Advent: Lest Your Hearts Be Weighed Down

So today is the first Sunday in Advent, as Matt said.

And so that's these weeks and this time period leading up to Christmas.

There's the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.

And this text is kind of shocking given the fact that it is Advent.

You think, oh, we're waiting, we're moving towards Christmas.

And shouldn't we be talking about warm and fuzzy and Christmas type of things of hope?

And then you get this text and these thoughts and this language.

It's shocking language.

It's shocking thoughts.

We use that word a lot, right?

Shock.

I'm shocked.

I'm shocked.

Did you hear that?

I'm shocked about that.

I'm shocked what happened yesterday at the game.

I'm shocked, right?

I'm shocked.

Did you hear they broke up?

Did you I can't believe they broke up?

I can't believe she's with him.

I'm shocked about that, right?

We we use this language, or maybe you were been literally shocked.

Because you one time you changed the batteries and flashlights, or you're a pro-electrician, and so you thought you could change an outlet without turning the breaker because you didn't want to walk all the way to the basement.

Then you take the cover off.

You're such a pro, and as soon as you pull that outlet out, you your finger hits that live wire, and that jolt shoots up.

Anybody just want to confess that?

Okay, me too.

I mean it.

That's why I have this example.

And that jolt shoots up your hand into your forearm, right?

You've been shocked.

It's a jolt to your system.

And if it doesn't kill you, it will wake you up.

It wakes you up.

That's what happens when you're shocked.

That's what happens when you have a shocking thought, or somebody puts in front of you a shocking truth, and shocking things happen.

Sometimes we need to be shocked.

We need to be shocked with truth.

We need to be awakened to what is true.

Because it's easy, it's easy for life to just be a cycle, right?

Like sort of like a sort of like a Truman show where you just remember it, right?

You just fall asleep and you wake up the next morning and you you do that day again, and you fall asleep, and then you do like like yesterday is just today, and tomorrow's gonna be today, and you just keep doing the same thing.

We can almost hear ourselves say it when we say, like, oh, can you believe it's almost Christmas again?

Like, oh, the fall, the fall went, the fall went by so fast.

Oh, we're almost at Christmas.

Like, like this, like this cycle, right?

Like it just keeps going and keeps going and keeps going.

And then here comes Jesus into this cycle that we often get in.

And he just jolts us with some truth this morning.

And the main point is this the main point is nothing new, perhaps, if you've been around church, and it's that the world is passing away.

And we should get used to that now.

And maybe that's new to you, or maybe it may be maybe you've never heard it.

But let's let's see it in the text.

We'll work our way through this text, Luke 21, 25 through 36.

We'll read a few verses, talk a little bit, read a few more verses, talk a little bit.

Verse 25, and there will be signs and sun and moon and stars.

Jesus is getting kind of poetic here, like this language.

And on the earth, distress of nations and perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

So just before this, in the preceding verses, Jesus has been talking with these people, been talking very practically, hey, there's there's wars coming for you, and your temple will be destroyed.

Now that would have been horrific thoughts to them.

That would have been horrible thoughts to them.

And then he goes from that to just like mentioning in sort of this like vague brush of language that this world will end.

And he mentions this world will end, and the day will come one day when all that is broken will be restored.

That brokenness is never the end of the story, and that's the good news when we come around this type of shocking truth: that there is a restoration.

There is a return of Jesus to come and a restoration.

Now we always get sort of vague language when we get around this topic, and oftentimes people want, like, are we gonna get into a doctrinal conversation here?

Are you gonna explain it for me?

No, I will not explain it for you, right?

Like it is it's a very difficult subject matter.

When we get around it, the writers of scriptures are always starting to use metaphors and poetic language, and we can form some theories about it.

Surely we can form those theories about it.

It's not what this text is about.

This text is about Luke is writing, he's quoting Jesus, and he's moving us from this shocking truth, the world will end, your world will end, and he's moving us past that without a lot of explanation.

Because just when we go, like, oh, tell tell me more about that, like what?

Can you give me some details?

Like, what's going on?

And he just moves us on.

But the truth is there, this is point number one.

The world is unreliable, and this world will end.

So, verse 28, now when these things begin to take place, begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads.

So this is this idea like, hey, like when this is going, don't be afraid.

Straighten up, raise your heads.

You don't have to be afraid.

Because your redemption is drawing near.

And he told them a parable.

Look at the fig tree and all the trees, as soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves, and know that summer is already near.

So here's this idea of restoration, this idea of redemption is near.

So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.

So he's carrying us somewhere with this.

Verse 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

And then he gets to verse 34, and he says, But watch yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap, for it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

So he takes us through this, right?

And he takes us from the shocking thought, and he takes us to our hearts.

Because this is true, this world is unreliable, and this world will end.

Because this is true, let's talk about your heart now.

That you and I, your Aunt Batty, your very grumpy neighbor, all of us have an interior life.

We have hearts that are easily weighed down.

And point number two is this is our hearts can care too little, and our hearts can care too much.

Let me explain that.

Verse 34 says, watch yourself.

So this means to devote yourself to seeing yourself.

