SOMETHING’S COMING... SOMETHING GREAT! Matthew 24: 36-51; Titus 2:11-13 Ragland Royappan
Theme of the Month Healing and Rebirth
Seminary Intern, English Congregation Vancouver Chinese Baptist Church, Vancouver, British Columbia
Sunday Sermon for 28 November 2010
Scripture Passage Matthew 24: 36-51
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. 45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Titus 2:11-13 11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. 36
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Advent is a season observed in many western Christian churches where we eagerly await the coming of Jesus as a baby. It beings 4 weeks prior to Christmas and it is one of the Joyous days in the Christian calendar. The actual word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus meaning “coming or arrival”. These four weeks are a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebrations of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. Today is the first Sunday of Advent. The first Sunday of Advent is Celebration of Hope. Just a little while ago we lighted the candle of Hope. Perhaps you will agree with me if I said the world does not even know what is Advent or when it beings, but for months now everyone knows that Christmas is coming. Even before the advent season begun, Christmas shopping is finished. Even before the Advent season begun, our plans for Christmas celebration has begun. One must agree that we emphasis the event of Christmas but we ignore the time of Advent which precedes the actual event itself. Waiting is an important aspect in every human beings life. We wait for everything from small things to Big things, dead things to living things, from created things to invented things, and from natural things to unnatural things. If we look at the bible we see stories where people of God had to wait. In the Bible’s central story we find that the people of Israel waited hundreds of years for the messiah to be come. This period was the time of preparation. It was a time of waiting with Hope. My dear friends, this morning I want to remind us once again that there is a time of waiting before the actual even of coming itself. If we look at the history of biblical narrative and the history of God’s chosen people, God always acted when people least expected. Have you noticed every time God seeks to change the history God allows a baby to be born? First, it was an infant in the bushes and floating in the water and then a child in a manger in Bethlehem. God always comes to us in most unexpected manner. God’s self-disclosure through the biblical narrative is usually in a quite and Low-key, almost unseen way. It catches us by surprise because we don’t expect it to be that way. The birth of Jesus is no exception. However, the God news today is that “God is Coming”. Hear! “God is Coming”. My dear friends, Today’s Message, good or bad is that God is Coming, Again!. This time not in floating in water nor will he be in swaddling clothes in the manger. He will Come as the King who will Judge. Before I move any further with my sermon, I would like to clearly explain the reason behind choosing the scripture passage for this morning’s meditation. I understand most of you here are quietly wondering in your thought, is this Advent season or Lent season? Let me explain. I agree today’s text has a strong eschatological imagery. It is beginning of the Olivet discourse narrated by Jesus himself about destruction of the temple and the signs of the end times. It sounds more like a text for the second coming of Christ rather than his birth. This is not what you would expect for the first Sunday of Advent. You must be saying to yourself, There must be some mistake. You should be murmuring to yourself this passage is more appropriate for lent than advent. We were ready for the announcement of the incarnation by the angel Gabriel to Mary not the Apocalypse of the end times. We should be on our way to Bethlehem no Jerusalem temple. We are four weeks away from Jesus’ birth, but this passage is two days away from Jesus’ death. You must be scratching your head and saying we were ready to buy gifts and send cards to family and friends and were expecting to hear a Christmas sermon to get SOMETHING’SCOMING...SOMETHINGGREAT! 2
little taste of what is to come but it seems this silly Seminary Intern is talking about end of the world and the second coming of Christ and spoiling the mood of Christmas. My dear friends, The focus of the entire Advent season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent as a baby and at the same time its the anticipation of the return of Christ as the King in his Second Advent. As I said earlier, the term Advent means “coming”. Its Latin form is derived from the Greek root “parousia”. I don’t know if you know, this term Parousia is the term used to describe Christ’s second coming. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000-year-old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. My dear friends, that is why the Scripture readings and meditations for Advent always reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life. Just as the fulfillment of the prophesy of the Birth of the Messiah, the Prophesy of the return of the King will also be fulfilled and as we prepare to celebrate the first coming of Jesus Christ, it is our HOPE that Christ will Come back once again! He will come back as the King, and the Judge. My dear friends, it is not exaggeration if I said Biblical prophecy provides some of the greatest encouragement and hope available to us today. Just as the Old Testament is saturated with prophecies concerning Christ's first advent, so are both testaments filled with references to the second coming of Christ. One scholar has estimated that there are 1,845 references to Christ's second coming in the Old Testament, where 17 books give it prominence. In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second advent of Christ--an amazing 1 out of every 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. Listen to this, the most important of all, For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ's first advent, there are 8 references which look forward to His second coming! My dear friends, this is an amazing fact which gives us more reason to look forward and celebrate the Birth Jesus and even more reason to wait and prepare for this second coming. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, one of the distinguished theologian and church father from the 3rd century, in his devotional writes about this Two-fold coming of Jesus Christ. He writes: We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom. In general, whatever relates to our Lord Jesus Christ has two aspects. There is a birth from God before the ages, and a birth from a virgin at the fullness of time. There is a hidden coming, like that of rain on fleece, and a coming before all eyes, still in the future. At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels. We look then beyond the first coming and await the second.
