7UP:
TOTAL
Revelation 1:17-20
September 7, 2008
A woman went into the doctor’s office for a condition that had been going on for 7 days. She was assigned to the new doctor in the office. At exactly 7 minutes after he went in to see her, she came running out of the room and screaming as she ran down the hall. The senior doctor in the office heard the commotion and corralled the woman. After calming her down, he got her to tell her what happened. The doctor stormed down the hallway to where the new doctor was calmly writing on the woman’s chart.
“What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Smith has been a patient here for decades. She has seven children and now 7 grandchildren. She is 67 years old and you told her that she was pregnant? What’s the matter with you?” ranted the senior doctor.
Without looking up the new doctor asked, “Does she still have the hiccups?”
We are going to start a new series entitled 7UP. As I talked about in the summer, this series will focus on seven areas that make up a holistic community. These are seven areas that the follower of Jesus needs to give God the control over in OUR lives. Today we are going to look at the importance of the number seven in Judaism and Christianity. Then next week we will begin looking at each of the seven areas in turn.
Each of these seven areas has a corresponding symbol and also a corresponding deadly sin that they work to offset. So you can keep these in mind, here are the seven areas, their corresponding symbols, and the deadly sin that they offset:
Symbol Area Deadly Sin
Fire Spiritual Pride
Water Emotional Wrath
Oil (anointing) Physical Gluttony
Light Mental Lust
Soil Environmental Sloth
Air Social Envy
Metal (gold) Financial Greed
Now there are other areas that we might be able to identify that we could add or just talk about. And I have prayerfully considered some of these but I really believe in limiting these to seven and I think some of the other areas that we could come up with will be covered in one of these. Two examples might be vocation also called work and then recreation. These are two important areas of our lives but I believe that a combination of these areas encompass those areas. Work is covered under financial and environmental which offset the sins of greed and sloth. Recreation is covered under social, physical, and even could be addressed by financial and physical as well.
Speaking of work, Morris was an obnoxious mechanic but he was good at his job. One day he spotted the chief heart surgeon waiting to pick up his Mercedes. Wanting to prove that he was just as good as the doctor, he called the doctor over. "So, Mr. Fancy Doctor, look at dis here work. I ALSO open hearts, take valves out, grind ’em, put in new parts, and when I finish dis baby will purr like a kitten. So how come you get da big bucks, when you an’ me is doing basically da same work?" The surgeon leaned over and whispered to Morris the loudmouth mechanic, "Try doing it with the engine running."
So why seven? What is so important about the number seven?
In the bible the number seven is hugely important. It occurs 329 times in the bible and if you include the word, “seventh,” that becomes 524. A majority of these occur in the first five books of the bible. It is hugely important.
God rested on the seventh day. He created humans on the sixth day making six a human number indicating that humans are incomplete without God being in their lives. Seven peoples were driven out of Israel by the Hebrews. After killing Abel, Cain was protected by God saying that anyone who tried to take matters in their own hands to punish Cain would receive punishment seven fold. Not only is the day of rest the seventh day but every seven years was to be a year of rest for the land and the canceling of debts. Then in the fiftieth year, which is seven times seven years, this was to be the year of Jubilee, a great celebration of God’s greatness. The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted for seven days. There was a lampstand in the tabernacle and temple with seven candles. Seven priests went around Jericho seven times and on the seventh day of doing that the walls came down. In Matthew Jesus takes seven loaves of bread and multiplies them to feed the multitude and there are seven baskets left over. Jesus also pronounces seven curses on the hypocritical teachers of the law. Seven men were chosen in Acts to distribute food. There are seven lampstands in the book of Revelation that symbolize the seven churches. Seven is hugely important. Why is that? Because it is a symbol.
Seven symbolizes completion.
It is the symbol of being complete or total. Sometimes also indicating perfection. For example, the seven lampstands in Revelation are not indicating that only seven churches existed. These seven specific churches were used to indicate or represent the whole. These seven show us about ourselves. Perhaps your church is not specifically addressed but consider which one might best represent you and what warning do you need to heed.
Thus this sermon is called TOTAL because we want to focus on being complete or totally or wholly committed to God. Seven is a holistic number. It is complete. It is total. While we could break things down and come up with many more areas, the seven areas of holistic community are symbolic (and pretty comprehensive as well) of being complete as in completely or totally set apart or sanctified for God’s use.
There are three main lessons that I think we can pull out of those churches especially in terms of our preparation for these seven areas of holistic community. First is that we will need discernment.
• Discernment
The whole point of being completely sanctified is being able to see areas of our lives and parts of ourselves that need relinquished. The letters to the churches were designed to give discernment to these congregations to see themselves as God sees them. These seven areas are categories and tools that we can use for God to use to help us move deeper in our spirituality. They are ways to discern what things we may or may not be trusting God with.
I can honestly say that in every one of these areas God has or even is working on me to reveal ways that I need to grow. I’ll give you one example. God has really been revealing to me some insights into what it means to cultivate lasting relationships. This lies in the social arena. This is more than just deep friendships and community in the present but what is needed from me and from others and from life circumstances to have deep friendships with people that last for decades. And honestly this is a struggle for me for a variety of reasons including the transient nature of pasturing.
We need discernment in a variety of areas. Secondly, we need:
• Determination
This is what someone once called: stick-with-it-ness. Not giving up. Not giving in. Recognizing that sometimes God reveals things and areas that I don’t want to give up to him. These are seven areas to give up, thus 7UP, to God’s control. And that means at times, I need to know my limits. This is hard sometimes because I want to see so much happen for God’s glory except. And you know what? Sometimes I need to stick with what God has put in front of me and be patient for God to do his thing.
I want to show a clip that illustrates our need to know our limits. [Show clip from Dark Knight.]
So if I could summarize what being determined means here, it is to
o Know your limits
o Be patient
We must be incredible determined in order to be patient because most of us just don’t want to wait for God’s timing. The last thing is:
• Definition
Being completely set apart for God’s use and being a holistic community means able to define who God is calling us to be both individually and corporately. We may need to say “no” to some good things in order to become what we need to be to reach who God wants us to reach. I believe these seven areas are important ways to define who we are.
I’m going to show yet another clip. I don’t show a lot of movie clips but today I have two. This one is the defining moment of the movie entitled, The Devil Wears Prada. Here Andrea makes the choice to be who she believed that she should be. She realizes that she was becoming someone that she had no wish to be. [show clip]
I want to leave you with some homework. First look through the list of seven areas and prayerfully consider where God may already be speaking to you. Ask God for discernment. Secondly, think of two times that you were patient. Perhaps one that you had no choice and then another when you choose to be patient. Then thank God for those moments.
For example, when Micaela was born and in the Neonatal ICU, I had no choice but to be patient. She was there for weeks. Then during a bus ride during that time that got stuck in traffic, I choose to wait patiently for my stop instead of fuming and moaning and about something that I really couldn’t change. Once you have those moments thank God for the determination to keep going.
