Apocalypse now!

Luke 21:5-19

The Destruction of the Temple Foretold

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

Signs and Persecutions

They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.

“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Don't you just love this season of the year - I call it silly season.

The rest of the world, it seems, is gearing up for Christmas - and has been since Halloween - and the church is gearing up for Advent.

The rest of the world, in the unlikely event that it’s even considering sacred texts, is focusing on the Nativity.

And the church?

Is focusing on...  the Apocalypse.

Are we so out of step with our culture - the culture that God calls us to engage with good news?

And do we really need to read ancient apocalyptic texts today?

Isn’t there enough of the apocalypse happening in our world?

Aren’t there enough terrible things happening?

Isn’t there enough doom and gloom and scare mongering all around?

Do we need to indulge in it in the church too?

I happen to think that we do.

And here’s why:

When Jesus started spouting apocalyptic narrative and metaphor, he was appealing to those on the margins.

He wasn’t indulging those who were comfortable.

He wasn’t kow towing to those whose fortunes depended on the current structures remaining in place.

When Jesus got heavy, apocalyptic heavy, he was preaching a message of hope for the poor and the marginalised.

When Jesus got weird and started noising up the status quo, he was speaking words of security for the displaced and the dispossessed.

Because disruption of the empire could only be good news for those on the periphery.

The notion that all that kept the downtrodden in their place was about to be shaken up, literally toppled - was good news for the oppressed.

So even though, throughout Luke’s gospel, we tend to find Jesus being positive about the temple:

It’s the place where Simeon and Anna wait to greet the new Messiah

It’s the place where Jesus gets lost on a family outing

It’s the place where Jesus sets out his manifesto - Good news for the poor and the like

It’s the place that Jesus goes to lengths to protect as a place of prayer, driving out money changers and all that jazz.

Even though this has been a place Jesus has hung out in, observing and being seen, his prophesying its downfall would be music to the ears of those considered the dregs of society, those who longed for change, those who yearned for justice.

The destruction of the temple is, for them, a symbol of the possibility of revolution.

And that makes it entirely appropriate that these are the texts we turn to at this time of year - indeed at any time when we want to affirm that God’s kingdom is here and that we have a part to play in changing our world, in overthrowing injustice, in demolishing the status quo.

For those at the bottom of the heap, these are not words of the end times.

But words of hope in the present.

These are not words that invite us to indulge in escapism and imagine the new world to come that is out of this world.

Not words that invite us to dream of a blessed future.

These are words that speak of hope.

Hope now.

The hope that God’s kingdom, a kingdom of peace and freedom, a kingdom of justice and love will prevail in our world - not in some ethereal future, but here and now.

Apocalypse now would mean that those disenfranchised by Brexit would find a place to call home.

Apocalypse now would mean that those who are homeless would find shelter and those who are hungry would have enough to eat without being forced to rely on food banks.

Apocalypse now would mean that those who flee their homes because of violence and war would find a welcome and a refuge.

These words do not belong to the future.

They belong to now.

We are called to realise the kingdom of God among us.

Make up your minds, Jesus said. I will give you wisdom...

Our call is not to sit back and let governments sort out crises.

Our call is not to pin our hopes on an election or a referendum or a slowing down of climate change, however important those may be.

Our call is to live into and invite others into God’s kingdom of peace and justice, of equity and love - NOW.

Our call is to love as those who hope - not just for the future, but for now.

And that, right there, is counter cultural today.

Maintaining hope, not just for the future but for NOW.

Seeing beyond the appalling state of the world - globally and locally and knowing that it can be different.

And, out of our knowing, making a difference.

By showing up.

By speaking up.

By stepping up.

To serve God’s kingdom - that’s already among us.

What we do here week by week is counter cultural today.

And so is the kingdom of God.

So,let’s keep on being out of step.

Let’s take heed of Jesus’ apocalyptic words, words that are music to the ears of all who suffer, words of hope, not fear.

Hope will not be extinguished.

Love will not be defeated.

God’s kingdom is here.

May God give us hope and help us to live in love - not as those who despair today but as those who live and work alongside God in building God’s kingdom.

