The End Of The World And I Feel Fine

Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Matthew 25:1-13

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

It seems like everybody wants a time machine, some contraption that allows a person to go forward or backward throughout time. The reason why? Everybody is fascinated with the future.  Everybody wants to know what their future will entail, what their fate will be. 

So, we make Hollywood science fiction movies about time sleds, time displacement spheres, phone booths, and DeLorean cars that mysteriously take Hollywood actors throughout time into different eras.  And as we watch these movies, we dream what it would be like to flip a switch and go forward five years or 10 years or even 50 years into the future.  What will things be like in the future?  What will we be like in the future?  Will we be better or worse than we are right now?  Will things be better or worse than they are right now in our state?  How will the economy or country be?    

As soon as we realize that we cannot create a time machine and that time travel is just impossible, we resort to the next best thing; we try to forecast our future.  Some people will foolishly summon demons through tarot cards, fortune tellers, and Ouija boards to know the future.  Others will try to know their future through silly fortune cookies or trivial horoscopes.  Some will look to financial future markets to predict the future economy.  And others will look to genetic predisposition tests to determine which possible future diseases they may have to battle someday. 

While people may have some success in predicting, forecasting, or guessing what the immediate future holds for them, we must be honest this morning that none of us – yes, none of us – know the day or the hour of the last great Day of Judgment.  I am not talking about our unpredictable death, but I am referring to the last day of history – the day that the Lord Jesus Christ will return to judge all individuals. 

It is true that none of us can know when we will breathe our last breath and it is especially true that none of us can know when the last day will come.  Make no mistake about it; this last day is coming – it is always coming. 

It is most certainly true, the great judgment, the end of history, the end of the world is unknown to us at this time.  It is the only unfulfilled item in the Apostle’s Creed.  Even though there will be signs showing that the end of time is near, nobody though knows the day or the hour.  In fact, right before the great and powerful Day of Judgment, the pagan world will be talking about peace and security.    Like in the days of Noah, unbelievers will be saying, “peace and security.”  They will be trying to convince themselves that all is well when there is really no peace and safety at all.  And then, like a thief in the night, the Last Day will come upon the whole world with suddenness.  Indeed, when the world least expects it, the last Day of Judgment will spring upon the world – surprising the world that is living in false peace and false security.  It is almost like everyone is in the dark and the last Day of Judgement will come and flip the lights on surprising and blinding the entire world! 

Now, this may cause us to be a little alarmed today.  It may cause us to wish that we had a time machine to look forward into the future to ascertain when the Day of Judgment will happen so that we will not be surprised or caught off guard.  In other words, today, our feathers may be a bit ruffled, and we may feel a bit of discomfort in thinking about the end of the world – the great Day of Judgment.  However, dear Baptized Saints, you are not in darkness.  You do not belong to the night.  You are not a pagan.  But rather, because of Christ Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for you, you are children of the light – you are children of the day.  What this means is that you do not need a time machine.  You do not need to try and forecast the future.  You do not need to seek to estimate through calendars and guesses when the last day will be.  Oh, no!  The reason why?  You already know – as God’s children – what the future entails.  

Now, it is true that we do not know about all the future events which are before us.  We do not know about the future of our jobs.  We do not know about the future of the economy.  We do not know about the future of our country or our world.  We do not know about the future of our health, and we do not know about the timing of our death.  These things have been hidden from our view.  Even though we do not know about all of these future events in our lives, that does not mean that we are in the dark; it is not to say that we are naïve or fools.  Oh, no, as Christians we are not like the world in how we understand the future, for we do know the future – the ultimate future.  We know that Christ Jesus will come again, even though we do not know the exact time. 

Dear Baptized Saints, we know that the one who was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven will indeed come back and judge the living and the dead on the last day of history – Judgment Day.  We are not in darkness concerning the future.  We are not unprepared for the end of history.  We know all of this because God’s Word has promised this.  We hear from the Word of God that the Lord Himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet will descend from heaven, and those who are dead in Christ and those of us alive in Christ will be raised up into the clouds to meet the Lord.  Yes, we joyfully recognize the last Judgment Day for what it is.  We know that the end of history is where every tear will be wiped away.  We know it is a time where there will be no more death or no more mourning or crying or pain. 

