Silence in Heaven

Father, we don't really like to admit before you that we are confused.

Father, we find it a lot easier to think that your word is confused and that ultimately you are confused.

So, Father, we're just being honest with you about that.

We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would do a mighty work in our lives this morning as we think about your word.

We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would reveal to us our divided heart and our confusion.

And at the same time, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would lead us to see the wisdom of your word, your great unsurpassed wisdom and justice and mercy.

And we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would incline our hearts, turn our hearts to you and to your wisdom and to your Son, wisdom made flesh, who died upon the cross for us.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Amen. Please be seated.

Nowadays, even people in their mid-20s can start being curmudgeons and can tell teenagers how much harder it was in high school than it was for them.

Amen.

Amen.

My youngest son in geography.

This is geography in grade nine.

I can't remember now why, but in the unit where they were covering the continental drift, you know, the drift of the continents, as part of that in their class time, they watched the Ice Age III movie.

For those of you who know that movie, it's an animated film about a chipmunk trying to get an acorn.

At the same time, talking about global warming and climate change, they watched The Day After Tomorrow and the movie 2012, which, of course, is spectacularly ironic.

It was based, of course, on Al Gore's book earlier.

And to watch it now for information when it's obviously been completely and utterly proven to be false, of course, is an even deeper irony.

But that's actually part of what was happening in grade nine geography, at least in one particular school.

And so now it is that people, many of you, a few years older than my son Tommy, can now start to tell people how harder it was in high school and how more rigorous it was for you than it is for the current generation.

And so for those of us who are quite a bit past our early 20s, and we can even be more deeply ingrained in our curmudgeonly view of current education.

But I mention all of this.

I mention Ice Age, for instance.

Actually, just last night, you know, I'm always following high culture in movies.

And so we watched The Croods last night, which was about a Stone Age family dealing with catastrophes.

And often, of course, movies that talk about something like the end of the Ice Age are really making comments about today.

And Hollywood has movies about sort of the end of the world.

I'm not trying to put them down just as according to Al Gore.

But the fact is that on one hand, when us modern or postmodern people figure out what we are, listen to texts like Ken read just a few moments ago about Revelation chapter eight.

It can sound sort of problematic to us.

Like, George, how on earth can the Bible talk about stuff like this?

End of the world.

Like, really?

All these things are going to be happening.

Come on.

How on earth can we possibly take the Bible seriously?

Actually, the thing is that we need...

Here's the thing.

If you could put the first point up, Andrew.

Here's the thing.

We need to sort of have a bit of a thing to clear our minds a little bit as we start to listen to Revelation eight.

And the first thing that we need to understand is this.

That the end of all things can be sensationalized or forgotten, but cannot be reasonably denied.

I mean, actually, for many decades, there's different stories or tales of some type of imminent ecological catastrophe that's going to befall the planet.

And obviously, some of those, as some of them, are shown not to be the case.

And there's always, obviously, people who say, of course, we shouldn't trust these things.

Human ingenuity will get over it.

But, in fact, Hollywood talks about these things.

And whether or not global warming and global climate change caused by our use of fossil fuels, whether or not that is correct,

the fact of the matter is that science, in fact, does say that there will be the end of all things.

Like, that can't be denied.

But the second law of thermodynamics wins.

And the second law of thermodynamics says that the amount of entropy, unusable sort of random energy in a system, is always increasing.

So whether it's a billion, billion, billion, billion years from now, eventually all the planets, all the galaxies, all the stars, there will be just entropy.

They will all come to an end.

That's what science tells us.

And long before entropy wins, our own planet will be completely and utterly destroyed.

The sun is winding down.

The sun is winding down.

And at some point in time, as sufficient amount of it is burned up and its mass changes, the powers that keep the sun at its current size will start to weaken and the sun will expand.

And as the sun expands, Earth will be burned to a crisp.

And how that will look in terms of how it's described, of course, I don't know how that will be.

But while we might not want to think about it or we might want to sensationalize it, the fact of the matter is that the end of all things cannot reasonably be denied.

And if we listen to Revelation 8 thinking that it can be reasonably denied and hence any type of talk about the end of all things is just completely and utterly foolish, showing how stupid the Bible is,

then we won't even begin to have any type of reasonable discussion or reading of the text.

