Are You Ready?

Sermon December 1, 2013  You Must Be Ready

Old Testament – Isaiah 2:1-5

Isaiah offers not only a vision of global transformation, but an invitation to live toward that day. “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” However, hard it may be to believe that a new and longed-for realit will take hold some day, there is power in walking in Gods light now one step at a time.

The future belongs to God, but the first step toward that future belongs to those who have glimpsed God’s light and are willing to trust that enough light lies ahead.

Psalm 122 UMH 845

It seems important to pay attention to the form of our prayers, in light of this psalm.  What are the assumptions behind or prayers?  Do we pray as the privileged, for others who are disadvantaged?  Do our prayers somehow imply a division between “us” and “them”, somehow raising us and our interests to a place of greater importance?

Church and society approach Christmas ostensibly seeking the same things: celebration, peace, prosperity.  Under the surface , though, there are profound differences.  Society tends to focus on our own families and communities, and tends toward materialism (though longing for something deeper). 

Are we ready for Jesus to Come?  The yearning inside is always looking for something better. If I get that degree things will be better. If I get that promotion things will be better. If I buy that new car all will be well.  Regardless of what we are searching for unless it is that relationship with God we will always feel that nagging emptiness. God created us to be in relation with him. If we do not find that relationship the emptiness remains.

The church is called to worship, to a wider community, and to a deeper and more widely shared prosperity.  This purposeful hope is good news to a congregation of worshipers who are eager to say, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Epistle  Romans 13:11-14

The lives of most American families are completely overwhelmed by the demands on their time; (even in smaller communities like Belt and Highwood) : households must accommodate multiple work schedules, with school and extracurricular activities too numerous to count.

The school calendar on the refrigerator can no longer manage the schedule a busy family keeps.  Even finding the time to coordinate multiple calendars can be a challenge. 

As the First Sunday of Advent brings the “holiday season” into full gear, time becomes a scarce commodity indeed.

 

Because we can communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime, we increasingly feel that we ought to be connected 24-7 and that all of our electronic systems should be up and running at all times to make this possible. That is one reason it is hard to  BE STILL and KNOW that God is God.

We are racing so fast. Talking so fast. Doing everything so Fast.  We just need to slow down a bit and realize how really close it is until Jesus Comes.  WE must be ready. At all times. Even in the busy times.  Jesus is coming. We must be ready.

Where do we go?  Where is the sanctuary that we can flee to. How can we escape from misunderstanding, from ourselves.

Where can We get away from ourselves, from the sense of failure, our weakness, our sins and shortcomings.???

We can go to the Eternal God our refuge. Once we are in His Immenseness we forget our smallness, our meanness, our limitations. Then the relief of safety merges into joy of appreciation of our refuge, and we absorb the Divine, and absorb His strength to conquer.

Gospel Matthew 24: 36-44

The day and hour of Jesus return, no one knows. Only the Father.  For as the days of Noah were so will it be the coming of the Son of Man.  Eating , drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.  They knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away.   So shall it be the coming of the Son of Man.    We must be ready.  The Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Two in the field one taken, one will be left.  Two women will be grinding meal one will be taken and one will be left. KEEP Awake…you do not know what day your Lord is coming.

Be ready Jesus is coming.

Christians have long debated when and how this day of judgment will take place.  One line of thinking has combined Matthew 24:36-44 with other apocalyptic passages in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament to work out a timeline of events that are already underway or soon to transpire.

Representative of this position is Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth (a bestseller in the 1970’s) or more recently Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkin’s Left Behind novels.  Like other American fundamentalists, these authors anticipate a day on which God’s elect will be raptured – that is , lifted up in their physical bodies to the Lord – while the reprobate are “left behind” to incur God’s wrath.  We must get ready, because these things may take place yet in our lifetime.

One major function of our apocalyptic text is to remind us to keep awake.  Faith, hope, and memory all help draw us toward Christian responsibility.  We respond to the God who acted in Jesus Christ, who acts now, and who will act in the consummation of history.

 

As the next chapter of Matthew’s Gospel will make abundantly clear, we must also keep awake to the needs of others (Matthew 25:31-46). One day Jesus will appear in the clouds, suddenly, like a thief in the night.  But before that – as Matthew reminds us  - Jesus will appear just around the corner, suddenly, like a hungry person, or a neighbor ill-clothed, or someone sick or imprisoned.   “Therefore [we] also must be ready.” (v.44).

The good news is we don’t have to fear the days ahead.  God is for you.  Turn to the sidelines: that’s God cheering your run.  Look past the finish line; that’s God applauding your steps.  Listen for him in the bleachers, shouting your name.   Too tired to continue? He’ll carry you.  Too discouraged to fight?  He’ s picking you up, God is for You.

We are in the winners circle. We don’t have to fear the future.  For all we don’t know about the next life, this much is certain.

The day Christ comes will be a day of reward for those that are looking for him.  The unknown on earth will be known in heaven.  Those who never heard the cheers of men will hear the cheers of angels.

Those who missed the blessing of a father will hear the blessing of their heavenly Father. The small will be great.  The forgotten will be remembered.  The unnoticed will be crowned and the faithful will be honored.

The winner’s circle isn’t reserved for a handful of the elite, but for a heaven full of God’s children who “will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

Let us go forth and invite as many as will come to the winner’s circle. We must be ready.