Hope In Tigard Pastor Paul Bourman

The book of Revelation is eye-opening. Its words are exciting, graphic, sometimes even terrifying as they describe a vision given to the apostle John as he sat in exile on the island of Patmos. In our text for Sunday John wrote about his vision from God: "Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea."

I think I can guess that your mind is immediately pulled to think about the new heaven and new earth- what it will look like, smell like, and sound like. But I think what's just as interesting here is what John says won't be there. The sea. 

Will there be no sea because God isn't a fan of the beach? Or has some kind of aversion to salt water? No. See, the book of Revelation is filled with the literary device of symbolism. And here, the sea symbolizes separation. Separation- the final end of every human relationship. Even the best relationships marriages, friendships- they all end in separation. Until Jesus comes. 

What John writes about for us is a future where there will be no separation for us. No separation from each other, yes. But so much more significantly, there will be no separation between us and God. And he will wipe every tear from our eyes. 

And arrived will be the time when there will be such a deep and comfortable connection that God will look right into your eyes and suddenly the pain and the grief and the death will exit your soul in a rush of peace. Arrived will be the time when every sense of alienation will be replaced with a God who will love you, and know you, and appreciate you the way that so deep down and forever you’ve thought it could be and should be. Every tear will gone wiped away by the finger of God himself. A being who who is so much better than a soul mate. Our soul’s source. Our soul’s beginning. And our soul’s end. 

My junior year of high school, I was part of a traveling choir. Our spring tour took us to the Southwest of the country, and for a day of fun, our director booked us a bus trip up to see the Grand Canyon. Only one problem - it was snowing. Halfway up we were forced to turn around after the bus slid backwards 20 feet over the snow towards a cliff. I remember feeling utterly helpless as we slowly slipped towards the edge. There was nothing I could do. The forces of nature are too far above what I can impact. 
  
It’s that reality that Jesus wakes us up to in this Sunday's text. That there is a force way above us. That there is a voice and a call and a creative power that determines our eternal destination; where we’re headed at the Last Judgment. 

It's outside of our control. It's too far above what we can impact. There is nothing we can do to get ready for the day of judgement. Jesus had to step in and do everything for us. And when I say everything, I mean everything. 

That’s what Jesus’ cross is all about. It was there that justice was had for everything. On the cross judgment was rendered for all, and especially for you. So that you would never dangle precariously over judgement. So that you wouldn’t have to worry about the Last Judgment, but actually rejoice in it. So that you wouldn’t have to give up on this life thinking, “I’m toast. So that you can live.

Sola Fide
Sola Gratia
Sola Scriptura

That's what we're about here at Hope. These are the hallmarks of what it means to be a Lutheran. These short statements describe the only things we need to answer the big questions of life. By faith alone(sola fide) God places the gift of salvation in our hearts. By his grace alone (sola gratia) God sent his Son Jesus to save us. And by Scripture alone (sola scriptura) does God reveal all of this to us.

This Sunday we celebrate a festival called "reformation." It's a day that remembers a German monk named Martin Luther as over 500 years ago he nailed a sheet of paper with 95 statements to the door of his church.

But I want you to know that as we celebrate reformation, we’re certainly not celebrating a man. We’re not celebrating his achievements, we’re not celebrating his courage, and we’re not celebrating his bravado. We’re doing two things. We’re stepping off life’s treadmill of trying to justify ourselves, trying to earn or figure out rightness and goodness for ourselves. And we’re praising a God who has done so much better than given us a list of things that we can do. He has given us himself. God’s justification is the end of trying.  It’s the end of trying to make professionalism, parenting, beauty, or morality our crown.  It’s time to stop trying and to start believing. It’s time to believe that Jesus truly is our righteousness, our life, and our crown.

I don’t think anybody comes to the end of their life and says, “Well, that happened just like I thought it would.” I, for one, won’t. A little over two years ago, I had never heard of Tigard. Now it’s my home. (And I wouldn't trade!) Ten years I don’t even think I would’ve guessed that I would be a pastor right now. I could go on and on.
Because life doesn’t lay out just so. It sometimes unfolds in the most unexpected ways and it can feel chaotic and confusing.  Or, if you want to use the metaphor we’ve been using in this sermon series, sometimes the idea that’s packed in our invisible suitcase is the idea that my world is out of control.
That’s the world into which Paul steps with our Sunday text- Romans 8:26-30. It’s a world where emotionally sometimes down feels up and up feels down. It’s a world where events can seem so cruelly random and emotions can crest powerfully that even Paul admits that sometimes, “We do not know what we ought to pray for.” (v. 26) And it’s into those times and into those moments that Paul speaks a truth that he says, “We know.” (v. 28)

What do we know? "28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  How can you know that? I mean, really know that? How can you trust that it's true for you- that God has been working your whole life through for your good?

The answer is Christ. Christ, for whom God worked all of history- so that his own Son could die on the cross to take away the sins of the whole world, and your sins in particular. Know this! Trust this! Until you don't have to trust it anymore, because you will se it with your own eyes. 

Here are some statistics. Anxiety and depression is the most common (by far) mental health diagnosis in America today. 1 in 5 Americans is seeking treatment for anxiety. 1 in 3 Americans recognized a downward turn in their mental health over the past 3 years.

Citing dry statistics runs the risk that we make anxiety all about someone else. It’s anything but that. It’s what Peter calls, “your anxiety” in our text for Sunday. Anxiety is having a list a mile long of present and future concerns that are yours. It’s the generalized sense that you get in your gut that something could go wrong at any moment. It’s anxiety that can come bunched and local, or general and ever-present. It’s the tenseness that comes after swirling fears take up residence in your heart. It’s the waves that roll over and emotionally squash you like a tank might - waves that can seem to have the power suffocate the life right out you. And it’s anxiety that has its roots in an idea that’s packed in our invisible suitcases – the idea that says, “God, you don’t care.” Bidden or unbidden, faith or no faith, anxiety comes after us.

Anxiety comes after us, and so Peter comes after anxiety. He says: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

Maybe you're like me, and you find yourself doubting whether that verse can be real. Can you really ask off your anxiety? Is there really a way to be rid of it? I want you to be in church tomorrow so that you can hear the full answer.

Suffice it for now to say that Christ is more than capable of carrying your anxiety for you. He says cast your anxiety. Why? Because he cares for you. Know this. He has cared for you so much that he has sent his Son to die on the cross so that every care, every worry, every anxiety that comes, we can answer it, knowing that Christ on his cross has made our heavenly future sure.