MAY 16, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
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Gospel Renewal Part 4: All things New
Transcription
THIS IS IT!! THIS IS THE FINAL CONCLUSION to the EPIC NARRATIVE CALLED THE “GOSPEL STORY.”
If you remember, at the beginning of this I, mentioned that my experience with evangelicalism had told me Heaven and Earth operated like this:
More Good -> Heaven
More Evil-> Hell
Maybe you grew up with something similar...this idea that we would ESCAPE planet earth and go to a place up in the clouds called heaven, with naked baby angels but the picture that we have been given in the scriptures is much less ethereal & much more tangible/material.
A better likeness of the picture the scriptures give...is overlapping realities. BUT, during the rebellion, those realities are TORN or ripped apart!!
WE LONG FOR THE DAY that God will eventually bring these two existences back together in one singular reality (the presence of heaven with earth as one) but, UNTIL THE FULLNESS OF THAT HAPPENS, we are given glimpses of it!
One such example is how God localized his presence in space and time in the OT. These two worlds were overlapping as the presence of God resided with us so we can interact with Him:
Moses and Mt Sinai
Tabernacle (tent by Moses in the wandering) and
Temple (same but now permanent building made by Solomon)
At the CENTER of both of these was a room measuring in as a perfect cube called the Holy of Holies - the most holy place - and ONCE a year, one priest, after a stringent purification process was allowed to enter in (and they tied a rope to the dudes leg just in case he messed up).
Jesus changes all of this because he came and dwelt among us! He BECAME the temple that wandered around with humans!
In John 1:14 even says that Jesus “TABERNACLED” among us and put the Kingdom of Heaven on display with every:
Healing
Deliverance AND
Miracle
Forgiveness granted for sins
LATER, the bible tells us WE ARE the temple of HS. God RESIDES in His church (I don’t mean buildings like this!),
2 Corinthians says “For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE’”
The FINAL GOOD NEWS after all that we have:
Studied, read, and engaged with
In the Creation, Rebellion, Promise, Redemption, and MOVEMENT storyline…
The GOOD NEWS is that God WILL enact a PERMANENT renewal by bringing these two realities back together again -
the presence of God on earth,
the world CONSUMED by the Kingdom of heaven!!
THIS IS:
...what creation has waited, longed, and yearned for!
This is what every disease, natural disaster, death, sadness, and toil has served to remind and point us towards…
THAT God will, one day, return and make ALL THINGS NEW!!
There’s a lot of GOOD things we can mention but, NO MATTER WHAT WE COME UP WITH, it falls tragically short of the Heaven and Earth that God intends and that God has prepared for our eternity!!
John Wesley famously said this short phrase about it, “the BEST...is yet to be!”
CS Lewis imagines an un-fallen world in his book - a world untouched by sin - and the main character reaches out, picks a fruit, and eats it and it is the most delicious fruit he has ever tasted and his hunger is completely satisfied. Still his first impulse is to eat more but some sort of built-in morality causes him to refrain....like the unfallen environment itself made him aware that we are not indulgent here.
Perfect strawberry ->BETTER
Perfect Sunset -> BETTER
Perfect day -> Better than you thought or imagined
It affects everything and everyone: Theologian Anthony Hoekema said this: “The possibilities that now rise before us boggle the mind. Will there be “better beethoven’s” on the new earth. Shall we see better rembrandts, better raphaels? Shall we read better poetry, better drama, and better prose? Will scientists continue to advance in technological achievement, will geologists continue to dig out the treasures of the earth, and will architects continue to build imposing and attractive structures? Will there be exciting new adventures in space travel?...Our culture will glorify God in ways that surpass our most fantastic dreams.”
Hoekema is pointing out is that
this heaven is not “all new things” as if earth was erased from existence, but “all things made new!”
It’s the material, physical earth fully merged with God’s Kingdom
What Happens when everything is redeemed?
Technology (space travel)? Architects? Music (no more country western)?
Doctors. You get reassigned? Or you just get to deliver good news, “the test came back and you a perfectly healthy transcendent being” like Oprah “You get a bill of clean health, you ”
We can not even comprehend all that it will be and all that this world was supposed to be if the two spaces were never separated in the first place!!
John is going to TRY to describe it though! Let’s look at Revelation 21:1..
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea (weird detail). 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
So, as opposed to a disembodied human floating UP to the clouds there is a CITY the new Jerusalem coming down to earth! And the city was...
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
So heaven FINALLY overlaps - or even COLLIDES - with Earth and “God’s dwelling place is now among the people” and...
Where God’s presence USED to be in glimpses
It used to be only in PART
Where God USED TO localize himself in tabernacles and temples - confined for human understanding to a small room -
the holy of holies which is described as a being in the shape of a perfect cube in the OT, the dwelling place of God now comes down and Verses 16-17 give measurements whose dimensions come out to...what? A perfect CUBE!
