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“There
Will Be Signs”
a sermon by
Thomas L. Jenkins
Text: Luke 21:25-36
“There will be signs…stand up and raise your heads…Be on guard so
that your hearts are not weighed down…”
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, which means the coming of Christ
into our world. Christ has
come into this world and Christ is going to come again, in a new way;
and it is going to follow some dramatic things that will be seen in this
universe. But, there are
also worries of this world, today, that are even signs of Christ’s
presence in our lives. I
hope that we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to see the signs God
has for us, and to stand up in the faith that has been given to us by
Jesus Christ.
We live between the first and second coming of Christ.
Christ is here. Christ
is present in our lives. Christ
is our Lord, our Savior, and our brother.
And still, He is going to come again in such a way that it’s
happening can not really be described scientifically—though if I had
an over head projector, I could teach you, as I do my math classes, that
right now we are restricted to seeing and understanding a world in only
three dimensions. At the second coming of Christ, God is going to open our eyes
to see in higher dimensions, where we will all at the same time see the
return of the resurrected humanity in Jesus Christ.
And this will be our new eternal humanity.
I know that’s pretty amazing, and difficult to fully understand.
But, what we may know in our faith is that Jesus Christ is coming
again in such a way, to bring to us who we will be in His life, with Him
for all eternity.
This gives us a bottom line to hold onto.
The most difficult book of the whole Bible to understand is The
Revelation to John—what we call the “Book of Revelation.”
I think it is fascinating that one of the greatest Bible Scholars
in the whole history of the church, John Calvin, wrote a verse by verse
commentary of the every book of the Bible, except Revelation. One of the greatest ministers in the history of the church
admitted that even he could not interpret this revelation.
The bottom line is this; God wins, not the devil.
Jesus is victor! And you will be blessed by the victory of Christ
in your life.
That is the bottom line of what Jesus is telling us about the
second coming. At the second coming of Christ, whether it be this evening or
on July 17th, 3014, there are going to be overwhelming
circumstance changes in this universe as God is bringing in the new
heavens and the new earth. Jesus
is coming again, and this is the greatest and final victory for each and
every one of us. This is
what we may believe.
Advent is looking forward to the second coming of Christ, but it is
actually, primarily our looking back to the first coming of Christ, and
what that means in our life this very day.
We are being taught a very wonderful lesson in our message this
morning.
First, there are present worries in this world today.
If we were to ask each other what are some of the greatest
tragedies in our world of these days, we would all probably say: the war
in Iraqi, Hurricane Katrina, and 9/11 in New York City.
These are present worries in our world.
There are also, many more. And,
what Christ is teaching us is that they do not point to what the world
thinks they point to.
I cannot stand here and give a summary of what the world’s view of
what these are signs of, because there are actually many different
visions of what these mean in the world.
But, what the world does not see is that even these events are
signs which point to the real presence of Christ in the lives of people.
What we can do, is apply what Christ is teaching us, to the worries, the
struggles, the painful issues, the trials and conflicts that are going
on in our own lives. And we
all have certain personal painful issues in our lives; each and every
one of us.
We are being told how to relate to them, what our attitudes and spirits
should and may be, as we hear Christ speaking to us.
I would like to start with a quote by James F. Kay, who is a
preacher at Princeton University: “If
the Gospel is good news, it is not because it predicts a bright, shiny
future based on our morality or piety…the Gospel is Good News because
it promises a future based on God’s faithfulness to Jesus Christ.”
The gospel is not telling us that if we live according to certain laws
of morality and put forth a life of piety, or spiritual
self-righteousness, then we will be blessed with the paradise of God.
If we are taught or led to believe that God blesses us based on
anything in us, then when the struggles of this world enter into our
lives we feel we are being punished by God.
This is a misinterpretation of what the signs in our life are
pointing us to. This is worldly thinking even though it seems religious.
There are two aspects of faith. There
is the faith of Jesus Christ, the Man of God.
And there is our faith. But,
what God is doing for us, is, He is transforming our faith into the
faith of Jesus Christ. And
there will be signs in our lives, that if we read them properly, we will
see that God is giving to us the faith of Jesus Christ.
And that is exactly where He is in your life.
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation
and drunkenness and the worries of this life…”
Dissipation means extravagant and vice oriented lives.
Drunkenness is an example of this kind of life.
Many of us, at times in our lives, when we are hurting because of
the problems and issues of our lives, try to find extravagant life
styles that do away with the pain.
Jesus mentions alcoholism. We
certainly could list many more types of addictions to things where we
try to do away with the pain in our lives, and maybe even try to find
something meaningful because we think we need meaning in our lives.
When we get caught up in that, because we might loose some pain, we
actually even loose the ability to truly see where these signs are
pointing us.
Jesus tells us to stand up, raise our heads, and actually be on guard.
Do not let the worries of your life knock you down, or lead you
to a lifestyle looking for something other than Christ.
If we are actually sensitive to the worries, issues, and anxieties
within our lives that is the first indication that we are being directed
to whom they are pointing us to.
There will be signs in your life during this time of Advent.
And these signs will be within the worries of your life.
But, they will point you to the real presence of Christ in your
life. And as you stand up
and look for this in your life, you will actually experience God
activating the very faith of Christ that God has already put in your
heart.
Let us pray…
Amen
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