Good Morning, Church!
This is the day the Lord has made.
I rejoice and I am glad in it.
Tell your neighbor, I am glad you are here.
*Last week I said that, for a while, we will be getting into some of the basics of our faith.
Today, we are talking about one very sensitive topic, so, gird your loins and hold on ‘till the end before you pass any judgment. Deal?
For quite a few decades, the Evangelical church has been focusing on the topic of the *Ends of Times, as an evangelistic tool to get people’s attention. And, about 40 years ago the Left Behind series came out, sweeping the market with its books and videos, doing two (2),
FIRST, creating panic and anxiety among the believers population, and
SECOND, shifting the church’s vision from our mission on earth to make disciples to When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder. (Save the rocks until the end.)
I know that, by now, some of you are already beginning to slide to the edge of your pews, SO, let’s go ahead and say a word of prayer before we continue,
*Holy Spirit, thou art welcomed into this place.
Open our eyes to see. Open our ears to hear,
Our minds to understand,
And warm our hearts to believe.
Now may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts, TOGETHER, be pleasing in your sight, Oh Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. AMEN.
*In 2005 my husband learned of a Christian radio station, Christian Family Radio, that was shaking up the Christian community, with its radical Ends of Times teaching.
Harold Camping, better known as “Brother Camping,” first predicted that Judgment Day would occur on or about September 6, 1994. That failed, along with two other predictions.
Then, in 2005, Camping, once again, predicted the Second Coming of Christ to May 21, 2011, with a revised date for October 21, 2011.
My husband was livid because May 21, 2011 was his scheduled seminary graduation and October 21st is his birthday and our anniversary. FINALLY, October 21st came and left *and NOTHING.
Some times, we go through life thinking we know it all, thinking that we have everything under control, and thinking that we know God well enough to predict God’s ways.
*I don’t remember when, but one day I learned of Deuteronomy 29:29,
The secret things belong to The Lord our God,
BUT the revealed things belong to us and to our children,
To observe all the words of this law.
*. . and I thought, So, God has SECRETS and MYSTERIES! AND, we all know that secrets are secrets and, from Indiana Jones, we have learned that you look into the mysteries.
Some 35 years ago I was going through a very rough patch in my previous marriage. One Sunday morning I went to the altar to pray because I needed answers. I needed to know things ASAP, meaning as of . . . YESTERDAY.
While in prayer, I felt a gentle hand on my back and heard a soft female voice saying, This is what the Lord says, It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority (Acts 1:7). That was it. She, quickly, got up and walked away. No. No angel. And, Yes. Later, I asked her if the Holy Spirit had something else to add, to what she said, NOPE. That’s it.
To me, it felt as if God was saying, Stop asking. The details are not of your concern.
The truth is that we want answers and we want them when we want them.
- We want to know the baby’s gender months before birth.
- If possible, we would like to know the Power Ball magic number, or what horse is going to win the race. Right?
- BUT the one thing that not even Alexa, Siri, Google or any Artificial Intelligence can answer is when is Jesus coming back, causing us to lose focus of our mission, To Make disciples (Matthew 28:19).
We just read a very popular portion from Ecclesiastes, A Time for Everything, BUT Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us that we are NOT to know everything.
In Mark 12 &13 we find a very interesting story about a moment when Jesus had been teaching his disciples at the temple and the last part of that teaching was on giving.
He used the opportunity when a poor widow came and put her last coin on the offering plate. BUT the disciples didn’t react to it. They did not even acknowledge the money talk. They completely ignored Jesus’ money lesson.
*Instead, they said something that to my ears sound like, O, Jesus, look at the large stones and buildings. (RANDOM.)
AND Jesus replied with, Yes! Look at these great buildings. (Mark 13:1-2)
I can almost hear Jesus sighing deeply and saying, O, wow. Like thatis really important.
See? I wanted an answer about my rocky marriage. Brother Campi wanted to bring America to its knees by giving us a certain date for Jesus’ return, and we expect Alexa to have all the answers to our questions.
BUT, Jesus said something like, (My paraphrasis)
You rather talk about rocks and buildings? Really?
Well, let me tell you something that is really going to impress you.
*All this you are seeing now is going away. And, their response was, WHEN?
We have always been fascinated by the future. This world has been through many stages that have suggested THE END: dramatic geological changes, asteroids, cataclysms, terrible earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes erupting and wiping out an entire civilization, wars, genocides, etc. But instead of learning from the past, we continue to wonder WHEN.
People see the end of the world through different lenses:
- One is the thought of escaping this world to leave behind all the baggage and garbage we deal with . . . or people.
- Second, we want to leave this world behind so we can reunite with our loved ones who went ahead of us. And, there is nothing wrong with it, because memories hurt, the VOID hurts.
- Third, we just want to be with Jesus. We love Jesus and we want to be with him, to see him face to face.
You can probably think about many other reasons, but that’s all I can come up with.
HOWEVER, when we step back and sum them all together, we can see that it is all about the Me, Myself, and I.
*Back in the 70’s, the church made one expression very popular, MARANATHA! It means, Come, Jesus Come! carrying a sense of urgency. Just come.
I have heard A LOT of preachers, since I was a little girl, trying to come up with formulas trying to figure out the “WHEN.”
BUT, when we carefully read the gospels, we hear Jesus trying to continuously bring our attention to the HERE & NOW.
*Jesus gives us the answer in Matthew 24:36 (CEV), No one knows the day or hour. [Don’t waste your time making calculations or predictions] The angels in heaven don't know, and the Son himself doesn't know. [I suggest you read all of chapter 24 when you get home, because it gets better.] ONLY THE FATHER KNOWS.
And, in Acts 1:7 (CEV), we are toldThis is what you need to know, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power [for one reason] to tell everyone [to witness] about me [Jesus] . . . everywhere in the world.”
Our job here is not done yet, so we can’t leave. In Matthew 24:14 (CEV) Jesus says that, When the good news about the kingdom has been preached all over the world and told to all nations, [THEN] the end will come.
*I believe that every time we cry out MARANATHA! we are being selfish, because we are not thinking about those who have NOT yet heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Do I believe Jesus is Coming back?
YOU BET I DO! And, Yes, He will, he will indeed. But I also believe that
- he comes every day to bring hope to the hopeless;
- he comes every day to take with him those who are ready;
- he comes every day to the hearts of those who open up and raise their voices saying, Jesus, here I am;
- I believe he comes every day a victim of sex trafficking cries for the ordeal to end;
- I believe he comes every time a victim of domestic violence cries for a way out.
Will he come again? YES he will.
From the Apostles’ Creed we recite:
HE is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
*And, Revelation 1:7 calls us to
Look! He is coming with the clouds.
Everyone will see him,
But, meanwhile, we have been anointed with the Holy Spirit
*to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19)
SO, (Matthew 28:19-20)
Go to the people of ALL NATIONS and MAKE them my DISCIPLES.
BAPTIZING them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
20 and TEACH them to do everything I have told you.
I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.