A View From Heaven III

Text: Revelation 7:9-17

Focus: The glory of heaven

Function: To help people worship God’s glory.

Form: teaching.

Intro:

A Baptist minister said:

A pastor who teaches or preaches from Revelation (at least one who doesn't always agree with the most commonly held view in America today) better have a second career close at hand. No matter the level of theological or Biblical sophistication, it seems that everyone has an opinion about Revelation! And theirs is always right!

I know what he is saying, I have had more people leave the church because I wasn’t true to their understanding of this book and therefore I may not be trustworthy to preach any part of the bible.

I am going to do a teaching again this morning.

You might call it: (SHOW) “What do we do with Revelation?”

But I am keeping true to the title, a view from heaven.

Why these images of heaven? Why the mystery?

One of the greatest dangers is to interpret the book as book only for the end times. And because the images and symbols can be interpreted in many ways, many people are convinced that now is the time. And that has happened to every generation since Christ Jesus ascended to heaven.

It does speak about end-times prophecies, but God included it in scripture because it speaks to every generation.

All of the original titles of the book say that it is a revelation given by God to John, the theologian. It is a supernatural book that explains theology from the aspect of the mysteries of heaven. It is hard to glean a lot of the theology, because the mysteries were left to us to be just what we call them, mysterious.

That is why it is a book of worship. (SHOW) Revelations helps us to see the majesty and glory of God and our hope for the future.

When we study Revelations, we are studying the place where time ends and eternity begins.

I picture a road that stops in heaven because time stops. And heaven, then is the place where light flashes out of and the light encompasses everything. The light enfolds, everything, even the road that signifies time.

I wonder if these events that John sees are in the past, or in the future. I wonder if we will be able to go back and see the garden of Eden, Solomon’s great temple and throne room, the pyramids, right when they are built, the birth of Jesus, even the terra-forming of earth in the 6 days of creation.

The fact is, we have no reference in our human experience to the ability to go anywhere in time at any time. For those who study logic, that statement in itself is illogical.

But we know that God is the Alpha and the Omega. That God existed in eternity past, He is different than us in the fact that although we will live eternally into the future. (SHOW) We have a beginning, God does not. God always was.

And that doesn’t seem logical to us either because of our human experience, there has to be a beginning point, even to God.

But if there was a beginning point to God, then who created God? Was it God the father 1, and this is God the father 2? Who then, would have created God the father 2; God the father 3? It gets ridiculous unless there is a first cause. (SHOW) The first cause is the one thing that has always existed.

There are two choices, God or matter.

The universe appears very old, so maybe that is a good argument that matter is eternal.

Some Christians say, “Well God created it to look old.” And He may have.

Evolutionary science seems to point to the fact that God created us to adapt and evolve.

(I talked to my son whose first major at his Christian college was biology, and he explained the difference between macro-and micro evolution.)

(SHOW) Evolutionary science still leads to the fact of a Creator.

It fails in explaining two main points: The origin of life, and the beginning of male/female reproduction.

They speak of a primordial soup, a pond somewhere full of the right minerals, that if broken apart and joined with other just right minerals, on an atomic level, and then something improbable happened, a flash of lightning, some energy surge, or a miracle happens and proteins are created and those then, become single cell organisms.

The odds of probability of that happening are beyond the realm of possibility.

They say, “Well there are billions of years and gazillions of stars, the universe is big enough to extend to that possibility. But even the calculated size of our universe extends beyond the realm of possibility.

Then there is a second component to Evolution that still cannot be explained.

Evolutionary theory states that genetic mutations happened, and some of them improved the individual’s ability to survive, so eventually more and more individuals with that enhanced ability crowded out the earlier species and it died out and the process continued on over billions of years until we get to this modern age.

Remember, this is a theological book about God the beginning and the end.

That theory of genetic mutations giving species an advantage over their predecessors appears to be obvious in the fossil record. Science shows that it happened. But the theory of evolution doesn’t explain the jump from mitosis to meiosis.

Sorry about the big words. We have people still working on their education, people who have other interests and we have professors here, so I want to be able to appeal to everyone.

Mitosis happens after the baby is first conceived. That first cell produces an exact copy of itself, which produces another exact copy until a living being is created.

Meiosis is when male and female cells combine half of their genetic material to form a new life that is a unique and different individual.

So here is the point, in order for a mutation to begin reproduction by inheriting genes from a mother and a father, then a father mutation would have to occur at the same time a mother mutation occurs and those two would have to find each other, mate and that child would have to be given new characteristics that would make it better able to survive than its parents.

Of course, it started on a cellular level, so specific reproductive organs didn’t mutate, just the ability for the DNA to unwind, leave the cell wall, join another cell with the same mutation.

But that is just part of it, at the same time, RNA had to evolve with some sort of ability to trigger the mechanism that started the deconstruction and reconstruction of the DNA.

Again, the odds of that happening go beyond the realm of possibility.

And you may be saying to yourselves, why am I wasting your time with a science lesson when I, as a theologian studied scripture, psychology, English and philosophy? Am I not here to learn about God, His word, His grace? Are we not here to worship?

It is like Jeremiah’s description, (SHOW) “We are fearfully and wonderfully made!”

Many of the great inventions were achieved by clergy. Even Wilber and Orville Wright’s father was a Methodist preacher.

Solomon, the preacher, theologian, philosopher was also a great scientist. When we see the glory of God in creation, we worship. So bear with me because this is going somewhere.

The Revelation is given to John the theologian not only to comfort God’s people in the midst of their trials, but also to explain to them who God is.

These three images of God we are looking at in this study are images of God in His glory.

This last one is a picture of how we are included in it.

I do love science, because in it, I see that God is fantastic.

I am not a biologist; I took 2 courses, 9^th grade biology and biology with a lab in college.

In those I saw, God is fantastic.

I remember it because the first day of biology in the 9^th grade:

• The teacher asked the class: “How many of you are Christians and believe in creation?”
• My twin brother, Nick Federspiel, a devout Catholic boy and I raised our hands.
• She said, “Mark my words, by the end of this semester; you will no longer believe that God exists.”
• Her challenge wasn’t to us, it was to God.
• My best friend died crossing the street coming to school that year. And God held us up in the midst of that tragedy. The day after the funeral, she came to Pete and me and said, “I believe in God because of the way I see the hope inside of you.”

Here is the thing: Some people consider a study of Revelation and the concept of prophecy as superstition.

But science needs philosophy, theology and faith to help it through.

The philosophical questions in science such as: (SHOW) Does God exist? If He does, why doesn’t He show Himself to us? If He exists, then where did He come from? If He exists, what is heaven like?

Revelations gives us a picture of all of that.

So why talk all this time about evolution and creation and intelligent design?

Because: (SHOW) Intelligence and the miraculous still describe these origins.

Somewhere the answer to the question, which is eternal: God or Matter has to be answered for rational people, who think about these things in order to be able to believe in God.

In that phrase: “I am the beginning and the end” God is answering that age old question.

God can answer the tough questions. In this book, especially this passage, we see the answer to the questions: “Why do bad things happen to good people? Does God allow the wicked to prosper, and if so, why?

Throughout the history of humanity, people have cried out for God to manifest Himself and show us what to do.

So, in Jesus, God became a man. And He isn’t just a person who showed us the values of love and compassion that are important to God, but He also came as Savior. He saves us, after all, what else could He do? He is God and thankfully, God is Love.

Those who worship Satan worship evil.

This is a theological book, in spiritual terms, God is trying to explain the mystery of eternity and He admits that He is the one who did it. I am the First and the Last. To Moses, He said: “I AM that I AM.”

I love this answer to Moses. Moses was no rube. He had 40 years of probably the finest education that anyone could have at that time. The Egyptians were great scientists. Their Pyramids still stand.

They didn’t know as much as we know, but they had the same brains we have. They asked the same questions that we ask.

So, somewhere there has to be a first cause, something that started all of this. It is described right here in the Book of Revelation.

Moses, I am sure had wrestled with this very question up until then. (SHOW) How did we get here?

Revelations, in its mystery gives us a glimpse of the glory of God.

Nature, in its complexity, gives us a glimpse of the glory of God.

We don’t understand Revelations because our thought processes are still limited by logic of time. However, although we can’t comprehend it, we imagine that eternity must be.

Something has to be eternal. It is either God or matter.

The book of Revelation says it is God.

And, again a skeptic trained in logic would say that the book testifying about itself is circular logic; we need independent confirmation, for many, science is doing a good enough job.

But that is why I love science. (SHOW) In science we see the intelligence of God’s design.

I do not see intelligent design as something that destroys the theory of evolution. It explains the parts that evolutionary science cannot explain.

God created in evolutionary processes.

People, who want to believe in God, who want to understand the spiritual nature of our existence because although they cannot define it scientifically, can feel it.

Again, that is one of the reasons why reading Revelation is a special blessing.

The problem, at the height of the day of Modernity was that science, a great thing, couldn’t answer spiritual questions. And the world admits it. Watch the TV show Bones, and see the interplay between the 2 lead characters, the genius doctor and the passionate FBI agent who is spiritual.

The TV shows no longer mock the concept of faith.

Even modern science has added Philosophy in the theory of the big bang.

It is the theory that the universe exploded out of the smallest particle, expands, then shrinks into that particle and explodes again.

Science sees a beginning and tries to explain it.

So, the big bang theory explains the origin. But it doesn’t explain the beginning.

(SHOW) There is really only one logical explanation for the beginning. It is God.

Matter couldn’t just decide to create itself.

Something beyond our comprehension and the rules of Logic has to have started it.

The most logical conclusion is God, the Creator.

The wonderful thing about this is that God could be just like us, with good and bad thoughts, with evil and good living in tension within Himself.

God could be a despot, a mean dictator, but He isn’t.

(SHOW) God is love, Pure and Simple.

This eternal picture of the Lamb slaughtered is a demonstration of His love.

Some people have the attitude that Revelation is a prophecy about events that will happen in our lifetime.

But that attitude may be arrogant, as if all of this (hold up bible) is only about us.

Last week we made a reference to the special place beside the throne of heaven that is reserved for the Martyrs and God said: “the vindication will come when the number of martyrs is completed.”

From the beginning of the Church, they have been saying, “God is fairness going to reign in the end?”

In chapter 7, their number is complete. It won’t be complete until the multitude that gets saved out of the 7 year tribulation joins them.

Now this isn’t the end of the book, and in the book, more martyrs are to come. The mark of the beast hasn’t happened yet. So we know more are coming.

John keeps saying, “After I saw this, I saw that.” But he never says that the events are chronological. The gospel of John isn’t chronological either. The order and placement speaks to the relationship and importance of these events.

So, these seal judgments have everything to do with the way that God cares for justice on behalf of His oppressed.

They sing another song:

(SHOW vs 15-17)

¹⁵For this reason they are before the throne of
God, and worship him day and night within
his temple, and the one who is seated on the
throne will shelter them.

¹⁶They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them, nor any
scorching heat;

¹⁷for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will
be their shepherd, and he will guide them
to springs of the water of life, and God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes.’

It is a picture of comfort, peace, rest and perfect love. They sing about it there.

I almost think I should have named the series: “The Three Songs of Heaven.”

In Chapter 1, we are given a song to sing about the hope of going there, and the emphasis on the song is the way God will bring justice.

In Chapter 5, we sing this song that focuses on Jesus and His salvation.

And in Chapter 7, we sing two songs. The first goes right back to Jesus, because it is all about Him.

It’s about Jesus who saved us.

The second song is about what He saved us to.

He saved us to be comforted. He saved us into His family. He saved us because He wants to be with us forever.

Invitation to His family.

A View From Heaven, Part II

Text: Revelations 5:1-14

Focus: To focus on Jesus

Function: To remind us of our great hope in the resurrection.

Form: Story Telling

Intro:

Did you ever see something disappointing, or different than what you expected and then discovered something great?

Show “

Historia de un letrero

” video

As believers, we too hope for what we cannot see.

So, in order to comfort us, God shows John.

But, in his vision of heaven also gets an unexpected result when he sees Jesus.

(SHOW) The Lion is the Lamb.

• The Lion of Judah is the victor from the tribe of Judah.
• He is the one who will establish that eternal kingdom.
• This is the long expected Kingdom that the apostles thought they were going to see and be part of.
• John and James’ mother asked that these men sit at the right and left of Jesus.
• Throughout this time, there was some hope by the apostles that they would get to reign with Jesus in an earthly kingdom.
• There has already been one Lion of Judah:
• King David.
• He was raised from being a poor shepherd to one of the greatest kings of Israel.
• And He was fierce.
• And now, we see the reign of Jesus, not only on earth, but in heaven as well.
• And Jesus’ method is completely different.
• It is an upside-down kingdom.

The Emperor wrote a will, and it was opened by the appropriate heir. The will, called a Testament, was sealed with 7 seals. Only the heir apparent can open the seals.

So, here they are in heaven, all of heaven is waiting and no one is found to open the seals.

We don’t get from the text why this is such a tragedy. But John is weeping bitterly.

And the angel who leads him into this revelation comforts him on his shoulder and points to Jesus and says: “Don’t cry, the Lion of Judah is worthy.”

It appeared that all hope was lost, but not.

The Son of the King is referred to as the Lion.

Obviously, the name implies: Christ the Victorious one.

(SHOW) Lion of Judah… …Christ the Victor!

Again, the hope of all the people when Jesus was on earth, the hope displayed on Palm Sunday is actually coming to pass.

Again, God is comforting His people, He is vindicating their suffering.

John hears the angel comfort him and tell him that the actual Lion of Judah, the prophesied victor is on the way.

John turns his head toward the four, four-headed creatures where the Lion of Judah is supposed to be.

And he is shocked at the image.

The Lion who is coming is actually a lamb.

(show) The Lion is a lamb.

We aren’t talking about a wolf in sheep’s clothing. We are talking about an actual lamb.

A lamb is the symbol of weakness, the symbol of sacrifice, and the polar opposite to the lion.

And it isn’t just a lamb, but it is a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. It is obviously a divine lamb.

And there is one more, much more obvious, peculiarity about the lamb. It is slaughtered. Now, I don’t even want to picture this. I got stopped by a school bus the other day and there was a very fresh road-kill beside me. A poor little kitty and I thought that some child coming home from school is going to be very sad.

But, and I don’t want to get graphic, but that cat was to horribly disfigured to look at. It was sad and grotesque.

Don’t think about this image, but understand that John is looking at what looks like a divine, seven-headed, seven-eyed, dead lamb.

I imagine it was a very curious image to him.

He explains to us the mystery of the seven eyes and seven horns. They represent the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

About this time, I am thinking, I am glad he cleared that up for me in the narrative, but wait a minute, God has seven spirits? I thought it was God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity.

I have to tell you, his explanation of it still leaves me in quite a mystery. I am not mocking it at all. It illustrates to me that what we see hear on earth, and what we could see in heaven if we were so gifted have similarities, but also significant, spiritual differences.

John gives this explanation not to confuse us more. And the explanation isn’t there to obscure the point.

So, again, I am glad for the command not to add to or take away anything from the book.

Because I don’t have to tell you for sure what it means.

Most generally, people believe that 6 is the number of man and 7 is the number of God and it somehow symbolizes completeness.

At least, that is what I learned in theology class and that was a pretty thorough study of many possible answers with some conclusions.

(SHOW) Seven symbolizes that God is complete in Himself.

But the speculation as to what it means gets pretty profound and if you Google it, you will know less, than more about what it means.

So, why mention it?

Well, the Trinity is expressed in this scene. John was standing in the throne room of God. The Father is one the throne, the Son, Jesus, the Lamb of God and also the Lion of Judah is there, and the Holy Spirit is there as well.

This image is both glorious, and terrible. God is demonstrating Himself to John, the Father in Glory, with an emerald rainbow and 100 billion angels and people around Him, the Holy Spirit, shown His perfection and completeness and a twist: Jesus is shown as a slaughtered Lamb.

If you remember Easter’s sermon and the scripture that Jesus will be the one Honored in the Trinity until the end of this age, then this is what is happening. Jesus is the center of attention in this room with 100 billion creatures.

(SHOW) God creates this picture of Himself in heaven for us to see: Glory, Completeness and a Slaughtered Lamb.

Isn’t this strange?

A lamb, a symbol of humility, slaughtered none-the-less.

And John, when He sees Jesus in this fashion, rejoices.

The lamb walks up to the angel holding the scroll, the testament, the will for the heir apparent and begins opening the seven seals.

In Revelation, we refer to the seven seal judgments, the seven trumpet blast judgments and the seven bowl judgments.

As these seals get opened, we get the four horseman of the apocalypse. But most of these seal judgments are on behalf of God’s people. Some aren’t terrible at all.

(SHOW) Seal 1, horse 1: White, Jesus conquering EVIL empires… …Horse 2: Red, evil empires destroying each other.

