culture of that time, what is acceptable. Because women at that time should serve and help in the kitchen. Why are they sitting uh like a potential uh uh follower, apprentice of Jesus at the feet, trying to listen? So, according to the world's eyes, Mary was out of place, she shouldn't be there. Like what Martha said, she should be in the kitchen helping. What is she doing at Jesus' feet? Yet Jesus commended her and said that Mary has chosen the right thing. She has chosen what is better, and that will never be taken away from her. I'd like to suggest to us that the contemplative tradition is a bit like this. It's a bit otherworldly and out of place, especially in the context of Singapore where where we are so driven, so driven to achieve to success, uh, to be successful, and so driven, uh, having a full agenda that we don't do anything without certain intention or purpose. Yet for us to enter fully into the contemplative tradition, it requires us to spend time adoring God. It requires us to spend time, even so-called to waste time in God's presence. So Mary's posture is commendable in scripture and it's the posture which we want to prepare ourselves to be as the Lord leads us further into contemplation of Him. So the contemplative tradition, uh, in summary, it's a life of loving attention to God. So that is a one-word summary of what the tradition is about. All that we talk about and point to today is all about a life of loving attention to God, giving attention to God, making sure that we have time to adore Him each day is the heart of the contemplative tradition. And we see this firstly in the example of Jesus. Uh, we get a glimpse of how the pattern of his ministry is uh interspersed with prayer. How loving attention to God through prayer was pivotal for Jesus. It was the backbone of his ministry. Especially in Luke's gospel, we see that very clearly. As Jesus was baptized by John, he was praying. In preparation for the choosing of the church, he went on the mountain alone and spent the whole night in prayer. Luke 6, verse 12. After an exhausting evening of healing many who were sick and casting out many demons, Jesus got up early in the morning while it was still very dark and went to a deserted place. And there he prayed. Mark 1, 35. Jesus was praying alone when he prompted to ask his disciples, Who do you say I am? Luke 9, verse 18 to 20. When Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on the mountain to pray, it led to the great transfiguration experience. And Luke notes that the appearance of Jesus' face was changed while he was praying. Luke 9, verse 28 to 29. After the disciples had failed to heal a sick child, Jesus took care of the matter for them, explaining their failure with these words. This kind can come out only through prayer. Mark 9, verse 29. And we see that Jesus seldom got angry. He was full of mercy and compassion. Yet one thing he couldn't stand was that the house of God, the temple of God, uh, during the time of Jesus, had become a den of robbers. People were being charged exorbitant rates, which shouldn't be the case because my house, Jesus said, is called a house of prayer. Again, we see that it was after Jesus had finished praying in a certain place that Jesus, that the disciples asked him, Lord, you are always praying. Teach us how to pray. So by his example, Jesus showed us the possibility of a life of attending to God, despite and in spite of our busyness or a full ministry. Like Jesus, he did, he wasn't uh he wasn't sitting down and just being idle, but he was engaged in ministry, healing the sick, teaching about the kingdom of God. Yet there is always a pattern of withdrawing to pray and to seek the Lord. There are times in which, like Jesus, we need to pull back, to pray extensively, to gain inward strength and perspective from God. There are times that attending to God requires a persistent focus, like how Jesus healed the sick child. At other times, attending to God through prayer becomes a model for us to learn how to pray, like how the disciples ask Jesus while observing him praying. Lord, teach us to pray, just as how you are you are praying. The life of Antonius, which is a kind of a Christian who lived in the second century, uh, is a powerful example of the contemplative tradition. His life vocation arose out of a prolonged meditation on the book of Acts. So as he was meditating on God's word on the book of Acts, uh, he was prayerfully considering for months the moving stories of the disciples, being of one heart and one mind, having all things in common and giving to those in need. Then one Sunday, as he was praying and meditating, he heard the gospel lesson being read. Go sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. So the word spoke directly to Antonius' heart, and he obeyed that scripture literally. Go sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasures in heaven. As a side note, uh Antonius had an excellent upbringing. His parents were committed Christians, but while he was a teenager, both his parents died suddenly. As a result, the responsibilities of caring for the home and providing for his younger sister fell upon him. But he arose to the occasion. So after hearing, having the conviction from God to say, go sell all your possessions, give it to the poor, and you have treasure in heaven. He made provisions for his sister, make sure that she's taken care of. He sold off his parents' estate and gave the money to the poor and began a lifetime of journey into the desert to seek God's face, to long and hunger for him. Another scripture that deeply affected him at this time was a sentence of encouragement from Jesus. It says, Do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will have its own trouble. Each tomorrow will worry of its own. Each day has enough trouble of his own. So, on the strength of these two uh gospel passages, uh Antonius went into the into the Egyptian desert seeking God. So we may be surprised by Antonio's literal understanding and application of scripture today. But we need to understand that he was living at a time uh where Christians were becoming increasingly secularized. You know, they uh where uh where it began, Christianity as a Christian nation began to be open to pagan influence. So as he was reading the situation, uh he was he felt compelled and led by the Lord to develop a lifetime of contemplation and meditating on God. Seeing this, Antonius tried desperately to keep the church from forgetting her first love. In other words, as you prosper in life, as the world becomes circularized, do not forget your first love. So that compelled him to go to the desert in Egypt to seek the Lord's presence. So he went off into the solitude of the Egyptian desert, not just for a few days, you know, or a few weeks, but for 20 years. He was there for 20 years, and he went into the desert to discover God and to fight the devil. So we won't have time to read all the stories, but it's quite graphic, you know, how he fought demons in the desert. Uh but the demons, not all the demons are real uh spiritual uh uh uh bodies, as in uh evil spirits, but he in in in some of his stories that he reads, he shares with us, uh his experience in the desert dealing with demons is also the demons uh within, conquering the self, conquering the inner self. And those were the issues, the things that he had to deal with. So, in attending to God by drawing himself to the first love, which is God Himself, like many of us, Antonius needed to deal with the demons within, which prevented him from loving God fully. I move on to my next point, which is the heart of the contemplative tradition. The heart of the contemplative tradition is attentiveness to God in order to enter into God's great love for us and responding in love to him. In other words, God does not just want us to adore him and attend to him, but the reason why, why we are adoring him and giving our full attention to him is because he desires us all to enter fully into his great love for us and for us to respond in love to him. The life of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, is a good example from scripture of a life transformed by God's love for him and his corresponding love for his master Jesus. John is a giant of a faith, of a person. He wrote the Gospel of John, he wrote the epistles of John, first, second, third John, and he wrote the book of Revelation in the New Testament. So he was a pillar of the church, and and we see that he's constantly being described in the Gospel of John as the disciple whom Jesus loved. The disciple whom Jesus loved. We read in John chapter 1, verse 35 to 39, that John was one of the first to follow Jesus. He was one of the first to make a commitment to follow Jesus on the way. And he was also one of the last that accompanied Jesus right to the foot of the cross. We see that because at the cross, Jesus saw John with his beloved mother, and of course he said some words to him take care of her. She's now your mother. So right at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, John was right to the end of his death, he was at the foot of the cross with Jesus. So John was constantly with Jesus as he ministered, but John was certainly far from being perfect. Once Jesus was traveling towards Jerusalem and he sent some disciples on ahead to a village in Samaria to make arrangements for the night's lodging. The village people refused the request, and John and his brother James wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume them. On another occasion, upon seeing someone casting out a demon in the name of Jesus that were not part of their group, John tried to stop him, but Jesus responded that he should not be stopped, as whoever is not against us is for us. In Mark 10, 35 to 40, we see the personal ambition of John and his brother James coming forward. They approached Jesus with an audacious request. Grant us to sit, one at your right and one at your left, at your in your glory. So Jesus had to respond to them with a kind and firm rebuke to sit at my right and my left. It's not for me to grant. These occasions may well explain why Jesus gave to John and his brother James the nickname Bornagus, which is the sons of thunder, meaning that they are full of passion. They are people of passion, they are ready to follow Jesus to the end, but they are also ready to cut off anyone who is not following the straight way according to what Jesus desired. They also had personal ambition to achieve a certain status in their life. Yet we see that as John gradually followed Jesus throughout his ministry, uh, watching Jesus minister in action, his heart was changed. He was changed because he's realized how he was in the past, you know, is not conforming to what Jesus desires. Perhaps while while watching Jesus hearing uh Jairus' uh little girl who was near