We are coming to the final message in this mega-series on what our church believes. Last week, we talked about personal eschatology, or our personal end. We saw that our personal end or death is not avoidable, not natural and not final. This morning, we’ll look at cosmic eschatology or the end of the world and human history.
Our Church Constitution reads, "We believe in the bodily resurrection of all people. Those who trust in Jesus Christ will enter eternal life, and those who trust in themselves and not the grace of God, will enter judgment and eternal punishment. At death, the spirits of those who belong to Christ will leave the body and go to be with Jesus Christ to await the resurrection, when they, with a changed and holy body, will be united with Jesus Christ forever in worship, new relationship, celebration and service."
There is nothing in our statement of belief about pre-millennialism, postmillennialism or amillennialism, and pre-tribulation or post-tribulation. These terminologies are helpful to those who are interested in further discussion, but you need to know there is no absolute agreement on any of these positions by all Christians.
Before I began this message series, I got an email from the first pastor of this church, Pastor Joe Wong. Connie had mentioned to him what we were doing, and Pastor Joe emailed me. He felt what we are doing is important, and he encouraged me not to teach only on what we believe, but to teach on how to respond to what we believe. We read in the book of James that belief without response is useless and dead.
So as I close with our final message, I’m going to focus how we are to respond to the end time events. The focus will not be on the end time events themselves. But let me start by reading Jesus’ description of end time events from Matthew 24:1-41.
How are we supposed to respond to these events!?! Many of these events are already happening, and America is not immune to false teachings, war and the persecution of Christians. Not only will we experience evil through the hands of people, we will experience natural and cosmic destruction, such as earthquakes and possibly impact by asteroids before the return of Jesus Christ to judge mankind.
We read in verses 42-45 that Jesus wants us to be prepared. Jesus gives his disciples four parables to guide their response to the these overwhelming events during the end times. That’s what we’ll focus on for the rest of the morning.
First, Jesus instructs us to obey God for future reward. Matthew 24:45-51
I’ve been leading several pre-marriage sessions during the last four months, and whenever I hear couples say they can make their marriage work or raise their family without God, I cringe at the thought. No one is strong enough to resist the current of worldly trends, which includes selfish pursuit of career, marital unfaithfulness, marriages, domestic violence, etc. This first parable from Jesus addresses how to obey God’s instructions in the midst of worldly allurement and abuse as we near the return of Christ.
Many Christians settle for the world’s standard of success and pleasure. Many forget that God will judge every one of our actions. Just because God doesn’t balance the books at the end of the week or month doesn’t mean He won’t at the end of time.
If you belong to God and are tempted to give into the lust, pride and sins of the world, what can you do? Use your willpower? Pray more? Study the Bible more? Have someone hold you accountable? These are all helpful, but Jesus says we are to obey God for future reward.
We are people who are motivated to gain a benefit or to avoid a loss. Unless we are so won over by the benefits of being obedient to God and the loss that comes with disobedience to God, we will give into temptation every time. We need to be more aware of the rewards of Heaven.
Most people seek illicit pleasure to cover up pain and boredom. Think about the last time you sinned. What emotional pain were you trying to cover up? Stress? Unworthiness? Guilt? Loneliness? Depression? Anger? Or were you bored? You needed some excitement?
God tells us Revelation 21 that Heaven is without death, grief, crying or pain. And Revelation 22 tells us we’ll be serving God. There will be no boredom. Someone wrote a poem titled, "End of the Journey": (Let me read an excerpt)
Light after darkness, gain after loss;
Strength after weakness, crown after cross;
Sweet after bitter, hope after fears;
Home after wandering, praise after tears;
Sight after mystery, peace after pain;
Joy after sorrow, calm after blast;
Rest after weariness, sweet rest at last;
Love after loneliness, life after tomb....
Charles L. Allen writes about a little girl taking an evening walk with her father. She looked up at the stars and exclaimed; "Oh, Daddy, if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, [how much more beautiful the right side]!"
Second, Jesus instructs us to meet God with adequate preparation. Matthew 25:1-13
In 1991 a Gallup poll showed that 78 percent of Americans expect to go to heaven when they die. However, many of them hardly ever pray, read the Bible, or attend church. They admit that they live to please themselves instead of God. This second parable from Jesus addresses how to prepare to meet God.
