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Message
I’m starting with a series of photos
Grade 2
That is me.
My parents were really great in that they collected all my school photos from pre all the way to grade 12. So I have this record of my school life and my class mates.
If you are wondering this is me …
Grade 2 at Maryong South Public School.
Then when I was 8 we moved to Darwin. If you don’t know Darwin is at the top of Australia. Just so you understand – there are many more Aboriginal people in the top of Australia than there are at the bottom of Australia.
In Grade 2 there were no Aboriginal people in my class.
When we were in Darwin, when I was in grade 5 my Dad asked me, “Do you have any aboriginal people in your class?”
I said to him, “I don’t think so”.
Now this is my Grade 5
That is me.
As you can see, nearly a ¼ of the class is Aboriginal.
What is amazing is this – Children do not see what Adults see. A child can be in a very diverse group of people and not even notice the differences. As far as I was concerned we were all the same.
We all looked the same.
We all acted the same.
We were one.
Sometimes it is good that we don’t see ourselves as different from others. It is good to focus on the unity. But sometimes it is not good.
Story
I meet people in my life all the time. I’m a people person so I like catching up and getting to know people. So I meet these people and I know them for a while – maybe a 4 months, maybe 9 months. Then one day they want to tell me something.
It’s because I am a Pastor and Pastor get to hear stuff.
And they say – I’m a Christian.
Honestly there are days when I Iook at some of these people and I feel like holding their face and looking straight into their eyes and say, “Mate don’t tell anyone else!”
In my head I’m saying to myself “Are you kidding me, you don’t stand out at all as being a Christian”. And I know that is very judgemental on my part but I can’t help it. I look at these people and I just feel that they are not really helping the cause for Jesus. In fact they are more of a hindrance than anything else.
People sit there and they say, “Yea Allan you have to remember that passage, “Don’t judge or you to will be judged!”. It’s funny how we remember those sorts of passages … the ones that make it easier for us to be a slack Christian. But what we forget is there plenty of other passages which call us to stand out in this world.
That is what this passage in Revelation is all about.
Revelation 22:6-21
“Be Holy In This Broken World”.
Now remember this is the last chapter of the last book of the Bible.
This chapter is the closest and newest Word of God to us.
READ
There are
That is the last chapter of the last book of the whole Bible. And no matter which way you look at it the message is the same.
You have to stand out.
Firstly you stand out by … Valuing the Word
Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Revelation 22:7, 18-19
How easy it is to play around with the Word of God. It is really easy to take out the things we don’t really like doing. We overlook the things that are a little inconvenient.
Cults do that. They have a specific understanding about the Scriptures.
Or they have a specific understanding about how the teaching should be. And to get to that teaching, sometimes they need to change God’s Word – or make the Word of God say what it was never intended to say.
They have to cut away the Scripture in order to make their point.
Yet how often do we do exactly the same. We live our lives as if some parts of the Scripture don’t really exist. How many times do we come across passages where we look at them and say in our hearts – I don’t really like that. So we might not take it out of the Scripture, but we just ignore it. In the end our Bible becomes really well worn in some areas, but in other areas it almost looks brand new. You don’t want God to speak to you. It is so easy to make excuses.
That passage I used before Do not judge or you too will be judged.
Heaps of people know that passage really well – because we think it gives us an excuse. Here we are going on with life – doing things that the Scripture clearly says as wrong. Then someone with a pastoral concern comes along and says, “I don’t think you should be living like that”. What is our response? Do not judge or you too will be judged. We all know that passage don’t we.
But what about the Word which says avoid sexual immorality? That is a passage which doesn’t as quickly come to mind – or we just really ignore it.
So there are times when we play around with God’s Word. But there are also times when we honestly make a mistake.
I really like the fact that John is mentioned here bowing down to the angel.
John is very aware – we should only be worshipping God. But here he is bowing down to the angel; he is just overwhelmed by the moment and he doesn’t probably even realise why he is doing it.
The angel says NO … don’t worship me worship God! It’s not as if John doesn’t know the Scriptures, he just makes an honest mistake in the heat of the moment.
Sometimes we need other people around us to remind us that about the Word of God. To remind us that me are going down the wrong track – and we see it – and we go “yes you are right”. I have been caught off guard. I haven’t been valuing the Word of God as I ought to.
It can be so easy to do this. So we need to be on our guard when it comes to the Scriptures.
