(Note: In this sermon, your goal is to describe this community in a believable, relateable way. You can change the names around to make sure you don’t step make anyone think you’re referring to them. I tried to take several of the attitudes Jesus taught against, then create characters based on them. I also have tried to create a feeling of suspense by continually referring to "it" and "being prepared", without saying specifically what "it" is until "it" comes later in the story.)
-There was a man named Joshua who lived all of his life in a small town.
-The people who made up the town had all sorts of personalities and dispositions, and thanks to Joshua, everyone in the entire town had at least been told that it was coming.
Granted, the news of it was not really new, but Joshua would regularly make his way through the town, reminding people that it was coming sooner or later, and they needed to be prepared.
-Joshua didn’t discriminate in the people he told…he went to everyone who would offer him an ear, and reminded them again and again…make sure you’re prepared!
One particular day, Joshua woke up, and since he had worked hard at his job all week, and made time to speak to his many friends, he ate his simple breakfast, making time to be thankful to God, then he set out on his way.
First he decided to go by and pay a visit to Edward. At this point in his life, Edward was old and cynical, but he hadn’t always been so. Early in his life, Edward had been an upstanding citizen, respected by everyone in the town. He was engaged to a beautiful girl, and everyone expected great things from his life. He had started out preparing well, but as time went on, the longer he waited for it, the more he felt he could put off preparations until later.
-He started drinking casually, then soon progressed to harder liquor. He took up gambling; first small bets, and then a little larger and a little larger.
-Where Edward should have been comfortably retired, able to encourage others around him, Edward had gambled his money away, and was known as the town drunk.
-As Joshua approached his small shack that he called a house, Edward appeared to be in a state half way between consciousness and sleep. His hair and beard were unkept and dirty. His clothes were worn and ragged. He looked much older than he actually was. There was nothing appealing about him, but Joshua wanted to make sure everyone had the chance to prepare, regardless of what others thought of them, so he approached Edward.
“Edward, I know you’re not happy with how your life has turned out, and you’ve made some mistakes, but you KNOW that it’s coming, and you’ve still got to prepare for it!”
To Edward, this speech was familiar, and he quickly dismissed the idea before it became any less comfortable for him. He snapped back at Joshua, “Who are you to tell me how to live? For a lot of my life, I prepared. I thought if I stopped preparing, something might happen to me. Well, I do whatever I want.…nothing has happened, and I for one think it’s all just a bunch of gibberish anyways. If I decide to, I’ll have plenty of time later; I’ve got some years left! Whenever I decide I’m ready, I can change and do whatever I want, but don’t bother me now.”
Joshua was saddened as he left Edward, but just because Edward was stubborn didn’t mean everyone else would be.
Joshua then went to talk to Silas. Silas had turned out drastically different from Edward.
-He had started off as a farmer, without any more means than anyone else.
-For several seasons there had been a great crop, but where the other farmers and landowners would waste their increase on celebrations and various hobbies, Silas was careful to save and invest.
-Soon some very dry seasons came along, and the crops were few and poor.
-It got so drastic that many of the farmers had to sell their land to make ends meet.
-Silas had been shrewd, though, and was able to buy much of the property around him from his neighbors.
-Once the droughts had gone and the crops started flourishing again, Silas quickly became the wealthiest person in town.
-Farmers who used to own the land around him soon became his employees.
-He had ONE lovely daughter who was destined to be wealthy because of what she would one day inherit from her father. Every young man in the town wanted to marry her.
-He enjoyed visiting with Joshua whenever he came by, so today as Joshua approached, he quickly had his wife prepare some refreshments for the two of them.
-He invited Joshua to sit down, and as Silas sat down across from him, the buttons on his vest stretched out because of his stomach, which had obviously been well fed.
Joshua smiled and said, “Silas, you are respected and appreciated by nearly everyone in this town, and you have certainly made some wise decisions in your life. I am concerned, though, because as we both know, IT is quickly approaching, and I really want to make sure that a guy as nice as you is ready for when it does.”
Silas had worked hard for his success and was quite attached to it. He knew that even though he had met success, he still was not quite prepared.
-As he thought, he began to reply to Joshua, “Joshua, you’ve always been a good friend, and you’re right. I am not quite prepared, and I promise you that I intend to as soon as possible…maybe tomorrow…well, no…I’m going tomorrow to look at a field that I’m buying…and then again, next weekend is my daughter’s wedding, and I have so much to do to prepare for it…well, right now I just have too much business to take care of…I promise you that I will start preparing soon, but it will have to be a little later…there isn’t enough time for it today.”
-Even though Joshua tried to encourage him to make time, Silas was too wrapped up in his success, and he certainly wasn’t going to make any time to encourage other people to prepare.
Joshua made his way to the bookkeeper of the town. DORIS was a small, feisty woman who’s beady eyes peered through her thick glasses. Her hair was always fixed in a tight bun. A very perceptive lady, she was great at keeping up with the books, but she also seemed to enjoy keeping mental records of a lot of other things that she really didn’t need to concern herself with.
As Joshua tried to remind her that IT was coming, and she needed to start examining herself, she quickly changed the subject to the many people of the town, “Did you see Edward yesterday! He was as drunk as a skunk, and he sure looked up to no good! Oh…and you must know that Silas’ daughter is getting married…rumor has it that she shouldn’t really be wearing white on her wedding day! I bet you’ve also seen the way she prances her little self around the shops. I bet there was some crooked stuff going on in how her daddy got all that money anyways!”
Trying to change the subject, Joshua asked her, “Doris, you know, there are some orphans on the other side of town who need to be warned so they can prepare. I’m going to go and talk to them, but it’s a lot for me to handle by myself; would you come with me?”
-But Doris was too busy noticing and speculating about everyone else’s faults to deal with her own, much less to help anyone else.
On his way to the orphanage, Joshua bumped into James, the town mayor. Where some people would make time to prepare, James seemed only interested in letting everyone else know how prepared he was. Wherever there were people reporting for the newspaper, he was sure to be there with a big cheesy smile, shaking a hand, kissing a baby, or handing over one of those jumbo sized checks.
-Joshua said, “James, I’ve always known you to be a philanthropist. I’m going over to the orphanage to tell the kids there to prepare, and you know how important it is. I could sure use your help.”
-James kept right on grinning, but looked at his watch and said, “Oh, Joshua, I’m so sorry, but right now the paper is waiting for me over at the new school building. I have to be there to cut the ribbon…I want to make sure this town knows just how strongly I back our children.”
-So Joshua continued over to the orphanage alone, continuing to remind and encourage everyone he could. “It’s coming, and none of us knows exactly when, please let’s prepare for it.”
-Though some people felt they had other more important things to do, many people did decide to change. Many people did prepare, and Joshua was able to influence many people to make the preparations that needed to be made.
On a day not long after that day, IT CAME.
-Everything happened exactly as Jesus promised it would.
-Everyone woke up that morning thinking, “He might come back, but probably not Today”
-Everything was business as usual…people were working, shopping, studying, teaching, having weddings, eating meals, playing sports.
-But then it came…It was just as if you were asleep, then woken in the middle of the night by the sound of your window breaking, and a person rushing in to steal from you and your family
At an hour when no one was expecting him, Jesus returned.
-There was a loud command, the thunderous voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God.
-It was as if the sky split open, and Christ himself descended in a brilliant light.
-At once, every eye saw him, and everyone fell to their knees, unable to find the strength to stand in the presence of something so awesome.
-Those who had prepared and had been watchful were called to meet him in the air.
-In Silas’ field, two men were working side by side…one was taken to be with the Lord, one was left for punishment.
-Many of the people in town had been at Silas’ daughter’s wedding. Right in the middle of the ceremony, those who had kept watch were taken to be with the Lord, but those who had become lazy were left for judgment.
-In the town, two women had been shopping together, trying to decide which dress would look nicer as they went on their vacation next week...one was taken…one was left.
Edward started off well, but he would have done even better to warn himself with the words of Jesus in Matthew 24
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, “My master is staying away a long time,” and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Edward mistook God’s patience for indifference.
-Since he didn’t know when Christ would return, he because lazy and took all his opportunities for granted.
Silas had prepared in every aspect of his life except for the one that really mattered.
-He would have done well to listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 12:16
“The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself!” This is how it will be for anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.”
Silas spent all his life building up what he had hoped to hand down to his daughter. In the eyes of the world, he was a rich man, prepared for anything, but none of that wealth was able to save him when Christ returned.
Doris thought she was somehow justifying herself by noticing the faults of others. Instead of justifying by measuring the faults of others, she created a harsher measure of judgment for herself.
In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye, and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
-Doris knew many of the sins of others, but neglected to ever really repent of her own.
Based on many of the good deeds that James the Mayor was involved in, people would have been lead to believe that he had prepared himself. In fact, nearly every good thing he ever did made it into the newspaper.
In Matthew 6, Jesus had a word for such people, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”
James’ good deeds were known by all, and he did receive his reward by the recognition he received.
-But James was only interested in doing good, as long as he could reap an immediate benefit, thinking he could earn with his actions what he could only have received by being in a right relationship with God.
When Joshua met the Lord in the air, the King said to him, “Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me.”
Even though Joshua didn’t know WHEN God would fulfill his promise, he lived his life in a watchful manner, warning those around him.
And really, isn’t that what the Gospel is? It’s a message of hope, a message of truth, and a warning to us, to save us from what we will otherwise do to ourselves.
This morning, I want to step into the shoes that Joshua filled in his community and warn all of us of the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:42
“Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Christ might or might not return today.
-I can’t tell you that he definitely will, but you also can’t tell me that he definitely won’t.
-I shared this story with you because I want you to examine yourself.
Can you afford to hope that God will give you more chances later to do what he has called you to do TODAY?
-Can you really say you’re going to become a Christian some time in a week or two, when you can’t tell me for certain that you’ll even see tomorrow?
Christ has told us to be watchful. Watchful of our own lives, our own walk with him, and watchful of those around us who are going to be lost if they don’t seek Christ.
-This morning, we have all received our warning. The day of the Lord IS coming, just like a thief in the night…are you ready? If not, can you afford to wait until later?
Please come forward with any needs that you have while together we stand and sing.
