Date:   12/02/07

Text:   Matthew 24:36-44

Title:   Future Certainly and Present Responsibility

Theme: Since we have the assurance of Jesus' second coming, therefore our present day living should be dictated by this hope.

Introduction:

  According to the Christian church calendar, four Sundays prior to Christmas Day, begins the Advent Season. In this season, the church prepares for the celebration of Christ's birth. From studying the scriptures, we learn that the birth of Christ 2K years ago was a shadow of his second coming, and these two cannot be separated. Therefore on this first Advent Sunday, we'll focus on the second coming of Jesus Christ.

  The second coming of Jesus Christ generally grabs our attention and arouses our curiosity. Countless books were written and movies made about this, thus making it difficult to separate fact from fiction. Most likely individuals had already made up their minds regarding the different interpretation of the scriptures on this matter. Such as what is millennium, or is there a literal millennium, is Christ coming back before, or after the millennium? Is he coming before, in the midst or after the trials? Will he come back once or twice? You may be curious to know my positions, and I am equally curious about where you stand on these issues.

  This morning let's return to the scriptures to see what Jesus taught us about his second coming. We want to know what issues did he teach, and on what issues he is silent.

I.   We know the certainty of Jesus' second coming.

  In Matthew 24:29-31, “ 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." 31 "And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Jesus teaches that one day in the future, he will return to earth.

  In Acts 1: 10-11, “ 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” At Jesus' ascension into heaven, the angels clearly stated that this Jesus will come back again. Later on, the apostle in both their preaching and writings, repeated this theme of Jesus' second coming.

  It is unequivocally clear that Jesus will return to this world. We may not know the details. We may not even agree on the details surrounding his second coming, but this does not alter the fact of his return.

II.   We know of the uncertainty of the timing of Jesus' second coming.

  When we were in St. Louis , we would drive cross country to California to visit my parents. My father always looked forward to our visit. A week or two before the trip, he would call and ask when we would be leaving, telling us to drive carefully. We would tell him he'll arrive some time in the afternoon on such a day. Since we didn't have cell phones in those days, we were not able to inform him of the exact time of arrival. By the time we arrived, we would see my father either waiting for us anxiously either on the street or looking out through the windows. He knew I would be coming that afternoon, but didn't know when, and he just waited and waited.

Up to vs 35, it is 100% certain of Jesus' return. But in vs 36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." What a contrast. Yes, without doubt we know that Christ will return. But no one knows when. Not even Jesus Christ, only the father knows. Here we see a paradox: in this chapter, Jesus was portrayed as above the angels, equal with the father, yet he did not know what the father knew. This reflects his true humanity. Yes, he is God, but he is also man. As a real man, certain attributes of God, such as His Omniscience were temporarily withheld from him.

  From this passage alone, it tells us it is no use to try to calculate the year and time of his second coming. In 1994, a Korean minister predicted Jesus would return that year. In 1998, a Chinese minister predicted that Jesus' second coming would occur in Garland , Tx . This results in some Christians from Taiwan moving to Texas and wait. 1994 and 1998 came and went, and Jesus has not returned.

  In vs.37-43, Jesus used 4 illustrations to show the uncertainty of the timing of his return.

In vs. 37-39, “ 37 "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."

  The second illustration is 40-41, “"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."

  The third illustration is 43, “ 43 "But know this, that 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." The imagery of a thief is used several times throughout the NT to illustrate the suddenness of Jesus' return.

  What is common in these 3 illustrations is that Christ' return will occur when we are carrying out our daily responsibilities. We eat, drink and get married, life goes on. We'll be working as usual. Even in the midst of some horrorific events surrounding Jesus' return, individual's lives will go on as usual. It is in the midst of an ordinary life that Christ will come again. It is like the thief; no one knows when he will strike his house. We simply don't know when.

  There is also one thing we learn from these illustrations. That is, on the day of Jesus' second coming, it is a time of separation. The believers will be taken into the presence of God. The non believers will be separated from God eternally. Not everyone will go to heaven. We may not like to hear this, but only the believers of Jesus Christ will be taken into God's presence upon Jesus' second coming.

  We know he is coming for sure. We don't know when he is coming. Then what?

III.    We shall live in the constant watchfulness as we wait for Jesus' second coming.

 Jesus provides the answer to the Then what? Having told his disciples that no one knows when he is coming, in 42 and 43 he said, ‘therefore'. Since he is coming and we don't know when, therefore we're to stay awake, therefore we must be ready. In the rest of chapter 24 and 25, Jesus further illustrated this need for watchfulness with the parables of 10 virgins, faithful servants and talents. These parables suggest that we do not just passively sit there and wait for his coming. Instead, this future hope, future certainty is to dictate/direct us to be alert and be ready. This future hope and certainty is to dictate how we live now.