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The Saviour will not come to be judged again, but to judge those by whom he was judged. His first coming was to fulfill his plan of love, to teach men by gentle persuasion. This time, whether men like it or not, they will be subjects of his kingdom by necessity. The prophet Malachi speaks of the two comings. And the Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple (Malachi 3:1): that is one coming. Again he says of another coming: Look, the Lord almighty will come, and who will endure the day of his entry, or who will stand in his sight? Because he comes like a refiner’s fire, a fuller’s herb, and he will sit refining and cleansing (Malachi 3:2-3). That is why the faith we profess has been handed on to you in these words: He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. Our Lord Jesus Christ will therefore come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new. The truth is Second Advent of Christ is still looming large on us. And We are waiting for Christ to come back. Our lives are filled with Hopes of Christ's return. Our Christian life journey itself can be called as an Advent season. The same way we wait, for the birth of Jesus in the next four weeks, we wait our whole lives for the King to appear in heaven in glory. The only difference is that We do not know the hour of Christ’s coming. The most important question for us this morning is that “what should we do while we wait for the coming of the Lord?” “What does this passage tell us about living this life of Advent?” I believe, this passage in Matthew and the parallel passages Mark 13 and Luke 21 share the same apocalyptic thought and they all carry the same message. This text in Matthew give us many principles through parables. This morning I would like to share with you 3 most important principles for Christian life from this passage. 1. Watchful living: In v. 42 Jesus commands his disciple “therefore, keep watch”. The first principle is Watchful Living. The passage in Matthew begins by emphasizing that the hour or time of the coming of Christ is unknown to anyone. The time and day of the coming is so unsure, Jesus asks us to keep watch. These verses are actually, the answer given by Jesus to two questions put forward by his disciples in verse 3 of this chapter. The questions were: When will the temple be destroyed and the second is what would be the sign of Jesus’ coming (v.3). The answer given by Jesus to first question is that it will happen in the life time of the present generation. The answer to the second question is that the return of Jesus will happen when no one expects. It will be known only to the Father and nobody else, not even Jesus. It is while answering this second question, Jesus gives his disciples the warning and its necessity to be watchful. SOMETHING’SCOMING...SOMETHINGGREAT! 4
What does it mean when Jesus says “Watch!”? It means that we need to be on guard and watchful for the coming days. We should live a life expecting the return of Christ not just live a lethargic and carefree life. William Barclay very nicely puts it. He writes “ because the day and hour is unknown, all life must be a constant preparation for that coming.” our Entire life should be a Constant preparation for that coming. my dear friends, it is true that our life should be constant preparation through constant repentance, constant forgiveness, constant guarding of the spirit, Constant running away from the world, it is constant preaching of the Word of God, and constant reminding of the Grace and Hope. The preparation is not just the four weeks of Advent or 4 weeks of lent. Rather it is a constant preparation our entire life. One of the sins most Christians commit when it comes to being watchful is to live without watchfulness. I say this because William Barclay in his commentary writes to live without watchfulness is inviting disaster. Will any one who is seated here not prepare for the worst case? I agree we all Live in hope and faith. However in life we are always prepared for the Worst case scenario. May it be natural disaster, our finances, our relationships, or our church matters. We always prepare ourselves for the worst scenario’s. We prepare for the “what ifs’” What if there is financial crisis? What if I could not get a job? What if there is a natural disaster? What if there was an accident? What if there was theft? What if and what if… we are always prepared for these what ifs’ in our lives. But Jesus through this passage is asking us to be prepared for His return. Eagerly expect the return of the king of Kings. He has come as baby and he will come again as a King. In this passage Jesus gives the parable of the thief and the house owner. We see the thief comes in surprise to steal so the owner should be on guard always. But we must understand that, the watching of the Christians for the coming of Christ is not the watching of terror-stricken fear and shivering worst case scenarios; rather it is the watching of eager expectation for the coming of the glory and the Joy and eternal life. The second sin most Christian commit when being watchful is the spirit which says that there is enough time. The part of being guard is being prepared. My dear friends, this morning question for us is that are you prepared to receive the king? In this passage Jesus uses the parable of the Ten virgin’s who are expecting the arrival of the bride. While 5 virgins are prepared and ready the other 5 thought that there is enough time and hence failed miserably when the bride came. My dear friends, we can be prepared through constant consecration at feet of the Lord. Now the question for us is are we prepared? 2. Faithful life: Secondly, in v. 45 Jesus asks his disciple a question, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant’? And delivers a parable about a master and a servant. So my dear friends God is expecting us to be a faithful and wise while He is away. As we wait for the Master to return we live faithful to the cause he entrusted us with. In this Advent season, God is expecting us to be faithful to responsibilities he has entrusted us. Some of the commentaries had a note on this saying this parable is for the leaders of the church but I believe they are too narrow to confine it to only leaders. Through the Blood of Christ, every single believer is brought to a new covenant with God the father. And anyone who is in this covenant will be servant in the kingdom and is SOMETHING’SCOMING...SOMETHINGGREAT! 5
