Matthew 24:36-51 January 2009

OUR RESPONSE TO CHRIST’S RETURN
One of the greatest frustrations we believers face is the frustration of knowing what God wants us to be and yet knowing we are not there yet.

Oscar Kuhlmann put it this way, “We believers live in a tension between what is already and what is not yet.”

When we come to Jesus, God’s Spirit enters our lives and begins into recreate us starting from the inside. Spiritually we become alive and then there is this lifelong process of character development where our character is gradually being shaped and moulded into the likeness of Jesus and finally when Christ returns the physical transformation will take place.

So you could say that at present we have a brand new spirit, we are in the process of getting a new soul [our total personality] and when Jesus comes back we will get a new body.

In the NT, Salvation for a believer is something that has already taken place in our spirit, is presently taking place in our soul and will finally take place in our body. So we have been saved, are being saved and will be saved.

But in the meantime we struggle with the tension of being half formed, incomplete and at times we feel so discouraged and even condemned because we long to be like Jesus and yet we are so aware of our shortcomings.

Ill. I heard recently of a pastor who resigned from the ministry for that very reason. He was so discouraged because he wasn’t always living up to what he preached.

John Wesley said, “Preach it because you believe it is the Word of God and one day you will be preaching it because it is your own experience.”

And yet that is the tension we live with, but we must never give up. As long as the desire and the willingness to grow and change is there God will never give up on us.

Phil.1:6

Children’s song:

Inside and out God is making me new
You may not see it happening until he is through
Sometimes it feels like I’m so far away
From all that I know I should be
But His word says that He’ll finish one day
All that He started in me
I look at me and I don’t understand
But God has a vision and God has a plan

Little by little I’m changing, I’m growing
Little by little I hope that its showing
I’m not what I was, I’m not what I’ll be,
I’m somewhere in the middle
But God is changing me, little by little

In fact, one of the reasons God didn’t take us to heaven the moment we came to Christ was because He needs to use the people, the circumstances and the experiences of this life to help develop our character.

We may grizzle and gripe because of things are not always comfortable and we are not always happy but God is far more concerned about our character than he is about our comfort and he is far more concerned about our holiness than He is about our happiness.

So here we are living in this tension between what has already happened in our lives, what is presently happening and what will eventually happen in our lives.

[As long as it makes them happy, that’s all that matters – rubbish! – As long as it brings them closer to God and makes them more like Him that is what really matters]

And the one event that will bring the whole process to a completion is the return of Jesus. Listen to 1 John 3:2 “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but at present it is not evident what we will eventually be like. But we do know that when Jesus appears we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”

And because we know what God wants us to be and yet we are painfully aware at times of what we are at present, we long for the day when the work of God in us will be complete and we will be like Jesus. On that day the battle with the our weak fallen human nature will be over, the struggle with temptation will be behind us, the pressure and influence of this godless society will be gone and we will be completely delivered from the presence and power of evil.

No wonder Paul wrote these words at the end of this life, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.”

In this chapter Jesus was answering 2 questions put to Him by His disciples. When would the temple be destroyed and what would be the sign of His return and the end of the age. He spoke about the destruction of the temple, the indicators that would let us know His return was getting near and the final sign that would announce His arrival.

In this passage He speaks about the time of His return and He begins by saying that no one knows the day or the hour of His return, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.

Jesus return will be sudden and unexpected.

The reason for this is that the return of Jesus will expose those who are truly His followers and those who are not and in this next section He talks about this.

When Jesus returns He will find that those who are truly His followers are obedient, are prepared and are faithfully doing His will.

When Jesus returns He wants to find us responsive to His word, ready for His return and reliably carrying out His will. Responsive, Ready and Reliable.

BE RESPONSIVE v36-41

Jesus said that the when He returns it will be just like it was in the days of Noah. The people in those days were going about their everyday life and knew nothing about what was going to happen until the flood came and drowned them.

NB. Jesus said that they knew nothing about what was going to happen until the flood came. Why didn’t they know the flood was coming?

We read in 1 Peter 3:20 and 2 Peter 2:5 that Noah preached to the people of His day for something like 120 years and that God waited patiently for them to respond to Noah’s preaching to turn from their evil ways and get right with God, but they did not want to listen and when the flood came they didn’t know it was coming because they chose not to listen to the warning. They chose not to listen or respond to God’s Word and they paid a terrible price for it.

Ill. In the late 1800s the people of Johnston in Pennsylvania were warned by civil engineers that the South Fork dam situated up the valley from their town was unsafe and that their town was in danger. The townsfolk said “We’ve heard this before. We don’t believe you; you’re just trying to scare us.” That autumn the engineers revisited the dam and warned the people again came back again, saying, “The dam is unsafe. You are in danger every hour, you need to move.” The people chose to ignore them, they didn’t want to know. In the spring, the engineers again checked the dam, and again they warned the townspeople. Their warning was completely ignored. Fifteen days later, on the 31st of May 1889 a boy on a horse rode through the valley shouting to the townsfolk, “Run for your lives! The dam has broken and the water is coming.” The people simply laughed at him, thinking he was crazy. But in a few minutes, a wall of water 18 metres high struck the town, and in less than thirty minutes, Johnstown was in ruins. More than 2,200 people were drowned.

This is exactly what will be the case when Jesus returns. In fact in 2 Peter 3:3-4 we read, “I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”

Jesus said that the vast majority of those living when He returns will have chosen to ignore God’s message and will be so engrossed in their own self-centred, godless pursuits that they will be utterly traumatised because it will be the last thing they expected. They chose not to listen and not to respond.

Then Jesus described what would happen to people at His coming. 40 “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”

This speaks of what Jesus was talking about in v30 where the angels of God will gather those who belong to Christ as we are caught up to meet the returning Jesus in the air. Those that are left will be left to face the judgment of Almighty God.

BE READY v42-44

In these verses Jesus is saying that if you knew exactly at what time a burglar was going to break into your house, you would be ready for him.

We don’t know exactly when Jesus will return so it is important that we remain in a constant state of readiness so that we are not caught by surprise.

The most important point Jesus is making here is that we must be ready. How can we be ready for the return of Jesus – plan as if He wasn’t coming for some time, but live as if He is coming today.

Ill. A U.S. Army training officer told of the difference in attitude between the cadets he trained in 1958-60 to the cadets he trained in 1965-67. In 1958-60 the attitude of the trainees was so slack that the instructors had difficulty in keeping the men awake during the lectures. During 1965-67, however, the men, hearing the same basic lectures, were fully alert and were flat tack taking notes. What made the difference in the class of 65? They knew that in less than six weeks they would be facing the enemy in Vietnam. They lived in a state of readiness.

Ill. In the 1950s President Eisenhower was on holiday in Denver, Colorado. While he was there he was told about a six year-old boy named Paul Haley who was dying of an incurable cancer. Paul had one great dream to some day meet the president of the US. Eisenhower said to his aids “Let’s go and visit Paul.” So on Sunday afternoon they drove over to the boy’s house in the presidential limousine. Eisenhower flanked by his bodyguards knocked on Paul’s door. Paul’s father answered, wearing old jeans, a grubby shirt and a full day’s growth on his beard. “Can I help ya?” he asked. Eisenhower responded, “Is Paul here? Tell him the President of the United States would like to meet with him.” Little Paul Haley walked around his father’s legs and stood looking up into the face of his hero. The president kneeled down, hugged him and took him out to sit in the presidential limousine. Before they said good-bye they shook hands, and then Eisenhower was gone. The neighbours still talk about that day. But the one man who still feels embarrassed and ashamed about the whole things is Paul’s Dad, Don. He said: “I’ll never forget standing there in those tatty old jeans, a dirty shirt and a grubby beard to meet the president. If only I’d known he was coming, I would have been prepared.”

Jesus will come unexpectedly and the last thing we want is to be embarrassed and ashamed because we were not prepared.

1 John 2:28 “Children, stay closely connected to Jesus. Then when he returns, we will have confidence and won’t have to hide in shame.”

Next time we are tempted to do something wrong or self-centred why not ask ourselves the question, “What if Jesus came back now?”

We must live in a state of readiness and that leads on to our next point which is that we must be reliable.

BE RELIABLE v45-51

Ill. There was a man who owned a business and he was always looking to see who he could promote to important positions of responsibility, but he needed to know who among his employees he could really trust and who had the best interests of the company at heart. He went overseas on a business trip and told his staff he would be back on such and such a date, but he finished his business sooner than he thought and decided to come home early. He didn’t let anyone know he was coming back early and he deliberately sneaked in through the back door during office hours so he could watch his employees without them knowing. Some were working away very conscientiously, others were fooling around and wasting company time. It wasn’t long before he discovered who were the right people for promotion.

So it will be with Jesus. His return will be sudden and unexpected and it will reveal those who are truly reliable, trustworthy, genuine followers and those who are not.

Those of us who have been brought into God’s Kingdom through faith in Jesus are so privileged and in eternity we will fully discover what we have been saved from and saved for. Along with that privilege comes a very great responsibility and that is to serve the interests of the One who gave us His life for us and delivered us from the powers of moral and spiritual darkness and death.

He has left us here on this earth to serve His interests and carry out His purposes. He is expecting us to lives that honour Him and impact our world for Him. That we use everything He has entrusted to us to further His purposes.

I mean to be really honest with you – It’s only God’s interests and God’s purposes that are worth living for and dying for. Everything else is going to be burned up. Think of all the time, energy and resources we pour into stuff that has no eternal value whatsoever. It is an absolute waste.

You live for any other cause or purpose and friend, you are throwing your life on the rubbish heap.

The only cause that is going to survive when this world as we know it is history is the Kingdom of God.

The proof that we are genuine, reliable, trustworthy, faithful followers of Jesus will be revealed when Jesus returns because He will find those people faithfully serving His interests and carrying out His purposes.

The sad thing is that those who claim to belong to Christ but live only to serve their own interests and gratify their own desires will find themselves excluded from God’s Kingdom.

This theme comes through time and time again in Matthew’s Gospel – there are people who claim to belong to Jesus but the evidence is simply not there.

Ill. Jimmy Carter: If you were arrested for being a follower of Jesus would there be enough evidence to convict you?

I don’t care how much of the Bible we know, how much we pray or worship in church or attend Christian meetings – if there is not growing Christ like character, if there is not the desire to be like Jesus and to live a life that truly honours and glorifies Him then we are fooling ourselves and we will be exposed as a fraud on the day He returns and catches us out.

The real challenge of this passage to all of us is to ensure that as far as know we are ready and prepared should Jesus come back today.

Some people think that when Christians talk about the second coming and heaven they are trying to avoid getting involved with the problems of this world and just looking for a way out.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Although we believe that when Jesus returns he will put right everything that is wrong in this world, we still pray for and work for the betterment of mankind. In fact every well known social and aid agency that seeks to help others was started by Christian people. However we still believe that the only One who can bring true, lasting peace, truth, justice, love and hope to this broken world is Jesus Christ and all those things will be perfectly established when He returns.

In the meantime we continue to do what we can with His help to serve His interests and carry out His will in this fallen world at this time.

Ill. In the 1800s Lord Shaftsbury worked tirelessly to bring about a more caring and just society in England. He was responsible for preventing little children working in coal mines and factories and getting better working conditions for everyone. And yet he looked forward with great anticipation to the day when Jesus would return to establish a society where justice, integrity, love and peace would reign forever and so on all his letterheads Lord Shaftsbury had these words printed, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.”

Let’s not get so wrapped up and bound to this godless society that we lose sight of the fact that all this stuff is only temporary and is already condemned to the rubbish heap. We belong to another world, another Kingdom and another King – lets live for Him.

Ill. When the Moslems took over Constantinople, they also converted the Cathedral of St Sophia into a mosque. On the ceiling were painted pictures of Jesus, so they painted mosaic patterns over the top. A tourist was visiting the mosque a while back and noticed that the paint was coming off in places and the figure of Jesus was reappearing. He called out, “Look, Jesus is coming back.”

Not many modern songs are written about the return of Jesus – says something about the current attitude of believers towards Christ’s return.