Advent 1                                      December 1, 2024
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13                Pastor Ryan Wolfe

“The Joy of Advent”
1) God’s people are coming to him
2) Because God comes to His people first

“I’m so glad you came.” Did you find yourself saying those words this past week, or something like them, as you welcomed somebody who traveled a long way to spend Thanksgiving with you? We say it because we’re finally together with that long distant relative or friend and we want to have a good time together. But i t’s interesting that we say the same thing at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum too. We come to a funeral home or a hospital. Someone we love is going away and aren’t we greeted the same way? “I’m so glad you came.”

There is a peace, even a joy, in just being together with people we love whether times are good or difficult. As we begin a new church year and prepare for Christ’s coming we see both joy and peace in our reading from 1 Thessalonians. Paul had been separated from these people that he loved. And when a report of their faithfulness comes to him he is moved to renew their love with a visit. The last verse shows us he wanted to come to them so that they would be ready when Jesus comes back for us all. In Advent we don’t just prepare for Christ’s coming at Christmas. We always have in mind also his second coming at the end. As we hear these words from Paul we find the same two joys in advent. We rejoice that people are coming to God. And we rejoice that God is coming to his people.

Acts 17 records that Paul preached for three weeks in the Greek city of Thessalonica on his second missionary journey. Many people came to faith in Jesus, some Jews became jealous of Paul’s success. They started a riot so fierce that Paul had to move on to the next city, only to find that the Thessalonian persecutors followed them to stir up trouble there. If these enemies of the gospel did that to Paul himself, you can bet they persecuted the fledgling church Paul left behind.

You can imagine how concerned Paul must have been for them. Here was a congregation that had only three weeks of training in Christian faith and now they were on their own. Paul must have felt like a parent helping their child prepare for an important test. You can help them study and learn, but eventually they have to go pass the test on their own. And the Thessalonians without Paul were facing dangers and tests that would have eternal consequences. Thessalonica was a major city of 200,000 people. These brand-new believers were surrounded by neighbors who worshiped false gods and friends who ridiculed them for their humble faith. Of course Paul was concerned for them. What pastor wouldn’t be?

In verse six, just before our text, Paul said, “Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love.” It was that arrival of good that set prompted this whole section of the letter. The people that God had brought to faith through Paul’s preaching were continuing in that faith. They continued to come to God in prayer and practice. They lived their faith in love for each other. How relieved Paul must have been. What makes a pastor’s heart light? Seeing God’s people living in faith.

And so Paul says here, “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?” Paul is so filled with joy he’s speechless. God was keeping all his promises in spite of what their enemies were doing. God had brought faith to the Thessalonian believers and now they were continuing to find strength in him. And Paul’s joy wasn’t just the “I’m so glad you came” temporary joy of a weekend visit. His joy was in the presence of God himself because he knew that their steadfast faith in God meant eternal blessings for them.

Paul continues. “Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.” In love, Paul knew that while the Thessalonians were living their faith, there was still more to do. What was lacking in their faith? Certainly not a knowledge of their Savior or strength of faith to endure hardship. No, their faith was strong, but not overly deep. If you would read the rest of 1 & 2 Thessalonians, you’d get an idea of the gaps in their spiritual training. They didn’t really understand Jesus’ promises of resurrection and return. They weren’t completely ready to stand up to false teachers. In many ways, they were infants in the faith and open to dangerous enemies.

And we here 2000 years later find ourselves in the same situation needing the same encouragements. If Paul were looking at our congregation, he would see people coming to God just like the Thessalonians. People worshiping in God’s house, serving with the gifts God has given. Teaching faith to our children and reaching out with faith to our neighbors and friends.

But he would also find ways that we are lacking in faith too. Paul the pastor would have prayed for the opportunity to come and teach us as well. There’s a lot we’ve forgotten, or never knew, about faith too. And what’s worse, we too often ignore the opportunities we have to grow. Bible studies we choose not to attend. Emailed devotions we delete without reading and devotional books we leave unread. We let our children and teens decide whether to go to Sunday school or worship when we know the sinful choice they’ll make isn’t good for them. There are lots of ways that our faith is lacking too. In all of us.

When God opens our eyes like this to our weaknesses, we have to come back to God once again in humility and repentance. We remember the Savior who came in humility for us and are reminded of the joy we have in sins forgiven. The greeting that Savior gives every time we open our Bibles, every time we walk into worship. Jesus, with open arms, dressing us in perfect righteousness and telling us, “I’m so glad you came.” Rejoicing himself in the presence of God because our faith has brought us back to the source of our joy.

We come to him because he first came to us. As I mentioned at the beginning, celebrating Christ’s coming in Advent means celebrating all the times he comes to us. Yes, as the calendar turns to December thoughts of Christmas dominate the scene. And of course in Advent we are preparing once again to celebrate the coming of our Savior in Bethlehem. We rejoice that God came to his people to save us.

But before we celebrate that Christmas arrival we need to pump the brakes once or twice. Christmas is still four weeks away and there are some preparations we have to get in place. Did you know the traditional color for Advent is not blue, but purple? The same as Lent. The solemn preparation in that season is part of this one too. Advent gives us time to prepare not our houses, but our hearts for Christ’s coming. In these weeks we acknowledge the seriousness of our sin. We recognize how lost we were by nature. How hopeless we were on our own. But we consider our sin so that we see all the more joyfully the Savior who came to save us from it. In Advent we remember the joy that comes not just from the first time he came but every time.

And so we rejoice in the Savior who came at Christmas. But we also rejoice that the Savior comes to us through the Word. He comes to us through word and water in baptism. Through word and wafer and wine in the Lord’s Supper. You see, we come to Christ because he keeps coming to us. It’s through these things that God does what Paul prays for in the last verses of our text. Through the Word and Sacraments that the Lord “makes [our] love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else.” Through the gospel that he “strengthens [your] hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father.”

That’s why I think of Advent as a kind of a “bridge” between seasons. For the past few weeks we’ve focused on the Last Day, when Jesus will come in glory to bring us to heaven. And what a day that will be! And at Christmas, we’ll celebrate the first coming of Jesus when he became man to do the work to save us. And that will be a day to celebrate too. But in these weeks of December, let’s slow down as the world speeds up. In these four weeks let’s enjoy this moment standing between those days when Jesus came and when he will come again. Let’s not rush to Christmas. Christians, Christ has come for you. May we go to him. And in the hope of forgiveness promised, we will find what is too often lacking in our faith. We will find joy in Advent. Hope in Christ. Amen.