In this sermon Greg Boyd calls us to a sober mindset about the reality of the modern-day empire. Just as Revelation originally challenged the early church to resist the empire of Rome, so too the Spirit of God calls us to resist the delusions of the modern global empire.
Watch/Listen
The Beast of Perpetual Ascendancy
• Greg Boyd
Show Extended Summary Hide Extended Summary
Greg opens this sermon by reiterating the teaching from Shawna and Dan from the last two weeks about being sober minded from 1 Peter 5:8. This means to see reality clearly, as it actually is. In this way, we are not deluded into putting our hope in things which cannot actually fulfill what they promise.
Revelation provides us with a sober view of reality. Against all the deluded propaganda of the Roman empire, along with all of the intoxicating proclamations that gods throughout history have claimed, Revelation announces, “Here is what is really going on.” In chapter 13, we see two beasts which aim to hide the truth of reality. This sermon shows us how the dragon and the two beasts delude and entrap us, and then identifies concrete ways that we can have a sober mind about reality.
The beasts appear beautiful to those who buy into their intoxicating lies. We are naturally attracted to their promises of prosperity, security and the “best life now” mindset. Greg points out two things that help us to see the beast for what it is. First, the beast is no longer operating within any one particular empire. In our modern reality, for the first time in history, the entire world has become a single “industrialized global civilization.” One expert on this reality states, “For the first time in history, the world’s societies have become a single, tightly coupled, globalized system.” Revelation speaks of the whole world being part of a single empire that deceives “all the inhabitants of the earth.” It is only possible to speak this way over the last 40-50 years.
Secondly, this global industrialized integrated complex is governed by one overriding principle: monetary growth. Everything must grow year over year for the economies in this globalized system to continue. If it stops growing, the economy will collapse. We can see this in almost every aspect of life, from individual businesses to the size of our homes. As with ancient Rome, which thought it could last forever, our global economic imperative is based on the promise that this growth can go on forever. However, this belief in perpetual growth is not sober. Our global interconnected civilization can no more last forever than could the Roman civilization.
We are called to resist this beast. Greg offers two reminders for how we can resist. First, place all your hope in the Lamb. Jesus is the only one who actually fulfills his promises. He always has and always will. We must be sober minded because our hope is in the Lamb and not in the world’s economy or technology. We must develop habits that bring us back to this reality and train our eyes to fixate on the vision of Jesus. Secondly, get off the dopamine hamster wheel. We must let go of the fix we get when we anticipate the fulfillment that something new will provide. It is merely a chemical buzz in our brains that never lives up to what it promises. The global economic imperative runs on dopamine. We must see if for what it is and, with sober mindedness, let it go.
Hide Extended SummarySermon Series: The Unveiling, Dragon Slayers
Downloads & Resources
Audio File
Study guide
Transcript
Group Study Guide
The MuseCast: November 18
Focus Scripture:
-
Revelation 13:3-4, 7-8
The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” … It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
One thought on “The Beast of Perpetual Ascendancy”
Leave a Reply
Hi, the transcript listed here is from the previous sermon. Do you have a most recent one?
Thanks!
John