T.M.I.
Luke 21:5-19
November 17, 2013
Fundamentalism
has become a force in almost every major religion. You will find it in Islam, Judaism, Hinduism,
and in Christianity. Although the
followers of each have strong and opposing views on the nature of God and
humanity, sin and salvation, they do share one common conviction – the world is
changing too fast and that’s why they want to hold onto the tried and
true.
Sometimes I
feel the same way. Every time I’m forced
to learn a new computer program because the manufacturer no longer supports the
old one, the one I bought only three years ago, I ask, “What was wrong with the
old one? I liked the old one. I
understood it. Why did they have to
change it? Now I have to start all over and learn something new?”
Old ways are
comforting and change can be unsettling, but, get used to it. It is inevitable and it is accelerating. There are people here today who remember
horse and buggies, telephones you had to crank and movies that had no
sound. In one lifetime we’ve gone from
Wilbur and Orville Wright flying a hundred feet over a sand dune in Kitty Hawk
to Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.
Who knows what kinds of changes my children will see in their lifetimes? That is just technology. Consider the changes in views and lifestyles
and it will make your head spin.
In our
scripture today Jesus speaks of the things that change and the things that
don’t and you might be surprised about which is which. Before we try to figure that out, let us
pray:
Lord, we live
in a world of constant change; some good, some bad and some in-between and
sometimes it is hard to know which is which.
Grant us wisdom so that we can know what to hold onto and courage to let
go what we should. Amen.
Anyone
approaching Jerusalem in Jesus’ day couldn’t help but gawk at Herod’s Temple
erupting from Mount Zion. Josephus, a
historian of the day said it was built of stone and marble, fifteen stories
high, and covered with gold. When sun’s
rays reflected off it you had to squint and cover your eyes. It was a symbol of Israel’s faith and wealth
and power; the National Cathedral, White House and Wall Street all rolled up
into one. So, it was a source of great
pride for the people. No matter what
kind of hovel you lived in, no matter that the Romans ruled your nation, you
could still point to the Temple and say with pride, “Look at what we built!”
Jesus had just
come to town riding on the back of a donkey to a cheering crowed waving Palm
Branches and some of his disciples had to be impressed with the sight. They were small town fisherman and farmers so
the Temple made a big impression. Still under construction, they had to be
overwhelmed by foundation stones, which were huge and skillfully cut. You can still see them today in the western
or “wailing wall” in Jerusalem. Not only
was the Temple built to last, it was also dedicated to God so Peter and Andrew,
James and John quite naturally concluded that the Lord would watch over it -
protect it. They thought it would stand for a thousand years.
So they were
more than a little surprised to hear Jesus say, “the days will come when one
stone will not be left upon another.”[1] If you are looking for
something that will endure – this isn’t it.
If you are looking for something that will not change – look somewhere
else.
The disciples,
naturally incredulous and curious, asked Jesus when this catastrophe would take
place. They wanted a sign, a warning, so
that they could get ready, or at least skip worship that day.
All of us are
interested in the future, and wouldn’t mind knowing what’s going to come around
the next corner as long as it will be good news. If it will be bad, we’d just as soon not
know. Peter and Andrew and the rest may
have been thinking the same thing when Jesus told them what to look for. They may have been sorry they asked.
First, Jesus
said, beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and
say, “I am he!” and “The time is near!” Do not go after them.[2] “Not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord”, will
enter into the Kingdom of God.”[3] There will be those who claim to speak for
God but do not, who will use the name of God to garner votes or gather
disciples or even call for violence.
Clearly, truth
mattered to Jesus. He did not take the
view that “all roads lead to heaven” or “It doesn’t matter what you believe or
who you follow as long as you’re sincere.”
He did not diminish the importance of the decisions we make. They do matter, he said so choose wisely the
kind of life you will lead and for what you might be willing to die, because
that is what separates opinion from faith.
The Apostle
Paul spoke of this as well in a verse that sounds vaguely familiar, “The time
will come”, he said, “when people will be lovers of themselves and so lovers of
money, boasting and arrogant, abusive and unholy, haters of good and lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness
but denying its power. Avoid them!”[4]
That last part
helps us discern between the true and false prophets that Jesus described. There are those who hold the outward form of
godliness, but deny its power.
When you listen
to a preacher, this preacher, or any other, the question you should always be
asking is, “Do these words spring from God’s Word or is the resemblance merely
coincidental?” Is the sermon shaped by
the Word of God or does it try to fashion the Word into the preacher’s own
image? Is the preacher really trying to discern the voice of God or is he just
enamored by the sound of his own voice?
Does it just hold the outward form of godliness, but deny its
power? That’s one way we can know the
difference between those who seek the truth and those who will settle for a lie
that sells.
That we hear
from so many today who seem so willing to package faith and market it in the
same way we sell soap indicates we may be closer to the end than we are to the
beginning. When some seek only of the
rewards of faith but ignore its responsibilities, Paul’s prophecy hits close to
home. “For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching,
but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit
their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth to wander
away to myths.”[5]
So, if a
preacher says something that raises your blood pressure, your first question
should be, “Is that really in the Bible, and is it being rightly
interpreted? Maybe we should have a talk
about this.” That’s what it should be.
But, for many, the first question is, “Where’s the nearest exit?” or
“Where’s a church that will say what I want to hear?” If that’s the case, Jesus said, you’ve come
upon one of these signs that indicate you may be closer to the end of faith
than to its beginning.
Understanding
the next road sign is even more difficult than the first because it is so
dramatic. “When you hear of wars and
rumors of wars, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first.”[6] Jesus held no Polyanna view of the
world. He knew that as long as sin
existed conflicts would endure and these would be resolved through war.
I was born during the back end of the Korean
War, and in my lifetime have seen the Viet Nam War, the Cold War, the Persian
Gulf War, and the War in Afghanistan and
the war in Iraq. Terror has been
part and parcel of the human existence and will be forever captured in the
images of twin towers crashing to the ground.
Even so, Jesus says, “Do not be terrified.”
How in the
world do you do that? How do we face all we face in this world and not be a
little terrified? How do you pick up the
newspaper in the morning and not be a little worried? How do you go to the hospital or funeral home
and not be a little afraid?
One preacher put it this way, “Scripture is clear, this is
possible only for those who are convinced that something decisive has happened
in the life and death of Christ, that God has entered our world and -- despite
what we do with the world -- will not desert us. There is no way to think about
the future realistically without thinking with faith in the fact of God’s
loving grasp on the future.”[7] That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “Let
not your hearts be troubled and neither let them be afraid. Believe in God, believe also in me.”[8]
These dark
times and difficult day will give us, he said, an opportunity to testify.”[9] For it is during the dark times that God’s
light shines more brightly. It is during
the difficult day when faith is tested do we learn whether or not it is real.
That is
something all of us are looking for. In
today’s Internet age, accumulating information is as easy as typing a few words
into a search engine. Instantly, your
computer will tell you how many “hits” you have. What it will not do is tell you what is
important and what is not. That you have
to figure out for yourself, and ironically, the more you know, the harder that
becomes. When I was eighteen I
understood the way the world works much more clearly than I do now, and that’s
not because I was wiser then – I just didn’t know as much.
We even have
terms to describe that today, “information overload” or “paralysis by
analysis”. T.M.I. doesn’t mean Three Mile Island. It is too much information.
Knowledge and wisdom have always been two different things. Job understood this implicitly, but it took
the kind of catastrophe Jesus described in this passage that prompted him to
even ask the question, “Where shall wisdom be found?” By this point in his life he learned that it
wouldn’t be found in his checkbook or family album. It wouldn’t be found in
thick walls and a ready defense, because all of these things can change in a
dark moment or difficult days. So, Job
finally concludes, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and to
depart from evil is understanding.”[10]
In other words,
even though the great Temple of Herod may be destroyed and twin towers cast
down, God remains faithful so “not a hair of your head will perish.”[11] “Jesus Christ is the one who remains the same
yesterday, and today and forever.”[12]
Live with that
conviction; find that faith that endures and the Bible says, “you will gain
your soul.”[13] Let that be your testimony. God rules the world and nations do not. The Lordship of Christ has been established
and will one day be completely fulfilled in “a new heaven and a new earth. God will dwell with us and wipe away every
tear. Death shall be no more, mourning
and crying a pain will be no more for the first things will have passed away.”[14]
Let us pray:
For those who
face dark moments and difficult days, we pray your comfort O Lord. For those facing confusing times and
difficult questions, we ask your wisdom.
For those who feel weak and heavy laden lend your strength. For our world, O Lord, grant us thy peace. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment