To those who are called, beloved of God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ; mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you (Jude 2).  Dear hearers of the Son of Man who will come again in judgment;

“Stay awake – for you do not know when the master of the house will come…lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.  And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

With this Sunday, the church year draws to a close.  As it does God’s Word calls our attention to the end of this earth and the end of our lives on this earth.  The heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner – the prophet Isaiah (51:6).  O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! – The Introit (Psalm 39). 

Jesus made clear the reason His disciples, are to stay awake.  The reason is this: you do not know when the master of the house will come.  The Greek word translated “stay awake” carries with it the meaning of alertness and watchfulness.  It’s not just the absence of snoring away, it also being attentive – prepared - keeping watch. 

It is keeping watch in a manner totally unlike the current hype caused by the recent movie “2012”.  Hollywood’s dazzling display of special effects is based on a nonsensical view of Mayan predictions which are nonsensical even when viewed correctly.  Alarmed secularists are comforted by NASA’s official debunking of a celestial body named Nibiru heading toward the earth.  There isn’t one – NASA says.  They are also relieved to know that the Mayan Calendar really doesn’t end on 12/20/2012. 

If you know someone who is intrigued or alarmed by all the “2012” propaganda or calmed by NASA’s proclamations then they are not staying awake in the manner Jesus commanded you to keep watch.  They also won’t be prepared for the false teaching sure to follow this Hollywood nonsense.  One of the authors of the “Left Behind” series is working on a new series called “The End.”  Be warned to expect the new series to repeat the same millennial false doctrine the first series did.  This is not Christian teaching but false teaching dangerous to souls.  It should be marked and avoided (Rom. 16:17).  It does violence to Holy Scripture by ignoring the context of pet, puzzling passages used by these plentiful predictors who just keep popping up.  It’s the same tired old false doctrine found in the book The Late Great Planet Earth back in my college days.  Its author predicted the end of the world around 1988.  Yet, instead of being labeled and avoided as the false prophet he is, he was still regarded as someone worth listening to in these last two decades.  This type of confusion makes millions of dollars for the authors while misleading millions of hearts and minds from truly keeping watch for Christ’s coming. 

The truth is that Jesus will return - physically – visibly - finally to judge all humanity.  Heaven and earth will pass away - this present world being destroyed by fire – so stay awake!  Self-made religion will not save anyone – so keep watch!  There will be no rapture – as misunderstood by pop-Christianity – whisking Christians away from end-time suffering (see Mark 13:19-24).  Rather, the Church will be hated for the Lord’s sake and bear the brunt of suffering in the last days.

No human being knows the hour or the day or the year or the century or even the millennium of Christ’s return.  Hear Jesus’ clear words once again – Be on guard, keep awake.  For you do not know when the time will come.    The Greek word for time (kairos) as used here indicates a time ordained by God and incalculable by Christians.  The most useless expenditure of time and energy is to try to figure out “when” or to listen to those who pretend to have figured it out.  When His return does take place or when He calls you from this life in death, the worst thing possible to be doing is to be caught sleeping – spiritually sleeping.  So stay awake – keep watching - not by trying to guess when, but rather by knowing who is coming - the master of the house.  

He is first of all your master and owner because He made you.  As the Psalmist wrote (Ps. 139:13, 14) You created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  You are not an accident of evolution.  You are a creation of the one true God.  He is the owner of the house and His is coming back for you. 

Secondly, He is the owner of all that you are and all that you have because he bought you back from eternal death at a great price.  As God told the Christians at Corinth to flee from sexual immorality He gave this as the reason.  Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you…you are not your own…you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body (I Cor. 6:18, 19).

Thirdly, He is the owner of all that you are and have because He called you by name in Holy Baptism.  He gifted you with faith in the forgiveness of sins.  By His word of promise you were born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the death of unbelief to the life of faith.  Because of His great love for us; God…made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions (Eph 2:4, 5).

He is the owner of the house because He made you and bought you back and remade you.  You don’t know when He will come, but you do know Him – the Lord of the house.  Even though you have not seen him you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him…(I Pt. 1:8).  Dear Christians, this knowledge means everything when it comes to “keeping watch”.  The one thing needful for staying awake is to know the One who is coming back – the master of the house.  Not to know Him is to be asleep at one’s post.  No matter how energetic and exciting and engaged one may be in the plans and pursuits and pleasures of life - apart from Christ they are sleep walking through life.  The worst thing possible for eternity is to be caught sleeping in this manner when Christ returns.  So stay awake!  Remain alert to hear the Gospel and receive forgiveness and life from the Lord of the house.  It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work…therefore stay awake!

How are you doing in this regard?  Are you awake and watching for the master of the house to come for you?  Don’t think about your spouse or your parents or your children or anyone else just now.  Think about your own heart – the week you’ve just lived - the reason you’re here today.  Think about your own death.  As always, we’ve seen the tragic ending of life in recent days.  Death has come suddenly – in a Germantown parking lot – on a military base in Texas – from terrorist bombs overseas - through earthquake - on Wisconsin highways – through heart disease and cancer.  O Lord…let me know how fleeting I am.  We know death is up ahead just a bit for ourselves and everyone we know, but we don’t know when.

The parents of a ten year old boy were told that their son had brain cancer and just a few months to live.  The response of the mother to the doctors gave witness that she was watching for the master of the house to come for him.  She said, “As long as God wants to lend him to us, we are so willing to have him.  Some die as babies, some die as children, some die as young people, and some as old people.  The main thing is that we know what lies ahead in eternity.”

Are you sure of what lies ahead in eternity?  Are you watching for the Lord of the house to come for you?  You see, the house we’ve picked to live in is not going to last.  The possessions and pictures and keepsakes we hold dear are not lasting possessions.  The heavens will vanish like smoke; the earth will wear out like a garment.  Because this is true, the stress in our text and in Scripture is not so much on the final day but on faithful living everyday!  St. Augustine said that this one day God has concealed from us that we might keep close watch over all the other days of our life.  This watchfulness is not constant worry about a decaying society or political corruption or violence in the world or how and when death will come to us.  This watchfulness is receiving Christ’s love and life while tending to our daily duties.  Keep awake for Jesus’ coming by loving your spouse, teaching your children, attending to your studies, serving your boss, confessing your sins, returning to God from His gifts to you, attending to daily prayer, and yes, even getting restful sleep.  The sinner who hopes in Christ to deliver him or her from their transgressions is alert even when sleeping because of God’s gift of faith.

To watch for the master of the house to come for us is to take care that no one misleads us with false doctrine and to watch how we use the Bible and Catechism in our homes, and to watch how ready we are to forgive our enemies and to watch how our tongue goes into action and to watch our hearts contentment and trust in God’s care.  To watch for the owner to come for us is to watch with unceasing diligence over all that God has spoken to us and given us to do. 

That dear Christian leaves you with absolutely no hope in regard to your record of watching or me with mine.  When it comes to watching, we like the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, have often nodded off to sleep.  The hour of redemption was at hand and they never saw it coming.  The history of the world was at its apex and they couldn’t stay awake for a few hours.  So we also, when we try to depend upon the strength of our own watching, are led rightly to despair or wrongly to arrogance.  Our hope cannot be in how well we have watched.  And yet, we do have hope – sure and certain hope.  Jesus invites us to look for His Second coming this way – when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:28).  It is not a Hollywood horror movie.  It is the hour of homecoming, of complete joyful fulfillment!  How can this be?  How can this be for a sinner like you – for a sinner like me?

It can be because the master of the house keeps watch over you and His watchfulness is perfect.  We read in the Psalms (121) that the Lord watches over us and that He neither slumbers nor sleeps.  Your readiness depends on His perfect watching over you right now and indeed on Christ’s interceding for you right now.  The last day is not a trap He has set for you.  He is not coming back to publicly expose you and humiliate you.  That public exposure and humiliation is what He came to bear on the cross for you.  Your baptism was into the death of Christ and your record was published there for all to see.  It was such a record that that the Holy Son of God was condemned to death and the punishment of the damned to set it right.  But set it right He did!  And give you His record – He has!  My salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.  As also Jude wrote, He is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. 

He came once to take away the sin of the world.  He comes now to serve you the fruits of that redemption in His body and His blood – to keep you in the faith.  He will come again soon to take you home – to gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.  Your death is not a dead end.  The one man with a future has invited you into His beautiful future and it will not wear out.  That makes each day on this earth a precious gift from the master of the house to you.  That gives you every reason to continue your pilgrimage with watchfulness and confident trust that He is watching over you. 

Attempts to predict Christ’s return are so very dangerous and contrary to Christ’s teaching.  For you see, the year 2012 may never come, nor the year 2011, nor even the year 2010 just a few weeks away – so stay awake!  He could come back today.  What is absolutely sure is that the master of the house, Jesus Christ, is sure to come to take you, His Bride, home.  Heaven and earth will pass away but His words will not pass away. 

In the Name of Jesus, Amen.