Matthew 24:1-8
Eads and Haswell UMC
September 16, 2001
Tuesday morning,
I got out of bed and went through my normal array of morning activities.
I showered, dressed, ate breakfast,
And sat down to drink my morning cup of coffee.
I was remarkably pleased with the Broncos the night before
And I thought I would flip on Sportscenter
for a recap of the Monday Night Football
to find out what happened to Ed McCaffrey.
Instead of sports highlights,
ABC News was broadcasting on ESPN.
That’s odd, I thought to myself.
I checked the channel to make sure it was ESPN.
Yes, the channel is right,
Why is there smoke and fire on ESPN?
“Uh Mary,
I think that something bad has happened.”
We sat and watched the horror unfold of that morning’s events.
Four planes highjacked and rammed into buildings containing
Fathers, mothers, children going about there daily lives.
“My God help us”
I looked at Mary and said,
“Our world is forever a different place.”
Then they showed the Pentagon.
We held our breath waiting,
And the images only got worse and worse.
I never realized how much the world could change in just a single day.
And then, the media showed us the demonic face of evil,
The monstrosity of hate known as Bin Laden.
As we continued to watch the horror unfold before us,
I realized that this is just the beginning of something big.
And when I look at who the players in this confrontation are,
I began to get scared.
Christian television was little comfort.
Christians declaring that this is the wrath of God unleashed on our nation.
Christians declaring that God is allowing us to be punished that we might
Come back to him.
Christians declaring that this indeed may be the beginning
Of the end.
From what I could see,
Terrorism had accomplished its goal not only against the nation,
But against the church.
Christians assigned God the blame for evil,
Rather than recognizing that Satan
Has reached out to kill God’s people
Since the time of Cain and Able.
Christians declared that this is the beginning of the apocalypse
Rather than waiting to see where we go from here.
Do not get me wrong,
We are called to be watchful people.
The return of Christ is absolutely imminent,
As it has been for the last 2000 years.
He is at the door,
And we are to stand ready.
But, in these times, we are called to make a choice in our discernment.
Will we choose fear, or will we choose faith?
I think anyone who has watched these events unfold
This last week has experienced fear.
That is only to be expected.
Yet fear cannot ever be the driving force
Behind our lives or our Christianity.
Even if… especially if… this truly is the beginning of the end times,
We are called to be people of great faith and not fear.
Now, there is all kind of apocalyptic literature in the Bible.
Many of us think of Revelation and Daniel when we think of the
Prophesies about the end times.
And, rightly so, this is the majority of the
literature we have to work with.
But, there is also material in the Gospel that I want to take a look at.
Not only does Jesus tell us what to expect,
But he tells us how we are to be as his faithful followers..
The Gospel Lesson this morning comes from Matthew 24:1-8
1 As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 Then he asked them, "You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."
3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" 4 Jesus answered them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ’I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
This is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think that the first thing we need to realize is that
People have been asking the question
“when will the end of the earth come”
for a long, long time.
2000 years ago, the disciples were pressuring Jesus
for these sorts of answers.
And, in every armed conflict ever since,
People have wondered…
“where is this going?
Is this the beginning of the end?”
People in this congregation can remember the events of WW1 and WW2,
Not to mention the more recent wars within our history
Including the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Gulf War
Wondering if it was the end.
Just recently there were all the prophesies that Y2K was going to wipe us
Off the face of the earth.
We were going to plunge into utter chaos and kill one another
To survive.
Yet, here we are on this sunny Sunday morning gathered for worship.
We are still here.
Armageddon has not come.
God is still God.
The Holy Spirit is still among us.
And we still wait on the return of Jesus Christ to the earth..
I tell you all this to make a point…
We have been here before…
We have asked these very same questions over and over…
And, here we are again,
At what appears to be the beginning of another
major armed conflict.
The spot we are in is a familiar one…
And from this spot,
We are going to have to decide how we are going to live
In threat of what appears to be an imminent war..
Now, there are a number of lessons that we can take from the text this morning.
Within it is a prediction of the fall of the Jerusalem temple,
The persecution of Christians from the Romans,
False leaders and Messiahs,
And finally, the end of the age.
There are Bible scholars who teach that most of these teachings have nothing
To do with our future, they are actually about the events within
The life of the early church and the persecution of the disciples.
And, there are others who believe that this is an exact prediction of a fire filled
Future that still awaits us.
I am not going to argue either point.
I am not interested in either of them to be completely honest with you.
There is nothing that I can do about it either way.
The vast majority of today’s so called prophets are people
Who have made a lot of money playing on people’s worst fears
Wrapped up in proof texted scripture readings.
Bad prophesy is a money making industry in this nation.
I guarantee you there is going to be a lot of money made
Playing on people’s fears in the days ahead.
People of God, for those of you who are afraid,
I would like to point you back to Jesus
And I would like you to hear the words that he has to say to us today.
Jesus does tell us what we can do something about.
He does offer to us an insight of what to do
When there is nothing to do.
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars;
see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”
See that you are not alarmed!
I looked the word “alarmed” up in Webster’s dictionary.
It means to be “struck with fear.”
What does Jesus ask us to do
When everything looks like it is about to fall apart?
Do not be struck with fear.
Now, that may not sound like a lot to work with,
But I want you to think about something.
The greatest power both our physical enemies and our spiritual enemy
has is our own fear!
Fear of dying.
Fear of our economy collapsing.
Fear of the unknown.
Fear, fear, fear.
This morning, I want to offer to you the antidote to this poison.
The antidote to fear is faith.
And each and every one of us has to make that decision.
Will I live today in fear, or will I live today in faith?
I want to offer to you this morning some words of faith and something
To look forward to…
1 Thessalonians4:13-5:11
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. 15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6 So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7 for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
This is the Word of the Lord.
People of God,
I am not going to lie to you…
The days ahead are days of uncertainty.
But, I want to tell you that they are also days of hope…
Hope for something better.
And we have the certainty of God’s word that
Christ is coming for us.
We are not to be afraid, Christ is coming for us.
Put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
We are to be people of faith,
Even in the midst of suffering, adversity, and death…
Especially in the midst of suffering, adversity, and death
Hear again the word of the Lord.
Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (NRSV)
This is the Word of the Lord.
People of God,
What Satan has used to create suffering,
God will use to produce endurance.
and that endurance produces character,
and that character produces hope, 5
and that hope will not disappoint us.
Why?
because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
I don’t know about you,
But that does not sound to me like an angry God that is out to get us.
That does not sound to me like God is going to abandon us.
That does not sound like when we stand in the face of evil that we
are to abandon all hope and be gripped by fear and terror.
People of God, be of great faith, for we have been here before.
This great nation has weathered 2 world wars and countless other conflicts,
And God is with us as much now as He was yesterday and the day before.
We will weather this one too.
And God will still be with us.
