Therefore Keep Watch
Matthew 24:36-51
Harry Stoliker
July 4, 2010 EBC
Therefore Keep Watch
How should an evangelical Christian celebrate the 4th of July? Should
we celebrate the same way that everyone else celebrates? Our neighbors have friends
over to their back yards, cook burgers and dogs, play "Bucket Ball" or some other
yard game, spray the kids with the garden hose, hoist a beer in recognition of 234
years of being a country, and when it's dark go watch the town fireworks. It reminds
me of Peggy Lee's old song: "Is that all there is?" For most Americans, that really
is all this national holiday amounts too. There is no deep thought connected to
this holiday.
What deep thought should be flowing through our hearts
as we recognize the 234th birthday of our country? I say
to you that our thoughts should be biblically deep. This is the
first time I've preached a sort of "God and Country" sermon
and I'll tell you why I decided on this focus. There was a convergence of three
things that I consider divine providence and no accident.
First is that the 4th of July falls on a Sunday this year.
Second is that in the course of my personal reading through the Bible,
I happen (read providentially) to begin the Book of Daniel this week.
And third we are studying the topic of eschatology,
of which the book of Daniel plays a major role in the entire OT
connection with the NT. A good friend told me this week
when I asked him to critique my sermons that sometimes I get too
ambitious! I tackle too large a block of material! Well, I guess today
I'm being too ambitious because I want to take you from Mt. 24 to
Daniel 4 and connect it with July 4th! I think
I can do it smoothly though.
Let me start with Mt. 24:36-51. The summary statement is in
V.42 "Therefore keep watch." ESV: "Therefore, stay awake."
NASB: "Be on the alert." In a nutshell, this section from V.36-Chap.
25:46 can be captured in this idea: Christ is coming so stay
awake, watch, keep alert, don't be taken by surprise. He gives life
situations that make us realize how important it is to
be vigilant, on your guard, attentive,
and conscientious in how you are living as you wait
for the glorious return of Jesus Christ.
People talk about the American Dream, but I want to talk about eschatology
and the American Stream. By that I mean the speed of American life,
the pace and the passions that dominate our culture. Most of us are
in fact already living the American Dream, we have it, we are all
richer than the majority of people on planet earth! Now
we are struggling to properly mix evangelical Christianity with the
American Stream. We are not doing such a good job at that.
Look at Mt. 24:38ff. In Noah's day the people were
not ready for the flood. It caught them unaware, by surprise.
What were they doing? They were caught in the stream of life:
eating, drinking, getting their kids married, which involved more parties and
celebrations that didn't give them the time to think deeply
about how grave their situation really was and how corrupt the world
had become and how much people needed to repent of their sin.
Look at Mt. 24:43-44. The same bell is rung! The guy gets
robbed because he was sleeping that night and wasn't on guard.
He didn't stay awake. He didn't know that was the night the robber
had pick for his neighborhood. Jesus says in V.44 that His coming should not catch
us by surprise. We need to be ready for it, even if it comes at a time we didn't
expect.
The third parable starts in V.45. It challenges us to
be like a wise servant who was in charge of a household full of other
servants. When the master returned from a long journey, he was found
doing his job, and he gets a huge promotion. The contrast
with an unwise, wicked servant begins in V.48. Don't be like
that servant who beat the other servants and spent his time getting
drunk with the drunkards. He was taken by surprise with the return of
the master. His end was hell. V.51 is frightening and gruesome.
So, what do these three vignettes of the busy citizen
in Noah's day, the respectable, hard working, home owner and the
two servants of the rich master teach us? Ans. "Be ready for the coming
of Christ!" That begs us to think about what it means to be ready!
This is what we will meditate on for a few more weeks. What really
does it mean to be ready for the coming of Christ in all areas of your life?
That takes us to Daniel 4. Please turn there. The chapter is in 3 parts:
The King's dream (V.1-18); Daniel's interpretation
of the dream (V.19-27); the Dream is fulfilled (V.28-37).
