Scripture: Revelation 22:1-4; 2 Peter 3:10-13 Series: 2022
Second in a series on hope, this sermon asks what Christians actually hope for, grounding the answer in Revelation 22’s vision of the new heaven and new earth. Drawing on Terry Eagleton, the preacher distinguishes hope (which comes from God) from optimism (which comes from the self). The governing illustration is the Konami cheat code from the video game Contra: just as the code granted extra lives and removed all consequences, some Christians treat grace as a ‘cheat code’ that lets them sin freely or repent only at the last moment. Using 2 Peter 3, he argues our works will be exposed, not burned away, and that mercy is not a blank slate but transformation and conversion. Against antinomianism in its various forms (indifference to the world, contempt for the unsaved), he insists hope is realized now: the kingdom is here, Revelation is about the present, and listeners should begin living holy, neighbor-loving, transformed lives today rather than waiting.
Illustrations: nintendo-childhood-video-games, konami-code-contra, patek-philippe-watch-jet-boat, curtain-rising-on-a-play, methodists-accused-antinomian
August 7
What do we hope for?
Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, shining like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life, which produces twelve crops of fruit, bearing its fruit each month. The tree’s leaves are for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more. They won’t need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will shine on them, and they will rule forever and always. Revelation 22:1-4
I grew up at a great time for video games. When I was a child, my parents bought us, my brother and I mostly, an original Nintendo system. The eight bit Nintendo that came with super Mario brothers and duck hunt and little gun. It was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun playing those early games. I loved to play Mario. I was never super good at it, but I loved it. I tried my best. My friends down the street kept getting the other systems like Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. We never got another system, which I think was wise on my parents part. I remember going to a friends house to play the first Mario cart, how fun that was. And then the Nintendo 64 and Goldeneye, the James Bond game and multiplayer. Another thing I got into was computer games. I especially loved role playing games that weren’t super fast paced and didn’t have a lot of quick decisions. They allowed for slow deliberation. That is what I really enjoyed about them.
We played board games and card games as a family. I played sports growing up, and loved them. I still enjoy playing basketball when I can. But something unique about computer game and video games, as opposed to other kinds of games, were the secret codes. The cheat codes. The famous one that even I knew, growing up in College Station, was from this game called Contra, which came out a little after the Iran Contra affair. But I didn’t know about that and thought it was just a cool game. You play two mercenaries in the jungle with cool guns. And there was a secret code you could use at the beginning of the game and it would give you 30 extra lives. It was Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A then Start at the title screen and voilà, you had 30 extra lives without even trying. It is called the Konami code and was created by the original game designer to make testing the game easier but it was still in the final build and the secret was whispered across the world. Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. 30 lives. When you used the code, you would no longer have as many consequences for your actions. I used it a few times, but I think the best kinds of games help you to form ways of decision-making and understanding which allow you to look at the costs and benefits of certain actions. And if you have the secret code, especially in Contra, it doesn’t matter. There are no costs for any actions. You can do what you want. You can play what you want. Now, how does that connect to hope?
My friends, we are continuing our series on hope on trying to understand the central idea in the scriptures, how it can shape and reshape our lives. Last week talks about defining hope. How Jesus used hope as a verb, and then how it’s changed to a noun by Paul, because Jesus is the one in whom we hope and long for, perseverance comes from hope. Today, we’re going to talk about what we hope for. Our scripture was from the end of the Bible: Revelation 22. In this really striking and beautiful passage of the heavens, the sending of a new heaven and a new earth, our hope is our ultimate destination in God. What does that look like? How is that going to happen?
The first thing to remember is that hope is not optimism.
“An optimist is not just someone with high hopes. Even a pessimist can feel positive on a particular issue, whatever his or her habitual gloom. One can have hope without feeling that things in general are likely to turn out well. An optimist is rather someone who is bullish about life simply because he is an optimist.”1
Optimism comes from yourself. Hope can only ultimately come from God and seeking God. When we hope for something in this world, like rain, our hope is found in seeking the good of rain. And in seeking the good we seek God.
But these hopes are only a part of our ultimate hope in God, which we see in Revelation 22. The river of life. No weeping. No pain. This isn’t the only description of our ultimate hope.
In 2 Peter, there’s an even more confusing passage that I’ve never got a good, clear answer about.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will pass away with a dreadful noise, the elements will be consumed by fire, and the earth and all the works done on it will be exposed.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? You must live holy and godly lives, waiting for and hastening the coming day of God. Because of that day, the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt away in the flames. But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
Different people have different ideas about what it means. I tend to read it in the following way: the point is the holy and godly lives we should live now; our material possessions will not follow us to the new creation. That awesome Patek Phillipe watch or new boat is not eternal. Peter writes that the earth and all the works done on it will be exposed. Nothing will be hidden. The backroom deals and oppressive and destructive practices of this world will be exposed. This is revelation. The world will be fully revealed for what it is. Our response should not be fear but holy living now. Living for God’s kingdom now. Loving our neighbors now. For our neighbor’s love is worth far more than that Patek Phillippe or a new Jet boat. Our neighbor’s love will not burn away. There is discourse like this in the prophet Ezekiel, Daniel and some of the Gospels, and throughout the Book of Revelation about the future of the world and Christ’s future and Christ’s coming and what will happen after Christ’s coming. I gave a sermon series on the book of revelation last year that I can share with you if you are interested. But for today, I want us to be aware that sometimes Christians can speak about the future and speak about hope in a dangerous way by acting as if our hope in God is a cheat code on this life. Acting as if, when we hope in God and God’s future, there are no more consequences for our actions. Acting as if mercy gives us a blank slate so we can do whatever we want, or we can do whatever we want until we’re just about to die. And then we confess everything. And then we’re, scot-free. It’s kind of like a clichéd way that Catholicism is presented in the media. This is not an accurate view of any Christian faith or social teaching.
There is mercy which is offered to us. We proclaim the mercy of God. We are offered the mercy of God, but mercy is not about letting you stay the same in order receive forgiveness again and again. Mercy is about transformation and conversion. In the 18th century in England, when the first Methodists were preaching, some accused them of being antinomian, There have been antinomians throughout history, though Methodists were definitely not one of them. It is a Greek term that means lawless. Nomos means the law and anti-nomos means no law. It’s like people who live as if there is no law. Antimonians think that as long as you want it, it is good. Go ahead. It is like a cheat code on life. There are no consequences for any actions. I can do whatever I want because God already loves me. So I can steal my neighbors money because God loves me. I can cheat on my wife because God loves me. I can punch-in someone’s face for looking at me weird because God loves me. I am free to do whatever I want and whatever I want is good because I am good because God loves me. I have a cheat code, but this is not the love revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus does not offer a cheat code to get out of the consequences of our actions. In some ways, faith reveals even greater consequences for our actions. To believe in the love of Jesus means you have to start thinking about your neighbors in a deeper way.
But what so important for us to remember in speaking of faith and speaking of what we hope for is that hope is not a cheat code to get out of the consequences of our life. New life in God, resurrection in God, heaven, grace, a new heavens and new earth, Christ’s second coming; none of these get us out of the consequences of our actions. There are stakes involved in faith. You can’t just up, up, down, down left, right left, right, start, and get a set of extra lives. You can’t shut down the game and start over when things aren’t going your way. But that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. One of the ways that Christians have become antinomian is by not caring about the world around us, and that’s a reality. Some people have preached that it doesn’t matter what we do because God’s going to destroy it anyway. They have taken 2 Peter 3 and totally missed the point of what Peter is saying. Our sins are not going to be burned away. They will be exposed.
As well, there are some Christians who have preached that it doesn’t matter what we do to heathens because they’re not saved. Anyway, I could go on and on in increasingly political and controversial statements about the ways in which faith has been abused and used to justify and rationalize actions contrary to scripture. Our hope in God, what we hope for is not just in the future, not just this world being made new sometime in the future. It is the world being made new here and now. As much as anything, that is what the Book of Revelation is about. It’s not about the future. It is about the present. It is about what do we do now? When the truth of reality has been revealed. Revelation means what is revealed. Apocalypse is the Greek word for revelation, for being revealed. It’s what happens at the beginning of a play. When the curtain goes up and you see the stage and the set, what has been revealed, what has been revealed is that Jesus is Lord here and now. Jesus is not Lord of the future earth. Jesus is Lord of this earth. And there is strong continuity between here and our future. The kingdom of heaven is here and now. We can live into it here and now. If we wish to spend an eternity with God, we should start now, don’t wait. Start living holy and godly lives now. Don’t wait. You cannot save yourself. Don’t try. Seek God’s mercy, but don’t stop there. Don’t use mercy as an excuse to stay in the same place but as an inspiration to move and transform into who you were created to be. Mercy is about a transformation in your heart. Not just that you are forgiven for things, but that you no longer desire those things. You no longer desire what is broken. You no longer desire what is self-destructive. Our hope is in God’s action and salvation, but there are stakes involved in this. There are stakes involved in what God is doing, and we should not rely on ourselves, but in the God heaven and earth. Let’s seek the God of heaven. That is our hope. And that is happening now. You can live into it now. You can make a commitment to it now. You can change your life now. You don’t have to wait. You are forgiven. Accept it. Hope in the Lord. Believe it. Transformation is offered this day, come and take it.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your love and mercy. Help us to never take you for granted. Help us to respond to your grace and hope with lives transformed for love. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Footnotes
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Terry Eagleton, Hope Without Optism ↩