Be Ready

Luke 21:25-36 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

On the Church calendar, this Sunday is known as the first Sunday of Advent. It begins the countdown to Christmas – the celebration of the coming of Jesus into the world as the “Word made flesh”. This season of Advent is traditionally a time of preparing our hearts for a deeper encounter with Jesus. Just as we would spend much time and energy to prepare if we knew we were going to be visited by an earthly king, we ought also to spend much time and energy preparing for the coming of Jesus. Now by saying the “coming of Jesus” I am really suggesting that we ought to prepare:

1.       For a deeper personal spiritual encounter with Jesus daily;

2.       For His return in glory either at the end of time or the end of our lives, whichever comes first!

In Luke 21 we are being assured that Jesus is coming back in power and glory and that this moment of His return will be a time of judgment on sin. It will be … to use old English … a day of reckoning.

In terms of how we can be prepared for the coming of Jesus, Luke 21 gives instructions like:

·         Be careful;

·         Be always on the watch; and

·         Pray!

There is this sense of urgency and seriousness about the instructions Jesus gives. And if we go to the reading from 1 Thess. 4, which is set in the context of teaching about the return of Jesus, we discover instructions like:

·         Live in order to please God;

·         Be sanctified;

·         Avoid sexual immorality;

·         Learn to control your own body in a holy and honourable way;

·         Love each other more and more;

Like any good Methodist I would like to try to unpack the two passages for today under three main points. Let’s call them three main actions we need to take in order to be ready for the coming of Jesus:

1.       Prayer

2.       Purity

3.       Perfect love

PRAYER

v.34-36

These verses in Luke speak to me of our need to remain constantly focussed on our Lord Jesus if we are to be ready for His return. It is so easy to be focussed on the things of this world because they are so real and so in your face. It is much easier to sit and watch the news or to check the share prices or to listen to a secular song, than it is to focus your mind on the Lord, read a Bible passage or sit quietly listening for the voice of the Lord. Much easier! And that’s why so many people live completely in the world … and very few people … even among committed Christians … live completely in Christ.

It is a discipline to stay focussed on the Lord. And that is why Jesus used the image of standing watch. It is a discipline to stand watch in the dead of the night, when all around you its dark and quiet and you’re sure nothing is about to happen. It is equally difficult to stand watch when all your fellow soldiers are on a break and having a party while you stand watch. That is what it’s like to stay focussed on Jesus today. It seems like He’s not coming back soon … it seems like we’re healthy and not likely to die soon … and all around us our neighbours, colleagues and friends are living without a thought to Jesus … just living and having a rave. In those conditions it’s tough to stay focussed on Jesus and live a life that is Christ-focussed.

But Jesus assures us that if we want to be ready for His return, we will have to be watchful and prayerful. We will need to get our minds off the “dissipation” (or hedonism), the “drunkenness” and the “anxieties of life” and get them focussed on Him once more. When I say a key is “prayer” I am really talking about this whole category of spending time in the Word of God, in the Worship of God and in prayer … so that our minds are programmed and our priorities set by the Lord instead of the world around us.

You know we are so blessed at St. Luke’s to have the Tabernacle. In this room we find absolute peace and quiet without any distractions, to spend a once-a-week date with the Lord. If you work for a boss you probably have a staff meeting at least once a week. I see the Tabernacle hour as a weekly staff meeting with the Lord where we get our hearts and minds totally refocused on Him and His will. And then our daily times of prayer are also vitally important to keep ourselves focussed on Him daily.

Friends I appeal to you. Do not neglect your prayer life. Especially now in the holiday season when so much goes on. Stay focussed on Jesus. Stay close to Him. Stay in prayer. IF YOU ARE NOT A PERSON OF PRAYER YOU WILL NEITHER HAVE A DEEP ENCOUNTER WITH THE LORD, NOR BE READY FOR HIS RETURN.

2.       PURITY

v.3- 7

The second aspect of being ready for both a personal encounter with Jesus and for His return is what I’ll call purity. Read Psalm 24 and you’ll see that it teaches that in order to encounter the Lord we need to have clean hands and a pure heart. Now this does not mean that we have to be perfect first … but it does mean that we need to be constantly turning away from what we know to be sinful and turning towards the Lord and His standards for our lives.

The word Paul uses for purity in v.3 is “sanctified” and it means “purified”. It is God’s will that we be purified. It is God’s will that we be becoming more holy. In the New Testament understanding of that word “holy”, it is God’s will that we become more like Jesus! Sound familiar? It is His will that we abstain from those things that make us morally filthy before God. It is His will that we pursue with all diligence those things that please God. As v. 1 says: “Live in order to please God.”

Now there is a great test for a Christ-follower who wants to live a holy life and be ready for the Lord’s coming: “Is this pleasing to God?” Or as a general question: “Am I a God-pleaser?” We all know what a people-pleaser is, don’t we? They are people who just try to keep everyone around them happy. Every decision they make is based on whether or not so-and-so will be happy with me if I do this. Will I make anyone unhappy? But a God-pleaser is one who says, “Is this pleasing to God? Will I make God happy by doing this?”

And to check out a few examples, we can just use the passage we’re in and take the examples of v.3 regarding how to be purified:

·         Avoid sexual immorality – the word is “porneia” also translated “fornication” and it includes pre-marital sex, adultery and incest. Yes, it’s true, one will neither encounter Jesus personally nor be ready for His return if your sexual behaviour is out of line with His will.

·         Self-control – v.4 is such an interesting verse. It says that we should learn to control our own bodies and not live in “passionate lust”. In the Wycliffe New Testament this verse is translated almost exactly literally as “that you be not overmastered by lustful cravings”. This reminds us that Jesus warned that sin starts in our hearts and that lusts are as real as the act of sin itself. We need to learn to control our passionate lusts in a way that is holy and honourable and not give in to them.

·         Justice – “No one should take advantage of his brother”. This is a statement about justice. And it is a severe warning that if we take advantage of others, step on them to get ahead, make an unfair profit out of them, or pay them a dishonest wage, we must not expect mercy from the Lord … we must not expect an encounter with Him.

So can you see that purity is actually about living a life that is totally out of step with the world around us … a life that is totally otherwise? If we want to be ready for the coming of the King, we will have to stand out as different from a disgustingly sinful world.

3. PERFECTION

v.9-10

I have chosen the third key word “perfection”. But I have in mind the fact that the perfect Christian life is the life of love. Paul says that we have been “taught by God to love each other.”

This is the absolute evidence of a Christian life and, as we saw two weeks ago, the deeper we live a life of love the more fully we will encounter the Lord. John 15 said that to abide in Christ we need to live lives of love.

Song of songs says that “His banner over me is love.” When Jesus comes to fetch us to Himself He is going to be able to recognise us easily because we will be the ones living under the banner of love. Love will characterise our lives. Love will be the clothing we wear. Love will be the outward manifestation of the inner presence of Jesus in us. How do you know if someone who confesses to be a Christian is a genuine follower of Jesus? There is one test above all others. Beyond whether they confess Jesus as Lord … beyond whether they speak in tongues or manifest spiritual gifts … beyond whether they belong to a Church or not … the acid test of a Christian is: “Do they love?”

When Jesus comes for His people he will have np problem finding us, for we will be under the banner of love. Is that where you are standing right now? Or are you perhaps standing under a banner of anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, unkindness, selfishness, impatience, envy, boasting, pride, rudeness, hurtfulness, and cynicism? All of these by the way are the opposite of the various aspects of love mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13!

If we are to be ready for Jesus’ return and open to a renewed encounter with Him until he comes, we will need to cultivate a spirit and lifestyle of love.