Hinge Moments Matthew 24:36-44 Rev. Jeff Chapman ~ December 9, 2007 ~ Faith Presbyterian Church Maybe you ve seen the comic strip where the guy walks by on the street holding the big sign which reads, The World Will End Tomorrow. And just behind him on the sidewalk is a second person following along with a sign reading, Only One Shopping Day Left! 1 (One of the great things about the end of the world, from my perspective, will be no more shopping!) As we talked about last week, Advent is a season in the church where we are encouraged not just to look back to that day when Jesus first came to earth as Savior, but we also are encouraged to look forward to that day in the future when he will come again to judge the world. For that is the day when the world as we know it, including shopping, will come to an end. And so today we are going to look at a scripture passage from the Gospel of Matthew which records some of Jesus teaching about that coming day. And I ll warn you. These are hard words. But they also are good news. For they can help us prepare our lives for that day which may be nearer than any of us imagines. But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, 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 Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner 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. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. (Matthew 24:36-44, NRSV) This past week I tried to install my very first screen door. Anybody here ever successfully installed a screen door? If so, I d like to speak to you after the service if possible! After several misguided efforts, I did finally succeed. And though it s not the prettiest thing in the world, as of last Friday at about 12:30, the flies and mosquitoes in my neighborhood suddenly found that it wasn t so easy any more to just move in and take up residence in the Chapman house. Now, only the really smart, skinny bugs can get in! Through the whole ordeal I learned that hanging a good screen door it s all in the hinge. Everything depends upon the hinge. You ve got to get the hinge right. It s just a small piece, but the whole deal turns at that point. Life s sort of like that, right? Sometimes we see them coming. Sometimes we don t. Either way there are these moments in every life I call them hinge moments - upon which everything turns, after which everything changes. In October of 1990 I walked into church one Sunday morning. I sat down in my regular spot, up towards the front on the right side. And after I got settled in I noticed this captivating young woman sitting there next to me. I had never met her before. I didn t know who she was. 1 From Bill Schorr s Grizzwells.
2 Now the last thing I was expecting that morning was to have this hinge moment upon which my whole life would turn. I hadn t planned to go to church and meet the woman I would spend the rest of my life with, the future mother of my children. But that s what happened. And in that moment, everything shifted. (For starters, I didn t hear a single word of the sermon that day. I was a little bit distracted.) And I ve had other hinge moments like that in my life. The day in 1970 when my father died. The day in 1997 when I got home from work and my wife handed me a package of Pampers and told me that I was going to be a dad. The day in 2003 God made it clear to me it was time to leave Omaha, Nebraska, and to search for a new call. That call ended up being here in Sacramento. So much turned on each one of these moments. Everything shifted. Can you think of moments like that in your own life when, out of the blue, something happens and from that point on everything about life is different. I m sure you can. We ve all had them. Collectively we have had these hinge moments as well. 65 years ago this past Friday, for instance, the nation was just waking up on a Sunday morning. And the people of Hawaii were welcoming in another beautiful island sunrise. And then suddenly, without warning, Japanese airplanes where everywhere, raining down fire and death. And suddenly, in that unexpected hinge moment, everything about our world changed. October 29, 1929 - the stock market crashes. September 11, 2001 four jet planes get turned into missiles. December 27, 2004 - an enormous tsunami just about swallows up Southeast Asia. Global hinge moments after which the whole world is different. Even beyond that, the scriptures record for us hinge moments of epic proportions which not only change the course of the world, but change the course of eternity. The opening scenes of the Old Testament recall the moment when humanity made the decision to rebel against God. The opening scenes of the New Testament tell of the moment when the Son of God was born to an obscure peasant girl in a manger in Bethlehem. Then later, we re told, that same Son dies for the sins of the world on a Roman cross. In these moments, and in others like them, all of eternity shifts. And the scriptures tell us that there is, in fact, one great eternal hinge moment left to come. And that moment is the moment Jesus speaks about in the verses we just read, that moment when he comes back to judge the world, a moment after which nothing will ever be the same again. Now, for thousands of years there has been great speculation about that future day. And in our time, there s been no shortage of books and movies and documentaries telling us about the end of the world. What will it look like? Who will be taken? Who will be left behind? When will it happen? Lots of speculation. Lots of confusion. But what does Jesus say about that day? What does God teach about this great hinge moment which has yet to come? What does he say to us about how we might prepare for his coming? Well, quite a lot, actually. Our passage this morning, in fact, sits right in the middle of a long sermon Jesus gives on the second coming. And this is just one of many, many passages in scripture which speak about the end of time. I just want to focus this morning, however, on these 9 verses and point out a couple of crucial things we learn from Jesus here. First, we learn right away that nobody knows the date and time of Jesus coming. No pastor. No scholar. No prophet. No human, in fact. No angel. Not even Jesus, we re told, knows the date. Only the Father knows. And this means that we must categorically dismiss anybody who goes around making claims about dates and times. We simply don t know, and won t know until it happens. It could be this afternoon. It could be 1000 years from now. We just don t know. Another thing we learn from Jesus is that the day on which he does return will look like any other day. Just another Tuesday morning. Another Friday afternoon. Just like when the flood came, Jesus said, people were going about their normal business. Making plans for their day. Eating and drinking. Driving to work. Taking out the garbage. Making
