First Sunday of Advent

Connection/Tension

Open with prayer guide...

One of the best gifts the historic church has given us is a different way to mark time. Rather than telling time solely based on a secular calendar, the church calendar reminds us of the bigger story that we are part of. The season of Advent is the starting point, the church new year, so happy new year!

What is unique about Advent, however, is that it is not a season of preparing for Christmas.  It is a season of preparing for the return of Jesus.  It looks forward to the second coming, not backward to His first coming. In light of this, today we are beginning a new series for Advent called The Return of the King. We want to give space to prepare our hearts again for his coming.

Anyone who has experienced pregnancy understands watching and waiting and the need to be prepared. As you draw near to the due date you start making plans. You get the baby’s room set up. You make plans for someone to take care of your pets. You get a suitcase packed. You make sure you are always wearing clean underwear, because apparently there is nothing worse in the world that going to the hospital with dirty knickers. You should also keep your car fueled up… You get yourself ready to leave for the hospital at a moments notice at the first sign of labor pains.

There is great anticipation and excitement around the pending birth of a child, but there is also no small about of trepidation and fear. I’m sure for any woman there is a fear of the pain of childbirth. It can be dangerous. And for the couple about to go through this transition to parenthood this is anxiety because the world they knew is about to change. It’s a good change, but there is some amount of anxiety associated with it. What will it be like to have this new creation?

The passage we are reading this morning is all being ready for a birth - not the birth of a child, but the birth of a new creation. A new and better way of life where King Jesus is in control. It’s also about being prepared for his coming. There is temptation to assume that, since it hasn’t happened yet, it’s probably not going to happen. And we take our eyes off our purpose and settle for lesser pursuits. We chase fame, fortune, power, and pleasure - all the things the world chases after. And we ignore the calling of our King upon our lives. The world can feel dangerous right now with all the turmoil going on, but the real danger we face today is not a shaking world, but a lackadaisical faith. Advent re-awakens us to a sense of urgency. This wake up call is the gift of Advent.

The King is coming, and he is bringing the fullness of his kingdom with him. While it may feel like the world is shaking, our task is not to shrink back in fear, but to prepare the world for his appearance. This is our prophetic calling. Just like with prospective parents, we don’t know when the birth will happen, but it will certainly happen. And, so, Jesus’ warning is as urgent for us today as it was for them: stay awake. Jesus the King is calling his church to awaken.

Text

Mark 13:32-37

Chapter 13 of Mark has been called the “little apocalypse”. It is repeated, with slight variations, in Matthew and Luke as well. In my opinion, it has been the source of a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. It has been read as a code for the end of the world and produced massive amounts of speculation that - to my mind - miss the point completely.

We don’t have time to look in detail at the whole chapter. Let me just give you the synopsis as I see it, and then you can go back and read it later for yourself. The key to this passage is the dialogue at the beginning of the chapter. Jesus and disciples are leaving the Temple and the disciples are commenting on how beautiful the buildings are. Jesus shocks them by telling saying that what they see will soon be torn down - within a generation. Of course, they then want to know when this will happen and what the signs will be that it’s about to take place. All of chapter 13, first and foremost, is Jesus answering this question about the destruction of the Temple.

We need to appreciate how unsettling this was for them. The Temple was the source of their religious and national identity. In many ways, it is what made them “Jewish”. It was the sign of God’s presence among them. I’ve had a hard time coming up with a comparison that might capture some of what they felt. Maybe if someone said that the original copy of the US Constitution was about to be ripped up and burned is the closest I can come. That would be horribly unsettling to most Americans. It’s not about the piece of paper; it’s about the ideas that the paper represents. That Jesus is saying that the Temple is about to be destroyed is not so much about the building itself but what it represents to the Jewish nation.

This chapter is not about the end of the world but of the end of the world as they know it. And while this had to have been terribly unsettling, it was actually good news. Like parents on the eve of labor, they know their life is about to radically change. It is unsettling in one way, yet it is also something they have longed for. Transitioning to the new life will be hard, but it will be worth it.

