This week's sermon is based on Revelation 7:9-17, "the Multitude from Every Nation".
"After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’
And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing,
‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and mightbe to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’
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The Gospel for this morning is from the 5th Chapter of Matthew beginning at the first verse.
Glory to you, O Lord.
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain and after he sat down his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak and taught them saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. You may be seated.
The text for this morning's message is the Revelations text from Revelations chapter 7. And last week we received 2 new members. They chose to affirm the faith that we teach, that we are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
So the question is, how did they come to accept that faith? How did we? How did you come to accept faith?
I was confirmed quite a few years ago now, I won't say how many, but a goodly number, and some of you have heard this before because in my confirmation class we had to do a lot of memorization. All the books of the Bible, all of the small catechism, and all of Luther's understandings of the small catechism.
Then when it was time to be confirmed our whole class had to be up in front of the church. It would be like we were seated up there, and then the counsel asked us questions. Some people are nodding their head, they remember this kind of thing. It was an inquisition basically but, you know, somehow we all managed to pass and muddle through, but it was intimidating.
I did not like all of that memorization, but I do believe it gave me a good solid foundation for faith, but I also don't believe it brought me to faith. I actually believe it helped me form some faith questions, it caused me to do some searching.
I am going to ask you some questions now, and I don't expect anybody to answer. Don't answer. I just want you to do some thinking for a minute.
So here's the first one:
Name the 5 wealthiest people in the world.
Name the last 5 winners of the Miss America Pageant.
Name 5 people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize.
Name the last 5 winners of the Academy Awards for best actor or best actress.
Now, if you are anything like me you probably thought of a few names out of those questions, but answering all of them was like, ohhh, really? Hmm.
Well, how about these:
Name some teachers who helped you through school.
Name 3 friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
Name 5 people who have taught you something special.
Name some people who have made you feel appreciated.
Name some people that you enjoy spending time with.
Now I suspect those questions were a whole lot easier.
Here's one more.
Can you name 3 or more people who have helped you grow in faith?
There are many, many people who are part of my faith story, and I'm sure there are many people who are part of your faith story. People who have touched your lives. People who have been instrumental in your faith journey. Because God comes to us through others in our lives.
So who is a saint? If you have been in a Lutheran church for a long time you pretty much know the answer to this, who is a saint? But, you know that the Roman Catholic Church sets up a lot of parameters about deciding who is a saint. Sometimes it takes a couple of hundred years for them to decide who is going to be a saint.
But everyone that they have listed the name of person's who are martyred in the first century for keeping their faith, for not denying Jesus, every one of them is considered a saint.
And the book of Revelations was written during a time of persecution. Now, scholars now are not certain that there was widespread persecution. It may have been that there were pockets of persecution, not throughout all of the Roman Empire.
Even so, it is certain that there were places where if you were a Christian and you were not willing to deny your faith in Jesus Christ, you were going to be brutalized, most likely killed, flogged, fed to animals, something terrible, and there were many Christians who were willing to die rather than to deny Jesus Christ.
The Book of Revelations may be telling us about a widespread persecution, or he may be telling us what the author felt might happen because he could see what was happening in certain areas, and it is filled with all kinds of symbolism.
And a lot of people think well if I just understood the whole key to that book they would understand exactly what everything was going to happen, and when it was going to happen, and when the end of the world was coming, and some people spend half their lifetime trying to figure out when is the end of the world coming, when Jesus said you're not going to know, so give it up. Don't worry about it. Worry instead about your relationship with your Lord.
The message of Revelations is hope. That's what it's about. It's about hope. It's a story of persecution, but it's a story that God triumphs. God triumphs over evil. The story of Revelations is about hope. And those whose robes were washed in the blood of the Lamb, those are the martyrs. Their robes washed in the blood of Jesus, the Lamb.
And the author paints a beautiful word picture that we like to hear. We love to hear these words, the time will come when the people of faith will hunger no more. Thirst no more. The sun will not strike them nor any scorching heat. The Lamb will guide them to the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
The message of Revelation is be strong in your faith. The victory has been won. The communion of saints will be a great multitude that no one can count from every nation, from all tribes and peoples, and languages.
So here's a question. Were those first saints better people than we are? Were they, really? How is it that the martyrs were willing to die, that they would not deny Jesus Christ, they were willing to die for their faith?
Did they have stronger wills than us? Did they have stronger faith than us? Were they better people than us? And I believe the answer is no. I believe they were people just like us, sinners. People who had doubts. People who made mistakes. People who got mad. People who did things they weren't supposed to do.
But I do think there was one difference. They had a great sense of community. Our society is so individual. It's me and God. Just me and God. The people in the first century had a sense of community, that their honor was wound up in their community.
People today think they can see God just as well on the golf course, or at the mountains, or at the beach. No. Jesus didn't say wherever you're having fun I'll be there with you. He will be with us, but he said where two or three are gathered in my name, that's where He joins us. It's not that we are alone when we are by ourselves. Jesus is there with us, but He rejoices when we come together as a community.
Now, I want to make it clear. We don't come to faith because other people are better than us. We come to faith because God works through the people around us. God works through other's faith to touch our faith so that we accept faith, and hopefully we will pass on that faith.
It's God's work. It's God's work that calls us to come to church. It's God's work that calls us to share our faith. It's God's work that we are part of a community of saints.
A fast story. A young boy went to worship with his grandfather on a Sunday morning, and in his grandfather's church they had lots of beautiful stained glass windows. The stained glass windows were of the saints, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. Matthew, St. Paul, St. Peter, so on and so on. Beautiful pictures. Beautiful stained glass windows.
And so when they got home, the boy told his parents all about the church, all about these beautiful stained glass windows, they were all the saints, and his father said, okay, so, what's a saint?
The boy thought for a minute. A saint is somebody that the light shines through. A saint is somebody that the light shines through. And I think that's a pretty good definition. A saint is someone that the light of God shines through.
So who are your saints? Who are the people that the light of God has shone through them to you? And to whom are you being a saint? To whom is God's light shining through you to reach?
Amen.
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