Shane Willard | Revelation Part 4: A Call to Worship

[Music] all right so we've been looking at the book of Revelation and I want to open tonight with with two stories from life that I think illustrates part of what John is getting at let me remind ourself when we look at revelation people can get very pedantic very dogmatic very passionate about their way of reading it and and I want you to know one no matter how you read revelation I honor the way you read it if you read it as an entirely future book you're my brother you're my sister we are actually forbidden in the scripture to dispute things it actually says do all things without grumbling or disputing I can tell you the word all there's actually all right so we are not meant to be disputing things in Romans 14 it says never ever ever argue over a disputable matter and then it calls all things disputable the ideas don't argue right so at heritage faith and n for me it I'm actually conscientiously opposed to engaging in arguments an argument is anytime a discussion is started where somebody has already decided their conclusion right that's an argument now now where we were learning together we could do that till whenever that's that's actually interesting and fun but we don't argue right so there's three ways to look at revelation one is a future book and if you read it that way I honor you as long as you apply it in the now great another way to read it is entirely a history book s political liberation literature written from the standpoint of the oppressed about Domitian and Nero and people like that to seven churches in Asia Minor and if you read it that way you're my brother you're my sister as long as you can apply it in the nail right it's not it's not a VIN book or a later book it's actually an L book because this is the scriptures and it's serious the third way to read it is a hybrid of two of those two things and if you read it that way you're my brother you're my sister and we never ever need to divide over something like this may the Christ that holds us all together be glorified more than we need to be right about something all right so let's listen let's remember that all right so I've gotten a new I've got to know a person very recently and we're becoming friends and so we were we were having a a pretty good discussion asked him we we got to talking about faith little bit and I asked him about his and he said all he said I was a Christian my whole life he said but I'm not a Christian anymore I'm more of a deist which if you don't know that is a deist is is someone that believes in God and that God is holding things together but he's not interjecting God is not involved in the affairs of man right and so I I don't know him that well so I just said oh if you don't mind tell me your story tell me tell me how you journeyed from Christian to not Christian to deist I'm interested in your journey right and he said okay he said I just uh I I woke up one day and I realized that my problems with Christianity is is that if there was a worldwide massive revival and every person became a Christian in the whole world that the world would not be any better and he said in any system where if the whole world converted to your narrative the world's not any better there might be a problem with your narrative right and I thought oh well that's fair enough and that is worth us wrestling with the idea is is that if the whole world began to behave how Christians behave would the world be a better place because it doesn't matter what we believe it matters how we believe what we believe if the what we believe does not translate into the hell we have credibility problems and so that's one story the other story is a lady asked Bill Gates was there anybody in the world that was richer than you of course Bill Gates is the second richest man on earth and and he said but this is when he was the richest man on earth and he said yes he said there's one person I know that's richer than me and he told a story about when he was broke and he was flying into New York he's trying to get things going and he didn't even have enough change in his pocket to buy a newspaper but he thought he did so he went to the newspaper vendor this is this is how long ago this was that you had to actually purchase a newspaper but he he went to the newspaper vendor and he realized he didn't have the right change and so he was embarrassed I went to put it back and the newspaper vendor said no no it's on me you can take it a while later he landed in the same Airport in New York and he he went he walked by the same newspaper vendor and the newspaper vendor recognized him and said here have a paper on me and he said I can't take your paper today I don't have any money on me and the guy said no I'll take it out of my profit I want to bless you with a newspaper and of course 19 years later Bill Gates is the richest man on the earth and he never forgot that guy and so he put some people in charge of finding that guy and of course they owned Microsoft it didn't take them long to find the guy yeah yes they're listening and he said and so he he flew to find the sky and he asked the guy he said Do You Know Who I am and he said yes of course you're Bill Gates he said do you recognize me he said I do he said if I remember right I gave you two newspapers one time for free and Bill Gates said yes she did and he said and I want to repay you for that he said whatever you want in life name it and I'll make it happen and the guy said to Bill Gates he said aw being a blessing to your life was enough man it's it's all good and Bill Gates said that guy is richer than me because he didn't wait to be rich to bless somebody else he said I waited to be rich to bless somebody else that guy didn't wait to be rich to bless somebody else I think those two stories illustrate really really well what John is up to in this book so let's let's see where this takes us tonight and let's remind ourselves of something blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and keep what is written in it it doesn't matter what we believe it matters how we believe what we believe how does the cross and resurrection is not something to believe in it's a fundamental way of seeing the whole