Because Jesus Is Returning . . .
"Be Wise - Matthew 24:43-51"
We have been studying through Matthew 24,25 - with this overall theme . . . Because Jesus is returning and we don’t know when, how should we be living?
I remember reading a story a few years ago about a man who was visiting South Africa. He was walking through the streets of a village when he stumbled upon some children playing marbles. He thought their marbles were very interesting looking and asked if he could look at one. A closer examination revealed that the marbles were actually rough diamonds! How tragic. These children were playing marbles with diamonds. They did not know that they had in their possession. They had no idea the wealth they held in their playful hands.
How tragic, we think, but we do the same thing as Christians. We have the incredible message of God’s saving grace in our lives, and at our disposal, but so often we trivialize it. So often we play marbles with diamonds when it comes to our Christian lives. We often do not act logically with the knowledge we have of Jesus’ saving grace and His promised return. We know that God is real. We know that Jesus is the promised Savior. We know that He died for our sins and rose again. We know that He is coming back. But too often we don’t act like we really believe all that. Why? I think it is because we are so nearsighted. We live for today because today is here. We forget about eternity, because it seems so far away. Jesus is delaying, and we think we have plenty of time to get around to being ready for that.
- Read Matthew 24:42-51
I. Be Wise
This world is not your home. It is just a short stay on the way to eternity. But what you do with this short stay is critical. It determines where you will spend eternity. You have the knowledge of Jesus and God’s grace. Will you be wise with it? Will you act logically with it?
God never intended for the Christian life to be a side dish or a hobby while we go through life taking care of "real priorities." God’s plan through Christ was that we live singlemindedly under His Lordship. He intended for our relationship and commitment to Christ to affect all of our pursuits - at home, school, work, play.
Most people live life so superficially, whether Christians or not. Most people do not spend a lot of time thinking about how they live. They don’t stop to think about whether or not what they do makes sense in light of what they claim to believe. But I do respect someone who has the courage to live out their beliefs, even if I’m sure their beliefs are wrong. Let me give you an example.
Kurt Cobain died about 8 years ago. I remember the day I picked up the newspaper and read about it. He was the founder and lead singer of the rock group "Nirvana." His death was a suicide. He took a shotgun, pointed it to his head, and killed himself. The newspaper was filled with the words of fans and commentators in disbelief saying "Why? It makes no sense." "He had it all . . . a great career, a huge following, plenty of money, a wife and a 19 month old daughter . . . Why?" To most people it made no sense. But I remember sitting at my desk thinking. "Yes it does. It makes sense. Kurt Cobain was living out his beliefs to their logical extreme." You see, Kurt Cobain was a self professed humanist and nihilist. In other words, he believed their was no God and that there was no meaning or purpose to life. His music (poetry) could not be more clear on this matter.
Kurt Cobain’s music was grunge rock. He pioneered this type of music. The alternative rock style of today has evolved from grunge rock. Kurt had a disdain for anything mainstream or acceptable to society. He was a child of divorce. At the age of eight he began to be shifted from home to home, sometimes even being homeless. He was very vocal about his bitterness from that experience. He developed his belief that life was basically rotten and meaningless.
His music often spoke of his anger and disillusionment. One of his most famous songs was called "Nevermind." Its recurring line was "Oh well, whatever, nevermind." Another song he wrote never got released. It was too objectionable to the label company, but Kurt liked it. It was called, "I Hate Myself, And I Want To Die." In another song called "Smells Like Teen Spirit," a well known line says, "I feel stupid and contagious, here we are, now entertain us." The video of that song was voted best video of the decade of the 90’s.
Friends of Cobain say he lived up to his music. He often acted without reason. He was constantly on an emotional roller coaster. But his dips into despair got deeper and deeper. Once, a member of his road crew asked him why he was moping around so much. Cobain replied, "I’m awake, aren’t I?" Kurt Cobain was a young man fueled by nihilism. He had passion, but for nothing. He had a void in his heart that nothing he pursued could fill, and he believed that nothing could or ever would. He had no purpose, no meaning, and he simply lived out his belief in his worldview to its logical conclusion.
He reminds me of another man. Solomon. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes of pursuing all of the things the world has to offer. He also wrote of the despair they brought him. They offered no meaning. Solomon, however, concluded differently than Kurt Cobain. He concluded that purpose and meaning were found in the living God. Only be knowing and serving Him could you rise above the level of despair. And there is even better news than that. Now, God has declared through His Son how much He loves us, and that He wants to spend eternity with us.
I don’t like what Kurt Cobain stood for. I think his life was wasted. I think he was a fool for what he believed. But I have a certain respect for the fact the he at least had the courage to live out what he said he believed. He did not live superficially. He applied his worldview to every part of his life. Most people who subscribe to humanism apply it only where it pleases them and where it is convenient to do so. They deny God but still claim to feel there is meaning and purpose to life without any rational basis for it.
Christians, on the other side, operate in much the same way, unfortunately. They, too, live superficially too often. They apply their faith where it is easy and convenient to do so, while striving to enjoy what a secular world offers too. When we see a Christian live out their faith to its logical conclusion, sold out to God, uncompromising in their convictions, really living as if Jesus could return today, they are considered fanatical, strange, even an embarrassment to other Christians.
- Ephesians 5:15-17 - "So be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days."
- Be ready - parable of the faithful servant
- Be prepared - parable of the ten bridesmaids
- Be faithful - parable of the talents
- Be loving - the sheep and the goats
- Titus 2:11-13 - "For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God, while we look forward to that wonderful event when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed."
- God challenges us to live wisely in light of the certain return of Jesus.
II. Be Focused
Few things are more difficult than driving a long distance with small children. No matter how man activity books, games and Barney tapes you bring you still hear the drone of "are we there yet?" Their anticipation is relentless. How do you respond to that?
- The irritated response: "We’re closer now than the last time you asked."
- The threatening response: "If you keep asking when we’re going to get there, I’m gonna turn around and go home."
- The sneaky response: "Let’s play a game and see how long we can go without asking if we’re there yet."
Yet no matter how you respond, on long trips kids seem to be totally focused on the final destination. Now in some ways, that’s not a bad thing, because at least you really have a destination. Without a clear destination, a journey lacks focus, it lacks any way to measure progress, because you don’t know what way forward even is. That what Christ’s second coming does for us. It gives us a final destination to focus on.
But distraction from that final destination is all too easy for Christians in America.
In fact, it seems to be one of the favorite tactics of Satan in our lives. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called the Screwtape Letters where he portrayed a high ranking and experienced demon mentoring a less experienced demon on the most effective ways to keep humans from an effective relationship with God. Here is a letter after that tradition:
Dear Wormwood,
I am truly amazed at you. Your methods are so antiquated I can scarcely believe it. You and your ridiculous talk of torturing Christians. Can’t you see that those things don’t work anymore? It just makes them mad, and then you can’t do a thing with them.
Listen, it’s not done that way anymore. We quit that right after the McCarthy hearings. Catch up, you bungler. There’s a whole new approach to getting Christians to denounce their faith. And it works!
Remember all that stuff we used to "arrange" for their torture? Like throwing them to the lions . . . I about laugh myself sick. Or burning them at the stake . . . we chuckled for about 300 years on that. Letting them spend their lives in those filthy dungeons was bad . . . and we enjoyed it immensely, but that was nothing . . . I mean nothing, compared to the effectiveness of the latest thing we’ve got.
It’s called trial by affluence, for lack of a better term. The point is, it gets results. We’ve never seen anything like it down here. The Boss came up with the original idea, but we keep adjusting it for the times.
It’s so simple you wouldn’t believe it. Here’s what you do. Take a good, solid Christian family - perhaps a guy and his wife, and maybe some kids. Get the decent, church going Christian family, so you can make the best example of them. Now start pouring on the good life. Give him a boat, a camper, a couple of nice cars, a nice house, big screen tv and an income that provides for more than just the basic necessities. Add to this a couple of days a week he doesn’t have to work. Pour on the goodies and then watch him crack! And if you really want to enjoy it, just listen to what he says.
Sooner or later you’ll hear him mention how God gave him all this good stuff. But while he is saying it, he’s probably hooking up the camper to be gone from worship again. Or maybe he’s turning on the tv to sit paralyzed instead of thinking or doing anything. We find that with each week we give him a shot of this stuff we’ve got him one step further away from the tremendous power of our Enemy above.
I don’t know why we didn’t think of this before. Just goes to show you our Boss can adjust to the times. He claims that America is almost completely in his grasp. And it’s almost solely through this new method of his. You’ve got to give him credit. He’s never lost a country yet. So get going. This should be a perfect weekend for you to get started on your new case.
Your Sinister Superior, Screwtape
Satan wants you distracted, living superficially, living for the moment. God wants you focused on Jesus, living intentionally, with His return in your sights all the time.
- Hebrews 12:1,2 - "Let us run with endurance the race set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish."
Focus is essential to endurance - to waiting out delay.
- Sniper Camp - U.S. News And World Report carried this story. The U.S. Marines conduct a secret sniper program in Quantico, Virginia. The school admits 25 men for an eight week course of sixteen hour days. Very few pass. To graduate, each goes on a mock mission into a well defined area where instructors search for the sniper. If they can find him, they can fail him.
To get in range of the target, a sniper may move forward at a rate of one inch per hour. He may sit for days absolutely still, despite cold, rain, insect bites and fear. No one gets out without singleness of heart. (April 21, 1986)
The truth is that we expect that kind of intensity and focus from these guys, from doctors, Olympic champions, concert pianists. But God expects it when we come back to Him in Christ. God deserves singleness of heart and focus, because He is God and because He has loved us with such an intense and sacrificial love.
Conclusion:
"You better watch out, you better not pout, you better not cry, I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town. He’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty and nice, Santa Claus is coming to town. He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake."
I never liked that song as a kid. You can’t fool Santa. He knows it all. Well, great! Then he knows I lied about scratching the car with my bike. He knows I hit my sister. He knows I was cussing up a storm with my friends down the street. He knows it all. That’s just great! What chance do I have for a decent Christmas present now? I might as well just keep on being bad.
You know. That’s how people often look at these two chapters of Matthew and the parables Jesus told here. Jesus is coming back. You better watch out - you better be good, cause He knows it all. You better be ready, prepared, faithful, loving, because there’s no fooling Him. And when you look at it this way, any honest person would say, "That’s just great!" Then I have no chance, cause I know I’ve been bad."
But you are missing the message if that’s how you look at this series of stories. It’s not about being good enough when Jesus comes back. I suppose that’s how you would see it if you isolated this part of the New Testament, but that’s not what we are supposed to do. Being ready for the return of Jesus is not about being good enough. It’s about "keeping your eyes on Jesus, on Whom our faith depends from start to finish." It’s about letting His mercy and grace be the focus of your life and letting it touch you in such a way that you can’t help but desire to do the things that please Him.
- Ephesians 2:8-10 - "God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."
The good works flow from a heart that is been graced by God. The good works don’t come as a way of earning God’s salvation. So the point is to live wisely because of the grace God has offered to us. The point is to keep our focus in life on the One who brings us eternal life as a free gift, as a love gift.
Hebrews 9:28 - "He will bring salvation to all those who are eagerly waiting for Him."
1 Corinthians 1:7 - ". . . as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Revelation 16:15 - "Take note: I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are all who are watching for Me, who keep their robes ready so they will not need to walk naked and ashamed."
Let your anticipation of His return be relentless!
