Plow
Creek Mennonite Church
Sunday
Meditations
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
The time is short
Presented by Jim Foxvog
January 22, 2006
news.” “The present form of this world is passing away.”
What does this mean for us today? Some say these passages show that Jesus and Paul both thought that the end of the world would come in days or at most years; that Paul thought Jesus’ return would certainly be in his lifetime, at least if his life was not ended prematurely. “But we know better now!”
Do we? There are all kinds of predictions from many sources of the crises that are about to happen.
Oil is running out. It will soon be so expensive that the cost of most transportation of
things and people will be prohibitive. This will cause economic collapse.
But economic collapse may well come sooner. The current US debt is owned by foreign
nations and corporations around the world and is unsustainable. When it becomes clear it can never be repaid the dollar may collapse, causing world economic disaster.
Pollution is making more and more of the world unsafe to live in. Depleted Uranium has
already made several nations not safe for human habitation for millions of years; and we keep using more of it.
Global warming, which may be irreversible due the greenhouse gasses released by the
thawing of the permafrost, will increase deadly storms, flood low-lying cities and crop land,
cause desertification, and maybe shut down the Gulf Stream and freeze Europe.
Overpopulation will cause increasing levels of extinctions, starvation and plagues.
Pandemic deadly Avian flu, AIDS, pneumonia and other new pestilences will sweep the earth, and desperate people will wage wars to survive.
Due to all the above, and of course the "Islamofascists", terrorism will keep increasing, so all the former democracies will have to turn to authoritarian rulership for safety.
Nuclear nonproliferation is failing, and many nations and terrorist groups will soon have and use nuclear weapons.
An asteroid or comet may strike the earth.
And, more and more, the eminent return of Jesus is being foretold.
All of the predictions I’ve mentioned may be right. Or there is even a slim possibility all
the predictions for disaster may be wrong. Maybe if people change their hearts and lives, as in the time of Jonah, God will again preserve the people from calamity. Or it may be more like the time of Noah, as Jesus said: They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them.
The end of the world as we know it may be in the next minute, hour, day, year, decade – or maybe even later. What should we do? How shall we live?
Maybe we should live as if the Lord will return soon. Be living the values of the
Kingdom now. Not being anxious about tomorrow. Not laying up treasures on earth.
Live as if this is a critical time, a kairos moment. Seek God’s guidance in every
decision, every action. Repent - that means have our minds transformed, renewed.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so
that we may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Put away our former ways of life, our old selves, corrupt and deluded by their lusts, and
to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and clothe ourselves with the new self, created
according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Prioritize our lives as if God were watching our every move and that we expect Jesus to
return at any time. Elsewhere Paul writes, “The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves.”
Believe the Good News.
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!
Some interpret “the time is short” as “the time is critical” instead.
Maybe.
The implication drawn either way is true.
That this, and every time, is the moment in human history when all people can come to salvation by knowing the living God in Christ,
that we should turn from our own selfish ways
and live lives of radical obedience.
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
The time is short
Presented by Jim Foxvog
January 22, 2006
Jonah 3:1-5,
10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great
city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh,
according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days'
walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days
more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God; they
proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind
about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those
who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not
mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though
they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with
it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
Mark 1:14-20
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and
saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the
good news."
“The
time is short.” “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and
believe the goodThe word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great
city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh,
according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days'
walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days
more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God; they
proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind
about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those
who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not
mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though
they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with
it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
Mark 1:14-20
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and
saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the
good news."
news.” “The present form of this world is passing away.”
What does this mean for us today? Some say these passages show that Jesus and Paul both thought that the end of the world would come in days or at most years; that Paul thought Jesus’ return would certainly be in his lifetime, at least if his life was not ended prematurely. “But we know better now!”
Do we? There are all kinds of predictions from many sources of the crises that are about to happen.
Oil is running out. It will soon be so expensive that the cost of most transportation of
things and people will be prohibitive. This will cause economic collapse.
But economic collapse may well come sooner. The current US debt is owned by foreign
nations and corporations around the world and is unsustainable. When it becomes clear it can never be repaid the dollar may collapse, causing world economic disaster.
Pollution is making more and more of the world unsafe to live in. Depleted Uranium has
already made several nations not safe for human habitation for millions of years; and we keep using more of it.
Global warming, which may be irreversible due the greenhouse gasses released by the
thawing of the permafrost, will increase deadly storms, flood low-lying cities and crop land,
cause desertification, and maybe shut down the Gulf Stream and freeze Europe.
Overpopulation will cause increasing levels of extinctions, starvation and plagues.
Pandemic deadly Avian flu, AIDS, pneumonia and other new pestilences will sweep the earth, and desperate people will wage wars to survive.
Due to all the above, and of course the "Islamofascists", terrorism will keep increasing, so all the former democracies will have to turn to authoritarian rulership for safety.
Nuclear nonproliferation is failing, and many nations and terrorist groups will soon have and use nuclear weapons.
An asteroid or comet may strike the earth.
And, more and more, the eminent return of Jesus is being foretold.
All of the predictions I’ve mentioned may be right. Or there is even a slim possibility all
the predictions for disaster may be wrong. Maybe if people change their hearts and lives, as in the time of Jonah, God will again preserve the people from calamity. Or it may be more like the time of Noah, as Jesus said: They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them.
The end of the world as we know it may be in the next minute, hour, day, year, decade – or maybe even later. What should we do? How shall we live?
Maybe we should live as if the Lord will return soon. Be living the values of the
Kingdom now. Not being anxious about tomorrow. Not laying up treasures on earth.
Live as if this is a critical time, a kairos moment. Seek God’s guidance in every
decision, every action. Repent - that means have our minds transformed, renewed.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so
that we may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Put away our former ways of life, our old selves, corrupt and deluded by their lusts, and
to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and clothe ourselves with the new self, created
according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Prioritize our lives as if God were watching our every move and that we expect Jesus to
return at any time. Elsewhere Paul writes, “The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves.”
Believe the Good News.
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!
Some interpret “the time is short” as “the time is critical” instead.
Maybe.
The implication drawn either way is true.
That this, and every time, is the moment in human history when all people can come to salvation by knowing the living God in Christ,
that we should turn from our own selfish ways
and live lives of radical obedience.