Father, you know how hard it is for us to pay attention to your word.
You know, Father, how we prefer our own thoughts to what you're thinking,
how we prefer the thoughts of powerful people around us rather than to your thoughts.
We prefer, Father, to hear ourselves talk than to listen to you speak to us.
Father, we acknowledge this before you, and we acknowledge before you, Father,
that we're not even aware of when we're doing it.
We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would gently but deeply fall upon us this morning,
that you would help us, Father, to turn from ourselves and to listen to your word.
And not only, Father, listen to your word, but that you might help us to open our hearts,
our minds, our wills, our souls to your word, that your word might enter into us
and do its great work in us.
Father, this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So as is my custom this week, on most days of the week, I was in a Starbucks working on my sermon.
Actually, between the services, I go to a coffee shop.
I'm fairly Catholic in my taste.
It was a second cup.
And it was sort of neat.
There was a couple of people going by all dressed up for church.
And I happened to look up, and they saw me reading the Bible, and they smiled at me and gave me a little wave.
I guess they were going on their way to church.
But I don't always get that reaction when I'm in a Starbucks.
But this particular time, just this week, I can't remember the day of the week it was,
but it was the day after it was all in the papers about the Roman Catholic Church might or might not be changing its view
on same-sex marriage and a whole range of things, contraception, et cetera.
I think that was Tuesday morning.
I think it was in the paper on Monday, but maybe I have the dates wrong.
Anyway, I'm there in my, I'm in the Starbucks working on my sermon.
Bible's open.
A couple of working-class guys come and sit down beside me.
And one of the working-class guys just says to the other that he'd been over at his grandmother's house the night,
last night, and he said to his buddies, you know, my grandmother, she's Roman Catholic.
She goes to church.
She goes to Mass all the time.
And so I said to my Grammy, I said, Grammy, what do you think about what the Pope said?
And then he said, my Grammy said to me that the Pope's wrong, that he's wrong in what he's doing.
And then, you know, he said to the guys what, you know, his grandmother said.
And then he said to his friends, he said, you know, I said to my Grammy, I said, Grammy, that's like, that's,
you're just saying things like from 15 years ago.
Like, you have to get with now.
That's like something from 15 years ago.
Like, get with now.
And then he said what his grandmother said.
And then he said to this guy, he said, you know, I don't know what to say to my grandmother.
She's talking things like from 15 years ago.
How on earth can I possibly talk to her?
That was the conversation.
So I'm not going to talk this morning about same-sex marriage.
It just happens to be that it's sort of as an illustration of something.
Because what it is, is my sermon this week is going to be different than my usual sermon.
Because I don't know how many of you were able to pay attention as I was reading the Luke text, the gospel text.
But if you were, it's sort of an odd text.
It's a bit confusing.
And it would have been even more massively confusing to the original hearers and the people who originally read it,
maybe for the very, very first time.
And so I'm going to have to take a sort of a step back from the text.
And we're going to have to look at a couple of other things so that we can actually hear what the Bible says.
So here's the first thing.
And this is why I'm telling you the story.
I want to tell you something about what goes on in Canada.
A couple of weeks ago, one of the people who gets into arguments with me or persistent discussions,
might be a better way to put it, at Starbucks.
He's a committed secularist.
He sort of said to me, George, you know, the fact is that the Bible's all wrong because everything just goes in cycles.
Like, you know, we just, you know, you know, we die and somebody else is born.
And, you know, life, it's just a constant cycle.
And that's just how life works.
And I looked at him and said, I'm not going to answer that question because you don't believe that.
Well, let's talk about something you believe.
You don't believe that.
I said, you believe that things are getting better and better and better in a particular direction.
And that in, you know, like in 40 years, there'll be no more religion and that there'll be great world peace and lots of prosperity.
That's what you believe.
And he said, yeah, I was just trying to yank your chain.
But here's the thing.
If you could put up the first point, Andrew.
Virtually everybody in Canada believes history is moving towards something that matters
or should be moving towards something that matters.
I didn't say throughout the world because it wouldn't be true of the world.
In fact, there are parts of the world that would just believe that everything's just in constant cycles.
Like classic Hinduism, that there's this constant cycle.
Classic Buddhism, constant cycle.
Classic paganism, a constant cycle.
But I think in Canada, they might all differ on it,
but I think in Canada, virtually everybody in Canada believes history is moving towards something that matters
or should be moving towards something that matters.
And I'm using, I was going to use the word life.
I thought about using the word life, but I ended up deciding to use the word history
because it's as if people have this sense in Canada that there's been the past.
And as the past is coming up closer to the present, there's this development.
And it's as if there's a line going.
And so, for instance, many people on the left refer to themselves as progressives
because they have this sense that everything is moving in a particular direction.
It's progressing in a particular direction.
