“Penitentially Prepare for Christ’s Arrival”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord [Amen.]
“Watch against the devil’s snares Lest asleep he find you;
For indeed no pains he spares To deceive and blind you.
Satan’s prey Oft are they
Who secure are sleeping And no watch are keeping.
“Watch! Let not the wicked world With its lies deceive you
Lest with bold deception hurled It betray and cheat you.
Watch and see Lest there be
Faithless friends to charm you, Who but seek to harm you.
“Watch against yourself, my soul, Lest with grace you trifle;
Let not self your thoughts control Nor God’s mercy stifle.
Pride and sin Lurk within,
All your hopes to shatter; Heed not when they flatter.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
663:2-4)
Gospel Reading........................................................ St.
Matthew 24:36-44 (esp. 36 & 44)
36[Jesus said:] “Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the
angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 44Therefore you also
must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Prologue: In a devotion entitled “Be Ready!” Rudolph F. Norden
wrote: “The lack of alertness is another old human failing. Here, too,
people have not changed. Jesus Himself stresses the need for readiness.
And well He might! Many people today are preoccupied with buying and
selling, ‘eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.’ They give
little thought to being ready for Christ’s impending return to judgment at
an unannounced date.
“The reminder is in place: ‘Be ready, because the Son of Man will come
at an hour when you do not expect Him.’ The hour is late. The sun is
setting on our world and on ‘life’s little day.’ As Alfred Tennyson has
well said, ‘Sunset and evening star, And one last call for me.’
“Christians are ready to receive their Lord when they continue in
fellowship with Him, confident that He who suffered, died, and rose again
for their salvation is always ready to receive them.” (Rudolph F. Norden in
Each Day with Jesus: Daily Devotions through the Year. Copyright © 1994
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 293.)
Now, I want to go on record publicly at this time declaring that I
absolutely abhor gossip … at least the overwhelming majority of it! For the
most part gossip is damaging, destructive, cruel, mean, and just plain
sinful against The Eighth Commandment, which prohibits betraying, telling
lies about, slandering, and hurting the reputation of other people. Oh, I
readily admit that some people who gossip do so without malicious intent,
sometimes not even realizing that what they’re saying is gossip at best and
an outright lie at worst.
However, perhaps you’ve heard the proverbial phrase, “The road to
hell is paved with good intentions.” Although this saying may have been
influenced by the statement from the Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus,
chapter 20 verse 10, “The way of sinners is made plain with stones, but at
the end thereof is the pit of hell,” nevertheless, it tells us that even
good intentions that are wrong … are wrong!
Okay, now that I have your attention, let me share a gossip I’ve
heard recently. The prevailing rumor is that a rather heavyset bearded man
in a red suit with an infectious “HO! HO! HO!” is “making a list and
checking it twice; gonna find out who’s naughty and nice.” That seems to be
a significant part of his preparation for the distribution of gifts on
Christmas Eve, or perhaps the redistribution of such to satisfy many people’s
misguided and mistaken attitude of socialistic entitlement.
The key concept, as you may have already realized, is
“preparation” … and that leads to Advent’s emphasis, namely, …
“Penitentially Prepare for Christ’s Arrival.”
As we prepare in many different ways to once again formally
celebrate Immanuel’s birthday (be it baking, gift buying, card sending,
house cleaning, trip planning, or whatever), let’s review the real meaning
and significance of Advent. The word “Advent” comes from the Latin language
and means approach, come to, or arrive at. The Season of Advent consists of
the four Sundays before Christmas during which we prepare to celebrate
Christ’s first arrival and His yet-to-come final arrival by reviewing and
rehearsing repentance. In its most succinct form repentance means being
sorry for our sins and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for
forgiveness of those sins.
Advent-preparation leads us to reflect on Christ’s three
“arrivals”. The first was His past arrival as the Babe of Bethlehem, who
“was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary”. The second is
His present daily arrival through the reading and hearing of God’s Holy
Word, the reflection on Holy Baptism, the declaration of Holy Absolution,
and the proper partaking of Holy Communion. And the third will be His
future arrival as loving Lord and gracious Savior to gather all His saints
and usher them into the eternal mansions of heaven.
In light of His imminent return “to judge the living and the
dead,” it’s beneficial for us to know the expanded form of repentance that
consists of five items. 1. Recognize sin as sin and the fact that we’re all
sinful and unclean. 2. Be contrite grief-stricken over transgressing God’s
Holy Law. 3. Confess sins to God, each other, and ourselves. 4. Receive
the gracious gift of forgiveness of sins gained by Christ’s holy life,
innocent suffering, crucifixion death, and majestic resurrection from the
dead. And, 5. Strive by the Holy Spirit’s power to replace sinning with
sanctified living.
With all that in mind, we further recognize that …
I. Many People Were Then and Are Now Unprepared for Christ’s Arrival.
(37-41)
37As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For
as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying
and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39and they
were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the
coming of the Son of Man. 40Then two men will be in the field; one will be
taken and one left. 41Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be
taken and one left.
A couple of quick comments about what was said here. “Noah’s
preaching and building of the ark were clear warnings that God was preparing
to judge wickedness by sending a flood. Still, people were unprepared when
the flood came. So it will also be at the end of time.” In addition,
“Eating, drinking, and marrying are not inherently evil. The people in Noah’s
generation were not condemned for doing these things, but rather for their
cavalier disregard of God and His prophets.” (The Lutheran Study Bible.
Edward A. Engelbrecht, Gen. Ed. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing
House, St. Louis, MO. Page 1637.)
Sin is a Satan-sent soul-sickening disease that, if left
unchecked, will consume and destroy a person and result in everlasting
separation from God in the eternal fiery pits of hell. In short, “Sin is
every thought, desire, word, and deed that is contrary to God’s Law.”
(Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. Copyright © 1986, 1991
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 98.)
The apostle John clearly stated about sin that “Everyone who makes
a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” (1
John 3:4 ESV) That is, one who willfully sins without repentant regard
about such has placed him or herself outside the realm of God’s mercy and
grace. A little earlier Saint John wrote that “God is light, and in him is
no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in
darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his
word is not in us.” (1 John 1:5b-10 ESV) And, shortly afterward he joyfully
stated, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2 ESV)
So it is that our Savior Himself encourages us to …
II. Be Always Prepared for Christ’s Arrival. (42-43)
42Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is
coming. 43But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what
part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would
not have let his house be broken into.
Having myself been a Boy Scout many years ago, I know that
conscientious Boy Scouts strive to live by the motto, “Be prepared!” That
means that they strive to be ready for whatever they may encounter whether
good or bad. That preparation involves reading, studying, planning, and
practicing so that they don’t get caught in situations for which they’re not
ready and, consequently, suffer embarrassment or, worse yet, damage,
destruction, injury, or death.
Believers in Jesus are somewhat similar. We live in an
eschatological context as we’re always looking forward to and for Christ’s
final return. We do so because, “The sudden nature of Christ’s return
requires that His people remain ever vigilant.” (The Lutheran Study Bible.
Page 1637.) We do so with today’s Collect always on our heart and mind,
“Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be
rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty
deliverance … .” We do so holding fast to the certain assurance of what we
spoke in today’s Introit and Gradual, “Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation.” (Zech 9:9b ESV) We do so striving by the
Holy Spirit’s power to follow Saint Paul’s Spirit-inspired advice in today’s
Epistle Reading, “So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on
the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies
and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling
and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for
the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Rom 13:12b-14 ESV) And, we do so with
God’s Old Testament covenant people about whom we heard in today’s Old
Testament Reading, “… and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he
may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion
shall go the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. O house of
Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Isa 2:3 & 5 ESV)
You see, “The hour of the Coming of the Son of Man is unknown.
The only fitting attitude for the members of the Kingdom is one of constant
preparation.” In fact, “Jesus had told His disciples about His future
Coming so that they might learn to be watchful without being obsessed by
events to come.” (Donald Guthrie in Jesus the Messiah: An Illustrated Life
of Christ. Copyright © 1972 by The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI.
Page 298.)
In conclusion, therefore, “The difference between the Flood and
the Last Day is that God used water [to destroy His creation] the first
time, but he will use fire [to destroy His creation] at the end.” At the
same time, “It is interesting that when John the Baptist contrasts himself
with Jesus, he says, ‘I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than
I will come … . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.’
(Luke 3:16)” (G. Jerome Albrecht & Michael J. Albrecht in People’s Bible
Commentary: Matthew. Copyright © 1996 Concordia Publishing House, St.
Louis, MO. Page 354.)
In light of all that … and more …, as I said at the beginning,
Advent provides a time and opportunity for us to review and rehearse what it
means to …
“Penitentially Prepare for Christ’s Arrival.”
That penitential preparation was called for by John the Baptist
when he announced, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (St Matt
3:2 ESV) Jesus Himself echoed that when at the beginning of His preaching
ministry He announced, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (St
Matt 4:17 ESV) Saint Peter declared in one of his many sermons, “Repent
therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of
refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the
Christ appointed for you, [namely] Jesus … .” (Acts 3:19-20 ESV) And, Saint
Paul declared, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands
all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will
judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this
he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31
ESV)
You see, “It is typical of God to warn people before he pours out
his wrath upon them. It is typical of us to ignore the warning and be
caught by surprise when his judgment descends. That is why, from our point
of view, the Last Day will come like a thief.” (G. Jerome Albrecht & Michael
J. Albrecht. Page 355.)
So it was and so it still is that …
I. Many People Were Then and Are Now Unprepared for Christ’s Arrival.
(37-41) Let’s not be counted among them. Rather let’s ...
II. Be Always Prepared for Christ’s Arrival. (42-43) by reading and
hearing God’s Holy Word, reflecting on Holy Baptism, taking great comfort in
the declaration of Holy Absolution, and properly partaking of Holy
Communion.
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
_______________________________________________
Sermons mailing list
Sermons@cat41.org
http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
