Trudging Through Turbulent Times
Matthew 24:1-8
January 4, 2009
Happy New Year everyone! To begin the New Year, I thought that we might address a relevant topic for our times right now, “Trudging Through Turbulent Times.” Times are so uncertain. Many of us are facing some devastating situations: some financial while others might health-related or relational. The economy, jobs, health care, mortgage crisis, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, wars in other countries, genocide, starvation, lack of clean water, the environment. It certainly seems as if the world is unraveling right before our eyes. These are turbulent times. And we are all feeling it. We are feeling the stresses in our homes, our families, our businesses, and our church.
Sometimes life gets so difficult. Sometimes it seems like it might be easier to give up. Sometimes it seems like it might be easier to slack off. Sometimes it seems like it could be simpler if we just relax especially on our worship and devotional practices. Sometimes it seems like going to worship is too much. Sometimes we find that spending time reading God’s Word, reflecting and praying, and other disciplines are just burdensome. This can especially be true when life seems so overwhelming.
So to start off this New Year I want to remind us of some fundamentals as we trudge through turbulent times.
In Bill Gates’ new book Business @ The Speed of Thought, he lays out 11 rules that students do not learn in high school or college, but should. He argues that our feel-good, politically correct teachings have created a generation of kids with no concept of reality who are set up for failure in the real world. RULE 1 - Life is not fair; get used to it. RULE 2 - The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. RULE 3 - You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone, until you earn both a high school and college degree. RULE 4 - If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure. RULE 5- Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping, they called it opportunity. RULE 6 - If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them. RULE 7 - Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills; cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try "delousing" the clothes in your own room. RULE 8 - Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they will let you try as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. RULE 9 - Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time. RULE 10 - Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to their jobs. RULE 11 - Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.
The word trudge gives us a definite picture. We trudge through snow. It is laborious walk. It is tiring. It takes work. It seems to me to be rather unmotivated. Sometimes doing what is right seems like trudging. Sometimes doing what we need to do is not glamorous and exciting. Sometimes doing what needs to be done is wrestling match where we wonder, “Why bother?”
But trudging can also imply walking with purpose and walking with intention. It often has a connotation of having a firm and important destination in mind. Often trudging is used in situations that are life and death, which is something a lot of people who just “go to church” do not really feel. How many of us feel that our walk with God and how we live out God’s ways and how we follow Jesus is really a matter of life or death? Many of us intellectually might know this but not all of us are truly that desperate. But we should be. And it is always that important for each and every one of us.
In Matthew 24, Jesus is addressing the world of the disciples. And in many ways, their world resembles ours. They were living in extremely turbulent times. There were a lot of social problems. There was a lot of unrest. And the religious institution of that time, The Temple, was not really living up to biblical expectations. Certainly not Jesus’ expectations.
In Matthew 23, we see a scalding reprimand of the religious practices and leaders of the day. Jesus has had with the Jewish systems. He has had with the leaders. He has had with the people who just don’t get it and don’t want to get it. So he walks out of the Temple declaring that he has had enough of those who have no desire to really draw close to God and put into practice the ways of God’s Kingdom. He is done. Probably good people. Probably righteous people (good Jewish tsadiqs). He storms out of church or I mean the Temple. Makes us think. At least I hope it does. Would Jesus really be home in our churches? Or would he find the same criticisms? Would he find people too comfortable? Too apathetic? Too self-absorbed?
Then Jesus talks with his disciples as he leaves the temple in Matthew 24:1-8:
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ’I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
First of all I read the description and it is pretty easy to see at least some resemblance to verses 6-8. I don’t know if this will happen today, tomorrow, or in a hundred years. But I do know that there is something important for the followers of Jesus to remember and it is not to be paranoid or some doomsday cynic.
As Jesus leaves, his disciples remind him of the great buildings that they have built. It is like they are saying, “Ok, Jesus we know that the leaders are pretty bad but at least we have this temple that will endure. At least we can celebrate with this. At least some day, this will be the center of all God’s kingdom activity.”
And Jesus in a few moments reduces the center of the Jewish religion from a Temple to a mere building to just some things. They aren’t important. The great buildings will be destroyed. This happens in 70 AD. Of course the disciples are shocked. They stand there dumbfounded. Jesus keeps walking and they can’t fathom it. Finally they catch up to Jesus as he was sitting and the only thing they can ask is, “When will this happen?” I wonder if they thought that this valuable piece of information could really make them important. They could tell others and predict the exact time that this would happen then they could say, “I told you so.”
But Jesus doesn’t go there. He gives them and us a warning about who we are to follow in the midst of all the chaos. Later he even reminds them and us that following Jesus will be difficult and might even cost you your life. Jesus says turbulent times will come. So make sure that you get through them in the right way and on the right side. Paul says that when not if the evil one attacks you that you better have on the full armor of God so that at the very least you will be able to stand on the gospel of peace.
So as we trudge through turbulent times what does this mean for us? What does this mean for the New Year?
Trudging Through Turbulent Times
• Be Prepared
Don’t wait until the tough times to get ready. This is why it is so important to practice spiritual disciplines all along. But a lot of times it is that much more difficult to get it if we wait until times get tough.
Life isn’t fair. Circumstances change. The river may be smooth and calm but just around the next bend is a stretch of white water rapids. Be prepared and ready for things to change. I have found this saying to be true:
Most of us are either going into or coming out of tough times.
So be ready when not if but when they come. Be prepared. Prepare yourself spiritually, mentally, socially, physically, and financially. As best as you can.
There will be many people telling you, “I am the Christ.” They might not actually say that but they will tell that they have the answer to your dilemma. They have what you need to survive. They can save you. Isn’t that the same as saying, “I am the Christ.”
Be prepared and trust in the real savior Jesus. His words, his ways, his teachings.
• Be Attentive
Be attentive to those who are suffering. Do not neglect this aspect. For one thing, God says that what we give will be pressed down for us, shaken up, and then turned into a double-portion of blessing for us. I’m sure that means as long as we are attentive to the suffering of others.
Besides, helping others is one of the greatest ways that we can get out of our own turbulent times. It feels good. It reminds us of God’s love for us. It gets us out of our own “poor-me’s.” Sometime when we wait around for someone to do something for us, we miss out on a wonderful blessing that God has for us that could have been ours by just getting outside of our own problems to help someone else.
A woman took her husband to the doctor’s office. After his checkup, the doctor said, "Your husband is suffering from a very serious infection." The husband, who was hard of hearing said, "What did he say?" His wife said, "He says your sick". The doctor went on. "But there is hope. You just need to reduce his stress. Each morning, give him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant, nice, and kind. For lunch and dinner make him his favorite meal. Don’t discuss your problems with him, it will only make his stress worse. Don’t yell at him or argue with him. And most importantly...just cater to your husband’s every whim. If you can do this for your husband for the next 6 months to a year, I think your husband will have a complete recovery." The husband said, "What did he say?" His wife said, "He says, You’re going to die".
• Be Faithful
Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Keep doing what God has called you to do. Keep worshiping. Keep praying. Keep serving. Keep on keeping on. You might just be giving up right before the miracle happens.
Don’t slack off or cut corners. Don’t be mediocre and don’t be lukewarm. Be faithful.
I don’t know what will happen this year. I know that a lot of us are struggling in many ways especially financially. Food prices are going up. A loaf of bread at Wal-mart used to be around 80 cents a couple of years ago. Now it is over a dollar. 10 pounds of potatoes used to be 2 dollars or less. Wal-mart had theirs at $5.77. Outrageous.
I don’t know what will happen this year. I don’t know how bad things will get. But I do know that the Lord is my provider. I know that God is more than able to do all that we need and more. I know that God is not finished with us yet so let’s not be finished with God. Let’s not give up before the miracle.
I place my hope in God. I place my trust in Him and I will not give up on what God is doing. For me it is a matter of life and death. I get that. I hope you do too.
