The Road Beyond Emmaus

April 10 1988 AM

Revelation 21

Hebrews 10:19-20

"...Boldness to enter into the holiest By a NEW and LIVING Way ... that is to say, (Christ's BODY!)"

INTRODUCTION:

Easter isn't OVER! The HOLIDAY may be— but the real Easter begins with the resurrection! And even Christ's disciples had to learn a New and Living Way to God! What does it mean— this Resurrection Life?

What does it mean that Jesus is alive?

Walking with Jesus on the way to the Promised Land— starts on the Emmaus Road, and ends in Heaven. We know that much.

But in the here and now— WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TRAVEL "THE NEW AND LIVING WAY"? [Are there any 'models' of walking with God by faith?

ABRAHAM IS A PERENNIAL MODEL: He accepted the challenge of God to leave and old, comfortable way, and walk with God.

THE PILGRIMS ARE ANOTHER MODEL for us: people who risked everything because they wanted God.] People do not leave and risk and dare unless they have some idea of where they are going.

WHERE IS GOD ASKING US TO GO WITH HIM? Do we dare set out on an adventure of faith? Or, what sort of an adventure is it that we already have begun? One clear picture (to me, at least) is found in Revelation 21:

I. (21:1-7) GREAT FUTURE

[We are walking with God into the HOPE of a beautiful future.]

(This chapter opens with) A vision of a beautiful river of crystal clear water of life; a city of beauty with stately mansions for us all. (To my mind this is) A little like the visions settlers must have had as they left the crowded cities of Europe and came to America; and as they left the cities of the East and went looking for the Utopia in the frontier, where there was an unlimited amount of space available.

Being a Christian today must be a little like joining a wagon caravan setting out with visions of California; watered valleys for the inhabiting; a better place where life will be happy ever after.

And this is NOT just for the here-after! The fellowship with God begins the moment we set out! He, Himself, has promised to be our Guide! And the fellowship within this caravan of life is different from all the rest of the world!

II. (21:8) GREAT WARNING

[We are walking with God away from DEFILEMENT, and from wrath and judgment on sin.]

The list of the wicked who cannot take part in this journey is here; and it is headed by fearful and unbelieving. There is place for honest doubt. But there is no place for weasel-obedience. Our faith has got to make a difference in the way we live.

God gives to all people everywhere unconditional love. But that does not mean that all people everywhere, regardless of the way they live, will be saved simply because they mouth the formula, and believe with their minds.

III. (21:22,23) GREAT LIGHT

[We are walking with God in the Pathway of Light of His revelation!]

1. When we get to heaven there will be great light— the light from God's Presence— no sun/ no temple/ a new way of living, walking, worship. Rev. 21:23 says: The LAMB is the light of heaven!
2. And so, even HERE and NOW— the New and Living WAY is the way of the Living Light. [I John 1:7,9.] Where will that Light take us?

Where will we walk with the Lamb?

IV. (21:27) GREAT SEPARATION

[Fellowship with LIGHT inevitably means separation from DARKNESS!]

I think I'd like to believe in universalism; but what this great word teaches is far from universalism. The separation is already among us; we must decide how serious we are about following after Jesus! It is time to be serious about who we are. It is time to consider well the cost of being Christian. The time is drawing to a close when we can congratulate ourselves that we are Christian because we don't steal and we don't smoke or drink, and because we attend church fairly regularly. I wonder if we have the fortitude to put our lives on the line for what we really believe?

LET ME TAKE A NEW DIRECTION THIS MORNING— AND YOU KNOW THAT I TAKE PREACHING VERY SERIOUSLY: There are many respects in which we can liken ourselves in the American community of faith to the church in early Nazi Germany. We may well have to separate in our thinking the idea of a beloved nation and an intruding government that does not represent the ideals for which the Old and New Testaments stand.

I am not calling for a conservative knee-jerk reaction. But by the same token, I am not succumbing to a political solution from the left, either. It is all right to be Christian and be conservative; it is all right to be Christian and be liberal, politically. BUT IT IS NOT ALL RIGHT TO BE CHRISTIAN AND LET OTHER PEOPLE INTERPRET WHAT IS AND WHAT IS NOT GOD'S WILL FOR US. It is NOT Christian to let the government eviscerate the Bible, and tell the CHURCH what is and what is NOT moral. Too long the church has been silent on moral issues.

IMMEDIATELY MANY WILL THINK ABOUT PLACES IN THE WORLD WHERE INJUSTICE SEEMS FLAGRANT: I cannot with good conscience speak about the issues in South Africa or Northern Ireland. I simply do not have the facts, and I do not understand all the issues. BUT FOR US CHRISTIANS HERE—TO FOCUS ON THOSE ISSUES CAN BE A SMOKE SCREEN FOR WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT HERE IN OUR DAY-BY-DAY EXISTENCE: AND I do have facts and issues here in the United States of America.

(1) Recently a federal appeals court, in Washington, D.C., ruled that a Catholic University (Georgetown University) was bound to financially support a group on its campus that was and is diametrically opposed to the clear teaching of that church group. The statement in CT was that the court understood that this opposed church teaching, but that factor was outweighed by the court's consideration for gay rights.

I quote now from Richard Neuhaus in his landmark book, The Naked Public Square: "In recent decades, "pluralism" has become something of a buzzword. It is variously employed. Often it is used to argue that no normative ethic, even of the vaguest and most tentative sort, can be "imposed" in our public life.

In practice this means that public policy decisions reflect a surrender of the normal to the abnormal, of the dominant to the deviant. Indeed it is of more than passing interest that terms such as abnormal or deviant have been largely exorcised from polite vocabulary among the elites in American life." 146

Bear with me just a bit more in this quoting: "Movements today that employ the anti-discrimination provisions won in the racial struggle see themselves as a continuation of that struggle. But the convergence between law and the democratic ethos is lacking. In fact, as often as not, the effort is to use the law in order to confront and overturn the base of moral consensus. This is notably evident in some of the more radical movements aimed at erasing all sexual distinctions, creating an androgynous society, and liberating children from their "captivity" to the "oppressive structure" that is the family."

This week I have had conversation with Father Neale Heery, pastor of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in North Quincy, (who is in Rome just now) pledging to him that [AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, AND SO MUCH AS I HAVE ANY INFLUENCE AS PASTOR] we will stand with him in whatever we can do to oppose this intrusion of federal government into exclusive church domain and prerogative.

Then, too, (2) Just very recently our Congress passed, and then overrode the President's veto on a bill that will potentially emasculate all church discrimination against social evil, no matter how scripturally grounded if in fact any government subsidy has been received by any participating member. The position of the church is (1) NOT to enter into partisan politics, and NEVER to endorse a party or candidate. But by the same token, (2) the church is not merely free to express itself on moral issues, IT IS DUTY-BOUND TO LOYALLY AND LOVINGLY CALL ITS SERVANT GOVERNMENT INTO ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE GOD IT ACKNOWLEDGES IN ITS CONSTITUTION AND IN THE WILL OF THE VAST MAJORITY OF ITS CITIZENS!

I want to quote again from an historian, this time a Calvinist from Michigan, George Marsden, in Fundamentalism & American Culture. He says,

"We live in the midst of contests between great and mysterious spiritual forces, which we understand only imperfectly and whose true dimensions we only occasionally glimpse. Yet, frail as we are, we do play a role in this history, on the side either of the powers of light or of the powers of darkness. It is crucially important then, that, by God's grace, we keep our wits about us and discern the vast difference between the real forces for good and the powers of darkness disguised as angels of light."

Conclusion:

Are you sure that I have gotten way off the track this morning?

Isn't it a lot easier just to wait until the issues are a lot clearer?

Wouldn't it be a lot neater and easier if being a Christian meant that we could stay neatly compartmentalized in the "spiritual" side of our lives? Wouldn't it be simpler if we only had to tithe and attend church on Sunday morning and evening and, for a few of the pious, Wednesday nights, too??

BUT FOLLOWING JESUS DEMANDS THAT WE PUT OUR LIVES ON THE LINE. THERE IS A VERY REAL HEAVEN TO GAIN, AND A VERY REAL HELL TO SHUN. BUT IN THE GAINING AND THE SHUNNING, THERE IS ALSO A VERY REAL WORLD IN WHICH WE MUST CHOOSE SIDES.

Joel prophesied it, and Peter affirmed it on the Day of Pentecost:

In the last days God's Spirit will be poured out on the CHURCH! And young and old, men and maidens, shall prophecy!

JEREMIAH AND HOSEA AND AMOS AND JOHN THE BAPTIST ARE DEAD. AND GUESS WHO HAS BEEN CALLED TO WALK WITH GOD, AND TO TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THE PROMISE AND THE WARNING, THE LIGHT AND THE SEPARATION? WE HAVE!

Let us pray:

O God and Father of our Risen Savior, Let us walk with Him! Help us not to run ahead— and help us not to lag behind. Show us the HOPE of Your great promises; and help is WALK IN THE LIGHT of the Lamb. In Jesus' Name we ask.

#413 Faith of Our Fathers