How long is Advent?

 

The countdown is getting close to single digits. I know what you are thinking: Soon we won’t have to endure the dad jokes.

Good, I won’t have to explain them to you. You don’t even know how a joke becomes a dad joke, do you?

It becomes apparent. With that dad joke and included pun, let’s get after it.

Over the years I have wrestled with something that I have yet to discern fully.  I don’t know if it is blessing or burden, or both.

In most things that come upon the horizon of my awareness, I see the time, space, and logistics of the thing. We call it the TSL.

No, that’s not a pun that’s just really hard to discern. The TSL of something appears to me like that buck you see on the edge of the treelined at 200 yards or the 75% off sticker on that outfit you can’t live without.

Enough about me. Let’s do this Advent thing.

God made everything good. That was his day job. He did it day to day.

God pronounced everything very good. That wasn’t quite the end of his week. He modeled rest.

Then it all broke. I guess God overslept. No, he didn’t. All-powerful, all-knowing God, sovereign God was fully aware of what happened. Sin entered the world.

But he was on a roll. Good to very good, and now this brokenness. What would be next?

More brokenness. Sin run rampant was the story of humankind.

Then there was something of a cleansing, a rebaselining. Yes, we are up to the flood. What next?

How about a plan to get better? God picked a people by which to jump start this. They needed a name.

How about the Picked People. He threw in some instructions to make us better.

He was putting the pieces back together. He was making us better. We might be good as new if we just read the instructions, a least for a while.

Looking back at the Garden of Eden, most of us guys point the finger at the woman. We blame Eve.

God ask Adam, what’s going on here? Didn’t I tell you not to eat that?

The woman that you gave me gave it to me.

The woman said, the serpent tricked me.

And the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on. We know the story, mine’s a little tongue in cheek

The guy blamed the woman.

But after God picked a people, we got instructions downloaded on tablets from the Cloud. Others came later through prophets.

 Okay guys, can we admit that this is mostly on us? Most of us aren’t that good at reading the instructions?

But if we put those instructions into practice, we could be put together once again good as new, at least for a while.

So the story of humankind is that we were made good, very good, were broken, and the ultimate goal is to be put back together.

So, the goal is to end up where we started?

I know that I am supposed to trust God over my own finite understanding, but really, this is the goal?

Okay, maybe we are a little better than just good and very good. Maybe we are the best we can be with what God had to work with.

Some of you know what’s next. That’s right, Maxine Nightengale sumed it up.

 And it’s alright and it’s comin’ on, we gotta get right back where we started from.

Through this whole creation business, this whole life business, this entire experience that we struggle with and sometimes figure out for a while, the finish line is the starting line. Really?

Okay, maybe the spectrum is good, very good, better, and best. That’s it?

The world calls us foolish. I’m thinking they might be right. I guess that’s better than remaining broken.

Better, best, six, seven. That’s it?

Do you know where most of the struggles are on this spectrum?  It’s not between the worst and the best. That’s Occam's razor stuff.

There is no dilemma, just a straightforward decision. Choose the best over the worst. Duh.

Rabbit trail time! Many of you know this. I taught this to Marines and inmates in the course of teaching ethics and standards of conduct, so I know you know or should know it, but…

As I’m already on a rabbit trail, I should tell you that Marines do not know the meaning of the word quit, but we’re Marines. We don’t know the meaning of a lot of words.

Marines and inmates understood this. Choosing between right and wrong, good and evil, moral and immoral are are not ethical dilemmas. They are ethical decisions.

A dilemma is a difficult decision between ethical choices. If one is non-ethical or unethical, there can be no dilemma. You might struggle with the decision, but it’s not a moral or ethical dilemma.

Most decisions that are actually dilemmas are between good and better or better and best.

So, could you have an unethical dilemma between two evils?  No.

What about choosing the lesser of two evils? That’s a decision, but not an ethical dilemma.

If you think you have to choose between two evils or two immoral choices, don’t.

But, but, but…. Don’t.

C’mon, Tom, you must have never had to make any tough choices in your life. Have you never found yourself between a rock and a hard place and neither choice was good?

I have found myself between Iraq and Iran. I wasn’t allowed to enter Iran. I did draw a line in the sand in Iran without stepping into it. It’s a guy thing. Don’t dwell on that one.

Let’s get back to this whole creation, existence, life thing and the spectrum is good, very good, better, and best. That’s it?

We end up where we started, perhaps a little more seasoned for making the trip.

Is it all worth the trip?

Do you remember when I shared about my back and forth with God and starting to use the Bible as our curriculum?

I wanted to start much, much earlier. God showed me that his timing was better, right?

No, it was not better. Okay, his timing was the best, right? No. What did I say it was?

While his timing surely included the good, better, and best; these qualities are necessary and included in God’s choice, but they are not sufficient.

In this whole Bible reading thing, his timing was perfect.

Perfect!

