Download The Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton

A Sermon
by
The Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
West Acton Baptist Church
April 28, 2013
“Can You Believe It?”
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among
mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself
will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
 Revelation 2:3 & 4i
Read again the words of our text. Now listen to the words of our world:
Boston Globe, Friday, April 26, 2013
A FREARFUL, SURREAL 90-MINUTE RIDE Carjacking Victim Tells Of Enduring And
Fleeing 2 Captors, Giving Vital Help To Police.
The 26-year-old Chinese entrepreneur had just pulled his new Mercedes to the curb on
Brighton Avenue to answer a text when an old sedan swerved behind him, slamming to a
stop. A man in dark clothes got out and approached the passenger window. It was nearly
11 p.m. last Thursday.
TIMES SQ. WAS NEXT TARGET, SAY OFFICAIALS
ISRAELI FIGHTER JETS SHOOT DOWN DRONE  TELAVIV, ISRAEL  the Israeli
military said it shot down a pilotless drone Thursday, five nautical miles off the coast of its
northern port of Haifa, after tracking it for an hour as it flew south along the Lebanese coast.
US SAYS SYRIA PROBABLY USED NERVE AGENT  CALLS TO INTERVENE IN
WAR INTESIFY, WHITE HOUSE URGES CAUTION  Washington  the Obama
administration said on Thursday that the Syrian government has likely used chemical
weapons against its people, but it stopped short of threatening military action against
President Bashar Assad.
Revelation  a book that describes God’s triumphant future — speaks of a time when
sorrow has ended and pain is no more. The Boston Globe reminds us of the brutal realities of
today. Two contrasting views and while we cannot deny the reality of the world described by the
Boston Globe, the more difficult question is whether we can believe the future proclaimed in the
book of Revelation. The purpose of this sermon is to convince you that you can.
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Such an effort is not lightly undertaken. It is difficult for Christians to proclaim the
Kingdom of God when human kingdoms are constantly at war. You heard the headlines from
the Globe. The world hardly reflects the Kingdom of God. But wait. There is more. We have
spoken about the condition of the world, and, to be sure, the conditions are grave, but we have
not even touched on what people within this congregation face in their personal lives. The
family dealing with probable epilepsy; the care giver who is exhausted by the care; the family
coping with dementia; those who are living in the grips of addiction . To speak the words of
Revelation, to proclaim that “…Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no
more…” seems so very distant from our lived reality. How can one speak with assurance about a
reality that seems so foreign?
We begin by being honest. Faith is not advanced when it is built upon a lie. No ship of
faith can withstand the winds of life unless its masts and canvas are strong enough to withstand
the winds of reality. So let us be honest and say that this is not easy. You cannot convince
yourself or others of the truth of Revelation’s vision simply by shouting it louder and louder
hoping the volume will drown out the chaos of the world. Your faith is not served well and
neither is the cause of Christ. Truth is what is needed. It begins with taking the problems
confronting men and women as real and persistent. Faith will not sweep away bomb threats at
Acton/Boxborough Regional High School. Be honest. Yet I am as sure off the vision in
Revelation as I am of the headlines in The Boston Globe. Now let me try to convince you, too.
First, let it be said that such assurance comes only when one has know the power of Jesus
Christ. If you have been in this church long enough, you have seen this truth at work. Look at
Ronnie Lanier. How old is she? In her nineties, yet a more vital soul I have never met. She has
touched thousands with her infections faith and unflagging “good cheer.” Why? Because she
has known the power of Jesus Christ. I have served as the pastor of this church since 1990 and I
have officiated at the funerals of many who came to death not with fear and trembling but with a
resolute confidence and unflagging hope. Joan Day was one such soul. Her passage was not an
easy one, but she died as she had lived  confident in God’s promise.
Second, it is not enough to proclaim God’s promise made real in Jesus, you have to walk the
walk. I have a fear this morning that some may think that the way to this peaceful vision
proclaimed by the writer of Revelation comes easily. It does not. Remember when I spoke
about the sails of faith needing to be strong enough to endure the winds of reality? Well, we
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have come full circle; for again we find this truth. Being able to assure the world that death is no
more and mourning and crying are things of the past comes only by taking up the cross of Jesus.
It is in service to peace that you find peace. It is in loving the unloved that you find love. It is in
dying to yourself that you find life. Believe me, there are times when I wish it were not so, that I
wish the cross was not a necessary element of the Christian faith. But remove it, and you have
pabulum. You will find no sails worthy of lifting against the winds of reality without them being
anchored to the cross of Jesus. You see, you cannot follow Jesus without taking up the cross of
Jesus. It is in the service of others that you find your soul
Third, remember the proper purpose of the Church – namely, to proclaim the coming of
God’s kingdom which the world does not yet perceive. It is our task, not to live in the world, but
to change it. But change it to what? To tweak it around the edges, make it a little more just, a
little more caring, a little more loving? For God’s sake, NO. Our task is not merely to proclaim
the Kingdom of God, now, here, real and alive, but to make it so. We are to be the Body of
Christ, the incarnation of the risen Lord of heaven, the One who gave His life in love that we too
might so love the world. This is no easy calling, no small thing. It demands, as one hymn of the
church puts it, “my life, my soul, my all.” It is only when the vision of our purpose is worthy of
our devoted effort that one has found a faith worth living. As Robert Browning put it: “A man’s
grasp should exceed his reach, or what’s a heaven for?”
Have I done it? Have I convinced you that you can believe the future proclaimed in
Revelation? I hope I have helped. But in the end, it is for each of us to make this vision our
own, not by shouting its words ever louder, but by taking up the cross of service. May we begin
today and come to find a world in which death and mourning and crying shall be no more. Let
us pray…
i
Revelation 21:1-6
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among
mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself
will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
5
And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”
Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6Then he said to me,
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“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I
will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
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