Words for Crisis Times

-Jesus Says Four Things-

November 15, 1998

Luke 21:5-19

In his wonderful translation of the New Testament, The Message, Eugene Peterson titles this passage in Luke 21 "Watch Out for Doomsday Deceivers". It is a serious thing to be a religious Chicken Little. If it weren't so very serious it would be very funny.

You remember the story of Chicken Little? An acorn fell on her head, and so she ran around crying "The sky if falling!" And soon she had Henny Penny and Goosy Loosy and Foxy Loxy believing her. A Chicken Little theology of end times tends to bring the real business of God's kingdom to a screeching halt.

In the mid-1800s a man named William Miller convinced thousands of people to stand out on hillsides waiting the end of the world, or at least the rapture. It was supposed to happen October 22, 1844. It didn't. In my own personal experience I have heard dire predictions made with great intensity. As a sincere Christian in my teens it made me want to cut short the best and most thorough preparation in favor of immediate action.

The church and the world do go through shaking times. Everything we take for granted as solid and secure can be up for grabs in a very short time. I remember near-panic in 1973 when an oil embargo made it hard to buy gasoline. I recall some very uneasy people– myself one of them– about eight years ago in January when the scud missiles started landing in Israel. The world held its breath and the word "Armageddon" was in the air.

This very day's news is disturbing: millions homeless in central America that a few short weeks ago had no cause to be alarmed; Saddam Hussain thumbing his nose at U.N. sanctions; our own nation divided over things we would not have discussed in polite company just a few years ago. Are these signs of the end of the world?

Jesus was asked for specific time tables. Jesus never gave a formula for finding the time. But Jesus did say four things that we can take to the bank and live by:

he did NOT say "This is WHEN!"
he did NOT say "These will be the signs!"

but he DID say:

I. DON'T BE DECEIVED

Our clear call is to know and love God as he reveals himself to us in Jesus. Anything that takes us off that course is deception. There are many issues that are important, and many thing worth taking a stand for. But there is only ONE ISSUE that is all-important: to know God, and to love and obey Him.

There are many mysteries involved in the Christian faith. There are many more things we don't know than we do. We can disagree and argue and split churches over important matters, and over not-very-important matters. It is all too easy to be deceived: Jesus says "Take care! Keep your spirit right! Stay close to Me!"

II. DON'T BE TERRIFIED

The second thing Jesus says is "Don't be afraid when the walls come tumbling down!" It is easier said than done! Fear as an emotion is not moral or im-moral. It is visceral.

Here's an old Texas story: Mother heard a commotion out in the chicken house and figured it was probably a chicken snake. She sent Bob and Billy out to kill it. They went in the hen house and looked all around; no snake. Then they got a box and started looking on the nesting shelves– and on the top shelf as they peeked over they came face to face with a big chicken snake.

Bob and Billy fell over each other and tried to get out the door at the same time in a panic, and as they burst out they met their mother, who reminded them that chicken snakes are harmless and never hurt people.

Bob looked at Billy, and Billy looked at Bob, and said, "Yes, ma'am, we know that but some things scare you so bad that you hurt yourself!"

Jesus didn't say things wouldn't be scary– in fact he knew they would be,. That's why he said, "Don't be afraid!" It is pretty scary to be arrested and put to death. But we can choose to believe that Jesus knows where we are, and that he will be with us. Jesus did say that even if we lost our lives for his sake and the Gospels' that not one hair of our heads would ever be finally misplaced and lost!

III. DO EXPECT A PRESENCE WHEN YOU NEED ONE

Crisis times are when Jesus expects us to let people know God loves them. We carry on doing what we believe God wants us to do. Someone asked Martin Luther what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow. He said, "I would plant a tree!"

The word Jesus gives us may be as small as a smile to your mail carrier. It may be showing a good spirit when you don't feel very much like it. We never know when God will take something very small and insignificant and change a life.

A little more than fifteen years ago a member of this congregation had a burden for people in crisis. She was past fifty years old, maybe five feet tall– no, maybe four-eleven. She had had her own share of crises. She was well-educated in social services and was a registered nurse, and cared for a number of our elderly people even to their death.

But God had a "word" for Esther Sanger to say– and she said it in a very small, almost insignificant way: she put a phone number on sheets of paper with the word "If you are in crisis call this number". The phone started ringing. It has never stopped. The Quincy Crisis Center touched hundreds of families, and continues as the Sanger Center to this very day. No one could have dreamed how to begin such a work.

IV. DON'T EVER GIVE UP YOUR FAITH

Jesus said "When the going gets tough, stick with Me! I'll stay with you to the end of the age!"

Conclusion

We have plenty of frightening things happening in our world right now. What do they MEAN? How should we act and re-act in our time on the human stage? In addition to world crises– there are personal crises represented here today. Nobody may know it– but perhaps YOU are going through what seems like the very end of the world for you! What shall we do?

Keep the long view: don't be deceived!
Don't listen to the date-setters. Don't get off course. Take time to make thorough preparation. Treat the earth the way your children and grandchildren would hope that you have treated it!
On the other hand live so you won't be ashamed to be surprised to meet Jesus face-to-face!
Our dog– actually my wife's dog, Schatzi, has a very sensitive doggy conscience. Not that she lives by her conscience at all– for she is not above falling into doggy sin any time she thinks she can get away with it.
But a funny thing is, we can tell if she has been a bad dog or a good dog by the way she greets us when we come home. Usually she is right at the door, smiling a doggy smile and wagging her tail. That means she hasn't done anything worse than sleeping on the sofa or drinking out of the you-know-what. But if she does NOT come to the door we know she has really been bad. She has gotten into the garbage, or opened the cupboard. Once she ate two pounds of Oreos.
Maybe that isn't a good example of facing the crises of life– but at the same time, the attitude you and I have right now as we think about that time when we will meet our Lord might just tell us something about what is or is not important in our lives just now.
Fifteen weeks ago today I was taking a couple MIT students home after Sunday dinner; I had just dropped them off at their dorm near Kresge Auditorium and turned onto Memorial Drive and started to make a U-turn– I looked both ways– hesitated while I watched a car coming east-bound, and without one split-second's warning I was broadsided on my driver's door by a Subaru doing 45 miles an hour. I have thought about that split second a hundred times since then. There was no time to GET ready to meet my Maker.
That trauma has reenforced the truth of a cliche that I try to remember to live by: You can't GET ready when Jesus comes– you have to LIVE ready! Let your covenant with God dominate all the other relationships of your life! Amen

Prayer

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen