Warnings for Those Waiting

Sermon 92 in Series

Luke 21:34-38

[34] “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. [35] For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. [36] But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

[37] And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. [38] And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.

DEEP SHEET: Sermon Study Questions
Sermon Points: (1) The Commands (vv. 34-36).  (2) The Context (vv. 37-38).
1. Where else in Luke have we seen the need to be ready at Christ’s Return? How does this passage build on that teaching?
2.  How do Jesus’ words emphasize the heart? How do they call us away from passivity?
3.  What are the three items that Jesus identifies as weighing down the heart? How have you seen these things affect believers?
4.  How are the “cares of this life” a more insidious threat? What does it look like in practice for us to actively cast our cares on the Lord?
5.  What does it mean “to stay awake”? How does Jesus qualify this wakefulness in v. 36, and why is prayer so important?
6.  What do vv. 37-38 communicate about Jesus’ mindset? How does this contextual material lead us to contemplate the means by which we will “stand before the Son of Man”?

References: 1 Thessalonians 4:13 – 5:11 (corporate reading); Matthew 24:33; Ephesians 5:18-20; Luke 8:14; 1 Peter 5:7; Luke 17:26-30; Titus 2:13; 1 John 2:24, 28; Luke 12:35-36; Ephesians 6:18; Mark 13:3; John 17:4; Matthew 1:23; John 1:14.