world and that is two different things let's remind ourselves of where we've come a couple of thoughts one Domitian nero marx and remember these people lived in Asia Minor Asia Minor was ruled by Ceaser's the Caesars in this day were Domitian and Nero by the way in Hebrew there are no numbers you have no numbers in Hebrew a is 1 B is 2 G is 3 D is 4 and so on so everybody's name has a particular number David's for instance is 14 DVD dal 8-valve dollar right one of the ways that you write 666 in Hebrew is emperor Nero all right so quit panicking about it right this was a symbolic way of saying Nero Domitian the guy that says he holds the seven stars oh you have to take his mark before you can buy and sell Oh he says he's full of a goddess that's justice and virtue but not only is she not virtuous she's a the goddess Roma's this is John's way of just going in your face Roman Empire you have stars and birds member Domitian they said that dome Isha was holding the world in place by juggling the seven stars and he told the whole world that he could inhabit the spirit of any bird so you have to be careful what you say in private if you get caught talking behind the government's back the birds of the air will tell Caesar and they will take care of you this kind of idea even ended up in the Bible in Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and remember Qibla the goddess of the region of Sardis and Ephesus and that region as well and member she was the goddess of fertility and the goddess of food and the hunt and remember if you couldn't find food she might require a sacrifice of your castrated testicles to please her why because how do men prove that they're they're loyal to a female goddess well no better way than to self castrate and allow your testicles to be burned on her altar by the way can you see why the church when Paul started it took off in Ephesus his message was not that difficult he showed up and said hey I serve a God who loves you just because he'll feed you just because and you can keep all your bits intact come with me right that's not hard massive growth that the people in Ephesus didn't know what to do with him so they had him arrested if you want to read about this you can read about this in the book of Acts and remember in acts 19 the the pagan judge in Ephesus says to them what do you want me to do with this man for he has not robbed our temple nor has he blaspheme dark Goddess one time in other words Paul built a thriving Church in Ephesus in the epicentre of Qibla without saying one bad thing about Qibla there is no place in the body of Christ for announcing everything we're against there's enough glory to be given to the risen Christ to make the message easy right Paul was in the center of a region ruled by Qibla built a church across the street from the temple of Qibla and didn't say one bad thing about Qibla could we do that and can we at least wrestle and be convicted by that kind of idea there was poverty oppression marginalization and forced to live in a nine layered class system that declared Caesar is Lord this letter was written to seven real places real people at real time who were all in poverty oppressed they were marginalized and they were somewhere between class six and class eight and a nine layered class system where the higher classes could terrorize you the only people benefiting from Roman rule were people who lived in Rome they were given a guarantee of a living wage through the excessive taxation of everybody else and that living wage was called and this is true the dole okay it was called the dole they were guaranteed a living wage the only people profiteering on Roman rule were weapons makers and Roman sympathizers in in Israel three percent of people were Roman sympathizers because the Romans needed a certain amount of people particularly the priests because the priests controlled the temple and the temple was the bank these people were being harmed on a daily basis this was a horrible horrible way to live let's say this way we need to ask this question will we repent and believe that there is a better narrative to the world to view the world through these people had oppression poverty the only way to get ahead is to play that game and what revelation is doing is it's giving us a new narrative and it's inviting us to repent it's it's revite it's inviting us not to believe something different but to see the world fundamentally differently that's two different things the idea is will we repent and believe that there's a better narrative to view the world through that my tomorrow is not a repeat of my yesterday another question we've asked is will we be willing to wrestle with God if God is willing to speak or are we at least willing to wrestle with it number six will we respond to our default fear and agree to do something about it now with that I want to go on to revelation four and five if you're paying attention I skipped two and three the reason is it's because those are the letters to the seven churches and that passage deserves its own seven part series in and of itself I actually wrote a summary of chapter two and three that I wasn't happy with it because I thought this isn't doing justice to what's going on with these seven churches so what I'm going to do is I'm going to come back after I finish the the revelation series and I'll do a series on the letter to the seven churches so so just understand that that the part I'm skipping that's the letter to the seven churches and he's telling him this this is what I like about what I'm saying this is what I'm challenging you to be and here's the promise here's what I like here's what I don't like here's a promise if you'll change this there's a better way to see our world and then he closes the letter to the seven churches remember real people at real place at a real time living in poverty oppression marginalization somewhere between class 6 and class 8 on a horrendous Roman Empire class system scale and he's inviting them to a new way to live these people are living in the most horrendous time to ever be alive if you've ever thought the world's getting worse please go read one Roman history book seriously it was the worst it was the worst this world