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[00:00:00] Good morning. St. Paul Lutheran Church. Sunday drive to church for the last Sunday of the church year, November 24, the year of our Lord 2024. We hear of the return of the Lord Jesus in glory. Mark 13. Beautiful text.
[00:00:15] We'll talk about it now. And the hymns.
[00:00:18] I always love the hymns for the last Sunday of the church here. But we have an Advent hymn today which is curious. We'll talk about why that is. Lo, he comes with clouds descending.
[00:00:29] And we got confirmation, late service. God be prai. Six new adult confirmands joining the Lord's altar here at St. Paul today. Well, here, let's start with the collect. Remember, the collect has. We haven't talked about this in a while. The collect has five parts. It has the address and the rationale, the petition and the doxology, and then the amen. So the address is to the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit. And then the rationale is the attribute or something about God that is connected to the petition. And then the doxology is kind of concluding doxological stanza. And then for you live and reign where all three persons of the Holy Trinity are brought into the prayer and then the amen. Most of the collects are addressed to God the Father, and then through Jesus Christ, your son, etc. Some are addressed to the Son, some are addressed to the Spirit. Very few are addressed to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. O Holy Trinity. The prayer will go. This particular petition, though collect, is addressed straight to the Lord Jesus. And there is no rationale.
[00:01:49] It just is straight into the petition. So Lord Jesus Christ so govern our hearts and minds.
[00:01:57] So no rationale given.
[00:02:00] In some ways it's almost like the rationale is given to us by the fact that we're on the last Sunday of the church year. So we know that we're thinking about the Lord's return in glory. We know we're thinking about the last day when he'll divide the sheep and the goats. And so the rationale doesn't even need to be stated. It's just straight into the petition. And then notice how there's a Lord Jesus, by your Holy Spirit, and then at the end with the Father and the same. In fact, it should be with the same Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. So let's pray. Lord Jesus Christ, so govern our hearts and minds by your Holy Spirit, that ever mindful of your glorious return, we may persevere in both faith and holiness of living. For you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
[00:02:48] This Collect.
[00:02:50] The collect functions in that way to collect the idea of the Sunday. And this does marvelously that we want to be mindful of the Lord's glorious return. And the result is that we persevere in faith and holy living. I mean, this is our whole life. Remember, we live by faith toward God and by love toward the neighbor.
[00:03:11] And that love toward the neighbor also involves suffering and perseverance. This is like this prayer. If you wanted to cut this out and put it on your mirror. This prayer captures the whole deal of what it means to be a Christian. So we're remembering that the Lord is coming back. And what is the result? That we're afraid.
[00:03:30] No. That we spend all our time trying to map the timeline for nuclear Armageddon or whatever? No, no. In fact, we know. How about this?
[00:03:43] As all the fears of World War 3 start to ramp up in the news. Sheesh. We know that we are not going to end the world. The Lord will do that at his own time. And so we don't need to be afraid that.
[00:03:57] I mean, we shouldn't be foolish, but we don't need to be afraid that princes and kings and rulers and governors and governments and warmongers and whatever are going to bring an end to the world. No. The Lord Jesus will determine when the last day is. And he'll be back. That'll do it. Our psalm.
[00:04:17] This is an interesting psalm. I was just looking at it to think about it a little bit more. It's not a really familiar one to me. It's Psalm 93.
[00:04:26] Right there.
[00:04:28] Toward the end of this book is this book three of the Psalms.
[00:04:33] It's a little short five verse psalm. And it has to do with the Lord's enthronement as king. And it's setting.
[00:04:44] It's using the picture of the ocean of the waters as that ancient picture of chaos and disorder. It's setting that against the Lord's rule and reign, the Lord reigns. He's robed in majesty. The Lord is robed. He's put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. That has to do with the third day of creation when the Lord divides the sea from the land and establishes the land.
[00:05:13] Your throne is established from of old, you are from everlasting. Now here comes the waters, verse 3. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, Mightier than the waves of the sea. The Lord on high is mighty.
[00:05:33] So the Picture of the seas and the waters and the roaring waves and the crashing, thunderous waves. That's a picture of the assault of disorder on God's throne. And here we confess. No, the Lord is mightier. He's mightier than the waters. But, okay, so the danger when that. The danger when we say the Lord is mightier than all the chaotic forces of evil and darkness in the world. The Lord is stronger than all of those. Then we start to think of this pagan idea, which is which God is stronger. You know, it's like the pagan idea is like the kids on the playground. You know, my dad can beat up your dad. My God can beat up your God. Which is true. I mean, our God can beat up all the other gods. Anything that would stand up and claim to be God and take the honor that we give to God alone, it all comes to nothing.
[00:06:32] But that's paganism. The gods fighting with each other. So the last verse is the most important verse, because the Lord is mighty by his word and by his holiness.
[00:06:46] I remember. I think I have told you this story before.
[00:06:49] A while back. This was 2013. Wow. 10, 11 years ago, Carrie and I were in Athens with Warren Graff and Elaine, his wife. He's really our pastor. And we were both leading a group over there and walking around the Agora in ancient Athens. And there's this beautiful temple.
[00:07:14] It stands more than the other temples stand. The Temple of Hephaestus. It's like a mini.
[00:07:21] It's like a mini.
[00:07:24] The temple to Athena on top of the mountain there in Athens.
[00:07:30] I can't think of the name of it. Anyway, it's like that, but it's preserved. And we're walking around and looking at the columns and thinking about the ancient pagan worship. And I asked Pastor Graff, what is the difference? Like, if we were walking around in the year 10 AD and we were wandering around the world and we went to Athens and we saw all the temples in Athens, and we went to Rome, and we saw all the temples in Rome, and we went to Babylon, and we saw all the temples in Babylon, and then we went to Jerusalem, and we saw all the temples in Jerusalem. We say, what is the difference? How would I know that this God in Jerusalem is the true God? And Warren, without even Pastor Graff, without even really missing a beat, he said, the God in Jerusalem is holy and he gives us promises.
[00:08:26] I think that's an amazing answer. It's exactly the answer of the psalm. All the other pagan gods, they're just as adulterous and murderous as the worst of us human people. They're interested in power and overcoming by power and strength. But the God in Jerusalem is holy, and he gives Himself to us by his promises. So that's exactly what verse five says. Your decrees are very trustworthy.
[00:08:51] Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.
[00:08:57] So the Lord is strong and mighty. But that is good news for us because his might is given to us in a beneficial way through His Word, and his might is constrained by his holiness.
[00:09:14] Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. What a psalm. Okay, we're onto the readings now. And it's a very strong theme of the end of the world. That's always what it is in the last couple of weeks of the church year, and especially on the last Sunday of the church year, where we remember the end of the world. It reminds me. It's one of my favorite prayers that we pray in compline where we say, lord, be with us at the end of the day, at the end of our life, at the end of the world.
[00:09:43] So every night when the sun goes down and we're winding down, getting ready for bed, we remember that our lives are going to wind down and that we remember that the world is going to wind down. The church here is the same way. It reminds us that there's going to be a day when this epoch comes to an end and we're brought to the new heaven and new earth where the righteous dwell. That's what we're waiting for. So we have Isaiah 51, Jude 20 to 25. There's only one chapter in Jude, so just the verses. And then Mark 13. So first Isaiah 51, give attention to me, my people, Give attention to me, my nation. The law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. And then becomes the theme of the text, My righteousness, my salvation. So it comes up twice. Look at verse five, my. Well, don't look. Just. You're driving, so just listen. My righteousness draws near.
[00:10:41] My salvation has gone out. My arms will judge the people.
[00:10:47] We think, you know, we always expect from the Lord.
[00:10:50] Well, I always expect from the Lord. Judgment, wrath and anger. That's what I expect. I'll set my justice as a light for the people. What does that mean? My judgment will draw near.
[00:11:03] My wrath has gone out. But that's not what it says. My righteousness, my salvation. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look to the earth.
[00:11:10] The heavens will vanish like smoke.
[00:11:13] The earth will wear out like a garment. They who dwell in it will die in like manner. But My salvation will be forever.
[00:11:23] My righteousness will never be dismayed.
[00:11:26] So all these things pass away.
[00:11:30] But the Lord's word endures forever.
[00:11:33] And the salvation accomplished by His Word, the righteousness delivered by his word, make us also eternal.
[00:11:41] So though the world is dissolved, we endure through it. There's a CS Lewis line. I don't know what. What to make of this, but I. I've been thinking about it a little bit, and C.S. lewis says, you know, when you deal with things like, we think, wow, look, Washington, D.C. that's a big deal, or we visit these places, like, oh, there's the temple, the Festus in Athens, or whatever, or we deal with big ideas or big things, famous nations and countries. CSO says, you know, that the person that you meet in the street is going to outlive all the nations of the world.
[00:12:21] You know, the person that you buy the coffee from at the gas station, they're going to outlive the United States and the Parthenon and the Statue of Liberty and every other monument that we try to build because.
[00:12:40] Well, because the Lord has put eternity in our hearts, and we live past the last day. And for the Christian, we live forever in the new heaven and the new earth.
[00:12:52] So there's a.
[00:12:55] We tend to look at these institutions as permanent and ourselves as temporal, but it's in fact the exact opposite. The only thing that will endure past the judgment day are those things which the Lord has placed his word, and he's placed His Word on us.
[00:13:10] Here's what Jude says. Remember, Jude and Second Peter are kind of parallel to each other. And so they both have to do with the last times and the end of the world.
[00:13:21] I think I might preach a little bit on this because Jesus in the Gospels is going to say, stay awake, stay awake, stay awake, stay awake. And we have to ask the question, well, what does that mean, to stay awake? Like, the Lord Jesus doesn't want us to not sleep at night.
[00:13:34] He's not requiring sleep deprivation for Christians. So our spiritual awakeness is something else. And I think it's probably described very well by Jude. But, you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Holding onto the faith, Pray in the Holy Spirit prayer. Keep yourselves in the love of God. So not only knowing that God loves us, but knowing that God would have us love our neighbor, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then mercy and mercy comes up over and over. Show mercy with fear, et cetera, et cetera, and the Lord will keep you.
[00:14:09] In fact, it says now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.
[00:14:26] Wow, that's a. What a doxology. That's there. So the Lord can keep you. The Lord can uphold you in these things in the faith and in prayer to the Holy Spirit and in love and in waiting for mercy.
[00:14:37] But this is our. This is our spiritual alertness. That's what Jesus is talking about in the gospel. Now, there's again, we'll explain this a little more in the sermon, I think, but there's mostly this text is talking about the Lord's return in glory. There's this little line in there that I think is a callback to the warning about the destruction of Jerusalem. Now, if you go and you look what we read last week, we read the very first verses of Mark 13. In fact, I can tell you what verses we read. I just got to look it up right here. Last week we read Mark 13, 1 13.
[00:15:18] And this week we're reading Mark 13, 24, 37. Now, what happened in the intervening verses in verses 14 to 23? Well, 1423 is really when Jesus is describing what's going to happen before the destruction of Jerusalem. And remember, the whole setup for this conversation is that they're leaving Jerusalem on Holy Tuesday, and the disciples are like, wow, look at all these beautiful stones in this massive temple building. And Jesus says, yeah, they're all going to collapse. And they say, what? When is this going to happen? And what's the sign of the coming of the Son of Man? So Jesus answers both questions. Now, the events of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the end of the world are related to one another by theme, but not by calendar, because that destruction of Jerusalem happened August 10th. Remember August 10th in the year 70.
[00:16:11] If your birthday or anniversary is August 10th, you can always remember, oh, that's Destruction of Jerusalem day. Easy. So August 10, 70, under Titus, destroyed. We're still waiting, of course, for the Lord's returning glory and to set up the new heaven and the new earth and to gather all people to himself. Jesus answers both questions together.
[00:16:33] Mostly verses 14 to 23 talk about the destruction of Jerusalem. And in our text, it shifts to the coming in glory.
[00:16:43] So it says, they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory, and he will send out his angels and gather the elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. Now, there's a little line where Jesus says, when you see these things taking place, know that he is at the very gate. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until these things take place.
[00:17:05] I think that that refers to the destruction of Jerusalem. So that's a throwback to the discussion about when all the temple will be thrown down. And that's how to understand the promise. So Jesus isn't saying that this generation won't pass away until I come in glory, but this generation will not pass away, that all these things are going to unfold in the attack and the destruction of Jerusalem. And sure enough, Jesus is speaking these things in 33 AD, so it's only 37 years later when Kapow Jerusalem is demolished. Heaven and earth. Oh, this is beautiful. Verse 31, Heaven and earth will not. Will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
[00:17:52] That's quoting Isaiah. The word of the Lord endures forever. Jesus says, my words will not pass away because his words are God's words, because he's God. Beautiful. And then concerning that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son, only the Father. Amazing.
[00:18:10] Be on guard. Keep awake. So here Jesus is commanding this alertness. He says it's like a man going on a journey. He leaves his home and puts his servants in charge, and each will work. And he commands the doorkeeper, stay awake. Therefore, stay awake. We're the doorkeepers. Stay awake. You don't know when the master of the house will come. Evening, Midnight. When the cock crows in the morning, lest he come suddenly find you asleep. So I say to you, I say to all, stay awake. So we need to think. I mean, we need to have a solid answer to this question. This is my goal, that you'll leave church tomorrow and you'll say, I know what it means to stay awake, to be a wakeful and alert Christian. Okay, I mentioned the hymns are fantastic. The classic hymn for the last Sunday of the church year is this beautiful queen. Is it the queen or king? I think it's the queen of chorales.
[00:19:10] Wake awake for night is flying. Philip Nicolai, this great hymn writer of second generation after the Reformation, wrote these two great chorales. Wake awake for night is Flying is the. Is one of them. And then, O morning star, how fair and bright is the other. This must be Morning star. Must be the queen. And I bet you this one is the king.