entrusted with the great commission. My dear friends, We are to faithfully fulfill the great commission. And it is our duty. Christ will come back one day and he will ask us the question, my son, my daughter, Did you do your best? I heard a story the other day of two brothers, Ed and Will Spencer. They were in a ship with many other people. Suddenly there was a fiery storm and the ship was caught inn the storm. However, the captain and the crew were able to get close to a shore before was wrecked. Ed was a very good swimmer. While the ship was sinking, the crew and Ed and Will scrambled to rescue as many people as they can. He swam out and out again until he had rescued many, and was almost exhausted. He saw a woman holding on to a piece of board and crying for help. They said, “Ed, you'd better not go.” But it was too much for him. He swam out into the icy waters and brought her to shore. Then he swooned. He was taken to the hospital. After some hours, he became conscious and said to his brother Will, “How many were drowned?” Will replied, “I do not know.” Then he said, “How many did I save?” Will replied, “Ed, you saved seventeen.” But Ed sadly said, “Did I do my best?” Christ will come back one day and he will ask you how many did you save? The question for us then will be did I do my best? It is the most important question. The master will come and ask us, I gave you 2 talent, I gave you 5 talents and I gave you 10 talents who did you do with it? What are we doing with what Christ has given us. Friends, How many did we save? How many did we serve? There are many in this world, who live without Jesus in their lives. They do not even know who Christ is. They do not have a personal salvation. There are many who live on drugs, addiction and sin. You don’t have to go another country to see this. You just have to drive 10 minutes to go to the other side of town to see this kind of people. The sad reality is that we live as here in Vancouver as if the Eastside does not exist. We live as if the other side of town does not exist. As I share this the movie “The Blind Side” comes to my mind. In this movie there is a scene where the four women sit and have lunch in a nice restaurant. When their conversation leads to talk about the other side of town one women says, “Mentioning that name itself sounds like a threat.” The other women says “I will lose my reputation if I go there”. My dear friends, our situation is the same. We feel like a threat to talk about the other side of town. Christ has given us the command to preach the gospel and make disciples of all this earth. This includes our neighborhood as well. Christ expects us to be faithful to his command. Most of the we think it is responsibility of the Charity organizations to go and work on these places but I want to assert this morning it is not only the responsibility of the individual or the NGOs to be faithful to this command it is also the responsibility of the Church to be faithful to this command. The question for us this morning is, Are we doing our best? Are we faithful? 3. Living today in light of tomorrow. The first Sunday of Advent also reminds us one more thing that we should never forget. God is calling us to live today in the light of God’s tomorrow. We cannot always tell what part does, sadness, loss, illness and defeat play in the great plan of God nor would the realities of those experiences be lessened for us if we knew the whole plan. Instead, as Christians living in the Advent Season should always look beyond the present to the future. The world around us wants SOMETHING’SCOMING...SOMETHINGGREAT! 6
to use the scientific principle of cause and effect to explain human history; in other words, it is yesterday what explains today. But for Christian experience, it is tomorrow that best explains today. John Hicks once said, “for Christians “the Best is yet to come”. There is somethings coming… something great! The King of Kings and his kingdom is coming to this earth. Our Hope is that Christ will come again and everything that happens now is just a foretaste of what the kingdom of God will be like. The scripture rightly tell us that this world is not your permanent shelter rather it is a temporary place where you wait for greater things to come. It is a place where we wait and prepare. Living in the light of tomorrow is being sanctified regularly and living according to the Light. Not those who live in the darkness. Paul rightly puts in Titus 2:11-14 the grace of God. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, My dear friends, We should say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. We should live a controlled life. We should live upright and godly. In simple words, living in the light of tomorrow is “being in the world but not of the world.” Let us remember that this is just a time of Preparation for the future with Christ for eternity. Conclusion: My friends, as I conclude, I would like to remind us once again that we live “between the times.” Our whole life is an Advent Season. I mean our whole lives, not just these four weeks. It is the time we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ in his first Advent and the anticipation of the return of Christ the king in his second Advent. In this double focus of past and future, Advent symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and the congregation, as we affirm that Christ has come, that he is present in the world today, and that he will come again in power. This affirmation provides us a basis for kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from this profound sense that we live “between the times” and are called to be faithful stewards of what he is entrusted to us as God’s people. My dear friends, the truth of the matter is that Something’s coming. Whether you like it not, something’s coming… something great. The question for us is are you ready? Are you ready to receive?
Reflection Questions 1. As we celebrate the season of Advent, Do we ever realize that our Christian journey itself is a season of Advent, expecting the coming of Christ? 2. What are things that God has entrusted you with? Are you faithful to his command? If not what is God expecting from you? 3. Titus 2:11-14 says “… say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live selfcontrolled… while we wait for the blessed hope - the appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour , Jesus Christ.” What are some things that you should say ‘NO’ to in this Advent season while we wait for the return of the Lord? SOMETHING’SCOMING...SOMETHINGGREAT! 7