This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Ferryden Park, 10.30am.
Grace, mercy and peace be to
you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
But concerning that day and hour no one knows.
Prayer: May the words of my
mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord,
our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Today we begin a new church year, and we’re
celebrating the first Sunday of the season of Advent. And the season of Advent
has a particular focus on Jesus “coming”. We especially look to Jesus coming as
a tiny baby in Bethlehem at Christmas, all those many years ago. But our Gospel
reading today has a different focus. In this reading, Jesus is talking not
about when he came as a baby, or when he comes to us constantly in the church,
but when he will come at the end of the world to bring the whole of world
history to a close, to a finish—and when he will judge the living and the dead,
and those who believe in him will share eternal life with him.
Now, before we get to our reading—it’s very important
for us to have a think about what this means: that the end will end. Many
people in our country and in our world today don’t really think too much about
this. I think it’s also the case that they never really think that the world
ever began in some way.
Now, if we go back to many ancient peoples, like the
Ancient Egyptians, or the Ancient Greeks, they were people who essentially
believed that the world was eternal. They believed that it never really had a
beginning, and it’s never really going to have an end. I think many people
today believe this, even many of us Christians in the church. But I don’t think
it’s necessarily that a lot of people have any serious convictions about it –
it’s just that they don’t think about it too much. For example, people might
think that life as we know it as evolved over millions and billions of years,
all the way back to some kind of primeval blobs, some single-celled organisms.
But you know, those things were supposed to have happened so long ago, that I
don’t think people really care or bother to think about whether the earth had
some kind of beginning, because it something that happened so long ago. So I
think that it’s fair to say, that many people in our world today, don’t really
believe that world had any kind of beginning.
But also, I think there are many people who don’t
really think the world is ever going to end. People think that things are going
to carry on as we know it for ever and ever, and people are just going to keep
getting better and better. Some people, though, who have very strong views
about climate change, think that the world very well might end soon, and that
the way to stop it ending is to confront the problem of pollution on a national
and world-world scale. But apart from these people, I think there are many
people who just go along on their every day life, and don’t really think about
what it might mean that the world could have an end.
Now, if we go to the Scripture, to the Bible, this
matter is dealt with very clearly. If we open to the first page of the bible,
we find it speaking about the beginning of the world. If we open to the last
page of the bible, we find it speaking about the end of the world. And these
two events, these two facts—the creation of the world which happened in the
past, and the end of world which will happen in the future—have always been a
part of the church’s confession of faith. So, when we come to church and say
together the Apostles’ Creed, we start by saying: I believe in God, the
Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. We start by saying that God
existed before the world, and that he made it—the earth had a beginning. And we
also say in the Apostles’ Creed, that Jesus will come again to judge the
living and the dead.
Now, if the world didn’t have a beginning, and if the
world will have no end, then people have no choice but to believe that the
world is eternal. But here’s the problem: the world isn’t God, only God is God,
and only God is eternal. Mother earth isn’t the eternal God, only God is God.
So we are also told in the Scripture that there is only one thing that had no
beginning, and that has always existed: and that is the God who made us, the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And over the whole course of the history of the
world, God has been calling people into his kingdom. And so, when the world has
ended, those who have been saved, who have trusted in God, and believed in his
promises, will live with him in his kingdom. And what do we say about Jesus’
kingdom? We say: His kingdom will have no end.
In the verse before our Gospel reading today, Jesus
says: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. He
is talking about the signs of his coming: He says: Then will appear in the
heaven the sign of the Son of Man. We know from what Jesus is saying here,
that the world will have an end, and that when the world ends, Jesus will
appear.
So Jesus says in our Gospel reading today: But concerning that day and hour no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Now, this is a very
important principle for our Christian faith. There have been many people
throughout history, and many people still around today, who think that they
know when the end of the world is going to be. So far, all of them have been
wrong! How do we know this? Well, the world is still here! And Jesus doesn’t
say that the when the world ends he’s going to come quietly, and we might miss
it—he says, he will appear on the clouds, with power and great glory. There are
some groups—like the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses—who
have made prophecies about the end of the world, which didn’t then happen. When
I was the pastor in Gippsland, I heard about a group of people who had moved to
far-east Gippsland, at a place called “Noorinbee North”—way out in the middle
of pretty much nowhere. They had thought that when the year 2000 struck, that
it was going to be the end of world, so they went out there, bought property,
built underground bunkers, to prepare for the end. They even built a church out
there. But of course, since that time, many people have moved away, and the
church has now closed, and been sold.
The thing that we must know
about all these things, is that if we know someone who says to us that they
know when the end of the world is going to be, we can immediately know for
certain in our own minds that they are wrong, and that they are not telling the
truth. How can be so sure of ourselves? Because, in our reading today, Jesus
says: Concerning that day and hour no one knows. So if someone says that they
do know, we know that they can’t be telling the truth, because Jesus says: no one
knows.
But perhaps, someone might
be particularly spiritual—you know, a real guru, a real holy person, someone
with great spiritual insights. And this person says, “Listen, I had a very
significant dream the other night, and an angel said to me that the world is
going to end on such-and-such a day.” What do we made about this? The person
claims that an angel spoke to them about it! Well, Jesus says: Concerning
that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven. If an angel did speak to the
person, it can’t have been an angel of heaven, but an angel of hell instead, an
evil spirit trying to trick the person with lies. Remember, St Paul says that even Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light.
Perhaps, someone around the
time of the apostles went around saying that they had met Jesus personally, and
that Jesus himself had told him personally, that the end of the world was
such-and-such. Maybe, someone claims to have met Jesus himself on the side of
the road one day, just like Paul had met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Well,
Jesus says: Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even
the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Now, why am I making such a
big point of this? Throughout my ministry as a pastor, I’ve often come across
people who think that the world is going to end on such-and-such a day. Often
people come to these conclusions from astrology—from trying to predict the
future from looking at the stars. They think, there’s a strange moon on this
day, Mars or Jupiter is going to be in a special position in Aquarius, or
something like that. It takes up so much of people’s energy and time, and it’s
such an embarrassment to them when nothing happens. There is such a simple
answer to this: it’s all rubbish, because Jesus has told us ahead of time, that
it’s all rubbish. No-one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the
Son, but the Father only.
Now, there’s a little
question that comes to our mind when we hear these words, which says: “Hang on,
I thought Jesus was true God, and I thought God knows everything. If Jesus is
true God, how come he doesn’t know?”
This is a very good
question. In many passages, Jesus is said to know all things. For example,
Jesus says: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to
me. In
John, it says that Jesus knew what was in the heart of man. Well, also remember, that
Jesus is alive, and is the giver of life, and he is the Resurrection and the
Life! But then he also dies. He is the King of King and the Lord of Lords, and
yet, in the wilderness, he experiences hunger and thirst and weariness and
temptation. So also, Jesus really does know everything, but he also during his
earthly life is limited in his knowledge.
You see, Jesus came from
heaven as true God, to become a human being. And even though he knew
everything, he chose, by becoming a man, not to know some things. For example,
he didn’t know how to talk, until Mary and Joseph taught him, and yet he was
still God, and knew all things. As he grew up, he only spoke his mother
tongue—he didn’t know or speak English, and yet he was still God, and knew all
things. In stooping down to our human level, and becoming a human just like us,
he also chose to put away certain knowledge from himself.
So for example, let’s say, a
father buys some chocolate for his kids, and the children say: “Dad, dad, give
us some chocolate.” The dad puts the chocolate away at the back of a shelf, and
hides it. Then he says, “I don’t know where it is.” If the dad tells the
children, “I’m not telling you where it is”, then the children would just keep
pestering him, and say, “Come on, dad! Tell us!” until he gives in and tells
them.
Now, in a similar way, Jesus
says: No one knows…not even the Son. He has every right to know, but when he became a
man, he chose to put certain knowledge away from himself. It’s a bit different
from the dad with the chocolate, because the dad would be telling a little
white lie. But Jesus is not telling a lie, he is telling the truth—he has
chosen not to know this, by virtue of having become a man. And also, imagine if
Jesus had said, “I do know, but I’m not telling you.” This would either make
the apostles and the disciples sad, as if Jesus didn’t think they were any
good, or they would think to pester him. Remember the Canaanite woman who asks
for a healing for her daughter, and Jesus says: It’s not right to take the children’s
bread and throw it to the dogs. Here Jesus is treating her almost a bit mean, but
not because he doesn’t want to heal the woman’s daughter, but because he wants
to draw out from this lady her great faith for the benefit of everyone, so that
we can all learn how to pray like her. But when it comes to the end of the
world, it’s as if Jesus says that this is an issue that you’re not going to
know, if you ask me, I won’t tell you. If you ask me, and you think that I did
tell you, then you know it wasn’t me, but the devil pretending to be me. No one
knows.
Even though no-one knows the
day or the hour, there are certain things that Jesus does let us know. He says:
For
as were the days of Noah, 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 when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware
until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son
of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two
women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the one left.
What is Jesus teaching us
here? He that before he comes, things will be like the days of Noah. Well, have
a think—why did the flood happen, and why did Noah and his family have to go on
the ark? Was it because everything was going so well in the world?
No—absolutely not! Everything was going terribly. The world was corrupt, it was
evil, and people were doing terrible things to themselves and to others. Now,
in the same way, as the world gets older, and we get closer to the time when
Jesus will return, do you think the world is going to get better or to get
worse? Many people think that the human race is always evolving and getting
better. It’s not the case at all! The human race is only getting worse and
worse. The world is only getting worse. And as the world gets worse, we are
called upon to ask ourselves: who are our friends? Do we want to be friends
with Jesus, or the world around us? Jesus is the same yesterday, today and
forever, but the world is corrupt, and decaying, and is just getting worse and
worse. There will come a day when there will people next to each other—one will
be taken and the other left. Perhaps it means that one will be taken up to
heaven to be with Jesus. Or perhaps it means the one will be swept away, just
like the evil people at the time of Noah.
Also, at the time of Noah,
people scoffed at him, and mocked him. They thought he was an idiot. So also,
as the world gets older, and we come closer to time of Jesus’ return, people
will scoff at Christians, and mock them, and call us idiots for believing in
that old-fashioned stuff. They will say: we are so much more enlightened than
they are! We know better, we are not so stupid! One will be taken, and one will
be left.
So, if you see around you
and feel that the world is getting worse, then don’t be discouraged, but it
means that you are coming closer to seeing Jesus with your own eyes—either when
you die, or if you live long enough, to see Jesus when he returns. Jesus says: Straighten
up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing near. If you see around you a
constant pressure from people not to be a Christian anymore, and to give up on
Jesus, because people are mocking you, or scoffing at your beliefs, or calling
you an idiot, also, don’t be discouraged, because again it means that you are
coming closer to seeing Jesus with your own eyes. Jesus says: Blessed are
you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great
in heaven.
In the last part of our
reading, Jesus says: Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day
your Lord is coming. 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. Therefore you also must be ready,
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
So, what do you think it
means when Jesus says, “stay awake”, or when he says, “you must be ready”? What
does it mean to be awake and ready?
Sometimes, I think people
often think about this as being busy. We can’t rest, and we must always be
active. We must always be doing good works, and working really hard. It’s like,
if a mum says to her child, “sweep the floor before I come home”. Then the
child forgets about it, and when they hear mum driving up the driveway, they
get the broom, and pretend as though they’ve been working for hours!
Well, actually, we
Christians should be busy with good works without even really thinking about
it! If there’s someone in need, we should help them—and all that kind of thing.
But actually, to be awake and ready for Jesus, simply means to trust in him for
eternal life. It means to completely despair of our own actions, our own
thoughts and words, and to completely despair of ourselves and all of our
efforts, and to trust completely in him for everything, because he is the one
who has taken the burden of every single one of our sins upon his shoulders,
and has died for it all on the cross, and has risen again on the third day. We
can trust in him for everything, and we are awake and completely ready when we
have the total forgiveness of our sins. And we can be sure of this, because
Jesus has said it, and has promised it.
He says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him may not die but have eternal life. Or as Peter says it in his
letter: Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
So, be encouraged, friends.
Don’t worry about when the end will come, because no-one knows. It could come
at any time, like a thief in the night. Therefore, we should always be ready to
meet Jesus. Don’t be discouraged by the world getting worse in which we live,
or by people mocking or scoffing at you. Stay awake and be ready to meet your
Lord, and trust in his wonderful mercy and forgiveness which he won for you,
and which he pours out into your lap even today. Amen.
Dear Jesus, we thank you for
coming to this dark world as a tiny baby so many years ago. We thank you for
the way in which you still come to us today—speaking to us in the church
through your word, through preaching, through the absolution and
forgiveness—coming to meet us and save us through baptism, coming to encourage
and strengthen us with your body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. And we also
look forward to wonderful and joyful day when you will bring this world to an
end, and bring us to be with you in your kingdom. Amen.
