Advent , December 3, 2023

Ready and Waiting.... Waiting and Ready 

Text : 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9

We're trying to get ready for Christmas- there's so much to do!-and we're trying to wait. But sometimes, we have to admit that we can't wait until thae commotion is over. I'll dare to affirm that we could be more childlike in our Advent waiting and preparing. Children don't sweat the details ; they simply long for Christmas to be here, to receive and open and celebrate and share the Gift that bromgs joy to all the world. They know, they bbelieve, they never worry about the fact that everything will be ready when it's time. In our text this morning. St. Paul assures us that we are just as ready for Christ's coming-and that can enable us to do the things we're not so great at: wait. 

                                                  THE ADVENT PEOPLE OF GOD ARE CALLED TO BE READY AND WAITING CONFIDENT BECAUSE WE ARE READY IN CHRIST.

I.   We are ready because of all that God has done for us (vv4-7).

              A.  The Corinthians lacked nothing. 

                   1. They where enriched in every way with all speech and knowledge.

                   2. But the apostle says, "Look beyond the present day and your present gifts to the Last Day and the Lord's greater gifts."

             B. We also lack nothing.

                  1. Our challenges is this: we want to focus on Christmas Day and its gifts (all the presents in stockings and under the tree and, yes, especially                        the Gift in the manger).

                   2. Much better, we have our Lord's fullest gifts: salvation completed, Christ revealed, and eternity experienced.

II. Yet we are waiting.

           A. We are waiting for "the day" (V7).

                 1. Yes, indeed, we 're waiting for the day-count 'em down: twenty -two days until the day!

                 2. We can hardly wait for the day to celebrate the revealing of Jesus Christ, God's Son, born in the manger in Bethlehem. 

          B. But we are actually waiting for two days (vv 7b-8). 

               1. It isn't really Christmas Day about which Paul is writing. Even for him and for the Corinthians, that had already happened. 

               2.They/you/we wait for the Christmas festival, that annual celebration, yes, but we alsso wait for the Great(er) Day. Just ass the incarnation                            revealed our Lord and his mission, just as the crucifixion revealed our Lord and his mission, so the Great Day will reveal him as the glorious                        Judge and King. 

              3. So we wait as resident aliens, as strangers in a strange land that is not our ultimate home. 

       C. And Advent also calls us to wait for a third day, the day of our physical death, the day on which our souls are taken into our Lord's presence. 

            1. "The day of death is for each person the day of the Lord's coming"

             2. Funerals that we attend make this point as we lay the loved one into the Lord's presence. 

III. And Still, For each of these days we are ready (vv 8-9).

        A. Because though we are guilty, we are guiltless. "Jesus has cleansed His church by removing the sins of believers through His own blood on the                 cross. This cleansing has been applied to Christians through Holy Baptism (Eph 5:26). When Jesus returns the church will be blameless, because             God who is faithful keeps her in the cleansing flow of His grace" 

      B. Because though we are faithless, God is faithful (2 Tim 2:13a).

     C. Because though we are loveless loners and runaway rebels, we are given fellowship with his Son.

The Church waits ... made ready by the testimony of and about Christ. 

The Church waits ... ready because we are gifted in every necessary way. 

The Church waits... trusting that Christ sustains his Bride ready to the end. 

The Church waits... ready because sshe is guiltless (unaccusable!) through the imputed righteousness of Christ. 

The Church waits... rejoicing that we are ready because God is faithful. 

The Church waits... eager and ready to celebrate the full fellowship of and with Jesus Christ our Lord, 

Sermon By Mark Griesse