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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, this text for this evening, the last service of this calendar year, comes from the Gospel reading. You may be seated. That’s a big concept to grasp as a little boy or a little girl, isn’t it? Whenever the teacher would say, “We’ll see you next year,” it would just be way beyond your comprehension because…
A Lutheran Christian sermon. You have files on your computer, which is probably the more recurring theme in your life, rather than a file drawer that you put files in. You have things that all happened in that year, and you start another one for the next year. You’ve saved all of your receipts. You’ve saved all of your memories or pictures. And all of that is tucked away, and a brand new one is started, like a fresh beginning. But it really isn’t a fresh beginning in the same way that your life in Christ is a fresh beginning.
Because really, the passing of time is nothing more than another day. It is nothing more than another sunrise and sunset. Our minds think of time chronologically or linearly, and God looks at time as no beginning, no end, because he is eternal. Time really, mathematically, when you think about it, is nothing more than the measurement of change. Miles per second.
As long as we’re in control of that change. When we’re not in control of that change and God shows us who is in control of change, then we’re left not so on even ground. Our Lord said, “Stay dressed for action. Keep your lamps burning.” I don’t know about you, but lots of times people have looked at this and have said this is an anxious kind of a text. It does not leave me with peace and serenity and calmness. It always leaves me thinking I need to be doing something. I’ve got to take care of this or that.
Kind of like when someone comes over to your house and you’re ready. But if you’re really ready, why would you be stressing as to whether or not you’ve baked enough or cooked enough or cleaned enough? You either are ready or you aren’t ready. So this text about staying ready and being dressed for action isn’t a bad thing. No. It is day-to-day, moment-to-moment in our life. That’s really what it is. It’s not like, “Well, I’ll be ready when I have dotted all my I’s and crossed all my T’s.” No, you either are or you aren’t.
And it starts just with repentance, humility, admission of brokenness, coming to the point of complete insufficiency of ourselves in God’s eyes. That’s really all being ready is. Acknowledging his grace and mercy and releasing our control and our concern. This is the seventh day of Christmas, brothers and sisters. While the rest of the world is putting away Christmas and sales are happening at Hobby Lobby and Walmart and all those places, we’re still in the midst of Christmas and joy.
This world loves to suck you dry of joy. Joy that says, “God is my Savior.” Joy that says, “I am His child,” and He can come today, or He can let me linger for years or decades, all according to His will and plan. It’s interesting in this text. To be ready isn’t ready as far as you need to get ready. It’s ready to be served today.
The text talks about Jesus returning, not so that you can serve him, not so that you can show him all that you’ve accomplished, not so that you can make sure he sees everything is dressed right, dressed and no frayed edges and everything tucked in, but that you may be served. Are you ready to be served? He comes to bring himself to you, to serve you.
To be ready is nothing more than, again, serving. To come to terms with our insufficiency and our brokenness. To come to terms with the fact that we worry and we are anxious about many things. To realize that so much consumes our hearts and minds on a day-to-day basis that the joy of being God’s child and the joy of being in his arms and hands ought not to be erased by cynicism and negativism and false humility or false joy either.
Joy is neither something loud and bodacious, nor is it necessarily always quiet. It can be all of the above. But joy is not found in your sufficiency and readiness. It is found in God serving you. Are you ready to be served? We sang on Christmas Day, “He whom the sea and wind obey does come to serve the sinner in great meekness. You, God’s own Son, with us are one, does join us and our children in our weakness.” That’s being ready. That’s being ready to be served.
We have nothing to offer God. We like to think we have a lot to offer God. We’re always thinking in terms of, “What else can I do?” And maybe there are some of us who say, “Well, I’ve done enough.” Enough. Isn’t that the crazy thing that Satan loves to do? On one hand, we think we’ve done enough, and on the other hand, we think we have more to do, and where’s the joy?
The sufficiency of Christ, the service of his great love. We sang again, “Your light and grace our guilt efface, Your heavenly riches all our loss retrieving. Emmanuel, your birth does quell the power of hell and Satan’s bold deceiving.” This daily expectancy of being served—not of serving, but in being served.
We think in terms of this as his second coming, and that, absolutely. But what’s the difference between his second coming and his coming tonight? Is he not present both times? Are you not being served both times? Is he not receiving you as his son or daughter both times? There is no difference. Why should we fear one and embrace the other? Why? They both are one in the same service.
To be ready means to come with nothing, to be filled with everything. You, Christian heart, whoever you are, be of good cheer and let no sorrow move you. For God’s own child in mercy mild joins you to him. How greatly God must love you. Be of good cheer. Do not fear. Daily receive him who comes to you as personable and as concrete tonight, as he will on the last day, as he will when he calls you home to be with him forever in heaven.
For there is no difference. He comes to serve you. Remember that other Christmas hymn. “Within an earth-born form, he hides his all-creating light. To serve us all, he humbly cloaks the splendor of his might. He undertakes a great exchange, puts it on human frame, and in return gives us his realm, gives us his glory, gives us his name.” That’s being served.
And only empty hands can receive such service. Come and have those hands and that heart filled, renewed, and infused with joy of his adoption of you to serve you. Merry Christmas and Amen.
