Reawaken to the Return of Christ

We look to the future with the certain hope of Christ’s return. He’s coming again! We will see him and be with him to experience his glory in a way we never have before. All of the things that are wrong with this world will be righted, and Jesus will reign forever!

Transcript

Matthew 25:14-27, Titus 2:12-13

I grew up loving to play video games, and I could kill multiple hours of the day just playing games. I could waste a full Saturday sitting in front of the TV playing the Nintendo or the PlayStation. And it wasn’t like I was really great at these games. I just didn’t have anything else to do since I was an only child, you know?

My summers were rarely fun or eventful when I was little. We were a poor family, so we didn’t really do many summer trips or anything like that, so summertime was just me waiting for school to start back up. And I remember that a lot of times, my mom would go with one of my aunties to ua teb, or garden, for hours on end in the summertime. And guess what I would do from sunup to sundown? No bathroom breaks, no stopping for meals. Just me wasting time developing carpal tunnel in my little 8-year-old wrists.

The worst, though, was when I’d be waiting for my mom to come back from the garden, and earlier, my mom had asked me to make rice or thaw some meat from the freezer while I waited. And if I’m to be frank with you: no rice was ever made, and no meat was ever thawed if I was playing games.

It’s not like I did that on purpose, you know?! As a kid, I just learned how to waste time so well that I did it with incredible efficiency. And you know what the worst part was? So, I had this Pokémon Red game that, for some reason, just would never save. There was just something wrong with it, and I could never ever save my progress. So, I’d play for hours and hours catching Pokémon and earning gym badges until the two AA batteries died. And it never mattered because the dumb thing would never save, you know? So, it’s not even like I was making progress toward anything good; I was doing all of that for literally no reason! Before I knew it, my Saturday was over, my mom had come back home, and I had nothing to show for it. What a waste, right?

I’m sure you can relate. Especially for those of you who played games or had some other hobby that you could just do for hours on end. Maybe like reading a book, watching TV, or movies, building LEGOs, or Gundams. Or maybe you didn’t have a hobby like that as a kid, but I’d bet that after COVID, you’ve developed some time-wasting skills, right? I mean, just think about all the online streaming services designed to help us just waste time better as we wait for COVID to end.

So, I’d bet that we know what it feels like to completely waste an afternoon or even a whole day. Maybe in light of recent events, you’re starting to feel like you’re wasting full weeks or even full months at a time. Even worse, maybe you’ve wasted the last two years of this pandemic waiting – just waiting for it to end. But what would you have to show for the last two years if the pandemic just ended right now?

And I don’t know if you know this, but the Christian life is just one super long wait. This ultimate wait, whether you know it or not, is all of us just waiting for Jesus to return.

This idea that Jesus has gone and is coming back is fundamental to Christianity. The Bible records Jesus’ life, death, and then resurrection. And then, after his resurrection, Jesus ascends into heaven on clouds in front of over 150 people. After he disappears, two angels appear to the group and say, “Why are you standing here, looking up into the sky? Jesus has been taken to heaven, but he will come back in the same way you have seen him go.”

So, one day in the future, Jesus is going to come back in this tremendously epic way. So epic that no one’s really going to miss it like some of the movies portray. And his return essentially starts what you might know as the end times. Jesus’ return marks the beginning of the end as he returns to judge the living and the dead and to usher in the future eternity. Just think of the creeds that we recite and how they talk about the return of Jesus.

But this return of Jesus is still some ways away. He said that when he returns, he would return on clouds of heaven with power and great glory. So, unless you and I just missed the most epic comeback in the history of the universe, we’re all still waiting. Waiting for Jesus to return and finish the cosmic narrative that you and I are a part of.

But as you know, there’s a good way to wait, and then there’s a bad way to wait. Just like 8-year-old me, there’s a wrong way to wait. See, some of us are wasting our wait like that. But we should really be thinking about how not to waste your wait. So how should we wait meaningfully? Purposefully?

