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Say good-bye … to 2011 and hello to 2012. That’s what many of us will be doing in just a few hours. “Out with the old, in with the new!” … a mantra for some. The recognition of a major milestone passed for others; and a time for reflection … for yet, a few more.
Tonight … many will be watching vicariously as the throngs party in New York’s Time Square… and then others partying in other time-zone-chosen locations across the country so that ringing in the New Year can be savored as if the party was moving from the East to the West coast.
Big night, tonight. Then there’ New Year’s Day, tomorrow… The holiday… It doesn’t fall on the Lord’s Day very often …
Will that be seen as an inconvenience? Or a special blessing? Time will tell …
But back to tonight. This is the most wide-open night of the year all over the world … More people are likely to imbibe on this night than any other. Many who never touch the stuff … make an exception … and they’ll take a nip of the bubbly in honor of New Year’s Eve.
Why is that? Is it to celebrate that the old year’s over … or a secret wish for what the New Year may promise to bring? Few might be honest enough to admit to either of these reasons…
But, the far more prevalent reason given for all the revelry tonight would be that New Year’s Eve is just the best excuse ever for a party.
But yet, behind all that partying there are often deeper motives. Like, for instance … trying to forget. Many people are down-hearted about what the old year has brought … and want to forget about it … wipe the slate clean and start afresh.
On the other hand, others have reason to be apprehensive about what the New Year will bring … and just don’t want to think about that either. The Bubbly can provide temporary relief in terms of forgetfulness.
There are others who party, who imbibe, as a form of self-medication … to ease the physical or emotional pain they are experiencing… and so they party to make themselves “feel better.” The Bubbly helps that, too … temporarily.
But there is another answer to all this… It, too, starts with a “B.” And so let us begin with our Gospel passage from Luke for this evening. But first, one of the things that’s always helpful when looking at Scripture is to look at what’s surrounding a given verse or passage in question.
Tonight, our Passage comes right on the heels of Jesus’ words to His disciples about not worrying what you’re going to eat… or what you’re going to drink. And Jesus concludes by saying: “For where your treasure is … there your heart will be also.”
And then immediately… He goes on with our Gospel passage: “Be dressed and ready for service, keep your lamps burning.”
And we could say … here we go, again. Imperatives. Law. Jesus, telling us, His disciples, not to worry … and now … be dressed ready for service with our lamps lit.
You see how all this ties together?… In that other portion of Scripture about not worrying … Jesus says there: “For the pagan world runs after all such things (clothing, food, etc) and (Jesus says) your Father knows that you need them. But then Jesus encourages us to seek His kingdom, and all these things we need will be given to us as well.
Now note this: Jesus is speaking to Disciples who are people like you and me … who, by faith … already have the Kingdom. So why Jesus’ encouragement to us to seek it?
That’s what Jesus is talking about in the verses we have for this evening’s meditation …
We are His Disciples, that’s true… And so, as disciples, we are servants of our Lord. And so … what He’s doing, now, is describing our behavior as His servants as we live out our daily lives (read that: waiting for his return).
Elsewhere, Jesus condemns the behavior of the servant who abuses his fellow servants and gets drunk while waiting for his master to return. We might well conclude that that kind of behavior is not seeking the kingdom.
Being dressed and ready for service with our lamps lit … that’s His call to us is instead. And so, our service He calls us to is for whom? For our Lord and Master.
So, then, why does Jesus use these imperatives … speak Law to us? Because, for the believer, the disciple, the Law causes us to examine ourselves. To look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s perfect will for our lives to see how we’re doing.
Now, obviously, Being dressed for action (having our loins girded) and having our lamps buring is figurative. They are figurative pictures of readiness.
The Great churchman Augustine of the 4th Century said of this verse: “Girding the loins means to have self-control, especially with respect to restraining our lustful appetites … and having our lamps lit indicates that we are to shine and glow with good works.
Augustine goes on to say, “When [Jesus] comes he will repay us who have restrained ourselves from yielding to what lust has demanded… and have done what love has commanded. …”
See why these verses, then, follow on right after Jesus’ words that tell us where our treasure is … is where our hearts are??
So … in this passage for our meditation for tonight … Jesus is telling us what seeking the kingdom looks like for His disciples… it means: struggling against evil … and delighting in doing good. That’s what it means to live our lives in readiness!
If we’re doing that … we’re being faithful to the call of discipleship He has given us.
And the promise is, then, that when Jesus returns as our Master, it will be He who has US recline at table while HE serves us!
What’s that look like? Well, you’ve heard of the banquet feast in heaven? Well … that where we’re headed. And … you’ve heard that passage where Jesus speaks to His disciples about preparing a mansion for them in heaven? Well, that’s also in our offing …
And Who’s doing the serving in both of those promises? Jesus, himself… as if He were the servant … and we were those being served.
So, back to tonight. What’s it going to be?? … the temporary brain fade caused by the Bubbly … or the promises made sure in the B…I…B…L…E.
Indeed the words we have tonight are not directed to the throng in Times Square as a whole. They were meant to be delivered to those who are God’s Children through faith.
Augustine had it down pretty well … avoid all forms of evil … and decorate your lives with good works. That’s Law, pure and simple.
But, the Gospel is this … God forgave all our failures to do both … in Jesus’ Death on the Cross. The guilt of our sins … and the punishment they were due, both now and forever, went on our scapegoat, Jesus Christ.
God wiped out all the bad stuff hanging around in our hearts… and then He turned around and filled them up with His Holy Spirit. When did that happen? Right there at the font.
Yes, we will still go our own ways … on occasion. Yet, most of the time, we do shun evil… and we do remember that whatever we do for the least of our brothers and sisters out of love … we end up doing it for our Lord.
Now, none of those things saves us. But we were saved … so we could do those things. And when Jesus returns and finds us doing those things … he will find us with our loins girded and our lamps lit … and we will be ready and not taken by surprise at his return.
So. What’s that say about 2011? It says that its failures are forgiven. And that your slate is clean in God’s sight … as you enter 2012.
And what’s that say about 2012? That your treasure will be where you heart is. And God’s given you His Spirit to find that treasure in service… for even the least of these … in the coming year.
Now, that said… We have nothing against raising a glass or two at midnight… Jesus himself brought out the good wine after all the rest had been drunk at a particular wedding feast … He didn’t do that just to show that He could … But He meant that His good gift should be enjoyed.
So enjoy His gifts this evening … and give thanks for them all … Because the reason that they’re yours is that He loves you very much.
And let that be the thought on Your heart … as you enter another year by His grace… Living it … “All for Jesus” …
In Him,
Amen.
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