The text for our sermon this morning is the Gospel reading, and all of it. Jesus is warning at the beginning, saying, “there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.” And then Jesus concludes our reading by saying, “…stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. “May God’s grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Please be seated.
Today we are encouraged because Jesus says you have no reason to panic. You have no reason to worry. We, as his people who live by faith, have nothing to fear. Even seeing the things of nature fall apart, Jesus says, take heart. Do not be afraid.
For all our advancements in technology, all the devices that we have, as obvious today, and all the jackets and clothing that we have, the weather, in spite of all technology, the weather still plays a major role in our daily lives. Whether you realize it or not, on a daily basis, you consider the location of the stars. The days on the calendar are of a main concern to you when it comes to your daily activities, the clothes you wear and just the activities that you’re going to do that day. Just as our ancestors, just as their lives depended on knowing what season it was for their crops, for food, so too we are still somewhat concerned about the weather outside. Maybe not to the same extent as our relatives, but nonetheless, everyone knows that you can’t order a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks after Thanksgiving. It’s out of season, and if you do try that, you might cause the barista to have a panic attack when she can’t find the syrup.
Well, just like nature has seasons to prepare for, so too, the church has seasons. The Israelites in the Old Testament, they had a church season, a liturgical calendar: Passover, Feast of Booths. They also had many times that they considered their church year that was based not on the sun and moon and the stars, but it was based on the mighty acts of God. Our church year also is based on the mighty acts of God: Easter, Pentecost and Advent. And today, a new church year begins. A new season begins. Advent is Latin for “coming,” and when something is coming, you need to prepare. Today we are taught to prepare for Jesus’ advent by living by faith. And it’s not just His last advent that we’re preparing for. As you came to church this morning, you should have prepared–more than just figuring out what clothes to wear–but spiritually prepared for the coming of Christ on His altar, in our presence.
But to our text, Jesus warns, “there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth, you will see the distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.” Jesus is talking about His last Advent, when He comes to judge the living and the dead. People will be fainting with fear because they thought the sun and moon, the stars and the oceans will just carry on forever. They do not live by faith, and so they panic when the things that they thought would never go away are suddenly disturbed. They do not live by faith, but only by what they see and experience right in front of them. Those who are fainting with fear and foreboding had never exercised a life of faith. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Is how is our text instructing us to live by faith?
Hebrews 11 says, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” But if you’re never taught what is not seen, you cannot have faith. Romans 10 reminds us the importance of the Word of God in our life of faith. Romans 10, St. Paul says, “faith comes by hearing, by hearing the word of Christ.” So the first thing we must remember to exercise our faith is to hear the Word of God, not just on Sunday, but daily. Just like someone who perhaps lived centuries ago when they saw the leaves turning brown outside, if they didn’t start cutting firewood or storing up food, come winter time, they would die. They only would live for the day and what they see in front of them–without faith, they didn’t think anything would ever be different. They never practiced faith in something that is greater than what they see in front of them.
People who don’t live by faith only know pleasure or pain. Most of the world judges what is pleasurable as being the ultimate good. There is no greater measure of what is truly good in their minds or hearts. If it makes them feel good, it must be good. And we as Christians can fall for this same trap when it comes to our lives and sin. Instead of examining our lives according to the greater good of God’s Law, if we just judge things according to how we feel, we will not be living by faith. St. Paul touches on this in Romans 10. He says, if it wasn’t for God’s word, I wouldn’t have known that coveting was a sin. Coveting, if you remember, is an unhealthy desire for something that God has not given to you. We can covet somebody’s home, somebody’s job, their car, their spouse, their workers or employers. We can daydream and watch television or be absorbed in social media, watching people pretending that their lives are just perfect, that they have no problems in their lives and things are just great. Their greatest challenge each day is what to order at the coffee shop. We can get absorbed into this, thinking that if we just have what they have, if we get absorbed in looking at what our neighbor has or what we see on social media, we can begin to be ungrateful for what God has given us in our lives. We’re no longer content with what God gives us. We don’t remember by faith the promise that God says He will give you whatever you need to stay faithful. This is sinful, this coveting. And our whole society is almost built on coveting nowadays. Advertising and marketing showing the perfect life. We can get sucked into it, just like the unbelievers. We must remember that even the things that we covet will be destroyed when Christ returns. And then what have you compromised your faith for?
Turn from covetousness. Be thankful to God–we just had a day of Thanksgiving–each day, be thankful to God for the things he gives you. Repentance is saying and confessing to God that sometimes I desire things that are contrary to God’s will, thinking they will make me feel good. But we also remember the other part of repentance, the desire for forgiveness and the faith that knows for the sake of Christ Jesus, God forgives you. And he isn’t going to withhold from you, but is going to continue to make the rain fall on the just and the unjust alike. He cleanses you with his Gospel, his forgiving Word, you are forgiven. Jesus gave his life because He was not content to let you be lost to your covetousness. He desired your salvation. If you think about it, the gospel is the antidote, or the anti-coveting. Jesus desires your life to be as His life is: holy and blameless. The opposite of coveting. He desires the best for you and gives it to you. He died on the cross and was thankful to trust His Father even to the point of death. And Jesus says He will strengthen you to do the same.
Now, on the other side of the spectrum of those who don’t live by faith, we heard how they think the ultimate of good is what is pleasurable. The other side of that, if you don’t live by faith, is that you will only define bad by what causes pain. Suffering is seen as the greatest enemy to be avoided in our world. Suffering forces you out of your self absorbed world and recognizing that you are not God. You are not in control of your life. When you’re suffering, you want to change your situation so desperately, but you’re powerless too. This is why drugs and alcohol or burying yourself in social media is so dangerous, because it numbs you. It is a false escape from your suffering. But what does God’s Word teach us to do with suffering? Are you ready for this? This is going to blow your mind. In Romans five, St. Paul says, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” The promise that God’s love and suffering of Christ is defined on the cross, where there the sins of the world are being died for. The suffering of Christ is more real and enduring than your suffering right now, which is just a little short amount of time. Your suffering is for a blink of an eye. It may not seem like it at the moment, but it’s meant to lead you to Christ’s suffering, where the result of His suffering, lasts for eternity. To give you eternal joy, to save you. Suffering forces you to call out to God, whether physical, emotional, or even spiritual, suffering leads you to rely on the hope that Christ has promised you. Not just that He’s with you, but He will bring you through any difficulty, even the difficulty of the things we will see when He returns. And He’s not just going to bring you through it, but He is going to glorify you. Things are going to be even better than they are now.
Suffering forces you to exercise your faith. It works your faith because you have to believe contrary to what you are feeling. And let’s face it, we sinners, we think our feelings are always right. And this is what Jesus says in our readings today, when He says, “I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.” This generation, that means those who reject the coming of Christ, who aren’t living by faith, but God’s word and promise is more sure than your feelings. This is why we have seasons in the church year. This is why we have signs, even in our church, that are exercises in faith. You exercise your body to stay healthy. We should remember we need to exercise our faith, and we do that in church. Like, we have the candles, right? The candles remind you of God’s presence in the Old Testament and at Pentecost. That God’s presence was shown by fire. Yes, it’s just a candle. There’s nothing particularly special about it. But you are exercising your faith in remembering what God has promised–to always be with us. We have an Altar to remind us of the Sacrificial Lamb, and that Christ is the Lamb, the Altar, the Cross. All of this exercises your faith. It leads you to things that are unseen but are true.
And, even when we come to God’s house, we act differently here than we do in our own house, or when we visit a friend’s home. We don’t see anything around here that is particularly earth shattering, or heavenly, or spiritual, but we acknowledge by faith that when we are gathered together here we are in a holy place. Our church building itself, the steeple, it points to heaven to show us that this is a place where heaven and earth collide. It is an exercise in our faith that this building is no ordinary building. It isn’t built like a Starbucks or a Home Depot. They change decorations for the seasons, just like we do, but there’s much more at stake here with faith. Jesus said that even if that his disciples are silent, the rocks will cry out. All of these–our church building, how we behave during the worship service with honor and respect. These are all exercises in faith that strengthen your faith, and their chief purpose is to point you to the ultimate signs of Christ’s forgiveness–the Sacraments.
The Sacraments are the ultimate exercise in faith. And the fact that we come to the altar on Sunday morning, it reminds us that we are preparing for His coming. As you approach this Altar, if you approach it with laziness or just as any other meal, that is how you’re going to approach Christ when He returns, if you don’t exercise your faith. This is practice, but it is something is truly happening. Christ is truly present here. As we remember our Baptism, we don’t see anything exceptional happen with our eyes, but by faith, the Holy Spirit was given to you. Your sins were forgiven. You were put to death, but raised to a new life. For the Lord’s Supper, we see bread and wine, but we believe by faith it is the true Body and Blood of Christ present for the forgiveness of our sins. These are gospel signs. They are the antidote to doubt and worries and even panic. Not just looking forward to when Christ returns, but Christ promised that He’s here with you now. That even if it might feel like your own personal world is falling apart, if it feels like your own life is coming to an end, when things in your life might come crumbling down, you have a Savior who’s given you reason to believe everything will turn out just fine. Don’t give up. Not just on the last day, Jesus’ instructions, to stand up and to be ready, but even today, dear Christians. Do you remember the story of King Herod, when Jesus’ birth happened when he was in Jerusalem? He didn’t pay attention to the word of God, and so he missed the signs in the sky. Remember the Star of Bethlehem? King Herod didn’t know God’s word, so he wasn’t aware of the season or the signs in heaven, and he missed out on the birth of Christ, the coming of Christ. The wise men, they were anchored in the Word of God, and when they saw signs in nature, they rejoiced. Their faith was strengthened. They went great distances to be with Christ. They sacrificed their greatest treasures, because they knew in that little baby they had everything.
So now, when you see what Jesus describes happening in nature, as we see storms, as we hear of floods and natural disasters, when we hear of nations panicking, foreboding. Let these remind you that Jesus warned us of these things. This is a testament to Jesus’ knowing all things. He is truly God. So when you roll up to Starbucks now, don’t try to order a pumpkin spice latte. They’re out of season. You might cause a panic attack. Today, Jesus reminds us we never have reason to panic. Not because this life doesn’t have its challenges. But we Christians have no need to panic, because Christ Jesus always has your back. He always has forgiveness and eternal life for you, no matter the season of life that you’re in. Suffering, joy, feast or famine, He’s always with you. And His Word endures forever.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.