People who aren't of the left, at sort of a deeper level,
they might have more of a Star Trek view of the future.
You know, where, you know, in the future, I don't know how many years, I'm not a Trekkie,
but, you know, so many years in the future, you know, you just have to press a button in a machine
and your hot meal pops out and they've gotten rid of war, they've gotten rid of need,
they've gotten rid of want, and they can go off and explore the universe
and go where no man or woman has, you know, go boldly where nobody's gone before.
But, you know, many, many people, there's a, near where I live,
when I'm driving to one of my Starbucks, there's a place that's called evolution physiotherapy.
And what they mean by that is that somehow we're evolving to something better and better.
They don't mean that life is completely and utterly controlled by randomness and chaos,
and it might very well be that cockroaches are the only life form living in 100 years
when we completely annihilate ourselves, and that's just how evolution works, survival of the fittest.
And cockroaches might end up being, they don't mean that, right?
So it's a very, very common idea that things are moving in a certain direction.
And it's a very, very common idea that if we're depressed that things aren't moving in a particular direction,
it's because we believe they should go in a particular direction,
and we believe that this direction matters.
So it is that this working class guy sitting beside me, talking to some other working class guys,
evaluates his grandmother's argument by saying that this was something that they said 15 years ago.
That how history is moving matters, and how you understand right and wrong, how you live your life,
how you make your plans, who you marry, what you struggle with, what you don't struggle with, what you celebrate.
That's a very, very common.
So Canadians might differ, and there's many, many Canadians who say that because,
let's say the government isn't following the policies that are progressive,
that what's going to happen is some type of dystopia, that everything's going to go completely and utterly bad,
and so you better listen to us, but it matters.
Now, why does this matter?
How on earth does this have anything at all to do with Jesus?
Well, here's how it has something to do with Jesus and how it's to go back to the text,
which we're going to, we still have to take one more moment before we get back to it.
But one of the things that people will make fun of about Christians
is the Christian idea of the second coming of Jesus.
For many people in our culture, it's kooky.
You go hunting through the TV channels, and, okay, I don't mean to offend anybody by that.
I'm just trying to tell you how many people, if you get talking and they trust you, what they'll say.
So they go hunting through the channels, they'll come to a Christian channel,
and they'll see some sweating, overweight white guy going on with all sorts of lurid pictures and graphs
about what's happening in the Middle East and what's happening with Russia,
and where things are going, and they'll watch it for a few minutes to laugh,
because it looks ridiculous.
But here's the thing for us to think about for a second.
If nobody in Canada thought that history was going somewhere,
and that where that somewhere was going, that it was connected to the past, the present, and the future,
and that where it goes as matters, then for Christians to talk about the second coming of Jesus would be really odd.
But if, in fact, virtually everybody in Canada believes that the past matters,
the present matters, and that it's going somewhere,
then even though they might or might not be right to make fun of the person that they saw on television,
in fact, all it means is that Christians just have a different understanding of the direction of history than the culture.
See what I mean?
I mean, it's hard to communicate, and I don't know how I would communicate this to one of my friends in Starbucks,
but it's important for us to at least hear this,
that one moment, everybody believes history is going somewhere,
everybody believes something in the past, that there's some process that's going somewhere.
Christians also believe that.
In fact, actually, and this would in fact be true,
that one of the revolutions in human thought,
actually, that it, like,
people didn't believe there was a direction to history
until they, in a sense, learned it, and then forgot that they learned it from the Bible.
It's ultimately a Christian and Jewish idea,
a biblical idea that changed how people think.
And, um,
and so now it's a matter of,
well, one moment,
now we can sort of ask ourselves,
like, why is it that we think these things in the past are affecting the future,
and why is it that we think that these things in the future are going to happen,
and how is it that the Christian things sort of are similar or different?
See what I mean?
Like, it changes it,
even when we're reading the Bible.
Maybe it will make us less defensive
when we talk to others.
Less embarrassed about the angular and,
to the eyes of Canadians,
kooky aspects of Christianity.
So, here's another thing.
It's going to take us a while.
You know, we're actually going to,
you know, I'm going to do a lot of preview,
and then actually we're going to go through the Bible relatively quickly.
But there's one of,
so what does the Christian story look like?
Andrew, if you could put up the first screen.
So, the Bible has an overarching story,
an overarching narrative,
an overarching understanding of what's been going on in the past,
the present, and the future.
And while, to most Canadians,
they would understand that things,
we got,
things got the way they are through evolution,
that it's just ultimately a combination of chance,
coincidence,
genetic mutation,
followed by survival of fittest,
which is just another form of chance,
a physical process.
The Christian story begins in a very, very different way.
The Christian story begins by saying
that we believe there is a God who exists,
who's created all things.
That things aren't random and by chance.
And that when God created all things,
he made all things good.
And part of the way that he made all things good
is he put within human beings
who bear the image of God
and are like God,
he put within human beings
not perfect free will,
that they can have free will in every single thing,
but substantial and real free will
and within that free will,
the ability and the necessity to love
and to trust.
And that Adam and Eve
chose not to love and trust God,
but in a sense to usurp God's position
and try to become like God themselves.
And so the first part of the big story is creation.
The second is what's known as the fall.
And that when human beings,
our ancestors, Adam and Eve, did this,
it creates a bentness in all human nature
so that all human beings who descend from Adam and Eve,
which is everybody,
that there's a fundamental bentness in us,
that we're now not right.
And so that what characterizes human existence
is two things.
On one hand,
we're made in the image of the creator God.
We bear his image and likeness.
And God didn't remove that from human beings.
He didn't turn us into tortoises
or armadillos or aardvarks.
We're human.
We still bear the image and the likeness of God,
but now that image and likeness of God is marred.
It is bent.
It is twisted.
It is not the way it was intended.
And God saw that we human beings
could not fix ourselves.
So in Genesis 3 and on,
God begins what I'm labeling as promise,
that he promises that he is going to fix
what human beings cannot fix by themselves.
And what we believe then comes next
is that Jesus is God keeping his promise.
The promises originally were to patriarchs,
like Moses and Abraham,
I got the order wrong,
and the people of Israel.
And in some ways,
even the promises is different,
other types of things,
of intimations that other people had,
that there would be some way
that God was going to fix this.
And Jesus is the coming of God,
God, the Son of God,
into our human story.
God keeping his promises
to fix what human beings cannot fix.
And that's what we have in the Gospels.
In a sense, all of the Old Testament
is what we would call that
understanding, the unfolding,
the revealing,
the preparing of the promise.
Jesus is God keeping his promise
and keeping his promise
in a surprising way.
Not in the way that
the original people thought
he was going to do it,
but that God would first deal
with the bentness in us
before he dealt with the bentness
and the fallenness
in the entire created order.
So Jesus comes to die.
He dies upon the cross.
And his death upon the cross
is, in the words of Romans,
a power of God from salvation.
It's a power of God,
from God,
for salvation,
that is accomplished
with Jesus' death upon the cross.
And now God is taking a people
for himself
when we put our faith
and trust in Jesus.
And now,
after Jesus' death
and his resurrection,
he promises he's going to come again.
And so now,
every single one of us
is living in the between.
In fact,
if you could put the next slide up.
You know how you go to a mall
and you try to figure out
where you are?
Okay?
That's where we are
in the story.
We're in the between.
The between Jesus' coming
and his second coming.
And I've labeled
his second coming
the beginning.
Because it's not only a judgment,
but it's the beginning
of the new earth
and the new heaven.
The new earth and heaven
that we will live in
for eternity.
And that's the overarching
Christian story.
And I think it's,
the older I get
and the more I talk
to people at Starbucks,
the more convinced I am
of the profound wisdom
and truthfulness
of this overarching story.
That creation and fall
and promise in Jesus
in between and beginning
makes sense of our longings
and yearnings.
It makes sense of science.
It makes sense of history.
It makes sense of knowledge.
It just,
it makes sense.
And not only does it make sense
at a whole range
of philosophical
and scientific levels
and personal
and existential levels,
but also because
of the reality
of the death upon the cross
and the historical event
that there's actually
some historical evidence
that it might be possible
that in fact Jesus
did in fact defeat death
and emerge on the far side
of death on the third day
and that therefore
if he did that,
he can return.
And it makes sense.
It's a profound,
profound story.
So,
you see,
here's what I would say
to the young guy
if I'd had a chance
to talk with him.
I mean,
first of all,
I would have had to have fought
my urge to mock him.
What,
you think you tell truth
by the calendar?
Like,
I probably would have tried
to mock him.
You know,
that doesn't work well
in conversations
when you want to woo somebody
and start mocking them.
So,
I would have had to have fought that.
But,
you know,
what you could say,
well,
why is it that you think
that history's moving
in this particular direction?
Like,
what sort of evidence
is there for it?
Because,
you see,
there's a new age saying
that if you see the Buddha
on the road,
kill him.
And,
and in a sense,
I almost thought of making a point
when you hear of a utopia
or a future,
kill it.
That's like what the Bible says.
And if you could put up
the next point,
Andrew,
it's because I think
ultimately the Bible says
that we are made in God's image
and we are fallen.
And because of that,
we presume
to know.
But,
God is sovereign
and he knows.
And this is true
for Christians
and for non-Christians.
Many,
many Christians
think that they can figure out
from the Bible
all of the intricacies
of what's going to happen
in the last days,
despite the fact
that Jesus repeatedly says
that nobody can figure it out.
That they can't.
So,
if Christians,
even reading the Bible,
have a hard time,
then how much more
will our culture
have a hard time?
That on one hand,
because they have this sense
that this overarching story,
I would suggest,
is in fact
a true historical real story.
And on one hand,
because we're made
in the image of God
and because we're fallen,
we have this sense
that it's moving somewhere,
that it's not just
a result of blind chance
and blind processes,
but there actually
is a God
and that it's moving
to some type
of a completion
and that completion matters.
But because we're fallen
and yet we bear
the image of God,
we presume to know.
We presume to know
that we're going to have
a perfect Freudian future
or a communist future
or a Nazi future
or a queer future
or a Star Trek future
or whatever it is
and we presume to know
and we try to evaluate others
all in light of it,
but the Bible
would suggest to us
that we are,
on one hand,
just like the most
ardent skeptic
and say,
you have no evidence
for any of that.
You're presuming,
you don't know.
And then to which
if somebody says to you,
George,
you don't know either
and I would say,
you are very right.
I am not claiming
that I am smarter
than anybody.
But what if there is a God
who does exist
who tells us?
What if there is a God
who exists
who tells us?
You don't have to be clever.
You just have to listen.
And no Christian
should claim
that they are more clever
than others.
We are not.
My favorite line
from Spurgeon,
we are one beggar
telling another beggar
where to find bread.
We're not farmers,
we're beggars.
So,
how does this
fit with,
we're going to actually
read the Bible.
This is very unusual.
Usually if you come
to one of my sermons,
you don't wait 19 minutes
before we actually
crack open the Bible.
It's not a lecture.
We're going to now,
hopefully with this little thing
in our background,
we'll actually be able to hear
and also sort of catch
the surprise
and the shock
in the text.
So,
if you don't have Bibles,
there's always some free Bibles
up here at the front.
And it's Luke chapter 12.
If you use an electronic
version of your Bible,
try to restrain yourself
from checking your
Facebook updates,
Twitter feed,
or anything like that
and actually just stay
with the text.
And it's Luke chapter 12
beginning at verse 34.
And sort of mindful
of the overarching big story
and the fact that
we live in a world
where in Canada
where virtually everybody
believes something's
going to be happening
in the future that matters.
And so,
it's not that Jesus
is the only one
talking about this,
but that in fact
he's just saying
something very different
than what is commonly believed.
Let's listen to what
he has to say.
Verse 34.
And by the way,
let me see here.
How many people here
are familiar with the show
Downton Abbey?
Of course.
Okay,
well you'll be all glad
to know
that I actually
spent some time
researching Downton Abbey
this week
because Downton Abbey
helps you to understand
what's about to be said.
I'm not making that up.
It's true.
Very helpful
to understanding the Bible
in this particular context.
So,
Luke chapter 12
verses 34
and following.
Jesus speaking.
For where your treasure is,
there will your heart
be also.
Say,
stay dressed for action
and keep your lamps burning.
And be like men.
And in this particular case
it doesn't mean men or women.
It means men
because it's describing
a particular type of servant.
And in Downton Abbey
it would usually be
the men
who answer the door.
Right?
Not the women.
The men answer the door.
The men escort you out.
So this actually means men here.
It doesn't mean women.
It's not
poo-pooing women.
It's just
it's the story.
If you use Downton Abbey
you'd say,
oh,
women don't go
and answer the door.
Men.
So,
stay dressed for action
and keep your lamps burning.
Be like men
who are waiting
for their master
to come home
from the wedding feast.
In the ancient days
at the time of Jesus
wedding feast
could go on for a week
or less,
a little bit less,
a little bit more.
So if the master,
if Lord Grantham
went to a wedding
back in those days
the servants wouldn't know
when he's coming back.
Okay?
Because it wouldn't show.
Is he going to get tired
of drinking
after five days?
After eight days?
Like,
how's it going to go?
Right?
So stay dressed for action
and keep your lamps burning
and be like men
who are waiting
for their master
to come home
from the wedding feast
so that they may
open the door to him
at once
when he comes
and knocks.
Blessed,
it's a beatitude,
blessed are those servants
whom the master
finds awake
when he comes.
Truly,
it's actually the word
Amen.
Amen,
I say to you.
He will,
the master
will dress himself
for service
and have them
recline at table
and he will come
and serve them.
If you're wondering
in a few verses
why on earth
it is that Peter
can't understand
what on earth
Jesus is talking about
is because of this.
If you watch
Downton Abbey,
do you think
if Lord Grantham
comes home
after eight days
of drinking
and he's pleased
to have the door open,
he's going to say,
my,
you look tired,
sit down
while I make you
a feast
and I'm going
to serve you.
Doesn't happen,
does it?
I mean,
as you know,
the Lord Grantham
and his family,
they can hardly
boil water.
This doesn't
make any sense.
This doesn't happen.
So what's going on?
