When Jesus Returns Will He Find Us Faithful

When Jesus returns will He find us faithful?

(The Command of Jesus – “Teaching to Obey”)

Matthew 28:19

Luke 17:22-30

Here are some announcements that appeared in church bulletins.

Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don’t forget your husbands.

Don’t let just worry kill you off – let the Church help.

For those who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack’s sermons.

The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

One of the qualities that we all need is the ability to laugh as our mistakes and enjoy the humor of the moment when we are not perfect in our writing or speaking. We grow in maturity as we are able to keep from stumbling and become focused on our failures and keep the main thing the main thing.

One of the main things Jesus taught during his 3 ½ years of public ministry was the importance of obedience. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus gave his final command: “Go makes disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” “Obedience.” Is necessary for a person to become a disciple of Jesus.

We may do many great things in our life-time according to the standards of this world. But the paramount question we all must face is this, “When Jesus returns will he find us faithful?” Luke 18:8, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” When you meet Jesus face to face will he find you faithful to His teachings?

It is a sobering truth that the Bible teachers that when Jesus returns He will find the majority of the world population being unfaithful and disobedient to His teachings.

Look at Luke 17:22-30. Jesus taught His disciples that He would return when people lest expected His coming. “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.”

During the days of Noah the majority of the people enjoyed wine, women and sinful pleasures. There were no moral standards. Life was just one big party. Genesis 6 describes the wickedness of the people. They laughed at the idea that God was creator and Lord. As far as they were concerned God did not exist. Right up to the time God shut the door of the Ark, people had no time for their Creator. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Genesis 6:8

Noah was faithful and obedient to His God and Creator. Because He was faithful his family was saved.

Jesus spoke with clarity about the consequences of disobedience. “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business – eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Yes it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the hour when the Son of Man returns. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife!” (Luke 17:28-30, 32) NLT

Lot and his wife wanted to live on the wild side. Lot moved away from the godly influence of his uncle Abraham and settled near Sodom located near the Southern end of the Dead Sea. In that city he pursued the comforts and customs of that wicked city. Going against God’s will Lot not only moved near Sodom he soon became an Elder in the City and was “sitting in the gateway.”

Fortunately for Lot he had a praying Uncle in Abraham the brother of his father, Haran. God told Abraham that the sinful and moral degeneration of Sodom and the adjacent city of Gomorrah would soon be destroyed. Abraham pleaded with the Lord and asked God to not destroy the city if 50 righteous people were found and when God agreed he asked for 45, then 40, 30, 20 and finally 10. God said, “For the sake of ten who are righteous I will not destroy it.” Abraham probably thought that surely Lot and his family and friends would number more than 10 and respond to the call of God’s messengers to leave the city. Genesis 19:1-26

When the two angels came to Sodom they found Lot sitting at the gate of the city. Lot welcomed them and invited them to his house to stay the night and then they could be on their way the next day. Lot had a great feast prepared for them. Following the meal men from the city, young and old came pounding on the door and shouting out to Lot: “Send the men out who are staying with you out so we can have sex with them.” Lot stepped outside and pleaded with the men to not touch his guests but instead take his two virgin daughters. Lot’s response revealed how low he had become in his moral values. The men of the city insisted on seeing the men and began to push Lot out of the way and tried to break down the door.