Community Church Sermons

The Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Pentecost – November 17, 2002

Living for THE DAY

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

 

Well, yesterday was quite the day here at church. The Crafter’s annual craft sale is always such a spectacular event, and this year’s was no exception. One of the women told me about how excited she was to come into our Fellowship Hall on Saturday morning and see the whole sweep of things – craft items that had been worked on in small groups here and there – but now all brought together in one place at the same time. And seeing the many parts now assembled together as a whole was just so wonderful, she said. It was a joyful experience. It was quite the day!

 

Now, I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but we human beings tend to focus our lives around certain days. A few years ago, Sandy and I were returning home from vacation in New England. It was the last week of August, and as we traveled south along Interstate 81, crossing from Virginia into Tennessee, our car radio picked up a faint signal of the Sports Talk radio show that broadcasts out of Knoxville. And despite the fact that the signal faded in and out and picked up static whenever we passed a power line, we were able to make out the words of a caller who said that life was taking on new meaning and excitement for him because it was just three days, twelve hours, and fourteen minutes until the opening day kickoff of the Tennessee football season. And he was right to be excited about that day because that was 1998 when the Volunteers won the national championship.

 

Crafter sales. Opening day of football season. A birthday. An anniversary. Our lives are oriented around days of significance. Next June, our daughter Bethany will be married here in our church, and I think it would be fair to say that a great portion of our lives is now oriented around getting ready for the big day. I haven’t even seen Sandy or Bethany in about a month. In fact, Sandy is so excited about it that Bethany finally had to say, “Mom, I know you’re excited about my wedding day, but please remember it IS MY wedding.” To which Sandy replied, “No it is NOT your wedding. When you have a little girl of your own and she gets married, then YOU can have YOUR wedding, but this one is MINE!” That’s not true – it’s an old joke - but it does underscore the importance of the days of our lives.

 

And so it is that in our Scripture lesson for this day St. Paul reminds us that overshadowing all our important days is the most important day of all. And we who call ourselves Christians must learn to live in anticipation of that great and life-changing day. Just as Crafters prepare for their sale day, and teams get ready for opening day, and we diligently make the necessary arrangements for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, retirements and other days of significance, we Christians are called to prepare for this day.

 

Paul calls it the day of the Lord. And what a day it will be!

 

I was reading through Isaiah a while ago and was surprised to find so many sayings that begin with the words in that day. In that day, God will judge the powers of evil and banish them and their cohorts so they can never harm humanity again. In that day, God will save his people from their oppressors. In that day, those who never got a fair shake in life will receive justice. In that day, children will never again die in infancy, and old people like us will have the vitality of teenagers. Oh, what a day it will be! More than forty times Isaiah gives us a glimpse into what it will be like in that day. And outside of Isaiah, the bible is replete with descriptions of that day.

 

In that day, the lion will lay down with the lamb – swords will be beaten into plowshares – war will be a thing of the past – and the nations will be together in peace. In that day, the blind will see, the lame will dance, the hungry will be fed, refugees will have homes, the dead will rise, and families will be reunited with their loved ones. In that day, the tears will be wiped away from every eye, and people will laugh with joy.

 

And most important of all, in that day, the Lord himself will dwell among us, and the world will become the world you always wanted to live in, and raise your children and grandchildren in. The world will become the joyful, happy, peaceful and productive world God created it to be.

 

When will the day come? Well, Paul says it can come anytime now. So we need to live our lives always in anticipation of its arrival.

 

Now, there was a problem in Thessalonica, just as there is a problem in the Church today. Some followers of Christ thought that living in anticipation of the day of the Lord meant to sit up on their rooftops waiting for it to happen. They would study in microscopic detail all the Old Testament prophecies in hopes of figuring out the signs and seasons and times. For many, living the faith became primarily a matter of just sitting around and speculating on the when, where and how of the Lord’s return. And the Bible harshly criticizes those disciples because of their tendency to dwell so much on figuring out the second coming of Christ that they begin to neglect doing the work of Christ in the world. Those in our day who have ears to hear, let them hear.

 

That’s one side of the problem. But there’s another side, too. You see, there are other believers who have simply given up on the day. They no longer focus their lives on helping God to achieve his ultimate will for the world – peace, justice, healing, reconciliation, unity of all things –and instead have made the focus of their faith just finding the strength to get through the daily trials of their own lives. These followers are more likely to pray that God will help them get a better job than to pray that God will enable them to have a part in helping to find solutions to the underemployment problems of the poor who live in Appalachia. They are more likely to press God on a troubling personal situation than to give themselves to constancy in prayer and action  for peace in the Middle East. Their faith is more focused on what the Lord can do for them than on what God wants to do for the world. And the bible harshly admonishes such followers. Those who have ears, let them hear.

 

So how then shall we live as followers of Christ?

 

I like the words Paul uses. “Live,” he says, “as children WHO BELONG TO THE DAY.” This means to live in the present moment, but to live in it in anticipation of THE DAY – as though it  is already here.

 

And that means, for one thing, that we must live with a sense of accountability.

 

The gospel lesson assigned for today is the parable of the talents. Three servants were given a certain number of talents by their master, and when the master returned, he required them to give an accounting of how they used those talents for his kingdom. And this is a parable about the day of the Lord when we will all give account for what we’ve done with our lives. And in the same way, Paul is telling us to live today with the sense that every action we take, and every word we speak, and every decision we make is important to the kingdom and is accountable to God.

 

I still remember today a sermon I heard as a boy. It was about this business of accountability, and in it Rev. Seale told a story about an old cobbler. The cobbler was not outwardly religious and very seldom went to church. But one day someone tested the cobbler’s faith. “What do YOU do for God?” the person asked.

 

Well, the cobbler thought for a long, long moment. What did he do with his life for God? And suddenly, the answer dawned on him. Looking up from his bench at his self-righteous questioner, the cobbler simply said, “I make good shoes!”

 

Now you and I may not have the talent to make good shoes, but we do have gifts given to us to make the world a better place. Like many of you, Sandy and I are sensing more and more today the importance of our devoting ourselves to helping God raise our grandson. Now we can’t guarantee how Ryan will turn out – after all, the world is a very big place and life has its difficulties. But in this large and complex world, Sandy and I can at least be among the influences of good on his little life. We decided at the time of his birth that one of the gifts we want to give Ryan is the gift of reading. So every month, we send him a new book. Right now, his parents read it to him, but some day, he’ll start reading on his own. And we hope that reading will lead him on an adventure of learning that will eventually bring him into an engagement with God. We want to share with Ryan the gift of our faith which has gotten us through some pretty dark times in life. We want to pour out upon him the gift of affirmation, helping him to discover that he is a child of the living God, made in the very image of God. No, we don’t have the calling to make good shoes, but we do have a calling to participate in the shaping of the life of a grandchild. And while we can’t guarantee the outcome, we must be committed to the work. We have this responsibility from God.

 

How are you using the gifts God has given you to make the world a better place? Each of us has varying gifts of different measure. And we are held accountable for them. So Paul tells to live with a sense of accountability every day. I make good shoes for people to wear, the cobbler said. You work hard at being the husband or wife God wants you to be. He is doing his best to be a positive Christian influence in his children and grandkids’ lives. She is working diligently to make her church a better church, her town a better town, her nation a better nation.

 

To live in THE DAY is to become accountable before God for the responsibilities we’ve been given.

 

A second way you and I can live in anticipation of the day is by reflecting the day into this day!

 

One of my favorite people in life was a fellow by the name of Don Langille who had a wonderful way of demonstrating the kingdom of God in the here and now. Even when terminal cancer was bringing him to the end of his days on earth, Don was figuring out ways to reflect the day into the present. Don believed that in that day those who have lived with hunger will be fully fed and satisfied, and that life’s injustices that cause hunger will be overcome. So Don came up with this idea of the church providing food for hungry people by selling – turkey licenses – of all things! (This is a very successful program in which people pay $20 to purchase a "turkey hunting license". This enables our "official turkey hunter" to "bag" a turkey, plus a basketful of other foods to be given to a family in need. Last year, almost 300 turkeys were bagged!)  Hundreds of people in the Worcester area are helped each year. And hundreds more are helped in our area because I brought Don’s turkey licenses with me, and now we even have our own official Tellico Village turkey hunter! But imagine that! One man who believed that in that day there will be no more hunger, who went and embodied that future reality in the life of the world today! And the gift keeps giving!

 

Isaiah tells us that in that day God will establish peace. So you and I are called to work for peace now! In that day, justice will be established and the oppressed will be lifted. So you and I are called to work for justice now! In that day, tears will be wiped from every eye. So you and I need to be looking for those around us who are weeping, and begin to dry their tears. We are to reflect today what will happen in that day!

 

And then one more way to live in THE DAY. We are called to live as people who have a future!

 

Has life fallen apart for you these days? Don’t give up.

 

Are there relationships in your life that are strained and broken? Don’t give up.

 

Have you suffered the loss of a loved one? Don’t give up.

 

You see, we are people who believe in the day…

 

The day when healing at last will come. The day when reconciliation finally takes place. The day when illness is past, and even death is destroyed. The day the Lord is preparing for you and me because God loves us.

 

So go this week and live in THE DAY. Be accountable to God. Reflect that day into every day. And no matter how dark life may seem right now, don’t ever give up!

 

Because God loves you. And God has promised THE DAY!