Good morning.
My name is Druss Masterson, the pastor here.
What we love to say every week is that we are more broken than we originally thought, but we are more loved by God and Jesus than we ever dare to dream.
That's really important.
It's the thing we say every single week.
We mean it.
It's what we talk about.
It's what we grow in and rest in.
Even what Albert was talking about, you know, all of our desire and attempt to be great fathers is still filled with a journey of failure.
So we need this good news of God being our ultimate heavenly father.
Today's message could be titled Hope for a Weary World, which I really need that message.
As a father, I need that.
Just as a human being, I need it.
I have weariness in all different parts of my life and weariness in my heart, and so do you.
Eleven years ago, my oldest daughter had just learned to ride her bike.
She was three and a half years old.
I started her off early.
No training wheels, we're going straight for the bike.
About day five on her new bike, took her out to the park.
It was time to conquer a hill, day five.
So I took her to the top of an asphalt hill.
Thank you very much.
And she was ready.
She was ready, which is amazing.
Shows you just her complete naive trust and her father mistake, you know, of one million right there in my life of just pushing her off down the hill.
And she was looking good at first.
Like at first, it was looking nice and straight, and then she hit the steep part of the hill, and the front wheel started to swerve back and forth, and you know what was coming, right?
Because you might have made the same mistake with your little kid, or you took that bust on a bike when you were little, and she just finally just kind of laid that bike down and kind of skidded to a stop on the hill, and she started to cry, right?
And I did that, not really her, I did that because I'm the one to push her down the hill, and there was that nice Zoija grass, soft hill over to my right.
And I don't know what was wrong with that hill.
I could have used that hill for this experiment.
But I sent her down that hill.
So then I ran over and I did what all of us parents have done at some point.
Scooped her up.
Right?
You scoop them up and they're crying and you scoop them up.
And I took the soft parts of my fingers, which you've you've done this with your children, or maybe you remember your parents doing it with you.
Right?
You might have even done it this morning.
And you just you just wipe the tears, right?
As they're coming down, you just wipe the tears.
And you just say, you're okay.
You look over her pain.
I mean, I've even said that when there's a broken arm.
You're you're okay.
You're walking off.
Walk it off.
You're okay.
And isn't that what we all long for in our hearts?
Under all the distraction, under all the mess and the difficulty, the pain, the heartache, the disappointment.
To be safe.
To be at peace.
Right?
To really know everything is okay.
Everything's okay.
Because maybe you're here and you wish life was a little different.
Maybe you wish your father was better to you, or maybe you wish you were a better father, or maybe you wish your father had lived longer.
Maybe you wish you didn't yell so much.
Maybe you just wish you were different.
Maybe you wish you didn't drink so much.
Maybe you just long for a do-over.
Like, man, I wish I could do that over.
Maybe your heart's just crying out for a healthy marriage or healthy friendships or healthy finances.
We're all weary.
That's my point.
We're all weary in some part of our life.
We need hope for a weary world.
We've been studying this fascinating book of Revelation.
We're all the way through chapter 20.
And what we've said from the very beginning is like, this is a strange book.
Like a lot of us don't read this book because it's been so strange in our lives.
Either we read it, we're like, and I'm done, I'll go back over to, you know, the book of John or James or something like really safe.
Colossians, you know, like that happens, right?
And then there's so much debate with the book of Revelation.
I mean, that kind of feels unending.
But what we've seen is we've gone through it, it's taken some measure of humility with this book, and it's opened up to be really beautiful for us.
Revelation 20 begins with an angel seizing the dragon.
Now, the dragon's a symbol of Satan, of evil.
And this angel binds him for 1,000 years.
And now, this is where the story gets interesting, and there's certainly lots of debate here as we enter Revelation chapter 20.
I'll read our way through chapter 20.
Verses 4 through 6.
Then I saw thrones.
Remember, this is John writing.
He's having these different visions, and he's writing them down for these churches, seven churches he's writing to.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.
Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.
We've talked all about that in past sermons.
They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.
This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.
Over such the second death has no power.
But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Now remember, John's a pastor, and he's a poet.
He's writing here in a poetic way.
And we've been taking what we've been calling, and it's called the covenantal amillennial view, really big words, which just means that we don't believe everything is literal as we read our way through Revelation, but we believe so much of it is symbolic, and John is communicating something pastorally, but as a poet.
And he's recapping over and over again throughout this book.
He's recapping the brokenness of this world now, the redemption we have fully in Jesus alone, and the restoration that's to come in the next life.
We get in verse 4 this 1,000-year reign.
This is known as the millennium.
Now you can get some really weird late-night preaching teaching on the millennium.
I mean, we can cover a range of views and debate on this.
And here's where the different views do, in fact, come in.
A lot of debate here.
Here's another big term, the dispensational premillennial view.
You don't have to remember those terms, but this is a view.
Maybe you hold this.
It's a literal view of a thousand-year reign of Christ on this earth at some point in the future, toward the end of the world, before Christ restores this earth to be a new heaven.
Just like there was a beginning of the world, there will be an end of the world.
Now the Amillennial view sees this differently.
The Amillennial view sees the thousand years like a songwriter saying, I will love you for a thousand years.
Which, in fact, there is a song by Christina Perry.
Anybody?
It's a great song.
I went back and listened to it.
Darling, don't be afraid.
I've loved you for a thousand years.
I'll love you for a thousand more.
Right?
She's saying, I'll love you with all of me for all of my time.
Poetically, she's saying this.
The Amillennial view sees it the same way as what Christina Perry's doing.
John's saying Christ reigns fully now, yet the story's not over.
There is restoration to come.
In the text, Satan will eventually be released, unbound, but only to be eliminated from having any influence on a renew, renewed, restored world to come.
So finally, your trauma, your questions, your disappointment, your heartache, your hurt, your pain, your guilt, your shame, the exhaustion, the weariness, all of it.
All of that gone.
All of it.
There is an end to the story just like there was a beginning.
Revelation 20, verse 11.
Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it.
From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done.
And the sea gave up each one of them according to what they had done.
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, the lake of fire.
And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
So here's the overarching point here.
For us, those of us who are Christians in Christ, point number one, are welcome in heaven, secure belovedness to God, secure, is fully at rest in Christ's work for us.
No worries, no anxiety, no fear, not even of a future judgment.
Verse 15 says that anyone who's not in relationship with God is separate from God.
You have a relationship with God, you're separate from God.
As a person desires to live independent from God, eventually you get exactly what you want.
You get independence from God.
Separation from God is a disintegration.
It's not the integrating of the soul, it's a disintegration of the soul from the very thing you and I were created to be, children of God.
Now, the dominant image here in this text is not fear, it's the book of life.
That's the dominant image.
As to say, by his astonishing grace, we are permanently gods.
We are in his book.
And I know some of you struggle with worry or doubt or fear of what might come one day, and maybe that comes from a background, a religious background that motivated decisions for Christ via fear and judgment, and even once you're a Christian, more fear and more judgment.
But if you're in Christ, all the judgment is handled.
You live in lavish love, perpetual welcome.
The cross really is enough.
Fully forgiven, full imputation of righteousness.
All of our judgment has already been handled in Christ.
All that awaits us is restoration.
A year after my daughter wrecked on the hill, there was a big bike race.
Four-year-old preschool.
Big, big bike race.
I mean, we're ready.
We've been training on steep asphalt hills, you know, for a solid six months for this race.
We show up in the parking lot of the North Side Drive Baptist Preschool.
We get there, all the kids line up, but they're, well, there's a bike race.
She's the only one on a bike.
All these other little losers show up on scooters.
And I see what's going to happen right away.
There's like 20 kids.
My daughter, thank you very much, is on a bike in a bike race.
It's a bike race.
19 of them are on scooters, and I see the route, and it's down the parking lot.
