God Knows

Luke 21:5-19

November 18th 2007

In today’s Old Testament reading we hear, “See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble!” Pretty cool uh? But when? Then in the gospel reading Jesus teaches there will come a time when this beautiful temple will not have one stone left standing. The disciples inquire, when?

Fast forward just a few years later when Paul writes to the Thessalonians, who think they know when the second coming will be. They think is going to happen like tomorrow or next week at the latest. So they quit working and started mooching off others. Paul tries to remind them we don’t know when, so do your work. He tells them, “Do not be weary in doing what is right.”

Even in our Revelation class, we just studied how people of any day have been fascinated with the end of time and when it will be. We examine everything from natural disasters, wars, pestilence, plagues, and heavenly signs to make predictions of the end times.

We studied how the people of Pompei truly figure time had come to an end when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE killing up to 25% of the nearby inhabitants. In 1201 an earthquake in Syria claimed the lives of over one million, causing more than slight concern that time was near.

The black plague in the 1300’s took the lives of some 20 million convincing many the end is just around the corner. Even with Luther many thought the split of the Catholic church would spell doom. We have WWI, WWII, the threat of nuclear holocaust, and global warming all leading some to predict the end of time as we know it. Even a I speak, in Russia there are 34 souls who have barricaded themselves in a cave awaiting the end of the world.

But Jesus says, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert!”

So guess what? I’m not going where most of the commentaries and preachers go today. I’m not even going to give the time and effort in trying to cover the end of days. We have no clue as to when the world will end—actually I spend very little time even thinking about it. I might spend slightly more time considering when my life will end—but once again we just don’t know when! I do however invest quite a bit of effort in thinking about what might happen next—today or tomorrow.

So today instead of covering the end of world as we know it, we are going to examine a more important aspect of human nature that might help us live right now. We are going to look a dangerous quality that if not managed properly can actually damage our ability to grow in our relationship with God, and may affect the end of world as we know it.

Go tell secret….. “Jesus loves you! Jesus loves me!

How many of you are at least slightly curious as to what I share with ……? Well I’m not going to tell you. What if I gave you a hint and said what I shared with them may be the most important piece of information I have ever shared with anybody—would that spike your interest. Well I’m still not going to tell you.

Don’t you just hate when that happens? I know I do. It drives me nuts when little Kaylee goes up to her mom and whispers something in her ear at the dinner table. It drives me crazy if I’m in a meeting and I see two people sitting back in corner just whispering away.

It lies in the simple fact that I despise secrets.

First I assume if they are whispering they must be talking about me, and secondly and more importantly I don’t care for anybody knowing something that I feel I should know.

However, I guess done right secrets can be a good and necessary part of life, especially as a parent or friend. Sometimes we use secrets to protect our loved ones. It’s sort of like “a need to know” basis. I don’t want to upset and worry my children with certain knowledge they have no control over.

Sometime I keep secrets from the ones I love in order to do something very special. I can remember before I became a pastor my financial means were slightly better to say the least, and I bought Sandy a full length white mink coat for our 10 year anniversary. I did about everything to keep her from knowing the surprise waiting for her.

So you see, keeping secrets or holding knowledge can sometimes be a good and productive element of living. With that said, for the most part I/we despise secrets. This lack of knowledge will not only drive us crazy, it can seriously affect our relationships with others—most notably it can damage our relationship with God.