Sermon 11-18-07

Old Testament – Malachi 4:1-3 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire”, says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; and they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things: says the LORD Almighty.

Epistle – 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

Gospel – Luke 21:8-11, 25-28 (The words of Jesus, speaking about those things that will proceed the second coming) He replied “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he’, and, ‘The time is near’. Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.” Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Sermon-

Suppose one day, all of a sudden, you look down and there’s fluid coming out of your skin. That would be somewhat disturbing, wouldn’t it? Not only is there fluid coming out of your skin but your heart begins pounding faster and faster, beating so fast you think it’s going to blow up! Not only that but you’re having trouble breathing, you just can’t get enough air, your muscles begin to ache and there’s dryness in your throat. Those would be terrifying events, wouldn’t they? At that point, what would you do? I’d call 911 and get transported to the hospital! But all of you have experienced those events in your life many times and it didn’t alarm you at all. You were absolutely at peace. You were at peace because, as that was happening, you were exercising! When you exercise, sweat pours out of your skin, your heart beats faster, you have trouble catching your breath and your muscles begin to ache. All of those things happen when you’re exercising, and it doesn’t terrify you one little bit because what’s happening is normal. You’re aware that it will happen ahead of time if you start exercising, and you’re in control because at any moment you can stop and things will go back to the way they were. It doesn’t shake you up at all.

That’s the same attitude God tells us to have in regard to the events going on in the world right now and events leading up to the Second Coming of Christ. In the Gospel lesson, Jesus tells us “When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened”. He tells us of the terrifying things that are going to happen, “Nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom.”

These events are happening now! “There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places.” Plagues like AIDS, cancer, and the killer cold virus that is going around now are all types of pestilence. Terrifying events, right? Jesus says that this is happening and will continue to happen. “Fearful events, great signs from heaven, men will faint from terror”, that’s how spooky things are going to be. All those things are going to happen. Terrifying events. But Jesus tells us to look at these events the same way you look at the terrifying events that happen to your body when you exercise. Don’t be frightened; don’t be concerned, they are normal.

Romans Chapters 1 and 2 tell us that all creation is groaning and flexing and not functioning correctly because we live in a sinful world. As we look forward to Jesus’ Second Coming things are going to get worse; famine, pestilence, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, global warming. But don’t get shook up by them; all these terrifying events are normal according to the God Who rules the world. They’re normal. And God has made you aware so that when these things do happen, when you hear the next news story this week about some terrifying event, you can say, “God told me this is going to happen. Good thing I was in church on Sunday!” Don’t let it shake you up. God is in control. We want, so often, to be in control of our lives; that’s why Christianity can be a stumbling block for people. We have to let God be in control of our lives and give up our desire to control. Everything in this world is about power and control and money. But if you remain in control of things, you can’t sleep at night because someone has to be awake and in control; you can’t go on vacation because someone has to stay at home and be in control. So it’s better to have God in control, He’s smarter than we are anyway. God tells us not to let the events of the world shake us up. Everything that’s going to happen is normal, He’s aware of it and He’s made us aware of it so that when it happens, we can fear not. God is in control.

God does tell us that the one thing you and I can control is our fear, “When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened.” And, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” What does Jesus mean by “redemption”? Redemption is God’s deliverance by paying a price. Jesus paid that price on the Cross with His life, shedding His blood for the forgiveness of our sins, to reconcile us to God so that we would never have to live apart from Him. When these events happen, when you hear about all the terrifying events that are happening in the world, your redemption, your eternal life in heaven, God’s presence in your life is taking place and God says, “Don’t let it shake you up, your redemption is drawing near. Do not fear!”

And to help us control our fears, God gives us an “Anti-Anxiety Exercise” The Bible tells us “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift your heads”. So let’s try this exercise: Stand up, lift your head and look up to the sky. Now return to normal position and relax. Lift your head up again, return to normal and relax, lift your head up, relax, head up and relax. So, the first thing to do when fear hits is look up, because looking up reminds you of God. Focus on God and know that God is up to something with all those terrifying events. He’s up to something, He’s doing something. They are not just random events happening out of control, God is actually doing something through those events. He’s telling you that those events are normal, He’s aware of them and He’s in control of them.

And the Epistle lesson tells us exactly what God is up to. He says “Pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored”. When the question comes up, “Why would the God of love allow all these terrifying events to happen”, you can answer that it’s specifically for this purpose, so that “the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored”. But how is God going to get people to pay attention so that the message spreads rapidly; the Good News of Jesus Christ spreads rapidly and is honored and not forgotten? People rarely follow the Lord and honor the message of the Gospel in good times. And people don’t have a tendency to grab on to God when things are just kind of ‘normal’. When things get bad people sometimes will have a tendency to turn to God, but, other times, they only get angry at God. So what is God going to do? The good times don’t work, the average times don’t work, and the bad times don’t work. The only thing that’s left is really bad times, terrible, incredibly icky times! That’s what has to happen! Terrifying events have to happen so that people get beyond their anger at God, beyond their selfishness, beyond where they think things should be. Things have to get so bad that people say, “I just want God. No matter what, I just want to grab on to God!”

When did this happen in recent history? Remember 911? People were so terrified that they flocked to churches. That’s what God is doing here, understand the whole scheme. So that the message of God spreads rapidly and is honored, He sends some pretty terrifying events in our lives and will continue to do so because “what good it is if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul”? (Mark 8:36) Remember, God will stop at nothing in order to get people to turn to Him, confess their sins and follow Jesus Christ. And the proof that God will stop at nothing in order to accomplish His message being honored and spread rapidly is what He did to His own Son - He crucified Him. God will stop at nothing to get people to turn to Him, to get people to honor Him and to get people to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That’s why all these terrifying events happened and God has made you aware of what He is doing so you can fear not. That’s why we look up; to refocus on God and what He is doing. Then we can relax. And, as soon as we relax, fear is going to hit us again so we have to look up and refocus on God. And when you look up, remember that all these terrifying events are to spread the gospel. There’s a purpose in it and you can relax.

God also says “Pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one”. As you know, sometimes the unbelievers in this world beat Christians right into the ground. So as you look up remember what God is doing through the terrifying events and pray for His deliverance and protection. God is there and you can relax.

Remember the love of God. God lets those terrifying events happen because He’s trying to draw people to Him; He wants everyone in eternity with Him. It was His great love for you and me that prompted Him to kill His own Son. That is great love. When those terrifying events happen in your life, when you’re saying, “What’s going on? I’m scared to death. God where are you?” you have to look up and remember that God cares so much about you that He killed His only Son to pay for your sins. You are not apart from His love. So as you look up, remember what God is doing through the terrifying events, pray for His deliverance and protection and remember the great love of God.

And we ask, “Well, when is deliverance going to come? It’s been weeks! I’ve been waiting!” Remember Christ’s perseverance. Christ suffered long and hard to bring about God’s plan and God was at work through all those terrifying events. He was drawing people to Him so that the Gospel could be spread rapidly and be honored. God is working today so that people would return to Him and confess sin. We need to have the patience of Christ and let God work His plan out. As you look up remember what God is doing through the terrifying events, pray for His deliverance and protection, remember the great love of God, and remember Christ’s perseverance and patience during His suffering in His terrifying events.

All those things we are reminded of when we look up, therefore we can relax. This week when you watch the news, this week when you go off to work, maybe your boss scares the living daylights out of you, maybe your neighbor, maybe your husband, wife or kids scare you, stop and do the anti-anxiety exercise - look up, refocus on God. He told you this is going to happen. It’s normal. He’s aware of it. He’s made you aware of it. God is in control and you can relax.

So, look up and remember that all these events are to spread the gospel. There’s a purpose in it and you can relax.

And then look up and pray that God would deliver you and protect you and He will. He told you to pray about it. Has he ever told you to pray about something that He’s not going to do? No. Relax.

And then look up and remember the love of God. Christ died for you and you can relax

And then look up and remember Christ’s patience and perseverance and relax.

It works; God’s anti-anxiety exercise for you.

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