Here's a very brief synopsis of this marvelous chapter. The most powerful king
in the world at that time gets notification from God through
a dream that he'd become too proud and his kingdom was going to be
taken away from him. He dreams about an enormous tree growing up in
the center of the world, until a divine lumberjack comes and cuts
it down. The tree was the Babylonian Empire (625-539 B.C.)
Daniel comes in and does what the prophet Nathan did
to King David and says: "You are the tree!" V.22. You will
be driven from your people, lose your mind, become
like an animal for 7 times (possibly years). The question
is: "What was God teaching them through all this?" The answer is found in
V.17 "The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict,
so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the
kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the
lowliest of men."
Here's what I want you to think about around the Webber Grill today!
Here is your eschatology and politics wrapped up in one verse. "The
Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wants!"
God always has and always will bring nations into being
and put them out of being on His own divine timetable.
Jesus Christ will come again and set up His eternal Kingdom on His
own divine timetable as well!
Was Nebuchadnezzar ready to hear how Daniel interpreted his dream?
No. He was too wrapped up in pursuing the Babylonian Dream. Daniel
calls him to deep repentance in V.27 "Therefore, O king, be pleased
to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness
by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue."
Does he do it? No. A year later the judgment hits the fan. Look at V.28-29 "
All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 Twelve months later, as the
king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said,
"Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty
power and for the glory of my majesty?"
What was the end of the story for Nebuchadnezzar? It was a great ending!
He became a "Christian"- a God-worshipper! V.34ff. "At the end of that
time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored.
Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His
dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he
pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold
back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?" 36 At the same time
that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory
of my kingdom."
Now, let me tie this all together in a tight knot of application to
your life. Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming back again. Are you ready?
Are you ready in all areas of your life? Take a look at your life
in its various compartments. Today we are thinking about America,
where we have been, what we stand for, the spiritual condition
we are in as a nation. My honest question to you is this: "Are you
more American than you are Christian?" Is all the eating
and drinking and celebrating and buying
and selling and saving and vacationing
and playing and working going to consume so much of
your life that the return of Christ will catch you unready, totally
by surprise? Are you swimming at Olympic speed in the American Stream?
Jim Foran and I are readying a book with a fantastic title and subtitle.
It's by a pastor in Birmingham, AL, named David Platt. The title is
simply "Radical" and the subtitle is "Taking Back Your Faith from
the American Dream." He says that sometimes we rationalize
away the passages in Jesus' teaching that call us to a radical Christian lifestyle.
We say, "Well, Jesus didn't mean that literally, he didn't literally
want me to sell all I have and follow him."
Then Platt says: "And this is where we need to pause. Because we are
starting to redefine Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous
temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version
of Jesus we are more comfortable with. A nice middle-class,
American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism
and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus
who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationship so that
he receives all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal
devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because,
after all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced,
who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes; and who, for that matter,
wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort
and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American Dream."
P. 13
Please buy this book and read it, my friends.
Most of us will go to a backyard part today, I am. Most of us will
enjoy time with our dear friends. I will. Most of us will see some
fireworks tonight. I watch them from my backyard. Most of us might think
about our founding fathers or the history of our country.
Few probably will think deep thoughts about how badly this country
needs to repent of its enormous sin. Few will spend any time crying
out to God to send a revival on America before Christ
comes back. Perhaps, even few Christians will take an honest look at their own
lives to see if the American Dream and the American Stream
have dulled their zeal for the Coming Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Come to
your senses like King Nebuchadnezzar did!
1 Peter 4:17 "For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of
God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not
obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become
of the ungodly and the sinner."
Christians will be put under trials and persecutions so that they
can purify their faith from the pollution that will condemn the rest of the world.
The judgment of God which comes upon believers is to test and refine
their faith not to condemn them. It is an expression of God's love
not his wrath.
Matt. 24 – Dan. 4 – 4th of July… Will you put any thought
into these things today? I trust you will.
Let's pray.