The Story | Faithful in Babylon

Well, this morning, if we haven't met, my name is Josh.

I have the great joy of serving as pastor here at the Garden.

And I just want to say welcome. It's great to be together this

morning. It's great to be back after

being out of town for a couple of weeks.

And this morning we are finally reaching the end of the story,

the story that we've been in over the course of ten weeks,

where we've been tracing the single arc from beginning to

end, this narrative journey of God's redemption that began all

the way back in Revel, in Genesis.

And now we get to the end of the story, all the way here today in

Revelation. And I'm excited about this.

I was telling Manny, I'm not sure if I've ever spoken on

Revelation before. Maybe not entirely by accident.

Revelation is maybe one of the most challenging and contested

texts in all of Scripture. People disagree about this.

People make up all kind of interesting things.

Maybe maybe you grew up in a church where everybody like read

the left behind books and we're concerned about the rapture.

And like, you know, every time you saw somebody's dirty clothes

on the floor, you were like, what did they leave?

What happened to my left behind? You know, or, or maybe, or maybe

you were part of one of these communities where like everybody

is like, I think they're the Antichrist.

Look if their name and these numbers and something,

something, right. Revelation is a fascinating book

that people have used throughout the centuries to try and make

sense of what's going on. It's often captured our

imagination because of its bizarre symbols and and the idea

that if somehow we could just like map them all correctly,

somehow we'd have this crystal ball for making sense of the

future. Well, this morning, without

answering all of the questions, I want to talk to you about what

I think Revelation is really all about and what it has to tell us

about not only the future but also our lives today.

Here's how Revelation describes itself.

In Revelation chapter one, in verse one, we read that the book

is the revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to

show His servants what must soon take place.

OK, so we see two things in this opening verse that I think are

significant that suggests to us how we read this book.

The first thing is that we see that the Revelation is about the

future. This is the first time in this

whole series we've been looking back.

Looking back, looking back now with the Book of Revelation, we

actually pass our own time and space and look forward to the

end of the story. It's kind of cool.

But secondly, how does Revelation do this?

Well, it it, it, it, it does so as a revelation.

And this is actually a technical term it it's the Greek word

apocalypsis. Apocalypsis.

Now this is the word from which we get the word apocalypse.

And if you're thinking that like, OK, that means world

ending meteors or monsters, that is unfortunately not the right

image. OK, so apocalypse meant

something different to John's 1st century readers than it

would to those of us who watch a lot of sci-fi.

For in the 1st century, apocalypse was like a kind of

literature. It was a genre that we would be

there people in that day would be familiar with.

Just like you pick up a comic book and you kind of know that

that's like supposed to be different from a cookbook is

supposed to be different from a newspaper, right?

With each of these genres, you go in and you kind of know like,

this is what is happening here. This is what do I I expect.

This is what I do with this. Well, in the 1st century,

apocalypses were something that would be familiar to John's

audience. There are other biblical

apocalypses, for instance Daniel or Ezekiel.

There are also extra biblical writings that kind of speak in

this same genre that were contemporary with Revelation

apocalypses, like Second Baruch or 4 Ezra.

What an apocalypse does is it. It talks about the future, it

talks about the end of the world using tools of visions and

symbols, and it does so specifically in order to help us

make sense of God's purposes in world history.

It's intended to give us hope and envision about what God is

up to amidst the circumstances that we see.

I don't believe Revelation is a cipher for making sense of

current events so much as it is a way for us to see our own

story from God's perspective. Now, here's another key point

for making sense of this book. Well, John's Apocalypse, like

all Scripture, matters for you and me of people living in the

21st century, it wasn't written with us primarily in mind.

We see in chapters 2 and three of the book that there were

actually 7 specific churches that were recipients of this

letter. It was intended as a circular

letter addressed between these early Christian churches at the

end of the 1st century in what is now modern day Turkey.

And when they received this letter, each of these churches

were facing different kinds of challenges.

For one, there was a fresh wave at the time of backlash and

persecution against Christians by the Roman government.

There was tension between the empire and the state.

See, the Romans viewed the rapid growth of Christianity as a as a

danger. This was problematic for them

because Roman civil religion, which everyone was enrolled in,

justified the status quo and even exalted the emperor as a

deity. Meanwhile, more and more people

are becoming Christians, and when they do, they claim that

Jesus is Lord, and that means that Caesar is not right.

So they're questioning this allegiance in way that is making

the empire very uncomfortable. I don't know if I can count on

you for the kind of support. I don't know if if these beliefs

are going to undermine the way in which you show up to justify

the status quo. So there's this growing tension

between church and empire. There are other problems as

well. And in the midst of this 1st

century moment, these Christian churches, which had been founded

a few decades earlier, now are in many cases beginning to show

some cracks, like they're not doing great.

If you read chapters 2 and 3 here of Revelation in Ephesus,

we see that the believers have drifted from their first

passionate, fervent love of Jesus.

In Pergamum and Thyatira, the Christians are finding meaning

by chasing the same things that their neighbors idolize.

They're sleeping around just like their neighbors.

Laodicea is so rich that they're distracted by all the fun things

to do, all the experiences that they can buy.

They've completely lost sight of spiritual realities.

These are the Christians increasingly under pressure from

the surrounding culture. They're either caving or

capitulating or accommodating. And so John writes this

apocalypse seeking to to answer 2 fundamental questions as a

resistance literature attempting to encourage them to persevere.

And here are the two questions, questions that I think matter

for us today as well. First off, what is the point of

faithfulness if it's going to cost me?

What is the point of faithfulness if it's going to

cost me? And secondly, if everything is

going to hell, is there really any hope?

If everything's going to hell, is there really any hope?

It's in this context that Revelation is written as a

prophetic warning and encouragement to God's people to

to persevere under pressure to maintain their identity, to

continue to cultivate the passionate love that they have

for Jesus, and to to follow him even if it costs them.

I could imagine that this might be, I don't know what you think.

Seems to me that this could be important for us today too.

I don't know. Maybe you found yourself

thinking at some point. Sure.

Like I'm still a Christian, of course, but I like, I just can't

keep up. Like life is so busy right now.

I don't know if I have time for this.

Maybe there was a moment when you were out with friends and

your conscience was screaming at you.

Like, you know, you need to opt out from this, but it'd be

embarrassing and awkward. You don't want to be a stick in

the mud, and so you kind of just caved and went along with it.

Maybe there's an area in your life where you know that how

you're living is just inconsistent with what it means

to follow Jesus. Maybe your relationship with

Jesus has slipped to the back burner.

Or, like the Christians in Sardis, you're going through all

the motions. You're still showing up.

You're here in church, but inside it doesn't feel like

there's any real life left. If you relate to any of these

things, friends, then I believe Revelation is for you.

This revealing is for us. If you've ever asked whether

faithfulness was worth it, or struggled to find hope in what

felt like was the face of just these insurmountable evil,

Revelation is for you. In Revelation, this evil, which

grinds people down and seduces them into complicity, has a

name. It's personified as as a dragon,

as a beast, and even as a city, the city of Babylon.

Now, in this story, we've met Babylon before.

You may remember all the way back in Genesis 11, we met the

first prototype of Babylon in the Tower of Babel.

It was this first moment when all the people of the world

united. Unity's a good thing for the

wrong reason in order to defy God, right?

Everybody got on the same page to push back about what God had

told them and and to seize control to bring this is like

the first Empire, right? They all get together and they

try to build this tower that will reach to the heavens,

giving them control and power to be able to sustain life on their

own terms. We see later in the narrative

that this same spirit emergence again in the actual empire of

Babylon. This empire, of course, conquers

Jerusalem. The Babylonians come in and they

wreck the temple. They destroy the place where God

lives with his people and carry away God's people into exile, a

theme we've talked about a lot throughout the prophets like

Isaiah and Jeremiah. Babylon becomes this symbol of

of evil power that stands in defiance of God.

It enslaves his people, it exploits the weak, and it exalts

itself as divine. So by the time that John is

writing these words, himself, a prisoner of empire on the island

of Patmos, the historic Babylon is long gone, right?

Doesn't even exist anymore. But John sees not only a another

manifestation of this evil empire in Rome, but he wants us

to understand that there is actually behind these specific

politicians and policies, that there is a spirit at work.

There is a through line here that has gone across the

centuries. There is an evil spirit which

continues to rear its head and rise up to stand in opposition

of God. And this is what John writes

about in his Apocalypse. He tells a story not only of of

how Rome will eventually come crashing down, but how this

animating spirit which resists and refuses to trust and obey

God, will ultimately be defeated.

So what does it take to defeat the villain?

How does the story play out? Well, after the letters to the

churches in chapters 2 and 3, we see in chapters four and five

that there's this vision of the heavenly throne room.

John's swept up into heaven itself, and there he sees God,

and in God's right hand is scroll.

The scroll has a message. It details how finally heaven

will come to earth. Things will be on earth as they

are in heaven. How is it going to come about?

Unfortunately, there's a problem.

If the soul is locked, it is sealed with these 7 seals, and

nobody, it seems, can open the seal.

In other words, nobody can can bring a history to its ultimate

conclusion until Jesus enters. And Jesus is depicted here in

the story in Revelation in royal language, the lion of the tribe

of Judah, the root of David, we read in Revelation chapter 5 in

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

verse 5. But as John turns to look, he

sees not a lion, but fascinatingly, a lamb.

Jesus is depicted as a lamb, and not just a lamb, but a slain

lamb, a lamb with its throat slit.

This this killed lamb, becomes the vehicle that opens the

scroll that brings history to its conclusion.

There's an important point that John is making here.

Through this vision, Jesus brings the purposes of God to

fulfillment, not by coercion, but by sacrificial, self giving

love. In the following chapters, we

see these seals opened and as they are open, history begins

rushing towards its conclusion towards what the prophets have

been described as the day of the Lord.

There's these bowls and there's there's trumpets, there's vials,

there's all of these different things.

And ultimately there are many judgments that are poured out.

Evil is being judged, the righteous are being vindicated

ultimately in the lead up to this final event called the Day

of the Lord. But despite all of the terrible

judgments that we're seeing, people don't repent.

This is a reenactment of what we saw back in the Exodus with

Pharaoh. It's like God is demonstrating

his power. He's showing all of these signs

and wonders. There's proof like you've never

seen before that God is alive, that he is real.

Like everything in the supernatural is out there in the

open. And people double down on their

resistance to him. People don't turn, they don't

change. They continue to resist, and

what we actually see in this moment of evil is that many of

God's people are killed. People from every tribe, nation,

people, and language we read in 7-9 are actually murdered

because of their faith in Jesus. This is how John describes the

martyrs here in Revelation Chapter 7.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

He says they have washed their robes and made them white in the

blood of the Lamb. Never again will they hunger.

Never again will they thirst, for the Lamb at the center of

the throne will be their shepherd.

He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe

away every tear from their eyes. What John is telling us is not

only is history brought to its fulfillment by way of this

slaughtered Lamb, but God's people also follow in his

footsteps. They win by dying.

This is crazy because it runs against all of our intuitions.

In fact, I think for many of us this is downright offensive.

God's people don't win the battle by stockpiling weapons or

electing the representatives to Congress.

In this story, they actually get killed.

The good guys lose. They're murdered.

But this defeat becomes the stage for God's victory.

And counter intuitively, their faithful witness, even unto

death, results in many people coming to recognize and glorify

Jesus. God's people win in the same way

the Lamb has done. So.

Just as Jesus has defeated his enemies by way of his death,

God's people conquer in the same way.

As Tim Mackie puts it, the mission of God's multi ethnic

people is to follow the Lamb, bearing witness to God's justice

and mercy before the beastly nations, even if it kills him.

I think this is hard for us. I mean, if I was in charge of

writing the end of the world history, it would not go this

way. I would give it a different

ending if I were in charge. Maybe it would say they were

righteous and faithful and therefore they found their soul

mate and lived happily ever after.

They served every week in Kids Men and so God bless their

finances and they were able to buy a great house, right?

They gave generously, and so nobody in their family got

cancer. They went to church every week.

And so their kids grew up to be balanced, responsible adults

with their own rent who didn't live in the basement.

They had great careers and lots of grandkids, Right.

I think that sometimes this is how we relate to faith.

It's like, if I do the right things, then surely, like, God's

going to take care of me. I'm going to get all the stuff

that I'm really hoping and longing for.

Or maybe at least I think some of us kind of our story goes

like the people of God were really faithful.

They prayed really hard, and so God brought a revival and every

sector of business and government and culture was

transformed, and the world looked increasingly like the

Kingdom of God until Jesus was elected president by majority

vote. That sounds great, right?

That'd be nice. I like these stories.

It's not what Revelation says. Revelation tells us they

conquered by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their

testimony. They did not love their lives so

much as to shrink from death. Friends, one of the crazy things

about being in Rwanda this week was the opportunity to be with

these folks from all over the world, pastors and ministry

leaders. And I, I in some cases can't

tell you specifics about the people because if AI gets really

good and pulls this recording from somewhere else, then they

might get executed. Like, but we met people who are

doing ministry in a space where they've already experienced like

severe backlash for what they're doing.

Muslim contacts spaces where the government is in resistance and

opposition to they're just faithful sharing of Jesus or

even naming that they're a Christian.

And yet they're continuing to faithfully witness to the name,

believing that that this name has the power to change the

world. Like they are faithful like, I

hope not till death, but faithful like someday when we

get to the end of the story, we're going to talk about that

in a minute. I, I think we're going to get

there. And I was telling Ali this week,

like, I don't know about like all the mansions and rewards.

Revelation talks a lot about rewards, though.

And like, I hope, like I hope there's some good stuff for me.

Like I feel like I'm trying to be faithful.

I'm trying to, I'm trying to live out my faith.

I'm trying to, to act as I believe Jesus would want.

But when I compare myself to some of these, some of these

men, some of these women I met this last week, I'm like, shoot,

I got light duty over here. Right, This is I'm I'm basically

I'd be a benchwarmer like not in this squad.

This is this is incredible. Friends.

They conquered by their love, by the word of their testimony.

At the end of the story, we see that there is a moment when evil

is finally and fully defeated. Judgment falls, those who have

compromised get the reward now, but lose out in the end.

What the story tells us is that those who have exploited and

harmed the innocent don't get away with it.

Those have moved out of selfishness and greed and self

indulgence. Hope it's good now.

There's a reckoning coming. But those who have been

faithful, the text tells us we'll inherit a crown of life

the never fades. This is what Jesus says at the

end of the story, Revelation 2212 through 14.

He says, look, I am coming soon. My reward is with me and I will

give to each person according to what they have done.

I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the 1st and the last, the beginning

and the end. Blessed are those who wash their

robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and go

through the gates into the city. Friends, there is an opportunity

for those who choose the pathway of faithfulness.

This message that John writes, it gives us, I think like as, as

as much as it's not the message that I would prefer that he

would have written to us in some way.

It's like encouraging because it's honest.

Like it tells the truth about the world.

It doesn't tell us that like the good guys win and everything

works out great in the end. Which I don't know if you've

read the news lately, but like doesn't seem to be what is

happening, right. Often times in this life, it it

feels like accountability for those who exploit, for those who

harm, for the for those who are running pedophile rings for for

those who are damaging their neighbors who are taking away

food is like it feels like sometimes the accountability

isn't there. Seems like people get away Scott

free. I'm encouraged that this story

names that like evil often in the short run wins and also

says, hey, friends, hold on to hope.

This is not the end of the story.

There is a final chapter coming. And because of that final

chapter, as you look at your own life, Christians, as you look at

your own life, churches in ancient Turkey, as you face the

pressure and the power of empire, which threatens to

seduce, which threatens to pull you in all of these different

ways. See if I can fix that.

You have a choice. Will you be crushed by it in a

way that causes you to give up, to throw in the towel, to

retreat, to say it's not worth it, the pain is not worth it?

I'm only interested in this faith thing, if it, if it pays

off, if I can see the dividends in the short term, in my life,

in the material world. Are you willing to be faithful?

Are you? Will you allow yourself to be

crushed by the pressures of the world?

Will you allow yourself to be seduced by the false promises of

the world? Or will you look forward and

believe what Jesus says, that he's coming soon, that his

reward is with him, That there is another way that is possible

and it's worth it? It may not be worth it in the

short run, like it may not all work out in the near term, but

in the end it does. At the end of the story we see

heaven finally come to earth and the proclamation goes Outlook.

God's dwelling place is now among his people.

He will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God

himself will be with him and be their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for

the old order of things have passed away.

Look, I don't think that those comments about comfort are there

on accident. They're there because

faithfulness in the near term often times comes with a lot of

tears. It comes with a lot of pain, a

lot of difficulty. And yet, if we choose to follow

the Lamb who Himself gave his life for us and for our

salvation, we can count on an eternity with Him in His

presence. This week I got to hang out and

make a new friend with a young Rwandan man named Cagabo.

And Cagabo is super cool guy, just incredibly sharp.

He works as a civil engineer and he's, he's doing pretty well by

Rwandan standards. Based on what I learned, like

80% of the people in the country struggle with food security.

Like they're 80% of the people are having trouble putting 3

meals a day on the table. Kagabo and his family are doing

OK. They're in that kind of like top

percentage, but not like not easy, right?

He gets up a little before 4:00 every morning to take the bus

over an hour away to get to his job site.

He's there from 7:00 in the morning all the way until about

6:00 PM in the evening. Then he's got to get on the bus

and come back. That doesn't leave a lot of time

for his two kids. He's got a six month old.

He's got a four month old. His wife, in addition to caring

for them, also runs a market downtown.

They got heavy, hard lives. But that wasn't what stunned me

about Kagabo or or impressed me about him.

What was really remarkable was the fact that Kagabo was there

at the conference as a church planner, a church planner in

everything that I just told you about.

Like on the weekends, they're hosting Bible studies.

He's getting ready and preaching.

I don't know. I was like, dude, are you like,

how do you like, just happened on the bus?

I would be sleeping. I don't know.

In the short run, that calculus doesn't make any sense.

In the short run, those values and decisions don't really pan

out. But Kagabo doesn't believe that

he's looking at the short run. He wants his neighbors and

friends in Rwanda to know Jesus. And so he's laboring on the

weekends in the margins on the bus to see a move of God.

And it was such a joy to be able to to worship with him last week

when I wasn't here. I was there getting to

experience his church community as they're discipling people and

training them in the way of Jesus.

Friends, this is what faithfulness looks like.

There's so many different ways that it looks like, right?

Maybe it looks like rallying your community to stop stock up

the community fridge when neighbors don't have dinner.

Maybe it looks like sitting patiently and caringly with a

friend who just saw a relationship end and pointing

them to Jesus. Maybe it looks like caring for

your mom who's fading into Alzheimer's.

And it's honestly difficult. More like another child, but

showing up day after day in love and care while you're also

leading a group and raising kids and trying to be a Good Wife.

Maybe it maybe it, it looks like going beyond your means really

to get a place that you can't really afford so you have

another room for a foster daughter.

Like maybe it looks differently for you.

