Transcription
Okay friends, uh we are continuing today in our series to the book of Luke. And we're in the part of the book where again, if you've been following uh with us the past few months, the tension between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day are starting to really, really heat up. And Jesus is currently in the middle of dishing out a very long monologue against the religious leaders of the day. A monologue that was so long we had to break it down to three different sermons.
Okay, if you've been with us, we study the first part of that monologue two Sundays ago where we see Jesus rebuke the religious leaders of his day for for their fake religiosity. Jesus rebuked them for serving God, not for God, but really for themselves. They were all in it for themselves. They were seeking to use religion and spirituality to gain more money and to gain more fame. That's the first part of the monologue.
The second part of the monologue we talked about uh last Sunday where Sam preached on how um Jesus was warning his followers of how these fake religious leaders also, really everyone in the world, is going to want to seek to persecute them and make their life harder for following Jesus, for obeying Jesus. This world is going to um go against the grain of their desire to serve Christ. And he told his disciples that what they need to remain obedient to him is to endure. The Christian life is going to require a lot of endurance.
And today in the third and last part of Jesus's monologue, Jesus will show us how it is we can endure as Christians in such a way that goes beyond mere surviving. How can we walk this Christian life beyond just barely making it every single day, but thrive, have energy behind our walks? And believe me, I know that some days surviving is all we can do, right? Some days just making it to the end of the day without falling into sin or without losing our temper or without letting lies plague our mind or without saying the wrong thing to that person that we love or that breaking a relationship that's already fragile to begin with. Just making it to the end of the day without messing up in that way is already a huge win. I get that. I really do.
But there is more to the Christian walk, Jesus is telling us here, than just surviving. There is more to the Christian life than just painstakingly putting one foot in front of the other as we sort of drag ourselves through the side of eternity. And if you, if you want to actually start feeling some resolve behind your strides, then here are some truths that you have to keep in mind. What are they? Well, let's get into it. This is God's word. The end of Jesus's long monologue in Luke chapter 21, taken from verses 25-38. This is the word of God.
"And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth. Distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves. People fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near."
And he told them a parable. "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. As soon as they, as soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But wash yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and stand before the Son of Man."
And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. Thus says the Lord.
Three things I want to point out from the passage about how to go beyond just mere survival as we walk this Christian life. First, we got to know that one day our faith will be sight. Second, uh, we must allow that to set our eyes towards kingdom come. Knowing that one day our faith will be sight should allow us to set our eyes towards kingdom come. It's point two. And lastly, we got to constantly check in with the state of our heart. Okay, these three things we must do at least if we are to find some resolve behind our strides.
First point, you must know that one day your faith will be sight. So near the end of Jesus's monologue, we just read that last bit, right? That last part of the monologue in verses 25 to 27, you see here that Jesus suddenly starts describing all of these sort of bizarre natural events that he says is going to happen at the very end of the age. And, and this may seem like a random thing. Why would he just sort of spit out all of these crazy things that'll happen at the end? And it seems disconnected from everything else he's saying, but it's actually very much connected to everything he's been talking about. When all is said and done, Jesus [clears throat] is saying here, when all is said and done, something will happen to nature itself. We don't know what exactly. And as Sam mentioned last Sunday, apocalyptic literature isn't always meant to be taken literally, uh, literally verbatim. But regardless, at the end, Jesus says it's not just going to be human beings, but all of creation, the sun, the moon, the stars, the luminaries, and the heavens, the seas, the waves, everything will be redeemed. Everything will be renewed and will somehow join in testifying that Jesus truly is who he says he is and that what he offered us on the cross really was real. One day that's going to happen.
Now this is a good time as any, I think, to address a common question that I hear a lot against Christianity. And the argument usually goes like this. Christianity cannot be true. Some say because there's no visible and touchable, tangible, empirical evidence verifying its claims. Therefore, it can't be true. Like, you can't touch and see and hear the evidence. So therefore, it's not true. But friends, we have to know that that is the case for any religion and any worldview out there. There is no one religion, there is no one worldview that possesses indisputable empirical evidence proving that their position is true. Not Christianity, not Buddhism, not Hinduism, you name it. Even atheism, even atheism does not possess undeniable empirical evidence proving God doesn't exist. Atheism, like every other religion, requires leaps of faith to believe in.
And, and we've got to kind of get over this fear we have about making leaps of faith. Okay? We get, we get too scared about that phrase, "taking a leap of faith." We actually do it every single day. We just don't realize it. For example, when you paid for your coffee this morning, if you're a coffee drinker, or tea, whatever floats your boat, did you know that the beans they actually used to make your coffee with, do you have empirical, undeniable, indisputable evidence that the beans they used to make your coffee was the beans they advertised? You don't. But yet, you paid for it. Why? You took a leap of faith um this morning when you got into your car to brave Jakarta traffic, years ago when you decided to date or marry that person, when you bought that apartment? When you chose that career and took that job? Do you have empirical, undeniable evidence that all will be okay? You don't. What you had were reasons to believe that it's going to be okay. And then to fill up that gap, you took a leap of faith. Every decision in life, whether big or small, from eating the food served to you at a restaurant to believing in a whole worldview, all require leaps of faith.
So if believing in any religion or worldview out there requires leaps of faith, where does that leave us? Well, admittedly, it sort of leaves us in this social waiting game, doesn't it? Each worldview, each religion saying to the other, "You wait and see." You know, at the end, the atheists say, "You wait and see, there will be nothingness." Or at the end, the Buddhists say, "You wait and see, you'll be reincarnated." Or at the end, most religions would say, "You wait and see that God's going to judge you based on the good and the bad things you've done on earth." We're all waiting to see which truth claim will the empirical, undeniable evidence eventually and decisively land on. And Jesus in this monologue is making the audacious claim that it will land on him. The sun and the moon and the stars and the waves and all of natural law will visibly, audibly, physically, indisputably one day testify that he is king. And the offer of the cross wasn't a fake story. It's real.
And for some of you, Jesus continues in verse 26, this will be bad news. Some of you will see the empirical evidence appear, indisputably proving that Jesus was right all along. And it's going to make you distressed, Jesus says in verse 25, or literally makes you feel trapped. It'll make you perplexed. He says in verse 25, you won't know what to say anymore. It'll make you forebode. That's an fancy word for dread. It's going to make you dread what you know now is coming. Have you ever been caught in a lie that you thought you were going to get away with, but then near the end of the conversation, out of nowhere, a piece of undeniable evidence appears suddenly proving you wrong? I've been in those situations a while back. Not recently, thank goodness. Not because I've got away my lies. Anyways, I'm going to stop digging that hole because I don't like.
What do you feel when you're in that situation? You feel trapped, right? You feel perplexed. You've got nothing else to say. You don't know what to say anymore. And all of your energy is used up dreading what's about to happen. For some of you, that's what this day will feel like, Jesus says. But for others, for those who's been following him in this world, it'll be the opposite. One day Jesus says in verse 28, "On that day you can straighten up and raise your heads." Straighten up and raise your heads.
Now let's take a second here to think about what Jesus is implying by telling us that on that day we can straighten our backs and raise our heads. This means Jesus is assuming before that time comes our backs and our heads will be what? Bent and lowered. Or else it would make no sense for him to tell us that it'll be straightened up and raised. Before that day comes, those who follow him, their backs will be bent and their heads will be lowered. Meaning Jesus knows that most likely before the end comes, most of his followers will find themselves beaten down by life. Most of his followers will have their heads tilted and their backs bent to the ground. Perhaps some of us are feeling like that currently. You see, if you read the Bible carefully, Jesus is a realist. Never ever does he say that if you follow him, you will always feel strong and victorious at all times. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. He says that at times you're going to feel discouraged by your own sin. At times you're going to be beat down by the sins of other people. And at times this world is going to make obeying him feel like you're swimming against a flood and you're bent, your backs will be bent and your heads will be lowered and you'll be discouraged.
This is exactly why Jesus gave us this picture of that one day all of creation will testify to who he is. He did that to encourage us. Natalie Dawson, an author um in the professional world, well-known CEO, she once interestingly said in an interview that I thought was interesting. She said that people don't get burnt out because of work pressure. She said people get burnt out because they cannot connect their work pressure with a worthy enough end goal. That's actually the reason for burnout. Not the pressure itself, but the lack of connection between the pressure you feel and a worthy enough end goal. Tell someone that you're going to give them $1 to break rocks all day long with a hammer for a month. What do they do? They probably begrudgingly do it for a day and then quit after before a week, right? But tell that same person you'll pay them $10 million to break rocks all day with a hammer for a month. They're going to do it with all their heart. And by the end of the month, they might even come to you to ask if they could do it again next month. Why? Same job, same stress, different end goal. Different end goal. Knowing that the end you're working for is worth your sacrifice makes all the difference in your attitude about it today.
And here's what'll happen at the end. Jesus is telling us here, this ought to add some resolve to your stride. This is what's going to happen at the end. Everything you've sacrificed for me. Everything you've given up for me and for my sake. Your reputation, your comfort, your power, your honor, or for some of our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ in Nigeria right now, even their very lives. One day, Jesus is making the promise here. You will see with your own eyes all of creation testifying to the fact that you were not crazy. You were not crazy for choosing me. You were not crazy for sticking with me. You were not crazy for giving up all that you did for my sake.
Some of you in this room have left families halfway across the globe to minister the gospel here. Some of you in this room have been left behind by your families because you've decided to follow Jesus. Some of you in this room are giving up your best career years to work full-time at a church. Some of you have given up huge clients. I know for a fact because you chose to serve Jesus rather than money. Some of you have even left lucrative jobs because in that industry you've been repetitively asked to do things that clearly displeased Jesus. Some of you are painstakingly navigating through really, really hard marriages to honor Jesus. And I know, I know because I've asked this question to myself. I know at some point or another you've asked yourself, "Am I crazy for doing this? Am I crazy for taking on the sacrifice? Am I crazy for taking on this opportunity cost, this way of life, following Jesus, obeying Jesus, serving Jesus?" And one day you will see, you will see beyond a shadow of doubt that you are not. You are not crazy. And one day, when that time comes, your backs will straighten and your heads will rise as you finish the race. Behold him and see your faith turn into sight. Knowing that it's going to be worth it later will add some resolve to our strive today.
Because if you really do believe, this is how things will end. He continues in verses 29 to 33, you'll be freed up to use all of your energy for kingdom come. Which leads us to our second point. Knowing that one day our faith will be sight will free us up to focus on kingdom come. Second point.
So after Jesus describes sort of this, this glorious end that's going to await his people in verses 29-33, he says a very confusing statement. He says that there's going to be a sign given telling us when the end that he just mentioned is drawing near. Like, when is that going to happen? Something will happen. He says signaling the beginning of the end. Just like how leaves blooming on a fig tree inaugurates the summer season, he says in verse 29, this sign will also inaugurate the end of days. And whatever this sign is, Jesus says in verse 32, just to make things even more complicated, he says it's going to happen before the generation that he was speaking to at the moment passes away. Look at verse 32. He said, "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place." Very confusing statement. A lot of ink has been spilled arguing for many sides about how to interpret this. But let's break this down briefly.
As Sam mentioned last Sunday, in the Jewish configuration, a generation is considered to be 40 years. That's, that's what they meant by a generation. So what Jesus is saying here contextually is that within 40 years of when this conversation took place with those people, within 40 years something is going to happen that will inaugurate the beginning of the end days. Okay? And we know that this conversation took place in 33 AD. How do we know that? Because historical records clearly record that Jesus was crucified in 33 AD. And this conversation happened three, about three days before he was crucified. So this conversation in that happened in 33 AD, Jesus is saying that within 40 years of 33 AD, which gives us a deadline of about 73 AD, right before 73 AD, something will happen to testify the beginning of the end.
And to make it even bolder, Jesus actually tells us what the sign will be. So, not only does he give us the date, he also gives us the event where we got to rewind to the first part of his monologue. And you see in verse six that Sam also preached on last Sunday that Jesus is talking about the fall of the Jerusalem temple. In verse six, he said, "There will come a day when there will not be left here one stone upon another," talking about the Jerusalem temple, "that will not be thrown down." Okay, hopefully you're still following. The event that Jesus is referring to here in verse 32 that will signal and inaugurate the beginning of the end is the fall of the Jerusalem temple. He's saying that's going to happen before 73 AD. The Jerusalem temple that once hosted God's glorious presence, but now has been taken over by fake religious teachers who's using it for their own gain. That temple will be destroyed and the destruction of it will inaugurate the beginning of the end. And guess when it was, friends, historically that the Roman soldiers attacked and destroyed the Jerusalem temple. It was in 70 AD. Three years before Jesus's deadline.
