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Scripture Introduction:
“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”
I think one of the first times I heard the story of Romeo and Juliet it was told by Andy Griffith. “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? He popped up and says I’m right’s here...”
Now I hate to pop our bubbles here but there is one big problem with Andy’s retelling of that story. Wherefore art thou Romeo doesn’t mean “dude, where you at” The word for Shakespeare meant something different. It meant
“Romeo, Romeo, Why are you Romeo?”
The problem is that Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. They are members of the wrong family separated by bitter feuds and yet they find themselves in love.
“Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”
Now why has this story endured for so many years? I think its because we’ve all had a similar experience where we’ve felt some level of separation between what we desire and what is reality. It’s like there is a wall between us and who we’d like to become. We all know about painful divisions and bitter feuds and inheriting yuck that we might not have even had any part in.
Have you ever felt this wall? Maybe it’s a division between you and another person, maybe it’s between you and a group that you’d like to be part of, maybe it’s a particular sin or habit that you know is controlling your life but you just can’t seem to get it to stop, or maybe it’s a deeper feeling between you and God.
There was a community in the first century called Corinth. And it was divided. It was divided by the have’s and the have not’s.
You see Corinth was a place where there was this insatiable drive to be somebody, to make a name for yourself. The most prominent in society were the wealthy. There weren’t many who were the “honorable” of society and because of this it created this desire in many to be put into positions of prominence, to be honored, to (as Mr. T would say) “be somebody. As one commentator put it, there was “zeal to attain public status, promote one’s own honor, and to secure power”.
What they were really passionate about was listening to great speakers. It’s kind of strange to us in our television and internet culture but one of the big things people would do for entertainment was go listen to professional speakers give lectures. It was highly prized.
Now who do you think they listened to in Corinth? If you wanted to reach them with the gospel of Jesus what type of person would you have to be in order to get an audience?
I think you’d naturally want a person who was a celebrity. A “somebody” who could present the gospel message. You’d want somebody who was a tremendous speaker who could use his skills in rhetoric to not only gain an audience but also blow them away. I think we could ask a similar question in our day, if you wanted to convince a whole bunch of people to come to your event are you going to headline some everyday ordinary pastor that nobody has heard of, or are you going to advertise a celebrity?
So how did the apostle Paul answer our question? When he came to Corinth…how was he going to tear down that wall. That wall between people and God, the wall between the have’s and the have nots? How would he gain a hearing? What would be your strategy? This was Paul’s...
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Sermon Introduction:
What is happening here in 1 Corinthians 2 is that Paul is reminding them of how they received the gospel. And he is doing that because they are presently disunited.
Here is what I want you to see. When Paul came to Corinth he had one strategy…preach Jesus. Just keep on proclaiming the good news of Jesus, and to do it simply. No bells or whistles. Just Jesus. And what happened?
People actually came to know Jesus. A church was formed. And the Spirit of God poured out a ton of gifts on this church. Things were going well. But then Paul leaves and the church at Corinth goes a little crazy. By the time Paul has to write this letter they are blowing it on issues of human sexuality, issues of discipline, division within the body, how to partake of the Lord’s Supper, spiritual gifts, how you should live in your local community when they are a bunch of idolaters. All these questions come up.
And so what does Paul do? He will eventually address all the questions they have head on. But what does he do first? The first few chapters of 1 Corinthians he reminds them of the gospel. He once again lays that gospel foundation…in other words he preached Jesus again.
And so here is our question. Why? Why is this his strategy?
Let me tell you why this is important for you. Why do I care about some mission strategy of a dude that died a couple thousand years ago? First, because what you’re going to see here is that all the greatest problems in the universe have already been solved in Christ. Secondly, it matters because God is calling us on this same mission—and our strategy should be the same.
In order to answer this question we are going to march through biblical history a little bit.
