December 1, 2002 Mk 13:32-37
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
Well, it’s already started. This past week my son has started the interrogation. With a raised eyebrow, a dark look in his eye, and a persistence that would make even the most hardened criminal crack - he asked me - “when is it going to be Christmas?” When I answered, “a month,” well, that wasn’t good enough. A child doesn’t really grasp the concept of a month - but that it’s a long time. So he continued it the next day, the next day, and the next. I had to finally promise to make a chart today - where we would do a count down to when Christmas would be here. That’s the only way that I could finally figure out how to show him how close it was.
Jesus had promised the disciples a wonderful paradise through faith in him. We have this promise as well - that since Jesus died and rose from the dead, we too will go to heaven. The disciples, like anxious kids, wanted to know when the end of the world was going to come. Even today, many people try to calculate when the end of the world is coming. Jesus was able to give some clues as to when the end of the world would come - how false prophets would come, how families would fall apart, and how Jerusalem would be destroyed. But ultimately he said in today’s text, “no one knows about that day or hour, but only the Father.” He couldn’t make a chart and say, “the end of the world will come on this day and at this time.” So instead, he simplified it for them. Instead of focussing on when it would come, he gave them -
A Different Way to Prepare for the Second Coming of Christ
I. Don’t let him find you sleeping
Jesus said, you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. All four of these times have something in common - they are all times that we are sleeping or want to sleep. Jesus even draws this connection when he says, If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. Paul expounded on what this “sleeping” would represent when he said, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self_controlled. Therefore, instead of telling us not to physically sleep, Jesus is warning his disciples to be alert and self controlled when he tells them not to sleep.
Why does Jesus use night time as an example? Think about when sins usually occur. When the structure of a nine to five job loosens it’s shackles, there is more time and freedom. This is a good illustration of what state Christians are in - because we are loosened from the chains of the law and set free in the blood of Christ. Jesus is calling for self control in freedom. That’s when it’s the toughest to obey - when you have the freedom NOT to - when no one is LOOKING and you can’t get CAUGHT - that’s where SELF CONTROL is most necessary. Why? Because all sins are addictive in nature and carry guilt. They make you say to yourself, “I’m doing something I know is wrong. I don’t know if God will forgive me.” They effect you spiritually, so you make excuses for your sins, and they even effect you physically, when you have to stay up late to “get away” with sins you can’t do during the daytime. Sin makes you say to yourself, “I know this kind of a magazine is evil, but Jesus died for me, so I’ll just indulge myself this once.” You think that just doing it once will have no lasting consequence. But even doing them one time carries guilt along with it. So Jesus says, “don’t be caught sleeping” - because it can lead to unbelief and ultimately a fall from faith. Beware of the dark.
Jesus also said he could come when the rooster is crowing. Even though I don’t have feathers or scratch the dirt with my feet, you could compare me to the rooster crowing. My “cock-a-doodle doo” is in saying that there are very real dangers in this world that you need to be aware of - the danger of rolling over in your spiritual bed and falling asleep. If you look at this then in spiritual terms, what is the warning? We naturally live in a world that naturally puts us to go back to sleep. Think about the TV. Forty years ago Christian Americans wouldn’t have dreamed of seeing what we watch on tv - they would have been shocked. Yet we see it and listen to it every day and act as if it is no big deal. Christians are losing their spiritual edge - their awareness to what is good and what is evil. Our kids are being raised by a world that wants them to think that sex in high school and even grade school is the natural thing that “everybody does.” Slowly we are losing our edge - the covers are being pulled over our heads - we are falling back to sleep.
Just in writing this sermon and talking about these things, what Jesus was warning against really hit hard. A part of me thought, “should I really talk about teenage sex and tv?” Right there - the proof is in the pudding. Just by mentioning these things, I am being labelled by some of you as a fuddy duddy - an old time preacher who isn’t up on the times. This reaction in itself is a tell tale sign that we are falling asleep. We are growing weary of the fight against society - against the sins that are dragging ourselves and our children into what are now thought of as common and acceptable by our society. This shows us how we have a tendency to want to fall asleep. We don’t want to get up. We would rather sleep through it all. Pull the shades of ignorance, and pretend our children aren’t in danger - pretend our tv isn’t that bad - tell the rooster to stop crowing and sleep a little longer.
What’s the danger in it all? Jesus said, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch! Jesus doesn’t want us to be asleep. He hasn’t created us to be asleep. He doesn’t want us to live this life with our minds on drugs and our bodies in danger of sexual diseases. He doesn’t want us living with guilt every day. He doesn’t want our minds consumed with how we can get more stuff and live in luxury. You might compare it to when you rent a really good movie and you take it to your friends house. You can’t wait to watch it with him or her, but then what happens? They fall asleep during it! Doesn’t that make you angry? That’s how God feels when we decide to fall back asleep, right in the middle of his blessings! So Jesus says, “don’t fall asleep.” He wants us to enjoy this life as Christians - to fully appreciate all that he’s given us. We can’t do that if we’re living without self control and being alert. So as much as you may want to roll over and fall asleep, he keeps the roosters crowing.
Doesn’t this show us how loving Jesus really is? Just think of what He has given us. In your baptism he woke you up. He opened your eyes to who He is and what this world really is. He wants you to know that you’re forgiven - declared not guilty through the death and resurrection of Christ. He opened our eyes to a world of His blessings - in marriage, in forgiveness, with children, with learning his Word - and celebrating His many gifts to us. The last thing He wants is for you to live in the dark or be afraid or have a constant guilt on your shoulders. He wants you to know that He is protecting you and caring for you. What a blessing it is when we can see our family as a blessing and enjoy time with them. What a blessing it is when we can go to worship the Lord without a constant feeling of guilt and shame. That’s what Jesus wants - for us to live in confidence and joy before him! That’s what it means to stay awake!
II. Do your assigned task
There’s a trick to staying awake. This past Thursday I was given a living illustration as to what Jesus was talking about here. Since it was Thanksgiving, I took the day off. As I lay in bed, I realized that I didn’t have any pressing jobs or chores that needed to be done. So I lay there, and I lay there, and I lay there. It was so tempting for me to just stay there all morning, but Logan served as the rooster beckoning me from my bed. All day I had a hard time getting very motivated however, as my in-laws were there to help with the kids and things. It didn’t get any better as the day went on. After a wonderful turkey dinner, I made the mistake of sitting in my favorite rocking chair. The plush imitation leather sunk around the edges of my head and neck. My feet were able to extend straight out, and the warm sun was beating upon my body as I reclined in the middle of the afternoon. All of the children were outside playing. Before I knew it, my mind had drifted off into another world, and I wasted the afternoon resting gently in the corner of my house. Nothing was accomplished but sitting and sleeping. If I had woken on Thanksgiving morning with a lot to do, I would have done it. My body would have been a “working” gear, and I would have been able to keep at it. But since I had nothing on my agenda, my body automatically went in to nappy mode. That’s the way it works physically. And that’s the way it works spiritually as well.
Jesus said, It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Jesus said that He gave each person His assigned task. Parents do the same today when they leave their children a list of chores to do each day while they are at work. If we want to be realistic about it, Jesus doesn’t need our help to accomplish what he wants done in this world. He could spread the gospel without our help. He could build churches without our offerings. He could teach through angels or through direct revelation. But instead, He put US in charge. He makes us key players in the salvation of sinners. He tells us that WE are His spokesmen, chosen to tell the world that Jesus is the Savior of the world. What a risk!
Jesus said that “each one has his assigned task.” He draws a picture of a rich landowner with many different duties that need to be done. One might need to mow the lawn, another water the plants, another vacuum the rug, and on and on. Each duty is different. Yet each is important. That’s how God wants you to regard yourself - you have an “assigned task.”
