Sermon Tone Analysis

*Brothers and Sisters, Our call to worship come from **Rev 7: 13**-17:*

/13 //Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” /

/14 //I answered, “Sir, you know.”

/

/And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 Therefore, /

/“they are before the throne of God /

/and serve him day and night in his temple; /

/and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.

/

/16 //Never again will they hunger; /

/never again will they thirst.

/

/The sun will not beat upon them, /

/nor any scorching heat.

/

/17 //For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; /

/he will lead them to springs of living water.

/

/And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”/

*Let us take a moment now as we continue to prepare ourselves for this evening’s service, in silent and individual prayer.*

·        *Congregation of the Lord… *

*            Our Help does come from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth, Amen.*

*Grace to you and peace from God our father, and in Jesus Christ the Savior;     Amen.*

/ /

·        */Lets sing in praise and glory to our God/* (musos)

·        */Please turn with me now to the green book of forms, pg11, as we state clearly our faith in almighty God – Amen/*

·        */Let’s sing in response/*

·        /Brothers and sisters as we sit here in the comfort and care of God’s love, lets open our hearts as we consider our offering for the work of the Kingdom.

The offering this evening is for the local church and for the Christian Reformed Churches Youth Committee.

/

·        */Our elder of Service, Mr Reg Bouwer will lead us in prayer and thanksgiving for the offering/*

*/ /*

·        */Our Bible reading is from Romans 8: 18-39 (Greg taylor will lead us in the reading/*

* *

*Sermon – The future – heaven on earth!*

            Brothers and Sisters,

How often do we think about the future – that which we carefully refer to as …heaven, or life after death….

And how often do you talk about it with your friends or loved ones,

            with your husband perhaps, or your wife, your children, neighbours?

And can it be that it is because we don’t really know what the future will be like, that we don’t talk about it that often?

Of course we do talk about the future at least sometimes.

We did so just now when we said the Apostles creed,

            when we said we believed in “the life everlasting.

And when we pray the Lord’s prayer we say something about the future that is actually           a very accurate hint of what the future will be like,

we pray “Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven!”

But more often, it seems to me, we think backwards when we are contemplating the future – for instance, we think and talk about the future when we try and work out whether we have provided enough for old age; for our children’s education…

 

 

Paul, in our passage, seems to say that the real future lies beyond the time and space of this world,  and that it will be those who look forward  …rather than backwards, 

            those who live in hope…in spite of the past or (even the present)…of a future time and indeed to a future world, a physical world, an up to now yet unseen world – it is really them who have the future all worked out – and they do speak about it quite frequently!

For those of us who do not speak about this glorious future freely, why is it so?

I think it is because this world does a great job at discouraging us… this life iss so hard, that we get discouraged on every front – not least……in our faith!

There is a legend that has it that the devil once advertised his tools for sale at public auction.

When the prospective buyers assembled, there was one oddly-shaped tool which was labeled “Not for sale.”

Asked to explain why this was, the devil answered,

            “I can spare my other tools, but I cannot spare this one.

It is the most useful implement   that I have.

It is called Discouragement,

and with it I can work my way into hearts otherwise inaccessible.

When I get this tool into a man’s heart, the way is open to plant anything there I may desire.”[1]

Brothers and sisters, there is but one tool with which we remove this instrument of the devil – faith!

Faith is a multipurpose tool, and among its blades, apart from the main blade, which is a double edged sword, is hope, and trust, and love..

 

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When Paul writes to the suffering Christians in Rome, who by the way are really living in disheartening, trying times, perilous times, he assures them of a future so glorious, that for all those who believe, their present sufferings by comparison, pales into insignificance.

And he wants them to believe in it, hope for it, knowing full well they cannot see it…yet!

So he goes about explaining it to them.

that glorious future that awaits the children of God,

                        that wonderful future that makes even this life, with its suffering,

                                    all worth living – even now!

Do you believe that such a future awaits us?

Let me ask again then:

            How often do you speak to others about this future, the future of the Kingdom and the Glory of God?

And …what exactly does it mean?

What does it mean when we say the words of the Apostles creed:

“we believe in “the resurrection of the body and life ever lasting.”

… what exactly does it mean?

And on a practical level, when we leave here on Sunday, and travel towards Monday and Tuesday and all the other days until next Sunday,

            do we then still think and talk about what these things of the future mean?

The context of Paul’s letter to the Romans is this:

 

Paul was on his third missionary journey, on his way back to Jerusalem, and he is feeling disappointed that he has not been able to visit the young church in Rome yet.

Ever since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, congregations have formed all over the empire, and in Rome, it is no different.

There, too, a group of believers have come together, just like us here today,

but these are early days for the young Church, and Paul is mindful that they need         instruction and encouragement in their faith.

Why?

Because they are becoming disheartened.

The Roman believers are being persecuted from all sides.

(And persecution in Rome in those days means you may be live bait for the lions in the arena, or you may be lit as a torch in the night.

One Church Historian quotes one of the Ceasers saying that Christians made particularly good torches, they burnt a bit longer and brighter, he said!)

And just like today, the Christians are in the minority, surrounded by the idol worshipping Romans.

They were trying to live their lives by the directions of the apostles, as their faith under the previous instruction of Jesus required it,

but they were living in a world where personal freedom and rights far outweighed the doctrine of love and responsibility that Christ asked his followers to exercise, so they are avoided or even ignored by most of society.

They are pressured to conform…

 

And also in Chapter one, from verse 28, Paul lists some characteristics of a fallen world the way he observed it… and in a way we today may still observe the current world.

Chapter 1 from verse 28:

*/            “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.

They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

/*And then verse 32…*/32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”/*

Paul is writing to the gentile Christians who, although they know God’s righteous decree, have become disheartened and have submitted to secular society.

And now it is everyman and every woman for himself or herself, and the result?

…most are living with no hope for any kind of future any longer.

In fact, they are not even thinking about it – and they certainly don’t speak about it in encouragement to each other any longer.

((Pause))

Dare we do a little exercise…?

Here we are, 2000 plus years after the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus…

            how much of what was written about Rome and the Romans in that time, remains true for Sydney and Sydneysiders, today?

Quite a bit, it seems!

Just recently there again surfaced talks on the pros and cons of gay marriages – as if it is just another a topic for debate, right next to or up there with social injustice discussions, like poverty, or health care, should we still get married…!

The words of a song comes to mind…”we like sheep have gone astray, turned each one to his own way…”

 

And it is important to add right now that: not only the people, but the world too remains in the throes of sin: