Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Today is all about “The Day of the Lord.” People in today’s world don’t often use that term. Instead, people in today’s world often talk about “The End of the World.”

You will remember all the hype building up to the singular moment when the clocks struck 12 Midnight on 1 January 2000. Who can forget all the predictions? Computers were going to stop running. Banks and brokerage companies were going to lose all your money. Cars were not going to run. Airplanes were going to fall out of the sky. Nuclear reactors were going to melt down. The world as we knew it on 31 December 1999 was going to be gone. No one knew what was going to happen. But the predicted “End of the World” came and went without any noticeable problems.

Since that day there have been several more days predicted by supposed experts – some even just recently – that were to mark “The End of the World.” News crews cover these events for weeks and months in advance and then there is usually one brief news event when the predicted time and day passes and everyone returns to life as usual until the next predicted day. But we all know what happens before those predicted days. People get nervous. People get upset. People get worried. People make plans in the event the prediction is this time true. Sometimes people even run around like “Chicken Little,” getting lots of other people nervous and upset and worried.

Have you ever had an event in life that has created that kind of emotional terror? Sure you have. We all have.

As most of you know I underwent minor surgery on my back in February. It was an outpatient procedure. In fact it was a procedure that used to be done regularly in doctor’s offices. My particular doctor referred me to a particular surgeon who preferred the procedure be done at the hospital. Knowing how minor the procedure was, I really had no fear of the procedure until I was informed, not by my surgeon, but by the advance admitting nurse at the hospital that her instructions indicated that general anesthesia would be used. That got me nervous because the last time I was under general anesthesia, it was reported to me that they had encountered problems bringing me out of anesthesia. They never explained what problems they had encountered, but just knowing that made me nervous, so much so that when I left for the hospital the morning of the surgery I made sure that my will and living trust was set in prominent place on my desk at home and I also left there a set of specific funeral instructions. I know it sounds silly, but I was certain that 14 February was going to be my personal “End of the World,” my personal “Day of the Lord.”

Our First Reading [Zephaniah 1:7-16] seems to add into all that terror that is often experienced when talking about “The Day of the Lord.” “The Day of the Lord,” at least according to Zephaniah, sure doesn’t sound pleasant. Princes and those following superstitions will be punished. Crying and wailing will be heard. Merchants will be wiped out. Houses will be demolished. “That Day,” says Zephaniah, “will be a day of gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry.”

Now St. Paul takes that very same “Day of the Lord” [1 Thessalonians 5:1-11] and admits that there will be destruction and that all that destruction will come on very quickly. But instead of being like Zephaniah and just focusing in upon the gloom and doom, the death and destruction, St. Paul instead puts a spin on it for us as the people of God. Paul says, “You belong to the Light so don’t let the death and destruction of the darkness worry you. Instead, put on faith because God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation. Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up.”

Now some people take those words to mean that there is going to be a rapture for the people of God, that those of us who are the people of God are going to be spared from all the gloom and doom, from all the death and destruction, that before “The Day of the Lord” comes, God’s people will be mysteriously and miraculously removed from the earth as if they were caught up in a giant vacuum suction tube and pulled right from earth into Heaven. And that may be comforting to you, but, if that were the case, if we were meant to be spared from that last and final “Day of the Lord,” don’t you think God would have extended that same courtesy to His own Son and, at that final moment before Jesus was crucified, He would have magically disappeared from sight? Wouldn’t the rapture have been extended to Jesus? And, if that were the case, if we were meant to be spared from that last and final “Day of the Lord,” don’t you think God would extend that gracious salvation also to all those loved people of the Lord who have died in pain – maybe in horrible accidents or in hospital beds from the effects of illness or disease? Wouldn’t the rapture have been extended to all of them also?

I don’t think that’s what this Scripture is saying. After all, the two servants who did right by their master in Jesus’ Parable this morning [Matthew 25:14-30] were still around when the one scared servant, who didn’t do right by his master, was reprimanded and punished.

I think the real meaning of Paul’s encouragement is found in that parable told by Jesus. The master gave talents to the servants, intending, whether it was specifically stated or not, for those talents to be used while he was gone. Those who did as he intended were given even more. Those who didn’t do as he intended were punished and the little they had was taken from them and severe pain and punishment resulted.

Faith is that gift that has been given to us. Faith for us is possible because of Jesus Christ. Faith is worked in our hearts by God’s Holy Spirit. And that faith is secure knowing that Jesus suffered and died and rose again so that we may live forever in the presence of God, free from pain, free from fear, free from terror, free from that tormented place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Faith is that gift, that “talent,” that has been given to us. How are you using your gift, your “talent?” Have you buried it in the sand, figuring that the faith you have been given is obviously good enough to give back to your Master when he returns on “The Day of the Lord?’ Or have you put your faith to work, wanting to please your Master during His absence, wanting to please your Master upon His return on “The Day of the Lord?”

Each of us have been given traits by our parents. Sometimes those traits are good, things like good health and longevity, but we can alter those traits by how we use them. A son of slim parents who lived to be 100 years old may have that predisposition for good health and long life, but if he eats every meal at every fast food place in sight, those traits will likely be wasted. And the reverse is true as well. Bad traits can also be inherited – maybe a predisposition to heart disease that kills all the males in the family by age 45. But again, one man might put a spin on that bad trait and eat healthy and exercise regularly and receive good medical attention to warning signs and beat the odds and live longer than anyone in his family.

We as the people of God have been given an incredible gift, the gift of faith, the gift of knowing that God is for us, the gift that God Himself died for us so that we need not fear that “Day of the Lord.” But that gift of faith is not meant to be buried, only to be pulled out of some hole in our lives on “The Day of the Lord.” No, that faith has been given to us by God to be used every day of our lives so that when that fearful “Day of the Lord” arrives – whether it arrives for us one by one individually or whether we are still alive when that massive, final, trumpet-blasting “Day of the Lord” arrives – our faith in Jesus as our Lord and our Savior will be strong and will carry us through, will protect us, will strengthen us while all around us we witness that gloom and doom, that death and destruction.

That’s what St. Paul was getting at when he encouraged the people of God – then and there and here and now – to encourage one another and to build each other up.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena