It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

It’s beginning to look allot like Christmas—the lights, the trees, the decorations. Oh, yes, let’s not forget the shopping—Black Friday shopping. This year, there’s a twist. Black Friday workers in some big fulfillment centers are saying they are being abused by “The Sale Siege”. Good luck to them of finding any hope. But there is always hope when you are ready for it.

I got caught in a Black Friday poinsettia stampede not that long ago. I almost lost a foot from a shopping cart driven by an enraged woman, eyes glazed over, mumbling “$2.99, $2.99”. Never, again. But with Covid in the rearview mirror, it was full charge ahead this Black Friday—from the big box giants—Walmart and Lowes—to online malls without walls, Christmas 2022, ready or not, here we come. I pity the fool who is not ready for the bigger day.

This season, all this excitement is for big screen TVs, “anything Apple”, and X-box Series S. And somewhere out there, there is a woman with a glazed over look, wheeling a shopping cart, mumbling “$2.99, $2.99”, with blood and poinsettia on her mind.

We take seriously our preparation for the celebration of Christmas—the first coming of Christ. This Friday, millions of people lined up at 4:00 in the morning to get a jump on shopping. They wanted to be ready.

But sometime in the future, Christ is coming back a second time. It will usher in a season of joy for some, judgment for others. Will you be ready? Today marks the first Sunday in the Christian calendar called Advent. The word advent means to look forward. Its purpose is to help us look forward with hope, to the future return of Christ. We have lit the first candle of the Advent wreath—the candle of hope. As certain as the first coming was, we look forward with a certain hope that things will be better when Christ comes again, not as a baby in a manger, but as King of a kingdom that has no end. It’s just a question of when.

We need to know how to approach the second coming of Christ because we don’t know when. How to prepare the 2nd coming of Christ? It won’t be found in a Walmart sales flyer, but in today’s Scripture reading --the first week of the four weeks of Advent.

Turn to Matthew 24, and Isaiah 2 as it lights our way with hope, to preparation for that sure and surprising day of joy and judgment.

First, we’ll see a man with a boat. Second, we’ll see a man with a house. Third, we will see a man on a mountain. They all knew one thing. You don’t have to be first in line for God’s hope—the second coming of Christ. Just be ready. And to be ready, you must stay ready.

First, we need to know what Noah knew that God’s promises are certain and secret. To be ready, you to need to stay ready. Jesus stressed to his disciples that not even the angels or He knows the hour or day He will return. Christ used Noah as an example: to be ready you must stay ready.

24:37 For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark,24:39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Matt. 24:37

You know Noah’s story in Genesis 6 through 10. Several generations after Adam, the wickedness of people made God regret that he had created them. He resolved to send a flood that would destroy all the living creatures in the world. Noah was selected, because of his righteousness, to build an ark to save a remnant of humanity Consequently, the entire surviving human race descended from Noah's three sons. Noah obeyed God and was right and ready for the rain and to enter into his salvation—the ark.

The evil of Noah’s day still exists today as seen in violence like that of the LGBTQ Club Q shooting in Colorado, Springs where five were killed, shot for no other reason than intolerance. The world’s not ready for the second coming today.

The question is: Are you ready for Christ’s return—your ark of salvation? Or will you be like the ancient evil world that was not ready to enter the ark. What preoccupied them so that they could not see the need for salvation. The answer will surprise—ordinary life—eating, drinking, marrying—even as evil and upheaval flourished around them. You, too can be so caught up in the normal affairs of the world—making a living, building a bigger house, investing in a nest egg, having a good time, today—that your senses are dulled to the evils of the world and spiritual affairs of life after death—where will you spend eternity? Will you be ready when Jesus comes?

On average, American consumers will spend $997 on gifts to celebrate Christmas; and on average, $750 office for Christmas parties, and $249 billion on holiday booze. That’s not to say that any of those “affairs of normal Christmas life” are wrong in and of themselves. But if they supersede preparation for the second coming of Christ, you may miss the boat.

Know what the man in the boat knew about being ready. To be ready is to be stay ready. Our hope does not lie in X-boxes and poinsettias, but in Christ. Don’t let the normal affairs of life distract you from being ready for the spiritual affairs of eternal life through the second coming of Christ. Live right light like the man in the boat.

