Welcome again. Good morning to you all, especially if you're here for the first time.
I'm really glad that you're here and hope to have a chance to meet you after our time of worship.
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the current concerns around the problem of fake news
and the spread of misinformation and how damaging that can be to a society.
And one of the main ways that fake news is spread is when a photo or a video is taken in its entirety and it's cropped.
And so you crop the photo or you crop the video and you cut out all the context.
And you give a very ambiguous image to the internet and you watch chaos ensue.
Because people make all kinds of meaning out of this image that has no context.
So a more benign example would be a photo that looks like somebody is hanging from a cliff thousands of feet in the air.
Right? That's the cropped photo.
If you step out and look at the entire photo, you realize that that person is only a few feet off the ground.
Right? That's a benign example.
But there are many more harmful examples out there.
Examples of cropped photos and videos that have been done so intentionally
by people with an agenda who are wanting to sow division and anger and mistrust in our society.
And we all recognize that this is a major problem.
The point I'm trying to make is that context is everything.
If you have the context, you know how to make sense of the thing that you're looking at.
If you don't have the context, then people are going to make whatever meaning they choose.
And many of the ways that we make meaning of those things may not be at all accurate.
Now the reason I'm telling you this is because three times in the book of Revelation,
which is what we've been looking at for the past several months,
three times, in the beginning and the end,
Jesus refers to himself with this strange title.
He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega.
So in Revelation 21, which is this beautiful passage that Mark just read,
we're going to be looking at this for the next two weeks.
But first, before we dive into the whole passage,
I wanted to take a week and look at this specific phrase, Alpha and Omega,
because anytime the Bible repeats something three times,
I think we need to pay attention.
And so in Revelation 21, 6, Jesus says,
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
And I think this is very important because what this really means,
what it's really saying, is that Jesus is the context.
Jesus is the frame of reference.
Jesus is the context through which we make sense of reality itself.
And so the only way to see things as they truly are in this world
is to recognize that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.
If we crop Jesus out, then we cannot see the whole picture.
And we're essentially dealing with fake news.
And so what we're going to do is to look at some examples
of how this actually plays out
when it comes to some of life's most important questions.
So we're going to look at the question of meaning,
the question of identity, and the question of hope.
The question of meaning.
Why are we here?
What is life all about?
What is the meaning of life?
The question of identity.
What does it mean to be a human being?
And then the question of hope.
What reason is there?
Is there a real reason for hope in the world or not?
So let's pray, and then we're going to get started.
Lord, we thank you for your word,
and we thank you for the freedom and the joy
of gathering together as your people.
We thank you for this neighborhood.
We thank you for the extraordinary beauty
of the world that you've made.
We thank you most of all that we can open this book
and that our hope doesn't rest in human wisdom or ideas,
but that you're actually a God who can speak through your word,
that your Holy Spirit can speak to each of us
as we most need to hear from you.
So we pray that you would illuminate your word for us.
We also pray that you would bring us face-to-face
with your living word, Jesus Christ.
And it's in his name that we pray.
Amen.
So first of all, the question of meaning.
What happens when we crop Jesus out
and we can't see the whole picture
when it comes to making meaning out of life?
And quite simply, what happens is this.
When we crop Jesus out,
life essentially becomes meaningless.
In the early 20th century,
more and more people in academia and at a popular level
had begun to do away with the idea of God.
They had begun to crop God out of the photo, so to speak.
And yet many philosophers around the turn of the century
wanted to essentially have their cake and eat it too.
They wanted to be able to do away with the idea of God,
but they wanted to be able to hold on to the idea
that life has meaning,
that there is a purpose,
that there are such things as a priori values,
universal values.
And in 1945, Jean-Paul Sartre gave
what was essentially a career-defining lecture
called Existentialism is a Humanism.
This is what launched him into the stratosphere of fame.
And he essentially makes this point.
He says, listen,
if there is a God,
and that God created the world and us,
what that means is that there is divine intentionality
behind our existence.
God made us for a purpose,
and because there is a purpose,
there is meaning.
And because there is purpose and meaning,
we can assume that there are
certain a priori universal values,
ways that we live in alignment with that purpose,
or ways that we depart from that purpose.
He says, okay, if you believe in God,
then you can believe in all of that.