is infinitely better than it ever was back then why because of the work of the Spirit of God in this world Jesus is doing what he wants to in the world slowly but surely but Jesus is accomplishing his purposes in the world and we need to be championing that how much he's accomplished in this world instead of pointing out the one or two things not going so well right so he closes out the letter to the seven churches and he invites them to worship so so let's sum let's look at this so revelation gives regular and repeated calls to worship when when the early church included revelation in the Canon they said that it is primarily a call to worship it is a challenge to make sure we never ever compromise into the world's economic system to oppress people and it is a call and a conviction to always allow our life to tell the right story so tonight I want to talk about the call to worship part that revelation gives regular and repeated calls to worship revelation does not tell us what worship is but rather what it does and that's two different things the question revelation is asking is is it possible to worship on earth as it is in heaven can you imagine being we have no clue about this could you imagine being people who are being systemic ly oppressed by a government led by a guy who said he was God you would be living in despair my tomorrow is simply repeat of yesterday and John is writing into this situation going here are some things you can change you can't control them but here are some things you can do about you now before we read the calls to worship I want us to remember it we talked about this Sunday but almost remember that biannually Domitian through an olympic-style games to his honor called the Domitian games when you went to the Domitian games he handed you two things a white robe and a gold crown the reason is is he wanted to create the greatest choir ever created to sing his praise and they would sing a song that says something like this worthy or you o Domitian o son of god for you alone are worthy of all honor and glory and power and might we praise you o Domitian o son of god for you alone or worthy of all honor and glory and how am i at the end of the song they would cast down their golden crowns at his feet think about your Roman Empire movies when the Caesar does this and they're all throwing their crowns down he also paid 24 people full time to walk around and tell him how good he was this guy was a narcissist beyond anything you can imagine keep those two historical facts in mind when we read John's call to worship to the people living under that kind of oppression now this is quite a long passage but remember blessed are those people who read this passage right so I realize this isn't great preaching to read two chapters at once but there's no way to get the feel without doing it so here we go ah after this I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and first voice which I I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said come up here and I'll show you what must take place after this at once I was in the spirit and behold a throne stood in heaven and one seated on the throne and he who sat there had an appearance of Jasper and carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had been that had the appearance of emerald around the throne were twenty-four Thrones and seated on the throne were twenty-four elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their head helloo right with golden crowns on their head from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder and and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire which are the seven spirits of God and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass like crystal and around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes and front and behind the first living creature was like a lion the second living creature like an ox the third living creature was the face of a man and the fourth living creature was like an eagle in flight and the four living creatures each of them had six wings are all full of eyes all around and within this is sounding very similar to something Ezekiel this is a Ramez to Ezekiel another sermon another day that's not my point I want to make tonight our full of eyes all around and within and day and night they never ceased to say holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come and whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne who lives forever and ever the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship Him whose law who lives forever and ever and they cast down their crowns before the throne saying worthy are you O Lord our God to receive glory and honor this is the Domitian him but it's not about Domitian essentially john saying i've seen how this ends and Domitian doesn't get the last word Jesus does I've seen how this ends and we're sitting around the throne singing a new song the new song is coming up our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created that's revelation chapter four and here's Chapter five then I saw the right hand of him he was seated on the throne a scroll written within it and on the back sealed with seven seals and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it you understand what he's doing here he's like a the guy that says he's God he's not even worthy to open the book are you kidding me this is like in your fake no one on earth or under the earth are you kidding me it was able to open the scroll and look at it and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look in it and one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and at seven seals and between the throne and the four living creatures and amongst the elders I saw a lamb standing as though I had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out to all the earth and he went and he took the scroll from the right hand of him he was seated on the throne and when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the twenty-four ohs fell down before the lamb each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints and they sang a new song they sang a new song saying this worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ran some people for