We need to, in a sense, have, like, you know how sometimes, I've never been to one, but they talk about in wine tasting, you have something to cleanse the palate so you can taste something fresh.

We need to have that when we come to read such texts as Revelation chapter 8.

Revelation 8 · chapter mention

Something to sort of cleanse the palate in the mind and make us just pause for a second and say, okay, one moment.

And before I sort of go all ballistic on this text, before I start rolling my eyes to the back of my head, let's just, the end of the world cannot reasonably be denied.

In fact, actually, one of the very interesting things is to actually look at what the Bible is saying, comparing it to what everything else can possibly say.

Like, what does a certain form of science typified by guys like Richard Dawkins, what does it have to say about the end of the world?

What does Buddhism have to say, or Islam, or Hinduism, or the spirituality that we've cobbled together from bits and pieces to suit ourselves?

Like, the fact of the matter is, is that often people have problems when they look at the Bible, but they don't, we often forget as human beings that once we've asked a question, that question touches everything.

It's not as if we can just ask a question of the Bible, which is, in a sense, implicitly a question that we can ask of Buddhism, or Islam, or Hinduism, or scientism, or naturalism, or empiricism, or a whole pile of other isms, or Marxism, or feminism, or queer theory.

Like, the fact is that, well, one moment, before we sort of maybe dismiss what the Bible says, how does it actually stack up compared to what a whole range of other things would actually say about the end of all things, given that the end of all things cannot be reasonably denied?

It cannot be reasonably denied.

The timing of it can be talked about, but the end of it cannot be reasonably denied.

So how is it actually that the Bible and Christianity fares if we actually start to just take another step back and look at things?

And here, Andrew, if you could put up the next slide, here's the thing that I would suggest.

I can only have hope if the living God, the God of the Bible, is the one who brings all things to an end.

I can only have hope if the living God is the one who brings all things to an end.

The second law of thermodynamics shows no mercy.

This week on Monday, I had a physical.

I'm a bad boy.

I haven't had a physical for like eight years, seven years.

I know you're supposed to, when you get to be my age, have them every year.

I finally had a physical.

At the start of the physical, the doctor asked me how tall I was.

So I told them, I used to be this height.

I know I'm shorter.

I like telling my kids that gravity wins.

And so I wasn't sure how much I've shrunk since I hit my peak at a particular age.

But here's the thing about this particular text, that the second law of thermodynamics doesn't show any type of mercy and doesn't give us any type of hope.

Now, we shouldn't choose a philosophy just because it gives us hope.

But on the other hand, we shouldn't dismiss hope as a clue in terms of the meaning of the universe and the meaning of life.

Like, why is it that hope is so attractive?

Why is it that hope seems to be something which is deeply rooted in human beings?

Why is it that so many novels and movies, even The Crudes, that movie last night, part of it was about a system of rules and thinkings which extinguished hope in people?

Like, why is it that we understand that hope is something which is significant?

And if that's the case, well, then what exactly is it that Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism or secularism or this scientific discovery, like, how does that fit with hope?

And we shouldn't pick something just because of hope.

But on the other hand, a system of thinking, a text that talks about hope is something surely that fits in with part of the data that should be important to us when we're trying to figure out what actually is true

and what it is that we should be serving, loving, obeying, trusting, and hoping in.

And the fact is that if, in fact, the living God is the one who will bring all things to an end, then, if we read the Bible, we understand that at least there can be some hope that we can call out to God for mercy,

that God can do something, that if there is a living God who will bring all things to an end, then perhaps there is meaning in life.

Perhaps there is meaning even in suffering.

Perhaps hope is a clue to the existence of the reality of the living God, the same living God who is revealed in Scripture and was most preeminently revealed in the person of Jesus and his death upon the cross.

Now, some of you might say, George, did you hear what Ken read?

A third of the earth, a third of the seas, a third of the fresh water.

Like, George, how on earth do you think this text possibly talks about hope?

Let's look.

So if you have your Bibles, hopefully you brought your Bibles, let's turn to Revelation chapter 8.

Revelation 8 · chapter mention

And if you forgot your Bibles, there's always, there's just one left here, but if you go to that door over there, there's always a few extra Bibles and you're welcome to keep it or return it after the service.

And let's turn to Revelation chapter 8.

Revelation 8 · chapter mention

It's the last book in the Bible, if you're not familiar with where the Bible, where the book of Revelation is.