Now that sounds very selfish, doesn't it?

But but it means part of growing in grace will be to understand yourself more, to watch yourself.

Why am I feeling this way?

Why did I do that?

Why did I emotionally shut down at Christmas dinner at my dad's house?

Why do I keep doing that?

Why do I keep feeling that?

Like now you're growing, you start asking those, but you're watching yourself, and you start growing, and you go, Lord, what's going on here?

Now there's room for confession, now there's room for the Holy Spirit to work in you and to grow you in grace.

And you will see some beautiful things when you begin to watch yourself.

About yourself.

You'll see some beautiful things.

And then you will see some horrific things about your motives and about your anxiety and about your fear.

And all of that's going on inside of this interior, interior life.

And then Jesus says, okay, so that's going on.

You have this, you have your heart, it's easily weighed down, and then he really gets up in our business.

And the first thing he gets up in our business about is about our drinking.

That's the first thing.

Not drinking alcohol, but drinking too much alcohol.

There's two words here: there's dissipation, there's drunkenness.

Neither means to not drink.

Dissipation means you've drunken to the point of being nauseous.

He says, Oh, be careful when you're hitting that point.

Drunkenness means you're drunk to the point you are no longer under control and the substance is under control.

Right?

This is all about using alcohol for something it can never deliver.

And this is a common reaction to caring too little or caring too much.

If you care too little about something, you just want to escape.

Oh, there's nothing easier to escape with than a drink, right?

Or a few drinks.

And if you care too much, you need to escape.

Your heart is looking for a deliverer from these positions.

We want to escape.

And we run to alcohol to give us relief, but it never lasts, right?

And you end up in some destruction in your wake, or eventually you will if you're going to alcohol for that.

You wake up the next morning with regret, you wake up the next morning with no memory, you wake up needing to say sorries, you wake up somewhere, you shouldn't wake up, all these things are possible.

Then just when all the teetotalers in the room right now are getting judgy, right?

Like you're like, I knew it, I know that's how it works.

Jesus says in verse 34, in the cares of this life.

Meaning this, he he says, okay, like, all right, so I covered like how a very common way to escape, right?

He says, if you just, if you're bound up by the cares of this life, if you're overly attached.

Jesus said, you can be overly concerned with life stuff that should just be stuff, but you're allowing it to be your functional king.

As much as somebody else is allowing alcohol to be their functional king, you can allow just life stuff to be your functional king.

Are you distracted by worry?

Are you consumed by laundry?

Yes.

All right, right?

Like, yeah.

Children, parenting, are you consumed by your body?

Are you consumed by your money?

Are you consumed by romance or the lack thereof?

Are you consumed by your work or consumed by school, right?

All of this is life stuff.

And none of what I just listed is bad.

It's just life stuff.

It's cares of this world that you should care about, but if you care about it too much, all of a sudden you're enslaved to it.

It becomes your functional king, and your heart is weighed down.

Right?

You care too little, you can end up with a problem.

You care too much, you could end up with a problem.

And it says, and then a day comes like a trap.

This week I learned we had a little visitor in our crawl space.

A little guy living down there, and I preferred to think of him sort of like a cute little Mickey Mouse.

Just a cute little friend down there.

So I I got a couple of those good old snap traps.

I got down to the crawl space.

I smeared the peanut butter on that.

I pulled that hinge back.

You ever set one of those?

That'll terrify you.

You set the pull that hinge back, you're watching your fingers and all of that, right?

And I didn't see it happen, but I can imagine what happened because I saw the result the next day.

And I'm imagining little Mickey, he's crawling around down there, and he finds that peanut butter, and he's getting on that trap, and he is going to town.

He is loving this peanut butter.

He is smacking down on it, and then whack, he didn't even see it coming.

That's what a trap does, right?

Like he didn't even see it, it's over.

You get caught up with all that peanut butter.

And it's like a trap.

You didn't even realize it will all end soon.

I'm not trying to say be in fear now.

I'm trying to say you don't have to fear now.

Because everything you own, and everything you want, everything I own, and everything I want, it will pass away.

It all ends.

It's a shocking truth.

This great building.

Your your your cozy home or your little apartment, your career, and your grades, and that new farmhouse sink you saved up for.

It's all gonna pass away.

It's just a matter of time until it ends.

And one day it will be restored.

But it was never meant to be completely yours now.

So you can you can see how you can care too little and you can care too much.

And Jesus is giving us this gift with this shocking truth, isn't he?

Do you see can you start to see how this is a this is an absolute gift to receive the truth ahead of time so that when you turn 20 or 40 or 60 or 80, and then all of a sudden you realize, oh, this ends?

You don't have to be angry.

Like you've you've known this the whole time.

Our culture is filled filled with people in love with the world and angry, either consciously or subconsciously, because they will lose the thing that they've given their hearts to.

And Jesus says, We don't have to be angry.

Like, let's go ahead and come to grips with this truth now so that we don't have to be angry when we suddenly realize it at some point that all of this ends.

What a gift this is.

We'll also want perfect justice.

You're gonna want perfect justice because he did that or she did that or they did that, and you're never gonna get it.

No matter what, you're still left with your heart and to deal with your pain and your loss.

And that's something that the world can never help you with.

Luke 21, verse 36.

Luke 21:36

But stay awake at all times.

See how Jesus brings us into your life to right now, but stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.

So Jesus has gone from the shocking truth, he's gone to our hearts, and now he gets into our practical lives, but it's attached to this idea that the world will end, and he attaches it to this idea of judgment in the afterlife.

You know, stand before the son of man.

Oh no, you're not supposed to be afraid of that.

We'll get to that.

This idea of staying awake, this means to intentionally with effort watch.

This is kind of the second time he's mentioned this kind of thought.

Stay awake.

Be in the now.

Don't move into, don't move into worry.

You don't have to escape.

He says, pray.

Right?

And that doesn't mean like hit your knees at 7 a.m.

for five minutes and you're done for the day.

That's not what that means.

That's not what that means.

It can be that, and it should be a lot more.

It means to live and walk in a surrender in a stillness with God, knowing that you live and move and have your being with God.

It's an abiding, right?

Even in this context of this text, he's talking about your strength.

It's like, well, where are you getting your strength?

Well, it's in this idea of I abide.

I am weak, but God, you are strong.

And because we're watching, here's what will happen.

Because you're being alert, here's what will happen.

You will realize you're not watching, right?

If you begin to watch, you'll realize you weren't watching.

If you begin to pray and live this, you'll realize, oh, I don't pray all the time, right?

Like you will inevitably come in touch with the fact that you don't do this very thing Jesus is asking you to do.

That's so important, you will not do it perfectly.

And the good news is, is in the grace of God and in Jesus Himself, who's not just our teacher, but our Savior and our substitute, we go, oh yeah, okay, yeah.

I've been off for a day, I've been off for a week, I've been off for an hour.

Thank you, Lord.

Righteous is in you, it's not about my record, it's about your record.

Uh thank you.

And you begin to walk again.

Point number three, you get to stand tall.

And if not now, then one day.

You you get to stand tall in the face of fear, in the face of judgment.

You get to stand tall.

And if not now, then one day.

See, twice Jesus says, stand tall.

But I'm aware there are days where we fail before that calling to stand tall in the face of this type of shocking reality of life.

And this is why it's so important for us to always continue to remember what I just said.

Jesus was our teacher, but he was our Savior, our substitute, because he stood tall for us in front of fear.

He stood tall in purity, and he stood tall in integrity, and he stood tall in righteousness, and the cross is all about the place where he says, I will go and take all your lacking, your sin, upon myself.

I will give you my report, my record.

So when you stand before me, it is not about your record, it's about my record.

And that's why you can stand tall.

Without that, how could you ever stand tall?

We don't have to be our own saviors with our perfect records and our perfect posture before fear.

And this is why the idea of judgment for the Christian has no fear.

No fear.

Because it's not your record, it's Jesus' record.

I heard this quote this week as an article by this lady, Sarah Dahl, that is titled Trading Brunch for the Eucharist.

Eucharist, I always consider that a fancy word for communion.

And here's she lives in San Francisco and she did this odd thing with her family where she no longer does work out and brunch, but they go to church.

An odd thing for some people to make that transition.

And here's what she writes So come to this table, says one of our pastors each week.

You who have much faith, and you who would like to have more.

You who have been here often, and you who have not been here for a while, you who have tried to follow Jesus and you have failed, come.

It is Christ who invites us to meet him here.

We are issued an invitation, not an imperative.

Someone is waiting, regardless of our response.

We ourselves, our lives, our visions, our projects are abruptly decentered.

We find ourselves guests in someone else's home, on someone else's schedule, oddly powerless, yet loved and honored, strangers and sojourners, but welcome nonetheless.

At the end of the day, we will die.

And honestly, the fact remains that the human experience is in that sense one giant failure that is wholly resistant to innovation, design, creativity, and optimization as we know it.

Again, the body and blood that lie waiting on the table ask, is this final accounting such bad news?

The reason that we set it out each week and eat it and remember Jesus' story over and over again is because it's only a bad thing to be dead if it's also up to you to get yourself out of it.

When we go to church, we are reminded that we actually don't have a say in the matter, and that's the very best news of all.

My brothers and sisters in Jesus, you can stand tall because Jesus is the one who brings life into you, into all the dead parts.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

God, we thank you that our judgment is not based on our record, but based on your record, and our ability to overcome the death in us, the sin in us, is not based on our ability, but based on you and your power and grace in us.

And then it is something that is given, that we receive, we do not earn.

God, we are shocked when we read language like this about the end of the world, that so much of it is hard to understand.

We do not know the day, that the world will end, or that our world will end.

And yet we know where you take us.

You take us into our hearts.

Not to be afraid, but to be free of having to escape, to trust in you and find our joy and peace, and you to be the kinds of people that abide.

And watch.

And pray.

Give us the faith that we do not have to stand tall with our heads high.

For you are sufficient for us.

Thank you for the work on the cross in Jesus' name.

Amen.