Advent: Waiting in Expectation

Announcements:

All-Church Christmas Party

Introduction:

As you can tell… we are approaching Christmas

And this is a season we call ‘advent’

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

And full disclosure: I am a bit of a grinch

Christmastime just isn’t the most wonderful time of the year for me

To me, I think it actually takes a lot of work to separate out the good from the junk in celebrating the true meaning of Christmas

You see, we live in a culture that has two different Christmases

On one hand, you have the Christmas of the world

One that starts in November and is all about BUYING BUYING BUYING, gifts, lights, shows, parties, busyness

And on the other hand, you have the Biblical and powerful celebration of Christmas

Where we take time to reflect on Jesus’s entrance into humanity

We remember the humility of God being born as a baby

And these two Christmases run parallel to one another

And I think we all know it—you don’t need to be a Christian to ‘celebrate Christmas’ (My family)

And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we shouldn’t buy gifts or celebrate with others — but I do believe that it is so easy to get swept up in all of the show that we forget the powerful truths that we celebrate at this time of the year

Advent means ‘arrival’

And historically advent has two focuses

Celebrating the arrival of Jesus (His birth)

And looking forward to his arrival, when all things are made right

The Church has been celebrating advent for over 1,500 years

Well before Black Friday, the Nutcracker, Decorating Christmas Trees, and Christmas Carols all existed

Advent is a season of preparation

If you think about it most holidays come and go — the day is the big thing

But Christmas has an entire season

And instead of preparing our wallets for more gifts, we are being invited to prepare our hearts for God

As we anticipate and wait on the Lord

Advent is a season where we practice waiting:

Our Scripture reading today comes from the Psalms

And it is a song and prayer that God’s people have sung and prayed for thousands of years

About calling out to God and waiting on him

Scripture Reading:

Psalm 130 CSB

1 Out of the depths I call to you, Lord! 2 Lord, listen to my voice; let your ears be attentive to my cry for help. 3 Lord, if you kept an account of iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that you may be revered. 5 I wait for the Lord; I wait and put my hope in his word. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning— more than watchmen for the morning. 7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord. For there is faithful love with the Lord, and with him is redemption in abundance. 8 And he will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

Like I said, Advent is a season where we practice waiting

And we hate waiting

Like many things in the Christian Life, advent is counter-cultural

It’s not something that just comes natural to us

The whole purpose of advent is to slow down and actively wait on the lord, preparing our hearts for Jesus

How many of you like waiting?

We live in a fast world — everything is optimized — we value efficiency above all else

We are impatient people — we want things NOW

We want fulfillment and gratification now

And technology has only made this problem worse

Google/Chat GPT - Information

Go to a library and read a book?

Amazon - Material Needs

Go to a store?

Texting/Calling - Emotional Needs

Write a letter?

And all of this has actually done something to us

This technology offers to make life easier but it has an effect on our character

We have by in large become a people who are very impatient and extremely entitled, myself included

Instead of seeing the time we are given as something to be stewarded—we see it as a commodity

We need to maximize it — because we are in control of it

And we are in desperate need to remind ourselves that time is not something that we can control, manage or consume

That time is not ours

It doesn’t revolve around you, or me, or the person next to you

That time revolves around God

What he has done, what he is doing, and what he will do

And in one of the busiest times of the year—we are called to slow down and wait on the Lord

“Advent: the time to listen for footsteps – you can’t hear footsteps when you’re running yourself.”

– Bill McKibben

You see God’s people throughout the Scriptures are people who wait

Abraham for the birth of his son Isaac

Moses in the Wilderness

David to become king

The Nation for a Messiah

And even on this side of the cross—We aren’t done waiting...

We still find ourselves waiting for Jesus’s return

When we forget to wait on the Lord—we actually forget our story—our destiny

When this happens we are open to all sorts of compromise because we are distracted

Advent is a time to refocus our hearts

Because the reality is we are all waiting for something

We are waiting for school to be out for break

Waiting to graduate from school

Waiting to start your career

Waiting to get married

Waiting to have a family

Waiting to buy a house

Waiting to have grandchildren

Waiting to retire

Maybe you’re sick and waiting to be healthy

Maybe you’re depressed and waiting for better days

Maybe you’re anxious and waiting for peace

Maybe you’re in conflict and want resolution

But the truth is all of us are waiting for something—and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing

You see, God actually created us with longing

We were designed with a hole in our heart—every human longs for more

And the reason God did this was because He is one that is intended to fill that hole

In each of us we have an infinite pit of longing—that can only be filled by an infinite God

(SLIDES)

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

—Saint Augustine

Advent is a time where we reorient/re-prioritize our longings so that God is on top

If you are a serious follower of Jesus—the temptation usually isn’t that you don’t long for Jesus at all

The real threat is that it isn’t prioritized—there are other things that are coming first

But it’s in this time that we take stock of our desires and longings and refocus on the main thing

So if you’re taking notes, I want you to write this question down:

What am I waiting for? What am I longing for?

Take some time in prayer to seriously and openly consider this question

It might come to mind right away—or it might take some time to consider

If we are honest we are all longing for something

Like Augustine’s quote, the reality is that we will always be restless and without peace until we come to Jesus

So Advent is about reorienting our hearts to Jesus

Like the famous Christmas Carol tells us...

Joy to the world the Lord is come,

Let earth receive her King,,

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

How do we prepare our hearts for Christmas?

Preparing Our Hearts

This is where its difficult… there is no quick fix

But Advent is all about the coming of Jesus

We remember the story of his birth 2,000 years ago

And we look forward to his second coming

But it’s also about the present

Jesus is here, now, and wants to arrive in your life

Is there room for him?—Do you have room for Jesus in your life?

Or like the night of His birth—is there no room available for him

In Jesus’s own words in Revelation

(SLIDES)

Revelation 3:20 (CSB)

See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Imagine our heart is a house with many rooms—Is there room for Jesus?

Are we giving Jesus the closet… or a spare bedroom

Because he wants to be a part of every aspect of our lives

Including the closets full of secrets and stuff we prefer to hide

He wants to run the household—and He knows how to do it better than you!

Doing this isn’t easy

It involves prayer, repentance, surrender, and obedience

But we want to be people who are fully committed and surrendered to the will of God

Waiting on the Lord

And guys, this is what waiting on the Lord is

It is not idly standing by picking our nose waiting for God to do something

It is preparing our hearts for what God wants to do in our lives

We do our part—and God will do his

And our part is a lot easier—it’s opening up to him in surrender—and He WILL move

(SLIDES)

Isaiah 64:4 (NLT)

4 For since the world began,

no ear has heard

and no eye has seen a God like you,

who works for those who wait for him!

OR

Isaiah 64:4 (CSB)

From ancient times no one has heard,

no one has listened to,

no eye has seen any God except you

who acts on behalf of the one who waits for him.

You see, waiting actually does something to us

We become more in tune to God at work in our lives—because we are asking him to work, expectantly waiting for him to work, and watching for Him with our eyes wide open

(SLIDES)

“Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be.” —John Ortberg

As a culture, we are terrible waiters

We want stuff now—Amazon 2-day shipping

And even then—we distract ourselves for 2 days

So when God doesn’t work according to our time frame we usually do 1 of 2 things

We give up on God directly—turning away from him in unbelief

We give up on God indirectly—distracting ourselves while we ‘wait’

But what would it look like for us (for you) to wait on God?

And not just wait, but with expectation that He will show up—Pause

In Psalm 130:5-6 the Psalmist writes:

(SLIDES)

Psalm 130:5–6 (CSB)

I wait for the Lord; I wait

and put my hope in his word.

I wait for the Lord

more than watchmen for the morning—

more than watchmen for the morning.

Two things here:

1. Like a Watchman

A watchman waits expectantly—on guard

It is his job and duty

We too should be resolute in our waiting on the Lord

More than a watchman—we are people who wait on the Lord

Waiting for a glimmer of light

2. The Psalmist’s Hope is in his word

Like i said it is not just a blind and aimless waiting

But our waiting and hope is grounded in the Word of God

The better we know the word of God—the better we will be able to wait in expectation

Bible reading and memory is crucial

It is how God changes us in the waiting

He doesn’t leave us to wait blindly

He give us his own words to read and trust

Imagine a time before cell phones—where people wrote letters

I’m across the world and write a letter to Anaiah that I will soon be coming home

She isn’t waiting blindly—she has my word! and she is expecting me to return

God has given us his word to wait on

To hear from him—to find our strength

Waiting on the Lord means listening to him through His word

The Beauty of the Gospel

We wait on the Lord—He waits on us

Isaiah 30:15 CSB

For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing.”

Isaiah 30:18 CSB

Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. All who wait patiently for him are happy.

Conclusion

So this is my challenge for you these next few weeks before Christmas:

Wait on the Lord

Wait with diligence and expectation

Open your eyes to see our God at work in your life

Just like you can’t wait to be on break or you can’t wait to receive gifts for Christmas

Foster a longing for God to work and be present in your life

I can’t wait for God to show up

Avoid the temptation to live in constant distraction

Spend time to be intentional—especially with extra time off of school

Breaks can fly by because we live distracted through them

Set aside time to wait on the Lord—and He will show up

While we wait—we let God do work in our hearts that we might better reflect Him

(SLIDES)

“The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.”

– Henri Nouwen

Discussion Questions

What is your favorite part of the Holidays?

What is something you have been waiting for?

What makes waiting difficult for you?

OR

What is something you have been waiting for?

Surrender it to Jesus