Our Way of Life Sermon Transcript November 20, 2016 Kingdom Come: Stay Awake! Matthew 24-25 This message from the Bible was addressed originally to the people of Wethersfield Evangelical Free Church on November 20, 2016 at 511 Maple Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109 by Dr. Scott W. Solberg. This is a transcription that bears the strength and weaknesses of oral delivery. It is not meant to be a polished essay. An audio copy of the sermon on CD is available by request at (860) 563-8286. An audio version of this sermon may also be found on the church website at www.wethefc.com. 1
Sermon Text Matthew 24-25 Selected Readings from Matthew 24 3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.... 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 36 But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 2
Kingdom Come: Stay Awake! My goal this morning is for you to stay awake. I once heard the story of an elderly gentleman who fell asleep during the Sunday morning service. A little boy was sitting next to him and right in the middle of the sermon the boy took his elbow and poked it into the side of this man who had nodded off. When the man woke up, the boy whispered to him, the pastor just called on you to say a prayer. Without hesitation, the man stood to his feet and offered a closing prayer even though the pastor was just getting started. See, it is dangerous to fall asleep during the sermon. But when I say this morning that my goal is for you to stay awake, I am not necessarily talking about staying awake during my sermon. Rather, I am simply saying what Jesus said to his disciples in our passage this morning. In Matthew 24:42, Jesus said, Therefore stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. Jesus was responding to a question his disciples asked him. In Matthew 24:3 they turned to Jesus and asked, Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age? What are the signs we can point to that tell us we are getting close to that day when Jesus returns and God s kingdom comes in full? That is the question being asked of Jesus. In his response, Jesus offers two signs that we can point to that tell us that return of Jesus is drawing near. The first sign is found in Matthew 24:14 where Jesus said, And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Through the modern missions movement, we know that the gospel has advanced all over the world. In fact, the center of the church has shifted from the West to the East and to the global South. We hear incredible stories of how the gospel is advancing and the church is growing in China and in Africa. We even mentioned two months ago that the place where the church is currently growing the fastest in the world is ironically in Iran and Afghanistan. According to the Joshua Project, there are over 16,500 people groups in the world. Of these 16,500 people groups in the world, 6,700 are considered unreached people groups. In other words, 40% of the world s population lack enough followers of Christ to evangelize their own people. 1 And yet the fact that we can quantify this and build missions strategies to reach these unreached people groups causes one to ponder and wonder how close we are to that day when Jesus returns. Through the advance of technology, it is not difficult to see how the pace of reaching these groups is accelerated. 3
The other sign Jesus offers to the coming end of the age, is that this time will be marked by great tribulation. In Matthew 24:21-22, Jesus said, For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. Then in verses 29-30 Jesus adds, Immediately after the tribulation of those days... Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. This time of tribulation includes strife between nations, natural disasters and a great persecution of the church. All of which have some presence in the world today. But even with these signs that point to the soon return of Jesus, no one can pinpoint the time when Jesus will return. There is a suddenness to it. There is an immanence to it. In Matthew 24:36-41 Jesus says, But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. In other words, life will be going on as normal when this day comes. People will be doing normal daily things on that day when Jesus returns. They will be eating and drinking. They will be celebrating marriages. They will be going to work. And so Jesus says to his disciples in verse 42, Therefore, stay awake! There are two reasons Jesus gives us this warning to stay awake. First of all, we don t know when that day will come. It could be today. It could be twenty years from now. It could be a thousand years out. Only God knows. So, stay awake. The other reason Jesus tells us to stay awake is because when this day comes, it is a day of reckoning. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Michael Wilkins points out that the word used for taken means taken to safety and the word used for left means to abandon or forsake. 2 On this day, to one group of people, Jesus will say, Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And to the other group, on this day, Jesus will say, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. So what is the difference between these two groups of people? According to this passage, the difference between these two groups is one of readiness. In other words, a characteristic of a 4
disciple, a follower of Jesus, is that a disciple is someone who is spiritually awake. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day our Lord is coming. I wonder if we don t need a poke in the ribs this morning. Are you awake to the soon and immanent return of Jesus? It begs the question, How does one stay awake? Our Way of Life If I could be so bold this morning, I would say to you that Our Way of Life is how we stay awake and live in light of the return of Jesus. The reason I can say that is because Our Way of Life is derived from the five teachings of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we have what is known as The Great Commission. Here Jesus says to his disciples, Go and make disciples... teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. In other words, they were to go and do with others what Jesus had done with them. They were to teach others what Jesus taught them. Well what was it that Jesus taught them? What was it that they were to pass on to future disciples, future followers of Jesus? I believe these five passages we have been looking at in the Gospel of Matthew form the foundation for the Way of Life that was to be taken from Jesus and passed on to the next generation of disciples. It is interesting to observe how Jesus directed all five of these messages to his disciples. In Matthew 5-7, we have the Sermon on the Mount and it begins by saying, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them saying... And so it is to his disciples that he explained what Kingdom Life looks like. It is to seek first the kingdom of God and whatever you wish others to do to you, do also to them. In other words, love God and love others. In Matthew 10, it was to the twelve disciples that Jesus gave authority to go and proclaim the message of the kingdom under the power of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 13, it was to the disciples that Jesus disclosed the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 18, it was the disciples who asked the question of Jesus, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And from this question we see Jesus teach his disciples about the value of being connected in Christian community and the need for humility to mark all of our relationships. And then of course, we come to our passage this morning, and it is a question posed by the disciples about the end of the age that leads Jesus to teach his disciples how to stay awake in light of the soon return of Christ. All five of these messages were directed towards the disciples of Jesus. From this observation, Michael Wilkins make the conclusion about our passage this morning, As with the other discourses, Jesus directs it to his disciples and it is part of the material that new disciples must be taught to obey until his return. 3 5
At the beginning of this series, I mentioned an early writing of the church called The Didache. The word didache means teaching. The fuller title eventually given to it was The Lord s Teaching to the Nations through the Apostles. 4 The consensus is that this ancient document is a reflection of the teaching of the Apostles. Will Varner suggests that this is the first Christian handbook and it was written for Gentiles who had converted out of a pagan background and they were to complete the first six chapters before they were baptized. 5 It is widely agreed that this ancient writing of the church draws heavily from the Gospel of Matthew as the apostles sought to pass on the Way of Life that was given to them by Jesus. For the first four centuries of the church, the Didache was an important primer in making disciples. We too, have formed Our Way of Life from the teachings of Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew. Take it and use it because it will help you stay awake. Make these five affirmations part of your daily routine. I will seek to proactively love God and love others I will daily ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit I will live with the conviction that God is at work through my life I will maintain unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ I will invest what I have been given for the work of God s kingdom Make these five practices part of your daily routine. Pray the Lord s Prayer Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly Live as one who is sent: Good Works, Good Will, Good News Be devoted to a shared life together: Family, Worship, Community Adopt a lifestyle of service and ministry I received the following testimony from one of our Community Group facilitators on how Our Way of Life helps us stay awake. They wrote, Before this series several members commented that the Bible was just "too hard to read and understand" or that they didn't make time in the day to read it. Now, they are "letting the Word of Christ dwell in them richly." Several have begun to start their day by reading the Bible. They have expressed a peace that comes from that practice and a new attitude and perspective on each day. And--that it's not so hard after all. They are daily asking for the filling of the Holy Spirit, some for the spiritual battles they face in specific personal struggles. They have also expressed that praying the Lord's Prayer throughout the day is very comforting. Understanding that "God is at work through my life" has opened their eyes to see that God is working through them in the "ordinary. 6
Kingdom Come: How To Stay Awake At the beginning of the Olivet Discourse, the disciples ask the question, what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age? We already saw that Jesus gave them two signs to look for as the return of Jesus draws near: the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth and a time of great tribulation. To this day, there is much fascination in trying to figure out how all of this will shake out in the end and there are varieties of opinion on this matter among Christians. But what fascinates me is that Jesus spends most of his time in Matthew 24-25 instructing his disciples on how to stay awake in anticipation of the soon return of Christ. That is instructive for us. Jesus is more concerned that you stay awake than he is in you trying to figure out how it is all going to shake out in the end. Just know that Jesus is returning and it could happen anytime. The greater question is, are you awake? In response to the question the disciples asked him, Jesus shared five parables that describe for us how to stay awake. I want to give you a brief summary of each of them and draw out the point that is being made. What I found fascinating is how they line up with Our Way of Life. As we live with the anticipation of the kingdom of God coming in full, each parable tells us where to keep our eyes. Keep Your Eyes on God: (Matthew 24:43-44) After telling his disciples to stay awake Jesus tells the Parable of the Homeowner. Jesus said, if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. That makes sense. If you get wind that a prowler is on his way to break into your home, your not going to go to bed as if everything is normal. Rather, you would be wide awake.. The adrenaline would be flowing. If you heard a stick snap outside, or saw a shadow pass in the window or saw the doorknob slowly begin to turn, I guarantee you would quickly ready yourself for whatever comes through that door. In other words, you would be alert. Jesus said, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. As the homeowner is alert to the reality that is lurking outside his door, so we must remain alert to the spiritual reality that is around us. How do we do that? Paul says in Colossians 3:1-4, Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. In other words, you need to keep your eyes on God. That is why we pray the Lord s Prayer and want the Word of God dwell in us richly. That is why we are devoted to the weekly public worship of God as a church family. All of this helps us stay awake to the spiritual reality that someday Jesus will return. Keep your eyes on God. 7
Keep Your Eyes on Others: (Matthew 24:45-51) The second parable Jesus tells is the Parable of the Wise Servant. In this parable, Jesus paints the picture of a master who goes away on a long trip and gives one of his servants the responsibility to take care of things while he is gone. This master is wealthy enough to have a household of servants that need to be cared for in his absence. Picture the head butler, Mr. Carson of Downton Abbey being given responsibility for the household while the aristocratic Crawley family is away for extended leave. In this scenario, Jesus describes a wise servant and foolish servant. The difference between the wise servant and the foolish servant is how he carries out his responsibility towards the other servants now under his care. The wise servant takes good care of the servants of his master s household while the foolish servant is seen abusing the other servants and indulging himself with much food and drink. In either case, they don t know when the master of the house will return, but one will be found ready for his return and the other will be caught by surprise and will be held accountable for the way he treated his fellow servants. This is a great lesson on how to stay awake as we wait for the return of Jesus. We stay awake by loving others and keeping our eyes on the needs of others. It is interesting what Peter says about the return of Christ in 1 Peter 4:7-9. Announcing that the end is at hand he then describes how we should live in light of the return of Jesus. He writes, Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another. In other words, while the master is gone, we must tend to his household by serving and loving one another. Our Way of Life is all over this parable as we love others, as we maintain unity with our brothers and sisters and as we commit to a lifestyle of service and ministry. Stay awake by keeping your eyes on others. Keep Your Eyes on Yourself: (Matthew 25:1-13) The next parable Jesus tells is the Parable of The Ten Virgins. These ten virgins are waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom. Five of them are described as being wise, while the other five are seen as being foolish. To understand this parable, you need to know something about weddings in this ancient Jewish culture. In ancient Jewish culture, the groom would leave his home with his friends and go to the home of his bride where the wedding ceremony would take place. After this, the wedding party would form a processional back to the groom s house for a banquet, often held at night. For some reason, the bridegroom was detained for a long time before the processional back to his house. In fact, it says that as the hour grew late, these virgins became drowsy and slept. The five wise virgins 8
brought enough extra oil for their lamps in the event that the procession back to the groom s house was delayed. The five foolish virgins failed to bring extra oil and so as they waited for the bridegroom to come, their light went out and they weren t ready when he began to lead the processional back to his home. And so when it was announced, Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him, only the virgins who were ready were able to go to the banquet because they were the ones who had enough oil to keep their lights lit. And so Jesus makes his point in Matthew 25:13, Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. The point of this parable is that we are to keep watch and we are to be ready. There is another time where Jesus issues this command to keep watch. It is when he is in the Garden of Gethsemane and he is overcome with anguish as he anticipates going to the cross. If you remember, his disciples are with him and at his point of great need, they fall asleep on him. And so Jesus said to Peter, So could you not watch with me for one hour? And then he said, Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. This, I believe, gets to the heart of what it means to be watchful as we await the return of Jesus. This is what it means to be like the wise virgins who are ready when Jesus returns. It means that we are living self-controlled and obedient lives. We are not talking about being perfect. But we are being watchful of our own lives and we are praying that God would deliver us from temptation. This is the purpose for considering prophecy. It purifies us. John says in 1 John 3:1-3, See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are... And what we will be has not yet appeared: but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Then, we will then love like Jesus loves, we will know truth more fully and we will no longer struggle with temptation. And so John writes, And everyone who has this hope in him, purifies himself as he is pure. It is the same thing Peter says in 1 Peter 4 after saying rather boldly, The end of all things is near. He then exhorts us to be like the wise virgins ready for the return of Jesus by instructing us to be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. In other words, when Jesus returns or takes us home, may we be found growing in Christ. This is why we daily pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit. We want the character of God to be formed in us so that when he comes he will have no problem recognizing us as followers of Jesus. Keep your eyes on yourself. Watch and pray that you may not enter temptation. Keep Your Eyes on the Mission: (Matthew 25:14-30). The fourth parable Jesus tells is called the Parable of the Talents. Again, in this parable Jesus tells the story of a master 9
