First Presbyterian Church of Inglewood
100 North Hillcrest Ave
Inglewood, California 90301
Telephone numbers: (310) 677-5133 Fax (310)
330-8342
Electronic mail: PRESBYTS@SBCGLOBAL.NET
Rev.
Dr. Harold E. Kidd
Luke
21: 25 - 28
LOOK
UP
“Now
when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your
redemption draws near.” Luke 21:28
I
was watching a late night movie last evening, Ladder 49, with John
Travolta, a drama about the lives of firefighters. In this one scene one of the
firefighters is trying to rescue a man from the 16th story of a
burning building, taking him out the window.
The man is terrified when he sees all the flames engulfing the building
like a towering inferno, and especially when he looks down at the ground. The
firefighter keeps saying to him, “Don’t look down, look at me, look at
me.” It doesn’t have to be a burning
building but looking down from some height can bring on feelings of anxiety and
stress.
Well,
life itself can be pretty fearful and anxious if we spend much of our time
looking down. The more we talk with each other, heaven knows there is much that
captures our interest in conversation based upon what is destructive and
discouraging in this day and time in which we are called to live our lives.
No
matter how positive one’s faith is, we still must face the realities that we
are living in a world filled with dread and danger. A true and honest faith in
God will not deny that there are dreadful and frightful realities, facts in
life that everyone must deal with at some time or another. As much as the Good
Lord came to bring us life, and life more abundantly, Jesus never claimed that
things cannot be bad, or be terribly out of touch with God’s design for life,
but he did guarantee us the promise of His presence. “In the world you shall
have tribulation,” He tells His disciples, “but be of good cheer for I have
overcome the world.”
Of
special concern for many parents and grandparents today is raising children in
such a negative and hostile world and cultural environment which has the
capacity to kill dreams and cripple hope because we are constantly bombarded
with bad news, the result of terrible and sometimes horrific realities. And so
will our children learn to have faith in such a hostile anti-christ driven
culture?
The
chapter before us, Luke 21, is one in which we hear our Lord teaching in some
degrees of detail, concerning the harsh realities of the world we live in.
Things that are destructive and harmful, the devilish, demonic powers that are
loose in this world that pose the constant threat of destroying us, if not
capturing the minds and souls of God’s beloved humanity.
He
forewarns us that we “shall hear of wars and commotions …. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom: and great earthquakes shall be in divers places.” (Luke 21: 9
– 11) On and on He goes about outside conditions, signs in the sun, and in the
moon and in the stars.” (Luke 21:25) An all-encompassing description which
takes into account in our own day and time the massive earthquakes, hurricanes,
and tsunamis that are becoming more and more commonplace. The fact that we are
now in two wars that by most predictions are unwinnable.
How
accurate a description given by the Lord more than 2000 years ago to describe
many of the events occurring in His own time surrounding the fall of Jerusalem,
but which are also prophetic of what is happening in our own time.
But
Jesus doesn’t stop in this chapter concerning the Signs of the Times and the
End of the Age with His recitation of external calamity. In verse 26 He probes
at the internal batterings and sieges to which our hearts are also liable. He
says that under the pressure of outside forces, a person’s inner spiritual
defense may begin to weaken and crumble. He speaks of it by way of saying,
“Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which
are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” We are living in times that try the soul.
In
all of what the Lord describes in this chapter concerning the Signs of the
Times and the End of the Age, the temptation is to look down. The news media in
fact makes its living on getting a believing public to look down. To buy into
all the negative news, while downplaying much of the good news that is
prevalent and in dire need of being lifted up in this world and within our own
country.
So
the temptation is always to look down. That is what we are getting all around
us. We see such violations of honor in places of public trust and
responsibility. So much so that many people have decided that everybody is a
crook in public life. Reinforcing the temptation is to look down.
Scandals
in Politics. Scandals in Corporate
Those
of us who love the church and the gospel see so much that is discouraging that it
causes us at times to look down. Seems to be a season for scandals in the
church these days over money or one thing or another. With so much that we can
do and so much that is in need of being done, is it any wonder that many shun
the doors of the church because of how scandals tarnish the credibility of not
just bad Christians but of the good churches and believers as well. So it’s easy to look down.
But
the words that beg for our deeper attention in all that Jesus describes in this
passage are to be found is verse 28: “Now when these things begin to happen,
look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” It is easy
to look down into the abyss of a turbulent world. But Jesus says, “Look
up. Lift up your head, because your
redemption draws near.”
Look
up, because God is still on the throne. Look up, because Jesus still lives with
all power in His hands. Look up, because the Holy Spirit is yet at work in our
midst. Look up, because even while the divorce rate seems to forever climb, there
are yet many who are celebrating their 10th, 20th, 30th,
40th, 50th, and 60th wedding anniversaries in
joy and commitment.
Look
up, because even while some are losing their lives to a life of violence and
reckless living, there are still a multitude that no man can number, who work
and pray for the peace of their families, neighborhoods, and our world. Look up, because with each death in this
world, somewhere in this world God is giving the life, a baby is being born, a
sinner is being converted, a sick person is being made well, a prodigal is
being restored in faith. I wish I knew
how to make it plain. Look up, because
to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord!
Look
up, because while sickness is a reality of life, God is still a healer. Look
up, because His grace and mercy will carry you through. Look up, because Earth
has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal. Look up, because in all things God works
for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purposes.
Look up, because we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
Yes,
we may be faced with having to live through a bad economy, but look up, because
the earth is the Lord’s, the fullness thereof, the world, and we who dwell
herein. Look up, because God will supply your every need. Will provide. Look
up, because God will take care of you.
The
world may be filled with evildoers, but look up, because this is still our
Father’s World. Look up, because the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but
the way of the ungodly shall perish. Look up, because the way of righteousness
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that brings forth its
fruit in its season; whatever we do shall prosper. Look up, because the steps
of a good man and woman are ordered by the Lord.
Look
up, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. Look up, because there are still a whole lot
of people in this world doing good, people just like you and me, people who
love the Lord, people who are determined to make a positive difference in this
world.
Look
up, because our witness is still needed. Look up, because there are yet those
who are seeking truth and the way of salvation. Look up, because God is working
through our faith that none should perish. Rather than read “Look up,” the NIV
reads, “Stand firm.” I might add,
“Stand firm, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor
in Christ is not in vain.” Look up, stand firm, for we shall reap if we faint not.
Look
up, because He is coming back some day, and we want to be ready when He
comes. It may be getting kind of rough
down here, but look up, because “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has
it entered into the imagination of our minds, what the Lord has prepared for
them that love Him.”
Look
up, because the battle is the Lord’s. Look up, because the victory has already
been won by Jesus. Look up, because someday we shall wear a crown. Look up,
because your redemption draws near!