"READY OR NOT, HERE HE COMES"
First Sunday in Advent
December 3, 2017
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:7 (ESV)
Now that Thanksgiving is over, the mad rush has begun. Here it is only three weeks until Christmas, and I'm not anywhere near ready. The decorating hasn't been finished, nor have the Christmas cards. And don't even mention the shopping. I suspect that most of you could easily find yourselves saying the same things. It's funny, isn't it? Every year we laugh about it, we cry about it, we get frustrated with it, and in our more introspective moments we get angry about the ridiculousness of it all, but still, every year it seems, we find ourselves right in the middle of it. For decades now, I've been saying that one of these years I'm going to go out to a mall or a shopping center on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, just to have a good laugh at all of those frantic shoppers for whom "peace on earth" and "goodwill toward men" are not nearly as important as a parking place or a slow cashier (or perhaps, these days, a website that isn't so easy to navigate). But guess what? Every year I usually end up being one of those frantic shoppers--and I personally have very little shopping to do.
We could turn all of this into a spiritual exercise of sorts. If we think about it in the right way, all of the rushing around to get ready for Christmas could remind us that we have something far more important than Christmas to get ready for: the return of our Lord and Savior to this world, this time not as a humble Baby lying in a manger, but as the King of Glory enthroned in splendor and surrounded by angels. In this morning's Epistle Saint Paul assures us that the greatest and most important preparation for the coming of our Judge and King has already been taken care of for us--by the King Himself. He has won salvation for us and has sent His Holy Spirit to impart to us the blessings of that salvation and to motivate and equip us for using the time that remains to the glory of God and in the service of our neighbor. With these thoughts in mind, we will consider this morning the task before us and the resources that are available to us as we get ready to welcome our King.
The task before us is, first of all, the task of waiting. We must wait for the Lord to return as He has promised. On the surface that may not seem to be such a difficult thing to do. After all, how challenging can it be to just wait? Well, it can be quite challenging. If we get impatient waiting for insignificant things when we know when those things are coming, how much more difficult it is for us to wait for Jesus when we know that it's been twenty centuries since our He left and everybody else in this world thinks that the story of Jesus is a fairy tale and that we are insane for believing it and even more insane for believing that He's coming back. In this world of instant gratification it's difficult for us to wait for anything, least of all for the end of everything evil and the inauguration of everlasting peace and joy.
The other part of the task before us is even more difficult. We are to be faithful witnesses while we wait. We really have no choice in waiting. Since Jesus is not here yet, we have to wait for Him. But we have all kinds of choices to make as to how we're going to pass the time as we wait. In the face of the twisted values of the world that we live in, you and I are called to be "the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14) and "the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13), bringing the illumination and flavor of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into this dark and bland world. And that is not by any means an easy task. Aside from the pressures placed upon us by the unbelieving world, we also have to struggle with our own sinful nature. It's not easy to walk the way of the cross when common sense tells us to always look for the easy way out. It's not easy to make sacrifices for others when our own selfish nature is constantly beckoning us to look out for number one. It's not easy to confess the Christian faith when the rules of worldly etiquette tell us not to say or do anything that might lead to disagreement or conflict.
But as gloomy and hopeless as all of this may appear, we are not left without resources as we face the task of waiting for the Lord and being His witnesses while we wait. Yes, the Lord Jesus has physically left this world and returned to His glorious throne in heaven. His visible presence is no longer something that His people experience (except for when His Supper is celebrated). But at His ascension into heaven, He promised: "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20)--and He is, through His Holy Spirit, who He sent to create faith in our hearts and to sustain that faith while wait and endure the trials and temptations of life. It is because of that faith in Christ, created in us by the Spirit, that we are able to wait and to bear witness. It is because of that faith in Christ, created in us by the Spirit, that we know that Jesus is as good as His Word in the matter of His return. It is faith that keeps us going in this cynical world. Without it we would give up.
But how does God's Holy Spirit create this faith and how does He nurture it? This is where God shows us how much He really loves us and how far He is willing to go in order to make sure that we know it. As if taking on our human flesh in Christ and accomplishing our redemption through His perfect life and His innocent suffering and death weren't enough, He goes even farther for us. While we wait for His return in glory, He sends us His Spirit to work in us through the means of grace, which are the Word and the Sacraments. Here the Holy Spirit Himself, who is far beyond our comprehension, comes to us in simple tangible things--things that we can understand and relate to--things that we can hear and see and feel and taste. These means of grace are our spiritual food for the journey that we have undertaken as the children of God in Jesus Christ living in a barren world that is hostile to the Gospel that we believe and cherish and seek to share with the world for which it has been given.
Are you ready for Christmas? I doubt it. Neither am I. But that's okay. The far more important question is: Are you ready for Jesus? He is coming, you know. As a matter of fact, the fact that Jesus is coming is even more certain than the fact that Christmas is coming. Are you ready? Your answer and mine should be and can be a resounding yes! We are ready because He has made us ready. Like the Corinthians, we "are not lacking in any spiritual gift as [we] wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ." Knowing that, there is no reason for us to be unprepared. Knowing that, there is no reason for us to hesitate in waiting for Him with eagerness and joy as we proclaim in our world the Good News of His redeeming love. He has called us to a glorious ministry--one that He Himself accomplishes in us and through us by the power of His Spirit, working through His Gospel.
Amen.
May the One who once came as an Infant in Bethlehem prepare you for His coming again in glory by His Means of Grace, through which He comes to you even now. May He equip you to be His witnesses so that you, like the Baptist in the wilderness, may prepare the way of the Lord. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.