"All Gave Some, Some Gave All"

Lectionary • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Our faith in Jesus requires us to go all in. To not do so not only pushes Christ aside, it fails to witness the power and glory of God to a world desperately in need.

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Scripture Reading

Revelation 7:9–17 NLT

9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. 12 They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 13 Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?” 14 And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white. 15 “That is why they stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter. 16 They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. 17 For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Focus Statement

Our faith in Jesus requires us to go all in.

To not do so not only pushes Christ aside,

it fails to witness the power and glory of God to a world desperately in need.

Point of Relation

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

I cannot think of a group of people who give more than good mothers! Amen?

Not everyone is fortunate to have such a mom...

And we need to acknowledge that...

But the archetypical mother…and truly the archetypical parent…give all of themselves for their children.

I drive past Sussex Tech all the time, and I am sure you all know there is a Veteran’s cemetery there.

I have had the honor of officiating two gravesides there and I can see the archway entering the cemetery...

All gave some…some gave all...

In the military, this motto refers to the fact that all who served in the military sacrificed somethings…that’s the nature of the service...

But some have EVERYTHING…meaning they died in combat.

But that is only half true...

Some in the military end up dishonorably charged and gave even less of the “some”, than others...

And, truthfully...

All of our faithful, honorable women and men in arms are WILLING TO GIVE EVERYTHING even if they don’t end up dying...

So…in my book…that still counts as giving ALL. Willingness and determination at least half of the battle if not more..

Things to Consider

In the church, the same is true...

It is not so much that we are EXPECTED to die for Jesus...

Quite the contrary, we are EXPECTED to LIVE for Jesus...

But we should be willing to die for Him as well.

I want to point out something that may not seem so obvious to you now...

but after considering our Scripture reading today,

it will hopefully become painfully obvious by the end of this sermon.

I want to point out to you this fact:

For most of our lives we’ve been sold a bill of half truths:

This is true socially:

We’re told that “Only the strong survive”

We’re told that “might makes right”

We’re told that “Good things come to those who wait.”

We’re told that “God helps those who help themselves”

And we’re told that “You get what you put in”

and also that, “what goes around comes around”

This is also true in the church:

We are told that “God loves us just as we are”

Well, this is true, but that does not mean God wants us to stay as we are…change is involved.”

We are told the church is “God’s House”...

meaning that it is holy, set apart for worshiping God, and a sanctuary for sinners...

Yet, do you EVER find sinners in a church…or judgmental holy rollers who think they are beyond sin.

Do you know, most people know what some churches are against …for instance: “abortion, homosexuality, licentiousness, Hollywood, secular music and culture, etc.,

rather, than what the ACTUAL church is for:

GLORIFYING JESUS CHRIST through SERVING and LOVING OTHERS and BUILDING His Kingdom of Love here on earth as it is in heaven.

What Scripture Says

In our Scripture today, we find ourselves in the midst of a vision that John of Patmos is having...

He is envisioning being in heaven,

standing before the throne of God and of the Lamb,

surrounded by all the heavenly beings, the 24 Elders (representing both the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 disciples),

and a crowd of witnesses dressed completely in white.

When John is asked and then admits to not knowing who this vast crowd is, he is told that they are all the people who died during the GREAT TRIBULATION...

They are all the MARTYRS…ALL of the ones who GAVE IT ALL for Christ…including their own lives...

They are the vast crowd of Witnesses to the GLORY OF CHRIST and HIS KINGDOM!!!

Now, we are NOT told how they died...

Perhaps they died naturally, but lived faithfully during that time...

Perhaps, as GREAT TRIBULATION suggests, they were persecuted…in fact....THEY WERE being persecuted for their faith...

REGARDLESS OF HOW they died.

Perhaps, they were tortured, crucified, lit up like human torches, or fed to wild beasts...

But these are they people who stuck with Jesus and ENDURED to the very end.

Now, notice that I am speaking of these people as if they already died...

As if they were people some far gone time and place...

But we also must make note that this vast crowd, too vast to count, is being envisioned by JOHN…who is having a vision of THE FUTURE...

Historians and Critical Scholars alike will tell you that the GREAT TRIBULATION that John might be referring to is that of Nero...

But he is not pointing to Nero in order to highlight one single moment in history...

Rather, NERO’s PERSECUTION of Christians is the archetype of the kind of suffering God’s people have gone through…

And that their suffering, their pain, their tears, their deaths…ARE NO MORE...

They’ve been spared by the blood of the lamb from DEATH...

And they are sheltered by the One who sits on the Throne!!!

In other words, what John is painting for us here, is a beautiful scene following great horror...

These are God’s people throughout the millennia...

Not just those who died under Nero or any other Emperor in John’s day and age...

But ALL OF GOD’s PEOPLE who have remained faithful at great cost...

AND GOD HAS NOT ABANDONED THEM.

They are those who died before Nero, those who Nero killed, those who countless other people persecuted.

They are the Mary Magdalenes, the Peters, the Pauls, the Francises of Assisi, the Joans of Arc, the Martin Luthers, the John Wesleys, the Martin Luther King Jrs, the Mother Theresas, and...

get ready for this....to put in Jerzey terms...

YOUS GUYS!

You all are called to be among those faithful…who LIVE…and DIE…for Jesus Christ.

And the Good News is, despite these weak and frail bodies…we won’t die…because Jesus ain’t in the death business! Amen?

These bodies are on borrowed time…

but in God we are immortal and one day we will have an unperishable…

perfect body to clothe ourselves with!

What This Means for You

Friends, according to Scripture, WE ARE AMONG the vast crowd that John saw.

We are the ones who, in our time, must be faithful to Christ no matter the cost.

We are the ones who are being called to serve others as Christ has served us...

We are the ones being called to show love to all people, including our enemies...

We are ones being called to give of our ourselves so that others may come to know Jesus.

So let me ask you, how are you witnessing to your faith in your household, in your neighborhood, and in the community at large

How are you witnessing to your faith in and among your brothers and sisters here in our congregation?

Christ is calling you to witness to your faith ALWAYS in everything you do.

Have you considered what that looks like in your life...

How you react to people,

how you treat people,

how you serve others, how you visit the sick and imprisoned (oh…yes you can…I hear you saying I can’t do that....yes you can).

When Satan says “You Can’t do that”…say, “Go away Satan, with God I can do anything!”

What This Means for Us

Church, we find ourselves at a crossroad...

ALL churches find themselves at this crossroad...

EITHER we RISE UP with Christ and do the work He has laid before us...

Or we can say, “you know what, Jesus, thanks but no thanks. We’ve been there, we’ve done that…and we’re not up for learning anything new.”

Every church, must answer this question:

Will we be the church of folks who gave some…but not much more than that...

Do we want to be a people who gave their bare minimum...

Or we can be folks who, like the great crowd of witnesses who came before us...

My parents and grandparents and their ancestors....

Your parents, grandparents and their ancestors...

We can be folks like vast crowd of witnesses...

and continue the legacy of Jesus Christ in our communities and beyond.

I don’t know about you…but I am ready.

And I have faith in Jesus Christ in and through you to know that you are ready to!