Bring Them Along

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, July 10, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 24:32-51.

            We live in turbulent times.  There’s no denying that.  Wars.  Protests, sometimes violent protests.  Economic turmoil.  A pandemic.  There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and sometimes it seems like none of it is good.

            Because of that, there are people who believe we are in the end times.  It’s understandable why, when we look at the world.  The things we just mentioned are only a partial list of what’s going on.  Plus, every survey you can find shows that people, at least in this country, are turning away from God.  And of those who say they do believe in God, there are fewer who believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, and who believe that faith in Jesus is the way to heaven.  There are a lot of things that are going on right now that seem similar to what the Bible tells us are signs of Jesus’ return.

            Now, if we’re honest, we have to admit that this is not the first time things like this have happened.  Nor is it the first time people have believed we were in the end times.  So far, all of those people have been wrong.  But we cannot let that to lead us to just dismiss the possibility, either.  At some point the end times will come, and the people who are predicting it will be right.  And there’s nothing that says that time could not be now.

            Whatever you may believe about the end times is your decision, and I doubt I could convince you either way.  But just suppose, for the sake of supposing, that you believed we are in the end times.  What would you do differently?  If you believed that the return of Jesus Christ is going to come very soon–within a few weeks, within a few months, within a year–what would you do differently?  What would you change about your life if you thought Jesus was about ready to come again?

            After all, Jesus said that we need to be ready.  Jesus said we won’t know when the time is going to come, but it could come at any time.  And it’s going to come suddenly.  As he said, two people will be working together, and one will be taken and the other one left behind.  When the time comes, it’s going to be too late to do anything about it.  It’s going to be just like the time of Noah when the flood came.  By the time people realized what was going on, it was too late.

            We don’t know when the end is going to come, so we need to be ready all the time.  We need to be ready now.  So again, I ask you–if you believe that the return of Jesus Christ is coming, what do you think you should do differently?  What do you think you should change about your life?

            Now, maybe, you say “nothing”.  Maybe you’re completely confident about your faith, maybe you’re completely confident that you’re among the saved, and that you don’t need to do anything differently in order to be among those who are taken up to heaven when the end comes.

            And you know what?  You may very well be right about that.  Because, after all, we are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ.  We are not saved by how holy or righteous we are.  We are not saved by the number of good things we do.  We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  If you have that faith, you have nothing to worry about when the end comes.

            But here’s the thing.  Even if you have a strong faith in Jesus Christ, even if in fact you are saved and have nothing to worry about–do you know someone for whom that is not true?  Do you know someone who does not have faith in Jesus Christ?  Do you know someone for whom you’re not sure about their faith in Jesus Christ?  Do you know someone whom you maybe have always just assumed had faith in Jesus Christ, but whom you’ve never really talked to about faith, so you really don’t know if they have faith or not?

            I suspect you do.  I suspect all of us do.  I know I do.  That means we know people who are not saved, who are not going to heaven, who are not going to receive eternal life.  

Now, understand, that’s not because I say so.  I don’t decide who receives salvation and eternal life.  God decides that.  And I’m very happy to leave the decision in God’s hands.  But I do believe what the Bible has to say on the subject.  And I especially believe what Jesus Christ had to say on the subject.  And Jesus said that the only way to receive salvation and eternal life is through faith in Him.  He did not say faith in Him is one of many ways to heaven.  He did not even say faith in Him is the best way to heaven.  Jesus said faith in Him is the only way to heaven.  Period.  So, again, if you believe that, the chances are that you and I know people who will not go to heaven, who will not receive salvation and eternal life.  Or at least, we know people who we really don’t know for sure whether they will go to heaven and receive salvation and eternal life or not.

So, if you’ll concede that, here’s the question:  what are we going to do about that?

We know that Jesus said we are to spread his teachings as far and wide as we possibly can.  We know that Jesus said we are to go and make disciples.  Are you doing that?  Am I doing that?  If so, how.

One of the things we love to say–and believe me, I’ve said it, too–is that “I show my faith in Jesus by the way I live my life.”  And don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing to do.  Our faith in Jesus should be shown by the way we live our lives.  Where we get into trouble, though, is by assuming that’s enough.

What I mean is that, when we show faith by the way we live our lives, others will probably think of us as good people.  But will they know why we’re good people?   Will they know we’re doing these things because of our faith in Jesus Christ if we don’t mention that faith? Doing good things, helping people, living good lives–are people going to know we do that because of our faith in Jesus Christ if we don’t tell them?  I don’t see how.

Think about those people you know who don’t believe in Jesus Christ, or whom you’re not sure whether they believe in Jesus Christ.  You–or I–could be the ones to bring them to faith.  But it’s not going to happen if we never talk about Jesus.  It’s not going to happen if we don’t do the things Jesus said to do–spread the good news, and go and make disciples.

I’m not saying we should spend every minute of our day talking about Jesus.  That’s not practical, and it’s probably not going to be very persuasive.  But every day, there are openings in conversations for us to talk about our faith, if we just look for them.  It can be as simple as telling someone who’s going through a tough time that you’ll pray for them.  It can be as simple as telling someone you feel God has blessed you when something good happens.  It can be as simple as saying “May God bless you today” to the cashier at the convenience store as you leave.  And sometimes, those simple things can lead to deeper, more substantive things.  But it only happens if we’re willing to take that first step.

Jesus told us to do these things, and that really should be motivation enough for us.  But if it’s not, think about this.  What if you get to heaven, and you discover that someone you loved on earth, someone you cared about, is not there?  What if that someone is someone you talked to many times, but you just never got around to mentioning Jesus to them?  What if that someone is someone who might have gone to heaven if someone had reached out to them with the good news of Jesus Christ?  What if that someone could have been you?  That’s not to say it will be your fault that they did not get to heaven, or that God’s going to punish you for it–because we all have to make our own choices in the end.  But still, that would be a really sad thing, don’t you think?

You see, this is where this stuff gets real.  This is where we find out just how seriously we take all this stuff about salvation and heaven and eternal life.  It’s where we found out just how seriously we take Jesus’ statement that faith in Him is the only way to heaven.  Because if we really do take it seriously, it seems like we would do everything in our power to try to convince the people we care about to have faith in Jesus Christ.  And we would not just assume it about any of them–we would do everything we could to make sure they had that faith.  Because if we take this seriously, their eternal life depends on that.

Again, this is not me pointing fingers at you on this.  This is a sermon I’m preaching to myself as much as anyone.  I need to do more about this.  Most of us need to do more about this.  

I don’t want the people I care about to miss out on salvation and eternal life.  I’m sure you don’t want the people you care about to miss out on it, either.  So let’s all do what we can to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  Let’s do all we can to go and make disciples.  I hope and believe that everyone here has faith in Jesus Christ, and is saved, and that’s great.  But let’s do all we can to bring as many people as we can along with us.  It’s what Jesus told us to do.  And really, it’s what we want to do, too.