death, he was he had an eyewitness encounter of Jesus' deliverance and healing of Jairus' daughter. He saw Jesus, he was one of the few who saw Jesus being transfigured uh on the mountain. And he was also taken along with uh Jesus' inner circle, uh Peter and James at Gethsemane to wait and to pray along with him. So perhaps all these instances had left an indelible mark on his life. So we see John uh as we read his letters, his epistles, 1, 2, 1, 2nd, and 3rd uh John, as we read the Gospel of John, as we read Revelation, we see in John a deepening, settling, a kind of a contemplative love. And perhaps the most important influence in producing the change in John is Jesus' notable love for him. A number of times in the Gospel of John, the author, as I said earlier, spoke of John as the disciple whom Jesus loved. The first occurred in the upper room as they gathered together for the Passover meal. John sitting next to Jesus, John sat next to Jesus, certainly a position of high privilege. And during that the time of uh the posture of sitting, likely John's head was resting on Jesus' chest as the two reclined together, John being on the right side and leaning to the left according to the custom. So Jesus, John was close by, just next to Jesus. Uh important position of honor. Jesus then made the startling announcement. Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me. So during the account, Peter, uh, wanting, curious as he is, to find out who among the disciples would betray him, nudge John. Why don't you ask this Jesus? Ask Jesus who will betray you. And of course, John did uh ask Jesus, reclines back and asks, Lord, who is it? And Jesus tells him, It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread, whom I dip in the dish. So uh some commentators had said this wasn't a public announcement when John made that question, who is the one who will betray you? Uh it was just a side conversation which Jesus made with John. So, so John, perhaps, among all the disciples, now knows the identity of the betrayer. So it's a wonder, it's a perhaps a lesson that John learned, you know, how Jesus could uh extend the love and forgiveness to Judas, perhaps have inspired him in his own journey of love, loving Jesus and following him. So it's a wonder that Jesus was willing to trust John with such information of the details of his impending betrayal. Following Jesus' arrest, only two disciples overcame their fears sufficiently to watch the trial: Simon Peter and another disciple. We are not given the identity of the disciple, but commentators had said that John is the likely candidate. Because of his acquaintance with the high priest, John had access to the hall where the trial was being held. John, in fact, speaks to the woman guarding the gate and was able to get Peter inside. Peter stood at the courtyard, and but John was able to go in close where he could hear the proceedings of the trial and then became an eyewitness to the details that were otherwise inaccessible to the followers of Jesus. So he wrote the Gospel of John, of course, recording details of Jesus' trial. So we see that John was constantly placed in positions where he had the privilege to see the heart of Jesus, to draw near to him. So he was close enough during the trial of Jesus, perhaps to look into the master's eye and see the giving and forgiving love that Jesus had for him. Perhaps it's also the response of the love of Jesus for him that drew John irresistibly to the foot of the cross in a reciprocal love for Jesus. From atop the cross, Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her. Jesus' next words both honor John's love and care for Mary's need. He said, Woman, here is your son, here is your mother. From that moment on, John tells us that the disciples took her into his own home. On Easter Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene rushed to Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, with the news that the gravestone had been removed and the body of Jesus missing. Together Peter and John ran towards the tomb. When John reached the tomb and saw the linen clothes, grave cloths lying in an orderly manner and the face cloth folded up and placed by itself, he saw and believed. Once again we see that John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was the first one to believe that Jesus was truly resurrected. And that began a journey of emphasizing all throughout his writings. We see that in his gospel, we see that in the epistles, uh, that he has been called the apostle of love. God's great love for us and our responding love to him is a prominent theme in John. In his gospel, in his epistles, and also in Revelation. We see that in his gospel, the famous verse I think all of us can know by heart, John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And the And in the upper room discourse in John from John 14 to 16, we hear the new commandment of Jesus recorded in John's gospel. Uh Jesus said, I give you a new commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. And his epistles talks about loving one another too. If we don't have time to go through that, but if you look at one, first, second, and third John, it's all about the love we receive from God and loving others. Anyone, John could say that anyone who does not love your brother or sister remains in death, remains in darkness. Right? So the contemplative tradition helps us to experience God's divine