All posts in category Worship

Revelation 22:6-21 – Sermon Manuscript

-We did it! We’ve made it through the entire book of Revelation! After having someone tell me I should NEVER preach through this book because no one can understand, I was worried we’d end up with confusion and frustration every week, but I’ve already had a number of people tell me they finally feel like they have a grasp of how to interpret this book, which was my prayer when we started this.

-Today’s text serves as a summary, direct application to our lives, and some final reminders on what we’re supposed to do now that we’ve walked through this whole book, not only that, but it’s the last verse of all of Scripture, the last words God wanted us to hear regarding His plans for the reconciliation and renewal of all things. Because the reality is Jesus is coming soon. Now, it’s going to take us another 30 minutes to understand what that means!

READ/PRAY

Look to the Word (6-11)

-The first thing we need to notice is there’s wording and themes here that should sound familiar. Look at the parallels between chapter 1 and 22. It’s almost like there was a plan, purpose, and direction to this entire book to communicate these ideas! This section also sounds very different from all the stuff we’ve been reading over the past number of months.

-Said this in the first sermon I preached in this series: combination of apocalyptic, prophecy, and letter. We’re back to the letter part.

-Begins with the reminder that these words are faithful and true, exact same phrasing we saw in 21:5. God communicates and identifies Himself through words. Words that come from a God who is faithful and true are also faithful and true.

-Reflecting on why we have the written Word. What’s the best way to communicate something that can be saved and preserved for centuries? Write it down! Make copies of it! (working on digital stuff, have 3 copies of everything)

-Since God wants us to know Him, He had people write down what He wanted us to know, therefore the mark of a Christian is trusting that His Word is faithful and true. Friends, don’t give up on the Bible!

-God of the spirits of the prophets. What is that? True prophets only speak on behalf of God. John is identifying himself in that lineage. Just as God spoke previously to His prophets, He’s concluded His speaking here to John.

-Sent his angel, just like the beginning.

-Soon take place. Look I am coming soon. How soon?

-Is 2,000 years soon? God looks at time differently, think back to Rev. 6 where the martyrs beg God to return and He says “not yet.” My kids think waiting a half hour is FOREVER, and we laugh! Don’t you think that may be a picture of how God looks at time, even 100 years is nothing to Him! But whether it’s 2,000 or 20,000 years, the next step in salvation history is Jesus coming back.

-If you just think through the primary events in God’s plan of redemption: creation, fall, redemption, salvation, and then consummation is the only thing left!

-Blessed: Revelation beatitudes. Jesus gives beatitudes in Matt. 5, things like blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

-6^th of 7 blessings promised throughout this book. Review the blessings:

-Read, hear, and keep the words (remember there’s an end goal for us to DO something with this text)

-If we die in Christ we actually live!

-Alert and clothed: alert to not give in to the way the world works to seduce us, and clothed in Christ’s clothing (19:8: “fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.”)

-Invited to the marriage feast – those saved and washed by the blood of the lamb

-First resurrection, when Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom on earth

-Then here we’re back to the start: keep the words of this book (pointing back to the start), 1 more to come.

8-Reminder of who wrote this book: John! Once again, he’s tempted to worship an angel, one of God’s messengers. This happened once before in Rev. 19.

-All of God’s creation is meant to have 1 aim and goal in life: worship God. Worship isn’t just what we do on Sunday morning (though it includes that), it’s not a type of music (though it includes music), worship is an orientation to our entire lives, it’s what we do all the time, everyone worships something or someone. The most dedicated atheist worships something, but generally their worship is geared/focused on themselves

-I think this focus of this book is to force us to answer the question: what are you worshipping? Some people worship politics (the beast from the sea) and some people worship the power and influence that comes from politics (the beast from the land) but we’re all tempted to worship in worldly categories instead of heavenly categories, the way God intended us to. The temptation is to worship the gifts God has given that point us to Him, because if we pursue them as an end in themselves we will always be lacking. Augustine: our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. That’s why Revelation is so timely! Do you think anyone is looking to politics for salvation today? Do you think anyone is looking to power and influence for salvation today? Pastors aren’t immune! Why do you think pastors always question how big each other’s church is?

-Friends, what are you worshipping?

-We glance by this: DON’T seal up. Why does that matter?

–Dan. 12:4. God is telling John that the end is now here. It has been the last days since this book was written, 1900 years ago.

-Vs. 11 seems weird, doesn’t it? Where do we see God encouraging people to sin?

-Once again, John is picking up an idea from Daniel, where it’s not encouraging people to pursue sin, but it’s saying that sin blinds people, and until they are saved they will continue pursuing sin.

-Connection here is unrighteousness leads to being filthy, righteousness leads to being holy. The way you live has spiritual implications, we don’t just work to become a better human, we need a complete transformation.

-I love the way Jeremiah 31 describes it, it says God will remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. He’s saying even a quadruple bypass isn’t enough, we need a transplant, an inbreaking of something completely new and alien to us, we need to be spiritually raised from the dead.

Look at Your Works (12-15)

-Once again, a reminder that Jesus is coming soon! While He comes in judgment, He also comes with a reward that’s only given to those who live according to His will and ways.

-This comes about only by a transformed heart. You can’t offer good works to God without His Spirit changing you from the inside out. We talked about this idea in Rev. 19, so if you want to hear more about that go back and listen to that sermon, but the core idea is that faith comes by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, but then as Calvin says the faith that saves is never alone because it’s always accompanied by new good works that God has called us to

-And all of this is possible because in 3 different ways, Jesus identifies Himself with God and as the author of history: alpha and omega (A and Z), first and the last (and everything in between), and beginning and the end.

-Time itself only exists in God, that’s why He can speak with confidence and authority about the way everything is going to happen.

-Final Beatitude (blessing) in the book: wash their robes. What does that mean? Picking up a theme from the rest of the book.

-Multitude in Rev. 7 praising God, one of the elders asks John who they are, John says that the elder must know, so the elder responds:

-The way our robes are washed is by being washed in the blood of the Lamb. This is picking up another theme that God spoke about back in Isa. 1. The means by which clothes are washed is through faith in Jesus Christ, the outworking of that is “the right to the tree of life” and “entering the city by the gates”

-Remember back to last week where we saw this odd combination of a city and a garden. Reflections back to Eden with the tree of life and the water of life, but now remade as a city. The perfect place, the new Most Holy Place where God lives among His people.

-I also think it’s significant that we enter “by the gates,” where angels watch over them, and they point to the historical validity of Christianity. One of the reasons I remain a Christian is because of history!

-Think of this: for Buddhism, what would happen if we were able to definitively say that Buddha didn’t exist? Nothing! Hinduism, too many gods to articulate, but has no reflection in reality. Mormons: take away Joseph Smith and nothing happens to their faith (even when their religion is proven time and time again to be historically unverifiable). What is often called Liberal theology even argues that even if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead they would still be Christians (which honestly is just dumb!). Friends, part of the reason you should be a Christian is because of history. We look back to a definitive event where Satan was defeated, and we look forward to an end point in history where death will be no more! Where the gates will never be closed, where everything will be finally work in perfect peace and harmony.

-But not everyone will be there, only those whose lives are marked by Jesus, who are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus, who realize that they can’t do anything in their own strength but need Jesus to work in them.

-For those people:

Look to Jesus to Come (16-21)

-Another reminder who’s in control: Jesus. Everything centers on Him, all of History hinges on Him, and the End is held off until He comes back.

-He’s even in charge of the angels (messengers), notice that the angel’s job is just to serve as the messenger of Jesus.

-Who is the message to? Not to angels, to the churches, the churches which are comprised of those who have washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb. Picks up the same idea at the very beginning where John recounts that Jesus sent an angel to John, who recorded everything that was revealed (Revelation) to him.

-Jesus is the root and descendent of David (the Messiah), picking up a theme from Isa. 11:1, Jesus is David’s promised son who sits eternally on God’s throne.

-Bright morning star: Num. 24:17. Balaam’s prophesy (mentioned back in 2:14, letter to Pergamum) Balaam hired by a king to curse Israel, goes to do it, but only blessings come out. Friends, God can use even greedy, wealth-seeking false prophets to carry out His will and plan! And the prophesy here is that some star will come to destroy the enemies of God’s people. What has happened over the course of this book? God’s enemies have been destroyed! All of them! None are left. The descendent of David has won!

-What word do you see repeated in vs. 17? Come! This is to anyone who is hearing this message (all of you), and it gives both a command and a commission:

-First the command: Spirit and the bride (anyone remember who the bride is? The church!) they say to come. Come and align yourself with Jesus, wash your clothes in His blood so that He can bring you near.

-Next, the commission: anyone who hears join with the Spirit and the church to say “Come!” Friends, this is where all of us are a part of God’s reconciling plan to bring all things under His sovereign rule and reign. This book isn’t meant to be us sitting in a room by ourselves trying to figure out if we’re living in the last days, because we are living in the last day, and even if Jesus were to come back tomorrow, it would change nothing about what we should be doing today! We’re supposed to be bearing fruit and inviting others to come to have their clothes washed in His blood. I shared this idea a few weeks ago, but I want to say it again: the point of a sermon isn’t for you to walk away with 3 new things to try to “fix” your life in your own strength, the point of a sermon is for you to behold God and remember what Jesus has done for you! And then we are sent back out into the world to continue inviting others to come!

-Which gets us to the third invitation: anyone who is thirsty. Thirsty for what? John 4 – eternal life. Jesus provides the solution to all the deepest longings of your heart. Jesus’ offer is for any and everyone. So if you’re here today and you haven’t yet trusted Jesus to be your Savior and Lord, why not? Your life won’t have any ultimate purpose or meaning until you do, you won’t find the answer to the deepest longings of your heart until you do!

-Then there’s a warning: do not add or take away from any words of this book, but that could also be extended to the rest of the Bible. If God has spoken, we must respond. This actually picks up almost the exact wording in Deut. 4:2.

-Tertullian: “Just as Christ was crucified between two thieves, so this doctrine of justification is ever crucified between two opposite errors.” 1 error is adding to God’s Word, this would be called “legalism.” This tells you not only what sin is, but how far you need to stay away from even the appearance of sin. But the opposite error is taking away from God’s word, this would be called “licentiousness” living however you want. We must be completely obedient to God’s Word alone, and the temptation is to lean one way or another and call it the gospel, but Jesus doesn’t allow us to do that, He perfectly embodies grace AND truth, not grace OR truth.

-Once again, we’re remined that Jesus is coming soon (in salvation history), and in response John (and we) respond with “Amen!” yes, we agree, come, Lord Jesus!

-This should be the prayer and cry of every Christian down through the ages. We’re supposed to live as Jesus comes back tomorrow, which means get busy being obedient to Him! Luther was asked if he knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow what would he do? He said he would plant a seed today. Where are you planting seeds today that will bear fruit in eternity? Where is God calling you to be faithful today so that you can be ready to see Jesus face to face? Because the reality is He is coming soon! No one knows when, but we need to faithful today because it’s one day closer to THE day.

-God’s grace (undeserving free gift) be with everyone. Amen. What an appropriate way to end this sermon! God’s grace is freely available to everyone! So come, and come Lord Jesus.

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by mikethestrand on November 24, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Sermon, Theology, Worship

Tagged Bible, Christianity, faith, God, Jesus

Posted by mikethestrand on November 24, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/11/24/revelation-226-21-sermon-manuscript/

Revelation 13 – Sermon Manuscript

One of the realities of humanity is that we become what we worship. If you worship money you become greedy, trying to hoard as much as you can. If you worship recognition you become desperate to keep up appearances. If you worship success you become a jerk. All these things demand your allegiance, your devotion, your time, and none of the outcomes are good.

-Great picture of this in Voyage of the Dawn Treader where Eustace, the antihero and a miserable boy tries to ruin the vacation of his cousins, the Pevensies. He only worries about himself and doesn’t get along with anyone. They’re drawn into Narnia (again) and Eustace finds a hoard of dragon treasure, what he doesn’t realize is the greed that made him want all the treasure corrupted him and turned him into a dragon! His love of the gold corrupted his life.

-Today we’re going to look at what happens when you worship government & politics, and the outcome is beastly!

READ/PRAY (pg. 44, 1097)

-What do we need to remember?

-A letter, written to 7 churches.

-A mix of 3 genres: apocalyptic, prophetic, epistle

-Why are we studying Revelation? To be blessed

-Outline of the book based on 1:19: seen in the past, what is presently, and what will take place in the future.

-I would argue that what the best way to faithfully interpret this book is to understand John is talking about things that will continue being true throughout history until Jesus comes back, not exclusively about future events. Therefore we shouldn’t read it chronologically. Satan will continue fighting, sin will continue wreaking havoc and destruction, and none of that withstand the strength and power of the Risen Jesus! So the primary call in Revelation is for us to understand that God is in control, despite what it looks like in the world, so we must remain faithful in the midst of any suffering and persecution we face.

-Remember that Satan is not omniscient – he has no clue when Jesus is actually coming back, so we should expect to find an antichrist in every stage of history.

-We’re in the middle of an interlude between the trumpets and bowls. Similarities between all of these 7, but increasing intensity.

–Rev. 12 began recounting the birth of Jesus, the preservation of God’s people, and the dethroning of Satan where he is cast out of heaven and goes to make war against God’s people. We were left in the Spring with this verse.

-The sea for Jews – the place of chaos, terror, uncertainty. If you get far enough out in the ocean it can start to feel flat, but not by the land, the land is constant being hit by waves!

Ten if by Sea (1-10)

-The dragon calls forth from the sea a beast. We’ve seen the grotesque descriptions of the dragon before, this first beast has ten horns on 7 heads.

-One of the primary keys to interpreting Revelation correctly is to know the Bible, especially the OT, and guess what’s been decreasing significantly in our world: understanding and deep reflection on the Bible which means we don’t know how to study Revelation. In this case, John is referencing a vision from Daniel 7

-Just as in Rev. Daniel recounts that 4 beasts are arising out of the sea (the place of chaos), and these 4 beasts are representative of 4 different governments that will arise in the future: Babylon, Medes/Persians, Greeks (Alexander the Great), and Rome as the worst of them all. When the 1^stcentury churches heard this their minds would have immediately jumped to this prophesy in Daniel, what’s different in Rev. is all the beasts are suddenly combined together into a grotesque parody of an animal.

-Remember: numbers are almost always symbolic: 10 being complete or full, 7 being perfect. This is the dragons attempt at perfect and complete power, but even in that he falls short because one of his heads is wounded.

-This is significant, because what John is seeing here is the continual rise and fall of tyrannical governments who are opposed to God and His people. When John’s writing this that would be Rome, who demanded full and complete allegiance from every citizen, there was no separation between church & state like we have today. To be a citizen meant you bought in completely and worshipped the governmental structures in place. This is where the Jews had so much conflict with the Romans – Jews claimed to worship the 1 true God, which meant worshipping no one else, and nothing else, but doesn’t that make them bad citizens? That’s one of the cruxes facing the early church, who was viewed as a subset of the Jewish faith until about AD 70 when the temple was destroyed. Since this was written after, this is where the church would have started facing increased persecution again.

-But to get more of what John’s saying here, we need to turn to Rev. 17, John sees a woman riding the beast from Rev. 13 (7 heads & 10 horns)

-Notice that it says the beast “was, is not, and is about to come” TWICE! Does that sound like anything else we’ve heard in this book before? Rev. 1:8

-If this was written in the 90s, this is most likely a lull in the midst of intense persecution from the Romans. The totalitarian government seems like it’s gone away, at least a little bit: it was, it isn’t, but it’s coming back! Remember, Satan doesn’t have complete control, he can only mimic what God has done, so he won’t always be in complete control. However, even when it looks like his work is done, get ready because he’ll come roaring back and try it all over again. That’s what John’s getting at here in vs. 3 that even when it looks like he’s dead, he’ll come back.

-How do people respond? They’re all in! The dragon has been defeated twice before (first in trying to eat the child being born from the woman, then he tried to send water to drown the woman but he was defeated again, and then he goes to wage war against Christians), but this time it looks like he’s successful. The whole earth gets in line to worship the dragon because he’s given authority to the beast.

-Remember, who is this beast representing? Any government that attempts to claim total and complete power, and governmental force that attempts to become god! When they do that, they’re becoming beast like, they’re following the way of the dragon, by worshipping the beast the people will become beast-like.

-Look at how this beast goes about his business: utters boasts and blasphemies, and allowed authority for 42 months.

-Blasphemes God, heaven, and everyone who dwells in heaven. Who allows this? God does. God is still in complete control, even of this grotesque beast. Nothing happens outside of God’s plans!

-42 months: half of 7, not God’s final plan, did a whole sermon on this in the Spring you can listen to!

-Permitted (allowed from God) to wage war against the saints and conquer them. Well that’s discouraging! It’s means that in the short-term, we lose, we’re humiliated, we’re cast-off, we’re beat down. I hate to tell you, but it’s going to happen. Why? Because we won’t be like the earth-dwellers who worship the beast.

-Technical term in John for unbelievers. Comes up regularly, always refers to those who aren’t following Jesus.

-The Lamb who was slaughtered. Another reminder that the way of the Lamb comes about through death.

-Then John quotes from Jer. 15:2, there it signifies God’s punishment for not following God’s commands, but here John is saying this wall fall on God’s people as validation that they are His. Only believers will face this persecution from the beast.

-Finally, John ends with the reminder that despite this persecution, there’s a call for: endurance and faithfulness.

-I want us to think about this for a minute because I think this passage demonstrates to us what’s going on in our world today. What we see is that the work of the dragon is to create complete allegiance to political systems and structures, and to oppress anyone that stands in their way. This is one of the things that historically made USA unique – it was built on the premise that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but I would argue that we’re now just as influenced by the dragon as any other nationality. Just look at the way politics is discussed today, where each side demonizes the other side and demands complete allegiance (worship), otherwise you’re cast off, dismissed from operating in that political sphere.

-But we’re called to operate by a different set of rules where the way of the Lamb reigns supreme, where we lay down our swords and seek to outdo one another in showing honor to each other.

-Eugene Peterson: This is what we’re seeing play out in the church today, either attempt to takeover various institutions and communities, or abandon any cultural engagement and create a sanctified huddle which doesn’t engage the world for fear of becoming stained. Neither is what God calls us to! I’ve shared this before, what we’re called to is faithful presence! Here we see it worded as endurance and faithfulness. Friends, endure the ridicule, endure the scorn, endure the mockery and be faithful where God has you. Work to be the best employee, the best neighbor, the best friend, the best parent you can be, that’s what faithfulness looks like! And that today is absolutely needed (and rebellious!)

-Christians should work hard to be the best citizens we can, because that’s how we can go about ensuring that the gospel can continue to be spread. And on this side of Jesus’ return it doesn’t look impressive, it doesn’t look powerful, but the call for Christians hasn’t changed: endurance and faithfulness.

Two if by Land (11-18)

-To complete his mimicry of the trinity, the dragon calls forth a beast from the land. 2 horns like a lamb. Can anyone think of where we’ve seen that before? Back in Rev. 5 where a slaughtered lamb is seated in the middle of the throne!

-The characteristic of this beast sound similar to the Holy Spirit: compels worship, performs signs, calls down fire, deceives people, gives breath (like the Spirit) to the image of the beast, compels people to adopt his mark so that his followers can participate in the economic system of the day.

-Once again, we need to remember that Satan, the old dragon, doesn’t have ultimate power and authority. He’ll keep trying to usurp Jesus, he’ll keep trying to fight against God, but all Satan can do is a poor copy. Notice that fire comes down from heaven, like the fire that came down to rest on the early church at Pentecost, just like the early disciples were given power to perform miracles to validate their message, the beast performs signs, just like the Holy Spirit awakens people in salvation, here this beast “awakens” the image of the beast. Do you see how it’s a poor imitation of God’s work? Satan can’t compete, can’t keep, up, so he keeps falling short, but he doesn’t give up!

-And what else does he attack? Finances. Did you know that Jesus talks more about money than almost any other topic? Jesus had no problem talking about money, and He went so far as to say that how you spend your money reveals who your God is. Friends, the way you spend your money reveals if you’re following the dragon or the Lamb.

-Not a literal mark, this is yet another lame attempt by the beast to copy what God has done. Think back to Rev. 7 where God seals His people on their foreheads. Seal vs. a mark. A seal is eternal and infinite, nothing can stand against it, and once it’s in place it’s viewed as enacted. A mark can be wiped off, like if you’ve ever gone to a concert or a fair they’ll stamp you to show that you paid, but it washes off after a couple days. This mark is Satan’s lame attempt to draw the battle lines against God, but just as his trinity falls short, so does his mark.

This calls for: wisdom.

-We need to understand and remember that even though these beasts look impressive and powerful, they’re not. There’s something bigger going on here than the world can recognize, and it only comes about by following the way of the Lamb who was slain.

-Friends, this isn’t going to be a literal mark that people have on their hands or their heads, it’s not a barcode, it’s not a tattoo. This is a way of referring to your worldview, and how you live your life (hand). It’s not enough for us to just have all the right theological answers, Christ demands that we submit everything to Him! Our minds, our hearts, our lives, everything. To be a Christian is not less than having a new worldview, but it’s much more than that. It must affect the way we engage with governments, the way we engage the workplace, the way we engage our neighborhoods, all of it is supposed to be Christ-like.

-There are some accounts of trade guilds in the first century requiring allegiance and receiving a mark in order to participate in them. One of the difficulties the early church faced was in regards to which jobs a Christian could have, because these trade guilds would at times require you to make an offering to their patron deity. Metal had one, wood had one, sailing had one, travelers had one, all these random gods and focuses competing for allegiance, and only 1 God rules over them all.

-Peterson quote.

-Do you think anything in our world today attempts to manipulate us economically? Maybe the entire commercial system we have? If you’re looking for something fascinating to study, look up the shift in America’s economy during the 20^th century. “We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture…. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality. Man’s desires must overshadow his needs” Paul Mazur CEO of Lehman Brothers (4^th largest investment bank in the US until it went bankrupt in 2008)

-Friends, this is the reason this book is so critical for us today. It helps us to raise our eyes above our problems and issues and reveals to us the ways God is still working behind the scenes to bring His perfect plan to completion, but it requires us to participate! It requires us to remain aware and engaged in the world! It also requires us to worship correctly. If we worship the way the world worships we’re going to end up beast-like, but if we worship God, then John tells us 3 explicit things that will mark us as Christians: endure, remain faithful, and remain wise.

-How do we endure? We surround ourself with others who will help us persevere. We don’t give up! We continue taking 1 step closer to Jesus each and every day, which is the second piece
-Remain faithful. As our world becomes increasingly divided, we cannot give up on God’s call to be faithful every day. That means continually doing the right thing, continually working hard, continually loving and serving others even when it feels like no one else is. God sees your faithfulness, and will reward you for it!

-Finally, remain wise. Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ. True wisdom is found in Him, don’t give in to the dragon’s temptations, don’t play by the worldly rules, don’t look at things through power and prestige. Look to the slain Lamb, His ways are the only way to find true, eternal life and healing.

-And the best part of this story is that the one we worship became like us. God took on flesh, added humanity to his divinity and then died in our place to allow us to be rescued and redeemed from sin to live new lives through Him, and we get to celebrate that reality. The boy Eustace learned that in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In order to become a boy again he had to rip off all his scales, and it HURT! It took dying to his misplaced worship and worshipping the right way for him to become truly human again.

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by mikethestrand on September 1, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Sermon, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on September 1, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/09/01/revelation-13-sermon-manuscript/

Revelation 11 – Sermon Manuscript

-Have you ever been told someone has some good news and some bad news, which do you want first? I’m a bad news first guy, get that out of the way, deal with it, and then move on to the good stuff.

-God’s Word is that way. It starts with the reality that everyone is a sinner – separated from God and worthy of condemnation. But the good news is it doesn’t need to stay that way! God provided a way of being adopted into His family, of having the penalty our sins paid for, and allowed to come near to God without any fear, knowing you’ll be completely welcomed in. My favorite way of thinking about this is from Tim Keller who said: who dares wake up a king for a glass of water at 2 am? His child. We have that kind of access to God. Regardless of what the world thinks of Jesus, or Christianity, we’re given privileged access to the Creator and sustainer of everything! But then with that comes bad news – the world isn’t as great as you may have thought it was, and what comes with following Jesus is a guarantee that you will have struggles and difficulties, today’s text is a reminder that Jesus is still in our side.

READ/PRAY

-I want us to think a little bit about where we’ve been so far:

-Letters to 7 churches: different strengths & weaknesses to every church, but often a reflection of the community the church is in

-John is given a glimpse of heaven, where he hears about the lion of Judah and sees a lamb who takes the big scroll and opens 6 seals in short order

-Then we get a break where John sees (I believe) the entirety of God’s people from all history gathered around the throne right before the 7^th seal is open and we’re brought right to the end of history.

-Then John takes us back to look at the same events from a different perspective, this time using trumpet blasts. First 4 quickly, then slows down for 5 (locusts) 6 (invading army) Finally, another interlude where John is commissioned to prophesy again to many people and kings, which leads us here:

A call to the church to continue witnessing to the truths of the gospel despite increasing persecution.

Measuring the Temple (1-2)

-Picking up John’s commission from 10, similar to Ezek.

-Signifies the protection of God over His people. Even when there is persecution, tribulation, difficulty, God sill protects and preserves His people.

-42, 3.5 years – referring to the time period between Jesus’ 2 comings: not God’s final word on the matter, things are not “7” perfect or complete.

Measuring a Witness (3-14)

-2 Witnesses. Who are these, and why does John talk about them?

-I believe they’re the church, picks up a prophesy from Zech. 4 referring to the priest and the king, this means that the church will be a kingdom of priests. That is a CRAZY idea! John has the gall to proclaim that everyone now has easy access to God. You don’t need a buffer, you don’t need a sacrifice, you don’t need a temple, all you need is the Holy Spirit in you!

-Additionally, think of one of the purpose of a lamp: light up a room. Think of one of the descriptions Jesus gives of His people: the light of the world. One of our jobs as God’s people today is to be a shining light into the darkness of sin, despair, and brokenness. But in order to shine into the darkness, we also have to have the light of Christ IN us and be able to shine. That’s part of the reason it’s so important for us to have this regular rhythm in our life of gathering as God’s people: we gathering to be built up and edified, and then scatter (are sent) to bring God’s light into our daily lives. Friends, don’t miss the reality that we’re all in ministry, we just get our paychecks from different places. God has equipped and gifted you, and then sent you into your workplace to be an ambassador of His gospel message. You have an eternal job to do!

-This prophetic witness of God’s people is kept safe by God. Just as He commissioned John to measure the temple and count His people, God will protect and preserve them in the midst of their ministry.

-Let’s think about the picture John’s painting here. What comes out of your mouth? Words (hopefully nothing else, otherwise you probably shouldn’t be here!) Words come out and consume their enemies (who also happen to be the enemies of God if they’re opposed to His people). Our enemies are God’s enemies.

-This is showing us that God’s message brings death and judgment to some people. To those that are opposed to God, the gospel message is a message of condemnation, not life. Similar to John’s call to prophesy that will taste as sweet as honey, but make him sick to his stomach.

-But just as John has done throughout this book, it’s also pointing back to the way God’s message has been preserved through His people in the past by recounting major prophets and stories from the OT from the newest to the oldest.

-The first story is about Elijah from 2 Kings 1. Elijah is seen by the king as a thorn in his side, so he continually tries to deal with Elijah to get rid of him, but since Elijah is a prophet he can’t! Culminates with the king getting sick and sending messengers to ask Baal if he’d survive. Elijah intercepts the messengers and tells the king he’ll die, so the king sends 50 soldiers and a captain to get Elijah. And this happened TWICE! Finally, a 3rd captain is sent, falls on his face in front of Elijah and begs for his life. But the theme is God’s protection.

-The second story is an earlier one from Elijah’s’ ministry, actually the first time Elijah is introduced into the story, and he has a message of doom and gloom! He shuts up the heavens so that it doesn’t rain during his ministry. Bookends of Elijah’s ministry, then John goes further back.

-This one is a more well-known story (and featured in 1998 classic The Prince of Egypt): Moses. In Ex. 7 it shares the first plague leveled against Egypt, but that’s just the start! 9 more plagues come, and culminate in the death of the firstborn (for everyone, but it only affected those who weren’t covered by the blood of the lamb, pointing to the ultimate firstborn who would die for them)

-Finish their testimony – who gave them the authority? What time is this referring to?

-“The beast” (Not beauty and the beast, setting up the stage for what’s to come) those opposed to God and His ways. We see here the same thing we’ll see in 12-13: Satan and his minions fight against God and his people for all history. Satan hates when the church is healthy, he hates when the church is flourishing, he hates when people take their faith seriously, he hates when Christians are faithful in their witness and he’ll do everything in his power to fight against God’s plan. And from an earthly perspective, he’s incredibly successful. It says “conquer them and kill them.” Have you ever heard or read that the church is dead? There’s a phenomenal book that came out recently titled ‘The Great DeChurching’ that says this is the most significant religious shift in our country’s history right now with church attendance declining faster than it’s ever declined before (and faster than it grew during both great awakenings). I’ve read articles from the 90s that said the church was dying then! This reminds us that we have nothing to worry about! If God’s on our side, no one can stand against His plans! (This book is actually very good, I’d highly recommend it, and the biggest take away is most of the time those that left church would go back if someone just invited them, they just got out of the habit)

-Dishonor them:

-Leaving a dead body out was shameful, a way of heaping even more abuse on an already dead person

-Where is this? Great city would be Rome, Sodom was destroyed a long time before this was written, Egypt is an entire country, Lord was crucified is Jerusalem. This is a way of signifying the city of man. Nations, civilizations opposed to God and His ways

-Do you ever feel marginalized as a Christian today? This is taking place all the time! Satan works his hardest to discourage and bring down God’s people! This is why we need each other, we need to be able to encourage each other when we’re getting discouraged. Don’t get out of the habit!

-These people (earth dwellers) go on to celebrate, to party, it’s described the way we celebrate Christmas today!

-This is painting a picture of Christians viewed as the killjoys, now that the church is gone we can finally have fun and party, we need to throw off the shackles of religion and Christianity.

-How do you view your faith? Do you see it as only rules and regulations, as only difficult and struggling? Or do you see it as life, and life to the full? Friends, this changes your entire way of living! If it’s just rules you become self-righteous and look down on anyone who can’t measure up to your standard. But Jesus doesn’t let you do that, He forces you to rely completely on Him because you can’t ever measure up! At some point you’ll even fall short of your standards! I heard a story this week of a pastor who was taken to the hardest level of a prison (serial murderers) and he prepared a message thinking these people would be struggling with self-confidence, so he began by asking on a scale of 1-10 how good were they? The lowest score was a 10! Friends, don’t look to yourselves to be justified, look to Jesus who will make you more human than you could ever dream!

-After 3.5 days:

-Remember how John so often uses OT ideas. Here’s another one of them! One of my favorite OT passages, Ezek. 37. Ezekiel is taken to a valley filled with dry bones, “they were VERY dry.” God asks is those bones could live, Ezekiel says only God knows. So God commands him to prophesy over the bones. As he prophesies the bones come together, muscles and tendons form, then skin covers the bones, but that’s not enough, they’re still dead. Prophesy about God’s breath on them. He does and suddenly it’s a vast army. This is what God does: he raises the dead to life until they’re an army! And spiritually, God has brought the dead to life and made them a kingdom of priests who are commissioned to prophesy to the world that they too can be brought to life! This story serves as a picture of what the church has become today – God’s Word brings people back to life, before they’re a useless sack of flesh, but once God saves them they’re made a truly living person who can serve God and witness to others.

-Think of how the world responded to their death. Do you think they would respond similarly to their resurrection? No way! “Great fear”

-Same description of Jesus’ ascension, or the end of Elijah’s ministry, connecting the ministry of the church all the way back to Elijah! This is a way of validating the message of the church. It might take away for this validation, but it will come!

-Earthquakes are connected to the very end in Revelation, but this judgment is revealing God’s mercy. Yes, even judgment can reveal God’s mercy! Remember: numbers are symbols not statistics. This is alluding back to some previous judgments we’ve seen in the past.

-Isa. Look at the numbers here. How many are left? 1/10, how many are killed in Revelation? 1/10

-Amos: what percentage is left? 1/10

-1 Kings: Only 7,000 were preserved, but here only 7,000 are killed and 63,000 are left. Even in God’s righteous judgment, His mercy is made evident! And this comes about because of Jesus! Jesus has born the brunt of God’s wrath, what’s given to us is grace and mercy!

-There is some debate about this last phrase. They’re terrified and “gave glory to God” is this referring to saving faith or just admitting that they were wrong, as is promised in a place like Phil. 2 that every knee will someday bow to Him?

-At this point I’m leaning slightly toward saving faith, but might change tomorrow! Strongest point I see for that is we’ve seen before in Rev. that even in the midst of suffering the world still refuses to acknowledge God. I lean toward saving faith because otherwise they couldn’t truly give glory to God! So the job of the church is to witness to God’s saving grace, and in response, people are saved!

-Still not done yet! There’s another woe (trumpet) to come!

Measuring the End (15-19)

-Seventh angel blows his trumpet, and heaven responds: the end is here! Remember, this is the focal point of the whole book (not just Revelation) God’s goal for all of history has been: God’s people, living in God’s place, serving under God’s rule and reign. This last trumpet gets us to that reality!

-And what’s the only right way to respond to God’s kingdom now being seen? Worship. One of the pastors I worked with said the theme of Revelation is worship, and I agree! The Bible opens and closes with worship – praising God with everything we have and everything we are.

-Notice the acknowledgement that the nations were angry: entire nations were upset with God! But God has dealt with them. Not always here and now, but they will one day be dealt with, so Christians should be on the front lines of affirming good nations and standing against evil nations – and that starts with recognizing that the church is called to be a unique nation. We’re not supposed to completely align ourselves with any nation or culture on earth, that’s idolatry. Instead, we’re supposed to live as foreigners and exiles who look for ways to be more faithful witnesses.

-See again that this is referring to the very end: the dead with be judged and entered either into glory or separation from God. Have you ever considered that those who oppose God are destroying the earth? This stood out to me this week as I consider how people talk about earth care today. We’re told that humans are destroying the earth, that it’s irreversible, and that we’ll all die within the next few decades. But they’re focusing in the wrong direction. Those who don’t obey God are the ones destroying the earth. I think connected to that is that Christians should care about the earth. Not abusing or destroying, but seeking to care for it since that’s God’s call on the human race. Lots more that could be said about that, and I don’t think it’s explicitly in this text, so I’ll leave it there!

-Last piece we see in this section is the temple of God in heaven (not a literal physical temple, referring to the place where God lives as signified by the ark of the covenant)

-John was able to see where God’s presence is contained. This is part of the reason I believe this is the center point of the book, it’s hinting at God’s presence no longer being hidden or removed or far off, it’s now accessible to everyone who follows Him.

-The ark of the covenant in the OT was the place where God presence was made visible. It was completely separated from the rest of the temple, it was only approached periodically and by someone who entered with fear and trembling. But not anymore! Because John can see it, anyone can see it! This is pointing to Rev. 21:3 “Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them.” This is another evidence to me that shows we’re not supposed to read this book strictly linearly or chronologically. Just as other apocalyptic writers will do, he’ll talk about something, then go talk about something else, and then eventually make his way back around to talk about something he talked about previously. Here we’re once again brought up to the very end (as we were with the seals), as evidenced by all these weather phenomenon’s. But we’re not quite done, because we’re only halfway through this book.

-Once again, the question in front of us at the end of this sermon is: what do we do with this text? I think there are 3 things, and I said them at the very beginning.

1) Continue witnessing. It will often feel like our witnessing is pointless, and at times even worse than that because it will lead to persecution! But this text reminds us that even though some Christians will die for our faith, God will continue preserving His church, so we have to be faithful with our job.

2) Truths of the gospel. We don’t preach a message of self-help or how to improve your life, we preach a message that nothing you can do will save you, so come to Jesus and find true life! We don’t preach ourselves, but God sends us as ourselves, so find ways to use your personality to share the truths of the gospel.

3) Increasing persecution. Don’t get comfortable here! I’ve been reflecting recently on some of the alarming things I’ve read about our country, often coming from people who claim to be Christians. Why would we expect anything other than persecution? I think we at times forget that the 1 thing Jesus promises us is suffering, but with that promise He reminds us to be encouraged because He has overcome, and if we’re in Him, we will overcome too!

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by mikethestrand on May 26, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Sermon, Worship

Tagged Bible, faith, God, Jesus, revelation

Posted by mikethestrand on May 26, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/05/26/revelation-11-sermon-manuscript/

Revelation 5:1-14 – Sermon Manuscript

-When I was growing up there were these books at the library and friend’s houses that were called ‘Magic Eye’

-Supposedly, if you stared at it just the right way an image would pop out. I say supposedly because I could never get it to work! Friends would tell me what they “saw” and I’d just have to take their word for it. After years of frustration and honestly a level of embarrassment, I finally figured out how to do it in my mid 20s.

-I think there’s a tendency for Christians to be viewed like I felt trying to look at the ‘Magic Eye.’ We claim to see the world differently, to interpret world events differently. Just as it took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to figure out those magic eye pictures, God doesn’t want us to take that long to figure out how to live in the world He created, and today’s text gives us the way we should interpret everything in the world.

READ/PRAY

-Remember what we saw last week:

-John was given a glimpse of the heavenly reality that’s taking place all the time. The 4 living creatures around the throne serve as God’s royal protection. The 24 elders reign with God as co-heirs. And day after day without ever stopping they are worshipping and praising God because He alone is worthy.

-One thing for us to realize is anytime we gather to worship (like we’re doing today) we’re joining in to something that’s already taking place. God is being worshipping all the time, and sometimes we get to join in with the elders and the living creatures in worshipping God.

-I say sometimes because we as humans tend to miss out on opportunities to worship God. God has created us to as worshipping beings, you can see this in the ways humans have this desire for something bigger or greater. I watched a documentary onetime called ‘Free Solo’ about Alex Honnold’s climb of El Capitan without any ropes or assistance. As someone who hates heights the documentary made me sick! My palms sweated the entire time I watched it!

-Because we have been created with a sense of something greater than ourselves, we all long to feel a connection to something bigger than us, whether that comes through free climbing El Cap, or driving at fast speeds, jumping out of a perfectly functioning airplane, traveling to the furthest corners of the world, whatever it is we have this desire to worship, and as Augustine reminded us, our hearts will remain restless until they find their rest solely in God.

-Today is a continuation of last week, and sets the stage for the rest of this book. None of the other events that we’ll study the rest of this year would happen apart from today’s text. It shows the reason why we need to worship God, and His purpose in all of history.

Is Anyone Worthy? (1-5)

-The next thing God reveals to John is something God is holding. Last week the focus was on the throne and around the throne, after taking in the big picture view, John sees something in God’s hand.

-A scroll, writing on both sides, sealed with 7 seals. What is the significance of all this?

-Scrolls were the most common form of collecting writings in the 1^st century. Contained edicts from the government, could be receipts, personal letters. Books weren’t common, and were far more expensive (although scrolls weren’t cheap either!) Made from papyrus that was stretched out and glued together, which often meant one side was smooth and the other was rough where it was patched together, so very rare for papyrus to be written on both sides.

-The writing on both sides connects back to Ezek. 2:9-10. One of the important things to note about that is the extent of what’s covered by the writing in this scroll. The only reason you would write on the front & back was because you needed to fit everything in. I read someone this week who argued that the reason we have Luke & Acts divided is because they couldn’t fit on 1 scroll. See if the story was divided onto 2 scrolls and you lost 1 you’d end up with only half the story. In this case, because it contains God’s plans for all of history, He wanted to make sure that no one could divide it.

-Lastly, it was sealed with 7 seals. Just as we seal an envelope with licking the nasty glue, in the 1^stcentury the way you sealed something was using wax that would be dripped onto the joint of the scroll, and often imprinted with the royal crest or some other sign to denote who authorized this writing. Then, once the seal was broken it signified that the document was now authorized and would go into effect. Once again, the number 7 signifies the perfection and completeness of the sealing. Just as everything related to God is perfect and complete, even the way He seals His plans is perfect and complete.

-Mighty angel with a loud voice.

-What kind of voice do you think this is like? He’s interrogating all of creation, seen and unseen, on earth and under the earth.

-A loud voice historically been connected to preaching. Charles Spurgeon (London, 1850s-1892) would measure the chest of anyone who felt a desire to preach. Today he would be sued for discrimination, in the 19^th century, this was called “vetting the candidate”. He said “Gentlemen with narrow chests are advised to use dumbbells every morning. You need broad chests and you must do your best to get them.”

-Ironically enough, with all the writings we have from Spurgeon, we don’t have the size of his chest recorded. We know he had a 52” waist, so you can imagine the chest that accompanied that waist! He was able to preach to a crowd of over 23,000 people without amplification. Could you imagine sitting close to him as he was preaching? My watch gives me a notification when I’m in an environment that’s too loud (Timberwolves game), and I’m sure he would have set off my watch!

-This angel isn’t preaching to tens of thousands, he’s proclaiming to billions (or as vs. 11 says, “countless thousands”) and asks all of the created order who is worthy or able to open up God’s revealed plan for all of history.

-Who is able? No one. So how does John respond?

-Weeping. When is the last time the implications of Jesus’ resurrection moved you so much that you wept? Just as I mentioned with the scrolls being sealed, if no one is worthy to open them, then all of God’s purposes: both judgment and blessing can’t happen.

-Remember the churches that John was writing to. Facing immense persecution, widespread martyrdom, if no one is found who can open the scroll, then the judgment they’re facing has no purpose and it leaves them hopeless. Think of the despair that John would have felt in response to that!

-Maybe you’ve felt that way before. That life is utterly meaningly, that there’s no point to the issues you’re trying to face right now, that you’re all alone in the universe and no one cares, no one sees you, and no one will ever be there for you. That’s certainly the way John felt, as well as many of Jesus’ followers throughout history. I’ve felt that way throughout my life! Yet in the midst of that, this story reminds me that I’m not alone and never will be. In the middle of history is the greatest event the world has ever seen – where God became man and dealt with all our sins once and for all on the cross. Which is exactly where this story goes next:

-One of the elders (remember them from 2 weeks ago, the 24 who sit around the throne casting their crowns at God’s feet) encourages John to keep watching. Even when it seems/feels like there’s no hope, God’s still at work.

-A lion is going to appear! This is referring to Gen 49:9

-Root of David comes from Isa. 11:1

-Has conquered, just as the promise to the churches in Rev. 2-3 a reminder that all of this is only possible because of what Jesus has done.

-Before we look at the next section, I need some help from the kids.

-If I told showed you this picture, what would animal would I be showing you? A lion!

-And if I showed you this picture, what animal would I be talking about? A lamb/sheep. The elder tells John to look at the lion, but what does he see when he looks? Look at vs. 6

He Is! (6-7)

-The lion looks like a slaughtered lamb. Don’t miss this idea here, I would argue that it’s the interpretive key to understand all of the book of Revelation.

-Remember that we saw with all the churches that their status on earth wasn’t matching up to their heavenly reality. The churches that seemed to have it all going for them were spiritually bankrupt, and the churches that seemed to have nothing were the most spiritually rich. And that’s the upside down way God has designed the world to operate.

-The only way the Lion of Judah conquers is by being the sacrificial lamb. This picks up another prophecy from Isa. 53, and seems honestly foolish if you only see things through a worldly lens. In a fight, what would you rather have on your team, a lamb or a lion? Which one do you think would help you win?

-Or think of this in terms of mascots. March Madness right now, at times it’s funny thinking of the mascots some teams choose. One college where I grew up in ND had the Beavers, how fear inducing is that? Or think of the mascots of various countries: Russia has a bear, Britain a lion, France a tiger, the US an eagle. All of those kill lambs! One swipe from a lion and the lamb’s dead! And that’s the point.

-Don’t miss this reality, but the only way to truly defeat evil and violence is by refusing to respond with more violence. If you have siblings and get into fights, isn’t the tendency to just escalate? They push you, so you shove them back even harder. They hit you so you hit them back even harder. But what does the way of the lamb teach us? That the only way to truly deal with evil once and for all is by taking the full force of it on yourself. Because notice how John goes on to describe this slaughtered lamb: standing. How is that possible? Because Jesus didn’t stay dead – the grave couldn’t hold Him back, after dealing once and for all with evil, He came back from the dead.

-Look where He’s standing. I think a better way of translating this is “in the middle.”

-Jesus is in the middle of the throne. Not off to the side, like God the Father has scooched over to make room for Him, literally in the very center of the throne.

-But He’s also in the middle of the four living creatures. Remember from last week that these are stand-ins for everything God has created. At the very center of all of creation is Jesus. Jesus holds all creation together, Col. 1 tells us that everything was created and exists only by Jesus, and John 1 tells us that apart from Jesus nothing will ever come to exist.

-But He’s also in the middle of the elders. If these 24 elders are representing God’s people in the old covenant and in the new covenant, that means Jesus literally stands in the middle of God’s plan for all of history.

-Jesus in the middle of the throne as God, middle of the creatures as the center of creation, and middle of the elders as the center of all of God’s redemptive plan.

-7 horns, 7 eyes:

-Talked about horns the past couple weeks now, 7 being perfect and complete meaning He has all the power. Eyes leads to wisdom, He can see everything, nothing catches Him by surprise or off guard. So Jesus is both all-powerful and all wise, nothing can defeat His plans, and nothing can stand against Him.

-Think back to what we studied in Rev. 5, the text made a big distinction between who was ON the throne, and who was AROUND the throne. Does anyone remember anyone else who was able to come straight to the throne?

-This is another evidence that Jesus is God! No one else is worthy, no one else is allowed to approach the throne except God, so God does what only God can do an He grabs the scroll.

-And what’s the response?

Amen! (8-14)

-As soon as Jesus grabs the scroll, which is rightfully His, they respond as they should: they fall down before Him in worship. John is going to give us 3 different responses, each expanding out from the throne. The first is those who are around the throne at all times:

-They respond by singing a new song.

The normal response of God’s creation to His revelation is singing. This is why we sing every week, because we respond to God’s revealing Himself to us, we gather around His revelation (His Word) and we respond to that revelation by singing praises to Him.

-They use language from the Exodus, where Israel was saved from bondage and slavery, but now it’s a people from “every tribe and language and people and nation.” Now God’s people has no ethnic limitations! Because of Jesus’ work they are a kingdom (not with the same limitations as an earthly kingdom), and priests. Seems like a weird connection, until you realize this was God’s intent for His people from the beginning. Reign over the rest of creation and be in right relationship with God.

-Next group is many angels, numbering “countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands.” Literally more than could be counted!

-Why do they say He’s worthy? 7 things, which means perfectly worthy of being worshipped! Notice that He’s worthy because He was slaughtered, He wouldn’t’ have been worthy apart from that because God’s plan would have been stopped.

-Lastly, John gets a glimpse of every creature joining with the angels and those around the throne joining in the praise of God! Either willingly or by force. (Phil. 2)

-This vision wraps up by the four living creatures saying “Amen” So let it be, we agree with what everyone has said and has done.

-At the very heart of the gospel message is the reality of suffering. The closer we get to the heart of Jesus the more sensitivity we will have to the suffering of the world around us. Prepare for it, and bring it to Jesus when you see it, then work to bring that suffering to an end.

-The lamb has conquered! We work from that victory, not toward it! Jesus has already won, nothing can stand against us and we have nothing to be afraid of!

-This also tells us that the way of the lamb is sometimes going to look really dumb. If we can’t see things from a heavenly perspective, we’re going to be tempted to use the world’s standards and neglect to be obedient to the way of the Lamb. Think of how Jesus taught us to live:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
⁵Blessed are the humble,
for they will inherit the earth.
⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
⁷Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

Doesn’t that feel backwards to us? We’re taught to look out for number 1, to make sure we get our way! But that’s the world talking, and not Jesus talking. If we actually want to see true wisdom come, if we want to see heaven come down to earth, it must start with us viewing the world the right way, living in the way of the Lamb, and joining with the rest of creation in worshipping Him with all we have.

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by mikethestrand on March 31, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Sermon, Worship

Tagged Bible, God, Jesus, revelation, worship

Posted by mikethestrand on March 31, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/03/31/revelation-51-14-sermon-manuscript/

Revelation 4:1-11 – Sermon Manuscript

-I got forwarded an email this week from one of my uncles of my grandpa’s farm being featured in the local newspaper, and grandpa winning a fairly prestigious award!

-It’s funny what they emphasize in the article. “electrically heated watering devices” and “The Strands have an ‘all electric’ farmstead”

-Then grandma called me this week and told me about another article that came out about the same time and described her as a “progressive” woman because of all her electric appliances!

-It got me thinking though, how would you describe electricity to someone living 200 years ago? Vines connected to large skinny trees that connect all houses together. If your house is connected to these vines you can get a mini sun in your house to be able to see at night! What a gift! That means you can work longer hours, sleep less hours, and get all sorts of mental health issues due to working too much. Do you think they’d have any framework for how to understand what we’re saying?

-Or imagine trying to describe facetiming or skype to someone just 30 years ago. You get to SEE them and talk to them! My kids get frustrated and confused when my parents call me without facetime because they can’t see them.

-Take it a step further and try to explain Wi-Fi to someone who hasn’t seen a computer, or an iPhone (yes, not an android) to someone who doesn’t know what a computer is (so easy a caveman could do it)

-Now take that and multiply it by infinity and you’ll start to see the tall task in front of John today: trying to explain the infinite using finite words to finite people.

READ/PRAY

The Throne (1-3)

-“After this”

-Not referring to time, just saying the next sequence of visions was moving from the letters to the churches to the next thing God wants to reveal to John.

-This also serves to set the stage for the rest of the book. Think of the first 3 chapters as the introduction, then this begins a new section where God is giving all the spoiler alerts as to how we should view the events of human history.

-“Open door”

-Can you imagine getting a glimpse of heaven like this? What do you think this looked like? Do you ever contemplate heaven? The words in here were written to the 7 churches, yes, but they’re also for us today to be reminded what heaven is like, to understand what God wants from us, and to have our hearts stirred by the reality that God is in control and worthy of our full allegiance and worship, not anything on this earth that tries to distract us. Focus on heaven!

-“The first voice” “In the Spirit”

-1:10 – same voice we read about in here

-“In the spirit” isn’t the first time this happened:

–2 Cor. 12:2-4 “²I know a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don’t know; God knows. ³I know that this man—whether in the body or out of the body I don’t know; God knows— ⁴was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a human being is not allowed to speak.”

-The big difference is Paul wasn’t allowed to talk about it, but John is commanded to! Similar to Jesus’ ministry where He regularly told His disciples to not tell anyone until after He was ascending to heaven, then they were supposed to tell everyone!

-“Throne in heaven”

–Isa. 6:1-4: God’s presence connected to the temple, Seraphim (6 wings), continually call the Lord “holy, holy, holy” The noise literally shook the foundations of the building!

–Ezek. 1:26-28: brilliant light, rainbow

-“Jasper and carnelian stone”

–Ex. 28:17-20: the priestly garments. A way of signifying the set apart nature of priests, which turns out was a reflection of God Himself! One of the things we see throughout this book is that God has designed earthly ideas to reflect heavenly realities. That will keep coming up in today’s text and the rest of the book!

-“rainbow”

-Can you see how John’s fumbling with words here? Rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Ezek. 1:4 “there was a whirlwind coming from the north, a huge cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire, there was a gleam like amber.”

-Once again, we need to keep in mind the whole biblical storyline here. Does anyone remember when rainbows were first mentioned in the Bible? Gen. 9, right after the flood! What does God promise to do? Never again flood the whole earth. That is another way of saying God’s preservation of His people despite His right judgment coming.

Around the Throne (4)

-24 thrones, 24 elders (subservient to the main throne)

-Numbers are almost always symbolic in Rev. so some people try to argue they’re humans who have earned their crowns and white clothes by being faithful unto death like God promised to the churches.

-Others argue that they’re angels, and the number refers to standing in for the 2 12s God used in His renewal plan of the world: 12 sons of Israel and the 12 disciples chosen by Jesus.

-Another argument is like the 24 orders of the priests (1 Chron. 24:4-5)

-I think this is meant to be similar to the letters to the churches, a heavenly representation of an earthly reality. (We should probably flip that around: a heavenly reality of an earthly representation) Just as the 7 churches had corresponding angels, here the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 disciples have corresponding angels.

The Throne (5-6a)

-Zoom back to the throne. What comes from the throne?

-Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody “Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening”

-Very few things more frightening than a huge thunderstorm. I remember driving with a friend in WY (the part of WY I lived in was flat, literally opposite corner of the pretty Jackson Hole side, more like Nebraska) we saw a big storm coming in from MILES away and he commented “can you imagine people coming here in covered wagons and not being able to pull out your phone and see where the end of the storm is?” These pictures start to show what the part of Wyoming I lived in look like. Close to mountains, but you can’t see them!

-This ditch was almost dry before this storm came through, this was the aftermath of a pretty good-sized storm. But aren’t storms terrifying? Even today when we can easily see the trail of the storm when it’s passing through the power is incredible!

-Similar to Isa. 6 noisy, loud, smoke filled the temple, Ezek. 1:4 “there was a whirlwind coming from the north, a huge cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire, there was a gleam like amber.”

-God’s people saw similar things when He met with Moses in Ex. 20

-“Seven fiery torches”

–Rev. 1:4 where the 7 spirits showed up before. Not saying there are 7 literal spirits, referring to the complete perfection of the one true God

-“like a seas of glass” not a sea of glass, closest John can get to trying to describe it

-Separation between the throne and everything else. Often the sea in early times (and probably should today too) is viewed as terrifying, full of chaos

-An impossible barrier for us to cross. But there’s also a significant theme of water throughout the Bible that I think needs to shape the way we think about a sea here.

–Gen 1:2 Creation, spirit of God was hovering over the water

-Gen. 7 (flood)

-1 Kings 7:23-26 Bronze sea in the temple

-Finally seeing the waters of baptism as another picture of the way we approach God (Rom. 6, 1 Peter 3)

-This separation between the throne is only accessible through the waters of baptism, which is the first act of obedience to demonstrate your new faith in Jesus Christ, which means we now have access to this throne!

Around the Throne (6b-11)

-“Four living creatures”

-All sorts of proposals: 4 Gospels, astrological signs, divine attributes. Representative of the created world (again, just as the churches have divine representation, this represents all of creation serving the one true God)

-Midrash (Jewish commentary on the OT) comment on the book of Exodus: “Man is exalted among creatures, the eagle among birds, the ox among domestic animals, the lion among wild beasts.” Taking the “cream of the crop” as a stand in for all creation.

-Similar to what we see in Ezek. 1, 10, specifically we learn that these are Cherubim, angels (Ezek. 10:15). They guard God’s presence, are found in the most holy place where God is enthroned as king, were sewn into the curtains of the tabernacle, carved into the walls, doors, and frames of the temple – so where God’s presence is you find Cherubim.

-Covered with eyes, 4 directions, signifying that they are vigilant in protecting God and carrying out His commands

-“Day and night they never stop” more lit. never rest.

-This is what they do 24/7. There’s no down time, no breaks. And think of the repetition of this. They never stop saying:

-Why do we think repetition is such a bad thing? My first role in ministry was music, thankfully people don’t have any strong opinions about music! GK Chesterton Orthodoxy

-Did you know that God loves repetition? Do you know that He doesn’t get tired of hearing people worship Him? I think this is hard for us to admit sometimes because we’re the ones that get tired of it. I have a friend who grew up in the Caribbean who told me the reason they repeat words and phrases for so long is because it takes that long for those realities to start to reach into their hearts. If we can’t regularly reflect and be moved by the realities of the gospel and who God is something’s wrong with us, not the repetitive words.

-“Whenever”

-glory, honor, and thanks – acknowledge that God alone has and contains all these divine truths.

-Elders join in 24/7. It’s not just the 4 creatures, it’s also the elders who are worshiping God all the time, without any breaks.

-Fall down – prostrate themselves. Just as we need to realize that there are spiritual realities and implications to our lives, we also need to realize that we are complex creatures who are called to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths. Or as we see in Deut. 6 to love God with all our “muchness” That means there are certain physical responses that are appropriate to use in our response to God. There’s a reason we stand when we sing, there’s a reason we bow our heads when we pray. These physical responses help our bodies match the reality of what we’re doing, and God intended it that way. There are all sorts of physical descriptions of faithful ways to worship God in the Bible: sitting, kneeling, standing, shouting, crying, silence, raising your hands, raising your head, staring at heaven. All of those don’t always have to be present in worship of God, but if they’re never used I wonder if we’re being faithful to worship God with everything we have and are?

-This gets us to what the elders are doing: Cast their crowns – who gave them the crowns? Rev. 2:8 “Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

-This is important: when we worship God, we’re not worshipping Him with anything we earned by ourselves. From the very breath in your lungs, to your skeletal structure, to the muscle and skin tissue covering your body, all of that is a gift given by God.

-The only appropriate response to understanding who God is, Him revealing Himself is to worship Him. Think of what Paul reminds us of in 1 Cor. 4:7 It’s a rhetorical question because the answer is NOTHING! 2 chapters later he says: how do we glorify God with our bodies? We use them to worship God!

-Look at what they say:

“You are worthy to receive” Roman phrasing used to welcome the emperor or government officials. By referring to God this way, it undercuts the whole imperial cult! Caesar isn’t Lord, Joe Biden isn’t Lord, Putin, Kim Jong Un, Netanyahu, none of them are worthy to receive this glory and honor and power. Why not?

