For the previous two weeks we’ve talked about the end times. We’ve talked about the Rapture and the believer’s secure knowledge that we have in Christ that we cannot be left behind. We’ve talked about the signs, and while some of them are certainly frightening, we also know that in Christ we will have the strength and courage to face them.
But today there is just one thing we want to focus on, and that is the word “Watch.”
“Watch” is a word that has a kind of double meaning. There’s a dual-edged sword in the word “watch.” For instance, when I was a child, my mother would leave the house and, before she left, she would give me one simple command: Do the dishes. And then she’d leave.
After she left, then, I’d get busy. Busy watching television. Busy reading comic books. Busy messing around. And then, finally, when I looked out the living room window and saw the lights from the car pulling up, I’d rush into the kitchen and start washing.
Now obviously that was no way to honor my mother and her request! My watching had very little to do with being eager for her to come home, but it had everything to do with trying to stay out of trouble when she got there!
But there were other times—probably around Christmas—when I’d be watching out the window for an entirely different reason. When Mom got home I knew that we’d be heading to Grandma’s house. There would be family. There would be good things to eat. There would be love and happiness. When I sat and watched for her return on those occasions, it was with eager expectation of what was to come.
When we look at the end times, we watch for their arrival. And, like my time spent looking out the living room window, there is a dual-edged sword to our watching. On the one hand, to watch is to be alert, to not become lackadaisical, to actively prepare for that Day so that we may escape judgment. But on the other hand, to watch is also to eagerly await the full redemption that we already posses in Christ. The word “watch” is a Law-Gospel statement in and of itself: it is something that both presses us into fearful and reverent action while at the same time comforting us with the knowledge of our salvation. We watch and prepare, but we also watch and wait.
In order to get at the full meaning of how God would have us watch for the Day of His coming, I want to take a brief look at each of our three readings for today. Each of the readings give us a slightly different picture of watching for that Day, but taken altogether they show us what it means to watch.
We’ll begin with the Gospel of Mark. First, let’s hear that again. (congregation member reads Gospel reading)
Mark 13:32-37 32 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35 "Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back-- whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'"
Thank you. Jesus’ words in Mark give us the most basic picture of watching. It’s looking, it’s waiting. “Be on guard! Be alert!” The owner of the house is going to return and the doorkeeper must keep watch for him.
In telling this story, Jesus casts us as the servants and Himself as the master of the house. We don’t know the day nor the hour in which He will return. It could be at any time, on any day. Maybe today. Will that Day catch us by surprise, or are we watching for it?
If we are truly watching for our Master’s return, that Day won’t come as an horrible shock but a pleasant surprise. We continually watch for that Day in order to be alert for when that Day is coming.
The Gospel of Mark tells us to watch by keeping one eye open for Christ’s return. It’s primarily an issue of being alert for that Day. But the Epistle of St. Jude fleshes out the concept of watching a bit more.
(congregation member reads Jude 1:20-25) Jude 1:20-25 20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear-- hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. 24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Thank you. “Watching,” for Jude, involves two things: He would have us stay faithful—to stay pure—and he would have us stay active.
The context of the book of Jude is centered around the coming of false teachers in the last days. Elsewhere in his book he calls these false teachers blemishes, grumblers, faultfinders that follow their own evil desires. And so if false teachers will abound all the more as the Day of Christ approaches, then we must first keep watch by being faithful to good teaching. We must keep our faith pure.
Now, in order to stay pure we must first be well versed in the basic tenets of the faith. I’m told that the government’s treasure agents are trained by spending countless hours poring over each and every minute detail of genuine twenty-dollar bills. They learn to correctly identify all the hallmarks of the real thing. Why? So that the counterfeit is all the more obvious.
In the same way for us, we must know—we must digest—the hallmarks of authentic Biblical Christianity so that we can more readily spot false teachings. This is what the New Testament calls “pure spiritual milk” . . . and it is what we are to feed upon. The more we know, understand, and believe in pure doctrine, the more we are likely to reject bad spiritual food. That’s how Jude would have us stay pure.
But as I already said, he would also have us stay active. Not just any activity, but an activity that is specifically formed by a great awareness of God’s grace in our lives. Notice Jude’s order of activity: First he says to build up your faith—we need to do those things which keep us rock solid in the faith. I’d suggest that today that means—at the very least—to attend worship on a consistent basis—because in worship we receive God’s Word and Sacraments--, to study God’s Word regularly, and as Jude says, to pray. Doing these things then builds a foundation for the activity that Jude mentions next.
Once our faith foundation is set, then Jude mentions three types of action done for others. The first is a ministry of mercy. Not just any mercy, but a mercy specifically shown to those who doubt. These will be the people who, for whatever reason, are struggling with some issue of the faith. We’re not called to judge them for their doubt, but to exhibit mercy, an compassionate understanding of what it is to struggle with doubt and even, perhaps, disbelief.
The second ministry of action Jude mentions is to “snatch others from the fire.” What fire? The fires of Hell. Remember that every person you meet, every person you see every day, they ultimately have one of only two eternal destinations: Heaven or Hell. What you say to them—or don’t say—directly influences which of those two destinations they will end up in. When we go out of our way and take the time to talk to someone who’s heading down the wrong path, we are making that effort to snatch them from the fire and save them.
The third ministry of action is another ministry of mercy, but this is of a different kind. It is a ministry, I think, not to the spiritually doubting, but to the spiritually dying.
You know someone that has been headed down the wrong path for a long, long time now. And despite your repeated efforts to snatch them from the fire, they have continued to make their own bad choices and insist upon going their own way. What do you do now? Quite honestly, at this point they are probably a bad influence on you. Do you cut off your relationship with them completely in an effort to stay pure?
Jude says, “no.” He says that we must continue to mercifully minister to them, but be very wary of them at the same time. The image he uses is powerful: It is an image of one who ministers to the physical needs of people contaminated by leprosy. Those who would minister to lepers must be merciful, loving, caring . . . but at the same time they must also be very, very careful in handling even the clothing of those they minister to, lest they themselves become contaminated by the same disease. In other words, though we minister in mercy to those who have chosen a lifestyle of sinful behavior, we cannot allow ourselves to join them in their sin. This ministry of mercy is one that says, “I am committed to offering you love and comfort and friendship, but I am also committed to walking down a different path that what you have chosen.”
Mark tells us to be alert. Jude says we watch by staying faithful, staying pure, and staying active. And finally, Isaiah says that we watch by eager expectation.
This, in my mind, is the best type of watching. This is the “going to Grandma’s house” kind of watching. It’s the watching that knows good things are coming, and they are coming soon.
Isaiah 51:4-6 4 "Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. 5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
Even the first five words in this passage are simply amazing. “Listen to me, my people.” Stop right there . . . “my people.” This is the Lord speaking . . . and He calls us His people.”
You are God’s own people! Chosen children of God! By His work and His choice, you are a precious and valued member of the family of God. You. And to you, His child, God says that Christmas is coming, and there is a big, big gift under the tree with your name on it.
“My righteousness draws near speedily; my salvation is on the way.” This old world can get pretty difficult sometimes, can’t it? This week alone I buried one church member and married two others. I wept tears of grief with those mourning the loss of their precious mother, and I wept tears of joy with those beginning their new life together. It’s been a week of conflicting emotions, but that’s just the way life goes, isn’t it? Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we mourn. Sometimes we feel good, sometimes we hurt deeply.
But God says to me, “My salvation is on the way!” There’s coming a time when the conflict will be over, and in the conflict between grief and joy, joy will be the winner for all eternity. Grief will be gone, regret will be gone . . . and only joy—deep, deep joy of being in the presence of Jesus Christ my precious savior—will be left.
That’s the kind of watching I truly enjoy! Oh, there’s something good, something great to look forward to when Christ returns! And because of Christ’s work for us, each of us, as member of God’s own family, can look forward to that wonderful time.
In Mark, Jesus tells us to be alert. Jude tells us to stay pure and stay active. Isaiah tells us that our redemption is coming . . . but they all tell us to watch. Watch for the Day when Christ will return. Watch and prepare, yes . . . but also watch and wait in eager expectation of good things to come.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Viewing the End Times: When You See These Signs . . .
I remember as a child once hearing a preacher speak about the signs the Bible gives us that will show that Christ’s return is imminent. The one specific sign I remember him mentioning was from Joel 2:31, “31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”
For some reason, that thought frightened me a great deal. I remember looking out my bedroom window, each night hoping that I wouldn’t see a blood-red moon. I was afraid of my life ending. I was afraid of the turmoil the earth would be thrown into. I was afraid of what might come afterward. Sometimes I’d be so scared of what I might see that I wouldn’t want to look . . . but each night I looked anyway.
There’s something about those signs that strikes fear into our hearts. They can be frightening. We don’t want to face the awful events the Bible describes that will one day come. They are frightful images. When they’re not mysterious and hard to decipher, they’re downright scary. But we can’t ignore them. They’re right there, in God’s Word, proclaiming the Day is drawing ever closer. The signs demand our attention, not just because of what will happen, but what is happening now.
I don’t think that God intended the signs primarily to frighten us, but I do think that He has a purpose for them. His Word sets forth these signs so to bring about some sort of change in our lives. The signs are there, we can often observe them happening right now. But they are also there, pointing to a future time. They are both “now” and “not yet.”
Scripture gives the primary sign of the coming of Christ as being the preaching of the saving Gospel to “all the nations.” Christ says in Matthew 24:14, “14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” This means that we are living—right now—in a missionary age, a time when all believers are to be actively reaching out to the lost.
But has this sign been fully accomplished? Has the Gospel been preached to all nations? Certainly the Gospel has touched all four corners of the earth in some fashion. Every continent, and indeed probably every country, has had the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed in it. The Gospel is intended for every person, but yet we have to admit that every single person has yet heard that Gospel.
So although we are actively reaching out with the Gospel right now, it’s obvious that since Christ has not yet returned that the fulfillment of that sign is still a “not yet.” It’s somewhere in the future. Only God Himself knows when this sign has been truly accomplished. But until that time, we live in the “now” and continue to reach out with that Gospel—across the oceans, across cultures, and even across the street.
The first and primary sign is an evidence of God’s grace, for the Gospel embodies His grace and until it is fulfilled it shows His long-suffering patience. Our God is a God of supreme love. But our God is also a God of supreme judgment. Therefore, the second group of signs are signs that indicate God’s divine judgment upon sin. We live in a world that is under the curse of sin, and every kind of disaster, both natural and man-made, should be a reminder that God’s justice cannot tolerate sin. These signs are the horrific events we see in the news—wars, earthquakes, famine, disease, and even signs in the heavens.
Now, this isn’t to say that people affected by things like war or earthquakes or hurricanes are necessarily targeted as the specific objects of God’s wrath. That wouldn’t be proper—or right—to say. When these things happen, it is a result of the terrible presence of sin in the world, not necessarily the result of a specific sin. But no matter what the cause, there is only one proper response to tragedy: repentance.
These horrible events are a reminder that God, despite His great love for us all, is also a God of judgment. His wrath is demonstrated in part now through these disasters. But for the sake of Christ He has stayed His full judgment . . . for now. There is still time to repent. But there will come a day when the full, terrible anger of His wrath will be poured out, and then there will no longer be a chance for repentance. There will no longer be any opportunity to come humbly to the cross of Christ for forgiveness. These signs are there to remind us of the need for repentance and to give us another opportunity for the same. But they are also there to point to the day when God’s wrath will no longer be held back, and that day will be more terrible than all the disasters of the earth combined.
The first group of signs indicates God’s grace. The second indicates His judgment against sin—both general and specific sin. But the third and final group of the signs of the end of the age and the coming of Christ deal directly with man’s opposition to God and His Kingdom.
Like the other two groups of signs, we can observe them right now. But, also like the other two groups, as the end draws nearer and nearer we will these signs increase in intensity and frequency. We will see tribulation—the persecution of God’s people simply because they are God’s people. We will see apostasy—the denial and rejection of the faith by people once considered believers. And we will see Antichrist.
Throughout the Church’s history Christians have suffered persecution. Horrible stories are told of the Roman Emperor Nero using the bodies of Christians to serve as human torches to light his dinner parties. Others were thrown to half-starved lions during gladiator matches to be torn apart. But it’s not just ancient history. Voice of the Martyrs is a ministry dedicated to the persecuted church of today, and on their website they say “this year an estimated 160,000 believers will die at the hands of their oppressors and over 200 million will be persecuted, arrested, tortured, beaten or jailed. In many nations it is illegal to own a Bible, share your faith, change your faith or allow children under 18 to attend a religious service.” Persecution is real today, right now.
But as bad as it is now, it will only become worse in the future. The book of Revelation details what is called Satan’s “little season”; a mercifully short but incredible intense period of time when Satan will release an all-out attack to destroy the Church of Christ and prevent it from freely preaching the Gospel.
Has this Tribulation begun? It is entirely possible. The Church is under attack in every society, in every culture. But again, only God truly knows. But no matter whether it is now or not yet, the Christian’s response is to be the same. Look to Christ and remain steadfast in the faith until the very end. This persecution is for our benefit, to purify God’s church and to strengthen it, and to cause us all to look ever more to Christ. Luke 21:28 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Sadly, though, some will fall away. This is the sign of apostasy.
Apostasy—falling away from the faith—, like the Tribulation, is a sign of man’s opposition to God because the one who turns away from the faith believes that they can be a rule unto themselves. They no longer desire to walk according to God’s ways, and prefer to strike out on their own. They may turn away from God because they were led astray by false teachers. They may turn away because they do not want to face the horrors of the Tribulation. But the theologian Martin Franzmann rightly points out that “to seek to escape suffering by renouncing the faith is senseless; they will escape present suffering only to find [eternal] doom.”
Finally, man’s opposition to God is culminated in the sign of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is one who will both set himself up as a substitute for Christ as well as oppose the true Christ.
The New Testament speaks of the spirit of Antichrist which is already here. 1 John 4:3, “3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” Every false teacher, everyone who teaches doctrine contrary to God’s Word are opponents of Christ and are, therefore, antichrist.
This is a bit tricky to distinguish, but there is a difference between the spirit of antichrist and the Antichrist himself. Whereas all false teachers are anti-Christ, there is an ultimate Antichrist. The Scriptures reveal this about him: He will take his seat in the “temple of God”—meaning that Antichrist will come from the church. He is not Satan, but he operates by the activity of Satan. He exalts himself, considers that he has divine power and exhibits himself as God. He performs signs and wonders that imitate Christ’s own work, and he brings a wicked deception, a strong delusion that looks like the Gospel but is nothing but falsehood. He denies Christ, persecutes Christians, and will remain until Judgment Day when Christ will slay him.
There remains one sign left that we need to talk about. One more sign that indicates that this world is drawing to a close and that the New Heaven and the New Earth are soon to appear. But unlike the other signs which are quite frightening, this sign gives us hope. It gives us comfort. The final sign—really the ultimate sign—is Jesus Christ Himself.
If we were to look at the other signs alone we may conclude that God was ill-disposed towards mankind. But in Jesus Christ, the “super-sign” we clearly see otherwise. If you ever wonder what God’s attitude towards you is, you need only look to Christ. The Gospel is the ultimate sign of God’s favor—of His love and not His wrath—towards humankind.
But like the other signs, this sign of Jesus Christ is something that we both possess now, today, and will yet receive its ultimate fulfillment in the future.
When Christ died on the cross, He did so only to rise again from the dead. This act of love and sacrifice was done on your behalf. It clearly shows that God truly cares for you, that He desires a relationship with you, that He wants to be with you. And not only that, it also shows that He has the power to be with you today, by grace through faith.
Jesus Christ gave us the Great Commission. Do you remember what it is? Matthew 28:19-20 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” But do you remember what He said immediately after that? “And surely I am with you always . . . to the very end of the age.” We have Christ right now. In all His fullness. In all His glory. In all His love and power and grace and strength. This is our true and rightful claim by faith, the fulfillment of His promise. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
That alone is enough to give us strength to face all of the coming signs. The very creator of Heaven and Earth promises that He Himself will be with us! That He will never leave us nor forsake us! That He cannot divorce Himself from us! With Christ at our side, leading the way, providing us strength, we can face whatever the world and its forces have to throw at us.
But we not only have Christ’s promises now, but we have his promise in the future, as well! We have His promise that will receive an inheritance that can never spoil or fade. A glorious Kingdom in eternity that will be without sorrow, without suffering. This sign—the sign of Jesus Christ—guarantees us that God’s promises are true and faithful. We can trust not only our lives today, but our very eternity, to Him.
I’ll be honest. When I see these signs I still get scared sometimes. But I’m no longer just a scared child staring out of his window, hoping to not see something that might be there. There is now something that conquers that fear: trust in Jesus Christ. Yes, I can still the signs all around me and yes, I know that they will one day get worse. But more than that, I know Jesus Christ is my Savior both now, and in the future as well.
In His most precious name, Amen.
For some reason, that thought frightened me a great deal. I remember looking out my bedroom window, each night hoping that I wouldn’t see a blood-red moon. I was afraid of my life ending. I was afraid of the turmoil the earth would be thrown into. I was afraid of what might come afterward. Sometimes I’d be so scared of what I might see that I wouldn’t want to look . . . but each night I looked anyway.
There’s something about those signs that strikes fear into our hearts. They can be frightening. We don’t want to face the awful events the Bible describes that will one day come. They are frightful images. When they’re not mysterious and hard to decipher, they’re downright scary. But we can’t ignore them. They’re right there, in God’s Word, proclaiming the Day is drawing ever closer. The signs demand our attention, not just because of what will happen, but what is happening now.
I don’t think that God intended the signs primarily to frighten us, but I do think that He has a purpose for them. His Word sets forth these signs so to bring about some sort of change in our lives. The signs are there, we can often observe them happening right now. But they are also there, pointing to a future time. They are both “now” and “not yet.”
Scripture gives the primary sign of the coming of Christ as being the preaching of the saving Gospel to “all the nations.” Christ says in Matthew 24:14, “14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” This means that we are living—right now—in a missionary age, a time when all believers are to be actively reaching out to the lost.
But has this sign been fully accomplished? Has the Gospel been preached to all nations? Certainly the Gospel has touched all four corners of the earth in some fashion. Every continent, and indeed probably every country, has had the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed in it. The Gospel is intended for every person, but yet we have to admit that every single person has yet heard that Gospel.
So although we are actively reaching out with the Gospel right now, it’s obvious that since Christ has not yet returned that the fulfillment of that sign is still a “not yet.” It’s somewhere in the future. Only God Himself knows when this sign has been truly accomplished. But until that time, we live in the “now” and continue to reach out with that Gospel—across the oceans, across cultures, and even across the street.
The first and primary sign is an evidence of God’s grace, for the Gospel embodies His grace and until it is fulfilled it shows His long-suffering patience. Our God is a God of supreme love. But our God is also a God of supreme judgment. Therefore, the second group of signs are signs that indicate God’s divine judgment upon sin. We live in a world that is under the curse of sin, and every kind of disaster, both natural and man-made, should be a reminder that God’s justice cannot tolerate sin. These signs are the horrific events we see in the news—wars, earthquakes, famine, disease, and even signs in the heavens.
Now, this isn’t to say that people affected by things like war or earthquakes or hurricanes are necessarily targeted as the specific objects of God’s wrath. That wouldn’t be proper—or right—to say. When these things happen, it is a result of the terrible presence of sin in the world, not necessarily the result of a specific sin. But no matter what the cause, there is only one proper response to tragedy: repentance.
These horrible events are a reminder that God, despite His great love for us all, is also a God of judgment. His wrath is demonstrated in part now through these disasters. But for the sake of Christ He has stayed His full judgment . . . for now. There is still time to repent. But there will come a day when the full, terrible anger of His wrath will be poured out, and then there will no longer be a chance for repentance. There will no longer be any opportunity to come humbly to the cross of Christ for forgiveness. These signs are there to remind us of the need for repentance and to give us another opportunity for the same. But they are also there to point to the day when God’s wrath will no longer be held back, and that day will be more terrible than all the disasters of the earth combined.
The first group of signs indicates God’s grace. The second indicates His judgment against sin—both general and specific sin. But the third and final group of the signs of the end of the age and the coming of Christ deal directly with man’s opposition to God and His Kingdom.
Like the other two groups of signs, we can observe them right now. But, also like the other two groups, as the end draws nearer and nearer we will these signs increase in intensity and frequency. We will see tribulation—the persecution of God’s people simply because they are God’s people. We will see apostasy—the denial and rejection of the faith by people once considered believers. And we will see Antichrist.
Throughout the Church’s history Christians have suffered persecution. Horrible stories are told of the Roman Emperor Nero using the bodies of Christians to serve as human torches to light his dinner parties. Others were thrown to half-starved lions during gladiator matches to be torn apart. But it’s not just ancient history. Voice of the Martyrs is a ministry dedicated to the persecuted church of today, and on their website they say “this year an estimated 160,000 believers will die at the hands of their oppressors and over 200 million will be persecuted, arrested, tortured, beaten or jailed. In many nations it is illegal to own a Bible, share your faith, change your faith or allow children under 18 to attend a religious service.” Persecution is real today, right now.
But as bad as it is now, it will only become worse in the future. The book of Revelation details what is called Satan’s “little season”; a mercifully short but incredible intense period of time when Satan will release an all-out attack to destroy the Church of Christ and prevent it from freely preaching the Gospel.
Has this Tribulation begun? It is entirely possible. The Church is under attack in every society, in every culture. But again, only God truly knows. But no matter whether it is now or not yet, the Christian’s response is to be the same. Look to Christ and remain steadfast in the faith until the very end. This persecution is for our benefit, to purify God’s church and to strengthen it, and to cause us all to look ever more to Christ. Luke 21:28 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Sadly, though, some will fall away. This is the sign of apostasy.
Apostasy—falling away from the faith—, like the Tribulation, is a sign of man’s opposition to God because the one who turns away from the faith believes that they can be a rule unto themselves. They no longer desire to walk according to God’s ways, and prefer to strike out on their own. They may turn away from God because they were led astray by false teachers. They may turn away because they do not want to face the horrors of the Tribulation. But the theologian Martin Franzmann rightly points out that “to seek to escape suffering by renouncing the faith is senseless; they will escape present suffering only to find [eternal] doom.”
Finally, man’s opposition to God is culminated in the sign of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is one who will both set himself up as a substitute for Christ as well as oppose the true Christ.
The New Testament speaks of the spirit of Antichrist which is already here. 1 John 4:3, “3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” Every false teacher, everyone who teaches doctrine contrary to God’s Word are opponents of Christ and are, therefore, antichrist.
This is a bit tricky to distinguish, but there is a difference between the spirit of antichrist and the Antichrist himself. Whereas all false teachers are anti-Christ, there is an ultimate Antichrist. The Scriptures reveal this about him: He will take his seat in the “temple of God”—meaning that Antichrist will come from the church. He is not Satan, but he operates by the activity of Satan. He exalts himself, considers that he has divine power and exhibits himself as God. He performs signs and wonders that imitate Christ’s own work, and he brings a wicked deception, a strong delusion that looks like the Gospel but is nothing but falsehood. He denies Christ, persecutes Christians, and will remain until Judgment Day when Christ will slay him.
There remains one sign left that we need to talk about. One more sign that indicates that this world is drawing to a close and that the New Heaven and the New Earth are soon to appear. But unlike the other signs which are quite frightening, this sign gives us hope. It gives us comfort. The final sign—really the ultimate sign—is Jesus Christ Himself.
If we were to look at the other signs alone we may conclude that God was ill-disposed towards mankind. But in Jesus Christ, the “super-sign” we clearly see otherwise. If you ever wonder what God’s attitude towards you is, you need only look to Christ. The Gospel is the ultimate sign of God’s favor—of His love and not His wrath—towards humankind.
But like the other signs, this sign of Jesus Christ is something that we both possess now, today, and will yet receive its ultimate fulfillment in the future.
When Christ died on the cross, He did so only to rise again from the dead. This act of love and sacrifice was done on your behalf. It clearly shows that God truly cares for you, that He desires a relationship with you, that He wants to be with you. And not only that, it also shows that He has the power to be with you today, by grace through faith.
Jesus Christ gave us the Great Commission. Do you remember what it is? Matthew 28:19-20 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” But do you remember what He said immediately after that? “And surely I am with you always . . . to the very end of the age.” We have Christ right now. In all His fullness. In all His glory. In all His love and power and grace and strength. This is our true and rightful claim by faith, the fulfillment of His promise. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
That alone is enough to give us strength to face all of the coming signs. The very creator of Heaven and Earth promises that He Himself will be with us! That He will never leave us nor forsake us! That He cannot divorce Himself from us! With Christ at our side, leading the way, providing us strength, we can face whatever the world and its forces have to throw at us.
But we not only have Christ’s promises now, but we have his promise in the future, as well! We have His promise that will receive an inheritance that can never spoil or fade. A glorious Kingdom in eternity that will be without sorrow, without suffering. This sign—the sign of Jesus Christ—guarantees us that God’s promises are true and faithful. We can trust not only our lives today, but our very eternity, to Him.
I’ll be honest. When I see these signs I still get scared sometimes. But I’m no longer just a scared child staring out of his window, hoping to not see something that might be there. There is now something that conquers that fear: trust in Jesus Christ. Yes, I can still the signs all around me and yes, I know that they will one day get worse. But more than that, I know Jesus Christ is my Savior both now, and in the future as well.
In His most precious name, Amen.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Viewing the End Times: An Unshakable Kingdom
(reading Left Behind) Hey there. With all the readings in the next few weeks focusing on the end times, I thought I’d better do a little research on the subject. You know, it’s pretty amazing, these two guys wrote . . . what? Twelve books dealing just with the end times? You get the impression they must really know their stuff.
It makes me think about when I was younger. I’ve been a Lutheran all my life, and you know as Lutherans we don’t talk about the end times very much. But I had friends who were from other churches where they preached this stuff all the time. And my friends and I would get in these conversations. They’d know all sorts of things about the rapture, the tribulation, the millennial reign of Christ . . . and they’d get me awful worried about the whole thing. They’d tell me that unless I had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and asked Him into my heart that I wouldn’t be counted as a true believer at the end. And like these books, the sheer weight of their knowledge—the way they could put all the Scriptures together, the way they could look at the world and see how Biblical prophecy appeared to be unfolding—the sheer weight of their knowledge made me question just how valid my faith really was.
Now certainly, my childhood friends’ view of the end times is probably the most prevalent view in evangelical Christianity today. A good 90, 95% of the preachers on TV are going to have this Left Behind kind of understanding. You’ve probably heard any number of people—whether they were your friends or a preacher on TV, or maybe in a book—talk about the rapture, the tribulation, the signs of the ends of the age . . . and maybe you thought, “How come pastor has never told us about this?”
So let me see your hands. Who here, like me, has ever worried about being left behind? Why? What made you worry? _________________________
Have you ever worried about the Tribulation? It sounds kind of scary, right? In our Old Testament reading from today, the prophet Daniel records the frightening words of God, saying in Daniel 12:1, “ . . . There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.” He’s talking about the end times, about the end of the world, and He says that the whole earth will be in great distress. Elsewhere in Scripture we’re told that the Church specifically will be the target of a great outpouring of Satanic attacks. Believers will be persecuted for their faith. Some will be even be killed. Has thinking about that ever worried anybody here? ___________________
What about the signs of the end of the age? Wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes. A blood-red moon . . . have you seen any of those signs? Does it make you worry that the end is coming soon? That you might not be ready? That you’ll be left behind?
These things can cause us fear, in part because it’s the other churches that seem to have all the answers. There have been all sorts of church groups that have given different answers. Some say to live a holy life—that’ll make you ready. Some say to invite Jesus into your heart, to pray the Sinner’s Prayer, and that will make you ready. Some in the past have even gone so far as to tell people to sell all their worldly goods, to get rid of all your worldly distractions, and that will make you ready for when Christ comes. If you pay attention, you’ll hear all sorts of answers from good folks as well as from the TV preachers telling you how to make sure you’ll be ready when the Kingdom of God comes.
So how can we be sure we’re ready? What’s our source of comfort and security as we face these questions? What does God’s Word say? Let’s turn to Hebrews chapter twelve for some answers.
The author of Hebrews begins these verses by making a reference to the time when the children of Israel were gathered around Mount Sinai to hear God speak. Such was the holiness of His word that the very earth trembled at His voice. Hebrews 12:26-29 “26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."”
Now this verse, when taken with verse twenty-seven, tells us that God puts everything into two basic categories: those which can be shaken—which is to say those things that can be removed, those things which are not truly permanent—and those things which cannot. “27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken-- that is, created things-- so that what cannot be shaken may remain.”
Things that can be shaken are temporary things. They are not eternal. Which category do you suppose the Kingdom of God belongs to? ______________ Right . . . that which cannot be shaken. The Kingdom of God is permanent. Reliable. Eternal. Unshakable. And . . . it is ours.
Verse twenty-eight goes on to say, “28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful . . .” We . . . are . . . receiving this unshakable Kingdom
Let me ask you a question: If God does something, is it permanent? Will it last? Is it possible for man to undo something that God has decreed as done? Is it possible for man to take back something that God has decreed as given?
When Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3:5, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”, does you believe that He means that those who have been baptized into His name have indeed received the Kingdom of God?
When Paul says in Ephesians 2:8, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”, do you believe it to say that you have received something that is unshakable? Can God’s gift be trusted?
In Christ we receive forgiveness of sins. In Christ we receive righteousness before God. In Christ we are made part of the Kingdom of God. With faith even as small as a mustard seed, we receive the Kingdom of God in full. Right now. It is already ours, and we are a part of it. We are already receiving it.
This unshakable Kingdom—the Kingdom of God—is something that we already possess! It’s ours! Jesus Christ died on a cross, and when He did He ushered in His Kingdom. It was His death that conquered Satan, that conquered sin, that conquered death. Those things were the things that used to rule, they were the kingdom that reigned in all the earth. But no more. Christ is utterly, completely, and totally victorious. His Kingdom is here, reigning in the hearts and lives of those who believe in Him.
So what does that mean for us? First, let’s begin by doing what the author of Hebrews says to do in Hebrews 12:28, “28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe . . .”
When we come to worship God, we are in a place where He gives His gifts so that we can remain connected to Him. As we gather together in worship He offers us His comforting and powerful Word. That Word tells us that we are members of His family and citizens of His Kingdom. When we worship God, He offers us His Supper. In that Supper He strengthens our faith and renews in our minds the claim He has placed upon us as part of His body, as part of His Kingdom. As we worship Him, we stand before a holy and righteous God. We are totally exposed to Him, there is nothing about us that He does not know. No secret remains hidden, no sin. And yet as we worship Him He comes to us and, for the sake of Jesus Christ, declares us as holy and perfect in His eyes.
That’s what it is to be part of the unshakable Kingdom of God. It is because of Christ and His work. And so it is better than permanent . . . it is eternal. It is unshakable.
So, if we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken . . . can we be “left behind”?
Now, I certainly don’t agree with the Left Behind type of theology. I don’t believe in this notion that all the believers in the world will suddenly just poof away and leave the unbelievers here on earth. The notion of anyone being left behind in that way is simply not clearly taught in the Scriptures, if you ask me.
But there will be a day when Christ returns, when all the earth will be judged, and He will gather all believers to Himself. Could I be left behind with the unbelievers in eternal condemnation? Not if I am already part of God’s Kingdom, I can’t. I don’t need to fear the judgment, I don’t need to fear whether or not God will deem me worthy to enter into eternal life, because He already has given me that in Christ.
If the Kingdom we are receiving cannot be shaken, will even a great tribulation be able to pull us away from Christ?
Although I wish I could say otherwise, I have to say that Christians will suffer—and sometimes suffer greatly—for the cause of Christ. It’s happening in many parts of the world right now. Not so much here in the United States, but it is happening. And it is also my opinion that the sort of persecution we see in other countries will one day happen here. I’m not sure I’m ready for that, personally. I don’t cherish the idea of suffering.
But I do know that, if it were to happen soon—today, even—that I could remain confident in Christ. I could remain confident that no matter what may happen to me in the body, no matter how terrible persecution may become, that Christ’s power and sacrifice would keep me solidly in His Kingdom. No persecution can overcome Christ and His Kingdom.
If the Kingdom we are receiving cannot be shaken, should we fear when we see the signs of the end of the age?
Now, to a certain extent we’ll handle that question next week. But for now it’s enough to say, “No.” For although the signs may trouble us a bit, we know that simply seeing them cannot take the Kingdom away from us. The reason Jesus Himself gives is simple: Luke 17:20-21 20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." Again, we don’t need to fear the coming of the Kingdom because we are already receiving it.
Yeah, I sometimes still envy the left behind guys sometimes because of all the answers they seem to have. But then I remember that it’s not about the number of end-times dots I can connect, but it’s about the One who connected me to God. In Christ I am firmly connected to God. That is a bond that cannot be pulled apart, that cannot leave me behind, and that cannot be shaken.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
It makes me think about when I was younger. I’ve been a Lutheran all my life, and you know as Lutherans we don’t talk about the end times very much. But I had friends who were from other churches where they preached this stuff all the time. And my friends and I would get in these conversations. They’d know all sorts of things about the rapture, the tribulation, the millennial reign of Christ . . . and they’d get me awful worried about the whole thing. They’d tell me that unless I had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and asked Him into my heart that I wouldn’t be counted as a true believer at the end. And like these books, the sheer weight of their knowledge—the way they could put all the Scriptures together, the way they could look at the world and see how Biblical prophecy appeared to be unfolding—the sheer weight of their knowledge made me question just how valid my faith really was.
