THE STORY

Most of us have been raised hearing about the return of Jesus.  Among the earliest of my memories are those that deal with Jesus coming back.  I remember that, because I didn’t know who Jesus was and my brother said Jesus was going to reach out from the radio as I walked by and grab me.  My first memories of Jesus were those of fear.  That is the same brother who used to tell me that I was adopted – and my parents were secretly thinking about giving me back!

It was very good news to learn he was kidding.  But as good as that news was, the best news of all is that Jesus is coming back.  Unfortunately, this remains just a story to many Christians.  They cannot relate to it personally because they have not wrapped their minds around it to understand it.  This news ends up being more like fantasy than reality, and this causes them to completely miss the power they could otherwise have through Christ Jesus.

We have this incredible message of grace that can be realized through faith, yet we read it and the meaning doesn’t sink in.  We know that God is real, and we know that Jesus is the promised Savior.  We know everything the story tells us about Him.  We even know that Jesus is going to be coming back someday, but we do not live our lives like the story is real.  We don’t even live our lives like we even believe the story.

I think the reason we are like that is because we have a problem with eyesight.  As humans, we are nearsighted.  We focus on today because that is all we see.  We live for today because today is here.  And we forget about our eternities.  Eternity is this vague thing that many of us do not understand, and none of us can see, so we put it on the back shelves of our minds, intending to get into it later.  But the elusive “later” never arrives.

Jesus is tarrying.  He is delaying His return so that we might have every chance to get ready; to help and encourage others; and to build His kingdom.  And we think we have all kinds of time.  But, in reality – do we have all kinds of time?

 MATTHEW 24:42 says,

‘Therefore, keep watch – because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.’

The Bible is telling us that instead of living like the Second Coming will eventually happen, we should be living like it will happen.

And if we are willing to do that, we must ….

1. BE WISE

There is a song that goes; “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.”  We are here for a very short stay and then we will be on our way to our final destination; eternity.  And that has to do with the biggest problem Christians have.  We are here for a very short time, yet we act like this is all there is and that this will last forever.

We look at it that way because the physical is all we know.  We tend to focus on the trip and forget about the destination.  The bad part about that is, that is what takes our minds off Jesus and places them onto what the world offers us.  And we end up not hearing what Jesus is saying to us. 

The people who ignore the call of Jesus will be in hell forever.  What will hell be like? The Bible tells us that to be in hell is to burn forever, without any pause, but to never be consumed.  The Bible tells us that to be in hell is to be in utter darkness for eternity, all alone and forever separated from God.  The Bible says that we will all know the truth of Jesus at Judgment Day, but for those who made the wrong choice, it will be too late for them to reconsider.  And to live forever, knowing the truth, your heart aching to be with your Lord, yet burning in this lonely, dark place will be their eternity.

Those who do acknowledge Jesus as the lead in their life, however, will be spending eternity in Heaven with Him, because of God’s powerful mercy and grace.  So, the question now becomes, “ How many of us will be wise and choose His gift?”

Many of us go through life looking at our Christian life as a side dish, or a hobby, as we take care of our worldly priorities.  God expects everything in our lives to be centered on Jesus Christ.  That includes every relationship you have.  And that includes your total commitment.  God will not reward a ‘casual Christian’, because they have not made a total commitment to submit their lives to Him.

It is a human trait to be superficial.  Very few people, including Christians, have ever spent any real time at all thinking about “how” they live.  For instance, if someone were to ask you to explain how you know you are a Christian, what would you say?  Most people would say something like –

• I go to church regularly

• I read my Bible fairly regularly

• I try to live a good life

How much better of a witness it would be to answer like –

• I believe the blood of Jesus allowed for my salvation

• I have more peace now that I follow Jesus

• I have faith that Jesus is the ONLY Redeemer

We don’t answer that way most of the time, because we apply our faith where it is easy and convenient to do so.  Why do we do that?  Because we want to be faithful, but we also want to enjoy what this world offers us.  It is easier for us to ignore our faith to have our desires, than it is to ignore our desires so we can have our faith.

When we see a Christian who is living out their faith in a “sold out” way, we join the world in criticizing them as being a fanatic, or belonging to “one of those other church denominations”.  When a Christian lives their life as if Jesus could return today, we consider them an embarrassment to other Christians.

In EPHESIANS 5:15-17, we read,

“Be very careful then, how you live – not as unwise, but as wise – making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

Here is what that verse tells us:

Make the most of every opportunity.

• Do you do that?

Because the days are evil.

• Do you actually consider the days in your lives evil?

Therefore, do not be foolish.

• Would God rate the way you live as “foolish”?

Understand what the Lord’s will is.

• Do you study the word to understand what the Lord wants?

Or, do you spend your life claiming to be Christian yet not doing the things Christ has called you to do – wanting God to reward us but not giving Him any reasons for doing so?

God calls us to live wisely in light of the certain return of Jesus Christ, and He expects you to be serious about doing so.  That means you are to put Jesus as the head of your life.

There is something else all Christians need to be.  They need to ….

2. BE FOCUSED

Have you ever driven a long distance with small children in the car?  How do you focus on driving safely when every five minutes you hear, “Are we there yet?”  After awhile, this commotion makes it hard to focus properly on the trip.  How do you respond when you get unfocused like that?

How many of you would have said something like, “We’re closer now than we were the last time you asked”?  Or, the classic response, “Don’t make me stop this car!”  No matter how you would respond, it is the children who keep the most focus on a long trip.  And their focus is always and fully on the destination.

That is not a bad principle to keep in our lives, either.  Without a focus, we don’t really have a destination, do we?  And without a destination, we don’t really have any way of measuring where we are in life.  “Are we there yet” becomes nothing but the mantra for those who are lost.

C.S. Lewis wrote a book entitled, “The Screwtape Letters”.  In this book, he told of a high-ranking demon teaching a less experienced demon in the best way to keep humans from having an effective relationship with the Lord.  He says that all the old methods don’t work anymore.  He tells of how they used torture; then they threw them in dungeons; but all these did was make humans mad, and when humans got mad, well, you couldn’t do a thing with them.

He went on to say that they quit all that stuff and started a whole new approach to keeping people away from God now.  He says to pour on the good life.  Give them an income that covers way more than just the basics, and give them campers, two cars, and a job that lets them have a lot of time off.

He said when you do that to a good solid Christian family, you can then just sit back and before long they will crack like a nut.  He said they will start telling everyone just how much God has blessed them, and while they are praising God for all these things, they are planning on going to Vegas and spending some of their “blessings” at the crap table.

Or maybe he will turn on his big screen TV and do nothing at all except watch it, instead of getting up and doing anything for the Lord - or for church.  Lewis went on to write that if the demons keep pouring on the good life every week, pretty soon the Christians will be so busy they will have no more time for God.

Do you know what the sad part about all this is?  It works.  It works very well.  Satan has never lost a country yet that he has gone after.  To prove that, all you have to do is look at what is happening across the globe. 

Christ is being taken out of society, laws against the Bible are being adopted, and mega churches who have been abundantly blessed with people, money, and resources focus more on overcoming your social problems than they do overcoming the sin I your life and receiving salvation.  It seems some of us have even kicked Jesus out of His church.

The devil doesn’t care if you go to church every week.  In fact, he wants you to.  He wants you to go to church all the time, and he wants you to be so busy you have no time to worship the Lord.  He wants you to live the superficial life; the life where the only focus you have is on the moment at hand.  He desperately wants you to be a “casual Christian”.

God wants us to live our life focused on our Savior, Jesus Christ.  And make no mistake about this; He fully expects us to live a life that is totally sold out for Jesus.

We must have faith to keep our focus on our destination.  Sometimes, I think we don’t fully understand what it means to have faith.  For that reason, I sometimes believe we don’t understand what it means to have true focus, either.  We have had the good life so long, we have all but forgotten what it means to work at anything.  This might explain what it would mean to have true focus.

The U.S. Marine Corps conducts a secret sniper program in Quantico, Virginia.  It is aptly called ‘Sniper Camp’.  The school admits 25 men every eight weeks where they are expected to work hard for 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Very few men pass this course.  It is an incredibly tough thing to go through!

To graduate, each person goes on a mock mission into a specific area.  After they get imbedded in that area, the instructors go to that area and try to find them.  If they do find him, the person fails the course.  It takes a great amount of focus to keep from being found.

To get in range of his target, a sniper moves very slowly.  It is not uncommon for a sniper to move along at the rate of one inch per hour.  Sometimes, the sniper will lie absolutely still for one or two days without moving at all, despite the inspect bites, the cold weather, and the fear of such things as snakes.  Without that total focus on their destination, they would never graduate.

If you think about it, we expect that same kind of intense focus on everyone who does well in our society.  We demand that committed focus from doctors, judges, athletes, and even preachers.  But do you realize that there is somebody who expects that same type of focus from you?

The moment we declare our self a Christian, God starts expecting that intense focus from you on His Son.  And you know what?  God deserves that type of dedication from each one of us.

The sad part is most of us never have that kind of focus because we don’t think it is really necessary.  What the average Christian does is get really comfortable and then - stops.  They remain at that point and make up all kinds of things to justify why they don’t give any more to the Lord.  They focus on their desires; their comfort level, and their need: All to the exclusion of the needs and desires of Jesus.

Hell is a lonely place for those who chose to walk alone.  But I want each of you to remember something this morning.

3. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ALONE

Have you ever been going somewhere and had to turn around for some reason?  Maybe you had to turn around because you forgot something, or because you got lost and had to retrace your steps back to where you started.  It isn’t that hard to turn around and start over, is it?

Did you know we serve a God who loves us so much; He gives us the opportunity to make a U-turn in our lives?  We all have a “do-over” coming.  The Lord has given us the chance to redeem ourselves through the blood of Jesus, but the devil keeps telling us we are too bad, too far gone, or some other lie, and too many of us believe what he says.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.  Believe in His mercy and grace.  And be willing to focus your end destination instead of your trip.

EPHESIANS 2:8-9 – says in part

‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith …’

We are called to have faith in the fact that Jesus will come back a second time to gather His flock and take them with Him. When that day comes, Jesus will appear with the clap of noise that will be heard around the world!  Every person will hear it.

Some time ago a man was staying in the Swiss Alps.  Early one morning he heard what sounded like an earthquake.  Hurriedly he got out of bed and ran to the front desk and asked if there was something wrong, if the mountains were breaking up?  He was scared.  The man at the front desk explained that they were on the west side of the mountain, and as the sun came up on the east side, it warmed the ice and there would be series of loud cracking noises as the ice expanded.  He said, :It’s not the end of the world, it’s just the beginning of a new day.” 

The last half of HEBREWS 9:28 – tells us

‘… and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.’

When Jesus does come back, it will not be the end for those who have chosen to follow Christ; it will be the beginning of their new day.

And as we ready ourselves for that day, it is vital to remember we are not alone.  We have Christ in our hearts, and because He loved us so much, we are now able to love Him.

Several years ago, a team of American missionaries went to the northern-most parts of Russia to teach moral ethics according to biblical standards.  They taught in fire stations, police stations, schools, and finally an orphanage.

When they got to the orphanage, they began to tell the story of Jesus’ birth to children who had never heard it before.  According to their journal, the kids sat on the edge of their chairs grabbing on to every word, just like we would a mystery.

When the missionaries had finished telling about the birth of Jesus, they gave the orphans some tools to make a manger so they could better identify with the story.  They were given strips of yellow napkin for the hay, small cardboard pieces to make the manger from, and they were given pieces of felt that they could fashion a baby Jesus.

As the orphans sat on the floor making the mangers, the missionaries moved about them seeing how they were doing.  Everybody seemed to be getting along just fine until one missionary reached a little boy named Mishka.

Mishka had finished, but instead of one baby in the manger, there were two.  When asked to explain, Mishka repeated the story perfectly right on up to where Jesus was in the manger, and then he left the story and with the wide-eyed anticipation that only an innocent child could have, he began making up his own story ending.

“And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay.  I told him I have no momma and I have no papa, so I have no place to stay.

Then Jesus told me I could stay with him.  But I told him I couldn’t because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did.  But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift.  I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift.

So I asked Jesus, “If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?”  Jesus told me, “If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.  So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him – for always, and always.”

As little Mishka finished his story, his eyes overflowed with tears.  He put his hands over his face, his head dropped to the table, and his shoulders shook as he sobbed the cry of one who has for the first time found the blessing of true love.

The little orphan boy who had never known what it was like to be loved or cared for, had finally found someone who did love and care for him.  Someone who promised to never abandon or abuse him; someone who would stay with him – FOR ALWAYS AND ALWAYS!”

Jesus sacrificed His life for us, but He doesn’t expect you to give up your life for Him.  What He does expect, however, is that you sacrifice your walk in the world for Him.  He expects you to realize that He is more important to you than those things you ignore Him for.

Do you love Him enough to sacrifice yourself for Him by being sold out to Him; by wanting desperately to give to Him; by searching for ways to please Him?

Mishka did.  A young orphan boy loved Jesus so much it made Him sob; his little heart ached and yearned to give something to Jesus; and for the first time in his young life, he felt good.  – really good.

When we truly love Jesus, we have an ache in our hearts that will only be satisfied when we are with Him.  And that day will come when He returns to gather us up with Him.  He will return, but will we be ready? 

Will the Praise Team please come forward?

As we eagerly await Jesus’ return, we need to be wise.  Wise enough to know that the things we have been taught are not just a story from a book, but the prophecy of the truth; the only truth in the world. And we need to be focused enough to follow that prophecy in our daily lives.

I ask today that you take just a moment and get off this merry-go-round of life and honestly analyze your life.  Are you where you should be with Jesus right now?  If Jesus came today, would you be going with Him, or would you ask for just a little more time to get ready?

The most important thing you can do in your life is to fully realize that the story of Jesus' return is not just a story - it is true and it is going to happen.  He will come back and gather us up.  But when He does, will you be ready to go with Him?

INVITATION