You kind of make a little curve, and then there's a finish line, and you've got to cross over the line, you have to turn around, and you have to come back.
And I already see what's going to happen.
She's going to start slow because she's on a bike in a bike race.
So they start.
The scooters take off quick lead.
She catches them on the straightaway.
She passes them, but then you cross over that line, and she takes a big loop because she's on a bike in a bike race, thank you very much.
And all those little wimps, they whip their scooters around.
They're halfway back before she gets any momentum coming back.
And I don't remember if she comes in second or third.
I just remember she didn't win, and I remember the kid who won, and the parents are celebrating on a scooter.
That's been ten years ago.
That's how shallow I am, still burning me up.
A decade.
And I'm still waiting for Northside Drive Baptist to set this right, to set it right.
I want it set right.
I want restoration.
That's silly, isn't it?
But we all uh we all want restoration.
Because you were hurt, or you were rejected, or you did it all wrong.
Or you lost it all.
Maybe you're afraid or you're insecure, or you're anxious, or you're sick, or you're tired, or you're lonely, you're sad, and you just want it to be set right.
You want it restored, you want it to be whole.
We do.
Even the fact that we are longing for that shows you that we weren't created for this weary world.
We are created for a world to come where there will be restoration.
And our hearts long for that day where the tears will be wiped away.
So, what happens when we die?
Well, I haven't done it yet.
Uh, so I'm just kind of going off the scriptures here.
A couple helpful hints that we certainly have that the Bible teaches that if we pass before the second coming of Christ, just like Jesus came once, Merry Christmas, Jesus will come again.
And the Bible teaches that if we've passed before the second coming of Christ, that heaven is an immediate presence with God.
You can see that in Philippians 1.23, 2 Corinthians 5, 6 through 8.
It's pure delight with God.
Ecstasy.
Pure delight.
Rich community with saints and loved ones.
Then after the second coming of Christ, where there is restoration, there'll be a new heaven, which is a restored earth and restored physical existence.
Here's a bit of reading.
Kind of piece this together a little bit.
Romans 8, 19, and then we'll jump into verse 22 through 25.
For the creation waits, so our world, our earth, waits, eager, longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who are the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly.
As we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved.
Now hope that is seen is not hope.
For who hopes for what is what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
So Paul's saying there's a restoration to come of the creation of our world, of our bodies, a new heaven.
The end of the story.
Here's what John writes, Revelation 21, verses 1 through 5.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain any more.
For the former things have passed away.
And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.
And he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.
Point number two, just a two-point sermon this morning.
We live in joyful anticipation now.
In hope of our heavenly home to come.
We have a hope beyond this world.
And that actually fuels and gives us joyful anticipation now.
Verse 1 here says, the sea was no more.
It's a way to say, all your seas of chaos.
That's what the sea was to these ancient people.
An image of chaos.
The sea was no more is to say, all your seas of chaos will be no more.
This brings us hope.
This creates joyful anticipation now.
It's like the days before a big amazing trip, right?
And you've been planning it.
And you got it all planned out, or maybe you're not the planner, and somebody else, your friend's the planner, your spouse is the planner, but you know the trip's coming, and finally you get to the week of the trip where your mind and your heart starts to actually get into the trip a little bit.
Work's been hard, kids have been hard, there's been financial stress, but the trip's already prepaid, and you're ready, you're starting to pack, and you're starting to do your laundry, you're starting to, you know, when you do your laundry, but you don't fold it and put it back in the drawers, right?
You're setting aside for the suitcase, you're starting to get a little excited, aren't you?
Joyful anticipation that this is coming, this is real.
And our hearts begin to rest and operate in a growing sense of hope.
In the summer, when I'm hiking high in the Teton Mountains, I find myself pondering.
I find myself pondering if heaven is forever like this, I'm all in.
I'm all in.
Now, I thought that a few times in worship settings.
Like in a church.
And I work for a church, right?
