Revelation Sermon - 14

Lars Janssen

Revelation Series • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Revelation: The Way of the Lamb

Revelation 4-5

1. Introduction – I hope and pray that the last 2 weeks, 2 chapters, 2 sermons have left you awestruck.

a. As Revelation song says, “Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder – at the mention of your name.”

i. I hope and pray that’s you.

1. The goal of Revelation is to reveal things unseen to us. The goal is to unveil the unseen realities of the present, and what we’ve seen over the past 2 weeks is the reality of heaven.

b. Beautiful words – a door open in heaven. Wow! Haven’t isn’t a closed off, out of bounds place. It’s not inaccessible – it has an open door.

i. And it is an exciting place with the non-stop praise of the One who sits on the throne and praise of the Lamb.

c. These chapters, this vision, is the central vision for the entire book. Everything else that John sees in this book flows out of the throne room of God.

i. It is the central and centering vision of the entire book.

1. Next week we are going to embark on a journey through chapters about God’s judgment – but the seals, trumpets and bowls are all broken, blown and poured out here – in the throne room.

d. I hope and pray that you went away from our service last week captivated by the Lamb.

i. The Lamb in the middle – who left his place in the middle to be slain for our sins – only to be raised to life again and once again reside in the middle of the throne.

1. I hope you went away mesmerized by the Lamb. I hope you went away singing! Joining your voice with the on going heavenly praise of God

2. Practical – But not only are these chapters, this vision, awesome and awe-inspiring…believe it or not they are practical.

a. Believe it or not, these chapters teach us about Christian discipleship – about the Christian life.

i. Since this vision is so important, we are going to pause from moving forward. Chapter 6 and beyond can wait.

1. We are going to hangout here this week. We aren’t simply going to rush on by in an effort to get the study finished. We aren’t going to rush by the throne and the lamb…we are going to sit, linger and learn what this scene has to teach us.

b. This morning we are going to look at the practical side of Revelation. It can be hard for us to see that Revelation is a discipleship manual, so we are going to spend some time this morning looking at what it says about the Christian life.

i. How we read and interpret the book determines what we get out of it.

1. If we read it simply as a script and timeline detailing the events of the end of the world – then we run the risk of focusing only on numbers and symbols and dates and events…

a. And there’s a good chance we’ll miss the practical points of discipleship that Revelation has to offer us in the here and now.

c. But when we read Revelation as a prophetic and pastoral letter – when we see the flow of the narrative – how John switches between past, present and future events – when we see John’s pastoral heart coming through in the text…

i. Even the difficult to interpret vision passages can give us practical Christian discipleship wisdom.

1. Maybe like no other book in the Bible – Revelation helps Christians stay faithful to God amid turbulent times.

a. Revelation shows Christians – through a series of visions – how God will judge the wicked and redeem the righteous.

d. When read as a discipleship manual, not a ‘how to escape suffering manual’ we can learn about the Christian life from this book.

i. We can arm ourselves with the necessary tools – as God’s people face increasing pressure to compromise.

1. Revelation, Revelation 4 and 5 help us in our walks with God and these chapters show us what those walks should look like.

e. For the rest of our sermon we are going to complete this sentence…

i. The Christian life is a life of ___________________... and we will fill in the blank accordingly.

3. Worship – As we’ve seen over the past 2 weeks, the Christian life is a life of worship.

a. Last week we saw an ever-widening circle of praise. It started with the 4 living beings and the 24 elders.

i. It widened to include millions and millions of angels…and then it widened again to include all of creation singing praises to the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!

b. The week previous we saw that night and day the living beings and elders never stop giving praise to the Holy Lord God Almighty.

i. And from this scene we learn that no matter where we are or what we are going through, we can always worship.

1. John was in prison. Remember he was given this vision and he’s writing this letter from the prison island of Patmos – a place where prisoners went to die.

c. But even in his miserable condition and in his miserable circumstances – John says at the beginning of the book – I was worshipping on the Lord’s Day.

i. If John could worship in prison – out there baking away on the hot rocks – it teaches us that we too can worship anywhere.

d. There is something really special about gathering together with God’s people to sing and pray and laugh and study together as a church.

i. But we don’t have to be here to worship. In fact, we’ve learned that the Christian life is a life of continuous worship.

1. And when John was worshipping on that Lord’s day, he found out that he wasn’t alone.

a. Jesus pulled back the curtain for John and allowed him to see the ongoing heavenly worship service.

e. The hymn Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee describes this beautiful, when we read… “All thy works…”

i. But the challenge of this scene is to not let the praise stop with you. Again, that same hymn says, “Mortals join the mighty chorus…”

1. What we see in Revelation 4&5 is that creation itself recognizes and praise its Creator…shouldn’t we?

a. Jesus said on Palm Sunday that if the little children stopped singing, the rocks would cry out – I don’t think we should let them have the opportunity.

f. Revelation 4&5 reveals to us that worship of God is at the centre of the Christian life.

i. And this chapter reveals to us that song is of utmost importance.

1. These chapters reveal to us that heaven is the homeland of music and music makes its ways into the hearts of God’s people.

a. As God’s people, we’ve always been a singing people. Think of the great songs, new and old, that give praise to god.

g. But here’s what we have to remember – when we worship, whether here on Sunday with our church family – or individually wherever you happen to be – understand that you are joining a worship service that is already in progress…

i. Check that – that is always, already in progress.

1. The worship of God doesn’t begin or end with us. In fact, and this is our application for this point…

a. Worship isn’t about us at all.

ii. After we worship, and I’ll speak specifically about worship on a Sunday morning – we should never ask ourselves, “What did I get out of that service?” I am not the issue. You are not the issue in worship.

1. That question and questions like they just feed the narcissism of our day.

a. God is the centre of unbroken praise – God is. You are not the centre, I am not the centre…God is.

iii. Don’t ask, “what did I get out of that?” as if church is like shopping. Ask this question instead…

1. “Did I enter in?” Did I join the happy chorus? Did I join the living creatures, the elders, the angels…did I join creation in praising and celebrating the Creator?

a. Did I fall down and worship the Lamb in the middle? Or are the rocks going to take my place?

h. Did I enter in? Are you entering in…right now? The Christian life is a life of worship.

4. Prayer – The Christian life is also a life of prayer. Prayer could be lumped in with worship because prayer is an act of worship.

a. But I wanted to highlight a few things about prayer for you this morning

b. First, look at 5:8. The elders are all holding gold bowls filled with incense. And we are told that the incense represents the prayers of God’s people.

i. Ponder that image…your prayers are like incense to God. When you pray – they are presented as a sweet aroma before God.

1. Have you ever thought of your prayers in that way before?

ii. Know that this is how God hears your prayers. It’s never a “Oh, him again.” Or “She’s bringing THAT to me????

1. No, when you pray, your prayers are poured out like incense, like a sweet aroma before God. Wow!

c. Now, when we pray, we pray in 2 distinct ways.

i. First, we pray the way Jesus taught us to pray. “Our Father…”

1. Popularly called the Lord’s Prayer, and while there is deep and significant meaning in repeating these exact words…

a. It can also be model prayer for us to follow.

i. We start praying by praising God for who he is what he’s done.

1. We praise him for his holiness, his work and his reign.

b. Then we bring our petitions. We present our physical needs and our spiritual needs.

d. But in our prayers, we must also pray for the needs of others. This is called intercession.

i. We are told at the beginning of Revelation and reminded in chapter 5 that Jesus has made a kingdom of priests.

1. Priests intercede for people. In the OT, priests prayed and offered sacrifices on behalf of the people.

a. But because of Jesus once and for all sacrifice on the cross – we are all priests and we can all offer prayers on behalf of other people.

ii. We pray for the spiritual well-being of others. We pray for the physical needs of others. We pray for their salvation, healing, whatever…

e. Doesn’t this change how you feel about your prayers? They aren’t hitting the ceiling and coming back down at you.

i. Your prayers are poured out before God like incense. You still may not get the answer you want, but that doesn’t mean God didn’t hear you – it means God’s will was different than yours…

1. And he wants you to trust him through the journey he’s taking you on.

f. It’s no wonder that the author of Hebrews says we should approach the throne of grace with boldness and confidence.

i. The One who sits on the throne is full of grace – and we approach with confidence because we know that our prayers will be heard by God, and are in fact, a sweet smell to him.

1. Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life.

5. Sacrifice – And finally, Revelation 4&5 teach us that the Christian life is a life of sacrifice.

a. But understand this about sacrifice – is the path to victory, not defeat.

i. Through sacrificial love, we actually end up reigning with the Lamb.

1. So, when we flesh out the implications of this throne room scene for discipleship purposes – we learn that the cross is not only the source of our salvation – it is also a pattern for us to follow.

a. Remember, the lion didn’t win by acting like a lion. The Lion of Judah won the victory by becoming a slain little lamb.

b. The truth of it is lions never overcome. The secret of history that Revelation 5 reveals to us is that the way to overcome is through sacrificial love.

i. The way to reign with Christ is to follow his path and pattern.

1. In order to defeat evil God didn’t roar and strut and act in power. Jesus took what evil had to offer and conquered it through his resurrection.

c. The same is true for us today. We don’t overcome by roaring and strutting and bragging or acting aggressively.

i. We overcome through sacrificial love. Jesus taught this in the Sermon on the Mount.

1. We overcome, we reign with Christ when we bless those who curse us…

a. When we pray for those mistreating us, when we do good to those who hate us, when we pray for our enemies.

i. This is victory? This is reigning?

d. Absolutely it is! Remember Revelation teaches us that things aren’t as they seem. And though Jesus was presented like a Lamb to its slaughter, it was through his death that he won the victory.

i. And when we choose to do what he did, when we act humbly and act with sacrificial love, we too will overcome.

e. C.S. Lewis made this exact point in the Chronicles of Narnia.

i. Aslan the lion didn’t win by acting like a lion.

1. Aslan broke the witches’ spell when he lay helplessly on the stone table and let evil to do him what it always wanted to do to him.

a. But the moment he died, death begins to work backwards.

i. The same was true with Jesus. The moment he died, evil lost and sacrificial love won.

f. As weak and foolish as it may seem, sacrificial love is the source and pattern of our victory.

g. So, for us today, know that sacrifice is the path to victory.

i. Evil begets evil, violence more violence, hatred more hated.

1. The only way to overcome is through the weak yet powerful, foolish yet wise way of Jesus – the way of the cross…the way of sacrifice.

h. Remember the vision of Lamb – 7 horns and 7 eyes. Does this mean that’s what Jesus looks like?

i. I hope not!

1. It means that in weakness he is strong – horns representing strength.

2. It means that he is perfectly wise – eyes representing wisdom.

a. So, when we walk in the way of Lamb, when we walk in the self-sacrificing way of Jesus…

i. We aren’t following a fool and we aren’t following a wimp.

1. We are following the all-wise, and all-powerful Lamb of God.

6. Conclusion – Revelation presents us with many interesting interpretive challenges.

a. But it also presents us with practical advice on Christian living. I hope you’ll begin to see Revelation as a discipleship manual and the practical advice this book offers us.

i. Keep this heavenly throne room scene in your head as we make our way through the rest of the drama that is about to unfold before us.