Advent 4 Sermon - 2020

Millions of people are being confronted by a truth that we’ve long wanted to hide from our own hearts. The truth is this: we are all very bored. So much of what we turn to for satisfaction in life cannot actually fulfil our longings. Sure it was nice having extra time at home at first, wasn’t it? We could watch all the shows we’ve been meaning to get to, and even some that we never thought we’d ever give a try. Like, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin are now household names. It was nice having time to bake what we’d always wanted to bake, watch what we always wanted to watch, and have an excuse to DoorDash from the restaurant just a block down the road. We’ve been able to put hours and hours into house projects and hobby projects. But it didn’t take long for us to remember what we’ve always known in the back of our minds: we need more in our lives than hobbies, and television, and the internet, and dinners out. We need more in our lives. We’re not satisfied by our life being defined by entertainment.

This is a lesson we learn again and again. We get caught up in our jobs, we’re making good money, we’re climbing the corporate ladder, and sure it feels great at first, but the excitement ends, the novelty wears off, and we find that we are restless once again. We need something more. We’re not satisfied by our life being defined by our career.

Whether it’s entertainment, career, or even family, we’re constantly facing a restlessness as we are confronted with the ugly truth that these things do not satisfy our itch, our yearning for purpose.

This Advent season we’ve been taking a specific posture that is a little different than what we’ve normally done. Advent is the season where we remember that the world was once waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. And now that the Messiah has come, Jesus has come, his people celebrate and wait in a posture of expectation for his return when he fulfills the work that he accomplished by his death and resurrection. But for many of the people that God has placed around us, many of our neighbors, and friends, and even family - they are still waiting to experience the first coming of Christ in their lives. They are still waiting to hear and know the good news that we are preparing to joyfully celebrate next week. In the first week we said that the world was waiting for deliverance. We said in weeks two and three that the world was waiting for peace. This week we’re going to look at this desire for purpose: the world is bored and restless. They are waiting for purpose - a purpose that can hold the weight of their lives and more. They are waiting for a purpose that can only be found in the gospel.

But immediately we come to a problem. Popular Christianity, with the best of intentions in mind, has largely reduced the glory of the gospel to a something that offers you and me very little purpose in this life. When we say that the gospel is the good news that Jesus has died for our sins so that we can go to heaven, what purpose does that communicate? According to that gospel, what is our purpose in this life? Our purpose is to receive salvation from Jesus. Our purpose is to be saved! Which begs the question that popular Christianity all too often fails to answer: what then? If I encountered Christ in 5th grade and was swept up in his love and grace and at age eleven I joyfully accepted the fruits of his death and resurrection, what do I do with the rest of my life? If the gospel is that Jesus has died for me so that I can go to heaven, haven’t I achieved everything I was created for? Now I’m just supposed to, what…read my Bible, go to church, be kind to people, and wait to go to heaven?

Do you see the problem? So, if we are going to offer the world a purpose that can satisfy their restless hearts, then we’ve got to reclaim the fullness of the gospel that Jesus preached, which includes, but is so much more than, the forgiveness of our sins. The good news that Jesus proclaimed and in fact that he embodied is that God has established his heavenly kingdom here on earth through Jesus, the Son of David. And this truth infuses our daily lives with eternal purpose and significance.

There are some phrases that when said or heard, bring to mind a whole host of images and information. I’ll give you an example. When you hear the phrase, “Luke…I am your father,” I’m betting you’re thinking about Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker from the Empire Strikes back. You’re thinking of that lightning tower thing. And the force. And the Jedi, and the Empire, and Yoda, and the Deathstar. All of that comes to mind with just a single phrase, because those ideas and images are all tied to those words.

Well the Bible has a number of those phrases - phrases that are more than just the words themselves, but they carry with them a whole host of images and meaning. One of those phrases comes to us from 2 Samuel 7, and that is the phrase, the Son of David. You see, David was the greatest king the nation of Israel ever knew. He was an incredible warrior and even more importantly, he had a fierce love and devotion to the Lord. It was through David that all the diverse tribes of Israel came together and united as one nation, one kingdom. And in 2 Samuel 7, in his love for his God, David wants to build a beautiful house for God, what we would call a temple. And the Lord says, “You want to build me a house? No, David, I’m going to build you a house!” And he gives David this promise:

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.”

