Sermon: People of God, this is the third Sunday of Advent. Our hope and expectation is increasing as Messiah nears us in the biblical story. Advent means “coming.” One of the elements we stress during this season is that Jesus came for us at his Incarnation, born of the Virgin Mary. But we also stress that Jesus comes for us again and again. He comes today to be with His people; to comfort and guide us. He is the rod of Jesse who will free us from Satan’s tyranny who will also disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death’s dark shadows put to flight.[1] He comes under the law, born of a Virgin Mary, He comes today to renew us in covenant, and one final element of His Coming is His final coming to judge the living and the dead; to introduce a world of sinless bliss and everlasting resurrected life. In summary, Advent celebrates the facts that Christ has come, Christ is coming, and Christ will come again. Advent has a past, present, and future.
We have discussed the past and present, but today and next Sunday we are going to focus on a double-layered coming of Jesus: a past and future coming. We are actually going to focus on the epistle section of the lectionary. Our attention in the remaining weeks of Advent will be on I Thessalonians 5.
Our passage is the conclusion of Paul’s address to the church in Thessalonica. The context of this epistle is that Paul sent Timothy with the church. Paul had visited the church in his second missionary journey, and as he writes he longs to be with them again. The Church in Thessalonica is the anti-Corinth Church. What I mean is that while the Church in Corinth was castigated and rebuked for her sinful behaviors by Paul; here, the great apostle is delighted by the work of this church. Timothy brought back good news of their faith in chapter 3:6. Paul says in chapter 1:8 that their faith has gone forth everywhere. People have heard how you have turned from idols to serve the living God (1:9). This church has become Paul’s glory and joy (2:20). But as in every church, especially in that first century context, there was discouragement. Loved ones had died and now they were left wondering what would happen to them. Paul here emerges full of conviction. Paul is the resurrection prophet. His word is one of hope and encouragement. He repeats his message of hope that in the coming of the Lord the world will begin to see the light. In chapters four and chapters five, Paul comforts the saints with the announcement that Christ is coming. Paul’s argument is that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so too will He come for us. The point is that you should not grieve as the pagans do. They have no hope; they give in to their lustful passions; they deny the living God and live as they please. But that is not how we are to live in the light of the coming of Jesus.
Let me add one other contextual point before we are introduced to our passage. The Bible teaches many comings of our Lord. A quick glance through the Bible and you will quickly realize that God comes again and again to judge, to bring mercy and grace, to comfort, and on and on. God is in the business of coming. He is not a God who watches the world like we watch a movie; rather, He comes to the world because the world is His movie; His story. He shapes it in whatever way He sees fit. God is always intervening in history. We are to pray that God intervenes not only in our lives for our good, but also in the world for the good of the world. Continue reading “Advent Sermon: The Advental Call for Peace in the Church, I Thessalonians 5:12-13”