Hidden Kingdom: Seeing What Others Miss | The Watchman at the Door

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, I'm Kevin. Thanks for listening to our message. We strive each week to bring you relevant, practical, biblical teaching that meets you where you are. Hope you enjoy the message.

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Today I'm talking about a subject that's not often talked about. And the reason I'm talking about it, it is the fifth sermon in the series of the parables of Mark. There's only five parables in the Gospel of Mark. So this wraps it up. Next Sunday we'll begin a new sermon series entitled The Summer in Proverbs. And we're just going to hang out in Proverbs. Probably sermons will be a little shorter because I'm just taking little clips of Proverbs. So there's that for the rest of the summer. You know, it's just a little shorter. Today, not so much. But when I was a kid, we would talk about the second coming of Jesus a lot more than it's talked about today. As a matter of fact, we were talking before the service, and uh Missy Rainford was like, Do you remember that song that you used to sing at camp? Uh and and she she sang the song. I'm Missy, I'm missing it right now. Uh what uh say it again. Yeah, I wish we'd all been ready. Does anybody remember that song? I wish we'd all been ready. Yeah. I mean, it was kind of a it was a song that you sang at camp and then you went back to the cabins and had to do counseling with all the kids because it was kind of a creepy song. And uh it's like, oh, you know, it's you're all, you know, they're gone and you're still here. Wish we'd all been ready. And it's just like, ugh. That doesn't even fit into our theology, but we sang it anyway. Um, so but here's one that we used to sing when I was a kid. It's not quite, it's not quite as uh heavy, but I'm gonna ask you to help me with it. And and um it I'm gonna start it and it's gonna say, I'm gonna say, be ready, and you're gonna sing when he comes. That's all. Okay, let's try it. Ready? Sing when he comes. No, come on, come on, ready? One, two, three. Okay, that's all you have to do. All right, here we go. Okay, ready? I'll start. Be ready. Be ready. Be ready when he comes. Be ready. You gotta sound meaner. Be ready. Yeah, oh wow, that was really good. Be ready when he comes out. Here's the verse. Do you know the end of time is near? Be ready. Can you live and die in sin's career? Be ready. There is awful danger if you delay. Be ready. Will you cast your only hope away? Be ready. Yeah, pretty heavy, huh? I mean that those are yeah. It reminds me of another one that just came to my mind. It it's a lost forever, lost forever, and then the closing song. Oh, how sad. Yeah, pretty dark, huh? Pretty dark. Well, the reality is we need to be ready. Yeah, we really do. And in our text today, Jesus is saying to us, I want you to be watchful because you need to be ready, because the master is coming back. And before we get into those short few verses of this parable, I want to approach this parable sort of like a plane coming in for a landing, because it's it's a long runway coming in, all right? Um, so here's the here's the text of for this for the message, okay? And then we're gonna back up. Okay, here we go. Ready? It is like a man, is it on the screen? Yep. It is like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his servants. This is Mark 13, verses 34 and 30 through 37. Gave authority to his servants and to teach his work, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming. In the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of a rooster, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say to all of you, watch. Now, I want to look at the context around this text because it's it's pretty fascinating. Mark 13 is so interesting, and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna take all of Mark 13, there's so much there, and there's different topics to focus in on. But to look at this particular text, I want to jump back to Mark chapter 12, because Jesus is with the disciples in the temple, and he's teaching. This is after Palm Sunday, this is after they've come down to the temple, this is after Jesus has gone into the temple and said, You've turned my temple into a house of thieves, but it needs to be a house of prayer. And in Mark 12, Jesus is teaching, and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the church leaders are trying to trick him. They're asking him questions and they were firing questions, and Jesus kept teaching, and the people in the temple were so taken by Jesus' teaching that the Pharisees and the Sadducees couldn't really say anything because they were like, well, if we if we attack him anymore, the people are going to get really mad. So the Pharisees and Sadducees, they were they were like leaving Jesus alone, but they were very angry and they were thinking, how can we get him? And all the people were excited because they really loved this teaching. It was a very tense moment in the temple. So Jesus is in the temple, and the next, Mark's Mark 12, 41 through 44, if you're there with your Bibles. Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury. Now, here's what's going on. You know, we have a little black box in the back of our sanctuary for the offering. So, so picture, picture that's the treasury. And picture Jesus and the disciples sitting over, and they're watching everybody as they walk by the black box to put their offering in. Now, some of you give online, they they didn't have tithely in Mark, okay? So they were sitting, and and the and many who were rich put in a lot. Then one poor widow came and threw in two small coins. So he called his disciples to himself and he said, Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who had given previous to the treasury. For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in everything she had. So they're watching this going on, and they're seeing all the rich people put their checks and all this stuff in. And then this poor widow comes, she puts two coins in, and Jesus says, I want you to, I want you guys to notice something. Those the guys that gave to the treasury, they they were giving out of their abundance, but I want you to see the sacrifice that touches the heart of God was that widow that came in and put everything that she had. And the disciples, they were like, Oh, oh wow, yeah, yeah. And they were just talking. They were talking about the rich people and they were talking about poor people. But we're gonna see at the beginning of Mark 13, they didn't quite get what Jesus was saying because they step outside the temple. And look at the verse one and two of Mark 13. It says, Then as he, Jesus, went out of the temple, one of the disciples said to him, This just cracks me up, teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. And Jesus answered and said to him, Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. See, they they were still impressed with big. They were still impressed with the amount, they were still impressed with what money could build. And Jesus says, You're so impressed with these rich people and these nice houses and buildings, but these are all going to collapse, and you're not keeping your eyes on what's important, guys. You guys are impressed with what men have built, and you're impressed with what men can do. But the greatness of the power and wealth and strength, that's what you're impressed with, but it's not important. Now, here's what I saw in this text last week that I had not, I had always missed this before. The people reading or hearing, probably more likely, the people hearing the gospel of Mark, they had all they had they knew that the temple had already collapsed. So, so when they're hearing this teaching of Jesus, they're they're like, oh wow, Jesus told us that was going to happen. Because the temple in AD 70 collapsed. Exactly what Jesus said it was going to do. And so while we're reading it as Jesus telling the disciples, the hearers of this, the temple had already collapsed. It had already been destroyed. Because when Jesus said uh said this to the disciples, it had not been destroyed yet. But now, AD 70, it was destroyed. And then the disciples asked, so so thinking about this as a hearer, the disciples said, so when is all this gonna happen? Now the hearers know when it happened, but in the text, he's reporting what Jesus said. He says, So when is all this gonna happen? And then Mark shifts the narrative from not just the temple being destroyed, but it comes in the coming of the kingdom language is added. And Jesus ramps up the discussion from the temple being destroyed to the importance of staying alert because nobody knows the time when Jesus will come back. The coming, it says the coming day of the king's return is like a man, this is our text, who is going on a journey, who when he leaves, he puts his slaves in charge of his house, each with assigned duties, and installs a doorkeeper at the door to await the man's return. And on his way out, the man turns to this doorkeeper and says, Be on watch. I sort of feel for the disciples at this moment because Jesus is teaching in a very Judaic way, where if we were sitting in with Jesus, we might say to Jesus in our learning today, we might say it, say, make it simpler. Make it simpler. I was preaching in an uh African-American church one time and I was trying to explain something, and uh one one lady said, help him, Jesus. Pam, don't don't do that. That'd be that'd be terribly embarrassing, right? Help him, Jesus, because I was having trouble explaining it, you know, and said, Help him, Jesus. Well, it it's almost in that kind of feel that I the master will eventually return to come back to his field. And and when the master returns, only God knows when. It could happen at any moment. So the doorkeeper of his land cannot relax. He needs to stay awake, for you don't know when the master of the house will come in the evening. Will he come at midnight? Will he come in the morning? You just don't know. So you have to be ready when he comes, right? One of my favorite videos, um, and I was just going to tell you about this video, but I was talking to Lisa this morning, she's oh, you got to get it up on the screen. Don't put it up yet. Um several years ago, uh, when when I had been on the road for quite a while, and Caden was probably about two years, one, about one year old, and I was headed back, and Lisa was already at the house, and I was gonna meet Lisa, and Caden was sitting in uh the front room window. We have a big bay window, and he was sitting on the ledge, and he was waiting for Papa to return because he was so watchful. He he just kept looking at the window, and I don't know how much you'll be able to tell, but but he's he's waiting for me. He's and he's saying, Papa. And and and Kayla's saying, he'll be here soon, he'll be here soon. Just just wait. He's in Papa. Oh, okay, so let's see if we can get this wrong.

