Today is the first Sunday of Advent. The season of Advent is the time in the church calendar when many Christians try to reflect on how we can better imitate Jesus to our family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. It’s a season during which many Christians try to step back from their routine day to day activities and prepare their hearts for the day on which we celebrate the birth of our Savior.
I’ve heard it said by
those in the Church that EVERY day is the day in which we should prepare our
hearts for the Lord. Every day is the day in which we should better reflect
Jesus. And that is true. And I have said such things myself.
But God gave the Church
– as He gave to ancient Israel – various seasonal celebrations to serve as
reminders that we can all do better in our relationship with God. We can all do better in reminding ourselves of His presence
with us at every moment of our day and night, hearing every thought, watching our
every action.
Listen, we can all always do better practicing obedience to His
whispering voice.
Some think all that is required to be a Christian is to be
baptized, or to go down to an altar and make a confession of faith. But that viewpoint
has no basis in Biblical truth. Salvation cannot be reduced to a simple baptism,
or a confession of faith at an altar. Such a shallow idea of conversion devalues
the cost of the cross. It cheapens what Christ did on Calvary.
The Christian walk is a continual, daily walk. Jesus told us, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily
and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23). A daily walk means obediently following Jesus in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, in
times of wealth and times of poverty, when it’s convenient and when it’s
inconvenient. God did everything He possibly could to save us. For us to reduce
His sacrifice of His beloved Son to a once-in-a-lifetime commitment to Jesus demonstrates
just how little we consider the cost of the cross of Jesus.
That our walk with Christ is an ongoing journey is a critically important biblically
based concept. Those who ignore that truth, or make light of it, may find themselves
at the Judgment Seat of Christ, hearing Him say, as He said to those who
thought they were Christians, “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I
never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21-23. Matthew 25:31-46; and Luke 13:24-28).
So, on this first Sunday
of Advent, as we consider how we might better prepare ourselves for our
Bridegroom, I want us to focus on a text in Luke’s gospel: “And he [John] came into all the district around the
Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is
written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying
in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight. (Luke 3:3-4)
And
so, how might we be a people doing a better job preparing ourselves for the Lord
and making our own paths straight as we follow our Shepherd?
I think many of us,
either unconsciously or semi-consciously – are far too willing to make excuses
for our sins – especially sins of our thoughts and our tongues. We too easily
rationalize them as simply part of our sin nature – and then we move on with
other things in life. I know what I am talking about, because I do that too
often in my own life.
Thankfully, the Holy
Spirit is not inclined to let us get away with any of our excuses and
rationalizations. He gives us several lists of sins to which we must remain
constantly vigilant. However, I will not take time talking in any detail about
those sins. Everyone in this room knows intuitively what constitute sin – such
as immoral thoughts, lying, pride, gossip, and an unwillingness to forgive
others, having a critical spirit toward others, promoting ourselves at the
expense of others. The lists go one, as you well know.
That is why the Holy
Spirit warns us through St Paul’s pen: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he
will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap
corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal
life.” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Reaping and Sowing. That’s
why preparation for the Lord Jesus requires “cleans[ing] ourselves from every defilement
of body and spirit, and perfecting holiness in the fear of God,” as the apostle Paul wrote to the
Christians at Corinth. (2 Corinthians 7:1)
Reaping and sowing.
Don’t think for a moment Satan is not aware of that spiritual principle. That’s
why he tries his best to first twist our understanding of God, planting lies
and half-truths in our hearts, because if he is successful in corrupting our
thoughts about God as our heavenly Father, it becomes like child’s play for him
to reap disaster in our thoughts and lives.
What is that lie Satan wants
to plant in our hearts? It’s the idea that paints God as an angry, capricious,
and hard taskmaster who stands in front of His throne with a whip, watching our
every move, eagerly waiting for you and me to mess up so He can lash into us.
Such a dark view of
God, in many cases, is rooted in the experiences of some who had earthly
fathers just like that. Mean-spirited. Critical. Always finding fault. Nothing they
ever could do was good enough for their earthly father. And so, for many, they transfer
their childhood experiences with their earthly father to their heavenly Father.
And Satan, having planted that lie about their heavenly father in their minds,
he reaps a damaged soul who cowers from the One whose arms are spread apart on
that wooden beam, inviting them into His embrace.
Jesus, through the
ages, even to this very day, invites all of us, each of us, into His embrace.
Many years ago, when I
was stationed with the navy in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, I lived with two other
guys in a two-bedroom house. Neither Jeff or Gary were Christians, but of the
two, Jeff was the atheist. He always found a reason to poke fun at my faith.
One Sunday morning as I
dressed for church service at the base chapel, Jeff asked, “Hey, where’re you
going? On a date?”
I remember being taken
aback with the question. In all my years as a Christian, I’d never thought of
going to church as going on a date with the Lover of my soul. But with Jeff’s
question came the sudden realization – yes, I AM going on a date. I am meeting
my Bridegroom, my Lover, my Lord, my best Friend.
