A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

Dinner With Jesus

Revelation 7:9-17, Preached at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, April 29, 2007

The couple was 85 years old, and had been married for sixty years. They were both in very good health, largely due to the wife's insistence on healthy foods and exercise for the last decade. One day, however, their good health didn't help when they went on a rare vacation and their plane crashed. They reached the pearly gates, and St. Peter escorted them inside. He took them to a beautiful mansion, furnished in gold. The old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost. "Why, nothing," Peter replied, "Remember, this is your reward in Heaven." The old man looked out the window and right there he saw a championship golf course, finer and more beautiful than any ever built on Earth. "What are the greens fees?" grumbled the old man. "This is heaven," St. Peter replied. "You can play for free, every day." Next they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch, with every imaginable cuisine laid out before them, from seafood to steaks to exotic desserts, free flowing beverages. "Don't even ask," said St. Peter to the man. "This is Heaven, it is all free for you to enjoy."  The old man looked around and glanced nervously at his wife. "Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol foods, and the decaffeinated tea?" he asked. "That's the best part," St. Peter replied. "You can eat and drink as much as you like of whatever you like, and you will never get fat or sick. This is Heaven!" The old man glared at his wife and said, "You and your bran muffins. We could have been here ten years ago!” Let’s not take this too seriously. Eat your bran muffins everyone.

Our text for the day is about turning your attention to what really matters.

You and I know we live in an information overload age. We are also living in a relationship overload age as well. Not real ones, mind you, but fake, superficial ones, most clearly seen in the adoration of celebrities. The thing is, real people need our real energy. Those who are in heaven in our passage get to put their focus on what and whom matters, and it’s their devotion to God that brings them joy. Cut through the distractions. Reject the substitutions. Get connected to the one or ones who really matter. Focus your energy on what’s really important. Don’t let people or priorities slip through your heart. All people and issues are not created equal for you. Spend your life on those who value your gifts, on those who require your care. Put your time into what makes the right difference. As Proverbs 34.10 says, “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”

What we want to see this morning is that staying focused really makes the difference.

For all of the insurance industry is good — but nobody can insure against the momentary lapse in judgment of a toddler and a pool, or the quick turn of a head at the wrong time while driving, or the trusting of someone you thought you knew for a business partnership. There are challenges to character that occur often. Someone who keeps his name clean and clear may fail to be vigilant one time and succumb to stealing money or abusing power, and the consequences are huge. A newspaper article reported on marital infidelity and how a number of business travelers cited the 1000 mile rule: If you travel beyond a thousand miles from home, then what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas type of thing. But we have to keep that connection, no matter how far away we are. As Scripture says, “Hold fast to what is good.”1Thessalonians 5.21

Be faithful even when others are failing. Take devotion to the next level. Invest yourself in the one who belongs to you. Don’t leave your heart behind but keep the ones who make up your home by your side always.

When we look at our reading from Revelation this morning, we get a glimpse of heaven, which of course looks nothing at all like the heaven in that bran muffin joke. Our dinner with Jesus, our heavenly banquet, will not be a sit down meal, a sumptuous smorgasbord of meats and desserts, but will be a spiritual feast that will forever satisfy our new spiritual bodies. Paul points out “that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” 2 Corinthians 5.1 Because “if there is a physical body, then there is also a spiritual body,” for us who are created by God for his creation first, then for heaven second. (1 Corinthians 15. 44) You see, we aren’t angels, but they aren’t us either. Look, God’s great achievement is this universe created from his power and by his wisdom. The angels are not created for this terrestrial, physical orb, but we are. And on top of that, we are also created by God in the divine image. So we belong both to God’s great labor revealed in physical space and time and we also belong to God’s own image, revealed in his nature and character. We are the best of both worlds, and this is something that not even the angels can say. So if there is a heaven for the angels, a spiritual dominion in which they dwell eternally in the joy of their creator, then we too shall receive that reward, and more, when God calls his saints and people from creation to his Kingdom. What a victory that will be! For just as there is an earth there is a heaven. So hold on to the fact of your glorious future. Make way for God today so that you will be prepared for God on that day.

