Standing before the Lord with confidence

November 29 2009 Sermon by Wayne Logan, under the grace of God.
Crows Nest Lutheran Parish, Qld.

(First Sunday in Advent, year C)

Luke 21:25-36 GNB
(25)  "There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides.
(26)  People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses.
(27)  Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory.
(28)  When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near."
(29)  Then Jesus told them this parable: "Think of the fig tree and all the other trees.
(30)  When you see their leaves beginning to appear, you know that summer is near.
(31)  In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is about to come.
(32)  "Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died.
(33)  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
(34)  "Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you
(35)  like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth.
(36)  Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man."

Jesus made some prophecies about the end of the world: Strange things will happen to the sun, moon and stars; (will the orbits change? Supernovas?) Whatever will happen, it will be noticeable, and frightening. The sea and the tides will be affected: ‘roaring sea and raging tides’ sounds threatening, especially if you lived on the coast. Earlier in the chapter Jesus spoke of wars, earthquakes, famines, epidemics, and persecution. These things will happen before the end, when the Son of man –Jesus Himself - will appear coming in a cloud with great power and glory. He said all these things will happen while the generation of his listeners were still alive. All these things did happen, and they have been happening in every generation since. This means that we are in the end times. This world is not permanent. There will be more to our lives than our existence on earth in this lifetime. God wants to give us more. A life with him forever, without the problems, without all the evil of this time. 

In the face of these signs of the end times, people get nervous. Insecure. Jesus said they will faint from fear. But we and all who trust in him, don’t need to faint. On the contrary, Jesus says “When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near."

It is possible for us to get so distracted and caught up in the things that happen to us or around us, that we lose the plot and give up our faith. Jesus says (v34-36): "Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you  like a trap… Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man."

He wants us to come through safely, and stand before him.
What does this mean?
In John 5:27-29 we are told that God the Father “has given the Son the right to judge, because he is the Son of Man. …the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice  and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned.

To stand before the Son of man means standing free of condemnation.

How can this happen?

In Romans 3 we are reminded in no uncertain terms that (v10-12) there is no one righteous, not even one.  No one seeks God. All have turned away...there is no one who does good, not even one. Verse 23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
But it doesn’t stop there. It goes on to say, ‘and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’ In Romans 4 Paul quotes Psalm 32, which says, ‘Psalms 32:1-2
 “Happy (or ‘blessed’) are those whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned. Happy is the one whom the LORD does not accuse of doing wrong and who is free from all deceit.”
The Message version puts it  like this:
“Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be-- you get a fresh start, your slate's wiped clean.  Count yourself lucky-- GOD holds nothing against you!”

If God holds nothing against you, you will be able to stand in his presence.
How can this happen? Don’t we have to be good enough? Don’t we have to become righteous through our own efforts?

We do need to be good, to be righteous, but the good news that is at the heart of Christian faith is this: Believing in Jesus makes us good and righteous in God’s sight. Romans 3:21,22  “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known... This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”    Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

To be ‘in Christ Jesus’ is to be in a trust relationship with him, a relationship that he gives us, a relationship he creates between us, through his words. We hear his words through the Bible, and through other Christians.

Jesus spoke these words often, to people he met and helped, in his time on earth. 
A paralysed man was lowered down in front of Jesus after his friends made a hole in the roof, because of the crowd. Jesus looked at the man and said to him: “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Another time a bunch of critical, judgemental (religious) people caught a woman committing a sexual sin, and brought her to Jesus, demanding that she be punished by stoning, as the law required. Jesus said nothing at first, then he said, ‘Whoever hasn’t sinned is welcomed to throw the first stone.’ The crowd dispersed, and only Jesus was left. Jesus hadn’t sinned. He had a right to throw a stone. Just as he has the right to judge and condemn us all, for our sins. But he chose to forgive he. He said to the woman, ‘Where is everybody? Is anyone left to condemn you.’ She responded, ‘No one, sir.’ Then Jesus said, ‘I won’t condemn you either. Go now and live a new life!’

What will we have to hold on to, that day in the future when we stand before Jesus, the appointed judge of the world? Could we say, ‘I tried hard...’ or ‘Well, I’m not as bad as other people’ or ‘I had a hard life and it wasn’t fair!’ We won’t need to say anything like that. We won’t need to try to defend ourselves or find excuses. He knows us. He knows all we have done. He knows how we have failed. How we haven’t been the people we should be.

What will we have to hold on to?
We will have his own words. In verse 33 of our text Jesus tells us: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
The words of Jesus will never lose their power or fade away.

In John 6:63b he says, ‘The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.’

Jesus is the one who  “is able to save to the uttermost, those who come to God through him.”  Hebrews 7:25.
This all means that in these end times, we can indeed lift up our heads with confidence: not in ourselves, but in Jesus, our wonderful Saviour and God. Amen.