And we at Church of the Messiah were preaching through the book of Revelation.

That's part of the way, preaching through books of the Bible, that we want to help ordinary people be confident, joyful disciples of Jesus Christ.

And so what we're going to do is we're not going to look at the beginning of Revelation 8.

We're going to go right to the hard part in Revelation 8.

All of these terrible things that come on the planet.

So start reading at verse 6.

Verse 6.

Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

The first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood.

And these were thrown upon the earth.

And a third of the fire, a third of the earth was burned up.

And a third of the trees were burned up.

And all the green grass was burned up.

Just sort of put your finger there for a second, just to sort of give you the context.

What happened earlier in the first five verses, we're going to look at those in a few moments.

But the Lamb is revealed.

He opens the seventh seal.

There's a half an hour of silence in heaven.

At the end of the half hour of silence of heaven, the seven angels come with trumpets.

And then God gives an angel some incense.

And the incense is thrown on the fire of an altar before the throne of God.

And as the incense rises, because it burns in the fire, the prayers of Christians rise to God.

And in response to the prayers of Christians rising to God, God sends the angel to the altar a second time.

And this time the altar, the angel grabs fire and hurls the fire from the altar before the throne of God.

He hurls it at the earth.

And how it appears on earth is in these seven different visions, these seven different scenarios.

And so the first one is, as I just read, and then the second angel blows his trumpet, verse 8.

And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea.

And a third of the sea became blood.

A third of the living creatures in the sea died.

And a third of the ships were destroyed.

And just sort of pause here for a second.

A couple of weeks ago, if you were here and you happen to remember, I talked about how one of the things,

the ways the book of Revelation is written, it's a little bit like Groundhog Day.

It sort of talks about a scenario of judgment.

And then it looks like it talks about a scenario of judgments leading up to the final judgment.

But it sort of goes over the same territory, but in a different way.

And it's going to happen again another time in the book.

And a way to understand these scenarios is a little bit like this, I think.

Imagine that I gave you seven pictures of my daughter, Victoria.

Maybe some of you have never met my daughter, Victoria.

She goes to another church in Canada.

And so I gave you seven pictures of my daughter, Victoria.

Victoria, maybe my wife and I look at these seven pictures thinking that if you get these seven pictures and you look at them,

you'll have a really good sense of Victoria.

Now, if you look at all seven pictures, you'll get a real good sense of Victoria.

But if you were to try to Photoshop all seven pictures and put them on top of each other,

well, the nose would be in seven different places, the ears in seven different places.

It would look like a Picasso painting.

And you wouldn't have any vague idea if you took the seven pictures and superimposed them on each other.

What on earth Victoria looked like?

It would be more confusing afterwards than before.

And I think that's what's happening here with these seven different scenarios,

all describing the one throwing the fire on the earth.

That we're to take each one of them as a bit of a scenario and sort of be captivated by the image,

to think about the image, to meditate upon the image.

Then there's sort of another image.

And if you look at all seven of them together, in some way,

it describes both things that go on in the planet right now.

Like I'm guessing that if you lived in Chernobyl in the Ukraine,

when the disaster happened, that you might have some resonance with this text.

That maybe if you were a Christian living in Syria, parts of Syria today,

you would have some resonance with this text.

If you were a persecuted Christian in China,

living in some area of unbelievable ecological devastation,

you might have some resonance with this text.

We live in post-industrial, very safe, democratic, capitalist Canada.

We might not have the same type of resonance.

But on one hand, the text describes things that go on in the planet today.

And at the other hand, it will describe the end in some way that I don't know how all the seven images will fit together

when the end of all things come.

But we can take some confidence that when it all happens, if we are there,

that we can see how in some way all these seven things somehow fit with what happens at the end of all things.

But that we shouldn't get locked up into trying to nitpick how to put all of the seven images together,

just as if I gave you seven pictures of Victoria, you wouldn't impose them all on each other.

Yet you look at each, and after you've looked at each and thought about it and meditated upon it,

you have some sense of the end.

So we've done the first trumpet, the second trumpet.

The third trumpet is verse 10.

The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch.

And it fell on a third of the rivers, on the springs of water.

The name of the star is Wormwood.

A third of the waters became Wormwood, and many people died from the water because it had been made bitter.

Just sort of pause.

