Albert D. Mosley - "A New World Order" (November 4, 2001)
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Transcript
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- | But the saints of the most high God | 0:10 |
will receive the kingdom | 0:14 | |
and will possess it forever. | 0:17 | |
Yes, forever and ever. | 0:20 | |
Today is All Saints' Sunday, | 0:25 | |
a day when we as Christians recall | 0:28 | |
the faithfulness of past generations | 0:31 | |
and acknowledge the heritage we receive from them. | 0:34 | |
This is a day when we express our appreciation | 0:39 | |
for the lives of the countless men and women, | 0:41 | |
known and unknown, who face the hostile forces of this world | 0:44 | |
People of faith who in the face of evil, oppression, | 0:50 | |
and subjugation remained faithful | 0:56 | |
and stood as a testament of what it means to follow God, | 0:59 | |
regardless of what was happening to and around them. | 1:04 | |
We remember the saints, | 1:09 | |
and not necessarily because they lived | 1:11 | |
good and/or clean lives, | 1:13 | |
but rather because of their steadfastness for God | 1:16 | |
in the face of evil. | 1:20 | |
We remember the saints and through this remembrance, | 1:22 | |
we are able to forge a connection in the body of Christ | 1:27 | |
that transcends the limitations of time and space. | 1:31 | |
Saints, some of whom lived hundreds of years ago | 1:36 | |
in other parts of the world, | 1:40 | |
but whose testimonies provide many of us | 1:42 | |
with the encouragement we need | 1:46 | |
in our present day struggles against evil. | 1:48 | |
That's what this day is all about. | 1:52 | |
That's what this celebration is all about. | 1:54 | |
In the midst of this celebration | 1:59 | |
the Lectionary cycle recommends these passages | 2:01 | |
from Daniel and from Luke's gospel. | 2:03 | |
Some may not be able to see | 2:06 | |
the connection between the two. | 2:08 | |
But both of these passages have quite a bit to say to us, | 2:10 | |
the faithful, the holy ones, the saints of God. | 2:14 | |
They both offer us a glimpse into a different world, | 2:20 | |
a world where things are not always as they seem. | 2:24 | |
A world where what appears is not always the case. | 2:28 | |
This is a world where things | 2:33 | |
are turned upside down, inside out. | 2:34 | |
This is a world where there is an ultimate judgment | 2:39 | |
and in that ultimate judgment, good will triumph over evil. | 2:43 | |
But it's not that simple. | 2:48 | |
There is far more to it than the defeat of evil by good. | 2:52 | |
Both of today's scripture lessons seem | 2:57 | |
to suggest a cosmic upheaval, | 2:59 | |
an ushering in of a new kingdom, a new world order. | 3:02 | |
Daniel in his apocalyptic vision of four beasts | 3:08 | |
and Jesus in His radical pronouncements | 3:10 | |
of blessings and cursings reveal to us | 3:13 | |
a different way to view the world. | 3:17 | |
Daniel especially with his notions of a final judgment day | 3:20 | |
of the resurrection of the dead, | 3:25 | |
and of a kingdom of God | 3:27 | |
in which the saints take their rightful place. | 3:30 | |
Daniel shows us a radically different way to approach life. | 3:32 | |
That's what apocalyptic literature usually does. | 3:37 | |
And for that reason, most people are wary | 3:41 | |
of the Bible's apocalyptic elements. | 3:44 | |
Daniel, Revelation, Mark 13, | 3:47 | |
and other apocalyptic texts | 3:52 | |
are often passed over because they bring to the forefront | 3:54 | |
issues that most of us are not willing to grapple with. | 3:57 | |
Not only that, but these texts are also vulnerable | 4:01 | |
to serious gross misinterpretations. | 4:04 | |
Think for example of the tragic episodes | 4:08 | |
involving Jim Jones of Jonestown | 4:10 | |
and David Koresh of the Branch Davidian compound in Texas, | 4:13 | |
both of whom placed an enormous emphasis | 4:17 | |
on books like Daniel. | 4:19 | |
In spite of the possible misinterpretations | 4:24 | |
and misunderstandings that could arise | 4:26 | |
from passages like the one read today, | 4:29 | |
I think it is still worth our time to examine this vision | 4:32 | |
so that we might understand | 4:37 | |
what this New World Order will look like. | 4:39 | |
The words in this book were addressed | 4:43 | |
to a group of believers | 4:45 | |
who were experiencing grave persecution. | 4:45 | |
The first and second books | 4:49 | |
of the Maccabees make it quite clear | 4:50 | |
that Daniel was written during the Hellenistic Age | 4:53 | |
which was a time of great suffering for many men and women | 4:56 | |
who wished to remain faithful to God. | 5:00 | |
This was a time of crisis for believers. | 5:03 | |
They were forbidden from praying to God. | 5:06 | |
They were living in a time where faithfulness | 5:09 | |
and devotion to God ran contrary | 5:11 | |
to faithfulness and devotion to the king, | 5:14 | |
or to society, or to cultural standards. | 5:16 | |
Sounds a lot like now. | 5:21 | |
As I stated in a sermon two weeks ago, | 5:24 | |
at this present moment in the life of our nation, | 5:26 | |
faithfulness and devotion to God | 5:30 | |
can run contrary to faithfulness and devotion to nation. | 5:33 | |
The only difference between now and when Daniel was | 5:39 | |
addressing his audience is that most of us are not punished | 5:41 | |
for our faithfulness and our devotion. | 5:45 | |
If we were, I daresay there would be | 5:48 | |
little punishment to start with | 5:51 | |
because for so many, there is so little faithfulness | 5:53 | |
and so little devotion. | 5:57 | |
But most of us do experience on almost a daily basis | 6:00 | |
the conflict that exists between the values of our faith | 6:05 | |
and what this post-modern world values | 6:09 | |
and considers important. | 6:11 | |
Daniel speaks to this persecuted group of believers | 6:14 | |
and tries to assure them | 6:16 | |
that God has ultimate control of the affairs of their lives, | 6:17 | |
in spite of much evidence that suggested the contrary. | 6:22 | |
Chapter seven starts with a vision | 6:28 | |
in which four great beasts provide | 6:29 | |
an allegory of history. | 6:31 | |
These beasts represent the four great kingdoms | 6:34 | |
with which Daniel was concerned, | 6:36 | |
the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians, and the Greeks. | 6:38 | |
Daniel's vision then includes a judgment | 6:43 | |
of each of these beasts, each of these kingdoms. | 6:45 | |
These beasts, these kingdoms, are judged before God | 6:49 | |
because they have terrorized the community of faith. | 6:54 | |
After the judgment of the kingdoms | 6:58 | |
there is a transfer of the heavenly judgment to Earth, | 6:59 | |
through one who is like a human being. | 7:02 | |
This transcendent agent of God relies on the power | 7:06 | |
of the Ancient One according to Daniel. | 7:10 | |
And with that power establishes the rule of God. | 7:13 | |
In this vision of Daniel, the great beast, | 7:19 | |
the great kingdoms of the world are destroyed. | 7:21 | |
Even the fourth great beast of the Greek kingdom, | 7:25 | |
with its numerous horns representing Alexander the Great | 7:29 | |
and other rulers that followed him. | 7:32 | |
Daniel's vision is concluded and interpreted | 7:35 | |
to mean that this new kingship of God, | 7:37 | |
this New World Order of God will be established | 7:41 | |
and will never be destroyed. | 7:45 | |
And those who have been faithful to God | 7:48 | |
even in the midst of horrible persecution, | 7:51 | |
will exercise authority in this coming kingdom of God. | 7:54 | |
The holy ones, the saints of God, | 7:58 | |
will be God's triumphant agents | 8:02 | |
when evil is overthrown | 8:05 | |
and God's righteous rule is set in place. | 8:06 | |
Daniel wants to communicate to the people of God, | 8:10 | |
to those who are suffering great trials and tribulations, | 8:12 | |
