8/11/24 Luke 12:32-40 “Are You Ready?”

08 Aug 8/11/24 Luke 12:32-40 “Are You Ready?”

8/11/24     Luke 12:32-40         “Are You Ready?”

This has been quite a summer for Sharon and me.  We have had the usual amount of company.  We spent some time in Florida and that is really something to do in the summer heat.  Then, of course and more importantly, we have had the normal functioning of the churches that we have served.  All these things together have kept us pretty much hopping all summer.  Looking back, I can safely say that it has been all good.  God has blest us richly and I praise the Lord for that.  One of the instructors I had in school one time said something interesting and I agree with him.  He said that everything we do should be a mission for God.  If the things that you do aren’t a mission project for God, then maybe you should rethink them.  Everything we do is a mission.  If you are working at a job or farming and it is only to make a living, then rethink this.  You should be making a living so that people around you will be more likely to know Jesus.  Jesus needs to be our focus in all aspects of our life.  Today, we are going to look at a famous passage in Luke where Jesus is telling us to be watchful.  Let’s see if you can know what to be watchful for and why you should be this way.

I would like to begin today with a question.  Have you ever really been scared?  I mean the kind of scared where you will lose or have lost everything you know.  I’m talking about the kind of scared when you found out you survived Hiroshima but you lost everything you owned plus your family.  This is the scared you have when you are rounded up like cattle and taken to death camps in WWII Germany and you survive but no one else did.  I’m talking about the kind of scared that my friend, Pastor Juhle had when he had to flee for his life in Liberia knowing that there was nothing he could do to help his family survive the onslaught from the enemy.  I don’t think that many of us have been in these types of extreme situations and I hope that we never have to.  The point is that these types of things are happening all over the world as we speak today.  Unfortunately, many times the people who are in these situations have no hope because they don’t know Jesus.  By the way, it was some time after Pastor Juhle had been in this country thinking his family was dead, that he found out that they had survived and were living in West Fargo.  Praise the Lord for this happy ending.

The first thing that Jesus says here is ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.’  Even though there are other people around, Jesus has been mainly talking to His disciples right before this. He has been telling them not to worry about anything.  Don’t be scared!  They are to seek the things of God and all will be well.  Do not be afraid, disciples, God has given you the kingdom.

Do not be afraid, all you people out there in cyberland.  This is one of the hardest commands we have to deal with in the Bible.  All the gospel writers tell us ‘Do not be afraid’ or ‘Fear not.’  Now just listen for a minute.  There is nothing wrong with a little fear if we are facing a rattlesnake or a bear or and armed robber.  These are places where a little fear could go a long ways in saving your life.  But that is not what Jesus is talking about here.  He wants you to know that you have nothing to fear in the spiritual world.  Jesus has taken care of everything there is in this area so you do not have to be afraid.

One of our biggest fears, besides public speaking, is the fear of death.  I don’t notice this too much in the churches where we have been.  I think that for the most part we have little or no fear because we all know it will happen someday.  But just think about those who don’t know Jesus.  They fear death to the point of obsession.  You all know people who are like this.  Jesus is telling them and us that you don’t have to be afraid.  Jesus has come and He has conquered death.  We will all die a physical death but there is no need for a spiritual death unless that is what you choose.  I have preached on this before.  Jesus doesn’t want anyone to go to hell and He does not send anyone to this terrible, vile place.  You are the one that chooses to go there and no one else is to blame.

Then Jesus goes on to tell the disciples to sell their possessions and give to the poor.  So to make this rag tag bunch of already poor disciples even poorer, Jesus tells them this.  The point He is trying to make to them is that they can rely on everything in Jesus.  They will not have any needs or wants that Jesus cannot take care of.  Jesus wants them to concentrate on helping others, giving and healing, and spreading the Good News to all they meet.  In this way they are laying up treasures in heaven and not here on earth.

Have you ever wondered what kind of treasures some of the leaders of the world have laid aside for heaven?  When Sadam Hussein was killing all those innocent people in Iraq, what treasures was he building up?  I think he was thoroughly surprised after his execution when he found himself facing God and Sadam had no defense.  The same goes for Hitler and Ede Amin.  These people were terrible and ended in the wrong place and it was once again their choice.

I’m glad we don’t have any dictators or serial killers or rapists in our midst that we have to worry about things like this.  I would guess that the only things we have to worry about is lying or cheating or worshipping a non-God.  I will let you figure out where you stand on your own.  I will only remind you that you are probably not as good as you think you are.  That is because we are all sinners and there are no exceptions.  Jesus came and died so that we might live on forever in eternity with Him.  That is the bottom line of all of this.

But there are things we can do here before we go home.  We can try to ease the pain of those who are persecuted or stuck in situations that seem impossible.  I think we do a fair job of helping others during the year.  I think that we can always do more.  We are coming to the time of year where we give to the children of Spirit Lake Nation, here in North Dakota.  Many of these kids are poor beyond poor.  If you made one Christmas shoe box last year, make two or three this year.  If you have gently used clothing, let’s send it to people who really need it.  The same can be said of our sewing kits, school kits and health kits.  There are lots of needy people.  Let us continue to store up our treasures in heaven.  And let’s not forget all the people right here in our own area that are hurting.  Let’s see if we can help them with food or clothing or work.  We have unemployed right here who are hurting.  Don’t forget to take a look around the neighborhood.

Then we come to the heart of the passage, the heart of life itself.  Jesus tells a parable.  When Jesus does this, you need to pay attention.  This is something that He wants you to know.  This is so important that He tells you a story, a parable to make sure you get it.  He tells you to always be dressed and have your lamps burning.  The master is away at a wedding and the servants are to always be in a state of readiness because they don’t know when he will return.  It could be early or it could be late.  I have been to many weddings.  I have found that there are some who only came to the wedding.  Some come for the wedding and the meal.  Some stayed for part of the dance and others stayed until the end.  The point is that they didn’t really know how long they would be there.  If they had servants, they would have to be ready for your return all evening.  I think that we all understand this.  By the way, we don’t have servants but our dog used to have to wait for us until after midnight.

Now when the master returns at whatever time, he will reward those who waited up for him.  The nights were cold and hard in those days.  The master would want to be let into his house after the first knock.  Then good would follow.  Matthew gives us a little bit more in his telling of this parable as he tells of the foolish servant who doesn’t wait for the master to return.  This servant will be punished by the master because the master is good.

I have given and heard many sermons on hell.  Here is an illustration that could be used.  The warning here is that if you aren’t ready, then you will be punished.  The punishment will be the withdrawal of God from your lives.  I have heard people say that Jesus rarely talks about hell but that is not the case.  Jesus doesn’t refer to hell specifically here.  He doesn’t use the word in our passage today, but He infers what will happen without naming the place.  You should be aware of this.

I’m not going to dwell on this but I will make this comment.  Many people feel that they have lots of time to come to know Jesus.  I was one of those people.  I thought that I would have lots of time to make up my mind.  I praise the Lord that I found out differently.  We don’t have lots of time at all.  The longer you wait to make this decision, the less likely you will ever make it.  A vast majority of people come to know Jesus in their teen years.  I came to know Jesus at 40.  People who don’t know Jesus by the age of 40 have something like a 5% chance that they will ever come to know Jesus.  I should be dancing in the streets with joy that Jesus opened my blocked mind because I have been richly blessed ever since.  You need to be ready at all times.

I was talking to a neighbor at the lake one summer morning.  This man was 75 years old and he told me that he and his wife had been to something like 11 funerals for their friends since January.  They were all people in their age group.  He talked on about all his friends dying and he is still here.  There is really not much to say in this situation.  All I could say was to retell this parable in his setting.  All you can do is be ready at all times.  You don’t know when our Lord and Master will come to take you home.  When my time comes, I don’t want a funeral.  I would like a celebration of my life and where I will be.

But I digress.  The interesting part of this passage comes when Jesus adds a little common sense in verse 39.  If the homeowner had known the hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.  This is just so basic, so practical and still many people miss the point.

I want to break this down a little for you to think about.  Suppose you had something like gold or diamonds in your house, something that was really valuable.  Then suppose that a thief mailed you a letter telling you that he was going to be at your house tonight at 2AM.  What would you do?  You would make sure that you were ready with the police or whatever at 2AM.  If you knew that the burglar was reliable, you might even set your alarm clock for 1:30 and get up and catch him.

But if you didn’t know when he was coming, you would do things differently.  You might have alarms installed.  You might do all the things you can so that the burglar would be caught.  In short, you would be ready all the time for him to come so that you wouldn’t lose your valuables.  This makes sense, right?

So my question is this.  If this is so straight forward, why is it that so many people are not ready?  Jesus tells us that we will not know when He will return.  We don’t know when He will come back for the second coming and we don’t know when He will be coming to take us home on a personal basis.  We don’t know.  You have to be ready at all times.  You don’t know when you will die and I praise the Lord for that because if we did know, it would be a curse.  I know that I am ready and many if not most of you are ready.  But do you know someone who isn’t ready?  They are the ones who don’t pray.  They probably don’t come to church very often or tune into this broadcast.  They don’t read their Bibles.  This is why I say these things are so important.  As the new year of church draws near, look for those who need help and help them.  Let us be a vigilant church when it comes to those who may not know Jesus.

Gary Preston tells the story about when the telegraph was the main way we communicated in this country.  A young man applied for a job as a Morse code operator.  He responded to an ad in the paper to come to this large noisy office.  In the background a telegraph clacked away.  A sign on the secretary’s desk said to fill out an application and then wait to be summoned.  He completed the form and sat down with 7 other applicants.  After a few minutes he got up and walked into the inner office.  The 7 others looked at each other wondering why this man had just walked into the inner office.  They figured that he would be in trouble for this.  Instead a man came out of the office and told the 7 others that this man had filled the job and they could go home.  These other guys were upset and said, “How is it that he gets the job?  He was the last one to arrive and no one summoned him inside.”  The employer replied, ‘All the time you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse code: “If you understand this message, then come right in.  The job is yours.”  None of you heard it or understood it.  This young man did so the job is his.’

It is the same way with Jesus.  He talks to us and are you listening?  Do you understand?  If you don’t, then make Jesus your personal God today.  Give all your sins to Him and ask Him to live in your heart.  Then you will begin to understand Him when He talks to you.  Then you will be ready for when He comes in the Second Coming.  You will be ready to go home to Jesus in heaven.  Jesus loves you so much that He gave you these simple parables so that you can learn and come to Him.  He loves us so much that He wants everyone to understand.  Let’s take this love out into the world so that others may also come to love Him.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.