Longing for Hope

Introduction:

I love this time of year, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays; if you couldn’t tell, I like food. Have you noticed how prominent food is in most of our celebrations? But no holiday parallels Thanksgiving in meal preparation; time, energy, effort. It is the most traveled holiday of the year and—for that matter, in-laws, all of this equating to pressure.

Thanksgiving is the only holiday with loads of anxiety riding on a perfectly timed, and I mean down to the minute, oven schedule. There is pressure, and even judgment passed on making entire courses from scratch, there is generally additional help from distant relatives, who, let’s be honest, only complicate the matter!

But, when it’s time to sit down and enjoy the meal, hardly is it ever the famous Norman Rockwell painting. If your thanksgivings are anything like mine, they usually have more in common with the Griswold Family Christmas dinner. The more you try to make it picture-perfect, the more disappointed you become! And when this happens, it’s all the more difficult to give thanks.

Transition:

So, Chapel, let me ask you, what robs you of your gratitude?

Scripture:

Our Scripture reading today tells us of a young prince who was unhappy. You could say today’s example is more of a warning than a ‘how to.’

Look with me at Ecclesiastes chapter 2, starting in verse 1:

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.

If the author of this was in the Army, I’d say he’s in my Battalion, I know this guy.

Verse 2: 2 “Laughter,” [he says], “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

Notice he says, “under the heavens.” Conceptually, he knows that God exists, but he behaves as if that’s inconsequential. His world, for all practical purposes, is a biosphere; independent of an afterlife.

In Ch 3:19-21, he says, 19For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile. 20All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.21Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal descends into the earth?

Our reading continues in verse 4,

4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

Transition:

You’re probably sensing a pattern, the theme of Ecclesiastes is actually found very early, in verse 2 of the entire book, “vanity of vanities, [the author says], all is vanity!” For this very reason, it is the second least prominent book in the lectionary; that is, the preaching calendar of our more liturgical brethren, preceded—that is—featured more often than only Song of Songs. Making it a seemingly odd choice for Advent; especially, Hope, right?

Hutz Hertzberg calls [Ecclesiastes] “the most staggering messianic prophecy to appear in the Old Testament.” Think about that. The author refers to life as that which occurs "under the sun." He is thinking only about what we can see now, the physical world, and not the heavenly realms that are vastly more important. From this limited perspective, he makes observations like "there's nothing new" or "there's nothing to be gained" or that "it's all meaningless."

So, Chapel, our first observation: [is that]

Point 1:

[for] What the faithless declare meaningless, the Gospel provides purpose.

That’s the prophecy! Because without God, or with a God who doesn’t interact with his creation, simply winding up the world as if it were a clock and stepping away, this is what you’re left with—that’s reality. According to that line of thought, God wouldn’t be worthy of worship; and if you did worship him, he wouldn’t know—much less care. That’s the darkness of the world we step into 2,000 years ago. A lost, hopeless world with little more than longing.

We read in Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

We don’t live in a world independent of heavenly realms. The wise men who came to worship Christ did not live as if the world was without the heavenly realms. They looked to the stars for the sign that the King was born.

How often do we behave as if God is inconsequential? Acknowledging him conceptually, but going on about our toil.

The book of Ecclesiastes is filled with attempts to find meaning in life through something the author makes more important than God. The list is exhausting: Pleasure, work, education, tradition, entertainment, money, possessions, a balanced life, religious duty, power, fashion and good looks, youth, and health.—And mind you, none of these are independently bad, verse 24 says “there is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his toil.” If nothing else, this book emphasizes that our days under the sun are limited and that these things, too, are a gift from God.

In all the Prince’s pleasures, he found no satisfaction. Our souls are created for a purpose. We are created for more than just these things. We are created for the purpose of bearing our creator’s image, it is a commission.

Not only does the Gospel provide purpose, but:

Point 2:

While the faithless seek out blessings, God’s people count their blessings.

Verses: 7-9 7I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me.

· Psalm 32:1–2 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven; whose sin is covered. 2Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

· Deuteronomy 33:29 “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord”

· Psalm 144:15 “Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!”

· Matthew 9:2 “Take heart, your sins are forgiven.”

Dennis Prager offers this observation, that gratitude is the most important trait one can possess, and the key to unlocking happiness. He also contends that it is impossible for ungrateful people to be happy. He believes that this lack of gratitude creates a victim mentality, a mindset framed around blame. That they are in fact, entitled to that which they do not have. The more an individual feels that life or others owe them, the angrier they will get, the more they will lash out, the less happy they are. Conversely, the less we feel entitled to, the more gratitude we will feel for whatever we get, and the happier we become.

God’s people find their happiness in being sons and daughters in Christ, being God’s redeemed people. Hebrews tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” [Hebrews 11:1] Faith is the prerequisite for obtaining the objects of hope.

And this is not “blind faith,” we can trust that God will keep his promises because he has kept his promises in the past. We hope because we have tasted God’s provision in the past and have kept the faith.

In the same way that the Gospel provides purpose and that God’s people count their blessings:

Point 3:

While both the faithless and the faithful long, the longing of the faithful produces Hope.

