October
10 2010 Reading: Luke 17.20-30
Theme:
The movement of history and Christ’s coming......
Just imagine for a moment, you
land a job at a £100,000 a year...... !
Here’s what the job is....... you
are in charge of a huge warehouse, the length of
Actually, it was just that
problem that faced the designers and planners of the New Museum of Scotland, how
to set out in order, as many historical objects, pins, brooches, cups,
paintings, tartans, steam engines, musical instruments and so on so that people
could understand something of the times, something of how they all fit
together, ............ you can see how they did it in the New Museum in
Chambers Street.....floor by floor. In the lower basement, are gathered objects
from the ice age, in the basement carved stones, gold jewellery, coins up to
Roman times, on the next floor up, the ground floor, are musical instruments,
furniture from the kingdom of Scotland, on the second floor tartans, paintings
from the 18th. century, on the third steam engines
from the Industrial age, and so on up to the top floor, the 6th. where objects from the last thirty years, are kept finally,
on the 7th. floor, you come out into the present with
a view from the Museum Terrace of the city of
Setting out history, ordered, so that people can understand something of the times, times past, time present.........
Actually that’s what the gospel
does, in the gospel there is a setting out of the times, an ordering of the
times........ but
of course its quite different. from anything in the museum.............
So how are the times set out
in the gospel ?
Well, in Luke 17 we have a
question just that, a question put by the Pharisees to the Lord Jesus,
It’s this ‘when will the
And in Luke 17, the Lord Jesus
sets out the times, times past and times present
The
In the gospels, Jesus is setting out history, showing us that it is ordered, so that we can understand something of the times, times past, time present.........
in a way quite different. from anything we know .............
So, in Luke 17, the Lord Jesus
sets out the times, times past and times present and future, the times of the
kingdom.............
What does He say about these deep things, these marvellous, wonderful things ?
In the gospels, to repeat, Jesus is setting out history, showing us that it is ordered, so that we can understand something of the times, times past, time present.........times future
Well, to begin with He tells
us what will happen first ?
What will happen first ?
Well, Jesus says something very direct, brief, short, to the point.
First, he Himself must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
With each person healed by Jesus,
as each moment of lowly service in love and righteousness passes by,
there begins to arise an ominous, dark, opposition from men, which will as time passes become more ruthless, more violent
as the light and the life of Jesus unfolds,
so too, the opposition to His lowly, holy, ministry
read the gospels and you will see the record of all this...........
First, he Himself must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
Now, we might pause here and ask a question:
aren’t we supposed to be understanding something of the times,
times past, time present.........times future ?
To speak of a man suffering, and being rejected might be important - certainly to him -
but what has this to do with great shifts in times and in the movements of history ?
Well, to speak of this man Jesus suffering and being rejected.... is to speak with the great movements in the times....... the prophet Isaiah had said 700 years before....
speaking of the Servant of the Lord Himself..........
He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering............
now the great movements in the times have continued, and the Servant of the Lord is here... it is Jesus Himself............
and His suffering and rejection gather in intensity until we come to the day when at the Cross, the pride of the world, the opposition, the rejection, contempt for the kingdom, of the living God, all these come to a moment of the most absolute sinful intensity
Christ is crucified, and
And three days later, in the Resurrection of Jesus, we see, out of death, the seeming triumph of the world, and its pride and power, God’s power ! He has raised His Son to life. The Father’s great Yes ! to the life of His Son Jesus, the perfect, lowly, loving life of Jesus, who cared. Who cared, who loved the outcasts, and the sinners, and the losers, and healed the old, and the young, and the bereaved, and the leper, and the distraught..........and the lost. The resurrection of Jesus is the Father’s great Yes ! to the life of His Son Jesus, the perfect, lowly, loving life of Jesus. And so lowly, loving life is shown to be greater than any other power or force in this world !
And then from the presence of the living God, from heaven, the Risen Lord Jesus
sends, pours out the Holy Spirit, so that receiving the Spirit we receive the life of Jesus in ourselves, equipping us, renewing us from day to day......
the Lord Jesus sharing His own life with us,
drawing us closer to Himself and to one another......... by the Spirit.
In the gospels, to repeat, Jesus is setting out history, showing us that it is ordered, so that we can understand something of the times, times past, time present.........
what of times future ?
Jesus tells us: the day He returns will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, light, His light will fill the world from one end to the other....... the day has come - He has come......... the Lord..........
It is no hidden secret, no mystery, Jesus has set out history, showing us that it is ordered, so that we can understand something of the times, times past, time present.........
and times future.
So the question is: where do we stand ? in these times ?
where are we placed in the great shifts in times and in the movements of history....
Well, we are set in what can only be called, the most wonderful days...........
we will close thinking about this for a moment.........
Where are we ?
where
do we stand ? as the great currents of time move and
flow ?
Well, like one of those wonderful views from a mountain summit, we can look back
look
at the place we now stand........ we can look forward
and see......
what do we see ? looking back ?
Looking back, we see the Cross, and see there that the Father has sent His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to us, for us. And the message of that Cross is this: that Jesus Christ has taken the sin, the guilt and the judgment that was ours, and has dealt with it once and for all. In taking the sin of the world, our sin, and our judgment upon His shoulders, taking our place, we, who were once far away, have come near, into the presence of the Holy God, through Jesus.
And yet more than this:
And looking at Jesus, in those days after the Resurrection of life on a different plane from anything we know, or can guess or imagine on this wearied, sinful, troubled earth.
Looking at Jesus, we see what our own future will be like........
raised, living, to life on a different level.
And though, we might sometimes think in low moments - how weak Christian life, life in Christ looks when compared to the great powers of the world. Economic powers, military powers, cultural powers. In the face of the massive indifference around us of everyday life, how weak we feel ourselves to be. To some, how weak Christian life looks when compared to the great powers of the world. How weak – lowly service of others, love for others, life in the Spirit, life in Christ seem in the face of worldly realities.
Its in moments like those, however, we
must hear again the ringing gospel declaration of the New Testament which is
that Jesus Christ came among us in weakness, but that the situation is utterly
changed. Though He was Himself put to
death on a cross, God has raised Him.
The lowly way of love and forgiveness, of Jesus, turns out to be
stronger than death itself. Peter to a
crowd listening He was not abandoned in
the world of the dead… God has raised this very Jesus from death,
and we are all witnesses to this fact. He has been raised to the right hand side
of God His Father… ….. know for sure, that this Jesus,
whom you crucified, is the one that God has made Lord and Messiah…..God raised
Him to His right hand side as Leader and Saviour
And from there He has sent His Spirit to guide us, to strengthen us,
to help us, to comfort us in the present and in the days to come...........
So, healed and forgiven at the Cross of Jesus, strengthened in hope in the resurrection of Jesus, made new and comforted by the Spirit of Jesus...... what of the future ?
we
look forward to the day when He comes again
Looking forward to the fulfilment of
the promise of the Lord Jesus, that He will come
again. Most of all, that will be a day when the undending busy cares of life
will be at an end, the ceaseless labours and worries, the losses, the sorrows,
the sinfulness, on that day what deepest joy to see the Lord Jesus whose Cross,
whose Resurrection, whose Spirit we have known - face to face ! The joy of
knowing the world made over, the world made new, through the power of perfect
holiness, lowliness and love
in Jesus