Do You Here What I Here?
Do You Hear What I Hear? • Sermon • Submitted
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Scripture
“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
For as the days of Noah were, 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 Noah entered the ark,
and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.
Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
But understand this: if the owner 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 unexpected hour.
Matthew
Introduction
Introduction
We live in an uncertain world. For many this time of the year is not one of joy and wonder, but depression and anxiety. Just in the last few weeks, we have an ongoing impeachment process of a President, ongoing wars in the Middle east, turmoil in the United Kingdom over Brexit, the indictment of the Prime Minister of Israel, a 16 year old girl here in Gainesville who wanted to commit a mass murder hate crime, the move of your church, health problems, surgeries, financial problems, family problems, stop the bus I want to get off!
This is why this series is based on the carol, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” A song written during the Cuban Missile crisis, October 1962. It was written during the time when we thought the end of the world could happen at any moment. I was 6 years old, but I remember it vividly. The song was written by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne. The song is a plea for peace in the midst of chaos and the unbelievably close threat of nuclear war.
The song tells the story of the Nativity based on Matthew which we will be talking about each Sunday in Advent. And it incorporates the annunciation to the shepherds which we will look at on Christmas Eve.
The husband and wife team never performed this song in public, as Gloria Shayne said “Our little song broke us up. You must realize there was a threat of nuclear war at the time.”
Just like in 1962, we are a people in need of a savior. One that will come and set this world right. A savior to bring us from darkness to light.
Said the king to the people everywhere
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace people everywhere
Listen to what I say
The child, the child
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light
Let’s listen to what God says from this text this morning.
Background
Background
The event in our text this morning occurs during what seems to be Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus and the disciples are leaving the temple where Jesus had been teaching and sparring with the religious authorities. The disciples point out to him the beauty of the temple grounds and buildings. Jesus then tells them that the temple will be destroyed again as it was by Nebuchadnezzar.
Some time later they are on the Mount of Olives and the disciples ask him about the signs of the end. Jesus warns them of false teachers, pseudo messiahs, wars and rumours of wars, famines, natural disasters. All these thing will occur before the end. There will be persecutions and tribulation for the church. Jesus casts a scary vision!
He then tells them that even the universe will reveal signs of his coming.
The he turns his attention to what we should be doing in this time before the end. The time between the advents
Exegesis
Exegesis
Matthew’s audience would most likely have witnessed these things. The destruction of the temple. From war with the Romans to the one who claimed to be messiah and many thought was the messiah Simon Bar Kokba who led the revolt against Rome. He was killed in the Battle of Betar which led to the total destruction of the Jewish state. Matthew’s audience was being Persecuted as well. The tribulation had arrived was among them. This would not have been a message of doom to them and should not be to us. It was a message of liberation and hope hearing in Jesus’ own words that he will be coming to set things right!
The fact that Jesus said the Temple would be destroyed would have been shocking to jesus’ disciples. It was massive and appeared indestructible. Not only that, the theological dilemma would be, “Why has God abandoned his people once again?”
Jesus tells them that he has no idea when the Son of Man will appear that God the Father only knows this. I do not have time to explore why Jesus did not know. Let’s just move forward knowing that no one knows when he will return but God the father.
Jesus says it will be just like the time of Noah, everyone will be living ordinary lives. Going to work. Getting married. Conducting business. Politics as usual. But the time will come suddenly.
When Jesus says one will be taken and one left, he is speaking of judgment not the so called Rapture. I don’t have time to get into that this morning. But what Jesus is talking about here has nothing to do with that. One person will enter the kingdom and one will not. Just as some entered the ark and some did not. You will be going about your ordinary business: men farm, women grind, and one will enter the Kingdom and one will not.
The the most important thing he says here:
Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
Matthew 24:
To illustrate this he tells the short parable that the Son of Man will come like a thief in the night.
Application
Application
Well folks I think it is easy to see that the time before the second advent is a time I described in the introduction. A chaotic time. A time full of the signs that Jesus talks about. Every generation since the time of Jesus has seen the reality of these signs. But we still do not know the actual time of Christ’s return.
Jesus is telling us that we need to live in a state of constant expectation and readiness. What Jesus means is that our discipleship is not trying to figure out when he is coming back, but to do the things he taught us to do while here. In fact the chapter that follow are a series of parables that tell us to be working. The final parable is the parable of the sheep and goats!
One writer describes what we are to do “between the times” is to trust God and hope that God has begun and will continue to transform us more and more into the stature of Christ. That is we continue to grow in Christ like love which is acted out in our daily behaviors.
Like Jesus said:
Matthew 25:34-
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’
These are the ones that Jesus is talking about when he refers to one is taken and the other left. The sheep are taken.
So, even though Jesus is talking about the end of things, he is talking about right here, right now.
Do you here what I here? Means simply: are you living your life in the present, right now? We can’t do anything about yesterday and we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. All we have is here, are you here? Are you living in the past a life of regrets or in the future full of worries over nothing we can control?
Jesus says no! Listen he says, the end could come at anytime, so be doing what I said to do!
Sitting around trying to figure out the time, hoarding food, building shelters, and stockpiling weapons is not what it is about. That is not preparedness. Preparedness is continuing to grow in Christ and doing the things he teaches us to do.
We are siting here today between the times for McEver Road. Ladies and gentleman we are without our own building at this point, which is a time of great opportunity! Listen to what one scholar wrote:
“We wait with all of creation for its full liberation (), but our waiting and watching mean that we are prepared by responding to the invitation to the kingdom on earth now and experiencing the beginning of regeneration as our own souls are washed and renewed by the Holy Spirit ().”
We receive communion today. In the great Thanksgiving we look back at God’s great saving history and we look forward to the expectation of that day when we will dine with Jesus. But, all important, we celebrate now this day! Right here right now.
Do you Here What I Here?
The incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth, among many things, teaches us that God can be found right here right now. Emmanuel, God with us. God is with us in the big things and the little things of life. Jesus is teaching us that we do not look back and we do not live in the future trying to figure out what is going to happen next. We live right here and right now, and in all its messiness with the hope and expectation of Jesus’ coming. Jesus is all about right here right now.
Do You Here What I Here?