Lament...
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Today, we’re going to see the judgement of Babylon from a different perspective, and it isn’t pretty. And what we’re going to see here is that God hates pride and selfishness, and materialism, and they are particularly bad when the show up in his people. So we’re going to be warned to come out of Babylon here. And we’ll talk about what that means and how to do that.
Here’s today’s message. If you only get one thing, get this: Put your hope in Jesus, not in stuff. That’s the message of Revelation 18- Put your hope in Jesus, not stuff.
Let’s read the first part of this chapter:
After all this I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendor. He gave a mighty shout:
“Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!
She has become a home for demons.
She is a hideout for every foul spirit,
a hideout for every foul vulture
and every foul and dreadful animal.
For all the nations have fallen
because of the wine of her passionate immorality.
The kings of the world
have committed adultery with her.
Because of her desires for extravagant luxury,
the merchants of the world have grown rich.”
Then I heard another voice calling from heaven,
“Come away from her, my people.
Do not take part in her sins,
or you will be punished with her.
For her sins are piled as high as heaven,
and God remembers her evil deeds.
Do to her as she has done to others.
Double her penalty for all her evil deeds.
She brewed a cup of terror for others,
so brew twice as much for her.
She glorified herself and lived in luxury,
so match it now with torment and sorrow.
She boasted in her heart,
‘I am queen on my throne.
I am no helpless widow,
and I have no reason to mourn.’
Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day—
death and mourning and famine.
She will be completely consumed by fire,
for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”
What are some of the reasons that God gives for judging the world here? Pride, materialism, and selfishness. These are the three main indictments against the world that rejects the authority of God.
Some of these might give us cause for concern. Remember in this same book, Jesus wrote to Laodicea- the church who were so rich they didn’t need God, and he said, you think you’re rich but you’re not. You think you can see, but you’re blind. You think you’re clothed, but you’re naked. Spiritually, you lack everything you have physically because that’ where your hope is. And to me, materialism is such a stench in my nostrils that you make me want to convulsively vomit.
The same is true here. Babylon seduces the nations into rebellion against God through materialism, and she tries to get Christians to follow.
As the people of God, we must Put our hope in Jesus, not stuff.
Pause
When we put our hope in our stuff, pride controls us. How we see ourselves rises and fall with how much or how little we have. That’s a twisted identity. We can start to think of ourselves as more important than other people who are also created by God in his image and loved deeply by him.
Not a real story, but I’m sure there’s a grain of truth to it somewhere:
*cutting to the front of the long line at the terminal demanding to being first class.*
Man: “Do you have any idea who I am?!?!”
*grabbing the terminal loudspeaker* Employee: “May I have your attention please? We have a passenger here at the gate who DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to gate 17. Thank you.”
If we don’t guard our heart and Put our hope in Jesus, not stuff, it will absolutely inflate our ego and make us think that we are somehow better than others, and we will be filled with the worst of all sins- pride. God hates pride.
18 Pride goes before destruction,
and haughtiness before a fall.
The world places its hope in stuff, not God, and go hates it when we imitate the world in our ungratefulness.
For my kids, I like to spoil them (and I think this is part of the father heart of God), but the minute they act spoiled… uh uh. It’s over. I don’t mind spoiling them, but I mind if they act spoiled. The other day, we were at Walmart (that’s when the trouble started, right?), and the kids had been behaved *alright*. We told them we were going to get some ice cream if they behaved.
Elsie hitting her brother. Isaiah not listening and getting out of his seat. Nehemiah freaking out over the lady only having a wonder woman sticker, not a Batman one.
Well, we didn’t get ice cream that night. Is that a surprise. I don’t mind spoiling my kids, but I do mind if they act spoiled. I think that’s part of the heart of God.
And so God loves to spoil us by giving us the Holy Spirit. When we act entitled to our salvation because of something we’ve done, or when we act better than others because we are saved, it causes some of the same reaction of disgust in God that we feel when our kids are acting spoiled. Kind of like this:
[[Tim Hawkins Video]]
Sometimes, that’s us, isn’t it? We get selfish and spoiled and ungrateful for what God has given us. We complain to God about something someone else has that we don’t, and it’s pride. It’s materialism.
And so here, we hear a song to Christians, saying, "Come out of her, my people" basically, "Babylon's falling; get out of dodge." Not physically, but spiritually. It's not saying to move away physically, or to wall up our churches so no one worldly can come near. It's saying, "don't engage in her activities." Spiritually, come out of her, so you don't partake of her sins. Why? Because if you're part of her kingdom, you get her judgments. If your hope is in stuff, you will mourn like they do when that stuff is all destroyed.
And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains. They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out,
“How terrible, how terrible for you,
O Babylon, you great city!
In a single moment
God’s judgment came on you.”
These guys are sad and afraid.
Why? If they shared in her prideful, selfish, luxury, they will share in her destruction. Notice they emphasize that although Babylon was great, it was destroyed in a single moment.
11 “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more— 12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.
The bodies and souls of men? You might look at that, and say to yourself, “well, slavery isn’t an issue in our day, so does that really apply to us?” Let me tell you how you might contribute to the selling of the bodies and the souls of men:
Sweatshops
Track it down.
Workers in these places are paid on average less than $1/hour, 25% of what a family needs to survive where they live, they are subjected to verbal and physical abuse, long hours, forced overtime, and basically slavery. In some instances, they are treated like prisoners, made to work in an area surrounded by barbed wire and guards armed with shotguns to make sure they don’t leave. As a Christian doing commerce in the world, track down your purchases. It can be hard work, and sometimes impossible to tell, but as far as you can discover, do not support the enslavement of people made in the image of God.
Produce farms in the southwest
Track it down.
Illegal immigrants there are often mistreated. Many are provided substandard housing (which comes out of their pay) in some instances being forced to live with 13 other workers in a two bedroom trailer, paid less than minimum wage, and often are not paid at all because their employers know illegal immigrants will not sue them.
And if you’re thinking that it serves them right because they came here illegally, you have in mind the things of man, not the things of God and you need to repent. We are citizens of the kingdom of God first, and Americans much further down the list. God loves ALL people. We need to also.
Pornography
Track it down.
Look at me.
Long pause (count to 5 Mississippi)
For those of you indulging in this trap, if you think that your hidden sin is okay because it isn’t hurting anyone- that its just a girl on a screen, track it down. Sex trafficking in our country is at an all-time high because in our culture, sex sells. And it sells the bodies and souls of people. If this is what you’re spending time filling your heart with, chances are what you’re watching IS hurting someone and those girls are probably sex slaves. Track it down.
If that’s you- you’re addicted to pornography, let Jesus set you free from it. There is nothing he can’t redeem you from. There is nothing he can’t save you from. Don’t leave today without confessing it to someone so that you can be set free.
[Gospel Message]
We can only be prideful toward other people when we forget they are created in the image of God and objectify them.
And that’s what the world does. It objectifies people. We cannot allow pride to rule us and do the same. The world loves money and uses people. As followers of Jesus, we put that relationship back in its proper place: we love people and use money.
We put our hope in Jesus, not stuff.
What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul. Money will not satisfy you. If you think it will, don’t you ever wonder how there can be so many people who are insanely wealthy, doing just stupid stuff because they’re looking for something to fill the emptiness they feel?
Story of how I got here from materialism (if there’s time)
14 “The fancy things you loved so much
are gone,” they cry.
“All your luxuries and splendor
are gone forever,
never to be yours again.”
15 The merchants who became wealthy by selling her these things will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will weep and cry out,
16 “How terrible, how terrible for that great city!
She was clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens,
decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls!
17 In a single moment
all the wealth of the city is gone!”
And all the captains of the merchant ships and their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance. 18 They will cry out as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, “Where is there another city as great as this?” 19 And they will weep and throw dust on their heads to show their grief. And they will cry out,
“How terrible, how terrible for that great city!
The shipowners became wealthy
by transporting her great wealth on the seas.
In a single moment it is all gone.”
Remember what Jesus said:
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?
Notice why the merchants mourn over Babylon! They don't care about her! They care about her money! This is what materialism does to people! This is an indictment against materialism that seduces even the strongest of saints.
These merchants are upset because they’ve lost their wealth.
It's always about them. Their stuff. Their money. Their comfort. Their wealth. I pray that this is never the way we are as a church.
Rejoice over her fate, O heaven
and people of God and apostles and prophets!
For at last God has judged her
for your sakes.
Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted,
“Just like this, the great city Babylon
will be thrown down with violence
and will never be found again.
The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets
will never be heard in you again.
No craftsmen and no trades
will ever be found in you again.
The sound of the mill
will never be heard in you again.
The light of a lamp
will never shine in you again.
The happy voices of brides and grooms
will never be heard in you again.
For your merchants were the greatest in the world,
and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.
In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people
and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world.”
Your merchants were the great ones. Not the apostles, prophets or saints. Not those who did justice and acted with mercy and who walked humbly, but your merchants! The people who sell stuff were the ones you put on a pedestal.
Does this sound familiar? Who are the people that we most know? Do you know who Mark Driscoll is? How about Tom Wright? James White? Tony Zullo? Those are saints. Faithful people of God on the earth now.
Okay how about these names? Do you know who Elon Musk is? How about Beyonce? Kim Kardashian? Bill Gates? Steve Jobs?
Our great ones in our culture are the merchants. Not the apostles, prophets, or saints of God. Because our culture places its hope in stuff, not Jesus. And as Christians, we must absolutely place our hope in Jesus, not stuff, or we will place our citizenship with the world.
So how can we do this?
How can we place our faith in Jesus, not in stuff?
If you’re not a believer in Jesus, today would be a good day to change where your hope is placed. This world is passing away and everything in it. Repent of your sins, trust in Jesus, and submit to him in baptism. If that’s you, come talk to me in a few minutes while we sing.
For the rest of you who already follow Jesus, in this passage, we have the three issues of pride, selfishness, and materialism. All of them because we place hope in stuff, not Jesus. So how do we deal with these?
To deal with pride, serve other people. Wealth makes you no better than another. Poverty makes you no better than another. Service is the cure for pride. It’s really hard to believe that you’re better than someone else when you’re taking out their trash, or helping them move a couch, or sweeping their floor.
To deal with selfishness, share your possessions. They don’t belong to you. Remember God owns everything and he delights in sharing it with you. Sharing is the cure for selfishness. It’s really hard to be selfish when you realize that even though everything belongs to God, he shared it with you. It’s not yours to begin with, how could you be selfish knowing that through Jesus, God will share all things with you.
To deal with materialism, give your stuff away. Generosity is the cure for materialism.
And right now, as a church, we have an awesome opportunity to give. To rally together to show someone that we love them, and in so doing, to fulfill the law of Christ, and Les is going to come up and tell us about it, and then we’ll pray and sing, and give:
Do an invitation today!!!