Waiting Since Christ

Introduction

Many of you know I love Yogi Berra quotes...

Heard the phrase, “It ain’t over till it’s over...?”

Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over till it’s over...”

He said that in 1973 when they were behind in the pennant race

But came back to win the division

In our series, we’re talking about 2 things

The waiting until Christ came the first time

The waiting for Christ to come again

Think about that phrase

But tomorrow, Christmas is over!

In our house, we don’t mess around

Some people leave trees up for months

Some of you didn’t set up a Christmas tree this year

It’s still up from when you set it up in 2005...

But we don’t mess around...

After we open presents, everything will be tossed

Tomorrow, Tash will probably be taking down the tree

I’ll be taking down the lights

Tash will be sending Amazon returns back at Pumpkin Postal

December 27th, you’d never know Christmas just happened

It may as well be February 25th...

YouVersion: Waiting Since Christ

Luke 1:30-2:1 and Matthew 2:1-4

Thinking about the rush to get back to normal...

In a way, the first Christmas was like that...

Jesus wasn’t really from Bethlehem

He was born there, but that wasn’t His home town

He grew up in Nazareth

Remember why Jesus was born in Bethlehem?

Luke 2:1 (ESV)

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Rome was doing a special census

It was expensive to run an empire that big, they needed taxes

People had to go home and register

They wanted to know how many people in each place

Wanted to make as much money as possible!

Rome had about 45 million people at this and growing

Get up to 75 million in the next 150 years

This was a huge undertaking to count how many people

Imagine how many people had to travel home

How many of you were born in another state?

Think about my family:

Dad goes to NY

Me and mom go to MI

Grace to CA with my brother Kevin and Tasha’s sister Bree

Tash, Judi and Ronnie go to TX

My sister to LA

Then Tasha’s sister Tami heads to Montana

While her sister Carrina goes from Colorado back to CA

Her dad would have gone from TX to ND

Her mom would have head down to Mexico

It seem unfathomable to pull that off back then!

However, people didn’t move around much back then

AND this was a property tax assessment, so it wouldn’t apply to people without property

Joseph probably had family property in Bethlehem

Mary went with him, because she was his wife

After this, people probably wanted to get back to normal

Just get home, back to work, back to routine

Something we are tempted with after Christmas

Things don’t go back to normal after Jesus

What’s interesting is how backward this would become in history

So a baby was born - who cares?!

We have to travel, pay taxes, blah blah blah

As insignificant as one birth might seem...

Everything else becomes overshadowed!

The things they would have thought was important:

Taxation, travel, political unrest, who was king, governor, Caesar, etc...

All of those “important” things become the supporting info in the story of Jesus - the baby

The world still follows, studies, worships Jesus

All that old “important” stuff are footnotes today

Why? Because everyone back then missed something really important!

A king had been quietly born to the world

Most people in those days weren’t aware of what happened!

Interestingly enough, that’s why Christmas gets tossed away today too

We become unaware of our king

Not because we were never told, but because we forget

What about the people who did know?

Here’s what Mary knew:

Luke 1:30–33

30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Jesus means, “The Lord is salvation”

Then look at what the angel says:

He will be GREAT

He will be Son of the MOST HIGH

He will have the THRONE

He will REIGN

How long? FOREVER - NO END

Jesus will always be king

Right now, Jesus is king

When we think of Jesus, it’s usually from a personal view

He is good to me

He is my friend

He forgives my sins

He loves me

But do we take the time to see it from the other side?

Jesus is KING

What’s unusual about Him, is He doesn’t force His subjects to obey

He gives us a choice

So, is Jesus YOUR king?

Have you chosen that?

Jesus didn’t just come to forgive and bless

He came to be master

He came to be followed

Jesus came to save and to be followed

Our job as Christians is to participate in His kingdom

When we choose to take Him off the throne in our lives

We choose to be absent from His kingdom

As far as the world is concerned, you might be a Christian

You can check that box on your own census

Someone asks, “Are you a Christian?” Sure...

I believe, sometimes I go to church, I have a WWJD bracelet and a tattoo of a cross...