rest that overcomes our alienation by gazing upon the God who loves us. His message in a nutshell is this: love God with all your heart, love God with all your heart, love God with all your heart. Without hard love, we have nothing. The contemplative tradition is always calling us back to our roots, back to our beginnings, bringing us back to the root and foundation of our first love. It keeps saying to us, fall in love with Jesus over and over, over and over and over again. Keep gazing at his beauty, keep attending to him, and you will be beautiful of soul. And your soul will be beautiful because you are constantly keeping your attention on Jesus. Not surprisingly, in Revelation 2, 1 to 7, which is also written by John the Seer, he writes to the church in Ephesus. And tradition tells us that he was an elder in at Ephesus. A stern warning, the first church that John wrote to was to the church in Ephesus. And it's one of the few churches in the seven churches that uh a stern warning and rebuke was given to them. And uh to the church in Ephesus, that was considered quite a strong rebuke. So Revelation 2, verse 1 says, To the angel of the church in Ephesus, right? The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven lampstands. I know your words, your toll and your patient endurance, how you could not bear with those who are evil, and have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. So, in other words, everything is in place. Their works are there, they are still serving the Lord, doing good works, they are there are presumably good teachers there who are able to discern falsehood, correct and so-called, perhaps even banish them. You know, uh disassociate with those who call themselves uh followers of Jesus but do not truly believe in him. And they have not grown weary, they are still enduring, they are still, in some way, just tahan, you know, continue to keep the faith and walk with Jesus. Yet John, the apostle of love, writes this but I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. You had abandoned. Somehow, that spark, that love for Jesus is missing. Despite all the things you are doing, uh first love is missing. And the the rebuke is quite stern. Because Jesus, by the Spirit, speaks to the churches and he says, if you do not repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place. A lamp stand is, of course, gives light, right? Imagine if Jesus comes and then removes the light here, you know, the candlesticks. Of course, it is a solemn reminder that God desires and calls us. Loving God, returning to our first love is fundamental to our life. So the contemplative tradition points us into that way of beholding Jesus, returning to our first love. Joel Bick, uh, reflecting on the issue of our first love, writes this. For those of us who have left the first love for Jesus, a lot of times our relationship with Christ is still intact. We still believe in him, we still come to church, we still serve, you know, we we still know him, we still can lift up our hands, we can worship him. Uh but he goes on to say, but what we do for him then becomes a matter of duty. Yeah, have to serve, have to do this. So we sometimes drag ourselves to serve when our heart is not there. So John Owen, a great Puritan writer, says that some live their first love for Christ because they would think that abiding in Christ is a plant that neither needs watering, manuring nor pruning. I think these words of Owen is very poignant. He says that we live our first love for Jesus because we think that abiding in Christ, following him, is a plant that neither needs watering, manuring, nor pruning, but that which will thrive alone of itself. Christians too often live their first love today because they do not understand that love for Christ, our first love for Jesus, needs continual nurture and replenishment without nurturing your relationship with Christ will wither. So it is a reminder to us today that uh a lot of times we don't attend, when we don't attend to our relationship with God, when we don't attend enough to him, then the very natural progression is that we will uh we will withdraw, we will lose the that first spark with him. Because as life gets more busier, as things are crammed up, you know, we find that we really don't have time. Right? So the answer to this is uh I'd like to explore with us is how we can live a life of loving attention to God. How then can we do so? You know, how can we return to our first love? The first thing we can do is actually experiment with varied venues for solitude. You know, take time, get away from your usual rhythm of life. I know for some of us it's very difficult. So this is one option, one thing we can do. Experiment with varied venues for solitude. You know, the moment we we withdraw from our rhythm of life, we we actually draw in to Jesus. We have time to contemplate, we have time to adore Jesus, we have time to consider his love for us. So one some of the ways we can uh experiment with varied venues for solitude is to capitalize. Perhaps some of us are wake up early. That means we sleep early, we we uh wake up early. So we can take a pre-dawn walk, you know, listening to the awakening sounds of the world. Just allow uh creation to speak to us, to point us to God as the creator. Um another option to do is to limit your speaking for one day and see what you can learn from others about yourself and others. Sit in the airport