From a Rocky Hillside

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
May 25, 2025
Revelation 2:8-11

At the beginning of worship: 

Wouldn’t it be great to receive a letter from Jesus? Imagine pulling the envelop out of the mailbox, your hands shaking as you tear open the flap and take out the letter. Does the letter contain good news? Has Jesus heard our prayers? Or maybe the news isn’t so good; maybe he knows some of the darkness that lurks in our hearts… 

From a human perspective, there can be a good and a bad side to an all-knowing God. It’s nice to have a God that knows what we need; it’s a little frightening to have a God that knows what we’re up to.  

Of course, in the first century, a letter wouldn’t have been arriving in our mailbox, or as an email. Instead, a messenger would have brought a scroll containing the message. Word would have spread fast throughout the Christian community, and everyone would have gathered in anticipation, wanting to know what Jesus had to say to them. The messenger would read the letter to the assembled crowd. No one would have thought of taking this letter out to a private secluded spot and contemplating what was said.^[1] The letter was to the church, not to individuals.  

Before reading the Scriptures:

Today, in our trip to the seven ancient churches of Asia-minor, modern-day Turkey, we’ll stop at Smyrna. The city is located along the coast; some 40 miles as the crow flies north of Ephesus, where we visited two weeks ago. Of the seven cities Jesus sends a message to in Revelation, only Smyrna exists today. However, its name has been changed to Izmir. 

If you remember from two weeks ago, Ephesus put so much attention on doing right and hating evil they lost the love they once had. As I suggested, the Ephesians had become bitter legalists. Smyrna, on the other hand, is not chastised by Jesus. In fact, it’s one of only two churches to which these letters are addressed that received no condemnation from Jesus. However, things are not all right in the city.  The Christians there are poor, and they face persecution. And it won’t get better any time soon.   

Read Revelation 2:8-11

Smyrna, of the first century, was a rich city. Like Ephesus, it too was a seaport. The city had about 100,000 inhabitants, significantly smaller than Ephesus, yet the city had certain bragging rights. Smyrna was believed to be the birthplace of the ancient poet Homer. The city obtained the status as the “first city of Asia,” a designation given because it had been Rome’s ally for centuries, back to the wars between Rome and Carthage. 

Smyrna was the first city in Asia to build a temple to the Roman goddess Romas. By the time of John’s Revelation, it also served as a center of Roman emperor worship. A temple honoring Emperor Tiberius stood in the city. With its strong ties to pagan and emperor worship, Christians in the city found themselves on the margin. As a persecuted minority, they didn’t enjoy the economic prosperity of their neighbors.^[2]  

Making life even rougher for Christians in Smyrna was a significant Jewish population. The Roman Empire protected certain minority religions, included the Jews. You might remember that this special status allowed the early church to spread throughout the empire and, as we see in Paul’s encounter with the Jews in Corinth, the Romans didn’t want to interfere with disputes between Christians and Jews. Early on, the Romans saw the two as a part of the same cult.^[3] But as the first century wore on, the two began to be seen as different faiths., mainly because those of the Jewish faith didn’t want anything to do with those who accepted Christ. This was especially after the Jewish revolt in Israel which resulted in the destruction of the temple. 

Furthermore, the Roman’s found the Christian insistence of Jesus being Lord a direct challenge to the Caesar’s claim. As this separation between Jews and Christians grew, Christians found themselves attacked and persecuted by both the Romans and the Jews. This seems to be the case in Smyrna.  

The members of the church in Smyrna who gathered to hear the letter were poor, yet they lived in an affluent city. They were persecuted. They had little going for them and I’m sure they’ve been praying over and over to Jesus for help. And now they’ve received a letter. What will Jesus say to them?

The letter starts out promising. Jesus reminds them that he is the first and last, the one who was dead yet has come to life. These letters always start a description of Jesus. Here we’re reminded of his death and resurrection. This will become more meaningful as the letter continues. Jesus assures the Christians of Smyrna that he knows what they’ve endured, yet he says that they’re rich. Of course, this doesn’t mean they’re rich by banking standards. Certainly, they’re still at the bottom of the economic ladder when it comes to income or wealth. But they know the truth. Their faith is strong. They are rich for the gospel is clear that the last shall be first.^[4]

Then the letter continues warning the faithful in Smyrna of what’s coming. Those listening to the letter, I’m sure, hoped to hear that Jesus will make everything better. Yet, they now learn the city’s Christians will endure more persecution. “Don’t fear,” Jesus says. Don’t fear even though some of you be imprisoned and others will die. They’re not to fear because the one, who was dead but is now alive, will grant them the “crown of life.” That’s the hope of the resurrection.

Smyrna is a city known for persecution. In the next century, Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, becomes one of the most famous martyrs. He was burned burned to death during the reign of Marcus Aurelius for refusing to renounce Christ and worship the emperor. The sufferings of those in Smyrna will get worse. This isn’t the type of letter I’m sure most of them wanted to receive. We must admit our world is different. We have a hard time seeing ourselves in the mirror here, yet we know that the church continues to suffer in the world.  

It’s often cited that there were more Christian martyrs in the 20^thCentury than in the previous 19 centuries. Sadly, the 21^st Century seems to be off on a similar trajectory. For much of church history—and if we take Paul’s writings seriously, the church is one body—Smyrna is the norm.^[5]  Much of the church in the world is poor and in many places the church is persecuted. The prosperity of the Christian Church in North America and Europe isn’t the norm. As rich Christians, we have better stand with our brothers and sisters around the globe who struggle to make a living and to survive persecution.   

Let me suggest what we learn about the Christian life from this letter. I’ll highlight three major lessons.  

First, faithfulness does not mean an easy life. Too often we think that if we just accept Jesus, it’s going to be alright. Nonsense, such teachings go counter to the gospel. Jesus tells us that if we’re truly followers of him, expect to be hated.^[6] Yet, we’re not allowed to hate back; we must love even of our enemies.^[7] In Smyrna, those Christians listening to the letter read learn that Satan’s attacks will intensify. Their faith will be challenged.  

We don’t know what it means to have our faith challenged. American Christians often act like we’re persecuted when someone says happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas. But think about what’s happening to Christians in places like Iraq and Iran, Palestine and Pakistan, Nigeria and North Korea. Living with prosperity, we should remember that being a follower of Christ doesn’t mean everything will suddenly become easy. If we learn this lesson, we won’t be so surprised and lose faith when things don’t go the way we want. We got this belief that there should be a solution to everything, and if we just do what’s right, we’ll be okay. And we will, in an eternal sense, but the short run might be difficult.  

A second thing to take from this letter is a warning not to compromise the gospel to fit into the larger culture. Society expected first century Christians to worship the emperor or stick to their Jewish roots and to forget about Jesus. But we must remember that our allegiance isn’t to a nation nor is it to a peer group, it’s to Jesus Christ and to him alone.

A third thing: society shouldn’t define success for us. By common definitions, Smyrna was a rich city. People had money. The per capita income was high. Success meant having a villa overlooking the sea and operating a thriving import business. Success was eating rich foods, not cornbread and beans. It meant drinking fine wine, not branch water. Success wasn’t overalls, but colorful tunics, and fashionable sandals instead of clodhoppers. 

But the Christians of Smyrna lived in the slums. Overworked and underpaid, they went hungry and were lucky to have clean water to drink. I imagine them in rags and going barefooted. Yet, they were faithful and because they are faithful, they are successful. As Christians, we resist external definitions of success. Such ideas will mislead us into placing too much value on the wrong kinds of things. As Jesus warns, don’t store treasures which will rust and rot and may be stolen.^[8]  

To sum up this message to Smyrna, being faithful to Jesus may lead to troubles in the short-term. However, it’s the only long-term insurance of value. Amen.  

^[1] Eugene H. Peterson, Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John & the Praying Imagination (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), 43. 

^[2] For information on Smyrna, see G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), 34-36 and Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation (revised) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 73-77.    

^[3] See Acts 18:12-17.