Assuming that you all here today believe all this is true, that the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 AD was actually a fulfilled prophecy that Jesus made. And it wasn't like some sort of added detail that his followers later added in to sort of give more credibility to Jesus, which if that is your question, well done. It's very inquisitive. I would love to talk to you about that later. But assuming that you believe this is actually a fulfilled prophecy, this is going to give you that extra ump you need to add even more resolve behind your stride. How? Well, because now you have even more reason to believe that the glorious end Jesus claimed would happen earlier is actually going to happen. Why? Because if he was correct about the beginning of the end, which was the fall of the Jerusalem temple, why on earth would you think he'd be wrong about the end of the end? You see, if the short-term prophecy Jesus said would happen truly did happen, then what reason do you have to believe his long-term prophecy of this glorious end won't happen?
That extra ump of assurance that you need. I think we need it so desperately because often times the reason why we lose energy as Christians to focus on kingdom come is because deep inside we still have this level of doubt about whether or not the glorious end that the Bible says would happen will in fact happen, secretly in the silent of our own hearts. We doubt it. We don't believe it. It just sounds so simplistic, like, like, like something a kid would believe in a Sunday school class. It's just too good to be true. And, and because of that, we're constantly half in, half out in our Christian walks. Whenever following Jesus requires us to sacrifice, we stop and question whether or not this pain will actually be worth it. Whenever following Jesus requires us to lay down our rights, we stop and question whether or not this injustice will ever be reversed and addressed. Whenever following Jesus causes us to endure hardship, we stop and question whether or not these tears will be talked about and turned around. We're always asking, always wondering, not knowing for sure if the end he said will happen will actually happen. So, we never go all out. We always hold back because we're never 100% sure it's going to be worth it. And through this fulfilled prophecy, Jesus is declaring emphatically that yes, it will be. If I was right about the beginning of the end, what reason do you have to doubt that I'm wrong about the end of the end? Do you really believe this is where we're heading?
He's making the promise here that every tear you drop for his sake, he will use to water the seed of future glory that will appear and in time you will see it with your own eyes. You can take my word for it, he says in verse 33, "for heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not." One day you'll no longer think that you're crazy for giving all that you did for Jesus. You'll actually be thinking to yourself that you were crazy for not giving him more. Trust him. Trust that he's right about the end of the end. He was right about the beginning of it.
But this decision to trust and believe in Jesus' claim about how everything will end, it's not a decision you just make once. He explains in verses 34 to 36, it's a decision that you have to consciously make every single day in every situation that you're in. Okay, which leads us to our last point. The last thing this passage says you must do to get beyond survival mode as a Christian is to be aware and constantly check in with the state of your heart. Last point.
So we get to the end of the monologue where Jesus sort of warns his followers here at the end to watch ourselves, lest our hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life. What Jesus is describing here is a feeling that I actually think a lot of us are familiar with. Let's call it the burnout cycle. Okay? What's the burnout cycle? The burnout cycle is when the cares of this life, Jesus said in verse 34, or in other words, when the anxieties of life hit really hard and, and because of that, you either crank up the pace and you just kind of go, go, you solve, solve, you work, work, work, and you're just exhausted in every way possible, or the anxieties of life sort of uh, uh, hit really hard, and you just try to forget about it, and you just, uh, uh, freeze. You become, uh, uh, uh, you don't want, you have no energy to work, but for some reason you're still exhausted because in the back of your head, that, that anxiety is still there. You know what I'm talking about?
When we're in this state and the, the worries of life sort of hit hard, what's usually the most tempting thing to do? Well, usually the most tempting thing to do is to self-soothe, right? And often times the greater the anxiety is, the more destructive our self-soothing becomes. Jesus here mentions drunkenness as an example. But, but getting drunk here is just the poster boy example of destructive self-soothing methods. It can be binge watching Netflix. I don't know. It could be doom scrolling before bedtime, making you sleep a lot later than you probably should. It could be unhealthy eating patterns to where you eat not because you're hungry or to enjoy God's good gift of food, but because you're stressed out of your mind. It can be avoidant behavior to where we close ourselves off from people because we've just got no more cares to give. It could be any sort of escaping the world or reality behavior that, that becomes tempting when the cares of life is weighing our hearts down. And we kind of get sucked into, intoxicated by the worries of this world, drunk into the worries of this world. And when we fall into this burnout cycle where anxiety and self-destructive soothing methods meet in this vicious spiral, the last thing we're going to think about is kingdom come. The last thing we're going to worry about is the glory of Christ and the end of all things.
And, and you know why it is? Jesus often, uh, says here that we fall into this kingdom-forgetting, vicious, burnout, anxiety-filled cycle. The reason is because deep in our hearts we believe in a lie. And that lie is that we are God. That lie is believing that everything is up to us. I get into these modes a lot more than I wish to, you know, when everything just sort of hits at once and I start to believe that the fate of my wife and my kids and the well-being of the church and the financial provision of my family and the survival of your marriages that I'm counseling and therefore the fate of your children is all in my hands. Everything depends on my ability to fix it. And what ends up happening is I max myself out and I max out every single second I have on my calendar, not because I'm faithful, but because I'm anxious. What I'm doing there is I'm falling into the lie that I am God and everything depends on me.
So what Jesus tells people like me to do in verse 36 is pray. He says, "Pray." What is prayer? Prayer is an act that acknowledges God is God and I am not. Whenever you feel like you're spiraling down the burnout cycle, Jesus says here, get on your knees and remind yourself that your job is to obey God, not to be God. It's not all up to you. Do what you can. Acknowledge your finitude. Let sanity return, for crying out loud, as you pray to the one and only true God because he cares. He cares about what you're going through. The ears of sovereign grace will not shut, as we sung earlier, to your complaints. He cares.
And Jesus hints at this level of care in the last verse of our passage. Look at what Jesus says at the end. Look at what he said he should pray for. "Pray for the strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man." Pray that the end days Jesus described earlier will not end up becoming a judgment day for you. Pray that it'll end up becoming a rej, a day of rejoicing where your heads are lifted and your backs are straightened. And the second you pray that prayer, the question that you should ask, if you have any level of self-awareness at all, is how? How can the end of days not end up being a day of judgment for me? How can it end up being a day of rejoicing? Have you lived your life with such goodness, with such righteousness, with such clarity of heart to where at the end you believe you deserve to stand before the judgment of Christ based upon your doing?
Friends, if you answered yes to that question, then you've missed the whole point of Christianity. You don't understand what it means to be a Christian because Romans chapter 3 clearly says that no one is good. Not one. Isaiah 64 says that even your best deeds compared to God's holiness is like filthy rags. You do not have what it takes to see the sun and the moon and the stars testify that Jesus is king and remain standing based upon the righteousness of your own hands. The only way, friends, the Bible says, that we can stand before the judgment seat of God is if Jesus forgives us of our sins. The only way you can stand before God in the day of judgment is if you accept and receive what he's offering you on that cross. The reason you think God doesn't care is because you forgot about that huge detail. And you've been basing his level of care upon you, upon the events that's happening in your life today, not upon the event that happened on a cross long ago. So you begin to think he's forgotten about me. You start to believe that he doesn't care. Let the event that began your faith story and the end fulfillment of it inform you how much God cares, not the events happening right now in your life. You're judging the story in the middle of the book. It's never a good method to go about that.
So when you find yourself caught in the middle of this burnout cycle, Jesus is telling you to pray about the gospel. Remind yourself what he's done for you so that at the end of day you can stand before the Son of God, what he's did for you on the cross and praise him for all that he will lavish upon you for eternity. And you may ask yourself the question that Paul asked in Romans chapter 8. After seeing that cross and beholding the troubles of life you currently have now, ask yourself, "Is if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" When you pray to God, ask that question often and watch your back straighten. Feel your heads rise, giving you strength and resolve behind your stride to endure in this marathon called life. We don't know how long we'll go until kingdom come.
Let me end by reading a passage from the Psalms which I think is poignant um to end this sermon with as it reminds us of how fleeting this side of eternity is and what it is we have awaiting us later. The psalmist says, "Oh Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting I am. Behold, you have made my days a few hand breaths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath. Surely a man goes about as a shadow. Surely for nothing they're in turmoil. Man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather. And now, oh Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you."
Let's pray.
Father, the worries of this life and the anxieties of this side of eternity more often than not capture our hearts and our loves and our attention. And it takes all of our energy to where we are sort of intoxicated and drunk in it, causing us to look for methods of self-sustenance in ways that make us forget the reality of your kingdom come and the reality of who you are. Snap us out of it, Father. Remind us again of what you've done for us on that cross to where we can stand on that judgment day before the Son of Man, not with the receipts of our own good deeds, but clothed in his righteousness that we never deserved. The one he's earned and given us when he died on that cross. Let that vision remind us of your care and allow us to remember and inform how finite and fleeting this world is that we may from now on and forevermore live for kingdom come. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.