Now certainly, my childhood friends’ view of the end times is probably the most prevalent view in evangelical Christianity today. A good 90, 95% of the preachers on TV are going to have this Left Behind kind of understanding. You’ve probably heard any number of people—whether they were your friends or a preacher on TV, or maybe in a book—talk about the rapture, the tribulation, the signs of the ends of the age . . . and maybe you thought, “How come pastor has never told us about this?”
So let me see your hands. Who here, like me, has ever worried about being left behind? Why? What made you worry? _________________________
Have you ever worried about the Tribulation? It sounds kind of scary, right? In our Old Testament reading from today, the prophet Daniel records the frightening words of God, saying in Daniel 12:1, “ . . . There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.” He’s talking about the end times, about the end of the world, and He says that the whole earth will be in great distress. Elsewhere in Scripture we’re told that the Church specifically will be the target of a great outpouring of Satanic attacks. Believers will be persecuted for their faith. Some will be even be killed. Has thinking about that ever worried anybody here? ___________________
What about the signs of the end of the age? Wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes. A blood-red moon . . . have you seen any of those signs? Does it make you worry that the end is coming soon? That you might not be ready? That you’ll be left behind?
These things can cause us fear, in part because it’s the other churches that seem to have all the answers. There have been all sorts of church groups that have given different answers. Some say to live a holy life—that’ll make you ready. Some say to invite Jesus into your heart, to pray the Sinner’s Prayer, and that will make you ready. Some in the past have even gone so far as to tell people to sell all their worldly goods, to get rid of all your worldly distractions, and that will make you ready for when Christ comes. If you pay attention, you’ll hear all sorts of answers from good folks as well as from the TV preachers telling you how to make sure you’ll be ready when the Kingdom of God comes.
So how can we be sure we’re ready? What’s our source of comfort and security as we face these questions? What does God’s Word say? Let’s turn to Hebrews chapter twelve for some answers.
The author of Hebrews begins these verses by making a reference to the time when the children of Israel were gathered around Mount Sinai to hear God speak. Such was the holiness of His word that the very earth trembled at His voice. Hebrews 12:26-29 “26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."”
Now this verse, when taken with verse twenty-seven, tells us that God puts everything into two basic categories: those which can be shaken—which is to say those things that can be removed, those things which are not truly permanent—and those things which cannot. “27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken-- that is, created things-- so that what cannot be shaken may remain.”
Things that can be shaken are temporary things. They are not eternal. Which category do you suppose the Kingdom of God belongs to? ______________ Right . . . that which cannot be shaken. The Kingdom of God is permanent. Reliable. Eternal. Unshakable. And . . . it is ours.
Verse twenty-eight goes on to say, “28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful . . .” We . . . are . . . receiving this unshakable Kingdom
Let me ask you a question: If God does something, is it permanent? Will it last? Is it possible for man to undo something that God has decreed as done? Is it possible for man to take back something that God has decreed as given?
When Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3:5, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”, does you believe that He means that those who have been baptized into His name have indeed received the Kingdom of God?
When Paul says in Ephesians 2:8, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”, do you believe it to say that you have received something that is unshakable? Can God’s gift be trusted?
In Christ we receive forgiveness of sins. In Christ we receive righteousness before God. In Christ we are made part of the Kingdom of God. With faith even as small as a mustard seed, we receive the Kingdom of God in full. Right now. It is already ours, and we are a part of it. We are already receiving it.
This unshakable Kingdom—the Kingdom of God—is something that we already possess! It’s ours! Jesus Christ died on a cross, and when He did He ushered in His Kingdom. It was His death that conquered Satan, that conquered sin, that conquered death. Those things were the things that used to rule, they were the kingdom that reigned in all the earth. But no more. Christ is utterly, completely, and totally victorious. His Kingdom is here, reigning in the hearts and lives of those who believe in Him.
So what does that mean for us? First, let’s begin by doing what the author of Hebrews says to do in Hebrews 12:28, “28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe . . .”
When we come to worship God, we are in a place where He gives His gifts so that we can remain connected to Him. As we gather together in worship He offers us His comforting and powerful Word. That Word tells us that we are members of His family and citizens of His Kingdom. When we worship God, He offers us His Supper. In that Supper He strengthens our faith and renews in our minds the claim He has placed upon us as part of His body, as part of His Kingdom. As we worship Him, we stand before a holy and righteous God. We are totally exposed to Him, there is nothing about us that He does not know. No secret remains hidden, no sin. And yet as we worship Him He comes to us and, for the sake of Jesus Christ, declares us as holy and perfect in His eyes.
That’s what it is to be part of the unshakable Kingdom of God. It is because of Christ and His work. And so it is better than permanent . . . it is eternal. It is unshakable.
So, if we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken . . . can we be “left behind”?
Now, I certainly don’t agree with the Left Behind type of theology. I don’t believe in this notion that all the believers in the world will suddenly just poof away and leave the unbelievers here on earth. The notion of anyone being left behind in that way is simply not clearly taught in the Scriptures, if you ask me.
But there will be a day when Christ returns, when all the earth will be judged, and He will gather all believers to Himself. Could I be left behind with the unbelievers in eternal condemnation? Not if I am already part of God’s Kingdom, I can’t. I don’t need to fear the judgment, I don’t need to fear whether or not God will deem me worthy to enter into eternal life, because He already has given me that in Christ.
If the Kingdom we are receiving cannot be shaken, will even a great tribulation be able to pull us away from Christ?
Although I wish I could say otherwise, I have to say that Christians will suffer—and sometimes suffer greatly—for the cause of Christ. It’s happening in many parts of the world right now. Not so much here in the United States, but it is happening. And it is also my opinion that the sort of persecution we see in other countries will one day happen here. I’m not sure I’m ready for that, personally. I don’t cherish the idea of suffering.
But I do know that, if it were to happen soon—today, even—that I could remain confident in Christ. I could remain confident that no matter what may happen to me in the body, no matter how terrible persecution may become, that Christ’s power and sacrifice would keep me solidly in His Kingdom. No persecution can overcome Christ and His Kingdom.
If the Kingdom we are receiving cannot be shaken, should we fear when we see the signs of the end of the age?
Now, to a certain extent we’ll handle that question next week. But for now it’s enough to say, “No.” For although the signs may trouble us a bit, we know that simply seeing them cannot take the Kingdom away from us. The reason Jesus Himself gives is simple: Luke 17:20-21 20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." Again, we don’t need to fear the coming of the Kingdom because we are already receiving it.
Yeah, I sometimes still envy the left behind guys sometimes because of all the answers they seem to have. But then I remember that it’s not about the number of end-times dots I can connect, but it’s about the One who connected me to God. In Christ I am firmly connected to God. That is a bond that cannot be pulled apart, that cannot leave me behind, and that cannot be shaken.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Gone . . but not "Gone"
I want to tell you today about a great man of the Christian faith. A man who is certainly among the honored and great saints of God, but a man that you will not read about in any history book. His name was Harold Cash.
As a young child I didn’t know him very well. But as I grew into a young man I learned more and more about him, and my esteem for this man of God has only grown in the years that I’ve known him. Harold was a man that was known by all to be a man of sound convictions. He was firmly grounded in the belief that Jesus Christ was the way, the truth, and the life. Although he wasn’t a pastor, he was nevertheless instrumental in starting no less than three churches in his lifetime.
When a new Bible college was being formed in York, Nebraska, Harold decided that he needed to support that effort in any way he could, and so he joined the staff of that brand-new school. Not as a professor—he didn’t have any formal Bible training or other professional skills that would readily lend themselves to such a job—but as the janitor. But even though he held what many would consider as just a lowly position, his faith and wisdom was so readily evident to all that students would regularly seek him out for advice and instruction. Such was the character of Harold Cash.
Once in my home town, a young man was seeking a church to attend one Sunday morning. So he drove up to the biggest church in town and walked up to the people who were filing in for worship. Rather than joining them as they went inside, he asked just one question. “Excuse me . . . but I’m looking for Harold Cash’s church. Can you tell me where it is?” And those people, as they walked into their own church, gave that young man exact directions to get to the place where Harold Cash was known to worship God every Sunday. Such was the reputation of Harold Cash.
Harold had a slide projector that he would take to different places and use it to present the Gospel story. He was known, even in his sixties, to go and visit the “elderly” and take them communion so that they might be reminded of the goodness of God. He was a dedicated follower of Christ, and some of my fondest memories are of watching him at his regular custom of sitting quietly at his roll-top desk, studying a portion of the Scriptures which were so precious to him, and then gently closing his Bible and singing a hymn to himself. Such was the faith of Harold Cash.
Harold was a man who had a profound impact on a number of people’s lives. But it wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I realized the great gift that I had been given by having this man as part of my family. You see . . . Harold Cash was my grandfather. And when he died in 2001, just a few months after I had entered seminary, I felt a huge void in my life. Even to this day I wish that he were still here. I long to talk to him again to hear his wisdom. I want to know the strength of having his prayers supporting me. I was only just beginning to truly know this wonderful man, and then he was taken from me . . . and I miss him so much.
Now, if I were to go from pew to pew, I am confident that there wouldn’t be a single person in here today—except for maybe baby Malaina—that wouldn’t have a similar story. We all have people that have gone before us into eternity. We miss them . . . we long to talk things over just one more time with them. They are gone, but not forgotten.
But . . . are they truly gone? When someone is “gone” we no longer have any contact with them. There is no bond that ties us together anymore. Is that true of those who have died in Christ?
I don’t think it is. I don’t believe that those who have died in Christ are truly gone from us. I believe we continue to share a bond with them that is even perhaps even greater than the ties that bound us together while they were yet sill living on this earth. We are bound together as the Church of the living God.
When the Bible speaks of the church, it typically speaks of one of two kinds of church. The first kind of church is the one we most readily understand—the local church. The local church is made up of a group of people—members if you will—that call that place their church home. When someone moves on or passes on, their name is removed from the membership roles of that particular place. That’s just the nature of the local church.
But the second type of church that God speaks of in His Word is something a bit more difficult to grasp. A bit more deeper. A bit more profound. The second type of church the Bible speaks of is the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ is made up of all believers. Now it’s certainly very profound to consider that we as believers are united to all of the other believers alive today. We’re united to our Methodist brothers and sisters here in town, just as well as we are united in Christ to our Lutheran brothers and sisters in other states. But we’re also united to the African believer who sings and dances in joyful worship. We’re united to the Asian believer who quietly meditates upon God’s Word.
But more than that, we’re also united in Christ to all believers throughout all time. Not just the ones in this church, not just the ones in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, not even just the ones who are alive, but all believers. Think about that for a moment: Through the life and death of Jesus Christ we are united in the Body of Christ to the Apostle Paul. We are united to John the Baptist. To Peter. Even to the Old Testament saints like Abraham, David, and Moses. We share a part and a role in the Body of Christ with Martin Luther and Mother Theresa. Romans 12:5 says, “5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
Maybe you’re beginning to see what this means for today, All Saints’ Day. But if you’re not, let me just spell it out. When we by faith in Christ are made part of His Body, we are truly “in Christ”. Can anything separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? No? No power? No authority? No event? Not even death? No . . . no of course not. Therefore, when a believer dies, he or she remains in Christ. They remain, along with us, a part of the Body of Christ, as a fellow member of the Church of the Living God. We remain united with them. They are gone, but not gone.
It always bothers me a bit when you go to a funeral or some such thing and some well-intentioned person suggests that we tell stories about the departed so that they can “live on in our hearts.” The notion seems to be that if we can just keep the memory of our loved ones alive, then somehow we remain bonded together to them.
It always bothers me a bit when I go to a funeral or some such and some well-intentioned person suggest that we tell stories about our loved ones so that we can keep them alive in our hearts. The notion seems to be that we can remain connected to those we love by keeping their memory fresh in our minds. And that would be alright, if that were the best we could hope for.
But we as believers are bound together to the departed saints by something far deeper, far more profound, than just whether or not we can continue to picture their face. We do not mourn as the world mourns, for they mourn as those with no hope. But we have a living hope, because we are bound together by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is true both in our day-to-days lives, but also in a very special way through our church lives, as well.
Consider this: Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:16, “16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?” We could consider this another way: When we receive communion, we have fellowship with one another. In communion, we have fellowship with all believers through the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In other words, here on earth we receive the earthly element of bread and wine, but we also receive something much more. We also receive the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Himself. We receive what the departed saints have right before them: Jesus Christ in the flesh. When we receive communion, Jesus Christ stands at the center of it, He is the focus of our attention, and He gives Himself to us. This is very much what happens in Heaven—the saints are gathered around Christ and focus upon Him in their worship even as His gifts have enabled them to be there. So in the moment we receive communion, we join together with the saints in Heaven in the worship of Jesus Christ. You are never closer to your loved one than when you receive communion, for the departed saints are worshipping Him on one side of eternity, and we are worshipping Him on this side, but it is one worship given to Him by one church, the congregation in the round of saints both living and departed.
One day, each of us hopes to join in the voices of the Heavenly choirs as we gather around our Savior and worship Him for all that He has done. That will truly be a cause for rejoicing! To be with the Lord, to touch Him with our own hands . . . what a great gift! What a great treasure!
But for now we still live in this world. And as for me, I am comforted by the fact that I will one day be reunited with my grandfather Harold Cash one day in eternity. But I am also comforted in knowing that I am also united with him right now, today, in Christ.
As a young child I didn’t know him very well. But as I grew into a young man I learned more and more about him, and my esteem for this man of God has only grown in the years that I’ve known him. Harold was a man that was known by all to be a man of sound convictions. He was firmly grounded in the belief that Jesus Christ was the way, the truth, and the life. Although he wasn’t a pastor, he was nevertheless instrumental in starting no less than three churches in his lifetime.
When a new Bible college was being formed in York, Nebraska, Harold decided that he needed to support that effort in any way he could, and so he joined the staff of that brand-new school. Not as a professor—he didn’t have any formal Bible training or other professional skills that would readily lend themselves to such a job—but as the janitor. But even though he held what many would consider as just a lowly position, his faith and wisdom was so readily evident to all that students would regularly seek him out for advice and instruction. Such was the character of Harold Cash.
Once in my home town, a young man was seeking a church to attend one Sunday morning. So he drove up to the biggest church in town and walked up to the people who were filing in for worship. Rather than joining them as they went inside, he asked just one question. “Excuse me . . . but I’m looking for Harold Cash’s church. Can you tell me where it is?” And those people, as they walked into their own church, gave that young man exact directions to get to the place where Harold Cash was known to worship God every Sunday. Such was the reputation of Harold Cash.
Harold had a slide projector that he would take to different places and use it to present the Gospel story. He was known, even in his sixties, to go and visit the “elderly” and take them communion so that they might be reminded of the goodness of God. He was a dedicated follower of Christ, and some of my fondest memories are of watching him at his regular custom of sitting quietly at his roll-top desk, studying a portion of the Scriptures which were so precious to him, and then gently closing his Bible and singing a hymn to himself. Such was the faith of Harold Cash.
Harold was a man who had a profound impact on a number of people’s lives. But it wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I realized the great gift that I had been given by having this man as part of my family. You see . . . Harold Cash was my grandfather. And when he died in 2001, just a few months after I had entered seminary, I felt a huge void in my life. Even to this day I wish that he were still here. I long to talk to him again to hear his wisdom. I want to know the strength of having his prayers supporting me. I was only just beginning to truly know this wonderful man, and then he was taken from me . . . and I miss him so much.
Now, if I were to go from pew to pew, I am confident that there wouldn’t be a single person in here today—except for maybe baby Malaina—that wouldn’t have a similar story. We all have people that have gone before us into eternity. We miss them . . . we long to talk things over just one more time with them. They are gone, but not forgotten.
But . . . are they truly gone? When someone is “gone” we no longer have any contact with them. There is no bond that ties us together anymore. Is that true of those who have died in Christ?
I don’t think it is. I don’t believe that those who have died in Christ are truly gone from us. I believe we continue to share a bond with them that is even perhaps even greater than the ties that bound us together while they were yet sill living on this earth. We are bound together as the Church of the living God.
When the Bible speaks of the church, it typically speaks of one of two kinds of church. The first kind of church is the one we most readily understand—the local church. The local church is made up of a group of people—members if you will—that call that place their church home. When someone moves on or passes on, their name is removed from the membership roles of that particular place. That’s just the nature of the local church.
But the second type of church that God speaks of in His Word is something a bit more difficult to grasp. A bit more deeper. A bit more profound. The second type of church the Bible speaks of is the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ is made up of all believers. Now it’s certainly very profound to consider that we as believers are united to all of the other believers alive today. We’re united to our Methodist brothers and sisters here in town, just as well as we are united in Christ to our Lutheran brothers and sisters in other states. But we’re also united to the African believer who sings and dances in joyful worship. We’re united to the Asian believer who quietly meditates upon God’s Word.
But more than that, we’re also united in Christ to all believers throughout all time. Not just the ones in this church, not just the ones in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, not even just the ones who are alive, but all believers. Think about that for a moment: Through the life and death of Jesus Christ we are united in the Body of Christ to the Apostle Paul. We are united to John the Baptist. To Peter. Even to the Old Testament saints like Abraham, David, and Moses. We share a part and a role in the Body of Christ with Martin Luther and Mother Theresa. Romans 12:5 says, “5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
Maybe you’re beginning to see what this means for today, All Saints’ Day. But if you’re not, let me just spell it out. When we by faith in Christ are made part of His Body, we are truly “in Christ”. Can anything separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? No? No power? No authority? No event? Not even death? No . . . no of course not. Therefore, when a believer dies, he or she remains in Christ. They remain, along with us, a part of the Body of Christ, as a fellow member of the Church of the Living God. We remain united with them. They are gone, but not gone.
It always bothers me a bit when you go to a funeral or some such thing and some well-intentioned person suggests that we tell stories about the departed so that they can “live on in our hearts.” The notion seems to be that if we can just keep the memory of our loved ones alive, then somehow we remain bonded together to them.
It always bothers me a bit when I go to a funeral or some such and some well-intentioned person suggest that we tell stories about our loved ones so that we can keep them alive in our hearts. The notion seems to be that we can remain connected to those we love by keeping their memory fresh in our minds. And that would be alright, if that were the best we could hope for.
But we as believers are bound together to the departed saints by something far deeper, far more profound, than just whether or not we can continue to picture their face. We do not mourn as the world mourns, for they mourn as those with no hope. But we have a living hope, because we are bound together by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is true both in our day-to-days lives, but also in a very special way through our church lives, as well.
Consider this: Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:16, “16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?” We could consider this another way: When we receive communion, we have fellowship with one another. In communion, we have fellowship with all believers through the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In other words, here on earth we receive the earthly element of bread and wine, but we also receive something much more. We also receive the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Himself. We receive what the departed saints have right before them: Jesus Christ in the flesh. When we receive communion, Jesus Christ stands at the center of it, He is the focus of our attention, and He gives Himself to us. This is very much what happens in Heaven—the saints are gathered around Christ and focus upon Him in their worship even as His gifts have enabled them to be there. So in the moment we receive communion, we join together with the saints in Heaven in the worship of Jesus Christ. You are never closer to your loved one than when you receive communion, for the departed saints are worshipping Him on one side of eternity, and we are worshipping Him on this side, but it is one worship given to Him by one church, the congregation in the round of saints both living and departed.
One day, each of us hopes to join in the voices of the Heavenly choirs as we gather around our Savior and worship Him for all that He has done. That will truly be a cause for rejoicing! To be with the Lord, to touch Him with our own hands . . . what a great gift! What a great treasure!
But for now we still live in this world. And as for me, I am comforted by the fact that I will one day be reunited with my grandfather Harold Cash one day in eternity. But I am also comforted in knowing that I am also united with him right now, today, in Christ.
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