God and from every tribe and language and peace and nation and you have made them a kingdom of priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering Myriad's of Myriad's and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever this sounds like a great into the story that everything in heaven or earth or under the earth or even in the sea are proclaiming glory to this king and the four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worshiped that's revelation four and five revelation four and five has five specific calls to worship there's there's several ways we could look at this and none of them would be wrong none of them would be invalid we could go through all the symbolism in it we could try to trace some stuff back there's some obvious ramez's to Ezekiel's prophecy there's some obvious ramez's to Daniels prophecy not my point tonight not because that shouldn't be explored because you got one meeting and you got one moment and one time so you got to pick you got to pick the one thing that you think you can apply the best to now right now and there was five calls to worship the first call was this holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come the scholars tend to think that revelation was originally written in Hebrew and to me whatever you think about it that does make the most sense to me it makes the most sense because John was a joke and Jesus was a Jew and they're conspiring to write a letter to people about these things it also makes sense that it would have been translated into Greek pretty quickly because that was the common language but originally it would have been written in Hebrew for a couple reasons John was a Jew secondly it's obviously a chiastic structure which only works in Hebrew nonetheless enough Bible nerdom here's the thing he says holy holy holy now in Hebrew that a cool word it's kadosh kadosh kadosh holy holy holy in hebrew repetition is emphasis this call to worship emphasizes God as unique set apart to say something holy is something that is unique it's set apart there's there's a part of holy that has to do with bigness and let's be honest we tend to be comfortable with that part of God we have no problems talking about the bigness of God like God's huge he's so big he's bigger than we could ever imagine right and amen right right the philosophical word for that would be hyper being that God God is bigger than anything we can imagine right like if you can think of it not God like this is I get tickled inside and a little nauseous when I hear people go what God wouldn't do that really you you you get you got that really really or gods gods this oh really you you thought of it right if you thought of it not God right right if I could think of it not God God is above anything that we could possibly comprehend like on our best day we're scratching like one one thousandth of 1% even Moses who is pretty close to God gods like you can't handle the full thing I'm gonna show you my backside which is really really cool right right like like Moses saw his butt right God's butt right that's awesome that's all you can handles gods but see listen listen there is a we have no trouble we have no trouble with God being huge I got so big God's gigantic he's so big and and yes and amen yes God is bigger than anything we can imagine but what doesn't get enough playtime is that God evidently is infinitely small that the bigness of God is holy but so is the smallness of God that evidently in this passage as well as many other passages in Scripture they affirm that God is the thing holding the whole thing together that God is the force holding all things together all things all things in other words that God is big enough to hold the whole universe together but small enough to keep your forehead from exploding now if that's that's huge right that is that is big and it's small and you say Shane you're so big on this whole thing about if you can't quiet don't say it why does that matter here's why that matters let me give you an illustration with communion right when you're holding a wafer of bread or a cup of juice right and we do that to remember what Jesus did do we understand that if Christ is holding all things together all things does that include that piece of bread yes so in one sense Christ is big enough to hold the whole universe together in another sense Christ is small enough to care about the bread that nourishes your body that is humongous to think about so when we take I hope you never take communion the same after this when you take communion it's not just a celebration of the bigness of God communion is an acknowledgment and a remembering of the smallness of God that although God can hold the whole universe together he's also the force holding that wafer together and you are fixing to partake of Christ you are fixing to partake of something that Christ is holding together now why does that matter because communion is one of those places where if you're rich if you're poor same piece of bread if you're black if you're white same piece of bread right right if you're male if you're female same piece of bread if you're slave if you're free same price of bread one of the things communion does is it reminds us to be grounded in the thing that's holding all things together that when we take communion this is why Paul says don't ever take communion in an unworthy manner and then he goes on to explain it and by the way it didn't have anything to do with sin it had to do with hoarding it to yourself and allow making the poor people go last in other words if there's plenty left over you can partake it's like have you missed the whole point if there's only one Christ and that one Christ is holding all things together and that bread is a part of that communion is the one place that we can acknowledge an equal footing male/female slave-free Jew Greek black white whatever the case may be that that bread is the reminder that we are one and if we are one we can't possibly come against one another because the whole thing is holy because holy holy holy see for most people when we say the word God we're just talking about ourselves with a giant megaphone right so so we're saying God Jesus bible scripture truth but what