The end is coming!

Yesterday I preached on Luke 17:20-37.  I asked the question that the Pharisees were asking (and the disciples were thinking) ‘When are you going to clean up this world, Jesus?’  Jesus short answer: 1. I am doing something right now. It’s called the kingdom of God and its all around you if you look for it. 2. I will do something. It’s called final judgment.  I will not let this sorry world go on indefinitely. When that day comes I  will bring life on earth to an abrupt end and justice will be served.

 This begs the question: How then should the believer live in the reality of the kingdom & in the reality of the ultimate destruction of the world? Here are two thoughts: 1. ‘Remember Lot’s wife’. v32  (second shortest verse in the Bible)  Lot’s wife looked back as God rained down destruction on Sodom. Perhaps she was reluctant to let her possessions go. Was she using her life in Sodom to draw sinners to the Savior or collecting stuff?  2. Since apart from faith in Christ the unbeliever faces certain judgment we must be motivated to seek his/her welfare.  I wouldn’t suggest signs at gay parades saying judgment is certain! I would suggest actions that show commitment to others while praying that God will open their hearts to embrace Jesus. It is our love and investment in others that incarnates the gospel.

As an example I present to you Jen Hatmaker author of the best seller, “7: an experimental mutiny against excess”.  This book is a chronicle of her family’s 30 day fasts to combat excessive consumption.   This is a way to ‘Remember Lot’s wife’, to travel light. She, her husband Brandon & their 5 kids are starring in HGTV’s ‘Family under Construction’ as they renovate their 105 year old farmhouse. They are setting up house & church in the least churched zip code in Texas to be a light to their neighbors.  This is life motivated by the certainty of judgment for the lost.

Think about how you engage your environment.  This could be as close as your own home, or family members who live far away.  It could be your neighbors, people at work.   We give of our lives, time, effort & resources to be the neighbor God wants us to be – in the urgency of judgment day.