Scripture: Revelation 21:1-7; Matthew 28:19-20 Series: 2022
Preaching on Revelation 21:1-7, the sermon frames the new heaven and new earth as the ‘Amen’ of God—his faithful completion of creation in redemption—tied to the congregational Amen at communion. It argues our true identity rests not in what we make or do but in who we are in the God who is love, and that the just (not vengeful) God’s kingdom is already present, fueling the Great Commission. Engaging Bernard Williams’s ‘Tedium of Immortality,’ it distinguishes eternal life as redeemed and transformed desire from a boring endless continuation of the present, and closes by tying new life to the start of Lent.
Illustrations: planning-tools-evolution, williams-tedium-immortality, peanut-butter-jelly-decade, guests-never-leave, child-first-birthday-cake
February 27
New Creation
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look! I’m making all things new.” He also said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “All is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will freely give water from the life-giving spring. Those who emerge victorious will inherit these things. I will be their God, and they will be my sons and daughters. Revelation 21:1-7
As I have grown older, i have become much more of a planner. Earlier in my life, I didn’t plan many things because I didn’t have many things to plan. It seemed like a waste of time. I would do what I needed to do for school or my job, and then I would fill my with what happened to be available. When I was in seminary, I read.
Now I am responsible for a congregation. I have a family to help support. I don’t want to miss things. Sunday comes every week. In a year, there will still be a Sunday. It should not be a surprise.
I change planning strategies during different times. Ministry is one of those professions that has to be self-regulating. I could spend 50 hours a week on just my sermon, or I could spend it all on phone calls and visits, or organizational issues in the church, or on future planning.
I’ve used a productivity planner, bullet planner, atomic planner. I’ve had lists and goals and schedules. Now I carry around a little field notes book to jot down lists and thoughts. I will probably get tired of it next month and find another tool to plan with.
We plan around who we are. Around what our identity is. We make plans for our future. Plans for retirement. Plans based on the kind of person we think we are.
One of the aspects of Revelation that has drawn people to it is that they think that they get a plan of what their future with God can be. I think that there are images of what our future with God is, but it is not a plan like you can write down on a calendar.
Our future with God is like a city descending. Like a new heaven and a new earth. And that means that all the plans we have made up until now probably will not fit into the new city.
Series Intro
The book of revelation is about our identity. What is the source of our identity. Is it Rome? Is it our job? Is it our family?
Through this series we have also been looking at different aspects of the communion. We have looked at the Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord Be with you, and also with you, and Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.
Today we look at the congregational Amen. This doesn’t seem like much. It is only one word. It comes after what is called the Epectesis which is the calling on the Holy Spirit to be present with us. Different traditions share communion in different ways, but all of them have a liturgy. I’ve joked with some folks before that the churches that try to seem the most spontaneous demand the most control over what goes on in worship. They still have a liturgy. To worship is to have a liturgy, literally a work of the people. Something we do together. How do we end that time? How do we separate worship time for normal life time?
And then everybody says Amen. Everybody says ‘Amen’.
Amen is an assent to what is happening. It is confirmation of what has happened. New creation is the Amen of God. We participate in it when we say Amen during communion. The new heavens and the new earth descending represent God’s faithfulness to creation.
When the pastor says, Pour out your Holy Spirit,” and then when we all say, ‘Amen’, we are affirming God’s faithfulness to us in this meal. We are able to believe in God’s faithfulness because the God who is the Alpha is also the Omega. There is a continuity between creation and redemption.
As well, our starting point for the end of all things should be the justice of God. God is righteous and good and so the end of all things should be righteous and good. Though they are used in very different ways in English, righteousness and Justice are the same word in Greek and Latin. Diakosunai or iustitia.
The God who is just, not the God who is vengeful. Not a petty, arbitrary deity. The God who is just is the God who is love. The final word of Amen is a word from the mouth of Jesus Christ, the son of God, who became human and died for us to reconcile the world to God and shows us the meaning of love..
One of the easy ways to misunderstand the Book of Revelation is find a disconnect between it and the rest of the Bible. In fact, it is an exclamation point over all of the other books and all of creation history.
God is still faithful. The Alpha is the one who will be the Omega. Our final destiny is not just in the future: it is present here. That is the point of the Great Commission: the kingdom of heaven is here. Go forth and make new disciples.