Here is my theory. My theory is that Christians don’t fall into sin because that is what they set out to do. My theory is that we don’t value the Word enough because we are not reading the Word enough. We are not allowing the Word of God to break us down. Or challenge us. Or change us. How are we going to be the people that God wants us to be if we are not picking up the book and reading it?
Don’t put your hand up. But how many of you have read the Bible from cover to cover. That you have a reasonable idea what is going to happen and how the story unfolds.
How many of you are able to find passages that others are using, but don’t really know where they are?
How many of us sit down on a day-by-day basis and read the Scriptures? Or we only read it because I have just read it. Think about your life? I’m not saying that you are saved by reading the Scriptures – but let’s be honest – it makes the world of difference doesn’t it.
How many of us are going through life – and others are looking at us. Maybe other Christians, maybe even atheists. And they look at us and they are saying things like:- “I might not agree with everything that they are saying, and I might not agree with all their theology … I might not even agree with their religion at all. But I respect them because they live what they say. They are people who are living out the book. And they know how to live because they read the Word.
It’s all about valuing the book. This book has been put together over centuries to help us … to show us the plan. God gives it to us to read and use. Why? So that we can stand out. Think about all the Christians you know who really stand out. The ones who you don’t have to say too, “Hey maybe you shouldn’t tell people you are a Christian”. I can guarantee they all have one thing in common. They read the word … and live it.
You stand out by valuing the Word.
You also stand out by … living in obedience. Valuing the Word and Living in Obedience are completely linked. It is very much about putting the word into action.
Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Revelation 22:14-15
There are two things going on here.
The first is that Obedience means letting go of the past. John is offering hope here. Blessed are those who have washed their robes.
We stand out as believers when we live that fact. When we live the truth that our past has been taken care of. We all have a history – and it isn’t a pretty history – it involves actions which we are embarrassed about. There are issues that create guilt and shame and a whole raft of emotions that make us feel like failure. That is who we are and that is what we were. But then Jesus comes along and he offers transformation. Jesus gives us at some point … maybe a long time ago … maybe recently … maybe it is still to come. The problem with many Christians is that they don’t live that fresh start. They don’t live in a way that believes that Jesus has covered all of the past and that it is gone. He has taken all the guilt. He has taken the shame. Too often we live as Christian who are dragged down by their past. They let their past define who they are rather than letting the peace and security that comes through Christ define who they are.
Jesus has come to make a big difference. It is so sad to meet Christians who come along and talk about their lives.
They are weighed down and burdened.
They don’t have peace and security.
There are all these events which have happened which they are now allowing to make their lives miserable.
What has Christ come to give you? Hasn’t he come to release us from the past? Hasn’t he come to give us security and peace in the present? Hasn’t he come to give us hope and joy for the future? That is how we have to live. And when we do that we will stand out. People will be attracted to those who live like that. The Gospel will go out in power when we really stand out. It isn’t just about us and our relationship. It is about bringing others also into that relationship.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
Revelation 22:17
Come and be part of the family of God and see your life change. And then stand out – and see the difference you can make in this world.
We stand out by living in obedience and letting go of our past.
We also stand out by living in Obedience and means being serious about sin
We need to look at the world around us and our place in it and recognise that sin is sin. Sometimes it is so easy to put sin into categories. There are some sins which are worse than others. There are some sins that have a greater impact than others. And so we end up with a sin scale – somewhere on there is where we sit. Which is why this passage is really a challenge – and it is really important to see what John is saying to us as he deals with these issues.
Outside are the dogs – these are obviously the bad people and I’m pretty sure that I am not one of them. I certainly don’t want to be one of them. So I look at the list and start comparing myself. And, to be honest, I’m feeling pretty comfortable about the whole thing.
Practising of Magic arts – the dark arts, Satanism, calling on demonic spirits. That’s not me.
Murderers – life takers, those who don’t care for others. That’s not me.
And I keep looking at the list and I am feeling ok. Until I get to the end of the list and everyone who practises falsehood. Well that seems to take in just about all the people on the earth doesn’t it. Including people who come to church.
That is the list. And there are other lists in Scripture that are the same.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. (Galatians 5:19-20)
There is a mixture here. It isn’t like the list is from 1-10. It is all mixed up, because sin is sin.
