ESCHATOLOGICAL WORSHIP {PART 2}
Rev. 21-22
Big Idea: Worship that embodies a lively eschatology empowers the church to live triumphantly in the present.
REV. 21:1-6
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. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 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!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
REV. 22:1-9
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. 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, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There 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.
6 The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”
Jesus Is Coming
7 “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
INTRO
A few weeks back I had the privilege to meet Dr. Brian Blount, the President of Union Theological Seminary. Amongst other things we talked about was a recent book of his that I have read, “Can I Get a Witness?: Reading Revelation through African American Culture.”
The book talks about the role that informed worship played in helping the slave church resist American subjugation and how the slaves identified so closely with the 1st century church of John’s Revelation.
Blount talks about how the slave church understood that real worship touches life and heaven. Earth’s worship is informed by our hope of heaven. He talks about how people such as Nat Turner and Harriet Tubman were motivated and energized by their faith. He speaks of the essential role that the African-American spiritual played in sustaining the Christian slave. “The songs of sorrow” Blount says, “were consumed by a message of this-worldly, transformational hope.” (p. 94).
That is what I mean by “eschatological” worship.
When an understanding of God’s determined future and certain promises are embedded within our worship, they impact, embolden, strengthen and transform us in ways that cannot be calculated.
In other words, Worship that embodies a lively eschatology empowers the church to live faithfully in the present.
Last week we began looking at what “eschatological worship” can do to us and for us. We looked four empowering benefits. We discovered that they can have tangible and concrete expressions.
They are:
1) Worship Turns Chaos into Order
2) Worship Gives Courageous Hope
3) Worship Transports Us Forward
4) Worship Energizes Mission
John’s visions of the heavenly gathering in worship punctuates and dominates his letter and is meant to elicit a parallel response within the church on earth.
Let’s return to the Revelation again this morning. It is the longest continuous worship text in the Bible. Let’s see what else a “future-informed worship” can do for us.
5) ESCHATOLOGICAL WORSHIP TRANSCENDS TIME, CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND AFFILIATION
For example, I notice that eschatological worship transcends time, culture, language, and affiliation.
And 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.” (Revelation 5:9)
Eschatological worship speaks to our time and place. John’s people discovered new perspectives, new understandings, and new interpretations of reality through good worship and it has done so in every generation since. In the best of times and worst of times worship informs our understanding of God’s future and equips His suffering Church.
When we worship God and the Lamb, we join a vast multitude of saints from all peoples and eras of history (Rev. 7:9-17) – and it does the same thing for us that it did for them. It gives us hope and truth – hope based upon truth.
How does it do this?
i) Because Jesus is central to worship for the church of every age and place
Jesus is the timeless One who “was and is and is to come” (1:4; 1:8; 11:17).
An encounter with the living God changes individuals, communities, and eventually the world. For two thousand years Christians have waited in divine suspense, looking for the final revelation of Jesus even as we move on with our lives. While some believers get caught up in speculations about the temporal proximity of Christ’s appearance, it is more important to live in spiritual proximity to our Lord. That happens in worship, when the presence of Jesus truly is near and soon.
The central place of Jesus gives His Church HOPE
ii) Because it is steeped in the Scriptures which guide the church of every age and place in truth.
There are some four hundred allusions to the Old Testament in John’s vision. This is evidence that he knew the Bible well. Believers need to replenish our spiritual wells with words and images from the Psalms, the prophets, the teachings of Jesus, and all of Scripture.
In fact, one of the reasons we look to the Psalms is because we discover in them transcendent elements of worship that we can immediately transfer to our experiences. Psalms like 137 and 138 which were leaned on so heavily in the exile bring solace to us too.
The Bible gives us prayer vocabulary. It offers models for structuring worship and living holy lives that honor God and the Lamb.
The central place of scripture grounds His Church with TRUTH
I have asked Pastor Joe (worship pastor) to come and help explain what I am talking about.
As I have suggested by using the African-American slave church, worship has untold benefits for God’s people. There are myriad of other examples as well. Each one shows how “eschatological worship” guides God’s people looking through the immediate storm cloud to the blue sky awaiting and brings that hope back to inform and transform the present.
Sitting in our congregation today are people who need to be challenged and changed by good worship. Some of you are struggling with family members in jail, marriage issues, children issues, recent deaths, pending deaths, sickness, finance and job worries, etc. All of these (and a host of other authentic crisis) can find relief and release through meeting God in hope-full worship.
5) Eschatological Worship Transcends Time, Culture, Language, and Affiliation
6) ESCHATOLOGICAL WORSHIP TRANSFORMS THE MARGINALIZED & SUFFERING
I have also noticed that eschatological worship transforms the marginalized, down-trodden and suffering. Those who are struggling, feeling discarded, feeling like failures, are alone, unwanted, or even feeling useless are empowered through good worship.
Every day believers in the two-thirds world deal with poverty, starvation, and violence. They can help us grasp the power that good worship can have to bring relief.
Sociologist David Martin reports that the Evangelical Church in Latin America, is deeply grounded in eschatological worship. The Christian faith flourishes among socially, economically and politically marginalized people. The Church of Jesus is a source of certain hope in the slums and impoverished villages. It serves as an island of hope for them. It teaches and encourages them how to live in the midst of distress. Worship gives them a glimpse of a God who cares when society around them doesn’t.
These worshipers have their identities set free from a hierarchy of military, social, and economic oppression. They can see themselves different than the evil around them see them. They often live amongst the rubbish and, as such are told by those who exploit them that they are rubbish. In worship they discover a God who loves them with an everlasting love and that they are made in his image and one day He will wipe every tear away and make all things new!
I have asked Pastor Joe to share a bit from a trip he took to Peru. I think this will help illustrate what I am talking about. …
Healthy worship is not escapism. In the act of worshiping God, believers receive a new identity not defined by “Babylon.” Followers of the Lamb experience an alternative society in which they find meaning and hope.
My suspicion is that there are times when each one of us feels marginalized and defined by others. Might I suggest that John’s Revelation and the worship it illustrates can change the way you view yourself and your world too? Again, it provides new interpretations, new perspectives, and new understandings that are grounded in a faithful God. The potential that possesses to renew you and remake you cannot be over-estimated.
WRAP-UP
5) Eschatological Worship Transcends Time, Culture, Language, and Affiliation
6) Eschatological Worship Transforms the Marginalized and Suffering
We must read Revelation in the spirit in which John wrote it, learning how good worship can inform and influence us for His glory. The first century church, the church of past generations, and churches from other cultures can show us it’s potential. What is true in former places like the slave church of early America is still true in the impoverished and persecuted church across the globe today and -- it is true for us as well!
He who has an ear, let him hear.
(Revelation 13:9)
Let’s read Psalm 138 together responsively. The Hebrews relied on this heavily during their time in exile. It illustrates the power of eschatological worship.
Eschatological Worship – A Psalm of the Exiled
(Psalm 138)
Leader: I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the “gods”
People: I will sing your praise.
Leader: I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness,
People: You have exalted above all things your name and your word.
Leader: When I called, you answered me;
People: You made me bold and stouthearted.
Leader: May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth.
People: May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.
Leader: Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.
People: Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life;
Leader: You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.
People: The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.
+++++
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene, Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