Apocalypse now.

Amen.

Follow your treasure!

Hebrews 11:1-3; 8-16

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Luke 12:32-40

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit...

In one of the schools I used to visit as school chaplain, there was a poster on the Head Teacher’s door that asked: “What have you done today to make you feel proud?”

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

That came back to me this week as I read these texts - particularly the Hebrews passage, where we find these words:

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God....

I wonder if that accolade - God is not ashamed to be called their God, would be attributed to us today?

God is not ashamed to be called their God.

In a similar vein to the question What have you done today to make you feel proud, we might ask:

What have we done today that would make God unashamed to be called our God?

That accolade is one not lightly given in the history of the people of God, a history liberally peppered with so much oppression and injustice.

Yet, of Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob, people of faith, who followed where God called, God was not ashamed to be called their God.

Unless we’ve been living in a hole in the ground, we all know too well, that, everyday, God weeps at the way we treat one another and at the way we are so careless with creation.

And at how often, we do such things in the name of God.

God’s challenge to us today, people of faith, people who live in hope, people who are convicted by God’s will, God’s challenge to us is to set out, with God, to make a difference.

To leave what we know.

To stop being resigned to all that brings despair.

To step out and step up and make a difference.

God is calling us as he called Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Isaac, God is calling us to leave what we know, to embrace the faith we profess and, by that faith, to follow God to the places we are called today.

Each of us here is uniquely called and gifted by God.

Each of us has a task to perform that no one else can do.

And, as we are called, those words from today’s gospel, go with us:

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Do not be afraid...  Words God speaks again and again throughout history as words of calling:

Do not be afraid.

Why shouldn’t we be afraid? 

Because God gives us the kingdom.

Along with God’s call, and along with God’s gifting, we are presented with God’s kingdom.

Let’s think for a moment to whom Jesus addressed these words, words that inform and convict us today.

There was the crowd around him, who eagerly soaked up all the words that this teacher shared as he toured the region. 

There were his disciples, whom he was preparing to take on God’s mission.

And there were also the scribes and the Pharisees whom Jesus had consistently criticised for putting such heavy burdens on the folk by their teaching, heavy burdens that they didn’t  lift a finger to ease. Telling folk all that they must do and not helping them in  any way to see how that might be accomplished.

The crowd, the disciples, the Scribes and Pharisees.

All hearing this teaching that Jesus shared.

And the huge difference in Jesus teaching, from other teachers of the day was that Jesus teaching also provided the means by which the calling he set before us can be lived out.

Jesus presented the teaching and the way.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Christ presents us with all we need to live into our calling today.

Just as surely as Abraham was presented with all he needed to perform the task God set him, so we are presented with all we need to respond to God’s call today.

The question is - if God has already given us the kingdom, if the kingdom is here now - and not something that is to come - a long way in the future - why aren’t we seeing more kingdom signs in our world.

Why aren’t we seeing justice done, loved lived out?

I’d suggest that it’s because we don’t really believe that we can experience the kingdom of God today.

We’ve convinced ourselves that the kingdom of God is something for the future, something we can only experience in the future when God deigns to make all right with the world.

In spite of Jesus teaching, in spite of those words in our gospel: 

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 

We don’t believe it is something we can really know today. 

We still think of God’s kingdom as a future event, unattainable in our time.

And yet Jesus constantly asserted that the kingdom is near.

We simply don’t believe it.

Because believing in the kingdom would demand too much of us.

Believing that we can be part of justice, that we can live in love means we would have to drastically change our way of life.

More than counting our blessings, we’d have to view our blessings as gifts for others - we’d have to see ourselves as blessed to be a blessing, view God’s gifts not as rewards for our faithfulness but as the means by which we see God’s kingdom today, when we share those gifts with others.

Even as believers, we often find ourselves asking: Why, God is there so much suffering in the world?

And God weeps.

Because we already have all that is required to ensure that no one goes hungry, that no one lacks clean water. 

We already have all that is needed for all to find shelter, for all to be clothed.

