In The Waiting

Christmas Story- God With Us

Who in here is really good at waiting till Christmas to find out your gifts?

Nobody likes you

Where are those who are the snoops?

The ones that search the house when no one is home?

Where are my people.

Let me tell you about Christmas gifts.

My brother and I had a really good thing going.

We would find out what each other got from our parents and other members of the family and then we would tell each other what they got.

We did all the way until like 2 years ago.

Someone in this room may have told my parents that we do this.

I won’t name any names.

Brittni… Hi— I didn’t see you back there.

I love you.

I confess to you that I am a bit impatient.

I don’t like to wait.

I hate it actually.

It is the worst.

I believe that we are all this way, some are just better then others at lying.

As we are in the mist of Christmas and all the stuff that goes along with that, I have two questions for you.

First— What would the waiting had been like for those waiting for the Messiah to come?

Would their hope have been really high?

I mean the people wanted a savior, and God was going to give them one.

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Hope was coming.

There was a longing in the waiting.

You know I can relate to this as a Cubs fan prior to the year 2016.

I longed for the Cubs to win the World Series.

To actually see them win one, just once in my lifetime would have made my life complete.

I can imagine some of you feeling this same way.

Like you are desperate for something.

There are things for which we are desperate.

We feel incomplete without them.

We have a sense of longing, an empty feeling inside of us, because we do not have something.

We have the idea that if we could just have ____________, our life would be complete.

I don’t know what it is for you right now, but I can tell you this: it’s always moving.

Once you get that one thing you are desperate for, it’ll be replaced with another thing you want to receive or see happen before you die.

When I was younger, I just wanted to get married before I died.

Then I wanted to be a dad before I died.

I just wanted to see the Cubs win the world series before I died.

Now all I want is to see my kids grow up and have grandkids before I die.

Some people will live their entire lives without ever seeing that one thing happen.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a big thing or a trivial thing.

Sometimes it just never happens.

But does that demean the thing you hoped for your whole life?

Does that make your hopes silly?

I don’t think it does.

I think it’s good to hope, even if it’s for something small.

I think it’s good to look forward, to look for something, even to strive for something.

Sometimes the results are out of our hands.

It may be in God’s hands, and we have to be okay with that.

Think to the promise God made all the way back in Genesis.

Genesis 3:15 ESV

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.”

In Genesis 1 and 2, God created everything, and it was perfect.

Adam and Eve were the first humans, and they were put in perfect paradise.

There was a rule: they could not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Well, they ate from it, anyway.

They broke God’s rule in Genesis 3.

That’s what sin is: breaking God’s rules or laws.

So, in Genesis 3, God punished them.

However, it wasn’t only bad news.

Right in the middle of it, God promised something great.

God didn’t get into too many details when He first promised it.

He just told them that He would send a rescuer that was going to be the offspring of a woman.

That rescuer would crush the head of the enemy who had just brought humankind down in the Garden of Eden.

Over the course of the Old Testament, He gave more and more details about what that rescuer would be like and how He would come.

In Genesis 15, we learned that He would descend from Abraham.

In Genesis 17, God was more specific and told Abraham that his wife Sarah would give birth, even though she was well beyond child-bearing years, and the rescuer would descend from that child.

Sarah did give birth when she was in her nineties!

Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV

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. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

This is probably my favorite prophecy about the Messiah, about Jesus, because it should clear up any confusion.

What do we know about the Messiah, the coming rescuer, from these verses?

He would be the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father Himself!

God Himself would take on flesh, become a human child, grow up, and ultimately rescue His people!

I don’t know why it’s difficult for some to understand that Jesus is God.

There are people who believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, but they don’t believe He was God.

But what does Isaiah 9:6 tell us?

If He was one, He has to be the other.

Jesus is God.

Hebrews 11:13 ESV

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

So many lived and died waiting for this promise.

Thousands of years passed from the initial prophecies until Jesus arrived on the scene.

