Making the most of the Time

Written by Pastor Ed

To listen to today's service click on the link below.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/46934662/Nov%2013%202011.MP3

 

Making the Most of The Time

Nov. 13, 2011

 

“This proud ship of our commonwealth is reeling in a storm of sin; the very mast of this great nation is creaking under the hurricane of vice that sweeps across the noble vessel; every timber is strained, and God help the good ship, or alas! none can save her. And who are her captain and her sailors, but ministers of God, the professors of religion? These are they to whom God gives grace to steer the ship. "Ye are the salt of the earth;" ye preserve and keep it alive, O children of God. Are ye asleep in the storm? Are ye slumbering now? If there were no dens of vice, if there were no harlots, if there were no houses of profanity, if there were no murders and no crimes, oh! ye that are the salt of the earth, ye might sleep; but to-day the sin of London crieth in the ears of God. This behemoth city is covered with crime, and God is vexed with her. And are we asleep, doing nothing? Then God forgive us! But sure of all the sins he ever doth forgive, this is the greatest, the sin of slumbering when a world is damning—the sin of being idle when Satan is busy, devouring the souls of men. "Brethren, let us not sleep" in such times as these; for if we do, a curse must fall upon us, horrible to bear.”

 

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, November 15, 1857, by the

REV. C. H. Spurgeon

 

In 1970 Hal Lindsey published his first best-seller The Late Great Planet Earth, which sold millions of copies and went through numerous reprints.  At one point early in the book he says,

 ”Many bible students in recent years tried to fit the events of World War I and II to the prophetic signs which would herald the imminent return of Christ.  Their failure discredited prophecy.

The people who have fled to the mountains to await the end of the world haven’t had the faintest idea about the truths in Bible prophecy.

It is because of these unscriptural attempts at calculating dates that some eyebrows rise when we speak of Bible prophecy today.”

But, of course, what they didn’t get right Lindsey assures us, he has figured out – although he is careful to qualify all his statements with phrases like “perhaps” or “it would seem”.  He states at one point, “This is why the prophecies can be pieced together to make a coherent picture, even though the pieces are scattered in small bits throughout the Old and New Testaments.”  Lindsey is clear about the menace of Russia and communism, the role of China, and many other things that he finds scattered across the Biblical text that foretell the coming great battle of Armageddon, the massive loss of life, and the final end of the age.  He’s sure it will come soon, although he doesn’t want to set a date.

Not so subtle was Edgar Whisenant who in 1988 published his little book “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988”, which sold some 2 million copies.  I thought I still had my copy, which as I recall was sent to me free, but I couldn’t find it.  Whisenant pointed out that just because Jesus says no one knows the day or the hour, doesn’t mean that you can’t know the month or the year!  And so he came up with elaborate schemes to predict the end of all things, all related to Russia and Communism.  Obviously, as with many others, he was wrong as well.

But they are only two of many through the centuries that have tried to figure out when and how the final days will unfold.  Drawing on passages like those we read this morning, as well as passages especially in Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation, writers have fashioned all kinds of scenarios usually seeing their own times as clear fulfillment of what was predicted.

And of course, as world history changed, so did the villains and weapons.  In the Middle Ages, Joachim of Fiore influenced many with his predictions and identifications of the Anti-Christ with either Muslims or Jews, depending on what was going on.  The Crusades were partly fueled by this identification.   Later writers, after the Reformation often identified the Pope as the Anti-Christ, and more recently Hitler, Sadam, and even Osama Bin Laden have been singled out.

The forming of the state of Israel in 1947 was a vast boom to the prophetic genre, as was the rise of Russia as a world power, and the forming of the Common Market – although it was only supposed to be 10 countries, so some adjustments had to be made.

And lest we feel somewhat sorry for all this speculation, we need to remember that our own Anabaptist history is not immune.  I learned to know personally some descendants of Claas Epp who led the Trek into Asia, predicting the end of the world and the Lord’s return.  Eventually he proclaimed himself the returned Messiah, and many of his disillusioned followers left and came to North America, poor and ashamed.  Other Mennonite authors have drawn charts and speculated as well on what events might mean.

Well, as you have perhaps picked up, I don’t put much stock in that way of interpreting Scripture, nor in all the predictions.  For one thing, I think it does a terrible job of interpreting Scripture, and it is interesting to note, as Boyer points out in the book I referred to last week, When Time Shall Be No More, that most of these writers are not Biblical scholars, in fact some have very little theological training at all!  To claim that Ezekiel was really writing about missiles and missile launchers when he wrote about bows and arrows, means his writing meant nothing to the people for whom he wrote it.

Perhaps my attitude is a bit like a friend of mine who told me that he was asked if he was a pre-millenialist or a post-millenialist, and he said he was a pan-millenialist – he figured it would all pan out in the end! 

But what do we do with passages like we read this morning?  How do we interpret this genre of literature in the Bible known as apocalyptic? Do we believe in a second coming, a last days?  And what does it all mean?

Well, yes, we do believe in an end to history as we know it.  Our Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective says:

“We place our hope in the reign of God and in its fulfillment in the day when Christ our ascended Lord will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. He will gather his church, already living under the reign of God according to the pattern of God's future. We believe in God's final victory, in the end of this present age of struggle between good and evil, in the resurrection of the dead, and in the appearance of a new heaven and a new earth. There the people of God will reign with Christ in justice, righteousness, and peace.”

It goes on to say in the commentary:

“Jesus counseled his followers against trying to set dates for the coming age (Matt. 24:36). We should also be cautious about too narrowly identifying persons, places, or events of the end times with particular people, places, and happenings of the present. Instead, God's people should always live in righteousness, praising God, following Christ, led by the Spirit, awaiting in hope the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

 As we look at the apocalyptic literature of the Bible, we need to remember that these are visions, representations of the future.  Perhaps the best illustration or comparison I have run across was made by Vernard Eller in hs commentary on the book of Revelation, where he compares the visions of John to Picasso’s painting entitled “Guernica”.  Guernica depicts the horror of that Spanish town when it was viciously bombed during the Spanish Civil War in 1937.  It depicts both the terror of the city, as well as the horror of war itself.  But if you try to focus on details in the painting, you run into all kinds of trouble, because that wasn’t Picasso’s aim.  You can pick out some things, but even they don’t look quite right.

So it is with the apocalyptic of the Bible.  And it’s writing, like Picasso’s painting, was not to predict the future in all its detail, but to give a message for the present, both for its contemporary readers and all those who followed.  And Paul captures that message well at the end of the passage we read, “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.”

The point of all the apocalyptic writing in the Bible is that of encouragement and a call to persevere in the face of the current situation, whatever that may be.  It was usually written during times of distress, persecution, or national crisis.  And throughout all the literature is a call to faithfulness, indeed often a call to more vigorous faith.  It is in that context that Jesus tells his disciples a parable, which we know as the parable of the talents, found in Matthew 25: 14-30.  It reads like this:

14“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;15to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.16The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents.17In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents.18But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.19After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.20Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’21His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’22And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’23His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’24Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed;25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’26But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter?27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest.28So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents.29For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.30As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Now this parable has been used for all kinds of purposes, primarily to justify capitalism, but the point is really set by its context in the middle of Jesus teaching, as he approaches the end of his life with the disciples. Make the most of the time! Use the talents you have been given!  Step out in these times that would seem to call for retrenchment and pulling back and invest in the future.

Facing an uncertain future often makes us stop.  In the first Lord of the Rings movie, Frodo and his loyal companion Sam begin their journey.  At one point Sam stops, hesitant to go on and Frodo asks him why he stopped.  Sam replies that he is standing at the farthest point he has ever been from home, and the next step will take him into the unknown!  And often that’s the case with us.  Only at Frodo’s encouragement does Sam take that next step.  So Paul says, when you face the unknown of the future, especially when it looks rather bleak, then is the time to encourage one another to take that next step, invest your talents in the kingdom and the reward will be great.  Then we too will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

And when we live like that, we need not fear the future, whatever it may hold for we know that our God is triumphant and holds that future in store for us.  “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.”