************ Sermon on Belgic Confession Article 37e ************
Doctrine: Eschatology; we should live in the expectation of Christ's return
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on October 17, 1999
B.C. 37e
Romans 13:8-14
"Expecting His Return"
Introduction
Waiting and watching. That's what we all should be doing as Christians. We should all be waiting and watching for the return of Jesus Christ. Wait and watch. They are almost the same, but not quite.
Topic: Second Coming of Christ
Subtopic: True Attitude Concerning
Index: 1348
Date: 8/1986.12
Title: Wait and Watch
The difference between these terms is illustrated by the story of a fishing vessel returning home after many days at sea. As they neared the shore, the sailors gazed eagerly toward the dock where a group of their loved ones had gathered. The skipper looked through his binoculars and identified some of them: "I see Bill's Mary, and there is Tom's Margaret and David's Anne." One man became concerned because his wife was not there. Later, he left the boat with a heavy heart and hurried up the hill to his cottage. As he opened the door, his wife ran to meet him saying, "I have been waiting for you!" He replied with a gentle rebuke, "Yes, but the other men's wives were watching for them!"
Christ is going to come again. We don't know when this will happen. But when He comes He wants to find us both waiting and watching.
I Expecting His Return
A In our Scripture reading Paul speaks to us about the final consummation, the coming Day of the Lord. He says,
(Rom 13:11-12) ... do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (12) The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.
"Our salvation is near," says Paul. Paul talks here of our future salvation. He thinks of the benefits and blessings which Christians, redeemed from all earthly ills, will enjoy after the visible return of Christ. He thinks of the joys we will experience in the new heaven and earth.
"The night is nearly over; the day is almost here." The night is the time of darkness. The day is the time of light. Sin's darkness is almost over and soon the time will arrive when all who believe will live in the light of the Son's presence.
Paul says we must understand the present time. What is there to understand? We must understand that things will not go on as they have since the beginning of creation. There will come a time, an hour, when the present age of darkness will end and the light of the age to come will take its place. There will come a time when the Lord will return. We must understand this and therefore we must wait and watch for the Lord's return.
B As we spend time looking through Scripture we see that this expectation of Christ's return dominated the faith of the New Testament church. Did you know that every book of the New Testament points us to the return of Christ and urges us to watch and wait, to live in such a way as to be always be ready for that return.
We hear this note of Christ's return repeatedly in the Gospels. We are taught the Son of Man will come with His angels in the glory of His Father (Mt 16:27); Jesus told the high priest that he would see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven (Mk 14:62). Frequently Jesus told His hearers to watch for His return, since He would be coming at an unexpected hour (Mt 24:42,44; Lk 12:40). He spoke of the blessedness of those servants whom He would find faithful at His coming (Lk 12:37,43). After describing some of the signs which would precede His coming, the Lord said,
(Lk 21:28) When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
And in His farewell speech Jesus told His disciples that after He had left the earth, He would come again and take them to Himself (Jn 14:3).
A similar note is sounded in the book of Acts. To the disciples who watched Jesus ascend into heaven, the angels said,
(Acts 1:11) "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
Paul's epistles also reveal a sharp awareness of the Lord's return:
(1Th 5:2) for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
(Phil 4:5) Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
(1Cor 4:5) Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes.
The Epistles of Hebrews, James, Peter, and John display the same expectation. Hebrews talks of those who are "eagerly waiting for him" (Heb 9:28). James tells us "the coming of the Lord is at hand" (James 5:8). Peter reminds us "the day of the Lord will come like a thief" (2 Pet 3:10). John tells us when Christ appears again we shall be like Him (1 Jn 3:2).
A similar sense of expectation is to be found in the Bible's last book:
(Rev 1:7) Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him ...
To the church at Philadelphia Jesus says,
(Rev 3:11) I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
And in the second last verse of the New Testament we read,
(Rev 22:20) He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
It is clear, isn't it? The early church was waiting and watching for the return of Christ. They lived in the hope and expectation of the Lord's return.
C "Understand the present time," says Paul. "The hour has come for you to wake up ... The night is nearly over; the day is almost here." Do you realize what this means? Paul is telling us that the lively expectation of the Lord's return that marked the early church should mark the church of Jesus Christ today. Which leads me to ask, how often do we find ourselves thinking of the Lord's return? Do you find yourself waiting and watching? Do you find yourself praying, "Come Lord Jesus. Come quickly."
If we don't live in the expectation of the Lord's return something is radically wrong. I say something is radically wrong because those who don't live in the expectation of Christ's return don't "understand the present time" and have not "waken up from their slumber." I say something is radically wrong because it is the unfaithful servant in Jesus' parable who says in his heart, "My lord delays his coming" (Lk 12:45). In other words, Jesus indicates that those Christians who don't live in the expectation of His return are unfaithful.
D Why is it, do you think, that many Christians today don't understand the present time and therefore don't live in the expectation of the Lord's return?
One, it may be that Christians today are so busy that there is no time or energy left for the Second Coming. It is true that people allow themselves to be too busy with work, recreation, children, school, and sports.
