Advent 3
Dear friends in Christ. The season of Advent not only teaches us Jesus’ 3-fold coming—His first coming in all humility as our Savior, His continued coming to us today in His holy word and Sacrament and His coming in glory on the Last Day—but Advent also serves as a time of preparation for Christmas. As such, Advent is also a season of repentance. Advent’s themes are reflected in our colors in church. Purple—like we have in our banners and Advent wreath candles, is a kingly, royal color and so we remember the King who has come, who is coming and who will come; we also have blue on the altar, also a color of repentance [but not the deep penitence of Lent] and so we are reminded of Advent’s theme of repentance proclaimed by John the Baptizer in today’s Gospel: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Our readings today have as their main figures John the Baptizer who was the one prophesied in the OT to prepare the way for the Savior, Christ Jesus, to be His immediate forerunner; and the great apostle, St. Paul, who tells of His work of proclaiming Christ. Both these men, and all faithful preachers of Christ down through the ages, have taught that simple message of Law: we are sinners who by our sins have earned God’s eternal wrath and damnation; and the message of Gospel: in Jesus our sins are forgiven, we are reconciled to God and heaven has been opened to us; trust in Him and His work.
Advent’s message of repentance prepares us to receive with joy the Christmas Gospel [Lk. 2.11]: There is born for you this day… a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Without Advent’s call to repent, this glorious Christmas Gospel would fall on deaf ears. Advent is meant to be a time of quiet reflection to prepare ourselves and our hearts—repentance—for the Christmas Gospel of the birth of our Savior.
But what has happened? Due to the influence and the pressure of the world around us, this season of Advent has become one of the busiest and most hectic times of year as there are gifts to buy, parties to attend, goodies to be baked, etc. You can imagine Satan shouting out with glee as Christians by the droves are not preparing their hearts for the Christmas proclamation; are not heeding the Baptizer’s preaching: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; and so Christmas loses its true meaning and joy. Everyone is just so tired, that they are happy when Christmas is finally over. Let us use the remaining Advent season for its proper purpose: introspection, repentance, and preparation of heart.
1. This “tiredness” this time of year caused by all our busyness reminds us that so many Christians in so many congregations are just plain “tired.” There seems to be no end to work we do in church just to “keep things going.” I’m sure it’s the same way here at Faith. There’s so much to be done; always just one more thing or project; it seems that we must go to the well just one more time. Many in our congregations just want to take a break and let someone else handle the work.
Just as this can be said about life in the Christian congregation, like Faith, so also can it be said in our lives as Christians—all that we do on account of faith is all so tiring. We are constantly vigilant against sin; judging all we hear and read in the light of God’s word; constantly examining our lives in the light of God’s holy Law; always on guard for Satan’s attempts to destroy our faith; looking for opportunities to share our faith with those around us and being a witness in word and deed; always seemingly being that “stick in the mud.” Taking our faith seriously and living out our lives as Christians is indeed a very tiring thing.
If we think it is tiring being a Christian and living out our lives as Christians in a thankless world—if we are just plain tired—how do you think St. Paul felt? He went through far more than we ever do/ could imagine. Just last week we heard that he was expelled from Antioch, fled stoning in Iconium, and was stoned and left for dead in Lystra; in today’s text, we find him dealing with a rowdy, rebellious congregation. He didn’t need that; for all that he didn’t get a salary, paid for it. Our text: For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! Why is it that Paul does what he does? Why does he preach the Gospel? He has to-- for necessity is laid upon me. Paul didn’t choose to do this—he was a persecutor of Christians; but Jesus called him to preach the Gospel, to be an apostle. In fact, Jesus said of Paul [Ac 9.15]: He is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. It was our Lord’s almighty will, His divine command that placed Paul into apostleship. Because of His divine command, Paul is an apostle and preaches the Gospel. Paul’s work for the Lord was tiring; to be sure he was surely often “just plain tired” but it was a work that he “just had to do.”
The same thing applies to us as Christians and the living out of our Christian lives and our work as Christians. We didn’t choose to be Christians; instead, Christ chose us as He tells us [Jn. 15. 16]: You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. The Christian life that we live; the constant vigilance against sin; the continual fight against temptation; the examining our lives in the light of God’s holy word; the spiritual struggles we face between our old sinful nature and the Christian in us; our non-acceptance of everything that the world throws before us demanding that we accept it; our service to our Lord in our congregation; our telling others the good news about Jesus; these are all things Jesus has called us to do. He has called us to them when He called us by name to Himself in holy baptism. Did we choose the Lord? No He chose us and appointed to do them. Just as Christ called Paul and appointed him to preach the Gospel, so too has He called us to bear fruit, to live our lives as Christians in the places and conditions He has placed us to serve Him. As we do so, that is our work for the Lord and it is not in vain; it is not wasted!