  Isn't this a familiar concept for us? The Clement's High School football team has a record of 10-0 this season; the first time in 23 years. Going into the play offs, the coach said, “When we go into a game, we've never thought that we would not win.” In other words, his conviction of winning dictates how they practice and play each game. So far, this team is still undefeated in the play offs. We students get up in the morning because we have classes to go, projects to finish, clients to see and experiments to do. If we don't perform those responsibilities, we may not graduate or recieve that paycheck. The goal or the end motivates us on how to live now. Isn't this also true when we feel the class is no longer important, we don't really care for the paycheck, we become lost, with no motivation to go on?

  I have seen some of you setting your goal of achieving that MD-PHD degree. Some wanted to operate a successful business, to pass the board exams and be certified. To achieve such goals, you are so disciplined to endure hardships, including many sleepless nights, non stop research and reading. In order to get that job, get into that school, or moving into that corner office (top CEO), you are willing to sacrifice vacation time, endure unpleasant working environment, long working hours and long commutes. A young entrepreneur said, “you have to set an objective that you are passionate about, then for the next few years, 24/7, be otally involved in it.” We are letting our future hope dictate how we live now.

  This is what Jesus is talking about. We know for sure of his second coming, but we don't know when he is coming. So, what do we do in between? How are we to live between his first coming and second coming? Jesus tells us that the certainty of this future hope should dictate how we live now. In these two chapters, we are only given the directive to be ready, to be watchful while waiting for his return. The apostles, later in their writing, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, further expanded this, telling us what it means to be watchful and be ready. We'll take a look at 2 passages.

  First from 1Thess 5:1-11. In this passage Paul was instructing the Thessalonica believers about the day of the Lord. He was telling them about the suddenness of Christ's return. In vs 11, “ 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” Encourage and build up one another.

  Secondly, Hebrews 10:22-25. “ …….22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Since that day, meaning the Lord's Day, the second coming, is close by, the believers are to:

1 •  Come to the Lord. Stay close to him. Our relationship with Christ is more important than anything else. Come to him when we are frightened by life's crisis. Come to him when we feel we can't take the heat anymore. Come to him when we are confused and frustrated with life.

2 •  Hold onto the promises of hope. This hope is about God's kingdom, that one day, he will return and take us to with him. Death is not the end, but a transition into God's presence.

3 •  Help each other to love and do good works, make sure you meet regularly, and encourage one another.

In these passages, we read about a relationship with God, and about a relationship with each other. The world we live in is very cold and can be cruel at times. We place personal well being above others. We let our end justify our means. I don't really care about your feelings. I only want my feelings to be known and expressed. The days will not get better as Jesus' second coming draws near.

So, how do we wait for his return? Not just passively sitting there, but instead, loving one another, helping each other to grow and do good works. Drawing close and staying close to God. Staying close to God, encouraging and loving one another often occur in the context of Christian gathering. For this reason, the writer of Hebrew urges us not to stop meeting other Christians. What motivates us to live like this? Because we know for certain that Christ is coming again. We do not know when, yet we know it is near. He is at the door, and the door maybe open anytime.

Conclusion:

  We want to know all the details of Jesus' second coming. Yet God shows us how to live with this eternal perspective. He wants the truth of Jesus' second coming direct how we live now. He wants us to love and encourage one another.

  In a way, we are all letting our future hope and goals direct how we live today. But isn't it true that very often, after working so hard, our dreams may not come true? We wanted so much to have a good meeting or taught a good SS class. We worked hard at it, but sometimes it just didn't turn out the way we liked. Bill George, the author of True North (a book about leadership) wrote: “If you set your goal on that CEO position at all cost, statistics show that people with such goals often fail to achieve their objective.”

  Yes, we need to have goals for the present life. But there must also be the eternal perspective of life. Why is it that Jesus' second coming often has so little impact on how we live today? Yes, we believe in his return, but it seems so far away and unreal. It's like the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter's adventure. It's so other. Have you ever wondered why?

  One commentator writes that in this instant gratification society, we have very little time to reflect upon the future. We want things right now and are impatient. This is one reason why we carry so much credit card debts. When we have money, we can acquire what we want, whenever we want. If we are so focused with the present, we'll hardly think of the future. When we are having such a good time now, why bother with the future?

  It is for this reason, the scriptures keep reminding us to look at life from the eternal perspective. When we celebrate Jesus' birth, we are to remember this birth is a shadow of His second coming. It is my prayer that in this advent season may we spend time to meditate not only on Jesus' birth that occurred 2K ago, but on his second coming. May the certainty of Christ's return, motivate us to draw near to God, to not stop coming to the worship services, fellowship and small group gatherings, to remember to encourage one another and stir one another to do good.