Looking into an ancient mirror.
RUMC April 19, 2015 chapter 31
When I say, “The Book of Revelation,” this is
what most of you see isn’t it? Your eyes glaze over and you feel like you are
trying to read ancient Greek. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Let me take a poll.
• How
many of you read the last chapter of THE STORY this week?
• Aside
from THE STORY how many of you have ever read the book of Revelation. Well,
that explains it! Most of us don’t understand it, because we don’t often read
it.
First, this morning, I want you to start with
a fresh piece of paper.
Forget the idea that the Book of Revelation has to be hard. It does not have
to be a mystery. Much of what you have heard and read about it has been hyped
to sell books or movies. The LEFT BEHIND series is a great example of poorly
understanding the book of Revelation.
Then forget the scary stuff you have
heard and seen. I am not saying that there is nothing scary in the book of
Revelation, but most of the scary stuff you have heard was probably from “shock
jock” preachers who would rather scare you than teach you.
Is your slate clean? Is your mind ready
for a new idea?
OK--- let’s start here. You all know Dr
Seuss. He wrote a story called Yertle the turtle. Perhaps you know it, but I’ll
summarize it for you.
• Yertle
sat on a rock and ruled over a pond. “King of all that I can see.”He said.
•
He decided the pond was too small of a kingdom so he stacked up 9 turtles and
climbed on top them.
• Though
pleased with that increased view for a while, he soon wanted more.
• He
stacked 200 more turtles and sat on them. He was elated, but not satisfied.
• Yertle
tried one more time to make the stack taller it all fell over.
Dr Seuss tells it better, but what was
that story about? Greed? Pride? Ego? The futility of grabbing for more and
more? The fact that some people ate never satisfied?
Yes. Of course, we all agree that the
story of Yertle the Turtle is about all of those things.
You might be surprised to know that Dr
Seuss tells us that it was actually written about Adolph Hitler. OK I can see
that. But do you have to know that to get the point? NO. When I read Yertle the turtle 70 years
after Hitler’s death I may not know that it was written about Hitler, but it
still has the same message about greed,
pride, ego, futility and never being satisfied. It continues to have an
important message even though the historical context has been lost.
• The
book of Revelation was written to Christians about 95 AD who lived under
terrible persecution by the roman emperor. As we read it 2000 years later, even
if we don’t know all that they suffered,
even if we don’t’ understand all
the details, there are still important messages for us.
Second, going back to the Yertle story
would you worry about identifying what each of the turtles, or ponds stood for?
This one stand for Poland, this one stands for France? Of course not! That is
not at all the author’s intention or concern. We understand that Dr Seuss had a
timeless message to convey and we would never pick it apart like that.
• The
book of Revelation was written with a timeless message for Christians in the
first century AND the 21st Century. Yet people insist on picking it to pieces.
They try to identify each beast with a political figure, each plague with a
war, etc… and they completely miss the message of the book.
I am sorry if that is the way you were
taught to read Revelation. Some pastors believe that is the correct way. I do
not. A bunch of people have made a bunch of money reading it that way. But most mainline pastors and Biblical
scholars would never read it that way, and would never teach you to read it
that way. They would teach you to look for the big themes and the timeless
messages.
So let’s take a quick look at the introduction
which we read in worship today. The introduction does three things.
1. It
sets the scene by telling us that Jesus came in a vision. The first words are,
“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what
must soon take place;.”
2.
Second, It identifies the author of the book. It says, “he made it known by
sending his angel to his servant John,
who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ,
even to all that he saw.”
3.
Finally, the introduction tells us that the revelation is to be given to the 7
churches that are in Asia.
If you cut through all the fancy
language that is what the first chapter
says Jesus came with a vision for a man named John who wrote it down the
7 churches of Asia.
Let me quickly add, that I don’t
recommend skipping the rest of the chapter.
It fleshes out the story with some beautiful images and poetic language.
The 7 churches of Asia were located in what is
modern day Turkey. John had be exiled to an island named Patmos just off the
coast. These not special churches. Like every church in the world, they had
some things that they did really well. Also like every church in the world,
they each had some problems. I think that is why they are named, and described
in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation. I think it is to help us to find our place in
the book. To realize that the book is for people like us. It is like looking
into an ancient mirror. Now, understand, we probably won’t find one of these
churches to be exactly like ours, but there are enough different kinds of
people here that I’ll bet each and every one of us will feel like we are
looking into the mirror at least once this morning.
If you would like to follow along you
can find the 7 letters starting on page 245 of your pew bible.
The First church is Ephesus. They sound like a
pretty solid church. They work hard, they are patient, they do not tolerate
evil doers, they are discerning, they have even faced persecution. But in the
vision Jesus says “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love
you had a first.”
They abandoned the love they had at
first. We all know people who start out
on fire, and quickly peter out. One of two things happens, they burn out, or
they get bored. That was the problem at Ephesus. They had lost their passion,
lost their hope, lost their excitement, lost their joy in serving God. They Got
burned out.
There are Christians who start out with great
intentions, but they just work themselves to a frazzle. They get to where they are over responsible,
over worked and overwhelmed.
