We are following a
particular guide for our worship in advent and the scriptures are already
decided. I have to be honest, I read
this text for this week and thought, “This is an Advent text? This scripture about sin and disobedience and
God’s wrath is good for Advent?! And it
was chosen for the week we focus on hope, really?!”
So I reread the
passage and I thought about the purpose of Advent. This week, both the youth group and the
Wednesday night Advent study examined the meaning and purpose of Advent. And the thing we learned was that in the original
Christmas traditions, Christmas day was not just to celebrate the birth of Christ
that happened in the past. It was also
meant to open the door for his return.
Christians were eager for the 2nd coming of Christ and they
anticipated that would happen at Christmas.
That meant that Advent was a time to prepare to meet Jesus
face-to-face. The preparations weren’t
for trimming the tree or hanging the lights or wrapping the gifts. The preparations were of one’s spirit and one’s
actions to be ready to meet Christ.
In that light and
with that purpose for Advent—Ephesians 5 makes more sense as a choice. If we are preparing to meet Jesus face to
face then it makes sense that we would follow the instructions offered to the
Ephesians.
·
We should follow God’s example, mimicking
God like a child mimics their parents. We
should do as God does.
·
And we should follow Christ’s example and
act with love. We need to do all in our
power to show God’s unconditional agape love.
After encouraging
us, reminding us, to become godly in our ways, we are reminded, with the Ephesians,
of the things we should not be doing. It’s
not a hard list to compile. Any of us could do it. Think about it, in becoming like Christ, what
behaviors, habits and actions should we avoid?
·
·
·
·
Exactly. The
Ephesians were given similar advice:
·
No sexual immorality
·
No behavioral impurity
·
No greed
·
No obscenity
·
No foolish talk or coarse joking
·
Don’t get drunk.
Why? Because once we engage in a relationship with
Christ, we know better. Once we make
Christ Lord of our lives, we become better.
So instead of old bad habits, we are called to do something different.
If we aren’t lying,
stealing, drinking, etc, etc, then what’s left?
What should we do?
·
·
·
·
Exactly,
the author points to similar things.
·
Give thanks
·
Seek Christ
·
Make the most of life
·
Do the will of the Lord
·
Get together with others who seek God
o Sing
o Pray
o Enjoy
one another
o
Praise God
As Christians, we
are called to live differently. We are
called to live and love as Christ loved.
We know that, right? But sometimes,
we need a reminder, don’t we? There are
some habits that we have justified for ourselves, and some old practices that
we keep holding onto.
In our studies this
week, we were asked, “When in your day would you least like to have Jesus walk
through the door?” (Repeat for emphasis)
Ask yourself. When?
·
Would you be caught in a lie?
·
Or caught in anger?
·
Or caught in gossip?
·
Or caught lusting after porn?
·
Or caught in addiction?
·
Or caught in laziness?
·
Or caught in pride?
If
Jesus walked in in that moment, what would be see?
These are the areas
of our life that need reformation—they need to be changed by grace and made
holy. These are our hold outs. These are the spots we’ve been unwilling or
unable to work on. And Ephesians 5 comes
in and says, “Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?! You know better than this!”
It has language of
wrath and rejectionand some of us may need that to jump start us to action.
Fear may be our best motivator. If it’s
yours, here it is. However, I don’t
think fear is the heart of this message.
I think we’re supposed to hear something more like this:
“You’re better than this. You’re not this person anymore. These bad habits should be left in the past—they
are not worthy of your identity as a child of God. So get rid of them.”
But we fight that affirmation,
don’t we? We argue and say things like,
·
I’m
not really that good.
·
I’m
not smart enough, kind enough, or strong enough to be that much like Christ.
We stay stuck in the
past or hold onto old habits because we are held by the LIE that we aren’t
worthy—for whatever reason. But you ARE
worthy. You are worthy of becoming and
being all that God created you to be.
There is no reason to hold back.
There is a beautiful poem by Marianne Williamson called “Our Deepest
Fear”. She says it this way:
Our
Deepest Fear
By Marianne Williamson
Our
deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our
deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It
is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We
ask ourselves,
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented,
and fabulous?
Actually,
who are you not to be?
You
are a child of God.
Your
playing small does not serve the world.
There
is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure
around you.
We
are all meant to shine, as children do.
We
were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It
is not just in some of us;
it
is in everyone and as we let our own light shine,
we
unconsciously give others permission to do the same.
As
we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates
others.
The gift and possibility that we
have is to be great as Christ was great.
This poem and the passage from Ephesians remind us that our future doesn’t
lie in our weakness or our failings or our sins. Our future lies in a promise of
greatness. We are called to be awesome
and inspiring because of and through Christ.
It’s wholly appropriate that we are reminded of what we are pulled from
and called to so that we might embrace all that Christ offers. Advent reminds us to have hope. We are to have hope in Christ, that we can
find redemption and forgiveness and possibility. But beyond that, we are called not just to
rely on Christ but to become like Christ so that we might rely on one another
as the embodiment of Christ. In our
hope, in our drive to be like Christ, we need to avoid the old sinful things
that hold us back from greatness and instead cling to the things of God. We should cling to compassion, cling to
generosity, cling to forgiveness, cling to peace, and cling to joy. We should cling to hope. And so this Advent season, we hope, with
expectancy and anticipation AND preparation for becoming like Christ so that we
might encounter him in tangible and concrete ways.
Today’s “sense” is that of
smell. We are called to embrace the
scents of Christmas and to breathe in hope.
So today you will receive a small satchel of potpourri as your reminder
to breathe in and smell hope. In our time of prayer, you are invited to come
forward to pray and repent and seek after Christ. Satchels will be here at the altar rail and
others will be passed through the pews.
Let us breathe deeply and smell hope.
Amen.
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