The Coming Week 3. Peace
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Not An Insignificant Peace
Not An Insignificant Peace
This morning we are going to walk thru the Passage in Micah that has already been read this morning.
This season of Advent is a season of waiting.
Patiently waiting for the promise.
Enduring until the fulfillment.
We wait.
And as we do I want you to think about some questions, perhaps this week you can ponder these questions during your Bible reading
What specific attribute of God can we depend on as we wait for Christ?
How can our discipline of waiting be a witness to the world around us?
What specific area in your life is God teaching you about how you should wait?
So lets dig in.
Micah 5:1-3
Now, daughter who is under attack,
you slash yourself in grief;
a siege is set against us!
They are striking the judge of Israel
on the cheek with a rod.
Bethlehem Ephrathah,
you are small among the clans of Judah;
one will come from you
to be ruler over Israel for me.
His origin is from antiquity,
from ancient times.
Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of the ruler’s brothers will return
to the people of Israel.
What's so significant about such an insignificant place?
God had promised to do something great in that little town.
Perhaps this morning you wrestle with the question, what's so significant about you.
Perhaps this morning you wrestle with the question, what's so significant about this church.
Perhaps this morning you wrestle with the question, what's so significant about this moment in my life.
I believe the significance lie not in you, or this church, or this moment, the significance lies within the Promise that God has given to you, placed in you, long ago, that He is using the insignificance of the right now to produce and grow in you a mighty, significant work.
Even in this our seemingly insignificance God has promised to do something significant.
Luke 2:1-7
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger,D because there was no guest room available for them.
Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.
“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah:
Because out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship him.”
After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy. Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.
The magi, or wise men, understood the prophecy.
They didn't question why God chose Bethlehem.
Perhaps they understood that it pointed back to the home of David and recognized that the ruler who would come wold be the fulfillment of the promise God made with David about his everlasting Kingdom.
Perhaps they didn't.
But they knew that from this insignificant, small, little region, would come Now who would be the Ruler in Israel.
You may feel worthless, empty, wondering if anything of significance will ever come.
You may wonder, beg God for answers, question everything you've every believed.
But the promise made to a small, insignificant village, was actually the fulfillment of a promise made to a mighty nation.
That all the world would be blessed because of the One who comes as the eternal King and Ruler.
And just like that small town of Bethlehem brought Light to the whole world, even you in what you feel like right now as small and insignificant God is using and will use to bring Light.
God will not leave us in darkness.
God will not leave you in darkness.
God will not leave me in darkness.
Light is coming.
Light has come.
The promise was fulfilled.
God will fulfill has promise to you.
We may not understand the when or the how.
We may not understand the trial and the waiting.
We may not understand why it feels like death is all around us at the moment, but here is the promise...
1-He will stand and shepherd us
2-He will be our peace
3-He will be our Deliverer
He Will Stand And Shepherd Us
He Will Stand And Shepherd Us
Micah 5:4
He will stand and shepherd them
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majestic name of the Lord his God.
They will live securely,
for then his greatness will extend
to the ends of the earth.
The imagery of Micah takes us back to the fields of Bethlehem as shepherd-boy David pictured the LORD as his perfect Shepherd.
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd;
I have what I need.
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside quiet waters.
He renews my life;
he leads me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even when I go through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
as long as I live.
When we don't understand the when or the how.
When we don't understand the trial and the waiting.
When we don't understand why it feels like death is all around us at the moment...
The Lord is our Shepherd.
PREACH THAT.
He Will Be Our Peace
He Will Be Our Peace
Micah 5:5
He will be their peace.
When Assyria invades our land,
when it marches against our fortresses,
we will raise against it seven shepherds,
even eight leaders of men.
Peace. Shalom.
Wholeness, completeness, harmony, welfare, peace.
Not nearly an absence of conflict, but a stability, a wholeness, a peace within.
John 14:26-27
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.
When we don't understand the when or the how.
When we don't understand the trial and the waiting.
When we don't understand why it feels like death is all around us at the moment...
He is our Peace.
PREACH THAT.
He Will Be Our Rescuer
He Will Be Our Rescuer
Micah 5:5-6
5 He will be their peace.
When Assyria invades our land,
when it marches against our fortresses,
we will raise against it seven shepherds,
even eight leaders of men.
6 They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade.
So he will rescue us from Assyria
when it invades our land,
when it marches against our territory.
Galatians 1:3-5
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Jesus came into our land, within our border to deliver us.
And when the enemy comes now into our land, within our border, Jesus delivers us form the enemy.
Even in this present evil age, we have been and are being delivered because of Jesus.
The joy, the hope, the peace promised has come and he will come.
When we don't understand the when or the how.
When we don't understand the trial and the waiting.
When we don't understand why it feels like death is all around us at the moment...
He is our Deliverer.
PREACH THAT.
You may feel insignificant, but Jesus sees value in you.
You may wonder when this storm will pass, but in the fullness of time, when God's perfect will in this season has been accomplished, the storm will pass.
Jesus is your Shepherd.
Jesus is your Peace.
Jesus is your Deliverer.