Revelation 21. 1-14... Advent Sunday 2010 (28 November)

Revelation 21. 1-14... The return of Jesus...

Today, Advent Sunday, is a time to think about Jesus' advent, his coming into the world; not so much to start thinking about Christmas (we start that too early!) but to think about when Jesus comes again...

We don't know when it will happen.  Nobody knows the day nor the hour.  And if someone comes along and tells you "it's true, we don't know the day or the hour, but we can know the year, maybe even the month", they are just playing with words. All the Bible tells us the opposite: Jesus will come with the clouds, suddenly, so that two people will be working together and one will be taken, and the other left.

We don't have a programme for what will take place when Jesus comes back. How we will get from Jesus appearing, to the final victory we read about in our reading today, is not clear.  What the Bible says is in picture language and poetry: the pictures need to be interpreted - not decoded!    Now I don't believe God has hidden truths in scripture in a secret code.  He is by nature a God who reveals himself.  He gives us what we need to know and he does so generously and freely.

But there are three things that we do know about in the return of Jesus.

1. God - the triumph of the triune.

God, the "Alpha and the Omega" speaks... This is the Timeless God: Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet.  When God calls himself the Alpha and the Omega" he is letting us know that he was there at the beginning of everything and will be there at the end of everything: he is bigger than time, big enough to encompass the whole universe, to wrap up everything that exists and has ever existed, in the palm of his hand.

This is the God who was revealed in Jesus, but more than Jesus.   I love to read, study and learn from the ministry of Jesus on earth. We need the Gospels and we need to dig into the Gospels.  Jesus was and is a wise, selfless, generous, courageous, warm, insightful witty, funny, sensitive person with authority and power that brought healing and freedom to loads of people and challenge to many more.

But that Jesus is now the victorious Jesus.   Throughout the book of Revelation there has been Jesus.  He is central... He is there in the first chapter, coming in the clouds, eyes like fire, feet like bronze, and the voice like the sound of many waters... He is there moving among the candle-sticks that represent the seven local churches in Revelation 2-3.  He is there throughout Revelation as "the Lamb" that has been slain, a lamb drenched in his own blood (Revelation 5. 6, 12; Revelation 13. 8) but a lamb who is "worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing."

And at the end of everything, when everything is made new, there will be Jesus....

Do you need to be encouraged today?  If life is tough - as it was for the Christians in places like Ephesus, Thyatira and Philadelphia - then take a look at where Jesus is today - seated at the right hand of God.  He is the Victor. He has won the battle and because he has won, you are going to win, too. In fact, the whole point of revelation is "We win!"

2. The Kingdom in the world - a new heaven and a new earth...

Verse 1 says "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..."  Christians used to love to sing about "when we all get to heaven" and people who aren't Christians like to think in terms of some sort of nice place where we "float" - I remember the friends of a stock-car racer in Norfolk who died in a car crash, trying to comfort his Mum by saying "I'll bet he's up there now mending cars."  It's kind of comforting but feels kind of like make-believe.  So it's a slender comfort.

What the Bible actually says is that there will be a new heaven and a new earth and that they will be kind of "open-plan"... so when the new heaven and new earth are made, the dwelling place of God is with men... That's different; it's bigger and more robust.

The old order of things - all of it - will be done away with. John specifically records "There was no more any sea" and in the ancient world with its tiny wooden ships, navigating only by the stars, powered only by wind or human muscle, the sea was a threatening place that represented everything dark and scary... But in this new heaven and earth, there is no sea.  Everything of darkness, everything treacherous and dangerous in the created order will be no more.

In the new order of things, there will be no more death, or mourning or crying (v 4).  There will be no more cowardly, faithless, detestable (those whose behavioiur stinks), murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, or  liars (v 8); they go into the "second death".

The God who spoke the first universe into being will speak a new universe into being. There is a new version of life, the universe and everything coming. And it's going to be good.  And the Kingdom as we encounter it today, is the seeds of that new heaven and new earth.

3. The Church - a bride adorned for her husband.

What does the New Jerusalem mean?  Well, the answer is in the text.  The angel said to John, "Come and I will show you the Bride, the wife of the lamb."  The Bride is the Church, the people of God.  In Ephesians 5. 25, 32 Paul tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church.  The whole marriage thing is a picture of the relationship between Jesus and the Church.  Jesus isn't a bigamist. He has only one bride.

And he isn't married to a building, although I guess sometimes we men thing that talking to the wife is like talking to a brick wall(!?)  I hope I don't have to tell you that the Church isn't a building.

We sometimes think Church is kind of like a collective noun for a group of Christians.  You would talk about a church of Christians almost like you would talk about a flock of sheep or a gaggle of geese.  The church is more than the people who make up the church. It is what all these people are, all together, for all eternity.  It is the people of God from before Jesus in Israel (the twelve gates have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on them) and since Jesus in the Christian Church (the foundation stones carry the names of the twelve apostles).

So, the Church matters to God.  Jesus loves it and died for it.  It is bigger than Rosyth, bigger than the BU of Scotland. It is timeless, going back to Israel, and going on for ever... If you are part of the Church you are part of something eternal. We need to love the Church because Jesus does. We need to love the Church because we are going to be part of it for ever.

So there are three things that we can look forward to for eternity: fellowship with God.  A new Heaven and a new earth; and the Church.  As we look forward to these, we can experience a foretaste of each of them now, fellowship with God, the present and coming Kingdom and the life of the Church.

© Gilmour Lilly November 2010

Sunday 21st November: "What is the Gospel?"

What is the "Gospel"?     1 Corinthians 15. 1-5

We've been thinking about mission, being the kind of Church that has mission in its DNA, how to share Jesus love by ordinary acts of kindness; and how to be witnesses (telling what we have experienced.)  Today I want to find out what the Gospel actually is.  If someone wants to become a follower of Jesus in their own living room what do they need to know and believe?   Let's find out from the Bible.

500 years before Jesus was born, the song that became "Our God reigns" was first written.  "How wonderful it is to see a messenger coming across the mountains, bringing good news, the news of peace! He announces victory and says to Zion, 'Your God is king!'"   (Isa 52:7)  The good news was to be preached to the poor, and woudl come alogn with healing, release, and jsutice.  (Isa 61. 1,2,8) When Jesus started his work, he was "preaching the Good News (Gospel) about the Kingdom, and healing people who had all kinds of disease and sickness" (Matt 4. 23) so the first hints we have about the Gospel are that it was about God's rule... "Your God reigns!"  "Despite the mess in the world, your God is King.

About twenty years after Jesus, Paul wrote a letter to the Church in Corinth.  Our reading is part of it.  Corinth was a wild city where people often got their ideas wrong, and Paul has to sort out lots of mistakes. Paul sums up his good news message in this passage: "I want to remind you what the Good News is...  and this is it...Christ died for our sins, as written in the Scriptures; that he was buried and that he was raised to life three days later, as written in the Scriptures. (1 Cor 15. 3-4)  Christ died as the Bible says and rose again as the Bible says.

Right at the center of Paul's message is "Jesus died for our sins and rose again."  It would be easy to say that's it.  Let's make sure we get it right...

Who does Paul say died? Christ.   And what does Christ mean?  Messiah; anointed one. The One who would bring the kingdom. Paul says it was Christ, Messiah, the promised One, the anointed King, who died for our sins and rose again.  And it all happened according to Scripture: in other words it all fulfilled the Old Testament promises about Messiah, the anointed King. It was a key event in the arrival of the new age that Messiah came to bring.   You can't separate the Kingdom from the cross.  You can't separate the identity of Jesus as the King, from the fact that he died and rose again.

Once, shortly after Jesus rose from death, two men were discussing what had happened when Jesus appeared to them and eventually said  "Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?" And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets. (Luke 24:26f )

The Old Testament ties the Good news that "our God reigns" (Isaiah 52) with the mysterious report of a suffering servant (Isaiah 53) who was wounded for our transgressions... The Kingdom that sorts out a messed up world, needs someone to take away people's sins.  And the One who takes away sin does so in order to bring God's Kingdom.

Think of a cheeseburger. It's not a burger without the meat and the cheese, it's just a salad roll. (Like a boomerang that won't come back is just a stick!) The meat and the cheese in the middle of the burger are the death and resurrection of Jesus.  But it's not a burger without the bun. And the "bun" that wraps up the meat and cheese, is the Kingdom.  Without the bun, the meat is difficult to handle; without the Kingdom, the Cross and resurrection are difficult to handle properly.  Without the Kingdom, you are left with a gospel that is simply about getting individuals into heaven instead of being about God's purpose for the whole universe he made.

