1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. In today’s message we’re going to be looking
at the importance of thanking God for those He’s put in our midst. The message is taken from Philippians 1:2-11
and is entitled, “Lord, Give us an Advent
Heart!” Dear brothers and sisters in
Christ.
2.
“I’ll be home for Christmas; you
can count on me,”
so says the popular Christmas carol. But, who’ll be coming to your home in a
couple weeks, hauling in suitcases, hugging you and embracing your heart? These
were the words that President Dale Meyer of Concordia Seminary St. Louis said
in his Meyer Minute radio broadcast. Dr. Meyer went on to say that, “Guilt promises to come. “Remember how you
hurt that family member? Don’t imagine that you can ever repair the damage
you’ve done!” “Your husband, your wife, your child, died this year, not home
for the holidays. Don’t you feel guilty for the times you weren’t loving?” “So
dedicated to your career… you’ve shut others out, Mr. Scrooge!”
3.
Yes,
it’s true! There’ve been times when we
haven’t been thankful or content with those that God has put into our midst. We haven’t always had an Advent heart for
those around us. I’m sure that there are
many days where we feel guilty for the things we’ve said or done to hurt our
spouse, our children, or those relatives that have died and gone before us. As
Dr. Meyer says, maybe you feel guilty for some of the things you said or did
and now you feel helpless because you can’t take back what you said, since that
beloved family member has died. Maybe
there’s that family member that hasn’t died yet. An Uncle, Aunt, Mother, Father or sibling
that you can’t stand. Can we really
thank God for them or really feel sorry for things that we’ve done to them in
the past? I know we’re supposed to be
Christians, but really come on, sometimes it’s just to hard to say I’m sorry or
to really show that love and affection that God calls us to give.
4.
Well,
the Apostle Paul didn’t see it that way.
He believed that Christ died for all, and because of this we as
Christians are called to love all those that Jesus has placed into our midst. Yes, even that sibling, parent, relative or
child we don’t appreciate very much. Listen
to what the apostle Paul says in Philippians 1:3-11, “3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always
in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because
of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And
I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to
completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to
feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all
partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and
confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I
yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it
is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all
discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and
so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with
the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and
praise of God.”
5.
St.
Paul was anxious to be able to see the Philippian Church and all the Christians
that were living out their faith in that great city. He held them in his heart. I’m sure that some of you can’t wait to spend
time with your family and friends during this festive time of the year. Well, the Apostle Paul felt that way
too. He had a good relationship with the
Philippian Church. Whenever Paul thought
about the Philippians, he must have remembered the special way in which the Lord
called him to bring the gospel to that area of the world in Acts 16:9 which
says, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” He must have remembered the first Christian
worship service on that European continent.
Or, his meeting with a little group of Jewish women who met along the
riverbank on the Sabbath Day. Maybe he
remembered Lydia, who believed the Gospel and immediately opened her home for
the missionaries and as a headquarters for the Philippian Church. There was also Paul’s imprisonment in Philippi
and the midnight deliverance the Lord had given to him and Silas. That was a great night, since the jailer and
his family were converted. I’m sure that
Paul remembered the great support he received from the Philippians after he’d
left their city and about all the good things that they were doing while he was
out on his missionary work.
6.
As
the Apostle Paul has shown, believers who have been brought together into a
Gospel partnership joyfully show that partnership in their day to day
lives. They do this in many ways. They worship, pray, and study God’s Word
together. As we do here at St. Johns. They joyfully acknowledge one another as
brothers and sisters in Christ. They
show to one another helpfulness and love.
They encourage one another in Christian living and they work together to
promote the cause of the gospel to the world.
For all this there’s so much to be thankful for! So we too can be thankful for a Church body
that proclaims the Gospel from week to week, for our families where we can share
our faith with one another and for so much more!
7.
And
yet, during this season of Advent and on into Christmas some of us may not feel
this partnership in the Gospel or the communion we have as Christians. In our day to day living here in America we
don’t always feel content with the people that are in our midst or with the
possessions we have. Maybe there’s a
gift that you’re expecting this Christmas that you may not get. Or, you’re expecting to see a family member
or friend and they just don’t show. Well
in his book, “The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel
Worse,” Gregg Easterbook tells us how good we have it as Americans and as
Westerners. He says that we live better
than 99.4 percent of all the human beings who’ve ever lived. Whoa, we must have it pretty good! For instance, life expectancy has nearly
doubled in the past century and continues to increase. Household income has doubled since 1960. But that’s not all. The price of food and many goods keeps
falling. So we can buy more and more for ourselves. Our standard of living has risen to levels
our great-grandparents could never have imagined. Following World War II the average American home was 1,100 square
feet. Today it’s a whopping 2,300. For most of our history, the average home had
one room for every two people. Today
there are two rooms for every one person!
8.
Wow! We don’t have much to complain about as
Americans. God really has blessed us
with a lot. But, the average American
and European suffers from more depression than our great-grandparents ever
did. For some people being depressed can
be traced back to family history, but for others being depressed in the midst
of so much prosperity can be traced to spiritual, cultural and moral
factors. What are we to do as Christians
with all of this? God has given us so
much, and we remember a lot of this during the Christmas and Advent
seasons. Just like the Apostle Paul we
have a lot to be thankful for: a family,
this Church, a house and so much more. The
very fact that we have houses to keep us warm during the winter proves just
that. Well a good place to start is to
have gratitude and thankfulness for all that God has given to us. The Roman orator Cicero called gratitude not
only the “greatest of virtues, but the
parent of all others.” And the
philosopher Immanuel Kant called ingratitude the, “essence of vileness.”
9.
As
Christians, knowing that we’re better off than nearly every human that has ever
lived can inspire us to a daily prayer of thanksgiving. Like the Apostle Paul, we have so much to be
thankful for. So we can say like him,
that we thank God for each other and for so many blessings that He’s given to
us. Especially the greatest blessing of
all—the gift of eternal life that God has given to us through His Son Jesus
Christ. After all, that’s what we’re
celebrating during this Advent season,
“The coming of our Lord—baby Jesus.” That
little child in Bethlehem that became the God/man to take on our sins upon that
Cross of Calvary, 33 years after His birth.
Because of Him, we can be thankful everyday and we can forgive one
another for the mistakes we’ve made.
It’s through Jesus that we can be content and thankful for our family
and friends and all of our possessions.
Through Him we’re led to say, “I
hold you in my heart,” I have an Advent heart, because of Jesus Christ my
Savior.
10. During this season of Advent and
on into Christmas we pray like the Apostle Paul that we might grow in faith and
love through Jesus Christ our Lord so that those around us may see Him living
in our hearts and lives. Here in
Philippians chapter 1, Paul’s prayer was that the Church might grow all the
more in faith and in words and deeds of love.
So too, as we grow in a mature Christian love and knowledge of Christ as
our Savior we’ll be able to show that thankfulness and contentment in our
lives. In Christ there’s no reason to
live without hope, for He’s given us so much: clothing, shoes, a home, family
and friends. May God move us through the
power of His Holy Spirit to live out our Christian faith that we profess here
in Church from Sunday to Sunday. May we
continue to grow together as a body of believers so that everyone will know the
great Savior Jesus that we truly have, not only during this season of Advent and
Christmas, but throughout the whole year.
Lord grant to us an Advent heart!
Amen.
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