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This Week's Sermon THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST 15 November 2009 "Beware the Chair!" Mark 13:1-13 LSB Series B Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

Some of you know that our sons are into running marathons and competing in triathlons. These are long races, whether the standard 26 mile, 385 yard marathon or an ironman triathlon which includes a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, finished off by a full marathon run. Not satisfied with a 26 mile marathon both have run 50 mile races. Tad has run a 75 mile race as well as a number of 24 hour, 100 mile races. Chris will compete in an ironman next week. It is inconceivable to me why anybody would want to run that long or that far, but there really are people who enjoy it, and our sons are apparently some of them. During a 100 mile race this past summer Tad told us of a fellow runner who ran with him on the course. As they completed a leg of the race at about 75 miles, the other runner decided to sit down for a bit. Tad repeated the phrase that ultra-marathoners use, "Beware the Chair!" Once seated, most will not get up again to run. They are done, in more ways than one. They fail to finish the grueling race. Jesus speaks words of warning to his disciples of all ages, especially as we approach the end of the age. He tells us of the signs of the close of the age, and the he concludes by saying,

"But the one who endures to the end will be saved." (Mark 13:13, ESV)

Endurance is key for you in finishing your race. It was the Apostle Paul who said of his own end:

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7, ESV)

Paul compares the Christian's life to a race, an endurance event. The Christian life is not a sprint. It is a marathon. It takes endurance. Christ does not always show us how long we must run, he tells us only to endure. In answer to the disciples' desire to know when the end of the age would be, Jesus instead pointed them to the signs of which they must beware, telling them to endure to the end.

The most immediate and pressing danger is that which comes from false Christs. There shall be many of them. Every age has them. They are the counterfeits. Sometimes the counterfeit is so good that many are led astray. You hear them and are probably not aware of their deception because their currency looks and sounds like the real thing. They use the same words that real Christianity uses but invest them with entirely different meanings. If you have a counterfeit bill, there are things that could tip you off. One of those things is what is called "microprinting." Counterfeiters can't duplicate the very tiny printing or they blur it. Sometimes we have to resort to the "microprinting" of Christian doctrine because all the rest of it looks genuine. Some people, however, don't want to be bothered by the microprinting of pure doctrine, but that is what marks it as genuine. The fine points of doctrine are not irrelevant.

All sorts of upheaval will take place in the political world as well. You hear Jesus say that there will be wars and rumors of wars. Terrorism is a different kind of war and we have witnessed plenty of it on American soil. Terrorism is a tactic designed to get people to give up because they are so fearful. The enemy then achieves his objective through this tactic, that is, conquering others and subjecting them to his will or the will of his ideological system. We get weary with wars and the loss of life. We want to quit fighting, enduring.

There are also disturbances in the created order. A recent story on the news predicts that a rift in Ethiopia will rip the African continent apart and create a new continent. It doesn't say when it will happen, but I image some Ethiopians might be afraid. The created order seems unstable, and it is because of the fall of man into sin. Many have exploited this change and decay by fear-mongering. We'll have more to say about that next Sunday. The universe groans in the pains of childbirth until the new age dawns [Romans 8.20-23].

The greatest challenge that the Christian faces is the hostility of the world because he is a Christian. Jesus warned his disciples that they would be arrested, delivered to religious and political authorities, and put to death. At that very time they were to speak God's Word to those who accuse them. Yet, delivering that word may well mean being put to death because of it. Even one's own relatives will betray him.

Do you hear how serious is the race we run, the battle we fight? In reality, it is not a single battle but a protracted campaign. We know that many become weary with the war on terrorism. They want it to be over in a few months and few, if any casualties, but it doesn't work like that. Our enemy never rests. He is not like mere human beings who can be defeated. He is relentless. We must endure.

"But the one who endures to the end will be saved." (Mark 13:13, ESV)

"Beware the Chair!" To sit and rest in your vigilance is to court disaster! You will find that you have no energy to get up and run again. You will suffer defeat. You will not finish your race. To be a mile short is the same as being 25 miles short. Neither reaches the goal. It doesn't matter if you run well for 26 miles if you don't finish the last 385 yards. Only those who finish get the prized medal or shirt.

As God's people-the saints-reach the end of the liturgical year they receive a picture of the end of the age by looking out at their world, at least, in the northern hemisphere. The leaves have come off the trees. The weather patterns have changed and we seldom receive a warm southern breeze and sunshine. We get cold northwesterly winds that bring ice and snow. The ground has ceased producing and farmers hurry to get in their crops before they can no longer get into the fields. It seems that the world is dying.

And it is! God sends an annual reminder that the created order is in travail, like a pregnant woman in hard labor. There is no stopping it, and the labor becomes more and more intense. This age is coming to an end, in spite of those who campaign to "save the earth." I admit that I always smile to myself when I hear that! These puny humans are going to "save the earth" from the hand of God who created it by a word and who will bring it all to a close with a word. Man needs to be more humble in the presence of such a God as this.

"Beware the Chair!" Dear friends, there IS an end! At the end of this age stands a beautiful age which is nothing like this fallen, corrupted age. There lies eternal salvation, glory, and happiness. Our Lord Jesus Christ ushered in the beginning of this new age when he became man. He completed all the work needed for you to be with him in the new heavens and the new earth by living, suffering, dying, and rising from the dead for you. By his work of atonement he has secured the heavenly prize for you.

Your life as a Christian must always be about endurance in this faith in Christ. You must "Beware the Chair!" lest you forfeit what Christ has won. You cannot rest by withdrawing. The history of the Church is full of the sad stories of those who have preferred "the chair" to finishing the race. The give up when the race is the hardest, the toughest.

You, however, can do no such thing! But really, it isn't what you do at all, but what God does. It surprises many people to know that ultra-marathoners eat during their races. Tad will consume perhaps 10,000 calories during one of those races. During his training regimen, Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps consumes 12,000 calories a day! Where do you, the Christian, get that kind of spiritual caloric intake to enable you to avoid the chair? Right here in the Divine Service. God provides a rich feast of grace, forgiveness, and strength. You endure by eating and drinking Christ in the Lord's Supper. C. F. W. Walther, the first President of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod wrote this about the Supper:

"The first Christians celebrated it almost daily; especially in times of persecution, in order to be daily ready for death. . . The Holy Supper was regarded as the most glorious divine Armory, in which one receives the most invincible weapons for the spiritual battle . . The Holy Supper with the body and blood of Jesus Christ is the new tree of life, which stood in Paradise, which Christ has now again planted in his Kingdom of Grace! . . O adorable, comforting mystery! The holy flesh of God which the angels adore and the archangels reverence, becomes a good for sinners! Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, but still more the believing soul, which enjoys such great gifts!" [Gnadenjahr, St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 1890, pp. 209ff; quoted in Marquart, "The Word as Life," pp. 51-52].

"Beware the Chair!" The Supper is the pilgrim's food which we eat on our way to our heavenly home. Rise and eat, for our race continues!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.