1. Corinthians 7,29-31. 20. Trinity

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

1. Corinthians 7,29-31     5018 

20. Trinitatis  065

Calixtus, Bishop of Rome. Martyr 222

14. Oktober 2018 

1. О Almighty God, whose arm is stronger than the flash of lightning and the crash of thunder, remember Your tender mercies and Your loving kindness, so that You spare us and bless us with Your grace and deliverance. (Starck 354, 356).  Amen.  

2. »This is what I mean, brothers and sisters: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.«  

3. The Early Church believed in, and expected, the imminent return of Jesus. A number of the Apostle Paul’s epistles teach this doctrine. As the apostolic martyrdoms added up one after another, as the persecutions mounted against the Church and when the temple was destroyed in Jerusalem, the Christians in the 1. century ad expected the Lord to return in their lifetime. Paul counsels us to live with this expectation.  

4. The apostolic doctrine: »the present form of this world is passing away« is as true today as it was for the apostles 2000 years ago. We are exhorted and encouraged to live with this doctrinal expectation. The difficulty is that we become complacent when things don’t happen right away or when we long for them to happen. The Lord, for reasons only He knows, has delayed His return for nearly 2000 years. It does not appear that His return is on the horizon. 

5. Why might Christ’s return be delayed for over 2000 years? The apostles went far and wide to proclaim the gospel. No resource was squandered, no risk too fool hearty and no sacrifice was unbearable. The gospel was preached, churches were planted and the four corners of the Roman Empire and beyond had been evangelized. Mission accomplished; time for Jesus to return. The Christians waited, but Christ did not return. For some, like the Thessalonian Christians, this was a concern. What happens if we die before Jesus returns? Will we miss out on witnessing His 2. advent? The Apostle Paul comforted them with these words in his epistle: »We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the advent of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words«  (1. Thessalonians 4,13-18). 

6. As Christians we live in an eschatological tension in regards to Christ’s return; this tension is a now, not yet tension. The Apostle Paul tells us: »The day of the Lord will arrive like a thief in the night« (1. Thessalonians 5,2). Paul tells us that the return of Christ could be any day. He could return 2 hours from now, tomorrow or next week, and His return will catch us by surprise. The Apostle Peter also tells us: »With the Lord 1 day is as 1000 years, and 1000 years as 1 day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promises, but He is patient and not wishing that any should perish, but that everyone should reach repentance« (2. Peter 3,8-9). Peter tells us that the return of Christ maybe a long way off. Now, not yet: this tension results because we are bound to linear time, but Christ is not for He is eternal and removed from the constraints and passage of time.

7. When will Christ return? A: Soon; that soon may be tomorrow or it may be 1000 years from now. Jesus tells us that He will return after the gospel has been preached to all the nations (Matthew 24,4-14). As we await our Lord’s return, we thus live in a time of mission work and preaching the gospel (Gibbs 221).

8. So we remain watchful for Jesus’ 2. advent. We support the preaching of the gospel and we live in love toward our neighbors, serving Jesus with all that has been entrusted to us (Gibbs 222). »The present form of this world is passing away.« Let us be the salt and the light to this dying world as we share the forgiveness and love of Christ Jesus.  Amen. 

9. Let us pray. O Lord, who gives us His Holy Word of law and gospel; teach us the way of Your statutes, send us the Holy Spirit, fill our hearts with the gospel so that by the power of the gospel we may observe Your instructions to the end.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

   Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Jerusalem and Parousia: Jesus’ Eschatological Discourse in Matthew’s Gospel. Copyright © 2000 Jeffrey A. Gibbs.