Christ Returns

Introduction

The word return can carry a wide array of impact and meaning. During World War II it was used in what is now a famous quote and has been used many times through satire and meaningful statements alike. Douglas MacArthur made the statement “I shall return.” Parents have used it to let their children know when they will be back from a date night with the hint that the house be clean when they get back. It may be used in direction to the babysitter to know when they can exhale and have a good evening…lol. The word has been used to title sequels in movies and books. It is used to describe sending a bought product back to the company from which it was bought.

Often times the word carries a sense of anticipation. In the case of MacArthur or parents coming back from a date or trip or family coming back for a visit, anticipation is involved. The anticipation typically produces action to prepare for the return. In the case of kids and parents, cleaning is done and the wish is there that they do not return early. In fact, husbands, how many of you can say that when your wife has been away and you revert to your bachelor days while she is gone.

Our topic this morning has eternal weight and importance behind the word return. This morning we are looking at the return our great Savior!

Our text this morning is Matthew 24: 42-51

Matthew 24:42–51 NASB95

42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. 45 “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This morning we are going to centralize our concern with the Christian’s preparation for the Lord’s return. Leading up to Matthew 24:42-51 Christ explains the reason for the preparation. His audience is primarily Jewish.

At the beginning of Matthew 24 we find the disciples asking what the signs will be for the destruction of the temple and Christ’s coming back. Jesus begins to share with them the signs that will point to the end of the age. He begins by warning them that their will be people that will come and seek to deceive them. Leading up to these times will be nations rising against nations, wars, famines, and earthquakes will all be the beginning of the end pointing to the eventual coming to earth of the Son of Man. Before Jesus comes though there will be a period of judgment focused on the Israel that will impact the world. Yet their is still hope as the gospel will still be alive and well. Christ calls this a time of tribulation. In the middle of this tribulation will be a horrific event that Daniel (Daniel 12) prophesied of called the “Abomination of Desolation.” The time will be so horrific that Jesus states that if the time had not been cut short no human would survive. It is during this time that people will claim to be the Christ, the son of God. Jesus says to not believe them.

It is after the end of the tribulation that immediately nature will begin to act in a particular way and then Christ will appear in the clouds with power and great glory. A loud trumpet will announce his return! Everyone who has gotten saved during the tribulation will be gathered together. What an amazing scene!

You may ask, where is the church during this time. The church will be raptured before the tribulation as they will be caught up with the Lord in the air. It is the first event of the Lord’s return. Similarly as Christ’s first coming lasted roughly 33 years, it stands to reason that Christ’s second coming involves a period of time. As he takes the church to heaven before the tribulation (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 “16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”) being the first part followed by his physical coming to earth immediately after the tribulation to set up his kingdom.

Jesus does not reference the tribulation in any sense here in Matthew 24. Jesus begins to explain that their will be signs but even with the signs we will not know when he will return. IN fact not even Christ knows when he will return, only the Father knows. Jesus uses the story of Noah and the wickedness of the people. The people assumed something was going to take place. Noah and his family knew for sure that at some point it was going to rain as God promised. They however did not know when but kept on working and doing as GOd had commanded them. Life was going on as normal before the flood. Jesus does not use this phrase as a negative statement but as a statement of fact. As the rain suddenly came so will the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus then states that one will be taken and one will not. This is not speaking of the rapture. Jesus is speaking that when he comes some will be taken and some will not. This could refer to taken into judgment. The main idea Jesus is getting to is the unexpectedness of His return.

It is here that we want to pick up our text in Matthew 24:42 and focus on the preparedness we need to live with. You may be sitting their and asking the question that if this passage does not refer to the church then why do we need to focus on it? Because the entirety of Christ’s return and the setting up of his kingdom impacts the church and Paul states that the rapture will happen in the twinkling of an eye. The fact of the matter is that we do not know when any of this will take place and Jesus stresses in this chapter and in chapter 25 the importance of being ready! We need to be ready! For this is the most impactful return throughout the entirety of human history or better stated—eternity!

Jesus main point in these verses is to teach the disciples that they need to be busy faithfully, wisely, and actively doing the work he called them to perform.

Our main principle this morning: The Christian must faithfully and diligently serve the Lord.

Jesus teaches us what this looks like in our text this morning.

I. We must live alert with a constant readiness.

How many of you here this morning consider yourself a procrastinator? If we are all honest, in some fashion we procrastinate where things are least important to us. Some more than others. I was a horrible procrastinator in college. God used college to work on me. When we think about procrastination, it truly is us placing priority on what we label as most pleasurable and work our way back from that starting point. When it comes to our Christian life, procrastination states that God is not the most important. It says that you are not truly alert.

Jesus uses the illustrations of a master knowing when a thief would come to his home, the master would stay awake and be alert so that he is not robbed. We do not know when Christ will return and need to live with alertness. That alertness is a safeguard. That alertness will keep you from committing sin. That alertness will provide excitement. We must be watchful!

Matthew (2. Judgment on the Temple but Also on the Nations (23:1–25:46))

Discipleship demands faithful stewardship, not attempts to calculate the timing of the end since such estimates will almost inevitably be mistaken.

II. We must live faithfully and wisely, 45-49.

Christians too should be about their Lord’s work, honoring him in every area of life. Leaders must serve more than rule. Such people will be “blessed” at the Lord’s return (v. 46 is actually a beatitude—“it will be good” renders the Greek makarios, blessed). On those persons’ rewards (v. 47), see under 25:21, 23. (Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 368.)

As we live in constant readiness, this living is done faithfully and wisely according to God’s instruction. A faithful and wise servant does what is assigned to him to accomplish. As a servant of Christ what have we been assigned to do?

He works at the task committed to him so that whenever the master chooses to come back all will be in order. (Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 616.)

Matthew 28:18–20 (NASB95)

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We are to go with God’s authority preaching the gospel and making disciples, seeing them added to the church and growing in Christlikeness. This is a task that we are to do until he comes! We are to help each other observe/live out everything God has commanded us.

We are commanded to not forsake the church He has ordained us to be a part of. How are you actively serving one another? If you evaluate your part in the life of our church, with one another, what would that evaluation show? Would it match a life that is faithfully and wisely living in constant readiness for the Lord’s return? Would the evaluation truly honor and magnify God?

Jesus states that the faithful servant will be blessed for his obedience. See constant readiness is active service. When we are focused on Christ, we will want to serve Christ. Serving Christ brings joy! Part of living faithfully is living and serving diligently. It is not that we just serve consistently but that we do so with diligence. We see this principle from the negative example of the unfaithful servant and the faithfulness of the faithful servant.

We cannot live life however we see fit. The unfaithful servant lived for pleasure. The unfaithful servant takes the master’s unpredictable return as the master being gone a long time and that he has plenty of time. He can live like he wants. He has goals he wants to achieve. He has pleasures he wants to satisfy.

What about you? Are you like the unfaithful servant this morning? What in your life is taking place of or hindering your focus on Christ and his return? What on your bucket list is drawing your focus and attention? Where possibly in your life may your attention be hindering you from focusing on Christ? We all have blind spots and even when we think we are okay, we have that blind spot. We must be striving to do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31 “31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”)!

The unfaithful servant slacks in his duties and lacks morality. He does as he pleases and lives selfishly. He takes advantage of the superiority he has over others. He acts self-indulgently and unrighteously. He does his job with no care for how he is supposed to accomplish it and when he is to accomplish it. He lives without view of the warning that Jesus explains in the results of the punishment the unfaithful slave receives.

All those who profess to serve God must accept the truth that that service must be wholehearted and that in due course they will have to give account of themselves to one from whom nothing is hidden. (Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 618.)

III. We need to heed the warning of living unfaithful, 51.

The person who goes through life completely ignoring Christ and his return will be cast into hell, a place of complete torment (Luke 12:46 “46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”). The explanation that Jesus gives regarding the wicked servant should land as a warning regarding the fate of the unbeliever.

This wicked servant is an unbeliever. As we evaluate this wicked servant we see that the world has not changed. Jesus will be back to set up and rule his kingdom. Men and women, young adults and children, families, religious leaders, political leaders, entertainment stars, music stars, business owners, factory workers, and we could keep the list going in describing the people of the world, live ignoring the message that Jesus is coming back. They ignore the signs and events that precede his coming. They rather seek to mock and eliminate all references of Christ. The thought of Christ goes against their own self-made laurels of which they seek to live and please themselves.

The world needs to heed the truth that Christ is coming! The Christian needs to be busy about heeding this warning by fulfilling the great commission and living out the life that is free from the bondage of sin.

Walk through Salvation!

God is a holy God. The tribulation period that Jesus discusses here is God’s judgment on sin. Yes, Israel is the center of all that is happening. God is seeking to restore Israel to himself. We know from Revelation that all the peoples of the world will bow down at Jesus feet. God in his holiness sent Jesus to die for the sins of the world so that those who believe in him by faith and repent of their sin calling in the name of the Lord will be saved. They will enter into the kingdom of God. Those who do not will be cast into the hell and the lake of fire for all eternity because of their unrepentant sin. They will burn for all eternity.

God is not only holy but he is just. Sin and wickedness deserve punishment. The sinner deserves hell. Our world starts with the premise man is basically good. God in His Word tells us that there are none righteous and none that seek after God of their own volition. The kingdom that Jesus comes back to set up will be a kingdom with a perfectly just King. We do not deserve God’s grace and mercy. We do not deserve his love. We deserve his condemnation.

We can praise God that as he is holy and just he is also loving and provided a way for mankind to have a restored relationship with God through be reconciled in Christ. Christ God’s own son came to earth the first time to die on behalf of every sinner in the world. He took everyones place on the cross. He shed his blood in place of our blood. Christ exchanged his righteous account for our sinful and wicked account as he died on the cross. It was then through his resurrection that Christ won the victory over sin and death. The way had been made for each person to have a relationship with God.

This act of was God’s love to us and a manifestation of His grace and mercy. We deserved hell but in his mercy he took our place and in his grace he divinely favors us regardless of anything we have done, are doing, or will do. God loves you!

If you are here this morning and your life is more like the wicked servant, do not wait! You do not know when Christ is coming again and his judgments begin to take place on the wickedness of the world.

If you are here and you know Christ, why are you delaying to take every opportunity to share the gospel? Christ is coming! Jesus elsewhere in the NT uses the servant picture again and uses a phrase to describe the righteous servant. The words are “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” After the church is raptured and the events leading to Christ’s second coming begin, we will stand before Christ as he judges our life as to how we loved and served him or what we did not do for him. We will not be judged for our sin as Romans 8:1 (“1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”) states that the believer will not be condemned for their sin because of Christ.

We need to be living, teaching, and preaching the gospel. We need to be making and growing disciples! We need to be holy as God is holy! We need to be controlled by the Holy Spirit! We need to submit our will to God’s will! We need to daily be renewing our minds and bringing our thoughts captive to Christ.

This morning, did you wake up thinking that Christ may return today, not so you can try and figure the time out but rather so that we can live with eternity in mind. We will rule and reign with Christ in the millennial kingdom. What a privilege!

So how do we prepare? How do we be constantly ready?

We must be faithfully and diligently serving the Lord!