The End of Things
Commentary
One cannot read the New Testament with understanding unless one hears the continual expectation of the return of their Lord and the beginning of the New Age in which God will set up his Kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem from which he will rule the world. All of the early literature is filled with such references, and where there are no explicit references, it is taken for granted as the backdrop to what is written.
Those who held this conviction were always using parables and stories meant to declare how important living faithfully in every moment truly was. The watchword was "watch." They were called to be on watch, anticipating the Day of the Lord so as not to be caught off guard.
It is difficult to imagine the impact of this not taking place in the way they expected. Luke sees that clearly and takes it off the church's agenda when he writes his second volume and sets the world before the church as its agenda. John faces up to the situation in the early second century when he maintains that the Word has been kept in the giving of the presence of his Holy Spirit. In any case the matter gradually disappears from their literature.
The fact that their expectations did not come true was a heavy blow for many. Some gave up and fled the church. Yet others heard what Luke had to say as he challenged his church. They began to be about the business of taking the Good News to the world. Gradually the church came to understand that what Matthew had reported Jesus as saying, that only God knew the answers as to when it would happen, was really true. (Matthew 24:36)
There are still those who keep fanning the flames of expectation daily. For them the last days are always present and the task of the Christian is simply to be faithful and watch and wait. Most, however, have taken the matter off the calendar and know the end is always happening and that new beginnings are always given. What is useless and in opposition to God's will is always being brought to an end. What is good and hopeful is always being offered in new ways to God's people. Thus, if the question is asked as to when the end shall be, the answer is always the same: every day. And when the question is asked as to when the New Age will begin, the answer is the same: every day!
B. The second point of the text, which is prose rather than poetry, is mentioned to convince the people that God has been in the midst of what has happened to them. In those days the people saw God as more intentionally evident in what happened to them. In our day we would say that the captivity was what happened as a result of our own doing, and that even in the midst of our unfaithfulness, God was busy preparing our redemption. Here is a prophet of Israel who will not let his people forget their destiny as a light to the nations.
Conclusion: All of us in some sense find ourselves in these lines. We, too, are a people who live in a strange land. All about us is evidence that long-cherished ideals, long-held convictions lay in tatters at our feet. The world is not what we had imagined it would be. Like the persons spoken of in Hebrews, we are strangers and exiles. Christians are called to be different. That means we are to be holy. When that is the case, the world about us is strange and forbidding. It may even turn on us. But when it does, we, like them, will find that we are not alone.
OUTLINE I
A Call to Rejoicing
Isaiah 52:1-6
Introduction: Our Scripture for today comes to us from what is known as III Isaiah, chapters 56-66, which, according to the evidence written in the text, is post-exilic. Here we find a people who are involved in coming home again following the Babylonian captivity.
A. A Call to Rejoicing. Here is a vision of what things are meant to be. Jerusalem is redeemed and restored. God's people are clean and pure once again. The time has come to throw off the shackles of bondage and return home.
OUTLINE II
The Sound of Victory
1 Corinthians 15:54-58
Introduction: Do take time to check out the commentaries and learn what occasioned these words. Corinth is a great and wicked city in Paul's day. There is a group of Christians there which is having a tough time maintaining its faith. There are those who want to join this new church who have not the slightest knowledge of the Hebrew faith. They know nothing of the ethical dimension of that faith. They are knowledgeable about the new life expected at the Resurrection, but they are more than likely confusing it with the nature rituals of the mystery religions which are abroad in the empire. Somehow those who have no background and those who misunderstand must hear the truth.
A. Resurrection is a Gift of God. Be sure to note that in this chapter there is a reminder that Paul is not talking about automatic immortality. It is clear that we are not immortal and that we do die. If we are to gain new life, it will be because God offers it to us as a gift. When the gift comes, it is then we put on immortality. Immortality for the Christian comes only after the Resurrection.
B. It is not we who can claim the power for self-resurrection. It is God alone who, in Christ Jesus, has defeated all other powers, especially that last power of death, and demonstrated to us that there is a power that can give us life again.
Conclusion: The central proclamation here is that it is God who gives the victory and who shares his victory with the faithful. Here is no new mystery religion. Here is no claim of immortality. Here is the declaration that as this life is his gift and depends upon his providence, so the life to come is from his hand.
OUTLINE III
Living Boldly
Luke 19:11-27
Introduction: Who does not know the Parable of the Pounds and Talents? Which of us has not identified ourselves with that servant who had only one talent or pound? We like to think that we are another one-talent person, and that therefore not much is to be expected of us.
A. Take Time to Tell the Story. Be sure to make it clear that the subject here is not talents like singing, speaking, and the like, nor pounds such as British currency. What is being spoken of here is a man who entrusts his possessions and his business to those who work for him while he goes on a trip.
Note that Luke has each of the servants receiving ten pounds in verse 13 and then seeming to say that each has used only one in verse 16 and following. Luke must have had some trouble with his copying. At the end of the story there is more confusion over the number of pounds. This must mean that Luke has another reason for telling this story than we usually imagine. Some research will show you that this story is also entwined with an actual historical situation when Archelaus went to Rome to seek a grant of sovereignty. Check out William Barclay's commentary on this.
Conclusion: It seems that the parable has only one meaning. Each of us is expected to perform in life as we are equipped to do. Those with more will be expected to do more. Those with less are not required to measure up to others. Faithfulness means not claiming that all of us are people of limited abilities, but knowing that we are expected to use whatever is given us for the sake of his Kingdom.
