Sunday
12/02/18 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “He came, and He will come again!”
(“Hope is Coming” Series – Part 1 of 5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-16
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 21:25-36
Welcome again this morning my friends, my brothers and
sisters in Christ, on this our First Sunday of this the Season of Advent.
Advent of course is the season that leads us up to the short 12-day Season of
Christmas. We all know the song “The 12-days of Christmas”.
So what is Advent though, and why do we celebrate it? Well
one source I researched says:
“Advent is a season observed
in many Christian churches as a time of expectant
waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of
Jesus at Christmas as well as the return of Jesus at the second
coming. The term is a version of the Latin word meaning "coming". The
term "Advent" is also used in Eastern
Orthodoxy for the 40-day Nativity Fast,
which has practices different from those in the West”.
“Latin adventus is
the translation of the Greek word parousia,
commonly used to refer to the Second Coming of
Christ. For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ
from three different perspectives. "Since the time of Bernard of Clairvaux (d.1153)
Christians have spoken of the three comings of Christ: in the flesh in
Bethlehem, in our hearts daily, and in glory at the end of time."
“Advent is the beginning of the Western liturgical
year and commences on the fourth Sunday before Christmas
(sometimes known as Advent Sunday),” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent).
So Advent is the beginning of the
church year or calendar, and it is a season that developed out of the
worshiping tradition of the church. In this season we are called to prepare for
the memory of Christ’s birth, to receive Him in our hearts daily, and to be
prepared for his triumphant return to earth.
I remember the very first Advent
that I was a pastor. To be honest before that first Sunday of Advent as a
pastor, I never noticed that the scriptures that many of our churches read
every Sunday where scriptures that the church picked out ahead of time. This is
why I was really confused on my first Sunday of Advent as a pastor in 2012.
I was reading and studying, and
preparing for my first ever Advent sermon. I was reading the gospel lesson for
that first Sunday in Advent in 2012, and found myself really confused. You see
I always thought that the season of Advent was purely about preparing our
hearts and our minds for the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I mean
when the Season of Advent ends, we are in the Season of Christmas. You know the
baby, our savior being born!
Yet on that first Sunday of Advent
as a pastor, I noticed that the gospel lesson for that day discussed not Jesus’
coming birth, but rather his second triumphant return to earth. As our
communion liturgy says:
“Christ
has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”
(UMC Hymnal, pg. 10).
So I was confused, is Advent about
preparing for Christ’s birth? Is Advent about inviting Christ in our hearts? Is
Advent about being prepared for Christ triumphant second coming to earth? Well
as I soon learned in preparing for that first Sunday of Advent in 2012, the
answer was yes to all three.
Advent is about preparing for the
memory of Christ’s birth, as he was already born nearly 2,000 years ago. As we
celebrate this season, we prepare for the memory of Christ’s birth, and
hopefully we will recapture faith in Christ anew. In this season we can invite
Christ to born again in our hearts, as we invite him into our lives every day.
We also await the triumphant return of Christ to earth. As the Nicene Creed we
are reading this ends with:
“We look
for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen” (UMC Hymnal, pg. 880).
This
“resurrection of dead” is of course in conjunction with the second coming of
Jesus Christ to earth.
So
in this season, we are invited to prepare for the memory of Christ’s birth that
is coming. We are invited to ask him into our hearts daily, as we await his
triumphant return. Did anyone honestly not know any of this before this
morning? That the Season of Advent was about three things? I know that I didn’t
fully understand it until 2012.
With
all of this said, I am starting a new sermon series this morning that will run
today through Christmas Eve. This sermon series is called the “Hope is Coming”
series. My sermon this morning is called, “He came, and will come again!” This
sermon title is of course saying that we are preparing for the memory of Jesus’
birth, that we can invite him into our hearts daily, and that he will return
one day in glory. So Jesus came, and Jesus will come again! As Christians our
hope is in Jesus, his life saving gospel, his death and resurrection, and yes
in his triumphant return.
Through
Jesus’ gospel, found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have a blue print
from Jesus on how to live, how to love, how to be reconciled to God, and what
is to come. In this season of Advent we are invited to prepare for the coming
of Christ. The coming of Christ in a manger in Bethlehem, the coming of Christ
into our hearts and lives, and the return of Christ to earth. Jesus is coming,
Hope is coming. We are in season of love, joy, peace, and of course hope.
So
let’s look again at our gospel reading from this morning again to better
understand once again why the church gives us a scripture in the first Sunday
of Advent about Christ’s return to earth. Once again it says in Luke 21:25-36,
shortly before the Last Supper:
“There will be signs in the sun, the
moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the
roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of
what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of
Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin
to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is
drawing near” (Lk. 21:25-28, NRSV).
So the gospel of Luke lesson for this morning, which is sub-titled by the
way, “The
Coming of the Son of Man,” is a narrative about the return of Christ to
earth. Jesus himself is speaking these words.
As I said, I remember my first Advent as pastor thinking about this
gospel reading, “Well that isn’t about the coming birth of Christ”. Advent
again, is about the birth, the faith, and the return. When you are thinking of
the birth of a baby you likely rarely think about the end of the world and
apocalypse. These sorts of things really put a damper on a baby shower!
In one of my bible commentaries called
the “Africa Bible Commentary,” it says of the scripture that I just read:
“Signs of the times are all around us. We read of
floods, earth-quakes and hurricanes, of wars and terrorism. There are signs of
the earth’s upheaval and nations in chaos. Jesus discussed these signs in
Jerusalem twenty-one centuries ago when he spoke of the end of Jerusalem and
the end of the world” (Africa Bible Commentary, 1271).
Jesus, then after saying these words
about his second coming, tells us the parable of the fig tree in this morning’s
gospel reading.
“Then he told them a parable: “Look at
the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for
yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these
things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell
you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Lk.
21:25-28, NRSV).
In this parable, Jesus is telling us like
a fig tree that sprouts leaves in the spring; you know that summer is coming
because of the leaf sprouts. Jesus is saying that similar to the sprouting
leaves on a fig tree, be looking for the signs of his return to earth. Be
prepared for when Christ returns in victory to the earth.
One verse that has thrown many people
over the years in the parable of the fig tree is when Jesus says:
“Truly
I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken
place” (Lk. 21:32, NRSV).
I have been asked, “But pastor the
generation that was alive when Jesus was alive passed away a long time ago.
Shouldn’t Christ have returned way back then?”
The answer to this question is this, Jesus
was telling us that at some point in time, a future that a generation will live
through many of things that Jesus say will occur before He returns. Further
this same generation will still be alive when Christ returns. This means that
this final generation on earth will live through some hard times, culminating
in the return of Jesus Christ. So at some point then a generation will be born
that will witness what Christ said will come prior to his return to earth.
Jesus then again said:
“Heaven and
earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”
(Lk. 21:32, NRSV).
Jesus
is saying that everything on this earth is temporary, but he is eternal. The
responsive hymn “There’s Something About That Name” in our United Methodist
Church hymnal ends with the words:
“Kings and
kingdoms will all pass away, but there’s something about that name!” (UMC Hymnal, pg.
171).
Jesus then ends our gospel lesson for
this morning once again by saying this:
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not
weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and
that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon
all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying
that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place,
and to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk. 21:34-36,
NRSV).
So Jesus, our Lord, says be ready, be
prepared. He says I will be coming back soon!
So in this our First Sunday of Advent,
we prepare for a season where we are awaiting the memory of the birth of Jesus
Christ our savior, we are invited to bring Christ into our hearts anew every
day, and we await Christ’s triumphant return. May we have hope in the birth of
Christ, the life of Christ, the saving grace through Christ, and hope in
triumphant return one day.
I therefore end this message with a statement
said by Christians for centuries, Come Lord Jesus. Amen.
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