Baptized Saints, you and I will not be caught off guard at the great last day.  Certainly not!  The last day will not be like a thief coming to surprise us and stealing everything away from us, for we are not unaware, we are not asleep.  In fact, it is quite the opposite! We believe, teach, and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to judge the living and the dead – we confess this every single Sunday and are aware of this right here and right now.

Dear friends, you belong to Jesus.  You are a child of the light.   We are not like the world that is asleep and spiritually lethargic and ignorant about the end of the world.  In fact, it is quite the opposite. 

When hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, famines, floods, and individual death strikes, the world quickly cleans up the rubble, bandages the wounds, mourns swiftly, and then says, “Peace and security, all is well!” 

You Baptized Saints are not like this.  You are sober.  You are not in the darkness. You understand and know about the great Day of Judgment.  Therefore, when hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, famines, floods, and individual death strikes, we can see these events and say, “Come Lord Jesus Come!” and then work to bandage wounds, clean the rubble, and love those who mourn, knowing in a sure and certain hope that the Lord God has not appointed us to wrath in the last day, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Dear friends, do you realize what this means?  It means that we do not fear the end of the world.  We do not fear the Day of Judgment!  How can we fear the end, for Jesus has been judged for our sin already on the cross!  Yes, judgment of our sin has already occurred on Christ.  Therefore, you who are in Christ will not and cannot be judged at that great last day.  You have not been appointed for wrath and judgment, but salvation.

All of this is why we can be of sober mind in thinking about the Day of Judgment – the end of history.  We shall not fear it.  We shall not deny it.  We shall not be negligent about it.  No, we are attentive and aware and awake about the reality that the last Day of Judgment is coming.  We draw closer to it with each breath that we take and we draw close to it not in fear but with confidence; confidence that whatever our future holds that we shall live together with the Lord forever and ever. 

No need for a time machine; no need to forecast; no need to fear, for we know very well that the Day of the Lord is coming and we anticipate this day with hope and joy.  We expect it while encouraging one another in the sure and certain hope of the Lord’s salvation, which is most certainly for you and for me – salvation that is forever and ever.   

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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We Do Not Grieve As If We Do Not Have Hope

The following 'Visitation and Prayer Service Sermon' is posted with family permission.  May the Lord give to the family of Harold Waswick, and all who mourn, comfort in their grief and a sure confidence in the Lord's loving care.  To listen to the 'Funeral Sermon' CLICK HERE.

Text:  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our reading from 1 Thessalonians tonight tells us that we are not to grieve as others might grieve.  Hear it once again, “…we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers [and sisters], about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”

So, what does this mean?  Does this mean that we are not to grieve the loss of Harold this evening?  Does this mean that we should not cry at tomorrow’s funeral service and that we should not feel pain?  Does this mean that we should not experience sorrow and that we should not mourn at the graveside committal?  Should we toughen up and pull ourselves together and stuff our emotions in the weeks to come? Should we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps? Absolutely not!  The Apostle Paul is not saying that we cannot grieve, but rather, he is saying that we can weep, that we can cry, that we can mourn the loss of Harold, but we do so without despairing grief.  In other words, we do not grieve as if death is the ultimate end, as if there is nothing beyond death. 

Now considering this, the reason why our grieving as Christians is different than other people is that we have something called hope; hope that lies in the midst of our grief.  In other words, we look at the loss of Harold – the pain of death – with hope in view.  We hold our sorrow in one hand and hope in the other hand.  We mourn the loss of Harold with all of the emotions that come with death, but we grieve not as if we are uninformed and not as if we do not have hope. 

But how is this hope so powerful as to affect the way we grieve?  Keep in mind that left to itself, the word ‘hope’ is an empty word.  If you say, “I have hope!” that is fairly ambiguous.  The reason being, hope needs an object.  In other words, hope by itself is powerless; hope by itself is nothing more than a pious sounding talking point.  But rather, hope must be connected to something or someone. 

Tonight, our hope in the midst of this prayer service is in the promises of the Lord.  That is to say, the source of our hope in the midst of this prayer service is in the promises that the shed blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to forgive you, me, and Harold of all of our sins.  It is in the promises that Jesus is righteous and that we are holy because we wear Christ’s righteousness like a robe.  Our hope is in the promises that Jesus is coming back, for you, for me, and for Harold.  Our hope is anchored in the promise that a powerful trumpet will blast and dead bodies will be raised from their grave. Our hope is connected to the promise that there will be a resurrection of the body; that Christ is coming back to take you, me, and Harold home unto everlasting life. 

Unfortunately, the original hearers of tonight’s Epistle reading had some misconceptions about what happens after death.  They had doubt and uncertainty.  Some were worried that when they died that there was no hope that they were out of the reach of Christ.  There was a lack of hope. 

Is it any different for us today?  In the midst of death, it seems to me that every one of us looks for hope and assurance.  Death has a way of doing that.  Unfortunately, we can end up in despair when our hope fails to be placed where it should or when our hope is connected to hopeless things.  Yes, even the best well-intentioned Christians sin when they place their hope in the wrong places.  For example, you and I can place our hope in our very own accomplishments.  We can place our hope on our own accumulated worth.  Thus, when we attend prayer services, like this, we can begin to think about our own death.  Death then brings about insecurity.  As a result, we attempt to offset this insecurity by manufacturing our own hope and assurance.  That is to say, if we are not careful we can end up placing our hope in our own perceived goodness.  We can say to ourselves, “What will be my fate when I die?  Well, I am a pretty good person.”  This is most unfortunate, for when we place our hope in ourselves deceive ourselves, for we cannot save ourselves; we cannot scrub hard enough to purge the stain of sin from our conscience.  Placing hope in our own spiritual resumes will not overcome the harshness of death.

Now, I could spend some time at this point mentioning some of the wonderful things that Harold has done and accomplished in his life.  Let me affirm to you that it is good to remember and adore these wonderful memories and workings of Harold, as you will do later this evening.  However, we must keep everything in perspective, knowing that hope does not look to these events and memories, as good as they may be.  Hope looks beyond these memories, hope looks beyond our grief right now, and it looks beyond Harold’s death to the death of Jesus.  And get this, the death of Jesus was not for Jesus Himself, it was for Harold, it was for you! Indeed, Harold shared in the death of Jesus, for he was washed clean, without spot or blemish, in baptism.  God placed His name upon Harold in his baptism.  Through faith, Harold was united with Jesus in life and in death. 

You who have ears, hear this, Harold has not been abandoned in death!  In death, Jesus came and took Harold with Him into his rest, into the realms of eternal glory.  Furthermore, Jesus will also take Harold with Him at the Resurrection of all the dead.  At the last day, Christ will come and the trumpets will sound and Harold will hear the powerful voice of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Like Lazarus, he will come forth out of his grace; alive, and with a glorified body.  All the pain of his body will be left behind as he will be clothed in splendor and holiness and never ending life.  

My friends, we do not grieve like others, for we have hope.  Furthermore, our hope is not like others because our hope is not in ourselves, but in a Savior who came and will come again for us!  We have hope not in our own abilities to climb to the Lord but hope that our Savior promised to meet us in death and has promised to come and take our bodies out of the graves at the last day. 

We have present hope my friends in the midst of death.  We have hope right here and right now in the midst of this prayer service because Jesus defeated hell, death, sin, and the devil.  We have hope right here and right now because Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  We have hope right here and right now because there is a future resurrection for all of us who are in Christ Jesus. 

Now, the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

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That You May Not Grieve As Others Do

The following is posted with family permission.  May the Lord give to the family of Sylvia Colby and to all who mourn comfort in their grief and a sure confidence in His loving care.

Sylvia Colby

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Epistle reading (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) from this morning says that we are not to grieve as others might grieve.  The reason why we do not grieve as other people might grieve is because we have something called hope.  Indeed, the Apostle Paul says in our text, “…we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”

So, does this mean that we are not to grieve the loss of Sylvia?  Does this mean that we should not cry at funerals and that we should not feel pain?  Does this mean that we shouldn’t experience sorrow and that we should not mourn?  Should we toughen up and pull ourselves together and stuff our emotions? Should we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps? Absolutely not!  The Epistle lesson is saying that we can weep, that we can cry, that we can mourn for the loss of Sylvia, but we do so without despairing grief.  In other words, we do not grieve as if this is the ultimate end, as if there is nothing beyond death. 

The reason why our grieving as Christians is different than other people is that we have something called hope; hope that lies in the midst of our grief.  We look at the loss of Sylvia, the pain of death, with hope in view.  We hold our sorrow in one hand and hope in the other hand.  In other words, we mourn the loss of Sylvia with all of the emotions that come with loss, but we grieve not as if we are uniformed and not as if we do not have hope. 

