“American Idol” is a wildly popular television show. On this show, the American public is introduced to attractive, talented young people who hope to become superstars. Week after week, they perform, hoping to be the one who the American public will decide is the one worthy of being the next “American Idol.” They are asking the audience, in essence, “Which one of these young people is worthy of idolatry?” Who is worthy of worship? All the while knowing that whoever is chosen will eventually be cast aside when the public tires of that person and latches onto the next “American Idol.”
Christians, of course, know it is wrong to worship anyone other than God. We know we are people who worship God, not idols. When we watch a TV show like “American Idol,” most of us don’t take it very seriously. It’s a game, and most of us don’t really worship the winners.
As Christians, we tend to look down our noses at cultures, both ancient and present day, who worship idols. That’s because our Judeo-Christian heritage still takes The Ten Commandments quite seriously, and The Ten Commandments deal with the subject of idolatry. The first commandment says “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.” This message was originally given to people who made idols from wood or bronze and worshipped them. God told the people this was not acceptable.
You probably do not have a little altar in your home with carved images that you worship. But I’ll bet most of us have a rectangular idol in our homes that we sit and mindlessly adore, day after day and evening after evening. Whatever images come across its screen, we simply watch and nod, sometimes allowing it to lull ourselves to sleep.
Some of you who are younger perhaps have little idols that you slip into your pocket and connect to with an earphone. That little idol drowns out the sounds of the world around you and lets you hear exactly what you want to hear most of the time. They’re called Ipods.
Maybe there are a few of you who have an interactive idol, where your thumbs control a parallel universe. Those are computerized games.
And if none of these apply, you may be one who idolizes food, or super stars, or exercise, or work, or intellectual pursuit, or beauty. We can even make an idol out of religion or doing good works. There are plenty of idols to go around for all of us. And most of us have one favorite idol—it’s called “Me.”
An idol is anything or anyone who comes before God in our lives. It’s a startling concept to all of us, when we really stop and think about it: God wants to be first in our lives.
Idolatry is about priorities. Many of the things we idolize are good in themselves. I am in favor of work, intellectual pursuit, beauty, exercise, and good food. I’m not suggesting you need to get rid of your television, your Ipod, or your computer games. But in order to deal with our tendency towards idolatry, we need to begin in the right place, with God. If we put God in first place, everything else tends to work itself out.
But we are so prone to idolatry. Many of you have read the very successful best selling book by Pastor Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life. The first sentence in that book says, “It’s not about you.”
Now, I have to confess that the first time I read it, I had a really difficult time getting past that simple little sentence. My first reaction was to think, “What do you mean, it’s not about me? If it’s not about me, then why should I even bother to read this book?” Isn’t the bottom line question we always ask, “What’s in it for me?”
Rick Warren really strikes a chord with that opening sentence, “It’s not about you.” If he hadn’t, I don’t think all those millions of people would have bought that book. And by the way, if you haven’t read that book, it’s in our church library and you are welcome to borrow it. The chord that Warren strikes in that first sentence, “It’s not about you,” rings true because, shocking and disturbing as it is to my selfish little brain, I know at some deep level that this is the truth. It is, in fact, the life-changing, life-saving truth of who God is and who I am. God is the one who is worthy of worship, and I am not. This is Truth with a capital “T.”
Of course, my naturally tendency will always be to worship myself, and to worship other things or even other people. It doesn’t come naturally to any of us to put God first, where God belongs. We are selfish by nature, and our tendency is to put ourselves first. We are also, by nature, drawn to and impressed by all sorts of things. That’s okay, when we have God in that first place position. But it’s not our natural tendency to keep God in first place. Never was; never will be.
That’s why turning to God always requires repentance. To repent is to turn from the way I was going and squarely face God. And to squarely face God is to fall on my face and worship. God is the one—the only one—who is worthy of worship.
The passage we are looking at this morning comes from the book of Revelation. The entire book of Revelation is an account of a vision that was given to John. Most likely you know that the book of Revelation has had many and varied interpretations, and it has been used to attempt to quite literally scare the hell out of people.