I mean, church is like my life.
I've only thought it a few times in worship settings.
Maybe for you, you think it all the time in worship.
For me, I think it more when I'm in the mountains.
But even then, even then, like I flash back to a mistake.
I flash back to some anxiety, some disappointment, some pressure, some stress, something I need to do, some list of things I need to do.
Some relationship that's strained, or I wish it was healed, or I wish it was better, some financial anxiety.
Or I see a bear, right?
And you're just, I'm just kind of wondering, like, he looks like he's into the huckleberries, but is he?
Is he really into the huckleberries?
Is he gonna follow me?
Is he following me now?
This will ruin a hike.
This will ruin that moment in the mountains all of a sudden, it's gone.
But can you imagine?
And we just flashed the image, can you imagine wandering the paths of Switzerland?
Can you imagine wandering the paths of Switzerland and never tiring?
Or walking through the streets of Paris and being able to stop at every single cafe and eat every single pastry and drink every single glass of red wine and never even care about the calories?
Can you imagine how good that would be?
Or paddling the fjords of Norway, or sitting on the beaches of Maui, right?
Such paradise.
Now, all of a sudden, for me, I've had such a hard time generating excitement for heaven.
I mean, the idea of forever church to me, I like church to be about one hour.
Like I'm good.
I really like it.
I really like it for an hour.
And then let's go to lunch.
Uh, let's go do something else.
There's other things to do.
But this idea of what the Bible's giving us a feast, a celebration, a city, a creation renewed.
It's much bigger than a big church service.
It'll be worship, but all of existence will be worship.
We won't be stopping our existence to go worship.
Such a grander view of the restoration of the world.
This kind of paradise will be all around us.
And you'll never be in danger.
You're never gonna be weary, you're never gonna get bitten by a mosquito right when you're like really enjoying the moment.
You're like, this is so great, and then all of a sudden you can't get cancer.
Your child can't get hurt.
People won't be abused or manipulated or addicted.
You won't have to worry about provision or fulfillment or wholeness.
You no longer have to wonder if you're enough.
We will celebrate and we will play and we will love and we will serve and we will sing and we will dance and we will feast and the exhausting inner chatter will be gone.
The embarrassing, shameful temptations will be gone.
They'll be wiped away.
The old order will pass.
The image of restoration that John's giving us is us being scooped up by a Father, a heavenly Father, who has given the gift of grace to us in Jesus.
Say, in Christ, it's perpetual welcome.
That He scoops us up, and that we are at peace in His embrace, and the Heavenly Father will wipe away the tears from our face.
It's a beautiful image for us, a way to say that God will heal all the pain.
The day is coming, the end of the story, all the pain will be healed, and all of it will be set right.
All the pain behind the tears will be set right.
That's our heavenly home to come.
Gives us some hope now, doesn't it?
For your weariness, your exhaustion, your burden, guilt, shame.
It starts to fuel in birth a little bit of joyful anticipation of such a place.
It's a vision of hope for us.
And I close just reading verse 5.
He who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.
Let's pray together.
God, thank you for your grace and mercy to us, the sufficiency of Jesus.
That in him there is not a scorecard that you are waiting to score on us and our rights and wrongs.
But in Jesus, you are fully forgiving us, and we are fully righteous, and all that awaits us is a perpetual welcome, lavish love, and restoration of our pain.
What a vision for us of a home to come.
Help us in these days as we move through weariness and exhaustion, burden and guilt.
Would we have hope not in this world and not even in ourselves, but in your love for us and for the restoration to come?
Would this be our story?
Created in your image, imperfect by the fall, redeemed by the sufficiency of Jesus, and a restoration to come.
Help our hearts to remember more in these days that can feel so permanent and so long that the day is coming where every single one of us will be wonderfully welcomed in heaven by the power of Jesus as we have given and surrendered unto him.
May us in these days have such hope and such joy because you are good, and because you are sufficient, and because you are lovely, and you are enough for us.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.