Matthew 24:3-14 :: Living in the Birth Pains

sermon reflection for the week ending August 31st, 2025

“The life you want is on the other side of the labour pains it takes to birth it.” —Iyanla Vanzant

Ivan Aivazovsky :: Ship on Stormy :: circa 1850s

Matthew 24:3-14 :: Signs of the End of the Age

³ As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” ⁴ And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. ⁵ For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. ¹⁰ And then many will fall away^[a] and betray one another and hate one another.¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. ¹² And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

---

Pastor Jeremy delivered his sermon on Matthew 24:3-14, and he focused on the birth pains of the world. Jesus is coming back. He’ll come like a thief in the night. Meaning, He’ll come when we least expect it, He will come unannounced. Pastor Jeremy mentioned a couple of religious leaders who tried to predict the coming of Jesus. He mentioned those who sell all their properties and get rid of their belongings and give away their money because they think the Second Coming will happen.

Pastor Jeremy mentioned the five things of eschatology:

1. History moving towards G-d

2. Jesus will return

3. God will judge

4. Evil will be defeated

5. His people will live free with Him.

In this passage Jesus switches from parable to prophecy, in order to teach about the end of the age. He refers to the birth pains of the end of the age and the transformation it brings about. Pastor Jeremy decided to call this week’s sermon living in the birth times. He invoked the analogy of birth in describing the transformation of humanity. During birthing, the pains come and go. As the birth progresses, contractions intensify. It means the baby is coming. It means something joyful is happening. The sufferings of this age precede the glory of g-d.

Jesus mentioned 4 birth pains in this passage: deceptive leaders, global turmoil, rising persecution, the love of many growing cold.

I. Deceptive leaders — The messages of so many cult leaders and false prophets bombard our minds and hearts. Pastor Jeremy reminded us that we need discernment to pick out the false prophets and cult leaders from the true g-d-fearing leaders. He described expressive individualism as a false teaching of our current culture. It elevates man above G-d. Expressive individualism redefines redemption for service to our own glory and self interest. That’s self worship, it leads us away from g-d and toward terminal despair. We can have a joyful existence only when we revolve around g-d, when we achieve and strive all things in our life for g-d.

Three things we notice in culture today that lead us await from g-d and toward terminal despair —

1. Open and affirming movement, gender is self affirmed rather than received from g-d, feelings are idols and they displace g-d

2. Prosperity theology. Gain without the cross, thinking we are owed ease and prosperity

3. Misuse of spiritual gifts. Influencers and leaders using gifts of Holy Spirit to promote their platform rather than G-d.

What can we do to protect ourselves from deceptive leaders? How can we discern the false prophets from the g-d-fearing religious leaders? Pastor Jeremy gave us three sets of questions we can ask ourselves.

A. Do the words of preacher reflect scripture?

B. Does their life reflect Christ? What fruits do you see in their life and their work with others? Do you see greed, pride, immorality, deception? These do not come from the Holy Spirit!

C. Do they draw people toward or away from g-d? What do they inspire in me? Do they put Christ first, before themselves?

II. Global turmoil — We often feel as though inundated in or engulfed by conflict and violence. When researching for this sermon, Pastor Jeremy learned that we have 55 active conflicts happening today, worldwide. He reminded us of the way crisis strips away illusions and forces people to see what’s important. Pastor Jeremy mentioned a book he read this summer called The Rise of Christianity, written by sociologist called Rodney Stark, and he shares a quote about the ways that plague and pestilence draw us out of ourselves, inspire in us justice and desire to love and serve. Stark wrote about the fact that Christianity spread so rapidly because Christians stayed in the chaos of plague, war, pestilence, and famine, to comfort and attend to the afflicted in the Jesus way. In the words from a 1984 Sci-fi drama movie called Starman, “You are a strange species. Not like any other. And you'd be surprised how many there are. Intelligent but savage. Shall I tell you what I find beautiful about you? You are at your very best when things are worst.” Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, welcomed the opportunity that collective hardship provided to serve others through love and charity and nursing the afflicted.

III. Rising Persecution—Right now, powerful ideological forces pressure us to compromise our faith. As mentioned above, expressive individualism has given birth to many of the most psychologically abusive and damaging ideological forces we now face. The persecution of cancel culture threatens us, beats us down, erodes our fortitude and resolve. It has destroyed lives of those who steadfastly oppose the depravity and idolatry of expressive individualism. Will we stand firm, even if it costs us our life? Pastor Jeremy talked about obedience and faithfulness in the face of persecution and tribulation. Like firefighters train for the fire, do we cultivate spiritual strength in our own lives, by building Chris-like community in the present, by training our heart to trust Jesus in small things, as we prepare for the bigger things?

IV. Love of Many Growing Cold — Jesus says that the betrayal of lawlessness will harden hearts, will eat away compassion. During these times we see the incentivisation of greed and hate and even apathy. Social media overexposes us to suffering— which can numb or take us down unhealthy rabbit holes. We stop repenting, we lose humility, we let anger take seed and harden us, turning us in rage-addicted cynics. The video below, from September 10, 2024, shows my friend Orthodox Jewish friend Lee Weissman reminding us about the importance of love in a time of rage. Lee’s message fits with this week’s sermon, so, I’m including it in this sermon reflection. You can follow Lee (as Jihadi Jew) on all the social media platforms, where he posts things that help followers get or remain close to G-d.

Reader, pause. How is your heart right now?

Pastor Jeremy ended his sermon by reminding us to have laser focus on Jesus as we walk through life, urging us to live as though Jesus was crucified yesterday and rose this morning, to live with courage and faithfulness, rather than not fear.

Pastor Jeremy segued from courage to follow Jesus in our daily lives into presenting the testimonies of the baptism candidates, who had their baptisms at Centennial Beach in Boundary Bay Park in Delta, BC yesterday, Saturday, August 30, 2025. Your truly was one of three women whom Pastor Jeremy and Pastor Heechan baptised in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday afternoon. You can see my pre-recorded testimony above.

As you navigate the chaos and turmoil of the present day political landscape, imagine yourself living inside the birth pains of the world. In order to get the prize on the other side, you have to endure the labour pains of this birth process. Life is like that.

You can find the sermon in the YouTube video of the live feed below—from time stamp 42:02 to 1:26:25. When the video clip of the sermon is released, I’ll replace the video below.

---

Stories I wrote about in the past week.

My latest column for The New Westminster Times is about the tragic and preventable overdose death of 13 year old Brianna Macdonald.