Good evening, and welcome to church. We’re in Revelation 11 tonight. If you’ve got a Bible, it’d be good for you to find that text. We’re going right through the book of Revelation, looking at this issue of worship. I am intentionally not hitting every single chapter in the book, because I wanna look just at this theme of worship.

And what we see through the book is that there really is a strong up and down pattern. There’s a lot of examination of sin and judgment and mayhem on the earth, and then there are other portraits that explode into Heaven and give us a glimpse into the goodness of God, where worship and joy and the rule of God over all creation commences.

And what I’ve chosen to do for this series is to primarily look at those scenes that are in the heavens because that is where worship takes place, and that is what is inspiring of our worship of God.

And so, tonight we’ll be in Chapter 11, looking at yet another image. And as we get into it tonight, our theme is very, very, very important, and that is, namely, the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is that ultimate place that worshipers are going to. Jesus told us that the Father is seeking worshipers, and as the Father is seeking us, he’s seeking us to join him in his Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is one of the great themes of your entire Bible. It’s one of the dominating metaphors. And before the coming of Jesus, there was this longing throughout all of history, particularly among the Jews and people who knew God. They were waiting for the coming of the King and his Kingdom.

And because of that, they had preconceived ideas and notions of what the King would look like and what the Kingdom would look like. And because of some errors in their thinking, they misunderstood Jesus when he came, and many people missed him altogether.

They were anticipating that Jesus would come in glory, sort of as we see him in Revelation, seated on a throne and exalted with angels bowing down and all the nations coming before his throne.

And when Jesus came in his first coming, he came in a completely unexpected way. He came humbly. He was born to a teenage mother in a dumpy, rural town, in poverty and simplicity. Isaiah says that there was no beauty or majesty in him that we would be attracted to him.

For the first 30 years of his life, God worked a common job as a carpenter. If you would have met Jesus and extended a hand to him, you would have gotten a handful of calluses from a guy who swung a hammer. Didn’t look like the King that everyone was expecting.

In our day, it would be the equivalent of a finish carpenter from Kent being God. You wouldn’t expect that. That’d be shocking. That’d be different.

(Laughter)

You would not anticipate God to come in that way. And God came humbly to commence his Kingdom. He came humbly to identify himself with us. He came humbly to be tempted in every way, as we are, yet without sin. He came to die humbly. He came to rise and ascend back into glory. And he is coming again.

He is coming again for his people. The Kingdom that was commenced at his first coming will be completed at his second coming. And it’s been a while. But that shouldn’t shock us. From our father Adam’s sin until the first coming of Jesus to begin his Kingdom, it took a few thousand years.

Now we have waited a few thousand years for the final completion of his Kingdom. And the reason that God is waiting, the reason that it has taken so long, the reason that God is so patient is the language that Peter uses is because God isn’t finished loving and saving people yet.

You and I grow weary of life on this earth. I do. We get frustrated. We get tired. We wish Jesus would come back, crush our enemies, set up his throne, give us new bodies that have smaller waists and higher IQs, and be done with it.

(Laughter)

But, Jesus is very patient. How many of you have come to Christ in the last year? Let’s see your hands. How many of you in the last month? A couple of you. There’s three or four this morning that came to Christ in the last week. That’s why it’s taking so long. There are people like you, including you, that God loves and God seeks to save and forgive and heal and redeem.

He has appointed you to be members of this great Kingdom that he is building. And so he’s patient, waiting to change your heart and change your mind. I had a guy come up to me this morning. I’ve been talking to him for a while, and he said, “I became a Christian this week. I’m a Christian.” He took his first communion this morning.

That’s why it’s been so long, ‘cause God loves that guy. God adores that guy. God made that guy. God had a plan to save that guy, and God didn’t want to begin his Kingdom until he had saved that person and brought him in as a citizen of the Kingdom.

The Bible tells us that, in fact, Philippians 3:20, that our citizenship is in Heaven. You and I, we are told in Corinthians, are ambassadors on behalf of God. Peter says that we’re pilgrims and sojourners.

What that means is this, all the nations of the earth, all the cultures, all the people are secondary. What’s primary is there is another Kingdom, and in that Kingdom is Jesus Christ, who is a King. We’ve already seen him seated on his throne, his place of exaltation and majesty.

And then, when we become Christians, we become citizens of that Kingdom. And we become members of the family of God that is under the rule of Jesus Christ, our King. And then he sends us into the nations of the earth as ambassadors, that’s what Paul says, to go out into the nations of the earth and to love people, to point them to our King. To invite them to join our Kingdom that is coming.

In the meantime, it’s frustrating. Romans 8 talks about this frustration. Because of sin, because of death, because of evil and corruption in the world and among the nations of the earth, creation, all of us – human beings, animals, all that is made – are longing and yearning and anticipating for deliverance and for God to make everything good and make everything new. And for the Kingdom to finally come, and for the King to finally rule. And for everything to be completed and done.

There is a day coming where all of that will occur. There’s a day where every wrong will be righted, and every sin will be dealt with, and every sinner will be dealt with, where the curse will be lifted. Creation will be made new. We will be made new. That we will see God face to face. That we will be before his throne. That we will be his people. He will be our God. Our faith will become sight. And we’ll live in a completely different world, this Kingdom that is coming.

The Kingdom that Jesus told us to pray for, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, holy, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come, your will be done.” And that’s the evidence of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is where God’s will gets done without the rest of us fighting it.

And we long for that day, and we wait for that day. And some of you can envision that day in your mind. You can see parts of it. That day comes in Revelation 11:15. Here we find the inauguration of that great day, where the King comes, and his Kingdom is unfolding.

Chapter 11, verse 15, “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet” – this is like the commissioning of a battle, or the inauguration of a king – “and there were loud voices in Heaven, which said, ‘This is the coming’” – the proclamation of the coming – “‘of the King.’”

What we see here is a number of aspects of God’s Kingdom. The first thing we see is that there’s a King. That’s Jesus. He sits on a throne, and he rules and reigns. You’ll see, as well, that there are number of songs. That songwriters and musicians and artists will be in the Kingdom of God.

Here we will find two new songs that are sung this week, the ninth and tenth new songs in the book. Those of you that are songwriters, that are musicians, that are poets, that are artists, you have sacred work to do, and your work will continue into the Kingdom.

And here, we see that in addition to the singers who sing loudly, and in addition to the worshipers, there are a few things that mark the Kingdom of God. The first is, they sing that the kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.

That’s God the Father and God the Son, that they will reign together forever and ever. And what we see here is that presently, there is the Kingdom of God. There is God, who sits on a throne, high and exalted, and rules over all creation.

And there are the different nations and races and cultures and groupings of people on the earth. And oftentimes, there’s conflict because these nations have different laws. These nations have different rulers. These nations have different ethics and standards and protocol and procedures, and they have different beliefs and different gods and different modes of worship.

And when the King comes and his Kingdom comes, what we’re told is that the cultures and the Kingdom will become one and the same. The big problem we have in the earth right now is simply this, there’s no King. Don’t be deceived. The problem is that human beings are unfit for rule in a fallen and sinful world.

That’s why we have to have multiple branches of government, ‘cause everyone is wicked. And if we don’t have legislative, judicial, and executive, we get tyranny. And sometimes we get it anyways. The wars and conflicts between nations are because someone wants to rule over someone else.

There will be a day when we don’t need to have any more elections.

Response: Praise God.

Won’t that be great?

Response: Yes.

You won’t have to vote for this guy, who won’t get anything done, or this guy, who won’t get anything done. There’s a reason why we only allow a President in this country to rule for two terms – because we don’t trust ‘em any more than eight years max – any human being. We just don’t. We can’t.

There’s a reason why we have to balance power. There’s a reason why nations have war. It’s because as long as there’s sin in the world, sinners will exercise their power in unjust ways to rule over other people to their own benefit.

The best form of government, quite frankly, is a benevolent dictatorship.

A benevolent dictatorship, the way it works, is one person is in charge. It simplifies everything. So much easier, really. One person’s the umpire – that’s it. No court system, no cops, no jails, no rehabilitation – just one person rules, and then everyone should do what that one person says.

Now, the only problem is, we don’t have anybody that’s qualified for that position. If anyone were to get that position, their sinfulness would cause them to turn this earth into absolute tyranny and evil.

Now, Jesus Christ, being King of Kings and Lord of Lords, him being perfect and holy and good, he’s perfectly suited for this benevolent dictatorship. He’s absolutely competent to sit on this throne and rule over all the nations of the earth, and rule over all the peoples of the earth, and to build a culture that is harmonious, regardless of race or gender or age. To build a culture that is glorifying to him and enjoyable to us. That is the way the world was supposed to be.

Some of you know what this world was to be like. You get frustrated because the world is broken. It’s crooked. It’s flawed. And it doesn’t matter who you elect. It doesn’t matter what initiative you pass. It doesn’t matter what legislation you decree. Ultimately, if people are wicked and they’re not obeying the law, or the lawmakers are crooked, or the law enforcers are crooked, or just imperfect sinners are executing the plan, even if it’s perfectly good, there’s no such thing as a world that really has it together, perfectly, justly, rightly. Everything is crooked in varying degrees.

In this Kingdom of God, there will be one King. And it tells us here that he will reign forever and ever and ever. I love that. I love the fact that we don’t need to have elections in Heaven. We don’t need to raise money. We don’t need to watch debates. We don’t need to argue positions. We don’t need to consider political spin and pundits. All we need is Jesus.

Everybody in the Kingdom obeys the King. Everything goes fine. A beautiful, loving, benevolent dictatorship. That’s the Kingdom of God. Comes down, exists here under Jesus’ jurisdiction and rule.

That day is coming. In the meantime, we go out as ambassadors for this Kingdom, telling people about Jesus, our great King, and about this coming Kingdom. Practically, what that means for you, Mars Hill, is this: You should have no need for law. You should have no need for police. You should have no need for courts. You should have no need for threat of capital punishment.

You should obey God, and that should be it. Because of that, you should be people who are representing yourself as ambassadors of this Kingdom by conducting yourselves rightly. That’s why everywhere the Gospel spreads, and more people come to Christ, there’s less crime, there’s less courts, there’s less jails, there’s less cops. Why? Because as people obey the King, there is not such a need for this external rule of law.

The rule of law is for sinners and lawbreakers. People who obey God and respect his Kingdom, they don’t need a lot of external policing. They have the Holy Spirit as an internal police to guide and instruct and rebuke and encourage.

There will come a day when we won’t need cops. There will come a day when we don’t need locks on our doors or on our cars. There will be a day when we don’t need attorneys. Where we don’t need courts. Where we don’t need jails. Where we don’t need capital punishment.

