“Unannounced and Unexpected Guests

The Unexpected Guests: Although it seems to be less frequent in the digital age, “drop-by” visits by neighbors, family or friends often leave us unprepared. We haven’t had time to vacuum the floors, puff up the pillows, or put the kettle on. Our Advent text this week presents another surprise, perhaps a bit more significant than an unannounced guest: that this life could end at any moment.

And while an apocalyptic text may seem an odd choice for the season of Advent, we are to remember that our waiting is not only a waiting for the Christ child to be born, but for Jesus to return in glory to “judge the living and the dead.”

But who wants to hear about the end of the world other than intense street preachers and the occasional mentally ill person living on the streets of our cities? Most of us avoid these people like they have the proverbial plague…and yet…it is the one we call “Lord” and “Savior” who speaks these words to his disciples…and therefore to us.

Jesus’ words here are clearly meant to knock us out of our complacency and to remember just how dependent we are on the gracious gift of life, which could end at any moment.

This is a glimpse of the picture Jesus is painting in this morning’s passage(Matthew 24:36-44).

The picture of the second coming is one where normal life is interrupted in a moment, and then everything changes, and the question is: how will we respond?

Like the labor pains of a pregnant woman cannot be planned but is waited and watched for.

Jesus’ words here are clearly meant to knock us out of our complacency and to remember just how dependent we are on the gracious gift of life, which could end at any moment.

Background: What can we learn from the historical context?

1. The key word is watch.

Dr. Vernon McGee points out that

Watch is the important word, and it has a little different meaning from the watching that the child of God does now in waiting with a sense of comforting hope. In that future day it will be watching with fear and anxiety. Today we are to wait and long for His coming. In that future day they will watch with anxiety for His return.

This section of Matthew’s gospel is focused on the in-breaking of the kingdom of God, which fights against Satan’s forces.

Ultimately, God’s kingdom will be victorious, with the coming return of Christ in his second coming. This will be the end of the world as we know it. Jesus’ advice to this fledgling Christian community: be ready, vigilant, and watchful.

Historically, the early church took Jesus’ words very seriously and literally, believing the second coming was just around the corner. Paul deals with this explicitly in 1 Thessalonians 4

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (1 Thess. 4:13-14, NIV)

So the second coming was essential to those early Christ-followers, believing that Jesus would return as the just judge to oversee his kingdom.

2. Advent: Reveals the true nature of our discipleship

Just as Jesus’ earthly ministry had a revelatory character: that is, a way of showing the true motives of those he interacted with, so too does his return.

“Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.” (Mat.24:40)

In other words, the second-coming of Christ will show us the true nature of our discipleship. Are we true Jesus-followers? Or are we going through the motions, putting on a show, but really remaining lord of our own lives? “Know that He is near! Watch therefore! Be ye also ready!” Believers alive during that period of history will certainly find great comfort in the promises of the Word of God. 3. Conclusion

Jon Courson’s in Application Commentary

“Like Noah, you and I are end times believers. We have been waiting for the return of Jesus.

Noah lived before the Flood, we before the fire. Noah spoke of coming rain, we of the coming reign. And just as it was in Noah’s day, so it will be in the day of Jesus’ coming. “

How does these words of Jesustouch ourheart, life, emotions, thoughts and relationships today?

The Call to be Ready: So what are we to do? It would seem foolish to completely ignore Jesus’ words. Whenever wecome across Jesus’ apocalyptic teachings in the gospels, we should be convicted of ourneed to remain watchful, to remember that God holds all time in his hands, and that, as Jesus makes clear both implicitly in the parable, and explicitly in his explanation, we are to be ready for the end of all life as we know it, as the king returns to “judge the living and the dead.”

So the call is a paradox: how to prepare for being unprepared? How to prepare for the fact that, like an uninvited guest, sometimes there is beauty and spontaneity and connection that we would not have otherwise expected otherwise. Because one truth about Jesus’ return is certain: this world is not perfect. Its brokenness seeps into each and every aspect of life.

This life was never meant to be the end of the story, only the beginning of a narrative that will continue beyond our earthly life. Jesus called the disciples then and calls us now mean to remain watchful. To remember that, whether for us it is because our time on earth is at an end, or Jesus does return in our lifetime, that we are to be ready. To wait for the uninvited guest, because we never know when they might show up on our doorstep, calling us home.

Another question we might ask is, “why should we be ready?” Isn’t our salvation already assured by our faith through grace? Couldn’t you argue “being ready” is a form of works-righteousness, the very opposite of living according to God’s grace?

A Strange Paradox

Many Christians seem to feel that waiting for Christ's coming means that we can’t enjoy life because we must be watching and waiting a certain way so we won’t be ashamed at his appearing.

The paradox of the Christian life is that though we look for him to come, yet all the while we are enjoying his presence and experiencing his power. He is coming, and yet he is with us now.

What Jesus wants us to grasp is that these two activities are related. The intensity with which we love his coming is the revelation of the degree to which we are experiencing his presence. The hunger you may feel to see his face is directly proportionate to the present enjoyment you have of his presence. If, to you, the thought of his coming is a frightening thing, then you know little or nothing of his presence now. But if you do know what it means to live by Christ, if moment by moment with your whole being you are taking from him all that he makes available to you, you will find a longing, a yearning in your heart for his personal coming.

Remaining vigilant in our waiting for Jesus’ return is one more way we get to rely on God and not ourselves. If we really believe that time is in God’s hands, that at any moment this world could cease to function, then we are more likely to live as Jesus describes in the beatitudes as those “poor in spirit,” who rely upon God completely for everything they have.

This is at least in part the message of Advent in general and this passage in particular. Sure, it can be a bit of a surprise to welcome a guest into our homes who tells us the world might end at any moment.

But are we willing to listen if that guest happens to be Jesus himself? Can we even wait expectantly for the lord of the universe to return, righting the wrongs of this broken world with perfect justice. It might just be one of the most important questions we ask in this Advent season.

Page 5. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:42 PM November 26, 2022.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Twenty-One: The King’s Return—Part 1 (Matthew 24:1–44)

The days of Noah (vv. 36–42). Here the emphasis is on the fact that the people did not know the day when judgment would strike. Noah and his family in the ark are a picture of God’s miraculous preservation of Israel during the awful time of the Tribulation. (Enoch is a picture of the church which is raptured before the Tribulation—Gen. 5:21–24; Heb. 11:5; 1 Thes. 1:10; 5:1–10.) What kept the people from listening to Noah’s message and obeying? The common interests of life—eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. They lost the best by living for the good. It is a dangerous thing to get so absorbed in the pursuits of life that we forget Jesus is coming.

A Watchman at the Gate

Editor’s Note: The following was an imagination exercise used while preaching on Matthew 24:36-44, Ibegan by inviting the congregation to close their eyes. Stuart Strachan Jr.

Imagine you are a watchman (or woman) standing guard of an ancient city. You are currently under siege, because, as you may know, most ancient battles took the form of a siege, with a foreign army camped outside your city, you, inside the city are protected by your gates, your city walls, but they are waiting, hoping, praying, that you will give up because you have run out of water and food.

You’ve been on guard for 32 straight days and the work is getting to you, you hope that the invaders will give up, but you don’t really know if you have enough supplies before your sister city can bring reinforcements, but will they have the courage to face such a formidable foe?

And so really, more than anything this has become your new normal, it’s slightly boring, monotonous, just watching, hoping they don’t try to enter by your entrance to the city. And so, you just kind of doze off, you didn’t mean to, but you’ve been doing this for over a month now and it just kind of happened.

You wake up to the sound of grapples catching the top of the bulwarks and the sound of crashing lumber, as ladders clank against the wall. All of sudden, the monotony of the last 32 days has been transformed into the most desperate, intense moment of your life, as you realize you have fallen asleep and everything is about to change.