God promises David that one of his sons will reign as king forever. The kingdom of this son will be firmly established by God’s own hand, never to fall, never to know defeat or decay. Now, on the one hand, this promise seems to point to Solomon, David’s son who would in fact go on to build the temple that David envisioned, but we can also clearly see that God has a far greater range to this promise. Solomon’s kingdom would see decay, and his son’s after him who reigned from David’s throne, they would all know countless failures and defeats, until the last of them, King Zedekiah, would have his eyes plucked out before being carted away to die a slave of Babylon. So this promise of a Son of David who would sit on an eternal throne firmly established by the hand of God, well, apparently God has someone else in mind. Someone further down the lineage of David.

And as God’s people read this promise again and again while in captivity and exile, when their kingdom had been utterly destroyed, they began to focus in on this figure who would restore their fortunes, restore their kingdom, and give them peace and security forever. This Son of David became their greatest and most fervent hope.

Their poet’s wrote poems and songs about him, such as Psalm 89:

You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’ ”

And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.

This was their hope. But God had even bigger plans for David’s future Son. This Son of David would be more than just a hero to Israel, but a hero for the whole world. Just as God had promised to Abraham that all of the nations of the earth would be blessed through him and his family, God put it into the mouths of his prophets to declare that this Son of David would be the one to bring that blessing to all the earth. We often read from these prophets during this time, texts like Isaiah 9:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone...For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

And again in Isaiah 11...

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord...Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat...They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Do you see how Isaiah is describing the kingdom of David’s son? According to the prophet, God intends for the Son of David to be the king who establishes a completely renewed world. A world that doesn’t know any of the works of sin. Instead, it is a world that knows such great justice and righteousness that even the animal kingdom is at peace. This is a world that, especially looking back on this year, it seems almost heavenly, doesn’t it? And that’s exactly the point: the Son of David is the king who will establish a world where heaven and earth are once and for all brought back together, just as it was in the beginning before sin drove us away from God. Under the rule and reign of the Son of David, the earth and everything in it will be rescued from the works of sin that leads to death, decay, and destruction and he will bring everlasting peace, justice, and wellness that covers the earth like the waters cover the sea.

Now, I know that was a lot of teaching. I’m wearing my teacher robes rather than my pastor robes today. But, why is it important that we understand this? Because the claim of the New Testament - the claim that Jesus made throughout his ministry, the claim that Paul and Peter and the rest of the apostles made in their letters and sermons is precisely this: Jesus is the Son of David. How does the New Testament begin? Matthew 1:1 - “The book of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” What did the angel say to Mary when he tells her that she’ll give birth to Jesus? “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, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” What did the angels announce to the shepherds keeping watch over the flocks by night? “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

This is the central claim of the Bible, and it is the good news, it is the gospel that we’ve been given to proclaim to the world: God has established his heavenly kingdom here on earth through Jesus, the Son of David.

And this is more than just a proclamation. It is an invitation. It is an invitation into a new way of life that is defined by the king’s mission to unite heaven and earth once again - to establish justice and righteousness and wellbeing in every dark corner of the world. If you want to talk about offering a message to a world that is waiting for purpose, you can’t get better than this. Our purpose is to participate in the work of Jesus, the Son of David, who is establishing the kingdom of God here on earth.

Why are we partnering with Home of Hope this Advent season? Because there are no homeless children on the streets of God’s kingdom, and we are participating in the work of Jesus, the Son of David, who is establishing God’s kingdom here on earth. Why do we support Table Ministry and their work with families living in motels just down the road? Because the poor and vulnerable are taken care of in God’s kingdom. Why do we speak up for the rights and wellbeing of refugees? Because your country of origin has no bearing on your value and worth in God’s kingdom, and we are participating in the work of Jesus as he establishes God’s kingdom here on earth.

This is our purpose! This is what our lives are all about. And this is why Jesus had to die for us - because if we are to be a part of the work of redeeming the world, then we ourselves must first be redeemed! If we are to be a part of God’s work of washing the stain of sin from the world, than we ourselves must first be washed clean of that stain. And this is exactly what God has done for us. He has given us everything we need to be a part of his kingdom- work, even going so far as to imbibe us with heavenly power, by giving us the Holy Spirit.

How can the world be restless or bored if they knew what they had been created to do and to be? Your neighbors need to hear this good news. Your coworkers need to hear it. You friends need to hear it. Maybe you yourself need to hear it. God has established his kingdom here on earth through Jesus, the Son of David, and we’ve been invited to join in the fun. This is a purpose that can hold the weight of our lives and give rest to our restless hearts.