Sermon Tone Analysis

If all I got out of all the time and effort that went into that jeep over the last two years is a laundry list of sermon illustrations, at least I got something, right.

I was so certain that everything was taken care of.

The new engine would fix all the problems.

Maybe a small blip here or there like a battery or something, but nothing truly inconvenient.

And I believed that right up until it stranded me on the side of the road in the middle-of-nowhere Texas the first weekend in November.

It was just an alternator, and completely my fault- apparently if you submerge something that generates electricity into a giant pool of water, you can run into issues, but it was the final straw for me…ok for Lindsey, it was the final straw for Lindsey, and when she told me to go buy a truck, I smiled, said yes ma’am and finally all the bad times with my vehicle were over, right?

Two days after the jeep had stranded me on the side of the highway for the last time, I got to buy my new truck.

I bought that truck two and a half weeks ago.

I’ve loved having a truck.

I’ve proudly showed it off to everyone.

But most importantly, I’ve been happy knowing that, at least for the foreseeable future, my vehicle issues are gone.

Five days ago while driving 75 down the highway at 5:45 am, I hit a deer.

Apparently I was incorrect in thinking that all my vehicle woes were over.

How certain we as people often are that we are in control of what goes on around us.

We assume our supremacy and power over the world.

Modern conveniences have made it to where we can go where we want when we want, do what we want when we want.

We often genuinely believe that we can make things be the way that we want them to be.

We buy into that idea of control.

If we pull the right strings, exert the right influence, make the right plans, everything will go exactly how we want it to.

We pronounce ourselves masters of our lives and of our fates, the proverbial captains of our own ships.

We buy into that idea completely, even though experience and evidence teach us that that idea is really just an illusion.

There are plenty of things outside our control, nearly everything is, in reality, outside our control.

Those of you who have experienced major life disruptions that you didn’t anticipate, plan for, or ever think possible know exactly what I mean, but even small moments should remind us that we are not the only deciders of what happens in our lives and in our world.

Today’s passage is just a few short verses from the beginning of the book of Revelation.

Revelation isn’t as scary or as confusing a text as we often make it out to be, and while I’m not diving into the whole of the book, knowing a few things about the text and its setting help in clarifying the few verses we are looking at this morning.

The writing is addressed to seven churches who are in very different situations despite being relatively close together.

The towns on the tips are 170 miles apart, the others are all inside that area, and they are all cities of some prominence in an increasingly important region of the Roman Empire.

As far as the powers at be in the Roman Empire were concerned, dedication to the state was THE most important thing.

You could do whatever you wanted, believe whatever you wanted, follow whoever however you wanted, as long as all of that took second place to your loyalty to the empire when push came to shove.

The seven churches on the receiving end of this writing are all different.

Some have cozied up to the empire, enjoy the fruit of its labor and while they may not say, or may not even realize, that they give priority to the state and its well-being and function over faithfulness to God, they do.

To them, John makes it clear that if they’re not being rejected by a state that demands their loyalty first, then they aren’t fully following God.

Other churches aren’t giving their primary allegiance to the state, instead giving it to God, and are paying the price.

John begs them to hold on, to continue being the shining example of a costly discipleship.

But both groups, all followers, need to know why allegiance to a kingdom and a ruler that isn’t tangible, isn’t earthbound, is important.

I don’t think we are in a place that’s significantly different.

We, like the thousands of years worth of followers of God who have come before us, often do a much better job focusing on the things which we think we have some control over.

I also recognize that when it feels like everything is spiraling out of control, it can be difficult to believe that there is order and control anywhere in all of creation.

I think today’s passage speaks to both and reminds us of Jesus’ supremacy and where God’s primary work is.

We are in

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

7 Look!