Now, for Jesus to step into his role as the final mediator between God and man, the Temple had to be destroyed. It would become a hindrance to the people accepting Jesus as their true Messiah. Jesus is the true Temple - that place where heaven and earth can finally come together again. He is the One that the Tempe was always been pointing toward. His coming means the Temple’s purpose is fulfilled. The final atonement for all humanity is about to be made.

Jesus’ prediction about the Temple is fulfilled within that generation. In 70 AD Roman legions sent by Nero surrounded Jerusalem, broke through the walls, set the city on fire, and literally dismantled the Temple brick by brick. So in one sense everything that Jesus warned about in chapter 13 has come to pass. At the same time, his warning is still relevant for us. Not as a code or puzzle to figure out about when the end of the world will happen, but as a pattern of what life would be like until he returns. The first power to be shaken was the Temple, but it wouldn’t be the last. The coming of Jesus’ kingdom shakes all the powers, and so his warning at the end of the chapter is as relevant for us as it was to them. The whole chapter is about a monumental change about to take place, one that is still taking place today. The old powers of the world are being toppled. A new king has been inaugurated. Let’s look at these warnings.

We are not to get distracted by speculation.

There has so much time and ink being spent on speculating about the end times that the point of Jesus’ message is being missed. Some do this, I think, to motivate themselves toward a sense of urgency. They need this impending doom hanging over their heads in order to motivate themselves to tell others about Jesus - though that telling often provokes people toward fear. But I’m afraid that many more do this because speculating about the end times is far more entertaining and far less work than actually engaging in Jesus’ end times mission. It is easier to speculate about the end of the world than to involve yourself in sharing the gospel, feeding the poor, praying for the sick, and all the other actual jobs Jesus gave us. During this season the returning King is calling his church to wake up.

The end of one way of life opens us to the revelation of a better way of life.

Their world - not THE world - was coming to an end. What they thought made them distinct and important was about to be destroyed. It felt like a massive loss. But in reality it was the opening of a new and better way. God would no longer be confined to a physical location, but instead dwelling in each believer through the Holy Spirit. We the church, fitted together as bricks, are now the temple of God, and a whole new future is available to us. The new creation is dawning and we get to live in its light right now. During this season the returning King is calling his church to look up.

We are called to walk in watchfulness.

Our King can appear at any moment and any circumstance. Yes, this mean his final coming where we see him face to face. But by his Spirit Jesus can appear at any moment. He is always and eternally present. He is always at work. And we are those who are to be awake enough to notice and participate. This is our great privilege and calling as his followers. I’ve spent the last few weeks talking about our distinctives in the Vineyard - everyone gets to play, naturally supernatural, the already and the not yet, Come, Holy Spirit. All these point to this reality that we have this incredible privilege to join Jesus in his kingdom work.

Jesus first audience were to keep alert for the signs that would signal the destruction of the Temple. This would be the final vindication of Jesus - that he was telling the truth about who he was. But what he said to them he says to us. Keep awake. Don’t be lulled into sleep because you don’t think the king is coming. The truth is that he is here even now for those who have eyes to see. During this season the returning King is calling his church to join up.

Gospel/Response

Pretend this morning that you have been hired as a night security guard at a large bank. As you are about to start your first shift, you are told that you need to be very vigilant in your duties because management has it on good authority from local police that a crime ring is planning a major heist. They don’t know when it will happen, but they are absolutely certain it will happen.

How would that influence your attentiveness? It would probably motivate you to stay awake during the long hours of the night, right? But as weeks, then months, go by without any attempted break in, what would happen to your focus? We’d probably begin to let our guard down, allow ourselves to get distracted or even to doze on the job.

And that’s when it would happen! In that moment when you least expect it, the thieves would come. This is what Jesus is warning us about. This is what the season of Advent gives us. Urgency to remain awake and aware.

Are you prepared for Jesus’ return? Will he find you working faithfully or dozing.

Advent invites us to join the mission. next steps slide

Advent invites us to wake up.