Waiting for the Arrival...Are We Ready?

Pastor Meyer’s Sermon

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our heavenly Father and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus, our Christ.

There I was sitting on the bumper of my mom and dad’s car in the front yard with my arms crossed, waiting, looking down the street. You see, earlier in the week, my aunt and uncle had called. I was 12 years old. I was living in St. Louis. They lived in Philadelphia and they said they wanted to come down and spend some time with us and we were so excited because this was the first time they would actually come to our house.

And so the week was filled with flurry of activity, getting the house ready, making sure everything was picked up, making sure we had enough beds for my aunt and uncle and for the cousins, making sure we had enough food in the house, that the front yard was trimmed and ready. And there I was on the bumper of the car waiting because we were ready.

Ready. That’s the word of the day for today. To be ready. Because, you see, this weekend is the start of a new church year. It’s the first weekend in Advent and, in Advent, we look back to that first Christmas and we ask ourselves, “Are we ready?” “Do we have the presents that we need to purchase? Do we have them wrapped? Do we have the tree up already? Do we have the decorations we need? Are we ready to celebrate that first Christmas?”

But also, it’s another time for us to look ahead, to look ahead to that second coming of Jesus. And we ask that same question, “Are we ready?” Are we ready for that second coming? Jesus asked that same question in our reading for this morning. He asked us, “So you also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” Are we ready?

Well, the question we can ask ourselves is how can we know we are ready? How are we are sure we are ready for that second coming? And I believe there are three things we can keep in mind so we know how to get ready. The first one is to ask the question, “Is He really going to come?” You see, that’s what the people who were waiting for that first Christmas were asking. They were asking, “Is He really going to come?” The Old Testament is filled with promises that a Messiah is going to come. There’s a promise that there would be a star that would appear. There’s a promise that there would be a tender shoot that would come up from the stump of Jesse. There’s a promise that one who is greater than King David would come forth. There’s a promise even in the book of Isaiah that not only would a servant come but a suffering servant, one who would suffer for us. And most interesting, in Micah, there’s another promise and that promise is this, “But you, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from me one who will be ruler over Israel whose origins are from old, from ancient times.” Yes, there were promises all over the Old Testament. The people knew about these promises. They knew that a Messiah would come.

What about us today? Did we have promises that Jesus will come again? Well, you heard two of them in our reading. First one from Thessalonians where Paul says that the Son of Man will come and we will be caught up into the clouds to be with Him. In our second reading, Jesus Himself asked us are we ready? Are we ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour that we do not expect.

When Jesus rose from the dead and He ascended into heaven, the disciples were standing there watching Him go up into the clouds and the angels came and what did they say? They said, “Why are you still here waiting and watching? Don’t you know that just as Jesus went up into heaven, He too will come the same way?” Jesus also told us after telling His disciples that He would no longer be with them and they were disturbed, they were saddened because their friend, their Savior would not be with them, Jesus tells them, “I have to go and prepare a house for you. If I wasn’t going to do that, I would have told you so but I’m going to prepare so that I can come and bring you with me so you can be with me.”

Yes, there are promises all over the New Testament about Jesus coming. Well, if that’s the case, then what else can we do? What other thoughts can we keep in mind? If we know He has promised He will be coming, then we need to ask ourselves, “Are we ready?” The people that were waiting for that first Christmas were not ready. It happened way back in the beginning of Genesis when God came to Adam and Eve and said, “I will send one who is the offspring of a woman who will crush the head of the serpent.” It was a promise of a coming Messiah that would help them, that would save them from their sins. And Eve gave birth to her firstborn son and as she was giving birth, she cried out, “I have brought forth the man.” She thought this boy, Cain, was going to be the Messiah that had promise. Isn’t that what we usually do when we hear a promise? We expect it will be carried out pretty soon after the promise has been given? And that’s what Eve was doing? But what happened to Cain? Cain went off and did what? He killed his brother, Abel, and then the waiting began.

Twenty-five hundred years of waiting, waiting for the coming Messiah and in that period of waiting, people were getting tired of waiting. They started not paying attention to the signs. They started not even looking at the promises anymore. They started focusing themselves on things that were going on in their world and not focusing on getting ready for that coming Messiah. What about us? It’s been 2,000 years. Are we ready? How have we been doing in getting ready and getting prepared for when Jesus comes the second time?

I have never had to sell my house. I know that buying a house can be very difficult but I’ve heard that selling a house can be very difficult, too, because one of the most difficult aspects of it is that your house always has to be in a state of readiness in case the real estate agent says, “I have some people who would like to come over to see your house.” And so constantly, you have to keep things ready, keep things picked up, keep things prepared for that unexpected guest.

Are we prepared for the day we don’t know when it will come? Well, the question then is how can we get ready? How do we know we are ready? What are some things we can do to make sure we are ready? The first one is we need to clean up. We need to pick up. We need to make sure our house, if you will, is clean. And we do that through confession and forgiveness, through being able to come to God and to ask for forgiveness. We do that through reading His Word daily so we are always focused on His Word, we’re always focused on His promises, that we know God does keep His promises.

Martin Luther had a great quote where he talked about that daily, we need to drown the old self so that the new self can come forth. Daily repenting of our sins is one way to get ready. Another way is for us to constantly ask a question, a diagnostic question, if you will, that whatever I’m doing, would I want to be caught doing that at the time Jesus comes? For instance, maybe we’re engaged in a little bit of gossip. Would you want to be caught doing that at the time Jesus comes? What about surfing on the Internet, surfing some questionable web sites? Would you want to be caught doing that at the time Jesus comes? Whatever it may be, it’s a great diagnostic tool to keep in mind as you go about your lives getting ready for that second coming.

Now the third thing we keep in mind is what is life going to be like when Jesus comes that second time? I know when I was sitting on the bumper of the car waiting for my aunt and uncle to come, that was one thing I was looking forward to. It helped me to be prepared and be ready because I was looking forward to the fun we were going to have with being able to show the house, being able to go down to the yards, being able to go down to all these different places in St. Louis they had never been to, the fun we could have. What is it going to be like when Jesus comes?

John the Baptist had that same question. He was wondering if Jesus was really the Messiah. John the Baptist had spent his life pointing to the Messiah and now John the Baptist is in prison and he’s wondering, “Is Jesus really the Messiah?” And so he sends his followers over to Jesus to ask Him, “Are you truly the Messiah?” And Jesus spends some time to describe what it’s like for the Messiah to be here and this is what He said, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind received sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the Good News is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” Those were great times when Jesus was here.

What do we know about when Jesus comes again? We know that there would be a new heaven and a new earth, that the old things would be passed away, there would be new things, our bodies would be renewed. I wouldn’t have to wear this hearing aid anymore. I could actually take a telephone and I could not only listen in this ear but then I can listen in this ear, too. There would be no illnesses. There would be no sickness. There would be no mourning. There would be no sadness. And even more, God will be here to wipe away the tears from your eyes. That’s something to look forward to. And that’s something that can help us to be ready.

And not only know that God keeps His promises, He kept His promises once, Jesus will keep His promises again, but constantly ask ourselves, “Are we ready?” And use some of the diagnostic tools but also to know, “Yes, this is what we have to look forward to.” My friends, I know that I’m going to try to be ready. I’m going to be ready for that day. You want to be ready with me? Amen.

Copyright 2007 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church