Watch Out! (Part 5)

Scripture Reading

Well, let's go ahead and turn in our Bibles now to Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13. And we come to our very last section of Mark chapter 13. Where we've worked through a series of four different sermons previously to this, on various watch-outs that Jesus gives. Again and again and again, Jesus says, watch out, watch out, watch out. And so here in Mark chapter 13, Jesus is telling us once again, watch out. So Mark chapter 13, beginning at verse 33.

Take heed, watch out and pray, for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and each to his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all, watch.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Father, we plead with you that you would please help us to understand it this morning. Lord, I pray that you would help me to faithfully exposit your word, to explain it, And that your Holy Spirit would apply it to our lives in such a powerful way that we would know that it is truly from you. And that you would transform the way we think, the way we feel, the way we speak, and the ways we act. In Jesus' name, Amen. I remember there was a time when I was driving down to Burlington a while ago. I don't exactly remember what I was doing, but I was driving to the city about 30, 45 minutes south.

Sermon

And as I was driving, I mean, I was doing touch-and-goes. You know what touch-and-goes are? When a pilot flies in and he's doing his training, he'll just kind of touch the runway and he'll take back off. And he'll touch the runway and take back off. Well, sometimes when you're driving, you do touch and goes.

At least you're not supposed to. My wife gets mad when this happens. But it's kind of like, oh, I'm trying to stay awake. Sometimes in life, we just kind of fall asleep at the wheel. We know we're supposed to be alert. We know we're supposed to be awake. We know we're supposed to be paying attention. We know we're supposed to watch out.

And yet, maybe you've experienced this before. Maybe you've driven when you're really tired before, and you've gotten to your destination, and you don't remember how you even got there. It's happened to me. I think it's happened to a lot of us before. And so that's what we get at in Mark chapter 13, where Jesus is telling us in verse 33, when he says, take heed, this is his fourth time using this verb in Mark chapter 13, blepete, watch out.

But this time, Jesus really wants to drive it home. He says right after, take heed or watch out. In verse 33, he says, take heed, watch. Right, the word there is agrupeno, right, which is this idea of be alert, right, be vigilant. And then in verse 35 and 36, he does it, or in 36, 35 and 37, he does it again. Verse 35, watch therefore. And then in verse 37, And what I say to you all, I say to all, watch! Jesus has one clear application from this section. Watch out! Watch out. This is exactly why I titled this series on Mark 13 on the Olivet Discourse, Watch Out. Part one, two, three, four, and five, right? Watch out.

And so because of this application, this imperative that Jesus gives multiple times, this is an application type sermon. It's gonna be lots of times where I'm going to be just speaking very bluntly and boldly to you. And I hope that the Holy Spirit will soften your heart in such a way that you'll just receive it And you'll ask yourself if these things are true of you, and then either you'll keep walking in the right way, or maybe you'll reform in the way in which you're watching out for your life. So Jesus really has three things for us. Watch out, be vigilant, and pray. Watch out, be vigilant, and pray.

Why? Because verse 32 says, but no one knows that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Jesus tells us that the day is going to come imminently, and we don't know when it's going to be. So there's this tension in Mark 13 in the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus is saying, the time is not yet.

There's going to be wars and rumors of wars, persecution and suffering, famines. But the end's not yet. And yet you need to be ready because the end could be when that last trumpet blows. It's like a flash of lightning and the Son of Man appears. And so we need to be on guard, ready for when our Lord turns.

I remember when I was in the Navy, we had something every single day. It was called cleaning stations. Every single day, for one hour a day, you had to clean a specific space that was assigned to you. Some people cleaned a whole birthing where hundreds of people slept. Other people, they would clean the flight deck. Other people would clean offices. But for an hour a day, you had to do a deep cleaning. Well, one of my assignments during the time in the Navy was cleaning an AFFF station.

So this is where you would have firefighting foam. And it just had pumps and pipes and a big tank and a floor and walls. That was it. And it was about 20 foot by 20 foot space. And I had to sit there for an hour a day and clean that space. And at any moment, One of my officers could have just walked in and just inspected. You didn't know it was going to happen. Most of the time, it didn't happen.