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Papa's not here yet. He'll come soon. Please.

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Okay, here's that's how we need to be. We need to be waiting for Papa. We need to be waiting for the return of Christ. We need to be filled with this, with this hope. When? I don't know. We don't know when. Could it be today? Could be. Will it be in my lifetime? Could be. I don't know. But we need to be ready when he comes. I was in a high school play many years ago, and um this play was it was a courtroom drama, and the actors, uh students, were we were the attorneys, and they were the uh it was a murder mystery kind of comedy. But the funny thing about this play was the jury was selected from the audience that came to the show that night. So we didn't know how the jury would choose. So there were two endings of the play that we and it and it would really be on how the how the the students who were acting would do as the attorney. I was one of the attorneys, and and um we we would go through the play, I think it was probably four nights, five nights, and at the end they would have this chance. The jury would tell us how they were gonna vote, and then we would have to choose this the right ending of the play. There was there was an ending, and if the jury said guilty, we would have to go this way, and if they said not guilty, we'd have to go that way. We had to be ready and watchful. We had to know both parts because we didn't know which way the jury would go. This parable gives us two main assignments as followers of Christ. They belong together. You cannot separate them, both are equally important. It says in the parable, we must be faithful in our work. Jesus said the master gave authority to his servants and to each his work. Every servant had an assignment. Nobody was left without responsibility. Nobody was told, you do all the work, but you, you can just sit around and wait. That tells me that following Christ is not a passive thing. We have to, we have been given work to do. Our mission at water's edge is we are on mission with Jesus. We are on mission. And if you're a part of this church, you are on mission with Jesus, proclaiming good news, restoring hope, making disciples, all of those things impacting the world for Christ. Notice that Jesus, when Jesus talks about his return, he doesn't picture people staring at a sky trying to calculate when the dates are. He says, stay at work. Stay at work. Don't neglect obedience. Jesus says, get to work. Second assignment in this parable is we need to be ready. The doorkeeper in the parable has a very unique responsibility. He was to stay alert because the master could return at any moment. You see, the danger, the danger was not rebellion, the danger was not drifting, the danger of even following Christ was becoming comfortable. The danger of Christ's return is falling asleep and not being ready. Why is that danger? He commands four times in this tattoo in this in this passage, watch, stay awake, be alert, watch, stay awake, be alert. Why, why is the focus on that? Because when we forget that Jesus is coming back, we start living as though this world is all there is. It's easy to it's really kind of easy to do in America because things things are, I mean, we can say, oh my goodness, what what if gasoline goes to six dollars a gallon? But but people in Haiti are not worried about the gasoline, they're worried about their next meal. And so in America, it we can it can become so comfortable living, and that doesn't mean we don't have pain and tragedy and hurt and difficult times. It's just it's just easy to forget that Jesus is coming back, and we begin investing in everything in this world that doesn't last. That's exactly how this conversation started with the disciples. The disciples were impressed by the temple. They were so impressed by the temple, they were like, Oh, look at these stones and look at these buildings, and look how great everything is. And Jesus said, You guys, these stones are gonna come tumbling down. In other words, don't build your life, don't be impressed by all these things that are so temporary. Because buildings fall and empires collapse and money disappears and achievement fades. But the kingdom of God endures forever. Nor can we become so focused on his return that we neglect the work he has assigned us. We work because he's coming back, we watch because he's coming back, we serve because he's coming back, we stay faithful because he's coming back. And one day the door will open, and one day faith will become sight, and one day the master will return. And when he comes, may he find us exactly where he has assigned us to be. Serving and loving and praying and giving and witnessing and watching. Not sleeping, not distracted, not consumed by temporary things, but ready. Ready because we love him. Ready, ready because we belong to him, ready because we know the master's coming back. We're sitting in that window saying, Papa, oh papa. The question this morning is not whether Jesus is coming back. The question is what will he find us doing when he comes back? Will he find us occupied with his mission? Of connecting with Jesus to the world and proclaiming the good news and restoring hope and making disciples? Will he find us that? I mean, I gotta tell you, I there are things that if he would come back in my lifetime, there are things that I mean, I'd love it if he came back on a Sunday morning, wouldn't you, at 9:30? 9.45. And I'd really love it if we were certain singing certain songs and and you guys were like just bellowing it out, and all of a sudden the the eastern sky opens up and and he catches us doing that. There's some other things that I hope I hope he doesn't catch me doing. Like sleeping on the couch. Will he find us occupied with his mission? Will he find us awake to his presence? Will he find us faithful with what he's entrusted us to do? Therefore, keep watch because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. So the call today is really quite simple, friends. Lay aside distractions that dull your spiritual senses. That's something different for each of us. Lay aside distractions that dull our spiritual senses. Return or keep doing the work that God's called you to do. Renew your expectation of Christ's return. Just renew it. Don't obsess over it. Don't worry about it. Just be aware. And then live every day as though today could be the day that you stand before Him. If there's sin that needs to be confessed, confess it. If there's somebody that you need to forgive, forgive them. And if you have trouble forgiving them, talk to somebody. You can talk to a pastor, you can talk to a counselor, you can talk to a good friend. I mean, we all know this. Not forgiving someone is like you drinking poison and expecting it to hurt them. It only hurts you. Just let it go. The whole idea of forgiving in the scripture is letting go of the neck of someone. Just let it go. If there's obedience that you've been delaying, obey today. Like maybe there's something in your life that you're like, man, I should really do this, and I hope I can get control of this before he comes back. Just avoid disobedience. If there's a calling that you've neglected, pick it up. There may be someone here that you think that God is calling you to something. Maybe it's to a mission. Maybe it's to be a pastor. Maybe it's to work in children's ministry. Maybe it's to uh uh connect more on a on a uh outside of these walls kind of connection in community needs. And you you really kind of feel like you'd like to do that. Pick it up. There's some there's some teachers in there's some teachers in in the house, and you were like, wow, Katie's doing that. I I wonder if I might get involved in something like that. Talk to Katie. Talk to her. And if your heart has grown cold at all, just ask God to light it on fire. Fan the flame. Awaken what He wants to do in your life. So the message is really quite simple. Be faithful, be watchful, be ready. Because the king because the king is coming.

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Thanks for joining us at church this week. And a special thanks to all those who continue to support our mission through your generosity. You too can support our mission to reach, grow, and serve our community by giving on the website or through the app. To make sure you never miss out on a message, be sure to subscribe and don't forget to hit that share button to spread the word. Have a great week.