Protect your House

Good morning and welcome to anther week of church here at the bridge. I am so glad that we could be here together. I wanted to open this morning with a story. It is a classic story that has a lot of life lessons and value.

This is the story of a young boy named Kevin who was preparing to go on vacation with his family over the Christmas holiday. The house was packed and everyone was busy getting ready to leave. Kevin was having a hard time with his family and they never understood him. Kevin was 8 years old and that if you don’t remember is a tough age because you are still young enough that people think you are helpless, even though you aren’t or people only see you as a nusciance because they just don’t understand what it is like to be 8 any more.

That night before their flight out for vacation was a crazy one and Kevin’s older brother always had a knack for getting Kevin in trouble when things got crazy. Kevin and his older brother got into a fight and Kevin got sent to the attic bedroom to bed early. The next morning the alarms didn’t go off and the whole family realized they woke up late to leave for the airport. Chaos ensued and everyone was running around to get ready as quickly as they could. In the hustle and bustle no one realized that Kevin wasn’t up yet and that he wasn’t getting ready.

A short time later Kevin wakes up and he notices the house is incredibly quiet. He starts to come down stairs and he is shocked to find that everyone is gone. No one is around. He is Home alone!

Home Alone

Now if you haven’t recognized this story yet let me jump in here and get you up to speed. I just shared with you the basic premise behind the movie home alone. The classic Christmas story that is one of the most successful Christmas movies of all time.

It is crazy to go back and watch this movie now as an adult because it well just doesn’t work in today’s world. The advent of cell phones, airport security, and things like how the police would respond to the situation its problematic to say the least. However, it is still one of my favorite movies to watch. It was a movie that had a big impact and was very popular for good reason.

Home Alone: Trivia

Just some fun facts for you about the movie.

it only had a budget of $18 million it made over $400 million

John Candy filed all his shots in one day and did it as a favor to John Hughes

The sound stage interiors of the houses were built inside the abandoned high school they used to film Ferris Bueller’s day off.

The house the Wet bandits flood was built inside the pool at the high school so that when they flooded it the water would drain into the pool

These are just a couple fun facts that i just wanted to share with you about this classic Christmas movie.

Now i know your asking what does this have to do with this mornings sermon well don’t worry we are getting to that. Let’s turn together and look at some scripture.

Luke 12:35–40 NIV

35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 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. 37 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. 38 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. 39 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. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Be Dressed and Ready for Service

This passage is a powerful one. it is one that reminds us the importance of not putting off things like our faith. We are called to be always ready for all things when it comes to our faith in God. Now classically many people will read this passage in light of the end times. I have heard it preached that way and I have talked about it that way. However, this morning I can say that if we take into account the original audience they would have had no idea at the time of Jesus sharing this what the second coming would have been.

See when we read this we think about the fact that we have to be ready for when Jesus comes back. However the audience that Jesus was speaking to would have been thinking more along the lines of if a crisis would come.

This is the passage for all the dooms day Prep people out there.

Always be ready. Always be ready to serve because you don’t know when the master is coming. That is the attitude that we are to have as Christians. We are to be always prepared for God’s leading to direct our lives and guide us. To be in a state of constant willingness to serve and meet the needs of those around us. To do the work of God at all times so that When the master calls we are ready.

It is good for us to be ready like this to live in this manner not only because we want to honor God in our lives that way but because it will be a blessing to us.

Luke 12:37 NIV

37 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.

The Blessing of Readiness

In typical fashion Jesus flips things on its head. Not only does he tell us to be ready to serve but he shares with us that the Master will be pleased and he will serve his servants because they have pleased him. This is a reminder for us that God loves us and that we are called to serve him because we want to honor him because he is our God and Master. In turn God blesses us and he has already blessed us in many ways. He sent us Jesus, he forgave us of our sins, and he promised us the future of his Kingdom if we are willing to be his servants. That is powerful. We are blessed because we are willing to serve at any hour of the day because we anxiously look for the Masters return.

Home Alone

One of the best parts of the story of Home Alone is the humor of the home break in. Kevin finds out that the Wet bandits are going to break into his house and rob it. Kevin knows exactly when they are going to come. Now Kevin could easily hid and stayed safe and done nothing, but Kevin decided to defend his house. Kevin knows when the thief is coming and he is going to be ready.

Some of the fun of the movie is the suspension of disbelief though as well. You can find it all over the place online but there are videos of doctors who have watched Home alone and what would have happened if the traps had been real and not just acting. Needless to say the wet bandits would have died several times in real life.

Kevin though was defending his home and he was ready. Like...

Luke 12:39–40 NIV

39 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. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

The unexpected arrival

I used to see this passage as one of fear. It was the fear of not knowing when God was coming so I better be ready to answer at all times. If i am honest this bothered me. I didn’t like feeling this way about my relationship with God. It made me feel like God was just waiting till i wasn’t ready and than he would show up to catch me in a moment of weakness.

I spent a lot of years thinking this way and i realize now that is not how I should have been reading this passage. Instead i need to be thinking about this passage as a reminder of my preparation.

Preparation of love not fear

I came to the realization that i Prepare myself and guard my heart and my mind not because I am afraid God is going to catch me but because I love him. I realize that If i give myself to him and i prepare myself day in and day out that i will find a new found freedom in my relationship with God. This isn’t built around fear of punishment but is instead driven by the love God has for me and the love that I have for God.

It frees your heart and your mind to not be in fear of the return of the master instead it sparks moments of joy because the master has returned and you will be with him and you can serve him faithfully knowing that you were always ready because you love him.

When we prepare ourselves and are in a state of readiness we see that the thief can’t come and the thief can’t break in because we are waiting and ready to defend our house like Kevin. We have the traps set and the defenses built to repel the enemy and we are confident in who we are because we know the Master is there.

Protect this house

How than are you preparing yourself this morning?

How are you guarding your house?

How are you preparing for the master?

Do you do this because you fear him or because you love him?

These are a lot of the questions that we might be askign this morning. They are all good ones to ask of ourselves when we think about how prepared we are. Sometimes it even feels overwhelming and we don’t know where to start in this process. However, one of the most important parts of being ready is deciding that we will be ready.

It is to commit to the preperation and to always be watching.

Than one day if the thief comes you are ready to defend. Or if the master comes you are ready to serve. It is the life we are called to. It is the life we are to live.

Are you ready? Are you prepared?

Let’s Pray.