Tough Questions: Part 1

Tough Questions: Part 1 - Why Did God Let It Happen?

Psalm 73:11-26; Philippians 2:6-8; Deuteronomy 38:8; JOHN 3:16

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Welcome. Happy to be worshiping with you all this morning. I'm excited. We are kicking off a new series, as Pastor Andre said, tough questions, honest answers. And we are going to hit some pretty tough questions. I know the questions that are coming, and I know what we're talking about today, and we're going to hit some hard ones. But I'm excited for it because I think that dealing with these questions will actually help our faith grow deeper. I think a lot of times we approach these questions with some fear or some worry that maybe we don't know how to answer these questions. We don't know where to get the answers. Maybe we just, ignorance is bliss. We would just rather not know the answer and just kind of go along with life. Maybe we've tried to find answers, and in the past we have talked to leadership in churches or fellow believers and we haven't gotten really good answers. They haven't satisfied the question. Or maybe they haven't, you just knew that something wasn't right. They weren't biblically sound. They weren't theologically sound. Perhaps you even maybe avoided the questions because you're afraid of the answer. Maybe you just aren't really sure that you want to know the answer to this question because it could impact the way you live. It could impact the decisions that you make. It could challenge some of beliefs. And so it's just easier to not address the questions. Maybe you're like me. I was perfectly, just to be honest, I was a little nervous when I saw that we were doing this series. I'm like, wait, we have to answer these questions? Like that's what we're doing? Because I, for those of you that don't know, I'm not great at confrontation. I get nervous. I don't love that. I can think of a really great response in about three to five business days. But in the moment, I'm not great at it. I just, part of it too is I think that I feel like the confrontation is threatening our relationship. And so I get nervous.

And what I realized in preparing for this is that some of these questions feel like they are threatening our faith. That if we are like, well, if I don't have these answers or if I'm not sure what these answers are, If I'm asking these questions and I don't know, then maybe it's threatening my faith. And I'm telling you, it is not. Pastor Chris set us up great last week with our Easter service and talking about doubt and how Thomas doubted and how doubt was not the problem. It's what we do with the doubt. It's taking those questions to Jesus. It's asking him for help. It's being like the father who had the demon-possessed son that said, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. That's what we do with these questions and with this doubt. So some of the questions we're going to hit on, does God love me? Why didn't God answer my prayers? And the one we're going to focus on today is why did God let it happen? There's an old church tradition where I say God is good and you say all the time. And then I say all the time and you say God is good. So we're going to try, okay? Right? God is good all the time. Okay. It was fine. It was all right. But we're going to do it again, okay? God is good all the time. There you go. Much better. All right.

Well, we say this. We say God is good all the time. But do we actually believe it? Do we actually believe that God is good all the time? Or maybe a more specific question is, do we believe God is good to me? I think a lot of us can think God is good. He's good to other people, but he's not always good to me. So the question that we got to look at is, do we believe that God is good? And if he is still good, why does he let bad things happen? Do we believe that he is still good when we lose the job? When a loved one dies? When we have financial stress, relationship issues, children struggling, do we still believe that he's good? What about bigger than that, like nationwide issues or global problems, wars, famine, children starving, political turmoil? Do we still believe that God is good? And is he good? If he is good, why does he allow suffering? Why does he allow bad things to happen? This is an important question that I think we really need to wrestle with. 300 years before Jesus was even born, there was a Greek philosopher named Epicurus, and he was asking some of these questions, and he came to a few conclusions. He said, if God is not able to prevent evil, then he's not all-powerful. If God is not willing to prevent evil, then he's not all good. If God is both willing and able to prevent evil, then why does evil exist? So today we're talking about the problem of evil and suffering, but really it comes down to what we believe about God. The problem of evil and suffering is not new. I mean, Epicurus lived 300 years before Jesus, and we can go even further back, back to the garden. When sin entered the world, the problem of suffering and evil existed. And many have tried to reason with it, figure it out, understand it, reconcile it with who God is. And it's a tough thing to wrap our mind around. But ultimately, it comes down to what we believe about God and his character. See, I think a lot of times we struggle with that. we struggle with God's character and suffering because we think it's contrary. But evil and suffering is not contrary to the story of the Bible. Evil and suffering is actually central to the story. Once sin entered the world, the overarching story of creation or of redemption involves suffering, involves evil. We would have nothing to be redeemed from if there wasn't evil and suffering in the world.

So Christianity, our faith, actually makes sense of, gives meaning to, and offers a solution for the evil and suffering we experience. I'll say that again. Christianity makes sense of, gives meaning to, and offers a solution for the evil and suffering we experience. The Bible doesn't avoid the topic of pain and suffering, so we shouldn't either. It actually addresses it in a variety of ways. We can look at many different examples. You think of Jeremiah, who was known as the weeping prophet. And he cried out to God, questioning why there was so much suffering. But it was because of the unrepentant hearts of the Israelites. You have King David. He was a king. He was loved. He was known as a man after God's own heart. And he wrote many of the Psalms, much of which were prayers crying out to God, asking, why? Where are you? Be my refuge. Be my strength, be my shelter. But why is this happening? We look in the New Testament. We just celebrated Easter that we talked about with Holy Week. Jesus is suffering. He understood suffering. He died for us. Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, experienced immense suffering throughout his ministry. Both suffering at the hands of Romans and at the hands of Jewish leaders. but he also talks about a thorn in his flesh that he asked the Lord to take away from him, and the Lord said no. We don't know specifically what that is, but we know it caused him to suffer, and yet these people time and time again, person after person, experience after experience, suffered, and yet they stayed true to who God was. They followed him. They continued to trust him. Why is that? Why were they able to do that? Well, we see another instance of a person who was struggling with these questions.

We're going to be in Psalm 73 today. If you want to go ahead and turn there, it'll be on the screen, so you can look there in your Bible as well. We're going to be talking about Asaph. Asaph was a poet. He was a worship leader in the tabernacle for the Israelites. And he and his sons wrote many of the Psalms, including Psalm 73. In this passage, Asaph is talking about the arrogant, the arrogant people, the wicked people. And he says that he even envied them. Earlier in the passage, he said that he envied them because of their lives, that they could just kind of live however they want, do whatever they want, and yet they didn't have the consequences that he was dealing with. They didn't suffer the way he did. So we're going to pick up in verse 11, Psalm 73, 11. It says, “They, the wicked, say, How would God know? Does the Most High know anything? This is what the wicked are like, always free of care. They go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted and every morning brings new punishments.” Our buddy Asaph here is having a little bit of a pity party, but I don't really blame him because we've all been there too. Right? In his defense, we've felt these feelings as well. We've questioned why is this happening? Why does their life seem fine, but all this bad stuff keeps happening to me? Why, God? Why is this happening? Maybe we're even trying to live rightly. We're trying to do what's right, follow the word, go to church, do the right things, and yet bad things still happen. Maybe it's the diagnosis that we weren't expecting. Kids making poor choices. A fight with our spouse, another bill coming through. It just feels like it doesn't stop. But if we're honest, I think many of us are asking, why does God allow bad things to happen to a good person like me? I think we're really, that's what we want to know. And we're going to come back to that question, so hold on to that. But first we have to answer the other question. If God is loving, why would he allow suffering? If we say God is good all the time and we believe that he is loving, he is good, why would he allow suffering? Well, it was out of his love for us that he gave us a choice. He gave us the choice to love him in return or to reject him.

But here's the thing. If love is a choice, suffering is a possibility. We can look at this issue of suffering and evil from a variety of different angles. We can look at it theologically. We can look at it emotionally. But God also gave us a brain. So we're going to look at it logically. Because there is a logical explanation here for this. Logically speaking, the only way to truly love someone is to have the choice to do it. If someone locked you in a basement and said, I will only give you food and water if you love me, what are you going to do? You're going to say I love you. Do you actually love that person? Absolutely not. But you want your food and water. You don't have a choice, so it's not actual love. God wanted a relationship with his creation. He wanted a relationship with his people. And so he had to give us the choice. He didn't want robots. He didn't want a pet rock collection. He wanted people to be in relationship with him. So he gave us the choice. It's called free will. He gave us the free will to choose love, to choose to love him, or to reject him. But in giving us this choice, it made loving God possible, but it also made choosing evil possible as well. so in order to have the freedom to choose we also had to be given the freedom to reject him to choose evil and honestly there are times when we will we will sin we will make poor choices and it will always lead to suffering so if we say we want God to remove all suffering and evil we if we say if you're good you would get rid of it all, well then he would have to remove our choice. He would have to take away our free will. And to be sure, he is powerful enough to do that. We believe he is all powerful, so he could. But he wants a relationship with us and he wants us to be able to choose him, so he's not going to remove that free will from us. Because the only two options to get rid of sin and suffering is to remove our free will or to wipe us out completely. Neither of those options seem great to me. We have the choice to love him, but that just, it comes at the risk of suffering. It comes knowing that we could cause suffering because we have the choice. We also often think that suffering is a lack of God's love. We think, okay, if God is loving, why is there suffering? But we just associate that with a lack of love, that he couldn't possibly be loving if we suffer. But we see this played out daily in our lives.

See, suffering isn't evidence of a lack of love. It actually can be proof of it. It's not evidence that he is not a loving God if we suffer. As parents, we discipline our children, not because we want to cause them suffering, but because we want to correct the behavior. We don't enjoy seeing them hurt or suffering the consequences of their actions. But if we love Jesus and we want to disciple them towards Jesus, we're going to allow those consequences to play out. We're going to help point them to Jesus. We're going to allow that suffering to happen because we love them. A couple of years ago, I got a piece of glass stuck in my foot. And I was very hopeful that it was going to work itself out. It did not. And after a couple months, I finally was able to get surgery scheduled in order to get this glass out of my foot. And about a week before surgery, it actually got infected. And I was very grateful that I had surgery scheduled because it was so painful. I could not walk on it. I couldn't touch it. It was just excruciating pain. And so I go and I go to have my surgery. But the reality of surgery is the doctor has to cut you open. He has to create a wound in order to bring healing. now that might feel a little backwards but that's the only way to go through it you have to suffer a little bit in order for the healing to come well after surgery he came up to me and he said you know I was not very confident I was going to be able to find this piece of glass because it was very tiny he said but the infection had created a pocket around it and I was able to see exactly where the glass was and pull the whole thing out. So my pain, my suffering for that week leading up to surgery where I could not even walk on my foot, I got to see the good of it. I got to see the purpose in that pain, that it actually made my healing more successful.

Now, we don't always have the good and the luxury of getting to see that play out like that, but I had to experience this pain in order to get to the healing. You see this in things like physical therapy. You know, you got to regain your strength and your movement. You see it in setting broken bones. If you don't set a broken bone, it will not heal properly and you will have many more issues down the road. Maybe even things like reprimands at work. Those are never fun, usually pretty awkward, but it helps you push you in the right direction, gets you going where you need to go. Maybe even like going through therapy or counseling, oh, those conversations can hurt. Bringing up old trauma, old wounds. But when we do it, it allows us to process through it to bring healing. All of these things, all of this suffering and pain is actually necessary. And in fact, it would be unloving to not address those issues. It would have been unloving for my surgeon to look at me and say, you know what, I'm to have to cause a wound to get the glass out, so we're just going to leave it there. That would be a bit unloving. It would be unloving as a parent to not correct my children's behavior. Because like a parent or a physical therapist or surgeon, God knows that good can come from our suffering. He loves us enough to allow the suffering to exist and then bring good from it.

Romans 8:28 says, “We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” He is so good to use our suffering for our good and for his glory. So we understand why God allows suffering in general, because it has to be allowed if we're going to have free will. But back to our other question. Why do bad things happen to good people? Because that's really what we want to know, right? That's what Asaph was asking. In Psalm 73, we want to know why does God allow good things to happen or bad things to happen to good people like me? The answer here is pretty simple. We're not good. None of us are good.

Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All have sinned. How many is all? How many is all? All of them. Every single one of us. All have sinned. None of us have met the standard. We've all missed the mark. Pastor and theologian R.C. Sproul Jr. said, “Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened to one person and he volunteered.” Jesus was the only one who lived a perfect life. He was the only good person who didn't deserve to suffer and yet he suffered for us on our behalf. Philippians 2 talks about Jesus' suffering. It says, “Who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”

So not only did Jesus willingly give up the glory of heaven for a time, That was suffering already. But then he came in human likeness and had to put up with all this humanness, more suffering. But then he died the most excruciating, gruesome death on our behalf. If the God of the universe in human form, who was perfect and good, suffered, why do we think we're exempt? He was misunderstood. He was hated, betrayed, beaten, tortured, hung on a cross for us. He suffered. He literally cried out to God, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He gets it. He gets our suffering. But he's the only one who was truly good. So why do bad things happen to good people? They don't. they only happen to broken people. Not since Jesus. They only happen to sinners and broken people like us. So then we go back to our original question. Why does God allow suffering? Unfortunately, there is some mystery to this question. And I can't answer this question for every individual situation. We don't know. We don't always get to know why we suffer specific things or certain circumstances.