Verse: 11 11Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

Again, the Prince completely divorces reason and application. The author sees that nothing was gained under the sun and throws up his hands! If we’re honest with ourselves, you might realize, I do a lot of toiling and I don’t often get to see the fruit of my labors. How often do we lose hope? Maybe you don’t lose all hope, but maybe you feel entitled to something, and become embittered.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 16Rejoice always, 17pray continually, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Well, that’s great, Paul, but how? I have no doubt the prince wants to be happy. Marry Shelly proposes that “no man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness.”

We can know that we live in a world that includes that which is beyond the Sun, those heavenly realms. And we can know that God didn’t simply wind up the world like a clock, because the God who created the universe, Himself, enters creation. He is the Word who made all things, becoming flesh and dwelling among us (John 1:1, 14). And because of that, he is indeed worthy of worship.

Make no mistake, our hope is not that our names appear on some mystical ‘Nice List,’ we ourselves having merited. Our hope is that our names indeed are on the naughty list, and it is nailed to the cross!

Willing to lay aside all the glory of heaven to physically enter this world so that we can share in his glory; it is the hope of his church, the object of our longing that he comes again, and that he will make all things new.

Transition:

The Gospel provides purpose. God’s people count their blessings. And the longing of the faithful produces Hope.

Invitation/Application:

Today we began this year’s Advent series, the celebration that literally means ‘arrival.’ It is a time of waiting and preparation. A period of spiritual preparation for the arrival of our Savior. It is observed through 4 distinct qualities, each with their own respective Sunday and corresponding candle; Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace.

Our journey begins with a single candle lit on this advent wreath. It references the darkness we enter into at our Christmas Eve Service; which of course is an allusion to the darkness of the world, the darkness of our weaknesses, of our sin. But the wreath represents the light of the Lord, and it gets brighter and brighter until we sing ‘Joy to the World.’

We are in a time of waiting as the psalms speak, as the Gospel tells us, as you will hear throughout the readings and the messages of this series; and we ought to be in a time of longing, that’s what Advent is.

In more orthodox traditions, before any feast, there is a time of fasting. In that respect, Advent is comparable to the Lenten season, the 40 days which precede Easter. The purpose of the season is to prepare us for the great feast, in this case, the nativity of our Lord. But I want to challenge you, in that, if we begin our celebration too quickly, what will be the significance of the feast? What will be so special about the Nativity? We’re longing for the delight that’s offered to us at Bethlehem. So, friends, I invite you to long with me, because if we do not long, how do we have hope? If we do not long, how do we affix our eye on the star of the Magi; Emmanuel, God with us?—Not just during advent, but throughout the year—If we do not long, how will we ever be satisfied?

John the Baptist, longed, he waited, he went out into the wilderness, he fasted and lived unadorned of the world’s delights and allurements; he is a perfect example. But Scripture says of itself, that it is all God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness (1 Tim 3:16). It’s sometimes helpful to see how other people failed. If we’re completely honest with ourselves, not many of us live ascetic or spartan, especially this time of year; some maybe find an austere DZ for a field exercise or two, certainly not by choice. Even when we find ourselves in a surprise Deployment Readiness Exercise, or alerted on New Year’s Eve, we find escapes. Little silver linings, maybe a wobbie jacket or an MRE with M&Ms. All I’m saying is we’re not lining up for camel hair clothing and locusts with honey for breakfast—trying purposely to further deny our earthly desires.

I am not standing before you telling you, to abstain from the hallmark channel, reject the decor, the eggnog, or playlists consisting of covered Christmas classics—the originals, of course, being perfectly acceptable to Christ. I am not saying, “you must give up nice things.” I am simply speaking to myself just as much as I am speaking to any one of you. We must not neglect to stoke the flame that is to long. It is important we rightly prioritize, that is, to not create idols.

Because whatever it is in our life we value more than God,

or think about more than God,

or love more than God,

or desire more than God,

or fear more than God,

or hope in more than God,

or aspire to enjoy more than God,

or delight in more than God

or that we are more thankful for than God... that is an idol. The result of which is always despair.

Close:

So how do we do this? How do we avoid falling for the commercialism and the marketing which is all around us, even as I admit I am myself somewhat anxious about things like Christmas cards that ultimately don’t matter. What matters is that we’re ready for the Lord’s coming; having undertaken the preparation that is longing, so that we have focused our hearts on our savior, that we still find delight in that hope.

Because the Advent of the Christmas season is also an allusion to Jesus’ return.

Paul, in Romans, points this out. In chapter 8, he says, “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?” The Advent of the Christmas season recounts the Nativity some 2000 years ago. We observe it in our liturgical calendar because it reminds us of something important, something significant. But the lectionary, the church calendar, is not itself, the thing which is important and that’s all this season represents. It’s the things within it, the things that they point to that are important—things that are truly worth longing for. So, while you are rushing to get caught up with all of the hustle and bustle, the restlessness of what this season has the potential for bringing, make sure you remember what you’re longing for; to be satisfied, to welcome the coming Lord.

Benediction:

Would you help us to long father, for the coming of your Son. Fill us with your Holy Spirit that we would walk with purpose and gratitude, encouraging each other in faith. Prepare within us Lord, an unquenchable desire for you and protect our hearts from idols, that we would not value anything within this season that points to you, more than you yourself. It is in the most precious name of Jesus; our Emmanuel, our God with us we pray, Amen.