Keep Busy Waiting for Christ!

3rd Sunday in Advent, 12/11/11
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24


Keep Busy Waiting for Christ!
I. Live your Christian life.
II. Use God’s word.
III. Trust your faithful God.


Waiting rooms. They’re an unavoidable aspect of almost every medical appointment. Some of you might not mind them. In fact you appreciate that 10 to 20 minutes of down time in your otherwise far too hectic day.

I happen to have the opposite view of waiting rooms. I can’t stand waiting there doing nothing. They might as well rename them “waste-ing” rooms because the time spent there is usually a colossal waste of time. Even if you bring with you something to read, it’s usually not quality reading time. There are too many distractions in the room and you keep wondering how much longer you’ll have to wait until your name is called. And it’s too much trouble to bring along anything substantial to do. I’m not a big fan of simply waiting.

And yet that’s what the Advent season is all about. It’s a “waiting” season. But it’s not likely to be a “waste-ing” season. We have far too many things to do in these weeks leading up to our celebration of Christmas. In fact, we likely have double the things we want to accomplish when compared with the other seasons of the year but we still only have 24 hours a day to get them done.

And then we come to church and we hear that the Advent season’s emphasis is more on preparing us for Jesus’ return to this earth than it is to celebrate his birth. So what should we be doing while we wait for that final day in all of history? Doing nothing seems like another waste of time.

Through the Apostle Paul the Lord encourages you and me to keep busy. In one short sentence after another here in 1 Thessalonians 5 Paul gives us plenty of things to do while we wait for Jesus to return. So let’s take them to heart this morning and keep busy waiting for Christ

Part I.

Telling the difference. Sometimes it’s a good thing when you can’t tell the difference. For instance, for years you have been purchasing a certain brand name of food and serving it to your family, but recently you found a cheaper, healthier alternative. And when you ask the members of your family, they all admit they can’t tell the difference. That’s a good thing. But in other instances it’s a bad thing. For instance, if your spouse stands in front of you and asks, “What’s different, honey?” and you spend an embarrassing amount of time before saying, “I can’t tell,” that’s a bad thing.

It’s also a bad thing when you can’t tell the difference in the life of a non-Christian when compared with the life of a Christian. The fact that we are Christians ought to show in every aspect of our lives. Paul highlights three.

First, he says, “Be joyful always.” Really?! Always? What about when I lose my job? What about when I get another failing grade? What about when I hear about all the crime and perversion happening in our world? What about when I have to deal with the death of a loved one? What about when I miss someone terribly? Joyful then? Yes, in a Christian way. These Christian Thessalonians were facing terrible persecutions for their faith. And yet Paul told them and us to be joyful. It’s the joy of knowing that no matter how terrible life is, we still have our Savior Jesus who will turn everything out for us.

Second, Paul says, “Pray continually.” But if we do that, we won’t get anything else done all day long. Paul isn’t telling us to keep our hands folded and our heads bowed in prayer all day. He’s telling us to have the type of Christian spirit that is always willing to have a private, unspoken conversation with our God. It may be about that moment’s unwanted difficulty or that moment’s unexpected blessing.

Third, Paul reminds us, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” We have no problem giving thanks for the blessings God has given us. In fact, we dedicated a day to it just two weeks ago. But in every circumstance of my life?! Again, what about personal disasters, sickness, even death? Christians can give thanks even in those circumstances because we know that our God is using them to bring us closer to him and he will work out all things for our good.

Again, the non-Christian will be unable to do those things. But you’re different. You’re a Christian and that affects every aspect of your life. So keep busy waiting for Christ by living your Christian life.

But that’s not easy. What is easy is to be critical or envious of others instead of joyful. What is easy is to be so self-focused that I can’t enter into a spiritual conversation with my loving God. What is easy is to be impressed by others have and be ungrateful for what I have. But that’s why Advent is not only a season of waiting, it’s also a season of repentance. And that’s where it all starts. When we realize how sinful we are, we realize how much we need a Savior from sin. We wait to celebrate how God sent that Savior into this world and laid him in a manger. He came to live for us and die for us so that we can enjoy his blessed presence forever. And now we wait for him to return and bring us into his blessed presence. While we do, let’s keep busy living our Christian lives.

Part II.

Have you already purchased a Christmas gift for a loved one that you know won’t be used? Of course not! If you already knew that, you’d either exchange the gift for something the loved one will use, or you wouldn’t give the gift at all.

Our God has given us the great gift—some might argue the greatest gift—of his word. God forbid that it would go unused!

So keep busy while waiting for Christ by using his word. And once again the Apostle Paul offers some outstanding suggestions.

First, he tells us, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt.” The Holy Spirit has nourished your faith through God’s word. In several places the Bible refers to that faith as a purifying fire burning within us. Neglecting God’s word will eventually extinguish that flame of faith. So use God’s word while you wait for Christ to fan the fire of that faith. Make it glow!

Next, Paul exhorts, “Test everything.” We pride ourselves in being smart enough not to accept and make use of every bit of advice and information that comes flooding into our lives every day. For one reason, there are plenty of scams out there. But there’s a much more critical reason. There are many ideas and solutions that are offered to us every day that are against our God and his word. Just because it works or it makes you happy or it helps you in life doesn’t make it holy and God-pleasing. So test everything. And the test mechanism is the holy word of our God. Use it while you wait for Christ!

Third, Paul offers this practical advice, “Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” Don’t mimic our sinful world that turns both of those around. So much of what our world offers as interesting, worthwhile, entertaining, and helpful is nothing but unholy trash. It leads the sinner further away from God, not closer to him. It brings suffering and pain, not happiness and contentment. Use the word of God to help you recognize it! Keep busy while waiting for Christ!

When it comes to using the word of God, my temptation is to view it merely as the tool of my profession. I use it to get my job done. What’s your temptation when it comes to the word of God? Low priority? Something you’ll get to when you have the time? Reluctance to use it at all? Nice, but not necessary? Or worse yet…boring and impractical? Really? That’s our view of God’s gift, his word? For shame! For in that word we find the solution to our greatest problem—sin. We hear the greatest news ever—that our God loved us so much he sacrificed his Son for us so that we could have forgiveness and life with him forever. And now, on a daily basis, that word offers us God’s practical, godly direction for living out of love for him. Keep busy while waiting for Christ by using that word!

Part III.

How many sentences of regret have you begun with the words, “I didn’t mean to, but…,”? We have good intentions, but we just can’t seem to carry them out, at least not all the time. We try, but we just can’t do it.

And what we can’t do for ourselves, we need to trust our God to do for us. That’s exactly the good news Paul shares with us as our text closes. He writes, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.” To sanctify means to make holy or to set apart for God. It is not our God’s intent to allow us to have this part of our lives dedicated to him but keep another part dedicated for our sinful self. When we indulge our sinful nature, we not only anger our God, we also frustrate ourselves. Sin never leads to anything good. Sin never gets blessed by God. So we rely on our God to help us, to increase his power in our lives, so that our dedication and devotion to him increases each day. And our God promises to do that for us through his word and sacrament.

But when we do fail to live for him, when we sin, then we rely on our God to forgive us. Since we sin every day we need that forgiveness every day. And again, our God provides that forgiveness to us. In fact, he washes us clean from every sin. By faith in Jesus we live in the daily forgiveness of sins. We stand before him as his righteous, holy children. That’s a dramatic change that our God works in us. We count on him to do that every day of our lives until that day when he calls us home to him or until he returns on the Last Day. That’s what Paul was referring to when he talked about being “blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He will keep us blameless through his word and sacrament. We trust him to do that for us.

So don’t just sit there and waste time waiting for Jesus. Keep busy. Keep busy with this list of things your God has given you to do. When you do, you’ll find that astounding blessings come your way. Amen.