^[4] Examples: Matthew 19:30, 20:16; Mark 10:31; and Luke 13:30

^[5] Ephesians 4:4-6; 1 Corinthians 12:12-26.

^[6] See Matthew 10:22, 24:9; Mark 13:13; Luke 21:17 and John 15:18.

^[7] Matthew 5:43-48

^[8] Matthew 6:19-21

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches 
May 11, 2025
Revelation 2:1-7

At the beginning of worship:
Let me tell you a bit about Sam Jones. He was one of America’s most popular preachers in the late 19^th and early 20^th Century. You could sum his message up in this manner: “Quit your meanness!” At his peak, he often outdrew Dwight Moody. Many considered him a better preacher. By all accounts, he was funnier. 

Sam Jones is mostly forgotten. While there have been numerous biographies of Moody, there’s only been one of Jones published since his death in 1906. Laughter in the Amen Corner came out in 1993.^[1] Reading this book I learned Jones was from Cartersville, Georgia. It’s just a jump from Donna’s hometown. The next time we visited, I insisted on going. Donna thought I’d lost my mind and acted like Cartersville was on the far side of the earth. 

That didn’t matter. I drove the 15 miles over to Cartersville. I wanted to see the town that produced Sam Jones. 

Cartersville is a pleasant railroad town. Lots of trains race through the town, but they no longer stop. For Civil War buffs, this is the same railroad grade upon which the great train chase with the locomotive “The General” occurred.   

As with most county seats, the courthouse sits on a hill in the middle. Three churches flank the courthouse in Cartersville. Looking up from the train station, you have the Baptist on the left and the Methodist on the right. We Presbyterians are behind the courthouse—but we had a fine church there, one we cand be proud of. I walked around town to see what I could glean. 

At the Baptist Church, I learned Lottie Moon, the famous missionary to China and for whom the Southern Baptist have named their world mission offerings after, grew up in that church. And then, at the Methodist Church, I was surprised to see it named for Sam Jones. A few years after Jones’ death, they built a new sanctuary and named it, according to the cornerstone, “The Sam Jones Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South. (This was before all the mergers leading to the United Methodist Church.) I was amazed that this little town produced two of the South’s most famous religious figures in the late 19^th Century. I was a bit envious, wondering when the Presbyterian Church would catch up.

Although Jones was a proud Southern Methodist, it didn’t make much difference to him what flavor of religion one belonged. “A creed hasn’t’ got legs,” Jones often quipped, ‘and I can’t follow it.” And he’s right. Ultimately, we’re not called to be Presbyterian or Methodist or Baptist, but to follow the Savior. Jones humor was such that it pointed out human folly. “I could never preach,” he told a reporter, shyly adding, “but I can talk a little.” Once Jones got the crowd laughing at themselves, he’d introduce them to Jesus. It’s not a bad strategy.   

Before reading the Scriptures

Starting today, we’re going to look at each of the seven churches of Revelation. While all of Revelation is a letter, there are individual messages to seven churches, which we were introduced to last week. 

These seven churches are in towns which form a circle along a Roman postal route.^[2] Jesus is present within each church, so he’s able to communicate what’s happening in the life of each congregation. But it would be a mistake to think these letters only applies to the seven individual churches. The number seven, the divine number, implies fullness. So, within these letters we find situations that are present in our churches still today; hence, looking at these letters will be a lot like us looking in a mirror.   

These seven messages within the larger letter all take on a similar form. They’re addressed to an angel of each church. Christ is the author, but for each church a different metaphor is employed to refer to his identity. In most cases, there is praise for what the church does well as well as condemnation for where they fail.^[3]

Like these churches, we’d probably find Christ evaluating us in a similar manner, patting us on the back for the good we do and chastising us for the times we fail to live up to his standards.  

The first church in our visit is Ephesus. We know a lot about the early life of this church from the book of Acts. We also have Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Christianity was probably brought to Ephesus by Priscilla and Aquila around 52 A.D.^[4]  Paul spent a couple years in the city. So did Timothy. Ephesus bustled with trade in the first century. A port city of nearly quarter million people, it sat on a major trade route into Asia. 

