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What's the delay?; (sermon 5/16/10)
Topic Started: May 15 2010, 10:33 AM (91 Views)
Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
John 17:20-26

…"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

"Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

=====

Revelation 22:12-21

“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

=====

One of the questions I get asked the most when I visit patients in the hospital doesn’t have anything at all to do with their medical condition, or fears about their upcoming surgery, or of another round of chemo because the cancer has returned. I’ll bet you a quarter of the people I’ve talked with have asked me, “Do you think we’re living in the end times?”

In a way, that’s actually a hopeful question. It means that whatever difficulties they’re facing at the moment, they think they’re going to pull through them, and that they’re going to be around long enough for the answer to the question to be important to them.

But that’s a question that we Christians have wondered about since the very beginning of our faith. Ever since Jesus ascended into heaven, Christians have asked, “When are you coming back?”

Jesus himself spoke as if his return might not be long after his departure, even while he admitted that he didn’t really know when it would be – only God the Father knew that. The apostles and the first generation of believers all originally thought, and wrote, and encouraged each other with the mindset that Jesus was going to return and set the world straight, very soon – maybe even yet that week, but surely no more than a month or two from then. But it didn’t take long for the early Christians to come to realize that Jesus’ return was going to take a bit longer than they’d thought. They started to understand Jesus’ words, and the faith, in terms where Jesus might return next Tuesday, or in the year 4000. And ever since then, Christians have been watching the events of the world unfold and have wondered if what they were seeing were the signs that Jesus was returning soon.

I remember when I first professed my own faith back in the ‘70s, people were laying out detailed timelines pegged at the formation of modern Israel, and showing how Jesus would surely return within 40 years of that. Well, we’re all still here. I remember a friend from college who had just gotten married in the early ‘80s, and who was thinking about buying a house – and seriously questioning whether to go with a 20-year mortgage to build up equity faster and save all that interest; or whether to get a 30-year mortgage and enjoy the lower monthly payment, since Jesus was most likely going to return long before that, anyway. Her husband, and the house, are long gone, and we’ve got a few more years before that 30-year mortgage would have been paid off, but so far, we’re all still here.

Still, many of us, when we’re thinking about the big questions of our existence, and our faith – whether it’s while we’re lying in a hospital bed, or just sitting in our own living room at the end of the day – wonder if what we’re seeing in the world isn’t, in fact, the unfolding of the end of the current age.

Sometimes, when people ask me if I think we’re living in the end times, I say yes, and that they started the day Jesus was born. I believe that, but I know that doesn’t really answer their question. I know that we’ve always had eathquakes and floods, wars and rumors of wars, but it is getting worse, at least in the sense that they’re affecting more people, if only because there simply are more people. Yes, I know all about the Mayan calendar and the whole year 2012 business. The significance of the Holocaust, the formation of Israel, isn’t lost on me, and I recognize that it is most likely a second fulfillment of the “dry bones” prophecy found in Ezekiel 37. Global economies are playing havoc with the lives of billions of people. And I do notice that Jesus appeared on the scene just about 2,000 years after God’s covenant with Abraham, and we’re now just about 2.000 years removed from Jesus’ arrival and establishment of the New Covenant. All that does make even a very sane, rational Christian wonder if maybe we are on the verge of Christ’s return, and the beginning of the new age.

This morning, we read from the book of Revelation, the account of John’s vision of Jesus’ return that came to him while he was in exile – basically, living out a prison sentence for spreading the gospel. It was written to believers who were themselves facing persecution and imprisonment for being followers of Jesus, and for sharing the gospel with others. The primary point of the vision was to give reassurance to John, and to the others, that no matter exactly when Jesus’ return was going to be, he was going to return – and all the persecution, the suffering, the problems, the pain, would be worth the trouble of staying faithful to Jesus’ words. Jesus tells them, and us, in no uncertain terms, to not lose hope. He is returning. And in a reversal of our having been banished from Eden, the perfect world that God originally wanted for us, now we’ll be invited back into the gates. There won’t be any more guards there any more, keeping us out. We’ll be back in the garden, with the tree of life, and enjoying eternal life with God.

This past Friday, I gave the invocation at an awards luncheon put on by an organization that provides mental health care services, and addiction recovery programs, in the Columbus area. The event was pretty much what you’d expect. A big hotel ballroom with a small jazz group playing in the corner. A local TV personality is the MC; a favorite politician gives a keynote speech while everyone tries to finish their chicken and rice, and the carrot cake dessert. Awards are given out to people who undoubtedly deserve far more than the little Lucite trophies they get. These things are all pretty typical. I was sitting up on the platform, just trying not to spill my iced tea all over myself.

After it was over, I got to the escalator that led back down to the hotel lobby at the same time as a young man. He was a good looking young guy, maybe in his early twenties, dressed in a nice blue suit, very professional looking. I assumed he was an employee of one of the organizations that had been at the luncheon, and I let him get on the escalator just ahead of me. About halfway down, he turned to me and said, “Would you mind if I asked you something?” He said his name was Jerry, and as we started talking, he explained that he was actually a resident of an addiction recovery center run by the organization that had put on the event. He’d gotten through detox and was in recovery, and he was living at the center with a group of other young men – he called them his brothers – kind of an accountability group, a covenant group of guys who helped support and encourage each other as they tried to plot out what the rest of their lives would look like.

Jerry told me that he’d also recently become a Christian. He told me that it had made all the difference in the world to him. He could feel the transformation within him, and that surrendering himself to Christ had given him strength and encouragement that made his recovery even more meaningful. He’d seen the reason for living – the reason for life itself – in Christ. He told me that he was even sensing a call to the ministry – and he felt especially led to share his faith, and the good news, with his brothers. But he wasn’t sure how to go about that. He was worried that he’d do it wrong, mess it up. And he wondered if I had some time to talk to him about that. I did, and my short conversation with Jerry was probably the highlight of my day.

But what does all that have to do with John, the book of Revelation, and our wondering why it’s taking Jesus so long to return? Maybe this. Maybe God is holding off on Jesus’ return until as many people as possible are touched by the good news of the gospel. Maybe God has been waiting for Jerry to get clean and hear the good news. Or for me to just happen to bump into him on the escalator. Or for him to share his faith with his brothers. Or for you to share your faith with someone God is trying to reach through you. Maybe we're not waiting on God - maybe God is waiting on us.

Ultimately, Jesus told us the exact date and time of his return isn’t important; we’re supposed to live every single day of our lives of faith and discipleship as if Jesus were going to return before sundown. He’s promised us that whatever the wait is, and whatever we endure in his name until then, it will be worth it. This passage from Revelation are the very last words in the Bible. They’re the tag line, the take-home point of the whole message of Jesus Christ. And in it, Jesus says, “Let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”

Whether Jesus’ return is next Monday, or the next millennium, if the reason for his delay is to let Jerry, and all the Jerrys of the world, to taste that water, then the delay is okay with me.

Thanks be to God.

"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
An interesting take, and a profound idea. Thanks, Dewey.

I've wondered about this myself. I've come to the belief that maybe the second coming won't happen even in my lifetime, or maybe it has already happened and we are not understanding scripture correctly.

There are some days when I devoutly wish it.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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