(Come to the front with binoculars on)
You may be wondering about the BINOCULARS? I’ve been watching and looking - after
all that is what believers are supposed to do, right? Watching for the Lord’s return? I
mean He could come at any moment and I want to be among the first to see Him. So
when I hear the trumpet, I’ll simply look to the east with these.
Let me move away from our imagined friend this morning as we seriously look at the
Lord’s return or what is simply referred to as OUR HOPE. It is this hope that separates
from the rest of humanity. If you are looking for the major difference between the
Christian and the non-Christian - this is it! Our hope in Christ and His return is not just an
exercise in wishful thinking - as in, “I hope He will come back,” but rather it is the
CONFIDENT CONVICTION that He will indeed return and interrupt human history as
we know it and every eye shall see him and every knee will bow and every tongue will
confess Him as Lord! And let me add this - I do not need to know all the DETAILS as to
how or when or what happens just before in order for me to be a spontaneous member of
the welcoming committee.
I have noticed that believers are either OBSESSED with the return of the Lord or they
simply put it on a BACK BURNER in their thinking. Those that are obsessed with Christ
coming again seem to have their Bibles in one hand and a current newspaper in the other
as they attempt to figure out the day and the hour of His arrival. Others in the church
have conveniently eliminated any thought of His return from the active desktop of their
minds so that it will not interfere with their chosen lifestyle. Neither is the Biblical
recommendation.
In the passage of the morning - II Peter 3:9-14 - we discover that there are two major
benefits to moving our HOPE to the FRONT BURNER of our brains without allowing
that Hope to be an obsession. The first impact that our hope should have in our lives is
PERSONAL PURITY. The Scripture in verse 11 asks this question, “ Since everything
will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?” And then proceeds
to answer the question, “You ought to live holy and godly lives.” This idea of a holy and
godly life is clarified further in verse 14, “make every effort to be found spotless,
blameless and at peace with him.” Simply put - God has planned a great BONFIRE where
the elements will melt - verse 10 and the only thing that we are told that will survive is a
holy and godly life. Think about how much of our energy and time is devoted to collecting
and accumulating stuff - stuff that will only be good for fuel for the great bonfire that God
has planned. You talk about wasted energy and a futile pursuit. (By the way - up until the
dawn of the nuclear age this idea of ELEMENTS MELTING with a fervent heat and the
heavens roaring was a mystery to those who studied the Scripture. With the advent of the
atomic bomb it was finally understood what was meant by the heavens roaring and the
melting or literally the untying of the elements.)
The idea of purity in the Christian life today seems like FOREIGN TERRITORY. We
tend not to believe in “spotless and blameless” We rather seem to TOLERATE a little dirt
in our lives, justifying it as we compare ourselves with one another rather than with Christ.
We are like little kids with dirty faces and bodies who resist the idea of a BATH, claiming
that there is no dirt at all. We need to let the Hope of His return motivate us to hit the
spiritual showers and be cleansed in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And that shower may
be necessary not just once a day but even several times during the day in order for us to
live a spotless and blameless life. In fact, have you ever thought spiritually of the idea of
never leaving the shower, making spotless and blameless living an ever present reality?
The second thing that the Hope of the Lord’s return or the coming day of the Lord should
do in us is to motivate us to PERSONAL MISSION. We read in verse 9, “ The Lord is
not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not
wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” The Lord has a purpose
in what seems like a delay in His coming - It is His love that delays His coming - He wants
people to come to faith - to be saved! His purpose should be our purpose. In Peter’s first
letter to the church, in chapter three and verse 15, we read that we should GIVE A
REASON for the hope that lies within us.” - our hope, lived out in a spotless and
blameless life, should be so visible that it prompts others to ask about it. Personal purity
leads to personal mission and the redemption of those who will seek the Lord because of
our visible hope!
Let me answer the QIESTION before you ask it this morning. Our hope is visible in our
values, in our words and attitudes toward others. In expressed kindness and acts of
Christlike love or simply the purity and passion of Jesus fleshed out in each of our lives. I
have been praising God for our time LAST SUNDAY as many of you were baptized and
shared your testimony with us. I noticed in each testimony and in every testimony that I
have ever heard that there is always a person that God uses to flesh out the Jesus Lifestyle
and that conversion usually takes place following that powerful demonstration of what it
means to be a Christian.
Let me try and put this all together this morning with this closing thought. This weekend
Ann and I finally with the help of our boys and friends moved into our new house in
Parker that we closed on two months ago.. Last night was our first nite in our new home.
We had been living in an apartment in Englewood for seven months. The last two months
have been very exciting even though we owned the home but were not able to live in it.
You might say that the HOPE of living in our new home was never in doubt and added a
certain dimension and excitement to all that we did in the last two months. First we told
everyone that we knew that we had finally bought a home in Colorado. Then we planned
and prepared for our move into the house - where we would put things - where the
grandchildren would stay when they came to visit - and we even went shopping for the
additional furniture that we would need. In one beautiful sense, the idea of the new home
was on the front burner of our minds. It was in our thinking as we went to sleep and as
we woke up - as we ate, worked and played. That hope impacted our schedule and daily
to do list and in a certain sense at least for the last two months defined purpose for our
lives.
What I have been trying to say this morning is simply this: So let the Hope of our Lord’s
return captivate your life so that your purpose in life is defined in terms of your personal
purity and personal mission.
Years ago in my YFC office I posted a little card sign over the light switch which simply
read, “PERHAPS TODAY!” It was a reminder to me that as I left the office to visit one
of the High School campuses that I was on a life and death mission and that the Lord
might return before I returned to that office. Yes, as believers we live every day as if it
were our last day on earth - we could fly away at any moment. A STREET PREACHER
approached a man and asked him if he wanted to go to heaven and the man replied, “no
sir!” The preacher came back, “surely you want to go to heaven when you die?” The man
responded, “Of course, I thought you were organizing a group to go today!” That’s the
point - the trip of a lifetime and all eternity could leave unannounced at any moment!
