Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Handout
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
Last Sunday, Marshall Mead in his sermon, “Great Among the Nations”, shared and exorted that we use the that God has shuttered the temple (our physical meeting space) to reevaluate our personal and corporate worship. The book of Malachi reveals several sins in Israel that can become problems for christians as well.
Contempt for God’s table
Weariness in worship
Perversion of divine principles
Robbing of God
Devaluation of righteousness
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
With all that is going on right now, people are looking for answers. It is easy to look towards thing that are not Jesus in times of crisis, to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), to our federal and local governments, to the news media, or even social media. With so many voices it is easy become frightened, overwhelmed, and angry. I would like to exhort us to pause, lift our eyes and focus our attention on Jesus. We may not be able to “fix” the world health crisis that has our world on lock down, but we can refocus our attention from the many sources of negativity toward Jesus, the wellspring of all authentic worship.
Rev
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
We are truly a blessed people, we have been invited to the wedding supper of the Lord. Sometimes we can miss the meaning of this and be so focused on the wedding ceremony that we miss the beauty of the marriage. As christians we can get so caught up in the production value of our services, that we miss the real value of being together. We can start to worship the perfect worship service instead of the perfecter of our faith. Even the apostle John misplaced his worship, as he bowed down to the Lord’s angel. We too must head the angel’s rebuke and not worship good things, even spiritual things, rather than worship God. When we go to a wedding, the focus is on the bride and the groom, everything else slips into the background. The venue, the witnesses, the food and the dancing are all secondary to the covenant relationship that is being formed. As the world is taking a collective pause, let us take time to focus on Jesus and his bride, the church. During this time how will we as individuals strengthen our convictions and deepen our personal worship? How will we engage our friends, family, neighbors, both christian and non-christian in ways that will demonstrate God’s loving kindness to the church and beyond? What will see see or treat differently once we are able to meet again collectively?
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
From time to time God pulls back the curtain the curtain and reveals himself. I want to call attention to the names given to Jesus in these six verses: Faithful and True, The Word of God, King of kings and Lord of lords. It would be easy to get caught up in all the action, I mean he is galloping in on a white horse, waging war with firery eyes and blood stained clothes, he is followed by the armies of heavan and has a sword protruding from his mouth to strike down the nations to rule them with an iron rod. Jesus is literally bringing forth the wrath of God. But even en the throes of battle, the message is to trust he who is Faithful and True. My prayer is that, as God’s people, we would see past the circumstances, past the fear and, past the hopelessness in order to see He who is Faithful and True at work at a time of panic and deseperation.
There are only a few times in scripture when God allows man to see past the earth into the heavenly realms. I believe that he does so in order to strenghthen his people for the task at hand. My prayer is that God will use this moment in time to open the eyes of our hearts, and that we as God’s church might remember who he is in order to revel Him to the world we live in.
Let’s look at some examples...
In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
At the beginning of his calling, God opened up the heavens to Ezekiel in order to change the prophet’s perspective. Verse one states that he saw visions of God. The world around him had become hardened and rebellious towards God, much like the world we live in. As God’s people we need to renew our commitment to seeing God’s visions. We need to dream bigger than ourselves and not be afraid to take on responsabilty in order to see those dreams become reality.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
If Jesus would have lbeen persuaded by John, this opportunity would have been lost. God opened up the heavens to demonstrate his pleasure with his son. I wonder how many times we miss this type of oportunity because we listen to the wrong voices? Even when those voices are the voices of good people. We need to make sure that we don’t miss the oportunities, God gives us short glimpses.
Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
My inbox has been inundated lately with messages of “do not fear”, and I believe that this is important. The real question however is, what do we fear? Do we fear death or do we fear missing the opportunity to make God known to a world that has all but forgotten him?
We must look to heaven in tough times, if we are observant and righteous, God just might pull back the curtain. God gave Stephen a glimpse of His Glory, he let him see Jesusso that he would have the strength to meet the challenges before him with faith. Stephen did not make it through the challenge unscathed, and more than likely we won’t all make it through this challenge either. But, if we truly look to Jesus , our lives like Stephen’s, can become a catalyst for change in the hurting world we live in.
As God’s people let us look to Jesus and pray :
That He would reveal to us how we can worhip him in more meaningful and authentic ways in poth private and corporate settings.
That we would see God visions and dream God dreams.
That we would would listen to God’s voice and not just good voices.
That God’s people would be filled with the Holy Spirit and would courageously make God known to those around us .