So the first angel talks about the dry land.

The second angel talks about the salt water.

The third angel talks about fresh water.

And now the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck.

In the original language, it's as if the angel of God hurls a plague.

Okay? Hurls a plague.

And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so the third of their light might be darkened.

And a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

And there the idea is that for one, assuming you're at the equator and there's 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night,

it means that for four hours of the day there's complete and utter darkness.

Complete darkness.

And for a third of the evening there's complete darkness.

No moon, no stars.

None at all.

Complete darkness in the sky.

And then verse 13.

Then I looked, and I heard an eagle.

And it's sort of interesting, the eagle, we don't capture it, but an eagle in the Old Testament is an unclean bird.

Ritually unclean.

Then I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead.

Woe!

Woe!

Woe!

Woe!

To those who dwell on the earth at the blast of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow.

Now, remember the original question is, I said in my second point that I can only have hope if the living God is the one who brings all things to an end.

And this passage describes terrible suffering.

Even my analogy about how some parts of the world might have great resonance with this text.

If you are a persecuted Christian in a part of China suffering terrible ecological pollution destruction.

If you're in a part of Syria, and we could go on.

We could go on to places of great famine and great war and hardship.

There might be parts of the world that Christians gathered, maybe just in some hut somewhere or somewhere in the bush, hiding around a Bible.

That a text like this might have profound resonance to what they're experiencing.

Whereas for us it becomes more of an intellectual puzzle influenced heavily by radio preachers who try to say, you know, the first thing is big oil and the second thing is, you know, whatever.

You know, nuclear waste or whatever.

And then there's North Korea and all that.

I actually think that's profoundly unhelpful and means we don't read the text very clearly.

But how with all this suffering is there hope?

Here's the question.

Andrew, if you could put it on.

The Bible is posing us a question.

Does suffering lead me to exalt myself against God?

Or does suffering lead me to seek refuge in the immensity and sovereignty of the untamably good God?

Now, even by posing this question, remember I said that part of the problem we have when we read the book of Revelation is that we don't read the book of Revelation realizing

that it's an undeniable fact that all things will end.

Like that's just undeniable.

It's forgotten.

It's ignored.

We amuse ourselves to death.

But it's undeniable that all things will end.

And if we sort of just live in a state of constant amusement of ourselves and not thinking about it, then the things in the book of Revelation, we can't even begin to engage with them.

But if we realize that the end of all things is in fact undeniable and then we can look a little bit about how Marxism or how psychoanalysis or queer theory or Buddhism or spirituality of our guru, how does this talk about the end of all things?

Then all of a sudden there's a way for us to actually look at these things in a far different light.

But here's the other thing is the fact of the matter is that many of us are deeply confused and conflicted about suffering without realizing it.

It is not unusual for me to have a conversation with a person where something like this can happen within minutes of each other in the conversation.

Where somebody can say, I will not worship a God who does not do something about evil and injustice.

And then two minutes later they can say, I will not worship a God who judges.

One moment.

You don't want to worship a God because he doesn't judge injustice.

But now you want to worship a God who judges.

And then two minutes later they might say, I abhor, I hate people who divide the world into good people and bad people.

Don't people understand that, you know, even with terrorists, even with what those people that, you know, our culture labels as terrorists,

that there is good and bad in every person.

That in fact, Solzhenitsyn said, is that the line dividing good and evil does not come between groups of people and nations and ideologies,

but the line between separating good from evil goes right down the middle of every human being.

And then two minutes later they might say, how dare God judge me as doing evil?

Well, that's heavily conflicted thought.

That's heavily conflicted thought.

In fact, the irony is that we can go through this motion of how come God doesn't judge evil and injustice,

and then go through how come God judges?

That's a terrible thing.

And how come we separate the world into good and evil when we should understand that good and evil sort of runs right through every individual.

And then we say, how dare God judge me as if I have any evil about me or there's evil with me?

And then we think the Bible's confused and conflicted.

And we haven't understood that we have a deep confusion and confliction inside of us which is unrecognized

and makes it hard for us to hear the Bible.

And so the question of the text is, does suffering lead me to exalt myself against God,

or does suffering lead me to seek refuge in the immensity and sovereignty of the untamably good God?

And that comes through many ways in this text.

The fact that in the first series of judgments it's a quarter, in the next it's a third.

It's not total.