plans for their lives. Marrying lovers. Raising kids. Saving for college. Building buildings. Planning vacations. Just doing life. 3 Nobody knows when it s coming. And when it does come, it will be on a regular old day, just like today. A third thing we learn about the second coming is that on that day there will be a great separation, a great division. In Jesus words, Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Jesus tells us that he is going to come as a judge, a judge who will separate all of humanity into two groups. All through his teaching, Jesus uses different images to describe these two groups: the wise and the foolish, the sheep and the goats, the good and the wicked, the wheat and the weeds, his friends and his enemies. Different images, but always the same point. A dividing line will be drawn between those who have trusted in him and received his grace, and those who have, for their whole lives, rejected him, or lived indifferently towards him, and refused his grace. And one group will be taken. And one group will be left. Now, of course, it is never our job, any of us, to try to figure out who is in which group. To even make such an attempt would be a tragic mistake. For none of us sits in the position where we are able to judge the eternal salvation of even a single other person. God doesn t even give us the date of his judgment. Do you think he is going to trust us with the results of his judgment? 2 Never are we to make judgments about who s saved and who s not saved. That s not our place. An equally grave mistake, however, would be to imagine that God will not make such a judgment. And yet, I hear people imagine this all the time. I hear people who want to just stampede all of humanity into heaven, saying things like Well, in the end, with the exception of a few really bad apples, the rest of us, one way or another, are going to make our way into God s kingdom of heaven. You hear that sort of thing all the time these days. Even in the church. And yet, over and over and over again read it for yourself Jesus was crystal clear that there is this day coming when those who have trusted him will be saved and those who have rejected him will be lost forever. Two men will be riding their bikes along the levy, and one will be taken and one will be left behind. Two women will be shopping for groceries in Bel Aire and one will be taken and one will be left behind. This is the great eternal hinge moment about which Jesus warns us. And it is a moment upon which everything turns. A moment which changes everything. And a moment after which there is no turning back. In his classic work, Mere Christianity, C.S.Lewis puts this as vividly as it could be put. He writes: [When that day] happens it will be the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: and what will be the good of saying that you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else something it never entered your head to conceive comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left! For this time [as opposed to the first time at Christmas] it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has been impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it. 3 2 It should be noted, however, that even though the church is never to be in the business of judging a person s salvation, that does not mean that we should never judge a person s behavior. In fact, we are called by Jesus to do so. And to suggest otherwise, as if often done today in the church, is to demonstrate a faulty understanding of judgment in scripture. 3 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (Glasgow: Collins Publishing, c. 1952), p. 62-63.
4 Let me pause here and say that I understand that some of you, maybe many of you, would rather not hear sermons like this, particularly at Christmas. Frankly, I d rather not preach them. The problem is, this is the message of Christmas. I know we love the sentimental images of swaddling clothes and cozy mangers and dignified wise men riding on smiling camels. And those things are a part Christmas. But the heart of the Christmas message is that this world of ours is headed down the tubes. But that our Creator God, out of his deep and unexplainable love for us sent his only Son into the world to live, and die and rise so that we might have a way, a path, back to life with God forever if we should trust in Jesus Christ. But, as Lewis points out, the choice is ours. For love does not force itself on anybody. God is not a rapist. God woos us, pursues us, cries us for us, dies for us. But he does not force us. And those who desire, their whole lives, to live life apart from God will be given, in the end, exactly what they desire forever though it will break the heart of God. That, my friends, is the true message of Christmas. 4 And it is a critically important message, one too important to be covered up with wrapping paper and snowflakes and candy canes. And one that is urgent, desperately urgent. Even Jesus understood so when he pleaded with his followers to, Keep watch! You don t know the day on which I will come. Like a thief in the night, I will come. So be ready, because I will come at a day on which you do not expect me. You know what that means to me? Now is the time to focus everything in our lives towards making sure you and I are ready to meet Jesus when he comes. It s true, he might not come for another 1000 years. But he might come tomorrow. Either way, who knows what s in store for me tomorrow? Only the fool thinks he is guaranteed that there will be time to make up his mind tomorrow. 5 Tomorrow isn t promised. Now is the time to choose. Now is the time to receive the grace of God through Christ. Now is the time to assure that we are prepared to meet Jesus as forgiven children of God. The greatest hinge moment in my life, far greater than the ones I told you about earlier, was the moment when I trusted Christ and placed my life in his hands. And I didn t have to clean myself up. I didn t have to get things in order first. I just had to believe and, with faith, respond to the grace God had offered me. And from that moment on, everything, forever, was different. 6 Listen to me. If you have not trusted in Christ to this point, now is the time. Now is the time to pour everything into your life into making certain that you are ready to meet Jesus when he comes. This Christmas is the time for you to prepare yourself for his coming. Today is the time to trust Christ. Now, many of you, I know, have already made that decision. And so the question you have is, I m prepared to meet Christ when he comes. I ve responded to God s call on my life and received his grace. So what do I do now? Do I just wait? How do I get ready for something when I have no idea when it s going to come? 7 Notice something here in Jesus teaching. Jesus says that one of the people who is taken into heaven was out working in the field. I picture him planting his crops in anticipation of a great harvest later that year. And the other one who is taken, 4 Certainly, Peace on Earth is a part of the Christmas message. But Jesus, himself, said in Matthew 10:34, Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. A sword which would divide, and separate, and judge. Again, this message cannot be denied in scripture. 5 Chrysostom once wrote, For the term of each man s life is the end of the world, virtually, to him that is summoned. Along the same lines, Augustine wrote, Fear whilst there is the time for fear. Far off indeed is the day of judgment; but every man s death cannot be far off; for life is short. 6 Romans 5:1-5 presents a tremendous summary of this greatest personal hinge moment. 7 You know, maybe we should build ourselves a mountaintop retreat center and just start praying like crazy and keeping our eyes on the horizon. Lots of Christians down through the ages of done something like that. They ve formed there little holy huddles and just hunkered down cut off from the rest of the world, waiting to get beamed up to the mother ship. Maybe that s what we re suppose to do as well?
we re told, is grinding grain. I picture her preparing a meal for her family later that day. Both of them, notice, are just going about the routine business of life. Making plans for their day. Making plans for their lives. 5 Maybe one of the reasons God doesn t tell us the exact time of his coming is because if we knew the date, we would obsess on the date. And instead of obsessing on the date, maybe God just wants us to be doing the things in this world he has asked us to do. Maybe when Jesus comes back he ought to find us diligently carrying out the mission he has given us in this world. He ought to find us building community, and loving him in worship, and growing more faithful as his disciples, and serving those around us with greater and greater compassion. He ought to find us writing sermons and saying prayers. And taking care of the poor among us. And loving our enemies. And telling those around us - who don t already know - about the love and grace of Christ. And caring for our world. And going to school to learn and develop our minds. And working hard at our jobs. And nurturing our marriages. And raising our kids. And cooking up great feasts. And throwing great parties. And making beautiful music, and captivating art. And hanging screen doors on the backs of our houses in vain efforts to keep out the flies and the mosquitoes. These are the sorts of things I expect God wants us to be up to when he comes back again. He wants us to be up to life, to living each day, the extraordinary and the mundane, as his children, his followers in this world. And so maybe each day, it would be wise to begin the day with a prayer like this. Not exactly word for word like this, but in this spirit: Lord, thank you for today. I know it was not promised. And I know this could be the day. The day you come back. This could be the day I die. So help me to be ready. Help me to trust you today. Help me to love you with all I ve got today. Help me to love the people I meet today. Because, Lord, I am ready for you to come today. Jesus, I am eager for you to come today. But whether you come or not, help me to be about your business in the meantime. I ve been trying to pray something like that every day. You should try it as well. It s been amazing the perspective it has given me. Every Christmas we sing songs like the one we are about to sing, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. We sing out that we want for Jesus to come back. But do we? Do we mean what we sing? Are we ready if he does what we are asking him to do? As a church, may we be ready. And not just ready, but eager. May we be ready because we understand that when Jesus comes everything is going to change. May we be eager because, having trusted in Jesus, we know that when he comes everything is going to be put right again. Justice will replace injustice. Health will replace sickness. Relationships will be healed. Brothers in sisters in Christ will be united forever. Sin will be no more. Life will replace death. And nothing whatsoever will ever again separate us from our God. There will be no more aging. No more forgetting. No more doubt. No more funerals. No more grief. No more sadness. No more pain. (No more shopping either!) If Jesus comes today, let s be ready. For it will be a great day. A day on which everything will turn. Amen. The Next Step A resource for Life Groups and/or personal application
-What has been the biggest personal hinge moment of your life to this point? (i.e. the point after which nothing was ever the same again) 6 -How are you left feeling after you read these words of Jesus in Matthew 24:26-44? What most strikes you? Or confuses you? Or excites you? -Based on what Jesus says here, what things can we say for certain about the day and hour of the second coming of Jesus Christ into the world? -The early church expected Jesus to come back right away. When he didn t, they wondered why he hadn t come.. In that context, the Apostle Peter wrote these words to those first Christians in II Peter 3:8-9: But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. What do these verses add to this discussion? What message do they speak to us as we wait for Christ s return? -How do you think it would change things if God did tell us when we would face him? Would it be easier if God said, Listen, it s not going to happen until May 14, 2027. You re good to go until then. Or, You won t die for another 35 years. You re good to go until then. How would that change things for us/you? -The great reformer, Martin Luther, once wrote that Christians should live as if Jesus had died this morning, risen this afternoon, and was coming this evening. Is this the way you think you should live? If you did, what would change? -Are you prepared to meet Christ if he should come today, to stand before him and have your life judged? If not, what needs to change? -Is this the sort of message you welcome at Christmas time? Jeff suggested that this is exactly the sort of message that is at the heart of Christmas? Do you agree?