Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Revelation 5:11-14
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  May 1, 2022

What does the future hold? That question is on many minds this time of year as we celebrate confirmation, as high school and college graduations are around the corner. It’s on the mind of many who turn to horoscopes or psychics to try to determine what’s ahead. At the same time, the children of God have a longing to know what the future has in store. As we sit down at the kitchen table with our morning caffeine boost, scrolling through the news headlines and we see senseless violence in Ukraine, Christians being persecuted around the world, people blatantly disregarding God’s will and being praised for it, heinous crimes being committed right in your own backyard, and we’re troubled about the future. We wonder if all of this is worth it? 

The Apostle John was also troubled about the future. The church at this time was experiencing bitter persecutions. They had to wonder what the future was going to hold. Was this going to be the end of the infant church? At the beginning of Revelation chapter 5, John sees a scroll which contained the future, which had the answers. But it was sealed and John is brought to tears because no one could open the scroll. And don’t we often feel the same way as we think about the future? But that’s why God has given us the rest of chapter 5. John’s weeping waned when the angel told him that someone had been found to open the scroll. It’s Jesus. The fact that Jesus, the Messiah, is worthy and able to open the book means the future is in his control. Jesus is worthy! And therefore, today we see beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is Worth It!

Listen again: “And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels who were around the throne and around the living creatures and the elders. Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands upon thousands. With a loud voice they were saying: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” It’s hard to truly grasp the picture that John is seeing here. We’ve got a throne in the center with a Lamb who seems to have been slain holding the scroll. And all around the throne John sees the four living creatures and the 24 elders singing a new song. Let’s just stop there for a moment. There’s a lot of details here that we could spend a long time digging into and explaining, but today is not the day for that. I do want to talk briefly about this concept of a new song. There are only two passages in the New Testament, both in Revelation, that speak of a new song being sung to the Lord. In the Old Testament there are at least seven instances, most in the Psalms. But this is the key point. Every single one of those passages alludes to salvation that God is preparing for his people. And the same is true here! The four living creatures and the elders are singing a new song, a song of praise for God’s salvation!  

And then we finally get to our text.  “And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels who were around the throne and around the living creatures and the elders. Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands upon thousands.” It’s as if John’s eyes are being opened little by little. At first he only sees the Lamb and the living creatures and the elders. Then all of a sudden, he sees millions of angels. And they join in the new song: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”

And this is what we need to unpack today. This answers the question if all of this is worth it. This is where our spiritual blindness is overcome by sight. Despite what things look like out there, despite the challenges we face and what we perceive to be true, this is the reality that we don’t often see. This is the heavenly reality. This is Christ as he truly is! Jesus Is Worth It! And it’s fascinating how Jesus’ work on our behalf really mirrors our experience. All of the things that Jesus is worthy to receive is really the opposite of what we saw in his life. He’s worthy because he’s slain? Death looked like a defeat. Dying looks like losing, not winning. Yet, because he was slain, because he died on the cross to take away the sins of the whole world, he has earned our salvation. He’s won the victory! Jesus is worthy to receive power, and yet we so often saw Jesus in apparent weakness. The one who is worthy of power was mocked as a king. The one who is worthy to receive riches as a child lived with parents who were poor enough to offer the smallest of sacrifices at his dedication, who as an adult had no home, no  place to lay his dead. The one who is worthy to receive wisdom was considered crazy by his own family. The one who is worthy to receive strength has to have someone carry his cross. The one who is worthy to receive honor and mocked and spit on. 

And it’s not just while Jesus was living did these things happen, it’s often the way we still treat him today. Why is it that the things that belong to Jesus by right, because of what he’s done for us, are the things that we struggle to give him? Do I really, can I really perceive that Jesus is really worth it, that he’s really worthy to receive these things. If so, why is it so hard to give him the glory he deserves by following his will? Why is it so hard to give him the honor that is his by sitting at his feet and hearing his Word? Why is it so hard to give him the riches that are already his that he’s simply given us to manage? It’s hard because our sinful nature remains. It’s hard because there is no perfection on this side of heaven. Except for Jesus. Except for the Lamb who gave up everything that was his by right so that we would be saved. 

And then the picture gets even better:   “I also heard every creature that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders bowed down and worshiped.” You can picture it, can’t you? You can hear it…the new song starts out with the four living creatures and the elders. “You are worthy…” And then millions of angels join in the chorus as the song crescendos, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain…” And now every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them join the throng with this grand doxology! It gives you goosebumps just thinking about it. Friends, this is the reality. This is the truth. This is our future. Jesus Is Worth It because Jesus is worthy. Jesus is worthy of all blessing and honor and glory and might. Jesus is worthy of our praise. Jesus is worthy of our devotion. Jesus is worthy of everything because he has accomplished our salvation.

On this confirmation weekend, as we look forward to hearing the promises that our young people will make, as we think about their futures, what’s the mood of the church? Is it excitement and joy? Is it confidence and security? Or are we full of fear and trepidation? Are we mourning, lamenting declining worship attendance and offerings that are lagging? Are we encompassed by all the evil that surrounds us that the Lamb gets pushed out of the center and off to the side? My dear friends, let us never forget what is true and what is real. When faced with doubts and questions, let us go back to this picture and lose ourselves in the person of Christ! Jesus Is Worth It! Like for those early Christians to whom John first wrote, this Revelation shows us who Christ really is, what he’s really done. This news sets the mood for the Church. This news gladdens our hearts and gives us the certain hope of eternal joys. Jesus is the one who holds our future in his hands! 

The gates of hell will not overcome Christ’s church. We need not go forward from here mourning or lamenting, but with joy and confidence knowing that Jesus is worthy! We need not fear the future because we know that everything is in Christ’s hands. I said it last week, the whole book of Revelation can be summed up in two words: Jesus Wins! This is the feast of Victory! Whatever is the cause of our spiritual blindness, it is defeated by this sight, by this vision, by this good news!

This is a big weekend with big promises being made. And the temptation is going to be there to question if Jesus is really worth it. May God help us to see, to truly see what Jesus has done for us, and because of this, to see that Jesus is Worth It! And so we say with the four living creatures: “Amen.”