Sunday for me was a wonderful time of worship. The reading of Scripture, the prayers, and the music were honoring to our Lord and ministered tenderly to my inner being.
The celebration of the Lord’s Supper was for me exceptionally meaningful.
It’s good to be gathered with so many others of like precious faith.
And for me, the privilege of preaching a sermon that focused so pointedly upon the wonder of who Jesus is and what He has accomplished was simply glorious.
However, for one or two of my grandchildren, Sunday’s service was somewhat disappointing. They were hoping for something far greater.
Saturday evening during a family time they had listened to a portion of Scripture that talks about the second coming of Jesus.
For example, in Titus 2.14 Paul tells us that we “wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Paul’s hope is tied to Jesus promising His disciples in John 14.2-3, “I [go] . . . to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
Such Scripture provoked from my grandchildren questions about Jesus coming again. For them, it suddenly became an exciting idea.
They wanted to know what we all want to know. “When?”
“At any time,” they were told. “Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow. But maybe not for another thousand years.”
They quickly decided that tomorrow — which would have been this past Sunday — would be a good time.
Furthermore, they decided that it would be really cool if Jesus came back during church. So they came to church, looking for Jesus to appear on “the stage” during morning worship.
Is that great, or what?
Therefore, the worship service Sunday was a disappointment to them.
But their disappointment challenges me. I long for the faith of a little child. I long to live my life in anticipation of Jesus’ return.
I’m rewriting my sermons based upon 1 Corinthians 13, preparing to preach fourteen times in five days at the African Bible University in Kampala, Uganda.
One of those sermons is based upon Paul telling us that “love always hopes.”
For Paul the idea of hope focuses most often upon our Lord’s promise that He will one day come again.
I long to live my life in light of Paul’s exhortation in Titus 2.11-14: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
Children… turning the hearts of their fathers (and grandfathers). (Mal 4.6; Lk 1.17)
Worship Sunday was wonderful. But what if . . .
Pastor Caines