The sermon for December 10 was based on Luke 21:25-36.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Christmas is coming! Are you excited? If you are a child, you are probably bubbling over with expectation of the gifts you will receive. My advice to you is that you cherish your excitement. If you are an adult, you have lived through enough Christmases to know that the season usually fails to live up to your expectations. You plan your parties, your gifts, your decorations, your menus, but they often fail to come off the way you planned. The parties are boring; the gifts are a flop; the lights short out; and the cookies are ruined. You never seem able to capture that feeling of Christmas you had when you were a child. Your heart fails to find joy in the expectation of Christmas because you know the holy day will not live up to your expectation.

Jesus is coming! Are you excited? If you are a sinner, as you confessed this morning, then you might be less excited and more afraid about the end of the world. Imagine your anxiety if Fort Wayne were leveled by a flood, or a fire, or an earthquake, or a terrorist nuclear explosion. If that seems far fetched, remember: your personal end may come sooner than the end of the world. You may meet Jesus in His glory before the rest of us. Does that make you anxious, or excited? As your body fails and your health declines, are you fearful, or filled with the joyous expectation of everlasting life?

When life goes badly, either on a personal level or on a global level, many people become fearful or anxious. Hearts fail from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming. For weeks after a national disaster, the whole society is more stressed and on edge. But you are more familiar with the stress you feel when your own life faces disasters, from little annoyances like a burnt pot roast to actual catastrophes like cancer or lay-offs or the death of a child. When life falls apart, you tend toward fear. This is a normal reaction for a sinner. The whole creation, including your own life, is broken on account of sin. All this brokenness is a constant reminder that Judgment Day is coming, and that Day is fearful for all who remain in sin.

Jesus here reminds you to be ready for the Last Day. He warns you of the common distractions which catch people unaware. He says that hearts are weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life. While this season has its share of carousing and drunkenness, I hope that you are not overindulging. But I suspect you are more susceptible to the cares of this life. Is your heart weighed down with the cares of this life? Does the fear of an uncertain future ruin today's joy?

Jesus has a radical solution for you who are weighed down by this life's cares. He gives you a promise: heaven and earth will pass away. This means that most of the things causing you grief and worry will pass away. Do you fret about keeping your house in good repair? It will collapse one day. Are you concerned about your girlish figure or handsome face? Physical beauty is fleeting. Are you plagued by concerns for your health? Your body will turn to dust. So, do not set your heart on any of these things, which moth and rust and time destroy. Rather, set your heart on Jesus and His Word, which will by no means pass away.

Jesus comes to you today with His eternal Word. His promises give you hope for the future, instead of fear. When your life is falling apart, Jesus promises to hold you together, to preserve you in time of trouble. The promises of His Word take away your fear of the future. You have nothing to fear! Your Savior Jesus is in charge. Your life is in His nail scarred hands. Everything, even though it seems like chaos, is under His control. And He loves you. He cares for you. He pours out His compassion on you. His perfect love casts out your every fear. Your future is wrapped up in Jesus; and there is no uncertainty there.

Jesus comes to you this morning in His Body and Blood. Has your heart been weighed down with care and sin and sorrow? Lift up your hearts! Lift them to the Lord! For you are about to receive forgiveness in the flesh of God Himself. He comes to you, not to consume your sins with wrath but to wash them with forgiveness in His Blood. In this way He addresses your fears and cares. As you feast on Him, He keeps you ready for the last day. Though your body may be declining, you receive His Body, which preserves you, body and soul, in everlasting life. Though your life may be falling apart, you receive His life, which fills you and makes you whole forever. Though heaven and earth will pass away, you feast on the incarnate Word, which will by no means pass away. With Him living in you, you will live forever.

Jesus comes to you with His Word of forgiveness, preached, pronounced, pour out in water and in wine. He comes to you and assures you of a blessed future. You have nothing to fear! Even as this world comes to an end, and there are signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, you have nothing to fear. Though unbelieving men's hearts will fail from fear, your heart will be bold. Jesus is coming! Your redemption draws near! Though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, you will not fear. You can laugh, laugh with the giddy expectation of the things that are coming to you at the Last Day—salvation and glory, eternal life and paradise—expectations that will never let you down. Jesus is coming to give all this to you.

So let the future come; you can face it without fear. You are ready. You are ready to stand in the presence of the Son of Man. You already do. He lives in you and you live in Him. When your last day comes, you will see Him face to face and He will say to you: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." "Come, sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne."

Does this seem to good to be true? Ah, but it is true! You have God's Word on it, and His Word will by no means pass away. Your future is not filled with frightening uncertainty. God's Word has promised you a glorious future, and your future is certain in Jesus. So, like a child waiting for Christmas, you wait for the coming of Christ. Jesus is coming! May your Advent, and all your days, be filled with the giddy expectation of the wonderful gifts you will receive in Christ. He will never let you down! Amen.

The peace of God, which passes . . .

Last Updated: 7/15/2008