WE BECOME LIKE WHAT WE WORSHIP*
Revelation 5:1-14
Sermon Objective: An underlying premise of The Revelation is that all humankind has a devotion to one God or another and we become like that which we worship.
INTRO:
When my daughter was about four years old, I began to notice how she imitated my wife and me. She cooked, fed and disciplined her play animals and dolls just the way we cooked, fed and disciplined her.
When Craig was a bit older, I would watch her as she used him as her audience. She would “have church” and she would preach, they would sing, etc. I noticed that, like her mom, they would play school and she would be the teacher, too.
This doesn’t stop as a small child either.
Think back to junior high, these herds of adolescents reflect and resemble their friends and peers. Whether it is through polo shirts, jackets, jeans, shoes, back packs, or whatever, there is the tendency and temptation to conform.
What we see in children continues into adulthood. We imitate. We reflect; sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously.
Yes, all of us have the tendency to reflect what we are around. We reflect things in our culture, society, family, friends, and the list goes on.
IN GENESIS 1 WE LEARN WHY. GOD CREATED HUMANS TO BE “IMAGING BEINGS.” PARTICULARLY, we are intended to be imaging beings who reflect His glory; however, if we choose not to do that, we will reflect the glory of something else.
THAT IS A PRESUPPOSITION OF THIS SERMON; GOD HAS MADE HUMANS TO REFLECT HIM, BUT IF THEY DO NOT COMMIT THEMSELVES TO HIM, THEY WILL REFLECT SOMETHING ELSE IN CREATION. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO BE NEUTRAL ON THIS ISSUE: WE EITHER REFLECT THE CREATOR OR SOMETHING IN HIS CREATION.
Martin Luther’s larger catechism discussion of the first commandment (“You shall have no other gods before me” [Ex 20:3]) included “whatever your heart clings to and relies upon, that is your God; trust and faith of the heart alone make both God and idol. The idol is whatever claims the loyalty that belongs to God alone.”
There is a principle in the Old Testament that supports this. People become like the idols that they worship.
I will not take the time to show you a lot of Biblical examples of this but I will show you one or two that illustrate how the worshipper begins to take on the characteristics of the object worshiped. If you wish for more detail I would recommend G.K. Beale’s book, “We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of idolatry.”
In the Old Testament, we discover that idols are described in a certain way, and then those who worship the idols are described in precisely the same manner. The worshiper, rather than experiencing an expected life-giving blessing, receives a curse by becoming as spiritually hollow, empty, rebellious or shameful as the idol is depicted to be.
For example, when idols are portrayed with eyes and ears that cannot see or hear; their worshipers are described as having eyes and ears but not seeing or hearing. Isaiah 42:17-20 reads:
“But those who trust in idols, who say to images, ’You are our gods,’ will be turned back in utter shame. "Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see! Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the LORD? You have seen many things, but have paid no attention; your ears are open, but you hear nothing.”
Psalm 135:15-18 emphatically teaches this principle:
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. THOSE WHO MAKE THEM WILL BE LIKE THEM, AND SO WILL ALL WHO TRUST IN THEM.” (Emphasis added)
IT IS TRUE … WE BECOME LIKE WHAT WE WORSHIP.
But, the good news is that the positive inverse is also true. In Isaiah 6, for example, the prophet has an encounter with the living God. In verse 7 YHWH touches Isaiah’s mouth to symbolize that Isaiah has experienced the forgiving and purifying grace of God. Isaiah is declared holy by the God who is holy, and Isaiah’s life is lived “imaging” the glory of God. ISAIAH IS ONE WHO REVERES GOD AND, THEREFORE, RESEMBLES GOD’S HOLINESS (IS 6:5-7).
When we worship (pursue, surrender our loyalty, devotion, and adoration) items that are spiritually numb – we become spiritually numb.
When we give our lives that to material things, we become materialistic.
When we pursue earthly ambitions, we become worldly.
When we chase hyper-sensual and hyper-sexual experiences, we become licentious.
AND WHEN WE GIVE OUR LIVES IN DEVOTION TO THE LIVING AND LOVING GOD, WE BECOME FILLED WITH LIFE AND LOVE!
