Advent HopeFitchburg Nazarene Church

December 03, 2017

by

Rev. Charles W. Pendleton, Jr.

(These are the Pastor’s notes. He may have said more which is not noted here. He could have ignored certain portions of these notes in our actual service.)

Last week I told you that every biblical holiday given to the Jewish people had three aspects that they dealt with as they celebrated.

Those 3 aspects were:

1. The Past2. The Present3. The Future

I want us to begin to look at Advent in the same way. By trying to understand its implications for us – past, present, and future.

Ad·vent

The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word   adventus , meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the

Greek word   parousia . 

1. (noun) the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.

Such as when we talk about "the advent of television."

Synonyms:

arrival, appearance, emergence, 

materialization, occurrence, dawn, birth, 

rise, development

Christ’s Church has come to look at Advent as the first season of the Christian church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.

But it didn’t start out that way.

Scholars believe that during the 4th and 5th centuries in Spain and Gaul, Advent was a season of preparation for the   baptism   of new Christians at the January feast of Epiphany, the celebration of God’s incarnation represented by the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1), his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (John 1:29), and his first miracle at Cana (John 2:1).

During this season of preparation, Christians would spend 40 days in penance, prayer, and fasting to prepare for this celebration; originally, there was little connection between Advent and Christmas. (Christianity.com: What is Advent by Justin Holcomb)

By the 6th century, however, Roman Christians had tied Advent to the coming of Christ. But the “coming” they had in mind was not Christ’s first coming in the manger in Bethlehem, but his second coming in the clouds as the judge of the world.

It was not until the Middle Ages that the Advent season was explicitly linked to Christ’s first coming at Christmas. (ibid.)

But I think we are short-sighted if the only thing we think of when we speak of “Advent” is Jesus Birth.

We will continue to look at Advent – especially as we light our Advent candles week by week, and have our readings – with a “PAST” point of view.

But there is a FUTURE point of view that we should have, too.

If you think about it for just a second, it is easy to see that we talk often about the second coming of Christ.

Whole book shelves are covered with books on the topic in our Christian Book Stores!

That is certainly an aspect of Advent that should have us concentrating on the PRESENT – “Are we – will we be, ready for the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.”

In Matthew’s Gospel we read the parable about the 10 virgins and their lamps.

READ:

Matthew 25:1-13 (Jesus is still speaking regarding the question the disciples had for him just prior to the week of His passion.3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen (-The Temple will not have one stone left upon another –), and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

1“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  2Five of them were foolish and five were wise.  3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.  4The wise ones,

however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.  5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.6“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’7“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps . 8The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’9“ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’10“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins

who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.11“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’12“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’13“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

This passage is extremely important for us if we are looking forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ!

We are going to deal with SYMBOLS this morning. I don’t want to lose you, so we are going to be very specific in our description of what each of these Symbolic articles are within our story.

The Kingdom of Heaven

Means The Kingdom of God.

Just as in the story of the prodigal son – the prodigal 17“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

“Heaven” is just another way of saying God.

The Jews SO reverenced the name of God (YHWH), that they came up with circumlocutions for saying the same thing. This is one example of such a circumlocution.

The Bridegroom

This is Jesus Christ. All throughout scriptures God has likened His children – His followers, to being His BRIDE.

Our New Testament scriptures follow this Old Testament theme.

The scene depicted here in Matthew 25 was one that EVERYONE in Israel could relate to.

In their culture there was no such thing as THE DAY, or THE TIME when the wedding would take place.

The Bridegroom would make certain that everything was ready to have the bride move right into her new home with her new husband.

Once everything was in order – he would come to the bride’s home and snatch her away.

Then the celebration would begin – all the way to the place of vows, and throughout the days set aside for marital feasting.

The Ten Virgins

These are those waiting to celebrate the coming of the bridegroom.

For our purpose, these are any people claiming to be followers of Christ – these are they who claim to be waiting for the return of The Christ.

Surprisingly, there does not seem to be any apparent difference between these followers – these, virgins.

At one time, they all had received invitations to the marriage banquet!

The Lamps

This is we ourselves. At least, it is the visible part of us. The shell which holds everything else.

From the outside, people can tell very little. We all kind of look alike. Oh yes, there are distinguishing variables – but in the end, we

all just look like one another. Lamp, after lamp, after lamp. Some lamps shorter or broader than others, but still – just lamps.

The Oil

This should truly come as no shock to anyone who has spent considerable time around the church.

The oil is the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is the thing which makes fire, heat, light – all possible in the Christians life.

We sing about it in our songs.

Fill Me Now1. Hover o’er me, Holy Spirit,

Bathe my trembling heart and brow;Fill me with Thy hallowed presence,Come, oh, come and fill me now.o Refrain:

Fill me now, fill me now,Holy Spirit, fill me now;Fill me with Thy hallowed presence,Come, oh, come, and fill me now.

2. Thou canst fill me, gracious Spirit,Though I cannot tell Thee how;But I need Thee, greatly need Thee,Come, oh, come and fill me now.

3. I am weakness, full of weakness ,At Thy sacred feet I bow;Blest, divine, eternal Spirit,Fill with pow’r, and fill me now.

4. Cleanse and comfort, wholly save me, Bathe, oh, bathe my heart and brow;

Thou dost sanctify and seal me,Thou art sweetly filling now.

Give Me Oil in My Lamp

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burningGive me oil in my lamp, I prayGive me oil in my lamp, keep me burningKeep me burning till the break of day

Sing hosanna, sing hosannaSing hosanna to the Servant KingSing hosanna, sing hosannaSing hosanna, let us sing

Give me joy in my heart, keep me praisingGive me joy in my heart, I pray

Give me joy in my heart, keep me praisingKeep me praising till the break of day

Give me peace in my heart, keep me lovingGive me peace in my heart, I prayGive me peace in my heart, keep me lovingKeep me loving till the break of day

Give me love in my heart, keep me servingGive me love in my heart, I prayGive me love in my heart, keep me servingKeep me serving till the break of day

In this season of Advent – as we celebrate Jesus Incarnation – we also celebrate the realization that THE HOPE we read about this morning is going to be realized by Christ’s Bride upon His Second Coming.

Being ready for Christ’s return ultimately involves one major thing which manifests itself in several areas of our lives.

If we would be ready for Christ’s return, we must be born again through saving faith in

Jesus Christ…His death, burial and literal resurrection from the dead.(John 3:16 ;   14:6 ;  Romans 10:9 - 10 ; 

1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Ephesians 2:1-10)

Saving faith in Jesus Christ will manifest itself in every aspect of our lives.

The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) will begin to show.

A desire for greater holiness and less sin will be apparent.

And a consistent looking for His coming will mark our lives.

One of the best passages articulating what saving grace and faith look like in a believer’s life is Titus 2:11-14,

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a

people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

The five virgins who have the extra oil represent the truly born again who are looking with eagerness to the coming of Christ. They have saving faith and have determined that, whatever occurs, be it lengthy time or adverse circumstances, when Jesus returns, they will be looking with eagerness.

The five virgins without the oil represent false believers who enjoy the benefits of the Christian community without true love for Christ.

They are more concerned about the party than about longing to see the bridegroom.

Their hope is that their association with true believers (“give us some of your oil” of verse 8) will bring them into the kingdom at the end. This, of course, is never the case. One person’s faith in Jesus cannot save another.

During this Advent season perhaps we should take the same frame of mind that those earlier Christians did during this time prior to their Baptism as new believers.

Attitudes of penance, prayer and fasting.

Let’s close with this, from the Apostle John.

1 John 3:2-32Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  3All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Prayer

Closing Song:

BENEDICTION

2 Thessalonians 2:16-1716May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.