Jesus on the Spirit of Advent

December 10, 1989

Luke 21:29

And he told them in a parable: Behold the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near. Even so you, too, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near!

I Thessalonians 5:1-11

Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.

Therefore, encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Introduction:

Advent is a wonderful time! But Advent is not simply a time of wonder, but a serious time of expectancy. Advent is a time to look for the hand of God in history, both past, present and future, if we can speak of history that way.

[ Did the eternal God really choose a point in linear time as we understand it, and become personally involved in everyday life? ]

[ Does God ever really "bang in" on the affairs of time? ]

[ I shudder sometimes to hear someone say so very certainly: "God told me this!" I have had people very certain of what God's will was for me; and God hadn't told me, yet! ]

[ But at the same time, I pray and ask God to help me through the everyday issues and events of life. I try to maintain a constant inner conversation with Him. Don't you? ]

[ By the same (paradoxical) simplicity, I (constantly) ask God to intervene in the affairs of people! I believe He hears those prayers— and sometimes He answers them the way I pray them... ]

In just how personal a way are we to "be looking for God's hand?" Will God ever invade history in a personal, visible way again?

Do we really dare to believe that He does, and that He WILL?

God's people belong to an eternal truth that has deeper goals than merely holding on for dear life to the status quo or whatever is the best that we know.

Some simple facts about the Second Advent:

I. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE

1. "But of the times and seasons ye have no need for me to write." Why not? It seems as though I am expected to know something I don't!!

   This companion scripture to our text begins with the phrase "times and seasons." It speaks of two ways to look at what we call "time." The words in Greek are "chronos" and "kairos." We are all familiar with the ideas represented by them both. But sometimes it is important that we separate the two.

   "Chronos" means time as we measure it in passing segments we call minutes and hours and days and years. "December" is a chronological division of time.

   "Kairos" means "an opportunity" or "a moment or a period when something happens:

   2 Corinthians 6:2 "I have heard you in an accepted TIME (kairos): behold NOW is the accepted TIME (kairos)"

   Paul is saying that it is not necessary to write to the Thessalonians the details of Christ's Second Coming because nobody knows the time (chronos) and everybody with vision will know the season (kairos) when it gets here!

2. We are not to worry too much about "end times." But that does not mean we have no responsibility in history!

II. WE ARE TO BE PEOPLE OF HOPE

1. End times will be shaking times! It may well be that a shaking time is coming even now! Good and bad things are happening, faster and faster.

   One thing is certain, according to Jesus and His prophets: Cataclysmic changes are going to occur; men's hearts will fail them for fear. And if our primary concern is to see peace until the end of our days, and then let all hell break loose on our children or their children we will not be prepared when the earth shakes and the firestorm sweeps.

   When the frightening times come is it possible that Christians will have a different attitude? How should Christian's attitudes be different from any others?

2. The SPIRIT makes the difference! Christians should experience and manifest the fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy and Peace.

   What about LOVE? Not just talking about love, but doing something about it! [We cannot all be Mother Teresa— but there are people who are lonely we could visit!

   What about JOY? I believe that real JOY is one of the scarcest commodities in all the modern world! There is no shortage of laughter, or humor, or pleasure. But JOY?

   If it is true that JOY is the clearest evidence of God's Presence, and that the world for all its laughs doesn't know real joy—- then it stands to reason that we Christians need to be joyful exponents of a clear and sure note of HOPE! The KING is COMING!

   What about PEACE? How can we have a sense of peace when we are frightened, too? It was PEACE that appealed to John Wesley when he was seeking assurance and salvation!

   The Moravians had a doctrine that differed from ours; it differed finally from the doctrine that Wesley refined and adhered to. But on the ocean voyage from England to Georgia, when a storm threatened the ship and all aboard with death, the German Christians were unafraid. They sang praises to God.

   I'm not sure that I would be physically unafraid like that. But I am sure that it was a grasp of God's Sovereignty, a belief that went to the core of their being— there was something that made a life-changing difference in those Moravian Christians.

[Conclusion:]

III. A SIMPLE FORMULA FOR CHRIST'S PEOPLE IN ADVENT

1. TREASURE THE LIGHT. "You are all children of light! Children of day!" IF we walk in the light, as Jesus is the Light, we have fellowship! In some misguided false assurance of what "grace" means, let us not think it a light thing to walk in less light than is available to us!

   We have almost incredible resources for helping spiritual growth available to us. And at the same time we often act like spiritual pygmies!

2. DON'T STOP LOVING GOD AND GOD'S PEOPLE! "For God has not destined us to wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live TOGETHER with Him." Live TOGETHER with the risen Lord.

   William Johnston, in a book called Christian Mysticism Today (cited by Benson) says:

   "I say unhesitatingly that there are three sources of Christian ... experience ["authentic experience: the joy of being "in God's Presence"]:

   (1) the Word of God in sacred scripture, (2) the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, and (3) the Word of God in the community called church.

   "If you ask for practical advice... I do not advise you to take the plane to Tel Aviv and the bus to the Judean desert. I do not tell you to travel to Cairo and then to Sinai or to the desert south of Alexandria. I do not tell you to sit in the lotus and breathe from your abdomen. All this [HE says] is good, very good, but in the end peripheral. Instead I say:

   Listen to the Word! Read the scriptures! Read them again and again with faith and love until the word comes to life within you, penetrating the deepest layers of your unconscious.

   Again, celebrate the Eucharist! Break bread with the community! Be present TO the mystery of faith and partake of the bread of life. This will lead you into that rich inner desert of silence and joy where your life lies hidden with Christ in God. This will lead you to say with Paul: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." (Galatians 2:20) This will lead you to cry out with Jesus: "Abba, Father!"

   Again, listen to the community. Be part of the community. Get guidance from some representative of the community . . . never get isolated. Never go out [{ALONE}] on a limb. Community!"

3. We, as God's people, looking for the Second Advent, must seek to build our very lives, and the lives of our families, inasmuch as it is possible, into the living, breathing life of the true church of Jesus Christ. And that church is manifest, imperfectly, but manifest nevertheless, in the local body of blood-washed, born-again believers!

   Hear it again: THE WORD! THE SACRAMENTS! THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CHURCH!

4. (And, finally. we need to seek to help our brothers and sisters be strong in the Lord. We all can see faults in others. But instead of justifying ourselves on the basis of others' faults, or, instead of simply criticizing, we must encourage and build one another up.

One song we sing almost celebrates what we do NOT know about the mysteries of our faith; one verse particularly speaks about the Second Advent:

"I know not WHEN my Lord may come At night or noonday fair, Nor if I'll walk the vale with Him Or meet Him in the air.

... and that is the way real Christian faith IS! Each verse begins with the mystery and uncertainty with which we as believers must live. "I know not WHY, I know not HOW (twice), I know not WHAT, and I know not WHEN." But the whole point of the song is that it is all right as long as we can genuinely sing the chorus:

But I know WHOM I have believed!

This is a WONDERFUL TIME IN HISTORY to be alive, and to be looking for the great God of History to break in once again! Let us be children of LIGHT, children of the ADVENT! Prayer: Lord, I believe what I am preaching today. But help me not just to say words, but to know You, and to live in Your Presence, I pray. Amen

#449 I Know Whom I have believed