I mean, the Bible has given us pretty good answers before; let’s just go there. During Jesus’ life, he offered this parable or story to his disciples. They probably didn’t understand it at the time, but he was giving them an illustration of how to wait well in the coming days when he would be gone.

Let’s read it together in Matthew 25:

“The kingdom is also like what happened when a man went away and put his three servants in charge of all he owned. The man knew what each servant could do. So, he handed 5,000 coins to the first servant, 2,000 to the second, and 1,000 to the third. Then he left the country.

As soon as the man had gone, the servant with the 5,000 coins used them to earn 5,000 more. The servant who had 2,000 coins did the same with his money and earned 2,000 more. But the servant with 1,000 coins dug a hole and hid his master's money in the ground.

Sometime later, the master of those servants returned. He called them in and asked what they had done with his money. The servant who had been given 5,000 coins brought them in with the 5,000 that he had earned. He said, “Sir, you gave me 5,000 coins, and I have earned 5,000 more.”

“Wonderful!” his master replied. “You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!”

Next, the servant who had been given 2,000 coins came in and said, “Sir, you gave me 2,000 coins, and I have earned 2,000 more.”

“Wonderful!” his master replied. “You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!”

The servant who had been given 1,000 coins then came in and said, “Sir, I know that you are hard to work for. You harvest what you don't plant and gather crops where you haven't scattered seed. I was frightened and went out and hid your money in the ground. Here is every single coin!”

The master of the servant told him, “You are lazy and good-for-nothing! You know I harvest what I don't plant and gather crops where I haven't scattered seed. You could have at least put my money in the bank, so I could have earned interest on it.”

Notice that all three servants were entrusted with something while the master was going to be gone. Additionally, they each got to do what they thought would be best with their gift.

But the last servant wasted it all. He wasted the gift that the master gave him, and he wasted all the time that he had while the master was gone. If he wasn’t working that whole time, what was he doing?! And then, when he got called out, he started making excuses and talking crazy to the master! That guy wasted his wait.

But the other two didn’t. The other servants waited faithfully. They waited meaningfully and purposefully and were productive with their time and their gift. They each doubled the gift that the master had given to them.

I think that Jesus wants us to just not waste what he’s given us. We’ve got some wait time ahead of us, but without a doubt, there’s going to be a day when Christ returns. What will we be able to show for the time that we’ve had? And not only that, what will we have to show for the gifts and talents that God has given us?

See, 8-year-old Tim didn’t know how to wait with meaning and purpose. 8-year-old Tim knew to entertain himself while he waited. And if you asked me, 8-year-old Tim was more like the unfaithful servant because of how wasteful I was with that time. But 28-year-old Tim hopefully knows to wait better. If my wife leaves me at home for a few hours to go hangout with her girlfriends, I hope she knows that I’ll spend some quality time with our son, I can cook a nice meal for her to come back to, and even clean up our home a little bit.

We’re all waiting. We’re all waiting for Jesus to return. We’re all waiting for COVID to end. Some of us are waiting for our kids to get older and move out. Some of us are waiting to even have kids. Some of us are waiting for the right person to try having kids with. We’re all waiting. But are we wasting the waiting?

Start asking yourself these questions this week. As I wait for Jesus, how am I waiting meaningfully? As I wait for COVID to end, how am I waiting purposefully? As I wait for my spouse, how am I waiting faithfully? As I wait for my promotion, my dream job, my degree, how do I wait meaningfully?

I love this idea that Jesus returns and gets to see firsthand what we’ve done in our waiting. I just imagine the joy when this master returns and his people are living meaningfully and purposefully. Imagine how great it would be to look at Jesus and say, “I waited a long time but look what I was able to accomplish with what you had given me.” Maybe it’s not something huge or monumental. But it’s something. And I think that that’s all it needs to be, just something instead of nothing. Some don’t waste your wait.