Advent III Hope in faithfulness & Stewardship of God's grace

 

I Corinthians 4  Advent III

Readings

*Isaiah 35

 

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The Epistle
1 Corinthians iv. 1.

LET a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

 

The Gospel
St. Matthew xi. 2.

NOW when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

The Collect

O LORD Jesus Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

 

 

Andrew Symes in Anglican Mainstream hits the nail on the head...
( Isaiah)"The prophet recognizes that as the underlying problem is the mis-orientation of the human heart, resulting in God’s judgement. The desperate need is not for economic or political solutions, or programmes of self-improvement, but forgiveness, and spiritual and moral transformation in response to divine ‘ad-vention’ and intervention. We are powerless to make ourselves acceptable to God, and to change our hearts. “How can we be saved?” the prophet asks in anguish in verse 5. He pleads: “do not remember our sins forever”, but forgiveness alone, the removal of the sentence of punishment and the cleansing of conscience, is only one aspect of the salvation that is needed. We need God to visit in person: “Come down to make your name known to your enemies” (v2).

We all believe this on our knees as Whitfield ( Anglican evangelist in the 1700's) said to Wesley ( Methodist). The unregenerate man or woman needs God's grace and love to know Him. There is usually some preparation to God's hope and this is usually preceded by difficulty. No man or woman turns to God who thinks everything is fine. So should we pray for hardship in some lives? We will leave this to God.

Both Malachi and Luke talk about the preparation thing. " Prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight ( and ours)." In that preparation there is hope. Advent is hopeful. We are on a journey to the birthday of Christ the child. Who would go on a trip without preparation?---prepare the items we need to bring, get gas, etc.... so it is so with Christmas and Advent. This Advent is a time of reflection and preparation for Christmas. What is on your list , not gift list for ourselves or others, but the gifts we are giving to Christ?

In the Epistle the Apostle Paul talks about some things we could think about for that list. The first is servants----not the usual greek word here, but one that means an under rower...." hypērétēs hypó, "under" and ēressō, "to row"– properly, a rower (a crewman on a boat), an "under-rower" who mans the oars on a lower deck; (figuratively) a subordinate executing official orders, i.e. operating under direct (specific) orders. 2 Timothy 2:4 calls us soldiers. " No soldier on service entangles himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier." ----What do all these things mean? Do the math. Jesus said in the garden before He went to the cross, " he kneeled down and prayed, saying , ' Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." Luke 22:42

Whitfield said, " The renewal of our natures is a work of great importance. It is not to be done in a day. We have not only a new house to build up, but an old one to pull down." We are under authority and are ambassadors ( representatives) for Christ as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:20 Expect oppostion . Again, Whitfield said, " If you are going to walk with Jesus Christ, You are going to be opposed."

2. " Servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" What does this mean? Stewards are house managers or house alloters.....who manages the goods that the house has and is. " (Ministers) are not the originators of their own doctrines, or the teachers of the doctrines of other men, but simply the dispensers of the truths which God has revealed." Charles Hodge Perhaps we need a nature break?

"Silence, solitude, sunset, and stars have a softening effect on the human spirit. Under their influence, our mundane concerns – what poet Philip Britts called the “day-long tap of thoughts” and the “trivial tinkle of the day” – are gradually replaced by wonder. As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel notes, this sense of wonder is not simply of passing worth; rather, it forms the very root of faith itself and nurtures a wisdom that no amount of knowledge can replicate:
Wisdom comes from awe rather than from shrewdness. It is evoked not in moments of calculation but in moments of being in rapport with the mystery of reality. The greatest insights happen to us in moments of awe.
We would do well, then, not to miss such opportunities as come our way – and they will do so no matter the setting, if our hearts are attuned to them." Bill Wiser

3. Faithful is the last thought I wish to think of..... I Cor 4:2" Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. " Erdman said in his commentary on I Corinthians 4 , " The Christian ministers are dispensers and administrators of divine truths. They must render an account , therefore, not to their fellow servants but to God. They go where they are sent and share what has been revealed to them.
Faithfulness to their Master and to their mission is all that can be required of them."

Conclusion---As we continue through Advent it is not a fast time, but a slow look at our own spiritual lives. We are pulling down an old house but building up a new one. Retreat , renewal, silence are needed, not noisy elves yet at least. Jesus asks us to take a look at the lens of our lives through the prism of His Gospel and Words to us in the Holy Scriptures as we prayed in the opening Collect today. Now we need more than ever His grace to cast off the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light.
Amen.