Sermon

December 30, 2007
1st Sunday after Christmas
Revelation 22:20
Pastor Leon Ehlert

Would You Go?

Revelation 22:20 “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. “Come, Lord Jesus.”

My guess is that you don’t need to be reminded, but vacation is over. I mean many of us had the last few days to spend with family and friends and now the reality of going back to work/school sits there. What if I could extend your vacation so that tomorrow was not the start of the week, but rather it were still Thursday and you knew that the weekend still stretched out in front of you---would you take it. Boy, as long as we dreaming let’s dream big.  Let’s enlarge our vision here and offer the chance for the students esp. 8th graders and Seniors to fast forward to graduation, you would skip all those tests and all those reports and go right on it would be May and the winter would be over, the snows gone and tomorrow you would graduate. Would you take that chance?

I would suppose that many of us would love to get past the hassles and the bitter cold. Get past the workaday world with its workaday problems. But, more than anything we want to move ahead because we recognize the value of vacations and graduations and springtime.

What happens if I told you that eternity was approaching for you and that on the other side of this door right Jesus was waiting? And that you could put your hand in His and He will take you to be with Him for an eternity? Ah, but there would be no time to say goodbye. You would walk away form this world and the people in this world and you could never, ever come back, would you walk through those doors and enter eternity? Would you?

I can hear the response, “Hey, Pastor, that’s not fair!”
“No, would you go?”
“But I have all these dreams and ambitions. I am right in the middle of a big project. I’m getting married.”
No, would you go?
“I have children.”
Would you go?
“Pastor, I’m in the middle of living!”

Do you trust Jesus enough when He speaks of our heavenly home and its perfection and the joy that will be yours when the “old order of things passes away” with its crying and pain and sin and tears to say, like our text, “Amen, come Lord Jesus.”  Or have we grown so attached to this world and our joys, both petty and profound, that the thought of leaving to be with a visible Jesus in His tangible kingdom does not fill us with much anticipation, but rather with the vague sadness that heaven will be just fine and I want to get there…someday…but heaven? Not today.

My sisters and my brothers this is a sign of lack of faith. It is a sign that we have attached ourselves to this life and to this existence and have begun to value our earthly cities far more than we value the heavenly city the new Jerusalem. Which we read about in Revelation 21:2, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God…and I heard a loud voice saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them.”

Now, of course, there is a certain percentage of people who would say, “ Yes, I am ready and I wish that Jesus really was on the other side of that door because you wouldn’t have to ask me twice if I wanted to go.” Now why don’t we take a look at those of you gathered in God’s house that seem at ease, no, positively impatient to go to Jesus.   I wonder if that eagerness is spoken by the planners and the doers. You know, those who are involved in everything, actively seeking the betterment of their family and the work place and, oh, their church. And so they plan and work hard, setting lofty goals for themselves and for the people around them, which is good.  And they have 6 month plan, and the five year plan. These are the type A’s or the eagles. Whatever you want to call them, but they get things done. There can be an issue, here because people like this try to control situations and maybe even people. But people don’t like to be controlled and events often exceeded our ability to manage them.

And so it is easy to become frustrated when the reality and the visions don’t quite seem to match up. And then impatience sets in with self, and others and life. Because we look around and see that the goals are unrealized and the expectations are unfulfilled. And you sort of look at life and wonder why can’t things be somewhat different. And so it is easy to become upset and think all we need is a change. And so we change hobbies, and jobs, and houses and all the time think that maybe this will make the difference. But, it doesn’t. And the same old disappointments and frustrations are still there no matter where we go. But, you see this is not entirely negative, because there comes the realization that perfect fulfillment is not found on this side of eternity.  And so walking through that door seems all the better because we have learned to see this world in light of eternity and can say, no, want to say, “Amen, come Lord Jesus.”

But not everybody who wants Jesus to come quickly is frustrated. I would guess that there is another issue we see in the lives of those who wish to depart.
           
Christmas looks so different than it did to me when I was young….and it’s not only that I live in a different house. Christmas can be a time of nostalgia. That happens as you age and that aging shows itself in different perspectives. You see, my children see a different table than I do. They see all the people who are there. I see all the people who aren’t. I look around at the table and where my father would have sat is my son. And where my grandfather would sit is my daughter. And my Aunt and brother-in-law, they are all departed as well.

My children see this table, this life as stretching to infinity. And so do you, or should I say there was once a time that you did. And you hold on to life for all you’re worth.  But sooner or later there are reminders that things cannot stay the same. Somebody that you love, one year, do not return to that table on the holiday.  Often it starts out with a grandparent or somebody like that and it hurts and God pries one of our fingers off this life that we love so much. But we still hold on, but not as firmly. And with every disappointment and with every realization that this is a fallen world God peals another finger. Later, He may call from us, a parent, a spouse, a child, and it is painful, and we cry and the loss is, on this side of eternity, irreparable.  We hold on to life, but not with same attachment. And soon the health fails and the final fingers are pried off this existence and we say, Lord, I am ready, take me. You’re not home. This, here, is not where God intends you to stay.  Understand, far from being purposeless and meaningless there is a magnificence to our suffering. Once we  begin to survey this world our hearts can begin to yearn for the New Jerusalem with its precious reunions and comfort of being in the presence of God Himself.

But, maybe there is other issue that needs to be cleared up before we can say, “Amen. Come Lord Jesus.”  And that is the issue of our guilt before our Creator.  In a few moments we will be reciting the Apostles Creed and in that Creed we state the things we believe. If you could take that out for a minute. Can you tell me what is the most difficult line to believe? I believe in the Virgin Birth. The physical resurrection. I believe in life everlasting. I think the most difficult phrase comes toward the end—I believe in the Forgiveness of Sins. Sometimes, in the quiet of the night, when we are alone with our thoughts there comes that still small voice. A voice that takes us back, back to our sin, back to the past with its shame. And we wonder, can I really be pure?  Am I really as white as snow? And the devil steals what is not his—our peace and confidence before our Lord.

Have you seen enough of Jesus to eagerly welcome Him? Have you seen how His suffering and His death. His perfect life and His resurrection? His Ascension and His ruling has changed everything? That we have been clothed, no re-clothed with perfection. As it says in Revelation 6:11, “Then each of them was given a white robe.” That robe symbolizes the perfection that is ours, and cannot be taken away. And in that robe of righteousness He has clothed the adulterer David and the blasphemer Paul. He has clothed the drunkard Noah and whining Elijah. He has clothed the doubter Thomas and the child -abuser Manasseh. And He has clothed you.

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