Tag Archives: be on your guard

BE ON YOUR GUARD

Christian Life, ,

BE ON YOUR GUARD

“But be on your guard. Don’t let the sharp edge of your expectations be dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for its going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once. So, whatever you do, don’t go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that’s coming and end up on your feet before the Son of man.'” Luke 21:34-36 (The Message).

Jesus issued two warnings regarding His return; be on guard, and be ready. Almost two thousand years have come and gone since His appearance on the earth. That’s a long time to wait for something to happen that is as revolutionary as His coming promises to be. According to the Bible, when He comes He will rid the earth of every person and thing that conflicts with God’s origninal plan. He will set up His eternal kingdom of righteousness and peace and destroy every opposing force.

He also gave His followers instructions regarding their commission during the interval before He returns. We are to extend His invitation to everyone we meet to follow and obey Him, and we are to take care of His household, loving and serving believers so that we faithfully reflect Him to the world around us.

The temptation to believers is to become so enmeshed in the world and its allurements that we forget Jesus’ instructions and either go to sleep on the job or join the world in its selfish and worthless pursuits. We can become disillusioned with Jesus because following Him is tough and sometimes perilous. The promise of His coming seems so remote and illusory that we simply join in with everything that goes on around us. Hence Jesus’ warning is relevant and needs to be repeated constantly.

He told a parable about ten virgins who were awaiting the bridegroom’s return. He delayed for so long that they all fell asleep. Five of them were ready but not watching; the other five were neither ready nor watching. When the bridegroom finally arrived, they were awakened by the shout, ‘Here he is!’ Their lamps had gone out. Five were able to relight their lamps with extra oil they carried but the other five had none, so they tried to borrow oil from the others.

Since most of us don’t understand the imagery, our misinterpretation causes us to miss the point. The oil in this story represents, not the Holy Spirit as we tend to think, but the “acts of righteousness” referred to in Revelation 19:7: “‘For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)”

The five “wise” virgins were ready because their “lamps” were full of their “righteous acts”. It was impossible for the “foolish” virgins to borrow righteous acts. They had to go out and do their own, but for them it was too late because the bridegroom came and the doors to the wedding banquet were locked. 

Being ready implies that the life of Jesus in us has so transformed us that we have taken on His nature which is loving and generous towards all people. This is the proof that we are ready to receive Him when He returns and to go in to the marriage supper with Him.

His warning to be on guard is equally sobering. What if, when He returns, He finds that we have forgotten to do what He told us to do and, instead, we have joined the world in its selfish pursuits; drinking, partying and living ungodly lives like the rest? How would He feel about us?

His instruction is clear. To be on guard and ready is to be faithfully carrying out His mandate to share His invitation and to take care of those who have joined His household by feeding and clothing them and by doing our duty to him by sharing our resources with those in need. Daily focussing on these duties will keep us from falling asleep or becoming lazy or irresponsible while we wait.

Living for Jesus, one day at a time, is an effective antidote against the danger of failing to be on guard or ready for our bridegroom when He comes.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – SAFE FOR ALL ETERNITY!

Bible Study,

SAFE FOR ALL ETERNITY!

9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Mark 13:9-13

Jesus warned that allegiance to Him would obliterate even the very closest family and friendship ties. Unfortunately, it would be religion that would attack faith. Jesus is “the stumbling stone and rock of offence.” People can be as religious as they like and it will not offend anyone, but to have a faith‑allegiance to Jesus calls down the wrath of the religious types on such people.

The name of Jesus represents His disposition and His yoke. To wear His name is to be an imitator of Jesus. Just as He offended the religious people of His day because who He was showed up their wickedness and greed, so it is at any time and anywhere. The animosity will run so deep that even the closest family ties will not be strong enough to sustain loyalty.

This warning must be seen against the backdrop of the Roman world where the Caesars made all the claims that applied to Jesus Christ alone. For believers to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, to be the only Saviour and peacemaker, undermined loyalty to Caesar and was treasonable and punishable by death. To acknowledge Jesus publicly was suicidal unless one was convinced of the truth. There was no such thing as “accepting Jesus as one’s personal Saviour”, signing a decision card or answering an altar call. The question was “Who is Lord and who do I worship?”

Jesus assured them that they would not be abandoned in such a situation. The Holy Spirit in them would provide them with irrefutable wisdom to bear witness to the truth. Even family members would turn traitor to save their own skins. How would they endure such betrayal?  Once again, He reminded them that there is a bond that runs deeper and stronger than blood ties. To be connected to Jesus in a love relationship that will take us into eternity, will sustain us through the fiercest and most fiery tests in this life if we keep trusting and stay loyal to Him and to the truth. According to Paul and his experience, there is nothing anywhere, in any circumstances and at any time that can drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us. We are safe.

Jesus And His Disciples’ Future

Christian Life, , , , ,

JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES’ FUTURE

Just as much as He prepared them to be His witnesses whenever and wherever the opportunity presented, Jesus also made sure that His disciples were well prepared for what lay ahead for them as loyal followers. Life for them would not be a bed of roses. Association with Him meant danger and possible death because they were not above their Master. As He was, so were they in the world.

Jesus had much to say about His disciples’ future, again not to satisfy their curiosity but to enable them to face it with the right attitude and the right equipment. Unlike our many prophecy boffins who are passionate about setting up timelines, Jesus did not give them a timetable so that they could tick off events as they happened, but He gave them signs which they would be able to recognise, to know that His return was going to happen.

Our prophecy teachers draw charts, make predictions and presumptuous interpretations and love to place us somewhere… here… on the chart. Jesus, on the other hand, gave guidelines to His disciples so that they would always be ready, no matter when He comes. He did not give them any opportunity to sail as close to the wind as possible. Life was about being a mirror of their rabbi so that they would always represent Him to the world around them, no matter what, when or where.

Jesus told them many things about their immediate future. For them it was not a rosy picture! They would share the same hatred and rejection that He experienced because they were His followers. They had to understand that the human race was at enmity with God. Anyone who stood on God’s side would share the treatment He got – therefore it should not take them by surprise. How were they to respond?

Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matt. 10: 17-20)

Whatever Jesus had to say about the future of the individual disciple or all of His disciples was intended to prepare them so that, when it happened, they would know exactly how to handle each situation. He was sending them out like lambs among wolves but they would have a divine companion who was not only with them but in them. The Holy Spirit in them would equip them with the truth. Like Jesus, they were to use the weapon of the Word with which to fight. The outcome was not their responsibility. If people refused to believe the truth, they would have to face the consequences of their choices.

Jesus not only equipped them with information about the future so that they would know what to expect and how to respond in times of adversity; He also warned them against developing wrong attitudes to the apparent delay of His return.

The people in Noah’s day refused to believe Noah’s warning that the flood was coming. They continued to live their God-denying lives until the moment when the rain fell and they were swept away in the flood. Jesus’s return will be as unexpected as that!

The home-owner has no idea that a thief is about to break into his house. Had he known, he would have kept watch to protect his possessions. The household servant who gets tired of waiting for the master’s return begins to carouse and to abuse his fellow servants. When the master returns unexpectedly and finds the household in disarray and the duties left undone, the head steward will be punished for his neglect and abuse.

The point of these stories was to warn His disciples not to fall into the trap of neglect. For them it was less important to know when Jesus was returning than to know that He was coming back. It was not about doing the right thing when He returned as it was about being faithful all the time, regardless of when He returned. This is the heart of a true servant – not putting on an act for the Master to see, but being faithful to the task whether He is there or not. It was this attitude that would safeguard His disciples against being caught off guard.

As followers of Jesus, we must not fall into the trap of thinking that it does not matter how we live as long as we believe in Jesus. We must also not think, like some of the people of the world think, that we can live as we like until the last minute and then put things right with God. If we have followed through this series, we have learned that being a disciple of Jesus means that we have learned to walk in the truth of God’s Word which is the only way to the Father. When we choose our own way, we get lost in the wilderness and will die in the desert without the sustenance of God’s life in us.

How important it is for us to stay on the path by following the voice of our Shepherd! This is the only guarantee that we shall reach our destination and enjoy the life of God forever in His eternal kingdom.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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