Second Last Sunday in the Church Year ~ November 13, 2005

The Church Year calendar is nearing the end. For this calendar the beginning of a new year is the Advent season, which will begin this year on November 27. The focus of these last Sundays is often on the Last Day when Christ will come again as Judge and Lord. Our lessons today dealt with that theme – the final judgment. And when we think of the Last Day we often have in mind the horrific events of tribulation, gloom and doom. We tend to not explore the book of Revelation because we fear what it will say. We let the frightening images of God’s wrath go unspoken because we don’t want to hear it. So today’s lessons were probably hard ones to hear.

But the reality is that sin will be punished. God does poor out His wrath on sin and it is a frightful thought. Often we loose courage when we hear of the gloom and doom of the last days (which by the way we are living in now and have been since Christ’s death and resurrection.). But when we walk into church we put on our happy face and sing familiar hymns. But what if we were more honest with our feelings and rewrote our hymns to reflect how we feel sometimes? Maybe they would have titles like these:

“Take My Life and Let Me Be” “Onward, Christian Reserves”

“Oh, How I Like Jesus” “He’s Quite a Bit to Me”

“I Love to Talk about Telling the Story” “Here Am I, Send Him”

“When the Saints Go Sneaking In” “Just as I Pretend to Be”

“Where He Leads Me, I Will Consider Following”[1]

When can laugh at these titles but it is true, as we face the struggles of life and see the hardship that sin has brought to this world it is hard to be joyous and courageous in our faith. Our texts for today reflect the harsh reality that God punishes sin. In the Old Testament lesson we see God promising to bring destruction to those who have turned away from Him. In Our Epistle lesson we hear about people living in the dark. And even in the Gospel lesson we end the story with the lazy servant being thrown out to the place where the weep and gnash their teeth. No exactly a pick me up!

We do have to take sin seriously – God did. But the wrath of God for sin, thanks be to God, is not the end of the story. We don’t need to continue to dwell in the darkness. We can see the light of Jesus who took on the wrath of God for us. He died in our place and gives to us forgiveness and new life in Him. That is joy in the midst of this darkened world.

But there is another piece that is important for us as we live in these Last Days and see the evil of sin all around us. It comes in one verse at the middle of our readings today. The last verse of the Epistle lesson says this, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11, ESV) We as the Church, as the Body of Christ are to encourage and build one another up. In the midst of trials and tribulation we have a hope in Jesus that we are to share with each other.

Our Mission Statement for Mount Olive is “We are called by God to reach out, care for, and build people toward maturity in Christ.” Our mission sounds a lot like this verse in Thessalonians. Reach out, care and build people – this is how the church, how Mount Olive Lutheran, how you and I, are to live out our Christian life. And I truly feel the best way for us to reach out to the world is to care for others. We have a hope in the midst of suffering. We have the joy of the Lord in the midst of sorrow. We have the model of a God who comes to us and rescues us from our sin. And in this we are called to encourage one another. That requires action on our part. In a world filled with the destruction and darkness of sin we are called to offer the care of Jesus that will encourage and build up others.

People will know we have a God who cares when they see that His people care for others too. And it really is simple, as simple as saying “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” It is as simple as a hug, a touch, and a listening ear to those troubled by the things of this world. It is the simple acts of kindness that bring a ray of light into this dark world. And you can do it – you and I are called to encourage and build up others for Christ.

But many times we are afraid of what we will say. We are afraid that we will mess it up and make it worse for others instead of encouraging them. And instead of doing something we do nothing. We are afraid that we won’t be able to communicate God’s Words in a right way. Kind of like this farmer.

A farmer walked into an attorney's office to file for a divorce.

The attorney asked, "May I help you?"

The farmer said, "Yeah, I want to get one of them dayvorces."

The attorney said, "Well, do you have any grounds?"

The farmer said, "Yeah, I got about 140 acres."

The attorney said, "No, you don't understand, do you have a case?"

The farmer said, "No, I don't have a Case, but I have a John Deere."

The attorney said, "No, you don't understand; I mean do you have a grudge?"

The farmer said, "Yeah, I got a grudge, that's where I park my John Deere."

The attorney said, "No, sir, I mean do you have a suit?"

The farmer said, "Yes, sir, I got a suit. I wear it to church on Sundays."

The exasperated attorney said, 'Well, sir, does your wife beat you up or anything?"

The farmer said, "No, sir, we both get up about 4:30."

Finally, the attorney said, "Okay, let me put it this way: Why do you want a divorce?"

The farmer replied, "Well, I can never have a meaningful conversation with her."[2]

Yes we can laugh at this story. We can laugh as Christians and in the laughter realize that we have a hope that needs to be shared with others. We can encourage others and build them up because Christ has done that for us. We need not be afraid of “messing up” the world is already messed up and we have the hope of Jesus that will bring light to the darkness.

Paul says in Romans that we are to “rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.” As I see it he was calling us to be real – to know that in this life there is suffering, pain, trouble and tribulation. But to also know that we have encouragement in Jesus and are built up in the Lord. There will be times that you offer help to another and times you will need help from others. That is the work of the church, of you and me, to encourage and build up. And as Paul says to the Thessalonians I say to you – keep up the good work as you are already doing.

Amen.

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[1] Let There Be Laughter, Richard & Robert Bimler, CPH: St. Louis, MO, 1999, p. 23.

[2] Let There Be Laughter, Richard & Robert Bimler, CPH: St. Louis, MO, 1999, p. 93-94.