In this whole creation and life stuff, our destination is not right back where we started from. Our destination is perfect. It is perfection.

God’s destination for us is perfection. It is a place that we have never been but to which we are predestined. We are destined for perfection. He will finished the good work that he began in us.

As far as God is concerned, we are as good as there. We still have some experiences to experience. We have lessons to learn. We have some troubles to overcome. We have some missions to accomplish, but make no mistake, that is our destination.

In this morning’s truncated journey through humankind’s experience in the hands of our Creator, we come to this age that gets us to perfection.

Jesus would call it the age to come. We have labeled it the Church Age. Cmon, you must have some doctrinal sounding names.

Between the resurrection of the Lord and the age to come, we have Advent. It’s more than four Sudays of lighting extra big candles and some standard readings.

We are preparing the way for the coming of the King.  We are making straight the path.

That explains all the road construction.

We prepare the way in our hearts. Let every heart prepare him room.

As the Hebrew people incorporated a preparation day into their week so they could more fully realize the blessing of the Sabbath; we incorporate this thing we call Advent to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

But he had already come. That’s the whole babe in a manger, silent night, holy night thing, right?

Yes.

So why do we have to get ready if he has already come?

I love the series The Chosen and the actor that plays Jesus. It is very well cast, but for this part, they might want voice over from Arnold.

I’ll be back!

We prepare to celebrate his second coming. It’s sort of like the first one, except we will be singing Worthy is the Lamb more than we sing Silent Night.

And this is just speculation, but it’s a good SWAG—we won’t need words on the wall or hymnals.

We are on our way to perfection. It only comes through Christ Jesus.

Don’t fight it. Embrace it.

Think about both the sequence and confluence of events that get the unborn Savior of the world from Nazareth to the City of David. Many centuries later, the world would call this synchronicity –events and thinking that have obvious connection but no apparent causality.

I believe in coincidence. So, life is just a random sense of events, some of them come together and we see some meaning and purpose in them. We come up with our own theories and we speculate. That’s what the world says.

I believe in coincidence, but don’t universal randomness. I believe in divinely orchestrated coincidence. I believe there is not just a plan, but the plan, and it is rooted in the love of a God who would love us through our sin and rebellion.

Why?  That’s just who he is. God is love. So again, I ask this of you.

Think about both the sequence and confluence of events that get the unborn Savior of the world from Nazareth to the City of David

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The time, space, and logistics of this incredible plan to bring us to perfection and in perfect relationship with God has come together.

Where are we in that plan.

People get ready. Jesus is coming. Soon we’ll be going home.

Today, we prepare a room for him. It’s a place in our hearts.

Jesus has already prepared a place for us. That’s a done deal.

It’s is our turn

Most of the time I remind you what to do once the Spirit of God resides within you—bring glory to God.

Today, I remind you to make sure you are ready for him to come again.

Remember that I said I taught ethics and standards of conduct?  After evaluating the information you know of and you make what you believe to be an ethical decision, wisdom dictates that you apply an after-the-fact filter/mirror/review process.

Is this really ethical? Is this moral?  If the answer is still yes, then look at the best of the ethical options.

If it is no, then you are not done.

Advent acknowledges that we are saved by God in the blood of Jesus and that his Spirit lives within us.

Advent says, run the final checklist.   Make sure everything is ready.

Tom calls this a confirmation brief. I gave and received many of these before major live fire exercises. It’s just what you do.

You might be thinking, “Stick to the Bible, Tom.”

Okay, how about this. Jesus and those in his inner circle went up on a mountain and Jesus was transfigured so they saw a glimpse of him in his glory. Do you remember who else was there?

Moses and Elijah. We believe they represented the law and the prophets. This was the confirmation brief for our salvation and the redemption of the world.

Had everything that was required by law and prophecy been accomplished.  Jesus was not going have to burn a time out right before the Romans hoisted him up on that cross.

Everything had to be ready. Jesus held a confirmation brief.

So too, we need to look inside ourselves, at each other—iron sharpens iron, and just be still so that we know we are ready for the return of the King.

Take this very short mini season of Advent as a provocation, inspiration, or the motivation to get ready for his return.

Don’t get wrapped up in the name. We have been doing Advent for two millennia.  We have been getting ready.

Get ready. Jesus is coming.

When? Soon.

Get ready!

When Jesus comes to claim us, I want not only to be ready for myself and my family, I am going to stand before him without sin because he washed it away, but I will say, Mission Accomplished.

I might not look like the prettiest redeemed man he created, but I will say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, not because I can rightly divide the word of God or throw in both Greek and Hebrew words in a sermon here and there; but because I did what I was commissioned to do from the day I professed Jesus is Lord.

Get ready not just for the rescue coming our way but to be able to say we took hold of our commission, put his words into practice, and took love and salvation to the world.

If you are not ready, get ready. Jesus is coming, and he is coming soon.

Get ready. That’s Advent.

Amen.