“Good Shepherd Sunday”
4th SUNDAY OF EASTER APRIL 25, 2010, 10:30 AM
GREETINGS
I like reading Church signs. They say a lot about the church. I remember driving some local road into a little town and a church proclaimed in huge letters: “The Christian Church”. I said to myself, “Of course, what other kind of church is there.” Mary had a different take on it, “Are they implying that none of the other churches in town are Christian?”
William Willimon tells a great story about church signs. He was driving in South Carolina and there were a number of churches and church signs on a particular stretch of road. The first sign said, “Repent! Now is the day of salvation.” A little further down the road was another church with a sign that read, “Happy Mother’s Day. Virtues are learned at Mother’s knee, vices at some other joint.” Farther down the road he saw yet another church with a sign that read, "Big Garage Sale Next Saturday! Cheap prices! Great deals!"
Willimon wondered what these signs were telling people about the Christian Faith when he spotted still another sign which read, “We’ve got room for you at our table. Hospitality practiced here. Everybody welcome.” He thought, how nice, the church of the big table. Trouble was the sign was for a restaurant and not a church.
We don’t have a big table here at the Middletown Church, but I pray that our hospitality is big, big enough to encompass all who enter these doors.
I know that God’s hospitality is big enough, and that Christ’s arms are open wide enough to embrace all who come to him. It is my great privilege, in the name of Jesus, to greet each and all of you with God’s grace, God’s mercy and God’s peace.
PSALTER READING Psalm 23
SCRIPTURE READINGS Acts 9:36-43
Revelation 7:9-17
John 10:22-30
SERMON “Salvation Belongs to God”
Text: Revelation 7: 10
A great multitude that no
one could count, from every nation,
from all tribes and peoples and languages cried out in a loud voice,
saying,
"Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the
Lamb!"
Prayer: from Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Many people wonder what heaven is going to be like. The book of Revelation gives us a variety of snapshots of heaven. Many of them are fantastic visions. For example, heaven’s streets are paved with gold. Not a very good surface for the heavy duty SUVs that people drive. But we shouldn’t take it literally. It’s symbolic. That which is extremely valuable here on earth is commonplace in heaven. The book of Revelation tells us that heavenly city, New Jerusalem has four gates on every one of the four walls that surround it. Again, it’s a symbol. It tells us that there are many different ways to get into heaven.
The book of Revelation tells us that there will be worship without ceasing. I think it was Mark Twain who said that he wasn’t looking forward to spending eternity listening to angels playing on harps. We ought not to take these visions too literally. If we do, we may miss the actual message that is meant to be revealed to us.
This morning’s text gives us another snapshot of heaven. The vision tells us that in heaven there will be a great number of people, more than can be counted from every nation, tribe, people and language. Moreover this great multitude worships God and cries with a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
What does this tell us about heaven, and even more importantly, what does it tell us about God?
First of all, it tells us that heaven is a big place. It can accommodate a lot of people, more than we think, more than we imagine, more than we can count. This is interesting because in another place the book of Revelation tells us that there will be 144,000 people in heaven. That stands in stark contrast to a multitude that no one can number. But again, the number 144,000 may be more symbolic than factual. I don’t know the meaning of 144,000. However, it makes me think of the 12 tribes of Israel multiplied by the 12 disciples of Jesus multiplied by a thousand. I doubt that it’s meant to be taken as a literal number, but as a symbolic number representing an infinite number of people. This morning’s text tells us that heaven has incredible room and a great diversity of people. There’s got to be a huge banquet table to feed all these people.
The text also tells us something very important about God. The people cry out, “Salvation belongs to God.” Salvation is not something we achieve. Salvation is not something we deserve. Salvation is not something we earn. Salvation belongs to God. Salvation is a gift of God, and God is incredibly generous with his gift, after all there are multitudes of people that no one can count, a fantastic diversity of people from all nations, tribes, peoples and languages. Salvation belongs to God, and God spreads it all around. It almost seems to echoe the road sign: “I’ve got room for you at my table. Hospitality practiced here. Everybody welcome.”
This is exactly how Jesus described God.
Jesus tells about a shepherd with a 100 sheep. One of them is lost. The shepherd throws all caution to the wind and searches for the lost one and brings him home. He wants all of his sheep to be safe. Who would do that?
Jesus tells about a woman who has lost a coin and she rips the house apart to find the lost coin. No coin should be lost. Who would do that?
Jesus tells about a father whose youngest son blows all his money and comes home in rags, and welcomes him with joy and throws a huge party. Who would do that?
Jesus tells about a man journeying down the road to Jericho and spots a perfect stranger lying in the ditch half dead, and still bleeding. Who would, like that man,pick up the man, tend to his wounds, bring him to a hospital and spend every dime on his recovery. Who would do that?
Not many of us. These stories of Jesus are not about us. These are stories about God. God is the searching shepherd who wants none of his sheep lost. God is the woman who strips the house bare to find the one that’s lost. God is the father who welcomes the prodigal son with joy and a party. God is the one who is the Good Samaritan who spends it all to save the injured stranger.
Salvation belongs to God and God is incredibly generous. “I’ve got room for you at my table. Hospitality practiced here. Everybody welcome.”
The book of Revelation was written to the churches at a very tumultuous time. The church of Jesus had grown from being a small group of Jewish people in Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside. Now there were followers of Jesus who lived in many different countries. And the church had grown in diversity. They had broken down many barriers that separated people, there were Jews and gentiles, there were slaves and free people, they were of different languages and races and tribes. But it was a difficult time for the church. Congregations were small in size and scattered all over creation. More importantly, these congregations existed in a hostile culture. Christians were being persecuted by the authorities and common folk alike. Some were being thrown to the wolves, literally. There was danger and violence everywhere.
They needed to hear and see what God was saying through John in his revelation. Take heart! Salvation belongs to God! And some day it will all be very different. God’s grace, generosity, hospitality and mercy will win. Some day, Greek and Roman, Jew and gentile, slave and free, rich and poor some day, all of us, more than can be numbered, will sit at God’s banqet table.
We desperately need to hear this same message. We too live in a hostile culture.
Mary and I went to the movies this past week. We saw a comedy and we laughed. But going to the movies these days means sitting through numerous previews of movies that will soon be coming out. I sat through three such previews. They were awful. They were filled with meaningless, purposeless, unfettered, unrelenting violence. Just think, for millions of young people this is their steady diet of entertainment. We live in a violent culture.
We live in a culture that is increasingly polarized. Civil discourse has almost become an oxymoron. Listen to a news program and we hear people yelling at each other. We hear a political debate but no one is listening, people scream insults at each other. The internet is filled with special interest groups telling lies about other interest groups. Brothers and sisters, believe me when I say that as Christians, as followers of the Prince of Peace, we live in a hostile culture.
But some day, some day, we, all of us, old and young, poor and rich, black and white, female and male, Republicans and Democrats, Iranians and Americans, some day, all of us, more than can be numbered, we’ll all be sitting down at one big banquet table. Some day, all of us, more than can be numbered, sinners all, will shout, “Salvation belongs to God.” And, we’ll know how incredibly generous God is with his salvation, it even encompasses you and me. Thank God. Amen.