 |
| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, February 22nd, 2015:
‘Waiting Well’
Good
morning. And welcome to good news in the morning. My name is Brent Russett. I am the Senior
Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church. It is my pleasure to look at some of
life’s challenges, and then bring you some good news in the morning.
I am
glad that you tuned your dial to CFRA. I want you to know that you can also
find Good News in the morning on the internet at goodnewsinthemorning.ca .
There you can hear past episodes and find interesting articles.
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This
morning I want to talk to you about waiting
well.
I
don’t believe in Murphy’s law, but sometimes I find myself living it. Murphy’s
law states that if something can go wrong, it will. If your car is going to
break down, it will do so in an awkward spot. If unexpected visitors show up to
your house it will happen at a time you least expect it, and when you are least
prepared for it.
It is
like the story told of a pastor who went
out one Saturday to visit someone from his church.. He got to the house and it
was obvious that someone was home, but nobody came to the door even though the
preacher knocked several times.
Finally, the preacher took out his
card, wrote out "Revelation 3:20" on the back of it, and stuck it in
the door.
Behold,
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I
will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me. - Revelation 3:20
The next day, the card turned up in
the collection plate. Below the preacher's message was written the following
notation: Genesis 3:10 The pastor went took the note back to his
study and looked it up. It read- I heard your voice in the garden, and I was
afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. -
Sometimes
people show up at unexpected times. I have found that true of Jesus too.
At Christmas time we celebrate his
Jesus coming to earth. Weekly in churches around the world, we celebrates that
he comes to us by His Spirit now. We with Christians around the world affirm
that Jesus will come back again.
Jesus
came, he comes to us now, and he will come again. But one of the constant
themes of scripture is that when Jesus comes when people least expect it and in
ways the people don’t expect.
It
was true 2000 years ago. He came at a time and a place where he was not
expected. It is true now. Jesus comes to us now, often quite unexpectedly. When
he comes again, the Bible says it will be like a thief in the night.
I
could tell you to expect the unexpected. But that only works for tours of a
haunted house. You know something is going to pop out at you. But it doesn’t
work so well for something that we are waiting for, for weeks and months and
years.
I
know some churches and some people who put a real emphasis on prophecy. When
you talk to them they will tell you that Jesus is coming back soon. They take a
look at the world around them and the signs of the time and they say, Jesus’
coming must be right around the corner.
Some
of you live with that reality first and foremost in your mind. I can’t disagree
with you and say, no Jesus’s coming is going to be a long way off. Because the
reality is, I don’t know. No one knows. But some of you do well to live with
anticipation of his coming.
There
are others of you for whom this is just not on your radar screen. Some of you
function as if the promise of Jesus coming back is irrelevant, or at least
irrelevant for you in this life.--- But the reality is, you don’t know – no one
knows.
Are
you anticipating Christ’s return, or ignoring the possibility of it.
There
are pitfalls for either of these ways of living. I have known people who have
believed so much in the imminent return of Christ, that they failed to live
well in the present. They made bad choices in the present because they did not
think they had a future. And when Jesus
showed up in their present, with opportunities to serve this present world,
they failed to recognize him because they were so focused on the future.
I
have known people who failed to have anticipate the Lord’s return, and they
were presumptuous about the way they lived. They lived as if they were
guaranteed 80 years. They lived as if they could turn to God whenever they
wanted, not realizing that whenever we turn to God, it is always a response to
God call us.
They
put off responding to God, because they believed they had all the time in the
world – but their hearts grew cold – and life passed them by and when it came
time to meet God in death, they had so hardened their heart to him that they
couldn’t hear him, although I was convinced that he was calling them. There is
something about living with the possibility that Christ will return soon that
helps us to live well.
So
the question is, how do we wait well for Jesus to come.
Well Jesus told this story to help us.
Matthew
25:1–13 (NLT)
“Then the Kingdom of
Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids* who took their lamps and went to meet the
bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 The
five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, 4 but
the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. 5 When
the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight they were
roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’
7 “All the bridesmaids got
up and prepared their lamps. 8 Then the five foolish ones asked
the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’
9 “But the others replied,
‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were
gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with
him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. 11 Later,
when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord!
Lord! Open the door for us!’
12 “But he called back,
‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’
13 “So you, too, must keep
watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.
The
story that he told would be an image that his hearers would readily identify
with. In first century Palestine, the wedding would be performed, and then a
processional would escort the newly married couple from the brides house to the
bridegroom`s house. This processional would often happen after dark, and the
bridesmaids we would be a part of the procession carrying torches.
But
in this story, the procession was delayed. They waited and the bridegroom
didn`t come. They became drowsy and the bridegroom didn`t come. They fell
asleep and the bridegroom didn`t come. But at midnight they were aroused by a
shout the bride groom is coming.
Let me remind you of what the Bible says about the
second coming of Christ.
1
Thessalonians 4:15–16 (NLT)
15,,We who are still living when the Lord
returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.* 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with
a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call
of God.
The Lord will return with a shout. The Bridesmaids were
aroused from their sleep with a shout.
When they awoke they all found that there lamps were starting
to flicker. They were running out of oil. But five of them were wise, and had
brought extra oil. Five of them were, the greek word is actually the basis of
our word moron. Five of them were morons, and they didn`t pack extra oil.
So their lamps are going out and they couldn`t do
anything about it. They asked to borrow some from the five who had brought
extra. But they didn`t have enough to lend. Spiritual preparedness is not transferable. Each person is responsible
for themselves.
So the foolish bridesmaids had to run off to find oil.
But by the time they got back, they had missed the processional, they were
locked out of the banquet.
The only difference between the wise and the foolish were
the fact that the wise were prepared for the wait, and the foolish were not. The question the parable pushes on us is,
are we prepared for the wait?
The answer of course is some will be and some won’t be
and spiritual preparedness is not transferable – each person is responsible for
themselves. The question then becomes, are
you prepared for the wait?
When Jesus comes back, it will not be good enough to say
if I would have been prepared if I had a better church or a better small group
or an easy life. If I had more spiritual friends or more spare time to do
spiritual things I would have been ready.
The question is, are you prepared for the wait.
I got to tell you
that question makes me uneasy. As I look around the church in North
America today, that question makes me really uneasy.
In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of the unjust judge who
gives a widow justice, just because she kept on showing up at his doorstep. She
wore him down. The lesson is to persist in prayer. But at the end of that
parable Jesus tacks on this question
Luke 18:8 (NRSV)
8 … And yet, when the
Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
When I was growing up I wondered what he was talking
about. I knew people of great faith who prayed until they prayed through. Of
course he was going to find faith. But we live in a culture where faith is
eroding – and fast.
There is prevailing belief in our culture that given
enough time science will explain everything. This is of course absurd. Science
does a great job of explaining how things work. But science does not explain
the why’s of life. It is unable to give meaning to life. That is the prevue of
faith. It is God who puts meaning into life.
We live in a culture where, if one dare suggest that Jesus is Lord, which
includes being Lord over what our lives means – we are committing a social faux
pas – that takes us out of polite society.
This thinking has filtered into the church where many
Christians believe that what they think about an issue is more authoritative
than what God says about an issue. (They are Lord over their own meaning)
Now I am not a
fundamentalist where everything in life is black and white – I get that there
are a lot of greys in life. But not everything is grey. If God says something
is black or white then we can’t change that because we don’t like it.
But often we do. And when we do our oil goes down and we
are less prepared.
In the chapter before this Matthew 24 Jesus says,
Matthew 24:10–12 (NLT)
10 And many will turn
away from me… 11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people.
12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.
Sin will be rampant, the love of many will grow cold.
When the Son of Man returns will he find faith on earth.
The question our
parable today forces on us is – are we prepared for the wait? The answer is
– in our world it is hard to wait, and the oil is burning fast. How do we get
extra oil – so that when we need it, it is there. How do we prepare for the
wait?
The first thing that we have already noticed is that no
one can do it for you. Spiritual preparedness is not transferable. It doesn’t
matter how spiritually prepared your husband or wife or mother or father is.
You cannot ride on their coat tails. You cannot borrow their oil. You must get
your own oil.
It helps if you
are around good people because we can spur each other onto love and good deeds.
But as our parable points out, we will be surrounded by people who are prepared
and people who are not prepared.
I would have you note that the wise bridesmaids carried a
heavier load to the processional. They carried the weight of the extra oil. It
also cost them something upfront. They had to purchase the oil ahead of time.
I heard Dallas Willard say, grace precludes earning, but
it does not preclude effort. In other words, we are saved by grace, we are
saved by God’s unearned favour – there is nothing that we can do to earn grace.
Jesus did all that needs to be done for our salvation.
But the fact that we can’t earn our salvation does not
mean that there is nothing to be done.
2
Peter 1:5–11 (NLT) (READ
WELL)
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s
promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral
excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and
knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and
patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with
brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like
this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are
shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old
sins.
10 So, dear brothers and
sisters,* work hard to prove that you
really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you
will never fall away. 11 Then God will give you a grand
entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Peter calls us to make every effort to respond to God’s
promises.
It cost the wise bridesmaids up front and they had to
carry a heavier load. There is an effort in preparing for the wait.
2 Peter puts it this way – make every effort to respond
to God’s promises. I like that. The Christian life is not about trying to make
yourself better. It is not about self- improvement. The Christian life is about
responding to God, to living out of faith in the promises of God, and it is God
who changes you. It is God who prepares you. It is God who gives you the
ability to wait well.
It seems that this passage would indicate that part of
waiting well, is to be ever growing in your faith. Are you growing in your
faith? I know many of you are – I know a number of you are not.
In fact the promise of God is that if you grow like this,
while you are waiting you will be productive and useful in your knowledge of
the Lord.
No one can do
those things for you – spiritual preparedness is not transferable. So the
question is, are you prepared for the wait. There will be a time when Jesus
will come for each of us. It may be with a shout and the trumpet call of God,
or it may be in death. No one knows when these things will be. We don’t know
when Jesus will come back and we don’t know the hour of our own death. In the
middle of these unknowns, we are called to wait well.
The good news is that the trumpet has not yet sounded,
and you are still living and breathing, so you have time to prepare for his
coming.
Jesus could come back this afternoon – I hope you are
ready.
There are some of you listening to
me who may never have given your life to Jesus. This morning even as I have
been talking, there is something in you that says – yes that is something that
I need to do. I need to be prepared. That is God prompting you. God has been
searching for you. He is calling you and wants you to give your life to him.
I
would encourage you to pray along with me, if that is something that you would
like to do. Pray, Lord Jesus I believe that you died for me. I am asking you to
forgive me of my sin and come into my life. I give my life to you. I understand
that you have been searching for me. I am thankful that you found me and I
found you
There are some of you who have done that. The question I
would ask you is, are you waiting well. If you knew that Jesus was going to
return in 6 months from now – or if you knew he was going to return in July 1st
long weekend – what would you do
differently now to prepare for his return. If there is something you would do
differently, then start doing it now.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, for
each person who has been waiting, I ask that you would help them to wait well. Lord,
for those who have been riding on the coattails of people around them, but haven’t
taken up their own spiritual preparedness, I ask, Lord, that you would help them
to own that, and to wait well. For those, Lord, who have just received Jesus into
their life, I ask that you would help them to grow up and mature in the faith. Lord,
thank you so much for who You are, and thank you for the fact that You love each
of us so much. I pray these things in Jesus’ name. AMEN.
“
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May
you know Jesus Christ personally and
profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside
deep within your heart . And may the
heavenly Father surround you with His constant and abiding and accompanying
love
MUSIC: I will
Rise – Chris Tomlin
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
_______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, February 22nd, 2015:
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, February 22nd, 2015:
