Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19 • Isaiah 64:1–9 • 1 Corinthians 1:3–9 • Mark 13:24–37

Our theme for this first Sunday of Advent is God has given us Jesus, and our readings are filled with longing. Psalm 80 cries out for God to restore his people. Isaiah 64 longs for God to come down and make things right. In Mark 13, Jesus speaks about the coming of the Son of Man and tells his followers to remain awake with hope. And in our sermon text, Paul writes to a troubled church in Corinth and tells them that as they wait, they are not alone and they are not lacking. God is already at work among them.

Reminder: This introductory paragraph is intended to show how the four RCL selections for this week are connected and to assist the preacher prepare the sermon. It is not intended to be included in the sermon.

How to use this sermon resource.

We recommend you begin your worship service and sermon with a focus on Advent. The theme of the First Sunday of Advent is Hope. You might include focusing on the theme, reading Scripture, lighting the second Advent candle, and offering a prayer of gratitude for the comfort we receive from Jesus’ peace. See our Advent Church Hack here.

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God Has Given Us Jesus

1 Corinthians 1:3–9 NRSVUE

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new year in the church calendar. The word advent means “coming” or “arrival.” During these four weeks, we remember that Jesus Christ has come into the world, we celebrate that he is with us now, and we look forward with hope to the day when he will come again and make all things new.

Advent begins with something God has done. Before anyone went searching for God, God came searching for us. Before humanity could find its way home, the Father sent the Son to share our humanity and bring us home. Advent tells us that God has not remained distant from the world God loves. In Jesus Christ, God has come near.

God has given us Jesus Christ.

That is the good news of Advent. We are waiting for Christ to come again, but we are waiting for someone who has already come to us. The God we seek has already sought us, found us, and taken hold of us in Jesus Christ.

We all know what it is like to search for something. Sometimes it is something simple like our keys, our phone, or our glasses. At other times, the searching goes much deeper. We look for a job, but beneath the paycheck we may also be looking for purpose and security. We look for a relationship because we long to love and be loved. We pursue success because somewhere inside us is the hope that reaching the next goal will finally tell us that our life matters.

But even good things cannot carry the full weight of those longings. Jobs change. Relationships require patience. Accomplishments fade. The things we thought would make us secure often leave us looking and searching again.

While our hearts are searching for God, God has already come searching for us. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 1:3–9.

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— ⁶ just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸ He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:3–9 NRSVUE

Paul is writing a letter to the church in the city of Corinth. People there are called Corinthians, just as people who live in Nairobi, Kenya are called Nairobians.

The letter begins, “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus…” Before we go any further, it’s worth clarifying because sometimes we say, Jesus; other times, we say, Christ. Jesus and Christ are not two different people. “Jesus” is the name given to him when he was born. “Christ” comes from a Greek word meaning “Anointed One” or “Messiah.” So, when we say “Jesus Christ,” we’re saying, “Jesus the Messiah.”

Now listen to where Paul begins. He does not begin with what the Corinthians need to do. He begins with what God has already done. This is also an excellent way to read any passage of the Bible. Ask yourself: What is God doing or will do? Or what has God done? Begin here before you ever ask: What should I be doing?

Why? Christ is the center. All we can do is acknowledge this and orient ourselves to him. We consider what God has done to us, for us, on our behalf. We recognize we can do nothing apart from God.

Our actions can only flow from who we are in Christ — as a response.

So, let’s list all the actions God has taken from this passage: God has sanctified us. God gives grace. God enriches in every way, in speech and knowledge. God gives gifts without lacking. God strengthens to the end. God makes blameless. God is faithful. God calls us into partnership, into intimate fellowship with his Son.

That is a remarkable list! What would happen if you focused on one of these actions each day for the next eight days?

Paul begins with grace because God begins with grace — even for a church like Corinth that was far from perfect. As Paul’s letter continues, we discover a congregation struggling with division, pride, arguments, unhealthy sexual expression, lawsuits, disagreements about worship, and competition over spiritual gifts.

Yet before Paul addresses any of those problems, he tells them what is already true because of God: They have received grace. They belong to Christ. God is at work among them. God is faithful.

