St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

December 3, 2006 Advent 1 Luke 21:25f

“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

I have a terrible memory. I’m about ten years old. It’s a rainy night—a dark and rainy night. My mom and dad are driving in to town. My brother and sister and I are safe at home in our big farm house—about 1 mile out in the country. My parents were only gone for a few moments—when suddenly I hear the sound of someone running up on our porch. There is a pounding—wham, wham, wham—like someone is going to kick the front door in. I yell, “Who is it!” They yell, “Let me in! I have to use the phone!” I open the door a crack and there stands a man soaking wet—blood running from his forehead. I try to push the door back shut and he shoves his way in. “Where are your parents?”, he asks! I say, “They just left for town!” He says, “I think I just crashed into them!” “Are they ok?” He says, “Your mom’s walking around. I think your dad’s dead! Where’s your phone!” That is a pretty terrible memory! Did you know they are working on a pill—a drug that they can give to people who are plagued by such a terrible memory? They are working on some medicine—that they hope will remove that memory the way you wash a marker board clean. To remove that painfully memory the way a plastic surgeon removes a painful scar! The fact is Jesus will accomplish something far greater still—when he brings us home to heaven. When we are in heaven there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain ever again. In the meantime—Jesus helps us prepare. Today God’s Word talks about:

Get Ready For Judgment Day!

1. Understand what’s happening around you

2. Be very careful

As we catch up in spirit with Jesus today—it’s Holy Week! Sunday—Palm Sunday Jesus rode down the Mt. of Olives—then up into Jerusalem. When some of the Pharisees told Jesus to scold his disciples for singing his praises Jesus said, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out!” Jesus went to the Temple—and began driving out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “My house will be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.’” Jesus’ enemies wanted to kill him—but they couldn’t! Jesus would die according to his plan—according to his time table! Jesus would not be murdered. Jesus would lay down his life—sacrifice himself—for the sins of the world. Jesus talked about government. Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Notice that Jesus did not spend time in Rome—fixing the government of the Roman Empire—as corrupt as it was. Jesus said give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar—pay your taxes. Give to God what belongs to him—which is everything—all our heart and soul and strength and mind! As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.” “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?” Jesus told his disciples and he tells us—signs that Judgment Day is near! Jesus said, There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. Do you think much about the sun? 11,900 times the surface area of the earth. Do you know what makes the sun hot? Nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. Did you know the sun is 11,000° F on the surface and 27,000,000° F at the core? Did you know that the sun is actually white—but because of atmospheric scattering appears yellow? Did you know that looking at the sun through binoculars would multiply the brightness 500 times—causing almost instant and permanent blindness? Do we notice about sun spots and solar flares? Or do we mostly grumble and complain—the sun’s too bright—when I drive into Milwaukee in the morning? Grumble that the sun’s too bright when I drive into Madison late in the afternoon? Do I grumble when the sun is very warm in July and August—then grumble in the winter when it’s gray and cold and we find it all too depressing? Do we know much about the moon—earth’s only natural satellite? The moon is Luna in Latin and Selene in Greek. It’s an average of 238,854 miles from earth. Sunlight—reflected from the moon takes 1.3 seconds to reach the earth. The moon is 3.7 times smaller than earth. People have walked on the moon—leaving behind scientific equipment to measure stuff. They have left behind American and Russian flags and golf balls! The moon has to do with seasons and with tides—going out and coming in! Do we understand these things? Or do we just grumble and complain—winters aren’t like they used to be—when it would get really cold and snow lots. Or the ever popular comment on a beautiful day—we’ll pay for this come winter! I heard talk again the other day about El Nino forming—and the probability according to a computer model of a mild winter by us—and a wetter than average winter in the south. The Lord Jesus is in charge of the weather. When we see signs in the heavens in the sun and moon—be reminded that Judgment Day is near! Signs in the sun, the moon and the stars! What do you know about stars—massive luminous balls of plasma. The nearest star to us is the sun. You can tell the chemical composition of a star by its spectrum, luminosity and motion through space. Small stars are called red dwarfs. Fading stars are black drawfs and stars that have shed their planetary nebula are white dwarfs. There are about 300 billion stars in the Milky Way and about 230 billion times that 300 billion stars in the known universe! That’s a lot of stars. When all of that comes to a crashing halt—Jesus will be back—back to take us all home to heaven! When all that ceases to matter—Jesus will be back!

