Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What if I told you that Jesus’ first advent predicts the future for us?

After all, it’s the future that we don’t know what to do with, isn’t it?

It’s the future that keeps us awake at night.

It’s the future that causes the pit of our stomachs to be filled with ulcers and our worst nightmares to be possibilities.

It’s the future that could see cancer on an x-ray or our children crashing their cars or our businesses going belly up.

But, in light of all of the threats of the future, it’s a baby that was born over 2000 years ago that tells us what is to come.

What does He teach us about the future?

Jesus came as the fulfillment of thousands of years of promises.

God had promised Eve that her Seed would grow to crush the Serpent’s head, and He had promised Abraham that his descendents would be a Nation that blessed all nations.

He promised Moses that a greater Prophet would come and David that his throne would endure forever.

He told Isaiah that a baby would be born that would save God’s people and that He would be a Suffering Servant.

And then, in the quiet of the Bethlehem night, in a lowly stable, a young teenage virgin gave birth, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Perfectly, thousands of years of prophecies and promises came to bear in an instance.

God’s people had long looked to the future, and the future had finally come!

And, that’s how Jesus’ birth predicts the future.

It has proven God’s word to be true.

And, God’s word has promised a second return of Christ, not in humility but in final victory.

Victory over our Enemy and cancer and ulcers and dying children and volatile economies.

Jesus’ first advent assures us of the promises yet to come.

So, this morning, let’s read Jesus’ words about his return that we might look to the future with unbridled optimism and now with sober eyes.

God’s Word

Read

“Will You Send Us a Sign?”

Jesus is here addressing the second of two questions asked by the his disciples about the future.

They had asked him about what signs they might seek so that they would know that his return was imminent.

Jesus responds by telling them that there are no signs for them to seek.

There will be no pronouncements to alert them so that they can ready themselves.

Instead, they must remain ready constantly.

Their lives are to be steadily vigilant.

God is not interested in a people that live as they wish and then, at the last minute, pretend as though they are sorry when He sends a sign.

He is looking for those who really love him and exalt him in their lives, even when they could choose any other path for themselves.

So, there will be no signs, He says.

And, I say that realizing that it doesn’t sell books to say there will be no signs, and that there are entire ministries that this sadly renders pointless, but I believe that’s the point nonetheless.

A Disclaimer

Now, I feel the need to give some disclaimers for this morning’s text as we talk about Christ’s return.

I have encountered two extremes in the church regarding Christ's return.

1) Those who don't care.

2) Those who care about it only.

Neither of these is healthy, and both of these should be avoided.

Christ’s return is the hope of Christians.

It is used to encourage those who are persecuted and to call to account those who are complacent.

So, this morning, let’s look at what we can learn from Christ’s second Advent that will be helpful to us this Christmas.

I have encountered two extremes in the church regarding Christ's return.

1) Those who don't care.

2) Those who care about it only.

Neither of these is healthy, and both of these should be avoided.

Christ’s return is the hope of Christians.

It is used to encourage those who are persecuted and to call to account those who are complacent.

So, this morning, let’s look at what we can learn from Christ’s second Advent that will be helpful to us this Christmas.

Jesus is coming back, even when it doesn’t seem like it.

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows” One of the things I’ve always appreciated about the ministry of Jesus is that He never pulls punches.

He always gives his disciples the truth, even if the truth will be difficult for them to digest.

And, that’s exactly what we find him doing here.

Jesus is telling his disciples straight-up, “This is going to take a while.

It’s not going to happen quickly.

A lot is going to transpire between now and then.”

It’s implied when He says basically, “Who knows?”

Remarkably saying that even He doesn’t know himself!

In verse 44, Jesus tells us that He will not come when we are expecting him.

Then, Jesus tells a parable about a wicked servant who thinks he can live however he wishes because of how long it is taking his Master to return.

The wicked servant assumes that the Master will not return because of how ‘delayed’ He is.

So, Jesus is telling his disciples straight-up here: This is going to feel like it’s never going to happen.

It’s going to seem like I’m not coming back.

Many will give up because they believe that I am ‘delayed.’

God’s Promises Often Feel Delayed

“My master is delayed” This is, perhaps, our most common experience with the promises of God, isn’t it?

God’s promises often feel so delayed to God’s people, as we languish in this fallen world.

We know all of these good promises of God, but then we look at our lives, and honestly, we have struggle to have faith that they will ever happen.

Think about Noah here.

God told Noah that He needed to build the ark, a process that would have taken years, not months.

And, God never tells Noah when the flood is coming.

So, here’s Noah with the promise of God that the flood is coming and that He will be saved, but as Jesus is saying here, Noah has no idea the ‘day or hour.’

In Jesus’ day, they had been awaiting the coming of the Messiah for thousands of years.

The youngest prophecies they had about him were 400 years old.

Yet, generation would come and generation would pass.

Centuries, even millennia would pass, and the Messiah still did not come.

So, we have God’s word and we have God’s promises, but we begin to doubt God’s fulfillment.

God’s Timing Reveals God’s People

“One will be taken, and one will be left.....Blessed is the servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”

But, why?

Why does God so delay the fulfillment of his promises?

Why does it take so long?

Notice what Jesus is saying.

He’s saying that, in time, it will be revealed who his true disciples are.

You have two men and two women.

They live in the same community and work the same job.

They are perhaps even in the same family.

Yet one of them will be judged, and one of them will receive a reward.

That is, one of them will be found ready and one of them will not be.

They will both live their lives day in and day out and take care of the same responsibilities, but one of them will live their lives for the purpose of God and one will do the very same work, and it will all end up pointless.

Then, notice the servant.

It’s the same servant left to decide what he will do with his master’s absence.

Will he use his master’s absence to serve faithfully and work hard and build up his master’s household, or will he use it to live out his fantasies and berate those beneath him.

In each case, it is time that is used to reveal who is faithful and who is not, who is real and who is fraudulent, who is authentic and who is the hypocrite.

Time Is the Clearest Revealer of True Conversion

APPLICATION: God delays in our lives for the same reason that He delayed the sending of Christ on Christmas morning and the same reason that Christ has not yet returned.

God’s delays are used to draw out faith or to reveal unbelief.

The greatest challenge to your walk with God will likely be God’s timing.

The greatest opportunity for faith will be God’s timing.