Ready Without Knowing When

Transcript

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[0:01] Okay. Before we begin our next reading, I have to tell you about a song and I need you all to stand up. Jenny knows it. Yeah. Yeah. Kaya knows it too. Kaya knows it too. That's great. When I was in Girl Scouts, we went to camp and this was our theme for the week. It goes like this, I'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic.

[0:36] I'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic. I'm alive, awake, alert. I'm alert, awake, alive. I'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic. Then you do a spin and then you go faster the next time around, and then you do another spin and then you go faster, and until you are just falling all over yourself. Okay. You can sit down.

[1:05] I learned that at Girl Scout camp. I don't remember. I think I was like 10, and our counselors were all high schoolers. The first day that I learned it was the first day we arrived at camp, and it was the middle of the afternoon, so that was totally acceptable. We were alive, and awake, and alert, and enthusiastic. So we learned that song, and we learned that song when we were bright and chipper. As the week progressed, it got more and more disruptive. So we started singing it a lot. Our counselors started singing it a lot. Whenever we seemed to be lacking energy, they would sing it and we'd have to stop everything and do this, go through this routine. Then they started singing it first thing in the morning when we first woke up. Sure, that made sense, but on the last day, because they were high schoolers and maybe their judgment was impaired, they woke us up at 3.30 in the morning, and they got us all out of our tents, and they started singing the song, and they would not let up. We were wild by the end of it. Then they told us to go back to bed, which was their mistake because we did not. So we took over, and there was mass chaos. We took over. They were beside themselves because we started singing it. We were so wound up that we just dissolved into chaos.

[2:34] I remember that clearly because they had no control on that last day. But we were alive, and we were awake, and we were very alert and very enthusiastic. So their goal was met. That was their goal. Their goal was to get us awake and alert, and they did it. So I remember that as I read through this passage that we have today.

[3:01] There's a lot of hope in this passage. I know it's strange because it's about the apocalypse, but there is a lot of hope that we have in apocalyptic passages because we have hope that Christ will return, and Christ will make all things right and well and good. So we have this incredible desire. We have this desire to see him return, and this incredible hope that he will.

[3:29] But this passage is all about being alert, and not just awake, but really alive and enthusiastic and ready and willing. And so every time I say something about being awake, I just want you to do the actions.

[3:48] So I think there should be four different times in here, and if you're alert, you should catch them. So Mark 13, 24 through 36. And I'm gonna read it from here. At that time, after the anguish of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory, and he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world, from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven. Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that the summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that his return is very near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene before all these things take place. Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

[5:08] However, no one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. And since you don't know when that time is, be on guard. Stay alert.

[5:27] The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. When he left home, he gave each of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return. You too must keep watch, for you don't know when the master of the household will return. In the evening, at midnight before dawn, or at daybreak, don't let him find you sleeping.

[5:59] When he arrives without warning, I say to you what I say to everyone, watch for him. Well done. Good job. So we all like to know what's going on, don't we? And it's difficult sometimes to admit that we don't have all the answers, or the insight. And I think that this kind of mindset is a direct result of our need for technology at our fingertips. Like, we have all the answers. We can learn a new language, we can get any answer we need, any trivia answer, certainly. We can figure most things out very quickly. Because we have the technology at the tips of our fingers.

[6:54] And so maybe this is the motive behind our fascination and our speculation with the end of days. And maybe we have a hard time with the fact that Jesus really clearly says, nobody knows the hour. And honestly, we don't like that answer. Instead, we like to think of ourselves as people of understanding and knowledge. And if nothing else, we don't know the answer. And if nothing else, the Enlightenment taught us that we are people of reason and capacity and intellect and insight.

[7:28] There's an author and a speaker named Marie Forleo who once wrote, everything is figureoutable. And frankly, like I said, with everything at our fingertips, everything is figureoutable. We can master pretty much any skill that we set our minds to. With just enough time and motivation.

[7:53] So it stands to reason that we should be able to figure out when Jesus is returning. And prepare accordingly. I think that's the big thing is not just figure it out, but prepare accordingly. Because if I'm honest, some of us would like to be able to procrastinate accordingly. Right? If we figure out exactly when Jesus is coming, we can figure out exactly how much we need to do. We can figure out how much we need to prepare. Just like taking a test. And we can procrastinate until exactly the right time. Or if some of us are high achievers, we can over-prepare. And either way, we'll know. We'll know when it's happening. And obviously there are plenty of issues with this line of thinking. But it's also, specifically the issue is that it's in direct contradiction to what we've been told.

