STAY ALERT
Matthew 24:42-44 NET.
42 “Therefore stay alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Just these three verses remain, and we will have covered Matthew 24. Three years ago, I spoke on verses 45-51, so I won’t cover that ground again. But these three verses are significant because they focus on Jesus’s commands. Jesus wasn’t very interested in answering the questions that the disciples had. He didn’t want to entertain them or encourage their curiosity. His purpose was to prepare them for a lifetime of ministry as representatives of his coming kingdom.
That is why Jesus gave them orders. The most important thing about the coming kingdom is not when it is coming. The most important thing about the coming kingdom is that when it comes, it will come upon the world suddenly, like a flood. Most of the world will not be ready. So, Jesus focuses on giving us commands that will help us welcome the coming kingdom.
The commands are for us to stay alert and be ready (42a, 44).
The command to stay alert uses the Greek word γρηγορέω. That is the word that Jesus used two chapters later when he was in the garden of Gethsemane just before his arrest. He told his disciples that he was deeply grieved, even to the point of death. He commanded them to stay with him as he prayed and stay awake. When he told them to stay awake, he used the word γρηγορέω.
But the disciples could not stay awake for even one hour. Jesus told them to “keep watching and praying,” and the word he used for “watching” was γρηγορέω.
He told them to keep watching so they would not succumb to temptation. Even a Christian who has every intention of following Christ can fall into temptation. Even the disciples of Christ who had committed to following and serving him could not stay awake for even one hour during the most critical and crucial test of their lives. That highlights the importance of staying awake and alert during this age.
The Apostle Paul embraced the same theme as he ministered to Gentile believers. He told the Corinthians to Stay alert (γρηγορέω), stand firm in the faith, show courage, be strong (1 Corinthians 16:13). He told the Colossians to be devoted to prayer, keeping alert (γρηγορέω) in it with thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2). He told the Thessalonians that we must not sleep as the rest but must stay alert (γρηγορέω) and sober (1 Thessalonians 5:6).
One thing that Paul and Jesus had in common is that both commanded that people stay alert in prayer. This is an area of most of our lives where we are in constant danger of becoming spiritually crippled. The devil knows that if he can cripple our prayer life, then he will render us practically useless for Christ and his kingdom. He attacks us relentlessly to keep us from staying awake in prayer.
You all know that I just came back from vacation. I was gone for three weeks in July. During those three weeks, the weeds attacked my garden with ferocity. I am still pulling gigantic weeds from my garden. All it took was a few days of distraction and neglect and now I have a tremendous job on my hands.
That is what happens when we take time off from our task of diligent prayer. Jesus taught about that in his parable of the sower. In that parable, some of the seeds fell among thorns. Jesus said that these are the ones who hear the word, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature (Luke 8:14).
Seeds are designed to germinate, grow, and produce trees, fruits, and vegetables. But weeds can interfere with that process. To be fruitful, the seeds have to mature. But some seeds are kept from that purpose by weeds. They are choked out before they have a chance to be fruitful. Jesus identified the weeds in his parable. They are three things: worries, riches, and pleasures of life.
Worry is a weed. It distracts us from taking in the word of God and being fruitful in our Christian lives. Don’t expect a crop to appear if the weed of worry is allowed to stay in your garden. Jesus commanded us not to worry about tomorrow. He said today has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34). Jesus commanded us not to worry about what we will eat, drink, or wear. We worry about these things, and worry distracts us from having meaningful prayer lives, hindering our spiritual growth.
The solution to this problem is a strong prayer life that focuses on trusting our heavenly Father for daily bread. Instead of allowing our fear of tomorrow to choke out our spiritual lives, we must come to God regularly and declare our trust in his provision. We can cast all our cares on him because he cares for us.
Greed is also a weed. The lust for riches distracts us from the rest we can currently have in God, our provider. When God rescued the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, he commanded them to remember the Sabbath day and keep it sacred. They had been slaves. Work was all they knew how to do. But God rescued them from their slavery in Egypt. They now had the privilege to focus on something besides work. But he knew they would be tempted to replace their former slavery with a new slavery. They could replace Pharaoh with Ego. They could work themselves to death trying to get ahead. So, God told them to stop what they were doing once a week and rest in the finished work of their salvation.