They were desperate for it.

They knew that once He came, their lives would be complete.

Even though they did not receive the promise in their lifetimes, they were convinced it would happen.

They didn’t lose hope or faith.

They fully embraced what was promised, believing it would still come in the future.

And as we know, it did.

You all know the Christmas story.

Mary was a virgin, but God caused her to become pregnant, anyway.

God promised that would happen, too, in Isaiah 7:14.

That baby, born of a virgin in Luke 2, was Jesus, the Messiah, the one who had come to rescue His people from their sin.

The promise had finally come.

Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple to be dedicated, as we’re going to read, and they met a man who clearly had waited for just one thing his entire life.

He knew his life would be complete once it happened.

Luke 2:22–32 ESV

And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

Simeon was at the temple already.

He spent a lot of time there.

He was righteous and devout.

That means he tried his best to do the right things, and he was faithful and did not waiver from his faith.

He was waiting for the rescuer. He wanted to see Him with his own eyes.

The Holy Spirit revealed to him that he would see the rescuer.

He wasn’t going to die until he saw the Lord’s Christ, the Messiah, God in the flesh.

And he did meet Him!

When he met Jesus, as a newborn baby, he said something wonderful.

“Now I can die in peace!”

Jesus’ coming was enough for Simeon.

Meeting Jesus was enough for him.

He was ready to die a happy man, because he had received the one gift he had longed for his entire life.

He got to meet the Messiah, promised thousands of years before Simeon was born.

God’s Word and promise had come true, and Simeon was blessed enough to be one of the first to see the promise with his own eyes.

Would that be enough for you?

Is Jesus enough?

Sometimes it seems He’s not enough.

He’s not enough for us at church.

He’s not enough for us at Christmas.

I am good with lights, sounds, presents, presentations, and just about everything else we do at church and at Christmas.

But would we still be good if we didn’t have any of that?

What if we just had Jesus?

Many of you in this room have already met Jesus.

You’ve placed your faith in Him, accepted Him as God, believe He died for you and was raised from the dead.

You have received what was promised thousands of years ago.

How does that make you feel?

Pretty darn good right?!

Safe and secure, I hope as well.

I know that the longer you’ve been saved, the easier it is to forget how wonderful it is.

I know that if you’ve grown up in church, it’s easy to feel like this is the way it’s always been, and you really weren’t saved from much.

Of course, that’s not true.

You needed Jesus just as much as the worst person you can think of, because our sin puts us all on level ground.

No one needs Jesus more or less than the next person.

I encourage you to think about what God has done for you by sending Jesus, by saving you through Him this Christmas season.

I challenge you to not get over the joy of your salvation, and if that joy has already faded, really think about how wonderful it is, so you can be an awe of our savior again.

Now my second question:

Do we wait eagerly for Jesus’s 2nd coming, like those who were waiting for Christ 1st coming?

When I was growing up and learning about God and Jesus and more importantly about Jesus’s second coming.

I got to tell you I was a little scared.

I heard speaker say— Jesus could come back tomorrow.

And I would pray to Jesus to wait until I could get married.

I wasn’t excited about His return.

I was scared.

I had so many things I wanted to do before Jesus came back, and I felt like I would be disappointed if He came back before I could do them.

I’m sure many of are tempted to have the same reactions.

If you thought Jesus was coming back really soon, you might pre-regret some things that you might not be able to do before His return.

But what if I told you that we should be looking forward to His return just like the people in the Old Testament were desperately looking forward to His first coming?

We are supposed to have a heart that says, “Yes, Jesus! Come soon!”

We should anxiously await His return, not fear it.

Revelation 22:20 ESV

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The man who wrote the book of Revelation was named John.

We tend to be a little freaked out about the book of Revelation.

It may scare us a bit.

What’s striking about John’s exclamation in this verse isn’t what he might have missed out on if Jesus had returned in the next few years.

What’s striking to me is what John knew would also come in tandem with Jesus’ coming.

