Are You Ready? Living in Daily Expectation of Christ’s Return

Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

“Are you ready?”
(Child yells, “Yes!”)
Amen. Sermon done. Okay, there we go.

I always think of the ring announcer for the Vegas prize fights—you know, Are you ready to rumble? I can’t do it as well as him; that’s why I do it quieter. Are you ready?

Jesus gives a parable that, on the surface, doesn’t make sense. What market stalls would be open in the middle of the night? None of them. The oil vendors would be asleep. Yet you have five foolish virgins and five wise virgins who go out—and the purpose of this parable is to ask the question: Are you ready? Because if you aren’t ready when Christ returns, there is no hope of getting ready.

So how do we get ready? I asked the children that. How do we prepare? Well, we often think we purify ourselves. But how? And then we find out—we can’t.

We can practice spiritual disciplines, and it is good to do them. It is good to fast, to pray, to meditate on God’s Word, and to read God’s Word. But those do not purify us, because those are our actions. What purifies us is the Holy Spirit. God purifies us. Scripture even asks God to do this: “Purify me with hyssop.”

We are made pure by having faith in Christ—that He is the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, that He is our God, that He is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. What I cannot do, He has already accomplished. And in His death is my resurrection.

We live in a world that says, “Peace, peace. There’s still time.” But if you look at the early Church, they thought Christ was returning tomorrow. Paul hints at this in his letters. If you go all the way back to Genesis 4—right after chapter 3 (I know: three, then four—it makes sense)—Eve’s first child, Cain, is born, and she celebrates because she thinks this is the Savior God promised. There has always been this expectation that the promise is about to be fulfilled, that Christ will return at any moment.

And we’ve been living in that expectation for 2,000 years. Sometimes people look at that and their flame grows dim. We cry out, “How long, O Lord? Come quickly, Lord! Don’t You see all the sin that surrounds us? Don’t You see the sin inside of us? Don’t You see the wars, the famine, the pestilence, the brother hating brother, the sister hating sister? Don’t You see how this world is marred by sin, and how we keep having to bury our loved ones—and prepare for our own deaths as well? How long, O Lord? How long?”

And the answer is: it is in the Lord’s timing. So expect it to happen tomorrow. Or—better than that—expect it to happen today. Be prepared today.

The Lord has begun a good work in you. He has baptized you, washed away your sins, and made you a new creation through the washing of regeneration. The Lord feeds you with His body and blood to sustain your faith and to forgive your sins. The Lord gives you one another—and pastors—to proclaim the forgiveness of sins, to let you know that the gate of heaven has been unlocked for you.

There are three answers to the question, Are you ready?

The first is yes. And to those we say, Thanks be to God. Be good examples. Be good witnesses. Love one another as Christ has loved you.

The second answer is no—whether people realize it or not. To them we say: Believe. Believe in Christ. Believe in the God who loves you, who made you, who redeemed you. Believe in the only hope of salvation, and do what is right in the Lord’s eyes.

The third answer is I’m not sure. And to them we say: You believe—Lord, help Your unbelief. Trust in the promises He has given you. Trust that He has washed you clean and made you whole, that He has prepared you for the wedding feast. He has gone out to the highways and the byways. He has brought in the sinners and the tax collectors. He has even brought in the likes of us—poor, miserable sinners—and made us holy in His sight. He has dressed us in the righteousness of His Son and seated us at the place of honor at His table. And His word to us is: Well done, good and faithful servant.

Are you ready?

Amen. Let us go in God’s peace, in His name. Amen.