In the New Testament, Jesus met two men who had been workaholics. We don’t know the name of one of these men. We usually call him the rich young ruler. Jesus told him that he could have eternal life. All he had to do was sell everything he owned, give it away, and come and follow him. But that man went away disappointed. He was not willing to give away everything. His greed was keeping him from eternal life. The other workaholic was Zacchaeus. He could see that what Jesus had to offer was better than what he could seek on his own. He had been a greedy cheater, but when he met Jesus, he stopped being greedy. Zacchaeus is proof that you don’t have to be poor to be a Christian, but you have to surrender your greed. If you don’t pull the greed weed, then the word of God will never take root in your life.
Selfishness is also a weed. A focus on the pleasures of this life can keep us from experiencing eternal life. When we pray to God, we have to make sure that self gets off the throne. If self stays on the throne, God leaves the palace. That is why it’s hard for a selfish person to pray. Oh, you can pray a selfish prayer. But it doesn’t accomplish anything. It ends up sounding like the prayer of the self-righteous Pharisee: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ (Luke 18:11-12). God knows what we are really like. He doesn’t need us to rehearse our accomplishments to him in our prayers. Prayer needs to focus on who God is. It is his kingdom we are to seek.
Staying alert in our prayer lives means not allowing the weeds of worry, greed, or selfishness to distract us from his kingdom.
Jesus’ second command in today’s text is to be ready. We must be prepared for the second coming. The word for ready is ἕτοιμος, which Jesus had previously used in his parable of the wedding banquet. A king had planned a wedding banquet for his son, and when everything was ἕτοιμος, he summoned those who had been invited.
The real question for us is not what date Jesus will come, but will we be prepared for him when he comes? That is what we are commanded to do. I just finished a book about King Charles III of England. It focused on his transition from Prince to King. What struck me as I read it were all the things that he had experienced all his life that make up who he is and how he will rule as king.
You and I are destined to be part of Jesus’ coming reign. We are not just waiting for Jesus’ kingdom to come; we are part of that kingdom now. If we are not declaring the Lordship of Christ by how we live today, we should not expect to do that after he comes. The command to be ready entails transforming our lives today.
Why did Jesus command us to stay alert and be ready?
The reason is that we do not know the time (42b).
We do not know what day our Lord will come. We know that he is coming, but we cannot put the date on the calendar. If we do put a date on the calendar, we will probably be wrong. Numerous people have ventured a guess, but their guesses have all proven to be wrong. We have not been commanded to guess at the date. We have been commanded to be ready on this date.
Since we don’t know the time, we need to be ready at any time. We must be prepared on Sunday, August 18th, at 11:45 a.m. If he comes right now and we are not prepared, we are guilty of directly disobeying his command. No one wants to be caught disobeying a direct command of the king. It doesn’t bode well for people if they are invited but are not ready when the banquet is set.
His coming is compared to a break-in (43).
Jesus said he was coming like a thief. A thief does not call you and say, “I’m coming.” No, a thief wants to take you by surprise so he can steal your stuff. If you are ready for him, the thief will skip your house and find a home where the owner is unprepared.
Since we don’t know the time, we must live like now is the time. We have to ask ourselves every day whether we are ready for our Master to return to his slaves.
Jesus doesn’t say this to make us afraid of his coming. He says it to remind us of who we are. He knows that the longer he delays his return, the more we will be distracted by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Jesus is not the thief. He is the good shepherd who cares for his sheep. He loves the sheep and lays down his life for them. All who have come before him are thieves and robbers. The sheep did not listen to them. They are tuned in to the sound of the good shepherd’s voice.
The thieves come only to steal, kill, and destroy, but the good shepherd comes so that the sheep may have life and may have it abundantly. The second coming of Christ is not a terrible event we are to fear. It is a glorious event that we anticipate with joy and confidence. We cannot be who God wants us to be for eternity unless Jesus returns.
As it is now, we are aliens and strangers on the very planet that God plans for us to inherit. We are like sheep being led to the slaughter for his and his kingdom’s sake. Following Jesus means taking up our crosses and following him to death. But we choose to surrender our hopes, worries, greed, and selfishness in this life. We have bet everything on his promise of a coming resurrection. If there will be no resurrection, then we are the most to be pitied.
But since there is a resurrection, everything we do to join his coming kingdom and every sacrifice we make to stay prepared for that day is worth it. Like Paul, we strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of us.
Let the world be caught off guard. But we will not be caught off guard. Let the world keep being distracted by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life. We will stay alert. We will remain focused on our coming king. We will be ready for him when he comes. We want to hear “well done”! We want to be there for our Master and enter his joy.
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