Have a Full Advent Heart!

2nd Sunday in Advent, 12/6/15
Philippians 1:3-11


Have a Full Advent Heart!
I. Full of prayer
II. Full of confidence
III. Full of love


‘Tis the season of excesses. The month of December is literally full of so many things. For most people it’s the busiest time of year. There are so many things to do to get ready for Christmas—decorating, gift buying, cooking and baking. There are more parties this month than at any other time of the year. In addition to a Christmas party you have each year with your family members, there are holiday parties at your place of employment and for some of your social clubs. People feel compelled to celebrate and it makes for a full schedule. Some would say it’s excessive.

This month also marks the excess of spending money. All those gifts and parties cost money. Some people will foolishly spend more than they have and should, and the credit card hangover will hit late in January or early in February.

And without a doubt, you will see excessive exterior decorations. In some places it seems as if neighbors are engaging in competitive decorating, always trying to do something bigger and better than the other. Excessive.

With all of those excesses being the case, would you care to add another? I hope you are, because it has to do with our worship focus this morning. We’re preparing our hearts for the arrival of Jesus. A repentant heart is ready for Jesus. That’s a heart that confesses its sinfulness and trusts in the forgiveness Jesus won for us. And with our sins forgiven and with faith in Jesus, then our Lord is looking for the outward change that faith produces in us. In fact, he wants our hearts to be filled with them. It’s another excess of the season.

Our Lord’s desire for us is that we have a full Advent heart. Are you a little uncertain what that means? Then let’s apply our hearts and minds to the life-changing word of our God before us this morning here in Philippians 1.

Part I.

It happens from time to time that someone is arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned for a crime they didn’t commit. That’s a tragedy. A life wasted. If it happened to you, what would you do while in prison? It would be difficult not to let hatred and resentment fill your heart.

The Apostle Paul, who wrote these words of our text, was anything but bitter for being imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. Actually, Paul was waiting to go on trial for preaching about Jesus. And notice what he does while in chains for the gospel, “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” It sounds like Paul did a huge amount of praying.

There are many things our God would like to see in our Advent hearts and one of them is a heart full of prayer. Not to sound selfish, but we should pray for ourselves. I’m sure Paul did while he was in prison, asking for the Lord to strengthen him and keep Satan and his deadly temptations far away. And when those temptations hit and Paul succumbed, he prayed for forgiveness. What’s more, I’m sure he also prayed for God’s continued presence with him. We know that he shared his faith with those who guarded him, so I’m sure Paul prayed for the Lord to enable him to do so more and more. What an example for us as Advent Christians!

We also know he prayed for others. He speaks of it in these words. He has the Philippian Christians in his heart and mind as he prays—their spiritual needs as well as their physical needs. He likely prayed for the strength and growth of this little congregation. He may have known many of the members well enough to pray for the specific needs of individuals. Again, a fine example for us as Advent Christians!

But the emotion which filled his heart most of all as he prayed for them was joy—joy over their partnership in the gospel. There’s no more important work in all the world than spreading the gospel of Jesus. That becomes all the more urgent when we realize we’re preparing for his return on the Last Day when the opportunity to share the gospel will end. We, too, can pray with hearts full of joy for every one of the people sitting with you, every one of your fellow members, every one of the souls in our synod, every other Christian who is sharing in the work you are doing which is sharing the gospel of Jesus. Pray with joy!

Have a full Advent heart—a heart full of prayer.

Let me remind you that Paul wrote these words from prison. Wouldn’t it be natural for him to be angry with God at this unjust inconvenience in his life as an apostle? Wouldn’t it be easy to be envious of the freedom the Philippians had? Why wasn’t Paul drowning in self-pity? Because he had a full Advent heart. His heart was full of daily sorrow for his sins—remember how Paul spoke about his struggles with sin. But his heart was also full of trust in the forgiveness Jesus had won for him. And one of the fruits of that faith is a heart full of prayer. Our listening to God speaking to us in his word leads us to speak to him in prayer. Have a full Advent heart—a heart full of prayer.

Part II.

We try to exude confidence on the outside, but let’s be honest. There are all sorts of things that make us apprehensive on the inside. We’re not sure about our futures or the futures of our loved ones. Every act of violence and terrorism in our world makes us wonder if we’ll be victims next. We’re apprehensive about the future of our country and even about the future of Christianity in our country. What has happened to other nations could happen to us. Of course we’re apprehensive!

But the Lord wants you to have a full Advent heart. Listen to your Lord speak further through Paul, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Paul was filled with confidence in spite of his outward circumstance. That’s another evidence of a full Advent heart.

An Advent heart is full of confidence first in its peace with God. Have you ever felt like God has something against you? We all have, but it simply isn’t true. Jesus made peace for us with God by his holy life and his suffering and death. Everything that God had against you Jesus took on himself. So now it’s gone and in its place is the perfect peace which Jesus won for us. Live confident of that!

A full Advent heart is also confident of God’s gracious and powerful activity in your heart and life. Paul was confident that God would keep the Philippians as his own until the day of Jesus Christ. That’s a term for the Last Day. Through all the world’s turmoil, through all the world’s evil, through everything that Satan can throw at us, God has the power to keep us safe in his kingdom. That comes to us through his almighty word. Be still, my soul, and know that the Lord is God over all!

Have a full Advent heart—a heart full of confidence.

But too often we’re far from confident. Instead, we quake in fear over what might happen to us. We’re unsure that the Lord is aware of what’s happening in our lives, and, if he does, we’re not sure he cares. We mope along from day to day, not sure of our calling or purpose. That’s because we’re forgotten Advent. It’s the season for preparing our hearts for the coming of Jesus. Since he came the first time and won our forgiveness by his death and resurrection, we know for certain that he is ruling over all things now and he will return for us on the Last Day. I’d call that divine certainty. That certainty fills our hearts with confidence. Have a full Advent heart—a heart full of confidence.

Part III.

I have one more question for you this morning. When all is said and done, how do you want to be remembered? I’ll give you a second to think about that.

Paul had a certain way he wanted to remember the Philippian Christians. He wrote, “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” He wanted them to have a heart full of love.

The kind of love Paul is referring to is Christian love, God’s kind of love. That’s a love which fully knows the object of its love and has a corresponding purpose. In God’s case, he loves us in spite of the fact that he knows our sins and weaknesses, but his loving purpose for us is to spend eternity with him.

When God’s love for us fills our hearts with love for him, then we have the power to show it, as Paul says, in discerning what is best, knowing what is good and evil, having the power to choose the good, and, thus, to live lives that are filled with the fruits of righteousness. In other words, people will know us as God’s people by what we say and do.

Have a full Advent heart—a heart full of love.

It’s easy to mistreat people the way that they have mistreated you. The difficult thing is to be loving towards them. Would you like to be known as a loving person? Then start with an Advent heart—a heart that loves Jesus for his sacrifice for you. His love for you will fill you with love for him, and that love will show in your love for others. Be excessive! Have a full Advent heart full of love for others. Amen.