i don't wanna be the center of the universe
To begin the sermon, I’d live you to do something unpleasant. Or rather, think of something unpleasant.
I want you to call to mind what it feels like when you can’t do something.
And I don’t mean when you’re prohibited. I mean when you can’t do something. Be it because of your own lack of strength, skill, or know-how.
How does that feel?
For me, I get a pit in the middle of my stomach. In fact, just saying this sort of reopens the pit… It’s not a good feeling. If I’m honest, it’s one I try and avoid as much as possible. And I suspect I’m not alone in this.
Now we will, begrudgingly, admit failure is a universal phenomenon. However, it’s one we are also quick to posit that must be learned from. Presumably, to overcome. And as quickly as possible, too.
If, and we do mean if, failure has any place in our lives, it’s as one to get past.
Our Scripture for today, though, shows us there are some shortcomings that cannot be overcome or avoided. In fact, it shows us a significant one that’s wedged in, of all places, eternity.
So although it is unpleasant, I’d like you to sit with that experience of being unable to do something a little longer.
…John, by the Spirit, was transported to the heavenly throne room. There, where God’s power is on full display, and the great heavenly host worships without end, John notices something out of place: a scroll. A sealed scroll. A securely sealed scroll. Seven times, to be exact.
No sooner does John notice this scroll than a mighty angel makes an announcement, “who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals,” the angel asks.
At this, the jubilant worship turns to a deafening silence.
It turns out, no one can meet the angel’s appeal. No one is worthy to open the scroll or break its seals…
This concession breaks the silence.
But the sound that punctures the quiet is quite possibly an even more unwelcome noise, the sound of sobbing. Seeing that no one can open the scroll, John breaks down and weeps bitter tears.
…The scroll, ultimately, is God’s plan. And the power to open it is the power to put God’s plan into action. In the heavenly throne room, though, it’s revealed no one can.
For us, failures, shortcomings, and inabilities are something to be conquered. But, for the most critical endeavor in the cosmos, no one is up to the task. No one can carry out God’s plan. And apparently, nothing can change this.
Eventually, but one suspects not soon enough, John’s tears are interrupted. One of the elders tells him not to weep, that the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered. That he CAN open the scroll.
And indeed, that’s what happens. Once the scroll is taken from the hand of the one seated upon the throne, once one is found worthy to open the scroll, a whole new chain of worship erupts around the throne!
Finally, a champion has come to fight! (Whom God himself elected!)
Our deficiencies torment us because they are the place where all OUR efforts come to an end. What we see in the heavenly throne room, though, is that these are actually the places where God’s efforts begin!
We love to tell ourselves stories that begin when the character digs deep and overcomes. In the life of faith, though, that’s where the story ends. True faith begins, not when we overcome, but when we’re overcome.
The scroll of God’s plan will be opened for you, not when you triumph, but when you’re triumphed over. There, Jesus will take the two beams of his cross and build his throne in the middle of your life! There, he will take the scroll you cannot open and show you God’s plan of salvation for your life!
And what you will see is Jesus’ death! In his death you will see Jesus taking your defeat upon himself! Transforming it. Redeeming it! Making it the means whereby your life is shaped into HIS cross!
God’s plan for your life is not to get you onboard for some improvement project! God’s plan for your life is to take it and make it cross-shaped. To build Jesus’ victory out of it! To give you everything Jesus won by his cross!
By the cross, Jesus has transformed the rocky ground of defeat into the throne of his Golgotha triumph! The place where the shadow of the cross looms largest!
The place of your breakdown is the place Jesus builds his throne! The seat of his victory!
We all have these places in our lives. If you’re anything like me, you try and avoid or hide them. You should know, though, that Jesus isn’t!
Jesus is busy transforming those places into the foot of his throne! The place where God’s plan of salvation is actually unsealed for you! And given to you!
So, although it is unpleasant, go back to what it’s like when you can’t do something. Go to that place of frustration so deep the tears flow, because that is the place Jesus fulfills the great promises of Scripture! The place where Jesus wipes away every tear from your eye! (Rev. 7:17 & 21:4)
God’s plan for your life isn’t to enlist you on God’s great project. It’s to give it to you! To make you the beneficiary of it!
In the ancient world scrolls written on both sides were last wills and testaments. And, as St. Paul points out, wills are not in effect until there’s a death.
The reason no one was found worthy to open the scroll is because no one was willing to die. Except the Lamb!
And by his death the scroll has been opened to you!
Those places in your life that look like defeat are actually the places of God’s triumph! That’s why when John is told that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered, he turns to see, not a mighty lion but a little lamb! And one that’s been slaughtered, defeated, too!
But by the pathetic looking lamb, God has conquered Sin and Death! And conquered them for you!
It’s all already, actually, in hand, you see! The victory is won!
Yes, for now, we can’t see it. But, on the great last day, the day of God’s full revelation, we will see history and our lives for what they’ve been all along, the staging ground of God’s victorious grace, mercy, and love!
Weep if you must! But not bitterly. Not eternally. For the scene that began in a tearful solo has ended in a chorus of praise! And so it will for you and me, too!
Not because we’ve conquered. But because by Jesus’ apparent defeat, we have been given his victory! And there, all our tears are wiped away, and all our morning is turned into the great victory-dance of Jesus’ triumph! (Ps. 30:11)
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