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Sunday, December 03, 2006

First Sunday of Advent 12/3/06 Text: jeremiah 33:14-16 Title: Pause, Ponder, Prepare

1st Sunday of Advent
Date: 12/3/2006
Text: Jeremiah 33:14-16
Title: Pause, Ponder, Prepare

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. The four Sundays in Advent begin the church year. After Advent is the Christmas season that starts Christmas Day, and lasts until Epiphany 12 days later, unlike the celebration of the commercial Christmas season which ends on Christmas Day.
Just like the liturgy we use every Sunday, the church calendar is laid out to help us stay focused on God and his gift to us, Jesus Christ. I do not know about you, but before I studied the reasoning for Advent, I was always confused by the mixed messages I heard during the Advent season.
I could not for the life of me figure out why we were not singing Christmas hymns during Advent, since Christmas was coming. For the most part, all we sang were hymns that generally focused on the need for our repentance, and Christ coming back. It just seemed strange to me, and I do not remember anyone ever explaining to me why we were doing what we were doing during Advent.
There are two reasons behind why we celebrate Advent. One of the reasons and it is the most obvious reason is that Advent is we as a church strart to shift our focus to the first Advent, the birth of Jesus, our Savior. Without that Advent, there is no salvation, for if Jesus had not been born, he would not have been one of us. He would not have a perfectly obedient life on our behalf. He would not have suffered on our behalf. He would not have died on our behalf. He would not have risen on our behalf. Well, you get the idea.
The other reason that we celebrate the season of Advent is that it helps us to focus on Christ’s Second Advent, that time when Jesus comes back in all his glory to bring back to life all those who have died. This time of preparation for the Second Advent has pretty much been lost in the commercialization of Christmas, which is a shame.
I say it is a shame because it was not until I realized the real purpose of the celebration of Advent that I really came to a full understanding of Christmas. Advent for me has become a time to pause, ponder, and prepare for the Lord’s second coming. That is why I have chosen for this Advent season, the title, “Pause, Ponder, and Prepare”.
Now that might not sound right to you, for you would rather be singing Christmas songs, and preparing for Christmas. In fact, many churches have followed the example set by society and use the time of Advent to celebrate Christmas. And in doing so they have lost a wonderful part of the church year.
I would put forth to you this morning that if you will let the Holy Spirit work in your life as you pause, ponder, and prepare with me, with each other, the next four weeks, that you will enjoy Christmas more this year than you ever have before, for by Christmas Eve, you will have properly prepared for the celebration of the First Advent, because you have prepared for the Second Advent of Jesus.
This is my plan. You are going to have to work with me here. We are going to go back in time each Sunday and Wednesday, by the way do not forget our Wednesday afternoon and evening services. Dessert will be served after each service. Our Wednesday services are going to be different this year in that we are going to have what is called a Vespers service.
It is my belief that if you can somehow experience some of the excitement, the longing, that the people of the Old Testament felt so long ago, that you will have the most meaningful Advent and Christmas season ever, for it will have a completely new meaning. You might even find that you will not be in such a rush to get rid of Christmas after Christmas day. That is a tall order I know, but with the help of God, that is my plan, as we pause, ponder, and prepare for Christ’s Second Advent. So lets move on to the text.
The text we want to look at this morning is our Old Testament reading from Jeremiah 33:14-16, "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'
There is so much good stuff in that passage that we could study it for an hour or more, but do not worry we will not. What I will do though is help you discover that nugget of Gospel that is that is buried in it.
But before we look for the Gospel nugget we need to understand the context in which the text is given. You need to know the reason why God had Jeremiah record, for them, and since God’s Word is timeless, for us the text that we are looking at this morning.
Jeremiah was a prophet of God. He had a long career, lasting through the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the people to Babylon. Jeremiah remained in Judah, after the deportation of the people. These were serious times for the Judah, for they had already been swallowed up by the previous world empire, Assyria.
Now it was Babylon’s turn. God was using the wicked King of Babylon, just as he used Assyria, to bring judgment on his unfaithful people. It was a bad time and they were fast losing hope. Questions abounded. Questions like, “What happened to our God, the God who had promised to care for us? Has he turned his back on them?”
Through Jeremiah’s words, God lets the people know that as bad as the times were, and would get in the future, they had not been abandoned by God. God is promising them that at some time in the future he will restore them, by setting up a kingdom that would replace the miserable, failed, unrighteous descendents of David who were presently sitting on the throne of David.
In time, God did what he told them he would do. He gave them what he had promised. He restored them back to their land, but God did not stop there for he went one-step further, he came as that Righteous branch Jesus, who is called “The Lord is our righteousness.”
God kept his promise as he has always kept his promises. God cannot break a promise. He cannot, for he is God and God cannot lie, by just being God. That is an important truth to remember as you live your life. What God has told us in his Word, he will not change. It is the truth and always will be.
The text is clear, but there is a problem. The problem is, how do we connect that promise given to a people who had lost hope, to us today. We have not lost hope. Life is generally pretty good, for most of us. We are not being persecuted or drug off to a foreign land. We are not being killed or our faith.
It is true, we do not think we are persecuted, or under attack, so we really don’t spend much time thinking, much less preparing for Jesus’ Second Advent. But, my dear brothers and sisters we are under attack, for Satan has not given up. He is after every one of us, so do not be fooled, do not let your guard down, for he is prowling around as a roaring lion waiting for someone to devour.
He will not attack you directly. He uses much more subtle means, such as letting you think you do not have to study God’s Word, or spend time actually praying one on one to God, or doing any of the other things God wants us to do until he comes back.
Physically speaking, we are pretty safe in our country. For the most part we are free to worship Christ, although there are danger signs on the horizon. We do not have to worry about being killed for our faith, but there are thousands, if not millions of Christians worldwide that are being persecuted, slaughtered, and forced to leave there jobs, homes, and families, all because of their belief in Jesus.

Just this week I read a news article, that I want to share with you this morning. It was dated February the 6th , Trabzon Turkey. It told about a Roman Catholic priest that had been killed the day before. It seems that Father Andrea Santoro was kneeling in prayer, when a young man rushed into the church, firing two shots into his body, instantly killing him, as he shouted, “God is great.” Now that is a shock in itself, but that is not the most shocking part of the article.
While the police were investigating the murder of the 61-year-old priest, they found a Bible next to his body. It was open to John chapter 16, verse 2. Listen carefully to the words, “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.”
I have shared this with you this morning not to scare you, but for you to realize that we need to be looking for the Second Advent, that time when Christ comes back. The time is short. The prophecies are taking place.
And because they are taking place, whether we believe they are actual events are not, we need to be about God’s business, the business of telling others about Jesus. We need to be telling them about his birth, his life, his death, and his resurrection, so that others can join us as celebrate his First Advent while joyfully look for the Second Advent, the coming of “The Lord our righteousness.” Amen