“A Little Good News Today” 2013

1 John 1:1-9 Revelation 7:9-17

1 John 1:1-9

1We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Revelation 7:9-17

9After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 13Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. 16They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; 17for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

In the old days, long before anyone ever even thought about M-TV,

I used to turn the volume all the way down on my TV set,

while instead I listened to the music of favorite albums.

Rather than listening to a sports commentator fill the silence,

I’d watch a Redskins, or Cubs game,

to sounds of Jimmy Buffet or the Charlie Daniel’s Band;

and somehow watching

a presidential press conference was more bearable

to the music of Pink Floyd or Three Dog Night…

…for the music in the background changed how I saw the images on TV

-- which is also the point of the Revelation text we read.

John was on the island of Patmos when he wrote Revelation,

and was very much aware of the struggling and suffering:

those were images of tribulation flashing on his TV set,

but he hears his stereo playing something quite different;

* he hears the heavenly music of hope in God’s promises.

When the book of Revelation was written, the situation was dire.

The author didn't have to envision some terrible scene of

tribulation and suffering in the far distant future …

… for the churches were already living the great ordeal.

The current emperor (Flavius Titus Domitanious)Domitian had decided

that Christianity was disrupting the unity of the Roman empire…

… so he set forth the full force of his government

to destroy the Christian Church once and for all.

Under that persecution, the suffering of the Church was extreme,

and to be a Christian in Asia Minor at time

meant that you and your family might be tortured or killed,

and the cost of your church membership might be your life.

The churches were suffering, & discouraged by that persecution,

and so John wrote the book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ,à

to encourage them, urging them to remain faithful to God …

… by reminding them,

of what an awesome, wonderful & powerful God we serve;

and that absolutely,

hope and light still shine even in the darkest circumstance.

In Revelation, the weird and terrifying scenes of violence

are always followed by scenes of hope,

and a wonderful sense of powerful praise and worship…

… as in this passage, John describes the heavenly scene, vs. 9

… and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.

This is the ultimate ecumenical gathering of all God's people;

gathered from of every place, & every time throughout the ages,

in numbers and diversity beyond our comprehension,

all unified by the one thing that actually matters

that our God still reigns, fulfilling His purpose:

vs. 10

“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

The white robes are a theological symbol of grace and baptism;

for wearing the robe is putting on the righteousness of Christ,

being cleansed, healed and washed white by the grace of God

our salvation through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The palm branches they carry

were an ancient symbol for the joyful celebration of victory …

* … these are all wonderful images of praise and worship.

And so what is the important message

that John has for these beleaguered suffering Christians?

* He is intending to paint a magnificent picture of hope,

by describing the joyful wonder of heavenly worship.

vs. 11-12

and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.’

Continuing, vs. 16-17

They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’

This is the heart of the message of Revelation.

This message is being spoken to the suffering Christians

as a word of hope for that fragile and persecuted Church

during their time of terrible struggle and ordeal.

The author recasts hopeful images from the OT prophet Isaiah,

borrowing language which was written many centuries earlier

to address the Hebrew people suffering and discouraged

during the terrible time of exile in distant Babylon.

These words of Isaiah

were given as a word of hope and assurance of God's promises:

that even in that terrible, foreign place of struggle,

yet God cared, and was with them, sustaining them,

… and there was far more in play than just their tribulation.

* It may have seemed like the Babylonians held all the power,

but the message of Isaiah was still to hope, and trust God.

John borrowed, or recast these words of hope from Isaiah,

because for his readers, these were familiar words of promise,

and they also knew as a fact of history,

that indeed the people were able to return from exile,

and the nation of Israel was restored as God promised.

So too those suffering under Domitian's harsh persecution

were now being urged to trust, to remember God's promises,

based on the fulfillment back in the time of the exile…

-- and know that they served the same loving and powerful God…

… the God of grace who gives strength to the weary,

who gives courage to the fearful even over Domitian's power,

who gives peace and joy to the crushed and brokenhearted…

… who hears their cries, and knows the struggles they endure,

as from their ordeal, creates joyful celebration of victory…

… though there was suffering & persecution on their TV screen,

yet the music of hope, victory and promise plays on the stereo

… which changes how Christians perceive the world around us.

Yes ,they saw reality, a world of suffering and persecution,

but through their praise and worship together,

in God’s presence they can hear the sweet music of hopeà

praising the goodness, faithfulness & power of God.

** True worship proclaims a simple, yet critical message ---

“The Light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness does not and cannot overcome it." … (Jn 1:5)

…which is the same crucial truth we need to hear & remember today,

* especially as we consider our world with bombings in Boston,

so much violence that we ask, where is the Lord in this?,

and why does God allow such terrible evil to happen?

