November 23, 2014
Are you ready?
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts
be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. AMEN.
Today is a milestone event in the life of the
Christian church. Today we are not only one day closer to the coming of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but we celebrate the completion of another
Church Year. Throughout Christendom, today is known as Christ the King
Sunday. It is a day filled with triumph and jubilation, but also
exuberance for today we look forward, not specifically to next week and the
beginning of another Church Year with Advent, but to the triumphal return of
Jesus Christ.
Holy Scripture is very clear in many places of
where the disciples and others asked Jesus about His return. And Jesus
tells them clearly what will occur and what the signs are for His return.
On the opposite side of the insert are 18 different signs concerning
Jesus return. Some signs we can see from current events in the media and
even technological innovations. These signs also include clear and
impending marks of doom, including, but not limited to war, hatred, disease and
outbreaks of violence. Clearly with the Ebola outbreak and even having
some victims as near as Nebraska and the violence of Ferguson, Missouri, these
signs may be an indication of Jesus return very soon.
There are even some cults that have chosen
extreme measures because of the fear of the end of the world, but not Jesus
return on the last day. Recently there was the latest release of the Left
Behind movie that refueled the anxiety of the rapture and the end times.
But today here at Emmanuel we celebrate in spite of what happens in our
culture, the movies released and even fulfillment of biblical signs. We
celebrate for a simple fact, we look to and celebrate the return Jesus Christ.
Jesus is coming, triumphant as Christ the King of Glory and we who gather
here today are ready for His return, especially when we pray, “Come Lord
Jesus”!
Yet, there still is that nagging human side in
all of us, including Pastors where we need to ask ourselves a simple yet
profound question. “Are you ready?”
As we get closer to Christmas, for Michele and I
this question takes on a different meaning. You see my parents will be
coming to celebrate the Christmas holidays with us. So we are trying to
be prepared with all the things that children and daughter-in-laws worry about.
Is the house picked up? Have all the floors been mopped or
vacuumed? Is Sarah’s room ready? Is the guest room ready?
Will the house look neat and tidy for their arrival and stay during the
Christmas season? All of this though trivial for some, creates a clear
sense of worry and anxiety that wears on both Michele and I. So when the
question arises, “Are you ready?”, right now we have to declare “no”, but we will
be.
So to in the Christian life, as we get closer to
Jesus return, our collective feelings and sense of worry rises, because this is
Jesus Christ Who is returning. He is Lord of heaven and earth. Not
only did He create the world we live and exist in, but He knows EVERYTHING we
have done. This is why the question, “Are you ready?” may worry us even
more as His children, and we probably if we answer honestly, have to say, “no”
we are not ready.
Paul in the Epistle lesson plucks this nerve of
‘worry’ more so for each of us, when he says, “the day of the Lord
will come just like a thief in the night”. We don’t know when
it is coming, but Paul clearly wants us to understand, we will not know when
the time of Jesus return will be. It is a time that we could be clearly
unprepared for, but which God does not want us unprepared for, hence my
question for each of us to ponder, “are you ready?”
Though our collective feelings create a clear
bundle of nerves in each of us, Paul does remind us of an undeniable truth.
“You are all sons of light and sons of day.”
Let me say that again, “You are all sons of light and sons
of day.” Through our baptism with Water and the Word of God, we
were made sons and daughters of the King Who comes. When God
made us in our mother’s wombs and then with Water and Word made us His in Holy
Baptism and poured the gift of eternal life into our lives and made us heirs of
the Kingdom of God, we were promised eternal life and salvation. Though
we still daily fall short of the glory of God and do sin in thought Word and
deed as we confess before we take Holy Communion, God still wants us to be
reminded, we are His.
So Paul not only reminds us that we are God’s,
but also reminds us of another truth, an imperative. “Let us be on
alert and sober.” In essence, We need to be ready.
Just like combat soldiers that are on the front lines always need to be
ready for an attack from the enemy, we as Christians need to be ready for when
Jesus Christ returns. We need to be prepared like good soldiers of the
cross ready for our Supreme Commanders return.
This Sunday we move another day closer to where
we will move the Pascal Candle. In the church there are many symbols that
have clear meaning, from the altar which has the ihs, better
known as the simplification of Jesus name, to the triangle signifying the
Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and even the Alpha and the Omega.