The city boasted several major pagan temples, the most important one being for the Greek fertility goddess Artemis (the Roman goddess Diana). We know from Acts the silversmiths of this temple rioted because people were converting to Christianity and buying fewer pagan statues.^[5] Trade wars are nothing new. 

Let’s turn to Scripture and see what Jesus has to say to this congregation. 

 Read Revelation 2:1-7.

Think for a minute. Do you know any Christians who used to have a vibrant faith, was a pleasure to be around, but since has become a legalist? Someone joyous and happy, but now bitter?  Someone who use to be sweet and are now sour? Perhaps you’re feeling this way. It seems to be a common occurrence. We burn out. We lose focus. And we have all the right intentions but find ourselves bogged down in petty disputes. 

As the revivalist Sam Jones, whom I introduced earlier this morning, once said, creating a commonly used cliché, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” We start out with great plans but become sidetracked. Perhaps that’s what happened to the church in Ephesus. Or maybe they just felt good demanding other people obey God’s law. It gave them a sense of authority which is why humility is so important.

The Ephesians are zealous enforcers of orthodoxy. They tow the party line. They deal with heretics, those whose teachings go against the gospel, swiftly. The congregation has been patiently waiting for Christ’s return and has not grown weary. That sounds good. But then the tone of the letter changes, as Jesus charges them for abandoning the love they once had. 

It appears the Ephesians started off being a loving community. But their love waned. They put too much emphasis on right and wrong beliefs. Now, according to this letter, While Jesus isn’t too happy with these false teachers, he’s even more concerned about the lack of love among the faithful. They’re like those Jesus condemns in the Sermon of the Mount. They try to take a speck out of someone’s eye with a log in their own.^[6]

In John’s Epistles, we’re told that God is love and those who love abides in God and God abides in them.^[7] The church in Ephesus, for all their insistence on believing right, missed the boat. As important as right doctrine may be, it’s more important to have a loving community. Surpassing all creeds in importance is the command to love.

John Leith, the late professor from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, in the 1980s wrote a powerful little book titled The Reformed Imperative. It’s a challenge to fundamentalism—on both the left and right wings of the ideological spectrum. We tend to think of fundamentalism as conservative, but it can go either way. And both sides are wrong, according to Leith. Both make too simple distinctions between people. 

“The gospel is hidden from those who in their self-righteousness are proud of their moral achievements,” he wrote. And those “who know that they are righteous by their identification with the proper causes,” yet are vindictive toward others who have different views, whom they desire “to discard, to destroy.”^[8] Fundamentalist according to Leith miss the good news.

In other words, those who think they’re religious, yet who do not love, find the gospel hidden. And those who make a big deal about their faith, but do not love, miss the gospel’s truth. And those who are proud of their righteousness, but hold others in disdain, miss the good news. Leith, writing about the church in the late 1980s, could also have been writing about churches today. And he could have been writing about Ephesus in the first century. 

The Ephesians felt so good about their success in rooting out evil that they became self-assured of their righteousness. They forgot what’s most important. They forgot how to love. In striving to be right, they missed the gospel and became what they abhorred, heretics and hypocrites.

The dilemma of the church in Ephesus remains within the church today. How can we, the church, remain faithful to the truth while loving all people? It’s a tough challenge. Often someone quotes the cliché, “love the sinner, hate the sin.” But the tone of their voice makes me wonder if there is really love for the sinner. If we don’t love, despite right beliefs, we fall into the same trap as the Ephesians. 

Many of you, I’m sure, remember the old Wendy’s commercial. A grandmother-looking lady shouts, “Where’s the beef?” The implications being a hamburger joint is judged by the amount of beef between the two halves of the bun. Likewise, the church is judged, not so much by our orthodoxy, but by our love. Where’s the love? That’s what we need to ask, that’s the way our faith is evaluated. Do we love one another? 

