How to Make It - Luke 21:25-28

Introduction

A few years ago, I was leading a mentoring a group of new pastors. In our first meeting together, I asked them what their greatest fear in ministry was. To a man, each of them had the same, great fear: that they wouldn’t make it to the end. They feared that a moral failure or burnout or ineffectiveness would prevent them from finishing the race.

Over time, I’ve come to realize that this is the greatest fear that most Christians face in their lives. It’s the nervousness that I hear in the voice of the couples with whom I lead through premarital counseling and the concern that their parents have for them when they pull me aside. It’s the concern that moms and dads-to-be share with me, and it’s what worries grandparents about the world their kids and grandkids are growing up in. It’s the concern that I remember having as a teenager trying to take seriously my faith and the same concern that our teenagers today face with increasing pressure. Will I make it? Will I make it to the end of my life with my faith in tact and my life in tact and my peace in tact?

God’s Word

When we come to Luke 21, Jesus is within days of the cross, and He knows the intensity is about to increase dramatically for his disciples. So, his concern for them is that they would be able to make it to the end with their faith and peace in tact, in spite of the terrible pressure they would face. To that end, Jesus shares with his disciples a roadmap on “How to Make It:” (Headline)

Expect more “stress.”

Luke 21:25–26 ““And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

Romans 8:22–23 “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

You won’t make it if you don’t have the right expectations. I tell this to families in crisis all the time. If you’re expectation after the affair is that trust will be fully restored after six months of faithfulness, you’ll feel like it’s over when the seventh month comes and there’s still bad days. If you’re expectation after the loss of your spouse is that you won’t have moments of loneliness and fits of crying sneak up on you out of nowhere two years down the road, you’ll believe that you’re broken beyond repair. But, if you expect trust to a years long process and if you expect grief to ambush you randomly, then you can realize that, as bad as it hurts, you’re actually on schedule, and it will enable you to keep going.

Expect what will “happen.”

The right expectation enables the right perspective. The right perspective enables perseverance and hope. That’s what I understand Jesus to be doing for his disciples in verses 25 and 26. He’s preparing them for what to expect in the times ahead so that they aren’t caught off guard and so that they can know that they’re actually on schedule, even as they suffer. He has just told them that the Temple will be destroyed and Jerusalem will be laid to ruins, and it’s a prophecy that will be fulfilled within 40 years. But, then in verses 25 and 26, Jesus zooms out even more to say that it’s going to get harder before it gets better. There’s going to be more stress in the generations ahead, and that stress ought to be expected.

That is, Jesus is preparing his disciples, namely us, for how to make to the end of the age. That’s the purpose of end times prophecies in the Bible. Our perseverance and endurance in light of true expectations.

Daniel 7 forms the backdrop for this passage. That’s where we’re first introduced to the “Son of Man.” And, I think it’s that passage that helps us understand the cosmic language that Jesus is talking about when he talks about the “signs in sun and moon and stars” and the “distress of the nation in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves.” Daniel 7 pictures the “four winds of the earth” causing the seas to churn, and it’s a metaphor for how the nations rage. They go to war with one another and bomb one another and terrorize one another, and all of them are following after their gods which they believe will bring them an advantage. “For the power of the heavens will be shaken” is a direct quotation from Isaiah 34:4 which says that the gods of these nations will rot away like the wood that they are, leaving their followers exposed and vulnerable. So, they will be overcome by stress and anxiety. They will be “fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.”

Expect how it will “feel.”

Maybe there’s no sentence which more accurately describes our age in the whole Bible than that one. Jesus is describing here what Paul says in Romans 8:22-23 when he says the whole creation is groaning in futility, but not just the creation, us too. We’re groaning. We’re fainting. We’re fearing. We don’t know if we will make it. The word “fainting” that Jesus uses occurs only here in the whole NT, and it means literally to be without breath It means that you’re so afraid that you can’t find your breath. “Foreboding” is to live with a terrible anticipation of what is to come. It’s to live in fear of what tomorrow will bring and what the news will say and what will happen to your children. Does that sound familiar?

And, Jesus is telling his disciples that these thing “will be.” They should be expected. We should anticipate them. Our generation has been named by sociologists as the Anxious Generation. The 24 hour news cycle has exposed to the continual barrage of global tragedy, and it’s sends it to us to read even while we’re going to the bathroom. Social Media continually reminds us of how far short we fall, and every shared obituary of a young person reminds us of the threats facing our children. Mass shootings are happening at elementary schools. Hamas is terrorizing Israel. Inflation is record-breaking. Every election season seems crazier and more theatrical, and yet more consequential than any election before it. And yet, sociologists wonder why this is.

Jesus says that we should expect it. This is the way the world is going. Their gods are rotting. Their hopes are spoiling. Their anxiety is growing. But, we, as his disciples, ought to be able to see through it. We ought to expect our stress to increase so that we know this world is on schedule, and so we can know that it’s not beyond Jesus’ control. It’s actually happening according to his word.

So, these stressors are actually opportunities for us to…

Live by “faith.”

Luke 21:27 “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

Daniel 7:13–14 ““I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Whenever it doesn’t look like what is supposed to happen is going to happen, you have an opportunity for faith. Apart from stress in your life, where would you have the opportunity to really trust Jesus? Apart from stress in your life, where would you have the opportunity to become more convinced of Jesus’ grace in your life and to bring greater praise to his name?

Stress reveals “trust.”

You see, where we run when we’re under stress reveals what or who we trust. Stress reveals the object of our faith. And, our world is filled with false hopes, rotting gods as Isaiah puts, that seem to offer some form of peace and security. When some are under stress, they decide to work harder to try to make everything okay again. The mom draws up a new plan to make sure the family is eating better and the house is more organized. Dad decides to pick up a side hustle so that he can give his family what they deserve. Stress may be revealing that their faith is in themselves. Others turn to Tindr or to Pornhub because offers them an escape to a world they control and offers them some gratification. Stress reveals their faith is in what’s temporary. Still others turn to alcohol or pot or shopping or gambling, and stress reveals their desire to escape rather than to live by faith.

Stress requires “faith.”

Our world is filled with false hopes offering false relief from real stress. And, the question Jesus is asking his disciples and us is: Who will you trust? To what or whom will you turn? You see, Jesus wants you recognize that He’s the Son of Man. (Remember in this series we’re searching out who Jesus is.) This is the quote from Daniel 7. This is the One who has been long-awaited. The Son of Man is the one to whom the Ancient of Days has given all “dominion and glory.” He is the one whom “all peoples, nations, and languages” will serve. He is the one with an “everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.” That is, Jesus is the One that will cause the nations to stop raging and bow instead. Jesus is the One who will end this stress and anxiety and worry with a single shout so that all is well for his people forever. That’s who He is.

But, here’s the problem. It’s hidden from our sight for now. The Son of Man was born as a son to a man. And, that means that before He comes riding on a cloud, He will be nailed to a cross. The Son of Man’s glory will be hidden and will only be seen and known and enjoyed by faith in the mean time.

So, that’s why you’re tempted to run away from Jesus to Tindr and to productivity hacks and to the bottom of a Jack Daniel’s bottle. Because the stress around you makes your faith in a hidden, invisible Savior seem futile and crazy. People who live by faith always look crazy to a faithless world. People flock to rotting gods because they can see them. People reject Jesus because they can’t.

So, your stress and anxiety is confronting you with a question: Will you in hope in Christ? Will you live by faith? Will you trust that Jesus is the Son of Man who is “coming in a cloud with power and great glory?”

If so, even though the world seems to be unraveling, even though the nations are raging, even though the news is bad, even though our Savior is hidden…

Don’t “panic.”

Luke 21:28 “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.””

Luke 21:9 “And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.””

Luke 21:18–19 “But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.”

This is Jesus’ culminating point to his disciples here. In verse 21:9 after describing the destruction of the Temple, Jesus says, “When you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified.” In verses 21:18-19, after describing their persecution, Jesus tells his disciples: “But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” And then, here he says that when the nations rage, we should “straighten up and raise (our) heads.” Jesus’ message to his disciples is that the world is rotting, stress is increasing, suffering is coming, but don’t panic. It’s not out of control. It’s on schedule. And, it’s on schedule to come to a glorious and victorious conclusion.

We’re called to “defiant” joy.

There’s a beautiful defiance in Jesus’ instructions when He says, “straighten up and raise your heads.” The picture is that everyone else in the world is running around like Chicken Little. “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” The world is panicked about elections. The world is panicked about the economy and inflation. The world is panicked about wars and terrorists and lunatics with assault rifles. But, not Jesus’ disciples. We “straighten up and raise (our) heads.” We don’t panic. We sing. We don’t freak out. We look up. We live in the midst of a frenzied world with a defiant joy.

This is why I’m convinced that the purpose of Jesus’ teaching on the end times is not so that we will build bigger bomb shelters, but so that we will build bigger dining room tables. It’s so we will gather together and celebrate with one another that our “redemption is drawing near” and that “not a hair of (our) heads will perish.” It’s so that we will persevere by faith without panic in the coming deliverance of our Lord.

We’re called to “composed” perseverance.

You see, the “redemption” that Jesus is talking about is the consummation of our hope. It’s when our faith will be turned to sight. It’s when all of God’s promises to us will enjoy their complete fulfillment. And so, as bad as this is, how can you not be excited that it means your eyes are about to see Jesus face-to-face. After all, if Jesus was right about the stress that was ahead, why would He not be right about his return as well?

Eva Turner and I were talking this week about the challenges and pressures that face our young families today. We were talking about how globalization and the internet has put so much pressure on our families to conform to the values of the world. We feel like if we don’t conform to who our society says we should be and do what our society says we should do, then we won’t make it. It feels like if we don’t adopt our world’s values and we keep holding on to these old truths from Jesus that the times will pass us by and that we won’t make it. But, when Jesus says that our “redemption is drawing near,” I was reminded of what Eva said: She said, “I wish I could tell them: Hold on. This is temporary. Jesus’ return is real.” That’s the composed perseverance Jesus has in mind here.

How will you and your family and our church make it to the end? Expect more stress. Live by faith. Don’t panic.