Two, it may be that the church today is too prosperous; life is too good, so good that visions of the future glory fade away. I know that those who are poor or desperate or hurting generally yearn far more for Christ's return than those who are rich, comfortable, and satisfied with life.
Three, it may be that many Christians no longer believe Christ will return – though I doubt if this applies to anyone here.
Four, it may be that many who believe in Christ's return think it is future, way off in the future, and is nothing to expect or anticipate today. Consider this:
I asked everyone in one of my catechism classes to draw a time line of their own life. The beginning of the line marked their date of birth. I told them to mark down significant occasions in their life: like graduation from grade school, profession of faith, a surgery, moving to Visalia from wherever. I then told them to look forward into the future and to mark down what the future holds in store for them: thinks like graduation from highschool, meeting that special guy or girl, graduation from college, graduation from graduate school, marriage, first child, first job, Noble peace prize or Noble prize in Physics or whatever.
When I looked over all the time lines I was not surprised that every student expected to live for 80 or 90 years. None of them expected to die young. And none of them expected Christ to return in their lifetime.
I suspect that most of us are like my Catechism students.
Whatever the reasons may be, the loss of a lively, vital anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ is a sign of a most serious spiritual illness in the church. The fact is, all Christians should eagerly look forward to Christ's return, and should live in the light of that expectation each and every single day. All of us, in other words, should be waiting and watching.
Topic: Second Coming of Christ
Subtopic: Purpose of
Index: 1347
Date: 4/1989.23
Title:
The great preacher F. B. Meyer once asked D. L. Moody, "What is the secret of your success?" Moody replied, "For many years I have never given an address without the consciousness that the Lord may come before I have finished." This well explains the intensity of his service and the zeal of his ministry for Christ.
II Incentive for Holy Living
A A lively expectation of the Second Coming should be found in the church today, as it was found in the early church. What is the significance of this expectation? Critics of Christianity often like to say that this expectation leads to an unproductive kind of other-worldliness. You know the saying: "So heavenly minded that they are no earthly good."
Is this what the expectation of Christ's return leads to? Does it mean nothing but a passive waiting for the life to come, a waiting that neglects our responsibilities in the present world?
Topic: Second Coming of Christ
Subtopic:
Index: 1344-1350
Date: 10/1992.101
Title:
An example of this occurred in the 1987 NCAA Regional Finals. LSU was leading Indiana by eight points with only a few minutes left in the game. As is often the case with a team in the lead, LSU began playing a different kind of ball game. The television announcer pointed out that the LSU players were beginning to watch the clock rather than play the game. As a result of this change in focus, Indiana closed the gap, won the game by one point, and eventually went on to become NCAA champions.
As we wait for Jesus' promised return, we are mistaken if we watch the clock instead of being diligent servants during the time we have available.
Jesus makes the exact same point in His Parables of the Talents and the Pounds. There He lets us know that waiting and watching for His return means working diligently for Him with the gifts and abilities He has given us (Mt 25:14-30; Lk 19:11-27).
Topic: Second Coming of Christ
Subtopic:
Index: 1344-1350
Date: 10/1992.101
Title:
One day in 1789, the sky over Hartford darkened ominously. Some of the members of the Connecticut House of Representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand.
Quieting a clamor for immediate adjournment, Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the House, rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either coming or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought."
B In our Scripture reading from Romans, Paul makes the point that a lively expectation of Christ's return should serve as an incentive to holy living. He says,
(Rom 13:12-13) The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. (13) Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
Those who wait and watch for Christ's return are to live as daytime people. Daytime, of course, is a time for work and school and play. Daytime activities generally are good and wholesome activities. The opposite, as you know, is nighttime. For ordinary people, nighttime is a time for sleep. But for others, it is a time for drinking, gambling, prostitution, and the like; for them, nighttime is the time to do those activities that cannot stand the bright light of day.
People who wait and watch for Christ's return "behave decently, as in the daytime" (vs 13). They live as daytime people. They strive to be obedient to God's law and live a righteous and holy life.
Daytime people live by the Spirit. Their lives are filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (cf Gal 5:22f).
Daytime people, says Paul, put aside the deeds of darkness: orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery, dissension, jealousy. These six deeds of darkness are normal features of the Roman night life most citizens participated in. But the Christian who waits and watches for the return of Christ strives for a lifestyle that is clearly different from what is going on in the world. As daytime people, we must have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness.
C Those who wait and watch for Christ's return are also to clothe themselves with the Lord. Paul says,
(Rom 13:14) ... clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
To put on Christ is to be identified with Him not only in His death but also in His resurrection. To put on Christ is to put to death that old man of sin and to bring to life that new man of righteousness. To put on Christ is to live out the new life and to put away the old life. To put on Christ is to be like Christ: holy, pure, loving, harmless, undefiled.
D Why does the expectation of Christ's return serve as an incentive to holy living? Pretty basic, really: when Christ returns He will judge the living and dead; when Christ returns we will have to answer for all of our thoughts, words, and deeds; when Christ returns the books will be opened and all the bad we have done and all the good we have failed to do will be displayed for all to see.