So the words "Christ" and "according to the Scriptures" in this passage tell us that the Good news is about he Kingdom of God.

Paul says Christ died for our sins.  The reason why there needs to be a Kingdom of God, is because of sin. God made a good world; the reason it is in a mess is because of sin.  Not just any old sin. Our sins.  We are part of the problem I our world. Our sin screws up the world; it separates us from God, it makes us dead even though we're biologically alive.

And Jesus took our death, all the consequences of all the wrong things that all the people in all the world for all time have ever done.  No wonder he dreaded going to the Cross. No wonder he felt abandoned by his father. ... He took all our punishment. He died and was buried.  That's good news.

Then he was raised from death.  Paul says, "Sin is what gives death its sting".  (1Co 15:56)  When Jesus rose, it showed that death was a completely spent force, because sin was completely dealt with. Once all the sin is gone, death has no sting, like a scorpion with its tail cup off. When he rose from death, Jesus proved that he has dealt with sin. That's good news

The tense of the verb raised is not just past but "Perfect."  What that means is this: Jesus died but he's not dead any more. Jesus was buried but he's not in the grave any more.  Jesus was raised - and he's still alive. He has won the victory and he is alive today.  His victory over sin, and death, his victory over all the evil in the world, are secured, because he was raised from the dead. And because he is alive, he is able to help his people by giving his spirit to them.  Peter explained what happened on the day the Holy Spirit came by saying, "[Jesus} has been raised to the right side of God, his Father, and has received from him the Holy Spirit, as he had promised. What you now see and hear is his gift that he has poured out on us." (Acts 2:33)  And Paul says "This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world. Christ rules there above ....  God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things. (Eph 1:19-22)   That's good news.

That's the good news.  That, says Paul is what his friends in Corinth have received, held fast and believed. Jesus put is the most elegantly: "The right time has come," he said, "and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!"  (Mk 1:15). Throughout the New Testament, from Jesus himself, to Peter on the day the spirit came (Act s 2:38), to Paul, the Good News demands the same response: repentance (TURNING from sin) and faith (TRUSTING in Jesus).  It is our responsibility to respond to that good news, to connect with Jesus, his sacrifice, his victory and his kingdom.

So how would I sum up the Gospel? What is the good news people need to know and understand?

 1. The Kingdom of God has come near: we live in a world that is fallen and broken because of sin (our rebellion against God), but God's Kingdom brings healing and peace.  The King has come and his name is Jesus.
2. Jesus dealt with all the sin that opposes God's right to rule (including ours), by his death on the Cross. The King is also the suffering servant.
3. Jesus rose again, securing the victory of the Kingdom over sin and all its consequences (including death). Because he's alive he is able to help us today and will come again to establish his rule eternally. The King is triumphant!
4. We can connect with the all the Kingdom is, know forgiveness for the past, power to live as a subject of the kingdom now and hope for the future. We connect with the Kingdom by TURNING from sin and TRUSTING in Jesus.  The King commands us to TURN to Him and TRUST in Him.

Living God, I know you are King but I have not let you rule in my life. I turn from my sin so you can be in charge from now on.  Lord Jesus I trust the Good News that your sacrifice dealt with all my sin. Thank you for dying for me and for the gift of being clean and forgiven. Holy Spirit please come into me so that I can live my life for God and be like Jesus. Amen.

© Gilmour Lilly November 2010

STONES OF REMEMBRANCE Joshua 4, 14th November 2010

STONES OF REMEMBRANCE

Joshua 4:1-11  

Ninety years ago in 1920, King George V unveiled the Cenotaph in Whitehall, and the "Unknown Warrior" was buried in Westminster Abbey.  Two deliberate, intentional gestures, to connect place, time, and people, to link past, present and future.  (Did you know that the Cenotaph is a listed building?)   Lloyd George's government understood the importance of remembrance.

Over three thousand years earlier, about 1200 BC, and we see something similar - and greater.  Deliberate, intentional provision being made to connect place, time, people, and eternity... We sometimes talk about "stones of remembrance."   The event was Israel's safe crossing into their promised land.  When they had come at last to the river Jordan, it was in flood. The priests had taken the Ark of the Covenant down into the river, and the river had dried up, allowing the whole nation to cross over on dry land.  It was a miracle: evidence that God was really with them in this new development for their community.  And, so that no-one would forget, God said "Joshua, have twelve men, one from each tribe, go back to where the priests are standing, and each take a stone and put them at the place where you will camp tonight."   The Lord himself wanted there to be a provision for linking people who would come after with this event in time and place - and with eternity, with the fact that God had been at work. Stones of remembrance.

That's what we are about as a Church - what every Church should be about: making connexions between place, time, people, and eternity.  Today we will be thinking about stones, bricks and mortar..   ."First we shape our buildings, then they shape us"   said Winston Churchill in 1943 (possibly contemplating the rebuilding of the palace of Westminster). What can we learn from Joshua and the Stones of remembrance?

1. Stepping forward.  It happened in a time of pilgrimage and advance.  They were looking to the future because they believed in the future.  In no sense were these stones to be only a monument to the past, a depressing testimony to the "good old days"... as though the nation had nothing to do but commemorate times past.  It wasn't done at a time when "nostalgia ain't what it used to be..." Not at a time of prosperity and leisure when the nation had time to look back and the money to spend on such luxuries.  Not at a time of decline when the nation was tempted to look back to the so-called "glory days." It was done at a time when the whole nation was poised to take over their new land.   We are at a point of advance. We've been thinking about our vision, about how we can reach our community.  As we think about our stones and bricks, let us do so in an atmosphere of advance, of looking forward to a future.

2. God said... We've already noted, it was God's idea. God wants there to be these stones of remembrance, those links between time, place, people and trinity.  His heart is for men and women to get to know him. If we listen he will speak to us about how to provide these links.  We need to hear from god, to give him time to speak to us, about our life together and about our building.

3. Something solid. Twelve stones from the river.  It was visible, and (sort of) concrete.  Like Remembrance Day, not just a vague feeling that we ought to do this or that, but something practical.  The mission we believe in needs to be translated into tangible, solid visible stuff.  Vision is more than a dream.  It works with resources - or prays them in!

4. Simplicity.  Not twelve stones with the story carved on them in words or pictures. Just twelve stones.  Keep it simple.  And the simplicity does its job.  It takes us into a place of dialogue... We often complicate things because we don't want to encounter people face to face, and talk to them...

5. Curiosity.  It is Joshua who interprets what god says, by instructing the people "when your children ask, "Why are these stones here?" you are to say "the river Jordan dried up so that we could enter our promised land..." Everything about our life together is to make people curious about our God and saviour; "stones of remembrance" can be conversation starters.

6. Making sense. It was culturally relevant. It was something people did in the ancient near east.  Children would need to ask "what do these stones mean?" but they wood know the stones meant something.  Building stones into a cairn or setting up a standing stone was something people did. It's right that what we do should communicate the Good news across the barriers of culture, making sense to people who don't know Jesus, and stimulating curiosity and interest.

Jacob a few generations earlier had done set up a stone, too: Genesis 28.  11-19 tell how after a night when he had dreamed he saw right into heaven, he woke up and took the rock he had used a s a pillow, and set it on end, and poured oil on it.   He changed the name of the place from "Luz" (Almond tree) to "Bethel" (House of God.)  It made sense.    I want Rosyth Baptist Church to be a Beth-El, a House of God, a place of contact between time, place, people and eternity.

But, does God live in a house?

No. Stones of remembrance are found in ...

What we are - first and foremost. "You are living stones."  What we are, just being the Church - united, generous, supernatural, hopeful and loving in a fragmented, selfish, commonplace, hopeless and loveless world, is a sign, a pointer. It makes the connexion between time, place, people and eternity.

What we do - secondly.  In Jesus' day, the round loaves of bread could look like smooth stones.  Jesus took bread and said,  "Do this in remembrance of me". The way we worship, the way we serve, the way we live, are stones of remembrance, a way of making connections between place, time, people and eternity (including the Lord's table, the central act of worship - which can be a powerful witness).  Activities flow out of what we are.

What we build - lastly. Buildings are not temples (places where God lives) but like the stones of remembrance, tools, to help make the connexion between time, place, people and eternity.  They exist to support what we do.  They can help get questions asked.

© Gilmour Lilly November 2010