who goes on a journey and he entrusts his property and possessions to his servants while he is gone. In this parable, the master divides his property between his servants and gives them each a certain responsibility that they need to steward while he is gone. It is important to note that the master does not divide his possessions equally between his three servants. To one servant, five talents was given. To another, two talents and to the third servant just one talent was given. And yet, though they were given different responsibilities, the master had the same expectation of each. It was expected that they would be faithful with what they were given. As the story goes, when the master returns he finds that the first two servants took what they were given and invested it in the work of the master and it multiplied. To these servants, the master said, Well done good and faithful servant. To them great reward was given. But the third servant did nothing with what he was given, and the master referred to him as a wicked and slothful servant. Consequently, this servant showed himself as one who did not belong to the master. Now this parable does not suggest that we earn God s favor by how we serve. Rather, the point being made is that it is a normal thing for a disciple to invest what God has given him for the sake of the kingdom. We are to be good stewards with what God has given to us. This gets to the heart of our fifth point in Our Way of Life. Our affirmation goes like this, Kingdom Come: I will invest what I have been given for the work of God s kingdom. And so the practice that comes from this is that I adopt a lifestyle of service and ministry. That is how we stay awake and remain ready for the return of Jesus. Until Jesus comes, we are found serving him by serving others. Again, we find Peter driving this point home in 1 Peter 4. Having said that The end of all things is at hand he reminds us that Therefore... As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God s varied grace. The term varied grace is another way of saying that some got five talents, some two and some one. And so Peter says, whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God might be glorified through Jesus Christ. In other words, we stay awake by using the gifts God has given us for the good of the body of Christ. Starting in January, we are going to do a sermon series on the issue of spiritual gifts and there will be an adult class at 9:30 to help you discover your gifts. This is how we remain ready for the return of Jesus. Keep your eyes on the mission and get involved by serving. Keep You Eyes on Each Other: (Matthew 25:31-46) The final parable Jesus tells is called the Parable of the Sheep and Goats. It pictures the final judgment and the separation 10
Conclusion of those who enter the kingdom of God and those who don t. What distinguishes one group from the other is how they responded to the hungry, the naked and the stranger. Again, this is not saying that we earn our salvation by what we do. We confess that it is by God s grace and through faith in Jesus that we are delivered from the dominion of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. But again, the characteristic of a disciple is seen in his or her way of life, which includes how we treat what Jesus calls the least of these my brothers. Now here is the question to ask of this parable. Who are the least of these? This is a phrase Matthew uses often. No doubt, we of all people, should care for the poor and the needy. But I don t think that is the focus of who Jesus is talking about here. Both in Matthew 10:40-42 and Matthew 18:1-6 the least of these... the little ones who are the brothers of Jesus, that is his followers, his disciples. As we treat the people of God, so we treat Jesus. And so like we saw last week with Matthew 18, the way we stay awake as we await the return of Jesus, is that we devote ourselves to a shared life together with God s people and with humility we commit to meeting each other s needs. In fact, it brings us back to loving God and loving others. You can t have one without the other. In the Beatitudes Jesus says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Why? Because, then, we will be like our Father who is in heaven. What we do to each other, in turn, we do to Jesus. And so, we affirm that we will maintain unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ. My conclusion is simple this morning. In light of his soon return, Jesus tells us to Stay awake! How do I stay awake? I have no hesitation in saying that if you put into practice Our Way of Life it will go a long way to helping you be ready for the day when God s kingdom comes in full and our Lord returns to make all things right. May we be found ready! 1 https://joshuaproject.net/ 2 Michael Wilkins Matthew: The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004) 801 3 Ibid., 770 4 Thomas O Loughlin The Didache (Grand Rapids: Baker Books Academic, 2012) 5 5 Will Varner The Way of the Didache (New York: University Press of America, 2007) 14 by Dr. Scott Solberg - All rights reserved 11
Sermon Title: Kingdom Come: Stay Awake Sermon Text: Matthew 24-25 Sermon Date: November 20, 2016 Getting To Know Me Questions 1. Share with each other: Where were you born? How many siblings did you have? What was a challenge you faced while growing up? 2. Recite together Our Way of Life. Which of the five affirmations particularly resonates with you and why? Diving Into The Word 3. Read Matthew 24:36-42. Share what you learn about the return of Christ in this passage. What do discover in this passage that encourages you to stay awake? 4. Read Matthew 24:42 again. Spiritually speaking, what does it look like for you to get a little sleepy? 5. From Mathew 24:43-25:46, Jesus tells five parables designed to help us stay awake in light of his return: The five parables are: The Parable of the Homeowner - Matthew 24:43-44 The Parable of the Servant - Matthew 24:45-51 The Parable of the Ten Virgins - Matthew 25:1-13 The Parable of the Talents - Matthew 25:14-30 The Parable of the Sheep and Goats - Matthew 25:31-46 Read ONE of these parables and discuss what it says about how we should live in light of the soon return of Christ. What connection can you make between this parable and Our Way of Life. 6. Read 1 Peter 4:7-11. How does Peter suggest we should live in light of return of Christ. What parallels do you see between this passage and the parable you read? What parallels do you see between this passage and Our Way of Life? 7. Read 1 John 3:1-3. What encouragement do you find from this passage? Taking It Home 8. Discuss some practical ways to begin using Our Way of Life on a daily basis. 9. Discuss as a group how you want to approach the holidays and when you will begin meeting again in January. 12