SERMON:
Having said all this, we turn our attention to the Book of the Revelation. You see, The Revelation is all about loyalties and adoration. It is about allegiances and consequences. AS DOES THE OLD TESTAMENT, IT WORKS OFF OF THE PRESUPPOSITION THAT WE BECOME LIKE WHAT WE WORSHIP.
That’s is why John is so hard on the seven churches in chapters 1-3 … by tolerating evil and compromising with the world they become sinful and worldly. John stresses that if they will faithfully (and fully) give themselves to Jesus they will become Christlike. This is an underpinning, an assumption that runs throughout the book.
For example, John has a very common idiom that he uses to describe those who do not follow the Lamb … it is “The inhabitants of the earth” or “earth dwellers” he uses it frequently (3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 9:20; 11:10; 13:8 & 12; 14:6-9; 17:2 & 8) and it has a very specific meaning … it refers to unbelievers who have substituted worship and service to God. They are seeking and trusting the kingdoms of the earth. This expression is reserved for such people because they cannot look beyond this earth for their security. This means they trust in some part of the creation instead of the Creator for their ultimate welfare. They have become part of the earthly system in which they find security-they have become like it. They have become earthbound; earth-conscious.
Here is more food for thought … the reason that the ungodly, satanic, earthly empires/powers are called beasts in The Revelation, and in the Old Testament, is to indicate that such rulers have so perverted the Genesis 1:26-28 commission to reflect God’s image and to rule over the beasts. They have given themselves over to serving the earthly, beastly creation instead of the Creator. Consequently, they have come to be identified with the creation instead of the Creator, and so are suitably themselves called “beasts.” They have become savages.
Thus the idolater’s identification with their object of worship is not only that they live under the power of the beast and will participate in his destructive destiny, but they also share in his character-devoid of the Spirit and bent on opposing God’s will.
Contrast this with how John talks of Christians in the book; they are characterized as exiles in a foreign land and are those who have come out of [Babylon] the ungodly earthly system, their home is in the coming new cosmos.
AND THAT BRINGS ME, FINALLY TO OUR LAST SERMON FROM REVELATION 5. LISTEN AS I READ THE TEXT TO YOU AND THINK ABOUT HIS SIMPLE FACT … WE BECOME LIKE WHAT WE WORSHIP.
1Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" 3But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."
6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"
13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" 14The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Throughout The Revelation, the worshippers of God and the inhabitants of the earth are stamped with the image, character, name, and “number of the name” of their object of worship. In other words, you can tell who they serve by what they think (foreheads) and what they do (hands). This idea begins in chapters 2 and 3 (c.f. 2:7, 10, 17, 28; 3:5, 12) and builds throughout the book.
• In chapter 7 (v. 3) God places a mark on the foreheads of His followers: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
• The beast out of the earth does this to the earth dwellers in chapter 13. Verse 16-17 read: “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.”
You see, everyone bears the image and mark of the one they follow.
Let me close with some observations and questions that you can use for personal inventory and spiritual motivation.
QUESTION: If Jesus Christ is depicted as a vulnerable and innocent lamb for slaughter, who redeems / liberates humankind by suffering for them (rather than using force and power like the world’s empires do), what will the demeanor of those who worship him be like?
QUESTION: Are we not called to suffer – become a living sacrifice, and “reign through servanthood” in the same manner as He does? (Luke 2:25-26)
QUESTION: If we worship the One whose character and actions define the Kingdom of God (Jesus Christ) … does that help us understand why He calls us a Kingdom and how that Kingdom functions (consider Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5-7)?
QUESTION: If we worship the One who is frequently referred to in Scripture as a priest who stands before God in behalf of the people and before man as a representative of God (i.e., the book of Hebrews) , does that help us understand why we are called to such priestly duties?
Jesus is not asking us to do anything he has not modeled for us.
Here is what I am really asking you today …
QUESTION: Is the image of your God stamped on you?
QUESTION: When people look at you, what do they see as being your God?
NEVER, EVER FORGET … WHAT YOU REVERE YOU RESEMBLE, EITHER FOR RUIN OR RESTORATION. YOU WILL BE LIKE YOUR IDOLS OR LIKE JESUS CHRIST.
He who has an ear
Let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
* Much of this sermon’s content was taken from G.K. Beale’s book, “We Become What We Worship: a Biblical Theology of Idolatry” (IVP Academic, 2008)
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
