Sermon Tone Analysis
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Advent - to come to or to arrive.
The four weeks of Advent are designed to look back and reflect upon Christ’s first Advent - His birth - and to look forward, to anticipate Christ’s second Advent - His return.
Advent encompasses the idea that God comes to us - He pursues people.
The five candles of Advent are symbolic to the Christian journey.
First is the Prophecy candle - symbolizing hope and anticipation.
Second is the Bethlehem candle - reminding us of the faith of Joseph and Mary.
Today’s candle, the Third is the Shepherd’s candle - the candle of joy.
If you want to know what the Fourth and Fifth symbolize - you’ll need to come back.
But, the third candle symbolizes joy.
As Christians, we know we are to have joy.
Joy comes from the good news.
Joy, being an internal condition of the soul - not shaken by circumstances but founded upon the truth that God sent His unique Son into the world, not to condemn but to save.
Yet, in our physical humanness, life has a way of suffocating our joy.
And we are also spiritual beings - and there is a spiritual enemy that has a way of stealing, killing and destroying our joy.
And so at times we find ourselves in this tension - we are to have unspeakable joy, but ….
And thus we at times find ourselves crying out alongside King David, a man after God’s own heart, who wrote …
Indeed, where do we find joy in the midst of life that can sometimes be anything other than joyful?
How can we have this internal sense of joy that is steadfast, unshakable and that prevails over the chaos?
Where do we find joy when we cry out, “How long, O LORD!”
Losing joy is ever the temptation of the Christian and we must be careful to hold fast to our joy.
Steadfast and unshakable joy cannot be found in this world, but in the promises of the world to come.
But even then, joy is not found in the promises themselves, but in the One who promised and in the One who is to come.
And that calls for one of the greatest virtues of Christianity - patience.
See, true joy comes from patient expectation and desire.
True patience is not a passively waiting for life to get better - or waiting for the storm to pass.
We’re not waiting it out until Jesus returns.
The foundation of true Biblical patience is waiting for a Person.
It’s waiting with active expectation that Jesus will come again and when He does, He will make everything right.
True Biblical patience is the longing, the desire - for the Savior - not simply what He will do - but in longing for Jesus Himself.
As Charles Hodge said,
“To be in Christ is the source of the Christian’s life; to be like Christ is the sum of his excellence; to be with Christ is the fulness of his joy.”
~ Charles Hodge
How do we establish our hearts with joy?
We remember the words of our Lord Jesus -
Be joyful - I’m coming back!
How do we establish our hearts with joy?
We remember the words of two angels.
Be joyful - He’s coming back!
How do we establish our hearts with joy?
We remember the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote to new Believers who were afraid that somehow, they had missed the return of Christ.
Be joyful - He’s coming back!
How do we establish our hearts with joy? Remember, active patience.
We do not merely wait for Christ to return - but take heed the words of the Apostle Peter.
How do we establish our hearts with joy?
Our hearts are much like clocks - from time to time they need recalibrated - they get off just a little.
Advent is a time to recalibrate our lives.
We look back and remember why Christ came into this world -
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see.
Hail the incarnate Deity.
Pleased as man with man to dwell - Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Mild He lays His glory by.
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth; Born to give them second birth.
Advent is a time to recalibrate our lives.
We also look forward in joyful active expectation - knowing that we live in the temporary - but we labor for the eternal.
We live in the physical - but we long for the eternal.
View the present through the promise: Christ will come again.
Trust despite the deepening darkness: Christ will come again.
Lift the world above its grieving, through your watching and believing, in the hope past faith’s conceiving: Christ will come again.
Probe the present with the promise: Christ will come again.
Let your daily actions witness: Christ will come again.
Let your loving and your giving, and your justice and forgiving be a sign to all the living: Christ will come again.
Match the present to the promise: Christ will come again.
Make this hope your guiding premise: Christ will come again.
Pattern all your calculating and the world you are creating to the Advent you are waiting: Christ will come again.
~ Thomas H. Troeger
Receive Christ
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