Second, we need to know what the homeowner failed to do: watch for the certain and secret coming. To be ready, you to need to stay ready any and all the time. Jesus used another example—the homeowner—in Matthew 24 to stress to His disciples that to be ready you must WATCH RIGHT—any time, all the time.

43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Matthew 24:43-44

The disciples understood what the owners knew: if the thief is coming at 3 a.m., then he would be right there at 3 a.m. ready for him. In the same sense of timeliness, be awake any time, all the time because “anytime” is Christ’s time to return—4, 5, 6 a.m.; today, tomorrow, next year. All the time is Christ’s time.

Consider this: Americans spend, on average, $20 billion on home security systems: front-door cameras, equipment, monitoring for one reason—to be ready all the time. If the thief comes at 3 a.m., you’ve got eyes on him at 3 a.m.—ready. If he comes to the front door, you’ve got eyes on him—ready. As it is with “Simpli-Safe” for your home, so it should be for your spiritual destination. What if we spent “prime time” monitoring our spiritual readiness like:

• Pray without ceasing—all the time.

• Meditate on His word day and night—all the time.

• Rejoice in the Lord, always. Again I say rejoice

Know what the man who owned the house knew about being ready. You never know when the thief is coming. Christ unexpectedness resembles a thief, but make no mistake about it, He is not a thief. He is coming for His who are ready. Be ready by staying ready.

Finally, we need to know what the Prophet on the mountain knew, from his mountain top view of the future—to walk right—in the light. To be ready for the future you need to always be walking in God’s guiding light according to Isaiah 2:1-5:

2:1 In the future, the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure

as the most important of mountains…

2:3 Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

2:4 They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

2:5 O descendants of Jacob, come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light.

What Isaiah saw and knew what was the most important thing that will bring God’s people a hope and a future. It requires to be ready to walk in a guiding light. To walk is a euphemism for living. Are you ready to walk in the light?

• First, to walk or live in the light, you must be taught God’s words. Being obedient to God’s word is more important as we look forward in preparation for the return of Christ.

• Second, to walk in the light, is to have hope that the heart of man can change. Weapons of war can be transformed to instruments of peace. Peace, not war, will be the norm. As we prepare for the second coming of the Prince of Peace we have hope war between countries, and family members will have an end.

• Third, to walk in the light, is to be obedient to God’s guiding light the midst of darkness. These are dark times: shootings, bombings, divisions and strife. We have the soon-coming Christ to light our path, help us navigate the way through these times. But we must obey the light.

This year Americans will spend a whopping $6 billion on Christmas decorations, including LED lights, 16-foot-tall Santa inflatables, and pre-decorated Christmas trees. In comparison, we spend four Sundays on Advent—preparation for the second coming of Christ. There is nothing wrong with Christmas light as long as it doesn’t obscure the second coming of the real light:

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12

To be ready and stayed ready, every step must count. Step into the moment because this may be the moment—your next step—that Jesus returns. Will he come when you have chosen to step into the darkness anger toward a spouse? Will he come when you have chosen to step into the darkness unforgiveness of a friend? Will he come when you have chosen to step into fear like the neighbor who called the police on her neighbor for spraying trees for bugs. The neighbor doing the spraying for an eight- year-old African-American girl who was fascinated with riding the trees of pesky lanternflies. The fourth grader was trying to help the environment. The neighbor who made the call thought she was a stranger in the neighborhood. But the girl had lived in neighborhood for eight years. Unwarranted fear is a walk of unreadiness for Christ’s return.

Isaiah saw from a mountain top view, the future . He saw what is important: be taught the word—Christ, the word made flesh. He saw the possibility of peace through Christ—the Prince of Peace. He saw Jesus, the light of the world. No x-box or poinsettia can get you ready like the light of Christ for His return.

CONCLUSION

The man in the boat has shown us that to live right is to stay ready for the second coming of Christ. The man of the house has shown us that to watch right is to stay ready for His return. Christ’s time is anytime. The man on the mountain has shown us that to walk right, in the light of Christ, is how to stay ready. Live each day as if this is “the day”.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Light and live as a candle of hope this week so others can see how get ready and stay for the bigger day—Christ’s return.