Stay Awake! - Mark 13:32-37

Stay Awake!

Mark 13:32-37

Introduction: I know that no one has ever fallen asleep in church, but did you ever fall asleep at an embarrassing or inappropriate time (Acts 20:9)? As I thought about that, one biblical story came quickly to mind from the Book of Acts…

⁷ On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.  ⁸ There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.  ⁹ And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.  ¹⁰ But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him."  ¹¹ And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.  ¹² And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted… (Acts 20:7-12).

Actually when I was a youth pastor about 30 years ago, I was asked to preach at the Easter sunrise service… and one of the teens in my youth group… I think it might have been the son of the senior pastor, started wobbling about midway through the message, and then fell forward and banged his head on the pew! Most cases, if someone falls asleep it is somewhat more subtle (and less noticeable!). We don’t have a balcony to fall from, but still I would urge you to stay awake! (I can assure you I won’t be preaching until midnight!). As Jesus concludes this discourse on the Mount of Olives He urges His hearers, and us, to “stay awake!”

Context: In this chapter to Mark, in response to a question from His disciples, Jesus prophesied the coming destruction of Jerusalem, and also looked ahead to His return and the end of the age. We saw that we should stay faithful, because life will get hard but Jesus is coming! It’s the assurance of God’s presence and the certainty of victory that enables us to endure both the trials of life and the attacks of the enemy. We learned that we can be assured that God is in control and that His Word will guide us through difficult times, with the sure hope that Jesus is coming soon to gather His people! That brings us to today’s passage and…

The Maine* Idea: The imminent return of Christ means that every believer needs to serve faithfully and stay alert until He comes.

I. A Trustworthy Word: God’s Word is sure, and He has intentionally not revealed the time of the return of Christ (31-32). Let’s read v.31 and 32 together,

³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.  ³² "But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 

      What God has revealed will come to pass (31). The first point to start with here was the last verse we covered two weeks ago, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” There are two sides to that statement, the first being that this present world, creation as we know it, will not continue forever in its present state. As Peter writes in his second epistle, we are

…waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!  ¹³ But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells… (2 Peter 3:12-13).

This world has a limited “life span,” and we are looking for something better, creation as it was meant to be, where we’ll experience life, the way it should be, in His presence.  Free, at last, from the effects of the Fall. By the way, as Peter makes that statement, he says this period of “delay” is to allow the message to go out, because of the patience of God and His unwillingness that any should perish. In the light of His impending return and the coming judgment, we should live our lives, pursuing holiness (v.11,14). Jesus will return and judge the world in righteousness. How then must we live?

       In contrast to heavens and earth, which will pass away, God’s word will never pass away. That is the point He is making. His Word is truth, and His truth is eternal. The God who is, the great I AM, has spoken. We have His word in the collection of books we call the Bible, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. He makes it clear in His Word that as surely as He came to this world 2000 years ago, born as a baby in Bethlehem, as surely as He died and was buried, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, Jesus, this same Jesus, is coming again. Former president of Moody Bible Institute, George Sweeting, said…

More than a fourth of the Bible is predictive prophecy. Approximately one-third of it has yet to be fulfilled. Both the Old and the New Testaments are full of promises of the return of Jesus Christ. Over 1,800 references appear in the Old Testament, and seventeen Old Testament books give prominence to this theme. Of the 260 chapters in the New Testament, there are more than 300 references to the Lord’s return—one out of every thirty verses. Twenty three of the twenty seven New Testament books refer to this great event. Three of the four other books are single chapter letters written to individuals concerning a particular subject, and the fourth is Galatians, which does imply Christ’s coming again. For every prophecy on the first coming of Christ, there are eight on the second coming…

Now I have to admit that I haven’t verified Sweetings statistics, but we have to agree that God has spoken, and He has spoken often and clearly about the promise of the Lord’s return! In our passage Jesus says “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away…” Jesus will return!

       What God has not revealed, is not for us to know (32; cf. Dt 29:29).  But He says in Mark 13:32, “…concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” No one knows when. Not the angels. Not even the Son as He spoke of the perspective of His humanity. Only the Father. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever…” That is pretty clear, is it not? Why then have we seen throughout the history of the church repeated attempts to calculate or predict the hour of His coming? When we started this chapter a month and a half ago, I mentioned Acts 1:6, after the resurrection, when the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?” Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons the Father has set by His own authority…”

       God has chosen not to tell us when. Why? I believe it is clear enough, the prospect of His return should motivate us to live differently, to pursue holiness, to stay engaged in the mission He has entrusted to us, knowing that the time could be short.  Because we don’t know when, we need to redeem the time (and stay laser-focused). Plan ahead, of course, as though He may not return for 100 years. But live as though it could be today. That is the Maine* Idea in this passage: The imminent return of Christ means that every believer needs to serve faithfully and stay alert until He comes. And so we see a I. Trustworthy Word, and also a…

II. A Timely Mission: Because we don’t know the time, we must stay watchful, engaged in the mission He has given us (33-34; Acts 1:8-11).

³³ Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.  ³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 

       Because we don’t know the day of His appearing, we need to stay alert, watching for His coming. How often do you think about the return of Christ? (Your answer to that question might depend on how things are going in your life at the moment!). The expectation of His return, and the realization that it could be soon, will have an impact on how we live, and on our priorities.

       Jesus uses a short parable to lay out this idea of living in expectation and watchfulness. He says it is like a man going on a journey, putting His servants in charge. That is a good illustration of what Christ has done, is it not? Jesus is the man who has gone on a journey and left His servants in charge, each one with his work. He is of course, in a real sense, still present, in charge, and building His church. But since the ascension, in another sense, He has been away (at least bodily). And He left His disciples, and by extension, us, in charge. Think about the disciples in Mark. Slow to understand, self-centered, fearful… and then take a look in the mirror! Despite our weaknesses and failings, God has chosen to work in us and through us to carry out His mission in the world. That is why we are here. That is what the Great Commission is about, we are here on assignment. This is essentially the point in Acts 1:6-11…

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"  ⁷ He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.  ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."  ⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.  ¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,  ¹¹ and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

Jesus will return, but for now, at this time, the instruction was to wait for the pouring out of the Spirit, and then, to focus on the mission that He had given.

      An interesting detail here, the master, as he put his servants in charge, it was to be “…each with his own work…” (v.34). I don’t want to read too much into the details of a parable like this, but that language made me think of our common mission, but also of the diversity of gifts the Lord has given to the church. We read for example in 1 Corinthians 12:4-7,  

⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;  ⁵ and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;  ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.  ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

A few years back we had a Sunday School series called Team Ministry. We’ve also talked about that same idea using the acrostic developed by another pastor/writer called “S.H.A.P.E.” The idea was that God has uniquely “shaped” each of us, our Spiritual gifts, our “Heart’s desire, our Abilities, Personality, and Experiences, have all been providentially and sovereignly guided by God to mold us into the person we are, for the good of the church and for the glory of God. We all have a part in the common mission, but we are each unique, the workmanship of God. The Bible teaches the unity of the church, but also the diversity of gifts, which work together under the headship of Christ to build each other up so that we can more effectively carry out the mission He has entrusted to us.

       That fits with the Maine* Idea we’ve been talking about: The imminent return of Christ means that every believer needs to serve faithfully and stay alert until He comes. We have a trustworthy word, and a timely mission, motivated by…

III. A Blessed Hope: The uncertainty of the time of His return motivates believers in every age to live with hope and expectancy (35-37).

³⁵ Therefore stay awake- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or in the morning-  ³⁶ lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.  ³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake."

       We see the practical implications of the doctrine of imminence, the expectation of the Lord’s return – the “blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” And so, we live in hope, expecting the Lord, looking for His return, faithfully using our gifts to encourage and build each other up, seriously seeking to be a witness where He has sovereignly and strategically placed us. The word “hope” does not appear in this verse, but the idea permeates this entire chapter. By “hope” I don’t mean to imply that there is any doubt about Christ’s return or that we are to “wish” for it without any reasonable basis for that expectation. New Testament “hope” means to anticipate His coming with a confident expectation, it is a sure hope. Where is that hope from? Is it rational?

      The fulfillment of the near-term prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem in this context, which occurred in AD 70, gave the early church one more basis for knowing that He will keep as surely the promise of His return. Of course, long before that event, just a few days from when Christ spoke these words, His resurrection, which He had predicted at least three times on the way to Jerusalem, would give a firm foundation to believe!

       The call to “stay awake” implies expectation, hopefulness, looking and longing for His coming. This week I read the story of a Scottish fishing village that illustrates this idea of watchfulness…

After days at sea, the skipper of a fishing boat was bring his craft back home. As the boat neared the shore, the men gazed eagerly toward the dock, where a group of their loved ones were waiting. The skipper, looking through his glass, identified some of the women, saying, “I see Bill’s Mary, and there is Tom’s Margaret, and David’s Anne.” One man was very anxious because his wife was not there. He left the boat with a heavy heart and pressed his steps up the hill, where he saw a light in his cottage. As he opened the door, his wife ran to meet him, saying, “I have been waiting for you!” He replied… “Yes, but the other men’s wives were watching for them!”

Watchfulness. Expectation. Anticipation. He will return! Jesus is coming again! Does that truth add a sense of urgency to your life? We are called to be His witnesses, and we are a witness by the way, for better or for worse! Let’s choose to embrace our calling, to pray, urgently, for those in our sphere of influence, to seize opportunities to tell them the truth, holding forth the Word of Life.

       Can you remember your engagement? The wedding date was set, invitations sent, plans made for a honeymoon vacation after the celebration. Maybe even some premarital counselling where you talk through your plans for your life together. Let me ask: during your engagement, how often did you think ahead to your wedding day? Once a month? A couple of times a week? Every day? How often do you think about the Lord’s return? Do you pray for it? Or, quite honestly, do you feel like it might interfere with some of the things that you would like to do or see before that day? We have a wedding day to look forward to! The bridegroom is returning. The church is described as the bride of Christ. The marriage supper of the Lamb will include us!  Do you look forward to His coming? Expectantly? I think we need to keep this doctrine before ourselves!

What is God saying to me in this passage? The Maine* idea we’ve been looking at is simply this: The imminent return of Christ means that every believer needs to serve faithfully and stay alert until He comes.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? I doubt that most of you, on a typical Sunday, would fall asleep in church! (Though if the preacher went until midnight, all bets are off!). Even so, and I know it is true in my own spiritual life, we can easily begin “drifting off,” losing the alertness, our laser-focus, the “watchfulness” that we are called to have as believers. Not standing around looking upward, but faithfully engaged in the mission He has entrusted to us! Are we living with the expectation that Jesus will return?

       If we get the doctrine of the return of Christ, the imminence of His coming, into our heads and hearts, we will have all the motivation we need to live with expectancy, and with urgency, as we consider the people God has in our lives, and the opportunity we have to be His witnesses. Stay awake! Stay faithful!  Amen.