Advent: Look Up

Well, Merry Christmas.

It is the first Sunday in Advent.

Remember, Advent is the four Sundays weeks leading up to Christmas.

So we're actually in the church calendar.

We're not really in Christmas time.

We are in Advent.

Advent's the season of waiting and hoping, anticipation toward Christmas of the one to come.

A couple weeks ago, I went to the airport to pick up my aunt who flew in from Seattle.

I got there early and she wanted me to meet her there at the top of the escalator to help her with the luggage and get to the car.

And so I got there early, and it's good people watching there at the top of the escalator in case you hadn't been there in a while.

And I'm a stand back person.

I don't know if you're a front row person.

I'm a stand back and I can kind of just I can see over because I've got that thing going on and I can just see, and then I go after the person that I want.

But there's other people there, and I watched one family who had distinctly prepared a lot for this moment because they had signs, and it's like the whole family's there, so they had parked and they had walked and they had wiggled their way up to that front, right?

With that little you know, rope is there blocking you from going further.

And they are just waiting, right?

They are waiting.

They've spent hours for this, and they're eagerly waiting.

And when the time came near, that one person appears coming up the escalator, right?

Barbara! Barbara! I mean they break free from the rope.

I mean, you know, it's hugs.

I mean, I mean, this is the person that they love and they've waited for, and this is the person that loves them, distinctly different from all the greetings I saw of like coworkers.

It's like, hey, good to see you, Robert.

You know, let's get your bag.

You know, it's like, you know, I mean, these people are hugging, kissing, right?

I mean, this is the person they love, and this person loves them.

It's an image of Advent that we're waiting on, not a coworker, we're waiting on somebody who loves us dearly.

So we wait and we prepare during the season of someone who's coming for us.

Let's reread this passage.

Alarming language to begin Advent, but it's for us and it's purposed for us.

Matthew 24, verse 36.

Matthew 24:36

But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware, until the flood came and swept them all away.

So will be the coming of the Son of Man.

So Jesus is speaking about his second coming when he will restore the broken world.

A strange way to begin Advent, such alarming language, but it means something for our hearts.

Here's what I think it means.

Point number one is this it is foolish to live unaware of God's supremacy and love of your heart.

It is foolish to live unaware.

It is foolish to live unaware.

Dietrich Braunhoefer, in his book on Advent, God is in the manger, he said this the celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul.

So what's that?

Who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.

It reminds me of what we say every week, what I already said.

We're more broken than we originally thought, but we're more loved by God and Jesus than we dare to dream.

The second part of the sentence only makes sense if the first part of the sentence is something you're in touch with.

Two weeks ago in the city of Kyerson, Ukraine, Kherson was freed from Russian occupation.

People celebrated.

Here's an image I found online.

They were celebrating in the streets because the Russian soldiers were pushed across the river.

So they weren't far away.

They were over in the industrial part of the city.

So they weren't far away.

But these people have become free.

And they are celebrating.

They are ecstatic.

They are so happy.

Yet the Russian soldiers are just over the river.

Right?

So they're like celebrating.

That's what I love about this image, is there's such a celebration.

At the same time, this young lady is fully aware that at any moment, at any moment, the alarm could go off.

The air raid sirens could go off at any moment.

So she's both like in the reality of the celebration of the life she currently has, and at the same time, she's fully aware an alarm could go off at any moment.

You're cooking, you're walking the dog.

This is the language of the normal life that this passage gives us.

You're just living normal life, and then the alarm sounds.

An alarm is a startling call to pay attention to something else.

That's what an alarm is, right?

Maybe you woke up by an alarm today, maybe a smoke alarm went off this week, an alarm went off to get the turkey out of the oven.

You're doing one thing, an alarm goes off, and it changes everything.

It affects you.

Pay attention to something else.

Being alarmed is to grow an awareness to that something else.

And that's what God's calling us to.

He's saying, hey, hey, live alarmed.

Like wake up.

Wake up to the reality that there's more to this life than this world.

The text is alarming with intense language for the distinct purpose to jar us awake to that which means the most.

The Noah story that Jesus mentions, it's a horrifying story, really.

I mean, maybe you heard it in Sunday school, maybe you saw like this image, right?

This is the image we show in our children's ministry.

Right?

I mean, how many stories in the Bible have a boat and animals?

I mean, you know, kids love it.

We all love it until we realize, like, oh, like families drowned.

Like, that's what happened, okay.

The horror of that story for the world is more rightly shown in the 1911 work by the French artist Leon Commer, Flood of Noah and Flood of Noah and the Companions.