we actually mean is is my moral preference projected into this giant being normally a single white dude on a throne because that's normally us so you can have an Orthodox doctrine but a pagan imagination but you you can believe that God is actually a divine relationship between three but when you pray you can picture a single white dude on a throne well that's Zeus that's Apollo that's Hermes so what we do is is we're saying God Jesus bible scripture truth but what we picture is a giant version of ourselves so so if I like guns God must love guns and if you don't love guns then you're not against me you're against God take it up with God right this is this is how we do this every day we use God as a giant exclamation point for our moral preference because what do you really do when you say God said you can't go anywhere from that but see God is not best spoke of as a projection but rather a projectile something that cuts through and unites all things God is not best spoken of it let's say it this way God is not best spoken of as something that exists quit arguing about the existence of God that's why your that's why your board what it is if you're scrolling through YouTube and you see the ad Christian destroys atheist in a debate right first of all is that really what we want to be known for people who destroy people with our mouths that's one - if you click on it it never works out that way its clickbait that's number two why because you have two people arguing about existence Christian theology since the beginning is not the existence of God for something to exist it has to be an object outside of you that podium exists it's an object it is outside of me what Christians were killed for in the first century is does not say God exists but rather God insists that God is God they were killed in the first century for atheism first century Christians were by Trajan for atheism because they didn't have a temple to go to they said they were the temple they insisted that the whole thing was holy that God is best spoke of as a projectile not a projection that God is best spoken of as something that insist rather than an object that exists because if something exists then you can figure that thing out and make people bow to it but if something insists it does something more profound by uniting all things together and that is worth worshiping holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty let me read a poem from Psalms who is like our god who is seated on high who looks far down on the heavens and the earth he raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes with princes of his people in other words way back when David writes a psalm of praise and he says you know what you know what makes God awesome what makes God awesome is that he levels the playing field there is no class system with our God no that's Old Testament song and that was written by a guy who happened to be he's like no no no no if I if if I've learned anything about God it's that God levels the playing field and he raises the poor up to the level of the elite I wonder how well we've done with that because that is worth worshiping the second call to worship is in revelation 4:11 worthy or you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created in this instance God's uniqueness is worth lifting up as he is the ground of being this is what we've been talking about for a while now that Christ is the force holding all things together that yes he is big but he's also small enough to hold the atomic material together that keeps us from disintegrating this is what we talk about when we talk about God and that is worth worshiping now what's interesting - here is John uses a word called worthy now here's that here's what makes that interesting the word worthy is the Greek word Axios it was demanded to be sung to the Emperor this was a political mandated change of allegiances when when when the Emperor or the Emperor's representative came into your town you would have to sing songs that included the word Axios at the Domitian games worthier you of Domitian o son of God for you alone are worthy of all honor and glory and power and might this was to be sung to the Emperor and John is using it around Christ here's the third call this is in revelation 5:9 2:10 worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ran some people for God from every tribe language people and nation do you see how the 1st century New Testament writers they were already drawing a line in the sand of you can't do us in them you can't there's no room in Christianity for us in them you can't make it about that about people this but there are people who can name it and there are people who can't name it yet but God is at work in all people everywhere every nation every tribe every tongue and this is by the way this was written before the big missionary journeys were out there this was written before the gospel could have went to the world this is written before the Bible was put together and evidently John was convinced that Jesus was already at work in every tribe tongue and nation whether they can name it or not Christ evidently was at work you see this there's a great book written by an old missionary named Don Richardson it's called eternity in their hearts and in it it's a book about that scripture that says that God placed eternity in their hearts and he tells sociological people stories about people who had no exposure to the gospel yet their language was very gospel like and one of the stories he tells in eternity in their hearts he tells about an English sociologist who went to Rangoon Burma to study the people groups and one of the first things you do when you study a people group is you ask them who is your God and then he studied the random and then he found these people the mountain outside of Rangoon Burma and they were called the Kiran people and he asked the Karen people who is your God and they said in 1857 this is before the internet this is before electricity this was before any of that they had no exposure to the gospel as we know it at all and here's what they said we serve a god named Yahveh who proposed to us thousands of years ago with languages of fire from the sky that said over our