Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
November 29, 2009
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
First Sunday of Advent
Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you
to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we
first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then
cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans
13:11-12
The long awaited Savior, whose incarnation we mark with joy each
Christmas, will come to earth one final time. Not in poverty or
humility, but with great power and glory. Not to die again for sins,
but to raise the dead. On that Day the long night of waiting will be
over and all who believe and are baptized will be incorporated into
the glories of the Church Triumphant. However far the devil, the world
or sinful flesh has pushed us back a Great Reversal will take place
when our God returns. He isn’t coming to fix things or fine tune them
but to hit the Reset Button. To create a New Heaven and New Earth
filled with Righteousness in which our every hope will come true. May
this good promise calm our troubled hearts and give us Heavenly Peace
as we begin a new church year.
The opening words of our text are a bit curious. St. Paul says
“besides this you know what hour it is.” He makes it sound as if God’s
people have a special insight into the times, as if we know something
the rest of the world doesn’t. It’s no mistake that he speaks like
this because we do. We don’t know the day or the hour but nor does it
matter because we do know the two most important things of all. First
that Christ will return, and secondly how to prepare for His coming.
How do we know that our Lord will return? Not from special
revelations, or by studying the Mayan calendar, but from hearing and
believing God’s Word.
Scripture teaches that the world had a beginning, and that it will
have an end. That it had a first day, and that it will have a last
day, a Day which will coincide with the return of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But our Lord’s second coming is not only a future event for
Christians. In his first epistle St. John states that “the darkness is
passing away and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8). For
Christians the return of Christ is as much a present event as a future
one. We experience it most fully whenever the Gospel is preached and
the Sacraments administered. In these gifts Christ truly comes, and
imparts the merits of His death and resurrection to us.
The second thing we know is how to prepare for His coming. Not by
locking ourselves in our closets with our bibles, but by dedicating
our lives to all the things which Paul teaches in the thirteenth
chapter of Romans. We can think of this chapter as a catechism of
Christian behavior while awaiting the Lord’s return. He tells us here
that, though we are citizens of heaven above, Christians are to be
fully functioning members of society who obey the laws of the land,
who love their neighbors, and who embrace the highest moral behavior.
It’s not only duty that drives us, but also a conscious awareness that
our Lord could return at any time. Every day that passes brings the
event one day closer. Every moment is pregnant with the possibility
that Jesus could return and call an end to all the devastation sin has
visited upon us. Those who don’t know God’s Word don’t know where they
came from, and so they can’t possibly know what their final
destination might be. They may have wishes and hopes, all men do, but
they have no certain knowledge that can guide them when perplexed, or
console them in life’s distress. But we do, Beloved, because we know
that however bad things get, Jesus has the final word, and it will be
one of benediction for us.
How do we prepare for His coming? By waking up from spiritual slumber
and casting off the works of the Flesh. Why does Paul say it like
this? Because sin has a powerful sedative effect on us. It puts us
into a deep sleep regarding our present duties and our future destiny.
And so St. Paul sounds the alarm, and pastors in every generation must
to the same.
In theology Flesh is a synonym for sinful nature. From its conception
Flesh is at war with God and there’s nothing that can be done to
repair it, change it or even to improve it a little bit. Flesh is like
gasoline, if it gets too near a flame the result is always the same.
You can’t change gasoline by preaching to it or praying for it, and
the same is true with Sinful Nature. The only way to deal with Flesh
it is to drive the stake of God’s Law through its grisly heart.
Flesh cringes at the Law. It fears it the way vampires fear sunlight
and like Superman fears Kryptonite. It doesn’t like to be hemmed in,
told what to do or threatened with divine punishment.
What does Flesh love? It loves all the things the Apostle tells us to
cast off in his little catechism. It loves to party like there’s no
tomorrow. It prefers pleasure over duty. It loves to get drunk and
abandon self-control. It’s devoted to fornication, adultery, casual
sex, internet porn, orgies and every perversion it can think of. It
loves quarrelling and jealousy until there’s not a scintilla of
happiness to be found, and the whole world is at war with itself. Is
it any wonder, then, that our families are a wreck and our society a
disaster?
These are the things that Flesh loves, and the things that Paul sounds
the alarm about. There’s no human power strong enough to overcome
them, but the Word of God is. And so Paul, speaking as God’s Apostle,
instructs us to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of
light! Jesus is the Light, the Light of the world and the Light of
life. His death on the cross is our armor against sin’s curse, death’s
sting and the devil’s reign of terror in our lives.
He further instructs us to, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no
provisions for the Flesh.” This was done to us and for us in holy
baptism. The Bible says that all who are baptized into Christ are
clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27). In that primary Sacrament we are
dressed in the garments of salvation and robed with our Lord’s own
righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).
We’re only baptized once but its benefits are everlasting, and we
should remember that sacred event every day. By contrition and
repentance we should daily drown the Old Adam, with all his sins and
evil desires, and emerge as New people to live before God in
righteousness and purity forever, as we wait for history’s final and
finest hour.
We don’t know when it will come, only that it will, and this knowledge
gives us great peace. We know how to prepare for it by doing battle
every day with temptation and living as New people. Most importantly
we have God word to continually cleanse us, inform us and empower us.
With these holy gifts we can wait calmly and patiently for the Great
and Awesome Day of the Lord to arrive. Amen.
___________________________________________________________________________
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