Warned and Commanded
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
It’s been an interesting few years, hasn’t it? I mean really, an interesting couple of decades. In 2007 the iPhone came out. Suddenly technology is at your fingertips like never before. Sure there was the Blackberry and PDAs and such, but the iPhone changed everything. A couple of years before that, YouTube launched. Who doesn’t watch YouTube? Everything from silly cat videos to how to build a skyscraper seems to be on YouTube. In 2015, in the Obergefell decision, the Supreme Court ruled that homosexual marriage was legal in the US. But in 2022, it ruled in the Dobbs decision that abortion was not a national issue, but a state one. In the last month, we have seen a president who for all accounts did poorly in a nationally televised debate, an assassination attempt of a former president running for reelection, and the ending of the president’s reelection campaign.
So much change in so little time. Some we may like and much we may hate. And if we aren’t careful, it can lead us into a temptation to escape or a temptation to worry about everything. Everyday is a new temptation, but rarely is that temptation an enticement to pray. James says that we are tempted when we are lured and enticed by our own desires. So then, what does that mean when we are not being tempted to pray?
This morning, Jesus is ending what is often called the Olivet Discourse, and in so doing, he is giving use two warnings. Two warnings that are not just warnings, but commands. They are similar in nature, but different in purpose. The first warning is to Watch In. The second is to Watch Out.
Watch In
Watch Out
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.
For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet.
And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.
Watch In
Watch In
The first warning that Jesus gave to his disciples and so to us as fellow-disciples, is to “watch in.” No one ever says to “watch in”; we always hear “watch out!” But in this case, Jesus actually wants us to keep a close eye on our own hearts. And to do that means that we really need to watch in, not out.
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.
Look inwardly. Those are not words that you hear too often in a conservative church service with a conservative pastor. But that’s what I’m telling you. That’s what Jesus is telling you. But not in the way that most people mean it. Whereas others want us to find the answer by looking inward, Jesus is saying look inward to protect your heart from being weighed down. In other words, what is taking up residency in you? What is in you and me either weighs us down or lifts us up. And Jesus said we need to watch ourselves, watch in, so that we are not being weighed down.
But what does Jesus mean by having a heart weighed down. The word heart could mean various things in Jesus’s day just as it does in ours. In this case, heart stands in for the idea of soul or spirit. To have it weighed down does not mean that the soul is sad but that the soul is ill-prepared for what’s ahead.
And he gives us two examples of heavy subject matters. The first is acting like nothing matters. The second is acting like everything matters. Let’s talk about the first subject.
The first weighty matter that Jesus wants us to avoid living as if nothing matters and that is characterized by dissipation and drunkenness. Dissipation is not a word that we use everyday, but the way the Greek word is used in literature, it basically is akin to being hungover. Thus the warning is that we are to watch ourselves, watch in, so that our hearts are not weighed down with being hungover and drunkenness.
The excessive drinking and the waking up with a hangover are the instruments used to weigh down the heart. Hence, this phrase is considered to be in the instrumental case. If we were to need hammer a nail into some wood, what kind of instrument would we use? A hammer. If we were to do surgery on a patient, we would need to make an incision. What kind of instrument would we use? A scalpel. If we were to weigh our hearts down, what would be one of the instruments we could use? Alcohol to the excess.
Alcohol is a depressant by nature. It slows things down within the body. It delays reaction time. If used to the excess, it can certainly make a person sleepy or to great excess it causes one to pass out. But in this case, the idea is not simply about alcohol, but a life that acts as if nothing matters. One who drinks to excess forgets or ignores that there is more to life than that moment and that bottle. It’s like the man who wanted to build bigger barns because he had such a bumper crop.
And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’
But this is not limited to alcohol alone. This certainly applies to any substance that takes our eyes off the kingdom. It could be drug use, excessive eating, even excessive shopping. Basically, if we are using a substance, whatever it might be to escape the realities of this world, then we will not be ready and cannot be ready for Christ to fulfill his promise. In other words, we’ll not be prepared for the Second Coming. We are living as if nothing matters, and if nothing matters then Jesus and his promise doesn’t matter either.