Remember Sam Jones’ comments about not being able to follow a creed because “it ain’t got any legs.” What’s important is following Christ. We follow him who loved even his enemies and those who nailed him to the cross. Don’t get so hung up on making sure that everything is proper, and everyone acts up to our expectations. While proper thinking and right actions are important, it’s more important that we as a community love God and one another. Amen.      

^[1] Kathleen Minnix, Laughter in the Amen Corner: The Life of Evangelist Sam Jones (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1973).  Jokes and information on Jones from Minnix and from Doug Adams, Humor in the American Pulpit from George Whitefield through Henry Ward Beecher (Sharing, 1992). 

^[2] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), 28. 

^[3] For a detail discussion on the nature of each message see M. Eugene Boring, Revelation: Interpretation, A Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1989), 85-97. 

^[4] Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, revised edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 67

^[5] Acts 19:21ff

^[6] Matthew 7:3-5. 

^[7] 1 John 4:7

^[8] John H. Lieth, The Reformed Imperative: What the Church Has to Say that No One Else Can Say (Louisville: Westminster,1988), 60-61.  

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
May 4, 2025
Revelation 1:9-20

At the beginning of worship: 
We began our tour of the opening chapters of Revelation last Sunday. I devoted a bit of time in that sermon discussing the term used in verse 4, “Grace and Peace.” 

I discovered something else about this term from a book I’d read almost 40 years ago. I’d forgotten this. The book I pulled off my shelf and reviewed is titled Comfort and Protest: The Apocalypse from a South African Perspective. Allan Boesak wrote it at the height of apartheid in his country. He drew on ancient Roman historians, to point out that this familiar greeting for Christians was also used by the Caesars. 

But the message from Caesar, while proclaiming grace and peace, might lack it. Domitian, the emperor under whose reign some think Revelation was written, would always include these words in introductions to his proclamations, including those calling for a death sentence against his foes.^[1]

For the faithful in the first century, they had to ask themselves under whose grace they wanted to live. Would it be the “grace of Caesar, whose ‘mercy’ might spell death, destruction, and inhumanity’”? Or would it be the grace of God who frees us from fear and sin and saves us from death? Under whose grace do we live?

Before reading the Scripture
Today, we’ll look at John’s first vision in Revelation, where he sees Christ. This is the beginning of the letter to the seven churches. What we looked at last week was the salutation, the opening which was a common form for letters in the first century. 

The body of John’s letter begins with a vision. This isn’t something uncommon.  A vision kicked off the prophetic ministries of Isaiah and Ezekiel.^[2] It also kicks off John’s ministry. It’s awesome, yet it draws on a similar vision of the prophet Daniel. Overwhelmed, John falls as if he’s dead. But Christ lifts him up and by the time this opening vision ends, John is ready to begin writing what he has seen. Let’s listen to what John sees and hears his first vision:

Read Revelation 1:9-20
“I’m one of you,” John begins. He assures those who listen to his letter that he is their brother. John shares with them in persecution, in the hope for the coming kingdom, and in their endurance. 

Furthermore, John preaches the gospel. And this preaching got him into trouble. He has been exiled to Patmos, a small rocky island some 75 miles east of Ephesus. There is no evidence the island was an Alcatraz, a prison for hardcore convicts.^[3] Instead, it seems to have been a place where the Romans sent troublemakers, knowing they’d be out of sight and not too much territory to get into mischief. 

For John, this meant he lost his congregation and the ability to reach other communities with his preaching. But now, through this vision, God speaks through John by letter. 

John tells us this vision happened on the Lord’s Day, a day when he would normally be gathering with other believers for worship. But in exile, he not able to do this. So, Christ comes to him, beginning with a loud voice with the blast like a trumpet saying, “Write this and send it to the seven churches.”

John turns to see where the voice is coming from, and he sees seven golden lampstands. Standing in the middle of these candlesticks is one who resembles the Son of Man, in other words Christ. This is not the Jesus John knew in Galilee. This is the resurrected Christ in all his glory. The candlesticks represent the church that is to bring light into a darken world.^[4] And Christ, standing in the middle, reminds us that he’s always with the church, even during times of persecution and danger.^[5]

The vision of the Son of Man is like the one Daniel experienced.^[6]Clothed with a long robe with a golden sash across his chest, his hair has turned white. While this may sound like Jesus had prematurely aged, the whiteness probably means purity. His eyes appear to have fire in them and his voice sounds like the rapids of a raving river. 

