Watch, Therefore (11/8/20)

Text: “11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:11-13)

Today we’re reminded of a surprisingly important quality of faith. This is a quality that is so important that, according to our Lord, Himself, it makes some foolish and others wise. Without it, the Kingdom of Heaven ends up closed you— you end up hearing from Christ, Himself, “I don’t know you.” So what quality of faith is it that makes some foolish and others wise— that allows some to be welcomed into the marriage feast and leaves others outside, forgotten? A vigilant faith; an expectant faith; a faith that’s watching and waiting. This should actually be a defining characteristic of Christians. It’s all over the Psalms— “5  I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6  my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning” (Psalm 130:5-6). “14  Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14).

“30  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31  but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

The book of Hebrews describes Christians as “those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:28). In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he describes believers as “all who love His appearing” (2Timothy 4:8). It’s something you should be know for, a defining part of who you are.

And yes, this is why I keep hammering away at this point every year. Or let me say it differently— that’s why our church year and our appointed readings for the end of the year hammer away at this point. Every. Single. Year. It is a defining part of who you are as God’s people. In fact, in this parable, it literally distinguishes those who think they’re His people from those who will hear Jesus say, on the Last Day, “I do not know you.”

I’ve mentioned the Babylon Bee recently— the satirical website with funny, made-up news stories that often highlight uncomfortable truths.

FRISCO, CO—Local Christian man Dave Hearth recently came across an interesting verse in the Bible: Philippians 3:20, which says that our citizenship is in heaven.

Confused, Hearth checked the cross-references and read that we are supposed to set our hearts on things above, not on earthly things in Colossians 3. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul even had the "gall" to write that he "longs" to be clothed with his heavenly dwelling instead of his earthly tent.

"I just don't get it," Hearth told reporters. "I already live in the United States of America---what could the eternal state possibly hold for me?"

"I guess I can understand the Bible writer guys saying they long for heaven," he said. "They just lived in Israel, which is pretty nice, but it's not like it's God's chosen country or anything. I just don't feel these verses really apply to me."

Hearth pointed out that he already has baseball, Chevrolet, and guns, concluding that there's just nothing that eternal life with God could possibly provide him that he doesn't already have. He's now rescinded his eternal citizenship in the new heaven and new earth, saying "thanks but no thanks" to the offer to reside anywhere but the present-day US of A.

"For my citizenship is in America," he said. "I'm just passing through the Kingdom of God."

(“Christian Not Sure Why He Should Look Forward To Heaven When He Already Lives In America,” Babylon Bee, November 6, 2019.)

A little silly, but also a little too much truth for comfort.

Let me put it another way. You might be a sleepy, American Christian if:

You spent more time watching debates, reading news coverage, and paying attention to candidates to be ready for last week’s election than you spent reading your Bible, digging deeper into doctrine, and learning to know Jesus better in order to be ready for Judgment Day.

You’re more concerned about whether or not homosexual marriage is legal than you are with a family member living with a boyfriend or girlfriend before they’re married.

You have a good idea what the balance is in your retirement plan, but you really couldn’t explain what it means to “store up treasure in heaven.”

And yes, I’ll even go one step further: I realize that temporary steps are necessary. At the same time, we will eventually have to try to reconcile our belief it’s too risky to gather in person for worship with our anger at the governor if she closes the restaurants again. Let me be clear: We need to act responsibly. Again, temporary steps are necessary. At the same time, there comes a point when it says something about the character of our faith if you’re perfectly comfortable with online church, but you’re angry that you can’t go in to watch USA basketball games.

Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Perhaps if He had told us the date that He’s coming back you’d have the luxury of putting off repenting and turning back to God; perhaps you’d have the luxury of taking God’s Word for granted, as something that you can put off for a week here and there; perhaps you’d have the luxury of getting caught up in things that really aren’t going to matter in the end. But He hasn’t.

If you’re anything like me, when you think of Christ’s return at all, it’s because you’re ready for Christ to come so that you never have to rake leaves again, for example. “Ok, Lord, I’m done for this year. No rush. Feel free to hold off another 11 months or so.” (See that’s funny because the leaves are never done, are they? They just finally get covered with snow. That’s how we know when raking is done here in Michigan, right?) Or, on a far more serious note, you look forward to it because a lot of people out there are finally going to get what is coming to them. Neither of those are the same as a vigilant faith or an expectant faith.

No, that’s what the prophet Amos was speaking against in our Old Testament lesson when he asked, “18  Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord?” (Amos 5:18). For such people, the Day of the Lord— our Lord’s second coming; judgment day— will be a day of darkness and not light. If you sleepily look ahead to that day as the day when a lot of people out there finally get what they have coming to them, then you may very well find that that day will be like fleeing from a lion only to run into a bear or taking refuge in your house and leaning your hand against the wall only to have a serpent bite you (Amos 5:19).

Are you and I worthy of the title, “Those who are eagerly waiting for Him”? Or “Those who love His appearing”? More importantly, will you find the door open or shut to you on that day?

He is coming. Your bridegroom is almost here. What Moses’ wife said to Him as a rebuke, God’s people say to Him with joy: “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” (Exodus 4:24). A bride price had to be paid for this wedding feast to happen. And He paid it gladly by suffering and dying on the cross. He paid it, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death, that you might be His own.

He came to you in the waters of Baptism. He gave Himself so that He might sanctify you, cleansing you with the washing of water with the word, so that he might present you to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish.

Come, buy the precious oil that ensures the lamp of your faith will be burning brightly when He arrives on the Last Day. Buy that precious oil without money and without price in His Word; in Holy Absolution; in, with, and under bread and wine. Through His Word, through Holy Absolution, through the Sacrament of the Altar, He supplies you with that oil— with the precious grace that flows from His cross that ensures you will not hear, “I do not know you.”

Through His Word, through Holy Absolution, through the Sacrament of the Altar, He supplies you with that oil— with the precious grace that flows from His cross so that you shine as Children of God, filled with love and compassion and charity and self-control.

Through His Word, through Holy Absolution, through the Sacrament of the Altar, He supplies you with that oil— with the precious grace that flows from His cross so that you embrace your life in this world as an opportunity to serve Christ by serving the poor, the hungry, the powerless, the oppressed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, “14  Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:4). Awake and sing out with the Psalmist, “5  I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6  my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning” (Psalm 130:5-6). “30  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31  but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

It will be said on the Last Day, “9 Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9).

On the Last Day,

all will see both the evil of both homosexual marriage and the evil of living together without the blessing of marriage. That evil being that both deny who we are in Jesus Christ.

you will see how the election results—whatever they prove to be— fit into God’s perfect plan of salvation; how He used every triumph and every trial to teach you to know and trust in Him

you will find your true riches in heaven as you inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, as all of your groom’s wealth— all the riches of heaven— become yours, as well.

He will call forth from the grave the bodies of those who have “fallen asleep” in Christ.

And yes, until that day, I and each of the men who will take up the pastoral office here in this place, will continue to poke and prod you to try to make sure that there are no sleepy, American Christians here among us— that the lamps of your faith are burning brightly on that day with a vigilant faith; an expectant faith; a faith that’s watching and waiting so that there is no question that we are “those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:28) and “all who [gather here] love His appearing” (2Timothy 4:8).

“13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13). Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Perhaps if He had given us a