1996 SINGLE SERMONS
IN LIGHT OF THE TIMES
DR. JIM DIXON
JUNE 2, 1996
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18; 5:1-5
On December 5, 1914, Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton began an incredible journey. On December 5, 1914, Shackleton and 27 men set sail on the good ship Endurance from the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic Ocean. Their destination was Antarctica, and they would never reach it. When they reached the region of the Weddell Sea, they began to be surrounded by islands of ice—floating, massive chunks of ice. Then, on January 18, 1915, their ship, the Endurance, became entirely encompassed by ice and frozen solid in the ice. Their ship remained that way—frozen in ice in the midst of the Weddell Sea, near the continent of Antarctica— for more than ten months, until October 27, 1915, when the enveloping ice actually crushed the hull of the ship, and that ship went down into that frigid sea. But Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton and the 27 men somehow made their way onto an ice floe, taking food, clothing, some sleds, some tents and three 20-foot boats. Somehow, they survived on that ice floe for more than five months, with the ice groaning beneath them and with the storms just twirling about them.
Somehow, they survived in the midst of those subzero temperatures for more than five months until finally, on April 2, 1916, the ice began to break up and they put their three 20-foot boats into the water. For six days they journeyed at sea until they came to a rock island covered with ice called Elephant Island. There they stopped. Twenty-two of Shackleton’ s twenty-seven men were very sick, and they could not continue on. So, Shackleton left them there. First of all, he stayed with them for two weeks to help them build a shelter, using two of the 20-foot boats and rocks and snow. They built a shelter 20 feet long, 9 feet deep, and 5 feet high. They left some provisions and Shackleton said, “I will come back for you.” He said, “Never forget. I’m coming back for you.”
Then Shackleton left for South Georgia Island and the whaling village there, a distance of 800 miles. For the next 17 days, in that little boat, they braved some of the fiercest seas on the Earth and waves that were as high as mountains. Finally, they came to the shore of the South Georgia Island. They crashed their little boat on the rocks. They swam to shore, but they were on the wrong side of the island. The whaling village was 30 miles away, over high mountains covered with glacial ice. Three of the men were too sick to take that hike over the mountains, and so Shackleton left them there, took the other two men, and in an incredible feat of endurance they made their way over those high mountains and down into the whaling village on South Georgia Island.
When he arrived there, though he was exhausted, he took no time to rest. He immediately rented a ship, went back to the windward side of the island, rescued the three men there, and then set sail for Elephant Island to rescue the twenty-two men. They sailed for 730 miles and came within 70 miles of Elephant Island, but they could continue no further, as they met a sea of ice. So, they returned to South Georgia Island.
Shackleton got another boat more hearty, another boat that was stronger, and he set sail again. He sailed 780 miles, came within 20 miles of Elephant Island, but again was stopped by the ice. He returned and took a third ship, headed out again, and sailed 700 miles. He was stopped a hundred miles short. He returned to South Georgia Island and got a fourth ship. Finally, he made that 800-mile journey, making his way through the ice. He arrived at Elephant Island and the twenty-two men were still alive. Somehow, they were still alive. Somehow, for more than four months, they had survived in the stench of that little shelter. They had lived on water from melted ice. They had lived on the flesh of penguins and seals, and they had lived on the promise of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton that he would return and that he would come for them. They believed that promise, and when they were rescued and returned to civilization, they told the media that every day they got up in the morning and they said, “This could be the day the boss comes back.”
Well, you see, the Bible tells us that, as Christians, as believers in Jesus Christ, there is a sense in which we are stranded on this Earth. In fact, the Bible tells us that as Christians we are aliens and exiles on the Earth. This world is not our home. Our homeland is in Heaven. The Bible tells us that someday the boss is coming back. The Bible tells us that Jesus is going to come again for us. This event theologians call the doctrine of the second coming. The Bible says, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him.” The Bible says, “The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.”
Jesus said, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing My recompense to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.” That is the doctrine of the second coming. This doctrine was preached by the Apostle Paul to first-century Christians. This doctrine was preached by St. Augustine to late fourth-century and early fifth-century Christians. This doctrine was preached by Bernard of Clairvaux to twelfth-century Christians. It was preached by Martin Luther to sixteenth-century Christians, and it is preached today to Christians all over the world. And this is the will of God, this is the will of the Spirit of God, that the doctrine of the second coming of Jesus Christ be proclaimed to every generation of believers. And why is it so important, this teaching that Jesus Christ is going to come again? What’s it all about?
Well, biblically, it’s all about two things. First of all, it’s all about hope. It’s all about hope. In the New Testament in the book of Titus, in the second chapter, the thirteenth verse, the second coming of Jesus Christ is called “the blessed hope.” The Apostle Paul says, “We wait for our blessed hope, the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” The blessed hope. Or in the Greek, it could properly be rendered “the hope of blessing.” The second coming is, for the Christian, the hope of blessing.
But in the evangelical world, many Christians do not understand the meaning of this hope. They don’t understand the nature of the blessing. What is this blessing we hope for when Christ comes again? I think many evangelicals think that it has to do with Heaven. They think it’s all about Heaven, but it’s not all about Heaven. In fact, I promise you if Jesus Christ were never to come again, Christians would still go to Heaven. There are many Christians who have lived and died, and they’ve already gone to Heaven. If Christ didn’t come for us, we would still go to Him. When a Christian dies, his or her soul and spirit leave the body. The body returns to the earth—dust to dust, ashes to ashes—but the soul, the spirit, goes to Heaven to be with Jesus Christ. We don’t need the second coming in order to get to Heaven. It’s not about Heaven. That’s not what it’s all about.
Well, some Christians think maybe the blessing, maybe the hope, is the resurrection. This is part of the blessing and this is part of the hope, because the Bible tells us that it’s at the second coming of Jesus Christ that we will receive our resurrected bodies. The Christians who have died in generations past have left their earthly bodies here. Their souls, their spirits, have departed and gone into Heaven, but they wait for the resurrection body. They wait until the second coming. The Bible says clearly in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, that those Christians who have died in generations past and those Christians who will be alive at the second coming of Christ will all receive their resurrection bodies at the same time—in that same moment, in a twinkling of an eye. That is part of the blessed hope. That is part of the hope of blessing: we’re going to receive, as Christians, new bodies.
The Bible says they will be “heavenly bodies,” which is the Greek word epourania, which means “fit for the heavens.” They will be indestructible, which is the Greek word aphtharsia, which means “not subject to decay.” They will be powerful, the Bible says, which is the word dynamei, the Greek word from which we get the word “dynamite.” They will be spiritual bodies, pneumatikos, governed by the spirit. They will be doxa, the Bible says—they will be “glorious.” These things are part of the blessed hope, but only a small part.
When you say the second coming of Jesus Christ is the blessed hope, you must think of more than the resurrection body. If that’s all it was about, then it would just be a selfish thing. It would just be a hope for you. But, you see, biblically the second coming of Jesus Christ and the hope of blessing has to do with the world itself. Christ is going to bless the world. He’s going to bless the world. He’s going to judge it, yes, but He’s going to bless it, and this world will be changed. That’s the major part of the blessed hope. It’s just so important. Christ wants His followers in every generation to know that there’s not just hope for you individually. There’s hope for this world. He wants you to know that.
You see, the Bible says this world is a mess, and that thought may have occurred to you. This world is a mess, and the Bible says the world’s getting messier. The Bible says the world is in darkness. The Bible says the world is in darkness and it’s getting darker. The Bible says the people of this world are not capable of self-enlightenment.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there was a period of history that historians refer to as the Age of Reason, sometimes called the Enlightenment. During that period of history, men and women began to believe that they were enlightened, that they had acquired such knowledge that through the faculty of their own reason they could solve the problems of the world—social problems, economic problems, political problems, and even moral problems. These things could be solved through enlightenment, through education, and through the faculty of reason. The enlightenment greatly impacted colonial Americans such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams.
But you see, the Enlightenment was deception. The Bible says the world is in darkness. It isn’t getting better and better. Oh, there have been technological advancements, but the world isn’t getting better and better. In fact, there is more racial and cultural tension in the world today than ever before. More people have died in war in this century than in any prior century. Poverty is rampant on the Earth. One billion people will go to bed hungry tonight, and two billion people in this world have no means of making a living.
Judeo-Christian values are eroding. They are eroding, and the Bible tells us the world is heading toward Armageddon. I mean, the world isn’t getting better and better. The Bible tells us Jesus Christ is the light of the world. The Bible tells us that His word is light and truth. The Bible tells us that the world, because it’s in darkness, hates the light.
Just two weeks ago, I noticed in the Rocky Mountain News, on the fourth page, this headline: “Archbishop Stafford Denounces Clinton and Romer.” The opening paragraph says, “Denver Archbishop J. Francis Stafford issued a strongly worded statement Tuesday that questions President Clinton’s Christianity and accused Governor Roy Romer of undermining western civilization.”
Stafford went on to renounce President Clinton’s position with regard to the sanctity of human life and his veto of the late-term abortion bill. He went on to renounce Governor Romer’s position with respect to homosexuality and to his posture of gay advocacy. You know, we might debate whether the archbishop should have referred personally to the president or personally to the governor, but we can’t deny that this man, who I know loves Jesus Christ, is seeking to be light in a culture of darkness. He’s seeking to be faithful to God’s Word. And the world hates that.
The Pope, from Vatican City, has taken similar stances on moral and ethical issues. He’s taken strong, biblical stances. You see, those stances are not popular, even amongst his constituency. Archbishop Stafford has 350,000 Catholics in his archdiocese. The Pope, in Rome, has 1.1 billion nominal members in the Roman Catholic Church who allegedly accept his authority. But, you see, even amongst their constituents a lot of their positions are not popular. In this world of darkness, their positions on moral and ethical issues are even less popular. But, you see, the church of Jesus Christ, be it Catholic or Protestant, is called to stand. And it’s not easy.
Perhaps some of you are feeling discouraged. I mean, you might look at our nation and the nations and you might feel discouraged. You might think there’s no hope. You might just feel like you’re on the losing side. Maybe it just grinds on you when you read the newspapers or when you watch the news or when you go to a movie or watch television. Maybe you just feel like you’re a voice crying in the wilderness. But this doctrine of the second coming is proclaimed to every generation of Christians so that we might know there is hope. There is hope and you’re not on the losing side. You’re on the winning side and Christ is going to come again. That is the blessed hope. It is not simply the hope of you individually, but it is the blessed hope of this world.
There’s that beautiful passage in the book of Isaiah, the 11th chapter, where it is written, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. It shall be the Messiah, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him. The spirit of knowledge and understanding, the spirit of counseling and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, shall rest upon Him. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what His eyes see nor decide by what His ears hear, but with righteousness He shall judge the poor and He shall decide with equity for the meek of the Earth. He shall smite the Earth with the breath of His mouth and with the rod of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins and faithfulness the girdle of His waist. Then in that day, the wolf shall dwell with the lambs and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together. A little Child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed, and their young shall lie down together. The suckling child shall play over the hole of a venomous snake and the weaning child shall place his hand in the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the oceans cover the sea. In that day, the Root of Jesse, the Messiah, shall stand as an end sign to the nations. Him shall the nations seek.”
You see, the kingdoms of this world, the Bible says, will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever. And He will “beat our swords into plowshares, our spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. And the desert shall bring forth bloom.”
This is the blessed hope. It’s not just a blessed hope for you. It’s not just a blessed hope for me. The second coming is the hope of the world. It’s the hope of this Earth. For that reason, the doctrine of the second coming is proclaimed to every generation of Christians.
But secondly and finally, it’s all about mission. It’s all about hope and it’s all about mission. We proclaim the doctrine of the second coming of Jesus Christ that we might understand the urgency of mission. In the Gospels, in the book of Mark, the 13th chapter, the 10th verse, our Lord Jesus Christ said, “First, the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to every nation. Only then will the end come. Only then will I come again. First, the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to every nation.”
The Greek word for nation doesn’t mean nation as we use the word today. The Greek word for nation is the Greek word ethnos, and it refers to a people group, a group of people that have a peculiar language and a peculiar culture. To every people group on the Earth, the gospel of Christ must go forth in their language so they can understand it. Only then will Christ come again.
Christ reiterates this proclamation in Matthew’s Gospel, the 24th chapter, the 14th verse. In the book of 2 Peter, the third chapter, the Apostle Peter, in that beautiful passage, warns us that in the last days there will come scoffers who will ridicule the second coming of Jesus Christ. Peter says the scoffers will say, “Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, things have continued as they were to this day.” Peter says, “Remember this: God is not slow about His promises as some would count slowness. With the Lord, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day.” “God is not willing or wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. We should count His forbearance,” Peter tells us, “as opportunity for salvation.” What a passage.
Why is the gospel of the second coming proclaimed to every generation of Christians? That we might have a blessed hope, and in order that we might understand the urgency of mission. Now is the time of salvation. Time is finite. There will come a time when there can be no more mission. When Christ comes again, mission ends. Now is the time of mission, and every generation of Christians is to be reminded of this. God would remind us today of the urgency of missions.
Barb and I and Bob and Allison and Gene and Lorna just came back from a missions trip. It was a great experience. We met with some of our missionaries that we support who are participating in ministry all over the world. We met with a man named Henri Aoun who works for Campus Crusade for Christ. Henri heads up a ministry to the Muslim world. He leads 220 missionaries in Northern Africa and in the Middle East. We support his ministry as a church and, in a sense, we support all 220 missionaries that are part of that mission.
We met with some of the missionaries on Henri’s team. Every morning we gathered for Bible study and prayer. We sang together. We sang songs in English and in French. We sang in Armenian, in Arabic, and in Farsi. I shouldn’t say “we” sang. We sang in English, but we listened to them singing in all those other tongues. It was just an incredible experience to see the urgency of mission that was on their faces.
We saw missionaries coming back from the mission field who had just barely escaped with their lives. They were singing with us. They had joy in their faces and they couldn’t wait to go back. The strategy that these 220 missionaries have is so great. They blitz Northern Africa and the Middle East with radio broadcasts of the gospel in Arabic. Then people begin to respond through mail correspondence. The letters just come in. We’re sitting there watching the letters come in every day from Muslims, letters saying, “Tell us more about Jesus Christ. Please send us a Bible. We didn’t know we could be saved by grace. Explain the gospel to us.” Letters were even coming in every day saying, “I asked Jesus into my heart. Please help me. Send someone.” Then they send these follow-up teams at the very risk of their lives into parts of the Muslim world that are extremely dangerous. But I tell you, they’re ready to die. I mean, these are normal people. They have a sense of humor. They like to laugh. They enjoy food. They’re just regular people, but they’re ready to die. They’re ready to die because of the urgency of mission.
We met with Greg Livingstone, who is the founder of Frontiers. He has 500 missionaries that he leads. We support him as a church. Those missionaries work in the Muslim world in Asia and in Eastern Europe. Again, you saw the urgency of mission.
We met with Paul and Heather, missionaries that actually came out of our congregation, and they’re working for Wycliffe Bible Translators. Paul and Heather Merrill work with Wycliffe Bible Translators, seeking to translate the Word of God into the language of every tribe and tongue and people and nation (into the language of every people group) in order that the gospel might go forth in this time that is allotted us. They are doing this because time is finite and they and understand the urgency of mission.
As a church, we understand the urgency of missions. That’s why we exist. That’s why we stress missions. That’s why we’re so grateful for Gene Kissinger and the work of our entire Missions Department. We’re all about mission. We’re even about mission right here. We want to proclaim the gospel in South Metropolitan Denver and we’re asking you to join with us and to be part of this. If you are really part of this church, then you are part of this mission. If you pray and if you give and if you offer your time, you’re part of this. This is so important that we’re in this together because the call of Christ is upon us and the time is short. The time is short.
I want to close with a story. It’s a story often told, but it bears repeating. It’s my favorite missionary story. It began in the year 1807 with a 12-year-old boy named Bobby Moffatt. It began on a Sunday morning in a church in Scotland. The offering was being taken and the plate was going down the row. It came to Bobby Moffatt, this 12-year-old boy, and he stood up and he walked into the aisle in the church. He walked into the aisle and he put the offering plate down and he stepped into the plate. The usher said, “Bobby, what are you doing?” Bobby said, “I’m giving my whole life to God.” That was the beginning of a movement that would shake a continent for Jesus Christ.
Eight years later, Bobby Moffatt was Robert Moffatt. Eight years later, 20 years old, he was ready and went to the mission field. He went to Africa, which was then called “the dark continent.” He was truly a pioneer missionary in the year 1815. Through many years of hardship—battling illness and disease, learning languages and dialects—he shared the loved of Jesus Christ. He shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with men and women throughout the African continent. After twenty years, by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, he had led thousands of people to Jesus Christ. But he was tired.
The year was 1835, and he was very tired. He was exhausted. In that year he was 40 years old. He returned to Scotland. He was asking for help. He went to a little church outside of Glasgow and he preached there, asking for help. He said, “The fields are white for harvest. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the Harvest to send more laborers into His field.” He said, “I have, in the early evenings, stood on a hilltop on the African continent and I have looked out on the smoke of a thousand villages, none of which have heard of Jesus Christ.” He said, “Help me. Come.” Nobody responded.
On that Sunday in 1835, in that little church outside of Glasgow, Scotland, he felt like a failure. But he didn’t know until later that there was a young man up in the balcony who had heard every word, and the Spirit of God had come mightily upon this young man as Robert Moffatt spoke. He had felt the tug of Christ and the call of God to the mission field. That young man was named David Livingstone.
Six years later, in 1841, David Livingstone went to Africa as a missionary. Two years after that, in 1843, David Livingstone married Robert Moffatt’s daughter, and the rest is history. Most historians think of David Livingstone as an explorer who sought the source of the Nile. They think of David Livingstone as an abolitionist who fought the slave trade in Africa. He did do those things and those things were important, but most of all, he was an evangelist. David Livingstone led thousands of men and women to faith in Jesus Christ.
When he died in 1873, they found his diary. One of the last things he wrote in that diary were these incredible words: “My Jesus, my Jesus, my King, my life, my all. I rededicate my whole life to Thee.” That’s what Christ wants us to do today. That’s what He wants me to do. That’s what He wants you to do.
The doctrine of the second coming is proclaimed to us as it has been proclaimed to Christians throughout the generations past. The time is shorter now and His coming is soon. It’s all about hope. Our labor is not in vain. There is a hope of blessing, not simply for us but for the world itself. There’s an urgency of mission and there is the great commission that we have been called to obey. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.