There's a chance that there's even a pause between each of them,

that at the end of all of these four, before we go into the final three,

that there's this creature which is unclean like you and I are in and of ourselves.

It says, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You know, it's like, I know it's a slightly different whoa, but it's still a warning.

It's like, you know, if we see a, I don't know, you know, maybe after church,

you know, a little kid, a parent loses track of their little kid,

and then we see them starting to go hurtling down,

and, you know, maybe we think they're going to crash their head against that metal bar,

and we go, whoa, stop, and we try to grab them, like we warn them.

Like all the way through the text, that there's not yet total type of destruction.

It's not as if it comes upon the human race without any type of warning.

And at the same time, at a certain type of level,

we understand certain types of things about suffering.

Like, if, like, you know, surely, for many of us,

for many of us, when we hear maybe about the death of a loved one or something like that,

and maybe in a very tragic or terrible situation far from home,

and one of our terrors for that person was that they died alone,

that they suffered alone, that there was no one with them.

If there was to be something which we knew was going to happen all of a sudden to Ottawa,

and we only had maybe a half an hour, an hour before it hit,

and that we didn't have time to run for it,

surely for many of us, wouldn't we want to have someone with us at that time of anxiety?

So if, in fact, that is the case, even with a human being,

that we understand how there's something about suffering

that makes us wish that there could be someone that we would suffer with,

why is it that we necessarily think that suffering will somehow incline our hearts away from God?

Is it, in fact, not possible that suffering can incline our hearts to God?

Neither choice is inevitable.

And that suffering could incline our hearts to God,

that, in fact, apart from the fact that we have a fundamental hardness

and rebellion against God, which is part of who we are,

on the other hand, we can understand that if, in fact,

we would want to have a person with us,

why wouldn't we want to have God with us?

Remember my second point was that it's,

I can only have hope if the living God is the one who brings all things to an end.

Now, some of you might say,

okay, George, that's actually sort of interesting.

Sort of interesting.

But here's the problem, George.

You can't deny this, George.

You know, isn't it the case that so many people,

when they read books like the book of Revelation,

that it leads them to do nothing?

Don't you think it sort of leads too many people to say,

oh, well, God's going to be in control of it,

so we don't have to do anything about ecological damage.

Oh, God's going to do everything,

so we don't have to deal with tsunamis.

Oh, God's going to deal everything,

so we don't have to deal with corrupt despots

that just plunder the country

and use their military to oppress the people.

Don't you think, George, that reading texts like this,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

it gives you sort of hope,

but it doesn't actually lead to any type of action.

Don't you think, George,

that secular people have a far greater bias

towards fixing things and having action?

Well, obviously I can't deny

that there are people who read the book of Revelation

and are led to a complete and utter type of pietism

and quietism,

which means that we don't do anything at all.

I can't obviously deny that.

But are they getting it from the Bible?

Look again with me.

We're going to sort of jump a little bit.

Look, remember all those bad things that happened.

I don't know if you noticed something about it,

but it's actually very significant

to thinking about this whole question.

Look at the first trumpet,

and look at the second half of verse,

look at verse seven.

The first angel blew his trumpet

and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood

and these were thrown upon the earth

and a third of the earth was burned up

and a third of the trees were burned up

and all green grass was burned up.

But notice that.

What does that mean?

It means two-thirds of the earth wasn't burned

and two-thirds of the tree wasn't.

Look at the same thing in the next verse.

Verse eight,

the second angel blew his trumpet

and something like a great mountain burning with fire

was thrown into the sea

and a third of the sea became blood,

a third of the living creatures in the sea

died and a third of the ships were destroyed.

That means two-thirds weren't.

And you'll see the same thing with the third.

The third angel is that,

we'll go down to verse 11,

a third of the waters became wormwood

and many people died from the water

because it had been made bitter,

but two-thirds wasn't.

And it's the same with the light and the dark.

And here's the thing.

The first thing is,

I guess I'd always like to,

I like to push back at my secular friends

who talk about the virtues of secularism

and say, you know what,

Stalin's forced famine in Ukraine,

look at Cambodia,

what happened when Pol Pot was there.

Like, you can multiply examples that,

you know,

secularism,

look at the whole history of the USSR,

secularism does not guarantee action.

