Remaining Steadfast
Sermon for
November 14, 2004
1. Good Morning! Let’s pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening Comments: The Lord says to us “My plans for you are
peace and not disaster; when you call on me, I will listen to you, and I will
bring you back to the place from which I exiled you. (Jer.
29:11,12,14).
God has a plan for you and me – a calling upon our lives – a calling
which will bring us ultimately to His side – to infinite peace.
This morning God wants to remind us that what we see with our eyes
isn’t all that there is – there’s much much more
and it’s only as we open the eyes of our hearts to Him that we will begin to
see into this other more real world and with this seeing to enter in to the bigger story – the real story that God
is calling us into. Not the story that
this world wants to seduce us with – not the story that tells us that this is
all there is and calls us to the smaller story of making the best of what we’ve
got in this world here and now.
But to enter into this bigger story we must believe in it and we must act! To not act is to be sucked into the quagmire of the smaller story of this world.
What am I getting at here? Last Sunday we reflected on the religion of Secularism which wants us to believe that this is all there is and no more. This religion incarcerates us within the steel walled jail of ourselves. OUR wants and desires become the measure of our existence. This is it – this is all there is!
This false religion – this lie from hell - has seduced many and unfortunately has infected most of us with it’s cancerous malignancy. And so this morning our sovereign Lord is going to apply the keimotheraphy, as it were, of His Word and draw us into the health of His plans for our lives.
Please turn with me now to the Gospel of Luke chapter 21 verses 5 through 19 and let’s draw deeply upon the healing balm of His Holy Word shall we?
Now keep in mind that Jesus is within days of His betrayal and terrible death and is working hard to get His disciples ready for all of this. This then is not a time for banal niceties but rather it’s a time for real truth, indeed even hard truth! And this is precisely what we’re about to hear.
We are now His disciples and He’s getting us ready for the challenges that lay before us – Are we ready?
The scene is
Jesus with His disciples at the magnificent
“In the
Temple the pillars of the porches and of the cloisters were columns of white
marble, forty feet high, each made of one single block of stone. Of the ornaments, the most famous was the
great vine made of solid gold, each of whose clusters was as tall as a
man. The finest description of the
Temple as it stood in the time of Jesus is in Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, book 5, secion 5. At one
point he writes, ‘The outward face of the Temple in its front wanted nothing
that was likely to surprise either man’s minds or their eyes, for it was
covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising
of the sin, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced
themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have
done at the sun’s own rays. But the
Temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain
covered with snow, for, as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were
exceeding white.’ To the Jews it was
unthinkable that the glory of the
3. Focus on Scripture: It was here standing in the magnificence of this awesome Temple that we hear the disciples commenting upon the wonder of this spectacle – but more interestingly we hear God incarnate’s response. Let’s read now from Luke chapter 21 beginning at verse 5:
Luke 21:5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple
was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus
said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come
when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown
down.” Think about what
Jesus just said . . . what was He revealing about Himself? He was no mere mortal – no mere carpenter –
but is there such a thing as a mere man anyway?
But certainly Jesus was revealing His capacity to see into the
future. In fact, Jesus was seeing the
eventual annihilation of
Do you think
Jesus, our Lord, can see into your future and mine? Of course He can. God is the God of history – there are no
surprises to God Almighty!
Now think about
that – God our beloved Father knows our future – our particular futures and is discipling us through them – what assumption then could we
make from this? That we can rest in His
sovereign power and care. You see, the life of the faithful and steadfast Christian is to
become increasingly “serene” – Ah! The
natural result of much “Homilia” – prayer – our
intimate and ongoing conversation with God or more profoundly – our intimate
living together with God our heavenly Father!
Let’s read on
remembering that Jesus has just told His disciples not to be overwhelmed with
this world – ah! He is confronting the
lie of the Evil one – that this place is all there is and it’s wonderful! But Jesus says – NO! this will all pass
and rot away but the Kingdom – the Brotherhood and Sisterhood in the
Let’s read on but
listen for the all too natural tendency to control what could be
frightening. What they’re really saying
is “OK Lord help us to get ready for this eventuality
– how much time do we have? Listen to
their questions:
Luke 21:7 “Teacher,” they asked,
“when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are
about to take place?” Can’t you hear
yourself – “When Lord are you going to bring me home? What’s ultimately going to take me? Is it going to be easy or hard? And so on – OH how we want to control our
lives. But listen to His reply:
Luke 21:8 He replied: “Watch
out that you’re not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’
and, ‘The time is near.’ What He’s really saying here is that some
will answer that question – the when and who and what questions – but they’re
charlatans – false gods! Don’t listen to
them. Listen to Him:
Don’t follow
them. 9 When you hear of wars and
revolutions, don’t be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end
will not come right away.”
