You'd Better Watch Out
Year B - 2020-2021 • Sermon • Submitted
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God's time clock is certainly out of sync with ours as Little Jimmy learned one day as he was laying on a hill in the middle of a meadow on a warm spring day. Puffy white clouds rolled by and he pondered their shape. Soon, he began to think about God.
"God? Are you really there?" Jimmy said out loud.
To his astonishment a voice came from the clouds. "Yes, Jimmy? What can I do for you?"
Seizing the opportunity, Jimmy asked, "God? What is a million years like to you?"
Knowing that Jimmy could not understand the concept of infinity, God responded in a manner to which Jimmy could relate. "A million years to me, Jimmy, is like a minute."
"Oh," said Jimmy. "Well, then, what's a million dollars like to you?" "A million dollars to me, Jimmy, is like a penny."
"Wow!" remarked Jimmy, getting an idea. "You're so generous... can I have one of your pennies?"
God replied, "Sure thing, Jimmy! Just a minute."
Today we begin the season of Advent. Today and the next three Sundays we celebrate Advent. We use that word, but what does it mean? One of our Nazarene theologians wrote this:
The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Scripture reading for Advent will reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.[1]
So in Advent we celebrate that Jesus came, it’s a historic fact. Over 2,000 years ago a little baby was born in a little town of Bethlehem. His mother and father named him Jesus. That Jesus was God who put on human flesh. How he did that we don’t fully understand but he did and we celebrate that.
We also celebrate that Jesus is here with us today. Jesus himself said
20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I’m there with them.”
I know that’s hard for many to believe because they can’t see and touch Him, but Jesus is here. I can see him in your lives. I can sense His presence with us by the Holy Spirit.
We also look forward to the future with anticipation of the second coming of Jesus. He won’t becoming as a tiny baby, but as the great King of kings and Lord of lords. What a glorious day that will be for us His bride.
The candle that was lite this morning was the candle of hope.
In our world today we need hope.
If you believe the news, the COVID is on the rise again. Thousands have been tested and are now positive. It is reported that there have been 356 thousand cases here in Pennsylvania and over 10 thousand deaths.
We have witnessed protests and rioting. There is a sense of hopelessness by many in the black community. I think the church has some fault in this hopelessness. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s the church left the cities for the suburbs. A spiritual vacuum was left behind. On our district in the three biggest cities, Pittsburgh, Erie and Johnstown there is not one church of the Nazarene present within the city limits.
Many have had their jobs impacted because of the current situation with COVID. Where do we look to?
Peter offers us this advice:
15 Instead, regard Christ the Lord as holy in your hearts. Whenever anyone asks you to speak of your hope, be ready to defend it.
As Christians, no matter the circumstances of life that we find ourselves in, we have hope. It doesn’t matter if we are going through the darkest time of life we have hope.
Our hope is not in justice here. Our hope is not in wealth and riches here and now. Our hope is in Jesus who lived and died and rose again to save us from our sins. Our hope is in Jesus who is coming again and we will live with Him for all eternity. That is where our hope resides.
Into this season of Advent Jesus comes to us. We are reminded again of the hope that we have in Him. It’s into this season that He comes and He says:
What I say to you, I say to everyone: You’d better watch out.
That is what Jesus is saying to us in this passage this morning. “You’d better watch out” Watch and see what is going to happen.
We are often so focused on the present, on the here and now that we don’t take the time to watch and wait and see what God is doing and going to do.
This entire chapter of Mark is about the future, about the end times. Just like today people in Jesus day were wonder when it’s going to come to an end. When is God going to step in and put a stop to all the violence and evil that is in the world?
Jesus quotes from Isaiah at the beginning of our text this morning when he says:
24 “In those days, after the suffering of that time, the sun will become dark, and the moon won’t give its light. 25 The stars will fall from the sky, and the planets and other heavenly bodies will be shaken.
Who do we put our hope in when it seems like everything around us is falling apart? Jesus here is talking about a future event just before his second coming. But isn’t there times in our life that those things that give us security, that we take for granted, that they seem less than secure?
The sun, the moon, the stars the heavenly bodies represent some of those things we take for granted. We take for granted that the sun will rise in the morning and the moon will rise in the evening.
We take for granted our financial stability. We take for granted our health. There are so many things that we just assume will always be there for us. But what happens when those things that we just assume will be there are not? Who or what do we put our hope in then?
It’s a choice that we face, who or what will we put our hope in?
I choose to put my hope in Jesus. Paul in the passage from his letter to the Corinthians that was read to us this morning said:
7 The result is that you aren’t missing any spiritual gift while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
He’s saying that God has given us everything that we need. We don’t lack anything. Why would we even think to try and put our hope is someone or something other than God?
Paul is writing about the coming of Jesus and how we need to be prepared. He writes in that passage about how we are to live our lives today so that we will be “blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We can’t possibly live that way, blameless if we put our hope in things other than God.
The Apostle Peter wrote something very similar to Paul in his first epistle. Peter wrote:
13 Therefore, once you have your minds ready for action and you are thinking clearly, place your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Leading up to this verse Peter tells us that right now we may suffer grief in many trials but there is something better that is coming. He’s not writing about pie in the sky when you die. He’s writing about the here and now. Peter wrote:
8 Although you’ve never seen him, you love him. Even though you don’t see him now, you trust him and so rejoice with a glorious joy that is too much for words. 9 You are receiving the goal of your faith: your salvation.
That is the here and now, it’s not some future event. It’s time for Christians to climb out of the dill pickle barrel and tell their faces that there is joy in the Lord. It’s not just joy our happiness, but it is glorious joy. It is a joy that comes from beyond ourselves as the Holy Spirit works with in us.
There is a hymn in our hymn book that has these words:
I have found His grace is all complete,
He supplieth every need;
While I sit and learn at Jesus’ feet,
I am free, yes, free indeed.
Refrain:
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Full of glory, full of glory;
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Oh, the half has never yet been told. (Joy Unspeakable)
This watching and waiting that Jesus calls us to should be a time of great anticipation. There should be joy in our lives that transcends all the problems that we may face. As a Christian you have been set free from sin.
During advent we watch and wait for Christmas to celebrate that Jesus came. This watching and waiting should not be a time of depression and discouragement, it should be a time of joy of knowing that God through Jesus has set us free from sin. We live in victory today, right now because of what Jesus did for us.
I often wonder if some Christians get it wrong and think that just because at some point in their life that they believed and received Jesus as their savior that they’re good to go for the rest of their life and they don’t have to do anything else. It might be nice to think that way and wish it was that way. It sure would make life easier, you know what I mean, we get saved and then just go on through life without a second thought to serving and being obedient to God.
Jesus says here in Mark’s Gospel:
33 Watch out! Stay alert! You don’t know when the time is coming.
That is action on our part. That is not just a passive state of life, it’s an active part of living. Jesus says “Watch out.” Satan the great enemy of your soul want’s to trick you and deceive you in order to get your eyes off of Jesus and onto your problems. The Bible tells us that he is like a “roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”
We have to be on guard because if we don’t we’ll fall into temptation and be devoured by sin because of what Satan wants to accomplish.
Jesus says “Be on Guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.” Jesus told a parable to drive this point home. He said:
It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 Therefore, stay alert! You don’t know when the head of the household will come, whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows in the early morning or at daybreak. 36 Don’t let him show up when you weren’t expecting and find you sleeping.
Notice what he said.
34 It is as if someone took a trip, left the household behind, and put the servants in charge, giving each one a job to do, and told the doorkeeper to stay alert.
Paul wrote to the Romans:
11 Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord! 12 Be happy in your hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of God’s people, and welcome strangers into your home.
Notice what the task of a pastor or teacher is: “to equip his people for works of service.” What are those works of service? It’s serving Jesus. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians wrote:
4 There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; 5 and there are different ministries and the same Lord; 6 and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 7 A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. 8 A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, 9 faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit,
We each have our own task as Jesus said there in Mark.
It takes all of us to watch. This watching that Jesus talked about is not a solitary job, but it is something that we do together. During this time of watching and waiting we are to be busy. There is much work to be accomplished.
Yes, this watching and waiting involves the future. Jesus said “you do not know when the owner of the house will come back.” That is why He said to watch, to wait, to be alert, to be on guard. In the midst of this watching and waiting it’s not time to sit back and relax because we don’t know when Jesus will return.
Jesus just prior to ascending to heaven following the resurrection told the disciples to “go and make disciples.”
That is our task today and each one of us has a different part to play in that making of disciples. Even though we all have different parts to play it doesn’t mean that any one part of that task is more important than another. It takes all of us.
I have often wondered why so few recognized the baby Jesus for who he was—the long awaited Messiah. Perhaps it is the same reason why so few recognize him today. In order to identify the child, we must first make a stop at the Jordan River and be baptized. We must repent of our sins. We must stop our ways and see the ways of God.
God saw a world drowning in sin, a world that was in need of a Savior. How could the people be saved? What would make them turn their backs on sin?
The story is told of John Henry Newman, who, in the 1800’s, was an Anglican minister in England. His religious pilgrimage ultimately took him to Rome and the Roman Catholic Church. He ultimately would become a cardinal in the Catholic Church and the most preeminent leader of that church in Europe. If you go into almost any Catholic church today you will find a Sunday school class called the Newman class. That was named after John Henry Newman.
While serving as Cardinal, he received a message from an English priest from the tiny village of Brennan, a dirty little mill town north of Birmingham. It seems that an epidemic of cholera had decimated the village and the priest was asking for the help, for another priest to assist him in the giving of the sacrament, administering the Last Rites, and to do funerals, so many people were dying.
Newman read the letter in his office, an office that is still there today. It has not been changed since the day he left it. Newman read the letter and he spent the next hour in prayer. Finally a secretary came in and said: Cardinal Newman. We must give an immediate reply to Brennan. Your eminence, what shall we do? Newman answered: The people are suffering and dying. How can I send a priest to do this work? I must go myself.
At Advent God looked down upon his dying people dying from sin and distraction, pride and preoccupation. How, under the circumstance could he send a substitute? He came himself—in the person of Jesus Christ. Advent is about repentance and salvation.
No matter what you might be facing today, put your hope firmly in Jesus. As we watch and wait on his return we have to live with the troubles and trials of life. Keep your faith in Jesus. Keep the words of Peter close by:
set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming
Jesus tells us:
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Those things that we think will never fail us will be gone, but the promises of Jesus will never pass away. The promises of God are fulfilled by Jesus.
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
[1] Bratcher, Dennis. The Season of Advent: Anticipation and Hope. http://www.cresourcei.org/cyadvent.html