Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2005 : December 4, 2005

Theme: Christ Is Coming! Live in the Light He Brings

Church year occasion: Advent 2

Harry was about to undergo heart surgery. He was worried and afraid, and that caused him to be irritable with family and friends, his doctors, and even with God. But ten years after a successful surgery, with 20/20 hindsight, he realizes that he never should have been fearful or worried or irritable at all because he was in God's hands.

Mary expected company on Christmas Day. When she was putting the lights on her Christmas tree, she noticed a bare wire. But she didn't have time to take care of it before the company came, so she left it and was going to fix it in a couple of days. Unfortunately, the wire caused a fire that destroyed her home on Christmas Eve. With 20/20 hindsight, she knew that she should have been concerned with the more important job of taking care of that wire instead of the other things she did.

That man and woman have something in common. If they had known the future, they would have changed their lives dramatically.

We don't have to settle for 20/20 hindsight to know what will happen in the future, the not so distant future, on the Last Day of this world's existence when Christ will come again to this world. When he comes, he will not be the weak and vulnerable baby of Bethlehem, but he will be riding the clouds of heaven in majesty and power and judgment. Since God has told us what will happen, it ought to have an effect on the way we live, the way we think, the way we act. That's why Peter encourages us this morning: Christ Is Coming! Live in the Light He Brings.

What will you be doing when Jesus comes to judge the world? Have you ever thought about that? The season of Advent gets us to think about that. Whether we're thinking of Jesus coming into this world on a silent night in Bethlehem or coming with the trumpet blasts of the archangel on the Last Day, Advent encourages us to be ready with a repentant heart, living our Christian lives as God wants us to live. Don't we all hope that when Jesus comes again that he will find us in church or praying or studying the Bible -- or, better yet -- sharing our faith? But, chances are, we won't be doing any of those things. I just read a recent U.S. Department of Labor survey of U.S. citizens age 15 and up. Can you guess what took up most of their time on an average day? Sleeping -- 8.6 hours on an average day. After that the average person on an average day spent 5.1 hours doing leisure and sports activities (4 hours of which was watching TV), then 3.7 hours working and 1.8 hours doing household activities. The remaining 4.8 hours were spent in a variety of other activities, including eating and drinking, attending school, and shopping. Why do I mention all this? It's very simple -- unless you can multi-task like sleeping while you're going to church (which some people are more gifted at doing than others), chances are that you will only be sleeping when Jesus comes again. And you might be thinking, "Well, at least I won't be sinning!"

That sounds logical enough, but that attitude would be like the Packers being ahead against the Bears by 2 points at halftime, so they decide to run out the clock because they're sitting on a lead. That kind of a game plan is doomed to fail. Sitting on our spiritual laurels is not the encouragement Peter has for us this morning. Instead, Peter wants us to go on the offensive. He does that by showing us what actually will happen on the Last Day so we know what to expect. "The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.... That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat." That reminds us of what Jesus said: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Matthew 24:35) So what's going to happen to this world? This world -- in fact, the entire universe -- will be destroyed, as well as everything in them. On that day, no one will will be able to hide from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

From one point of view we must think of the last day with fear in our hearts. When we think of the fact that we are sinners, that we have deserved God's wrath and earned his righteous punishment, we just have to be afraid. The Bible speaks of the last day in a way which is intended to make men afraid. St. Paul speaks of it as a day when the Lord will come in flaming fire to punish all those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. St. John calls it the great day of God's wrath. The prophets spoke of it as a day of trouble and distress, a day of darkness and gloom.

Yet, Peter says in our text that we should "...look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." That means that we should be eager for that day to come. Peter did not want Christians to be afraid of the last day. He wanted them, rather, to look forward to it with joy and longing. This is the way Jesus wanted us to look at it too. He told his disciples, "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:28) How can we look eagerly on Jesus' second coming? Because of Jesus' first coming. How amazing that God would come to this sinful world to be born as a weak, helpless infant! But what's even more astonishing is what he would do as a man -- live for us and die for us. Does God demand perfection of us when comes on Judgment Day? Certainly. But Jesus is our Judge, and he was the one who once died for our sins. The one who demands perfection from us and knows that we are helpless to live as he wants and condemns anyone to hell who can't live up to his standard, he is the same one who took our place in this world and lived that life for us and then gave us that perfection and took all our sins away when he died on the cross. If ever a verdict of not guilty was certain beforehand, this one certainly is, because God's Word tells us that we have already been declared righteous, or justified, through faith. We already have been found not guilty and perfect in God's eyes because of Christ.

Because of Jesus' first coming, we have a different way of looking at Jesus' second coming. That day will bring us the greatest joy and happiness that we have ever known. Peter in our text speaks of "a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." St. John described that new heaven and new earth when he said of it, "God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4) It is certainly not difficult to see why St. Peter says in our text that we should "look forward to the day of God and speed its coming," and how St. John, with the day of judgment in mind, could pray, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." And as we experience the sorrows and the losses and the heartbreaks of this life, this hope should be a daily source of comfort and of patient submission to the will of God.

Because of Jesus' first coming and because of the hope and forgiveness that it give us, we have a different way of looking at life. We all know that all the things we have here in this life, and on which we so often set our hearts -- we all know very well that these things will be destroyed. Peter says in our text that they will all be destroyed, that they will all melt away. But often we live in this world as though we did not know this. Hearing the Word of God, Bible reading, prayer, all the things that help to prepare them for eternity, many times take a secondary place in our lives, don't they? Instead of working at our salvation with fear and trembling, as the Bible says, we work hardest at getting and keeping temporal things. Have we as Christians sometimes made the Christian's dream of living forever in the comfort of heaven into the American dream of living as comfortably as we can in this world? Have we spent out time on things destined for destruction?

What our response ought to be to the Last Day is made clear by Peter when he says in our text, "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God." How do we live holy and godly lives? Not when we sit back on our laurels and say, "I have faith, so I'm going to do nothing but trust until Jesus comes again." No, knowing that the Lord Jesus, by his bleeding and dying, has given us the sure hope of heaven, we should always live out our Christian faith boldly, as we would want to be living when the Savior comes.

When human beings made it into space, it helped us to understand a lot of things about the world we live in like weather patterns, where to go for certain natural resources, and many other things. We were able to step back from the world and get a look at the big picture. There is a saying that sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees. In other words, you can be so concerned with some little things in your life, the details or unimportant things, that you can't see the big picture and focus on what really matters. When it comes to the Last Day and eternity, God has already told us everything we need to know -- we have the big picture. Now may God help us to put the details of our lives in order that our lives reflect the truths of our faith in Christ. God help us always to live our lives in the Light he has brought us. Amen.