So what about Paul’s work? What about our work for the Lord which is often so tiring and seeming wasted? Our text: For if I do this willingly, I have a reward. Paul’s work of being a proclaimer of the Gospel, just simply is. If he does his work as a herald of the Gospel gladly and willingly, he has a reward—of grace: he enjoys and delights in doing that work in spite of all the trials and hardships involved.
Then Paul continues: but if [I do my work as herald of the Gospel] against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. It is not a matter of attitude, whether he wants to do his work as apostle or not. The work was chosen for him by the Lord and faithful obedience was expected. In Paul’s day, slaves were entrusted with a stewardship. That means the master gave them a job to do. It didn’t matter what the slave thought about it; he was simply to carry it out—no matter how tiring or seeming futile it was.
That, dear Christian, is a picture of our lives as Christians. The Lord placed us where He has—in our community, our family, our work, our congregation—to live out our Christian faith and life; He has entrusted us with a stewardship. Our work for the Lord just simply is. If we live out our Christian faith and life gladly and willingly, how blessed we are and how happy our days are. But we don’t earn anything before God by that; we can’t; we are simply doing what God called us to do; there’s no merit for simply doing our duty. Jesus tells us [Lk. 17.10]: When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do. Will our work for the Lord be often seemingly futile, thankless, tiring? To be sure. But we have been called to do it and the Lord has entrusted us to do it. But the Lord is gracious to us; even though He doesn’t have to and even though we haven’t deserved it, He rewards us in grace.
2. Paul writes in our text: What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel. Paul recognizes the Lord’s grace—he has the joy and honor of being counted worthy of preaching. He recognizes that the Lord called him in grace to be a preacher of the word—not because he was so good and worthy, he was a persecutor of Christ and His Church; but in grace He forgave Paul’s sin and called Paul to follow Him and proclaim Him and His saving word—that same word which saved him. How could Paul not follow and proclaim Christ who was so merciful to him and saved him? Paul was freed from sin and freed for service to Christ.
It’s the same with us. We have experienced the same grace as Paul did. Christ died for our sins; reconciled us with God; opened heaven to us. Christ chose us and appointed us to bear fruit—to live out our lives as Christians where He has placed us, no matter how tiring it may be. Experiencing the same mercy of Christ, how can we not [1 Pt. 2.9] proclaim the praises of Him who called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light? How can we tire in doing so? We, too, have been freed from sin and freed for service to Christ and to others in Christ.
The apostle continues: For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more. How is it that Paul could make himself a servant to all? How is it that we can now be a servant to all? Because Christ first made Himself a slave/ servant to all as He tells us of Himself, [Mt. 20.28]: The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. The very God Himself became a slave/ servant of sinful man as He came to this earth, became true man, kept God’s holy Law for us, suffered God’s wrath over our sin, reconciled us to Him, rose again as Victor over our spiritual enemies, and ascended into heaven to open it to all believers. We have been so gloriously served by Christ—and now free from trying to have to earn our way into heaven, we can now live lives of service to each other. Again, being freed from sin, we are freed to serve: to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but subject to Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
Now, like St. Paul, we are subject to Christ. In baptism we have been born from above/ again and given the Holy Spirit. Now we are led by the Holy Spirit and strive to live according to God’s unchangeable will—and we do so with a free and cheerful spirit. Our work for the Lord is truly our heart’s delight. We love Him who loved us first and saved us. The work we do in the Lord may be and often is tiring, seemingly in vain, thankless; but we are led by His Holy Spirit to do that work, to live out our lives as Christians. He strengthens us for it by His work in the Word and Sacrament. We get discouraged in our Christian walk and life when we begin to look at and focus on self, not the Lord and His work for us. Let us see the glorious position we are in: we are freed from sin and if we understand what that truly means—here use/ heed Advent’s call to repent so that we recognize the great work of Christ for us—how then we will be like St. Paul and want all to know and experience that same grace/ mercy of Christ that we have; we will strive to live our lives as Christians so that by our words and deeds Christ can be all things to all people: Bread for the spiritually hungry; water to the spiritually thirsty; the Physician to the sick; the resurrection to the dead and the Savior to sinners.
Our lives of love and service, especially in the congregation, are never truly tiresome or a waste. Instead, we heed Paul’s word [1 Cor 15. 58]: be steadfast, immovable, always, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. INJ Amen.