There will be a day where we don’t need war. Where we don’t need election. Where we don’t need elected officials. All we’re gonna need is Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God becomes the Kingdom of men. That he’ll sit on his throne and we’ll do what he says. Simple and beautiful and perfect and glorious.

And it’s taking a while, because there’s a lot of people that God’s loving and saving to bring into this Kingdom. It says, “Then,” verse 16, “the 24 elders” – 12 tribes of Israel, 12 New Testament apostles – “who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God.”

One aspect of the Kingdom of God is that the culture sits under the King and represents his leadership and rule. Another thing that we see is that worship is present in the Kingdom of God. You and I will be on our face before the throne of God, singing to the Lord Jesus and God the Father.

The acoustics will be brilliant. The visual imagery we have seen will be unparalleled. The band will be great. The voices will be awesome. The angels will be harmonizing with us. It will be a multitude that no one could count, and we will spend some time prostrate, face down, thanking God for who he is. And adoring him. And enjoying him. And being so glad that no longer do we have to be under the rule of mere men.

And we have to obey crooked nations and crooked cultures, that we have to give our taxes to things that we don’t agree with. That we have to waste our time and money pursuing programs and methods that we know aren’t going to work. That all of our time and all of our energy and all of our love and all of our thought will be profitable and worthwhile.

It’ll be in response to the Lord Jesus. It’ll be out of loving joy for him. We’ll be glad to be there.

Here’s what they say, the tenth song, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was.” Throughout the book, it says he is the one who was, used to be, is and is to come. Here it doesn’t say that he is to come, because at this point, he is already come.

In this world, there’s lots to complain about. Things are crooked. People are crooked. Things are messed up. The world is painful. Our lives are arduous. You’ve got it. But when sin is removed, and we’re fully redeemed in our glorified bodies, creation is restored to its perfect state. The curse is lifted. Jesus Christ is obeyed by all. There will be nothing to complain about.

Some of you won’t know what to do with yourself. You’re gonna have so much extra time.

(Laughter)

Nothing to complain about. We won’t need talk radio to complain. We won’t.

(Laughter)

We won’t have anything to complain about. There will be no bitterness. There will be no anger. There will be no fighting. There will be no regret. There will be no remorse. God will have made everything right.

He says in Ecclesiastes that he makes everything beautiful in its time. At that time, everything will be made beautiful. Romans 8 promises that he works out everything for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

When you get into the Kingdom, everything’s worked out, straightened out. No more tears, no more regrets, no more remorse. God worked it all out for something wonderful. It says at the end of Genesis that what others meant for evil, God used for good. That’s what happens in the Kingdom. Everything comes up glorious.

And in that day, all we’ll have left to do is just give thanks. Give thanks for the lives that we’ve had. Give thanks for the love that we’ve received. Give thanks for the grace that has saved and enabled and empowered us. To give thanks for the people that God has adored. To give thanks for the patience of God that waited throughout the annals of history to get to us. To give thanks to God for who he is. To give thanks to God for what he’s done.

You and I will be spending our eternity thanking God. It’s why it’s so important for us now to practice. To be a people of thankfulness. That’s why I Thessalonians 5:16, 17 says to, “Praise God in all circumstances, for this is his will for you in Christ Jesus.” To get into the habit of thanking God.

You and I will be so grateful because when we get to the Kingdom, we will see how we have sinned and rebelled and sought devastation and self-destruction, and how God who is over us and better than us and kinder than us has taken those things and he has worked them out for something glorious.

We’ll thank God for everything. Even our sin, because of God, will be flipped into something wonderful. And we’ll be thankful. We’ll be thankful for all of our life. Even the things that right now that are painful, remorseful, devastating – we’ll be thankful.

And we’ll worship God, and we’ll thank God for completing all of those good works that he has begun. Here’s what happens, though. There’s two kinds of people in the earth. God extends a hand to everyone. It’s a hand of friendship or it’s a hand of justice. This is what we see.

“Because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign” – that’s why they worship God – “the nations were angry your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead and for rewarding your servants, the prophets, and your saints, and those who reverence your name, both small and great, for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

Two kinds of people. People who are rewarded as friends, and people who are judged as enemies. Now, I know I’m not supposed to tell you that there’s certain people who are enemies of God. There are certain people who resist God’s will, who fight God. There are certain people who are destined for hell. There are certain people who God is very angry with. I’m not supposed to tell you that. It’s not very popular. I’ll never get on Oprah – it’ll never happen.

(Laughter)

I’m supposed to tell you that God is – he wears lavender tights, and he has feathered hair. He has a daisy behind his ear. He does aromatherapy. And everybody gets a backrub in the end. It’s wonderful. It’s not that way.

God has friends, God has enemies, just like you. You and I and the way we live is in rebellion to this King and his Kingdom. Either through outright rebellion, or apathetic indifference, we all have given God the finger and done whatever we want.

And when God shows up and says, “I’m God, I’m now going to judge,” we struggle with that. Many of you don’t like the words “judgment” and “wrath.” They’re here, but they’re not your favorites. You like words like “Cheetos” and “ice cream.”

(Laughter)

But not judgment and wrath. They’re too scary. Judgment is something throughout the book that God’s people worship him for. They thank him for it. Judgment and justice is something that we all love. You love it, providing it’s convenient for you.

