Who Can Endure The Day Of His Coming?
Sermon
Don't Forget The Child
Sermons For Advent And Christmas
Have you ever noticed that many people seem to feel they either have "too much" Christmas or "not enough" Christmas? Television commentator Andy Rooney is one who thinks he has had "too much" Christmas. Andy Rooney, in fact, has proposed a "Christmas Holidays Limitations Act." These are some of the provisions of that Act:
1. Capital punishment would be mandatory for anyone caught selling Christmas ornaments before Thanksgiving.
2. Magazines would be prohibited from offering three Christmas editions, the first in October. No magazine dated "December" or calling itself "Christmas Edition" could be available before December 1.
3. Insurance companies, funeral homes [and] hardware stores would be forbidden from mailing out anything to anyone that said "Merry Christmas" on it.
4. [And] there would be stiff penalties for anyone caught mailing out Christmas cards before December 10 (from And More by Andy Rooney, Altheneum Press). Clearly, Andy Rooney feels he has had "too much" Christmas.
But then there are those who may feel they don't have enough. Counted among them might be people who, because of financial difficulties, can't buy what they would like for Christmas to give what they would like for Christmas.
Others can be lonely during the holidays. They may suffer from what has come to be known as "Seasonal Depression" or the "Holiday Blues." Dr. Lester Grinspoon, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, writes, "Any clinician in mental health sees a disproportionate number of people who suffer from loneliness. [But] Christmas and New Year's amplify loneliness, perhaps more than any other two days of the year. The holidays can be especially hard on the recently widowed or recently divorced, on shut-ins or those in nursing homes, on military personnel and others separated from their loved ones. Rather than feeling they have 'too much' Christmas, these folks may feel they don't have enough."
Well, whether your Christmas seems like "too little" or "too much," you may experience these pre-Christmas weeks as a test of your endurance. Enduring until the Lord comes: that's what our scripture lesson from Malachi is about. "Who can endure the day of his coming?" asks the prophet in the Revised Standard Version translation.
Only at this point, we Christians say Malachi is talking not about an impending holiday, but about the Second Coming of Christ. That's one of the great themes of Advent, the Second Coming of Christ. We believe that, because Christ came once, he's going to come again! The first time he came in humility, Mary's Baby, dependent, born in a stable, surrounded by animals, cradled in a manger. But the second time he will come in triumph, as the King of Glory, as Ruler and Judge of this world.
Something of the grandeur we should be looking forward to at Christ's return became evident to me one Advent evening last year when I watched a special titled "What Child Is This?" on public television. It was filmed at St. Olaf's College in Northfield, Minnesota. The program featured the college's symphony orchestra and 400 male and female students assembled in five choirs.
At the beginning of the program, the 400 choir members marched into the packed 4,000 seat auditorium in a grand procession, following behind a line of colorful, twenty-foot-tall Advent banners. Accompanied by the symphony orchestra, they sang the Advent hymn:
Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates,
Behold, the King of Glory waits,
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Savior of the world is here.
And the 4,000 members of the audience sang along.
So here you had 400 trained voices in five choirs, a symphony orchestra, and an audience of 4,000 all joining together in a hymn of praise to the Risen Christ. I don't mind telling you that it was a thrilling moment for me, both as a viewer and as a believer. I got mist in my eyes and a lump in my throat. When Christ comes again, he will return as the King of Glory. The grandeur of his Person will be evident to all.
But that same Day of our Lord's return is also described by Malachi as being a day of fire, a day of testing, a day of judgment. God's King is coming to clean things up. Christ can't be expected to live and rule in a squalid, sin-filled world, any more than we might expect the Queen of England, should (for whatever reason) she decide to visit Dennis, Massachusetts, to be put up in a run-down rental off of Route 28. Royalty expects and demands the best.
Malachi tells us what to expect from Christ's return by using images like these: "The Lord you are looking for will come suddenly to his Temple. He will be like strong soap, like a fire that refines metal. He will come to judge like one who purifies and refines silver. As a metalworker refines silver and gold, so the Lord's messenger will purify the priests."
The image is that there is a day of purification and rigorous testing ahead for all of us. Christ might return at any moment. Religious leaders will be tested. Every one of us will be tested, as gold is refined by fire.
Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have been raised in a Christian home, to have enjoyed the benefits of attending Sunday school and youth group and confirmation classes, and Bible studies and retreats, who have spent a lifetime of Sunday mornings attending worship at church might self-confidently feel we've "got it made." We'll have no problem with the Day of Judgment. Our lifetime of church involvement, our good works, our occasional acts of self-sacrifice will certainly save us.
Actually, as I understand it at least, God's judgment works on something of a "sliding scale." Those of us who have received a lot spiritually aren't excused more easily. Rather, we have more expected of us. "From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required" (Luke 12:48b NRSV). That saying makes me kind of nervous. I have been fortunate enough to receive a lot. I've received a lot in this life, health-wise, family-wise, educationally, emotional support-wise, materially, in terms of opportunities to grow and develop in my Christian faith. From everyone who has been given much, much more will be demanded. I get nervous when I hear that. What about you? When the King of Glory comes again, he will come in grandeur, but also in judgment. Who can endure the Day when he comes?
What is it that God wants from us? There is a story from the Middle Ages about a young woman who was expelled from heaven. She was told she could return when she could bring back to God the one thing that God valued most. So she searched the world for what God might want most.
She collected coins given by a destitute widow for the poor. She brought back dust from the shoes of missionaries who had spread the gospel to distant lands. She even brought back drops of blood from a dying martyr. Yet every gift she brought to God was turned back.
One day she watched a small boy playing in a fountain. A man rode up on horseback to take a drink. When he saw the boy playing in the fountain, the man remembered his own childhood innocence. Then he looked into the water and saw the reflection of his hardened face. He was overcome by the sin of his life. At that moment he wept tears of repentance. The young woman caught one of those tears and brought it back to heaven. She was received by the angels with joy.
The person who will endure is the one who has made himself or herself ready. Preparing for Christ's return calls for soul-searching and repentance, two of the great, but in our society at least, often-forgotten themes of this time of year. Nothing is more pleasing to God than the gift of our sincere repentance -- a seeing of our sins, a sadness over our sins, a willingness to try, with God's help, to amend our living, a turning back to God, a turning things around.
Those of us who feel we've had "too much" Christmas or "not enough" Christmas maybe have missed the point of Advent. Perhaps those who feel we have too much Christmas need to be reminded that this pre-Christmas period was never designed as a time of relentless, frantic activity that fills our days so full that we tend to block out God. Maybe we need to examine what we've gotten ourselves into and ask ourselves, "Is this or that activity, this or that custom, this or that social obligation helping to prepare my soul for the coming of Jesus? Is it making me more reflective, more ready?" Any honest person would have to admit that, very often, the answer will be "No."
Perhaps those who feel they have too little Christmas need to be reminded that Advent isn't a time for excessive gloom. Nor is it a time for worshiping "the ghost of Christmas past." Perhaps you are feeling lonely or discouraged or downcast about the future, maybe profoundly saddened by how things have gone for you in your life. But there is Good News on the horizon! Christ is coming again, maybe soon! In him every valley (including the valley of your loneliness and discouragement) can be lifted up. In him every mountain and hill (including the mountains and hills of your problems) can be made low. In him the uneven ground, the "rough places" (of your sins and my sins) can be made smooth. All flesh (including you, my friend) will see him together.
The Second Coming, though it be a time of judgment, is not a time of despair, for the same Jesus is both Judge and Savior. The One who will judge us is the One who died for us on a cross, taking all judgment on himself. His judgment of us is for our salvation and flows from his love. The fire of his judgment is unlike any other fire in the world. With most fires, the closer we come, the worse we are burned. With Christ, the further we separate ourselves from him and the fire of his judgment, the more it will burn. But, the closer we come in repentance, the more we are warmed and comforted by his love.
Who can endure the Day of his coming? Christmas may seem like an endurance test for us. And yet that is perhaps because we have missed the point of Advent. This is a season neither for excessive busyness nor excessive gloom, but for making ourselves ready for the Second Coming of Christ.
Lift up your heads. The King of Glory is coming, in grandeur and in judgment. Are you ready? If we can concentrate on making ourselves ready, then our Christmas may end up being neither too little nor too much.
1. Capital punishment would be mandatory for anyone caught selling Christmas ornaments before Thanksgiving.
2. Magazines would be prohibited from offering three Christmas editions, the first in October. No magazine dated "December" or calling itself "Christmas Edition" could be available before December 1.
3. Insurance companies, funeral homes [and] hardware stores would be forbidden from mailing out anything to anyone that said "Merry Christmas" on it.
4. [And] there would be stiff penalties for anyone caught mailing out Christmas cards before December 10 (from And More by Andy Rooney, Altheneum Press). Clearly, Andy Rooney feels he has had "too much" Christmas.
But then there are those who may feel they don't have enough. Counted among them might be people who, because of financial difficulties, can't buy what they would like for Christmas to give what they would like for Christmas.
Others can be lonely during the holidays. They may suffer from what has come to be known as "Seasonal Depression" or the "Holiday Blues." Dr. Lester Grinspoon, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, writes, "Any clinician in mental health sees a disproportionate number of people who suffer from loneliness. [But] Christmas and New Year's amplify loneliness, perhaps more than any other two days of the year. The holidays can be especially hard on the recently widowed or recently divorced, on shut-ins or those in nursing homes, on military personnel and others separated from their loved ones. Rather than feeling they have 'too much' Christmas, these folks may feel they don't have enough."
Well, whether your Christmas seems like "too little" or "too much," you may experience these pre-Christmas weeks as a test of your endurance. Enduring until the Lord comes: that's what our scripture lesson from Malachi is about. "Who can endure the day of his coming?" asks the prophet in the Revised Standard Version translation.
Only at this point, we Christians say Malachi is talking not about an impending holiday, but about the Second Coming of Christ. That's one of the great themes of Advent, the Second Coming of Christ. We believe that, because Christ came once, he's going to come again! The first time he came in humility, Mary's Baby, dependent, born in a stable, surrounded by animals, cradled in a manger. But the second time he will come in triumph, as the King of Glory, as Ruler and Judge of this world.
Something of the grandeur we should be looking forward to at Christ's return became evident to me one Advent evening last year when I watched a special titled "What Child Is This?" on public television. It was filmed at St. Olaf's College in Northfield, Minnesota. The program featured the college's symphony orchestra and 400 male and female students assembled in five choirs.
At the beginning of the program, the 400 choir members marched into the packed 4,000 seat auditorium in a grand procession, following behind a line of colorful, twenty-foot-tall Advent banners. Accompanied by the symphony orchestra, they sang the Advent hymn:
Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates,
Behold, the King of Glory waits,
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Savior of the world is here.
And the 4,000 members of the audience sang along.
So here you had 400 trained voices in five choirs, a symphony orchestra, and an audience of 4,000 all joining together in a hymn of praise to the Risen Christ. I don't mind telling you that it was a thrilling moment for me, both as a viewer and as a believer. I got mist in my eyes and a lump in my throat. When Christ comes again, he will return as the King of Glory. The grandeur of his Person will be evident to all.
But that same Day of our Lord's return is also described by Malachi as being a day of fire, a day of testing, a day of judgment. God's King is coming to clean things up. Christ can't be expected to live and rule in a squalid, sin-filled world, any more than we might expect the Queen of England, should (for whatever reason) she decide to visit Dennis, Massachusetts, to be put up in a run-down rental off of Route 28. Royalty expects and demands the best.
Malachi tells us what to expect from Christ's return by using images like these: "The Lord you are looking for will come suddenly to his Temple. He will be like strong soap, like a fire that refines metal. He will come to judge like one who purifies and refines silver. As a metalworker refines silver and gold, so the Lord's messenger will purify the priests."
The image is that there is a day of purification and rigorous testing ahead for all of us. Christ might return at any moment. Religious leaders will be tested. Every one of us will be tested, as gold is refined by fire.
Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have been raised in a Christian home, to have enjoyed the benefits of attending Sunday school and youth group and confirmation classes, and Bible studies and retreats, who have spent a lifetime of Sunday mornings attending worship at church might self-confidently feel we've "got it made." We'll have no problem with the Day of Judgment. Our lifetime of church involvement, our good works, our occasional acts of self-sacrifice will certainly save us.
Actually, as I understand it at least, God's judgment works on something of a "sliding scale." Those of us who have received a lot spiritually aren't excused more easily. Rather, we have more expected of us. "From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required" (Luke 12:48b NRSV). That saying makes me kind of nervous. I have been fortunate enough to receive a lot. I've received a lot in this life, health-wise, family-wise, educationally, emotional support-wise, materially, in terms of opportunities to grow and develop in my Christian faith. From everyone who has been given much, much more will be demanded. I get nervous when I hear that. What about you? When the King of Glory comes again, he will come in grandeur, but also in judgment. Who can endure the Day when he comes?
What is it that God wants from us? There is a story from the Middle Ages about a young woman who was expelled from heaven. She was told she could return when she could bring back to God the one thing that God valued most. So she searched the world for what God might want most.
She collected coins given by a destitute widow for the poor. She brought back dust from the shoes of missionaries who had spread the gospel to distant lands. She even brought back drops of blood from a dying martyr. Yet every gift she brought to God was turned back.
One day she watched a small boy playing in a fountain. A man rode up on horseback to take a drink. When he saw the boy playing in the fountain, the man remembered his own childhood innocence. Then he looked into the water and saw the reflection of his hardened face. He was overcome by the sin of his life. At that moment he wept tears of repentance. The young woman caught one of those tears and brought it back to heaven. She was received by the angels with joy.
The person who will endure is the one who has made himself or herself ready. Preparing for Christ's return calls for soul-searching and repentance, two of the great, but in our society at least, often-forgotten themes of this time of year. Nothing is more pleasing to God than the gift of our sincere repentance -- a seeing of our sins, a sadness over our sins, a willingness to try, with God's help, to amend our living, a turning back to God, a turning things around.
Those of us who feel we've had "too much" Christmas or "not enough" Christmas maybe have missed the point of Advent. Perhaps those who feel we have too much Christmas need to be reminded that this pre-Christmas period was never designed as a time of relentless, frantic activity that fills our days so full that we tend to block out God. Maybe we need to examine what we've gotten ourselves into and ask ourselves, "Is this or that activity, this or that custom, this or that social obligation helping to prepare my soul for the coming of Jesus? Is it making me more reflective, more ready?" Any honest person would have to admit that, very often, the answer will be "No."
Perhaps those who feel they have too little Christmas need to be reminded that Advent isn't a time for excessive gloom. Nor is it a time for worshiping "the ghost of Christmas past." Perhaps you are feeling lonely or discouraged or downcast about the future, maybe profoundly saddened by how things have gone for you in your life. But there is Good News on the horizon! Christ is coming again, maybe soon! In him every valley (including the valley of your loneliness and discouragement) can be lifted up. In him every mountain and hill (including the mountains and hills of your problems) can be made low. In him the uneven ground, the "rough places" (of your sins and my sins) can be made smooth. All flesh (including you, my friend) will see him together.
The Second Coming, though it be a time of judgment, is not a time of despair, for the same Jesus is both Judge and Savior. The One who will judge us is the One who died for us on a cross, taking all judgment on himself. His judgment of us is for our salvation and flows from his love. The fire of his judgment is unlike any other fire in the world. With most fires, the closer we come, the worse we are burned. With Christ, the further we separate ourselves from him and the fire of his judgment, the more it will burn. But, the closer we come in repentance, the more we are warmed and comforted by his love.
Who can endure the Day of his coming? Christmas may seem like an endurance test for us. And yet that is perhaps because we have missed the point of Advent. This is a season neither for excessive busyness nor excessive gloom, but for making ourselves ready for the Second Coming of Christ.
Lift up your heads. The King of Glory is coming, in grandeur and in judgment. Are you ready? If we can concentrate on making ourselves ready, then our Christmas may end up being neither too little nor too much.
