Advent: Hope

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

Well, I have a picture of my son Jeremy, and he's holding his son, Ian, baby Ian. This is on Ian's birthday, his very first one. And I don't know if you've ever had that experience of holding a baby when it's your first child, and it's fresh, and it's new, and there's all these emotions churning inside. Some of you have experienced that some of you will maybe soon and when you do One of the things that at least happened to me Maybe it'll happen to you or has happened to you is is there's great. Hope there There's hope for for what this child can become

Hope for for the difference they can make in their world hope for for Christ coming into their life I still remember when he walked down the aisle to receive Christ and how excited I was in that moment and then hope for the difference that they can make in the lives of others. Well this morning as we move past Christmas and move into the Advent season, you know that term Advent means to come or to arrive and of course we're talking about the arrival Jesus is always the right answer in church, right? Jesus. I remember a story about a pastor who was doing a children's sermon and he was describing a squirrel in great length and finally he asked, kids what am I talking about? And they looked at him for a long time and then they said Jesus! Because Jesus is always the right answer in church. Well we're talking about the coming of Jesus today and as we begin the Advent season it's not just

thinking about Jesus first coming, we can also think about Jesus second coming, the fact that he's coming again. And both of those things should engender in us a great hope. And so I want you to join me this morning in Luke two. If you have your copy of scripture, I'd like for you to turn there with me in whatever that format is. Luke chapter two, and you know, there's a whole bunch in Luke two, but we're going to look at another person who was holding a baby. And the first thing I wanna say to you this morning as we look at this passage is, and think about hope is this hope that it's a birthright for us. Now let's look at scripture first and then I wanna explore that a little bit. But look at Luke two and we're gonna begin in verse 22 and I just wanna look at the first couple of verses, 22 through 24. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses,

This is Joseph and Mary by the way, they brought him Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as The writ and is it is written in the law of the Lord every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord a pair of Turtle doves or two young pigeons now so the context here you guys is that Jesus has been born obviously And now they're bringing him to kind of what's like a a child dedication service and this is at the temple And and where I want to go with this this morning First of all is I want you to understand that hope is our birthright as believers Now if we go back to that that image of Ian in the arms of his father Immediately on his birth Ian received some some birthright He's going to receive protection from his father. He's going to receive a house over his head, a roof over his head.

He's going to receive meals. There's going to be love poured out on him. Now, I know this doesn't happen to every single child that's born, and maybe your experience wasn't that great early in life, but that's expected. As a matter of fact, it's sometimes criminal if it's not given by parents, right? That's right. Well, we as Christ-followers, we have a birthright as well. As a matter of fact, in 1 Peter 1:3, the Bible says, "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. "'According to his great mercy, "'he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.'"

God wants to continually pour into our lives this hope that really is, I think it's as necessary as the air we breathe. And when you think about this hope, think about how in the parents of Jesus, this hope is already being poured in. Jesus has been born, and but prior to that, what all happened? Well, Mary and Joseph, they have this reason for great hope because of what's taken place in the last 12 months. They've been visited by an angel, right? Y'all know this story, some of you better than I. In person to Mary in a dream to Joseph. And then there's this supernatural conception and Mary begins to realize what the angel has promised is coming about. And then she goes to visit her relative Elizabeth and has this unusual experience there that is affirming and then they leave and go to Bethlehem and the baby is born and then this amazing testimony from this group of ragtag shepherds and in

each of those there's a measure of hope that God's pouring into their lives and listen I don't know what reasons you might have to be hopeful today but I am I'm sure that God has done some things in your life in the past that should be hopeful, that should help you have hope. Perhaps he spoke to you through his word in times like this of preaching or teaching or in your own quiet time as you've spent time personally alone with God. Perhaps there have been personal encounters that you've experienced where you know God was at work in your life, And that's been a reason for hope to you. My wife and I, we do this thing on Sunday mornings where we sit down together and we pray together and we list out our, we make our prayer list. And we did this this morning and it always brings us renewed hope when we see God answer prayer. And this week we're actually talking about prayer requests

that we had made that were God answered no. Is that okay by the way? Yeah, you know there are three ways God answers prayer, right? The one we always go for. Yes, and then no, and then that's my least favorite, isn't it yours? But yeah, and when God answers those prayer, it stirs up hope in us. Your personal salvation experience. I hope that still rings in your heart to give you hope that God reached out to you and loves you personally and intimately and Drew you into a personal relationship with Him where you have an eternal hope. And I pray that your church family is a great source of hope for you and encouragement. I love always hearing Kimmy's testimonies because they're often of that nature where she's been encouraged in some way by her church. And so God's at work putting hope in our hearts but he doesn't just put it in one and done, right? He continues to cultivate that hope

and he did that for Mary and Joseph because when you receive God's hope, he does this refreshing work to grow the hope that's in us. It's not just a past tense, it's an ongoing and continual thing. And when we look at those events, the visit from the angel, the supernatural, you know, there's kind of a rhythm there that I want you to consider for just a moment. So, Angel comes and visits. Where do you think Mary and Joseph are emotionally at that point? Wow, you know, like off the charts, right? Excited. And then Mary is pregnant and then her belly begins to grow like it does when you're pregnant, I understand. And then word gets out in the community and then things kinda change, don't they? Because she's not married and so that emotional high goes weird

It goes down it but then what happened she goes to visit Elizabeth and what happens with Elizabeth She has this affirming experience where Elizabeth herself and Elizabeth even John the Baptist in the womb is praising Jesus and And again lifted her spirits gave her renewed her hope then they go they make this trip to Bethlehem and and listen when I've been in the birthing room with my wife she's called me everything Well, it wasn't that bad She was sweet But it's not a happy experience and most time most of the time women won't who there not necessarily their husband so much as their their mom and that Mary's mom was nowhere inside.

I don't know how Joseph did in that situation, but I bet that was an emotional low. But then what follows that? These ragtag shepherds show up from who knows where with this crazy story about this encounter with angels. And what does it do? I'm sure it lifts Mary's spirits again. You see, God's like that. Yes, we are gonna encounter some difficulties in life, but He's always gonna be there to give us renewed hope, to strengthen us, to encourage us. And the people that He puts around us, if we'll let them, will be a part of that. And that's what was going on in Mary's life, and I'll bet that's what's going on in your life. I was at a, I had a church experience one time, and it was a nice church. It wasn't this church, but it was a fairly well-to-do church. It was a first Baptist church in a town up near Wichita Falls, and man, it was just rough sledding. Drew, you probably can't relate to anything like this,

and I hope you never do, but man, some things just went off the rails. And we had some people in the church family that got into some horrendous behavior. I got invited to be on television for all the wrong reasons. And then I just really got discouraged. And I talked to my wife one time about, you know, I wonder how much it pays to be a greeter at Walmart. Because it was that kind of a place. And you know what, it wasn't too long after that that some people came and visited with me about coming to Burleson, coming back to where we grew up, we grew up here in Burleson, coming back here. but they couldn't pay us enough. We had two kids in college, but it worked out. And God was doing this very thing. In the depths of that despair and hardship, He was giving us hope. And I guarantee you, if you look at your own life, and maybe this is going on today, God's building into your life renewed hope.

And for Mary and Joseph, a part of this is this experience that they're about to have with this crazy old man. Okay, and no disrespect to Simeon, but you hear me out on this, because hope is our birthright, gang. God's granted us that, but it's also more than just a warm and happy feeling inside. Now let me explain that. This encounter at the temple with Simeon, look at it with me in verse 25 now. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Now, first of all, isn't that a great resume? Wouldn't you love to be described? I'd settle for that any day of the week, that he was righteous and devout, which means he had a strong faith going on. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, the hope of Israel. He was waiting for the Messiah. He knew enough about scripture and about God's promises

that he knew to wait expectantly for the Messiah and back in the Old Testament days, and this is still Old Testament, this is not after Acts two, which is kind of the defining point for when the Holy Spirit comes in a different way. The Holy Spirit was on people in a unique way then than he is now, but yet it was very obvious that the Holy Spirit was working in the life of Simeon. So he's got that kind of a resume, But then Luke, the writer of this gospel, he kinda throws us a zinger. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Now how many of y'all have received a promise like that? You're not gonna die until I do thus and such, God says. This is kinda bizarre, isn't it? I mean, it's kinda, it's very unique. It's not something that happens every day. I don't know anybody that's received a promise like this,

but what was God doing? He was given Simeon hope. And I don't know why it's cast in this way. Most people that I read think Simeon was advanced in years. He was maybe, maybe he had some health issues. Maybe he was nearing the end of his life. And yet God grants him this promise that really was... did you ever need an attitude adjustment? Well this adjusted his attitude because now instead of thinking about death and the end of his life and what he hadn't seen, now he's got this hope in his heart for what's going to happen, what he's going to get experienced because... going to get to experience because God has made him this promise. Now I want to ask you about... Okay, there's this thing on a fishing line. You see it's this made, see the red thing in the water? See that in the picture? What do you call that? Way to go. I asked this question in Tennessee and they said it was a floater. No, it's not. It's a bobber.