Okay,
I promise
I'm not going
to skip over text.
We're going
to come back
and read it
but to understand
what's going on
we have to jump
forward a few verses.
So jump forward
to verse 49.
And here we have,
you know,
sometimes I say
to people,
I was just saying
to this,
the guy at a Starbucks
a couple of weeks ago
because he was trying
to tell me
that I was just imposing
my understanding
of what Jesus came to do
and I said,
no, no, no,
we don't have to try
to figure that out ourselves.
If you read the Gospels,
Jesus will tell you
why he came.
Like he tells you,
I'm just trying
to listen to him.
You're trying
to impose something different.
I'm just trying
to listen.
And this is one
of those statements
and it's verse 49.
Jesus speaking,
I came to cast fire
on the earth
and would that
it were already kindled.
I have a baptism
to be baptized with
and how great
is my distress
until it is accomplished.
He came
to cast fire
and to have
this baptism happen.
Now this is a bit
of an odd,
odd story.
It's an odd,
odd line.
And here you sort
of have to trust me on it
but obviously
he's already been baptized
by John the Baptist.
That happened
earlier on in Luke
and he's not obviously
talking about
what Christians do
with baptism
because that doesn't
make any sense.
He's,
in the original language,
he's using an image
from the Psalms
and the prophets
and the image
of baptism
in the Psalms
and the prophets
is an image
of being inundated
by God's judgment.
Inundated
or caught
by God's judgment.
It would be as if
you're at a beach
and a tsunami comes
and you have a sense
that not only
is there a tsunami coming,
it's going to inundate you
and it's going to crush you
and you can't run away from it
and that it's going to
overwhelm you
and completely and utterly
just,
it's going to obliterate you.
There's been some
Hollywood movies
about these tsunamis
and coming and what they do
and Jesus is saying
this tsunami
while everybody else
on the planet
is trying to run from it
and there's many,
many people,
maybe even some of you
here today,
many people that we meet
in Starbucks
and other places,
they have a sense
of impending doom.
Maybe it's the impending doom
of the entire culture.
Maybe it's the impending
doom of the entire planet.
Maybe it's just
their personal impending doom
when they have a worry
about getting some news
from the doctor
but they have this sense
of a tsunami wave
and their whole life
is a matter of
turning their back from it
and they live in the shadow
of the tsunami
which is coming
and Jesus says,
I came to walk
towards the tsunami.
I came not to be like
all of you who run from it,
who live in the fear
of the valley,
of the shadow,
of the coming tsunami.
I came to walk
towards that.
It's what I came for.
If you could put up
the point,
Jesus came to be inundated
by the judgment of God
that I deserve.
Jesus came to be inundated
by the judgment of God
that I deserve.
You read the book of Luke
from beginning to end.
It's a story.
Luke chapter 9,
Jesus first reveals
very clearly
that he's going
to Jerusalem to die,
that he came to earth
to be,
he was born,
all of that
all had a particular purpose
that he would go
to Jerusalem to die
and then to rise.
And everything that's going on
in the book of Luke
right now,
it's all while Jesus
and his disciples
are walking to Jerusalem
and Jesus in a variety
of ways
through Old Testament
allusion,
through right,
straight,
direct speech,
continually telling
the disciples,
I'm walking to Jerusalem
to die.
I'm walking to Jerusalem
towards the tsunami
of God's judgment
and I am walking
towards that
to be inundated by you.
And I'm not coming
because I myself
deserve God's judgment.
I come in love for you.
I will bear the tsunami
of God's judgment
that you deserve.
I will take your place
and bear it
in your stead.
You see,
that's why
if you were to go back
to that screen
that was up
a couple of moments ago
where you go from
creation,
fall,
promise,
Jesus is God
keeping his promise
in a way
that nobody expected
because we human beings,
we watch,
we expect
that the powerful
and the rich
have privileges.
We expect
that the powerful
and the rich
do not serve.
We expect that.
We might resent it
when we are the ones
who are under their thumb
but we also know
that if we had that money
we would expect
to have those perks
and privileges.
And so,
we project
this understanding
onto God.
That's part of our presumption.
It's part of our fear.
It's part of our fallenness
that we project
that onto God
and Jesus
is constantly
trying to tell
his followers
that no,
no,
no.
You know that story
just a few moments ago
the master comes
and he serves?
I come to serve you.
I will serve you
most profoundly
first and foremost
by walking towards
the tsunami
of God's judgment
and taking the inundation
that you deserve
and I will take
your stead.
That from beginning
to end
it's always
a matter of God
doing something
that we human beings
cannot do
and offering
a power
of salvation
and all we can do
is like beggars
receiving free bread.
Say,
Father,
I try to charm you
with my charm.
I try to do
all sorts of things
to put you
in my debt.
I try to presume
that I know more
than you do
but all I can do
is confess before you,
Father,
that I am a beggar.