But how is this hope able to do such things?  Keep in mind that left to itself, the word ‘hope’ is a rather empty word.  If you say, “I have hope!” that is fairly ambiguous.  The reason being, hope needs an object.  In other words, what is the source of our hope?  Our source of hope right here and right now is in the promises of God.  It is in the promises that the shed blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to forgive us of all of our sins.  It is in the promises that Jesus is righteous and that we are holy because we wear Christ’s righteousness like a robe.  Our hope is in the promises that Jesus is coming back.  Our hope is anchored in the promise that a powerful trumpet will blast and penetrate to our dead bodies.  Our hope is connected to the promise that there will be a resurrection of the body; that Christ is coming back to take us home unto everlasting life. 

Unfortunately, the original hearers of the Epistle text, that we read earlier, had some misconceptions about what happens after death.  There was doubt and uncertainty.  Some were worried that when they died that there was no hope that they were out of the reach of Christ.  There was a lack of hope and what we could say was misplaced hope. 

Is it any different for us today?  In the midst of death it seems to me that every one of us looks for hope.  Death has a way of doing that.  Unfortunately, we can end up in despair when our hope fails to be placed where it should or when our hope is connected to hopeless things.  Yes, even the best well-intentioned Christians sin when they place their hope in the wrong places.  For example, you and I can place our hope in our very own accomplishments.  We can place our hope on our own accumulated worth.  Thus, when we attend funerals, like this, we can begin to think about our own death.  Death then brings about insecurity.  Thus we attempt to offset this insecurity with hope and assurance.  But if not careful we can end up placing our hope in our own perceived goodness.  “What will be my fate when I die?  Well, I am a pretty good person.”  It is most unfortunate when we place our hope in the unholy trinity of ‘me, myself, and I’ for we cannot save ourselves; we cannot scrub hard enough to purge the stain of sin from our conscience.  Furthermore, we self-deceive ourselves when our hope is placed in our own spiritual resumes, resumes that surely will not overcome the harshness of death.

Now, I could spend some time at this point mentioning some of the wonderful things that Sylvia has done and accomplished in her life.  Let me affirm you that it is good to remember and adore these wonderful memories and workings of Sylvia.  However, for the little time that I got to know Sylvia, I am convinced that her hope was not in what she did and did not do.  I am convinced that her ultimate hope was not in herself, but it was outside of herself.  Her hope was in Christ Jesus.  Sylvia’s hope was in the shed blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of her sins.  Two weeks ago she wept as she received the body and blood of Christ given and shed for her, a sinner; body and blood that gifted her forgiveness.   Yes, she had hope in something that was unsinkable.  Her hope was not in herself, it was the same hope that the Apostle Paul speaks of, hope in Christ Jesus—her Lord and your Lord. 

My friends, hope looks outside of us and it looks beyond death to the death of Jesus.  And get this, the death of Jesus was not for Himself, it was for Sylvia, it was for you! Indeed, Sylvia shared in the death of Jesus; she was washed clean, without spot or blemish.  God placed His name upon her in her baptism.  Through faith she was united with Him in life and in death.  You who have ears, hear this, she was not abandoned at death!  In death Jesus came and took her with Him into her rest, into the realms of eternal glory.  Furthermore, Jesus will also take her with Him at the Resurrection of all the dead.  At the last day, Christ will come and the trumpets will sound and Sylvia will hear the beautiful and powerful voice of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Like Lazarus, she will come forth from her grave, alive, and with a glorified body.  All the pain of her body will be left behind as she will be clothed in splendor and holiness and never ending life.  

My friends, we do not grieve like others, for we have hope.  Furthermore our hope is not like others because our hope is not in ourselves, but in a Savior who came and will come for us!  We have hope not in our abilities to climb but in the descent of our Savior to you and me, a Savior that comes to meet us in our death! 

We have present hope my friends in the midst of death.  We have hope right here and right now in the midst of this funeral as we believe, teach, and confess that Jesus defeated hell, death, sin, and the devil.  We have hope right here and right now as we believe, teach, and confess, that Jesus is the resurrection and the life; that there is a future resurrection for us who are in Christ Jesus. 

Now, the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.