Nov 14 - Luke 21:5-19 We hope that even through Hardship, we will be given an opportunity to testify.

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Bennett Ward
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1 Nov 14 - Luke 21:5-19 We hope that even through Hardship, we will be given an opportunity to testify. Luke 21:5-19 (NRSV) 5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." 7 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" 8 And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them. 9 "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." 10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 12 "But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls. Several weeks ago at Bible Study we had a wonderful discussion about the troubling texts in the Bible. Those verses that make you squirm, the verses that make you crinkle your nose, the verses in the Bible that make you want to say, NEXT! Texts like ours today. Sometimes its hard to know what to do with these texts. Most of the time we are somewhere between completely dismissing them and buying 6 pallets of Macaroni and Cheese to put in the basement just in case the end times come. But however apocalyptic and end times-sounding it is, it really was addressing an immediate concern of Disciples in the first century. Those reading Luke s Gospel and hearing it preached, about years after Jesus death did not hear Jesus'

2 words as some far-off prediction of the future. Instead it spoke to their lives right then and there. What Jesus was speaking of in a future tense was actually happening NOW in the lives of those reading it and hearing it. These Christians in Luke's time observed a Jewish insurrection, saw the temple destroyed by the Romans, and war breakout. Many of these Christians were dragged off to prison, beaten, even killed by the Roman Empire because of their faith in Christ. I imagine one of their primary theological questions to be: How do I understand God in light of the suffering, pain, and extraordinary difficulties that I face in my life? With the world falling apart around them, with plenty of reasons to be DISCOURAGED, they would need to know that their work was not in vain. That they had purpose and that God was even working in the midst of all that mess. Rewind about 50 years to Jesus standing at the foot of the Temple with some tourists or worshippers or whoever they are. They are just standing there minding their own business discussing and admiring the magnificent beauty and splendor of the Temple, but Jesus has to butt in and shatter their little moment. "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." Waaaahhhh Wahhhhhh I mean Jesus could ve said, Sure is a beauty isn t it? But instead goes on and on about all this bad stuff that s going to happen in the future. It s really one of those Debbie-Downer moments. For the disciples, the Temple being destroyed would be bad, but it also would make them wonder...what kind of Christ are you, Jesus? When the Christ comes the hope was that the Romans would be destroyed not the Temple! But Jesus doesn t stop there. The temples going down AND there will be wars and insurrections. There will be Nation against Nation, earthquakes, famines, plagues, and the Yankees will win another World Series.

3 And then not to give too rosy of a picture, Jesus says that before all this people who believe in him will be arrested and persecuted. Betrayed by family and friends. Even be put to death! Undoubtedly, some might have said, Sheesh, I gotta find myself a new Messiah! But these words of warning were truly prophetic, because its exactly what was happening in the lives of the Disciples years later! So as these folks read and heard the Gospel of Luke, I m sure this helped them get through a lot of what they were going through... They didn t have to wonder if God was really with them or not. They didn t have to wonder where God was in the midst of it, because Jesus told them God would be right there. God would give them the words to say, God will bless them and keep them. Jesus didn t say, if you believe in me, if you have faith, life will be serene and flawless. Instead, the disciples were prepared to take life as it came knowing that God would be with them. See, that whole Prosperity Gospel-thing wouldn t have worked for these folks. This is the Gospel that is often preached by TV preachers and is present in many Christian circles. It s the idea that if you are a Christian, if you are faithful, if you believe in God, if you are saved, then you life will be prosperous, blessed, and basically that nothing bad will happen to you. Or as a friend of mine said in college, if I m faithful enough God will give me a Lexus. Its not just Fire Insurance, its Perfect Life Insurance. So, therefore, if something bad happens to you, you re kind of forced to conclude that you must have done something wrong, or that you don t have enough faith, or even that God is punishing you. This would not have flown with the early Christians and I certainly don t think it flies today either. THIS IS NOT the Gospel message as known in Jesus Christ. Instead Jesus makes clear to them in this scripture that their faith does not give them cocoon-like immunity from the troubles of the world. Faith doesn t immunize us from problems, but instead Faith moves us to trust in God. To believe that God is always present with us to give us courage, strength, and hope to persevere through anything that we face.

4 And not only that, but what is so striking to me in this passage, as I mentioned, is that Jesus tells us that even these occasions of extraordinary difficulty, will end up give them an opportunity to testify. In other words, they will be given a chance to proclaim their faith, to tell their story, to bear testimony to God s great goodness and work in their lives. So when they faced these difficulties, when they faced famine and disease. When they faced war and violence. When they faced persecution and arrest. When they even faced death, they knew that God was with them, guiding them and strengthening them. You know...that must have been very annoying to the Romans. The Romans wanted to beat people into submission, break their spirits. Crucifixion was their idea. So they probably thought that all the war and pestilence would break them down. Destroying the temple would break these peoples spirits. Persecuting them and arresting them...but it just didn t. If that stuff won t break people what will? It reminds me of one of my favorite Far Side cartoons where the setting is hell and two devils are observing their workers and they see one of them pushing a wheel-barrel and just whistling-away, happy as can be. The one devil says to the other, You know, we re just not reaching that guy. And I believe that really that is what a Resurrection Faith is all about. What a faith centered in Jesus Christ tells about who we are and whose we are. That no matter what hell we go through, that it cannot take our Spirit, it cannot take away the love and hope we know in Christ. And, my friends, this doesn t mean its not going to be hell when we re going through it. In the midst of trial and difficulty there will be a real need to grieve. To perhaps be Angry. To be frustrated. To be confused. To be Depressed. But our faith, our hope that we have in Christ is that somehow, someway eventually God will bring resurrection. There will be hope. The tomb of death and grief will be flooded with shining light and we will come out on the other side with a story to tell. So our prayer is not just that we recognize that God is with us through our trials (and God is...believe that!), but that God s going to do us one better, God

5 will even provide for us an opportunity to testify. To tell our story. A chance to minister to someone else who might be going through the same thing we struggled with. You may have heard this story before, but its worth re-telling "There s a guy who walks down a street and he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out. "A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, 'Hey you. Can you help me out?' The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. "Then a pastor comes along and the guy shouts up, 'Pastor, I'm down in this hole can you help me out?' The pastor writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on "Then a friend walks by, 'Hey, Joe, it's me can you help me out?' And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, 'Are you stupid? Now we're both down here.' The friend says, 'Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.'" We will be given an opportunity to share how God has worked in our lives and made a difference in our lives...will we sieze that chance and allow God to work something good, out of something bad? For the difficulties of life may try to bury us, they may be harder than we can even imagine now--but by the Grace of God, we trust in Jesus words that they will not break our spirits. They will not claim our Souls! So Praise be to God that it is not just the joyous occasions in our lives that give us a chance to bear witness to what God is doing, but even in our times of suffering and pain, even if the Temple comes crashing down and there s not one stone left, we can lift up God s name.

Nov. 13 Mal 4.1-2a, Psal 98, 2 Thess , Luke Baker MT. the faithful that they should keep their trust in God even when facing the most

1 Nov. 13 Mal 4.1-2a, Psal 98, 2 Thess 3.6-13, Luke 21.5-19 Baker MT! If you want to frighten someone away from Christianity, I would certainly think about using the text from Luke for today. It contains