I stand naked.
I have no resources.
I can only receive
that which you do,
that which you
whom I should serve,
that you would serve me
by this offer
of salvation
that I do not deserve.
See,
at the heart
of most modern stories
of how the future
is moving
are irrational
processes
and at the heart
of them
is always
that either
you get with
the program
or if you're lucky
you're like the grandmother
and you're just
in the dust bin
of history.
If you're not lucky,
violence befalls you
because if we're moving
towards the glorious
workers' paradise,
if we're moving
towards this other type
of great paradise
and you're in the way,
the hope is
that if you don't
get with the program
and don't get with it,
this irrational process
that you'll be left
in the dust bin,
but time after time
after time,
when that comes
to full flower,
it leads to the death
of the innocent.
But Christians believe
it is not blind
irrational force
but a person
and then that person
who is sovereign
and knows
also loves
and sent his son
to be inundated
by the tsunami
of God's judgment
that you and I deserve,
that that would fall
on Jesus
as he dies
upon the cross.
In fact,
actually,
in Luke's thing here,
if you look back,
verse 50,
I have a baptism
to be baptized with
and how great
is my distress
until it is accomplished.
The word there,
accomplished,
can also be translated
as finished
and it's the word
that Jesus says
from the cross.
It is finished.
It is accomplished.
It's the same word.
So,
the last week or two
I've been watching
some BBC movies
called Hinderland
about a London detective
who goes to a remote
part of Wales.
Scenery, spectacular.
Best tradition
of that type of,
you know,
depressed,
struggling detective
with demons
trying to help people.
The Welsh have
really interesting names.
The whole shows,
I find it very interesting
to watch.
But in the first episode,
the first movie,
there's a person
who goes to chapel
and she's very,
very hard on the kids
that she's supposed to be
and they make the comment
that she was always
trying to scare them
with the devil
and beat the devil
out of them
but what she was really doing
was scaring the devil
into them
and beating the devil
into them.
Now I'm not trying
to scare you
but I'm going to talk
about how it is
that our story
intersects.
Andrew,
could you go back
a couple of screens
to that thing
where we are?
There you go.
We are here.
How do you and I
get involved in this story?
Andrew,
could you put up this,
I guess it's the third screen?
I'm not saying this
to scare you.
I'm just saying this is,
if you don't understand this
you're not really hearing
what Jesus says.
That we're in the
between Jesus
and the second coming
and I'm fallen,
not perfect,
I bear the image of God
and I'm also fallen
and I have before me
a choice.
I can refuse
what Jesus has offered,
has done for me
on the cross.
I can resist
the Holy Spirit
that tries to keep
drawing me back
to Jesus
and at the end
there's a final rejection
which works both ways.
Sometimes the Bible
talks about God
rejecting us
and sometimes
the Bible talks
about us rejecting God
but it means
that we appear
before the throne of God
and we sing
with Frank Sinatra
I did it my way,
I will always do it my way,
I will never do it
other than my way
and God gives us
what we want.
The Bible describes
it as hell.
The other choice
before us
is that we accept
what Jesus did for us
and we're redeemed,
that we live a life
not saying
that we're now
redeemed by Jesus
and now after this
we just live by willpower
but we're gripped
by the gospel,
we're mindful
of the fact
that God ultimately
does something
that we can't do
for ourselves
and it's a matter
of as we're gripped
by the gospel.
It draws us
into change,
it pushes us
into change,
it enables us
to change
and then finally
either when we die
or when Jesus comes
that which we
think of as the end
but is really
the beginning
that we enter
into that.
If you want to use
more traditional
theological language,
the next screen,
my faith in Jesus
makes me justified,
mindful always
of being gripped
by the gospel
and thinking about
what Jesus did
for me in the cross
and that the power
of salvation
is not just
to justify me
but to make me
more like Jesus.
My life between now
and my death
or my life
and the coming
of Jesus
is to be sanctified
and that when I die
or when Jesus returns
I will be like him
because I will see him
like he is
and I will be glorified.
And the choice is ours.
The choice is yours.
There's a lot
in the news lately
about the Ebola crisis
and it's come
to the United States
and of course
I guess no surprise
to anybody.
I'm not saying
this to bash government.
Big organizations
and governments
are very unwieldy
and we're not prepared
for this
and we're still trying
to figure out
how to be prepared
for it.
What the Christian message
is something like this.
Imagine if all of a sudden
and maybe we discover
that some of us
have been infected
in that 21 day period
we don't realize
that we have Ebola
and we're going to
potentially die from it
but imagine
that they were to announce
that they found a cure
that's both a cure
and an immunization
and you just have
to go somewhere
and they'll give you
a needle
and it's in you
and if you have Ebola
you won't die from it
and if you don't have it
you won't get it.
And we'd all go.
We'd all go.
And what the Bible
is saying is that
when Jesus walks
towards the inundation
the tsunami
of God's judgment
that I deserve
that dying on the cross
that there's a power
of God
for salvation
that is accomplished
with his death
upon the cross
that has to get in us
and the choice is ours
that has to get in us
and if it doesn't get in us
then the normal process
will be that
which is up
and to the right
and I don't say it
to scare you
but I would not be
a faithful servant
of God's word
that's what Jesus
is talking about
here in the text
so now we're going
to go back
actually before
some of you might say
how's my time
oh sorry
we're going
getting a bit stretched
some of you might say
well okay
George
how does this faith work
you just sort of say
yeah yeah
I'll choose that
I'll choose that path
yeah sure
Jesus
whoa
I'll take that
that path
that goes
that one there
I'll choose that
justified path
it's not just a matter
of a friend of mine
Andy
who's the pastor
of Calvary Chapel
we were out
at Starbucks
the other day
and he found out
that the staff
have a secret drink
and they called it
I think they call it
Rachel Shooters
which is
you put a big dollop
of something sweet
like vanilla
and then you put
a nice dollop
of good whipped
of cream
and then you take
an espresso
and you pour
the espresso
on a spoon
to help cool it a bit
and slow it down
and it goes on top of it
and it creates a drink
with three layers
a layer of syrup
a layer of cream
and a layer of espresso
and then you take
and you do a shooter
you go
you down it
and he said
wow that's good
you get hot and bitter
warm and creamy
cool and sweet
all one after another
and a quick shot
so is just saying
yes to Jesus
just like
I'm going to try
a Rachel Shooter
you know
yeah sure
give me a shot
Jesus immediately
after verse 50
warns you about something
look at verse 50
so verse 50 says
I have a baptism
to be baptized with
and how great
is my distress
until it is accomplished
do you think
that I have come
to give peace
on earth
no I tell you
but rather division
for from now on
in one house
there will be
five divided
three against two
and two against three
they will be divided
father against son
and son against father
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother
mother-in-law against her
daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law
against mother-in-law
he also said to the crowds
so on one hand
he gives a profound warning
okay this isn't just like
trying Rachel Shooter
okay
this is about having
a new treasure
where your heart is
this is about having
a new master
where you start
to accept
that Jesus
I'm going to be
your master
it's about entering
the Jesus way
which you enter
one by one
but you walk
the Jesus way
with Jesus and others
with Jesus as your savior
and him as your lord
and that's how you walk
and on one hand
I want to warn you
that this is going to
potentially radically
change your life
if you're serious
because it's not just
a matter of trying
to shoot her
it's a matter of
turning with your heart
to accept
what only God can do
and I really do
come in
as savior
and as lord
and this will change you
you enter into
a covenant with me
that changes everything
verse 54
he said to the crowds
when you see a cloud
rising in the west
you say at once
a shower is coming
and so it happens
and when you see
the south wind blowing
you say
there will be
scorching heat
and it happens
you hypocrites
you know how to interpret
the appearance of earth
and sky
but why do you not know
how to interpret
the present time
and the word there is kairos
it's a significant moment
it's that
that point
where you go one way
or the other
why
like
I'm going to rise
from the dead
I fed the 5,000
I've walked on water
like watch
look
listen to the story
don't you understand
how this overarching story
how it speaks to longings
and yearnings within you
look at the signs
verse 57
and why do you not
judge for yourselves
what is right
as you go with your accuser
before the magistrate
make an effort
to settle with him
on the way
lest he drag you
to the judge
and the judge
hand you over
to the officer
and the officer
put you in prison
I tell you
you will never get out
until you have paid
the very last penny
and the implication
there it's a Semitic term
it means you'll never get out
since Jesus says
that's the divide
before you
so here's the thing
Andrew if you could
put up the fourth point
the Bible warns me
that when I am born again
that's what happens
when we put our faith
and trust in Jesus
it's not just like
Rachel Schuter
Jesus comes in
it's a power of God
for salvation
it's like the immunization
and the cure of Ebola
it comes into you
it changes you
when I am born again
through faith in Jesus
I may be rejected
by significant people
in my life
that might be your wife
it might be your husband
it might be your kids
it might be your boss
it might be the police
it might be the government
it might be the army
it might be your employer
Jesus wants us to know that
but he wants us
to do something else
he wants us to choose
to accept what he does
I have to wrap this up quickly
Andrew if you could put this up
I have been waiting
for over a year and a half
to put up something like this
as a sermon point
dear God
please help me to live
like a marsh wiggle
now those of you
who have read
the Narnia Chronicles
might get a bit of a hint
about what that means
but for the rest of you
I am not saying
that you should want
to be very very tall
look a bit like a frog
and a scarecrow
like eating eels
and all of that type of stuff
