“I am the first and the last,” says the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. … Do not be afraid.
Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year
Proper 29
| Text: Revelation
1:8, 17 “I am the first and the last,” says the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. … Do not be afraid. |
|
“I
am with you.
Do not be afraid!”
Have you ever watched a movie
and about halfway through you’ve thought to yourself, “Why am I sitting here?
I have no idea what this story is about?”
I recall going to see a movie
that had been recommended. It was
quite a long police action film and about halfway through, I became frustrated
and annoyed. There were three main
characters and three different stories going on at the same time and the movie
kept flicking between the three stories.
It would have been easier if the 3 main characters had more distinctive
features, one with black hair, another with blonde hair, one with a beard,
different genders or nationalities – they were all so similar as this
multi-layered stories flashed across the screen and if you lost focus for just a
moment it was easy to lose the plot.
Well, I did lose the plot,
literally and figuratively. I got
to the point of wanting to walk out and on the way out say to those around me in
a loud whisper, “I don’t get it. Is
there anyone here know what’s going on in this overrated overcomplicated movie”?
Anyway, I stayed calm.
I had paid for a ticket, so I was determined to see it through.
And of course, in the last half hour the plot of the film all came
together – but I had to sit through two hours before it started to make any
sense. In the middle of the movie,
with so much going on, the story didn’t make any sense at all.
For most of us that’s what our
journey through life is like. We
don’t know what twists and turns there will be in our story and what will turn
up around the next corner. For some
of us the story of our lives is causing us to ask more questions than we have
answers. In the middle of our life
story there are events that don’t make much sense at all.
There are occasions that are a real mystery clouded in fog and totally
obscured to any reason. In the
middle of our story there is so much that we don’t understand.
Even though we may have our life
planned out and know very well where we would like to be and what we would like
to do in the future, there is no guarantee that our plans will be fulfilled.
If we look back over the past year, I’m sure we would be able to say that
things happened that we hadn’t planned.
Maybe
a sickness,
a pregnancy,
a family disruption,
an accident,
a sudden death,
or just small things –
like a dent in the car,
an inconvenient flat tyre,
a disagreement with someone,
a financial downturn.
Some of these events might be
small things but added together with other circumstances they were enough to put
us off balance. The unpredictable
and unforeseen events that happen in our lives can shake the very core of our
being and destabilise us and even cause us to question our own self-worth and
the goodness of God.
The Bible is full of people who
were caught up in the unforeseen and unpredictable.
Moses was very happy looking after sheep until God turned his life upside
down with the command to go to the Egyptian king and demand that he let all his
Hebrew slaves go free. To Moses
that was just crazy and completely caught him off-guard.
Jonah was completely knocked off
course when he was told by God to warn the godless people of Nineveh of God’s
judgement. A completely crazy idea.
And then there was Mary and her
unexpected pregnancy. This wasn’t
part of the plan she had for her life.
A baby sometime in the future, yes, but right then and there, with no
husband; no way.
And Joseph, his plans for a
happy wedding with Mary were suddenly out the window.
He was shocked and confused.
He wasn’t expecting that!
Many of you know what it means
to be shocked and upset by the unexpected things that come your way.
And sometimes when you find yourself thinking about the future and its
unpredictability, it’s not unusual to have a moment of panic saying, “What is
going to happen next?”
The hard thing about this is
that we don’t have any control over what is happening.
We can try to do something that will
influence the future – plan a career, a family, financial security, but we can
be left very frustrated.
I’m sure we all have our own
stories of the unpredictable nature of life in this world but here is one from
my own experience.
I recall receiving a phone call
from a family member of a 9-year-old in one of the congregation’s kids groups.
When I arrived, I found the adults sitting around the spacious kitchen,
the parents, especially the father, in shock, disbelief, and completely
overwhelmed with grief.
What had happened?
The children in the family had been playing nicely on the front verandah
when suddenly, a fight broke out between the kids.
Dad gave the kids a dressing down over their bad behaviour.
The eldest lad took it personally, ran down the stairs in tears, on to
the road. Unfortunately, at that
very moment, a car came down this normally quiet street and struck the boy.
The father saw it all unfold and could do nothing for his lifeless son.
This was so unexpected.
As the kids ate their after-school snacks that day, this was the last
thing they expected. A short time
later the world of this family was torn apart.
That kitchen was filled with grief and guilt, shock, disbelief, questions
of ‘what if’, and ‘why’. The
unpredictable, the unforeseen had done its worst.