If someone steals from you, you want justice. If you steal from someone, you want mercy. We all love justice for that guy. We all love mercy for this guy – myself included. God has been sinned against by everyone. God, like everyone else in this room, deserves justice. God made us, gave us these bodies, gave us this earth, and you look at what we have done. Terrible things.

It talks about those who destroy the earth, his good creation. There is coming a day of judgment. There is coming a day when the enemies of God will stand before God and he will judge them, and as it says here, there will be wrath.

At this point, I’m supposed to point my finger and scream and yell and scare you into Heaven. I’m not gonna. I’m just gonna tell you the way it is. This is the way that it is. Jesus speaks of hell more than anyone. It’s the facts. You can either fight reality or accept it, but you’re not God; you can’t change it.

There will be people who are judged. And you and I, who love God, we will thank God for it. Is anyone sick of life on this earth yet? Are you sick of it? If you’re not sick of it, you’re not paying attention.

(Laughter)

The Kingdom of God is perfect, sinless. Everyone obeys Jesus, and everything is perfect. This is the way your Bible is put together. The first two chapters of Genesis – perfection. Genesis 3 – sin and chaos. The rest of your Bible – sin and chaos and the promise of Jesus. The last two chapters of your Bible – perfection.

God is working all of the mess of human history out to get back to the beginning – that place of creation and new creation, where everyone obeys him, and everything goes well. Some people say, “Well, can’t God just let everyone into the Kingdom?”

Really? Right now, one of the few things that keeps people from doing even more atrocious things than they do is the threat of death. The wage for sin is death. If you drink and drive, you’ll die. If you overdose on drugs, you’ll die. If you’re too sexually promiscuous, you’ll get a disease and die.

Death is one way that God gets us to stop sinning. If there were no death, do you think you would sin more? If you couldn’t eat yourself to death, would you eat more? If you couldn’t drink yourself to death, would you drink more? If you couldn’t drive yourself to death, would you ever use a turn signal?

(Laughter)

If you couldn’t die from a fistfight when you lost your temper, would you take a shot every time?

(Laughter)

We would be even more wicked if there was no threat of death. Can you imagine if people who were sinning knew that they would never die, that they could do that forever, and that no one could stop them? That’s why if you watch films where there is a terrible, evil villain, they never die. That’s our worst fear.

That’s why there’s always sequels for horror movies. That’s our worst fear – bad guys live. That’s the worst fear of all. The reason why the enemies of God cannot be allowed into the Kingdom of God is because if the enemies of God were allowed into the Kingdom of God, and they didn’t obey the King, and they lived forever, Heaven would be hell.

Heaven would be like the earth, only worse. I promise you, even if you’re not a Christian, you don’t want everyone in Heaven. You don’t want everyone at your house.

(Laughter)

Thanksgiving’s coming up. There’s certain people you’re not inviting.

(Laughter)

That doesn’t bother you in the least. You hear not everyone’s going to Heaven, you say, “Oh, that’s terrible.” Well, if you don’t want them, why would he want them? You don’t want them at your house, why would he want them at his house?

(Laughter)

“Well, they just flick boogers on the walls, and they eat with their hands, and they steal stuff, and their kids are midget demons, and then they unbutton their pants and lay on my couch. I don’t want them in my house.”

(Laughter)

“Oh, God, you terrible, evil person. How come you wouldn’t let them into your eternal Kingdom?” Well, some of the same reasons you wouldn’t let them come to your house for Thanksgiving. If they’re not going to play by the rules – and this is the way it works. Right? You got your house. You make rules in your house. Anybody who doesn’t play by the house rules doesn’t get to come to your house. Right?

Fair enough. Your house, your rules. We’re fine with that. The Kingdom is ruled by the King. The King makes the rules. You’re welcome in the Kingdom providing you obey the King. If you don’t obey the King, you’re not welcome in the Kingdom. Very simple. Because the King is wise and benevolent and good, and the King has a plan to love and bless and heal and save and redeem and feed and nourish and care for all of his people.

And what he doesn’t want is liars and thieves and crooks and perverts and weirdos and nut jobs and odd balls ruining his phenomenal Kingdom. He’s already been through that once, and it’s been a couple-thousand-year clean-up plan. We’re not going to do that again.

And so some people will be judged. And it’s not capricious. And I don’t judge. I don’t know who’s gonna be in and who’s gonna be out. God knows. He decides. But there will be people who are judged, and it says here that they will experience God’s wrath.

And he says here that the nations are angry. There are nations that’ll be very upset when Jesus comes back, “You can’t do that. We took a vote. The U.N. was unanimous.” [Blows raspberry] “I’m Jesus, I don’t care what the vote was. I sit on a throne. You come before me. I make a decision, and that’s the way it is. I’m the umpire.”

And the nations are gonna be furious. “We have nuclear warheads.” “I’m Jesus. You know?”

(Laughter)

“I died, came back. If you haven’t learned anything, it’s that I’m gonna be here. That’s the way it’s gonna go.”

(Laughter)

And it’s frustrating because the world is filled with nations. They make their own laws. They elect their own rulers. Some have their own kings. They’ve got their own land marked out. They’ve got their own kingdoms. And Jesus is coming back, and he’s gonna take all the land. He’s gonna take all the people. He’s gonna make all the decisions. It’ll be a beautiful, glorious, benevolent dictatorship. That’s what it’s going to be.

Not only will people be judged and receive wrath – and I’ll tell you this, too. If you’re here tonight, you don’t need to get judged. You say, “I don’t wanna be judged.” Great. I got a plan for you. You can confess your sins to Jesus. He’ll forgive you. Live under his rule as Lord. No judgment for you.

I won’t be judged. I sleep like a baby. I’ve already been judged at the cross of Jesus Christ. Guilty as charged. Jesus died for all my sins. God made him who knew no sin to become sin, so that in him I might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus died for all my sins. Guilty – Mark deserves death and punishment. There goes Jesus in Mark’s place, takes all my sin upon himself, dies, pays the penalty for my sin. He’s judged in my place, experiences the wrath of God in my place, cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He says, “It’s finished.” Rises from death – Mark’s forgiven. I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m not gonna be judged. I was already judged.

I don’t need to go stand before the Father. Jesus stood there in my place. If you don’t like judgment, if you don’t wanna be judged, just love Jesus. He’ll step in your place; everything’s fine.

It’s what is so silly. I argue with people and tell them, they’re like, “I don’t like judgment. I don’t like judgment.” Well, that’s the point.

(Laughter)

Right? It’s incentive.

(Laughter)

“I don’t like a hangover. I don’t like a hangover. I don’t like a hangover.” Well –

(Laughter)

Cause/effect? There’s a way out of this. There’s a way out of judgment. There’s a way out of wrath. There’s a way out of punishment. There’s a way out of hell. His name’s Jesus. You say, “Well, I don’t want him to be in charge.” Well, what do you want? Satan? I mean, Plan A/Plan B.

Somebody’s gonna sit on the throne. It’s not you. It’s not me. It’s not Satan. It’s Jesus. We love him, we’re forgiven. It’s all good. Other people are not gonna be judged. They’re gonna be rewarded. Now, you like that word better.

(Laughter)

“Yeah, that’s a good one. I like that one. Rewarded – that’s better. Wrath – scary. Reward – good word.”

(Laughter)

It is here, “And for rewarding your servants, the prophets” – the guys who died for telling the truth – “your saints” – that’s you and me. How many of you were raised in Catholicism, where you were taught that saints were very holy people who never had sex?

(Laughter)

Kinda weirded me out. How many of you heard that?

(Laughter)

I thought saints were very holy people. You’re saints. You’re saints. Saints are people who love God. You’re saints – “your saints, and those who reverence your name, both small and great.” Certain people will not be judged. They’ve been judged at the cross of Christ. They will not experience the wrath of God, ‘cause Jesus has tasted it on their behalf.

Other people will experience reward. Now, for many of you, this is a hard sell. ‘Cause we’re talking about delayed gratification. Some of you cuss at the microwave.

(Laughter)

All right? Like, you’re not highly patient.

(Laughter)

Right? We’re talking about delayed gratification, which in this culture is not a big sell. Long-term investments – people don’t even know what that is. Next week? No, push it out – push it out – push it out.

In this world, some of you will feel like, “Man, I don’t get it. I’m not getting my reward. I love God. Oh, I obey God. I serve God. I follow God. I trust God. I know God. And I tell you what, it’s not – I’m not getting rewarded. I just – I didn’t get a promotion. I got fired. I took out the garbage. I came in – my wife still had her clothes on. This isn’t working.”

(Laughter)

“I served. I was good. I was holy. It’s not working. It’s failing. The rewards are not coming. What’s wrong?” We write books about being frustrated with God. “God, we’re so frustrated. We did the right thing for 20 minutes, and then –”

(Laughter)

“ – nothing, nothing.”

(Laughter)

Here it says there’ll be reward, but reward comes after the trumpet sounds, and after the Lord returns, and after the Kingdom is established, at the very, very end. Jesus said as much, that at the end he’ll say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come into your rest.”

One of the ethics of the Kingdom is patience. Patience. You worship God here and now. You love God here and now. You serve God here and now, knowing that your reward isn’t going to be visible right now.

Some of you will have blessing. You may be happy. You may have love. Your life may go longer; it may go better. It may go shorter, it may go worse. I don’t know. But as Jesus says, you’re storing up your treasures in Heaven. You’re knowing that as an ambassador here among the other nations of the earth, this isn’t your home.

And I guess what I’m telling you is this. If you’re disappointed, you need to lower your expectations. Have you thought about that? I’ve learned the secret. If you lower expectations, you reduce disappointment. You think about it. If you know that this a cursed, fallen, sinful world filled with sin and sinners who give the finger to Jesus, the odds of you getting disappointed go down.

You watch the news and say, “Terrible people did terrible things to other people.” Yep, just what I expected. “People are lying.” Just what I expected. “People are stealing.” Just what I expected. “People are abusing other people.” Just what I expected. Why? Until Jesus Christ separates sheep/goats, wheat/chaff, till he builds a culture that has no more sin and sinners, there is going to be problems.

And for those of you that are here, and you’re thinking that somehow because you met Jesus, it’s done’ it’s finished; it’s completed; the Kingdom of God is here. Where is it? I tell you what, it’s begun. It began with the coming of Jesus. Jesus is transforming lives. He is saving people. He is building his Church. He is doing glorious things.

But we haven’t seen the full unveiling of the Kingdom ‘til the King comes back. And so, you’ve gotta lower your expectations. Expect things to be crooked. Serve God. Love God. Follow God. Obey God as a saint here. And then, when it’s all done, you’ll get your reward. Don’t be frustrated anymore. Everything’ll be perfect.