Instead of taking this vision literally, each part is symbolic. The sharp two-edged sword from his mouth draws upon John’s gospel and the Book of Hebrews. In John’s gospel, Jesus is the Word become flesh.^[7] In Hebrews, we’re reminded God’s word is a sharp two-edged sword.^[8] In his hands he holds the seven stars. Again, as with the candlestands, the seven implies perfection. These stars represent the angels watching over the seven churches. Starting next week, we’ll see each church receives an individual message within the larger letter. The churches are not perfect.^[9] But they can be made perfect in Christ. 

The feet of the Son of Man are bronze in John’s vision. 

Again, this leads us back to the Book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a similar being, except that its feet were clay. When struck at the feet, the entire statue falls and shatters into pieces. Daniel interpreted this dream for the King of Babylon.^[10]

The vision in Daniel reminds us of the limitations of people and human organizations. Sooner or later, not only do we, but also our institutions, come to an end. Here, the feet of Christ are different. Bronze is made by combining iron and copper. Iron is strong but will rust. Copper won’t rust but is soft and pliable. But when forged together into bronze, the metals take the best from each to create an enduring material.^[11]  

The feet of the comic Christ are not clay. They will stand while human organizations, sooner or later, will fail. 

Some suggest the stars in Jesus’ hands presents an anti-astrology message. Instead of looking at the stars for the fate of the world, Jesus’ hands hold its fate. It’s also challenges the Roman Empire. The true cosmic leader is not the emperor but Christ.^[12]

While the vision of Christ draws on images of God, John doesn’t make Jesus and God two competing entries. Instead, John reminds us that God is revealed in Jesus Christ.^[13]  

This vision overwhelms John. He falls as if dead. But Christ reaches out to lift him up and, as we often hear in Scripture when there is a divine or angelic encounter, John is told not to be afraid. Again, as we heard last week, Christ identifies himself as the first and last (or the A and Z).^[14]

Here we have a connection between the cosmic Christ and the earthly one, for he announces that he was dead (and remember, John was at the foot of the cross to watch^[15]), but he is now alive forever. The cosmic Christ assigns John a task. He’s to write what he has and will see. He’s also given clues to what he has seen, the symbolic meanings of the stars and lampstands.

What might we take from this passage? Can we find comfort in these words? Certainly, we can, if we follow Jesus. We are reminded, even when going into persecution, that he is with us. Jesus Christ, who remains with his church, is in control today and always. Regardless of what happens in this life, and bad things can happen, Jesus resides with us. In the life to come, we’ll reside with him. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

^[1] Allan A. Boesak, Comfort and Protest: The Apocalypse from a South African Perspective (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987), 47. 

^[2] Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1. 

^[3] Some have suggested Patmos was a prison, but most scholars disagree and see it mostly as a place of exile.  See Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, Revised (1977, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997),54 (especially note #5).

^[4]  Mounce, 57; Bruce M. Metzger, Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), 26. . 

^[5] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), 25. 

^[6] Daniel 7:9-10.

^[7] John 1:14. 

^[8] Hebrews 4:12. 

^[9] See Revelation 2 and 3. 

^[10] Daniel 2:31-35.  See also https://fromarockyhillside.com/2021/08/22/gods-wisdom-vs-human-wisdom/

^[11] Eugene H. Peterson, Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 35-36. 

^[12] M. Eugene Boring, Revelation: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: JKP, 1989), 84. See also Mounce, 57. 

^[13] Boring, 83. See also John 1:18 and 14:9.  

^[14] See Revelation 1:4 and 1:8. See also https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/04/27/the-beginning-of-revelation/

^[15] John 19:20. Some question John of Patmos being different than John of the gospel, but I disagree as their topics are too similar. 