Many Christians don’t know what they believe or Whom they believe. They just don’t want to end up in Hell or suffer in this life, so they believe in a cosmic genie who offers free fire insurance and an easy out in life. But this kind of belief is not biblical and will not sustain you when false teachings and current suffering enter into your life. You wont’ know counterfeit from truth and evil from God’s discipline.
And after the Mandarin Fellowship Bible study on Friday, Joseph looked at a Chinese Bible curiously. He turned to the back of the Bible and found a list of beliefs. As he read the list, he told me something is wrong and that I should throw out this Bible. He probably saw that I felt awkward to throw out a Bible, so he said for my wife to look at it. When my wife looked at it, she told us it was a Jehovah’s Witness Bible.
The Watch Tower publisher was quite deceptive to link their translation to another publisher’s name. If Joseph had not been a man of God’s Word, we would have never discovered that false translation of the Chinese Bible. And the reader would be deceived by the false teachings within this Bible.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
As we near the return of Christ, false teachings, persecution and trials of every kind will come your way. Are you ready? Will you recognize God when you meet Him face to face or will you be deceived by false teachers?
Third, Jesus instructs us to trust God for measured opportunities. Matthew 25:14-30
When I first came to this church, I allowed others to tell me who can do what. After three years of serving with you the, I now know first-hand who is really capable of what. I’ve had to take opportunities to serve away from some of you because your priorities and abilities have not enabled you to be faithful with what you’ve been given. And for others, I’ve been able to give you many more opportunities for service because you’ve completed the assignments in advance of the due date. This third parable addresses how God now measures a person’s faithfulness to determine a person’s service opportunities during the Millennial rule of Christ or in Heaven.
When Tom Haggai went off to college, his dad said to him, "Remember, son, God is more interested in you than anything you’ll do, but whatever you do, do it well, for you never know when God is standing in the shadows measuring you for a bigger opportunity."
In other words, God gives us opportunities according to our abilities. When an opportunity is given to us, we need to have faith that God has measured it out just for you or for me or for our church. He doesn’t give us more than we can handle. That’s why excuses are offensive to God.
Many Christians give God’s work last priority in their lives. Some call the work of worship, prayer and evangelism volunteer work. What they don’t realize is that God doesn’t need their help. God is measuring them for a promotion or a demotion.
When we get to Heaven, God isn’t going to interview us for certain jobs in Heaven. He already knows by looking at our job history on earth. God is measuring you and me for greater opportunities in either the Millennial rule of Christ or in Heaven.
Fourth, Jesus instructs us to love God by loving Christ’s disciples. Matthew 25:31-46
When I was in elementary school, I didn’t get along with my sister. We would bicker and fight. One of the ways my parents taught us to cooperate was through repeatedly playing a cassette tape with a story about a four brothers who couldn’t get along.
The father in the story came upon an idea, where he bound up four sticks and gave it to each son to break. Not one son could break the bundle. Then the father separated the sticks and gave each son one stick. Snap, snap, snap and snap. The four sticks were easily broken. The moral of the story was, "Family members need to help each other out." And this made the father very happy.
This fourth parable from Jesus addresses how we can love God the Father by loving His children. Cooperation and help of other disciples of Christ is the outward measure of belonging to the same family. And during end times, when Christians are persecuted and imprisoned, our prayer, financial and compassionate support are the outward reflections of our inward family relationship.
In our prayer meetings, I’m keenly aware of the great blessing to meet in freedom and enjoy fellowship and food, while many brothers and sisters in Christ around the world meet in secret and in fear of arrest, torture and death. We need to care about our brothers and sisters around the world who are persecuted for their faith in Christ. If you don’t care, you might double check to see if you really belong to the same family.
This is no guilt trip. Jesus wants us to prepare for the end times, and one of the ways to do that is to work out a plan to provide relief for other believers who are suffering famine, poverty and persecution. I just ordered a kit to inform us of how we can help persecuted Christians around the world.
This week, I heard about the program called H2O. This program encourages Christians to drink just water for two weeks, and the money you save from not spending on other beverages can be sent to organizations such as World Vision or Mercy Ship to drill water wells in third world countries.
Mark Twain noted, "Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand."
We may not know all there is to know about end times, but what are we going to do about what we do know? Christ calls us to obey God for future reward, meet God with adequate preparation, trust God for measured opportunities, and love God by loving Christ’s disciples.
