Revelation 1v1-8

If you've got a Bible, turn to Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

! Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

I want to start by saying I don't assume in a congregation like this

! that everyone is a Christian.

I probably don't say that enough.

I don't assume that you're convinced.

You're really welcome.

But it is right, I think, to remind myself as a preacher that not everyone will be sitting

there thinking, yeah, I'm for this.

I'm with this.

You might be here with lots and lots of questions.

And so maybe the things that I'm going to talk about and we talk about on Sunday mornings

are about something you are not yet or you're considering becoming one.

But for the Christian who's here this morning, there are things about you that are different,

whether you feel it or not.

Whether you're experiencing it or not at this moment, whether you feel it or not.

And so I think we're going to kind of go through that and that juxtaposition that there are

things that are true of us that we don't feel.

There are things, for those of us who are in Christ, that are true of us that we don't experience.

It's really important to understand that in the Christian life.

And we're doing a little mini-series, I'm going to do about three or four, I think, or four or five, on doxology.

Doxology just means praise.

A doxology, whether it's a long one or a short one, is ascribing praise to God.

So the direction is from us to God.

It usually has language like, unto him be these things.

Unto you, O God, be these things.

And so the doxology this morning, it is to Jesus Christ in particular.

It is to God.

But it is in particular to Jesus Christ.

So look at verse, the middle of verse 6.

The middle of verse 5 of Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.

It's to Jesus Christ.

And the doxology is taken from the book of Revelation.

If you've never read Revelation, or you've only read a little bit of it, it can be frightening, can't it?

It can be intimidating.

It's full of frightening images.

Dragons.

But the intention of Revelation is that it's a book of comfort.

The book of Revelation is not a puzzle book.

And we're not meant to read it and think, how does it fit in with all the charts and everything that's going on in the Middle East.

And it's there to tell us what's going to happen.

That's not the purpose of Revelation.

The book of Revelation is, it is to be a book that comforts and strengthens Christians.

And if it isn't doing that, you've completely misunderstood it.

So the very beginning of the book of Revelation tells you what it is.

It is a revealing of Jesus Christ.

It's not primarily there to get you to think of unfulfilled prophecy.

Revelation is primarily in the Bible to get you thinking about Jesus Christ.

Not the end of time.

It's about the Lord Jesus.

And it's about his victory.

And this doxology from the middle of verse 5 and all of verse 6 is to Jesus.

The first hearers of the book of Revelation would have been first century Christians who were under intense persecution.

And when I say intense persecution, I don't mean that they were shunned and made to feel that they were outsiders in a culture.

That isn't the case.

It is those who were facing imprisonment and martyrdom.

And so Revelation is to remind them of who they are and who Jesus is.

So let me read you these amazing words from the middle of verse 5.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father.

To him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

I don't know if you've heard of the name M. Scott Peck.

Anyone heard of the name M. Scott Peck?

There was an Australian friend of Judy's, David, who used to come every summer.

And he'd every summer give me a book of Scott Peck's, which I didn't particularly appreciate.

He's not very well known anymore.

But he was very popular 20 years ago.

M. Scott Peck was a psychiatrist.

He came up with a book.

His most famous book was The Road Less Travelled.

And that was really popular.

Another book which is really thoughtful, although I probably wouldn't recommend it, is a book called The People of the Lie.

It's really a book about human evil.

It recounts the exchanges that he had with his patients and his clients.

How Scott Peck came face to face with evil in different forms.

And I want to read to you an exchange that he had with a patient named Charlene.

It goes like this.

Charlene is from a religious and a church background.

Everything seems meaningless.

Charlene complained to me one day.

What is the meaning of life?

I asked her with seeming innocence.

How should I know?

She replied with obvious irritation.

You're a dedicated religious person, I responded.

Surely your religion must have something to say about the meaning of life.

You are trying to trap me, Charlene countered.

That's right, I acknowledged.

I am trying to trap you into seeing your problem clearly.

What does your religion hold to be the meaning of life?

I'm not a Christian, Charlene proclaimed.

My religion speaks of love, not of meaning.

Well, what do Christians say as to the meaning of life?

Even if it isn't what you believe.

At least it's a model.

I'm not interested in models.

You were raised in the Christian church.

You spent almost two years as a teacher of professional Christian doctrine.

I went on goading her.

Surely you're not so dumb as to be unaware of what Christians say is the meaning of life,

the purpose of human existence.

We exist for the glory of God.