-They don’t reign cosmically. In the scheme of things where there are millions of galaxies, more planets than we can ever know about, none of these countries make a dent in all of the created order. They didn’t bring anything into existence and they will someday die! But not God.

-Weird word order: created and exist logically makes sense, but this is making a theological point that everything only exists by Him, and they only come into being by Him

-Someday, anyone who is in Christ will join with the 4 creatures and the 24 elders in worshipping God 24/7, using everything they have and are to honor, praise, and glorify God.

-Some really bad ideas about what that means. What if I don’t like singing? Are we just going to be playing harps on clouds all the time?

-There is going to be continuity and discontinuity between heaven and earth, and I think there’s going to be a lot more continuity than we often think about. We have a picture in the Bible of what our resurrected bodies will look like and how they’ll operate in Jesus’ resurrected body. He was able to eat, walk, talk, be touched. His disciples recognized Him! But there were also some unique things, like walking through walls, disappearing.

-When we get to heaven, we’re all going to have jobs to do! We’ll be able to continue learning new things, practicing new skills, and all of them will be tools that will be used to worship and glorify God. And here’s the best part: we have eternity to explore these things! So if it takes you 100,000 years to learn something, don’t worry, you’ve got eternity to keep learning and worshipping the Sovereign Creator

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by mikethestrand on March 17, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Bible, Blog, Sermon, Worship

Tagged Bible, Jesus, prayer, revelation, worship

Posted by mikethestrand on March 17, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/03/17/revelation-41-11-sermon-manuscript/

Revelation 1:9-20 – Sermon Manuscript

-When you think of Jesus, what comes to mind? Is it a nativity, where he lays silently (obviously no crying he makes!)? Or as a movie states is “Look, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I’m sayin’ grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grown-up Jesus or teenage Jesus or bearded Jesus or whoever you want.” Or do you picture him with the long flowing locks like this picture that my grandma had hanging in her house? Or the Jesus from the Cru 1979 film? Or maybe the newest rendition of Jesus from The Chosen? Let me tell you, no class at seminary prepared me for the question: “Daddy, is that really Jesus?”

-Obviously, none of these are a direct representation of Jesus, we don’t have a painting of him, and the Bible is scarce on physical descriptions of him. We know He was a man, where He was born and lived, and someday we will actually see what He looks like. And today’s text tells us what He looks like, but it’s not the way many of us would expect Him to look!

READ/PRAY

John’s Commission (9-11)

-John is chosen by God, but notice how he describes himself:

-Brother: the familial attachments of the church. I don’t know about you, but I love the fact that I get brothers in the church, because I grew up with only sisters! In fact, I still keep up with my guy friends from high school because of the closeness we had, and the faith we shared. And that’s supposed to be true in the church as well.

-One of the ideas that has just captured my imagination over the past couple years is this idea of the church being a family. The early church realized that we cannot exist as pure individuals: we need others who will encourage us when we’re down, help us when we’re weak, take care of us when we’re sick, bring diapers when we have twins. In a world where everything tries to tell us to focus on ourselves, that we are our own isolated and independent people, the church is supposed to be the place that shows that’s not true. And we see that reality all around us. Loneliness at an all-time high, trust in other people doesn’t seem to exist anymore, and into that world we’re supposed to represent a different ideal where no matter how difficult things get, you have a group of people who love you and will walk with you. And not only is this the relationship John has with other believers, he’s also:

-Partner in 3 things that are expected for anyone in Jesus:

-Affliction (tribulation). We saw last week that John was exiled because of his beliefs about Jesus. The persecution of the church was in full force during the writing of this letter, so John writes this to remind them they’re not alone. I have a friend who was just informed this past week that he was let go from his job, and I texted him and his wife after I heard that we’re with them as they navigate this! I’ve even heard life summarized as: hard, and then you die. And there’s an element of truth to that, right? Even Jesus said: John 16:33. Yes, life is hard, the question is what do you do with that fact? If you have a partner in that reality it gets a lot easier, which leads to the second piece:

-kingdom. This is one of Jesus’ favorite topics. Think of the Lord’s prayer: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Remember, we are now a part of God’s kingdom, even though it doesn’t appear that way by what we see taking place around us. Again, part of the reason we need a partner to remind us what’s truly true! Finally:

-endurance. One of the repeated refrains throughout the NT is to endure! Remain faithful! Once again, we don’t do this alone or in isolation. I ran cross country my Sr year of high school, and one of the best ways to grow in running is to have other people pushing you on! Encouraging endurance until the end of the race. Favorite verses on this topic: Gal. 6:9-10

-Patmos (remember this map) penal colony

-Under persecution most likely for not bowing the knee to the emperor. One of the themes we’ll see throughout this book is the regular reminder to not give in to the civil religions of the world. Emperor worship, idol worship, economic worship are all rampant in the first century, and also remain rampant today. Don’t give in to their allure!

-“In the spirit” Mentioned 4 times: here, 4:2, 17:3, 21:10 each one a precursor to the next step or revelation of John’s vision. Signifies he’s the next step in a long line of prophets. Jude 20 “But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,”

-“Lord’s Day” only time this phrase is used in the NT. Closest is “Lord’s supper” in 1 Cor. 11:20. Change in worship from before Jesus’ resurrection to after, Acts tells us the early church met “on the first day of the week” (Acts 20:7)

-One of the reasons to believe in the reality of the resurrection! Nowhere in the Bible does it show Jesus or His disciples disobeying the law. LOTS of occasions of disobeying the man-made laws, but never once disobeying God’s revealed law. So why would these law-abiding Jews change the day of their worship, unless something dramatic happened, like Jesus rising from the dead!

-Loud voice like a trumpet: Ex. 19:16 Just as God’s presence is ushered in with the sound of a ram’s horn (trumpet) in the OT, this is telling us that God is coming.

-Contrast this with the way Elijah hears God’s voice 1 Kings 19. God can speak through a still voice, or a trumpet so loud your ears ring! Just like Jesus’ first and second comings can be compared.

-Just like every other prophet chosen by God, John is given a job.

-God is going to be revealing things to John, his job is to write them down, and unlike Daniel’s vision (which John has a TON of similarities to), his job is to share it!

John’s Vision (12-16)

-As one does, he turns around to see who’s talking to him. First thing he notices isn’t at person, it’s seven golden lampstands.

-Once again, if our minds aren’t saturated with the words of Scripture this won’t make any sense to us! First is the immediate context: look down at vs. 20, we know these are the 7 churches that have already been talked about a couple times. Since we know this refers to the churches, that leads us to something Jesus said: Matt. 5

-But it also references back to a couple OT passages:

-Ex. 25:31-37: the lampstand was created to light up the tabernacle. This was the place where God’s very presence dwelt. Keep that in mind, but there’s one more passage that John’s borrowing from:

-Zech. 4:2, 10: the lampstands demonstrate God’s oversight into what’s taking place. So just as in the OT God’s prophecy to Zechariah is accompanied by God’s revelation of His plan, so in Revelation, God is revealing to John His plan.

-Only after seeing the lampstands do we see who was talking, he was standing among the lampstands “one like the Son of Man.”

-Dan. 7:13-14. In the NT, often when the author wants you to think about the whole passage of Scripture, they would only quote a portion of it. People in the 1^st century had FAR better memory retention than we do – their culture trained them to hear and retain things. So Jesus on the cross when he cries out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” people would have connected it to Psalm 22. Jesus only needs to quote the first verse, because everyone would know the rest of the story (it ends with the Psalmist having God’s victory) So when John refers back to the Son of Man, those hearing that would be thinking about the whole passage from Daniel.

-I got a complaint last week about not including any LOTR, so this is the perfect time for another clip! Gandalf the gray was thought to have been killed in the first book, and another wizard named Saruman the White was seen to be leading the forces of evil against the fellowship. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are looking for 2 of the hobbits who had been captured, leading them to this point.

-Robe: think of Joseph who was given a special robe from his father. Also significant in the Greek it says it goes all the way to his feet: different levels of authority had different lengths of robe. Also denotes priestly, Ex. 28:4

-Golden sash: Ex. 28:4 priestly garment, and another reminder of royalty.

-Hair: the less color the more wisdom. Opposite today! Had a chat with a friend last week about letting the gray come in, despite all the commercials telling us to use “Just for Men” and sometimes even kids commenting that “Dad, you need some of that!” Prov. 16:31 “Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the ways of righteousness.” I think this also connects back to the one moment Jesus’ glorified image was seen by the disciples in the transfiguration: Mark 9:3. Jesus is seen as full of wisdom (connecting back to the Ancient of Days, or is and was and is to come), and purity.

-Fiery eyes – as eyes age they become less bright (cataracts), not so with Jesus. Also comes up again in 2:18 and 19:12 connected to judgment. Jesus’ eyes can penetrate beneath the surface and get to the heart of the matter. Like if you’ve ever been in a conversation with someone who suddenly asks the exact question you needed to hear and it feels like they were staring directly into your soul. That’s what Jesus does!

-Feet: Dan. 10:6 denotes strength and stability, as well as complete purity. If the bronze has been polished they’ve had all their impurities removed. Notice as well the description of the voice in Daniel. Now let’s go back to Rev.:

-His voice: think of a hurricane. This also connects to Ezekiel’s vision in 2 places Ezek. 1:24 where we see the angelic beings carrying the Lord, and in43:2 where we see God’s glory finally returning to Israel.

-3 final descriptions of Jesus:

-Holding 7 stars: Commentary on NT use of the OT quote. And the fact that they’re in Jesus’ right hand signifies that He’s in control of them. Nothing happens to them apart from His guidance.

-Sword from the mouth: Jesus’ second coming brings division. Isa. 49:2 where God’s words become a sharp sword 2 Thess. 2:8 where God’s final judgment and destruction come about through His words, Matt. 10:34-35 where we see Jesus’ arrival is accompanied by a sword. You think it’s peaceful, but He came to wage war against the works of the flesh and the devil.

-Face was shining: Matt. 17:2 another reference to the transfiguration. What the disciples got to see was a little picture of the glorified Jesus. Ex. 34:29-35 This also signifies the connection to the ultimate Prophet from the OT, Moses. Anytime Moses would meet with the Lord he would end up with a glowing face (kind of like when we MN see the sun for the first time in the summer and forget to put sunscreen on, I think there’s been some summers where my face glowed in the dark!) In order to not blind the people, Moses would put a veil over his face. Where this gets amazing is what Paul says about us today in 2 Cor. 3. Just as Jesus’ face in Revelation is said to shine like the sun, that’s what our faces are supposed to do as well. Where we once had a veil covering the us, when we turn to Jesus we now are commanded to shine brightly into the darkness of the world (just like the lampstands signified at the beginning of this section)

-Revelation is a beautiful summary, cherry on top, of the whole message of Scripture encapsulated in 1 book. All these little ideas that have been alluded to before are finding their fulfilment here!

John’s Response (17-20)

-Since He sees Jesus, he responds like Isaiah in Isa. 6. Isaiah sees a picture of God and comes undone! He realizes He has no right to stand in before the perfect God so he says “Woe is me for I am ruined!” And how is he able to stand before God? He’s touched by an angel and all his sins are dealt with. In this case, Jesus already dealt with the sins, but He still reaches out and touches John.

-One of the most underrated aspects of Jesus’ ministry is that of touch. Something comforting and strengthening about being touched by someone else. A hug, an arm around the shoulder. Think of all the people Jesus touched, even though He didn’t need to! A leper who hadn’t been touched in years, a women who had been dealing with a bloody discharge for 12 years leaving her unclean, a blind man whose eyes hadn’t worked since birth. All touched by the Savior!

-Jesus’ touch brings comfort and strength

-Why don’t we fear? Connects to the Ancient of Days in 7:9, 13. He’s always existed, He will always exist, so because of that we can trust in His guiding of every circumstance in our lives. Jesus is different than the Ancient of Days in that He died! The different roles of the Father and the Son.

-Defeated death and Hades. What are the keys? Keys signify authority. The church is given keys by Jesus to manage church membership (Matt. 16:17-20; 18:15-20), but Jesus is given keys to manage death and Hades. Death kills the body, Hades kills the soul (the place where the dead dwell)

-John’s commission: seen, is, will take place.

-John’s vision, directly applicable to the 1^st century, blessing and connections for churches throughout history, and a picture of what will happen as Jesus returns

-Mystery explained: in the Bible, mystery often refers to something that wasn’t understood before, but is now revealed and has special redemptive purposes.

-Some debate around the angels. A couple options: pastors of the churches (every time angel is used in Rev. it refers to the spiritual beings), guardian angels of the churches, heavenly counterparts of the earthly reality. The last 2 seem the most likely, and ultimately doesn’t matter which it is, because they’re still subservient to Jesus. Remember, keep the angels in the background and Jesus in the foreground.

-Churches as lampstands? Jesus standing among them tells us the significance of being a part of the church. Do you want to be where Jesus is? Become a member of a local church. The church is who Jesus is given the keys of the kingdom to (Matt. 16, 18), and is the place where Jesus currently dwells.

-This week’s blessing: the risen Christ is present wherever His church is. If you’re a part of a church, you get Jesus’ comfort, His touch, and you get to participate in shining as a light into the world!

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by mikethestrand on February 18, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Bible, Church, Sermon, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on February 18, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/02/18/revelation-19-20-sermon-manuscript/

Revelation 1:1-8 – Sermon Manuscript

-I’m not much of a gambler (I’ve played the penny slots each time I’ve gone to Vegas just for fun), but I onetime got the better of a friend with a guaranteed bet. March Madness party.

READ/PRAY

Blessing Comes Through God’s Word (1-3)

-Apocalypse = revealing. Opposite of hidden.

-This is meant to be studied and understood and applied and lived out in our lives. If anyone tells you this has a hidden meaning or we shouldn’t seek to learn and discern this book, point them to the first word of the first verse. The revealing! This book is going to give us a glimpse of what takes place in the spiritual realm, a peek behind the curtain to see things through God’s eyes.

-Revelation OF or ABOUT Jesus Christ (both) The Greek can be translated with either preposition: the point is the revelation is focused on Jesus. This should be significant to us for a couple reasons:

-First, all of history is centered on Jesus the Christ. Everything that is revealed only comes about because of what Jesus has accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection. Second, that means the focus of this book has to be on Jesus and not our experiences or perspectives on what the great tribulation period will look like. All of those stories must remain in the background as we remember and focus on the revealing of Jesus.

-If you’ve ever taken a picture of someone and you do the new portrait mode on the new phones, it allows you to choose a focal point and the rest of the image becomes blurry. If we focus our attention too much on the background we’ll miss the point of the picture. So as we walk through some pretty fantastical descriptions of events and characters, remember to keep them in the background because they’re not the main event.

