The Hope in Advent – A Call to Attention!
Mark 13:28-37
“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So, you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.
It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”
Today marks the first Sunday in Advent. Advent is that wonderful time of year that we as the church set aside time to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Christ. Advent is not Christmas! Advent leads up to and anticipates the coming of Christmas.
According to Bing.com, the word advent means “the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.” For the Christian world, Advent is the time we anticipate the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Advent is the four-week period leading up to or anticipating Christmas.
But Advent is so much more than just getting ourselves ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus into the world some 2000 years ago. Even more important than getting ready to celebrate that glorious birth, the season of Advent calls us to make sure we make ourselves ready for the second coming of Christ; ready for the commitment asked of us in following Christ and claiming Jesus as Lord! ….ready to live lives dedicated to bringing glory to God and advancing HIS kingdom in this world.
Folks, Advent, this time leading up to Christmas …..is a wonderful opportunity. Each week of Advent, we focus on a different blessing of our faith. This first Sunday in Advent is the Sunday of HOPE. …HOPE is found in the promise that Jesus is coming back!
But Advent comes every year, and we often let it slide by without really noticing it very much.
Yet this is a time when we need to prepare ourselves to receive Christ and not to just focus on gifts, food and social gatherings.
The beautiful decorations up here in our Church yard are great. They call our attention to the fact that this is a special time – a time of anticipation for which we must put forth special effort. It took special effort to make these decorations happen.
But, if decorations are all we do this Advent season, we will have missed the boat! The decorations are pretty to look at, but unless they inspire us to put forth some special effort to grow in our relationship with Almighty God during this Advent season, then they are really of little value in our lives.
Advent is a preparation for the coming of the Lord. …and more important than us celebrating His birth …is us preparing for His return!
In our scripture this morning, Jesus is telling his disciples that they need to get ready for his coming too. …not His birth, but His second coming! You see, Jesus was already there, talking to them, and preparing them for his second coming, telling His people that He will come again. …the thing is, we don’t know when. Even Jesus doesn’t know when.
Therefore, the Church sets aside a time every year to commemorate His first coming, and to prepare ourselves for the time of His return.
And the best way to prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus is to repent.
This time gives us an opportunity to look back at the year and turn away from those things that have led us away from God. …especially the times when we did not make the right choices or the times this year when we got distracted and turned our back on the Lord due to the pandemic.
This preparation further takes us to confess our sins and reconcile with the people we have hurt in the past year.
This repenting leads us to see the need to apologize for our bad behavior to everyone we have wronged. …seeing the need to apologize is the first step in coming to terms and grasping the need for change in our lives.
Putting ourselves on a path to apologize to those people whom we have wronged is an important step in not only changing our bad ways, but also have a help us see the need for humility in our lives and put us in a place so we can receive Christ in our hearts and lives in a real way.
This will help us to restore our relationships and give us the courage to build bridges with people whom we have hurt.
"Wake Up Little Susie"
"Wake Up Little Susie" was a popular song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and published in 1957.
The song is best known in a recording by The Everly Brothers. It is written from the point of view of a high school boy to his girlfriend, Susie. In the song, the two go out on a date to a drive-in movie theater, only to fall asleep during the movie. They do not wake up until 4 o’clock in the morning, well after the 10 o’clock curfew. They then contemplate the reactions of her parents and their friends.
Although banned in such places as Boston, the song does not state that Susie and her boyfriend had any kind of improper relationship. In fact, the song strongly implies that they did not: the couple simply fell asleep because they were bored by the film.
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
We’ve both been sound asleep, wake up, little Susie, and weep
The movie’s over, it’s four o’clock, and we’re in trouble deep
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, well
Whatta we gonna tell your mama
Whatta we gonna tell your pa
Whatta we gonna tell our friends when they say “ooh-la-la”
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, well
I told your mama that you’d be in by ten
Well Susie baby looks like we goofed again
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, we gotta go home
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
The movie wasn’t so hot, it didn’t have much of a plot
We fell asleep, our goose is cooked, our reputation is shot
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie, well
Whatta we gonna tell your mama
Whatta we gonna tell your pa
Whatta we gonna tell our friends when they say “ooh-la-la”
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie
Wake up little Susie
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Up_Little_Susie
In this song, this young high school couple fell asleep during a boring movie. Unfortunately, the same thing has happened to the church in our world today. The church has been asleep for years. It fell asleep because of laziness and boredom. It ought not to be that way, but Sadly, it is.
