Amen!

Revelation 7:9-12

June 18, 2023 • Mount Pleasant UMC

Well, for the last two times he has preached, Pastor Rick has complained about the small number of words I gave him to preach on, that the verses he was assigned were too short. Two things I want to say about that. First of all, he doesn’t know this but next time he’s going to preach on John 11:35: “Jesus Wept.” Second, I don’t really know what he’s complaining about because today I have only one word to preach about, the final word in our traditional reading of the Lord’s Prayer: “Amen.”

So, for the last several weeks we have been living with this prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples on at least two occasions. He taught them to pray things like, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” We’ve been challenged to keep God’s name holy, and we’ve heard Christ’s voice whisper, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” At the outset I asked you to pray this prayer every day, and like Pastor Rick suggested last week, I’ve even found myself praying it when I can’t get to sleep at night or when I wake up in the middle of the night. I hope you’ve begun to pray those words with more meaning than ever have before. But does it do any good? We still live in a world of war, conflict, political turmoil and even intense conflicts in church circles. We live in a world of racism and fear, of lawsuits and accusations, of politics and pressure. Does praying this prayer—or any prayer—make any difference? Sometimes we say it easily in church settings and then leave it behind when we walk out the doors. It’s easy to think this prayer and all of our prayers make little impact in a world of violence, disasters and heartache.

I rarely recommend movies, but a couple of weeks ago I was told about a movie on Amazon Prime that I can fully encourage you to watch. The movie is called On a Wing and a Prayer, and I don’t want to give away too much of the story except to say it’s true story about a family who finds itself in a crisis that could lead to a terrible disaster. And at one of the critical moments in the film, when it seems like all might be lost, the family gathers together and they pray. But they don’t just pray any prayer; when they don’t know what else to say or how else to reach out to God, the family turns to the Lord’s prayer. And not only does it bring them comfort, it sets the tone for the rest of the film. Now, I’m not going to tell you what happens; you’ll have to go watch it yourself. Here’s my point: prayer matters. Prayer makes a difference, in our lives and in our world. Hopefully we’ve discovered that over the last few weeks, and now as we come to the end of this prayer, we find words that are not meant to make us feel good. These are words that are meant to propel us out of our pews and into our world.

Actually, as Pastor Rick alluded to last Sunday, there’s some debate as to whether the prayer of Jesus really ended this way at all. In the various existing New Testament manuscripts, there are ten different endings to the Lord’s Prayer, and in the earliest manuscripts—those that were written the closest to Jesus’ day—there is no benediction. That’s why it’s not included in modern translations. This final phrase that we pray, which largely comes from 1 Chronicles 29, was most likely a benediction, consistent with Jewish tradition, that was added on later (Boring, “The Gospel of Matthew,” New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. VIII, pg. 205). By the second century, it had become a fixed part of the prayer, and that’s the way most if not all of us know it today (Hill, The Gospel of Matthew, pg. 139). But let me tell you a real difference between now and then. When we hear the word “Amen,” it tends to be a signal that the prayer is ending; to the original hearers, it would have been a signal that the real work was beginning.

We use the word “Amen” as a closing, almost like we would write, “Sincerely yours,” or “Love,” at the end of a letter. But the word literally means, “So be it.” In fact, in one church I served, I had a man who would always end his prayers with that phrase: “So be it.” In the Jewish tradition, out of which, of course, this prayer comes, “Amen” was the worshiper’s commitment to do what they had prayed, to live it out. Dr. James Mulholland compares it to a wedding ceremony. When a man or woman says “I do” as a part of that ceremony, the words do not signal the end of their commitment, but the beginning. Saying “I do” means you will live out what you have promised: “to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death.” Just like that, saying “Amen” at the end of a prayer is not saying, “I’m done, now I can get on with my day.” Saying “Amen” is saying, “I’ve only begun. Now I’m going to get busy doing what I’ve prayed. So be it” (Praying Like Jesus, pg. 130). We are called to put feet to our prayers.

In the prayer of the saints which we read in Revelation 7, “Amen” both begins and ends the prayer. In Revelation 6, John, the writer of the Revelation, has seen terrible destruction as the wrath of God has been poured out on sinful humanity. Six different times, the earth has been shaken. Then, in chapter 7, he gets a glimpse of those who have been redeemed. He sees 144,000 from Israel (7:4)—a number that represents completion, all the people of Israel who have been saved (Mulholland, Revelation, pg. 182). And then he sees a second “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” (7:9). These are the ones who have suffered on behalf of Jesus Christ (7:14), but who have remained faithful to the end. And from this tremendous group—both Jew and Gentile—we hear them sing about what they have staked their lives on: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb” (7:10). That truth causes all of heaven to worship and sing: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (7:12). They celebrate what God has done to bring salvation to them and to all of humanity, and they ask that God would be glorified. So when we pray this prayer that we call the Lord’s Prayer, we’re actually joining the saints in the heavenly worship: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. So be it.”

In many ways, the benediction sums up everything we’ve prayed in this prayer. For instance, we have prayed that God’s kingdom would come “on earth as it is in heaven,” that one day everyone will join the heavenly prayers and celebrate God’s salvation. But as we pray that, we also remember that God’s kingdom has priority over our little kingdoms. We cannot pray, “Your kingdom come,” and refuse to give to God our little kingdoms, or to settle only for the “power and glory” that this world brings (Wright, The Lord & His Prayer, pg. 86). This prayer calls us to worship someone beyond ourselves, because we are shaped by what we worship. Martin Luther once wrote, “Whatever you confide in, that is your god.” James Mitchener’s novel The Source tells of an ancient family in which the father sacrifices his son to the false god Malek. The mother grieves while the father goes and visits the temple prostitutes. She is deeply hurt by what her husband does in the name of religion, but she says, “With a different god, he would have been a different man.” The way we live shows whose kingdom we are building and seeking. Jesus said, “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33). “Your kingdom come.”

And in this prayer, we’ve prayed, “Your will be done.” For that to happen, we need the power that comes from God alone. The saints in Revelation 7 remind us of this with their song, that salvation comes only from God through the Lamb. Salvation isn’t something we can summon up on our own. We forget that, sometimes, and we get so busy doing things on our own power. A pastor friend of mine once told me about a visitor from a third world country, who had the chance to see the landscape of American Christianity, with our megachurches and celebrity pastors. He took it all in and as he was leaving, he said, “I’m amazed at what the church in America has been able to accomplish without the power of the Holy Spirit.” He found great structures, great systems, lots of books and seminars, but little depth. “Thy will be done.” Not ours. Is what we do done in Christ’s power or on our own? Is it done in the trusting spirit of, “Give us today our daily bread”? As Pastor David Platt once said, “If you can trust God to save you for eternity, you can trust him to lead you for a lifetime.”

We have also prayed, “Hallowed by your name.” We began this prayer with the hope and desire that God’s name would be glorified above everything else, that God would get the credit and the honor for changed lives rather than us. It’s easy to forget that. Sometimes we get an answer, and we conveniently forget that we ever prayed for that. I knew a woman who had every indication of cancer growing in her body, and she went to her pastors, who prayed with her and for her. When she went back to the doctor, the indicators were gone and there was no cancer. Some would write that up to a sloppy diagnosis, or being lucky, but I prefer the attitude William Temple had: “When I pray, coincidences happen; when I stop praying, the coincidences stop happening” (qtd. in Wright 88). It is God who answers prayer, not us, and so the glory for whatever happens goes to him and not us. Remember the words of Bishop Trimble I shared with you a few weeks ago, and that he repeated again this year at Annual Conference: “Little prayer, little power. No prayer, no power. Much prayer, much power.” The glory and honor goes to God.

So the end of this prayer really sums up the whole prayer. Pastor Rick reminded us of that last week: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.” And to that we add, “Amen.” In my first appointment, when I was a brand new preacher, I served in what would be considered a “high church” appointment. Very formal, liturgical, structured. And there was a man who came to that church who, let’s just say, did not fit the usual mold. When something resonated with his spirit, he would call out from the back, “Amen!” Eventually, to the pastors’ dismay, the ushers asked him to stop (we found out about it later) and after that he rarely returned to worship. If “Amen” means “So be it,” then it’s a perfectly acceptable response to what we hear God saying to us in worship. It’s not necessarily an affirmation that we agree with what the pastor or worship leader has said. Rather, it’s a commitment to live out what God has said to us. We don’t just say it when we feel good; we say it when God is working in us. Maybe that’s why we don’t say it very often. Maybe we’re afraid that if we affirm what we hear God saying to us, God will then expect us to live it out.

There are two extreme kinds of Christians. There are some who have prayers but no feet. They say, “Amen,” but never do anything about their prayers. “That’s God’s work, to answer prayers,” they might say, and when a tragedy happens, they might go on social media and post something along the lines of, “Thoughts and prayers are with you.” But that’s the extent of their action. We hear an increasing cry after each such incident that “thoughts and prayers” aren’t enough, and they’re right. Prayer is where we start, absolutely where we start, but the Bible tells us that we are the body of Christ, sent to do his work. When we say, “Amen,” so be it, we’re committing to the work he calls us to do. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). Not “might do.” Will do.

There are also Christians who have feet but no prayers. These well-intentioned folks who jump into creating a solution but forget or neglect the way. They forget about turning to God in prayer. I encountered some of these folks on a work camp in Virginia, building houses for the poor. They were doing good work, great work, and the reason we had gone there is because they had one of the largest success rates in that part of the United States. But as we worked alongside them, each of us on the team came to the same conclusion: the leaders had lost sight of why they were doing what they were doing. We had to initiate prayer and devotions, and when we told them we had brought a Bible, signed by our VBS kids, to present to the people who would be living in the house we were working on, they were confused. Why would we bring a Bible?

