Welcome to advent. It has been quite a week. With our holiday season in full blossom. We seem to be back at full sprint. This first week we remember our hope in the return of our savior. We will work towards our great celebration of his birth, but today we pause to remember that no one knows the time.
There are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving, and thanks giving. Grudge giving says, "I hate to," duty giving says, "I ought to," thanks giving says, "I want to." The first comes from constraint, the second from a sense of obligation, the third from a full heart. Thanks giving is an open gate into the love of God.
There has always been a difficulty with Jesus. We always seek resolution because we often find pain. Our troubles we often feel are the center of the universe like those early Christians. We find it difficult to wait. We find it difficult to know what to do. It can often seem like we are going in circles.
Earth on its axis. Around the sun. Around the center of the galaxy. Around our cluster. We are going in circles. We have been places. We are going places. You can be angry about this, but your body will think you are in danger. Everything is designed to protect us, even anger. There is a time and place for everything. Sometimes a great cost is required. You have more in reserve than your own body will tell you. We can run quite a distance on empty. So far it is difficult to measure. The body has simple goals.
Anger is costly. Lying is difficult. Deceit stressful. There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.
Joy should not be blind as pain often is, being good is good for you. Helping someone your body will not think you are in danger. Helping is a luxury. In danger or in want you will find it difficult to help. Never impossible, but of greater and greater challenge. Stress is really what I am talking about. The more you are stressed the less you can help. The more you help the less you are stressed.
Why it is a greater responsibility
Responsibility is a word that does fine on its own
How we make a holiday
Life without guarantee
No one to complain to we have someone to pray to. We often seek to change the plans of our creator, but they do not change. The more distance we find ourselves the more stressed we find ourselves.
Joy should not be blind
There is so much to do
Endless work is a reward
In Isaiah chapter 2, verse 3-5 we hear something of this future:
3 And many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go out from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4
And He will judge between the nations,
And will mediate [disputes] for many peoples;
And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up the sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.
5
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
In the light of the Lord we will be less stressed but not less busy, swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks. It is telling that the tools of war do not go away they are just transformed. Much as we will be for we are the ultimate tool of war.
Matthew 24:36-44, speaks directly to this hope of the first week of advent and forever:
36 “But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son [in His humanity], but the Father alone. 37 For the coming of the Son of Man (the Messiah) will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the [very] day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not know or understand until the flood came and swept them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be [unexpected judgment]. 40 At that time two men will be in the field; one will be [a]taken [for judgment] and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken [for judgment] and one will be left.
The one taken is taken for judgment just as the wicked were taken by the flood in Noah’s day. The one left is left to enter the kingdom that Christ will establish. In many cultures and many places we hear of great floods.
Too many Christians are content to pray a little, read a little, and surround themselves with other believers who enjoy discussing the things of God over a cup of coffee. We rationalize this withdrawal from the core of life by humbly acknowledging our own personal limitations and surrender the privilege of soul-winning to leading laymen, pastors, and missionaries. This is a sad commentary on the Christian church today. We desperately need a revival of Christian zeal in the cause of soul winning.
Be Ready for His Coming
42 “So be alert [give strict attention, be cautious and active in faith], for you do not know which day [whether near or far] your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: If the head of the house had known what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore, you [who follow Me] must also be ready; because the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him.
So we find this great hope again in this first week of advent. We pause as we begin again. The question becomes how long and what shall we do. The first question the answer is clear: there is no way to know. To even calculate pure folly. How many people have wasted their lives on folly? Certainly more than have served the will of God. It is a miracle that we have made it this far.
So we can help or we can hurt. For how long? We will know. This is how it works. For now we can only say we will know. Like any great flood we will long talk about it. The question is not even about helping others. You must help yourself to have the luxury of helping others. Being good is good for you is what I tell my students. I used to worry about those kids with good self control who I could never give enough attention to.
Then I realized I was those kids with good self control that never got enough attention. I was fine I had advantages many did not. I had strategies. These were taught to me. I had ways beyond anger and fear to respond. Being good was good for me. Being good is good for them. Being good is good for you.
If you were a truly selfish person and could see what was happening in the world you would help people because you want to help yourself. There is in this vast, complex and rapidly changing world of ours a desire on the part of all people to be happy and successful.
The big question is how does one measure happiness and success. In trying to answer this question as simply as possible if we look into the word of God - The Bible - and examine the life of Jesus we would find our answers. His life demonstrated and his teachings showed that it is when we are working for the good of mankind that we really show our love for God and are happy and successful in all our undertakings. This is what life is all about, -- and if we don't plan our day's activities in the light of the commandments of Jesus we can not expect to be truly happy and successful.
Everybody is a wonderin' what and where they all came from
Everybody is a worryin' 'bout where
They're gonna go when the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be
(Let The Mystery Be
Song by Iris DeMen)t
Let Us Pray
Great creator
Our heavenly Father, who by thy love hast made us, and through thy love hast kept us, and in thy love wouldst make us perfect:
Thank you for your good work
Thank you for the truly selfish
We ask you to forgive us for not seeing ourselves in your design
We have failed to see where we were needed
We ask that you do not give up on us
We wait for that time that no one knows
We want to help
We humbly confess that we have not loved thee with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and we have not loved one another as Christ hath loved us. Thy life is within our souls, but our false selfishness hath hindered thee. We have not lived by faith. We have resisted thy Spirit. We have neglected thine inspirations.
Forgive what we have been; help us to amend what we are; and in thy Spirit direct what shall be; that thou mayest come into the full glory of thy creation, in us and in all men; through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen
Benediction
Go do good for others and yourself
Joy should not be blind
There is so much to do
Endless work is a reward
Go do your part
Nottingham UMC 11/27/2022
