April 8, 2025 • 25 mins
Hope doesn't come after pain—it rises within our pain. As we continue our journey through Luke's gospel in week two of our "Hope Rising" series, we encounter Jesus preparing his followers for difficult times ahead. While they admired the magnificent temple in Jerusalem—its stunning white limestone and gold accents symbolizing permanence and divine presence—Jesus delivers a shocking prophecy: "Not one stone will be left on top of another."
Unlike leaders who offer shallow platitudes, Jesus doesn't sugarcoat reality. He warns of persecution, betrayal, global conflict, natural disasters, and cosmic upheaval. Yet within this sobering forecast, he plants seeds of profound hope: "This will be your opportunity to tell them about me." The very moments of greatest challenge become platforms for powerful testimony.
Most striking is Jesus's paradoxical promise: "Not a hair on your head will perish." Given that many disciples would face martyrdom, this wasn't about physical safety. Rather, Jesus reveals a deeper truth—what truly matters cannot be destroyed by worldly powers. Our essential being remains secure in Christ even when everything around us crumbles.
The passage culminates with Jesus's instruction that when chaos reaches its peak, his followers should "stand and look up, for your salvation is near." This invitation challenges us to examine where we've anchored our hope. Have we built our security on temples that can fall—career achievements, financial stability, perfect health, ideal relationships? When these foundations tremble, we discover what truly sustains us.
As Dr. Henry Cloud wisely distinguishes, "A wish is hope without evidence, but hope, real hope, is based on evidence." Our Christian hope isn't groundless optimism but is anchored in the historical reality of Jesus's resurrection. The empty tomb remains the ultimate evidence that suffering doesn't have the final word. This is why, even in our darkest moments, hope can still rise.
What does it look like for hope to rise anew in your life today? Join us as we explore how to build faith-filled endurance that doesn't shake when the world does.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're in week two of our teaching series, Hope Rising
, and in this series we arefinally in the final chapters of
Luke.
And so for the last year and ahalf or a little bit longer
actually we've been goingthrough Luke and we've kind of
dropped some series in betweenas we've taken some pauses but
we've been going verse by verseand chapter by chapter through
(00:21):
Luke's gospel and now, as we'recoming up to Easter, in just a
couple of weeks, we are comingto the end of his gospel.
Now, some of the things thatare starting to noticeably
change, as we are, if we putourselves in that mindset of us
walking with Jesus through thegospel of Luke, some of the
things we might notice if wewere there 2000 years ago is
that the resistance about Jesusis starting to grow.
It's growing all around him.
(00:43):
It's not just the Pharisees orthe Sadducees, it's now.
The government is starting toget involved and, as such, where
there is resistance, the crowdsare starting to thin.
So, whereas there were a bunchof people following Jesus, there
was no resistance, it was allgood, hardly any of the bad.
Now there's a lot of bad andpeople are yeah, you know what?
(01:04):
It's not worth it, the tensionthat they're experiencing not
worth it, and so they leave.
But what we are discovering,what I hope to discover, between
last week, this week and nextweek, is that even in the
darkest moments, as we approachEaster Sunday, the death of
Jesus, God is still at work, andwhat often looks like the end
(01:27):
in our lives is often just thebeginning.
You see, hope doesn't comeafter the pain.
Hope rises within our pain, andthat's why we're doing this
series.
We live in a world, as you mighthave noticed, you might be
aware a world that is filledwith uncertainty, surrounded by
(01:50):
fear, division, instability.
Globally, yes, Nationally,certainly true, but let's bring
it home, to our families, wherewe go home at the end of the day
.
I think a lot of our householdsare marked by these things some
fear, some division, someinstability.
And in a world like this thatwe live in, we do not need
(02:12):
shallow optimism, and the goodnews for us today is that that's
not even what Jesus offers.
He doesn't offer us.
Just keep your head up and, youknow, just try to look at the
good.
We're going to Luke 21, if youwant to follow along with me.
Jesus is going to prepare hisdisciples and us, as we read for
a future filled with chaos andconfusion and even suffering.
(02:37):
And what I appreciate most aboutJesus is, unlike a lot of guys
like me pastors, church leadersunlike a lot of guys like me,
Jesus does not sugarcoat howhard it's going to be.
He doesn't sugarcoat it at all,and yet he doesn't leave them
without hope.
Okay, so he's able to do both.
He's able to just tell you theblunt truth of how it's going to
(02:58):
be, but he doesn't leave youfeeling hopeless.
I want to begin with a quotethat I think captures the heart
of what we're chasing in thisseries.
It says hope is nothing elsethan the expectation of those
things which faith has believedto have been truly promised by
God.
Or if I were to rewrite that, Iwould say hope isn't just when
(03:18):
things are easy, it's actuallyfor when everything feels like
they're falling apart.
Hope is when everything it'sright there, when everything is
falling apart.
And last week Sarah showed ushow even sacred spaces, spaces
like this on Sunday morning, orlike the temple, can become a
distraction from the true hope.
And what Jesus wants us to dois to make room in our lives
(03:41):
outside of Sundays, outside ofthis one hour a week we're
together.
He wants us to make room forsomething deeper and something
that won't crumble when theworld does.
It's a promise.
When the world crumbles, what'sin here has to be stable, and
it was the end of Sarah's momentbrings us to this moment today,
(04:03):
where Luke records that some ofhis disciples began talking
about the majestic stonework ofthe temple and the memorial
decorations on the walls.
But Jesus said the time iscoming when all these things
will be completely demolished.
Not one stone will be left ontop of another.
Now the disciples are in awe.
(04:23):
I mean, these guys, they'refrom, you know, these little
towns out in the middle ofnowhere, they're from the sticks
, and now they're finally in thebig city and they see this
temple that everyone has beentalking about and they are in
awe.
Now it's not just a beautifulbuilding.
I mean, you can imagine 2,000years ago that's a really,
really beautiful building.
But it wasn't just that.
(04:45):
This building was the center ofJewish life, spiritually,
culturally, nationally.
This was the place where, intheir theology, what they
believed, this is where heavenand earth collided, where
sacrifices to God were offeredand where festivals gathered
thousands.
It symbolized God's presenceamongst his people.
(05:08):
And this is Herod's temple.
Herod rebuilt it and it wasstunning White limestone,
gold-plated accents, stones somassive that to just looking at
it, you'd say this was immovable, this would be permanent.
You might say that this is hopecarved in stone, that when you
(05:28):
look at the temple that you sawhope, you experienced hope.
And so when Jesus says it'sgoing to be torn down, he's not
just talking about a structurecoming to its end, he is shaking
there the disciples, whoever islistening, their entire
framework for how they believedGod worked.
(05:49):
And we keep saying itThroughout the series.
You're like man.
Jesus keeps saying these thingsand the disciples keep nodding
their head, and yet they stilldon't get it, no exception for
today's passage.
They still don't get it.
The disciples are stillexpecting a revolution, that
Jesus is going to be warrior Godand put all things under him
(06:10):
and put Jerusalem back on top.
And when Jesus says, well, thebase, the temple, this is going
to crumble, it wouldn't havemade sense.
You see, the last time thetemple fell was about 600 BC, so
about 600 years before Jesus istalking.
And when that happened, itmeant exile, it meant judgment
(06:35):
and it meant despair.
Well, those don't sound likewinning, that doesn't sound like
victory, and isn't that why weare following Jesus, Because
he's going to be the champion.
So they ask well, when, when,when, you know, when, Jesus, are
all these things going tohappen?
They're looking for answers,they're looking for something to
(06:55):
hold on to, Because you knowthis as well as they know this
that when the unshakable startsto fall, we want to know what
comes next.
If my present reality isfractured and it's breaking,
okay, I guess I can find peaceor comfort in whatever's going
to happen next.
If today's a trash day, I stillhave tomorrow.
(07:15):
But what will tomorrow bring?
Well, Jesus doesn't quiteapproach that yet.
He doesn't answer the question.
He doesn't dodge it either.
He says well, just hold on asecond.
We haven't even gotten to thebad news yet.
He says when the temple isgoing to fall.
And then he goes on.
He says nation will go to waragainst nation and kingdom
(07:36):
against kingdom.
There will be great earthquakesand there will be famines and
plagues and many lands, andthere will be terrifying things
and great miraculous signs fromheaven.
Jesus is leaning into future,prophecy now.
Okay, so he's talking.
When he talks about the temple,it's like, hey, this is going
to happen and then he's going togo way in the future.
(07:57):
This is what's going to happen.
And then he comes back to thepresent tense.
But before all of this occurs,there will be a time of great
persecution.
Now he's talking to thedisciples, his followers.
You will be dragged intosynagogues and prisons and you
will stand trial before kingsand governors because you are my
(08:17):
followers.
But this will be youropportunity to tell them about
me, and everyone will hate youbecause you are my followers,
but not a hair on your head willperish.
By standing firm, you will winyour souls.
And so we can kind of see Luke,who is this journalist, this
investigator, who's a reallygood writer.
(08:39):
He's structuring this teachingin a way that's a little
different than how Matthew andMark do it.
He's saying here's the bigpicture.
Everything is not heading in areal great direction.
But before that, not heading ina real great direction and
before that really doesn't lookgood for you.
And that's how he structures it.
And so you can imagine again.
(09:00):
The followers of Jesus are likeI don't understand.
The last four years we've beenfollowing you, we believe you're
the Messiah, and if you are theMessiah, how can things still
end the way that you arepredicting it?
But he reframes the suffering.
So all of this bad stuff'sgoing to happen and in the
(09:21):
meantime it's an opportunity foryou to bear witness.
Don't run, Don't panic, don'tdespair, testify.
And then he closes with aparadox of comfort which I'm
sure they're going tomisunderstand.
He says not a hair on your headwill perish.
(09:42):
And we're really talking in aspiritual sense.
We know that all of hisfollowers are going to
eventually be killed for theirfaith.
A lot of his followers aregoing to be persecuted.
We know that that's what'sgoing to happen.
But what he's saying is I willsave the essence of who you are.
There's a part of you that onlyI can protect and I will
(10:03):
protect it.
There's a part of you theycannot harm, and I've got that
For his disciples.
But I would say for us today,it's sobering, it's clarifying.
Following Jesus will be hard,but it is never hopeless,
because suffering isn't whereGod disappears, it's where he
(10:25):
often draws us the closest.
That's why, when people aregoing through a rough time and
then we're talking and they wantto know I must be doing
something wrong, because I'mgoing through a rough time and
I'm like that's kind of theopposite of what Jesus said.
He didn't say if you do all theright things, things are going
to go really well for you.
I mean, he's explicit byfollowing me things are often
(10:47):
going to be difficult,challenging and they're going to
suck.
Okay.
So it doesn't always meanyou're doing something wrong.
If today, you're in a seasonand you're feeling like, oh my
gosh, the ground under me isvery unstable and it's fractured
and tomorrow, I don't know whattomorrow is going to bring, it
doesn't mean you're doinganything wrong.
I want to encourage you in thatit could be that God is working
(11:10):
and you actually are doing theright things.
And to get from here to here,you got to go through this
valley.
Jesus wants his followers tosee.
The fall of Jerusalem is notjust devastation, but a moment
within God's larger story ofgrace and of redemption, and I
think that applies to us today.
(11:31):
He wants you, he wants me, hewants us.
If you're watching, listeningonline, he wants us to see that
the destruction or thedevastation that's going on in
our lives.
It is not the full story.
There's a part of a largernarrative, One thing they needed
to understand so that theycould endure and remain faithful
(11:51):
even when everything collapsed.
Today might be terrible, butGod's story is remarkable and he
continues.
He says those in Jerusalem mustget out and those in the
(12:13):
country should not return to thecity, for those will be days of
God's vengeance and theprophetic words of the
scriptures will be fulfilled.
He's saying Jerusalem, not justthe temple Now we're going to
go back out Not just the templeis going to fall, this entire
city is going to fall.
(12:33):
No metaphors, no symbols, noparables Explicit.
When you see the armiessurrounding, you know it's time,
it's over.
And it happened.
Like 35 years after that firstEaster, Jesus' prophecy happened
.
The Roman forces laid siege toJerusalem.
(12:55):
The temple was in factdestroyed.
The Roman forces laid siege toJerusalem.
The temple was in factdestroyed, the city burned.
Thousands of people died.
But what's probably trulyshocking to the Jewish followers
of Jesus at that time was whathe told them to do Don't stay,
Do not stay.
And if you're far away, do notreturn to Jerusalem.
When you hear it's under attack, Run, Get out.
(13:18):
And that would have soundedbackwards.
If you are the king of the Jewsand you're this warrior, God,
who's going to protect Jerusalemand protect the temple?
Why are we retreating?
But he says well, because thistime isn't a time of refuge.
It's not a time to hide, a timeof refuge, of safety.
This is a time of judgment.
He calls it God's vengeance.
(13:39):
He's echoing the propheticwords of Isaiah and Jeremiah,
who warned this is what willhappen to you, Israel, if you
harden your hearts.
And here it is.
It's happened again.
This wasn't just a militarycollapse.
This wasn't just that Jerusalemgot outsmarted or outpowered by
another nation.
(13:59):
They would have understood thisthe next time we fall.
God let this happen, or God hadit happen or orchestrated it.
We're going to get, you knowthat kind of hairy theology
there that we're not going toget into.
But they would have understoodthis was God's vengeance.
Now, what Jesus is trying tocommunicate the temple would end
(14:20):
, Jerusalem would fall, and yetGod's mission would continue
despite those things.
Despite those things, In thisfinal section, Jesus shifts from
near-term warnings like hey,this is what's going to happen
in the following weeks, monthsand years in your lifetime, to a
future cosmic movement thatwould have stirred both awe and
(14:43):
fear into his listeners.
He said and there will bestrange signs in the sun and the
moon and the stars and here onearth.
Nations will be in turmoil,perplexed by the roaring seas
and strange tides.
People will be terrified atwhat they see coming upon the
earth.
The powers in the heavens willbe shaken.
Then everyone will see the Sonof man coming on a cloud with
(15:04):
power and great glory.
So when all of these thingsbegin to happen, stand and look
up, for your salvation is near.
He describes the world isunraveling and there's going to
be signs in the skies nations inchaos, seas roaring, people
overcome.
With Terry, you might say thatthis sounds a lot like 2025,
(15:26):
right, or maybe 2020 or whateveryear you conjure up in your
mind.
It might sound symbolic, butthis was the language of the
prophets, Isaiah, Joel, Daniel.
They would have recognized it.
That what Jesus is describingwhen all of these things are in
chaos, like what we look aroundthat the day of the Lord is near
(15:48):
, that victory is near, thatthat win that we've been waiting
hundreds and thousands of yearsfor is closer today than it's
ever been before, Because at thecenter of this storm and the
confusion and the chaos, theywill see the Son of man coming
on a cloud with power and greatglory.
(16:11):
He's saying I am the returningking, not just the conqueror.
I'm not just going to goforward and overthrow a
government and make the templerise, I will come back, but it
won't just be for Jerusalem andit won't just be for this temple
, it will be for everything.
I'm the returning king.
So when this happens, don'tlook down.
(16:33):
When there's chaos andconfusion and fractures and
brokenness and everything iswrong, he says don't look down,
don't hide, don't give in toyour fear, but rather look up,
because redemption is near.
Jesus warns stay awake, stayready, Stay ready.
This is a call to live withurgency, with clarity and hope.
(16:57):
Urgency, clarity and hope,Because even when everything
feels unstable, the Son of manwill return and those who are
watching I believe you, those ofus who are watching we will see
him and join him in his glory.
(17:19):
Now you can imagine thedisciples' heads are spinning
here.
He just said a lot and it'sreally confusing, and Jesus
sometimes talked in parables,but it didn't seem like he was
really talking in a parable thistime.
So he actually means what he'ssaying.
There's no guessing.
So now they're left with somefacts.
The temple is going to fall,the world is going to unravel
(17:43):
and in my immediate future, I'mgoing to suffer, be betrayed and
be killed for what I believe.
It's a lot to take in in ashort period of time what I
believe.
It's a lot to take in in ashort period of time, and yet
through all of it, through allof it, Jesus calls his followers
(18:06):
to endure, to trust, to hope,not in what's temporary, but in
a kingdom that will not andcannot be shaken.
And that's the heartbeat of thewhole passage of what we have
talked about today.
Many want to write books on theend times.
It's going to be this year,it's going to be next year, it's
going to be this day.
People have written those kindof books.
But the heart of this passageis that our hope is not grounded
in what we can see.
It's grounded in Christ'seternal reign.
(18:28):
Not what we can see, but inChrist's eternal reign.
And this is a theme echoedthroughout the entire New
Testament.
Paul writes that creation groansas it waits for redemption.
We hope for what we do not yetsee.
That's Romans 8.
Peter reminds us that even intrials, our faith is more
valuable than gold.
1 Peter 1.7.
(18:49):
And the author of Hebrews sayswe are receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken.
And the author of Hebrews sayswe are receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken.
So Luke 21 isn't just a warning,it's a reframing.
Jesus is saying don't tie yourhope to what can fall apart, but
rather tie your hope to me.
And that raises a question forus this morning what have you
(19:21):
anchored your hope to?
What have you anchored yourhope to?
What have you anchored yourhope to?
What scares you the most?
What are you most afraid oflosing?
That may reveal what you hopemost in Life will shake, and for
(19:45):
many of us, it already has.
The temple fell for the firstdisciples and we don't have a
temple like that, but we have atemple like this.
Our health and perhaps we got adiagnosis and the temple is
falling.
A broken relationship,something that seemed healthy
(20:05):
and fun, now isn't.
It's broken.
A job or a career that we wereso excited for, so invested in,
is gone.
We find ourselves in a seasonof doubt, of exhaustion.
The things that we thought weresecure when they begin to
(20:25):
crumble, what do we do?
What do we do?
Do we numb out, sleep a littlemore, drink a little more,
indulge ourselves?
Just got to get through it.
(20:48):
Or, and perhaps better,healthier?
We stand firm and we look upand we make room for what Jesus
has been asking us to make roomfor.
That's him.
That's what hope looks like inthe middle of a storm.
Not denial, not this shallowpositivity, this toxic optimism,
but faith-filled endurance.
And so maybe for you today it'sjust calling it out I am really
(21:09):
scared of, I'm really fearful of.
This is the place that fear hascrept in.
This is where I've been puttingmy hope in and I need to
reroute my hope.
Maybe it's recommitting toscripture and prayer.
I know how it goes you get busy, you get overwhelmed.
Perhaps you just go away for aweekend and the whole routine of
your life gets thrown upsidedown when you return.
But maybe it's a recommitmentto scripture and prayer.
(21:31):
Upside down when you return,but maybe it's a recommitment to
scripture and prayer.
Maybe for you, it's choosing tohelp someone in your life,
someone who is near to you, whoneeds help that you're actually
able to provide.
Maybe it's just surrendering toJesus for the first time.
Maybe you haven't done that.
Whatever the step is, do notlet chaos define you.
(21:54):
Don't let chaos define you.
Let Christ define you, Becauseeven when everything else falls,
hope still rises.
Can you imagine what it wouldlook like at Madison Church if
we all did this?
I've been kind of coming backto this idea.
Well, imagine if you and me andus, the person sitting next to
(22:18):
you imagine if we all stood upand did this in a world that
feels unstable, a community thatdoes not retreat when life gets
hard, but a community thatleans in to faith, with presence
, with purpose.
And that's what Jesus wasforming when he spoke these
words.
Not just individuals trying tosurvive, not just going from day
(22:39):
to day, week to week we justgot to get through it but a
kingdom, people who enduretogether, witness together, lift
their heads together andadvance his mission forward.
What if we, collectively, wereknown for being rooted in a hope
that doesn't shake when theworld does?
When the world is overwhelmedby anxiety, we show up with
(23:03):
peace Doesn't mean we don't feelanxiety.
You're certainly going to feelworried from time to time, but
what if we showed up with peacewhen others despair?
We lived as a people of promise.
When others ran, we stoodsteady, anchored, present and
(23:25):
awake.
Because, as you might havenoticed this morning or last
week, the world is still broken.
The kingdom of God is not yetfully here, fully realized.
The chaos is real.
Jesus isn't sugarcoating thatfor you, but he also hasn't
(23:47):
stopped working, and he calls usto stand firm, to build a
community in which hope rises,one life at a time.
And so maybe today theinvitation for you is to trust
again.
Maybe it's to trust in God forthe first time, or trust in God
(24:12):
for the first time in a longtime.
You did trust God and a bunchof bad stuff happened and you
gave up on that, but then youdetermined it wasn't actually
better the other way.
Maybe it's time to come back tothat.
Maybe it's baptism, Maybe it'srejoining the Christian
community, Maybe it's justchoosing hope in the middle of
your storm, Hope in the middleof your storm.
But don't confuse hope with awish.
(24:34):
As Dr Henry Cloud puts it inhis book on trust a wish is hope
without evidence, but hope,real hope, is based on evidence,
and for us the evidence is thecross.
It's the life, death andresurrection of Jesus.
(24:56):
We don't just wish.
Jesus is who he said he was.
We hope because he proved it.
So ask yourself what does itlook like for hope to rise anew?
Because the tomb is still empty, and that changes everything.
We're in week two of our teaching series, Hope Rising
, and in this series we arefinally in the final chapters of
Luke.
And so for the last year and ahalf or a little bit longer
actually we've been goingthrough Luke and we've kind of
dropped some series in betweenas we've taken some pauses but
we've been going verse by verseand chapter by chapter through
(00:21):
Luke's gospel and now, as we'recoming up to Easter, in just a
couple of weeks, we are comingto the end of his gospel.
Now, some of the things thatare starting to noticeably
change, as we are, if we putourselves in that mindset of us
walking with Jesus through thegospel of Luke, some of the
things we might notice if wewere there 2000 years ago is
that the resistance about Jesusis starting to grow.
It's growing all around him.
(00:43):
It's not just the Pharisees orthe Sadducees, it's now.
The government is starting toget involved and, as such, where
there is resistance, the crowdsare starting to thin.
So, whereas there were a bunchof people following Jesus, there
was no resistance, it was allgood, hardly any of the bad.
Now there's a lot of bad andpeople are yeah, you know what?
(01:04):
It's not worth it, the tensionthat they're experiencing not
worth it, and so they leave.
But what we are discovering,what I hope to discover, between
last week, this week and nextweek, is that even in the
darkest moments, as we approachEaster Sunday, the death of
Jesus, God is still at work, andwhat often looks like the end
(01:27):
in our lives is often just thebeginning.
You see, hope doesn't comeafter the pain.
Hope rises within our pain, andthat's why we're doing this
series.
We live in a world, as you mighthave noticed, you might be
aware a world that is filledwith uncertainty, surrounded by
(01:50):
fear, division, instability.
Globally, yes, Nationally,certainly true, but let's bring
it home, to our families, wherewe go home at the end of the day
.
I think a lot of our householdsare marked by these things some
fear, some division, someinstability.
And in a world like this thatwe live in, we do not need
(02:12):
shallow optimism, and the goodnews for us today is that that's
not even what Jesus offers.
He doesn't offer us.
Just keep your head up and, youknow, just try to look at the
good.
We're going to Luke 21, if youwant to follow along with me.
Jesus is going to prepare hisdisciples and us, as we read for
a future filled with chaos andconfusion and even suffering.
(02:37):
And what I appreciate most aboutJesus is, unlike a lot of guys
like me pastors, church leadersunlike a lot of guys like me,
Jesus does not sugarcoat howhard it's going to be.
He doesn't sugarcoat it at all,and yet he doesn't leave them
without hope.
Okay, so he's able to do both.
He's able to just tell you theblunt truth of how it's going to
(02:58):
be, but he doesn't leave youfeeling hopeless.
I want to begin with a quotethat I think captures the heart
of what we're chasing in thisseries.
It says hope is nothing elsethan the expectation of those
things which faith has believedto have been truly promised by
God.
Or if I were to rewrite that, Iwould say hope isn't just when
(03:18):
things are easy, it's actuallyfor when everything feels like
they're falling apart.
Hope is when everything it'sright there, when everything is
falling apart.
And last week Sarah showed ushow even sacred spaces, spaces
like this on Sunday morning, orlike the temple, can become a
distraction from the true hope.
And what Jesus wants us to dois to make room in our lives
(03:41):
outside of Sundays, outside ofthis one hour a week we're
together.
He wants us to make room forsomething deeper and something
that won't crumble when theworld does.
It's a promise.
When the world crumbles, what'sin here has to be stable, and
it was the end of Sarah's momentbrings us to this moment today,
(04:03):
where Luke records that some ofhis disciples began talking
about the majestic stonework ofthe temple and the memorial
decorations on the walls.
But Jesus said the time iscoming when all these things
will be completely demolished.
Not one stone will be left ontop of another.
Now the disciples are in awe.
(04:23):
I mean, these guys, they'refrom, you know, these little
towns out in the middle ofnowhere, they're from the sticks
, and now they're finally in thebig city and they see this
temple that everyone has beentalking about and they are in
awe.
Now it's not just a beautifulbuilding.
I mean, you can imagine 2,000years ago that's a really,
really beautiful building.
But it wasn't just that.
(04:45):
This building was the center ofJewish life, spiritually,
culturally, nationally.
This was the place where, intheir theology, what they
believed, this is where heavenand earth collided, where
sacrifices to God were offeredand where festivals gathered
thousands.
It symbolized God's presenceamongst his people.
(05:08):
And this is Herod's temple.
Herod rebuilt it and it wasstunning White limestone,
gold-plated accents, stones somassive that to just looking at
it, you'd say this was immovable, this would be permanent.
You might say that this is hopecarved in stone, that when you
(05:28):
look at the temple that you sawhope, you experienced hope.
And so when Jesus says it'sgoing to be torn down, he's not
just talking about a structurecoming to its end, he is shaking
there the disciples, whoever islistening, their entire
framework for how they believedGod worked.
(05:49):
And we keep saying itThroughout the series.
You're like man.
Jesus keeps saying these thingsand the disciples keep nodding
their head, and yet they stilldon't get it, no exception for
today's passage.
They still don't get it.
The disciples are stillexpecting a revolution, that
Jesus is going to be warrior Godand put all things under him
(06:10):
and put Jerusalem back on top.
And when Jesus says, well, thebase, the temple, this is going
to crumble, it wouldn't havemade sense.
You see, the last time thetemple fell was about 600 BC, so
about 600 years before Jesus istalking.
And when that happened, itmeant exile, it meant judgment
(06:35):
and it meant despair.
Well, those don't sound likewinning, that doesn't sound like
victory, and isn't that why weare following Jesus, Because
he's going to be the champion.
So they ask well, when, when,when, you know, when, Jesus, are
all these things going tohappen?
They're looking for answers,they're looking for something to
(06:55):
hold on to, Because you knowthis as well as they know this
that when the unshakable startsto fall, we want to know what
comes next.
If my present reality isfractured and it's breaking,
okay, I guess I can find peaceor comfort in whatever's going
to happen next.
If today's a trash day, I stillhave tomorrow.
(07:15):
But what will tomorrow bring?
Well, Jesus doesn't quiteapproach that yet.
He doesn't answer the question.
He doesn't dodge it either.
He says well, just hold on asecond.
We haven't even gotten to thebad news yet.
He says when the temple isgoing to fall.
And then he goes on.
He says nation will go to waragainst nation and kingdom
(07:36):
against kingdom.
There will be great earthquakesand there will be famines and
plagues and many lands, andthere will be terrifying things
and great miraculous signs fromheaven.
Jesus is leaning into future,prophecy now.
Okay, so he's talking.
When he talks about the temple,it's like, hey, this is going
to happen and then he's going togo way in the future.
(07:57):
This is what's going to happen.
And then he comes back to thepresent tense.
But before all of this occurs,there will be a time of great
persecution.
Now he's talking to thedisciples, his followers.
You will be dragged intosynagogues and prisons and you
will stand trial before kingsand governors because you are my
(08:17):
followers.
But this will be youropportunity to tell them about
me, and everyone will hate youbecause you are my followers,
but not a hair on your head willperish.
By standing firm, you will winyour souls.
And so we can kind of see Luke,who is this journalist, this
investigator, who's a reallygood writer.
(08:39):
He's structuring this teachingin a way that's a little
different than how Matthew andMark do it.
He's saying here's the bigpicture.
Everything is not heading in areal great direction.
But before that, not heading ina real great direction and
before that really doesn't lookgood for you.
And that's how he structures it.
And so you can imagine again.
(09:00):
The followers of Jesus are likeI don't understand.
The last four years we've beenfollowing you, we believe you're
the Messiah, and if you are theMessiah, how can things still
end the way that you arepredicting it?
But he reframes the suffering.
So all of this bad stuff'sgoing to happen and in the
(09:21):
meantime it's an opportunity foryou to bear witness.
Don't run, Don't panic, don'tdespair, testify.
And then he closes with aparadox of comfort which I'm
sure they're going tomisunderstand.
He says not a hair on your headwill perish.
(09:42):
And we're really talking in aspiritual sense.
We know that all of hisfollowers are going to
eventually be killed for theirfaith.
A lot of his followers aregoing to be persecuted.
We know that that's what'sgoing to happen.
But what he's saying is I willsave the essence of who you are.
There's a part of you that onlyI can protect and I will
(10:03):
protect it.
There's a part of you theycannot harm, and I've got that
For his disciples.
But I would say for us today,it's sobering, it's clarifying.
Following Jesus will be hard,but it is never hopeless,
because suffering isn't whereGod disappears, it's where he
(10:25):
often draws us the closest.
That's why, when people aregoing through a rough time and
then we're talking and they wantto know I must be doing
something wrong, because I'mgoing through a rough time and
I'm like that's kind of theopposite of what Jesus said.
He didn't say if you do all theright things, things are going
to go really well for you.
I mean, he's explicit byfollowing me things are often
(10:47):
going to be difficult,challenging and they're going to
suck.
Okay.
So it doesn't always meanyou're doing something wrong.
If today, you're in a seasonand you're feeling like, oh my
gosh, the ground under me isvery unstable and it's fractured
and tomorrow, I don't know whattomorrow is going to bring, it
doesn't mean you're doinganything wrong.
I want to encourage you in thatit could be that God is working
(11:10):
and you actually are doing theright things.
And to get from here to here,you got to go through this
valley.
Jesus wants his followers tosee.
The fall of Jerusalem is notjust devastation, but a moment
within God's larger story ofgrace and of redemption, and I
think that applies to us today.
(11:31):
He wants you, he wants me, hewants us.
If you're watching, listeningonline, he wants us to see that
the destruction or thedevastation that's going on in
our lives.
It is not the full story.
There's a part of a largernarrative, One thing they needed
to understand so that theycould endure and remain faithful
(11:51):
even when everything collapsed.
Today might be terrible, butGod's story is remarkable and he
continues.
He says those in Jerusalem mustget out and those in the
(12:13):
country should not return to thecity, for those will be days of
God's vengeance and theprophetic words of the
scriptures will be fulfilled.
He's saying Jerusalem, not justthe temple Now we're going to
go back out Not just the templeis going to fall, this entire
city is going to fall.
(12:33):
No metaphors, no symbols, noparables Explicit.
When you see the armiessurrounding, you know it's time,
it's over.
And it happened.
Like 35 years after that firstEaster, Jesus' prophecy happened
.
The Roman forces laid siege toJerusalem.
(12:55):
The temple was in factdestroyed.
The Roman forces laid siege toJerusalem.
The temple was in factdestroyed, the city burned.
Thousands of people died.
But what's probably trulyshocking to the Jewish followers
of Jesus at that time was whathe told them to do Don't stay,
Do not stay.
And if you're far away, do notreturn to Jerusalem.
When you hear it's under attack, Run, Get out.
(13:18):
And that would have soundedbackwards.
If you are the king of the Jewsand you're this warrior, God,
who's going to protect Jerusalemand protect the temple?
Why are we retreating?
But he says well, because thistime isn't a time of refuge.
It's not a time to hide, a timeof refuge, of safety.
This is a time of judgment.
He calls it God's vengeance.
(13:39):
He's echoing the propheticwords of Isaiah and Jeremiah,
who warned this is what willhappen to you, Israel, if you
harden your hearts.
And here it is.
It's happened again.
This wasn't just a militarycollapse.
This wasn't just that Jerusalemgot outsmarted or outpowered by
another nation.
(13:59):
They would have understood thisthe next time we fall.
God let this happen, or God hadit happen or orchestrated it.
We're going to get, you knowthat kind of hairy theology
there that we're not going toget into.
But they would have understoodthis was God's vengeance.
Now, what Jesus is trying tocommunicate the temple would end
(14:20):
, Jerusalem would fall, and yetGod's mission would continue
despite those things.
Despite those things, In thisfinal section, Jesus shifts from
near-term warnings like hey,this is what's going to happen
in the following weeks, monthsand years in your lifetime, to a
future cosmic movement thatwould have stirred both awe and
(14:43):
fear into his listeners.
He said and there will bestrange signs in the sun and the
moon and the stars and here onearth.
Nations will be in turmoil,perplexed by the roaring seas
and strange tides.
People will be terrified atwhat they see coming upon the
earth.
The powers in the heavens willbe shaken.
Then everyone will see the Sonof man coming on a cloud with
(15:04):
power and great glory.
So when all of these thingsbegin to happen, stand and look
up, for your salvation is near.
He describes the world isunraveling and there's going to
be signs in the skies nations inchaos, seas roaring, people
overcome.
With Terry, you might say thatthis sounds a lot like 2025,
(15:26):
right, or maybe 2020 or whateveryear you conjure up in your
mind.
It might sound symbolic, butthis was the language of the
prophets, Isaiah, Joel, Daniel.
They would have recognized it.
That what Jesus is describingwhen all of these things are in
chaos, like what we look aroundthat the day of the Lord is near
(15:48):
, that victory is near, thatthat win that we've been waiting
hundreds and thousands of yearsfor is closer today than it's
ever been before, Because at thecenter of this storm and the
confusion and the chaos, theywill see the Son of man coming
on a cloud with power and greatglory.
(16:11):
He's saying I am the returningking, not just the conqueror.
I'm not just going to goforward and overthrow a
government and make the templerise, I will come back, but it
won't just be for Jerusalem andit won't just be for this temple
, it will be for everything.
I'm the returning king.
So when this happens, don'tlook down.
(16:33):
When there's chaos andconfusion and fractures and
brokenness and everything iswrong, he says don't look down,
don't hide, don't give in toyour fear, but rather look up,
because redemption is near.
Jesus warns stay awake, stayready, Stay ready.
This is a call to live withurgency, with clarity and hope.
(16:57):
Urgency, clarity and hope,Because even when everything
feels unstable, the Son of manwill return and those who are
watching I believe you, those ofus who are watching we will see
him and join him in his glory.
(17:19):
Now you can imagine thedisciples' heads are spinning
here.
He just said a lot and it'sreally confusing, and Jesus
sometimes talked in parables,but it didn't seem like he was
really talking in a parable thistime.
So he actually means what he'ssaying.
There's no guessing.
So now they're left with somefacts.
The temple is going to fall,the world is going to unravel
(17:43):
and in my immediate future, I'mgoing to suffer, be betrayed and
be killed for what I believe.
It's a lot to take in in ashort period of time what I
believe.
It's a lot to take in in ashort period of time, and yet
through all of it, through allof it, Jesus calls his followers
(18:06):
to endure, to trust, to hope,not in what's temporary, but in
a kingdom that will not andcannot be shaken.
And that's the heartbeat of thewhole passage of what we have
talked about today.
Many want to write books on theend times.
It's going to be this year,it's going to be next year, it's
going to be this day.
People have written those kindof books.
But the heart of this passageis that our hope is not grounded
in what we can see.
It's grounded in Christ'seternal reign.
(18:28):
Not what we can see, but inChrist's eternal reign.
And this is a theme echoedthroughout the entire New
Testament.
Paul writes that creation groansas it waits for redemption.
We hope for what we do not yetsee.
That's Romans 8.
Peter reminds us that even intrials, our faith is more
valuable than gold.
1 Peter 1.7.
(18:49):
And the author of Hebrews sayswe are receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken.
And the author of Hebrews sayswe are receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken.
So Luke 21 isn't just a warning,it's a reframing.
Jesus is saying don't tie yourhope to what can fall apart, but
rather tie your hope to me.
And that raises a question forus this morning what have you
(19:21):
anchored your hope to?
What have you anchored yourhope to?
What have you anchored yourhope to?
What scares you the most?
What are you most afraid oflosing?
That may reveal what you hopemost in Life will shake, and for
(19:45):
many of us, it already has.
The temple fell for the firstdisciples and we don't have a
temple like that, but we have atemple like this.
Our health and perhaps we got adiagnosis and the temple is
falling.
A broken relationship,something that seemed healthy
(20:05):
and fun, now isn't.
It's broken.
A job or a career that we wereso excited for, so invested in,
is gone.
We find ourselves in a seasonof doubt, of exhaustion.
The things that we thought weresecure when they begin to
(20:25):
crumble, what do we do?
What do we do?
Do we numb out, sleep a littlemore, drink a little more,
indulge ourselves?
Just got to get through it.
(20:48):
Or, and perhaps better,healthier?
We stand firm and we look upand we make room for what Jesus
has been asking us to make roomfor.
That's him.
That's what hope looks like inthe middle of a storm.
Not denial, not this shallowpositivity, this toxic optimism,
but faith-filled endurance.
And so maybe for you today it'sjust calling it out I am really
(21:09):
scared of, I'm really fearful of.
This is the place that fear hascrept in.
This is where I've been puttingmy hope in and I need to
reroute my hope.
Maybe it's recommitting toscripture and prayer.
I know how it goes you get busy, you get overwhelmed.
Perhaps you just go away for aweekend and the whole routine of
your life gets thrown upsidedown when you return.
But maybe it's a recommitmentto scripture and prayer.
(21:31):
Upside down when you return,but maybe it's a recommitment to
scripture and prayer.
Maybe for you, it's choosing tohelp someone in your life,
someone who is near to you, whoneeds help that you're actually
able to provide.
Maybe it's just surrendering toJesus for the first time.
Maybe you haven't done that.
Whatever the step is, do notlet chaos define you.
(21:54):
Don't let chaos define you.
Let Christ define you, Becauseeven when everything else falls,
hope still rises.
Can you imagine what it wouldlook like at Madison Church if
we all did this?
I've been kind of coming backto this idea.
Well, imagine if you and me andus, the person sitting next to
(22:18):
you imagine if we all stood upand did this in a world that
feels unstable, a community thatdoes not retreat when life gets
hard, but a community thatleans in to faith, with presence
, with purpose.
And that's what Jesus wasforming when he spoke these
words.
Not just individuals trying tosurvive, not just going from day
(22:39):
to day, week to week we justgot to get through it but a
kingdom, people who enduretogether, witness together, lift
their heads together andadvance his mission forward.
What if we, collectively, wereknown for being rooted in a hope
that doesn't shake when theworld does?
When the world is overwhelmedby anxiety, we show up with
(23:03):
peace Doesn't mean we don't feelanxiety.
You're certainly going to feelworried from time to time, but
what if we showed up with peacewhen others despair?
We lived as a people of promise.
When others ran, we stoodsteady, anchored, present and
(23:25):
awake.
Because, as you might havenoticed this morning or last
week, the world is still broken.
The kingdom of God is not yetfully here, fully realized.
The chaos is real.
Jesus isn't sugarcoating thatfor you, but he also hasn't
(23:47):
stopped working, and he calls usto stand firm, to build a
community in which hope rises,one life at a time.
And so maybe today theinvitation for you is to trust
again.
Maybe it's to trust in God forthe first time, or trust in God
(24:12):
for the first time in a longtime.
You did trust God and a bunchof bad stuff happened and you
gave up on that, but then youdetermined it wasn't actually
better the other way.
Maybe it's time to come back tothat.
Maybe it's baptism, Maybe it'srejoining the Christian
community, Maybe it's justchoosing hope in the middle of
your storm, Hope in the middleof your storm.
But don't confuse hope with awish.
(24:34):
As Dr Henry Cloud puts it inhis book on trust a wish is hope
without evidence, but hope,real hope, is based on evidence,
and for us the evidence is thecross.
It's the life, death andresurrection of Jesus.
(24:56):
We don't just wish.
Jesus is who he said he was.
We hope because he proved it.
So ask yourself what does itlook like for hope to rise anew?
Because the tomb is still empty, and that changes everything.
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