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Ready or Not, Here I Come - Matthew 24:36-51 (Sermon)

 


INTRODUCTION 

What are these sounds and what do they tell us? 

These are all sounds alerting us and telling us something. What does this sound tell us? 

  • Shofar

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y7iR-YExvbNwJXB1q1hGefHlaD9kfPYO/view?usp=sharing]. 

Jesus mentioned a similar sound in Matthew 24, and pastor Joe talked about it last week. In his previous message in Matthew, Jesus communicated about several future events. Besides talking about a trumpet blast, he mentioned that he would return. What if he did today? How would you feel if that meant judgment or justice? Would you be frightened, disappointed, sad, excited, happy, relieved? 

  • If you still have things you want to experience, seeing Jesus might be a bummer. 

  • If you have family members yet to come to faith, you might want him not to come back quite yet. 

  • On the other hand, if your life is hard or my message is lacking, you may want him to come back now. 

  • Perhaps such emotions and thoughts don’t register because what I am talking about is foreign. 

The Bible says that time is marching in a direction. There will be a final day of judgment and justice. This reckoning will account for what our judicial system cannot. The juries and judges, police, or politicians cannot bring people back from the dead. They can’t return every stolen dollar or replace lost innocence. They don’t always make the right call. However, God is the king of the Universe who can do what we can’t. He foretells his only begotten Son, Jesus, reigning supreme someday with righteousness and might and on that day. Things will be different forever: No more sadness, sickness, death, or sin. His return will be incredible for those who trust him.

Before Jesus died, he spoke what we know as the Olivet Discourse in Matthew chapters 24 and 25. He talked to his disciples and answered their questions about what will happen before that day: 

  • When will the temple in Jerusalem be destroyed, 

  • When will he return, 

  • And when will the end come? 

READER 

I will have J.K. read for us this morning. Please stand with me in honor of God’s Word, if you are able. 


But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 


Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:36–51, ESV)


Thank you. Let’s pray. Dear God. Thank you for your Word. It is a lamp unto my feet. I need it. We need it. We need your help. Please help us to understand what you are saying and apply it to our lives. In Jesus’s name, we pray, amen. You may be seated.

CONTEXT 

Let’s remember it was Passover week when Jesus spoke: a holiday celebrating the LORD’s miraculous rescue of his people from slavery. God passed over his people and brought death to their enemies. Jesus came to Jerusalem to die and rescue his people from the enemy called sin and release them from slavery to it. The disciples didn’t understand fully, but they did comprehend enough to follow Jesus. 

STRUCTURE 

The passage breaks as follows: verses 36 through 44, 

36–44 Concerning the coming of the Son of Man: No one knows the day or the hour so be ready 

Verses 45 through 51, 

45–51 Blessings and curses on the servants who are and are not ready 

MAIN IDEA 

The main idea of the passage can be found in verse 44. Let me summarize the point:  

Be ready, Jesus will come back when you don’t expect it

Jesus wants his followers to follow him into his kingdom. There is a tendency for us to grow dull in our faith. We can ride a mountaintop spiritually high and drift, stray, or lose heart. Jesus was and is the king God promised long ago. The disciples thought he would rule like an earthly king in their lifetime. But times will get tough for them. They will experience some severe trials. Jesus would become the king and return and reign, but they expected something else. Our verses illustrate this. 

VERSE 36 

Let’s look at our passage. Verse 36:

“But concerning that day and hour” (Matthew 24:36, ESV).  

Stop there. What day? Jesus had been discussing “days” and a “generation” before. Now, he was talking about a specific day and a specific hour. When? We can see an answer in the following verses: 


  • 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man 

  • 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man 

  • 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming 

  • 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming 

  • 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes 

  • 50 the master of that servant will come on a day 


Jesus was referring to the day of his return. He would die, rise, and ascend into the clouds. There he sits at the right hand of God the Father, preparing a place and interceding for us. Yet, Scripture teaches he will return to earth the same way he left (in the clouds). Things won’t remain the same indefinitely. Jesus referenced this in chapter 24, verses 30 and 31: 


Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30–31, ESV)


What prompted this discussion was Jesus’s disciples asking a follow-up question of Jesus: 

“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3, ESV).

Now, the destruction of the temple would happen in their lifetime. But, when it comes to his return, when would that happen? 

VERSE 36 

Look again at verse 36: 

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36, ESV).  

Only the Father knows when Jesus will come back. 

DIVINE PARADOX

That is interesting, given our understanding of Jesus. The Bible teaches that he and the Father are one. In the book of Philippians, Paul wrote that he emptied himself when he took on flesh and became a man. What does that mean? John says he took on flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The author of Hebrews says he understood what it means to be human. The biography of Jesus by Luke recorded that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52). The Bible also says that Jesus was the exact imprint of God. The fullness of deity dwelt in him. He was one with God and the great I AM. How could Jesus grow and improve but be all-powerful and all-knowing? How could the ever-present God reside on earth as a human? Those are good questions. Our comprehension bumps into a paradox. Jesus limited himself to embrace his humanity. And he adds one more limit to our list, he doesn’t know when he will return to earth. Ultimately, this mystery is where we must trust God’s Word in our finite understanding. Yet, he does know some circumstances around his return. 

VERSE 37

Let’s keep reading. Verse 37: 

“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37, ESV). 

What days? Genesis 6, 11 through 13 tells us: 


And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6:12–13, ESV)


The people of earth in Noah’s day didn’t know God. Instead, they knew evil and violence. They knew how to work, play, and survive. Yet, they didn’t know their Creator or his loving-kindness. Noah was the exception. He was righteous. God decided to restart creation with him and his family. So God flooded the world and filled the ark with two animals of every kind. It was incredible. Jesus reminded his audience about this sudden, cataclysmic event to illustrate what his return would be like. Matthew 24, verses 38 and 39. 


For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:38–39, ESV)


Jesus was making the point that people were going about their business when the judgment came. They were not ready. It was like musical chairs, and the music went off. They were “unaware,” “swept away,” and ultimately dead. If that analogy didn’t sink home, Jesus gave two more. Look at verses 40 and 41. 

“Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left” (Matthew 24:40–41, ESV).  

So people will be going about their everyday business and discover Jesus returning. People will go to school, the beach, commute, and grocery shopping, and Jesus will return. People will be just going about their days. One will be taken and another not. 

TAKEN

What did he mean by being “taken”? Some read this as “rapture”. However, it is not entirely clear if being taken or not from this passage is good. It seems like being taken in the broader context is good. Yet, what Jesus was getting at? Was he trying to teach about the concept of rapture? Or something else? I think he was talking about two important truths: 

  • The timing of his return, 

  • And the importance of readiness. 

VERSE 44

Jump to verse 44. This is key. 

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44, ESV). 

Jesus’s point was the boy scout motto, “Be prepared.” 

Be ready, Jesus will come back when you don’t expect it

What does being ready look like? The next section explains. 

VERSE 45

Go to verse 45:


Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find doing so when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. (Matthew 24:45–47, ESV) 


To be ready is to be faithful and wise. Doing what God has made us to do. If we use Jesus’s earlier language, it is to love: to love God and love people.

VERSE 48 

The inverse is also true. Look at verses 48 through 51. 


But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:48–51, ESV)


The opposite of faithful is wicked. The opposite of serving is hurting. The result is gruesome: God will judge those who are evil. He will cut them up, put them with hypocrites, and throw them into a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH 

Matthew has recorded Jesus talking like this before. He spoke of weeping and gnashing in verses 13:42, 50, 22:13, and 25:30. This is a picture of people bracing themselves for a torturous reality; being dismembered is horrendous. 