God has given and continues to give us the kingdom so that we can live in peace, sharing with all.

But we have made of that gift a pipe dream for the future... something we pray for.

And God tires of our prayers that are unaccompanied by action.

And let’s hear again those other words of Jesus contained in the text, words that are often misappropriated:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

How often we interpret that as - Follow you heart, and the rest will fall into place.

And that’s not the message Jesus shares.

Jesus exhorts us to give our treasures - and then we will be invested in what we give away.

Giving away what we have, sharing the gifts we have been given, results in us being invested in seeing that those gifts are put to good use, that they bear fruit.

Do you see how that’s different to us “following our heart?”

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The task and the outcome is quite different when we follow Jesus teaching.

Of course it is our hope that we will find our passion by following our treasure - but we have to do it that way around - using the gifts we have been given, squandering those gifts, if you like, for God, so that we can find the passion that will follow.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Today we might ask - how are we going to begin to be the answer to the prayers we make in all sincerity and hopefulness?

How can we use our gifts in the service of God, finding passion through our giving?

And -

How can we live in God’s kingdom NOW so that God is unashamed to be called our God?

The unique call of God to each of us today is every bit as challenging as it was to Abraham and Sarah - to leave what we know, what has become comfortable and to step out in faith knowing that the promises of God and the kingdom, present now, are enough. 

And that the gifts we have been given are enough. 

Enough to sustain and enough to make a difference if we have the faith. 

Because faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

May we know God’s grace accompanying us today as we follow God’s call, as we step out and step up in faith.

May we share our gifts, discover our passion and know that, with God, we are enough.

God’s kingdom is here.

For the glory of God

Amen 

Paying it forward

Romans 3:28-30; 5:1-11

No, not at all, but through the law of faith. We consider that a person is treated as righteous by faith, apart from what is accomplished under the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t God the God of Gentiles also? Yes, God is also the God of Gentiles. 30 Since God is one, then the one who makes the circumcised righteous by faith will also make the one who isn’t circumcised righteous through faith. 

Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness,[a] we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory. 3 But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 5 This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people. 7 It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. 8 But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us. 9 So, now that we have been made righteous by his blood, we can be even more certain that we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. 10 If we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son while we were still enemies, now that we have been reconciled, how much more certain is it that we will be saved by his life? 11 And not only that: we even take pride in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one through whom we now have a restored relationship with God.

Our Scripture passage today is the kind of preaching I grew up with - preaching filled with big, theological words that I had little clue about. Even though the preachers using those words, straight from Scripture went to great lengths to explain them - and took great lengths of time to do so! I still didn’t really grasp them.

And, I have to say, after years of theological study, I’d still be hard pressed to explain them or to help others understand which doctrines they are part of and how they fit together and what great mysteries they unpack for us today.

And yet...

There is one phrase in the midst of it all that even as a child, I was able to understand very clearly.

And that is: Christ died for ungodly people. 

I got the message that Christ died for ungodly people. 

Even as a child, surrounded by all these big words and theological mysteries, that message shone through - that Christ died for me, not because I was a good person, not because I might have potential and I might be of some use in the kingdom of God - all that didn’t matter to the loving action of God so long ago that Christ died for ungodly people. 

And, as a child, hearing that preached week in, week out, and being surrounded by folk who lived in God’s love and who lived out God’s love, I was not only enabled to hear that and see it lived out, I was able to believe it for myself. Christ died for ungodly people. 

So, instead of trying, and failing, to explain all these theological terms and theories this morning, I want to get to the heart of the matter - that Christ, knowing humanity, would think us - you and I worth going to the cross for.

And so he carried on speaking of love.

He went on encouraging peaceful opposition to corrupt governments.

He continued noising up the occupying forces by gathering crowds to listen to his teaching on subversive love, love that makes a difference.

And he persisted in demonstrating that there was - and is - an alternative way to live, a way that challenges oppression and injustice wherever they are found.

That’s what got him crucified.

The powerful forces of the day - church and state- knew he was onto something and had to silence him before it was too late.

And we are here today to celebrate the life that came out of death because it was already too late.

Jesus lived and died for ungodly people and rose again to walk among us as we live out the love that he taught.

We celebrate life today.

We celebrate love.

And, as we continue to look for ways to follow, it’s not simply about Jesus post resurrection appearances or about the things we learn from the early church as they struggled to work out how to be Christians in an often hostile environment.

It’s not just about the peace Christ gives.

Or the imploring of Christ to “Feed my sheep”

It’s also about Christ’s call to “Follow me”

A call issued to folk at the beginning of his ministry

Follow me.

What does that look like?

What might it look like today?

It looks like the life Jesus lived throughout his ministry.

Follow me - eating with tax collectors, noticing those on the edge...

Follow me - seeing those who simply wanted to be noticed along with those crying out for healing...

Follow me - feeding hungry crowds and spending time alone with God.

Follow me - upending the tables of those who separate others from God

Follow me - sharing a meal around a table - even with those he knows will betray him and deny him.

Follow me - It looks like the very things that got Christ crucified.

As some of you may know, this week, as the Church of Scotland met in General Assembly, our theme has been, Follow me.

How do we do that in all our different communities and contexts today?

How do we do that in our sometimes hostile environments, in a post Christian culture?

How do we do that as we scatter in all directions?

How do we try to be obedient to Christ’s call: Follow me.

In v 10 of our passage in Romans 5, we read:

Now that we have been reconciled, how much more certain is it that we will be saved by his life?

Our passage this morning makes it clear - that it is by following the example of Christ. 

We, whom Christ loves, we who have been reconciled, see in Christ a model for living.

Christ showed us how to live and how to love.

Christ showed us how to live for those who today would be considered ungodly.

How?

It is by following Christ into all the unlikely places he went.

By following Christ in the company of the unlikely people he met and spent time with.

Following Christ, knowing that ungodly as we are, Christ loved us enough to die for us.

And in knowing ourselves so deeply loved, we are freed to follow.

Freed to follow and freed to hope.

With the kind of hope we read of in the passage:

This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Hope that doesn’t put us to shame.

Hope that doesn’t disappoint.

Hope that brings life in the midst of death.

As I mentioned at the beginning, even when I didn’t understand all the theological words being spoken and being preached on, yet still I was able to grasp the message that God loved me.

Why?

Because the people around me showed that love.

And that’s the challenge for us as followers of Christ today.

How are we being called to show the love of God?

Where are we being called to live out that love?

With whom are we being called to share that love?

Christ loved us enough to continue to protest, to continue to live at the edge, to continue to upset those in power enough to die for us.

But that is only the beginning.

Knowing ourselves loved, even with all our faults and failings, we are challenged to take that love into the world we inhabit every day.

Because that love is not a limited commodity.

It won’t run out.

It is given to be shared!

Part of the role I now play in the Church of Scotland is encouraging folks to rekindle the spark they once had, or to find that spark for the first time, to recognise that we are loved, but to go further than that.

And find the calling of Christ on our lives, individually and in community.

To know that Christ’s love isn’t just about us and our salvation.

It’s not just about us realising how blessed we are.

It’s about paying it forward.

So I invite you this morning, to think for a moment, how or when did you realise you were loved by God?

Is it something you have always known?

Is it something you learned at home, with family?

Is it something you experienced at school, at Youth Camp, in Scouts or BB?

Was it at one of the evangelical rallies?

Or a wee mission hall?

Was it right here in this place?

Take a moment to ponder - how or when did you realise you were loved by God?

And now, ask yourself - who are you making that possible for today?

Where are you sharing the incredible news that God loves even those considered ungodly?

With whom are you sharing God’s love today?

And, looking to the week that lies ahead...

Where are you being called to follow Jesus?

Where are you being called to share that unconditional love?

Where are you being called to share hope that does not disappoint?

And let me share with you three forms of commission today:

In the words of St Paul : 

We take pride in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one through whom we now have a restored relationship with God.

In the words of Jesus:

Follow me

And in words often used as a benediction:

You are blessed to be a blessing

Go and serve in love.

For the glory of God

Amen