It’s hard to believe but we are already into the Christmas season, and I’m not talking about the shopping season that began on black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. I am referring to the Christian season we call Advent. As I’ve already mentioned we are in the first Sunday of Advent which means “coming.” It marks the four weeks leading up to the celebration of the coming of the Christ child into our world on Christmas day. During Advent we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus Christ into our world. Beginning last week we have been getting our church ready through the decorations. We’ve brought out the nativity and the Christmas tree (Christmon). You may have noticed the colors have changed to purple as a symbol of royalty for the coming of the King of kings. But Advent helps remind us that this season is more than just about decorating, or shopping, or wrapping and giving gifts, or baking and eating good food, these are all fun and enjoyable parts, but Advent reminds us this season is about Jesus. As the saying goes, ‘Jesus is the reason for the season.’ It is easy for us to get caught up in the activities of the season while losing our focus on what it is really all about.
During Advent we remember that we are in a time of waiting and preparing for the coming of Christ. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been patient waiting for the coming of anything I have looked forward to. I remember as a child before one Christmas, I couldn’t wait to see what I was going to get for Christmas. I couldn’t stand not knowing if my parents had gotten a gift that I really wanted (like the kid in the movie “A Christmas Story” who wanted the Red-Rider Beebe Gun). So I snuck through the whole house trying to find my presents. And do you know what, I was successful. I found them. Of course then came the difficult part, I had to wait to get it, and then I had to pretend like I didn’t know I was going to get it. I’ll tell you what, I learned a lesson that Christmas. I never went looking for my presents again because I had spoiled the surprise.
When we think of Advent we typically think of waiting for the birth of Jesus when the Son of God became like one of us and was born into our world. I said Advent means “coming,” I didn’t say which coming of Christ we are preparing for. In Advent we are actually waiting and preparing for two arrivals of Jesus, his birth and his second coming, which is what this first Sunday in Advent focuses on, the Lord’s return. The Lord’s a comin’.
Christ’s Return
The Scriptures are incredibly clear on this point. Jesus died, he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and he is coming back to judge all people past and present. Only when Jesus comes back it isn’t going to be like the sequels of most movies, which are never as good as the first. When Jesus comes back it’ s going to be way more impressive than his first coming. He won’t be making a quiet entrance like he did the first time in a stable in Bethlehem with only a few people on hand to even notice something significant has happened. When Jesus comes again, the Scriptures say he will come in the clouds with power and glory to gather his children from the ends of the earth (Mt. 24:30), and Rev. 1:7 tells us every person on earth will see him coming. Angels will be playing their trumpets, it will be a worldwide event. It won’t be just a few shepherds and Magi who know of his arrival. Everyone will know he’s here. In fact it says there will be great mourning, or weeping as it says in Revelation, why? I believe it will be because people will be confronted with their sin in the light of Christ’s glory. Like in the book of Isaiah when the prophet had a vision where he was before the Lord in the throne room. What did he do in response to being in God’s glorious presence? He said, “woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” The Lord’s presence was so powerful, so overwhelming, so holy and pure all he could think about was his sin. God symbolically forgave him by having an angel touch a hot coal to his lips, just as those who are in Christ are forgiven on the Day of Judgment.
Many of us are just like the disciples who wondered when Jesus was coming back. Inquiring minds want to know. Jesus said there would be signs for us to look for so we would know when he was returning. Jesus said false prophets would come claiming to be the Messiah who will lead many astray, even Christians (24:4). One false prophet in particular, some call him the antichrist (although Scripture never mentions him as such), will raise himself up as God doing miraculous signs and wonders. There will be wars and rumors of wars, nation will turn against nation (24:6). Many have pointed to the fact that in the 20th century we experienced two world wars involving many nations of the world, killing more people than ever before. Jesus said there will be famines and earthquakes (24:7) and other cosmic events around the world (some claim there have been more earthquakes in the last 100 years than the previous 1900 combined). He said Christians will get persecuted, and sin will be rampant. It will be so bad the whole human race would come to extinction during this time of tribulation, except that God will shorten the time for the sake of believers. On the brighter side the Good News about God’s kingdom will be preached among all the nations. After all these events occur, within one generation, the Son of Man will appear on the clouds of heaven.
I know it’s easy to get caught up with all of the hoopla over world affairs and how they tie into the end times and Christ’s return. I have heard or read many theories about how Jesus’ coming will be very soon. Perhaps some of these theories are correct, I am not here to debate them this morning. Those who know me know I don’t even try to connect the dots of world events and their possible relationship to the end times, I’ll leave that for others. Jesus said we should look for the signs before his coming but he didn’t give us a date, in fact he told us we shouldn’t even bother trying to figure out the exact time since he himself didn’t even know, only the Father knows. I believe the point Jesus is making is not that we need to be experts in the end times trying to figure out world events, complicated time lines, and dispensations. His point is rather simple, like the Boy Scout motto, ‘be prepared.’ We need to be ready right now because Jesus will return soon, or you may be leaving to see him soon, whichever comes first. It doesn’t matter whether Jesus is coming back today, tomorrow, at the end of this year, in 10 years, or even in your lifetime. You need to be ready right now because Jesus will come and judge all of us and take a measurement of our lives.
Jesus said his coming will be like it was in Noah’s day. Noah spent many years building the ark (some believe as many as 120 years) as a sign to the people that the Lord was going to judge the earth with a flood, but the people kept on partying, getting drunk, carousing in sin, the Bible says there was violence everywhere; they ignored God, but then one day all of a sudden the rains came hard and fast. Noah and his family were prepared, they believed God, they built the ark, and when the rains came they climbed in with all the animals to safety and were saved, while the rest of all humanity died in the flood, caught unexpectedly. Just like the flood, when Jesus returns it will be sudden, unpredictable, like a thief in the night, which doesn’t mean that Jesus will come secretively, but that he will come when we least expect him to, and it will be too late, people will have made their choice. When Jesus comes it will be final, the time for choices is over. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken, just like that. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill and just like that one will be gone as God gathers his children from the four corners of the earth, while the rest will face eternal destruction and separation from God.
Unfortunately I have ministered to folks who, rather than desiring to be prepared now, think they will just hold out until the end, just before they die or Jesus comes back whichever comes first. They will live the way they want, and hope to skid in at the last second. Or they just assume they have lived a pretty good life so surely God will accept them. While many of us sometimes have a hard time with this, God is full of amazing grace and he loves them so much he gives them every opportunity, he does give people last chances like the thief on the cross who hung next to Jesus and believed in him just before his own death and received salvation. But it’s a dangerous viewpoint. First, it’s assuming you won’t die suddenly, like in a car crash or a sudden heart attack and get that opportunity. When we are talking about eternity, in my mind, that is a big gamble. Personally, I don’t like to gamble my short time on this terrestrial ball with my eternal destination. The second problem is that it has to come from the heart. If someone has calculated their turning to the Lord, chances are it’s more of a calculated risk rather than a true heart change. God knows our heart, he knows if we truly mean it or we’re just giving him lip service so we will spend eternity in heaven.
Again Jesus is saying, are you ready right now, have you prepared yourself for his coming?
What does it mean to prepare ourselves, or to be ready for the coming of Jesus? There are two main ways we are to be prepared for his coming.
Being in a state of readiness
1) How to be Prepared
a) repent, confess, turn to the Lord
When John the Baptist came to prepare the people for the Lord’s first coming, the Bible tells us he came proclaiming, “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” The Lord’s a comin’ and we need to repent and turn to the Lord…now. We must recognize our sin separates us from God, and apart from Jesus we are eternally separated from God. When we repent it means we literally turn from our sin, confess it to God, and then believe Jesus has covered my sin by taking them upon himself and nailing them to his cross, burying them forever, and then we choose to live for Jesus and follow him. That is the other side of repentance, turning away from sin and turning to a new life in Jesus Christ. We try to live the way Jesus would live if he were us, which we can do because we have the power of God’s Spirit living within us.
There are two kinds of repentance. There is an initial repentance where we first turn from sin and believe in Jesus, but there is also an ongoing repentance, even as believers, we need to continue to turn from our sin and turn to God, so that we are holy or set apart for God.
2) Manage His Household
a) Feeding his family
There is a second way of preparing ourselves for Jesus’ coming which he mentions here in Matthew 24. Jesus concludes with a story about a manager watching his household (24:45-50), “giving their food at the proper time” it says in the NIV or “feeding his family” in the NLT. In other words, our waiting time is not intended to be spent in selfish pursuits of pleasure (partying, getting drunk, ), nor is it meant to be waiting around idle, rather our waiting time should be spent feeding and caring for his family, particularly if we are leaders in the church.
The reason I think Jesus is applying this to all Christians is because in the next chapter Jesus tells the story about the goats and the sheep to clarify what he means by feeding his family. He said there will be two groups, the sheep and the goats. He will divide them at judgment day, with the sheep will be on his right and the goats on his left. The sheep, those who are righteous, are the ones who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, invited in the stranger, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, and visited those in prison. He said, “whatever you have done for least of these, you have done it for me.”
While we wait for his coming, Jesus doesn’t expect us to be sitting on our hands. God has given us: money, resources, gifts, talent, time, in that sense we are all managers who are meant to use what God has given us to care for God’s family, including those who are not a part of the family yet.
b) Proclaiming the Good News
I also believe Jesus expects us to proclaim to every nation and people group the Good News about him. In fact, Jesus said the end wouldn’t come until after the Good News of the kingdom reached around the world (24:14). At the conclusion of Matthew’s gospel Jesus’ last words to his disciples were, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” In the first chapter of Acts before Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples inquired about when Jesus would restore his kingdom, and Jesus replied:
7 "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (1:7)."
In other words, don’t worry about when I will return to establish my kingdom, you just need to concentrate on telling others about me. First, beginning where you are, your Jerusalem is your immediate area, those whom God has already placed around you, and sending others out until the whole world knows about me.
Conclusion:
If Jesus were to come back right now would he find us ready and prepared for him? Have we made the choice to turn from sin and turn to him? Would Jesus be pleased with how we are managing our little part of the world? Are we caring for the least of these, those who are in need around us? If Jesus were to return today and collect his children from the corners of the earth how many people that you rub shoulders with on a regular basis would come with you (brother, sister, parent, friend, neighbor)? If you knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow is there anything you would do differently today? Is there something you would change in your life, something you would do, something you need to say to someone? Jesus said we need to live today like he’s comin’ back soon. Why not begin today?