But I do know this. God allows suffering, but not because he doesn't love you. John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” He loves you so much he literally sent his son to suffer and die for you. I also know that he doesn't or he allows suffering but not because he's abandoned you Deuteronomy 38 8 the Lord himself goes before you and will be with you he will never leave you nor forsake you do not be afraid do not be discouraged so why was he willing to allow his son to come and suffer why is he able to promise that he will never leave us or forsake us, it's because he knows something better is coming. Even though we suffer here on this earth, he knows that something better is coming. I've heard it said before, I think I've even said it up here, if it's not good, God's not done. If some circumstances your life is not good, God's not done. Now here's the thing, that could just literally mean heaven, that it's not good until we get to heaven. There are going to be times when issues are resolved and things, suffering ends, those seasons end, and there is goodness here and now. But we also know heaven is coming. The Bible says we will suffer. Jesus says it himself. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world. We know the end of the story. We know what's coming. There will be a day when those of us who have chosen to use our free will to love Jesus will get to meet him face to face in eternity. That we will be in eternal glory with him. And we get to live with that hope of heaven right now. Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away.”

Something better is coming. No more pain or abuse or trauma or tragedy or addiction. Something better is coming. Unfortunately, we're not there yet. at any given moment we could enter another season of suffering something could happen we don't live in fear because of it but we we just know that that is just part of being human it doesn't seem fair it doesn't seem right we don't always have the luxury of of of hindsight and knowing why they're what the purpose of our pain is or why something happened I still have plenty of questions for the Lord. But we know that in all of it, God is still good.

Back to our friend Asaph in Psalm 73. He struggled through these tough ideas. He asked, am I keeping my heart pure for nothing? Is this all for naught? Am I trying to be good for no reason? Because everybody out there who's just living their own life, doing whatever they want, doesn't seem to be suffering. But then we get to verse 16. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny. Jumping down to verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but you? and earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Asaph didn't understand until he entered the sanctuary of God. When he entered the presence of God, that's when he got clarity. Friends, in the presence of God, there is peace. Even in the midst of our suffering, he was able to understand what truly happens to the wicked god made that clear to him that in the end there will they will have suffering too but more than that he was able to understand who god is that he is his Asaph’s strength he is Asaph’s portion and he is that for us too nothing in this world no amount of good things and no lack of suffering could satisfy us like God can. Nothing can satisfy us like God can. And when we go into his presence, when we seek him, when we read his word, when we pray, we find peace. Even in the middle of our trials, even in the middle of our suffering. Our flesh and our hearts, they will fail. They will because we're human and we often choose the evil thing. We choose sin. We choose the wrong way. We will suffer either at our own hands or the hands of others. But God is our portion. In his presence, there is peace.

I encourage you to memorize verse 26 this week. I'll read it again. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. We actually have a little option on the program on the Connect card to check that you're going to memorize it this week. We'll just all memorize it together because I think it's really important, especially when we're going through suffering, to be able to recall God's faithfulness, to remember how he has been faithful in the past, how he has brought us through our suffering. So if you would memorize this with us this week, check that box and you can drop it in the back with the ushers on your way out so we can pray for you as you're doing that. But when you are experiencing suffering, it allows you to call this scripture to mind in order to walk in that faith. It deepens your faith so that you know that he is with you. He is your portion and your strength, even during your suffering.

So again, these are big questions. The problem of sin and suffering of evil in the world, it's a hard one. But it's not contrary to the Bible or even to God's character. It doesn't count him out. It is central to the Bible and the story of redemption that he has written for us. Our faith in Jesus, our Christianity, it gives meaning to the suffering. It brings purpose to the pain, and it actually offers us a solution as we walk through suffering that we will face. He is a good God who loves us. And so if you are hurting right now, if you are experiencing suffering in some way, physical, mental, emotional, relational, whatever that may look like, Maybe you are just one of us living in a broken world, wondering where God is in all of this. I want you to know this. I need you to know that God is still good and he loves you. He is right there with you and he will never leave you. He understands because he suffered too. And in his presence there is peace. As Christians, we are living in the now and not yet. We have Jesus now. We have been saved. We have been redeemed. We have the hope of eternity, but we're not there yet. Something better is coming.

Let's pray. God, we just thank you for who you are. We thank you that you are good, that you are good on your promises, that despite our suffering, you don't change. You stay the same. We praise you that you are always with us, even in our suffering, in our struggles, in our trials. God, help us to remember how you have been faithful in the past and trust you that you will continue to be faithful going forward. Give us strength when things don't make sense. Help us not to be afraid of these tough questions, but bring them to you, bring them to your word. Seek out answers so that we can grow our roots deeper in you. That we can walk more confidently in our faith and in who you are. We love you, God. We praise you and thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Easter Sunday: He is Risen & Alive!

Easter Sunday: He is Risen & Alive!

Matthew 28:16-17; John 20:24-29; Psalm 23:4

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Happy Easter again. How's everybody doing? I'm glad you are here. And I'm excited this morning to be able to share some thoughts on our risen Savior today. And I want to kind of dig us in today to remind us that today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of our faith, and the ultimate proof that Jesus Christ defeated death. because he rose, nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Christianity does not rise or fall on a set of teachings, but it rises and falls on a single event today, Easter, an empty tomb, and a risen Savior. And it is our heart, it is our desire that you know more about this risen Savior. And I wanna share in a little bit more about what this means for us today. But if you would, I'd like to just quickly pray again. Heavenly Father, God, we thank you for today, a day to celebrate you. And I pray today that we'll be honored by our worship and the preaching of your word. We ask God that because of what you've done to help us in our faith, in your goodness, in your grace, your power, and your love, that you would transform lives through the risen Jesus. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, Easter Sunday is the day that Jesus rose from the dead. And he made, if you guys know, 13 post-resurrection appearances that is recorded in the New Testament before ascending back to heaven. He appeared to the women at the tomb. He appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He appeared to the 10 disciples. He appeared to over 500 brothers and sisters at one time. He appeared to the disciples during a meal. He appeared to disciples while fishing, and he appeared to disciples on a mountain. If you want to know, yes, Jesus is both a beach guy and a mountain guy, okay? He appeared. There are so many accounts of when Jesus appeared post-death on the cross and resurrection that we know that it is true.

But today I wanna focus in on the appearance on Matthew 28 on the mountain of Galilee just before his ascension. See, this post-resurrection Jesus, I think this verse is sometimes often missed. Jesus, so I'll walk you through it. Jesus comes in, we celebrate last Sunday, Palm Sunday. He enters in Jerusalem on a donkey. Why a donkey, not a horse? Well, donkey symbolizes peace and healing and hope. And so Jesus comes in. It's a little bit different than what they thought it would be because the disciples and the people who were following, they thought he was going to overthrow the Roman Empire and become the new Caesar, the new king that would rule on earth. But that wasn't Jesus' plan. He had a much larger plan in store. And so he'd go through the week. And then on last Friday, if you were here with us, we celebrated a Good Friday service. And if you know what a Good Friday service is about, it's the recount and the moments when Jesus goes, He is arrested, and then he is taken before multiple governmental leaders. He is tortured. He is then executed on the cross, a criminal's death. We call it Good Friday, but I tell you, it's not so good if you're Jesus or you were a follower of Jesus that moment. But we know it's good because we know Easter is coming, right? And so Jesus goes in the grave. He dies. He is buried. And the world thought this was it. The world thought that's the end of the story. But we know Jesus is like, uh-uh, I still got more. I still got more I wanna share. I still got more I gotta do. I still got more I have to redeem. And Easter Sunday, when the women, Mary and the other Mary went to the tomb just to check on and see what was going on, they found an empty tomb. They found a stone rolled away and they met an angel, A couple angels, I believe. And it says, why are you here? Why are you looking for the living among the dead? I love that line. Because Mary and Mary, they thought it was over. They were just coming to pay respects to the one that they loved.

But Jesus had another part of the story to tell still. And so then Jesus appears multiple times, like I just said, but he has this one moment when he appears before the disciples on the mountain of Galilee before he ascended into heaven. And I always thought that this ascension moment when Jesus goes into heaven was just like slow motion, epic, like Hans Zimmer movie score, just crescendo of a moment. But what if it was like Iron Man? What if Jesus was just like, peace out guys, and just bolted. And then you get like the camera angle from his head down to earth. like what okay sorry i was just that's random thoughts with Chris in his office prepping a okay right there transition but Jesus is meeting with the disciples and he gives them their divine assignment in this moment and that is to go into all the world and tell everybody about Jesus tell them about the gospel tell them that the Jesus the son of god was sinless who became our sin died on the cross and was raised again. Anybody who believes in him will be forgiven and transformed.

So it says this in Matthew 28, then the 11 disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. They saw Jesus, they worshiped him, but some of them doubted. If you want to take any notes this morning, you want to write something down on that program you got when he came in, you might want to write down today's message, and it's dealing with our doubt. Dealing with our doubt. I've come to see an honest observation about human nature is that it's strangely encouraging when we see other people struggle. And I would add to that, it's strangely encouraging to see when even those who saw the risen Savior Jesus, the disciples, struggled. And seeing that the disciples struggled and still had doubts, I don't know about you, but that makes me feel a little bit better about myself. There have been times in life when I've really struggled. There's times in life when I've had a lot of doubts. Whether it was a tough season of parenting, those hard times in my marriage, difficult moments of leading churches as a pastor. And there have been moments in those times when people have asked me, hey, Chris, how you doing? And I'm honest with people. I won't put the face on. I won't be like, hey, I'm great, fantastic. Everything's great. That's not who I am. I can't be that guy. I'll be honest. And there have been times when I've had surprising responses. They'd ask me how I'm doing. Hey, you know, just really hard season of parenting right now. Well, that makes me feel so good, they said to me. I'm like, what? Yeah, just in a really hard season with the church. Well, you know, that makes me just feel so thankful. What? And it's a funny realization is that sometimes our pain blesses other people because it reminds them that they're not alone. People have even responded to me and were like, I didn't know pastors had bad days. And I'm like, what kind of pastors you've been hanging around? Because I want a little bit of what they got, right? I miss that day in Bible college when they're like, okay, here's your card where you never have a bad day. Do you take that? I miss that day. But there's something profound when we see other people who struggle and who have a hard time in life and have doubts. That's okay. Because I think the reality of doubt is just life.

Reality of doubt is the Christian life. And many of us have experienced these seasons in life where God feels so incredibly close to us. Like almost you can just reach out and you can just touch him, right? What I would call these, I would call these thin moments where we feel like this gap between heaven and earth is just so thin that God is just right there. But the reality is there's other times where we go, hey, God, are you even out there? Are you even there? Can you even hear me? Are you real? Is any of this stuff in this book that we say is supposed to be the book, is any of it true? God, you feel so far away. and doubt can feel so incredibly scary and lonely, especially in the church. And then questions begin to arise. Are we making all this stuff up? What if God isn't gonna show up? And it's sad to see that many people leave the church not because God isn't good, but because they have questions that they don't feel safe asking. So can I ask you a question today? Do you ever battle with doubt? I've been wrestling with this this week, and I kind of took a step back from that question and asked, why do we doubt? Like, where does this come from? Sometimes in life we have questions of the Bible that we can't fully understand. We have situations that just seem unfair. Good people suffering. Bad things happening to innocent people. Global suffering. Wars. Children hurting. And we get to these moments and we begin to think of like, where's God? Where's God in the midst of all of this pain and this hurt? Maybe we have some unresolved pain that Christians maybe we looked up to growing up in life that they let us down. Or maybe where church was supposed to be the safe place, you were wounded in that safe place. Maybe it was with a lack of grace from other Christians. I call this bumper sticker theology. You ever seen those? God said it, I believe it, that settles it. This is black and white with no room for bend. And you know what happens to a stick that won't bend? It breaks. And that same thing happened to those people when there was no room for honest, real, authentic conversation and the church broke them and it breaks my heart. but I think the hopeful truth about doubt is that there's something on the other side that our doubts when handled properly can become a huge catalyst for a stronger faith in Jesus and that doubts don't have to take you away from God but rather doubts can actually draw you to God that when you have your doubts and you're honest about those, that you can become closer to God as you wrestle with those because faith is a journey, not a destination. I want to say that again. I want you guys to get that today, that faith is a journey, not a destination. You will never graduate with a PhD in faith. You never will. You will never arrive at a perfect doubt-free faith life. there is no such thing as a flawless faith 24-7. It just doesn't exist.

If you've ever been a parent, been around a parent, there have been struggles. And parenting, I tell you, the more I go through it, is not for the weak of heart. And there'll come a moment when they begin to ask questions about your faith. don't panic. Okay? Don't panic. But what they're doing is they've watched your faith, consistent or inconsistent, whatever it is, and they're trying to figure out if your faith can be their faith. And I would say that the church and the home should be the safest place in the world to ask the hardest questions. That's where they should go to. Not to Google, not to AI, not to some podcast, some YouTube channel. You should be the place where they can come and be honest, be like, I don't know, let's figure this out together. I have people come ask me theological questions and I'll say, I don't know, but let's figure it out together. We're starting a new series, Pastor Andrei talked about next week, tough questions. Because we got to wrestle with this stuff, right? Because sweeping under the rug just doesn't help anything. We have to wrestle with it. Because faith is a journey, not a destination. The strongest faith is not a faith that doesn't doubt. The strongest faith is the faith that grows through your doubts. Guys, the disciples saw the living, the very much dead, and then the living against Savior, and what? They had doubts. That's okay.

