| Introduction
We call this ‘Encounter’. It’s a great name that speaks bravely of encountering God. Webster defines ‘encounter’ as ‘to engage with’ or ‘to come upon face-to-face, especially unexpectedly’. I wonder if that is what we want. Throughout scripture, coming to face to face with God is generally a terrifying and life changing experience. Maybe we would prefer what Pastor Glenn used to describe as ’25 cents worth of God in a paper bag’.
Do you remember how Jacob wrestled all night with God (Genesis 32). Near daybreak he was told to let go but he says, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." When he is asked his name, Jacob confesses that he is Jacob, a name that means ‘heel tripper’, ‘deceiver’. He is then told that he will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because he as struggled with God and with men and has overcome. Jacob names the place Peniel because, he saw God face to face.
Tonight, that IS what I truly want. I pray that as a church we would ‘engage’ God. I don’t want to remain safe and only feel the brush of his robes as he passes at a distance. I don’t want to simply find a bit of peace and comfort through worship or prayer. No, I want to see him face to face, to wrestle with him until he blesses us and changes our name.
Over the last 7 weeks we have been taught that the book of Revelation is apocalyptic, which means its purpose is to reveal, to pull back the covers so we can see what is really real. We have also been taught that the 7 letters speak of completeness. That the message is not exclusive to churches in Asia Minor but is directly applicable to Lakeview, today.
Jesus gave this message to John so that the covers could be pulled back and we might see Christ clearly, face to face, and that we might hear what he would say to us as a church. This is why it was written and to that end I am dedicating my effort tonight. This level of encounter may not be where you want to go tonight so here’s your out. I am going to open in prayer and if you are uncomfortable with engaging God then this might be a good time for you to step out.
Prayer – Imagination / Hearing
Matt 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Background:
If you have your bibles, read with me the opening words of this book:
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw — that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. (Rev 1:1-8)
What an amazing promise. I just got blessed by reading and you got blessed by hearing. A great start isn’t it.
Personal Response
Paul reminds us in Romans that ‘faith comes from hearing … the word of Christ.’ (Rom 10:17). Clearly, this book, of all the books in the bible is the most direct call of Christ to hear him. But what might possibly stop up our hearing? Our brokenness or Sin?
We love our old Honda but sadly its antennae has been bent and broken. Now if we ever drive near the tall power poles on Preston we lose all reception. If you are like me your ability to hear God’s word has likely been bent by sin and the interference of the world that towers around us.
Before we can begin to ‘see’ by faith the deeper reality in revelation, before we can hear Christ’s letter to Lakeview, we need to ensure that our receiver is clear. I have found over the last 7 weeks, although I know the letters were written to the church corporately, the words often spoke to me personally.
The letter to Ephesus reminded me that in spite of my moral uprightness my first love has faded. Pergamum and Thyatira challenged my compromises with the world. Sardis reminded me that in spite of a reputation of being alive, I am dead. And Laodicea clearly showed me how in spite of riches, health and education I can be wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked, neither hot nor cold, healing or refreshing.
John, wrote other books in the bible and one of them contains this promise: ... If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:1-2:3)
I want us to begin tonight by acting on this promise by confessing, that is agreeing with God about the things that have bent our antennae. I am trusting that he will then help us see and hear the things he wants to reveal to our church.
Please understand – this is not about guilt, although there may be conviction. Our professor of Rhetoric in engineering helps budding engineers learn how to communicate clearly. One of her key lessons is for them to understand that communication involves 3 elements; Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. Ethos speaks of the character and presence of the speaker. Logos refers to ‘the word’, the actual message itself. While Pathos, refers to the audience and the ability of the speaker to identify with them.
As I have read and re-read these letters to the churches I have come to see that Christ’s words to us are not to be viewed as God simply taking us to task. It is not like a boss trying to bring a slack employee up short.
The reason for this is that Jesus is not simply ethos. Christ is also logos, the word. John states In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And he is also pathos (the body) – Repeatedly in scripture we are reminded that the church is the body of Christ.
