God Came to the Rescue

Most of us have very little trouble getting acclimated to this world and its unbelief. That was one of our takeaways from our Leviticus series. Just as Israel needed to be acclimated to God’s holiness, so too we need to be habituated, shaped, influenced, transformed from one degree to another to know and shine with the glory of Christ.

So it’s fitting that Advent would fall on the heels of Leviticus, because Advent is an opportunity to freshly acclimate ourselves to what matters most. These four weeks we’ll focus as a church on the light of Christ shining into our darkness.

Now, for yourself and your family, Advent is an opportunity, not an obligation. There are no biblical commands about marking the four Sundays before Christmas and doing anything special with them, or Christmas Day for that matter. But Christmas Day, and the Advent season leading up to it, are particularly good opportunities in our day to acclimate ourselves, and our families, and together as a church to what matters most. I’ll mention just three opportunities Advent provides.

First is the opportunity to wait.

Advent is a season of waiting — waiting for Jesus’s coming, his adventus. Old Testament saints waited centuries for his first coming. We remember their wait, as we ourselves wait for his second coming. And modern people like us are generally not good waiters. But Advent is an ancient invitation to cultivate patience and hope, to count the days till Christmas, to seek to make the most of the time. And this year is particularly good for this. This year Advent is as long as it gets: 28 days. November 27 is the earliest Advent begins (December 3 is the latest).

Second, Advent gives us the opportunity to speak.

However negative you might feel the world has become toward Christianity compared to what you grew up with, December, let’s be honest, is still surprisingly Christian, if you have eyes to see, and not just an axe to grind. It is the most distinctive month of the year, for a reason.

Let’s be ready to jump at the opportunity to say something. Let’s be ready to tell neighbors, friends, family, and coworkers why there is a Christmas: God came to our rescue.

Third, Advent gives us the opportunity to know and enjoy Jesus more.

The focus is not our own actions. And the focus is not just what God did but who he sent. Advent rightly practiced, and Christmas rightly celebrated, brings us to know and enjoy Jesus more. Or we might say, adore him.

So the exhortation this morning is, Cities Church, come, let us adore him this Advent. Let’s make it count — weekly in our worship together, and daily in some modest, though not insignificant, initiatives that lead to our learning more and seeing more and knowing more and enjoying more and adoring more our Savior who is Christ, the Lord.

Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, we confess, in a moment of reflection like this, that we are all too well acclimated to the world and its patterns. We are sinners, and in our sin we know well the course of this world. We live in and near and with various shades of darkness, and often need more of your light than we’re eager to acknowledge. So, Father, Advent never seems to come too soon. And here on this First Sunday of Advent we own our sin and our need for rescue, as we confess before you our failures in the quiet of this moment.

Father in heaven, you came to our rescue in Christ. After your people pined for centuries for a Messiah to deliver them, you yourself came in the person of your Son, to save them, and us Gentiles, from our sins. So, Father, give us fresh eyes, and soft hearts, and greater anticipation this Advent of the Great Rescue and the many personal rescues of your Son. Send your Immanuel and draw near to us in these days. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.