Do we know anyone like that?
The second letter is to the church in Smyrna.
Smyrna is a town of 100,000 people about 35 miles from Ephesus. Jesus tells
them, “Do not fear.” “Do not be afraid.” In the last days of the 1st Century
there was plenty to fear from roman persecution.
What do we have to fear today? (I have
to admit this is one where I see myself) We “what if” ourselves to death. What
if I can’t pay that bill? What if they don’t like me? What if the car breaks
down? We can drive ourselves nuts.
In the church, it goes more like this…
I hear people ask What if we don’t have any kids? What if this big giver moves?
What if no one comes? What if we need that mission money ourselves? What if?
What if? What if? It is not the
real live monsters that scare us, it is the “what ifs.”
Do we know anyone like that?
The third church is Pergamum. It is only 45
miles from Smyrna. Again, it has good things going for it. It has good worship,
they don’t waver even in hard times. Jesus says, however, “my problem with you
is that you have some with you who hold to the teachings of Balaam.” For them
all of life was a compromise.
Everyone else is eating idol meat; I’ll
just eat a little.
Everyone else is going to the pagan temple
and having a good time I’ll just go once this week.
I’ll cheat just a little bit.
I’ll just listen to the gossip, I won’t
add to it.
I’ll go to church on Sunday, but the
rest of the week I’ll do what I want.
Let me tell you, either you live for
Jesus or you don’t. There is no middle ground. There is no compromise. But that
doesn’t stop people from trying.
Do we know anyone like that?
The 4th church is Thy-a-tri-a. This was the
birthplace of Lydia the seller of purple. Jesus affirms them for their work,
their love, their faith, their service and their endurance. But he calls them
out for tolerating a woman named Jezebel who was leading the people into sin.
Jezebel should not to be confused with
the Old Testament woman by the same name,. This woman was teaching that
anything goes. She went one step future than compromise to say everything is
OK, Jesus says he gave her a chance to repent but she refused. From her perspective she had nothing to
repent for.
Let me tell you being a Christian
better change your behavior. There are thou shalts, and thou shalt nots.
Some do not see it that way. They just don’t see what being a Christian
has to do with the way they live. As
long as they believe their behavior is unimportant. Just looking at their
lives, their decisions, their habits, you would never know they were Christian.
Do we know anyone like that?
The 5th church is the church in Sardis which
was known for its manufacture of carpet, wool an cloth. Jesus says, “You have a
reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”
These are the people who go through the
actions. They look good on the outside,
but on the inside they are empty. They
live like robots doing all the right things, but without any heart.
They go to church, they give, they
serve, they help, they talk the right talk; but there is just nothing
inside. Nothing. They are just empty. Empty like an old tin
can.
Do we know anyone like that?
The 6th church is the church at Philadelphia.
Strangely it gets by without any criticism at all. Jesus says, “ Because you have kept my word
of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on
the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.” So we’ll move on.
Finally there is Laodicea… the one that you read in THE STORY
this week. Do you remember what Laodicea’s problem was? . They are accused of
being “neither hot nor cold.” These are the apathetic pew warmers. No matter what you do they sit there like a
bump on a log. No movement, no emotion,
no commitment. They just don’t care. And Jesus says he wants to vomit them out
because they are neither hot nor cold. They are apathetic.
Do we know anyone like that?
I Now I know I flew through those pretty
quickly, but chances are one of them pricked you as it went by. Burned out,
Fearful, Compromise, No limits, Empty, Apathetic. I can look across the congregation not just
sitting here but the whole congregation and see people suffering from every one
of these. We are really no different than any of those 7 churches of Asia. So if it were up to us there would be no hope
at all.
But I want to tell you today the book
of Revelation has an answer to that.
It says it’s not about you. It is not
about me. It is not about us!
And it is a good thing because As
burned out, and fearful, and compromising, and sinful, and empty and apathetic
as we are. It is a good thing the
kingdom of God does not depend on us.
We serve that which is greater. We
worship that which is greater.
God is greater than our weakness.
God is greater than our burn out
God is greater than our fear,
God is greater than our compromising,
God is greater than our sin,
God is greater than our emptiness
and God is greater than our apathy And that is exactly What the book of
revelation wants us to know. Listen to the passage immediately after the
letters to the 7 churches.
After this I looked, and there in heaven a door
stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a
trumpet, said, “Come up here,” At once I
was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the
throne! And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around
the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. Around the throne are twenty-four thrones,
and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with
golden crowns on their heads. Coming
from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder,
and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven
spirits of God; and in front of the
throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
Around the throne, and on each side of
the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the
second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a
human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each of them
with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without
ceasing they sing,
“Holy, holy, holy,
the Lord God the Almighty,
who was and is and is to come.”
In the end it is not about you and
me. In the end it is not about what we
are or what we do. In the end it is not about our brokenness, but about God’s
greatness. It is about spending our
lives worshipping God. It is about
giving our lives, in all our brokenness, in all our imperfection in all of our
hurts and in all of our failures to God in worship.
It is about standing before the throne
and singing to the one who is Holy, Holy Holy the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”
Let’s sing
HOLY HOLY HOLY
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