God Has Given Us Jesus Christ.

Paul says that God’s grace has been given to us in Christ Jesus. That little phrase, in Christ, is important. Paul is saying something much bigger than “Jesus helps us” or even “Jesus gives us what we need.” God has given us Jesus Christ himself.

Before God gave us spiritual gifts, God gave us the Son. Before God gave us wisdom or strength or patience, the Father gave us Christ. And everything else flows from him.

This is the heart of Advent. The eternal Son of God did not remain distant from humanity. He became one of us. The Creator entered creation. And he did this not merely to visit us, but to heal us. Jesus assumed our humanity — our flesh and blood, our weakness, our vulnerability, even our mortality.

Jesus carried our broken humanity all the way to the cross. On the cross, he entered the deepest consequences of human sin, alienation, suffering, and death. He does not stand outside our brokenness and tell us how to escape it. He enters it with us and for us.

And death did not have the final word. The Father raised Jesus from the dead. In his resurrection, Jesus did not leave his humanity behind. The same Son who became truly human, died as a human being, and rose still united to our humanity. Jesus carried our humanity through death into resurrection life.

This is what Christ has done for us that we could never do for ourselves. He has reconciled humanity to the Father. He has defeated sin and death. He has joined human life to the life of God. And the risen Jesus now lives in communion with the Father as the one who has forever united himself to us.

This is why Paul can say that we are in Christ. God has given us Jesus Christ.

Our Advent celebration is a reminder of the astonishing announcement that in Jesus Christ, God has acted to make humanity new.

Christians follow the Christian calendar because it helps us rehearse the story of the gospel every year. Just as a family has traditions that remind them of who they are, the Church has a calendar that reminds us of what God has done in Jesus Christ.

Advent proclaims that God has come to us in Jesus.

Good Friday reminds us that God has given himself for us at the cross in Christ.

Easter proclaims that death cannot separate us from the life God has given us in Christ.

And Pentecost declares that the Holy Spirit has come and makes the life of Christ present in us now.

The Father gives the Son. The Son takes our humanity into his own life and reconciles us to the Father. The Spirit joins us to Christ and grows Christ’s life in us.

Grace is not God handing blessings down to us from a distance. Grace is God giving himself to us. God has given us Jesus Christ.

We Have Been Made Rich in Christ

Paul says that the Corinthians have been enriched in Christ.

When we hear the word rich, we usually think about money or possessions. But those kinds of riches can disappear. Jobs can be lost. Markets can fall. Possessions wear out, break, or are stolen.

The riches Paul describes cannot be taken away because they are not things we possess apart from Christ. They are ours because Christ is ours and we are his.

Paul writes to people who will make mistakes — and he knows it. But their confidence does not rest in their ability to become a perfect church. Their confidence rests in the God who has joined them to his Son.

That changes the way we understand spiritual gifts, too.

God does not simply hand each Christian a set of tools and then stand back to see what we will accomplish with them. As we are enriched in every way, not lacking in any gift, the testimony of Christ is strengthened among us!

The Spirit shares the life of Christ with the church. The wisdom, generosity, compassion, patience, courage, and love that begin appearing among God’s people are signs that Christ is alive among us.

The Spirit forms the life of Jesus in his people. So, when kindness grows among us, we witness Christ’s kindness taking shape in his body. When forgiveness becomes possible where resentment once ruled, we see Christ’s forgiving life at work.

When someone notices a lonely neighbor, welcomes a stranger, feeds someone who is hungry, comforts someone who is grieving, or stands beside someone who feels forgotten, these are not ways of earning God’s grace. They are signs that grace has already taken hold.

God acts first. We participate because we have already been included in Christ’s life.

Christ Is With Us While We Wait

Paul tells the Corinthians that they are not lacking as they wait for Jesus to be revealed — as they wait. That makes this passage especially fitting for Advent.

Advent is a season of waiting. We remember generations who waited for the Messiah, and we join the Church across the world in waiting for Christ to come again.

But Christian waiting is unusual. We are waiting for someone who is already with us.

We live between Christ’s resurrection and his return. The kingdom of God has already broken into the world through Jesus, but we still live in a world where people suffer, relationships break, wars continue, bodies become sick, and people die.

We know that God’s healing of creation is not yet complete. And yet Paul says we are not lacking.

That does not mean Christians have easy lives. It does not mean every prayer is answered in the way we want. It means something deeper: nothing necessary for our life with God is missing because Christ himself is present with us.

God has given us Jesus Christ.

Our hope is not that God might eventually decide to come close. God has already come close. Our hope is not that someday God might decide to love humanity. God has already revealed that love in Jesus Christ. Our hope is not that somehow we can make ourselves worthy of God’s kingdom. Christ has already joined himself to us and brought our humanity into his relationship with the Father.

We wait because something has already happened. Christ has come. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ is with the Father. Christ is present to us through the Spirit. And Christ will come again. Advent hope grows out of those realities.

The Spirit Is Forming a People

The gifts Paul mentions are not simply for individual Christians. Paul is writing to a church — a community of people who have been brought together in Christ.

That matters because union with Christ also creates communion with one another.

If Christ has joined us to himself, then we find ourselves joined to people we might never have chosen on our own. Different generations. Different personalities. Different cultures. Different backgrounds. People with different strengths and weaknesses.

The church at Corinth struggled to live that reality. They competed with one another and divided themselves into groups. But Paul begins his letter by telling them that God’s grace is already at work among them.

The Spirit continues forming the Church into the Body of Christ. Because God is patient with us, his patience begins shaping the way we see one another. Because Christ has forgiven us, forgiveness begins growing among us. Because the Father has welcomed us, the Spirit makes the church into a community capable of welcoming others.

Paul knew where the limitations were. And still he began with thanksgiving. He could see beyond what the Corinthians were doing at that moment because he trusted what God was doing among them.

They would not ultimately be defined by their failures. They belonged to Jesus Christ. The same is true of us.

God’s work among us is not finished. The Spirit is still healing, forming, reconciling, and renewing us. Our congregations are imperfect communities being gathered into the perfect love of Christ. We are held while God continues his work.

God Is Faithful

Paul brings us to the foundation beneath everything else: God is faithful. That is an important sentence for us to carry into Advent.

Our faith sometimes feels strong and sometimes weak. Our churches sometimes flourish and sometimes struggle. Our circumstances change. We sometimes see clearly what God is doing, and sometimes we do not.

It cannot be based on our faithfulness. God is faithful.

Paul does not say the Corinthians will make it to the end because they are exceptionally faithful people. He says God will strengthen them to the end because God is faithful.

Our security rests there. We are held by someone stronger than ourselves. And because God’s mission begins with God’s faithfulness, the Church’s mission does too.

The Father loved the world and sent the Son into it. The Son entered our humanity and accomplished our reconciliation through his life, death, and resurrection. The Father and the Son send the Spirit, who makes the risen Christ present in the world and draws people into his life.

And that Spirit is at work in the Church. Mission, then, is not something we create for God. It is participation in something God is already doing. The Father is restoring creation in the Son through the Spirit. Where reconciliation happens, God’s mission is already moving.

The Spirit draws the Church into that work, into his mission. We do not carry Christ into a world where he is absent. We discover that Christ has gone before us. We participate in the love he is already pouring into the world.

That is why mission can be an overflow of grace rather than another religious obligation. We have received Christ. And Christ’s life overflows.

The One We Seek Has Already Found Us

At the beginning, we talked about searching. Advent gives us surprising, good news. The deepest story is not our search for God. It is God’s search for us.

The Father sent the Son.

The Son entered our humanity. And he lived faithfully for us, died for us, rose with our humanity, and brought us into communion with the Father.

The Spirit now shares Christ’s risen life with us and forms us together into a people who participate in God’s love for the world.

And the same Jesus who came among us will come again. So, Advent begins not with anxiety about whether we are ready enough for God. It begins with grace. Our lives are held within the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We are waiting. But we are not waiting alone. We are searching. But we have already been found. Because God is faithful, and our life is now hidden and held in Christ.

And the Christ who came for us, who is with us now through the Spirit, will come again to make all things new. Because God has given us Jesus Christ. That is the hope of Advent.

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Small Group Discussion Questions