Nine times out of 10, you would sit there and you would clean and you would clean and you would clean. I mean, I'm talking about this stuff got so clean that we had these huge brass valves and you would get so bored because you could only mop the floor so many times and you could only wipe down the pipe so many times that you would sit there with a piece of Nevredol and you would just polish the brass. And these once very porous brass valves became so polished that you could see your reflection in them. And it was almost this contest amongst us in the shop to see how clean we could get our cleaning stations done for AFFF.

Because we never knew when the inspection was going to come. At any moment, the superior officer could walk in and find us. And so it could be tempting. And it was really tempting. There were times where you would just think to yourself, I could just climb behind the tank there, and I could just take a nap instead. I could just sit here, and I could open the door, and I could talk to my buddy who's cleaning the bathrooms over there instead. But you never know when the superior officer is going to walk in. You never know when that's going to happen. And so you have to be ready. And on guard.

But the hope was, right, that you would take pride. That when the inspection did come, that you would know that you had done well. And isn't this the desire of every Christian? To hear the Father say, well done, good and faithful servant. That's our desire in this Christian life.

And so Kim Riddlebogger on this passage, he writes, rather than focusing on the date of Christ's coming, the disciples are to concentrate on being ready at any time, since it would be impossible for them to know the date of His coming. So the question I have to ask you is, how are you taking watch over your life? The question I have to ask for you is, are you falling asleep on the job? As you hear Jesus' words, and these are a commandment, not just to the four disciples, not just to the twelve disciples, but to all of his disciples, including you and me, are we asleep at the wheel? Are we neglecting our duties?

When you look at the affections of your heart and of your mind, what are the things you're loving? As you reflect on your heart and on your mind, What are the things that you take pleasure in? Are they the things of the shadows and of the darkness of the ways of this world? Or the things of the light that you could openly proclaim to anybody else, even to the Lord Himself, that you're taking pleasure in these things? What are the things that you are thinking about?

What are the things that bring joy to your heart? What is it that is drawing up affections in you. Be on guard. Watch out. For the Lord judges the heart. He knows the intents of our minds and of our hearts. And he tells us to watch out, even in the internal person. But he also tells us to watch out.

I need to ask you, are you watching out over the relationships in your life? Are you being vigilant in how you are communicating and in relationships with others? What about in your marriage? Have you fallen asleep at the wheel? Has loving your wife as Christ loves the church fallen on his heart of stone? Are you living with your wife in an understanding way? Have you begun to treat her harshly? Shorten your answers? Tense in your tone? Treating her more like Tupperware than fine china?

Are you watching out over your marriage? Are you watching out in the way in which you submit to your husband? Are you watching out, being vigilant in how you are discipling your children? Or has it just become autopilot? Is your home a greenhouse of faith and of love? of the fruits of the Spirit where each person can develop in their own individual God-given blessings? Or as your marriage has your home become about your desires, your wants, your will, your way?

What about in the way that you children relate to your parents? Are you keeping watch over how you speak to them? The attitude in which you give them? Do you speak to them? Do you treat them in a way that is showing them honor so that it will go well with you? Or have you gotten lax? How do you treat your siblings? Have you gotten into an attitude of fighting?

These are the ways that it's just easy to go into the darkness. It's just easy to go into the shadows. It's easy to just go on autopilot. And I'm telling you, every time we go into autopilot, we swerve into the ditch of unrighteousness. We fall asleep at the wheel and it's to the detriment of our own lives and of God's glory.

So are you being vigilant? In your relationships with your boss, in your relationships with your co-workers, in your relationship with your classmates, in all these relationships of your life, as people work for you, as people work with you, as you work for others, is it for God's glory? You need to watch out with the talents the Lord has given you. Are you living in the light of God? being an ever-present Savior and Lord. But also I need to ask you, are you being vigilant? Are you watching out? Are you taking heed of the different resources God has given you?

