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Ready for Jesus in Eight Minutes



Imagine if Jesus called you and said that He wants to visit your house in eight minutes, what would be your response? A person wrote a blog: "One day Jesus called me and said he is visiting our house in eight minutes. I said, "what? now? come on Lord, give me some more time." He said He is at the next house and would be glad to visit us if we are ok to welcome Him. I called out to my wife in the other room and she said, "Who? Jesus? is it real?" I said, "yes." She ran out of the room and started giving instructions to the kids. My mind was racing with what needed to be done in the next eight—no only seven—minutes. I turned off the reality show on TV, and the movie playing on my IPad. I turned off the kids’ TV that was playing cartoons. My wife had already taken out the magazines on the coffee table and put 'Christianity Today' on top. I looked for the Bible, but could not find it. We had five minutes to go. I noticed a lot of junk mail piled up on my desk that had mostly movie offers and shopping flyers. I tossed them in trash. I didn't want Jesus to get any idea about our shopping. With three minutes left, I picked up a bunch of shoes left by the door and tried to stuff them in the front closet. But but it was overflowing with junk, so I scolded the kids and squeezed the shoes in with two minutes to go. My wife tossed the dirtly dishes into the sink. With one minute left, I realized something important: 'Getting ready for a visit from Jesus is not an eight-minute job.' Then the doorbell rang.”

Jesus said, “stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35) indicating that we should be ready at any moment. We assume that we have all the time in the world for Jesus to come back. We know we have been baptized, we go to church, take communion and have fellowship and together wait for Jesus to return. But being ready and dressed for action is more than just sitting around and waiting. "Blessed are those whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at the table and will come up and wait on them" (Luke 12:37). Jesus uses this parable to illustrate that the follower of Christ be constantly watchful for His coming. The parable also teaches us that we should be ready to use opportunities. Every moment of our life is an opportunity to share with others the love of Christ by our word and deed. Opportunities will catch us off guard. “We are to keep our lights lit.” If we are clothed in God's love and always dressed ready for action, we don't have to worry about when and how the Master's return happens.

The second coming of Christ is the foundation of Christianity as much as His first coming. The day and hour of His coming is never made known. "You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Luke 12:40). Many today are in the business of calculations and predictions on the timing. 'Eschatology' (the end times), is a subject that studies the second coming. It produced more than its share of misinterpreted passages. Harold Camping, a christian radio broadcaster who owned 'Family Radio', predicted that the church will be raptured at 6PM on May 21, 2011. In March 2012 Camping "humbly acknowledged" that he had been mistaken, that his attempt to predict a date was "sinful." He then said he was searching the Bible "even more fervently not to find dates, but to be more faithful." He died in 2013 at age of 92. Jesus said, "about that day or hour no one knows" (Matthew 24:36).” It is against Biblical teaching to search the scriptures to find a date for Christ’s return. It is God’s business and we are not to take His business in our hands. We are simply told to be ready at any moment.

Blessings

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Fulll sermon audio: Mathew Philip 
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