Sunday, 16 November 2025
MY NEXT SERMON
I AM PREACHING NEXT ON SUNDAY 7 DECEMBER 2025 - at ALL SAINTS' PARISH CHURCH, WHITEPARISH, WILTSHIRE - 9.30 a.m. MORNING WORSHIP
SERMON 226 - SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2025 - 2ND SUNDAY BEFORE ADVENT
Sermon at Morning Worship, All Saints’ Church, Winterslow and All Saints’ Church, Farley – Second Sunday before Advent – Sunday 16 November 2025
Malachi 4:1-2a; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19
May I speak in the name of
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may these words be those of you, Lord, and
may they be a blessing to all who listen and hear them.
What a truly terrifying
collection of readings we have in church this morning! They remind me of some of the warnings my
mother would give me if I didn’t behave or eat my vegetables – such horrible
fates awaited me such as a plum tree growing out of the top of my head if I
swallowed the stone or, even worse, I would turn into a monkey if I sat too
long in front of an open fire or ate too many bananas! How dreadful and how untrue.
Today, many people are shy
of the bible because they believe it is a book full of “don’ts” foretelling
dreadful things happening to non-believers. Better not to know what’s in it than
to read it and disobey, might be the philosophy of many and, certainly, in the
19th Century and earlier, ministers would stand in the pulpit and
preach mainly of the wrath of God and his punishments to those who did not toe
the religious codes and customs of the time. As we know from our own English
history lessons, many people ended up going to the block or being burnt as
heretics for not following the religious codes of the day. In this, our
modern-day 21st Century, the emphasis is now largely on the power of
God’s love and little is spoken of his wrath except in what one might call the
extreme Evangelical churches.
So how should we approach
these readings today? What is actually
being said and, especially, what was Jesus saying to those around him two
thousand years ago? Each of our readings
is dealing with “the end times” or as theologians call this study -
eschatology! However, they must each be read in the context of the time in
which they were written and it is so easy for some zealous Christians to apply
them, especially what Jesus is saying in our Gospel reading, to events
surrounding us today. I am sure each of
you has seen a street gospeller, at some time, walking up and down with a
placard proclaiming that “The End is Nigh”!
I am therefore going to
start with this Gospel reading first as it is quite a familiar piece of
scripture which is quoted often.
Jesus is actually talking
about the destruction of Jerusalem, not the end of the world. He is responding
to his own disciples’ admiration of the finery of the Temple there – just as we
today may look upon the beauty of our own cathedral and its spire in Salisbury. Jesus is actually prophesying the destruction
of this mighty edifice and the city by the Romans in 70 AD. Jesus is predicting
that his church, and his disciples will suffer much persecution and
difficulties in his name but, rather than preparing themselves to respond to
these difficulties in advance, they should understand that at the right time He
will give them the necessary resources to stand up against their
persecutors. When they ask Jesus when
this will occur, He responds by telling them, in Matthew’s version of this
event, that it will occur before another generation has passed.
I think the best explanation for these words
of Jesus is that they are to remind us to take them as a model for all
Christian living, peering into an uncertain future, needing to trust in God
when everything is crashing down around our ears. The Church, in many parts of
the world today, 2,000 years on, lives with wars, rumours of wars, purges and
persecutions on a daily basis. Those of
us who are not so suffering should read these passages often and then pray for
those places of suffering and persecution in “Christian Family solidarity”, as
Tom Wright puts it in his reflection on this passage.
An interesting point which
Tom Wright also puts in his commentary on this passage is “If your church is
not being persecuted sometimes, why not?”
His words remind me of a book I once read by the modern day theologian
Steve Chalke entitled “Change Agents”.
It is a very short book of around 30 very small chapters one of which
discusses that to be a “change agent”, that is somebody who can make a real
difference to society, you must have enemies/opponents to be effective. If everyone likes you and your philosophies
without dissent, then it is likely that you are not being very effective. I think that is the true message of Jesus in
this passage – Christian effectiveness will be accompanied by opposition and
discourse. Martyrs and confessors around
the world today testify to this – that God is faithful to his promises,
providing words, wisdom and above all perseverance to his faithful servants
when they are being oppressed or opposed.
Both of our other two
readings, this morning, contain an element of eschatology too. In Paul’s second
letter to the Thessalonians, warnings of idleness seem rather outmoded in our
present world where people seem to be busier than ever just to make ends meet.
I think that few people today are really idle through choice. Two people who I
can think of, personally, who might satisfy this description, on reflection I
think have mental health issues. Paul’s warning is really another view on the
end times – it might be tempting to think if the world is going to end, what is
the point of spending a lot of time working? Why not just let things slide and
enjoy what time is left?
Actually, what Paul is
reminding the church in Thessalonica is that they are one collective body and
need to work and support each other – a common theme of his writings. No one
should “sponge off others”. We, as a global Christian Family, need to support
each other and especially those of our brothers and sisters in places of
persecution and wars where our common faith is under attack. That is the meaning of true Christian love,
the love described in Greek as “agape” and that starts within our own
communities and spreads out from there.
Our first reading this
morning is from the Book of Malachi – the very last book of the Old Testament
and one of my favourite books in the whole of the bible. It is quite a short
book – only some four short chapters and is written in the style of a dialogue
between God and the writer. In order to
fully appreciate the two short verses of this morning’s reading, I recommend
you read the whole of the book.
The background to the book
is that the Jewish people had become somewhat indolent in their worship. They were not being particularly oppressed or
seeing God working miracles – they, therefore, felt no especial need to call
upon God for protection or praise him - they were simply going through the
motions of worship. Indeed, instead of
sacrificing the best animals on God’s altar they were keeping the best for
themselves and sacrificing blemished ones.
I often think that we can, today in our modern world, fall into that
same trap and be half-hearted about our relationship with God, forgetting that
he made us in His own image and everything in the world today, and beyond, is
due to his creation and grace.
Our reading from Malachi
this morning comes in the very last chapter following on from the dialogue
between prophet and God. It is a culmination of all that has come before – a
reminder that those who are genuine in their love of God and “revere” his name
will see Him, who made the world, put all things to right – the same sun which
burns and scorches the land will shine upon the righteous. What a lovely thought.
So, I ask you to examine
yourselves and ask yourselves whether you are making God, through Jesus and the
Holy Spirit, central to your life and giving him the honour and praise he so
richly deserves – He who created us and loves us unconditionally.
Let us pray:
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for Your faithful
promises to strengthen, establish, and protect us, even when our faith falters
and we prove faithless and false to You. Keep us ever mindful of this truth and
guide us in the choices we must make today. Use us as an instrument of Your
grace and keep us from all evil, so that we may grow in grace and in a
knowledge of You, and in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in Whose name
we pray,
Amen.
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