Our readings this week talk about three aspects of the Christian life. I’ll begin with the reading from Revelation, for it is the aspect of the Christian life that leads most people to Christ in the first place – eternal life with God and Christ. The Apostle John is generally recognized as the author, writing after he experienced an extended vision of the far future when Jesus would return to earth. This chapter is after the great wars and the wrath of God has been poured out on the earth, after the great Resurrection that is promised to all believers.
(For Audio Podcast version, click here.)
John wrote:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:
Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them.
They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer,
because the previous things have passed away.
Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water as a gift to the thirsty from the spring of life.
It is a beautiful vision of our future. It is a beautiful vision of what lies ahead for me and for you. It is a wonderful view of what will happen one day – and turns upside down the way many people live their lives.
Did you notice that we don’t go to Heaven? No, instead, God comes down from Heaven to be with us. “God’s dwelling is with humanity and He will live with them”. “God Himself with be with them”.
Many people, even Christians, often work very very hard to be good enough for Heaven. We mess up from time to time, with a harsh word here, a mean and nasty act there. We harm ourselves and others, and then try to justify it by saying that “at least we aren’t as bad as so-and-so”, as if God has a quota of people who can get into Heaven:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:
Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them.
They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer,
because the previous things have passed away.
Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water as a gift to the thirsty from the spring of life.
It is a beautiful vision of our future. It is a beautiful vision of what lies ahead for me and for you. It is a wonderful view of what will happen one day – and turns upside down the way many people live their lives.
Did you notice that we don’t go to Heaven? No, instead, God comes down from Heaven to be with us. “God’s dwelling is with humanity and He will live with them”. “God Himself with be with them”.
Many people, even Christians, often work very very hard to be good enough for Heaven. We mess up from time to time, with a harsh word here, a mean and nasty act there. We harm ourselves and others, and then try to justify it by saying that “at least we aren’t as bad as so-and-so”, as if God has a quota of people who can get into Heaven:
“Heaven’s doors are open, but only the best million people get in.”
“Sorry, sir, you are currently ranked 1,000,002, so you’ll have to work a bit harder. Maybe you can make your neighbor stumble a bit?"
So turn to your neighbor and say, “Neighbor, would you curse a little bit today so I can get ahead of you in the line for Heaven?” HUH!?
No, God has a clear, definite cut off point for to be with Him that doesn’t depend upon how good or bad other people are. He has drawn a very bright line. We have exactly two ways to be saved. Either we can be perfect – never, ever in our whole life sinning – which is impossible, for we goofed up when we were children – or we can say to God, “Jesus is your Son and worthy of being followed. I will choose to follow Jesus because I am not worthy, I am not good enough, only Jesus is good enough. Will you accept me as your subject, your servant, your slave?”
And so John shows us that one day, God will come down to us, to dwell with us because we are not good enough for Heaven, but if we choose to follow Jesus, we are good enough for God to be with us. And that is how our eternal life is secured – by trusting in the power and love of Jesus for us.
Therefore we probably should spend substantial time and effort trying to learn what it means to follow Jesus, attending church regularly, getting involved in a Sunday school class and a midweek study and discussion, reading our Bible daily before bed or when we awaken or at lunch. That’s why our Sunday evening service has a question and answer period, our Tuesday and Wednesday Bible studies are really discussion times.
We need to practice two-way prayer, speaking to God and listening for the response of the Holy Spirit. Good times to pray are in the shower and when driving to and from work. Those are when I pray.
The people I really pity are those people who make excuses for behavior they and the people around them know are wrong. They are the people who take pride in how bad they are...how rude they are or how much they gossip or how angry they can get. “This is just the way I am”, they say. “I’ll never change.” That sort of comment and belief is making a rude gesture at God and the Holy Spirit. For we all can change with God’s help. We just have to want to change and ask for help.
Learning to follow Jesus means that this year I should be a better follower of Christ than I was last year. He’s still working on me. This year I am a bit more regular in my church attendance, I am a bit more involved in church activities, I give a bit more money, I take my Bible reading and prayer more seriously, I get more involved in my church group. Each year, I get more and more Christ-like. Yes, I often have to ask Jesus for help, but that’s okay. Jesus wants to help me, just as He wants to help you. Are you a bit more holy than you were last year? What will you work on this year so next year you will be a bit more like Jesus?
The first aspect of the Christian life is that we are not good enough for Heaven, but we are good enough for God, and God will help us become better every year if we ask God for help. That first step is focused upon ourselves.
No, God has a clear, definite cut off point for to be with Him that doesn’t depend upon how good or bad other people are. He has drawn a very bright line. We have exactly two ways to be saved. Either we can be perfect – never, ever in our whole life sinning – which is impossible, for we goofed up when we were children – or we can say to God, “Jesus is your Son and worthy of being followed. I will choose to follow Jesus because I am not worthy, I am not good enough, only Jesus is good enough. Will you accept me as your subject, your servant, your slave?”
And so John shows us that one day, God will come down to us, to dwell with us because we are not good enough for Heaven, but if we choose to follow Jesus, we are good enough for God to be with us. And that is how our eternal life is secured – by trusting in the power and love of Jesus for us.
Therefore we probably should spend substantial time and effort trying to learn what it means to follow Jesus, attending church regularly, getting involved in a Sunday school class and a midweek study and discussion, reading our Bible daily before bed or when we awaken or at lunch. That’s why our Sunday evening service has a question and answer period, our Tuesday and Wednesday Bible studies are really discussion times.
We need to practice two-way prayer, speaking to God and listening for the response of the Holy Spirit. Good times to pray are in the shower and when driving to and from work. Those are when I pray.
The people I really pity are those people who make excuses for behavior they and the people around them know are wrong. They are the people who take pride in how bad they are...how rude they are or how much they gossip or how angry they can get. “This is just the way I am”, they say. “I’ll never change.” That sort of comment and belief is making a rude gesture at God and the Holy Spirit. For we all can change with God’s help. We just have to want to change and ask for help.
Learning to follow Jesus means that this year I should be a better follower of Christ than I was last year. He’s still working on me. This year I am a bit more regular in my church attendance, I am a bit more involved in church activities, I give a bit more money, I take my Bible reading and prayer more seriously, I get more involved in my church group. Each year, I get more and more Christ-like. Yes, I often have to ask Jesus for help, but that’s okay. Jesus wants to help me, just as He wants to help you. Are you a bit more holy than you were last year? What will you work on this year so next year you will be a bit more like Jesus?
The first aspect of the Christian life is that we are not good enough for Heaven, but we are good enough for God, and God will help us become better every year if we ask God for help. That first step is focused upon ourselves.
John 13:31-35 Audio Gospel Reading
The second aspect of the Christian life comes from the Gospel of John, in the 13th chapter. John tells us of Jesus’ talk at the Last Supper. Jesus says:
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So if following Jesus is the key to eternal life, showing love to other people is the way people know that you are following Jesus. If you love each other, people will know you are indeed followers of Christ.
We have many people who have studied Jesus, but do not follow Jesus. There are many people who have been baptized but do not follow Jesus. We all know of these people, for they are the hateful people we have encountered in our churches, the people who follow a particular interpretation of the Law of Moses, the people who are most concerned with being better than their neighbors and keep their eyes and their comments on their neighbor’s behavior rather than upon their own behavior. For love is rarely shown when we point out the flaws in our friend’s behavior.
The second aspect of the Christian life comes from the Gospel of John, in the 13th chapter. John tells us of Jesus’ talk at the Last Supper. Jesus says:
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So if following Jesus is the key to eternal life, showing love to other people is the way people know that you are following Jesus. If you love each other, people will know you are indeed followers of Christ.
We have many people who have studied Jesus, but do not follow Jesus. There are many people who have been baptized but do not follow Jesus. We all know of these people, for they are the hateful people we have encountered in our churches, the people who follow a particular interpretation of the Law of Moses, the people who are most concerned with being better than their neighbors and keep their eyes and their comments on their neighbor’s behavior rather than upon their own behavior. For love is rarely shown when we point out the flaws in our friend’s behavior.
I’ve found that those few times I have felt compelled as a pastor to point out these flaws to a member of one of my congregation I have found that it is extraordinarily difficult to say this in a way that helps the person rather than hurts the person, simply because none of us like to have our flaws pointed out by another. We didn’t enjoy it when we were children, we didn’t enjoy it as teens, and we still don’t enjoy it as adults.
Yet, we know that we have flaws. And so, it is important for our own growth that we develop a relationship with someone to whom we give permission to point out our flaws because we know they love us. And we must love our friends and neighbors and relatives despite the fact that they are very clumsy when they try to point out our flaws to us, for, you see, it is often a mark of love when someone tries to point out our flaws. Not always...but often, especially when that person is close to us.
So how do we love another? For learning to love others is the second major step of the Christian life.
According to the excellent book, The Five Love Languages, there are five ways: Words, deeds of service, touch, gifts, and quality time. Five ways to love others. Let's see how that works:
We tell people when they are doing good things. We tell people we love them. We tell them they are important to us. We tell them their children bring us joy. We use words that life them up.
We do good deeds of service for others. We clean their sink, we repair their cars, we trim their hedges, we take out the garbage, we pressure wash their homes.
We give people hugs after asking permission. We give the frail person an arm to walk on, we help them from their car. We shake their hands. We gently touch their shoulders when they are praying with tears. We let them cry on our shoulders.
We give gifts to people we love. A box of chocolate, some flowers. We bring them a gift card for Lowe’s or Home Depot when their home needs paint, a bag of groceries when they are struggling with money, diapers when they have a new baby, a pie for their celebration or a meal when they are sick. We give them a Bible when they need one or a devotional book if they have one.
And we share quality time with the people we love. We sit and listen to their boring stories and we tell them our uplifting, funny stories. (Have you ever noticed that their stories are boring and ours are always interesting? That might have something to do with our point of view, eh?)
Yet, we know that we have flaws. And so, it is important for our own growth that we develop a relationship with someone to whom we give permission to point out our flaws because we know they love us. And we must love our friends and neighbors and relatives despite the fact that they are very clumsy when they try to point out our flaws to us, for, you see, it is often a mark of love when someone tries to point out our flaws. Not always...but often, especially when that person is close to us.
So how do we love another? For learning to love others is the second major step of the Christian life.
According to the excellent book, The Five Love Languages, there are five ways: Words, deeds of service, touch, gifts, and quality time. Five ways to love others. Let's see how that works:
We tell people when they are doing good things. We tell people we love them. We tell them they are important to us. We tell them their children bring us joy. We use words that life them up.
We do good deeds of service for others. We clean their sink, we repair their cars, we trim their hedges, we take out the garbage, we pressure wash their homes.
We give people hugs after asking permission. We give the frail person an arm to walk on, we help them from their car. We shake their hands. We gently touch their shoulders when they are praying with tears. We let them cry on our shoulders.
We give gifts to people we love. A box of chocolate, some flowers. We bring them a gift card for Lowe’s or Home Depot when their home needs paint, a bag of groceries when they are struggling with money, diapers when they have a new baby, a pie for their celebration or a meal when they are sick. We give them a Bible when they need one or a devotional book if they have one.
And we share quality time with the people we love. We sit and listen to their boring stories and we tell them our uplifting, funny stories. (Have you ever noticed that their stories are boring and ours are always interesting? That might have something to do with our point of view, eh?)
We work together on the car and paint together on the fence. We invite them over for grilled hot dogs or steaks, and tell them all they can bring is a salad or deviled eggs. We meet them for lunch or breakfast and we use the time to talk about the love of Christ, for one day we want to be able to spend years with them in New Jerusalem, and teaching them about Christ’s love today is the best way we can assure us both of that future meeting.
And this leads us to our third aspect of the Christian life. If at first we are concentrating upon getting ourselves better, then we begin to work more and more at loving others, the third aspect of the Christian life is found in Peter’s story which is first told in Acts 10 and then Peter repeats the story here in Acts 11 to a group of believers.
And this leads us to our third aspect of the Christian life. If at first we are concentrating upon getting ourselves better, then we begin to work more and more at loving others, the third aspect of the Christian life is found in Peter’s story which is first told in Acts 10 and then Peter repeats the story here in Acts 11 to a group of believers.
Acts 11:1-18
Simon Peter had been raised as a good, Law-following Jew. This particular day, up in the sun on the roof of a house, Peter had a vision, a vision of a sheet or tarpaulin being let down with all sorts of animals on it – sheep, cattle, pigs, lizards, birds. A voice told Peter to kill and eat, but Peter protested that He had never eaten anything unclean like pigs or lizards and never would. But the voice told Peter that what God has made clean he must not call common.
About this time some Romans came and asked Peter to follow him to the next town. When Romans came and asked you to follow them, you did that because they carried weapons and ordinary people did not. Of course, ordinarily, Jews would not associate with Romans, for they considered them to be dirty, evil, nasty men and women.