The kingdom of heaven is not just some churchy discourse. It is a community where people actually love each other. With grace, we are trying to build that. We believe it is possible. A community where people care about each other, not because of their past, not because of what they can provide, not as objects for career advancement, not as complications for the best laid plans of mice man. Where we can talk about challenging things. Where we can dig a little deeper than the surface in our own lives and we think that this matters enough to share with other people. We rejoice with those who rejoice and we grieve with those who grieve.
Our final identity is not in what we make or do but in who we are. We live in a world where most people can’t see that. They have to prove themselves to their parents. They have to prove themselves to their friends. They have to prove themselves to the joneses and they are found wanting. So many people feel like they are not good enough, they are not smart enough, and gosh darn it, people don’t like them. It is hard. It is a hard world. This is true all over the world. At no place is life figured out.
The Great Commission is not go therefore and sign a bunch of people up, it isn’t a heavenly pyramid scheme, it is go make, disciples of the God who is love, that is students. People willing to change, receive mercy, and grow in love. To grow in love means admitting you still have to grow and you still have purpose in this world.
This is worth talking about. What is your purpose? What is your destiny? What is the most last thing? These are not impossible questions that we should avoid. At the end of the book of revelation, we get closer to the last thing. The most last thing, in fact. What is the last thing of the last things with God?
The most last thing is eternity with God. A party where you don’t get tired or bored or hungry. Imagine sustaining that. It is a party. It is a feast where the food doesn’t get old. It is a song and dance where all the annoying people are no longer annoying. There is no next thing to do. There is no worry about tomorrow. There is no crying or weeping or gnashing of teeth. There is life with each other and life with our Lord. Life at its most and best.
Eternity
Our future is not the present age continued ad infinitum. The philosopher Bernard Williams wrote a paper subtitled ‘The Tedium of Immortality.’ He took as his assumption the basic understanding that eternity is a changeless continuation of our existence here. I don’t think he is stretching things to make this assumption. Heaven is like life now, minus some bad things. I get to fish and watch my shows but don’t have to go to the doctor. Sounds nice.
What Williams argues, though, is that it will be miserable. For example, if you had to eat the same thing for every meal, you may get sick of it. I had peanut butter and jelly for lunch for about a decade, which is a long ride, but I eventually ran out of taste for it and had to change. If eternity is changeless, then I wouldn’t be able to change the food and would eventually get sick of it. Same thing with people. There are a lot of people I love. There are not a lot of people I could healthily live with. I like when people visit but I also like when they go back to their home. If heaven is this continuation of life here where we all live together, guests would never leave.
The crux of the argument is that our desires fade and whenever they do, our enjoyment changes to displeasure. Bernard Williams’s arguments has to do with philosophical understandings of immortality. It is not based on Scripture. God doesn’t offer us an eternity of clouds and cherubs or stuff I like now and people I like now continued ad infinitum. We are offered new creation. A future life and world that is totally redeemed, including our desires. When Jesus says to John, “there will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore,” he is explaining how those emotions will no longer be present because they won’t be possible. When he says, “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment,” he is saying how our desires will be transformed because our desires will be totally fulfilled.
Everything we plan for and hope for is good in how it participates in God’s goodness, whether it be fishing or sewing or basketball or cooking. These moments of satisfaction are desirable because of the ways in which they participate in what God has done and is doing. Our eternal life with God cannot reduce into boredom because we will have access to the living water we always wanted anyway. It is like the child at their first birthday party who has cake for the first time and then goes crazy because it is the greatest moment they have ever experienced. That excitement and joy eternally taking place. Cake grows old, people age and change, but God’s love is forever.
Amazingly, what we are shown here at the end of Revelation and at the end of the bible is possible here. God is present in this way now. This is the impulse of mission. Life with God is not just a future reality but a present one. And that is something worth sharing. New life is possible now.
New life means you are not your regrets or mistakes. New life means you can change no matter who you are or where you’ve been. We say amen to the future that Christ offers us now.
Lent
Lent begins this week. Lent is a season of preparation for Holy Week. It is a chance to slow down. It is a chance to look inward to see where you are with your life and with your soul. You will have chances to receive ashes on Wednesday as a sign of humility. May you find a new way to offer yourself to God this season.
Conclusion
Let us say goodbye to habits of hurt and pain. Let us say amen to new life with God. Let us say goodbye to practices of selfishness and greed. Let us say amen to new life with God. Let us say goodbye to self-doubt and shame. Let us say amen to new life with God.
Let us pray, Heavenly father, you offer us new life when we least deserve it. Help us not to seek only our future but to seek a holy life now. Help us to turn our hearts towards our neighbors and towards your love so that we can experience your new creation now. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.