Prayers without feet. Feet without prayers. Both types of Christians are extremes: we need prayer, and we need to put feet on our prayers. So if you want to say “Amen” in worship, go ahead, but be ready for God to tap you on the shoulder—probably the moment you say it—and whisper, “Now, what in my name are you going to do about it?” Close your prayers with “Amen,” as most of us are used to, but be ready for God to sit down beside you and say, “Now, let’s get busy on answering those prayers together.” There was someone I read about a while ago (I tried to locate the author but I couldn’t recall who it was) that would begin every day by praying this prayer: “God, what can you and I do together today to make a difference in the world?”

So over the last few years, we’ve been seeking to provide more opportunities for the body of Christ here at Mount Pleasant to pray together. Yes, it’s important to have your personal prayer time, and that can happen anywhere, anytime. But there is something about the times we come together to pray, when we gather either in a small group or even in a large group to lift up our concerns to the one who is seated on the throne. So on Wednesday evenings and on Saturday mornings, there are small group opportunities to pray together here. James writes, “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.” That’s the basis of our prayer gatherings: prayers offered in faith. Will you have to pray out loud? Not at all. That’s up to each person’s comfort level, but I do hope you will get to the place where you are able to do that. The Lord loves to hear his children pray and we need to come together, support one another, and pray for one another as the Scripture tells us to.

And then we need to move on with our “Amen.” Put feet to our prayers. Our youth are doing just that this week. They’re headed to eastern Kentucky to reach out to those in need, just as Jesus instructed us to do in Matthew 25. I have to tell you, the group of students that God has blessed us with in this church love to serve. They pray, yes, but then they go get their hands dirty. I’ve witnessed it firsthand, and this summer alone there was a group that went to serve as missionaries at Camp Barnabas, and then the group that is going this week, and in another few weeks, a group is going back to Mayfield, Kentucky to continue working with Samaritan’s Purse on tornado recovery. You might also remember that the Saturday after the tornadoes hit in Sullivan County, our youth adult leaders went down there for a day to help with clean up, putting feet to their prayers. And while they are student trips, they are not just for students. I would love to see the day when Jess doesn’t have to worry about having enough volunteers to make the trip happen. Just saying.

But it’s also true that you don’t have to go away somewhere to put feet to your prayers. I’ve already mentioned the ongoing work in Sullivan as they recover from the tornado that hit there March 31. I also posted this last week about a need at 14th & Chestnut Community Center. They’re looking for some summer help in the kitchen, and they always need volunteers in all sorts of areas. We pray about alleviating poverty and helping those in need, but are we willing to put feet on that prayer? Can you give a few hours a week to let your “Amen” be more than a simple closing word? Putting feet to our prayers can be as simple as reading to a child, taking the time to let them know that they matter both to you and to God. Or one of my favorite walking prayers is through mentoring. I’m going to embarrass one of our members right now, but when I thought of this practice, I immediately thought of Chuck Speer. The other night, we were at Dairy Queen and ran into Ben and Hollie Horner with Owen and Alayna. And as we were talking, I learned Owen has a new goal: he wants to be a drummer in the praise band one day because Chuck has been mentoring and teaching him. Chuck’s already done that with Dominic and you’ve seen him playing on Sunday mornings. So I have no doubt that Owen will achieve his goals all because an adult put feet to the prayers of this church to raise up the next generation. Who could you be mentoring? Who could you be pouring your life into so that your “Amen” becomes permission and encouragement for the next generation of those who follow Jesus?

I also recognize there are those for whom physical conditions make it difficult to go on a mission trip or even serve in a kitchen feeding kids. So your “Amen” might look like supporting those who can. I love when our students sell their summer t-shirts and then ask for sponsors, seeing all the names of folks from here who maybe can’t go to Kentucky or Camp Barnabas but are supporting what the students are doing and praying for them. You can also reach out through the power of a donation. The two best organizations I know who are out there, making a difference in Jesus’ name and utilizing the funds entrusted to them in the best and most effective way possible, are Samaritan’s Purse and our own UMCOR. Especially with UMCOR, 100% of what you give goes directly to aid those who are in need because their operating expenses are supported through the giving of the local churches. Sacrificing some of what you have, maybe giving up a meal out or a (ugh!) drink at Starbucks so that others can have what they need is a wonderful way to say, “Amen.”

And so John, the elder, the last of the disciples, sees a vision of the worship taking place in eternity. He hears these songs, sung by the saints of the ages and the angels and some people who are called “the elders.” They sing of things that have been true from the foundation of the world. “Salvation belongs to our God…Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever” (7:10, 12). They sing as if these things are true “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10), because from the perspective of eternity, they are. Already. When we look around, it’s easy to see that his kingdom has not yet completely come on earth as it is in heaven, and we are not fully delivered from evil yet. There are still places God’s name needs to be hallowed. But as we pray and work, work and pray, as we love God, love people and love life, as we repeat the loud refrain of “Amen,” maybe, just maybe we’ll begin to get a glimpse of the truth these saints already know. There is coming a day when a multitude of people, from every nation, tribe, people and language, will gather around the table of the Lord and cry out, “Amen!” So be it! So, church, it’s time to put feet to our prayers and prayers to our feet. Let’s not tire until all the world knows the saving grace of Jesus Christ. To that, let all God’s people say, “Amen!” Let’s pray.