1st Sunday of Advent!
Introduction:
A. I have here in my hand a tract that I
printed off from online, AJudgement
Day! May 21, 2011; The End of the World, Oct. 21, 2011!@ We’ve had several predictions of the end of
the world, but this one was the most in your face that I have seen!
B. Read
highlighted portions from the tract.
C. Advent is first and foremost about
getting ready for the second coming of Christ!
The term means Acoming@ or Aarrival.@
Are you ready for his coming?
Prayer
Matt. 24:36-44
& I Thess. 4:16-17
I. Nobody
knows when! Contrary to predictions that
have been made.
ABut about that day and hour no one
knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but
only the Father.@ Vs. 36 NRSV
A. Anybody holding a KJV Bible and have it
opened to the scripture? What do you
notice different?
ABut of that day and hour knoweth no
man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my
father only.@
B. There is a reason that the KJV omits Anor the Son.@ During the time that the text was written,
from which the KJV was translated from, there was a controversy going on within
the Christian church; this had to do with Gnosticism and the docetist heresy.
1. Gnosticism:
a. Derived from the greek work Agnosis@
which means knowledge.
b. Gnostics believed they possessed a
special mystical knowledge,
reserved
for those with true understanding. That
knowledge was
the secret key to salvation.
c. They believed all matter is evil.
d. A human being is somehow an eternal
spirit that has been imprisoned in a body, so there final goal was to escape
from the body.
e. The supreme being had no intention of
creating a material world but only a spiritual one. The creation of the world was the result of
an error caused by one of the spiritual beings who were created by the supreme
being, so the world was a mistake and is evil.
f. But there are still Asparks@
of the spirit in it
g. There has to be a spiritual messenger
to come and awaken the spirit within our bodies. For the Christian gnostics, this was Jesus
Christ.
(The Story of
Christianity, Vol 1, Gonzalez)
2. Deriving from this came the Docetist
Heresy.
a. If Jesus is the Spiritual Messenger, he
couldn=t have a
real body; he couldn=t
be really human because that would be evil.
b. His
body must just be a ghost or in some way just look like a body! Or
maybe it is just an appearance of a body!
c. They also denied the birth of Christ
which would make him human and would give him a human body!
3. All of this was settled and the
Gnostics and Docetist were declared heretics at the Council of Nicea and the
Nicean Creed was formed that clearly states that Christ was fully God and fully
human!
4. Read Nicean Creed. P. 880 UMH
C. The exclusion of the words Anor the Son@
from the KJV text is one evidence of this controversy. For the docetist to include the words Anor the Son@
here would be to admit the humanity of Christ!
D. The texts that we have that were written
at other times in history include the words, Anor
the Son.@
1. This is
significant!
2. If Jesus didn=t
even know when the Son of man would return, it is foolishness for us to ever
think that we can pin point the day and hour when Christ will Return!!!! The Big Secret is, We Just Don=t Know!
II. But
we know, It will be sudden!
A. It will be as
in the days of Noah!
1. Eating and drinking
2. Marrying and giving in Marriage
3. Life as usual!
B. There will be two in the field, one will
be taken and the other left!
C. There will be two women grinding, one
will be taken and the other left!
D. It will be like a thief in the
night! Sudden and unexpected!
E. And we know, it will be a Good Thing!
F. One day, the Lord will descend from
heaven, with the sound of God=s
trumpet, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then those who are alive will
be called up to meet him! I Thess
4:16-17
G. Aand
so we will be with the Lord forever.@
1. The Early Christians, the ones to whom
this was written, fully expected that Christ would return in their lifetimes!
a. They didn=t
plan for an Earthly future because they didn=t
expect one.
a.
They didn=t
plan for retirement. They didn=t save for one because they didn=t expect to live that long.
b.
They didn=t
invest in Earthly goods!
c.
They just did the things that would prepare them for
eternity and lived one day at a time.
d.
They took this scripture to heart, be ready!
e.
They didn=t
understand there to be anything that had to happen before Christ came
back! They expected it to be sudden and
at any time!
f.
They would have seen this as a positive thing, for
Jesus to come back for them, they were ready!
. Today, much of the preaching I hear
about this is very negative.
a.
When I was a teenager, our church took us to hear a
movie entitled, AA Thief
in the Night.@ It was about the end times, and it
concentrated largely on what would happen to those who were left.
If I hadn=t
already been a Christian, it would have probably scared
me to the altar!
a. The Christian fictional series, ALeft Behind,@
is much the same in more recent years, and the track I shared with you
earlier!.
b. They concentrate on the terrors of
those who are left behind.
c. They are designed to scare someone into
a commitment. Such is the tract I shared with you earlier!
d. This isn=t
a good way to move someone to serve the Lord!
3.
But this is more about those who will be taken; they
will be with the Lord forever!
a.
This is like, is the glass half full or half empty?
b.
One will be taken: one will get to go to be with the
Lord forever! It doesn=t even mention here what will happen to
those who are left, but they won=t
go on to be with the Lord!
c.
The Early Christians would have wanted to be with their
Lord! They knew what it was like to be
around Jesus!
d.
Do you know what it is like to be around Jesus? Don=t
you want to be ready when he comes again?
It will be a good thing!
Conclusion:
A. Remember,
Advent is first and foremost about getting ready for the second coming of
Christ! The term means Acoming@
or Aarrival.@
B. We don=t
know when, but it will be when things are going on just like usual. It will be at a time when we least expect it,
but he will come back! Just as he came
the first time, he will return!
C. Are you ready to be one who will be
taken?
1. Have you excepted Christ as your
personal Savior? God has made a way for
you!
2. Christians, are you living for Christ
every day like Christ could come tomorrow?
Are you letting Christ reign in you?
a.
We know today that maybe we should plan for a future
here on Earth, just in case Christ doesn=t
return in our lifetime.
b.
But, with that realization, have we lost some of the urgency of living
our lives so that we are ready for Christ=s
second coming?
1)
Do we read our Bible?
2)
Do we serve the Lord with all we are and have?
3)
Do we live honest lives, just like Christ could return
before we get home?
4)
Do we live our lives just like Christ is watching us
every moment and could come at any time?
5)
Are we really making Christ Lord?
c.
Have we experienced what it is like to be around Jesus?
1)
Have we gotten close enough to God to experience this?
2)
If we live close enough to Christ we can!
3)
Then we will be excited about the thoughts of Christ
coming again, of being face to face with our Lord and Savior!
4)
We won=t
have to fear what will happen to those who are left, if we are ready!
3. That is what it means to be ready for
the second coming! Then and only then
will we be ready for the Second Coming.
4. Then and only then can we get excited
about the thoughts of Christ coming again!
5. Do you need to get ready as we
encounter Christ at the table this morning?
Prayer
of Confession
Service of Communion