But I didn't argue. So what's a bobber there for? What does it do? Come on, this is easy. Bobs, thank you. That's true. Why does it bob? Yeah, when a fish strikes that thing, what happens to it? Disappears. If they're nibbling at it, what happens? It bobs. Yeah. But what's gonna happen if the fish gets all that takes it down but the hook comes loose? It's gonna bob back up. It's gonna come back to the top. See we as Christ followers when we have hope we have bob-ability. I know there's a word buoyancy but I don't like that one I like this one better. And you need bob-ability right? And And when you have the hope of Christ, the living hope, a real hope going on in your life, you're gonna have bobbability. You're gonna have this buoyancy. You're gonna be able to, when things wash over you and they will, you'll be able to rise back up. You'll be able to float back to the top.

You know, there's a Bible verse that's often quoted at a Philippians 4:13. You know what that says? I can do, and so some people take that out of context and say, oh yeah, that means I can be a superstar athlete, I can be a millionaire. Listen to the context of that, this verse. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I've learned with whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound in any and every circumstance, Paul writes, I have learned the secret of having plenty in hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ. He's got bobbability.

He's got this buoyancy because he has hope in his heart. And listen, if you are down right now, you need to get back in touch with God's hope that he's pouring into your life, that he's refreshing you probably right now in some way or another, maybe even through the words of this scripture that we're looking at. We need bobbability. It just changes our attitude. I'm sure there are some Texas Rangers fans here, right? Well, we had a year, didn't we? And there are probably some UT fans here as well, right? Ivy, what does UT stand for? University of Tennessee. I didn't talk to Ivy in advance, by the way, but I knew.

Ivy, do you remember a ball game in 2022 when some upstart group out of Alabama came down to Tennessee or came over to Tennessee, and Tennessee, the volunteers put 52 points on them? And were you watching that game? And were you sitting there calmly sipping your IST and not a care in the world? Thank you for your honesty brother. Now tell me Ivy, if you watched a recording of that game today, would you be sitting there with your eyes tee enjoying it not having a career in the world? Why? You know who's gonna win don't you? Now listen Christ follower, you know who's gonna win don't you?

And I'm not saying you're not facing some stuff and I'm not saying it's easy. Some of you have health problems, I've got health problems that are probably gonna, if they don't, something doesn't change, he'll end up being the death of me, quite literally. Not today, Carrie, get your hopes up. Yeah, some of you have financial issues, you're probably never gonna be able to totally rectify. You've got relationship stuff that, this is gonna be what it's gonna be. God's not gonna fix it all in this life, but he's gonna fix it.

He's gonna make all things right, He's gonna make all things new. He's coming again and he's coming for you. And I'm a poet and don't know it. See, that's why we can have hope. And when we have that hope, it not only changes our attitude, it changes what these hands go about. Okay, that's probably a guy question more than a wife question. But does your spouse ever do anything that embarrasses you? Nobody, I got nobody, nobody. I just do, I get an amen out of my wife. Because I do that, I do things that embarrass her. Well, if Mrs. Simeon had been at the temple that day, she would have been embarrassed. Because what does this crazy old man do? Well, let's look at that. Look at verse 27. And he came in the spirit into the temple and when the parents, who's that? Joseph brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the customs of law. What does Simeon do? Now I'm trying to envision this in my mind's eye. I've

been to seven, at least seven births, all my grandkids, I've been to the births of my four children. I've been to a lot of births and if somebody came up when we were taking that picture of Jeremy and took the child out of his arms and I don't care if he held him up and started singing praises to Jesus, I'm I'm not taking him down, but that's what Simeon did. Now I know, I read some scholars who said, surely there was some kind of a conversation between the parents and Simeon before this happened. And maybe that's so, but this is still a little weird, isn't it? For just some guy that nobody knew up to this moment, and for Simeon himself to be totally convinced by God in that moment, this is Messiah! And that's exactly what happened and when it did, Simeon did what Simeon did because he couldn't help himself. He was so excited in that moment that he lifts

up this child and he calls out praises to God. He took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord you are now letting your servant depart in peace. I'm ready to go Lord. According to your word from my eyes, I've seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a lot for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel and his father and his mother marveled at what they said about him pretty cool moment Simeon acted because he was hopeful and I guess my question you this morning is what are you doing right now because you're hopeful what are your hands about it's motivated by your hope. Let me throw a couple things out in front of you that that God has put in front of me right now that have given me hope and that have allowed me to express my hope in Jesus. One of them is a ministry that I found out about at Southwestern Baptist Seminary called Brothers Keeper and

Brothers Keeper is a ministry that helps provide things for seminary students and so I had my old pastoral library and I couldn't give it I couldn't find anybody that wanted to take it the suitors took a few books but I still had a lot of books left I hated to just leave them in boxes for them to disintegrate so I took them to this ministry what when I got up there and saw this ministry and these by the way these three young ladies that you're saying they're they're actually their spouses of seminary students what I What I discovered was that this was not about having a theological library. This was about having deodorant and toothpaste and shampoo and laundry detergent. This was like, and I've been involved in some homeless ministries, and it was those kinds of things was what was needed. And what was explained to me, and I think I got this right, was that when these internationals

come to the United States to study, they get a student visa which allows them to work 15 hours a week. how in the world do you support a family on 15 hours a week? And so God just, first of all he gave me a hopeful heart because I know that these students, they're gonna take this theological education and some of them are gonna go back to the countries that they came from and minister there, others are gonna minister the international community here in the United States that they'll be a part of. And it encouraged me to know that that was gonna take place And it motivated me to do something because of that hope. And here's the cool thing, I kind of made this bargain with God, and this is not a good idea, by the way. I made this bargain, God, whatever money you put in my hand, I'll help these guys with. And so the first week I had $125 that I had not expected to get.

And I went and bought shampoo and stuff of that nature, personal hygiene items, took it up there to the ministry, Dropped it off. It's a mad house up there. And I didn't even hardly get a how to do. But anyway, and that wasn't wise there. But so OK. Well, the next week, I had some old car parts that I sold on the interwebs. And I ended up with $200. So I did the same thing. I took that $200, turned it into shampoo and deodorant, and that kind of stuff. there, dropped it off, and they told me that they were trying to gather up some money for the children of those students to have some Christmas presents. Well that just tugged at my heart. So last Sunday I got a chance to preach at my another son's church up in Tennessee, and I told them about this ministry in In the in the sermon and at the end of the service The guy who was was it kind of closing out the service said

My wife told me we're taking a love offering and They put 700 bucks cash in my hand to go buy Christmas toys for those kids Didn't God good Now I tell you that story not not to try to milk you out any money because that's that's done I mean the Christmas presents are bought and and there be actually be given out Tuesday But I tell you that because God's got something in front of you that he wants you to do this Christmas season very very probably as a response to the hope that you have because of Christ

Let me mention one other There's a there's a couple in our church and I'm gonna mention them by name but most of you know them, who are gonna be involved in a mission venture in a couple of years. And they've invited some folks to go on a vision trip to where they're gonna be ministering. It's in South Asia. And for some reason, they asked me if I would be willing to go and be a part of this pretty small team. And my first thought was, man, I love those kids.

I love those, this young couple, I'm so proud of their commitment to Christ. They are willing to leave everything behind, go to a foreign country and share the love of Jesus with anybody that'll listen. That inspires me, that encourages, that gives me hope. Just them gives me hope. And I thought, man, I want to encourage them, but I'm old. I know you probably can't tell it from where you're sitting, but I'm pretty old. Decrepit, a little senile, but I'm seriously praying about going because of this hope, this hope in what they'll accomplish, and this hope that if some of us do go on this trip when we come back, we'll be able to encourage their church family, to encourage them, to pray for them, and support them. Gang, I think there's probably something God wants you to do this Christmas season because you have hope. Hoping the difference Jesus makes. Christmas is a season of hope.

And I know you thank God for Jesus coming, if you're a Christ follower. But let that have its full effect. Embrace it. And let it motivate you and move you and and adjust your attitude and affect the works of your hands. Pray with me. Father God, we come before your throne of grace, so grateful today for all that you've done in times past and all you're doing in these days to build hope into our lives. This life giving, sustaining, encouraging hope.

And so Lord, as you confront us in this time of invitation, would you just give us a willingness to not only hear, but to obey. And to do that which will share, which will spread the hope of Christ to the world around us who is desperately, desperately, desperately in need of it. And we pray these things in the powerful name of Jesus. you