When the Bible tells you that anger is a sin … you just can’t ignore that anymore can you. If you’re an angry person you need to start dealing with it.
When the Bible says hatred is a sin … well now you have to start making changes don’t you. You can’t ignore the Scripture.
We stand out by recognising that sin is sin. We can’t just put it into pigeon holes and forget about it. We need to live the Word. We need to act the Word. We need to change.
We need to Be willing to change!!
I often think about this. I think about the world in which we live and I think about some basic areas of life. Smoking. Drinking. Gluttony.
Now I know that the Scripture doesn’t say, Don’t smoke, Don’t drink, Don’t put on a bit of extra weight.
But I think about it and I wonder what this world would be like if we didn’t have problems in these areas. If everyone was able to take control. For example what would happen if we all didn’t over-eat. How many less problems would we have?
Our health would be much better.
Those who need to go to hospital would be able to get in because those who haven’t got all these diabetic, and heart, and blood conditions – all because they eat too much.
Everyone is talking about finding a cure for cancer – here is a good cure, “Don’t Smoke” That has got to be a good place to start, doesn’t it.
Now I’m not saying you can’t be a Christian if you smoke, or over-eat, or drink too much. But what a different place our world would be if every single Christian did that. Wouldn’t that make us stand out so much more?
Now take that analogy and apply it to ourselves and our personal relationship with Jesus. Take that and apply it to the directives Jesus did give us. How much more am I going to stand out then?
Who do we warm to the most? Peace-loving kind people, or angry and obnoxious people?
Simple isn’t it.
We have to be willing to change, we have to be willing to take sin seriously.
We can stand out in so many ways. We also stand out by … Living Expectantly
I am coming soon!
Revelation 22:7, 12, 20
Jesus doesn’t just say it once … or twice … in this chapter Jesus says it three times. Behold I am coming soon.
Perhaps you remember your teenage years when your parents go out for the evening. They would say, “We will be home at about 10:30pm”. So what do you do? You take control of the house and do all sorts of things – till 10:15pm. Then you quickly clean everything up and hope into bed. Your mum and dad are none the wiser.
But if you don’t know exactly when they are coming home we don’t play up as much because if Mum and Dad walk in they might see us doing something we certainly shouldn’t be and then we are in trouble. The uncertainly changes our behaviour.
Do we let the fact that Jesus could come at any moment change us? We should. Because we will not always be on this earth, nor will this be the end of the journey for us. Jesus is coming – what if He came today? Would you be happy with the status of your relationship with Him?
If we knew Jesus was coming tomorrow, what would we change?
People say to me – it isn’t it is bad as it could be so Jesus isn’t going to come soon. That may or may not be the case – but what if you were hit by a bus tomorrow? You’re going to be seeing Jesus then aren’t you. You see we think that because it has taken so long for Jesus to come that it is going to take a few more thousand years. But the reality is this:- the longest anyone has ever had to wait for the return of Jesus is about 100 years. We haven’t been waiting for 2000 years – we have only been waiting for as long as our life-time.
If you knew it was going to end tomorrow then you would live differently wouldn’t you. You wouldn’t just change aspects of your life your attitude would also change.
What attitude to life would we have if we knew Jesus was coming tomorrow?
If we lived this way, with the immediacy in focus, our lives would be so different wouldn’t they. We wouldn’t be so focused on living for ourselves. We would be so much focussed on living for Jesus and pleasing Him. We need to live life expectantly.
Here is the challenge. We need to live in what is called the already … but not yet.
We already have been given salvation.
We already have been given faith.
We already have been given so many blessings.
We have already been given peace.
But we are still shackled by the sin and misery of the world that gets us down and distracts us. We have not yet fully made it.
So we look to God and we say “God let me be the person that you intended me to be. Let me stand up and stand out in this world as I see to be an example for you. Let me work hard to be the person that the Scripture calls me to be.
Why?
Not because I want to earn my salvation but because I know that the price has already been paid. Not because it will bring me closer to heaven, because I am already there.
And I want others to see me and see the change that has happened and recognise that there is something going on in me that is different.
That’s the closing chapter of the closing book of the Bible.
It’s a final call to holiness!!
Let’s stop making excuses and ignoring the Word.
Let’s make our whole Bible worn out because we are reading it so much. Because Jesus is coming … and in the meantime He is calling us to stand out and make a difference.
Prayer
