Www.faithwels.com



(Sermon series – Only the Lord has 2020 vision) First Sunday in Advent – November 29, 2020The 2020 Vision of the Lord Sees Judgment Day Coming – Are You Ready? Do you remember how the year 2020 was supposed to be? I mean, just a year ago at this time the future seemed bright, exciting and full of potential. It was a new decade and the world was optimistic about achieving great things.If your eyesight was bad, it was the year to get Lasik surgery. That’s what the commercials said – “2020 is the year to get 2020 vision.” Graduating seniors adopted mottos like this: “2020, a class with vision.” Even our Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society hopped on the bandwagon with the theme “2020 Vision for Missions.”But here we are near the end of this year and our world is in turmoil, looking more like a Hollywood horror film. Words like “mandate, social distancing, virtual learning, quarantine,” and “Covid-19” have become part of the vocabulary of young and old alike. This is far from the way of life that most of us had in mind.But this year has been a strong reminder of the truth and precision of these Proverbs from God’s Word: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21). “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). No one on earth saw this year coming. But you know who did? Our Lord did. That’s because he has 2020 vision. And what else does the Lord’s 2020 vision see? He sees Judgment Day coming, and he wants to know, are you ready? That’s what we hear so clearly in our gospel lesson this morning. So important is it for us to consider this question that we do well to listen to his words again. Mark 13:32-37 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Watch! Be alert and pray, because you do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going away on a journey. When he left his home, he put his servants in charge and assigned what each one was to do. He also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. 35Therefore keep watch, because you do not know when the owner of the house is coming: whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or early in the morning. 36If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37What I say to you, I say to everyone: Keep watch!” There are some parts of the Bible that are more difficult to understand than others. The words we just read, however, are not included in that group. Oh, I suppose a person could say that the first sentence, where Jesus says he doesn’t know the day set aside for the end of our world’s existence, could be confusing at first. After all, since Jesus is true God, how can that be?But don’t let that alarm you. Remember that when Jesus came to earth he did not make full use of the divine power that was his by right. We call that his humiliation. That means that on this day, as he spoke these words to his disciples, in his state of humiliation, he did not have the knowledge of the time and day appointed for the last day. It is a passage that gives proof to his true humanity.But besides that sentence, the rest is as plain as day. It does not leave us scratching our heads or lost with puzzled looks. The master of this house is Jesus. At his ascension, he left this earth to go back to his Father in heaven. But he will return. He will be coming again. It could be at any moment. So Jesus tells us to constantly be watching and waiting for his return.A simple illustration comes to mind. Think of the days of the old west. The cattle drive was on as the cowhands were bringing the herd to the train to be shipped to market. Along the dusty trails they knew there were enemies, rustlers, and wild animals. So they sat men on horses to be on guard; to watch. They did it around the clock – morning, noon and night. They didn’t know when they would attack, but they knew it could be at any time.Yes it is all so clear. It is all so straightforward. It is all so plain that we shouldn’t miss it. But dear friends, are we? Are we ignoring Jesus’ call to be ready? I’m concerned that we just might be. Let me help you see what I mean.If you were to choose three things to prioritize in your life, what would they be? Now, if that question were to be posed to you anywhere but at church, would number one on that list be your relationship with Jesus? Would number one be spending more time in God’s Word? We might shake our heads in agreement while here, but has that translated into reality. Take what’s happening in our world right now as evidence for my concern. In his infinite wisdom, God has allowed this pandemic to impact our world. In doing so, he’s broadcasting a clear message - you are not in control; this world will not go on forever; life is fleeting; I am coming again; make me and my word your number one priority; get ready. But have we found ourselves doing that? Has our prayer life, worship life, and devotional life really changed? Are we turning to the Lord or do we find ourselves turning all our attention to a vaccine, or think that our powers can curb this pandemic so our lives can get back to normal and we can continue on our merry way in life without having to think about the end of the world. Just consider! Here is the Lord himself doing us a huge favor cancelling our sports and extracurricular activities so that we can get ready for his coming by focusing on him and his Word. But are we hearing his message? Are we listening? Or are we complaining and whining and grumbling and then just filling up all that time with other things that continue to put him on the back burner so he can’t interfere with our lives too much. Do you see why I fear we’re missing his call to get ready? Am I crazy to think that way? Am I off-base with my pastoral concern that we have adopted a mentality that just doesn’t think about our Savior’s return? You know, it’s not that we actually deny that he will. It’s just…that…it doesn’t really cross our mind. We just don’t care to think about it. We are so busy