Advent – Week 1
Nov. 28, 2010 Phil 2:1-11
Intro:
As you can tell from those many announcements, the Christmas season is upon us. It didn’t start in August, even if that is when you first noticed the Christmas decorations in Costco. And it really does start today, even though our city is more focused on the big Grey Cup football game than the start of the season of Advent. Thanks to our master decorators for setting the beautiful atmosphere here in our sanctuary.
I don’t know what words you might associate with this season. Perhaps “busy”, “hectic”, or “chaotic”. Perhaps “stressful”. Perhaps “lonely”. Hopefully some positive ones: “family”, “feasting”, “friends”. Those are very much a part of this season in our culture, but they don’t really speak of the season in the rhythm of worship.
Rhythm of Anticipation and Longing:
The season of Advent in the rhythm of our annual worship journey is a season of anticipation – the time of preparation for something incredible. It is also a season of longing – that deep yearning within us, put there by the God of the Universe, for life to be fundamentally different than it is today, without sin and death and pain. Anticipation and longing are similar, but with very different feelings: anticipation is positive and excited, dreaming and eager. Longing is more melancholy, with some sadness at the present state and desperate for things to change for the better. Our broader culture does ok with the anticipation – the whole build up, the planning, the organizing, all leading up to “the big day”. Unfortunately, the conclusion of that cultural anticipation sometimes becomes the exact opposite of the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus – the culmination is about feasting and abundance and “what we got for Christmas”; whereas the story of Jesus is really about leaving the heavenly “feast”, turning back on abundance, and on giving until there is nothing left.
But where in all that is the sense of longing? Assuming of course we strip away the materialism and marketing messages that are more about coveting than a longing of the heart. Are there places where there is a desperation for change, a pleading on our knees for Jesus’ “kingdom to come, His will be done”, an honest admission of where our lives have followed our own brokenness into ways of living that are not outpourings of the Kingdom of God, but instead mirror the kingdom of this world?
Confession:
As we begin around the communion table, may this be a place of that longing. We begin with the rhythm of confession, repentance, and receiving of forgiveness, and it is so incredibly appropriate that we begin our season of Advent with that same rhythm, that we start Advent with an honest, brutal, heart-rending acknowledgement of how much sin has destroyed. We have to start there, so we see again how much we need Jesus to come.
I want to make that a little more specific. We’ve been studying Philippians 2 together, it begins: “1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”
I give you some space in quiet reflection now, and invite you to allow those questions and the Holy Spirit to search your heart: “are your hearts tender and compassionate?”; or is there hardness, selfishness, and pride that looks at the sufferings of others without desire to help? Are we “agreeing wholeheartedly with each other” or are there places where we have been divisive or argumentative? Are we truly “loving one another”. What about selfishness – the command is “don’t be selfish.” Desire to impress – the command is “don’t try to impress others”. Pride – the command is “be humble”. As we head into communion, let us shine the light of truth which comes through Jesus, who is “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” (Jn 1:5), upon our hearts. And allow Him to speak.
silence
Please join me in the words on the screen, which serve as our corporate prayer of repentance (from http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/liturgies/advent_penitential.htm):
Reader: We live in a world oppressed by sin; a world of hunger – pain – injustice
ALL: WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE ARE PART OF THIS WORLD
AND HAVE NOT ALWAYS PLAYED OUR PART
IN CONFRONTING THE DARKNESS
AND BRINGING THE LIGHT OF CHRIST TO TROUBLED PLACES.
.
Reader: We are part of the Body of Christ; a Body which is broken by the sin of its
members
ALL: WE RECOGNISE THAT WE BELONG TO THE BROKEN BODY OF CHRIST
THAT OUR LIVES ARE TOUCHED BY THE SIN OF OTHERS
AND THAT OUR SIN TOUCHES THEIRS:
THE BODY OF CHRIST CALLED TO BRING LIGHT TO THE WORLD
ITSELF FACING SHADOW AND SUSPICION.
.
Reader: We are unique individuals, created in the image and likeness of God
ALL: WE CONFESS THAT WE DO NOT LIVE UP TO GOD’S DREAM FOR US:
THAT WHERE GOD SAYS, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"
WE FEAR TO COME OUT OF THE SHADOWS;
WHERE GOD SAYS: " YOU ARE SALT FOR THE EARTH"
WE REST CONTENT WITH BLANDNESS;
WHERE GOD SAYS,
"BEFORE I FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB I KNEW YOU!"
