I want to start at the end of 1 Timothy chapter 1 with a phrase I want to focus on.  In verses 18-20 Paul is encouraging Timothy to not shrink from the difficult task he has been placed in Ephesus to do, but charges him to fight the good fight.  For there are some, Paul writes, who have pushed aside the instruction of Paul and through their own teaching ministry in the church, have literally (v. 19) made shipwreck of the faith. (some English translations say “their” but it is not in the text).  Apparently Paul has removed these teachers, Hymenaeus and Alexander, from their positions of authority in the church and exercised appropriate church disciple in line with what Jesus said about any causing the little ones to stumble in their faith. 

Today, we are going to finish the book by talking about “Heaven”.  This is an exciting topic.  People – everyone - sing songs about it. Everyone.

• In the 80’s Canadian Bryan Adams found it hard to believe that he had found “Heaven” in the arms of a girl, while hair band Warrant reminded us that “Heaven isn’t too far away”
• Led Zepplelin climbed a “Stairway to Heaven” while Guns N’ Roses were “Knocking of Heaven’s Door”, Eric Clapton wondered if there’d be “Tears in Heaven”.  The Talking Heads grumbled that in “Heaven” – nothing ever happens.
• A band called Los Lonely Boys wondered “How far is Heaven” The singer frets guiltily over his past and promises to reform, but wants to know just how good one has to be to attain paradise. "I know I have to change my ways of living," he says, "I just want to know how far."
• One of the moving performaces many people have ever seen came after 9/11 when the band U2 sang about “Where the Streets Have No Name” during the Superbowl with the names of the victims scrolling behind.
• The most recent song I could find revealing a longing for heaven is by an orthodox Jewish Reggae rapper called “One Day” in which he longs for a day when there will be no more fighting, “no more wars and our children will play”

Yet at the same time we sing about heaven – we don’t talk about heaven much.  Either it seems too mysterious, or we may guiltily have a deep down suspicion that it doesn’t seem that exciting to us.  Heaven, the way we envision it, seems tame and, dare we say, boring.  We can’t imagin eternity.  What will we do all that time?  Will we be bored? Like the farside cartoon – “I wish I’d brought a magazine.”

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is a pilgrim.  He starts out in the outback and makes his way to Jerusalem.  Luke 1:3 – not chronological order, but geographical order.  We looked last week at how Luke structures his two books Luke, Galilee of the Gentiles to Jerusalem; Acts, Jerusalem to the Gentiles.  Much of the book is Jesus’ long journey – pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  The book moves.  The Christian life has been called a journey.  We are all, as we go through this life walking with Jesus.  In the book of Luke, that journey is literal.  Along the way we meet three would-be disciples who wish to walk with Jesus.

We sometimes think that eschatology – the study of the last things is impractical and has no bearing on our lives as Christians.  That is not the case. What you believe about the millennial kingdom will translate into practice. 

We have a deep need for vindication and justice.  I believe it is grades two-four that this need is expressed most through the whining of “Its not fair!” We feel this need even after attempts to educate us out of it.  The most ardent moral pluralist, who denies any absolute right and wrong, gets upset when someone takes their seat.  No father, no matter how tolerant and relativistic they may be in their own philosophy will sit by and allow his daughter to be raped.  We live in a culture that denies absolutes, but gets absolutely infuriated when we feel as though we have been wronged.

Some fight back.  Take matters into their own hands. Arguments turn into fights, turn into skirmishes, skirmishes turn into battles and battles turn into wars.  Retribution leads to escalation leads to devastation. It’s true for you personal relationships, its true for nations. I get my sermon title today from the old Bugs Bunny cartoon, when after getting hit with a blueberry pie to the face, he turns to the camera and says, “Of course you realize, this means war.”

[Audio link at bottom of page]

 The last time we looked into Revelation we did something a little different; we used it as a songbook, singing our way through chapter 4-11.  We sang of how the Son is worthy to rule for he is the Lamb who was slain.  We sang of the salvation that belongs to our God, and that someday he will put all his enemies under his feet, even while coming into his kingdom to reign forever.  Revelation is about worship of this great God.  I said last time that that time of singing was for the left-brained people to connect with the artistic and musical message of the book.  Today is going to be geared more toward the right-brain people, the analytics, so get your pens and your charts and your timelines out.  But even though we are approaching these chapters today from a different perspective, I want you to understand that the message does not change. The Lamb is seated on the throne and worthy to be worshipped.

The book of Revelation is Glee.  You know, the TV show.  It’s a musical, a grand drama of depth and stunning images that drive the plot along, interspersed with musical interludes that frame the story and seek to drive the reader in.  I actually wish I was gifted enough and had a choir of thousands at my disposal to direct a stage production of the book of Revelation – I think it would actually help us to understand the message of the book.  Well, I am not gifted enough, so we are going to throw that idea out, but we are going to try something a bit different today. It’s going to be a little right-brained today – next time I speak, it will be for you left-brained people who like charts and timelines.  Today – music and art. We are going to have a Revelation sing-along. You are going to be the heavenly choir, and the book of Revelation is going to provide for us the order of our worship service today. Our service will consist of four movements, in each of which we will get a sense of how the story line of the book moves forward, hit on a key point of reflection, hear the song being sung in the text and then respond to God’s Word in worship of our own. 

As Paul returned to the churches, strengthening the souls of the disciples, notice what he taught them: through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.  That is why he needed to encourage them to continue in the faith, because they were facing tribulations, and would face tribulations, and it would be through many tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God.  This was part of the instruction that was laid down in churches by the apostles, and I think it is very necessary to keep this teaching in mind as we come to the book of Revelation. Revelation is a difficult book to read, but I think the main reason why it is hard to understand is because we have approached it from a Western mindset in which the church occupies a privileged station in our society, rather than what has been more normal around the globe and in the early church in which the church and culture relationship is not one of privilege but conflict.  As the church in Canada and USA rapidly loses its position of privilege, I believe we will need to rediscover the message of Revelation and it will become a powerful guide to lead us in uncertain times.

AUDIO LINK BELOW

I was really happy Friday morning.  I sprung out of bed with praise, walked Aiko to school and went to the gym.  While I was swimming, I was thanking God for many blessings.  On my way in to the office, my good mood swelled into generousity as I stopped at Tim Horton’s to pick up a coffee for Abraham.  I got some funny looks from the children at the daycare as I walked into the church singing.  Abraham thought that that perhaps I had drank a little too much coffee and was wired, but that was not it.  Every thing was bright and sunny.  Don’t you love mornings like that?  Those really good mornings where the world is alive and God is God and we are his people?  What made me so happy that day?  Don’t you want to know?  What if I just found the secret of happiness? Maybe in our culture people would spend big bucks and line up down the street for a seminar from the happy guy.  Well, you don’t have to pay $19.95 or get advanced tickets today.  I’ll tell you the secret of my happiness Friday.  But not right now.  You’ll have to wait.

As you know, we’ve been traveling a little this month, so it’s always good to pick up some light airplane reading.  I got the book, How to Lose a Battle, a litany of military blunders throughout history.  As I read through some of the stories, two ideas started jumping out that I had never connected before – overconfidence and cowardice.  I had never connected the two – in fact, in a way I would have thought that they were almost opposites.  I don’t think of cowards as confident people, much less, overconfident.  But they are connected - in fact you could say that overconfidence breeds cowardice.  If you are over confident, then you have no need for courage, because it doesn’t enter into your mind that you could be touched.  So when the unthinkable happens and you are attacked, you’re not prepared mentally for the fight and you flee.  I think this is probably an apt description of how many of us approach our enemy the devil.  We are overconfident cowards.  We go through most of our lives, not realizing the strength of our enemy, until he attacks one of us, then we freak out and forget that Jesus has taught us how to fight him.