Sunday
11/29/15 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s
Sermon Title: “The time is coming, declares the LORD”
(“Hope is coming” series: Part 1 of 5)
Old Testament
Lesson: Jeremiah 33:14-16
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 21:25-36
Friends, brothers and sisters, welcome once again on this
the First Sunday of Advent. This first Sunday in this season of hope, of joy,
and of love. This season that we await a baby named Jesus Christ. This season that
so many Christians also await the return or the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The
word Advent itself has many different meanings. In looking at
www.dictionary.com, the definitions of Advent are the following:
1. A coming into place, view, or being; arrival.
2. The coming of Christ into the world.
3. The period beginning
four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of
Christ into the world.
4. Second coming.
This season of Advent is not the season of Christmas then,
but the season leading up to Christmas. It is a season of anticipation, and a
season of hope. For what was the birth of Christ, if not hope itself? This is
the season that we celebrate a baby named Jesus.
How
many of us have ever held a new born baby and thought about what that baby
could become one day? Would she become a lawyer, a doctor, or a school teacher?
Would he become a pastor, an architect, or an engineer?
How many of us remember looking at a baby and holding a
baby that was only days, hours, or minutes old? Did we have wonder, hope, joy,
and love, as we looked upon and held that child?
To me, we continue to live in a world with so much pain, so
much inequality, and so much injustice. We have a world where some people are
oppressed, harmed, or even killed for being different. We have a world where
most persons and families are attempting to earn enough money daily or weekly just
to be able to have enough food to eat, and shelter over their head. We certainly
have many people in this world now more than ever then, that desperately need
hope. The message of Jesus Christ, the birth of Jesus Christ, is a story about
hope.
As a result of this, through this Advent Season and on this
coming Christmas Eve, I will be preaching a five week series on hope coming.
Maybe where you are sitting this morning, you are in need of great hope? Advent
is about hope. The birth of Christ is about hope.
You know I have talked with so many parents and
grandparents about their children, as Melissa and I have no children of our own
yet. Some of these parents and grandparents that I have talked with, are worried
about the world that they will one day give over to their children, and their
children’s children. There are worries about the economic, social, political, spiritual,
and even environmental future of the world we live in.
Given all of this then, how can one baby named Jesus
challenge the entirety of our day to day realities? This is certainly a hard
question, but I have seen so many parents and grandparents hold their children
and grandchildren looking upon them with great hope. It gives them hope for a
better world. A world of love, justice, fairness, and a world were all people
have what they need to live. A world were terrorist organizations like ISIS don’t
exist, and a world where brotherly and sisterly love prevails.
For this is why Jesus Christ came, this is why he died, so
that we may have life and have it abundantly. The story of Advent and Christ,
are stories of hope. So as I asked a few moments ago then, what difference does
one baby named Jesus mean to the totality of all of the problems of the world?
As I said, this is a very hard and even a complex question.
Imagine for a minute though, that we all knew that one day someone could come
to this place and set us free. Imagine if we knew that one day a savior would
come to teach us, to guide us, and to save us from ourselves. If we had that sort
of hope, if we believed in a savior like that, would it change us? Would it
change the community? Would it change the world?
I would submit to you two ideas this morning, one the
belief that Jesus Christ was God that came down to earth, to save us, redeem us,
and to heal us. The second idea, is that the power of the message of Jesus
Christ is life changing. Meaning, that in this season of Advent, even if you
are not completely sure about everything you believe about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, I would still submit to you that it is very powerful and transformative.
For through the hope of Jesus Christ, and through the power
of his gospel, the world has been and will continue to be changed. The
Christian Church, and so many Christian people make the world a little better
every day, because of the great hope that they have in Jesus Christ. They make
the world better every day, because they believe that God came to earth, to
love, to heal, to forgive, and to die for us. Many of them believe that this
same Jesus will return one day in glory. The power this gospel of Jesus Christ,
has provided billions and billions of people hope, and it has compelled them to
change the world.
So what hope can one baby named Jesus have? I say that the
hope of this baby, of this Messiah, is immeasurable. For hope is coming my
brothers and sisters. Hope is coming, and its name is Jesus Christ.
To me then, Advent isn’t just about what God does, and it
isn’t just about what we are waiting for God to do, it is about what God is
doing in us, and through us. If the coming of Christ is really as hopeful as I
am proclaiming it to be, then what can we do together with that hope?
Could we send millions and millions of shoe boxes of
Christmas gifts to children all over the world? Could we stop Malaria? Could we
feed the world, and make it better? Could we educate girls and teach them that they
have a future? Could we provide housing to the homeless? Could love our
neighbor as ourselves? Oh brothers, oh sisters, hope is coming. Hope is coming,
and his name is Jesus Christ.
How many of us then, as this season of Advent begins in
2015, need some hope? Does anyone here today need some hope? Brothers and
sisters, hope is coming, and his name is Jesus Christ.
Well since the first Sunday of Advent is often one where
begin a season of waiting for the birth of Christ, and his second coming, we
have scriptures this morning that speak to both of these things. In our reading
from the Gospel of Luke from this morning, we hear a scripture on not the birth
of Christ, but the return of Christ. The gospel says, “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and
great glory” (Luke 21:27, NRSV). Jesus then gives the parable of the fig tree,
and talked about how “God’s kingdom is near” (Luke 21:31b, NRSV). In general,
in this gospel reading, Jesus is preparing us and telling us, about his second
coming or return to earth (Luke 21:25-36, NRSV).