-This does NOT say “The mystery of all the events that will take place at the end of all things” it says “The revealing of Jesus.” Keep that as the focus!

-To show his servants: servants is used 7 times (perfection) to refer to believers (1:1; 2:20; 7:3; 19:2, 5; 22:3, 6). Just as this book was written to reveal, it’s also for all Christians.

-Soon: (near vs. 3) what does it mean that Jesus is coming back “soon”? How does God view time, how do we view time?

AT Pierson (Christian missions advocate) in 1886: “Imminence is the combination of two condition, certainty and uncertainty. An imminent event is one which is certain to occur at some time, uncertain at which time. Imminent is not synonymous with impending. It is not exact to say that what is imminent is near at hand, it may or may not be.”

-Think of a verse like 2 Peter 3:8 “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” So it’s only been 2 days since Jesus ascended into heaven, according to the Lord! That’s not long! And what if His return is delayed for 2 more days? Even my kids can tolerate waiting 4 days for a big event!

-He made it known, or signified it by sending: his angel or messenger? Angels are God’s messengers, they’re sent by God to bring messages to His people. This divine emissary speaks on God’s behalf, and we’ll see John interacting with various angels throughout this book, but again they are subservient to God. The angels aren’t the point, the angels don’t accept worship (John at one point will become so overwhelmed that he’ll fall down at an angels feet) Angels just like you and I are created beings. They have a role to play in God’s cosmic plan, but unlike us they’re not embodied creatures. 1 Peter tells us that angels wish they could understand the implications of the salvation we experience, so they have a different kind of relationship with God than we do. This angel is sent to a specific person: John (1 of the 12 disciples who ministered with Jesus during his earthly ministry, go back to last week’s message to hear about him)

-Testified to what? The Word of God. John’s not making something up, not a fanciful story. Cara and I recently watched the new Wonka movie – reused the song from the old movie Pure Imagination that begins “Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination.” I think we can have a tendency to read Revelation like that. When we read this book we’re entering a land of pure imagination. It makes no sense, logic and reason are left at the door, but that’s not true! Since it’s the word of God, we hold to it just like the other 65 books. And what is this testifying about (again) Jesus Christ!

-“See” is an important verb throughout Rev. It’s another way of telling us that John is (similarly to the angel) just a messenger recording what God is revealing to Him.

-We next get to the verse that is the reason I wanted to preach through this, what I’ve heard some people refer to as the Revelation beatitudes, the blessing that comes from reading and keeping the words of this prophecy.

–7 blessings in this book. Once again perfection, probably signifying a full or complete blessing that comes about through this whole book (1:3, 14:13, 16:15, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7, 22:14)

-“who reads aloud” one translation adds “in the church” as I had pointed out to me last week. The way the early church received the message of these letters was by having some receive them and read them in the church. Can you imagine how shocking this letter would have been for those first Christians?

-But it’s not enough to just hear it, it requires us to do something with it. Hear AND KEEP, or obey them. As we work our way through this book, or as you read it, look for the things that we’re supposed to be doing with the message in them. It may take some sanctified imagination, but that’s ok!

-As we just read, this revealing isn’t just for 1 person, it’s for all believers, or you could say this is for the church. We need to be a part of the church in order to correctly live out and receive the blessing God is giving through this revelation.

Blessing Comes In the Church (4-5a)

-Author of the book we talked about last week. Seven churches (we’ll dig into those in a couple weeks)

-Numbers are almost always symbolic. This letter is addressed to these 7 specific churches, but these churches also stand in for all churches in all times and places. 7 stands for fullness or completeness.

-Another reason to think this is the last verse in every letter to the specific church says “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” (We’ll get there soon! Gotta get through this chapter first)

-Grace and peace ALWAYS comes from God in the Bible.

-On our own we can’t have either of these things. Grace is unmerited favor, the fact that God has cast our sin as far as the east is from the west. If you don’t know how far that is that’s the point. God has placed eternity between us and our sin. Because of God’s grace given to us, we now have peace with God and with each other. Without God’s work there is only fighting and disagreement, but now God allows us to have true and lasting peace.

-Just like many other greetings in the letters of Scripture, signifies the “letter” genre of this book.

-The one who is, who was, who is to come: Ex. 3:14 “I am who I am” or “I am the one who is” (Schreiner)

-He is (he reigns even over the Roman empire), He was (He has always been the sovereign Lord, even over the Egyptian empire), He will be (we will finally see His ultimate rule and reign when He returns)

-These churches were facing a brief but intense season of persecution. When things are difficult, doesn’t it become easier to start doubting that God is working in your life? For a number of these churches, they’re seeing their friends dragged off and killed for choosing to identify with Jesus. For many of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, this is also true for them. I think of the church in Afghanistan that for the first time in their history were able to publicly declare their faith, then that tool because a hit list for the Taliban after we withdrew our forces. If you’re facing death it can be hard to trust that God’s still in control. That’s why we need to have good theology because our experience will train us to neglect this fact that God is, God was, and God will be.

-7 spirits:

-Once again, 7 refers to completeness, perfection. The perfect spirit. Many believe this is a reference to Isa. 11:2. Notice the 7 descriptions of the spirit here: Lord, wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the Lord.

-Trinitarian: and the Son. Dear friends, don’t miss this. The trinity wasn’t made up by the church in the early centuries, the church instead affirmed what God has revealed about Himself throughout Scripture. (3-fold description of Him)

-Faithful witness: the mission of the Father to seek and save the lost

-Firstborn from the dead: “Others were resuscitated (like Lazarus), but they all died again. Jesus, on the other hand, has conquered death forever.” (Schreiner) This will matter when we get to Rev. 21, so keep that in mind as we continue through this – have you ever considered that Jesus, after the resurrection, is the only example we have of what our resurrected bodies will be like? There will be some things that are the same (the disciples recognized him, his scars were still there), but there will also be some things that are different (walk through walls, able to conceal himself from others). We often miss the significance of a phrase like “firstborn” too. The firstborn was the most important child. The one who received all the recognition, a double inheritance, all the privilege and prestige. This also connects to Psalm 89, which gets us to the third description.

-Ruler of the kings: Psalm 89:27 We talked about this politically, went to a conference with Micah this week where I was reminded that every government and leader will someday give an account to the Lord for how they lead (Rev. 6). Even though it seems like the evil government was winning, in the world that really matters (which for now is unseen), they have no power. Jesus is their ruler! It’s already true spiritually, someday soon it will be true visibly.

Blessing Comes Only By Jesus (5b-8)

-In spite of the persecution they’re currently facing, that’s not what they’re facing in the heavenly realm.

-Loves, set free from our sins. Church don’t miss this: Jesus LOVES you. All of you. The real you. Not some future you. There is nothing you can do to make Him love you more, and nothing you can do to make Him love you less. That’s why Paul goes to such great lengths to tell us that NOTHING can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

-Freedom: Galatians 5:1. We are free to no longer sin. Where we used to be bound by sin (could only sin) we can now become slaves to Jesus, which completely frees us to be exactly who God has created us to be. And this freedom makes us: (vs. 6)

-Kingdom and priests: Ex. 19:6

-“The promise of salvation given to Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:15) and to Israel has now been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.” (Schreiner)

-Kingdom has a king, a place, and a people. Our king is Jesus, our place is heaven (which will be coming to earth), and His people is the church. And because of what Jesus has done, we can now be called priests: the people who engage with God. That’s CRAZY! We don’t need a sacrificial system, don’t need magic words, we don’t need to dress a certain way or act a certain way, we can come straight to God.

-Doxology: these realities must move us to praise God! One of my favorite questions to ask those pursuing ministry: “when is the last time the implications of the gospel emotionally moved you?” The fact that we’re saved has implications in the way we live our lives, including how we handle our emotions.

-Amen doesn’t mean “goodbye” it means “I agree” or “May it be so” it’s a way of signifying agreement. It will come up again in just a couple verses.

-“Look” or “Behold” a way of saying “PAY ATTENTION!”

–Dan. 7:13-14,

–Zech. 12:10 “The Zechariah text has been altered in two significant ways. The phrases “every eye” and “of the earth” (cf. Zech. 14:17) have been added to universalize its original meaning.”

-Jesus second coming will be significantly different than the first time! This time it won’t by incognito, it won’t be in a humble manger.

Schreiner: “First, “all the tribes of the earth” probably alludes to Genesis 12:3 (cf. Gen. 28:14; Ps. 72:17) and the promise to Abraham that many will become part of his family. John declares that “all the tribes of the earth”—all who have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord—have pierced Jesus. Or we could say that every human being has crucified and pierced Jesus, but those who have repented of doing so are freed from their sins (Rev. 1:5–6).

John responds to what he has written in verse 7 with an affirmation: “Even so” and “Amen.” The salvation of the righteous and the judgment of the wicked are both a matter of joy in Revelation, the latter not because of vindictiveness but as a matter of justice.”

-Remember what I said last week: don’t ever take hell, or the coming judgment lightly. Final justice is permanent. No take backs, no do overs. And everyone at some level wants that. It is fascinating to me that the natural human impulse is to want justice when you’re wronged, but grace when you the one who does wrong. We self-justify and blame others very quickly. And everyone has this impulse to want justice, but the justice is for someone else not for me. Eternity is a very long time.

-Alpha and omega (Greek letters): like Amazon (A to Z)

-Believers can be guaranteed such vindication because God is “the Almighty.” “Almighty” (pantokratōr) in the LXX is most often a translation of the Hebrew for “Lord of hosts,” referring to Yahweh as the Lord of the armies of heaven. Keep that in mind for later too.

-Church, God is in complete control. It doesn’t matter who’s in the oval office, it doesn’t matter how socially ostracized we become, this world is not our home. Jesus has defeated sin and death, He is currently ruling over the kings of the earth, and we have nothing to be afraid of. That sounds like the greatest blessing I could ever hope for!

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by mikethestrand on February 11, 2024 • Permalink

Posted in Bible, Blog, Sermon, Theology, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on February 11, 2024

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2024/02/11/revelation-11-8-sermon-manuscript/

Mary’s Song – Sermon Manuscript

-I want you to think about your favorite story. My guess is it has something to do with the little guy totally winning against the big guy.

-I think of all my favorite stories: growing up was the Hardy Boys, as Joe and Frank (as high schoolers) would solve mysteries none of the adults could figure out

-Harry Potter, the chosen child who is able to defeat Voldemort and his whole army

-Katniss Everdeen who stood up to the Capital in defiance and sparked a revolution

-And on and on the list could go! But what if all those stories were viewed as abnormal? What if that wasn’t the reality? What if every story or movie that you saw told you that whoever’s biggest always wins. So the Capital crushes Katniss, Harry is overwhelmed by Voldemort, and the Hardy Boys spend their days focusing on their studies because the adults are in fact smarter.

-Until we got the Jesus story that was the norm. The gods ruled everything (think of the stories of Zeus or Hercules) If you wanted to be something special you had to rise to the top! The reason those other stories become so beloved is because they point us to the bigger truth of the greatest story of all time, where God came as a baby, took on flesh and moved into the neighborhood (MSG)

-There are 4 songs recorded in Luke’s Gospel that summarize Jesus’ birth. We begin this week looking at Mary’s.

READ/PRAY (pg. 499)

Elizabeth Confirms (39-45)

-Some background needed:

-Luke begins this book with a dedication. He has sought to put together the story of what had happened with this Jesus guy

-The story begins with a priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth who were “advanced in years” and childless. In the course of Zechariah’s priestly duties, an angel appears to him and promises that after all these years they’ll have a child! His wife (obviously) gets pregnant, and then remains in isolation for 5 months.

-In the 6^th month, another angel is sent to a young girl named Mary in Nazareth, aka the sticks! Just as a child was promised to Zechariah, a child is promised to her, but this child won’t be conceived through normal means. As a witness to this, the angel tells Mary that her relative Elizabeth is pregnant!

-Mary goes to visit her “with haste”

-Why haste? Scholars aren’t sure. Some say to hide from her community, some think it is a mistranslation, other say it’s in response to God leading. I think it’s a lot more basic than that.

-If an angel came to you and told you something was going to happen in the future, then gave you a nugget of something that had already happened, wouldn’t you want to go test out what he said?

-Mary wants confirmation about what’s going to happen, if Elizabeth is REALLY pregnant, than maybe she really is going to have an immaculate conception. Now, typically that doctrine is used to refer to Mary being immaculately conceived, but that’s not what I’m talking about here! There is 1 immaculate conception, and it only happened to Jesus.

-She gets to the house and…

41 -John LEAPS in Elizabeth’s womb.

-Shortly after Mary conceives (80-100 miles away, 3-4 day journey)

-A fetus is responding to the arrival of a zygote. What does that tell you about when a person becomes a person?

-One of the most fascinating aspects of the biblical storyline is how it’s full of barren wombs (or wombs that should have been barren in Mary’s case!)

-Think back to the father of the nation of Israel: Abraham. Everything that I just shared about Zechariah and Elizabeth is also true of them!

-Abraham to Isaac to Jacob who had 2 wives, one of those wives was childless.

-In Egypt, after the Israelites are enslaved what does Pharoah command the midwives to do? Kill the babies, destroy the wombs.

-Think of the story of the birth of the prophet Samuel, when his mother Hannah begged God for a baby

-Ruth, whose frail husband died, and then moved to a foreign land with her MIL with no hope of survival or prospective husbands on the horizon.

-Now, with all that in mind, think about the curse in Gen. 3. Notice the fight that begins between the serpent and the woman, and then continues between their 2 offspring. Do you think that maybe Satan knows about this curse, and then views it as his mission to attack the womb of anyone in the line of Jesus? Or do you think it’s any wonder today that Satanic attacks are demeaning and belittling to people?

-Think of how carelessly life is tossed aside today (abortion and physician assisted suicide). We live in a culture of death, but it’s sterilized and hidden from us. Just a few years ago, after the death of Ulrich Klopfer, 2,411 fetuses were found in boxes in his garage. And he’s not the only one! How a country treats it’s most vulnerable citizens is a good marker of the health of that country (both in the womb and end of life).

-But I also think it’s a marker of the serpent’s work anytime the womb is attacked. The technological advances we’ve had over the past 50 years are astounding! Babies can feel pain at least by 15 weeks of gestation. Women are barely showing at that point! Think of the pictures we can see of children in utero today. Unfortunately this conversation has just become a political talking point instead of a legitimate moral conversation. We must be pro-life in every aspect and implication, from conception to natural death.

-This isn’t the only time a baby in the womb is described as jumping, is way back in Gen. 25:22 “The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. ²³And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.””