WE LIVE ESTRANGED FROM HIM –
AFRAID OF THE POWER OF HIS LOVE FOR US.
Having now confessed our sin, we must make a distinct change. From a sad introspective recognition of sin in our lives, we must turn our focus 180 degrees, off of ourselves and unto Jesus. Sin is not and cannot be our focus, our regret for sin must transform into an Advent longing for Jesus to come, in all His fullness, and set everything right. That begins with us, and is the immediate response of God to our confession. Those sins are gone. They are in the past, removed, the penalty paid, the wrongs atoned for. By Jesus, because of His love for us. So our emotion of confession must now turn to an overwhelmed gratitude, a deep experience of the grace of God which would do all of this for us:
Phil 2:5-11 (NRSV mostly…):
Last week I had you read aloud, slowly, the hymn to Christ which follows 2:1-4. Please join me again in that same reading, and again we will pause in it so it can soak it in:
5Let the same mind be in you that (you have) in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to (cling to),
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Humiliation: vs. 5-8 (NRSV mostly…)
Last week when I introduced this hymn I broke it down into two simple stanzas for us – the first (vs. 5-8) about Jesus’ humiliation and the second (9-11) about his exaltation. The first section encapsulates, in ten simple lines, the Christmas and Easter stories. Let’s take a short, but closer look.
At the heart of Christianity, and critical to our unique witness as Jesus’ followers in a culture that largely admits to some belief in “a god”, is Jesus. Who was Jesus? What do we really believe? This hymn is a great place to start.
It begins before creation, in vs. 6, stating that Jesus is God. The language is technical and difficult to translate here, the NIV says “being in very nature God”, and the version we use in church most often (NLT) says “though he was God”, so we won’t get caught up too much in the phrase “in the form of God” this morning. Instead we’ll just hang on the idea that Jesus, known to us in human form, is actually God.
But now comes the Advent and Christmas mystery/miracle: though Jesus is God, He voluntarily chose to take that “equality with God” and not cling tightly to it, not hold on to it. Again there are some debates about how to translate the last part of verse 6, I think the best way is with the NLT’s translation “cling to”, because I think it gives the best sense of the Lord Jesus’ decision making process before verse 7’s idea of emptying. And the picture it paints for me is a beautiful one, enacting the love of Jesus for us, and living out the entire command Paul has just given about putting others first. I picture Jesus, in heaven, surrounded by angels in worship, in complete union with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, looking down at you and me and our world and loving us enough to not keep holding on to all that it meant to be God in heaven, to not cling to that, but to lay it aside so that we could join those worshipers, responding of our own free will to a God who would love us that much.
And so, vs. 7, “he emptied himself”. Picture a water jug, full; and a parched, desperate people who will die without a drink. Jesus pours Himself out into those cracked mouths, those swollen tongues, those hopeless people on the very edge of death, and he restores them! He brings them to life!!
He does this by becoming a slave. The lowest in the structure of society. The King, now the slave. All, once again, because of love.
We see that love first in Jesus “being born in human likeness”. This is the Christmas story, towards which we journey beginning today. This is the baby in the manger, the normal, average, dependent, human child, which is also the very God of the universe.
And then the hymn rockets forward to the cross: “he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.” Our participation together around the Lord’s table is our re-enactment of this truth.
Communion:
Having become human, having lived a life of humility and service and obedience to God the Father, our Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread: and when he had given thanks he broke it.
(bread is served): “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way after supper he took the cup, saying “This cup is the new covenant between God and His people, sealed with my blood.
(cup is served): This cup is the new covenant between God and His people, sealed with Jesus’ blood. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Exaltation:
So then what? Paul reports that Jesus said, “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.” (1 Cor 11:26). Our re-enactment of the death of Jesus for us ends with thanksgiving and praise, which is appropriate in our regular celebration. But in terms of the salvation story which God continues to unfold, it is an announcement made “until he comes again”. Our adult education time this morning is going to explore this further, but it is pretty clear in our passage in Philippians 2 also:
“9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
Can you taste it? I began with the advent season and the ideas of anticipation and longing – don’t those words stir that within you? The day will come, Jesus will return, every knee and every tongue will recognize Jesus and know, without any doubt, that Jesus Christ is Lord. All will see of His love, and all will recognize that Jesus,
though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to (cling to),
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
