Boy! This time last year we
were having 80 degree days weren’t we?
This is springtime isn’t it? Just
think in about 3 and ½ months some of us will bring our kids or our grand kids
to the big 4th of July parade and those little ones will struggle to get a
better view or they will be right out in the street collecting candy from the
ground, and it will be hotter than is comfortable and…you know what? I am not
sure why we go.
Sometimes we do things out
of habit. Sometimes we do things because
it’s what the crowd is doing. Sometimes we do things with little thought about
them at all.
Many people go to 4th
of July celebrations to celebrate our nation, or because they feel
patriotic. Some go just for the fun and
festive atmosphere. A celebration is
always better when you know the reason why you are celebrating.
The apostle John was given
a vision of the continual worship of Jesus.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Apostle John was
exiled to an island in the Mediterranean Sea.
During that time God revealed a vision of the heavenly realm and
commanded John to record it. In that vision John saw certain creatures around
the heavenly throne. The book of Revelation says, “Each one of the four living creatures had six wings and was full of
eyes all around and inside. They never
rest day and or night, saying: ‘Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God, the
All-Powerful. Who was and who is, and who is still to come.’ And Whenever the
living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the
throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders throw themselves to
the ground before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives
forever and ever, and they offer their crowns before his throne, saying, ‘You
are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, since you
created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created!’”
So when the creatures gave
praise to Jesus it caused a chain reaction of worship and praise beginning with
the elders in the heavenly realm,
casting their crowns before the throne and continuing as it ripples
through the earthly realm and through our gathering here today. We worship because it is a reflection and
continuation of Heavenly worship. We
worship because we want to be in the presence of our God. We worship to give God praise; to give God
thanks.
The people that praised
Jesus as he came into Jerusalem had a great hope, but it was a selfish
hope. They weren’t there to praise Jesus
for who Jesus was. They were there for
what Jesus could do for them. Their cheers were sincere in that they were
joyful and happy and hopeful. But their intentions were imperfect.
The thing is our earthly
worship is imperfect as well. We have an
obstructed view of the parade and sometimes we aren’t as fully engaged as we
could be, because of it.
We come to worship to bring
our best. We offer God our lives as a holy and living sacrifice. Whatever accolades we receive, whatever
thanks we get all belong to our Lord Jesus Christ. We come to worship to take the crowns that we
have been given and give them to Him.
But we are imperfect aren’t
we?
Paul the great apostle, the
great evangelist, the great mystic, wrote a letter to the house churches in
Rome. He shared with them the struggles
that he has had in his spiritual life.
He wrote “For we know that the law is spiritual-but I
am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. For I don’t know what I am doing. For
I do not do what I want-instead, I do what I hate…Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
The most prolific writer in
the New Testament recognized his own failure to live up to God’s perfection,
but in the same breath recognized Jesus as the rescuer. And Jesus is indeed the one who rescues us.
Remember the story of the
woman caught in the act of adultery?
They brought her to Jesus not for justice but to trap him and bring
charges against him.
He turned it around and
made them look inside and see their own sinful nature. He demonstrated in that one comment that we
all fall short of the Holiness of God.
We all are in need of God’s forgiving love.
The crowd wanted to throw
stones. But they were turned away.
The crowd wouldn’t be
turned away on that day that Jesus was being tried.
The crowd would prevail in
convincing Pontius Pilate to hand Jesus over to be crucified.
But only because Jesus
allowed it.
Jesus was once attacked by
a mob that wanted to throw him off a cliff.
He passed through them without being touched. He was challenged at every turn and he always
answered those challenges and silenced his critics. He went to Jerusalem with the intent that he
would sacrifice his life.
Pilate may have given in to
the demands of the crowd. The crowd may
have thought they won a victory. But it was Jesus who was working intentionally
to win a victory for all who believe in him!
In this account of Jesus’
trial the only words that he spoke were a response to Pilate asking him if he
is the king of the Jews. Jesus said,
“You say so.”
From that time to after his
sentence being handed down from Pilate he said nothing.
When he was sent to Herod
and Herod wanted a show; he wanted to see a miracle performed by Jesus for his
own amusement. Jesus said nothing.
When Herod and his soldiers
mocked him, he said nothing.
Jesus was sent back to
Pilate and the crowd demanded the execution of Jesus. Jesus plans were unfolding as they needed
to. So Jesus said nothing.
When we are living in God’s
will, when we trust in Jesus Christ there is nothing in this world that can
defeat us. Death for us is merely a door
for us to eternal life in the heavenly realm where we wait for resurrection!
Psalm 27 says “The lord
is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is my strength of my
life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked come at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries
and my foes, they stumble and fall!”
We have a short time on
this earth. We have a limited time to
share the good news about Jesus Christ. Will we spend that time casting stones
or casting crowns? Are we going to spent
time judging, fighting, maneuvering and trapping or are we going to spent our
limited time praising, loving, worshipping, and serving?
It might be easier to cast
stones but life is infinitely better when we cast crowns.
So, how is it with you
today? Can you stand firm in who you are
as a beloved child of God? Can you put
more of your trust in the Lord that has secured eternity for you?
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