That day changed their lives
forever and it took a long time for their grief to diminish to a point where
they could again see the love their God has for them and let that love help them
heal the pain they felt so deeply.
We never know what’s around the
bend of the winding road that we call life.
If only we could see around the corners and catch a glimpse of what’s
ahead, we might be more prepared but that’s not the case.
Even though we can’t see what’s hiding around that bend in the road of
life, we know who is around the next
corner – the One who says, “I am the
Alpha and the Omega”. The Book
of Revelation records the words of Christ,
“Don't be afraid!
I am the first and the last.
I am the living one! I
was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever” (Revelation 1:17-18).
Those words are spoken by the
risen king of heaven and earth, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, who rules
over all things and whose power knows no limits.
He is the one who says to us today,
“Don’t be afraid!
… I am with you always!”
While we are busy trying to sort
through our own confusion and frustration, our Lord and God is always right here
in the middle of the unpredictable, the unexpected, the unforeseen and the
surprises that come our way. When
we are totally confused about why something has happened and we are inclined to
question God's wisdom and love, he is by our side assuring us that he has not
abandoned us. When we think that
God hasn’t heard a single word of our prayers, God's love will not let us go.
Again and again in the Bible we
hear God saying to people confused and troubled by the unpredictable and
unforeseen, “Do not be afraid.
I will be with you”.
He said to Jacob in that wonderful dream of a stairway to heaven, “I will be
with you and protect you wherever you go” (Genesis 28:15).
He said to Moses when he told him to tell the king of Egypt to free all his
slaves, “I will be with you”.
(Exodus 3:12).
He said to Joshua as he was about to lead the people into the Promised Land,
“Do not be afraid … I will be with you”
(Joshua 1:9).
He said to the people taken captive to Babylon,
“Do not be afraid.
I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10).
God said to both Mary and Joseph
in the middle of their confusion about a baby sent into the world from God,
“Do not be afraid”.
Jesus said to his disciples who would soon face trouble and persecution,
“I will be with you always” (Matt 28:20)
In Revelation where the beauty of heaven is described the statement is made,
“Now God's home is with people! … God
himself will be with them. He will wipe
away all tears from their eyes” (Rev 21:3).
His presence is certain, comforting and encouraging.
There can be no doubt about it.
The words, “Do not be afraid…
I will be with you”,
form
a theme throughout the Bible. And
what about the Old Testament name for the Messiah – ‘Immanuel’ which
means God is with us.
God promises again and again that he will always be with his people.
We are at the end of the Church
Year and next week we begin the season of Advent.
Last week and next week we hear Jesus talking the things that will happen
before his return – wars, earthquakes, famines, persecution, families being
split in their loyalty to Christ.
The sun and moon and the stars will fling out of orbit.
Pretty scary stuff.
And today right between these
two Sundays, we have Jesus, the Lord and King saying, “I am the Alpha and the
Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. … Do not be
afraid” (Revelation 1:8, 17). When life is at its scariest and we are at our
most vulnerable;
when we are stressed out and anxious, we have a king who has lived on this
earth, knows our stresses and worries, faced and endured death and now says to
us, “Do not be afraid. I am with
you”.
Now I’m sure I’m not telling you
anything new today. We’ve heard
these words from God before. The
problem is, and I have this problem too, we hear them, and we know them, but
when the next big worrying overwhelming trouble hits, we forget them.
Worry and anxiety hit us with such force they overwhelm our minds and
wear out our bodies and drain us spiritually.
For some reason, we forget the promises of God and stress overpowers us
and we feel helpless and hopeless in the face of this enormous problem.
That’s precisely why we need to
keep on going back to our Bibles, have other people remind us, and keep on
listening to the Holy Spirit to trust the God who loves us.
Believe with all your heart that
there is nothing in this world that can distract God from his promise to you in
your Baptism. Every time you
receive Jesus’ body and blood in Holy Communion, trust the promise of Jesus,
“I am with you always.
I died for you. You belong to me.
Do not be afraid”.
Stand firm trusting Jesus who is
always ready to help in times of trouble.
He is the almighty Lord and King who rules over all things and says to us,
“I am the first, the last, who is and who
was and who is to come, the Almighty (nothing can stand against me and so
against you)”.
He declares to each of us with
power and love, “Don’t be afraid … I am
with you!”
© Pastor Vince
Gerhardy
24th November, 2024
E-mail: sermonsonthenet@outlook.com