with the things of this world that things eternal never cross our mind and we say, “Don’t worry about it.” But you know, that’s what a youthful lieutenant on the fateful morning of December 7, 1941 said. On that morning, two United States soldiers on a small radar station in the Pacific scanned the radar screen only to see dots and dots appearing, until the whole screen was filled. They reported this to the lieutenant who brushed them off as planes from California, and without another thought said: “Don’t worry about it.”And dear friends, you know what happened as a result. And if you thought that was bad, that is nothing in comparison to what’s in store for the one who is not ready for the day Jesus comes again. On that day, the one who is not ready will feel the full force of the flaming wrath of an all-holy God. The one who has been spiritually sleeping will fully understand just how serious God is about the neglect of his Word and spiritual indifference. On that day, the one who has not been vigilant in repentant preparation will lose out on all the blessings Christ came to win the first time he came. You see, that’s the reason we want to be ready for his coming. That’s why he tells us to be watching and waiting. When Jesus came to earth the first time he came with one specific mission in mind – to restore the broken relationship that your sin caused between his Father and you. In order to do that he had to be a perfect Savior and our substitute. He had to receive the punishment God demanded as payment for sin. He had to do battle against death and Satan – and come out on top. That’s exactly what he did with his life, death and resurrection. Now, all those who look to Jesus in repentant faith have been told to look forward to that day. We are forgiven! We are right with God through Jesus’ death and resurrection. All is well because our guilt has been paid for! All those who believe that in Jesus God has declared us to be not guilty; all those who live lives of repentant, fruit-filled faith can expect to hear: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).Oh, how every true believer longs to hear those words! They are words that promise to usher in a glorious eternity absent of sin and death, where there will be no sorrow, suffering or pain. It is a place where the fangs and claws of Satan no longer are able to reach you. There, we will see our Savior face to face. If all that is hard to imagine – that’s okay. Just know this: the God who pours out untold blessings and good things to us sinful people in this sinful world - the God who spared no expense to give us everything and make it possible for us to one day enter his heaven - will not disappoint us when we get to heaven. But if we are not ready, we will miss out on that. So pay attention to Jesus’ words: “keep on watching out! Constantly be awake!” But also listen to what else he says. For in his little parable he goes on to tell us, “It is like a man going away on a journey. When he left his home, he put his servants in charge and assigned what each one was to do.” We are those servants. Did you notice, he has given us work to do. What work, you ask? Well, sometimes we actually make the answer to that question way more difficult than it needs to be. But it isn’t that difficult. In the Bible he tells us above all that our work is to glorify God. We do that when our lives are lived with this question, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” rather than this question – “What do I want?” We do this by loving the things he loves and hating the things he hates. We do this when we serve ourselves regularly with God’s Word and Sacraments. Sometimes we forget that God’s greatest desire for us is to sit as his feet so he can feed us with the life-saving food of his Word.We also carry out the work he gives us to do as we actively help our fellow believers. How do we do that? We serve them in love. We encourage each other by worshiping together with them. We do this when we keep the gospel work we do as a congregation from falling on the shoulders of only a few and give generously of our time and money. We pray for each other.And it’s not just our fellow believers either. God want us to serve all people. We do that by attracting them to God by our words and deeds and then witnessing to them about Jesus and the Gospel. Whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter or senior citizen God desires for you to be functioning in those areas of life to the glory of God and to the welfare of others. Whether you are an executive, blue-collar worker, teacher or student, he tells us there is a way for you to act that brings glory to God and lets your light shine for the world so that they might see Christ in all you do.And it all makes perfect sense. For when is it that you are most sleepy, most drowsy, and most un-alert. It’s when you’re inactive. When you aren’t doing anything. But when you are busy doing what the Lord wants, it’s so much easier to stay alert and be ready. When you read through the Bible, it is amazing the sheer amount of prophesies it contains about future events. The Old Testament is full of prophecies concerning Christ’s first coming at Christmas. And both the Old and New Testament are full of prophecies about his second coming at the end of the world. In fact, one scholar has estimated that there are 318 references to Christ’s second coming in the New Testament. That equals to 1 out of every 30 verses. 23 of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. What does it all mean? Christ is coming again! It means our time is precious and we need to make sure Jesus and his word is our number one priority? Then, through faith in Jesus, we can say we are ready. Then we will avoid putting off till tomorrow what our Lord tells us to be ready for today. Remember, our Lord has 2020 vision and he sees Judgment Day coming. It will happen. So be ready. Amen. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download