And there's one in particular I want to talk about a little bit this morning that I think gets a bad rap. And then he had the nickname, the Doubting the Disciple. and there's some rough nicknames in the Bible. You guys ever like looked at the nickname? There's some good ones and there's some really bad ones. This one's up there on the really bad side. And I wanna start a campaign today to change the perspective on doubting Thomas. You go on a journey with me? But I wanna be honest here about who Thomas was. He gets a bad rap. He's the one who doubted. And yet that Bible verse says, the disciples doubted. He's not the only one, okay? But I want to dignify doubting Thomas today. We're going to be in John chapter 20. We're going to have it on screens. But I want to introduce you to Thomas. It says, but Thomas was one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were telling him, we've seen the Lord, we've seen the Lord, we've seen the Lord. But he said to them, if I don't see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark and put my hand into his side, I will never believe. See, here's the thing with Thomas. He wasn't with them when Jesus appeared. So I don't blame the dude for saying, hey guys, that's great, but I'm not too sure about this. Because the others are telling him, we've seen the Lord, we've seen the Lord, we've seen the Lord. There's actually a Greek term in this, which is mean an active, repeated tense. It's like when you're in the car and the kids, are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? The disciples are like, we've seen the Lord, we've seen Lord, we've seen the Lord, we've seen the Lord, we've seen the Lord don't know. And this is why they call him Doubting Thomas, but he's getting a bad rap.

The other's disciples only believed because they had seen Jesus. Thomas is just being honest. He's a realist. Here's why I don't believe that Thomas really deserves the title Doubting Thomas, because when we go back and we see other moments when he is mentioned in Scripture, he's actually really strong in his faith and his courage there was a moment when Jesus was going to back to see his friend Lazarus who had died it'd been 10 four days since he had died and Thomas says hey Jesus let's go it's time to go back that we may die with him it's courage it's not fear there's another time in john 14 when when Jesus said he was going to prepare a place and Thomas goes, hey, Lord, where are you going? We don't know where you're going. How can we know the way to get there? Thomas wasn't doubting. He just wanted to know a couple of details. He just wanted to know the route. He was ready to put it into his GPS to get there, but Jesus hadn't given him the destination yet. He just wanted to know details. Questions don't make you bad. They make you human. questions don't make you bad they make you human. Oswald Chambers has this great quote that said “Doubting is not always a sign that man is wrong it may be a sign that he's thinking”

And so Jesus i i would love to have been where Jesus was when he when because he's almighty he's all present he's everywhere he's he's hearing Thomas talk to the disciples and say Like, he's alive, he's alive, he's alive. And Thomas is like, no, no, not until I touch and until I see him face and I put my hands in. And I bet Jesus was just like, bet. Jesus is like, okay, I see you. I hear you, Thomas. I see you, Thomas. I'm coming. So verse 26 says, “A week later, his disciples were indoors again and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand, put it in my side. Don't be faithless, but believe.’ And Thomas responded, ‘My Lord and my God.’ Jesus said, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’”

So a week later Thomas shows back up even though he doubts check that a week later Thomas is still hanging around those people still with his doubts but he's showing back up so I'd encourage you today maybe you came to church willingly maybe you didn't but you're showing up okay it's half the battle you're showing up Jesus appeared to him, looked him straight in the eye and said, touch and see. Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand on my side. Stop doubting and believe. Jesus gave Thomas exactly what he asked for. Thomas said three very specific things and Jesus says the exact same things to him. Whoa. What a gift. How amazing. Have you guys ever had a moment where you were praying for something in life and then Jesus shows up and gives you that exact same thing, maybe even more? That blows our minds, right? Thomas's response, what does he say? My Lord, my God. I love it.

Jesus is not a standoff savior. Jesus is not a standoff savior. He is willing to be touched and he meets us in our doubts. And one of the coolest things I think that comes out of this is Thomas's legacy. We don't really talk about what happened to Thomas after this moment very much in the church, But actually Thomas goes on to serve faithfully as one of the first missionaries in the world. He goes and he preaches the gospel in India for about 40 years. And then he is martyred for his death. He is stabbed multiple times in the stomach and dies a painful, painful death. Guys, Thomas doesn't do that without walking through doubt. That Thomas is proof that doubts do not disqualify your faith. And if you've ever been told, maybe in the church before, or maybe by another Christian or something, you can't have any doubt, you have to believe everything, I want to tell you, Jesus says, bring your doubts. Come on, let's go. Jesus wants them. And God is so much bigger than them that your doubt, you might think, is the biggest doubt in the world. God ain't scared of it. He's not afraid. Thomas's martyrdom reminds us that the same risen Jesus who met Thomas in his doubt still needs ours. So here is what I know. here's what I know. I don't know nothing. I don't. I don't know what later today is going to bring or tomorrow or next week or who knows next year. We may be back here a year from now celebrating Easter again. We might not be. Some of you might be celebrating Easter face-to-face with Jesus. That's just the reality. We just don't know. Even the last 30 days has radically changed our world. But here's what I do know. That Jesus' resurrection empowers us to keep walking. Empowers us to keep walking through the highs of life and in the celebrations, but especially through the darkest and hardest valleys of uncertainty.

Psalm 23, David writing this to God, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.” Here's the realization. Faith is not an absence of doubt, but faith is a means to push through doubt. And the resurrection of Jesus makes all of this possible. So maybe you're in that valley of doubt today. Keep walking. That valley is no place to set up a camp and start roasting some marshmallows. Keep walking. The resurrection of Jesus Christ makes all of this possible. Don't let doubt be a dead end. Keep showing up. Keep asking questions. Keep pressing into God. You don't need a faultless faith. You just need a little bit of faith. Guys, I'll be honest. I don't know all the details of the resurrection. I don't know how Jesus did it. I don't know how God did it. What I read in the accounts and people who have done way deeper research on this stuff, even medical doctors, I was listening today or this week to a podcast was talking about the physical pain and agony that Jesus went through. I was like, there's no way he should be alive. There's honestly no way he should have made it even to the cross still breathing. And yet he did. So there's times I will be honest. I wrestle with doubt there's times i'll come in here during the week and i'll sit here on this front row and i'll just pray and i'll ask god I don'll under I don't know I don't understand it I don't get you. I don' know what you're doing None of this makes sense I see what you're doing over here in this place and that'S awesome and I love it I see what you're doing over here. I see what you're doing over here. I see what you're doing And I wrestle with doubt, but I'm reminded of Thomas. I'm reminded of Thomas who saw Jesus and yet still had doubt, but Jesus met him in that place. And he believed so strongly, Thomas did, that he gave his life for Jesus. Hebrews 6:12 says, “Faith and patience inherit promises.” Faithfulness begins when our faith seems insane. Faithfulness begins when our faith seems insane.

So your doubts, when handled properly, do not have to drive you away from God. They can actually draw you closer to him. And faith is a journey, not a destination. So can I give you an invite this morning? Come to Jesus. Bring your doubts to him. Come to Jesus. Bring your doubts to him. If you have doubts, come to Jesus. If you're struggling, come to Jesus. If you have questions, bring them to Jesus. If you have baggage, addictions, pain, hurt, bring them to Jesus. If your life is full of unfair situations, church hurt, friend hurt, life hurt, take them to Jesus. Cast your cares on him because he cares for you. If you wanna hear anything today, cast your cares on him because he cares for you. And that the enemy wants to use your doubts to put a wedge between you and drive you away from God, but God wants you to use your doubts to draw him to himself. Faith is a journey, not a destination. Keep walking to Jesus. Keep walking, keep walking, and keep walking especially when you have doubts because the risen Jesus is waiting to meet you right in the middle of all your doubt.

Pray with me. Jesus, we thank you. God, we are so grateful that you rose again. And Jesus, today, we celebrate Easter with the entire globe shouting in unison that he is risen. He has risen indeed. and that even though the disciples who were so close to you still had doubt, you still met them in that doubt. And that Jesus, you even showed up in Thomas' life and said, hey, I heard you had some questions. I heard you needed to see some stuff. I'm here. And so God, I pray for us today that whether we've been walking with Jesus, doing this church thing for a super long time, that we might have some permission to have some doubts and to wrestle with those. Or maybe you're new to this Jesus thing and you're like, yeah, I know this doesn't make sense and this doesn't make sense. I don't get what you're doing here. I don't get this over here. God, I pray that they would just come to you and just have that conversation, that you would treat them just as you did Thomas hey, let's talk. I heard you got some questions. Or maybe you're here this morning and you're saying, Chris, I don't know, I'm here because I was dragged here. And I have a lot of doubt. Maybe you were in the church before and you've been hurt and you walked away and you're like, I never found myself back in a church again. Well, thanks for showing up. I wanna tell you about a Jesus who loves you. A Jesus who cares for you. A Jesus who wants something greater for your life. And he's here right now in this moment, ready to talk with you.

As we continue to pray with your heads bowed and eyes closed, I just want to provide an opportunity for those who have not yet placed their faith in Christ. I want to give you an opportunity to do that right now. And so, again, everyone's heads are bowed. If that's you, if you would like to put your faith in Jesus for the very first time, would you just lift your head and look up? We're going to say a prayer. I'm going to pray. You can say it out loud or you can just say it in your heart. And it goes like this. Again, if you've never put your faith, this is how you can do. Say, Father in heaven, I know that I have lived for myself instead of you. I have sinned against you, but I believe Jesus died for my sin. So I confess my sin and I ask you to forgive me. I bow to you as Lord and leader of my life. Help me to live for you from this day forward. In Jesus' name. God, we praise you for what you are doing. We praise you for the work that you do through your Holy Spirit, for the salvation that we have from Christ's death on the cross and that he rose again. If you prayed that prayer, with everyone's heads bowed, would you just look up and raise your hand really quickly if that was the first time you've prayed that prayer? Thank you. God, again, we just give you all the glory. We pray this in your name. Amen.

The Weary World Rejoices: Part 4

The Weary World Rejoices: Part 4

1 kings 18, Matthew 17:12

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

I hope as we've continued in our Advent Series, you can now see how it all makes sense and we've addressed different things throughout our series. We're wrapping up this morning and I want to begin by asking you guys a question, which is this, in our noisy world today, what is it that you are hearing? We live in a information age, more recently, which morphed into a digital revolution where the Internet, the invention of the Internet enabled rapid sharing of information and data. And we're all used to this at this point in our lives. The Internet has only been around publicly since the 90s. And so, when we look at all of history, this digital era is still in its infancy, really, just 30-something years old. It's a shift in our world to an information-based economy driven by computers, the Internet, digital technology that allows for instant access to information, the sharing of that information and the manipulation of that information. And really what that means is that there's so much noise that we have to cipher through day after day. In the last 20 years with the invention of the smartphone giving us apps and Internet and everything at our fingertips, never before has humanity had to try to process so much information day after day. From the moment we wake up and look at our phones to the breaks that we have at work or right after while something's boiling on the stove and we're just scrolling to right before bed, we can just be taking in more and more and more information. Just look at social media. It's not uncommon. In fact, it's quite regular for your algorithms to have everything from funny videos to music and dance trends to cooking recipes to conspiracy theories and historical and trivial facts to journalistic commentary about today's news and events. And that is just quite the spectrum of information that you can get within 30 seconds of this video to the next video. And so again I ask, in our noisy world today, so full of information coming at us from every direction at all different volumes, what is it that we are hearing? And I want to add to that question, what is it that we are hearing and believing? We may hear a lot, but what is it that we are choosing to believe out of all that noise?

We're wrapping up our series where we've looked at the birth of how the birth of Jesus brought the most complete and fullest picture of certain roles that we needed in life as humanity. We are all born with inherent needs and desires that we cannot fulfill ourselves, though we try. And so we are born needing a king, someone to rule over us. And Jesus came as the perfect earthly king, or sorry, heavenly king. We are born needing a savior. We cannot save ourselves, and Jesus came to save. He is our savior. We are born needing a priest, someone to be that connection between us and God. And Jesus is the perfect intermediary, a perfect priest. And today we'll address how we are born needing to hear the truth. And Jesus is our perfect prophet. A prophet is someone who is sent by God to speak truth and life into a situation. God sends a prophet to cut through the noise of the world so that people may know the truth. There's something inside all of us that yearns to know what is true. And in this digital age, it's getting increasingly harder and harder to know with full assurance what is true. One of the problems we face is that so many people seemingly in positions of authority or influence are addressing our biggest questions and telling us the answers, telling us what they believe is true. Again, you just open up your phone and scroll on social media, and sure enough, at some point you'll find someone peddling their truth. This is what really happened. This is truth. And it can leave us in a position of thinking, you know what, that's a lot. I'm hearing a lot of things. I'll just decide. I'll be the decision maker of what is true. I'll be the judge of that. And all of a sudden, we have become our own authority on truth. So we know as Christians that truth is not subjective. Despite what the world says, it doesn't mean that we perfectly understand or comprehend the truth, but there is an objective truth. And thankfully, we as Christians know the source of truth, and that is God. But even as Christians, the temptation can remain to be our own authority. So I want to ask, what can go wrong when a person becomes the ultimate source of truth? Well, when we define truth, we tend to, maybe not at first, but it tends to devolve into this. We can affirm our own sin. We lack repentance and justify our own sin. We don't just say it's okay, we'll actually tell you why our sin is okay. We avoid confrontation of falsities and injustices, and we'll weaponize whatever happened in what we believe as in I told you so, put other people down.

When we listen to God's truth, something different happens. We are transformed to be like Christ. We are convicted of our sin. We are led to repentance and humbly turning towards God in submission to say, "God, I can't do this on my own. I need you." What we really need is someone to tell us the truth, not just anyone, right? We've been down that road. We need someone who will speak truth in love, someone who has eyes to see clearly the earthly realities but from a heavenly perspective. We need someone who's going to tell us in truth the honesty, be honest about our human condition. We need someone to tell us, to give us guidance and instruction from God's word. We need the truth, someone who will tell us the truth that will call us to repentance and help us to be right before God. Enter Jesus as the perfect prophet. He's the perfect priest, king, savior, and prophet. And Jesus came as a prophet to Israel for the world. And he came to give them the truth, to help them see the world from God the Father's perspective, to address the human condition, and to give guidance and to call them to repent and to restore their relationships with Yahweh, God the Father. Many people at the time of Jesus began to see him as a prophet. They started to pick up on the fact that he was different. And during his ministry, they recognized it. And Matthew 21:10 says, "When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, 'Who is this?' And the crowd answered, 'This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth and Galilee.’"

See, this wasn't the first time that Israel had experience with prophets. In fact, God had sent many, many prophets to Israel over the course of their history as a nation. We have over 15 books in the Old Testament from prophets, all of them trying to get Israel's attention to pull them back to God, call them back to God, to help them understand that the noise that they are listening to in the world is not the truth, that they would, prophets would come and ask them to repent, to turn back in humble submission. You see, just like we tend to do, Israel would listen to the wrong things. And there was a lot of noise in their lives, and it was distracting and pulling them away from Yahweh. Israel was used to and had experience with these messengers. The problem was these messengers weren't always received very well. Oftentimes they were rejected and ignored, and the message, if it was received, didn't seem to last that long. The impacts and the call to change seemed to fade over time.

One of Israel's most influential and memorable prophets was Elijah. God used him to do some amazing things, and as influential leaders go, sometimes the first one is that measuring stick. So often the prophets get compared to Elijah. Is he greater? How does he compare to Elijah the prophet? So I want to get into a situation, if you guys want to turn in your Bibles to 1 Kings 18, or it'll be on the screen. I want to look further into Elijah because I think it helps us better understand the role that Jesus fulfilled and was even better than Elijah. But we've got to understand a little bit about Elijah first. So I want to paint this picture of what's happening in the Old Testament. God is sending Elijah, again, to speak the truth, to cut through the noise of the world. And at this time in Israel's history, there was a famine in the land, and there was a bad king who was leading Israel away from God. And the king's wife, also not great, was killing all the prophets. Not good. Not a good situation. Dangerous time to be a prophet. But Elijah is awesome and full of God's strength and mercy. And so we're going to be in 1 Kings 18. It says this, "After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, 'Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.' So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab." So Elijah's going to speak on behalf of God. And God is using these current circumstances to try to get a hold of the king. The famine, the tension that is happening in Israel, this is all like, "Hey, king, are you paying attention? Things aren't good. You should turn to God." Well, Elijah is actually being blamed by the king for a lot of this. And the king's twisted mind. He's like, "Man, Elijah's the source of all my problems." And Elijah's like, "Well, king, I'm about to set you straight. That's not how it is. It's actually your fault. And let me tell you, and let me call you back to God." So if we skip down to verse 18, he goes and meets with Ahab, and he says, "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied, "but you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals.”

Now Baals are false gods. It is a false god, but it's also this umbrella term for all the other little false gods that were under that false god. "Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, and bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asheroth who eat at Jezebel's table." All right, so Elijah's calling for this showdown between the God of Israel that they abandoned and the gods that they had turned their attention to, that they were listening to now. And Elijah makes it very clear to them, he's like, "This is going to be a showdown, and at the end of this, follow whoever wins. If it's Yahweh, then follow Yahweh. If it ends up being Baal and the false gods, then follow them. But this will be the deciding factor. We're going to make it clear who is God.

Jump down to verse 22, and this is what the showdown is going to look like. "Then Elijah said to them, 'I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bowls for us. Let Baal's prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on wood, but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bowl and put it on wood, but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your God, and I will call on the name of the Lord, the God who answers by fire. He is God.' Then all the people said, 'What you say is good.'" All right, so we have two altars of wood, two bowls cut into pieces for a sacrifice, which was a very common way to worship whatever God you worship back in that time. And he says, "You guys call out to your God, I'll call out to my God, and whoever lights the altar on fire, divinely, supernaturally, then we know who is God." And all the odds from the human perspective are with Baal. He's got four hundred and fifty prophets to call out to Baal, to one Elijah. And Elijah tips the scales even further by pouring water. He says, "Grab a bunch of buckets of water and just douse my altar with water so that the fire, it's even harder for the fire to catch." And so they do it. There's a little trench that they build around it, and they just keep dumping water and water and water. And then they start calling out. And the prophets to Baal, they're calling and it's taking hours, and nothing's happening, and hours. And Elijah's sitting there, kind of with like a holy smugness. I would say holy smugness. And he's like, "Yeah, is your God there? Is he home?" He starts taunting them. And these priests, these false priests are going to extreme lengths to try to get their God's attention, and just nothing. And then we read, Elijah, what happens next?

Verse thirty-six says, "At the time of the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed, 'Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.' Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, 'The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God.'" I love it. This is incredible. And so we see Elijah being the messenger of God, calling people back, invites them to repentance, and at the end, the people respond well. They bow down and they worship God. Talk about cutting through the noise with the truth and being able to have this great moment for Israel's history, say, "Yes, yes, we messed up, but God called us back and we responded." So you can see why people like Elijah. They're like, "Yeah, Elijah was good. Helped us out, really good guy." But unfortunately, their worship was short-lived, and their hearts and minds, again, strayed from God, even as impactful and amazing as Elijah was and how God used him, they still didn't stay with God for very long. And they would drift away. And what they were hearing and believing was no longer God, but the things of the world. And God sent more prophets and more prophets to try to get Israel back, till finally he said, "You know what, I'm going to put a pause on sending prophets." And there was a time of silence from hearing from God, until John the Baptist.

John the Baptist, as you may know, was tasked with preparing the way, preparing the way for Jesus. Even John the Baptist, though, was compared to Elijah. It says in Matthew 17, Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come." And they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands, then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. See, Jesus was addressing the fact that a prophet came, because the last prophet that Israel had ever heard of, Malachi in the Old Testament, says in chapter 4, verse 5, "I will send the prophet Elijah to you." So Israel's been waiting. They're like, "This prophet, some prophet is going to come, like Elijah." And they're waiting. And John the Baptist shows up, but not everyone believed. And in fact, it says, "They have done to him everything they wished." And Jesus is referring to the fact that they beheaded John the Baptist. A prophet came preparing the way for Jesus, and they killed him. And Jesus says, "The Son of Man is going to suffer in the same way. He's going to die." So the question remained for Israel, who are they listening to? Who will they believe? And sometimes we think we want to hear the truth. We think we do. We think we're ready to accept the truth. But when the truth actually comes, our response is one of indifference, or blatant disregard, or even hatred to the message, or hatred to the messenger. And this is most true in the life of Jesus, who is the most perfect prophet. So God said, "The time has come, enough with prophets, I'm going to send my Son, the perfect prophet.”

And Hebrews chapter 1 says this, "In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through him also he made the universe." So God said, "All right, you ignored my other prophets, the messengers that came on behalf of me, now I'm sending my Son, and he's going to speak the truth. And I want him to cut through the noise of the world." And Jesus came to fulfill all the things that we need from a prophet, and he does these things so perfectly. Jesus speaks truth in love. John 18:37 says, "The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Jesus speaks the truth. Everything that comes out of his mouth is truth. As a prophet, Jesus helps us see earthly realities from a heavenly perspective. Just read any of the Beatitudes. Go to Matthew 5:6-7, and just read how Jesus is calling us to live in this world, but with a heavenly perspective. That the realities that we face, that everyone faces, are still true, but how we go about them, our approach, our mindset, is different when we have that heavenly perspective.

So we call it the upside-down kingdom. It's kind of a nickname we have for God's kingdom, because it's so upside-down, it's so inverse of what the world would say makes sense. You need these things in life. You need shelter, you need clothing, you need food. And the world would say, "Prioritize that. Make that the number one thing in life. Make sure you have those things before everything else." But Jesus says, Matthew 6:19, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also." Or Matthew 6:31, says, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. So take first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Jesus helps us see the heavenly perspective of our earthly reality, saying, "Those things are important. You do need them, but it's not number one. The first thing is to love God, to pursue God, to give God your everything, and he will take care of you." Jesus as a prophet speaks truth and love, helps us see it, earth's realities from a heavenly perspective, and he's also honest and addresses our spiritual condition. John 8:34 says, "Jesus replied, 'Verily I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.'" We are all sinners, all of humanity, and he came to save us. He didn't come down from heaven to comfort us and say, "Oh, you're doing great. You just do you. I totally understand." He didn't come to coddle us. No, he told us, "You guys are sinners. You're enslaved to it, and I'm here to set you free." He came to free us from sin through his sacrifice. So he gives us, he addresses our spiritual condition, and he also gives us instruction from God's word. He gives us guidance. It says in Luke 24:27, "And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures." He took time with his disciples and said, "This is what it means to follow God. It says all this. This is a lot to work through to understand. Let me help you. Let me give you some instruction. Let me give you some guidance for your everyday life and help you understand what it means to live righteously." He summarizes it concisely with the command that you've probably heard. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.”

So we want to sum up all of Jesus' teachings. Maybe we take that as the most important thing. But he gives us those instructions for us today. This is what Jesus does as a prophet, speaking truth. He also calls us to repentance and restoration. Mark 1:15 says, "Jesus went to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come," he said, "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news." He wants us to turn away from sin and be in right relationship with God the Father. John 3:17 says, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." I love that Jesus was sent in order that we would repent, that we could have right relationship. He didn't just come to punish and say, "You guys are all sinners. You deserve hell. Let's make this happen." No. He wants us to be in heaven with God the Father, and he provides the way for that to happen. And so he calls us to repent and then to follow God with our lives. So he calls us to repentance and restoration. But it gets even better. Because not only does Jesus speak the truth, but church, Jesus is the truth. Says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." To know Jesus, to have a personal relationship with him, is to know the truth. What better way to answer that question that people ask today, "Hey, how do I know what is truth?" And respond in a way, it's actually more, "Who is the truth?" And it's Jesus Christ. John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

This is what Christmas is all about. The Word becoming flesh. The truth wrapped in flesh, born a priestly king, born to save the world. Jesus come down as a baby who is the truth. I asked a question at the beginning, "What is it that you are hearing and believing?" And so I want to ask you now, do you hear Jesus today? And do you believe him? Are you listening because Jesus is calling out to you? And he does this in different ways. He calls you to himself, who is the truth. And he calls you to live in the truth through the Holy Spirit. He does this through his Word, as we read through prayer, through his voice, through the Spirit in our hearts, through people in our lives speaking exhortations to us. And are we listening? So are you able to hear Jesus? And if you are ready to listen, do you believe and follow that call? Because the way that we respond to hearing the truth reveals where our hearts are at. If we are ready and we're able, then we will listen. But if we're not, then our hearts are closed, and that kind of reveals where we're at in our relationship with God.

Are you able to hear Jesus? If you're sitting and you're like, "I try. I'm trying to hear Jesus, but I just, I don't, I can't." And I would say maybe there's too much noise in your life. Maybe you're struggling with some noise pollution. There's just too much going on, too much that you're paying attention to. And maybe you need to turn the volume down on some things. Maybe you need to turn the volume down on the time that you spend on your phone, scrolling, social media. Maybe you need to turn down the volume on listening to talk radio or podcasts or how much time you spend watching movies or shows, playing video games, watching the news. If you're saying, "Man, I can't hear God. It might be time to evaluate what is it that I'm spending my time listening to, though? And maybe that's the reason why I cannot hear God." If you are hearing his voice, then are you ready to receive his truth, to follow and obey? I want to ask, what is he calling you to do? Those things that a prophet fulfills, that a prophet does, that he fulfills, what is he calling you to do? Is he calling you to see your world through a heavenly perspective? Maybe you're going through stuff right now and you're facing some greed, some selfishness, and he's saying, "Hey, I need you to understand this from my point of view." Is he calling you to look at your spiritual condition? Is there some sin going on in your life that he wants you to look at and say, "Hey, I need you to surrender this over to me"? Is he calling you to repentance and restoration? Say, "Hey, you know that you've been living with this sin, but I need you to turn away from it, to surrender it to me, to follow me"? Your relationship with God isn't what it's supposed to be, so let's address that. Or is he calling you to heed his words and instructions? Maybe he's saying, "Hey, I've got a word for you. There's some things in this Bible. I've sent some friends that were trying to talk to you and you're not listening. I've got some instruction for how you should be living your life and I want you to follow it." Whatever it may be, church, listen to God this Christmas season. Treasure his words. And remember that Jesus speaks truth to set us free, not to condemn us, not to shame us, not to cast us out as failures, but to prepare us for his kingdom, to transform us into the likeness of Christ in order that we can love him better and love others like Jesus.

So this Christmas season, as we approach the final days before Christmas, I can't, like Pastor Lauren said, it is just days away that hits me like every morning. We're, "Oh my goodness, I still got to wrap things. I got to buy things too. Oh my God. Okay. I just thought of two more people that... Okay. See, God, I hear you. You heard me. Tell me. Yep." As we approach the final days before Christmas, I want us to be aware that the noise around us will only increase. The stress and hectic schedule will only get more stressful and more hectic. The voice of the consumer within us will only get more selfish and greedier. Or for some of us, the silence of loneliness and despair and isolation around the holidays will ring even more loudly. But church, we have the truth to cut through the noise or the silence because we have Christ. We have Christ to speak truth into our lives and into our hearts, guiding us to what truly matters. We have Christ to speak truth over us, to protect us and ensure that we remain with him. And we have Christ to speak truth through us, encouraging us to share the love of Jesus with the people that we come in contact with this Christmas season. So this Christmas, we pray that you know the truth, that you hear the truth from God above everything else. We can't completely turn off the noise from this world, but we can try and make sure that Jesus is the loudest thing that we're hearing around this season. And in moments that the Spirit ordains, we pray that you would share that truth for the real reason for the season. The incarnation of our perfect prophet, priest, king, our Savior. And so in that, we, church, the weary world can rejoice. Amen?

Let's pray. God, thank you again for your word, for sending your son, for sending the truth wrapped up as a baby, because God, without your son, Jesus, without the truth, we are lost. We have no hope. But this Christmas, we rejoice because through you, we have hope, we have assurance of eternity with you. God, I pray that you would help our hearts and ears to be sensitive to your voice this Christmas. And God, however you are trying to speak to us, through your word, through prayer, through times of silence, maybe an audible voice through our friends and loved ones. But God, I pray that you would make us attentive to your spirit. Tune our hearts to follow you. And God, may we be encouraged to give you everything that we have, that we would see the world we live in through your eyes, that we would love others the way that you have loved us, that we would take our sin and lay it before you and say, "God, take this. Make my heart clean again." God, thank you for your truth. And God, I pray that our attention would not just be given to you for an hour on a candlelight Christmas service, but every day through whatever we're going through, all the parties and gatherings and times at home, watching a Christmas movie, walking the neighborhood for Christmas lights, God, that we would be open to what you are doing in that very moment. Because we know that you work through all things in every situation. So God, we give our lives to you, we give our hearts to you, and we look forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior this Christmas. We pray this in your name. Amen.

The Weary World Rejoices: Part 3

The Weary World Rejoices: Part 3

Exodus 20:1–3, Hebrews 4 & 7

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We are in week three of our Weary World Rejoices series. I have been loving this series, I don't know about you, but even before we started, when we were planning this, and we were talking to the staff, we were just kind of working through it. And I was just hit by the poignancy of it, and I love the idea of getting to talk about how we as a people are weary. We are tired, we work hard, we strive, even trying to just walk the Christian life can be tiresome sometimes. And so I thought it was such an important topic for us to talk about and acknowledge that we are weary. And this can be a weary season, but we still get to rejoice. We still can rejoice in Jesus. So, so far in our series, we've talked about Jesus as King. And then last week we talked about Jesus as our Savior. And this week we'll be talking about Jesus as Priest. And really, each week we focused on the need, or something that we as humanity desire or need, and then how we have, in our own striving, have distorted that or perverted that in some way. We've tried to fix the problem ourselves. And then how Jesus, in the person and character of who He is, is truly the answer to what we need. As we look at the biblical examples each week, we see how we've been weary since the fall. We have strived to fix our problems. We've all had things, humanity, since the beginning of time, has longed for things and tried to meet that need on our own. But we couldn't do it. We couldn't do it in our own strength. We've messed up the real answer, what we thought was the answer to our problem. We screwed it up. But we get to rejoice. This is the weary world rejoices, and we get to rejoice because of who Jesus is and how He meets that need in our lives. So, again, today we are going to be talking about Jesus as Priest.

Throughout Scripture, and specifically with the nation of Israel, we see the role of priests. We see the priesthood. Now, maybe for some of you, we might all have different responses to this idea of priests, especially maybe if you have a Catholic background or have experience with that. And there are many religions and faith beliefs that have priests that serve in that faith. We here in Spring Valley, in a Protestant belief system, we have pastors or ministry leaders. And so some of the roles and responsibilities have some crossover, but we see in Scripture what a priest was meant to do. And their role, their main role, they had many responsibilities, but their main role was to be the connection between God or Yahweh and the people. They were the go-between. They were the intermediary between Yahweh and the people of God. Today, the human desire and need we're going to talk about is connection. We all have this innate need to be connected. God actually put it in our DNA. We all need to feel connected, both to God and to humans, but He gave it to us. But God being perfect could not be in relationship with an imperfect people. And the Israelites were not perfect. We are not perfect. So He created a system that would allow an imperfect people to be connected to God.

And the priesthood that we'll see here was part of that plan, that was part of that system. So the priest represented the people to God and God to the people. And one person that we see exemplify this role is Moses, who actually wasn't officially a priest. He led the people of Israel. He helped establish them as a nation. He was the guy who went into Egypt. God used him with all the plagues. They got out of Egypt, divided the Red Sea, crossed through, wandered around for a while. Right, that guy, that Moses. He was the leader and God used him to establish the nation of Israel, to learn about God, to learn who He was and that they could trust Him. And although the priesthood hadn't been created officially yet, he served in that role. He offered sacrifices on behalf of the people. He would pray for them. He would communicate with God and bring the people, metaphorically, to God, and then bring the message of God back to the people. So he really was a priest in his role. And then later, he actually implemented the priesthood through his brother, Aaron. We see the formal establishment of the priesthood in Exodus. We're actually going to be in Hebrews mostly later this morning. But real quick, I want us to look at Exodus 40. It'll be on the screens. You're welcome to turn there. But I want to see how Moses established the formal priesthood for the Israelites. So Exodus 40, verse 12, it says, "Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. Anoint them just as you anointed their father so they may serve me as priest. Their anointing will be a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations. Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him.”

So although Moses kind of acted as the priest for a long time, God had him establish the priesthood through his brother, Aaron, and it would continue through their lineage. It was specifically from the tribe of Levi. And the priests had many responsibilities. They would make sacrifices on behalf of the people to atone for their sin. They didn't have--Jesus hadn't died on the cross yet. They needed a system to make them right again with God after they sinned, so they would offer sacrifices. They would keep the lamps burning in the tabernacle and later in the temple as a symbol of God's presence with them. They would bring offerings and burn incense and say prayers. They would lead worship and fast and national repentance. They would preside over their worship. But ultimately, all of these responsibilities were them interceding on behalf of the people of God. And if you'll notice here in this verse, they lived by different standards. They had different practices. They had rituals and cleansing practices that they had to follow because they were going into the presence of God. Now, they were still human. They were still imperfect, but they had these guidelines that God gave them in order to get them as close to perfect as possible so that they could enter His presence and represent the people. The people of Israel wanted to be connected to God. They wanted to have a relationship with Him. They wanted Him to be present, to lead and guide and protect them. But the best way that they could do that was through being connected by the priests. As I said, humans have this innate desire for connection.

Even now, not just the Israelites, but us too, we want to know God and be known by Him. He's our Creator. He's the one who made us. We want to be known by God. And unfortunately, we as humans often try to do this in our own strength. We try to push and manufacture and make it work for us, and we usually mess it up. So that's the problem that we face, that our own way causes disconnection. Even in our striving to bring about some sort of connection, it can usually end up causing more disconnection. I think there's a few ways or a few reasons why we do this. We're going to talk about a few of those. The first one is I think that often it's because of our own impatience. We don't want to wait on God's timing. We want to feel connected right now. The Israelites were also impatient. We'll see that here in a minute. They also had impatience. They didn't even have microwaves. We have microwaves and fast food, and so we're really impatient. So we want to move things along faster than God's timing. The second one is that we have a need for control. We're not willing to trust in God's sovereignty because we think we know best. We want to have control. Or maybe it's because we want something that we can see, feel, touch. Something tangible, something earthly, something this side of heaven that we can feel tangibly connected to. We can't see God, so maybe it doesn't feel very connected. We want something tangible, but in striving for these things, we mess it up.

There's a story in Exodus 32 where the Israelites grew impatient. They tried to take things into their own hands. Moses had gone up on a mountain to talk with God, and God even told Moses, "You cannot let the people touch the mountain. "That's too close," because God's presence was on the mountain. So the people were down waiting for Moses to come back, and apparently he was taking longer than they liked. So they got Aaron, yes, the priest, to build them or create for them a calf. They gathered their gold, their jewelry, and they created a golden calf to worship. Interestingly enough, when they left Egypt, God allowed them to plunder the Egyptians so that they would have resources to build the tabernacle one day. But instead of waiting on God's timing, they used that to create a golden calf. They weren't willing to wait on God's timing. They weren't willing to wait for Moses to come down the mountain. They wanted control of the situation. They wanted to be able to see. They wanted something tangible that they could see and touch and they couldn't even touch the mountain that God was on. So they wanted to have something that they could worship and they could touch with their own hands and see with their own eyes. And often we do the same thing. This endeavor to manufacture connection out of our own ideas, our own strengths, our own need for control or impatience. It can lead to disconnection or worse, sin. It can lead to sinful behaviors, selfishness, idolatry. We begin to idolize and worship other things. In our desire to create connection, we pervert it and put other things above God. It could look different for all of us. Maybe it's your work. Maybe you think if I work hard enough and I see so much success, I will be appreciated, I will be seen. I will experience connection in that way. Maybe it's your relationship with things or items like your phone or food or shopping, things you can consume like content, Amazon purchases. Perhaps it's elevating pastors or speakers or influencers on the internet, on YouTube. We think if I just listen to one more teaching on YouTube or one more podcast, I will feel more connected to God. Now hear me, there are really great preachers and teachers out there that have good biblical things to say. But when we elevate them too high and we put them above God and we don't even open our Bible, that becomes a problem. Maybe it's human relationships that we idolize. Again, God gave us relationships.

Those are good things, but they can be distorted. We could put unhealthy relationships above God. We could put a lack of boundaries with someone above God. We could put expectations on a relationship and expect this person to meet our need for connection that only God can meet. And it becomes a problem. There are good things. Some of these are really good things that do actually bring connection in a lot of ways, but they don't replace our connection to God. We think that if we feel disconnected or we don't feel like God's close or hearing us, that we can force it, we can manufacture it with earthly means. But the problem is our connection with God is not an earthly thing. We can't have earthly answers to spiritual problems. There are no earthly solutions to our spiritual questions. We need an intermediary. What we actually need to solve this problem of feeling disconnected is a true intermediary who never fails, who forgives and cleanses us from our sin, who brings reconciliation and peace both with others and with our relationship with God, and who facilitates an ongoing connection with God. We need Jesus as our priest. So let's look at that here.

We need Jesus as our perfect and eternal priest. We're going to look at Hebrews 4. We're going to start with verse 14. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. The priests in the Bible were simply temporary shadows. They were foreshadowing of what was to come of our great high priest, Jesus. They were broken humans, too. They did their best, as far as we know, but they were still broken humans. They could offer sacrifices for sin according to the law, but they couldn't take anyone's sin away from them. They couldn't redeem them permanently. They had a role to bring connection, but they could not do it in a perfect way. It was temporal. It was imperfect. But we have Jesus who can do it perfectly, and it will last forever. Turn in the page into chapter 7, verse 23. It says, “Now there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office, but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” He's sinless. He knows what it means to be human. He experienced that, but he remained sinless. He can empathize with us, but he maintained his righteousness. His priesthood will never end because he reigns forever. He won't die. He won't have some moral failure that we'll see on social media or the newsfeed. His priesthood will last forever. He offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice. He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day after day every time we mess up because he was the ultimate sacrifice.

Going on in chapter 7, verse 27, it says, “Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness, but the oath which came after the law appointed the son who has been made perfect forever.” So not only was he the perfect priest, but he was also the sacrifice. John 1:29 says, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’" He was or is the perfect priest who offers the sacrifices and the Lamb who is the sacrifice. No priest in history could ever do that. He can never save humanity. But he made a way for us to get back into connection with God and put us in right relationship with him.

The second thing I want us to understand is that Jesus' priesthood actually makes us a royal priesthood. 1 Peter 2:9 says, Back when we talked about relationships, I mentioned that they're good. They're gifts from God. They're beautiful. We need people. We need to be in community. He created us for that. And for those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus, he has made us into a royal priesthood. He has chosen us. He has set us apart to do his kingdom work. We model our priesthood after our great high priest. We do this through spiritual conversations, through making decisions differently than maybe the world would expect us to, living with integrity, looking different than the culture around us. That is us representing God to the people. 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.” Our actions, our behaviors, our words are us being the royal priesthood and representing God to the people, pointing them to Jesus, encouraging them to be reconciled back to God. We can't do that work because we are also imperfect, but we can point them to the high priest who is.

We are Christ's ambassadors. It's a high calling. It can feel like pressure. And truthfully, it can be distorted too. We can elevate ourselves. We can think we've got it figured out. Once again, we can cause more problems. But if we are modeling after our great high priest, we can be used as ambassadors and priests for the kingdom, allowing God to use us to create that connection between God and his people. I want us to go back to Hebrews 4 and just look at verse 16 real quick. I think this is important, and I don't want us to miss this part. Verse 16 says, "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." As the royal priesthood, we represent God to the people, but we also represent the people to God. We do this through prayer, through interceding, through bringing people to the throne of grace. We bring them to God on their behalf. This is why we pray for each other. This is why we take care of each other. We operate in community as best we can so that we can bring each other. Galatians talks about bearing each other's burdens. We do that by taking each other to God. But here in verse 16, we see that it's not just for others. It is also for ourselves. That we can approach the throne with confidence. Some of us want a connection with God, but maybe we don't think that we are good enough. We haven't done enough. We know intellectually that He loves us and that He wants us around, but not that He wants a close, intimate relationship with Him. We try. We read our Bible. We go to church. We pray. But we think that God is putting up with us. He's allowing us to sit nearby or follow Him around like a puppy dog. We know He loves us, but He wouldn't want a close relationship with me. He doesn't actually care about knowing me. So we're resigned to just be near, see Him from a distance, and not have any expectations of any sort of reciprocated relationship or connection. But church, Jesus is our high priest. And we, the Bible says it, so we believe it. We approach the throne of grace with confidence. We're not sneaking in. We're not crawling on our hands and knees. We are walking in to the throne of grace with confidence. Who walks into a throne room with confidence? The king's kids. The sons and the daughters. He may be the king, but he's still dad. And they can walk in with confidence because they are sons and daughters. They are heirs. We, too, can approach the throne of the living God with confidence. We go to His throne for grace and mercy in our time of need because He does want a connection with us. He wants that connection to be restored. It's so much more than taking the leftovers or the scraps.

There's a scene in "The Miracle on 34th Street," at least in the '90s version, where a mom brings up a little girl to sit on Santa's lap at the department store. And I get choked up every stinking time I watch this scene because the mom puts her on Santa's lap and said, "She's deaf. You don't have to talk to her, but she just wanted to see you." And so she's happily sitting there getting to see Santa. And Santa starts to talk to her through sign language. And her face just lights up, and she's so excited. He asks her her name, and they sing jingle bells, and he asks what she wants for Christmas, and he connects with her. She was resigned to just seeing him, just sitting on his lap. She had no expectations of any sort of reciprocated relationship, of any sort of connection. But Santa saw her. He knew her in a different way and connected with her in a different way than probably most people had. God isn't simply putting up with us. He isn't just letting us be in His presence, although that would be enough. He's saying, "I want a relationship with you. I want you to have this need for connection met in me." And because He is our great high priest, we get to have that. We get to have this connection, and we get to go tell other people about this connection too.

So this Christmas season, if you are feeling lonely or isolated or invisible, I want you to know that our perfect and eternal priest sees and knows you. He meets you where you're at. He fulfills that desire for connection and wants to have a relationship with you. If you've never received Jesus' gift of salvation, I would encourage you to consider that today. I invite you to receive and accept His gift of salvation and connection with Him. I invite you to consider surrendering your life and making Jesus your Lord, your high priest. We're going to have a prayer up on the screen, and I'm going to pray it out loud for us. But if you've never prayed this prayer and you feel like you are ready to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, would you just pray along in your hearts with me? Let's all bow our heads and we'll pray together. Father in heaven, I know that I have lived for myself instead of you. I have sinned against you, but I believe Jesus died for my sin. I confess my sin and ask you to forgive me. I bow to you as Lord and leader of my life. Help me to live for you from this day forward in Jesus' name. If everyone would just keep their eyes closed, if you prayed this prayer for the first time, would you just raise your hand and declare that today so that we can celebrate with you? That you decided that you want that connection with Jesus? Thank you.

Father, we thank you that you are our great high priest, that you are the one who made the way for us to be connected back to you, that you saw our problem, you saw the disconnection, and you made a way. You didn't leave us in our sin and our brokenness. You didn't leave us to our own devices. God, you made a way for us to be back into right relationship with you. Thank you for that, Jesus. Thank you for those today who have decided to allow you to restore that connection in their lives. We praise you for that. We thank you. God, this Christmas season, help us to walk with joy and confidence because of who you have made us to be and that we are connected to you, our great high priest. We love you, Jesus. We praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name, Amen.

The Weary World Rejoices: Part 2

The Weary World Rejoices: Part 2

Isaiah 7, Matthew 1:22-23

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

I'm excited for today. Today is going to be fun. We're doing our Christmas Sweater Sunday. It's just for the fun of it and we have some enjoyment with each other. I want to continue in our Christmas series today. We've been in now week two of the series called The Weary World Rejoices. Say that 12 times fast, right? I'm excited because this is a little bit of a different take on Christmas maybe than what you might be used to or what you might seem as a regular Advent series. But we wanted to take a moment and to really focus in on and look through the four aspects of what Jesus fulfills when he came as a baby all those years ago. And Pastor Andre started us off last week and we began to walk through of understanding who the fulfillment of Jesus is. And I love this because sometimes we think about Christmas and it's just one aspect. We just see like baby Jesus in the manger, right? And we think, "Oh, that's so cute. That's so sweet." But there's so much more that came with Jesus' arrival.

And so I got a question for you this morning and that is have you ever found yourself in a place where you needed to be rescued? Maybe it was a situation, maybe it was a tragic moment. Maybe it was an accident, a car accident or something. Maybe it was more of a situation that was financial. Maybe it was an illness or a health crisis that you walked through. Maybe it was a relationship, maybe your marriage. Maybe you lost your job or you were trying to find a job. Maybe it was a family hardship or a depression or an addiction. And sometimes, especially when we think about and being in a place of that tragedy, Christmas and the holidays are an even greater weight. But what if I told you that what you might see as a burden in the holidays in the midst of your situation or whatever you're going through is actually exactly what you needed to be rescued? In this season that we call Advent, it's a quiet buildup to Christmas where we read specific scriptures, we celebrate special moments, we sing songs that we only sing during this season about a baby who changed absolutely everything. But I want to cut through the tinsel a little bit and Christmas isn't the story about a big guy in a red suit. Sorry to bust the news there for you, but it's about a savior showing up for the very first time to rescue the mess that we're in.

And from the very first pages of the Bible, Genesis in the beginning, we see about this humanity that's been crying out to be saved or ignoring the cry within their souls. And the reality of the deliverance needed from sin, death, and the chaos that the world finds themselves in. And yet either we hide from it or we try to fight it. We bury our head in the sand or we think that we've got this. This is where today's message starts, talking about Jesus as our savior. If you would with me, let's pray before we continue moving on. Jesus, we recognize who you are. You are our savior. And God, we celebrate the fact that that very first Christmas you showed up in a super unconventional way on this earth to walk a humble path, to live a life as a servant, and to show us that Jesus, what it ultimately means to love one another. So God, this morning I pray that our hearts would be open, we'd be recognizing of who you are and you with the title of savior in our lives, Jesus. Open our eyes, show us the need that we need to be rescued. In Jesus' name, amen. There's a myth in this world that's been around since the garden. And that myth is that we can provide ourself salvation, that we can take care of it, that we can be the one that's got it all under control. Picture this, ain't nobody but a sharp guy, takes big risks and bam, he makes it. He built his career from scratch, no handouts, just hustle, all him. We love those stories, right? How many Hollywood stories and movies have we seen of that being the case? A theatrical storytelling of somebody who came from nothing to everything, right? And yet though in the middle of that, the lone ranger who pulls himself up or the one who conquers the dragon solo, it's the dream that we chase, it's the real that we scroll until one day, cracks begin to show, sleepless nights come, they begin to snap at the ones that they love, wondering why this quote, self-made life feels so empty. But the gospel tells a different story. It says that no one is the hero in this fight. Not you, not me, only one person.

And it all began when it went sideways in the garden back in Genesis chapter three. And he says this starting in verse six, "When a woman saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. And the eyes of both of them were open and they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." One choice, one moment, paradise broken. They grab for wisdom, for control, thinking that they could save themselves from whatever better looked like. And yet, it left them feeling exposed, hiding from God, stitching up shame with leaves that wouldn't hold together. It's this myth that we inherit. We'll just cover it up. We'll figure it out. I'll be fine. Fake it till I make it, right? That's the world tells us. That's what they say. Just fake it till you make it, you'll be all right. But that's not true. An advent flips this on its head and it's God's rescue mission launched into our broken world. Think about it. The prophets were told, the stars announced, and the teenage couple treads to a stable because of it. Jesus didn't just come to applaud our bootstraps. He came to carry our load. So here's a question I have for you to think about for a little bit. What do you really need saving from? You probably all have something in our mind right now, right? Of something that we need to be rescued from. Maybe it's a grudge, you're nursing. Maybe it's that anxiety that wakes you up at 3 a.m. Maybe it's the sin that sneaks in and steals your joy during the holidays. Think about that for a moment. Because I think if we're honest, we don't want to face it, right? We don't like what it shows deep down inside of us. But too often, we just skip it and we chase something else completely different. We go after something that helps us forget what's truly going on inside.

And I call this the me syndrome. It's what we want instead. It's our perverse deep desire down inside of us that we can't just overlook rescue. We want to rewrite the script. Maybe we say, "I can be my own savior." It's that inner voice whispering to us, "Just try harder. Just plan better. Just work your way out." But remember Adam and Eve? That fruit grab was the original DIY kit, the do-it-yourself kit, where they thought they knew better. They thought they could figure it out better than God had set up paradise to be. And it echoes within us to this day. As it says, Paul, he writes in Romans 3:23, he says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Or maybe we think of it like this. I'll be somebody else's savior, the hero complex. We pour ourselves into maybe fixing our spouse or our kids or our friends. It's noble, sure, yeah, but it dodges our own mirror deep down inside. The mom running herself ragged playing hero at home, but inside shame eats her alive. She fixes everyone else's lunch but forgets her own hunger for grace. Or maybe you're the, "I'll decide how God will save me." We pray for the promotion. You think about it, "If I could just have this, everything will be good. God, I need fill in the blank." We have our own timeline, our own schedule. We're the director of our own life movie. Isaiah, it throws cold water on that when it says the world is waiting for a flashy sign, a big, strong, manly warrior of a king, but God gives a quiet promise of a child. It's not our script. It's His story. Or maybe you're the, "I don't need saving. I'm all right. I'm fine." This is pride's cruelest lie to us. We scroll past the news and we're convinced that our perfect, tidy little life just proves that we're fine. But deep down inside, we know that's not true. These desires that twist us up because it's not freedom. They're actual chains that hold us down. And as Roman puts it, "We all fall short of the glory." There's no exceptions. Think of it this way. You're caught in a riptide out in the water. The waves are crashing around you. You're doing everything you can to keep your head above water. Your lungs are burning. You need to be rescued. And Jesus comes up in a tiny, little tired, weathered rowboat. And He says, "Hop in." But we're so focused on how we think we're gonna be rescued. It's gonna be a helicopter. It's gonna be the SEAL Team 6 coming in hot. It's gonna be everything, this flashy, big boom of a moment of how we're gonna be lifted out of the water and rescued. But Jesus is right there offering rescue. But it's not the way that we planned. It's just too basic. It's too not enough. So we wave off Jesus and we sit there and continue to struggle. So here's the thing about God's rescue plan. It arrives on His terms, not ours.

And my friends, that's where the trouble lies, is that we will forever be lost until we see our true need. And what we actually need is God's provision. What we're starving for isn't control or applause, but it's truly a rescue from evil, sin, and death. It's the three that kicked off in Genesis when it all broke. See, sin just isn't like this oops moment in our life from time to time, but it's a root poisoning everything within us, turning neighbors into enemies, hearts and horrendous pits of selfishness. We need deliverance from chaos and this inner turmoil that spins us like laundry in a dryer over and over and over and over again. Life's just not these random breakdowns. It's a world groaning under fracture and our souls that feel it first, right? We're restless, we're divided, and we chase peace in all the wrong places. The world gives us these promises of if you just had this, right? Every commercial on TV right now is trying to sell you on the next best thing that will give you peace, it will give you happiness, it'll fulfill your life, it'll give you everything that you need if you just buy blank. We make wish lists out of it. We ask for gifts from friends and family and parents because we think if we could just have that, everything will be right. And yet, next Christmas, we think if I just had that, and we do it over and over and over. There's guilt and there's shame or these like silent chains and they whisper to us that we're too far gone, that we're too broken to fix. And we lug them around in our backpacks full of weights, slowing every single one of our steps. I love what David says, King David, he writes this in Psalm 51. He says, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions, wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from sin, for I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me." If we were to get real in here, we all have a raw egg deep down inside of us, similar to King David here. That just because he was one of the big three kings of the Old Testament, that he was still a person. He was still a human. He was still someone like you and me struggling in life, crying out for cleansing. And this true salvation that David longed for, the kind that actually sticks, is nothing that we can manufacture. No amount of good deeds or therapy sessions can touch what it actually is. It's got to come from outside of us. It's only from the one who knit us together in our mother's womb.

In this Advent, we see this in Mary and Joseph, who for fleeting rumors and dodging Herod and birthing hope outside in a stall made for livestock, God's provision shows up in the ordinary way, providing he knows our mess better than we do. And it's not these temporary fixes that we hope for, but it is a true, full freedom if we'll receive it. And so who steps into this? Jesus. Jesus steps in as our Savior, our perfect rescue. Plain and simple. There was a Savior figure or character from the Old Testament that kind of foreshadowed Jesus coming himself, but there was a guy by the name of Joseph. And his life plays like a movie. He was one of 12 sons. He was the great-grandson of Father Abraham. And he was betrayed by his family. Maybe some of you have had that happen to you. He was thrown into a pit. He was sold into slavery. He was accused falsely. He was forgotten in jail. And yet he rises to save Egypt and the region from a famine. And years later, after Joseph had been sold, he gets an opportunity to show up in Pharaoh's court and he gives an interpretation of a dream from God of what is to come and how they are to prepare for the famine that will be a long time. And so Joseph oversees a collection of food, of storage, of backups to have when this famine hits. And the famine comes and Egypt is good. They don't have any problems. They've got plenty of food. They've got it stored up. They've got reserves. They're set. But who doesn't have reserves? Joseph's family. And so they hear about Egypt and this guy over there who's got food. And so they travel all the way to Egypt and they show up before Joseph, not knowing it's Joseph Joseph, thinking that their brother is long gone, dead, forgotten, somewhere else, maybe six feet under the ground. And they humbly approach and ask to have food to feed their family. And Joseph recognizes them. And he helps his brother. He saves his family by providing rescue through food. And amazed and humbled, his brothers bow down before him to honor and to show their gratitude. And Joseph weeping, tears running down his face, he says, "Brothers, it's me, Joseph. What you meant for evil, God meant for good." Does that sound familiar? Jesus sold for silver, nailed to a wooden cross, dies for our sins, rises from death, comes out of the grave, saves us from our eternal famine and destruction, the starvation of our soul without God.

Fast forward from that story in Joseph to Isaiah, we hear the prophet proclaim that therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to his son and they will call him Emmanuel. Matthew, all of this took place for what the Lord had said through the prophet, the virgin will conceive and give birth to his son, they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. This isn't a vague hope or a patchwork to just be a temporary. This is flesh and blood rescue from heaven. God crashing down into our lives and our chaos as Emmanuel. God is with us in the dirt, in our doubt, in our darkness. I'm reminded of the life of John Newton. He was a rough dude. He was a slave ship captain and he was hardened by the trade. One night, 1748, he's out at sea and a storm comes along and begins to tear apart his ship. They can see Ireland in the horizon but they know that they can't make it there. The crew's panicking, the ship begins to fail and death is staring them down. Newton himself, he's no saint, he's no Jesus follower, he's no Christian. But he cries out to God anyway and he says, "Lord, have mercy." And the storm begins to let up and the ship limps into port and he starts reading the Bible and he starts wrestling with this life that he's living and the life that he's seeing Jesus calling him to in scripture. And years later, he writes this song that is sung in churches all over the world for generations. It's a song called "Amazing Grace." There's a line in there that says, "For I once was lost but now I'm found." From a chaotic life to a rescued musician. Newton's rowboat in the middle of the night, a plea to God in the midst of winded waves. And Jesus met him there, not in a throne room but in the midst of his rack. That's salvation's reach. It finds us in the middle of life's storm.

Jesus writes, "My command is this, love one another as I have loved you. Your love has no one than this, to lay down one life for one's friends. You are my friends and if you do what I command, I no longer call you servants because a servant doesn't know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you." Jesus doesn't whisper advice from afar. He swims the riptide with us. And he's betrayed, he's beaten, he's buried, but he comes out from the grave. Isaiah further writes, "Surely he," being Jesus, "took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that was brought us peace was on him. And by his wounds we are healed. We all sheep have gone astray. Each of us have turned our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." From the lowly manger to the humble cross to the heavenly throne, Jesus is that thread that redeems all of humanity as the Savior. So Jesus paddles up, the boat's ready, but do we climb in? Do we drop our act? Do we first acknowledge the reality of our life and the sin that so entangles us? Not sugarcoating anything. It's real. It's life. It's like the prodigal son hitting rock bottom. But that's where grace floods into our lives. Ephesians says, "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and it is not from yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast." It's not us. It's a gift. It's faith that says, "I can't, but Jesus, you can.”

Maybe you need to stop minimizing the chaos in your life. Maybe you just need to receive Jesus today. Knowing that you're not going to fix whatever you're walking through. Knowing that you can't figure it out, you don't need another self-help book, you don't need another podcast, you don't need another YouTube training series. What you need is Jesus. This Christmas, Jesus comes like he does every single year and shows up and says, "I'm here for you. I want to save you. I want to rescue you. I have a better plan for you than the one that you've been trying to write for your life." David Paul Tripp writes this. He says, "Because we minimize our sin, seeing ourselves as righteous, we don't cry out for the rescuing grace that is ours in Christ." We can't save ourselves. Not even halfway, not even a little bit, not at all. Jesus came that very first Christmas to save completely, start to finish, top to bottom. It may look different than what we had planned, but it is the salvation and the Savior that we all need. So this Christmas, may you pray, "Jesus, Savior, I need you. Pull me close. I say yes to you today. Let me tell you, you'll watch the waves and the wind of your life part, just like Jesus did for the Israelites in the Red Sea. He'll part the waters for you.”

This morning, we're going to be taking communion together to kind of wrap up this reminder of Jesus as our Savior. But maybe for some of us, we've never had that opportunity to accept Jesus as our Savior. And so we're going to put a salvation prayer on the screen, and maybe this morning, as you were thinking, as I was talking, and you go, "Chris, I need rescue. I got turmoil in my life. I got things that aren't right. I got depression. I got anxiety. I got all of these things that are coming at me. Life's hit me hard, and you're talking about a rescue for me. I need that." And there's a lot of us in this room that at some point before, we have accepted Christ into our lives, and it's changed us. And so I want to encourage you this morning, maybe you would want to say, "I need this Jesus, Chris. I want to pray a prayer. I want to invite Him in. I want to climb into His rowboat. I'm drowning." And so I want to read the prayer on screen, and if that is you, would you pray that in your heart? And after that, if that was you and you have accepted that, we celebrate that with you, and we want you to join us in having communed together as a church family. But first, I want to pray. Jesus, we thank you for today. God, we thank you for you who are our Savior. You are our redemption. You are our salvation. And so God, this morning, I pray for someone maybe in this room who would say, "I don't have that Savior Jesus in my life. And I want to accept Him. I want to climb into the rowboat. I want to accept His rescue in my life." And so if that would be you, then I would, as I read this prayer, follow along, pray this in your heart to Jesus. He's there to rescue you.

Pray along. Pray, "Father in heaven, I know that I have lived for myself instead of you. I have sinned against you, but I believe that Jesus died for my sin. So I confess my sin and ask you to forgive me. I bow to you as Lord and leader of my life. Help me to live for you from this day forward. In Jesus' name." God, we thank you for your salvation and your rescue. And God, as the elements come forward and we continue in this posture of prayer, God, I pray that you would be with these elements, God, that as they're passed out, as we accept them and receive them, Jesus, that we would be reminded of the sacrifice on the cross for you as our Savior. Jesus, we thank you for another incredible, amazing Sunday to gather together to worship. Jesus, we continue to worship through communion today. And so as the ushers pass out the elements, I want us to be reminded of Jesus, our Savior. Jesus who came that very first Christmas as a gift, a salvation for our lives. And so as they pass out the elements, take a moment and have a little bit of a conversation with God. We give to him what you need rescue from today. Take a moment, ponder in your heart the rescue that Jesus provides for us. We'll be back in a moment to take the elements together. Thanks for listening. And if you would, please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week. week.

The Weary World Rejoices: Part 1

The Weary World Rejoices: Part 1

Isaiah 9:1-6

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We are very excited for our Advent Series that we're starting this week. I want to give you just a hint of what is to come. In this series we're going to take a deeper look at how the birth of Jesus surpassed all expectations for those who were waiting for His arrival, and how the frameworks for which they thought He would fit into paled in comparison to who He truly was and is. Through Scriptures we'll see how Jesus addresses humanity's desire for stability, rescue, reconciliation, and truth, and each week we're going to look at how humanity's attempts to address these on their own power always falls short. That's why we called our series "The Weary World Rejoices," because of all of our efforts to attain stability, rescue, reconciliation, and truth all on our own. To find those in the world always leaves us tired and weary. The series is all about how Jesus is the fulfillment for what humanity longs for. In Jesus' birth so many answers were provided, so many promises were fulfilled. It's what Advent is all about, remembering. While we wait to celebrate the day of His birth, we remember what Jesus brought to this earth. In the biblical story, preparation for Jesus is synonymous with bringing our hearts and daily lives into alignment with His kingdom. Waiting helps us slow down and become aware of what we're waiting for and just as importantly how we are waiting for it. That's our goal in this series, that you are reminded each week of who you are waiting for, who you're waiting to celebrate, and as we slow down in the waiting that God would work in us. Throughout our series we're going to look at how Jesus is the perfect prophet, priest, king, and savior. And these frameworks that Israel was expecting Him to fulfill did come to pass, but they weren't able to comprehend just how perfect He was in embodying all of these things.

So today we're going to look at Jesus as the perfect king. I want to start by asking, what are we looking for? Advent is often a season where our attention is drawn towards our desires, our needs, our wants. We want a new appliance for the house. Our kids want, and the list can go on and on and on, a new toy, a new Barbie set, new Legos, new Xbox, the Switch 2, there's already a second one I think. Maybe you have some time off work or extra family time so you want to go somewhere, you want, you need, you desire, maybe it's a trip to the mountains or a trip to Disneyland, both of those sound amazing by the way. We constantly have conversations, what do I want? What do I need? Around this time of year. And there's nothing wrong with that, but I think it's also a perfect time to be reminded of what are we searching for in our hearts. Deep down everyone desires one or more of the following in their lives, and these are what motivate us and drive us our deepest desires, and those are security, we want to know that we are safe, we want peace, we want harmony in life, we want provision, we want to know that our needs are going to be met, and we want some kind of order, we don't like the chaos, we want to know that life is going to be structured to some degree, but we all seek these things, we all want and desire these things. And whether we seek these out from someone or something else or we try to create and provide these ourselves, we want these to be true, we want to have them. And when we pursue security, peace, provision, and order in our lives, we often do that by looking for and pursuing success, control, and influence. We think if we have success, then I'll be able to provide for myself. If we have control, then there will be order in my life, if I can control everything. And if I have influence over my environment, then I'll have the security I look for and the peace that I want. But the pursuit of success and control and influence and even acquiring these things, more often than not, just leaves us more restless and empty. So if we know that we can't provide what we truly desire, then we are left to think of someone else providing that for us. And we're looking for someone to bring us peace, security, provision, and order in life.

Almost since the beginning of time, humanity has lived in a world where there is a leader over a people, whether it's a king, a ruler, some sort, and that ruler and king have been responsible to provide these things for their people. The king has to provide the peace and the security and the provision and the order of life. Unfortunately, that has not always gone well. The execution of that plan for earthly leaders to provide those things often falters. It's looked like some benefiting at the expense of others. More often than not, slavery or corruption and greed have played a role in how a ruler has ruled over their people. Every once in a while, a good leader comes along and stands in stark contrast to the rest, but they too ultimately have their shortcomings. The reality for us is that we continue to search for someone who will rule and reign in perfect love and justice and righteousness. So who can rule over us and give us what we truly desire? The other reality that we have to acknowledge is that we don't always want what's best. Our desires can look like the fact that we want a king, but we want a king that serves our agenda. We want control, but we'll disguise it as surrender. I'm giving up, but really, I still want it to go my way. I want control over this situation. Or we want power, but we don't want to submit. We are selfish people. Our desires can be skewed towards what we think is right, what we think is best, but you know the problem with that, right? We are sinners too. We lack perspective. We can't see everything from everyone's perspective, and sometimes what's best for some may end up hurting others. We lack wisdom. We don't always know how to solve every problem that comes up in the best way possible. We don't know how to love well in every situation or speak truth in every situation. We lack empathy. There are limits to our compassion, our love, our kindness. We lack what it takes.

Every human, as hard as they try and as well-suited as they may seem for the job of leading other people, there is no perfect human leader. Again, we are all sinful, and we live in a sinful world. So what do we actually need? Well, we need true, a righteous leader who reigns with perfect justice and love, who defends and protects everyone from the chaos, whether the chaos that the world brings or the chaos that we cause ourselves. We need someone who will provide provision and flourishing, divine opportunities and environments where we don't just exist, but where we truly grow and thrive. And we need provision. We need someone to take care of us, to look after us, to give us what we need to live to the fullest extent. And we need wisdom and peace, someone who will give us that wisdom and peace that we can't provide for ourselves. We need someone who knows all, who sees all, who can speak truth in all situations and bring peace and wisdom to every circumstance. So who can provide all this? Who can do this all the time, perfectly? If you have that Sunday school answer in your head, you'd be correct. But this question is not a new question, it's a very old one and it's one that Israel had for themselves. And they were asking and wondering this, who is going to lead and rule perfectly? They had human rulers that God had helped put in place, the judges, prophets, kings, but these rulers always left them wanting more. And they were waiting and waiting for a true king. And in their waiting, they received many messages of hope from God.

And one of them is found in our passage this morning. So we're going to be in Isaiah 9. You can turn there in your Bibles if you want, it'll be on the screen as well. But this is a message from God as Israel is waiting and they've received message after message of hope, of a future hope, of someone who would bring all these things that they were wanting, that they were desiring. As in verse, starting in verse one, "Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past, he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future, he will honor Galilee of the nations by way of the sea beyond the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called a wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness. From that time on and forever, the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”

Isaiah was a prophet and sent to speak truth, to encourage and to bring hope, to steer God's people back to him, to keep their focus on him and to have them anticipate the culmination of his rescue plan involving a king. Isaiah speaks of this future king in Israel hearing this. They wanted one of their former kings, King David. You see, King David represented the best king in Israel's mind. David defeated his enemies, so in a way he brought peace. David brought provision and enabled the people to flourish in the land. David brought a certain amount of order to the chaos that Israel had been accustomed to. And so, in their minds, David was it. David was the best king that you could get. But it was short-lived. David made plenty of mistakes as well. But still, that's all the people had to go off. So of course, they just wanted another King David. And because they had heard God's promise, great things for David and from David's family, they had this picture that was starting to build of when the Savior would come, when the Messiah would come, it would look like David. There's a verse in 2 Samuel 7:16, it says, "God speaking to David," and he says, "Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever." So even David's reign was built up by God to say, "This is special. This is different." And the people also hearing that elevated David's reign above all the other kings. And so you imagine hearing this if you're an Israelite, knowing that the king, this future king, is going to come from David's family, from David's descendants. And it starts to frame the image of a king in a certain light. God promised them a king that would lead Israel towards faithfulness and rule over nations forever and ever. But David was not that king, nor was his son Solomon or any of the kings after as it just got worse and worse. And there was a few good ones in there, but Israel kept waiting and waiting. And when we open our Bibles to Isaiah, we're in the part of their history where they are anticipating this promised king from the line of David, who will fulfill all the promises that God made to their forefathers.

And that's the key theme of the book of Isaiah is a future hope in the anticipated king. And so we read our passage today, "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and he will be called a wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace." And you might be tempted to think just as Israel was thinking, "All right, David 2.0, a little fewer mistakes, but bring back this David figure and we'll have another great leader. So usher in another great time for the people of Israel." But they didn't get it. They didn't get that just imagining David 2.0 was so short and just a glimpse of who Jesus actually was as king. It's like, it'd be like this, it'd be like settling for sparkling water when you can have a drink of real fruit juice. Do you guys know these flavors of sparkling water and how like lights they are? They're so grapefruit, mango, orange, blackberry, cucumber, whatever your favorite is. And you've probably heard the jokes that maybe this can of water was canned in a room that had fruit in it. It's just like the lightest hint or that it was a hint of a hint of fruit that's in the can of sparkling water. I Googled some of these, by the way. People have joked that someone just drops a single skittle in every can and that's what you get is just like a little fruit flavoring or someone put a scratch and sniff sticker on the bottom of the can, scratched it and just left it there and that's what you drink. My favorite is these drinks are just like tasting the memory of fruit. It's just water but you read the label and you're like, "Yes, that is somewhat what grapefruit tastes like.”

That's what these Old Testament kings were. They were just a glimpse. They were the best available taste of what a king could be. They didn't have anything else to go off of. But Israel didn't know that there was a better option to come. Imagine having a sparkling water of lemon or lime, those are my favorites, without ever having tasted a real lemon or lime. And you just take the can and you're like, "Great, this is what lemon or lime must taste like, this very faint, barely tastable thing. Love it. This is fantastic." But then you hear that there's actually lemonade or limeade that will be coming soon, this future drink that you're like, "Okay, that's cool. Don't know what that is, but it must be like my sparkling water 2.0, just a little bit more." You can't know what lemonade will taste like fully. You just have to base it off your sparkling water. And you just imagine it just a little bit more. So imagine how blown away you would be if you had a lifetime of sparkling water and one day you get a cold glass of lemonade. You would flip your lid. That would be amazing. Your taste buds would explode. It'd be incredible. And this is, I'd share all that, that very long metaphor, to say that's what Israel was like with Jesus. And they kind of missed it, but that's who Jesus was. They could not imagine the king that Jesus would be. Whatever flavor you can imagine, those were the kings of Israel's past, some of them good, some of them bad. Even the greatest king of all time, King David, was just a hint, a glimpse, a shadow of the king that Jesus would be. And so what our passage this morning is telling Israel and is also telling us is that Jesus is the real deal. This is the real fruit juice, not just sparkling water. Jesus as king is better than any king that has ever existed. Even the best one that you can imagine, he's better. He is worth waiting for. Jesus is the true king and he's the heavenly king that the world needs. And the prophets try to help people understand over and over again, there is more to come. There is better ahead. Do not settle for what you have right now. It says in verse two of our passage, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness. A light has dawned." Speaking of the hope that will be in Christ, the prophet is saying, "This is the one that you'll have been searching for. This is the one.”

And in verse six, it says, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah is describing a ruler, a king who will provide counsel, order and direction, who will provide peace, who will provide, who will give provision and security like a father for his family does. Isaiah is trying to paint the picture. God is giving words to help Israel understand and connect the dots. That Jesus as king does more, is more, will reign and will not have shortcomings. His reign will not come to an end. Verse seven says, "Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness." Remember from 2 Samuel 7, Jesus will be the fulfillment of that prophecy from the line of David. And he will reign forever and ever, upholding his kingdom with justice and righteousness. Jesus will be the perfect king, ruling and reigning like no human could. Jesus will not only provide all this in his heavenly kingdom, as he teaches over and over again in his ministry, but he does this for us individually even now. He rules and brings order to our inner chaos. He brings peace to our divided hearts. Under him and through him, we can have provision and we can flourish. We can be who God intended us to be. And in him is found the truest and deepest wisdom and peace. And he also brings one more thing that I didn't mention at the beginning, but I know that we all desire this. On top of security, peace, provision and order, we all desire to be loved. And Jesus came to love us. A kingly love, a royal love where we are seen and known. There's an Advent meditation out there from Practicing the Way and it says this, "For some of us, it's easier to believe that God is coming to establish his rule and restore creation than it is to believe that he is coming to be near to us. But it's true. God is after more than behavior change or earnest activity for his kingdom. His name is Emmanuel, God with us. And so it may be that the most important thing we can do in preparing for the king is to open our hearts to him with vulnerability and trust. The king comes with unexpected kindness, healing and affection and we are invited to submit to this love. The way of this king, the way of Jesus is unlike any other king. And his name, Emmanuel, God with us, speaks so much to his purpose that he wants to come live with us. Not just reign over us and be from afar, but he wants to walk every day with us. What kind of king do you know that would do that? And with all of us individually, take the time and the intention to say, "I want to be in your life." Through his personal presence in our lives, he wants to then also bring the peace and the provision and security and the order. But he wants us ultimately to know that we are loved by him. Jesus as our king is the answer to what we truly desire. And it comes by submitting to him and surrendering to him. Not out of fear, not out of some nationalistic loyalty, not out of selfish greed for what we stand to gain, but out of love and adoration for the king of kings. This is the king that we need. And this is the king our hearts should be fixed on this Advent season.

So I want to take some time to ask some questions of us as we reflect on Jesus being king over our lives. And so that question, what are you desiring this Advent season? And to help us acknowledge that we truly need Jesus as king, I want to first reflect on Jesus as our kingly provider. I want to ask this question of you. If you have an answer, great, don't say it out loud. But if you need this week, I would say think on this. What is a gift that Jesus has provided for you? What's something good that God has given you? And you've seen, you've experienced his kingly provision in your life. I would even encourage you to spend time talking about this question with community, whether it's your family around the dinner table or a group of friends. And simply ponder a gift from God, however big or maybe however small it was. But share that with someone this week. This is a gift that God had given me recently in the past, big, small, and spend time together thanking God for that gift. But it's important this Christmas season to see that Jesus is our kingly provider.

Next I want to reflect on Jesus as our kingly peacemaker. How has Jesus brought you peace in your life? Same similar question, whether now, recently, or in the past. But think of a moment that you were in chaos, that life was hectic, the busyness, the stress, anxiety, brokenness, and Jesus brought peace. You may also be in a place where you need the peace of Jesus right now. And I would ask you to think of this. Think of if you are leaning heavily on forms of peace, however good they may be, that actually fall short of the peace of Christ. When I say forms of peace, maybe that's coping with something, and you have a coping mechanism that maybe it's good. Maybe you go for walks, and maybe you have quiet time, but it's not with God. And so it falls short from the peace that God truly provides. But what are you doing? You are in need of peace right now. Are you getting that peace from Jesus? And then I'd ask, where might the Spirit be inviting you to surrender the self-directed strategies for peace and say, "I need to stop doing this. This is how I'm trying to give myself peace. This is how I'm trying to do it. But God, I need to give this up, and I need to rely on you." This Advent season can be full of joy, but can also be full of things that rob us of that joy and peace. So how can Jesus be the source of peace this Advent season for you?

And then lastly, I want to ask, I want us to reflect on Jesus as our kingly protector and counselor. How can you seek Jesus for wisdom and security? And I would encourage you this week, again, to take some extended time of quiet with God and offer yourself in surrender. Find a distraction-free place and just wait in God's presence and ask, "Father, what do I need to do to surrender to you?" And write down whatever comes to mind, whatever the Spirit reveals to you and says, "This is the thing that is keeping you from getting closer to God to receiving his wisdom and security." And ask that God would help release those things into his gentle care and that you would receive his protection and wisdom. We have to, in order to accept God's protection and wisdom, we have to submit, and submitting to him means surrendering to him. We can't have both. We can't say, "God, I'm going to do it my way, but I'm submitting to you, and you can also do it your way." And we can just, sometimes we live like that. We're like, "God, I'm going to try mine. You do yours and we'll see whichever one works out, and we'll just, hopefully in the end, I have peace, or I have provision, or I have protection." And Jesus says, "This doesn't work that way. You can't do your thing and then also expect me to do it. You need to surrender to me. If you want what I have, which is here for the taking, you have to lay down what you are doing to be able to receive what God gives." So if God is saying something to you through the Spirit, and he's saying, "Hey, I'm here. I have the wisdom. I have security. You can be secure in me, but your hands are full right now with your efforts." Take some time this week to lay that before God and say, "God, I do surrender. I'm going to rely on you fully." The great thing about this King is that submission to King Jesus leads not to oppression, but to the truest freedom and joy that there is. Subsiding to the King is the only way to true peace, to heavenly provision, to divine order and security. So this Christmas season, if you find yourself weary, take refuge in Christ. Take comfort in Jesus. Rest in Emmanuel, God with you, and worship the King. We'll close with this.

We notice that we sing many songs that speak of Jesus as our King. We sung some of them this morning, and they have lines that mention the royalty of Jesus, like "O come all ye faithful, come and behold Him, born the King of angels." Charles Wesley wrote one of my favorites, which is "Come thou long expected Jesus." It's an old hymn. I want to read it for you, and it'll be up on the screens. As you read this and hear this, I want you to notice the kingly tones, the royal words, and see how this hymn captures Jesus as the King that we need, as the King that we're waiting for, waiting to celebrate this Christmas. So it goes like this. It says, "Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free. From our fears and sins release us. Let us find our rest in thee. Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art, dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart. Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring. By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone. By thine all sufficient merit raise us to thy glorious throne." We the weary world church can rejoice in Christ our King this Christmas.

Let's go ahead and pray. God, we praise you for sending your son to be born into this world, to enter the story. And as we enter into Advent season where we wait to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I pray that we would remember who Jesus is, and he is our King. And God, I pray that through your spirit, you would work in our hearts to submit to God, to submit to Jesus if we need to, if we are struggling because we're trying to live life on our own. I pray that you would help us to surrender and to submit. God, I pray that we would seek you for our provision, our security, for order and for peace, and that we would be able to see that all the things in this earth that say and advertise that they provide any of those things ultimately fall short of you. God, we pray that you would reign in us and over us. And as a response to that, God, that we would praise you with everything that we have. So be with us this Advent season, be with us this week, and may we see and rest and rejoice in the fact that you are King in our lives. Amen.