Know where you are going. . .

I was reminded the other day of a phrase I believe came from Benedict XVI:  it is not enough to move onwards, one must also see where one is going!  I do not recall the context but that sentence might well apply to the situation we find today.  Change is coming fast and furious.  In a very short period of time we found the laws of the land changed to include same sex marriage, the laws that once prevented discrimination against women and racial minorities applied now to transgendered as well as homosexuals, and the liberty people die for willingly surrendered to the government in pursuit of personal safety.  And that is but the start of it all.  Things have not slowed down.  Even the political enemies of the liberal and progressive agenda finds it powerless even to slow the pace of this change.  No one can predict what will come next or where this is all headed.  We will only find out when it is too late to do anything about it.

The role of Christians in society has been hotly debated during and after the COVID lockdowns.  There are those who insist that Christians are there to make sure the change is fair and just.  There are those who argue the role of Christianity is to oppose such change.  It makes the whole argument political and it places Christians on the uncertain ground of politics and policy.  Or is there something else we have to offer the world besides a cheering section or a booing stand?  Could it be that we know where things are going?  Could it be that we are the only ones who have the future before us and who are able to speak to the present in the context of this future?

We know the future.  The world is not to be preserved but is passing away.  It will not matter what we do or do not do, its fate was sealed in Eden.  It must be replaced by a new heavens and a new earth.  We know the future.  Everyone will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give account of their works.  We just confessed this in the Athanasian Creed -- in words that are almost exactly the words of Jesus in Matthew 25!  Judgment is coming.  Excuses will not do.  Best efforts will not suffice.  Noble intentions will change nothing.  Only faith in Christ has something to say before the throne of God.  We have already been judged and redeemed on the cross.  We live in a state of grace through confession and absolution.  We are guided by the voice of Christ in His Word.  We are fed by Christ upon His own flesh and blood.  We are ready for that judgment but those outside of Christ are not.  We are here not to judge in Christ's place but to proclaim the Gospel so that others will be prepared as we are.  We know the future.  We are not disembodied spirits who live in some vague fairy tale existence but people destined for a new and glorious body like unto Christ's own body after the Resurrection.  From the grave this old body awaits its replacement.  We are not the dead with only a past nor are we the present with only today.  We have a future God has prepared for those who love His appearing.

What we have to offer the world most of all is this knowledge of the future -- WHERE we are going.  We alone have the vision of faith to set what happens today in the context of this future.  We are placed here to announce this future -- in the same way the messengers of old announced to the world the coming of Christ in the flesh:  Prepare the way of the Lord!

I fear sometimes we are either bewildered by the events and changes around us or disappointed by them or moved by fear to hide from them.  None of these is an appropriate response.  We live out now more boldly than ever the hope that is within us.  We live as a people who have convictions and a story, vision and a hope, truth and a morality.  We are a people who know where we are going in a world that has no idea of its future.  Neither those who wish to build a heaven of their own making on earth or those who wish to exploit the present for their own happiness have an idea of what is to come.  This is why God has placed us here and this is the message that we have for the world around us -- those who vainly think that they are building a new tomorrow without the help of God and those who vainly think that no tomorrow matters.  

We have got to stop acting like we are being buffeted along by every wind of change and chance or as a people who have nothing to say but no.  We have a real and sturdy hope, a future prepared for us from before the foundation of the world, a life stronger than death, and an answer to give to the God who will survey our hearts and our works.  The world may not want to hear of sin and death but they know the need of a real future and of those who can discern it.  Perhaps by heralding this future we may prepare the hearts convicted by sin and open the minds to be convinced by the Spirit that yesterday and today will give way to the eternal tomorrow God has prepared.