You won’t be angry and upset. You’ll be glad. You won’t feel as if you’ve been let down. You will be filled with more joy than you can even begin to imagine. This instantaneous holiness, this instantaneous work of God, this instantaneous Kingdom of God thinking – it’s only popular in America, where we’re such an impatient people.

We watch television shows that are 22 minutes, minus the commercials, and we believe that in 22 minutes, all the moral crises should be resolved. God has a lot of work to do on the earth. There’s a lot of sin to work through. There’s a lot of people to work with. There’s a lot of nations. And God is kindly, graciously, patiently building his Kingdom.

And for those of us who are faithful in our service, we’ll be rewarded. I promise you that. But some sense of patience needs to creep into our thinking. I’ve even started thinking about this church in terms of my lifetime. I plan on being here for the rest of my life, maybe 50 years.

I’ll see my kids, my grandkids serving Jesus. I pray I see my great-grandkids serving Jesus, building the Kingdom, preaching the Gospel, serving as ambassadors, whose citizenship is in Heaven. Knowing that someday I will die, and my kids and my grandkids and my great-grandkids and my great-great-grandkids will keep loving and serving Jesus.

And that I’ll get my reward one day at the very, very end, when all the work of all of my family and all of us and everything we’re up to all comes to fruition, and everyone that God has appointed comes to salvation, and all of the lives that he’s appointed for transformation, they’ve completed their work. And then, we’ll get our reward.

Then we’ll see it. In the meantime, we get glimpses and pictures and encouragements. And that’s where I love where he says here, “both small and great.” Little people and big people. And one thing I tell you about worship in the Kingdom of God, is that the children are involved in this task. They are.

That fools think about the weekend, and that wisdom thinks about the fifth and sixth generation. And as God’s patient Kingdom people, we’re thinking into the future. And that includes worshiping, big and small.

And the key is to reverence, it says here, the name of God. The name Christian was, in the early Church, it was a slur. It was a disrespect. It means “little Christ.” “Oh, you just – you love Jesus, follow Jesus, pray to Jesus, imitate Jesus. You’re just a little Jesus.” The Christians took it on as a badge of honor, “Yes, we reverence that name.” We reverence that name. We do.

We’re not ashamed of him. He’s not ashamed of us. That’s the way it is. Reverencing the name of Christ is what we do as ambassadors in the nations of the earth that are angry with God, as we represent the King and his Kingdom.

I had it with my daughter this week. She’s 6; she’s here this week. This week was Halloween. You know that. We don’t celebrate Halloween as a family. Sugar and demons – it’s not our team.

(Laughter)

I told my kids, “We don’t celebrate Halloween.” On the way home this week from school, or something, I was talking to my daughter, my sweet, 6-year-old daughter, very respectfully. I asked her if I could tell the story, and she said it was okay. So, I got permission.

And she said, “Daddy, if you say, ‘No,’ I will respect that, but I want to talk to you about trick-or-treating.” Very respectful. Okay? Good lead. All right?

(Laughter)

I said “What’s that, sweetheart.” She says, “I know why we don’t celebrate Halloween.” I said, “Why is that?” She says, “It’s about demons and evil, and we’re Christians and we don’t participate in those things.” Good. “But, I want to go trick-or-treating just in our neighborhood.” I said, “But, honey,” and I was thinking about this verse, “we need to reverence God. We need to revere and honor God.”

She says, “Daddy, I do.” Six-year-old theologian. Real sharp.

(Laughter)

I said, “Okay, honey, how do you do that?” She says, “I’m a Christian. I love God.” She says, “When I go trick-or-treating, it’s not because of demons. I don’t believe in worshiping demons. I worship Jesus.” And she said, “I do it because it’s fun.” And she said, “Most of our neighbors aren’t Christians, and they would like to see us, and I think we should go trick-or-treating to be nice to them.”

(Laughter)

Okay? And the whole time I’m thinking, “My daughter is reverencing the Lord. That’s what counts.” That’s what counts. So, I said, “Okay, honey, you got it. You reverence the Lord.” And so, we went around, and we did – it was interesting. The neighbors that we’ve gotten to know, they were happy to see the kids. It opened up a few good conversations with a couple of ‘em.

And one is a 94-year-old shut-in who never gets out and doesn’t get trick-or-treaters, and she was really excited to see the kids. You know, it doesn’t matter if you’re a little kid or you’re a big person, you could still reverence the name of God. You can still reverence God.

It’s where Jesus said – you know, the kids were coming to Jesus and they said, “Man, these kids are making noise. They’re a big problem. They’re getting in the way of all our serious, holy, pious worship.” And Jesus says, “Don’t hold the kids back.” That the Kingdom was made for them.

You’re gonna find children in the Kingdom of God. What that tells you is this, it’s not about your IQ. It’s not about your skills. It’s not about your strength or your wisdom or your insight or your light. It’s about this simple issue. Those saints who reverence the name of God.

You could be a little kid, reverence the name of God. You can be an adult, reverence the name of God. You can conduct yourself in such a way that you’re reverencing God. That’s what happens in the Kingdom. In the Kingdom, people don’t think, “What’s good for me?” They think, “What’s good for God?” They don’t think, “What’s gonna make me look good?” They’re gonna say, “What’s gonna glorify God?”

They don’t think, “What do I want?” They say, “What does the King say?” It’s reverence. It’s respect. It’s the considering of him, not just ourselves. And worship is our way in this life of reverencing God and giving our lives to him in such a way that we take his name seriously. And when we call ourselves Christians, we don’t conduct ourselves as hypocrites. We conduct ourselves as reverent worshipers.

