WAITING WITH WONDER

Matthew 24:36–51 NIV

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, “My master is staying away a long time,” and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

INTRODUCTION

A man was seated on a park bench when a small lad about 5 years old sat down and started winding what appeared to be a prized possession - a Mickey Mouse watch.

"What a neat watch! Does it tell you the time?" The stranger asked. "

No, you gotta look at it," said the boy.

Time is an interesting thing.

It’s crazy how there are occasions we wish we could find the brakes and slow time down, and then there are others when we wish we could accelerate right on through it.

Crazier still, there are times when you wish you could do both simultaneously.

It all depends on what’s going on.

The common denominator, of course, is the parts of life we cherish. Time with kids, time with family, and times of prosperity when things are going well - that’s what we want to hold on to...when we wish time could stand still.

Of course, the not-so-good things are what we wish we could skip through - illness, conflict, and other adversity.

And when it’s our kids who are making life challenging, behavior issues, temper tantrums, throwing up all night - how do you fast-forward through those moments without losing valuable time with the kids themselves? (P)

The answer is - you can’t - to all of the above - you can’t change the speed either way. Such is the nature of time.

When good things are happening, yes, we want them to last. And when trying times come upon us, we want to know when the next time of prosperity will arrive, but we usually don’t.

The only thing we know for sure about those difficult times is:

We can’t change it.

We can’t skip it.

We can’t fast-forward through it.

The best waiting we can do is when we ask ourselves: What can I learn from it? And how can I persevere through it, ending up stronger than before?

And then we wait with patience and trust. (P)

Hundreds of years of silence had Israel wondering through their adversity if the prophecies of a coming Messiah would ever come true. And even when He came, if you think about it, it did not end the waiting; it just crossed our world over a very important checkpoint.

Jesus came.

He died.

He rose again.

He opened the door to salvation.

He gave eternal life to all who believe in Him.

And then...He returned to Heaven.

And today, we wait again. We again await the fulfillment of prophecy - this time, the one that will take us to our forever home.

Again, we want to know when. And again, we have no idea. People have tried to figure it out and predict it, regardless of the many times Jesus tried to stop us from doing that.

You heard it in verse 36 of today’s text. Nobody knows - not even Jesus Himself. Not all translations of Matthew’s gospel specify that part of it, but it is loud and clear across the board in Mark’s gospel. {CLICK}

Mark 13:32 NIV

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

And still, countless times, people try to pretend they know what even Jesus doesn’t, when you hear prediction after prediction of when Christ will return. Still, Jesus reminds us in Acts, right before his departure: {CLICK}

Acts 1:7 NIV

It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

(P)

It seems that waiting on God is a never-ending part of life. So instead of fighting it, what if we, instead, tried to figure out what God was trying to teach us through it, and what He was trying to develop in us? (P)

The rest of this passage in Matthew shows Jesus trying to explain the benefits of waiting - that is, a manufacturing and examination of a few incredibly important traits for the believer.

First, Jesus would say that: {CLICK}

1. Waiting produces and tests alertness.

In verses 37-41 of our text, we find Jesus taking the disciples on a trip down memory lane, to an event we find in Genesis 6 and 7, one most of us remember quite well.

Now, I don’t know what the world population was in the days of Noah - it was a lot. But I can tell you what it was after the great flood - probably the easiest census ever taken.

Eight.

Eight people heeded the commands of God and honored Him enough to at least put forth an effort to follow them, and that was Noah, his wife, his 3 sons, and their wives. (P)

Scripture does not go into a lot of detail about how much interaction Noah had with others, if he tried to get them to come to their senses. Modern-day retellings of this story show scoffers making fun of Noah for his nearly century-long building project, and I’m sure some of that happened.

We do know that God’s purpose for the flood was to destroy the wickedness. And it stands to reason that, had people repented, they probably would have been able to be saved on the ark.

But just like today, people ignored God, paid no mind to Him whatsoever; they wanted the benefits of God, they just didn’t want Him. They were engaging in all kinds of other pleasures, and then they were caught off guard when the flood came. It wasn’t that they didn’t know - they had 100 years of warning - they just chose to ignore it. (P)

And the warning for people today is the same. (P)

What Jesus is saying here is not that there is anything wrong with eating, drinking, getting married, or having some enjoyment in life. But how many people do this at all costs?

That is, how many spend more time with the fun of life, even engaging in some things that are denounced by scripture, making that more of a priority and interest to them than any relationship with the One who offers an eternity of paradise and enjoyment?

And then when Jesus does return, or the day of their death does arrive, and they never made spiritual preparations by committing their life to and living for the glory of Christ, what will all of that fun have accomplished for them long-term?

History records a detrimental mistake made by Hessian Commander Colonel Johann Rall during the Revolutionary War, which very well could have been one of the determining factors of the war’s outcome. Hessians were German auxiliary soldiers who aided the British during the war.

One evening, a loyalist spy appeared at the headquarters of Colonel Rall, carrying an urgent message. General George Washington and his Continental Army had secretly crossed the Delaware River that morning and were advancing on Trenton, New Jersey, where the Hessians were encamped. The spy was denied an audience with the commander and instead wrote his message on a piece of paper. A porter took the note to the Hessian colonel, but because Rall was involved in a poker game, he stuffed the unread note into his pocket. When the guards at the Hessian camp began firing their muskets in a futile attempt to stop Washington's army, Rall was still playing cards.

Without time to organize, the Hessian army was captured. The battle occurred the day after Christmas, 1776, giving the colonists a late present--their first major victory of the war. (P)

Yes, it is unsettling not to know the exact days and hours of things. We want to know all we can. We want to know the details.

And indeed, scripture paints a potentially scary picture of the unknown hour of Christ’s arrival, and some people going on to glory in Heaven, and others not making it, and no one knows when any of this is going down.

Paul doesn’t help the terror by writing what he does in the opening verses of 1 Thessalonians 5: {CLICK}

1 Thessalonians 5:1–2 NIV

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates, we do not need to write to you, {CLICK} for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

But then he goes on to give the good news for the believer. If you have given your life to Christ, and your name has been written in the Lamb’s book of life, verses 4-6 are for you: {CLICK}

1 Thessalonians 5:4–6 NIV

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. {CLICK} You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. {CLICK} So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.

Because of the first Advent, when Jesus came as a baby, grew as a model of the godly life, and then gave His life for those times when we fall short, the second Advent of His return is nothing to be afraid of. (P)

The waiting can be difficult, and we can certainly face some challenging moments, but the thing to really be afraid of - separation from God - won’t happen to those who are alert and ready, because they have committed their lives to Christ. (P)

So if that’s you, you’re ok. But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some expectations for us in the meantime. (P)

Picking up at verse 42 of our text for this morning, Jesus gives us a second piece to consider about waiting: {CLICK}

2. Waiting produces and tests responsibility.

Alertness means we are always attentive to what is going on around us, and that is our responsibility. We don’t get to say: If I had only known, as a valid excuse. (P)

Making a true commitment to Christ doesn’t mean we use our lips alone to spout off what our brains alone believe. We aren’t to just say that we believe what Jesus did for us on the cross and then go through the motions of baptism just so we can be spared from judgment.

What are our hearts telling us should be our next steps in serving Him, our Master? (P)

We hear Jesus say in verses 42-44: {CLICK}

Matthew 24:42–44 NIV

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. {CLICK} But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. {CLICK} So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

That part in verse 43 can be better understood by hearing what Jesus meant in the 12th chapter of Luke’s Gospel: {CLICK}

Luke 12:35–40 NIV

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, {CLICK} like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can immediately open the door for him. {CLICK} It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table, and will come and wait on them. {CLICK} It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. {CLICK} But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. {CLICK} You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

(P) {CLICK}

Jesus had criticized those in Noah’s day for eating, drinking, and making themselves merry. The issue wasn’t enjoying life - the issue was doing all of that and not paying any attention whatsoever to their priority of honoring and serving God.

Too many people live with the idea that they can enjoy life now, engage in ungodly things now in the quest of enjoyment, like getting drunk, promiscuity, gambling, and anything else the scriptures say we should avoid, because some how that seems more fun, and then when I’m done with all that stuff, they say, then I think about this God thing.

I’ll wait until the last possible minute. (P)

That attitude brings two risks.

Not knowing when the last possible minute is means it’s likely that you will miss it.

And as we’re about to see, that kind of mindset calls understandable question to one’s sincerity when, if ever, they come to Christ. (P)

I would have never called myself a party animal in college the way we think of it today - I wasn’t a big social partier.

But college life presented me with plenty of other things I would rather do than schoolwork, the work I was really supposed to be doing. Right, because just carrying the title of “college student” wasn’t going to help me in my career. I was supposed to do the work that came as a responsibility of that title.

Instead, I was introduced to the world of networked computer games, games I could play with other friends, even though they were in different locations. I was starting my board game interest about that time. And of course, there was always a good TV show or movie to watch with friends. Why would I want to do schoolwork when I could do fun things like that?

So when tests and papers came up, which I knew were coming, I was often not ready for them. I tried to justify it with, Oh, had I only known.

If it was a school project or test I knew was coming, I would lament, if I had only known it would be so involved or difficult. If it was a pop quiz, if I had only known when it would be.

None of that worked - I knew what I needed to know, I just didn’t always do what I needed to do in proper study and preparation - ahead of time, as a priority, before I did the other fun things that were also okay to do, in their time.

Jesus is not trying to take away our fun. He wants us to be ready always, because the time of our final moment, either by death or His return, is and will remain unknown.

Our job is to allow our service to God to match what we claim about ourselves when we call ourselves a Christian, just like James calls us to in his second chapter: {CLICK}

James 2:26 NIV

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds (without the works, without the responsibility) is dead.

And He wants us to be using that time to be doing some productive things, like keeping up with our own faith walk - studying, praying, worshipping - remaining connected with Him. And He wants us to see how we can help others in their faith walk, because the warnings are the same for them as they are for you. Are you taking the time God has given you to help them? (P)

These are the ways we can show that our commitment to Him is real. And that’s what this last part is about, which we see in verses 45-51 of our text. {CLICK}

3. Waiting produces and tests genuineness.

This trait asks a different kind of question than the first two.

