Scripture: Revelation 1:4-8; John 18:33-37; Daniel 7:9-14
Subject: Alpha and Omega Moments with our LORD
Proposition: Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. We are called to have alpha and omega moment(s) with Christ. We are called to have an authentic spiritual beginning. live out a true alpha life and be ready for our physical omega moment.
INTRO:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ.
Here in the United States we are just a few days away from celebrating our annual Thanksgiving Holiday. All across our land in churches large and small the central focus will be on thanksgiving and praise. In some places this Sunday will been called Thanksgiving Sunday.
However, in the global church it is more than Thanksgiving Sunday. Traditionally, today is the Sunday the Church calls Christ the King Sunday. It is the final Sunday of a year long journey that began back in late 2014 with Advent. That journey continued through the seasons of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and Kingdom Time. Today is the Sunday that we acknowledge the Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Sunday that we acknowledge Jesus Christ as King of the Universe and King of our lives.
Those two emphasis, thanksgiving and praise and Christ as King are not in opposition. They are actually complementary. The more we acknowledge the Kingship of Christ the more we experience a heart and life of authentic thanksgiving and gratitude.
And we have a lot to be thankful for this morning. All of us can point to friends and family, to mentors and teachers and others that have made a major impact in our lives. We could point to salvation and redemption. We could point to our baptism in water and in Spirit. We could spend hours this morning sharing all the wonderful things that we are thankful for this day.
Personally, one of the things that I am thankful for was a man I never even had an opportunity to meet. He died eight years before I was born. But as a teen ager growing up in Eastern Kentucky he had a major impact on my spiritual journey. It occurred through his writings. He wrote three novels that captured my heart and my life. His name is Lloyd C. Douglas and the three books that he wrote that captured my heart were The Robe, The Big Fisherman and the Magnificent Obsession. If you have not had an opportunity to read any of them it would do your heart and spiritual journey some good to get acquainted with them. You will be changed just by reading them.
There is an interesting story that Pastor Max Lucado shares about Lloyd C. Douglas. While he was a student at then Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio, Douglas lived in a boarding house. One of his downstairs neighbors was an retired music teacher. Douglas and this man over time developed a morning ritual. Before leaving the boarding house each morning, Douglas would stop by the man's room and ask him a simple question - "Well, what is the good news?"
The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of the wheelchair and say, “That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat. The piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, that is middle C.” (Max Lucado, GRACE for the Moment, Volume II, 114).
That old teacher wanted Lloyd C. Douglas to know that when life chaotic, unsettling and unnerving to always remember that some things were always a constant. For that teacher one of those things was middle C. You can always count on middle C. It is always 261.625565 hertz.
For all of us gathered here this morning, we know the power and presence of the ultimate constant in life. The ultimate constant in our world and especially in our lives is Jesus Christ. John testifies of this reality in Revelation 1:4-8. This morning, I would like for us to lift up one phrase in that passage. It is the phrase that we read in verse eight where we are reminded that our Savior Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. That same statement is also made also in Revelation 1:17; 21:6 and 22:13.
Let us say it together - JESUS CHRIST IS THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA. JESUS CHRIST IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END.
This morning, Jesus being the Alpha and the Omega is something we can count on. This morning that is something that we can build on. This morning that is something that can be our foundation. Jesus Christ is both the Beginning and End and all things in between.
For a few moments I would like for us to think about what it means for Jesus to be our Alpha and Omega. In particular, what does it mean to experience Alpha and Omega moments with/in Jesus Christ? For I believe this morning, we can:
1. All rejoice and give thanksgiving for our Alpha (beginning) moments with/in Christ
2. All be challenged to live out an Alpha life in Christ
3. All be ready when our earthly Omega moment arrives
1. Let us rejoice in our Alpha moments with Christ - our physical and spiritual beginnings
I say alpha moments because of what the Scriptures reveal to us.
We can rejoice and be thankful this morning that all of us are here, we are alive. We have experienced life. Like Jeremiah of old, the LORD fashioned us in our mother's womb (Jeremiah 1:5). Like the Psalmist writing in Psalms 139 we can rejoice in the fact that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made. Our God formed our inward parts and knitted us together in our mother's womb. We breathe, we move and we are conscious this morning. Take a moment right now and give God thanks for your life. Take a breath and give God thanks for that breath.
But that is not all there is to experience. In John 3, Jesus shared with Nicodemus that our physical life is but one Alpha moment with God. We are all invited to experience another alpha moment. We are all invited to a second birth experience. This time it does not take place in our mother's womb but in our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Jesus shares with us all about this second alpha moment - listen to His words in John 3:5 ff
"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again."
This morning, we all can rejoice in our initial alpha moment with Christ. We can rejoice that we were born of the flesh. We have a mother and father. We are a living, breathing human being.
Jesus invites us to experience a more important moment. The moment that Jesus will meet our greatest need, the need of being forgiven of all of our sins. The greatest alpha moment that you and I can experience this morning is not the one that we experience with our families as we can into the world, it is the one that we experience from above. It is the alpha moment that we invited Jesus to forgive us of our sins and be the Savior of our Lives. It is the moment that we experience a whole new beginning. It is the moment that we were Born Again.
This morning, have you experienced this Alpha moment with Christ? Do you know Him as Savior and LORD? Do you know that Jesus has forgiven you, redeem you and enabled you to be Born Again? Have you experienced a new life in Jesus Christ?
The New Birth, this new beginning is yours for the asking. Today, you can experience New Life - New Birth - Being Born From Above. All you have to do is repent of your sins and receive Jesus as Savior and LORD of your life and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
II. Secondly, let us take up the challenge of what could then be called an Alpha life in Christ
Our New Birth in Jesus is not an end but only a beginning. Could you imagine a family getting together at the hospital and after the baby is born just leaving the little one at the hospital? Can you imagine anything thinking that the journey of being born was the ending. That the end of the journey was that the baby has been born. Mom and Dad did their job. Let's now go and get on with life.
No, we all know that the real joy, the real life is just beginning. Especially for the baby. For nine months it has lived another existence. For nine months the baby has been living off of its mother. She has been its food source and its comfort source. She has been its everything. Everything she thought, she ate or did affected the baby.
Now, the baby is separated from its mom. Over the next 18 years that baby will be nurtured and cared for and taught. It will go from being 100 percent cared for to becoming an adult that can meet its own needs. It will go from a person needing everyone to take care of it, to becoming a person who will take care of others. In a few years that baby will no longer need a bottle or a walker or baby food.
All of that does not happen overnight. It will be years before the baby grows to the point it can take care of itself. It will take years before it begins to understand that its purpose in life is not to be self-centered but to self- surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. It will take years before it understands that God has put new life into it so that it can bring new life to others.
It will take many alpha moments with Christ. It will take many beginning moments with Jesus.
Being born again is not an end unto itself. Being saved begins us on our journey. It is from there that the Bible shares that we will experience a great many different things - trials, frustrations, grief, pain, joy, needs and forgiveness.
It is here that Jesus stories in the Gospels are of so much assistance. As we watch Jesus have alpha moments with Nicodemus, with the Woman at the Well, with Mary and Martha, with all the disciples and with others we are given insights into how we are to live out this experience called Christian Living.
It is here that we begin to understand the true value of the Holy Spirit, the Bible and the Church. Rather than seeing the New Birth as the end, again it is only the beginning. It is more important how we live out our initial alpha moments in Christ. True Christianity is learning, growing and being transformed into the image of Christ.
That is why we in the Holiness Tradition have laid such an emphasis on the life of sanctification. It is not because we want to minimize the work of salvation. Rather, it is because we want everyone to understand that we are all called to a life of progressive transformation. We are called to a life of progressive holiness. We are called to a life where we constantly are being tuned to Jesus' Middle C.
This morning, if you have accepted Jesus as Savior, then Jesus has already met your greatest need. Jesus has meet your need to be forgiven, regenerated, and redeemed. Now, through the power of His Holy Spirit, Jesus desires us to become His sanctified people. If we allow Jesus, He will lead us to become the people who are dedicated to becoming one with Him and with one another.
It has always been this part of our salvation that has always been the most challenging and yet most rewarding. This part that causes us to ask the question of how do we share divine life, how to love and be in communion with one another? This part that ask us how do we participate in the Christian Life with one another and how do we learn to live a life of self-emptying.
