December 4, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
Nat Wyeth, an engineer and inventor, once commented
on his brother Andrew Wyeth’s art. He
said, “Andy did a picture of Lafayette's quarters near Chadds Ford, Pa., with a
sycamore tree behind the building. When I first saw the painting, he wasn't
finished with it. He showed me a lot of drawings of the trunk and the
sycamore's gnarled roots, and I said, "Where's all that in the
picture?" "It's not in the picture, Nat," he said. ‘For me to
get what I want in the part of the tree that's showing, I've got to know
thoroughly how it is anchored in back of the house.’”[1] Nat found it remarkable that his brother
could draw the tree with such authenticity because he knew exactly how the
thing was in the ground. In other words,
because his brother could see the whole picture, he was prepared to paint the
portion of the tree that was visible in the picture. The same thing is true for you and me
today! Each time we read and study the
Word of God we see a little bit more of the picture that our God has painted
for us, and as we see more and more of that picture we are that much better
prepared for the day of our Lord. In
fact, today as we study the lesson before us, we will see how we have been
prepared and are continuing to prepare ourselves for the day of the Lord our
God!
Though it originally took nearly 4,000 years before
the Savior was born, those who were prepared for his coming received him with
great joy, and though it has been nearly 2000 years since our Savior promised
that he would return to us, we know that he is not delaying! We know that one day he will come like a
thief in the night, and so we are continually preparing ourselves for that day,
as we constantly look forward to his return.
This, in fact, is the very thing that Peter is
urging us to in our text this morning!
For as he writes in verse 8 and 9 he tells us, “Do not forget this one
thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a
thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as
some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance,” (2 Peter 3:8,9).
Now, when Peter wrote these words, he was writing to
Christians who were already growing weary of waiting for their Savior to
return! He was writing to Christians who
felt that they had thoroughly prepared themselves for his reappearing, and now
were beginning to feel that their Lord was merely delaying his return for one
reason or another. Thus, Peter writes as
he does to assure these well prepared Christians that Christ was not delaying
his return simply to annoy them, rather, as he reminded them, the Lord was
operating in a different time frame. For
in the same way that the Lord God did not send Jesus to the earth immediately
after Adam and Eve fell into sin, so also the Lord Jesus did not return to the
earth immediately after he had ascended into heaven as the Christians of Peter’s
day expected he would. In the same way
that the Lord allowed thousands of years to pass from the time he made the
first promise of a Savior until the time the Savior was born, so also the Lord
has allowed thousands of years to pass from Jesus’ ascension until today.
Yet even today, as we prepare ourselves for his
return, we know that he is not delaying!
Rather, just as the Lord patiently waited until the time was right, and
then sent his Son into the Word to be born of a virgin, so also, the Lord our
God is patiently waiting until the time that he has chosen for Jesus’
return. He is waiting for that time so
that the full number of believers might come to faith, repent of their sins,
and receive the gift of eternal life by his side forever. This is the day for which you and I are
preparing! A day that will come when we
least expect it, just as Peter tells us:
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will
disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth
and everything in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people
ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to
the day of God and speed its coming,” (2 Peter 3:10-12a).
A few years ago, there was a show on cable called,
It Takes a Thief. I don’t know if it is
still on TV or not, but, if you ever saw it, it was show that you probably
never forgot. It was a show that you
would never forget, because it offered viewers a chance to see home burglaries
performed by reformed, former thieves.
These men, as part of the show, would break in to people’s houses, film
the robbery for the home owners and then teach the owners what steps they could
take to prevent such things from ever happening again. Though I believe that the people who signed
up to participate in the series had at least some chance to prepare themselves
for the pending break-in, each time it happened, the owners were shocked to see
just how quickly and unexpectedly that thief could break in and make off with
their valued possessions.
Well, in the same way that the television thieves
struck quickly, when the home owners were least expecting it, so also our
Savior will return suddenly, when we least expect it, like a thief, as Peter
tells us. This is why we need to be ever
prepared for the return of our Savior, because his return will be like a
thief. Not that our Savior will suddenly
sneak back to the earth and dart from building to building quietly gathering
Christians together, hoping that he isn’t seen.
Rather, it means that when Jesus returns it will happen suddenly, when
we least expect it. As we are going
about our daily routines, suddenly we will hear the trumpet all of the Last
Day, and see our Savior coming with the clouds of heaven. That’s how it was on that first
Christmas. As people were going about
their normal routines, the Savior was suddenly born in a stable in Bethlehem. As shepherds were watching their flocks at
night, they were suddenly startled by the angel’s appearing announcing the
Saviors birth. Just as it was as the
birth of the Savior, so it will be on the day he returns.
So let us prepare ourselves today for the day of his
coming! Though we do not know when it
will be, as Christians, we are always looking forward to that day! We are looking forward to that day, because
when our Savior does return for us he will take us to live with him forever in
the home of righteousness, just as Peter assures us, “But in keeping with his
promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of
righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this,
make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him,” (2
Peter 3:13,14).
As Christians who are looking forward to our
Savior’s return, we make our preparations for that day, by preparing ourselves
for his arrival on earth as a little baby.
For as we move through this season of Advent and come ever closer to the
celebration of our Savior’s birth, we are reminded again and again that the
reason for his coming was to free us from our sins. The reason for his coming was to remove every
spot and stain of our sin, so that we might be holy and blameless through faith
in him.
As Christians who are preparing ourselves for the
day of the Lord, we know that in the same way that the street sweepers went
through the city during the past couple months, removing sand, and dirt, and
leaves from the streets, so also through faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit has
swept our hearts clean with the blood of Jesus and removed every spot and stain
of our sins. In the same way that the
new snow covered over everything last night, so also our hearts have been
covered over by the blood of our Savior.
Though this is something we could never have done ourselves, through
faith in Jesus, we are now spotless in the sight of the Lord our God. Through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we
are prepared for the day of the Lord’s coming.
Through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we look forward to the celebration
of his birth, but even more so to the day of his return when he will take us to
be with him forever.
How wonderful it is to know that today, we are
prepared for the day of the Lord! For
though faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, we know that eternal life is ours
forever. Though we may still have a
while to wait, we know that he is not delaying.
Though we don’t know when he will come, we look forward to his return,
because we know that just as he came suddenly as a little child, he will come
suddenly, like a thief in the night. But
no matter when our Savior returns, we know that we are prepared for that
day. We are prepared through faith in
Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
[1] Kenneth A. Brown, Inventors at Work. Copied from
http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/p/preparation.htm.