Suddenly I find myself not just ‘guilty’, but called. Christ’s challenge is not that of a boss jerking employees into line. It is the image of parent loving a child so much that they call them to obedience, a lover’s courageous call for a change in a broken relationship, a pastor’s plea to a church to sacrifice for the lost, a coach calling her players to step up to a new level of performance. He is not far off; he is near, with us, prompting us to an obedience that will transform us.
Tonight, I want to call you to use a gift you maybe haven’t used since you were a child. I want you to use your imagination. John’s letter begins with a clear vision of Jesus. Close your eyes. Now take your mind to a quiet place. Maybe like John, you’re sitting on an island surrounded by blue-green sea, or maybe walking along your favourite mountain hiking trail, or sitting in your favourite chair. Try going there.
Now you hear a familiar voice – in your minds eye you turn and there is Christ. John found it tough to describe his real encounter but some of those images might help you.
- He was wearing the robes of a priest or king. Imagine his face lighting up as he sees you as he strides quickly towards you because of his passion for you; he is your Leader and your Saviour.
- John saw a golden sash around his chest – not girded around his waist. It meant his work was complete. Maybe in your imagination he has his tool belt or suit jacket slung over his shoulder – the job is done.
- John saw a head of silver. I tend to imagine Jesus as young, but maybe you see him like Gandalf the White, in Lord of the Rings, transformed by sacrifice into the Ancient of Days – everlasting – he who was, is and is to come.
- Now focus on his face, his eyes, clear and penetrating. Passionate about you, penetrating right through you.
- And like the strong rays of the sun in the spring, after a long cold winter, you not only see him but you feel his radiance, warming and chasing the coldness away and your only desire is to melt into his arms, strong, embracing. His voice resonates as your head lays on his chest; he begins to speak truth into the very deepest part of you.
Ok, are you there? Now talk to him, tell him of your need to be forgiven, and cleansed, to be made righteous. Tell him, and then listen …. Listen to what he says to you.
Prayer
Amazing isn’t it? Whether you ‘felt’ anything or not really isn’t at issue. Like John, you have seen Christ, if only a glimpse, and like John you have fallen at his feet, humble, contrite, and unexpectantly he reached out and touched you.
Corporate Response
So, by faith we stand cleansed and forgiven. So was that the point for tonight? No, it is only the beginning. This is only fixing the reception. There is something even bigger to see and hear.
The Book of Revelation reminds us to 'hear' and 'overcome'. These are actions we must undertake as the church - these are corporate responsibilities. As evangelicals we tend to focus on our 'personal' salvation but forget we are called to be a Kingdom and priests for our God.
I believe Christ is trying to show us another reality. A reality that in order to be engaged requires that we understand at a deeper level, what it means to be the Church of Christ.
I have read and reread Revelation over the last few months. The imagery is staggering and something in my Western mindset wants to interpret and explain it all. You know, to see what it 'really' means in the physical world.
But there are two things that I have begun to understand about the images that follow the letters to the churches:
- First, the images are not always chronological sequenced. Jesus is he ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come’.
He is outside time, in the eternal present. The ‘I Am’.
- Second, the images are not necessarily meant to be interpreted, but rather, they are to be experienced. Just as a painting is more than our explanation of the artist’s purpose, so in Revelation are the images more than what we can explain.
An excellent example is John’s experience immediately after the last letter. A door opens and John is led through it - he is 'in the Spirit' and ushered into the throne room of God. It helps to study what the images meant to the people of that day but even without an explanation, that image, the cries of the living creatures and elders still move me:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Rev 4:8
"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Rev 4:11
I think Christ wants us to see a deeper mystery that links who he is with who he desires the church to be. This is all strange and new but let me suggest a couple of lessons.
First, I think you understand that there is another reality, linked to ours, but one that is spiritual, eternal, and inexorably more real and lasting. But the second lesson is this; the events in that world are woven into, and in fact can be initiated by, events in this one.
The most powerful illustration of this truth comes from the climax of the book of Revelation. True to John’s chiastic style of writing, the climax of the book occurs not at the ending but the middle. Read along with me from Revelation 12 starting at the end of 11 – it is on your information folders.
