You do not know the day or the hour

 Read Matthew 25:1-13

Let’s go to the end of the parable.

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Much of professional sports involves clock management: knowing when to stay in bounds and run the clock down and when to go for the last shot of the half or the game.

Some sports don’t have a clock. Baseball is an example. It’s not over ‘til it’s over.

I took Heather to an Iowa Cubs game in the late 1980s. The visiting team was putting a whooping on the Cubs. About the seventh inning, Heather asked, can we go now?

Dad, being Dad, said, “It’s not over, ‘til it’s over.” The actual Yogi Berra quote was, “It ain’t over, ‘til it’s over.”

I remember that game. The Cubs came back and tied the game. That took awhile. Then there were the extra innings, probably five or six of them. Just before midnight, the Cubs came back and won it. The two Spences and seven other people celebrated the win.

Dad was tired, but it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.

Other sports, like soccer, have a clock, but you don’t always know when the game ends. I didn’t grow up with soccer, so the concept seems strange, but it is probably the most comparable to our lives of the sports examples that I can muster.

We have calendars and clocks, but we do not know the day or the hour of the Lord's return. We can see the season but not the divine appointment.

So, we can reasonably say we are in the season, so how do we keep watch? What is it that we should be watching for?

Deception, that’s what. As the end grows near, deception will reach new levels.

Only by being vigilant can we endure what is to come. The casual Christianity of this time won’t cut it. We are vulnerable. Life is so easy that our nature will be to trade the truth for the illusion of security.

We have all become accustomed to an easy life. Even with our trials, life is too easy for our own good. Will deception leverage our comfort? Absolutely!

Our desire for comfort makes us vulnerable to deception.

Yes, we deal with situations at work, situations at school, loss of jobs, illness, cancer, death of friends and family, but as far as living for Christ, we have not yet been tested.

We have been pampered. Life is easy in our time. That ease is a luxury that can make us vulnerable to temptation and deceit. Be ready, keep watch, and stay awake.

Do not be deceived.

We don’t know when our Master will return so we must always be ready. In our daily readiness, we increase our resistance and reduce our vulnerability to deceit and deception.

In our daily readiness, we increase our resistance and reduce our vulnerability to deceit and deception.

Keep watch! We don’t know the day or the hour.

What if we did? Would we change something?

We did the One Month to Live challenge several years ago. It asked us what would we do if we knew we only had one month to live.  What would we do? More accurately, what would we do differently?

I hope that we can say we wouldn’t do anything differently. It seems unlikely, but that is how we should live.

The day and the hour of the Lord’s return should not impact how we live this day. We must always live for him.

The day and the hour of the Lord’s return should not impact how we live this day.

That’s through joy and sorrow, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health… I hope somebody brought the rings and booked the fellowship hall for a reception.

We are the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. Take those as metaphors, not allegories. Some try to separate Christians as the body of Christ from Jews as the bride of Christ. Allegory is a stretch here.

The biblical witness we know tells us we will be one in Christ. The question before us is, would we do anything differently if we knew we would die tomorrow or in two weeks?

I hope not!

But we probably would do something or some things differently. Why? Maybe, we are not ready for the Lord’s return. We cry out Maranatha but are we sure that we are ready?

Is there someone we need to forgive? Why wait for a deadline?

Is there someone with whom we should have shared the gospel? What are we waiting for?

Does that kid across the street need a coat for this winter? Who among us would say that that kid can wait another year unless Jesus is coming before Christmas?

We should live daily as if we only have one or two days left.  That is the nature and disposition of the believer. We do what we know to do, and we do it today.

We are always ready and always vigilant. How do we get and stay that way?

Do we need a checklist? No, but having one can’t hurt.  Every day, we should:

·       Pray..

·       Read our Bibles.

·       Find at least one person to share the love of God that we know in Christ and share the story of salvation that is waiting for them.

·       Help someone less fortunate than ourselves—the least of these our brothers and sisters.

·       Bring up our children in the way they should go.

·       Give thanks to God.

·       Put what God has given us to work now.

·       Be known as a follower of Jesus by our love.

·       Be teachable and seek the judgment of God’s word in our lives.

·       Have ears to hear the Spirit of God that lives within us

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

We need a readiness program. Be ready by putting the words of our Master into practice every day. Putting his words into practice is readiness.

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Be ready today and every day. Jesus is coming…soon.

Amen.