This is what the Kingdom will be like. Selfless and incredibly simple. The Kingdom is going to be so simple. Some of you get chided for this. People tell you, “You’re just too simple. Life’s very complex.” I tell you what, sin’s complex. Life is simple.

That’s why small and great can reverence God. If it was complicated, small couldn’t do it. It’s very simple. Love God, obey him, be like Jesus. Very simple. Very simple. The Kingdom of God will be very simple, and we will reverence and worship God together. Simple. Simple as can be.

The way we do that, you’ll see in this next section, is through our lifestyle. Verse 19, let me try and make a bridge here, “Then God’s temple in Heaven was open, and within his temple was seen the Ark of the Covenant, and there came flashes of lightening, rumblings, peels of thunder, and earthquake, and a great hail storm.” A temple shows up and an Ark. And a huge explosion of nature, creation.

First there’s the Ark that shows up here. The Ark is central to the worship of God’s people. In the Old Testament, God’s people were in slavery and bondage in Egypt for about 400 years. When God liberated them into freedom from being slaves, he did so, so that they could worship him. Freedom is always for the purpose of worship.

God, though, wanted to journey with and be with his people. That’s what we love about our God. He doesn’t sit distant and removed from his people. He comes and initiates and pursues and is with them. That’s why we call Jesus “Emmanuel,” God with us. That’s how it works.

And God told Moses to construct an Ark. A simple box, a couple feet by a couple feet by a couple feet. A portable center for the nation to gather around. Been carried on poles, and as God’s people wandered through the wilderness for 40 years, the Ark went with them. And the Ark would be laid down. It was the presence of God in the earth, and then the tents would camp around it. And that became the central point for the nation, for the people.

It was the Ark that was crossed – that crossed the river with Joshua and Caleb. It was the Ark that was walked around the walls of Jericho before they fell. It was always the Ark in the presence of God that led his people into victory and into blessing and into his will.

The key to worship is the presence of God. What happened then is that sometime later, God gave the decree to a man named David to build a temple. He couldn’t, because he was a murderer and an adulterer. So, his son inherited that duty and that privilege. And he built this majestic temple. Absolute architectural magnificence. Beautiful.

The temple had many different areas for worship. One was the Court of the Gentiles that was far away. And in the center was the Holy of Holies, surrounded by a curtain. And in the Holy of Holies was this Ark.

You and I would have been in the Court of the Gentiles. Most of us aren’t Jews. We’d be far away from the action in the center. You ladies would be over in the Court of the Women. In that center piece, that temple became the place that worship happened. If you wanted to worship, you needed to go to the temple.

And you needed to offer a sacrifice, ‘cause worship in the Old Testament is about the presence of God in the temple and about his people coming to offer a sacrifice. That place was so holy in the Holy of Holies with the Ark in the middle of the temple that once a year was the only time that a human being was permitted to enter. That was the high priest on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

He would go in on behalf of the people to bring the sins of the people before the presence of God. You and I would never be in the presence of God. We would never have access to the presence of God. We would have to worship him from a great distance.

By the time that Jesus comes, a second temple had been erected by some renegade Jews that had gotten off into bizarre theology and weirdness. They had cut themselves off from most of the Old Testament. They had bizarre concepts of God.

Jesus sat down at a well at a region called Samaria with a sinful woman who was notorious for being sexually immoral. And she raised this question. She said, “Okay, if we want to worship God, should we do it in this temple, your temple, or should we do it in our temple, the Samaritan temple?”

Her question was, “Where is God, and how do we worship?” And Jesus answered her in an extraordinary way. He said, “A time is coming and has now come when those who worship will worship in Spirit and in truth.” He didn’t say anything about the temple.

The Holy Spirit and the truth of God’s Word are the ingredients for worship. He says elsewhere, “Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days.” He’s talking about his body, because Jesus was the presence of God on the earth.

You guys know the story. They crucify Jesus. When he dies, the curtain separating us from the Holy of Holies is torn from top to bottom, from God to us. The presence of God is released, and we now have access to God. In 70 A.D., the temple was destroyed. There has not been a temple since. Almost 2,000 years without a temple.

And not to disrespect the Jews, but they have a huge problem on their hands, because they believe that only through a high priest offering a sacrifice on their behalf in the temple can sin be forgiven. But they haven’t had a priest, a sacrifice, or a temple in almost 2,000 years.

They have a mountain of sin that has been completely ignored and not dealt with. Do we need a temple? We don’t. You and I don’t need to go to Israel. We don’t need to speak Hebrew. We don’t need to move to another nation to be near the presence of God.

This temple opens up in Heaven. In the middle is the Ark. It has the Ten Commandments, the law to guide our life. Aaron’s staff, the bud, showing us the resurrection of Christ. And the manna from the wilderness, showing us that Jesus is the bread of life. We need Jesus.

Here’s the extraordinary thing I want you to get your head around. Some of you probably heard it before and maybe never understood the magnitude of it. On the earth right now, where’s the temple? Where’s the temple, Mars Hill? The temple’s the sacred place where God’s presence dwells, and if you want to worship, you need to be in that place.

Where is it? Where do we go? It’s right here. It’s right there. Paul tells the Corinthians, on a few occasions, your body is the temple. God goes with you. Did you know that? You don’t need to just come here to worship God. You can come here to worship God. And you leave to go worship God as well.

And as you go, as you are Christians, the Spirit of God lives in you, and God lives in and through you. I’m not saying that you are God. But I’m saying that your God works through you, lives in you.

It’s extraordinary. Most of us aren’t happy with our own body. I’m not. I’m short. I have a huge head.

(Laughter)

And I’m fuzzy like a Chia Pet.

(Laughter)

But for some reason, this 180 pounds of meat is where God has decided to reside. Nowhere near as glorious as the temple. But God has decided to reside here with me. It’s extraordinary, really. In the Old Testament, we would need a priest. We would need a holy, religious professional, who would stand in our place. That’s Jesus. But ultimately, he’s already told us as well that we are a kingdom of priests.

The priest is the one who has a sacred, lifelong vocation of serving God and being in the presence of God. And you’re priests. You’re in full-time ministries, the people of God. And God goes with you. Your body is his temple.

And what a priest would do is he would offer a sacrifice. It says in Hebrews, without the shedding of blood, there’s no remission of sins. They would offer a sacrifice. Mars Hill, you’re a priest if you’re a child of God. And you’re a temple if you’re a child of God. What’s your sacrifice? What’s your sacrifice? It’s your whole life.

Romans 12, “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, unto the Lord.” This is your spiritual act of worship. Your life is a sacrifice. In the Old Testament, we would slaughter an animal. Today what we do, we lay down our bitterness. Our anger. Our sin. Our pride. Our frustration. Our selfishness. Our greed. Our lust. Our covetousness. Our perversion. And it dies.

Your life is a sacrifice. Here’s the exciting part. Worship is what we do when we get together. We sing like the angels do. We join them as a chorus. God is our audience. We raise our hands and lift our voices to him. That’s our gathered worship as a church. But part of your worship as well is scattered. That’s when you leave here.

If you’re a Christian and you leave here, “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.” God makes you a promise; he goes with you. Everywhere you go, Mars Hill, is a sacred place. Everything you do is a sacred thing. That your life lived in your body, the words you speak with the mouth that God has given you to encourage and bless and comfort and rebuke and pray for others. You’re a priest. Choose your words carefully.

Your hands – everything you do with them is worship as a priest, working in the temple. You mow your lawn. You do your dishes. You take out the garbage. You embrace your loved ones. You hold your Bible. You brush your teeth. You shop for groceries. You wash your car. What are you doing? Worshiping God as a priest in the temple, with your life as a sacrifice unto him.

That’s how you reverence the name of God. That’s how you participate as members of the Kingdom. You honor the King in all that you do. Some of you may have a confused theology where you think this is a magic place. You come here ‘cause it’s special. I love worshiping God with all of you, my brothers and sisters.

But what makes a place sacred is the presence of God. If the presence of God dwells in you, that would include your living room, your cubicle, your dorm room, your car. That would include your kitchen, your dining room table.

In the Old Testament, the sacred place where only the high priest could come one day a year. But this is the temple now, that wherever God’s presence is with us, it’s sacred space. That we’re doing Kingdom work. And we’re offering our bodies and our hands and our words and our dollars and our love and our affection and our service as acts of worship.

Nothing in your life is beneath you. Nothing in your life is in vain. Nothing in your life is not sacred. And in the end, you will be rewarded. And you will thank God for all of his blessings. And you’ll sing your lungs out with everyone else who is a priest with a temple that’s been serving.

Surprised that God would do this? God made us. We sinned. We rebelled. We gave him the finger. We ran for our lives. God pursued us. He loved us. He died for us. He rose for us. He’s coming again for us. In the meantime, he lives in us.

You are members of a Kingdom. You belong to a King. Your bodies are temples. Your lives are worship.

Lord Jesus, we’re sure grateful that we don’t have to go to a sacred place. That you’ve come to us and made our bodies a sacred place. That we don’t need a priest to mediate between us and the Father. That we have you, Lord Jesus, and that we’re a Kingdom of priests.

Holy Spirit, for all those who belong to you, you’re in their body as we speak. You’re opening their minds to understand. You’re opening their hearts to worship. You’re giving them faith and love for some. You’re giving them convictions so that they can repent before communion.

God, I thank you that doing the dishes, and mother’s wiping noses, and father’s working overtime to pay the bills is all worship. I thank you that as some of my brothers and sisters sit in arduous and unpleasant jobs, that you go with them. You’ve sent them to those places as ambassadors, working on behalf of your Kingdom.

God, I thank you for those who are reverencing your name, are serving, are loving you, are faithful with the stuff of life, and they know that it’s all to you. And it’s all from you. And it’s all for you.

God, I thank you that they will be rewarded. God, I thank you that our days aren’t in vain. Our labors aren’t in vain. Our prayers aren’t in vain. Our tears aren’t in vain. That you will work everything out, and all we’ll have is thankfulness and song.

God, for those who are here that don’t know you, I pray, God, that they would avoid judgment and wrath. That they would turn to you, and that they would trust you. That they would take this as an opportunity to join your Kingdom, and to bend their knee to you, their great King.

And Father God, we long for that day, to see you face to face. We long for your coming Kingdom. We long for the day when wars and elections and politics have ended. When there is no political party, there’s just worship. Where there’s no policy. Where there’s no law that comes from man. Where there’s no imperfection and sin. Where there’s just you and us and joy.

I thank you, God, that I’ll be there with my friends and family who love you. And I pray that you would increase our number. Amen.