Alpha and Omega

Welcome again. Good morning to you all, especially if you're here for the first time.

I'm really glad that you're here and hope to have a chance to meet you after our time of worship.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the current concerns around the problem of fake news

and the spread of misinformation and how damaging that can be to a society.

And one of the main ways that fake news is spread is when a photo or a video is taken in its entirety and it's cropped.

And so you crop the photo or you crop the video and you cut out all the context.

And you give a very ambiguous image to the internet and you watch chaos ensue.

Because people make all kinds of meaning out of this image that has no context.

So a more benign example would be a photo that looks like somebody is hanging from a cliff thousands of feet in the air.

Right? That's the cropped photo.

If you step out and look at the entire photo, you realize that that person is only a few feet off the ground.

Right? That's a benign example.

But there are many more harmful examples out there.

Examples of cropped photos and videos that have been done so intentionally

by people with an agenda who are wanting to sow division and anger and mistrust in our society.

And we all recognize that this is a major problem.

The point I'm trying to make is that context is everything.

If you have the context, you know how to make sense of the thing that you're looking at.

If you don't have the context, then people are going to make whatever meaning they choose.

And many of the ways that we make meaning of those things may not be at all accurate.

Now the reason I'm telling you this is because three times in the book of Revelation,

which is what we've been looking at for the past several months,

three times, in the beginning and the end,

Jesus refers to himself with this strange title.

He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega.

So in Revelation 21, which is this beautiful passage that Mark just read,

we're going to be looking at this for the next two weeks.

But first, before we dive into the whole passage,

I wanted to take a week and look at this specific phrase, Alpha and Omega,

because anytime the Bible repeats something three times,

I think we need to pay attention.

And so in Revelation 21, 6, Jesus says,

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

And I think this is very important because what this really means,

what it's really saying, is that Jesus is the context.

Jesus is the frame of reference.

Jesus is the context through which we make sense of reality itself.

And so the only way to see things as they truly are in this world

is to recognize that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.

If we crop Jesus out, then we cannot see the whole picture.

And we're essentially dealing with fake news.

And so what we're going to do is to look at some examples

of how this actually plays out

when it comes to some of life's most important questions.

So we're going to look at the question of meaning,

the question of identity, and the question of hope.

The question of meaning.

Why are we here?

What is life all about?

What is the meaning of life?

The question of identity.

What does it mean to be a human being?

And then the question of hope.

What reason is there?

Is there a real reason for hope in the world or not?

So let's pray, and then we're going to get started.

Lord, we thank you for your word,

and we thank you for the freedom and the joy

of gathering together as your people.

We thank you for this neighborhood.

We thank you for the extraordinary beauty

of the world that you've made.

We thank you most of all that we can open this book

and that our hope doesn't rest in human wisdom or ideas,

but that you're actually a God who can speak through your word,

that your Holy Spirit can speak to each of us

as we most need to hear from you.

So we pray that you would illuminate your word for us.

We also pray that you would bring us face-to-face

with your living word, Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name that we pray.

Amen.

So first of all, the question of meaning.

What happens when we crop Jesus out

and we can't see the whole picture

when it comes to making meaning out of life?

And quite simply, what happens is this.

When we crop Jesus out,

life essentially becomes meaningless.

In the early 20th century,

more and more people in academia and at a popular level

had begun to do away with the idea of God.

They had begun to crop God out of the photo, so to speak.

And yet many philosophers around the turn of the century

wanted to essentially have their cake and eat it too.

They wanted to be able to do away with the idea of God,

but they wanted to be able to hold on to the idea

that life has meaning,

that there is a purpose,

that there are such things as a priori values,

universal values.

And in 1945, Jean-Paul Sartre gave

what was essentially a career-defining lecture

called Existentialism is a Humanism.

This is what launched him into the stratosphere of fame.

And he essentially makes this point.

He says, listen,

if there is a God,

and that God created the world and us,

what that means is that there is divine intentionality

behind our existence.

God made us for a purpose,

and because there is a purpose,

there is meaning.

And because there is purpose and meaning,

we can assume that there are

certain a priori universal values,

ways that we live in alignment with that purpose,

or ways that we depart from that purpose.

He says, okay, if you believe in God,

then you can believe in all of that.

But here's the rub.

He says, if you do away with the idea of God,

then you have to do away with the idea

that there is any meaning in the world.

Because if there's no creator,

and there's no purpose for creation,

and all of this is just random,

then there can't really be any meaning.

The only meaning that exists

is the meaning that we fabricate,

but there's no universal meaning.

So essentially, his lecture amounts to

be intellectually consistent.

If you do away with God,

you have to accept what Richard Dawkins says,

where he says,

life has no design,

no purpose,

no evil,

and no good,

nothing but blind,

pitiless indifference.

And so the point is essentially this.

Without Jesus,

we can't see the whole picture.

You know,

we're told,

and I think this is very popular,

like if you look at books,

if you look at movies,

if you look at a lot of the songs

that are out there,

we are told

that we are free to create

whatever meaning we want.

And we're told that this is a great freedom

that we should celebrate.

But the reality is,

it's like we're looking at a cropped photo.

And this person makes this meaning out of it,

and this person makes this meaning out of it,

and there are as many different meanings

as there are people to make them,

and we have no way of knowing

whether our sense of meaning

is the right one or not,

because we have no context.

And you compare that with Colossians 1,

which says this about Jesus.

It says,

all things were created through him

and for him.

In other words,

it's one of the many ways

the Bible says

Jesus is the alpha and the omega.

He's the beginning and the end.

He's the context.

And when you recognize that,

you realize

that's how we look at the big picture.

That is the uncropped photo.

Reality with Jesus

is the alpha and the omega.

And this has a lot of implications.

We don't have time to get into all of them,

but as we think,

well, so what?

What does this matter?

Well, contrary to popular opinion,

you will never find the meaning of life

by looking within.

Right?

This is a very popular idea,

but the truth is

you're never going to figure out

what life is all about

by looking inside yourself.

Because quite simply,

you didn't make yourself.

And because you didn't make yourself,

you can't tell yourself

why you were made,

why you're here.

Only the one who made you

can actually tell you

what your purpose is.

And if we keep living

like all of this,

that our lives are all about us,

if you keep assuming

that this is all about you,

your life is never going to make sense.

You're going to be confused

and baffled and frustrated.

You're going to be

constantly disappointed.

Because the truth is,

if your life is anything like mine,

our lives rarely look

how we want them to look.

Right?

Very rarely in your life

are you looking around

and thinking,

this is exactly

what I thought it would be.

Well, you know,

I'm about to turn 40,

I turned 42 on Monday.

And this is what you think

when you're turning 42.

You think, you know,

you look at your life

and you're like,

when I was, you know, 20

and somebody asked me

what would life be like at 42?

And then I look at

what my life is like at 42.

There's very little similarity.

It's two completely different

plot lines, right?

Many of the characters

that I thought were going

to figure prominently

are gone.

Many of the issues

that I thought were going

to matter to me

are irrelevant now.

And I've got a whole new

set of people in my life

and a whole new set

of issues to worry about.

And I love my life

and I'm thankful for my life,

but this is not what

I would have planned for myself.

You know, it took me 30 years

to become remotely comfortable

with the idea

that I would be a pastor.

My wife is still adjusting

to the idea.

It's only been a decade.

So our lives are rarely

going to look like

we want them to look,

which is a clear sign

that we're not in charge.

Right?

So if we think that we are,

we're going to be

constantly disappointed.

We have to look

at the whole picture.

So if Jesus is the Alpha

and the Omega,

this means that all of this

was made by Him

and for Him,

which means not for me,

not for you.

So life is about much more

than just being happy

or successful.

You know, your job,

your money,

your marriage,

you know,

your successes and failures,

all that,

it's not for you.

All these things exist for Him.

They were made for Him.

And so we recognize

that Jesus directs our lives

according to His purposes,

not our own.

And so you look at the ways

that you're flourishing

and excited and happy

in your life.

You look at the ways

that you're struggling

and suffering

and facing despair

in your life.

and you recognize

my purposes are not

driving the ship here.

There's a God

who is unfathomably

more intelligent than I am,

who is unfathomably

wiser than I am.

And His purposes

are driving the ship.

And the more you accept that,

the more your life

is going to start

to make sense.

And the less you're

going to be prone to think

when life isn't going your way

that God has just forgotten you

or abandoned you.

You're going to recognize,

oh, I made the mistake

of thinking I was in charge.

But God is doing

something way bigger.

That's what it means

to look at the whole picture,

to see reality

and your life in context.

Jesus is the Alpha

and the Omega.

So let's look at another question.

That's the question of meaning.

But what about identity?

What does it mean

to think of Jesus

as the Alpha

and the Omega

of human identity?

And what happens

when we crop Jesus

out of the photo?

Well, in this case,

if you crop Jesus out,

if you lose the context,

it leads to an identity crisis.

And I think human beings

are in the midst

of a massive identity crisis.

I think kids,

you know,

you go to college students today.

I was, you know,

hearing from a university professor

who's been teaching

for 20 years

and said, you know,

the first 15 years,

kids were more or less the same.

Things changed,

but not really.

The last five years,

he says,

kids are completely different.

And many of the sources

of confusion

and many of the questions

and much of the anxiety

is coming out of this sense

of I have no idea

who I am.

Right?

How do we figure out

who we are?

Because there are a lot

of voices out there

that are trying to tell us

who we are.

Culture tells us

that our feelings define us.

That's how to figure out

who you really are.

Advertisers,

I'll let you in on a secret,

they want their products

to define your identity.

In other words,

they want you to feel

that you're not whole

until you have their product.

The best advertisers

know how to do that

really well.

This will make you

fully human.

Politicians want

their ideologies

to define you.

They want you

to identify with them,

not just intellectual support,

but feel like you belong

to that family.

Those are your people.

That's about identity.

And then there are all

socially constructed labels

out there.

Labels like race labels

or sexual orientation labels

or gender labels.

Now the problem

with socially constructed

ideas about identity

is that they change.

They constantly change.

They're constantly in flux.

And so you can have

three different people

who are 15 or 20 years

apart from one another

and they can use

the same words

and they're going to mean

three different things

because they change.

There are lots of voices

from our childhood

that try to tell us

who we are.

Lies that come

to define us

right?

So maybe some of you

grew up

and maybe you grew up

thinking

and it was maybe

parents conveyed this

or teachers conveyed this

and maybe not intentionally

but maybe somehow

you internalize the idea

that you have to be perfect

and if you're not perfect

and if you don't have

your life together

you're a failure

and it's all or none.

Maybe some of us

grew up

sort of internalizing

the lie

that on my own

my feelings

my opinions

don't really matter

and if I assert myself

too much

I'm going to make people angry

and I'm not going to have

any friends

and so the best thing

I can do

is just put myself aside

and merge

with the stronger personalities

in my life.

Right?

Maybe you grew up

thinking

that in order

to guarantee

that you will be loved

you have to make sure

you're meeting

other people's needs.

You have to earn that love

and if you're not useful

and helpful to people

nobody's going to love you

or care about you.

Yeah, maybe you grew up

thinking

that you cannot handle

the negative feelings

in your life.

Maybe you grew up

in a family

that just would not allow

negative feelings

to be expressed

and so you learned

the best way

to deal with my sadness

my depression

my anxiety

my despair

is to run.

And you have no idea

as a 30 year old

how to be sad.

You don't know

how to lament

because you're terrified

of it, right?

Now we grew up

with these ideas

we grew up

with well-intentioned

parents

who are human

well-intentioned

teachers who are human

well-intentioned coaches

who are human

and we internalize

these lies

and they come

to define us

and then your entire

personality

can be built

around lies.

Right?

There's an enormous

amount of contradiction

out there

when it comes

to identity

you know

and so when you

compare your feelings

with the lies inside

with the voices

that you're hearing

from the outside

you know

I mean

where do you even begin?

It's no wonder

people are deeply

confused about identity.

You know

one of my favorite

contradictions

comes in the form

of a commercial

it was a Super Bowl

commercial

from Alfa Romeo

and it's this commercial

about a car

but has nothing

to do with a car

it's all about

human identity

and in the same

commercial

back to back

it says this

it says

staying true

to ourselves

is all that matters

staying true

to ourselves

is all that matters

and then it says

right after that

the ability

to reinvent ourselves

is the most human

trait of all

and I love that

because it's like

if I reinvent myself

I'm not being true

to myself

right?

So which is it?

You know?

And these contradictions

are everywhere

so again

the point is this

without Jesus

we can't see

the whole picture

of who we are

as human beings

but with the context

of Jesus

it all begins

to make sense

you know

one of the best places

to see how this works

is to look at Paul's

letter to the Galatians

Galatians is all

about identity

it's all about identity

the church was divided

along ethnic

and cultural lines

because the Jews

were defining themselves

by their Jewishness

which was a socio-cultural

religious identity

and the Gentiles

by their non-Jewishness

and here's what Paul says

in Galatians 2.20

he says

I've been crucified

with Christ

he's talking about

his own identity

my identity

I've been crucified

with Christ

it's no longer

I who live

but Christ

who lives

in me

and what he's trying

to convince them of

is that

your true self

is not defined

by your Jewishness

or your non-Jewishness

your true identity

your true self

is not going to be found

by looking at your culture

or listening to the

to the voices

that you grew up with

or listening to your feelings

your true self

is going to be found

when you give yourself

away to Jesus

when it is as though

you have been crucified

with him

and then you allow him

to define you

from the ground up

so Jesus shows us

what human beings

were supposed to be like

you know when you look

at Jesus

you're seeing

here's what human beings

were supposed to be like

and you're seeing

here's what human beings

will be like

one day

when God's work

is completed in us

Jesus is a picture

of human identity

as it will one day be

so again

the point is this

without Jesus

you're going to be pulled

in every direction

possible

when it comes to

defining

a sense of identity

for yourself

some of them

are going to be

inside you

some of them

are going to be

outside you

but they're all

going to try to tell

you who you are

and if you've

cropped Jesus out

there is no

objective standard

by which to determine

what is true

and what is not

is that lie

I grew up with

is it true

well does it

feel true

yeah

it feels true

in fact

there are a lot

of things

that feel true

but I'm not sure

they are true

I feel like

I have to prove

myself to you

every day

or you're going

to hate me

and reject me

that's how

that feels

true to me

how are you going

to know

whether it is true

how are you going

to know those times

that you need

to take your feelings

and recognize them

for what they are

like what Jeremiah

says

the heart is deceitful

above all things

right

if Jesus is the

alpha and the omega

it means you're not

defined by your feelings

or your failures

or your family

or whatever labels

you apply to yourself

Jesus Christ

is the one

who can define you

right

so we've talked

about meaning

we've talked

about identity

what about hope

last question

we'll consider today

what about hope

you know I think

more now than ever

many people struggle

to have hope

and I think

there's a lot

of good reasons

for that

some people

struggle with depression

I know some of you

many of you

I have in the past

struggle with depression

and people who

struggle with depression

tend to dwell

in the past

you know

they struggle with guilt

they struggle with regret

they struggle over feeling

like they made decisions

once and for all

that they can't unmake

that they struggle

with a sense of shame

over experiences

and disappointments

and failures

I know a lot of people

who struggle with anxiety

and anxiety

tends to pull us

into the future

you know we're looking

down the road

and it's dark

and we can't see

anything that's coming

down the road

or make sense of anything

that's coming down the road

we can't anticipate

what's going to happen

with our jobs

or our desire

to be married

or our fraught marriages

or our kids

we have no idea

what's coming

and that causes

tremendous anxiety

because we have no control

over the future

and so we're looking

into the darkness

and we feel

tremendous anxiety

because we can't

control it

and every day

seems to bring

more and more news

of catastrophe

all around the world

some of the recent news

being you know

random shootings

on the highway

and you read

that kind of stuff

day in and day out

and it makes you feel

like a massive tragedy

is just around the corner

in your life

stokes tremendous anxiety

and so you have

mass shootings

environmental degradation

violence

injustice

it's overwhelming

and you know

so if you crop Jesus

out of the photo

everything looks

pretty hopeless

I mean it looks hopeless

it looks like the world

has gone off the rails

I think historically

if we compare this era

to other eras

it's not quite as bad

as we think

that's my personal opinion

but I think it seems

awful

but in Revelation 21 5

Jesus says

behold

I'm making all things new

also he said

write this down

for these words

are trustworthy

and true

and he said to me

it is done

I am the alpha

and the omega

the beginning

and the end

and you need to understand

when Jesus says

it is done

it means all of his purposes

have been accomplished

in creation

all of his purposes

have been accomplished

and part of what this means

is that Jesus

has done everything necessary

to deal with our past

and to deal with our future

and to secure

an eternal future

with him

for us

right

so this is the thing

that sets Christianity

apart from other religions

other religions say

here's how salvation works

now get to work

you have to accomplish this

for yourself

if you don't

you will have no hope

if you do

you will have

every reason to hope

but it all hinges on you

right

if you're morally

excellent

as a person

if you are disciplined

if you are intelligent

then you've got a good shot

at eternity

or wherever you hope to go

if you're morally bankrupt

if you're undisciplined

if you come from such brokenness

that you're just trying to stay afloat

right

if you've been so wounded

and hurt in your life

that you can't even fathom

anything beyond just surviving

then there's not much hope for you

if your salvation hinges on you

some people just don't have the resources

or the intelligence

or the discipline

to accomplish anything

on behalf of themselves

the good news of the gospel

and only the gospel says this

Jesus is the alpha

and the omega

of our salvation

Jesus is the one

who created the plan

for the rescue mission

he wrote that plan

when the world fell apart

when human beings rebelled against God

Jesus is the one

who initiated the cosmic rescue mission

and then Jesus is the one

who fulfilled it

Jesus says

here's the plan of salvation

and then he doesn't say

get to work

he gets to work

and he fulfills

everything that is required

right

he lives the life

that we should have lived

then he dies the death

that we deserve to die

because we didn't live

the life that we should have lived

and then he rises from death

and then he judges

and ultimately does away with death

and then he turns to us

not with a challenge

to get to work

but with an invitation

come to me

all who are weary

and heavy laden

and I will give you rest

come to me

because I've accomplished

everything necessary

on your behalf

come to me

because it is finished

and when you recognize that

when you recognize

what that means for us

you recognize that

if you are in Christ

when you are tempted

to look into your past

and to reflect on

the deep regrets

and the shame

and the failures

and the things

that you can't undo

the decisions

that you can't unmake

when you look at

all of that stuff

you also see Jesus

dying on the cross

and you recognize

he is dying

to set you free

from all of those things

and when you are tempted

to look into the future

and to fret

and to wring your hands

and to try to peer

into the darkness

and to try to anticipate

what is coming

you also see Jesus

saying it is finished

behold I am making

all things new

whatever you are facing now

however bad you think

it is going to get

the end of the story

is Jesus making

all things new

and us joining him

in that secured

eternal renewed future

and so we recognize

that Jesus is the alpha

he is in the past

he is the omega

he is in the future

he has done everything

necessary on our behalf

and so as we think

about these questions

as we think about Jesus

as the alpha

and the omega

if we want to kind of

bring all of this together

here is the point

if we crop Jesus out

we cannot see

the whole picture

we cannot see reality

as it truly is

and however we go about

trying to answer

the questions of meaning

or the question of identity

or the question of hope

however we go about

trying to do that

it is all going to be

fake news

it is just one person's

interpretation

held up against

another person's

interpretation

if we recognize

that Jesus

is the alpha

and the omega

then we can begin

to see the whole picture

we can see

that we were made

by him

and for him

and that's what

life is about

we can see

that we can only

find our true selves

in him

and we can see

that all of our hopes

will one day

ultimately be fulfilled

by him

let's pray

Lord we thank you

we thank you

because we're talking

about this

as though we can

even begin

to fully understand

what it means

for you to be

an alpha

and omega

the alpha

and omega

but Lord

we know

what we're intended

to see in this

and that is

tremendous comfort

Lord

tremendous comfort

and we know

who to go to

when we wonder

what life is all about

we know who to go to

when we have no idea

who we are

or why we're here

we know who to go to

when we feel

utterly hopeless

or overwhelmed

with fear

Lord

so we pray

that even as we

continue in our singing

and in our prayers

and as we come to your table

that you would make

these intellectual realities

flesh and blood

in our hearts

that you would build

these truths

into us

wire them

into our souls

Lord

so that we would be

grounded in you

and so that we would be

hoping in you

for your glory

and it's in your son's

name that we pray

Amen

Amen

Amen

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