head and he's going now where did that come from maybe maybe God has been at work in the hearts of people before they could even name it this is the God we serve you can also you can go to Washington DC you can go to the Smithsonian Institute you go to the Museum of Natural History and in the Museum of Natural History there's a mummy exhibit from 2500 BC that's before Abraham that's before Moses that's before any Scripture was written us before the Roman Empire and what the what the mummies put the mummies what the Egyptians believed what the I was about to say what the mummies believed what the what the Egyptians believed was that you would have to tell God about your life right so what you would do is you would write your obituary inside your coffin and the I this is primitive but the idea was is that when you died God would on the other side open your coffin read about your life and decide if you were okay or not right I know very primitive but if you if you go to Washington DC to the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institute and go to the mummy exhibit and look at the inside of their coffins and a lot of them have a symbol that is a head underneath a giant cross so I asked the guy I said are these people making testimony that they have submitted their head to a higher authority as represented by a cross he said yes I said where did that come from this is before the Bible this is before the Roman Empire this is before any of that stuff yet it was in Egyptian writing the the guy that's in charge of that section of the museum said are you a Christian sir I said yes he said you know that part in the Bible that says God put his weighs on people's hearts I said yeah he goes maybe he meant it he said maybe God was at work in the hearts of people be for Christians could complicate it by making everybody do it their way I was like oh right right this is every tribe tongue nation on the earth and that is worth worshiping see in this instance the call to worship centers around his worthiness for being willing to be slain it bought people from life from death to life see the earth the early church only saw forgiveness of sins as a part of the story and that part of the story was handled before the foundation of the world six different places by four different authors it says Jesus was crucified before the foundation of the world that your forgiveness was handled before the front that Jesus didn't die to inaugurate a new reality he died to show you what God was always like that Jesus didn't die to fix the sin problem he died to obliterate the idea there ever was a problem and invite you to embrace that it that's a much more beautiful story that's a much more profound story it's a much more but but they said the primary reason Jesus died was obvious to defeat death how do you defeat death you die and then you rise again it brought people from death to life it was Universal in its potential scope every tribe tongue language nation everybody it brought the common person to the level of the elite now could you imagine someone see that the god they were taught Caesar did he do any of those things no he's not conquering death he can't conquer death his his favor is not Universal in scope it's limited to a certain group of people that are elite he doesn't bring the lowly person to the level of the elite and so what John's doing here is he's he's describing the work of the risen Christ and he's going hey who's worth more worship the guy that defeated death the guy that brings Universal scope to favor and and the guy that brings the lowly to the level elite that guy is worth worshiping that guy is worth worshiping here's the fourth call to worship this is revelation 5:12 worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing the fourth call to worship see in this call to worship it's a call to lift Jesus above our authority that the idea is is that it's actually offensive to speak of God as a projection instead of a projectile it's actually offensive to be dogmatic it's offensive to act like wheat this is what the world is sick of I travel the world I'm telling you the under 30s are sick of a group of people who might on their best day understand one one thousand to one percent of what God is being dogmatic about the one one thousand to one percent they think they know it's offensive it is ridiculous this is this is a call to lift up Jesus above what we think we know and realize if we could think it in ain't God it might be one one thousandth of 1% of what God is but God's bigger than that if you can see it it's not Kingdom because the kingdoms already worked in you it's a call to lift Jesus up above our authority our stuff like remember that this is a main theme of Jesus's teachings do you believe that your life is given value by the abundance of your stuff and I and I think all of us have to wrestle with that and I think anybody that ever thinks on past wrestling that I may be but but but actually in our world this is something we have to struggle with we have to remind ourselves that our life's value is not found in the abundance of our stuff we have to exalt that that three it's a it's a it's a call to lift jesus above our understanding and conclusions it's a call to lift Jesus above our weight and importance the word for that would be glory it's it's a call to lift Jesus above our accolades the fifth call to worship is in Revelation 5:13 here's what it says to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever please don't lose sight that these calls to worship were written to a group of people who are oppressed impoverished marginalized forced to call somebody else Lord this is this is john going you can't control them but you can control what you ascribe worth to you can do that you can't control their policies can't do it you can't control you can't control certain things but what you can control is who you escribe worth two and the four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worshiped him this is a fitting symbol of a throne it's used to encapsulate Jesus's rightful place this is participated in by every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and even the sea how far is John going here to say everybody you