This symbol of the Alpha and Omega is extremely important not only
because it is on our altar, but it signifies what we are celebrating today, the
end of the Church Year. Hence we return to the question, “Are you ready?”
As Christians baptized by the Blood of the Lamb
of God that takes away the sin of the world, we should clearly answer
“Yes, I am ready”. Yes, Jesus Christ could come any day and
we would be ready for His return. We can welcome Him and look forward to
His return. For some who not only gather with us this morning, but also
we encounter daily whether at Rasure’s, Wal-Mart, the Mexican restaurant or
wherever, their words may clearly indicate they are ready for Jesus return.
Others of us may not be, because we feel we either need to accomplish
something more or we need to have one last chance to do something in order to
be worthy of what Jesus Christ will bring us. But God has provided us
what we need to be ready.
Two weeks ago we were introduced to the armor of
God. In our lesson this morning, which in fact is a different book of the
Bible, Paul returns to this concept and imagery not only to remind us, but
embolden us to put on the full armor of God. Paul says, “since we
are of the day”, since we are children of the light, not to have any
darkness in us and we being redeemed by the blood of the lamb of God that takes
away the sin of the world, we are marked differently. Not only with the
sign of the Cross over our forehead and heart, but also with the redemption
promised to us by Jesus Christ. Paul further says, “let us be sober,
having put on the breastplate of faith and love”. This is the
armor that not only will protect our vital organs, but inspire us to love
mankind and one another in the Christian faith. We are called to
be the children of God that not only protect ourselves and our
core, but live and love one another with an unmistakable love. A love not
only for community, but also for each other as Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
When we show this love towards one another our
outlook not only changes, but we ourselves change. If you were to read
any self-help book, each and every one worth its weight clearly says if you
want to make a change in your life, you need to make ‘new habits’. By new
habits it isn’t to be done once and then forgotten and then we claim we are
changed. New habits require us to daily change ourselves and daily
establish the new norm in our lives.
So to in the Christian journey of life, if you
want to be ready for Jesus Christ return, it isn’t supposed to be like the
study habits of college kids, ‘cram for the test’ on the last night before the
exam. Or for farmers who plant one day and expect a growing season all
overnight. Instead, daily with your eyes looking to the coming Savior,
Jesus Christ, daily we need to prepare ourselves. We
have the opportunity to create our new reality. Last week I used a phrase
that has clear traction for the opportunity we have as Christians, it is having
an ‘attitude of gratitude’. With our asking the question, “Are we ready?”
do we have the right attitude? Will we be prepared for Jesus return?
We need the new habits of the Christian life in order to be prepared for
Jesus return.
Thus not only putting on the breastplate of
faith and love, we also need to as Paul says, to put on the “helmet, the
hope of salvation”. It is clear from the media and what we
hear from our society that We live in desperate and tenuous times.
Christians are being persecuted. Lives of those who are willing to
step up and spread the Gospel message of Jesus Christ are fewer on the mission
field. And sadly those who do decide to be missionaries, their lives are
being snuffed out not only by a clear opposition to the message of the Gospel,
but clearly this is evil in the world. This is the opposition, or end
times that Jesus warned us about when He spoke with His disciples. Jesus
was warning us then and today we are even closer to His coming. But Paul
wants us not to focus on what is around us, but put on the armor of God,
the helmet that will not only protect us, but for all of us to focus on our
mission and ministry given to us by Jesus Christ.
If you were to go to the race track where horses
race, one of the items of the horse tack that is put on a horse is what is
called ‘blinders’. These blinders prevent the horse from being distracted.
It keeps the horse’s focus on what is in front. So instead of
looking back or to the side, the horse’s eyes are kept forward focused, where
they are going, ultimately the finish line.
In the Christian life, we need blinders as well.
When we put on the helmet of the hope of salvation, God in one sense
wants the helmet not only to protect us and our heads, but keep us focused on
what matters, but more importantly our eternal destination, the finish line.
God wants us to focus on preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ.
When we focus on the coming of Jesus Christ we no longer remain focused
on what we have done in the past, what is occurring around us in the present no
matter how distracting or detracting, but God wants us to remain steadfast and
immovable and focus on the future, the coming of Jesus Christ and our entrance
into eternity in heaven with Him.
God wants us to keep Jesus Christ, His mission,
ministry and message front and center in our daily lives.
