The Meaning of the Millenium
2 Peter 3:3-14

When I was in College I was not much of a party goer. I was much happier to withdraw to my room and let others stay up until the wee hours of the night. But every once in a while, it was impossible to escape the party, because the party came to me. The partying would engulf the entire dorm, and it was quite useless to try to escape it. I became a part of it whether I wanted to be or not and the only thing to do was make the best of it.

That is a bit how I feel about Millennium celebrations. Whether we like it or not there is a global party about to happen, and there is no escaping it. A small part of the celebration is even going to engulf our home. So my question this morning is, since this thing is going to happen whether we like it or not, how can we make the best of it? Does January 1 -- the beginning of the third millenium have any meaning for me as a Christian?

A year ago I would have said no. But a British New Testament scholar named Tom Wright has convinced me otherwise. According to Wright that the millenium presents a great opportunity that Christians must not miss. I'm indebted to Wright for much of what I have to say this morning.

What is the meaning of the Millenium for Christians?

To begin to answer that I need to tell you a very old story. The story takes place 1500 hundred years ago in a remote province of the Roman Empire called Scythia. Scythia was on the edge of the world, North of the Black sea and to Rome it was distant and insignificant. The Romans considered Scythians uncivilized brutes. Politicians didn't travel to Scythia, and not much of importance came from it. It was to Rome what Alaska is to Washington -- without the oil.

In the year 465 a man was born in Scythia whose parents gave him the name Dionysus -- the equivalent of our Denis. This was inconvenient, because Dionysus was a very popular name, and there were hundreds of other Dionysus's around. So when Dionysus got older, to set himself apart from all of the others with the same name, he called himself Dionysus the insignificant. Perhaps he had a problem with low self-esteem. He also became a monk.

When he was 35 years old, in 500 AD, Dionysus the insignificant, left the insignificant Province of Scythia and took the vacation of a lifetime. He travelled to the very significant city of Rome. And while he was in Rome, Dionysus made a proposal. He suggesteda change in the calendar so that years would be counted from the coming of Jesus.

It is entirely the fault of this Scythian monk that most of the world will be celebrating on Friday night. This man who is remembered by almost no one. He called himself insignificant. Yet because of him more than a million people will crowd into Times square, millions of dollars will be spent on fireworks, it will be a huge year for the champagne industry and most of the world will lose a night of sleep. Dionysus the insignificant has left a rather significant legacy. It's quite ironic.

That isn't the only irony of the Millenium. It turns out that Dionysus had his calculations off. He did pretty well considering what he was up against, but he was off by a few years. Jesus was almost certainly born in 4 BC. Which means that if its Jesus birthday that really matters, it passed unnoticed in 1997.

And even if Dionysus had been right, we are still off in our celebration. First of all, Dionysus began counting years with 1, not with 0. Jesus was born, according to his way of figuring, at the beginning of year 1. Jesus would have celebrated his first birthday at the beginning of year 2. Which means that by Dionysus reckoning this Christmas will be the nineteen hundred and ninety-ninth anniversary of Jesus birth. Jesus 2000th birthday will not come until next year. To add to the confusion, Dionysus would not have considered January 1 the beginning of anything. March 25 was New Year's Day for him. He dated the coming of Jesus not from his birth, but from his conception by the Holy Spirit. Which means that if Dionysus were here, he would be waiting until March 25, 2001 to celebrate the Millenium. Whatever way you cut it, we will all be celebrating on the wrong day.

There is a simple lesson to learn from all of this confusion over dates: Our ways of counting and calculating years and dates are accidents of our culture and our history. It is pure foolishness to think that God's calendar is somehow tied to the way we count. The sovereign creator of the universe is not at the mercy of our counting system, or our mistakes in math.

The first lesson of the millenium for us is this: Time is in God's hands and not ours. History unfolds according to his timing, not according to ours.

That is exactly the point that Peter makes in 2 Peter 3. The Christians this letter was written to were getting worried and perhaps a bit impatient. Jesus was supposed to be returning, but he seemed to be taking his time about it. People around them were making fun of their expectation. Peter says to them, in effect, God keeps his own daytimer, and he is under no obligation to sychronize it with yours. He is on his own schedule. It is God's word alone that keeps the earth rotating. It is God's word alone that keeps the earth and the moon in orbit around the Sun:

. . . by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly me.

It is God's word that preserves the universe, the world and us. Our feeble methods of counting years are of no significance in God's eyes. He will not be swayed by a big crystal ball being lowered in Times square. He is not moved by millions of people counting down the seconds. And he will not be affected by the trivial glitches in our computers. 1000 years from now our civilization may be dust -- New York City may very well be a pile of rubble, just as Ancient Rome is today -- but that 1000 years is like a grain of sand in the ocean to God. And that is what Peter goes on to tell us in verse 8:

. . . don't forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.