It’s not bad form to look forward to such a day as that homecoming day. John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of our country and a very accomplished man, endured a particularly bad winter when he was very old. He was in bed for months. When spring came he was determined to go for a walk and, with the aid of his cane, he made his way slowly down the street. A friend passing by said to him, “Well, tell me, how is John Adams today?” The old gentleman replied, “If you’re asking about this old house in which John Adams lives, I can tell you it is in pretty bad shape—the windows are broken out, the roof is caving in, I can’t remember anything any more. The foundations are weak and tottery. Why most any wind that comes along makes this old house shake and tremble. I dare say that this house is in such ill condition that no doubt its tenant will soon be moving out. But, if you’re asking about John Adams himself, then I can tell you he’s all right and will be a thousand years from now.” And more than all right, when you consider what lies ahead.

The message of salvation rings loud through Revelation, louder than that of judgment. In the end there will be a redeemed, renewed and restored cosmos, not a destroyed one. Yet in so many books about Revelation it is the message of judgment that rings loudest. But the fact is in Revelation itself the mes­sage of salvation is expansive: God is saving not just a select few, not just a literal 144,000, but a vast multitude, a symbolic 144,000. When God comes, he comes in judgment, but he also comes in salvation. Indeed, he comes in judgment so that he might come in salvation, for salvation requires ridding his world of evil. And this is what the great multitude robed in white, signifying their purity and victory, say, “Salvation belongs to our God … and to the Lamb!” Throughout Revelation the heavenly worship around the throne is antiphonal. The song of one group spurs another to respond. The song of the saints spurs the angels to fall on their faces in worship. “Amen,” they sing. They add a seven-fold ascription of praise to God. The one who blesses should be blessed. The one who created all should receive all the glory. God holds all wisdom. God deserves our thanksgiving. God should be worshiped, held in highest honor. With God is the power to create and with God is the might to fulfill. Amen.

You know, sometimes we get so wrapped up in the words that we don’t see what is actually being said. The simplest truth is that the saints, and the angels and the four living creatures and the elders all are completely devoted to God, the one who truly deserves such devotion. They love God and because of this, they worship the Lord. And this is their joy. This is our joy as well, even in this world. We often however forfeit lesser happinesses for it. Instead, devote yourself to the best. Fulfill your vows. Stay loyal to the ones who love you and the ones you love, for the Lord rewards those who place devotion on the highest rung. Be loving by being committed to their well-being and happiness. Build yourself up in joy by building others up in love. Value the good character of others. Don’t correct or discipline but rather care for and delight in the ones around you. Let the Holy Spirit open your heart to patience and kindness.   

Perhaps I can give you an example not to follow in this regard. A husband and wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, he realized he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight the next day. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence—and lose—he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 a.m." He left it where he knew she would find it. The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 a.m. and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00 a.m. Wake up." When it comes down to it, the best way to love someone else is for you yourself to be lovable. Take the lead in loving and you will find you get what you’re looking for.

A pastor had been invited to give the invocation at an athletic field used for the Special Olympics. The events started with a parade of athletes; 800 young men and women made their way around the track, banners held high and flags waving, cheering as they went. Some of them limped, some had braces on their legs and used crutches to walk. Others had arms that dangled uselessly by their sides. Some were in wheelchairs and had to be pushed but they were all there filled with the excitement of the games that were to come. Finally, they made their way around the track and into the main grandstand to await the beginning of the games. Everyone looked down to the right corner for the entry of the Olympic torch. A young teenage boy named Joel entered the stadium and began to run around the track with the torch held high. The farther Joel went the faster he ran until finally he was running as hard as he could go. The people in the stands began to catch the excitement of this young man and his run to the finish line and the platform. They stood and began to applaud, then to yell and finally to cheer. Young Joel came down before the stands, ran up the platform and at the top, turned and in true Rocky fashion, jumping up and down waving his arms, he thrust the torch in the air as high as it would go. Before the games started, before the first race was run, before any one of them grew too weak and tired to finish a race, before anyone finished last, victory had already been won. Victory was in the air, it was in their faces, it was in their voices, it was in their hearts.

The victory is ours, not to be won, but rather to be received. Truly, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and be to our God forever and ever! Amen.

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