[8:47] Not just in this passage. But in Isaiah 55, 8-9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

[9:07] So the way God thinks about time and space and eternity and everything else is different than the way we think about it. And I'd even say that His ways are the right ways. And that we know as much as He wants us to know. And that's hard to hear. We like to think that we know more. Or we could know more. Or maybe God would let us in on a little secret. But to think that we know as much as He wants us to know feels limiting. It feels like God's not allowing us information. And that feels wrong.

[9:50] But He knows exactly how much information we can handle. And what information is good for us. So this sentiment is shared in Deuteronomy 29 and in Romans 11-33. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of the law.

[10:15] So with that in mind, the rest of the time together, I'm going to focus on what we can know and what impact His words may have on our day-to-day living. But before we go into the rest of it, I'd like to just start with a word of prayer.

[10:35] God, thank you for your wisdom in protecting our knowledge. God, we ask for your blessing over your word and over the life of our children. And we ask for the words that are spoken today. God, would you speak to our hearts and to our minds. And would you help us to connect with your Spirit on a level that you want us to connect with you. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[11:04] So in the first section of our passage today, we get some really interesting imagery that sounds a lot like something you might read in the book of Revelation. What does it mean that the stars will fall from the sky and that the sun will grow dark? And when that happens, we should expect to see the Son of Man coming. I have to be honest that if that were to happen, I think a lot of us would actually die from the shock of it because clearly God's ways are not like our ways.

[11:40] I actually, I read in one commentary that said these apocalyptic, cosmic events are often used to describe the fall of governments. So it could be that that's a metaphor. Maybe it will feel like the stars are falling from the sky because everything's going to be in such great upheaval. Maybe everything we know will dissolve and disintegrate into nothingness. So literal or figurative, either way, it sounds like a pretty crazy string of events. And either way, this is exactly why it's so difficult to interpret the end times. There are so many different angles and perspectives that we can take on what Jesus is saying here. Even the fig tree seems to indicate that we'll be able to discern the season and therefore have a good idea about what's going to happen next. The problem, of course, with this is our human desire for understanding. And so for all our interpretations in our computers, and our instantly accessible knowledge, we're left with this mystery of timing and other mysteries. We're left with an unknown. We're left knowing that no one knows and that no one will know the exact timing of when Jesus will return, not even the angels in heaven.

[13:06] So we're powerless. Sort of. There is something we need to do in the meantime. We are supposed to respond to this ambiguity and mystery of timing and of the end times in a certain way. And this next section of Mark gives us some direction. In this passage, we see the idea of being a watchman.

[13:34] In biblical times, a watchman played a crucial role in the community, particularly in the context of cities and fortified settlements. The term watchman is mentioned in various passages in the Bible, and their function was mostly to keep a lookout and provide security for the city or community they served. So all of us are proverbial watchmen, and we are called to be spiritually awake and discerning the signs of the times. How do we keep watch? How do we grow in wisdom and discernment? How do we know if this decade is worse off than the last? Because oftentimes I hear people saying, oh, it's getting close. The end of times is getting close because things are happening. But then you look at previous decades and things happened in previous decades.

[14:32] Obviously, we're closer now than we were decades ago. But how do we know how close? Our faithfulness lies in staying attuned to God's voice through prayer and through scripture and through leading of the Holy Spirit. We get closer to God through these things. And when we get closer to God, we hear his voice. I think I've referenced godly play before, but I love hearing about the prophets who grew so close to God, and God was so close to them that they just knew what he was asking for. I love how that's phrased. And that's what our calling is. Our calling is to grow so close to God. And then God will grow so close to us that we'll just know what his voice sounds like and what his promptings are.

[15:26] And we'll know the leading of the Holy Spirit. So we know for certain that heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus' words will never pass away. As we read in Mark 13, 31. So we invest in the word of God. We read the Bible and we seek to understand the voice of God through the Holy Spirit in our lives. And then in doing so, we can live a life of readiness and the chaotic and unpredictability of the world and the end of the world.