Rev 11:19-12:17, 12
Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."
Now you are all itching for me to explain this story aren’t you? But just absorb it for a moment – then listen as I read from Luke 2, a simple story that most of us read every Christmas.
Luke 2:1-20
… Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee … with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Amazing isn't it - This cosmic battle rages in the spiritual realm. The woman and the dragon are described as signs or symbols. The woman representing Israel, Mary, and the people of God, the church throughout all ages and the dragon, Satan, blood red, with power and wealth and authority in this world. The woman gives birth to a son, not a sign but reality. A birth that culminates in the rebellion and expulsion of Satan, and the inauguration of the salvation and power and kingdom of God and the authority of Christ.
Imagine, in a dark cave in a forgotten town in the middle east, the obedience of a pregnant teenager and an incredulous cabinet maker, triggers a titan struggle of heavenly powers and results in Satan himself being cast out of heaven. We have no idea how our slightest action of kindness, or goodness, as Kelly described it, is reflected in the spiritual world, how it makes a cosmic difference.
In a lighter vein it reminds me a bit an image from the movie Dave. The substitute president of the U.S. is being shown an industrial plant which has the most amazing crane .... take a look.
DVD – ‘Dave’ – image of Dave operating crane which replicates his smallest arm movements at a gigantic scale
As I thought about this, Christ’s word to his disciples about the Kingdom of God suddenly began to make more sense:
"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matt 18:18-20
Now the most powerful theology often comes the nearest to heresy so forgive me if I cross the line but look how the mystery deepens in verse 11.
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;.
Satan's defeat in the world, or should I say worlds, hangs on the work of Christ and our testimony. On our willingness to not love our lives so much as to shrink from even death.
Suddenly I catch a glimpse of why Christ would want to have John record his Revelation. It is a revelation of Christ, absolutely - but it includes another revelation, its takes the cover off of what the church is called to be. It is a romance, a love story of cosmic proportions. It begins with the passionate letters to the beloved. Letters in which he first speaks of our first love and ends as a lover waiting at the door of our heart. The entire book ends with a wedding, in which ‘the new Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband’.
Only the lovers, Christ and the Church, will share in the experience of living fully in both worlds. And in some mysterious way, it is their love relationship which opens a portal between the worlds, a portal through which God’s Kingdom is established. This is why the dragon, unable to devour the child, prevented from destroying the woman, pours out his rage on the church.
The struggle of titans envelopes us. An passionate romance and a bloody rebellion. This is why we must have ears to hear and overcome. Oh my people, the battle is on. We must unsheathe our swords and prepare them for blood.
The victory is ours, we are called to be a kingdom and priests to establish God's rule and salvation in this world to which we have born, and in doing so live in the reality of the world into which we have been reborn.
Darrell Johnson writes ‘There is only way to overcome: by having clear vision, a purged imagination. To see the present in light of the future, yes. But more importantly, to see the present in light of the unseen realities of the present.’
But it hangs on our ability to respond to Christ’s repeated call:
Rev 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Can you imagine Christ asking us to ear but then never speaking? I can’t. I maybe naïve, but tonight I need you to believe you can hear. As we go to worship I want you to prayerfully listen to what God would say to Lakeview through you.
Each letter had a pattern. Think about what these elements would be in Christ’s letter to us:
- Christ is Real. He first identified himself. So how would Christ identify himself to us?
- Christ Reveals. What would he tell us about ourselves, good and bad?
- Christ Redeems. What response would he call us to so that he can multiple our obedience for the Kingdom?
- Christ Rewards. What promise of encouragement can we hear for the church?
I want you to write what you hear on the handout you were given when you came in. Then bring it to the altar during worship, offering what you hear to God, or hand them to Brad or myself after service. Brad and I will prayerfully compile your responses and present them to the Spiritual Leadership Team and ask them to ‘hear’. Please don’t try to ‘feel’ if you have heard correctly – simply act in faith, step between the worlds, trusting in your lover, and write what you hear. Trust that Christ will speak to you.
‘Rev 2:7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give…
Amen. |
