My wife Tracy received the DVD of the film ‘Wonder Woman’ as a present from her sister at Christmas.  I had no complaints whatsoever about that as we had seen the film at the cinema and it had been an enjoyable experience.  But watching the film again it occurred to me, not only  how good it was, but just how idealistic the character of Diana (Wonder Woman) is, which is conveyed by her thoughts and actions.  After all,  without  giving too much  of the plot away, she finds herself  plucked from  her idealistic world  and plunged into the horrors of World War 1.  Not only that,  but  none of the generals want to listen to  a woman!  Yet, when given a mission, but  told she must not be swayed by the suffering  and death of civilian men, women and children  trapped behind enemy lines  because there is a greater overall  plan, her idealism automatically kicks in.  So she immediately stages a one-woman  rescue attempt.  This draws her  comrades into action and  vulnerable lives are saved and suffering is cut short!

Recently, in the evening, I’ve  just started  preaching  through the book of Revelation.   In 1:9-20 John has a vision  of the glorified  Christ  walking  among seven lampstands  which  represent seven Churches in Asia Minor.  Some of these Churches are doing well  in certain areas and badly in others.   One is visibly successful,  but  spiritually  dead.   Two look weak,  but are going to receive special  blessing.  As the number seven was seen as a symbol of completeness in Jewish  thinking, it doesn’t stretch our minds too far  to realise that this is  a picture of the ‘complete’ Church throughout the ages.  Both  the good and the bad within the Church is represented here.  But the key thing to note is this, Christ is walking among them!   Even if they are  sinning by tolerating  false teaching or immorality he has a message for them and is warning them and calling them to repentance and to be faithful to  the Gospel by not comprising it in any way !

My last post questioned  what  Orthodox Christians ought to do in the face of a situation where  Scripture is playing second fiddle to ‘good disagreement’  and ‘listening to experience’ in the debates within the Church.  Certain Church leaders have hijacked  what the Church should stand for as they are afraid of the offence that Scripture  can bring  and the flak  that will come the Church’s way if the full council of Scripture is preached.  But this passage gives us hope.   Christ does not want  to forsake his Church, but is calling on those who truly love him to stand up and be counted.   This can only be done by being  gracious  and firm about what we believe and praying for revival in our Churches.  Otherwise confusion reigns  when, at the best, neo-evangelicalism and neo-Orthodoxy hold sway, and  at the worst liberalism  is the order of the day.

So let’s learn a lesson from Wonder Woman’s   idealism  and stand up  for what we believe!    Let’s be prayerful and vocal by challenging anything contrary to Scripture  and praying for revival  in the Church.  The last Church  to receive a message from the risen and glorified Christ  is the Church  at  Laodicea.   They had grown cold  and apathetic,  yet Christ challenges them  to respond to him.  ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me’ (Revelation 3:20).   This is a gracious  invitation  to a banquet, a veritable feast, not a five-minute snack, but a time of intimate  fellowship!   Even when the Church  wanders from  God’s Word  he longs to reconnect intimately with it.   So let’s be idealistic about  our belief in God’s Word and let’s pray for the revival  of the Church in  in this day and age!