[16:00] Even though we don't know when Jesus will return, we know that he will return someday. That's where our hope lies. This is the first week of Advent, and the theme of this week is hope. And that's where it all comes in. We don't know the when. We know the meantime is going to be hard, and maybe harder than anything we've ever known. But we do know, we do know that he will return someday. And because of this, we can live with boldness and confidence as we live out the gospel for others to see. And that's the main thing, is that in order to be ready and awake, we have to live out the gospel in our lives, in our everyday lives. Our lives need to reflect the truth of the salvation of Christ.

[16:54] So our urgency in living out the gospel stems from the fact that we don't know how long we have left. We just know that for as long as we have the gospel, we have the opportunity to do so, we need to live out the gospel. And especially live out the gospel in a way that draws others closer to Christ. We talk about sharing the gospel with others, and we share the gospel with others. That's an urgent thing we need to do. But first and foremost, we share it by living it out.

[17:27] So earlier in Mark 13, Jesus says, And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. So again, we know for certain that the gospel must be shared with everyone before the return of Christ. And amidst all of life's uncertainties, we know that the Great Commission is our imperative command. Jesus came and told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you, and be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

[18:14] One of the important things to remember about the Great Commission is that Jesus promises to be with us always. That's kind of one of the reasons I love Communion Sunday, because we remember through sacrament Jesus' commitment to us, that he is with us always. And we go to a special place during sacraments where we commune with God on a different level and remember that he is never going to abandon us.

[18:46] What an uplifting and encouraging reality. It's another promise that we can be absolutely certain of, and that's also where our hope comes from. I wonder if Eric can have a microphone go around. I want to take a moment to share a couple of things. One, where you get hope, and also where have you seen his faithfulness play out in different seasons of life? You can just raise your hands after you've contemplated that question, and we'll, yeah, Eric's ready with the microphone. Sorry, I kind of sprung that on you. But yeah, where have you seen hope, and where have you seen his faithfulness play out in the different seasons of your life?

[19:42] I think Adele and then Andres. Well, I have a daughter that I adore who is not a believer, and she's in the church. She's in her 30s. It's been a long, ever since she was born, I've been praying for her and hoping. And she has a child now and another one on the way, and she's wanting to take the family to church.

[20:15] So it is a major, major thing in our lives, and just the way that God answers prayer. He doesn't answer prayer in the way that I ask him to, which is thank God for that. He is moving in our lives, so there is hope.

[20:38] I think Andres had his hand up. Oh, no, never mind. So at least in general, I see hope in times of difficulty. I see hope in trials. So through difficult times, I don't know if I will mention too many of the specifics, but just the times where maybe when it's dark, I see glimmer of hope, and maybe that light shines more brightly in times of difficulties and trials. I also see general hope in terms of fellowship when I have other friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, who come join together. So just general concepts. Yeah. Okay. So, I think, you know, just keeping the church alive is the key. Right. Right. Right. Right.

[21:49] Right. Right. greater. Yeah, excellent. Thank you. We all have these moments of hope and we can have this ultimate hope because we know that there's this happy ending to our story and not just a happy ending but one that lasts forever. In the meantime, we also have fear and we have doubt. And fear and doubt are the opposite of hope, right? But we don't need to be hindered by those fears and those doubts. But we can live our lives in a way that people readily see Christ in us because they see this hope that cancels out the fears and those doubts. And that boggles people's minds because everyone in the world has fears and doubts. Everyone does. But not everyone has a hope that surpasses everything. And so that confuses people when we don't when we don't succumb to these fears and doubts because we have something stronger holding us to the future.

[23:18] So this is a very important question. I'm going to read it to you. So people will see Christ in us and that's one way to share the gospel freely. So let's not get overly consumed with knowing the exact time or dates of Jesus' return, but rather let us be consumed with living for him as though he has already returned. As we await his return, let's be let our lives be a testament to the transformative power of a relationship. with Christ. And as we navigate the mystery of the unknown hour, let's fix our gaze on the revealed truth, the certainty of Christ's return, the call to stay awake and alert, and the imperative to live a life of bold faith. May we be found faithful, eagerly awaiting the glorious return of our Lord and Savior, and may we press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus was born.

[24:22] Right here in this church in the church hall in the church hall in the church hall in the church hall in the church hall in the church hall in the church hall in the where you've already come so we can have this hope, and yet you've not yet returned, so we wait in eager anticipation. God, help us to be alive, awake, and alert, and to live our lives boldly for you. These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.