Second Sunday of Advent (A) 2019

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Matthew 3:1-3
Theme: A Voice Calling



Dear friends of the coming King,

God will not send you a personal email, a tweet, a Facebook, Instagram, or Snap Chat post asking if you are prepared for Christ to return. He won’t even ring you or send something in the post. He won’t customize any sort of contact according to your preferences or make any exception for you. He tells you now, clearly and unmistakably through the Holy Scriptures to be prepared. Sort out your priorities, because the One who came to Bethlehem in the meekness of the manger is coming again in majesty with angels attending Him. Our time here is limited, but God’s plans are eternal.

Dear friends, Christ will return, and He says that for the sake of the elect the days beforehand will be cut short. But why will they need to be abbreviated? Because the distress will be too much to bear and the trauma too hard to handle. The Lord says, “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”1 Advent, therefore, is a season for repentance. Today John the Baptist ushers in the new age saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”2 The people of Israel had been waiting expectantly since Malachi, the last prophet of the first covenant, spoke of the return of Elijah3 to prepare the way for the Messiah.

The persona of Elijah did return in the person of John the Baptist. Direct and succinct, confronting and comforting, his words announced the Messiah’s coming. His call to repentance was, and remains, unequivocal. No one is excepted. No one is excused. No one is forgotten. No one is overlooked. Repudiation of sin is not optional for the follower of God. To live under our own terms, our own rules, our own judgments is to deify ourselves and deny the need for rescue from our transgressions. To live only within our self-governed spheres of activities and interactions is to deny the need for intervention from Him who rules the universe. We are sinners, and we cannot save ourselves.

Let us learn from John the Baptist how to view our own self-image. About his importance in relation to Jesus, John said, “He must become greater; I must become less.”4 He was referring to the relative importance of their missions and ministries. John was not seeking followers for his own sake. He was preparing people to become disciples of Jesus. He said he was not even worthy to untie the straps on the Lord’s sandals.

Let us learn from John the Baptist to recognize unbelief in the world for what it is. He rebuked the self-righteous who denied that they needed the forgiveness and love of God. He understood that the world constructs its own truths and was not intimidated by those who opposed his message. It’s increasingly evident Christian truth is becoming less and less palatable to the tastes of Western society. Tolerance is waning. Resistance is growing. Disputes about morality are at the forefront of the disapproval. Demolishing the institution of marriage, redefining personal identity, and overthrowing the sanctity of life are stated objectives being pursued with vigor and determination.

Let us learn from John the Baptist the courage to remain faithful. Apathy, acquiescence, and sometimes even agreement by Christians often strengthens the secular cause. Some believers strike an ostrich-pose while others are incapacitated by anxiety or fear. But denial, fear or complaint are not the answer. God calls us to be set apart, and He will not fail to support us in the time of need. The Scripture says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.”5

Let us learn from John the Baptist the conviction that God has the power of life, physically and spiritually. To the arrogant he said, “I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”6 Today we are privileged to witness the baptism of Ally Falting. Ally is a gift. She is a miracle of life. But like all of us, Ally was born needing spiritual resurrection from the Lord of Life. God accomplishes that through baptism. Baptism is not a superstitious ritual. It is the command, the promise, and the mysterious power of the Son of God. It is an action of the faith-giving Spirit and the soul-redeeming Son. It achieves adoption into the family of the heavenly Father.

Dear friends, being adopted as a child of God is a profound blessing. We are promised a bodily resurrection and an eternal inheritance. Jesus Christ went to the cross and gave His life in payment for sin- yours, mine, Ally’s, everyone’s. He rose from the grave on the third day breaking the power of death. He did that so that eternal death- everlasting separation from God, hell- would not have to be the final destiny for us sinners. This gospel, this good news, has no comparison in human achievement. As heirs of His kingdom believers already have the gift of forgiveness, the presence of the Spirit, and the food of immortality. No medication you take or nourishment you consume has the power or promise of the body and blood of Christ.

Let us learn from John the Baptist the meaning of commitment. He was content to eat locusts and wild honey. How do our priorities stack up? How do we allocate our time, our resources, our energies? Are we whole-hearted participants in the consumer-focused philosophy of our culture? Do we live for the weekends- meaning for self-indulgence as opposed to the blessings of the Sabbath? Is Sunday a day to find spiritual rest in the sanctity of God’s house or to collapse in a heap because we’re exhausted from our overscheduled week? The answers and solutions may not be simply black and white- our realities are often very grey- but grey layered upon grey won’t lead to clarity. Clarity and conviction come from God’s truth.

Advent means ‘coming’ and the Second Coming of Christ will bring unparalleled and unprecedented clarity. Advent reminds us to expect the fulfillment of God’s promises. The way we see things now is not how it will be when the curtain drops. Here is what the Apostle John says, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”7 Oh, dear friends, how grand will be the moment of revelation! We will see Him as He is.

Unrestricted by sin’s complications believers will look upon the glory of God, beholding Him not by faith, not in reflection, not veiled or cloaked, not mediated or facilitated- otherwise they would be overcome by His majesty- but as He is. Obsolete will be the warning that no one can look upon God and live. Words are insufficient to communicate the reality. The beatific vision, the complete and perfected experience of God in resurrected glory is the final destination of the Christian journey. Human beings were created to be in direct communication with God and that will be the unending experience of all the redeemed. May advent focus our hearts in anticipation of the reality. Christ will return, not in humility, but in power. He will return to make us both beneficiaries of and participants in His majesty. “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”8

+ In nomine Jesu +

Second Sunday of Advent
8 December 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Matthew 24:12 2 Matthew 3:2
3 See Malachi 4:5-6 4 John 3:30
5 Philippians 2:14-16 6 Matthew 3:9
7 1 John 3:2 8 Revelation 22:20