We have become enamored with our own prestige and power. Yet, our influence in the community and in the world has fallen.
Even though the population has continued to increase, the number of people who think it is important to attend worship services on Sunday morning have declined steadily for the past 70 years.
Many churches that used to be mainstays of faith are now struggling just to keep their buildings repaired.
All of the rest of us struggle to complete the task that Jesus has given us to make disciples of people everywhere.
And the main reason we struggle is because we look and act like the world around us!
There is very little difference between the world and the nominative church member. Our people are cheating on their spouses, stealing from their bosses and running from God just like lost people.
Yet when confronted with their sin they deny they do any of this. Folks, our scripture reading this morning says it is time to wake up!
In it, Jesus is giving his final teaching concerning the last days. I see three clear words about those last days in this passage.
The first thing Jesus says is…be WARNED in verses 28-32.
Jesus tells His disciples to learn this parable. He picturesquely paints a word of warning to believers. When they see these events unfolding they are to be prepared.
Since Jesus had already spoken of His physical return in verse 26, He reassures His disciples of His coming APPEARANCE in verses 28-29. He is near. …the NRSV says ….at the very gates. …The imperative is for emphasis. Folks, It is fixin’ to happen!
Today we see the proliferation of hatred. People are unwilling to show love for one another, and we as the church in this world are affected by this ratcheting up of violence and intolerance in our society.
We, too, like the feeling of getting in our own ‘two cents worth’ …or getting even with people for any slight offence against us.
But folks, that is not what Jesus teaches! That is not what Jesus calls us to!
You need to realize that those kind of urges in our lives is Satan working to keep us from being what Jesus has called us to be! …it is Satan working to hamper our relationship with God so that we will not be effective in fulfilling the Great Commission …leading people to Christ!
Then in verses 30-31, Jesus shows us His ASSURANCE of these events’ eventual fulfillment. He matter-of-factly states that this generation will not pass away until all these events have been completed.
Now, Christians, don’t cringe at this statement! God’s WORD says that this generation will not pass away until these things are fulfilled.
It is important for us to know what our Bible says!
Since Jesus was speaking these words a couple of thousand years ago, and since everyone who heard him speak them are dead; …then it is obvious that Jesus was not speaking about the generation of people who were listening to Him.
What I see in this passage is that Jesus was speaking of is the generation of His church, which He was in the process of establishing as He taught the disciples there on the Mount of Olives that evening.
You know, we have warnings all around us. In our vehicles, bells go off, lights come on. Some things even cause a disembodied voice to speak to us in many new cars, and I was driving a rental car a few weeks ago and I guess it decided I wasn’t braking fast enough so the car put on brakes for me.
That’s a pretty nice warning!
We also see warnings in tons of scriptures in the Bible!
Warnings are given to Christians to believe and to behave as God’s children. Signs are also given an unsaved world as warnings …that Jesus is about to return and judge the world! I see signs and warnings today …that cause me to think that …Jesus IS at the gate! Folks, …It is time to wake up!
Then Jesus tells us in verses 33-34 that we are to be WORKING.
Then He tells us to watch in 33a. We are to CONSECRATE ourselves to being faithful. Much like a soldier on guard duty, we are to be constantly dedicated to carrying out our last command. That command was given to us in Matthew 28:18-20. The order has never been rescinded.
Later in verse 33(b), the phrase to be alert means to “behold, take heed.” It is the idea that we are to CONTEMPLATE our assigned responsibilities. Everyone has their place to work. Mine is probably different than yours. But regardless what our responsibility is, we are to be faithful in all we do!
We are also to COMMUNICATE in 33(c). By this Jesus calls us to pray. Because we don’t know when He is coming we need to stay in touch! We can only recognize the signs of the times when we are alert and in touch!
Then in verse 34, He gives an illustration that we are stewards in God’s Kingdom. We have a job to do and remain faithful to it. That means we are to CULTIVATE our field of service. Stewards don’t own what they possess. They simply manage what belongs to someone else. All we have belongs to Him. Faithfulness is required. And, folks, make no mistake about it; …We will give an accounting of our duties.
