ESCHATOLOGICAL WORSHIP {PART 3}
Rev. 21-22
Big Idea: Worship that embodies a lively eschatology empowers the church to live triumphantly in the present.
REV. 21:1-6 & REV. 22:1-9
INTRO
For the last two weeks we have been discovering the potential that good worship has to impact the understanding of ourselves and our God. So far we have discovered 6 dynamics that can (will) take place when worship takes on a future-looking” element.
They are:
1) Worship Turns Chaos into Order
2) Worship Gives Courageous Hope
3) Worship Transports Us Forward
4) Worship Energizes Mission
5) Worship Transcends Time, Culture, Language and Affiliation
6) Worship Transforms the Marginalized and Suffering
Eschatological worship, as we are calling it, is worship that takes God’s intended and certain future into account. It is worship that looks beyond the present, reaches into the future to get a broader understanding of God’s love, character and work and then brings those truths back to the present to reorient the here and how. Eschatological worship offers the church new perspectives, new understandings, and new interpretations of reality.
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.
7) ESCHATOLOGICAL WORSHIP SHOWS ITS VIABILITY AND VALIDITY IN THE DEEDS OF THE CHURCH.
And that brings me to my seventh observation about future-looking worship … good congregational worship shows its viability and validity in the deeds of the church (congregation).
Ethics and manner of life, not just belief, matter in the eyes of God. Deeds are evidence of faith. Deeds are a necessary manifestation of the allegiance we express in prayer, song, and creed. The message to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 ends with practical instruction about behavior upon which salvation depends.
Faith and works complement each other. When they are authentic they mirror each other.
James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
James 2:14-18 says, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”
Authentic worship brings a faithful God front and center and will evoke faithfulness in His church.
Hear me … Eschatological worship is dangerous for the status quo. It is dangerous for the cheap and easy way. It shows us the future and evokes response from us.
• It evokes a response that risks boldly.
• It evokes a response that sacrifices self for the sake of humanity.
• It evokes a response that dreams to bring God’s future into the present.
• It dares to pray “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9).
• And it dares to live a life that strives to bring that Kingdom into reality!
The challenge for us is comfort. When the people of God are comfortable and provisions are met worship’s impact can fade. That is why John begins “The Revelation” by addressing the seven churches. Some of these churches were comfortable. That gave them time for navel gazing (judging others) and luke-warmness (no sense of urgency or passion). Worship, real worship, stops this spiritual erosion in its tracks. It meets it head on and forces the Church into an encounter with the living Christ; the One who calls us to live and love in passionate grace-full service. Such worship rebukes us for entertaining ourselves and exploiting others.
The challenge for us is sin. When the people of God are flirting with that which offends God, worship’s impact will fade. That is why John begins “The Revelation” by addressing the seven churches. Some of these churches were dabbling in doctrinal error and sinful practices. That took their eyes off the prize and set their focus on what the world around them could offer. Worship, real worship, stops this spiritual mis-direction in its tracks. It meets it head on and forces the Church into an encounter with the living Christ; the One who calls us to holiness and love. Such worship rebukes us for excusing our sin.
WRAP-UP
The Presbyterian minister Mark Labberton wrote a book called “The Dangerous Act of Worship.” In it he says, “The urgent, indeed troubling, message of Scripture is that everything that matters is at stake in worship. … Worship turns out to be the dangerous act of waking up to God and to the purposes of God in this world, and then living lives that actually show it.”
In other words, worship’s horizons extend far beyond our collective celebrations; worship involves how we live our lives, down to the smallest choices. In fact, if what we sing on Sunday morning does not resonate with how we live on Monday, we are actors at best and liars at worst.
Since the mid 90’s there have been two simultaneous revivals sweeping across the Christian church in America. They are {i} worship and {ii} justice. These are connected. These are twins. Worship that does not lead to the Church’s rescue of humans is mere entertainment.
What we are discovering is that worship and mission (worship and justice) equip each other. A view of a loving, faithful God leads us into dangerous uncharted territory and service! It dares to confront the powers of evil. It dares to live in light of who God is; not in fear of the powers that strive to usurp His authority.
With that in mind, we must read Revelation in the spirit in which John wrote it, learning how worship of God can renew us and change us.
We are tempted, however, to entertain ourselves with the book; to use it as a horoscope for predicting the future rather than as a handbook for radical Christian living in the present.
I see some parallels to the first Christians in this respect. In Acts 1, when Jesus appears to his disciples soon after the resurrection, their minds immediately turn to “forecasting” (“Lord, are you going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?” v.6) Jesus response (v.7-8) is one of the 4 passages we often call “The Great Commission passages.” He says, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In essence, what Jesus is saying is “forget about predicting the future and get on with the task of mission!”
The first century Church did not use John’s letter to entertain themselves or speculate about when this or that would happen. It was not fodder for fictional books. It was not a tease to stir imaginations. It was not a “Christian Thriller novel” or any of the other sources of entertainment like we have made it. The first century Christians would roll their eyes at such a use of the book. Only the comfortable have the time to speculate and fantasize and extrapolate with this book.
For the church of John’s day this book was a road map to spiritual victory. It possessed the potential to help them stay faithful and see clearly. And a huge portion of that stamina was found in its invitation to authentic, future-looking worship. It is, after all, the longest continuous worship text in the Bible.
If future-looking worship compels us to pray “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9) then it also thrusts us into the world to live that Kingdom and offer it to others - mission.
The church cannot stand idly by and let evil rage on. It cannot whistle hymns in the dark while hell is being populated and people are being abused. If Jesus’ life shows us anything it shows us that he brought the Kingdom with Him wherever he went. He not only prayed “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” he sought to be the answer to that prayer in His time and place.
His church can do no less.
He who has an ear, let him hear.
(Revelation 13:9)
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This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene, Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
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Responsive Reading: "Worship and Justice"
Isaiah 6 (Portions) and James 1:27
Leader: I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
People: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Leader: At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
People: I cried out “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Leader: Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth
People: And said, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Leader: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
People: And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
ALL: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
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Responsive Reading: "Mercy Not Sacrifice"
Micah 6:6-8 & Hosea 6:6
Leader: With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
People: Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Leader: Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
People: He has showed you, O man, what is good.
Leader: And what does the LORD require of you?
People: To act justly
Leader: To love mercy
People: To walk humbly with your God.
ALL: For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