The first test asks if we are ready for His arrival.

The second asks how we are passing the time while we await His arrival. (P)

This one asks, when Jesus does arrive, who will He find as the true you? Will what He hears you say and what He sees you do be consistent with the commitment you made to Him? (P)

I’m not talking about the mistakes we all make in life.

I’m talking about the habits you engage in regularly and willfully because they’re the parts of that outfit Paul calls your old self in Ephesians 4:22 that you decided you wanted to hang on to. You wanted to put on the brand new suit and tie, but you didn’t want to take off the dirty underwear. Jesus will know the difference, because He knows your heart. (P)

In verse 45 of our text, Jesus speaks of a certain master who entrusted the fundamental day-to-day operations of his house, like feeding the other servants, to one head servant. And He makes clear in that verse that the one chosen for this important task is one he deemed to be faithful and wise.

He wanted it to be someone he could trust to do the most important duties with the greatest of care toward his other servants when he wasn’t around. (P)

We all have people we want to be able to count on like that, like babysitters for our children or people we hire to clean or make repairs around our homes. (P)

Imagine the disappointment and horror of the master coming home to find his entrusted servant abusing the others, and imagine the shock and terror of the servant being caught in the act because he didn’t know the master was coming at that hour. (P)

We are called to live genuinely and honorably, with integrity, so that no matter who shows up and when, we can be counted on to be living faithfully because the commitment we made to Christ was sincere. (P)

It is said that the founder of McDonald's was an evangelical Christian. But, according to Os Guinness, he was once heard to have said: “I believe in God, my family, and McDonald's. But when I go to the office, I reverse the order.”

What is the order of the things you are devoted to in life, and does it show in the waiting?

Have you made your commitment to Christ Jesus, so you can truly say that you are ready?

Are you using the time you have while you wait to meet Him to serve Him, and serve others, so even more can behold His glory?

Are you the real deal? Imperfect, yes. Mistakes, no doubt. But at the heart of who you are, is it your goal in public and by yourself, at all times and all places, to be who you promised to be when you committed your life to Christ, serving Him, and replacing the old self with the new self that has the influence of Christ written all over it?

When Jesus returns, will He be able to say of you as the master did in Matthew 25:21: Well done, good and faithful servant? - not because of perfection, but because, with His help, you passed the test of all three of these traits, because your aim truly was to live for Him? (P)

Is that what living your life in waiting looks like? (P)

CONCLUSION

You know, we don’t like waiting because it upsets our preference for immediate gratification. So, instead of allowing hope to be the gift God gives us while we wait, we often go about achieving that gratification ourselves - now, in our time. We enjoy the good things, we want to rush through the annoying things to get back to the good things, and so we take it upon ourselves to fill up those moments of waiting with our own pacifiers.

I often wonder if that isn’t why the beauty of hope for so many seems to be lost today. (P)

We are challenged, instead, to use that time to glorify God.

To praise Him for the good He has given us.

To use that time of waiting to make ourselves and others ready for the day when we do meet Him, either because our earthly journey has concluded or the time of His return has arrived.

And to make sure we are living each day as though He could be here at any moment, because He could be, and even in the meantime, He’s already present with us and already knows how we spent our time, and more importantly, how sincere we are when we call Him our God. (P)

We are challenged to Carpe Diem - seize the day.

As an anonymous devotion writer says, that phrase certainly echoes a valid objective.

We do need to seize each day, because we don't know whether tomorrow will come or just how much of this life remains for us.

But then the author asks an interesting question, and a challenge I leave you with.

But what if we did? What if we knew?

Then the writer stokes our imagination.

Imagine if a clock on the bottom of one foot digitally displayed how many days remained before we died. Theologian Francis Schaeffer put it another way: "Life is like a clock with no hands. It's ticking, but you never know when it's going to strike midnight."

Jesus urges his followers to "seize the day" because no one knows when He will return. But we do know that each of us will come face-to-face with Jesus and give an account of how we have lived for him. Each of us, in large measure, determines how that encounter will go.

The author concludes, saying:

Jesus wants us to be ready no matter when he returns to be "faithful and wise" servants (Matthew 24:45).

Who are the faithful and wise servants? Those who are ready - those whom the Master finds doing his will when he returns.

Is that you?

Perhaps this is where we find a fourth product of waiting - appreciation.

Did you ever notice that you appreciate and care for things more if you had to wait for them? (P)

Maybe that’s why God makes us wait for Him.

To long for His goodness more.

To appreciate His love more.

To allow more time for us to share these good things of God with others.

Lamentations 3:22: {CLICK}

Lamentations 3:22–26 NIV

Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. {CLICK} They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. {CLICK} I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” {CLICK} The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks him; {CLICK} it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

So as we enter into this Advent season, 2025, and we once again reflect on Israel’s wait for the first arrival of Jesus, and now our wait for the second coming of Jesus, may we use this Christmas Season to remember why Jesus was and is worth the wait, and may we find practical was to make our wait one that is productive for Him.