The first one, God, as the Angel of God, Jesus on the white horse, conquers the evil empires. The second one, a red horse, God allows those evil nations that are left after the conqueror has come, those who live by the sword to destroy each other.

(SHOW) Seal 3, horse 3: Black, with scales for measuring. God gives just prices for the poor.

Then the third seal, and the black horse appears, and this is a great thing. The horseman has a pair of scales and as he travels the earth, he establishes fair prices for food. He defends the poor from the rich who are exploiting them.

So, in these first 3 seals, God reigns, just as the Jewish people hoped for. Bad guys choke on their own evil. Justice is given to the poor. Again, this is what the Jewish people hoped for on Palm Sunday.

(SHOW) Seal 4, horse 4: Pale. Death and Hades released.

In the 4^th seal, death and Hades are released. Okay, this is a real live judgment from God. There will be suffering during this time.

(SHOW) 5^th Seal: Martyrs rewarded.

The fifth seal is wonderful. It is one of two references to all the Martyrs in the faith. They are elevated before God, again, they cry out for justice and God gives white robes to them.

And then God tells them to rest until the rest of the people who have the eternal honor of being martyred arrive.

Remember, God gives us this book to remind us that He isn’t weak, He isn’t powerless, He isn’t defeated, He hasn’t forgot about His children, and He does indeed know what He is doing. The martyrs are rewarded in a special way, and later on he tells them they will get the best places in heaven.

God does indeed know how to care for His own.

He demonstrates His power and all the while He is doing it, He does it while taking on the form of a lamb, which has been slain.

God demonstrates the strength we have as Christians. He demonstrates the strength of turning the other cheek. He demonstrates the strength we have in faith instead of human power.

(SHOW) Seal 6: Silence.

The 6^th seal is opened, and there is silence in heaven for half an hour.

God has rewarded His people, it is a solemn occasion. He gives them, the entire universe, all 100 billion creatures time to reflect on His salvation.

All the while they are doing this, the focus on attention is right there, on Jesus and Jesus is in this body that has the fierceness of a lion, but He has chosen this humble image.

Remember the victory song that the Israelites sang when they crossed the Red Sea and the Egyptian army was destroyed without a single blow from a sword, poke of a spear or shot from an arrow?

They sang: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”

Do you see what is happening here?

The book of Revelation is about worship.

It contains these tremendous, maybe even terrible, images of God’s glory, power and mystery.

God’s people, all over the earth are suffering an almost global persecution from Caesar. And John gets this vision, this picture of heaven, this image of just rewards for both the good and the wicked and it all points God’s people to remember to look at Jesus.

This is another refocus for God’s people, it is all about Jesus.

It still applies to today.

The book of Revelations was not just written to the persecuted Christians of the 1^st Century. It is written to all of us.

It is here to remind us of what it will be like when we get there. It is strange, mysterious, glorious, wonderful and awesome. But more than anything, God will be wiping away the tears from eyes, so hold on to your faith!

I need to remember that as a Christian. We need to remember that as we think about how God wants us to live our lives.

(SHOW) In light of eternity, how will you spend your life?

We are not currently being put to death for our faith in the United States, but there are millions of Christians, even today who are being persecuted by either their governments, or their neighbors.

I think of this image of Jesus, this slaughtered lamb and just as I had to turn my head away from that poor dead kitty, I wonder how I can keep looking at Jesus, the crucified Lamb of God who took away our sins.

And the story ends with this worship. The elders lead it, they fall down, the crowd, the angels and the beasts fall down and worship.

All they can do in response is praise God for saving them.

A View From Heaven, Part I

Text: Revelation 1:4-8

Focus: Worship

Function: To help people focus on The Kingdom of God

Form: Bible Study

Intro:

Can I do a teaching?

I wish I had a month to go over all the theology in the passage we used for Easter.

It teaches about Spiritual warfare, Jesus’ having the prime place in glory, how He defeats the god of the world –the devil, and it teaches about the meaning and purpose of the resurrection.

The meaning of the resurrection is best understood when we consider where we are resurrected to.

During the sermon, we are going to spend the next 3 weeks in Heaven. (SHOW IMAGE)

The Bible tells us a lot about heaven, but at the same time, it leaves most all of the details out. It is always a mystical place for us to ponder and dream about.

So, we are going to get a view of heaven in this three-week study.

The book of Revelation is one of the most controversial books in the bible.

The interpretations of its prophecies vary greatly. When I was a new Christian, understanding Bible prophecy was my first passion in study. I read everything I could about it. I read from the meaning behind the great Hymn: “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations,” a hymn about how the Church will bring God’s kingdom to earth and the whole earth will be better and better because of Christian influence and the second coming of Christ may only be the time when the values of the gospel are obtained.

This view is the primary historic view of the Church from the beginning.

They call that doctrine a post-millennial view since the events of Armageddon don’t take place until after the 1,000 year reign of Christ.

I don’t think so, but I may be wrong. I find the scriptures in Matthew 24 when Jesus talks about the increase in evil, the increase in world calamities or in Revelation 22 where it says, Good people will get better and Evil people will get worse to mean that there will be a big contrast between good and evil.

The Pre-millennial view has the rapture, the 1,000 year reign of Christ, and then the battle of Armageddon after Satan’s release from the bottomless pit. That view is broken down into three basic categories, Pre-Tribulation, Mid-Tribulation, and Post-Tribulation. That means that the rapture will happen either before these terrible events in Revelation take place, or during the middle, when the Antichrist turns up the heat so to speak and the mark of the beast is instituted, and post, that believers will be miraculously supplied during the tribulation and the rapture doesn’t happen until “the last trumpet” sounds.

An then there is the Amillennial view which states that the dark ages were the millennium… …if you try putting it all together, it gets crazy.

We have this need, this desire to know about Bible prophecy and what is going to happen in the end.

We care about it so much because we have loved ones that we want to know are ready to stand before God.

And listen, all of this is exciting. Study and academics were generally pretty easy for me. But I found something out, the more that I studied, the less sure I was about any one position.

I question the theologian who thinks his or her interpretation is the only valid one.

Because, being less sure is Biblical.

In the OT, the book that speaks the most about end times prophecy is Daniel. In 9:24 and 11:4, God tells Daniel that these prophecies will remain a mystery until after they are fulfilled.

Jesus repeats the mystery of these visions, prophecies and revelations right at the end of the book of Revelation by warning people not to add to, or take away from the teaching. (SHOW) Revelation 22:18-19 I give fair warning to all who hear the words of the prophecy of this book: If you add to the words of this prophecy, God will add to your life the disasters written in this book; if you subtract from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will subtract your part from the Tree of Life and the Holy City that are written in this book.

So, it’s like, I better not preach about exactly how the prophecies will be fulfilled, because 1). By God’s design, they are a mystery until after they are fulfilled and 2). I don’t want all those plagues added to my own life!

But, every time we read it, we get a special blessing. Every time we read it, just like watching the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou” we get something new, a different angle, another word or image that was there all along that strikes us as appropriate for the times we are in.

So, what is it that I believe God wants us to see from this passage?

Given the fact it is wrong to get to precise about the meaning of these things, why is this book such a special blessing to believers?

Well, according to Pastor Gavin at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Albert City, Iowa: (SHOW) “The book of Revelation isn’t as much about laying out the future as it is about worshipping God and Jesus. It is a book about worship.”

Then he goes on to say: “Throughout Revelation people are worshipping all sorts of things, and the true church, the real Christians are the ones who worship God alone. And, I think this is where it becomes most clear, this vision was given to a church who was facing persecution and even death for their faith. If they chose not to follow the worship practices of the world around them, they could die for this. And Revelation offers real and strong hope to them. It tells them that the world will seem to get horrible, but in the end they will join with all of God’s saints in worshipping Jesus at the foot of his throne.”

Verses 5-7 are actually a song, given to us by God, a song that we are to sing until we get to heaven. Hear the words in their poetry:

Glory and strength to Christ, who loves us,
who blood-washed our sins from our lives,
Who made us a Kingdom, Priests for his
Father,

Forever—and yes, he's on his way!
Riding the clouds, he'll be seen by every eye,
those who mocked and killed him will see him,

People from all nations and all times
will tear their clothes in lament.

Oh, Yes.

1^st service: We sing a big portion of that in one of my favorite hymns, #336, It is Well With My Soul. That last line about how our faith shall be sight, the trumpet shall sound and God will make sense out of all the pain and suffering we have endured as Christians.

2^nd service: We sing directly from this passage of scripture when we sing:

Behold he comes!

Riding on a cloud!

Shining like the sun!

At the trumpet's call!

Lift your voice!

It's the year of jubilee!

Out of Zion’s hill salvation comes!

This scripture is actually a song given to us to sing until Jesus returns to bring His children home.

Well wait a moment, what about the last verse of that song?

(SHOW) People from all nations and all times


will tear their clothes in lament. Oh, Yes.

1^st service: The hand bell choir and their families, and everyone else who stays will get to hear our first song in the worship set from the praise team, Victory Chant. And if you don’t get to hear it and want to, you can log on to my sermon blog and see the link right to the song.

2^nd service: We started out with the song, “Victory Chant.”

It is a great song. It is called Victory Chant, but it isn’t a song of how we received a victory over all those who rejected what we believe.

No, it’s a song about Jesus and the victory He accomplished by the cross and the resurrection in order to set us free.

We worship Him for what He has done for us.

So what about this song, this line, “everyone else will wail and lament” and we respond with the satisfaction of the words: “oh yes!”

Is he saying that we are to gloat over the fact that the many people who refused to acknowledge Jesus will suffer when He does return, when He appears in the sky, when the entire world hears that last trumpet blast, it is a day of happiness for us because they are not with us?

I tell you this, I am genuinely excited and hoping for my graduation day when I get to be in heaven with Jesus, the child that we lost, my dad and all the others who have gone before me.

One youth who had particularly bonded with me in a former parish really took it hard when God called me on. I remember my last words to him were: “Brother, you better be in heaven with me. Promise me you will make it.”

We want to go to heaven, and in heaven, there will be joy that we cannot imagine. In heaven God will wipe away our last tears, and then there will be no more crying.

(SHOW) Revelation 21:4 …They're his people, he's their God. He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone."

I can only imagine that those first tears wiped away will be tears for those who are not there.

I can also imagine that God would never get over the grief of anyone who didn’t choose to go.

Both Methodist and Brethren churches were built so that from the pulpit, the pastor could see the cemetery so that he would be reminded of the fate of every person in that room.

If you love somebody, you don’t want them to go to hell.

Brother Paul said that he loved his people so much; he would go to hell on their behalf if he could.

Well Paul can’t save people. I can’t save people. You can’t save people. Only Jesus can.

And that is what Jesus did.

Jesus went to hell for us.

Except hell couldn’t keep Him there.

Romans 10:7, Colossians 2:15 and Ephesians 4:8:

(SHOW) Jesus descended into hell (Romans 10:7), He disarmed Satan (Colossians 2:15), and He lead a host of captives out of hell into heaven, (Ephesians 4:8).

When He rose from the dead, he proved that God’s mercy triumphs over the shame and evil that Satan puts on us.

So, if you love somebody, even your enemy, you do not wish them to go to hell. How can we sing this song and gloat over those who don’t make it?

I cannot picture God gloating over those who don’t make it.

What does this mean, the people will lament?

The bible is really clear about gloating over an enemy’s failure: Proverbs 17:5, and 24:17 are direct commands for us to not rejoice when an enemy stumbles.

About this point, you are probably thinking, “Stop asking us what you think it means and tell us what you think it means!”

You have to understand the context of Revelations. John the apostle is in prison on the island of Patmos, history says that the Roman prison there was a hard labor camp where they busted rocks from dawn to dusk every single day to provide paving stones for Roman highways. It’s Sunday morning, the day they used to gather to worship, but he is alone. He is somewhere praying; the whole island is a prison. And in this place God gives him this Revelation.

Nero is Emperor. He is so Antichrist that he literally uses Christians who are soaked in tar and impaled on poles, lit on fire as lights for his orgies.

Across the Roman Empire Christians are persecuted because they refuse to worship Nero as their god.

The Christians are wondering if God has this in His plan, or if something has gone wrong in heaven. They have gone from tremendous growth and blessing to terrible persecution.

Satan hates grace, and the church is giving grace from God to everyone. It is multiplying as miraculously as the feeding of the 5,000.

So Satan puts this enmity into Nero’s mind.

God, in response, gives this beautiful Revelation to John. It is a letter from God that Nero isn’t going to get away with his extremely wicked torture of Christians.

(SHOW) Revelations is a letter to the oppressed everywhere that God indeed is a fair judge, and He will set everything to right.

He doesn’t gloat over those who refuse Him, who choose evil over good, who serve themselves instead of others, who have 2 coats and refuse to give one to someone who has none. He doesn’t gloat over them, but He tells His children that He knows how to vindicate them. Revelation is a book about God’s love for the oppressed. It comforts us to know that it isn’t all in vain.

Did you know that Nero’s name is 666?

(SHOW)

Don’t worry, I can’t read Hebrew either.

Much of the language in Revelation is symbolic, mysterious, and cryptic.

God gave a divine revelation to John, it is a miraculous vision, it is given to comfort and challenge his people. God did it in such a way as to keep them from getting into further trouble by using this highly symbolic language.

So what is this challenge?

It has a lot to do with the core of our theology.

From this scripture we teach the priesthood of all believers.

Rome justified its enslavement of the world by claiming that the emperor was god, and it was moral and just for them to rule others. They believed that they had a divine mandate. But history has shown us the truth, that “might doesn’t make right” and people are willing to do anything to justify themselves.

So, when across the Kingdom, Christians wouldn’t bow to Caesar, they were labeled as unpatriotic, traitors and heretics.

That is why, right at the beginning of the book, he reminds believers everywhere, who are suffering terrible persecution, that we are members of a greater kingdom, hold on, God’s Kingdom will reign and God will move to protect His own.

(SHOW) We are a kingdom, a spiritual kingdom. We are a kingdom of Priests.

Question, how can every Christian be a priest?

We teach and emphasize the Priesthood of all believers. We teach and preach the concept that all of us have direct access to God and we no longer need a man to intercede for us, then who are we priests for?

Obviously, we are priests for those who have not yet joined God’s family.

(SHOW) We are Priests to unbelievers.

Jesus said to the disciples right before He left them in the book of John: (SHOW) John 20:22-23 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?"

I had to talk to a detective about something a few months ago and I said to him: “You have the power of law; we have the power of grace.”

In my experience, there are two ways to make a church grow. One is, “rant, rave and yell about how bad all the others are and feed on people’s fear and anger.”

But the other, the Biblical one is this: “Do Justice, Love Mercy and be Humble before God.” When we give mercy, God is pleased and the body of Christ grows.

(SHOW –don’t say) Is Jesus your King?

But there is still one unanswered question here. Yes, Jesus is the Firstborn of the dead, the King of Kings and all that. But is He your King? Have you given your life to Him? He said "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me."(John 14:6)

Better Than Being Good!

Text: 1 Corinthians 15:20-28

Focus: Easter

Function: To help people realize fully the grace given in the atonement.

Form: Theological teaching

Intro:

You heard the “Good for nothing” joke:

• Three boys talking about their dad’s expectations of them.
• One’s father was the principal of the school, he said, “Dad says my behavior reflects on him, so every semester that goes by that I don’t get in any trouble at school, I get to go to a ball game with him.”
• Another’s father is a policeman. He said: “Dad told me it might seem unreasonable for him to expect perfection out of me just because I am cop’s son. So, dad gives me 2 dollars every week that I don’t get in trouble at school.”
• The third boy’s dad was a preacher. He said: “Dad makes his living by preaching to do right and do good. He says that God will ultimately reward me for being good, so for now, I guess I am good for nothing.

(SHOW) Are we good for nothing? What is better than being good?

You know what? Everyone in the world has to deal with the fact of Jesus’ life.

Almost everyone knows about Him.

I know that in most Buddhist countries, instead of swearing with the name of Jesus, they most often say: “Holy Cow.” But the knowledge of Jesus is still there.

If one talks to a Muslim and that Muslim mentions Jesus they will say: “Jesus, upon him be peace.” They believe in the virgin birth and consider Him to be one of the greatest prophets.

Gandhi started out his education in a Christian Seminary, actually considering the calling of becoming a Christian and a pastor until he abandoned the faith because the English invaders claimed to be Christians, but they were oppressing the English people. They refused the very simple teaching of Jesus to turn the other cheek. But worse, they compromised NT Christianity with an English form of Civil religion. That is why he abandoned our faith. He said: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

I wish, by the way, he had met us. I am not saying we are the best, but we do know that what he was talking about, the command to turn the other cheek and love our enemies, are values that we are willing to die for. But that was something that he just wasn’t seeing in the Christians he knew.

The Brethren, then, started a mission in India and because of these values, the Church grew quickly there, because they saw Jesus and people who actually followed Him.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are believers across this country that love Jesus and don’t share those aspects of our values.

I was raised with this principle. My dad said to me: “Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek; I am telling you the same thing. If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other.”

I don’t know about you, but to a young man trying to prove himself in this violent world, that concept sounded ridiculous to me.

So Brian somebody, the classic bully, the kid twice the size of the rest of us, the kid who could make his nostrils flare like a demon decided that he and his imps were going to make all the kids bow down and worship him behind the metal lathe in shop class.

It was the classic bully story and I did my best to avoid him. This went of for a few weeks and after I thought I had escaped the test, they caught me and hauled me back in front of this monster. Trembling with fear, I refused to bow to him, telling him that I will only bow to Jesus, my Lord and Savior. And God did intervene; the bully was so shocked at my resolve that he just melted away.

But enough about us, let’s get back to Jesus and the question: “What is better than being good?”

Those last two stories are not off the subject. They address the question about the meaning of Christianity. To many people, maybe to most, the concept of Christianity is supposed to be the concept of being good.

I don’t think anything was and is a better witness to that than the earthquake in Haiti. Christians were already on the ground when it happened. Throughout the land, the places where there is respite from the poverty are the places where Christians are already doing Christ’s good works. They are preaching the good news of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus, the power of the resurrection over sin, bondage, addiction and death itself while overcoming the structures that have kept them in poverty for generations.

(SHOW) Christians are left here on the earth to do good. Ephesians 2:10: “He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”

One could say instead of being good for nothing, we are good for eternity because Jesus saved us.

On Easter, we celebrate the fact that He saved us and we didn’t save ourselves.

Look at the verses leading up to the last one: (SHOW) Ephesians 2:7-9: “Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing!”

I used to tell my kids whenever they went somewhere: “Remember who you are and who you represent.”

It was my way of saying, “You better be good!”

We better be good because it reflects Jesus Christ.

But I gotta tell you. This salvation that Jesus gave us is better than being good.

Look at verse 19 from our text: (SHOW) “If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we're a pretty sorry lot.”

Gandhi, Mohammed and many Westerners all accept the fact that Jesus was a good man. They accept that Jesus called us to continue His good works. He stood up for the poor and without raising the national debt, or raising taxes, He gave free health care to everyone!

He condemned religious leaders who hurt and marginalized other people’s sins without looking honestly at their own sins of greed, abuse of power and hypocrisy.

Ask an Atheist, or an Agnostic: “What do you think of Jesus?” And almost without a doubt the answer will be He was a good man, or the idea of Him is a great example for us.

Some, very liberal theologians try to say He was merely the “Christ light.” They imply that all He represents is a good way for people to treat each other.

Gandhi justified his rejection of Christianity because the ideas that Jesus taught, especially the golden rule: “Don’t treat others badly if that is how they treat you, instead treat them the way you want to be treated” weren’t practiced.

Talk to a person who doesn’t like a Christian who works with them, I mean a sincere Christian, and you will probably hear the phrase: “So and So is a goody two shoes.”

Goodness is the essence of God; it is His command for us to practice; it was personified in a perfect way, without hypocrisy, when God became a man and walked among humanity in Jesus Christ.

(SHOW) But the fact is, not one of us can actually match that standard that Jesus set. He raised the bar of perfection higher than is possible by any mere mortal.

In all of our desire to be good, to do well, to be thought of as kind, just, compassionate, generous, honest, sincere, in our passion, to be thought of as decent, moral and upright, none of us comes close to Jesus.

You see, there is the whole death and resurrection thing here that proves it.

And if all that is happening in our Christian faith is, (Re-SHOW) “a little inspiration for a few short years, we are a pretty sorry lot.”

If that is all there is, if we aren’t endowed with an human soul, if we are merely dust and water that can think, dream, hope, create, inspire as well as do evil, then being good has no meaning.

But we have to believe in eternity. We have to believe that truly evil people, like Hitler, will face a judgment for the incredible misery they created. If he “gets away with it,” if he dies the same as Jesus, even though Jesus’ legacy is a tremendous one of doing good, loving mercy and sacrificial, unconditional love which is the polar opposite of Hitler’s legacy of death, destruction and evil, in the end, both men would just be dead.

If that is life, then it is meaningless. Gandhi rejected Christianity because the so called Christians that had conquered his land and ruled his people taught that there was more to life than merely being born, living, doing either good or evil, or a combination of both and then dying with the same fate awaiting all of us.

Gandhi saw, even though he wasn’t a Christian that there is much more to human life, a much deeper spiritual experience than this one life, lived in a selfish existence with no consequence for doing evil.

God understands this also. The entire book of Ecclesiastes in the OT is devoted overcoming this philosophy that nothing really matters. Solomon starts out writing the book by echoing the same fears and cynicisms of modern philosophers who refuse to acknowledge God’s sense of justice. He says in (show) Ecclesiastes 2:13-16: But I did see that it's better to be smart than stupid, just as light is better than darkness. Even so, though the smart ones see where they're going and the stupid ones grope in the dark, they're all the same in the end. One fate for all—and that's it. When I realized that my fate's the same as the fool's, I had to ask myself, "So why bother being wise?" It's all smoke, nothing but smoke. The smart and the stupid both disappear out of sight. In a day or two they're both forgotten. Yes, both the smart and the stupid die, and that's it.

In our culture, we are becoming spiritual again and we are saying, if not for God, then at least for our children, we should be good and do well for each other.

But listen, to stop at being good, to stop at a moral call to do well and fight for justice is meaningless without the truth we see in this passage. It is merely a little inspiration for a few years.

Don’t believe for one moment that this idea of resurrection, miracles, the meaning of life, and the question of life after death is merely superstitious imagination is new.

Paul preaches this text because that is exactly what was happening in the Church in Corinth.

People doubted the fact of the Resurrection. If it didn’t happen, then we are still lost in our sins.

Living sacrificial lives is meaningless from an eternal perspective because the same fate happens to everyone.

Living sacrificial lives would only be beneficial in behalf of future generations.

There is a lot of theology in this passage. I love the way it says, (SHOW) “There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man.”

People ask why we are so exclusive in our claim that salvation is in Jesus alone. Others may wonder, just as Gandhi did, if we merely use that thought as an excuse to place ourselves first. In light of what is happening in Haiti, in light of the fact that the main, perhaps only true care given in India itself happens at the hands of the Christian Church, I resent that remark. But I understand it.

England wrapped Christianity in its flag and the people in India resented Christ because of it.

The gospel was second place to their financial interests.

But Paul is speaking of living well, doing good, remembering that our reward is in heaven because of the fact of the resurrection.

Christians must place the gospel above their own personal interests.

Jesus is not the civic God of whatever nation wraps it in its own flag. (SHOW) Jesus is Savior of the entire world! You too!

In Adam, the father of all of humanity, sin has come to every single human being.

In Jesus, the Savior of all Humanity, forgiveness comes to every single human who calls upon the name of Jesus.

The theology is this, we are born in sin. That same passage in Ephesians says that we are born “dead in our sins.”

Through faith in Christ we rise from spiritual death to new life. We join God’s family in His Great adventure.

If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then life is meaningless and we are “good for nothing.”

But because of Easter, (SHOW) We are better than good, we are saved for eternity.

Palm Thursday

Text: Luke 19:28-44

Focus: Palm Sunday

Function: The terrible price He paid.

Form: Story telling.

Adapted from Alex Stevenson because it was exactly what I wanted to say.

Growing up in church, I knew of three religious holidays. These were Christmas, Easter, and believe it or not: Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday was the time that we sang the song which went: "Hosanna, loud hosanna the little children sang, Through pillared court and temple the lovely anthem rang." That song also says that "the children sang their praises the simplest and the best."

My Sunday School teachers took their cue from that song's description of children singing.

The service is fun. In Sunday School we would make palm branches from green construction paper and march all around the church singing and shouting "Hosanna, hosanna" as if we were in that crowd on that first Palm Sunday.

But Brethren kids are special. Here the kids get real Palm Branches. It was fun. I think, in a day before the video screen, it was a great way to visualize Jesus.

And Jesus was pleased that the Children got to sing. Just as in our church, when we waved our branches, and were so important to the Church in worship, in that story, the Children also take a central role.

(SHOW) The Children celebrated while worshipping Jesus.

I remember wondering about that, since at times, it seemed boring to me. But worship there was alive and exciting. There were no rules, no proscribed mantras, and no formalities to be preformed. They just let their love for Jesus flow.

I guess you can call it a Sunday School success story. Think about, of the three Christian holidays, we know about Christmas because of the presents we get. At Easter, we know about it because of the Easter bunny and all the candy. But on Palm Sunday, we knew about it because of Jesus and that He was excited that we were singing to Him.

(SHOW) We know about Palm Sunday because of Jesus.

All in all, Palm Sunday is a very important holiday for the church. It is a time when Jesus' disciples hailed him as King. It is a chance for us as disciples of Christ today to acclaim Christ as King.

(SHOW don’t say) There is a danger that we forget what Palm Sunday means.

But there is a danger in the way we worship on Palm Sunday. It is the danger that we will forget why Jesus came to Jerusalem to begin with, and as a result we will forget why we sing hosannas.

Often times we sing hosannas on Palm Sunday and then we sing "Christ the Lord has Risen Today" the very next Sunday. WHAT JOY!

My twin brother has a weird sense of humor also. One year, right before Holy Week, he announced to his employees that the company had decided that if Good Friday fell on Saturday, no one would get a paid holiday.

People got really upset until they figured it out.

Most Good Fridays, I remember helping my dad out with a Good Friday service at an inner city nursing home. It was a special time, those people were so happy to see us.

But one year, I remember him taking me with him to go car shopping since he knew no salesmen would be on the lot on Good Friday afternoon.

Even the name, “Good Friday” is an oxymoron. It was a day of infamy. It was a day we should remember with sorrow, like 9/11, or December 7, 1941.

The events of Good Friday are not on our personal religious calendars. Oh Jesus death is mentioned. It is not that we completely ignore it. We just move past that fact as quickly as we can to get to the resurrection.

Last week, we looked at “In Remembrance of Me” and the way Jesus remembered the thief, the way He remembers us.

It is easy to jump from the fun of Palm Sunday to the joy of Easter and forget Friday.

The problem is; we don't like to dwell on unpleasant things. Sometimes we don't even admit to ourselves that unpleasant things exist.

We don't want to admit the pain and the unpleasantness of life.

This isn’t a funny story, but it seems to start out that way. One day, my son was in class on the third story of his High School. Tell first and second police chaplain story. (about making death notifications while serving on the police force).

It is easier to turn away than to behold tragedy.

There is something to be said for accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative. But when it causes us to overlook those in need, the ones God is calling us to help, the lost, the hungry, the sick it runs contrary to God's purpose.

(SHOW) Because of this tendency to overlook the negative we sometimes overlook Jesus' suffering and death.

It is good to get all caught up in the joy of singing praises to Jesus as he triumphantly enters Jerusalem. And we forget that Jesus came to Jerusalem to die.

It’s almost like: When we get to holy week we put our hands over our eyes. And say to the person next to us, "Tell me when it is over."

It may be unpleasant to think about, but Jesus did die. People drove nails through his wrists and feet. They nailed him to a cross. Jesus experienced terror and pain. What's most important is that he experienced that terror, pain and death to pay the price for our sins and for the sins of the world. (SHOW) Jesus' death is a fact of our salvation that we must never overlook.

So, how can we joyfully sing hosannas in the face of Christ's suffering? The people in our story seem to have been grossly ignorant of the facts. If they had known, as we do, why Jesus came to Jerusalem, they would not be singing a song of triumph.

You see, they thought Jesus would come in and take over the state. Right before this Jesus had to correct his disciples for thinking that his kingdom would appear immediately (Luke 19:11). The prophets had said the Messiah would come riding on a donkey. So when the people saw Jesus on that donkey, they though he was coming to lead an uprising. They thought he would ride right up to Herod's palace and sit on his throne. Then he would order the Romans out of His newly established kingdom. The crowd was partially right. Jesus was and is the Messiah. But they expected a Messiah who would rule and earthly kingdom.

(SHOW with a crown of thorns background) Jesus didn't come to Jerusalem to sit on a throne. Jesus came to Jerusalem to hang on a cross.

The only Kingly Crown He wore was a Crown of Thorns.

He said so to his disciples several times. He told them plainly. He said the son of man must suffer and die. How can we see ourselves shouting with those people? How can we joyfully sing their song? After all it was Jesus' suffering that saved us.

It makes me want to say, "How dare we sing hosannas in the face of Christ's suffering!"

But I realize that I am saying the same kind of thing the Pharisees in our lesson said. The Pharisees tried to keep Jesus' disciples from singing hosannas back then. Can we try to stop Jesus' disciples from singing hosannas today? The Pharisees said, "Jesus how can you let them do this? They will blaspheme! Stop this crowd, silence them! Teacher rebuke your disciples." (–in dark voice.)

What did Jesus say? He said "If these were silent, the stones themselves would shout." If the voices of humans will not shout: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord," then God will give the stones voices and they will shout. By the will of Almighty God who made both voices and stones, hosannas will be sung and Christ will be proclaimed as King! Mere human that I am who am I to stand in the way of the providence of God!

So what are we to do? Should we revert to our old ways of overlooking Christ's death? Should we forget Good Friday and wipe it off our religious calendars? Can we forget why Jesus came to Jerusalem and just blend in with the crowd of misled pilgrims? Can we blindly yell "Blessed is the King who comes to sit on Herod's throne?"

How can we? How is it possible for us to sing hosannas on Palm Sunday when we know that Christ's passion is just down the road?

Maybe we should celebrate the fact that Jesus came to Jerusalem to die. That is precisely what the Bible tells us to do. Paul wrote, (SHOW) "(Christ) humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."(Philippians 2:8-11)

In other words Jesus is worthy of praise precisely because he went to Jerusalem to die.

This is not just an approach to Palm Sunday; it is an approach to all of life. Jesus' suffering was necessary to win our salvation. Once we open our eyes to the suffering of Christ we see him as Lord more clearly than before.

Every knee shall bow and all shall shout "Hosanna!" because he died. In Christ we can look at suffering and see something beautiful. So look at the suffering around you. Open your eyes to it, as unpleasant as that may be. Then hand it over to God. And God in Christ will turn that sorrow into shouts of joy.

But, as I mentioned before, Brethren are special.

This worship, our traditional one (or the contemporary one), is filled with celebration. The style of it is very modern in both places, but Thursday night’s Love Feast is much different. It isn’t boring. Its design is to remind us of the solemn and terrible experience of the reality of that night as it unfolded to those disciples.

It isn’t really a Palm Thursday, it is sort of a Black Thursday because it and Good Friday are day’s of sorrow.

I saw a news blurb that traced pictures based on Michelangelo’s (SHOW) last Supper. And, they noticed that the more and more modern the painting, the larger and larger the amount of food, the size of the loaves of bread, etc. Some thought it was a message that leads to obesity. I don’t know about that. But I do think about this. “More and more,” the idea that it is about us, the way we think of ourselves and what we can get out of it is certainly implied in the growing amount of food.

But even that meal wasn’t something they were comfortable with. It starts out with Jesus washing their feet. They felt strange. It is easy for us to consider how we can help others, but to let Jesus wash our feet? That seemed to be an upside down sort of King, in an upside-down Kingdom. We are a proud people, a people who pride ourselves on being able to take care of ourselves. “No handouts, Please, I am a man myself!” That is what made our Nation Strong. But Jesus’ kingdom, in order to be a part of that Kingdom, one must lay down their pride and let Jesus wash their feet.

But these were men with the same pride and strength we have, and Jesus said: “If you can’t learn to be served, you can have no part of me.”

Remember, the only crown he wore was the crown of thorns. He tells them He will die and they cannot figure it out. He institutes bread and cup communion, they think it is strange. Everything is new. Everything is solemn. Everything has changed.

So, today we celebrate without shame because we are told to. Even though we know better than the disciples because they didn’t understand that Jesus death was coming. But I urge you to also come Thursday night, to experience the solemn, to participate in a sober worship service that puts into our mind the terror of Good Friday.

It is an uncomfortable worship service because it isn’t the fun they were having on Palm Sunday. It is uncomfortable, because someone will be washing your feet. But the experience is also wonderfully mystical as we join together to re-create the Upper Room experience.

It joins us into this upside-down Kingdom, this Kingdom that would rather turn the other, this Kingdom that would rather open arms for an embrace than fists for a fight, this kingdom of humility that permits us not only to serve, but to humble ourselves and be served.

I urge you to come Thursday night. It is a time for us to remember exactly what we know, that the disciples had no clue of. Come with us and remember the passion of Christ.

Remember Me

Text: Luke 23:35-43

Focus: The Thieves on the cross

Function: To take another picture of Jesus’ grace.

Form: Story telling

Intro:

On the altar table are the words, “In Remembrance of Me.”

They point to the symbol of Jesus’ sacrifice when He instituted the Bread and Cup Communion.

Jesus said, “Do this often, in remembrance of Me.”

Or, as often as you do this, you remember Me.

I think my favorite part from the story of the thief on the cross is the exchange between Jesus when the repentant thief, looking at Jesus, says: “Remember me” and Jesus replies with “Today, you shall be with me in paradise.”

(SHOW) Jesus “remembers everyone who calls on Him.”

Theologians and skeptics alike have broken down this story.

I remember a young man once trying to trip me up and he was claiming the bible was full of errors. So I asked him to point to one.

He pointed to this story. Matthew doesn’t tell the whole story, and the gospels were written from different perspectives. Luke tells us at the start of the gospel that he wants to make the story as complete as possible. Matthew, with all of his references to fulfilled prophecy, the symbol of the Passover lamb and other things is writing to a decidedly Jewish audience. Mark is written to the Western cultures where the gospel spread, places like Rome, etc. He emphasizes the power and might of Jesus. He emphasizes the Messiah who is a victor over sin. This power image was one that Westerners could relate to. God is interested in reaching everyone. So John, on the other hand, is written to people from Eastern Philosophy. John conducted many years of ministry in India. He doesn’t organize his gospel with strict allegiance to the chronology of events, but the symbolism of event. Luke is the only one that tries to give us an historical picture.

So, (SHOW) Matthew leaves out the miracle of the thief’s conversion. It isn’t a contradiction or a disagreement; it just wasn’t something Matthew wanted to emphasize.

So, the story is reliable.

But it is not just skeptics who want to pick apart the story.

Theologians want to pick it apart on the basis of the theology of baptism, and purgatory –where the soul goes immediately when it dies. Do we go straight to heaven? Or, do we get there at the final trumpet when the graves are opened? What does the Bible mean when it says that the dead are merely asleep until the second resurrection?

And, theologians point to this passage in order to debate these issues.

It isn’t a teaching passage on the doctrine of the resurrection, go to 1 Corinthians 15, 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians and Revelations for that. As a matter of fact, right after Easter, we are going to be looking at passages in the Book of Revelation about Jesus and us in Heaven.

Baptism is the big one I’ll mention today.

Some would say that it is impossible to be saved unless a person goes through the Christian rite of Baptism.

Many traditions, Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational and etc baptism babies soon after they are born in order to ensure their salvation.

They take it from the OT when men were circumcised on the 8^th day as a symbol of the covenant God makes with people that extends to the children. For them, it points to the more inclusive nature of the New Covenant in that baptism is extended to women and men, where not only men receive the rite of circumcision.

We are Anabaptists. That means we re-baptize people when they are old enough to make their own choice to do it.

(SHOW) We practice “believers’ baptism.”

We call it believers’ baptism. In those other traditions, the rite of confirmation is supposed to be a time when a person does make the choice to affirm the rite of baptism. It is supposed to be a time when they personalize their own decision to follow Jesus.

I have met many people who were born again through confirmation. And I have met some who were never born again. I have met Anabaptists who were born again, and then baptized, or born again when they were baptized. And I have met some who have never changed as a result of their decision to follow Jesus.

So I am going to trust God to sort this out.

But this thief was not baptized and Jesus promised him that this very day he would experience the glory of heaven.

Some traditions say, “Well, he was baptized in his own blood.” Or “God made a one-time exception.”

I think either/or is a stretch. LISTEN: We are saved by faith in Jesus alone. I know people who have been re-baptized and have told me that they felt a much, much stronger connection and closeness to God by the Holy Spirit when they obeyed the rite of baptism.

But that doesn’t mean they weren’t believers.

My own story is the same.

Salvation comes by trusting in Jesus.

(SHOW) When the thief says to Jesus “Remember me” he was saved.

A friend of mine, from another Church, asked our Church to be praying for him because he is suffering from bladder cancer. He said to me: “`So and so’ told my wife and daughters that I was going to hell because I wasn’t baptized. So, I guess I am the token pagan at the church, but I always respected you and I always saw a sincere faith in Jesus through you.”

Then he said, “Will you pray to Our Savior? Will you ask Jesus to help me? He is the only one I look to.”

(SHOW) Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

I pointed this scripture out to Him and told him that God wasn’t interested in formulas and dogma’s in order to bring us into His family.

God saves everyone who calls upon Him.

(SHOW) When we pray, when we admit our brokenness, when we confess our need for His salvation, He saves us. Pure and simple.

I am convinced that a believer, who obeys the command in scripture to be baptized in order to testify to their faith, will find blessings greater then those who don’t.

After all, salvation is about following Jesus, trusting Him and obeying Him. He said, (SHOW) John 14:15: “If you love me, you will obey Me.”

But Jesus was more interested in saving this man on the cross than He was interested in conforming to the rules of religion.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be baptized, it is an important symbol, but it is merely a symbol of something greater.

Look at these words: (SHOW) 1 Peter 3:21 “And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you -- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience - through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”

It isn’t the water, it’s the heart.

I love “The Sinners Prayer.” It covers all the bases. It says: (SHOW) “Lord Jesus I confess that I am a sinner. I believe that you paid the price for my sins by your death. I ask you to forgive my sins, save me, and come into my heart. I believe that you can because you were raised from the dead.”

It’s a good formula for salvation, but it only means something if it comes from the heart.

Picture the Story of the Thieves with Jesus.

First, there is this crowd, this blood-lust thirsty mob who are titillated by the excitement and gore of 3 humans suffering one of the most painful deaths possible.

Except for the 4 women and John the apostle, the entire rest of the crowd is hostile toward them, and especially hostile toward Jesus.

They are mocking Jesus. They point out that He performed many miracles and at this point, He appeared powerless in their hands.

They made a mockery of Him.

Then there are the Roman guards. They are wearing their breastplates, helmets and swords. Their very presence is a symbol of oppression on these people.

The torture of crucifixion is a terrible boot heel on the neck of people. They are reminded that they need to obey, or death won’t be quick enough for them.

And their attitude makes it much worse. They are so indifferent to human tragedy going on above them that they are at the feet of these men, between these men and the crowd, and are merely playing a game in the face of human tragedy.

The indifference shown by that action is reprehensible.

And yet Jesus, in the verses before this, while looking at their indifference to His plight, asks God to forgive them.

And then the three on the cross. Jesus is in the middle, one thief on either side.

According to Matthew, they pick up the crowd’s hatred and mock Jesus as well.

I can picture Jesus at this point.

I can picture him looking at the unrepentant thief and seeing the hopelessness in his eyes that causes him to have such a mean response to someone who is going through exact thing he is enduring.

Then, I picture Jesus looking at this thief, this one who cried out “Remember me.”

And for an instant, those piercing eyes of Jesus peer directly into this man’s soul.

I picture the man, quickly turning his head away in shame and becoming silent.

He listens to the abuse that Jesus is taking and it begins to weigh on his soul.

He searches his own soul in light of eternity, the Love of God and the way he has lived without regard for God and others.

All of that evil is symbolized in the way Jesus is treated.

Jesus and the two thieves are on a different level than the mob. They are elevated on these crosses, at this time; they should be a band of brothers who experience the camaraderie of suffering together.

Instead of camaraderie, there is conflict, but the conflict changes sides.

I imagine this repentant thief wondering in dismay when he sees Jesus pray those words “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

How could Jesus not hate the soldiers? He was innocent and was being punished in a gross miscarriage of justice.

I can see why he started mocking Jesus, but that piercing look, the truth behind Jesus prayer of forgiveness begin to weigh on that thief.

I picture him chancing another glance at Jesus and Jesus notices his look and gives him another look of love, forgiveness and understanding.

He sees this injustice and with a final desperate act of repentance; he decides to speak up about it.

The man, in his agony, cries out against the injustice of Jesus crucifixion.

He switches sides. He joins Jesus in His suffering and speaks out, warning the other thief to do the same.

In his speech, he confesses both his sin, his need for a Savior and his trust in Jesus’ power over death.

I imagine him, after he warns the other thief looking at Jesus again.

This time, he isn’t ashamed. Finally, maybe the first time in his life, he has done the right thing.

His final words: “Lord, remember me…”

And Jesus saves him.

There is no altar call, there is no sinner’s prayer; there is no consistent form of our Christian religion expressed by Baptism; there is merely an appeal for mercy from God.

(SHOW) We are saved by Faith in Jesus.

Our faith is not a magic formula of prayers and exercises, but a simple trust in the mercy of our Savior.

Merciful People

Text: Luke 15:2, 11-32

Focus: Mercy

Function: To help people be merciful

Form: Story telling

Intro:

I was in a Church in London, probably the largest Anglican Church in the world. A genuine revival is taking place there.

The church has 140 pastors. It is divided into groups of 40-60, called pastorates and those are divided into groups of 6-10 called cell groups. Each pastorate has a full-time pastor, but the reason for these small pastorates is so that they can develop the gifts and ministries of everyone in the church. It is a large church that owes it success to being small.

Creating an environment where people can be responsible to do ministry as God has gifted them is an organic environment in which all the members of the body can exercise their muscles and continue to grow.

However, I wonder if an ever better reason contributes to the revival that is happening there.

There are a lot of images used in churches that create a sense of holiness, a sense of mission, an atmosphere that reminds people of what is important to the faith.

Westminster Abbey is completely full of statues and icons of famous people from England’s history, some of them a Godly saints, and others are scoundrels. The Church is a monument to the successes of England’s power, but only 150 people actually worship there.

However, Holy Trinity Church, Brompton worships 4,500 people, in 5 services every week.

The building isn’t lined with statues of Military heroes, kings, scientists and saints. It is a beautiful old Cathedral, but its emphasis is on redemption. And right there, 7 foot tall, is a bronze sculpture (SHOW –in sermon file) by Charlie Maskey of the father embracing the prodigal son as he returns.

Now think about it, of the thousands of images, symbols and reminders that can be placed in our places of worship, the ones that get the center of attention relate to the worshippers the core values of that particular church.

Brethren embrace the concept of simple living, so, our Sanctuary is not guilt with gold and a lot of other things. We have a cross in the architecture, and a picture of Jesus. That isn’t what Jesus looked like, but it’s an idea of a man who has searching eyes and is focused on His mission. I wish we had two pictures, one Caucasian, and one Black. Both are equally valid and it would communicate our commitment to Social Justice. Did you know there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible dealing with social Justice? In Matt 25, when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats, the question will be, “when did you care for me as a prisoner, a foreigner etc.

I like the symbols we have here. We are here to focus on Jesus, and on the empty Cross, the proof of our redemption. Good symbols.

We have the colored altar clothes that get changed with the Church year calendar. I don’t know if anyone knows what the colors mean for sure, but the symbol is important to me because it connects us with the greater church around the world.

And then there is the IHS on the cloths, does anyone really know what they mean?

If you Google it, you get answers from International Headache Society and the Egyptian trinity of gods. But in Christian settings no one still knows, it is probably the first three letters of Jesus’ name in Greek, and very similar in Latin.

Many people think it means “In His Service” and that is close to the Latin acrostic which means this place is sacred.

I always thought it was “I” stands for Jesus, “H” stands for Son and “S” stands for Savior, meaning it points to Jesus, Son of God, and our Savior.

Symbols in worship really are important. I love the grapes and the Celtic cross on the brick. The grapes and the cup, I believe, symbolize either the blood sacrifice or the fact that Jesus is the vine that gives us life and of course, the cross points us to Good Friday.

So, in what is probably the largest Church in England, this church that is experiencing a tremendous revival, in that Church they use this sculpture of the prodigal being embraced by his father when he returns.

It is the image of people coming back to God.

It is the image of the love that God has to receive us when people return.

In England, and now in America, that is a significant image. Almost a whole generation has passed since England no longer considered itself a Christian nation.

And this church emphasizes the importance of coming back to Jesus.

(SHOW) Come back, He will receive you. God will always let us come back to Him.

My eldest brother trained 8 years to be a preacher. And then in his first church, which was an outreach church in downtown Minneapolis. It was funded by a Pentecostal Church, a Baptist Church and a Methodist Church. And no, I am not getting ready to tell a joke. Something bad happened to him.

One Sunday night, he was preaching at the Methodist Church that was contributing 1/3 of their operating budget and he neglected to mention the Baptist Church. Someone from the forgotten church was at the meeting to hear the report. They were offended, told their Church officers about it and that church pulled out of the ministry. The other two churches couldn’t afford to maintain it, so they closed the doors.

After training for 8 years to be a preacher, his first experience left him devastated, almost suicidal. His faith was really shaken. He couldn’t understand why God let this happen.

So, he became a salesman. And, his faith journey was on and off for several years. He always went to church, raised his kids in church, but he wasn’t buying it.

I worked with him a few years in a sales job as well, and he talked about Jesus, but his lifestyle was different than what we were raised with.

And then his company closed and he was out of a job with no real prospects.

Devastated, he was invited to a support group in his Church for men who had been downsized.

They made a covenant to read at least 1 chapter of the Bible a day, and pray at least 15 minutes a day

He told me, “Phil, I feel like such a hypocrite. I didn’t pray much, I wasn’t very religious while things were going so great, but now that things are going bad, I start to pray again.”

“Am I a Christian who only prays when he is in trouble? Then he said, “I truly doubted if God would take me back.”

So, he said: “When I read the bible and prayed that first day, I was nervous. But you know what, Phil? God just opened His arms and took me back. I couldn’t believe the peace He gave me in that crisis. He never made me feel ashamed for not considering Him as much as I should when things were going great. He just let me feel His love.”

He came back to Jesus.

Here is God, with His unconditional love, waiting for the return to life of His son.

…Waiting for us to return to Him.

(SHOW) God waits for us to return to Him.

…Waiting for us to embrace His forgiveness.

Now some may think that the small-time carousing my brother did while he was a salesman is nothing compared to their own sins, but I can guarantee you that God will always take us back. His desire isn’t to scold and say: “I told you so” or “you made your bed, now sleep in it” or “3 strikes and your out!” No, Jesus said even 7 times 70 in one day we are to forgive the person. He does that Himself.

God is waiting.

Now you’ve probably heard the joke about the insomniac, dyslexic, agnostic who sat up all night wondering if there really is a dog.

Well look at this video that Gay Shock sent me about the desire of God for us to come back to Him.

(SHOW video on laptop desktop “God and Dog”) –video is also in sermon file on Susan’s pc.

I remember a man said to me once, “Pastor, all you ever talk about is God’s love –mocking- God’s love…, what about God’s wrath?”

His implication was that if I make grace too easy, then people will cheapen grace and take advantage of it.

Listen, continuing in sin after we trust Jesus breaks our Father’s heart.

Parents want to be proud of their children.

But don’t fall into the trap of thinking that some are more deserving of grace than others.

I added verse 2 to the text: (SHOW) Luke 15:1-3: By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Their grumbling triggered these stories (original “this story”).

I italicized the words “these stories” because Jesus gives three examples about the people who grumbled about God’s mercy given to people they comforted their own arrogance with by looking down on. He tells the story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son.

The prodigal son story is one of the greatest stories in the entire bible. It gives hope to every sinner who draws back into the love of God.

It holds out the promise of God’s forgiveness to everyone who trusts in Him.

It illustrates the fact that the church is God’s family. We are a family together. Families care for each other. Parents are committed to their children. God is committed to us.

And I gotta tell you, if you have wandered away, this story proves that God will take you back no matter what.

It makes for some mighty fine preaching. That image (RESHOW sculpture picture) of the Fathers’ unconditional embrace is glorious and heartwarming.

It is what England needs, it what we need, it is what everyone needs to see.

But the message of God’s willingness to take us back overwhelms the original purpose that Jesus had when He told them this story.

The story is a call for us to return to Him, but Jesus doesn’t tell the story with that purpose in mind. The story is a rebuke to those who disliked the fact that other people were getting grace.

Some people are happier about someone suffering for their mistakes than they are for someone who gets restored.

(SHOW) Verse 7: There is more rejoicing in heaven over 1 sinner who returns than 99 who are already in the fold.

Restoration is the passion of God.

And the religious leaders didn’t like it.

I tell you, grace is a major stumbling block for us.

Jesus is calling us to have that same kind of mercy. (SHOW) Jesus is calling us to become Merciful People.

He is calling us to give back the mercy we have received.

The one who thinks that they deserve less mercy because they aren’t as bad doesn’t understand the meaning of God’s mercy. Come to that mercy.