Stay Awake As You Await Your Lord's Return

Mark 13:32-37 Advent 1(B) Stay Awake as You Await Your Lord’s Return 32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” Dear friends in Christ, children of the light, A few weeks ago my family and I had a good laugh. We were in the living room one evening, watching TV, when I dosed off in my chair. That’s not all that unusual. But this time I dosed off with the TV remote in my hand, and apparently, I was still changing the channels while I was half asleep. We had a good laugh about that. Dosing off with the TV remote in one’s hand probably isn’t all that dangerous. But dosing off behind the wheel of a moving car, or when you are operating a machine, or when you are flying an airplane, is always dangerous. So is dosing off spiritually. That’s one of the lessons that Jesus teaches us during the season of Advent. Because he loves us, our Lord Jesus calls on us to stay awake, to stay awake as we await his return. I. Take care of your responsibilities On the Tuesday of Holy Week Jesus and his disciples spent the day at the temple in Jerusalem. As they left the temple courts, the disciples marveled at the beautiful massive stones of the temple structure. But Jesus told them that a time was coming when not one of those stones would be left on another. That time came a few decades later, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. They set the temple on fire and pried apart those beautiful massive stones to collect the melted gold that ran into the crevices. But Jesus’ main goal was not to teach his disciples about the destruction of Jerusalem. Instead, he used their question about the destruction of the temple as a springboard to teach them something about the destruction of this world and his return on the Last Day. Within this discourse Jesus told them this brief parable: It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. That man in Jesus’ parable who was going away was Jesus himself. Soon he would not be with his disciples in the same way that he had been with them for the previous three years. He was about to return to his Father who had sent him. On Thursday Jesus would speak his last will and testament as he instituted the Lord’s Supper. On Friday he would be falsely accused, convicted, condemned, and crucified. On Sunday Jesus would rise from the tomb. He would appear to his disciples over the next forty days and open their understanding of the Scriptures. Finally, in the presence of those same disciples, Jesus would ascend to the right hand of God the Father almighty. Jesus would leave his disciples for a time. But he also promised that he would return. And he gave them directions on what they should be doing in the meantime. First, they were to continue the work of his kingdom. Jesus had spent the previous three years establishing his gracious rule in the hearts of people. He preached a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name. He invited those burdened with guilt to come to him for rest. He called for the spiritually thirsty to drink from the springs of living water that only he could provide for them. He pointed sinners to himself as the only Way to the Father, and the Truth and the Life. Now, as Jesus was about to return to his Father, he would entrust this same ministry to his servants: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15). “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19,20). Continue to serve me by serving those around you and by serving one another in love (Cf. John 13:34). Jesus has given the same directions to us. And he has equipped us with the tools to do this work. To each one he has given certain gifts, talents and abilities. To each one he has assigned different callings in life so that we might serve him in his kingdom with these callings until he returns. So if you are a husband, then love your wife just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. If you are a wife, then respect your husband and help him with his responsibilities. If you are a parent, then provide for your children’s physical needs and bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. If you are an employee, be the best employee that you can be. If you are a student, be the best student that you can be. If you are a neighbor, then speak and live in such a way that the people around you see a reflection of Jesus in you. If God has given you an aptitude for teaching, then joyfully teach about his love for you in Christ. If God has given you wealth, then use God’s gift in ways that honor him and help others do the same. This is one assignment that Jesus has given us all as we await his return, to continue to serve him and carry out the work of his kingdom, each of us in our unique callings, and each of us with the specific talents that he has entrusted to our care. II. Be alert in this dark world Jesus also gives us another assignment. That is stay awake, to be alert and keep watch for his return, which will mark the end of this world. This fall a man named David Meade made global headlines for once again predicting the date of end of the world. First, he suggested that an otherwise unknown planet would collide with earth on September 23. When September 23 came and went, Meade claimed that people misunderstood his prophecy. Then he predicted that the end of the world as we know it would happen in mid-October due to a combination of nuclear war and natural disasters. When October came and went, he again switched his story and claimed a date for the end of the world in November. Meade isn’t the only one who tries to pinpoint the date and time of the end of the world. A quick search for doomsday clocks on the internet shows just how many people have bought into this foolishness. Don’t misunderstand. Someday this world will come to an end. It will happen when Christ returns on the Last Day. But no one can predict the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. The angels don’t know when that Day will come because it’s not their business to know. Jesus himself, during what we call his state of humiliation, when he emptied himself of the full use of his power and glory as God, did not know the exact day or time either. Again, because that was not his business to know. It’s none of our business either. Our assignment is not to try to figure out the day or hour of our Lord’s return, but to make sure we are alert and prepared for that day when it comes. But that’s hard, isn’t it? It’s difficult to be constantly alert and stay awake all the time. You might be experiencing this right now when the days of the year are the shortest and the nights are the longest. I know I am. I get up before the sun rises and the sun sets before I get home. Sometimes 7:00 o’clock at night feels more like 10:00 o’clock at night. And if I don’t make a conscious effort to be alert and stay awake, I can easily start to nod off in my chair. It’s even easier to nod off spiritually because each of us lives with a sinful nature which fits “tongue and groove” with a spiritually dark world. Day and night we interact with people whose mantra is “The sun always rises and the sun always sets. This is the way it has always been and this is the way it will always be.” Scoffers snore through the signs of the end times and ask, “Where is your Lord who is supposed to be returning?” The world’s darkness can lull me into a spiritual drowsiness in which I lose focus. Then suddenly, without realizing it, the priority of my life is no longer my Lord and my relationship with him, but rather the advancement of my career, or my education, or my income, or my family and friends, or my recreation. I start to dream that I’ll have time to repent tomorrow, and that I’ll think about my relationship with God next week, and that I’ll take care of my responsibilities as Christ’s servant next year. This temptation is not unique to us. And it was not unique to Jesus’ disciples in Jerusalem. It’s a temptation that all Christians have always had to confront as we live in a dark world. The apostle wrote to the Thessalonian Christians: “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6). Until the Day of Christ’s return, this world will continue in its darkness. And we will be tempted constantly to dose off in a spiritual slumber. How can we stay awake? How can we be alert and ready for our Lord’s return? Remember that even though you are living in a dark world, you no longer belong to it. And remember that even though you have a dark nature, God has made you into someone new. He has called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. He has made you a child of the light. And the Light of Christ continues to shine for you, whenever the Gospel of Jesus is proclaimed, and whenever you receive his body and blood under bread and wine, so that you can take his promises to heart, and continue to carry out your Christian responsibilities, and remain awake and alert until the Day your Lord returns. Amen. Pastor Karl M Schultz December 3, 2017