Other parables that make about the same point are the story of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:28), and the story of One Who Did Not Plan Well. (Matthew 12:43-45)
Those who held this conviction were always using parables and stories meant to declare how important living faithfully in every moment truly was. The watchword was "watch." They were called to be on watch, anticipating the Day of the Lord so as not to be caught off guard.
It is difficult to imagine the impact of this not taking place in the way they expected. Luke sees that clearly and takes it off the church's agenda when he writes his second volume and sets the world before the church as its agenda. John faces up to the situation in the early second century when he maintains that the Word has been kept in the giving of the presence of his Holy Spirit. In any case the matter gradually disappears from their literature.
The fact that their expectations did not come true was a heavy blow for many. Some gave up and fled the church. Yet others heard what Luke had to say as he challenged his church. They began to be about the business of taking the Good News to the world. Gradually the church came to understand that what Matthew had reported Jesus as saying, that only God knew the answers as to when it would happen, was really true. (Matthew 24:36)
There are still those who keep fanning the flames of expectation daily. For them the last days are always present and the task of the Christian is simply to be faithful and watch and wait. Most, however, have taken the matter off the calendar and know the end is always happening and that new beginnings are always given. What is useless and in opposition to God's will is always being brought to an end. What is good and hopeful is always being offered in new ways to God's people. Thus, if the question is asked as to when the end shall be, the answer is always the same: every day. And when the question is asked as to when the New Age will begin, the answer is the same: every day!
B. The second point of the text, which is prose rather than poetry, is mentioned to convince the people that God has been in the midst of what has happened to them. In those days the people saw God as more intentionally evident in what happened to them. In our day we would say that the captivity was what happened as a result of our own doing, and that even in the midst of our unfaithfulness, God was busy preparing our redemption. Here is a prophet of Israel who will not let his people forget their destiny as a light to the nations.
Conclusion: All of us in some sense find ourselves in these lines. We, too, are a people who live in a strange land. All about us is evidence that long-cherished ideals, long-held convictions lay in tatters at our feet. The world is not what we had imagined it would be. Like the persons spoken of in Hebrews, we are strangers and exiles. Christians are called to be different. That means we are to be holy. When that is the case, the world about us is strange and forbidding. It may even turn on us. But when it does, we, like them, will find that we are not alone.
OUTLINE I
A Call to Rejoicing
Isaiah 52:1-6
Introduction: Our Scripture for today comes to us from what is known as III Isaiah, chapters 56-66, which, according to the evidence written in the text, is post-exilic. Here we find a people who are involved in coming home again following the Babylonian captivity.
A. A Call to Rejoicing. Here is a vision of what things are meant to be. Jerusalem is redeemed and restored. God's people are clean and pure once again. The time has come to throw off the shackles of bondage and return home.
OUTLINE II
The Sound of Victory
1 Corinthians 15:54-58
Introduction: Do take time to check out the commentaries and learn what occasioned these words. Corinth is a great and wicked city in Paul's day. There is a group of Christians there which is having a tough time maintaining its faith. There are those who want to join this new church who have not the slightest knowledge of the Hebrew faith. They know nothing of the ethical dimension of that faith. They are knowledgeable about the new life expected at the Resurrection, but they are more than likely confusing it with the nature rituals of the mystery religions which are abroad in the empire. Somehow those who have no background and those who misunderstand must hear the truth.
A. Resurrection is a Gift of God. Be sure to note that in this chapter there is a reminder that Paul is not talking about automatic immortality. It is clear that we are not immortal and that we do die. If we are to gain new life, it will be because God offers it to us as a gift. When the gift comes, it is then we put on immortality. Immortality for the Christian comes only after the Resurrection.
B. It is not we who can claim the power for self-resurrection. It is God alone who, in Christ Jesus, has defeated all other powers, especially that last power of death, and demonstrated to us that there is a power that can give us life again.
Conclusion: The central proclamation here is that it is God who gives the victory and who shares his victory with the faithful. Here is no new mystery religion. Here is no claim of immortality. Here is the declaration that as this life is his gift and depends upon his providence, so the life to come is from his hand.
OUTLINE III
Living Boldly
Luke 19:11-27
Introduction: Who does not know the Parable of the Pounds and Talents? Which of us has not identified ourselves with that servant who had only one talent or pound? We like to think that we are another one-talent person, and that therefore not much is to be expected of us.
A. Take Time to Tell the Story. Be sure to make it clear that the subject here is not talents like singing, speaking, and the like, nor pounds such as British currency. What is being spoken of here is a man who entrusts his possessions and his business to those who work for him while he goes on a trip.
Note that Luke has each of the servants receiving ten pounds in verse 13 and then seeming to say that each has used only one in verse 16 and following. Luke must have had some trouble with his copying. At the end of the story there is more confusion over the number of pounds. This must mean that Luke has another reason for telling this story than we usually imagine. Some research will show you that this story is also entwined with an actual historical situation when Archelaus went to Rome to seek a grant of sovereignty. Check out William Barclay's commentary on this.
Conclusion: It seems that the parable has only one meaning. Each of us is expected to perform in life as we are equipped to do. Those with more will be expected to do more. Those with less are not required to measure up to others. Faithfulness means not claiming that all of us are people of limited abilities, but knowing that we are expected to use whatever is given us for the sake of his Kingdom.
Other parables that make about the same point are the story of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:28), and the story of One Who Did Not Plan Well. (Matthew 12:43-45)