Charlene said in a flat, low monotone,

as if she was sullenly repeating an alien catechism learned by rote

and extracted from her by gunpoint.

The purpose of our life is to glorify God.

Well, I asked.

There was a short silence.

For a brief moment, I thought she might cry.

The one time in our work together.

I can't do it.

There's no room for me in that.

That would be my death, she said in a quavering voice.

And then with a suddenness that frightened me,

what seemed to be her choked-backed sobs turned into a roar.

I don't want to live for God.

I will not.

I want to live for me.

My own sake.

It was another session in the middle of which Charlene walked out.

That is honest, isn't it?

That is jarringly honest.

That is candid.

And you may not be sitting here this morning with that level of anger or disconnect.

But I wouldn't be surprised if more of us than we care to admit when we hear the language of,

to God be the glory,

or we sing a song like, glory to the king of angels,

or glory to the king of kings.

Actually, when we hear things like that,

be exalted, O God, above the heavens and the earth,

I suspect a lot of us might think,

I don't want to say that.

I may be saying it, I may be singing it,

but I don't connect with that at all.

And really, at some level, I don't actually know what that means.

Does it mean that I'm giving something to God that he doesn't have?

Does it mean when I give glory to God and praise to God,

am I helping God?

If I don't say those things,

or I don't sing those things,

does he have less glory?

What are we doing when we do doxology?

Where there is that overt language to God, to Jesus Christ.

Here's how I want us to look at this.

I want us to see, first of all, the active son of God,

and then the worthy son of God,

and then we'll circle back to that question.

First of all, the active son of God.

If I asked you this morning, what is a Christian?

More often, we come up with an answer

that is answering another question.

Usually what we do is we say,

a Christian is somebody who believes the Bible,

believes the Bible is true,

and that they believe the Bible is authoritative,

and they believe that God exists,

they believe that Jesus died on the cross,

they believe that Jesus came to save his people from their sins.

A Christian is someone who prays,

a Christian is someone who goes to church,

a Christian is someone who does good things in their community,

they show the fruit of what they believe,

and all those things are good,

and all those things are true,

but is that answering the question,

what is a Christian?

That is answering the question, what a Christian does.

What is a Christian?

To answer that

is actually to talk about

how a Christian is someone

who has had things done to them.

A Christian is someone

for whom things have been done,

and to whom

things have been done.

I heard someone put it like this,

a saint.

When we think of saints,

we often think of

saints canonized by the church.

That isn't how the Bible puts it.

Think of the way that the New Testament

and the Old Testament

use saint.

A saint is just one of God's people.

Here's what it says,

a saint is not someone

who has done great things for God,

a saint is someone

for whom God has done great things.

A saint is not someone

who's done great things for God,

but a saint is someone

for whom God has done great things.

The Christian,

if you are a Christian this morning,

you are someone

for whom things have been done,

and they've been done

by Jesus Christ.

So what has been done?

And what is he doing right now?

Let's divide it in those two ways.

What has been done?

If Jesus Christ is active,

what has he already done?

What is he doing?

You get what he's done already

right at the beginning

in the doxology.

Look at verse 5.

It says, doesn't it,

he has freed us

from our sins

by his blood.

He has freed us

from our sins

by his blood.

We talk a lot about sin.

We preach a lot about sin.

And we confess our sins

like we did this morning.

And we know, don't we,

that sin is something

that brings guilt.

So we talk a lot about

the need for cleansing

and for forgiveness.

But actually,

Revelation 1

is thinking about sin

in a different way.

It's thinking of sin

like a captor.

Sin as an enslaver.

And John didn't invent this.

It's how Jesus spoke about sin

in John's Gospel.

In chapter 8,

listen to this.

Jesus answers them,

truly, truly,

I say to you,

everyone who practices sin,

which is you and I,

is a slave to sin.

So if the Son

sets you free,

you are free indeed.

Let me read that to you again.

Truly, truly,

that is Jesus saying,

this is important,

you can trust me on this one.

Truly, truly,

I say to you,

everyone who practices sin

is a slave to sin.

And so if the sin sets you free,

you will be free indeed.

If we don't fear God

with that life-giving fear

that the Bible talks about,

not a tormented fear,

not a slavish fear,

not that he's going to crush me

kind of fear,

but fear as an appropriate

awe of God is

and who I am,

if that fear

doesn't rule our hearts,

then other fears will.

The fear that we won't be a success,

the fear that other people

won't think well of us.

We think of the fear

of people pleasing

or the need for approval.

Think with me on this.

When you are really fearful

of others

and when you are fearful

of people pleasing

and when you're chasing

the approval of others,

you will feel slavery.

You'll feel what slavery is like.

And Jesus says,

if you practice sin,

you are a slave to sin.

And then he says this,

so if the son sets you free

from that,

you'll be free indeed.

It doesn't mean, does it,

that you'll never sin again.

It doesn't mean that

you'll be perfect.

It means that you will be free

from that sin

being king in your life

and dominating your life.

This doxology says

that Jesus shed his blood for us,

he died on the cross

and he rose for us,

and so not only is our sin forgiven

and we are cleansed,

but we are free.

We are not captives

of sin anymore.

And then it says this,

he has freed us from our sins

by his blood

and made us a kingdom,

priests to his God and Father.

He's made us a kingdom,

what is a kingdom?

What kind of kingdom?

A kingdom of priests

to his God and Father.

And again,

Revelation,

as you read it,

it's full of the Old Testament.

In fact,

I'd argue there's nothing

in Revelation

that isn't in the Old Testament.

So a kingdom of priests,

wherever you heard

that language before.

It comes from a really important moment

in Israel's history

when the Israelites

had been enslaved.

They were literally,

weren't they,

under physical slavery in Egypt.

Do you remember?

And what did God do?

God freed them.

He broke the power

of their captives,

captors,

and they come into the wilderness

and after a few days,

they come to Mount Sinai

and God speaks to them

from Mount Sinai

and this is before

he gives them

the Ten Commandments.

And it's so terrifying

to the Israelites,

God speaking to them,

they say to Moses,

their leader,

you go and talk to him,

we'll do anything he says,

but if we keep hearing that voice,

we're going to die.

And so what does the voice say?

One of the things

that God said to his people

was this,

you are my treasured possession

and then he says,

you will be to me

a kingdom of priests,

a holy nation.

Why is that interesting?

It's interesting

on loads of levels,

but think about this,

he says to all of Israel,

to hundreds of thousands

of people at the foot

of a mountain,

at the base of Mount Sinai,

you will be to me,

a lot of you,

a kingdom of priests.

But some of the law

that God gives

on Mount Sinai

is very specific

that not everyone

can be a priest.

Do you remember that?

In the Old Testament,

it wasn't like you went

to a careers fair

and said,

I want to become

a priest in Israel.

God was really specific,

isn't it?

He had to be

from the tribe

of Levi.

He had to be

in a particular family,

he had to do it

in a particular way.

But God says,

at Sinai,

all my people

are priests.

He says,

men and women,

boys and girls

are priests.

What does that mean?

Why?

It means this.

It means that Israel,

the people of God

as a nation

in the Old Testament,

that they were

his people,

men and women

and children.

And as a priest

was to represent

the people before God,

so Israel was to

represent God

before all the peoples

of the world.

And so you,

as a people,

the people of God,

men and women,

boys and girls,

all the tribes,

you are to represent me

to the world.

You are to be a light

to the nations.

You are to be

a holy people,

different,

a treasured possession.

The people of God

in the Old Testament,

Israel,

were to show

the rest of the world

what I am to like.

And that is why

they were to love

the Lord their God

with all their heart

and mind and soul

and strength

and to love their neighbor

as themselves.

And so when the people

of God fear God

and when they love

their neighbor as themselves,

when they keep

his holy law,

you show to the nations

of the world

what I am like.

All of you

will be priests.

And this doxology

in Revelation

reaches back

to Mount Sinai,

takes this exact language

and says,

Jesus Christ

has already

made us priests.

A kingdom of priests.

And so that means

this morning,

if you believe

in Jesus Christ

and if you have

entrusted yourself

to Jesus,

it means

in your home,

in your street,

in your workplace,

in your school,

you are a priest there.

Whether you feel

like it or not,

he has made you

a priest

to represent him.

And you are called

as a child of God,

as someone who knows

the Lord Jesus Christ,

to represent

to the people

in your life

what God is like.

And Jesus

has made you that.

He's not saying

try to be that,

he's saying

I've made you this.

And so don't lose

sight of the fact

that he has made us

a kingdom of priests.

And so when those

Israelites came out

of slavery,

did they have to worry

about who was king

in Egypt?

There was zero doubt,

was that,

who was king in Egypt?

Pharaoh was king,

they felt it

in their bodies.

But they'd been

delivered from that.

They had a new king.

And when this verse

says Christ has

made us a kingdom,

it is saying

far more I think

that we are

comfortable with.

It is saying

we have been delivered.

There is a new

sheriff in town,

there is a new

master,

that Christ has

conquered us.

He's conquered us

body and soul

in the same way

that the slaves

in Egypt

belong to Pharaoh.

We now belong

to Jesus Christ.

And so everything,

my friendship,

my money,

my secrets,

my solitude,

my sexuality,

the way I describe

myself,

my future,

I hear his,

he conquered me.

And that is

already done.

It doesn't say

Jesus is doing that,

he says it is done.

But then the doxology

moves on to what

Jesus is doing now,

what the Son of God

is doing,

present tense.

What does it say?

Just look at the

middle,

the start of the

doxology in verse

five.

What does it say?

To him who loves

us.

To him who loves

us.

Can you imagine

what it would have

been like if you

were a first century

Christian?

You didn't grow up

with Christian parents

and Christian role

models.

You didn't have

Christian grandparents.

You're the first

one ever.

You come from a

long line of people

that worshipped

other gods

and other temples.

angels.

And now you gather

on a Sunday,

on the Lord's Day,

a different day to

how you always

worshipped and you

gather with the

people of God and

you meet in a room

and they are the

oddest bunch of

people.

You hear someone

preach, you share

bread and wine

together.

And now you claim

that your God

is a man who

you've never seen

physically and you

can't see him and

he's called Jesus

Christ and he grew

up in Nazareth and

he was a carpenter

for many years.

And can you

imagine you go

down that road of

discipleship, you

start to follow Jesus

of Nazareth and you

meet with pushback

and arrest and

violence and

unemployment and

they confiscate your

bank account and

they confiscate your

property and the

friends that also

believed in Jesus

are dragged off to

prison and some

have actually been

killed for the sake

of the Lord Jesus.

And you live every

day with the pressure

of that.

Can you imagine how

badly you need to

hear that Jesus

Christ loves you?

He loves you right

now.

And you may this

week get led off to a

place you don't want

to go to and it'll

be a one-way trip if

you're arrested and

you're not coming

back but you must

understand he loves

you.

And when a 21st

century congregation

gathers in leafy

West London with all

the pressures of life

we need it too,

don't we?

That right now,

present tense, the

Son of God loves

you.

He loves the people

he bled for.

He loves us right

now.

Think about this for

a moment.

We want to be sane

people, don't we?

I hope you don't want

to be insane.

And part of what

sanity is, is dealing,

trafficking in what is

real in the truth.

What is necessary,

what is trafficking and

dealing with what is

true, not necessarily

how you feel.

I don't know how you

feel this morning, but

what I do know about

my own heart is my

own feelings don't

always line up with

the truth.

They don't line up,

my feelings don't

line up with what I'm

told about who I am

in God's word.

And so here is what

is real this morning,

here's what is true,

if you belong to

Jesus Christ, you are

free.

And if right now your

mind goes to that sin

which always gets to

you, that pattern,

that addiction, you are

freed by his blood.

And you are a priest,

and you might think I'm

the most rubbish

priest of all.

But you are a priest,

and you are loved.

And you don't have to

jump through a hoop to

earn it.

you are loved right

here, right now.

And you do have a

king.

And you are loved by

the king.

And so you stay in that

reality.

You live out of that

reality.

And that is what Jesus

is doing.

That is what the son of

God is doing.

The active son of God,

and then the worthy

son of God.

God is doing it.

And that is what the

And that is what the

word is.

The word worship is really

two words,

worth-ship.

To worship something is to

ascribe worth to them or to

it.

And the danger I fear is that

we hear this word of

worship and that we are

called to worship, and we

think this is something that

doesn't come naturally to

us.

We need to learn this new

behavior to worship.

But that misses the point.

We are worshipers, every

single one of us.

We have worshipped this

morning.

We worship when our heart

says, this is how the

universe works, this is how

it operates.

I've got to have something

that makes my life worth

living.

And if I find the thing

that makes my life worth

living, I'm going to praise

it.

Whatever that is, you don't

find it hard to talk about

that.

You don't find it hard to

think about that.

You don't find it hard to

give money towards that, to

buy what it is.

You don't find it hard to

bend towards it, to give

energy to it.

In fact, when that person or

when that subject comes up,

you light up.

Those of you who are

parents, it's a really good

thing, isn't it, to say I

love my child.

You're more than one to say

I love my children.

Of course it is.

That's what we want.

But it's another thing,

isn't it, for a parent to

say, my kids are my

everything.

My kids are my

everything.

Because when you say that,

in so many words, you are

saying glory and honor be unto

my children.

Or let's go back to people

pleasing, that needing the

approval of others, not just

wanting it, but needing it.

And if I don't get it, I'm

devastated.

And a lot of us struggle

with that, don't we?

A lot of us do it.

A lot of us have done that.

A lot of us know in our

heart of hearts what a

slavery that is, to be

defined by the need for

approval.

And what we're saying when

we fall for that is all

authority be unto them.

That is worship.

It's bad worship.

But this is life-giving

worship in Revelation 1.

Let me come back to the

point.

What is doxology doing?

If God doesn't need us, if

Jesus Christ doesn't need

us, then why am I saying

glory be to you, O God?

Dominion, authority be to

you.

Does that give God something

he doesn't have?

If I say dominion be to you,

Lord Jesus, does that give

him more dominion?

Hopefully you know the

answer is no.

So is what we're doing

this morning a colossal

waste of time?

Is this just a religious

way of talking that's

outdated?

Why do we do doxology?

Why do we do praise?

It's because of this.

We are worshipping beings.

Because if we don't find

something or someone to

say this is why life is

worth living, this is why

it is worth getting up in

the morning.

If we cannot find that

thing, what happens is we

despair.

And we may despair to the

point of taking our own

lives.

If we cannot identify that

thing.

Or if they failed us or we

failed them.

Or if it is punishing them.

glory be to you.

All of us, with all of our

lives, our money, our

priorities, our to-do

lists, are saying to

something or someone, glory

be to you.

Do you know what?

We might be saying it to

ourselves.

I want every conversation to

bend towards me.

I want all the attention to

bend towards me.

I want people to talk about

me, to think about me.

glory be to me.

And that is life-robbing

worship.

And if nothing else, to

say glory and dominion be

unto Jesus Christ is a way

of saying glory and

dominion not be to us, not

be to me, but unto him be

dominion and authority and

honor forever.

Let me be honest with you.

If you want a recipe for

boredom, of boredom for

Christianity, just do this.

Whatever this looks like for

you, just pull up at the end

of the day and dwell on the

grind of life and think of the

11 things on your to-do list

and the five things that you

haven't done and so you feel

like a failure.

And think about the ways

your body, your marriage,

your family, your house

compares with others.

And then, when you've got all

of that, try to wedge in just

a little bit of Bible and a

little bit of prayer and a

little bit of church.

And that is a recipe for

boredom for the gospel.

Boredom with the gospel.

It's another thing entirely to

engage in doxology.

To actually do this in private

this week.

We do it in corporate worship.

But we need to do it with our

mouths this week.

To say, Jesus Christ, to you be

glory and dominion and authority

forever.

And I don't care how I feel right

now.

I'm a priest and you've made me a

priest.

And you've made me your subject.

And I have a king and that king

loves me.

And glory be to him.

And if you and I do this, we will

actually be engaging with our real

selves.

And we will be doing what God put

us on this earth to do.

To know him and to delight in him.

I was reading around this week and I

came across a sonnet by John

Dunn.

It's from his holy sonnets.

I don't often give you poetry like

this.

But it's a remarkable poem and it's

called this.

Batter my heart, three persons God.

Batter means rough up.

John Dunn in this sonnet is saying,

Beat up my heart, oh three persons

God.

It's a really beautiful and a jarring

sonnet.

It's saying, quite shockingly, Lord,

don't play nice.

I am not going to know you.

And you are not going to be king

unless you take over.

Let me read to you just the last

three lines.

Take me to you.

Imprison me for I.

Except you enthrall me.

Never shall be free.

Nor ever chaste.

C-H-A-S-T-E.

That means pure.

Nor ever chaste.

Except you ravish me.

End of sonnet.

Nor ever chaste.

Except you ravish me.

I think the danger for churches like

ours is that we are playing it safe.

And we want God, but not too much.

But this is radical, extreme language.

And so let me say to you,

as I finish,

if you are not a Christian,

if that's, you're here and you're just exploring,

or if you are a Christian,

you do not need a little help

here and a little help there.

God needs to do everything.

And we need,

we have a saviour who does that for us.

And that is not saying that we don't exert ourselves,

but he has done everything that was necessary,

and he loves us.

And so to him who loves us,

and has freed us from our sins,

by his blood,

and made us a kingdom priest,

to his God and Father,

to him,

be glory and dominion,

forever and ever.

Amen.

Let's pray.