The Return of the King

Prayer

Anticipation

Heinz Ketchup TV commercial from 1979, two kids sitting at a table, one of the kids complaining about how slow the ketchup is, how long it’s taking for it to come out of the bottle. That leads to a conversation about Heinz Ketchup.

And then, on cue, Carly Simon’s song, Anticipation, breaks in…Anticipation is making me wait

The idea that this ketchup is going to be so good - as much as you might hate waiting, it’s worth it. Anticipation.

What we anticipate, what we think is going to happen, affects how we live today

For example, consider doomsday preppers. - those folks who, because they believe there’s going to be some great apocalyptic event, something that will ravage the earth, be so devastating that in order to survive, you need some serious shelter and supplies to stay hunkered down for a long time

This is what they’re anticipating, so they’re prepping for that. And some to point of investing millions of dollars of that.

Went down rabbit hole of looking at videos that show inside of some of these doomsday bunkers - one place in rural Kansas, old missile silo, for a couple million you can buy your down 3 bedroom / two bath bunker condo. Companies in Europe, offering the same thing - living quarters built out of old cold war bunkers.

Point of our sermon series - we have a great conspiracy, what we anticipate is going to happen. It’s God’s big conspiracy (divine conspiracy)

That Kingdom of God is here, now, among us - and it is available for you and me and anyone else through Jesus.

This has far more to do than with what happens to us when we die, what our eternal address will be.

But the fact that we are being invited into the life of God himself, to become like him, to share in his love, his power, his glory and his goodness. God wants to make us new. As Peter writes in his second letter, that we would partake, share, in the divine nature.

This is why, as we looked at last week when we began this sermon series, The Christmas Conspiracy, the angels made such a big deal out of the birth of Jesus.

Why an angel came to make the announcement, God’s glory shining all around, and then that great show of force, an entire army of angels proclaiming the greatness of God - because this is that big of news.

Today, I want to talk about how the conspiracy continues. It’s not just that the True King came (and very few people even noticed), but that he is returning. The King will come again.

When we talk about Advent (word means coming), we’re talking not just about Incarnation, Jesus coming to us, born as a human 2,000 years ago (which is amazing enough), but that he is coming again.

The King is returning. The Master is coming back. This time, to establish his kingdom fully. Everything under his reign. Jesus in charge of it all (government on his shoulders).

No more tensions between superpowers, between China and the United States or the U.S. and Russia - because there will be no United States or China or Russia or European Union. Every nation, every group of people, the entire world under the Lordship of Jesus. Jesus is Lord.

You know it’s a conspiracy because so few are even thinking about that reality.

And this brings us back to anticipation. Are we? Because what we’re anticipating makes all the difference. What are we waiting for?

Is it dread - everything is going to be destroyed, better make sure I look out for myself?

Or is it with joyful eagerness that the King, the True King of all, is returning. The Master is coming back.

Main Point today - the King is returning. The Master is coming back.

The Return of the King

There are a number of passages that give us a glimpse of the heavenly kingdom - I want us to look at Hebrews 12:22-29 today.

Over and over you’re going to see in this passage the phrase, you have come to ...

Writer of Hebrews is trying to give us a sense of what we’re entering into as we enter Kingdom of God, what he calls Mount Zion, city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. He could have just as easily described it as what it is coming to us, when Jesus returns.

Let’s take a look at the passage: Hebrews 12:22-29

As you come to Kingdom, you come to...

Thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly

This vast multitude (not intended to be an accurate count, sea of angels)

Defining aspect of this enormous crowd of angels - Joyful.

You have come to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven

That’s us - that’s all of those who have entrusted their lives to Jesus. Jesus is the firstborn. Colossians 1 tells us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, and that he is the head of the body, the church, the firstborn from the dead. Anyone who knows and follows Jesus - you are part of the church of the firstborn, your name is on the heavenly list.

So, it’s not just angels, but humans as well - crowd grows!

You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect

At first, that seems a little threatening to see God described this way…ugh, the judge. Put on trial. That’s not going to go well.

But, you notice right with that - spirits of the righteous made perfect - again, that’s us. And this is hugely important.

We are the righteous. Through Jesus we have been made righteous.

Description of who we are becoming - righteous made perfect, another way to say this, righteous made complete.

Remember, that’s what I said earlier, this isn’t just about going to heaven or hell, it’s about being changed. God is making us righteous, true inner goodness. He’s perfecting us. We were actually talking about this in our spiritual formation group - almost too much to believe, that God could make us into people who don’t get impatient, react with irritation, who can love our enemies!

Finally, you have come to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

We’ve come to one who makes us righteous. Jesus took our sin with him on the cross - shed his blood, dying for us. The new covenant, the agreement - if we’re willing to accept it - he takes our sin and gives us his righteousness. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21

Did you notice something about this list, about coming to city of the living God? Everything talked about here is not about place itself, it’s not about where or even what, it’s about who.

Doomsday preppers - act for themselves, we’re going to survive, hunker down. When the trouble comes, they’ve got a place where they can lock the rest of the world out (doors were eight tons of concrete-filled steel) and take care of themselves. Every man for himself.

But here, it’s angels by thousands upon thousands, the whole church - all those whose names are written in heaven (that’s going to be millions, billions?!), all in presence of God, Jesus right there. The more the merrier. This is a joyful assembly, come be a part.

Because the Kingdom of God is not about fear or death or or scarcity or suffering.

Our great conspiracy is - when the King returns, when Master comes back, all will be made well. All things we hunger for in our heart of hearts. No more suffering, pain, tears wiped away. That’s why angels are gathered in joyful assembly.

I want to jump to final part of this passage because it really speaks to why what we believe is going to happen - what we anticipate - matters so much. Final point is this - we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. It can’t be disrupted or messed with or destroyed.

Doomsday preppers are living with anticipation of a whole lotta shakin’ going on - that’s why they build what they hope is a secure bunker. Underground, super thick concrete walls.

But you can’t insulate yourself from struggles and pains in life - all the things that shake us. We get shaken all the time

We’ve been shaken by Covid - fears are stirring up about whether or not we’re facing another round of cases spiking, increased hospitalizations, deaths, with the Omicron variant.

Shaken by economic instability - supply chain issues, inflation. If you own a small business, are you going to have to shut down again?

Can you even begin to imagine how shaken the residents of Waukesha, Wisconsin are? A happy occasion like a Christmas parade shattered by man plowing them down with his vehicle. Or the students at Oxford High School in Michigan, just another day of school - until it’s not. That whole community is shaken by the tragic shooting.

We all get shaken by personal tragedies, sudden and unexpected deaths, job loss, divorce, medical diagnosis, car accidents.

But promise is - what we are coming to - as King returns, master comes back - is an unshakeable Kingdom.

Kingdom that is not affected by viruses of any variant or economic downturns or terrible tragedies. This is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. You and I live in the unshakeable kingdom of God.

Kay Warren (Rick Warren’s wife) dealing with the suicide of her son, Matthew. Hung on to the fact that, as much as her world was shaken, God was not caught off-guard by this, wasn’t worried. God wasn’t shaken. She clung to that truth, as confused and hurting as she was, that God was still in control. He is still Lord.

What a king he must be, that he can establish a kingdom that secure, that glorious. Exactly why the writer of Hebrews finishes with, “Let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

So what does this mean for us, living, waiting, anticipating - the return of the King?

Living in Anticipation of the Return of the King

How often Jesus speaks to our Conspiratorial life - the whole sense of knowing that the King is returning, the master is coming back.

How we live reveals how we’ve embraced this reality, or if we’re eagerly anticipating it…Let me tell you what I mean

Example of a being a kid - parents going out for several hours, they’ve got errands to run, do some shopping - they leave a list of chores that have to be done before they return.

When I was a kid and that happened - do you think I immediately went and did those chores. Heck no! Watched TV or played or something. You waited until the last possible minute!

And if somehow they came home earlier than you were expecting - that was the worst! Panic, rush to try and get it done.

You know why? You weren’t eagerly awaiting their return. Not as if you didn’t love and wouldn’t miss your parents - but you wanted to do the things you wanted to do. What you didn’t want to do was what they wanted you to do. When they were gone, you could chose.

If you really were concerned with what they wanted, you’d jump on those chores right away. You might even go above and beyond, doing extra clean up that you weren’t told to do

Same dynamic at times with employees and their bosses.

Here’s a sign that says it all - Jesus is coming…look busy.

Funny because it plays on our tendency - we don’t eagerly anticipate the “boss” coming.

Tragedy is that it reveals that we have no clue how absolutely wonderful this claim is

Compare that, on the other hand, with dear friends or family coming to visit, stay with you. You do cleaning you maybe haven’t done in while. Air out extra bedroom. Think about foods they’d really enjoy and stock the fridge. Make sure there’s nothing else on your calendar. Because of what you’re anticipating.

Parables that Reveal Eager Anticipation - Matthew 25, all parables about what happens when the Master returns.

10 Virgins, 5 wise, 5 foolish

Setting is wedding, virgins are awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom (joyful assembly!). They all have their lamps with them, but only the five wise virgins thought to bring jars with extra oil in them.

The bridegroom takes longer than expected, and the 5 foolish virgins run out of oil for their lamps. Plead with 5 wise virgins to share theirs. But 5 wise virgins - no way, we aren’t going to risk missing this no matter what!

So while the foolish virgins go back to the market to buy more oil, the bridegroom comes and they get locked out of the wedding banquet.

Parable points to difference between those who wait with eager anticipation of the return of the bridegroom - Jesus, the King. This whole idea that you’re not taking any chances, bring extra oil, doesn’t matter who long you have to wait, you’re going to be ready!

Same thing with the parable of talents (referenced this weeks ago when we talked about our core value, Kingdom First).

King gives three servants various amounts of gold, then he goes off on a long journey.

First two servants lived with eager anticipation of return of the master. Immediately put the money he gave them to work (no procrastination here)

Last servant doesn’t even bother, he just buries the money. Figures master will be happy to get back what he gave him . That servant clearly wanted to spend his time doing what he wanted, not the master’s business

Love response when the master finally does return

The servants are like little kids. Can’t wait to share with the master what they did with his money. Master, you entrusted me with five bags of gold; see, I have gained five more.

Do you see heart of eager anticipation?! I can’t wait to show Jesus (the King) what I’ve been up to with what he’s given me

Isn’t that how we are? I know when I’ve been working on a project (and it’s turned out well), I’m eager to share that with Wendy

Response of the master is just as good - he’s delighted. Well done, good and faithful servant…Come and share your master’s happiness. I’m so happy, I’m delighted in you.

This is the Kingdom! This is Mount Zion, the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

Happiness being shared. Joyful assembly. The unshakeable Kingdom. This is what we have to look forward to. To anticipate (anticipation is making me wait).

This is our great conspiracy. The King is returning. The Master is coming back. Are we living in eager anticipation?

Spiritual Disciplines - how do we put this into practice…embrace the narrative, live with a sense of eager anticipation?

Let this be your conviction, what you trust is true in all circumstance…I live in the unshakeable Kingdom of God.

As you face fears, when you find yourself worrying about something (we all do) - when you get shaken…I live in the unshakeable kingdom of God.

Put that into practice this week.

Spend some time this week reflecting on your stewardship. How have you used the things God has entrusted to you? How have your used your wealth (however great or small it is?). Your time? Your particular gifts, experience, skills?

Reflect on this question: What would you bring before the master? What would you be delighted to share with him?

Faithful prayers? Time spent loving others / discipling others? Hospitality? Acts of quiet service?

Take half an hour, an hour. Journal and a pen. Read through the story in Matthew 25.

Inspiration - The Great of this claim, The King is Returning. The Master is Coming back. the great sustaining hope this has been for believers across the generations

Earliest days of the church, allusions to suffering throughout the letters of the New Testament - because of the persecutions they were enduring!

Slaves here in the United States - why so many spirituals sing of the hope of eternal life…coming for to carry me home

Even today, believers around the world - Nigeria, China, India…the list goes on

No matter what happens, they know they live in the unshakeable kingdom of God. Their hope, what they anticipation, with joyful expectation, is the Return of the King, that the Master is coming back. May, we too.