There were going to be some pretty major happenings, some catastrophic, right before and right after Jesus’ return.

John didn’t care.

John wanted Jesus to return, anyway, because being in His presence was worth it.

This should be our attitude.

We should be watching and waiting, excited and ready.

The best thing that will ever happen to us is imminent, meaning it could happen at any moment.

At any moment, we could be in heaven with Jesus forever.

That should be an exciting, not a fearful thought!

Think about it for a moment.

Besides being in God’s presence forever, think of what else this means.

At any moment, we could be in a place where we will no longer suffer pain, never be sad again, never experience loss again.

Whatever problems you have now will be gone forever.

That’s an exciting prospect!

We should long to be in heaven with Jesus, though certainly we shouldn’t seek to get there prematurely.

Philippians 1:21–24 ESV

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

Paul, who wrote these verses, would have rather been in heaven than anywhere else.

If he was going to live, then he was going to live for Jesus, but he saw dying as a greater gain.

Why?

Because, as he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:8, he knew that to be absent from his body in death meant to be in the presence of God in heaven.

So, he was torn.

Would he rather live or die?

For his own sake, he thought dying would be better, but he was willing to keep living.

He was willing to stay for others, so more people could learn about and grow in Jesus.

But when the time came, he was going to be happy to go.

Where does being with Jesus rank on your list?

As much as Paul loved the people in the church, being with Jesus ranked higher.

Where does it rank on your list?

Do you long to see Jesus?

The other question to consider is whether you are ready to see Jesus or not.

Are you ready?

And what do you think it means to be ready?

Of course, a big part of that is going to be having a relationship with Him.

Have you placed your faith in Him?

Have you accepted Jesus as God, believing that He died for you and was raised from the dead?

That’s the primary consideration when thinking about whether or not you’re ready.

But what else do you think it means?

Luke 12:35–40 ESV

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Jesus said that we must be ready, dressed for action, lamps burning.

To be dressed for action means that we are ready to run.

In their day, the idea would be that a man would have his belt on with the robe tucked up in the belt, instead of flying loose, so he could run without hindrance.

Maybe today the idea is that we have our tennis shoes on.

We’re geared up and ready to go.

I think of this in relation to the armor of God, which says that we should have on the belt of truth, which is the Word of God.

It gives the same visual imagery.

A soldier would wear a belt for the same reason.

I think the indication is that being in God’s presence in His Word is what prepares us to do His work.

Jesus also said that we should be awake.

That doesn’t mean we have to be awake physically 24/7, but we should be spiritually awake.

We should be spiritually alive, experiencing God, watching for and seeing Him.

A lot of Christians are asleep.

They’ve lost the joy of being in relationship with Jesus, a lot of Christians don’t do anything for Jesus.

The extent of a lot of Christians’ relationship with God is showing up to church on Sunday.

While that’s important, that’s not everything.

Are you awake to the things of God?

Are you active?

Be awake and be ready!

It’s easy to think that you have time.

Maybe you can get ready later.

“I’ll start reading my Bible more when I’m older.”

“I’ll start serving in the church after high school.”

“I’ll quit doing this or that when ________.”

But the truth is that we don’t know what later is or even if there is a later.

Jesus is coming back like a thief in the night.

We don’t know when He’s coming.

Thieves don’t put out a bulletin letting you know they’re coming.

They just show up unexpectedly.

Just the same, Jesus is coming unexpectedly.

We don’t know when.

We must prepare ourselves now.

Are you ready for Jesus to return?

Are you in relationship with Him, spending time in His Word, spending time using the gifts and talents He’s given you, spreading His gospel to as many people as you can?

Are you living the life you want Him to catch you living when He shows up?

His return is imminent, and that ought to excite us.

It won’t excite us if we’re worried about getting caught with this or that, though.

Live the life that you want to be caught living. Be excited about His return.

Pray for His return.

Revelation 22:20 ESV

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Let’s Pray