Luke 21:10 Then he said to them:
“Nation will rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in
various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
Luke 21:12 “But before all this, they will
lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and
prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account
of my name. 13 This will result
in your being witnesses to them. What’s Jesus
telling us here? Yes, persecution is an
inevitable part of our holy pilgrimage.
How much have you been persecuted for your belief lately? But perhaps more revealing – How many people
even know that you’re pro-life and don’t at all believe in same-sex
marriages? How many people around you
know that every Sunday you eat God incarnate’s blood
and eat His flesh?
Do you get my meaning? How
visible are you in “your” marketplace as a Christian? For you will most certainly be persecuted by
the world who hates the fact that you, by your very presence, point beyond
their world to the real and glorious world beyond – to a Kingdom of God which
is inexorably coming and establishing itself here on earth!
Now what’s Jesus
advice to us who will most certainly be persecuted? Reading from verse 14:
14 But make up your
mind (Literally make up in your heart –
you see this sort of determination comes from the heart) – so make up your
heart not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. Wow!
Don’t worry about what you’re going to say! That sounds so nice but how many of us
“rehearse” our lines during sleepless nights before an impending confrontation
the next day at school or work – or perhaps even in our family?
We want to make
sure we’re well rehearsed but Jesus – who can see into the future has one other
capacity He is going to give to us – what is it? Look with me at verse 15:
Don’t worry about
what you’re going to say when they attack you – why? Verse 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of
your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. Wow!
We’re not alone in this battle!
He is with us and He’s not a silent partner – He’s giving us the lines
from heaven to say in response! The
Words and Wisdom of the Lord of the Universe!
Wow! Do we really believe this?
Can you imagine
yourself under attack say at work – someone has taken upon themselves to rid
their work place of any soppy Christians and you’re their test project. They’re doing everything that they possibly
can to expose you for the bigot you are – to embarrass you and to draw out the
absolute worst in you. But do they know
that they have just taken on the Lord of this Universe for He has promised that
He will be with us always to the very end of the age and He will even give us
the very words and the necessary wisdom to dash any and all of their strategies
– Wow!! Do you really believe this?
What does “believing this” do for you and me? Come on now! It has to make us more audacious – more willing to risk it all for Him – Listen to Paul’s audacity:
2Tim. 1:12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed,
and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that
day.
But now let’s listen to the closing 3 verses – for it’s here that we learn our role in all of this:
16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 All men will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By standing firm you will gain life.
4. What does all of
this mean? What is Jesus saying here? They may
kill your body but I will give you back a resurrected body with all of the
hairs on it that you had before – they can’t ultimately take away from you what
I can and will preserve!
Do you see what Jesus is saying here? We’re ultimately safe – completely safe! Completely secure in Him who knows the future and is about to conquer the ultimate enemy – death, very soon!
Don’t worry my friends – you’re safe and secure in my love! All is well and will always be well. O, yes, you’ll have troubles – indeed, your very lives may be taken from you – but only for a split second! For I will give them back to you immediately – Life, you see, is in My hands and nobody elses!
But we must “Stand
Firm!” - e˙n
thØv uJpomonhØv – in the staying
or endurance! uJpomonh/ - is the capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances —
‘endurance, being able to endure.’
Plato and Aristotle analyzed hypomone and
established the conception of it that would hold for the entire Greek
tradition. Plato asked, “In what does courage (andreia) consist?” and answered
that it is “a certain endurance of soul (karteria tes psyches ) . . . one of the noblest things.
. . . It is endurance (karteria
) accompanied by wisdom that is noble.”
So there’s a nobility associated with endurance
– with our staying!
For Aristotle hypomone is a
virtue, because it’s a noble thing to keep to the mean in difficult
circumstances: “one endures (hypomenon ) despite the fear that one feels . . . for the beauty of
the deed.”
This word implies self-mastery:
one contains oneself, one bears, endures, and perseveres, It also has about it the sense of
expectant waiting or of patience motivated by hope. It “hangs in there come” hell or high water!
And so Jesus is calling you and
me to “Stand firm” to hang in there to the end!
This sounds like something He
is expecting from us – courage – steadfastness!
Born out of our trust
in who God is and our ongoing “Homilia” with Him! –
born out of our ongoing intimate communion with Him!
Why is this? It’s as we commune with Him that we
experience His closeness – remember verse 15: For I will give you words and wisdom that
none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict! He
will give us the very words we will need to win the day!
5. Application:
OK! So what does this really mean
to you and me today as Disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ?
It means Jesus
will come to us and will give to us all that we will ever need to fight the fight
that is ours but our role – our contribution to this struggle is our
faithfulness and steadfastness! We must
stay – hold our post – endure the attacks of the enemy. We must hold fast and remain faithful to Him
and 19 By standing firm we will gain life eternal! Amen and Amen!
Let’s Pray . . .