There are so many examples in our community right now that I'm

so grateful to celebrate as as concrete testimonies of the ways

in which people are giving up, of their lives, of their souls,

of their resources, of their time, of their energy in a way

that in the, in the short term, honestly really doesn't make a

lot of sense. But from the divine perspective,

when you look at it top down and really believe that what Jesus

says is true makes all the sense in the world, Friends, we Live

Today in Babylon, we in the empire, and every day as we move

throughout our lives, there are all of these pressures that we

face. They're not that different from

the pressures being faced by these 1st century churches in

Turkey 2 millennia ago. Pressures to capitulate and

collapse, to just kind of throw in the towel and say, man, it's

not worth it. This is too hectic.

This is too hard. It's exhausting.

I don't see the results. I'm out.

There's not a payoff here for me.

There's there's constant temptation as the empire so

creatively in Revelation, it's described as a beast, right?

A political beast, an economic and cultural beast that is

constantly pulling and enrolling and seducing, seducing us into

the rat race to to to show up in the ways just like our neighbors

that bend our character. There's so many opportunities to

to show up in those moments, to be silent when our Co workers

are making fun of Christians, when our finances are tight and

we face this temptation to hoard our resources instead of being

generous when our preferred candidate does something morally

repugnant. We just, you know, want to stay

off social media for a little bit.

When everyone else is racing, racing, racing for the next

degree, for the bonus, for the partnership, for the house, for

the activities. To guard our Sabbath, to guard

our spiritual life, to guard our own relationship with Jesus and

community. Friends, it is not easy to do so

in Babylon. And so as we read this book, we

have the invitation. We have the question, will we be

faithful when Jesus comes and we stand before him at the end of

the story? Will he say, well done, good and

faithful? Stewart, come on in.

I've been preparing this for you.

Look, we don't get in because of our achievements and our works

and how great we were, but there is a reward that's at stake.

Do we believe him? Do we really believe that this

is what's happening? Friends, Revelation challenges

us to stay faithful, to persevere, to recover that first

passion, that love that maybe we felt when we first became

followers of Jesus. The time may come when we have

to risk everything, our freedom, even our very lives.

But even in this moment, faithfulness still requires a

great deal of sacrifice. Giving away money that could

have been used for some great adventure, investing in

relationships that might not be easy, sacrificing comfort and

time. It doesn't make sense from the

calculus of the here and now, but it makes all the sense in

the world if we believe that God's perspective is actually

true. For instance, we close this

morning. The band's going to come.

But I want to invite you to consider, as Christians living

in Babylon, where do you notice the pull for you?

Where do you feel tempted to accommodate, to capitulate?

Where is that pull stirring in your life and inviting you,

pulling into into the values, into the ideals of your

neighbors? It's a little bit of dishonesty,

compromising and integrity shifting off of something you

know to be true. Where is the temptation to

accommodate showing up for you? And where is Jesus calling you

to a costly faithfulness? What would it look like for you

to live into a costly faithfulness in light of the

coming Kingdom, in light of the reality that the day of the Lord

is coming and that we will stand before the Lord?

Friends, I want to invite us into prayer in response.

And as we do so, I just want to invite you to sit with these

questions to consider. Where do I feel tempted to

accommodate? Where is Jesus calling me to a

costly faithfulness? What would it look like for me

to live not as a citizen of Babylon, but as a foreigner, as

a guest whose allegiance is to another king?

Jesus, we need you. It's so easy, as we swim in the

waters of what is very much not your Kingdom, to be discouraged,

to despair, to get lost or distracted, to fall prey to the

temptations that seek to seduce us each day.

Now, I don't know if it's some consolation that 2000 years ago

your people were kind of in the same boat, facing a lot of the

same stuff that we are today. Jesus, we're longing for you to

come, for you to once and for all set things right, for you to

bring justice, for you to vindicate the oppressed.

And also in the meantime, God, we ask for a grace of

faithfulness like we need your grace to persevere.

God, would you give us the courage?

Would you give us the obedience? Would you give us the faith to

live the way of another Kingdom, to trust you and to believe?

Pray in Jesus name, Amen.