The Basis of Your Hope

Sermon delivered the first Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2009, at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Lewis Center, OH. The audio version of this sermon is not available.

Lectionary texts: Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25:1-9; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

What is the Human Condition?

Good morning, St. Andrew’s! Today is the first Sunday in Advent and we begin a new calendar year for the Church. For those of you who read the Daily Office, don’t forget that we begin Year 2 in the reading cycle. Advent comes from the Latin, Adventus (parousia in Greek) and means “coming” or “arrival.” It is a time of reflection and anticipation as we reflect on our Lord’s First Coming manifested in the Incarnation and his Second Coming in power and glory to finish the work he started at his First Coming. Advent is not part of the Christmas season but rather a preparation for it. Over the next four Sundays, we will be focusing primarily on the Second Coming of Jesus and why that is important to us as Christians here and now.

Today we light the first candle in our Advent wreath. This candle signifies hope and this morning I want us to reflect on our Christian hope. Why should the Second Coming provide us with a basis for our Christian hope? How we answer that question gives us keen insight into state of our faith and where we are in our relationship with God.

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus talks about the eschaton, or the end times. He tells his disciples (and us) that despite the earth-shattering events that will signal the end of history and the birth of the New Creation, we who follow Jesus should not be afraid. Rather, we should “stand up and raise [our] heads because [our] redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). What a remarkable thing to say! Whatever the cosmic events that precede our Lord’s Second Coming look like, it will catch unbelievers off guard because they do not believe that history will terminate in the Second Coming and consequently do not prepare themselves for it. Moreover, since they have rejected the Gospel, they have no legitimate basis for hope because they are still dead in their sins, and so the eschaton is not something to which they look forward. It will be a time of judgment and dread for them. It is not a pretty picture for unbelievers and any of us who claim to love our Lord should be heart sick about it and do our part to share the Good News with others.

But sadly, many of us who profess to be Christians, secretly (or not so secretly) dread our Lord’s Second Coming as well. Why is that? Perhaps we do not believe God is good to his promises, but Jeremiah tells us otherwise in today’s OT lesson, doesn’t he? Has that not been our experience as well?

Perhaps we are still laboring under the works-righteous delusion where we believe if we do enough good works, God will ignore our sin, look favorably on us, and admit us to The Club. But this runs against the consistent testimony of the NT. In fact, the biblical testimony is quite the opposite. Left on our own, none of us has any hope of living forever, let alone living forever with God.

Perhaps we dread the Second Coming because we still see God as Resident Policeman who is constantly looking to catch us when we are having a good time so that he can put a stop to it right now. But is that really the kind of god we want to worship or with whom we want to have a relationship? I know I don’t want anything to do with that kind of god.

Maybe we have just been beaten down by life and have lost most or all hope that God can and will redeem us. It is so easy for us to get discouraged by what is happening in our lives, isn’t it? But a faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. God does not allow our faith to be tested to destroy it, but rather to develop it. Abraham is probably the poster child of this truth. His whole life was full of trials, most of which he failed, culminating in God’s demand that he sacrifice Isaac. You see, God wanted Abraham to trust him and grow in a proper relationship with him, one in which Abraham knew God was God and he was not so that Abraham could fully trust in God and believe his promises. It wasn’t until Abraham attempted to sacrifice Isaac that he learned God could be fully trusted. We may not like how this works but it really is not ours to decide, unless, of course, we intend to claim equality with God (and many of us seem to want to do just that).

However, if we see the dark valleys of our lives as opportunities to allow God to show his trustworthiness to us so that we can grow in our faith and dependency on him, we will not be disappointed. If, on the other hand, we make our relationship and faith in God contingent on getting our prayers answered the way we want them answered, we will be disappointed as often as not. Our relationship with God must be based on faith and trust, not on some sense of equality because we are not God.

Or perhaps we dread the Second Coming because we do not understand how or why God would want to save someone like us. Like David in Psalm 51, we know our transgressions only too well and our sin is ever before us. Consequently, we lose all hope for any kind of present and future with God. It is precisely at these times that we forget what the symbol of God’s justice is. It is not the scales of justice that signify we will get the punishment we deserve but rather it is the cross of Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus could tell us to stand up and raise our heads on the day of judgment.

Where is God’s Grace?

For you see, God loved us so much that he took care of the problem of sin for us by taking on our flesh and bearing the punishment for our sins on the cross. He did this because he loves us and created us to have a relationship with him, not for the duration of our earthly lives, but forever. The next time the Evil One starts whispering in your ear that the Gospel is a lie and that you cannot possibly be saved, remember the cross, the symbol of God’s loving justice.

So how many of you look forward to the Second Coming? If you did not raise your hand, what are you afraid of? Where is your hope? Why should we stand up and raise our heads when thinking about Christ’s Second Coming? For the very reasons we just discussed. We are redeemed by the Blood of Christ and declared not guilty in God’s sight. We have been given the Holy Spirit to sustain us in our weakness while we live out our days here on earth. And we have been given a glorious vision of hope when Christ returns again to finish the work he started at his First Coming. When Christ returns again, we will be raised from the dead (or be transformed in an instant if we are still living) and given new resurrection bodies that are immortal. Heaven and earth will be fused into a New Creation and we will get to live in God’s direct Presence forever. He will wipe away all our sorrows and fears, and we will never again be subject to any kind of evil. Does that vision give you hope? If it doesn’t, I am not sure if anything ever can.

Where is the Application?

I am not talking about other-worldly escapism here for that is not biblical teaching. The very promise of a New Creation means that we are to take God’s current creation seriously. We are to roll up our sleeves and get to work to help usher in God’s Kingdom until he comes again to finish his redemptive work. Make no mistake. God must put everything aright, not us. But we are called to do our part while we still live in his broken and fallen world.

What does that mean for us right here and now? This Advent season, I encourage you to develop your Christian hope if you do not have one or if yours is lacking in any way. First, if you do not know about the NT vision of a New Creation, go back and reread the Passion and Resurrection narratives in the Bible. Then read 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 20-22. Do not take the apocalyptic language in Revelation literally but read it with the idea that it is getting you to imagine the unimaginable: a time when we will get to live directly in God’s Presence in a New Creation that is no longer fallen and where there is no longer any kind of suffering, alienation, sin, or sorrow. As you are contemplating this magnificent vision, remember the hope that is behind the biblical narrative. We can look forward to the New Creation precisely because we are a redeemed people. We have been redeemed by the Blood of Christ and we believe God is true to his promises. We remember that the symbol of God’s justice is his cross. As you reflect on this, ask God to grant you the grace to believe his promises and to strengthen his hope in you.

Second, during this Advent season, the next time life is beating you down, stop and ask God to use your troubles to help you see his trustworthiness so that you can grow in your faith and trust in him. Memorize a verse of Scripture that will help you do this and repeat it as needed. Talk to other Christians and share your “God Moments” so that you have tangible reminders that God is active and present in the lives of his people to help sustain us and to help us grow in our relationship with him. Make this your Advent discipline these next four weeks and then when Christmas comes, stop and reflect on the progress you’ve made, giving thanks for whatever progress you have made.

And like Paul did for the Thessalonians in today’s Epistle lesson when he prayed for them that whatever they lacked in their faith might be made complete, so I would like to pray for you now, that the Lord who loves you and has claimed you will help you grow in your Christian hope this Advent season. Let us pray.

Summary

C.S. Lewis reminds us that hope is a theological virtue, not a vice. When we look continually forward to the eternal world, we are not engaging in some form of escapism as we have seen. Rather it is a reminder that when we have hope for the next world, we are acknowledging a genuine desire that seems to be built into us to want something more than this world can offer. The Christian hope gives us the gist for that hope. When we think about Christ’s Second Coming and the New Creation he will usher in, we are reminded that God’s creation is good and we have a real future ahead of us, not because of something we did to earn it but because of God’s sheer love for us. We strive to be holy and do good works, not because it will earn us a place in heaven—that is impossible for any of us to accomplish—but out of a profound sense of love and gratitude for this God of ours who loved us and created us to have a relationship with him forever. In the cross, he has made the impossible possible and offers life to everyone. He has given us a wondrous vision of what that life will look like when he returns in glory and invites us into that relationship right now. And when we struggle with our doubts and fears, we remember that his symbol of justice is his cross, and that his very Spirit bears witness to this truth in our hearts and minds. That’s good news, folks, now and for all eternity. This Advent, embrace your hope, not because you deserve it (you don’t), but because it is God’s precious gift to you.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.