I struggled mightily with such questions that defy easy answers

very early in my ministry, as a young man just out of seminary.

My first call was to a pastor at a new church development,

a little fishing community along the North Carolina coast…

… where we were hit dead-on by a terrible & destructive hurricane,

such as I had never seen or experienced anything like it before.

Then for the next few years, one or two hurricanes hit every year,

and several faithful members had had enough and moved inland.

There was anxiety, tragedy, and sense of powerlessness and loss

that caused a tremendous need for pastoral counseling and care,

and one year, in our little congregation of about 100,

10 of our members were facing life-threatening illnesses.

It was difficult & discouraging. It was overwhelming for us all.

I ran out of easy answers and didn’t know what to say or do,

so one evening we gathered together as a family of faith,

and with the lights dimmed, we sat in a big circle,

while we prayed and worshipped the Lord, together.

I read some Scripture passages, we sang a few favorite hymns,

and then we talked and prayed, we sat in silence together …

… we cried out to the Lord, and we hugged one another,

and truly, we worshipped the Lord our God, together.

And God was very present and comforting with us in our worship,

and from that, we found hope, the courage and strength to go on.

Something incredibly powerful and wonderful

happened to us that night in our worship together.

O yes, we still continued to have more hurricanes each year.

Some of the folks survived their cancer, and some did not.

Our circumstances were still difficult at times;

but we had renewed hope and trust;

we were confident that God was with us

that God cared, and God would sustain us…

… for though there was a world of reasons for sadness and tears

yet we were learning to listen and recognize à

the sweet music of hope in the light of Gods’ promises…

… as together, our tears and fears

became hope and trust in the assurances of God.

As our reading from 1^st John 1, vs. 1, 3, 5, 7 points out:

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; …

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. … if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, …

* Christian fellowship, when we walk together in the True Light.

Years ago we sold solar powered calculators in our stores,

and if you covered up the photocells,

the screen would darkened and it stopped working.

Our walk with God operates much the same way --

apart from the light, cut off from God’s constant renewal,

our walk of faith, & authentic Christian fellowship ceases.

Simply put,

darkness is being cutting off from the true source of light.

* Practically and specifically,

what are some ways, of cutting ourselves off from the Light?

- stop going to church and worshipping God regularly,

missing the weekly exposure to God's truth & fellowship

will cut off our spiritual feeding and empowerment.

- stop consistent Bible devotions and a committed prayer life

will keep God's light from exposing our hidden darkness

and measuring our lives according to God's standards.

- stop testing our spiritual journey for progress & authenticity

will allow self-righteous complacency to shades God's light

- stop spending time with other Christians and serving,

and we will avoid exposing our selfish darkness to light,

or answering uncomfortable questions that might

disrupt a false and easy illusion of peace with God.

An artist was commissioned by a wealthy man to paint something that would depict peace. After a great deal of thought, the artist painted a beautiful country scene. There were green fields with cows standing in them, birds were flying in the blue sky and a lovely little village lay in a distant valley. The artist gave the picture to the man, but there was a look of disappointment on his face. The man said to the artist, "This isn't a picture of true peace. It isn't right. Go back and try again.

The artist went back to his studio, thought for several hours about peace, then went to his canvas and began to paint. When he was finished, there on the canvas was a beautiful picture of a mother, holding a sleeping baby in her arms, smiling lovingly at the child. He thought, surely, this is true peace, and hurried to give the picture to the wealthy man. But again, the wealthy man refused the painting and asked the painter to try again.

The artist returned again to his studio. He was discouraged, he was tired and he was disappointed. Anger swelled inside him, he felt the rejection of this wealthy man. Again, he thought, he even prayed for inspiration to paint a picture of true peace. Then, all of a sudden an idea came, he rushed to the canvas and began to paint as he had never painted before. When he finished, he hurried to the wealthy man.

He gave the painting to the man. He studied it carefully for several minutes. The artist held his breath. Then the wealthy man said, "Now this is a picture of true peace." He accepted the painting, paid the artist and everyone was happy.

And what was this picture of true peace? The picture showed a stormy sea pounding against a cliff. The artist had captured the furry of the wind as it whipped black rain clouds which were laced with streaks of lightening. The sea was roaring in turmoil, waves churning, the dark sky filled with the power of the furious thunderstorm.

And in the middle of the picture, under a cliff, the artist had painted a small bird, safe and dry in her nest snuggled safely in the rocks. The bird was at peace midst the storm that raged about her.

O Yes, we can certainly see

the harsh images of this world’s evil and reality on our TV,

but as we learn to listen carefully and intentionally,

we can also hear something different on our stereo -

we can the sweet music of the Holy Spirit, of peace and hope, of trusting God’s truth and promises that can change us:

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. … The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not and cannot overcome it.