Christmas - Week 1
I watched a movie a few weeks ago about the tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004. I’m sure many of you remember that. I remember being captivated by the videos being aired that showed the sheer power of the ocean pouring inland, taking down buildings and trees along the way. The movie is hard to watch, as it shows realistic depictions of the devastation left behind. Over 230,000 lives lost in just a few hours. Here’s the crazy thing. This doesn’t even make the top 10 list of most devastating natural disasters in history. In 1931 a flood in China killed an estimated 4,000,000 people. This year alone, 451 natural disasters have impacted our world.
Romans 8 tells us that all of creation “groans” inwardly. Creation is weary and longing for redemption.
If the state of our natural world wasn’t enough, here’s a small picture of humanity:
22.8% of adults experienced a mental health disorder in 2021 (1 out of 5, almost 58 million people)
Almost 17% of US Youth experienced a mental health disorder in 2021 (About 1 in 6, almost 8 million people)
Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death between children ages 10-14, and 3rd leading cause for those 15-24
With the added pressure of figuring out sexual orientation and the rampant uprise in gender dysphoria these rates skyrocket. Lesbian and gay teens are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide than straight youth while transgender adults are 9 times as likely to attempt suicide at some point in their lives.
Mass shootings. Wars. About 700 children a day dying because of unclean water and filthy living conditions. Just last week, a young teenager at Southeast Raleigh High School stabbed, at school, and died in the hospital.
Church, if you haven’t realized it yet, which I think most of you have, this world is broken. Creation groans for a day when all will be put back together. Our bodies groan for the day that we don’t feel our age every time we sneeze too violently. Our minds groan for a day when our memory doesn’t fail us, when the pressures of life don’t allow the enemy a way in to convince us that life is not worth living. All of creation groans in hopeful anticipation, watching and waiting for Jesus.
One of my favorite Christmas songs of all time is O Holy Night. The combination of lyrics and melody, coupled with someone who can really sing, magnifique. There are 3 verses in the song, but traditionally we sing verses 1 and 3. The first speaks to the coming of Jesus into a weary world, and the 3rd to the result of His coming. Here’s the 1st verse:
O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining, it is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Pining - to suffer a mental and physical decline, miss and long for the return of
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
Think about this line! Before Jesus, our souls are empty, feeling worthless, with no purpose. But Jesus gives us purpose. He shows us we are worthy of being called sons and daughters of God because He was willing to sacrifice Himself to make it so!
And then here it is: A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
An adrenaline rush of hope. In the midst of weariness a burst of hope that causes the world to rejoice. Why?! (Next line)
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Over the horizon there is something new and glorious coming!
Fall on your knees; O head the Angel voices
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
Weariness. We all feel it. It is defined in 2 ways. It can mean extreme tiredness or fatigue. But perhaps a meaning that resonates a bit more is a “reluctance to see or experience any more of something.” Like, I’m just done with it. And all of the things I mentioned at the beginning of our time together feed into that feeling of weariness. I hear about another mass shooting, and I’m just done with it. I hear about another attack on innocent people in another country, and I’m just done with it. Now, as a Christian, I can’t just be done with it, I’m actually called to do something about it. But you guys hear what I’m saying? Like, “again?” I’m so tired of hearing about it, my soul is weary because of the brokenness and evil in our world.
But it’s not hard to see how we got here:
In Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, a curse infiltrated the veins of all of creation. They were expelled from the garden, driven out of fellowship with God. And ever since that moment God has been working to restore fellowship. He instituted a Law that was meant to hold Israel to a high standard of living. It revealed their sin and reminded them of their need for salvation. He spoke to them through Judges, Kings and Prophets. Judges to keep them in line. Kings to keep them accountable. Prophets reminded them of who God was and the consequence of their disobedience. And all along the way there was tension between the difficulty of their lives, and the hope of something that was to come.
Then, at the end of the era of Malachi the prophet, God seemingly went silent. And for 400 years, there were no prophets. There was no one speaking on behalf of God.
It had been thousands of years since the Messiah was promised. Throughout their history God reminded them that He was coming. From generation to generation they passed down the excitement of this man. And surely each generation hoped it would happen during their lifetime! But then, silence. Oh they must have been so weary. And like David they cried out, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?”
But at the same time they held on to the promise of Jeremiah, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
The tension between present sufferings and hopeful anticipation of what’s to come.
What we look forward to in a few short weeks is not just a time to gather with family and friends. It’s not just anticipating what gifts await us under the tree. It’s not about the break that we get from work or from school. It’s a celebration of the fulfilled anticipation that hundreds of thousands of Jews had been waiting for for thousands of years.
Here’s my encouragement to all of us during this season: Don’t let Christmas come and go without spending time thanking God for Jesus, and looking forward to the future hope that we have in Him. See it’s not just the Jews who were weary and anticipating the coming of Jesus. The same can be said of us today.
Read Romans 8:18-25
What are we hoping for?
1.. We hope for a future glory (18)
There is no comparison between our present sufferings and our future glory. Our minds cannot even comprehend what it will be like to live in perfection. One of the things I struggle with most is fatigue. I’m tired, a lot. I’m trying to figure it out. Trying to adjust how I sleep, what tools I use to help me. But I’m just tired all the time. I can’t imagine an existence where afternoon lethargy doesn't overtake me.
There will come a day when any weakness and brokenness in our bodies will be done away with; pain, sadness, anxiety, depression, exhaustion, disease, all of it.
But don’t just take my word for it! Listen to what God has to say about it:
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
We hope for a future glory.
2.. We hope for freedom (20-21)
Creation, all of creation, because of Genesis 3, is subject to corruption. This carries the idea of internal decay. This doesn’t necessarily imply freedom from sin, for we received that at the moment of salvation. The freedom from corruption is the freedom from that which causes death. Our bodies are mortal, but we have been promised something that cannot be touched by corruption. Eternal life. If we pause to ponder for just a moment, our brains will start spinning. And like I can’t comprehend a perfect body free from pain, in my limited scope of time I cannot comprehend time never ending.
Jesus says it in John 6: “This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” Eternal life is mentioned all throughout Scripture.
We hope for freedom from that which corrupts our bodies and our minds. We hope for eternal life.
3.. We hope for JESUS (24-25)
What else are we hoping for? What is it that we are patiently waiting for? We wait with hopeful anticipation for the coming of our Savior to bring all things to completion. There’s an immediate implication here:
Paul says “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” As Christians, when we die, we will see Jesus immediately. But there’s a future implication to this as well.
John 14:3 - “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
1 Corinthians 15:51-53 - “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 - “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”
Just as the Jewish people were groaning in anticipation for a coming Messiah, so we groan in anticipation when Jesus will come again. We hope for the day that we experience ultimate freedom in glory, in fellowship face to face with Jesus.
