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Address:
First Baptist Church, Ashland
800 Thompson Street
Ashland, VA 23005
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E-mail: fbcashland@verizon.com

Sermon for Sunday, December 2, 2007

“Sooner or Later — Whichever Comes First”
Matthew 24:36-44; Romans 13:11-14

Pastor Charles Poole once made the suggestion that the first candle of Advent should be yellow instead of purple. You know as well as I that yellow is often found as a blinking, flashing warning light. When you and I run a yellow traffic light, we know it is a sign of caution and warning. In churches that follow the New Testament scriptures for the Advent season, the scriptures for the first Sunday of Advent are always scriptures of warning and the warning is always the same.

In Mark, the warning goes this way: “Keep awake, beware, stay alert for you do not know when the time will come.” In Luke’s gospel, it goes this way, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with the worries of life…be alert at all times.” And today we heard Matthew’s voice: “Two will be in the field, one will be taken and one will be left…Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know what day the Lord is coming.”

Every year, year after year, on the first Sunday of Advent the warning is the same: Some day is going to be the last day. The Jesus who came once is the Christ who will come again sooner or later. But we don’t have forever. The end is near. So stay awake. Be alert. Stay ready.

Why are we beginning at the end of Matthew when Advent is preparation for the beginning of the life and ministry of Jesus? The key issue in these texts (Matthew, Mark and Luke) is that we need to be ready for the arrival of Christ. The text is the ‘coming again’ of Christ at the end of time, but this should serve to call us to attention. Matthew’s scripture almost shouts at us: “Keep awake! You don’t know when Christ will show up at your front door!” (v. 42)

That word has been proclaimed from one Advent to the next. You have heard the annual warning to wake up and be alert because the end of time is near. Now I hear you saying, “yeah, yeah. You’ve said it before and you’ll probably say it again and other preachers have also said it for years. Jesus is coming soon. We better be ready and alert. Hear the warning. See the yellow light flashing!”

And it is true. The New Testament writers expected the imminent return of Jesus — a return that did not happen in their life times and has not happened yet. It has been a couple of thousand years or so and it hasn’t happened. Jesus has not returned but that doesn’t change the reality because we know that the end of time comes for someone, every day. We may not yet have had a second coming, but the end of time comes all the time. Too many of you understand that from a personal level that pierces right to the center of your heart and soul.

When we read those words resounding from Matthew’s pen — “two will be in the field, one will be taken and one will be left,” you need to know that it happens all the time. Happens every day. Every day is the last day for someone, somewhere. Every day, two are in marriage, one is taken and one is left. Every day, in a nursing home, a hospital room, an emergency room, one is taken and one is left. Every day, two are making plans for tomorrow and one is taken while another is left.

It happens all the time. It is a reminder of how fragile life is. Just ask our fellow Christians at Independence Christian church. One day they had a pastor and in the twinkling of an eye, he was gone. Just ask maybe even the person you are sitting next to this morning.

We may not be here for the second coming, but we will be here for the end of time. So we have to wake up and get ready and live as though someday will be the last day. It just that we don’t know when.

If we take what Jesus says in the gospel story from Matthew, “You do not know at what time your Lord is coming” and what Paul says to the Romans, “You know what time it is, it is now the moment for you to wake up, because your salvation is nearer now than it used to be” and add them together, what we end up with is what we know and what we don’t know.

What we do know is that someday will be the last day either because Jesus will come or because we will go. What we don’t know is the time — which day will be the last day. What we don’t know is how near we are to the end of the time of our lives. So we have to wake up. We have to stop living as though we have forever. The end of time will come in our lifetime. It comes once in everyone’s lifetime. To be wrapped in that truth that there will be an end of time in my lifetime and your lifetime is the first step toward getting ready for the advent of our Lord.

It means we have to repent of all smallness, misplaced priorities, careless and mean words as well as the bigness that has separated us from the Father and give ourselves to God and live as though we are people who do not have an unlimited supply of days to do good. We must begin to live each day as though someday will be the last day.

Maybe it would be good if we put to memory or at least a daily reading of what Paul wrote to the Romans. It is a brief passage: Read Romans 13:11-14.

If we read and let that word dwell richly in us, then maybe we will be more ready for Christ to come. And even if he doesn’t return in our lifetime, perhaps the words will open our hearts and shape our minds in some quiet, powerful way that we might have missed. So wake up, the yellow light is flashing, it is later than it has ever been! Of course, it is.

And it is in that sense of urgency and alertness that He invites you to His table. He will come sooner or later. Won’t you come?

— Robert Thompson
Pastor
First Baptist Church, Ashland

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