And that is what I told
him: “Yes, I am going on a date to meet Jesus.”
And the point of my
story? You and I are betrothed to our Lord Jesus Christ. You and I are the
Bride of Christ. Let me remind you of only one passage of Scripture that speaks
of our marital relationship with our Savior. It’s from Ephesians 5:
“So husbands ought also to love their own
wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but
nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because
we are members of His body. For this reason a man
shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and
the church.” (Ephesians 5:28-33)
This biblical principal
of our marriage to our earthly spouse forms the basis of the God-centered
relationship with Christ by which, and from which, we should prepare our hearts
for His coming – that being the love and devotion of a bride for her beloved.
What faithful bride-to-be
would corrupt herself with another man? What faithful bride-to-be would live in
a morally cavalier fashion? The answer is, of course, none. All brides in love
with their groom keep themselves morally pure, perfecting their own holiness in
anticipation of being joined with her beloved.
And THAT is the reason we
want to live holy lives – not out of fear, but so we can please our Groom
because we love Him. We adore Him. We want to exalt Him.
So, what are some ways
in which we can conduct our lives so that we are preparing ourselves for the
Lord, moving toward holiness and pleasing our Groom? How might we better
cleanse ourselves of all defilements of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear and reverence of the Lord? The answer is not as difficult to uncover
as one might think. Much of it rests in the principal behind this simple song
we’ve sung to children: O be careful
little eyes what you see. O be careful little ears what you hear.
You’ve probably heard
the axion: Garbage in – Garbage out. Or as St. Paul warned in Galatians 6:7-8)
“Do not be deceived, God
is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who
sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows
to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
Can we watch television
shows or movies that promote violence, anger, hatred, greed, and lusts and not
be dirtied or burned? Can we night after night watch the news and not find our
attitudes becoming consumed with anger and frustration? We can’t walk through
mud and not get our shoes dirty. We can’t put our hand onto a hot stove and not
be burned.
There is a better way
to live. A better way to prepare ourselves for our Groom. A better way this
Advent season – and throughout the year – to prepare our hearts for our Lord.
What is that? Fall deeper in love with Jesus.
Keep seeking, every day, keep seeking the Holy Spirit to draw you to fall
deeper in love with Jesus.
Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, learned the
answer to the question we’ve been looking at this afternoon: How can we prepare
ourselves afresh for the Lord’s Advent into our hearts? Here is what you and I
need to discover ourselves:
Nothing is more practical
than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect
everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what
you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you
read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and
gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.
Falling
more deeply in love with our Groom is the only right answer to the question, “How
can we better prepare ourselves for His coming afresh into our hearts?” And how
do we fall deeper in love with Jesus? In much the same way as any bride learns
to fall more deeply in love her spouse:
Number one (and these
are not in any particular order): Turn off the TV. Turn off the computer. Open
your Bible. Read it slowly. This is not a sprint, to see how much of it you can
read in a sitting, or a month, or even a year. Meditate, ruminate on what you
are reading.
You might find it
helpful to keep a notebook with you and write out in long hand what the Lord
teaches you. Write out any verse that speaks to you, and then spend some time
praying back to God what He just showed you in scripture.
For example, this passage
in Psalm 119 caught my attention: “With all my heart I have sought You; Do not
let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You. (Psalm
119:10-11)
And so, I prayed:
“Lord, do not let me wander from your commandments. Help me to treasure your
word in my heart.”
Another time I read
this verse in Luke 6: “It was at this time that He
went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to
God. And when
day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also
named as apostles.”
So, I prayed, “Lord, I
also want to always be Your disciple, always sitting at Your feet and learning
from You. Please always draw me to Yourself that I might always learn from
You.”
Number two: Be quick to
repent. Ask the Holy Spirit to train your spiritual ears to better hear His
voice, and when He tells you that you have done something wrong, repent. And
determine with His help to not do it again.
Number three: Be quick to FORGIVE others who
have hurt you, or offended you, or used you. If you’ve consistently read your
Bible over the years you know as well as I do, Jesus REQUIRES us to forgive
others their sins against us. It was He who taught His disciples to pray:
Forgive us our SINS AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US (Matthew 6:12). He
then added two verses later: For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if
you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your
transgressions. (Matthew 6:14-15)
Number four: Try to make a conscious effort
through the day, and especially at the end of the day, to thank God for the big
things and the little things that happened in your day. I have a small notebook
in which I record things that day for which I am thankful.
We have
entered the season of Advent. Yes, many of you prepare your hearts every day
through the year for the coming of our Lord. But you and I can still do better.
And yes, there are some here who might not prepare your heart through the year
for a deeper relationship with the Lord. But you can do better. Why not start
today, on this first Sunday of Advent?
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