"Prepare"

Isaiah 2:1-5             Matthew 24:36-44

 

Isaiah 2:1-5

2The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3Many 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 forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

 

Matthew 24:36-44

36“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37For as the days of Noah were, 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 Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But understand this: if the owner 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. 44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

 

Today, I am a bit concerned about recent news stories describing

            government sanctioned    fondling and nude images at airports

                                      … especially since Kathy and I plan to fly

                                                to my nephew's wedding in Memphis next month.

 

   The potential and even likelihood of abuse,   makes many of us

            feel very uncomfortable with these new security measures,

                        which I suspect   fear-driven bureaucrats may have

                                    put into place too hastily disregarding our privacy.

 

Earlier this week, I checked out a few travel websites

            and found there were some helpful suggestions,

                        and ways that we can prepare for these security screenings

                                    so that our travel is less horrible and traumatic,

            à  so that at least  we  are not driven by fear and panic.

 

But the best travel suggestion I saw, is to prepare   by re-focusing,

            not on the indignities that   air-travelers must endure,

                        but on the arrival at our destination   into the loving-                                                       embrace of family and loved-ones at our journey's end.

 

This is an intentional shift toward a more hopeful perspective

            by considering our present    in the context of our future …

                        … which is also    an important part of the message

                                    we need to hear on this first Sunday of Advent.

 

            "Don't be overwhelmed by this world or our present situation,

                        or allow our fear or culture to define how we live & respond;

                                    but focus instead  on hope and on what God has promised

                                          by looking for & noticing what God is accomplishing.

And that is the same hopeful message in both Scripture passages

          that we read earlier on this Advent morning.

 

When the verses of Isaiah 2 were first written,

            the Assyrian Empire had conquered

                        and actually obliterated the northern kingdom of Israel.

 

            So the southern kingdom of Judah

                        was feeling pretty vulnerable, fearful and anxious.

                            It was a very scary and uncertain time for the nation.

 

This Isaiah text was intended   as a word of hope and encouragement.

            It was a reminder and admonition to the nation:

                        not to panic into making a rash and fear-driven decision,

                                    but to remember,   and to rely on God's promises.

 

The word to the nation was that:  

    there is more going on than is obvious or that you realize

            because God is still at work writing the story of His blessings.

 

Isaiah's message is this:   don't so focus and get so caught up

            in the world of trouble and the stuff you see surrounding you

                        that you forget about God's promises to be with you

                                    and His promises to bring the story to a good ending.

            Historically, by God's protection, the southern kingdom

                        did outlast and survive the Assyrian threat and aggression.

 

And similar to this hopeful message from Isaiah,

            the passage from Matthew is also about our hopeful future,

                        made certain because God is faithful, and is working

                                    to bless beyond the immediate circumstances we see.

            When the gospel of Matthew was written,

                        it had been some 80 years or so since Jesus had left,

            and some of the critics of the Christianity and the Church

                        were saying that after all of this time, the Second coming

                                    was surely a false hope that would never be fulfilled…

                                                  … for even faithful Christians

                                                            had expected Jesus to return more quickly.

 

 

In these verses of Matthew, the author repeats the words Jesus spoke,

          that only God the Father knows when Jesus will return in the end.

Meaning that, just because it hasn't happened yet

            doesn't mean that it won’t happen or that the promise false;

                                    but as it's explained in 2 Peter 3:9, we read,

            The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness,   but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish,   but all to come to repentance.

 

In other words, don't mistake the grace of God giving us more time

    to mean that God has forgotten or that truth will not be fulfilled.

 

In Matthew, this encouraging and challenging message to the Church

            is given through four mini-stories or scenes that Jesus tells.

First, just as Noah's neighbors

            were surprised amid the ordinary stuff and events of their lives

                        when the drowning rains and flooding did finally arrive,

      so too,

         when Jesus returns at the end, it will be sudden and unexpected.

 

The point is to prepare;

            and not be so caught up in worldly stuff and desires of our lives

                        that we are not ready when the end finally arrives,

                                    or that we forget God's promises

                                                and that there is more than just what we can see.

 

In the next verses, Jesus goes on to describe:

    two men out working in the field, and two women are grinding meal.

Jesus explains, one of the two is prepared and ready,

     while the other,  perhaps so caught up in the things of this world,

            they are unwilling to leave their work and plans to follow Jesus.

 

Finally, Jesus gives the same warning his listeners once again,

            not to expect to know in advance with warning,

                        anymore than a homeowner is warned or knows in advance

                                    when a thief is coming to break into where they live.

 

            Our task therefore, is to be ready by always being prepared,

                        and to prepare by focusing on always being ready.

 

And as we are moving into this Advent season toward Christmas,

            may these lessons become our seasonal guide and give us hope.

 

For many people, the holidays are a struggle and a difficult season,

     because they are missing loved-ones, or anxious with an illness;

            some are dealing with disappointment or troubled circumstances,

                        or  just facing another frantic season of endless demands.

               But our texts today urge us to re-focus   our hope on the Lord.

 

     Both of these Advent Scripture passages

            remind us that God's promises and God's presence are with us,

                        that the Light of the Lord is real and cannot be snuffed out

            -- and that if we are attentive, look and listen with our hearts,

                   then there will always be places where God and God's grace,

                           are visibly at work, if we're not too distracted to notice.

 

What I am describing is an important and hopeful truth ---

            that God knows and loves each of us,

                        and is fully aware of what we need most.

 

          And at some point along our Advent and Christmas journey

                   God will speak and embrace us in a unique and meaningful way,

                             so we can receive God's gracious love anew and afresh

                                as it overflows into our hidden poverty and true need.

 

So today, as we begin our Advent journey, our texts remind us

            that it's all too easy for us the miss   that main point,

                to be overly focused and fussing about all the outward things,

                    preoccupied with the glitter and gratifying every desire…

 

            … as we set for ourselves      as our goal and aim for the season

                        an absolutely ideal and picture perfect Christmas. à

 

But then, neglecting to adequately focus and concern ourselves,

            with the spiritual condition and health of our hearts---

                        or so driven by our fear or false things of this world

                                    that we miss the most important message of Christmas, à

    that God loves us – and so God came to us   as   a vulnerable baby.

 

Advent is truly a call for us to re-focus and re-consider

            this world’s deranged   Christmas script of preoccupation

                        with perfection, performance, décor and sentiment…

            … rather than attending

                        to the feeding, to the deepening and nurturing of our souls.

 

We are all but assaulted by cultural and  materialistic Christmas

            with gift displays and decorations in stores by Halloween,

                        and busy lives overstuffed with seasonal events & demands…

    … all in such contrast   to the humble and quiet birth in Bethlehem.

 

So how do we stand apart from the false Christmas of our culture?,

            from sinking under the weight of schedules and demanding days?

 

Like dealing with an assault of airport security,

            the hope of Advent calls us to shift our focus,

                        and strive to find an appropriate and faithful balance à

 

            which may limit our holiday preparations and celebrations

                        by our choosing   only those things which are meaningful…

 

…  that build our relationships, deepen and nurture our faith,

            and that actually and intentionally do honor and glorify God…

 

                        … and consciously choosing to stop

                                    trying to do and accomplish all things & every demand.

It is focusing more on our destination, our hope in God's promises,

          and on the warm embrace   of our God's grace and our loved ones.

 

The point is that Advent is not about getting Christmas right,     

            but it is a conditioning of the heart, refocusing our living,

                        so that we can walk in the light and love of the LORD à

 

            by not being afraid to say, ‘no,    that’s only a distractionà

                        from having a more meaningful and blessed Christmas,

                         one that does truly focus on our hope in God's promises

                                    as revealed through the coming of Jesus Christ.

 

400 years ago during the wars and struggles of the Reformation,

            a German governor asked a pastor and a theology professor

                        to put on paper what Reformed Christians hope and believe.

 

The result of their work

            is in our Book of Confessions, the Heidelberg Catechism.

 

And as we being our Advent travel toward Christmas,

            I believe that the first question and answer describe

                        the truth and hope we need

                                    to guide us along this spiritual and seasonal journey.

 

Question 1.       What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

 

Answer 1.

                That I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation.

                Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.