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The Rev. Dr. Dennis E. Morey, Pastor
Scripture: Luke 21:25-36
Watch out!
As humans we have the capacity to understand the concept of time. We know about yesterday, we are in the process of experiencing today, and—on the basis of what we know about yesterday and today—we try to anticipate what is going to happen tomorrow.
Because we can anticipate what will be happening tomorrow from what has happened in the past, we make certain provisions, but there is a point at which we cannot know what tomorrow will bring.
We would like to know all the details so we can be prepared. In today’s scripture the disciples want to know when this Kingdom of God is going to happen. How will they know it is getting close so they can be ready?
Jesus made some pretty astounding predictions, but they didn’t mean much to those listening. They did not understand what he was talking about. We know. He was trying to warn them about the destruction of Jerusalem, which would happen about forty years into the future.
Being prepared for the coming of the Kingdom of God is supposed to be like getting ready for something good, not dreading the end of the world. It is not something that should worry Christ’s followers.
Have you ever noticed that when you have worried about something, you can’t get that time back? It doesn’t matter what you spend your time on; once it is spent, it is spent. The day is gone, never to be recalled.
Life is now that much time shorter.
We all say we want world peace, but apart from the Kingdom of God it is not possible. The human race, estranged from God, would not know what to do with world peace.
Just suppose there was no war on earth. Suppose there were no hunger and no illiteracy. Suppose there was no trouble from disease or old age. Suppose all crime stopped, the prisons closed down, and hospitals were no longer needed.
Our economy, our society, our world thrives on trouble. What would you do with your time if you had no troubles?
Try to imagine: How would life look if all your problems were gone? Your health is perfect. You won’t ever be hungry again. You feel totally loved. Everything that has ever hurt you has disappeared. You aren’t worried about money. You have everything you need and more—and you are not alone. Everyone else in the whole world has the same thing.
That is what it is going to be like in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said that troubles will increase as time progresses toward that Kingdom. Governments, economies, trade agreements, health care plans, war strategies, and political agendas will all collapse.
But the Christ follower doesn’t put his or her trust in those things. Our trust is in God’s plan to make us his own for eternity. Even in the midst of the troubles and challenges of life, we trust in God’s plan. All our days are working toward that end.
In the world in which we live and go to school, work, and play, and in the friendships we make, we can be focused on the troubles and find there is no one who can offer any kind of real hope, because no one can predict the future.
Our God knows the future. Our God has a plan that includes us. This is the first Sunday of Advent. This Sunday is about the beginning of God’s plan to call us back to be a part of God’s family and a part of God’s Kingdom.
The Advent season is not just about shopping, meal planning, and attending parties and concerts. It is about God’s plan beginning.
God sent his Son, Jesus, into our world. This season is about God’s plan, and all the preparations it took to make that plan happen. God is accomplishing what was intended in the creation of the first humans.
Right now, today, God is accomplishing a relationship with us. God wants to lead us, and provide for us, and give us peace. That is possible when we learn to rely on God’s plan.
Life is about choosing a plan. When we keep doing what we want to do, going where we want to go, keeping friends with our choices for friends, we become our own god, and life is pointless.
This Season is about Christ and choosing God’s plan. This Season is a celebration of his birthday, God’s plan coming into reality.
What are you going to do with these next 27 days? Will they add to your stress and your troubles? Can you see what is coming? Will you look back on these days and regret the way you spent them?
If you are a Christ follower, how will your living these next 27 days make a difference in the lives of those whose life is touched by yours? Have you chosen a plan?
In order to choose a plan, first let’s get clear about the person at the center of these next 27 days. Let's listen as the group Go Fish helps us see the central person to this season.
This is the celebration of God’s plan beginning with the birth of our Lord Jesus.
Actually the word Christmas is a combination of two words, Christ and mass. The word mass refers always to the death of Jesus celebrated in the broken bread and the wine (or juice) of Holy Communion.
Christmas is an opportunity to look at the plan of God, the total reason the Baby was born in the manger in Bethlehem. He was born to be our Savior. He was born to take upon himself the punishment for our sins. He was born to become the payment for our sins. By doing that, Jesus opened the doors to the Kingdom of God. He opened the doors to our having a relationship with God.
When we accept Jesus as the payment for our sins, our Savior, the Kingdom of God begins. Wherever Christ reigns, that is God’s Kingdom.
Let’s not let anyone or anything water it down, or steal it away from us. This year, make sure it is Christmas, the beginning of God’s Kingdom being opened to the human race, that you are celebrating.
You are in command. You get to choose the plan. You will determine how you spend these next 27 days. Don’t let the December stresses or the December blues get you down. All those things that seem to be caving in on you are no match for the Savior whose birth you celebrate.
All those gloom-and-doom folks at work who trust in the economy won’t dampen your spirit. Your trust is in God’s plan. God has a plan that goes beyond the plan of any human. God can see the future.
The disciples wanted to know from Jesus when they could begin to look forward to the coming of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God began for you the day you understood God’s plan in sending Jesus to be the payment for our sins.
There will come a day when Jesus comes back to get us, and the troubles of this life will end. That is going to happen either at the end of this age, when the Angel blows the trumpet and the dead in Christ rise and those believers who are living will be caught up in the air to meet the returning Christ, or it is going to happen when the number of our days is complete and he calls us by name when we close our eyes in death.
Whichever way God has planned, we are to live our days watching in anticipation, ready for his return.
Amen.
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Luke 21:25-36 Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (From the
New Revised Standard Version of the
Bible) |
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