But here's the rub.
He says, if you do away with the idea of God,
then you have to do away with the idea
that there is any meaning in the world.
Because if there's no creator,
and there's no purpose for creation,
and all of this is just random,
then there can't really be any meaning.
The only meaning that exists
is the meaning that we fabricate,
but there's no universal meaning.
So essentially, his lecture amounts to
be intellectually consistent.
If you do away with God,
you have to accept what Richard Dawkins says,
where he says,
life has no design,
no purpose,
no evil,
and no good,
nothing but blind,
pitiless indifference.
And so the point is essentially this.
Without Jesus,
we can't see the whole picture.
You know,
we're told,
and I think this is very popular,
like if you look at books,
if you look at movies,
if you look at a lot of the songs
that are out there,
we are told
that we are free to create
whatever meaning we want.
And we're told that this is a great freedom
that we should celebrate.
But the reality is,
it's like we're looking at a cropped photo.
And this person makes this meaning out of it,
and this person makes this meaning out of it,
and there are as many different meanings
as there are people to make them,
and we have no way of knowing
whether our sense of meaning
is the right one or not,
because we have no context.
And you compare that with Colossians 1,
which says this about Jesus.
It says,
all things were created through him
and for him.
In other words,
it's one of the many ways
the Bible says
Jesus is the alpha and the omega.
He's the beginning and the end.
He's the context.
And when you recognize that,
you realize
that's how we look at the big picture.
That is the uncropped photo.
Reality with Jesus
is the alpha and the omega.
And this has a lot of implications.
We don't have time to get into all of them,
but as we think,
well, so what?
What does this matter?
Well, contrary to popular opinion,
you will never find the meaning of life
by looking within.
Right?
This is a very popular idea,
but the truth is
you're never going to figure out
what life is all about
by looking inside yourself.
Because quite simply,
you didn't make yourself.
And because you didn't make yourself,
you can't tell yourself
why you were made,
why you're here.
Only the one who made you
can actually tell you
what your purpose is.
And if we keep living
like all of this,
that our lives are all about us,
if you keep assuming
that this is all about you,
your life is never going to make sense.
You're going to be confused
and baffled and frustrated.
You're going to be
constantly disappointed.
Because the truth is,
if your life is anything like mine,
our lives rarely look
how we want them to look.
Right?
Very rarely in your life
are you looking around
and thinking,
this is exactly
what I thought it would be.
Well, you know,
I'm about to turn 40,
I turned 42 on Monday.
And this is what you think
when you're turning 42.
You think, you know,
you look at your life
and you're like,
when I was, you know, 20
and somebody asked me
what would life be like at 42?
And then I look at
what my life is like at 42.
There's very little similarity.
It's two completely different
plot lines, right?
Many of the characters
that I thought were going
to figure prominently
are gone.
Many of the issues
that I thought were going
to matter to me
are irrelevant now.
And I've got a whole new
set of people in my life
and a whole new set
of issues to worry about.
And I love my life
and I'm thankful for my life,
but this is not what
I would have planned for myself.
You know, it took me 30 years
to become remotely comfortable
with the idea
that I would be a pastor.
My wife is still adjusting
to the idea.
It's only been a decade.
So our lives are rarely
going to look like
we want them to look,
which is a clear sign
that we're not in charge.
Right?
So if we think that we are,
we're going to be
constantly disappointed.
We have to look
at the whole picture.
So if Jesus is the Alpha
and the Omega,
this means that all of this
was made by Him
and for Him,
which means not for me,
not for you.
So life is about much more
than just being happy
or successful.
You know, your job,
your money,
your marriage,
you know,
your successes and failures,
all that,
it's not for you.
All these things exist for Him.
They were made for Him.
And so we recognize
that Jesus directs our lives
according to His purposes,
not our own.
And so you look at the ways
that you're flourishing
and excited and happy
in your life.
You look at the ways
that you're struggling
and suffering
and facing despair
in your life.
and you recognize
my purposes are not
driving the ship here.
There's a God
who is unfathomably
more intelligent than I am,
who is unfathomably
wiser than I am.
And His purposes
are driving the ship.
And the more you accept that,
the more your life
is going to start
to make sense.