This is continuity in the narrative spanning for thousands of years and transcending cultures to shout this is all one big GOOD NEWS Story!!
AND we are to understand that the WHOLE WORLD has become the Holy of Holies with the unhindered presence of God unleashed upon the earth entirely!!
Can we stop and think about that for a second? All of our existence we have been outside the triune God, look in. After this, we are invited into - immersed into the middle of God’s presence and DRENCHED IN:
all of the JOY contained in it,
All of the BEAUTY in it
All of the POWER in it
All of the overwhelming LOVE of the TRIUNE GOD!!
And this is what happens as a result of it...Verse 4:
4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
Every wrong, bad, evil, unjust, inequitable, selfish thing is UNDONE.
NOW, there’s a couple of connections I want you to see
They revolve around three symbols of REINSTALLATION concerning that which was lost in the rebellion.
In her book the Epic of Eden, theologian Sandra Richter calls this the “ICONOGRAPHY of Eden”
We read about it in Rev. 22 verse 1, it says Rev. 22:1 Then the angel showed me the RIVER of the water of life as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city.
ICON 1: The RIVER
First, It is the productive version of a body of water set against the ominous sea and cosmic chaos
If the river seems familiar?
Ezekiel talks about it in his book
It gets mentioned as an alternative to broken cisterns that are polluted so we should turn to the Living Waters of God
Jesus refers to this when speaking to the woman at the well: Drink from the living water and you will never thirst again.
here, the river flows from the throne of God giving life, sustenance, and refreshment to the NH&NE.
...the crystal river connects us to the next icon. Verse 2 continues:
On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face (take a minute to behold that), and his name will be on their foreheads.
ICON 2: The TREE
The first tree in Genesis, whose fruit provided the opportunity for Adam and Eve to sin which initiated the separation of our heaven/earth reality...is redeemed in the end of Revelation.
Unlike a natural tree which gives fruit annually, it yields fruit every single month.
and now bears fruit of reconciliation and healing for the nations and the curse of Genesis is removed.
The brilliant, radiant face of God is contrasted by the final icon as Verse 5 continues...
5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
ICON 3: The SUN
Maybe you’re like, “what did the sun do...I kind of like the sun.”
NOTHING...it is simply no longer needed. It SERVED the purpose of its existence
Remember at the beginning of the story we mentioned that the sun was a REAL-Life Metaphor/symbol to RULE and FILL the VOID OF the expanse in the sky?
It represented rulership of the skies but
the symbol is no longer necessary because it was just there to say, “if you think I’m bright, and powerful? If you want to think of me as a God and name me, and worship me, I was always just here to say there is a greater, brighter, being worthy of your worship...and NOW YOU SEE THE FULLNESS of HIS FACE (and the sun bows out...Homer Simpson style into the eternal bushes never to be seen again)”
All the while, an IDENTITY is given the people who dwell in this reconciled community because
they are set aside as his servants and
when they see God’s face, they bear His mark on their foreheads…
and the community of God’s people participate in the reign of rule of their King forever.
Let’s end on this final note (no explanation - just sit under the final invitation of the Gospel Story and the final words of the Bible as i read them over you)...
Revelation 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.Amen.
We have thought about this in a cosmic way but I want to personalize it because, if you and I are honest about what’s in our hearts -
we know our sin, we know we fall short,
we know we are motivated by selfishness,
we know we are quick to turn to idols
and slow to obey the sovereign voice of God when He calls us…
AND when you get to be in the presence at the center of the TRINITARIAN GOD, you are exposed!
No body is cool calm collected
Nobody is tough
Nobody is standing tall here
You are a puddle of flesh and bone lying facedown...if you’re honest.
BUT, when you look up to see Jesus FACE TO FACE:
There is no rolling of the eyes
There is no “well you did good here but you could work on…”
THERE IS NO….”what were you thinking when you did….”
None of it!!
There is only:
Welcome son,
Welcome my daughter
I am proud of you
There is only “well done Good and faithful servant...enter into my rest.”
...and collapsing into the arms of your loving saviour.
Can I invite you to...just sit in the wonder of it all!!
You see, my hope for us this morning that the Gospel Story has stirred something in you.
That you have TASTED of fruit and you want more. I want you to crave the New Heaven and Earth for yourself, for your family and friends, for you neighbors so that you truly buy into the idea that you would give ANYTHING up for it. I want you to CRAVE that for you and I want you to want that for every person you know!!
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAVE THE DATE: The 2020 Marriage Retreat is scheduled to be Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and November 8!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
Coty Miller’s own “Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.