Ready Without Obsessing

Transcript

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[0:00] Christmas carol, and we're going to get a chance to sing it before Advent is out. But I love that one. It's just such a breathtaking. Wow. Thank you so much. Well, let's look at our sermon text today. It's from Matthew 24, 36 through 44. And last week, I mentioned that Christ the King Sunday is like New Year's Eve, and Advent 1 or the first Sunday of Advent is like New Year's Day. So the church year, at least liturgically or in the lectionary readings, begins today. So Happy New Year, everybody. And this is the real year. All the rest of the world can have their own years. It doesn't matter. But this is the real year. This is the church year. This is what really matters, isn't it? It's the church, right? Okay. So Happy New Year. And it's just good to say that Advent is not Christmas, right? So we, I mean, just ignore this. That has nothing to do with anything today. You know, it's just beautiful. No, really. We do it because it's nice. But it's not Christmas yet. It's Advent. And Advent is different from Christmas. Advent is about the coming of Jesus. Now, Christmas is definitely part of that. So one way I think we should look at it is that Christmas is not, well, I wrote it down and I could say Christmas is part of Advent.

[1:19] Christmas is definitely part of Advent. It's sort of towards the end of Advent. But Advent is not a part of Christmas. Advent is its own thing. It's not a part of Christmas. It's a part of Advent. It's a part of Advent. And what is Advent? Advent comes from the Latin word advenere. It means the coming of Jesus or the arrival of Jesus. And for us, it's a season of being ready for the arrival of somebody. If you have somebody coming from out of town, they're flying into the airport, what do you do? You meet them at the airport. But before they even get to the airport, you make up the room for them. You make the, you set the bed, right? You buy some extra groceries and you're going to make them dinner. And you plan some things to see around town, right? And you make up the room for them. And you make the bed, right? So you prepare for the arrival of a guest. Advent is the same way. We're preparing for the arrival of Jesus. So Advent is always pointing to the coming of Jesus. But not just Jesus coming at Christmas, coming as a baby. In Advent, we talk about all the various facets of how Jesus comes or at least how he's foretold to come. So today, we're talking about the coming of Jesus at the end of time. Not at Christmas, not 2,000 years ago.

[2:26] But some undefined date in the future. And that word undefined, we'll get to what that means. But some undefined date in the future, we believe and hope that Jesus will come again. And the world will change drastically when he comes. And I don't know how to say this exactly. I'm looking forward to it, but not looking forward to it. Because I'm looking forward to it because I want the consummation of all things to happen. And I want Christ to be victorious over all the brokenness in the world. And I want sin, death, and the sin of the world to be victorious over all the brokenness in the world. And I want the devil to be finally defeated. But at the same time, it's going to be a time of great upheaval and a time of difficulty. And so, you know, those who have gone on before us, not having to possibly see this, may be more blessed in some ways. I don't know. I don't know. So I'm looking forward to it, but not looking forward to it. So that's about, today is about the final coming of Jesus. Just a little preview. Next week is the prelude to the Eucharist. And I'm going to be talking about the prelude to the Eucharist. And I'm going to be talking about the prelude to the Eucharist. And I'm going to be talking about the prelude to the

[3:27] And at least we're going to be reading through the Gospels of John. So next week, we'll be talking about John the Baptist, who prefigures kind of Jesus, or he kind of prepares the way for the coming of Jesus. And Advent 3, we're also going to look at John, but he's going to say this is what the Messiah looks like. This is what to look for when you're looking for the Messiah. And then Advent 4 is actually about the birth of Jesus. It's Matthew's version of the birth of Jesus, much shorter than Luke's version of the birth of Jesus. So that's kind of the roadmap. For Advent, we're waiting for Jesus. We're waiting for the arrival of Jesus. We're preparing for the arrival of Jesus. And so today we're in Matthew 24, which is part of a really long teaching in Matthew. Jesus is teaching his disciples. He's using a lot of parables, but not exclusively parables. And he talks at one point about the end of times, when he's going to come again. And this teaching of Jesus happens in the final week of his life. It happens when they're in Jerusalem, and it happens just a couple of days before he is arrested. And so the context is important to note, is that Jesus is telling them things, these things, right before he dies. And so I would say everything that Jesus teaches

[4:45] his disciples is important, like very important. Like everything he said was important. And hopefully, you know, they were all like writing it down like crazy, you know, or at least remembering it. But just imagine the thing he said in the week before. He died are a little more urgent. There's something a little more, there's a little more power in them. There's a little more at stake because he's like, I got to tell these guys these really important things because it'll be too late in a couple of days. So I really need to tell them this stuff. So this section is part of that sort of context, which is he's about to die. He's about to go to the cross. And he's like, I got to tell them some things about the end. I want them to know this before I go. So let's go to our reading. It's from Matthew 24. Start at verse 36. Jesus says, However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen. We'll talk about what these things are in just a second. When these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah's day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boats. People didn't

[6:02] realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. Two men will be working together in the field. One will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill. One will be taken, the other left. So you too must keep watch, for you don't know what day your Lord is coming. Understand this. If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, and we ask that you would add your blessing to it. In Jesus' name, amen.

[6:59] Well, what I'd like to do is ask you to take your bulletin out and keep your thumb on this passage, because we're kind of going to go through it. This one's short enough where we can kind of just look at a few, not every single one, but a few of the paragraphs one by one. And sometimes we do this, it's just a little more of a deep dive or sort of a verse by verse look at this. And so the first thing that Jesus talks about is these things. Did you catch that, right? This is what Jesus says. He says, No one knows the day or the hour, when, these things will happen. Stranger things? No, that just came out on Netflix, fifth season, very excited. Not that, but these are stranger things. These things Jesus is talking about is major changes in the world and in the sky. There's going to be danger on, if you read, this is the context. If you read a few chapters or paragraphs before this, there's going to be danger on the land. People will want to leave the cities and flee into the hills. They will feel unsafe in the cities. And there's going to be signs in the sky. The darkening of the sun and sort of a tumultuous upset in the heavens, but by which Jesus really means the spiritual world and reign of sort of the spiritual realms.

[8:09] So there's sort of an upset and I guess you could say, like, it would be just kind of a weird vibe, you know, going on in the world all at once. It feels dark out there. It feels dangerous. It feels like everything's on a knife edge. And so there's going to be signs that there's going to be signs, These things are the signs that the end is near. And here's the issue, right? Is he doesn't say, you know, there's going to be an eclipse. And then five days later, there's going to be an earthquake. And then three days later, there's going to be a tsunami. Like this exact sort of thing. It'd be like a cipher that you could decipher and go, oh, exactly that day. It's vague enough. You know, the sky will get dark. Well, that happens kind of a lot, right? And the world feels like it's in all sorts of tumult. Well, that's like, is that every day? Like, that feels like every day. So I don't know. That one, I just, I would set that one aside because it's like, and people want to leave the city and run to the hills. Sometimes, sometimes not. Sometimes I feel safe in town. Sometimes I want to run to the hills.

[9:14] But so for millennia, people thought they have seen this happening because it's vague enough, right? So all sorts of things have triggered the imagination. Two millennia. Of Christians going, that's it. I see it now. So a comet, a comet, you know, Haley's comet comes back every 76 years or so. How many times has Haley's comet, you know, people don't remember it. They're like, oh, there it is. Oh, wait, no. 76 years ago. Grandpa talked about that. Now, I guess it's not it. Okay. Or how about this? An eruption of a volcano halfway across the planet. This has happened. It puts ash into the atmosphere. The sun darkens. What else happens? Crops fail. Because there's not enough sunlight. There's famine. There's what happens after famine?

[9:59] War, right? Well, this is just, this is a volcano. But people looked at that and go, oh, okay. Any day now, right? Wars between nations have led people to think that the end is near. Earthquakes. I could go on and on. You get the idea, right? There's all sorts of like signs out there that people have been trying to sort of, there's sort of these square pegs that they're trying to, you know, they're trying to, you know, trying to put into the round holes or the other way around. What's that?

[10:30] 2012, year 2000, which was really ridiculous because the year 2000 was extremely like arbitrary because it was, it was, the calendar was wrong. Like we don't really know exactly when Jesus was born. So if you're counting from then, you're going to be wrong. You know, that was completely arbitrary. Y2K. Yeah. Yeah. So every time something big in the world happens, we get a few people. Who say, oh, this is it. But what does Jesus say? Right?

[10:58] Jesus says, this is interesting. This I like. He says, we don't know when it'll be. It's so secret that even the son doesn't know. That's weird. Thank you. I agree. Only the father. And that adds kind of a wrinkle to the incarnation. Because Jesus sometimes says, well, I and the father are.

[11:23] I and the father are one. Well, then how can the father know something you don't know? Well, it's a family. Every family has, it's okay for every family to have a few little secrets. Kind of keeps things exciting. But this one's not a little secret, right? This is a big one. It's like, so why is the father keeping it secret? I think Jesus wants everybody to know that they're not going to pry it out of him. Right? They're not going to get them to say, and it's a big deal and it's so secret and it's so unknown that even the son doesn't know the angels don't know. Um, and so it gives it, I know I'm not going to say it ruins the incarnation to puts a wrinkle on the incarnation. There's aspects of things that God, the father knows that the son doesn't know. There's some set of ideas or knowledge that is exclusive to the father. And I think that's okay because it, while they're together, they're also distinct and that's, we kind of work out the Trinity and the incarnation. You kind of have to kind of work those things through, right? So, um, if you have major secrets in your family, maybe get those out. Little secrets. Okay. But major secrets, but I'm not going to tell God how to run his family. That's that's God's family is different than our family in some ways.

[12:31] But, and this is where we need to pay attention. Okay. So Jesus, even the son doesn't know just because the son doesn't know when it'll be doesn't mean we shouldn't be alert to the signs, right? Jesus isn't saying the son doesn't know. So don't, don't worry about it. Jesus is saying it's, it could come like a thief in the night. It could come when you least expect it. And it will, it will. So there's some nuance, uh, that I think we can resolve a little bit, but there's some nuance with this because this put it, put it this way on the one hand, and there's like a two ditches, there's a road and there's two ditches, one ditch on either side and one ditch is, and you could say on in one ditch, you could say, well, here are all the signs. I see them all. The comet, the tsunami. I know that I know exactly when I know for sure when the end is. And it's on the 15th of March. Well, it was March. It was for somebody, but you know, maybe for the whole world, right? So it's on the 15th of March.

[13:28] And Jesus says, no, no, you can't know it that well. You can kind of see it coming, but you can't know it that well. Right? And on the other side, the other ditch you could say is, well, if the sun doesn't even know, let's, why should we bother with it? Like if the sun doesn't know that we should, we shouldn't pay any attention to it all. It's just all a waste of time. But then you say, no, otherwise, why would, why would Jesus tell people what some of the signs are? Do you see what I'm saying? There's some signs, but they're vague. And he's saying, pay attention, but don't, don't make a calendar out of it. Does that make sense? You know, pay it. So it's sort of this sort of narrow path in between these two ways. There's a middle way. What in the middle way is this be watchful, be vigilant, be ready, be ready for Jesus to come back. We can't have our life revolve around watching and waiting. And, and plotting and calculating because then we're not living as God created us to live. But we can't ignore it completely because that, that impetus of the end coming also teaches us how to live. Do you see what I'm saying? We'll, we'll kind of get into it in just a bit. But I, I want to kind of remind us of, you know, this is where some Christians can go wrong.

[14:44] This is where some Christians can waste a lot of their time and a lot of their energy. And so there is a group pretty well known. I'm going to say who they are. They, they would come to Mission Springs every year. Basically, they were often predicting when the end of the world was. They had some math, you know, they had kind of looked at it all and figured it all out. And maybe a few tsunamis and earthquakes had kind of gotten into the mix there. So they pretty much knew when it was coming and they said it'll be next year, about a year from now. But they came to Mission Springs, our Christian camp and conference center, reserved a spot, had a little retreat there together, you know, and Mission Springs said, you know, you're welcome here because we need the money, quite, frankly, we need to keep the place filled up. You know, it's just like a hotel. You need to keep the occupancy up. And, but you can't talk to our staff about all that, that stuff, you know, because in previous years they would kind of hassle the staff and say, do you know what's coming in just a couple of years, you know? And the staff would either get scared or be like, you guys are weird, leave us alone. So they said, you can come back, but you know, you can't hassle the staff about your stuff.

[15:42] Just keep it to yourself. And then they had their retreat. And at the end of their retreat, there was sort of a standard, you know, thing that Mission Springs would do is kind of say, how did the event go? You know, how was the laundry? How was the food? How were the facilities?

[16:02] And then the last question was always, you get first dibs on this exact time next year. Because, you know, you can be an annual visitor. And they're like, should we ask them this? Because that's past, you know, their expiration date on their little bottle of milk there. And they're like, no, no, no, no. Let's just straight face. Let's ask them, you know, do they, do you want your spot next year? Do you want this spot again next year? Exact same time? Yes, we do.

[16:34] OK. Whatever. So I don't know. I mean, they believed it, but they were hedging their bets. So how much did they believe it? I don't know. The point is, it's a caricature. Like, you spend all your time, oh, this, this, this, this, then here, now, then whenever. Even the sun doesn't know. It'll be like a thief in the night. Be ready. Be watchful. Be prepared. Boy Scouts, be prepared. Be prepared. Now, what does being prepared look like? Well, we'll look at that in just a second.

[17:03] Now, let's look at the next section. If your finger's on it, Jesus talks about Noah. He gives us warning from the time of Noah. This is interesting. This is kind of gets this idea. I love that he kind of dips into Old Testament history and explains what it will be like. So he is predicting the future. What will it be like? What will it be like for people who are ready or not ready? So for Noah, the whole story of Noah, at least the beginning of it, is really about being ready, isn't it? Like, let's build this thing. It took him a while. It was a big ship, right? So Jesus gives us warning from Noah. The people who didn't have a ticket on the ark, they were just so engrossed with their own lives and their own projects that the rain and the flood caught them by surprise entirely. I think one day they're like, wow, that's a big thundercloud. Oh, well, let's go on with our party. You know? And then it just kept raining. Or maybe it rained really hard, right?

[17:56] And away they were swept. And if there had even been a ticket booth, they wouldn't have even bothered to buy one, even the day before. Basically, it's describing the mindset of the people who weren't ready, weren't watching. They were so focused on their own thing, and a lot of it not that great, that the moment it came, it was like flood water sweeping.

[18:22] Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? booth is closed, you know, the ramp, the door of the ark. You know, did you know that God closed the door of the ark? Isn't that funny? He was on the outside. He's like, close the door of the ark. So the door was closed. There's no getting on it, I guess, right?

[19:00] So there's a sense that it was just too late. It was upon them. By the time they realized something was happening, it was a split second later, they were washed away. And then I think these are really haunting, these two tiny vignettes from the world of agriculture. So everybody would have gotten these. There's two men in the field, right? Just imagine there's two men out working in the field side by side. You're out there with your friend. And one guy turns, you know, to cut down a weed or something like that. Turns back and his friend has basically vanished. Not basically, he has vanished.

[19:40] You know, and it wasn't long enough. I was only, I'd only turned my back for a second. There's no way you could have run away in the middle of this giant field. I'd see you, right? He knows. His friend is gone. And what is he thinking?

[19:55] He's gone. He's gone. Or there's two women, right? And they're grinding at the mill. And Jesus says, one will be taken and the other left. And you get the sense of the suddenness of it all. That the one that was left wasn't expecting it at all, right? And the one that was left wasn't expecting it at all. The ones that were taken.

[20:15] Think about this. The ones that were taken. This is a vignette, of course. But it's a many, many, many parable. The ones that were taken, were they expecting it? It doesn't say. But they were ready for it. They weren't maybe, they maybe weren't expecting it. But they were ready for it. And that's the important thing. They had, they had a ticket. They had bought the ticket in advance, so to speak. So here's the chapter. And I think it's a challenging thing for us. And I'll admit this is challenging for me. And to ask ourselves, why should it be this way? Why did God make the world this way? And wouldn't it be nicer if nobody is left behind? You know that phrase? You've heard that phrase before? Left behind? That kind of popular? Wouldn't it be nicer if nobody's left behind? Why are there consequences for not being ready? You know?

[21:08] But we want to remember again the context for what Jesus is saying here. Remember again the context for when he's talking to the disciples. He's about to go to the cross. He's saying something really important to them. He's thinking about his own mortality. He's thinking about his own sacrifice and his own obedience to God. He's the good shepherd who's about to lay down his life for the sheep. And he's, he's doing, will, what he is doing by going to the cross, will by nature both divide humanity and save humanity. And that's the important thing to remember. About what happens at the cross. And that is really what happens in Jesus. If you read him, he never says, I came here to make everyone happy.

[21:52] I came here to make everyone feel accepted. I came here to make everybody feel good about themselves. He doesn't say things like that. He says, I have come to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it was already ignited. I have not come to bring peace, he says, but a sword of deliverance.

[22:15] Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Divides families. In this lifetime, it divides families. Some people follow Jesus, some don't, and it becomes a bone of contention. Absolutely. But he says at the end of time, it will divide. Two men in a field. One will be taken and one will be left. That's the division right there. Two women grinding mill. One will be taken. One will be left. There is a point at which it's too late. There is a point at which there is exclusion. Would we like that? We love inclusion. Well, we love inclusion. I love inclusion. I want the world to be like this. I want Jesus to be like this, right?