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
April 27, 2025
Revelation 1:1-8

At the beginning of Worship
In 1993, we took the train out west. I was invited to interview with the Pastor Nominating Committee for Community Presbyterian Church in Cedar City, Utah. We decided to make it a vacation. I took two weeks off, spending time exploring old mining towns like Pioche, Nevada along with Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  While I didn’t know it at the time, I would spend the next decade living in that area.

After our trip was over, we got back on the train in Las Vegas.^[1] Exhausted, Iwent to sleep soon afterwards. Around 4 AM, I noticed we weren’t moving. It was dark out and I couldn’t see much. I assumed we were on a siding waiting for a freight train to pass. 

A little after 6 AM, I got up and went to the lounge car for coffee. We still hadn’t moved, and I was curious about what had happened. I asked the car attendant. He said we’d “died on the line.” I wasn’t familiar with this term and asked what it meant. It refers to the operating crew (the engineers and conductors) exceeding the hours they can legally work. When this happens, standing orders requires them to pull their train onto the first available siding and wait for a replacement crew. We were in remote area of the Black Rock Desert of Utah this morning. It took them 4 hours to get a crew to us. 

Then, as this was a year of terrible flooding in the mid-west, they’d lowered the speed limit along much of the line because the ground was so soft. By then, we were running too late to make our connection in Chicago. The tempers of passengers ran little thin. Yet, the car attendances did everything they could to make the trip pleasant. When the dining car ran out of food (since they had two more meals to serve than planned), we stopped in some small town in Iowa. A van waited beside the tracks, filled with boxes of Kentucky Fried Chicken. 

They assured us they’d be someone to help in Chicago with alternative transportation or hotels. On top of it all, they remained calm and pleasant at during a trying situation. 

Those of us who make up the church need to be like those attendants on that train. We should maintain a positive outlook while we encourage one another and keep out eyes on Jesus. While it may not always appear this way, he has everything under control.

Before reading the scripture:

For the next couple of months, I’m going to be preaching on the first opening chapters of the book of Revelation. Remember, this book is singular. It’s not Revelations, but Revelation.

Sometimes even those who print the Bible call the book “The Revelation of John. That, too, is wrong.

The title of the books in the Bible were added much later. In the opening verse, we learn it’s the Revelation of Jesus Christ to his servant John. 

This book is a letter to the seven churches of Asia. These churches are in what we know today as Western Turkey. 

Read Revelation 1:1-8

As you may have gleamed from my opening story this morning, I love trains. There’s something about being on a train and watching the landscape change. People on trains are not as hurried as they are on airplanes. 

I’ve mentioned before how trains can serve as a metaphor for the Christian journey. Many gospel songs express this. “Life is like a Mountain Railway” has the refrain: “Keep your hand upon the throttle and your eye upon the rail. Blessed Savior, thou wilt guide us…” Or the old African American spiritual sung by the likes of Woody Guthrie and Peter, Paul, and Mary, “This train is bound for glory.”

I’ve always thought the long-haul train as an example of our Chrisitan lives. In winter, they assemble trains filled with produce in Southern California. Three days later, the produce is served in restaurants in Chicago. A day later, it’s being sold and served on the east coast. It’s quite amazing. One engineer doesn’t take the train across the nation, over 3,000 miles. Instead, every 8 to 10 hours, a new crew takes over, so that by the time the train pulls into Chicago or New York, a dozen or more crews have been at the controls. 

Christ’s Church operates in a similar way. Pastors come and go. So do elders. So do members. Sometimes the tracks are smooth, and the train makes good time. Other times, curves and hills, mudslides and washed-out ballast, slows the train down. Likewise, with the church, there are times things go well, and other times we struggle. 

When it’s our time to take over the throttle, we must ask ourselves, “Are we being faithful to Jesus Christ?” “Are we doing our best to safely move the train a little further down the track, knowing that we’re a part of something much larger than ourselves? As the church, we’re a part of something eternal, as we see in our morning reading from the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 

The letter proper begins in verse 4, with two words: grace and peace, words I often use at the beginning of worship. The order is important. Grace, which comes from God, is always first and a prerequisite for peace. Without God’s grace, we’d be lost.^[2]Without grace, there can be no peace. 

John indicated three sources for this grace and peace. First, it comes from the “Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” This paraphrases God in Exodus, who revealed himself to Moses as the great “I am who I am.”^[3] God is revealed as the eternal one, the one beyond our comprehension. God is creator and present throughout history. The second source comes from the seven spirits. There’s some debate over the meaning of this, but I think there is much merit in the ancient believe that this is a reference to the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Book of Revelation, seven is considered the number of perfection and the seven spirits imply the Spirit’s fulness.^[4] The third source of this greeting is from Jesus Christ. 

The three sources of greetings, from God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ the son provide us with a Trinitarian view of the Godhead. It’s a little strange to have the Spirit ahead of the Son (we usually think of Father, Son, and Spirit^[5]), but this construct allows john to slip seamlessly into detail about Jesus Christ, God’s revelation to us.

John tells us Jesus Christ is God’s faithful witness. He reveals God to us and by knowing him, we can know God the Father.^[6] Remember, this book was written to churches soon experience persecution. Many believers would die. Many more would die over the next two thousand years for their faith as we saw this month with over 240 deaths of Christians in Nigeria.^[7]

Jesus is designated as “firstborn of the dead.” This title encourages those about to face martyrdom, reminding them (and us) that life on earth is temporary. We have eternity to which to look forward. Furthermore, Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth. We may live in fear of earthly kings. But we should never forget that one day everyone will be called to account. And just because one has the power of a king on earth and can seemingly do what he or she wants doesn’t mean they’ll not be held accountable for their actions.

John’s description of our Lord continues at a personal level as he reminds his readers (and us) what Jesus has done. “We’re loved, we’re freed from our sin, and we’ve been brought into a kingdom, a family, where we’re established as priests who serve God forever. One of our most important Protestant doctrines is the “Priesthood of All Believers.”^[8] As priests, all glory should flow from us to the eternal God.

In verses seven, John refers to Jesus’ return. Going back to his reminder that Jesus is the “King of kings,” we’re further reminded that upon his return everyone (including those who killed him) will see Jesus. Of course, for some, this will cause a great deal of concern and there will be wailing and weeping from those who nailed Jesus to the cross or harmed his followers. 

As I said earlier, Revelation is written as a letter and today, we’re looking at the salutation section. This ends at verse eight, which reflects on what we’ve already heard in verse 4. Jesus is eternal, co-eternal with the Father.^[9] I am the Alpha and the Omega (the A and the Z we might translate it). Jesus is Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come. Later, in Revelation, we’ll see other titles for Jesus, such as the lamb slain who rules in glory.^[10]

Jesus’ sacrifice leads to his glory.  And if we follow Jesus, we should not worry about the cost. The benefits will outweigh the costs and the suffering we might endure. In the end, God through Jesus Christ will be victorious and those who follow Jesus will share in the victory. That’s the message of the Revelation. Amen.

^[1] At this time, there are no trains through Las Vegas. But in the 1990s, the “Desert Wind” ran from Los Angeles, through Las Vegas, and joined the California Zephyr in Salt Lake City. 

^[2] Bruce M. Metzger, Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation (Nashville, Abingdon, 1993), 23. 

^[3] Exodus 3:14-15. 

^[4] See Metzger, 23-24. The idea of this being the Holy Spirit was made in a 6^th century commentary on Revelation by Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 1.4. For alternative interpretations of the seven spirits, see Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, revised (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997), 46-47.

^[5] See Matthew 28:19. 

^[6] John 14:7.

^[7] https://www.christianitydaily.com/news/nigerias-christians-suffer-losses-in-april-death-surpasses-240.html

^[8] See “The Second Helvetic Confession,” Presbyterian Church USA, Book of Confession, 5.154. 

^[9] Westminster Confession of Faith, VII.1, and The Nicene Creed. 

^[10] Revelation 5:12-13. The word “Lamb” appears 29 times in Revelation.