You might say, “but pastor, I don’t know what my ‘assigned task’ is in life. I don’t know where or how God wants to use me.” I would venture to bet that if you asked even the seemingly successful in life, they probably didn’t have a sure and clear view as to what they were going to do in life. But they just kept on going in life doing the best they could, and things fell into place. A major problem we often have in life is that we always have our goals set on some far off goal. In ten years, we hope to be manager of a company, or to have a house, or to be married, or to have a degree. We are constantly chasing after things and wanting to have other duties. All Jesus said was that “each one has his assigned task.” I don’t know too many people that can say, “God appeared in a dream tonight and told me to work at this gas station, or what not.” Most everybody has to live by the motto of Ecclesiasties 9, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. If you’re a student, then do it with all of your might to the glory of God. If you’re a housewife, then do the best you can to take care of your children and help your husband. If you’re janitor, then scrub those toilets like you’ve never scrubbed before. Even if you are sick and ill, then be as cheery as you can to encourage those who are sent to help you. Look at your duty as the exact place that God wants you to be right now, unless you are getting clear signs to go somewhere else.
What good does this do? When you look at your duty as a service to God - a special place that God has placed you, it gives you a sense of importance. God has looked at you and said, “I want you to fulfill this role in life right now!” When you remember this, you won’t be disgruntled in life. Imagine if tomorrow we were all hired to be farmers, and went to work at a barn yard. The first chore we had to do was to shovel manure from the farm yard so it could be spread in the field. You might approach the job and say, “I’m not made for this. I can’t stand the stench. I’m not very strong. I’d be better at something else.” Or you could approach the job and say, “this is going to be a challenge. I don’t particularly care for this. But God must want me here for a reason. He must feel that I need a challenge and some humiliation. I’ll make the best of it and see what God has in store.” That’s how God wants us to look at life. It gives us a sense of importance.
When we look at life like this, it also keeps us from falling asleep in the rocking chair of sin and laziness. This is so important. How many times have you seen people unhappy with their jobs, who end up quitting and doing nothing. More often than not, they become more unhappy with life, as they become more and more lazy. They have no sense of belonging or importance, and they think that life has been unfair to them. This happens spiritually as well. If Christians don’t want to do what God has called them to do, they stop doing it. Then they feel guilty for not doing what they’re supposed to, become unhappy with God, and eventually fall from faith. But when you view even the most seeming mundane jobs as doing your duty to God - it makes you think, I would like to do something more for my Lord. I hope that he has more in store for me. It makes you eager to serve him in different ways, and yet to do the best that you can at what you have. Instead of thinking, “what can God do for me,” you think, “what can I do for God.” Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, you stay spiritually alert.
Of course, the most important tasks that calls us to do are the spiritual ones. No matter what your calling is in life, each of you has the common task of reading your Bible, coming to worship, taking the Lord’s Supper - and spreading the message of Jesus to the world. These are all most important. No matter who you are in life - a student, child, boss, employee, or grandma, all of us are called to stay in the Word and spread the Word. This is most important, for Jesus said that “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” When we stay in the Word God fills our souls with the life giving message of peace and forgiveness in Christ. When we take the Lord’s Supper we are continually reminded that Jesus died FOR US and washed our sins away - that we are going to heaven when we die. When we spread the gospel it gives us the joy of freeing another person from fear and guilt.
As of today, it is twenty four days till Christmas. Every day you can make a check mark on a day. You know that you are getting one day closer to singing praises to Jesus with your favorite Christmas songs. To you children, it may seem like a long ways away. But for us adults, I bet it will come before we’re ready for it. Why? Because we’ll be busy shopping and preparing the house, getting ready for the holiday. We’ve got a lot to do to get ready for this holiday.
When the disciples asked Jesus, “when is your Second Coming?”, he couldn’t give them a chart saying, “it’s this many days.” He didn’t know how long it would be at the time. But he did something better and smarter. He took their eyes off of the sky, and put the focus on their hands. To keep them awake and alert for this Day, he gave them something to do! He told them to go to all nations and preach the good news of Christ. He told them to stay faithful to him - to be willing to die for Him. He told them to give Him their all, and their best. He told them to be good fathers, good examples in this world, and to stay in His Word and grow in faith. He tells us the same. It may seem like a lot of work - and it is. But that’s a good thing. For when we keep on watching out for the spiritual temptations of this world, keep on doing our duties to the best of our ability, and keep on staying in the Word, the Holy Spirit keeps us close to Him and assured of God’s love for us in Christ . As we do this, time flies. And before we know it, Jesus will be here, and we will be ready. Amen.
