Vigilance, Courage, Hope

November 27, 2011

(1st Sunday of Advent) by John Partridge

Scripture: Mark 13:24-37 Advent Reading Isaiah 60:1-3

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Isaiah 64:1-9

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. We light this candle, known as the Prophets candle, as a symbol of Christ our Hope. May the light sent from God shine in the darkness to show us the way of salvation. O come, O come, Emmanuel.
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Today we begin our celebration of Advent, the four weeks leading up to our celebration of Christmas, and so today we lit the first candle in our Advent wreath, the Prophets candle, a symbol of Christ our Hope. We light the prophets candle as we remember the history that leads up to the Christmas story, the backstory, and as we remember the prophets who told of the Christ, the redeemer, the Messiah who would come to save the people from their sin. In Old Testament scripture, there are literally hundreds of references to the Messiah that was to come and among these are forty-eight specific prophecies about the birth and life of the man who we now know as Jesus. Beyond the prophecies of the Old Testament we also remember that there are also many prophecies contained in the New Testament and so, although we do not have the time to study all of the prophecies contained in scripture, today, as we light the prophets candle, let us look a just a few of these passages and see what they can tell us. We begin with Isaiah 64:1-9 as the prophet dreams that God would come down from heaven, and as he remembers the imperfections of his people Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! 2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! 3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, 1
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no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. 5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins. Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Isaiah remembers that the people of God are not good at remaining faithful or remembering to do all of the things that God has commanded us to do. Isaiah knew that Gods people are prone to sin and to wander away from the life that we are called to lead and so he prays that God would forgive us and that he would be at work shaping us into the people that we should be. Isaiah knows that the people of God, and indeed all of the people on earth, are in need of a redeemer, a rescuer who can save them from their sins. Paul has a similar prayer in 1 Corinthians 1:3-9, where we find this
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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every waywith all kinds of speech and with all knowledge 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul encourages the church in Corinth by reminding them that the redeemer has come, that Jesus has poured out grace and many spiritual gifts upon his church as they wait for his return. Paul further reminds the church that there is no spiritual gift that God has not given to them and he teaches that God will give them the strength that they will need so that on the Day of Judgment, the people of God will be able to stand blameless before Jesus. Finally, in Mark 13:24-37, we hear the words of Jesus as he encourages us to stand firm and to face the future unafraid. Jesus said
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But in those days, following that distress,

the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; 25 the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 Its like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come backwhether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: Watch! And so we find that Jesus says the thing that Isaiah hinted at, that because we are imperfect and because we tend to wander off away from the things that we have been taught, we must keep watch, we must be constantly vigilant so that we might do the things that we have been called to do. We also see that if we are careful, and if we watch for the signs, we will see the coming of the end times. But thinking about the end of the world or even thinking about the end of our lives causes us to worry about what it will be like to face judgment and there we find courage in the teaching that we heard from Paul. Paul told us that we, the church, have already been given all that is needed, we have already been given every spiritual gift that will be needed as we prepare, as we anticipate and as we keep watch. Whats more, we have been given every reason to be filled with hope because although we are prone to wander off into sin, and although we are woefully unable to stand against temptation on our own, the promise of Christmas is that we dont have to stand on our own. Isaiah and the prophets knew that we couldnt do it on our own and that we were in need of a rescuer, a redeemer, the Messiah. Jesus, our redeemer, has come to stand alongside us and to give us strength. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today, on this first Sunday of Advent, we remember the prophets who told of the coming of the Messiah and whose words call out to us still today. The prophets remind us that we must live lives of vigilance as we watch for Christ return. We must be vigilant so that on the day of his return, we will be found doing the work that he has given us to do, but we also remember that the words of these same prophets fill us with courage and hope.
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You have been reading a message presented at Barnesville First United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor of Barnesville First. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Barnesville First UMC at 123 W. Church St., Barnesville, OH 43713. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@barnesvillefirst.com. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at http://www.scribd.com/Pastor John Partridge. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.