You Better Watch Out

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  August 7, 2022

Click here to listen to the service 
 
Read Luke 12:32 – 40 (NIV)
So, as you can imagine, when I chose the title for today’s sermon, I had a momentary lapse back into childhood as the lyrics to the song, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” began running through my head…
 
“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why… Santa Claus is coming to town.”
 
Then as I reflected on the text for the morning, particularly the last verse, I began to hear that tune… only with a different set of lyrics…
 
YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, you better not cry, you better not doubt, I’m telling you why… Jesus Christ is coming to earth…
 
He’s checking His list, the Lamb’s book of life, He already knows if we’re naughty or nice… Jesus Christ is coming to earth…
 
He’s with us when we’re sleeping, He’s here when we’re awake, He knows that we’ve been bad and good, He gave His life for all our sakes…
 
So, YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, you better not cry, you better not doubt, I’m telling you why… Jesus Christ is coming to earth…
 
Now in the verses leading up to our text for the morning, Jesus warned His disciples about worrying… letting them know that it really is a wasted expenditure of energy.  After all, worrying does not and cannot add a single hour to anyone’s life. 
 
Jesus told the disciples to think about the ravens that are fed without ever planting a single crop or picking a single grain of wheat or ear of corn... He told them to consider the lilies of the field that are so regally attired and yet they have never purchased any garments at Saks Fifth Avenue or made anything on a Singer sewing machine. 
 
Then Jesus posed a question to them… if God takes care of feeding birds and adorning flowers in such gracious and generous ways, why were they (and why are we) worried about anything?  All they (and all we) need to do is have faith that God would provide for their needs.
 
And that brings us to the place where our text picks up this morning… with Jesus having told them not to worry, Jesus is now telling the disciples not to be afraid… letting them know that they can trust that God has already made provision for them in His kingdom.
 
They did not need to hold onto their worldly possessions with closed fists… rather they could give generously, with open hands, to the needy… focusing not on their own needs but instead tending to the needs of others. 
 
One Bible commentary poses this thought-provoking question, “Does God’s love touch your wallet?” (Life Application Study Bible, 2005, p. 1701).  In other words, are we willing to part with our earthly treasure to build up treasure in heaven by doing what is pleasing to God? 
 
For as Jesus said in our text, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
 
Now, after warning them against worrying and telling them not to be afraid, Jesus told His disciples to make sure they were ready when the time came for Him to return. 
 
He used the illustration that we find in verses 35 – 38, which reads in the Message Paraphrase:

Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what time of the night he arrives; they’re awake—and so blessed!
 
These verses called to mind an image of little children trying to stay up on Christmas Eve night… watching and waiting… hoping they will catch a glimpse of jolly ole St. Nick…
 
But what our New Testament lesson tells us about being awake and alert… waiting for Jesus to return… that is something far more important… something that has far greater consequences… than simply catching a glimpse of some fictional character putting a few gifts underneath a tree.
 
It is all about the One who gave the greatest gift that has ever been given… not by simply placing packages under a tree… but by surrendering His life in exchange for ours by hanging on a tree… a tree that was made into a cross… a cross… originally designed as a symbol of scorn and shame that it is now the symbol of hope, victory and the gift of eternal life.
 
And the good news is that this not where the gift giving ends because Jesus has promised to come back for us some day…
 
So, YOU BETTER WATCH OUT… you better not cry, you better not doubt, I’m telling you why… Jesus Christ is coming to earth…
 
Now according to the text, Jesus told the disciples that it will be like servants waiting on the owner of a house to come back from his honeymoon… the servants who are there to open the door for him will be blessed beyond measure… they will get to sit at the table and he will serve them a glorious meal…
 
The master will be the one who serves them… the servants… part of His wedding feast… “for even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve…” (Mark 10:45).
 
As the text suggests, it does not matter what time the owner of the house returns… as long as they are awake… ready and watching for his return… the servants will be blessed.
 
And then Jesus gives them yet another illustration to demonstrate the importance of being ready… telling them:
 
You know that if the house owner had known what night the burglar was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the place unlocked. So don’t you be lazy and careless. Just when you don’t expect him, the Son of Man will show up.
 
In other words, when you least expect it… expect it.
 
Or to put it even more simply… just be ready – period.
 
As we read in the Gospel of Matthew (24:36 – 42), Jesus said it like this:
 
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.  Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
 
Sometimes, I wish I knew exactly when Jesus was coming, but then again that is knowledge that is way above my pay grade and comes with a whole heap of responsibility that God never intended us to bear and that I am sure I cannot handle.  So, if anyone tries to tell you that they know when Jesus is coming… you may want to walk (or perhaps run) the other way.
 
And while I cannot stand here and tell you when Jesus is coming… I can tell you on the highest authority that Jesus is coming…
 
YOU BETTER WATCH OUT… you better not cry, you better not doubt, I’m telling you why… Jesus Christ is coming to earth…
 
And when He comes, it will be for more than just a quick visit…
 
How can I say that with any certainty?  Because Jesus said so Himself.
 
Matthew 16:27 reads, “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.”
 
And in Matthew 25:31 – 32 we read:
 
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
 
While in John 14:1 – 3 we find:
 
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
 
It is clear that Jesus is coming back to claim His bride, the Church… meaning those of us who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior… those who have surrendered their lives to Him… those who have declared with their mouths that Jesus is Lord and believed in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead (see Romans 10:9 – 10).
 
And when He comes back to claim those who have said yes and accepted the gift of eternal life… He’s going to want to know what we have been doing with the gift.
 
Have we left it wrapped inside a box with a fancy bow where no one else can ever see just what the gift is?
 
Is it sitting on the back of a shelf somewhere… only brought out on special occasions… simply for show?
 
Or is the gift that God has given us set out on full display for everyone to see through both our words and our actions?
 
Jesus’ call for us to be ready means we won’t have time to go unwrap the box and sift through all the tissue paper to pull out His gift… and we won’t have time to go grab it from the back of the closet and bring it out into the open…
 
When Jesus comes, we better be out and about… doing our Father’s business… feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, giving shelter to the homeless, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting the imprisoned… That is what it means for us to have this precious gift on full display… showing our love for God by caring for the people of God.
 
Being ready when Jesus comes means He will find us being busy loving God with all of who we are and loving our neighbor as ourselves… and let me just be clear… that means ALL of our neighbors, not just the ones who look, think, act, speak, or vote like we do…
 
And while it seems fair to say that God has given us ample time to figure this thing out… it still seems that we are just like those Israelites who ended up wandering in the desert for 40 years taking what should have been a 40-day journey…
 
In spite of all the opportunities God gave them and has given us to love one another, it seems that mumbling and grumbling, moaning and groaning, along with division and distraction continue to win the day…
 
But we cannot let that be how the story ends. 
 
God’s desire is for us to live together in unity… as the Psalmist David wrote, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”
(Psalm 133:1).
 
And before He was arrested in the Garden Gethsemane… on the night He was betrayed… according to John 17 (11, 20 – 24) Jesus prayed:
 
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one…
 
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
 
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
 
Just think about that for just a moment…
 
Jesus’ prayer before He gave His life as a ransom for ours was that we would live in unity… that we would be one just as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one… and that we would be with Him where He is…
 
And you know what that means…
 
YOU BETTER WATCH OUT… you better not cry, you better not doubt, I’m telling you why… Jesus Christ is coming to earth…
 
Now, if you believe that Jesus is coming back for us and you are ready… watching and waiting for that day to come… then I want to invite you to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship:  #340 Softly and Tenderly (Jesus is calling) ... calling us all to come home.
 
Amen.

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