could have at least it you could have just easily went everybody and then let us argue about who does it who's not included in everybody no no no he says everybody four different ways in heaven and on earth and unless you're wondering if there's an exception under the earth and then of course there's gonna be some jerk somewhere going well there's the water okay even in the sea right right it's no no no one evidently the vision John had for this thing was no one is left out no one is left out of this thing and that's worth worshiping remember they lived in a world where 99% of people were left out they were excluded from the favor they were excluded from the blessing they were scooted Jones but what if what would it be like what would be like if we created a world where no one was left out what would it be like if the lowly was lifted to the Ulua what would that would that be worth worshiping this is a call to enthroned one thing and take every thing else down now great sermons are not meant to be agreed with nor disagreed with great sermons are meant to be wrestled with so let's wrestle um to worship means simply this because the problem with the word worship is not the word worship it's the amount of imaginations people have about what worship is right because what's more important than what the word is is how we imagined that word working so so if I was the state the problem with a word like worship is if I say worship and I say what is that 200 different people seriously you probably had 65 different answers so some people would say singing fast song some people say singing slow songs some people would say it's not singing at all it's being like prophetically led prayer a movement or something some people would say some people say you it's a certain posture some people would say it's a certain some people say it's a certain time some people say so so there's all these things but in the simplest most elemental definition of the word worship worship is any time you ascribe Worth to something that's it it's any time in whatever way you want to do it that you ascribe Worth to something Johnson hey you can't control this situation what you can do is hold on to hope that this situation can't go on forever I've seen how it ends and Jesus gets the last word not Domitian and one day we're singing a new song so what you may as well do is go ahead and get on board with the new song and start ascribing worth to the one who lives forever and ever instead of the one that's gonna die pretty quickly right like in the scope of the world that guy's gonna be dead pretty quickly and you can either you can either play ball by his rules or you can describe worth to the to the forever and ever guy I'm urging you to do the forever and ever guy right because and here's what sets the forever ever guy apart he doesn't play the class system game he lifts the common to the level they late he's universal in his scope for blessing this guy is amazing and is actually worthy of praise so let's ask a few questions if our life was the testimony of what has worth what would the outsider say we're worshiping like Van alien came and was observing our culture and he's gonna report back to his alien king what are the humans on earth like and he looked at our life for 30 days what would he say has worth would he look at a group of people who gave their life to make sure that the lowly were lifted to the elite or would he look at a group of people who value their stuff more than other people's dignity because that's two different stories and and the story of our life is telling a narrative the third thing that the church said when they included revelation into the Canon was it was a challenge to be convicted to allow our life to always be telling the narrative of the Lamb instead of the narrative a season and here's my question if an outsider looked at our life and they said okay here's what they ascribe worth to what would they find would they find people who are talking about the universal scope of the blessing of Christ that Christ is for the whole world and that no one no one should be left out of this good news it would if would they find people who who are given their life to during dignity to the broken bringing medicine to people who can't possibly pay for it bringing food to people who can't possibly pay a spec would they find people who bless people because it's the right thing to do before we're rich is that what we would find to go back to Bill Gates's story which was quite inspiring would we find people like that newspaper salesmen or would we find people who when we find enough value in our stuff at that point we're free to be a blessing what do they find if they looked at our life the question is is what narrative is our life sharing what narrative is our life reaffirming our life is reaffirming some narrative and it's either the narrative of Caesar or is the narrative of the Lamb and I think it's worth wrestling with because I don't think it's an altar call thing I don't think it's a one-time decision from this day forward I honor the lamb right I think we would be very sincere in doing that but I just don't think that's the way it works I think the way it works is every day waking up going wait a minute wait a minute today today and then at night at least being honest and going you know what I want did my life tell the story of the lamb or of Caesar and in Revelation is at least challenging us to wrestle with that because what we never once said about us is that if the whole world became like us the world would not be a better place I was very convicted by that if the whole world treated each other like we treat each other in here with the world be a better place or a worse place it's at least worth wrestling with it's at least worth at least questioning our own our own self let's say it this way is death being lifted up or his life his death being lifted up or his life I'll be participating in the tearing down of things or the building up of things what number 5 where do we need to enthrone something different this would be true of all of us somewhere in our life we're enthroning something that needs to be taken down nobody's perfect at some point at some way Atlee at least in a month or in a three-month period of time at some point we trip over something we have a envious thought we have something and we enthrone we enthrone a thought that actually needs to be taken down and the last thing we need to do is feel guilty about that because guilt and fear are horrible evaders what is a great motivators life and say wait a minute women it's not even about is that right or wrong it's does that give life or does that bring death and what are we doing with that number six how have we lifted the lowly to the same level where have we participated in lifting the lowly to the same level where we participated in lifting the lowly to the same level seven is our life retelling the narrative of the lamb or of something else because here's what you find in Revelation four and five you find a universal ache and that ache is please on earth as it is in heaven please on earth as it is in heaven and the idea John's given is this is when you ascribe Worth to the right story that's a starting point it doesn't tell you what worship is it does tell you what it does and what it does is it takes things that shouldn't be on a throne off a throne and it think takes things that should be on a throne and puts them on a turn and it's one thing to say I just love God I just love you lord i love you i love you lord love you god come on now what does that even mean you love god what what you find in this passage is that god is not someone you love God is someone you find in the act of love itself that when you love it is in that moment when you treat someone in a way when they could do nothing in return for you it is in that moment you love God because it's in that moment you find God because that is what God did for the world see this is about behavior this is about life this is about the narrative of our life and here's the challenge John is giving us is is worship really about singing sort of but the song is not the song the song is not something to be affirmed the song is something that is a fundamental way of seeing our world so here's my last question is is your life still singing the old song or can it move to sing the new song because when we sing a new song may it never be said about us that if the whole world can verted - martyr - if the whole world converted tomorrow to the way we treat each other that the world wouldn't be better may it always be said that those people lift the lowly to the place of the elite they treat everybody that they're universal in their blessing people they don't prefer people over others may may our life be the living embodiment of the Lamb and may we celebrate the fact that God has been at work in all people everywhere and our job is just to help them name it may we be those people who help people put a name to the thing that's been happening in them all along let me pray for you Lord we love you we honor you we proclaim your king and there's none like you Lord may our life tell the story of the Lamb may we live with an ache on earth as it is in heaven once you just right there underneath your voice just in Moore in the depths of your stomach on earth as it is in heaven on earth as it is in heaven may my life be the embodiment of the narrative of the Lamb why don't we just pray that prayer underneath our breath and and and and commit our life again to this way of living may our life tell the story of the Lamb may my life tell the story of the Lamb empowers to do so give us the courage to see things different the irresistible urge to respond to what we see amen would you look this way thank you so much let me be part of your night I hope Jesus got bigger the cross worked better the resurrection central hope scriptures got bigger not smaller hope you walk away asking more questions about the Bible not less hope you discuss the Scriptures more may you find it may you find your love for the Scriptures again if you lost it a little bit may you find may you find the enjoyment of digging in and finding ourself in the narrative may we not just know what happened may we ask ourselves what's happening in me right now because of what happened blessed are those who read this prophecy aloud and you hear it and who keep it may we be people who tell the right story grace and peace see you next year guys you know you ask you listen to the message today and you ask yourself but where do I fit in where does Jesus fit in my life maybe you ask him the question well if something happened to me today I'm not quite sure I would go to heaven I'd like the opportunity to pray with you if you would allow me if you just repeat these words because the Bible says that if you declare and call unto the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved so I'm gonna pray a prayer and I ask you if you pray it from your heart and confess with your mouth and believe the Bible says you're saved you're born again all things are passed away and all things are new so why don't you pray with me why don't you split your faith as I stretch my faith with you right now and let's put our faith together I'd like to pray a prayer with you and I ask that you repeat the prayer after me and the Bible says if you do it by faith the Lord Jesus will hear and you will be saved so repeat this after me it's a Heavenly Father forgive me all my sins I make you Lord and Savior Jesus I know that you died you rose again on the third day for me so I thank you right now that I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus because I believe on the name of Jesus and have pulled out on the name of Jesus if you prayed this prayer you're a new creation in Christ Jesus all things are passed away and all things on you I mean if you pray that prayer would love to get into contact with you or hear from you cheating on downtown website www.theatrefolk.com delay you I would love to hear about the decision that has changed your life god bless we're praying for you and we look forward to seeing you soon love ya [Music] you

Channel: Heritage of Faith Church Gold Coast

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Keywords: Heritage of Faith, Gold Coast, We are Heritage

Id: yeI_kdsmw_s

Length: 54min 0sec (3240 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 05 2020