Everything's Gonna Be Alright

St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

Scripture Passage

Mark 13:1-8

Worship Video

Worship Audio

Sermon Script

Nowadays we use GPS, before we used to look to the stars.

Stars that orient you. The terrain changes, but you know where you're going.

We have foundational things that anchor our lives and give direction. They give shape and direction to day to day life.

We don't even have to really think. For me, it is my kids, church, family.

Seasons, details change, but the general shape of my life doesn't.

What happens when any of these things are taken away?

There are foundational changes taking place in the congregation.

Aging parents, looming loss of loved ones. Some are already grieving the loss of loved ones. Retirement and loss of anchor that gave shape to life for years and decades. Transition from school and anchored life to new routines. Your own health.

If stars you relied on for direction were to disappear, you would feel lost, disoriented. We wouldn't know what to do or where to go.

Likewise, when these things that anchor our lives change, we feel lost and disoriented.

For Jews in Jesus' time, the Temple was the anchor of Jewish life. They had the Temple and they had the Law.

The temple was the visible and tangible anchor. It set the routine for Jewish life. It was where God resided. Hence there was admiration.

But Jesus was saying it will be destroyed. This was very concerning.

The disciples wanted to know when this would happen.

If something like this is going to happen, you want to know when and what the signs will be. You want to prepare.

But Jesus doesn't say when. Instead, he gives warning.

Then Jesus began to say to them, Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, I am he!' and they will lead many astray. (13:5-6)

Why did he say this?

When that anchor is gone, you feel lost.

Being lost and not knowing where to go is an uneasy feeling.

Staying still makes you feel vulnerable. Our tendency is to want to move and do something.

When you are lost, that is when you're most vulnerable to being led astray.

You're most vulnerable to listening to the wrong voices. Because you want to do something and will listen to someone who sounds convincing and confident.

There are so many voices out there.

I am off of social media because there are too many voices. Too many influencers, too many experts.

Too many people trying to gain a following by saying I am he! or I am she!

Everyone nowadays is an expert. Everyone has an opinion.

Many people gain a following by tapping into people's fears and sense of being lost. They say follow me and everything will be alright.

But many of these are false promises.

Many of these leaders and influencers' true agenda is not to help you. It's to gain a following. It's more for themselves, not for you.

Led astray: be deceived.

Main deception: destination will be great, journey will be easy. Leave out the difficulties in that journey.

Don't be led astray.

When the stars you relied upon for direction disappear, you are tempted to just start moving. But if you get lost in the forest, that's the wrong thing to do.

You feel like you're doing something by walking. You just end up walking in circles and you end up in the same place.

If you're lost, you need to take time to be still. You need to attune yourself to other things in your surroundings.

Before, all you needed to do was look at those stars you relied upon. But now you need to notice other things. Notice other stars in the sky. Notice the landscape around you.

Become familiar with other things that can guide you: rivers, hills, rocks. Slowly, you will become familiar with the new landscape.

There will be other things to guide you and give you direction.

All of this is becoming in tune. Reflected on this on Friday.

Need to be in tune, connected.

With yourself:

Be aware of how these changes are affecting you. Find space to process these changes. Give yourself room to mourn, think, reflect.

Be in tune with your life:

Be aware of changes that are happening. Notice what's going on in your life.

These are all part of noticing things in the landscape that you didn't before.

But most importantly, know which voice to listen to.

Jesus called himself the good shepherd.

This is what he says:

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. (John 10:2-5)

We need to be spiritually in tune.

We need to learn to listen to the voice of God. It is not easy to do that.

You are here in church today to listen to the Word of God. To hear what God has to say.

Preparing sermons is so difficult because it's not about information or data. I am trying to be in tune with what God wants to say.

To say words that our good shepherd wants to say to help you navigate this often treacherous terrain of life.

Be in tune with yourself. Be in tune with your life. Be in tune with God.

Then you will know which way to go.

Jesus is our good shepherd because he cares for us. We follow him because we can trust him.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:11-15)

All those people trying to gain your following?

They are hired hands. They will abandon you at the first sign of trouble to save their own skin.

Jesus is the good shepherd. He cares for you. He lays his life down for you.

Foundational changes are not easy to deal with.

Wars, famines, earthquakes: these are things that shake up the foundations of life. They disrupt the routines of life. They are scary.

We cannot avoid them. That is what Jesus is saying. These changes are a part of life.

But what he also says is that they are not the end.

When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. (Mark 13:7)

Painful and scary as they may be, rather than destroying you, these changes will be the beginning of something new.

Jesus tells us not to be alarmed.

When your foundations are shaken, he will guide you through these things.

Like sheep, we will have to go through treacherous terrain.

To get to pastures, they have to travel across rocky ledges and high mountains. There are all sorts of dangers along the way.

The journey is not easy. That's why it's often a slow journey. So that you don't fall off a cliff. To tenderly navigate you through dangerous paths.

Sheep follow their shepherd's voice. They trust the shepherd. They don't panic, but calmly travel along the path laid out by the shepherd.

When big changes come, don't be led astray.

Be in tune with yourself, with your life, and most importantly, with God.

Big changes will continue to come, but everything will be alright.

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