Don't Waste Time While You Wait!

1st Sunday in Advent, 11/29/09
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13


Don’t Waste Time While You Wait!
I. Pray for your fellow Christians.
II. Let your faith show by your love.


Thanksgiving is past. So the next big event in our lives is Christmas and to one extent or another we’re all waiting for it to arrive. So what are you doing while you wait? If you’re like the rest of us, you’re busy making lists either mentally or on paper, and working to accomplish the items on those lists. There are lists of presents. There are lists of guests. Another list contains the food items for a Christmas party or family dinner. There are weekly and daily lists of things you want to accomplish around the house before Christmas arrives. There are lists of errands to run and cards to send. Every one of those things on your lists takes time during a month when time is in short supply. So the last thing you want to do during the next four weeks is to waste time.

As Christians we know that the season of Advent is a time of preparation. We’re preparing our hearts and lives to celebrate the birth of our Savior and also his return to this earth on the Last Day. You might think you have a lot less time to prepare for Christmas than you do for the Lord’s return to this earth, but you might be very wrong. In fact, if you were absolutely certain that Jesus was going to return to earth before December 25, your list of things to do would be drastically different than they are right now, wouldn’t they? You’d probably be busier than you ever have in your life.

So, as we wait for his coming, let’s not waste time. Let’s get busy preparing ourselves for his return. Don’t waste time while you wait! But there are so many things to do, which ones should we focus on? St. Paul helps us make those choices through his words to us this morning from 1 Thessalonians 3.

Part I.
There are all too many reasons to be disappointed about this time of year. So many people celebrate Christmas in ways that are simply godless. The attempts to take Christ out of Christmas appall us. The attempts to mix Christmas with the celebrations of other religions is disheartening. In spite of all the songs and words about love and joy, materialism, greed and discontent are still alive and well. Crime won’t take a month off either.

And yet there are some bright spots in this season and one of them is that more than at any other time of year, people are thinking about others. Isn’t that the point of our gift-giving traditions? We spend a good deal of time thinking about others and what to give them. At this time of year we think about those less fortunate than ourselves. Our thoughts turn toward loved ones far away as we send them our Christmas greetings.

The Apostle Paul, too, thought about loved ones far away. Those loved ones were the Thessalonian Christians to whom he wrote these words. In the verses before our text Paul stated how much he wanted to visit the Thessalonians. He was waiting for the opportunity to get there and as he waited he didn’t waste time. He writes, “Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again.” I don’t think Paul was exaggerating. Paul and his co-workers spent considerable time praying that they would be able to visit the Thessalonians soon. But why was that so important? After all, surely Paul had many important things to do as God’s chosen apostle to bring his word to a world full of Gentiles.

First, Paul was filled with love and joy over the Thessalonians. They had gone through some terrible persecutions for their new Christian faith, and yet they had stood firm. Because of their faith, they had faced physical suffering, and yet they did not waver. As the one whom God used to bring them to faith, Paul was overjoyed at their response to their dire circumstances. And so he offered prayers of thanks to God for them.

But he also prayed to go and see them. And there was a deep reason for his desire to visit them. He wrote that he wanted to “supply what is lacking in your faith.” That doesn’t sound very complimentary. What does it mean? We know from the Book of Acts that Paul was only able to stay in Thessalonica for a little more than 3 weeks before the unbelieving Jews caused so much trouble that Paul had to leave town under the cover of night. Certainly Paul had hoped to stay much longer and to continue teaching the word of God there. But he was only able to share the basics of the Christian faith with them. So now he desired to go back and teach them further. He prayed for God to make it happen.

Finally, he prayed for “the Lord” to “make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else.” Paul didn’t want theses Thessalonian Christians to lapse into what so many Christians do: to take each other for granted. Instead, he wanted their faith to increase so that they would have the power to help one another out, to serve each other. And then, he wanted them to work together at showing love to those who were not Christians. He doesn’t state it exactly, but surely Paul had in mind working together to share the gospel with others. Paul commended them for that very thing at the beginning of his letter. Paul prays for them to continue in it.

It’s clear that Paul desperately wanted to visit his beloved Thessalonians. But he didn’t just sit around and wait for the Lord to make it happen. He prayed for them.

When is the last time you had a thought that went something like this, “I have a minute here that I didn’t think I would have. I think I’ll pray for someone”? That doesn’t happen as often as it should with me. How about you? If I have an unexpected minute, my thoughts don’t often go to other people’s needs. They go to my own. And I imagine things are much the same with you. And yet as Paul waited to visit the Thessalonians, he prayed for them. He wasted no time.

You and I are waiting for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. And there are all sorts of things we could be doing as we wait. The season of Advent encourages us to prepare for our Lord by repenting of our sins. That would include our sins of too often thinking only of ourselves and not enough about others. That would include a failure to pray as we should. Advent’s good news is that winning our forgiveness is exactly why Jesus came to this earth. We have that forgiveness by faith in him. Our hearts are ready for his coming. And now, having such a ready heart, speak prayers from the heart on behalf of others. I intend to spend more time praying this Advent season for you. Will you spend more time praying for me and the other members of our congregation? Will you pray that our love for each other grows stronger and that we use that love to reach out to others with the saving news of Jesus Christ? Don’t waste time while you wait for Christ to arrive. Pray for your fellow Christians.

Part II.
Paul’s prayers for the Thessalonians included that the Lord would increase their love for one another. Paul’s prayer wasn’t limited to an emotion. He wanted that emotion to translate into deeds of love. In other words, he wanted their love to show in their good works.

As long as the church has existed there have been false teachings about the place of good works in the Christian’s life. On the one extreme there have been those who falsely taught that, since we are saved by faith in Jesus alone, we are free from doing good works and can live as we please. In other words, these people falsely believed that forgiveness from Jesus gave them a license to sin.

On the other extreme the church has always been plagued by those who taught that our good works to some degree earn our salvation. In other words, Jesus didn’t do everything we need for our forgiveness and eternal life. There is still something left for us to do.

Paul wanted to be sure that the Thessalonians were clear on the truth. And so he wrote to them, You will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.” By faith in Jesus, the Thessalonians were holy and blameless. There was nothing they could do to make themselves that way. That’s something Jesus had done for them.

But being holy doesn’t show itself in words and deeds of unholiness. That doesn’t make sense. Instead, we show the fact that we are holy and blameless in God’s sight by our deeds of love for others. One of the false teachings that gained some support among the Thessalonians is that the Christians there were tempted to sell all they had and to sit around and do nothing, waiting for Jesus to return. Paul impressed on them the truth. The Lord Jesus doesn’t want us wasting time as we wait for him. Instead, he wants our faith to be active in deeds of love for others.

Don’t waste time while you wait! Let your faith show by your love.

So, how’s your love life? You’re probably thinking that’s none of my business. But, as your pastor, it is my business. You have called me to share God’s word and sacrament with you to build you up in your faith. That faith shows itself by your deeds of love for others. So, how’s that going for you? Do you struggle with self-centeredness and apathy? So do I. But I’m thankful that our God gives us his almighty help. Through his word and sacrament he offers us our forgiveness and reminds us that we are holy and blameless in his sight. He renews us so that we can share his love with others. During the coming month we have so many opportunities to gather together as Christians around God’s word and sacraments, to be renewed by our God, and then to go out and let our faith show by our deeds of love towards others. Instead of letting this time of year sap your spirits, let your God fill you with his power. Don’t waste the opportunities! Don’t waste time while you wait for the coming of your Savior. Let your faith show by your deeds of love. Amen.