a divine revelation concerning the course and end of history | 8:15 | |
History will end with the reign of God in justice. | 8:21 | |
God will put an end to the worldly enemy, | 8:26 | |
and will establish a kingdom in which the faithful | 8:28 | |
will take their rightful place. | 8:30 | |
For those holy ones, for those saints, | 8:34 | |
who are a part of Daniel's audience, | 8:37 | |
he wanted to say to them that the present crisis | 8:39 | |
will not last forever. | 8:42 | |
And that even though it will most likely | 8:44 | |
not be solved by human forces, | 8:46 | |
one day God will intervene, | 8:49 | |
and will act on behalf of those | 8:51 | |
who remain steadfast in their faithfulness. | 8:53 | |
To some, this might sound like pie in the sky theology. | 8:58 | |
In fact Paul Hanson in his The Dawn of Apocalyptic | 9:02 | |
notes that apocalyptic literature like Daniel | 9:06 | |
is often viewed as a flight | 9:08 | |
into the timeless repose of myth. | 9:10 | |
Some view these dreams, | 9:14 | |
these visions of a cosmic overthrow of evil by God | 9:15 | |
as a passive and resigned way | 9:19 | |
that only allows oppression to continue. | 9:20 | |
Daniel's vision in particular describes how | 9:24 | |
the heavenly battle against chaos will be won, | 9:27 | |
and that the results of this victory | 9:31 | |
will influence earthly communities. | 9:32 | |
Where is the action on our part, one might ask. | 9:35 | |
This view of apocalyptic writings gives credence | 9:41 | |
to Karl Marx's notion that religion | 9:43 | |
is an opiate to salve the wounds of political dominance, | 9:46 | |
rather than actually causing its followers | 9:49 | |
to engage in resistance or some other action | 9:51 | |
to change matters. | 9:54 | |
But I don't see it that way. | 9:57 | |
And I trust you don't either. | 9:59 | |
In my mind, the dreamers of apocalyptic visions, | 10:01 | |
people like Daniel, people like Mark, | 10:04 | |
people like John, people like Mother Teresa, | 10:06 | |
people like Martin Luther King, Jr., and others | 10:10 | |
are visionaries of a New World Order. | 10:14 | |
They are visionaries of a world | 10:17 | |
where there is economic justice and opportunity for all. | 10:18 | |
They are visionaries of a world where women | 10:23 | |
and others who've been persecuted have a voice. | 10:25 | |
They're visionaries of a world | 10:29 | |
where the status quo is challenged. | 10:30 | |
They are visionaries and their vision is | 10:33 | |
inspired by a God who liberates | 10:36 | |
and who sets free those who are oppressed. | 10:39 | |
Apocalyptic literature draws deep | 10:44 | |
from the hopes and passions of the people | 10:46 | |
especially people who are in dire conditions. | 10:48 | |
Apocalyptic literature like the book of Daniel | 10:52 | |
speaks to the failure of established kingdoms. | 10:54 | |
And it opens the way to new possibilities. | 10:58 | |
It accomplishes this by prying open | 11:02 | |
the sealed doors of tradition, | 11:04 | |
and imagining possibilities beyond the realities | 11:06 | |
dictated by the Old World Order. | 11:09 | |
It also accomplishes this by encouraging the holy ones, | 11:13 | |
the saints of God to guide their lives | 11:17 | |
by no other star than a trustworthy God, | 11:21 | |
Who promises to never leave or forsake. | 11:24 | |
This is exactly what happens | 11:29 | |
not only in the passage from Daniel, | 11:30 | |
but also in the passage from Luke's Gospel. | 11:32 | |
Jesus in the gospel lesson for today | 11:36 | |
offers an upsetting list of blessings and woes. | 11:38 | |
He in a manner very similar to the vision that Daniel had | 11:43 | |
offers an alternative way of viewing the world. | 11:46 | |
Jesus speaks of the will and work of God | 11:50 | |
to overturn life and situations as we have come to know them | 11:53 | |
Blessed, says Jesus, are the poor. | 11:58 | |
Blessed are the hungry. | 12:01 | |