But we also need to watch in because it could be that everything matters. As verse 34 says, we are weighed down by the cares of this life. If those words sound familiar, they should. It’s what Jesus tells us the thorny soil represents.
And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
The word for care in both Luke 8:14 and 21:34 are the same word. It indicates a sense of worry or anxiety. The same word is used in Luke 12 when Jesus tell us not to be anxious about what we will eat or drink or wear. The word for life in these two verses is slightly different. In chapter 8 the word is bios and in 21 it is biotikos. Basically the first one is a noun and the second one is an adjective. They both have the same idea. The stuff of this life, when we worry about it, weighs us down and makes us ill-prepared for Jesus to return. In fact, in the parable of the soils, Jesus said that it chokes out faith.
Dr. Richard Caldwell, lead pastor at Founders Baptist Church in Houston put this on Instagram this week, and I think it is worth mentioning.
“Could it be that God did not wire us to carry every event, taking place in every part of the world, at every moment, as if it were ours? Could it be that technology has produced a faux omniscience and omnipresence that is hurting mankind and not helping it?”
Many hearts are being weighed down by this faux omniscience and omnipresence and Jesus warns us that if we live as though nothing matters (through escapism) or if we live as if everything matters (by worry over it), then we will not be ready for his return. In fact, his return will be more of a trap than a liberation. We will not be ready for it. Rather than seeing the signs with clear eyes, eyes that are not glazed over with intoxicants or closed out of fear, but open and bright in order to see the unmistakable signs of his return, we will be caught off guard. We will never have received the hope and courage that those signs could have brought if only we had been watching in.
For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
That’s the promise. It’s coming upon everyone. But we can be ready if we will keep watch in our hearts.
Watch Out
Watch Out
But if the first warning is to watch in, what’s the second warning? Watch out! So we first look inwardly to see what is weighing down our souls, our spirits. We are looking at what is keeping us from moving spiritually. But then we watch out. We begin to look outwardly as we begin to move spiritually.
But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Those words “stay awake” actually means to get sleep or really to have caught up on your sleep, hence stay awake or “be alert.” Behind this is the idea of a watchman whose has the job of staying up all night long to watch out for any kind of suspicious activity. A watchman should never take his post when he’s sleepy. He knows his duty is to stay awake and so he should have gotten enough sleep before ever reporting to duty. Otherwise he is not a good watchman.
Jesus warns us that we are to stay awake—spiritually speaking—at all times. We are to always be watching out for suspicious activity. In context, that suspicious activity is the stuff we’ve read about—for those who would be around when Jerusalem was razed and for those who will be around when Jesus will return. We are to always be watching out. Out of context (or in a different context) though, we are also called on by Peter to we watchful for our adversary the devil who walks about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
So first, we look inwardly to see what is keeping us from looking outwardly, then we turn our attention to the outward activities.
And how are we to stay awake? How are we to be watching out? By praying. That’s kind of a weird way to stay awake, don’t you think? Stay awake by getting on your knees, bowing your heads, and closing your eyes. And of course, prayer doesn’t have to look like that, but what the idea conveys is what we constantly forget. This is a spiritual battle and it must be acted out in a spiritual manner.
Today, many evangelical Christians are busy looking at the news watching out for some sign of the Antichrist. They’re looking for some group to bombard the Dome of the Rock and tear it down and build a temple. They’re counting the soldiers in China and waiting for the Euphrates River to dry up. That’s how they are watching out. But that’s not how Jesus tells us to watch out.
Instead, we are to pray. Because the battle is much more spiritual than it is physical. Certainly there will be wars and rumors of wars. There was the razing of Jerusalem and its temple, but there is also a much subtler aspect to this fight: the darkening that is coming, the fear that is on its way, the chaos that will take place. These are spiritual in nature and if we are not watching out, they can overcome us in a heartbeat. This sentiment that Jesus puts forth echos what he later told the disciples in the garden.
and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Notice, there is a proper way of escape and being intoxicated by this world—whether drugs or alcohol or streaming services or porn or overeating or shopping to the excess are not the way of escape. Prayer is. Some of us just inwardly rolled our eyes. Inwardly, there are those saying, “Here he goes again as if prayer is the answer for everything.” I’m not saying it’s the answer for everything, but I do believe that it’s the answer more than we give it credit for. And when I say we, I mean I. Because I know that prayer is not first on my temptations list. My heart desires that which weighs it down and makes it ill-prepared; rarely does it long for what will lift it up.
But it is not just so we can escape as great as that would be, but even more importantly, Jesus said that we are to pray so that we can stand before him. Prayer makes us ready for Jesus’s return. Rather than being ill-prepared because we are living a life where nothing matters or everything matters, we are well-prepared because we are living a life where prayer matters; our souls are what matter. Rather than weighing down our hearts with the cares of the this world, we are to lightening them up with the hopes of the next. Matthew Henry put it this way: “Those shall be accounted worthy to live a life of praise in the other world that live a life of prayer in this world.”
I want to quickly go over a prayer that I think can help us prepare for Jesus’s coming and keep us from panicking until he does. It comes out of the Psalms and it is one of the shorter ones. It’s only three verses long.
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.
In these three short verses, we have David’s prayer of peace. It begins with the result and ends with the how he achieved these results, given in instruction. This tells us that David’s hope in the LORD for the temporary and eternity brings about a life of peace. And we get this more fully when we read Psalm 131 with its sister-chapter Psalm 130. These two Psalms go together. We can almost think of them as a medley.
By hoping in the LORD, David does not think of himself as better than he is—his heart is not lifted up. Neither does he think of himself as more important than others—eyes raised too high (aka haughty eyes). Because his hope is in the LORD, he does not occupy himself with things too great and too marvelous for him. Stop and think about what that means in context. It doesn’t just mean that David doesn’t occupy himself about the problems of quantum physics or world peace. It means that, in seeing himself rightly and not thinking of himself too highly and seeing others as beneath him, he does not occupy himself with normal everyday matters.
He doesn’t have to be the answer to everyone’s prayers. He doesn’t always have to have the answers. He doesn’t have to fix everyone’s problems. He doesn’t have to be the one in control. In essence, he doesn’t have to pretend to be God. When we pretend to be God—the sovereign One over our own lives or over someone else’s life—it leaves us anxious. We’re like a toddler who is just being weaned from nursing. He hasn’t really accepted the fact that he can’t nurse, but mom won’t let him nurse. And so he sits there agitated. He won’t sit still. He wants to lie down. He becomes grabby and cries. He fights against the one who is stronger than him but more importantly who loves him most. David says, “That’s not me anymore. I’ve calmed and quieted my soul, like a child already weaned. I’m not kicking and screaming and hoping to get my way because I don’t occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. I hope in the LORD. Israel—Christian—will you join me?”
That kind of praying, that kind of trust prepares us to stand before the Son of Man.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Brothers and sisters, we are finishing up with Luke 21 this morning. Next week, we get into the last leg of Luke’s Gospel Account: the Passover and Lord’s Supper, the betrayal, the trial and crucifixion, and of course, the resurrection. If ever there was a time in Jesus’s life that would have seemed to be chaotic and out of control, it’s this time. He goes from having twelve of his closest friends surrounding him at dinner and instituting a new everlasting covenant with them to one betraying him and one denying him and everyone’s abandoning him. The God of the Universe arrested and tried by humans, the Author of life put to death. Talk about a world growing spiritually darker by the minute! And yet, it was all part of God’s providential plan. We look back on those days and remember, but also celebrate those dark days because of what God was doing through them.
What if we trusted God ahead of time and not just in hindsight? What if we were able to hope in God’s control in the midst of the suffering and not just celebrating it when it’s over? It is possible... when we watch in and watch out. When we stop pretending like nothing matters or that everything matters and start praying for strength and standing. Remember, these are not just warnings about how we ought to act, but commands that we ought to obey; by God’s grace we can.