Sunday, November 30, 2025
First Sunday in Advent (Advent 1A)
Text: Romans 13:8-14
Sermon Audio
As we gather… “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11). As we start a new church year, we look back to the end of an old one. During this season of Advent, we await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas. However, we also look to His second Advent, that is, when He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Paul tells us to be watchful for the second coming of Christ. This isn’t something of which we need to be afraid. Rather, we can look forward to this day, as each day passes, we get closer and closer to our salvation where Christ will make all things right. When soldiers know that reinforcements are coming at dawn, they fight all the more steadfastly in the wee hours of the morning knowing relief is on the way. So too, we can be bold and diligent in our fight for the faith in these gray and latter days knowing that Christ is surely coming soon.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As you can tell by the colors around the sanctuary, the church year calendar has begun anew with Advent. Advent marks a season of penitential waiting. It is fitting that we have been focused on the end times over the last few weeks, because we are waiting for our LORD to return on the last day. We are certainly no strangers to this whole waiting thing in this life. We get plenty of practice, whether it be at the doctor’s office or waiting for the refrigerator repair man (to finally fix the fridge in the fellowship hall). We might aimlessly flip through our phones in these times, completely oblivious to the world around us, hoping the waiting will end sooner. It doesn’t, but we at least have numbed ourselves to the time lapse. We were sleeping with our eyes open.
This busy world gives us plenty of idle time. No one likes waiting around. Sometimes we wait with more anticipation than sitting around in a waiting room. Parents have spent sleepless nights waiting for their teenager to arrive home safe from prom. Wives long to see their husbands after a long business trip. Even if the flight got delayed and he won’t be home until 3:00 in the morning, she might stay awake the whole time in excitement. She is eager to be in the arms of her beloved once again. We generally wait for things in this world in two distinctly different ways; sleeping or awake. Do we wait on Christ’s return like we do for the fridge repairman or for the husband who has been gone for a long time? How should we wait? Let’s see what Romans has to say about it.
“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” We are to wake from our sleep for salvation is drawing near. This is probably not referring to physical sleep. If Jesus happens to return at 2 in the morning and you are securely sleeping in your bed there is still salvation for you who are faithfully in Christ. This sleep that is being referred to by St Paul is a spiritual sleep. This is similar to doom scrolling through social media as you wait for your name to be called at the doctor’s office. You may be breathing and your eyes are open, but you aren’t necessarily awake. In fact, if you aren’t careful, you might even be so out of it you will miss the nurse calling your name. To be spiritually asleep is to be proverbially doom scrolling through life oblivious to the fact that our Salvation is right in front of us. It is drawing near.
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” These are the words that John the Baptist preached and they are also the very first words from the mouth of Jesus at the start of His public ministry in Matthew 4. This word for “at hand” and “nearer” is the same word. Salvation and the Kingdom of Heaven are both found in Christ. To repent is to awaken from sleep. Salvation has already come in the person of Jesus Christ. It is drawing near again when He comes again in final judgment. This judgment will be the completion of the judgment that began on the cross. There the world was judged. It was declared innocent for the sake of Christ who bore its sins. Christ took the judgment and gave to us salvation. The world will be judged again and the repentant who have been waiting awake in Christ, as the bride waiting for her husband to return, will receive eternal salvation. Those who are sleeping in their sins, living their life doom scrolling in a waiting room, will be condemned. There is no sin that Jesus didn’t die for. Salvation will come to those who have been woken up and live a life of repentant faith in Christ. Now we wait, we don’t know the time when He will come, but we know our Salvation will come again. Stay awake!
Many have heard this proclamation, but how does one wake up from this spiritual slumber? Waking up is certainly nothing you can choose for yourself. You needed an alarm clock. Back in Romans 6 Paul addresses this, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Your baptism is where our Lord woke you up and gave you His Holy Spirit. Only through the working of the Holy Spirit can a person stop doom scrolling and wait for our Salvation to come again in eager anticipation. Without God working within us we would still be slumbering. He also works to keep us steadfast in the faith in hearing His Word, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Stay awake by returning to the Lord in a repentant life and hearing God’s Word. The world around us is walking around sleeping, you stand guard through the night so you do not fall asleep. Stay awake!
The world, the devil, and our own sinful flesh want nothing more but to lull us back to sleep. For us, that is often as simple as living our lives oblivious to our sins. We certainly can avoid the gross sins, I probably won’t be murdering anyone today… but I might busy myself with the next deadline at work so much that I fail to listen to the needs of my neighbor. One who needs to talk with their brother and sister in Christ as they struggle through the fallen world. Perhaps the kids have sports and homework and I have work, so there is no time to have a devotional life in our home to help fend off my family’s spiritual sleepiness. I went to church recently after all. The works of darkness are constantly trying to choke out the light of a Christian. To be awake in Christ as we wait for His return is to be a watchman in this darkness. God has armed us for battle while we wait for Him to bring eternal peace on the last day. Stay awake!
“The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” This word for armor has more of a sense of weaponry. The LORD has given us weapons of light while we walk through this night and wait for the fast approaching daylight. He has put them on us in the same place that we put on Christ. Your baptism that woke you up and gave you the Holy Spirit also equipped you with the ability to wield the sword of God’s Word. This sword defends you against attacks of the devil and it strikes down our sinful flesh. God teaches you how to properly bear this sword as you continue to hear His Word and feast on His provisions on this battlefield through the Lord’s Supper. Here you are made awake, fed, and armed to go into the world to battle; not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness. You take the training that you receive here in God’s house out into your own homes. There you continue to arm your family in His Word so they can continue to be awake with the works of darkness around them daily. The fight against the forces who want to lull us back to sleep continuously rages. We must lean on Christ in this world and take the gifts that He has given us of life and salvation from His altar so that we can stand in battle against the desires of our sinful flesh. He gives us the weapons and keeps us awake so He will not find us sleeping when He returns to put an end to our battles with sin and grant eternal peace in His Salvation. We, His faithful bride, are eager to meet Him. We will fight back sleep at all costs. Stay awake, for our bridegroom is coming. “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
Here we are on the night before (a few days after) Thanksgiving. It is certainly fitting that we thank the LORD for His greatest gift. The gift of faith in Jesus Christ, given to us through His Word and Sacraments, waking us up. We even thank Him for waiting. The life of a Christian is one of faithful waiting, clothed in Christ’s righteousness. We don’t doom scroll, oblivious of our sin while we wait. We cling to Christ’s righteousness and wait as a bride eager for the return of her groom. We fight against the provisions of our sinful flesh that wants us to shut our eyes. Keep your eyes open. Strengthen your faith and sharpen your weapons by remaining in His Word and in His Body and Blood in the Divine Service. Take your freshly sharpened weapons of light into the world and remain diligent in Christ and fend off the devil with the bright sword of His mighty Word. Bear the instruments of light so others can see the light shining from you and be called out of the darkness to His marvelous light. When you bear light, you bear Christ in this darkened world. He will continue to strengthen you and bear witness of His Salvation to you and to the whole world until He returns to make all things new. He will keep you awake while you wait for Him. Stay awake in Christ, your Salvation is near. Thanks be to God!
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard and keep you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.