Illustration
The very first ‘job’ I had was when I was about 12 years old. A man and his wife who lived in our town was going to visit relatives for a few days and they needed someone to feed and water their blue chow dog. Now, the dog was mean and aggressive, and I was about the only person other than Dan, the dog’s owner, that the dog would let get anywhere close to him. It was not a hard job. All I had to do was to feed the dog and provide fresh water daily. I remember walking up the hill to their house just anticipating the great job I was going to do of feeding and watering that dog. Faithfulness was all that was required.
It is the same thing with believers today. We are to be faithful. Yes, we are fighting a cultural war in a post-Christian society. But folks, God knows our situation! …And God equips us to be faithful! So, get involved! It is not an option! We are commanded by Jesus to work continuously and faithfully until He returns. Jesus says in John 9:4 that we are to “work the works of the Father while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” I’m sure you have heard it taught that Jesus was telling his disciples to work while He was there with them because he would be leaving them. …but folks, that is not it at all! We must work in this generation. It is still light until Jesus returns! …and we’ve got a lot of work that needs to be done!
And then Jesus tells we are to be WATCHING. The phrase “be alert” means “to wake up” in verses 35-37. Christians are not to be sleeping at their posts. They are to be awake, alert and on duty!
Because we don’t know when His return will be, …we should OBSERVE HIS WARNINGS!
Verse 35 makes it clear …we don’t know on which watch He will return.
His return is imminent. That means it can happen at any moment. It is not immediate, but it is imminent.
Secondly, in verse 36 we are to OBEY HIS WORD. We don’t want him to catch us sleeping on the job. It won’t be a good thing if He does! In the business world it means automatic termination. Folks, …we should be serious in our responsibilities!
And finally, we are to OCCUPY HIS WORLD in verse 37. Jesus is the rightful owner of this universe.
• He created it
• He sustains it, and
• He is sovereign over it!
And while we are here, …while WE are the generation of God in this world today, …we are to be involved in seeing others come into the kingdom. God has plenty of room for those who trust Him!
Illustration
It is a wonderful thing to have fire stations in our neighborhoods. Everyone here would agree to that. They serve a great purpose. The firemen save lives, put out fires and provide a great service to our community. But imagine if they spent their time in the station polishing their brass, cleaning their equipment and fellowshipping with each other. They eat meals together, play practical jokes on each other and attend classes on fire safety. And just think of the utter disgust from the community if that is all they did. Suppose they ignored the bells and alarms that a disastrous wreck occurred on the highway. Suppose they continued playing cards late in the evening when a warning rang out that someone’s house was on fire. Or, what if they were so preoccupied polishing the bell on the bumper of their truck and waxing the paintjob to make it all look beautiful that they paid no attention to the warning alarm of an emergency in the community? Boy, people would be furious …and they would have a right to be!
And yet, as the church body, we are too busy fellowshipping with each other and polishing our brass in the church that we often do not pay attention as souls all around us slip into hell.
We have too much fun in our …fellowship gatherings and …taking soul winning classes …to really share the Gospel …with a down and outer. How many lives, church, will be shattered because we would not take the time to invest in the people around us?
Sadly, that seems to be the state of our churches today. Unfortunately, that seems to be state of most professed Christians today.
…Are you one of them?
Are you rearranging the furniture on the deck of the Titanic as it sinks, or are you following Christ faithfully in obedience?
I said at the beginning that this is the week of HOPE. …and that the second coming of Jesus gives us HOPE.
Folks, all these other things I have said is to call us to attention …and to make sure we are ready …and paying attention …so that when Jesus calls …if it is at His second coming ….or as He calls us to be His hands and feet in this world …that we are ready!
So, how should we, as the church, understand Advent? We need to realize that every gathering of the faithful in the name of Jesus Christ …and every praise we raise and act of worship we offer …is an Advent of the Lord! …a coming of the Lord in our lives!
Jesus’ words in Scripture are very clear. …Entry into the kingdom …is determined by …doing the Father’s will …and not merely uttering sweet sounding empty words.
God bless you my beloved
Amen and Amen!
This sermon is based on an original message by Terry Blankenship entitled “It’s Time”. I recommend it to you.