We will start in Genesis. Everything was perfect. They had shalom. Access to God, to one another. But everything is turned on its head. And then we read this incredibly sad story:
therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Separation. You don’t have the same access to the garden as you once did. You’re going to carry around this longing…you were still made for rest, rule, and relationship but it’s going to be unfulfilled. You can’t get back into the Garden.
It starts with Cain and Able—brother murdering brother…progresses to Noah and the flood…and in that story you see a little glimpse. The door of the ark is shut…Noah is closed in. Others are closed out....we start to see some recreation happening. We see the story of Abraham…we see Isaac…Jacob…Joseph…the Genesis story ends with God’s people in slavery. And now fast forward to Moses....God rescues his people…and why, so that they may worship him. And it happens. God rescues them. But they are a whiny bunch. They end up wandering in the desert not able to enter the promised land…Hear the language…no access.
But in the wilderness they do build a tabernacle…kind of a portable worship center. But listen to part of that structure.
“And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy.
Once again there is something separating people from the LORD. And when the temple itself is built this remains. There is a curtain…it’s like a wall…that divides humanity from God. There are actual physical walls on the temple too…walls that separate. Priests from common men, common men from women, women from non-Jews, worshipping non-Jews from pagan non-Jews.
And what you see woven throughout Scripture and even in our own life is this futile quest to try to throw our own efforts at these walls. All of the idolatry that you see in the OT is this very thing. It’s this ache that we all have—an ache for rest, rule, and relationship---we want a place, a purpose, and a people.
Maybe if I can just…do enough to make God happy. Do enough good things. Be a better person.
Forget the whole thing…I’m just going to pitch a tent out here and make my own rest, rule, relationship. I’ll find rest in stuff, I’ll rule myself, I’ll have casual relationships. It’ll fill the void.
That is what was happening in Corinth. Take that guy shacking up with his step-mom. He’s trying to find place, purpose, and a people. He doesn’t know that is what he is doing—but that is very much what is driving him.
Or take all the fighting about spiritual gifts, or spiritual leaders they follow. I speak in tongues—that makes me more awesome than you. Whatever bro, I prophesy. Yeah, but do you follow Apollos or do you follow Paul. What are they doing? They are trying to find rest, rule, and relationship by their religious accolades. They think it’s a quest for God—but it’s not, it’s still a selfish grabbing at things. They are grasping for that forbidden fruit just as the first couple did.
What will rescue them, what will rescue us from this?
I want us to go one more place in Scripture. Revelation 5:1-4
Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
5:1-4—“sealed with seven seals” means that it’s totally and complete sealed. The fact that the strength of the angel is mentioned in verse 2 and proclaiming with a loud voice is John’s way of saying how precarious of a situation this is. A strong angel with a loud voice can’t open it. That’s spelled out in verse 3. Nobody can open this scroll or even look into it. In verse 4 John picks up the angels cue and begins to weep loudly. He understands the gravity of the situation.
What is this scroll? It’s the unfolding of history. It’s God’s plan of redemption. It’s everything that God is going to do. To not open the scroll means that history has no point, no destination, no climax. Allow me to spell this out a little. If that scroll is not opened then we have:
· No redemption
· No rescue
· No climax in history
· No eternity
· No resurrection of the dead
· No justice
· No purpose
· No heaven
· No unhindered relationship with the Lord
· No new heaven
· No new earth
So the church is in great peril. Who can move history?
Here is another way to hear Revelation 5:1-4. Who can break down the walls? Who can captivate our hearts? Who can get us back to the garden? Who can give us rest? Who can give us rule? Who can give us relationship?
Can human effort?
If we believe hard enough can we open the scrolls?
If we say all the right words will the scrolls open?
If we do enough good will the scrolls open?
If we just ignore them will they go away?
If we can just find a way to be joyous and happy and satisfied in the here and now will the scrolls no longer matter?
If we can get into a position of power will the scrolls open?
If we can get every person in America to vote the right way, get the right people in office, establish all the right policies, will the scrolls open?
If we could just get every one to believe just like us will the scrolls open?
If we are nice and kind people will the scrolls come open?
Nothing can open these scrolls. Human history bears this out. We cannot get back to the garden. You cannot have rest, rule, or relationship. It will not be restored. Nothing but futility.
---
It’s a Friday. And there is a man nailed to a cross. He’s been declared guilty of blasphemy, guilty of insurrection against Rome. He’s been beaten. He’s been mocked. He’s bearing marks of this abuse on his body as he’s dripping blood, writhing in agony as his breath is being taken from him. This one who claimed to be the fixer, the redeemer.
And now here he is dying on a criminals cross. Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. And it’s about the ninth hour and this criminal cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me....” And with one more loud cry.... “tetelestai”…It is finished. This man, 33 years old, born of Mary, grew up in Nazareth, leader of a religious movement, condemned as a criminal....breathes his last.
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
The curtain of the temple.
The divider. The thing that was a reminder that we no longer had access. Those walls that stood between rest, rule, and relationship.
Torn. Ripped. Just as only moments ago this man’s body had been ripped and torn and beaten and marred....so now that veil, that curtain, that divider between God and humanity was torn in two. Split down the middle. And split from top to bottom.
And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
He has opened the scrolls!!!! Weep no more, John. Weep no more, church.
What a powerful reminder this would have been to John’s original audience. Those who reject Christ, persecute Christians, even the Antichrist himself doesn’t move history. Those who mock us, those who are overturning godly principles, they do not move history. They aren’t on the throne. They don’t determine our course. Jesus Christ does. Our fears, our failures, our inadequacy doesn’t move history or even stall history. Jesus stands over every bit of it.
And now let’s land this story back into 1st Century Corinth. Why oh why is Paul insistent on preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified?
That almost sounds like a silly question now doesn’t it. Why if Jesus Christ alone can open the scrolls, and if the curtain has been torn, if it is Jesus alone who gives us rest, rule, relationship....why would I preach anything else?
Oh, he’s going to get specific. He’s going to talk about the guy shacking up with his step-mom. He’s going to address their disunity. And he’s going to keep tying it all back to Jesus.
What has tore down the walls? What will tear down the walls? Jesus the Christ.
What about for us? Why would we be about anything else? If you’re laboring and trying to tear down those walls…it’s not going to happen…you cannot get rest, rule, relationship because you cannot open the scrolls....but he can and he did…and in doing so he tears the curtain and we once again have access to God. He is now the curtain…he is the door…he is the gate…he is the way the truth and the life. He is the way to God…the lamb who was slain.
But I need to do one more thing before we close. I’ve heard messages like this be used as a hammer to hit grieving people and try to dry up their tears. Or who would say to a Romeo and Juliet—who are living in a very real division and feeling very real pain because of that division—to say something like “don’t be sad. Don’t grieve.”
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Verses 6-8 simply outline for us the worthiness of this Lion. Yet now we are given a different image—he is a “Lamb standing though slain”. The seven horns and the seven eyes are symbolic of absolute authority and knowledge which extends over all the earth. When we see the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures bow before this Lamb and worship we see that He is deity. Very God of very God.
Oh the beauty of this last statement…”and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints”. Do you know what this is?
This is your weeping. This is our cries to the Lord, “Jesus make this right. Jesus take this pain. Lord heal me. Lord bind my wandering heart to thee”. Every worry, fear, and anxiety that you have cast upon the Lord is here in this bowl full of incense. And here they are laid at the feet of King Jesus. Our plea for relief is being heard. Jesus Christ is moving history. We do have redemption, purpose, justice, etc.
Your tears aren’t dumb. Your tears aren’t in the way of God redeeming things. Your tears are the very thing of redemption.
You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
And it strikes me that some of those tears are those of the Jesus who wept. Oh what wonderful mystery. There will be weeping this week. There is mourning as they lay him in the tomb. There is weeping even when the curtain is torn in two.
But Sunday is coming...