Attitude to face advent(2peter 3:8-13)

Attitude to face advent(2peter 3:8-13)

	8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.   Intro) 1. There is a word advent it means came or arrival. This word was originated from Latin and it means Christ coming on this land physically. Advent is 4 weeks long of time period before the Christmas to prepare and remembrance of arrival of Christ before his birth.   2. In bible there are two endless waiting being center of it. If the Old testament was about hope about messiah who came on this land, the new testament is about hope that messiah who will return to this land  3. In fact in certain angle life is continuing of waiting. There are many different waits in daily life. Waiting to ride bus, to fed dinner for someone you love after work, to achieve life goal, to harvest in farm, and to succeed from studying.  Our lives are filled with different kinds of waiting either big or small.

4. Waiting can be pleasant or unpleasant. For certain waiting can be very fearful for different situation. In today’s verse 10 says, ‘¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.^’

This kind of waiting can be tragic.

 

 

Unfortunate waits are like poor man facing the deadline to pay off his debt and waiting to meet collector, injured person waiting to get into surgery with pain, and prisoner waiting for execution. Hope we don’t have any of unfortunate waits in our lives.

 

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A) Faith is about waiting

1.  Faith is waiting too, because it is about waiting God’s promises to come true. If we read bible it is about stories of waiting.

2. When God was leading the people of Israel, God’s first pick was Abraham. Abraham received call from God at age of 75. When he was called he left his land and his father’s home town, but after he was called he had to wait long time. At age of 100 finally promise comes true. Abraham got Isaac as seed of promise to have a great nation. But, after 400 years later from that point he could form a great nation and exodus. After leaving Egypt people of Israel had to spend 40 years and they got the idea How God is. 

3. one day David was taking care of Sheep as shepherd and Prophet Samuel came and anointed as king. Not that he wanted, but God chose him to and took 15 years passed until he became a king. While David was waiting he became general, but he had to run away from King Saul and beg for life, but he earn God’s grace and becomes a king.

 

4. Problem is this long waiting time is quite hard to endure and bored. So there were many people couldn’t wait for it and gave up. In today’s verse 8-9 it says, ‘⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.’

 Can’t you picture the situation that Peter was writing? This was era of persecution. In this waiting time there was evils were rising and lurking sins were all out there in the world, but none of judging was happening. Seemed like evil was winning, but in this time there was God heart.

Don’t you think waiting time for us from God’s perspective may be harder than we waiting for the time to come? Today’s verse 9 says, ‘⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Advent we face has meaning of waiting, but it can be a time to learn about God’s heart that waits for us.

 

5. We all like to rush thing and get things done fast, but waiting has many benefits and deep meaning. Rushing isn’t always beneficial.

B) Let’s discover amazing truth about waiting.

1. Waiting means we have object to wait and that is God we trust. Waiting is not about boredom, but time to learn strength. In Isaiah 40:31 says, ‘³¹ But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.’

 Here “But those who wait on the Lord” shows “hope in the Lord” in New International Version. Yes this is not about boredom, but hope. We wait for new strength, because when we wait and look up we have hope rises.

 Today’s verse 8 is meaningful. It says, ‘ ⁸ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Then, why can’t we wait? It is because we count in our time, but we have to count as how God counts his time.

Having faith and wait for God it means having point as universal. This Means setting it to God’s aspect, and no rushing. Universal aspect is continues relationship with God. Saying wait and be prepared for the time when Jesus arrives. Yes people who wait are people who are preparing. Not just wasting time.

 

C )To bless the time of waiting? 

Today’s verse 10-13,  ‘¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. ¹¹ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? ¹³ Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Waiting is not easy, especially the eras of first church were so hard, and because of persecution they had to get over. In A. D. 64 emperor Nero’s persecution against Christian were so much of struggles. Christians did not know when they would get captured and be executed by fire or lion. If you go to catacombs in Rome you can see and hear how hard and long Christian kept their faith in underground tomb with tiny path way. How hard their time had been for them? But, in AD 313 finally Rome passed Christianity has their national religion they had so much relief and earn victory of long waiting.

  In today’s verse 11 it says, ‘¹¹ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,’

Now what Saint peter encourages us to do? We need to prepare with no lacking any for the day. How? With Righteous act and virile!!

  Let’s take a look at today’s verse 12, ‘¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?’

 

Longing for the day is person who can’t wait for the day to happen. It is devout man, Holy man. So today’s sermon sums up the key word to devout in advent. Word ‘Devout’ translated from original word of bible ‘eusebeia (εὐσεβεία)’. Word ‘ Eu’ means ‘well’ and ‘Sebeia’ means ‘serve.’ in English. Devout means serve well, so serves God, and neighbor well. But, meaning of Devout we know in dictionary is ‘earnest or sincere; hearty’ but this is quite a mistake in commandments. This kind of devout requires lots of abstinence. Do not do in commandments was understood with ‘devout’ made incompatible to what we should not do.

 Long ago I used to hear lots of things like this “you can’t use drum or guitar during church’s service time!, no running in church or play!, do not purchase anything on Sunday!, no young adult have relationship and act of it with others in church. This at first it looks right, but this was understood ‘devout’ as ‘commandment’.   

However, in James 1:26-27 true Devout is like this, ‘²⁶ If anyone among you^[b] thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. ²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.’

 But, true devout is working hard to get away from evil in front of God and people.

 We need to leave thinking evil and words. We need to show kindness and generosity.  We need to love people. If you can’t love what you see you can’t love you can’t see.

Therefore, sharing happiness with neighbors during Christmas time and help who are having hard time is good set to waiting Jesus. Advent’s request is have God’s endless love and act, and continue to look at God. Hallelujah!

 

121017 By Ik Sun Ahn