| |
April 3, 2005
|
Crist's Return
|
Pastor Brian Shimer
|
|
"He's Coming Back"
Matthew 24: 36- 51; Acts 1:10-11
|
Acts 1:10-11
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
NIV
|
- I had signed petitions, I had prayed, I had listened with horror at the judgment of a judge in Florida who had never met Terri Schiavo and yet ordered her starved to death. Our nation took a step backward on Thursday, when Terri died because of this judge's decree. Our nation thus declared that a handicapped person has no value.
Outside and across the street from the center where Terri starved gathered multitudes of handicapped people protesting the action. The police had a "paddy wagon" with a wheelchair lift so that those who sought to cross into her room and help her could be carted away. Terri was not a vegetable. Yes she was evaluated by Dr. James Barnhill, neurologist, who testified that he examined her for ten minutes and determined that she had no chance for recovery, and was in a persistent vegetative state during 1998. But on September 12, 2002 she was examined by Dr. William Hammesfahr, a world-renowned neurologist, over a period of two days. His extensive report recommended medical tests and several kinds of rehabilitative therapy for Terri, identified that she did show brainwave activity, was partially blind, and showed clear responsiveness to her family members. She wanted to please those around her, laughed and cried, felt pain was giving pain medications.
She needed care is all, and her mom and dad, sister and brother offered to give it, but her husband did not want that. As her husband he had the right to ask to have the plug pulled, but Terri spoke up when asked if she wanted to live saying she did, as best she could. Her husband was not listening to his wife. What happened "for better, for worse" in this case? This happened in our nation, the land of the free, the home of the brave.
I grieved Thursday. And as I looked toward today I was thankful that Jesus will return. When he does come, he will not come as he did last time, as a lamb, but as the Lion of Judah. He will come not as a servant but as a conquering king and those who have done wickedness will be judged. If Michael Schiavo or anyone else associated with this case has been acting in wickedness, we can rest assured, there will be justice, and wrongdoings will be judged by the True Judge. There will be justice for Terri one day.
(Top Neurologist's Report on Terri Released NewsMax.com Wires Wednesday, March 30, 2005)
For the King is coming. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus will be coming back and when he comes He will set everything right.
How does this promised coming affect how I live today? Jesus has told us. This week I want us to answer that question. And then when we return to this subject we will look at the signs of His coming.
- Before we get to today's question, however, I want us to get oriented in Matthew 24. In the first verses Jesus has been talking to his disciples about his second coming. He tells them about the signs which will precede his coming then He says: "no one knows the day or hour…" So, will I be able to tell you when Jesus will return? No. Will you ever be able to calculate it? No. If Jesus and the angels do not know, do you think we will be able to fathom it? And if we will not know "when" Jesus will return, how does He want us to prepare for it? Should we stand looking into the heavens waiting for him to show up?
No, and I am so thankful the apostles tried that so that we have a clear illustration that such is not our stance. In Acts 1 you heard how two angels came and stood by the disciples looking into the sky, saying, "look, he is going to return in just the same manner, so quit loitering and 'get on with it'"(or something to that effect).
Even with this clear word, over the years many have stood around trying to predict when Jesus will return. Whole movements have formed around an assumed date, people have sold house and goods, moved to Texas or to Jerusalem to wait for his coming. But this is not what Jesus recommended. Others have scoffed at the very idea of His return, saying, 'where is this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation'" (2 Peter 3:3-4).
Jesus said his second coming will be a time of judgment. He will come suddenly, as the flood came upon the people in Noah's day. We need not be in the dark about His coming, like Noah we can walk with God, but definitely the focus of our lives is not to be on isolating a date but upon living a life.
The picture of the suddenness of his coming is given in the Jesus' illustration of two working side by side: one is taken the other is not. In this passage there are two different words used for "taken". The first used of those who are taken away in the flood, clearly taken by judgment. The second used of those taken while working side by side, are those taken "with" someone. The word used is used of a man "taking a wife" or of Jesus taking his disciples with him somewhere, so the word pictures those taken as being taken with Jesus somewhere. So, judgment remains for those "left behind". This fits with the picture of judgment given in the Book of Revelation.
- Now to our main question - if we cannot know when Jesus will come, and when he comes we will be caught up with him, how are we to live in the light of His return?
Jesus says to do three things.
Ashley Smith, 26-year old widow of Atlanta, GA, did not ever imagine she would be holed up with an alleged killer for 7 hours one Saturday night. She was not living her life imagining that she, who worked as a waitress to support herself and her little girl, would ever be bargaining for her life with a scared criminal, but that is exactly where she found herself at 2 in the morning on March 13th when 210 pound Brian Nichols shoved a gun into her side and forced his way into her apartment.