but here is the thing
about marsh wiggles
is that marsh wiggles
in that book
you can read
it's in the Narnia Chronicles
it's the silver chair
marsh wiggles
pay great attention
to what the master says
and are faithful
in trying to live it
and they don't spend time
thinking about
their own views
but they just want to have
deep within their heart
governing their actions
what it is
that the master says
and Jesus says
look at the signs
so now just in closing
let's go back
I told you we read
the whole text
I wasn't going to skip
over anything
let's read the whole text
verse 34
just the part
that I haven't read
for where your treasure
is there will your heart
be also
stay dressed for action
and keep your lamps burning
and be like men
who are waiting
for their master
to come home
from the wedding feast
so that they may
open the door to him
at once when he comes
and knocks
what is it saying here
it's saying that
when we put our faith
and trust in Jesus
that one of the works
of the gospel
is that Jesus
becomes our treasure
he becomes
our master
and that what is it
to be like
to be a marsh wiggle
it is to desire
to be quick to obey
quick to obey
to be ready to obey
and to be quick to obey
not because we're hoping
to impress the master
in this case
but it's in response
it's in response
to what Jesus
has done for us
on the cross
that as the gospel
grips us
we desire to
to pay attention
to Jesus
to listen to his words
to be quick to obey
blessed are those servants
whom verse 37
the master finds awake
when he comes
truly I say to you
he will dress himself
for service
and have them
recline at table
and he will come
and serve them
if he comes
in the second watch
or in the third
and finds them awake
blessed are those servants
but know this
that if the master
of the house
had known
at what hour
the thief was coming
he would not
have left his house
to be broken into
you also must be ready
for the son of man
is coming in
at an hour
you do not expect
this is telling us
that we have to remember
that Jesus is coming
and we have to remember
that we don't know
when he's coming
just that he is coming
that it's essential
to discipleship
in Canada
to believe
that he's coming
and to live our lives
in light of the fact
that he is coming
and verse 41
Peter said
Lord are you telling
this parable for us
or for all
like Jesus
Peter doesn't understand
that Jesus is going
to come back
he can't figure out
why Jesus
you're here right now
why are you talking
about coming
like I don't understand
because he doesn't
know the end of the story
and then Jesus
sort of in some ways
ignores him
because he's going
to move forward
to the baptism image
he says
who then is the faithful
and wise manager
whom his master
will sit over his household
to give them
their portion of food
at the proper time
blessed is that servant
whom his master
will find so doing
when he comes
truly I say to you
he will set him
over all his possessions
but if that servant
says to himself
my master is delayed
in coming
and begins to beat
the male and female
servants that eat
and drink
and get drunk
the master of that servant
will come on a day
when he does not expect him
and in an hour
he does not know
and will cut him in pieces
and put him with the unfaithful
it's a severe punishment
not death
because he's alive
in the next verse
and that servant
who knew his master's will
but did not get ready
for act
according to his will
will receive a severe beating
sorry it was
it's all part of 46
but the one who did not know
and did what deserved a beating
will receive a life beating
everyone to whom much was given
of him much will be required
and from him to whom
they entrusted much
they will demand the more
so what is it saying
it's saying that as we're waiting
that we're to serve others
we're to serve the church
we're to serve our community
it says that we're not to live
self-indulgent lives
or be abusive
and that we're willing
not only to be quick to obey
but to take on more
to say yes take me
not yes take her
yes take me
that's the good thing
not yeah take them
so here's just in closing
here's a final prayer
to try to wrap it all up
if we don't want to understand
if we can't understand entirely
what it means to live
like a marsh wiggle
it's a prayer that I invite you
to pray at the end with me
I'm going to say it
and then we're going to
have you all stand
and then those whom the Holy Spirit
is convicting
you can say it with me out loud
dear God
please grow in me
a humble trusting confidence
in Jesus Christ crucified
as my Savior
please grow in me
a humble trusting confidence
that Jesus will return
in glory as the Lord
please grow in me
a humble trusting doing
of what your word written says
please stand
in light of the overarching story
in light of Jesus
walking into the inundation
of God's judgment
that I deserve
in light of receiving that
Jesus is urging us
to receive what he does
that he might serve us
in this way
just as he will serve us
in a sense in heaven
as we serve him
to have a firm belief
in his second coming
and to live like a marsh wiggle
eager to hear what God says
and eager to seek to obey
not to impress Jesus
not to impress the Father
but in light
of what Jesus has done
for us in the cross
if the Holy Spirit so leads
please join with me in praying
dear God
please grow in me
a humble trusting confidence
in Jesus Christ crucified
as my Savior
please grow in me
a humble trusting confidence
that Jesus will return
in glory as the Lord
please grow in me
a humble trusting doing
of what your word written says
in Jesus' name
Amen
Liebe
Amen