God doesn’t want us to gossip with others about rumors whether about our
friends or those we see on a daily basis, or about things that may have
happened or may happen in our community and especially here in the church.
God doesn’t want us to break each other down every chance we have.
God wants us to do the polar opposite. God expects us to
build each other up.
Paul ends our epistle reading with another clear
imperative. “Therefore encourage one another and build up one
another”. Paul was being inspired by God to inspire us to be
cheerleaders, but also empower us to empower each other for what we would
encounter on our pilgrimage. God wants us to help each other through our
daily struggles, our daily attacks that we feel from Satan and clearly speak
the Word of God and especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ into each other’s
lives.
Some in our society look at churches and
Christians in particular and say, hey that is your job. Christians and
the church should be the place where we come to be inspired. Yes, that is
one aspect of what the church should be doing, but it is not the only
imperative of the church. The church and the people of God who come to
church and sit in the pews should encourage one another. This is each and
every one of our collective jobs as well. If it were only the churches or
the pastor’s job, then everybody should be at church daily without fail.
But in clear contrast, we are not here everyday, sometimes not every week
or just sporadically or some as they are known as C&E’s, Christmas and
Easter.
This is why daily we as Christians need
to lift each other up on a daily basis. Be the light of
Christ in our daily lives so Christ can shine through us and we can inspire one
another and share our burdens, offer comfort and pray for one another without
ceasing.
One of the most iconic images of a place where
people talked and shared their burdens was the kitchen table. I remember
as a child visiting both my Grandparents and seeing their kitchen tables.
My Dad’s parents didn’t have the ‘formal dining room’, but the simple
kitchen table that all meals were prepared on and shared around. As a
family we would gather around and share our meal and the table was exactly at
the center of the home where everyone would bear one another’s burdens.
Families would have meetings of the minds and hearts around the table,
because it meant everybody was equal. Just as in King Arthur’s day, the
round table was meant to be the great equalizer, we too should be reminded of
our not only being equal with one another, but being empowered and encouraged
to share and bear our burdens with one another. Whether around the
kitchen table, the round tables in the fellowship hall or even in silence when
we gather around the table of our Lord and Savior when we come for Holy
Communion. We can share one another’s burdens.
When we encourage one another, we change the
landscape and reality of our interactions with each other and the ability we
have to not only be an encouragement for one another, but support each other
even during the darkest of days. One way that our 21st
Century culture has shared the ability to encourage each other is by Facebook.
Yes, I know some believe Facebook is a creation of evil. A place
where each of us reads into a post, what we believe, instead of what the person
posting may be thinking, feeling or even desiring to be understood.
Others see Facebook as a means to either brag, complain or vent and are
unafraid to not ‘put the best construction’ on what is put on Facebook, or
unwilling to with care and compassion ask their friends directly what was meant
by a post. But even in these times, there is a group that uses Facebook
in a God pleasing manner.
One Spark Foundation clearly uses the technology
and instant communication of Facebook for a Godly purpose. They call the
stories that are shared sparks. It is the hope and desire that one little
spark done by one person and shared across Facebook will not only affect the
person for or to whom the action is done, but will be an inspiration for
others. Just like the song, “It only takes a Spark”, by sharing a spark,
it is clear people can make a difference, even if it is only one life at a
time.
There are so many sparks I could share, but
instead, I want to share what David Hill said. David is the founder of the
One Spark Foundation. He says:
“Each one of us has been given a gift to make
the world a better place. It may be a song, leadership, organization,
love, laughter, a builder, a mason or many other things. We need to
search our hearts until we find the gift that we have been blessed with and
then use it to make the world a better place for everyone to live. We
must remember that if we fail to use the gift that we have been blessed with we
stand a chance of losing it.” David’s words are
very true.
And today we gather here
with so many gifts given each of us by God to remember that there is a gift
that will not pass away and this is what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of
Calvary. As we answer the question, “Are you ready?” and share with one
another the news of the greatest gift of what Jesus Christ has done for us on
the Cross of Calvary, God is calling us to be a spark in our daily lives.
May we as we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, not only share in the
turkey and all the trimmings, but be inspired to use our God given gifts to not
only point to Jesus Christ, but also be a spark for all of mankind
our community of Goodland and especially including each of the saints
gathered here at Emmanuel this morning. AMEN.Check out Pastor on the Prairie (ProtP)
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