The Gospel Is Flying!

17th Sunday after Pentecost
“Walking Together” Synod Sunday, 9/19/10
Revelation 14:6


The Gospel Is Flying!
I. The gospel is flying through God’s people.
II. The gospel is flying to all people.


Here in the Miami Valley the vehicle license plates from North Carolina are met with more than a little contempt. They read, “First in Flight” as if everything that Orville and Wilbur Wright did right here in Dayton is of little importance. Certainly it was a momentous 12 second, 120 foot long flight there at Kitty Hawk, but it wouldn’t have happened had the Wright Brothers not spent months on end in highly technical work right here.

OK, maybe we’re being a little too sensitive here. Most people who know anything about human flight know that it began right here. We even speak of Dayton as the birthplace of aviation.

But long before Orville and Wilbur Wright tested out their theories regarding heavier than air flight, things had been flying. And I’m not speaking about birds. I’m speaking about the gospel. The Apostle John saw it flying in a vision. He writes, “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” We’ll talk about what this angel was a little later. What impressed John was how quickly, how far, how wide the gospel was flying.

If only we’d see that today! From our vantage point in 2010 it doesn’t appear to by flying at all; it looks more like it’s grounded like a damaged 747. More and more laws are enacted which chip away at Christian morality. Fewer and fewer Americans insist that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. Membership in Christian congregations and attendance at worship continue their slow decline. Is the gospel flying anymore?

If it weren’t for John’s Revelation we certainly might say that it isn’t. But God’s word in Revelation fills us with comfort and confidence in the face of a world that would love to see the gospel grounded for good. Indeed, the gospel is flying! The gospel is flying! Let’s see how and in what way as we study this vision together.

Part I.

If you’ve gone through the museums here in Dayton that comprise the National Aviation Trail, you know how many difficult challenges Orville and Wilbur Wright had to overcome in order to make human flight a reality. First, they had to develop an aircraft with sufficient forward thrust to keep the aircraft in the air. Next, they had to develop a flying machine in which they had three-axis control, an incredibly complex undertaking for their time.

But those challenges to human flight were nothing compared to the challenges to the gospel flying. In three of the four visions leading up to the verse before us this morning, John got a glimpse of what the enemies of the gospel looked like. The first enemy John saw was “an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.” That’s Satan himself who is at war with the church. And he enlists two other deadly monsters, “a beast coming out of the sea” and a “beast coming out of the earth.” The first beast represents Satan’s evil use of earthly governments and the second beast is his evil use of false teachers.

What John saw was a nightmare for the Christian church. He saw the saints dying and the church engaged in a deadly battle with terrible, powerful enemies. Perhaps John felt much like Daniel did after seeing similar visions from the Lord. He was sick and lay in bed for days. But what about the people who had to live through such a nightmare?

That’s you and me. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s rough out there for the church, including our own synod. We’ve had to recall home and world missionaries and tell them, “We can’t support you anymore. You’ll have to come home.” We’ve had to tell a few teacher and pastor candidates who graduated last May, “We don’t have a place yet for you to serve. You’re going to have to wait to share the gospel with others in the public ministry.” Our total membership in the WELS in 2009 once again showed a slight decline. The losses in many other denominations are staggering.

And yet Jesus’ promise to us through John is this, “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” He’s given us the gospel to proclaim. The gospel is good news, not bad news. No matter what the outward situation in the world or in the church, we still have the good news of our salvation through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And in that gospel Jesus tells us, “I have written your name in the book of life. I wrote your name in that book with the ink of my blood. Believe it. You’re mine.”

But who is the angel in this verse? The early Lutheran theologians felt it was Martin Luther. Indeed, it includes Martin Luther but it isn’t limited to him. You see, the word angel really means “messenger.” Usually we think of angels as being God’s special, invisible messengers. But in Revelation the word “angel” is used to include any Christian who carries or proclaims the gospel to others.

That gospel flies with one of God’s messengers when the Sunday School teacher tells her class, “Jesus died on a cross for your sins and rose from the dead.” The gospel flies with one of God’s messengers when a pastor baptizes an infant saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” That gospel flies with one of God’s messengers when a teacher or professor in our Lutheran classrooms says, “Jesus gives the whole world forgiveness that is full and free.” But you don’t have to be a teacher or a pastor to be a messenger flying with the gospel. There are hundreds of thousands of us witnessing to others about our faith in Christ by our words and deeds. It’s one friend talking to another friend about Christ. It’s people gathering to study and discuss God’s saving word together. It happens in Hong Kong and New York and Centerville, OH. It happens in your homes. It happens here.

The gospel is flying. It’s flying through God’s people.

Part II.

But let’s be honest. Let’s get personal for a second. Is the gospel flying through you? Not the person sitting next to you. You. Is the gospel flying through you? To find out, take a little quiz. #1) Do you always look for opportunities to share Jesus with others? #2) Do you make an effort to invite others to worship or study the Bible with you? #3) Have you done everything in your power to share the gospel of Jesus Christ? The truth is, none of us have. We’ve all failed.

But even so, we’re redeemed children of God. We remain redeemed children of God. Our eternity remains secure. Our names are written in the book of life. Our sins are forgiven. What’s more, God has made sure that angel after angel has flown into your life with the gospel so that we remain children of God through faith in Jesus. Pastors, teachers, parents, even our children proclaim the gospel to us. They tell us our sins are forgiven. That’s God’s good news for us. And that good news not only brings us forgiveness, it also brings us the power to proclaim the gospel to others.

That means that God makes you one of these angels who flies with the gospel to others. You are the fulfillment of these words, “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” Through you God is sharing his gospel with others. It was never his plan to share that gospel himself. It wasn’t even his plan to use his holy angels exclusively to share his gospel with others. It was always his plan to use his people. That’s you and me.

In fact, we’re doing it in midair. Companies pay huge sums of money to get their message as large as possible and as high in the air as possible. Sometimes they pay to have their message displayed on a banner being pulled by an aircraft. They want their message seen far and wide.

It’s the same with the gospel. God uses us to proclaim it “to every nation, tribe, language and people.” You are only one person and you only know a few people out of all the billions of people on earth. You probably speak only one language or maybe two at the most. How can you possibly fly to every nation, tribe, language and people? It’s true that you’re just one person, but you join with many other Christians who want the gospel to fly just like you do. That’s one of the reasons you’re a member of this church. That’s why this church is a member of the Wisconsin Synod. We want all people to hear the gospel. In fact, the word “synod” means we’re walking together.

Together in the Wisconsin Synod the gospel really is flying to people of every nation, tribe, language and people. We saw an example of it in the WELS Connection video. You made that happen through your offerings to our synod. Those offerings trained the pastors. Those offerings were used by the Board for Home missions to support that mission effort. And that sort of effort is being duplicated all over the world by you through our synod Currently 40% of the Home Missions budget is being spent on multicultural mission work. The gospel is flying to people of other nations and cultures and languages through you. Your offerings are training the next class of teacher graduates, many of whom will teach in classrooms filled with students from many different languages and cultures. The gospel is flying through you to all people.

And it’s all because the gospel has first flown to you. At your baptism, through the teaching and preaching of the word, at the Lord’s Supper the gospel has flown to you, bringing you faith in Christ and the forgiveness of sin, assuring you of heaven’s eternal glory.

There were many who said that human flight couldn’t be done during the days of Orville and Wilbur Wright. There are many who say the church is dying today. But it just isn’t true. The gospel is still flying. Let’s make sure it keeps flying! Amen.