“Living Life At-the-Ready”

5^th Lent/Communion                                                                           04/07/19—Highland—Meute

“Living Life At-the-Ready”

Psalm 90: 1-12; 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11; Matthew 24: 3-8, 36-44; 25: 1-13

Pearl: Expecting the return of the King, Christ-followers prepare by seeing to things as they will be, now.

Function: To motivate worshippers to wisely attend to kingdom priorities now day to day so that Christ will be pleased at the Great Day of Return.

Are you ready for visitors or house guests to your home?

1. Chances are that you are not ready. Today, with both spouses working, things pile up at home and you are not ready for visitors, let alone guests.
2. This is another reason that door-to-door visitation is not nearly as well-received as it was half a century ago. When you do find time to be at home you are busy trying to maintain things, cleaning things, or just relaxing in the chance for some down time.
   1. So most are usually not ready for guests.

Yet you wish you were ready and well-prepared for guests.

Have you ever watched athletes prepare for competition? How about vocalists or musicians, or skilled craft-workers? What makes you ready?

1. I know several of you youngsters are playing baseball and softball in this wonderful time of spring.
   1. You are learning that before you start throwing and batting there are important things to do to be ready to throw and hit and run.
      1. You should start by running a few laps around the entire field in order to warm up the muscles that you will be using in different ways than usual and demanding more than usual from those muscles.
      2. After you have warmed up then you should stretch out your arms, and shoulders, and legs, and neck.

• Then you get a partner and start to throw a short distance. Then you get a little further apart and throw some more. Then you get even further apart and you throw some more at that distance.

1. It is good to spend about at least 20 minutes to a half-hour warming up.

2. It is the same with runners. If you do not warm up and stretch out then when the race begins you may take off really well and nicely but then your muscles may knot up or pull or tear. And your race will be over and you may even have a serious injury.
3. It is important that you prepare your body so that you will be prepared for the game.
4. In the same way followers of Christ live at-the-ready and prepared, always attending to the Lord Christ’s agenda and priorities.

Because ready or not here comes the King; so live “at-the-ready!”

The Church expects Christ Jesus to come again as Judge and Savior of the world to establish his righteous reign when all will be “corrected—made right—all things made new!”

1. In two of our most ancient creeds of the church, the Nicene and the Apostles, we read:
   1. “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”—Nicene.
   2. “…he shall come to judge the living and the dead”—Apostle’s.
2. These are derived from such biblical material as read from the Gospel of Matthew today. The bible contains apocalyptic literature which in part suggests a return of the Lord at a day unknown. The word “apocalypse” comes from a Greek word meaning “uncover, reveal.”
   1. At “a day unknown.” That is key. Jesus himself, when he talked about such a time, and that was rare, said it would come at an unexpected moment. That was repeated several times in chapter 24, and then in chapter 25 there are three apocalyptic parables. We read the one about the 10 bridesmaids. Also included are the parables of the talents as well as the sheep and the goats.
   2. The key element and message to learn about that future return of Christ is that it is unknown and unknowable.
   3. So therefore Christ-followers are always to be ready. Christ followers are always to be prepared for the moment of his amazing appearing!
   4. Yet down through the centuries and in my own life-time people have proclaimed themselves to be the Messiah and have led many astray.
      1. Groups of people have left their normal lives and gone away to the hills to wait because they have somehow calculated that Christ was going to return on a specific day.
      2. They were mistaken and were led astray.

• Jesus said, “About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matt. 24: 36).

3. There are no secret mysteries within the bible to decipher or cryptic details to figure out about the mysterious return of your Lord so that you will be able to be ready and prepared.
   1. You are always to live at the ready and to always be prepared for that Great Day.

So the question becomes: “What does such readiness look like?” What constitutes readiness for Jesus’ return for Christ-followers?

1. In general being ready is a matter of attending to “the priorities of the kingdom” in the here and now. I am saying through this Lenten series from Matthew that this gospel writer emphasized Jesus’ emphatic proclamation that the “kingdom of heaven was present.”
   1. There is always something to do and there are always endless needs to address in this world. Things in our world are not as they should be and they need adjusting and correcting.
      1. So this is how believers become concerned about all matters of justice in our communities, nation, and world.
      2. This is why we take an interest in having spiritual conversations with people. By listening to others and loving them, our own truths are mixed with their truths and we all learn and grow. As we are able to share our hopes in Jesus Christ, we trust God’s Spirit to be moving in and around and even at times in spite of us.
   2. The three parables in Matthew 25 suggest three things about the nature of our “readiness.”
      1. From the ten bridesmaids learn to be wise. Wisdom suggests to make the proper preparations. Give thought. Have extra batteries for your light.
         1. You are good at preparing for emergencies in your home and in your workplace and in your church. Prepare wisely for Christ’s return by doing the right things.
      2. From the parable of the talents you learn to make the most of what you have. Make the most of the resources and skills that you have to literally build heaven on earth.
         1. Two servants used what was given to them by their master and made more with what they had. One fearfully buried what was given and did not use those resources.
            1. Do not bury your abilities. Use what you have. Don’t diminish what you have. It is not what others have but it is something and it can make a difference for the sake of Christ.
               1. Use what you have and make the world better because ready or not, here comes the king!
            2. Lastly from the parable of the sheep and the goats you clearly learn that kingdom priorities include things like:
               1. Feeding the hungry;
               2. Quenching the thirsty;

• Welcoming the stranger;

1. Clothing the naked;
2. Caring for the sick;
3. Visiting the prisoner;

• To the extent that you do anything for the least of these you do it for your Lord Jesus Christ. This is the punch line of the parable.

3. Readiness and preparedness for the return of the king is giving your energies to the establishment of heaven on earth. After all, you pray for it! You should also work for it!
   1. There is so much to do it literally boggles the mind. It won’t all get done. Needs keep on popping up.
   2. Christ-followers, don’t throw up your hands in futility. Christ-followers, keep on attending and keep on working.
      1. This is what your preparation and readiness consists of.
   3. According to Matthew, Jesus said: “…you must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour (24:44)…Blessed [are those] whom [their] master will find at work when he arrives” (24:46).

The Lord’s Supper always awakens us to the presence of the King, to the presence of the Christ. This is why Jesus told his followers to remember him when you break bread and when you drink of the cup. In the most mundane ritual as a shared meal your Lord is to be remembered. In the most holy ritual he is to be remembered.

And as you remember your God you align yourselves with Christ’s new-world Way of heaven on earth.

Because ready or not, here comes the King!