Scripture/Sermon of the Day

11 As you do all this, you know what time it is. The hour has already come for you to wake up from your sleep. Now our salvation is nearer than when we first had faith. 12 The night is almost over, and the day is near. So let’s get rid of the actions that belong to the darkness and put on the weapons of light. 13 Let’s behave appropriately as people who live in the day, not in partying and getting drunk, not in sleeping around and obscene behavior, not in fighting and obsession. 14 Instead, dress yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and don’t plan to indulge your selfish desires.

36 “But nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the heavenly angels and not the Son. Only the Father knows. 37 As it was in the time of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Human One. 38 In those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. 39 They didn’t know what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. The coming of the Human One will be like that. 40 At that time there will be two men in the field. One will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and the other left. 42 Therefore, stay alert! You don’t know what day the Lord is coming. 43 But you understand that if the head of the house knew at what time the thief would come, he would keep alert and wouldn’t allow the thief to break into his house. 44 Therefore, you also should be prepared, because the Human One will come at a time you don’t know.

I. Nobody knows the day or the hour when — what? What will come at that surprise day or hour? The end of the world? And then there’s that strange verse 40 that says two will be working and one will be taken and the other left. Some imagine there will be something like a “rapture” (described in 1 Thessalonians 4:17). People imagine pilots flying an airplane and suddenly being “raptured” — and they just disappear and now nobody’s flying the plane so of course it crashes. It will be like we’re here in church and half of you suddenly disappear — and what happens to the rest of us? So what — some of us go to heaven and the rest just go to coffee hour? What if Jenni and Efren get raptured? Who will make the coffee?

II. Well, don’t worry. I don’t believe a God of love would do something like this. Remember the story of the Prodigal Son? The father gave his fortune to both sons. The good one and the bad one — they both got more than they deserved. Because that’s God’s nature — to give us everything — to give us heaven — because that’s what gives God joy — to see us happy. So if there is something like a “rapture” — we’re all going.

III. Paul said we need to prepare ourselves for this new life — this second coming of Christ. Because Jesus plans to come — in here — in our hearts and minds. In our souls. And the sooner the better. One way to speed his arrival is to stop fighting with each other. Spiritual practices are not mysterious. They’re about saying a kind word to each other and not fighting.

Speaking about fighting — how was your Thanksgiving? At Bible Study last Wednesday I shared some advice from professional counselors about what not to talk about at the Thanksgiving table — like politics, and our opinions about the best way to be a parent and keeping our thoughts about other people’s personal appearance to ourselves. Someone else said don’t talk about vaccines — and don’t ask newly married people when are they having children. And please — nobody wants to hear about the medical procedure we just had.

There were some families this Thanksgiving so angry — so charged with bad feelings that some people weren’t talking to each other — and some refused to be in the same place with their own family members. How do we make peace and have people talk to each other again? We could say to the quarreling family members: “Stop being such idiots and grow up!” But that might not work — people might even feel worse after being called idiots or fools or losers. So — what might Jesus say? Maybe, “Please — let us forgive and love one another.”

V. That’s what Jesus’ Second Coming is like. Just when we’re about to call someone an idiot, we say something else, like “friend” or “dear” and even though we were going to say idiot or fool or jerk, out of nowhere comes this invitation to forgive and love. Where did that come from? It’s like two words were there — idiot and friend — and one of them was “taken away” — and two solutions were given — “grow up” and “love” — and one was taken away. That’s the real rapture. That’s what the Second coming is — and maybe it does surprise us. Advent is the time to prepare ourselves for Jesus Second Coming, the moments of love and joy breaking into our lives -- every day.