11.13.2022 - A Life Lived Well - Enduring This World

Scripture: Lk 21:5-19

Luke 21:5–19 NRSV

5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” 7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. 9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Enduring this World

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Winter is Coming

Winter is coming, and the weather people have put us on a line between a wet and snowy winter. Some of you are excited about building snow forts with snowmen soldiers having snowball fights. However, I am guessing that more of you choose to live here in KY so that you can avoid some of the big winter storms they get in other places. We pray that we do not have the kinds of storms we faced last year during these months. A little snow on the ground cannot compare to the devastation of the tornados we faced further west. With more hurricanes in the south and tornados in Texas last week, it seems like someone is always getting hit with tragedy, and we all hope and pray that it is not our turn. I am grateful for the warning and preparation Jesus, as well as the prophets of the Old Testament, give us about the suffering we will face. They give us the bad news as well as the good. Those who ignore his promises of suffering for those who believe in Him find themselves surprised when facing the world's challenges. No one with kindness in their heart wants to be the bearer of bad news. Yet passages throughout the Old and New Testament tell us real love shares the truth. In Ezekiel 3, God explained to Ezekiel that he was a watchman over the people. If he saw the danger coming but did not warn the people, he would be held responsible for the consequences. In his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, Paul shared that a mark of Christian maturity was the ability to "speak the truth in love." Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that we should not put our light under a bushel but that it should shine before all people - with the emphasis that we share our truth in love, not just in words but also in our actions. So, the bad news that Jesus brought to those who follow Him is This: We will all face trials and tribulations in life. However, the good news that follows is: Those who endure will find greater life in the end.

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Preparing During Good Weather

It may have been a sunny day outside Jerusalem when Jesus sat down with the disciples to admire the beautiful Temple of God from outside the city walls. Many of the disciples were from Northern Israel and were not accustomed to being in and around the Temple outside of Passover celebrations. A few may have even had aspirations to work with Jesus in that glorious house of God. It took 46 years to build that Temple. Many of you remember the work it took to build the community center here, and many of you contributed hard work and donations to build it. Can you imagine what 46 years of work would look like? As the disciples admired all the ornate stonework, Jesus suddenly told them the days were approaching when it would be destroyed. Wait. What? No. Jesus, why don't you stick with the stories about lost sheep and lost children coming home. Don't even whisper that something might happen to the Temple. That's borderline blasphemy! Jesus, we are here to win back the kingdom for God, not lose to our enemies. But the disciples have learned to trust Jesus a little bit. Maybe they could prepare ahead of time. "Teacher, when will all of this take place? What warning signs will we see?" they ask. Sometimes Jesus did not seem to answer the question that was asked. Instead, He reframed the situation and addressed it from a different angle. "Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them." Rather than giving them signs to look for themselves, He warned them to be careful who they listened to and who they followed. Does Jesus know us well or what? He knows we will ask about what signs accompany God's work. But when it comes to the interpretive work it takes to discern what God is doing; we like to rely on others. When you mess with the structure of leaders who give us direction and communication from God, we panic. When we are cut off from our preachers and teachers and are left with our Bibles by ourselves, we get uncomfortable, and rightly so. We are made to learn from God through the scriptures in a community together. However, that strength of community can become a weakness when we are not in the Word regularly and choose to rely solely on hearing from other people. Jesus gave them the bad news that the Temple, the structure that held them together as a people, was about to be toppled. So they needed to be careful about who they listened to and who they followed.

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Do Not Fear

Some people lead with a carrot, and others lead with a stick. Jesus leads differently. He leads with grace and self-control, sacrifice, and actions that support God's Word that fill His words. Like the Good Shepherd, His sheep follow Him because they know his voice, and they know His voice because He came to set them free from the sin and death that entangled them, brought them home to the His Sheepfold, and paid for them with His own life. Sometimes I hear people talk as if the God of the Old Testament was different from the God of the New Testament that Jesus shows us. We might forget that the God who parted the Red Sea was the same one that walked on the Sea of Galilee and called His people to trust and follow Him. We forget that God led the Hebrew people in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night like a Good Shepherd through the wilderness, ensuring they had food and water for forty years. Sometimes I also wonder if God will treat the last generation differently. For thousands of years, we have all wondered, along with the disciples, "Are we at the end?" Jesus told His disciples that there would be signs that people usually considered heavenly portents - signs of God's presence with us. Many of those signs usually represented God's anger: Famines, floods, earthquakes, plagues, and strange things happening in the sky. We often wonder if God is mad at us when bad things happen. Jesus taught that all those things would happen, but that did not necessarily mean God was angry with us. If that were not bad news enough, He taught that His disciples would be persecuted even before any of those other signs happened. He gave them the same kind of message that God gave to Elijah when his own people persecuted him. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah sought out God in a mighty wind, earthquake, and fire, but God was not to be found in any of those powerful things. Elijah finally heard God in a still, small voice, telling him to quit hiding and go and raise up the next generation of leaders. It is the same God throughout time telling us not to be chased to and fro by our fears but to be led by Him. Faith, Hope, and Love are there to guide us every step of our lives, especially in times when we are under attack. Fear does not keep us together. It makes us focus on ourselves. Only Jesus Himself brings us together as families, churches, and His People, the Body of Christ. Faith, Hope, and Love are not the things we follow. They are the things we do as we follow Jesus. Fear has no place in leading us.

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The Tree That Endures

So how do we prepare for and endure the suffering that we face? How do we persevere to the end, following Jesus with Faith, Hope, and Love? Look at the trees around you. They stand as witnesses to God's glory. Today, there are not many of them that are still vibrant, colorful, and beautiful. Most of them have shed their colors and are becoming dormant. They are not picking out patterns for later or worrying about future growth. They are ensuring their roots are deep enough to allow them to receive their food and water for the winter, and they are waiting for God to come and provide them with their next opportunity to share His love with the world around them. Though they may look dead in the cold of winter, new life is within them, and they will blossom, bloom, and bear fruit again soon, and that fruit will grow out of this time of waiting and listening to God and enduring the challenges of winter. There was a wounded french soldier who once saw such a tree in winter and recognized that the resurrection power of Christ enabled us all to be renewed by the power of His Holy Spirit. The witness of one tree in winter nudged Him to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, and the life of that Brother Lawrence went on as a witness to hundreds of others who saw God at work in His simple life - lived out for God. He carried the wound in his leg for the rest of his life, and through His endurance, those around him saw Christ at work. The easy way is often not the way of faith. Brother Lawrence showed Christ's love by getting groceries and washing dishes. He started small and allowed Christ to grow that witness as he invited others to wash dishes with him. Those around him saw His faith, hope, and love in how he endured his physical hardship and chose to serve anyway. Brothers and Sisters, in your present time of trial, suffering, and trouble... draw closer to God. He knows what you face, and He is with you. Maybe not in the big, loud ways you might wish, but you can still hear His still, small voice if you listen. His voice will give you the strength and help you to endure whatever you face with Faith in Him today, Hope for tomorrow, and Love to connect you to Him and those around you. The Good news, in the midst of any of the bad news we face, is this: If we endure with Christ to the end, no matter what happens, we will gain our souls. The life we have today is fragile and temporary, but our life that is found only in Christ is far greater and forever. Build your life firmly on Christ as He leads and guides you, and your suffering will only be the stormy season before new life shines through. Let us pray. Sunday school starts in just a few minutes, and come back and join us for our Sunday evening service at 6 pm. Richard will be sharing at that service.