A Last Look at Our Living Lord

A Last Look at Our Living Lord=

Revelation 22:16-17, 20-2= 1

Let= me begin by explaining the title of today’s sermon, A Last Look at Our Living Lord. Every time we gather for worship, = our intention is to focus on Jesus in some way—and by no means am I imply= ing this will change. I chose this tit= le simply because our text for today is found on the last page of the Bible, so these= are the last words we have from our Lord in Scripture—our last look.

Lea= ding up to Easter, we considered Jesus’ teachings on a variety of topics in H= is Sermon on the Mount. In this Scripture, we have Jesus’ last words concerning who He is.=

We = have just experienced an incredible Easter season. Your kind, affirming words reinfor= ced what I sensed throughout this season—that we were sharing in some very meaningful worship experiences together.&n= bsp; The music was wonderful, and we dove into the greatest single body of Jesus’ teachings by studying His Sermon on the Mount.

But= now Easter Sunday is past. Senior Adult = Day and our celebration with the Baraca Class is over as well. We’ve sort of gone back to n= ormal--and the world is still out there. People are still struggling with financial problems.

Fam= ilies are still fractured. Bail-outs, p= lant closing, and crime haven’t gone away. Bottom line, there is still much t= hat is wrong in our world. All the c= hallenging, discouraging things that were there before Easter are still there. Life isn’t as wonderful as we= would like for it to be, or as it should be in a world where Easter has already h= appened.

Have you heard the story about a fellow who wore a very painful pair of sho= es every day? He was always comp= laining about them, saying, "These shoes really hurt my feet. They’re aw= ful." His co-workers got tired of hearin= g it, so one of them suggested that he buy a new pair of shoes.

The= man answered, "Well, I’ve thought about it—believe me--but I’ve decided not to. Yo= u see, I hate my job. Every day I co= me to work, punch in, and experience eight hours of drudgery. I hate every minute= of it. Then I go home, and my wi= fe is never satisfied. She nags me = day and night. All the time, nag, nag…"

&qu= ot;Then not long ago, my daughter and her husband moved in with us, and they have t= wo of the most obnoxious kids I’ve ever seen. They run wild, destroying = the furniture, tearing up the house."

"On top of that, my mother-in-law is living with us, too. And every ni= ght she grabs the remote control, sits down in my favorite chair, and I’m stuck watching the TV programs she wants to watch."

Finally he said, "Here’s the thing, with all these problems, the only real pleasure I have in my life is…taking off these shoes."=

Have you ever felt that way? = Maybe life isn’t as wonderful as you once thought it would be. There’s a birthday card that= shows a guy in his underwear sliding down a banister. It reads, "As you slide down the banister of life, may all the splinters go your way."

The truth is, though, that the splinters don’t always go our way; and= they can be a real pain in the patoot! So what do we talk about today as we face again the challenges of real life?
Well, let’s turn to the last page of the Bible, the 22nd chapter of Revelation, and look at verses 16-17 and 20-21. These words of our Lord to the Apos= tle John were spoken several decades after Christ rose from the dead and ascend= ed to the Father.

John was exiled on the is= land of Patmos, put ther= e by the Roman authorities during a time of persecution. The Risen Christ gives John a messa= ge for the church, a message of reassurance, a promise of ultimate victory over all the enemies of Christ and His Church.

As the revelation draws to a close, Jesus speaks these words: "I, Jesus, have sent my angel = to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." The Spirit and the bride sa= y, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (vv. 16-17)

He who testifies to t= hese things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's peo= ple. Amen. (vv. 20-21)<= /span>

If = someone was asked to describe you in just one word, what would they say? So often, we think we can do this.= For example, we say, “This i= s a happy person…or a melancholy person.= He’s studious, or angry, or nosy, or smart, or lazy.

Or = we think of historical figures and describe what they did in one word, like Napoleon= was a warrior. Columbus was an explorer. Martin Luther was a reformer. And Thomas Edison was an inventor. =

Now, some descriptions are more appealing than others. Not everybody likes reformers, for example, or even someone who is always happy. Some will, but some won’= ;t.

Anyway, when it comes to Jesus, there is such a mixture of words used to describe Him—and they cover a broad spectrum. He is strong, and yet He’s ge= ntle. He’s the Good Shepherd, but H= e’s also the Lamb of God. He is t= he High Priest, but He is also the Sacrifice. He is King of Kings, but He is a= lso Servant of All.

Now= get this: in our text for this morning, Jesus is called a “Root,” b= ut also a bright “Morning Star.” Can you think of two things any further apart than those? Can you think of two objects any more different than a ro= ot in the ground and a star in the heavens?&n= bsp; What are we to make of this?

I. Well, I have a few suggestions. Jesus is both HE= RE and THERE! A root is here—close by in the ground. It stays put except when a storm co= mes along and uproots it. Roots s= ink themselves deep into the soil. They are part of the good earth over which we walk and play and, this time of year, cut grass.

Jesus is very much a part of this world. He left the glories of heaven to co= me here as a baby, the child of Mary. She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger. He lived among us, and died for us,= and today many of us claim Him as our risen Savior and Lord. He is with us now as we worship--HE= RE.

Yet He’s also THERE—UP there—like the stars. Wherever you go you can see stars. = You see more of them out in the cou= ntry away from the lights of the city; but wherever we go, stars are part of the heavens we see. They are a part of God’s universe.

Jesus is also universal. Wher= ever you go in this world, you’ll find Him being worshiped. His Church is growing in the remote= st parts of Africa. You’ll find Him in India, and in the Ukraine where excited Christi= ans are now able to once again openly proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ.

Doors have been opening in China, and the church there has grown dramatically even in the midst of persecutio= n. Any where you go in this world, the message of Jesus has likely gone before, often in spite of opposition. Jesus Christ is THERE.

And wherever He goes, He bridges the differences between humanity. Red and yellow, black and white--they are ALL precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children, an= d yes, even the adults, of the world—although that can be harder!

If there is any hope for us to ever overcome bigotry and hatred and our ten= dency to fight one another, it must be in the person of Jesus. He is the One who = can bring very diverse people together and make them brothers and sisters in Hi= m.

In Christ, there is no difference--no black or white, yellow or brown! No rich or poor! No male or female!= We’re all the same in the eye= s of Jesus. He is HERE; and He is THERE!

II. Something else: HE IS SEE= N and HE IS UNSEEN. You can continue learning about Jesus your entire life.&nbs= p; Harry Emerson Fosdick compared our understanding of Jesus with our understanding of the sea. He = said:

“I know th= e sea, but I don’t know the vastness of the sea. There is a part of the sea = that washes up on the sands of my life. <= /span>I can bathe in it. It lulls me = to sleep with its waves. And yet= , I know only a very little part of the sea."

It’s the same way with Jesus, isn’t it? He is so close we can almost reach out and touch Him. And yet, He is so magnificent that we will never completely understand all about Him.

Roots are hidden. They do their work down in the soil where we cannot see t= hem. We know that during a drought= roots will reach deeper and deeper into the ground looking for moisture and nourishment.

Whi= le we’re sleeping, the roots of the grasses and plants, trees and flower= s of the world are doing their thing. But we don’t see them. They= are hidden from us.

Jesus is like this. There is = a part of Him that is mystery. We= 217;ll never be able to understand all there is to know about Jesus.
Don’t ask me to explain to you how Jesus walked on water or how He fe= d the multitudes. Don’t ask m= e to explain how He healed the lepers and the lame.

Don’t ask me to explain to you how God can conquer sin and death by a= llowing Jesus to be nailed to a cross, burying Him in a tomb, and then raising Him = from the dead. I don’t under= stand the grace and mercy and forgiveness of God. That’s beyond my comprehensio= n—UNSEEN by these eyes and this mind.

But there is also a part of Jesus that is SEEN. When He came into our world, John says we saw Him with our eyes and touched Him with our hands. Some reclined at the table with Him= , and listened to Him, and absorbed His teaching. And He changed them, and us, foreve= r. We SAW His glory in our midst.

When Jesus came into our world, He revealed not only Himself but the very nature and personality of God. So there is a part of God that we can see because of Jesus. And God wants others to be able to see Jesus in us.

When we become Christians--when we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Sav= ior, when we repent of our sins and are buried with Him in Christian baptism--the Bible says that our sins are forgiven, we are raised to walk in newness of life, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

God puts His Spirit deep inside of us. Much like a root in the ground, no o= ne can see the Holy Spirit there as we feed on God’s Word, and pray, and fellowship with one another. = But as His influence grows in our lives, His presence will be obvious—it wil= l be SEEN.

There is something about a person who is being transformed by the Holy Spir= it. God’s Spirit affects the way = we talk with others, how we deal with the challenging situations in our lives,= and even the expressions on our faces. <= /span>Jesus makes a difference in us that can be SEEN.

I heard about a man who attended a funeral where the ladies of the church prepared a meal for the family and their guests—just as ours do when there’s been a death. T= he man said that as he watched those wonderful ladies serve the meal and take care= of the family, he thought, "I could have seen their faces anywhere and I would have known they were Christians."
Unfortunately, we can often recognize people who have become hardcore sinne= rs as well. We can see in their = faces that they are resistant toward God--rebellious. The way they live makes it obvious.= You can see it. Some things are hidden inside of u= s, while other things are clearly SEEN.

III. One more observation. Jesus is OF TIME and ETERNITY. Roots are temporary. They grow for a time, go through th= eir cycle of life, and die. =

Par= t of Jesus was temporary. He came = to us in human form and we rejected Him and crucified Him. We took that temporary human body o= f His and put it in a tomb and said, "It’s over. It’s done."

Roots are temporary, but the stars appear to be eternal—at least, from our perspective. Sometime whe= n you look up at the stars, stop for a moment and realize that the stars twinklin= g in the heavens over Anderson, SC, are the same as those that twinkle= d in the skies when God first breathed into man the breath of life.

They are the same stars that were overhead as Noah built his ark, and Moses= came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets of stone. They’re the stars that hid their faces when Jesus was crucified and buried. And they’re= the stars that sang together when He rose from the dead. As far as human time is concerned, they’ve always been there.

The= re’s a part of us--our body--that is very attached to this world. Our physical bodies are temporary a= nd will only last for a brief period of TIME. The Bible is clear that they will r= eturn to the elements from which they came—“ashes to…dust to du= st.”

But= the real you and me--our spirits--are eternal. Everything that Jesus came to this = earth to do was so that you and I could live our lives to the fullest during our brief moment in TIME, and then spend ETERNITY with Him in heaven.

He = loves each of us more than we know, and has sacrificed for us more than we can understand, and He wants to be our Savior and Lord. While there’s still TIME, wil= l you say yes to Him?