Currently, at the Abbey of Gethsemane ( in New Haven, Kentucky) there are about fifty monks who each day are dedicated to learning how to live in Christ and in Christ live with one another. They are men who have experienced their spiritual alpha moment and are doing their best to live an alpha life in Christ.
The men that live there are come from all over the world. They are white, black and brown. They are from the north, south, east and west. They are from this country and other countries as well. They are tall, short, skinny and not-so skinny. They are young and old. They are initiates and well learned men.
Each day they gather eight times for a time of prayer including the celebration of mass. They share faith and life. They work together, they live together and they create community. And they are in it for the long haul. They will live together as a community for the rest of their human lives. They will die there at the Abbey and will join their brothers who graves are on the hill side. These men are committed to Christ and to one another for life.
Watching them pray, eat, work and share life together is an inspiration. One does not enter into their community by accident. It is a long journey taking at least six years from the time one enters into the order to the point where one surrenders everything to be a permanent member of the order. From that point on everything is committed to living in Christ and in Christ with one another.
Cistercian monks are not hermits. They live and thrive in community. They worship together, work together, pray together and live together. Each person must surrender themselves to one another. It is a beautiful life to witness. It is holiness in action.
It is also the challenge and the life of the church. We are called to do the same. While we do not go to a monastery we are still called to live in harmony with one another. We all know that is not always easy. We all have our own ideas, opinions and even agendas. But the beauty of holiness is how we come together as community, as disciples of Christ. It does not happen by accident. It does not happen on schedule. Many times it is messy. It demands forgiveness and grace to be practiced. It takes patience and time. It takes all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. But it is beautiful when it happens.
That is what life in Christ and life in Christ with one another truly means. We are called to live out our alpha moments in Christ and with one another.
3. Finally, let us be prepared for our Omega moment with Christ
Jesus tells us that He is both the Alpha and the Omega. Jesus is the Beginning and the End.
Now, how can one who is outside of time have both a beginning and an end? I don't know. I don't fully understand. I just know that Jesus is Alpha and Omega. Jesus is the Beginning and the End.
I also know that one day all of us will be called to experience our own physical omega moment (Hebrews 9:27). We all have an expiration date written in our physical DNA. There will come a day when we will shuffle off this mortal coil to use a Shakespearean phrase. What day that will be, you and I don't know. In light of our coming death we are called to be prepared, (1 Thessalonians 2:12) ready (Matthew 25:1-13) and active in His service.(Matthew 25:14-30).
In Revelation 4, John is allowed to see into the courts of Heaven. He is allowed to see what happens around the throne of God. He is allowed to hear the voices of heaven as they cry out - HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY; WHO WAS AND IS AND IS TO COME!
In verses 9-10, John records the scene of the 24 elders in Heaven falling down before God and casting their crowns before the throne saying - "Worthy are 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."
Those 24 elders took the greatest item they possessed - their crowns - the symbols of who they were, the power they possessed and the positions that they held and placed them at the feet of the LORD. They surrendered everything to their King. They bowed in total consecration and submission.
You and I this morning do not have such a crown. We do not have a crown like the 24 elders to lay before the Throne of God. In thinking about this, I asked the Holy Spirit - what can we mortals, we humans cast down before you so that we will be ready for our omega moment? What can we put at the feet of Your Throne God to acknowledge our submission and consecration to You as our King?
This is what I heard from the Holy Spirit
1. Cast down your calendars - cast down your schedules, your plans, your days - place it before My throne - allow Me to lead You
2. Cast down your cash - your possessions, your belongings, those things you hold dear - allow all things to be in My Hands
3. Cast down your center - your core - what it means to be you. Place yourself under my kingship. Surrender your life totally to me.
This morning, let me challenge you to do just that. To right now in your heart and mind - cast down your schedules, your possessions and your heart, mind and soul before the Throne of Your King. Place yourself under His Lordship.
As we close this morning, I would like for us to sing hymn # 2 - Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!
This morning, as we sing our altars are open. If you would like to come and repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ as Your Savior we would love to pray with you. If you would like to come and spend some time with Your Lord - our altars are open. Allow the Spirit to lead.
