Bible Red Thread 15b: Consistency (Matthew 24)

prédication Évangile selon Matthieu 24 : Patrice Berger, 2023_01_01, église AB Lausanne

titre : Bible Red Thread 15b: Consistency (Matthew 24)

Résumé : Matthew 24 / Darby

Bible Red Thread 15b: Consistency (Matthew 24)

Decisions taken lightly make our lives take irreversible turns. And faced with what is really justified, what decision must be taken?

Three ingredients for a film: You have already deemed them all essential. You’ve already considered which ones are great and which ones aren’t. You’d be shocked if they weren’t present and consistent. Don’t you see what I’m talking about? The three essential things for a good film are actors, a setting, and a script. Imagine Les Miserables with a setting worthy of Star Wars. Untouchable with a healthy actor. The hero to whom nothing happens or whose story we guess in advance. A single discrepancy between these three elements, and it’s a fiasco! Do you understand the inseparable link that connects the actor/setting/scenario in any story?

In your life? And for the story of your life, have you ever asked yourself the question of the actors, the decor and the scenario? Do you know the main characters and those to whom you have to give the line? Have you ever thought about the decor of your life? And is your script consistent? There are only three main ways to answer these questions. And you must have answered one way or another, whether by choice or by default.

Bullshit! The first way to answer these questions is to turn the tables. All these questions are futile: there are no actors, no setting, and no script for our lives. There is no beginning or end, just a present, which we know is not attached to anything, a juxtaposition of everything and nothing, like a patchwork and then… pschitt… Nothing! A certain Aristotle, already 350 years before our era, affirmed that nature abhors a vacuum. Yes, you have the right to affirm that nothingness is the background of your life. Just one last question: are you really sure?

Chance, only chance: The second way of answering these questions is to say that everything is just chance: chance of the calendar, of meeting, of promotion, of the game… of Destiny! As if a film set could be the result of chance as if a good screenplay could be a random combination of interactions as if the secondary actors were as important as the main actors. Is your life worthy of a B series? So yes, you have the right to say that everything is just by chance in your life. Just one last question: are you really sure?

I’m going to think about it: The third way to answer these questions is to dare to say that they are important and to give yourself the means to think about them. Look for a scenario for your life, a setting for your existence, and discover the actors with whom you will have to dialogue. But what about practically? Does everyone write their script? Does everyone choose their decor? Are the actors predefined or to be selected on an ad-hoc basis? Many systems of thought provide more or less precise answers to these questions. Just one last question: are your answers consistent across all aspects of your life?

Only the Bible is consistent: As we have just discovered throughout the red thread of the Bible, this book provides a unique, complete and above all coherent answer to all the questions of life. The Bible offers you a solid scenario: God created you, and he wants a relationship with you, this is real life, but the relationship with your Creator has been broken. However, with Jesus, you can renew a bond of trust. The Bible also offers you first-rate actors: God the Creator, and you in permanent dialogue and a relationship of trust that it is up to you to continue. Finally, the Bible offers you a sumptuous setting: that of the story of a rescue plan, in which the history of humanity is inscribed, and the story of your life. No system of thought can offer you something so successful. Normal, it is the plan of the Creator.

REFLECTION
IT’S YOURS. Now that you’ve discovered the common thread of the Bible, how are you going to use this freedom of choice that your Creator has given you, and the reprieve of your life, to decide to place trust in God for eternity and live a transformed life to the glory of Jesus? Knowing that the only movie you can shoot in your whole life is the movie of your life; do you want a blockbuster or a turnip? Choose life with Jesus, so that you live!

Biblical texts: Available in Darby: Matthew 24; 2 Thess. 1 and 2; Revelation 21

Matthew 24 / Darby

1. And Jesus went forth and went away from the temple, and his disciples came to [him] to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
2. And he answering said to them, Do ye not see all these things? Verily I say to you, Not a stone shall be left here upon a stone which shall not be thrown down.
3. And as he was sitting upon the mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be, and what is the sign of thy coming and [the] completion of the age?
4. And Jesus answering said to them, See that no one mislead you.
5. For many shall come in my name, saying, *I* am the Christ, and they shall mislead many.
6. But ye will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not disturbed; for all [these things] must take place, but it is not yet the end.
7. For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.
8. But all these [are the] beginning of throes.
9. Then shall they deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you; and ye will be hated of all the nations for my name's sake.
10. And then will many be offended, and will deliver one another up, and hate one another;
11. and many false prophets shall arise and shall mislead many;
12. and because lawlessness shall prevail, the love of the most shall grow cold;
13. but he that has endured to the end, *he* shall be saved.
14. And these glad tidings of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole habitable earth, for a witness to all the nations, and then shall come the end.
15. When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation, which is spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in [what is a] holy place, (he that reads let him understand,)
16. then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains;
17. let not him that is on the house come down to take the things out of his house;
18. and let not him that is in the field turn back to take his garment.
19. But woe to those that are with child, and those that give suck in those days.
20. But pray that your flight may not be in winter time nor on sabbath:
21. for then shall there be great tribulation, such as has not been from [the] beginning of [the] world until now, nor ever shall be;
22. and if those days had not been cut short, no flesh had been saved; but on account of the elect those days shall be cut short.
23. Then if any one say to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or here, believe [it] not.
24. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall give great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
25. Behold, I have told you beforehand.
26. If therefore they say to you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; behold, [he is] in the inner chambers, do not believe [it].
27. For as the lightning goes forth from the east and shines to the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
28. [For] wherever the carcase is, there will be gathered the eagles.
29. But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
30. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the land lament, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from [the one] extremity of [the] heavens to [the other] extremity of them.
32. But learn the parable from the fig-tree: When already its branch becomes tender and produces leaves, ye know that the summer is near.
33. Thus also *ye*, when ye see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors.
34. Verily I say to you, This generation will not have passed away until all these things shall have taken place.
35. The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall in no wise pass away.
36. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of the heavens, but [my] Father alone.
37. But as the days of Noe, so also shall be the coming of the Son of man.
38. For as they were in the days which were before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day on which Noe entered into the ark,
39. and they knew not till the flood came and took all away; thus also shall be the coming of the Son of man.
40. Then two shall be in the field, one is taken and one is left;
41. two [women] grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left.
42. Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord comes.
43. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be dug through [into].
44. Wherefore *ye* also, be ye ready, for in that hour that ye think not the Son of man comes.
45. Who then is the faithful and prudent bondman whom his lord has set over his household, to give them food in season?
46. Blessed is that bondman whom his lord on coming shall find doing thus.
47. Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all his substance.
48. But if that evil bondman should say in his heart, My lord delays to come,
49. and begin to beat his fellow-bondmen, and eat and drink with the drunken;
50. the lord of that bondman shall come in a day when he does not expect it, and in an hour he knows not of,
51. and shall cut him in two and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

Bible Red Thread 15b: Consistency (Matthew 24)

Bible Red Thread 15b: Consistency (Matthew 24)

Matthew 24 / Darby

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