That’s why I tend to shy away from preaching out of Revelation. But that’s really not being fair to this wonderful book. It’s true, and you will see some of this in this chapter, that there are some symbols and metaphors that are hard to understand. I know very well that you can read commentaries that will tell you what these things represent. The problem is that other commentaries will disagree. There are some symbols in the book of Revelation that we just don’t all agree on what we should make of them. So I, who am certainly not an expert on the book of Revelation, am not about to tell you that I know exactly what all these things mean.
I can tell you a few things that are pretty certain, and I will do that. But the main thing we will look at is the wonderful words John uses to describe God and worship of God.
John has this wonderful vision of God that paints a vivid picture of the God who is worthy of all glory and honor; the God who is the only one worthy of our worship.
In chapter four, John is standing in heaven before the throne of God. John’s descriptions of what he sees are pretty difficult for us to understand or even picture in our minds. Let’s just say that what he sees is like nothing any of us has ever seen here on earth.
As chapter five opens, there is a scroll which is sealed with seven seals. The sort of scroll John would have had in mind was a long roll, probably made of papyrus. It probably had wooden rods on the end, and it was rolled up. John says it had writing on both sides, and it was sealed with seven seals. It probably means that it was fastened with threads, and the threads were sealed shut with seven seals. You know about wax seals that were used to ensure that something was opened only by the person for whom it was intended.
The one symbol that you need to understand in order to understand John’s meaning is that the Lamb he speaks of is the crucified and risen Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb who is worthy of our worship.
As I read this, don’t let yourself worry about understanding every single symbol in the vision. Instead, just listen to John’s incredibly beautiful language about praising God. It might help to think of it as somewhat like a dream, where you come to understand something very profound, and yet you can’t quite sort out all of the details. It is a beautiful vision.
I’m reading Revelation 5, the vision of John.
1Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" 3But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."
6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."
11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"
13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" 14The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Amen. Can you feel the intensity of John’s vision of the glory of God he sees this vision of Jesus, the Lamb who was slain? Jesus is worthy because he purchased our salvation for God. And who are we? We are the people “from every tribe and language and people and nation.” Jesus did not just die for white people or Americans or people who speak English. He died for people from every tribe and every language and every people and every nation. He died for the Jews and the Romans who put him to death. He died for the criminals who hung on the crosses beside him. He died for you. And he died for me.
And when he died, he made all of us to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God. We are important to God. Did you notice the twenty four elders “were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” We are who put our trust in Jesus Christ are the saints, and our prayers are like incense to God. All the angels in heaven praise God singing “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
You see what John is doing here? He is writing every word he can think of to try to express the praise that is due to Jesus for what he has done. Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, is worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.
Then every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them—and that most certainly includes all of us—we sing—now just imagine yourself a part of this mighty throng of worshippers.
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
Can you just imagine this somehow? This is the sort of worship that comes when we understand who God is and what Jesus has done for us. Most of us won’t fully experience that kind of worship this side of heaven. But we can have a taste of it. And some day we will experience it.
We begin by smashing our idols. God says in the first commandment, “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.” Getting rid of our idols is an act of obedience to God’s commandment. It is a conscious effort of turning from our idolatry and worshipping God with all of our hearts. God is the one who is worthy of all our worship. It’s not me, it’s not the things of this earth that I love, it’s not superstars, it’s not even good deeds and church and religion. It’s God.
And here’s the most amazing part. When we obey this first commandment, to put God first, before everything else in our lives, the rest of our lives fall into place. In fact, I think if God could have known for sure that people would follow the first commandment, he could have just stopped right there. Because if you start by putting God first, the rest is easy. Everything else somehow works out.
So how do we do that? How do I get myself off the altar? How do I change from being an idolater to being a person who worships God with all my heart? I believe it is a conscious act of repentance. To repent is simply to turn and go the other way. It means making a decision to take myself off the center and focus my desire—my love—my adoration—on God, and God alone.
It’s not something we do once and for all. It’s something we need to do time and time again. Yes, Jesus saves us once and for all, but we are still like sheep, and we still wander away—not from our salvation, but from wholehearted love and adoration of God.
As we bow our heads in prayer, I invite you to put your self aside. Make a conscious decision to get yourself out of the center, and put God in first place in your life. Put aside all the vain things that divert your attention from God. He alone is worthy of our worship and our praise. Pray with me in your heart the words of John’s vision.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ,
You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased each of us for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and we will reign on the earth.
Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!
With every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, we sing:
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever! Amen
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