Now, we don't show this in our children's ministry.

That's not an image that we show.

But it's it's more accurate to the story.

Now, what's interesting with this Noah story and this flood is that in the ancient times, many religions had flood stories, which makes us think that there really was a flood.

But their stories would end with something like, and if you don't keep your act together, and if you don't worship me like this, this, and this, I will flood you again.

Isn't it interesting how our flood story is different?

That this Yahweh God says at the end of our flood story, this Yahweh God says, I promise no matter what, I won't do that again.

Not because you covenant to me, but because of my covenant of grace to you.

A couple of months ago, our family was hiking in North Carolina, and I knew the hike went up this really safe trail, and then it got to the top, and there's a lookout, and then it went along a ridgeline there at the top, and my Enneagram 5 wing six, thank you very much for the 20% of y'all that know what I'm talking about, kicked in, and so all my precaution and anxiety kicked in, and so I gather the girls together to give them the pep talk about when we, you know, when we get to the top and how we're gonna behave and how you're gonna listen to me.

And Christy's talking to strangers because that's what she does as the Enneagram 2.

She's meeting strangers, and I'm just like safety patrol for our family.

So we start up the hike, we get to the top, here's the lookout at the top.

Is our family on this hike?

There we are at the top, and then we hike along this ridgeline.

And there's a cable along the ridgeline, which was nice, but I've also seen my children like walk into a mailbox.

So the cable was nice, but so I'm in the back, and it's like every six minutes, hey, heads up, drop off to the left, hey, scoot to the right, hey, that's far enough.

Hey, you know, just like every and I don't want my children to live afraid.

I don't want my children to live afraid.

I I want them to be adventurous, I want them to be colorful, but I I need my children to live aware.

And I need my children to be wise.

Bonhoeffer also says in his Advent book, says this.

Look up, you whose gaze is fixed on this earth, who are spellbound by the little events and changes on the face of the earth.

Look up to these words, you who have turned away from heaven disappointed.

Look up, you whose eyes are heavy with tears, and who are heavy and who are crying over the fact that the earth has gracelessly torn us away.

Look up, you who burdened with guilt cannot lift your eyes.

Look up, your redemption is drawing near.

Something different from what you see daily will happen.

Just be aware, be watchful.

Wait just another short moment, wait, and something quite new will break over you.

God will come.

That's what this passage is saying.

Be awake, be aware, look up.

And this is not fear on you, this is grace on you, the loving warning, the loving welcome to the very great truth that all of us live most of our lives avoiding, you and I will die.

And this world is not all there is.

And your heart and my heart and our lives belong to God, who wonderfully created you and lavishly welcomes you in Jesus.

Now, in 1 Peter 2, Peter uses the Noah story as a lesson on morality.

Good passage, good lesson.

But here, Jesus uses this same story, this Noah story, to make that point.

Be aware.

The end will come at some point.

Your end will come at some point.

But as we rest in the heart of God, our coming death is not judgment to fear, because all of the judgment, if you're in Jesus, all the judgment do anything of you.

It's taken care of in Jesus.

And what we have left is the anticipation of a lavish welcome into restoration and redemption.

In verse 38, there's just all these activities off, like eating and drinking, marrying and giving and marriage, there's all these like just like really normal lives.

Which is the point there.

The point is like, don't fall asleep by the normality of life to forget what actually matters most.

Verse 40.

Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken away, and one left, two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left.

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

But know this that if the master 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.

Jesus is saying, verse 36, in 40, none of us know that the day and the time of Jesus' return, right?

So even if you hear that on late night, you know, religious television, just go ahead and change the channel.

It's just not true.

It's not possible.

Nobody knows.

It's not even the point.

The point is to live in hope of that day now.

Point number two is this In Christ you are lavishly welcomed and you are never left behind.

That's the promise we have in Christ.

Jesus says there is a separation between those who are righteous by refuge in Christ, that astonishing grace that we have in Jesus, and then those who refuse that grace.

And Jesus is urgently calling you, if you're refusing that grace, to say, refuse it no longer.

Give up into Jesus.

Because it's going to be like we're doing the most common things in life, tending a field, preparing food, washing the car, and then the story is going to transition.

And suddenly we're going to be in the restoration of all brokenness, a redemption.

And Jesus is saying to you, now, I come for you.

You don't disappoint me.

You don't embarrass me.

I welcome you.

Jesus is saying that he won't leave us behind and he won't abandon us.

And Jesus can say this.

And he can welcome us like this.

And he can take all the judgment because of the cross.

Where all of our sin is put upon him who knew no sin.

And his righteousness is given to us.

That we are his beloved.

Point number three: part of our growth in grace is growth and awareness of this temporary world.

That's part of what it means to mature as a Christian, is become more and more aware that this world is temporary.

Two questions have helped me this week to process this.

I think they're good for us to contemplate and then for us to pause just in the middle of the sermon for us to pray.

The first one is this: How am I growing an awareness that this world is not the fullness of God's story for me?

How am I growing an awareness that this world is not the fullness of God's story for me?

So let's just pause right here in the middle of a sermon.

We can do that.

I gave us permission to do it, so we can we can do it.

Close your eyes, let's just close our eyes.

Calm our hearts just a bit.

How are we growing in awareness?

Heavenly Father, would you help us become even more aware of how astonishing you are for us?

How sufficient you are on the cross.

That you came.

You came not to disappoint us.

You came not because we disappoint you, but you came because you love us.

And that you welcome us.

Help us grow even more aware that we were made not just for this world, but we were made for eternity.

And that our lives and our hearts belong to you.

Help us to grow.

Even now, Holy Spirit, would you begin to reveal in our hearts in greater ways what it means for us to be even more aware now that this world is not all there is?

In Jesus' name, amen.

Second question is this How is my heart and life transforming by God's astonishing grace toward godliness and an eternal outlook?

How am I in a transformative process that I am not a temporary being, but I am an eternal being?

So let's pause again and let's pray.

Close your eyes real quick.

Heavenly Father, would you give us a sense that we are eternal beings?

And would that mean something for our lives today?

Help us to know in a greater way that we are part of a story that began long before we were born, and that you will bring all things into a redemption and a restoration.

Holy Spirit, would you continue to help us become more aware?

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Matthew 24, verse 44.

Matthew 24:44

Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect.

Point number four is this by growing aware of our story's end, we prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ.

As we become aware of our story's end, that our story does have an end.

We prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ or our meeting with Christ.

The challenge with passages like this is that we can, in our fear, we can hear it quite different and out of the context of the loving Christ and out of Christ's work for us.

Meaning this, if you don't know Christ personally, you could hear this as he doesn't care for you.

But the passage is a loving warning.

It is urgent.

He's using alarming language, but it is a loving warning, a call to us to, like Bonhoeffer said, look up.

Don't pretend you can rescue yourself.

The way of the world and the way of the religion is always the same.

It is be good enough and do good enough, and then maybe you will be worthy, or maybe God will love you.

And the gospel is the opposite.

That God loves us so much that He provided for us in His grace that He loves us before we get our acts together.

I love the famous 1918 illustration in the poem The Night Before Christmas.

This illustration is called Snug in Their Bed on Christmas Eve.

And at some point, these children, right, they will awake.

They will awake, they will be alarmed.

Somebody will wake them up.

They'll come out of that dream world and they'll come into that which is real.

And that's a great morning, of course, right?

You can maybe you remember that.

For me and my sister Sherry, we would, 1970s split level, the second set of stairs from that mid-level up to the bedrooms.

We would be down on that second stair in our jammies and our robes, and we could hear just around the corner my parents and my granny and my grandps getting their coffee together.

I mean it's painfully slow.

Like, how long?

How long?

How long, oh Lord?

How long?

I mean, I just was like, how like why are they taking so long?

And now I take forever to do anything.

And just sit there, the anticipation that my sister and I would sit with.

And maybe you sat in a hallway, or maybe you sat in a bedroom when you remember it.

That's the anticipation of a feast of provision that you're going to receive, not because you've earned any of it, but because it's given to you.

Alright, look, look up.

There's a feast of provision for you.

A wealth of identity, all the forgiveness you ever need, all the righteous you ever need, all in this good and loving Christ.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, as we begin our Advent practice of waiting and hoping, God, we anticipate.

We need the feast of provision that you give for us.

We are poor in soul.

We do not have our acts together.

We are in need of that forever forgiveness we have in Jesus, and we are in need of that forever righteousness we have in Jesus, and we are in need of the wealth of identity and security that we can have as your beloved children.

We are in need of the feast of provision that Christmas brings us.

Would you remind us this morning that you don't come for those who have their acts together, but you come for the imperfect, the broken, the sinners.

As we trust in you.

What a promise we have in this first week of Advent.

Thank you for this loving warning and this call to wake up, to be aware that this world is not all there is and there will be an end.

May we hear it as a loving call, a woo toward you.

A lavish welcome out of your love for us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.