Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord that engages us comes from our Epistle and Gospel lessons (1 Thessalonians 4: 13ff and Matthew 24: 1ff).

Were you all pretty alert this morning as I walked around? Wondering what I might do again this week? For those of you who weren't here last week or didn't hear about it, I came rushing down from the chancel area during the hymn yelling "Stop the music!" and "Jesus is coming!" The point of my theatrics last week was that we need not be surprised by Jesus Second Coming, because He has told us He will return. He will do something quite out of our ordinary, but we need not be shocked. We are to be alert, prepared, ready for his return. This week's readings continue a similar theme of Christ's Second Coming, but with a different emphasis, sharing with us some of the specifics of what will happen before and on that Last Day. This morning you seemed alert, at least alert to whatever I might do again. But what else does Jesus want his disciples to know about his Second Coming?

In our Gospel, Jesus' first disciples mistakenly think that Christ's first coming would immediately bring the Last Day, an earthly kingdom for them then and now. They are awed by the beauty and splendor of the Temple in Jerusalem, perhaps thinking that Jesus would make them the next glorious priests and leaders of the temple. But Jesus warns them that not glory, but harsh, difficult times still lay ahead. Wars would continue, including a specific warning about a war in Jerusalem that would destroy the temple. This happened 40 years later, but wars and rumors of war have continued for centuries, and continue today. We are still affected by rumors of war in the same region. Not only will wars trouble the earth and God's chosen people, but wickedness and false teaching will run rampant. (vv. 11-12) "Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold." � But Jesus is coming, and He encourages his followers then and now to stand firm, trusting him to the end.

I could give you many examples of the deception of false prophets, but I'll share just one. There are many preachers around the world who proclaim the false idea of "once saved, always saved." One must never fall prey to this kind of thinking. Because of this false teaching, our love for our savior can grow cold.

God brings his children into the Kingdom through the power of his Word. For infants this is done through Baptism. But too many Lutherans and Catholics and other infant baptizers seem to think that as long as we have been baptized, we need nothing else. And our lives often show it. We know that the Holy Spirit sustains the children of God through the preaching of his Word after Baptism. Satan is not fond of what God has done for us in his Son, Jesus Christ. Satan will do whatever he can to try and turn us away from our Savior � to damage, injure, and even kill our faith. That is why God's Word repeatedly teaches us to keep watch � to not be deceived, to not be alarmed � to be ready so that our gift of faith does not grow cold, weak and die. We need his Word, his instruction to remain firm in the faith. That Word, that instruction, keeps us safe until Jesus returns. (paragraph modified from Rev. Howard Gleason, Concordia Pulpit Resource, p. 32, 2002)

And He is coming. Jesus is coming. Encourage each other with these words. Jesus taught his disciples what to expect before his Second Coming. Paul taught the Thessalonians what to expect when it happened. It's sometimes said that there are only two things certain in this world: death and taxes. � But in reality death is not a certainty. What did Paul say? "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." Really it's not death and taxes we can be certain of. Taxes, yes, at least until after the Lord returns. But the other things we can be certain of are these: "that Jesus died and rose again" for us (v. 14) and that Jesus is coming again. Those things we can be certain of. Whether or not we die is up to Jesus and when He returns again. But just like anything, it is possible to take a good thing too far. It is possible to be so alert, so watchful as to neglect our current lives. While we are alert and watchful for him, we also continue with the using the daily gifts, conducting the regular vocations that he calls us to. Some of the Thessalonians apparently took Paul's message of Jesus' Second Coming so strongly that they sold all that they had and simply went out waiting on a hilltop for him to return. While Paul wanted them to be alert, watchful, he didn't want them to be lazy or unproductive. That hurt Christ's reputation. In the words just prior to our text (vv. 11-12) Paul had said this to the Thessalonians: "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody." They could continue to show Christ's love for the world and to further Christ's name and reputation by being good workers and citizens.

This week I was called to serve on a jury. It took up a full day of my time, my servant's time to serve you.

But for that day it was my calling, my vocation. It was a pretty boring trial, a low dollar burglary that surely cost the taxpayers more to litigate than was lost. But yet it was on that day my calling, the calling of 11 other jurors and a judge and 4 clerks and 2 lawyers and 6 witnesses, and 40 other potential jurors (they only had to stay an hour). By the end of the day I had been able to talk with about 4 others about Jesus and his Church. Because I am a pastor I had been chosen as the foreman of the jury (against my wishes I might add). In court the judge had called me by title and name "Pastor Marrs" at the time the verdict was announced. I pray and hope that my behavior on that rather boring day was still one that upheld Christ's name and reputation and the reputation of His Church, his people as I fulfilled my vocation, my calling for the day as citizen. I hope that my "daily life may win the respect of outsiders" for the sake of my Lord's name.

What callings in your daily life do you have that can "win the respect of outsiders" for the sake of your Lord's name? Jesus is coming! While you are waiting for Jesus, how can you spread his reputation and love?

We all have a variety of vocations, callings, roles God has given us in this life. He has given you roles as workers, students, bosses, parents, children, grandparents, citizens, etc. How do you fulfill your God-given roles? Parents, you have a calling as parent. In that role, God has placed in a position of honor and authority, one actually of "hidden majesty" Luther says in the Large Catechism. In that position your children first learn to trust and love others and God. When you love your children, you are showing the love of God to them. Children, when you love and honor and cherish your parents, you are fulfilling your calling in life, obeying the 4th commandment. Other people look at Christian children like you and say to themselves "their parents and their church must be doing something right. Maybe I should go to their church and hear what they teach." Through all of our daily, ordinary, sometimes even boring lives, God fulfills his desire to show His love to the world.

Today I did not jump out at you during the sermon hymn, startling you with the announcement "Jesus is coming." I simply walked among you, singing normally, alert to his possible return, but involved in the normal calling of the time. But Jesus is coming, perhaps very soon, and we prepare for him by being encouraged by His Word and encouraging each other with His Word. We prepare for him by being involved in our everyday lives in a productive and respected pattern. Jesus is coming. In fact in a very special and unique way, Jesus is physically coming among us in just a few moments, present in body and blood through the Lord's Supper. This supper connects us to His First coming, when he laid down his life on the cross for us and was raised again from the dead for us. This supper connects us to His Second Coming, a foretaste of the feast to come. This very ordinary bread and wine hides within it the extraordinary gift of the forgiveness and presence of God himself. Jesus is coming, He is coming indeed. On that we can be sure.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7)