-All the way back in the founding of the Israelite people there was tension, division, brother against brother

-Now, here for the first time someone is leaping, struggling in the womb because he can’t contain his excitement that the Messiah has finally come!

-This arrival, instead of bringing about division will bring reconciliation, unity, peace, creating a new family of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to come together under 1 banner

-Elizabeth, just as her husband Zechariah did earlier, becomes a prophetess for the Lord.

-We often make a great deal out of Peter being the first person to recognize that Jesus is the Christ in Mark 8, but Elizabeth saw and acknowledged it even before Peter. Refers to Jesus as “my Lord” in 43

44 -John leaped for joy, unlike Jacob & Esau who leaped with contention. Yet just as with J&E, the older would serve the younger. Instead of undermining, cutting, biting, fighting, John embraces his role as one who came to prepare the way, realizing it even from the womb (where he’s filled with the HS)

-This is meant to demonstrate the way the gospel message (the Good News that Jesus’ arrival changes everything) undermines and then replaces everyone’s deepest longings and desires.

-Think of the way we’re taught from our world that bigger is always better. But is it? Let’s take a bigger house, that you then have to heat, and clean, and fill, and use. Is it really that much better?

-Or think of any celebrity. When news leaks about their addictions or broken relationships do you really think they have life figured out?

-I love the way Augustine talked about this in the 4^th century (and people haven’t really changed at all since then). He argued that we’re far more led by our emotions than we realize (can’t claim to be purely a logical person, talk to Micah). And because of that, we all have an internal drive and desire that will never be fully met until we meet Jesus. Then once we have Jesus everything else makes sense. Our longings/desires will change, our motivations will change, and that will ultimately make a change in the way we live the rest of our lives.

-I say all that, because at Christmas time we’re celebrating what seems like a foolish thing. Have you ever compared the Christian story to the arrival of other gods? Rome was founded by Romulus, who was descended from the gods, nursed by a wolf, and then single-handedly creates the walls that form the city. If you go back further, ANE creation share all the fights the gods were having that led to the creation of the world. And in all these competitions for people’s allegiance, comes a little baby. Who in their right mind would come up with a story like this as THE solution for the problems in the world? It just doesn’t make sense! Unless it’s true.

-I share all that, because that’s exactly what Mary’s song focuses on.

Mary Rejoices (46-55)

-Comparison to Hannah’s praise in 1 Samuel 2

-Hannah had led a life of lack. Her husband had another wife who had multiple kids, but Hannah had none. She had begged God for years for a child, but had he hadn’t answered. Every year the family would go to the temple to sacrifice, and one year Hannah was observed by the priest who thought she was drunk (silently praying to herself) But God answered her prayers, and she had a child named Samuel.

-As we read it, pay attention to the way God works. Bows of the mighty broken, feeble are bound with strength, raises the poor so they sit with princes. Doesn’t it sound like God’s work is subverting the expectations of the world and then fulfilling them in ways no one would have expected?

In God’s Blessings (46-49)

-Just as Hannah praised God for who He is, which leads to His blessings, Mary begins by recounting the ways God has blessed.

-Mary realizes she hasn’t done anything to achieve this nor is she worthy of this, no this is all because God “has looked on the humble estate of his servant.” (48)

-How often do you take for granted all that God has done for you? Paul asks this very question in 1 Cor. 4:7 “What do you have that you did not receive?” It’s a rhetorical question: answer is NOTHING! Everything we have and are is a gift from our Father in heaven.

-Mary realizes this is a gift from God, even though she may be socially ostracized, looked down upon by her friends and family, God is enough.

-I think it’s worth looking at vs. 48 as we think about the rest of this song. Notice that Mary says ALL generations will call her blessed.

-I listened to a podcast over the summer that talked about this fact: that we are supposed to bless Mary. Now, this isn’t supposed to be a veneration to her as RCC does, but she does give birth to the Son of God who came to earth to take away our sins. It was because Mary was willing to bear the scorn and shame of the world that we have salvation today. Do you thank God for Mary’s faithful obedience? I worded that very carefully: not thanking Mary for her obedience, thanking God for her obedience.

-But this gift isn’t just a blessing to Mary, it’s a blessing to the whole world:

In God’s Mercy (50-53)

-God coming to earth is going to lead to a moral, political, and social revolution the likes of which won’t be seen again until he comes for a second time.

-First, moral 51. He has the full strength necessary, morality is defined in relation to him (holy is his name vs 49).

-This is what God has also said in 1 Peter “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). Humility is seen as a virtue today, but it wasn’t in the 1^st century. And even much “humility” today is a false façade that is still seeking the same goal as pride: recognition and affirmation of you.

-What humility is going to look like is someone who doesn’t worry about themselves, but someone who loves God, life, and you without trying to build a brand, a following, or themselves up.

-Second, political 52. God’s way is antithetical the world’s ways. Those who achieve power, greatness, fame and accolades on earth will be the last ones in God’s kingdom. Humiliation leads to exaltation, but can’t get exaltation without humiliation. The J curve

-Think of what a difference it would make if our political leaders followed God’s commands of serving others.

-Third, social 53. The only way to receive from God is to come to him empty, if you come full you’ll leave with nothing.

-Jesus tells a parable of a rich man who thought he’d made it. He built storehouses (enough to last for the rest of his life) and he said to himself that it’s time to eat, drink, and be merry! Guess what happened that night! He died. How much of his money did he take with him? Zippo! His bank account in eternity wasn’t any higher than anyone else.

-This is a large part of where the church should be such a counter-cultural community, which means at times it’s going to be very difficult. Sometimes the only thing we’ll have is the gospel message in common, but dear friends that’s enough! We may not vote the same, we may not have the same amount of money in our bank accounts, we may not have the same cultural backgrounds, but we do have something that’s better and more lasting than any of those differences: salvation in Jesus alone!

-But don’t miss that we’re not the first people Jesus has engaged in this way.

In God’s Promises (54-55)

-Friends, we stand on the shoulders of giants. We’re only here today because of thousands of faithful followers of Jesus who have gone before us to allow us to be here today. And sometimes it feels like we’ll never make it, but don’t forget that God NEVER forgets His promises. God’s memory is eternal, ours are tiny.

-Think of how much time had passed before Abraham’s promise was fulfilled here in Mary. Almost 2,000 years! And if the Lord should wait to return another 2,000, God still won’t forget His promises!

-What do we do with this song? I can think of 3 primary things:

-When the Lord speaks, listen and obey. Mark Twain “it’s not the things in the Bible I don’t understand that trouble me, it’s the things I do understand.” Be like Mary and just say “Yes Lord”

-How often do you take time to praise God, giving thanks to Him for how he’s worked in your life? We, as humans, are forgetful people. We need to regularly remember/be reminded of how God has worked in all our lives.

-Lastly, don’t forget that God’s way is so often the opposite of the way we think things are/should be. No one would have ever expected God’s salvific plan to come about through these ordinary human means, which means that even you and I can be used by God to accomplish His purposes.

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by mikethestrand on December 3, 2023 • Permalink

Posted in Bible, Church, Life, Sermon, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on December 3, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/12/03/marys-song-sermon-manuscript/

Psalm 29 – Sermon Manuscript

Our God is an Awesome God

Psalm 29 (pg. 262)

-Luther’s “call” to ministry. In 1505, Luther had just received his master’s degree in law. He was planning to go back home to visit his family (about 55 miles away)

-He got caught in a terrible storm, so strong that he thought God had unleashed the heavens to take his life. He found a big granite rock, clung to it and prayed out to a Saint, swearing to become a Monk if he survived. Luther survived, and after getting back home gave away everything from his law school days and entered the monastery, beginning Luther’s journey that 12 years later would ignite the Protestant Reformation across Europe.

-Maybe you’ve seen a similar storm: the awesome power, the fear welling up inside of you. What’s your response when you see incredible power at work? Today’s Psalm will help give us language to worship God in the midst of these storms that we see on a regular basis!

-Sometimes the point of a passage of Scripture is just to help us think differently/more rightly about God.

-We are called to worship God with all our hearts, soul, and mind, which means we sometimes need to have our mental frameworks challenged. You won’t grow in understanding of God unless you’re sometimes stretched, just like working out

-I also want to take a minute to remind us that part of the purpose of church is reorientation. Everything in our world trains us (whether we realize it or not) that we’re the center of the world. Church is pretty much the only place left that teaches us that’s not true. So basically every week when we come to church, we’re experiencing a Copernican revolution: having us removed from center of the universe to bringing God in there. Friends, your life isn’t just about you: it’s about you bringing glory to God.

READ/PRAY (pg. 262)

He Reigns In Glory (1-2)

-Last week I shared part of the difficulty in this section of Psalms is that we have no context of what was taking place – they list the author and stop. This Psalm continues that idea

-Ascribe literally translated as “give” Give what to Him?

-Recognition, awareness, mental recognition. Later on it specifically commands the worship of God, which tells us these 2 ideas are connected together. To worship God is giving Him something. The word worship came out of the idea of recognizing the value of something – worth-ship. So anytime we’re worshipping we’re giving saying that we value that specific thing. That’s why people can worship (give worth to) all sorts of things besides God! Money, kids, family, education. Everything in our world as assigned some sort of worth, we literally put price tags on things to tell us exactly how much “worth-ship” we should give it. As we’ll see as we walk through this text, that’s part of the reason it’s so important to be gathering together each week: to remind us what we should be giving all our worth-ship to.

-Begins calling on the “heavenly beings” or a more literal translation of the Hebrew is “sons of God”

-angels or other gods? Similar phrasing to Gen. 6:2, or Job 1:6 some kind of heavenly council comprised of the various spiritual beings created by God. Remember, Psalms are poetry, they bring in various elements that are open to interpretation. The primary point remains the same: the first people David called on to “give” to the Lord aren’t humans, it’s in the spiritual realm.

-That combined with (spoiler alert) vs. 10 shows us that most likely David was reflecting on the time of the great flood (only other time the specific word for “flood” is used in the OT) Not just referring that one-time flood, but also brings in the way God reigns over major weather events like a thunderstorm.

-This also points to some of the ways we can celebrate where people are looking for or seeking after the one true God. If it’s true that David stole an already written song dedicated to another God and refocused it for the worship of the one true God, shouldn’t we look for areas where God’s truth is breaking through? Some of the old hymns that many of you love started as bar songs. Where the music once celebrated drunken revelry, people like Martin Luther gave them new life when he changed the focus from sinful living to sanctified songs used to gaze our attention from ourselves to our God. Honestly, it causes me to ask myself: where am I misplacing my focus and attention and belittling something instead of taking the things that are good, right, and true and celebrating those pieces and using them as an opportunity to point to God. I, just yesterday, read 1 Cor. 13 at an OSB meeting: Love REJOICES with the truth! Do you rejoice when the truth comes out?

-This is also not the first time we’ve seen David focus on creation as a reminder to worship God. Spurgeon: “Just as the eighth Psalm is to be read by moonlight, when the stars are bright, as the nineteenth needs the rays of the rising sun to bring out its beauty, so this can be best rehearsed beneath the black wing of tempest, by the glare of the lightning, or amid that dubious dusk which heralds the war of elements. The verses march to the tune of thunderbolts. God is everywhere conspicuous, and all the earth is hushed by the majesty of his presence.”

-Why should the sons of god or heavenly beings ascribe to God? Because He has glory and strength, which leads to being worthy of glory.

-Think of the way people prepare for someone who’s in a position of power & authority to visit, like if you found out the president was stopping by the church. How would you respond? Security would increase, expectations would change.

-Or maybe that’s too big for you to imagine, instead think of what happens when a judge enters the courtroom chambers (at least from what I’ve seen on TV!). All rise until you are invited to sit down. It’s a way of showing honor to the judge.

-It’s the same reason we stand when the Word of God is read! Every time we do that God is speaking to us. Do you realize that? God still speaks to us all we have to do to hear Him is open our Bibles.

-After commanding these heavenly beings to ascribe to God, David then changes the last term to remind us to worship (ascribe worth, dignity, honor to) because of His holiness (sacredness, set-apart-ness.)

-Holiness isn’t something we often come to terms with, especially today! We’ve so broken down any dividing walls that we don’t have anything that’s considered sacred anymore. Yet what’s crazy is the sacred still continues breaking through (saw this last week with the wicked who don’t regard God’s works as worthy of praise to Him). And when we come before God, He’s not just holy, He’s holy, holy, holy, three times. I remember hearing a message from RC Sproul a number of years ago on this idea: 3 times in the Bible means perfection, so God alone is describe as perfectly holy. We see this a couple times in the Bible: Isa. 6:3, Rev. 4:8.

-When we worship God in His holiness, it’s describing something that is only true of God. The only reason anyone or anything else is holy is because of Him. Think of the way the moon provides light: it’s only a reflection of the sun, similarly we worship God (in holiness) as a reflection of His holiness. We don’t have any in ourselves.

-But all this is just the prelude to the main event:

He Reigns Over Nature (3-9)

-Have you ever been outside on the plains of the Dakotas or our West and watched a storm roll in? You can see it coming from miles away!

-This is watching a storm front in Cheyenne, WY. I pulled over just to take the picture of the wall of clouds thundering down! The day after Cara agree to date with me, we had a tornado touch down in town!

-Which you can see in this picture! You can see some of the funnels starting to form here. Reminds me of my fear of tornados growing up, and watching my grandpa walk outside and look for them while we were on our way to the basement!

-Finally, this picture shows a storm brewing over the Rocky Mountains outside Estes Park. Notice how visibility goes from crystal clear to non-existent.

-I remember watching one of those storms with a friend who commented “Can you imagine what this would have been like as people drove their wagons through here?” How terrifying would it have been to watch a tornado off in the distance without the satellite view we enjoy today? We can see where the end of the storm is by opening a map on our phones, what if we didn’t know that the storm would end?

-I think the beginning of this Psalm shows another evidence that David is reflecting on Genesis: where does it say God is hovering at the beginning? Over the face of the waters.

-Other ANE religions (particularly Baal worship) viewed the storms, waves, water as the god themselves. What’s unique about the one true God is He’s over the waters, over the other competing gods. Whether we realize it or not, there are other spiritual forces at work in the world around us. The Bible tells us there’s an enemy, a great deceiver who views his job to cause as much destruction as possible. To lead as many people astray as he can. But he has nothing on our God. Where other religions make lower gods their ultimate focus, the one true God is enthroned far above any other ruler or power on earth (Eph. 1:21). While these other gods may seem impressive to us humans, even God’s voice thunders over them.

-Isn’t thunder impressive? It’s so loud you hear your house shake, you can feel it in your bones, if you’re outside it literally hurts your ears.

-Yet thunder has nothing on God! God’s voice is even more powerful! It’s full of majesty

-Think of all the things we see God’s voice doing in Scripture: creating everything in the beginning, calling sinners to repent throughout the whole Bible, coming down as the “Word made flesh” and living among us sinful people, forgiving sin. All God has to do is speak and it literally changes the way things operate and exist. God opens His mouth and His creation obeys. At least most of His creation obeys. Who doesn’t? Humans!

-Think of a passage like James 4:17 “whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” Do you want to know what God commands? Read His Word! This Word has spoken galaxies into existence, broken armies apart, toppled dictators, and created new people out of sinners like me. God’s voice both created the existing world, and continues in the new creation of calling people to himself.

-There’s a specific direction to these descriptions David gives us in this Psalm. Look at the way this storm moves:

-Begins over the sea, moves inward to the forest of Lebanon where it breaks down cedars. Cedars aren’t small trees. Micah visited CA before he started here and shared some pictures with me of the redwood trees. If you haven’t seen them, they’re MASSIVE trees! And they’ve got nothing on God. God breaks them down like you or I break a toothpick, nothing can stand against Him!

-The next stop is Sirion, which is another name for Mt. Herman. Deut. 3:9 “The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion.” Not only do the cedars break at His name, the mountains run before Him. Once again, if you’ve ever felt thunder roaring, you can understand why even a mountain would shake in its’ boots!

-The storm continues moving East as it goes out to shake the wilderness of Kadesh. There’s a number of places throughout the East that this could be referring to, but continues following the path of the storm.

-Nothing can stand in the wake of it: dear give birth, forests are stripped bare, lightning strikes as flames of fire. Think of what you’ve seen after a tornado wrecks its’ way through a city. Pastor Bruce had a tree or 2 fall down because of a tornado a couple years ago. The pure power behind those things is incredible!

-What’s the only way people can respond? Crying out to worship God! How much control do we have over the weather? We can see it coming, we can watch the clouds, can we stop the rain? Can we move a tornado? Can we even adjust a single rain drop? All we can do is stand in awe!

-Friends, don’t miss this: storms aren’t mere accidents, they don’t catch God by surprise, His rule isn’t threatened by these acts of nature, instead they are evidences of His power and glory ruling over His creation. Where some people are tempted to worship the storm, we’re called to worship the God who controls it. We view the storm as reminders of His strength and glory, and fall on our faces in worship of the God who rules over the storm!

He Reigns Forever (10-11)

-God is King far above any weather phenomenon. Baal can only be found in the storms, but that’s way too small for God!

-Reminiscent of the story of Elijah in 1 Kings – there had been a drought for 3 years. Who’s the god of the storms & weather? Baal. How’s he doing? Showdown on Mt. Carmel: which god shows up? The one true God.

-Not only is God enthroned above the weather, he’ll never be overthrown and He’ll always pay attention. How do we know that? The last verse:

-God strengthens and blesses His people with everlasting peace.

-It’s appropriate that this Psalm ends with the way God intends His creation to operate: shalom, everlasting peace and prosperity. Everything existing in perfect harmony with God and each other.

-This is the direction God is taking His creation in the future, and the way He initially created the world, yet we live in this time of tension where storms scare us instead of reminding us to praise God. Someday, everything that happens will cause us to respond to God with worship.

-This Psalm has taught us that God allows everything to happen for a reason, and it’s meant to cause us to better worship God (obey, honor, and recognize Him).

-Your job with this Psalm: next time a thunderstorm rolls through: read this Psalm and give thanks to God for His rule over all creation, and ask God to allow you to bring shalom to those around you.

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by mikethestrand on August 20, 2023 • Permalink

Posted in Bible, Church, Sermon, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on August 20, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/08/20/psalm-29-sermon-manuscript/

Psalm 28 – Sermon Manuscript

The Lord Strengthens His People

Psalm 28

-I grew up before everyone had a cell phone, which means there were times when I was left home alone. Anytime my parents left my, I made sure I knew exactly when they would be back.

-One time, they told me they’d be back at something like 7:45, well that time came and went, and by 7:46 I went to full on panic mode! Remember, back in the day before cell phones where every family had 1 phone that you had to endure talking to everyone’s parents for a couple awkward minutes before your friend came to the phone. Had a list of all my friend’s phone numbers. Called this friend’s parents, who said they would come sit with me until my parents came home, as we were talking I saw some headlights turn down our street, and wonder of wonders, guess who it was!

-When you go through moments of doubt or struggle, who do you call? These moments tend to be where our true selves are revealed.

-As we read through this Psalm, notice what David asks of God, as well as how he makes his requests.

READ/PRAY (pg. 262)

If They Cry to Him (1-2)

-Part of the reason we do the Psalms every summer is because they don’t read like the rest of the Bible. It doesn’t even look like the rest of the Bible, even the formatting looks different! Maybe you, like me, struggled in English when you’d get to the poetry section. I always did well in English until I got to poetry because I wanted a specific meaning to the text, and poetry leaves lots of room for interpretation, doesn’t it? Just like other forms of art, there are many different ways to apply a specific text, and I don’t like that!

-In addition to that fact, many of the Psalms don’t tell us why they were written, what was happening, and we’re in the middle of a section of Psalms that only list who wrote them, and that’s it. Doesn’t it make you want to figure out what was going on and why (in this case David) was crying out to God?

-Unlike much of the prose of the rest of Scripture, the Psalms are much more emotional, sometimes seems like the author is bipolar. But think of how your emotions can change in an instant. Doing well jamming to your favorite song in the car, and then you get cut off! Or you’re innocently preparing dinner and your child starts throwing a royal fit. How do you respond?

-By soaking our hearts and minds with the words of these bipolar authors, we start to become trained in how we should respond to our own bipolar emotions, which can change just as quickly as David’s!

-This Psalm doesn’t list a specific situation, but we can see how David begins by focusing his thoughts in a specific direction:

-“To you, O Lord, I call” What is your knee-jerk reaction to something difficult in your life? Do you blame God, ignore God, or run to God? I’ve lived through some world changing events in my life: 9/11, COVID. After 9/11 I remember reading headlines that said “Where was God?” I honestly thought we’d see something similar in response to COVID, but we didn’t. People turned to Netflix & Doordash instead of taking stock of the fragility of life.

-When the Lord takes you through a difficult season, how do you react? Blame, ignore, or run to?

-David chooses to run to God, “My rock”

-“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages” Spurgeon. When we walk with Christ, we have nothing to fear! One of the descriptions I’ve heard of the church recently that stuck with is that we should be shock absorbers. The world winds people up (think of how the news puts everyone on edge. Good things don’t make the headlines), the church is meant to be a place where we’re not afraid, where we can absorb the stress and angst that comes from living in a broken world, and that’s only true because God is our rock.

-When it refers to God as a rock, think of the safety and security that comes from being protected on all sides. Like if you’re in the middle of a snowstorm and you’re sitting by a roaring fire sipping hot chocolate. That’s what the church should feel like! A place of safety and security from the storm around us.

-What is the alternative? If God doesn’t respond, David will be “like those who go down to the pit.”

-Not literal death, but he will be like those who are destined for destruction, whose cries for help God will not respond to. This is similar to the wicked people we read about in Ps. 26 who would actively try to deceive others and live only for themselves.

-Similar to crying out to God “pleas for mercy…for help” When does he ask? When he lifts up his hands to God’s holy sanctuary.

-Common practice in the ANE, even up to Jesus’ arrival when spaces and places mattered greatly. God’s manifest presence was restrained by a specific place so that the people wouldn’t be destroyed! And that remained true until Jesus came and in John 4 said that now is the time when spaces no longer matter! (hence not referring to this room as a “sanctuary,” I’d be fine just calling it the “Big Meeting Room.”)

-Language matters, and even the way we refer to spaces shapes the way we think and engage with them. Sanctuary is the place where God dwells, and God now dwells in us, regardless of what room we’re in or what it looks like. We have brothers and sisters across the world meeting in mud huts, open fields, or hiding in basements so the police don’t kill them! It’s a wonderful privilege for us to gather together freely like we do each week, but the space in which we gather shouldn’t be given too high a priority.

-What does matter is proper worship (or the term I like to use “acceptable worship” taken from Heb. 12:28). That’s what David is talking about in this section: God hears and responds when we’re worshipping Him rightly or correctly. And that’s far more than checking the Sunday box and then living however you want Monday through Saturday. It must affect all areas of your life, meaning right living:

If They Live Rightly (3-5)

-While David worships God rightly, the wicked only work evil. How do you know what evil workers look like? They speak peace to their neighbors but don’t plan to treat them very neighborly.

-Who is your neighbor? Jesus was asked that one time in Luke 10, and it’s now one of the best-known stories in the world called ‘The Good Samaritan.’ The point of that story is anyone can be a neighbor, and in God’s kingdom, we’re supposed to treat any other human being as our neighbor, which those who don’t follow God refuse to do. They give off the appearance of right living, but in their hearts they despise them. Right living means we care about the places God has placed us enough to be a visible witness in our community, and care about our neighbors.

-But it’s not just being unneighborly, the wicked live whole lives that are marked by evil. Therefore, David asks for justice toward them, which is the proper consequence to their actions.

-One of the things I’ve learned you need to teach your kids is the fact that there are consequences for their actions. Things like: if you’re rough with your toys they will break. Or if you don’t clean up after yourself you may never see your toys again! These evil people are living in such a way that they will need to face consequences that are different than those who cry out to the Lord. See all of us will someday face the consequences for how we live our lives today: which consequences will you be facing?

-After asking for God to dole out the necessary consequences, he goes right back to worship in vs. 5.

-They don’t regard/pay attention to God’s works in people’s lives or His works in the world. Have you ever considered that refusal to acknowledge the way God is working in other people is a mark of sin? I think this actually connects back to the neighbor piece, and is something I’ve been contemplating over the past few months: God commands us to both mourn and rejoice with His people, but what that text doesn’t say is at times you’re going to be rejoicing with others while you’re internally mourning at the same time! I had a moment earlier this year where we were wrestling through a miscarriage, and that Sunday at church found out another couple was expecting another kid. It wasn’t easy to rejoice with them, but it was necessary because God had blessed them.

-Paul picks up this exact idea in Rom. 1 where he draws out this comparison on what it looks like for someone to not pay attention to the ways God works. Notice that men are tempted to “suppress the truth,” but the truth keeps popping out! Like when you’re growing up and told to clean your room, so you throw everything in your closet and slam the door on it. If you keep trying to do that, eventually it’s going to pop open and your master plan will be foiled!

-Friends, the reality is: the heavens declare the glory of God: do you see it? I listen to podcasts on the regular, an geophysicist/philosopher named Stephen Meyer was on Joe Rogan (world’s biggest podcast). Stephen also happens to be a Christian who argues for Intelligent Design as the best explanation for the origins of the material universe, and part of the reason he argues that is the way our bodies are designed. We have access to scientific evidence that Darwin never dreamed of! At the base of everything that exists (deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA) is information. Adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). We are comprised of words that we only recently were able to understand. If the God who created everything that exists did so using information/words, don’t you think He’d also communicate to us using information/words? (ironically enough, as I was looking up something about Stephen Meyer this past week, Wikipedia lists that he argues for the pseudoscience of Intelligent Design)

-Friends, don’t miss this! God has created evidences of Himself down into the tiniest quark and onto the biggest galaxy that exists. Everything that exists is meant to point us to Him, and we’re supposed to respond by worshipping Him in every area of our lives, because if we don’t, look at what David says will happen:

-God will tear them down. Just as they belittled God in their lives, God will belittle them in the world to come. It says they will be torn down and never built up again. Unlike children playing who love and thrive on building towers and knocking them over, when God tears the wicked down, they won’t ever be rebuilt.

-Remember that David is contrasting himself with the wicked, so we’ve seen David begin this Psalm by crying out to God, then move to the need to live rightly (according to God’s standard). What then is the proper response after God responds to His people?

If They Thank Him (6-9)

-We praise God because He responds! Believe it or not, God answers prayer, even today! We’re called to continually cry out to Him. Be honest here, how many of you feel like God doesn’t respond to your prayers? If you’ve never experienced that before just wait! In seasons of waiting it can be difficult to persevere in prayer, but that’s exactly what Jesus commands us to do. In Luke 18:1, it says, “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” We’re actually commanded to keep bothering God with our requests, because it’s not a bother to Him. So don’t give up, God will respond and He calls us to continually cry out to Him. But it requires us to move from crying out to Him to living rightly, which is where we see David calling God his strength & shield.

-What David is saying is the very reason we exist is because of God. If we don’t trust in God we don’t have a strength that will last, nor do we have a shield to protect us. Remember, we saw this in the first section: when issues come up in our lives do we ignore God, blame God, or run to Him? Another way of saying that is “in him my heart trusts.” It’s taken 7 verses for David to get to that point, but as he continues talking to God, he can land at a place of trusting God. Which also means:

-He helps us. How does God help us, because sometimes it doesn’t feel like we’re helped, right? This connects back to what Micah reminded us of last week: we’re in a different place today than David was! Once we’re saved, we’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit, meaning we never walk through anything alone. But God has also given us a family to belong to so that we can tangibly be helped through whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, but we’ll get to that in vs. 9, David also says:

-My heart exults or praises. When we take stock of all the ways God has worked in our lives throughout the past the only proper response is praising. Think of all the stories of martyrs who have been killed as they sang praises to God:

-Overflow with thanksgiving through song (The importance of singing and giving thanks) Parable of the 10 lepers in Luke 17

-The last thing we see David focus on starting in vs. 8 is a community. Another thing God has given us is His body. It’s one thing to give thanks individually, but that’s not sufficient, we also need to give thanks communally.

-Lord is the strength of His people, both individually and together.

-saving refuge (like the rock before, as well as the shield) One of the ways God is a saving refuge is through His body, the church! The church can become a place of refuge, a shelter in the storm. It seems like when people go through difficulties the first thing to drop off is attending the weekly gathering. What if by doing that you’re running away from the place of comfort?

-Prayer for God’s people (don’t pray just for yourself, God has called you to a body so care for it!)
-Shepherd (read Ps. 23, when we’re weak God carries us)

-One of the ways we see to give thanks to God in the Bible is by the Lord’s Supper. This is meant to be a unifying meal: a centering point where we’re reminded that we don’t exist in isolation. In fact, one of the things Jesus modeled in the first celebration of the table is the command to serve each other, and Paul picks up that idea in 1 Cor. 11 and commands us to examine ourselves and see if we have anything against another person in God’s body, and if we do we should not partake of this celebration.

Pastor Mike's Musings

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