On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. The roaring and tossing of the sea… Living in Watertown—we probably don’t think too much about the sea. And yet—who can forget the tsunami that struck Indonesia? Tsunami means harbor wave. It was a term invented by Japanese fishermen—who came home to their harbor only to find everything washed away! There have been lots of tsunamis in Japan. They have written records of some 195 tsunamis. A tsunami is not a tidal wave—like you think of a wave—like surfers ride on. It’s actually like the tide coming in—like the water is coming in—only much much higher and deeper—with so much sudden force nothing—absolutely nothing can stand in its way. When you hear of an earthquake under the ocean—a landslide deep beneath the ocean—and then all that ocean water coming ashore—washing away everything—leaving behind—never before seen creatures from under water—be reminded—Judgment Day is near!

Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” When you see fear and terror all around—we do not need to be afraid! For the unbeliever—Judgment Day will be so horrible they will say to the mountains fall on us—to the hills cover us. To be buried alive would seem preferable to facing Jesus. But we will not be afraid—because we know Jesus died to wash away all our sins. We will not be afraid. Instead we can look up with humility and anticipation—because we know our rescue is very near!

Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. Dissipation is not a word you hear all the time—but it describes something you experience all the time. It really has two aspects to it. It has the flavor of being self-indulgent and the aspect of using something up. It has the aspect of being intemperate—like do whatever you want! If you are supposed to be careful about your blood sugar—you dasn’t have a large dish of candy on your desk—or pull into Culver’s for frozen custard—then drink lots of Mt. Dew! Indulgence lets children decide if they want to wear a warm coat and hat and mittens and boots when it’s cold and snowy outside. Indulgence lets children decide if they want to eat fruits and vegetables or junk food and candy. Indulgence lets little people stay up as late as they want—playing whatever video games they want. And then when they come to school they are too sleepy to stay awake—or so undisciplined by their parents—they don’t show the respect they need to show their teachers! Dissipation means I will indulge myself this Christmas time—buying very expensive electronic gifts and presents—with plastic because I cannot afford them. Dissipation wastes God’s priceless gift of time—chasing after the things of this world—instead of pursuing what is truly priceless—the Gospel in Scripture and Lord’s Supper! The point of this time of year is not video games under the tree or plasma TV on the wall. The point of this time of year is not parties and presents and cards and cookies and decorations around your garage roof. The point is giving thanks to your Heavenly Father for the only Christmas present that really matters—Christ the Lord!

Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. Terrible things sometimes happen. It was many years ago already—right around Christmas time. A farmer was harvesting his corn—driving back from the fields to the farm—just after the sun went down. One of the wagons had a flat tire. How frustrating is that? The farmer pulled over—lights flashing on the tractor out in front—lights flashing on the pickup truck behind—kind of dark in the middle. Someone—in a hurry—comes along the road—sees lights—sees darkness—sees lights—so she goes wide then in—planning to swing back out again. The problem is—in-between is the man changing the tire. In a moment there is a terrible accident. People are exceedingly breakable—every one of us. When we will see Jesus face to face could be any moment—when we least expect it. It is only by grace alone—that Jesus will make us and keep us ready—so whenever that happens—we will be able to stand before our Savior—clothed in the robe of righteousness—that he bought for us—at the exceedingly high price of his flawless life and innocent suffering and death. Only by grace through faith can we pray with the apostle John—even so come quickly Lord Jesus. Amen!

To God alone all glory! Rev. Anthony E. Schultz