[23:11] But here's the thing. He's talking about going to the cross. He's not talking about going and doing a trivial, small thing. He's talking about laying down his own life. But it's more than that because of the incarnation. He's God himself. He's talking about giving up all his heavenly privileges and being found in the flesh and going to the cross and dying for the world. And so if you remember John 3.16. This is. It's all in there. One verse. For God so loved. You can say this with me. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. It was a sacrifice, right? He gave his son for the world. But remember how it continues. So that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

[23:58] Even in that promise, the gospel in a nutshell, John 3.16. There's this. Idea there that some may perish and some may be saved. There's even in that gospel, that tiny verse. There's the division that Jesus brings into the world. Some will be taken and some will be left. And I as much as I want Jesus to save everything. What he's giving is too precious a gift for somebody to say to it. Oh, I could take it or leave it. You know what I mean? It's too precious. It just is too precious. It's not something that we can treat trivially. So it's too precious a gift to give to somebody who doesn't really want it. And it's too precious a gift to somebody who isn't ready to receive it. This is hard words, right? It's too precious a gift to someone who can't see or won't see the signs in their lives, in the world. About the need for Jesus. About the arrival of Jesus. And this is a hard word. And honestly, you can find other places in the Bible. I think where there's more hope than that, there's more hope than this, right? But there's other places. Keep reading in Matthew. You'll get to the sheep and the goats. That's really cheerful. That's a division, right? But there's other parts of the Bible. You want to read Romans. You want to read Galatians.

[25:19] Maybe Ephesians. Somehow all sorts of people will be saved who are wrong or don't know or haven't had a chance. And I pray for that. I hope for that. I want that. And I really want that to be true. But today. This is our text. This is the first Sunday of Advent. This is what we get. One will be taken and one will be left. That's the word. Now, why? Why do we care about this? Well, we need to be ready. We need to be ready. Be ready for yourselves. I'm looking around. I think I see it all. I see it. Not sure about Victoria. No, I'm kidding. She went to seminary, became a pastor. Of course she's going to heaven. I'm kidding. I just looked at you. I just like I had to pick somebody that I knew for sure. There was no question about it. I just picked it up. No, but I look around. I think we're all there. But you know a lot of people who aren't. That's part of the reason the church exists is so that we could bring the kingdom of heaven to the world and to people we know.

[26:19] So this is what we're left with. There's other days where we can talk about the more inclusive and expansive nature of the kingdom of God. But today it's here. It's here. The signs are in the sky. The sun doesn't know when. One will be taken. One will be left. And so here's our charge. This is your charge today. Be ready. Be prepared. Watch for the signs. But don't obsess so much that you don't live your life the way God made you to. OK? It's important, but not every day you do it kind of worry about it important. Don't worry about this, but be aware of it. Do you see this line? I keep trying to straddle this line. I don't really know how to say it any better than that. Be ready for it. But don't obsess about it. OK? Don't worry about it. The way we need to live is the way God made us to live. And that's to follow Jesus. We're going to ask ourselves, how did God make us to live? He made us to be followers of Jesus. And so that means follow Jesus by being a servant to others, giving up our rights and our privileges to serve other people in need. That's what Jesus did. That's what he was doing just before he was talking to the disciples. I'm about to go lay down my life for this world. Follow Jesus by learning what he teaches and teaching what he teaches.

[27:39] You're all teachers too. Follow him by following in his path through the countryside, into the city, and up the hill with my own cross on my own back, giving my life to him. That's following Jesus. That's the life I live.

[27:57] And ask yourself, what would you do if somehow you got told the little family secret that the world would end on Tuesday? Say, just Tuesday this week. What would you do? Right? I would let as many people know as I could, but I would also live as God made me. I would live this material, beautiful life that God made. So I would hug my family. I'd pet my dogs. I love those dogs. I'd take out the recycling. I'd say hello to my neighbors. Right?

[28:24] My life every day should be the life that's ready for the coming of Jesus. There's a story. I don't know if it's true. It's a toughie. That when Martin Luther was asked what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow, he said, I would plant a tree.

[28:42] Not because I hope the tree would last. I know it wouldn't. But because every day I plant a tree and I want my everyday life to be as if it were my last. I think that's a good way to live. Live every day ready for the coming of Jesus, but make that your everyday life anyway. Let's pray.