Simon Peter had been raised as a good, Law-following Jew. This particular day, up in the sun on the roof of a house, Peter had a vision, a vision of a sheet or tarpaulin being let down with all sorts of animals on it – sheep, cattle, pigs, lizards, birds. A voice told Peter to kill and eat, but Peter protested that He had never eaten anything unclean like pigs or lizards and never would. But the voice told Peter that what God has made clean he must not call common.
About this time some Romans came and asked Peter to follow him to the next town. When Romans came and asked you to follow them, you did that because they carried weapons and ordinary people did not. Of course, ordinarily, Jews would not associate with Romans, for they considered them to be dirty, evil, nasty men and women.
When the group arrived in the next town, it turned out that Cornelius, the Roman centurion, or captain, wanted to hear about Jesus. Peter began to speak and suddenly everyone was hit by the Holy Spirit and started praising God. Peter put two and two together and realized that God had declared the Gentile, pagan Romans clean now, and so Peter baptized these men and women. He also said: “Now I really understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him.”
And this is the third aspect of the Christian life. We are to talk about God and Christ not just to members of our family, not just to our friends, not just to our neighbors, but to every person. We are to learn to treat all people equally.
If the first step of the Christian life is getting ourselves right with God, and the second step is learning to show love to others, the third step is when we no longer show favoritism, but learn to share the good news of Christ with all people, loving all people, teaching all people.
How far along are you?
Are you a beginner, trying to develop the self-discipline that puts you on the way of holiness, following Jesus, doing more than just studying Jesus but learning to follow Jesus?
Or are you beginning to look around you and show love to others, your friends, your relatives, your neighbors? Are you practicing the five languages of love?
Or are you more advanced, beginning to accept all people, to look at each person as someone who needs God’s love, even those people you don’t particularly like? Are you learning that God's will always is more important than our preferences?
In each case, we are best helped in our progress if we learn to study our Bible more carefully and listen more carefully to the Holy Spirit.
When Peter encountered the Roman centurion Cornelius and his household, Peter saw the Holy Spirit come upon the household. And he remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
My friends, most of us have been baptized with water. If you have not been baptized with water, please let me know this week and we will arrange a baptism time over the next few weeks.
But has the Holy Spirit come upon you?
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be talking more about the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit operates in and through believers. Do not doubt – the Book of Acts is clear that the Holy Spirit was what stirred the massive expansion of the church in the days of the Apostles, from a small band of about 120 followers of Christ when He returned to Heaven, to many thousands over the next couple of years.
We are poised on the edge of a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But first, we must learn to love one another much deeper than before. So I am asking you to stand at this time and turn to your neighbor. Say, “Neighbor!” “I love you!” and then tell them why you love them so much. And then, tell your next neighbor why you love them. And continue this.
And this is the third aspect of the Christian life. We are to talk about God and Christ not just to members of our family, not just to our friends, not just to our neighbors, but to every person. We are to learn to treat all people equally.
If the first step of the Christian life is getting ourselves right with God, and the second step is learning to show love to others, the third step is when we no longer show favoritism, but learn to share the good news of Christ with all people, loving all people, teaching all people.
How far along are you?
Are you a beginner, trying to develop the self-discipline that puts you on the way of holiness, following Jesus, doing more than just studying Jesus but learning to follow Jesus?
Or are you beginning to look around you and show love to others, your friends, your relatives, your neighbors? Are you practicing the five languages of love?
Or are you more advanced, beginning to accept all people, to look at each person as someone who needs God’s love, even those people you don’t particularly like? Are you learning that God's will always is more important than our preferences?
In each case, we are best helped in our progress if we learn to study our Bible more carefully and listen more carefully to the Holy Spirit.
When Peter encountered the Roman centurion Cornelius and his household, Peter saw the Holy Spirit come upon the household. And he remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
My friends, most of us have been baptized with water. If you have not been baptized with water, please let me know this week and we will arrange a baptism time over the next few weeks.
But has the Holy Spirit come upon you?
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be talking more about the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit operates in and through believers. Do not doubt – the Book of Acts is clear that the Holy Spirit was what stirred the massive expansion of the church in the days of the Apostles, from a small band of about 120 followers of Christ when He returned to Heaven, to many thousands over the next couple of years.
We are poised on the edge of a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But first, we must learn to love one another much deeper than before. So I am asking you to stand at this time and turn to your neighbor. Say, “Neighbor!” “I love you!” and then tell them why you love them so much. And then, tell your next neighbor why you love them. And continue this.
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