Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Sidney UMC - 5th Sunday of Easter - 05/15/22 - Sermon - "See, I Am Making All Things New!"

Sunday 05/15/22 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title:        “See, I Am Making All Things New!”                             

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 148                                        

New Testament Scripture: Revelation 21:1-6 

Gospel Lesson: John 13:31-35

          How many of us can remember the challenging times in our lives? How many of us have ever felt like we were at an impasse, or at a fork in the road in our lives? How many of us have ever felt like we were in a pit? How many of us have ever felt like that our lives were missing something? How many of us have ever felt that we just needed a change or something different? What is it like to feel this way?

          Perhaps for some of you, at some point in your life, you had some relationship struggles, work struggles, personal struggles, financial struggles, felt that something was missing in your life, that your daily routine had become common and lack luster, that your health was or is in question, or that you lost someone you loved. What is like to feel stuck, in a pit, or at an impasse?

          I am sure that in different ways that we have all felt this way before. If have been through some things in my life, which we all have. Hopefully, we now can look back and see and reflect upon how we got through various challenging times in our lives. We hopefully now can look back and see where God was present, and how God has been faithful through the ups and downs in our lives.

          I bring all of these ideas up in conversation this morning, to bring us back to the core reality that we all need Jesus. I do not mean just a mental understanding of who Jesus is. I do not mean just a mental understanding that Jesus was born, was crucified, was resurrected, and will one day return in glory. Instead, I mean knowing Jesus personally and spiritually. Many of us, or all of us here can say that our lives are much better with God in them. I can also personally say that because I know Jesus that my life is way better.

          One of the things that has gotten me through challenging times in my life, is Jesus. My relationship with God is very much the core of who and what I am. Having Jesus in our lives, having God’s love in our lives, does not mean that we will not struggle or that we will not have challenges. You can be a person of faith and still have challenges and hardships. In fact, if you know Jesus and if you never struggle ever, well this is a new one for me. It is the knowledge that Jesus is always with us. What is like then to go through something hard, and to not have in God, to not believe in Jesus or the power of the Holy Spirit?

          For me, I cannot imagine going through some of the challenges I have gone through in my life without Jesus. We will all struggle and suffer and times, but God is with us, and we have each other. We heard over and over this morning in our reading from Psalm 148, how we should Praise the LORD (Ps. 148, NRSV).

          It is interesting that the great King David, who is considered by many scholars to be the author of many of the Psalms, was in various Psalms sometimes crying out to God, and sometimes praising God. The great King David who had strong faith in God, who had times of great struggle, great triumph, and great sin. Yet, God was always with him.

          Knowing God, having a relationship with Jesus Christ is the bedrock of the Christian faith. This does not mean that every day of our lives will be perfect or easy, but I believe that my life is much better with Christ in it. By reaching out to Christ, he will reach out to us, even if things are hard and challenging. Having a relationship with Jesus is great, and we get to share that together as a community. The Jesus who offers hope and love to everyone and brings us together in love.

          A scripture that has sustained me in challenging times, and one of my favorites is Romans 8:38-39 that says:

38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord                  (Rom. 8:38-39, NRSV).

          Yet, what about when hard times or struggles come? The Apostle Paul tells us also in Romans 5:3-5:

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Rom 5:3-5, NRSV).

          Having God in our lives, knowing Jesus is amazing, but we still live in the realities of this earth. Sometimes we also grow closer to Christ in our times of struggle, not in our times of triumph.

          This leads me to the core of my message for this morning, drawing from our reading from Revelation 21:1-6. In this scripture reading once again, we are in the second to last chapter in the Book of Revelation, and the Bible itself. At this point in the narrative, evil, hatred, and suffering has been destroyed on earth, and Christ returns to reign on earth. In this scene, humanity comes together, there will be no more suffering, no more hatred, and no more pain. Really a beautiful scene that we have in our scripture for this morning from the Book of Revelation. In looking at our reading from Revelation 21:1-6 more closely for this morning it says starting in 21:1:

21 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. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:1-2, NRSV).

          In this scene in our Book of Revelation reading, evil and hatred has been destroyed, and Jesus comes to the holy city of Jerusalem to reign as the king and the lord of all. This will be city and a world with no pain, no suffering, no hatred, and perpetual peace and harmony. The scripture gets more specific picking up starting in Revelation 21:3 saying:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and be their God; 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” (Rev. 21:3-4, NRSV).

          Jesus, the Lamb of God, the King of Kings, come to earth to rule in peace, harmony, love, prosperity, with war, pain, or hatred. This is a beautiful scene indeed. For those of us that know Christ, we have his love with us always, and as we are reminded in our Book of Revelation reading for this morning once again, we have his love for eternity. For Christ and his kingdom of mercy, justice, hope, peace, and love will reign eternal.

          The scripture once again tells us God will again be among us, will dwell with us, and that Christ will wipe every tear from our eyes. The days of death, mourning, crying, and pain will be gone. For Christ makes all things new. In fact, picking up in Revelation 21:5 it says, once again:

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.” Then he said to me, “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 (Rev. 21:5-6, NRSV).

          Jesus is saying that he makes all things new. When we come to Christ in this life, we are made new spiritually. We are new creations, even as we continue to struggle, to grow, have victories, and have failures. Christ can be a present reality, comfort and hope in our hearts today, knowing that one day we will fully be in his presence. One day we will be with Christ and there will be no more suffering, no more pain, and Jesus will wipe away our tears.

          In coming to know Jesus, we are on a journey with him and with each other. We are called to live out our faith daily, as we draw closer to Christ, closer to each other, and as God uses us to make Sidney and the world better. Our faith, our church, our friendships, our community strength, and Jesus in our lives is very important.

          It is interesting to me that have a gospel reading for this morning from John 13:31-35, which is actually part of our Maundy or Holy Thursday reading, during Holy Week, leading up to Easter. In our gospel lesson for this morning once again, Jesus is giving a new commandment to love each other. The Last Supper has just ended, Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, and then he give the disciples and us the “Mandatum” in Latin, or “Mandate” in English. In this command, or mandate, Jesus tells us to love each other.

          If we want to know how far we have come in our faith and how much closer we have drawn to Christ, the biggest way that we can measure this is in our love. Looking at our gospel of John 13:31-35 reading for this morning, it says once again:

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

          So, friends, despite the slings and the arrows of this world, despite the war in Ukraine, if we turn to Christ, he is with us. He is with through this life, and we are with each other. We walk with Christ and each other through thick and thin. To come to Christ is to be made new, or a new creation. Christ tells us this morning, “See, I Am Making All Things New!.” He can make us new now, we can continue to walk with him and become more like him. Further we have the promise that we will be with for eternity, for Christ makes all things new. Amen.             

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