And it's even hard to understand

how within secularism,

that rooted within secularism,

are the roots

to say that that part of secularism

that doesn't act,

it's wrong.

In fact,

often what happens

when we see that that's wrong,

it's borrowed language

from the Christian faith.

That in fact,

the Christian faith,

the Bible text here,

gives us a bias towards action.

Of not only having our hearts

inclined to God

during our suffering,

but it asks us

another fundamental deep question.

Andrew, if you could put it on.

Does my health

and prosperity

and safety

deepen me

in idolatry?

Or does my health

and prosperity

and safety

deepen me

in habits

which humbly

and gratefully

bring glory to God?

Does my health

and prosperity

and safety

deepen me

in idolatry?

And at the heart

of idolatry

whether it's an idolatry

of Canada

or of big oil

or of socialism,

but there's always

rooted within that

in making an idol

of ourselves,

seeing ourselves

as gods,

exalting ourselves.

Or does my health

and prosperity

and safety

deepen me

in habits

which humbly

and gratefully

bring glory to God?

You know,

I don't have time

to do it,

but if you're interested

in the devotional thing,

it would be very interesting

to go back

and read chapter 2 or 3

of Revelation

and read about

the seven churches

and you read

those seven churches

and you realize

that all the things

that are going on

in the book,

all the horrible things

that are going on

in the book,

they all affect

different churches

differently.

So it is here.

You know,

a few years ago

there was that

devastating event

that happened in Haiti

and it was very closely

followed by a devastating

effect in Japan.

But in Japan,

because of their

technological prowess

and their wealth,

it was cleaned up

very quickly.

It was dealt,

I mean,

I'm not denying

any of the death

or the real suffering

that happened,

but it was dealt

with far quicker

whereas the results

of the earthquake

in Haiti

are still lingering

and going on

and on and on

and are unfixed

and unrepaired.

And just think

for a second

to ourselves,

what would happen

if some of these

things happened

to Canada?

Let's say

it was a third

of the ocean.

Well,

the third of the ocean

happened to all be

around between

India and China.

Well,

that's fine.

It doesn't touch

Halifax

and Vancouver Island.

It doesn't touch

me going to Florida

for a holiday.

The ocean there

is fine.

And let's say

the image

of the fresh water

happens to Canada,

but it happens

through the Great Lakes

and the St. Lawrence

and a river

that flows

into Hudson Bay.

And then we can say,

well,

it sucks to live

in Toronto

and Montreal,

but we're fine.

In fact,

not only would

we be fine

if the water

in the Great Lakes

turned so poisonous

that they couldn't

drink,

they couldn't do

anything,

it was going to

affect Toronto

and Montreal.

In fact,

we would prosper.

People from Toronto,

businesses would move

from there

to places like Ottawa.

My housing value

might double

in a year.

I could be richer.

You see,

if you're part

of the two-thirds

not touched

by it,

what's going

on with you?

What's going

on with us?

If this was

happening all

over the world

and it would be

devastating in a place

like the Sudan,

it might be

unbelievably devastating

in a country

like Kenya,

but even if it

happened to a third

of the fresh water

in Canada,

we have lots

of fresh water

and we would be

able to organize

tankers and pipelines

and within no time

there'd be extra water

from other sources

in places like Toronto

and places like Montreal

and the population

would relocate

and it would be

a bit farther

from the water

and cities like Ottawa

would prosper

and those of you

who have businesses

here,

own houses here

and if you were

a really smart

business person

and you saw it happen,

you might quickly

buy up a few

other properties

knowing that your

property values

are going to go

way up

and you're going

to make a killing.

And you might

or might not

spend any time,

I might or might

not spend any time

thinking about

what's happening

in Kenya

and the Sudan

or even what's

happening in Toronto.

That in fact,

my safety,

health and prosperity

could just deepen me

in the idolatry

of capitalism

or central planning

or of my own health,

of the fact

that I am like

a god.

But is that

what the Bible,

is that what

all this talk

about woe

and judgment,

is that what

the text is meaning

for those of us

who are part

of the two-thirds?

Surely,

it's a call

to us.

Surely,

it's a call

to me

and a call

to you.

Surely,

that's at the

heart of this text

that we should

not just walk

about with

even harder

hearts

at the problems

that befall

people,

but that God

wants us

to incline

our hearts

to Him

and in the face

of suffering

say,

Father,

have mercy

on those

who are suffering

and Father,

have mercy

on me.

Incline my heart

to you.

And Father,

as I enjoy

the blessing

at this time

of great trouble

on the planet,

my health

and my prosperity

and my safety,

Father,

deepen in me

habits

which humbly

and gratefully

bring glory

to God.

Some of those habits

will be habits

of compassion

and generosity

and prayer

and ascending.

You see,

friends,

this is one of those,

if you're a guest here,

you can understand,

this is part of why

the Bible talks

about tithing,

for instance.

Like,

how is it

when we're prosperous

and every one of us

in this room,

let me tell you,

I was in Nairobi

a few months ago

and I'm not trying

to denigrate

any poor person

here in Ottawa,

I'm not trying

to denigrate

how hard it is,

if you're here

this morning

you're very poor,

I am not trying

to denigrate

your experience,

but let me tell you,

compared to Kenya,

there are no poor

people in Ottawa.

I mean,

compared to what

you can see

on the city streets

in a place

like Kenya,

there is no poverty

compared to that.

And even a poor

person is rich

compared to the

real poverty,

the unbelievable

poverty in certain

parts of the world.

And so you see,

how is it?

Okay,

so I,

if God wants,

if God is calling me

not to have my heart

get hardened

and hardened

in idolatry

and deepened

in idolatry,

if God is calling me

that while I enjoy

prosperity and safety

and physical health

and strength

that I am to somehow

develop habits

that bring glory

to God

and have me trust

in Him

and hope in Him,

and well,

what might that look like?

And for some of us,

it might be that God

calls us to be

a type of a missionary

or a type of pastor

that means that we give up

100% of what we have.

But for most of us,

it might just mean 10%.

10% gratefully received.

My kids,

many of you might

don't remember this,

but about five

or six years ago,

seven years ago,

a Kuro,

a priest from Nigeria

was here,

and just before he left

to go back to Nigeria,

I let him do

a Nigerian service

in Canada.

And I am dancing

challenge,

I can't dance

to save my life.

And he wanted us

to do the offering

the Nigerian way,

which means that we

sang a praise song

and everybody danced

down the central aisle

to put money

in the plate.

And he announced

to everybody

that George

would leave the way.

And I still have

fallen memories

of Kendra

and this guy

who doesn't go

to our church anymore

because he moved,

his name's Guy.

And they obviously

saw my huge distress.

And so they came

and linked arms

with me

and helped,

they did all the dancing,

I sort of did this,

like Frankenstein

walking down the aisle.

But they actually

danced

and sort of covered

for me

and we went down

the aisle.

And you see,

that type of those

habits of financial

sacrifice,

that's why disciplines

like tithing

are in the Bible.

But then some of you

might say,

George,

aha,

aha,

aha,

I knew you were

going to get

to these type

of religious rules,

these types of things

that I just don't like

about the Christian faith.

And while the rest

of it's very challenging,

you're starting to touch

on something

which is very,

very,

very dangerous.

Is it just,

okay,

it's just religion,

George,

and you know,

religion is all

about paying off God.

It's about going

through certain types

of motions

to pay off God.

And that's why

I choose to spend

my Sunday mornings

not paying off God,

but I have a nice

sleep in,

I go to a Starbucks,

I have a nice latte,

I read the paper,

I have some fun.

Like,

I'm not into doing

all these religious

things to pay off God.

Isn't that what

you're talking about?

Not at all.

Let's look at the part

of the Bible here

which I hadn't read.

Let's look at the first

five verses.

In closing,

I see my time is up

so we'll have to do it

very quick.

Look at Revelation

Revelation 8:1–5

chapter 8 verses 1 to 5

and I ask yourself

two things.

First of all,

what are they going

to be looking at

during the half hour

of silence

and what's going on

in the altar?

When the Lamb

opened the seventh seal,

there was silence

in heaven for about

half an hour.

Then I saw

the seven angels

who stand before God

and seven trumpets

were given to them

and another angel

came and stood

at the altar

with a golden censer

and he was given

much incense

to offer

with the prayers

of all the saints

on the golden altar

before the throne

and the smoke

of the incense

with the prayers

of the saints

rose before God

from the hand

of the angel.

Then the angel

took the censer

and filled it with fire

from the altar

and threw it on the earth

and there were peals

of thunder,

rumblings,

flashes of lightning

and an earthquake.

The first six seals

have come.

The seventh,

the chapter

which we read

just before that

is sort of an interlude

where we look

at the saints

and at the end

of that interlude

we have this profound

hymn of praise

and thanksgiving

to the lamb

who was slain

for what he does

for his people,

how he'll wipe away

every tear,

he'll cover us

with his presence.

It's a beautiful,

beautiful hymn of praise

to what the lamb

does for those

who put their faith

and trust in him

and then we see

the lamb

who was slain.

And for half an hour

all of heaven

is completely silent

because they look

at Jesus,

the lamb

who was slain.

And then when it comes

time for the altar

there's no sacrificial

animal on the altar.

The altar

is empty.

Why is it empty?

Because the lamb

who was slain,

the one

for all

sacrifice,

the once for all

lamb of God

that came to take away

the sin of the world,

that sacrifice

has already been made

on Calvary.

And that's why

there is no animal

on the altar

to be sacrificed.

There's nothing

on the altar

to be sacrificed.

And so for the first

half hour

they just all look

at the lamb

and then when it comes

to the altar

the altar is empty.

See here's what

the Bible is teaching us

before it goes into

this teaching on suffering.

It goes into this

teaching on suffering

knowing that in our

pagan hearts

in our pagan hearts

we see always

two options.

And one option

is to thumb our nose

at God

and live an

irreligious,

unspiritual,

materialistic,

secular life.

And the other option

is to do a lot

of that stuff

but tip God

by little sacrifices.

A few dollars

in the plate

an appearance

at church

periodically

or whatever it is

to learn a mantra

to learn how to do

Tai Chi

to learn how to do this

a little sacrifice

that we offer

to pay off God.

But what the text

is saying

when it's going to be

calling us

and asking us

whether suffering

will incline our hearts

to Him

or away from Him

or how we will use

our prosperity

and health

all the way through it

it sets the stage

for that

by first suggesting this

if you could put it up

Andrew.

God is not waiting

for me to make

a sacrifice.

He is waiting

for me to humbly

turn to Him

and be gripped

by the once for all

sacrifice made

by Jesus.

In the suffering

in the prosperity

in the pauses

between

in the warning

in all of that

God's desire

is not that I

figure out

some way

to thumb my nose

at Him

or some way

to make a sacrifice

a religious act

that will pay Him off.

He wants me

to join

with the saints

in heaven

and all the angels

and archangels

and not think

that I can make

a sacrifice

He is waiting

for me to humbly

turn to Him

and be gripped

by the once

for all

sacrifice

made

by Jesus.

God's wrath

that I deserved

on Him.

You see

as we

look upon

the once for all

sacrifice

made by Jesus

as that

grips us

as it grips us

it will push us

into new life.

It will shape us

in terms of

an understanding

of a need

for compassion

in new life.

The vision

that it's

the end

of all things

will draw us

to new life

and new habits.

And the once

for all

nature of it

and the historical

nature of it

grounds us.

What about you?

What about you?

Is this text

hardening your heart

or softening it?

Is it

hardening you

towards God

or softening

you and me

towards God?

Let's stand.

Father,

it's hard for us

to admit

that there is

a confusion

and lack of clarity

and a selfishness

and a self-centeredness

and an idolatry

within us

that makes

your word

unclear

that confuses us

about what

your word

talks about.

We thank you,

Father,

for your word.

We thank you,

Father,

for the once

for all sacrifice

of your Son

upon the cross.

We ask,

Father,

that in your mercy

and in your kindness

your Holy Spirit

would be deeply

poured out

within me,

within each one

who is here.

we ask,

Father,

in your mercy

and your kindness

that your Holy Spirit

would be deeply

poured out upon us

to soften our heart

towards you,

to incline our hearts

and minds

and wills

towards you,

to turn our eyes

to the once

for all sacrifice

of Jesus

upon the cross

so that as we

think upon that,

that it will

so grip us

to push us

into new life,

so grip us

to draw us

into new life,

so grip us

to shape us

in new life,

and so grip us

to ground us

and be the basis

for all new life

that we enter into.

And, Father,

it is the cry

of our hearts

that your Holy Spirit

would so turn

our eyes

towards your Son.

And this we ask

in the name of Jesus,

your Son,

and our Savior.

Amen.

Amen.