[00:19:36] It's always, almost always sung on the last Sunday of the church year, because the old one year Lectionary had the parable of the ten virgins. Five wise, five foolish, five had oil in their lamp, and five did not.
[00:19:56] And when the bridegroom came, the five entered in with him to the joy of the wedding, and the five did not. That's the normal reading for the last Sunday of the church year. And this hymn goes with it. Wake awake, for night is flying. The watchmen on the heights are crying. Awake, Jerusalem, arise. Midnight hears the welcome voices, and at the thrilling cry rejoices. You know this one. Oh, oh, where are ye virgins? What? The bridegroom comes. Awake your lamps with gladness. Take Alleluia. This is such a beautiful, absolutely beautiful hymn we have for our opening hymn. And then for the hymn of the day, this rousing Advent. Him, though he comes with clouds descending Once for once for every sinner slain Thousand thousand saints attending Swell the triumph of his train Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Christ the Lord returns to reign. So you say to yourself, now, Pastor, why do we have an Advent hymn at the end of the church year? We're not even there yet. Are you being a little bit loose here? Advent is kind of creeping in. Well, remember that the theme of Advent is the Lord coming. And not only that he came in humility and that he comes to us in the Word and the sacrament, but that he will come again in glory. This threefold coming of Christ is the theme of Advent. And so there's almost a seamless transition from the end of the church year to the beginning of the church year. And there's a lot of eschatological. Eschatology means last things, study of the last things. There's a lot of eschatological themes in Advent itself that. Because Advent is not. Remember, Advent is not like we kind of go and pretend like Jesus hasn't been born yet. And then we're like, oh, wow, at Christmas. Like, oh, look what happened. Just like Lent is not pretending that Jesus never died or that Easter is like pretending like Jesus never was raised from the dead. That's part of the danger of Holy Week is that we. We try to forget that Jesus has risen from the dead. And so we hear his crucifixion. We're like, oh, boy, is that the end? I don't know. When we try to act surprised on Easter Sunday. No, we know that Jesus was risen from the dead all along. We know that Jesus is born of the Virgin Mary all along. We're waiting for him to come in glory. And so, as we think about his first coming. And as we rejoice in his continual coming, that helps us to prepare for his last coming. So Advent has that theme that he's coming again in glory to judge the quick and the dead. So lo, he comes with clouds descending, just so great, every eye shall now behold him, robed in glorious majesty. Those who set it not and sold him pierced and nailed them to the tree, Deeply wailing shall their true Messiah see. This is from the Zechariah text. They will look on him whom they pierced, those dear tokens of his passion. Still his dazzling body bears cause of endless exaltation to him, to his ransomed worshipers. With what rapture gaze we on those glorious scars. This is the doctrine that when Jesus returns in glory, he will still have his wounds from his crucifixion. Now, why do we think that? Two reasons. Number one, after the resurrection, Jesus was showing off those wounds. Remember, Thomas, look here. Put your fingers in the holes in my hands and in the side here. It's me. And when John sees Jesus seated on the throne, he says he sees the lamb who was slain, the Slaughtered Lamb. An indication that the wounds that Jesus received in his atoning work on the cross he still bears so that we'll see him. In fact, that's also Zechariah. They'll look on him whom they pierced. But that piercing, those holy hands and that holy side is our great wonder. I mean, the one who's coming with his hands raised in blessing. And we see, ah, his hands still have the wounds from the cross. So he comes not to destroy us. Those hands are the hands of the crucified one.
[00:24:28] Yea, Amen. Let all adore thee, High on thy eternal throne. Savior, take the power and glory. Claim the kingdom as thy own. Alleluia. Thou shalt reign and thou alone. Amen. That's. Whew. That's the glory of the last day that the Lord is coming to manifest the rule that he in fact already has and to exercise it for us as people.
[00:24:58] God be praised. That's absolutely wonderful.
[00:25:02] All right, there's Sunday drive to church. How we're doing on time. We have. Oh, whoa. We have Bible class, Hebrews.
[00:25:09] We're inching towards the end of Hebrews 12. And I think we're going to get there also. I think I pointed this out a couple of weeks ago, but you know that Emma is doing communications directing stuff, and she's writing news articles about all the things that are happening around the church. So St. Paul Austin, and you can see all those things. It's pretty exciting. All the things that are happening around here, including today, confirmation for our six new members.
[00:25:39] William, Sarah, George, Ricardo, Alex and Trevor are going to join the Lord's altar here at St. Paul. And we thank the Lord for them today as well. All right, drive safe. See you in a few minutes. Sunday drive to church. God's peace be with.