WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.319 So Merry Christmas, but welcome into Advent. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:08.000 So it's the season of Advent, which is it's the four Sundays leading up till Christmas. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:10.160 And so each Sunday we'll have a different passage. 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:12.480 It's given to us by what's called the lectionary. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:18.800 The lectionary is a series of readings that are given to the church, different seasons of uh the church calendar of the year. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:23.600 So we use the lectionary in Advent, we also use it in Lent, which is the season leading into Easter. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:26.000 And so today's passage kind of seems odd when we read it. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:28.879 It doesn't feel very Christmassy, but we'll kind of make sense of it as we go. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:34.159 And I think it will uh it'll actually have something for us, our lives, and our hearts as well. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:43.840 So a few weeks ago, uh in the middle of the night, uh a smoke alarm in my house uh it didn't go off, it was the chirp, the battery, right? 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:48.399 The battery alarm, the chirping, middle, is I rolled over, the clock said 3 a.m. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:51.200 It's like perfect, perfect time for the chirping. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:58.560 And so I get out of bed, I walk around the bed, I walk out into the hallway, out into the hallway, and in this little hallway outside is where all of our bedrooms join. 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:03.119 So at that point, there's three smoke alarms within like eight feet. 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:05.439 There's one in that bedroom, that bedroom, and one in the hallway. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:10.400 And so, but by the time I get there, this the smoke alarm's been perfectly programmed to stop chirping. 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:14.799 You know, it was the warning, you know, wake up, get you there in the middle of the night, and then it stops. 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:19.120 But I stood there for a while, and I don't know how long I was half asleep. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:20.879 Who knows how long I was staying there? 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:28.480 And I stood there for a while, and then um I was getting angry, and so I knew that this was gonna cause a problem going back to sleep if I got too angry. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:29.680 So I went back to bed. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:31.359 Miracle, I went back to sleep. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:32.319 That was amazing. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:45.439 I went back to sleep, and then I I got woken up by this alarm two more times that night, each time getting up, thinking I could beat out the programming of the chirping before it stopped chirping, of which I did not do. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:52.239 And every time I'm walking by my lovely wife, who's fast asleep, uh, just sleeping right through it, which is only making me angry. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:57.200 Amazingly, she can wake up at the slightest noise of our child, but not to a smoke alarm. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:58.239 I don't know how it works. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:01.040 And I in reverse, perhaps I'd do the same in reverse. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:04.079 So this is what an alarm does, right? 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.040 Uh how many of you woke up to an alarm this morning? 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:08.080 I woke up to an alarm. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:09.759 Anybody else wake up to an alarm this morning? 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:11.039 Some of you wait, it's Sunday. 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:11.919 Maybe you didn't have to. 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:13.280 That's a that's great, right? 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:15.599 Tomorrow, how many of you are gonna wake up to an alarm tomorrow? 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:17.120 More, probably more of us. 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:19.039 How many of you never wake up to an alarm? 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:21.360 I'm just interested in that, that fact, yeah? 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:22.879 A few of you, that's wonderful. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:24.639 But we all know alarms, right? 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:26.960 Because alarms, they wake us up. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:28.080 That's what an alarm does. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:29.680 Even if we don't like it, it's what it does. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.000 And this text, this text this morning is an alarming text. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:35.680 It alarms us. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:41.840 An alarm, if you look to the screen, an alarm is a shock to the system to pay attention to something else. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:46.080 You're doing one thing, there's an alarm to get you to pay attention to something else. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:54.800 Being alarmed is to grow in awareness to something else, to that something else that over time we're just not paying attention to. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:57.599 Now that carries us into today's passage. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:59.439 I'll reread some of these verses as we go. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:03.759 Matthew 24, 36 through 44 is our passage. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:05.680 Here's 36 through 39. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:14.000 But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:17.520 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:29.120 For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the Ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:31.919 So will be the coming of the Son of Man. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:43.280 Now, this uh Noah story, maybe maybe you've been around church a really long time, and maybe you even heard it in uh like VBS or Sunday school. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:49.439 We teach it in Sunday school here, this horrific flood of families and children drowning to death. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:52.719 This is a story we like to tell our children in church. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:54.400 Why do we do that? 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.120 Well, we do it because there's a boat and there's animals, right? 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:10.400 And children love boats and children love animals, and we leave out a lot of the details about the uh horrifying reality of this story, perhaps the most awful possible story in the scriptures. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:12.400 It is horrifying. 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:15.520 Uh Jesus mentions it for a particular reason here. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.600 He's using it as an example. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:27.519 And Jesus is mentioning Noah as to bring up the issue of our capability to live unaware of what is most important in life. 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:39.600 Now, maybe you've been like me, maybe been in some places that use a passage like this only to create shame or most likely create fear. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:43.600 If you're creating a fear by passage like this, then it's a much easier. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:45.759 Well, you can raise a lot of money, that's for sure. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:50.560 But you can also get people to make particular decisions that you want them to make. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:52.240 Now, I don't think that's very helpful. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:53.120 Maybe you do. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:54.240 I don't. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:05:04.560 I just don't think we have to leave the heart of God to try to get reactions inside of ourselves or get people to make particular decisions about their devotion to God. 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:06.639 But the text is still here. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:10.160 So I just want to be open this morning and say, I don't like this text. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:16.079 It's not like a text that I open up and I'm like, can't wait to have my morning devotion with a text about this. 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:21.600 This it's not like one of those passages that I'm gonna journal for three pages and you know go walk in the woods. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:25.040 And you know, like it's for me, it's just not one of those passages. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:29.040 But I can't deny this passage as a teaching of Jesus. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:34.319 And it is really clear, Jesus is being very direct and very clear. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:35.759 He's intense. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:46.160 I was riding uh bikes with my girls, my three girls, so uh uh 11, 9, and 6, and so we were riding bikes uh this week. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:49.120 Uh I went out to the garage to pump up the tires. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:50.879 That took 15 minutes, that was great. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.040 Uh I wanted to take a nap after that. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:54.160 That was it for me. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:06:18.720 So, no, I actually I pushed through and and we made it on the bikes after pumping up all the tires, and we made it out, and so the 11-year-old goes first, the nine-year-old, the six-year-old, and I sort of I'm in I'm the caboose, and I'm watching all we head down the driveway, sidewalk, out onto the road, and I'm watching all, I'm watching all three of them, but I'm watching them like more priorities on the one right in front of me, the the six-year-old. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:21.040 Because if a butterfly flies by, I mean, who knows? 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:22.319 Who knows what's gonna happen? 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:23.360 She could go anywhere. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:25.839 And so I have to pay a lot of attention to her. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:27.920 Eventually, we get we're going for a bagel. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:34.720 So eventually we we get up to where we're getting a bagel to the parking lot, and off shoots the 11-year-old through the parking lot. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:36.079 Off, right? 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:40.319 So the nine-year-old shoots off, six-year-old shoots off. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:44.720 Well, the problem was the nine-year-old, the six-year-old, they didn't they didn't look to their left. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:49.439 And I looked to my left, and there's a car coming. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:52.319 I mean, it's the car's close. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:53.759 I mean, so this is it. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:54.639 Like, this is it. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.439 For two of my daughters, this is the end. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:00.319 Christy's gonna divorce me in her grief. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:02.000 I'll quit the church. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:06.959 Uh, you all just end up going to other churches, I'm gonna end up living in a van somewhere. 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:11.839 I mean, this is it, all of this, all in this moment, because I love them too much to yell. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:13.680 I can't get intense, right? 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:15.759 I mean, I couldn't do that. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:19.680 I can't be loving and get clear and intense and alarming. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:22.079 I could I couldn't do well, of course, right? 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.519 You're gonna like, well, you you know what I did, right? 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:27.040 I yelled. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:29.120 I got intense. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:33.839 I yelled, stop! And not only did I yell stop, I said, I said, get right back here. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:40.079 Love and draw umbell, I don't care where you go, off she goes, you two back here, face to face. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:45.759 You always pay attention, you always watch, you always look to your left. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:49.920 And that was the most loving thing I could do in that moment. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:53.199 And I'm not even like the greatest father in the world. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:54.160 I'm just a dad. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:54.959 I'm just a dad. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:56.720 That's just what dads do. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:01.199 I mean, out of love, dads speak intensely at times. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:04.319 Love can speak intensely and alarming. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:05.920 That's what we have here. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:14.160 It's not to create fear, it's to wake us up to the goodness of watching. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:17.839 Because this world will lull you to sleep. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:20.800 And it is really temporary. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:25.279 So that's a very long-winded intro to say this. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:26.240 Here's point number one. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:26.720 I could end. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:28.319 I felt like I could pray right there, we'd be done. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:29.199 Here's point number one. 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:30.160 I do have a few points. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:37.360 Point number one: it is dangerous to live unaware of God's reign in your life and love for your heart. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:56.399 About a month or so ago, it might have been two months ago at this point, uh an elderly gentleman came up to a friend of mine, one of my best friends, came up to him after church at another church and said, Hey, I I think I I think I need you to help me. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:58.879 I don't know who else to ask. 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:00.559 Oh yeah, what's that? 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:04.320 And the thing is, is this guy's dying. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:09.200 And he doesn't have anybody to ask to help him through this process. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:19.360 He said, I I think I I need you to help me um like sell my sell my cars and like get get rid of my stuff in my house and help me sell my house. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:26.480 The guy has a child, a grown child. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:27.919 They don't talk. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:31.919 The man's wealthy or at least somewhat well off. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:36.720 I mean all the money and everything is going to going to ministry somewhere else. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:39.519 So who knows what all that's about, right? 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:42.799 Like who knows how you get to that point between a parent and a child. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:43.679 Who knows? 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:45.919 My friend say, my friend's like, I you know, I don't know. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:48.480 I can I know I can just serve him and help him. 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:50.240 It's pretty admirable. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:54.639 And it can end up this way, right? 00:09:54.720 --> 00:10:00.240 Like there's nothing this man at this point in life, at the end of his life, he's dying. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:09.440 There's no amount of money you can give him that all of a sudden the things that really matter the most all of a sudden get cleared up and get healthy. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:11.440 No achievement. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:13.039 All of a sudden, all that just doesn't matter. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:18.399 I mean, he's he's liquidating stuff off and handing it off to somebody else as he dies. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:22.159 And that's not to say fear on you and more fear on you or more fear. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:28.159 It's just to say, like, hey, grace on you to have an open heart that we get to live. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:35.919 We get to live in an awareness that our stories here on this earth will end. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.279 And that's why Jesus uses the Noah story. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:42.480 So the Noah story is used several times in Scripture for different reasons. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:46.080 In 1 Peter chapter 2, it's used as a commentary of morality. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:47.759 Now, that's not what it's used here for. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:52.159 It's used here here to just say, hey, be aware, watch. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:55.279 Your story will end. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:59.200 That's actually good news. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.159 It's one of the odd parts of my job to remind you that you'll die. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:07.200 It's not something we walk around, especially in our culture. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:10.480 We don't walk around and we talk about that and remember that all the time. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:19.120 But the more we can talk about it, the more we can reconcile that reality that we will die, and it may be sooner, it may be later. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:26.639 And we can face that fear, reconcile that fear, all of a sudden we can begin to live now in light of that. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:32.159 So we have these activities that are listed, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:35.279 This is a way to say normal life. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:37.440 A whole bunch of normal life. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:39.600 These are good, these are good things, fine things. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:41.039 Nothing wrong with these things. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:42.799 I love these things. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:45.840 They just have to be defined by God's grace. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:49.039 They have to be in light of eternity. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.240 Verses 40 through 43. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:55.519 Then two men will be in a field, one will be taken away, one will be left. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:59.440 Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, and one left. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:15.519 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming, but know this that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house broken into. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:20.960 So some people have built theories on how the world will end based on passages like that. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:27.120 And then you go and you grab some passages from Daniel, some different Old Testament stuff, and you bit out these huge theories about how the world would end. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:27.840 And you know what? 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:33.039 Somebody wrote a really great fictional series and made like a ton of like a hundred million dollars called Left Behind. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:35.759 Like, I mean, he made a ton of money on this one, right? 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.159 And you're all going like that would that would have been nice. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:42.879 Here's what's true about this: you can nerd out on that stuff forever. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:48.320 But Jesus says in verse 36, no one knows the day and the time. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:52.000 Now, I believe that that goes beyond just day and time. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:13:02.159 Literally, I believe Jesus is saying, like, hey, you're only gonna get so far in your understanding of the return of Christ and how the world ends. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:15.840 Because the point of it is, the point of it is that we can hope in a day where this world, and the exhaustion of this world, just the exhaustion of it, that we can hope in a day when that will end. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:25.840 And either the end of our story or the redemption of the story of this world by Christ's return, and we can live today in light of that hope. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:36.879 Now, I learned this week also that this word uh left, this idea of being snatched away or taken away, it can also mean to be forgiven. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:42.639 So considering that, this idea that one was taken away, right? 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:46.879 Like they're at the grinding mill, one's taken away, they're out in the field, one's taken away. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:50.879 This idea of taken away can mean to be forgiven. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:14:00.720 So considering that, point number two, in Christ, you are never not invited, not welcomed, or left behind. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:03.120 You're never left behind. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:04.399 Not in Christ. 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:05.519 Because you're forgiven. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:06.559 That's why. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:10.559 And the forgiveness is by God coming to you and pulling you out. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:14.399 Some of us know the wound of abandonment? 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:15.759 What did we say last week? 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:17.759 Do you remember the two saddest words in the human language? 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:18.960 Do you remember them? 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:21.759 I heard a whisper. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:22.720 That's like a slight whimper. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:25.279 Everybody wants to admit that they've heard it, that you remember it. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:26.159 What party? 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:27.519 What party? 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:29.039 Oh, have you said that? 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:30.000 Or you thought it? 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:31.120 What party? 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:32.879 Somebody's telling you about what party? 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:34.080 Oh, I wasn't invited. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:35.519 I thought that's why I don't know about it. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:37.039 So what wasn't invited? 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:37.759 I wasn't there. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:38.799 What party is this? 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:40.320 Oh, yeah, that I wasn't there. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:41.120 That's what that's why. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:42.320 That's a sad moment. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:43.600 We've all been there. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.279 We've all been there. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:51.279 Maybe, maybe it's a feeling of a friend leaving you for another group. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:54.879 You got you got left behind. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:02.720 Maybe a love interest you thought it was gonna work out, it didn't, because he went back with her over to she went wherever. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:06.559 Maybe a spouse abandoned you. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:08.480 You didn't even see it coming. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:12.480 Maybe you remember being a child. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:15.919 And you can remember the day your dad left. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.120 Or you can remember the day your mom left. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:26.799 Maybe you just know the ongoing feeling of being left out. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:35.360 I mean, this this is some of the feelings, emotions in this passage of abandonment that cause us to question, like, will we be abandoned by God? 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:38.879 Is it possible that I could be, is it possible that I could be left behind? 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:41.120 I would I would not be welcomed. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:16:00.559 I was talking to a friend of mine two weeks ago, and he said, he just realized it's been 20 years he came into this realization, and he said, as soon as fall hits, as soon as fall hits, there's perfect crisp days where the leaves are turning, some leaves are starting to fall, and everybody's so happy because the summer heat is there. 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:08.240 Soon as that weather hits, he gets so anxious and sort of fearful. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:21.679 It took him 20 years to realize it's because on a perfect fall day, his dad tried to kill his mom and was headed into the bedroom to kill him and his brother also. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:24.480 And he was 11 years old. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.399 We know the emotions of being abandoned. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:32.000 And maybe it's not even that bad for you. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:34.559 Maybe it's just you just haven't felt like you fit in. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:36.720 You're not sure if God will have you. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:40.480 Because of that thing you did, or the thing from the past. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:46.480 But what Jesus is saying here, I come for you. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:50.080 If you're in Christ, I will have you. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:59.120 You don't disappoint me, you don't embarrass me, I welcome you and I accept in your sin and in your witness. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:01.759 These are just imperfect people here in this passage. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:03.440 There's nothing separating the people. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:06.640 You see that in the passage, there's nothing separating the people. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:12.000 Faith is the only thing that separates. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:15.759 By grace through faith. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:19.680 It's not our works, it's not our merits, and our performance, it's none of that. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:23.759 It's his pursuit of us and our faith that you know what? 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:24.319 That's enough. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:25.839 That's enough for me. 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:27.839 The cross is enough. 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:40.400 My sin put upon the cross, his righteousness is given to me, so I am forever beloved, and I'll get so caught up in the temporary world, and even then, he will come and snatch me up. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:46.400 He will welcome me, even when I don't have my act together. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:57.519 And in all the areas of growth and grace that you need in your life, and sin and shame and woundedness and all of that, all those areas that we need growth and grace, even now, he'll have you. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:07.920 Point number three is this in the grace of God, we get to grow in awareness as we live in a temporary world. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:08.880 Awareness to what? 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:10.799 Awareness that it's temporary. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:14.160 Two questions might be able to help us. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:14.720 Two questions. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:15.839 Here's uh question number one. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:21.839 How am I growing in awareness that this world is not the fullness of God's story for me? 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:27.440 The things of the world are not the fullness of God's story for you and your soul. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:33.039 There's a reason why you feel exhausted, it's because it's not this world's not enough for you. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:39.599 There's a reason why you might feel condemned, it's because this world can never justify you or absolve you of your sin. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:44.960 Your soul needs to be caught up in God's story for you. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:58.880 And part of God's story for you is what we've been talking about the last, say, two or three weeks, where we said, you know, there's an intersection between your sin and your woundedness, and there the intersection will be your idolatry. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:04.000 Be all the things you turn to, the ways you forget God, you get caught up in this world. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:14.000 And the more we can figure that out, the more we can repent and rest back in God's grace has been enough for us the entire time, but we can be moving further into the freedom God has for us. 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:23.920 Question number two how are my priorities transforming by means of my radical acceptance from a God who pursues me? 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:27.519 I think that's what this passage actually lays out. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:37.359 A God who is pursuing these people, and then by the end of the passage is talking about, hey, pay attention, the world will end, that there's some transformation of priorities. 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:44.960 How are my priorities transforming by means of my radical acceptance from a God who pursues me? 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:47.920 Verse 44. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:54.799 Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:00.720 So here's how it starts to tie into Christmas, preparing us for Christmas. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:01.920 Point number four. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:09.839 By contemplating the way our stories will end, we prepare ourselves for remembering the coming of Christ. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:23.200 When we start to contemplate that this world is not enough, and this world will end, and this world's not enough for us, and this world is temporary, all of a sudden we start to become open to something that's not of this world. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:26.400 And grace is not of this world. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:29.599 Merit and performance is of this world. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:33.519 And Jesus is the incarnation of God's grace to us. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:46.960 The challenge with this passage is to not hear it in fear, but to hear it as alarming and hear it as intense, to hear it as a warning, but to hear it as a welcome by the grace of God to say, please pay attention. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:50.160 This really matters for your soul. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:55.200 And if you don't know Christ, and you go, I don't know, I mean, I don't even know. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:21:01.519 I don't know if I'd be the one who would be put like pulled by him and pursued by him, or am I the one that's left behind? 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:07.359 We don't have to take this passage and separate it out from the rest of Christ's teaching and who he is. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:10.960 The return of Christ is the return of Christ. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:15.279 The loving Christ who welcomes all. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:19.359 And says, by faith, repent. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:31.440 Repent of all the ways that we entertain ourselves with the things of this world and ways we try to self-save with our performance and we try to hide and we try to cover our woundedness or ignore our sin and ignore our shame. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:34.880 And we don't have to do any of that because he accepts you now and he welcomes you now. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:37.599 This is the man who speaks these words. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:41.119 What an amazing invitation this passage is. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:50.240 Don't pretend you can rescue yourself. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:22:02.160 This passage is ultimately filled with a great promise that God does the rescuing to imperfect people who don't have their acts together. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:07.200 And at least for me, I need that, and that is incredibly good news. 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:08.960 Let's pray together. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:19.359 God, thank you for this promise we have in this first week of Advent that even in our lack of awareness, you rescue us. 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:25.759 That we are forgiven and rescued by you, a God who in grace pursues us. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:35.680 Help us in greater and greater ways to move away from performance and merit, but to rest back and put faith and trust that you are enough. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:40.559 Help us to find our stories caught up in your story. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:44.640 Help us to find our stories redeemed by your healing. 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:52.079 Give us sight to see that our stories here will end. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:23:01.039 And would that create great transformation in our hearts when it comes to values, pursuits, and priorities? 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:14.720 These are all things that we need, work done by your Holy Spirit, not by us, not by our merit, not by our self will, but by us becoming more and more open to the work of your spirit in our hearts. 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:16.559 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:17.359 Amen.