okieinexile
Well-Known Member
Matthew 28:16-20
28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
28:20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
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I really like westerns, but I don’t get to watch them very often because the women in my life don’t like them, and I don’t like to watch TV alone. It’s been a while since I’ve seen, but I remember a western that had an Indian in it who said, “Only the rocks live for ever.”
I like that phrase. “Only the rocks live forever.” It gives us a sense of man’s fragility when compared to nature. However, the geologists have studied these things and we know that even rocks will eventually wear away into sand and soil, so we could say that not even the rocks live forever.
Everything comes to an end eventually. This is the way of things. Men are born, they grow old, and they die. This is one of those things we know for sure because it has happened again and again and again.
I meet you, we become friends, but eventually one of us will either leave or die. Friendships don’t last forever. I don’t want to sound depressing, but I don’t want you to have any illusions either. This is the way it is. There is a finite span to things.
In today’s scripture, Jesus said he would be with us “even unto the end of the age.”
There have been all sorts of ages as far as mankind is concerned. There was the time in the Garden of Eden. Man was in perfect communion with God. There was no need for church, and there was no need for prayer because God was right there with us, or, better to say, we were with him. Then there was the age until the days of Noah; then the age until the days of Abraham; then the captivity in Egypt; then Moses; then David; then Elijah; then captivity in Babylon. And so on and so on and so on.
Each time there was a beginning, followed by an ending, followed by a starting over.
Then came Jesus Christ. He was born as a baby, grew up to be a man, and died just like every other man who was ever born. This was an end, but it was also a beginning because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.
Since that time, the world has not been the same. Jesus made the world new, but, even so, he said that this age would end.
There is an industry that has grown up around that. I don’t know if you’ve seen the Left Behind books. When I was growing up there were the movies Omen I, II, and III. These movies, and others like them, kept me scared half to death. Part of that fear was because I was a kid, but part of it is because fear is a way people can control you.
But we don’t need to be afraid. We have Jesus Christ, and Jesus told us he would be with us even to the end of the age. What’s more, we’ve been promised that whatever is beyond the end of the age is so much better than what we have now. Our ways will be lighted by God’s Holy Wisdom. We will know right from wrong, and we will choose what is right.
The first time I came to preach here I was in my mid thirties. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but my hair has become grayer. When I get up in the morning, my feet hurt when they touch the floor, and it takes a little while—and a lot of coffee—for everything to start working together.
I remember when I was young and that wasn’t the way it was. Everything worked, and everything was new, but that all changed.
I’ve been around long enough to know what is ahead, or at least what happens to most people. I’ll get older, I’ll get more and more aches and pains and inconveniences, and in the natural span of time I will die. That will be an end, but beyond the end I’ve been promised there is something better. I don’t know when this is coming, and I don’t know what it will be like. It will be something that I can’t imagine, but I believe that it will be better than what I’ve known so far.
At every ending, there is a new beginning, and God makes it so.
28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
28:20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
/***/
I really like westerns, but I don’t get to watch them very often because the women in my life don’t like them, and I don’t like to watch TV alone. It’s been a while since I’ve seen, but I remember a western that had an Indian in it who said, “Only the rocks live for ever.”
I like that phrase. “Only the rocks live forever.” It gives us a sense of man’s fragility when compared to nature. However, the geologists have studied these things and we know that even rocks will eventually wear away into sand and soil, so we could say that not even the rocks live forever.
Everything comes to an end eventually. This is the way of things. Men are born, they grow old, and they die. This is one of those things we know for sure because it has happened again and again and again.
I meet you, we become friends, but eventually one of us will either leave or die. Friendships don’t last forever. I don’t want to sound depressing, but I don’t want you to have any illusions either. This is the way it is. There is a finite span to things.
In today’s scripture, Jesus said he would be with us “even unto the end of the age.”
There have been all sorts of ages as far as mankind is concerned. There was the time in the Garden of Eden. Man was in perfect communion with God. There was no need for church, and there was no need for prayer because God was right there with us, or, better to say, we were with him. Then there was the age until the days of Noah; then the age until the days of Abraham; then the captivity in Egypt; then Moses; then David; then Elijah; then captivity in Babylon. And so on and so on and so on.
Each time there was a beginning, followed by an ending, followed by a starting over.
Then came Jesus Christ. He was born as a baby, grew up to be a man, and died just like every other man who was ever born. This was an end, but it was also a beginning because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.
Since that time, the world has not been the same. Jesus made the world new, but, even so, he said that this age would end.
There is an industry that has grown up around that. I don’t know if you’ve seen the Left Behind books. When I was growing up there were the movies Omen I, II, and III. These movies, and others like them, kept me scared half to death. Part of that fear was because I was a kid, but part of it is because fear is a way people can control you.
But we don’t need to be afraid. We have Jesus Christ, and Jesus told us he would be with us even to the end of the age. What’s more, we’ve been promised that whatever is beyond the end of the age is so much better than what we have now. Our ways will be lighted by God’s Holy Wisdom. We will know right from wrong, and we will choose what is right.
The first time I came to preach here I was in my mid thirties. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but my hair has become grayer. When I get up in the morning, my feet hurt when they touch the floor, and it takes a little while—and a lot of coffee—for everything to start working together.
I remember when I was young and that wasn’t the way it was. Everything worked, and everything was new, but that all changed.
I’ve been around long enough to know what is ahead, or at least what happens to most people. I’ll get older, I’ll get more and more aches and pains and inconveniences, and in the natural span of time I will die. That will be an end, but beyond the end I’ve been promised there is something better. I don’t know when this is coming, and I don’t know what it will be like. It will be something that I can’t imagine, but I believe that it will be better than what I’ve known so far.
At every ending, there is a new beginning, and God makes it so.