He said he did not want to hurt her, tied her up, and then eventually allowed her to read her Bible and a devotional book she had been using, The Purpose Driven Life. He asked her what she was reading, and asked if she would read it aloud. She was on Day 33 and read these words: "We serve God by serving others. The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige, and position. If you can demand service from others, you've arrived. In our self-serving culture with its me-first mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept."
The paragraph caught Brian off guard and he asked Ashley to read it again. Then began a conversation that brought her to the place of sharing her faith with him and speaking to him about the purpose God had for his life. Ashley was able to tell Brian that he needed to turn himself in. He was done running. He was done with his guns, and put them under her bed. She fixed him breakfast, left him at the apartment to hang her curtains while she went to church, and called 911. She had told him his purpose was to go to jail and share the reality of Jesus with those there.
A professional hostage negotiator, Robert Dennerlein, said she did everything right. My question was "why did she do everything right?" And I believe it was before she faced the hostage situation, she had been doing what Jesus says we need to be doing to be prepared for His coming.
First, Jesus says, "keep watch," and Ashley was keeping watch over her life. Whereas she had had some difficulties, she was taking steps now to get her life on track. Her aunt, Kim Rogers said, "She had been doing so well, and then this happened. But she knows it's an affirmation that she has to keep pushing forward."
To "keep watch" in our lives is a military term. You can tell it is a self defense kind of stance in the illustration Jesus gives of a man keeping watch over his household to guard against a break in. Stay awake to temptation, turn from it, run from it. To keep watch is to stay awake like the watchman on the wall of a city. We take effort to guard our lives from others seeking to harm us.
Ashley had turned from bad stuff and turned toward God, seeking to grow by reading her Bible, and studying the purpose God had given her. She was keeping watch over her life. She was guarding her child by having her live for a time with her parents in order for her to have the chance to get her own life pulled back together again. God honored this in her life and catapulted her into the limelight with this situation.
Author of Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren said, "We are thankful that Ms. Smith was able to draw from the Scriptures and her reading of the Purpose Driven Life to bring some hope to her captor's life that was unraveling so tragically and dramatically."
In addition, Jesus tells us to Be Ready!" Now as "keep watch" is a military term, this is more of a homemaker's term. A meal is readied, an offering is readied to give, a room is readied for guests, so Jesus says to ready your life. What needs to be "put in order" in your life? Are you dealing with any areas of besetting sin, such as an attitude that does not glorify God, or an action you know displeases Him? Recently a man told his wife he wanted a divorce because he had been having multiple affairs and wanted to continue along that road. He did not want her hampering his freedom. Will he be ready for Jesus' coming? Hardly. He is not living in freedom but bondage for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him, and this man is mastered by lust (2 Peter 2:19).
Readiness takes preparation. This came into focus at our Seder Supper two weeks ago, for at the Seder table a place is left vacant for Elijah. The Jewish people were taught to be always expecting Him to come. Is there room in your life for Jesus? Do you make room daily so that when He comes He will already be a welcomed guest?
At home, we cannot snap our fingers in a room and have it cleaned, although we would like for that to happen. We have to do something. Ashley was painstakingly putting her life back in order. She was getting on her feet. You cannot be "ready" if you don't take any action. Readiness involves then facing what you need to stop, and choosing what you need to begin to do. It means facing the fact: I am responsible for the choices I make.
Friends, keep watch and be ready for His return. He may not return today, but your life may be demanded of you today. Live in readiness, live expectantly.
Finally, Jesus says, live as a faithful and wise servant. This life is not for us to spend however we want on the contrary we spend our lives in order to be spent for Jesus. We live with Him in mind. We live conscious of the fact that when we are faithful here, learning to know him, walking with him, we will be given much responsibility in the heavenly kingdom.
Faithfulness means to do what we know we ought to do. This week there was yet another massive earthquake in Indonesia. It came on the date the government had said all relief workers had to leave unless they could prove their services were still needed, in order to keep them from proselytizing. Because of this earthquake, they must stay and help. It is amazing to me that these two massive earthquakes occurred just the day after the two Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter, in a predominantly Muslim land.
The government of the area that was first hit practiced the strictest of Muslim practices. For example a thief's hand is cut off at the scene of the crime. So after the first earthquake the government response was that they had not been strict enough, so therefore, Allah was punishing them. This was the same response of the Muslim countries around the world, so no Muslim nation sent any aid!" In contrast to this response, the Christians have come and have loved the people, so that the people are saying, if Christians are so bad why are they the only ones helping us?
This is a picture of Christian faithfulness in action. This is wisdom in action. To do what we ought is important as we walk with Jesus day by day.
I tell you "Yes, Jesus is coming soon" which may mean many more years, but that does not mean he will not come. Oh, no, He will indeed come. So, keep watch, be ready and walk with wisdom and faithfulness.
(Some of the information on Ashley Smith from People magazine's cover story March 28, 2005)
|
|
|