Last Sunday of the Church Year November 21, 2021
Last Sunday of Church Year
Matthew 25:1-13
November 21, 2021
“You Don’t Know When. So Live Accordingly.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
There’s absolutely no good reason why Jesus couldn’t come again right now at 10:25am this Sunday. Most of us tend to think that He can’t come if we’re not in the middle of a war or some other great world calamity. But all of those signs have been happening since He ascended to heaven. We’ve had the wars and earthquakes and persecutions. Plenty of them. Now we may get more of them or we may not. But we’ve definitely already had them and there’s no reason that He won’t come right this second.
Both Jesus and Paul make it very clear in our readings today that Jesus will come again when we DON’T expect it. It’s hard for us to accept that. We like to think, “Oh yeah, we don’t know the time but we’ll have a general idea because things will get really bad.” No, they’re already bad. We’ve had some really bad times…what do you call World Wars 1 and 2? Bad times, right? And we’ve had lots of those. And He could come any time now.
So Jesus says, “You know neither the day or the time.” Even though He gives all those signs He makes sure to tell you, “You don’t know the time.” And Paul is even more clear. He says the last day will come like a thief in the night. In other words, you’re fast asleep when it comes and you least expect it. Paul says that people will be saying, “There’s peace and security.” Does that sound like war time? Of course not.
All of this is painting us a picture that Jesus could absolutely come at any minute. Any second. Right now. The signs have been happening for a while…wars, earthquakes, persecutions. And we don’t know the day or hour Jesus will come again.
Now that’s good news for you, not bad news. You don’t need to be scared of that at all but excited and always ready. Because Paul says that we’re not in darkness for that day to surprise us like a thief. Jesus won’t scare you like a robber. He’s your Brother. Your Savior. You are children of light, Paul says. And you really are. You all know Jesus, right? I’m assuming that’s why you’re here this morning and that you’re not a hypocrite. You know Jesus and believe in Him. And He’s the light of the world. Which means you don’t need to be scared at all. You know Jesus and you’ll be happy to see Him when He comes.
He’s filled your lamps with oil and given you plenty of extra oil. That’s why you come here to Church—to be filled up again over and over so that you never run out of oil. Never run out of faith. I have a friend who is knowledgeable on planning for disasters. Disaster preparedness stuff. He said that when people ask him about it he always tells them here’s the first thing you can do to be prepared. It’s very easy. Never let your gas tank go below a half. That’s a simple, easy step you can do. What if there’s a gas shortage and you need to get to your family? If you’re sitting on “E”, you’re in trouble.
Christians feel the same way regarding the gasoline of faith. The oil of faith. We don’t ever want our gas tanks getting anywhere near empty. That’s why we come and see Jesus as often as possible. Sunday mornings. Wednesday evenings. Every day in our own devotions and prayers. We’re filling up the oil. Making sure we’re always ready.
We live all the time in our Baptism and in the Lord’s Supper. Because those keep us filled up. Keep us ready. Give us oil. So that when the Bridegroom comes (and I’m expecting Him anytime now, really. I would’ve thought He’d be here by now) – when He comes we’ll be ready.
Now then—so far I’ve told you that He’s coming any time and you’re ready. So what to do in the meantime? Paul uses one word that really does sum it up—sober. Stay sober. Don’t get drunk on the world’s cares. Don’t get drunk on the world’s cares. When you get drunk on the world, then your eyes lose their focus on Jesus. You don’t see straight or walk straight. And you’re not ready for Him to come again. You start saying things like, “Oh, lighten up, He’s not coming back today!” Yes, He might. Friends tell friends to stay sober. Don’t get drunk on politics. Don’t get drunk on sports. Don’t get drunk on your children’s or grandchildren’s activities. Don’t get drunk on alcohol and drugs, of course. Don’t get drunk on movies and Hollywood. Don’t get drunk on money and stuff. Stay sober.
And here this morning are two specific ways I want to give you to stay sober and to be prepared and to plan ahead for Him to come at any day or hour. So I’m going to talk to you about being sober with your time and being sober with your money. Ok? Being purposeful and planning with your time and money. Because you know Jesus will come at any time, right? Yes, He will.
So first, your time. You are aware, right, that life is but a blink? In the Introit today, Psalm 39, “O 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 handbreadths.” Do you get it? It’s a cliché but it’s true—life is short. A few handbreadths is all you get. (That’s from one side of your palm to the other side—a few of those.) All mankind is a mere breath, it says. A mere breath! That’s it.
You see? Jesus could come at any minute. So be sober with your time. Which is to say, really give some due consideration to what you’re doing with your time. If you don’t, you’ll waste it all and it will be gone. One thing you can do if you’ve never done it before is act like you’re a high paid lawyer with billable hours and write down all your hours and what you did with them. Keep a little time journal of what you did. Then instead of saying, “Where did all the time go?” you can actually look and see where the time went.
Then you can ask, “Is this where I want my time going? Maybe it is. But if half of your time is going to Facebook or games on your phone or TV—then you’d probably like to cut that down a little bit. So you plan out your time. You stay sober with your time. Make plans. Tell the time where it’s going to go. Think of your time as a precious commodity. You want to spend it wisely.
Last week I told you to keep a prayer list. And I meant it. And I hope you all have one now somewhere. If not, go do it today. Write down your prayer list. Then, along with that prayer list and in the same place, you could also keep a very short list of the top five to ten things you want to spend your time doing. Where does God want you to spend your time? Your list might include things like the following: Be a good daughter. Read many books. Be a good wife or husband. Spend much time with my kids. Play the piano. Work often at the food pantry. Volunteer somewhere. Serve in the Church. Where do you want your time to go? Jesus could come any minute, you know. Be sober with your time. Plan your time.
Secondly, do the exact same thing with your money. With all your stuff. How often have you found yourself saying, “Where did all that money go?” That’s because we don’t give it the proper thought and planning. Remember Jesus’ parable of the rich fool who had so much that he decided he’d build even more barns to hold it all? But that very night he died.
Since you and I don’t know the day or hour and Jesus could come back any time, we want to be wise in how we use God’s gifts—not hoarding them and, at the same time, not wasting them. Make a budget. Plan out your expenses. Be wise and good with all that God gives you. Be a faithful steward.
And first and foremost, God desires that we plan to return some of His money for the work of His Church. God uses your offerings to pay for the work of the Church. All the way back to the Old Testament it has been this way. It’s how God took care of the priests and provided for the tabernacle and Temple and synagogues. And today your offerings are how God is making sure the Gospel is heard by everyone before Jesus comes again. Church buildings need to be built and maintained for the preaching of the Word and giving the Sacraments. Pastors and other church workers need to be provided for so that they can care for those in the Church. Missionaries need to be sent around the world and around our country. We need to send money to our Central IL District and to the LCMS so they can do mission and mercy work on a large scale.
So in the middle of the green sermon insert this morning is once again a little place for you to plan out that giving. What will you decide to give in 2022? (It will also be in the 2022 handbook when those are given out at the beginning of the year.)
Planning out your time and your money is part of being sober. It’s part of being prepared. Because we don’t live in the dark. We live in the light. We know Jesus and we know He’s coming soon. Any time, really. And since we’re baptized and forgiven all our sins in Jesus, we’re ready. God keep us always ready. Always sober. In Jesus’ name. Amen.