UFCC - Sermon 12-23-07 (This is an excerpt of the sermon)

Pastor Tom Colburn

"Oh my God is that your Son I see coming!"

Good morning this fourth Advent Sunday of December! We are just two days from that glorious event of 1959 when your pastor was born! 

I'm just kidding. Can you beleive that Christmas is upon us? What a wonderful privilege we have to celebrate the birth of our King at a time in our lives when we are surrounded by each other, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us appreciate that great blessing from God.

Good news! Jesus is returning to earth, possibly in our lifetime. He will reign as king. The world will be administered in a Heavenly, righteous fashion none of us have ever experienced.

They say it's darkest just before the dawn. And so it will be at that time, just prior to his coming as millions will die. Yet upon his return, the saints of the ages will be resurrected from the dead. Thus will begin on planet earth a very different world. 

This is not a matter of "if" but a matter of "when." It will happen. We can easily speak of it, but how well do we wrap our minds around the realness and perhaps imminence of it all? Do we truly appreciate the magnitude of what is certain to happen?

Or are we so involved with life day to day that were Jesus to come quite soon we might look up and say, as does the title of today's message, "Oh my God. Is that your Son I see coming!"

Matthew 24:21-22, "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short."

Titus 2:11-13, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, [The glory of the One God, our Father; That glory of the Father is...], Christ Jesus."

Matthew 16:27, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Even so Come Lord Jesus. Our king is indeed coming. He is coming for us and all his people. Let us be prepared and positive about his arrival.

Beginning actually at the end of November, I commenced a sermon series based around the current season/theme of Christmas/Advent. On November 25th the sermon was, Getting ready to deck the halls.

I began that message indicating that I had read somewhere that having the proper attitude during the Christmas season meant decking the halls and not your relatives. I think we all agreed that was a good place to start. So we began our season forming the proper attitude.

The following Sunday I talked about The reason for the reason for the season. We learned that the reason for the reason for the season is our stubbornness, selfishness and foolishness. But it's also the value God places on us that He would even then conceive a plan of salvation for His creation most of whom were not even born, but yet that He still loved. So whether we look at the good side or bad, the reason for the reason for the season is us.

Finally, the last we met the message was, Happily ever after began once upon a time. We will indeed suffer a while on this earth, so we need a fortress to protect us. We will be confused and frustrated at times, so we need a rock upon which to anchor our lives. And even with these, the war zone remains so we ultimately need a deliverer from this life to one of sanity and peace. That oasis is the coming Kingdom of God where Jesus reigns as king.

This week we continue the Christmas/Advent theme with today's message, "Oh my God. Is that your Son I see coming?"  We develop a proper attitude. We appreciate that the reason for Jesus is us and our behavior. We understand that we don't get to the Kingdom without a little fire along the way. And now we're going to talk about why Christians look up at the sky and what it really means to have Jesus return to this earth.

Let's think about the title of this message. Let's be honest. If we went outside after church and happened to look up and lo and behold Jesus was descending isn't that probably the question that would run through most of our minds? "Oh my God. Is that your Son I see coming!" Are we really, really, really ready right now?

Do you remember your dating days and preparing for those dates? Do you recall your first meeting with that "to die for" member of the opposite gender? (With any luck at all that person is your current spouse!) You ladies probably spent like three days in front of the mirror dolling yourselves up in grand anticipation!

And you guys...well, you at least combed your hair that day and put on a semi-clean shirt, right? And I bet you shined your car up real nice!

Anyway, how would you have reacted if your date showed up half way through your primping? You guys - grease all over your face, your pants on backwards, your hair messed up. And, heaven forbid, what if there was still mud all over the side or your souped up Camaro? You think that little prom queen would be looking your way?

How about you ladies? What if you still had the cucumbers on your eyes and that green junk all over your face? And your hair all twisted in curlers like Medusa? Mr. Adonis comes knocking on your door, and you're looking like that! You'd be mortified. So would he! But if he was special enough you'd never let that happen. You wouldn't want to scare him off. You wouldn't take the chance.

Spiritually speaking, how do you think each one of us look like right now to Jesus Christ? If he decended on our doorstep and rang the buzzer, how sweet and pure would our life look to the King of Kings?

That possibility should matter to us at least as much as did impressing our little Snookems back in High School. God is watching and Jesus is coming. It could be in our lifetime. If, being the procrastinators many humans are, we're not quite ready, are we at least busy primping?

Matthew 16:27, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works."


...(more to come)...