Sermon Nov. 24-25, 2012

Title: God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

Text: Mark 13:26-27

26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

The Danish philosopher, Kierkegaard, tells a parable of a theater where a variety show is proceeding. Each show is more fantastic than the last, and is applauded by the audience. Suddenly the manager comes forward. He apologizes for the interruption, but the theater is on fire, and he begs his patrons to leave in an orderly fashion. The audience thinks this is the most amusing turn of the evening, and cheer thunderously. The manager again implores them to leave the burning building, and he is again applauded vigorously. At last he can do no more. The fire raced through the whole building taking the fun-loving audience with it. "And so," concluded Kierkegaard, "will our age … I sometimes think … go down in fiery destruction to the applause of a crowded house of cheering spectators."

Resource, July/August, 1990

God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

The truth of that philosophical parable is a sobering reality to every person inhabiting the earth. The promise in scripture is that Christ will return but we don’t know … when the time will come. The text of our gospel in Mark tells us some important things:

24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Mark13:24-27)

There are end-time scholars that take differing views on when Christ will return. Some say Jesus Christ will come and rapture his church and that we His people will be gathered up in to heaven and that the world and all unbelievers will experience  the 7 years of the tribulation, popularized by the Left Behind series and other end-time predictors. They see this difficult to follow end-time timeline laid out in scripture where the church, God’s elect, are spared the suffering of the tribulation and where those who don’t believe are given a somehow second chance to repent and believe after the church has been raptured to heaven.

But the words of Christ here seem very clear in our reading: … after that tribulation … they will see the Son of Man … he will send out the angels and gather his elect … (not before the tribulation but after) … from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

When Christ returns it will be for the purpose of gathering His elect, those who believe and who are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus uses the illustration of the fig tree:

28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. (Mark 13:28-29)

Our text today points to these things taking place but what things? It’s not what we’ve just read in the Gospel lesson but Jesus, earlier in chapter 13, from last Sunday’s reading tells us:

5 … “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines …

And we might add: hurricanes and nor-Easters as was just experienced on the East Coast.
…These are but the beginning of the birth pains. (Mark 13:5-8)

So when Jesus said, when you see these things taking place … that is what He, Jesus, was referring to. Don’t be lead astray by someone claiming to be the Christ; when you see wars and rumors of wars, nation rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and then add all the earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes … He our Lord and savior Jesus is near.

God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

He is near. He is very near. But are you ready? We’re told:

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (And then we are told.) 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.

Are you ready? The signs are very clear. The indicators are present yet 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-27)

It might be today, maybe tomorrow, next week, a month, year or two … are you prepared, will you as the elect of God be gathered unto Christ when He returns?

Because: 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matt.7:21)

In our country we’ve entered what many call a post-Christian world; a world-view that calls truth false and attempts to form God to our own likeness, casting Him in our image or at least in an image of our own choosing. As we make this country and our world into a place void of God’s precepts and principles; we open our world, our home, our family, even ourselves to the schemes of Satan and his minions (his demons) to take up residence in our lives … destroying the very fabric of the family, the definition of marriage, the life of the unborn and claiming a Christian worldview where none exists.

On that day:

23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matt. 7:23)

But God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

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 rooster 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.” (Mark 13:35-37)

This directive to His disciples was a warning to the lulling ability of the world the flesh and the Devil to draw them away from Christ and His word. It’s a word of warning to you too. It’s a warning to me as well. When the word of God becomes only part of my work, in service here and in the exercise of preparing a sermon … I lose the true value, the transforming devotional value of God’s word. You do too.

Ill.
The motor home has allowed us to put all the conveniences of home on wheels. A camper no longer needs to contend with sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now he can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. One motor home I saw recently had a satellite dish attached on top or you can just Hot Spot your internet and smart phone. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. We buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world. Yet we deck it out with the same furnishings as in our living room. Thus nothing really changes. We may drive to a new place, set ourselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we've only carried along our old setting.
The adventure of new life in Christ begins when the comfortable patterns of the old life are left behind.


David Roher.
God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

God has called you by name. He has written your name in the Lamb’s book of life. You have been adopted into His family at your baptism and the promise of God is that Jesus will never let you be taken from the palm of His hand. He is among us now. Right here with you and me.

In our mid-week Bible class we’ve been talking about the Omnipresence of God, of God’s presence being everywhere at all times verses His Sacramental presence that is here for you now. Here as we gather together called by Christ in worship, we hear His word, we confess our sins and we receive the comfort that we are forgiven and have the favor with God on account of Christ.

In God’s Omnipresence, He is everywhere but for the person in the world outside of the Christian faith they receive many blessings from God in this life because the rain falls on the Just and the unjust alike but there is no comfort from God for the sinner in His Omnipresence, because he only receives Gods condemnation on account of sin … sin that has been paid for by Christ but which many refuse to acknowledge by rejecting the call of the Holy Spirit to repentance … continuing to live in sin and by sin mold their lives.

But you … who believe … you are the elect! You are the forgiven! You are the ones God in Christ will gather to Himself to be with Him forever; to live in the blessed peace of a heaven void of sin and forever illumined by Christ’s glory!

God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

"And so," as Kierkegaard concluded, "will our age and this world … I sometimes think … rather go down in fiery destruction to the applause of a crowded house of cheering spectators … than to receive Christ and his call by the power of the holy Spirit?"

But not you, most favored child of God. You are forgiven and found in Christ and by His Spirit you believe. This is the Good News for today and for always.

26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Because: God gathers His elect and you are gathered!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen