Advent Midweek Sermon I - Matthew 3:1-6 - 2020

 St. James writes, “Be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” Indeed, patience is a virtue necessary for the Christian. Afterall, it’s been roughly 2,000 years since Christ said He was returning, soon. So we are urged to be patient, to be long-suffering and strengthen our hearts with repentance, since the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Another way to translate the word for patience is “long-suffering.” Afterall, we’re commended to the steadfastness of Job, who endured a great deal of suffering.  James compares the patience we must have to farmers, “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient [long-suffering] about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.” And anyone who has grown crops or raised livestock knows how waiting for the harvest can be called long-suffering.

Between the time you place the seed in the ground and harvest the fruit at the end of the year, a lot can happen. Heavy rains after planting can wash the seeds away. Late frosts can damage or kill seedlings. Too much rain can flood the field, too little rain can starve the field. Animals can destroy the crops, just as well as a tornado or heavy winds or hail.

 Once you’ve made it to the very end of the year, right before the crops are perfectly ripe, patience becomes even more difficult. Having put in all of the work to keep the crop growing and producing, it takes just one bad storm, a week before harvest, to destroy the whole thing, leaving you with nothing at the end of the year. 

So with every storm cloud, with every shower that misses you during a drought, with every chance of hail, with every night that passes, the farmer needs to be long-suffering and patient. The same is true for Christians. Before Christ returns, we must wait for the early and late rains. We must be long-suffering, patiently enduring every trial which comes our way, and there are many. 

With every day that passes, there’s another opportunity for Satan to attack, and us to suffer. So St. James says, “establish your hearts” that is, strengthen your hearts, build them up, so that they can endure the necessary long-suffering before Christ returns. Let us strengthen and establish our hearts so that when Christ does return, He may reap the precious fruit of our souls. Let us remain steadfast through many trials. 

This strengthening and establishing of hearts is the work which John the Baptist came to do. He came preaching, a voice crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.” He baptized people in the Jordan river when they confessed their sins. John came preaching a baptism of repentance. So repentance is the means by which the Christian is strengthened and established for the coming of Christ.

Let’s go back to our farm analogy. When you have an old barn, built by your great grandfather, which you’re currently using, it may reach the point where something needs to be done with it since a bad storm could easily destroy it. You have two options: forget about the barn and bulldoze it, or strengthen it so that it endures another three generations. So you tear out the rotted beams and replace them, cut out the broken boards in the roof and patch it, tear out the rusted hinges and install shiny new ones. It’s a lot of work, but otherwise a strong wind may blow it down right on top of your livestock.

Likewise, God doesn’t want to just forget about us and bulldoze us, making way for someone else in heaven. Rather He loves us, and so calls us to repentance. He calls us to look inside of our hearts, recognize our weaknesses, our sins and failures, and cut them out. Repentance is little more than realizing that we’re not strong, that we’re frail and broken, and desperately in need of repair before a strong enough storm comes along and topples us over.

So let us tear out those old rotted beams, the crusty layer of crud, the broken floorboards, and the cracked posts of sin which we’ve erected in our hearts. It’s painful to tear out those sins and false beliefs which have been a part of us for so long, but it’s necessary. Now, you can’t just tear out the rotten stuff and expect the whole thing to be perfect, rather what was rotten needs to be replaced. So we are to be propped up with the cruciform Christ who is long-suffering for us.

So when we rip out the false beliefs we hold, we need to replace them with the truth. Instead of our old false opinions we’ve formed, we must be filled with the living Word of God. If you haven’t yet started daily prayer at home, now is a good time to begin. Buy a hymnal and a Bible if you don’t have ones already, take home the Daily Prayers I print off for you, read the Portals of Prayer, and establish your hearts upon the Word of God. Commit Bible verses, hymns, and the catechism to memory so that when the troubles of life rise to meet you, you will be steadfast like the prophets of old.

The reason you will be steadfast is because Christ fills your heart. “Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” If Christ fills your heart, then you’re stronger than this world, because you’re as strong as Christ! You may not look strong or like much, afterall John the Baptist wore camel’s hair and ate bugs, but Jesus said there was no one greater than him because John was established in Christ. Likewise you, my friends, when you empty yourselves of your rotten sins and are built up in Christ, you will be steadfast and long-suffering when troubles rise to greet you. 

And when you fear and despair, like Job and the prophets did, remember that “you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” As frail, impatient, and filled with rotten sins as we may be, God is steadfast and long-suffering for you. He endured the cross and the shame for you. He bore the burden of every one of your sins. He’s waited 2000 years before coming back so that you would be born and come to heaven. He’s long-suffering, waiting for you, so let us also be long-suffering in repentantance until the coming of the Lord.