Blessed are the grieving. | 12:04 | |
Blessed are the excluded. | 12:06 | |
Hardly people we would count as blessed. | 12:09 | |
He doesn't stop there. | 12:14 | |
Jesus goes on to pronounce a series of woes or curses | 12:14 | |
on those who find themselves | 12:19 | |
on the opposite side of the fence, | 12:20 | |
the rich, the full, the happy, and the well-thought-of | 12:23 | |
are in for a surprise in this New World Order. | 12:29 | |
They, much like the four beastly kingdoms | 12:33 | |
in Daniel's vision, will be toppled. | 12:35 | |
This is not anything strange coming | 12:39 | |
from Jesus or from the Gospels. | 12:40 | |
Earlier in Luke, Mary, singing praises to God, | 12:43 | |
acknowledged that God has put | 12:46 | |
the mighty down from their thrones | 12:47 | |
and has elevated the lowly. | 12:50 | |
This same God has filled the hungry with good things, | 12:53 | |
and has sent the rich away empty. | 12:56 | |
The point here in Luke and in Daniel is | 13:01 | |
that those who prosper under | 13:02 | |
the present structures of human life, | 13:04 | |
those who are self-satisfied and at ease | 13:06 | |
with the way things are, | 13:08 | |
those who benefit and are honored by the system, | 13:10 | |
they are the ones to be pitied. | 13:14 | |
Woe to the great beastly kingdoms of Daniel's vision | 13:17 | |
and woe to those whose current situation | 13:21 | |
looks to an outsider to be fortunate. | 13:23 | |
Woe to them because their ultimate life | 13:27 | |
is quite the contrary. | 13:30 | |
God's kingdom, God's reign, | 13:34 | |
the New World Order is a kingdom in which the holy ones, | 13:37 | |
the saints of God, swim against the stream. | 13:43 | |
It is a kingdom in which poverty, hunger, | 13:48 | |
sorrow, and oppression are not a part of God's purposes. | 13:50 | |
It is a kingdom in which the law of the land | 13:55 | |
is counter to the accepted culture | 13:57 | |
and the accepted way of viewing life. | 13:59 | |
Is this good news or bad news? | 14:03 | |
Much of it depends upon where you stand | 14:07 | |
when you hear the news. | 14:09 | |
Are you by way of your life representative | 14:11 | |
of the four beastly kingdoms? | 14:14 | |
Are you included among those whom Jesus pronounces | 14:17 | |
the series of woes upon? | 14:20 | |
If you are, then you are set to wonder | 14:23 | |
about your place in this New World Order. | 14:25 | |
Will Willimon, in a sermon he preached here last year, | 14:29 | |
said that it's not so much that God | 14:32 | |
punishes people who are rich, people who are content, | 14:34 | |
people who are well-fixed, | 14:37 | |
rather it's that God's kingdom values | 14:40 | |
certain ways of life and not others. | 14:42 | |
For some, Daniel's vision of a toppling | 14:47 | |
of evil earthly dominions | 14:50 | |
and Jesus' pronouncement of a subversive way of life | 14:52 | |
are almost like a foreign language. | 14:56 | |
Some have become so accustomed | 14:59 | |
to making the gospel fit with the prevailing culture, | 15:01 | |
that these lessons remind us that there can be | 15:04 | |
no easy truths with the culture. | 15:07 | |
There are sharp demands of life in this New World Order. | 15:11 | |
The saints of the Most High, the holy ones, | 15:15 | |
and even some of us, | 15:19 | |
especially those of us who have been baptized | 15:20 | |
and who have been set apart, | 15:22 | |
we understand the sharp demands of life | 15:24 | |
in this New World Order. | 15:27 | |
Thanks be to God for the witnesses of His saints. | 15:31 | |
Thanks be to God that we are surrounded | 15:35 | |
by so great a cloud of witnesses. | 15:37 | |
Thanks be to God for a New World Order | 15:41 | |
where all of God's saints, | 15:44 | |
those of ages past and those in this very congregation | 15:45 | |
are able to live a life that is informed | 15:50 | |
not by society's rules, but by the gospel of Jesus Christ. | 15:52 | |
Thanks be to God. Amen. | 15:59 |