An Incomplete Gospel

A Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent

Introduction

I once rode in a van with two scholars, men I know and respect. While we were driving around Germany, I shared a story about something I said at a previous church service that raised some eyebrows and drew a few gasps. What I said was this:

“If you die, go to heaven, and spend eternity with God, but never resurrect bodily, then you are still dead in your sins and death has won.”

I still remember the gasps and the looks on some people’s faces. Some of you might be making the same face right now.

If that statement surprises you, it’s because you’ve been told and have come to believe an incomplete Gospel. The problem the Gospel addresses is not what happens to us after we die but the fact that we die. Remember what St. Paul says: 

The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor 15:26).

Not Satan. Not hell. Not sin. Death.

And I know this might sound obvious, but apparently it needs to be said: death is not destroyed if you remain dead. Death is destroyed when those who have died come back to life—not disembodied life up in the clouds, but resurrected, bodily eternal life.

To further emphasize this point, it’s worth revisiting Genesis 2 and noting that the warning to Adam about the consequences of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not “in the day the day that you eat of it you shall surely be condemned to hell” but rather “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Death is the problem. Resurrection is the Gospel’s answer. It was the answer for Christ Jesus. It is the answer for all those who are in Christ as well. You are saved from death and the effects of Adam’s sin (and your own sin—let’s not blame Adam entirely), not by dying, escaping this world, and living a disembodied but still-dead life in the heavens, but rather by being bodily resurrected, never to die again.

Future Salvation

The point I was making in the van is that, for Christians, our true salvation, that is, resurrection, is a future event. Just as Israel in Egypt was saved from Pharaoh’s hand at the Exodus, but true salvation came when they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, so for the Christian, we have been set free (we have been “saved”) from the dominion of darkness, but our true salvation still lies ahead of us in the future.

I say all this because, if we don’t get this part of the Gospel right, we won’t understand what Paul means in Rom 13:11. He writes:

Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

If we think of salvation as something we experience when we first believe, then what does it mean to say that our salvation is nearer to us now? Paul’s point, as I’ve said, is that our true salvation still awaits us in the future. It is not a present reality.

However, miraculously and mysteriously, that salvation is not entirely future, because with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead, that future has broken into our present, like the first light of dawn breaking into the darkness of night. Our salvation lies ahead of us chronologically, but in God’s surprising and mysterious ways, that future salvation has come crashing into our present. This is the already-not-yet of the Christian life. While our salvation and the restoration of the whole world are certainly “not yet,” because of the resurrection of Jesus, the outpouring of the Spirit, and our union with Christ, parts of that salvation and restoration are already present in us and in the world.

Transformation, Not Speculation

Talking about eschatology can be complicated. There are parts of the American church where it seems all they want to discuss is eschatological speculation and interpretation. But we should recognize that when Paul writes that the day is near and the night is far gone, he isn’t then inviting us into eschatological speculation.

Paul doesn’t say, “Our salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone and the day is at hand. Therefore, you need to be reading Daniel and Revelation, interpreting the signs, and figuring out what the locusts with hair like women are, what the number 666 really means, and what the millennial kingdom is,” and all that other nonsense.

This is the second way our modern American Gospel is incomplete. First, it fails to highlight bodily resurrection as our hope for salvation. In short, it replaces the Gospel of Jesus with the Gospel of Plato, and in doing so, second, it shifts eschatology away from this world rather than toward the transformation of this world and the people who fill it.

Notice Paul’s train of thought. He tells us that our salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed and that the day is at hand, and then he moves immediately to the topic of personal transformation. He writes:

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. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires (Rom 13:12-14).

If the day is at hand, then we must live like people of the day, and the model for this kind of living (not surprisingly) is Jesus.

Putting on Christ

In discussions about justification, pastors and scholars sometimes talk about being clothed in the righteousness of Christ, but that is not what Paul means here. Paul compares us to people who have just been awakened by the first light of day. A new day is beginning. The night is fading away. It’s time to get dressed.

The clothes we wear reveal a lot about us. We dress differently for specific jobs and activities. What we choose in the morning reflects our expectations for the day, and Paul’s instruction, as we look through our closet and decide what to wear, is, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And to put this as simply as possible, putting on the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly like putting on love for others. So Paul writes in the immediately preceding verses:

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom 13:8–10).

Knowing the time, that the day has dawned, and loving our neighbor as ourselves go hand-in-hand in Paul’s mind. Christian eschatology isn’t meant to fuel speculation or escapism; rather, it is a declaration that the light of that great new day is now shining backward into our present, bringing God’s love and transforming power with it. To put this another way: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Global Transformation

Paul describes this transformation at a personal level. Isaiah envisions it at a global level.

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of JacIntrob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore (Isa 2:2–4).

Paul writes:

The night is far gone; the day is at hand (Rom 13:12).

Isaiah writes:

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord (Isa 2:5).

Isaiah envisions a transformed world where weapons of death become tools of life, and he calls on the house of Jacob to live in that light. Paul states that the light of this new day has already come, so we, the people of God, must walk as children of the light.

Conclusion

The Gospel most of us have been taught to believe is insufficient and incomplete. It yearns for a disembodied life elsewhere instead of hoping that life will thrive here as God always intended. It forgets that our hope is for God to do for us what he did for Jesus—namely, raise him from the dead.

In moving away from creation and physical existence, we have replaced personal transformation with a moral checklist. You shall not commit adultery. Check. You shall not murder. Check. You shall not steal. Check. You shall not covet. Check. You shall support the right causes. Check. You shall vote for the right political party and the right candidate. Check. As long as I can check the boxes, then I must be doing okay. But Paul says that all our moral checklists can be replaced with one question.

And remember, when Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?”, he didn’t point to the house next door. Instead, he told a story about a man who was beaten and left for dead in a ditch and a Good Samaritan who came and helped him.

If the question is, “Do you love your neighbor as yourself?”, then the answer, for all of us, is no. That is why we confess to God and to each other nearly every Sunday that we have failed precisely in this regard. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not turned our swords into plowshares or our spears into pruning hooks. We have not regarded others as more important than ourselves. We have not emptied ourselves for the good of others. So, we cry out, “Lord, have mercy.”

Our confession calls for a reordering of our lives. Do not settle for moral checklists. Do not settle for an incomplete and insufficient Gospel. Believe that one day God will raise the dead and transform this world into a new creation where death and war will no longer exist. Believe that the light from that great day has already dawned in the darkness of this world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and walk in that light. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, who considered others more important than himself, who emptied himself for the good of others, and who was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. That is what it looks like to love our neighbor as ourselves. That is what it looks like to walk in the light of the Lord.

The new day has dawned. The night is far gone. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

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Life Group Guide

Intro Prayer

Heavenly Father, as we gather together today, we ask that you would open our hearts and minds to receive what you want to teach us through your Word. Help us to be receptive to your Spirit’s leading and to see beyond our preconceived notions about the gospel. May we be willing to examine our beliefs and allow You to transform our understanding. Prepare our hearts for honest discussion and genuine fellowship. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Ice Breaker

What’s one thing you’re looking forward to in the coming week or month?

Key Verses

• Romans 13:8–14

• Genesis 2:17

• Isaiah 2:2-5

Questions

• How does the idea that ‘death is the problem and resurrection is the answer’ challenge or confirm your understanding of the gospel?

• What does it mean that ‘salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed’?

• How do you understand the ‘already but not yet’ aspect of the Christian life? Can you think of examples from your own experience?

• Fr. Michael criticizes focusing on eschatological speculation rather than personal transformation. What’s the difference, and why does it matter?

• What does it practically look like to ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ in your daily life?

• How does Paul’s command to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ challenge the idea of moral checklists?

• When Jesus defined ‘neighbor’ through the Good Samaritan story, how does that expand our understanding of who we’re called to love?

• How should believing in future bodily resurrection and world transformation change how we live today?

Life Application

This week, identify one specific way you can ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ by loving a neighbor as yourself. Instead of focusing on checking moral boxes, look for an opportunity to consider someone else as more important than yourself and take concrete action to serve them, especially someone who might be difficult to love or outside your usual circle.

Key Takeaways

• True salvation is bodily resurrection from death, not disembodied existence in heaven.

• Our salvation is both ‘already’ present through Christ’s resurrection and ‘not yet’ fully realized

• Christian eschatology should lead to personal transformation, not speculation or escapism.

• Putting on Christ means loving our neighbors as ourselves rather than following moral checklists.

• The light of God’s future kingdom has already dawned and should transform how we live today.

Ending Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for the hope of resurrection and the promise that death will not have the final word. Help us to live in the light of your kingdom, which has already dawned, as we wait for its full arrival. Transform our hearts to love our neighbors as ourselves, moving beyond mere rule-following to sincere Christ-like love. May we put you on each day, considering others as more important than ourselves. Give us the courage to live as people of the day, walking in your light. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.