The New Testament Scripture from the
Apostle Paul’s First Epistle or first letter to the church in Thessalonica, or
the Thessalonians, talks about having love, hope, and the belief that Christ
will return to earth one day (1 Thess. 3:9-13, NRSV). Or as the scripture says,
“when our Lord Jesus comes with all his people” (1 Thess. 3:13b, NRSV). This
season of Advent for many Christians then, is a season of the hope of the birth
of Christ, and also the return of Christ.
The scripture that I want to hone in a little bit on this
morning though, is our lectionary scripture from the Old Testament prophet of Jeremiah.
In this lectionary reading, the prophet Jeremiah is making the prediction of
the coming birth of the Messiah. The coming birth of Jesus Christ. Given the
brutal conditions that many lived under for many years in Judea and the
surrounding areas, hope was sometimes in short supply. Yet Jeremiah this
morning speaks about the hope of the Messiah coming to us.
In looking at the scripture from the prophet
Jeremiah, it begins by saying, “The time is coming, declares the LORD, when I
will fulfill my gracious promise with the people of Israel and Judah” (Jer.
33:14, NRSV). Jeremiah is saying, that “the promise,” that the Christ, that
hope itself is coming (Jer. 33:14, NRSV).
This reading from Jeremiah continues
on to say, “In those days and at that time, I will raise up a righteous branch
from David’s line, who will do what is just and right in the land” (Jer. 33:15,
NRSV). A descendent from the great King David is coming. This descendent will
rule forever, and according to this verse of scripture, he will “do what is
just and right in the land” (Jer. 33:15, NRSV). This Messiah will not only die
for us, but he will also teach us a better way to love each other, and to care
for each other. This Messiah will show us “what is just and right in the land”
(Jer. 33:15, NRSV). I don’t know about you, but this sounds like hope to me.
This short scripture reading from the
prophet Jeremiah for this morning, ends with this verse: “In those days, Judah
will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is what he will be
called: The LORD is Our Righteousness” (Jer. 33:16, NRSV). This term “The LORD
is Our Righteousness,” translated from Hebrew, is another name for the Messiah (Jer.
33:16, NRSV). The verse also says, “will live in safety” (Jer. 33:16b, NRSV). So
many parents and grandparents that I talk to, want to leave a world for their
children and grandchildren where they “will live in safety,” as we have hope in
Christ, and in our children (Jer. 33:16b, NRSV).
In this Advent Season then, should we
simply sit back, and wait for hope to come to us? Or should would we go out
into the world, and bring light, hope, and love, to people who have none of
these things. While we await the birth of Christ in this season of Advent, we
do so only symbolically, as Christ has already been born. Christmas is to remember,
not have Jesus actually be born this year. Further, Christ has already died for
our sins, and has already been raised to new life. While we await Christ’s
return, how can we as God’s children bring hope to this world? How can God use us
to take the gospel of Jesus Christ into a broken and a hurting world? Perhaps
then, not only is hope coming, but maybe, just maybe, hope has already been
here. May this hope is in us if we allow it to be. What could we do for this
world, with this hope that Jesus Christ has given us all?
I would like to close this morning
with a story called, “1984. A Future Without Hope?” This story is taken from
George Orwell’s famous novel 1984. Here is how the story goes:
“George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four was written in the aftermath
of WW2, a time when Hitler had been defeated and the Soviet Union was on the
rise. Orwell imagines what the world would be like under the control of
authoritarian regimes. In this world “Big Brother” controls everything – where
people live, what they do, where they work, what they say, even how they think.
“thought crime”, to think thoughts that are against the ideology of the Party,
is a heinous wrong.”
“The
central character in Orwell’s book is a man named Winston. He works at the
Ministry of Truth, rewriting history so that it fits with Big Brother’s view of
the world. But he despises what he does and the regime that makes him do it.
Winston begins rebelling against the “Big Brother”, small but deliberate acts
of defiance. He finds an alcove in his house where the cameras of Big Brother
cannot observe him, he begins an illicit affair with a woman named Julia, and
in his own thoughts he questions the way the world is. As each small act of
rebellion occurs the likelihood Winston will be caught increases.”
“The
tension rises until the fateful moment when Winston’s resistance is exposed. He
is sent to prison to be “rehabilitated”. This means breaking him emotionally
and physically and then turning him once more into a party drone. His
interrogator is a man named O’Brien. He wants to convince Winston that
resistance is futile, that the party will never be defeated, that the present
will stretch unending into the future. At one point O’Brien chillingly says to
Winston: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a
human face – forever.”
“If
you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face –
forever.” It’s a depressing image. The future no more than a repeat of the
past. To this the gospel screams a loud “NO!”. It declares that death, disease
and distress will not be the last word, that the risen Christ will return to
restore the universe too goodness and justice. This is the Christian hope.”
My
brothers and sisters, in this season of Advent, hope is coming. Let us embrace
this hope, and let us share it with each other. Imagine a world filled with
hope? Imagine what we could do if we allowed God to bring hope to the world
through us? In this season of Advent, let us be filled with love, joy, and
hope. Come Lord Jesus. Amen.
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