A millennium seems like a terribly long time to us. Let me help you put it in perspective. Most of you have probably met someone who is over 90 years old. On Monday a group of us was over at Loomis House with a number of people over 90. Now if we took just 22 people who are at least 91 years old, and we asked them to line up here at the front of the church, they would represent two millenia of life. There are just 22 of people 91 years old between us and Jesus. Just 22 lifespans. That brings a millennium down to size, and it helps us to see how trivial 1000 years is when measured even against the age of the universe, let alone against eternity.

The first lesson of the millenium is that God is in control of time, and we are not.

There is another, more important lesson of the millenium for us.

When Dionysus went to Rome in 500 AD, even though his calculations were off, the calendar change that he proposed had enormous political significance. The last time the calendar had been messed with was about 200 years earlier. At that time the emperor Diocletian had decided that the calendar should be reset to 1 to mark the beginning of his reign. You see, unlike Dionysus, Diocletian did not consider himself insignificant. Like most Roman emperors he considered himself a god and demanded worship. Diocletian considered the beginning of his rule to be the start of a great new era in the history of Rome and of the world -- an era that would never end. Unfortunately there was an irritating Jewish sect that stood in his way. As a result, Diocletian is best known for trying to wipe out Christians. Why? Because Christians proclaimed a different Lord. When Diocletian reset the calendar he was asserting his power and his Lordship. He was saying, I am the center of history, I am the Lord of the world.

200 years later, when Dionysus the insignificant proposed changing the calendar, he was making a symbolic political statment. He was saying, Jesus is the center of history. Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not.

That is the real meaning of the millenium. Not just the millenium, but every New Year's day we symbolically declare that the real center of history and the real Lord is not Caesar, but Christ.

Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not.

The only appropriate way to celebrate the Millennium is to proclaim and live out the Lordship of Jesus. How?

2 Peter 3:11 asks that question: Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? And the answer is: You ought to live holy and Godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.

I see two suggestions here for how to live out the Lordship of Jesus.

1. First, we look forward to the day of God.

Right now Jesus Lordship is veiled. The Caesars of the world have the illusion of real power, and it is easy to be taken in by the illusion. But we know that their power is not real, and on the day of God, their weakness and emptiness will be disclosed and they will be swept away. We live in anticipation of the day when Prime Ministers and Dictators, dictatorial employers and power hungry department chairs -- when everyone who every held a clipboard in their hand and tyrranized other people -- will be exposed and silenced.

I vividly remember the pictures of General Noriega of Panama, after he was stripped of his power. He looked pitiful -- almost ridiculous. And to look at those pictures it was hard to imagine that he once terrified people. Looking forward to the day of God means recognizing that even the most intimidating and powerful person I know will one day cower in humiliation before the true Lord of the Universe.

And the thought that should frighten me is that I am one of those Caesars. The Caesar I most have to worry about is right here. I need to humble myself before the Lord Jesus now, lest I be forcefully humbled by him later. To live my life without holy fear of Jesus Lordship is to live an illusion.

How ought we to live out Jesus Lordship -- which is the real meaning of the Millenium? You ought to live holy and Godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.

2. We live out the Lordship of Jesus not only be looking forward to the day of God, but by speeding its coming.

This is an odd thought. How could I possibly speed up the plans of the Sovereign God? I am not sure entirely what this means, but let me suggest one way of making sense of it:

Imagine you live in a housing development that badly hit by a strong earthquake. Many of the houses are damaged beyond repair. In a few days, although you're not quite sure exactly when, a wrecking crew is going to come through, and every house that is structurally unsound will be completely destroyed. But those buildings that are solid will remain and will become part of a completely rebuilt neighborhood. Not only that, they will be improved -- brought up to par with the new buildings that will replace the old damaged ones.

The question is, how would you spend your time while waiting for the wrecking crew? Would you spend your time painting and wall papering one of the condemned houses? Of course not! You would work on what you know is going to last.

And in some sense, by working on that which is going to become a part of the new neighborhood, you are speeding the day of its coming.

How can we begin work on God's new neighborhood now? By investing in what will last. God has told us clearly that there are actions and deeds which are like wood, hay and straw -- they will be consumed. And there are other deeds like gold, silver and costly stones that will remain.

How do we tell the difference?

Imagine in your mind a great pile of all of your deeds and accomplishments. Diplomas and degrees, small acts of kindness, all the things you've ever written or said -- even every thought you've ever had. This huge pile is going down a conveyor belt through a massive incinerator. On the other side, what will remain? Only those words and deeds which have engraved on them, "done for the sake of Jesus." Not our "good" deeds. Most of our good deeds are done for ourselves to build up our own Lordship -- they are wall-paper on a condemned house.

I was taught a little rhyme as a child that encapsulates the lesson: But one life, and that soon past. Only what's done for Christ will last.

After the wreckers come through, when Jesus inaugurates His new heaven and new earth, will there be any lasting trace of our work here?

As we participate together in our last communion celebration of this year, let us acknowledge the meaning of the Millennium: Jesus alone is Lord. And let us do so by repenting of every deed that dims his glory, and every action that exalts self above him.