I mean, if you're watching this right now, that means you are one of the wealthiest people in the world. I say that because there's no way you could be watching this without some type of electronic device connected to an internet service. The Lord's blessed you financially. How are you using your money? Are you using it for His kingdom?

Now there's a way in which, especially evangelical Christianity, gets in such a way that, you know, we want to just act like all money is bad and sinful, but that's not the case. The Lord has given you so many things and they're yours, right? He's the one who gives us the blessing of personal property rights. He's the one who says, do not steal, which makes the assumption of the positive commandment that we're to preserve and promote our own and our neighbor's estate.

But do you see the possessions you have as gifts from God that you are a steward of or Are you using the possessions God has entrusted to you for your own self-aggrandizement? Possibly even for things that you know are harming to the kingdom, harming to your body, and harming to your own soul?

Don't fall asleep at the wheel. As you think about the resources of your time, how are you using your time? There's two most valuable resources in your life that you have, time and money. You'll never get more time back. How are you using the hours of your life? Now, I'm not talking about micromanaging every minute of your life where you never have any breathing space.

Even Jesus went to a desolate place and there he prayed. I'm not saying that it's wrong to spend times of enjoyment with the Lord or enjoyment even with other people. Jesus went to banquets. And he ate of the food and it was good and he rejoiced in it as a blessing from his father.

But that's my question as you use your time. Is it being stewarded well? Are you even stewarding this day? The Lord has given you one whole day in seven. It's a day of rest. Are you stewarding that rest well? Are you enjoying Him? Are you being vigilant in how you observe the Sabbath?

As you have homes and you have vehicles, are they being used for the glory of God? Are you showing hospitality to others? Is your home set up in such a way that it is a safe place for children to grow and to be nourished? Is it a place in which people want to come and to know that they're going to find Somebody who's going to greet them with grace and with gentleness.

As you think about your use of all the resources God has given you in this life, whether it's your tongue to speak words of encouragement and to build others up, or your body, are you glorifying God with your physical body? Or even with your mind. The Lord has granted you a mind. That's amazing. You get to think and reason and problem solve and write stories and create stuff. And are you using that mind for God's glory, for the cultural and dominion mandate and for the furthering of his kingdom? Or is it for yourself? Is it for the things of the darkness? You know, when Matthew wrote his version of Jesus's discourse on the Mount of Olives, he does things a little bit differently.

The words are the same. They're still eyewitness words, but Matthew compiles his gospel in a little bit different way. And it's at this point that Matthew actually introduces how this is explained in some very helpful ways. And for that, you can turn in your Bibles if you want, but Matthew chapter 24, Matthew chapter 24 and 25, Jesus gives three different parables. Parable 1, parable 2, parable 3, and then a teaching. And I think it's helpful at this point to look at those. So parable number 1 in Matthew 24, 45 through 51, Jesus gives a parable right after all of the discourse, right after this part. He talks about a master who goes away on a long journey, very similar to what we have in Mark chapter 13, almost like it's the same story. Mark just shortens it when Peter's preaching it.

But this master goes away on a long journey. And as the master goes away on this long journey, he appoints one servant to be kind of the head honcho, the main servant of all the other servants. And after a while, the servant realizes like, man, I don't know if this master is ever going to get back. So he starts beating the other slaves. He starts getting drunk. And he starts abusing what has been entrusted to him for care. And the master comes back and destroys that servant. Puts him to death for his treatment.

I got to say, this is specifically applicable as I think about the chief shepherd who's in heaven, Jesus Christ, right now. who has entrusted under-shepherds to the church. Do the elders of the church take seriously that we are nothing but stewards, slaves, servants of the Lord Jesus Christ? This ain't my house. It's not Pastor Brian's church. It's not John's church, it's not Jim's church, it's not Ben's church, it's not going to be Simon's church when he becomes an elder. The church is not any elder pastor, priest, bishop, archbishop, Pope's church. No, it's Jesus Christ's church. And those who are entrusted to lead it are nothing more than stewards who must take care and keep watch because we never know when The master of the house is coming back. So that's parable number one, is the master who leaves all of his goods with a servant who then abuses that power.

