Advent Week Four: Love

All of us long for love — to experience relationships in which another person desires and knows us intimately and pursues our good even so. But this is not just a longing; it’s a need. It’s embedded in who we are. We are made in the image of God, a God who exists in a fellowship of love: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Without love, from God and each other, we are not whole, flourishing image bearers.

And so the Enemy attacks our loves in order to mar our image and dishonor the Lord. He convinces us that God does not have our best interests in mind. He disorders our loves by drawing our primary love away from our Creator and towards created things. He directs our loves inward to ourselves and against God and neighbor. We begin fearing to love those who are different, and we fear losing the love of those who are the same. Distractions limit our desires for and engagement with others and instead breed shallow relationships at best or indifferent relationships at worst. Choked by lies, distortions, and false promises, love withers, the world suffers, and we perish.

But “in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us” (1 John 4:10). In fact, we were sinners, enemies of God. But because of his incredible love, he gave his only Son to us. Jesus Christ entered our world of hate, indifference, and misguided loves — all of which are ultimately directed against him — to perform the greatest act of love. He died on our behalf, wicked as we are, so that we might not perish but have everlasting life, basking in the radiance of God’s perfect, eternal love (John 3:16; Romans 5:6-11). This is the foundation of our peace, our joy, and all our hope. In Advent, we celebrate the fact that he implants this love in our hearts now, defeating sin and the devil, restoring the image of God in us, and reconciling us to himself and each other. And he will continue to water and nurture his love in us until it comes into full bloom when he returns for his Bride.

Advent Week Three: Joy

What gives you joy? Many encourage us to ask this question and pursue only those things which cause us to feel delight. Everything else is simply clutter, if not something more detrimental to our well-being. Whatever doesn’t “spark joy,” as the organizationalist Marie Kondo suggests, ought to be discarded. While this advice seems wise, it will fail us. 

First, because sin impedes our understanding, we often do not know what will produce real, lasting delight. We choose things that generate a spark for a moment but then soon fade. Or we chase after delights that put down, harm, or conflict with others. Second, the world bombards us with images, videos, and songs to train us that certain relationships, services, or products will bestow joy upon us. All indications point to the fact that this siege warfare works: Often what we choose to delight in is what advertisers have told us to delight in. And where has that gotten us? To a world of anxiety, depression, and isolation. That is no cause for rejoicing.

Here’s a better question: Where can we discover the highest source of eternal, never-fading joy? Real, true joy will only be found where perfect love has cast out fear and guilt and where peace has conquered anxiety and disunity. Surrounded by those conditions, the heart cannot help but burst forth with rejoicing and delight. These conditions are only met fully in one location: the Kingdom of God. Although we await the day when this Kingdom will cover the whole earth, today the King, Jesus Christ, is establishing his Kingdom in our hearts. When he becomes our everything — our identity, our goal, our boasting — we can rejoice even in the midst of suffering, knowing that his loving presence remains with us always, now and forever (Romans 5:1-11; 1 Peter 1:3-9). Why do we continually turn to lesser joys when the greatest joy, Christ our Lord and Savior, graciously gives us himself?

Advent Week Two: Peace

Chances are, within the last nine months, you have said, or you know somebody who has said, something to the effect of “Well, that’s 2020 for you.” Every one of us can immediately interpret that sentiment. With a sigh, that simple sentence acknowledges the absurd, chaotic mess that has flooded over this year, seeping into every area of life. We express that phrase in an attempt to keep ourselves afloat in all the craziness, like laughing to stop yourself from crying, but we still feel like Murphy’s Law (“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”) has become the rule of life.

God did not initially create the world to be this way. Shalom characterized the original garden paradise; peace, wholeness, order, and flourishing permeated every crevice of existence. But the sin of Adam and Eve broke that harmony, sowing chaos, discord, and death in the human heart and throughout the entire cosmos. We now live at odds with the natural world, with each other, and, most tragically, with God. Something inside us, however, cries out that it does not have to be this way. Something longs for that original state of perfect peace.

Although we have tried to establish peace through politics, education, vague spirituality, and more, only Jesus Christ will do. On our behalf, the eternal Son of God stepped into our sinful chaos and allowed it to consume him to the point of death on a cross. But his blood, given in loving self-sacrifice, purifies us of our sin, reconciling us with God and with one another. He broke the destructive cycle of sin and death by absorbing it into himself (1 Peter 2:24) and offers those that come to him wholeness and life — a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7), endures all trials (John 16:33), and breaks down every wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:13-17). Let us pray for his peace to heal our hearts and our world.

Advent Week One: Hope

Standing in pitch-black darkness can be both suffocating and crushing. Life and breath seem to vanish, for what could exist in that empty blankness? And yet, the darkness itself has substance and almost tangibly weighs on us, wrapping us in fear and doubt as our eyes are robbed of their ability to verify our surroundings. If this is true of physical darkness, how much more true is this of emotional and spiritual darkness? Our own sins or this chaotic world, polluted by generations of sin, can hurl us into a pit of shadowy despair, enveloped by addictions, financial distress, broken relationships, abuse, sickness, and more. But in that darkness, the faintest glimmer of light, as dim as it may be, shines like a beacon to the burdened soul, calling them onward in hope.

As the ancient people of Israel and Judah were enticed into greater and greater sins and the threat of Assyrian invasion grew, “distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish” overshadowed their land (Isaiah 8:22). They knew what it was like to feel that “thick darkness.” Just like us, they too longed for a twinkle of hope. It is just at this point that God promises hope: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2). This hopeful light would come as a child, whose name is “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (v 6). He would take up the throne of David and establish everlasting peace, justice, and righteousness (v 7). How they longed for this light to shine!

Today, we have more than a promise of light but the light himself — Jesus Christ, who breached the gloom of this world and whose “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). Through his perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection, he gives us a “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19), the certainty of healing and restoration. As we journey into this season of Advent after a year of uncertainty and difficulty, may hold on to the hope we have in Jesus, the light of the world.

Preparing for Sunday Worship

The Sunday Gathering

Since Jesus Christ miraculously and victoriously rose from the dead on the first day of the week, his faithful followers have gathered together on the same day to glorify God and encourage one another through preaching the Word of God, receiving the sacraments, praying together, singing songs of praise, and sharing testimonies of God’s goodness (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor 14:26; Col 3:16; Eph 5:19). In corporate worship, the Holy Spirit reminds our hearts and minds of his incredible grace and our new life in the Kingdom of God, and we get to respond in gratitude as we recenter our lives on Jesus for the coming week. This time is so crucial to the life of Christians that Scriptures implores us not to neglect the gathering of the saints and to actively stir up one another to love and good works (Heb 10:24-25).

If we consume sports news all week leading up to a game or watch movie trailers before heading to the theater, how much more should we prepare our whole selves — body, mind, and spirit — before this infinitely more significant gathering? We require preparation even more since the devil and our own sin seek to distract us from the work of God. So what might preparing for our Sunday gathering look like practically?

Preparing the Body

Get some sleep! Safeguard your Saturday night from late-night activities so that you can be well-rested Sunday morning. Worship requires attention, and tiredness transforms us into absentminded zombies.

Be present. Plan to show up, and plan when to show up. Take into account your family situation and how long it will take everyone to be ready so that no one is frazzled by rushing to get to church. You just might arrive early and have some time to fellowship with others before service begins.

Play worship music as you get ready and drive to church. Singing along will warm up your vocal chords, preparing you for singing with the congregation, but more importantly,  music can help focus your mind and soften your heart to worship.

Preparing the Mind

Read the Scripture beforehand. We almost always preach through books of the Bible verse by verse, so you should know what passage will be preached next. Having some ideas about the text by reading it the night before or several times throughout the week will allow you to hone in on the preaching and be more receptive to the Word.

Reflect on your attitude. Have you felt frustrated, angry, anxious, jealous, etc.? Have you felt at peace, joyful, content, etc.? Knowing your state of mind allows you to commune with God more honestly. Consider whether you’re even looking forward to worshipping together, and if not, ask yourself why that is.

Keep your morning distraction-free. Work can wait. News can wait. Entertainment can wait. Social media can wait. So many things vie for our attention that we must vigilantly guard our mind. The God of the universe deserves at least a morning of our attention. (Though our whole lives would be better!)

Preparing the Spirit

Pray that your heart and mind would be attentive and receptive to God’s Word and Spirit.

Pray that the presence of God would draw you closer to him.

Pray that others would come to know the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ.

Pray that you would connect with your brothers and sisters — those you have relationships with and one or two you have yet to meet.

Pray that God would be glorified above all else.