Isaiah
51:4-6 Jude
20-25 Mark 13:24-37
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
amen. Our text today is from the Gospel
lesson, especially the following words, “Be on guard, keep awake.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ, Do you remember when you were a teenager, and Mom and Dad decided to go
out of town for the weekend, and leave you at home. Always right before they left, they would
say, “Now, no crazy parties while we’re gone, and don’t get into any
trouble.” The average teenager would
smile and say, “Don’t worry mom and dad,” and stand on the front porch waving
until the car went around the bend.
Almost
immediately, the party planning would begin.
The phone calls would be made, the music cranked up, and in a matter of
a few short hours, the house was teeming with young people. Cars were parked in the yard, and the fun would
go on long into the night…
EXCEPT, Mom and
Dad had car troubles, and had to turn around and come home. Do you remember that moment of dread when
they walked in the door, can you remember the screaming, the shouting? Can you remember how quickly all your friends
disappeared? Do you remember when that
happened? Well it never happened to me,
but if it did, I can imagine the dread felt as that fateful day and hour
arrived.
Dear friends, this
is the same thing our text is saying to us.
Be awake. Pay attention, don’t be
caught unawares. Because dear friends – Christ
is coming again. He will return, with
trumpet call, with angels and clouds.
And when Christ returns, on that fateful day and hour and day, he will
come with power, and with judgment, and those who are awake will enter heaven,
and those who are asleep, acting like nothing is happening will go to the
eternal fires of hell.
So dear friends,
are you awake? Or are you asleep? Will mom and dad find you behaving when they
suddenly return home, or will they find a party full of lewd acts and booze? What sort of behavior have you been
committing? Are you awake, or are you
asleep? As Christ ascended into heaven,
he said, “Therefore make disciples of all nations by means of baptizing them
and teaching them everything that I
have commanded you.” And then Christ
ascended upon a cloud until no one could see him. And what has Christ commanded? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and love your neighbor as yourself.” Or
to put it simply, as Christ does in Matthew chapter 5, “Be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect.”
But we haven’t
been perfect have we? We haven’t loved
God or our neighbors. We have failed
miserably. As soon as Christ gets out of
view, as soon as we are out of church, the party begins, the sin increases and
our guilt along with it. We commit
adultery, we steal, we murder, we kill, we cheat on taxes, we hate, we are
jealous, we are full of selfish ambition, we fight, we bicker, we gossip, we
are envious and more! And the worst part
is we don’t even act concerned with it.
Dear friends, Christ
is returning. He knows what is going on
in our lives. Stay awake! Repent!
Turn aside from your sins! Know
that Christ is coming again, and that he comes to judge those who are left in
sin.
But also know that
your sin is forgiven. Christ has also
died for you. So your sin has already
been judged – not in you, but in Jesus.
Your sin became his. Your guilt
became his. Your punishment became
his. You are no longer guilty, for
Christ has taken away the sins of the world.
Christ has set you free and now you are free. By his bloody and death and resurrection, on
an old rugged cross, your sin is removed.
So now, when
Christ returns, you need not fear punishment or hell. You need not worry about what will happen to
you when you die. Christ comes for you
Christians who are awake, not to judge, but rather to bring home. Christ comes on the last day to call to life
all the faithful who have gone before us.
To bring them and you and me into heaven. To take us from this vale of tears, to a
world of peace and comfort. To take us
to live forever with him, so that we may see him face to face.
He comes to be our
king. To rule us in righteousness – a
righteousness he shares with us in baptism.
He comes to take us to his kingdom.
To be ruled by the same God who created us. To come into a world more perfect than we can
possibly imagine.
Dear friends, be
awake in the faith. Do not sleep,
Because Christ is coming. And when he
arrives it will be to take us to a wonderful eternity with him. And until that day, we pray the same prayer
Christians have been praying for generations.
Come Lord Jesus Come Quickly.
Amen.
