Author Archives: reveds

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About reveds

Occupation: Pastor, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lennox, SD Education: BS - Christian Education, Sterling College; MDiv. - Princeton Theological Seminary Family: Married, with Four children. Hobbies: Running (will someday run a marathon), Sci-Fi (especially Doctor Who and Sherlock), Theater, and anything else my kids will let me do.

Red Moon Rising

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“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.
See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”
(Matthew 24:6)

bloodmoonDid you get up to see the lunar eclipse this week?  If you’ve been paying any attention, then no doubt you’ve picked up on the talk about the Tetrad, a series of 4 consecutive total eclipses occurring at approximately six month intervals.  The first total eclipse on April 15, 2014 will be followed by another on Oct. 8, 2014, and another on April 4, 2015, and another on Sept. 28 2015.  Such an occurrence is pretty rare.  According to the NASA website, “During the 21st century, there are 8 sets of tetrads, but this has not always been the case.  During the three hundred year interval from 1600 to 1900, for instance, there were no tetrads at all.”

Coinciding with the beautiful pictures of this rare phenomenon has been a lot of buzz from “End Time” Prophets that the Blood Moon is a sign of the coming apocalypse.  Please remember, when the article begins with “best-selling author and televangelist…” that should say quite a lot about the reliability of what you are about to read.  Keep in mind, Tetrads have happened before, and were probably received with the same caliber of hype and doom-saying from the prophets who profit off fear.

I recently concluded a series of sermons working through Matthew 24-25, never knowing that this whole “tetrad” thing was coming.  Still, I thought, given the current attention of the news, it might be good to offer a quick reminder of the basic premise of Jesus’ teaching about the signs of the end times.

  • Christ is Coming – While it’s easy to get caught up in the signs and mysteries of the end times, the primary purpose of Jesus’ teaching was to remind His disciples that He is indeed coming back.  In each of the gospel accounts, Jesus’ teaching on the “signs of the close of the age” are always found just prior to his betrayal, arrest, trial and crucifixion.  Jesus is about to be taken away, about to give up His life for us, but He wanted His disciples to know that He would be returning.  Not only would Jesus return, He would return in great glory, to gather His people to Himself (Matt 24:30-31), and to judge the nations (Matt. 25:31-32).
  • Watch for the Signs – Because He is coming, we are instructed to watch and wait for His return, and part of this watching and waiting involves knowing the signs of the age.  Jesus wanted His disciples to be prepared that in advance of His coming, there would be wars, famine, natural disasters, persecution, tribulation, lawlessness, and even a great falling away from within the visible church (Matthew 24:3-14).  All these are but “birth pangs,” signs that something greater is coming.  Therefore, when we hear of wars, when the moon turns red and stars fall from the sky, when there is division within the body of Christ, these things should not cause us to panic, but should serve to remind us that Christ is coming, and we are to be prepared.
  • Do Not Be Deceived – While we are instructed to watch for the signs, we are not to be deceived.  Jesus made it very clear, “See that no one leads you astray… but concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”  It floors me whenever I hear a “preacher” (and I use that term cautiously) say, “THESE ARE THE SIGNS THAT JESUS IS COMING” (aren’t they usually shouting?).  No one knows the day or the hour.  The signs have been happening for centuries.  There were natural disasters in the NT era that made people think they had missed the return of Christ.  There have been wars to end all wars – I remember when the first Gulf War was the sign of the apocalypse – and here we are almost 25 years later.
  • Be Prepared – Rather than becoming preoccupied with end time signs and hoarding up for the apocalypse (remember Y2K, anyone), how should Christians wait for Christ’s return – by being prepared.  We do not know when He will return, so we must assume He will be back at any moment.  The parables of the ten virgins, the talents, and the sheep and the goats teach us to watch and work – supplying ourselves with the means of grace that have been given (oil for the lamps), putting that grace to work for God’s Kingdom (the talents), and caring for the least of these (sheep and goats) as we would care for Christ.

Ultimately, there is nothing for those who are in Christ to fear.  He is coming for His elect.  The signs may be alarming, disturbing even, but do not be dismayed.  These are signs to remind us that Christ is coming, and before His coming there will be trouble and struggles for His people.  Yet through it all, God is on His throne, He holds all things in His hands, and there is nothing that can separate us from His love for us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

SDG

Peace in the Church

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“Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
(Matthew 5:9)

I was taught long ago that “If two people agree on everything all the time, one of them is unnecessary.”  One should expect to face conflict or difficulty in every relationship.  Best friends, spouses, teammates, colleagues; no matter how much you love and care for one another, there will come a time when you don’t see eye-to-eye, when you struggle to get along, and when it may seem easier to just give up and walk away than to stay and work things out.

The same goes for the church.  We are, by definition, a community of the redeemed; each of us are sinners who have been saved by grace and called to new life in Jesus Christ.  We are striving for the Promised Land, each of us called to encourage, exhort, teach, and pray for one another along this pilgrimage.

There are times when the Church is a thing of beauty, a glimpse into the splendor of the coming Kingdom of God.

Then there are times when it is not.  There are times when the Church looks like the triage center of a battlefield hospital, where those wounded by sin and pierced by death come for healing and life, and that healing takes time.  There are times when the old wound is aggravated, when we forget that the guy we’re arguing with is our brother in Christ, and we forget who we have been called to be.

Friends, there is no perfect Church.  There never has been.  Every church that’s mentioned in the Bible had its faults.  Even the Church in Ephesus, of whom Paul writes such glowing praise, in the book of Revelation is chastised for having “lost its first love.”  The Church in all its glory, is still just a foretaste of the coming reality of Heaven; like an appetizer, always leaving us wanting for just a bit more.

We need to remember that every member, and every leader, of the church is a sinner redeemed by Christ.  None of us has reached our destination.  None is above reproach.  We are all still limping between the “works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.

Works of the Flesh

 Fruit of the Spirit
Sexual Immorality, Impurity, Sensuality, Idolatry, Sorcery, Enmity, Strife, Jealousy, Fits of Anger, Rivalries, Dissensions, Envy, Drunkenness, Orgies

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control

As a Church living in the power of the Spirit, peace, not warfare should characterize our relationships.

“We have been called by God to let Christ’s peace rule in our lives as we relate to one another since we are “one body” in Christ.  Each member, then, is responsible for the peace and unity of the local church.  Each individual makes a difference as to the outcome of any conflict in the church.  Imagine what it would be like to be part of a church in which every member thinks of himself as one of God’s own “peace corps.”  Each member would face conflict by thinking and acting as a peacemaker.  Each would work for a just and righteous peace rather than competing against one another to win a fight or to beat down the opposing party.  Every church in the New Testament struggled with maintaining unity and harmony.  It is no different today.  Without constant peacemaking efforts, all churches will eventually break apart or live in perpetual warfare.”*

*(Adapted from Alexander Strauch, If You Bite and Devour One Another, Lewis and Roth Pub, 2011.)

Where do you stand as a peacemaker in your Church?  Do you see those who differ with you as opponents and obstacles to overcome, or as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ?  Do you begin by giving others around you the benefit of the doubt, assuming that they have the best of intentions at heart, or has sin so jaded your heart that you automatically assume that everyone is out to get you?  Do you freely extend the forgiveness that God has given to you to those around you, or has forgiveness and grace become a commodity to be rationed to only the deserving?

Friends, may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ reign and rule in your hearts and in His Church today!

SDG