And the less you're
going to be prone to think
when life isn't going your way
that God has just forgotten you
or abandoned you.
You're going to recognize,
oh, I made the mistake
of thinking I was in charge.
But God is doing
something way bigger.
That's what it means
to look at the whole picture,
to see reality
and your life in context.
Jesus is the Alpha
and the Omega.
So let's look at another question.
That's the question of meaning.
But what about identity?
What does it mean
to think of Jesus
as the Alpha
and the Omega
of human identity?
And what happens
when we crop Jesus
out of the photo?
Well, in this case,
if you crop Jesus out,
if you lose the context,
it leads to an identity crisis.
And I think human beings
are in the midst
of a massive identity crisis.
I think kids,
you know,
you go to college students today.
I was, you know,
hearing from a university professor
who's been teaching
for 20 years
and said, you know,
the first 15 years,
kids were more or less the same.
Things changed,
but not really.
The last five years,
he says,
kids are completely different.
And many of the sources
of confusion
and many of the questions
and much of the anxiety
is coming out of this sense
of I have no idea
who I am.
Right?
How do we figure out
who we are?
Because there are a lot
of voices out there
that are trying to tell us
who we are.
Culture tells us
that our feelings define us.
That's how to figure out
who you really are.
Advertisers,
I'll let you in on a secret,
they want their products
to define your identity.
In other words,
they want you to feel
that you're not whole
until you have their product.
The best advertisers
know how to do that
really well.
This will make you
fully human.
Politicians want
their ideologies
to define you.
They want you
to identify with them,
not just intellectual support,
but feel like you belong
to that family.
Those are your people.
That's about identity.
And then there are all
socially constructed labels
out there.
Labels like race labels
or sexual orientation labels
or gender labels.
Now the problem
with socially constructed
ideas about identity
is that they change.
They constantly change.
They're constantly in flux.
And so you can have
three different people
who are 15 or 20 years
apart from one another
and they can use
the same words
and they're going to mean
three different things
because they change.
There are lots of voices
from our childhood
that try to tell us
who we are.
Lies that come
to define us
right?
So maybe some of you
grew up
and maybe you grew up
thinking
and it was maybe
parents conveyed this
or teachers conveyed this
and maybe not intentionally
but maybe somehow
you internalize the idea
that you have to be perfect
and if you're not perfect
and if you don't have
your life together
you're a failure
and it's all or none.
Maybe some of us
grew up
sort of internalizing
the lie
that on my own
my feelings
my opinions
don't really matter
and if I assert myself
too much
I'm going to make people angry
and I'm not going to have
any friends
and so the best thing
I can do
is just put myself aside
and merge
with the stronger personalities
in my life.
Right?
Maybe you grew up
thinking
that in order
to guarantee
that you will be loved
you have to make sure
you're meeting
other people's needs.
You have to earn that love
and if you're not useful
and helpful to people
nobody's going to love you
or care about you.
Yeah, maybe you grew up
thinking
that you cannot handle
the negative feelings
in your life.
Maybe you grew up
in a family
that just would not allow
negative feelings
to be expressed
and so you learned
the best way
to deal with my sadness
my depression
my anxiety
my despair
is to run.
And you have no idea
as a 30 year old
how to be sad.
You don't know
how to lament
because you're terrified
of it, right?
Now we grew up
with these ideas
we grew up
with well-intentioned
parents
who are human
well-intentioned
teachers who are human
well-intentioned coaches
who are human
and we internalize
these lies
and they come
to define us
and then your entire
personality
can be built
around lies.
Right?
There's an enormous
amount of contradiction
out there
when it comes
to identity
you know
and so when you
compare your feelings
with the lies inside
with the voices
that you're hearing
from the outside
you know
I mean
where do you even begin?
It's no wonder
people are deeply
confused about identity.
You know
one of my favorite
contradictions
comes in the form
of a commercial
it was a Super Bowl
commercial
from Alfa Romeo
and it's this commercial
about a car
but has nothing
to do with a car
it's all about
human identity
and in the same
commercial
back to back
it says this
it says
staying true
to ourselves
is all that matters
staying true
to ourselves
is all that matters
and then it says
right after that
the ability
to reinvent ourselves
is the most human
trait of all
and I love that
because it's like
if I reinvent myself
I'm not being true
to myself
right?
So which is it?
You know?
And these contradictions
are everywhere
so again
the point is this
without Jesus
we can't see
the whole picture
of who we are
as human beings
but with the context
of Jesus
it all begins
to make sense
you know
one of the best places
to see how this works
is to look at Paul's
letter to the Galatians
Galatians is all
about identity
it's all about identity
the church was divided
along ethnic
and cultural lines
because the Jews
were defining themselves
by their Jewishness
which was a socio-cultural
religious identity
and the Gentiles
by their non-Jewishness
and here's what Paul says
in Galatians 2.20
he says
I've been crucified
with Christ
he's talking about
his own identity
my identity
I've been crucified
with Christ
it's no longer
I who live
but Christ
who lives
in me
and what he's trying
to convince them of
is that
your true self
is not defined
by your Jewishness
or your non-Jewishness
your true identity
your true self
is not going to be found
by looking at your culture
or listening to the
to the voices
that you grew up with
or listening to your feelings
your true self
is going to be found
when you give yourself
away to Jesus
when it is as though
you have been crucified
with him
and then you allow him
to define you
from the ground up
so Jesus shows us
what human beings
were supposed to be like
you know when you look
at Jesus
you're seeing
here's what human beings
were supposed to be like
and you're seeing
here's what human beings
will be like
one day
when God's work
is completed in us
Jesus is a picture
of human identity
as it will one day be
so again
the point is this
without Jesus
you're going to be pulled
in every direction
possible
when it comes to
defining
a sense of identity
for yourself
some of them
are going to be
inside you
some of them
are going to be
outside you
but they're all
going to try to tell
you who you are
and if you've
cropped Jesus out
there is no
objective standard
by which to determine
what is true
and what is not
is that lie
I grew up with
is it true
well does it
feel true
yeah
it feels true
in fact
there are a lot
of things
that feel true
but I'm not sure
they are true
I feel like
I have to prove
myself to you
every day
or you're going
to hate me
and reject me
that's how
that feels
true to me
how are you going
to know
whether it is true
how are you going
to know those times
that you need
to take your feelings
and recognize them
for what they are
like what Jeremiah
says
the heart is deceitful
above all things
right
if Jesus is the
alpha and the omega
it means you're not
defined by your feelings
or your failures
or your family
or whatever labels
you apply to yourself
Jesus Christ
is the one
who can define you
right
so we've talked
about meaning
we've talked
about identity
what about hope
last question
we'll consider today
what about hope
you know I think
more now than ever
many people struggle
to have hope
and I think
there's a lot
of good reasons
for that
some people
struggle with depression
I know some of you
many of you
I have in the past
struggle with depression
and people who
struggle with depression
tend to dwell
in the past
you know
they struggle with guilt
they struggle with regret
they struggle over feeling
like they made decisions
once and for all
that they can't unmake
that they struggle
with a sense of shame
over experiences
and disappointments
and failures
I know a lot of people
who struggle with anxiety
and anxiety
tends to pull us
into the future
you know we're looking
down the road
and it's dark
and we can't see
anything that's coming
down the road
or make sense of anything
that's coming down the road
we can't anticipate
what's going to happen
with our jobs
or our desire
to be married
or our fraught marriages
or our kids
we have no idea
what's coming
and that causes
tremendous anxiety
because we have no control
over the future
and so we're looking
into the darkness
and we feel
tremendous anxiety
because we can't
control it
and every day
seems to bring
more and more news
of catastrophe
all around the world
some of the recent news
being you know
random shootings
on the highway
and you read
that kind of stuff
day in and day out
and it makes you feel
like a massive tragedy
is just around the corner
in your life
stokes tremendous anxiety
and so you have
mass shootings
environmental degradation
violence
injustice
it's overwhelming
and you know
so if you crop Jesus
out of the photo
everything looks
pretty hopeless
I mean it looks hopeless
it looks like the world
has gone off the rails
I think historically
if we compare this era
to other eras
it's not quite as bad
as we think
that's my personal opinion
but I think it seems
awful
but in Revelation 21 5
Jesus says
behold
I'm making all things new
also he said
write this down
for these words
are trustworthy
and true
and he said to me
it is done
I am the alpha
and the omega
the beginning
and the end
and you need to understand
when Jesus says
it is done
it means all of his purposes
have been accomplished
in creation
all of his purposes
have been accomplished
and part of what this means
is that Jesus
has done everything necessary
to deal with our past
and to deal with our future
and to secure
an eternal future
with him
for us
right
so this is the thing
that sets Christianity
apart from other religions
other religions say
here's how salvation works
now get to work
you have to accomplish this
for yourself
if you don't
you will have no hope
if you do
you will have
every reason to hope
but it all hinges on you
right
if you're morally
excellent
as a person
if you are disciplined
if you are intelligent
then you've got a good shot
at eternity
or wherever you hope to go
if you're morally bankrupt
if you're undisciplined
if you come from such brokenness
that you're just trying to stay afloat
right
if you've been so wounded
and hurt in your life
that you can't even fathom
anything beyond just surviving
then there's not much hope for you
if your salvation hinges on you
some people just don't have the resources
or the intelligence
or the discipline
to accomplish anything
on behalf of themselves
the good news of the gospel
and only the gospel says this
Jesus is the alpha
and the omega
of our salvation
Jesus is the one
who created the plan
for the rescue mission
he wrote that plan
when the world fell apart
when human beings rebelled against God
Jesus is the one
who initiated the cosmic rescue mission
and then Jesus is the one
who fulfilled it
Jesus says
here's the plan of salvation
and then he doesn't say
get to work
he gets to work
and he fulfills
everything that is required
right
he lives the life
that we should have lived
then he dies the death
that we deserve to die
because we didn't live
the life that we should have lived
and then he rises from death
and then he judges
and ultimately does away with death
and then he turns to us
not with a challenge
to get to work
but with an invitation
come to me
all who are weary
and heavy laden
and I will give you rest
come to me
because I've accomplished
everything necessary
on your behalf
come to me
because it is finished
and when you recognize that
when you recognize
what that means for us
you recognize that
if you are in Christ
when you are tempted
to look into your past
and to reflect on
the deep regrets
and the shame
and the failures
and the things
that you can't undo
the decisions
that you can't unmake
when you look at
all of that stuff
you also see Jesus
dying on the cross
and you recognize
he is dying
to set you free
from all of those things
and when you are tempted
to look into the future
and to fret
and to wring your hands
and to try to peer
into the darkness
and to try to anticipate
what is coming
you also see Jesus
saying it is finished
behold I am making
all things new
whatever you are facing now
however bad you think
it is going to get
the end of the story
is Jesus making
all things new
and us joining him
in that secured
eternal renewed future
and so we recognize
that Jesus is the alpha
he is in the past
he is the omega
he is in the future
he has done everything
necessary on our behalf
and so as we think
about these questions
as we think about Jesus
as the alpha
and the omega
if we want to kind of
bring all of this together
here is the point
if we crop Jesus out
we cannot see
the whole picture
we cannot see reality
as it truly is
and however we go about
trying to answer
the questions of meaning
or the question of identity
or the question of hope
however we go about
trying to do that
it is all going to be
fake news
it is just one person's
interpretation
held up against
another person's
interpretation
if we recognize
that Jesus
is the alpha
and the omega
then we can begin
to see the whole picture
we can see
that we were made
by him
and for him
and that's what
life is about
we can see
that we can only
find our true selves
in him
and we can see
that all of our hopes
will one day
ultimately be fulfilled
by him
let's pray
Lord we thank you
we thank you
because we're talking
about this
as though we can
even begin
to fully understand
what it means
for you to be
an alpha
and omega
the alpha
and omega
but Lord
we know
what we're intended
to see in this
and that is
tremendous comfort
Lord
tremendous comfort
and we know
who to go to
when we wonder
what life is all about
we know who to go to
when we have no idea
who we are
or why we're here
we know who to go to
when we feel
utterly hopeless
or overwhelmed
with fear
Lord
so we pray
that even as we
continue in our singing
and in our prayers
and as we come to your table
that you would make
these intellectual realities
flesh and blood
in our hearts
that you would build
these truths
into us
wire them
into our souls
Lord
so that we would be
grounded in you
and so that we would be
hoping in you
for your glory
and it's in your son's
name that we pray
Amen
Links in teto
flowing moody