You might be a Christian in a cultural sense

But you aren’t necessarily a Christian in the actual sense

Merriam-Webster: Christian - a person who believes in Jesus Christ and follows his teachings.

Every Christian gets the first part

But if Jesus is KING - a ruling, reigning authority in your life...

The second part has to be there too

Following His teachings

The biggest mistake you can make is diminishing that

Let’s jump ahead after Christmas 2 years

Matthew 2:1–2 (ESV)

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

I believe these wise men AKA magi were remnants of Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men

He gathered people from all over the known world

Accumulated legends, religions, astrological/astronomical teachings

Of course, the wisest men of the Jews during captivity were a part of that - including Daniel

Daniel undoubtedly shared Jewish Messianic prophesy with them

Past prophesies in Numbers 24, his own Daniel 9, etc.

They were waiting for a Jewish king

Suddenly a star appears and they say, “Hey, let’s go! He’s here!”

Makes sense a Jewish king would be in Jerusalem - they go there

They start asking, and no one knows what they’re talking about!

Look how Herod responds:

Matthew 2:3–4 (ESV)

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

They showed up looking for a king - Herod looks for the Messiah!

Herod was very smart, very cunning, and very ruthless

He held power for a long time, not easy in Rome

So when he heard of a king, he knew something terrifying for him had happened

So terrifying for him, he would murder a baby

And later, the wise men tricked Herod and left

So Herod murdered every baby in Bethlehem

But Jesus got away

Herod never worshipped Jesus, never gave his life, never got saved, never followed him

But he did get one thing right

He had a reverence for His power

Who knows what other paranoid moves he might have made?

He died when Jesus was very small, hiding in Egypt

If he wasn’t sick and dying, he might have pursued Jesus like he was El Chapo

Here’s the truth:

If you’re against Jesus, you should be afraid

That is a terrifying place to be

Today is Christmas Day

Tomorrow, it seems like we just go back to normal

But we are still waiting, church

Waiting for what?

The second coming of King Jesus

This is very different from that first account

If you’re a Christian, it’s exciting:

Hebrews 9:28 (ESV)

28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

He’s not coming to save us from our sin - He already did that

He’s coming to bring us to Him!

Those who are eagerly - what? Waiting...

Jesus is coming for those who wait

That’s what we’re talking about

We have good stuff coming church

But… If you’re not a Christian, it’s a terrifying thought

A.W. Pink: “The first time [Christ] came to slay sin in men. The second time He will come to slay men in sin.”

Here’s what Peter said about this time:

2 Peter 3:10 (ESV)

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Jesus said this about it:

Matthew 26:64 (ESV)

64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

And:

Matthew 24:27 (ESV)

27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

If Jesus came in the first time with a whisper...

The second time will be nothing like that

The heavens will die with a roar!

Jesus will come in from the sky on the clouds!

It will be visible light lightning!

He’ll come in at one place

But you’ll see it across the entire sky!

And every work will be exposed...

Billy Graham: “The second coming of Christ will be so revolutionary that it will change every aspect of life on this planet. Christ will reign in righteousness. Disease will be arrested. Death will be modified. War will be abolished. Nature will be changed. Man will live as it was originally intended he should live.”

What’s all this add up to?

God will have His way

If you don’t think that is going to be explosive, you’re reading a different Bible...

Here’s what I want us to take away from all this

Jesus is your Savior

But He is also your King

If you are going to be His subject, following Him starts now

Jesus didn’t come so you could keep doing what your doing

Or finish up Christmas time and then go back to what you were doing

He came to get you started serving Him now

Conclusion

I want to leave you with a question

Christ has come - the newborn King

So what are you going to do about it?

You can be like Herod

Rejecting Christ and ending up with death

Or you can be like those who saw Jesus for who He is - the King

Those people in Scripture are the ones who walk away singing His praise

Telling towns and cities about what Jesus has done

Giving Him the worship He deserves

And someday, Christ will take with Him “those who are eagerly waiting”

I sincerely hope you’re waiting for Him

You can go into the New Year going back to how things were

Regular day-to-day stuff

Or, you can be eagerly waiting for your King to come again

And live out the hope of Christ everyday

Until He comes again...