A side note: we like to take the blessings of God literally. We think heaven is eternal bliss with friends, family, and God. Yet, our culture wants to avoid a literal hell. We can’t have one without the other. We can’t pick and choose Bible verses to accept. That would be putting our reason and authority above Scripture. If we did that, who is to say any of us is correct if we disagree? How would we know anything? The uncomfortable reality for us is that Jesus. Hell is real and terrible. People will go there. At the same time, knowing it is a reality is a warning to follow Jesus’s teaching and share God’s love with others before it is too late. 

Be ready, Jesus will come back when you don’t expect it

HOW

What does it mean to be ready? This readiness is not staring out the window and doing nothing. This is a focus on God and following him. It is caring for those around. Notice the servant feeds those in his or her care. It is the opposite of violence and selfishness. How are you spending your time, money, and energy? Are you more like those who take or give, love or wound, share or steal? Are you faithfully following Jesus and his way of love? What would those watching you think? 

PAUL

Paul comments on Jesus’s teaching in his writing to the church of Thessalonica: 


Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11, ESV)


“Encourage one another and build one another up.” We can express our readiness through our words. Are we encouraging or discouraging? Do we insult, ridicule, complain, belittle, or make fun of others, or are we cheering each other on? We can be ready by how we live our lives and speak. 

Be ready, Jesus will come back when you don’t expect it

We must be faithful, wise, and encouraging. Let us heed Jesus’s warning. 

ALARM

When I was a senior in high school almost thirty years ago, I did something dumb. I was accepted early into the college of my choice. I had straight A’s. I was at the top of my class and loved to study. I was smart, except for this time. 


Over the years, we have had many bomb threats and fire drills. People always wanted to get out of finals, so during finals week, someone would invariably call in a threat, and we would walk a quarter mile to the Lutheran church across the street to wait it out. 


Our school had two levels. I was upstairs in my open-hour study hall. Cynthia, Collin, and I were doing calculus and having a grand time. The teacher had stepped out. It was just us. Then it happened. An alarm went off. Someone on the intercom might have said to evacuate the building. I don’t recall. But I remember we were wrapped up in some problems and sick and tired of these in-and-out back-and-forth alarms. So we decided to turn off the lights and wait in the room. We could get some homework done and visit. We shut the door and waited. And we waited. And we waited.


Then Collin thought he would look through the window. “Don’t do it. What if they see you?” But he did anyway. Then he said, “Shoot! I think they saw me!” Sure enough, a minute later, the assistant principal and a teacher stormed into the room and yelled. This was not a drill. The Fire Department was there. Something was wrong, and we could have been killed. They quickly escorted us outside until the “all clear.” We didn’t look at anyone in the face while they stared at us. Then we went to the principal’s office. They scolded us some more and called our parents to pick us up early because we were suspended. 


Cynthia never did anything wrong. This was her first blatant transgression. Collin, on the other hand, pantsed me in 7th grade, and he got in trouble for that—big trouble. But we made up. It was five years later. We were study buddies. Now, we were in trouble together. I bring this up because we didn’t heed the alarm. We were foolish. We could have been killed if the fire got out of hand. 


Jesus’s warning is severe. What would happen if he came back? What do you need to do to be faithful and wise? 

  • Some of you must confess your sins and ask for his forgiveness—purpose in your hearts and minds and wills to follow him. Let’s be ready.  

  • Some of you need to take some time to slow down and talk to God. Rekindle that relationship. Invest in it. We invest in what we value. We put money in our 401k. We spend time doing what we like. We go to events that we care about, watch, and consume our favorite things. Most of our existence will not be in our brief life here. Let’s be ready. 

  • Some of you may need to worship and thank God for the blessings he has given you. We can practice what we will be doing in heaven right now. Let’s be ready. 

  • You may need honest conversations about faith with those you love. Let’s be ready. 

We need to be ready. Let us not squander the time we have left. 

PRAYER 

Let’s pray. 

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