Parable number two that Jesus gives in Matthew 25, 1 through 13, is a parable of ten virgins. Ten young women and they're waiting at the gate. They're waiting for the bridegroom to come. And he says that there's ten virgins, Jesus says, five of them whom are wise and five of them who are fools. And the five wise virgins bring lamps and they bring oil, whereas the five foolish virgins bring lamps but no oil.

Both groups go to sleep. It's late at night, they don't have much business, they're not watchmen or anything, but they go to sleep. But in the middle of the night, the bridegroom's coming, the bridegroom's coming. The five who are wise wake up and they light their lamps and they're ready to go, but the five who are foolish They don't have any light.

And so they start asking the wise ones, give us some oil so we can. But they know that if they give them their oil, then they're not going to be able to see the bridegroom. Nobody's going to make it. And so they say, no, we can't. The bridegroom comes and the wise ones are entered in. Are you wise in making sure your lamp is full of oil?

As you're waiting for him to come. Parable number three, Jesus gives in Matthew chapter 25, is a parable of three different servants now. Again, it's the master of the house. And he goes on a journey. And as he goes on this journey, he gives each servant a certain number of talents. The first servant, he gives five talents to. The second servant, he gives two talents to. And the last servant, he gives one talent.

He goes away on a long journey, and when he comes back, the one who was given five talents says, Master, I'm so glad you're back. He's excited. He says, I took these five talents. I used them well. I got you five more talents in return. And the master's like, man, that's good. That's awesome. And then the one who was given two talents does the same thing. He's given these two talents, and he's so excited to see the master comes back, and he's excited to show him, this is what I've done.

Lord, I've invested these, I've done these different things, I put them into a Roth IRA, I started a business and now I got two more talents for you. Lord, well done. And then you have the third servant who is given one talent and he says, yeah, whatever boss.

I got that one talent and I know you're a cruel man and if I had lost that talent, you would have, man, you would have been mad. It would have been horrible. You reap where you don't sow. And I know what type of boss you are. So you know what? I'd just put it in a can and put it in the backyard. And I'll go dig it up for you. Here's your talent back. Such a wicked and unprofitable servant. If that's the way you think of me, just take that talent away. Give it to the guy with five talents.

When the Lord returns, what type of servant are you going to be found? How do you think of Jesus Christ as the master of the house? How are you using your talents that God has given you? Are you excited for Jesus to return and to say, Lord, look what I have done with what you've given me?

And will he say, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with little. I'm going to give you much. Are you a steward of what God has given you? Rightful stewarding comes from a right attitude of how we know and how we feel our master in heaven is as our Lord.

So Jesus wants you to be ready for when he returns. But then in Matthew chapter 25, as Jesus finishes up this section on the Olivet Discourse to his disciples, he gives one last truth story. And in this true story, Matthew 25, 31 through 46, by the way, I would encourage you this afternoon, read through these, right? Go to Matthew chapter 24 and Matthew chapter 25 and read them for yourself.

But in this, the son of man returns in glory with angels and he sits on the throne of glory to judge. And there he's separating the sheep on one side and the goats on the other side, right? The sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left hand. And he says to them, that they've done well, right?

Because I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And they asked him, Lord, when did we see you do this stuff? Right, when the son of man comes again and he sits on his throne of glory and he judges. People are going to be sitting there, I don't remember seeing Jesus before. I don't remember seeing you naked. I don't remember seeing you hungry. When did I do that, Lord? Jesus replies and he says to them, in as much as you did it to the least of these, you did it unto me.

Do you see what I'm talking about with not falling asleep at the wheel? Jesus has given you, Jesus has given me work to do today. to go out and to look for the needs of others, to not live for our own pleasure, our own glory, our own hedonistic desires, but to live our life for God's glory and for the love of others. This is God's desire in your life, your sanctification, right? He wants you to be a good steward of every part of your being that he has given you. So when you see those who have need, and you show mercy, you show yourself to be a steward, a faithful steward of God. As you give unto the Lord the best of your mind, the best of your speech, the best of your thoughts, the best of your actions, the best of your time, the best of your finances, as you give to the Lord in a way that proves yourself a faithful steward, he's glorified.

So do you farm for His glory? Do you design for His glory? Do you parent for His glory? Do you make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for His glory? Do you change dirty diapers for His glory? Do you love your husband with submission for His glory? Do you treat your wife gently for His glory? Do you obey your parents for His glory? Do you use your finances for his glory? Do you invest for his kingdom? Where are you storing up your treasures? Are they here on earth where rust and moth will destroy? Or are your treasures in heaven? Jesus is telling us to watch out, to be faithful. And there's a difficulty with this, right? I don't want to make it sound like this is so easy to do, right? This is hard. The Christian life is hard. It ain't easy. It's difficult to be on guard.

Again, when I was in the Navy, I was, and a lot of this is military language, right? But if you talk to people who are in the military or have been in the military, you have watch or you have guard duty. And one of the watches that I had, one of the guard duties I had was down in the bowels of the ship, there was damage control central. And I was a damage control watch supervisor. And for one of the deployments from 2 a.m. in the morning to 6.30 a.m. in the morning, that was my job. Somebody came and woke me up at 2 o'clock in the morning. I went down to this fluorescent light little room in the belly of the ship, and I looked primarily at seven different gauges.

And I just looked at those gauges and made sure regularly, OK, The ship is still on an even keel, and there's fire water going throughout the ship. So at any point if there was a fire, we could do it. And so for four hours a day, it was tiring. It was, man, you don't want to talk to no one. You're trying to drink coffee. You would be doing push-ups in the back, whatever you could to stay awake.

Because at any point, the engineering officer could walk in the door. At any point, the executive officer or the captain could walk into the door. At any point, Someone could come in and inspect, and if you were found asleep at the job, it might mean that you ended your time, your career in the Navy.

Or something could go wrong. Because every once in a while, on a blue moon, something would go wrong. And we'd have to be ready for it. Whether it was a fire or flooding, whether it was an electrical problem, or planes that were getting moved around and the ship needed to be on even keel. But if we weren't paying attention to the gauges and to the dials, the problem is that being caught off guard had serious consequences. Being caught off guard in your life is going to have serious consequences. So stay awake. It's going to be hard. That's one of the reasons why we need each other. We need to participate in the ordinary means of grace. This is one of the reasons why Jesus tells us in Mark 13, verse 33, that He says, Take heed, watch, and pray. Take heed, watch, and pray.

One of the ways to remember that the Son of Man will return is to live a life of prayer. When we pray the Lord's Prayer and we say, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it reminds us regularly that Jesus is coming again. And that we have an obligation in light of His return. It reminds us of who God is, praying your kingdom come. It reminds us that God does have a kingdom and that He is the King. When we pray this phrase in the Lord's Prayer, we pray remembering His return and remembering that the world needs to do His will. Fifthly, when we pray this phrase, we also remember our place in the plan.

This is why Colossians chapter 4 verse 2 uses this same verb for being alert or vigilant. When it says, continue earnestly in prayer, be vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Be vigilant in prayer with thanksgiving. RT France commenting on this passage says, we are expected to maintain our post throughout all four watches. The Christian disciple is never off duty. So I'd like to finish this sermon reading to you God's Word in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 is very helpful to us when we think about being watchful versus being asleep.

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, peace and safety, then suddenly destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, I want you to lean in here, but you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should not overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day.

We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love. and as a helmet the hope of salvation, for God did not appoint us to wrath. but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. Brothers and sisters, you are not of the darkness or of the night, but you are of the day and of the light.

Closing Prayer

So walk in the light, be vigilant, be alert, knowing that your King will return. And may our hope be that He would see us, say, well done, good and faithful servant. Watch, be vigilant, pray. Our King is returning. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for the promise of Your return. And we pray that You would please help us to understand Your Word, to trust in You, and to walk in Your ways.