Sermon Tone Analysis

Is it too soon to begin saying, Merry Christmas?

Is it too soon to begin saying, Merry Christmas?

Today is the kickoff of a short sermon series that will be taught literally throughout thousands of local churches in the world.

We don’t all look at the same passages of Scripture or have the exact same titles, but many will observe the Advent season.

The word that describes the appearing of someone or something.

In our particular context, the appearing of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.

The Advent candles are lit each week as the passages of Scripture and the sermons follow a trail from Hope, to Love, to Joy, and Peace.

Often the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke is taught and we’ve been there before, but this year, we’re going to look at a few passages in the Prophetic books of Jeremiah and Micah.

Four powerful words.

Not particularly religious, but all very well known and spoken of especially this time of year.

And each week so we are all on the same page we’ll start with a basic definition of the word and then we’ll look at the passage.

What is Hope?

Of course we all use the word with a slightly different flavor to it, but hope (Biblical hope) is certainly not a wish.

When I say, that “Simeon hoped to see the arrival of the Messiah” I do not mean, Simeon was crossing his fingers and making a wish that he would see the arrival of Christ.

That means that Simeon had an expectation that was based on a promise that he would see the Messiah before his death.

Hope is an expectancy, an eager anticipation.

Now, hope can be lost.

The sense of expectancy and anticipation can be lost.

How?

Well, because you are hoping, expecting, and anticipating based upon someone or something else.

One of my favorite Psalms to pray is the 42 Psalm where the sons of Korah sing, “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”

And it’s one of my favorites because he/they talks to himself.

He says, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?”

And then he preaches to himself and says, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation, and my God.”

The refrain is repeated at the end of the Psalm as well.

And my point in citing that particular Psalm is that it shows us how to use the term, “Hope in God.” That’s an imperative.

It’s active.

But, how do you hope?

Built in to the concept of “hoping” is waiting.

Waiting with expectancy, waiting with anticipation.

Think about the last thing that you hoped for.

Maybe it was for something that you ordered that was coming in the mail.

Perhaps it was a special event in your life.

I imagine those expecting parents and those with babies went through that nine month stretch, and you’re hoping for the arrival of that child.

Home owners, do you remember that expectancy as you prayed your financing would go through, the inspection would pass, the house would close.

So, in a way, Hope is built upon promises and guarantees.

The tracking number, the invitation has a date, the doctor said, your due date is this day, your loan officer said, your house will close on this date…

I want you to think about two things before we open up to Jeremiah:

When was the last time you made a promise?

Did you keep it?

When was the last time someone made a promise to you and didn’t keep it?

The reality is, we make promises almost daily, but they’re pretty small ones.

Like swiping a piece of plastic at a store, and then signing it.

By signing it or swiping it you’re making a promise that you’ll pay that establishment back for the goods or services that they’ve given to you.

But almost every major event in our lives has a similar scenario to it:

When you financed your first car you were making a promise

A purity ring is a promise to keep yourself pure

An engagement ring is a promise to keep yourself for a specific person

Wedding vows are a promise that you make to your spouse to love, honor, obey, stay faithful, take care of until death parts you

Is there a promise you make to your children?

Yes.

When you consummate those marriage vows and become intimate with your spouse, you are promising to take care of the child that you both together reproduce.

Foster care and adoption is a little more visible in that you are required to fill out all kinds of paperwork and make all kinds of promises.

I’m sure you’ve thought of a dozen or more landmarks in our lives where we make promises or are on the other end of a promise that has been made to us.

When a politician wants your vote, what do they hook you by?

A promise.

Why is that?

Why does so much of our life revolve around promises?

And why do we keep making them and keep believing that people who make promises are going to keep them even though people are so bad at it?

It’s because we were hardwired to be a hopeful people, because deep down inside everyone knows that we live in a universe created by a God who makes promises.

And surprisingly, a great case for the existence of God, is the fact that when someone makes a promise, everyone expects that person to keep it, and will call them out when they don’t.

How in the world is it possible to exist on a planet where from a very young age human beings are given hope and they have faith that that hope will show up, but when it doesn’t become outraged—if we were all one great big accident?

Who told you that you should become outraged when someone doesn’t keep their word?

What gives you the right to become outraged when someone doesn’t keep their promises?

In his book, “Biblical Theology” Michael Lawrence states that:

“In a very profound sense, the story of the Bible is nothing more than a story of a single promise, made by God himself, and how he kept and will keep that promise.”

The section of the Biblical story that we’re going to look at this morning is all about a promise.

And how a faithful God was going to keep His word, in spite of the fact that the people on the other side of the promise failed to hold up their end.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, what is going on?

I don’t know how much you know about this prophet, Jeremiah.

But I’ll tell you his nickname and you can try to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

His nickname was “The weeping prophet.”

But it really wasn’t just that he was a crier.

Jeremiah was the mouthpiece of God to the people of God for quite a few years.

When Jeremiah first began his prophetic ministry, was when God anointed an eight year old to be the King of Judah (the southern region of the divided kingdom of Israel).

So now you know why he was the weeping prophet, do you know any eight year olds?

All kidding aside, Josiah at age 8 was one of the better kings that ever sat on the throne in Judah.

Jeremiah was God’s prophet for the five final kings of Judah.

His ministry spanned about forty years.

And for the most part, Jeremiah strongly disliked the politicians in Judah.

The first 30 chapters of Jeremiah are filled with warnings of God’s wrath and judgment.

Why?

Because when given the opportunity to choose, the kings gave in to the temptation of the serpent.

They despised the commands of Jehovah and opted for their own version of peace, love, joy, and happiness.

They were not interested in listening to the prophet, turning from their ways, or anything of the sort.

What was God’s big problem with the kings?

Jer

Jeremiah 22:3

God gave them the expectation as Kings and as Priests (shepherds) that they ultimately were to be just, to show mercy, to stand up for the poor, the orphan, the widow, the immigrant.

These were not new expectations either.

If we took a field trip back to the beginning of the Bible when God first gave authority to humans to oversee the earth it was their task to be God’s image bearing creatures.

Well, they failed to be God’s image-bearers as they choose to be the ones who would get to decide what was good and what was evil.

When God called the family of Abraham to the bottom of the mountain he told them virtually the same thing; “You’re going to be a kingdom of priests.”

In other words, you’re going to reflect my character to the world, you’re going to show the rest of humanity what I am like.

After Moses and Aaron, the leadership was delegated to Joshua, after Joshua the leadership was given judges and to each one God’s orders were the same: I want justice and mercy for all people, and especially toward those who are the poorest and weakest in society.

Jer 23:

The problem here is that the Kings after Josiah did not repent of their self-indulgent ways and therefore the promise that was made to the people of Judah was in grave danger of being broken.

What is the promise?

What makes this promise so significant?

Who is Jeremiah?