Waiting Since Christ
Waiting (Advent) • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsAs we look past Christmas Day, it's important to remember that even when the day is over, Christ is still king.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Many of you know I love Yogi Berra quotes...
Heard the phrase, “It ain’t over till it’s over...?”
Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over till it’s over...”
He said that in 1973 when they were behind in the pennant race
But came back to win the division
In our series, we’re talking about 2 things
The waiting until Christ came the first time
The waiting for Christ to come again
Think about that phrase
But tomorrow, Christmas is over!
In our house, we don’t mess around
Some people leave trees up for months
Some of you didn’t set up a Christmas tree this year
It’s still up from when you set it up in 2005...
But we don’t mess around...
After we open presents, everything will be tossed
Tomorrow, Tash will probably be taking down the tree
I’ll be taking down the lights
Tash will be sending Amazon returns back at Pumpkin Postal
December 27th, you’d never know Christmas just happened
It may as well be February 25th...
YouVersion: Waiting Since Christ
Luke 1:30-2:1 and Matthew 2:1-4
Thinking about the rush to get back to normal...
In a way, the first Christmas was like that...
Jesus wasn’t really from Bethlehem
He was born there, but that wasn’t His home town
He grew up in Nazareth
Remember why Jesus was born in Bethlehem?
Luke 2:1 (ESV)
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
Rome was doing a special census
It was expensive to run an empire that big, they needed taxes
People had to go home and register
They wanted to know how many people in each place
Wanted to make as much money as possible!
Rome had about 45 million people at this and growing
Get up to 75 million in the next 150 years
This was a huge undertaking to count how many people
Imagine how many people had to travel home
How many of you were born in another state?
Think about my family:
Dad goes to NY
Me and mom go to MI
Grace to CA with my brother Kevin and Tasha’s sister Bree
Tash, Judi and Ronnie go to TX
My sister to LA
Then Tasha’s sister Tami heads to Montana
While her sister Carrina goes from Colorado back to CA
Her dad would have gone from TX to ND
Her mom would have head down to Mexico
It seem unfathomable to pull that off back then!
However, people didn’t move around much back then
AND this was a property tax assessment, so it wouldn’t apply to people without property
Joseph probably had family property in Bethlehem
Mary went with him, because she was his wife
After this, people probably wanted to get back to normal
Just get home, back to work, back to routine
Something we are tempted with after Christmas
Things don’t go back to normal after Jesus
Things don’t go back to normal after Jesus
What’s interesting is how backward this would become in history
So a baby was born - who cares?!
We have to travel, pay taxes, blah blah blah
As insignificant as one birth might seem...
Everything else becomes overshadowed!
The things they would have thought was important:
Taxation, travel, political unrest, who was king, governor, Caesar, etc...
All of those “important” things become the supporting info in the story of Jesus - the baby
The world still follows, studies, worships Jesus
All that old “important” stuff are footnotes today
Why? Because everyone back then missed something really important!
A king had been quietly born to the world
Most people in those days weren’t aware of what happened!
Interestingly enough, that’s why Christmas gets tossed away today too
We become unaware of our king
Not because we were never told, but because we forget
What about the people who did know?
Here’s what Mary knew:
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Jesus means, “The Lord is salvation”
Then look at what the angel says:
He will be GREAT
He will be Son of the MOST HIGH
He will have the THRONE
He will REIGN
How long? FOREVER - NO END
Jesus will always be king
Right now, Jesus is king
When we think of Jesus, it’s usually from a personal view
He is good to me
He is my friend
He forgives my sins
He loves me
But do we take the time to see it from the other side?
Jesus is KING
What’s unusual about Him, is He doesn’t force His subjects to obey
He gives us a choice
So, is Jesus YOUR king?
Have you chosen that?
Jesus didn’t just come to forgive and bless
He came to be master
He came to be followed
Jesus came to save and to be followed
Jesus came to save and to be followed
Our job as Christians is to participate in His kingdom
When we choose to take Him off the throne in our lives
We choose to be absent from His kingdom
As far as the world is concerned, you might be a Christian
You can check that box on your own census
Someone asks, “Are you a Christian?” Sure...
I believe, sometimes I go to church, I have a WWJD bracelet and a tattoo of a cross...
You might be a Christian in a cultural sense
But you aren’t necessarily a Christian in the actual sense
Merriam-Webster: Christian - a person who believes in Jesus Christ and follows his teachings.
Every Christian gets the first part
But if Jesus is KING - a ruling, reigning authority in your life...
The second part has to be there too
Following His teachings
The biggest mistake you can make is diminishing that
Let’s jump ahead after Christmas 2 years
Matthew 2:1–2 (ESV)
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
I believe these wise men AKA magi were remnants of Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men
He gathered people from all over the known world
Accumulated legends, religions, astrological/astronomical teachings
Of course, the wisest men of the Jews during captivity were a part of that - including Daniel
Daniel undoubtedly shared Jewish Messianic prophesy with them
Past prophesies in Numbers 24, his own Daniel 9, etc.
They were waiting for a Jewish king
Suddenly a star appears and they say, “Hey, let’s go! He’s here!”
Makes sense a Jewish king would be in Jerusalem - they go there
They start asking, and no one knows what they’re talking about!
Look how Herod responds:
Matthew 2:3–4 (ESV)
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They showed up looking for a king - Herod looks for the Messiah!
Herod was very smart, very cunning, and very ruthless
He held power for a long time, not easy in Rome
So when he heard of a king, he knew something terrifying for him had happened
So terrifying for him, he would murder a baby
And later, the wise men tricked Herod and left
So Herod murdered every baby in Bethlehem
But Jesus got away
Herod never worshipped Jesus, never gave his life, never got saved, never followed him
But he did get one thing right
He had a reverence for His power
Who knows what other paranoid moves he might have made?
He died when Jesus was very small, hiding in Egypt
If he wasn’t sick and dying, he might have pursued Jesus like he was El Chapo
Here’s the truth:
If you’re against Jesus, you should be afraid
If you’re against Jesus, you should be afraid
That is a terrifying place to be
Today is Christmas Day
Tomorrow, it seems like we just go back to normal
But we are still waiting, church
Waiting for what?
The second coming of King Jesus
This is very different from that first account
If you’re a Christian, it’s exciting:
Hebrews 9:28 (ESV)
28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
He’s not coming to save us from our sin - He already did that
He’s coming to bring us to Him!
Those who are eagerly - what? Waiting...
Jesus is coming for those who wait
Jesus is coming for those who wait
That’s what we’re talking about
We have good stuff coming church
But… If you’re not a Christian, it’s a terrifying thought
A.W. Pink: “The first time [Christ] came to slay sin in men. The second time He will come to slay men in sin.”
Here’s what Peter said about this time:
2 Peter 3:10 (ESV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Jesus said this about it:
Matthew 26:64 (ESV)
64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
And:
Matthew 24:27 (ESV)
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
If Jesus came in the first time with a whisper...
The second time will be nothing like that
The heavens will die with a roar!
Jesus will come in from the sky on the clouds!
It will be visible light lightning!
He’ll come in at one place
But you’ll see it across the entire sky!
And every work will be exposed...
Billy Graham: “The second coming of Christ will be so revolutionary that it will change every aspect of life on this planet. Christ will reign in righteousness. Disease will be arrested. Death will be modified. War will be abolished. Nature will be changed. Man will live as it was originally intended he should live.”
What’s all this add up to?
God will have His way
God will have His way
If you don’t think that is going to be explosive, you’re reading a different Bible...
Here’s what I want us to take away from all this
Jesus is your Savior
But He is also your King
If you are going to be His subject, following Him starts now
Jesus didn’t come so you could keep doing what your doing
Or finish up Christmas time and then go back to what you were doing
He came to get you started serving Him now
Conclusion
Conclusion
I want to leave you with a question
Christ has come - the newborn King
So what are you going to do about it?
You can be like Herod
Rejecting Christ and ending up with death
Or you can be like those who saw Jesus for who He is - the King
Those people in Scripture are the ones who walk away singing His praise
Telling towns and cities about what Jesus has done
Giving Him the worship He deserves
And someday, Christ will take with Him “those who are eagerly waiting”
I sincerely hope you’re waiting for Him
You can go into the New Year going back to how things were
Regular day-to-day stuff
Or, you can be eagerly waiting for your King to come again
And live out the hope of Christ everyday
Until He comes again...