and observe people carefully, reflecting on what you see. Take a one-day silent retreat. For one month, leave your car radio or iPod off as you make your morning commute to school or work. Arise at 2 a.m., light a single candle as a reminder of the presence of Christ, and for one hour listen to the sounds of the night. Of course, these are all varied ways, but the whole idea is in order for us to really give our attention to God, to return to our first love, we must do something. Right? We can't just uh uh come for service and then expect God to zap us. And you know, we need to take some action, right? So for some of us who like to walk about, move about, like variety, you know, this is something we can do. Solitude has a way of drawing us to divine reality. So experiment with varied venues for solitude. Allow your soul kind to rest, to seek the Lord. So at the varied venues you take, allow Jesus to refresh and recharge you. Um the the scripture readings from this morning, scripture reading has been carefully chosen. Um three one tells us, you know, we do not concern ourselves with great things, things too wonderful for us. The great king David, who is a man of war, you know, humbled himself like a little child, like a weaned child. So that's the posture of attending to God. Because Jesus says again in Matthew 11, verse 28 to 30, come to me, all you who are heavy laden, weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So it's a call to solitude and a focus on Jesus. The second thing we can do is to pray the scriptures slowly. You know, if we can't go out uh for a time of solitude, another thing we can do is to take a passage of scripture and pray through it. Do a prayerful reading of a passage to turn your heart, mind, and spirit ever so gently to Jesus. Use that passage to allow God to speak to you because God speaks to us through his word. You know, allow him to uh minister to you as you read his words. So a good passage to take is Isaiah 40, verses 1 to 31. Of course, we won't read all, but of course, that is a time where Isaiah is talking about a time of restoration where God will restore us and will no longer count our sins against us. So as we meditate on God's word, he will speak to us. No, it says, Comfort, comfort my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Reading from verse 9, go up to a high mountain, O Zion, Herod of good news, lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, Herod of good news, lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold, your God, behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense with him before him. Verse 12, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and waited, and weighed the mountains in skills, and hills in a balance. Who has measured the spirit of the Lord? Or what man shows him counsel? Whom did he consult? And who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge? And showed him the way of understanding. And it goes on. The whole psalm points us and brings us to a posture of beholding God. Of course, it ends with verse 27 to 31. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not be faint. So allow scripture to center our lives. Allow Him, allow God to speak to us through His word. The other thing we can do, the last thing we can do is to take time for holy leisure. You know, which is something very counter-cultural because we are so packed, like what I said earlier, you know, when we do something, it's always intentional. We want to do something intentionally. We don't want to waste time. I think more and more in Singapore, I'm I'm guilty of that also. We just want to make full use of our time and plan it so well that we are fully used. You know, yet we need to take time for holy leisure. You know, and that could mean several things. Take a nap, spend an hour visiting your neighbor, not with any agenda, but just to chat and to connect. Find a friend and together watch the sun go down. Take a walk, not for exercise or to study plant life, but for the sheer joy of walking. Listen to the birds, not to get some message from them, but to hear them. Sit in the silence, doing nothing, having nothing, needing nothing. Take a bath instead of a shower. Waste time for God. Adore Him. Allow Him, give Him time to speak to you. And I believe the word of the Lord to us today is we need to do that. If we don't intentionally cultivate our walk with the Lord, if we don't intentionally uh spend time uh abiding in Christ, all of us uh will lose our first love. Right? It doesn't happen automatically, right? Coming to Jesus with our first love requires effort, requires us to press in in some of what I shared with us earlier. Reading scripture, taking time for leisure, um times of solitude, all these moments help us to draw away from the world and the hustle and bustle of life and draw in to God. As we go along, probably not this year but next year, there will be possibilities for us to have a kind of a retreat, uh silent retreat, or time where we can contemplate God together. So today is just a teaser. But yeah, in all practicality, we can't always go on retreat, right? But beef daily we can take time to rekindle our desire for Jesus. You know, and one of the best ways is to meditate on scripture, to allow God to speak to us through his word, to refresh us as we adore him.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Ishun Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.