Waiting for Jesus; Living Relentless Lives of Grace!

Grace, and mercy, and peace be to you in the Name of Jesus, who loves us relentlessly, and whose will for us is relentless lives of grace for others! Amen.

I must admit, when I used to read this passage when I was young, I found it over the top, even disturbing. How could anyone do all these things relentlessly in the world in which we live? Be joyful “always?” Never stop praying? Give thanks no matter what is going on in your life? These things not only seemed absurd, they were down right impossible to me.

But, reading more and more of the Bible, I began to realize that this wasn’t some masochistic religious call to live life beyond what is humanly possible. This was a call to live Christ-filled lives in full view of God’s mercy, in full view of God’s eternal love for us in Jesus. Remember this call to discipleship comes at the end of the Thessalonian letter, not the beginning.

When you understand these words in the context of the relentless, gracious love of Jesus, here for you first, then Christian life is the adventure of reflecting what is already yours to share. Relentless love received never stops sharing that love for others. Relentless joy experienced never stops being joyful in the midst of any circumstance.

In our Word for today, the Apostle Paul is correcting a young congregation who had gotten all this good news of Jesus a bit twisted in their everyday lives. They were so eager to be ready for Jesus Christ’s return that they started checking out of life this side of heaven. They stopped doing their day-to-day tasks because they wanted to be ready to meet Jesus when He returns to judge the living and the dead. Their misunderstanding of being prepared to meet Christ created a fanatic lethargy when hope for Christ’s return should actually motivate us to works of love and service to God and to neighbor, even more!

Relentless love, graciously given, is the reality of God at work towards the world. Relentless lives of grace are the responses of God’s people to others in His Name. In full view of our advent preparation for Christmas and for when Christ comes again….Paul says, God has a will for you as you wait for Him.

Paul encouraged them and he encourages us today that because of Christ’s impending return, there is purpose to live life, there is a reason to work, there is a reason to have families, there is a reason to get up every morning. Jesus Christ is coming! He came at Christmas, we celebrate! He is coming again, we actively wait. Life is, in many ways, daily preparing to meet our Savior, once and for all, face to face. Waiting for Jesus is not an idle waiting game but a relentless exercise in joy, in prayer, and in thanksgiving. There’s nothing like the life of faith because there’s no Lord and Savior like Jesus. That kind of preparation leads to Godly celebration!

The Scriptures says, “This is God’s will for you…be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire…test everything. Hold to the good. Avoid every kind of evil…the One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”

Jesus Christ wants you to know and experience His relentless love. Paul says it clearly, “the Lord who calls you, is faithful, He will do this!”

His love is sufficient for our lives. His grace is relentless, always there forgiving, encouraging, and empowering our lives in Him. Relentless.

Relentless. I’ve chosen that word specifically today. I know that it often has “negative” connotations. I mean, who hasn’t dealt with a “relentless” enemy, one who always seems to be there to mess things up. Or, how about the “relentless” salesperson who never seems to let you merely browse around in the store at your leisure. Or, I hate to say this, but there might even be those relentless friends in our lives who sometimes can be emotionally overwhelming.

But, the God of the Bible is relentless with love, with forgiveness, with grace, with beauty. It grieves Him that we choose the things of sin, rebellion, and death. He calls us to repentance, so that we might have a relationship with Him based on His work on our behalf. Surely the cross and resurrection of Jesus, the Christmas Babe at work for us, is a call to faith in Him who does all things well for us.

G. K. Chesterton, in his book Orthodoxy, writes about Creation and the creative enthusiasm of God. He says: “A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have an abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things done, repeated, and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again,’ and the grown-up person does it again and again and again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough; He says to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning to the sun, ‘Do it again’; and every evening to the moon, ‘Do it again’. It may not be an automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never become tired of making them. It may be that He has an eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in nature may not be a mere reoccurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE.” That encore will be at the renewal of all things where He says, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). And we say, “Come Lord Jesus. Do it again!”

Or, as Luther reminds us, it may not be merely God’s eternal appetite for infancy, but His eternal desire for us to receive His love and His grace. He says, “God forgives us ‘richly and daily’. Or as we might say today, out of love, He is willing to do it again and again with His people.

With a heart that willingly went to the cross so that grace, not judgment, might indeed be ours, God hears our prayers, He watches over us with His protective eye, He thwarts our enemies, and blesses us in spite of ourselves. Come Lord Jesus, again and again until we see You face to face!

“This is God’s will for you” the Scripture says, “be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire…test everything. Hold to the good. Avoid every kind of evil for the One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”

So get busy living lives of grace and underserved love as you wait for the One who has redeemed and restored you to come and take you to be with Himself in the new heavens and the new earth.

When Christians receive Christ’s love by grace through faith, such a life calls us to the adventure of loving other sinful human beings relentlessly until Jesus comes again as this world’s Judge!

He’s coming and we’re to wait for Him as He says. But how? Just recently, another preacher named a date for Christ’s return to judge the living and dead. I’m not sure why these people do this. I don’t know if they’re looking for notoriety (Lord knows that’s the way of this world today), or if they think that scaring people is the way to call them to faith. I’m not sure. But, the date came and it went. And as the Bible says, pastors and people who dabble in such misguided silliness, they miss the whole point. The Scripture clearly says that no one knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return. So, how should we wait? Well, focus on the gracious message of Christ with God the Father and put it to work in our lives, that’s how!

Do you want to be ready to stand before the judgment throne of Christ? Trust in Jesus as your Savior and put His love to work in your life so that others might know Him too. Relentless gracious love received; relentless, gracious love shared, prepared, ready to celebrate when Christ returns again!

So when the Apostle Paul tells us to “be joyful in all circumstances,” he is reminding us that God is involved in our lives no matter what. There is trouble in this world, but our Savior has overcome it, and so will we. To be joyful is to see God’s eternal hand in your temporal situation! By faith in Jesus, you know already, that in all circumstances, in all things, God is already there for you! Nothing in this world can separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ. Nothing! He’s relentless about that.

The joy of life does indeed depend on one’s perspective, doesn’t it?

I love the story of a man who visited a stone quarry and asked three workers what they were doing! 1) said irritably, “Can’t you see, I’m cutting a stone and no one is really helping me at all!” 2) said matter-of-factly, “I’m making $100 an hour, 3) put down his pick and thrust out his chest and he said proudly, “I’m building a cathedral!” Yet all were doing the exact same work!

Being joyful always is not wishful thinking, but the relentless attitude of seeing all things in life from God’s eternal perspective, in view of Christ’s cross and resurrection for us!

And, when Paul, then, encourages us to “pray unceasingly, to value prophecy,” he’s just reminding us that all of life is to be lived in full view of God’s love, by grace for others and that God has even made tools for us for the work, available to all who believe.

One thing you learn in this life is you have to have the right tools for the job, don’t you? To put prayer to work continually is to live in God’s eternal dialogue with you. Every thought, every word, every action becomes a dialogue of grace received and shared in Him. It is true, in Him we live, and move, and have our very being!

His prophetic Word doesn’t just guide us, it literally empowers us by His Spirit to continually receive and share what is God’s to give! His tools work. Do you want to be ready to face Jesus when He comes again? Value His Word, it relentlessly works in your life, it builds faith, and trust, and real celebration; value prayer because He relentlessly loves to hear the cries and celebrations of His people and to answer; and hold on to what God says is true because the things of God, the truth of His Word, the mercy of His promises, they and only they finally hold on to you in all things!

The Lord doesn’t leave us unprepared, does He? He has a will for us as we wait. He calls us to live lives of relentless love towards others as we await the great day when He will come again.

So, Advent preparation is much like waiting for Jesus to come again in judgment. It is a call to keep your focus on God’s Word, God’s promises, and to put that love to work in the lives of others. It is a call to live relentless lives of love as fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, neighbors, and friends. But even more so, reflecting God’s relentless love is a call to love stranger, struggler, even enemy as God in Christ loves you!

And, if you think about it, if you are a believer, this love was given to you by someone at sometime, wasn’t it? It didn’t just fall from the sky. It was relentlessly delivered to you down through the years.

One of the miracles of Advent is that people look back on their lives in preparation for Christmas. Some even think about “how or why they’ve come to faith.” Most often, they’ll tell you that they came to faith in Jesus, because they experienced glimpses of His relentless love from others.

I can tell you that I experienced that kind of love growing up. Receiving underserved, relentless love, it’s a big reason for my being a Lutheran Christian Pastor today. I had a very hard working and faithful father, but even more so, I had a relentlessly loving mother.

Now, I was first born, so my mom especially challenged me to do a lot of things, Many of those things were outside of my comfort zone. Before ushering me off to some big game, big race, or some musical performance, or play, I remember her telling me, over and over again, “Go out there and do your very best, and if it doesn’t work out or even if you fail, remember you can always come home.” A relentless love; it really was available especially in times of challenge.

But that kind of love has to be more than words, doesn’t it? Like I said, my mom is relentless in a good way. She wouldn’t let me settle for anything less than my best and she encouraged me, even made me, do some things, at the time, I didn’t want to do. But, the real key was that she was always there. I’ll never forget the moment I realized how wonderful this kind of love was and is.

It was some race. I think that it was my sophomore year in high school. I even think that I won the race, but for some reason, that information has faded from my memory. But I can recall seeing my most devoted fan cheering me home to the finish line that day, even though she had three boys at home and another on the way. You see, it was a cross-country race, three miles. It was November in Michigan, rainy, cold, and dark. If there were a handful of fans there, that in and of itself would have been remarkable.

Now I don’t even want to get into the issue of why I was running “cross-country.” I was supposed to be playing football, but my mom said no to that, something about dad’s knees when he played, and, like I said, my mom was pretty persuasive even when I protested, “Mom, come on. I don’t like running long distances and Cross-country teams don’t have fans or cheerleaders. I mean, it’s the quarterback for the football team, not the lead runner for the Cross-country team that gets all the press.” But her relentless love even won out there.

But, when I look back at all the games, all the races, all the practices, it’s not even the winning and losing I remember. What I remember vividly to this day is a mother who was at every meet, big ones and small; who not only challenged me, but also supported me above and beyond the call of duty. And I can still remember to this day running that last 300-400 yards of that November day race, up a hill in the misty cold rain and then seeing her standing there standing alone at the top of the hill, bundled up, under a dripping umbrella, cheering me all the way to the finish. Now that still stands out today, that’s a relentless love that makes a difference in your life.

And that is merely a glimpse of what God’s Word means for us today. When Paul calls these Thessalonians to “Rejoice always, pray unceasingly, and give thanks in all circumstances,” he’s not laying some crushing religious law down upon them. He’s not calling for their pound of flesh to appease an angry God. He’s calling young Christians in full view of God’s relentless love for them on the cross, in full view of His resurrection, to reflect that love to a world that knows only brokenness and despair. He’s calling them to the adventure of trying to “keep up with that kind of love” that love that will be there in their successes, there in their failures that will motivate them to strive to do their best, and to encourage them when they’re overwhelmed by their worst.

My mom would never tell you that she did all things right in her life. But even here, her relentless love was a blessing, since she finally directed all of us to the love of Jesus that would indeed be the One cheering us home to Himself, even when she could not.

Now, if you’ve never had a clear glimpse of that love, in friendships or family, fear not because even here, it’s not only about our experiences with fellow sinners saved by grace, it’s ultimately about coming to know the Lord Jesus who loves you and me relentlessly on the cross, and eternally in His resurrection. He’s the One cheering you on today through His Word, in His church, through His Supper, never forget that!

So, Paul ends the whole discussion by saying, don’t forget “The One who calls you is faithful, He will do this!”

God has a will for your life. Put your faith life to work in this world. Let rejoicing, constant prayer, and the power of thanksgiving burst forth in deeds of love and grace to others. Let the relentless love of Christ Jesus empower your relentless life of grace as we prepare to meet Him again in joy on Christmas morning and in confidence on Judgment Day. Now that’s a godly preparation that leads to real celebration, now and always.

Amen.

LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for December 11, 2011
Topic: Faith’s Special Blessings?

ANNOUNCER: Now, Pastor Gregory Seltz responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Today a listener asks, “If God sends rain upon the just and the unjust,” as Scripture says, if He is willing to bless both believers and unbelievers the same way, what’s the point, then, of following God if you’re not going to have any special blessings for having been faithful to Him?”

SELTZ: Well Mark, it sounds like our listener has a bit of a twisted view about what “knowing God by faith is all about.”

ANNOUNCER: Well, if not twisted, at least disappointed, I guess.

SELTZ: I think you’re right. First, their disappointment might come from having a false notion that “receiving the generic blessings of food, and good weather, and health” are the same thing as being blessed with “forgiveness, life, and salvation” that come by faith. If a person doesn’t think that the latter are special, incredibly wonderful and unique gifts of God that come to those who trust Him, then I don’t know what to say. But, I don’t think that’s the issue that our listener has.

ANNOUNCER: Right and I don’t think it’s so much an issue of “fairness” here, I think it’s really getting God’s attention, the attention you think that your faith deserves.

SELTZ: And that, I think, is even more disappointing to God because any faith relationship with Him is a gift of grace, not of works. Jesus, Himself, told a parable about God’s gracious character to a group of people who felt that their faith had earned them God’s special attention.

ANNOUNCER: And here we’re talking about that parable that’s commonly known as “The Parable of the workers in the vineyard.”

SELTZ: Yes, that’s the one, that’s the one where the Landowner is very generous, who pays every worker a “day’s wage,” even though some come to work at the beginning of the day, some at noon, and others near the end of the day. I love what the Landowner’s says to the disappointed workers.

ANNOUNCER: Right. At the end of the day, he says, “Well, do you begrudge me for my generosity?”

SELTZ: Right. Jesus get’s right to it, doesn’t He? That statement reveals God’s sadness to the very question. They had missed the generous nature of the work and the wage. They had missed the whole point that they had a full day’s worth of gracious work in the Landowner’s vineyard. They had the privilege of a sure blessing of knowing Him, being resourced by Him, and a promise of meaningful work in their lives and then there was the camaraderie of working with others throughout the day. The ones hired at the end, suffered through a day of anxious anxiety of not knowing whether they would work or not. Yet, each one received all that they needed for the needs of the day.

ANNOUNCER: So, really, there is a special blessing for those that know God by faith.

SELTZ: Of course there is, but it’s a grace upon grace blessing. The minute you understand that your life is a gracious gift of God; one’s eyes are open to all the things that God so graciously provides.

ANNOUNCER: So, even this blessing of the same rain falling on the believer and the unbeliever, the just and the unjust. The Christian has a unique perspective on that and sees these blessings, perhaps, in a different way.

SELTZ: I think so. Because the Christian sees it from the gracious hand of God and that knowledge, in and of itself, is a special blessing. Where others might not even give it another thought. There is a certain sadness when people don’t even know the source of the grace that is poured out into their lives.

ANNOUNCER: So, in the end, I guess the ultimate answer to our listener’s question; this is really not about whether you’ve received special blessings, but it’s really about whether you’re concerned with those others who don’t see God’s hand of grace in all that He has daily provided in their lives.

SELTZ: Exactly, as a believer, can you even imagine a life where a person not only doesn’t know the grace of God’s forgiveness and salvation, but fails to see the hand of God in anything in their lives? I would think that a Christian would be much more concerned about seeking to make sure that an unbeliever would receive all of God’s gifts, and not worry about whether we got everything we deserved.

ANNOUNCER: That’s right. Seeing the life of faith as a gift opens our eyes to all of that and it should also ultimately remind us that our lives are super blessed through the life and salvation that Jesus earned for us on the cross. Thank you Pastor Seltz, and with that we come to the end of our broadcast for another week. Thank you to the listener for making this program part of your day. We hope you’ll join us again next time. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.

Music Selections for this program:

“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.

“Arise, Shine” by Mark Bender. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC