Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our Gospel lesson (Matthew 24: 35-44) read earlier.
Are you ready for Christmas yet? The stores and the media have been trying to get us ready for more than a month now. Even the President seems to be making it our patriotic duty to get out and do some shopping for our country for Christmas. Are you ready for Christmas yet? How many times will you hear that question in the next few weeks? And when we think about the gifts we still need to buy, the decorations we still want to put up, the parties and reunions we still want to attend, preparation for Christmas can begin to feel pretty overwhelming.
The Advent season is a season of preparation, a season of preparing for Jesus' coming. On this first Sunday in Advent, Jesus, in the Gospel, tells us strongly (v. 44) "you must be ready." Jesus is not talking here about his first coming at Christmas, or even about Christmas 2001. Jesus is talking about his Second Coming, his coming at the end of time. On our sign out front we've said "He's coming again and we don't mean Santa." Jesus said "You must be ready". So I ask: Are you ready yet?
The old game show "Family Feud" poses a question and then lists the most common answers to the question. It seems to me that there are three most common answers to the question "Are you ready yet?" They are (1) "I have plenty of time to get ready;" (2) I don't know how to get ready; and (3) I'm ready enough already. Which answer sounds most like yours? Let's explore them each.
The first response: "I have plenty of time to get ready." Few of us would say that about Christmas. We know that we have only three weeks left and too much to do. But on the other hand, Jesus said that he would come back, but that was 2000 years ago. And he hasn't come yet. The temptation is to say to ourselves "I've got a lot of other things to do, and when I find the time, I'll get ready for Jesus."
Did you notice Jesus' illustration to such an answer? For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. And then the flood came and took them all away. Jesus doesn't point out their evil, but just the fact that they were caught up in the routines of their lives, and ignored the warnings of Noah. Their routines of life had become more important than the God whose blessings made the routines possible.
An old fable tells the story of 3 apprentice devils who are being sent to earth to hone their temptation skills. Satan interviews each of them and asked what their primary strategy would be on earth. The first apprentice said "I will tell them there is no God." Satan scolded him and said "that won't work. Everyone knows there is a God." The second apprentice said "I will convince people there is no hell." Satan also rejected this strategy saying "Everyone knows there is a hell." The 3rd apprentice said "I'll convince people that there is plenty of time to turn to Jesus, there's no hurry to trust in him." Satan smiled and said "Well done, you will win many."
Are you ready yet for Jesus? The all too common thought, even among some professing Christians, is "I have plenty of time to get ready." This is the most dangerous of the answers to the question, the one that Jesus most strongly warns against in our text and for the entire two chapters surrounding our text.
Are you ready yet for Jesus' return? The second common response is "I don't know how to get ready." This response is more faithful, because implied within it is the statement "help me know how to get ready." The help is there, always available. Jesus said in our text: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away". How do we get ready? Listen! Listen to Jesus' words that will never pass away! The people in Noah's time could have listened to Noah's preaching, but they didn't. They dismissed God's Word. But we can listen to Noah and Abraham and Moses and Isaiah and John the Baptist, each preparing people for the first coming of Jesus. John the Baptist said "Repent, be baptized, turn from your sin." Look to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Trust in him for his saving work. Repent and turn to him, day after day after day. Believing that He came to live and die for us is the best preparation for Christmas, the only preparation for His Second Coming.
Listen to Him. His very words tell you that you can be confident that He loves you so much that He came to die for you, to give you new life. That love will never pass away, even after this heaven and earth pass away. Be assured of his grace and blessings that come through his Word and his Sacraments. Be expectant that he will return and take you to be with him! Jesus said in Revelation 22 "I am coming soon!"
Now it's true that some people think they are preparing, but they are preparing in a misguided fashion. Too many people want to know specifics, the signs and wonders. They want to know the date this will all happen.
In the Fall of 1990, a scientist predicted there would be a major earthquake in southeastern Missouri, including the St. Louis and Memphis areas. Now for those of you who don't know, that area does sit on the New Madrid fault. The largest earthquake known to hit North America was not in California, but along this New Madrid fault in the early 1800's. It was such a large quake that it was felt in Washington D.C. Seismologists do predict that another large earthquake could occur on that fault at anytime, but one scientist in 1990 made a specific prediction: An earthquake would strike on December 4, 1990. As the media picked up on the prediction, people began stockpiling food and fuel. Schools planned to close. Attorneys were busy writing wills. On the Sunday before, which happened to be on December 2, the 1st Sunday in Advent, churches were packed. Some people were nearly in a panic on December 3rd. But December 4 came and went. No earthquake. Not even a tremor. The anxiety faded. The stockpiles wasted away. Church attendance gradually returned to normal. (from Larry Jones and Jerry Sumney, Preaching Apocalyptic Texts, 1999, p. 92)
Waiting for Jesus' return is a lot like waiting for an earthquake along a fault line. You know it's going to happen, but you don't know when. Jesus even said "No one knows the hour." We can become either too anxious about specifics or too complacent about preparations. The difference is that earthquakes always result in destruction while Jesus' return will bring a new creation, a new heaven and earth for those who trust him.
Are you ready for his return? The third common response is "I'm ready enough." This can be either a faithful or unfaithful response. If someone says "I'm ready enough because I'm a nice person, I love my family, I follow the 10 commandments, I'm content with myself", then they misunderstand what we did at the beginning of the service when we confessed our sins. We said 1 John 1: 8-9 "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". We confessed that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We sin against God in thought, word and deed. We do bad things and fail to do good things. We fail to keep the 10 commandments, either the first 3 about loving God with our whole heart or the last 7 about loving our neighbor. We deserve punishment. But then we pleaded for mercy, mercy earned not by our works, but by the work of Jesus on the cross at his first coming. We asked for forgiveness, renewal, and His leadership in our lives, so that we can delight in God's will and walk in His ways and glorify His holy name.
Are you ready for his return? When we come before him as beggars and confess our sins, repent and ask for his forgiveness, then, and only then can we faithfully say "I'm ready enough because of you Lord Jesus." When we turn to him, daily on our own, weekly here with each other, then, we understand Paul's Words in our Epistle "The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed"….
Are you ready for Christmas yet? More importantly, are you ready for Jesus' return? Jesus knew how easy it would be for us to become complacent. He uses His eternal word to guard us against complacency. So "keep watch", "you must be ready." "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ" and know that your loving forgiving Lord wants you to come to him daily.
In the name of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The idea and outline for this sermon come primarily from Dr. Erwin J. Kolb in Concordia Pulpit Resource, 2001, p. 16.