Hope in the Waiting
Notes
Transcript
Announcements
Announcements
Mission and Vision
Scripture
Thank you for joining us this morning. Or if you’re watching this at another point in time… thank you all the same
Today we are kicking off our Advent series: In the Waiting
How appropriate that the day we kick this off, is the first week that we are back to meeting online.
When I was asking the Lord what it was that he had for us this Advent I spent a lot of time waiting
He didn’t respond right away
As a matter of fact, as God often does, He came through in that 11th hour. When I had to make a call on what it was that I needed to prepare for those of you that I am blessed to lead this morning
God put this phrase on my heart. In The Waiting
Because it is in the waiting that we are tested and that we prove what it is that we are made of
It is in the waiting that we are grown and shaped
As most of you who have played any sport or done any performing art… its not the day of the performance or the game that you grow and learn the most. It’s in the weeks of waiting and training that you are shaped and groomed and gown
This advent we are going to walk through the waiting
We are going to look at what it means to be in the waiting
What are we supposed to be doing while we wait
We are going to look at what God is doing in us while we wait
And we are going to keep looking to the fulfillment of our waiting which is the ultimate second coming of our Glorious King Jesus Christ
That is what advent is all about.
ADvent is the season of the year where we are in expectation for the Lord. We remember the time before the first coming of Christ and the expectation and anticipation that the world had waiting for a savior
We also look to our current situation as those who live in between his first and second coming as living in the second advent
We are all living in the waiting and expectation of the Fulfillment of the Word of God
Today i want you to know that as the people of God we are called to Hope in the Waiting
That doesn’t mean that we hope for the waiting but in the midst of the waiting there is hope and we are to grab onto that Hope while we are in the waiting
Before we go to scripture let’s look at how long the people of God waited for Jesus
We have 1800 years before the birth of Christ what is called the protoevangelion
I’m not saying it happened 1800 years before Christ but that was when it was written down
That is the first Gospel
Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
WE get this passage in the midst of the God cursing the ground
At the fall, all creation was fractured
That is it was subjected to futility or emptiness.
The brokenness that was present in the lives of Adam and Eve was present in the world that surrounded them as well
They had to live in the reminder that where they were is not where they were supposed to be and that there will be someone to come through their lineage to redeem the brokenness. Not just in humanity but in all creation
This passage was passed down through the lineage of Adam and Eve but written by Moses as he recounted to the people of God who it was that was that just saved them
Through Moses’ ministry he tells the people of God about the troubles they are about to fall into and how there would be another prophet to rise up like him who would deliver the people
Then prophet after prophet we are told that there will be another. An anointed one. A messiah
Then after the prophet Malachi… we have 400 years of silence
Where there was no new revelation from the Lord
The people of God waited for almost 2 thousand years for their Messiah. They waited in hope and in expectation.
Well some of them did
There were a lot whose hearts had grown cold as they settled into the brokenness and allowed the world to define their hope
They relinquished themselves to hoping only for earthly gains.
Some, the sadducees looked only to this life and the status and the gains that could be made by living according to the temple laws and their public piety
Others, the Pharisees, believed in a future hope to come and an eternity with God… but they decided that if the messiah was going to come he would come and fulfill all these laws they made for themselves. Becasue in the mean time, they worked for their own righteousness and began hoping in what they could do to be viewed as good or holy by upholding the laws they made for themeselves.
Then there were others who held fast to the promises that the Lord made and the hope in the rescuer. The one who would finally crush the hold of sin and death.
They waited and waited and waited. But what kept them in the midst of all this waiting. was hope
Let’s go to scripture
Now if you know me at all, you know that Romans 8 is one of the chapters of Scripture that I quote often
Paul is writing to the church in Rome and He’s helping them to see and comprehend the glory, soveriegnty, and holiness of God while also giving them edification in the ways of practically living out their faith in the midst of actual persecution
He’s writing to Christians who had become followers of Christ second hand. These are the converts of those who saw Jesus in the flesh
They had been told the Gospel with the imperative that Jesus was coming back soon
They had been passed down the history of waiting form the jewish people and they had all experienced, like we have, an introduction to the fulfillment of that waiting
The Holy Spirit, God the Spirit, was alive and active at the time this letter was written just as he is now.
They all were waiting with baited breath for the full consolation of this hope that they had been given
They were waiting while living in a country that hated them. A country that, if it hadn’t already, was about to start persecuting Christians by murdering them for public spectical
Paul is giving them the understanding that not only them, but all of creation is in the waiting with them
Not only creation but we also groan in anticipation for the redemption of our bodies and for the full adoption that we have professed
Just as the people before the birth of Christ were in the waiting. Seeking in a hope for the one that would deliver them
We and all creation are in the waiting for his return
He left us, however, with HOpe
He didn’t leave us to wait in vain but so that those that are far off can hear of the Gospel of grace
So that those who are lost can be found in him
so that all those who are out there waiting for something to make sense of thier world. Something to give hope. Something to live for in the midst of so much loss and confusion… so that they, like us, can hear the Gospel and join in the hope o our coming king
We hope not only for the things that we can see coming down the pipe… things like Christmas, 2021… or an end to the pandemic, or maybe your in the waiting for new jobs, new relationships, finishing school, or whatever
But we also hope for the things that we do not see
Those things that the Word of God has promised us
Things like peace that surpasses understanding, the day when the wolf and the lamb will lay down together, when all weapons will be beaten into garden tools…
In the waiting we have hope. That hope is the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ that was sealed by The Holy Spirit
We have Hope because he is the only one who will not disappoint
