Who says the festive season has to be all about hustle and bustle? What if we told you that you could journey through the Christmas season with newfound depth and insight, focusing more on Christ amid the holiday rush? In this enlightening series of the Real Friends Podcast, Matthew Ridout and Pastor Chris May invite you to explore the essence of Advent, revealing the profound wonders of the season that are often overlooked. Sit back and relax as we journey through 22 enlightening episodes, each packing bite-sized nuggets of wisdom.
In this introductory episode, we dive into the meaning of Advent, its significance as the 'arrival', and how it represents not only the birth of Christ Jesus but also His anticipated Second coming. Reflect on the truth of how Christ's birth plays into the Bible's metanarrative of the temple. Whether you're new to the concept or seeking a deeper understanding, this Advent series promises to broaden your perspective and perhaps change the way you think about the festive season.
Who says the festive season has to be all about hustle and bustle? What if we told you that you could journey through the Christmas season with newfound depth and insight, focusing more on Christ amid the holiday rush? In this enlightening series of the Real Friends Podcast, Matthew Ridout and Pastor Chris May invite you to explore the essence of Advent, revealing the profound wonders of the season that are often overlooked. Sit back and relax as we journey through 22 enlightening episodes, each packing bite-sized nuggets of wisdom.
In this introductory episode, we dive into the meaning of Advent, its significance as the 'arrival', and how it represents not only the birth of Christ Jesus but also His anticipated Second coming. Reflect on the truth of how Christ's birth plays into the Bible's metanarrative of the temple. Whether you're new to the concept or seeking a deeper understanding, this Advent series promises to broaden your perspective and perhaps change the way you think about the festive season.
Hello and welcome back to the Real Friends podcast. I am the staff adjacent Deacon here at Real Life Community Church, matthew Ridout, and with me, of course, senior pastor Chris May, and we're getting ready to do something different with this series, aren't we?
Chris May:We are. We're going to attempt to prepare our hearts for the Christmas season and hopefully take our church family along with us for the ride.
Matthew Ridout:Exactly. We are going to be talking about Advent, one of those things everybody knows about and yet we could know probably a lot more about, and to our benefit. Because how easy is it to get to December 26 and think what?
Chris May:Maybe we didn't focus on Christ quite enough. There's this cliché, and that is Jesus is the reason for the season. That's right and I think that is our intent every year focus more on Christ. Given the hustle and bustle of the season, the commercialization of this time of year, I think we do get to, you know, december 26 and we're like man, good intentions can get waylighted by very, very full schedules.
Matthew Ridout:So, throughout the course of what I believe are going to be the next 22 episodes, we're going to cover the four Advent Sundays and the days in between we are going to give you bite size, just several minutes each. We don't want to promise an exact number because we don't have an orchestra here to play us off the stage like they do at the Grammys, that's right sir, we're going to give you a bite size, something to listen to every single day through the Advent season. That's right.
Chris May:So first our introduction, yeah, so some people listening may not know what Advent is, and you're the etymology guy and so give us the great, deep meaning of Advent. Look at your notes.
Matthew Ridout:Oh yeah, I've prepared. Hold on, let me get you know. Get out the giant book. It means arrival.
Chris May:There you go, arrival.
Matthew Ridout:You get to send them. You don't need more than that. Advent means arrival, and obviously we are talking about the arrival of Christ Jesus that we celebrate. But of course, as Christians we know he's come once and he's going to come again. So how does that play into our introduction for Advent?
Chris May:During the Christmas season, we look back to the Christmas narrative, namely the incarnation of Jesus, and we call that the first Advent. But there's something else that we do as Christians that we normally miss during this holiday season. We also not only look back, but we look ahead to what will be the second Advent, the return of Jesus Christ, and we long for that day. Advent in the Christmas season, it's a time, yes, of celebration, because Christ has come. God with us, emmanuel, you betcha, that's right. But it's also it's not just a time of celebration, but it is also a time of anticipation, because we are looking for the return of Christ. That's right.
Matthew Ridout:The great day of the Lord. It will be another Advent, a re-arrival, as I said at the very beginning. He will be coming again. So our purpose here is twofold and maybe knowing that, especially if that's not a way that you're used to thinking about Advent just as a preparation to celebrate the birthday, but a looking forward that might help you keep your eyes on the proverbial prize throughout the four weeks and change of the Christmas season- One of the things I'd like to focus on today is we think about Advent and particularly looking back to the birth of Christ.
Chris May:One of the greatest glories and wonders that occurred when Jesus came as God in flesh is that he made his dwelling among us. Now I just want to pause there for a minute, because this is really something we're thinking about yeah, this is not a throwaway word.
Chris May:That's right. So when you go back to the very beginning of our Bible, the book of Genesis, we see the start of what is going to be the meta-narrative or at least one of the meta-narratives of Scripture, and that is this idea of the temple. When we talk about a temple, a temple is always the meeting place of God in man, and so it's where the presence of God and the presence of man overlap.
Matthew Ridout:And the Garden of Eden. That's what we have. He walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day.
Chris May:And so God made in his creation. It was, as it were, cosmic temple. We could say so God was with Adam and Eve and that was his intent. What a blessing that that was.
Matthew Ridout:But that's three chapters later.
Chris May:That's yeah, that's pages one and two of your Bible, you get to page three, and we as humans tend to mess things up pretty quickly. And Adam and Eve were no different. They sinned, they disobey the Lord, they rebelled against him, and that caused a great chasm, right.
Matthew Ridout:That's right. We still had God's love and he was so cared for us and he was still a part of our lives, but he no longer dwelt in the temple in that way.
Chris May:Yeah, sin separated us from God and it still separates us from God. So what God did is you know, adam and Eve were put out of the garden and there was this chasm. But then God calls this people unto himself. The family of Abram, who became Abraham, made a covenant and said I'm going to be your God, you're going to be my people. And he made this promise that through Abraham, all the nations would be blessed, and we know that that blessing is the Messiah, who would come and restore our relationship with God, to unite man and God again. But what happened is, when Israel was in the wilderness, there was this makeshift temple called a tabernacle right, and that is where, again, in a quite veiled way, that God's presence overlapped with man's presence again. But then you get a little bit later in the Israel story, in Jerusalem that was a little bit more permanent structure called.
Chris May:Well physical temple. That's right, and in that temple there was a place that hosted the presence of God. Right, and it was not for everyone, that's right, it was the Holy of Holies and it was kind of a fearful thing to go into that room.
Matthew Ridout:Potentially lethal.
Chris May:That's exactly right, but interestingly, it's only the high priest, once a year, who could go into this room that housed the presence of God, and so again, god was with his people, but in a quite veiled way. It wasn't like the garden. Let's go to the book of John. Would you read just the first three verses and then jump down, if you would, to verse 14?
Matthew Ridout:Yep, in the beginning was the word, and the word is with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. And now, jumping down to 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Chris May:That's right. So here's what's so amazing about this text the word dwelt there. We don't feel the force of that word in our language, but if you look at the Greek word there, it's amazing, because it actually means to tabernacle, meaning that Jesus Christ tabernacled among us. So remember, we have God tabernacling with us, if you want to say it like that, in the Garden of Eden. But then you have that separation between God and man. Then you have the tabernacle where God's presence is veiled, you have the temple where God's presence is veiled, but now Jesus comes, god in flesh, and he tabernacles dwells among us, and then even and yet he is going to go away, but the after, you know, when he does his redemptive work.
Matthew Ridout:But then he is going to come back again in this time with the redemptive work already done. Then that dwelling will become truly permanent in new creation.
Chris May:That's right Well it's awesome because Jesus is now, he's the third temple and he is the one who brings us into the presence of God. And we know, as Christians, you know, after Pentecost or at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came. So we get a sense of God's presence now, a very real sense. We can go to God, we can have a relationship with God, but, as you said, this isn't already but not yet thing, because we fast forward to the book of Revelation as we look to the second advent and we look all the way to the end of the story, which is not about us going to heaven.
Matthew Ridout:What's it about? It is about heaven coming to us, that's right. New creation coming down to send it.
Chris May:Revelation 22 kind of frames the new creation as a new and better garden of Eden, and so sin will be completely eradicated from our lives and we will be in the full unveiled presence of God, and we long for that day.
Matthew Ridout:And yes, the second arrival, the second or final advent. So before we get in any deeper and that orchestra plays us out real quick. So hope, joy, peace, love. A lot of you already know those are the four themes of each of the Sundays. That's a very formal thing in the history of Advent, even as kind of nebulous as the history of when it came about is. This is what it has become, those four particular themes. We are going to start with hope. Next episode next bite size episode.
Chris May:Thank you so much for listening. We pray that you'll continue to enjoy this Advent series every day during the Christmas season, and we hope that it raises your affections for Jesus.